A/N: double updated, so make sure you read the last chap too!!

“I told you,” Jimin said. “The next time we saw each other, we’d be dueling.”

Lucy’s lip curls. “I’m saving you for last.”

“Well, I’m not.” Jimin raises his hand above his head, and white-hot chi blazes in a fiery column of power above him. The force causes vicious gusts of wind to whip around the forest; I have to grab my madly-flying hair and wrangle it into some approximation of a ponytail. Out of the corner of my eye, I hear Jin yelling an incantation- when Tom and Jungkook see what he’s doing, they raise their hands up and join in. A lilac-colored bubble envelops us and the overwhelming storm rages on around us as we sit sheltered within this magical barrier.

“I would hate for you to die before we get to fight,” Jimin smiles.

Lucy slaps her palms together and gives Jimin a terrifying sneer. Her figure- which was already glowing- becomes blindingly bright. Shadowy, indecipherable patterns twist within the light of her chi, dissolving and reforming the moment they take shape. It’s a phenomenon I’ve never heard about before- not in books, not at Hado HQ-

“Jesus ,” Jungkook swears. “Tom- Jin- don’t tell me-,”

“Oh my god,” Tom whispers, his face deathly pale.

Jimin’s smile widens. “Oh, Lucy. You didn’t tell me you’d learned shadow magic.”

“Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise,” she simpers in a saccharine-sweet voice. I clap my hands to my mouth as I continue watching her. It is as if her skin is peeling back, cell by cell, and being replaced by dark matter. Lucy is turning into a photo-negative before our eyes.

Jin grabs my hand. There are tears welling up in his eyes, and I almost move to comfort him. Then I realize he’s not crying out of sadness.

He is crying out of pure, unadulterated terror.

“W-We need to get out of here,” Jin stammers. “We need to tell the council-,”

“The barrier over the forest is only held together by our presence,” Jungkook says in a fast, low voice. “We can’t leave. We could be risking Windsong- , maybe even the tri-state area- as a whole-,”

“But Jungkook, this- this is shadow magic-,”

“What is it?” I whisper. “What’s shadow magic?”

Tom, Jungkook, and Jin exchange a long, wide-eyed glance.

“No wonder she’s on stimulants,” Jungkook says quietly. “She wouldn’t be alive otherwise.”

When Jimin and Lucy collide for the first time, the blow sends tumultuous shockwaves throughout the forest. The looming sequoia trees tremble; some of the smaller ones topple to the ground in a messy cacophony of animal shrieks and crushed wood. Jimin whips his hand up and a dozen of the fallen trees rise into the air. With a snap of his hand, they whiz down at Lucy at a breakneck speed. She coolly looks up at the trees- they disintegrate instantly. With a flick of her fingers the furiously thrumming chi around her morphs into an enormous, hulking dragon of magic. It lets out an unearthly screech and races towards Jimin, its red-and-orange exterior giving the clearing the impression of being consumed with flames. I scream- there’s no way he can dodge its speed-

A tremendous ice-blue basilisk lunges at the dragon’s neck in a thundering collision. Its fangs sink into the dragon’s nape as its enormous tail curls around the dragon’s pointed wings. With a painful screech, the dragon thrashes around the clearing, fighting to get the basilisk off its body. Jimin surges forward, aiming jagged streaks of lightning at Lucy’s body. She counters, crushing the earth beneath Jimin and nearly sending him toppling into a sinkhole.

“Look,” Tom gasps, pointing at something behind me. We all turn- and gasp.

The trees are disappearing. Simply fading into thin air. I don’t know how else to describe it. It is as if they are being atomically deconstructed and vanishing. And with alarm, I realize that the same thing is happening to the small animals scurrying around us.

“It’s the shadow magic,” Tom explains darkly. “It out chi from all living things around it. But that includes the wielder. Lucy’s life force is being sapped away by her own power.”

A horrifying thought dawns upon me. I whip around to Jungkook and Jin.

“Are there other magical creatures in this forest? Werewolves? Vampires? Anyone?”

“Don’t worry.” Jin swallows. “We told them all to evacuate to Kado HQ tonight. Said there it was a mandatory security protocol after Jungkook’s mom was attacked.”

Relief washes over me- immediately followed by grief. The animals and the trees had no idea this was coming. They’re innocent and they’re going to die.

“We have amplifiers holding up our barrier. We’ll be safe.” Tom pats me on the back, misinterpreting my sorrow as worry.

“How long is this going to last?” Jungkook murmurs, his eyes glued to Lucy and Jimin’s figures dancing in a breathtaking display of light.

“I don’t know.” Tom shakes his head. “Lucy should be exhausted from her fight this morning. But she’s still going.”

Later, when I’m sitting in an interrogation room surrounded by the entire Hado council, when I’m speaking to a distraught Sofia and Meena, I won’t be able to recount the full details of the fight. This fight would be dissected by magical scholars, studied by aspiring Hado and Kado teenagers, playacted by overzealous toddlers in a sandbox. I am living through history- no, I am a part of it.

But the only thing I can think of for these next few hours is how to bring Jin down from his panic attack; how I can contact anyone on the outside now that our cellphones are fried from the energy in the air; how to stave off the creeping, paralyzing despair that this fight will never end, Jimin will make a mistake that’ll be his downfall and Lucy will destroy him and destroy my friends and destroy the rest of the world.

I never want to face magic again. I never want to see it again. I never want to be trapped like this again.

When my body eventually gives out to exhaustion, I dream of nothing but sliding off the Tappan Zee bridge into the murky waters below. I jerk awake and sink back into sleep in an exhausting cycle until I resign myself to the hell that is consciousness.

Please, Jimin. Please keep fighting.

“When do you think Dev will call the councils?” Jin hiccups through tears.

“We told him to wait for a day,” I whisper, cradling him to my chest. “Just a day. Just a few more hours.”

“I don’t want to do this,” he sniffles. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here.”

“I’ve got you, Jin.” I gently his hair as Tom and Jungkook channel their magic into our barrier, as Jimin sends bullets of chi flying in complex formations towards Lucy, not sparing a moment to wipe away the blood dripping down his temple.

The sky is an unearthly shade of bright orange and plum with inky blue altocumulus clouds oozing over random expanses.

I make the mistake of staring upwards for too long.

Jin follows my gaze and looks up at the sky, too.

His eyes go wide.

“No!” he screams. “We’re in hell!”

Jungkook and Tom whip their heads around to us in alarm. I grab Jin’s middle, attempting to reign him in, but he jams his elbow square in my face. Stars explode in my vision- I reel back, clutching my cheek in pain- Jungkook roars, “Jin, no!”

When my vision re-focuses, I see Jin sprinting towards the clearing, his hands alight with magic. Next to Jimin and Lucy’s furious energy, he looks like a mere matchstick next to two raging infernos.

“No!” I scream, lunging after him, but Jungkook pins me down.

“You can’t!” he yells. There are tears in his eyes. “You’ll die!”

“I don’t care!” I wriggle helplessly under Jungkook’s grip, but he won’t let up. “Tom! Help! We have to stop Jin!”

Tom’s body is shaking with great, heaving sobs. Snot streams down his nose as utter agony pulses in his eyes. But he does not leave the barrier. His hands stay up, pouring chi into our protection.

“No! Jin!” I holler over and over again, desperately slapping at Jungkook. “He’s going to get killed!”

Jin is running towards the middle of the fight, ducking past magical swords and beams of deadly chi. “Both of you, stop!” he yells so loudly we can hear him amidst the chaos. “Jimin! Lucy! Stop it!”

I see Jimin’s eyes widen in astonishment.

“Get out of the way!” Lucy shouts. “This is between me and Jimin!”

Jin sends a puny ray of power at her. She bats it aside like a fly.

“Jimin, please, let’s end this,” he whimpers. “I can’t take this anymore.”

“Get out of the way, Jin,” Jimin growls. “I’m giving you three seconds.”

“Please! Lucy, listen to me! Just come with us-,”

“One,” Jimin says, palms raising. Lucy positions her arms, readying her own blow.

“We- we have to stop this-,”

“Two.” Magic gathers in his and Lucy’s body.

“Don’t attack him, Jimin!” Jungkook roars. “Get him away!”

Jin drops to his knees in front of Lucy. I wonder if she can remember through the drugs that he was her best friend, that they loved each other immensely and managed to become close friends both before and after she had her memories taken from her.

“Lucy- please, I love you, you were my best friend-,”

“Three!”

An inhuman shriek of anguish tears from my throat as Jimin releases a torrent of magical energy. Jin is directly caught in the crossfire. I know without a doubt that he is dead.

“Jimin, you monster!” I wail. “How-,”

The immense magical pressure pushing down on us ceases. All sound abates.

I still.

Jin is lying near the side of the clearing, unconscious but completely unscathed.

Who saved him?

It dawns on me.

I push Jungkook off of me, sprint over to the clearing. Tom and Jungkook are close behind me.

Lucy is lying spread-eagled in the middle of the clearing. Blood seeps out of every crevice of her face- from her lips, her eyes, her nose. Her clothes are already soaked. I notice with a jolt that her blood is black. All traces of the uppers are gone; her skin is translucent and stark-white. She barely looks alive.

Instead of blocking Jimin's attack, she chose to push Jin out of the way instead.

“Do it,” she rasps as Jimin walks slowly to her. “Kill me.”

Jimin is silent. His eyes are locked onto hers- he’s looking at her like she’s the only person he cares about in the world, like everyone and everything else does not matter.

“Does it-,” Lucy lets out a thick, bloody cough. “Does it feel good... to finally beat me?”

The logical part of my brain urges me to get Lucy away from him. He’s going to kill her. He’s going to take her life. Why wouldn’t he? Jimin hates Lucy. He’s hated her since they were kids.

But as I continue watching him, every memory involving him flashes through my mind.

I know that’s not true.

“You’re not going to die,” Jimin utters, his face wrought with exhaustion. He gathers her up in his arms. “Do you understand?”

Lucy struggles to inhale. “Ah. You’re going to... take me to the Kado trial. I suppose I should face justice.”

Jimin looks over at me. “Is the safehouse ready?”

I nod. “Dev got all the supplies we needed from Meena. It’s ready to go.”

“Good. Come to the safehouse in a week. By that point, we’ll be able to see if she’s going to make it.” Jimin stands, about to teleport away, before I grip his arm.

“You were going to kill Jin,” I say in a low, furious voice.

Jimin narrows his eyes. “I knew Lucy would save him-,”

“No, you didn’t. That’s a lie.”

For a few seconds, Jimin merely stares at me with icy-cold, appraising eyes. He still manages to be utterly intimidating despite his fatigue.

“I care more about the greater plan than a liability,” he finally tells me. Then he vanishes before I’ve fully processed what he’s said.