Mina caught a glimpse of Sana disappearing round the corner just as she burst through the back door. The brown haired girl quickened her pace to catch up with her partner. When she reached the top of the stairs, the girl was already in her room.

Mina sighed and walked towards the fifth door. She gently knocked on the door. 

'Sana? Can I come in?' Mina asked from outside. There wasn't a response but Mina wasn't going to go away just like this. She knows the older girl can't stay mad at her for long. The girl can't stay mad at anyone for long. 

'I'm coming in.' Mina said before twisting the knob and slowly pushing the door open and taking a peep inside, just in case something gets hurled her way. Sana wasn't anywhere in sight but there was a obvious lump under the covers on the bed. Mina smiled and closed the door softly behind her.

'Sana.' called out softly to the lump on the bed. The lump showed no reaction. 

Mina sat down beside Sana's covered figure and patted what seems to be the girl’s shoulder. 

'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried such a dangerous stunt and got you all worried.' Mina said softly. Sana shifted a little under the covers. 

'Forgive me please?' Mina pouted despite the older girl being unable to see her. A soft sigh came from under the blanket and Sana sat up in her bed with slightly dishevelled hair. 

'I'm not angry at you. I was just.. So worried that you might get hurt. No, not hurt. Die. You were freefalling at such a life-threatening height. What if you couldn't fly? What if Dahyun was too slow in catching you? What if-' 'But I'm alright now and you have my word that I won't try doing that ever again.' Mina cut Sana off. She had rested her right hand on the side of Sana's neck, the spot just in front of Sana's ear and resting her other four fingers at the back of the older girl's neck. 

'Worrywart.' Mina teased and smiled at Sana. The girl still had a worried look, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Mina moved her hand up to the girl's eyebrow and gently grazed Sana's skin, smoothening the crease. 

The corners of Sana's lips slowly curved up at the action. The older girl took Mina's hand into hers and rested it on her lap. 

'I'll hold you to that promise. And excuse me but you're the worrywart here.' 

'No I'm not!' 

'Yes.' 

'No.'

'Yes.' 

The playful banter went on just like any other day.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

'Mina, we'll be going on a road trip in a few days.' Jihyo said as she bumped into Mina in the halls. 

'Ah, road trip?' 

'Yep. Has Sana told you about it?' 

'She did say that you guys would go exploring.'

'Ah well it's a tradition passed down from the beginning of the school but we tweaked it a little. We would split into groups and go out into the forest and camp for a few days but also to hunt for objects. Something like scavenger hunting but when the enrolment was cut down to half we just decided to go on a road trip instead of camping. Besides, we'd just be camping in the forest around the outskirts of the mansion.' Jihyo explained. Mina nodded in understanding.

'I should start packing?' Mina tilted her head.

'Take your time. We're leaving the day after tomorrow so you can pack tomorrow and it will be fine too.' Jihyo smiled. 

'Oh okay. Thanks for the heads up.' Mina grinned. 

'No probs. See ya.' Jihyo waved and walked off.

Mina pushed the door to the library open and strolled over to the shelf of Fundamental forces. She then quickly glanced through the content chart by the side for classical elements. 

'CE-F1' she read aloud and looked at the shelf labels. 

'Must be up there.' she mumbled. She walked over to the ladder and pulled it to where the book was and climbed up. She pulled out a book on breath control and another on how to control blue fire. 

Mina carefully climbed back down before going to the kitchen to get a drink. She took two cans of drink from the refrigerator and bumped the door close with her knee. 

'Sana.' Mina called out as she twisted the knob with her elbow. 

'Yap.'

Sana loved the way Mina says her name. It had a distinct tone to it that was different from the way she called the other members but she couldn't place her finger on what. 

'Here.' Mina handed the can of drink to Sana who flashed her pearly whites.

'Thanks. Reading?' 

Mina hummed. 

'Got to get a little better at controlling these blue flames before I burn the mansion down by accident.' Mina joked and Sana laughed.

Mina leaned against the pillows and began reading while Sana watched her. 

'We'll practice tossing icicles later okay?' Mina said and the older girl nodded. 

Mina had most of the key principles of fire bending down so she moved on to the book on how to generate, maintain and control blue fire. 

She turned to the side to look at Sana who was absorbed in scrolling her social media. 

After a while, Mina felt a weight rest on her shoulders and turned to see the crown of Sana's head. The girl had fell asleep and used Mina's shoulder as a pillow. The pyrokinetic placed the book on the bedside table. 

Mina decided to start on the next book till the sleeping girl woke.

The first pyrokinetic ever recorded was in China, somewhere around 7869 BC. It was apparently a gift from the ancient dragons that used to roam the earth's surface. 

It was said that there were a tribe of people that called themselves the Sun warriors. They resided in the mountain tops in a fire temple where the dragons lived. They taught the mutants to manipulate fire with only energy and life in mind. They had a special ritual room that can only be opened if the light rays reflect directly into a gem at the top of the door. 

A special dance was taught to the tribe as well as a way to generate fire instead of taking it from a source. All pyrokinetics were welcomed to train with the dragons and the door was always open.

An attack by the humans’ in an attempt to wipe out the mutants failed and they became wary. They closed the doors and never let anyone train in the compounds unless the dragons found them worthy with pure intentions.

Sana roused from her sleep. 

'Oh you're awake?' Mina smiled and pulled the red ribbon to bookmark the page and set it down on the bed beside her. Sana sat straight and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. 

'Yea. We can go practice now if you want.' 

'Okay.' 

Sana washed her face while Mina made the bed and the pair was on their way to the practice hall. 

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

'Where did you get that?' Sana asked, pointing at the leaf in Mina's hands.

'Oh. I read from the book that this is a good warm up. I'll set the centre of leaf on fire and try to prevent it from reaching the edges for as long as possible.' 

'You could use this to control your blue fire too?' Sana asked.

'Perhaps. That would really train my control.' 

'Let's see how long you can hold it with the orange flames. How about we increase by a minute every time you try it?' 

'Sounds like a plan.' 

Mina centred the leaf in her palm and lit up the centre. She had focused all her attention on the little fire, trying to keep it in the centre. Sana was trying to count and not get distracted by Mina's oddly attractive concentrated face.

The fire lasted for a good ten minutes before the flames reached the edge.

'Well that's pretty decent.' Sana said.

'Certainly was a warm up. I feel pumped now.' 

'Unnie!' a voice echoed around the hall.

'Oh, Tzuyu ah!' Sana exclaimed. 

'Hi.' the youngest smiled. 'Am I disturbing?' 

'Nope, not at all. We were just doing warm ups. You want to join?' Mina offered.

'Can I?' 

The pair nodded.

'Thanks!' 

They started their practice session with some basic techniques. Mina was on offence against the two today.

They then began with some more advanced moves. At first Sana and Tzuyu took turns to attack but then they started to combine powers after a few rounds. 

'Ganging up huh?' Mina asked as she dodged a jet of water.

'You're as strong as the both of us anyway. Makes things more fair and challenging.' Sana replied as she rained ice spikes on Mina who shielded herself into a ball of flame. 

'Challenging. I like it.' Mina smirked and clenched her fist, sending short bursts of flame balls with each punch she delivered. 

Tzuyu had made a ring of water around herself and with one swift move, ed her hands forward, sending a blast of water in the pyrokinetic's direction. Sana extended her hand and the stream of water froze. 

Mina's eyes widened as she saw the chunk of ice sailing through the air. She countered with blue flames but it wasn't enough to melt it all. The ice block hit her in the in the stomach and she fell backwards from the force. 

'Damn..' Mina groaned. Sana slid to Mina's side at a instant along with the younger girl who ran over. 

'You alright? I'm sorry.' Sana pursed her lips, placing a hand on Mina's shoulder. 

'I'm alright. A little block of ice won't kill me. Though it hurts.' the pyrokinetic joked and winced as she sat up. 

'Maybe we should wrap up for today. This is pretty good progress. I mean, at least you could summon and control blue flames with ease now even though it's small.' 

'We all start somewhere unnie. Get some rest. Do you need Chaeyoung to fix you up?' Tzuyu asked and took Mina's right arm to haul her up.

'I think its fine. Probably just a bruise or something.' Mina brushed it off. 

'Alright then. We should really do this again some time. Maybe you two could pair up and I'll get Momo to help me.' Tzuyu clasped her hands in excitement.

'Sure.' Mina smiled and ruffled the hydrokinetic's hair. 

Sana linked her arms with Mina to help the girl even though Mina insisted she was fine.

'Really Sana, it was like a punch to the stomach. No biggie.' 

'Shh, just let me help you geez.' Sana scowled and hugged Mina's arm tighter. 

The pair saw a few gold beams floating in the air down the corridor.

'Slowly now. Be careful of the edges.' a voice ordered and they saw a canvas floating out of the doorway of the corridor. 

'Must be Jihyo. Wonder what they're doing..' Sana wondered aloud.

'Let's see.' 

'Just take the old one down and replace it.' they heard Chaeyoung's voice say.

'This is really nice. Bet you spent a lot of time working on this.' Jihyo said, voice filled with admiration.

'Nah, it only took me a couple months.' the artist expressed humbly.

'What's up?' Mina asked, stopping to watch them work.

'Chaeng just finished a new painting so we're putting this up as replacement for the old one. I think you'll like this.' Momo said as she dusted the old painting off with a gust of wind. 

Jihyo raised her hands and the canvas on the wall lifted slightly, unhooking itself from the nails it had been perched on for the past few years. The telekinetic slowly lowered her hands and the canvas hovered down to the corner where it leaned against the wall. Jihyo turned to the new painting which was being held in the air by Momo's wind sphere. 

The wind dissipated as Jihyo took the canvas and lifted it, hooking it onto the nails. 

'Perfect.' Jihyo crossed her arms and stepped back to admire the art piece. 

'Wow it's really nice Chaeng.' Mina nodded her head in approval. 

The newly installed work had all nine girls, Tzuyu the youngest in the centre and the other pairs around her. Everyone was portrayed with a happy smile on their faces and Mina herself couldn't help but smile. The mood and atmosphere seemed to have been captured perfectly in that painting. 

'I like it.' Sana said quietly from beside Mina, arms still linked.

'Me too.' 

'Sir.' 

'Have you found anything new?' a deep voice asked thickly.

'Yes. There's a new member that joined the academy a few months ago. We have some unconfirmed speculation that she’s a pyrokinetic.' the soldier reported.

'And how do you know for sure?' the voice asked, tapping his fingers on the arm rest.

'We have been monitoring the school. It seems that she was having some sort of pyrokinetic flight training a few days ago.' 

'Interesting.. Continue watching over them as well as the other academy. Report any new findings.' 

'Yes sir.' the soldier bowed and took his leave. 

'A rare pyrokinetic.. This would be fun.' he mused to himself, lips stretching into a devious grin.