(3rd Person)

Jack silently slid into the castle and down into the dungeons. With hardly a sound he made his way into the nearest empty cell and fell onto the cot inside. With unblinking eyes, he regarded the ceiling with as all of the emotion of a stone. After a few minutes he felt a probe at the edge of his consciousness, as if someone was trying worm their way in. The familiar feeling of Aliendra flooded his mind, but he shoved her off focusing instead on a crack extending from the wall on his right all the way to the wall on his left.

In the silence of the cell, he liked the crack. The crack reminded him of who he was, and he liked that the crack didn't lie or pretend to be anything else. The crack was a crack, and everyone knew it. He imagined some builder lumbering in and thrusting clay into the crack, hiding the crack from view. The crack would still be there, but nobody would see it. The building would be the more stable because of it.

Jack sighed and tore his eyes from the crack. The subtle flow of emotion ebbing from the corners of his mind as Aliendra left him to his thoughts. Jack was grateful, he didn't want her to see him as he truly was: a crack. A broken human from a broken home. Jack leapt up from the cot and threw his hands into the wall, bellowing a cry. The wall didn't break, he didn't want it to. He wanted it to hit him back, and scar him because of it. He wanted proof that the war could scar him too.

Aliendra will carry her battle wounds to the day she dies, the largest being the white scar over her heart. The greatest trophy of them all, for it was both her casket and her womb. A girl was slain and a queen born. If she had died Jack would carry scars no one would ever see, his pain could never be witnessed.

Dull pain webbed out of his hands, but they remained well and unbroken. Years of decay had rendered the walls smooth and consistent. He glanced down at his hands, that could so easily break the blood of another but could never touch his own, and stormed out of the cell. Aliendra was waiting at the top of the stairs, figures, with a hand wrapped around her neck and a concerned look on her face.

Hey She thought

Anything to report, did the battle go okay? Jack Asked.

Yes it went fine, we won and we're preparing to set out in a weeks time. I actually wanted to as if-

Quite an empowering speech you gave there. Really fired the people up, you made the right decision revealing your identity. I think you'll make a good queen.

That's very kind but really I want to know about- She insisted more firmly

I think we really have a chance of winning this, but we'll need to train more Emperor Ternac is nothing like the men we've fought so far, we'll have to become far more powerful than we have. Jack interrrupted.

Dammit Jack! You were poisoned you could've died! Then you run off and throw yourself in a cage beating on the wall like a wild animal. You can't just go around doing that. I get that you're scared and stressed and you're feeling inferior now but you have to bring up that stuff with me. We are twins of the mind. You have to be able to trust me.

Well how the hell am I supposed to trust you when you run off trying to off yourself? I was terrified. My Twin of Mind was throwing herself into the void and there was nothing I could do to save her. Then you wake up and suddenly you are suddenly not opposed at all to becoming Queen? What am I supposed to think about that?

I saw things… horrible horrible things that should never be repeated. I woke up knowing that if I didn't stop them, they were surely to pass. I still am afraid of being queen. The weight of the crown still presses on my head, but I hide my 's not easy but you have to do it, there are too many people counting on us.

Jack paused to consider what she had said. First he felt indignant that she had been listening to his thoughts in the cell, but quickly moved on. I want to see them. He thought.

No please don't make me show them to you. Take my word on this that you should never see what I witnessed on the other side of the veil.

No please, if it helped to know what you were fighting for. It may do the same for me.

Aliendra gulped and took a few steady breaths, before closing her eyes and allowing sensation to fade.

She found herself in the throne room again with Jack by her side, and another angier Jack storming into the room. The real Jack shot a look at his doppelganger, but remained silent throughout what followed.. The Emperor spoke and both Jack's curled their lips back in a snarl at the sound. Aliendra shifted nervously at the accuracy.

The scene passed and ended with the dream Jack giving his vow to the Emperor. The real Jack turned pale but still said nothing. The dream shifted faster than it had in experience and Jack was watching himself execute the rebels. What little blood remained in his face fell when he gave the order to have the queen executed. Alena fought against the rope, dream-Jack smiled in victory, real Jack looked away. Finally the last and most terrible vision of all, the mass execution of all Sperian watched with wide eyes as the boy with the chain mail addressed them both this time, stating that it was their decisions that led to these events. Jack looked like he was going to throw up.

The premonition ended and Jack fell to his feet and swayed slightly. He tasted bile at the back of his throat and shot out a hand to steady himself. Aliendra looked upon him with sympathetic eyes. She extended a hand to his and he caught it. He felt heat in her palm that warmed him as if he had only ever known cold. The heat spread through him like clay and brought him back. He stood firmly on his feet, and with Aliendra's hand still in his he stepped out into the light of the Sperian main chambers.

Author's Note- I tried new things in this chapter. I apologize for the short length. Thank you for reading.