((CLOSED))Waiting for the cure

[glitters]

By now it had been five days since Andy, Kara, and Vincent left for Ketulunanox. When Jasmine had returned home the day she ventured up the mountain, Hala practically forbade Jasmine from ever leaving the front porch until Andy and Kara returned.

By her third day in, walking was proving to be an issue for Jasmine as each step she took sent a terrible stabbing sensation up through the nerves of her feet and legs. When she collapsed on the floor the next morning, Hala forced her into her bed where she would remain until her friends came back from meeting with Xisa.

She sat curled up with books all around, though with each passing day she was finding it harder and harder to focus on studying. At times, it hurt to even turn the page. This evening, Jasmine had opened up another spellbook to read, always looking for something that would be of great assistance when a pain shot through her wrist. She gasped loudly, the book dropping off of the bed with a THUD, and as she moved to pick it up, the pain worsened.

'Just don't move so much, you'll aggravate it...' she tried to tell herself. The pain was starting to linger almost constantly, yet at this moment she seemed to be able to suppress it by not moving as much. She reached slowly down to grab the book, however, and she cried out, everything hurt.


"Jasmine? What are you doing in there?" Hala's stern voice called, and before Jasmine could answer her (probably going to tell her she was fine), she had appeared in the room and sighed at the sight before her. She grabbed Jasmine by the shoulders and helped her back up into bed, a whimper coming out of the girl as she did so. She then picked up the book that fell, and before she gave it back she asked, "Are you feeling okay? I've mixed a lot of painkiller, which will help until the effects of this hex are too overwhelming, but even then it should help you at least get some sleep."

Jasmine shook her head at her mother, wincing as she responded, "Everything is hurting...at times, I'm afraid that even breathing is starting to sting a little..."
When she looked up at Hala, who bit her lip and stared at her, she already could see the look in her eyes. She smiled up at her mother and added, "It could just be in my head, though. It's okay, Mother, Andy will look after me. It is just like you said, he has to believe in me to help him, and I believe in him to help me."

Hala gripped the book tightly and then set it down on the little table in the room. She fought back tears when she heard the words her daughter had just spoken, and she gave Jasmine a gentle hug before walking out of the room. Her voice quivered as she said, "I'll go get medicine. Don't be moving around."

Jasmine watched her leave, frowning slightly as she did. 'Papa should really be here...'
More pain attacked her abdomen area and she curled over, choking back another cry as she did so. She wondered how bad this was going to get, and how she was going to keep looking up at her mother with a smile and telling her it'd be okay even when she was writhing in pain.

She didn't know this yet, but the stinging she thought she felt while breathing wasn't in her head. In three more days, she was probably going to start wishing she was dead...

[Andy Jammer]

"Jasmine." The voice of Kevin Uruhane rang out, "It's been four days, I can assume the pain has increased..."

[glitters]

For once, Kevin's sudden appearance didn't seem to startle Jasmine. She stared at a wrinkle in the blanket on her bed and focused hard on the unique shape it made, trying to keep her mind off of the wave of pain she was feeling. When it let go and gave her a spell of relief, she breathed deeply and turned her head to face Kevin.

"It has a little..." she lied, "but Mother is helping me for when it gets really bad."

Hala appeared back in the room, shaking her head at what she heard her daughter respond with, and handed her a cup with a purple, odd-smelling liquid. Jasmine twisted her lip and raised an eyebrow at it.

"Drink it," Hala demanded. Jasmine frowned and obediently did so, handing the cup back to her mother. Hala gave Kevin a smirk before she left the room again.

[Andy Jammer]

"I wouldn't worry," Kevin reassured, "The training Andy received should be enough to retrieve the vial, and with Ms. Samsra and... a friend, they should be able to handle the Sumata."

[glitters]

"Kara will make sure he doesn't do anything crazy," Jasmine responded quietly and then stared at Kevin for a long while. She had never really known why, but Kevin, as well as most people she'd met in her life were always in her mind as part of a group of people she could never get close to. It drove her mother crazy, as a lot of these people were family friends, but Jasmine was just like that, she had her own reasons for opening up to people sooner than others.

Kevin had been around for some years, though, and Jasmine had never really tried dealing with him if she could help it. He was here now, though, training Andy and helping them, and she still had no reason to shut him out. Perhaps it was time for her to take on her mother's view of him and accept him as a friend, finally.

She smiled at him then and said, "I'm not scared. Andy will be here for me." She thoroughly believed this and her facial expression showed it, and it was a warming thought that fought with the clawing pain that climbed around her torso area.

At the same time, another thought crossed her mind. "Mr. Uruhane...could I ask how you know so much about Griever? And why he must be connected with Andy? Why not someone else?" As she spoke, she reached for the book that was sitting beside her. She winced, setting it on her lap, and she fiddled a bit with the pages.

[Andy Jammer]

Kevin remained silent, he knew of the girl's big heart. But if she now, then things could be bad.

"Griever is part of Crepusculum history. The really old testaments and books, as for him and Andy... you'll find out one day, but I wonder... when you find out, would you believe in him as strongly as you do now?"

[glitters]

"It's never been mentioned to me before, that's funny..." Jasmine bit her lip and looked around at the piles of books around her, "I wonder if my mother has anything about it."

However, that was the least of her concern at the moment. She stretched her hands to help numb a stinging feeling in them and she gave Kevin a curious look as she asked, "What...do you mean? Is something bad going to happen to him?"

[Andy Jammer]

"Possibly," Kevin said, he turned to leave when he felt it...the shift in aura...emitting from far away and sighed. "Correction, most definitely. It seems Andy has awoken a great, and dangerous power."

[glitters]

Jasmine shivered, something seemed very wrong suddenly. She tried ignoring all pain she was currently feeling in her body, and leaned closer to the edge of her bed.

"Mr. Uruhane, what are you talking about? What's this dangerous power? What's going on?! I'll help him, I'll find a way to help him!"

The words he spoke scared her, and it scared her even more that she wasn't anywhere near Andy and anything could be happening without her there to even try to stop it.

[Andy Jammer]

Kevin shook his head sadly, "You cannot help him dear, the Vizard is unstable and destructive. You will only get yourself killed, now hold on..."

His body shimmered with energy and he frowned, "I can see Andy at Xisa's castle...the Vizard power isn't complete, but it's there..."

[glitters]

"What?! But...but if I can't help him, what's going to happen to him?" Jasmine cringed as her stomach turned and she lay on her side, still facing Kevin yet. She wanted to cry, she felt so helpless, confused, and worried.

"I...I don't believe I can't do anything about it. There's something...there has to be something..." she mumbled, starting to panic slightly. She was almost ready to try leaping out of her bed and making the trip to Ketulunanox to find them.

...Maybe she would. She'd climb out of her bedroom window and drag herself out there if she had to.

...And then be told how much of a hypocrite she was by Andy. She and Kara always gave him heck for doing something 'stupid' and here she was planning on doing something stupid herself.

Still sounded like an idea worth trying, though.

[Andy Jammer]

"Settle down," Kevin warned, using his own magic to keep her steady. "You'll worsen your condition, do you want to see what's happening to Andy?"

[glitters]

Jasmine struggled yet, despite Kevin's magical interference. She didn't want to admit he was right, but she gave up fighting and slowly nodded her head at him, a small whimper escaping her.

"P-please...please let me know what's happening to him..." she slowly answered, "I want to know."

'I want an idea of what to look out for, and what I can do to fix it...'

[Andy Jammer]

Kevin touched Jasmine's head and an image of Andy, wearing a peice of a white skull with red lines for a mask, appeared. His eyes were black and yellow, and his voice distorted he was yelling to an unseen person.

"DIE DIE DIE!"

[glitters]

Jasmine shrieked and jumped backwards into the wall.

"That's...that's...that's not Andy! He wouldn't do anything like...he wouldn't behave like that! He doesn't, I know it, I know it!!" she yelled, tears forming in her eyes as she did so. Her chest hurt, and she curled over again in pain. This was like some kind of nightmare, but one she couldn't wake up from. She looked up at Kevin and squeaked out, "Why's he like that...? I'll stop it...I'll find a way to stop it..."

She knew Andy had a good heart, she was sure of it. She believed it with every fiber of her being, and she did the moment she had met him. She found it absolutely perplexing...and somehow, impossible, for that to all change suddenly.

And she was sure she could do something to fix it. She had to be able to, Yeligar's words still rang in her head from that meeting she had had with him at the lake that day.