.fourteen.

Michael watched his sister as she made her decision. He wanted her to agree, he wanted to keep her alive, but there would be no more that he could do to help her if she were to decide she didn't want Jack's help. 

"I have decided I want to do it." Harley finally spoke after a short pause in which she thought about her options as they had been presented to her. Everyone else in the room except Jack and Hazel released a breath of relief. How would they be able to accept her decision had she chosen to die? They couldn't just sit there and watch her die slowly on the living room couch. Michael--for one--wouldn't have been able to bear it. "Maybe if we keep searching we can find a way to solve this problem too." Harley's blue eyes focused on Calum's still figure on the couch, and Michael's heart ache. She would have preferred to hear his opinion, as well as Ashton's, but there was no more time to lose. He wouldn't be waking up for a few more days.

He knew that even though she denied it, she felt something for Calum, and he was jealous of that. He wanted her to love him in that way, even if he knew that it was wrong. 

With a sigh and a clap of his hands, Jack went to stand by Harley. "Okay, lets do this then." He was more than willing to help her, if she wanted to be helped. Ever since he had learned to use his powers the proper way, he used them to help people in every way he could. Sometimes it was difficult, because there were people in the world who wanted to exploit his gift for personal gain. That was the reason why Jack only healed people in secret, and people who desperately needed it.

"Do you need us to get you anything?" Dempsey offered with a bit of a mono tone in her voice. Michael knew her well and he knew that the only reason she was on board with all of it was because Jack was going to save Harley's life. 

"Yeah," The dark haired Canadian young man nodded without turning to look at her. "Can you get some bandages, disinfectant to clean the materials, and maybe some towels or a bucket to put our hands over? I wouldn't want to stain your lovely living room couch with my blood." He said the last part in a half-joking manner. Jack had done so many healing procedures for people in the past that he often felt like he was a doctor. He definitely was a healer, only without the official titles and the medicine degree.

Desmpey scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Dude, too much information." The sixteen year old turned and left the room to search for the things he asked for.

"You asked me." Jack shrugged, watching her as she went.

Paúl went to the dining room and returned with a chair for Jack to sit on. He set it down next to the couch where Harley was sitting, where Ashton had been standing and Ashton was forced to step aside to make room for Jack. Dempsey returned with some bandages, a white hand towel and a bucket which Jack put in between himself and Harley. Harley gulped nervously, not knowing what to expect.

Her attention was pulled back to him when Jack grabbed her hand in his as he sat on the chair next to her. All eyes in the room watched them in silence, each of them full of curiosity. The rest of them stood around, forming a circle around Harley, which made her nervous. They had never seen or taken part in a healing ritual like the one that was about to happen for Harley Quinn. They wanted to know exactly Jack would be able to help her, what his gifts conveyed.

She almost wanted to ask them to go away, but she decided not to. If there were more people there, they could help her if something went wrong.

Jack stuck a hand into his jeans pocket and pulled out a switchblade that was folded in with the knife part concealed. He whipped it open, revealing a shiny silver blade that made Harley bite her lip in worry. "Can I confess something?" She spoke up nervously, her eyes glued tot he weapon in the Canadian's hand.

"Yeah." He nodded, his brown eyes looking into her blue ones.

"Blood makes me queasy." She let out a shakey breath. Michael immediately wanted to jump to her air--to comfort her. But he restrained himself. "The very thought...I just can't-"

"It'll only hurt a little. Then I'll heal you and everything will be alright." Jack assured her with a friendly smile and a soothing voice. He had healed so many people that he knew exactly what to say to get them to keep calm.

Harley took a few deep breaths to steel herself and finally said, "Okay." After making sure to disinfect the blade, Jack grabbed her wrist tightly with one hand, the other held the blade firmly. When she felt the cool metal of the blade on her palm, she tried to pull her hand back in fear, nearly shouting, "Wait! Wait, just give me a second." She looked at his hand with the blade ready and her open palm that would be cut open to produce blood from it. She didn't know if she was mentally ready for that amount of pain. Jack was surprisingly understanding. It wasn't every day that someone was going to cut Harley Quinn in order to save her life.

Ashton, who had moved to stand at the other side of her, grabbed her free hand in his. "It won't be so bad." He said to her in a soothing voice. "You have done so many more dangerous things than this since you came to Sydney, this is nothing. Additionally, you were fine that time your brother was bleeding all over the place." He tried to remind her of a time where she had been okay around blood. It was the instance where they had gone to visit Harley's grandmother and she tried to poison Michael with the only plant that weakened shifters and burned them from the inside. Chrysanthemum.

"That's different." She gulped in fear. "It was different with Michael. I was too worried about him to think about the blood. But...I think I'll be fine as long as you hold my hand." Another pang in Michael's aching heart. She wanted Ashton near--even Calum--but never him. She didn't see him as something more than a brother.

Jack tightened his hold on her wrist to keep it in place and pressed the blade of his knife into the skin of her palm, immediately producing a line of crimson blood to escape from the break in her skin. She jumped in her seat at the pain of it and squeezed Ashton's hand tight, a scream of pain left her lips. Her eyes closed when she felt the warm blood on her palm, the smell of it sent a chill down her spine. The original shifter left go of her wrist and quickly slit the skin of his palm open exertly. A few drops pilled into the bucket between them.

He grabbed her hand while Harley's eyes remained closed and all the eyes in the room witnessed a green aura floating around their hands like a thin layer of smoke. And like a ribbon, it tied their hands together before disappearing completely.

They pulled their hands away and Jack set the blade down on the nearby coffee table. Dempsey saw the knife stained with blood and was about to complain, but Paúl stopped her. With his now free hand, he closed his eyes in concentration and held his hand only inches from her. Right before everyone's eyes, the bloody wound on her palm closed up within seconds. Jack did the same for his own hand before he cleaned the blood off.

When Harley's eyes opened, Ashton could already see she was no longer herself. Her blue eyes found Jack and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. She yanked her hand out of Ashton's grip and wouldn't take her eyes off Jack as though he were the only person in the entire world. Meanwhile Jack was gathering all the materials, cleaning them, and setting them on the coffee table for disposal.

Jack got up from his seat and Harley did the same. He picked up the bucket in his hand, the bloody towel in his other hand. "I'm going to get rid of this stuff." He said to the group of people standing around them.

"I'll help you." Harley offered with a cheerful smile.

Both Ashton and Michael watched the girl they loved in her delusional state, and silently, they mourned their loss. 

She was still with them.

But at the same time, she was gone.

-

another update for this story. thank you all so much for reading and i hope you can give it a nice vote. as i have mentioned before, these chapters tie in with the ones from phantasm, so i left most of them intact, and changed a few things to focus it more on michael.

once these chapters pass, there will be all new ones with different settings and new characters ^.^

so stay tuned for that. have a great weekend!

-clary xx