Shadow's Dance (V3)

Chapter 16: Confident Fear

Asthenophobia, the fear of being seen as weak.
Pistanthrophobia, the fear of trusting people.
Merinthophobia, the fear of being bound.
Leukophobia, the fear of the color white.
Isolophobia, the fear of being isolated.

All of her fears were caused by Phantom and how they tried to wire her behavior. There was one that was caused by her own reaction:

Chorophobia, the fear of dancing.

Jane use to love dancing with her old friends after a big victory. Bringing out blissful amounts of energy that required little because of their mood. All that they desired was happiness. Hooting and tapping to melodies they would laugh together, sing songs of triumphs of battle, tell stories and dreams to one another, and eventually what tethered them altogether was death.

There wasn't anyone to keep that flame alive. Besides, even after their death, her powers weren't the same. No longer activated by passion of togetherness and righteousness, the darkness started eating away at her. It was the embodiment of chaos that her own discipline stopped something that was once innocent from turning her corrupted.

That's why she sat clearing her mind from the thoughts that threatened stability within. It's what kept her sane through the years of isolation. However, even that couldn't control the new chaos that wanted only destruction. Her horns had grown more, whatever that was injected into her caused an abnormal consumption of energy. Chopping them off would not delay what was happening.

Jane heard a faint knock at the door a few hours after getting back. Quietly shifting behind a wall as the knocks got more pronounced.

"Jane?" Said someone out of breath. "What's going on?"
Only one person, no one down the hall waiting or weapons on him. Jane opened the door after putting something over her horns. It was just Mathew who found it hard to breath at her door.

"What do you mean by 'I brought you into this'? How-" He took in gulps of air. "How do you know them?"

Jane pushed him inside before answering. "Breath, and think about it. How could I know with just one encounter?"

"You were targeting them?" Once Jane shook her head no. Mathew got tense as he came to a conclusion. "Your the vigilante, that's why you wouldn't tell me anything else. That's how you managed to disarm that guard, all of those bodies." He was almost horrified but at the same time excited.

She rested a hand on his shoulder while crouching. "I need a rock so I don't do bad thing, really bad thing." Jane's voice calmed him a little. "Can I count on you?"

Mathew swallowed. "Why me?"

"You're determined and a good investigator. I need someone normal, one with a moral compass, not a fool given power." Jane walked to the nearby window and waited for him to follow. "I understand if you deny to continue with me but I thought you had a right to know." Snow fell gracefully on the ground below.

He huffed as his mind cleared. "What are you called?"

One eyebrow was raised in slight surprise before turning back. "Night Caller, Blue Wolf, Quick Kill, Horned Angle, I've heard it all." She cleared her dry throat. "If you ever hear someone call me Black Sheep run." Jane turned to Mathew.

"But, what do you want to be called?" His eyes had roaring yellow flakes that shimmered against the leaking light into the room.