Having convinced Sage that she was finally asleep by staying still and closing her eyes, sleep didn't come easy for her. She found herself rustling to every side of the bed and opening her eyes ever so often to see Sage unconscious in a chair next to her.

Part of Jett began to feel guilty for making Sage use so much of her energy on her but she knew that she wouldn't be able to go back in time and tell Sage not to help her get better. After all, if she were in Sage's position, she would be trying any possible way to save her.

Jett huffed softly and stared up at the blank ceiling that only held a dimly lit lightbulb. The feeling of anxiety and anxiousness crept up as she thought back to what happened with Hench. How could she have been so careless? She lost her abilities...her Radianite. What if she never got it back?

Jett mentally slapped herself for making her even more nervous. But how could she not think of what could happen to her if she didn't get her Radianite back? She knew Sage would think of something to ease her nerves, but Hench is a dangerous man. Any thoughts of Sage going on her own to retrieve her Radianite gives her chills. Hench was so careless with her and didn't even hold back to torture her..just imagining what Hench would do to Sage..

Jett shook her head and closed her eyes. She didn't want to think of what happened a couple hours ago. It was traumatizing and it made her head hurt. Even though sleeping was hard for Jett as of right now, she decided to force herself to try. Her efforts were ruined when she heard the sound of a door creak open.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she decided to pretend to sleep.

The sound of soft steps approached the bed. It made Jett's eyes squeeze even tighter and hold her breath for a little.

"Sage" Viper whispered.

Jett was surprised to hear Viper's voice. She thought she was asleep by now, judging by how late it probably was. Jett knew she should open her eyes and thank Viper for being apart of the team who saved her from Hench.

Sage's eyes blinked at the feel of someone's hand gently at her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered for a second before looking over at Viper's figure.

"Viper? What are you doing here, you should be asleep?" She groggily said.

Viper squeezed Sage's shoulder softly, "I think you should find a better place to rest. Sleeping on a chair isn't good for your back"

Sage smiled at Viper's concern and shook her off slightly, "Don't worry about me. I have to keep an eye on Jett's condition as well. The chair is completely fine"

"Sage, please. I came all the way over here to check on you. If it makes you feel better, I can watch over Jett while you lay in one of the medical beds. You should get some proper rest, please" Viper sighed.

Sage's mouth opened to object but Viper continued to stare at her with a worried expression. She gave up and got up, "Okay, but if anything happens to Jett..Anything. Wake me up, immediately"

"I know, I will. I promised I would help out with some of this stuff, didn't I?" Viper reminded

Sage smiled and shuffled her way onto a bed. Already growing appreciative to the bed she was on, "Yes..you did"

With a simple yawn, Sage was already fast asleep by the time her head hit the pillow. Viper waited a few minutes and eventually sat down at the chair where Sage was originally sleeping. She crossed her legs and stared at Jett's flinching eye lids and smirked.

"I know you're not sleeping"

"Was I that obvious?" Jett pouted

Viper watched Jett sigh and weakly push herself up from her laid down position. She waited for her to get settled before speaking, "What's keeping you up?"

"I..believe it or not, but there's this big bad dude. And that big bad dude took..uh..my- abilities"

Viper seemed genuinely surprised at her words. She didn't even think it was possible for someone to loose their already infused Radianite.

"That's possible?"

"Yeah..I didn't think it was possible at first. But I realized he did it when almost all my energy was being drained from me"

Viper stared at her with disbelief for a short while until she saw a tear run down Jett's face. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl.

"Does having Radianite really mean that much to you?"

Jett simply nodded and roughly brushed the single tear running down her face with the palm of her hand. She wanted to curse at herself for looking so pathetic in front of someone she hardly knows.

"Why does it matter to you so much? It just gives us abilities that normal humans don't"

"That's just it. It's more than just 'abilities'. Sage tells me otherwise, but it really defined who I was. It made me feel like I was worth something"

Viper oddly understood how Jett was feeling. She didn't really have a say to tell Jett to feel otherwise because she had never experienced her Radianite being taken away.

"I..don't really know what to tell you, Jett. I'm sure Brimstone will offer you help, or something like that. I'm sure Sage will think of something as well, but I'm going to tell you this now. We can't bounce right back in and infiltrate Kingdom. It took almost all of our power to hold off the guards. Even with the immense amount of Radianite energy, it was absolutely draining for the team. I don't mean to come off as harsh, but please, for the sake of Sage and the rest of the team..stay put for a bit"

Jett clenched her jaw and considered her options. She stared at her hands in fists and let out a shakey breath, "Okay"

Jett knew she made the right decision when she saw Viper look at her with a look that she had never seen before.

It was a look of sympathy.

"Thank you. But aside from that, I hope you are feeling better. I had also never seen Sage so scared in her life as well.." Viper mumbled.

Jett's eyes burned into her own lap, "I still don't know why she tried so hard for me"

"It's because you mean so much to her"

Jett opened her mouth and went to deny it but stopped when she saw Viper shove her hands into her lab coat and go for the door.

"Thanks for the talk" Jett muttered.

Viper looked over her shoulder and nodded before shutting the door behind her. Jett watched the closed door for a second and laid back down to stare at the ceiling for the next few hours. She was a little surprised when Viper had talked to her, seeing as that she has given Jett nothing but the cold shoulder since she arrived at Valorant.

Jett found these past few hours the craziest of her life.

~~

"Jett" Sage cooed softly

Jett grumbled at being awoken so suddenly and at the bright light from the window next to her bed. She snatched the covers and snuggled closer to them.

"Jett, you should eat something"

Jett muttered something inaudible and shifted even further into the bed. After staying up longer than she should've, finally being able to fall asleep was the best thing for Jett. And now that it was being interrupted, Jett was beginning to wish that she didn't sleep earlier.

She heard Sage sigh and sit back down in defeat. Now feeling guilty, she turned over to look at Sage with a tired expression.

"Sorry, I didn't sleep that well. But, I'm up now. What food was there today?" Jett asked softly.

Sage's eyes softened and held out a breakfast burrito with a water bottle, "This was all they had. I know you like their burritos, but you should also have a fruit for protein"

Jett only nodded and weakly unwrapped the burrito. Sage told her that she would be better by the next morning, but the ache in her limbs was definitely there. Her hands felt shakey and her legs felt numb and tingly still.

Sage saw the shakiness in Jett's hands, and carefully took it from her. Unwrapping the rest of the burrito and looked down a bit to cover her blush when she lifted it up to Jett's lips.

Jett smirked against the burrito, "What are you doing?"

"What else does it look like? I'm helping you..eat" Sage mumbled with embarrassment

Jett found the sight undeniably cute and gently took a bite out of the burrito. She swallowed quickly and went to take another bite, only to stop when she saw Sage look at her with an unimpressed look.

"What?" Jett asked with her mouth full.

"Chew before you swallow. Or else you'll choke"

Jett shrugged and exaggerated all of her chews so that Sage was satisfied. Sage couldn't help but smile while brushing her thumb to get rid of a piece of food under Jett's lip. The blush grew on the duelist's cheeks and looked away.

"O-Okay, I think I'm full"

"Are you sure you're feeling well? You barely touched the burrito..."

"Sorry, just not that hungry. I think when my energy was drained from me, my appetite went with it" Jett chuckled

Sage frowned, "It doesn't work like that-"

"I'll be okay. I'll have an apple and I'm sure I'll be okay for the rest of the day"

Jett took the apple from Sage's lap and took a bite into it softly, not giving Sage a chance to make any objection.

"Are..you feeling any better? I know last night was a shock for you" Sage then said, after giving Jett a napkin to clean her hands.

Last night definitely came as a shock to Sage too. Never in her life does Sage want to see Jett have a look of such distraught on her face again.

Jett thought for a moment before answering, "I'm..the best I can be. But I'm feeling a little more calmer now"

"Please be honest"

"I promise, I am. I just don't feel any better about losing my power. I don't think I should be at my best when my abilities are gone" Jett said sadly.

"You're completely right. You have every reason to feel hurt, but I don't want you to blame yourself for what happened. What happened to you was out of your control"

"No..It is my fault. I caused the team to waste their time to save me. And for what? To come back with a duelist that can't even be a duelist anymore! How can I not blame myself?"

Sage clutched at Jett's hand in disbelief, "As I said before, being a duelist doesn't have a say in who you are. What our team cares about is what's in here"

Her hand pointed to where Jett's heart was in the middle of her chest.

Jett stared at Sage's finger that was pressed there and found herself growing teary-eyed, "Why are you so good with words"

"I'm really not that great with them. I just say what I think is right"

Jett snorted softly, "There you go with your stupid modesty"

Sage rolled her eyes and let out a yawn louder than she anticipated it to be. She covered her mouth in embarrassment, "My apologies. I didn't get much sleep"

"I think we both need a bit more sleep"

"I wish I could, but I need to keep my eye on you" Sage winked

Jett frowned and scooted over to one side of her bed and lifted up the sheets. Sage stared at her for a second and her face grew red once she realized what Jett was offering.

"Oh..no, it's alright. You don't have to do that"

"Sage. I'm going to end up falling asleep, and you won't be doing anything but watching me sleep. I bet that you're going to fall asleep in an uncomfortable chair again..so, just get in already. If something does happen to me in my sleep then you will be able to feel it this time" Jett assured.

Sage knew she lost the battle and gave in. She slowly crawled onto the empty side of Jett's bed and shuffled close to Jett. Lately, Sage has been so nervous and jumpy from being so close to Jett. But for some reason, it felt good to be next to Jett right now.

Jett watched Sage get comfortable. Once she had gotten settled, their eyes linked for a second. Despite Sage's not being nervous, her heart instantly picked up speed when her eyes accidentally dropped to Jett's lips for a split second.

Sage thanked the gods for Jett's cluelessness because she clearly hadn't noticed Sage eyeing her lips. Their eyes stayed connected for only a bit until Jett pressed her forehead to Sage's playfully with a smirk.

"Why do you look so nervous. We used to do this all the time" Jett mumbled

"It feels different.." Sage whispered.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know..."

Sage bit her lower lip and looked down to press the side of her head into the crook of Jett's neck then continuing, "It makes me feel different..."

"Different? What kind of different?"

"You're such an airhead, Jett. It's different because it makes my heart race" Sage said quietly, feeling the tips of her ears begin to turn a deep shade of red.

Jett's face heated up Sage's words and stared forward in shock, "R-Really?"

Sage nodded into Jett's neck and played with the ends of Jett's fingers, "I've been feeling like that lately. Everything you do.. has an effect on me for some reason. I don't understand these feelings but I know they aren't negative"

Jett couldn't tell what Sage was trying to say. Confused by Sage's words, she craned her neck down to get Sage's eyes back on her, "Sage..."

Jett would be lying if she said she didn't have similar feelings about Sage. There were specific things about Sage that she found attractive now but didn't back at the Academy.

"I'm sorry!" Sade suddenly said, "That completely slipped out of my mouth.."

Jett smiled, "It's okay. Dont stess over it, I get those feelings too"

"You do?"

Jett nodded and licked her lips only to be confused when she saw Sage's face turn a bright red. Her face matched Sage's when she saw her lean in at the slightest. Jett felt herself grow nervous as Sage moved in closer.

Instead of objecting, she let Sage do whatever she wanted. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited to feel a pair of lips press against her own. Except they never came. Her eyes fluttered opened to see Sage's lips hovering over hers, just one move and their lips would brush.

"Are you sure?" Sage breathed onto Jett.

Jett gulped and decided to leap in first. Her hand found its way to the side of Sage's neck and pulled her in. Their lips brushed and Sage's heart leaped over the edge. She hadn't expected this morning to turn out how it has now.

Their lips only lingered together for a second before Sage broke away to stare at Jett with a shocked expression, "W-What did we just do?"

"Kissed?" Jett replied nonchalantly

Sage raised an eyebrow, "T-That was my second kiss.."

"Really?!"

She nodded sheepishly.

Jett laughed and pressed her temple to Sage's, "That's a little sad"

"Why's that?"

"Mm..well, I'm kind of in a bed with injuries all over"

"But it wouldn't make a difference if I kissed you at peak condition"

"Well, I guess so. But we can do better than having our first kiss in a hopsital bed" Jett joked.

Sage rasied an eyebrow and smirked, "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"O-Oh, I didn't mean to assume. I just thought since we just..did that..we could do it again..another time"

"I'm just joking with you Jett. I would love to do this with you again"

Jett's eyes brightened and the look of genuine hapiness on her face made Sage's heart swell deeply. Sage took Jett's face in her hands and smiled with her.

Jett closed her eyes with content.

"I'm glad"