Shattered (Sequel to Shadowfax)

An Explosive Personality

           

Jade and Loki had their backs pressed flat against the bark of a tree, arms covering their faces as white-hot tongues of flame blasted against the front of the tree. A few yards away, Clint was perched in the topmost branches of another tree, doing his best not to get barbecued.

              "Jade..." Abby sang. A chill rippled down the Scotty's spine, and her knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on her daggers. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

              Loki started to creep around the tree, stopping when Jade hooked her fingers into his shirt collar. He raised an eyebrow at her antics. Jade shook her head, placing a finger over her lips and pointing to her darts. Her drugged darts. Loki inclined his head in sudden understanding.

              With a wave of his hand, the air in front of Loki's face rippled before the trickster vanished completely. Jade's breath caught as she felt him brush past her, his warm fingers grazing her cold ones. Then he pulled away, and the warmth faded. Jade shook herself and fingered one of her darts—a strong sedative she reserved for a rainy day. A humid afternoon in the middle of the Wakandan jungles would have to do.

              Across the clearing, one of Loki's holograms materialized. He whistled tauntingly at Abby, giving her a snarky little wave as she whirled around. She bared her teeth at him and sent a warning fireball whizzing past his face. Holo-Loki sidestepped the burning projectile easily, and the tree beside him burst into flames. "I suppose the term 'fiery temper' would be an understatement?"

              Abby ignored him, her eyes searching the surrounding greenery. "Jade? Where aaare yooou? Hiding behind your friends again?" No answer. "SHOW YOURSELF, YOU MURDEROUS SKANK!"

              Loki maintained his bored expression. "Might I suggest a grief therapist? Possibly an anger management class?"

              "I'll kill him," Abby threatened. She jabbed a red nail in his direction. "I'll gut and roast him like a swine on a spit. I'll make you watch."

              "My, you're rather morbid," Loki observed.

              "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Abby stamped her foot, and a jet of flame roared over Holo-Loki's head. She rounded on him now, taking her eyes away from Jade's tree. "I'll kill you! I'll kill her! I'll kill your archer! I'll consume this jungle—this world—in flames for what you did to my precious Manny-kins!"

              Jade had to stuff her fist in her mouth to quell her giggling, and Loki's shoulders shook with barely restrained laughter. Clint allowed a small grin to steal across his lips.

              "With a pet name like that," Loki commented, "It's a wonder he didn't kill himself."

              "H-how dare you!" Abby spluttered. "I'll kill you for that!"

              "You keep saying that— 'I'll kill you.' I don't think you quite understand what that term means. I have yet to suffer a singed hair."

              Abby screeched again, and this time her flames hit Holo-Loki dead-on. However, where there should have been a flambéed Trickster God, there was a fairly neat circle of blackened dirt. A few feet away, Holo-Loki reappeared with a disapproving glare on his face.

              Loki plucked a leaf from his coat. "Maybe you should forget this little vendetta of yours. You're not very good at the whole 'vengeance' aspect of it."

              "Not likely," Abby hissed. A grief-stricken look flashed through her eyes. "I loved Manny. He was my whole world—the match to my flame. Even in death, all I do is for that whom I love."

              Jade began creeping up behind her, the sedative in hand. Her hand was trembling as Abby went on. "I was going to marry him. We were going to live for each other for the rest of our lives."

              Jade got closer. Loki's hologram wavered.

              "I know he wasn't a nice man, but he understood my crazy. He loved me for it." Her gaze was glassy. "Have you ever met someone with enough crazy to give you a little bit of sanity?"

              Jade, who had begun to lunge down with the sedative, froze. Her knuckles whitened as she gripped it like a lifeline. Loki's hologram faded as he lost concentration, and a wave of fear washed over his heart. Understanding dawning in her fevered gaze, Abby turned and gasped as she found herself inches away from her lover's killer. Jade croaked, "Abby, I..."

              Abby smiled at her sadly, the fever-light in her eyes becoming a ring of white. She reached out and gripped Jade's shoulders, as if in a daze. "What could you possibly say? This is a world of strife and conflict, where love is the last refuge. What is there to say to someone who lost their refuge?"

              Abby tilted her forehead down to touch Jade's in an intimate sort of embrace. Her red hair danced in the breeze, like the wild flames of a wild fire. "In the end, we are nothing but ashes and dust."

              Her hair burst into flames, and her body grew brighter and brighter. Jade screamed as Abby's palms seared into her shoulder. The ground bubbled and rumbled, steam rising off it in waves. Loki began to sprint for Jade, reaching out to wrench her away from Abby's deadly embrace. He gasped in pain as the heat hit him like a wave. He felt as if he had reached into a fire as he grasped Jade's arm. She was still screaming as he hauled her away from Abby and sheltered her behind a tree.

              Loki and Jade finally out of the way, Clint finally found his window. He let his arrow fly, a clean shot that whistled as it flew through the air. It hit home, piercing Abby's heart. The woman gasped, more in relief than in pain. By now the fire had completely enveloped her. A white light spilled from her eyes and mouth, and her mad laughter was heard as it got brighter and brighter.

              Loki rolled on top of Jade as the world burst into a fiery explosion. He hissed at the heat, pressing Jade to his chest until the flames receded. Cautiously, he pulled back and assessed the damage.

              There was little more than charcoal where Abby had been. The trees nearest to the explosion had been completely roasted. Clint had been forced to take a last-minute leap of faith into the branches of a neighboring tree to avoid being fried. A few bird feathers floated through the air, turning to smoke before they hit the ground.

              As Loki was surveying the damage, Clint picked his way across the clearing. He brushed past the trickster and knelt beside Jade's trembling form. She groaned when Clint touched the hand-shaped burn marks on her shoulder. Clint scooped her up without a second thought, careful to avoid agitating her wounds. Turning his back on Loki and the clearing, he began the trek back to the jeep.

              Jade reached a blind hand out through Clint's arms, her lips moving in silent question. Loki caught it, and spent the rest of the trip with his fingers intertwined with hers.

...

              Sphinx yelped as she slapped away another mosquito. Beside her, Jax rolled his eyes. "Again?"

              The Romani girl grimaced and wiped the bug guts off with a corner of her shirt, stepping cautiously over a tree root. "I don't understand what this jungle has against me."

              "Must be your animal magnetism." Jax grinned, earning himself a whack on the arm. He laughed, nudging her playfully. "Aw, come on, Sphinx. You've barely said two words since we left. Loosen up."

              "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little worried," she admitted. Jax shot her another one of his crooked grins, and her heart fluttered a little. "About Jade? Don't stress over it too much. She can hold her own."

              'Jade's not the one I'm worried about.' He started ahead again, and Sphinx hesitated for a moment before following suit. She was so lost in her thoughts that when Jax hit the brakes, she almost fell into him (not that Sphinx would have minded). "Jax? What is it?"

              "We've got company."

A/N It took me forever to get this up. Especially with FINALS this week. Happy Holidays my lovely readers!