Hey, guys! Had a busy week, so I'm updating kinda late into the night, but I'll still count this as making it on time :) Anyway, you know the drill! Review time!

Thanks so much to Rhapsoddity (That's the plan ;) And don't worry, Jack's gonna get plenty of hugs before this story's done, I can promise you that!) and Prince Maggie (Aww, and your reviews make my week! :) You're very kind, thank you!) for reviewing!

Once again, if any of you have an idea for a song that could go on a soundtrack for this story, please let me know! I'm building one up myself, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

And with that, on with the chapter!

Chapter 20: Out

Twisted as it was, Jack had to admit that his mind had truly impressed him this time. For some reason, it was keeping him in the room with Simon, Lily, and the living Guardians for quite a while, when normally, it would have returned him to his personal hell a long time before this point. Apparently, his hallucinations were even more powerful than he had originally thought.

However, they appeared to have changed a bit from how they were before. Rather than consistently plague him in the form of his "visitors," they now seemed to have staved off a bit. Ebon had only visited once in the past several hours, and even then, he only taunted Jack from the door, and the dead Guardians, while still present, were quieter now (he knew their presence had to be real, but corpses couldn't talk, of course, so he figured that was in his imagination). The only constant illusions now were the figments of his imagination that had allegedly rescued him and now were caring for him.

Jack supposed that his slight shift in mental state had something to do with the potion that Lily kept giving to him every hour. The "calming draught," as she called it. He wasn't sure what the liquid was in real life (if it even actually existed in real life), but regardless, it did bring him a little more clarity than he was used to every time he took a dose.

Either that, or his mind was only fooling him further by making him think he was thinking clearer, when in reality, he was still completely lost within his own head. Such an option seemed a bit more likely given his current situation.

Due to his still-constant pain rendering him bedridden and his own voice seemingly vanished from his throat, in between doses of the possibly-real calming draught, Jack could do little more than listen as his hallucinated caretakers talked amongst themselves. They mostly discussed Jack himself, and how worried they were about him, but other times, he managed to catch snippets of conversation that gave him ideas of what might have been happening outside his prison (not that they were anything more than theories conjured up by his own thoughts, of course).

At present, for instance, the sprite was listening in on a conversation between Simon, and Lily. As far as he knew, the living Guardians were elsewhere, and the two of them were the only others (aside from the dead Guardians, obviously) that remained in the room. His eyes were closed and the voices sounded vaguely distant, but, for lack of anything else to occupy his time, he did his best to listen.

"How are you feeling, Simon…?" Lily was asking quietly, a concerned tone to her voice.

"S-Still c-cold…" was the shivering archer's only response.

Lily sighed sadly. "To be expected," she said softly. "Ari...I mean...Ebon had you in that freezing cell for far too long...here, let me get you some more of that warming potion…"

"Th-Thank you…"

There was then the sound of footsteps, then that of clinking glass, then more footsteps. Then, a pause, as Simon presumably drank the potion that Lily had gotten for him. After a few seconds, the archer sighed in apparent relief, and when he spoke again, his voice shook less than before.

"Thank you, Lily…" he said softly. "That...that really does help."

"It's no problem at all…" came Lily's reply. "It's a simple potion...not one I usually make for people, of course, but for the animals and plants down here, I've found it quite useful…"

"Heh...I'm lucky you're here, then."

"I...I suppose so…"

It seemed that this hallucinated Simon was a bit more eloquent when speaking with the girl he fancied than the real one was, Jack privately acknowledged. Interesting.

There was a long pause in the conversation, and though Jack still kept his eyes closed, he somehow got the distinct feeling that the two of them had fixed their gazes on him. His intuition was confirmed momentarily by Simon's next words.

"Lily, I...I don't mean to criticize your magical skills, but...how come the calming draught isn't working properly for Jack…? He seems to come to his senses a bit right after he takes a dose, but...his eyes are still so...so blank. And he still refuses to speak…I understand that he's sustained throat injuries, but he hasn't even attempted past opening his mouth once..."

Lily sighed. "Well...the problem is that the calming draught is relatively minor...it's not usually meant for distress of this magnitude...it's typically only used for smaller amounts of anxiety or fear. What Jack's been through...it's so much more than that."

"Understandable...and...what of his refusal to speak…? Could that have something to do with his trauma…?"

"I think that's exactly what it is...I'd say it's very likely that something happened to make him associate speaking with getting hurt...did you see how afraid he looked when we first asked him to talk…?"

"Yes...almost like he was expecting to be attacked…"

"He's not thinking clearly yet...even though he's been saved, I'm sure his mind is still constantly taking him back to that room. I wouldn't be surprised if he still believes that something bad will happen to him if he dares to speak...which is why he refuses to talk to us."

Jack thought back to what Ebon had put him through so far. There was the boiling hot water scalding his mouth, the ice needles that sometimes strayed uncomfortably close to his tongue, the magically induced pain that tore screams from his throat, the taunts and jeers and hits and wounds he'd receive for each whimper of pain and cry for mercy, the endless talking that Ebon had insisted on, always trying to get Jack to respond back just so he could laugh and hurt him again because he showed he was hurt.

Perhaps his hallucinations were right. Maybe he had been conditioned into silence.

Though it wasn't like he could do much about it now.

"Well...what can we do, then?" Simon was asking. "How do we get him to realize that he's not there anymore?"

"I...I don't know, Simon…" Lily said uncertainly. "I've seen trauma before, of course, plenty of people here were traumatized by witnessing the destruction of their villages, but...I've never seen a victim of this much torture before…and...and I'm no doctor…"

She trailed off there, but Jack heard the unspoken words in her tone: "And our doctor was just recently murdered."

"And neither am I…" Simon murmured. He heaved a sad sigh. "Still...we need to do something."

"Believe me, I agree," Lily assured him. "But...what can we do…? The calming draught isn't doing much, and it would be dangerous to try to force a stronger potion on him when his mind's still so fragile...Aster seems to have a decent amount of medical knowledge, and Jack is immortal, after all, so he should physically heal just fine soon enough, but...I wouldn't even know where to start with healing his mind…"

"Mhm...indeed…"

Broken. That's all he was. Jack knew that much. Still, hearing Simon and Lily discuss him as though he'd died still hurt him a bit, even if he knew that they were only figments of his imagination. He was still there, after all...even if he was locked up in a cell.

Although now that he thought about it...perhaps he had been wrong before. Perhaps he really had been brought out of Ebon's torture chamber. His mind had never shown him things in such detail as this before...he was now suddenly able to grasp full conversations when usually, he could only catch bits and pieces of what his hallucinations said. Perhaps, against all odds...Simon and Lily really had somehow found him and brought him to safety.

The living Guardians, of course, were obviously still illusions, though. How could they be alive? He had watched them die before his very eyes. Sure, his eyes weren't to be trusted much lately, but he could hardly deny the results of a quite clear clairvoyance charm. As insane as he was, Ebon was quite excellent at performing magic. Or maybe Arios was, and Ebon was merely leeching off of the young man's power. He couldn't be sure.

What he was sure of, however, was the fact that the other Guardians were dead. Gone. Never coming back. And real or fake, their corpses would continue to haunt him no matter what he did.

But maybe...if Simon and Lily were real, at least, he could try to ease their minds a bit. Maybe he could let them know that he acknowledged that they had helped him. Even if he couldn't speak...he could at least try to give them a sign.

For the first time in a while, he opened his eyes and turned his head.

Evidently, the archer and the magical expert noticed his slight movement, as they now looked at him in surprise.

"Jack…?" Simon asked tentatively, sitting up in bed. "You're awake…"

For a moment, the boy only stared back at the young man blankly, but then reminded himself that, since these two were probably real, he should answer them in some way. After a moment, he gave a brief nod.

Though it was a small gesture, the effect was significant and instantaneous. Both Simon and Lily's eyes widened and they quickly shared a surprised glance before immediately turning back to face Jack.

"Y-You responded…" Lily breathed, clearly startled. "Does...does that mean you're willing to talk to us…?"

Here, Jack hesitated. He knew that logically, if he had indeed been rescued, and Ebon wasn't anywhere near here, then there would be no penalty for him if he tried to speak. And yet...he still could not shake the feeling that something bad would happen if he dared to use his voice. It was admittedly frustrating...but it left him no choice but to remain silent.

As such, he shook his head.

Lily looked put out, but Simon apparently wasn't ready to give up. "Then how about you write something down for us?" he suggested. "You don't even need to sit up, we'll get you some parchment, a quill, some ink...and you can write whatever you want. That way, you don't need to speak, right?"

Jack had to admit that the archer was right. He hadn't even had access to writing materials during his time in Ebon's cell...thus, Ebon hadn't bothered pounding it into his head that he couldn't use that form of communication. Yes...writing should be fine.

He nodded.

"I'll get you those things, then," Lily told him, standing. She seemed to be making an effort to keep her expression neutral, but looked as though she was hiding a relieved smile. It was as if she was happy, but trying not to get her hopes up.

Jack figured that was smart. He was still mostly broken, after all.

A few moments later, Lily slipped some parchment and a quill into his hands, placing a bottle of ink at his side. For a long time, Jack simply stared at the objects, amazed by the simple fact that...they were real. He could feel them, and the sensation was far different than those of his hallucinations had been. Those had brought only pain and suffering at every turn, no matter what, but these simple objects...they were so mundane that they just couldn't be fake.

He felt his eyes well up with tears.

He was out.

He was really and truly out.

"Jack…? What's wrong…?" Lily asked softly, sitting down in the chair next to his bed.

The young sprite looked at her for a moment, then, with a shaking hand, he lifted the quill and dipped it into the ink bottle. His arms still ached badly from hanging by his wrists for so long, but his conviction outmeasured the force of his pain. He was slow, he was nervous, he took an embarrassingly long amount of time to write five letters...but he did it.

I'm out, he wrote, then looked up at Simon and Lily for confirmation.

Both of them looked sad, as though gazing at an injured child (though essentially, they were). They looked at each other one more time, then back at Jack, then nodded.

"Yes, Jack…" Simon said quietly. "You're out…"

Jack immediately began to weep.

And now...for the road to recovery. :) That's not to say that it'll all be smooth sailing, of course, but progress has begun. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, and be sure to leave a review to tell me what you think, OR to suggest a song for the soundtrack! I'll see you next time!

For now, Sapphire316, out.