William was running down a long hallway. He wasn't sure why he was but he had an urgent feeling in his chest that he needed to be somewhere and fast. He was running all fours, his body warped into some kind of creature made of shadow. He was bothered by it but yet he continued to move.

He arrived at his destination. A throne room that was Egyptian in appearance. Bodies were strewn about the room, soaked in blood. By their attire, William could tell they were guards and maybe a few priests. Though what stole his attention entirely was what he was now holding in his arms.

It was a young man with dark skin and hair, dressed in an attire that resembled that of a king. He looked up at William weakly, his red eyes barely open. He reached a hand up, cupping one of William's cheeks, William instinctively bringing his hand over his. Tears were running down his face… and he wasn't sure why. He didn't know this man, yet he felt great sadness seeing him injured and dying in his arms.

The man wheezed before speaking.

"Max… Take… Take care of them." He said. "Take care… of my family… please…"

"Aharon…" William heard himself say. "Please… You… You can't die. Please! I'm begging you!"

What am I even saying!?

"Maxwell, they're coming!"

The scene changed. William was in the throne room of the Shadow World now. He was still in his monster like form and before him stood a whole group of people who had weapons pointed at him. The leader stepped forward, pointing their sword at him.

"This ends today Max!"

William heard himself laughing.

"Say what you will Cato but today shall not be forgotten and you shall deeply regret ever trying to commit treason!"

The man, Cato, charged forward, William smacking him with shadow magic as the man's form changed into that of a terrorbeak but that didn't stop him. He charged again, his maw gaping wide open.

William froze, his eyes going completely wide as darkness consumed him.

"I will be back Maxwell. THIS I SWEAR!"

William's eyes snapped open as he sat up, gasping for breath. He was in the medical tent now. Sweat was running down his face as his body trembled.

He eventually calmed his breathing, bringing hand over his chest.

"Just a dream… Just a dream…" He whispered before a doubtful look crossed his face. "... Or… maybe it wasn't."

My own memories are still foggy but… Those weren't mine. Not that I know off.

Those… I was Maxwell. MAXWELL.

He put his head in his heads, sighing.

"What on Earth is wrong with me?"

Those dreams… Could… Could they possibly be?

He had to write this down. He looked around his immediate area, grabbing a piece of paper from a clipboard left lying on the ground along with a pen, quickly jotting stuff down. He closed his eyes in between his swipes of the pen, doing his best to remember what he saw. After a few moments, he took pause as he noticed something about his handwriting… or rather… the dialect that was being written down.

It wasn't English.

William held up the piece of paper, his hand trembling. From what he could understand… he just wrote down half of page of hieroglyphs.. And he could read it. Perfectly.

"No… No no no… Don't tell me that I… That that dream was…" He dropped the paper, bringing his hands to his head. "That we're still connected."

There were footsteps heard outside before the flap to the tent opened. Wes was on the other side, concern in his eyes.

"William?" He signed. "Are you alright?"

William gave a nervous look.

"Nightmares again. Nothing new."

Wes gave him a suspicious look.

"I heard the pen."

William swallowed hard, his eyes wandering to the piece of paper. Wes followed his gaze, picking it up, shock coming to his face at what he saw on it. He set it down, signing to William.

"Will… Did you write all that?"

William lowered his head before nodding.

"Yes… Wes… I… I don't know what's happening. I… I've been having strange dreams lately where I'm in what looks like Egypt. This isn't the first time this has happened but is the first time I've decided to document what I saw. I… I…" William brought his hands to his head again. "In these dreams… I'm Maxwell. I don't know why but I'm him and… I don't understand why I'm him. I'm not bonded to him anymore. Least I don't think I am. Oh heavens please don't tell me I am…" William brought his hands away from his face, looking at them, both trembling. "I… I don't want to be what he is. He… He…" William shut his eyes tightly. "I don't want to be anything like him!"

Wes stepped back as shadow magic came out from William's hands, quickly fading as it had appeared.

The mime tapped William's shoulder to get his attention.

"Will, did you feel anything odd just now?"

"N-Not particularly. Why?" William gave him a scared look.

"I saw sparks of magic… Like when you…" Wes frowned seeing the fear in his eyes. "When you first made the deal."

William looked at his hands, shaking his head.

"No, no, no."

This… this can't be real. I… I can't.

He focused for a moment and sure enough, sparks appeared. William went pale at this.

"Oh…. Oh Go-" He brought his hands to his face. "No no no no no no."

Wes stroked his back, concerned for his friend. He knew how much William regretted even making his deal.

And they didn't know if Maxwell hadn't left anything behind after the separation. He supposed now they knew.

What do we do…? He's terrified.

William looked to Wes, tears brimming his eyes.

"Wes… I… I don't want to go back to how I was during that time… I… I don't."

Wes squeezed his shoulder.

"I know and you won't." Wes thought it over for a moment before continuing. "William… Just because you're seeing what we can only assume are his memories and you still have magic doesn't mean you're linked to him or you are him. If… I had to guess, it might just be a side effect. After all, you two were bonded for an extremely long time and well… everyone one of us has something we got when we were brought to the Shadow World. Like my ability to make my special balloons and the small amount of knowledge I was given. Maybe this is what your dark knowledge is William."

William looked at his hands again, forming the sparks again, this time making small flames.

"Something that caused so much harm to those I cared about?"

Wes shook his head.

"No one said you'll harm anyone again - and remember, you were being manipulated even if you were awake back then. He was still putting the strings on and tugging them as hard as he could."

"Still… I treated you and the others like garbage. This magic made me behave like that regardless of whose strings they were holding up."

"Stop picking on yourself."

"Wes-"

"I mean it." Wes' look turned serious. "William, you can look at these powers like a curse or you can look at them how I'm seeing them. These are yours to use. No one is pulling your strings now. You now have the powers to choose how YOU want to use them. What YOU will do with them. If you ask me, I bet you could do amazing things, just like you used to do."

William was taken aback.

"M-Me? Amazing things?"

Wes nodded.

"We didn't call you The Amazing William Carter for nothing. William, you are capable of so much more than you think. Also, Wilson has powers just like this, maybe you and him have something in common now. You may have something you never knew you could do it and it's just waiting for you to discover it. You just need to be willing to take that first step forward to understanding and controlling it. As for the memories… Well, I'm not sure what can be done but maybe doing what you did here might help. Also… it might not be all bad. If you have his memories, that means you have his knowledge about certain things in the Shadow World, including maybe helping us find people who need our help."

William looked to the flames he currently had in his hands.

"Maybe I could surprise people with good things again then. Make up for it."

"You can be the magician you always were before all that insanity."

William smiled a little.

"Maybe."

Just maybe.