Jocasta shivered as Hi'dric pulled her into his arms. She couldn't help but recall that nightmare. Her hands reached out to wrap around him and squeeze him tight. It was calm. He made her feel a little better. "Hi'dric... I, I don't even know how to describe what I saw. It felt so real." She buried her face in his neck, clutching onto the back of his shirt, then turned her head away and squeezed him tightly. She couldn't hold it in. "It was dark. The skies were red and I was in a graveyard. It was eerie, so quiet, so unsettling." She took a deep breath. "You were in it... you were dead... and I don't mean, you were like this, I mean... Someone killed you, Hi'dric." It was me.
"I, I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to but..." She bit her lip, trying to move in closer to Hi'dric. "I'd never felt such fear in my life. I walked over to you and I noticed two fang marks on your neck. You were gone. I reached out to touch it, but blood began to spill around you and suddenly, you woke up and latched onto my arms and shook me furiously, nails digging into my arms. It was all my fault. You told me I killed you!" Her nails dug into his back, shoulders tense. "I got away and I was... There was someone else... It was me. Like an evil version, telling me to stop holding back, telling me that becoming a monster was my fate." She shuddered against Hi'dric.
"There's something inside of me..." Tears trickled down her cheeks. "She reached into my chest and pulled out my heart, licked the blood off of it, and crushed it in her very own hand! She told me that was who I truly was, then told me I drained everyone, including Sunil, Maric, Guruk... Everyone! Even Xena! You were all dead, destroyed by me! She told me to turn my emotions off, she smeared my blood across my lips and I felt a primal urge within me, bloodlust. I almost gave in, almost, but I got away and I tried to get help! Maric told me I was a worthless toy, that he was disgusted by me, and Guruk told me I was stain in this world, then Xena said I killed Maric and I was a murderer for doing it!"
She sobbed, "I told him I was sorry! I came back to the real world and everything was still! I could still feel everything destroying me." She blinked tears away, feeling her chest empty again, feeling her tongue tingle. It would never go away, would it? "I ran away from him. I couldn't face him. And when I came back here, the first thing I saw on you was blood before it went away." She felt small right now, so small, so fragile, like a mouse. That wasn't the kind of person she was supposed to be for Hi'dric. "Please stay with me, Hi'dric. I can't be alone. I don't want you to die. Please don't die." Please don't. Please don't. Please don't.