38 Chapter 34: Revenge....

I highly recommend you listen to the song[ Departure -Max Richter: Piano Cover] while reading.

...

The air was thick with the scent of alcohol and despair as Jessica finally noticed Grim standing by the door. "What the hell do you want?" she spat out, her voice laced with bitterness.

Grim, his expression unreadable, simply asked, "Why?"

Jessica scoffed as she made a clumsy attempt to grab another bottle of alcohol from the shelf, but stumbled and fell to the floor.

Crash!!!

Frustrated and unfazed by the pain, she punched the floor, breaking it, before grabbing the bottle.

As she raised the bottle to her lips, a shadow tendril emerged and flicked it away. She turned to Grim, her eyes blazing with anger.

"Didn't I tell you to Fuck off already kid...get out of my house."

Advancing towards him, her fists clenched, she began to strike him relentlessly.

Crack!!!

Grim remained unmoving, his face and body absorbing every blow, healing instantly from each hit.

"Get out! I don't want you here! Shity little fuck stain...fuck off...bastard." she screamed, her voice cracking with raw emotion.

Grim stood silently, enduring her onslaught. Each punch was a release of her pent-up pain and frustration.

Finally, her strength waned, and her last punch barely grazed his chest before she collapsed backwards onto the floor, laughing hysterically at her pathetic state.

"..."

Grim finally spoke, his voice calm and steady. "Do you know how stars are made?... They're born from the dust of a supernova. Even in destruction, there's creation."

"..."

"What the fuck are you on about?" Jessica interrupted, her laughter fading into confusion.

"..."

"These are the words that comforted me, before I died..." Grim said, his tone unchanged.

"..."

Jessica cursed under her breath and hobbled to the sofa, sinking into it in silence.

After a moment, she looked at Grim. "Do you want to hear a story?" Without waiting for his response, she began.

"I was just a teen...when it all started. A car accident...I lost my parents and got these powers.

I tried being a superhero for a bit and named myself Jewel, though I wasn't popular I did have a few fans...but then...Then I met him...

.....

As Jessica sat amidst the wreckage of her apartment, she finally broke the silence that hung between her and Grim.

Her voice was low, each word laced with the weight of years of suppressed pain and torment.

"Ever heard of Kilgrave? The Purple Man?" she started, her eyes not meeting Grim's. "He's the reason I quit being a superhero. I was just starting out, you know? Young, and naive, thought I could make a difference. Then he came along with his mind control powers. He...he did things, made me do things..."

Grim listened, his expression stoic yet attentive.

"For eight months, he had me. Eight months where I wasn't in control of my own actions. I did horrible things under his command. When I was finally free, it was like waking up from a nightmare. Only, the nightmare was real, and I couldn't forget it."

She paused, taking a shuddering breath. "After Kilgrave, I tried to rebuild my life. Became a private investigator. I met Luke Cage. We fell in love, got married. We had twins, my daughter, Danielle was born first followed by her little brother...For a while, it felt like I could have a normal life.

But Kilgrave, he always haunted me." Jessica's voice trembled as she delved deeper into her past.

"Then Kilgrave returned, stronger than before. I tried to fight him, but he was always one step ahead. Carol Danvers, my best friend, she did everything to help me, but by the time she found me... it was too late."

A tear escaped her eye as she recounted the most painful memory. "I came home one day to find... my own child, my baby, lying lifeless on the street. Kilgrave had made him a pawn in his sick game. He forced my son to hold a gun, to act out in violence. The police shot him, thinking he was a threat."

Her fists clenched, her body shaking with suppressed rage and grief. "I held my son in my arms, his body lifeless, and I swore to find Kilgrave, to make him pay for what he had done. But he always slipped away..."

Grim remained silent, letting Jessica let out everything she had been holding back.

"And now here I am," Jessica continued, her voice a mere whisper.

"A washed-up PI, drowning my sorrows because I couldn't save my child...Because I couldn't stop Kilgrave."

...

In the dim light of the ruined apartment, Jessica continued her story, her voice a hollow echo of her former self.

"I couldn't let it go, you know? Kilgrave, that monster... he took my son from me. Luke, my husband, he tried to pull me back, to make me forget, to move on. But how could I? That man killed our child."

Her hands trembled as she recounted the days that followed, days consumed by an obsessive quest for vengeance. "I used every resource, every bit of will I had to find him. And in doing so, I... I started losing everything else. I missed birthdays, proms, holidays... Precious moments with Danielle that I can never get back. All because I couldn't let go."

Grim remained silent.

"I got depressed, turned to the bottle. Started getting violent. Before I knew it, I was served divorce papers. I watched Danielle cry as I signed them..."

"Back then, I thought it was for the best."

A bitter laugh escaped her lips.

"But years passed, and Kilgrave was still out there..."

"Then...finally, a lead in Mexico. A man they called 'El Diablo.' It was him – Kilgrave, using another villain's name. I tracked him down, ready for anything. His pheromones didn't work on me anymore...I made sure of that."

Her eyes darkened. "I did things to him... Horrible things. And you know what? He never showed a hint of remorse. Right up to the end, he was taunting me. His last words before I snapped the fuckers neck were, 'I'll have fun with your kid in hell while I wait for you.'"

The room was filled with a heavy silence, punctuated only by Jessica's ragged breaths.

"It was at that moment I realized... it was too late for me. I got my revenge, but at what cost? My child is still dead. Danielle, Luke, my friends... all gone. I'm alone, truly alone."

Tears streamed down her cheeks, unchecked and unashamed. Her story was one of loss and pain, a journey that had led her to the darkest depths of her soul.

Grim, his face still an emotionless mask, finally spoke. "Revenge...You've reached the end of it. What's left for you now?"

Jessica wiped her tears away, a hollow laugh escaping her. "What's left? Just this bottle and these four walls. That's my life now. A constant reminder of what I've lost, what I've thrown away."

She looked up at Grim, her eyes reflecting the shattered remnants of her life. "You know, I used to think I was strong, unbreakable. But I was wrong. We all break, Grim. Some of us just shatter into more pieces than others."