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Everything Fades to Grey

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Jade gathered her things for the upcoming mission. She still hadn't figured most of it out, but she knew that it may be dangerous, so she packed some extra aid and ether packs. She didn't know who would be joining her on this mission, but she was anxious to get it over with. She wanted to be in a warm bed again and be where she knew her way around.

As she packed the last of the things that she was going to take with her in a small fanny pack, she heard knocking at the door.

'Come on in.' she called as she pulled the zipper closed. A small frame appeared in the doorway.

'The captain wants to know if you are ready.' the pink haired Realian asked.

'Almost,' Jade replied clipping the pack around her waist. 'Now I am.' she then said putting on a smile. She then walked over to MOMO and wished her luck with the captain and his antics. To be blunt, Jade was upset that MOMO couldn't come with her on this mission.Although she didn't know everything about the cause, she did know that Juli, her mother, wanted her for some tests. Tests for what, she didn't know, but she knew that Juli would take care of her.

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They walked out into the corridor and met up with chaos, Junior and Jin. They all seemed to be just waiting for her as she finally walked up to them. Junior and chaos welcomed her with warm smiles and Jin nodded to acknowledge her presence. Jin and her hadn't really gotten along. It might have been the fact that she never really talked to anyone else besides MOMO, chaos, and Junior.

'So what are we going to be doing this time?' she heard Junior ask.

'Matthews told us to deliver this package,' Jin said holding up something in brown wrapping paper. 'to this person.' he explained now holding up a picture of a middle aged man.

'Hey! I knew him!' Jade exclaimed as she snatched the picture from him. 'His name is Erick Greenwood. He was my 10th grade chemistry teacher.' she explained still looking at the picture. 'He's gotten older than he should be it seems.' she then said finally handing the small image back to Jin.

'Then that'll just make it easier for us.' she heard Junior say.

Without another word, they felt the ship lurch and they were on their way to Mr. Erick Greenwood.

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'Mr. Greenwood... Mr. Greenwood...' Jade spoke softly as she said the name over and over as she looked at the information template. 'Ah, there he is!' she said raising her voice slightly as she stopped scrolling and clicked on the name. It showed them the location of her old teacher and they followed it.

Erick Greenwood's home was harder to find than she thought it would be. The information bulletin about him gave her a map, but she never really learned how to read them. They found it finally after what felt like hours of searching and Junior's 'shortcuts'.

'No more directions from you.' Jade said once she'd handed the package to Mr. Greenwood. Her teacher seemed to be busy with something for he rushed them away without offering them anything for their services.

'Do you know what was in that package?" Junior asked. She looked at Jin who shook his head.

'The captain just wanted us to give it to him.' Jin replied reluctantly. He knew something and he didn't want anyone else to know. Jade turned to start walking back to the ship when a sharp pain entered her head. She held her head as if she had a headache, but this was more stronger than any migraine she'd ever had.

'Brother... why do you need me to follow you...?' she said to no one. Junior and chaos looked around, but saw no one that would resemble her brother. And then there was the fact that he was already dead to arise in the future. 'Okay. I'll follow you.' she said with a smile on her face.

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'Jade, where are you taking us?' Junior asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

'Ah, you've got to see it. It's beautiful. There's a lake and a swing. Everything's there. There're be faries!' Jade explained with glee as she walked. She was in a trance and Junior thought she was going crazy. He knew that environmental bugs sometimes looked like faries, but the last time he checked, they only had them on the Durandal.

'Do you mean that there are environmental bugs here?' chaos asked completely confused.

'No! There are faries!' she yelled back finally stopping. chaos took a good look at her eyes. Instead of the lively green that used to fill them, they looked more black now than anything. He couldn't remember the last time he saw something that dark. They seemed to be blacker than black itself.

'There's something wrong with her. We need to get her back to the Elsa then we can run a scan on her and see what's wrong with her.' chaos explained turning to Jin. Jin took her form in and nodded.

'It's a form of possession. Someone is using her body as a host and she's taking us to her 'brother'.' Jin explained. Little did he know that he was totally wrong in his analysis. This was in fact she was Jade Evelyn, who chaos had rescued three years back, and she was in fact following her dead brother to God only knows where.

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A barren landscape welcomed them as they walked into what looked like a desert. As far as the eye could see, there was sand and rocks. Sometimes they would see a cactus pop up seemingly from the ground. Something was off. They watched as Jade bounced off into the swirling heat. She came back before they could catch up to her with a man.

Clad in an all black tuxedo, Wilhelm looked pleased. Red eyes looking calm and white hair looking as if he never even walked though the desert until he met up with Jade.

'See Brother. I told you that I had people with me.' Jade said gaily, apparent happiness when she met up with her 'brother' showing.

'Jade, that's not your brother. You watched him die by the Gnosis three years ago remember? I was there. I saved you.' chaos explained trying to get some sense back into her head.

'No, Brother made it through just fine. He wouldn't be standing with me if he were dead.' she said taking Wilhelm's arm and tugging it trying to make him advance closer to the group.

'You are indeed correct Yeshua. Her brother is dead. She watched him die. She would have been next if you didn't aid her.' Wilhelm said in the most calmest of voices. He then turned to look at her. 'She's grown into a beautiful young woman.' he said turning back to chaos. 'Aren't you pleased that she's turned out this way?' he asked.

'I am happy that she's alive and well yes, but what have you done to her?' chaos asked calmly.

'It's nothing really. Just a small illusion to make her believe that she really sees her brother. Her family is waiting for her, so if you please excuse us.' the other male said turning to leave with Jade on his arm.

'Not with her. We're not leaving without her.' Junior said getting his pistols ready.

'If it's a fight you want, then you'll watch as the beautiful maiden dies by the devious villain.' Wilhelm said pulling out a small dagger and putting it to Jade's neck. 'Remember, in a world of color, there are still some things that fade to grey.' he said not moving his hand from it's location.

'Junior, we'll play his little game, but only if we get her back afterwards.' Jin said putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

'Brother, what are you doing? Why are you giving me flowers?' they heard Jade asked.

'Hmm, this illusion is getting old. Maybe I should make it normal again. Does that sound like a good idea my dear /sister/?' Wilhelm asked moving his free hand in front of her face. Jade looked as if she was dazed for a moment and everything started to clear back up to her.

'Who are you! Where's my brother!' Jade yelled, franticly looking for a way out of Wilhelm's grasp.

'You looked so peaceful a moment ago. Well, now that that's over, shall you follow me?' Wilhelm said, avoiding her question completely.

'Let me go! I want to go back to chaos! Let me GO!' Jade yelled and finally punched Wilhelm in the face, making him let her go. She ran back to chaos and she felt him put a protective arm around her. She felt safe, she never wanted to leave his arm.

'Looks like I don't have a choice other than to take you by force.' Wilhelm said snapping his fingers. A man, clad in a green cloak and a plate obscuring his face appeared next to him. 'I'll let you have your fun.' Wilhelm said to the man. He stood back and waiting for the man in green to advance. When he did, pure glee showed on his face.

When the smoke cleared, Jade and chaos were left standing, while Junior and Jin where on the ground trying to get up. Jade quickly bent down to help the two up. Once they were on their feet, they held their weapons up, ready to attack.

'But how did you defend yourself Maiden? You have no weapon.' they heard Wilhelm say.

'You know nothing about me!' Jade retorted back. She held her fist out as they started to glow slightly. She knew that she had to get her friends out of the heat before something horrible happened to them.

'Oh, but you are wrong Maiden. I know more about you than you think.' Wilhelm's voice rang out inside her head. Jade put one of her glowing hands to her head and held it.

'Are you alright?' she heard chaos asked beside her. She lied by nodding her head, which made more pain shoot though it.

'chaos, get them out of here. I'll take care of him.' she said trying to put some authority in her voice. She saw in the corner of her eye that Junior and Jin had looked at her with the same surprised looks planted on their faces.

'But what about you?' she heard Junior ask.

'I'll be fine. If anything happens... I don't care what you do to me,' she said, regret filling her voice. She was feeling regret because she knew what Wilhelm wanted from her, and that she couldn't tell chaos how she really felt about him.

'We aren't leaving without you.' she heard chaos say. She looked at him and he seemed to be reading her thoughts. 'We don't want to be the ones to tell the others that you fell behind. We don't want to be the ones to watch you die before our eyes. Let us fight with you. We want to help you... I... we care for you.' chaos said as he stood putting his hands on her shoulders.

'Such a fine display of affection. Sadly, you won't be seeing her anymore to make your future plans happen Yeshua.' Wilhelm's voice rang out to them all.

'Before you decide to kill her, may I ask what you want of her?' chaos spoke with such calmness that it made Jade shudder. Wilhelm chuckled as he closed his eyes.

'She is but a key. A key to help me bring forth a terrible force that can possibly destroy the world.' he explained. 'But I wouldn't go that far just for the world. Her powers are much like yours Yeshua. She was born into the world without a care. Little did our little star know that she would be gaining popularity by everyone. The family that she thought she had was fake. Everything was a lie to her from the start. Her mother hid the fact that she was a monster from her, even when she accidentally killed every pet that she had.' He spoke of the times when she would go to pet her beloved cat or dog and it would tremble in fear at her and how she finally killed them with great detail. 'She holds inside her the thirteenth Vessel of Anima.' Wilhelm finally said after letting all the words he spoke before sink in.

'But there was only twelve. How can that be?' Jin asked with slight anger rising in his voice.

'It's true, Yeshua holds the first twelve that Mary sealed away, eventually costing her life. But she didn't know that there was a last one. The Thirteenth Key, as it is said, holds the power to destroy even the first twelve. It can bring a universe to its knees just like that.' Wilhelm explained with a snap of his fingers.

A white glow appeared from Jade and she was lifted off her feet. Up in the air, she felt vulnerable. She felt that she could be hit by anything and she would be sent careening away from her friends.

chaos watched as the person that he looked up to the most was taken away from him. Everything he did with her felt as if it were nothing now. He knew that something bad was about to happen to her and he couldn't stop it from occurring.

'Let her go!' Junior yelled and raised his weapons to Wilhelm.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you. Any attack you do to me will be felt by her. That means if you kill me, you kill her as well. It's like two birds with one stone you see, and I don't want to be the bird.' Wilhelm said. Junior grunted as he lowered his weapons.

Jin and chaos watched as Jade's body went limp. With the breath caught in his throat, chaos threw himself at Wilhelm, making him let his hold of her go and he ran to catch her before she hit the ground.

'I got you, don't worry. There's no need anymore.' chaos said as he lowered her to the ground. He felt pathetic because he knew that he couldn't do anymore than that. She was alive and that was all that mattered to him. He turned to Wilhelm and said; 'I won't let you use her like you did me.'

'Such manly words coming from someone like you.' Wilhelm replied smiling. Junior raised his guns once more and fired off a shot into Wilhelm's arm. He didn't want to hurt Jade if she was still vulnerable as she was before. He switched his gaze to Jade's body and saw that a small crimson color was coming from the place that he'd shot Wilhelm.

'I'm sorry chaos. I didn't know that she was still like that.' Junior said before chaos could even notice. At his words however, chaos turned to look at her body and he saw the crimson marking her arm.

'I'm not mad Junior. You tried and we would have never known if you didn't take the risk. We can always heal her with nano treatment if we get her back to the Elsa in time.' chaos explained calmly. 'Jin,' he said turning to the other male. 'go with Junior back to the Elsa. I've got something to finish here.' he ordered. Jin cast one last menacing glance at Wilhelm before he walked over to Jade's body and scooped it up.

'Tell me something before you go.' chaos said. He knew that Wilhelm was about to leave because he'd been injured. Wilhelm's body was already starting to fade as they spoke. 'Who is the Green Testament?' Wilhelm chuckled one last time before he answered.

'It's her own brother. Her brother that died years ago.' Wilhelm replied. chaos knew that he wasn't talking about the brother that died three years before. He then turned to leave, but Wilhelm had one last message for him. 'Don't get too attached to her. She could be the death of you, and you are too important to the play.'After he spoke, he soon vanished into thin air.

chaos made his way to catch up with Jin and Junior. He knew that they couldn't have went far, but they were far enough from earshot.

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'Is she going to be okay?' MOMO asked once they'd gotten back on the Elsa and taken Jade to the sick bay.

'She'll be fine. It's just a small wound and all she'll need is rest and some nano treatment and she'll be back on her feet in no time.' Junior explained to the small Realian's frantic questions. He still felt guilty because he knew that he was the one that caused her to have the wound in the first place. He was happy that he'd managed to hurt Wilhelm in the process, and that chaos wasn't mad at him. Not that chaos ever seemed to get mad.

'Where's chaos at anyway?' MOMO asked as if reading his thoughts.

'He wanted to stay with her.' Junior replied giving an overdramatic sigh. 'You never know what he's thinking. He could be happy one minute and then pissed off the next.' the male explained about his view on chaos.Inside the sick bay, chaos sit on a chair from the diner that he'd brought in holding Jade's limp hand.

'I'm sorry that I couldn't save you.' he said looking at her while feeling regret. 'I'll protect you next time... I promise.' he said and squeezed her hand to let her know that he was there with her, whenever she wanted him. He wanted to be hers, no matter what the cost.