InsaneJournal

WHO: Jade
WHAT: A Toclafane attack leads to a life altering decision.
WHEN: Nowish.
WHERE: Jade's apartment.
RATING: PG-13 (to be safe; mentions of blood and violence)
STATUS: Complete; Narrative

Ever since Cas had taken back his Grace, Jade had kept mostly to herself. She knew it wasn't really fair, for her to distance herself from everyone else – especially him – but she couldn't help it. She understood why he'd done it; she would have done the same for him or any other number of people she cared about. However she couldn't pretend that it didn't bother her to suddenly be the only former angel in the city. They'd shared a bond, before, and it felt as though that had been severed now. Which, again, wasn't very fair for her to decide without even giving him a chance, but Jade wasn't in a very fair mood at the moment.

In fact, Jade's current mood was leaning for more toward listless. No doubt a dangerous place to be, considering the invasion going on, but try as she might she couldn't really bring herself to care. Either this was the real deal, and people were going to stay dead if others like Cas didn't make deals for them to return, or it was all going to revert to type at the end. Either way, her friend had become an angel once more and Jade felt even more on the outside of things than she normally did. Which was saying a lot, really.

Of course, being listless and actually feeling no desire to live were two very different things. And while she didn't have much desire to leave the apartment, or even check her PDA, the second four Toclafane appeared in her living room as though they had every right to be there, Jade realized quickly that she very much did have a desire not to die. In fact, it was an extremely strong desire and it prompted her to her feet and toward the furthest wall, away from the giggling, hovering balls of death as she could manage.

"How did you get in here?" she questioned, brow furrowing as she glanced at each one in turn. They were buzzing about, whipping closer only to draw back when she flinched, their giggles filling the apartment and grating on her nerves. Her eyes narrowed a bit. "Go!" she ordered, motioning toward the door in a vague sort of way. "Get out of here!"

"Such a sad, sad girl, never wants to play, only cries, cries, cries…"

Jade's mouth pressed shut and she swallowed hard. Her stomach dropped as a second one chirped up with, "We like it when sad girls cry. Such pretty, pretty tears. We want to see them now!"

Pressing herself as far against the wall as she could manage, Jade managed to shake her head. "I'm not going to cry," she stated stubbornly. "I'm just going to-" Her intention of calling for Cas, Gabriel, or Aziraphale – hell, even either of the two Crowleys – was cut abruptly short as one of the Toclafane suddenly appeared right in front of her. The knife was out faster than she could blink and she heard more than felt it slice through the tender flesh of her throat.

Blood spurted out, covering the orb that had done the deed before it could dart away again, and Jade instantly clamped a hand to her suddenly gaping throat as her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground. Her other hand propped her up, digging into the fabric of the carpet as she forced her gaze upward at the still giggling threat. She tried to speak, tried to make some sort of sound, but all that came out was a wet gurgle and a few specks of blood that tasted like copper on her tongue. The room began to turn gray around the edges and, distantly, she heard one of them say, "Shh, no friends, not right now. We want to play just with you!"

The arm holding her up gave way and Jade fell forward, body crashing hard onto the ground and the blood that was leaking past her hand soaking into the fabric of the carpet beneath her. She was going to die, she realized. She was going to die and, this time, she didn't think it was going to be temporary. After all, there wasn't anything anyone could offer to bring her back to life again. Distantly, Jade wondered if she'd find herself in Heaven, Hell, or somewhere else entirely. No one had ever really specified where a former Arc went when they died and…

And that's when it hit her.

Rolling onto her side, Jade weakly raised her free hand. Her fingers danced across the necklace she was wearing, her Grace tucked safely within. Tears leaked from her eyes as she wasted precious seconds agonizing over her decision before realizing she didn't really have one. It was either this, or bleed out on the floor in the next thirty seconds. Which wasn't a decision at all, obviously.

Her choice made, Jade used the last bit of her strength to yank the necklace free. Letting it slide through fingers that were quickly loosing their ability to grip, she held the chain by its now broken clasp and swung with all of her might. Almost in slow motion, she watched as the contained Grace smashed into the wall and shattered.

An instant later, Jade felt pain wash over her that made the gaping wound in her neck seem like a scratch. She cried out, the sound coming from deep within her, then let out a shriek as bright light began to fill the room. The Toclafane zipped back and forth, trying to avoid it, but Jade paid them no mind. Already everything was falling back into place, the sheer rightness of it all finally becoming clear. Removing her hand from her suddenly healed throat, she slowly got to her knees then rose to her full height. She closed her eyes, briefly, and the blood was gone – the only proof it had ever been there being the splatters that coated the orb that had done the deed.

Reopening her bright blue eyes, she set her sights on that one first. It fell to the ground, dead, with nothing more than a tip of her head, a second one joining it when it dared try to scurry away. The third made a dive for her, knives whirling, but Jade simply snapped her fingers and it exploded into a shower of small, metallic pieces. The fourth hovered uncertainly, murmuring something in a fearful tone that Jade couldn't hear past the roaring of her own anger in her ears. She watched with an unimpressed expression as its gun appeared. She merely arched a brow when it fired. At the last second, she gave a flick of her hand and the blast turned back in on itself, slamming back into the Toclafane. As it disintegrated, fluttering toward the ground as nothing more than ashes, Jade surveyed the scene.

Then the newly restored Archangel calmly turned on her heel and strode from her apartment without so much as a second glance.