Chapter 3
Beck was shaking by the time Tori had finished her story. He could remember everything- how cold she had been, how pale and still. Tori had regained a bit more of her coloring, but she still looked as though she was on the other side of a dusty window.
"Is...Is she still…?" He asked carefully.
"Yes. But she's not really- responding." Tori said quietly. Beck nodded. He stood up quickly and ran out.
He passed the lunch table, where Jade was still, eerily enough, sitting right where he had left her. Everyone around looked less colorless and Cat was smiling happily again. "Babe, what's wrong?" Jade asked, concerned, as he ran past. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her forward.
He wasn't even surprised when she went right through the table.
"Oh my god," Beck said quietly as he walked into Jade's hospital room. The Jade beside him stared down at herself, though she didn't seem very surprised. Beck slumped into a chair, his hand to his temple. 'Jade' sat down beside him.
"How can you be here and still lying unconscious on a hospital bed?" Beck asked her warily. He didn't really feel insane, so why was he talking to the live double of his comatose girlfriend?
"It's… Complicated." Jade said carefully, looking nervously at herself as though she was afraid of what would happen if she told. Beck chuckled sardonically. "Well, we have a lot of time, waiting for you to wake up."
"See, that's the thing. That- that version of me isn't… She's… I'm not going to wake up." Jade said slowly. "What?!" Beck yelled, rising to his feet.
"No, no, shh… No one else can see me, remember? You're going to be institutionalized, and that- that would not be good." She grabbed him and pulled him back down, looking pale. Well, paler than usual. "Let me finish." Beck nodded reluctantly.
"When that version of me… When she's… Gone, per say, I'm going to take her place. I'm still me, I have all her memories, I'm just a- a- I'm just different."
"So you're going to remember this, being out of your body and everything?"
"Yeah. I'll remember everything that's happened, including actually dying. That'll be interesting."
Beck chuckled. Only Jade would find it interesting to remember dying. It was silent for a moment. Finally Beck said, "Are you a hallucination? Am I going crazy?"
Jade took a deep breath. "No. I'm not."
"Are you a ghost? Like your spirit came away and that's how she's- you're going to come back?"
"No."
"Are you an angel?"
Jade's mouth twisted and she laughed bitterly. "I didn't exactly go that direction." Beck's eyes widened. "You- you went to-" He stuttered, shocked. She seemed so sweet and pure to him, it had never occurred to him all the things she said and did to the rest of the world. Jade laughed.
"Relax, Beck. It's not that bad. It's probably more fun than heaven." She said casually. Beck stared at her.
"But you're supposed to be tortured all the time in hell!" Beck exclaimed. How could it be fun being tortured?!
"We aren't. That's all a lie. Why would Satan torture his subjects when he could be putting us to so much better use? The main difference between heaven and hell is that in heaven, you pretty much have to be nice and tell the truth and not hurt anyone or anything and basically be an angel. In hell, you can do whatever you want. You can run down the street naked and no one would look twice, they'd just assume you're drunk."
Beck raised his eyebrows. "I don't even know where to begin with that." Jade looked at him patiently. "First of all, you're saying you've met Satan?"
"Yep." Jade said, looking extremely proud of herself. "Only, if you tell anyone, or I tell anyone besides you, anything about him, I'm going to 'mysteriously disappear' for two weeks. According to him."
"What's he- what's he like?" Beck asked, morbidly curious. Jade laughed. "He's really pale, and he has short black hair and the stereotypical curly goatee and an awesome sense of humor."
"You've spent enough time with him to know he has a sense of humor?" Beck asked slowly. That was something he never thought he'd say, that he was slightly jealous of the Devil. "Relax, Beck. There's not a lot of people I know down there, and of course he's the first person who talked to me, and I have to spend some time down there to get my work done or else I won't be able to come up here while I'm in limbo." Jade assured him before adding, "And yes. He has a kick-ass sense of humor."
"So you… Work for the Devil? You're like, the devil's apprentice? Should I be worried for my life?" He half-joked. Jade laughed but shook her head.
"Actually, you're the reason I'm allowed to be here and come back. There aren't too many people down there that love someone as much as I love you and manage to get themselves caught in this area between life and death, and when the other person is alive, it creates a very- a very rare creature."
Beck's eyes widened. "A creature?" He asked suspiciously. "What kind of creature?"
Jade sighed. "That's the thing I'm not allowed to tell you. It's kind of like my test. To be allowed to stay, you have to find out what I am by yourself and do one more thing, which I'm honestly surprised you haven't done yet, since I've been here for almost a month."
Beck would have asked what the other thing was, but he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to tell him that either. "So what does this prove? What's your test supposed to show him?"
"That you love me enough to find out on your own what I am, and not be scared and not try any exorcisms."
Beck smiled. "I wasn't planning on it. So, when you come back, will you still be whatever creature you are now?" He questioned. Jade nodded. "And does this have anything to do with why everyone seems to be deteriorating?"
"It's an unfortunate side effect. Basically, what you're seeing is that Jade's-" she gestured to the Jade on the hospital bed- "Deterioration, both physically and mentally. But one of the things with us is, you always see us as what you remember before our near-death experience, so the effects are kind of projected onto everyone else. They'll fade as you bring me closer to coming back."
"Wait. Am I the one responsible for when you come back?" Beck asked her.
"Yeah. So hurry up. I want to see everyone's faces when I die."
A/N; So what is Jade?! I have no idea! Yes I do, but do you? Do you know enough about your creepy demon creatures to save Jade from limbo?! And what do you think the other thing is that he has to do?! I bet you'll be shocked by how simple it is and surprised that it hasn't happened in almost a month.