A/N: Its the first DtTP of the new year! As slow as the publishing schedule is, I still plan on continuing this tale until someone forcibly stops me. Today's chapter finally gets the plot going, so enjoy!

Scene 3: It Just Raises too Many Questions.

As Jason limped out of the woods, his vision began to blur. The stress of his encounter at the mansion, however brief, had taken its toll on his body. He tried to at least make it back to his house, but before he could even get halfway there, his legs gave out on him. As he collapsed, he became dimly aware that someone was running up to him…

Will you let this be the end?

Jason opened his eyes to find himself back on the mysterious glass pane from his dream. When he looked down, he noticed that under the black stain, the pane was now covered in a myriad of cracks.

"What happened? What's going on here?" he asked.

You have arrived at a crossroads. Will you simply fade away and let yourself be engulfed in the cradle of darkness? Or will you force yourself to face the light and the harsh realities that come with it?

"Oh, stop that. I don't remember ever being so mindlessly dramatic."

Out of the pane, a dark shadow began to rise until it was at Jason's height. It then morphed itself into a replica of the boy, with yellow, glowing eyes.

"So, do you know where you are? Do you know who I am?"

Jason took another look around him to affirm his suspicions.

"I'm inside myself. As for you...you're me, except different."

The shadow Jason snorted. "You still insist on hiding from the truth," it said. "This is what's known as the Dive to Heart. In this case, this is your Heart."

Upon hearing this, a name rose to the front of Jason's mind, "This place...it's called the Station of Delusion. I don't know how I know that, but I do."

"You just said this place is inside you," Shadow Jason pointed out. "But you are correct. You are currently operating under a fatal delusion, one that keeps you from seeing the world as it truly is, represented by the current state of your heart."

In theory, that made the solution simple; all he had to do was expose and purge the delusion from inside his mind. But right out of the starting gate things got sticky, as Jason had no idea where to start when it came to tracking down this so-called delusion.

"And already your mind is shielding you from the harsh truth that lurks in your heart," Shadow Jason said. "It's not time for you to face you this delusion. There is something you need to learn before you can do so."

"Jason! Jason, wake up!"

"But you will return here. You have to, unless you wish to simply surrender yourself to the oblivion."

The Station began to tremble, before shattering again like during Jason's previous visit, and once again Jason plunged into the bottomless abyss…

Jason's eyes snapped open. Tendrils of pain wracked his body, forcing him into awareness.

He was back in his house, lying on his bed. The first thing he noted was that he no longer had his shirt on, which revealed the various cuts and bruises he'd earned from his encounter at the mansion. Most of them were either swabbed with alcohol or bandaged, if not both, explaining the pain that had awakened him.

"You're awake."

Jason turned his head to see his twenty-four year old sister, Eileen, scurrying over to him with more medical supplies. Eileen was dressed in her usual outfit of a thick, woolen sweater and unflattering denim pants. She wore thick glasses that obscured her bright, lime-green eyes, and her dark-red hair was pulled into its standard messy ponytail. All in all, it gave off the impression of a careless, slovenly person. Jason knew that nothing could be further from the truth.

Already, Eileen was observing him carefully to glean whatever information she could from her little brother.

"Where have you been all day?" she finally asked.

Jason knew there would be little to no point in lying, so he recounted everything that happened today, including the meeting with the mysterious doppelganger and the giant creature.

"You're telling me that there's more than one of those cloaked bastards? And the other looks like you?"

Jason nodded. "I didn't understand it, and he didn't seem to either. In fact, he seemed more surprised than I was."

Eileen closed her eyes and began stroking her chin, deep in thought. "This is exceedingly odd. It seems like the look-alike has some sort of connection with the one-eyed man that attacked us a year ago. But what that connection is I can't even begin to guess."

Jason put his shirt back on and sat up. He was about to leave when he remembered what he hadn't been able to do.

"Can I still get to the hospital so I can visit Mom and Dad?"

Eileen shook her head. "Visiting hours have already passed. But funny you should mention our parents..."

She reached into the pockets of her jeans and pulled out some envelopes. There were three in total: two thin envelopes and one rather thick envelope.

Eileen set the three envelopes on the bed and pointed to the two thin envelopes. "I met with our parents'[B1] attorney, and he gave us these. Said they were from Mom and Dad, and we were only to receive them if they were incapacitated for at least a year."

She next pointed to the thick envelope. "This one came with the first two envelopes. According to the attorney, this is only to be opened under one of two conditions; either our parents give their express permission for the envelope to be opened...or they were to both die under mysterious circumstances."

Jason reared back in shock. For their parents to set up such a specific set of plans, presumably far ahead of time. It was almost like they had expected to be attacked.

"In regards to what Mom and Dad's secret is, your guess is as good as mine," Eileen said. "As for the envelopes, I decided to wait for you to wake up so we can open them together."

She set the thick envelope aside, and then gave Jason one of the two thin envelopes while holding onto the other one. Jason studied the envelope in his hands. It was a plain brown envelope, with the only notable feature being his name written on it, in what he recognized as their mother's neat cursive handwriting. A quick look over at Eileen revealed that her envelope had her name written on in their father's messy scrawl.

At an unspoken signal, the two of them opened their envelopes at the same time and removed the papers inside. It appeared to be a letter, and without another word, Jason began to read.

Jason,

If you're reading this, then something happened to us, and we've been unreachable for over a year. It may not mean anything, but I'm so sorry that we've abandoned you and your older sister. I hope you've been listening to Eileen, and if you haven't please do! She'll look out for you, even if you two don't always get along.

Your dad and I have always done what's best for the family, and that sometimes meant keeping secrets. As much as I wished you two could have grown up without ever knowing about our past, it seems like it's caught up with us regardless, and you two have suffered as a result. If my suspicions are correct, someone we used to know has tracked us down.

You must be wondering who this mysterious person is and why you've never met him. The first thing you must know is that your father and I believed that the man in question might have passed away, but since you're reading this letter he's clearly still alive.

I should start from the beginning. The truth is, your father and I aren't from Twilight Town. We're from a place far away from here, but you were born here. Whenever you asked us how we met, we always said that we grew up together and fell in love with each other as the years went by. That's still true, but every time we've told this story we always left out an important detail.

That detail is a man named Braig Sanders, an erstwhile friend of ours. Growing up, he was one of your father's closest friends, and a good friend of mine as well. He was born and raised in a rather poor area and always had a great sense of ambition as a result. But that ambition caused an irreparable rift to form between us, and eventually he left our home. Not long after that, your father and I were forced to flee our home, and we came here to Twilight Town. I thought that perhaps Braig had perished, for we never saw him after that.

If the man that attacked us was a tall man with jet-black hair and missing an eye, then Braig Sanders is still alive. Anything else about him, I'm sorry to say I don't know.

Jason, under no circumstances are you or your sister to seek out Braig. I know you must want answers, but the last thing I want is for you two to get hurt getting entangled in our past. Just focus on making a happy, safe life for yourself. I ask this of you as your mother, and I hope you listen to this request.

Once again, I'm sorry that we've failed to keep you and Eileen safe. If all goes well, your father and I will join you two soon, and we can plan our next move together. And if we die, then don't waste a second going back for us, just get as far away as possible. We've already made arrangements, but that's the worst case scenario, and one that shouldn't come to pass if we've planned thoroughly enough.

No matter what happens, just remember that I love you both so much. You'll grow up to be a wonderful man, and I will do everything in my power to watch this happen.

With all my love,

Nicole Darnell

Jason slowly looked up from his letter. He and Eileen stared at each other with identical expressions of shock on their faces. Tears were streaming down their faces.

"I guess that's why we never had any Darnell family reunions."

"Now's not the time for those kinds of jokes," Eileen snapped. But they both knew that Jason was trying his hardest to not be scared out of his mind. Eileen herself was trembling slightly, her hands twisting and turning the letter.

"I'm guessing Dad's letter said the same things," Jason said. "About where they grew up and this Braig Sanders person."

"It did, but Dad practically ordered me to take care of you," Eileen said. "But I noticed he didn't say a thing about your look-alike or the monster you saw. Did Mom say anything about that?"

Jason shook his head. While the letter had answered a lot of questions, it brought up many more. Where was this mysterious home that their parents had grown up in, and why had they fled? Did this Braig always have the powers he displayed a year ago? Most importantly, who was the mysterious redhead Jason had met at the abandoned mansion, and what was his connection to Braig and the monster?

Eileen stuffed her letter in her pocket and picked up the unopened thick letter from Jason's bed. "It has been a long day, and I think our best course of action is to rest so we can look over these facts in the morning with a fresh state of mind."

Without another word Eileen left Jason's room. Jason lay back in bed, laying his letter next to him. All of a sudden, his lids grew heavy, and sleep washed over him…

When he opened his eyes, he was on his feet and back at the Station of Delusions. Looking down, he noticed that the cracks had healed slightly, and the black stain had retreated an inch.

"You've returned. Perhaps you have the resolve after all."

Jason steeled himself as the Shadow rose out of the stain again.

"I'll listen to whatever you have to say," he said.

The time for answers was now.

A/N: I realize this chapter raises so many more questions than it answers, and this was entirely intentional. Everyone will get their answers, but there's a lot of darkness that comes with it in the following chapters. See you next time! Please review.