AN: Obligatory apology here. But in truth, sorry for the delay, yet again, life has been very topsy turvy. And here it is, the last fully written chapter. Not to get anyone's hopes up, but I did manage to write a few words of the next chapter just today. I've not entirely forgotten you all. That said, my memory is very bad, and I've forgotten a multitude of other things and as much as I wish I had time to reacquaint myself with the material, you might have noticed, but there's a lot. (Guys, help, I don't even remember what colour Jade's eyes are. ._.)

I don't want to break any promises, so I won't make any, but I have not given up. I do not know when the next chapter will be ready, but I will work on if any of you have an amazing memory or read the story recently and want to help remind me (I know, it is rather pitiful to be asked to told about my own story but bear with me) or also have some grasp on writing better than mine (it's not hard, honest) and want to help me with editing and constructing you just let me know. I will be ever grateful.

Thank you to all those who read, and those who comment, and I have not forgotten about you. I will do my best for all of you.

23

There was a knock on her door. She thought Spike might get it, so she didn't get up, until she realised that the room was devoid of the vampire. He'd left at some point. She couldn't blame him. It was tiring, she knew, the constant butting of heads, constant disappointment. Jade knew Spike wasn't happy about the chip in her head, and she regretted that it had bothered him, but she was pleased. It was a burden off her shoulders. There was one thing about trying to atone for what she had done, and it was easier without the fear that she would just slip again. Well now she had a soul that was buried under her skin and a chip in her head to keep her from hurting people.

And it worked. White lab coats had drilled the thing into her head with worrying accuracy and efficiency. They said that the initiative was dead and gone, but they'd worked on improving a chip from years before, and they were no stranger to installing one. That should have bothered her more than it did, but truthfully she was just relieved. And seeing as only three vampires in the world had a soul, she didn't care if they were outfitting other vampires with it. She had no sympathy for them, not after what she'd done, or what Elijah and Kern had done either.

Buffy had told her to swing at her after the surgery was done, and Jade might have taken more satisfaction from it if she knew it wasn't about to cause her head to erupt with pain. Jade's strike was faster than an ordinary vampire, but the chip still caught her before she could make contact. A vicious agony had bubbled over into her head, and she'd stopped dead in her tracks. Buffy made her try once more, on Xander this time, for assurance likely, or maybe just a bit of payback, but it'd worked again. Then Willow had turned it off, and Jade trusted the redhead enough not to ask to make sure, hoping that it might earn good-will. If she trusted them, they might trust her again.

"Jade?" A voice called through the door. Jade made sure she was dressed and leaned forward on the edge of her bed, curious.

"Come in, Xander."

He did. He was smiling, but it was an anxious smile, and he looked around the room, likely to make sure that Spike wasn't there.

"Is everything okay?" Jade asked, concerned. Her first thought was towards the chip. Had something gone wrong with it? Perhaps she was more paranoid towards it than she had thought, but that wasn't something she'd admit to Spike.

"What? Yeah, yeah." Xander bobbed his head up and down, but not convincingly. He ran his fingers through his hair, not quite sure what to do with his hands. Jade noticed his thumb tapping nervously. He wasn't quite looking at her, giving her another smile that might have been meant to appear as if everything was normal, but it didn't quite hit the mark.

"Are you sure?" Jade asked, less mildly, and more prompting.

"Yeah. It's just. You know. I was on that big crusade to help get your soul back and all that."

Now she was listening again, leaning forward on the edge of the bed. She'd heard it talked about, only briefly. Spike didn't mention anything about it directly, but she'd gotten the gist that Spike, Angel and Xander had tried to hunt down Lyth to get Jade's soul back. Also, it wasn't exactly successful.

"Yeah?" Jade cued, after Xander fell quiet again.

"Well, so. Part of it was that. We did actually find Lythia'l, er, the demon. The demon who I understand you're kinda upset with and who could blame you." His shoulders rose and fell with an awkward laugh.

Jade found her own finger was tapping with her restlessness. "Go on," She said. Her curiosity was unfortunately paired with a lack of patience, but that was nothing new.

"Well, Spike wanted me to distract her while he got Angel. So I got her a drink, you know. Flirted a little. The Xan-Man has moves, what can I say." He smiled crookedly. "Not, not that I was cheating on Dawn or anything. I'd never do that. It was all for the cause. Anyway, I guess she liked it a little. Took me in the corridor to make out. Which was when Spike and Angel came in, all per plan." There was a hint of disappointment he tried to hide but couldn't really. "And then hands were around my throat, I thought I might die. But she just teleported away instead. Which left us a little on the empty handed side."

"Xander, is there a point to all this?" Jade burst out, at the end of her tether. "I know that story already."

He swallowed. "Well, there's more. As I said, Xan-Man has moves. Apparently, she took to me a little. Demon magnet, what can I say? Of course, I wasn't exactly happy with her. Whole thing was her fault, really. But she did come back, and everything. And she seemed like she actually felt bad about the whole thing."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well. I guess she felt like there was some unfinished business. You know, things she didn't really get to apologize for. Guess she thought I'd be sympathetic. And I'm not. Totally not on the forgiving wagon here. But I mean, I kinda understand where she's coming from—"

Jade rose to her feet and Xander jumped, his eyes darting around the room. "She came to you, didn't she?"

"Well, yes. Found me somehow. Was probably that purple kissing demon chick. Her smooches are killer. Also, wasn't cheating on Dawn. That was entirely for the sake of the mission, again."

"Where is she?" Jade demanded.

Xander looked thoroughly guilty. "Here."

It wasn't a poof: her teleportations weren't that glamorous, even if that's what Jade referred to them as. Poofing in and out of the world. Like a fairy godmother. Ha, what a joke was. And it was truly a joke that Lyth was standing in front of her. She was a mixture of audacity, guilt and uncertainty. She wasn't dolled in one of her beloved illusions, but she didn't have her natural Mok'Tagar appearance either, but the one that Jade was most used to, as the roommate that Jade had had for a year.

Lyth gave her a sheepish smile. "Hello, Jade."

Jade didn't hesitate. She lunged. She was quick, like a shadow, and all this downtime was good for recuperation. Her body, which had been so sore and aching from all the abuse it had suffered—and deserved, because of what Lyth had done—was now strong again, and she missed Lyth by only a hair's width.

The demon teleported again, popping to the far back of the room. Xander had jumped wildly to the side even though Jade had lurched in the opposite direction, fearing for his safety.

"Now, Jade," Lyth said, as admonishing as she might to a cat before it was ready to pounce. Jade didn't gratify Lyth with a response, growling deep inside her throat instead as she lunged again. "Don't try to do anything rash."

"Anything rash?" Jade nearly laughed at the absurdity of it, but it wouldn't have been a funny laugh, born out of frustration and disbelief.

She'd neared Lyth again, and the demon teleported once more, this time out into the hallway. Jade made to follow her, nearly had one foot outside the door when she met Xander's gaze. He hadn't said anything, but she remembered in time. Point of a cell was that she didn't leave it. She knew Willow hadn't put up any magic barriers. All that was holding her in this room was honor. And that was important to her, she knew that.

Unfortunately, Lyth knew it too. She waited tersely, carefully outside in the hall. "I just came to talk," The demon said warily.

This time Jade did laugh. She rested her head on the doorframe, hand curling into the wall. She could hear Xander's breathing from behind her, which was still heightened, his heart rate far from relaxed. Jade moved away from the door then. "Go ahead," Jade said succinctly. She wasn't meaning to trap Xander in there, and he likely didn't want to be in the same room as a pissed off Slaypire, soul or no soul. Xander nodded with relief and followed Lyth out into the hall. The demon gave him a small, demure smile, and Jade would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't so angry. Same Lyth tricks. She had no true interest in Xander, at least not in Jade's opinion, but it seemed like the one-eyed man was spurning her—he had plenty of reasons to, even if he wasn't dating Dawn—and that was irresistible to the demon.

Lyth looked surprised when Xander kept walking. "You're leaving?" She sounded hurt.

Xander shrugged. "You wanted to see Jade. There she is. My part's done." He looked back at Jade. "Sorry." He mumbled as an afterthought. "She asked. I thought it might…" He trailed off and Jade shrugged.

She didn't like meddling, but she supposed she couldn't blame Xander. Maybe in his eyes, Lyth had done a good thing by coming back and giving Jade her soul back, but Jade knew better. This was her fault, all her fault, and there was no forgiving her. Jade wanted to snap her in two.

Still, she didn't step over into the hallway. From the lack of beating hearts out in the corridor, Jade could tell that the Slayers normally there weren't. If Xander had pulled them off for Lyth, or if Buffy decided they weren't required anymore, she wasn't sure. It didn't really matter.

Lyth pouted at Xander's retreating form, and then turned her gaze back to Jade. "I came to talk," Lyth repeated.

"You're a dead demon walking," Jade said irritably, sitting down on the floor because she didn't feel like standing. The words sounded much cooler in her head than they did out loud. She could reach the door, swing it closed. That wouldn't deter the demon, Jade knew. Lyth would just shout, and Jade's good ears wouldn't be able to tune it out. Plus, Jade wanted to look at her. Wanted to see her face when she asked how. How Lyth could do this to her. But for now, anger kept her mouth shut. She was afraid if she spoke up, she'd sound hurt. And she didn't want to, didn't want Lyth to think she had the upper hand, that Jade was upset about losing their friendship or something. It wasn't like they braided each other's hair and watched movies together. They'd coexisted, is all. It wasn't anything more than that. Not friends. Jade couldn't have put her trust into someone so undeserving of it.

Couldn't have, but did.

"Don't be so dramatic," Lyth said, but she paled somewhat.

"Come back into my room, then. We'll see how dramatic I'm being."

Lyth laughed to hide her discomfort, tsking her tongue and shaking her head back at Jade. "If you wanted me dead that badly, you'd walk through this door."

Jade didn't look at her, grinding her teeth with irritation. "I said I'd stay in here."

"How very noble. That has you written all over it."

Jade stood up, bringing the box of jars over to here, keeping it within arm's length as she sat back down again. She reached for one of the empty blood jars, tossing it up in the air and catching it easily. She held it threateningly. "I'm always up for some target practice."

"Jade, you wouldn't dare," Lyth replied, but her face wasn't so sure. She was right to doubt. The glass jar flew through the air, missing her by only a couple centimeters, giving the demon barely any time to move, but she did move, and remained unscathed. The wall not so much, and the floor was covered in shattered pieces of glass, tiny, tiny shards.

"You missed," Lyth said triumphantly.

Jade picked up another jar.

"Wait, wait! Jade. Really. I just came here to talk."

"You can go. Or I'll throw jars at you until I don't miss." Or until she ran out. There were a couple that still had blood in them. Jade didn't want to waste, but she was willing to if it came down to that.

Lyth tightened her lips. "I'm not leaving until I say what I came to say."

Another jar smashed against the wall.

Lyth tsked to hide her alarm. That one she'd barely been able to dodge, although Jade doubted that a single jar would break anything of Lyth's. It was just glass, after all. But at least it should hurt. She hoped so, anyway. "Really, you're acting like a child."

"You've said that before," Jade said dully, selecting another jar.

"Well, it's true. A child, that's what you are. Tantruming." Jade knew this part. Lyth was insulting her to feel better about herself. Jade didn't care.

"You know who else is a child?" Jade held the empty jar in her hand, looking at it. She felt deadly calm, which surprised her. She glanced from the jar back to Lyth. "Rachel. Or she was. Until I killed her and half the orphanage."

Lyth paled considerably. "At least it was only half?"

This time the jar hit its target. Lyth shrieked, more out of surprise than pain as it struck her solidly on her shoulder, breaking. Lyth was wearing a long, white shirt, less elegant than the dresses she normally wore, although she had on a chic skirt to balance out the image. Still, white was apparently a bad idea. Some of the tiny shards had cut skin, and little red blots showed up. Jade didn't feel guilty. She knew how fast the Mok'Tagar grew back her skin. In fact, it wasn't nearly satisfying without causing more damage.

"Okay, I get it. You're angry. And you're guilty."

"You get it, do you?" Jade was so furious that the jar she held her hand shattered, her thumb pressing into the glass. "You get it?"

"Well, I did have a soul for a little while," Lyth said in a tiny voice. "Apparently, there's a lot of guilt involved."

"You didn't have a soul for a while. You had my soul. Mine. For three days."

"I was just borrowing it?" Lyth offered lamely. Jade ignored the blood dripping from her palm. Shallow cuts. They were nothing. She picked up another jar. "You're right. I took it. And it was bad. I shouldn't have."

"No, you shouldn't have." Jade threw the jar. It caught the tips of Lyth's fingers, and she whimpered. She hadn't ducked out of sight yet. Determined, she was, stubborn. But Jade didn't care. She wasn't looking for Lyth's good qualities. There weren't any.

"I wanted to tell you—Jade, I was good. I was very good. I was planning that for a long time. It just happened to work. You feel stupid, but you shouldn't, just because I'm very intelligent."

Jade rolled her eyes that time, picking up another jar.

"Damn the reaches, Jade, would you stop throwing stuff at me? I'm trying to apologize."

"You think I'm going to give a shit about that because it's the first apology you've ever given in a thousand years?"

"Not the first," Lyth reminded her. And that was right. She remembered Lyth looking at her, soul in her hands. As Jade begged her, Lyth had said 'I'm sorry' before she disappeared. Like that made a difference.

"I never want to see you again." Jade hadn't reached for another jar. She'd forgotten about them, for the time being. She just felt tired, being this angry. "The next time I see you, I'll kill you."

"Look. I have to keep this short anyway. Mok'Tagars still looking for me, and you know. They'd be able to tell I'm one of them."

"You expect me to feel sorry for you?" Jade scoffed with disbelief.

"No. This isn't actually about me."

Jade laughed. "I never thought those words would come out of your mouth."

"I came here. To apologize. I am sorry. I'd like to point out that I did give you your soul back. I didn't have to."

"You want a gold star for doing something humane? Give me a break."

"Yes. I do. Because it isn't natural for me, Jade. I don't have an annoyingly honorable soul like you do. I never needed one, and I was just fine with that, but I'm not meant to be trapped in a little town. I did what I had to, like I've always done. This was just the first time I've felt bad about it."

Jade ran her fingers angrily through her hair, wincing a little when she neared the sensitive part of her scalp. "I'm sorry my soul made you feel guilty." Sarcasm ground into her tone, bitterness there as well.

"It made me guilty enough to give it back. Because you have morals, way too many of them, really. And you're annoyingly good. I don't know how you stand it. And you feel awful now, I know."

"You don't know anything."

"But really. This is the way it's supposed to be. Vampires aren't supposed to have souls anyway. Really, you could say that I was just making it right—"

"If you cared about making it right, you wouldn't have left me like that!" Jade yelled. She threw another jar, but this time it didn't make it through the doorway, anger throwing off her aim it bounced off the door and back into her room, pieces of glass on the floor. "You knew. You knew. That losing my soul was my worst fear. And you left me. Alive. If you gave a damn about me at all, you would have taken my soul and staked me."

Lyth looked back at her, guilty.

"But you couldn't. Because you find killing is beneath you, so just leave me alive so you don't have to get your hands dirty."

"I couldn't kill you, Jade. That didn't have anything to do with superiority," Lyth argued, but her voice was quiet.

"Cowardice, then. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you tricked me. I was stupid enough to fall for it. And then you took my soul, knowing what I could do. You're the one who always criticized vampires and their penchant for carnage, remember? Well, I was no better. And you knew I wouldn't be. You should have killed me. Leaving me like that was worse than death. A second death."

"I didn't think about that, before. I wouldn't have. You were a means to an end. It was logical. I'm sorry."

"I don't want your sorries. There's nothing you can say. You betrayed me. It was my fault for falling for it. I should have known better. I should never have trusted you, and I will pay the price for it. But I never want to see you again."

"I didn't really think you'd forgive me anyway," Lyth straightened up. She glanced at the box of jars, but Jade didn't care about throwing them anymore. "A girl's gotta try, though."

Jade slunk down to the floor. She didn't want to look at Lyth anymore. She stared up at the roof instead. "You're not a girl," she grumbled, not enough energy for anything else. She just felt empty and tired, like she was stretched out too far. "You never were."

"I'll go now. Since it's what you want. I've put myself in enough danger. Not that you appreciate it, of course, but I suppose I can understand that. Still. There was one thing I wanted to tell you that might help you."

Jade had the childish impulse to cover her ears. She seriously doubted there was anything that Lyth could say that she would care about, that would even matter. Still, curiosity won out as it always would. It was better to just listen to it rather than always wonder about what it could have been. Like the Doctor when he left Rose trapped in a parallel world and didn't even finish his sentence after she'd told him she loved him. The very last time they'd ever talk, and he'd just been cut off. It had been aggravatingly heartbreaking. Jade still sniffled when she thought of Doctor and Rose. Still, the point was, she'd listen. And then she hoped Lyth would go, and she'd never have to see her again. Or she really would try to kill her. Probably.

"Well, your soul caused a lot of trouble for me, I'll have you know. It was loud and very annoying. And it caught the attention of a vengeance demon. She was hanging around bridesmaids or something I cared very little about. Point was, I was hoping she'd give me the wish. And I would have wished your soul to be something a bit more compatible, did you know that? Or just to not be detected by my own people. Something like that. But she wouldn't give it to me."

"My heart bleeds for you," Jade mumbled. Apparently she wasn't really hearing anything important after all. She shouldn't be all that surprised.

"Point was, the vengeance demon came because of your soul. You—it?—was thoroughly anguished, and that's what she came for. So what I'm trying to tell you. She wouldn't give me a wish because it was meant for you. So. If you ever find this demon, her name was something stupid, Julilon or something. Looked sort of Indian. The Indian Indians, not the Indigenous—and who came up with the idea of naming them the same anyway—and anyway. She seemed a bit dull. But if you ever see her, you might get a wish out of it. I thought you'd like to know that."

There was silence then. Jade didn't know what quite to say. Her initial thought was to scoff. Like she'd trust another demon after what happened with Lyth. Like she'd trust Lyth after what happened with Lyth. More likely than anything it'd be a trap, and she wasn't about to go hunt down a vengeance demon just for a supposed wish. Lyth hadn't said anything either. She was probably expecting a pat on the back. Oh, like she might have done one good thing and she might be forgiven now. "Sticking around for praise, are you?" Jade asked. "This doesn't change a thing, Lyth, and if you expect me to—" Jade glanced up.

She was talking to nothing, apparently. Lyth had gone.

This time, the vehicles they had were stuffed full. Most of the others had been deployed to other Slayer bases, but all who were left were heading back to San Francisco, to a smaller building they'd set up as a temporary haven until they figured something out, either rebuilt or focused changing the headquarters of the west to Los Angeles instead. At least, that's what Jade had been told. She and Spike had been sitting in the room when Kennedy had come to get her, slapping manacles on her wrists, which Spike had audibly scoffed at and Kennedy had skillfully ignored.

"It's just because you'll be sharing the van with other Slayers," Kennedy had told her.

"I understand," Jade had answered. She had so much understanding she could scream. If it made the others feel better, to see she was kept more like a convict than someone running free, she supposed she could understand. Spike wasn't so accepting about it, quietly grumbling to himself, but he didn't outright protest. He had probably learned by now that she wouldn't listen. It wasn't like she was trying to defy him, but he was so stubbornly against this treatment of her, against her being looked at like some sort of jailed prisoner, whereas it made her feel less guilty to go along with it. She deserved it after all, and probably a lot more. In a world where there was black and white, when right and wrong were actual categories, where there wasn't so much gray in the middle, she should be serving time in a jail cell for what she did. But this world wasn't so simple. She knew that there was good she could be doing, but she wasn't because she was here. And she'd never suggest that Faith should go back to jail because the Slayer was needed out here, fighting the good fight.

Jade knew that for Faith, but she had a harder time applying it to herself. Self-esteem issues, guilt and an inability to view her own self objectively probably had something to do with that. She knew that, acting on it and accepting it was a far different matter.

They waited outside in the parking lot. It was dark, at least. They didn't have to worry about ducking under a tree, or in Jade's case, sit inside the van while they waited for everyone to gather. Kennedy looked distinctly bored.

"I'm no guard," She muttered under her breath, then glanced to Jade and Spike. Spike looked thoroughly amused, having heard the comment, and each time Kennedy looked a little displeased, he seemed to revel in it. He wasn't the most fond of the Slayer, Jade knew, although the reasoning didn't run very deep. He just didn't like her personality, calling her pushy and that she tried too hard. Which, Jade had to admit, was sort of true. Still, she was one of the leaders of the Slayers, Buffy's second hand, and Jade wasn't as careless as Spike, not about to push fun at her. "You stay here," Kennedy decided finally to the two of them. "Willow's talking to that busybody Manus, I'm sure. The rest of the Slayers will be out in a minute. No moving." Her black gaze flashed at the two of them and then off she strode.

Spike shifted from where he stood behind Jade, leaning in close enough that his breath would have tickled her ear if he had any. As it was, he shuffled in his pocket for a cigarette and lit it, stuffing it between his lips. Jade tried not to look. She tried not to think that people needed a cigarette in their hand to be badass and sexy, as that wasn't the best message to send, but Spike did it so well it was hard to ignore.

She'd told him about Lyth visiting when he'd come back to the room to see glass broken everywhere. He'd shot out a 'bloody hell' and peered at her concernedly from where she still laid on the floor. She hadn't really wanted to talk about it, but to keep him from thinking she was crazy and had a meltdown for no reason, she'd explained Lyth's visit. Spike was ticked that he hadn't been around to 'kick her bloody arse', and he threatened to wring Xander's neck the next time he saw him. She shot that idea out of the sky with a disapproving sigh, and it was then that Spike told her they were being moved. Which led them to now, waiting.

"Miss Tight-Britches running off to check on her lover." Spike commented with a low chuckle. Then he straightened. "You know, we could probably escape right now." This time, she did feel a breath as he blew smoke on her cheek. She knew he wasn't serious. Or at least he was pretending not to be, but a part of him meant it.

She glanced back at him. "It's a trap," she said to him solemnly, unable to keep her lip from twitching into a smile when a fish face came to mind. Not that it did much good to quote Star Wars at him, since he'd sadly missed the movies, and stared at her as if she were 'barmy', like he was doing now. "You don't really mean that, anyway." She said in answer. They weren't going to run.

Even now, she could see another group of Slayers appear, the last that had stayed with them, the young and the wounded, mostly. Buffy was at the head, Xander by her side. Giles and Aella had left a couple days before. Jade hadn't been able to apologize to Aella for hurting her, but it was probably best. There was only so much an apology could do to repair harming someone, not just physically, which Jade felt had been plenty displayed with Lyth's haphazard attempt. The warlock was still there, walking among the Slayers.

"Where's Kennedy?" Buffy demanded as she approached them, narrowing her eyes in both concern and disapproval.

"Went to check on Lady lover," Spike supplied smartly.

"She was supposed to be watching you," Buffy said, vexed, but sighed. "Okay. Everyone buckle up." She had turned to her Slayers, but not to be taken too literally. There were no seatbelts in the back of the vehicles that one Slayer had deemed 'pedo-van' and gotten an amused-and-strict admonishment from Xander. Xander organized the Slayers in, whereas Buffy stood off to the side with Spike and Jade. Jade knew who she was riding with.

She sighed, trying not to show her exasperation. The cuffs on her wrists weren't heavy, or even that tight, but not being able to move her arms was annoying. Spike leaned in towards her, cigarette between his fingers.

"Stuffed in with the kiddies, are we," he scoffed. He'd gripped her elbow to lead her into the van. She'd hardly noticed the light, natural touch. He'd likely not have noticed it either, if she hadn't looked down to where his pale fingers gripped around her black shirt.

"Sorry," he muttered, and dropped her like she had burned him. An uneasy feeling swarmed in her stomach, not for the first time. Maybe it never dissipated, not since… not since she'd come back, if 'came back' suitably captured what had happened, and it didn't.

She stepped out of the way of an impatient Slayer who pushed past the vampire roadblock and into the van. She meant to say something then. Not to the Slayer, one who was embarrassingly nameless to Jade. Short hair that bounced, a youthful face. It was hard for them not to blend together, even if there were only a handful of the Slayers here. And Jade should have known them better. She knew the names of those she'd killed. Buffy made sure of that. But most of their faces had already faded from memory. Daphne's stuck the most. Jade had known her from before. And she knew the smell of her fear and the taste of her blood. Jade could even say that she had known Daphne better than Jade knew any of the other slayers. Knew what she had been like in her last minutes of living. It was a sickening thought, but she couldn't help herself. Daphne had been important to 'Nyx'. Her first few drops of Slayer blood. Sweet, sweet revenge against Jade, to kill yet another one she had expended effort to save. Poetic justice, perhaps, to Nyx. Haunting, to Jade. The death seemed to linger.

Still, dead haunting her was better than the living.

They entered the van and the Slayers followed, until only two remained. There was no hiding them now. The boy Slayer, James, his arm carefully around the barest slip of a girl beside him. She was generic too, or she would have been. Her carefully straightened hair was frizzy with lack of care. Where mascara and eyeliner would line her large brown eyes, there was just smudged remnants. It was her expression that changed the most. Not bold, or haughty but sallow and feeble, lips that would have a smear of gloss on them were cracked and dry instead.

Oh God.

"Bailey," Jade whispered, and her eyes had been drawn to Bailey's face, but that wasn't the important bit. No, it was the bandage wrapped around her stub. Stub where an arm used to be, her left arm. It was just… gone. Gone in the battle, indirectly or directly. Because of her.

She thought the faraway look in Bailey's eyes might not focus. Maybe she hoped for it. But her gaze latched onto Jade's in an instant, and like a spark catching flame, those brown eyes weren't distracted anymore. She wasn't limp, drawing herself to her full height, and Jade didn't move.

However Bailey reacted now, Jade knew she deserved it.