Author's Note: Whew! Editor finally got online!

Chapter 2

"All right, you wrote down all of these notes, right? If you did, then have a nice winter break!"

Charlene hurriedly jotted down the last few sentences of her Literature teacher's lecture, then started packing her school supplies. She was looking forward to the Friday Night at the cardstore. It was Modern, the only thing close to Standard in Charlene's perspective. She drove home and spent the remaining hours before the event editing her deck. She took out the unnecessary lands to even out the ratio, replaced burns with even more powerful instants and sorceries. She was just about to place her deck inside its deck box when the door to her apartment was knocked on in a hurried way. Charlene got up and darted to her door, feeling as if it was an emergency.

She opened the door to find what seemed like a Jace Beleren cosplayer, covered in scratches and bruises, teetering to and fro.

"Holy-" Charlene nearly cursed. "Are you okay!?" The man slumped to the ground, unconscious. Charlene started shaking him lightly. "Oy, wake up." The man gave no sign of motion. "Hey, this isn't funny. Wake up." Still no sign.

Groaning, Charlene lifted the cosplayer's arm over her shoulders and started to drag him over to her couch. She took off the gauntlets to observe his injuries. There were many, including shallow cuts and countless bruises. Charlene went to her cabinets, rummaging around until she found bandages and alcohol wipes to treat the cuts. After a while, the man's arms were covered in numerous bandages. Charlene reached towards the cloak to remove the hood and find more injuries. When she had completely removed the hood, she gasped.

The cosplayer was Jason.

Charlene couldn't believe it. There was the same black hair. The same accidental scar running down his right cheek, the one she had given him when their pens had acted as swords. Tears were about to stream down Charlene's face. She had finally rediscovered her boyfriend after many months, and he was brutally injured.

But why was Jason cosplaying Jace when there weren't any conventions or events taking place? Charlene thought he might have traveled here for her to see him in his cosplay and got into a fight with some street thugs. Charlene was going to treat the wounds on Jason's face when suddenly,

"Chandra… found her… I finally found Chandra…"

Jason became silent once more.

Charlene was confused. Find Chandra? She pondered. But, she's just a really epic card… Did he search stores for a Chandra card? Charlene resumed treating Jason's wounds, puzzled. When he started to look as if he wasn't brutally injured, but just tripped in a bizarre way, Charlene packed her stuff and went out to her tournament after leaving a note for Jason.

Jason woke up hours later on Charlene's sofa, puzzled on how he had ended up there in the first place.

Oh right… Jason remembered. I saw Charlene before I collapsed. This must be her apartment. He tried to sit up, but winced in pain. He looked down at his body and saw that he was covered in many bandages. Dammit Liliana…

Jason noticed that he was still in Jace's attire. He started casting a spell to change his clothes to normal fashion. Struggling to ignore the pain, he sat up and saw the note next to him, which he opened.

Hey Jason, long time no see.

First things first. How the hell did you get here? I mean, didn't you go to a university that's far from here?

Second, since when did you cosplay? I mean, that's a really good Jace cosplay, but seriously, you didn't seem like a cosplayer before we graduated.

Finally, you sleep-talked about finding Chandra. What does that mean?

For now, you should rest. I'll be back soon.

Charlene

Jason put the letter back on the little table next to the couch. He stood up, grimacing from the pain, and hobbled over to the window, being vigilant in case of any signs of Liliana. He heard a key being inserted in the knob, and the door opened. Charlene walked in and eyed Jason curiously, then surveyed the room before looking at Jason again.

"Where the hell is your cosplay costume?"

Jason was quiet for a few moments. "I… have to talk to you about something."

"Well, obviously. You arrived at my apartment in a Jace cosplay, covered in bruises and cuts, you muttered something about finding Chandra, and your cosplay just disappeared into oblivion. You have a lot of explaining to do."

"... Where should I begin…"

Jason sat down on the couch. He eyed Charlene with intensity. "Charlene…"

"I'm Jace."

Charlene was quiet. "Yeah, and I'm Chandra." She retorted sarcastically.

"That is actually true." Charlene looked dumbfounded. "Y-you're not making any reference between us, are you? Like, the Jace and Chandra ship?" She asked, personally thinking that was a kind of cheesy way to get the relationship back together..

"No. Do you want to know why Chandra hasn't been printed in the past few core sets?" Charlene nodded with enthusiasm. "It's because Chandra was killed by Liliana two years ago."

"... Killed? But, how does that refer to me being Chandra?"

"You see," explained Jason. "When a planeswalker dies, if they're quick and have enough energy, they release their spark. It's basically an essence, or spirit, of the planeswalker. For example, there's Venser. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to release his spark, so he died. Anyway, the spark would then travel across the Multiverse to find someone that would be compatible to hold the spirit of the planeswalker and still imitate the planeswalker flawlessly."

"So you're saying…"

"Charlene, you're the reincarnation of Chandra."

Silence.

Charlene burst into laughter. "Man, Jason! That's the best prank you've ever pulled on me!"

"I'm serious!" Jason yelled. "Look, Liliana's on my trail now, so I went around the Multiverse looking for the Chandra incarnate, which is, conveniently, you!"

"Yeah, and you expect me to believe that?" Charlene chuckled.

Jason sighed. "I didn't want to do this…" He cast a spell.

Immediately, Charlene witnessed visions of Jason's adventures. She was watching how Jace, or Jason, discovered the Implicit Maze with Niv-Mizzet, Liliana pursuing him, when,

"Charlene, are you okay?"

Charlene snapped out of Jason's conjured visions to find that she was lying on the floor. Jason helped her up.

"W-what just happened?" Charlene whispered.

"Sorry about that." Jason apologized. "I probably overdid it, didn't I?" Charlene nodded.

"... So that proves that you are Jace." Charlene concluded. "But how does that make me Chandra?"

"Do we know anyone else that has the same characteristics of Chandra and the same views as her?" Charlene had no answer. "Exactly."

Charlene kept talking. "There are other people in the Multiverse. How do you know it's me?" She felt herself getting annoyed and infuriated. Her hair started to spark. Then, she burst. "DO YOU HAVE ANY PROOF THAT I'M CHANDRA!?" When she hollered those words, Charlene's hair ignited into wild infernos and her hands burst into flames, emitting a small fireball that went flying towards Jason. He cast a quick counterspell before the flames singed his hair. Feeling the sudden raise in temperature on her hands, Charlene looked at them. She couldn't believe that fire was dancing around her palms. She started to panic.

"Don't panic!" Jason yelled. "You'll only make it worse! Just calm down." Charlene obeyed, and gradually, the flames died down. Charlene stood in front of Jason, breathing in uneven rates.

"You need to control your powers." Jason informed. Charlene looked up at him and nodded her head. "You might burn the whole city down if you don't. Since it's winter break, I'll tutor you." With that, Jason embraced Charlene. "I missed you, Charlene." Charlene, surprised, replied, "Missed you too."

"I'm so glad you're Chandra."

"Would be hard to explain to a stranger, huh?"

"Yeah… Really complicated."