Jet felt himself slowly coming back to consciousness. He immediately saw Ruby's face as she slept next to him. She looked just as beautiful as she had done last night.
Sunlight shone through the tent flap as he climbed out of the sleeping bag.
"RUBY! JET!" Yang yelled, and to Jet, she sounded quite far away.
"WHERE ARE YOU!?" Jet heard Lilac yell. Sighing, he pulled his t-shirt and trousers on before igniting his powers. He stepped out of the dark field, intending to lay into them for possibly waking Ruby up, when he realised that they didn't know where they were. His eyes fell on the purple field he'd created, and it clicked.
They'd been in the dark field, and one of them must have looked inside their tent.
Realising he'd have to figure out a way out of this one, Jet hiked up to where he could hear Yang and Lilac.
They were at the top of the basin, and were scanning the snowy plains for them. Jet tapped them both from behind. Yang wheeled around, Lilac jumping with fright.
"Where were you?" they asked.
"New power." Jet replied. He summoned a dark field and morphed it so that it covered him like a full body suit, and he knew that, to Yang and Lilac, he had vanished on the spot. "It activated during the night."
"Wow, that's cool!" Lilac said eagerly, but Yang's face was still stern.
"Where's Ruby?" she asked.
"Back in the tent. She was getting changed when I left, give her a bit of time." Jet replied, letting the dark field vanish so that they could see him again.
"Just bring her to me once she's done." Yang requested, with a sigh. "And no funny business!" she added as he began to move back down to their camp. A growl escaped Jet. What was her problem? He turned around to see her watching their tent, and flew back to her, still enshrouded in purple flames.
"What's your problem?" he asked.
"Now's not the time to test me, Jet. Just get Ruby." Yang replied, her face beginning to redden. Jet chuckled, audible enough for Yang to hear.
"Yes, because you can threaten a living god, sis." Jet retorted sarcastically, putting emphasis on the last word. "In fact, why don't you have a go if you've got to vent?"
He hadn't meant to say that last part.
Yang's hair were embers at the tips as she glowered at him. Something had to be bothering her, though what, he had no idea. And where was Lilac? Her hands curled into fists, and Jet felt a rush of savage pleasure in the fight to come, especially when he saw Ember Cecilia deploy around her fists.
He raised his hand, constructing another dark field, in the shape of an arena around them both. The size was similar to a basketball court. Truth be told, Jet knew he needed to get things out of his system as well.
"You brought this on yourself, Jet." Yang growled, before screaming with an inarticulate rage, and her semblance activated, erupting in uncontrolled flames all around her.
Jet, who was already shrouded in his own from head to toe, summoned Doomsayer and Darkening, and crouched, shield up and lance aimed at his target, before nodding his head slightly, indicating he was ready for her.
Yang wasted no time at all, and charged him, running as fast as she could to close the gap between them. Jet fired off a weak burst of lasers from Doomsayer before she reached him, and when she did, he raised Darkening and unleashed a wave of force from the shield that knocked Yang off balance. Transitioning from stable crouch to combat position swiftly, Jet swung his lance in a quick, wide arc, nailing Yang in the side and knocking her flat on her back before she could recover.
He took flight as she got up, and flew to the other side of their makeshift arena, before landing and focussing his aura into five places around him. Charcoal bolts of electricity flowed around these five points, and he waited until Yang was running at him again before sending them at her. She ducked the first and jumped over the second, but was forced to dive out of the way of the third and fourth, the fifth connecting.
Yang yelled out in pain and collapsed, the dark volts spiralling around her, draining her aura and her semblance with it. The effect was gradually increasing, the power flowing through her too much to bear.
"Goodnight." Jet said. "The gods are not to be challenged by mortals. You should have known that."
He turned his back. Several moments passed, then he heard the sound of Yang grunting. He turned around to see her struggling to her feet, the bolts gone. Jet was surprised. How did someone resist his powers?
"I'M DONE BEING POWERLESS!" Yang roared, and her flames burned brighter than ever. Before Jet could react, she shoulder tackled him to the ground, before lifting the angel by the legs and spinning round and round.
Jet felt himself get dizzier and dizzier as she span, before Yang swung him up and over, straight into the snow, face-first. He tasted blood as his teeth bit deep into his own tongue, though his godly aura had protected him from the majority of the damage to his body.
The respite didn't last long. Yang lifted Jet up into the air once again, and threw him several meters away, and Jet felt himself hitting the ground again, rolling over several times before coming to a complete halt. Head pounding from the swinging, Jet slowly got back up on his haunches, and looked up at Yang.
Inside, rage burned like a bonfire.
How dare a mortal like her think to take him down?
How dare she even think for a second that her anger was more powerful than his own?
Did she think she was the only one with problems?
This and a thousand more other questions roiled around in Jet's head, until he stood up, and faced his opponent again. His fires were burning red hot, and they were now completely red. This was definitely a reversion, but he didn't care.
Instead of resisting the pain, he let it in. He felt the surge of strength in his muscles and his body warm with his rage. The aura around him crackled and spat as he dropped his weapons, curling his fists. Never before had he channelled his temper like this, and he felt all the more furious.
But there was a first time for everything.
"HOW DARE YOU?!" Jet boomed back, the noise shaking the powder snow around them, his powers raising his voice to epic proportions. "I WILL CRUSH YOU!"
He was on Yang in mere seconds, upper-cutting her straight in the gut with the force of a thunderbolt. Jet heard the tell-tale shattering of her aura as he sent her flying backwards, Yang hitting the edge of the dark field as he willed it to solidify. She hit the ground, and Jet raised his arms, before channelling all the power he could into a sphere of force which grew in-between his hands.
Once it was the size of a large boulder, Jet hurled it at his half-sister, watching it streak towards her.
There was no way she could dodge it.
A loud BOOM sounded out upon the impact, before an explosion of force so large it buffeted Jet with bits of earth and snow.
Once the last of the red flames had cleared, a crater had been blown out of the ground. Jet kept his flames up, though he felt himself calming down. His flames were returning to their violet hue with a reddish tinge, though said tinge seemed to have grown, to the point where some of the flames were red, and others were purple.
He crossed the edge of the crater, and found a soot-covered Yang, splayed out in the center, flat on her back. Jet summoned two flames threateningly, as if daring her to try anything, but as he did so, she opened her eyes.
"Jet, stop." she said, panting. "I'm calm."
Jet debated. How would it be if he showed her who was dominant once and for all, to really drill into her brain who was master here?
'Stop, you fool.' Jet thought to himself. She had surrendered, and it would do more harm than good to keep fighting. With that in mind, he waved away the fireballs and stepped down the crater, which was the size of a swimming pool.
Upon reaching the bottom and the dazed Yang, he reached out a hand. She took it, and Jet pulled her up, still maintaining his strength. Once she was up, Yang regarded him with a curious expression, a cross between regret and fear. She was completely covered in soot, the whites of her eyes visible amongst completely blackened skin.
"Tell me why you were so angry inside, sister." Jet requested. Yang paused, and her eyes darted from Jet to somewhere to his left. It was as if she was trying to make up her mind.
"Have you ever known how it feels to be completely powerless?" Yang asked, keeping her eyes on Jet. "To be completely useless when someone you love is being hurt? Do you, bro?" Jet took his time before answering.
"No. All this time, I've been strong. Whenever someone was with me, and they were in danger, I've always had the strength to protect them." Jet replied honestly. "Since becoming a living god, I've never had a situation where Ruby was in danger in front of me, without my being able to do something."
"I have." Yang said. "I've been going through it a lot recently, with my family. You and Ruby."
"Oh?" Jet questioned. Yang closed her eyes, as if re-feeling an emotional tidal wave.
"Ruby's upsets over you, your Reversions or whatever, the times when one of you breaks the other." Yang continued. "Each time, I feel useless, because I can't do anything. All this time, all I can do is watch. If anyone hurts Ruby, I hurt them back. If anyone messes with you, I know you'll handle them yourself, or call for me, right?"
"Right." Jet confirmed.
"But with this relationship thing, I can't protect you two. With this Angel of Darkness thing, I can't protect you two. It happens again and again, and I get frustrated. It just pisses me the fuck off." Yang asserted.
"Listen, Yang." Jet said, insistently. "What I said before wasn't entirely true. I've been helpless once before, where I couldn't do anything."
"When?" Yang immediately asked.
"Back when Ruby and I were visiting Summer's grave." Jet replied. "In the aftermath, Flux attacked us. Took me down, Ruby wasn't far behind me. We were both going to die." He noticed Yang's fists clench. "Raven threw herself in the way of Flux's attack and shielded us from her. She repelled her, but by then she was mortally wounded. She died, and I had nothing to save her with. No power or any kind of semblance that could help. I was distraught."
"Wait, our mom is dead?" Yang asked, disbelievingly. Jet felt tears in his eyes, and he bowed his head.
"Yes." Jet replied. "She was warned by Izzet, we both were, but she went with it anyway to protect us."
"I don't understand." Yang said. "How did Izzet know?"
"She's a farseer." Jet answered tearfully. "We swore to each other not to admit it until it was important. You should know, your mum was… a really kind person."
"But don't you see that I'm hurting when you're hurting?" Yang asked. "You're a Xiao-Rose, and I'm going to keep you safe with Ruby. Promise me to at least let me keep you safe."
Jet couldn't speak anymore. It was too hard. His mind was fuzzy, his emotions in turmoil. He didn't even care about the soot when Yang wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him into a hug.