Jason Snow White Brody couldn't fucking believe his own eyes. He was back at the club with his brothers and friends, instead of standing in front of Citra after having refused to kill Liza, and Riley and the rest of their friends. She had grown angry with him, because he was refusing everything she was offering to him, and had spewed out a litany in her native tongue that he still couldn't place. There had been a mixture of anger and triumph on her face while his vision had started to swim, and then the whispered words. "You will learn, Jason Brody, to not make the same mistake twice." And now, staring at Grant and the others who were happily chatting about the skydiving trip to hell, he really couldn't believe it.

Had it been one huge fucked up dream? He was broken out of his thoughts as Grant looped an arm around his neck. "You okay over here, J?" There was a worried crease in his older brother's forehead, his gaze looking him over for a sign that something was wrong.

"Yeah, Grant, I'm good." Jason managed a weak smile, which seemed to be enough to placate his older brother, but inwardly he can only wonder that he is maybe wrong. None of it had happened… Right?

He glanced at his left arm, to check and see if the Tatau was there, but the skin was blessedly bare. Even so, his arm tingled slightly and he watched the skin for a moment longer, only peeling his eyes away from it when a round of shots were placed on their table. He dropped his arm to his side, just as the beginning traces of the Tatau faded into existence on his arm.

He didn't glance at it again for the rest of their time at the bar, and the events there unfolded the same as he remembered from whatever the hell it was he seemed to recall. It wasn't until they had gone back to their hotel for the evening that Liza had commented on his arm.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo, Jason." That coming from Liza, as he'd been dating her for a bit, had him puzzled. They'd been going through something of a rough patch, and the trip was supposed to help them reconnect or some sappy shit like that. He glanced at her now though and she motioned to his left arm.

A distinct sense of dread curled in his gut, and he looked to see the beginning marks for the Tatau standing out in vibrant black against his pale skin. Fuck. Fucking fuck. And now he was starting to sound like… Fuck. He had gone through it! And Citra had done something to him! He couldn't stop the skydiving trip now! Not if he wanted everyone to think he was crazy!

"I kind of forgot about it," he lied, giving Liza a forced smile. "Look, we have to get up early tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to sleep." And without giving her a chance to respond he slipped into his room, leaving her with a dumbfounded look on her face.

He didn't go to sleep, and she stayed outside his door for a few minutes before going to the room she shared with Daisy. Once she was gone he immediately flicked on the lights, pulled out his phone and went over to his bed. Jason didn't have a clue on what to do, because they were going to be ambushed by Vaas' pirates once they landed. Vaas…

Vaas hadn't been the real issue the last time. He was only someone who worked under Hoyt, who was the real threat. Along with Citra and the fucking Rakyat. What if he could… No. That couldn't possibly work. Would it?

Jason brought his phone out of sleep mode and went to his camera app for the device. Switching it over to video he quickly hit the record button and took in a deep breath. A bitter laugh was the first thing that came out of his mouth, and he closed his eyes as he flipped the phone over to record himself in the dim light of the room.

"I'm so fucked it doesn't even matter. I can't convince my brothers or my friends to not take this fucking trap of a skydiving trip, so I'm left with this as my only option, Vaas Montenegro." The name rolled off his tongue far too easily for his liking, but he knew that it will capture the pirate lord's attention. "You're a crazy, psychotic bastard, and I fucking hate you. I hate you for the things I know you would do but haven't had the chance to do, yet. But…" Here he panned the camera on his phone to his arm, which had the first shark, heron and spider slowly fading into existence on his arm, and he kept it there until it became a solid black. "I hate your goddamn sister, the Rakyat and Hoyt Volker even more."

Jason was far from finished, but he knows Hoyt will interrupt Vaas terrorizing him and Grant, so he has to keep it short. He shifted the camera so it is on his face now, his eyes open and so very dark in color as he spoke flatly. "I'm going kill them, with or without your help, Vaas. I would rather have your help, and your word that my brothers and friends stay safe, hermano. Do that for me, and I am yours."

He doesn't know what made him add that last line, and a part of him knows that it could very well be his undoing. He knows what Vaas is capable of, and he would definitely hold Jason to his word, because Jason had just given the psychotic bastard free reign over him. Turning the record function off, he decided against deleting the video just for that. Instead, he cleared out his phone's memory of all other videos so it will be the only thing the pirate lord will watch.

Nothing else mattered anymore, even if Vaas took his promise literally.

-HMHF-

Everything goes the same once more, with the exception of Jason recording them on the way down to the Rook Islands. He doesn't even attempt to mimic their gaiety. He knows he won't be able to, knowing what is in store for them when they land.

As the pirates rush out of the foliage, there guns trained on the group of young adults, Jason doesn't bother to look at his friends and family to note the looks of fear and surprise on their faces. He smartly dropped to his knees, put his hands behind his head and stared at the ground. In the confusion hardly anyone noticed this. Anyone that counted, anyways.

Vaas wasn't among the pirate greeting party, which is different from last time. Something also different was that he is taken to Vaas' camp separately from his friends and family, and ahead of them. The pirates had noticed his quick reaction and it had aroused their suspicion. No one had ever reacted like that to being ambushed, at least not without having to be ordered.

"I don't like this… We should just shoot him and be done with it." The pirate holding the gun on Jason eyed him warily, like he was something dangerous. The pirate didn't know how right he was.

"Can't. Boss will be pissed if we kill the product before we can even assess it." That was most certainly true, and Jason could only imagine just how much more pissed off Vaas would be if Jason was killed after having watched his little message to the pirate lord.

Jason wisely said nothing, his face set into a blank expression as they finally reached the camp. He was dragged out of the vehicle and had a gun shoved up against his back, though he would have gone along willingly. The pirates guided him through the camp, receiving questioning looks from the others scattered about that lasted only a few seconds.

He immediately realized where they were taking him as a familiar concrete building came into sight. His heart sped up slightly while anxiety pressed in on him. This would give him more time than he thought. Suddenly, he didn't want to think about time.

"What the fuck are you stupid fucks doing?!" Vaas was understandably pissed when several of his men entered his compound with Jason in tow. Jason suspected it was because the products weren't supposed to be in this part of the camp. "Do you not know how to follow fucking orders?"

"H-he reacted suspiciously, B-boss." The pirate that had wanted to kill him was the one to nervously explain. He didn't get very far, however, as Vaas wasn't a very patient man to start with, and was shot between the eyes.

Jason hadn't even seen him pull out the goddamn gun. Staring at the pirate lord, who was busy glaring at the other two pirates accompanying him, his throat felt oddly dry. He wasn't sure if he could do this. Before he could change his mind, he started to dig his phone out of his pocket only to be fixed with that dark, unnerving stare.

"And what the fuck do you think you're doing, white boy?" The gun was quickly leveled on him but Jason continued to pull out his phone without breaking his gaze away from Vaas'. Holding it up, for the pirate lord to see, along with his empty hand, Jason unknowingly held his breath. "What? You want to make a fucking call?!"

"No." It's said on an exhale, but his voice was blessedly steady. "Video message for you," is all else he can manage to get out, which caused a look of surprise to flit over Vaas' face. It's immediately followed by a look of suspicion, but Vaas strode forward anyways and snatched the phone out of Jason's hand.

"Go put him with the others," Vaas muttered as he starts to fiddle with the phone. The two remaining guards promptly follow his order and start to drag Jason out of the building.

Jason complies, and leaves with the pirates, but they aren't more then ten feet from the compound when Vaas yells for him to be brought back. The guards are surely confused by now, but they know better than to disobey and so they jerk Jason back into the compound a little more roughly out of their frustration.

There is a distinct silence in the compound, meaning that Vaas must have paused but video. He couldn't have watched very much of it. He glances up from the screen of the phone, his gaze immediately going to Jason. His expression is dark. Jason doesn't need to note it's dangerous as well. "Leave us." Vaas' tone is indecipherable to Jason, his gaze intense and burning with a touch of madness.

The pirates do as ordered, even though they're probably confused, and leave Jason alone with Vaas. Jason said nothing as the pirate lord restarted the video from the beginning. His own bitter laugh quickly pierces the silence before his actual message starts. Jason figured that Vaas had only heard the first sentence and nothing more.

The message is played out in its entirety, Vaas' gaze never leaving him even once. Jason does note that the pirate lord does glance at his left arm, which is by now covered in one third of the full Tatau he had managed to acquire. Vaas plays the message one more time, this time watching it while Jason just stands there. His expression becomes odd when it gets to the part where Jason has the camera focused on the forming Tatau. It wasn't something Jason had ever seen on his face before, and he doesn't want to know what is going through Vaas' mind.

"Oh, Citra. I smell your fucking magic all over this." Vaas looks up at him again, the odd expression gone and replaced with something purely predatory. Jason feels like he is being devoured by that gaze alone. "What's your name, white boy?"

"Jason Brody," he answers automatically, his own name odd on his tongue. "But I think I prefer Snow White now." He was more comfortable in that skin, because Jason Brody was in the past, gone with his sanity, morality and humanity.

Vaas suddenly breaks out into full, hearty laughter, the phone in his hand long forgotten in favor of this intriguing creature in front of him. He finally moves again once his laughter dies down, walking towards Jason with a grin. "So tell me, Jason… If I do promise that shit to you, helping you and keeping those rich little white kids safe, you're mine?"

"For the rest of my life." This made Vaas' grin widen and he stopped a couple measured steps in front of Jason. How this man had ever fallen to him, he'll never figure out. Sure, the privateers and Citra and the Rakyat had claimed that Vaas had died, but unlike the times with Hughes and Volker he hadn't seen Vaas' body. The pirate may have very well lived.

"I want to hear you say it, right now." Vaas was suddenly serious, and this is something Jason expected.

Jason leaned in, bringing his face dangerously close to Vaas', and savored the flicker of surprise on the pirate's face. "Help me kill Citra, the Rakyat and Hoyt; keep my brothers and friends safe and I am yours for the rest of my life, Vaas Montenegro."