Archive of Our Own

Jimin is bored, very bored. Truthfully, he's never been this bored before, and there were even fewer people on the airship then. He's used to having something to do all the time. Namjoon usually splits everyone up into groups to take care of quests and errands, but they'd just restocked on supplies and the others have already left to take care of a quest. Only Yoongi, Namjoon, and Taehyung were left on the airship.

Yoongi isn’t someone that he could bother whenever he wanted. The seer had intense focus whenever he was writing new spells, and he was also the type to get irritable if there were any distractions.

Jimin would consider going to Namjoon, but he was researching as well. Namjoon would always try to accommodate people, except he's not that good at paying attention when he was busy. He usually replies to Jimin's questions with a ‘yup' or a ‘mhm', no matter what they were talking about.

That just left Taehyung: the wild card. Jimin’s never really visited Taehyung’s potion room. He’s not sure if he should expect a warm welcome, or for Taehyung to shoo him away. Either way, he was starting to get desperate. What does he have to lose?

Jimin gives the door a few gentle knocks, and Taehyung immediately tells him to come in.

“Oh thank the Gods. It’s gotten so boring in here,” Taehyung laments. He sifts through one of his shelves, searching for something.

“I’m missing a few ingredients, so I can’t make anything worthwhile.” Once he’s found the appropriate jar, he opens it up and dumps all of its contents into a bubbling cauldron.

“So, what are you making?”

Taehyung shrugs, stirring the pot with a large wooden spoon. “No idea. I’m only sure it’s not poisonous. We’ll see once I’m done throwing random stuff in there.”

Jimin looks closer at the cauldron and notes the thick consistency. There are a few flowers and plant stems sticking out of the surface of the mixture. Unsure of what to think, he decides to just take the elementalist's word for it. It looked organic, to say the least.

“Anyway, did you wanna hear about some of the cooler things I have lying around in here?” Taehyung asks.

Jimin nods eagerly. It would be something to stave off his boredom, and besides, it could be fun.

Taehyung gives him a wide grin before pushing him into a chair. He picks up a few containers from the shelves and lays them on the table in front of Jimin. First, he points at the bowl containing a dark red liquid that seemed to be boiling. “This is fiend’s blood.”

Jimin stares at him with wide eyes. “I’m sorry, fiend’s blood?”

“Fiend’s blood,” Taehyung repeats. “It’s actually a soup that’s supposed to turn you into a beast of sorts. I’ve never tried it on anyone, so I’m not sure what kind of beast you’d turn into.”

Taehyung doesn’t seem too bothered about this information. He’s already moving to grab the next item off of the table. It’s a bottle of liquid that sparkled with the colors of the rainbow.

“Behold!” Taehyung uncaps the bottle and the liquid spills upward. The liquid forms a large blob that continuously jiggles in the air. Jimin wants to touch it, but he doesn’t get the chance to. The colorful liquid floats away from him.

"That my friend, is an unpurified ether," Taehyung smirks, looking at the liquid flowing through the air.

Jimin himself thoroughly astonished. “Wait, you’re telling me that this is the unpurified version of what we drink to restore magick power?”

“Yup, isn’t it pretty?” And just like before, Taehyung doesn’t wait for any other comments. He just bottles the ether back up and grabs the next item off the table. It’s a yellow fruit. Other than that, it seems pretty unremarkable.

“What’s so special about this one?” He wonders aloud. Taehyung doesn’t give him an answer, he just drops the fruit into Jimin’s hand. “Give it a nibble. It’s harmless, I promise.”

Jimin hesitantly bites off a small portion of the fruit. An unbearable sweetness overwhelms his taste buds. It’s not terrible per se. The fruit is just extremely difficult to keep inside of his mouth because of how sweet it is. He opts to swallow it as soon as he can. The moment he does, a surge of energy flows through his veins.

He coughs in an attempt to alleviate the itch that was beginning to settle in his throat. “What the heck was that Taehyung?”

Taehyung has the gall to laugh at his suffering. “It’s called a power fruit. It gives you a temporary boost in strength, but it’s so sweet that you can only eat it in small amounts.”

His cough worsens, coming up dry and painful. “Sweet is right. Do you have any water around here?”

Taehyung turns away and rummages through a chest of other ingredients. He points at the shelf closest to Jimin. “There should be some fresh water there for you to drink.” His rabbit ears fold downward, ”Sorry about your cough.” Jimin figures that Taehyung feels a little bit bad about the power fruit.

“Don’t feel bad. It’s all in good fun, Taehyung.” He finishes his sentence with a large gulp of fresh water, which he hacks up as soon as it goes down his throat. Whatever he just drank was most certainly not water. It’s much too bitter.

His hands begin to shake uncontrollably.

“Taehyung, w-what’s happening?” Jimin stutters, panicked. He hears a crash, presumably something that Taehyung dropped.

“Oh shit.”

Nausea floods Jimin’s senses, his body now dripping with sweat. When brushes the sweat off his brow, he notices that the sweat is sticky. He struggles to keep his balance, but he’s much too dizzy. Breathing became a difficult task. His tongue is on fire, and his lungs felt like they were expanding.

Jimin feels his bones shift and crack beneath his skin as he grew smaller and smaller. His skin changes from a peachy color to a shade of dark green. The spaces between his fingers and toes now have webs connecting each appendage together.

The pain stops abruptly, and all he feels now is a deep sense of dread. He knows what he is.

He’s a fucking toad. All he can manage now is a series panicked ribbits.

Taehyung sighs. “I am gonna be in so much trouble for this.”

Yoongi rubs his temple in irritation. "So you're telling me that this toad is Jimin?" He squints at the toad on the table. If it is Jimin, it certainly didn't seem like it. The toad is preoccupied with playing with Puff. Yoongi has never seen a toad get along with a dreamhare, but with the world they live in, he wouldn't be surprised if this was a regular occurrence somewhere in Ivalice.

Taehyung nods fervently, “It definitely is. You can even make conversation with him and he’ll know.” He turns to face ‘Jimin’.

“Jimin, you’re Jimin, right?” The toad makes a face at Taehyung’s antics, then looks Yoongi dead in the eye and ribbits. The ribbit sounds akin to a scoff.

Yoongi is now convinced that this sassy toad is Jimin. “Okay, now I believe you, but what’s the problem here? I thought we just replenished our supply of remedies.”

“We did, but nothing worked. I even tried Maiden’s Kiss,” Taehyung replies. The toad also nods in affirmation.

The seer hums, deep in thought. This is truly a strange case. Taehyung mentions that the potion really is designed to turn a person into a toad, but standard curatives are supposed to be able to counteract its effects. Jimin turned into a toad because of a potion, so that may be the only way to revert him back to a hume.

“Ah wait,” Taehyung begins. “I haven’t tried using white magick. I’ve only ever learned the basics.”

“Alright. I’ll try healing him them.”

Yoongi tries casting Refresh on Jimin, causing yellow orbs of light spin around the younger in a circle. Refresh is a spell meant to cure the ailments of a person. It did not necessarily mend wounds or direct damage. It works on both common and more advanced ailments like being turned to stone or being turned into a toad.

The orbs gently touch Jimin and disappear with a shimmer. When nothing happens, Jimin croaks sadly, his head hanging low in disappointment. Normally, Yoongi would be frustrated, but his ire would cloud his thoughts. He has to think of something soon. The effects may be permanent if left alone long enough.

That’s when Yoongi gets another idea.

“Should we ask Namjoon? See what he thinks?” Yoongi proposes. They both know that Namjoon is only recently begun to learn about magick, but he’s read so many books that he’s bound to know something that might help. Taehyung ponders on this for a while and finishes with a firm nod.

“Our leader’s always been pretty creative when it comes to solutions, maybe he’ll know something.”

After bringing Namjoon in and explaining the situation (and after Namjoon’s brief period of panic), he has a solution in mind.

"Potions may be the only way to reverse the effects, right?" Everyone except Puff nods because Puff has no clue what's going on. She's peacefully nibbling on a potted plant.

“That just means we need to make a potion of our own. It’ll probably be made of similar ingredients, or made of ingredients that would have the completely opposite effect.”

Jimin, being clueless about the nature of potions in general simply blinks at the trio. He ribbits, which could signify anything at this point. The ribbit doesn’t sound hostile, so they take that as an agreement. Thus, they get to work.

Several hours of discussing and distressing later, they’ve all come up with their own versions of a cure. They lay three different bowls in front of Jimin. Their differences are so prominent, and it makes him unsure of whether or not they’re safe to drink.

Taehyung's concoction is deep velvet red. The consistency, however, makes Jimin think it's more of a paste than a potion. Its smell reminds him of a pastry with underlying tones of vegetation, like someone used just a bit too many carrots in their carrot cake. Purple and pink petals also top the paste. He doubts the petals are only there for decoration.

Yoongi’s potion looks far more intimidating. It’s like Yoongi melted down steel and decided to put it in a bowl for Jimin to drink from. There were streaks of gold in the liquid, which only worried Jimin more. Well, perhaps it was normal for certain potions to glitter.

If Yoongi’s potion was intimidating, Namjoon’s made him feel like he was looking at poison. Though this was clearly a potion, given the array of colors that swirled in the mixture, it also bubbled ominously and smelled unbearably foul. The clan leader tries to assure him that he’d only used safe ingredients, but it did nothing to calm his tiny, pounding heart.

He acts quickly so he wouldn’t change his mind. Jimin dips his head into Taehyung’s bowl and swallows some of the contents. It tastes odd to his new toad taste buds. It’s not a necessarily bad taste. It just takes like a salad without any dressing. They wait for a response from Jimin, but all they get is a small ribbit, and a shake of his head.

Jimin tries to down Yoongi’s potion as quickly as he can. He didn’t want to give himself the opportunity to taste it. It lacked a distinct smell, so there’s not much information to go on. The potion didn’t make him feel any different until about five minutes later.

A transformation is definitely occurring, but this one didn’t feel right either. From his webbed hands grew large claws, and his once long tongue became thin and forked. His skin changed from dark green and slimy to pale yellow and scaly. He roars in pain as a small pair of wings sprouts from his back. Jimin is also frightened when he feels his mouth crackle with lightning.

While this feels like a much cooler form to take on, he isn’t sure if he likes being a thunder drake better being a hume. Jimin growls lowly, trying to convey some form of discomfort. He’s much bigger than everyone else now, so he tries to sound unthreatening.

Taehyung somehow understood what he meant, and came over to soothingly pet his tail.

“It’s okay Jiminie. Maybe Namjoon’s potion will work.”

Jimin gulps nervously. Gods, he sure hoped so. At the very least, he hopes he won’t die.

He reaches for Jimin’s mouth to pour in the potion, remembering to be wary of the sparks. He swallows quickly. It’s surprisingly pleasant to taste. Then again, he’s a thunder drake right now. The equivalent of a delicious meal to his kind would probably be fresh meat.

He feels himself shrinking, but only slightly. In fact, the transformation feels familiar. It’s just as nauseating as the first time. The only difference now is that he’s a hume-sized toad.

Frustration was beginning to simmer within him. He was losing hope, and he really didn’t to be a toad for the rest of his life. They’d tried a lot of things already. The others have wracked their brains for hours trying to find a cure. Neither regular nor unconventional solutions worked. What else could be done?

“Jimin-ah, don’t give up just yet. There’s one more thing we haven’t tried,” Yoongi says. Jimin half-heartedly shoots a glance his way, reluctant to get his hopes up again.

“Do you know the origin story of maiden’s kiss?”

Jimin knows. A long time ago, the cure for turning a toad back into a human was for a maiden to kiss it. After a while, they realized that it was inconvenient to have a maiden readily available just for kissing toads. It was also unsanitary for the maiden, seeing as toads may harbor diseases.

Mages managed to create a safer alternative to remedy the affliction; maiden’s kiss, a (debatably) sweeter and less invasive cure.

Then he realizes where Yoongi was going with this. Yoongi smirks when he sees Jimin’s expression of understanding.

“That’s right. We’re going to go find a maiden to kiss you.”

The plan seems simple enough. Yoongi says he knows someone in Moorabella who was probably willing to kiss Jimin for a price. He reassures Jimin and says that whatever price they have to pay is nothing to worry about.

Normally, Namjoon would already be setting a course for their destination, but he didn’t seem very enthusiastic about this trip. His fingers drummed restlessly on one of Taehyung’s desks. He keeps looking between Yoongi and the floor.

Yoongi knows that Namjoon is worried. Their eyes meet more than once, but Yoongi didn’t seem to share the feeling.

Jimin would like to be polite and wait as well, but he was a toad and his life depended on finding this maiden in Moorabella. If their leader seemed very concerned about going there, Jimin has the right to know why.

Jimin croaks loudly to get their attention, but only Taehyung pays him any mind. Namjoon and Yoongi are locked in an intense staring contest.

Taehyung clears his throat. “Ahem. Guys, I think Jimin has something to say.”

Only then do they acknowledge Jimin’s concern. “Is there something wrong, Jimin?” Yoongi approaches Jimin and picks him up, flipping his toad body around and looking frantically for any changes or abnormalities. If Jimin could blush, he would, but he was a toad so he wasn't sure how he looked.

He knew being naked was normal for a toad. It’s just that Yoongi touching him while he felt naked was weird.

Jimin shakes his head, trying to say that there was nothing wrong with him so that Yoongi would put him down faster.

“I think he might have been worried about why you two were staring each other down,” Taehyung suggested. Jimin mentally thanks Taehyung for somehow being great at translating.

“It’s nothing,” they both declare. He opens his mouth to croak in protest, but their gazes hardened. Taehyung chewed on his lip, wanting to ask but knows that it’s best not to.

Namjoon could tell that they were both dissatisfied with the response. “Okay, Yoongi and I will talk about the issue amongst ourselves. We’ll be sure to tell you both about it when we’re done.”

That puts Jimin at ease, and Taehyung’s curiosity seems to have been sated, for now.

“Would you two mind stepping out for a bit?” Namjoon asks, but he was already pushing him and Taehyung out the door. Well, he pushed Taehyung. Jimin was gently nudged out of the room.

“Wow, rude,” Taehyung huffs, dusting himself off. “I’ve been kicked out of my own potion room. Couldn’t they have taken the conversation somewhere else?”

Jimin giggles, which sounded like small intermittent ribbits. This made Taehyung laugh as well.

“Anyway, let’s just go hang out in the kitchen. You haven’t eaten in a while, right?”

Since he was a toad, he had no idea what Taehyung had planned for him. What did toads eat again?

…

Oh…

Gods, no.

Toads ate bugs. Didn’t they? They definitely did.

Looking at Taehyung made him feel a little bit envious. He was leisurely chewing on some bread while staring out the window. He could eat bread in peace, without having to worry about the health issues or his own body. Jimin really missed being a hume.

Eventually, his stomach starting growling, so he begrudgingly ate a few bugs scurrying about. At first, the taste of insects was disgusting, but with each bug he ate, the more delicious they became. The sudden change in his palate bothered him, and if he thought about it anymore he was sure he would vomit.

At some point, Puff hopped into the kitchen to have a snack of her own. She had a plate of vegetables and fruits that she ate really quickly, and it wasn’t long until everyone else finished too. Dreamhares aren’t known to be idle. They loved playing. Unfortunately for Jimin, he looked like a toy.

Jimin wasn’t worried. Puff never played rough. There wasn’t much else he could do to pass the time, and so, the chase began. She hopped onto any surface she could, using it to get closer to Jimin. When she was within range, she pounced, trying to capture him in her tiny paws, but he was always one leap ahead of her, making her crash into cabinets and counters.

Puff didn’t let that deter her. She yipped excitedly.

“Go Puff! You can catch him!” Taehyung cheered, content with watching them play from a distance.

Fueled by Taehyung’s encouragement, she timed her movements to be quicker and more accurate. Jimin was starting to feel like a mouse being chased by a cat, and while he knew that all she was going to do was hug him tightly, his instincts willed him to move away from her. Their chase led them away from the kitchen to the hallway and down the stairs.

As they got closer to Taehyung’s potion room, Jimin slipped and tumbled into the door. Puff took advantage of the situation and scooped him up into her arms. She squeezed him tightly, nuzzling her face all over him. The dreamhare didn’t seem to mind the slime being slathered all over her. Maybe she just really liked him, whether or not he was a toad.

“Look, it doesn’t matter! It’s been so long. They probably don’t remember us anymore,” a voice argued.

Jimin squirmed out of Puff’s arms, concerned. He hops closer to the door to get a better listen.

“But we can’t be too sure. What if they bring you back? Your family will make sure you won’t be able to leave again,” another voice replied.

It sounds like Namjoon and Yoongi are arguing about something. Jimin is conflicted. While he knows eavesdropping is rude, he can’t help but be concerned for his friends.

“Namjoon I’m telling you, it’s going to be okay!” Yoongi snaps. “If anything happens we’ll take care of it. You say that all the time to us anyway.”

“That’s different and you know it.”

“It’s really not!”

Jimin's is instinctually driven to break up whatever argument they're having. The only problem is that he's still a toad, and toads can't speak. Still, his willpower won't allow him to give up on the situation. He quickly enlists Taehyung's help to open the door.

Once Taehyung opens the door for him he rushes in and starts croaking loudly to get their attention. Then he hops up to each of them and slaps their legs as hard as he can. Jimin attempts to pout at them as cutely as a toad can as well.

The two pause and look at Jimin. Namjoon can’t help but laugh and Yoongi is trying very hard to keep a straight face.

“I should be mad at you for eavesdropping,” the seer crouches down to lightly pat Jimin’s head, “but I know you were just looking out for us.”

“Actually, I suppose Jimin does have the right to know.” Namjoon looks at Yoongi, then at Taehyung. “I’m just not sure if Yoongi is ready to tell anybody else yet.”

Taehyung raises his arms, “Say no more. You guys can tell me later if you want to. I’m sure it’s something private. Just come find me if ever you guys want to do that.” He leaves unceremoniously, shutting the door behind him.

Even after Taehyung leaves, the tension is still thick in the room. Yoongi continues to glare at Namjoon, tapping his foot impatiently.

“How about we just tell Jimin what the supposed plan is? Then we let him decide if he wants to go through with it,” he suggests.

Their leader sighs loudly, exasperated. “You know what, fine. But you’re going to be the one to explain this to him.” He hobbles over to an empty chair and takes a seat. “I’ll just hang back here and relax.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes but complies anyway. “So Jimin, long story short: “I used to be a wanted man, but that was two years ago and I didn’t do anything really bad.” Jimin’s eyes widen, unsure of what to think or how to feel about that statement.

“You ran away from home and got the entire Nightwatch to tail your ass!” Namjoon protests, but the other just waves him off and continues.

“Anyway, I got away, and no one has searched for me since. I didn’t steal anything, or kill anybody. My family just really didn’t want me to leave. Namjoon’s just worried that someone might find me and send me back to my family.”

Now Jimin is even more confused. The two of them are hiding something from him. Some details are missing from this story, but that’s a problem for another day. This information would have to be enough for now.

On one hand, their leader is right to be concerned about Yoongi’s welfare. On the other hand, Yoongi seems to be confident in this plan. Jimin is worried about a lot of other things as well. He doesn’t know if this is permanent, or if he has a time limit. A part of him wants to be selfish, and just go with Yoongi’s plan in spite of the danger, but he knows that it’s not right. He wouldn’t risk Yoongi’s safety for this, as uncomfortable as it may be.

He croaks softly to get their attention again, having made his decision. Yoongi sees him move to point at Namjoon, so he gets down and whispers to the younger. “I have a plan, and I promised Vilma I would meet her soon. I don’t want her to worry. The two of us already have a system set for this kind of situation.”

Jimin blinks. He knows a lot less about his teammates than he thought. “Relax, Jiminie. I promise that you won’t have anything to worry about.” Yoongi holds out two of his fingers like he’s going to pinch the other. The toad understandably flinches at this.

“Ah, I said to relax. I just wanted to shake your hand, but your hand is even tinier now.”

The younger erupts into a series of curses that Yoongi can’t understand. It just sounds like aggressive croaking to him. Either way, Yoongi takes Jimin’s tiny hand into his own and shakes it. This effectively shuts Jimin up. The handshake was doing things to his heart.

"Alright! I think we've come to an agreement, Namjoon." Yoongi shoots him a smug grin, clearly happy that it all worked his way in the end.

In spite of Namjoon’s protests, he comes along with Yoongi and Jimin to Moorabella. The region itself is always blanketed in a thick sheet of snow. It snows all year long, so the residents dress warmly as well. They’re dressed appropriately for the weather: heavy fur-lined cloaks imbued with fire magick for warmth, along with mittens and boots.

Except for Jimin, who only has a small blanket to combat the harsh cold. He’s tucked away in one of Yoongi’s pockets, shivering. The seer sometimes reaches into his pocket to keep him even warmer with his mitten-clad hand.

While they did land on the outskirts of Moorabella, Yoongi apparently has no plans of visiting the city at all. The group is on a far enough hill that no one should be able to see them, but they would still have a clear view of the surroundings.

“This way it’s safer for everyone involved,” he explains. “If we stay here, we’ll be away from the locals.”

“But how exactly do you plan on meeting Vilma? Did you write to her beforehand?” Namjoon asks.

Yoongi stills, giving himself a moment to contemplate Namjoon’s question. “You know, now that you mention it. That would have been the smart thing to do.”

Namjoon and Jimin simultaneously facepalm at this. Yoongi only laughs at their reactions. “Don’t worry. Vilma’s methods are just a little,” he pauses, “unconventional.”

He begins taking off his mittens and tucks his sleeves back. Next, he carefully pulls Jimin out of his pockets and gingerly places him in Namjoon’s hands. “Please hold onto Jimin for me, we have to be careful.” Their leader raises his eyebrow questioningly but complies and puts Jimin in his own coat pocket. Jimin wants to see what exactly was happening, so he peeks out from within.

“Oh, and you might want to stand back. I don’t know how large the recoil will be. It’s been a while,” Yoongi adds. He quickly utters the words of a spell that Jimin can’t distinguish, but Namjoon must know what it is since he takes a few more steps backward as soon as he recognizes it.

The seer aims his arms at the sky. “Blizzaga!” He yells. A giant block of ice forms above his hands and is sent hurtling upwards. When ice block reaches its peak, it bursts into thousands of smaller ice chunks that embed themselves in the ground and nearby trees. The group somehow comes out unscathed.

“Ugh, I think I felt my left shoulder pop. I’m out of practice.” He whines, rubbing at his sore shoulder.

Meanwhile, Namjoon is seething. “Are you out of mind?! You’re going to draw attention to us! Oh Gods, I knew this was a terrible idea. I shouldn’t have let you do this.”

"Believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn't want to do this either. Vilma just thought it would be a good idea to use this as a signal flare. She also insists that it helps me stay sharp." He tries to move, but an icicle has lodged itself into the side of his cloak. "Huh, I guess she was right. I did need a refresher."

The parivir yanks the icicle out of his cloak and tosses it over his shoulder. “Either way, we have to get out of here before people decide to check this place out.”

Yoongi waves him off. “It’s fine. They’re probably just going to think it’s one of the nearby geysers.”

Jimin can almost feel Namjoon getting ready to argue back, so he ribbits loudly to get their attention again. He puts out his tiny hands out between them and shakes his head to try to convey the message of ‘No fighting!’. They both turn away, mumbling to themselves.

Now, they wait. In these frigid temperatures, there’s not much for them to do. Specifically, there’s not much for Jimin to do. Namjoon and Yoongi have already settled their differences and began talking about something else, but he’s anxious. Sitting in someone’s pocket for an entire trip does that to you. It becomes very hard to tell what’s going on in the world around you without tip-toeing.

Then he realizes that this is his first experience with snow. He wished that it had happened under better circumstances, and not while he was a toad covered in a pink blanket. Still, he's not going to let that get in the way of things. The snow looks fairly thick and very appealing.

Jimin really wants to jump into it. So he does.

The snow is cold, like one would expect. At first, he finds himself regretting his decisions, but after hopping around a little bit, it becomes fun! Jimin jumps around and makes little divots in the snow around Yoongi’s feet. A soft smile appears on the elder’s face as he watches Jimin hop about.

Namjoon laughs lightheartedly as well. “Y’know, Yoongi?”

“Hmm?”

“Jimin is having so much fun. Maybe we should join him.”

"Snow angels it is," Yoongi says immediately, falling backward into the snow. He moves his limbs back and forth and the snow shifts beneath him. Soon, the angel begins to look more like a cat-eared angel. His hood must be fairly heavy if the ears on it made an indent like this one. Namjoon joins in as well. His pants are so large the angel looks more like a spinning top.

They have a grand time like that, covering the hill in odd snow angels and little toad prints. They even try to have a snowball fight. It ends up being a snowball fight between Namjoon and Yoongi while Jimin tosses snow at their shins to throw them off. He even manages to throw pretty high after jumping. One of Jimin’s higher throws also hits Yoongi in the eye.

Even if Jimin is a toad, he's come to accept it in a way. Being a toad has given him problems, but it's not as bad as it could be. Everyone, including himself, can still have fun. It's not as if they're not trying to fix him. Letting loose like this should be okay. They probably have time, right?

Contrary to his previous thought, the fun ends when Namjoon hears rustling coming from the forest. He puts Jimin back into his pocket. Of course, Jimin understands that it's dangerous out here, but he can't help but pout at his hopping spree being interrupted.

“Yoongi, get behind me. I hear something,” Namjoon warns, drawing his sword and aims it at the offending sound.

Yoongi is on alert as well, pulling his rod from the strap on his back. A flash of lightning strikes his hand, effectively disarming him. "Fuck! That hurt, Vilma. Take it easy!"

The sound of a woman's maniacal laughter echoes through the trees. "How did you figure out it was me?" A female Viera jumps down from one of the trees behind the group. She's dressed in a lilac robe with golden lining. Her arms are also adorned with magickal bracelets and charms. Jimin can tell she's an experienced sorceress, but he can't tell what her job is just by looking at her.

“You used to scare me with thunder all the time. This is so typical of you,” he huffs.

She simply shrugs in response. “True, I do miss the old times.” Vilma then pulls out a staff from the inside of her cloak and twirls it around leisurely. “But I remember that you used to be able to dodge them.”

Yoongi clicks his tongue, now provoked. “So what if I’m a bit rusty? I can still beat you in a fight.”

"Is that so?" The Viera stops twirling her staff and points it at Yoongi. "Then prove it to me, pipsqueak," she taunts.

The two mages engage themselves in a fierce battle, ravaging each other with an onslaught of magickal attacks. Vilma’s strategy is to cast weaker spells in succession. Spells are often difficult to dodge because of their focus on a specific area, but that depends on the nature of the spell itself. Sometimes the price of a powerful spell is its accuracy.

Realizing that Yoongi is doing nothing to counterattack, Vilma feels her patience wearing thin. “Do you not intend to hit me?” She yells, frustrated.

“I’ll be casting a spell of my own soon, don’t worry.” He gives her a playful wink. Furious, she quickly unleashes a thunder spell above him. It hits Yoongi square in the chest and knocks the wind out of him.

The seer collapses onto the snow beneath him and doesn’t get back up. Jimin’s restlessness takes over, so he tries to hop out Namjoon’s pocket. His leader shushes him and holds the younger back. “Trust me, he’s alright. He knows what he’s doing.”

And true to Namjoon’s word, Yoongi, who is still on the ground, raises a finger in the air and shouts. “Firaga!”

An enormous plume of flame erupts from beneath Vilma. She wails and staggers as the flames scorch her. Yoongi takes advantage of her moment of weakness to cast another prepared spell. “Thundaga!” Three powerful bolts of lighting rain down and hit her directly.

Vilma, though gravely injured, puts on a brave face and spits out a bit of blood. “Is that all you’ve got?”

Yoongi shakes his head. "I've cast Magick Frenzy, so I still have enough time to do something else." He rushes towards her, rod in hand. Vilma sees his attack coming and tries to block it with her staff, but he's too quick, already circling behind her to deal a blow to her neck.

The attack never lands. He stops a second before his rod makes contact with her body. “Well, I’d say I’ve won this time. Do you concede?” Yoongi asks, holding out a hand for the other to take.

Vilma makes quick work of healing and cleaning herself up. Meanwhile, Yoongi makes no move to clean himself up, seemingly unbothered by his now tattered cloak. Jimin grimaces at this and makes a mental note to either make him a new one, or to buy another one next time they go out for supplies.

“Anyway, you called in for a favor?”

Yoongi nods. “Yeah, the long and short of it is that I need you to kiss,” he moves to scoop Jimin out from Namjoon’s pocket and present him to her, “this toad.”

She and Jimin make eye contact, both of them blinking slowly, uncertain. Then she turns to Yoongi, “Whatever happened to only calling for emergencies?”.

“This is an emergency,” he said. “The toad is Jimin.”

Jimin, the toad in question, waves at her sheepishly.

Vilma gasps loudly. “This is the Jimin? The one you won't stop—”.

Yoongi blushes furiously and puts his free hand to her mouth to silence her. “Yes, yes, this is the Jimin.”

Jimin swears he hears a whispered ‘Shut the fuck up, Vilma’ somewhere in there, but he decides not to comment. It’s not like he could say anything, even if he wanted to.

If anything, he's glad that Yoongi is comfortable enough to talk to someone like that. Namjoon is the only other person that he seems wholly comfortable around. He's usually guarded when anyone else is around. He even had the tendency to shrink and hide in his huge cloak, making him look even smaller than he already was.

Though sometimes he does wish that Yoongi would be more comfortable around him as well.

Yoongi stands tall when in front of Vilma, but at ease. Clearly, they’ve known each other for a long time. They even bicker like old friends.

“Well if that’s the case, I’ll kiss him for you Yoongles.” She grins widely, ruffling his hair.

Yoongles? Is that a nickname? Jimin really wants to use that nickname.

Off to the side, Namjoon snickers, amused. “Yoongles? I haven’t heard that one before.”

Yoongi makes a noise of complaint, his cheeks even pinker than they were earlier. "Quit it already," he pouts. "You know how I feel about that nickname."

The edges of Vilma’s lips quirk upward, her grin turning wicked. “That’s exactly why I’m teasing you, Yoongles.”

Now Jimin definitely has to use that nickname.

Before Yoongi can kick her in retaliation, she swipes Jimin from out of his hand. She coos at the toad. “You’re actually quite a cute toad. I’ve seen quite a few ugly ones, but you are absolutely adorable!”

He’s grateful for the compliment, but he’s not sure how he should feel about being complimented as a toad. Jimin lets out a small ribbit of thanks to be polite.

Vilma giggles. “I’ll assume you said thanks, but let’s get over with so we can have a proper conversation with each other. I have so much to tell you about Yoongi,” she says with a wink.

“Now then, hold still. This’ll just take a second.”

She makes quick work of the whole ordeal, pecking his lips without a fuss. The peck was so light that Jimin had hardly felt anything.

A tense silence falls upon the group. They wait for any kind of change in Jimin, who waits as well. He shakes his tiny limbs to trigger any kind of reaction, to no avail. He's still a toad.

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Yoongi sighs, taking Jimin back from Vilma’s arms. He looks down at Jimin to see him sulking, hunched over and croaking sadly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, Jimin. I really tried.” Vilma, who is normally self-assured, seems so vulnerable. Her ears droop and lay limply on her head. “Was this your last resort?” She asks.

Namjoon’s expression turns sullen and unsure. “We’ve tried a lot of things already, but there has to be something that’ll work.”

He turns to face Vilma. “Sorry for the trouble and thank you for humoring such an odd request.”

“If it’s for you guys, I wouldn’t hesitate to help,” she smiles. “Oh, but don’t forget to keep me posted on the situation. I’m worried about poor little Jiminie.”

"Oh, and before I forget, Yoongi?"

“Yeah?”

Vilma makes eye contact with Yoongi. The look in her eyes is serious. “Your parents are still looking for you.”

He scoffs, already turning around to head in the opposite direction. “I couldn’t care less about what they’re planning.”

“I know, I’m just telling you to be careful.”

“Of course. Thank you for the concern.” He replies sincerely.

With that out of the way, everyone says their goodbyes and Jimin leaves with the promise of keeping in touch with Vilma.

Their return to the airship was tense. Yoongi's eyebrows were creased in deep thought, often ignoring what Namjoon had to say. At some point, their leader just gave up at let Yoongi think. He explained that this sometimes happened when he was inspired, or when he needed to figure out how to make a spell work.

Jimin nods in understanding. With all they’ve attempted, it’s no wonder why Yoongi is rushing to find a cure. They’re running out of options.

Before they can even set foot on the airship, Taehyung yells to them about a discovery he's made. Apparently, there was a large collection of books about restorative magicks hidden underneath another pile of Namjoon's books. The two of them cleaned up their shared room when they first arrived, but the mess just keeps returning given enough time.

Still, the new information gives them a place to start. The three of them go back to their rooms to study and concoct new potions. Studying the books is difficult. There are quite a lot of them to go through, so they divide the books amongst themselves. They also consult each other when they need help.

Taehyung is the first to come up with a new cure. Puff hops up to Jimin and gives him a clear container filled with an orange liquid. It looks and smells a lot more appealing than his previous potion. At first, Jimin thinks that it's a joke and that Taehyung is just giving him a glass of juice. He voices out the thought, and the other admits that it's hardly a potion at all. It's closer to a blend of many, many fruit juices.

Knowing this gives Jimin the bravery to down it all in one go. Like always, everyone waits for a reaction. They do get one, but it came in the form of Jimin hiccuping. The hiccups sound like short, rapid bursts of croaking.

“It may not have worked, but at least now I know what a hiccuping toad sounds like.” Namjoon chuckles.

Yoongi laughs as well. A small grin adorns his features. “It’s actually kind of cute.”

Jimin knows how he’s supposed to react. He would normally get mad at Yoongi for saying that, because it’s still a failed potion. More concern would be appreciated. Instead, he feels somewhat flustered at the sentiment. Perhaps it’s because it’s a compliment.

Either way, it’s weird. Yoongi is complimenting a toad. Although, after giving it a bit of thought, he comes to the conclusion that being complimented as a toad is not that odd. Jimin is a fine toad, if not the finest.

“Anyway,” Taehyung excitedly pipes up, unbothered. “This failure just brings us another step closer to success!”

His positive words spur Namjoon and Yoongi to work even harder. The pair retreat into their respective workplaces once more. Both of them also ask to not be bothered. Jimin wants to honor that request, so he spends his time doing other things.

The remaining people (and Puff) maintain the ship while everyone is busy, which proves to be a challenge. There’s only so much Jimin and Puff can help with, seeing as both of them are only can only accomplish simple tasks like moving things around the kitchen or cleaning up small bits of trash.

As they work, Jimin also remembers that the others have no idea that he’s a toad. They’ve had no means of contacting them for quite some time. Their quest involved picking up and delivering packages. This would make it hard to send messages to a specific location and hoping that they get it.

Hopefully, this toad mess gets sorted before they arrive. Well, two messes. There’s still quite a lot of the airship left to clean up.

A couple of days pass, and maintaining the airship becomes slightly easier. Trial and error led them to find more efficient ways of splitting up the work. This gave the group more time to themselves. It's both a bane and a boon. Generally, it is better to have more time for yourself, but Jimin has no idea what to do with it.

Most his time is spent playing with Puff. It’s fun, but the dreamhare has boundless energy. He has a limited amount of energy to spend. After all, eating is quite disturbing on his part. Learning to regularly eat insects messes with you, even if they somehow taste delicious.

Taehyung seems to pick up on this problem and offers to keep him company. The two of them have become close since the elementalist first joined their clan. Jimin is the first person he comes to when he has any concerns. They’ve shared jokes and stories just as friends do, so nothing is awkward. It’s also really helpful that the other seems to understand what he says even though he’s a toad.

However, unease grows within him over time. Doing this routine every day was starting to feel like something he should accept as permanent. In all honesty, Jimin would like very much to not accept being a toad. Another part of him thinks that he could, but the thought still makes him anxious.

Luckily, Namjoon breaks him out of his thoughts before things could get any worse. His leader brings him good news and tells everyone to gather in his room. He’d thought of another possible cure. This time the cure is not a potion, but a spell.

Jimin knows that Namjoon likes to write his own spells just like Yoongi does. The difference is that he has the tendency to create spells that went out of control. Knowing that things could go wrong again frightens him, but he’s willing to give the elder the benefit of the doubt.

Thus, Namjoon recites the spell as accurately and as carefully as he can. The reaction is immediate. A cloud of deep blue smoke engulfs Jimin. A pulsing wave washes over him, causing his skin to vibrate slightly. Excitement bubbles up inside him.

The smoke clears, but Jimin still feels small. Something feels different though, so he hops over to a nearby mirror to check what exactly happened. It turns out that all it did was make his skin blue.

Internally, Jimin sighs. He’s changed his mind and has become somewhat resigned about being a toad. Maybe he should get more used to this. Living this way has started to feel more natural recently anyway. Regardless, he makes his way over to Namjoon and bows his head in thanks.

Namjoon leans back against the wall with crossed arms. “Well, I can say that I tried,” he frowns.

Off to a corner, Yoongi is thinking. His eyebrows furrowed once again, but he seemed upset.

He clicks his tongue. “Jimin-ah,” he says, catching the younger’s attention.

Jimin holds the look that Yoongi gives him. He knows the look in his eyes; It’s resolve. Seeing the seer filled with that determination instills some hope in him.

“I promise you that I will find a way to cure you. You can count on me.”

The sincerity in his voice makes Jimin want to believe in him. He decides that he will place his full trust in Yoongi, and seals the sentiment with a nod. Yoongi acknowledges him and returns the nod.

Yoongi spends the next few days alone, working in his study. He sets different conditions, but this time only lets them in one at a time, saying that any more in the room would get too distracting.

Initially, he tries to let Namjoon and Taehyung in. However, they notice that Yoongi only nods when they try to address him. Not that they pay it much mind. They eventually leave him to his work and only come in to check if he was alright.

Upon hearing this, Jimin decides that it might be fun to watch the seer at work. There wasn’t much else to do, after all. When he hops his way into the room, Yoongi doesn’t seem to notice his presence.

He didn’t mind that Yoongi was too engrossed in his book to say ‘hi’ or at least acknowledge him, so he just tried to move closer and get a better idea of what the elder was looking at.

The desk Yoongi sits at is fairly high, so Jimin jumps on a few stacks of books to get a better look. Once he lands on the desk’s surface, Yoongi nearly screeches.

“Jimin! Gods, you scared the hell out of me.”

Jimin lets out a few amused ribbits in response, to which Yoongi pouts at. He will admit that this is probably the most adorable thing Jimin has seen in a while. It’s not that he’s never seen him pout before, but this particular instance is so childlike and genuine.

The cute moment passes quickly when Yoongi gasps loudly, as if he just realized something.

“While you’re here, you should help me test things!” He exclaims excitedly.

There's no reason to disagree, and it would make the process of finding a cure move along more smoothly, so Jimin agrees with a ribbit.

“Do I take that as a yes?”

This time he responds with a ribbit and a nod.

“Okay, thank you for your cooperation Jimin. You’ll help me out quite a bit, I’m sure.” He smiles warmly.

Over the course of the day, he gets fed various herbs and powders to see what their effects were. Some had no effect, while others resulted in something strange. Strange events ranged from him growing blonde hair to sneezing sparkly purple dust. One of the worst things that took place was when Yoongi fed him a ‘suspect mushroom’. He swallowed a piece of it without thinking twice, but then he learns of the origin of its name.

It is apparently known as a ‘suspect mushroom’ to many because it looks poisonous, but no one has bothered to check if it was before today.

Jimin’s eyes widen when he finds out, and he promptly tries to regurgitate it. Much to his relief, nothing seems to be wrong. It was either that, or the poison was a slow acting one.

But that doesn’t excuse the danger Yoongi willingly put him in. He angrily croaks at the elder for his irresponsible actions.

“Oh relax, I’ve eaten some of this mushroom before, and nothing happened. Well, it gave me some really bad stomach problems when I ate it raw, but when it’s fine when cooked.”

Jimin’s eyes narrow, still peeved at his nonchalant replies.

“Please don’t look at me like that”, he frowns. “I gave you a cooked mushroom, I swear!”

His anger softens at that. It wasn’t immediately threatening if that was the case. It would still be better if he got an apology though.

Next to him, Yoongi sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I’ll tell you about the things I feed you next time. That was uncalled for.”

He supposes that that’s a sufficient enough apology, though he won’t get away with something like this so easily next time. He hops onto the seer’s lap and nuzzles his stomach appreciatively. In return, Jimin receives a pat on the head. It’s comforting. The others took a while to get used to Jimin in toad form, with him being sticky and all, but Yoongi accepted him right away.

At some point, he falls asleep like that, because Yoongi’s lap is way too comfortable for its own good.

When he wakes up, Jimin finds out that a day has passed, and Yoongi was still doing the same thing as before: working. His eyes are bloodshot and his movements are slow, although it seems that his writing still made sense, so he must not be completely exhausted yet.

It was much too late, or rather, too early for him to be working. The sun was beginning to rise. He needs to get some rest.

Jimin loudly croaks, trying to get Yoongi’s attention away from the desk. His efforts go unnoticed, and Yoongi continues scrawling runes onto a yellowed scrap of paper. This leads him to become annoyed, so he decides to retaliate.

“Jimin,” he grunts in pain, “what was that for?”

Jimin points at himself first, acts like he’s sleeping, and then points at Yoongi.

“You want me to sleep?”

Jimin nods.

“I’m fine. I still have a few hours left in me,” he mumbles sleepily, getting up from where he fell. “I can’t really afford to waste any more time. We might not have much of it left.” Eventually whatever the seer says becomes unintelligible because of how he exhausted he actually is.

As he watches the elder put the chair back in place and straighten out his clothes, Jimin can’t help but be grateful, yet upset. While he appreciated that Yoongi was going above and beyond just for him, but he wished that the elder would care more about his health. No matter what was happening, his health still mattered. A little break every now and then wouldn’t hurt.

Jimin wasn’t going to leave this room until Yoongi left to get rest too, so he spent the next few minutes endlessly assaulting the other with his tongue.

With enough persistence, Yoongi gives in. “Okay, okay! I get it! I’ll go take a nap or something.”

Jimin narrows his eyes and makes biting and chewing motions with his mouth.

“And I’ll eat. Happy?”

‘Very’, he thinks to himself, but he can’t show it other than through a smile.

About half a day later, Yoongi is well rested and goes right back to work, as expected. This time, Jimin is vigilant. He keeps track of the time and makes sure the other gets the meals he needs. Gods know he'd otherwise forget.

Taehyung and Puff would help him prepare the meals and they also help him take the meal to Yoongi’s study. The entire process has a touch of Jimin in it. He’d suggest whatever meal would get cooked by pointing to certain foods in a recipe book, and would also help to gather the ingredients needed. Lots of love gets poured into the food too, because as Taehyung says: “Love is the most important ingredient.”

Each time they bring him a meal, they get a soft smile and an even softer ‘thank you’. It’s easy to tell that Yoongi likes the food. His smile would continue to grow as he ate. He swells with pride, knowing that something with so much effort put into it is well liked.

Jimin is just a bit happier when it’s Yoongi that likes it, not that he would admit that to himself.

From then on, things proceed smoothly, until Yoongi screams with his mouth still full of food.

“Wait! I got it! I think I finally have it!”

Hastily, he grabs some chalk in one hand and Jimin in the other. Then breaks off in a sprint towards the top deck of the airship, all while yelling through the hallways about everyone meeting him there.

Surprisingly, everyone hears him and runs off to catch up.

When everyone has gathered on the deck, Jimin is shoved into Taehyung’s hands.

“Don’t just manhandle him into my hands! Have some finesse!” Taehyung complains, offended.

“Sorry, I just really need to get started on this.”

Yoongi uses the chalk to draw a circle onto the floorboards. The circle is lined with all kinds of runes he can’t recognize. It’s made even more complicated when he begins to add various other shapes to the center.

The center is a large empty hexagon. Jimin’s intuition is telling him that he’d probably have to step into it very soon.

“Alright,” Yoongi huffs. “Just step in the circle and we can get this show on the road.”

Jimin’s intuition would be right. He jumps from Taehyung’s hands and onto the designated space and waits for Yoongi to recite the spell.

Before speaking, Yoongi takes a deep breath. After he exhales, words pour from his mouth naturally, well practiced and precise. The three of them stare in awe as the spell circle begins to radiate a green light, enveloping Jimin in its rays.

Its light becomes too bright to look at and everyone is forced to turn away, but it clears seconds later.

It dissipates and in its wake lies Jimin, on the floor, who is unfortunately…

still a toad.

A few thoughts cross Jimin’s mind.

Throughout the course of everything they’ve experienced, Jimin has gone through an emotional rollercoaster. As with everything, there were ups and downs. A few of those experiences are ones he would choose to never relive again. Subconsciously, Jimin chose to push down some of those feelings in order to adapt to his current situation.

A flood of emotions overwhelms him. All of the negative feelings he’d been trying to push back were surfacing all at once. They’re trying to form tears, but none are coming. It might have something to do with being a toad, but that doesn’t help ease the frustration and sadness that continue to try force their way out.

Taehyung notices Jimin's distress and instantly picks him up from the ground. He strokes his back to try to comfort him. To a degree, it does help soothe him. One look at the others is all it takes for him to know that they can feel his distress as well.

Yoongi looks back at him, eyes glassy through the tears that threaten to spill over.

“I’m so sorry, Jimin-ah. I tried my best and it still wasn’t enough. I couldn’t cure you.”

‘It’s okay, Yoongi. I’m still glad that you tried,’ he wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come through.

They share a few moments like that, just staying in each other's presence. Everyone else in the room seemed out of mind for this brief period in time. They try to convey their thoughts to one another in spite of the sobs, or even through being a toad, just genuinely hoping to comfort the other in their time of pain.

Jimin likes to think that it helped to some extent because Yoongi didn't stay down for long. He gets up again and takes a deep breath.

“Is there anything we haven’t already tried. It could be really stupid and I wouldn’t care. We need to exhaust all our options.” He asks, desperate.

“Well there is one thing,” Taehyung says sheepishly.

Yoongi’s eyebrow quirks upward, intrigued. “And what would that be?”

“In some other versions, the maiden in the story is actually a squire.”

There’s an awkward pause in the conversation, thoroughly contrasting the mood in the room earlier.

“Look, I get it! It’s pretty stupid. That’s why I didn’t mention it. It’s just that we’re getting pretty desperate and you did ask for all the options, so there.” He huffs, embarrassed.

Yoongi shrugs, not needing much time to come to a decision.

“It’s worth trying. Anyone care to volunteer?” Namjoon asks, already looking at Yoongi.

Taehyung sees where their leader is going with this and also turns to look at him as well.

“Okay, fine. I’ll do it!” He concedes, his blush spreading all the way up to the tips of his ears.

Jimin is still trying to prepare himself for what’s about to transpire, because for whatever reason, his heart would not calm down.

Shakily, Yoongi scoops him up into his arms, holding their faces up to each other.

“Um,” he gulps. “I’ll try not to make it too weird.”

Instantly, he presses their lips together and the sensation is tingly. His heart pounds even more as the kiss continues because Yoongi refuses to pull away. One would say that during a special kiss, sparks would fly.

Jimin would agree.

Sparks literally flew.

His body begins to discharge small bolts of lightning, causing chaos in the room. Surprised, Yoongi also puts Jimin down as the change begins.

The complexion of his skin becomes more smooth yet refined, and begins to regain the peach color his hume body once had. His arms and legs stretched out and took their former shape, his webbed appendages were eventually replaced with the stubby ones he knew and loved. He even felt his tongue begin to thicken and change.

Best of all, he got his voice back.

“Yoongi!” Jimin yells happily. He grapples the elder to the ground and pulls him into a tight hug.

“Thank you so much! You did it! You cured me!”

On a sudden impulse, Jimin kisses Yoongi’s cheek, leaving him a flustered mess, not that the younger would be able to see his blush from this angle.

To make matters worse, Jimin nuzzles even further into Yoongi’s neck.

Then, he turns to the others. “I’ll definitely pay you all back for the trouble, and I’ll be more careful with the things I drink next time," he promises.

“But seriously, thank you Yoongi. I owe you big time!” Jimin beams at him. The corners of his eyes even crinkle with how brightly he’s smiling.

If the skipping of his heartbeat was anything to go by, Yoongi thinks that all the trouble was worth the kiss he got on the cheek.