(A/N: This is pretty much my very first fanfic, so please be patient! And of course, I'd love feedback!)

Marionette.

To everyone else, Nina Myers is dead. But she lives on inside Jack, and never lets him forget. He can function; he can successfully maintain a mask. But when he closes his eyes, he only hears sadistic fairytales of deceit and destruction, and her voice speaking the words. His body aches and caves in when he remembers her touch. Those gentle hands that once brought such pleasure had burned a monstrous hole through his gut.

She had blinded him, and he began to like it that way. But lies develop whether you're watching or not, and once the fallout hit, he had never seen so clearly. His nightmares come in the form of beautiful fantasies, in which Nina shows herself as the passionate woman he thought he knew. Every time, he smiles through the terror, and every time he wakes up in cold sweats.

It was confusing to Jack, that when the time for his triumphant revenge had arrived, he was swept over by an overwhelming sense of defeat. A small fraction of him understood that even bathing in Nina's blood would never send her away. But the rest of him had been waiting for this moment for years, and held foolish hopes that this act of vengeance would bring closure to it all. Once he sent three bullets to her chest, it became so painfully clear that he had finally lost.

To this day, he visits her grave to curse her in hell. Nina had taken away his angel, and he wanted nothing more than for her to be gone for good. But she stayed, and Jack could feel it. He could feel her fingers on his skin, and her presence in his mind. The only thing he despises more than what she did, is the fact that he wants her back. If he can't feel Terri's love, he could at least feel Nina's hate.

But there is no emotion whatsoever. Just his body, playing marionette, to the beast who lives inside.

To everyone else, Nina Myers is dead. But she lives on, observing from the outside. The only thing that kept her alive, her power, is now beyond her reach. She has been stripped of warmth and the influence of touch, and left only with her mind. She watches Jack weaken and fall, and can't decide whether to grin or cry. She planted a ghost inside of him, one that is now slowly eating him away. The only choice she has now is to sit back and watch him crash.

The thing that hurt her most was knowing she hadn't always lied. She knew she was entering a dangerous game, but never expected to want him as well. Her nightmares come in the form of memories, or rather, the lack thereof. She wanted to visit him but knew it was best she didn't.

It was clear to Nina, lying defenseless on the floor in front of him, that it was finally over for her. A small fraction of her didn't think Jack would actually pull the trigger, but the rest of her had seen this day coming for years. She had so much left to say but it was obvious then and there that she wouldn't speak again. Three shots to the chest ensured that the words she so desperately wanted to bring to life would die with her, forever unborn.

Nina winces every time Jack curses her grave. She doesn't have much else to do but think, and in all the headspace she is given, she can only feel sorry for him. The warm body she once loved to embrace was crumbling, all energy escaping him through all of his disgust towards her. It fueled her, but she could do nothing more. Jack can never feel Terri's love again and her hatred couldn't touch him anymore. She has stayed away, a slave to the lack of emotions.

No, there is no emotion for him. Just a body, playing marionette, to the beast he believes still lives inside.