§tain | chapter two - "hello darkness"

10 years later

Washington, DC

    Dreams are the fantasies of the imaginative mind. Minor considerations scattered throughout the day tucked away in the depths of your mind only to resurface the second your eyes closed. In any case, for Jade, hers was from the past. Those that have become waking nightmares years after.

      She was thrashing about, her legs tangled in the sheets as flashes progressed. First came Big Louie, Gotham's most notorious drug lord, and the echo of his glock going off. Shooting her fiancee in his sack secured head. Jade saw his body go limp, heard herself crying madly, and felt herself desperately slither towards him. Her hand trembling, reaching for him, coming to the same time, her body wounded, and her swollen belly aching.

"P-please ..." she called out until one of his goons picked her up and carried her as she was kicking and screaming.

   Next, she sat on the bed, wearing a dark tunic tied to her head by a scapular with a cowl. Beside her, Mother Mori was resting her hand on the teen's shoulder. Not long ago, she had brought forth a beautiful baby girl, named Ansley after her late fiancee's mother.

   She had been left with her feelings after she had surrendered the child for adoption. They've been bothering her since she met Big Louie. She spilled them to the Mother Superior.

"What are you going to do now, child?" her Greek accent a delicate touch of validity.

"I need to make them pay. Heroes, they 're going to rue the day they didn't come to rescue us."

       That's when the ritual followed. Summoning the devil to give his mark to a poor soul. To trade her's in return for his blessing. The skin of her neck was defaced. Her body felt as if it were ablaze, and her powers went through her to the wild recitation of the Sisters. Until she eventually saw his eyes, dark, undaunted, and completely ruthless. She screamed at him from the unbearable agony and the abominable sight of him.

    Last, stood Dick. Sweet Dick. He held her close to him. His warmth and scent inebriating. She grew drunk from off his kisses, addicted to the delicateness of his lips, and swooned at the tenderness of his touch which sent an all to warm and fluffy sensation all through her body. With him, she felt safe, loved, appreciated.

      Never did she experience torment or misfortune or grief. They were each others universes. Something the two had looked long for just to discover in the wake of confronting hardships and years loaded with affliction. Or so as she thought in light of the fact that the next thing she knew, her lover took a blade dipped in blood and dove it into her mark.

    She folded feeble in his arms, those she once believed secured her, kept her sheltered, now held her. She tried meeting his eyes, beseeching him, reminding him how much she loved him. "Dick, I love you." blood spilled from her mouth blending in with the tears she shed.

   "You thought wrong. Monsters can't love." He left in the wake of saying the very thing she feared since the start. Him understanding exactly what she was. Without even so much as a second glance, he was gone. There she laid, on her back, slowly blurring as darkness came into view. Welcoming her as though it were an old friend.

~

     Adelaide Carter was simply a nonsensical woman. Someone who did not accept foolishness and wanted only the excellence of her children. She had a motto, something that her eldest has lived through, even to this day. "Loose threads are meant to be cut, not worn." Jade believed the saying referred to past memories of those who gave torment. Torment reached the limits of her being gone for a long time. Overlooked and never thought of again. Except that they were manifested in dreams at night. She would wake up, her face dripping with sweat, her throat aching, and her mark squeezing.

      Instead, that morning, her eyes shot open, cold and aching, and she sat up to clear her dry throat. Her room is still etched in darkness. No light anywhere in sight. Jade seized the opportunity to practice because it was still early and had plenty of time before work.

~

     As a retired assassin, life had become very basic. Jade woke up every morning from her recurring nightmares, trained, showered, dressed, ate, worked, came home alone, ate, slept, and repeat. Each and every day less unfulfilling than the last one. Jade moved with robotic precision, yet organic fluidity as she balanced the double bladed scythe in her right hand. She gently struck it through the air with an expert aplomb, and as she did, the dim lightning of the gym danced warmly in the cool steel. The handle was bound in crimson leather, and the bladed sides were long and curved.

     She twirled the weapon back and forth from one hand to the other while her body gracefully followed its mobility. Progressing a foot forward, Jade sidelined as if she were actually facing an enemy at that exact moment and turned around. Her blade cut off the punching dummy 's head, and she watched it drop to her feet; crappy and pitiful.

    Panting through her nose, she stared out at the window. The city is still asleep, and the sun has yet to rise. Jade finished her little training session and walked to the shower. As soon as she stripped naked and walked inside, her toes flinched when they met the cold ceramic floor. Her mind was still reeled from a nightmare earlier, but she tried not to focus on it.

   Jade turned the knob, old and rusty, with thousands of hot drops, drenched her head, and trickled down her back. Steam filled the tiny room and fogged the mirror. She bathed her skin gently, taking careful note of not touching the pentacle on her neck. After the shower was done, she dressed in a cream sweater and torn black fishnet leggings with combat boots, then heated a jimmy dean meat lovers' breakfast dish. He ate and watched the reruns of "Friends".

    She gave a dry, humorless laugh to her favorite episode, as Rachel and Phoebe jumped out of the curtains, scares the bejesus out of Ross, and he stumbled back, screaming girlily. Finally, the sun shone through the sliding door. She got up and stepped out to the patio to watch the sunrise. The sun bloomed on the horizon of Washington D.C. Golden petals reaching out into the peach, magenta sky. Beauty radiating hope, a new beginning.

    Jade used to watch something as extraordinary as this with Pete and Tina. They would have stood on Malibu Beach, where the sand was the softest shade of gold, but earthen and mute. Her back against her fiancee's chest as her forbearing hand rubbed her swollen belly, and Tina gorgeed on her nutella, spreaded Ritz's crackers as the three of them watched the ocean. After their untimely deaths, Jade missed the moments she wishes she hadn't taken for granted. Where she would have appreciated it if she had known what would happened next. She headed back inside, picked up her drawstring bag and helmet, and then rode her Harley to work.

~

      Upon entering Starbucks, the air was thick with the scent of coffee. Although Jade drunk in the delicious aroma, unlike the customers in line waiting to get their share, she would never hand over her money for it. She settled only for the goodies held in the glass display where after a long shift she could happily select one or two, hell maybe three, of her choice.

      Juan was there earlier than usual which surprised the hell out of her. He looked cleaner, more aware and completely focused on the task at hand. He wore a crisp white t-shirt, not a stain or anything disgusting in sight. His hair was washed and slicked back unlike its usual greasiness. He even wore a smile as radiant as the sun shining outside as the machines he had running brewed for the tired bunch waiting before him.

      Jade shook her head. He was seeing someone and it probably hasn't been that long. Juan, the boy thinks it's a relationship after three dates. Though some people think it's one after several months. He just doesn't understand how delicate he is. But drugs did that to you. They left you blind to many things so you're focused on them and them alone. Jade sure hoped who he was seeing doesn't end up breaking his heart or perhaps the other way around. She had a soft spot for him.

     He waved at her, a two fingered salute. She joined him behind the counter and fastened an apron around her waist. And got to fixing drinks to appease the fatigue group of people in the line. She once worked the register when first starting this job. But the customers often complained about how it creeps them out when she strained a smile or a cordial tone. Jade agreed with them too, interacting with the customers made her uncomfortable. She suggested the boss give her something which wouldn't involve much interaction when they spoke on the matter.

    Now she is content with her position. Operating the machines made her work so hard that it seemed time itself flown by without her noticing. Juan tried making light conversation with her once their shifts ended and Jade plucked a dozen assorted donuts from the glass display. He showed pictures of his new honey, a male only three years younger than him. His name is Dexter and he is in his senior year of medical school. Interning at the general hospital not too far from them.

    Jade had many questions but in the end decided to keep them to herself. As much as she was concerned about Juan and his well being, sometimes its best to not speak on certain personal matters. Especially when they involved a recovering xanny addict such as himself. Instead she expressed her support and gladness that he found someone whom of which him happy by listening. "Just take things slow." was all she said before leaving.

~

    When she got home that afternoon, she trained for four hours straight then after showering, she ordered a Hawaiian style pizza. It arrived while she watched Super natural. With her hair piled atop her head, she splayed out on the carpet, gorging on what she could only describe as heaven. This was her everyday routine for the past five years. Waking up, training, working, then training again, and spend hours of the night alone. No husband or children to come home to.

   Loneliness is all she had and that is all she needed or so she claims.  Although deep down, Jade wondered how her life could've if everything happened differently. If she had fought back against Big Louie. Would she be happy with just Tina...Pete? The news came on after the episode ended. "Robin, former sidekick of the infamous Batman, has made a reappearance in the City Of Detroit, one year after he was last seen in Gotham. A number of bodies were found in an alleyway , however they were severely mangled, and not killed. They are yet to be identified. Security footage shows the vigilante's violent brawl with a group, who are suspected of exchanging drugs.

     The corners of her mouth twisted into an all too knowing smirk. Looks like someone slipped up big time. After years of being M.I.A, there he was right in her face. Then it faded quickly as it had came replaced by bitter rage.  Long ago she made two promises and she only broke one. Now which laid buried six feet under. However the second kept.

"Swear to me, Jade...no more killing...please."

"I won't."

   It took much restraint to keep her impulses, her cravings for blood and human flesh, at bay. However, she didn't intend on keeping her word for much longer. Driven by her anger, she will get the very thing she was set on taking from the beginning.

   Revenge.

~

Author's Note

It took me a month to write this beastly thing. Trust me people. Chapter three will come soon so please people be patient with me.