Jade clenched and unclenched her fists as she stalked back and forth in her room, well beyond the point in her anger that meditation could calm her. She felt like a feral animal trapped in a cage. Her anxiety had reached such an intense level that even Shade was beginning to stir, and his presence had been dull and dormant for weeks now.
You could easily escape if you gave into that temper of yours. If you really aren't a prisoner what's stopping you from storming up the stairs and right out the front door? He taunted.
"Shut up," Jade muttered, throwing herself down on the loveseat and crossing her arms.
Perhaps what made her even angrier, if it was possible, was the grandeur of this room. It could have been a presidential suite in a 5-star hotel, equipped with a small living room, where Jade was currently stewing, and a door that lead to a sleeping area with a massive bed. There were no windows, of course, but the room had been enchanted to replicate the weather outside, and magickal sunlight filled the room from an invisible source.
A luxurious prison, but a prison nonetheless.
She lost track of how much time she spent glaring at the wall. She could sense Tori outside, perhaps meditating on their situation as she waited for Jade to unlock the door. The pale girl ripped off her coat and drummed her fingers impatiently on her arm. She felt absolutely fine, and hadn't sensed anything off with Tori. From her conversation with Aria, she concluded that the healers couldn't detect any injury or malign energy from whatever jungle juice the necromancers had been making either. The Brotherhood was overreacting as usual. This time Jade had managed to find herself in the crossfire.
This is her fault, you know. See what cavorting with Guardians gets you?
"Shut up," Jade repeated, rising to her feet. Her body was still tingling with rage. Her hands felt hot, and she was filled with the urge to punch something. She couldn't just sit in this room and dawdle like this. If she wanted out of here she was going to have to get answers. She made her way towards the door and placed her hand hesitantly on the latch; Tori wasn't going to like this one bit.
She pulled open the door and stood in the doorway, surprising the younger girl outside. "Hey," Tori ventured cautiously. Jade blinked at her, still sore about her landing them in this situation. "So I know you're not exactly happy with me–"
"Not exactly, no,"
"–and while I obviously had no way of knowing this would happen, I'm still sorry you ended up down here. But we could at least try to make the best of the situation. We could treat it like a private little getaway with no distractions, or–"
"Uh-huh," Jade hummed insincerely as she took a right and headed deeper down the hallway, intent on finding the necromancers.
"Hey, wait!" Tori scrambled to her feet and trotted after her. "Where are you going?"
"To wake those damn necromancers up and figure out what the hell they were up to," Jade explained as she continued her aimless trek.
"Jade, this place is basically endless. You aren't going to find it without someone showing you, and that's not going to happen," Tori frowned.
"Well I can't just sit here, Tori! How long have we been here? A few hours? I already feel like I'm going crazy." Jade threw her hands up in the air in frustration.
"It's actually only been about forty-five minutes…" Tori corrected.
Jade groaned loudly and continued her warpath down the hallway. She heard Tori continue after her, though she trailed a few steps behind.
"Come on, let's do something else that won't make me face severe disciplinary action with the elders," she suggested. "We can go do that thing you like somewhere sacred instead?"
"While normally that would work, I'd much rather do that thing I like not in a prison surrounded by telepaths," Jade replied stubbornly. She heard Tori sigh in defeat and eventually catch up with her stride. "Do you know where they put them?"
"No," the Latina shook her head, earning a suspicious glare from Jade. "I'm serious, no. I've only been down here recently to see Trina. She's, um, she's just up here on the right," she said quietly, gesturing towards an approaching door.
Jade's paced slow and she sighed reluctantly. "Just… do me a favor." She was still too consumed with rage, her demon too worked up for her to show the proper level of compassion that she knew this scenario must require. "I'm in full bitch mode. And as much as I really, truly love bitch mode, you don't need it right now. Can you…?" She extended a hand, palm up, in Tori's direction. It was not the first time she'd asked for an emotional anesthetic; in the weeks following the incident with Eris she often woke from nightmares, with Shade having crept into her subconscious and nettled her sanity and steadiness. It was during those nights she woke up practically foaming at the mouth that she'd turned to Tori, worried that he would gave enough momentum to free himself from his restraints.
Tori had, of course, complied, often holding Jade and stroking her hair in the darkness and speaking to her heart as Jade fought to regain stability, had whispered words of encouragement to rely on her own strength and not use Tori's as a crutch. As time passed Jade needed her less and less and, when enraged, was able to meditate to find peace, was able to identify where Shade was manipulating her and step away from his traps.
Today, however, in the Vault below Sanctum, Jade could not meditate. She was boiling inside, well beyond introspection's reach.
"Are you sure?" Tori looked at her hand skeptically. "I don't want to manipulate you if it's not really what you want."
"Oh, I still plan on searching for the necromancers. You can't dissuade me from that. But at least I won't be a grade-A asswipe to you while doing so," she assured.
Tori sighed and took her hand in her own, running her thumb over her knuckles gently before kissing them. Jade closed her eyes and exhaled as she visualized a warm light banishing the darkness from her body. Her muscles relaxed, her jaw unclenched, and her grip on Tori's hand became softer. Tori, sensing this, wrapped an arm around Jade's waist and placed the hand in her grasp on her shoulder. "Better?" She whispered hopefully.
"Better," Jade breathed, her pale eyes fluttering open and focusing on wounded girl in front of her. "You know I'm sorry, right?"
"I know," Tori nodded, though Jade could see clearly that knowing didn't erase the hurt. "It's not an ideal situation for me either, you know. I was looking forward to putting Guardian business aside for a few days and just being yours."
"In twenty-three hours and…" the older girl checked her phone, unsurprised to find she had no cell service underground, "…five minutes, that'll be the case."
"If they don't find anything," she reminded.
"They won't find anything because there's nothing to find. What kind of troubles could mortals really cause us? It's probably a fluke, a backfired enchantment," she reassured. "And I'll get them to admit that whenever I find them."
Tori sighed in resignation and released her grip on her lover. "Before we get lost in this labyrinth permanently can we please make a pit stop?" She looked towards Trina's door.
"Yeah," Jade agreed softly, "lets go see Trina."
Tori led Jade by the hand to Trina's chamber, her prison. The room was sparely decorated; when Eris was conscious she carped about it: the poor quality of the mattress, the sheets' low thread count, the lack of reading material. In truth, her complaining seemed akin to Trina's true nature anyway. Tori was met with silence today, as she had been for weeks now. Eris appear to lie peacefully in bed but, as Tori and the other telepaths had discovered, this was a just an illusion. The goddess raged under the surface, demanding to be released. Whenever Tori visited she channeled Lucia, using her spirit's advanced abilities to search for Trina's conscious through the storm. So far there was no luck. Eris had her hidden well.
"Hey, Trina," Tori greeted, taking her sister's hand in her own.
"Can she hear you?" Jade asked softly; she hung back near the door, apparently unsure as to whether or not she should venture closer.
"I don't know. I hope so." The hybrid shrugged. "I'm hoping it can help her find her way to the surface, or at least get close enough that we can find her." She dragged a chair to the bedside and tapped its seat, encouraging her companion to come sit.
"Are you sure that's okay? Eris might sense me."
"Only if you go probing. So… you know… don't."
Jade took a seat and shifted uncomfortably as she studied Trina. This was the first time, Tori realized, that she'd faced her since that night at Pandora. To Jade, this was Eris: her worst nightmare and the reason she'd been possessed not once, but twice, by the spirit she'd struggled against for a century. Tori could sense her nervousness and put her free hand on her shoulder to calm her. To her, this would always be her sister no matter what possessed her body. Yes, they argued. Yes, she was nearly intolerable. But there was a sacred bond between them. Tori was hoping that bond would be what would bring Trina back to her.
Tori released Jade's shoulder and smoothed the sheets across Trina's chest and fluffed the edges of her pillow. She was brushing the dark hair from her sister's face when she heard Jade mutter something behind her. "What was that?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder.
Jade perked an eyebrow and opened her mouth to reply when they both heard voices approaching the chamber door. "Is that Aria?" the pale girl whispered before she slinked out of her chair and tiptoed to the door. As the voices passed, she pulled the door open a fraction of an inch and peeked out. "Aria and Clarence," she confirmed.
"Clarence healed Andre and me after New Mexico. He's probably in quarantine too," Tori explained.
"Which means it's likely they're going to check on the necromancers, wouldn't you think?"
"We're going to follow them, aren't we?" Tori sighed. "Jade, if they catch us snooping–"
"They won't. Come on." She pulled the door open wider for her to slink through and continued down the hallway, leaving Tori to decide if she wanted to trail after her girlfriend and potentially keep her out of trouble, or sit with her comatose sister. Both were providing an equally charming type of company at this point.
"See you later, Trina." Tori kissed her on the forehead before trotting quietly after Jade. As she eased the door close she swore she heard her sister reply. She glanced back, brows furrowed, to find Trina still unresponsive. She must have tapped into her subconscious somehow, Tori guessed. It wouldn't have been the first time it had happened since she'd fallen into her enchanted sleep; usually when it happened it involved a lot of infuriated screaming that followed Tori around until she stepped out of range. Thankfully, it appeared, the goddess hadn't yet noticed her.
She moved with purpose to break the connection with Eris and catch up with Jade, who she spied darting around a corner a few yards ahead as she was pulling the door closed behind her. She followed her for a few yards, finally catching up to her a few turns later. Jade held out a hand as she approached, indicating that she move slowly and quietly. Her body was pressed against the wall, her head poked carefully around the corner.
"Third room on the right," she whispered. "They just went inside." She pushed away from the wall and began her approach, ear turned towards the door to attempt to hear what was happening behind it. Tori followed closely behind and nearly knocked Jade over when she stopped abruptly. She opened her mouth to complain when she herself realized what caused Jade to freeze in her tracks: the latch was turning.
"In here!" Tori hissed as she grabbed Jade by the back of her shirt and dragged her into the room across the hall. They managed to just ease the door almost shut before Aria and Clarence exited, carrying with them what Tori recognized through the thin gap to be a small leather-bound journal that she and Andre had recovered from one of the necromancers. "Okay… they're gone." She released the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and glanced back at the older hybrid.
Jade stood rooted to the spot, staring in disbelief at the being before her. "Beck," she whispered.
Tori froze as well and she felt the heat drain from her body. "Beck?" She echoed.
"Jade." Beck was haggard and grey, his eyes sunken deeply into his face. He sat on the hard ground near his bed, huddled against the wall. "Jade, get me out of here," he pleaded.
"Beck," Jade repeated again softly and took a halfstep forward. "It's… You're alive?" Her voice was quaking. She knelt down in front of him and rested her hands on her knees as she studied him.
Beck's head dropped to his knees and his shoulders began to quake. Tori frowned; something wasn't right about this. She heard him emit a quiet whimper and, when he lifted his head again, she realized it was not tears but breathless laughter. "No, you idiot," he roared in amusement.
Tori watched in horror as Beck's face melted away and his skin greyed. Horns sprouted out of his temples and grew up over his head. Nails lengthened into vicious talons. "Etum," she heard Jade snarled as she pushed herself to her feet, hands clenched into angry fists.
"Stupid girl," the demon continued. "Beck!" He imitated, leaning his head back against the wall as he laughed. "Oh, Beck!"
Jade was on him in an instant. She grabbed him by the horns and used them to drive his face into her knee. He laughed through the assault until Tori managed to regain her senses and pull her off of him. Jade resisted and fought to free herself to renew her attack but the Latina held her firm and dragged her, literally kicking and spitting, from the room. She threw her out the door and slammed it behind them before throwing herself against it, spreading herself out in front of it to act as a barrier.
"I'll kill him," Jade snarled as she reached for the knob.
"Jade, no!" Tori argued, planting her feet to prevent the stronger girl from gaining entrance.
"Move, Tori!" she demanded angrily.
"No! Jade, you can't. You know you can't!" Tori resisted, grappling for Jade's hands in an effort to calm her down. She wrapped her hands around her balled fists and squeezed them tightly. "I'm sorry! I didn't know there was anyone in there. Just, please, settle down.
Jade was shaking, she realized, though from anger or distress she couldn't determine. Both stormed violently within her. She pulled the older girl into her arms despite her resistance and held her tight. "I'm sorry. He tricked me too, okay? I'm so sorry," she repeated. She rubbed her back and felt Jade relax after a moment as the shock wore off.
Without saying anything else she pulled away. Her eyes burned angrily as she stared at the door, but she eventually tore her gaze away and turned to face the threshold across the hall. "Lets just figure out what these fuckers were up to. I'm ready to get out of here," she muttered quietly. Tori noticed how she fought to keep her voice steady.
With on fluid movement she closed the distance and threw the door open and disappeared inside. With a heavy sigh Tori composed herself and followed after, closing the door behind them to insure a few moments of privacy with the prisoners.