She was getting sick and tired of passing out and waking up in unfamiliar places. It was really doing a number on her. Waking up, Zara found herself on a small island. It was very small, only containing a single tree in the center of it. Calling it an island was honestly being generous. It was about the size of her room, which while spacious was not large for a whole island.

What the hell was going on? She walked around the island seeing if there was anything on it. When she got to the other side of the tree she gasped. There was a person sitting down, with their knees up and with their head down, but something was strange. They were wearing the same dress she was, with exactly the same damage on it. Her audible gasp caused the figure to look up. Her skin was a deep purple, aside from that they were identical to zara. The same round face, small nose, and intense eyes. The similarities went so far she was certain all of the freckles were the same as well.

"What are you?" Zara asked.

"What do you think? I'm you," the other Zara said.

"How can you be me? I'm me and you're purple,” she said.

“Life truly does work in mysterious ways.” The other her said.

"How did you get here?" Zara said ignoring her comment

"I was made when you touched that mirror. Look, are you going to keep asking annoying questions, because if you are I'm just going to swim away hopefully never having to hear your damn voice again." Other Zara said. This version of her was starting to get on her nerves. Whatever that mirror did to make her copy they made it extra annoying. The more important question at the moment was how the hell was she going to get out of here.

"How do I get out of here?" she said

"Why would you want to leave? you just got here."

"Answer the damn question.”

”Geez, it was just a joke," other Zara said with a smirk, "I have no idea." What the hell was her game? How could she have no idea? How could she be so calm about this whole thing? "You need to relax." she said straining all of the vowels.

"Why did the mirror have to make you so annoying?" God, what was the point of dealing with a more annoying version of herself. As she was thinking, the other her started to laugh, she forgot how much she hated her laugh until it was aimed directly at her. "What's so funny?" Zara asked.

"I'm not really any different than you besides having purple skin, which honestly in my mind is an improvement. It's a mirror. It was made so you can reflect upon yourself." That couldn't be true, she knew she was a little annoying, but this, there was no way. Zara started to protest before her other version butted in.

"You were always so bad at reflecting, you told yourself that you were different than everyone. Better than everyone. They were all just like you when they were young." Other Zara said.

A dark feeling in her stomach started to rise. This needed to be stopped.

"They all started the same way you did, youthful and hopeful, but eventually fell to corruption. What makes you special? You have been captured and saved by a dragon, you were set to be in an unhappy marriage, you-"

"STOP," she shouted, she couldn't take it anymore she couldn't hear it anymore. Other Zara paused for a moment and then continued.

"That voice in you head, that one that's always telling you your in the right, it's not infallible, you've just been raised to-"

"I SAID STOP," she said. That was enough, there was no way this was true. It couldn't be. the Other Zara looked at her, and sighed. She brought her knees back up to her face and stayed there.

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Zara's mind was tearing itself apart, roaring with pain she fell to her knees and then she collapsed, laying in the grass she just lay there. Her mind warring on itself until eventually she lost her consciousness.

***

Eventually, she woke up again, she sat up and stared at the water. The water extended in every direction. It was totally still and calm, unnaturally so.

Is the dragon and her other self right? was she really that bad of a person? The pit in her stomach got bigger. The thought of it all was terrifying her. She wanted to push her feelings down to make the pain stop.

"Don't do it!”

Zara turned her head to look at her other self. She was still in her same position with her head down. She couldn't have possibly known what she was about to do, Hell she hardly knew what she was doing. How could this copy possibly know what she was trying to do.

“If you continually push your feelings away it will change you, and it will hurt you."

"Your lying," Zara muttered out. Other Zara sighed.

“I’m not lying, When you touched that mirror it took your emotions, thoughts and feelings and turned into me. I’m a projection of yourself.”

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t lying.” Other Zara sighed and pinched her nose.

“Look, I know this is hard for you, because I am you, but you need to listen to me. All I want to do is help you realize your problems. When I was created I was told to help you go down the right path.” Too emotionally exhausted to fight back she decided to humor the other version of her.

“Fine, what did you want to tell me.” She said

“All of the people you hate started like you, but eventually they were corrupted. They gave their humanity in return for power, and selfish greed. People gave in at different times, but they all eventually did. I’m here to tell you to never give into that. Never let that consume you.”. She let the words flow into her. Letting them have free rein, it was hard and it hurt, but she accepted it.

"When people don't care about others, and are able to hide their empathy. They become unable to see what they have become, they become the most dangerous versions of themselves." The Other Zara paused. "You have a dream, you have people who care about you, and people who you care about. You have to fight for them" Zara took those words and let them in her mind and tried to accept them. However when she thought she understood them her pit in her stomach grew even larger and she pushed against it.

"I'm too far gone, I have already pushed past the point of redemption, there's nothing left for me," Zara said pushing against her inner emotions.

"You're not and you know that," Other Zara said. "Your parents have lied to you, they were manipulating you, they are manipulating everybody trying to make them as cold as they are." The pieces in her mind started to click, her memories of school, and of the lessons from her parents now colored by an insidious thread. The pit in her stomach kept growing and growing. As she realized that her family had been playing a long game of manipulation with her. A purple hand extended out to her. She accepted it, and was pulled into a hug.

“You should know this, you have Mary.” Those words broke something in her. Her walls were let down. How could she possibly forget about Mary, she would want her to fight on. Zara wanted to see her again. She needed Mary to accomplish her dreams, she would find a way to fight. She found something that she couldn’t give up.

She felt something lift in her heart, as if a pressure was released.

Other Zara whispered something in her ears. "Fight for those who need you". With that she couldn't hold it back anymore. Tears flew from her, all of her emotions hitting her at once, the betrayal, the manipulation, the pain, the love. It hurt so much. Why had they lied to her, it was all too much to bear. The tears didn’t stop and the pain didn't either.

She heard a loud crack run through the air. Startled, she looked around at the horizons and saw cracks forming.

"What's happening?" Zara asked

"You're going home." Other Zara said. "This is the first step of a journey that will take a long time, but I know you can do it, after all," Other Zara looked directly at her. “I am you!”

The Other Zara faded away into a dark smoke, and the cracking continued, getting progressively louder and faster until everything was bright white.

***

Opening her eyes again she saw that she was in front of the mirror. nothing around her had changed. Turning back to the direction of the dragon she stumbled forward. The weight of her emotions weighed down her physical movements. The bed she woke up in looked so inviting. She walked into the large chamber and saw that the dragon remained in the corner sleeping.

Arriving at the bed she fell onto it unable to maintain consciousness she started drifting off.

Tomorrow, her journey begins.