Chapter XV "House of Trials"   

"If you say that and leave, you think I'll be fine?" ~ iKON 'Airplane'   

 “Lieutenant Mikey, what kind of allegation is this?” The same woman with aquatic and sandy blond hair spoke.

“Mikey, you of all people should know that accusing as Master is no joke.” A man, his hair was ash brown and his eyes were like a sun set. His translucent skin was like lava running through his body. He looked at Minyoung with disbelief and disappointment.

“It’s because she is Mikey, we should know she isn’t joking. There must be a reason father.” A boy, his hair crimson red stood up and yelled above the crowd.

“Just because she is my daughter, doesn’t mean I can’t question it.” The man retorted.

“She isn’t joking Master Rider, and I support her and so does Chief Sehun.” Junhoe took a stand, and so did Sehun.

“Father, trust me. Once Master Blaze sees the allegation, even he won’t be able to tell you I’m joking,” Minyoung spoke, her hand gripping Jungkook’s arm. The boy felt the nerves, the shaking feeling and the fear flush right out of him. Their touch, their simple protection was enough to get him to calm down.

“Very well, Mikey Reaper. Let’s see what allegations you have against me.” His voice, his melodious and sweet voice was slightly cold and intimidating. It was him, there was no longer any questioning that he was Jin.

The room full of whispers shunned. No more whispers questioning if it was the work of darkness, no more questioning what was going on.

“Master Blaze has been accused of committing a crime to this fellow victim. In order for this trial to continue, we must know who this victim is. So daughter, drop the shield and let him introduce the charges,” the man spoke. Hearing him say daughter once again, Jungkook knew he is Minyoung’s parent Phoenix, the Master of Fire.

“We will not drop the shields just yet, but please don’t break them.” They all looked slightly offended at her request. “This case needs to be handled with ease, you know what to do,” Minyoung spoke, her voice softening when he directed it towards Jungkook.

Her hand creasing his forearm in encouragement as the boy stepped forwards. He took a deep breath and took a shaky step forward.

“Up to about a week ago, I considered myself human. But apparently it all changed when I meet you Master Blaze.” His voice was more stable than he had imagined, it was firm and very confident. He dropped his face, briefly took off his glasses and pulled the hat off. He looked up, his black hair falling onto his eye sight. “I’m Jeon Jung Kook.”

There were whispers and people yelling at Minyoung for bringing a human. But Jungkook picked up his head and saw him. The face of such a confident and cool boy, was falling. His snowy white hair suddenly regained that familiar rich coco brown tone. His eyes that resembled cracked ice suddenly lost their snowy coldness and became warm brown. The same brown eyes he remembered seeing every day for years.

“Kookie,” he whispered, his voice soft and broken. His skin became less translucent and full of life. It was as if something happened inside of him. The Jin he remembered was suddenly appeared before his eyes as if he was asleep inside that body.

“Jin,” he spoke. Jungkook’s anger seemed to wash away as if it was never there. The warmness he usually felt around Jin returned and embraced him so deeply he forgot where he even was.

“Master Blaze, you are accused of saving a human from near death and turning him into what he is right now, a Mortal Phoenix.” The eruptions begun again, as if that simple statement was a trigger to chaos. Jin, the human like Jin that Jungkook remembered was in front of him. The boy had tears in his eyes as he was forcing himself to stay seated in that tall seat of interrogation. But he couldn’t, he jumped off before anyone can even tell him to stay seated.

“Kookie, I’m so sorry but he wouldn’t let me. The Master didn’t let me go back to you,” he spoke, the boy running so fast that Jungkook had to feel the hot tears against his neck to realize Jin was hugging him.

“Silence,” Minyoung shouted, her voice firm and echoing in the hall. Jungkook was in shock, not knowing what was going on. Confusion was no longer a way to describe what he thought and how he felt.

The room turned silent at command. Jungkook felt a lump on his throat as Jin kept whispering apology after apology. Something was up, even he knew that much. And that feeling of not knowing why Jin seemed like a different person minutes before kept him from lashing out at the boy.

“You mean to tell us that this boy is part Phoenix?”

“Daughter, I repeat you must not joke around like this.”

“Listen, didn’t they just say the case must be handled with ease.” The same boy who defended Minyoung stepped up again, and the room hushed.

“We all know the nature of the Phoenix Soul, it sleeps for a brief moment in its life and the original soul of the host body awakens. The Ice soul fell asleep, and it was Blaze’s soul that woke up, just like it happened right now. Blaze forced the Ice soul asleep and right now he is the one before us,” Junhoe spoke, the room whispering and amazed at what was being said.

Jungkook felt Jin loosed his grip around his body and the boy stepped back slightly. He looked exactly as he remembered and nothing like how he looked minutes before. It was like two different people.

“Blaze fell in love with Jungkook, and when the boy was losing his life in a fire, he tapped into the Ice soul and transferred part of the Ice Phoenix’s power into Jungkook. Thus, Blaze created a Mortal Phoenix. After the transfer was done, the Ice Soul re-awoke and forced Blaze to sleep for years, not letting him see Jungkook and not letting him acknowledge that a Mortal Phoenix even exists,” Junhoe spoke, his voice confident and assured. This was the theory he was been writing, the idea he has been thinking about and now it was confirmed.

Jungkook felt a lump in his throat. Jin didn’t leave him, he was forced to leave. There was a soft whisper coming out of Jin’s lips as the boy finally picked up his face.

“I’m so sorry Kookie, I should have tried harder. I couldn’t bear to see you die, I’m so sorry.” His voice was soft and cracking. He was in such a deep emotion that Jungkook felt a shiver up his spine. Pain and guilt consumed Jin, and all the boy did was take a step back for Jungkook to see how shook he was.

“Master Blaze, you have defined all laws of nature. As law states, one must do everything and anything to keep alive a human in our care. You did as the law follows, but the damage is still done. Jungkook stands before you, ready to take on the role of a Mortal Phoenix with conditions.” Minyoung drew back all the attention the room turned oddly cold at the pure silence.

“Daughter, Lieutenant Junhoe and Chief Sehun, what is it you want?” The man spoke, his ashy brown hair being ruffled as he was so frozen in shock at the situation unrolling before them.

“It’s not them who wants something, its me.” Jungkook’s voice echoed in the room. Everyone looked at him in shock, even him because he wasn’t supposed to say anything. He took a deep breath and he could feel the shield thinning and being taken down.

“What is it you want Jungkook?” A woman spoke, her hair was grey a very nice shade of gray that complimented her silver eyes. She looked a lot like Jiwoo, she must be the Master of Wind. Jungkook could just see the tornado coded in her translucent skin.

“I want to be able to protect the ones I care about. I was attacked twice and one of them involved my best friend being hurt. I want to learn it all, be part of both worlds. I want to be a part of the Death Siders, the team that I want to be my protectors and my teachers.” There was interest being picked at as Jungkook looked at Jin. The boy looked at him, his warm brown eyes drowning in guilt and tears as Jungkook didn’t even show any emotion in his face.

“Since he is human, and law states we must protect them and make them happy, we suggest a Light Gate only the council can access. He will be under constant supervision in the human world by us and Chief Sehun’s pack. He wishes to travel back and forth until the reincarnation of his friend Yugyeom,” Junhoe spoke, his body heat radiating as he stood right next to Jungkook.

“Very well. Chief Sehun, please Jungkook in the Light Office, the council will discuss the matter and come up with the decision as well as punishment.” The woman with sandy blond hair spoke.

“Follow me,” Sehun said, his head held high as he looked at Jungkook with assuring eyes. Duty calls for Minyoung and Junhoe, two members of the council, but he was not going to leave him.

Time felt like it froze and all Jungkook kept thinking was what he was going to ask. He wanted to converse with Jin and just get the real answers he wanted, but it seemed like those answers were no longer biting his neck and grabbing his attention.

“You want to know why there was a shift in souls, don’t you?” he whispered, his voice soft and becoming lost in the office. A circle table with five chairs were enclosed by walls filled with books. The room was lit very brightly as everything, apart from the books, was made of white metal.

“The Phoenix soul and Jin’s soul are two different people?” He asked, his mind rotating around all of this soul speak without understanding it.

“When the Phoenix Master needs to be reincarnated, it is the soul that is reincarnated. The Ice Soul to be exact. Jin was chosen as the host body, his soul, the soul that makes him Jin was put to sleep. This will allow the Ice Soul of the Phoenix to take over. The Ice Soul knows everything and everyone Jin knew but he isn’t Jin. He has a different personality and rationality,” Sehun spoke, his words putting Jungkook at ease as he looked at the door, waiting for it all to end.

There were a couple of things that he could assume in the matter, from the little that Jin had whispered in sobs into his ear, to what his heart told him was right.

One, Jin saved him knowingly that the power will become a burden and become very hard to deal with, but Jin was prepared to protect him and not let the power take away his human life.

And two, the boy did regret his solution because he never intended to leave and have him hurt this badly. And if he had to give up his own life to make Jungkook normal again, he would.

He assumed this much, but he still wanted a full reassurance about whether he is right or wrong. After a dreadful fifteen minutes passed by, Sehun was escorting him back through the hallway and back into the court room. He stared at Jin, feeling angry yet forgiving. He didn’t want to hate him, he simply wants Jin himself to look him in the eye and explain what happened and how he planned to fix it.

 “Verdict, has always been given in the arena, in front of the academy. But this verdict will be heard first here, then again in the verdicts of the Japanese Coalition.” The woman with sandy hair stood up, her voice roaring above all. Jungkook let go of a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

As if an order was given, all the members of the council stood up at the same time. Jungkook looked around, not knowing what to do.

“The case we’ve titled Jungkook vs. the Ice, has come to its final verdict. The case is a silent and emergency case and the matter shall not be spoken to until Sunday afternoon,” a man spoke, his skin looked like he had bright purple veins all throughout his body, the Master of Lightning.

“We the council find Master Blaze guilty of turning a human into a Mortal Phoenix. Under the law, he did everything to protect this fellow human, Jungkook, but in the process caused pain to that same human.” Jin hung his head low as he heard the man with ashy brown hair speak.

“Verdict is as follows. You must all treat this boy as equal, because he will be training and learning with us all. He is given the chance to live in both worlds and will be under the protection of the Death Sider team. Protection for him and his family and love ones is the council’s number one priority otherwise we will be breaking the law,” the Master of Water spoke, her sandy blond hair glowing brightly under the moonlight.

“We will grant him the Light Door, which will only be accessed by the Master and the ten beings in the council. The access will be granted only to those beings, out of the ten, who are willing to protect Jungkook and his family at any cost. We will not hold it against you Lieutenants that don’t want to stretch yourselves that thinly,” the woman with soft gray hair and windy translucent skin spoke. Her voice soft and assuring, she reminded him so much of Jiwoo.

“As for punishment, Jungkook will decide. Master Blaze will either be bounded to him and protect him at all costs, even over his Phoenix duties or embed a temporary mark on him, so whenever Master Blaze causes pain to a human again, he’ll feel their pain,” the voice of the Fire Master roared above all.

The moment Jungkook was able to decipher what was just said, he felt the options weighing at both sides of his shoulders. He didn’t want punishment for Jin. But something stood out to him about that verdict. If Jin was the one who was bounded to him, would that mean the Ice Soul would be put to sleep?

“That is exactly what it means Jungkook, we thought the absence of Blaze is what hurt you the most,” the Master of Wind spoke, her windy silver eyes looking at him with warmth and assurance.

“Rather than it being a punishment, I want him to pay back to me all the time he wasn’t there. I don’t ask for all of his time, but only with things I find difficult learning. I ask for the first option with the only change being, he can’t ignore his duties. That is all I ask.” His voice was soft yet it was very confident.

The four masters looking at him with a soft smile and eyes that showed they understand where he was coming from. They worry the most about his wellbeing, they didn’t really care what option he chose, but the one who made him happy.

“As Punishment, Master Blaze will be bounded to Jungkook and must protect him to the extent of his ability and availability. Take this as a warning, his existence is a break through and we should expect a response from the dark forces. So, keep your guard up, everyone,” the Master of Fire spoke, his voice and eyes gliding across the entire crowd.