Hedgesville, West Virginia

Caspian Residence
Saturday, August 17, 1996
4:39 PM

Sitting on her bed, Jennie stared at her doorway out of the corner of her eyes. Nick was standing there, listening quietly to a young female demon. The woman had looked Jennie over earlier and deemed her healthy despite her previous dream encounter that left her coughing up blood.
"I see nothing wrong with her," the woman said.
Staring to the ground for a moment, Jennie drowned out the conversation with her own thoughts. The dream was haunting her. Especially with the man whose voice was so familiar.
"Jennie, I want you to relax." Glancing up, Jennie found the woman looking at her. Light silvery eyes gazed sincerely down at her while ocean blue hair fell into the woman's face. "Make sure you drink plenty of fluids. You seem a little dehydrated."
"Okay, but who are you?" she asked abruptly as the woman smirked.
"I'm sorry," the woman said with a small laugh. "I'm Lucia Giovanni. Janiston and Ashlee are my children."
"Oh!" Jennie shouted as her eyes widened.
"When Janiston brought you home and told me what happened, I called her over to look at you," Nichola said, stepping up beside Lucia.
"I'm fine?" Jennie asked.
"Perfectly fine," Lucia replied, kneeling down in front of Jennie. "If you ever have any other problems, just call me."
"Sure," Jennie whispered.
After a few minutes more of Nick and Lucia talking to themselves, they left while Jennie just sat on her bed silently. Her hands pressed against the top of her bare thighs as her fingers dug into her flesh. An aching sensation in her chest was still troubling her.
"It's all in your head," she said aloud to herself.
The heavy sound of a hand slapping against her bedroom door startled her as she looked up, finding Rem staring at her with impassive eyes. Stepping inside the room, he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply.
"Your dream," he muttered, "made you cough up blood?"
"I don't know," she said as her face felt hot as he looked down at her with his yellow eyes. "Would you normally cough up blood if you were stabbed…" She paused as she pressed her hand against her chest tightly.
"Still feel it?" he questioned, taking a seat beside her. "Can I...look inside?"
"What?" Jennie asked in alarm as she scooted away from him in horror.
"Idiot!" Rem shouted. "I meant your mind.” He pointed to the side of his own head and gave her an exasperated look.
“I can look at what you saw in your dream," he mumbled, “and maybe figure out what happened to you.”
"You can really do that?" she asked as her eyes enlarged with interest, but then bit her lower lip and looked away. "Will it hurt?"
“I don’t know,” Rem muttered, “maybe…”
Jennie sighed. “But it’s better to know who attacked me…”
“Yeah,” Rem whispered as she nodded.
Glancing up at him, she found the green haired boy reaching up to his left earlobe. He began to fumble with the earring he was wearing.
"What are you doing?" she questioned.
"Taking off my inhibitor," he replied, detaching the blackened loop from his earlobe. He held out it out to her. Plucking it from his fingers, she stared at the object. "Esper demons who have problems controlling their powers have to wear devices called ‘Nexus Inhibitor’.“
“That was on the test,“ Jennie exclaimed while Rem was taken back by her shout. “I totally got that wrong. I wrote Lexus Defibrillator.” She hung her head and shook it back and forth.
“Yeah,” Rem said, looking away, “so since some espers have problems with their powers, they have to wear the inhibitors. If I don’t and use my powers too much, my body will start to deteriorate.”
Looking to her hand, Jennie stared at the dark earring. Such a thing as an earring can suppress the powers of a demon? She looked to Rem who was gazing at her with clear, calm eyes.
“It can,” he answered. “It’s made of a special metal. But enough of that. Let me see your hand.” He held out his own to her.
Reaching out, her fingers lightly tapped against his palm before finally settling into a firm grasp. His hand wrapped securely around hers while his free hand reached up to her face. He lightly touched his index finger to her forehead then traced a path down the bridge of her nose.
"Close your eyes," he said as she obeyed.
A nauseating feeling sickly formed in the pit of her stomach as her body leaned toward Rem's while he released his finger from her nose. It was then that a stabbing pain erupted in the back of her head, sending her into Rem's chest. She breathed heavily as his hand touched the back of her head reassuringly.
"So it does hurt?" he questioned. "I'm sorry."
"I'm here," she said loudly as she looked around the same room she had been in earlier. The burning incense filled the air while she placed her hands to the stone altar, feeling the burning coldness of the rock. A heavy sigh escaped her throat.
"This is it?" came a question from behind her as she turned to find Rem behind her. His hands were placed inside the depths of his pants' pockets.
"You followed me?" she questioned.
"Yeah," he whispered as he looked over his shoulder to the doors of the room. A dark figure formed in the doorway and began walking toward them. "Here comes the guy who stabbed you."
Jennie lowered her head as the feeling in her stomach worsened. This wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to face the pain again. Clutching her hands to her chest, she swallowed forcefully and choked slightly.
Standing still, Rem watched the man walk toward him then through his body. His eyes followed the dream, noting the weapon in his hand. "Hey," he called out, tilting his head to the side. "How the hell does he have that?"
"What?" Jennie asked.
"That's my weapon," Rem muttered as Jennie's eyes widened.
"You know I love you," the man said as Jennie backed up into the altar. Lifting up his hand, a silvery sai glistened brightly. "I could never hurt you, but it seems I have no choice in the matter. I am who I am and I can't change that."
"What do you mean?!" Jennie shouted, rushing her arm across the altar top. Burning incense and golden plates fell to the ground in a clatter as she climbed on top of it. "Get away from me!"
"I don't want to hurt you," he said.
"Stop!" Jennie screamed, pressing her hands to the temples of her head.
"Get the fuck away from her!" Rem shouted, whipping out a hand. He watched in awe as his hand slipped through the man's body. "Fuck!"
"Get away from me!" Jennie screamed as she pressed her back against the wall.
"Who are you?" Rem questioned
"Wake me up!" Jennie said, pleading with Rem.
"Please forgive me."
"NO!" Jennie screamed as her throat felt like it was being torn apart. The man pushed himself up onto the altar as the sai was rammed into her chest. Her eyes widened in horror as the weapon was removed, sending her falling to the ground.
Crashing face first into the floor, Jennie breathed slowly as a pool of blood formed around her. She choked as her breathing was becoming hard. "Please," she whispered, reaching out for Rem's foot.
The man on the altar hopped to the ground and stood beside her. He kneeled down beside her and placed a hand on her head. "No matter how many times I have to do this," he said. "No matter how many times you have to relive this..." The face of the man began to form slowly as Jennie tried to look up at that stranger.
"What?" she moaned.
"No matter how you feel or how hard you try," the man continued. "You can't win. You aren't meant to win."
Her eyes focused on the man's right eye that was covered up by a black eye patch. Hair fell into his face as a smile formed on his lips. "I tried to help you," he whispered. "But I can't save someone who has no hope in herself. You have to die."
"Please," she cried out as blood streamed out of her mouth. Her neck gave up on holding her head as her face crashed into the bloody pool.
Standing up, the man looked down at her body then turned to walk off. He passed Rem as Rem's eyes widened. The man looked over his shoulder, staring back at Jennie's still body. He dropped the sai to the ground and continued.
"You are..." Rem couldn't find the words to finish his sentence as his body shivered uncontrollably. "Jennie?!"
"Jennie?!"
Jennie's eyes flew open as she found Rem staring down at her with blood streaming down from from the corners of his eyes. "What happened?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he whispered, wiping his arm across his face. He only smeared the blood across his face, making it look worse. "Just lay down. I need to talk to my dad." He got up and headed to the door.
Pausing outside the hallway, he looked back at her. "I'm sorry."