I stood in the open grassy field at the edge of the trees beside the mansion, chewing my fingernails to stubs as I watched Jungkook, Taehyung, and Jimin make their way towards us. Yoongi was beside me, poring over the reports he'd been compiling on his tablet. The sun was just beginning to set and yet my powers were still MIA. Twelve hours had passed since I'd taken the serum and still nothing had changed. I was still as useless as I had been that morning. And with the deadline on Kai's life looming ever closer, I was becoming more and more convinced that nothing we did was going to bring me back.

For a year, I had wondered what it would feel like to be normal. To not have powers like everyone else and to just live an everyday life. But the longer I went without the one thing I'd been able to rely on even when everything else around me went to shit, the more I realized how much I'd come to enjoy the power I had. Maybe it was some sick superiority complex, but it was as much a part of me as those powers had been up until that morning.

"I don't know how this could have happened," Yoongi mumbled around the pen sticking out of his mouth. "I checked and double checked everything. The dose was right. It should have doubled your powers, not canceled them out."

"What are we doing here, Yoongi," Jungkook asked, looking between the distracted scientist and me. When his eyes met mine, he gave me a sweet smile. The one I got from Jimin was much less so. He rolled his lip between his teeth and bit down as his eyes wandered over my body. I had dressed for battle and apparently it appealed to Jimin in a visceral way.

Were it not for the fear threatening to make me lose the last twenty-four hours' worth of meals, I might have enjoyed the attention. Taehyung just tipped his head back, oblivious to the eye-fucking his friend was giving me while he enjoyed the warm, pine-scented evening breeze and the soft peach-colored sky. If I knew Taehyung as well as I thought I did, the whole setting was appealing to the artist in him.

"I need to test some things with the serum I made for Morgan." It wasn't a total lie, so when Jungkook looked back at him again with narrowed eyes, he had nothing to hide from the observant maknae.

"Okay," Jungkook said simply as he twirled the practice sword around in his hands. Taehyung tossed one to me and I caught it easily. I twisted my neck as I turned the shinai around in my own hands, doing my best to release some of the tension before we got started.

"I have a theory," Yoongi added, "and I need you to test it. I want you three to try and push her as hard as you can."

"All three of us," Jimin asked. I didn't miss the suggestive look in his eyes and neither did Tae. He laughed and shoved Jimin in the shoulder, not even coming close to knocking him off balance. He grinned like a hunter eyeing his prey.

"One at a time at first," Yoongi said, completely oblivious to the double entendre playing out in front of him. Even Jungkook snickered at that, though I was too wound up and simply rolled my eyes.

"I'll go first," Jungkook said, dropping his chin and looking at me through his dark lashes in a silent challenge. I crouched down in my ready stance and waited for him to charge. Jungkook and I had been fighting long enough that we knew each other's habits and tells like we knew our own. Within minutes, I had worked up a sweat, but nothing else.

"Taehyung, you go. She knows what to expect from Jungkook."

With a groan, Jungkook stepped out of our makeshift ring and Tae stepped in. Jungkook rubbed his forehead with a towel Jimin gave him, then turned to watch the show. Taehyung was not what I'd expected him to be. I'd seen him fire guns on multiple occasions, but never had I seen him fight. I had expected him to be somewhat gangly and slow, but he was fast and surprisingly nimble, staying on the balls of his feet like he was preparing to take flight. He kept moving around our ring so much, I was nearly worn out just trying to keep him in front of me. When he launched into an attack, it was all I could do just to block his hits.

"What the hell was that," I asked, standing up straight.

He just shrugged. "I'm good with all kinds of weapons."

"Shit," I mumbled, crouching back down. I didn't realize how much I'd relied on the enhanced speed from my powers before. When Taehyung lunged forward again, I was immediately on the defensive, using all my energy just to keep him from getting in hits, but even then I missed some. And those bamboo swords hurt.

"Jimin, jump in there," Yoongi called out. I barely caught his demonic giggle at the dirty thought that was obviously playing out in his mind before he swung his own shinai, smacking me in the butt. I immediately turned, trying to keep them in front of me, as I worked to move from a defensive stance to offense. But it was hard. Too hard.

Without my powers and with their years of experience training with each other, I was barely keeping up and they could see it. Taehyung cast a curious glance at Yoongi who just chewed on his thumb and nodded. Tae lunged again, catching me in the shoulder. The sting was sharp and fiery like lightning. I bit my lip and swung at him, catching him in the thigh just as Jimin got in a hit to my back. The crack echoed off the trees beside us and I heard Jimin mutter a muffled curse. I knew the shinai were made to take hits like that, but I could've sworn it sounded like the thing snapped in two.

"Isn't she supposed to be using her powers," I heard Taehyung mutter just as I missed another block.

"Jungkook, go!" Everyone looked at Yoongi, a mix of worry and doubt in their expressions. Sweat was pouring off my face, stinging my eyes, and I was panting like a dog. Yoongi snapped his fingers, hooking his thumb toward us. "Get in there!"

I barely suppressed a whimper as Jungkook got back in the circle we had worn down in the grass. This wasn't working and I was losing energy. My muscles were trembling from use and my heart was beating so fast, I was worried it was going to lose rhythm.

"Push her," Yoongi yelled from the edge. "Don't let her rest!"

"Hyung," Jimin questioned softly as he took in my deteriorating state.

"Push. Her."

With a slow breath, Jimin lunged forward with a series of strikes that were so fast I could barely track them with my weary eyes. Taehyung and Jungkook jumped in, too, hitting me more than I was blocking. I could see the battle going on in each of their faces, but Yoongi just kept yelling at them to keep going.

"Stop," I whimpered as more hits came to my legs and arms.

"Please." The hits were softer now, but they weren't letting up.

"I can't do this."

Taehyung's eyes were glassy and even Jungkook looked like he was about to stop out of principle, but Yoongi just kept yelling and yelling. I wanted him to stop. I wanted to stop. I wanted to sit down and just breathe. This wasn't working. It wasn't going to work. I just wanted my powers to come back so this would all end.

All three men hit me simultaneously and I'd just had enough.

"Stop!"

I screamed out at the top of my lungs, throwing my arms down at my sides. The sound echoed off the trees and rumbled through the ground so violently, I was almost thrown to my knees. Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook lifted high into the air at once, then slammed down to the ground just as quickly. Like they'd been raised by pulley lines then dropped. At the same time, a shock wave burst from my body so violently, Yoongi was knocked back ten meters into the treeline.

There was no noise other than the rustling of the still-trembling trees. Ripples shuddered in the ground at my feet even as the boys started to pick themselves up, dazed from what had just happened. I stood there, looking at them in horror as I tried to catch my breath.

"What the fuck was that," Taehyung grumbled as he made it to his feet.

"Yoongi," I called out softly, ignoring Taehyung. My voice was small and weak, afraid that I'd hurt one of them. Suddenly, his deep laughter rumbled through the clearing as he jumped up and started whooping and hollering.

"Yes! She's back!" He threw his fists up, punching them into the air over his head.

"She's 'back'?" Jimin looked from me to Yoongi, bewilderment on his face. "Where did she go?"

"It doesn't matter," Yoongi shouted as he jogged back to us, "because she's back and that means I don't have to die." He picked up his tablet off the ground and tapped it a few times, before glaring down at it. "Though, it seems my tablet did."

An angry yell sounded from the mansion behind us. We all turned to see Jin running down the front steps. His head twisted from side to side until he saw us standing at the forest's edge. He immediately started jogging in our direction.

"Uh oh," Yoongi mumbled.

"Yah! What did you idiots do?"

"I don't know what you mean," Yoongi said quietly. "We've just been out here practicing."

"Don't give me that bullshit. You did something. The central fuse on the house just blew!"

"Wait, what," I asked, my eyes nearly bugging out of my head.

He was standing in front of me but looking between all of us. "You just fried my house!"

I turned and looked at Yoongi behind me who was now grinning like a mad man. "It worked. The serum worked."

"What are you going on about," Jin asked, throwing his hands on his hips and glaring down at the second-oldest.

Yoongi's gummy grin didn't fade. "I think it's time she went to see Ravn."