They had to stay at Jo Kwon’s base a few days longer than Jay anticipated. Jisoo still needed to recover and was in no shape to moving around so quickly.

Jay had no problem with it and instead got involved with training Seungcheol. She had hoped to start both Jisoo and Seungcheol at the same time, but she knew Seungcheol was getting impatient.

“You need to work on your stance,” she instructed, taking one of his outstretched arm and flipped him over easily. “With that kind of footwork, even Jisoo could probably take you out.”

He scowled, lying on the floor, sweat beading on his forehead. “Why am I learning this? Don’t you guys kill nibras with those guns of yours?”

She laughed and tsked at him. “You should know better than relying on just those. What if you can’t materialize it in time? What if you have no time to react and you need to get the nibra off you before it can rip your throat out?”

He looked away, not wanting to admit that she had a point.

“Now, up,” she ordered. “You wanted to get stronger, so start getting stronger.”

He jumped up, brushing himself down. He stared at Jay, eyes moving rapidly, her eyeing her weak side.

Jay almost let a smirk on her face. She could tell that Seungcheol had gotten into fights before. He was no amateur, but he was also no veteran.

He lunged at her, scowl still etched on his face. She lithely dodged and before he could blink, she had grabbed his arm. She brought it up and twisted his wrist, forcing him to kneel down immediately.

He yelped in pain, falling onto the ground with a thud, arm on his back. He glared at her.

“You said that there would be no pain.”

She rolled her eyes. “I said that there will be no deaths. I didn’t say anything about pain.” She frowned. “But it looks like I went too hard.”

He looked offended, eyes narrowing darkly. “I can fight still,” he insisted.

She scoffed,” You call that fighting? At best, you’re just using strength to win. You’re not really fighting. You need to think. About what your opponent will do, won’t do. I don’t specialize in it. The Black Turtles do it the best. That’s why they can defeat their opponents despite not having best combat ability. They’re not called one-shot killers for nothing.”

Seungcheol looked away, scowling even more deeply.

She sighed. “We’ll start running when we get back. Jisoo included. But for now, I want you to watch.”

“Watch?” he murmured confusedly, pushing himself up so that he sat cross-legged.

“Watch and ingrain it in your mind.”

“Are you done?”

They looked over past the mat where Mark and Jackson were waiting.

Jay nodded. “Yeah, let me get a drink of water, and then we’ll start.” She looked down and extended a hand toward the sitting boy. He reluctantly took it and she pulled him up. Patting him on the back, she pushed him to the side.

“Remember to watch and remember.”

Seungcheol grunted in reluctant agreement.

“Good job out there.”

Seungcheol looked up and snorted, “You can’t mean that.”

Jackson grinned. “Nah, man. We mean it. You lasted a lot longer than we did the first time we sparred against Jay.”

“Yes, Leader Jay does not hold back,” Mark chimed in.

Seungcheol glanced back at her. “She must have with me.”

The two males from the Black Turtles looked at each other.

“I would think not,” Mark argued.

Seungcheol only grunted back.

“Jay,” Jackson murmured thoughtfully, “Well, Jay, she’s got a knack for determining your strength. She goes hard enough where you feel like it’s a tough fight, or something like that. I mean, we’ve seen it happened. She doesn’t fight the same with me versus like BamBam.”

“Yes, and the other boy, Jisoo, I don’t she would go spar with him as roughly as she did with you,” Mark added.

Jackson grinned, teeth and all, patting Seungcheol on the back roughly. “So, yeah. Take our compliment when we said you did well. It’s not easy sparring with the leader of the Azure Dragons.” He smirked, no longer focusing on Seungcheol, and was now staring gleefully at Jay. “We should know.”

“Yeah, you should know. You only lasted two minutes with her,” Mark teased.

“Hey, not like you did any better. Only ten seconds longer than me.”

“Fine. Want to bet who’ll last longer?”

“You’re on. If I win, you have to do all of this week’s cleaning in my labs.”

“And if I win, you have to take my duty of working with the shadies this week.”

Jackson made a face. “What? Ew. No. That is not a fair trade. Nobody likes working with the shadies. If I have to do that, then it’s only fair that you clean my labs for two, no, three weeks!”

Mark smirked. “You’re on.”

And they shook hands.

“Hurry up, will ya? I’m hungry,” Jay shouted at them from the middle of the sparring center.

They approached her and started to warm up.

“So? Who’s first?”

Jackson stepped forward. She nodded, and they both stepped backward a few steps.

They eyed each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Jackson did first, being the impatient person he was and lunged forward.

Putting up a stance, he threw a few jabs which she blocked. She laughed. "Is that really all you got?" she teased.

He threw a roundhouse to her ribs, and she caught it with her arm. But oddly enough, Seungcheol thought she moved. He squinted closer as he realized that she didn't take the brunt of his kick by moving with the kick. She had actually sprung to the right, catching his kick at the last moment. She grinned at his gritted face and dropped it. All of them were surprised she didn't do anything, except she did, throwing a punch to his stomach when he was still surprised.

He fell to the ground.

"What did I tell you? Never let down your guard. Not even to your allies. Always keep your guard up until you know you're good."

“I know,” Jackson whined, trying to get up, but struggling. “It’s not fair.”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. “No fights are fair. If we’re talking about competitions, then it would be a different story.” She lifted her foot up, and Jackson’s eyes widened. He bounced back on all fours and screamed, “Are you trying to kill me?” just as her foot connected to the group with a loud bam.

“Isn’t that the point?” she asked with a smirk.

“No!” he shouted back, jumping up.

Jackson growled and threw another jab and brought up his leg for a roundhouse kick to her right thigh. But just when he stepped with his left and pulled his right to kick, she immediately brought her own leading foot to hook his left leg and swept him off his feet.

If there was one good thing about Jackson, it was that he was persistent. He immediately got back up.

Gritting his teeth, he faked like he was going to the right, but moved to the left. It was smooth enough that it took Jay off guard, and he got her in headlock.

However, she crouched down to gain more ground and quickly reached with the hand closer to him to pull him back and toss him. And then immediately after that threw a punch that she landed right next to his head.

Jackson flinched from the sound but otherwise didn’t move.

She got up and helped him up.

“A headlock really? Don’t you remember that the person in the headlock has a more dominant position? You didn’t even try and restrict my arms.”

Jackson looked away in shame. “I know, I know. Ugh. I have not practiced enough. And I can’t believe Mark saw me like that.”

“My turn, loser.”

Jackson shot his friend a glare and snorted. “Get him good, Jay.”

 

Mark was a little more hesitant than Jay, as they circled each other for a few seconds. She knew it was going nowhere, so she moved first.

Jay first kicked to his right thigh but he blocked it with his own foot. But immediately after she threw another high kick to his left side, but Mark blocked it and caught her leg. It was evident in their eyes that they both knew what was going to happen. Her other foot was grounded and too far for Mark to step in and sweep, so he pulled her leg down and to the right, causing her to lose balance and hop a few steps before reaching in with his other arm to push her down. She fell backwards but managed to latch onto Mark’s arm to cushion her fall.

She got up and smirked. “At least you got me, Jackson can’t say anything about that.”

Mark merely smiled. He was good at keeping his emotions calm and not let anything disturb him.

Mark wasted no time, not letting her prepare or rest. He kicked her in the shins, but she easily pushed it off with the palms of her hand. Immediately after, she went into a kick which Mark then blocked but then out of nowhere threw a punch causing Mark to fall back with a crash.

He rolled around and pushed himself up. She could tell that he was serious with the look in his eyes. She knew that she had to end it now.

Mark threw a kick to her side, which she caught and in a swift motion, pushed his thigh down so that he was leaning towards her and used both hands to force him to the ground. And then she promptly sat on him.

“Damn it,” she heard him mutter.

“And that’s all we have for today.”

She got off from Mark and pulled him up, giving him a pat on the back. “Good job.”

“I don’t get one too?” Jackson gasped.

She laughed. “You too.” She looked at both of them. “So, who won?”

They looked at each other. “. We forgot to time it.”

“Mark lasted longer.”

Seungcheol sat there with a blank look, his phone illuminating bright numbers. “Mark lasted five more seconds than Jackson.”

“What?” Jackson screamed as Mark pumped his fist in silence.

“Ugh. It’s all because you take so long in the beginning.”

“You’re just too impatient.”

“Next time, I’ll beat you,” Jackson mumbled.

Mark swung an arm around his friend’s neck. “I’m sure you will, but first. Thank you for taking over my shadies duties.”

Jackson just looked up to the ceiling like he was asking the heavens what did he do to deserve it all.

 

“So, what did you see?”

Seungcheol glanced at Jay as they walked back to see Jisoo.

He looked back in front of him. “Timing is everything. And you’re good at reading the opponent’s next move.”

“Mmm, not bad,” she hummed happily. “We’ll get you started along with Jisoo when we get back.”

Seungcheol touched his back briefly, not wanting say that he was grateful because he was still a little sore.

“Hey, there,” Jay called out, pulling the curtains open.

Jisoo looked up from the papers he was reading, reading glasses perched on his nose which he acquired from one of Jo Kwon’s passing researchers.

His eyes lit up. “It’s fascinating. This stuff about nibras. Though the Black Turtle’s technical language can be hard to understand at times,” he added with scrunched up expression. Jay didn’t want to disturb Jisoo’s rest so she set some files for him on the side and wrote a note that he could read it once he got up.

She laughed. “Then let me break it down for you.

True to her word, Jay, with Seungcheol standing by, explained what nibras were to Jisoo. Along with an explanation about the four factions. Jisoo explained with wide eyes that he knew about the Four Guardians but he didn’t really expect anyone to use the names. He seemed a bit more interested if the four leaders had powers of the Guardians, but Jay was vague about it. She told him that she would explain in due time.

“So, that’s why you guys were so surprised about the nibra,” Jisoo mused, looking down at the papers.

Jay hummed back in acknowledgement.

“But what do you think?”

Jay looked at Jisoo in surprise who was frowning at the papers.

“The Black Turtle’s main priority is to either stop or revert the transition of nibras. But they think that fully transitioned nibras are a serious threat.”

Jay looked away, her eyes glazing over as if she was seeing something the others couldn’t see. “I don’t know.” She turned to him. “And I’m not going to tell you what to think. If you think any kind of nibras, whether it is fully transitioned or in transition, are a threat, then I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong.”

“And you, Seungcheol?” he asked.

Seungcheol glanced at him. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” he murmured in a low voice.

Jisoo nodded. “I see. Well then, we might as well get a move on.”

Jay raised an eyebrow. “Already?”

Jisoo threw the covers off and jumped out of bed, stretching. “The medical treatment they gave me were nothing short of exemplary. I feel great. And I kinda want to get everything over with. You said something about officiating me?”

Jisoo caught an odd look in Seungcheol’s eyes as he reacted to the word “officiating”.

She nodded. “Mmm. Yeah, it would be better to do that back home.”

Home. Jisoo never thought he would hear that word again.

 

“How kind of you to send us off,” she said with a wide grin and twinkling eyes.

The man snorted. “More like good riddance.” He paused and looked at the boys who were chatting amongst themselves as they were standing off to the side.

“You gotten yourself an interesting group, Jay, even if it’s just two right now.”

She glanced at the group as well. “I had second thoughts about taking up a group, but I’m glad I went through with it.”

“Perhaps you’ll get your next one in a more normal way.”

Jay grinned. “Normal and I never really got along.”

They watched as Mark, Youngjae, and Seungcheol conversed while Jinyoung, Jisoo, and BamBam watched Jackson do...something. Jay wasn’t sure what exactly the boy was trying to accomplish.

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Jay side-eyed Jo Kwon and chuckled. “Wow, is that concern I hear? The illustrious Jo Kwon knows concern. By the Guardian Gods, the world is going to end.”

“I’m serious, Jay,” he said sternly. “I know you the best out of the three leaders. You have taken in those boys because they don’t have a family anymore. If you’re doing this out of pity…”

“Pity?” she repeated angrily, glaring at him. “You think I took them in out of pity?” She looked away. “Pity isn’t it, Jo Kwon. I’ve been in their situation before, if anything, it’s empathy.”

“Same situation?” he repeated.

She didn’t respond.

He sighed. “I know you don’t like talking about your past. Hell, I’m the one closest to you, and even I don’t fully know your past. And I thought we were friends.”

“Friends. We are, Jo Kwon. But that past is something I want to keep in the past. It’s something that I moving on from and something that I’m not letting define myself.” She paused. “Jo Kwon, what do you think is the one thing I want?”

He glanced at her quickly, confused at the question. “To stop hunting nibras?”

She scoffed, “We all know that I don’t like doing that. More than that.”

“A family?” he murmured under his breath.

She smiled, neither confirming it nor denying it. She then started walking towards the group before stopping and looking at him. “As celebration for the confirmed friendship between us, I’ll let you know this.” She looked away into the distance and in a low voice said, “I, too, lost my family in a nibra attack. And it was my fault that is happened.”

“Jay,” he said softly.

She glanced back at him and laughed softly. “You never pitied me before, Jo Kwon. So, don’t start now.”

 

Their goodbyes were short and simple.

The Black Turtles roughly gave hugs and told them to visit anytime. Jay replied that she would rather have them come to her place than her visiting them.

They suited up, wearing their heavy snow gear. Jisoo had to borrow one of Mark’s extra gear and was apologetic about it. Mark waved it aside, saying that they never had a shortage of winter gear.

They faced the cold snow winds, waving goodbye.

Jisoo felt the cold bite the places where he hadn’t securely covered himself and winced.

“Ah, crap.”

The two boys looked at Jay who was looking in front of her.

“What is it?” Jisoo asked, peering at the invisible thing she was looking at.

“I forgot. I hadn’t officiated you, so you can’t see the portal.”

“Portal?” he questioned, looking around. “What portal?”

“Exactly,” she sighed. “That was bad on my part. Sorry.”

“So, what do we do?” Seungcheol asked in a low murmur.

Jay frowned, extending her hand out.

To Jisoo, it looked like she had touched something. He didn’t see anything, but he thought he could hear a low rumbling.

She lowered her hand and reached back to Jisoo.

He looked at her hand and then back at to her.

“You gotta hold my hand. As long you’re touching someone who can see the portal, you can through it.” He continued to stare at it. “Unless you want to hold Seungcheol’s hand.”

Jisoo eyes jerked up to look at Seungcheol who was staring back as if he was trying to tell him that would never happen.

He sighed and grabbed her hand. She gently tugged him and followed her through the portal that he could not see.

He felt a slight pressure, closing his eyes briefly, until he felt the weight fall off his shoulders.

He peeked one eye open and then opened both. It was green as far as he could see, the smell of nature drifting to his nose. Birds chirped and the sunlight gently beamed down at them.

“You enjoy holding hands that much?”

Jisoo was startled back to their current situation and realized that he was still holding hands with Jay. She blinked at him, but a small smile creeped on her lips.

He let go and coughed, trying not to look at her.

She laughed openly and winked at him. “I’m joking. I wouldn’t have minded. Such a shame. Anyways, let’s show you your new home.”

They didn’t walk very far as they came upon a large three story manor. Something Jisoo saw in those old-time pictures of the countryside.

A road led up to the building with bushes full of berries lined the front. Ivy climbed the side, creeping around some of the windows.

She unlocked the door and pushed the door open.

Seungcheol immediately went up the stairs, mumbling something along the lines of, “I’m going to take a nap.”

Jisoo knew how he felt. He felt exhausted and weary to his bones.

“I know you want to just drop down and sleep, but we need to get some things taken care of.”

Jisoo looked at Jay who was taking off her heavy jacket. Jisoo followed suit, stripping off his outer layer of clothes.

Once they both removed most of the outer layers, Jay walked up to Jisoo.

“First thing’s first. Officiating you to be part of my team.”

She mumbled a few words that Jisoo didn’t quite understand. He felt a gentle wind breeze through and a light touch on his forehead, right between his eyebrows. It tingled, but it wasn’t a horrible feeling.

But it wasn’t until he was looking at her, that a pink blush crossed his face and that what had happened hit him.

“Is that, um, normal?” he stuttered.

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently, tilting her head.

He looked away and coughed lightly. “Kissing… on the forehead,” he muttered under his breath.

“Yeah. Though it doesn’t have to be on the forehead. Why? Do you not like it?”

“No! I mean, no. But that’s kinda surprising, cause you know…” He trailed off, looking away.

A loud cough caused them to look over.

Seungcheol was standing in the kitchen wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. Was getting water,” he said to them, holding up his cup of water. He briskly walked away, mouth pursed in a thin line. “Keep doing what you were doing.” And he half ran half walked up the stairs, bumping into the corner of the wall before disappearing.

She looked away from the stairs, letting out a short laugh. “Well, now that you’re officially part of the Azure Dragons, let’s get you a room and some clothes.”

She first led him to the storage room, turning on the single light that illuminated the area.

“This is a bunch of old clothes some of the guys and girls I housed before. They usually bring their old clothes here as a sort of safety measure. If they forgot something, they usually look in here for an extra. That being said, they pretty much just dumped their old clothes on me. So, go ahead and look for something to wear. We’ll get you clothes tomorrow. Seungcheol too. Come upstairs when you’re done.”

She left him, and Jisoo rummaged through the clothes. All sorts of clothes were there. From dress shirts to graphic tees to work pants to short skirts, he was slightly overwhelmed.

But fortunately, it was separated from males and females. He quickly picked out a black tee that had a white printed diamond the left pocket and some gray jeans.

He left the room, heading up the stairs coming face to face to more rooms than he had expected. And Jay was nowhere in sight.

“Jay?” he called out.

The room across from him opened up and her head poked out.

“What’s up? Oh. You’re done? That was fast.”

She opened the door fully and stepped out. “Ok. go ahead and pick a room. This is my room, obviously. And the one to the left of me is Seungcheol’s. Any other room is available.”

Jisoo looked at the long hallway, not wanting to be too far away from the rest. “Then I’ll just pick that one,” he said, pointing at the room right across from Jay’s.

“Hmm, alright. Go ahead and settle in. You must be tired.”

She lazily put a hand as a wave and went back to her own room.

Jisoo opened the door to his new home and promptly fell asleep.