** Thoughts
"" Speak
~~ Flashback/Dream

Chapter 2


Nicholas awoke in a cold sweat. "Not again. . . ." he groaned softly. Using his left hand to brush back his messed blond hair, he remembered the dream he had just had . . . about Jade. Supposedly a memory, but not one that he recalled.

~A little boy ran after a little four year old. "Give it back!" he wailed.

The redhead giggled and said teasingly, "You want it? Huh?" She raised a fragile glass charm above her head. "You hafta catch me first!"

The blond boy sobbed. "No! You don't understand! GIVE IT BACK!" He kept chasing after her, when he suddenly tripped over a stone. He landed hard on his hands and knees and fell backwards with a cry.

The girl stopped and ran back to him. "Are you hurt?" She looked down and saw him clutching his knee.

"It hurts. . . ." he whimpered. She pried his fingers away and gave a noise of surprise. His fingers had blood spurting through them and trickling down his leg. He moaned and moved his hands back over it. "It's all your fault!" he screamed, tears streaming down his face.

"Shh. . . ." she said soothingly. "Take your hand away or I can't help you." He glared at her through his tears, but reluctantly obeyed. "Good. . . ." She looked into his pale blue eyes and softly asked, "Promise you won't run or scream or get scared or nothin'?"

This caught Nicholas by surprise, and the pain and blood was forgotten momentarily. "Why?"

Her green eyes looked down, saddened. "That's what all the other kids do," she said softly.

He winced as the pain shot up his leg. "I promise."

"And promise not to tell your parents about what I'm about to do!" she said, startling him again.

"I promise! I promise already!" he yelled.

She lowered her eyes again. "Take your hand off your knee."

"But it hurts. . . ."

Her green eyes turned feirce. "Do as I say unless you want to die!" Blood was still falling in streams down his leg and spilling through his clasped fingers. He groaned and took his hands off, tears falling down his face from the sting.

She rested a hand on his bloody knee calmly, and closed her eyes. A warm blue light surrounded her hand and his knee. It numbed the pain, and the blood stopped flowing, although he felt slightly dizzy now. When she took her hand away, it was bloody and messy, but she took off her shirt and wiped her hands off, then his leg and knee.

Nicholas gaped. There was no trace of the cut. No blood, no scab, scar, or scratch. Just smooth, pale skin. He looked up at her. "Thank you."

She smiled lightly. "I'm glad you didn't run like the others." Her eyes were shadowed as she said this.

"The others?"

"The other kids." She looked up, showing him her emerald green eyes, at the moment shadowed with sadness and deep with pain. "When they see my powers, they get scared. They run. They tell their parents. After that I'm not allowed to talk to them. Or see them, or play with them."

*That explains why she's an outcast,* Nicholas thought.

"Pappa always told me not to show them my powers, but kids are always getting hurt. But when I help them, they end up being afraid of me and living. But I know it's better than for them to like me and die."

Nicholas offered her a smile. "I'll be your friend."

She looked at him in surprise. "You're not scared?"

He shook his head, blond hair whisping around his head. "I think you're nice, and you're powers are cool. Plus kids like me. Maybe they can like you, too."

She backed away. "But they'll just say that it's dumb for you to be my friend, and they won't like you anymore. I can't do that."

"If they do that, then they're not my friends." He stood up. "I'm Nicholas."

She smiled at him, showing him her missing top two teeth. "I'm Jade."~



Nicholas growled. Stupid dream. Fuck. He didn't beleive anything it told him. Jade was his enemy, and if he wanted a place in ruling the world, he would have to do at the Stokars wanted.

The Stokars. They were an assembled group from all over the world. All of them knowing their mission; to capture Jade.

That was all they did. It was all they thought about, all they cared about. Jade. Capture. Power. Kill. Rule. Those were the five words of the Stokars. Jade, capture, power, kill, rule. Jade, capture, power, kill, rule. . . .

"Nicholas. We have another mission. We think we've found some associates of Jade."

He nodded. "Coming." When the soldier left, he growled, "I will capture Jade, I will rule, and I will kill her if need be."

He would.

It was his job.