Play Date **JUST UPDATED**

Carnival of Darkness: The Ball

Adara was having another nightmare. She was being chased by that black and white clown through an endless maze of mirrors that he could walk through, but she could not. She ran down a hallway and ended up at what looked like a giant mirror ball. It rotated slowly and cast brilliant rainbow lights. She looked in all directions, but monochrome Jack had disappeared. Suddenly, Rainbow Jack appeared as the walls of the ball seemed to melt and beckoned her. She followed and took his hand as he stood with her in what looked like a room full of somebody's memories. A mishmash of furniture from different time periods and knicknacks were strewn around, among other oddities she couldn't identify through the glinting lights. RJ held both her hands and looked deeply into her eyes before saying, "We're both in danger. Don't trust what you see! Get away while you can. I am the real Laughing Jack."

Adara shook her head violently in denial. "NO! That's not true! I've been with you, touched you...." she trailed off, starting to cry. "This place is too detailed to just be an illusion! You can't touch an illusion." She knew she was grasping at straws. The red flags she'd seen through this whole thing had been waving like crazed fan girls at a pop star concert but she was too enamoured to see it. "No....." she broke away and ran out of the room. She caught a glimpse of RJ looking devastated, hanging his head.

She was still moaning no, no no, when LJ shook her awake, still in his stolen rainbow form, Adara crying in his arms.

"Ssssssh, sweetheart." he cradled her like a child. "It was just a nightmare." He smiled into the side of her neck. He was keeping his secret well.  She clung to him while he comforted her. "I have something very special planned for us tonight. I'll tell you what it is when we wake up. It's all right. Your sugardaddy Jack is here for you." They kissed, and Adara forgot about her fears for awhile.

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Rainbow Jack paced the floor of his mirrored house. He was getting stronger, but it was also making him agitated. The costume ball was tonight. He had to get to Adara before his shadow self did! When his colors bled out, his soul went with them. The time between that and now had all been a blur except the one time his Angel visited him. He had been in a dark, undefinable place for what seemed like forever. It was then that he found out who his angel was. He had swept down (or was it in?) out of nowhere and surrounded him with fire that did not burn.

His angel was the Blue Fairy. His maker.

He talked to him, said he had a plan. That plan was to perform a soul retrieval so that not only would his colors be restored, but his dual self integrated and balanced. Said he would introduce him to a friend who would help him. He told Jack that energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only change form. When he met Adara, he almost felt like his old self again, just for a few hours. He hadn't felt like that since Isaac was an innocent kid, before his corruption. When Jack himself became corrupted, the trauma had such an impact that his soul had fled his body and taken the colors of life with it. The demon who had influenced Isaac jumped into the black and white version of him and taken over. Meanwhile, RJ was taken by the fairy into this safe space where he'd been ever since, waiting for the right time to undo the damage. Could that corruption have been prevented? Jack had asked himself that too many times to count. He had loved Isaac with all his heart. He was like a brother to him, not just a friend. He learned everything about humanity right alongside him. All his first experiences became Jack's. He imagined alternative scenarios. One was how would he have reacted if Isaac had brought home a prostitute instead of an unwilling lady friend? One who would not have rejected his advances? Did Isaac start killing when he still lived at the boarding school? When did he start drinking? When did the demon take over his life that started him on that downward spiral? Jack learned that violence begat violence. His parents had been at each other from the first day he came into Isaac's life. Yet...something told him at some point the kid could have made a different choice. He was sure of it.  It broke his heart to see his evil shadow self kill all those innocent kids and be too trapped to interfere. An extension of himself yet not himself. All for revenge. But now he noticed a change, just a small one that was growing with every new color his shadow self gained. Shadow Jack was beginning to show signs of having a conscience. They were starting to merge. It was possible that fate could be rewritten.  The first time he'd been confined to a box, not knowing what would happen until his former best friend came home. It had been a prison. Now, he knew what would happen, and he was in a safe space, a sanctuary. He had found a new best friend. The difference now was before that,  he had been made for someone. Now, it was the other way around. He was in love with Adara, and knew she returned that love. He also knew she would never turn on him for become evil like Isaac. To tell the truth, he had a little crush on his angel too. There HAD been that one time....