It's a strange thing, realizing that your life had been a total lie.

What's even stranger are the words to describe such a feeling… because there are none. Not that I'm in much a state to be thinking in terms of poetry, seeing as I can hardly keep track of what's past and present.

Dreams and reality.

Whenever I closed my eye, it felt like I was watching an old movie reel. The same scattered scenes played over and over in my head, drilling themselves into me. Reclaiming their rightful place, I suppose. They locked me in, forcing me to watch, again and again and again. I screamed, I begged, pleading for it all to stop. But what madman believes that memories of the past care what the bearer feels about them? They still make them remember, make them hurt. And so, snippets of human memory polluted my formerly pure memories as a chain.

Or is it the other way around?

I relived, over and over the few precious moments that I had seen Alyss.

I relived, over and over, every second of agonizing pain when she gouged my eyes out.

"You're a lot more cooperative blind. I'm glad."

But eventually, they exhausted, and for the first time in a lifetime, my eye opened to the bright light of the world.

It hurts.

But I wasn't really awake. I was numb as people buzzed around me, treating my eye and its hollow brother. They also asked me questions, or, I think they where questions.

Trust me, you don't want to know.

My voice had long since worn from screaming, and the only tears that would come anymore where of a sickly red.

How fitting.

I let them wrap my wounds with a cold indifference, not really caring what they had to do with me.

Not like I'm human anymore. I can never be.

Light burned my eye, it still trying to adjust to its new host. But I welcomed the pain.

Anything to distract me from… her.

But between the taxing labor of wakefulness and the blessed nothingness of sleep, my thoughts always returned to her. My Will. My Alyss. My purpose of living.

Until now.

No matter where I looked, I saw her. I could hear her laugh, feel her touch, smell that scent of tea and roses that I had loved so much. And each time I did, my heart broke.

She lied.

She had fooled me. Twisted me into her doll… her toy, and made me delight in every moment of it. She made me trust her, made me serve her, made me love her. I didn't remember much from my human life, but the driving point was that I had one. I was alive. I was free. I was me. She had stolen it all away for… what? I had signed a contract, but for no reason that I could remember.

Why did I throw my life away?

That and about a dozen other unanswered questions tore through my mind. I would never have the answers.

I would never want the answers.

That's why I couldn't see Sharon.

And yet… here she was. She stood at the door, watching me, but I couldn't meet her gaze. When I first heard her name, bitter resentment had raged through me. For all I knew, she just wanted to use me, to wear me thin and then throw me to the wayside. Just like Alyss. The only time I would speak was to demand for the guards to never let the girl in, or I'd surely kill myself. For a while, they respected my threat, not about to risk losing Pandora's most prized specimen for the good will of a young lady. But I should have known it would not last, that Sharon would find her way in, one way or another.

But now that she was here… suddenly, I wasn't so sure.

Finally, she stepped forward, "Are you doing well, Break?"

I scowled, glaring at the wall across from my bed. I wouldn't look at her. I wouldn't.

Another step, "You forgot Emily."

I caught sight of her movement in my peripherals, and I snapped my eye shut. I won't… I won't…

There was another long pause. Lightning shot through me at her touch, my eye flew open and I threw my arm out, swatting her away, "Don't tou-"

I froze.

I saw her.

I saw her.

Her lavender eyes where level, calm despite my outburst. Brown hair was messily pulled back, signifying a troubled night's sleep, loose strands framing her heart-shaped face perfectly. I sat there, eye locked on her, drinking in every detail. I reached out hesitantly, closing the space between us. Surely this can't be real...

My hand hung in the empty air for a second, as if waiting for permission to move forward, permission that was granted when she didn't flinch away. My fingers brushed against her warm cheek, my skin as white as parchment compared to her flushed face. It felt as if my hand would melt away just then, like ice under the kiss of sunlight.

Words where a loss to me. It was then I realized, I was wrong.

I was wrong.

She was nothing like Alyss. Nothing like the snow maiden in white, with her frozen touch and heart of stone.

Sharon slid her hand over mine, warming it even more as she lowered it down from her face.

She smiled, "Hello, Break."

A/N: Oh, yes, a short little diddy of a chapter that starts out as angst and ends in fluff. Please don't murder me.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm updating all my stories at once, because... well, I'm looking at a busy two weeks of field work ahead of me. That's what I get for living on a farm, I guess. So I decided to quick get an update on all of them up before I dissappear off the face of the internet. But I hope to maybe squeeze chapter eleven of broken chains before I have to go detassle corn, but that's more hope than promise.

Oh, and if you see any errors (more specifically, if I accidentally switch to third person halfway through) please alert me of them. I would strongly appreciate it.

Sorry for the long author's note, but if you read and review, I'll give Break a piece of candy!