Relic

Chapter 10: Second Bloom

Jeanne wakes up with a splitting headache. Around her, the world is pitch black. She holds her hand up to her head and she could barely see it. What's more is she can feel something constricting her neck. She could feel her heart pounding, trembling like a pipe that's built up too much pressure. Her shaking hands reach out, looking for comfort. What the hell happened to her?

"Jeanne!" She could hear Flare yell out. Somewhere Flare is nearby. She could feel her hands grabbing around her own. "Flare? Is that you?"

She could feel another hand. "Hey, don't leave me out of this."

"Ram. What's happening? I-I can't see anything."

"They took us hostage." Flare says. "They put these collars on our necks to prevent our powers."

"T-That explains m-my sudden blindness."

"Bastards put us back in those cages again." Ram complains.

"Yeah, I figured."

Ram groans. "I could punch my way out of here if not for these fucking collars, treating us like animals."

"I don't think these collars prevent our powers completely." Flare says.

"What do you mean?" Jeanne asks.

"I can see some faint embers in my hair still. If these collars worked, I wouldn't see any of that."

Jeanne nods her head, her mind flooding with ideas to test. She's still unfamiliar with her power, so she doesn't know a good way to call it. She strains her forehead, thinking effort alone would be enough. But soon, effort turns to desperation. Anxiety creeps back into her heart. Her whole body cries out, begging for her to curl up in her shell and escape from the world.

She refuses, gripping tightly to her sisters' hands. She can barely see it, but she can feel it. That dread, those crawling tendrils lapping at her ears. "Jeanne?" A panic rises in Flare's voice. On the back of her hand, a newly-etched blue light. A similar mark appears on Ram's. "What are you doing?" She asks.

"Shh." She demands of her sisters. She can't have her concentration broken now, or else her power would kill her mentally. She could almost imagine that face mere inches from her own, staring at her with those inhuman features. Bright lights appear in her periphery. Marks she's grown accustomed to. It's working. But to what extent? It's difficult for her to just break down a wall, or glass, or whatever it is that's containing them. Maybe she can boost the abilities of her sisters? But how much? Will it even be worth it? She should just give up. She's worthless. No, worse than that. She got her sisters into this mess, again. She's an active menace to all those important around her. This world would be better without her in it.

"No." She says aloud, pushing those thoughts from her mind. If she got them into this mess, then she will get them out. Jeanne calls on Ram's power, channeling it through the three of them like a circuit. But the strain on her body is unlike anything she's felt before. Even R's training went smoother than this. It's like she were dangling off the side of a cliff, too weak to climb up but unable to just let go and plummet to her death. Her lungs burn. She's out of breath, but she must keep breathing. She needs to tell her sisters something important, but she can't

Suddenly, relief. Her neck frees up. She can feel bits of the collar fall down her body. "Holy shit, you did it Jeanne!" Ram praises her. "You let me break out of my collar." She says, reaching over to Flare to break hers as well.

"I did?"

"Who else?"

She can't believe the words coming out of Ram's mouth. She knows she doesn't lie, and yet those words seem like they were spoken on accident. "Really?"