The pain she felt was making her bend over, she felt it in her chest, in her heart, her wolf demanding to go and find her mate and to take away whatever was hurting her. She knew there was only one thing that could be hurting her mate so much.
It wasn't hard to find her, rage build up in her veins when she recognized one of Jade's underground bunkers, with claws out she snatched the door open, descending the stairs in quick strides.
The first thing she saw was Jade and Joël, the presence of the boy only confirmed her suspicions as she looked beyond the glass they were standing by. There she was, Amy, shattered, sitting on the ground, the light blue feathered wings at her back enveloping her body. Her eyes widened, she didn't need much to know what had happened in the room, the look on Joël's face was telling her enough and she knew he wouldn't have proceeded without orders.
Jade's orders.
"Kid," Jade started, her voice quiet, but Ren didn't let her finish, her senses heightened as she grew in height, her body getting more muscled as her eyes turned silver, her fist was quick to crash against Jade's mouth, sending her sister crashing back against the wall.
Jade didn't try to defend herself.
"Kid-" Jade tried again, her eyes pleading with her to listen, but Ren was enraged and so was her wolf.
She grabbed Jade by the front of her shirt and threw her against the wall, her knuckles falling against her sister's face over and over again. Jade didn't fight her, Jade didn't try to stop her even if she was stronger and more powerful than Lauren, she just let her hit her without saying a word.
In her blind fury, Ren didn't notice Joël trying to separate her from Jade, trying to keep her from doing more damage to the already injured woman. Ren was in her hybrid form and Jade hadn't made the effort to change, the force of her hits sickening as Jade's face snapped to the side and against the wall, the back of her head constantly hitting the solid concrete until the skin opened, letting blood run freely over the back of her head and neck as slowly the world turned black, her body falling limp in Ren's hold, her face disfigured and soaked in blood.
Lauren didn't stop, and Joël's tries to stop her were futile.
A wave of magic cursed in her veins as she was forced against the opposite wall, Jade's body falling to the ground limply. Ren kept her eyes on her, fury in her gaze as she fought to free herself from the magical bindings, keeping her body tied against the wall.
Amy's grandmother blocked her view, Céline Delacour stood before her with a blank look, the power of her veela overwhelming her and forcing her to stay still.
"This was my idea, I wouldn't let my granddaughter get in the middle of a war while she wasn't able to defend herself properly. This proved that all of my fears had foundation, shield charms, deflecting charms, immobilizing charms. Jade taught Amy offensive spells, many of them, I'm not even familiar with some of them, but Amy didn't use them, she deflected and blocked and made people pass out." Céline said, angry and worried. "She needed this, she needed to be able to hurt someone, because blocking and deflecting and making her enemies pass out won't save her in a battle Lauren. The whole thing was an illusion and I would have asked Joël to do it myself, but I'm not his superior and I'm a veela, he wouldn't answer to me, he would only answer to Jade, none of them were comfortable with this and I'm sure Jade wouldn't have attempted to do this if I hadn't asked." Céline said, watching as Ren progressively went back to her human form.
The veela grabbed the back of Ren's neck and forced her to look towards Jade. The woman was unconscious on the floor, Joël crouched besides her, trying to wipe away some of the blood on her face, it was unrecognizable. Ren felt sick to her stomach, she had hurt her sister, badly. She tried to look away, but Céline didn't let her.
"One would think a full blooded lycan like you, with so many years of training would have some kind of respect towards not only their Alpha, but to the only family they have left, to the person who has feed them and supported them and taken care of them for years." Céline said. "One would think a full blooded lycan like you, with so many years of training would at least attempt to listen, would not jump to conclusions and to violence like that. When I see something like what you just did, it's not so hard for me to understand why we look at your kind like nothing but monsters. Jade was only doing what I told her to do, and you know that if she hadn't accepted I would have used my thrall and my powers to force Joël to do it, even if that is highly illegal and could have gotten me and my family in trouble. Your anger was misplaced, you hurt your sister for nothing." Céline said, rising her voice as she tightened her hand around Lauren's neck, forcing her to look at Jade, at Joël's horror stricken face, his hands soaked in Jade's blood. "Tell me Lauren, how are you going to explain this to your niece, to Alex, how are you going to explain to her what you did to her mother?" Céline finally let her go and Ren fell to her knees, her knuckles bruised and broken with a mix of Jade's blood and her own coating them completely.
"Joël, please take Jade to her mate and child, I'm sure they both must be worried about her." Céline said, her face showing traces of disappointment and sorrow as she watched the young man carry Jade in his arms, disappearing a second later right in front of her eyes.
"I will go speak with Amy, I will explain and I'm sure she will be wise enough to understand the reasons behind my doing, I'm sure she will want to see you." The woman said coldly, entering the room Amy had been locked in while Joël put her under the illusion.
Céline was impressed, even if her granddaughter was a quarter veela she had shifted fully, something that only a full blooded veela was able to do.
She neared Amy, kneeling beside her and caressing gently her wings, she knew Amy would recognize her presence.
The wings moved away slowly, tentatively and Amy's pain filled eyes locked with her grandmother's own.
"My mate-" Amy stuttered, cradling an invisible figure in her arms, a figure that wasn't there.
"Your mate is fine my darling, this was nothing but an illusion, she's okay." Céline said softly, cupping Amy's face with her hands.
Amy shook her head, looking at her grandmothers eyes with desperation.
"I saw her, I-I watched her die." Amy murmured, tears trailing down her cheeks.
"No, you didn't." Céline said with a small smile, "the watch she gave you," she continued, taking Amy's hand and putting it right in front of her face. The dial and the numbers were gone, leaving the compass that always pointed to her girlfriend.
"It's working." Amy said, looking at it with hope in her eyes, "and it's cool, it's cool when she's okay." She said frantically, her other hand coming up to grab onto the watch.
"She's fine and she's right outside that door, waiting for you, I'm sure if you focus you will feel her." Céline said.
Amy closed her eyes for a few long minutes, her factions going back to normal as the feathers retreated into her pores, the talons disappearing as the wings went back to the confines of her back. When she opened her eyes again, they were back to green.
"She's alive." Amy said, bringing a hand to her chest. "I can feel her." Céline smiled.
"But I don't understand... Why?"
"I needed to know that you were ready to go into such dangerous mission, it is clear though that you weren't and sending you out there like that would have been a mistake, you know the curses and the spells and you duel fairly well when you are training with Jade and Joël, but in a real fight, you weren't able to injure your opponents and as you just saw, they aim to kill." Céline said and Amy nodded, lowering her head, her hand still clutching her watch. As soon as her veela had realized that her mate was alright, the pain had ebbed away, leaving back just a scar. The agony, the sorrow and the anger deeply etched inside of her.
"I'm sure you know why I had to do this." Céline said and Amy nodded again.
"Ren told me multiple times that when my loved ones were in danger I would be able to do unspeakable things. I always worried that I wouldn't be able to hurt someone, and she always told me the same thing, that once someone I loved was in danger, I would be able to do whatever I had to do to keep them safe." Amy whispered, her throat raw from screaming. "I needed this and I need to do it again, I can't go with Jade like this, I would get us killed." Amy said and Céline nodded.
"You can speak with Joël, his illusions are the best I have seen in years, I'm sure he won't refuse if you ask, you always must go into the illusions thinking they are real, if you know they are fake you won't be doing anything, okay?" Céline said.
"Yes, I understand."
"Okay, my darling." Céline said, leaning forward to kiss Amy's forehead. "I love you and I will come speak with you soon, okay?" Amy nodded, "now go find your mate."
Amy stood, her clothes were intact, except for the back of her shirt, ripped because of her wings, besides that there was no scratch, no bruise, no sign of the fight or the explosion, everything had been inside her head. The door opened, and there was her mate, kneeling on the ground, her fists bloody. Amy rushed to her, eyes widening.
"Ren!" Amy gasped, hugging her girlfriend close to her chest, her eyes flooding with tears as her head found solace in her girlfriend's neck, taking her scent in, feeling her so close, so alive.
"Belle." Ren sighed, hugging her tightly, letting herself fall on her behind, leaning her back against the wall and keeping Amy close, whispering sweet things to her ear and caressing her blonde hair with bloody hands.
"I thought... I thought that you..."
"I know ma belle, it wasn't real, I promise you I'm here." Ren said, kissing the top of her head.
"For me that felt very real too." Amy said, never letting go of her mate. "Now I understand why veelas die after the death of their mate, that pain is unbearable, when I saw you like that..."
"Shh, it's okay, I'm here." Ren reassured, leaning down and pushing Amy away slightly to connect their lips. "I'm not gonna leave you. You are my heart Amy, I wouldn't be able to leave you without ripping myself apart." Ren said, looking into her eyes. Amy smiled, tears trailing down her cheeks as she cupped the back of Ren's neck with her hand, pulling her closer for one more kiss.
"I love you, Ren, so much." Amy whispered, kissing her again before Ren could respond.
They held each other in silence, Amy was unable to let her go, she didn't want to and she was afraid to do so.
"What happened to your hand?" Amy said, brushing her thumb over Ren's split knuckles, the cuts healing at her touch and leaving behind only bruises. Amy felt her girlfriend stiffen and looked up at her, Ren looked away, a bad feeling creeped up Amy's spine once she saw Ren's tears fall on the gray concrete floor.
"Ren, what did you do?"
...
Emma was woken from her nap by a massive headache and an awful feeling in her stomach. It took her a second to notice that someone was ringing the bell.
Emma rushed down to find Cassie holding a crying Alex in her arms.
"She was drawing, we were just drawing and then she started crying and I tried to make her feel better, but she wouldn't stop and Jade wasn't picking up-"
"It's okay, thank you Cassie, I'll take over for now." Emma said, taking the crying little girl into her arms, she noticed right away that she was clutching a piece of paper in her little fist.
"Hey baby, what's wrong? Shh shh it's okay, Jade should be here in a few hours, she's just doing some work." Emma said, hugging her tight and kissing the top of her head, wiping away the tears in Alex's cheeks and giving her a soft smile.
The little girl just looked at her with watery honey eyes and gave her the sheet of paper. Emma's smile was quick to fall. The drawing said it all. It was of Lauren, hitting Jade while turned in her hybrid form.
"I don't understand, why is auntie Lauren hitting my mommy?" Alex whispered between hiccups. "Jae is her sister, auntie Lauren should love her, why is she hurting her?"
"I don't know little red," Emma whispered, her voice colder than she intended, worry and anger bubbling in her veins as she looked at the drawing, nothing would make Lauren hurting Jade right, there was no valid excuse. "We are going to look for Jade and we are going to make sure she's fine, okay?"
"Uncle Joe is bringing her here." Alex whispered. "Her face is bloody, Emmy, aunt Lauren hit her over and over again and she didn't stop even when Jae's eyes were closed, she didn't stop." The little girl whispered, crying once again. "I don't want to be here anymore, I don't want to see aunt Lauren, she's bad, she hurt mommy, she scared me, in my head, she looked like a monster. She was so angry, it was scary."
"Listen to me little red, we will wait until Jade gets here, we are gonna make sure she's okay and then we are leaving, okay?" Emma said, trying to hold back her own anger in a try to not scare the already frightened child.
"I don't want to be here anymore, she will come back, I don't want to see her."
"I know baby, I know, we will leave as soon as possible." Emma said, just as the back door opened, rebelling a worried looking Joël with an unconscious Jade in his arms.
"Take her to our room, now!" Emma ordered, Joël nodded and sprinted up stairs.
Emma went down to the basement, picking up everything she would need to help Jade. She knew that lycans could break bones with just one hit, she didn't want to think in the amount of damage that several hits had done to her mate's face.
Emma rushed up the stairs and to her bedroom, nodding at Joël who was already cleaning up Jade's face gently with a soft clothe and warm water. Most of the blood was coming from a cut above Jade's eyebrow, from a visibly broken nose, from her split lips and from a cut running over her cheek bone. Emma grabbed one of the flasks in her hands and delivered several drops of the healing liquid on each one of the bleeding wounds, watching them seal shut and stop bleeding instantly, the one on her cheekbone and on the bridge of her nose, leaving behind light pink scars. Emma then proceeded to clean Jade's face again, now wiping away all the blood, which allowed her to see the damage clearly. Her anger rose to unbelievable levels when she noticed that one of Jade's cheeks was slightly depressed, a clear sign of broken cheekbone, her jaw was also jutting out, dislocated or broken, Emma couldn't tell. Swallowing down her anger she fixed Jade's nose with a flick of her wand. Moving her gaze to Joël who was rubbing his own jaw in a reflexive manner, obviously remembering a time when his own jaw had been broken, it was not a nice experience.
"Go find Jade's healer, I can not deal with this on my own." Emma said, the guy nodded and disappeared with a crack, giving Emma the chance to let out the soft whimper that had been building in her throat.
She raised her wand again. After a flick, suitcases flew out of the closet, opening themselves as all of Emma's and Jade's clothes filled them quickly, leaving the closet quickly empty. An empty duffle bag came flying out of the closet as well and Emma filled it with their personal things, spelling the bag so everything would fit in, Jade's books, Emma's paintings, the picture frames they had on the nigh tables and all the work stuff Jade had lying in the room.
Emma told Alex to stay in the room and take care of her mommy while she ran to the study, fury pumping in her heart as she put every work related thing Jade had in the study into the bag. She then went up to Alex's room, doing exactly the same, until all their bags were packed.
She walked back into her room, making her steps heavier until she felt one of the wooden planks creak. With a knife she took it away, finding several keys, all of them worked to open one of Jade's many properties. She read the tags on them, reading quickly the descriptions on each tag, choosing one and dropping the rest on the duffle bag.
When she finished, she heard a crack coming from down stairs and a few minutes later Joël was back in the room with a cloaked old man standing besides him. The man nodded at Emma and walked to Jade's side. He examined her for a few minutes.
"Her left cheekbone is fractured and thankfully her jaw is only dislocated," he said, his wand glowing over Jade's face. "She seems to have a concussion, or several, and her blood pressure is higher than I would like..."
Tendrils of white magic escaped his fingertips and entered Jade's cheek, the old man closed his eyes, murmuring under his breath as he kept his hold on his wand light and relaxed. Slowly, Jade's cheek went back to normal, the bones going back into place as the swelling started to settle in. The process of putting her jaw into place was different, it just took a flick of the wand and a light pop. The man took a roll of bandages and wrapped it around Jade's head, keeping her jaw in place so she wouldn't be able to move it. He then noticed the wound at the back of her head, pushing her to her side gently and closing the wound with a gentle wand movement before letting Jade rest on her back again.
"Her wolf and dragon blood will help her heal quickly, she will be able to open her mouth by tomorrow night if we get this potion into her system right now, it will heal her jaw in no time. The cheekbone was badly broken and will take from three days to a week to heal completely. I will give this young man a list of everything Lady West will need for a swift recovery." The old man said, finally letting the hood of his cloak fall and turning to look at Emma.
The white haired girl was surprised to see that he couldn't see at all, he had lost his sight a long time ago.
"Thank you for coming in such a short notice Mr. Bennet." Emma said, taking his wrinkled hand in hers.
"Please, call me Josiah, Mr. Bennet makes me feel old." He said with a smile. Emma smiled, she had just seen his death, peaceful, in his sleep, he wouldn't even notice. "Jade has told me about you, she told me that her mate, Emma, had taken to healing, is that right?"
"Yes, Jade got me a spot in Morgan West Magical Hospital to star my healing training, but I couldn't continue after the hospital was attacked."
"I'm aware," he said with a frown, "that's why Jade asked me to mentor you myself." Emma's eyes widened. "It's been years since I last had a pupil, I'm sure we will have a lot of fun together." He smiled. "I'll come back to check on Lady West in a few days, she will go on her mission and you will learn with me."
"Thank you, Mr. Bennet, it's an honor..." Emma said.
"Josiah, darling, my name is Josiah." He said, turning away and disappearing with a soft crack.
"The suitcases, the bags, where are you going?" Joël asked.
"We are leaving." Emma said, picking Alex's up so the little girl could cuddle into her neck, rubbing her back soothingly as the child was still crying.
"Alex doesn't feel comfortable here, not anymore." Emma said, kissing the top of her head. "And honestly, neither do I."
"You don't know what happened, you can't just leave." Joël said, taking off his hat to run a hand through his hair.
"I know that if their positions had been reversed Jade would have never touched Lauren, she wouldn't even attempt to rise her hand against Lauren, I'm sure that Ren could fucking murder me and Jade wouldn't touch her, because Jade truly loves her and you know this as well as I do." Emma hissed, her eyes angry and soaked with tears. Joël lowered his eyes, knowing that Emma was right. He moved his wand towards the bags and the suitcases, turning them into miniatures with a flick of his wand so they would all fit in his pocket, he then moved and gently picked Jade up, grimacing at the state of her face, it was swollen beyond belief, colored red and purple.
Emma put a hand on his shoulder and with a crack they disappeared.
...
Ren refused to tell her what had happened, she just stood up and walked Amy out of the bunker. She dropped her leather jacket over Amy's shoulders and hugged her close, making them both appear in an alley near Amy's house. When they got there the house seemed to be empty. Ren took her straight to the bathroom.
Amy stood there, silent and empty eyed as Ren gently took her clothes off, the jacket fell to the ground and Ren proceeded to take Amy's shirt off, her hands lingering on her back, tracing her sides and caressing her arms. Amy closed her arms, tears falling down her cheeks as she recognized the familiar touch, Ren's soothing hands, worshipping her as they always would, her lips connecting with her face an taking away her tears with kisses.
Her bra was off then, and Ren's lips were trailing down to her neck, her hands caressing the space between her shoulder blades where her skin had ripped apart to let out her wings. Her mate's fingers caressed the skin gently, with almost no pressure as her lips delivered soft kisses to her neck, coming back up to gently kiss Amy's lips.
Ren's hands then trailed down her abdomen, caressing the soft skin there and the little claw marks she had once left, moving lower to push down Amy's sweatpants and underwear, leaving her completely bare.
Ren then made quick work of taking off her own clothes, trying to ignore blood on her shirt and bringing Amy close to her chest, wrapping her arms around her tightly, hearing the blonde sigh shakily against her shoulder as she hugged her tighter, Amy's nose brushing gently the side of her neck and making shivers go down her spine.
Time slipped away as they simply embraced each other, crying quietly as they found solace in each other's bodies, in each other's presence, in each other's love.
Amy pulled away to light the candles strewn around the bathroom with a wave of her wand. Ren did the same to get the water running, letting some drops of rose scent fall in the water and then tugging Amy gently in, settling the young girl between her legs and pulling her side ways against her chest.
The silence was never broken, not as Amy pressed the side of her face to Ren's chest, not as she listened to her heartbeat, strong and steady against her ear, not as she pressed a lingering kiss right over her heart, not as she said I love you in every way she knew.
Amy held onto her shoulders for dear life, unwilling to let go as Ren pulled her even closer, letting warm water soothe her aching heart.
Amy pulled away again, centimeters between her faces as she cupped Ren's cheeks, caressing them with her thumbs, light green meeting emerald in a loving gaze. She leaned in and connected their lips, it was searing and passionate, loving and aching, laced with sorrow and agony. The kiss was everything they were.
"You are my mate," Amy whispered, her eyes glowing blue as she whispered in Ren's ear, "and I won't let anyone touch you, I promise." She finished, almost feeling Ren's heart stutter in her chest at her words. Amy smiled. "I love you." She said. "And I know you love me just as much. We are going to have a long happy life, okay?" Amy said, her voice shaky, a single tear falling down her cheek.
Ren's eyes watered as well, she brought Amy closer and pressed her lips against hers.
"Okay."
...
She was ashamed to admit that she was scared, she couldn't see, she couldn't speak and her sense of smell was off. She was a lycan, she had always had overly enhanced senses and now she had nothing but her hearing. Another important fact was that everything hurt, her whole face throbbed painfully and her headache had reached impossible levels. She was in pain, she couldn't see, she couldn't smell and she couldn't speak.
Panic started settling in as flashes passed through her head. The bunker. Lauren. Her sister's fist smashing her face repeatedly. Blood. Pain. Black.
"Hey, hey shhh, it's okay." Emma whispered and a soft hand took hold of her own. Relief started settling in. Jade squeezed Emma's hand, hard. "The swelling won't let you open your eyes, once it gets better you will be able to see. You can't smell as well as always because your nose was broken, it will get better. There is a bandage around your head keeping you from moving your jaw, it was dislocated and put back into place, you won't be able to move it until tomorrow night and even then chewing and speaking will hurt a bit. In a few days you are going to be as good as new, I'm going to take care of you, okay?" Jade squeezed her hand again, she had understood. Emma looked down at her with tired eyes, tears dry on her cheeks as she kissed the back of Jade's hand.
"Alex is here, she wants to see you. She was scared and she wants to cuddle with you, so I'm going to step back and let her take my place, okay?" Emma said, trying to keep Jade calm. The lycan squeezed her hand again before letting it go. A few seconds later Alex's little body cuddled to her side, her head resting on Jade's shoulder and her little arm curling around the woman's waist.
Jade was quick to tighten her arm around the little girl's back, feeling wetness seeping into her shirt. Jade rubbed her back gently, trying to make her feel better, frustrated cause she couldn't do anything else.
"Are you okay, mommy?" Alex said, realizing a second later that Jade couldn't talk. "You can tap my back once for yes and two for no." A gentle tap against her back followed and Alex smiled.
"Are you in pain?" Two taps followed and Alex smiled again, she didn't know her mother was lying. "You must be really strong mommy, cause your face looks really painful. Emmy will make you better."
"We are in a beautiful place mommy, I can see the sea from the window, maybe we will see boats, too." Alex said excitedly and Jade was confused, she gently rubbed Alex's back to show her she was listening. Emma kneeled next to the other side of the bed and took Jade's hand, caressing the back of it with her thumb in a comforting manner.
"We are in the property you have at Mahone bay, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Alex didn't want to be at Lauren's house anymore. She saw, Jade." Emma said, and Jade's stomach lurched, bike rushing up her throat.
"She scared me, mommy." Alex whispered, burying her face in Jade's shoulder. "I don't want to see her. Emmy said we could come here." Jade caressed her daughter's hair, trying to comfort her, trying to tell her it was okay.
"Joël explained what happened and it doesn't justify this." Emma said, her voice laced with anger. "I don't know if I'll be able to forgive her."
"She scared you, too?" Alex asked, looking up at Emma with innocent eyes.
"Yes, she did." Emma said and it was the truth. "We are going to be okay here, just the tree of us, you will heal, Alex and I will take care of you and once you are better we will go see the boats." Emma said, feeling Jade's heart beating fast at her wrist, a clear sign of the distress and pain she was feeling. "We are going to be okay." Emma said, a soft kiss was pressed to the inside of Jade's wrist, she then felt a pinch and seconds later she was falling back into unconsciousness.
...
The day after, Amy woke up in Ren's arms, the potion her girlfriend gave her had worked and she had had a peaceful night with no nightmares.
Amy knew, by the light filtering in the room, that it was long past sunrise. She frowned, Jade usually picked her up for training a few hours before first light. She tried to stand up, but Ren pulled her back into bed.
"I have to train Ren, I don't know why Jade didn't come." Amy said.
"I think you had enough training yesterday." Ren said.
"Yes, and it proved that I'm not ready." Amy said, turning to look at her girlfriend. "My body feels different now, too, I need to learn, I need to train. I'm going to call Jade."
"No, call Joël. He is the one who makes the illusions, not Jade." Ren said, and Amy frowned, she was acting weird.
"I know, but Jade is always there making sure everything goes well, plus she's my mentor, I'd like to hear what she thinks of whatever happened in the illusion."
"She isn't answering her phone, call Joël." Ren insisted.
"She isn't? Did she leave for the mission already?" Amy asked, looking through her contacts and calling Joël.
"I don't know."
Amy looked back at Ren again, something was really off, everything from her girlfriend's short answers, to the flat tone of her voice, to Jade's sudden disappearance.
"And she isn't picking up her phone? Aren't you worried?"
"I'm sure she's fine." Ren said, closing her eyes and looking away, trying to ignore how much her knuckles throbbed. Her throat tightening as she remember with how much force she had hit her sister, how she had felt the bone give away under her fist, how she felt her go limp beneath her hands, how she kept hitting her even after. The blood.
Amy didn't have time to answer, Joël had picked up the call.
...
Two days after, Jade was still gone. Three days in total.
Amy was getting worried and she had been noticing her girlfriend's odd behavior, in the three days that had passed, she had never even attempted to go back to her house, not for clothes, not for her school books, nothing, she just stayed with Amy at the treehouse and turned down every attempt Amy had made to go visit Alex. She was quiet too, and her smile never reached her eyes. Each day was the same and Amy was getting really worried.
Joël had also changed the subject when she had asked.
It was night time, Amy was training with Joël, Lauren was sitting on the grass, watching. Joël had left another member of his pack making sure very thing was okay with Loch and Karma.
"You know what?" Amy said, her voice dripping with frustration. "I'm done with this. You are not giving your 100%, we have had real duels before and now you are going easy on me, that's not what I need, it's almost like you are afraid to hurt me. This is not going anywhere, and I know Jade hasn't left for the mission yet, I was supposed to go with her, she would have told me, so tell me where she is, I want to train with her."
"She can't train with you," Joël finally said, sighing, "she's injured." His tone was tense. Amy's eyes widened slightly, her shoulders slumped, she was emotionally exhausted, she couldn't deal with anything else.
"Injured, how injured?"
"Broken cheekbone, broken nose, concussion, dislocated jaw, she can barely speak or eat properly, her eyes are too swollen, she can open one completely now, but the other one is still half closed." Joël said, Amy's eyes widened again.
"God, how did that happen?" Amy said, "I mean is Jade, she doesn't lose a fight."
"It wasn't a fight, someone attacked her and she didn't defend herself, the other person kept beating her even after she was unconscious." Joël said and Amy grimaced.
"Why didn't she defend herself? It doesn't make any sense."
"Jade would never hurt her sister." Joël said.
"Her sister?" Amy asked, disbelief clouding her eyes, she turned to look at her girlfriend, her gaze falling on her bruised hand. It couldn't be, it didn't make any sense. "Ren would never beat Jade, she wouldn't hurt her so much, they are sisters, Ren wouldn't do that, right Ren?" Amy asked, turning to look at her and noticing for the first time that she was silently crying, covering her face with her hands. Amy shook her head. "But why? I don't understand."
"She found out about the illusion I put you under, she blamed Jade, even if everything was actually your grandmother's idea, Jade tried to talk to her, but she didn't let her get a word out..."
"Oh god." Amy said, kneeling next to her girlfriend and pulling her close, her cries now muffled by Amy's shirt. "I'm sure Jade will understand, you just have to talk to her, she's your sister, she will forgive you. I'll go with you, we will fix this." Amy said, tugging Ren's hand so they would go to Ren's house.
"She's not there, she's gone." Joël said.
"What?" Amy and Ren said at the same time.
"They left, the three of them. Emma took her away once she was healed enough to appear somewhere else without getting hurt."
"You are lying," Ren insisted, her eyes soaked with tears. "Jade wouldn't leave me."
"You left her once, why wouldn't she do the same?" Joël said, watching Lauren take her eyes away from him. "But it's true, she wouldn't leave you, she didn't know, she was unconscious. It was actually Alex, she had a vision of you beating her mother into a bloody mess, she got scared, Emma made the decision pretty quickly after that, you did break her mate's face.
"No no no no no." Ren covered her face, a sob breaking past her lips as she pulled at her hair. Amy noticed what she was going to do and held tightly onto Ren's shoulders, a loud crack followed and suddenly they were in Ren's kitchen. The girl sprinted up the stairs with Amy behind her, breaking into Emma and Jade's room. The cupboards, the night tables, the closet, everything was gone, it was empty.
Amy's heart ached at the feeling of Ren's pain as they moved to the attic. Alex clothes were gone, everything else was intact, she had only taken with her the little sailboats Jade had once given her.
Ren fell to her knees, covering her face, her knuckles aching as she extended her fingers. They were gone.
The house was empty.