With the Light, the Bonds Break.

[Onyx]

A loud groan escaped from Jasper when he realized that his roommate left the shade open and the light was directly hitting his bed across the room. "<Bloody stupid Alex,>" he mumbled in German, putting the pillow over his head. He was tired and slightly hungover, opting to skip breakfast and planned on catching up on as much sleep as possible before he had to go work on the stables. It wasn't his fault that he was swamped with work from his other classes and didn't understand what the point of a poem on encroaching nature meant. Now because of a stupid assignment he had to do extra work all weekend.

Jasper groaned again, partially out of anger and the other part due to being tired and tried to turn over. "Fick dich, Wichser! FICK! Hurensohn! MUTTIFICKER!" A slew of German curses left his mouth when the blinding pain of rolling on his wings without thinking. He sat up quickly, blinking away the stars that danced in front of his eyes and trying to catch his breath from the blinding pain. "FICK!" he yelled getting very angry now. He was sick of these wings, he was sick of wearing the same shirts over and over again because he didn't want to ruin his good ones, and he was sick of all the pain he felt from them. If this was a test of God's will to inflict pain on him as a form of penance, he didn't know what more he could do to complete his penance. Jasper was just a sixteen year old boy who made mistakes just as anyone else, nothing deserved the punishment of these wretched wings.

For the first time in a long time, Jasper started to get really angry. The dark energy erupted from him, coming out in full force with his anger, eyes turning black to match the energy coming from his arms as he looked at his hideous appearance in the mirror. The taunts and comments from his friends and teammates ran through his head. Though he knew it was all in good fun, they had in their own way hurt him because it was all true and made his hatred for the wings and his power grow. Now finally, all that anger seemed to come to the surface over the failure to do the simple task of turning over. Jasper had reached his breaking point, he couldn't take it anymore, couldn't take the failure of completing simple tasks, like turning over in bed, like putting on a god damn shirt. It was too much to live with, and what was worse there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

The fully black eyes looked at his appearance in the mirror, the dark energy swirling around him, making him become heavier from the force. The hatred seemed to grow the more that he looked at himself, the hideous wings, the forsaken power that he never asked for, he hated it all. Jasper glared at himself, taking in every hideous part of his mutation that he couldn't stand, and with that noticed something else, something he had never seen before. With the anger consuming him as it did and his power coming out in full force his wings seemed to grow... no they definitely grew twice their original size. He even felt the tops of them graze the ceiling. <What the hell is this? They never reached that high, and both my feet are still on the ground...?">

This was a new development, something that he had not seen since he got these wings, of course since then he never felt as angry as he did then. Jasper had bottled it all up till it came to the point where he couldn't take it anymore. And with that burst of anger, he found something new about his power. The adrenaline and anger still rushed through his body, and the rational part of his mind knew that he must calm down. Closing his eyes, he tried the breathing techniques that he watched Niki do, as well as Aideen the few times his heart could take it. <Breathe in...1...2..3... Breathe out...1...2...3...>

[Onyx]

For a long while, the only sound heard in the room was Jasper's breathing. In his mind, he visualized himself calming down, pulling in the dark energy into his being as he thought of everything that made him calm and happy. He felt the calmness washing over him like cool water on burning hot skin, the wisps of the darkness bringing themselves back into him. Jasper knew of nothing but what he saw in his mind and concentrated only on his breathing, imitating the others he saw perform the same techniques. With each breath that left his body, it brought back a sense of calmness, something that felt more true and real than anything else he felt since he came to the school.

Not once did Jasper dare open his eyes, for fear of seeing his reflection and ruining the new calmness within him. He kept breathing in and out slowly, all the things that were bothering him before leaving his body and mind. In that moment Jasper put all the taunt, albeit playful, behind him, all the weird looks and the heartache that they caused went with them. It was a moment of cleansing that came as suddenly as the anger, but he needed to do it. Jasper needed to restore some sense of self within him, and the needed to get some control over his powers. A prayer to the Lord left his lips, desperate for that sense of peace that he longed for, for even a bit of that normalcy he had before this power, the wretched wings.

The comfort that came with his beliefs, with the knowledge that God would take care of him and forgive him for any shortcomings comforted Jasper, a missing comfort that he could never fully gain even the last couple of months going to Sunday mass with Herr Kurt Wagner. He stood stark still for a moment, feeling a sense of renewed energy and calm around him. It took a lot of courage for him to finally open his eyes at the risk of that new sense of calmness he gained leaving him. Much to his delight, the sight he saw was a surprise. All that darkness that had consumed his body the last time he opened his eyes were now gone, and his wings were barely wings, not nearly as massive as they were yesterday let alone a moment ago. <What could this mean?>

Jasper reached back to touch the now smaller wings, fingering the material for a moment. He knew that while in his state of praying meditation, he visualized all the darkness coming back into him and settling within, and now with those thoughts the wings were smaller. He had always thought that the wings were some phase in mutation, nothing to do with the power he already had. Experimentally, Jasper put his hand out and tested a new theory that formed in his mind. Concentrating on the wings, he called for the darkness to come back within him. With wisps black, the wings slowly dissappitated and came back into him. The whole time Jasper watched with wide eyes, in shock that the solution had been in front of him the entire time. When the wings were gone, he turned slowly to look at his back in the mirror. There were no wings anymore, just his bare back. Jasper blinked in shock for a moment and then started laughing at the simplicity of the situation. He laughed like he hadn't in a long time, holding his stomach and falling on his back on the bed, a secret thrill going through him at the ability to do that again. It was over, and could have been over sooner if he hadn't been so blind. Now all that could be done was to laugh.

[TuneUP]

After separating with Kate in the hallway, Sean went out to the boys dorm, waving to Kevin who seemed to be cleaning a couple of blood splatters from the carpet as he passed. He stopped in front of Jasper and Alex's door and knocked for a minute, hearing laughing behind the door. "Uh Jasper? You alrigh' in there?" Sean knocked politely before pushing the door open with a smile. "I brought you a sandwich, cause you're gonna need your strength for the- Lordy," he stopped mid-sentence when he saw the state of the room. Most of the boys rooms were pretty messy but Jasper was usually the neater of the bunch and right now it looked like a hurricane went through his side of the room.

"What in the hell happened here? OH wowee look your wings are gone! What happened?" Sean asked with wide eyes looking at Jasper with new eyes after not seeing him wingless since the day he met him. He handed him the sandwich and kept looking at him, amazed and delighted for his friend. He knew how bothersome the wings were for him and how much they brought Jasper down. He hoped that nothing bad happened, but from the laughter and the look on Jasper's face, Sean couldn't help but rejoice for his good friend and teammate.

[Hardlight]

Kevin could here the laugfter coming out of the room as Seam went into it and his curiocity was getting to him. After a moment and the excited tone of Tuneup's voice he just had to see what was going on. "Hey, what's up?" he asked as he entered tapping on the still open door. He had left the scrub brush in the bucket of antibaterial soapy water, and he draped the large rubber gloves over the side of it too so he wasn't yucked up at all.

There hadn't been too much blood, not really, it was gross and crusty too though with like some kind of other thing it seemed was mixed with it. He wondered if mabey she had a diferernt kind of blood that got all cungealey and pastey because when he started to scrub on it then it got weird and stickyish. He just did the deed and got most of it up since he started at Loarlie's door so she wouldn't see it when she opened it up, and he was almost done because Rumbles was a few doors down.

"What's all the - WHOAboy! You got no more wings?" Kevin rubbed his eyes not believeing what he saw. "That's wild Jasper. Are you Ok? Did it hurt? How did- where did- what happened!?!" Kevin was a bundle of quetsions and he stepped up next to Sean asking hin "I'm not seeing things am I? His wings are really gone right?"

[Onyx]

With an almost uncommon joy, Jasper sat up from the bed to greet his teammate and friend with an uncharacteristic smile on his face as he turned around. "No mein friends, zhey are gone! Really gone!" he said with a smile as he reached back to feel his bare back again to feel it without any obstruction. Jasper musta been laughing for about ten minutes straight and not even noticed the mess that occurred in his room. He was the neater of the boys and liked to keep his area tidy, as he was raised that cleanliness was next to Godliness. With that burst of power, it caused a bunch of his books, his clothes and a couple of pictures and posters he had hanging on the wall all over the place. Jasper hadn't even noticed with this new realization and right now he didn't care like he normally would have.

"I just got so angry, and I couldn't stop zhe burst of power zhat came from mein temper. Zhese wings finally got too much for me and vell... it all came down to an uh... a test yes? And it vorked!" he said with a big grin taking a bite of the sandwich that Sean brought him. "It vas my power zhe whole time! I didn't know that it could be somezhing mein power could do. I had thought zhat it was another mutation, but it vasn't!" The look on Jasper's face it look like a huge weight had lifted off his shoulder, and in a way it literally had.

He sat back on his bed and looked at both of them with a big smile. "The day could not have started off any better. I have not felt so much like myself in a long time mein friends, and nozhing could bring me down today." Jasper opened his drawers and took out one of his old band shirts with the Rammstien logo on it. He slipped it on easy as ever, vowing never to take the simple task for granted again. In between getting changed, he ate the sandwich that Sean brought him. Now dressed in black jeans, his old black shirt and his combat boots, Jasper slipped on his leather motorcycle jacket, the one he had been sorely missing for months. "I feel like mein old self again!" He put two his arms around Sean and Kevin, giving them a one armed hug in pure joy. "Cau jou believe it mein friends. I am me again!" he rejoiced.

[TuneUP]

There was a big grin on Sean's face at his friend's happiness. He had watched Jasper bear his pain for months and hide it well, but Sean knew his friend and teammate enough to catch the occasional flashes of pain that fleeted across his face when he got some good natured ribbing about his wings, or when they were in the garage and he would look at his bike with a note of wistfulness, cause when you got big wings like that, its not all that easy to ride a motorcycle. "I'm real happy for you Jasper, you look great! I know ya missed that leather jacket of yours, and it looks real good. Ya look just like your ol' self," he said with a beaming smile, patting his teammate on the back, still amazed that there was no more wings.

"We gotta get goin' now, so I hope that sandwich gave ya some strength, cause we're sure gonna need it." Sean was extremely excited to get the stables started and he was anxious to round everyone up. "I was jus' comin' up to get ya and I passed Kevin here in the hallway. What were ya doin' anyways Kevin?" he asked leaning down to pick up some of Jasper's papers that were strewn all over the floor from whatever happened here. He stacked them neatly and put them nice on the desk, willing to wait for just a moment to help his friend clean up a bit.

[Hardlight]

"I was uh," Kevin did'nt want to say what he was doing, because he did'nt want it to get around that he cleaned up after Loaralie, but he knew he could trust Sean and Jasper was looking into good a mood to care what any body was goning to says any ways. So he decided it was Ok "I was just cleaning up a little, cant be a mess out there always right?"

He was a little bit ashamed for Frotsbite and he hoped he did'nt blush to much, but he was over it quick. "Wow, how does it feel to have your cool leather jacket on again?" Kevin asked Jasper. "I know it's kinda gonna get hot later, and with the work in the stables you know even hotter, but I betcha wont take it off for a whole week huh!" Kevin grinned at his 'bathroom buddy'. They were not friends like Tia and Loarlie claimed to be, but they were aquainted and friendly because they shared a bathroom, and Kevin was happy for Onyx. Any bodys that saw his face right then would have to be, because he was beamding with a grin from ear to ear.

"It's nice to see you smile, you have'nt done that hardly at all ever since I known you. Mabey you should do it more often, itmakes you way more aprochuble and-" he cut himself off because he did'nt want to get a knucklefish sandwich for calling him cute, but he really was. To Kevin, right then, Jasper looked adorable and happy "and well, and happy!" he covered up his thoughts with a nice friendly ending and walked them out into the hallway. Walking back to his bucket he picked up the gloves and slid them on. "Guess I'll catch you guys later huh?"