Jet winced as Izzet concentrated her powers on his biggest wound, attempting to reverse it. He saw the time bubble she'd created suddenly darken and break, leaving the wound unhealed.
'As I thought. These are venin wounds.' Izzet thought.
'What does that mean?' Jet sent to her, feeling another stab of pain and hissing involuntarily.
'These are wounds that resist most forms of healing. Can you raise your aura?' Izzet asked, as she tapped his chest through his pale grey undershirt.
Jet tried. He tried to raise his shields and unleash his red pulse, but the last use of it against Weiss had drained him too much.
'No good.' he replied.
'Then I only have one option. This WILL hurt." she warned.
'Do it.' Jet commanded, bracing himself for the full exposure to pain. Izzet raised a glowing white instrument from her bag, which looked something like a cross between a hot poker and a scalding crowbar. She pressed it against his wound, and Jet felt his head snap back as he shrieked in pain, the burning hot… something pressed against his wound. His eyes snapped shut.
For a full ten seconds, the burning continued in its agonising machinations. Then, mercifully, Izzet's pressure vanished and he relaxed, but she pushed it against another of his wounds a moment later, filling the room with his screams once again.
This terrible cycle continued for a solid minute before Jet felt a light, feminine body fall onto his chest. Opening his eyes, he found Izzet lying on his chest, her face very close to his own, her eyes closed.
'I… I… I'm done.' he heard Izzet think, before she opened her eyes and met Jet's.
They were close enough to feel their breaths. Izzet's smelt like the oranges she loved to eat (he'd found out the day he'd met her) and her breathing was slow and controlled. He felt her quick heartbeat through her own chest, which was admittedly almost flat, but Jet cared not.
They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, neither daring to look away or approach each other. Jet could sense his teammate's fear, feeling both terrible and exciting at the same time. He put his newly healed arms around her thin body, feeling his aura flare at the touch of another.
Izzet suddenly closed her eyes. Jet wondered why, until he realised.
"But it's not what you think!" Lilac insisted.
Jet lay upon his bed, feigning sleep. It was their tenth night staying as a team. He lay, listening to a conversation between Lilac and Nouvelle.
"Of couse it 'eez!" Nouvelle teased, and Jet heard the soft creak of a bedspring. "She's already into 'im, who knows until he knows."
Ah, the usual conversation girls had, who was in love with who. Jet listened with disinterest, until he heard several interesting things that offset his early assumption.
"Jet's pretty cute though, you have to admit." Lilac whispered.
"What's so special about 'im? He's our weakest member." Nouvelle asked. Jet felt hurt at that, but he remembered that he was keeping his powers hidden for a reason.
"Don't say that to Izzet. She'll tear you to shreds." Lilac giggled.
As the flashback ended, Jet refocused on his current situation. Izzet was in front of her, and if it was any more obvious that she wanted a kiss, she'd be practically waving a sign in front of his face. The question was, could he really do this? Could he share a level of intimacy that was reserved only for one other?
He thought about Izzet. She'd been loyal to him since the day he'd met him, and had healed his wounds every step of the way, both physical and emotional. While she wasn't quite the happy-go-lucky personality that had been Ruby, she was amazing in her own way; caring, never doing anything if she thought it might hurt, marking a heart of gold.
With that in mind, he reached out and touched Izzet's left cheek. The silent girl smiled warmly and laid her head against it.
'Please open your eyes.' Jet requested softly, and she obliged, showing a little nervousness at his serious expression. He knew what he had to say now, having done this before. 'I cannot give you what you truly seek, Izzet. Not now.'
He saw tears appear at his teammate's eyes. 'I know about your feelings for me, and in a way, I feel blessed for having earned the affection of such an amazing person. I almost feel inadequate.' A small smile, and now he saw focus in those blue and red eyes. 'And I would be lying if I said I didn't harbour the same attraction towards you.'
'Do you… really love me?' he heard Izzet's tentative question.
'I do. That is why, while I cannot kiss you where you desire, I can do this.' Jet responded, before letting go of Izzet's face and pulling himself even closer to her, where he laid a kiss on her left cheek. He then repeated the process with her right cheek.
As he drew back, he saw that Izzet smiled joyfully at him. She closed her eyes and raised her hands to her face, feeling the places he'd kissed her.
'If anything,' Jet thought, 'it's only fitting that you would be my partner, my secret sweetheart.'
Izzet raised herself from his bed, and watched as he rose too, completely healed.
'I know now what I must do, my love.' she thought back. 'I will not interfere. It is not impossible to love two at once, after all…'
Ruby waited in silence. Lilac sat beside her, an arm around her shoulder. Nouvelle sat in front of her, a downcast expression on her face.
They'd just finished telling Ruby about how Jet seemed at the time, and while Ruby wanted to go and see him immediately, she knew about his instructions to wait until he was fully healed.
She heard footsteps outside the corridor they were in, followed by a crashing sound that seemed to be the result of someone falling over, along with a clattering sound. Seconds later, Jet emerged, Izzet practically holding his arm in her effort to make sure he didn't lose his balance.
"I'm fine, Izzet." Jet reassured his companion, before his eyes fell on Ruby. "Hey there."
Ruby triggered her semblance and shot over to Jet, tackling him in a hug and knocking him over. He embraced her even as he hit the tiled floor, landing hard on his wings.
"Where have you been?" Ruby joyfully asked as she pinched Jet's cheeks, overdoing it a little and causing him to grimace in pain as she straddled him. It barely lasted a second though, before Nouvelle pulled her off him, despite her grip.
"Give 'im a chance to stand, mademoiselle." she requested in her strong accent, as Jet did so, gazing upon Ruby with an uncertain expression.
"What is it, Jet?" Lilac asked, stepping forward and glancing between Jet and Ruby.
"Nouvelle, can you come over here and use Soul Read on Ruby?" Jet asked. The hand on Ruby's shoulder disappeared as the girl herself walked to Jet's side and turned to face her. Soul Read? What was that?
Nouvelle stared into Ruby's eyes, her own glowing a deep, azure blue. Ruby had the fleeting sense of someone analysing her as one might a book. It was very uncomfortable.
"Nouvelle's semblance, believe it or not," Jet explained as Nouvelle continued, "is not fire, but this. Soul Read allows her to divine your feelings and emotions."
Nouvelle's eyes returned to their usual colour, and she glanced at Jet. Ruby had the horrible suspicion her worries about her recent bouts of sickness had just come to light, and this was confirmed when Nouvelle announced; "She's worried. Very worried."
"Jet." Ruby said, needing to talk to Jet in private before this became any worse. "Can I talk to you about this? Alone?"
"Of course." Jet replied. He addressed the rest of his team. "Await us here. I might need you three."
"Acknowledged." all three girls responded at once. Ruby watched as Jet walked over to her and laid a caring hand on her shoulder. She watched as he activated his time-freeze and turned the world greyscale, before leading Ruby back to the room he was originally located in. She winced as she saw the blood stained bed, but as she looked Jet over, there didn't seem to be any wounds. Izzet really was a good doctor.
Jet ended the time-stop, and then turned to face her after letting go of her shoulder.
"Now then, what's the matter?" he asked, addressing her seriously. Ruby paused, a little nervous. She'd wanted to talk to Jet ever since he'd left this morning about this.
"I've been feeling nauseous recently, and being sick a bit more than normal." Ruby confessed to Jet. "I haven't been able to fight as well, and running fast just makes me feel sicker."
"Are you falling ill again?" Jet asked. "If you'd like, I could stay with you again."
He was missing the point.
"There's also a little bump on my belly." Ruby continued, as if she hadn't heard his response. Now Jet fell silent, giving Ruby an expression that was caught between shock, and thoughtful contemplation.