#WhatIsThePhoenixProject

[ThePopcornFairy]

"Go back??" Jack whipped around to face Lydia again, staring at her with a raised eyebrow like she was crazy... slowly realizing that by virtue of her being a projection of his own mind, that meant he was crazy. "What, like... go back to the island? Go back to where the still-living people are? How am I... supposed... to...?"

His voice and his wide-eyed stare trailed off into the distance like he was staring into the headlights of the freight train of realization.

"Wait, wait, wait wait wait wait..." Jack waved his hands, desperate to clear up the confusion. "When you say refresh my memory, a-are you just talking about the whole break-in and injection scenario? Because I do remember that now. O-Or are you... saying...?"

Go back... Stuck between the worlds of the living and dead... The divergence in the conversation... The details, the subject...

"Nooooo..." Jack slowly shook his head in mortified disbelief. "Noooooooooo... You're not... You can't mean... They didn't... I'm... THEY TESTED THE PHOENIX PROJECT ON ME?!!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Considering the history of rampant disregard for human life we both know Mexus has, can you honestly say this surprises you?" Lydia offered with a shrug.

[ThePopcornFairy]

"......YES. DEFINITELY." Right about then was when Jack's legs gave out, leading him to plop back into his chair with a terrified, thousand-mile stare.

This was too much. Too much to take in all at once. He hadn't even come to terms with his death by the time he realized Mexus had used him as a lab rat. It wasn't even the revelation that had left him jostled, rather the culmination of everything he and Lydia had talked about and more. Jack meant what he said when he told her he was wary of Mexus's methods, but there had still been a part of him that trusted them. Looked up to them. Appreciated them, the work they did, and the opportunities they provided for him. Now all he felt was horror and disgust. The disregard for how the Proteus Project affected the island's citizens was sketchy enough. Dr. Pendleton's willingness to use his own daughter as a test pilot was incredibly off-putting, and the emotional toll it had on her was obvious to Jack but clearly unnoticed by everyone else.

But... But to know that Mexus had subjected him to their unorthodox testing... without his consent... without his knowing... Was nothing sacred?? Did they care so little about the damage their inventions could wreak that they were willing to use them on literally anyone? After everything he had done for this company, was he just a pawn to them?! Did any of them even care that their actions could and inadvertently did kill one of their own employees?!

His head dropped onto the table. He took a few deep breaths, struggling not to launch into a full-blown panic attack. "I think I need a union. Can interns be union workers? Oh, wait, it doesn't matter, I'm dead. But..."

Jack stared at his hand, his thumb brushing along the tips of his second and middle fingers as he examined the blood they were stained with. His blood, spilled for the sake of the woman he loved and the people he once admired. His blood which was apparently flowing with phoenix nanos.

"Okay, so..." His voice and body were still shaky as he stood back up and turned to Lydia. "I have phoenix blood... I'm not actually in the afterlife and... you say I can go back. D-Does that mean the project actually worked? W-What'll happen if I try to return to my body?"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Yes, Jack, it worked," Lydia replied with a slow nod and a calm smile. "You knew that already, even if you weren't consciously aware of it. Like I said... I brought you here... or rather, you brought yourself here to remind you of what you could do. What you have to do. What you want to do."

She patted the young phoenix on the arm. "As for what'll happen when you get back... well... you already know that too. You just told me what'll happen first thing. The rest is up to you."

[ThePopcornFairy]

"R-Right... So... how do I...?" Jack trailed off before he could finish the question. His astral projection of Lydia would likely just tell him the same thing. That he already knew how to go back. And as he did some soul-searching, feeling his way through this mental landscape, tapping into that deeply-seeded desire to live... Jack came to the conclusion that she would've been absolutely right.

"I... I don't know what to do when I go back. I'm... I'm gonna be honest... I'm pretty terrified about this whole thing. This is gonna be difficult to adjust to. But..."

After a long, somber pause, Jack threw his arms around Lydia.

"I'll come find you. Somehow. I-I promise."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"I know," Lydia murmured, exchanging the hug with a tender hold and a warm grin. She knew everything that Jack knew. Everything he wanted. Everything he was. She was part of him, after all.

Once the hug was released, Lydia again gave Jack a slap on the arm and tilted her head towards the western horizon. "Now get going, hot shot. You have a lot to catch up on."

[ThePopcornFairy]

Jack mustered the weakest attempt at a laugh he could, offering his mental projection of Lydia a dorky smile. A lot had changed in this brief interaction. He of course was scared to comprehend it all, but there were still some comforts buried beneath the questions. He had wished he could do something to help Lydia, and now it was clear that he could. He had always wanted to make a difference, and even if it was going to take a while to wrap his head around the abilities he now possessed and the circumstances leading to his acquiring of them, it seemed like he had the capacity to so now more than ever.

But the train of thought he clung to the most, the one that kept him from completely flying off the handle... was that in spite of it all... he might've been a phoenix, but he was still himself.

He'd figure it out. Lydia was depending on it.

With a deep breath, Jack looked to the west. The sun was hanging low in the sky now, showering the Plaza in a radiant white light. Without another word, he steeled his nerves and started walking, closing his eyes as he let the world around him fade away and instead focused on where he needed to be. For a fleeting moment, he turned off his brain and let his soul guide him, tugging him down a path that felt more and more familiar the further he walked.

His blood ran warm through his veins. The heat encompassed him in a firm embrace. The ground seemed to disappear beneath his feet.

As the mental realm disappeared behind him, Jack Wexler walked into the sun...