Blight - [JJK]

XI [Final]

"We found your body in the courtyard, Y/n wasn't with you and your mark had already disappeared."

"What do you mean? She was with me, she's the one who put that spell on me, right? How could she not have been with me?"

"Jungkook, Y/n went missing after she broke your contract. No one's been able to find her since."

"She's," Jungkook choked, "she's missing?" His voice strained and Jimin's hyper-sensitive hearing picked up on the fragments of pure sorrow in his tone. "B- but you can hide in people's shadows, right?" The dragon asked Yoongi. "Can't you just go hide in her shadow and find her that way?"

"Don't you think I've tried that already?" Yoongi unintentionally bit. He looked at his own shadow on the floors that the hospital lights created. "It was the first thing I tried to do, but it didn't work. Wherever she is, she isn't casting a shadow for me to find." Yoongi sighed as he spoke- his inability to find you always nagging at the back of his head. An uneasy feeling in his mind that Jimin could feel along with his Master.

Jimin got up from his place on Jungkook's hospital bed and walked to Yoongi's side; leaning down to cup around his ear and whisper out of Jungkook's hearing range. Though, with his dazed expression, Jimin doubted he'd listen anyway. His mind was elsewhere- rightfully so.

"Could you head back without me?" He asked as the warlock shot him a look and a jumped brow. "Please, I need to talk to him. I know Jungkook the best and I know how he works better than you do. He needs to get it all out of his system before he bursts into a fit. If you're here he may not open up about it."

"You think he'll talk to you?" Yoongi asked, not offensively, but curiously. Jimin nodded, glancing back at the spaced out dragon.

"Yeah," he confirmed turning back to Yoongi. "He's my best friend, he will," Jimin smiled small as Yoongi just stood up with a huff and small stretches. The movement alerting Jungkook back into reality as the warlock looked at him.

"I'm heading out, I've got things to do. I'll tell the others you woke up while I'm at it." Jungkook nodded as Jimin moved to sit back on Jungkook's bedside, kicking his feet in micro-swings. "I'll leave Jimin here with you; don't start a fight," the warlock teased.

"He means to say that he's glad you woke up," Jimin translated. Yoongi rolled his eyes and dismissed himself, holding back the urge to hide in Jimin's shadow and eavesdrop. He'd give the two the privacy Jimin asked for.

Silence fell over the room as Jungkook looked back down, just starring at his wrist and bathing in how cold he felt. Jimin just watched him at the moment, hoping maybe Jungkook would open up to him first. He lightly cleared his throat. "Jungkook, listen-"

"I know," Jungkook interrupted. "You want me to talk about it," he sighed as he slouched, dropping his head back as his chin lifted towards the ceiling. "I want to talk, Jimin- I do, but," he cut himself off with a deep, harsh breath. Jimin understood, remaining quiet and patient. It was Jungkook's way of collecting himself.

Junkook had just woken up after six long months. If the idea of how long he was sleeping was hard for him to process, then the bombshell about your disappearance was something even more explosive. He'd need to gather his thoughts before he even began to work through all the details and questions he had. He wasn't sure how long he sat in his bed, just thinking and staring at nothing. Running his eyes back and forth along with the ceiling tiles in concentration to not lash out, especially when Jimin was sitting so patiently beside him.

It was during the time he stared upwards, not speaking and not thinking when the first tear slipped from his glassy eyes. Blinking it out of his eye, the blurred vision cleared just enough to split his sight in half. Half blurred, have clear as he just continued to stare. The tears were falling in a steady stream, the stinging behind Jungkook's eyes and nose told him that they would be falling for longer than he wanted.

He sniffled, taking a shaky breath as he curled his lips inward to pinch between his teeth and then let out a heavy breath. He looked down at his hands then his eyes wandered to his empty wrist as the tears seemed to pool higher as he blinked them once more out of his sight. He curled and uncurled his fist as he then pushed his palm into the comforter the hospital had him covered with before he gripped it harshly. The force in which he clenched his fist around the fabric of the blanket threatened to tear it, he could feel his claws start poking through into his palm.

Jimin watched in silence as with each passing moment his best friend started breaking down further and further. The tears that once ran down his face were now just dripping straight off his eyelashes into his lap as he ducked his head down, his chin tucked in towards his chest. He started to hiccup as he brought his hand up to scrub as his eyes.

"It's not fair," Jungkook whimpered. "I don't know what's happening to me," He sniffled again as he moved to grip over his chest, exchanging the gripped covers for his boring hospital scrub shirt. "I don't know, but I-I'm not strong enough anymore," he lifted his head, reaching for Jimin's comfort.

You weren't here, you weren't going to come to him just because he was crying, even if he wanted you to burst through that door. He wanted you to come and apologize while he screamed at you for acting like an idiot on your own and running off and putting a spell on him, but he knew it wouldn't happen. So much sat in his gut as he just hiccuped and breathed unevenly. Eyes rimmed red.

Jimin scooted closer to him, grabbing one of his hands as Jungkook curled forwards, resting his forehead on his friend's arm. Jimin rubbed the dragon's back as he wept, trying to coax all that sorrow and all his tears out of him. He'd never seen Jungkook this way, not even when he opened up about how much he missed his mom after they met. Jungkook was sobbing so hard, his throat was contracting as Jimin rubbed his neck. His eyes softened, his own eyes misting over- ever the empathetic type.

Jungkook must care for you a hell of a lot more than Jimin or Yoongi realized.

"I'm not strong enough to say goodbye to her yet, Jimin," Jungkook whispered through a wavy voice. Jimin nodded, offering his all to soothe his friend.

"I know," was all Jimin could think to say.

Jungkook must've been crying to Jimin for almost an hour. The heaviness in his eyes and the soreness in his head and neck made the time apparently clear as he winced occasionally at the pounding behind his eyes. Jimin was quick to offer him a glass of water the moment he had the chance to get up.

The cold water felt nice traveling down his parched and sore throat. His nose was still tinted red as his eyes were puffy. He took deep breaths to steady his breathing as he pushed his wrist against his check and eyes occasionally to wipe away any stray tears. Jimin gently took the glass back when Jungkook finished it off as Jungkook looked at him.

"Yoongi wasn't in your shadow or anything, was he?" He asked, a bit embarrassed. He hated breaking down like that- but he supposed if it was to Jimin it wouldn't be so bad. However, if Yoongi had been in Jimin's shadow the whole time, he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole. Jimin chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

"No. I asked him to leave us be for a while. He isn't here," Jimin reassured. "Though, I'm sure he'll be popping in eventually to tell us if someone is coming or not," he added. It was quiet again for a while as Jungkook continued to calm himself down and Jimin sat babbling on about whatever he could think to help Jungkook lower his emotional tirade.

No sooner than the red around his eyes faded, Yoongi's voice echoed into the room- without him actually being in it.

"I hope your talk is over," his voice blurred. Jungkook looked around, not even smelling his scent around the room. Jimin looked down at his feet, his shadow far darker than it should have been. He shuffled his feet as the shadow started stretching without Jimin moving. Jungkook gasped as he watched Yoongi raise out of the shadow, lifting himself out without breaking a sweat and then landing softly beside his familiar.

Yoongi flicked at his hair, smoothing it out as he dusted off his pants and pulled his jacket, straightening it out. He then looked at Jungkook, the skin of his nose still burning the slight shade of ruby and his eyes swollen. Yoongi smiled at him- knowing he must've cried a great deal. Jungkook scowled at his smile.

"Got something to say?" Jungkook shot.

Yoongi just waved it off before stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets. "Nothing, really." Jimin held back a small giggle in the atmosphere. It was just the slightest bit less suffocating in the room than before. It was easier to breathe and that made Jimin just a little bit more hopeful. Yoongi turned to Jimin. "The doctors will be coming in to examine him in a few minutes. I just told them he woke up and decided to get here ahead of them to give you a proper warning."

"Is Parrish coming too?" Jimin asked.

"No," Yoongi shook his head. "He's dealing with," he hesitated before he shook his head again, "I'll tell you later. He's just busy at the moment, so physicians under his bracket of expertise will check on Jungkook instead." Jimin nodded as Jungkook sat on his bed. He had a feeling he knew why Parrish wouldn't be present- he was probably still dealing with Zaros. Wherever Zaros was.

Just as he said, doctors soon rushed into the room, pushing Yoongi and Jimin to the side of the room as they took tests and prodded at Jungkook. Taking his temperature, asking about how he feels and if he's dizzy or nauseous at all. Taking blood samples to make sure nothing was overly wrong with him and even asking him if he was able to shift like before. Pushing out his scales, fangs, claws and shifting his eyes in color he kept his wings tucked into his back, the wall behind him not giving him space to stretch them out.

He was curious to see if he could shift fully into his entire dragon form, but that experience obviously had to wait. The small hospital room would be blown to bits if he tried shifting completely in here.

When they left, Jimin and Yoongi did too. Leaving to complete a few unfinished tasks they had previously abandoned to tend to Jungkook's unexpected awakening. Jungkook just ushered them off, not wanting to keep them from their work. Not only were they students, but they also did jobs for Parrish and the school now. They were a capable duo with Jimin being a diligent hellhound and Yoongi a top-notch warlock.

Jungkook just slouched back in his bed when he was on his own again. Missing the connection he used to have with you once again. He couldn't help to glance back at his wrist, hoping that if he blinked that tattoo would appear back on his skin for him to view. He remembered so vividly what it looked like. If someone gave him a marker he could draw it on his skin.

It was still early afternoon and he had been sleeping for so long already, but with his mind buzzing and fatigue creeping upon him from all his crying, he lay down and decided a little bit more sleep wouldn't hurt. It wasn't like you were going to just show up in a few hours if he slept anyways.

So, he'd dream of you instead.

XXX

Jungkook was stuck in his hospital room for 4 days before he got any kind of clearance to leave. He wasn't set to go home just yet, even though there was nothing really wrong with him anymore. Everyone was being overly cautious because of how long he was sleeping, but he felt fine and nothing was overly dramatic about his health. His tests weren't bad and he could do nearly everything asked of him. Parrish's orders, however, were to keep him in the hospital until he said otherwise.

Parrish had stopped by one night when Jungkook was woken up by a nightmare. Walking in and finally having a long chat with the dragon. Jungkook profusely apologized to the medical warlock that night, apologizing for losing track of his unofficial daughter. Parrish didn't blame him, but Jungkook still blamed himself. Parrish was shocking open about the entire situation- even telling Jungkook details pertaining to Zaros- the offender.

Apparently, a secret trial had been held over Zaros's future of magic and freedom. It was decided that he was to be held in prison until further notice and if his magic ever returned, he'd be held in magic confinements that restricted its use. As far as the Spell Master was concerned, he did not need a violent, power-hungry villain running around his school and targeting his students. Jungkook found some relief in that at least.

Parrish went even further to tell Jungkook where the twisted warlock was being held. He was in an isolated cell that sat below the academy apparently. There was a door in the Spell Caster building that lead down into an underground prison that had been abandoned for a long time, now with only one prisoner inside it. It was now on constant surveillance, guards keeping any nosy students from going down and getting some gossip scoop. No one knew Zaros was down there except for a small circle of professors. They all thought the basement was just under some maintenance.

Apparently, Yoongi and Jimin already knew Zaros's location, but they were under a strict order not to share the information; not even with Jungkook.

Parrish left that night with a few checkups concerning Jungkook's health and shared that he was free to go, but he's only keeping him here simply because he thought it'd be hard for him to go back to the dorms at the moment. That night, Jungkook had a dream- as opposed to one of his nightmares. Or maybe, it wasn't a dream per se, but it didn't feel like a nightmare.

He'd have these dreams of the world you forced him to see. He'd always wake up in a panic, a cold sweat on his spine as he grounded himself and repeated to himself over and over that that world wasn't real. This is where he belonged. It seemed that your spell still has some lasting effects due to him waking up and breaking it all on his own.

It was the morning of the 5th day since Jungkook had woken up when Jimin walked into his room, Yoongi once again popping out of his shadow once the door was closed. He had been hiding from other warlocks and witches who admired Parrish, and as his only son, Yoongi had his own little fanbase he couldn't stand. It was too attention gathering, so he hid until it was safe to come out.

When Jimin looked at Jungkook, he was sat up, half out of his bed as his legs swung over the edge of the mattress. The hellhound eyed the dragon suspiciously before he opened his mouth.

"I want to get below the academy to see Zaros," was Jungkook opener to the pair. They eyed each other before looking back at him, giving him a look of 'you're crazy'. Jimin cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry? You want to do what now?"

"I want to talk to Zaros," he spoke again. "Parrish already told me where he is and I know you two know too. I want to talk to him, I have the right to. After what he did to Y/n and to me, I think you should've seen this coming." If Jungkook was being honest with himself, he didn't want to just 'talk' to him. He wanted to scream and shout at him. He wanted to berate him and kick him down. He wanted to beat the shit out of Zaros frankly, but if he spoke like that, the likely hood of their help would slim.

Yoongi sighed. "My dad can't keep his mouth shut, can he?" Yoongi looked at Jungkook, looking at the steel-look in his eyes. In truth, Yoongi wouldn't argue with him- he agreed that he had the right to be sat in front of Zaros for whatever he wanted given the current circumstances. He remembered the first time you and Jungkook met so long ago.

He could remember how you wouldn't be able to carry anything along the lines of a civil conversation before. You'd always be at each other's throats, yelling and insulting each other without a hint of restraint. You flat hated each other. Now, it was so strange seeing the way Jungkook looked. Crying over you, fighting for you and being enraged at the idea of you being wounded. He remembered how he was when he was under hypnosis and clung to you like a child.

Jungkook has changed and Yoongi trusted him now.

"Alright, fine," Yoongi said, crossing his arms. Jimin jolted beside him panicked.

"What?! You can't be serious, Yoongi. We can't go down into the basement cells! Parrish told us not to!" Jimin waved his hand about, trying to make a debate happen- instead, he got an eye roll from his Master.

"So? We all know that rules and I aren't exactly compatible. Besides, it's like the snake said-"

"Dragon," Jungkook hissed in interruption.

"-he has the right to see him at the very least," Yoongi finished. He walked to Jungkook, grabbing his arm and lifting him off his bed, fully onto his feet. "I'll take him with me into your shadow and you'll get us down there."

"Yoongi!" He protested in a whine, even stomping his feet.

"Come on, Pup," Jimin's face exploded in red at the nickname as Jungkook had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. Pup? When did Yoongi start calling him that? Moreover, what a nickname for a hellhound. Yoongi just grinned as he and Jungkook started falling into Jimin's shadow.

It was odd, being inside one's shadow. It was like floating in dead space, but also similar to what it would be like submerged head to toe in water- but able to breathe. It wasn't nearly as suffocating as Jungkook originally thought it might be. It was freeing and warm. He could see the outside world from Jimin's shadow from beneath the floor. Looking up at the world that seemed too large from so far below.

Jimin changed with a sigh. His human form fading as he doubled onto all fours and black fur sprung from his body. A tail sprout at his rear and ears lifted from the top of his head. Paws his the floor as his claws scratched with annoying taps on the tile. It had been a while since Jungkook saw Jimin shift like this, and even newer from this angle in his shadow.

"Head down to the basement door in my building. It's close to shift hours, so we may have an opening to get down undetected if we hurry." Yoongi instructed Jimin as he just growled lightly and with Yoongi flipping open the door to the room, Jimin ran out. Taking off down the hall, Jungkook could feel the air rushing past due to Jimin's speed.

Jungkook was almost dizzy from the jarring new mode of transport. Jimin's hellhound speed made his normal humanly stroll seem deplorably slow. He skidded to a four-pawed stop, one that unconsciously made the dragon surge forward while Yoongi remained unresponsive; he was far too use to this. His claws padded backward as he hid around the corner in the shadows. His black fur acting as the perfect camouflage.

"This is problematic," Jimin lowly mumbled. "The changing of staff is tighter than expected." Two men stood at the basement door made of dark wood with a label marked Restricted Area. Yoongi grumbled, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger. Jungkook looked at him as he sighed, dropping his hand.

"Okay, Jimin," Yoongi started as the hellhound looked down at his dark shadow. "Come down here and I'll slither us inside."

"Are you sure? You're not used to transporting more than yourself and one other. Will one more body exhaust you?" He lifted his hound head up back to the guards- one leaving as his shift ended. "I could just barrel into him and force my way down."

Jungkook choked. Wasn't he the one who was opposed to this plan? Now he was volunteering to plow into some sad sap just doing his job. And out of nowhere to boot.

"No," Yoongi denied. "I can handle it. I have more magic power than that, you know this. Now, get down here, Pup." Jimin obeyed. Laying down, he relaxed as his shadow lifted like small arms. Wrapping around his body, he began sinking into the blackness as the shadow arms pulled him down.

Yoongi's eye glowed a bright green as his magic sucked Jimin's hound body inside the shadow with Jungkook and himself. Soon, the hound was falling out of blackness somewhere above them and landing on all fours at his master's side. Jimin's tail wrapped around Yoongi's wrist.

"Use some of my energy so you don't push yourself," he offered. Yoongi didn't argue and just complied. Yoongi may be the Master in the pair's relationship, but arguing with a pushy familiar and just plain stubborn attitude of Park Jimin was more exhausting than magic could ever be.

As Jungkook watched the pair work as one, he felt a wave of pure envy wash over him. He clenched his hand into a fist; trying not to remind himself of how much he missed you. Or how much your presence- or lack thereof- affected him in the long run.

Just like Yoongi said he would do, Jungkook soon felt the shadow move again. Oddly enough, traveling up the walls and along with the shadows of the ceiling and dipping into corners felt like falling down a canyon before experiencing weightlessness. Yoongi's eyes still remained their magic active emerald as Jimin stood diligently at his side- feeding energy into him.

It seemed almost flawless as Yoongi slithered the trio along the shadows before slipping beneath the door where cool air seeped out at the ankles. Halfway down the staircase, Jimin detached himself from Yoongi before bracing himself to leap straight up and out of the shadow as if he burst through a black puddle. Even shaking his body around to ruffle his pitch-black fur.

"I'll take us the rest of the way; I'll follow his scent," Jimin announced, finishing his trip down the stairs before hitting a hard, concrete bottom. A single long hall stretched to both sides. Empty, iron-barred cells littered the walls. Jimin's paw steps echoed due to his long claws in the narrow, underground basement of the academy. It was no joke, it truly was a prison; no wonder the academy forbade student access. It was eerie and even for a school of supernaturals, most might find the atmosphere too thick with unease. It could be a challenge to handle.

Eventually, Jimin's steps faltered a moment before he bit back an unconscious growl.

"This is far enough," Yoongi instructed before grabbing Jungkook's arm and hurling him up like he weighed nothing. Jimin jumped out of the way of Jungkook's white hospital scrub body as it burst up and through the shadow. The dragon groaned as Yoongi gracefully climbed out. The polar opposite of the dizzy heap of a dragon who was picking himself up off the concrete floor.

"You couldn't have just lifted me out?!" Jungkook fussed as Yoongi just crossed his arms, Jimin remained as a hound at his side. Yoongi just walked past him to a cell, eyes shining for a moment before a lock click echoed down the hall. He turned to Jungkook, the cell door now ajar. "Is he?" His voice faltered and failed as he kicked himself into gear. Bursting through the iron door he threw himself inside.

Fixing his hunched posture and spinning on his heel to his right, he fixed his sight into a fierce glare. There, sat in a pathetic heap with stone-magic repellant cuffs on his ankles and wrists, sat Zaros. Sitting in torn and tattered clothes, stripped of his shoes. He looked so, absolutely pathetic. Jungkook's lips rose to bare his teeth, his dragon peeking out in the form of raised fangs.

Fangs extended, eyes changing, scales rippling onto his cheeks. He rushed to Zaros's front, squatting to grab his collar. Nearly ripping the fabric of the already worn out shirt of his, he lifted the grown man up so his neck tilted so Jungkook could look into his blank disgusting eyes. No one even jumped an inch to calm Jungkook's rising anger. Jimin and Yoongi stood at the cell's door, eyeing him- refusing to interfere. It was safe to say Zaros really had this coming in due time.

Jungkook snarled and growled as he just stared at the powerless heap of a man. There was no resemblance of the man Jungkook knew from before with enough pride to power a powerplant. That almighty, egotistical pride was deflated and his cheeks were sunken in with heavy bags under his eyes. Magic deficiency sure has taken its tole- he deserved it though. He yanked him a fraction higher, finally seeming to get his attention.

"Alright, bastard," he snarled, "you're going to tell me what the hell happened after you struck. Me. Down." His grinding teeth enunciated his final words before he threw the feeble warlock stripped of all back against the cell's concrete wall. Jungkook's breath was running short due to his anger and he had no intention of even trying to calm down yet.

Zaros, however, remained a silent form. With a burst of heat, Jungkook's breath hissed with steam as fire rested on his tongue from his lungs. The fire began to flick at the tips of his hair, wisping around. Jimin watched his friend with worry and something not too far from pity.

His rage was alive because of his loneliness.

He saw Zaros's eyes flick up towards the dragon, something seemed to finally grab his attention. Yoongi's eyebrow raised- he had been down here many times without Jimin's knowledge when he followed his father. Zaros had been a motionless statue ever since he was found back then, this tiny motion of interest seemed to put Yoongi on edge.

"Heh," was the small sound that escaped Zaros's mouth. He seemed to regain some of his previous cocky nature as he sat up straighter than before and looked up at Jungkook. "You look exactly like you did before." Jungkook silently pressed him for answers; the heat rolling off his body in violent waves spoke for him when it came to intimidation.

The two of them stared at each other for longer than they both realized without actually speaking.

"You didn't come all the way here under the assumption that I know where that witch ran off to, did you?" Jungkook's fingers curled into fists as his claws dug into his palm at the tone of Zaros's voice. The warlock shifted his posture, lounging back as he lifted his cuffed, left arm. "Where ever she ended up, she got what she deserved for what she's done."

Jungkook slammed his foot into the center of the warlock's chest. His heel dug into his chest as Jungkook pushed steady, calm anger into it. Blood leaked from the punctures in his own palm from his claws, dripping onto the concrete cell floor. His eyes were wide like his consciousness slipped away and was letting his anger work his body for him instead.

"What does that mean?" Jungkook's voice was low, monotone and eerie. He was close to grabbing the man's face in his bloody palm and lighting it on fire. It was a loud bark and a black ribbon of shadow that stopped his outstretched hand that called him back to his right mind. He looked over his shoulder to an eye-glowing Yoongi and an on guard Jimin hound.

The shadow ribbon extended from Yoongi's shadow, lifting off the ground to tie tightly around the dragon's wrist. It tightened when Jungkook tried to struggle against it. Jimin barked again, glaring at Jungkook with blood-red eyes. A warning to control himself. It was the realization that if Jimin needed to step in Jungkook would be on the floor in seconds that calmed him down back into rational thought. He's been beaten by Jimin before, he didn't want to make the same mistake and make that memory reoccur in reality.

"The quickest way to get us caught is to be irrational," Yoongi warned. Jungkook lifted his foot from Zaros's chest- although reluctantly. He let the shadow around his wrist pull him back and away from the disable warlock who was trying to hide the fact he had to regain the breath Jungkook stomped out of him. "We need to go back to your room before anyone notices we left. Our time here is up," Yoongi told him as he dragged him backward and eventually out of the cell.

The iron cell door slammed shut, the sound echoing in the concrete halls of nothingness, leaving the warlock to sit in the same silence they found him in. With each step Jungkook took back down the hall, he felt angerier. Zaros clearly knew something, but he couldn't get out of him what it was. He didn't have enough time and Zaros didn't seem to care enough about anything anymore. Jungkook doubt he'd get any answers even if he threatened his life- something Jungkook was tempted to try.

By the time Jungkook slipped back into Jimin's shadow and joined Yoongi who took both hellhound and dragon back to Jungkook's room and he returned to his bed, he felt like he lost more ground instead of gaining any. Jimin and Yoongi left him that afternoon after his regular treatment, letting him sit in another day of hospital bruting.

XXX

It was a particularly strong clap of thunder coupled with a brilliant flash of lightning from outside Jungkook's hospital window that woke him up in a huff. Flinching to clutch his hospital blanket, he shot up as the rattling in the window calmed back down as the thunder faded. Rain pelted against the window in harsh drops as the wind moaned in heavy words. He was breathing heavily as he looked outside into the black world.

Looking at the clock hanging on the wall it was 2:03 in the morning. He took deep breaths to steady himself as he pushed the blankets down and kicked them off, swinging his legs over the bedside. It suddenly got too stuffy for him in the room as he stood up and padded to the window.

Placing his hand on the glass, it chilled his palm as he felt it rattle and watched the storm blowing outside. Trees with thin trunks bent to the wind as the taller, stronger tree's bustled like loud pom-poms with their leafy branches. It would be a mess in the courtyard come the end of the storm.

Jungkook shivered at the storm, an action he hadn't done before. Storms don't scare him, yet he shook like he was terrified. The next bolt of lightning made him jump away from the window and the crack of thunder that followed quickly after made him drop to his knees and cover his ears. A small whine coming out of his mouth- he wasn't sure what was going on.

When the thunder roll died for the second time, he slowly uncovered his ears and stayed kneeling on the floor. He was stuck between the emotions of being calm and terrified of the storm outside and all it did was cause so much confusion in his head. He had never been afraid of storms, so why was he now?!

He widened his eyes as a thought came into his head. He lifted his head up to the window, mouth open in silent words as an idea as to what was going on came to him. He wasn't sure, but he hoped so much he was right about his hunch. He watched as another bolt of bright, white lightning lit up the night sky as the thunder rolled afterward. He shakily stood to his bare feet as he came to stand in front of the window again, putting his left hand against the glass once more. He could see his reflection in the glass before he looked at his bare wrist.

What if he was torn between these feelings because one of them is yours? What if the connection between you and him wasn't really gone?

He folded his hand into a light fist as he pushed his forehead against the glass and shut his eyes. He took deep breaths as a shiver racked through his body again- one that he was convincing himself wasn't actually his.

"Come on," he muttered to himself so quietly that the wind could sweep the words away. "Please, give me something," he pleaded. The next lightning strike was the loudest by far as Jungkook's eyes shot open at the crackling sound. The lightning had struck the courtyard ground in a blinding white flash that caused him to shut his eyes immediately again before the mighty thunder that followed mimicked an earthquake's power.

In that bright light that lasted one moment and with the thunder that roared loud enough to shake the building, Jugnkook swore he saw something behind his eyelids. He dropped to the floor completely this time, falling back onto his ass as he stared up at the window bewildered. After that, the storm seemed to calm and before long it was just another rain shower. Jungkook wasn't sure how long he sat on the floor of his room, just staring up at the window's glass- purely stunned.

It was long enough, however, that he only came to when someone shook his shoulder to get his attention. Jimin and Yoongi had already come into his room when he whipped his head around so see the time. 7am already.

Jungkook looked at the ground he sat on, wondering where the time went or if he had been imagining the whole thing. Did that storm happen? Or did he just dream it all up and sleepwalk around for hours in his room?

Whatever happened, he cut off the questions Jimin was asking- ones Jungkook hadn't been listening to- by grabbing Jimin's arm, his hand shaking as he got the hound's attention.

"I," he started before clearing his throat, "I think I know where Y/n is," he finished. The picture of a stone chair on an island painted behind each blink of his eyes.

Young and Jimin both took sharp intakes of breath; their bodies freezing in place. Jimin had been hopeful for too long, so he just shook his head- with things so grim he was starting to slip. Nothing had happened these past six months despite people's efforts. Why would he get excited because Jungkook said something? No, he'd stay grounded and try to calm the dragon down. Young I just watched the two as Jimin's disbelief coiled in his master's chest.

"Jungkook," Jimin began to argue as he tried to lift the dazed former familiar off the ground. Jungkook just held around Jimin's arm, shaking his head.

"No, no wait! Jimin, please you have to trust me. Hear me out, I can find Y/n. I-I know I can!" Jungkook's voice pleaded with guilt as he knew this would put even more stress on his best friend. He just needed Jimin to hear him out. He quickly glanced at Yoongi, silently asking for help.

"Jimin," Yoongi sternly called. The hound looked over his shoulder. "Just hear him out." Jimin relented, sighing as he let Jungkook pull him to his knees, getting eye to eye on the hospital floor.

Jimin had yielded due to Yoongi's command. Jungkook breathed, finally getting their attention. He wouldn't hesitate to give away his secret place if it meant you were there too.

"There's," he starts, "this place that only I know about. I took Y/n there once. It's undiscovered because something stops it from being found. I don't know what or how, but Y/n and I are the only ones who know where it is. I think," he stuttered, "I think she might be there."

"Jungkook, you need to understand that you're not connected to Y/n anymore." Jimin tried to calmly reason with Jungkook. What would happen if, at this secret place, Y/n wasn't there? Jimin wasn't sure Jungkook could take that. Jungkook just shook his head, letting go of Jimin's arm to hold around his own wrist.

"No, no, listen to me! I-I'm afraid of storms," Jungkook blurted out. Jimin knew that was a lie. Jungkook could soar through the sky in the middle of a lightning storm without batting an eye. "Last night, that storm scared me to the point I was on my knees, Jimin."

"Jungkook, you're not afraid of storms."

"I know, but I was scared last night anyways!"

Jimin tried talking some sense into his friend when from behind him, Yoongi finally spoke up again.

"Y/n hates storms," he announced. Jimin and Jungkook looked at the warlock. "Lightning terrifies her."

"I knew it," Jungkook mumbled. He looked at the wrist he held, the bare wrist he wished wasn't bare before he looked back up again. "I know that terror I felt wasn't mine. I know it was Y/n's. That's why I'm so sure I can find her."

It was silent for a time. Jungkook trying to persuade the two into helping. He knew Jimin was caring for him in his own way, trying to not let Jungkook hurt himself emotionally any further by getting his hopes too high. Yoongi stood in thought, the unwritten standing leader of the trio of wicked creatures.

Whatever Yoongi decided, Jimin would obey without a doubt. Jungkook could only hope he decided to trust Junkook's words and gut instinct. The hunch he knew had to right. Yoongi sighed, something that made Jungkook perk up the smallest bit. The warlock looked at the dragon, still slumped down on the floor.

"Are you able to shift at all?" He asked.

"Yes, I can. There's been no problem with shifting back and forth. It's just as easy as it was before."

"How soon can you be ready?"

Jimin looked at his master. "What?" He asked, bewildered that no one was listening to him. Jungkook smirked, coming out of his self-pity mindset for but a moment.

"How soon can you bring me a set of my own damn clothes?" He countered back.

"What?!" Jimin shrieked as Yoongi and Jungkook ignored his cries of protest. Once again, ever the worrier about outcomes possibly going south.

"Tonight then. If you're sleeping, you're at fault when I throw you out of your bed against the floor, snake." Jungkook didn't even try correcting him on what reptile he was, too caught up in the idea that he would finally be leaving this hospital room. He'd get outside and he'd get to the mountain cave. He'd get to you, even if everything stood in his way- he'd plow right the hell through it.

"Make sure to get some good clothes. I want to make a good impression on Y/n when I see her," he teased, more to ease his own erratic heart as Yoongi just chuckled, crossing his arms as Jimin shot to his feet. He opened his mouth to argue, but something in his gut told him it wasn't worth it. He'd have a better time winning an argument with a salad. So, he just sighed- signing himself on board of the train wreck to come.

The trio stayed quiet in the hospital room nearly all morning and well into the afternoon, planning it all out. Yoongi would go back to Jungkook's room and snag a pair of pants for him- forgoing a shirt seeing as he had a better chance of traveling undetected as a half shifted dragon-man and not a full scale, giant dragon. He didn't want to ruin another shirt by tearing wing holes into the back. He feared for what shoes he'd bring his way, but he had no choice but to just trust him. Jungkook did ask for one of his hoodies to bring along to wrap around his waist.

Who knows, maybe you would need something to cover up with.

It was mid-afternoon when Jungkook ushered them off, playing to the nurses and doctors that he was tired and wanted to rest. He did try at least. He tried sleeping through the afternoon so he would have energy into the night to get to the cave- but sleep was hard to come by. His chest was so tight and his throat constricted at the idea of finally seeing you again after all this time. It was like his body knew you'd been away for over half a year now.

That is far, far too long. He bit into his lip to keep his emotions in check as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying it will some sort of rest onto himself. A small power nap was all he accomplished- however anytime someone came into his room, he'd play as if he were sleeping to avoid any confrontation or conversation. Conversing energy is all he cared about right now.

XXX

11:46pm was when Jungkook sprung out of bed and flipped on a lamp nearby. His hospital room was dark, not even the moon shining tonight- being covered by clouds. The shadow he cast with his body on the wall gave perfect entrance to Yoongi, who was now walking out of it. Jimin bounded out of the wall beside him- already in hound form. Yoongi held a drawstring bag over his shoulder before he tossed it to the dragon.

"Hurry and change, we've gotta get you out before someone sees the lamplight on and checks on you," Yoongi whispered. Jungkook nodded, not wasting any more time. He practically tore his scrubs off, tossing them on the bed behind him as he changed. A pair of black pants and a giant, pink hoodie. Lord knows how far back in Jungkook's closet Yoongi had to dig for that.

If Jungkook wasn't a dragon who wasn't able to be cold, he'd probably be shivering in the chilly hospital room. Just jeans, some boots and a hoodie around his waist. He was glad Yoongi remembered to not bring a shirt. He stuffed his scrubs back into the bag his clothes were in and shoved it under his bed.

Jimin had been standing at the closed door, listening intently to make sure the coast stayed clear while Jungkook changed. Yoongi stood in the corner against the wall, waiting for the dragon's all clear to get rolling.

Jungkook pulled the belt through the loops of his jeans before fastening it. He spun around to Yoongi, arms wide.

"How do I look?" He asked, the excitement bleeding into his tone.

"Like an exhibitionist," the warlock deadpanned. "If you're ready, let's go." Yoongi pushed off the wall, stepping forward. He snatched Jungkook's bicep as he called Jimin back to the shadow they had come out of. Eyes glowing green, Yoongi shoved Jungkook into the shadow, through the wall as Jimin jumped in after him. Yoongi bursting the bulb of the lamp- instead of just flicking the lamp off- was stepping into his shadow just as a nurse rushed into the room. Finding it empty with lightbulb shards on the floor.

Traveling in Yoongi's shadow was easier than the last time Jungkook had done it. Perhaps it was because he had you on his mind instead of anything else. Yoongi slithered along walls and ceilings, zigzagging the stairwells before he was pulling the dragon up and out of the floor of the roof, Jimin following. The wind whipped along the rooftop, the breeze smells like earth as Jungkook took a deep breath.

"It's perfect flight conditions," he muttered. It seemed like mother nature was on his side after all- even if the storm was a fit of hers. Or maybe, that storm was another message from mother nature to aid him still. If mother nature was real, after all.

"I hear footsteps from the lower floors," Jimin piped up. "It won't be long before they check the roof for us," he warned.

Jungkook looked at the two of them. Jimin had been his best friend for a long time, and only recently- or he guessed not to recently given the time pass- he had decided to befriend Yoongi. Along with you. He smiled to them, wide in all his shirtless glory as his wings spread from his back and his scales encroached on his cheeks. His eyes glowed in the darkness, a contract to Yoongi's glowing emerald eyes.

"Thanks, guys," he spoke over the wind.

"Bring Y/n back and then I'll accept your thanks. Until then, get going Snake-boy," Yoongi retorted with crossed arms as Jimin shook his hound head. He looked up, somehow portraying a sort of smile in his canine features. Jungkook laughed as he walked to the edge of the building, looking down to see the small specs of people running around- probably looking for him. He was a big part of the Zaros case after all- being involved with the man's daughter.

He took a few steps back before he rushed the edge, taking a leap and his wings hit the wind. The updraft lifted him up before he was flying off, the cover of darkness and trees hiding him until he was able to fly high enough and out of the city. His sights set on the path to the mountain cave he knew so well.

XXX

Jungkook lost track of time as he eventually could make out the outline of the mountain in the dark distance. He flew higher, the air thinning out just as it always did when he went far above the clouds. He was eventually zooming through the cave opening before the cave stopped and dropped, following the downward cavern into the place of the secret place he's been to so many times before. Something felt off to him though.

The lower he went into the cavern, the feeling in his gut twisted and a gust of cold air started hitting his fiery skin. He hadn't ever remembered the cave being cold before? Was it just him being paranoid? The opening to the cave came into sight as he could see the light of it nearing. He folded his wings, allowing his body to fall faster as he plunged downward.

He wasn't paranoid. The moment his body passed the threshold of the opening in the cavern, he instinctively covered his face with his arms, his wings flying open again in a panic because his eyes were covered and the ground wasn't seen. A blast of cold hit him again as he finally was able to uncover his face and reopen his clamped eyes.

His mouth opened at the sight of the cave as his brows knitted and a look of distress painted his face. His cavern was no longer the warm, floral cave he had known for years. The trees weren't blossoming and the waterfall wasn't flowing. Everything was still and everything was dead.

The trees were bare, the noises of the creatures who used to live there were silent and long gone, the waterfall had dried up and the lake of water was frozen over. The wind whipped around the area in loops, unable to escape. It was like a violent winter storm desolated the area and left it as a barren wasteland of nothing.

A part of Jungkook choked. This was the place he used to heal after his mother died, and now it was like this. This was the place he finally started connecting with you too, and now it looked so terrifying to him. The warm place of comfort was cold and he wanted to run. Fly out of there and forget about it, thinking it was just a bad dream.

He knew better.

Jungkook shook it off, taking in small, cold breaths of air as he started to finally lower himself to the ground, flying towards the frozen lake. Out of everything, that stone arch and throne that sat on the small island in the lake had remained the same. The bright magic that surged through its engravings still shone just as brightly as it did when you touched it and it activated. Had it been the magic that the throne shot off that was responsible for the current state of the cave?

His feet finally his the hardened, cold stone of the island as his wings closed. His wings were freezing as they touched his back, closing up but not disappearing. He was too on edge to revert back to his human form. His wings clung to him as his scales chilled his skin- yet of course, he wasn't cold. He couldn't feel cold.

He walked around the island and even onto the frozen lake. Delicate steps onto the icy water as he looked at the blurred image of himself staring back at him. The ice was thick and he was confident he could run and jump on it without a problem. He wouldn't though, something felt wrong just standing on the lake of ice. He knelt to touch the ice, squinting his eyes as his trembling fingertips.

Out of nowhere, a cloud of mist started to surround the island and lake. Jungkook shot back to his feet, his boots stomping on the ice as he whirled around. The mist was thick; a white cover of chill that blocked his sights. Any thicker and he'd have a hard time seeing two feet in front of him.

He aimlessly waved his hands in front of him, a useless attempt to fan the mist out of his view. The white cloud cover only sifted through his fingers as it chilled his warm, dragon skin. He growled, slightly annoyed. Walking, he thought he'd hit the island again, but all he found was the iced lake under his feet. The mist had him turned around and he lowly groaned as he almost stomped- but knew better.

It stopped when a pulse of magic beat behind him. It lasted just a moment, the pulse of it like a heart. Turning, he squinted, seeing something. The low light of white through the thick mist. That has to be the stone throne, he thought. He couldn't think of anything else it could possibly be. But why would it beat with magic? As far as he knew it was something of a magic relic, yes, but that didn't explain why it had active magic inside of it.

Sprinting towards the light and beats of magic thrumming through the ground into his feet and up his legs to vibrate into his chest he soon was taking shallow breaths as he stood in front of the throne. The light source and magic beating throne of glowing, lightning stone. He furrowed his brow as he looked down at the person sitting on that throne.

It looked like you, from the appearance to the pulsing, blighted arm. Everything about whoever it was sitting on that throne matched you to an almost unnerving degree, but something in his gut told him that regardless of how it appears, that wasn't you. His heart didn't jump when he saw this person- this thing. He didn't get goosebumps, he didn't feel like dropping to his knees in relief, he didn't feel like shouting and forcing you awake to scold you. He just felt- wrong looking at this doppelganger of you.

Though he knew that this thing wasn't you, he couldn't stop his mouth from opening and his voice leaving as if he were truly speaking to you.

"Wake up," he spoke. Not cold, not stern, not soft– just ordinarily. Even when he knew that this wasn't you, it didn't stop the gasp he gave when the doppelganger of yours opened its eyes with an easy, smooth motion. Jungkook's mouth opened in a light breath before he shut it again, tempted to look away from the doppelganger. The black, empty eyes of this imposter made him miss your true eyes.

He took a deep breath, keeping himself together before he looked straight back into the empty void of its eyes.

"I know you are a spell," he started, his fist opening and closing slowly in anxiety. "Y/n- the real Y/n, told me once about a mirage spell cast through mist. I know you are not real and you are not her, but-" he cut himself off. His fist clenched shut at his side, his arm tensing. "I have so many things I've realized so suddenly and I need to tell her the truth. Please," he took a small step towards the copy. "Please, can you tell me where she is. I know she's here- she must be."

The doppelganger looked up at him with creased brows and their mouth open in a pitiful pout. If those empty, black eyes were true eyes, he was sure he'd fall to his knees and collapse. If this copy hadn't lacked your eyes, he would have crumbled long ago.

Jungkook watched as the copy started to move, standing weakly on its two feet as it stumbled closer to Jungkook's chest. The copy looked up at him without breaking- what would be- eye contact as it reached out and grabbed his left hand. Jungkook unconsciously wrapped his hand around the hand that reached out and squeezed.

"Please," he pleaded once again in a whisper as thin as the mist. The copy finally broke eye contact as it turned to the right and lifted it's free arm and pointed back out onto the lake. Jungkook turned to follow the copy's finger. He looked back, "is she there?" The copy only nodded to Jungkook's question before dropping its arm and releasing his hand- Jungkook almost missing the warmth.

Jungkook started back out without thinking- when he looked back to thank the copy, it was gone. Disappearing back into the mist. Jungkook walked along the icy lake for longer than he liked before he felt like perhaps the copy had lied to him. He hadn't seen you at all, not along the lake anywhere. He stood in place looking around in the slightly thinning mist, frustration lacing his facial features as he started running his hand through his hair.

What if you really weren't here? What if that feeling he had was wrong? He started to feel sick- he felt like he'd completely break if you weren't here. He felt his mind spinning when he felt a small tremor under his feet.

He looked down at the ice and he squinted his eyes. Beneath him it felt like before when magic pulsed leading him to the stone throne, but now it felt like it was coming from beneath the ice. He jumped and almost lifted himself into the air and off the ice when an echoing crack filled the air. Beneath him now, between his feet was one solid crack in the ice that lead forward.

Whatever it was that caused it, Jungkook didn't know- all he knew is that he was running down the trail it left without thought. The crack lead to a large, omnidirectional crack in the ice as Jungkook dropped to his knees and palms, peering inside the ice. His eyes narrowed before he saw something beneath the surface. His left wrist began to sting and he was punching through the ice before he could properly think about his actions.

His tight fist that licked with flames burst through the sheet of ice and his hand was plunged into the freezing water of the lake. He pulled his arm out before he was gripping around the open break and started stripping away at more ice. He pulled the crack open into a wide hole before he fell to his chest on the ice as he reached his arm fully into the hole, fishing around inside.

His eyes bugged when his fingers brushed against something inside the dark water. He leaned further into the lake, his entire shoulder submerged and ready and willing to dive completely inside if need be. He was soon wrapping his hand around something before he was scrunching up onto his knees and pulling up.

He choked and his eyes stung when the wrist and hand of whoever he had grabbed under the water breached the lake's surface. He moved to his feet, crouching as he pulled and hoisted your cold, wet body out of the water and onto the lake. He fell back onto his rear as he pulled you to his chest and fell onto his back.

He was still for a moment. The idea of you laying on his chest, wet and cold, didn't seem like reality to him. He stared glossy-eyed up into the mist that was navigable now before he sprung up again.

You were unconscious as he moved to roll you off his chest and onto the sheet of ice. His mouth opened and a choked whimper came out of his lips as he saw the state of you. You weren't injured or cut, your chest still just barely moved and he could only assume that you had not drowned simply because this lake was known for its healing properties- as you told him before. It could not drown anything.

His fingers traced your torn shirt and exposed collar bone all the way to your left shoulder. He wanted to hold the hand that was infected with that blight of yours, the start of your curse, but he could not.

For the left arm that was once infected with lightning was no longer there.

Jungkook panicked, unable to think straight. Your arm was gone, your left arm was taken away from you and you didn't have it. You had no left arm! He fell back onto his heels as he ran his hands through his hair and looked you up and down, making sure no other limbs had gone missing. Other than your arm, you were whole- a small relief.

Jungkook shook his head, slapping his cheeks to slap some sense into him. Your breathing was shallow and your body began to tremor with shivers. You had to be freezing. He leaned over you, shaking your shoulders as you lay on the ice.

"Y/n, Y/n! Wake up! Dammit- I'm not playing around. Open your eyes and talk to me! Y/n!" His voice broke, the tears he held in glossed over his eyes had begun to drop one by one onto your cheeks. His nose tinted pink as his brows creased down. His fingers shook as he tried to wake you, his fingernails digging bluntly into your skin- not that you could complain about it being unconscious and unresponsive. "Y/n, please- just this once listen to me," he whispered.

He slumped onto the ice as he rested his hands on your shoulders and his head on your chest. Your breast supported his cheek as he heard your heart thump softly beneath his ear. The only reassurance he seemed he would be granted. He pushed his nose into your chest, your clothes and skin cold and wet before he sprung up, remembering he had a bright, pink hoodie around his waist.

He released you and raised to his knees and untied the hoodie before he looked at your torn shirt. It would only be uncomfortable and a risk of a cold if you kept wearing it. It was torn and ruined anyways so Jungkook tore open the fabric before he pulled it off you. Being a decent person, he kept your bra on you as he lifted your torso up and started scrunching up the hoodie and pulling it over your head. Lifting your one arm into the sleeves was a challenge before he was pulling it to settle around your hips. He didn't lay you back onto the ice, instead, he just held you again.

"Hey," he started speaking, "why did you do that?" He asked, knowing he wouldn't get any sort of answer back. "I was content on being your familiar for the rest of my life; I thought you knew that?" He held you closer to rest his head on yours, he could feel the weakness start gripping his body, the turmoil he's been through emotionally finally starting to take hold. "I was ready to stay with you until I stopped existing, I wanted to be yours."

He could have imagined it, but he swore he felt you twitch just then. He thought he felt your body convulse just slightly, but he didn't want to play it off as a trick of the mind. That small movement had him gearing up to leave. The mist had all but faded now, the solemn state of his once beautiful cavern escape clear and visible again as he picked you from the lake's surface. He hiked you up his chest and held you so you wouldn't risk falling as his wings extended from his back.

Your cold cheek fell on his bare shoulder as he looked at you sleeping. Yes, you were sleeping. That is all. He took a small jump, his wings flapping once as his toes brushed the ice before he started flying higher- slowly as to not discomfort you. Making it up through the cavern and out of the mountain he stopped above the clouds and turned to look at it.

"I'm not sure if I'll ever return here again," he spoke to the mountain as if it were a living being. Perhaps the mountain had a spirit and it could hear him, he did not know. Something in his chest told him that he didn't need to come back to that cave any more. The bandage that covered the wound of his past was taken off and the remedy was found. He looked back down at you. "I found who I need, so I don't need to come back again," he looked back up. "Goodbye," he bid as he turned and flew off, returning back to the campus where Yoongi and Jimin were waiting,

Jungkook nearly collapsed onto the roof. His feet hit the concrete before his knee buckled and he toppled forward with you in his arms. He felt dizzy and heavy as he held you in front of him in a daze.

"Jimin," he lightly spoke- a sorry excuse for a call. "Yoongi, I'm here," he whispered again. His body was heavy, too much going on too quickly. "We're," he said, cradling you as he fell to his side, his arm pillowing under your head, "we're here. Y/n, she needs help," he coughed before his eyes began to feel too heavy.

He vaguely heard a loud banging in the distance behind him before he heard the stomping of feet. He thought he heard someone yelling at him, but he couldn't tell anymore. He just decided to deal with it all later when he woke up, so he just let his eyes fall shut with you in his arms.

XXX

When Jungkook woke up next, he shot up in his bed. He gasped as he gripped his covers as he looked around the room. Next to his bed sat Jimin who had jumped to pull his knees up in his chair at Jungkook's sudden outburst. Jungkook blinked over at him more confused than ever.

"What? Where?" Jungkook spoke, groaning as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms.

Jimin settled back down, as he planted his feet back on the tile floors. "Yoongi and I heard your wings when you came back. We took you from the roof back down here for treatment. The doctors were really mad at us, even Parrish dug into Yoongi about it." Jimin told the dragon. Jimin lifted the apple in his hand, half-eaten, as he took another crunch out of it. Jungkook looked around his room, the bag he hid under his bed now out on a chair with the clothes he wore out that night.

He looked down at his scrubs as he sighed, slouching back in his bed. Jimin kept shifting his eyes back towards him. Jungkook rose a brow at his friend, sitting back up.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He questioned.

"Uh, well, just-" Jimin rubbed his neck with his free hand. "Do you feel any different?" Jungkook shook his head as Jimin looked at his feet, tapping the toes of his boots together. "I didn't actually think you'd really bring her back, you know?" He admitted as Jungkook remained silent. "Sorry for doubting you, I was just afraid of getting my hopes up." Jungkook huffed as he smiled. He got out of bed, grunting as he walked to his friend.

"I know," he stood in front of his friend as he put his hand on his head. Jimin was older, yet he let himself be comforted by the dragon as he sat in his own relief. Jungkook moved back to sit on his bed as he talked with Jimin a bit longer. It was then when he looked around and down at Jimin's shadow. He pointed downwards, "Yoongi isn't in your shadow, is he?"

Jimin shook his head. "No, he's with Y/n in her room right now." Jungkook tensed at that. Jimin was quick to quell the uneasiness that Jungkook let leak onto his face. "She's alright- well aside from the lack of one of her arms," he whispered before he cleared his throat. "Parrish said she hasn't suffered any long-lasting side effects, she's just pushed her magic limit way too far so she's exhausted."

"Is there a reason why she lost her arm," Jungkook coldly asked.

"I can answer that for you," a new voice cut in. Jungkook turned around when Parrish walked into his room, shutting the door behind him. His lab coat rested on his shoulders as it fluttered behind his knees when he walked in. He walked around the bed and promptly slapped the back of Jungkook's head with his clipboard. Jungkook hissed as he held his head. "That's for sneaking off and getting my son involved," he scolded as Jungkook pouted. Jimin already had his helping of a scolding for aiding in Jungkook's runoff, not to mention the lashing Yoongi got as Parrish's son. "However, I am grateful to you for bringing my daughter back."

Jungkook looked up at Parrish. Y/n lived with Parrish and Yoongi so long they were practically a family, it was no doubt Parrish saw her as his daughter. Jungkook nodded, his eyes stung- but he held it in. He wouldn't cry in front of Parrish.

"Is she alright?" Jungkook asked as Parrish pulled up another chair and sat beside Jimin in front of the dragon as he set his clipboard aside. He folded his hand in front of him, resting them on his lap.

"She'll recover without a problem, her magic was almost at zero, but she'll bounce back," he calmly spoke. "As to your previous question about her arm, she lost it when she took Zaros's magic away." Jungkook blinked as Jimin looked away, awkwardly taking another bite of his apple before the air ate away at it and turned it brown.

"What?"

"I said before that Zaros had his power seal away, but that wasn't quite correct. In reality, he won't be able to use magic again because it was taken out of him. Y/n took it away."

"But, she couldn't have- how is that even possible?!"

"Anything is possible, that's why it's magic. It makes things that seem unlikely, likely. I can only assume that when you were attacked by Zaros and she was left to face him, she found out a way to take his magic from him out of sheer panic. It was probably on nothing but rage and impulse, but Zaros was a very powerful warlock. Though, of course even with magic, nothing is free." Parrish looked at Jungkook as the dragon curled his fingers into a fist, trying to contain his anger towards Zaros. Jimin also looked at the dragon as he got up, finishing his apple and tossing it into the bin before he sat beside Jungkook.

"Can a C-ranked witch really be capable of that?" Jimin asked.

"It's possible. It's not uncommon for magic to spike when the user's life is threatened. Not only did Y/n protect herself, but she protected Jungkook as well. When she took his magic from him, she had to give something equal in return. So, the fates decided to take the arm that was filled with his magic as payment for her actions." Parrish took his clipboard back into his lap as he took the pen in his pocket and clicked it.

He scratched and wrote and circled things on his papers as he flipped through them. Before long, his eyes scanned them once more before he replaced the pen back into his pocket and then presented the clipboard to Jungkook. The dragon took it with a raised brow.

"Even if it is grim, the loss of her arm may be a good thing." Jungkook read the papers as Jimin looked over his friend's shoulder, reading the best he could with a stretched neck. Parrish sat with his hands folded again on his lap as the two read.

"I don't understand, so when she lost her arm, it helped?" Jungkook questioned aloud as Jimin started smiling before looking back and forth between Parrish and the papers he had just finished scribbling on.

"When her arm was severed from her body, the infection went with it. Y/n is no longer blighted." Parrish solidified. Jungkook was ready to open his mouth again as Jimin grabbed his arm, holding it in excitement when the door to Jungkook's medical room was slammed open.

"Doctor, I apologize for barging in, but Y/n is starting to wake up," a female doctor announced. Jungkook dropped the clipboard as he sprung to his feet, beating even Parrish to rise. He ignored the shouting of Jimin and Parrish behind him as well as the doctor's before he was pushing his way out the door into the hall. He could follow her scent he knew so well.

Jungkook ran through the halls, even down a flight of stairs before his nose led him to a doorway. He could smell your scent behind the door as well as Yoongi's inside. He heard the sounds of all sort of machines he knew was helping you recover and the sound of someone else talking inside. Jungkook took breath before he was flinging the door open and rushing inside.

Yoongi stood over your bedside, staring down at you, holding your hand as you were hooked up to a machine used to help replenish magic energy. Yoongi's eyes were swollen and Jungkook would poke fun at him any other time than now. Jungkook rushed over, bending over the opposite side of your bed as you slept. He peered down at you, your brows scrunched together.

Yoongi wasn't all that shocked to see Jungkook, in fact, he was shocked he hadn't seen him burst through the door earlier than now. Yoongi's grip on your only hand was strong. Jungkook's breath shuddered as Parrish and Jimin soon ran into the room behind the dragon who tore out of his own room a moment ago. Yoongi stepped away from you, letting your hand go to let Parrish get closer to you.

Jungkook hadn't moved, his palms on your bed's mattress as he stared at you without blinking. He waited and he stood absolutely still before he felt his breath leave him in one fell swoop when your eyelashes fluttered. Your eyelids twitched before they slid slowly open just a crack.

"Y/n?" Jungkook whispered as your eyes opened further. Your neck moved your head slowly to face the voice that called you. Your lips moved, but it took a few tries before a voice finally came out.

"Jun..g..kook?" Your voice was scratchy before you erupted into a fit of coughs. Jungkook jumped, panicky as he walked up closer to your head and cradled your cheek in his hand. He ran his thumb over your skin as you heaved, trying to gain your breath back.

"Hey, breathe. It's okay, you're okay," he said. Voice cracking as a tear fell from his eye. He didn't know where the tear came from and he didn't mean to shed it, it just came out on its own. He sniffled before he felt his knees give and he found himself eye to eye with you as he knelt at your bedside. He buried his face into your mattress as his shoulders shook.

"Jungkook?" Your voice was stronger that time as he just shook his head, trying to signal to you he was alright. He was holding in too much and now here it was all spilling out in one, pathetic, giant heep. Jimin ran to Yoongi's side who was just barely holding it together as Parrish worked on getting you removed from the machines you didn't need any longer now that you were awake.

You reached up with your arm to hold onto Jungkook's hand that held your cheek as you nearly choked when you wanted to lift your other arm, but it wasn't there. You could feel the end of your arm just off your shoulder. You vaguely remember the pain of it bursting and igniting before it all went blurry. Parrish worked, Jimin and Yoongi held themselves together with the best they could at the foot of your bed as Jungkook kept his face hidden beside you, weeping.

XXX

You weren't sure how much time passed before Parrish started talking to you about what to do and what not to do because you were recovering. He ran you through the fact that you did lose your left arm and that it had been close to seven months since you had gone missing. He told you that you had somehow taken Zaros's ability to use magic- the result being your missing arm. He gave you the best run down he could without overwhelming you.

Jungkook sat on the side of your bed the entire time. He held your right hand as much as he could. When Parrish needed your arm, Jungkook released your hand and then took it right back when Parrish finished. Yoongi was quick to chew you out- but the tears glossing his eyes told the reality that he was just relieved you were back. Jimin wept loud and proud as he let it all out and he slumped into a tired mess before Yoongi took him out to get some rest at his dorm.

It was starting to tick further into the evening when Parrish excused himself, telling Jungkook to return back to his own hospital room soon. Jungkook just nodded, being left alone with you now. He wanted to mirror Yoongi and chew you out, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He tinkered around with your fingers as he counted each finger. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and then back down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. His eyes were swollen as he still sniffed every now and then.

You curled your lips over your teeth as you licked them nervously. You weren't sure what to say- you were very much aware that you had most definitely placed a sleeping sleep on Jungkook back before you disappeared and you were sure he didn't take too well to that. He was as silent as you and the silence wasn't comfortable at all; it was suffocating and stagnant.

You cleared your throat lightly as you lay on your back, staring at the ceiling.

"Um, Jungkook?" You voiced, met with nothing. He stayed quiet, still playing with your hand and still staring down at the mattress. You inwardly sighed as you tried again. "Jungkook?" Still nothing. "Are you angry with me?" You lightly asked, knowing he would more than likely say yes. You prepared for the burst of angry outbursts, but they never came.

Instead, he just slumped onto your bed beside you. You yelped as he dropped his torso to lay beside you, his face beside your left shoulder. His legs still hung off the bed as his toes just barely brushed the tile floor. He sighed as you remained quiet again.

"I want to yell at you," Jungkook finally spoke. You knew that, but hearing him admit it still stung. "I wanna yell and scream at you for being so, so stupid." He brought your arm over your chest to push your knuckles against his warm cheek. "I think Yoongi did it for me though, so I won't," he whispered.

"Jungkook, listen-"

"Did you not want me to be your familiar that much?" He choked. His throat felt clogged like he was going to cry again. He was starting to get sick and tired of crying. He hadn't cried like this in so long, it was actually starting to annoy him.

"What?"

"It's the only thing I can think of when I remember you broke our contract," he murmured. "You put me to sleep, you took away our contract, you ran off and you got hurt through it all. I can't understand anything and you didn't even explain it before you acted. You didn't talk to me, you just acted and ran. The only thing I can do is think you hated our contract so much you didn't want to talk to me about it."

You grunted as you tried to sit up, but with your only arm being held over your chest and in Jungkook's hand, you had to rely on your abdominal muscles which happen to be as strong as straw at the moment. You groaned as you lifted your shoulders. Jungkook gasped as he shot himself up and dropped your hand, pushing his palm on your back to help you up.

He had you sitting up, slouching before you shifted to face him. You lifted your chin to rest on his shoulder as you pushed the top of your head into his cheek. Your arm slinging over his shoulder as your fingers ran along his spine.

"I'm sorry," you apologized. Jungkook shifted to sit on your bed, his knees on either side of your hips. He pushed his hand on the back of your head as his other stayed glued on the small of your back. You could feel his heartbeat calm in his chest. "You know I didn't hate anything about our contract. I've always been happy you were my familiar, even when you rejected me before I got infected. I acted the way I did because I felt so guilty. I took your life from you and I felt like you were just forcing yourself to stay beside me because you couldn't get out of it. I didn't mean to hurt you, you know that."

"You're a jerk," he whined, pushing his nose into your hair. You nodded.

"I know."

"I mean, you're just awful."

"I know."

"Selfish and hardheaded."

"I know."

"But even if you're a jerk, I still don't want to be anyone else's familiar," he admits. You pull your head from his shoulder where it rested to look at him for the first time in the eyes. You half expected him to have a look of pity and anguish on his face, but you were taken aback when the look you were faced with was one of bold determination. "I will not accept anyone else as my master, and I will not be anyone else's familiar. It's you, Y/n, or no one else."

Your cheeks flushed at his confession. The look in his eyes told you that he meant every word. Jungkook shifted, his bent knees moving to stretch out before curling around the back of your hips. He grabbed your hips as he lifted you up. You held his shoulder as you squealed before you were sat back down on his crossed legs, your legs on either side of his waist. His fingers laced together at the small of your back, his brows furrowed as he pushed his forehead to yours.

"Tell me I can be your familiar again," he told you. "I won't let you go until I'm yours again," he added. Your cheeks flared up as your hand fell from his shoulder to his chest. You could feel his heart thumping under your fingertips and behind his hospital shirt. You never even got to ask him if he was alright after everything, he didn't give you enough time. He just jumped right into his own task without stopping- as per usual.

"I- Jungkook," you tried interrupting him.

"I'm serious. Tell me or I'm not moving and neither are you," he confirmed by tightening his arms around your hips, pushing his fingers into your back further. You could feel his breath on your face and shivers ran up your spine as his fingers stayed to hold you in place. He was serious it seemed.

"Are you sure you really want me?" You asked meekly, trying to move your head away from his and try and at least mask the red that started piling up on your cheeks. He was being way too bold. "You could easily have any other witch or warlock that isn't nose high in family problems with only one arm," you pouted. Jungkook cracked a smile before he leaned forward and placed a small kiss on the corner of your lips.

Frozen, you jumped but didn't move- not like you could anyway. His lips on your skin were warm and his stone face finally softened before he leaned back and bonked his forehead against you with a small, almost comical knock. He giggled as he looked at you with galaxies in his eyes. His ears were red and you swore you saw small flames flick off his skin. Was that his way of blushing?

"I thought I said I didn't want anyone else, family baggage or not. So what if you lost an arm? I've got two more for you to use, so I don't see the problem." You felt a small tingling in your right arm as you sat with him, talking as he held you hostage in his lap. Giggling in your face after backing you into a corner with the surge of boldness you hadn't seen in so long.

"You're positive you'd be okay with me as your master? I may not be able to break the contract again if you decide you hate me one day."

"I couldn't be more positive. I don't think I could bring myself to hate you now even if I tried. There's a reason I woke up on my own from the dream you put me in. I woke up because you weren't there, so what's the point if you aren't with me here in the end?"

You wiggled to gain as much space as you could from him- that wasn't much. Still on his lap, you pull your hand from his chest as you curled your fingers and extended your pinky. "Alright then, we promise on it." You held your pinky in front of you. "As your previous master and as your future master as well, I hereby order that you become my familiar again, Jeon Jungkook." You commanded.

He quickly released one of his hands from your back before he curled his own pinky with yours. His hand was as warm as his lips were before he was giddily smiling. He felt something like a new kind of spark in his chest after the promise was finished. He let go of your finger and brought his other hand to join together under your jaw. You jumped when he cradled your face and smiled before leaning to push his lips against yours in a proper kiss.

You're not sure what happened, but as he kissed you your arm felt hot and his left hand felt warmer and warmer against your cheek. You could feel him smile against your lips as you soon pushed against him, giving your own smile back. It felt like a breeze blew by the two of you as you sat in the warmth of his dragon skin before he pulled away from you- as giddy as a child.

You gasped when you saw him and his eyebrows shot up.

"What is it?" He asked as he moved his hands to hold around your neck gently. You just blinked at him, your face reddening. "What is it?!" He asked again, a chuckle in his voice as you leaned back from him and looked around. Wiggling around, you saw a small circle mirror beside your bed and reached for it. You grabbed it, flopping ungracefully along your mattress that made Jungkook chuckle. He reached over you, grabbing it instead after seeing you struggle with not being used to only having one arm to grab things with.

He placed the small mirror in your hand before you were settling back in front of him, climbing back onto his lap before turning the mirror around and showing him his own reflection. His eyes went wide before he was leaning towards the mirror and grabbing it from your hand.

"What the?!" The reflection that looked back at him wasn't the reflection he had seen not that long ago. His brown hair was gone and his eyes had changed as well.

His dragon traits had slipped out without him knowing and the scales that were once dark and ashy on his cheeks were now a soft rose. His hair was no longer that dark brown you had teased him about but an ash pink that seemed to spike at the ends. His golden eyes were dotted with lavender- just like when he was hypnotized before. His fangs were longer and even his claws felt sharper than they were before.

He gasped again when he saw the glimpse of a tattoo under the sleeve of his scrub on his left arm. He set the mirror down before he pulled the sleeve up. The tattoo was so much different than the one before. It wasn't just a simple wrapped tattoo that curled his wrist. No- this one was much more elaborate. It sat on the top of his wrist, curled into his palm and extended up his arm to his elbow. Curled with ink of a light shade of white his new contract symbol decorated his forearm.

Jungkook looked up at you who was admiring his familiar mark.

"I didn't even perform a magic spell, I was just making that promise so that when I did cast it again you wouldn't back out!" You admitted. "How did the contact finalize without the incantation?"

"Nevermind that," Jungkook told you before setting the mirror completely off to the side. He grabbed your covered right arm. "You have to have a tattoo again too, right? What does it look like?" He pulled your sleeve up but didn't see anything on your forearm. His brow raised and his eyes moved to look at you but stopped at seeing something peeking under your scrub around your collar bone.

He let go of your arm and pulled the collar of your shirt to the side to expose your shoulder and pulled it down to reveal more of your chest. The embarrassment you would feel from so much exposure wasn't registering at the moment, instead you were focused on the reflection of the symbols that matched Jungkook's arm engraved in white ink on your chest and shoulder in his wide eyes.

"It's beautiful," he murmured. He looked up at you, fingers tracing the ink. "Is this mark really mine? And is this one," he motioned to his arm, "really yours?" He asked. You nodded. They were identical marks just in different places. He smiled, his eyes watering before he lowered his head and placed his lips on your shoulder over the mark. "Thank you," he whispered against your skin. His rose hair brushing your cheek as his scales chilled the skin it pushed against on your neck.

You felt him smile into your shoulder as he smushed his cheek into your skin, rubbing his cheek on you like some pet would. You giggled as he brought his arms around your waist to hug you and sway you back and forth on his lap. Your hand in his hair.

"Thank you so much," he sang, deciding to sit with you a little longer before going to spread the news of the contract revival between the two of you. That and Jungkook wasn't ready to face the wrath of Yoongi when he inevitably bursts out that he had kissed you at least twice.

XXX

A week passed and Jungkook was finally discharged and allowed to go back to his dorm. Of course once he settled in and cleaned up a bit- Jimin had been keeping the place dust free ever since Jungkook fell asleep- he was changing into new clothes and going back to school.

There wasn't a hallway or classroom he could go into without being bombarded with questions. People asking about his new hair color or the fact that his brown eyes were a shade brighter now. When he would transform in class the awes and ridiculous gawking over his ash pink scales and crimson wings never inflated his ego more. People complimented his white tattoo and asked questions about his master.

He was always happy to talk about you if you were brought up. He would gush and talk about how much you went through to overcome everything that threatened to push you backward. His fellow Shifter's hadn't seen him so animated in talking about anything before. Jimin also had a hand in the skyrocketing popularity seeing as he was close with the duo.

Yoongi didn't take to the spike of attention however. Anytime someone came at him with a question or a demand of a story about it all, he could immediately fade into the shadows of the walls or floors. Or if he was really feeling cornered, he'd enchant a ribbon bomb that spiraled around his body before exploding with a cloud of harmless dust that allowed him an escape route.

It turns out that when you and Jungkook sat together and promised another contract, your heartbeats synced and your emotional waves magnified to the point an incantation wasn't needed. Your moment of solitude and confessions was enough for magic to take action on its own and form a True Contract.

The white ink that was stamped on your bodies was going to be there for the rest of your lives and was now the official symbol of your and Jungkook's life long contract as Master and Familiar. Of course, it wasn't just that- no. Jungkook still smiled at the memory of you stuttering over your own words.

You actually had the gall to ask him if he had feelings for you that extended past friendship and contracts. After sticking to you like glue and kissing you more times than he could count, you still had to ask if he loved you? He had called you stupid before he followed it up with another kiss of him saying that if he wasn't already your boyfriend, he would sit you on his lap and trap you again until he was.

Jungkook was sat in class, bored out of his mind. His palm pushed into his cheek as his arms were exposed with his short-sleeved tee. The weather outside was chilly, not that it mattered to him. His pink hair sat shaggily on his head, oversleeping leading to him rolling out of bed, throwing on what he could find quickly and running out the door.

His textbook was propped open with his hand, his pen tapping mindlessly on the pages as the professor droned on and on about something or another. Jimin who sat beside him just rolled his eyes. This was the fourth time Jimin had caught Jungkook's mind wandering off, he figured bringing his attention back to the lesson at hand a fourth time wouldn't accomplish anything anymore.

When the lesson finished, Jungkook yawned, stretching as he packed away his book and tossed his pen to get lost in his bag. Jimin packed neatly as he threw his bag over his shoulder, already feeling Yoongi's shadow pull at him from outside the classroom. Sure enough, when he turned he saw the shadow warlock standing lazily in the doorway.

Jungkook didn't miss the way Jimin's face momentarily heated at Yoongi's presence. The dragon smirked as he nudged the hound. His eyebrows wiggled as Jimin snapped at him to knock it off, his face flushing before he stood up, leaving Jungkook a laughing heap at his desk.

Jimin was such an open book.

Leaving the class with Yoongi and Jimin, they headed towards Jungkook's locker to place his things inside before shifting lessons. Once again drilling the basics of shifting in and out of full form. He had just thrown his bag into his locker and slammed it shut when he smelt your scent not too far from him.

His ears twitched as he looked around and sure enough, you came round the corner with Parrish behind you. You still hadn't been discharged from the hospital wing yet, so seeing you walking around in your scrubs at school spiked his attention. He was quick to forget everything around him and run towards you.

"Y/n!" He shouted. You blinked, looking at the dragon coming towards you in a jog before he was in front of you. You looked up at him, his pink hair a mess. "What are you doing here? You should be resting right now."

"I gave her permission, don't worry," Parrish spoke from behind you. "Pix had something she wanted to do today, so I let her come back to school with me as a chaperone."

"Something you wanted to do?" Jungkook looked back to you from Parrish as you nodded. "What is it? You seem nervous," Jungkook told you. Reaching out to grab your hand instinctively. He felt his heartbeat harsher at the feeling of your nerves in his chest.

"I'm going to go see my dad," you told him softly. Jungkook's brows immediately furrowed.

"No," he denied. "You can't go see that person."

"Jungkook," you sighed as you almost stamped your feet. "I have to."

"No, you don't. You can go the rest of your life without seeing that miserable bastard ever again." Jungkook almost snarled just speaking about Zaros.

"I've already made up my mind," you told him. He wasn't going to sway you on this and he could tell. He was trying to win an argument he had no chance of winning as he sighed defeated. You ran your thumb over his palm. "I have Uncle Parrish with me, it's not like I'll be alone."

Parrish looked at the two of you before he crossed his arms.

"I'll provide a suitable note of absence for Jungkook if he wants to come with us." You looked over your shoulder at the coat-clad doctor. Jungkook didn't hesitate for a moment before he nodded, taking a step closer to you.

"I'll go," he told him.

"What, Jungkook you have class!" You argued. He just shook his head at you. He didn't care, this was more important than drills he's been forced to do a bazillion other times before. There was no point in trying to make him give in. Jungkook had called Jimin over to tell him that he's skipping out on shifting lessons and to tell the professor that he was with you and Parrish.

Yoongi wasn't too thrilled about you going to see Zaros, but it wasn't his decision to make. He just bit his tongue and bore it.

Jimin and Yoongi walked off leaving the three of you together before Parrish began to lead you both to the door that leads down below to the long cement halls Jungkook hand snuck off to before. Jungkook could feel your hand tighten around his own as Parrish led you both to the door and down the stairs. The doctor stopped when the stairs ended and stood off to the side. You looked at him over your shoulder.

"I'll stay here and let you both talk to him privately. As much as I should, I think it's important that you both do this without my extended supervision." Jungkook held your hand tightly in his as you nodded to your uncle. You took a quiet breath before Jungkook was walking first, lightly pulling you behind him down the hall. Your empty left sleeve swaying beside you.

It was silent for a moment before you looked at the dragon.

"You seem to know where you're going," you told him.

"Yoongi and Jimin snuck me down here once," he admitted without much thought and a small shrug. "Plus, I can smell him." He sneered. Heightened senses must be awful down in such a sealed off hall. Just concrete and the one hostage held down below. Before long the two of you stood before the cell that held the very core of all the problems you have been forced to bear for so long.

Jungkook wasn't sure what spell you used so quickly to unlatch the lock to the cell, but it was soon sliding open as you took a breath. With the door open and the slumped, pathetic body of your father in front of you again, you froze.

The last time he was in front of you, he ruined so much. He hurt Jungkook, the scar on the dragon's back would never fade because of this man. He put a blight on your arm and then you ended up losing that very arm in an attempt to stop his ugly tirade of power. He took your childhood from you, your happiness, your life and all the smiles you could've had growing up. Now, here he was helpless and weak at your feet.

Jungkook felt you waver. Truthfully, he wanted to slam that cell door closed, scope you up and run out of these halls back up above and away from him for good. However, he knew he couldn't. This was your way of getting something close to closure. He wasn't sure what exactly you were looking to get out of trying to talk to Zaros, but he was with you. He was beside you and that's all that mattered to him now.

"Wake up old man," Jungkook hissed, plumes of fire blooming from his mouth. His rose hair standing on end, spiking at the tips just as they did the first time his hair changed due to the sudden contract renewal and the magic that surged out of his blood.

Zaros mumbled before his body twitched and the shoulders of his that were slouched forwards started to rise and straighten out. Lifting his body his eyes, narrow and as cold as ever, landed on Jungkook and you standing in his lonely cell.

His dead, unforgiving eyes scanned over you so quickly you nearly cowered in fear. Even magicless, this man- your father- terrified you. Jungkook held your hand tightly as he pushed his arm behind you to keep you steady.

"Taking so much magic power out of my body, I'm shocked you didn't die," Zaros spit at you. He took into account the empty left sleeve of your scrub that swayed. He almost cracked a sick smile. "It seems as though you got what you deserved however." Jungkook could feel the shivers run up your spine at your father's voice. Even as he is now, he looks down on you, looks at you with hate and spite. Your teeth almost chatter at the sheer coldness of his voice and eyes.

You didn't know what you were expecting to happen. Just because his magic is gone, it wasn't going to turn him into a new person. If at all, he hates you more now than ever before. You stripped the man's pride from his very core, leaving him as a simple human husk. He had pinned every failure on you and now you had taken his magic. You knew there was no way he could be redeemed and there was no way he could love you.

"I hate you," you softly spoke, your eyes down at the floor of his cell. Staring at his feet and legs. Could you not lift your eyes to speak face to face even now? "Everything you've done to me and to everyone I care about, I can't forgive you for a single thing."

"I do not care for your forgiveness, dear daughter," Zaros spitefully spit. Your eyes widened at his tone. He cloaked it all in thick loathing. You took a breath. It was now or never, and you had to get it all out now. You lifted your head, your eyes locking with the warlocks and you almost instinctively turned away.

"I've made a new contract with my familiar. He will stay by my side for the rest of his life- like it or not. Our bond is exactly what you and my mother had all those years ago." Zaros brow twitched, his eyes narrowing. "I don't know if you truly loved my mother or not, but I love my familiar with my whole soul and I've learned a lot from everything you didn't teach me. The things you taught me were cold and sorrowful lessons, but I will take those into stride. I will loathe you until I die and I will never see you as my father."

You released Jungkook's hand and stepped into Zaros's cell, your hand curled into a fist.

"I do not regret being born anymore. I have a family now. I have Yoongi and Parrish and Jimin. I have Jungkook with me and my days of trying to meet your impossible expectations are finally over. I came here to say goodbye and to take what's mine back with me. I will end your reign and the name of ours that is so noble will die with you."

"What are you-" he started to growl at you before his mouth was clamped shut. Your eyes shone with magic as a white thread pinned his mouth shut. He was frozen in place, small white threads keeping him pinned to his spot on the cell floor. You walked closer to him as you knelt in front of him.

"I will not succeed you and I will not live in that house. I will clear it all out of people and have it demolished. I will tear your empire down brick by brick while you are transported from cell to cell in prison to rot as a human criminal. Now, give me back what is mine. The only thing I can take that belonged to mother that she entrusted me to that you stole." You reached forwards one at a time and removed the set of red, teardrop earrings from each of your father's ears.

These ruby red earrings were an heirloom of your mother's family you had come to learn in the past and every time you saw your father wearing them you would grow angry. They were yours and you knew your mother wanted you to wear them one day. That day would be today and nothing was stopping you anymore.

The seething glare your father gave you as you removed the last of his pride from him was scorching. You were sure he could feel your fingertips tremble against his ears as you took the jewels from them, but you couldn't let him have the satisfaction.

Jungkook remained in the cell's open doorway, waiting patiently for you. The small puffs of fire that came from his lungs with each exhale were a warning to Zaros who watched the dragon over your shoulder as you worked. If he tried to pull any funny shit, Jungkook would burn him into a pile of ashes without hesitation.

You soon stood back to your feet, the earrings safe in your palm as your white threads released him as he slumped in place, his mouth opening to let out the air trapped inside. You stood up and for once in your life, you were the one looking down on him. You felt your chest rise as you let your fist fall to your side, your mother's earrings safe in your hand.

"I will never see you again and I will be sure to have you escorted to a prison that's just as disgusting as you are." You both glared at one another before you turned your back. The first and last time you ever felt safe showing your back to your father because of the way Jungkook watched him. Jungkook's reflexes were faster than any dirty trick your father could think of pulling.

The dragon was quick to slam the door shut and burn the metal into place as he hissed at your father from the safety of outside when you were beside him again. Jungkook placed his hand on the small of your back, ready to lead you out. You stopped in your steps as you looked back once more at your father for the last time.

Your eyes stung, you weren't sure why, however. You didn't feel remorse or regret or sorrow. However, the stinging in your eyes was relentless.

"I guess this is goodbye, daddy." You whispered as you turned and let Jungkook lead you back down the hall to Parrish. By the time you got to him, you were already crying again. Jungkook holding your head to his neck as you sobbed, your mother's earrings in your hand that you held by your cheek.

XXX

Another week passed and soon you were discharged and back to school. Readjusting was harder than you originally thought it would be. Studying and doing magic was a whole new experience after a nearly 7-month hiatus of sleeping and then losing an arm on top of which. You had to relearn a lot of what you already knew, but you didn't mind. Resparking your love for magic is what made you a talented Spellcaster anyways.

When you returned, Jungkook would be caught hissing and glaring at Elias any time he saw him in the halls of the buildings. Of course, the prideful gargoyle never did apologize for the shit he put you through, but you decided to put it behind you- Jungkook wouldn't though. He decided to stay petty about it.

When Zaros was finally relocated to a proper prison, Jungkook was sure to keep you away from the group of men taking him away to put that bastard where he belonged. He wasn't going to let you see him again if he could help it. Then, finally things seemed to settle into place.

Yoongi and Jimin took care of each other. Parrish worked hard as always and was always welcome to you and Jungkook as well as his son and Jimin. Yoongi and Jimin also had a few things they had kept from the group until Parrish pried it out of them and the burning bright, yellow matching insignias on their skin was enough to make you giddy for their future. You often made time to visit Parrish's home when school allowed.

Jungkook had once again taken you back to his home to see his sister and father, to which they both had very extreme reactions to his physical appearance change- although positive ones. His father was proud of the familiar Jungkook had become and his sister had to battle with her brother over who was going to share a room with you.

It was the one night in the countryside that the two of you sat out in the open air, remembering the flourishing cavern in the mountain and talking about everything that's happened so far that Jungkook felt truly healed. You told him that he helped you in more ways than you could verbalize- however Jungkook was sure that you healed him more than he helped you.

He was finally himself after so long of being only half the man named Jeon Jungkook. He found the rest of him through you and when you gifted him with one of the two ruby earrings to wear in his ear. He knew that he would want to spend the rest of his life healed next to you. His earring shining the brilliant red shade that matched yours and he knew that somehow both your mother and his were happy and proud of the children they never got to finish raising.

Jungkook moved to kiss your cheek as you sat in front of him in the middle of the forest he took you to with the glowing, hybrid dragonflies. You looked over your shoulder at him, a brow raised and a smile on your face.

"What was that for?"

He just smiled, plopping his chin on your shoulder and pushing his nose into your cheek affectionately. "I just wanted to kiss you," he sang. You chuckled at him as you continued to play with the dragonflies. He watched you with a smile. "Hey," he called to get your attention as you hummed at him. "I love you."

You turned and pecked his forehead, his favorite kind of kiss. "I love you too, my dragon."

-END-

pls pls pls! lmk what you all thought of this. I have to write the epilogue yet, but this is my biggest accomplishment when it comes to a series finale!