On The Run || JJK ✔️

47 - Healing

Jimin and J-Hope search for a place to camp for the night. It takes up most of the day because they had to take turns carrying Jungkook (Jimin didn't want either of them to be low on elemental energy in case they got ambushed), and they wanted to distance themselves far away from the battlefield.

Eventually they stumble upon the original campground that J-Hope recognizes, where everyone had stayed together before the battle. There's thankfully some food and things left behind - the others must have left in a hurry, for fear of being tracked down - so they take refuge in that and set up camp. They're too physically exhausted to move elsewhere. Mentally they stay on high alert.

Jungkook sleeps nearby. They watch over him. Both of them think of Jin, who's usually in charge of healing, but neither of them says a word about him as they try their best to keep Jungkook alive with their limited knowledge.

When night falls, Jimin and J-Hope take shifts keeping watch. In the mornings, they take turns carrying Jungkook as they walk onward in hopes of finding the others. They don't talk very much because there isn't really anything to talk about. They also want to avoid attracting unnecessary attention.

Two days pass in this quiet monotonous rhythm. Jungkook still hasn't woken up.

"I'm getting worried," Jimin says as the sun rises again. His voice cuts through the morning air, breaking the silence that had settled upon them for so long. "I don't think his injuries are healing and he should be awake by now, right?"

J-Hope examines Jungkook's motionless figure. "I think his body's still under a lot of stress. He had to break his fall somehow, and that probably threw him into dangerous levels of energy exhaustion."

Jimin runs his hand through his hair. "I just wish there was something more we could do."

They fall into silence again. A bird chirps nearby.

"Maybe try using your calming abilities?"

"On an unconscious body?" Jimin raises his eyebrows.

"It could work," J-Hope shrugs. "Alleviating all the stress could help him heal faster. Might as well try."

"I really don't want to be low on elemental energy. Just in case."

"It's been two days. If they were after us, we'd be gone by now. Plus," J-Hope continues before Jimin can interrupt, "if Jungkookie wakes up, then we'll get faster at moving away since we won't have to carry him anymore. There's a cost to everything but in this case I think it's worth trying."

Jimin considers it for a moment.

"If anything sounds suspicious, I can cast some light over us to make it look like no one's here," J-Hope reassures him. "I've got loads of elemental energy too. It'll be fine."

Jimin slowly nods. He scoots closer to put his right hand on Jungkook's forehead, where the effect will be strongest. He imagines his thoughts traveling through his arm, into his hand, and getting transferred to Jungkook's own thought process. Everything is okay. He sends the messages out in soothing pulses to persuade him. There's time to rest and heal. We're here for you. Everything is okay.

Nothing noticeable happens. They walk on during the day, taking turns carrying Jungkook, and when the sun begins to set again, Jimin stays close by him to send pulse after pulse of comfort in the feeble hopes of it somehow helping while J-Hope finishes setting up a campfire as night falls.

"It's working," J-Hope comments as he sits down.

Jimin blinks. He'd been mindlessly sending the thoughts for so long that he'd spaced out. He looks more closely at Jungkook. In the orange light given by the campfire, the scars on Jungkook seem to have healed over, leaving smoother skin in its wake. The lines are still traceable, but they're much better than this morning's.

"It really is," Jimin breathes.

J-Hope chuckles and hands Jimin a granola bar. "I'm glad we gave it a try. I wonder what Jin will say when he finds out."

Jimin shakes his head. "Who knew that persuasion could heal?"

"Maybe that was your ability all along. Healing."

They stare into the campfire as they contemplate this.

"I get how persuasion can help with healing," Jimin says slowly. "Jungkook's scars are evidence of that. But how does my imitation help?"

"I don't think it's actual physical healing. It's mental healing, in a way." J-Hope glances at Jungkook. "You didn't actually heal Jungkook, you persuaded his body to chill out which helped him heal. You can't actually control any of the elements on your own, you imitate them which - actually, I don't know how that would help with healing," J-Hope sighs. "I guess there's a hole in my idea."

Jimin shrugs. As he eats his granola bar, he puts his hand on Jungkook's forehead again to keep giving him more comfort.

Everything is okay. There's time to rest and heal. We're here for you. Everything is okay.

"I got it!" J-Hope snaps his fingers.

Jimin flinches at the sudden noise. "Hyung, you scared me!"

"Oh - sorry," J-Hope grins, "I got excited. Okay, hear me out."

They shift so they're sitting in front of each other. Jimin keeps his hand on Jungkook, who's off to the side now due to how they're all positioned.

"Maybe your imitation powers aren't out of the ordinary," J-Hope says. "How many students every year get sent down to you-know-where" - Training Headquarters goes unsaid - "because they can't do anything?"

"A good amount," Jimin replies.

J-Hope nods. "In your case, you figured out imitation eventually. But all those other kids, they might never get the chance to figure out what their powers are because their abilities lie outside of whatever the testing system recognizes."

"Okay... so how does this connect to healing things?"

"Well, your imitation power and Y/n's insane sound stuff is evidence that just because the system doesn't recognize something, doesn't mean that anyone's any less valuable. Your imitation connects to healing things because one day, with it, you'll be able to..." J-Hope pauses dramatically, then waves his hand in a rainbow: "... heal this whole system."

"... well this is pretty dramatic," Jimin teases.

"Maybe," J-Hope smiles and puts his hands up in a shrug like this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. "But there's something to it, don't you think?"

Jimin nods and gazes thoughtfully into the campfire.