CHAPTER SIX: CONSEQUENCES

[This chapter would be back to solely English due to demand, and I will revise the other chapters to only be in English so everyone can read it. Thank you :>]

[Winter.]

“I suggest that you be given to the authorities, Jimin.” Joohyun unnie says, and I widen my eyes as I desperately look at Ate Seulgi who I expect to try and stop her wife from what she is thinking, but my heart slowly sinks as I realize that she is only staring at the ground—her wife and her had probably agreed that the solution for the current problem that we have would be this.

“What you did is considered a crime, according to the contract that you had with the Kim Family before you were terminated due to Winter being exiled here, and also according to the Powerborne Organization’s rules.” She says, and I stare at Yooji who only looks at the woman in front of her, and even with the limiters on I could feel a slight hint of anger upon her—why is she angry at Seulgi unnie’s wife when I know that they had never met before?

And how could they even know each other when I know that Yooji had never spent time outside the mansion and had only spent time with me?

“If we’re talking about crimes here, I’m not the only one who is guilty of a crime, unnie.” Yooji utters with such anger in her tone, and I widen my eyes as it finally sinks in, especially as I see how they look so alike now that I’ve realized it.

They’re sisters…? But why do they have different surnames? Wait, what was Joohyun unnie’s surname again, before she married my sister?

Confusion only clouds my mind as I try to put my focus back to the scene in front of me, as Joohyun unnie’s emotionless expression is now replaced by anger, all directed upon her so called sister who is staring at her, demanding an answer to the question that she had unknowingly thrown into the air that only her and her sister knows, me and Seulgi unnie only bystanders and spectators to this affair that they had involved us in.

“Do not speak of the times of the past. What we’re talking about here is what you had done—and don’t you think that is a crime against Minjeong? If she had awakened as an ice user, they would come after you, but now that she’s exiled, you can put this under wraps, right?” Joohyun unnie said with such accusing tone that the chair where she’s seating is slowly getting solidified by ice as well as the ground, and I could feel Seulgi unnie’s presence melting the ice slowly, as if trying to calm her wife down.

“Yooji… where did you even learn fire principles in the first place? I heard… I heard that was prohibited because of some unspoken rule that the Powerborne had made in the past.” I ask, desperate for the answers that I could not reach even if I think it is already thrown up into the air, but I feel like I still don’t have the answer for it; I have to pry harder.

“You all really want to know? How I knew the principles of fire and I was able to teach it to you unknowingly?” Yooji said with such a mischievous smile, holding her stare to Joohyun unnie who hadn’t even flinched as I knew that the threat was all directed to her, and I could feel Yooji’s frustrations manifesting in her ice—it had slowly been getting colder in this room, and Seulgi unnie’s presence is the only thing that is stopping me from getting weakened because of the limiters that had stopped twice my power unlike before.

“Then tell them.” Joohyun unnie says, and I hear Yooji let out a breath she did not know she was holding.

“What? Tell us what?” I ask, prying further, and this time I feel the thin thread holding out all the answers snap, releasing a lot in the process—and there I find Yooji crying, Joohyun unnie only staring at her, and Seulgi unnie desperately trying to melt the ice that is soon enveloping the floor of this mansion that she had built over the years, and I feel that something had changed.

“She hit me with her beam straight upon her heart, changing the power that I had, changing my life and the worst part is that she did not even remember it, by what things look like right now.” Yooji says, gritting her teeth as she points accusingly at Joohyun unnie who does not even look back at her, only looking down upon her hands, and I realize slowly that she knows.

About the things that had happened in their childhood that they still had not divulged.

“You… you mean… what?” I ask, gritting my teeth as I step forward, wanting to put a hand on her shoulder but her ice is too intense for me to even touch her, afraid that I might get burned by the intense cold that is emanating from her right at this moment.

“I… I was fire. Before. But she… she changed me, and I can’t even do anything about it!” she shouts, and I don’t even mind the burn that taints my hands as I grab her arms and try to hold her back before she even grabs her sister’s neck, Seulgi unnie only standing guard in front of her wife while Joohyun unnie doesn’t even move an inch.

“It was an accident that I had never intended to do,” Joohyun unnie says, and even though I struggle a little bit upon holding back Yooji who is struggling to move forward and attack her sister with the anger that she has at the moment, and I feel the cold emanating from her burn through my hands, but I ignore the pain as Joohyun unnie stands up.

“…and that is the reason why I had left all of you and ran away.” Joohyun unnie says, sighing as she puts her hand up like she was holding someone, and I only widen my eyes in shock as Seulgi unnie suddenly pulls me away from where I was standing and rips of one of my limiters, the fire inside me suddenly being let out, coating my hands and healing the ice burns that I had accumulated upon holding Yooji back.

“Yooji! Seulgi unnie, stop her—”

“Minjeong, you have to understand that this is long overdue, between the two of them.” Seulgi unnie says, and I could only watch as Joohyun unnie walks forward to the exit of the manor, bringing Yooji with her with some telekinetic power of some sort, but then I realize that she’s only carrying Yooji with her ice powers, and the woman seems very elegant upon doing so.

“Joohyun is ranked two in the whole city, after all. Just a small difference from the top one, Lady Taeyeon.” Seulgi unnie says, only letting me follow her out towards the empty field where we had practiced earlier, and I walk while I fit in the bracelet that she had removed earlier after I had healed the wounds that I had attained in my hands, feeling as good as new.

“Two? And you’re ranked one? I’m amazed that you aren’t contacted at the mainland, with both of your ranks.” I say while she pulls me to sit down beside her, promising to stop the two of them from fighting if it gets rough and one of them might get hit badly—and Seulgi unnie tells me that this had been long overdue, that this should have happened a long time ago; the consequences of the actions that they had taken from the past.

“We would only be summoned in the greatest emergencies upon the mainland, where we are supposed to help the people to defend against any threat that would need our help; and we are expected to show up because of our ranks.” She explained while she sighed, hugging her knees and staring at the love of her life nearby, slowly getting started upon fighting her sister who is clearly angry at her.

“Can’t she just talk to Yooji and let her stay here? I don’t really see any reason to have her be imprisoned because of the things that she had done in the past—”

“Rules are rules, and we cannot bend them, no matter what. We are already facing inequality because of our powers, after all.” The woman says, and I only sigh as I stare at the two of them, sisters now bearing different surnames, and I wonder if that could have been me and Seulgi unnie if the circumstances were a little bit different.

“Just wish that Jimin would win against the second best, because if she doesn’t win this…” Seulgi unnie utters, sighing as she pointed at Yooji who is now put down upon the ground while Joohyun unnie walks away from her at some distance, and soon the sudden match would start.

“Joohyun would certainly surrender her to the mainland, for sure.”

*

[Joohyun.]

How dare her come here and berate me of the things that I had done.

Doesn’t she understand that what happened in the past is the reason why I had ran away from home and had never come back without a word, throwing away the life that I could have had in the mainland, being the second best after Taeyeon Kim?

 I had settled in this place as atonement, lying low and practically almost erasing my existence to the world, as I had intended to do—even naming myself as Irene Bae upon the information released to the public, letting the rank two be known as this elusive ice princess that had not appeared in the public for a very long time as I was appreciative that I was overshadowed by the first ranked ice queen, Taeyeon Kim, but how can she do this?

How can my own sister spite me like this?

“You shall lose, as is what happened to the others who had challenged me.” I tell her, but not a confident smile graces my lips but a frown, for I don’t even want to do this, but her basically strangling me means that she needs to be put in her place—especially with her behavior earlier, almost dealing fatal damage to my wife if not for my intervention and Minjeong’s astounding powers subduing her.

“You… don’t hold back.” Jimin says, like she isn’t challenging the second best to a fight that I know she would lose; what is she trying to prove?

That she could win?

She cannot—especially with how predictable and weak she is at this moment.

“If that’s what you want, then I certainly would.”

I’ll end this quick.

She attacks first, sending different beams directed towards my direction like spears thrown with intent to kill, but the spears she threw only propped down into the ground, turning into water by just my presence, standing forward and only staring at her, wondering what she would do next as I disarm all of her attacks with a flick of a finger or a wrist, and I could feel her getting frustrated while I move closer, and notice her only moving back after sending waves of the spears trying to harm me.

“Shall I be in my Powerborne State for you to take this seriously, unnie?” Jimin shouted, and I widen my eyes as her eyes lighten up, almost white while her hands turn into such frost gauntlets that I amplify her powers to an extent as I could feel it trying to intimidate my ice which is clearly unimpressed, making me laugh as I could even see an armor coating her body from head to toe, probably for added protection.

“Alright, as you wish.”  I utter, chuckling as I remove the pendant that my dear wife had given me years ago, pocketing it to wear it later while I let the ice inside me flow freely, and immediately ice spreads around the land, putting the place where we’re fighting in an eternal winter—further amplifying my powers and making me able to attack just anywhere, but that’s only the first limiter that I had removed.

“Let me show you my strength.” I utter, gritting my teeth as I pry through all the limiters I had placed in my body, limiting the path of ice upon my system, opening gates that I had closed shut to control my powers and to limit the strength that I had ever since I was a child—and soon I could feel my hair lightening, a laugh escaping my lips as I get drunk in the power that I had not unleashed for such time until now.

With a flick of a wrist I form walls all around the woman, not even minding that she punches through all of it almost easily, forming walls that limit her power to get to the goal that I had in mind while I observed how she fights with me and how she fought with Seulgi earlier—she focuses on defense, not offense, but her attacks are fairly strong—but I can tell that she isn’t used to the element that she has, like she’s wearing clothes that are too big for her.

It's your fault, my mind chides me, telling me what I had done years before.

Why are you fighting the one that you had hurt?

Because it feels right.

Because this is my nature—I fight.

And so I do, fighting with half of my strength (because I know that she would not be able the full strength or if I ever remove all of the limiters that I had put in me) to the sister that I could feel her anger frustrated to harm me or even put one scratch upon me, but of course I would not let her.

Because even if she did not realize it, I had coated my entire body of ice—so flexible, able to move as I move, unable to be cut by the spears that she launch upon me or even any attack that I anticipate would come from that gauntlet that she uses to attack me, knowing that I would not be able to be harmed by this halfblood that shares my blood, and I only let her attack my defenses until she runs out of breath—and there I would strike.

Come on.

Let me feel your fatigue.

The wearing down of your limbs, the hesitation to attacks brought by your body struggling to breathe and keep up while your mind forces you to hunker down and slow down to catch up and try to regulate your breathing to keep up—

There.

“You will never be the same level as me, Jimin Bae.”

A huge hand made of ice rises from the eternal winter that I had made, directly below her as I control it to be, grabbing her from the ground and gripping her tight, making sure that she would not be able to use the gauntlets to destroy this majestic sculpture that I had made which is only limited by the anklet that I had fitted in as one of the many limiters that I have, and slowly, with a smile upon my face…

…I squeeze.

Harder. Tighter. Not letting her breathe even one second.

And as she opens to force herself to breathe, winter comes.

Enveloping her body with my ice, penetrating and forcefully entering her system from opened wide, infecting her with my eternal winter, a technique that I had perfected for such a long time and one of the techniques that had propelled me to the top, to the best, and soon I know that this will end—

I feel the chain of the necklace circle upon my neck and fit itself upon my skin, the ice I had formed upon this little battlefield giving out faster than I could try to control it with the powers that I had but soon the limiters that I had enchanted to be put upon my system fits itself comfortably, the gates that I had formed using years of techniques closed shut yet again while the Eternal Winter melts into none—including the hand that strangles the woman I had been fighting with.

She heaves and breathes heavily, and I recall all the ice that I had infected her with using the hand that had subdued her from fighting back; Minjeong’s presence helps her calm down while my Seulgi holds my hand tight after being the one strong enough to come near me unnoticed and put that limiter upon my neck, and fair enough—but still, I won.

Won this little fight that she had started with me by those words that she had thrown into the air.

“You shall be brought to the mainland and surrendered to the Kim Family, and Lady Taeyeon shall be the one to discuss what you shall be sentenced. But until then…” I utter, moving closer to her while she stared at me, emotionless eyes gazing upon mine, but I could see the fear and anger in her eyes no matter how hard she tried to hide it, no matter how hard she tried to get rid of the emotions, I could see it.

Feel it, emanating from her heart, along with all of her frustrations all directed against me, but I am not affected even one second.

“This is the consequences to your actions.” I utter, sighing as I move closer to the woman who is still trying to breathe heavily and catch her breath, but I’m not even fazed one bit, fatigue far from settling upon my limbs even with the power that I had let out earlier.

“What about yours? What was the consequences to the actions that you had done to me?” she asks, and I only sigh as I look at her.

“You are my consequence.” I utter, while Seulgi only fits in limiters to each of Jimin’s hands, and I only watch her be taken away to her car, being the one who would take her to the mainland and surrender her to the authorities, and I only watch while Minjeong watches beside me, watching her trainer of so many years be brought to the suitable authorities.

“Your very existence reminds me of the mistake that I had made years ago—”

“—but I can’t really do anything about it, right?”