Chapter 27

"Sensei, do I really need to meet her?"

Jessica stopped on her track at the worried voice behind her. She smiled, bending her knees to level herself with the young girl following her and her hair. The girl pouts, though she still leans herself to the older Anihuman's soft touch.

"Why, are you afraid?"

The girl is hesitating as she meets the elder's eyes. "Won't she be angry at me?"

Jessica shook her head. "If anything, she'd be grateful at you."

"Will she, really?" a shudder went through the girl's small body. "She was sooo scary back then! Isn't she scary now, too?"

That earns a laugh from Jessica. "Oh, don't worry! Taeyeon's the sweetest person you'll ever meet. Besides, if she tries anything funny you can just re-seal her again and she'll be knocked out for good."

Seeing that her pupil only lowers her head, Jessica pulled the younger Anihuman into a hug and places a soft kiss to her temple. "It's alright. I'm with you. We'll be fine."

After she's sure that the young girl won't object any longer, Jessica took the girl's hand in hers, rubbing calming circles to her knuckles and tugs the girl with her. Silence engulfed them as they walk the corridors of the Silver Moon castle, intact until they arrive at a massive door adorned with gold. Jessica knocked twice to announce her arrival, and as a soft voice answered her, she slowly pushes the door open with her free hand.

Taking the sight bared before her, Jessica can't help the fond sigh to escape her parted lips. Her eyes twinkle in longing and her heart aches but she also can't help the snark that formed in her mind.

"So this is how a dying lizard looks like."

"Shut up, you."

Propped with pillows on the bed across the room is a pale, thin, sickly small woman. There are tubes connecting her body to the various medical machines around her. The IV fluid drips in a leisure pace, following the steady beeping sound of the heart monitor on the bedside shelf. The bubbles of oxygen add echoes to fill the wide room. The woman, despite her words, smiled weakly at the two approaching females. She forces her arm to comb her disheveled black-blue locks behind her ear, uncovering two calm green orbs shining in delight.

"It's been a while, Sica-ah," the woman raised her hand to Jessica's direction. The avian Anihuman caught her message quickly and she intertwined their fingers together, relishing in the way the woman before her laughs tiredly.

"It's been a while, indeed, Taengoo."

Taeyeon laughs again, then coughs because her lungs aren't strong enough to support her after her two eras romp. But she keeps her smile even after quite a violent cough tore through and grips Jessica's hand harder. She closes her eyes for a few minutes, letting her two visitors settle on the chairs littered around her bed.

"Thank you," the Dragon whispers after a while, voice not much louder than the machine sounds surrounding her.

Jessica leaned closer. "What for?"

"You saved my life," Taeyeon opens her eyes, and the calm green from before changed to honey-like golden, mirroring her appreciative and grateful heart. "Words are not enough to express how much it means to me."

"I simply did what I have to do," Jessica smiles. Her other hand reaches back to the young girl curiously ­(and slightly fearfully) watching the two women interact with each other. The girl yelped when Jessica pulled her to the spotlight, immediately bowing to Taeyeon who raises her eyebrows. "And truthfully, I was not the one saving your back then."

The Dragon smiles knowingly. She unlatches her fingers from Jessica's to touch the young girl's cheek, gesturing for her to raise her head. She smiles wider when the girl looks at her with a terrified stare, obviously afraid of her power despite her current condition. "Don't be afraid. I won't bite."

The girl nods hurriedly, seemingly eased at the way the Dragon touches her softly and the way she smiles. The color in Taeyeon's eyes swirls into brilliant blue as her happiness soar at the young girl's reaction to her. Tapping the girl's cheek softly, Taeyeon chuckles.

"What's your name?"

The girl beamed. "Jung SinB."

Taeyeon did not miss the eye-roll from Jessica. But she chose to ignore it to focus fully on the girl with the black-blonde hair. "You are really strong. I could not convey how much I am grateful to you for the thing you've done to me. You saved my life. For that, I am eternally indebted to you. There's nothing I could do to pay you back for the life you've given to me."

SinB looks at Jessica, apparently not understanding the gravity of Taeyeon's sentence. But Jessica only raises her eyebrows and snickers, so SinB turned to Taeyeon with a pout. "You're saying such big words. I don't understand. But I'm glad that you're okay. Sica-sensei's happy so I'm happy for you both."

"Your happiness is mine, SinB," Taeyeon giggles, and it somehow sparked SinB's giggle as well.

Just then, Jessica runs her hand through SinB's hair, catching the younger girl's attention. "Told'ya she's not scary."

SinB beamed and giggled to Taeyeon. "She's not. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, a lot of people do think that I am scary when all they've seen is my Dragon form," Taeyeon chuckles. She caught Jessica making a strange look at her and immediately understands, patting SinB's head for more than necessary. "Hey, SinB. As much as I would like to talk to you... can you give us some private time? I need to talk with Jessica."

The young girl seems crestfallen at that, for she genuinely grows to like Taeyeon, but she nods nonetheless. "Okay. I'll be outside with Sunny-sshi."

She then walks back to the hall, waving before she completely vanishes and closes the door with a soft click. The two Anihumans left did not need to strain their ears to listen to the hurried footsteps behind the closed door, only heaving a sigh when the squeaks of sports shoes disappeared for good.

"Sensei?" Taeyeon was the first to restart their conversation, blue eyes had changed into mischievous orange as Jessica shook her head.

"I don't know how she's so hellbent on calling me that. Saying that 'Seongsaenim' is too damn long for her liking."

"It is quite long, yes. My students refused to call me that, too," the Dragon smiles. "I'm quite surprised that the renowned Ice Princess Jessica Jung Sooyeon found and decided to take an apprentice."

"I didn't," Jessica shook her head, eliciting a confused 'oh?' from the woman before her. "She found me. It was also not my decision to take Eunbi with me."

Taeyeon raised her eyebrows. "Eunbi?"

It took a few seconds for Jessica to realize her mistake. "Whoops, forgot to tell you. Her real name was not Jung SinB. It was Hwang Eunbi."

"Why did she change her name?"

Jessica shrugged. "She said she wants to have my surname as her surname and that she hates the word Eunbi with burning passion. She was also stubborn on wanting a name similar to mine so we kinda settled on SinB."

"That's cute," giggling, the Dragon once again found her grip on Jessica's hand. "She takes a lot from you."

"I get that people are saying that we look similar but honestly?" the avian Anihuman just sighs. "She's so not like me. She's stubborn, impish, beyond annoying and it's outright exhausting having to deal with her for even only a day."

"Yet you put up with her," Taeyeon smiles again. Eyes once again changing into knowing pink at her companion's smirk.

"You know, the only thing I'm grateful for your ever-changing eyes is that because those mirrors your heart without fail," the falcon stated easily, leaning back to her seat with her hand not leaving Taeyeon's.

"Well I don't need your eyes to change colors because I could understand your feelings already."

"."

"Don't have any. Too skinny now."

The two laugh, easily drifting into the flow they were before the life-changing event two eras ago. Taeyeon and Jessica, Jessica and Taeyeon, best friends, partners, and even more so than that, simply enjoying each others' presence. Taeyeon's eyes were warm as they meet Jessica's gaze, and the Dragon giggles when the falcon grins at her.

"I miss you."

"No. We miss you, idiot. You were basically mindless for the last two years."

Taeyeon nods. "You're right."

"I always am."

"."

"Bigger than yours, apparently."

It exhausts her whole energy to flick her fingers to the younger girl's forehead, but the tiny yelp made by Jessica worth every hassle.

"You haven't told me how you met SinB."

"Honestly?" Jessica sighs, settling further to her seat in a comfortable position. She feels the Dragon's curious yellow follows her and closes her eyes. "Do you know about the civil war happened at the border of EXO and BTS region? It stopped last era but I guess you at least know about it because it spans for three whole eras."

Taeyeon nodded. "I remember. It was because of the terrorist organization from outside the K-continent, am I right?"

"Yes," confirming, Jessica hummed to recall the events happening at the border. "Okay, so when the council exiled me, I decided that I might as well use the banishment to take a look over other regions anonymously. At least, well, until one of BoA-sshi's henchmen found me strolling the EXO region hunting for some food. They chased me out of the region and I was driven to the border between EXO and BTS, because apparently that was the nearest K-con exit gate from where I was standing. But then I passed the border, and those hunters stopped following me. I thought I lost them but then, bam! Civil war happening."

Taeyeon listens with rapt attention, a bit pained because she knows that her friend has to went through that because of her.

"I kinda got caught in one of the skirmishes between the citizens at the border. Though I snapped out of it fast and I was just– hell, nah, ain't gonna got into this mess again. So I sneaked out of the battlefield to the exit gate. I was just trying to pass the border unharmed and unnoticed when I saw her."

"SinB?"

The falcon nodded. "She– I don't know what happened, but she was just... there. You know. Sticking out like a sore thumb. People– those who were fighting, ignored her completely. Even when she was literally standing in the middle of the battlefield. I remember her clearly, looking so lost yet also so very calm, staring at me as if she was waiting. Waiting for me to approach her."

Jessica paused for a while. "So I did. I went to her, asking if she was okay. I thought she was looking for her parents because, well, what else would a child do in a war? Either her parents dead or she was someone scouted right from child-slavery. But you know what? The moment I met her eyes, it was– I was at lost for words, that day. Her eyes are usually brown, but that day... it was the color of the rainbow, always swirling dizzyingly– just like yours, but, more... peculiar. She took my hand, saying things like 'we've been waiting', and the moment I tried to run away, I out."

Taeyeon shifted, careful of the tubes on her body to prop herself on her free arm. "What happened?"

"I know my story so far is beyond confusing, but prepare yourself because it's going to be even outrageous from now on," grimacing, the falcon started rubbing circles on Taeyeon's knuckles. "When I woke up, I was literally floating, surrounded by clouds all around me."

"No kidding."

"It's true, Taengoo! You won't believe me when I say but then a man came to me and told me that they've been waiting for my arrival! You won't understand just how confused I was that day. And even more so when that man introduced himself–" Jessica took a deep breath, as if preparing herself for some mind-blowing revelation. "–as Eric Mun."

"Eric..." Taeyeon gasps. "No way."

"Yes way."

Taeyeon looks appalled, unbelieving as she reclines on her bed. "But... but he is supposed to be–"

"Mythical, I know," Jessica nods, hurriedly, trying to convince Taeyeon about her extraordinary tale. "But real. I promise you, Taengoo. It's real. The Shinhwa Region is real, Eric Mun is real, it was no myth. SinB is the living proof of it. She's Eric Mun's youngest daughter who he wishes to journey the Ani-world."

"But how? Why?" Taeyeon pauses. "Why you? Why us?"

"Because we are the current strongest ruler in the whole Ani-world," the falcon explains grimly. "They've been watching us for a long time. They were the one doing this to all of us. They were the one who convinced Mistral to use the Saeva poison to destroy you. They gave it to them, Taengoo! They were the one who made you berserk!"

Taeyeon was beyond horrified.

"So I went berserk, almost killing all of you, making Tiffany suffer because of my excess power, having you banished from the K-con.... all because some kind of a demigod wanted his daughter to... descends to the Aniworld."

"Indeed."

"Does the other know?"

"Eric only allowed me to tell this to you. Who knows what he would do if I disobey him. I ain't gonna challenge a myth like him."

The Dragon nods.

"Okay."

A sigh.

"Okay."

"You can't imagine how angry I was that day," shaking her head, Jessica tightens her grip on Taeyeon's hand who solemnly closes her eyes. "If only I was strong enough, I would have ripped his face off. Then he told me that he and his fellow Shinhwa ruler deemed me worthy to take his daughter down. I refused, of course. I mean, why the hell should I accept? They destroyed us, for 's sake!"

Taeyeon only scoffs.

"But, yeah, mere mortal like me can't have any words with them. One moment I had his collar in my fist, the next moment, I'm back at the battlefield with only SinB staring confusedly at me," Jessica sighs again, heavier this time. "I... I have had half a heart to leave her alone, Taengoo. To let her die and rot at the border of EXO-BTS Region."

A soft rubbing on her palm surprised Jessica. She cast a glance to the Dragon who only smiles a knowing smile with the hue of pink returned to her eyes.

"But you didn't."

Jessica let out a strangled moan. "She was nine, Taengoo. NINE. And when I asked her why, she didn't know. All she know was that her father wanted her to leave their region, to live down here, with us, with me, until the day she die."

"So she was... in a word, banished as well."

"Sadly? Yes," the falcon nods, her expression gloomy. "I can't leave her alone once I know that, Taengoo. I still hate her and the Shinhwa Region, though, so I kinda ignore her even if I let her follows me around. She hates me when she first arrived, too, mostly because she was saddened by the fact that she was forced to leave her home."

Taeyeon hums. "What made you warmed up to her?"

"Exposure, I guess?" Jessica shrugged. "I spent my days with her and her alone. If I want to talk to someone, the only one I could talk to was her. So I... we... somehow warmed up to each other. I made her my support, and so was she. We depended on each other. There was no one else for us. So we decided that we should try to become at least associates. I taught her to survive, so she won't be a burden to me if we were forced to fight other Anihumans. Time passed, though, and along the way we became so used to each other to the point of her starting to ask to change her surname to mine and calling me sensei."

"And for you to think of her as your apprentice," smiling, the Dragon has her eyes turning to crescent when her partner nods.

"Maybe a little bit more than that," Jessica giggles fondly at the remembrance of the girl with the blonde streak.

"I'm glad that you at least had your comfort in the two eras when I was gone," Taeyeon let her grip go to reach at the glass of water on the bedside counter, sipping it carefully with Jessica's eyes not once leaving her. "What made you return?"

"Oh I wasn't about to!" Jessica let out a boisterous laugh. "Okay, look, I literally was about to spend my entire life walking around aimlessly with SinB in tow, but we were at the R-continent when we met a berserk."

Taeyeon raises an eyebrow. "And?"

"And well, I was trying to save my back then, but SinB just suddenly went to a trance, mumbling some kind of a spell and summoned some magic circle that trapped the beast... and the berserk lost all its power then turned back normal."

Jessica is shaking her head now, as if she herself is not fully believing of what did her apprentice do. "So of course, the first thought that came to my mind was how she should be able to turn you normal! I asked whether she can do it again and maybe bigger and stronger and she– she–"

The falcon wheezes. "She just looked at me incredulously and said–"

"Of course I can. That was basic magic called The Flower of Paradise. My Dad've been teaching me that for my whole life. Are there no magic manipulation in this lower world? You guys are seriously pathetic."

"I smacked her after that, of course, no one's gonna ridiculed my world even if she is some kind of a demigod's daughter. I reconfirmed that with her and she chased some other berserk to convince me. Then the next thing we do was that we packed up, I called Sunny only to know that your new challengers are on the way to hunt you down, and she asked your prodigy –what was her name?– to teleport us here and put an end to it all."

Taeyeon chuckles, enjoying the way Jessica narrates to her animatedly. When the falcon finally comes to a stop, she wipes a single tear that escapes her eye and lets out a happy sigh.

"I guess it all paid off in the end."

"Maybe Eric Mun was not that bad," Jessica commented, nodding her head. "Maybe he chose this harsh way because he know that his daughter is more than able to heal you. As the payment for my patience? Who knows? I mean, all we were told in this 'lower world' was that The Flower of Paradise is a literal flower, not a magic spell. Heck, that was sooo misleading."

"SinB can basically heal every berserk Anihuman there are, then?"

"Nah, I don't think she's up to the task. Maybe when she's older and stronger."

"But she said she was afraid of me because I was scary."

"You were hideous back then. Maybe that what made her afraid of you."

"Maybe, maybe," the Dragon giggles for another few second, returning to staring at her companion who now has her lips widen in a giddy smile. "So you'll stay, Sica?"

Jessica was quick to turned back gloomy at the question. "No. IU knows I'm here and she's been sending messages nonstop to make sure that my presence is still hidden from the eyes of the council. If leader BoA knows that I'm here, we're doomed. I ain't gonna make us anymore trouble than necessary, Taengoo."

Despite her disappointment, Taeyeon knows better than to be stubborn. She accepted with a heavy heart, simply providing her support by tugging the younger girl to lean closer so she can hugs her. Jessica smiles, circling her arms around the older's back and pats her shoulder blades softly.

"I thought we might train the girls together again. Just like old times."

The falcon chuckles.

"We can't. But I'll still be here until the end of the week."

When their hug broke, Taeyeon has her eyes glassy with tears.

"We'll meet again, someday. I promise we will. Once I stepped down. Once SM Region is not ours anymore. Once we're free. I'll find you. We'll find each other. Always."

"You always make such great promises," Jessica laughs a breathless laugh, having her own tears b at the edge of her eyes. "And I always believe in it."

Taeyeon sniffles, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to prevent her tears from pouring down, letting the younger girl buries her face to her shoulder and pulls Jessica tighter against her body.

"And I promise that you can hold on to it."

To be continued...