Chapter Text
Jimin always hated thunder and lightning. The sound of the bolts hitting the ground in loud roars startled him. He hated how the long strands of electricity hit the ground causing fires which destroyed large areas of land, leaving them barren and charred. He was scared of the destruction lighting could bring to whomever it touched, whether it be accidental or on purpose. He remembered hearing many stories told by mages about how young mages wouldn’t be careful on nights of storms then be killed by the bolts that struck the ground. Other stories told of mages trying to harness the power of lightning and being killed as a result. Both ways didn’t seem like good ways to go in Jimin’s mind. He didn’t care for being killed by storms.
He was often teased by the children at the magic school he went to. They thought it was stupid for a mage to be scared of an element, since that was what most controlled. They laughed when he trembled at lightning users. They pulled pranks on him with lightning to which he he screamed from, falling to the floor trembling. He hated his fear of lightning, he wished he acted normal when storms raged on.
Jimin had tried everything to cure his fears. He’d gone to magic counseling, seen a mage who cured fears, and even gone to therapy. Yet, nothing worked. He still was afraid and he felt bad for his aunt having to pay for all the visits to specialist mages, which made nothing better. Yet, Jimin couldn’t entirely be blamed for it. His mother and father had been killed in front of him when he was three by a mage that controlled lightning. The death had seemed to have left a scar in his mind, or that was at least the specialists excuses for his fear.
Thus life for Jimin in storms was torture. He could only cry and tremble as though he was struck by lightning itself. There was no way to escape his fears.
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Thunder cracked outside, light flashing through Jimin’s window. Tears streamed down his face as they always did, his trembling chubby hands gripping his blankets laid over him. He let out a small squeak as the crack screamed louder. Curling into a ball his mind started replaying the words he’d thought many times over.
It’s not going to hurt you, his doubting mind thought. You’re safe, the lighting can’t reach you, you’re fine. Yet as the thunder barked again, he let out a whimper. You’re not going to get hurt.
He tried even though it never worked. He always thought that maybe one day it would work and he’d be able to be okay when storms raged on. Yet again, his plan failed. Again, he had no backup plan. Just cry and whimper until the thunder no longer boomed and lightning no longer flashed outside his window. He never knew how long a storm would last so he always sat and waited waited waited until the storm had blown over.
Tonight was exceptionally long, he’d been up for hours crying tears he thought should no longer stream down his face and whimpering as though he was a baby.
It was stupid, he was seven and should be able to control his fear better than this, but there was no such luck, only fear.
He bite back a scream as a loud boom cracked the sky, louder than the previous shrieks. His window filled with the glow of lightning hitting the ground. More tears leaked down his chubby cheeks and he wiped them away, but more streamed down his face. He knew he was such a wimp, this wasn’t making it any better.
Over the chaos of the storm Jimin heard something. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, it sounded like a scream, but the storm covered the cry. Yet, he had heard it. The sound of the cry touched his ears again and his head snapped up. There was something out there, he wasn’t sure what.
The thunder cracked again and he started trembling again. He shook his head and laid it back down upon the pillow.
Probably just the wind, he thought as an excuse. There can’t be anything out there, on a storm like tonight.
However, the noise filled his ears again, this time louder than before. It sounded more of a wail then a cry now. Jimin knew he couldn’t shake off that it was nothing. He quietly got out of bed, still trembling at the sound of the thunder and lightning raging outside. He opened his door and looked through the dark hallway making sure his aunt wasn’t awake. After he saw no one he decided to walk down the stairs. He checked the kitchen and living room to see if there was anyone there that was the source of the noise, yet he found nothing. The house was eerily quiet, the sound of the storm being the only thing that touched Jimin’s ears.
It wasn’t real, probably just my imagination, he thought shaking his head. He turned to go back upstairs and just he put his small foot on the first step he heard the cry again. His head whipped around checking the dark living room that held his stairs. Still, there was no one.
His mind developed a theory that made him shake more than he already was.
Maybe the sound is coming from outside…
As though the sky knew his fears it roared, light flashing through the window, brighter than before. He shook violently and tears started streaming down his face again. He made himself walk forward, closer to the window in the living room that looked outside of his house. The window was big enough for him to not have to stand on a chair for him to peer out.
There.
In the grass in his backyard there was a figure lying down. From what Jimin could see the figure wasn’t moving and the figure seemed small, it looked like a kid. Lightning cracked again filling the window with light causing Jimin to jump back with a shout. He glanced out the window again to see the figure still lying on the ground, unmoving.
I need to help them, he thought, willing his feet to move to the door that led out to the outside of the house. However, the boom of thunder made him jump back from the door.
Outside he had the chance of being killed, being struck by lightning. Inside he was safe, he wasn’t going to get hurt. But there was the person outside, who could also be struck by lightning. Jimin licked his lips nervously weighing his options. He could be safe and have the chance of the person outside dying, or go outside and save the person, resulting in him having the chance of dying.
Be the hero or be the coward.
Jimin took in a deep breath and made his decision, quickly opening the door before he could change his mind. As soon as he stepped outside he was greeted with buckets of rain pouring upon him. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes from the rain. Looking over the field of grass he found the figure still in the same place it had been. He ran as fast as his small legs could carry him reaching the figure quickly. Since it was dark he wasn’t able to see exactly what the figure looked like, but he could tell it was a boy no older than he was.
“Hey,” he said in a quiet squeaky voice that was filled with fear. “You should get up.”
There was no response from the boy.
Clearing his throat Jimin tried again. “It’s storming out we need to get inside before…” He wanted to say they got hit by lightning, but he didn’t want this boy to think he was wimp like the other kids thought. “Before we get sick from the cold.”
Still the boy remained silent and unmoving, and was still even after thunder boomed and lightning lit the sky. Jimin tried not to jump, but his hands still violently shook.
So he seems to be asleep, I guess I have to carry him.
Jimin placed his hands around the boy’s waist and felt something sticky on his hands as he did. Must be syrup. He lifted the boy up who seemed heavy in his arms and dragged him across the yard. He had to stop a few times to catch his breath or when thunder roared and he yelped, dropping the boy. After what felt like an eternity to young Jimin they finally reached the door. He quickly pulled it open and dragged the boy inside who had yet to show any sign of waking up.
He closed the door, letting the boy drop to the floor to do so and when he turned around he picked up the boy and put him on his couch. Lightning flashed outside causing Jimin to jump again, but his eyes stayed on the boy. Then he saw how wrong he was.
His ‘syrup’ had actually been red substance. Blood. He could tell from how many times he’d seen his aunt healed those who were bleeding. Jimin’s face paled and he ran upstairs bursting into his aunt’s room. His aunt specialized in healing magic so he knew she could heal this boy.
“Auntie! Auntie!” He yelled jumping onto her bed shaking her. She groaned and pushed him off her.
“What Jimin… I’m trying to sleep.” She said turning over, burying her face in her pillow.
“I found a boy outside,” Jimin said pulling her covers off of her making her hiss in protest. “He’s bleeding.”
His aunt sat up at the word bleeding. Still in a sleep deprived state as a healer she knew the word bleeding meant someone was hurt.
“Where?” She said jumping out of bed fully awake now.
“On the couch downstairs.” He replied. Nodding, she grabbed her case from the top of dresser and ran downstairs. Jimin followed her to where the young boy was sleeping on the couch. He squinted his eyes through the blinding lights his aunt had turned on.
“Holy crap,” His aunt muttered as he reached her. He looked at the boy and say their once white couch was covered in red. He saw that the boy for the first time now. He had red hair, pale skin and was very skinny, so skinny it looked as if the boy hadn’t eaten in days. His pale face had a small cut that streamed blood from his forehead down his cheek. His stomach was covered by a thin white shirt that was red and had a cut in it which had blood was streaming from. The cut looked deep.
He watched as his aunt placed her hand on the boy’s stomach causing him to flinch.
“I know this might hurt, but it’ll only make you feel better,” She whispered to the boy with a reassuring smile. She pressed her hand down on his stomach and he whimpered in protest yet his eyes remained closed. Jimin watched as his aunt’s hands moved quickly casting healing spells upon the boy. His eyes widened as he saw the cut shrink and the bleeding slowly stopping. The spells were working. He watched as the boy’s once pale skin turned a light tan color. After a few minutes the gash on his stomach was finally gone and the cut on his forehead was scabbed over. His aunt smiled and declared him healed, telling Jimin to get a blanket for the boy.
He ran to the other couch on the other side of the room and pulled the blanket from it and draped it over the boy. The boy grabbed the blanket and turned over, his mouth started moving saying unheard words.
“Okay I’m going to go to sleep and check on him in the morning,” Jimin’s aunt said standing up and stretching her arms. “In the meantime you should stay with him so he isn’t alone when he wakes up.” She smiled at him and he smiled back. “Thanks for waking me up, he might’ve not survived until morning if it wasn’t for you.” She ruffled his hair and he smiled at her. “Good night.”
Jimin watched as she left and went back to staring at the boy. He watched as the boy’s chest rest rose and fell. He looked so peaceful as he slept. Yawning, Jimin grabbed a blanket lying on the chair and sat next to the boy on the floor sleep falling over him. For the first time in his life he went to sleep feeling like a hero as the storm raged on outside.