"Lisette! Wake up! It's me, Jade!"
I continued to yell as I approached, but skidded to a stop when I noticed the electric barrier hovering before her limp body. The distance between us was about five steps, and I was aggravated that there was another barrier blocking me from her.
"Lisette! Please wake up!" I screamed.
I braced myself as my hands went into fists and prepared to hammer against the wall. The impact merely left me shrieking in pain as I was sent back by the level of voltage running through the thin wall.
"Fuck!" I cursed as my whole body had static thrumming through it. I bit my lip hard to help me ignore the pain the attack caused, but I scrambled up and was going to try again with greater force.
"Electricity versus electricity," I hummed and felt the very element of thunder race to my aid. Instead of the weapon I'd envisioned coming to the plate, there was Thunder Jade in full electric form. She looked back at me with a confident grin while holding what seemed to be a large hammer in her grasp.
"Destroy!" she declared with pride and looked back at the target wall before she raced towards it with the intention of breaking it with her hammer.
The first impact caused a static blow, but as she pulled back to try again, I noticed the slight crack in the glimmering pink protective screen.
"Again!" I encouraged, and she attacked it again with more force than before. The cracks spread quickly, growing bigger and igniting tiny cracks along the way that only further spread the bigger ones.
"One more time!" I urged, and Thunder Jade delivered as she jumped back, steadied her hammer, and raced forward for the final blow.
When her hammer made contact against the barrier, it shattered upon impact and she disappeared in an attempt to conserve energy.
This is my chance!
I sprinted forward, not thinking Ceil would emerge right in front of Lisette's limp figure. His swords were up and ready to complete a unified strike as he pressed the swords together and darted forward to strike me right in the chest.
Shit!
With a blink, Shadow Jade was in front of me, but my heart spiked when I realized her scythe was nowhere in sight.
"SHADOW JADE!" I screamed, frightened she'd take the strike full-on to protect me, but at the last second her outstretched arms moved, and her hands slapped against the dual edges of his blades, stopping them right in their track.
The action shocked Ceil, his large dark eyes only growing bigger as he fought harder to push through her hold. She remained in place, leaving me the opportunity to run around, but I ended up stopping and turning to view both of them facing one another.
I wasn't sure if Ceil even noticed that I'd moved, his eyes directly locked on Shadow Jade's. I noticed the black blood that began to drip along her arms, the blades, and the ground, which seemed to trigger my response as I flinched and noticed the emerging bruise on my palms.
I'm sure the pain wasn't like what Shadow Jade was experiencing, but I couldn't interfere.
"Protect. Always," she said with a firm voice that made confusion swarm along Ceil's expression. Tears formed in Shadow Jade's eyes as more of her blood bled onto the blades. The black liquid was thick and drew the attention of Ceil as he watched her trembling hands that remained in place.
"Protect. Always," she repeated with trembling lips. "No kill. Only protect. Always protect."
His rigid stance weakened just slightly as he scrunched his expression.
"Shadow...Jade?"
"Protect. Always. No kill," she repeated.
"J..ade?"
My eyes darted to Lisette, and I watched her weak eyes open just slightly and glance my way.
"Lisette!" I screamed and looked back at Ceil.
"Ceil! It's Jade and Shadow Jade. We're here to save Lisette. Please don't hurt Shadow Jade. She cares about you. She won't hurt you!" I screamed with power.
"Ceil..." Lisette said weakly. "Ill..usion. Shadow...Jade is in front of you...holding back the swords. They're real. Not...evil."
Ceil swallowed hard before he finally pulled back his swords.
Shadow Jade lowered her hands, only to look at them and frown as she raised her gaze back to show him her teary eyes.
"Ow."
He cursed under his breath and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a strong hug. My whole body tingled, which was hard to shake off, but I rushed over to Lisette, knowing they would make up later.
I sensed others approaching, which gave me the perfect chance to initiate what had to be done. Dropping to my knees, I reached for Lisette's face and gently caressed it with my shaky hand.
"Lisette! I found you! I found...you." I fought my sobs as my eyes swarmed with tears. She looked at me with sad eyes, those pink gems filling with their own tears as hope began to fade with the vibrancy of their appearance.
"You...didn't abandon me," she whispered as her helpless eyes flickered with relief. They then showed a hint of worry. "I think...we're out of time," she whispered, and I shook my head rapidly.
"No. We can fix this. We can change you to what you want, Lisette!" I reasoned quickly. "The Maxwells, Calvin, and the R-squad are here with me. We're going to work together to change you to whatever you want."
"Change?"
"Charles was trying to make you into a male, right?" I whispered.
Her eyes filled with shock before she looked embarrassed by the mere mention of it, but I lifted her head so her eyes could only look into mine.
"Nothing to be embarrassed about. We can fix it, but you have to choose what you want to be. A boy or a girl? We only have a minute, Lisette. You have to let me know now."
She stared into my eyes, and the answer should have been obvious, but she hesitated.
"Why are you hesitating, Lisette?"
"Do you want me as a male?" she genuinely asked, which only made my tears overflow from my eyes as I stared at her in disbelief.
She was on the verge of death and yet she worried about whether I'd accept her as a girl.
"Lisette! I want you to be who you want to be! You want to be a girl again, you can be a girl again! That's not going to change anything. That isn't going to ruin the love I have for you! We'll still be girlfriends and go on dates. Fuck! We'll have sex with dildos or something! Don't you dare change your gender to try to please me or society's stereotypes! I want us to be together no matter what!"
She fought hard to smile as her tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Then...I want to be a girl again," she said with a spark of happiness that made me sob and press my forehead against hers.
"Then, you're going to be a girl again and we're going to be together no matter what. No need to hide stuff from us anymore. I promised to never abandon you, remember?"
"Ya," she whispered with a smile. "That means...we'll be together for New Year’s.”
"Yes," I whispered and leaned in closer as I felt Shadow Jade return to me - all eight of my elements preparing for the ultimate moment. "A New Year that will lead to a New Us."
I covered her lips with mine, the touch causing my eight elements to burst out of me and wrap around the two of us.
Loud bells echoed through the sky as the sound of fireworks shooting upward and exploding far above made me realize the clock had finally reached midnight and we were officially in the new year.