STANDARD DISCLAIMER: JQ characters are not mine, but the non-JQ characters on this chapter are my creations. Any similarities to fictional or actual people, living or dead is just really, really weird. I'm not making any cash from this, it's just purecrazy fun!

February 24, 2006

Into the Valley of Darkness
Chapter I: In the beginning...
Act I: Jessie

by Ina-chan

It was not a good day.

The girl clenched her teeth and bit her lower lip, trying to keep the awful words from spilling out of her mouth. The Frog, as the school had fondly nicknamed him behind his back, peered at her dispassionately through his thick spectacles, making him resemble namesake even more. The girl looked at him impassively, as if to challenge his intimidating 'What do you have to say for yourself' look. The older man finally sat back from behind his desk and sighed...

Here we go! Jessie silently muttered in her head as she eyed a sliver of coloured light on the corner of the principal's oak desk.

"I am disappointed in you, Miss Velasquez..." he began, "this is not the behaviour I expected from a student with your record..." He emphasized his point by flipping through a folder.

Yeah, yeah…whatever. Jessie replied quietly as her eyes followed the ray towards a tacky stained glass image of a god awful flower design on The Frog's office window.

"As a proud member of this institution, such behaviour is unbecoming and unacceptable," he continued, stressing the last three words of his sentence by tapping his ancient oak desk.

And my life hit an all time low that it finally came to this. It took everything that Jessie had to keep herself from sighing aloud and rolling her eyes. She always found those teen-boarding-school-movies-vs-teachers movies utterly stupid. Now that she was actually living a scene from a real-life-version of a really bad one, she actually felt like running screaming across the room and flinging herself through The Frog's awful stained glass windows.

The Frog sighed again and rubbed his temples tiredly. "I will let this incident pass since you have, after all, just newly transferred, and undoubtedly are still adjusting to your new environment." He leaned forward with a stern glare. "However, Miss Velasquez, don't think that you're getting out of this situation without a reprimand. Each action has a consequence, and the consequence of your action deems you to make a public apology tomorrow to the young man that you have 'disputed' with." With that, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied smirk. "Is that clear, Miss Velasquez?"

Upon hearing her punishment, Jessie couldn't stop the scowl that automatically wrinkled her delicate features. Upon seeing her reaction, The Frog leaned back on his seat with a satisfied smirk. Once again, it took everything she had from giving the older man one of her blood chilling glares. She had quickly figured out shortly after her arrival that The Frog enjoyed riling up the students like this. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction that he was getting on her nerves. Even though she still considered running across the room screaming to fling herself through his windows.

"Is that clear, Miss Velasquez?" The Frog asked again, in a more insistent tone

"Yes sir," The girl replied blandly, pulling her eyes away from the stained glass windows to turn her attention on a spot in the shelves behind the Frog's shiny, balding head.

"Then you may go," The Frog waved at the girl dismissively. "I don't know how you children are being raised now, but in my day such uncivilized unladylike behaviour in a young woman such as yourself was not tolerated."

The corner of her lip twitched as Jessie painstakingly controlled her fury while she strode out of the room. As she silently made her way towards her locker with stiff, measured strides, she ignored the animated bantering of the other students as the bell rang to mark the end of the day's last class. Still without a single word, she briskly put on her father's US bomber jacket over her school blazer only to have the sleeve caught against the locker door, creating a tiny tear.

"SHIT!" The expletive automatically flew from her mouth before she could stop it as she slammed the locker door closed. The hallway instantly grew silent as all activities ceased. As she felt everyone's curious eyes fall heavily on her, she felt her temper completely flare. It was obvious that everyone simply wanted to see 'the crazy thing that new American transfer student would do.' She had just about had enough of catering to other people's entertainment. So she gave the unfortunate person rifling through his belongings in the locker next to hers, her most venomous glare. "What are you looking at?"

The boy instinctively stepped back fearfully. Feeling somewhat satisfied,

Jessie spun around and hastily walked through the polished halls, her footsteps clacking through the silent corridors as every student in the hall watched her procession. Without realizing it, her footsteps quickened at every step. Before she knew it, Jessie found herself in the center of the courtyard where she suddenly released a loud cry of indignation, causing more startled students to scatter out of her way. She then proceeded to face the looming building behind her and flipped it the 'Universal Gesture of Displeasure' with a loud hiss.

"Hmph, it seems the kitten has grown claws," an amused voice called out from behind her. "Though it's not much of a fight, I'm afraid. Buildings don't fight back."

The girl bristled upon recognizing who that voice belonged to. She bit back a groan before turning to confirm her worst fears. He was the last person she wanted to see right then, but there he was… boy leaning on a nearby tree with that infuriating smug expression on his face.

"What? Not happy to see me?" The boy called out to her innocently.

"Go fuck yourself," the girl replied flatly.

The boy gaped at her in mock horror. "Such language! On top of the impressive right hook you've got there, you're not really going to win any brownie points with charm if you keep that up."

The girl simply flipped the 'Universal Gesture of Displeasure' at him and started to walk away.

"Jessie!" The boy called out after her. "Hey, come on. Wait! I was just joking."

Jessie stared ahead of her as she hastened her steps, "Do the world a favor, John. Cease to exist."

John laughed good-naturedly, as he matched her pace, though still keeping a reasonably safe distance behind her "Whatever will you do when you finally meet the man who will gladly give up his life for you and follow your every whim?"

"I'd pity him," Jessie replied flatly as she deliberately made loud crunching noises on the thin layer of ice under her feet

"I'm glad you still have that impeccable sense of humour."

"Go away."

"I'm hurt. Here we are talking like old friends but I've yet to hear from you even a simple 'Hello John…'"

"Goodbye John."

"'…how have you been, John? I missed you terribly, my love…'"

"Why do you have to be so god damned annoying?"

"Oh, come on, Jessie. You can't say that you're not the least bit happy to see me. I haven't seen you in years. I almost didn't recognize you."

"A pity you did."

"You chopped your hair."

"Practical reasons."

"At least it's red again."

Jessie finally stopped, let out a deep breath before speaking in a dangerous tone, "I'm not in the mood. So if you value your teeth, go away and leave me alone."

"Ah! A warning before impending violence and imminent pain," John stopped in his tracks before giving her a dazzling smile. "I knew you still had feelings for me."

Jessie spun around and glared at him, speechless and not knowing how to reply. John always had that effect on people… rather, that effect on her. The amazing ability to infuriate her until her brain stops functioning.

Sensing that he had finally pushed his luck, John raised his arms up in surrender, still smiling that annoying smile. She hated it even more when he did that. It made her want to acknowledge humiliating things that she didn't want to admit.

Even so more in front of him.

Most especially not in front of him!

Not wanting to deal with any more humiliation, she did the only thing she could do. She turned on her heels once again and briskly walked away.

"Hey, the dorms are the other way," John called out to her, this time making no attempt to follow. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you!" Jessie replied haughtily

"You're not properly dressed to go hiking, you know."

Jessie answered by running away.

"Don't run crying to me if you freeze to death," John yelled after the retreating figure. John shoved his hands into his pockets and laughed under his breath. "Still stubborn as a mule."

A safe distance later, Jessie finally stopped to catch her breath as she leaned against a tree. Of all the places in the world… of all the people in the world… why did he have to be here?

"That stupid son of a..." she whispered aloud as she sank down on a tree and watched the serenity that winter brought to the scene in front of her. It was only then that she realized in her blind march that she somehow managed to make her way to a pond in the woods near the school grounds.

The pond had contrasting shades of black and grey due to the unevenness of ice forming on its surface. The branches and roots of the nearby mourning trees dipped sorrowfully through the glassy surface.

"Why is it that nature still looks so beautiful even when everything's dead?" Jessie asked to no one in particular before hugging her knees. "What am I doing here? I don't belong here. Everyone here is blind to everything. It's like a make-believe world where everyone refusing to see the fact that everything could just make a turn for the worst in a single moment."

Jessie closed her eyes as she lifted her chin, letting the warmth of the winter afternoon's sunlight bathe her face, "I don't belong here."

'But where do you belong, Jessie?' A familiar voice from the corner of her mind inquired.

Jessie took out a battered harmonica from her jacket pocket and delicately traced the dents and scratches on the worn instrument with her fingers. "I should be home. I should be with my friends. I should be helping to prepare. I should be helping look for Mom… I belong with you, Dad."

'I just don't want anything to happen to you, Princess.'

Jessie clutched the harmonica tightly and gritted her teeth angrily. With one swift motion, she jumped to her feet as that stupid conversation played over her head once again. Why does he have to be so damned protective?

And whatever gave him the idea that she would be safe in this place anyway? A private school that was really a safe house for children of dignitaries, most, if not all enrolled under assumed names. The school, along with everything in New London was an absolute neutral zone as agreed upon in the 1994 Parisian Treaty. Any action from all sides involved in this stupid war that are deemed to be a political threat will result the inevitable hostilities that neither the New Order Territories or the Alliance could afford at the moment.

"So there is liberty to torture, kill, execute people anywhere else as long as it's not here." Jessie couldn't help laughing sardonically at the idiotic ideas that adults come up with. But just because New London is a green zone didn't guarantee that the New Order didn't exert its influence there.

"DAMMIT DAD!" she yelled angrily as she threw the object in her hand to stress her fury. "I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!"

Jessie watched the harmonica sail through the air and skid perilously across and to the middle of the pond with satisfaction, feeling a bit better. Then her eyes widened in horror as the realization of what she's done sunk in. "Stupid!"

With a groan of defeat, Jessie trudged nearer to the frozen body of water to retrieve her possession. She blew a frustrated gust of breath at her bangs upon seeing the cracks created by the blow of her harmonica on the black ice. She scanned her surroundings and saw a natural bridge composed of a fallen medium sized tree, accumulated soil sediments and foliage just an arms breadth from her prize.

With amazing agility, she navigated herself over the bridge and carefully reached over to claim her item. She blew another breath of frustration upon realizing her arm was not long enough to reach it without compensating her balance. She gave a nearby branch a hard tug and made a satisfied grin as it held firm, then glanced at the object with smug determination.

Any parent watching this scene would probably have died of a heart attack

to witness the girl perch dangerously from her perilous position over thin ice. Race Bannon probably would have given his daughter a scolding before patting her on the back for a job well done.

A habit her mother disapproved of.

Perhaps that was the reason why Jessie Bannon always believed in the air of invincibility created by her luck was enough to disregard the dangers in every perilous situation. It is also perhaps the reason why Jessie Bannon succeeded at every task she puts herself in to.

So it was quite a surprise and a twist of misfortune that the moment

Jessie Bannon held her reward in her hand, the laws of physics chose to break the branch she depended on and caused the surprised girl to tumble face first into the frigid waters. Jessie sputtered in indignation as she rose from the neck-high pool.

It was definitely NOT a good day.

"STUPID!" She cried out again breathlessly through chattering teeth.

" Alright, Jessie. Don't panic now. You can get out of this."

With almost inhuman determination she manoeuvred herself to the nearest dry surface, trying to bury her alarm with a wave of calm as the mush and mud that she disturbed at the bottom of the pond threatened to pull her down. By the time she reached her goal, she couldn't feel her legs and her numb fingers could barely hold on.

She cried out in dismay upon the realization that her arms were too frozen to haul her weight to safety. Then her legs gave way, causing her to sink into the murky water. From some miracle, she was able to surface coughing and hold on tightly to a branch.

"Help... HELP! Someone! Dad!" She called out desperately. It can't end like this. She can't allow it to end like this. Not here... Not so far away from home... It's not fair. She closed her eyes, and frantically wished… willed for someone to somehow hear her… "…John."

Then she heard the noise. Footsteps crunching against the ice… Jessie sluggishly looked up and caught her breath as she saw... the sky? No... it couldn't be. It can't be the sky... Then it must be... heaven...

Only heaven could have such a beautiful, clear and vibrant shade of...

"Blue."

That was the last thing she said before the shadowy fingers of unconsciousness veiled the pleasure of her vision from her eyes.

End of Chapter 1 Act 1
To be continued

Author's Squawk.

Now why in the world am I re-writing this monster? Well, I hate leaving things unfinished… and when I tried to go back to finish this, I realized that my writing style has changed so drastically that I couldn't connect back with the characters. Man! Has it really been 9 years since I wrote this thing? (For the record, this chapter was originally posted online on October 10, 1997! Yikes!)

Anywayz, I'm not changing the story at all… but I'm definitely changing a how some parts in the story are worded, the dialogue hopefully more realistic and more flowing. One big change I also included is that I've decided to "uncensor" myself. This Jessie grew up in an environment surrounded my soldiers… if she was anything like my best friend, she would have been swearing like a sailor before she could even string proper sentences.

I've pretty much been inspired since religiously reading Diana Wynne Jones. (She's bloody brilliant!). I since had learned that it's not sacrilegious to write morbid stuff like Neil Gaiman, allude to violence, conspiracies, and sex in stories meant for young readers. They won't really understand it completely, but in the eyes of an adult… THEY'RE BRILLIANT! . See, you can put all those adult stuff in a PG-13 rating fic… you just have to be creative with the execution. .

Well, I vowed to write like that someday, using my own voice. So, I want to thank Meach, Daria, LizFav, Akane Rei to name a few… of the people who encouraged me to write this before. You guys have incredible patience to bear my horrible writing. . I hope to make this right the second time around. Hopefully, in the process of re-writing this monster I will be inspired once again to write new JQ stuff with my current personal writing standards. hides face in shame ARGH! I'm tempted to pull down every fic I've ever written ten years ago… they're just so bad! Though it's a great personal reminder to show me how much I improved. (Hopefully… .)

Anywayz… this note is getting longer than the fic! I hope people will still support this re-write as much as the original.

Ja!
Ina-chan

Sept. 7, 2007

Thank you Goddess Evie for beta-ing! YAY! .

Ja!

Ina-chan