The next morning, I got cleaned up, braided my hair to keep them out of my face and made sure I had my dagger with me.

And the I took off to go get Jasmine.

«Be careful. I'll go fight and then come help you okay?» Jon told me before we charged put to the battlefield. I nodded. «Try not to die.»

«I won't. You heard Chris! There's a way out. I just have to fight it.» I shrugged.

«Well, I believe in you. You've got this.» he smiled.

«Thanks.» I smiled back.

«One last thing, Jinxie... I'm not sure if both of us are gonna make it so I wanna make this clear.» he sighed. «I love you.»

I stared at him for a couple seconds.

«Monkey, I really wanna say it back, but I'm not sure. I'm sorry...» I frowned.

Yeah, I know there was a chance I would die. I know we were barging into battle, but honesty is a huge factor of being in a relationship, right?

«Don't worry. I get it.» he gave me a small smile and a light punch on the shoulder.

«Have you got a gas mask? You're gonna need it to get in the cave.» I asked him changing the subject.

«No, I'll get one from the recruits.» he replied. I nodded. «Good luck, Jinxie.»

«Good luck, monkey.» I kissed him.

«Kyle? Are you ready?» Jon asked Kyle, who was a little further.

«Yeah. See you in hell!» he winked as we ran through the gate.

I immediately went for the cave. It was on the other side, so I had to fight my way through. Even though it was tough, I made it. I sneaked my way in the cave.

Now, I didn't have a gas mask, but every other time I had had near-death experiences I had made it through, and it wasn't just after the tattoo.

When you think about it, I made it when I touched that Ivylore flower as a kid. I made it when the school was poisoned. I made it through the fire.

Even when I tried to jump off my balcony, Jon came out of nowhere and stopped me at the last second.

Most of those were impossible, so I was willing to take my chances. I had even read that the savior can't die until they kill the villain and Jasmine was still pretty much alive.

I walked in the cave ready to kill, but the moment I saw Jasmine crying in there, I lost that urge.

«Jax?» I asked her. Yeah, I acted like I hated her when we were fighting, but she was still my twin sister (even though it hadn't been long since I found out about that) and she had been there through some really rough parts of my life.

«What do you want? Haven't you already done enough?» she yelled at me.

«Jasmine, please... I just want to talk...» I didn't really lie... That's what I wanted to do after I saw her like that; so vulnerable. Yeah, I went there to end everything, but maybe it didn't have to end in blood. Jasmine had gone through her fair share of troubles.

«Is that why you came here armed?» she turned and glared at me.

«Insurance. How do I know you won't attack me? I'll have to defend myself.»

«Chris is dead, isn't he?» she asked. She sound a little bitter about it.

«Yeah. So is Ben.» I replied.

«Wait, what? How did that happen?» she asked.

«Jessie.» I replied bitterly. Her face fell.

«Are you sure?»

«I was there.» I gulped.

«There's only one way to end this. You know that, right?» she asked me.

«We don't have to do this.» I begged her.

«You don't get it Jinx! The same way you get the urge to save everyone, out of nowhere, the same way I get the urge to destroy everything in my path! I can't control this thing! I've tried to fight it, I really have!» she kept her forearm in sight, shaking. With neat, italic letters the word Villain was written in dark red ink.

«At least let's delay it... Tell me what drove you to all this. I wanna be here now for all the times I wasn't. I know it's too late, but...» I looked at her pleadingly.

«My mom... Remember Christmas?» she gulped. We sat at a wall next to each other.

«It was when you cut your hair short. I never really got why you did that... You loved your long hair...» I muttered.

«She was mad at me because I went out a lot. I came home one day and she forced me down and cut it off. Jessie came by my house later and helped me make it look like this... My mom had done it the worst way she could.»

«Why didn't you tell us?»

«I didn't want to bother you with my problems... I know you think Jessie was a psycho, but she figured out what was going on. I never told her anything. She was pretty mad at me for that, but she helped me out a lot.» she sighed. «I guess she lost it too at some point... She changed after she saw her tattoo. I'm assuming this happened to everyone, but it was harder on her.»

«Yeah...» I sighed.

«I didn't want to kill Felicia. Jessie did it without a warning, I was mad at her when I realised what she had done.»

«What about Cole?»

«I guess it was easier because I didn't know him well... I didn't want you guys to know. Despite the oath we took, I was afraid that you wouldn't accept me.» she frowned.

«I'm not blaming you, but you didn't even give us a chance... We would have done it. We used to be a team...»

«Yeah, I know... I guess I lost my hope in families after I killed my parents. I was terrified at how easy it was. The moment I got home... The just grabbed me and lifted my sleeve. Their look of utter disappointment killed me... They said they expected nothing better. Jessie was in the house too. We went kinda nuts after that, tied them down. It was scary how I slit my mom's throat like she was nothing. And you know what? I bloody enjoyed it.»

«I guess we both had inadequate parents. Both biological and adoptive.» I scoffed.

«Yeah... Our biological ones really knew how to abandon their kids.» she sighed.

«It's been seven years and not a word... Even though it's much better than abuse. I'm sorry you went through all that... I had Claire, but you...» I frowned. «I'm sorry you had to go through this.»

«Yeah, me too.» she smirked. Thank God for reflexes, or that dagger would have gone right through my neck.

«Dammit! Couldn't you just give me a heads-up!» I panicked as I rolled away from her.

«Sorry Jinxie, I can't really control myself tight now.» she smirked again and got up.

We fought. I hadn't unsheathed my dagger yet, which put me at a disadvantage. She was fighting to kill, I was fighting to survive.

I ducked as she sliced towards my head, but I'm no fighter and lost my balance, falling on my butt.

I backtracked and pulled my dagger out.

«Jax, I really don't want to do this.» I blinked back some tears. «I know you've been through a lot, but you can get a fresh start...» I begged her.

«There's no chance left for me...» she hissed. And lunged at me as I got up. I kicked her in the stomach and she doubled over. That's when I took advantage of that and kicked her behind her already bent knees.

She fell on her back, still clutching her stomach.

«Go on! Do it! Kill me!» she hissed.

«I don't want to. You're my friend.» I looked at her pleadingly.

«Then when I get out of here, I'll kill everyone else you care about. Jon? He'll be the first to go. Kyle? Survivor or not, he'll go down. Claire, oh poor Claire. She lost Ben, but she'll get to see him soon enough. Oh, and we can't forget Alice, can we? She'll go down too. Baby or not, I'll kill her.» she growled. She had a crazed look on her face, nothing like she was a while ago when we were talking. Her expression started flickering. She suddenly looked broken again. «Please... Every time I close my eyes I see their faces... My parents and everyone else I've killed. I can't take it anymore...» she sobbed.

This terrified me. I didn't know what to believe. She wasn't kidding when she said she wasn't herself. She really couldn't control who she was. The tattoo was taking over her.

I gulped and ran my dagger through her heart.

«I'm sorry...» I wiped a tear as I knelt by her and held her in my arms.

«Don't be. I'm the one who should be sorry... Thank you...» she sobbed again, but then her eyes went wide.

«What's wrong?» I asked her.

«Now that I'm dying... All the injuries from battle will start kicking in...» she frowned.

«What do you mean by that?»

«I'm sorry...» she gave in. Her eyes closed and she fell limb on me.

Someone barged in wearing a gas mask. He took it off panting.

«Jinxie? Are you okay?» Jon asked. I shook my head.

«Let's just get out of here... I'll get someone to come get her... I can't face this right now.» I gulped.

We got out. I started feeling a little light-headed, but I shrugged it off.

We found Kyle at the gate. He looked relieved to see me alive. I was surprised at my not dying too, though glad.

The word of victory got around quickly. Everyone started cheering and celebrating.

Then the light-headedness worsened. I started feeling dizzier.

If Jon hadn't been next to me, I would have fallen down and lost in the crowd.

«Are you okay?» he asked me.

«Yeah... Let's just get away from the people all the people. I can't handle it.» I smiled weakly. He nodded and we went a little further.

I stumbled again.

«Jinx, are you sure you're okay?» he asked again, sounding even more worried than before.

«I'm fine.» I grumbled. I felt a sting on my shoulder. And covered it quickly with my other hand.

«No, you're not!» he snapped a little.

«I need to sit down...» I muttered. I fell on the ground before we could go anywhere else.

«Jinxie?» he asked. My hand slipped away from the cut that had appeared on my shoulder. «No. She didn't- she didn't cut you, did she?» he stuttered.

«I don't know...» I muttered again. Kyle noticed us and ran towards us.

«What's going on?» he said, terror creeping in his voice.

«Jasmine... Jasmine managed to poison her before she died...» Jon replied. His eyes were red and a couple tears were rolling down his cheek.

«No. You're kidding, right? This is a joke.» Kyle rushed. Jon gulped.

«I don't want to die...» I sobbed.

«You promised! You bloody promised, Jinx!» Kyle cried.

«I'm sorry...» I sobbed harder. Jon held me tighter. «Hey, monkey? You know what?» I smiled weakly again. «I think I love you...» a tear rolled from my eye.

«I love you too...» he sobbed.

«Please, Jinx... You promised...» Kyle's voice cracked.

And then my story came to an end. I felt my spirit leave my body. Jon was sobbing hard, as my body went limb.

«Goodbye, monkey... Tell Kyle I'm sorry...» I told him. He nodded as I ruffled his hair. «See you in hell.» I winked the same way Kyle had.

Then I felt something pulling me up.

Seriously? I said see you in hell and then took the stairway to heaven? This was gonna be fun.

A/N: Oops. Early chapter because I'm at school with nothing to do and I don't wanna die of boredom. Two teachers are absent and I could be at home right now, but I'll stay one more hour to hang out with my friends a little longer. Because I can.

Theres only the epilogue left, and it will come out on Friday. I might publish a writer's note next Friday too to fill you in on some plan changes.

Let's just say that the original idea was MUCH different, though Jinx's death remained. That's a fixed point in time, there's nothing I can do without damaging the space-time continuum.

Wibly wobly timey wimey stuff. 😉

I gotta go now. Bye. Please don't kill me yet. I haven't finished up writing Crystal Kingdoms and I have two weeks until I publish the first chapter.

Dammit.

Bye.

-Riri<3