Hi 😉
Jack Ripley
Are you texting me right now? Hahaha!
This is the only way to get you for more than 3 minutes 😭
Yeah... I don't know what happened but this thing has blown up...
I don't think you ever foresaw this in your visions huh?
I can't say I did.
Oh well
We did have all those other lives to be alone together...
We can sacrifice one for the people we love. :)
We do love them.
But if they love us they'll let us have some time to ourselves.
Eventually....
Is it because we're new? They can't get enough of us? It's our honeymoon period with everyone here! Hahaha
We have to wait until they get tired of us...
But I'll never get tired of you Jack. :) Not in a million lifetimes.
Maybe. Haha!
They need lives of their own. And honeymoons of their own.
It seems like they're honeymooning with us...
Also you know you're extremely distracting
When you look at me like that
*looks at him from across the courtyard*
Put those eyes away, Prince Jack
I can't help it.
Do you want me to stop looking at you?
Hm?
If you can't help it, then how can you also stop? :P
I could stop looking at you.
Hm.
*waves and smiles at him from across the way*
😋
But you know I can't. :kissu:
Haha I can't either
Can't stop looking at you, not
Not at myself
That sounded very bad
...you know what I meant!
*hides behind tree*
Hahaha!
Oh I knew what you meant. I've seen you posing.
/he knows damn well he doesn't lmao/
I miss you.
All the way over there.
I
No I'm not
I don't, really I
don't pose...
*pokes head out from behind the tree*
I miss you too
But if I go over there, we won't get anything done
That was flirting, Smith.
And I know but what if I don't care if we don't get anything done?
I
Knew that
I was testing you
To see if you knew
Ripley
*hides behind tree again* 😳
Certain other people might be disappointed though...
Certain people who don't seem to like you talking to Ken
Who, Niall? Is he the only one still wanting to play? :3
I think Raf also wanted to play haha
And maybe me... :P
Wonder if he's doing all right with Rhys
Should we go check on them?
You think they've killed each other or something? D:
It's been awfully quiet...
.......
Maybe you should take a look.
Yeah
I'd hate to see Raf heartbroken again, or Rhys hurt
Poor things, it's not easy to be young and in love, is it?
It's not easy being 30 and in love.
Haha that's quite true but knowing that we've already made this work before helps take the edge off
I guess it's not quite so easy for anyone. I used to think I'd never find my soul mate and then
One day you literally fell out of the sky 😊
I did not. I walked into your school like a queen and you couldn't take your eyes off me. ;)
Ah
I
No that's true you did walk in like you owned the school
I didn't think you'd even noticed me haha
That's because I didn't want you to.
Remember, I didn't want a relationship.
For obvious reasons that aren't a thing anymore.
I'm sorry you had to carry that with you for so long Jack
You're not having any more blackouts are you? The nightmares? Are they still bad?
No blackouts!
I'm not sure if I'll ever not have nightmares, it's kinda stuck with me.
But they're more bearable
I'm so sorry
If only I was stronger or if I knew more about closing off your dreams to him...
It's okay, B.
I think I'd be more worried if it didn't bother me, you know?
But you're suffering for someone else's actions.. It doesn't seem very fair to me.
No... it doesn't seem fair but what can we do about it? :(
Do you think he can still enter my dreams?
I don't know if I've properly shut him out or not, I don't know what I'm doing.
Do you think maybe
We can give their families some closure? Maybe it would ease the guilt if we could meet the families and talk to them... tell them enough to let them know that
Those young men will be avenged
I've been thinking about the dream thing
How he can dream walk like me
I think he could be one of my relatives, as weird as that is to say. Or at least part of my house in the fae kingdom.
And if I can find out more about him, I could maybe find a way to counter him. We won't know if he can still enter your dreams until he tries again but I don't want to wait for that to happen!
I... I don't know. Doesn't that feel like a bad idea? To go up to mourning and people and tell them the truth?
They probably won't even believe it. I know I wouldn't, in their place...
You can't be related to Keith. You two couldn't be ANY more different!
Is it better to be kept in the dark and not know who's responsible? We don't have to tell them all of it. Just enough to give thenn hope for justice being served.
We could be related by our powers. It sounds like we share a number of similar powers. That can't be coincidence...
Well... no.
But...
I don't really...
I just want to leave it behind me.
And maybe you are, but do you really want to know that?
How will you leave it behind you when you keep having nightmares? That's what we're talking about here right? Getting to the root of them?
If he's part of my house
If he's related to me
It's my duty to stop him. I'm responsible for keeping him from hurting others.
I don't know, B. I don't like it.
I don't like any of it.
I know Jack. I don't like it any more than you do but this
It's not going away on it's own. We'll have to deal with it eventually if any of us want to move on and have a chance at a normal life.
I want a family with you. I want what's in that vision to come true, but we can't have it with all of this hanging over our heads.
You sure? Because I think we could get away with just ignoring it...
/knows that it's not the way but damn it, no/
I know you don't actually think that Jack
Let's face it. We're the adults in this daycare. We have to lead by example now.
...It really sucks, doesn't it?
Having to be an adult.
It does suck...
But there are certain perks, too. ;)
I'd like to hear more...
You can organize your own game nights with all your friends and stay up as late as you want!
On a week day!
Hm
Not what I had in mind, Brayden.
That was a joke! :P
I know what you had in mind
More of what we did earlier when we were alone ;)
I mean, it's one of the biggest perks of being an adult.
Can't really think of a better one.
Not that you have to be an adult but it's definitely better as an adult.
Being honest here
I know it's going to make me sound lame but
I don't think I'd like it half as much if it wasn't with someone I loved.
...
Do you miss
Your old lifestyle? I know you went to bars and clubs a lot. Game nights aren't as exciting, are they?
You don't sound lame.
You sound like you.
And not really, no?
I mean, every now and then
but more like in that wistful way an old man thinks about stuff he did when he was young
It's definitely lost its appeal these days.
I'm pretty lame, I know it.
I've never been out to a club here in town
I know, not surprising. Haha
Marge was talking about taking me to hers some time
Um
Just wondering
Would it be weird for us to go
Together?
I mean you and me, not
Me and Marge
/babbling
Oh my baby wants to go clubbing with me!
I think I might cry.
Let's do it!
And if you don't like it, we get to go home together. Or somewhere else. ;)
Haha it's nothing to cry about...
What do people do in clubs? Is there some kind of
Etiquette involved?
Do I have to dress a certain way or...?
That
was a joke.
Oh, I can dress you if you like.
It was. It was a joke.
I'm too lame to understand your jokes Jack, you'll have to just give up flirting with me forever. :(
Also what if I don't drink? Everyone else there will be drinking right?
And dancing?
Oh god we'd have to dance... I haven't danced since 8th grade...
*PANIC STATIONS*
Ummm B
What exactly do you want to do
If you don't want to dance or drink?
I don't
Know
I don't not want to drink and dance
But the last time I drank...
And I might
Step on you if we dance
I guess I just wanted to see what it's like there
What made you like it
I like it because I'm an outgoing dandy with a love of alcohol and bad decisions.
Also, it's always been a good distraction for the things I don't want to think about.
But you have me pretty distracted single-handedly ;)
Really?
Even if I'm lame and don't get your jokes?
And can't flirt to save my own life?
I can flirt enough to save both of us. ;)
Maybe there's a book or
Some kind of tutorial on how to flirt...
And that is such a you thing to say.
My dear, you can't just study how to flirt.
It either comes naturally or it doesn't.
But Jack
There are books!
And audiobooks! I can listen to them while I'm catching up on paperwork...
I am curious what you'll do with whatever information you find...
Um
You know, I'd obviously
Use it
On
On you
I know.
And that's what makes me curious.
I guess I could practice on somebody first...
Oh?
And who are you planning to practice on?
Um
There are people
Allie
Marge
Maybe one of your brothers
...the nerd in the mirror...
Which one of my brothers?
*think think think*
Probably Niall
(Because he'd be the most unfailingly honest. lmao Raf would talk him up even if he sucked balls!)
I can see it.
See
Me flirting with Niall??
He's more like me than the other one.
Really?
I think you both like alcohol a little too much but
Honestly neither of them are quite like you, except for the hair and eyes
You're not nearly as much of a drama queen as Niall haha
And Rhys isn't emotionally mature like you've become
Although he and Raf are getting along quite well...
Ooh you've been thinking about this a lot haven't you?
Did you walk in on them? ;)
Some
Mostly just
Trying not to think about you, because... well
They were hugging, nothing racy!
With all these couples around, I'm sure we're not the only ones suffering though
If we're all suffering then why are we doing this? 🤦♂️
For safety I suppose. If we're all scattered, it's harder to protect any one of us, in case Keith comes calling.
Or your father...
Jack I've been thinking
If we can't have time alone during the daytime, what about when we sleep?
I can dream walk...
You can do that?
Well of course you can.
You want to give it a try?
Tonight?
Yes! Tonight we'll go to bed early and I'll slip into your dreams
Any requests? I can create any setting for us :)
Surprise me. ;)
What if I make it a
Club scene? Haha
Oh I see, a way to go to the club without actually going.
Let's call it a test run before the real thing :)
And if it doesn't go well, we can always switch to something else
You always have a plan for everything, don't you?
Not everything, I just
Like to be prepared
I don't do spontaneous very well
Believe me, I've noticed.
...I'm sure there's a book for that too
I'll add it to my reading list
You know, you don't need books to learn these things.
You have a boyfriend
Who knows all kinds of things
Yes but
I don't want you to get frustrated with how slow I am and
There's so much I still have to learn to not be so
Me all the time
I'm not in love with some other guy though.
I'm in love with you.
I know that
I know and I'm crazy in love with you too Jack
It's just that you know when you're dating someone, you want to show all the best sides of yourself?
I feel like I've only shown you
The nerdy card game guy who doesn't drink and can't dance
And you
You blow me away just by
Existing
You're not going to believe me when I say this, but
Brayden, that's how I feel about you.
I still feel like I don't deserve you sometimes.
What? How can you say that?
You deserve everything after what you've been through
You deserve more
Sometimes I feel that I'm not good enough
Or that I can't keep up with you and I want to but I'm so
Me
Haha... I told you.
But it's just a voice in our heads.
We deserve each other, you have nothing to prove to me.
Yeah... yeah we do.
With all those other lives though, it's hard to not feel like we have a lot to live up to. But I guess that's the lack of confidence talking haha
We don't even have to live up to any of that.
We're here and now, right?
...right. We're living this life
Not those other lives
We didn't always make it in some of them, did we?
There were a few...
Why do you think our fates loop like this? Is there something deeper going on?
Do you think it's a bad thing?
A punishment for something?
Or maybe we're supposed to do something
Something we haven't been able to get done all those other times?
Although
This doesn't feel like punishment, living out a hundred lifetimes with you
Maybe we hated each other once! ;)
What do you think we're not doing right?
Oh there was one! We were on a battlefield, on opposite sides!
But I think even then... secretly we loved one another.
Maybe it's nothing we did wrong, just something we haven't managed to achieve? A task of some kind...
Or what if
It's a reward?
You've been giving THIS a lot of thought, too, haven't you?
Haha!
I wonder if could see more if I tried.
Overthinking is what I do best
It's like
My totally lame superpower 😋
Maybe you can try focusing on a small number of past lives instead of all of them? I mean go through them a few at a time to see what they have in common with our lives right now?
That could tell us if we're on the right track or not.
How? The only time I did it...
Well, you know.
That time we were both unprepared. It's not going to be like that every time, trust me.
Think of it like flipping through a book. Last time you just flipped through all the pages at once, and that's why we were overwhelmed.
You can imagine it like turning each page
And each page is one of our lives
If you focus on the individual page, you should be able to navigate through the vision, like you're reading the page
I wonder if I have to start meditating again...
It definitely doesn't hurt to clear your mind before doing it.
I can help block out all the sounds around you with my abilities. :) That might make it easier to center yourself. And then when you slip into a vision, I can follow you and join you.
Look at us!
We're a team. :)
We're learning as we go along, aren't we?
Everything happened so suddenly that we never got the chance to do things the right way...
Haha!
Well, the right way's for conventional people
And we are definitely not that.
That's true...
But it would be nice to have one date that doesn't end in public embarrassment or
Near-death. :\
We'll have hundreds of those.
Promise.
I'm holding you to that promise!
Does it feel like we're doing everything backwards? Haha
We had all those lives together, then we met here, became boyfriends and only now are we having real dates
Is this our last go around?
It sounds like a bookend...
It might be. This might be the time we get it right...
Is it bad a part of me hopes not? I
Feel weird thinking about this life being the last one we'll have together
Yeah me too.
It kinda makes me feel a little
sick
Maybe we'll
Be together forever in the afterlife after this
Maybe we're earning our angel wings, doing this. :)
Haha
I can count on you to see it in the most positive light somehow
😊 I get that from my mother. She always said there's good even in the bad. You just have to look for it.
And when you find it
You hold on to it
I wish I could have met her properly...
I suppose in a way
You met her through me
Haha that sounds almost vain but
People always said we're almost identical
Except I'm a man but
You know, personality wise
What did you get from your father?
The ability to cry
To know that it's okay to feel and to express every emotion, but especially
Sadness
Was he a sad person? :(
Makes me wonder what I got from my father, other than visions.
Do you think he has visions too?
Shit, that would suck.
Yes, he was. I think it was because of my mother...
I don't know for sure but I think she might have been in love with someone else. She loved him too, and me, but there was someone else in her heart...
I'm not sure if he has visions. He may. We should ask if any of your brothers have them, then we can know for sure.
And if you inherited anything bad from your father, Jack, I don't see it at all. All I see is a warm, kind, outgoing, generous, beautiful man. :)
Not biased or anything haha
That's heavy...
I guess it would be like meeting you and settling for somebody else.
If he does have visions he should have seen all this coming, you'd think!
But I didn't get them from my mother...
You are so biased
But I don't mind
I'm biased too
Yes, it's heavy and sad. But she always did her best for us.
Sometimes I guess the person you love the most isn't the best person for you. We're lucky we're not like that though!
Being fallen might have warped his fae abilities. He might not see things the way you see them.
I don't doubt that.
Hey 👋
We complement each other. ;)
Well either way, I'll get better at it
And maybe it'll help us
We are literally soul mates! Our souls followed each other in every life, there's no better proof than that.
I'm sure you'll master it in no time. You're a prince! Your power is far stronger than any other fae.
Hm.
So that's what it means to be a prince, is it?
Yes, being royal means you're stronger than everyone else. We're meant to use our powers to help people and to look after them though.
You mean, we're not supposed to just chill at home and throw wild parties?
Haha that sounds like something Margie would say!
I think there were balls and festivals. Do those count?
Somehow... I don't think so.
Is that what you want?
To stay home and throw wild parties?
No...
Does that actually mean yes? :P
No, I really don't. There's better things to do at home. ;)
And what might those things be? ;)
Honestly, right now, I'd just love to cuddle in bed with some tea and a movie.
Could we also have
Popcorn?
Of course, B.
I'd love to have a movie night with you...
But that would make us the lamest princes in the kingdom haha
When it's safe again, I want to go stargazing with you again.
Me too. Just you and me up on the ridge with some soup and a blanket.
I want to go to the festival with you too.
I want to go buy groceries together so we can make dinner together.
And take walks in the park.
Swim in the lake under the moonlight...
Those are all things we are definitely doing.
And for the last one, we're doing it naked. ;)
You mean
Skinny dipping?
Uh yes.
That's a small town tradition, isn't it?
Is it?
Maybe I'm not the right person to ask...
Kids did it when I was a teenager but I never went along with them.
That probably isn't surprising news is it? Haha
While not surprising, it is sad. :(
Although
Do you know how many firsts I still get to experience with you?
It's okay, I did it to myself. I was a very health-conscious child.
...I was really paranoid about keeping clean and I thought the lake would be filled with germs...
What other firsts do we have? I was the first person you went stargazing with... right?
I thought I was invincible as a kid.
You name it and I proooobably did it...
Except no. You're right. I never went stargazing.
Unless you count looking at shooting stars and fireflies out the window as stargazing.
We could not have been more different haha! Did you go skinny dipping as a kid?
Have your opinions on shooting stars changed?
No actually. Not really anywhere in the neighborhood for that kind of thing
So I lied. You can name plenty of things I didn't do 😆
I don't think I had an opinion on stargazing before
But I love doing it with you 💕
Haha! Maybe you're the sheltered one between us after all! 😋
I'm guessing you haven't been to a strawberry social either? Or gone to help the farmers with a harvest?
Ooh when halloween comes around we should go to the corn maze! I spent 3 hours wandering around one time, just to find out I could have just
Pushed through the walls of the maze 🤦♂️
I can safely say I've done none of those things
In this lifetime anyway 😆
You're a city boy after all hahaha
Let's do all those things together. And more. Everything we missed out on, let's experience all of it together. Whether this is the last life we have together or not, let's live it to the fullest. That way we won't have any regrets
Look at that
We're on the same page.
😘
We're in the same book even! 😊
Who allowed you to to be so cute?
I
Applied early
There was a lot of paperwork involved but I'm good at filling forms
😋
Is this you flirting?
Whaaat do you think?
;)
It's unique.
I'll practice some more
And get back to you when I've improved 🤓
But what if I like it unique?
Oh
By unique you mean
Awkward right?
Oh yes, but in a charming way.
The book
This book doesn't cover what happens when the other person likes the awkwardness...
What DOES it say about awkwardness?
It says awkwardness is a sign of insecurity
And that I need to approach every encounter with confidence, knowing that the other person might be as nervous as I am
...are you nervous?
No, not particularly.
Ah... I didn't think so.
Well this other book says that awkwardness is okay
And with practice, it'll go away
It says to practice in front of a mirror or with a friend.. I was going to do that anyway. Hmm
I'm not sure these books are helping much, Jack
Books don't really help with that sort of thing.
I'm afraid you're stuck with the awkward flirting you like
...
I'm trying really hard to impress somebody who's already impressed, aren't I?
I keep telling you that.
I
Yeah
I'm getting the message
It took a while but I'm getting it haha
Thank you for loving me just the way I am
Awkwardness and all
Don't thank me!
I love you.
Say you love me, not thanks.
We love each other, we shouldn't have to be all
weird about it.
Oh okay
Okay yeah
I love you
Of course I love you, I
Yeah we're not weird about it
There's nothing weird going on
We're two people who love each other, not weird
Why does it sound like the opposite when you put it that way?
Because I'm awkward
Because
I have a unique
Awkward charm
Yes
Yes you do
Good. Yes.
I have awkward charm and you
Are the most suave and effortlessly attractive man on the planet.
And I think
We go together
Just fine
Effortlessly eh?
Good good. My reputation remains intact
Only I will ever know how much time it really takes you to look like you just rolled out of bed perfectly ready to go 😋
Yes and let's keep it that way, shall we? ;)
I don't know, that's an awfully big secret for one person to keep... 🤔
Who are you going to tell?
Everyone!
One day, Brayden, I'll have dirt on you, too.
You got nothing on me, Ripley! ;P I'm squeaky clean
Are you though? It's always the quiet ones...
I admit to nothing. It's their word against mine.
Aha! So there IS something!
What is it, B~~
There is nothing and you're not finding the body
:(
:P
I'm kidding there's no body. I really don't have anything shady in my past...
Except maybe the one time I took an extra pumpkin from the farmers market, but that was an accident!
I could've brought it back though... but I didn't
That's cute B.
I bet you feel genuine remorse to this day
Over a pumpkin
It keeps me up some nights...
Really?
Maybe you can give them one back.
No I was
Joking
That was a joke hahaha
You're cute :)
You
Hahaha!
You little 🐝
See, I did learn something from those books! :kissu:
Still a strange way to flirt.
Stealing pumpkins
Oh that was a true story!
I'm pretty sure they still keep a wary eye out for me when I go there haha
Somehow I doubt it.
Maybe that's just my guilty conscience talking
Because the owners sold the market so...
The people there don't even know what I did all those years ago...
It was just one pumpkin and it was an accident, B.
I'm sure they knew that, if they even noticed.
You're right. I only took one pumpkin. Nobody went out of business from one missing pumpkin and
And it made a great jack-o'-lantern! I won top prize in class for it!
What was the top prize?
An illustrated encyclopedia set! I've still got it on my bookshelf at home, you've seen it I think! :)
You still have things from that far back?
Of course you do, that was a stupid question.
You're a really sentimental type, aren't you?
I am but I'm starting to throw some things away! Books are harder to get rid of though. My dad loved them, he collected so many.
Oh I also kept that little chocolate you gave me. Haha! The Jim Beam chocolate!
You did?
You were supposed to eat it/drink it, you know!
But I'm glad you kept it.
I know, but it was the first gift you ever gave me! I can't just eat your feelings for me hahaha
You could have but you didn't.
I never really kept things, you know.
Every time I moved I just wanted to start fresh and
forget
It's funny how we're on opposite sides of so many things. I want to remember everything and you want to forget.
You had good reason to want to forget but now you don't have to anymore. Right?
No. I'm don't want to forget you or anything we do.
We should make videos
So we can look back on them some day
Huh. I never even thought of that.
So you like the idea? :)
Why not?
We live in the digital age.
Okay! I've always wanted to do something like this. We can even do videos for our future kids 😊
That sounds incredibly weird
What would we even say?
Hey! It's not weird!
It's just a message like
What you feel
What you hope will happen with thenn in the future
You know things like that, like a diary of your thoughts and feelings
Sorry
I'm still getting used to the idea of junior us.
I get it. You've never thought of having kids before this right?
It's just
With everything up in the air, in case
Something happens to one of us, it'd be nice to have this
Nothing's happening to either of us.
Jack...
It's not. I won't let it.
I believe you. :) I trust you to protect me
And to protect our future together
Good. Because I can.
And I want to.
You will.
I will too. I'll protect you and our family and us.
I love you, Jack.
I love you too.
Probably more than you'll ever fathom. <3
I think I might have a little bit of an idea of how much you love me ;)
And imagine that's the tip of the iceberg. ;)
Goodness
I think I just melted into a little puddle
:)
When this is over, you and me. ;)
And a door we can lock? 🙃
Absolutely a door we can lock.
Then it's a date. :) I can't wait.
;)
Yes, it's a date~
I love you. <3 Forever.
I love you too. <3
Always
Don't you forget it
Don't let your head tell you otherwise.
You know me too well...
I know you love me. My heart and my soul both know it.
The insecurity... it comes and goes but I do know your feelings, Jack. I believe in them as much as I believe in us.
Your heart and soul know
but sometimes I feel like your head gets the better of you
I just want you to know
you never have to doubt me.
It does get the better of me. Not as much as before.
And you've been so good to me. You give me confidence every moment that we're together.
But yes, some days I have doubts about myself.
Not you, Jack. I never doubt you.
I've always felt like I'm not good enough. And the exes I've had, they
Didn't help much.
I'm trying to move on from all of that but some days are harder than others. I'll keep working at it though!
Well, you stop that.
No doubting yourself.
And I will never think about you the way they did.
I'm not them.
That's right
You're not them. You're Jack Ripley and you love me
You're my soul mate
Exactly.
We're soul mates.
And nothing will change that.
Nothing will change it
Not even Keith
Or your father
Why Keith? He's not even relevant. 👿
He's part of this
Because of what he did to you?
I won't let him near you or me again.
I'll find all the ways to keep him out.
Because of what he did to you
And what he could still do to you
Because he
Wants you
I told you I'm working on it. I promise I am.
And he might want me but he won't have me.
I am too. I've been reading up on some things on my own, and practicing my abilities when I can.
There's no reasoning with him, is there? For him it seems like it's
All or nothing
Him or me
It IS all or nothing for him.
He was always like that, it's why we never worked out.
You know I don't like that whole... possessive vibe.
Then how do we get him to stop?
Does it have to be
Death?
I don't know...
Maybe.
I don't want that
I don't want us or Marge or anyone to have to resort to that
If we could hide or
Find somewhere that he couldn't follow us to?
He's always found me.
Although to be fair, I didn't know I was running from him the whole time.
That
Doesn't really help us...
He's finding me through some door in my dreams right
You said you can help me with that
I mean
You have to be the only one who can
Jack
There's this book I've been reading about consciousness and
And different ways to separate and partition the mind
If we could seal up the part of your mind that holds all those memories of Keith, we might be able to block him out
It's a long shot though... It needs a lot of magic. Strong magic. I
I'm not sure if I can do it
Then don't. I don't want you getting hurt over me
Maybe I can
Just
I don't know
Talk to him
Please don't
I'd rather get hurt than have you fall into his hands again
I know he's an obsessed asshole but
He's still capable of rational thought
Probably
I'm not sure someone capable of rational thought would send a golem out to
...
to try and kill me
He's always been
Uh
Well maybe rational isn't the word
But he is really smart, B.
Also
He hates being told what to do
Or what not to do...
He was always hard to get along with if I'm honest
None of these things make it sound like talking to him is a good idea Jack...
Yeah I'm noticing that too.
I'm more worried about him than my father
But maybe that's because I know him
And I don't know my father
He's also closer to us, I assume...
I wonder if
I can travel into his mind...
What!
No!
He probably has a trap for that too.
But I have the best chance of breaking out of it! It's my thing, I'm the dream walker!
But so is he, Brayden!
And if he's done his homework after he LOST
Which I guarantee he has
Then he'll be prepared
Don't do anything crazy
Please
He's not a prince though. I am, and I have the responsibility of keeping people under my house in check.
He's hurting all these people, I can't let him continue unchecked. He killed all those boys, too, someone has to bring him to justice for them!
But I won't do anything without telling you. Promise.
How do we know that though?
I mean how do we know
he's not a prince?
I know
he killed those people
and I want him brought to justice too
believe me...
but not if it means losing you
I'm an only child. He can't be another prince and even if he's royal somehow, I'm the real prince.
If we don't do something to.stop him, he'll come back. And he'll try to kill me again anyway so why not mount the offensive first? Maybe surprise him for once!
I'm just curious because I don't know how all this works but
say he's a bastard son of your family
and that makes him like, less powerful than you
I get that
but what if
he's a part of two royal families?
Like you know, say a princess from one of your houses romances a prince from another house
and they make a baby, even if it's not like official
what does it make the baby?
this is all really just hypothetical
kinda
based on some things he might have said to me when I was like sixteen and didn't know what the hell he was on about
He would be a prince but his powers would be diluted, wouldn't it? I'm still a pureblood prince.
I sound like a harry potter character...
But you know what I mean.
So what you're saying is, he's
my
half-brother or cousin or something?
He's related to me in some way?
Just a LITTLE bit.
So his dream walking wouldn't be as strong as yours
and his whatever he inherited from the other side wouldn't be as strong as THEIRS
but maybe he'd make a new strength
like
you know
scary fucking golems that attacked you and killed you :(
but yes, I think
he might be related to you, B
and I hope he's not related to me because that makes his whole obsession
uhhh that much weirder
Oh god
He could be the bridge between our two houses?
...do you think that's what
I mean if someone didn't want our houses to unite, they would've tried to keep us apart...
every time we
got together
if someone
...
got rid of one of us
Yeah...
A bridge...
And it's always us
I didn't meet you until now
but before, I knew you when you were young
and you
it's always you
why is it always you?
Probably because I'm
the least dangerous
the easiest to get rid of
Really?
I don't think that's it.
Because THIS time, I could definitely have been killed off before we ever even met
But I wasn't.
But I could have been.
Should have been
That's because you're not meant to die, silly
You could have so many times but you didn't
It's not your fate
Maybe that night on the ridge was my time and somehow
I didn't
You're not either, Brayden.
You're not meant to die so young
Well I certainly don't want to die!
But if I have to I would rather be doing the right thing than waiting for someone to come get me!
And this is the reason it's always you
You have to
stop
And wait for him to come kill me?
Or wait for him to get his hands on you again?
I've waited my whole life Jack
I've sat back and waited and
Let me fight for you
But you know how it ends
I don't
Nobody knows how this ends, this time.
I do. And I don't want it to go that way again
This time is different Jack
This time we're beating the odds
How is it different this time?
We've got people around us who can help us
We're strong and determined and we know what we're up against
That gives us a big advantage
Do we really know what we're up against, though?
I feel like we're missing important chunks of information here...
We need to know more about the Fallen I think. We can't deal with them without knowing their origins and history.
And
well, why your father wants to corrupt all the fae
What reasons could there be?
Maybe if we just list them all, we'll come up with one that makes sense.
Power trip?
Revenge?
Take over the world??
Hahaha!
Oh, B. Those all sound like super villain reasons.
I mean, maybe revenge for something but what would he want revenge over?
Maybe he was scorned by someone
Love can make people do terrible things, don't you think?
...yes.
But that's an overreaction, don't you think?
...
Then again
we've established that my family seems to thrive on drama...
Is it? If it was someone who he thought was his soulmate
If... if you scorned me, I might do something terrible too...
You?
Never. You don't have that in you.
Haha well not to that extent but I might do something drastic to myself.
The point is, losing your soulmate could do terrible things and for someone who's inclined towards dramatics like
your entire family
maybe it's not a stretch to think that that could drive your father to become Fallen
It's not a stretch, I just wish he wasn't so dramatic about it.
Jeez.
There are better ways to deal with rejection or grief or whatever he's dealing with.
Is that Professor Jack, Psychology Expert, talking? :booty:
But he had all these sons, he could have surrounded himself with so much love
Haha... well, I'm one to talk. I have my own vices.
It feels like he had a bunch of sons just to fuck with us, though, doesn't it?
That or he's the new Zeus, can't keep his dick out of anything remotely pretty, ends up with a bunch of offspring.
No judgment! No judgment, I love you, vices and all. :)
Maybe he was having sons to make up for the love he lost. To fill the gap in his heart, and it just... didn't do the trick. :(
If he wanted us to love us, he sure had a shitty way of showing it...
I could have used love when I was a kid, so where was he? :/
He was not a good father, no. To any of his children.
Maybe you were right. Maybe he just wanted to experiment...
You were put into the human world
Niall was changed out for another baby
Rhys was kept with him
What's he trying to find out by doing all of this? Out of all of you, only Rhys became Fallen right? And you... found me. Niall found Ken. But even Rhys has Raf now! So what happens when he runs out of sons?
I don't know.
It does feel like we were all experiments.
What did he even learn?
That we all love, too?
Just like he probably did once?
Maybe he wants to learn how to love again?
What? Through watching us?
Why not?
Why hasn't he kept you all with him? He could have done that easily. Why put you into these different situations and let you guys all fall in love?
So he put us where he knew we'd eventually run into you guys?
There has to be an easier way to learn to love.
I mean, he would have to fuck these random women...
Wait for them to get pregnant, have babies
The babies would have to grow up...
It's a lot of trouble for... what?
I don't understand what he's doing this all for
If it's love or if it's not, it just seems like so many steps
This is giving me a headache, I won't lie
It's impossible to guess his intentions based on what little information we have
But you're right, this is far more complicated than we can even begin to fathom right now
We'll figure it out.
Like you said, we've got a lot of help around us.
Helps that we're two super geniuses too. ;)
Haha! Naturally!
We're so lucky to have a real live Harvard grad among us! <3
Everybody loves a Harvard man.
Was that my real motivation?
The world may never know.
🤔
I see
I see
I'm kidding.
Nobody graduates Harvard purely for attention.
Hm
So you're saying you never used the prestige to get a man into bed with you? 🤨
No I never said that.
I see
Good thing some of us are immune to your wily ways Jack Ripley
You say that like you're one of them. 😆
😢
I could be
If I really tried!
You want to be immune to my charms? :(
Not really 😋
I am weak, we both know this haha
It's okay
Your smile makes me weak
Your smile makes everyone weak ☺
But I think your eyes are the deadliest weapons
My eyes? Really?
Do I have the smolder? 😆
Actually
you do...
They're very beautiful eyes. Probably the most beautiful I've ever seen
Oh stop
You're going to make me blush. 😚
Blush all you want! It's the truth!
Your eyes, your smile, the way you walk and talk, it's all incredibly attractive.
You're
Irresistible
You are too.
You don't even seem to notice it because you're so busy curling yourself up so small that you hope nobody will notice you.
I noticed you as soon as I saw you.
And maybe that was the soulmate business
But I think anybody smart enough to really look at you could see it
😳 Now I'm the one blushing
I know I'm not everyone's type but I'm glad I'm yours 😊
Heh.
Believe me, B when I say this.
I've met all kinds of people.
Not many are beautiful inside and out.
Not many at all.
Well it's funny you say that, Jack Ripley, because that's what I think of you!
You're elegant and beautiful
Incredibly charismatic and a romantic at heart
You're our one and only Harvard grad professor!
And you have so much love in your heart
You cared about people even when you thought you were the one doing all those terrible things. You wanted to care.
You are a real prince
My prince 😌
No you're my prince. :)
All that love comes from a whole childhood of starving for it
I couldn't get enough of it
Whenever I had it I wanted to hold onto it
Even to my detriment.
You may not notice it
But you're teaching me new things every day.
But you learned to love people back
All on your own
That's incredible.
So many people starved for love lash out at others. They get angry and become bitter. Not you, Jack. Your heart was too pure to let the way others treated you turn you into a hateful person.
That's because instead of getting bitter and angry, I turn to alcohol.
Not much better, honestly.
I wish I had a pure heart like yours.
I feel like mine is battered, rather.
Not better but not worse. Being bitter and angry can drive people away for good and I'm sure you would never want that.
My heart's been broken a few times in the past too, and nobody's been able to put it all back together except you.
I'm doing my best to mend yours. :) It may be battered but it still knows how to love, so there's hope yet!
I tried to push you away but it didn't work. Sad face or happy face? Because I'm happy it didn't work.
And you are.
I don't think anybody has had this much power over my heart ever.
No pressure. ;)
Happy face. :) I can be pretty hard to get rid of sometimes.
Plus I don't think you really wanted me to go away. Deep down you wanted me to stay.
Your heart is my heart, Jack.
...
My heart is your heart, too, Brayden.
And I never wanted you to go away.
Naively, I thought we could be friends at least.
See where that got me.
We could have been friends if we weren't so crazy stupid in love with each other. Haha
But feeling the way I did about you even back then, being friends would have been a terrible, awful thing
I would've done something stupid anyway.
Get drunk, spill all the beans.
I don't think you can hold that kind of thing in for very long.
As I recall you did get drunk haha
And you did spill the beans! :P
You see?
It would never work for me!
And that was when we'd just met, too!
But really even though we were strangers, we'd already had hundreds of years together. It's still so
Bizarre to think of it that way
Yeah it is.
I don't know if we're supposed to remember.
Are we? Is that a normal thing for fae?
Most people don't talk about their past lives do they? Or if they do we call them crazy and lock them up.
I'm starting to think these memories were unlocked by me
Or past me or
Some version of me that left one lock open, knowing that one day we'd break through
So even this was meant to happen?
Kinda takes the fun out of life, doesn't it?
Like everything is scripted? Haha I guess
But also maybe not
Maybe past me was hoping one of
The future Braydens would figure this out, he just didn't know which one
You are. We are. We're figuring it out.
I am
The chosen Brayden 😆
That makes you my chosen Jack
Well, I was always the chosen one. ;)
Ahhh that unbridled Harvard brand confidence! :P
You are my chosen Jack
Forever
There may be other Jacks, but my Jack is the greatest Jack of all time
Damn straight.
The us we are now will always be the best us. ;)
😘 I love you Jack
I love youuuu B~