Crystalline tears

Mixed with the rain

Try and hide your pain

Bloom looked at her cousins and smiled at them as they ripped open her present. They had been born eight years after Jade had been born, which gave many people a new hope for the future. No one wanted a powerless Queen on the throne to one of the seven major realms. Both boys were magic users, which is what the people wanted. The only problem was, by law Jade inherited the crown, and though Jade showed no interest in politics she had made clear she didn't plan to annex her birthright. Even her father had urged her to give up her right.

"Cool new training swords," one of the twins said as he pulled out another training sword, he glanced at his twin, who had begun to thank his cousin.

"Really it was no trouble at all, Tam and Cam. It was Sky's idea really," Bloom said with a smile.

Tam glanced at his twin and crinkled his nose slightly, he should have known, it looked as if nearly had thought that they needed more practice swords since all of theirs seemed to break easily. Tam glanced around the room hoping that he could spot his sister. She still hadn't arrived yet, but then again she avoided these royal functions like plagues, he could see why they were quite boring and long and full of people that they didn't know.

"Bloom have you seen our dear sister?" Cam asked.

A brief frown graced Bloom's face and she shook her head, "Not since she left the factory this afternoon, she might have gone to her apartment."

Tam frowned slightly, but accepted that possibility, for all he knew Jade was probably still looking for their gifts.

"Uh..." all eyes traveled to the main announcer who was shifting nervously where he stood, "Presenting her Royal Highness, Jade-Senka Caron Veil Isolde Anima Oriana, Princess of Canzomar."

A murmur ran through the room as Jade entered the room, it was obvious to everyone she had been little skirmish. Her sleeves had been ripped revealing the numerous bruises and scrapes she had received. Jade held two boxes in her hand, her broken glasses held firmly in her other hand. With a slight grimace Jade began to limp down the long flight off stairs, dragging her left leg behind her, she practically tumbled off the final stair. Straightening herself out Jade limped to where her brothers stood, ignoring everyone's stares. Finally she reached the twins.

"Last pair," Jade lied, "Had to beat them of with a stick and possibly a rock," she said giving a strained smile, as the twins tore open there present, her eyes drifting over to where her parents and Bloom parents were sitting and rested there for a few seconds before Tam's excited yell ripped through the room.

"Motorized roller-blades, which can go 75 mph and you, got us the ones we can customize as well, so we can make it even faster. This is the coolest gift ever, thanks sis."

Cam reached to give her a hug, when Jade pulled away from him, she was injured after all. "Don't kill yourselves," she ordered causing them to frown.

"Shrew," Cam said before he and his twin left the room, a smile on their faces.

Bloom, felt a tap on her shoulder, "There's a meeting in the war room that you must attend, your highness," a servant whispered in her ear, Bloom nodded and quickly made her excuses.

Bloom looked at her parents and Jade's parents, who seemed tense, as they waited for Jade, "Mom...what's wrong, we haven't a family meeting like this since you bound Jade's powers."

Oritel glanced at his daughter debating whether he should tell her anything at all, she was old enough to deal with the situation however there was already animosity between the two, he opened his mouth to speak when outraged speaking was heard as the door slid open. Oritel grinned, as he watched Jade push the healer of her. The limp had disappeared as had the cuts, she still bore the bruises, but she didn't seem to be in pain. Jade took the seat farthest away from everyone else and looked at them with mild interest.

"Mother-figure, Father-figure," Jade said with the briefest of nods in each of there directions. "Miriam, Uncle Oritel, Miriam's spawn," another curt nod this time towards Bloom's family.

Oritel rolled his eyes, "You seem to have required body art since we last met," he said eyeing the tattoo on her arm with slight distaste.

Jade glanced at the cross which had tribal art drawn around it, she had designed it herself, and shrugged, "It was an interesting experience."

There was an uncomfortable silence, "What is this really about then? And who in the world attacked you?" Bloom exploded.

Jade glanced at Bloom, "My parents are trying to kill me, and they just hired one of the stupider hitman to kill me," Jade said in a bored tone. Jade glanced at her parents, "I put a bullet through his brain, the idiot nearly got me as well."

"How dare you put the blame on your parents, after all we've done for you..."

"You hate me mother-figure, you kicked me out onto the streets and froze most of my assets. Oh and who could forget you bound my powers," Jade said in a bored manner.

"Look at you, you're a member of The Pride. You should be holding more decorum." Miriam interjected. "You should at least try and act normal."

"I am being myself you just don't like it. And by normal Miriam, do you mean, do as my parents do?"

"Of course I do, your poor parents are the perfect example of members of The Pride."

"I suppose I could follow that logic, but it would be a waste to spend my money on assassins when I could do the job perfectly the first time," Jade pointed out, and Oritel chuckled

"You little wench," Miguel snarled slamming his fist into the table. Oritel frowned slightly he was about to use his own magic, "How dare you threaten us, we've put up with you for years. I've gotten you everything you've ever asked for, and yet you still won't obey me," his hands had a raw ball of magic which was pointed at Jade.

Oritel was getting ready to shield Jade when a loud crack was heard, causing Miriam to scream in shock. A huge hole had appeared besides Miguel's head. Oritel glanced at Jade who had already cocked her pistol, and was ready for another shot.

"Sorry about that, that bug was annoying me." Jade said with a shrug.

Bloom rolled hr eyes, on principal Jade wouldn't shoot her father. "Jade, stop it, your not going to kill your father. All your doing is putting holes in the walls. You couldn't you're to nice of a person."

Jade snorted, "Even you don't believe that. The only reason I haven't killed that man yet is simply because it would right me out of succession."

Oritel sighed, "Calm down Jade, you might do something you might regret. Miguel if you've gotten your bladder back, please sit down, this isn't about how the lot of you need therapy, this is about the return of Baltor." The group became quiet, and Oritel continued, "Recently three young witches have been attempting to break into the Omega planet, take a look," he said throwing down some pretty incriminating photos of Icy, Stormy and Darcy, as Jade grimaced inwardly.

All eyes shifted to Bloom who took in a sharp breath, she had seen these girls before, they were in her dreams.

"What's wrong Bloom, do you know their names? Have you seen them before anything," Miguel asked quickly.

"I've seen them in my dreams lately, and Jade was with them, and she was using dark magic," Jade stared at her cousin sharply, but her face was still neutral, as all eyes in the room turned to her.

"I've never seen these people in my life and I have no magic you bound it remember," Jade said before anyone could say anything.

Oritel stared at her, Jade was a master at masking her emotions, lying would be a breeze for her. "Veritas" he said and Jade glanced at him not in the slightest amused.

"I've never seen these people in my life," Jade repeated and Oritel nodded before removing the spell.

"She's telling the truth, I've assigned both your teams to work together to bring these girls to justice, we fair they might be the new leaders of the darkness, you may go. You will have to prep your teams," Oritel said dismissing them, as he turned to the other adults.

Bloom sighed she could hear her father's thunderous voice in the hall, she looked at Jade who was making her way down the hallway and a wave a pity washed over her, "I'm sorry," she called out, and Jade stopped and turned to her.

"For what? I don't care what you saw in your dreams Bloom, they are just dreams," Jade said with a shrug.

Bloom shook her head, "No I'm sorry about your parents, parent's should love their children unconditionally. They shouldn't try to destroy you simply because your eyes are different."

Jade shook her head, "I really don't need your pity, I ignore them for the most part and they try and kill me, so I kill their little assassin and go on with my own life."

"But what your father said it was inexcusable…I'm sorry for not always…I didn't know you had it this bad…" Bloom said trying to continue her apology.

Jade sneered, "It's a bit late for that now cousin, actually it is way too late for that. Whatever you did to me in the past is exactly that in the past. I couldn't care less for you and your friends."

"No man is an island Jade, you can't be all alone all the time, let me be your friend," Bloom protested.

"Despite what many people believe I do have friends Bloom, I don't need your friendship, and I don't want it. Now if you'll excuse me I do have to get to my apartment so I can get some decent sleep before my parents try and kill me again."

"You don't need to accept it now Jade, but I will always be there for you. Blood is after all thicker than water."

Jade stared at her disgust evident on her face, she wanted to say something but she chose not to and wheeled around and stomped out of the room.

Bloom sighed, she hadn't known Jade had it so tough, her own parents were trying to kill her, from what her parents had hinted there was more to Jade then she could imagine. She couldn't even imagine how it would feel to be hated simply because you were different. She couldn't imagine how alone Jade must have felt being all alone. But Jade didn't want their sympathy; she supposed it would only make her feel more alone.

Jade shivered in the cold rain, and smiled ruefully to herself, as she walked home. 'The strong only cry in the rain, where no one can see them.' Esmeralda's voice rang through her head as she walked through the slums of Canzomar, brushing by people. She didn't live in the slums but on the outskirts, in a small little apartment, it would be smaller if her parents had cut of all her assets.

Jade's eyes flicked to the Rats, a term given to people living in the slums, causing them to gasp in fear and scatter, muttering curses about devils and such. She ignored the men who were offering her money for her services, and continued to walk through the streets. Jade looked at these people with nothing but sympathy, most of them were lucky to be born, many of them didn't even live to see their twenty-first birthday.

Jade automatically whipped out her gun and had it pointed it out at a child's head as she felt her wallet being snatched. "Stupid bonemuck, give me back my wallet you idiot rat," she ordered. The gun was empty and she hoped the child wouldn't call her on her bluff. The child dropped the wallet and ran the other direction, and Jade sighed as she picked it up. Her parents needed to do something about all this poverty, people were generally forced to become rogues when they had no other choice. Jade glanced at a baker, who was baking even in the poor weather singing to herself.

At least he had reasons, to sings. Jade doubted if his parents had ever hired assassins to kill him. Jade continued to walk through the streets, she supposed she should call Icy but that could wait till tomorrow. Jade didn't even bother to look around as a black tendril extended from her hand and turned into a key, and she opened the door, and stepped in.

Jade's cell phone rang, and she looked at it with mild contempt, it was her parents. She didn't feel like talking to them at this moment in time…well she never really felt like talking to her parents.

Jade walked to her fridge and pulled out three bottles of wine, she looked at the three bottles and put one away, and walked to her run down couch, grabbing the cordless phone on her way.

'You'll be glad to know your spell work, I passed a truth test today,' Jade said opening the first bottle of wine.

'Any particular reason why you were put under a truth spell?' Icy asked from where she sat painting her nails.

'Bloom has been having dreams, she sees me with you. And it's not as if you couldn't be more discreet, there are some pretty discriminating pictures of you trying to break into the Omega realm. Generally people try and break out not the other way around.' Jade said taking a swig of the liquid.

Icy paused, 'You're drinking again aren't you? You know what that stuff does to you, put it down Jade.'

'Can't I'm celebrating, I generally celebrate when I find myself alive after getting attacked by a professional assassin,' Jade said taking another gulp of the liquid. 'The poor bastard now has a bullet lodged up his brain. The rat nearly killed me to.'

'You survived, you're drinking, you're fine. Now you say they have pictures?'

'Yeah, we've been put on a shoot first ask questions later sort of thing going on. You've got Oritel spooked, he's increasing security ten-fold.'

Icy smiled coldly on the other side of the line, 'Well this couldn't get any better. Listen up twerp, this is what we're going to do…'

Sky knocked on the door to Jade's apartment, "Come out Jade we're on duty this morning, and you can't be late, the girls are going to be with us today. I know you're in there, if we have to break down the door then we will," he shouted ignoring the angry shouts coming from the other rooms.

"She's probably just getting ready Sky, calm down," Helia said patiently.

"You said that twenty minutes ago…" the door opened and Jade's face was seen, her eyes flashing in annoyance.

"Is the world on fire?"

"No."

"Is it the end of the realms?"

"No."

"Riots, murders?"

"No."

"Do I get to shoot someone?"

"Hopefully not…"

"Then I don't care," Jade said slamming the door in his face. "Go away I have a splitting headache, and you're disturbing the peace," she ordered, rubbing her head, and heading to her medicine cabinet and popping two pills on her mouth.

"Well that was a waste of time," Riven commented an amused smile on his face.

"So you'll catch up with us later?" Brandon asked hopefully.

Jade picked up the empty bottle opened the door and threw it at them, making them scatter, "If you don't leave me alone now I probably won't," Jade thundered. Shivering slightly as the effects of the drug, as the alcohol was wiped from her body, she slammed the door shut again.

"Let's just go before she throws bigger stuff at us, you know as well as I do Jade isn't a morning person," Timmy pointed out.

"And she's being forced to spend the day with the girls, that's got to be torture for her, she'll join use when she's ready," Helia said.

"Waste of a good twenty-five minutes, she's not even dressed yet. Obviously she went out and got her self drunk again, knowing her she'll probably be there waiting for us. And you know she hates people intruding on her life. Let's just go."

Sky sighed and followed his friends, glancing at the door one last time.

Jade stood allowing the cold water to rinse of the soap of her body, her eyes were closed, she was dreading today. Not for her sake, but for their sake, she couldn't care less what Icy did to Bloom and her friends, but she almost pitied what Darcy and Stormy had planned for the specialists. Jade grabbed a towel and her uniform and went to her room, allowing the shadowy tendrils to pick up guns.

She stopped briefly to pull open a drawer, again with the shadowy tendrils, and pulled out two pairs of sunglasses.

"So where's my cousin?" Bloom asked Sky from where she sat, picking at the breakfast that the boys had bought for them.

"Unfortunately we can't start until Jade arrives, it's obvious these girls live in the slums, they wouldn't be parading around in the higher levels," Tecna put in.

"Isn't that a surprise," Jade said pulling up a seat, "The princesses wanting to play with the Rats."

"Well from what I hear you play with the Rats all the time, it's hardly befitting of a princess. But then again you were only an accident," Stella said with a cruel smile.

Jade toyed with the idea of putting a gun through Stella's head but decided against it, mostly out of common sense. "Whatever, I do have places to be if you're going to insult me I can just leave, I have nothing to gain or loose from this. Unfortunately putting a bullet through your skull though amusing would have bothersome results, this is why I haven't done it yet."

"See that Brandon she's threatening me, I told you she's evil. Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

Brandon shot Jade a glare, and she shrugged it off, "She was only kidding Stella, right Jade?"

Jade ignored him, "Are we ready to go yet?"

"You wouldn't get up, we decided to have breakfast, and you're going to wait patiently for us to finish," Riven said in a snippy way.

Jade frowned, "I could have stayed in bed, if we're going to catch them now would be the time, I can't track them if they leave the slums," Jade pointed out. She was lying of course, but they didn't need to know that. If she could get the plan over with she'd be happy, as it was she was going to have to spend a small fortune on healers.

"She's right it would be difficult to track them but we could always wait, you know catch them by surprise," Timmy pointed out.

Jade glanced at him, disinterest evident on her face, "I'm generally the one who leads these ambushes, and you know as well I that in this situation an ambush won't work."

"Wait. Why?" Flora asked, "The enemies power doesn't matter in an ambush."

"Yeah so why?" Helia agreed with her.

Jade raised a brow, and looked at the ceiling, this conversation was getting boring fast, it was like explaining nuclear physics to a child, no matter how many times she dumbed it down for them they still wouldn't get it. . "You guys sure don't understand do you? It's true ambushing is a very basic yet advantageous tactic, but to pull it off you must meet two basic requirements you must meet. First we must move with grace and precision so even the most sensitive of ears will not be able to detect us and we must find the enemy first. Second we must secure a location to secure our enemies off guard to inflict critical damage on them, and quickly conceal ourselves in that location. Once we are able to fulfill those conditions an ambush becomes a valid tactic. We have magic so we can find their location pretty easily and the second is an advantage because I know the slums like the back of my hand. However we're assuming they live in the slums as well, so that won't work. There are way to many unknown factors for me to lead an ambush, besides I have more people than I normally deal with. I have a bunch of idiots at my command and a group of non-trained princesses who have no special traits," she said ignoring the heated looks she was receiving from the group.

"Says the sniper," Brandon said with a roll of his eyes.

"Actually I left my rifle at home, with people flying all over the place I couldn't risk messing up. I'll be moving down to ground level with the boys. It's time to put Codatorta's endurance training to the test."