Mirror

(Notice: This book will be ending in the next few chapters. Feels warning. Dark Content warning.)

Jana-

"Enough stalling, Orion. You need to tell me what's going on with him. I let you bring him here, but I'm not stupid. Something's wrong with him."

Hearing Xena's whispered angry voice from behind the main door to his room made Jana blink open tired eyes. He had been up late speaking with Domino. The prison had granted them extra time to talk once Christopher had explained why Domino needed to call him. It wasn't hard, after that, to get the extended time and an okay to actually be on the phone without being in the guarded phone booth locations they had in the jail.

Granted, he had to be on speaker phone and Christopher had to be there, but it was definitely better than nothing. They had talked about what had happened in the past several days. Mainly, Domino had done decently well without him in prison. He did get into a small fight, but it was decided that it had been the other inmate's fault, and because Domino had not fought back, he was cleared from consequences.

Jana had told him about Zachary, and after an initial bit of surprise, Domino expressed his excitement that he was able to make friends.

"He... there's nothing wrong with him." Orion said. The exaggerated word had to have caught Xena's attention because after only a moment, Orion was speaking again.

"Okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was just worried that if you knew what he had gone to jail for, you wouldn't give him a chance."

There was another moment of silence before Xena replied. "One word, Orion. What was he in for. I want no excuses or reasons. Why was he in jail?"

Terror gripped Jana's chest and he shot to his feet. He wasn't afraid of her hurting him physically, but he was afraid of losing the home he had just gotten. It was just an old store room, and he hardly ever left it, but it was still somewhere he could be alone.

When he heard Orion take a shaky breath on the other side of the door, his heart clenched tight and he held his breath. Without even thinking, he slowly inched his way toward the emergency exit door to his left.

"Murder."

An infuriated yell was quickly followed by the sound of the door being unlocked. She must have been nearly blind with rage because the key clearly missed several times before finally sliding into the lock. When the handle turned, Jana pressed himself up against the door, his left side growing cold from the metal.

When Xena came through the door, she reminded Jana of a storm. Normally, he loved the loud thunder and torrential rains, but he had no intention of confronting her. She knew why he had gone to jail and she clearly wasn't happy with him being there any longer. He could feel his aggressive side beginning to rise to the surface as he shoved open the exit door and bolted.

He heard both her and Orion calling for him, but the soothing rumble of distant thunder quieted their shouts and brought a sad smile to his face. The wind whipped his hair as he allowed his bare feet to carry him. Where he was going, he didn't know. Nor did he care.

Where can I go? That was my first home that wasn't a cell... but then again, it technically was. Just without the bars. He thought sarcastically.

His feet slowed to a walk as he made his way through the large town. He felt eyes on him, likely because he was only wearing a pair of loose jeans and his scarred chest and arms were easily visible, but he didn't care. Let them look.

He turned down three streets and stopped to get an ice cream with some of the money given to him by the prison. The treat tasted good, but the flavor didn't last on his tongue.

Jana?

Taking a mouthful of chocolate ice cream, Jana rolled his eyes as he felt the voice in his head retreat from the strong brain freeze. He didn't want to deal with it, or the other ones he could sense whispering right behind it. He wasn't surprised that they were starting to come back. He still couldn't figure out exactly who they were anymore, but he didn't have to. It was always his parents.

He was just finishing up the cone, handing the bottom to Tera after he removed all of the ice cream from it, when he noticed something that caught his attention.

The bridge was large. Long. And beginning to be covered by dark clouds as the distant storm began to roll in. His feet started moving on their own accord, but Jana was perfectly fine with the idea that grew in his mind like the approaching darkness.

Lightning soon began to guide him as it sparked and zapped along the bridge's metal fasteners. As he turned onto the sidewalk on it's left side and began to walk, he could see the rain coming in one giant cloud before him. It mercilessly soaked the opposite end of the bridge. Cars that drove by began to have their wipers on to fight off the rain, misting him with droplets until the storm finally met him near the middle. He stopped walking and closed his eyes, then tilted his head back, taking a deep breath. The air was cooling by the second, and with the addition of the water soaking him, Jana felt himself relax.

This is what it's all about. Just this.

Opening his eyes after a moment, Jana lowered his head and turned to his left. With little effort, he hopped over the safety barrier and onto the ledge. A strong gust of wind buffeted his body, but he easily stayed balanced on the small ledge as he stared down at the dark rushing water nearly one-hundred feet below.

What about Domino? His new voice asked hesitantly.

Jana didn't reply right away, because he wasn't sure what to say. Domino was... a positive, of sorts. But in the long run? He didn't know what the man could be. He liked to touch, and Jana hated being touched. He did like to fight and push him, which also wasn't that favorable, but at the same time, it was something that they ended up bonding over.

A quiet bark had him slipping from his thoughts to look to his left. Tera. The dog had ducked under the small risen part of the safety fence and was standing only a few feet away from him. Her tail was tucked and her ears were flattened, almost as if she knew what could have possibly been going through his mind.

Tilting his head curiously, he took a step forward, putting his bare toes over the edge of the small ledge. Tera did the same thing. "You can't come with me. Emmet wouldn't like that." He said as he turned and leaned over, picking up the dog, then dropping her on the other side of the barrier. Only, she was back by his side not a second later.

Frustrated, Jana took a step away from the edge and then turned to face the dog. "You can't come. You need to stay. He taught you that, right? Stay!"

Tera met his eyes and gave a mute whimper, the sound swallowed up by the building storm. He turned back to face the edge and inched forward, watching the dog mirror him from the corner of his eye.

Why didn't I bring her leash so I could just tie her up? He thought as he looked to his right, having noticed some type of movement there, too. What he saw, however, wasn't what he'd expected to see.

A... kid?

Facing the person further down the bridge, Jana narrowed his eyes, trying to see them through the pelting rain. They were clearly shorter than him, possibly around five foot five, maybe six. Not much else could be determined from how far away they were. Without thinking, Jana began walking toward the person. As he got closer and closer, he could tell that they were a male with short, dark hair. Maybe brown... or red? It was hard to tell with it being wet and having minimal light besides the artificial streetlamps scattered along the bridge ever few hundred feet.

He continued moving until the person suddenly jerked his head sideways, then turned his body to face him. Jana's eyes widened when their eyes met, a type of emotion settling in his heart that he had never known before.

He's... me.

The young man's eyes were dark, dark blue. Sorrow swam just beneath their surface as they continued to stare into Jana's own oceanic eyes. His hair was mussed from the wind, styled every which way from the addition of rain. But it's red. He could see the few strands that the streetlamp hit with its faded rays, and they were definitely a dark red.

"You're shaking." Jana finally said. He wasn't sure why he had spoken at all, as the young man wasn't his concern, but he couldn't help but make the comment.

The young man pursed his lips and shrugged as he returned his attention to the water far below them to his right.

"Gonna jump?" Jana asked, curious. It didn't look like the guy had it in him to do it.

The young man cut a glare to him before growling. "Yeah, I'm sick of being here. You gonna try and stop me?"

The shakiness to his words made Jana note that he wasn't just scared, but shivering pretty badly from the rain, too. He, himself, didn't feel it's coldness to that extent, though. He's skinny. That had to be why.

Stepping closer, he ignored the young man's flinch and narrowed his eyes for a better look through the slanting rain. "You're very skinny."

The young man reeled back and turned to face Jana with a sneer on his face. "So what? I could still easily take you!"

Take me? Yeah right. Jana thought as he cracked a small smile. "So, why are you going to jump?" He asked, not taking the young man's bait to fight. He saw no threat in him.

He'd never seen such a dramatic change in someone's demeanor as he did right then. Everything about the young man seemed to crumble, but it was only visible through his exhausted dark eyes as he replied with a barely audible, "I'm starving."

It was clear that his words held a double meaning, but Jana didn't want to delve into it. He wasn't the kind of person that cared about another. Yet, he also didn't want the man to die. Odd. He thought as he tilted his head slowly from side to side. Just as he was about to speak again, Tera slipped past him and began rubbing up against the young man's soaked skinny jeans. The clothing looked well tended, as did everything else he wore, but it also didn't fit him in the least. It was all way too big. Even the jeans, which were meant to be tight, looked baggy.

"Can I... pet your dog?"

The question drew Jana's eyes back up, along with one brow. "I don't care." He answered truthfully.

The young man gave him an odd look, but ended up kneeling down to wrap his arms around Tera. He didn't seem to care that she was sopping wet and probably smelled terrible. "She's so sweet." He commented, making Jana roll his eyes. Yet, he found himself moving into a sitting position beside them after a moment, leaning his back against the safety barrier as he watched the two interact.

Maybe he'll hold her for me. He thought.

As he contemplated the idea, he realized something else about the young man. The hidden meaning behind his words became clearer and clearer as he interacted with Tera. He was literally snuggling the dog as close as he possibly could as he leaned his side against the safety barrier. Even going as far as to bury his nose in her smelly fur to be closer.

Attention.

The idea of being starved for such a thing made Jana feel sick to his stomach. He had not grown up being starved for it. He'd dreaded any attention he got, yet the person in front of him was ready to end his life because he had gotten so little that it took away his health and his will to keep going.

"How old are you?" The young man asked suddenly, his words muffled by Tera's fur and the storm.

Jana considered not answering, but he really had no reason to withhold the information. "Twenty-eight."

"Nineteen." Was the young man's immediate response.

Jana licked a line of water from his lips as he considered the man's response. He hadn't asked for his age, yet he'd thrown it out without a second's hesitation.

"My name's Jana." He said, wondering if he could bait the same abrupt response out of the person. It worked. Not a moment later, the young man responded.

"A.J."

A.J.'s arms tightened around Tera, making the dog snuggle in even closer. They looked like a ball of wet fur and bones. If he still had a heart, Jana would have felt bad for the guy, but he just felt... numb. Always. He thought right before his new voice added. Angry and afraid, but not numb. And now you have a new emotion, but you don't even realize it.

Jana mentally swatted at the voice, but it just laughed as that odd feeling he'd first felt when he saw the man resurfaced in his chest. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't want to. I guess it's my job to tell you what it is then, Jana! The voice chimed happily as a loud clap of thunder rattled the barrier he was leaning against.

"I don't want to know." He replied out loud right before his voice told him, anyways. Care. You care about him.

The idea shocked him, making him shiver, while the ice cold rain soaking him couldn't.

I don't care about anyone. He retorted. Even as he thought the words, however, he felt his right hand beginning to lift. When it settled atop A.J.'s messy, wet hair, Jana let his head fall back against the barrier and heaved a tired sigh as he closed his eyes.

I don't want him. I don't want anyone. He thought to the voice as he felt A.J. slowly beginning to inch closer to him. The words 'don't touch me' immediately began to come to the forefront of his mind, yet even as the young man pressed himself and Tera like glue against his side, effectively making his hand slip from his hair and his arm awkwardly drape around his shoulders, Jana didn't say or do anything.

"Jana!"

Blinking away water that had settled on his eyelashes, Jana opened his eyes just in time to see a hands reach down and yank him up, then over the safety barrier. He landed hard on the cement sidewalk seconds before A.J. did. Tera slid beneath the barrier as Jana tried to sit up, but was instead shoved down and punched. The hit snapped his head to the side and made his right cheek sting, drawing the faint taste of blood to his tongue.

His eyes narrowed as he turned his head back to face his attacker, who still held him down with one large hand on his chest, and balled his fists. Only, when he saw who it was. How hard the man was breathing. How hard he was shaking. Crying. All of the fight drained out of him like the rain washing over his scarred skin.

"Domino."

That's when he realized that there were two police cars partially blocking traffic. Domino was screaming at him, but he couldn't hear a word he was saying over the ringing in his ears. Christopher, surprisingly, was there, too. He knelt down next to A.J. and while Jana kept an eye on them, he focused his attention Domino.

The man's words were slowly becoming audible, and quite vivid in description. With each new cuss word, Jana couldn't help but let his lips quirk up into a growing smile. When Domino finally stopped to take a breath, then asked if he were even fucking listening, Jana took a deep breath and laughed, then grabbed a fistful of the man's short hair and yanked him down. Their lips met painfully, but for the first time since he could remember, there was not a single thought about not wanting the contact.