celestial strings | h.js

two.

Hyunjin gasped, not expecting Jisung to repeat his movements since he never really did. "No, you shut up," he retorted, returning the punch and thus, not killing adding a sub-argument to this seemingly never-ending cycle of heated bickering.

You were too focused on threading out a pattern with your fingers to care about what the boys were still talking about. You could hear their voices being thrown back and forth, though, just not quite the words they were saying. After all, there was no need for you to pay attention. Everything would be resolved quickly, just like all the other little quarrels they've had the past hour, about allowance money, parents, grades, and food.

As you concentrated on creating the pattern with your fingers, finding yourself growing less and less nervous when there was a complicated task at hand, you could hear a loud yelp coming from Jisung and a clumsy shout from who you guessed to be Felix. After that, it was an array of honks coming from the road just beside the pedestrian street you all stood on.

"Hey! Hey! Jisung, watch out!

You snapped your head up. That sounded urgent enough for you to finally break out of your own bubble.

Eyes trailing after the boys, who were all staring with blazing eyes towards one single direction: Jisung. His body was falling backward, presumably being pushed by someone who had miscalculated their strength, and he was close to falling to the ground below the curb when your eyes shifted up at where the honk came from.

A car was rushing forward at a seemingly slow speed but you knew it was only a problem of perceptive. Your heart rate picked up and your fingers had already started to undo the pattern on instinct. Judging by the way Jisung was falling, and by the distance between him and all of you, it would be impossible for Jisung to be pulled back to safety in time.

It would either be the driver slowing down, which was unlikely, or he gets tackled farther down the road, which would be equally as dangerous as this was a two lane street.

Without a second thought, as the car from behind tried screeching to a pause to no avail, you jumped out of your spot and onto the road. Your hand had immediately thought of the quickest spell you could think of, tying knots and moving fingers until an easy pattern was formed. The string moved quickly as if it could feel your urgency, and as soon as they wrapped around your forearm, they squeezed your skin with a piercing ache to churn out more energy.

Jisung could feel a hand around his head, a palm pressing against his hair and his face muffled in your chest. He could recognize your embrace anywhere and at any moment. But instead of feeling solace as he would normally when drowned in your arms, his mind was suffocating with the sound of shattered glass and beeping engine.

He breathed heavily, his eyes moving to glance to the side and his eyes widened at the trickle of blood that melted down the string on your forearm.

Magic have consequences. He remembered. This was the first time he has seen it.

The pain was relentless in its attack, spreading from your palm that broke the top hood of the speeding car to all the exposed skin of your forearm. You channeled too much magic, and even then it was not enough as your fingers felt numb under the impact of shielding the both of you. You've broken your hand with this, but the bone-shattering pain went unnoticed as you pulled yourself away from Jisung and stood up.

"[Name]..." Jisung muttered, his eyes wide at your lifeless hand as you clutched it with your functional one.

Your brows were furrowed, not registering his presence. The pain was finally starting to get to you, all after you have made sure Jisung was fine and safe from harm. Looking around, you sucked in a huge breath at the prying eyes and gossipy cameras those eyes have whipped out. And your new friends—if you could consider them that now—were all staring at you in horror, not sure from what you did or from what you received as a result.

There was too much attention plastered all over the crowd, targeted on you, your bleeding hand, and your swelling fingers. It felt worse than your broken bones. You couldn't move your hand at all without the help of the other one, and you felt your functioning hand slipping as the blood lathered itself all over your skin. The only thing keeping you from succumbing to the pain was the lingering magic sparing you an act of generosity.

Glancing back at Jisung, you huffed out a quiet breath and shook your head when he stepped towards you. "I..." You inhaled sharply, and all you could fathom to do was turn around and make a run for it.

"[Name]–hey, wait!" Jisung wanted to go after you but he was quickly stopped by the driver, who was half concerned about your injuries and half angry that Jisung had appeared out of nowhere.

Swinging around and swatting the stranger's hand away, his gaze was a pit of merciless black when he glared at the driver, wanting nothing more than to run after you immediately. "Look, sir, I don't have time to talk to–"

"Go, I got this," Seungmin chimed in quietly as he moved Jisung to the side. He gave the confused boy a firm nod, glancing behind his shoulder at where you had run off to before ignoring Jisung's questioning gaze and turning to the driver. He had it all figured out by now; a magic user in the land of mundane reality. A super-freak, as people may call you.

"Jisung, we can still catch up if we run now," Felix urged as he pulled at his hand, forcing him to move.

Jisung blinked for a moment, still trying to comprehend the situation that he already knew of. He needed to process it correctly. You got hit by a car–no, you did not get hit by it. You shielded both him and yourself so technically, a crash did not happen. But you were bleeding when you ran away, and the hood of the car was destroyed–it must have been you. He did see strings on your wrist, he believed. He also saw blood, a lot of blood, which entailed a lot of pain.

Jisung breathed heavily, looking around.

He realized you were alone.