Stone cracked.
Jean burst through the wall, shards of rubble crumbling beneath his feet. Dust hung in the air, making it hard to breathe, thick and choking. He stumbled forward, waving the smoke away, his heartbeat still strong. His thumping heart was loud enough to drown out the echo of the stone collapsing.
"Elise?"
Her name tore through his throat with more desperation than he had ever had. His vision adjusted through the haze.
Elise was kneeling in the desolate church. A pitfall was in front of her with a pit of spikes. It looked like one of those trolley problems. She was clutching her head, her face streaked with tears.
Two cages stood above the pitfall, both on the opposite side from Elise. One held Lydia, her body beaten black and blue. Bloody. Barely recognizable. In the other, Jean.
Himself?
No, not Jean. Not the real Jean at least.
He stared at this older version of himself, held in a cage. This Jean showed signs of being a fake. The real Jean would have found a solution to this, even if it meant thinking outside of the box. This Jean also looked beaten just like Lydia.
Elise's gaze slowly turned towards the real Jean. Her eyes widened.
"No, no, get away..." she yelled in despair, crawling backwards while kicking at him. "You're not real. Get away, you demon! You're just a monster!"
For a moment, Jean froze.
The words cut deeper than he had expected. You're just a monster...
He knew she didn't mean it. This place twists and distorts the mind, blurs the truth. People hallucinate here. But deep down, it still hurt.
Elise was terrified, not cruel.
But still, some part of him thought otherwise.
He wasn't a demon.
But hadn't he felt like one lately? He knew he was emotionally detached sometimes. He felt like a spectator in his own life sometimes too.
It wasn't her fault.
It was the dungeon's.
It was his.
And yet, even understanding that didn't stop the pain.
You're just a monster...
Jean took a step forward, hands raised. "Elise, I'm not a part of this goddamn demon. I'm not a figment of your imagination. I am real."
"But..." she choked, pointing toward the fake Jean, as he cried in the cage.
Jean took a breath. A messy, shaky breath that hurt his broken ribs. He was trying to play every scenario in his head, hoping to make her understand.
"That isn't me. I wouldn't be so pitiful as to just beg for my life. I'm not an idiot."
Elise flinched at his harsh words.
"That isn't me," he repeated with a softer tone. "I would never ask you to choose me over another. Never... because I don't want to see you hurt."
Silence.
He stepped closer. The fake Jean's head twitched eerily inside the cage.
"Why should I believe you?" Elise asked, her eyes tracking Jean's every movement. Her voice was brittle, like glass that could break under any amount of pressure. "Everything here is all just lies. He begged for safety."
Jean's fingers trembled as he reached out to take her hand.
"I never cried," he whispered with a shaky voice. "Because I didn't know how. Because... I was scared to let myself cry."
The words felt like rocks in his throat, but they were cracking slowly with this conversation. He felt as if this might be the only time he could truly open up.
"Elise, I... I've never been good at saying how I feel. All I do is wish the best for others. I'm calculative. I look at the risk over reward. I didn't even try to comfort Erik. He might have still been here if I wasn't an idiot. I've felt trapped all my life, but you guys showed me that I'm not alone."
Elise inched toward the real Jean. The Jean in the cage groaned, as if he was telling her to stop.
Jean kept going.
"I can tell you this right now. Lydia would choose you. Every time. She'd die for you. I'm envious of that. I don't think I could sacrifice myself for another."
"But if I choose her and you aren't real, the real you will die," Elise said, barely able to speak.
"Then you will know that you at least saved Lydia. The real me wouldn't hold a grudge. The real me isn't pitiful. I wouldn't beg for my life when it means someone else would suffer."
Elise clutched her arms. Her nails dug into her flesh. Her breathing was ragged. She looked between the cages.
The fake Jean begged behind the bars. It reached its arms toward her. "Please," he begged. "Elise, I'm scared. I don't want to die. She's strong. She can take it. Choose me."
Jean stepped between her and the cage. "He is using your kindness. Don't trust it. This is what the Mind Demon wants."
She stared at Jean's face. Looked at the cuts. The dust in his hair. The blood stuck to his temple. Even his horns.
Her gaze slowly softened.
Elise grabbed Jean's arm and pulled him toward herself. "I believe you," she gently whispered into his ear.
She turned. Faced the two cages. Without looking back, she yelled:
"I choose Lydia."
The room began to shake and rumble. A screech tore through the room's walls.
Both cages evaporated into smoke.
The Jean inside the cage screamed as its body distorted, twisting into a familiar shape. It turned into the Mind Demon. "You're quite smart, Jean, but you can't escape from your own mind."
Elise braced herself. But nothing happened.
No one died.
She fell onto Jean. Her legs weak, visibly shaking.
Jean caught her before she hit the floor. He knelt with her, gently holding her shoulders.
"You alright?" Jean asked.
"Thank you," she responded, hugging Jean tightly. "I thought I'd be the reason someone would die. I thought..."
He looked down and shook his head. "You were strong. You did well."
They sat up against a wall. "Thank you so much, Jean," she whispered, leaning against him.
Jean clenched his fist, readying himself to tell her what he had found in a lake in the safe zone.
"So, uhm. Back in the safe zone, I found someone..." Jean's voice was hoarse. "I met something. I don't even know if it was human once."
Elise looked at him, wary but curious.
"She had a crystal. Like this," Jean removed the cloth covering his forearm. "It kept her alive, let her evolve. Way beyond what the human body could handle. It came at a cost."
Elise's eyes focused on his arm. "What kind of cost?"
Jean's voice lowered. "Her body. Every time it evolved, the crystal rewrote her genes. So much that she practically wasn't the same person. Rapid cell regeneration. Mutation. Yes, she was strong, but it was killing her from the inside. She told me... it would eventually kill me too. The more I evolve, the faster my cells regenerate. I die faster the more I generate new cells and rewrite my own genes. Could be a year. Could be ten. Or even a month. I don't know, nor do I want to know."
He glanced at her, quickly looking away.
"I've been carrying it ever since."
Elise was stumped. Just stared. "You're serious?"
"I wouldn't lie about something like this."
"Why didn't you just remove it?" Elise asked.
Jean didn't respond, knowing the reason was selfish. He knew that if he didn't have it, he would stay weak and they would have to protect him.
"But... then you have to tell the others."
Jean slowly shook his head. "I can't."
"Why not?" she snapped. "They deserve to know. What would I tell them if you just died randomly?"
"Do they really deserve to know?" he said. "What if I tell them, suddenly I'm just the dead man they are trying to forget? They would just treat me like I'm a fragile idiot. What if I start using it as an excuse?"
Elise stared at him. "What do you mean, an excuse?"
"To stop fighting fate. To justify not giving my all. I'm dying anyway, might as well live a long, leisurely life than fight. I don't want to be the dead weight. If I stop trying just because I'm afraid of dying… then I'm already dead."
He leaned forward, his body hovering over Elise. "I can't be that guy."
Elise stared up at him in silence. "So you're just going to carry this alone?"
"I told you, didn't I?" he sighed. "I'm telling you. Not anyone else, because I know you can understand. You're not going to fall apart hearing this. But the others? Ronan? Callum? You think they won't start looking at me differently?"
Elise frowned. "They're stronger than you think."
"Maybe," Jean said. "But I'm not. I'm terrified to tell them—even you."
Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes searched for his. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Just... don't tell anyone. Keep this between us. For now. Please."
"I don't like this."
"I know."
"I might tell them if it starts affecting you in ways you won't admit," Elise said.
"Ok... I'm fine with that."
"Also, can you get off of me?" Elise asked with a slightly blushed face.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Jean said, embarrassed, jumping right off her.
Another awkward silence stretched between them. But this one wasn't cold. Elise sighed, leaning against the wall.
"You're still an idiot," she said in the softest manner she could.
"Wouldn't be me if I wasn't."
A noise erupted from behind them.
Then Jean looked up.
A soft thump.
Thump.
It pulsed again.
Behind them, the stone wall thumped as if it had a heartbeat—just slightly.
Jean stood up and pressed his hand against the wall.
It beat in rhythm with the crystal in his arm.
He lifted his arm, watching his veins pulse as he got closer.
"It's guiding me," he mumbled.
Elise looked at him, exhausted. "It's like a compass?"
"No. It's more like a heart. It beats when I'm near something it wants."
He turned toward the wall, pressing his hand against the jagged stone.
The stone beat stronger.
"Someone is behind this," he said with confidence. "I know it."
The crystal in his arm flared brighter. The pulse began to match the wall.
Jean stared at the wall.
He took a big step back.
And punched.
The wall cracked with a thunderous boom.
Again.
Pieces chipped off.
He wound back one more time.
BOOM.
The wall exploded.
Light flooded into the room.
Elise squinted.
A silhouette stood on the other side.
Lydia.