Everybody was gathered a few good meters away from the Jägers’ lair to avoid any damages to the sacred house.

As much as you kept up the face in front of everyone, you literally felt like dying. You were totally out of breath and your multiples injuries, even if most of them were superficial, were quite inconvenient to put up a good fight. Because that’s what you were currently doing with all your might. Fighting. But you guessed maybe training was a better description of what Suho was up to during these past few days. These three days that had passed since the Truce. That thing Suho told you to get ready for a week ago, since the Truce. Suffering. And hell, he couldn’t have been more right, you were in so much pain that your body had gone numb a few hours ago. Your muscles were a total mess and you swore you had strained your right wrist. Not a real surprise since you had always known them to be fragile. Well, even if it was quite hard, it was nothing you never got through though. Because, as one of the most effective Jägers, you were already used to intense trainings. At least, you were used to the previous ones before today. Fight. Only usual fights. Whether unarmed spars or armed ones. And even if you weren’t the strongest out of the other Jägers considering you were a girl, you had always known how to compensate with your skilful and clever mind, resulting in you being able to easily win against Sungyeol, Dongwoo, Woohyun or even Sunggyu. Sungjong and Myungsoo were all that tricky however and their strength was to be able to anticipate and so to dodge their opponents’ attacks easily. When you would fight with them, the result would always be an ex-aequo. Hoya, as to him, was a bear when it came to fight. He was only using pure force and you couldn’t compete with that. You didn’t know your worth against Jimin since the two of you were fighting together, not against each other.

For these first three days of training Suho had imposed you, you had to fight against each one of them. Unarmed. The result was 5 win and 6 loss. You had successfully won against Kai even if you must admit he was quite good in fighting. Kyungsoo, Chen, Baekhyun and Yixing had also been defeated by you. But since the latter hated all sort of violence, it didn’t really surprise you. Your spar with Tao had ended in a tie what made you gain some admirative stares from everyone, seeing how Tao was obviously an awfully skilled fighter. However, you weren’t able to defeat Kris whose body was seemingly as hard as rock. The way him and Suho fought reminded you a bit of Hoya’s way to go. You had also been defeated by Luhan and Sehun, as much as it had surprised you. Those two were always the calm type but they were quite powerful. Even if Luhan’s victory was leaving you a bitter taste. It was stupid but you couldn’t help it. And now, you had a chance to take your revenge. Because right in front of you, a few meters away was Luhan, wearing his usual irking smirk. It wasn’t that easy however. Because today, and since the beginning of the afternoon, almost two hours ago, Suho had decided that serious things should began considering he was quite satisfied with your unarmed way of fighting. Which means your current injuries weren’t due to your previous days of fighting. No. It was due to this jerk throwing you various objects thanks to his ability. Telekinesis. Because today, Suho had decided it was time to train your ability. To learn how to control it. How to use it to defend yourself. But the fact is it obviously didn’t want to come out today. This resulted in Luhan intensifying his attacks. It had begun with a harmless rock. Now it was quite serious. He had just thrown you the whole trunk of a tree, which you had thankfully managed to dodge by quickly rolling forward, aiming at your face. He was trying to make you mad. Because it was fun. For him at least. You, on the contrary, were craving for a murder.

“Is that all you have!?” you barked, your feet firmly planted on the tender grass, one slightly in front of the other, as you clenched your fist and glared at the still slyly smiling boy.

“I’m not even serious” he sniggered scornfully “If I was, you would be dead by now”

It was your turn to laugh now, already forgetting the presence of your attentive audience. Because he was just being a cowardly jerk.

“Of course I would, you keep hiding miserably behind your projectiles.” You scoffed. “You can still try to throw a huge truck right at me. It would probably kill me but you would still remain… a coward?” you spoke up what was in your mind, raising an eyebrow at him, while returning the contemptuous smile.

“Watch your words…” He hissed at you with a frightening glare.

“Then watch your actions” you shrugged, completely unimpressed.

“You know what… maybe someone could make you react better than me…” he tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“What are you trying to do?” you narrowed your eyes suspiciously at his figure.

“Me? Nothing.” He shot you another mischievous smile before walking to Suho. You took that as an opportunity to run to the bottle of water which made Jimin and the Jägers worried. Yixing laugh in amusement as he was busy with healing your cuts. You remained still next to the others while he was doing so, without taking your eyes off of Luhan; He looked at his leader and a few seconds went by before the elder shook his head hesitantly. He looked at you with uncertainty and his eyes came back to Luhan who was giving him a pointed look. Suho firmly nodded this time as if he was giving him an answer to a silent question. After having emptied half of the bottle you were holding, you blinked at the scene you were witnessing and turned toward the other demons, hoping they would look as confused as you. You felt a hand on your shoulder and turned to face his owner.

“Luhan is also a telepath” Baekhyun explained as he saw confusion written all over your face.

“What?” your eyes widened. “Does it mean he heard every little thing I previously thought? Since the beginning?” you freaked out.

“Why? Did you have compromising thoughts?” he smiled playfully and eyed you in a suspicious way.

“No!” you yelled, and it was true, you didn’t. “This is just a bit… annoying” you bit your bottom lip in wonder. You didn’t want him to be in your head when having a mental break down. There are some things you didn’t like to talk about or showing to people. Especially those who were annoying you to the core. Baekhyun must have understood your worries and patted your head gently.

“He can’t see everything… just what you are thinking right in the moment. Well, that is if he doesn’t decide to focus, which would result in him browsing the history of your thoughts. Then… I’m afraid I can’t guarantee your intimacy.” He winced at his own words.

“Seyi” Suho called you out while he walked toward your now stable self thanks to Yixing. With an apologizing smile and an outstretched hand, Suho gestured you to the fighting spot again. “I know it is hard, but don’t think too much, okay? Just try to defend yourself, show us that impressive power of yours” he elbowed you playfully, because he was indirectly praising himself too. You chuckled at his behaviour and nodded your head hesitantly. You had done it twice already, why couldn’t you do it again? You looked down at your feet at the poor result you had shown them up till now. The poor result you had shown to yourself.

“I know you can do it, Seyi. I trust in you” Suho patted your head to cheer you on before taking his previous spot a few meters away.

However, you only felt even worse now. He believed in you. And yet, despite having trained half the afternoon, you still weren’t able to create a single drop of water. He thought you were still able to do it. But what if you weren’t able to fulfil his expectation? You clenched your fist at that thought. The thought of you possibly being an incompetent. You closed your eyes, painfully bitting your bottom lip.

“Seyi, are you ready?” A familiar voice in front of you asked.

Your eyes snapped open in realisation as you looked up with round and surprised eyes. No way you would fight against him. Never. Over your dead body. Well, that one would soon be granted though.

You averted your head to stare at Suho. He flinched under your betrayed expression. From the corner of your eyes, you saw Sehun, Jimin and Ravi eyeing you, obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. Luhan, as to him, eyed you carefully as he was without any doubt inside your head right now. They knew everything about your traumatic fear. The others also did since they eavesdropped your private conversation with Sehun that night. And yet, here was what they were asking you to do. Fighting against Chanyeol. Fighting against Fire Boy.

You stepped backwards, shaking your head frantically at the sheepish looking boy in front of you.

“Suho” he sighed “I know she is a mentally strong girl, but not when it comes to that. Look at her, she is terrified” Seeing the other didn’t answer he simply continued “I’m not going t—”

“Are you crazy? What are you trying to pull exactly? To make her protect herself? Then, this will never work. You will only block her even more” Dongwoo yelled at Suho and Luhan, while pointing at you and Chanyeol furiously.

“Wait… why?” Suho cocked his head to the side in wonder.

“Because Seyi is an idiot! She cares more for the others than for herself, it is the only thing that motivates her in such dangerous situations. If there is nothing to protect, she will just refuse to face it all!” He shouted at the two demons and you looked at him curiously.

Now that you thought of it, the only thing that made you rushed toward the burning house was the human’s screams you had heard. You would have just run away if it wasn’t for them. The woman and her baby. Besides, each time you had actually been able to produce the water phenomenon was when you had tried to protect Jimin or Sehun from being killed. You shivered at the remembrance and quickly shoved the memory away. Dongwoo knew you well. And he was true. If you had nothing to protect, you would just cower under the threat. But it didn’t help much. It wasn’t like they could burn a random house just for your training. The only person you would always protect with all your might no matter the situation was… No. No. You threw the thought out of your head before…

“Then, let’s just give her someone to protect from Chanyeol” Luhan smirked as he looked at you. You, the damn you, who indirectly gave him that freaking awful solution. Baekhyun was right. That telepathy thing would poison your privacy.

“You.” He pointed at your partner and beckoned him to join me. “Could you —”

“Over my dead body” you growled threateningly and if looks could kill, Luhan would be dead three times by now. “Jimin, you make one more step and I swear to god I’ll kill you myself” you warned the other who remained unfazed by your words and kept confidently walking in your direction, hands in pockets.

“Are their bond really that strong for him to be that relaxed?” Sehun asked curiously to Sunggyu with the most disinterested tone he could manage.

“It’s the strongest one I ever saw. Even Dongwoo and Hoya’s binomial which is quite outstanding is not that powerful” he sighed. Because he had always been a bit possessive when it came to you. He had always considered you as his own little sister. You joined the Circle really young and he was proud to say he had always been here for you. He was happy when you would follow him everywhere he went, sticking to him with that admirative spark into your shining orbs. That spark was still here, and that was partly why he was the one and only person you would accept orders from. But the day of your 15 years old, you chose to be partnered with Jimin as a binomial and he was somehow saddened it wasn’t like before anymore. He was still happy but he missed it. To be always together since you refused to leave your parents’ house where you lived with Jimin. To say it properly, he was jealous. Because now you would always choose Jimin first. He knew he was just being stupid and immature but he couldn’t help it. That’s how all the brothers were, after all. Selfish and overprotective, right? “They would give their lives for each other” he added, what made all the Jianhuren turning to him with gaping mouths. Luhan, on the other hand, was calmly probing his mind, his own way of getting answers.

“Are you serious? Is that Hunter bond’s thing that powerful?” Kai inquired with a taken aback expression which made Sunggyu chuckled.

“Theirs is… kind of… extreme. They’ve been friend since childhood since their parents were good friends. And well, Jimin would certainly kill me for saying that, but I’m not stupid, I saw the way he looks at her and it is anything but fraternal or friendly…”  Sunggyu admitted, a bit miffed. “I don’t know what Seyi is capable of in terms of her ability. I don’t even know what it is. I only know she is an extremely good fighter when it comes to normal fights. And I think your friend should fear for his life. When one of them is in danger, the other isn’t itself anymore…” He added with an audible ounce of pride as he looked at the scene both you and him were offering.

“You stupid awful idiot!! Hit the road before being killed!!” you tried to push him back to the others with your hands but he was just being as stubborn as always. “Aren’t you going to listen to me?!” you asked him incredulously, tapping your hand on the top of his chest as you saw Chanyeol preparing a disgusting fire ball in between his twirling hands, making it bigger and bigger, until it finally reached the size of a bowling ball which he shot right at you with an unbelievable speed to show his impatience. You barely dodged it, quickly stepping to the side, bringing Jimin along.

“No.” he shrugged and smiled innocently to you, pinching your cheek affectionately to erase the fear into your eyes. “I want to help you so stop whining and knock that guy down already before he injures you and I have to do it myself”

You sighed and gave up because as the stubborn people you both were, arguing would simply lead nowhere. You looked at him and nodded hesitantly. You placed yourself back in front of the waiting Chanyeol, tugging at Jimin’s arm.

“Just… Just stay near me”

“Forever” he smiled and took a firm hold of your hand.

“I’m sorry Seyi, but I’m not supposed to take it easy with you” Chanyeol grinned.

“Just do what you want” you retorted, your voice a growling whisper.

Something inside you tilted and you knew it was also the case for Jimin. The bond was synchronizing you and it was together as one that you positioned both of your left feet in front of the other, slightly bending forward. You both smiled at each other before focusing on Chanyeol, who was now your prey. You were ready. You were together. That’s all what mattered. Protecting each other. Everything would be just fine. As always.

Chanyeol didn’t wait