Rift Jumper

[DctrCat]

Lavender stood up, pulling Jewel up with her. She held one hand tight onto Jewel and kept the other in a tight fist. "Hey Jewel you know those kids? They're alright. You owe me a new rug though. That eiffel tower bracelet, god damn what was I thinking." She turned sharply and stared at Jewel. The air around them hurt, buzzing and sparking at them as Lavender focused. Powerlines over head sparked and snapped, falling to the ground around the girls. "Have I ever told you I ramble when I' stressed? I suppose not. By the way I met your brother, I guess you didn't know about him. Surprise!" She said, pushing Jewel to the ground. Rather than hard concrete, Jewel landed in a field.


Rural france, the sun was streaming out over the landscape, warming Jewel nicely. The rift closed above Jewel, and sealed itself. Lavender turned to face the two girls who had stopped moving, and were watching.


"You are a rifter." One spoke.


"Yet you use electricity as your weapon." The other said.


"You are not important."


"Are you important then? Why?" Lavender stepped closer to the girls, smiling. Faking confidence. Perhaps talking would distract them.


"We are older than you, and your family."


"We are older than this town, and this country."


"We are the first rifters, and will be the last. We will be alive long after this planet is dead. We can not die, we have tried."


Lavender was feeling sick now, her body buzzed as she pulled the power from around her. "I don't need you to die, just stop bothering me for abit." She said, as she pulled her rod out again. She jumped forward, as the staff came towards her again. The rod and staff touched, and the softest ting of metal on metal sounded out, before the explosion. The rod sent all of that power into the staff, and overpowered it. Purple flight flew over the town in a large dome, blinding everyone awake. The girls stood still before falling into a pile of dust, and blowing away.


Lavender watched, shocked at the girls. She shook her head, and made her way off the road through her rifts.


"It seems she holds the same power then."


"It seems so, this will not do."


The two girls spoke, as they rebuilt from their dust.

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

Ace watched quietly, gathering every bit of energy he could from the fight below. The girls were getting out of hand and he was about to step down to help but when he saw Jewel get thrown into the rift, he thought of something different to use his energy with. Right before the last explosion, Ace passed through a rift and followed the hidden energy.


--


Jewels skin buzzed and stung as the power got higher. Everything around her was sparking and the wind created by the force made it almost impossible to hear. Her hair flew around her face but it was easy to ignore. She could only focus on Lavender.


"What are you talking about?! What do you mean brother? And what are you planning Lav..." Before she could finish, she felt the air get knocked from her lungs as she was pushed back by Lavender. She waited for the impact of the ground but instead felt the softness of grass under her back.


"LAVENDER! NO!" Jewel jumped up and dashed for the rift but she was too slow and it closed before she could pass. Instead, she fell back into the grass.


"FUCK!" Jewel pushed herself up. She couldn't leave Lavender to fight alone and be killed. She couldn't do that.


Raising her hand in the air, Jewel pushed out all the energy she could muster and slowly a rift started to open. It was small crack but she was doing it. Her head started to split and her vision blurred but she wouldn't leave Lavender like that.


As her last energy started to build, a new one started to flow around her. Someone else's.


"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A male's voice came from behind her and then a sudden pulse of energy hit her. She felt it physically pass through every cell in her body, dropping her body to the ground with a gasp of pain. The crack in front of her closed.


"I'm sorry but I can't take the chance of those girls following you. You would make Lavenders death pointless." The voice continued.


"Lavender?" Jewel started to push herself up but dropped down as another wave hit here.


"Stay down. Actually, roll over." Another wave hit her and she was suddenly pushed to her back. "Good."


Jewel lifted her head, finally seeing her attacker. The moment their eyes connected, her breath locked into place. It was like she was staring at an image of herself. Only a bit more masculine. He wore a bikers outfit and one that she recognized too.


"Your the biker who attacked those guys." Jewel stated bluntly.


"Yes, ma'am." Ace bowed and then flicked a finger. Within moments, Jewel felt the weight off her chest and could breath better. She still felt weak and dizzy but it was lighter.


"Who are you and what are you doing to me?" Jewel was able to gasp out.


"Do you really have to ask that? You know who I am." Ace stepped closer while slowly pulling off his leather gloves. "As for the little trick, I am simply manipulating the air around you and pulling it from your lungs." He gave her a tilted smile and moved a finger and she could breathe fully again.


"I don't have a brother. I was an only child who was adopted out." Jewel sat up and weakly started to back away from the man. "You are..."


Ace leaned down, balancing on the balls of his feet and looked closely at her.


"Don't be stupid. Look at me. Really look. You're my twin."


He was right. She looked closely and he really did look like her.


"I don't understand. How is this possible?" Why did she feel scared of him?


"I'm not going to hurt you. You are my sister, my blood, my second heart." He lifted his hand but before he could touch her face, she smacked it away. "You can call me Ace. But for now, you need to do what you were meant to do with me."


"Excuse me?" She was starting to scoot away but the air got thick again.


"As twins, we have a connection and we can use. We need this connection so I can do what I need to." He lifted his hands and placed them on either side of her head. "You need energy and only we can share it. And you need to remember who we are. You are powerful like your friend. She may be more so but everyone has their own gifts. And don't worry, she lives...I think"


Before Jewel could respond, power surged through her and stiffened her body. If she was screaming from pain, she couldn't hear it anymore. Her eyes only saw white but every cell in her body screamed.


Ace held her head and poured energy into her. He knew it was hurting her and could kill her but this was what was needed for the next step in the plan.


Around them, things started to float. He knew this was part of her power surging but he counterbalanced it. The tree close behind them started to uproot and everything on the ground started to float up.


He gave her the energy he wanted and released her. The moment his hands left her head, everything dropped to the ground. Jewel dropped to the ground as well and was out like a light. Ace smiled down at his sister and turned and stepped through a rift. Soon she would remember.


Jewel laid asleep in the grass with the destruction around her.

 

[DctrCat]

Lavender dropped onto a beach. White sand stretched before her for miles and miles, blending into the impossibly blue water that was the ocean. It had been some timing, she knew it would happen but had no idea when. It was sooner than she thought but also much later. She pulled her jacket off, and her tank top. She took her boots off and threw it all behind her on the sand. Lavender stood on the sand, watching the strangely still ocean, the wind blowing through her flimsy singlet and jeans. Salt water stung her eyes, as the hot sand burnt her feet.


Two pairs of footprints in the sand behind her, the two girls. Lavender did not turn, she did not give them the effort."Mara, Mia." She said, acknowledging them. The girls were closer now, without walking.


"You are aware of who we are" They said, speaking together.


"Yes." Lavender replied.


"How?"


"I am aware of a lot of things."


"You are aware then of why we are here."


"I am their other half, and they are mine."


"That is not the answer we want."


"I am their other half, and they are mine.


"Incorrect."


"I am the other half."


Lavender kept her eyes open, fists loose and her body was relaxed. She heard the swing of the staff as it fell, and struck her back. She had always heard how painful it was, but to her it was more sickening. She felt something being sucked out of her as the purple light filled her eyes, seeping into her mouth and nose. It was painfully hot, like she had been set alight. Her skin cracked and peeled, and her lungs began to burn as the light made it's way through her. Her mouth was open but up until now she had been silent. She screamed an unearthly scream as her body went limp.


A rift opened close to Jewel. Lavender's screams poured from it as a body fell to the ground. Twitching and scratching at itself in a panic. A mess of pale skin and black clothing, silver chains around the neck, and dark blue eyes. He rose to his feet, and walked over to Jewel, nudging her softly with his foot.


"My, aren't you pretty." He said outloud.

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

Jewel watched everything from behind her eyes. Only clips and pieces were presented to her but she watched her friend on the beach. Jewel screamed out to her and wanted to grab her but it was only a dream. It seemed like a dream. When there was purple light, Jewel screamed out her friends named.


Gasping for breath, Jewel woke with a startle but was pleased to find that she could breathe again. Her body was buzzing with energy but she felt drained as well.


"What the fuck?!" Jewel quickly rolled away from the man and tried to jump up, but instead stumbled backwards. Her body was off balance.


"Who are you? Where is Lavender? And where is that man from before?" Jewel rambled as she tried to stand up.


--


Ace jumped through several different rifts. He had felt the surge of power moments after leaving Jewel behind and knew something was not right. He should have waited and stuck around to make sure Lavender could handle herself but apparently things had gone too far. He couldn't feel her energy in the rift stream.


He shouldn't have left her. He could have gotten to Jewel any time he wanted. He needed Lavender and her power but he left her behind. This was not part of the plan.


Ace finally found the right stream and jumped through it, landing on a beach.


He was scared about what he would find.

 

[DctrCat]

The beach was empty bar the two girls, and a very limp lavender, standing on the sand. It's as if she had been falling and some one hit slow down. She was fallen, slowed down, until she was on her knees. A low sound filled the air around them. Once her knees hit the floor she returned to regular speed, the low sound turned to her screams as she sped back up. The staffs had been put away while the girls simply stood and watched. Lavender fell quiet, then a ring of purple light exploded from around her, spread over the island and fading off. She was laying on her back in the sand with hre fingers clawed into the ground, trying to grab the sand for some stability.


The girls turned to face Ace and stared at him with a new kind of anger. It was deep, an old kind of anger pushed forward by pain. An obligation.


"She accepted it. She was well aware of the fact it would come."


"Her power is no longer, it has been dissolved.""


And reformed. New, and less dangerous."


"Less useful, to you."


The girls held hands and fell, falling into small piles of sand that blew away quickly, as a rift formed beneath Lavender.


---


Mason watched Jewel, and smirked. "Lavender? I know that name... oh! Yes, of course." He held up a hand, and snapped his fingers. A rift formed above them and Lavender fell through, landing on the ground between Mason and Jewel. The body was pale and cracked, like something made of porcelain. Her eyes sat open, the pupils void of any colour.


Mason stared at the body before looking back to Jewel. "You're Jewel, Ace is your brother, Lavender was a friend of yours but not too fond of your brother. You race for money in rifts, Lavender was helping you win some money to help some kids. You knew some sleaze bag called David." Mason rattled off this information to the sky, as if reminding himself of what had been happening.


"I'm Mason." he said eventually, holding a hand out to Jewel.

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

Ace scream in frustration as the girls dissolved and Lavender fell through a rift. He tried to catch her before she fell through but was to late. The energy from the rift was completely gone and not even he could find it.


"DAMN IT!" He yelled to the sky. This put a bump into his plan and he did not like what was happening. Anger rose from him, knowing very well he lost this match in the game. Ace stepped forward and disappeared. It was time he looked for his friends.


--


Jewel watched the man snap Lavender through.


"Lavender!" Jewel crawled over to her and pulled her limp body into her arms. "Lavender? Lavender?! Answer me!" She shook the girl lightly as her heart started to pound in her throat.


"What happened to my friend and how the fuck do you know all this?" She ignored his hand. Not out of rudeness but out of fear that it was a trick. This is the second guy who had just popped out of no wear and the last time did something to her when he touched her head.


"Did you do this?" Jewel could feel her eyes swelling from tears that wanted to spill out. Everything was happening too fast.

 

[DctrCat]

Mason shrugged and knelt down. he tapped Lavender on the cheek and much like the other girls, she dissolved. Her body cracked inward and formed a pile of dust. He stood again and looked around them, things had been thrown around, trees uprooted. Mason raised an eyebrow and looked back at Jewel. "Sooo are your really hot and powerful, or just hot when you're being powerful?" He asked as he stepped past her, smirking, he was heading for an uprooted tree. As his foot touch the ground, a line of fire shot from the ground where'd stepped and shot forward along the grass to the tree, where it quickly engulfed the fallen trunk.


Mason smiled, seemingly very pleased with himself as he swung back around the face Jewel.


"Girl, I've been alive for all of 2 minutes so no, I didn't kill her."

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

As Lavender dissolved into her hands and lap, Jewel cried out and tried to collect it in her hands. As if that would keep her together. Tears spilled from her eyes as she watched her friend disappear for good.


"No no no no no no!" Jewel curled up in a ball over her friend's dust and started to cry. They were both tears of sadness and tears of anger. It was her fault that she was dead. If she hadn't let Lavender be alone with those girls, she would still be alive.


When he made the comment about her being hot and powerful, she could only look up at him in disbelief. What was his problem?


"Why did this happen? why.." She looked back down at the dust and felt anger start to build in her. She wanted to attack this man. She wanted to kill the person who took away her friend. Lifting her head, she watched as the man set the tree on fire.


Standing up, Jewel clutched her hands and faced the man.


"Tell me what happen! What the fuck do you mean, 'alive for two minutes'?"


The ground around her started to shake as small pebbles and stones started to rise again.

 

[DctrCat]

Mason held a hand up and simply said 'Stop'. The pebbles wavered then dropped back to the ground. The fire died down, and spread back to Mason. The grass that should have been dead stood as alive as ever, blowing in the breeze. Mason looked over his shoulder to Jewel and smiled; then flickered. he flicked from Mason to Lavender and back again. Then again, and again. It was like a blink, Jewel only just caught it.


"Lavender was erased, I was erased. I was reborn, into this awfully handsome being." Mason said, rather smugly.


Mason turned to face her directly, and the air around them grew hot. They dropped suddenly through the ground, and came to a landing in a back street of a busy town, that was being pelted by rain. Mason nodded to jewel and turned away, ducking out into the street and heading across the road to a dingy looking bar with a bright 'GIRLS' sign flashing above the door.


This place felt familiar, like home. In fact they were only a short distance from Lavender's apartment.

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

"This is not happening. This is not real. I hit my head or something..."


Jewel had only known Lavender for a small amount of time but Lavender had saved her life so many times over. Jewel could feel the heavy weight of guilt already pull down her soul. It was her fault. She had been the one who asked Lavender to join her in the race. Of she had just stayed away or just gone on her own, Lavender would still be alive.


She watched in disbelief as Mason left to the bar, leaving her there alone.


Dropping to her knees, she held up her hands that still had remnants of Lavender on them. Lightning cracked through the sky, illuminating parts of the street as the rain started to drench her clothes and rinse off her hands.


"I hit my head, that's all."


Jumping to her feet, Jewel rifted herself into Lavenders apartment.


"Lavender?!" Jewel called out into the dark. She heard some whispers of the kids who were starting to wake from their slumber.


She ran from room to room, praying that she had hit her head during the ride or something.


The apartment was empty. The kids were following her around, holding each other's hands while worried about Jewel. Behind her, she could hear them asking question after question but she ignored them.


"Jewel, what's wrong? Why are you upset? Are you sick?"


The only ones not saying anything was Sue and her brother. The stayed behind the other kids and held hands. Sue had tears in her eyes.


Jewel turned to them and sent them all back to bed. She kept her face normal and made sure they were all okay. She had to go back.


Jumping to the street from before, Jewel ran over to the bar that Mason had walked into and looked around. She had only been gone twenty minutes at most, so she hoped he was still there.


She scanned through the crowd and spotted him.


Pushing through, she come up from behind him and pushed him hard into a rift. She followed through and grabbed him by the collar and pushed him up again a building. They were in a ally way somewhere. She didnt no nor did she care.


"Okay. My friend just died IN MY HANDS and you want to fucking waltze around like nothing matter." She released him and took a step back, keeping her anger down.


"You owe me a full explanation. Not some thing here and there like the bullshit from before.So please help me understand why I have my friends blood on my hands while your walking around."

 

[DctrCat]

Mason looked at her, cigarette in his hand, and a drink in the other. He drank the rest of his beverage and put his half gone cigarette into the empty glass before placing it on the ground. He adjusted his jacket before looking at Jewel.


"Now, how do you suppose I owe you shit? he sneered, obviously displeased. "Your friends dead, but why is that blood on your hands? She's the idiot who wandered off on her own? I always do stuff like that. Wait, did stuff like that." He shook his head, smiling. He looked at Jewel, judging that she did not appear quite amused.


"Now look here, your friend is dead. Gone, burnt up from the inside by... fuck me I don't even know how to describe it. The raw energy of a rift is the best way of saying it. I don't recommend facing who did it either, they're er..."


"Mason, you speak with the judged." Came the voice, and Mason turned to see the two girls at the end of the alley.


"Oh, hello girls. As I was saying, they're gods. The first rifters and-" he was cut off by the girls.


"The last. We are the beginning and the end, and the source of rifting. We are your predecessors and your successors."


"Essentially sweetheart, they have never, and will never die. How old are you dears?" he asked, smiling at Jewel.


"We are as old as this world, and longer." Now, cease this time wasting and complete your task." They turned and rather than create a rift, they simple walked, until they were no longer visible.


A harsh wind blew after them, the cold sinking into Jewel's skin and bones. Mason looked less than pleased.

 

[TheJaydeWriter]

"This is getting way to much..." Jewels anger died down as she watched the girls and her anger was almost replaced with fear. Lavender was powerful but if those girls could do that to her, what would they do to someone like Jewel. She was powerful too in her own aspects but she was nothing like Lavender. Those girls would destroy her. Once they were gone, Jewel released the breath of air she was apparently holding.


"Why did they kill Lavender? Are you like...born from her or something?" Jewel turned her head to look at Manson. She really wanted to understand but at the same time...she wanted to run. That was what she was good at. Running.


Jewel leaned her back against the alley wall and ran her fingers through her hair. Her head was pounding after that weird experience with her so called brother and she felt weird, like almost too much static was stored up in her cells.


"First, the fucked up race, then my 'brother' did something weird to my head with his hands, my friend has turned to ashes and has somehow created a dumbass pig like you, a now some crazy sisters are running around shooting purple lights at people....I need a drink...."


Jewel stopped and realized that she was starting to have a mini panic attack from all of this. Her heart was racing and she almost couldn't breath. But there was one more thing she had to ask.


"What do they mean 'complete your task'? Do you...work for those lunatics?"

 

[DctrCat]

Mason lit another cigarette and grumbled. Jewel was cute enough, shame she kept talking. Noises were all a blur to him, a loud roaring that pounded at his ears. He grabbed Jewel's hand and pulled her along, through a rift into the back area of the club they'd just been in.


The place was dark, with strips of light being cast from stage lights that illuminated the women dancing on stage, and smelt of stale cigarette smoke. The women were an exciting flurry of giggles, big smiles and lovely red lipstick.


Mason took a seat at a booth, and pulled Jewel into the seat beside him. A woman dressed in a lovely silver bra and panty set brought a tray with two glasses and a bottle of some kind of strong drink to the table, casting a nasty glance to Jewel. The woman turned on her heel and walked away from the two, her blonde hair swishing behind her. The building seemed to be full of people but was almost.... silent. Voices and music were mumbles around them, as if blurred out by something.


"You've heard the story I'm guessing? Something trapped in the ocean, hidden our safety. It's out, it's on the surface of this world and is so very... awake." He said, settling back into his seat. "Apologies for the er location of our chat, I find it helps me to relax. Gotta block out the noise somehow. Anyhow, I wanted to... show you something I guess." She said, and the two of them slipped down through the seats, and into field. The field was familiar, with it's wildflowers and broken down cottage. Lavender had brought Jewel here.


Speaking of, there she was. Lavender stood a distance from them, facing away. Her clothes were dirty and tattered, but her hair hung low and blew in the breeze. She was... different. Her body stood still but seemed to jump and twitch, like a glitch on a computer screen. "Something is trying to contact her, to wake her. If she wakes, then I become what she is, a ghost inside of her. Someone is trying to wake her up, a little girl."