Chapter Text
<You have 2 missed calls.>
<You have 1 new text message.>[Luciel:] V, something suuuper big happened! Call me back ASAP!!
Blinking tiredly at the bright screen in front of him, V focused and refocused his vision on the text message from Luciel. Even without context, it was pretty obvious the message had something to do with the RFA. It had been so long since he'd spoken to them... it'd been longer since the organization had held a party. Were they going to ask him again, to organize one? This message didn't sound that way, though...
It had been even longer since he told them Rika was dead.
He sighed and tilted his head back, closing his eyes, before absentmindedly hitting the "call back" option.
V had little time to think before the other line picked up, and Luciel's voice rang out on the other end.
"Yo! V----!"
"Luciel, what's going on?"
Luciel didn't spare a moment, and began explaining. There had been a breach in security the chatroom security, and in Rika's apartment. The new user was now there, and their phone had been connected to the RFA chatroom. Luciel had rewritten all of the algorithms for the security system and chatroom as precautions, but there was still the question of what to do with the new user.
"Female, did attend university briefly, but has not registered for the upcoming semester. No job, parents are overseas. Pretty cute. I'll forward you the full file on her... now!"
V felt the phone buzz beside his ear, notifying him of a new email. He took a moment to glance through it. Her full name, age, social media profiles, current address, even the addresses of her parents and siblings.
And her pictures.
She gave off a bit of a different disposition than Rika did. Her hair was not the colour of sunlight, and the look in her eyes was not lively, like Rika's. Her hair was brown like hot chocolate, her smile just as warm. She seemed friendly, a tad shy, and most of all, absolutely harmless. Just a well-meaning girl caught in the wrong place and wrong time.
"Got it," he said with a sigh.
"Honestly, she checks out as completely harmless." Seven seemed to read his mind. "Background check is cleaaaan as a whistle! The worst thing she's done is keep library books for too long, hahaha. Her grades are not valedictorian, but they're nothing to sneeze at either."
So, a good girl. Of course, what other kind of girl would venture to a stranger's apartment to attempt to help another stranger return a lost phone? She was probably the type to feed stray cats and give to the homeless, too.
"Have you instucted her not to go through anything? There's... classified guest information there."
"Don't think she will. Just about every cabinet in that place has got a security system in place, so everything is locked. If she tried to touch anything, I'd know. Seems so far all she's touched is the computer."
"Do you suppose we can just ask her to leave and apologize for whatever brought her there?"
"I considered it, but Yoosung seems a bit attached to her already. Once he put the idea of her taking Rika's place as party organizer, Zen and Jumin seemed to warm to the idea as well."
When the words taking Rika's place reached V's ears, he felt his heart beat with dread.
Nobody should ever replace Rika.
He clenched his teeth.
Nobody else should have to get involved with this. With them. Nobody else needed to be put in danger. Especially not this good, responsible girl, with a shining future and a family who probably loved her dearly. She didn't deserve this.
But his tired mind continued to toy with the idea. They could let her. Then the others might stop trying to get him to fill Rika's shoes, and the parties could go on. Eventually, he could hand the mantle of leader over to Jumin, and... disappear, just like he wanted to. Go be with Rika, just like he wanted to. They didn't need him.
"... system like the back of my hand, and I think it'd be good for us to start having parties again, and-- V? Are you listening? What do you think?"
As he was about to answer, his phoned buzzed with another call, from another number he knew all too well. They needed him back, she needed him back, for more errands likely. Even if that was all, he was all too happy to serve her. To make her happy.
"It's a great idea. Please take all the necessary measures to make sure she's safe and incorporated into RFA properly. I have to go now, Luciel."
V hung up before Luciel could even finish his 'aye-aye, captain~'.
He would go forward with her, and never look back. For her. Only for her. His sun.
He loved her.