Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for the ideas. Lion King, Concrete Angel, none of that belongs to me.

Enjoy?

Ardere din interior(Burning from the Inside Out)-Jade's POV (Her room)

"Jade, you've been gone for four months. Where have you been?" My petite soul mate chastised me after almost squeezing the life out of me. I couldn't blame her though; I had abandoned her in my haste to prove myself as an archangel. I winced, feeling a migraine coming on and foreshadowing one of my slowly becoming infamous psychotic breaks. Rubbing my temples in an attempt to assuage the pain, I sighed and sat down on the edge of my bed. Cat's scent wafted into my senses, revealing just how much time she had spent in my room, let alone my bed. There was another smell, something salty that stung my nose. I could only assume that she had spent many nights crying herself to sleep.

"Cat, I really am sorry for leaving you, especially after what your parents did. I have no other explanation than it being an itch that I had to scratch. Not saying that it's a valid excuse, because it's not. I'm an idiot who can't control my impulses, surprisingly I thought that this would have changed with my swapping sides. Yet, I can easily break your heart with my careless caprice." My neck twitched, causing my head to jerk to the side. I could feel the pent up energy crawling across my skin, seeking for an easy exit. I clenched my hands into fists and set my jaw to keep it from sinking into my all too eager fingers. Cimmerian placed a steady hand on my shoulder, and the energy slowly made its way to where his hand sat. I glanced at him and gave him a slight nod of thanks. Suddenly, it clicked in my mind that I had yet to introduce the two of them. "Oh, Cat, I would like to introduce you to… a friend of mine, I suppose."

"Silas Black, at your service." He winked at her and extended his hand. Cat reached to accept the gesture, only to jump back with a gasp of shock when their skin made contact. Recognition shone through brown orbs as her mouth formed an "o". Cimmerian flexed his hand in what I could only assume was his releasing nervous energy. "My apologies, Caterina, I did not mean to hurt you."

"Cimm, is that you?" Her voice sounded different, softer and lighter somehow. She reached out for him, the gold ring shimmering even in the low lighting of my room. He stopped her questing fingers centimeters from his face, giving her a strange look as he did so. Flipping her hand over, he touched the gold that encircled her small digit. He exhibited such care and devotion to the metal, something that I had never seen the entity do.

"Halo, my sister, it has been far too long." He enveloped her in a hug, leaving me to awkwardly sit there. How had I forgotten about this? Oh, right, I was having a mental breakdown trying not to destroy the state of California. I cleared my throat to get them to break apart, seeing as he was fiercely squishing my possessed girlfriend. Wow, I hope to never think that in the same sentence ever. Cimm reluctantly let go of Cat/Halo/Whoever and had the gall to look guilty. "My sincerest apologies, Jadelyn. It has been a while since I was able to touch my sister with my own flesh."

"And I get that, the only problem is that you were touching my girlfriend. Feel free to get acquainted without physical contact." My breath hitched in my chest and a searing pain burned its way into my heart. My hands reached up to claw at my shirt and ease it to the best of my ability. Cimm knelt before me, blue eyes filled with concern and compassion. Another set of hands wrapped themselves around my should, my skin tingling in response to the familiarity of the small brunette.

"Jade? What's wrong?" Cat's voice wavered and I vaguely felt the bed compress under her weight. My senses were clouding over due to the slow burn that was coursing through my veins. Breathing was slowly becoming harder and more shallow, and my muscles were twitching uncontrollably. "Cimm, what's happening to her?!"

"She's having a reaction to what happened to her. You wouldn't think it to be easy for her to simply change every molecule in her being, would you? She didn't change completely, and both sides are fighting over her soul. She may have sold her soul to save you from a being of true evil, but she is nowhere near being at peace with herself." Apparently my ears were working just fine; the rest of me was shutting down because of whatever the hell he was talking about. He pressed a cold hand to my forehead, and eased me to lay on the bed. Picking up my feet, he propped them up on some folded blankets and smoothed out the stronger flinches emanating from my legs. "I have been watching her these past few months, never quite feeling right about leaving her the way I did. She has managed to keep from destroying cities and attacking people, but at a cost. Her psyche is shattered, into God knows how many pieces. I have no idea how we are supposed to put them back together, because these simple humans use stupid things such as duct tape and WD-40 to fix any problem on the planet."

"I bet Tori has something in her parents' library for this…She's the one who helped us change Andre, Robbie and Sikowitz…Cimm, why didn't she tell me about this? She has to know how painful it was in not knowing how she was doing, right?" I barely felt her fingers caress their way from my ear to my chin. My eyes fluttered shut, no longer capable of staying open as the burn intensified. It felt like my atoms were trying to explode apart. I wanted to tell her how much of an idiot I was, even if I had said it many times before. She didn't deserve this, after everything I put her through. My scattered thoughts disappeared as another blaze of agony singed my lungs. Cat's hands grasped one of my own shaking fists, and rubbed her thumb in soothing patterns across my clammy skin.

"Believe me when I say this, Caterina, she is regretting her decision to leave with every moment you and I casually sit here chatting. You, Halo and I will need to stitch the tattered patches together with whatever information we can gather. As of right now, she is on her own in defeating her own demon." Cimmerian's words drifted farther and farther away as I slipped into my own personal hell. The only thing keeping me company was the feeling of Cat's fingers clasping mine.

Andre's POV

I've asked myself how this was going to work, seeing as I was technically an immortal creature and Tori had a limited amount of time on this earth. I had to consult someone I had never before talked to about this situation. He certainly made me stop and think about it, and assured me that she would have a place with me for eternity. Hearing those words put it into perspective that I had all the time in the world to shower her with what she deserved. Without a doubt in my mind, I would show her how much she means to me. Currently, I had her wrapped up in my arms and we were watching The Lion King on her small TV. No matter how many times I had already seen it, viewing it as a new being seemed to shine a new light on it. I was brought out of my reverie by Cat's ringtone of "Concrete Angel" on Tori's phone. Tori shook her head and reached for her phone on the nightstand.

"Cat? Slow down, what are you talking about?" I could hear Cat's frantic shouting from the receiver, and Tori winced as she held it away from her ear. My eyebrows mimicked her own as they scrunched together in confusion. I rubbed her shoulder and sat up to pause the movie. I watched the myriad of emotions play across her features as she listened to Cat's hurried utterances. "Is Jade alright?"

"What's going on?" My interest immediately piqued at my best friend's name. She had been missing for the past four months, and none of us knew where she had disappeared to. If she was back in town, we needed to catch up and see how she was doing. Now was our chance, but what if something had happened?

"We'll be right over, Cat, as soon as I check for anything with my parents." She hung up, hand dragging through her hair in what I was realizing was a nervous habit for her. Looking at me, I saw tears shimmering in her brown eyes. I took her hands in my own, silently pleading to tell me what was up. Her mouth opened and closed, before she finally uttered three words. Those simple words sent my heart into a rabid race of anxiety and desperation.

"Jade's in trouble."

Yeah, it's been awhile. Don't worry about me. I'm still alive. Ever so slowly this story will be finished eventually.

BlueWolf Leader~ Out