Jake shifted Riptide's saddle and readied the backup swords attached to it. He looked at Mario, saddling up Jeffery. 

"Jakey, you sure about this?"

"Yes. This is our best shot. Do you want to get decimated by Bryan?"

"No, it's not that. It's just..." Mario looked down.

"Mario? Is there something you're not telling us?"

Mario bit his lip. "Don't tell Kaykrae about this."

"There's a lot of things I don't tell Kaykrae."

"You know, uh, Bryan and I, we used to, uh, be a, um, couple?"

"Yeah, I remember."

Mario blushed and messed with his laurel wreath. Then, it hit Jake, square in the head. Why hadn't he realized before?

"You still have feelings for him, don't you?"

Mario sighed. "I don't want to like him. I didn't want to in the first place. But, you should know how irresistible he is. It's why I was so angry when you two announced you were together."

He stopped messing with Jeffery and rested his hand on his sword. 

"Jake, we're gonna have to fight him, we both know that. But, can we?"

"I don't know," Jake admitted. "But we have to try. Remember that he's not the Bryan we knew and loved."

"Yeah, I know. It's just hard. It's never really the goodbye that hurts. It's the flashbacks that come afterward."

Xylo and Kaykrae came up the path. The four of them were the only ones that had a flying steed, so they were the only ones who could get to Bryan's floating castle.

"Alright, everyone ready?" asked Kaykrae.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Mario answered.

Jake nodded. Riptide, Jeffery, Shadow, and Diaval were ready to fly. Everyone got saddled up and took off to the east.

After an hour of steady flying and rising, they reached Bryan's castle. Even with what they were about to do, Jake couldn't help but admire it. It was huge. Obsidian towers stretched up like greedy claws, reaching for the stars. On the western wall, a humongous gray rose spiraled out.

The palace was meant to inspire fear. That was pretty obvious, and it worked. Jake could already feel himself going pale. But he steeled his nerves and led the way inside.

The place was a labyrinth, but they got to the throne room without too many fingers lost. Bryan, Daveed, and Brandeen were all there, seemingly talking over strategies.

Daveed was the first to notice them. "My lord," he warned.

Bryan looked up and smiled. "Well, well, visitors."

He stood up and moved to the middle of the room, where Jake met him. The former boyfriends locked eyes.

"Bryan, we're here to make a deal."

Bryan grinned. "Ah, finally accepted my offer, have you?"

"No. We know you have the healing necklace."

He chuckled and pulled it out of his pocket. "Yes. Quite the powerful piece of jewelry. But, I have enough healing magic of my own. I don't need more. Which makes this trinket useless to me."

He dropped it on the ground. Mario lunged for it, but Bryan blasted him out of the way and crushed the necklace under his heel. Then, he snapped his fingers and the whole world spun.

When things finally stopped spinning and Jake got his bearings, everything had changed. Kaykrae, Mario, Xylo, Brandeen, and Daveed had disappeared. It was just him and Bryan. They weren't in the castle either. They were on a cliff at least 600 feet high. Waves roared below. Jake's back was to the edge, so his full attention was on Bryan.

"Quite the view, isn't it?" Bryan asked.

"Can't you just leave me alone?!" Jake yelled.

"You ARE alone! How are you so naive? No one at the camp cares about you! It's all a lie! Even Mitch is just biding his time for you to die, so he can become your father's right-hand man. No one has ever cared about you in your life! Not even me! I. Never. Loved. You."

Jake was stunned by these last four words. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears. He couldn't see Bryan materializing something in his free hand, or him throwing it.

All he knew was a blinding pain in his chest, stumbling backward, and falling off the cliff to the sea, 600 feet below.

(...I'm sorry.)