With sweat trickling down her neck and hands reddened under the tape on her hands, the lone woman in the training room continued to bombard the punching bag with a fiery of kicks and punches. The assault on the inanimate object didn’t halt even when another person entered the room, “If you keep kicking that, we will have to get a new one.”

Ignoring the man, the woman continued to send kick after kick onto the bag but the man didn’t like to be ignored so he grabbed the bag, “What the hell!”

“Wow...and I thought we were friends Yoona.”

“Seung Gi...I swear if you don’t move, I will punch you in the face.”

The older man pouted, “Aww come on now, you shouldn’t be violent to your teammate! I am like your best male friend here!”

Yoona ignored the man and punched the bag right into Seung Gi’s face, “I said get out.”

Seung Gi rubbed his nose and tried giving the girl puppy-dog eyes, “I can’t believe you did that! Does our 8 years of friendship mean nothing?!” Yoona just continued to ignore the boy by returning punches and kicks to the bag, “I get it...you are in a crappy mood but give the bag a break and run your mouth off instead. You have friends here that will help you out.”

Finally stopping her assault, Yoona grabbed the bag and looked at Seung Gi, “Just this once...I want to take care of things without going to my friends...not like they can help anyways.”

“Not even Taeyeon? You guys are like peanut butter and jelly...always stuck together.”

Yoona gave a light punch to the bag, “She is like the second to last person I want to talk to right now.”

“Oh?? Who is the person you dislike the most? You can tell your buddy here.”

The girl started taking off the tape on her hands, grimacing at the skin stuck to the tape from broken blisters, “Doesn’t concern you. I will take care of this problem myself.”

Seung Gi saw the cuts on Yoona’s hand so he dug around in his pocket and handed her a handkerchief, “Well...however you handle this, just make sure you take care of yourself. If you damage those hands anymore, you will have to switch teams and that would make me very sad.”

Yoona cracked a small smile, “I can’t make a promise like that...we are in the Resistance.”

--------------------------------------

Jessica was peacefully sleeping or she was until someone jumped on her bed in excitement, “You passed!!!”

Eyes widened when she noticed who was pouncing on her early in the morning, “T-Taeyeon?”

“Get up sleepyhead!!! We need to celebrate!”

Combing her hair down quickly, Jessica got out of her bead, “It is early...”

“Late enough for me to see this! Look! You passed the second exam!”

Jessica took the piece of paper that was being shoved in her face, “Group 7 Junhyung and Jessica pass...Wait...Nana was in our group too. Why didn’t she pass?”

Taeyeon took the paper, “Not everyone passes. I had someone in my group not pass too when I took the exam. Yet he was just stupid and almost caused the whole team to fail....ah well that is past. If Nana didn’t pass, there was a good reason for it.”

“How many people are going onto the 3^rd exam?”

“Ah yes! That is why I came to find you this morning too. From your group there is 9 from the 21 you were with before but there is another 25 retaking the third exam. You will want to sign up as early as you can with your top three possible opponents. Who do you want to fight for the last exam?”

Jessica scratched her head, “I am not sure...I feel like I should think about this carefully.”

Taeyeon went to sit Jessica on the bed before showing her another paper, “I prepared this for you. I know these people and their fighting style. I also know they haven’t been called on recently to take part in the 3^rd exam so they are eligible to be your opponent. I am sorry to say, but you will have to pick fast so we can get you a good opponent.”

Jessica read through the list but stopped on a particular name, “Dara...I was told she was a great fighter. Why do you have her on the list?”

Taeyeon leaned back on the bed, “Well she is a good fighter but I must say that those street fighters don’t think much and I thought because you know her personally, it could be a match that triggers your emotions. Certain emotions can cloud judgement but if you know how to handle them correctly, you can become very destructive.”

Jessica nodded, “Tell me about the others you recommend.”

“I would say the others are just not known for fighting.”

Jessica read the names, “Ok...Number one choice is Dara, then.........and.........”

Taeyeon smiled before jumping off the bed, “Great! Now get up and go to breakfast since we have training to do.”

“Do I have classes or something?”

“Nope. You are going to be with me this whole time. Your mentor is to make sure you are ready for the last exam...so I am your teacher.” Taeyeon said grinning from ear to ear.

Jessica felt a shiver go through her body, “Why do I feel a bit frightened to have you as my teacher?”

Taeyeon shrugged, “Probably because we are going to train until your muscles ache and you collapse from exhaustion,” the older girl said while smiling, “anyway, eat up. I am going to hand this in to the examiner before joining.”

Jessica sat on her bed with ajar, “She has to be joking....” Well the girl hoped that Taeyeon was joking.

----------------------------------

Arriving with her tray of food to the table, Jessica froze as she saw a familiar dark haired girl finally showing up to a meal time. She thought of backing away and sitting at a different table but Yunho was already being his annoying self, “Jessica! You are up early! Why are you just standing there?”

Jessica sighed as she saw the girl stay frozen while the others looked her way. Giving them her best smile, Jessica sat next to Sooyoung who was sitting next to the frozen girl, “It was Taeyeon’s fault. She woke me up by jumping on my bed.”

Siwon almost spit food out of his mouth, “That girl always has so much energy in the morning! Finally you get to see the real Taeyeon. All full of energy in the morning and giving us grief for not getting up early enough.”

Jessica let out a giggle, “She is—“

“I am leaving.” All eyes went to the girl who sat up and cut Jessica off.

“Alright your highness.” Yunho snarked.

Sooyoung glared at the boy, “Ok. Come on Yuri. We have to go above ground anyways.”

Jessica watched cautiously as Sooyoung and Yuri walked away from the group, “Yuri has been so moody these days. I mean none of us did anything to annoy her...I wonder what has gotten into her these days.”

“Ah leave the girl alone,” Taeyeon said as she joined the table with her breakfast, “I heard her crying to sleep some nights. Something is seriously bothering her.”

Jessica gulped as she kept her eyes on her food, suddenly losing her appetite.

“Same with Yoona...but that girl has been locking herself in the training rooms instead. I think all my roommates have gone nuts.”

“Well if you know nothing Tae...then there is nothing we can do.”

Taeyeon shook her head, “But Yoona usually comes to me when there is a problem and Yuri usually goes to Yoona when there is a problem...but it is like none of us are talking now. Things haven’t been this strange between us since...well you know...” Taeyeon said as she poked her food also losing her appetite.

“Yea...” the boys said in unison.

Jessica looked up at the suddenly very glum table, “Since what happened?”

It was like Jessica hit a bad chord in everyone as the three boys at her table stood up, “It seems like we have practice. Tae you fill her in.”

Taeyeon shot the boys an evil glare before she turned to face a curious Jessica, “When a very very close of mine passed away. She was close to all of us but it is the past. Nothing to go into.” The girl said as she shoved some bread into , “Anyway, I handed in your papers. We won’t know who your opponent is until the day of the exam though but I will help you prepare to fight those three people.” Taeyeon looked down to Jessica’s tray that hadn’t been touched, “eat up. We have lots to do today.”

Jessica followed Taeyeon’s eyes down to her tray, “Ah ok...”

----------------------------

Taeyeon and Jessica entered a room that was fairly crowded with other people, “Jessica have you come here before?”

Jessica nodded, “A few times with Nana.”

Taeyeon responded with a blank face, “I see. What did you do?”

“She showed me a few things with the free weights.” Jessica said as she pointed to the weights in the corner.

“Oh? That is a good start. Did you do the bar or bench?” Taeyeon said as she pointed at the other corner.

“No. Just some simple things since we did more preparation for the second exam.”

Taeyeon started walking over to the bar so Jessica followed until they were under the bar that Jessica clearly couldn’t reach without help, “I want to test your strength. Fighting can be about skill but you need a certain degree of strength and flexibility. The exam is in a month? So we will spend every morning and afternoon here to get your strength up. After which we will do some simple gymnastics to work on flexibility.”

“What about fighting technique?”

“There is always time for that later. I need to make sure you don’t hurt yourself first.” Taeyeon said with certainty. Jessica just nodded as Taeyeon looked like she knew what needed to be done to get her prepared in time, “Anyway, I will show you how to use the bar.”

Taeyeon was clearly not tall enough to reach the bar and Jessica assumed Taeyeon would ask for help or get a step ladder or something but Taeyeon climbed up the side with ease using her hands and feet to get to the top. The girl was clearly agile as she shimmied over to the center of the bar, “You should place your hands like this to work your shoulders, but if you turn your hands around like this, then you work your arms ok?” Jessica nodded as she noted the things Taeyeon told her, “Okay you need to pull up until your chin is above the bar and then go down until your head is just under the bar like this.” Taeyeon showed the girl until doing a few more, “Got it?”

“I think so.” Jessica said as Taeyeon jumped off the bar.

“Great, you give it a try.” Taeyeon said but Jessica looked at the side nervously since there was no way to get up the bar the way Taeyeon did. Noticing Jessica’s dilemma, Taeyeon went behind Jessica and grabbed the girl’s waist, “I will lift you.”

The girls didn’t even start their exercises and Jessica’s face was a bright red as Taeyeon’s small hands cupped the side of her waist, “O-ok...”

“Jessica hold your arms up and grab when I get you high enough.”

Shaking slightly, Jessica held her arms up and squeaked when Taeyeon lifted her up like a feather. Quickly the girl grasped the bar as her hands contacted the metal, “Ok. I got it.”

Taeyeon looked up for a moment but quickly looked away when she noticed Jessica’s stomach showing slightly, “Ah...good....umm give it a try and see how many you can do.”

Having never working these muscles before, Jessica attempted a very shaky pull up, but only managed two until she dropped her arms down and letting go of the bar, “I am hopeless...”

Taeyeon just patted Jessica on her back, “You will get there. We will work on this together.”

After she caught her breath, Jessica stood up straight, “W-what if I can’t? I mean...Yuri told me she didn’t pass the first time and she was a skilled fighter.”

Taeyeon laughed, “So you wanted me to lose?”

Jessica waived her hands, “T-that isn’t what I meant.”

“Yuri...just had a bad opponent and maybe too much confidence.”

“I think it is worse that I have zero confidence.”

Taeyeon rubbed her chin, “I think it could be a good thing. You don’t have any expectations for yourself. If there is no expectation, then you won’t get disappointed or angry when you do something wrong. I think as we go on, you will find a little bit of confidence you need to carry you through the fight.”

“I will have to put my faith in you for now Taeyeon...because I have none in myself at this point.”

Taeyeon reached up to squeeze Jessica’s shoulder, “I will always be here for you...if you ever feel weak or need help, just look for me. I can be your pillar of strength.”

Jessica didn’t know why those words made her body heat up, but it did give Jessica hope. Whenever Taeyeon stood by her side, she felt like she could overcome anything. Such a small girl made her feel so secure and safe.

~2 weeks later~

“16, 17, 18, 19.....2-------24, come on one more! 25!” Taeyeon was under Jessica as the girl finished her last chin-up, “I can remember when you only did 2 your first time!” Taeyeon as she hugged Jessica once the girl came down.

Jessica had no strength in her arms to hug the girl back so she just leaned her head on the girl’s shoulder, “You are a tyrant.”

Taeyeon giggled as she held the girl up by her shoulders, “Ohhhh I can feel your muscles finally.”

Jessica swatted Taeyeon’s hands away, “You make it seem like you are testing me out to eat me or something.”

Taeyeon couldn’t stop smiling after seeing the girl’s amazing progress, “Ok! A promise is a promise. Only one day in here and the rest of the time doing combat training.”

Jessica lifted her hands up in victory, “Finally!!! I can learn how to not get killed.”

“Psh...like that dainty little punch you had before would have stopped anyone.”

After Jessica wiped the sweat from her neck, she whipped her towel at Taeyeon, “I may not be able to punch but I can kick well. Enough to kick that smug look off your face.”

The giggling Taeyeon backed away from the flurry of towel bombardment, “Ok ok I give up! You are not completely hopeless.”

“Yah! Taeyeon! Really? What kind of mentor are you?” The two girls started bickering as several bystanders watched the two lost in their little world.

“Those two have gotten close recently,” Junho said as he watched his senior.

Yunho propped his head up on his elbow, “Well...they are here every day it seems. Taeyeon isn’t even coming to our trainings anymore and I am guessing it is cause she is with Jessica.”

Junho placed another weight on the bar, “Jessica must be worried about the last exam for Taeyeon to train her this hard.”

Yunho stopped looking at the bickering girls to slide under the bar to start doing chest compresses, “Taeyeon must be lonely too.”

Junho watched his mentor as he lifted the weights, “Why do you say that?”

“I heard from a grapevine that Yuri went to stay with Sooyoung’s quad since there was an extra bed and from what I heard Yoona isn’t talking to anyone. Seung Gi told me that he tried several times to confront the girl but he stopped after getting punched twice and kicked in the lower region.”

Junho grimaced at the thought of getting kicked in his male parts by Yoona, “Poor Seung Gi...he is such a nice...brave? Guy.”

Yunho laughed as he set the weighted bar back in place, “Yea but that leaves Taeyeon alone. No Yuri and no Yoona...just Jessica.”

Junho went to switch spots with Yunho, “That make sense. It is good to see Taeyeon laughing so much these days.”

Yunho smiled as he saw Taeyeon let out another boisterous laugh, “She does smile a lot more these days. It could be because of Jessica or because Taeyeon put all her work on me. That sly girl is just happy she got rid of most of her work.”

Junho laughed, “I guess that is why you are crabby lately. You got Taeyeon’s moody attitude after getting her work.”

Yunho flicked Junho’s forehead, “I am not moody.”

Junho crouched over in pain as he rubbed his forehead, “Yea...right.”

~2 weeks later~

Jessica laid on the mat of the training room completely exhausted from a practice spar with Taeyeon. Seeing the tired girl on the ground, Taeyeon threw a towel on her face causing Jessica to groan, “You did well.”

Finding the strength to roll over, Jessica looked up at Taeyeon, “Sure...that is why you beat me 5 times in a row.”

Taeyeon plopped down on the mat to join Jessica, “There is like 5 days left...we will get you to the point to beat me once...if you do that, you could beat half the people in the Resistance.”

Jessica started laughing, “You are so confidant in yourself.”

Taeyeon couldn’t help but laugh along with Jessica, “I think we need to beat some confidence in you...wait I have an idea.”

Jessica sat up to look at Taeyeon, “What?”

“Why not test out your skills?”

Jessica furrowed her brows, “I can’t just go ask Dara for a practice fight.”

“No...but we can go find some street fighters.”

“I am pretty sure Nana hates me right now,” Jessica sighed.

“Not here,” Taeyeon said with an unusually sinister grin, “tomorrow we should go up.”

“What! No no remember the last time we went up to the Party?” Jessica said in panic.

“I do but we will be away from the government area.”

“Taeyeon this is a bad idea!”

“It is a great idea! The Resistance is looking to see how you can handle yourself if you get into trouble in the Party. What better way to prove to yourself that you are ready?”

“But I am not ready!” Jessica protested.

“Oh I will be with you if there is a problem and I am your mentor. You have to follow me.” Taeyeon said as if Jessica had no option, “I will let you rest tomorrow and by night, we will go out and pick a fight.”

Jessica lied back down in defeat, “Do you know how stupid it sounds to go pick a fight? Why go looking for trouble when we should be staying out of it?”

“Because you need this Jessica.” Taeyeon stood up and offered her hand to help up Jessica, “Let’s go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow.”

Grabbing the girl’s hand, Jessica knew she had no choice but to follow Taeyeon...this time unwillingly.

---------------------------------------

Although Taeyeon told her to rest most of the day, Jessica did some practice to calm her nerves before nightfall, “Ready to go?”

Jessica sighed as she finished lacing her shoes, “What are with the clothes this time? We look like thugs.”

“That is the point. Thugs pick fights.” Taeyeon said although Jessica thought Taeyeon looked rather cute with the bandana on her head, “We should go before it gets too risky to come back.”

Jessica still wasn’t convinced that this was a good idea. Although they were dolled up to play a part, Jessica felt less like a thug and more like a scared little kitten. She wasn’t ready to play with the lions just yet but the lioness in front of her thought she was ready to play with her kind. It was scary.

The two girls hugged their jackets as the winter air brushed past their already cold skin, “Wow it is winter already.”

Taeyeon shivered, “Night, day, and seasons all get blurred when you go underground too long.”

Jessica stiffened when she realized what direction Taeyeon was walking towards, “Taeyeon...we can’t go there.”

Taeyeon stopped to look at the girl who wasn’t walking next to her anymore, “We have to go here.”

“Bad things happen to people who cross the old track...”

“It only happens to people who can’t fight. This is the hub...if we want to find one, we must go here.”

Jessica fiddled with the cuff of her jacket before taking another step forward, “We are going to get killed...”

Taeyeon gave Jessica a light smack, “Stop saying scary things like that.” Making their way into a street with little lighting, Taeyeon stopped and looked around, “Jessica can you feel it?”

“What?” Jessica whispered.

“Someone...no...three people are here.”

Jessica took steps closer to Taeyeon for safety, “Corner...doorway....”

“Behind you!” Taeyeon said as a boy lashed at them with a bar. Jessica was pushed aside by Taeyeon as the girl kicked the boy in the stomach, “Jessica this is it!”

Jessica got up immediately to look around. The next assaulter was fast as he ran straight towards Jessica, thinking quick, Jessica picked up speed to run towards him but when she was a foot away, she immediately fell down and used the slickness from damp snow to catapult her feet under the boy. The boy fell hard after his feet were wiped from under him. Jessica was quick to her feet as she went to knee him in the face causing him to go unconscious.

Taeyeon also rendered the boy with the bar unconscious, “Jessica! Left!”

Jessica turned as she saw a much older boy with a knife, “Taeyeon he has a weapon!”

Taeyeon knew this was a possible outcome of them coming to this area and she swore to protect Jessica so Taeyeon started running towards Jessica, “Jessica back off!”

Jessica stood her ground, “I want to fight him.”

“No...you can’t get hurt now.”

With no more time, Jessica just pushed Taeyeon away right before the boy swiped the knife her way. It was all a matter of seconds that Jessica noticed the boy on the ground and a knife in her hands. Confused to what actually happened after her adrenaline kicked in, Jessica stood frozen as she looked at the bloody knife.

Taeyeon saw the blood so she quickly stood up and made Jessica throw the knife away, “We need to get back now!”

“Tae...”

“We need to go.” Taeyeon said as she took Jessica’s hand for both of them run away together.

------------------------------

Jessica was still looking down at her hands that were trembling. What did she do? Did she really just kill someone? An innocent? How is she any different than the Party now?

Taeyeon continued to lead Jessica until they got to her room and she unlocked the door, “Jessica...you should take a shower.”

Jessica was still frozen looking at the remnants of blood staining her hands.

Instead of guiding Jessica to the bathroom, Taeyeon sat Jessica down on her bed before sitting next to her and pulling Jessica into her arms, “Don’t think about it.” Taeyeon said with sincerity as Jessica started to shake from sudden tears, “it was just an accident...it isn’t your fault.”

Jessica couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as she clung onto her pillar of strength.

Taeyeon didn’t have any more words that night. The two girls could only cling to one another in an embrace and use warmth to lull themselves to sleep that night.

~4 days later~

“Is she ready?”

Taeyeon gasped as Yunho hovered near her, “I am not sure.”

“She looks shaken. Nerves?”

If only, Taeyeon thought as she remembered the past 4 days of nearly sleepless nights together with Jessica. Lifeless training was followed by the anguish Jessica felt for possibly killing someone. Taeyeon was of course there for her the whole time to hold her and tell her that it was ok, that they don’t know what really happened.

“Who do you think she will fight?”

Taeyeon looked over to Dara, “Her.”

Yunho nodded, “Not bad. I take it you prepared her well. She shouldn’t be nervous.”

After their fight with people from the Party, Taeyeon was supposed to show Jessica certain skills and refine strengths, but both girls had other things on their mind. Taeyeon was not confidant anymore. She let Jessica down in more than one way the past 5 days. 

“Jessica is up.”

Taeyeon stopped looking at nothingness to return her attention to the stage, “Jessica’s opponent for this fight was chosen to be—“

“Me!”

The crowd murmured as Taeyeon’s head snapped to a familiar voice, “I choose Jessica to be my opponent.”

The examiner looked down at his list, “Y-you are not here as an option...”

“Jessica Jung I challenge you to a fight...do you accept?”

Taeyeon’s eyes widened as she whispered, “Jessica...say no...you can’t beat her.”

Jessica looked up at Taeyeon before looking back at the girl in front of her, “Ok.”

The girl gave a devilish grin, “She accepted.”

The examiner nodded as he continued, “Jessica Jung vs Im Yoona. Both step up to the center and start on my mark.”

Taeyeon groaned into her hands, “.”

Yunho looked at the stage in amazement, “Why does Yoona want to fight Jessica?”

Taeyeon peaked up to the stage watching the girls shake hands, “I have no idea...”

“Begin!”

Author's Note

I was really thinking of splitting this up into two chapters and doing an double update but did a super long chapter instead. I know I did some time skips where you would love to see more Taengsic interaction but I need to speed this story up a bit to get to the main plot.

In other news, I am going to be doing a short 3-chapter Taengsic story: Easier to Run. First chapter will be up soon now that I finished this update.

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