Jet and Jade | Black and White 1

Chapter 31: Jet

Let me go, Siro, I said in my mind, unable to control my body.

No, Mistress, the demoness replied.

She forced Jade out of the way to get to the Qwen.

If I really was your mistress, you would! I snapped. You're the one who keeps calling me that!

I'm sorry, Mistress. Not this time.

Siro made my fingers wrap around the Qwen's neck.

"That's all you have to give?" she said coolly in her smooth voice. "I would've thought it would be harder."

Stop it now! I demanded.

She ignored me.

You're making Jade hate me, Siro! Stop! I shouted.

She already does, Siro said.

I stilled. No.

She didn't reply.

Chains of silver materialized in my hand, and Siro promptly flicked the end at the Qwen.

"No!" Jade's voice screamed.

I wasn't expecting her to rush in front of the Qwen and block the strike with light, but it still hurt to see her so defensive of a Qwen. Besides, she had never acted that way, for me.

Well, of course she wouldn't. She didn't trust me. Never had.

It just showed how much she trusted this Qwen. Foolishness. He was planning to trick her. Or maybe he already had.

No, not maybe. I had seen the telltale shine in his disgusting Qwen brown eyes when he watched Jade shout at me. It was obvious, to me, to Siro, to everyone standard in this world.

But Jade wasn't standard. She was sheltered, my fault, I supposed. She was naive, trusting - why didn't she trust me then? - and uncorrupted by the world of the Qwen.

My lip curled condescendingly, and I was in no position to make my body stop.

"I'm trying to save you, you know," Siro spat as she slashed her whip again, reaching past Jade. "Even though I only leave you alive for Mistress' sake."

Don't you dare, I snarled.

Jade flinched as the side of the whip flew past her head, inches away from her face. Then a light force field was formed, shooting away the whip.

"You're not trying to save me," Jade stated. "All you want is to kill my friend, how is that saving me? I won't allow that."

Siro scoffed. "Haha, friend." Her laugh didn't match her tone.

Siro! I shouted.

"Jade, do you know who exactly your friend is?"

And suddenly, I was back. I could feel myself. I could control myself again. I could feel my hair and eyes fading to black, my skin shades darker than when Siro was in control.

Why did she have to go at that exact moment?

"What are you talking about?" Jade glared at me. This time, I could feel the intensity of her anger.

I shook my head. She would never believe me.

"Then let's leave." Jade turned back to her path of light, grabbing the Qwen's arm.

I knew what Siro had meant. This Qwen was a general of his kind, so famed that we all knew him.

But Jade hadn't recognized him.

"No!" The word slipped from my mouth before I could stop it. "Jade, let - let me explain. Please."

"You had your chance," Jade snapped. "You've had it for years, but you kept lying to me. You never wanted to tell me back then! And now that I'm leaving, you will?!"

"Jade - "

"Don't take me for granted, Jet! I'm not always going to want to stay with you!"

"Jade - "

"You know, there were times when  I wanted to leave." Jade's voice turned harsh and unyielding. "I felt so suppressed. It was like you never let me be myself, you never let me be free. Your presence was so strong it almost burned me, Jet. You stopped me from reaching my full potential. Why? So that I could never leave you? So that I would always need to depend on you? Well, I don't, you liar. I can survive by myself perfectly. I just never left, because I loved you.

"I admit, I was trying to find you when I met Arvion. Because I thought you were in danger. I was trying to help you when I was weaker than you, because you were my sister. But, now... I don't feel the same anymore. You know what, Jet? You are no longer my sister."

That was when it snapped.

The bond between our souls just broke, just like that.

I gasped as the overwhelming pain shot through me. It was like there wasn't enough air. My breaths grew heavier as I felt my legs collapsing, unable to take my weight anymore, and I fell to my knees.

When I looked up, black spots were dancing in my vision, and I wondered if what I saw was real. I wondered if Jade, standing over me without a care in the world, smirk on her face, was real.

Maybe this was all a hallucination. Perhaps she was standing there to help me, giving me a reassuring smile, worry in her expression, telling me it was alright, saying she was there for me.

But I knew everything was real. The pain told me so. It screamed at me, telling me the one sentence I could never bear to tell myself -

Jade no longer cared about me.

If she still did, she wouldn't have shattered my soul.