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“Thanks Jasper. I appr-” but his sentence was cut off as Lesley sandwiched himself in between the two of them.

"What?! My baby is hurt? Oh my goodness. Are you ok? Oh my poor pumpkin. That must've been so painful o(；△；)o"

Jasper watched Lesley's hands wander over Inadi in search of the damage, but most of the scene was being covered up by Lesley's big pink hair. As the motherly male babied his beloved, the albino was awkwardly still trudging along side them with strands of Lesley's long hair occasionally swishing into her mouth. This occurred several times and Jasper spat out his hair in every occurrence, beginning to distance herself from the pair. Inadi's jerked away and released a pained yelp, his spear clattering to the ground and positioning itself into a hollow. Seeing Lesley's hand sway back down to his sides, she already what had happened even though she did not directly watch the unfolding events that lead up to the masked rejection.

“I appreciate your concern as well Lesley. Truly I do, but for now it just needs to left alone. Fretting over it won't make it go away and it certainly won't get us to that dragon.” 

His words, though not outright rude, was still poor in tone choice since it clearly portrayed his dislike for Lesley. Leaving the pink haired man upon retrieval of his weapon, he rejoined Jasper as they continued their trek up the mountain. At her comment about Hakuren, which was meant to cheer him up, it actually did the exact opposite as she saw his expression sadden even more.

“Jasper, as much as I don't like him right now I can't hate him. And it isn't bullying if he's proving a point... its just stating the facts.”

“He may state the facts harshly at times, but he means well. I think. It’s pretty amusing to watch if it’s not you he’s aiming at” Leon said from a little ways behind them.

She blinked for a couple of seconds, staring straight ahead, also not trying to make any eye contact with him. Those negative words she could not even grasp how sincere he sounded about them. 'Stupid Haku...' she thought as she crinkled her nose in distaste. "Don't say things like tha-," but he was already moving forward past her, his body language showing stronger signs of motivation and will. Gulping, she knew that kind words and pitying remarks wouldn't get him out of this mental state and that he would be the key to breaking out of his own shell. In many ways, he reminded her of how she was and still is. Remembering the first time she had met the gang and all the trips they'd gone on and all the people they'd lost had only served to evolve her for the better. She'd done and experienced things that she wouldn't have accomplished in a lifetime if she'd spent it in her secluded way of living back on Earth. Coming to the realization of how meaningful coming to Nowhere has been and its impact on her as a person, a grin began to curl on her face as she let out a peaceful sigh.

-----

"The dragon's den is just a few kilometers above us now."

The announcement brought on feelings of both excitement and fear, yet she was determined to complete this task to her best ability.

"Hey, how's your arm? Just take it easy, we have a great healer on our team and we'll watch your back."

Nodding shyly with a bright smile, her cheeks reddened a bit at the nice compliments. Her healing skills were improving for sure and they could only become more powerful from there on. 

"Celery! Run, uphill! Men, to battle!"

"Someone get to the baby dragon!"

"Sir! It's not there." 

The alarmed shouts and hollers caught everyone's attention, but even more so, the humongous dragon that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. The soldiers arrows were deemed useless as the feathered twigs came tumbling to the ground with just one flap of the mighty beast's wings. Staring in horror as the monster opened its mouth, a blue orb resonated within and Jasper knew exactly what it was as she turned her head around in a panic and ran from the azure flames. The heat threatened behind her, its rage poking at her back and shoulders.

"Get up the moment now! Find solid ground if we stay here, we'll get blown off the mountain side." 

"You heard him, let's go!

"Get this amulet on its neck!"

Sprinting towards Harper and the group, her vision began to blur from the dust and smoke as men came flying past her. She refused her mind's capability to comprehend what was happening for it would only bring about her doom.

“We can’t ask that thing to come down to us, so we’ll be going up. What we can use to our advantage is the reaction between hot and cold air. Leon can create an air current, but it will take far more power to single handedly move the flow with the necessary speed. Currently, the air around us is hot, because of the dragon. If I cool the air around the hot flow, it will naturally push us upwards, since it would want to escape to lower levels. How’s that for a start?”

This was one of Hakuren's traits that Jasper wholly appreciated and greatly admired; able to stay cool and collected in even the most frightening of circumstances. 

"That sounds like a decent plan. For now, I'll stay down here since I don't think I'll be of any help on that dragon." Clutching her staff bravely, she watched them go off towards the brainwashed creature, their surroundings were scorched and many set ablaze. People, dead, injured or alive lay strewn about the rocks and Jasper jab her staff at the floor, pointing it at the dragon. 'Possessed or not, you're hurting my friends!' A white blaze zig-zagged out from her staff, but it did not look like her usual healer's wisps. Instead, their movements were abrupt and choppy, clearly not a sign of curing. In her anger, she discovered her skill of inflicting damage. With the capacity to heal also came the opposite. Instead of healing, she also could hurt someone. 

The achromatic streaks almost looked like electricity and upon making contact with the dragon, it's old wounds began to reappear. With her amulet depleting ten times faster than normal, it didn't seem to be taking the new found talent too well as she was forced to halt her assault for fear of passing out. But the enlarged lizard didn't looked the least bit fazed.

'I guess I'm more than a nurse now..'