Late Night Fluff and Other Distractions from the Real World

10 :: Jale Part - _OnceUponTheEnd

Hello! This lovely piece was sent in by @_OnceUponTheEnd, which is going to be part of a mini series if they want to finish writing it! No pressure, and I hope y'all like it as much as I did! You should definitely check out their profile and stuff and just spread love my friends!! Throwing up rainbows tastes better than throwing up negativity!!! (and it's gayer, which is great, and apropos)

Enjoy!!

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Jensen's POV

It's past midnight, and instead of sleeping like a normal person would, I'm wrapped up in Hale's arms, my face pressed against his chest as he holds me, his wings making for great protection against the cool Autumn breeze. I can feel his genetically altered heart beating slowly against his chest, the thumping of it reminding me that he is indeed real. My arms around him tighten as I press myself further into him, removing all room between he and I. He takes his hand and runs it through my hair comfortingly and I can't help but smile against his chest.

"Jensen." I nod against his chest to signal him to continue. "Will this last?" He asks.

"Will what last?"

"This!" He exasperates with his arms. "Us not having to hide or constantly run. This sense of family that I've started to feel with everyone, and the feeling of love that I feel when I'm with you. Will it last?" My heart tugs and whales start flopping around in my stomach at Batman's words.

"I'm not certain, Batman, but I say we cherish everyone of these moments just in case this doesn't last; I say we treat everyone of these moment as if they're our last because, they very well could be." Truth is, I'm not sure if we're finally free from a life of running and constantly hiding. I hope so, it's been torturous, meeting new people and having them ripped out of our arms before we could even say goodbye (because, some people are just so amazing that you start to think that they're invincible when they aren't).

I raise up in Hale's arms and straddle his waist until I'm sitting perfectly with my legs on both sides of him. I've never really taken the time to actually look at Hale, other than the first day we met--the way he crashed into me and swept me off my feet, taking us high into the bitterly cold air and sending me flying into the freezing snow, it's coldness biting at me as it slid down my back.

I peer into his eyes, noticing how they've warmed up drastically to me, and smile at the relief. His stunningly blue eyes always seem to remind me of our first days together, the first time I touched Hale's wings and how he reacted to said touching.

"Batman," I called out, sliding my hands up his body, them gliding over each of his abs through the fabric of his shirt. "Do you remember our first morning together, when you knocked me off my balance with your wing and I clung to you to try and regain it but in the end we both fell, you-"

"I was on top of you like this." Hale finished for me, spinning us over so that he was topping me, and placed his right hand next to my face. I stared into his beautiful eyes, losing myself in his magnetic gaze, his black hair blowing with the gentle breeze. I couldn't look away, no matter how hard I tried, my eyes stayed fixated on the genetically engineered angel in front of me, a smile gracing my face. Hale wasn't just any genetically engineered angel, he was my genetically engineered angel. He was my Batman, and I couldn't wish for anyone else to top me like so.

He leaned in closer, causing my breathing to become stuck in my throat and my heart beat to speed up. I hate that he has this affect on me, but I'm glad it's him that does. "Or, m-maybe I was like this." Hale stated, but it sounded much more like a question than a statement. I laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" He queried, but all I could do was laugh.

I reach my arm up to cup his cheek and he stiffens at my touch, but eventually relaxes against the palm of my hand, placing his hand over mine and keeping it there. It was adorable of him, the way he smiled, the amount of happiness shining through his eyes.

I raise up closer to his face, and he stops enjoying the warmth of my hand against his cheek and focuses on me moving closer and closer to him until our lips are so close that should either of us say anything, they'd graze each others.

He pulls away, sniffing the air. "Do you smell that?" he asks before spreading his wings and, with one flap, flying fifty feet into the air. I can barely make out his form, but from the way he's swooping down to me, whatever he saw can't be good. "J-Jensen," he stutters, and I motion for him to continue. "there's a fire."

His eyes are sad, worry present in them. "Everyone's inside." He says. "Jensen we have to save them."

"Uhm," I mentally freak, trying my best to breath and think things through. Coal would kill me if I ran into another fire.

"Uhm," I think. "You use the force of the wind from your wings to break the windows and let the smoke out and I'll-" I pause. "I'll wake everyone up, when you're done with the windows, try and do the same thing to put out as much as the fire as possible." I command, hoping like hell this works because, I'm obviously not Tide and suck at coming up with plans and strategies.

I hear the sound of glass breaking as I run down the stairs screaming, "FIRE!" to try and warn everyone without going to assigned rooms. Unfortunately, though, they don't hear me.

Thankfully, the first room I come to is the sound elemental's- um Joseph. I burst through the doors, and jump on his form in the bed, slapping him awake. "WAKE UP, THERE'S A FIRE!" I scream at him until he's fully awake. His eyes droopy and his voice groggy.

"Tell Coal to put it out, or Charlotte. I'm going back to sleep." I deadpan. He's going to sleep during a freaking fire.

I shake my head, grab the collar of his shirt and drag him out of bed and into the hallway, calling for Hale.

"MAKE SOME GODDAMN NOISE OR HE'S GOING TO DROP YOU." Hale looks up at me with pained eyes, shaking his head no, but once I wink at him, he follows along.

"Jensen!" Terra exaggerates, walking out of her room sleepily and glaring at me. I roll my eyes and look over at Joseph, glaring daggers at him until there's a noise loud enough to wake the people a city over. He last about a minute before everyone's out of their rooms and wondering what's going on, but the fire's spreading too quickly. Thankfully, it started from the top and not the bottom or else they'd probably all be burned alive.

Coal.

"Everyone surround Rian, she'll keep the air breathable. Charmander, you come with me." I order and, surprisingly, without thought, they all follow my orders. "Rian, get everyone out safely."

Charmander and I spend minutes running around the loft before we finally make it to the wing that Coal sleeps on. The smoke is much thicker now, and a lot more toxic here, but I'm managing...somehow.

I'm not surprised to see fire coming from under Coal's door. As of late, he's been having problems with his center, as I like to call it.

Basically, in the center of his body is a fire that allows him to do the things he can and, at first, he was able to physically keep the fire under control, satisfy it's appetite for destruction without it growing too strong, but fire is fire and the more you feed it, the hungrier it gets. Coal's fire is spreading throughout his body, growing in size and power, and he can't control it. At least that's how I choose to see it. I'm sure the fire burning inside of him is more metaphorical than real, but the point is, he can't control his center--his fire.

It all started the night we lost our strongest fighter and bravest, most stubborn, violent yet so caring leader. She's helped him keep control for so long...well, the thought of him ever burning her at least, but ever since we lost her, he's become unstable. He doesn't eat regularly, he stays locked up in solitude or on some type of water, and though he doesn't like to admit it, he spends every minute of his day thinking about what happened and blaming himself.

"Okay, Charmander, put-"

"I can't do it." She cuts me off. "The fire, I can't control it. It's not going down."

"Okay, then run through it-"

"I can't do that either, it's burning me. I'll die." I release a huff of annoyance. Of course she can't. Why would the only other elemental of fire be able to help in a situation where the enemy is fire? That's too easy, ya know.

Without giving her time to stop me, I run and jump through the wall of fire standing in our way. I can feel my skin burning, as the smell of my flesh cooking becomes present in the air, but I pay it no mind. I have to save Coal.

"Don't breath in too much, don't breathe in too much." I repeat to myself, but it's pointless because by the time I make it to Coal's door, I'm gasping for air, trying desperately to breathe through the smoke.

I kick the door, hoping it comes open with the first kick, because...well,it's covered in fire and I'm not fireproof. Unfortunately, luck has never been on my side and the door remains shut.

I kick again, and again and again, until finally, the door swings open. I run in, finding it strange that there's barely any fire in the room, but not giving myself enough time to think about it. I have to find Coal.

"Tiiiide!" I hear his troubled screaming from the corner of the room, a circle of fire surrounding him and his body set completely ablaze. "Tide." he says more calm, "I'm so sorry Tide. I'm so sorry Tide. This is all my fault." A single tear rolls down his face, made completely of fire. It's consuming him, taking over his body from the inside out.

In a normal situation, someone in my position would try and talk to him through this unconscious state he's in to get him to say it's not his fault, but this isn't a normal situation, and we aren't a normal group of people. That being said, it's no surprise that my first reaction was to pick up the first thing I saw and chunk it at him. Unfortunately for him, that thing just so happened to a slab of wood that had falling from the ceiling.

I watch as the slab floated through the air and hit him in the gut, knocking him over. I smile at victory and thank Coal for forcing me to play baseball all those years ago with him. My victory is short lived however, as his eyes snap open and they aren't his eyes at all. His eyeballs have been set on fire and he looks like a completely different person.

"Argh!" He screams and the fire around him grows in size, creating a wall around him that extends over his head and starts moving in my direction--that he pushes in my direction.

"COAL!" I scream as it gets closer and closer to me, my back now pressed against the wall, stopping me from running anywhere else. It's coming at me with a speed unrecognizable, so fast and so much heat to take in at once. "COAL!" I call again.

"Jensen!" He says as the fire's merely an inch away from me, but by then, it's too late. I've been swallowed by the flames, my body squirming on the floor as the fire sinks into my skin, eating away at my flesh and killing me until Coal puts it out.

The room is getting darker, and I can feel myself fading away slowly.

"Stella!" I hear Coal call. "Stay with me Jensen, please, stay with me." He says, and I find the strength somewhere inside of me to tilt my head back, the flames now gone.

"P-promise m-me," I struggle to get out, tears sliding down my face. This is the last time I'll ever see my best friend. "P-promise m-me that y-you'll stop blaming y-yourself. You didn't kill T-Tide." I choke out between tears and sobs as I hear a stampede of feet coming towards our room.

The first person through the door is Hale.

"J-Jensen." He cries, his precious blue eyes looking as sad as I've ever seen them.

"Shh. I-it's okay Batman. I-I'm gonna be okay." I lie. I'm dying. There isn't anything they could do, not even Stella. My entire body has been burnt to a crisp.

"Right, because Stella's going to heal you, right." He asks, hope desperate in his voice. "That's how it works right. You can heal him, can't you." He asks Stella but she's too busy trying determine where to start first, or choosing to ignore him so she doesn't have to lie to him.

"I-I love you Batman." I start to cry harder, which only adds to the pain since my face was burnt too.

"No. No, you have to be okay. I need you." Hale cries. "I need you Jensen, you can't die." His wings are stretching behind his back, almost knocking everyone over.

"Batman. " I call. "I-I sp-spy" I try and say, but I can't get my words out.

"Stop talking." Stella orders.

"S-something beautiful."

"What? Jensen, shhhh!" Hale orders, but I'm stubborn.

"I-it's you Hale. It's always been y-" He cuts me off with a kiss. I can feel the tears on his face, stinging against my skin, but I still smile through.

My world goes dark, and all I can hear is the sound of Hale and Coal shouting before everything disappears.