Jessamine watched as the blood pooled almost pink-like in the sink, sometimes the more coagulated drops falling over the edge as Kaid washed his hands and face. The amount of times her hand slipped from his due to the blood as she tried to hold it, she figured it was best to spend a moment to really clean up. If anything, this brief moment of respite was really intended to keep their heads straight. It was a moment she needed to reflect on everything that's happened right now. Jessamine knew she fucked up. She knew that Kaid had too, but he hadn't been thinking of the consequences.

Everything Jessamine had worked so hard on, every ounce of peace she ushered for in these past few months, were now vanquished by the man responsible for her direct change of heart.

And she almost felt on the verge of sickness, walking the halls with him and seeing his carnage. He never once looked at the decapitated guards or various entrails strewn across the floor like jungle vines. He merely held her hand tightly, and guided her to wherever they were headed. Jessamine had ravaged men in her own time, of course. She knew that she enacted brutal violence by her own hand, but it was justified. She did what she had to in order to survive, made men kill themselves with just a thought. It was almost hard to justify this.

However, seeing him stare at himself in the mirror, seeing how tormented he was being back in this place after thirty years was enough for Jessamine to feel a similar wrath. She knew what it was like to be locked up, to feel trapped, even if just figuratively. To experience all of that in such a physical manner for thirty years, not to mention the torment of monthly Trials...yes, she could justify his actions. Justify it to herself. Justifying the necessity of his brutal actions to Lungor, however, would be practically impossible. Right now, she had to take it all one moment at a time. Her utter priority was his safety. Whatever came after, they would have to face it together.

"The Warden's Office...it's where they keep records, and it could be where this Dreamer is hiding. The only issue is getting in," Kaid finally spoke, letting the water cleanse his face of blood, "and if he is in there, he certainly won't provide it willingly."

Jessamine remained quiet for a brief moment, her hands falling together in that slight nervous tick, "It's a five digit code, and I know the first four numbers."

"What...?" Kaid asked, glancing over at her. And then realized what the Chief Officer had mentioned earlier: a code will set off a lockdown. That day in Caladin where he went to rescue her from lockdown was her doing. In fact, he was sure of it given she was moving away from that general direction of the office and he remembered how surprised and slightly frightened she had looked. "That lockdown, that was you."

"Yes, yes it was. I let my curiosity get the better of me. I didn't think it would trigger an alarm. Luckily...someone came to save me," she gazed at him with soft eyes. Kaid was almost still waiting for her facade to crack. He wanted those eyes to grow dark like a hurricane, he wanted her to be mad at him, to curse at him at how radical this was. But the only emotions she gave were concern, forgiveness, and most of all, love. Jessamine knew in a moment like this, that Kaid could do nothing that would rip the love she had for him out of her heart. He could cheat, kill, lie...things so irregular his character, and she still couldn't fathom not loving him.

Such love was dangerous. It was the same that got her mother killed, and perhaps thousands of other men or women that would put their partners ahead of themselves. Love was a dangerous game, one where time was actually the best ally. Unfortunately, Jessamine had known that time could, and possible would, be always limited. Now it was running its course faster than she could comprehend.

"What were you doing trying to get in? Where did you get the first four numbers?" He asked curiously, no tone of accusation. Jessamine had always been a bit of a curious cat, wandering into places she shouldn't, still a bit of that mischievous child wanting to include herself into business that was not hers to enter. Kaid knew Caladin, compared to Vitross, was probably a very boring experience.

"Guards mentioned it's the best place for records and the like. I wanted to know if there was any information about me or Lungor, as I know many Guards didn't know who I was. I..." she hesitated for a moment, "Payne and I weren't on the best terms. To be honest, since Caladin, we haven't. I wanted to see if I could gather information without him, that I could obtain perhaps a piece of leverage even he wouldn't know about. I always hated how I had to swallow the fact that I needed him, I thought that could change."

"And now...?" Kaid asked, knowing that so much had changed since Caladin. Payne being poisoned, pinning blame onto Lilah, knowing the truth about Persephone yet sending her in blind...the catastrophe at Uhkhtar.

"I think you know the answer to that," Jessamine swallowed, knowing it was true. She had been wrong about Payne. Perhaps she should have been afraid of him, perhaps she so blindly trusted him because she had nobody else to turn to. Jessamine hadn't seen his vision, only what had been directly in front of her and never beyond. All of this was beginning to slip from her fingers, the faux leash in her hands disappearing, or much rather, moving to secure around her neck like a noose.

"We've been robbed, Jessamine. We gave willingly and they took it all from us like savage beasts, and yet we still kept giving. It's time to demand for our life back, it's time to take answers and stop asking questions," Kaid affirmed, walking over to her, "It's time we take what we want."

"Careful, Kaid," she warned, almost desperately in a low and grave whisper, "you need to be careful to not tread a path I cannot follow, a path I've once been before. There are things in life we will never get the answers to, no amount of power or knowledge can change that. There are things in life we simply cannot alter, people included. You must stay true to yourself. Kaid Al-Yami your life is not determined by documents, studies, or archives. It is not determined by your parents, by your friends, or by your lover. It is determined, destined, by you and you alone. That doesn't mean you have to do it alone."

Alone like she had, by choice. And it wasn't until she realized she could share that pain with someone that she realized she could pull herself out of this. Jessamine could not, and will not, let Kaid make the same mistakes. She didn't know if she had the same strength he had to pull her away. Kaid knew, perhaps, he had gone too far today. That he could have done this differently, that he could have asked for help and prepared a way with less bloodshed and pain. But they were here now and it had to be finished.

Kaid nodded slowly, understanding and honing in on her words, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she shook her head, holding the now cleaned javelin with two firm hands, "let's finish this."

It is I that must apologize, she thought, knowing the closer they got to that Warden's door, the closer she arrived to a fate she could ignore. Jessamine had not only accepted Kaid's actions here, but she had to come to terms with her own. When she had first entered Caladin, the only consequence in her mind had been this would be a waste of time. Now, she could only wish she had more of it.

The halls were empty as they walked them, not seeing anyone alive in sight. Either some must have found a way out or they were all headed to some direction to instill more violence. Each step closer, Jessamine felt no presences other than her own, able to hear her own heartbeat racing in her throat. Yet that stopped when Kaid was about to turn the corner and pulled Jessamine back, leaning against her.

"He's there...waiting," Kaid observed, as if he had stopped time to gain any advantage with their walk to the warden's office. It surprised him, expecting that spineless doctor to be hiding inside that office. And yet, he waited outside it, expecting someone, expecting him.

"Then it's a trap," Jessamine whispered, glancing up at him. Vyper was toying with him, inviting him into some sort of debacle.

"Can you enter his mind for that code?"

"It will take probing, take time...but I don't know if that's a risk we can take. He is stalling for some reason, we can't sit here and play with him for that reason to arrive. We can take him out easily, together," she urged.

"Jess, if I can initiate a fight with him, the guard in his mind will be down, giving you a chance to get that combination. We can still do this together, you just have to trust me," he whispered back, seeing her swallow. She couldn't persuade him. His mind was made up the second he had seen the future of Vyper waiting for them to cross the hall. There was nothing she could do but trust him. She nodded slowly, retreating back as if to silently say she could keep an eye on the halls, allowing him to make his own choice with this.

"I trust you," she faintly said, "However if Vyper gains the upper hand, I will intervene."

"I know," he nodded, knowing she wouldn't let him get hurt, "I trust you." He had always trusted her, perhaps just a bit too blindly.

Kaid turned the corner and walked the hall, seeing Vyper slowly lift his green eyes up at the man he was waiting for. Vyper looked the same as Kaid could recall faintly from memory: black lab coat, black gloves, slicked back hair. He was the opposite of Cadize, in the mirrored sense. Cadize used science for good, for benefit. This man used it for pain, for experimentation of the darkest thoughts in his mind. And a man like this under direct protection of an Emperor was sickening.

"Took you so long," Vyper sighed, turning to face Kaid with crossed arms. He didn't look armed. He didn't seem the type to really use a weapon either, but Kaid knew better than to underestimate his opponent. If anything, the scientist looked a bit exhausted.

"I'm right on time," Kaid smirked slightly, holding his blade, "I'm surprised you're not hiding like the coward you are."

"Why would I hide? I nearly rejoiced at the sounds of those alarms, like church bells ringing before a wedding ceremony, like trumpets announcing the arrival of a king, or drums of war before impending doom. Like all these things, I knew the alarms would sound, I just didn't know when, and I didn't expect you to unravel so soon," Vyper smiled back, "there's no need for the blade, Kaid. The tongue is much sharper and I would prefer to talk."

"There's nothing to discuss, unless you want to open the door to that office, I might just consider it," Kaid persuaded, a failed attempt and he knew it. That would be far too easy.

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen," Vyper sighed, "that exceeds the limit of this experimentation. So far, Kaid, everything I have predicted would happen has...my hypothesis is nearly complete. And nowhere in that hypothesis does it have you entering that room, such an outlier doesn't exist because I will never give it to you."

"You've poisoned me with nightmares. I want them gone," Kaid demanded, giving him one last chance.

"You should be thanking me!"

That last chance was now gone.

"Thanking you?!" Kaid spat, moving closer, "I'll be thankful when my blade gives you the most everlasting nightmare it can, when I drain your blood one drop at a fucking time."

"Gods, Kaid, you can see the future but you have NO vision!" Vyper laughed maniacally, "I have not instilled nightmares in you. Did you ever wonder why you could enter a Trial and somehow sense familiarity? The first day walking in Vitross streets did those limestone streets feel like home? Or how you could dream of sailing...when you've never sailed or seen a boat before in your life?"

Kaid remained silent, facing a truth he didn't want to because he feared its reality and demise. He would look for any other answer than that one, and it led him here, led him towards this destructive path where the truth would be revealed anyways.

"Your dreams are the future, Kaid. You're an oracle in human form, something the Divinity of Dreams can only envy. Every Trial only made you stronger, made the dreams just a bit clearer. The goal of Caladin is not to imprison, it's to grow. You think you hid your Oblivion from us this whole time? From the very moment you had your own cell we knew what you were capable of, what everyone was capable of. The Guards? They're useless, they believed it was as much of a prison as you did, just another control factor into our little experiment. You killing them today will do nothing to stop our goal, stop our control."

"You're sickening...it's one thing to treat a prisoner as inhumane, it's another to disregard them altogether for putrid experiments, like rats in a fucking lab," Kaid's voice trembled. It couldn't be true. It couldn't be the future. It will not be something he takes part in, nor could even stand to witness.

"We are merely pruning the plants of the future, strengthening the garden to make it more beautiful. We struggle today so our children will thank us tomorrow. Lungor is merely righting the wrongs of the empire you falsely claim loyalty to. Thousands displaced, widowed, orphaned...all for the belief that Emperor Kristoff had their best interests at heart. To think your Empress is any different...to think she could be any different makes you a blind oracle indeed."

Kaid shouted rage, thrusting his blade forward but the scientist merely dodged, quick martial hands collapsing around the time-keeper's wrist. And a single touch was all that was needed to spread his plague. Vyper didn't want to instill any nightmares today, he wanted to see the actual nightmare. And the second he found it, he pulled away, laughing, especially upon seeing the horror in Kaid's eyes upon having to relive it.

"Oh I love a good tragedy...even the poets couldn't write or predict something as beautiful as this. Assassins have trained their entire lives for a moment like this, and you will have achieved it in merely a year upon your birthing, upon your release. My work is complete," he grinned, Kaid's rage of deception building further and further. Kaid grabbed his labcoat by its collar, thrusting him against the wall to remove that grin. Yet each act of violence only furthered it. Each rattle and shake of the man's spine being thrust against the hard walls of the prison invigorated him.

"Kill me, Kaid. That's what you want. It's what you have to do. Accept it, I already have," Vyper demanded, "You lost. Your reckoning will come once your work is complete. When it does, you'll be as alone as when you first arrived here. Power is not for the weak, for the friendly, for the lovers. It's for people like you and me. Loneliness is seen as a shroud, but it's merely a cape draped across shining armor. Accept it, you'll always be lonely."

"Not before you accept your fate first," Kaid slowly dug his blade into the scientist's torso, just near his spleen, pushing in centimeter by centimeter, watching the pain in his eyes, "Accept first that you lost."

Vyper was about to scoff a reply before he heard the sounds of buttons being gently pushed into the keypad alongside the door. Five digits, pressed one by one. After the Empress entered that final, previously unknown digit, the door unlocked. Those green eyes dilated immediately with fear, in his calculations being incorrect, in having to face his failure. In all the potential outcomes, he didn't bother to look into one where Jessamine arrived with him here, where she gave up all her work for this one moment. To predict the odds of a selfish, poisonous woman giving her heart and soul to one man was mere impossible, improbable. Nobody expected the change in character, the change of a cornerstone. Their very science was trying to argue the fact humans never change, that humanity couldn't change.

How very wrong that was.

Vyper gripped at Kaid's shoulder, bracing against his pain, but also to try and instill one last nightmare. Yet his strength waned. All he could do was accept his fate like Kaid wanted, it merely meant that Kaid had to accept his.

"You know the truth...Kaid," Payne whispered with his very last breath, "one of you will die by the other. Only the person who wants to live the most will triumph. My failure doesn't change that, whatever is in that office won't change that. Fulfill your prophecy, Kaid, become the usurper-" Kaid ripped the blade out with full force, angling down to cut deeper across his lower organs. Before Payne could shout or exhale one last breath, he silenced it with one cut across the neck.

Silence fell amongst the prison as all alarms had been silenced. It had grown silent since the opening of this office. To some, silence was comforting. To both Jessamine and Kaid in that moment, it was far from it.

"Kaid, everything he said we don't know if it's true. If he truly knew the future and our fates, this door wouldn't be open. I know I would never hurt you, and I know you wouldn't hurt me-" Jessamine began to assure but it fell on deaf ears. Kaid immediately walked into the office, as if he needed to see it for himself.

He expected some elaborate office with either data or information strewn about. It was filled with one desk made from elaborate dark wood, and files upon files shoved into wooden cabinets of the same nature. There was nothing to indicate the Warden actually used this office, or used it fairly recently. It almost looked abandoned. Jessamine entered with him yet kept a slight distance, placing the javelin aside at the moment. Her fingers traced the outline of the mantle of blades strapped around her thigh, this time not concealed by a dress or fabric. She debated slipping one away to tuck underneath the long sleeve of her shirt, but instead decided to trust. It was all she had.

Despite the simpleness of the office, it felt heavy as if the room was full of smoke they couldn't see, suffocating them. Kaid and Jessamine moved to the cabinets, opening to scan the delicate folders inside. Some were thin, as if there was hardly any information while others were thick as books. They scanned the alphabetical ones until Kaid found the right drawer for him, finding his files to take up most, if not all, the space within that one drawer. He pulled all of it out, placing it on a nearby table to begin scanning the contents. Jessamine could see the desperate eagerness from his fingers alone, pulling and prying at the pages. Given the large amount, she assumed they might be here awhile and wanted to leave him to that for the moment.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She walked around the office looking for something, looking for a sign, an image or anything to indicate who this Warden was. And all it took was a proud portrait of promotion on the desk to make her pause. It could have been anything. It could have been just pure coincidence. But it made Jessamine freeze in her steps, knowing she couldn't deny the truth any longer either. Shaved black hair, and a darkened scar across his face, a scar she couldn't ignore. The Warden at his promotion. He could have been a real man, could've been just some man mimicked from a time long ago. The scar was not mistakable though.

It all began to make sense. Jessamine knew he had possessed a base of operations, a place to keep his secrets. Jessamine never pushed for an answer because of the nature of those secrets. Should anyone have found out about all the information he possessed, it could be catastrophic. But she found it, in all places such as Caladin. She remembered the night after she set off the lockdown. He had approached her cell, which was all part of the plan to confirm Kaid's true nature: to control time. But she recalled just how angry he was, how truly believable it was that he would shock her with that stick, how he wanted to almost kill her. He was angry she tried to enter this place, angry she was so close to finding out the truth about everything.

It was how Payne was even capable of fabricating the entire lie that Jessamine was thrown in here by Lungor Confederates. He controlled the Confederates, and most of all, he controlled an aspect of Lungor, without even the Emperor realizing it. He had done this deliberately for himself, made it capable of playing all sides and angles and nobody had realized a damn thing. She was a fool. Jessamine was a fool for thinking she had any control at all. The crown, a throne, a fucking palace, none of it meant a thing when she knew it was the same as the gallows. And Payne was, and always had been, the executioner.

The revelation caused Jessamine to feel that same desperation as Kaid had, sifting through papers, needing to find something. She needed answers, needed to know why, and most of all what he was planning on doing this for. It could have been his sense of control, wanting to control all pieces of the game to ensure victory. Or maybe it was something worse, something so much worse. She found a letter in the first drawer, prying it out to read the words. And what she read was an entire death sentence.

"We are ready when you are. The engineering is nearing completion. Should anyone go back on their word, should anyone change the script, we are ready to unleash it into the world. Whether she is around to take the blame or not, it won't matter. Only the powerful will survive, and it won't be the powerful houses and empires that built this realm, but the people like us who tore our souls out to defend it."

"Kaid-" Jess's voice trembled, feeling her hand shake, "we need to go back, right now. Something horrible might happen and we need to stop it before it's too late."

Her teary, fearful eyes glanced up and she noticed his jaw clenched, a slow strained tear falling down his cheek. He held a letter in his hands, and it wasn't one she was expecting upon walking in here. She was fearful he would learn about how the Emperor was planning his release, that Bashir was going to offer him a place at his side. What he stumbled upon, was Vitross' plan to stop that from ever coming to pass, a plan to keep Kaid on their side. Jessamine sobered immediately, feeling her heart stop before encapsulating in stone, hardening herself for the moment she always feared would come. The truth couldn't hide itself. People couldn't hide from their own truths either.

Kaid glanced up with those wet eyes, tossing the letter at her. It fell to her feet, just perfectly for Jessamine to see the lavender broken seal that was the signature of the Empress. Hell, even the handwriting alone was enough for Kaid to know it was her.

"Kaid..." Jessamine's weary, desperate tone was now serious, deep, and troubled.

"Read it. I want you to read it to my face," he demanded, feeling the wave of uncontrollable sobs but he withheld it. He took deep breaths, the kind that pained his chest, likeice that pierced his throat and lungs. He felt like he had swallowed stone, that it resided in his gut now like a premonition he should have known all along. He knew it had sat there the moment Mara mentioned it. How did she end up in Kaid's cell of all the hundreds in Caladin?

Jessamine leaned down to pick up the letter, swallowing hard. She didn't know why she wasn't crying. There were no tears, no sorrow in her heart. She felt nothing. She felt as if she didn't exist. And the worst part was she didn't know why. Just the thought of having to have this conversation in the past brought her to tears. She had prepared for this over and over if he had ever found out. She had scripted her apology, her weary and teary nature to come spilling forward. But this wasn't in the script. She felt nothing but acceptance, comeuppance arriving faster than her mind and emotions could begin to comprehend. She knew what letter this was. One that when she wrote it, had no idea the consequences that held with it.

"Dearest Payne: As I've stated before and a thousand times over, I will not subject myself to this plan. I would rather face the armies of Lungor on the battlefield rather than consider entering Caladin, a place filled with unworthy, murderous, rapist criminals who think they deserve an ounce of freedom. I'd throw half of my empire in there if I could. I do not care if this man is the Emperor's son, I do not care for his potential. And most of all it sickens me that you think I can go in there, manipulate him, coerce him to show loyalty for Vitross. We have more urgent matters at hand. We have other methods we can use and I will not put my trust in some Uhkhtarian to save my Empire. This is a last resort. Until we've exhausted all options, I don't want to ever hear of this plan again or Kaid Al-Yami. Signed, your loyal Empress, Jessamine Kruzicka."

"You knew. You knew this whole time," Kaid shook his head.

"Kaid, the woman who wrote-"

"You deny it was you!?" Kaid laughed, as if wondering what her excuse was to get out of this. She didn't even look upset. She didn't even look surprised. It enraged him. More than Vyper had, more than Payne had ever pissed him off in his time knowing him, more than the hatred he held for this place. He felt this rage more powerful than a bomb, more powerful than a force to eradicate landscape or people. He felt an anger so powerful he wanted to stop time from ever existing, to freeze it, burn it, eradicate it and the entirety of everyone's existence.

"It was me, Kaid. I will not deny that," Jessamine retorted gently, "What I meant to say is that I am not the same woman, the same person who wrote that. Kaid, I wrote this before ever meeting you, before ever knowing anything about you. You think reading that was easy for me? You think every word I wrote isn't like daggers into my own heart?"

"You used me," Kaid's voice broke, and those words only shattered her heart.

"I did. I do not deny that I didn't. Yes, I used you as leverage. But only in the very beginning. Kaid, I am being truthful in saying that when I got to know you, when I knew the man you were, what you dreamed of in your sleep, what you first thought of me when I was thrown into your cell...I wanted to change. I have always wanted to change, I never knew how, I never had the strength to do it. Not until I met you. Not until I thought...I thought that there was a chance to redeem myself. With you, I didn't have to wear a mask. You know this. You know the appearance I have to put on, the words I have to say even though I disagree, the role I had to play-"

"And you played it very, very well," he agreed, breathing heavily, "you lied to me. You used me, as both your leverage and your plaything. And you tried hiding this from me. It's why you wanted to kill Vyper, it's why you even fucking came here. You came here to try and stop me!"

"Kaid, I wouldn't have opened that door if that was my intention. I had no idea this was here. This is all Payne! The entirety of this has been Payne's doing. And yes, I enabled him, yes, I knew he worked somewhere off the grid to compile this information. I had no idea, no unfathomable reason to believe it was here in Caladin. I had no idea about the experimentation, I thought it was a prison just like you!" she shouted, not out of spite but to try and see reason, "Kaid, this is what Payne wants. He wants to pin us against each other. He wants control. You're the only thing he can't control and he knows that, that's why he left that letter for you to find. He knew the chances of stopping you from getting here were slim. He knew you would destroy every single chance for peace by coming here, that you would undo all of my work, our work, yours and mine. Kaid, we have to stop him."

"Control me? He knew very well he could control me, and he did so with you. You're a fucking mind witch. You're a freak! You're a cold, heartless bitch who is no better than her own father!"

"Kaid...you don't mean that," she whispered, feeling her throat tremble but yet no tears came. It was as if her heart were a desert, dried out, that she had cried so much around him in the comfort of his arms...that now she had wasted the only tears that might save her.

"If you can't control a man's mind, you go after his cock. And lucky for you, you got both, didn't you?!" he asked spitefully, "You were in my mind. You coaxed me into loving you, into believing that a woman like you, as beautiful as you were, could like someone like me. You actually had me believing I could one day marry you, an Empress! But I'm just a lowly, murderous criminal. Funny, I wasn't a murderer until I met you. You turned me into this. You turned me into your fucking monster, just like your father did for you."

"I was not in your mind. Kaid, you know I cannot force love, I can't force what we had. Everything I felt for you was real, everything I feel for you now is real. I love you. Yes, I lied. And if I had your power, I would go back in time to the day I dragged you out of this place in that forest and tell you everything. Even if it meant you walked away from me, from the moments we shared together, it would be better than this pain!" she shrieked, "I love you. You changed me, and unfortunately the one thing you couldn't change was my selfishness. I prayed night and day this moment wouldn't arrive, because I feared that you would turn away from me. That the one man who could brighten up my very existence, the one man who challenged me, who beckoned me, who loved me just as much as I loved him, would walk away. I was afraid you would walk away, so I hid this from you. And the truth is now out in the open, I won't deny it."

"Mara was right...she was right all along..." Kaid bristled, as if ignoring her pleas. He couldn't even fathom hearing the word love right now, it felt more like a venomous spear rather than a cherub's arrow.

"She knew? Kaid, if she told you, why didn't you tell me? I would have been upfront and honest. If you had confronted me with this knowledge, I would have spilled it all out for you-"

"It doesn't matter, does it?!" he shouted, the sound alone making her jump, "You were in my head. You are in my head. None of this was real. How can I ever believe it was real if you were in my head this entire time, toying with it, reading my thoughts and answering whatever you believed could make me happy."

"I wasn't in your mind. I made a promise to never use it against you, and I didn't break that promise. There were times in the beginning when I was worried about how you felt that I was tempted to comfort you. But I ended all of that. I ended it before our first night together, because I too feared it wasn't real. But it was. It was real because I removed any of that blight against you."

"Prove it," he scowled.

"You know I can't. That is my affliction, that is my burden. I can't prove any of it. Just as they couldn't pin my father's murder on me, just as they couldn't for Persephone...you can't either. And that also means I can't defend myself when I truly say I was not in your mind. I loved your thoughts. But I loved them more from your lips. I forced you to never allow me into your mind. I can't prove that, you'll just have to trust me."

"Trust you? I'm in this mess because I trusted you, because I believed in you. And you actually expect me to believe that excuse?"

"I do. I can't prove it otherwise," she swallowed. But she could. Jessamine didn't know that, of course, but Kaid did. He was raised in such matters of truth. It was all Caladin was about, what the experimentation was regarding humanity, regarding animals such as himself. The amount of times he had seen it, nearly fell to the temptation himself...and how easily he had to defend her. A person would only use their Oblivion when their life was at stake, when that last glimpse of life was still in reach...all they had to do was use it. Even if it meant betraying all their morals, all their character...all their love. Survival was all that mattered. And if Jessamine wanted to survive, she would have to prove him right.

Kaid relaxed slightly, walking over to her. He noticed the tilt of confusion in her eyes, as if trying to read him. If she was trying to read his mind, he didn't feel it. Instead, she was trying to sense his body language. Her spear was too far out of her reach. She had her knives, but if caught off guard, he'd limit that usage. And caught her off guard, he had. His hand grabbed at her throat, squeezing it as the force of his strength pinned her between him and the closest wall.

Jessamine immediately felt the rush of shock before the pinching of her vocal chords began. This wasn't some sort of joke, this wasn't some tease or bednight foreplay. The way his fingers squeezed at her windpipe, the way his knee dug into her stomach and arm pinned against the wall, the way his eyes were full of rage. He wanted to kill her. The amount of times she had seen that look in someone would initiate her fighting response, that she would desperately do anything to survive, to fight back. But the very thought of having to hurt him was unbearable. Even if her middle finger could reach the slightest edge of one of her knives...she didn't want to grab it.

"Kaid, don't..." she wheezed, hoping her words might see some amount of reason. There was no means or reason to do this. There was nothing she could do. She would not and could not hurt the man she loved. If that was her greatest weakness, she would embrace it.

She jostled as his grip tightened, her knee moving slightly up as if to bash into his groin. But she missed, merely brushing his thigh. Kaid was waiting for more, he was waiting a struggle, a fight of strength. Even in most of their grappling training or mock fights, Jessamine would win merely based on technique and knowledge. Here, that didn't exist. His strength and rage alone already determined him the victor. The only way for him to stop was her having to enter his mind and force him away. It would prove she was always in control, that she could force him to do anything at her beck and call, that she was the manipulator he feared her to be, that he knew deep down she always was.

Yet she wasn't doing that.

He could see the life from her fading, that plea in her eyes to let go was drifting into acceptance, the blueness in her eyes almost being swallowed by the gray of death. That strength of his waned, panic beginning to set in. What if he was wrong? What if she was right? Was it worth losing that? Losing her? The fact she was on the edge of consciousness was beginning to prove her case. All she had to do was the simplest thing, the most simple, mind penetrating action she had done a thousand times to a thousand different people. Yet now it was impossible.

Kaid let her go, hearing her gasp for air as she collapsed to the floor, slipping against the wall to cough. She coughed and sucked in air as if she had missed the taste of it. And it wasn't until she had the faintest bits of oxygen in her system did the tears finally come, scared, uncontrolled sobs escaping her lips as her entire body shook from the shock. Kaid blinked and it was like the rage was gone, the consequences of his actions settling in, the breaking of a vow, a promise he never thought he would.

He hurt her. He had intended to kill her. He had broken his vow as her Guardian, broken her trust as her friend, and most of all, broken all tethers connected to their hearts by laying his hand on her. He felt disgusted with himself, wanting nothing more than to wish she had hurt him. She deserved to hurt him, slash him with a blade, make him feel pain for ever wishing the same on her.

"J-Jess..." he whispered, reaching forward to try and touch her gently.

At that, she pulled back, raising a blade at him merely as a warning. She knew deep down she couldn't hurt him. He knew that too. But she couldn't let him touch her. Not now. The one person she had trusted completely, whos arms she felt enraptured by...the one person she felt safe with had betrayed all of that. She couldn't blame him, though. He had been angry. He had been pushed to an edge, and most of all, he proved what she couldn't.

"It...it was after Arryn. When she entered her mind, talked about Mara, when I saw how badly she hurt you...I wanted to never let someone use that information against you. That night when you met my Aunt, I wanted to tell you everything. I wanted to be honest with you because I told you my story, about my father. I almost felt like my mother was trying to tell me to open up to you, and that meant starting to tell you. I whispered your name that night, your full name, and I knew you heard it. Whether your mind in the morning would remember, I wouldn't know. But I said it because I felt I had to start showing you who you are," she sobbed, "and I did my damned best before I left your mind for the last time to prevent any other mind witch from doing so. At least, one as powerful as Arryn. It wasn't until Uhkhtar with Sebastian that I realized someone had entered your mind. It's what made me lose focus, what resulted in me being stabbed."

She'd want to feel stabbed ten times over than feel what she felt now.

"If it had been fake, if it was just a mere projection of my love for you...I thought you'd wake up from the dream and realize how terrible I was or feel nothing for me. Yet you had faith in me, you still looked at me the same despite everything I had told you that night, you believed I could negotiate with the Duke and I did. I did for you, for me. I just wanted to be that person you saw, the person you believed to be who I really was. And I failed. I'm so sorry Kaid. I would take it all in a heartbeat. I never wanted our love, our moments together as few as it seemed, to be all for nothing. But I want you to know the truth, to know your truth and to not let anything hold you back. You deserve all the happiness in the world..." And if that didn't include her, she accepted that. She would cherish the moments she did have with him before it all went horribly wrong.

Kaid moved slowly to lean against the wall and sit beside her, still giving a few feet distance for both their safety as he cried as well. They both felt like used experiments, that the search for humanity lived in both of them, and both had succumbed to the worst of it one way or another. And the second Jessamine felt like she had escaped her doom, Kaid fell into his. Everything was falling apart, and neither could make sense of the storm that had ripped them both violently apart.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, sniffling his nose, "I...I can't forgive myself for what I've done to you."

"You must. You must forgive yourself. If I hadn't forgiven myself, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy this better part of my life. I wouldn't have been able to love you, to love Kassandra or Christine...to love my people and care for them," she swallowed, feeling her tears slowly subside, "You have to forgive yourself, because there's still a chance out there for you to return to that cornerstone. There's still a chance at love, life...happiness. No matter what Vyper says, I know you won't be alone. You attract so many good people to you like bees to nectar, spreading your warmth and happiness to others."

"Jessamine, I hurt you. I...you're right I should've trusted you," he shook his head.

"I wouldn't have believed me either. I know why you did what you did," she laughed softly out of pain, "you need to leave. If Lungor finds you here...I don't think I have the strength right now to stop them from taking you."

Lungor. Shit. Fuck, he wasn't thinking at all was he? Him coming here really did blow everything up in their faces. When they would find out it was him, and surely they would, it discredited all of Jessamine's work. She knew that. She knew Kaid represented her, represented Vitross, and he had been the highlight of the best of it. And he ruined all of that, in a fearful, angry act. She was doomed. Lungor would want to go to war for this.

"I have to turn myself in, I have to face my consequences. I need to explain to them this was all my fault, that you had nothing to do with this-"

"They won't believe you. Besides, I did have everything to do with this," she shook her head, "you need to leave, need to hide. I can have Bridger portal you to Uhkhtar, or some place nobody will find you. Not even me. Especially not Payne."

"We need to stop him. Whatever he's planned, we have to stop it," Kaid insisted.

"He's already won, don't you see? The very fact we feel we have no choice but to run and hide means he's won. If you come back with me, he will have you executed for treason."

"You said it yourself: he was afraid of me. We know what fear does to people. I will return with you, if he arrests me then so be it. We will have to do whatever it takes to stop him," Kaid glanced over at her, seeing her swollen teary eyes glancing back. And as always, with no hate, no malice or venom. Just love. And it only made the guilt inside him worsen.

"And then what? One of us kills the other in that throne room? If I send you away, that can't happen..." she whispered faintly, as if almost unable to speak the words.

"No...that won't happen..." Kaid whispered in reply. For some reason, despite everything he learned today, that reality felt different. It felt...tainted? As if it could be changed, manipulated...after all, he could manipulate time. Still, he did feel this lingering hate for her, despite all the love. She had wronged him, had lied, and had ample opportunities to spill her truth. It felt like at this moment things couldn't go back to the way it was before. This felt like a new beginning after a wave of destruction. Only time could tell what could grow from the ashes, or forever reside in this grave. There could still be some chance that he felt just enough hatred to dig that emerald usurper blade into her heart.

The only thing was, something that even he had forgotten, he didn't even have the blade anymore...