Jack and Anne walked along the sidewalk towards the doctor's office.
"Follow me. I know where to go," Anne said.
People all around began to look at Jack. There seemed to be fifty or a hundred band-aids packed around her.
"Is there something on my face?" she asked.
Anne nervously smiled. "Uh... no."
They walked for a minute before Anne asked, "Soooo, how did you end up with all of those... cuts and bruises."
"From a fight," Jack replied without any hesitation.
"What? Really? I wouldn't have figured to be some kind of punk," Anne said, "Although, I guess you do look like one."
"Huh? What's that supposed to be mean?" Jack said in a threatening manner.
"Oh. It was nothing. Nothing."
Jack smiled. "I'm just joking. Although, I wouldn't really call myself a punk. I don't know what to call myself. A traveler?"
"Yeah. I haven't seen you at our school. You probably would have stood out."
That reminded Jack of how she 'stood out' in her previous school. The girls bullied her out of everything and the boys were too afraid to approach her. But Jack would never bring those up in a casual conversation.
"Yeah. I guess so."
Without warning, a chill went by Jack's neck. She sensed a Night Demon nearby. Jack was about to ditch Anne and head straight to it, but Anne was quicker. She began to run into one of the alleyways.
"I'm sorry, Jack, but I got to go! Just head straight down the sidewalk and the ER will be on the right!" Anne yelled as she ran.
Jack stood frozen. Her face went pale.
"So, you're a Light Guardian, too," she whispered quietly to herself, "Why did you have to be one?"
Jack walked into the alleyway and followed her senses. The colder it felt, the closer she was.
When Anne arrived in front of the monster, there were two other students there. One a boy and the other a girl. The monster had a feminine figure. It had a stuffed rabbit as a head. It had no jaw and blood continued to stream down it. It's entire body made of rat fur. Anne could only tell that it was made by rats because some tails were sticking out. The two high school students didn't panic, but instead looked to be under a hypnotic spell. They had a patch of fur stuck to their cheeks. The monster noticed Anne and shot out a patch of fur from her hand.
A ray of light surrounded Anne. Her school clothes disappeared and was replaced by her costume. Her metal gauntlets and boots appeared next. When the patch was about to reach Anne's cheek, she punched it away. The two students walked away and began to climb up a ladder.
Anne charged forward.
"Hase," the Night Demon said as it covered it's arms with rat blood. Anne came in close and began to continuously punch the creature. But no punch would connect. Hase would stretch and twist it's body. It contorted itself into forms that weren't possible for a human. It dodged every single strike. And then it molded it's arms into sharpened blades made from blood.
When Anne punched the creature, it would block with it's blade and strike back with the other. Anne jumped back.
"Not good," she said to herself. She looked around and noticed that she couldn't find the two students anywhere. Then, when she looked up on the rooftop, she saw them both teetering on the edge.
"Shit," Anne said and as she tried to jump up the side of the alleyway to save them, Hase would stretch out it's sharpened arms and strike at Anne, pushing her back.
"Damn it. Damn it," she said in frustration.
Then, another set of footsteps came behind her down the alleyway. She couldn't tell if it was another mind-controlled person, one of her friends, or just a bystander.
But it was somebody she wasn't expecting.
"Jack?"
She put on her hockey mask and without a seconds warning, a blaze of fire surrounded Jack. Then, she dashed out of the fire in her red armor.
This surprised both Anne and Hase.
The two students began to fall. Within seconds Jack shot out a blast of fire behind her soles. She accelerated in. When Hase grew out it's arms to attack Jack, Anne charged at the creature. Without the monster knowing, she was able to get in close. She began to punch the creature with extreme speed. It stopped it's attack towards Jack and focused on defending itself.
But Anne's power was too strong for it. This Night Demon was weak compared to many others.
Jack grabbed the two students in her arms and landed onto the ground safely.
She put them down on the ground. They looked like they fell asleep. Jack took off her hockey mask and looked over towards Anne.
Anne struck the creature even faster and yelled a battle cry. Eventually, her fist clashed with the Night Demon's face. The impact caused the demon to shatter.
The drop of a black coin could be heard across the street. The Night Demon was dead.
Anne jogged in place and kept her breath steady.
"Woo. Now, that's what I'm talking about. Good job, Jack. I didn't know you were a Light Guardian like me. That explains your injuries, at the very least," Anne said.
Jack looked at Anne in disappointment. Jack didn't see Anne try to help those two bystanders. She wasn't there to see it, even though Anne wanted to.
"You're no different," Jack muttered under her breath.
"Hmm? Sorry. I didn't catch that," Anne replied.
Jack shook her head. "Nothing. Actually, I'm wondering if you know anybody named Annie Weldsfield."
"I don't know anybody with that name."
"That's unfortunate. Why did you have to be a Light Guardian?" Jack said as she put her hockey mask back on.
Anne wondered what Jack was doing. Jack had no more desire to ask questions. At this point, she just wanted to finish this and go off to the next city.
Jack quickly dashed over towards Anne. She conjured her machete from fire and tried to strike a decisive blow.
Jack was quick, but Anne was just as quick. As Jack dropped her blade down onto Anne's tiny body, Anne blocked the blade with her gauntlets. The ground underneath them cracked into pieces.
"What are you doing!?" Anne yelled, but all that she could hear were mutters behind Jack's mask.
"You're all the same. You didn't save them. You didn't save my parents. You didn't save them," Jack muttered. Her eyes were blind with rage. Her heartbeat skyrocketed. Adrenaline poured throughout her body. A feeling of ecstasy came over Jack. If the hockey mask hadn't been there, then Anne would be met with a smile that even Jack would consider horrifying.
The Night Demon was dead, but tensions did not.
"Why, Jack? Why are you doing this?" Anne asked while being bombarded by clashes of metal.
Jack roared in response. She was more beast now than human. Uncontrollable. But Anne didn't want to fight her.
Anne tried to fight back against her, but her armor was too strong. Either that, or Jack just didn't feel it. She had no choice but to fall back and retreat, but Jack wouldn't let her. There were no openings.
And with one swift and powerful strike of Jack's machete, Anne's body was pushed away.
Jack charged forward.
"Please stop this, Jack," Anne pleaded, but the words couldn't reach her ears.
Jack stomped forward, but she quickly slowed to a halt. She stopped as soon as she noticed another shadow from above. A girl holding two katanas jumped down from the rooftop. She tried to slash Jack with her two blades without being noticed, but that plan didn't work.
She noticed and blocked the attack with her machete. Jack created a blaze of fire around herself to try and burn the new girl. However, she jumped back right before the fire hit her. She positioned herself in between Anne and Jack.
"Another Light Guardian?" Jack muttered. She began to control herself more, but had no plans of stopping. She had hoped to just finish the fight quickly, but that wasn't going to happen.
"Nina? How-," Anne asked.
"I sensed a Night Demon, so we came to stop it," Nina replied.
"We?" Jack asked as she looked around for other Light Guardians, but she couldn't see any others. Was it supposed to be some kind of scare tactic, she thought.
Nina ignored the armored guardian for a moment as it looked around and paid attention to Anne.
"Looks like we came just in the nick of time. But I don't sense any Night Demons around. I was on my way when I sensed it, but was about to leave as it vanished," Nina said, "That was until I heard some fighting, so I decided to take a look."
"She's a Light Guardian like us, but something's wrong with her. We took down the Night Demon together, but it's like she can't control herself now," Anne said while worrying about Jack.
"Can't control myself!? I am fully aware of what I'm doing, you guardian scum! You all deserve what's coming," Jack angrily replied, "I don't care how many more of you there are! I'll destroy you all the same!"
Nina and Anne prepared themselves to fight side-by-side. Both of them physical fighters.
Jack roared with fury as her machete lit itself. She charged in with all of her might.
It was a fierce battle. Nina and Anne both defended themselves fairly, but Jack's power was too great. They knew they couldn't win in a battle of strength.
Jack began to notice another shadow swooshing in and out. She wasn't able to catch a good glimpse of the individual, but guessed it was another Light Guardian. However, she continued to focus at the two she was currently battling.
However, their endurance was much greater than Jack's. Her movements slowed while theirs were constant.
"Please stop this, Jack. I don't want to hurt you any more," Anne pleaded.
"Hurt me!?" Jack shouted with insult, "Neither of you can even scratch me."
Something else also bothered Jack. She noticed that Anne and Nina never properly landed a blow to Jack, but she could see some blood dripping out of her armor.
Her eyes began to close as she felt the need to rest. Everything seemed more cold than usual. Jack tried to swing her blade another time, but she slipped on her own blood. Anne dashed in and with one swift punch, she smashed her fist head-on to Jack's face. Jack's hockey mask shattered into pieces.
Jack walked back covering her face.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it," Jack said. She took her hand off of her own face and revealed a hideous smile. Her eyes were bloodshot red. Anne and Nina were both stunned.
Luckily for Jack, she couldn't see her own face, otherwise she too would have been disgusted. She always knew that this horrid face appeared whenever she fought other Light Guardians. Not when she fought Night Demons or walked around. But even so, she always found her guardian form as just another monster. A monster that should also die just like the rest of them.
Anne snapped out of it and pleaded once more. "Jack, please stop. You're already finished. You can't fight anymore. We need to take you to a hospital."
Jack laughed.
"Finished? I'm not even close to being finished. Do you know how many of you monsters I've killed? Night Demons. Light Guardians. Sometimes, I can't even tell the difference. And when I kill every last monster on this world, I'll kill the worst monster of them all. Myself," Jack cried angrily.
Jack looked around her and noticed the streams of blood oozing out of her. Then, she noticed the shadow swoosh away. There was another Light Guardian, but she couldn't see it.
Jack didn't know it, but she had knives sticking out of every crack in her armor. And those knives dug in deeper with wooden roots. Jack had no idea about those details because she couldn't feel it. Only now she could feel the effects. As a Light Guardian, she's able to take a lot of damage, but most Light Guardians would already be dead at this point.
But now, Jack knew that she couldn't win. She had no choice, but to retreat. She created a wall of fire between her and the two Light Guardians in front of her. Then, she made a quick sprint out of there. The guardian that was hiding didn't give chase.
When the flamed died out, Jack was gone.
"Jack..." Anne muttered quietly. Even now, she still thought that they could be great friends, but she knew that if those injuries weren't treated soon, then that chance would never come to fruition.
"Are you okay, Anne?" Nina asked.
"Yeah"
"Good job on staying hidden, Kira. I don't think she noticed you."
Kira jumped down from the rooftop.
"It was strange. It was like she couldn't feel my daggers in her," Kira said, "We should be careful. I don't think she's going to stop."
Nina nodded her head. "Yeah. Although, if that doesn't kill her, then I don't know what will. She was stronger than most Night Demons put together."
Anne transformed back and walked away slowly.
"Hey. We should walk together for a while. We don't want to get ambushed," Nina said.
Anne stopped and nodded her head in agreement, but she had a feeling that she wouldn't see her alive again.
Meanwhile, as soon as Jack escaped, she fled to a nearby neighborhood. Night time descended upon her as she walked away leaving a trail of blood.
It was quiet. Nobody was around. It was there she decided to rest. She sat on the pavement next to the wall. The knives were still stuck in her, but she had no idea about them.
"Just gotta rest my eyes. Tomorrow, I'll finish those three and then go find Annie," Jack said as her eyes began to close. Her entire body started to grow cold. But right before her eyes closed completely, she noticed another girl standing above her. She was shrouded in darkness. Not a single feature or detail was seen. And then she slept.