Song is I Miss You by Nathan Wagner.

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"The shattering of a heart when being broken is the loudest quiet ever."
- Carroll Bryant
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Jason left the stables, going towards the infirmary to just get the checkup done and over with to set Sky at ease. He slowed down to a stop when he saw Cassandra, seeing her going into her dorm. He bit on his bottom lip. He hated seeing her upset. 'Keep her at a distance...for her own safety...' he thought before he remembers what Cassandra said to him out in the field only an hour ago. 'I need to tell her...just so it can stop...' he thought before he went after her.

He went to her assigned room, going up the stairs and to her door at the end of the hall. Jason hesitated, not knowing whether or not if she would let him in. He knocks on the door, hearing shuffling on the other side, the door opening.

Cassandra was caught off guard seeing Jason. Jason's eyes soften seeing she is upset. "Can we talk?" he asked.

"I think enough has been said between us," she said closing the door but Jason grabs it, preventing it from closing.

"No, no...there hasn't. Please just...let me in and let me just say what I need and I promise to leave you alone," he said. Cassandra stared at him for a moment and opened the door, letting him into her room. She closed it behind him, turning around and facing him. Jason smiled a bit seeing open books and papers on the desk, the results of long study hours.

Cassandra smiled a bit seeing where he is looking. "I'm finding that I'm starting to turn into Seto. He never knew the definition of organization, especially when it comes to when he is researching. I usually clean up after him," she said before she loses her smile, looking back at him. "What do you need to talk about?"

Jason paused, losing his smile. "Why don't you hate me?" he asked.

"What?"

Jason turned to her, looking at her. "Why don't you hate me, Cassie? Why?" he asked her.

Cassandra stared at him for a moment and shook her head a bit at him. "Jason, I could never hate you--"

Jason stepped towards her. "Why?! Y-You should! After everything I've done, everything that has been said between us...How can you say that you would be on my side still? How?" he asked her.

She sighs. "Because I know that you are going through a lot right now. And you've helped me through times when I would lash out at you, something accidentally hurt you with my magic, and yet you never gave up on me. So I'm not giving up on you," she said honestly.

Jason stared at her, not knowing exactly what to say to her. He looked away, thinking to himself as she started talking again.

She got closer to him. "I meant what I said, Jason. I meant what I said about my real feelings for you and how they won't change. But I--" she stopped when she looked at Jason's hand, seeing an ashen gray pattern on it. She's seen it before, whenever she tries to touch Jason...it appears. She stares at it before a realization hits her. Her eyes went to his. "Take off your jacket."

Jason looked at her, confused. "What?"

"Take it off," she said. Jason slipped off his jacket and Cassandra saw his right arm covered in the Wither curse.

Jason sighed, seeing it too. "I can't control it sometimes..." he admitted softly. He was going to slip back on his jacket till she stopped him, touching his left wrist earning a flinch out of him when she did. "What are you..."

Cassandra touches his right arm, alarming him. Jason hit her wrist with his left hand. "No! What are you..." Jason stopped when he inspected her hand for the curse but didn't see it. He paused for a moment. "But you touched--"

"The Curse?" she questioned.

Jason looked at her, taking a step back. "H-How did you do that? Everything it touches it--it dies so why aren't you--H-How did you--"

Cassandra gives him a soft smile. "The Wither Curse is fueled by hatred and rage. Every time you have affected someone or something, you were either angry or afraid or you were filled with hate towards someone. It didn't affect me because you don't hate me...you aren't mad at me...and you aren't afraid of me," she said lowering her hands. "It appears in moments of those three emotions and it attacks fueled by those emotions. At least according to the books and manuscripts of the dragonmeres."

Jason stepped back, looking away from her. "B-But I..."

Cassandra steps towards him. "I know how you feel about me, Jason," she said making him look at her with wide eyes.

"W-What? How?"

She gives him a soft smile. "Overheard Sky and them talking about it one day. That was two months ago, at first I didn't believe them because of how you reacted when I told you...because of what you said to me. But then I stepped back, thought about what happened that day between us..." she said before looking at him. She pointed at his cursed arm. "The curse appeared and y-you had this glint of fear in your eyes that I almost missed after I told you. And when you told me that you didn't love me, it was a lie because you wanted to protect me from the curse--"

Jason stepped back as she came closer to him. "C-Cassie, that's--"

She shakes her head as her eyes started watering. "N-No! No more lies. Tell me how you feel about me, Jason. Please. I don't need you to protect me, I want you to stop lying to me. Do you love me, Jason?" she snapped.

Jason stared at her, frozen. He opens his mouth to say no but stops himself knowing that it would be a lie. He shuts his mouth making her lower her arm.

"You were about to lie to me again...weren't you?" she questioned. Jason looked away from her and nods a bit. She lets out a shaky breath, wiping her eyes with her hands for a moment before she spoke. "W-Why? You use to always be honest with me, we use to be the best of friends. Did that friendship mean anything to you?"

Jason looks at her and nods. "Of course it does, it means everything to me," he said honestly.

Cassandra shakes her head. "How do I know you are telling me the truth?" she asked.

Jason flinched seeing tears go down her cheeks. "Cassandra, I--"

She stepped back when he went closer to her. "H-How? Lying seems to be your new favorite activity. I can't trust anything you say anymore. And if you are just going to keep lying to me...I don't want to be your friend. My door is always open if you want to stop lying to me..." she said looking away from him. She motioned to the door. "You should go."

Jason nods slowly, his hands balled into tight fists before he leaves feeling more crushed than he did when he first went to her. He felt his emotions flooding. 'T-Typical me, hurting people and only ever making things worse...' Jason thought to himself as his eyes watered. He slipped on his jacket, pulling his hood up as he headed towards the house, wanting to break alone. 'W-Why can't I tell her? Why can't I just get the words out? I went there aiming to tell her and yet when I tried I wanted to lie again...why?'

Jason went into the house, going up the stairs and to his bedroom. He slammed the door shut but jumped when the door broke down. He turned around, looking at it, and gasped softly seeing the wither curse on the door, slowly making the wood decay and rot.

He looked away from it as tears started trickling down his cheeks.

'Jason...'

He flinched at the voice, looking towards the window and staring at it, seeing the mountains in the distance through the glass.

'She doesn't understand, Jason...none of them do...'

Jason looked away from the window and at the door.

'They are turning against you, Jason...'

Jason tensed up, the room starting to feel colder as the voice continued talking. The same voice he had heard earlier. He shook his head. "N-No, no. S-Sky, Jerome, Mitch--"

'Sky is afraid of you, he said so himself. Jerome ignores you and Mitch...that archer looked at you like you were a monster--'

Jason shakes his head again. "No, you're wrong--"

'Am I? You tried to tell Mitch what was going on and he looked at you like you were crazy. He tossed you out like yesterday's news. You don't matter to him at all. Jerome barely talks to you anymore. Sky only cares about himself. Ian and Quentin ignore you as well. Ty and Seto...Well, they were on board with killing you...'

Jason stiffened up, his eyes widening a bit. "T-They were?"

'Yes, they were. None of them are your friends, they are only tolerating you to keep you in check. To kill you when they had enough...After all, Cassandra did say that she would never abandon you, and yet...she just did...'

Jason looked back at the window, staring at it for a few moments through his tear-filled vision.

'I can help you, Jason. You just need to do two things for me first...'

"W-What do you need?" Jason asked.

'To revive Lord Herobrine, kill King Tobias, and bring us Master Seto Azdel...'

Jason flinched, realizing what was happening. He shakes his head, turning his back to the window. "N-No! No...g-get out of my head!" he shouted. He sinks to the floor, sitting against the wall as he held himself tightly.

'You're a servant of Lord Herobrine, Jason. You don't belong with those humans, wizards, and dragonmeres. They look at you with disgust and--'

"T-They're my friends!" Jason shouted

'Are they though?'

Jason's bottom lip quivered slightly before he buried his face in his knees. "L-Leave me alone...please..."

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| *Two Hours Later* |
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Sky walked up the steps but stopped at the top when he saw the door to Jason's bedroom laying in the hallway. The wood of the door was over halfway rotted, the wood splintering and darkening in color.

He almost went to Jason's room till he saw Jason picking up the pieces of the rotted wood and putting them in a bag. He went up to the general. "What happened?" he asked Jason.

"Nothing," Jason mumbled not looking at him.

Sky's eyes soften, hearing the broken tone in his voice. "You okay?" he asked.

Jason forced a smile on his face, but not looking at Sky since he knew his eyes were still red from crying. "Y-Yep, I'm fine. Terrific..."

"Well, do you need help? Maybe I--"

"I got it!" Jason exclaimed clutching the bag in his hand.

Sky paused, staring at Jason. "Jason...what happened?"

Jason hesitated before he stood up, looking at Sky. The commander caught off guard by Jason's redden and puffy eyes, the tear tracks on his cheeks, and the wither curse tainting half of his face. "I-I took your advice and talked to Cassandra," he said before he felt a spike of anger go through him. "Why do I bother listening to you? W-Why? It made things worse!"

Sky stepped back, putting his hands up. "Jason, calm down a bit, okay? Remember what Seto said? You--"

"—have to avoid getting mad because it makes me dangerous and a monster! Yeah, I know!" Jason finished for Sky.

Sky shakes his head. "That's not what he said, you know that. He--" Sky stopped when he saw the bag in Jason's fist suddenly rip and fall to the floor, decaying from the blacken ash taint that consumed it. Sky looked at Jason. "I'm sorry, okay? I just wanted to help. I didn't know it would go so bad. But please, Jason, you're spiraling, you need to calm down before you do something you are going to regret."

Jason stepped towards Sky making the commander step back, grabbing the hilt of his sword on instinct which was a move that Sky immediately regretted. Jason stepped back, staring at Sky's sword, shocked. "Y-You want to kill me?" he asked.

Sky shakes his head. "No, no, no, Jason, no," he said putting his hands up. "I-I'm sorry, you're just scaring me right now. I would never hurt you, I swear!"

Jason bit on his bottom lip, staring at Sky. "You're lying..." he said. Jason looked at the floor for a moment. "I-I didn't want to believe him. I wanted to believe that you, Mitch, Jerome, Ty, C-Cassandra, I wanted to believe that you guys actually care about me--"

Sky nods. "And we do, Jason! I promise you that we care a whole lot about you. Look, let's just calm down, okay? Please, let's go downstairs and talk. I'll go get Mitch and Jerome and we can all talk," he said. Jason didn't respond, Sky took a step towards Jason cautiously. "Okay? Come on, let's go and talk about this and--ARGH!" Jason hit Sky with a spell, hitting him square in the chest and go flying back. But because they were on the second floor and the stairs weren't far away, Sky had lost his balance when he landed near the stairs and went tumbling down them. Jason flinched, looking at his arm that is up, his hand out that used the spell to hit Sky, staring at it in horror.

"S-Sky..." Jason stammered before he rushed to the top of the stairs, seeing Sky laying at the bottom of the stairs. "O-Oh god no! Adam!" He went down the steps, falling to his knees beside Sky. The commander was unconscious, a nasty burn on his chest visible from the hole in his shirt from the spell with blood slowly pooling near his head and bruises everywhere on him. Jason went to touch Sky but stopped himself when fear spiked in him, letting his hands shakily hover over the injured commander. He let out a shaky breath, looking at what he did. "A-Adam..."

'Why do you care?'

Jason flinched. "H-He's my friend--"

'He almost drew his sword on you, friends don't do that.'

Jason hesitated, pulling his hands away from Sky. "B-But Adam--"

'He isn't your friend...he was going to kill you and so will the others if you give them the chance. But I can keep you safe from them...'

"Really?" he mumbled.

'Yes, come to the tomb...'

Jason paused, staring at Sky before he stood up. He didn't want to leave Adam like this at all. But he didn't entirely trust Adam anymore either. Jason took a step back, turning and leaving, but making sure to leave the door open on his way out.