Ch 4

(Emily's POV)

Everything feels cold again. I open my eyes slightly and blink a couple times. "Where am I?" I unconsciously say aloud to no one. Everything looked familiar yet so...different. I felt an ominous vibe from the cluttered room. I was not entirely sure of what to do or where to go so I simply wandered aimlessly. Every now and again I could hear voices from all around me. However there was no body to the growing number of voices. Unfortunately, this seems to be a reoccurring issue for me. After another minute or so of observing the dark landscape, the pieces started to look more clear. "The Batcave?" So if this is the Batcave then...Did I die again? "You've got to be kidding me?! How even?" In my slight panic and frustration I began unconsciously pacing back and forth.

"You still have a lot to learn don't ya Em?" A strangely familiar voice piped up from behind me. In a frantic spin I face the voice. "Who are you?" The female voice laughed in amusement and disappeared. Not even a second later a cool blade is resting lightly on my neck. "Your deepest darkest fear." My heartbeat immediately quickened at the dark vibes around the woman behind me.

Just then I hear an uncontrollable laughter and the blade slips away. "Oh my gosh!" More laughter. "I'm just fucking with ya Ems. It's me!  Jade!" I can't help the confusion that overwhelms me, but soon it transitions to annoyance. "Jade is dead." I mutter. "Yes I am as dead as can be! You are too ya silly goose!" Dead? Did she just say I'm dead? "How? I don't remember that...I died?" I keep drifting off to think about what I'm being told. "Just kidding! Man you're easy to mess with huh?" She laughed again. "Jade that's not funny! Tell me, what's going on right now?" The brunette glanced at my pleading eyes and sighed. "I miss ya little E....it gets boring here ya know? In this ghost realm thing you can say."

With a light sigh Jade spun on her heel and spoke once more, "Alrighty little sis! Long story short this is the area between life and death...I think? There is a few demons, lost souls, and spirits and not all are as kind as I." The older woman exaggerates with a wide smile. "You have the ability to travel through this disfigured  landscape...WITH A COST! You're body can't go too long without your soul spirit thing, so it will begin shutting down on you... in a way. There are a ton of other drawbacks but I'll tell ya later. Now one may ask 'how is this possible' and the answer is I don't know. Some people have powers or gifts and others don't. You have the ability to travel the land of the dead and the living along with the ability to manipulate your own body into the properties of a ghost. Those nightmares and voices and scary monsters are real. In fact you unknowingly tapped into the dead world here."

Jade continued on with her 'long story short' and I tried to listen intently. Suddenly my head began pounding and my body felt heavy. "Ya know now that I think about it...that was so not  short huh?" Jade asked with a slight chuckle. I couldn't hear her voice anymore...it feels far. The pounding worsened and my skin suddenly felt cold. "Em? Hey Emily! Emily!" Jade's voice felt so far away, almost like she was disappearing. "

"Crap. Ok Girl I need you to concentrate on returning to your body ok?" Concentrate...concentrate...go back. Breathing suddenly felt difficult. I couldn't breathe. I feel like my heart is being crushed by the harsh cold air surrounding my hunched over figure. The sudden loss of air sent me into a choking state and then suddenly I could breathe.

I was in so much pain I couldn't even register what was going on or what was happening around me. The only thing that was apparent was the sudden light entering my vision and the sound of me coughing up a storm. "Emily?! Emily are you ok? It's ok..it's ok..." A familiar voice from beside me began patting on my back as if to ease me of my fit.

After a few more minutes went by I was finally able to breathe properly and I could tell I was back in the real world. Alfred was of course doing a medical test on me to figure out what had happened and Bruce stood by ready to see the results. As for the newcomer, apparently he was off in his new lesser room. "Bruce do you know about my sister, Jade?" I asked in a soft voice with slight  curiosity. Bruce looked as stoic as ever before he sighed in exhaustion. "Jade? She was your sister. Apparently she had died suddenly due to illness at the age of 14. She was often rebellious and got into a lot of trouble, but overall was a good kid from what I gathered."

The information he gave was pretty much spot on according to Jade's file, but I feel like there should be more. "I was sick in the hospital because of a common cold that transitioned into pneumonia right?" Bruce nodded his head urging me to continue. "Bruce was there anything strange about my sister?" The said man looked hesitant to speak but eventually gave in. "Jade often claimed to see dead people and often had nightmares. Other than that there was nothing strange about her, she was just a regular kid."

So she died suddenly and claimed to see dead people? She had frequent nightmares? It's funny how I was in the hospital sick near dead and suddenly my sister dies and I'm healed. So the most reasonable outcome would be-

"Emily?" The voice of Alfred spoke in a concerned tone. I quickly turned to the aged man with a startled expression, "My bad Alfred...I was a little lost in thought." The said butler gave a wary side look as he went to respond. "Your parents have arrived to pick you up." I nodded my head and immediately followed the family friend up the steps to the living room.

Not too long after, Bruce had followed us up to speak with my parents and bid me farewell. Of course I still had a lot on my mind so as soon as we made it home I fell into bed with a tired sigh. "What to do about the voices in my head?" I laughed a little at how crazy it sounds.  Not long after I closed my heavy lids I fell into a peaceful sleep.

"Emily? Emily?! Hey Em can you hear me? Helloooo?" That voice sounded like Jade's loud voice. After a second of darkness my eyes finally adjusted to the world around me. "EMILY!" A sudden voice boomed towards me. "What?!" I shouted back in irritation towards the stubborn voice. "Jeez calm down E. I was just trying to get your attention." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my older sister's response. "Yeah yeah. So tell me Jay, what are you doing here?"

"Great question! Ya see I noticed my little sis had entered dream land so I decided to step in and answer some questions for you. Obviously I don't have all the answers but I most definitely can answer most. So go ahead E, shoot." I smiled at her usual carefree demeanor. Jade was never one to be serious or stressed. "What's going on with my powers? I mean recently it just seems like it's trying to cause me harm versus when I first developed them. Before it was just strange but I learned how to use them and now I feel like it's slowly trying to kill me..." Jade nodded her head as a sign of listening to her younger sibling and with a moment to think she answered, "That one is a bit complicated. So think of it as levels ok? So in the beginning you experienced small changes...such as your ability to teleport short distances, phasing through things and people and the ability to detect unnatural presences. Am I right?" Emily's jaw dropped a bit in surprise. "H-How did you know about that?" Jade laughed a bit at this. "I have my ways little sis. Anywho, you have a few drawbacks that come with this gift. For example you can only teleport a few feet, you often experience dizziness and you have a lack of coordination that you have to make up for. That is level 1. Level 2 you are experiencing the last of your abilities such as the ability to see ghosts, interact with the dead for a short amount of time, possession and a lack of presence which makes you hard to detect." Emily nodded her head at the new information but still held a face of confusion.

"So with these new abilities showing up your body is physically and mentally still adjusting to it that's why you are having these sudden nightmares, hearing voices, and have recently began to unconsciously slip out of your body and into this in between world. It's going to take time to adjust but when you do you'll start working on level 3! Level 3 is when you master each of these abilities and perfect them in your own way." Jade smiled widely with a dramatic thumbs up. "Does this answer most of your neverending questions?" Emily rolled her eyes at her sister's goofy personality. "It makes a bit more sense now but I have another question." Jade nodded her head knowingly, "Shoot! I'm all ears."

"Mom and Dad don't talk about your death but I was wondering...did you possibly give your life to save mine?" Jade was a little taken back by your question but she slowly slipped into a soft and light smile. "You were very sick...it was just a small cold but somehow it elevated to something worse. You weren't getting any better and your immune system had failed you long before so you were more vulnerable. The doctors said they did as much as they could to help you but nothing was working and it seemed like something was pulling you closer to death. Everytime it seemed like you were going to win and get better something would tug you back. You were still so young so it's not like you had much of a fighting chance. Those powers of yours used to be my own. I made some deals with some reapers and I traded my life for yours. I guess when I transferred my life force to you I passed my abilities down to you as well."

A comfortable silence passed between the two sisters for a good moment. "Do you think mom and dad blame me for your death?" I asked with a sad mumble. Suddenly I felt a solid hit from the back of my head and an immense pain followed. "Don't you dare say stuff like that you little brat! Mom and Dad love you and would never think such things about you, they don't blame you for anything! And I certainly don't regret my decision either so don't you dare start thinking like that Emily!" Jade finished her rant with a slight puff of annoyance and crossed her arms slightly. "Besides...what kind of hero would I be if I couldn't save my baby sister, huh?" My eyes stung a bit after Jade finished speaking. Without a second thought I threw my arms around my older sister and balled my eyes out. Jade simply hugged back with a soft smile. "I love you Emily...always and forever."

Although Emily didn't respond back, due to her consistent sobbing, Jade knew that the feeling was mutual between the two.