Tainted Balance

A Painful Reunion

((Jordan's POV))

My heart pounded in my chest as I made my way to Tom's house. I was nervous. Extremely so. I would be loyal to my Lady no matter what she asked of me but.. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. I needed to focus. My Lady trusted me to get this final task done. I will not disappoint her. If I do.. I might be the one to end up dead. ..Is it wrong that, after all I've done, I don't think I'd mind all that much? To die I mean. I groan, stopping in my tracks as I drag a hand down my face. I feel a headache slowly inching its way into existence. Lovely. Just what I needed. I sigh and continue to make my way to Tom's house.

"Let's get this over with.." I mutter to myself.

((Time skip to Tom's house))

It was late, sometime at night I think. It wasn't totally dark however, so it couldn't have been that late. I'd been a lot farther away than I anticipated. Taking a deep breath to try and calm my nerves, I grip the handle of my sword and pull it out of its sheath. My hand shakes as I tighten my grip on it. The once comfortable weight of it now feels like an anchor dragging me down to the bottom of an endless pit. The silver metal is still dirty, stained with dried blood. I haven't cleaned it from when I..

"Wag.." I mutter, feeling my heart pang and stomach churn at the memory. I.. I killed him. I feel like I'm about to be sick.. I look away from the blade, taking deep breathes and trying to stop myself from throwing up then and there. "Get a hold of yourself Jordan.. You can't lose focus now. Just get in and out."

I hear a slow soft creak of a door opening. I snap my head up towards the source of the noise. I feel the blood drain from my face as I realize who I'm looking at. The dirty sword slips from my hand as my stomach flips. I feel sick again..

"Tom.."

"Jordan?!" He sounds so relieved to see me. So happy. Apparently he doesn't see the sword, or maybe he does and just doesn't care. Either way, he runs over to me and practically tackles me into a hug. I feel him shaking slightly.. Is that my fault?

"Where the hell have you been?! I've been worried sick, you ass!" He pulls away but keeps both hands on my shoulders in a tight grip, like I'd fade away if he lets go. In a way.. I guess I sort of will. Though, he will have to be the one to fade.

"Jordan? Answer me! ..Please?" Tom's voice snaps be out of my thoughts and back to reality. I blink a few times, remembering who I was talking to, where I was.. What I had to do..

"Oh.. Sorry Tom. I-I'm a bit out of it." I mumble, rubbing my eyes with one hand. I need to concentrate. Can't get distracted now.

"It-It's fine. But where were you? Me and the others have been worried sick!"

I wince a bit as he mentions everyone else. I feel absolutely, totally guilty.. And I should be. "I've been.. Around I suppose." I shrug, hoping the vague answer would work for now.

"And where is 'around' exactly? Because it sure as hell isn't around here."

I shrug again, looking away. I didn't want to answer..

I hear him sigh. Guess he's giving up on that for now.. Thankfully.

"Ok.. I guess we'll answer that later. Are you hurt? Do you need help or anything?" I freeze as I feel him step closer, his hands gently brush over my face as he looks for injuries that aren't there. I flush and shake my head, my heart pounding.

"N-No Tom I'm fine." But he won't be.

"Are you sure? I have bandages and shit inside if you need it!" He points back towards his still open door and takes a few steps back, as if he were going back inside.

My heart flutters as I hear the concern in his voice practically dripping off each word. He sounds so.. Worried about me. A lot more worried than he should. It's kind of adorable.

I shake my head and manage a weak smile. "Tom, I'm fine. Really."

'You're getting distracted' A broken, distorted voice snaps in my head. The small smile instantly drops as I wince slightly. Are.. Are they coming back..?

'Oh Jordan..' One of them coos, false concern prominent in its tone, 'wE nEVeR lEfT'

I gasp as I feel something break in my mind, like a dam. Voices start pouring in, all of them meshing together and making each other's words sound like garbled noise at best.

"Jordan? What's wrong?" I can barely hear Tom over the practically screaming voices. I grip my head as it pounds. It hurts.. It never hurt before. Why does it hurt? I pant a bit as my vision blurs, everything melding into a thick purple haze before clearing again. Back and forth, back and forth. It made me dizzy. The world tilts, or rather I fall over. I can hear Tom shout my name and the thumps of his footsteps as he runs over to me. But everything sounds.. Muffled. Like I'm listening to it underwater. The voices, however, are clear. They're screaming at me now and suddenly they all chant the same thing.

'kill him'

'Kill Him'

'KILL HIM'

'K I L L H I M'

The pain escalated and seems to spread all over my body like fire. Everything hurts. It feels like I'm being ripped apart and set on fire. I can hear someone screaming.. I think it's me. The voices are split now, half still screeching at me to kill Tom and the other half apparently laughing at my misery. I can't feel anything else besides the pain. Not the ground, not the grass, nothing. It's like I don't even exist.. I wish I didn't at this point. It feels like years pass by, pain practically engulfing my entire being. I feel hot.. Too hot. I'm burning. It hurts.. It's too hot. Hot.. HothothothothOTHOTHOT!

And suddenly, it all stops. The voices fade, my vision clears and I can feel the grass and such again. My vision is still slightly blurry. I briefly wonder what before I feel something hot and wet trailing down my face. Tears. Was I crying? Am I crying? I take a deep but shaky breath, like I hadn't been breathing for.. However long that was. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. I feel something cool cupping my face, soothing the nonexistent burns. I see a figure above me.. I blink away the few tears left and I see Tom, looking like I'd just killed his puppy or something.

"..T..Tom?" I croak, my throat raw and aching. He lit up and I felt his hands tremble slightly.

"J-Jordan! Are you okay? Wh-what happened? You said you were fine but you just.. You just collapsed and started screaming! Dianite you had me worried, man!"

I winced at the volume of his voice, it wasn't helping the headache that was coming on.

"I..I don't know.." I mumbled. And it was true. I didn't know what happened. I don't even know how long I was there for.. Just thinking about it made my head somehow hurt more than it already was. I feel tired.. I can hear Tom talking but I can't make out the words. My eyelids feel heavy, maybe I can just shut my eyes for a minute? ..Just a minute. I hear Tom sigh and pick me up before I fall asleep. Or rather, pass out.

(( I AM TIRED YAY! But seriously! I woke up at 2 in the morning for some reason and then I got the idea to write this chapter! I started writing at like 3 AM and now it's 7 AM. ...o o p s? Ah well, I really like this chapter! Over 1,000 words! There's gonna be a lot of errors and plotholes and things that generally don't make any sense probably though. What can I say I wrote this while half asleep. //shrug// Hopefully it isn't too bad but I'll go over it again when I'm more lucid. Just in case. But anyways! I hope you all enjoyed and I will see all you lovely people in the next chapter! Later!))