Here is the sequel to my story Sunset. You might want to read that first. Actually, scratch that. You better read that one. And reading the two oneshots that go with that might be smart. Yeah. Complicated backstory. Because of AWESOMENESS. Am I hyper? What would give you that impression?


Jason… Jason was alive. Jason. Alive. "JASON! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Sky yelled.

Jason snorted. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"And as sarcastic as ever," Sky grinned.

"Jason! Jason's alive?" Mitch asked, swinging his head up to stare at Sky and Jason's cell.

"Look at me! I'm a celebrity!" Jason shouted. He began to strike increasingly ridiculous poses, making Mitch collapse onto the ground, laughing in relief.

"Jason?" a small voice called. Ty. Sky turned his head to see that Mitch and Ty were in a separate cell, just across the hall. Ty was slumped on the floor, not looking in any particular direction. That was weird. Sky would have expected Ty to be crazily excited.

"Ty!" Jason yelled, running over to the bars and almost stepping on Sky in his haste. Now that he had moved, Sky could see that he was no longer wearing his standard space suit and was just in a shirt and jeans. "I'm quite disappointed that you're here, as that means you've joined me in prison, but I'm very glad to see you! Now we can harass the guards together! We can go back to torturing Sky! This is going to be awesome!"

"Umm, hate to burst your bubble, but we're imprisoned in the End," Mitch muttered.

Jason waved an airy, regal hand. "Pfft. Small detail."

Ty gave a weak, choked laugh that might have been a sob. "I missed you so much," he finally whispered. "Damn it, Jason, I missed you so. Freaking. Much."

"Aww, dude, I missed you too. It drove me crazy knowing you were alive and thinking I was dead. I'd hug you if I could reach you," Jason said.

"Jason, I… I'm so glad you're alive." Tears had started to drip off of Ty's strangely blank face.

"Me too. That I'm alive, I mean." Jason's grin was huge.

"It's good to be alive," Sky declared.

"Yeah," Ty said softly. Again, that was weird. Ty should be shouting, jumping around like a maniac or an ocelot on caffeine. Ty should be smiling. Ty should be acting in really any way but this strange, subdued quiet.

Jason seemed to notice, and grew a bit quieter. "Ty, you didn't… you know?" Sky remembered Ty saying something about Jason having known about the cutting.

Ty blinked, his face falling. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I just couldn't… couldn't deal."

Jason's smile drops. "Dude…"

"Jason, it's nothing. Don't be sad," Ty ordered, sounding more confident than he'd been a few moments earlier. "Sky- Sky helped me out a bit."

Jason relaxed infinitesimally. "That's… good. So you know?" he asked, directing the last part to Sky.

"Yeah." Sky was glad that he'd found Ty, caught him before he was able to hurt himself worse.

"What is going on that I don't understand?" Mitch asked.

"Nothing," everyone said at once, instantly confirming that something was, indeed, going on.

"It just makes me feel like shit to think that you did that because… because of me. It's my fault," Jason sighed sadly.

"Uh-uh. You're not allowed to think that, Jase," Ty announced. "The thought police are here. So don't think that. Capisce?"

"Capisce," Jason said after a moment. "But I still feel awful."

"Dude, you aren't allowed to feel awful. If anyone gets to wade in self-pity, it's Ty," Mitch decided. What?

Jason furrowed his eyebrows at the Canadian. "What do you mean?"

Mitch sighed. "Are you going to tell them?" he asked, elbowing Ty.

"You can," Ty said, head slumping down again. He still hadn't looked at anyone.

"Ty, dude, just get it over with," Mitch said gently. "You need to come to terms with it." Sky wasn't used to seeing this side of Mitch. He was usually far more intractable.

"I don't want to."

"Ty, what's up?" Jason asked tentatively.

Ty shook his head, and Sky got a good look at his eyes. Oh, Notch. The pupil had disappeared under a thick smudge of the crimson of his irises. The whites of his eyes were angry and inflamed.

"He's blind," Mitch said quietly. "Ember's a traitor. She lit Ty on fire or something."

Jason gaped. "B-blind? I knew she was planning to capture you, but… blind?"

"Blind?" Sky asked. Oh no.

"Y-yeah," Ty stuttered. This explained why he wasn't looking at anyone. "My eyes… I can't see anything." He seemed absolutely miserable.

Everyone who could see looked at Jason. He was generally the go-to guy for lightening any situation, and he didn't fail. He took a deep breath, and mostly managed to suppress the tremor in his voice. "That sucks. Because you won't be able to check out the really, really hot guard."

"I heard that!" came a voice from down the hallway. A tall girl walked up to them, her long, platinum blonde hair falling down to almost past her denim shorts. Her blue tank top had little white flecks across it that made her look as though she was in her own private snowstorm, the stormy blue of her eyes adding to the effect. "Thanks, by the way," she said, raising a pale eyebrow at Jason. "But you aren't permitted to talk."

"Come on, Aradyn," he pleaded.

She grinned. "Right now, I'm Rogue. Confusing?" Oh. So she was one of the hybrids, like Ember and Zariah. Confusing.

"Yes," Jason groaned. "It's your eyes that change, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"So Rogue, please? I haven't seen my friends in forever. We need to talk. I'm begging you, oh wise and noble prison guard who likes torturing poor, innocent, friendless teenage boys."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "I should probably punish you for insubordination."

"Oh, don't do that!" Jason yelped, jumping back and clutching his heart.

"Fine, you histrionic clown. But I don't know if I can break the rules for you."

Jason gave her puppy dog eyes. "Please? Pretty please with a dead fish on top, which I know you'd enjoy more than the stereotypical cherry?"

"That's Aradyn. I like cherries just fine," she laughed, and then closed her eyes for a moment. When Rogue reopened them, they were solid blue, the color of the ocean under a snowstorm.

Her voice was slightly huskier as she spoke. "If we can't hear you, you aren't talking. We'll be at the end of the hallway. Fair enough?"

"Yeah, that's great! Thanks, Aradyn," Jason said. "And Rogue."

She/they nodded quietly at him, before disappearing down the hall. Jason sighed as he sat down beside Sky, his eyes, apparently subconsciously, tracing her steps as she walked away down the hall.

Once Aradyn/Rogue was out of earshot, Sky lowered his voice to a whisper. "Nice smooth-talk, Jason."

"It was nothing. They're the nicest of the two guards. Or maybe least aggressive would be a better term."

"Still…"

"Rose and Crimson, the other guard, would have clawed me if I said she was hot. Which she is, by the way."

Sky became aware of the many shallow welts that crisscrossed Jason, raised lashes that were visible on his neck, face, and arms. There were other injuries too, some clearly left by the pigmen, and others more recently and carefully inflicted. Jason noticed Sky looking and self-consciously shifted the collar of his shirt a bit, hiding some of the marks.

"Did the guards do that?" Sky asked quietly.

Jason sighed. "No. At least, not much of it."

"Who did?"

Jason closed his eyes for a moment. "Herobrine, and… and Seto. They've been torturing me, Sky. It hurts so freaking much. And I thought Seto was my friend."

Sky felt sick. Jason was being tortured. And Seto, the person that they'd tried to rescue, was the one doing it. "I thought he was here, being tortured or something."

"Herobrine did torture him, and somehow convinced Seto to join him, I guess."

"'Coerced' is the more accurate term," said a tired, world-weary voice. Sky twisted his head and caught sight of a tall purple-cloaked figure, with a pale, thin face and sad brown eyes.

Seto.


So... let it begin. Seto is evil! Yay! Or is that bad? Review please, and thanks for reading! It may be a double update day, because I'm just that nice.