Ever since the day Jack became a Light Guardian, she searched and searched for any hint at where Annie was. And she never smiled again, once she learned the truth. She stopped attending classes and was considered missing.
Her fiery and rage were powerful weapons against Night Demons. She was able to get as much supplies as she needed from the shopkeep, but as she wandered into another Light Guardian's city, complications began.
Jack didn't consider other Light Guardians as enemies. The only one that she determined to kill was Annie.
In the city of Ghorin, Jack met up with the Light Guardian of that city. Her name was Jane Mellow. A girl who was more serious about hunting the dark creatures. She had a orange dress and carried two flintlocks.
When Jane was fighting a demon alone in a secluded area, Jack noticed and decided to help. She sprung in and tore the demon apart.
"Wow. You really destroyed that Night Demon," Jane exclaimed.
Jack tossed the black coin over to Jane and she caught it.
"That belongs to you. I don't need it," Jack said as she began to walk away.
"Wait!" Jane yelled. She ran up to Jack and said, "Y'know, maybe I can repay you. I was having a bit of trouble with that fight. I'm actually kinda glad you showed up."
Jack looked at her with dead eyes.
"I'm Jane, by the way," she said while giving out a hand to shake.
Jack shook her hand and the beginning of a friendship started. Jack accepted her offer, since otherwise she would have to sleep under a bridge or park bench.
They both stayed at Jane's house. Her parents were away for work, so it was just the two of them.
Jane prepared some snacks and food for dinner.
"You're not much of a talker, are you?" Jane said after she sipped some tea, "That's okay. I didn't talk too much either."
"Hmm. Since I'm here, I am looking for someone," Jack said while she slowly ate some of the food. She was grateful, but didn't show it. Her face looked dead.
"Really? Who?"
"I'm looking for another Light Guardian. Have you noticed any passing by here."
"I have seen other Light Guardians in the city..."
Jack's eyes lit up for a moment upon hearing that.
"Any of them wear green, use a rod or staff, and wear a baseball cap?"
Jane thought for a moment and continued, "Hmm. No. I don't recall anybody like that."
And so Jack knew there was nothing to learn here. She got up and prepared to leave, but Jane held her arm. When Jane touched her hard arm, it burned her and she immediately let go. She wasn't even in her Light Guardian form, Jane thought. Jack didn't even notice her own heated skin or Jane's touch.
Jack opened the front door, and was about to leave.
"Thank you for everything, but I can't stay,"
Jane felt an urge to help. She wanted to give back to the girl who helped her and return the favor.
"Wait. Don't go. I want to help you," Jane said.
"I don't need any help. Thank you," Jack replied without looking back, but right as she stepped outside, rain began to pour on her. She couldn't feel the rain, but she could clearly see it. The water that touched her skin turned to steam immediately.
As Jack stared at the puddles and raindrops, she thought to herself that it would be hard to find a good place to sleep and medicine would be costly even with the black coins she saved up.
Jack turned back inside and said, "I'll just stay for the day if that's okay with you."
Jane smiled and replied, "Of course."
During that night, Jack learned a lot about Jane. She was average in school. Had friends, but never told them about her life as a Light Guardian. To Jack, she wasn't anybody really special. When Jane asked about her, though, Jack tried to keep it to a minimum. She only mentioned that she was looking for a friend, and to Jane's surprise, Jack was younger than her.
Jane laughed, but Jack could only make a fake smirk.
They decided that night to work together. They would be a duo in fighting Night Demons and finding Annie.
They didn't find any new hints, but they were really formidable together. Jack would gather the monsters' attention, while Jane would fire her flintlocks from afar before the demons would even get a hit in.
After a week of fighting together, during one fight, things changed. Jack and Jane fought a Night Demon that was a mixture between a gecko and a spider. It had eight legs, the head of a black gecko, the back of a spider, and a tongue that spurted acid. There appeared to be shards of glass wrapped around it's neck.
It climbed the shadowy walls behind the school. When night came, it prowled looking for any students. It found a delinquent drinking alone in the school field. It attacked him. It's speed was formidable. It's acid sprayed all around him, but he was too drunk to even react to it. He just thought that there was something in his drink. Some of the acid fell on his arm. He started to scream as the acid melted away his skin to the bone. The pain woke him up from his drunken state, and then caused him to faint.
Jane and Jack quickly arrived as they sensed a Night Demon nearby.
When Jack saw the boy in extreme agony, she ran over to his side. He was still breathing, but his wound was getting infected.
Jane began to fire at the Night Demon.
"Geckospinne," it said.
The creature began to spit out balls of acid at the two Light Guardians. Jack carried the boy in her arms and dodged them. Jane kept firing at the monster, but the bullets wouldn't hit.
"Jack, I'm going to need your help. Need you to pin it down," Jane ordered.
But she wasn't worried about the Night Demon. She was more worried about the injured boy in her arms. She knew that he needed to go immediately to the hospital.
"We need to get this guy to a doctor!" Jack yelled.
"Leave him. We can tend to him after we kill this thing," Jane said.
"No. He won't make it."
"Listen to me! We don't have time to argue. We just need to kill this monster," Jane said. She was worried about the kid, but she knew that if she let this Night Demon go, then it would kill more. But Jack didn't see it like that. When she looked at the kid, she was reminded of her own parents. An innocent bystander. And when she looked back at the Light Guardian, she only saw someone who just wanted to kill. Kill a monster to get a black coin. Kill a monster for the fun of it. She didn't know. But Jack's rage swelled up as when she looked at Jane, the only thing she could see was Annie. Annie's dead eyes looking down on her and her fallen parents.
Jack gently put the kid down on the grass.
Then, she walked slowly over to Jane who was too preoccupied with shooting at Geckospinne. Jack materialized a flaming machete. A blaze surrounded her. Jack breathed heavily and her anger would only rise up in a torrent of fire.
When Jack was right behind her, she took her blade up.
Jane turned around just to see not Jack, but a red demon. Without even knowing what happened, Jack swung the blade down. It cut her from the shoulder down to her waist in two. The body didn't bleed, but the wound was instantly cauterized. Jane's eyes instantly turned white and dead. Jane died instantly. Jack's heart beat faster and faster.
Geckospinne shot out one more ball of acid, but Jack threw her machete straight through it, burning it away. The machete went straight into the Night Demon's temple.
It screeched and popped like a balloon. Glass shards fell all around the school field.
Jack's anger dwindled and the flames dispersed.
She grabbed the black coin and called, "Shopkeep. Shopkeep. I need you."
And so the shopkeep appeared.
"How may I be of -"
Jack handed him the black coin and pointed to the kid. "Heal him and take him directly to a hospital."
The shopkeep nodded his head and fixed his arm. Then, he held the boy and teleported him to the nearest hospital and dropped him off. The shopkeep looked at the fallen Light Guardian, but couldn't care less about it.
"Shame that I lost a customer," he said with a sigh, but inside of him, he didn't care. The shopkeep disappeared with a gust of wind, and Jack was left alone.
It was quiet. Not even the crickets came out. Only the remains of a charred field and Jane. Glass shards were spread around the field and when she looked at her cracked reflection, she saw an ugly smile of ecstasy. Jack didn't realize it, but she enjoyed it. She enjoyed killing that Light Guardian. She enjoyed getting rid of one more person who didn't care about the ants they stepped on along the way. And she was appalled. A twisted and disgusting monster, she thought. She looked at her own horrid reflection with hate and disgust. She crushed the glass and walked away. Jack could no longer bare to see her own face.
She decided to buy a cheap Halloween mask from the dollar store. A hockey mask. She picked it out and kept it with her at all times. Whenever she would turn into her Light Guardian form, she would always put on her mask right before so that she wouldn't have to look at her disgusting form.
As she traveled looking for clues on Annie's whereabouts, she also became a hunter. She hunted Light Guardians all around the country in search of one. She believed that all of them were the same. She could no longer see the difference between Night Demon and Light Guardian. Especially with herself.