Against All Odds: You don’t Need to do This Alone

Jade listens closely to the heavy snoring of Matt, Zoe talking in her sleep about something along the lines of cake robots, and the flipping of pages as Cain reads a book. Keeping her eyes closed and breathing steady, lying still in bed as if she was asleep. She is waiting for one thing and one thing only, Cain’s book fall out of his hands and on to the floor as a sigh that he has finally fall in asleep. Jade thought for a second should she do this, leave her friends, fight Heath alone (or die trying). Can she do this after all she has gone through with them.

“What if they get attacked the group needs me?” she asks herself in her head. “No, the longer you stay the more danger all of them are. It’s better this way. Heath will just come after them if you here or -or- Keres could- could take over again.” Jade did not want to think about that. After the evil spirit started using her as a vessel, at first Jade could call Keres up to the surface when in danger and then put back down. Now Keres can take control of Jade’s body when ever the spirit wants if Jade is not actively hold her back and that is getting harder each and every time the demon takes full. She fears sleep imaging Keres a blood-lusting sadistic demon taking over in her sleep and hurting anyone nearby and her not being able to gain back control giving Jade another reason to leave. 

At that moment the book fell with a thud on to the floor. (Thanking her friends regular sleeping habits.) Wasting no time Jade carefully climbs out of her bed setting up pillows to look like she is still in bed tucking a note, saying goodbye to her closest (only) friends and explaining her departure from them (she owed them all that much), underneath it. Grabbing her bag full of only the essentials heading for the door making sure to avoid the creaky floorboards. Stopping just before the door grabbing the handle waiting the loud grandfather clock to chime, the door squeaks so loud that everyone would wake up, but that clock is louder and everyone has tuned it out. Looking back one last time at her friends then the ear splitting chimes she opens the door the shuts it again. Jade heads for the stairs sliding carefully down the railing to move faster past the load stair case. Taking two dog treats out her pocket once she steps on to the ground floor giving them to Pee Wee (Zoe’s two headed bear sided hell hound).

She scratched behind the ears of the left head then under the chin of the right head whispering, “Be a good boy for me okay.” Opening the door to the base stepping out into the night then running to the wall about to climb when she hears.

“The irony, the same girl the preached to me about the value of friends, the joy of being apart of a team, the need to have people you can trust to have your back, and so one; is running from her friends, so hypocritical,” call a male voice from the shadows. "I guess we're still the two sides of the same coin."

“Veran if you’re here to talk me out of this,” Jade turns to face him. “Save your breath. It’s for- it’s for the-” her throat became dry and tears started to fall.

“If you are about to say ‘it’s for the best,’ don’t because that is just false,” he stepped closer to her.

“How, how. Everyone who has tried to help me has, everyone who has cared about me, everyone I have ever care about has gotten killed or worse because of me,” everything Jade had been feel few months started to poor out like her tears.

“Jade, for the sack of the Grand Tree, you can’t make that claim,” Veran stepped closer.

She continued, “Really: my entire family tortured then murdered, Frank turned into chaos beast, Mary and Gregory trapped in Lusefell, Argus captured by Heath, Cam mind wash by Morngon-,” she fall to her knees to her sleep deprivation after three day of no sleep finally catching up with her and her over flowing emotional dame bursting. “Everything it cost to get here for want was it worth it. All the blood on my hand,- why can’t I save anyone.”

Veran knells with her wrapping his arm round her, speaking in an uncharacteristic soft voice, “Jackal, you do save people, you help them. I’ve seen you go out of your way to save people who don’t deserve to be save. You saved me after all.” Jade sobs into his shoulder after a while she gives into sleep. Veran thinks back to the time the rolls were reversed, when he joined the team.

…

After years of being sworn enemies Veran was on his knees in the rain eyes locked with her, he was bleeding from many wounds he had lost everything. He was the dishonored and disowned by his father (Heath), he betrayed his only friend and mentor, his sister locked up by his father, and mother dead by his hand. He had one thing left, the goal to defeat her, the destined warrior who would either save the world or destroy it, the task given to him by Heath, the mission which his failure cost him everyone. After defeating her would go after his ‘father’ or that was his new plan before now.

Veran snapped shouting, “Why are you still stand, why won’t you loss.”

“Veran,” Jade stepped closer to him. “I know you’ve lost so much. I can-”

“Understand?” he cut in, “Hahahaha, that laugh able, you understand me? Save your breath Jackal. You were born destined for greatness, I was born to die. Everything come easy to you, I had to fight to gain strength myself no one handed me anything. You-”

“Nothing I did came easy to me. I was marked with a future I could not choose. Everything I did to get here I did not do alone, I had my friends by my side I couldn’t have done it with out them. The abilities and powers I have I had to hone and build them. I lost so many people I care and- I know you have too.”

He looked at her, “I guess you and me are two sides of the same coin. How then are you still standing. Why are you still fighting.”

She walk up to him with a smile, “I have a team that keeps me going and has my back.” Then she kneeled right in front of him, hesitated then continued, “and you can join if you want to.”

Veran tears started to well in his eyes at the offer. Jade wrapped her arms around him he expected the embrace.

“You don’t need to do this alone,” she had said.

It took Veran a while to get used to being apart of a team. The other understandably had trouble trusting him.

...

Coming back to the moment he said quietly, “Don’t worry Jackal you don’t need to do this alone.”