Well, that was a dark chapter no? Well, this one is a little nicer. Yeah who am am I kidding. Not a lot happens though, I warn you now. It's the husband's birthday and so I wanted to make sure you got at least something of an update.

Seabiscuit: Your nicknames made me chuckle!

Jester: I'm still a noob at writing dark stuff. Bare with me!

Frozen-heartsx: I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! -Sends hugs-

Cheshire cat: Jack's a little out of sorts at the mo, bare with him.

Soaringphoenix86: Everything will be explained (I hope) I hope this chapter is okay.

Tanairy Cornelio: Thanks! Also, thank you for reviewing Ribbons, as well. :D

Dex Zabeth: I'm glad that my work is already loved!

Chapter 3 – Bittersweet.

He's a fucking idiot. A real fucking idiot. Why the fuck am I in love with this utter prat?! I have told him more times than I can think, not to interfere. How many fucking times!? He's only gone and done it. I know, I know that Sophie and Jamie mean a lot to him. I do. But he's made a horrible mess. Fucking idiot. It's purely hypocritical, I've tried to interfere myself, more than he knows. For fucks sake, you would think that maybe he would listen to me. I sigh. Half this rant is mental but trust me, I was shouting it from the fucking roof earlier. I should probably tell you where I am, what I'm doing. Well, I'm at home, our home. Although that's added with a tinge of bitterness at the moment. I'm sitting at my desk. I don't have to earth the life lines any more. Not now that I have a stone with me. But I still draw and use my talents to do so. At the moment my head is connecting to the table in a constant donk, donk, donk. I feel that it's my fault, I should have never taken up his offer to join me. I'm used to this sort of thing. Sort of. But Jack, underneath that calm aura and anti-social façade, he really does have a soft heart. Something I love and hate him for. I suppose that's what helped us get together. His stubbornness. Bastard. Well, what's done it done. I'll just have to work out how to balance it all. Jamie's death was the natural order of the balance. His soul will linger the earth until he was ''supposed'' to die. That could be another sixty years. I have to somehow find his spirit and at least talk to him. I'm not taking Jack on that one. Sophie is a little more difficult. I can feel one of my shades with her at the moment. If I concentrate, I'll be able to hear and see what she does. I don't know if I really want to do this, but, I know Jack is with her.

…

Jack balanced on the back of one of the chairs. Sophie was in surgery. It had been a few hours. They were having to reconstruct her arm. Jamie had been brought to the morgue. Words couldn't describe the twisted guilt that wrapped around his heart. Their mother had been brought in and she was in a state. Which was to be understood. Their step-father was having trouble containing his own emotions. To have a child survive a horrific crash, and the other pass on. Jack could offer no comfort, nor any relief. He buried his head in his hands feeling the tears drip through his fingers. He wanted to stay, but it was too much.

Zoe felt her being fill the shade that followed Sophie. It took a few moments to regain her own mind. Sophie's full of hate, sadness and guilt. If Jack arrived at home, he would see her at her desk, completely still, almost icy to the touch. Her eyes glowing a soft silver. She watched as the surgeons made miracles. She couldn't stay long, too long in Sophie's mind would be devastating to her own. She shouldn't really be here but she had to try. Zoe sighed and made a decision, she took most of the depression, anger and guilt, pouring it into herself. Sophie would be in a coma for a while, just until her mind figures out how to cope. She was was thrown from the shade, the enormity of Sophie's emotions mentally rejecting her. She returned to her own mind. Her body shook violently. She bit the inside of her lip as the seizure took place. Blood burst across her tongue, but it did nothing to reduce the fit. It needed to take it's toll. The table that Zoe was sitting at began to splinter and shatter. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head, blood trickled from her nose and ears. Without warning the table's structure gave in and she was literally thrown this time as the pressure increased. She hit the opposite wall, her muscles in spasm. A few minutes passed and she was finally able to regain control of her body. Zoe rolled onto all fours and coughed up the blood she had swallowed. She wiped a bloody trail across the back of her arm. She had gotten changed when she came in, a tank top and cotton shorts. Jack's hoodie tied around her waist. She sat back onto her knees. Her wings flapped restlessly.

'I'm fine, I'm fine,' she mumbled running a hand down one of them. They settled, Zoe looked at the destroyed table. Luckily that and the chair was the only thing in this room. The chair hadn't fared too well either. Both would have to be thrown out. She sighed and shakily got to her feet. She could feel the alien emotions fight in her mind. She would have to earth these as soon as possible. She wouldn't be able to filter all of the pain into a drawing but it would take the edge off it a little. She sighed again and walked into the kitchen, ignoring the splintered wood. She caught a glance in the mirror of herself and frowned. 'Bathroom first it seems,' she moaned. About ten minutes later she was clean from blood. On her skin anyway. It still covered her top, but she would change later.

She had finished the drawing, as she thought, it was of Jamie. She had placed it in a drawer that Jack would never check. Or even be able to open. It was were she kept items that she wanted to keep private. Finding that wouldn't help him. She had tied her hair up and was cleaning the wood in the spare room when she felt Jack return. Some of her anger had abated for the moment. But she was still pissed. But Jack wasn't one to hide. He looked around the house until he found her. If he had been holding his staff, he would have dropped it.

'Angel!' He exclaimed crossing the room to where she was holding a thin shard. He instantly began to check her for injuries. She had a few cuts and a couple of bruises.

'Jack, stop,' she said trying to brush him off. He did a Tooth when he noticed that her cheek was a little swollen. He almost had his fingers in her mouth when she slapped him on the arm. 'Jack! Stop it! I'm fine.'

'Angel, you're all bruised and have cuts everywhere, the table has somehow exploded and your clothing is covered in blood. There's even blood on the floor!' He pointed out. Zoe sighed pausing as she piled the wood.

'I. I did some siphoning,' she explained. She didn't even need to see the expression on Jack's face. 'Besides I wouldn't have had to do it, if you had stuck by the rules!' Jack opened his mouth to retort and closed it again. His face fell.

'I had to Angel,' he whispered.

'No! No you didn't!' She shouted back. 'You could have listened to me! What were you going to do if I got called to one of them in another ten years? Stop me then as well? Do you not trust me? I'm helping souls to the other side! They've already died!' She stomped her foot childishly. She didn't mean to explode at him. She knew what Jamie and Sophie meant to Jack, but she had been denied her duty. It felt like the time they met, where Jack thought she had killed Ella. Jack had bowed his head, Zoe felt her heart clench. It was hard, she knew. She lost most of her anger when she saw a tear fall to the floor. Jack's shoulders were shaking, she knew that he was trying to be strong.

'Angel,' he whispered. 'I-I-'

Zoe wiped her own tears aside and dropped the bit of table, she stood on her tip toes and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He fell into her embrace burying his head in the crook of her throat. She let him have his time. A lot had happened in night. Not to mention yesterday.

'Will Sophie be okay?' He asked running his hand through her ponytail. Zoe sighed and decided to answer honestly.

'She will learn to cope. The loss of her brother will be hard, but as the balance goes, it is equal. She may feel like a part of her is missing however. The world will have to greatly adjust to her. All the things that her brother was going to do has to be changed. Other people's lives will be lengthened or shortened. Massive changes in the balance like that can set huge mistakes in motion. We will have to be extra vigilant.' She breathed in heavily. Okay she could have sugar coated that a little, but at the same time she had to make Jack realise the seriousness of the situation.

…

I had made up with Jack, kinda. It was going to be a rough week. I'm going to have to be looking for the potential scars that Jamie's death is going to cause. I've set Jack the task of trying to locate Baby Tooth, it might take his mind off Jamie for a while. I'm outside our home, I should probably tell you where we've finally decided to settle. It took a long time to find a place we both liked. We've been here for several years now. A meteor had fallen many years ago, it caused a hole deep in a mountain side. It was covered with a layer of ice at first, but I may have thrown Jack through that layer when we were arguing. It was a valid argument. Or at least I believe it was, I can't remember any more what it was about. Needless to say, I was right. But when we discovered the natural spring and earth covered base, we knew that we had to stay. North's yetis helped us carve into the granite to make our home. Grass and winter blooming flowers soon covered the earth now that the sun flooded the inside. We tiled the floors and you wouldn't be able to tell from the inside the house that we were in a cave. Electricity was still a no, but that didn't bother the either of us.

I have a piece of black marble in my hands, it's engraved with the current view of the world flattened out. This is a skill I created when I fucked up on my own. Basically I let my power flood over the marble and if I'm lucky I can sense the ripples from Jamie's passing. It's hard to do at the moment, I still have Sophie's conflicting memories and emotions in my mind, but I'm working through that. Nothing seems to be happening though. It doesn't always work, it's annoying but I'll try again later. I sit in the sun for a few minutes before a tremor shakes the ground beneath me. I hop to the balls of my feet and I'm almost knocked over as another more violent one shakes.

'What the fuck?' I say pressing my hand against the earth. Still. I raise a brow and go to leave. Without warning the ground disappears under my feet. I don't have time to even flap my wings before I fall deep enough that the earth closes above.

'What the fuu-' My curse turns into a scream as I fall.

Like I said, sorry about the boring chapter, also the length. There will be no update tomorrow, due to Luke's birthday. Sorry to keep you waiting guys, but next one, I promise is going to be funny (I know, but I like humour) As well as dark. Somehow. Haven't sorted the kinks out yet. As usual please review so I know what you think!