Chapter 6

JUNGKOOK    

Yoongi was sitting on his bathroom floor, staring at Jungkook, who was seated on the sink. “You are so lucky I’m a good friend.”

    “Yeah, yeah. Get on with it, oh so great friend,” Jungkook said back with a grin. The poor boy sitting on the floor sighed loudly, bringing his left hand up towards his sink. Water flowed out of the faucet and hovered over the wooden beam blocking off Jayce’s door. Little by little, Yoongi released the water onto the beam until, five minutes later, it was completely soaked through. He glared at Jungkook.

    “You are a horrible friend. You should learn from me.”

    “Yeah, okay, Yoongi. Thanks for your help.”

    “Whatever, can I go back to sleep now? We have a test in Charms tomorrow, and I’ll need my strength,” Yoongi asked.

    “Sorry, bud. You have to stay awake for when I come back.” Yoongi sighed. This kid.

    Jungkook concentrated on the wood block, freezing it from the inside out. His theory was that if he froze the water in a line inside the block, the water would expand, making the block explode. Yeah, Jungkook was not the most… practical, or stealthy person for the job. The wood block cracked a bit, but it didn’t break off. He let out a disappointed breath. Now what? It’s not like he could keep freezing things -- eventually, the ice would bind the wood together again instead of break it apart. Maybe… “YOONGI!” Jungkook shouted.

    “Oh my god, Jungkook. It’s nine o’clock. Faide could be outside. What are you thinking?” Yoongi said exasperated.

    Jungkook wore a sheepish smile. “Can I borrow a book?”

    “Why?” he replied sarcastically, “Going to sit outside her door and wait until she uses her magical heat powers to burn the wall down?” He sauntered over to his desk and pulled out a dictionary. “Hope it falls on your foot -- I mean, you can always make an ice pack.”

    Jungkook scowled at his friend and marched back to the bathroom. Maybe in this case, powers weren’t that useful. He slammed the book down on the already cracked wooden beam, sending it tumbling to the bathroom floor. “Yes!” he said to himself quietly.

    “Jungkook!” he heard from the other room.

    Shoot.

xXxXxXx

JUNGKOOK

    Jungkook stood in Jayce’s room like the awkward little seventeen year old he was. The girl was slumped over her desk, forehead pressed against her Healing textbook.

“Um…” Jungkook stammered, shuffling his feet, “Um…” Jayce groaned and shifted in her seat, turning her head to face Jungkook. “Hey, new girl? Jayce? Jaaaayce,” Jungkook said.

The girl blinked once, rubbing her eyes a little with the palms of her hands to clear up her vision. She glanced over at the boy standing in front of her bathroom. “Hi, Jungkook.”

“Hi,” he said back timidly.

“ JuNGK--” Jayce began to yell. Jungkook’s eyes widened comically and he waved his hands frantically in front of her face.

“No, no,” he said, “don’t yell.”

“WHAT ARE YOU--” Jungkook slapped a hand over . She gasped in pain and he quickly let go of her, letting out a string of apologies.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry,” he blurted out frantically. Jayce was beginning to feel lightheaded with the pain. felt so hot it burned, but she knew for a fact it was becoming numb from something that felt like frostbite.

Jungkook cradled his own hand, red and raw. Passing his other hand slowly over the angry rash, he muttered to himself under his breath and healed it immediately. Jayce swayed on her feet, black dots appearing in her eyes as the ice spread through the back of her head (magical ice tended to do that). Jungkook shrugged off his jacket quickly and slung it around her, almost like a cradle, being careful not to touch her. He passed his hand over her face and let it heal before lowering her to the ground, sitting down at her desk to wait for her to wake up.

xXxXxXx

JAYCE

“Are you going to explain why you’re in my room after hours?” she asked sharply.

Jungkook shrugged. “I wanted to figure out why we physically harm each other on contact.” Jayce scoffed.

“Well, you harmed me. Did you make a scientific discovery about it?”

“In my defense, I knew you would come to your senses eventually, but I have to admit that you

freaked out longer than I expected you to.” Jayce stood from her seat on the floor and walked to her bed, plopping down on it face down before flipping over to look at Jungkook.

    “How did you heal me? We just started healing class today,” she asked.

    “Well, I’m not a prodigy for nothing,” Jungkook said smugly. At her pointed look, he bit his lip and looked towards the ground again. “I can teach you -- it’s probably a good idea to, since every time we come in contact your body just shuts down.”

    And so, Jungkook and Jayce struck a deal: Jungkook was going to teach Jayce how to heal wounds while they also work on, you know, not causing serious harm to each other. In return, Jayce would let Jungkook help her with her power, thus letting him learn how her power worked.

    “I promise I’m not trying to kill your family,” Jayce said.

    “As if you could,” he replied. “So, when do we start?”

xXxXxXx

JAYCE

    “I hate you,” Jayce stated as she layed down on her back in the middle of the field.

    “Come on, get up,” Jungkook said. In his hand was an apple, heavily bruised and split open. “You have to fix the apple if you want to fix, well, a human.”

    Jayce glared at him through her mess of hair. “I sincerely doubt that a human is like an apple, Jungkook.” He shook his head and only held out his palm, the bruised apple delicately placed on it. In a flash, a blue light washed surrounded the apple, tendrils weaving in and out of the holes punched in it. Jungkook bent down and placed a perfect apple on Jayce’s forehead. She crossed her eyes, “You’re a magician.”

    “Please never call me a magician again. Now get up.” he replied. Jayce lazily stuck her arm in the air, silently asking for a hand up. Jungkook raised his eyebrows. “I’ll help you up once you can heal the severe burns that it comes with.” She moaned and pushed herself onto her elbows.

    “Why do we have to do this?” she asked tiredly. The boy bent down and lightly poked her ankle with the tip of his finger, causing both of them to recoil slightly. Jungkook healed himself with a wave of his hand, and Jayce could practically feel his judgement from where she was sitting, struggling with healing just a dot of pain.

    “Focus,” he said testily. “Just imagine it being gone, kind of like you’re erasing it.” She bit her lip and focused harder, closing her eyes. She imagined herself doing what Jungkook did earlier, blue liquid just flowing out of her hands and onto her leg. Nothing happened.“Oh, just let me do it,” he said exasperated.

    “...I could’ve done it.”

    “Yeah, okay, Jayce.”

xXxXxXx

JAYCE

    “I really hate you,” Jayce muttered.

    “This is becoming a habit, you know,” Jungkook replied. With his gloved right hand, he grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet. “Up, try it again.”

    “I can’t,” Jayce pleaded. It had been a week since the last meeting with Jungkook, and, although she couldn’t exactly heal things yet, Jayce was improving.

    “Come on, Jayce. It’s just an apple,” Jungkook encouraged. Well, yes, it was an apple. But no, it was not an apple. It was a beat up, torn up, bruised apple that Jayce now had to restore to perfect condition.

    She glowered at him, saying, “no, it’s not. Don’t tell me it’s an apple, pretty boy.” Jungkook rolled his eyes but said nothing, only gesturing towards the apple again.

    “Let’s go. You’re not going to improve unless you try,” he said. Jayce groaned, pulling herself together and taking a deep breath. Her insides felt on fire and her legs felt weak, but her mind was clear. Her shoulders slumped in lassitude; Suddenly, she straightened, pulled her shoulders back, and, with her head held high, tried again.

JUNGKOOK

    Jungkook had to give it to this girl -- she was determined. It had been probably an hour on the practice field with no discernable improvement other than the fact that she wasn’t breathing as hard as usual. She picked up the apple and stared at it defiantly. Jungkook had to choke back a laugh.

    “Are you okay?” she asked. You see, Jungkook wasn’t good at holding back laughter, and unfortunately looked a bit like a choking seal.

    “Y-yeah,” he sputtered before composing himself. “Go ahead.” Jayce turned her attention back on the apple and concentrated, but nothing happened. “Remember, imagine it healing -- imagine your power covering it like a blanket, and when the blanket gets pulled off, everything’s fine again.”

    “So like a magic trick,” she said.

    “Yeah, kinda.”

    “So you are a magician!”

    “Focus, Jayce,” he sighed, putting a hand on his forehead.

    “Right, right, sorry,” she muttered, closing her eyes again. Focus, Jungkook thought, trying to will her to succeed through telepathy (which was not his power, sadly). Letting out a frustrated groan, she opened her eyes, dropping her arm to her side. “It’s not working! How do you get the blue layer of light? I just don’t get it--” she began to rant.

    “Wait!” Jungkook cut her off. “What have you been trying to do?”

    She looked at him like he was insane and said, “fix this stupid unfixable apple, of course. What did you think we were doing?”

    “No, no, I know that -- what exactly were you trying to do in order to fix the apple?”

    “Um… just imagining what you did? Like the blue layer of whatever makes up your power?” she replied hesitantly.

    Jungkook clapped his hands together so loudly Jayce jumped back. Her failure (repeated, repeated failure) suddenly all made sense. “I’m such an idiot!”

“Yes, I know…”

“You’re fire, Jayce,” Jungkook said, gracefully ignoring her, “Imagine a red layer of power, not a blue. Usually, I think a blue would actually work,” he thought aloud, beginning to pace back and forth. Jayce was still watching him like he was crazy (which he probably was, to be completely honest). “Except, since you’re fire, your power is so vastly different from ice that trying to emulate my power wouldn’t work--”

    “Okay.”

“Go ahead, try again!” he said excitedly. She held the apple up again, and Jungkook almost felt bad for her, the way her eyes were drooping closed. After a long day at school and an hour of training (which was more than it sounded), how tired she felt was unthinkable. Red light enveloped the already red apple, making it glow in the dimming light of the evening.

Jayce suddenly collapsed on the ground, dropping a halfway fixed apple on the ground next to her. Alarmed, Jungkook ran to her and knelt on the ground. He placed his gloved hand on her wrist. “Oh,” he said, relieved, “she’s just passed out. Okay, okay, okay…” he trailed off, muttering to himself. He ran to her discarded jacket on the bleachers nearby and grabbed it, returning to place it over her. He wasn’t that worried; she’d wake up eventually. All he had to do was wait.

It wasn’t the most ideal schoolboy fantasy; He was sitting on a practice field with an empty stomach next to an unconscious classmate whom he had to watch over but try not to accidentally kill her. But, if it kept his family and him safe, he would do it every day.

AN:

Well, there it is. Last full chapter. I’m so sorry, guys. I don’t think you guys know how bad I feel about disappointing even one person out there. The mini summary is up for those of you who just want to know what would happen.

--aperfectworld