Chapter 10

Jade was lifted bodily by an unseen force, and was suddenly flying over backwards, until the wall stopped her, hard. Groaning, she opened her eyes, only to close them again. Wally West was leaning over her, trying to be her knight in shining armor again. After being slammed into a wall, Jade was inclined to be touchy.

"Are you okay?" And unfortunately for Wally West, questions like that were not graciously received.

"If you got thrown into a wall, would you be okay?" Jade was not entirely pleased. Of course she wasn't okay. Unless he really cared, questions like that were entirely pointless, and devoid of emotion. Wasting air space and time. Psh.

She held out a hand to the wall, and got up unsteadily, rubbing her eyes. Her vision alternated between black dots, and bright flashes of light, and to her annoyance, she couldn't see anything. Was this was they meant by seeing stars? She didn't like it at all. Silly, helpless, feeling like a field mouse…so thinking, she stumbled off toward what she thought was Rachel, but was unfortunately a piece of broken park machinery.

The bachelor opened his mouth, then closed it. Whatever he would say would just get thrown back at him, filled with poisonous barbs. And pencils. Newly sharpened pencils. So, instead, he decided to turn to the real Raven in the opposite side of the room where Jade…Jinx, was currently walking over to, if you could call it walking.

"Hey Raven, what's up! Need a hand?"

"It's Rachel." She began walking over to Jade to kind of…apologize for what had happened. Technically it was her fault, losing control at the last minute, because of the excitement of using her powers again. She would never say this aloud, but she was thankful for her friends who needed her to use her powers to erase whatever damage they may have caused in people's memories. It was a good excuse to be in touch with her Azerathian side. She didn't like to refer to her father, especially since the last incident on her fateful birthday.

Wally whispered audibly enough to Gar for Rachel to hear. "She hasn't changed much hasn't she? Must be the Trigon side." Gar shook his head.

"Gee, great way, no, a classic way to get her on her good side. Did you forget how scary she can be? Anyway, I have the info you wanted…"

Hearing it, (of course, she wasn't eavesdropping, how could she, even if they dropped the word "Trigon" like a bombshell on her ears?) Rachel stopped short, and her head turned to look at the two friends.

"What information." Her suspicious eyes met innocent faces. Laughing easily, Gar swung an arm over her shoulder. "Don't worry about it Rae, er, Rachel." He faltered when he was greeted with a frosty stare. He changed the subject. "Why don't you just ask Wally?" Before he was bombarded with accusations, Wally smoothly interrupted the empath.

"Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, after all this time, is this how you say hello to your biggest buddy? By immediately accusing me of something I might did or didn't do?" Said girl grimaced as he swung an arm over her other shoulder. He pouted. "Come on, you know you like it." In the meantime, Jade had regained her senses after realizing somewhat embarrassingly, that no, the thing she had been talking to, was indeed not her friend. Swiftly glancing around to see if anyone had noticed, she was relieved to find that West and the other guy were currently busy with Rachel. Jade watched Rachel with clear amusement. Who knew Rachel of all people was a guy magnet? And this was too good to keep to herself, after all, the empath was just asking for it, right? Not bothering to keep the smirk out of her face, she slyly decided to comment.

"You really should give us some of these tips on guys, Rachel. From the looks of it, you're an expert." At that, Rachel slowly stopped walking, her eyes traveling down the length of the arm on her right shoulder, and the arm on her left shoulder. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she tried to control her anger…and embarrassment.

"Get…off." Wally was about to suggest to her to loosen up and go to a spa, when she decided they weren't moving fast enough. Black light engulfed the two former Titans and threw them against the floor roughly. She cut off their protestations with an abruptness they didn't bother to contradict. Walking over to a smirking Jade, she glared coldly, all thoughts of any apology having evaporated long ago. "You can forget about me ever letting up on that photograph. You're stuck on the show until kingdom come." Jade's eyes widened considerably, the traces of amusement replaced with seriousness. Thoughtfully, she looked at the two park officials, their eyes wide with terror and confusion.

"Might want to give them another dose of memory eraser, Rachel," she replied calmly, "We'll have West put them back on duty on the park grounds."

Puzzled by Jade's response, Rachel kneeled down beside the park workers without argument, her hands glowing black, her aura quickly working her magic into their minds. She stood up, and waited for the fastest boy alive to take them back. She paused, hesitant, Jade's reaction might have been because…"On second thought, Gar, go with him, Jade and I will meet you guys by the entrance."

When the door slammed shut with a metallic screech, Rachel finally turned to her longtime friend, and former enemy. She fumbled with her words, unsure, "Do you…like him?" Startled, Jade paused a moment, but managed to recover quickly.

"Who, your green-eyed friend? He sure is hott!" She laughed easily, "But," she leaned forward, "I'd say the question here is, do you?" Rachel scowled rather fiercely. Don't change the subject, was stamped on her face, which Jade easily read, but chose to ignore. She pressed on; well knowing she was tampering with Raven, the half-demon. "Did we know him? But where's he from?"

"He's Beastboy." Her voice stilled Jade, and this time, Rachel asked without any hesitation, "Do you like Wally West?"

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"Hey Vic. Nice night." Jade gestured with her head out toward the awesome expanse of ocean highlighted by the colors of the setting sun. She thoughtfully gazed out at the water. Could she capture its life, its shape, it's beauty, on a piece of paper? She turned and began to get out her paints and brushes.

"Hey Jade." Vic replied softly. His greeting fell on deaf ears. Painting was one of Jade's few passions that took her entire concentration. Her emotions blotted on the white canvas, as bold and dark, as she liked.

When she finished, she felt his presence at her shoulder. She waited apprehensively for his criticism that would make her art better, or so she believed. He had been a director at an art museum for several years before switching to acting, so his opinion mattered greatly, so much that the high and mighty Jinx, was reduced to biting her lip in worry as she waited for his comments.

"It's, uh, good." Jade looked up at her boyfriend puzzled. Normally he would have gone on a tangent of the good parts of her painting, and reasons for improvement, criticism to help her in the long run. "Look Jade…" he sighed heavily, then the rest of his speech tumbled out quickly. "I think I need a break from all this for a while. It's not working out, my new acting job has really took off, and I don't have as much time as I used to…" He looked up hesitantly at Jade's emotionless face. "I…"

"No problem, Vic. Call me when you need to."

"I…"

"I'm busy painting." Jade began brushing long, hard strokes across the new canvas, refusing to look at him. As he walked off, she repeated softly, "I'm busy painting."

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No. She didn't like him. Duh. She rolled her eyes what an obvious answer, and she thought Rachel was smart. What a waste of both their times. Besides, she learned from experience, guys like him were overrated. She smiled grimly, stay away, and you won't get hurt.

"But he isn't that bad." Jade whipped her head around in confusion to see a Jinx in white, and a…she squinted, a halo? on her shoulder. "I'm your good side Jinx. I am subdued and oppressed, but nonetheless I am here. I am the part of you that loves, and trusts, forgives, and forgets, hopes, and look to your morals for guidance. I am the part that helped you turn to the good side. And I'm also the part of you that gets hurt."

Jade rolled her eyes, and waited for a bad side Jinx to show up, but nothing appeared. "It was decided you are in no need of a shoulder angel advising you to do bad. Otherwise, you would undoubtedly spiral downward to your doom." Jade scowled fiercely, "What did you appear for anyway? I don't need you." "For a second chance at love." Angel Jinx's eyes widened, as Jade stared her down. "Go away!" And as Jade finished speaking, she flicked Angel Jinx off her shoulder, and with a poof she disappeared.

Okay. Jade took a deep breath to calm herself down, and began a mantra. Did she like Wally West? Absolutely not! Did she like that Wally West? Absolutely not. In the middle of this, an annoyed Rachel shook Jade out of her trance.

"Okay, Jade, I'm going to say this one more time. Do you like Wally West?"

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Jade shrieked, and ran out of the room. I hate being on this show - I HATE WALLY WEST - and, she vowed, I'll make sure 'Mr. West' is going to hate me too.

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Finally. Another update. I won't waste time making excuses, but…hope you enjoyed.