I'm wearing his face. I'm wearing his ring. All hail the king.

[hostage]

WHO: Jesse Pinkman & Will Graham ; OPEN to the Graham-Ludgate household & visitors
WHERE: Will's house, mostly
WHEN: January 1-2
WHAT: Jesse's finally back from the dead. And he's all old and messed up and shit.
WARNINGS: Breaking Bad spoilers like fuck. References to drugs and torture and neo-Nazis.

CLOSED TO WILL

[They descend on him in a swarm, all those scientists and those military men. He's in terrible condition, they're telling him, and he really ought to stay for treatment and observation. At least - at the very least - he should allow them to rehydrate him, get his malnourishment under control. But after months of solitude, all these voices become an unintelligible buzz and he waves them away as soon as he's got his government-issued communicator back in his possession.

He needs quiet. And he needs... the sunlight. The sun. A lungful of fresh air as he steps out of the building. He traces the wall with his hand until he finds an exterior corner with no people around, then he gets on his knees and kisses the pavement.

He's in Florida. Jesus Christ, this place is real. The proof of it is pressed right up against his lips. Jesse's laughing and crying like a lunatic. It's lucky he saved this flood of emotion for his moment alone, because they might drag him back inside for a psych eval if they got a glimpse of him. He spends a good twenty minutes on the ground, rocking back and forth, cradling his head in his hands and letting all those good memories sink in while tears flow freely down his cheeks.

Once he's regained some measure of control over himself, Jesse swipes at his eyes with his sleeve to clear his vision and turns his focus to the communicator. It's been a very long time. His brain is sluggish when it comes to putting faces to names. It's not that he's forgotten anyone, not really, but they're all so far away from him. As soon as he starts playing the messages, however, everything comes into focus. When he hears Will Graham's voice, he can picture the man's face again.

Christmas happened at some point while Jesse was in Hell. Will wishes him a merry Christmas. It's nice.

Jesse replays the message a few times, trying to decide how to respond. His own voice is hoarse and broken. He'll probably sound alarming if he calls back. He opts for a text, instead:]

I'm back
I need help

[Okay, maybe it's presumptuous to ask for a favor. If Jesse's memory serves him right, the last time they saw each other, Jesse left Will to die. But if he was sore about it, he wouldn't be calling for Christmas, would he?]

OPEN TO THE GRAHAM-LUDGATE HOME FOR STRAYS

[They're housing him in the attic. Which is incredibly generous, in Jesse's opinion. For the past six months, his accommodations have been considerably more spartan. That is: he's literally been sleeping in a hole in the ground. So it's nice to be inside a structure with temperature control, with a bed and a toilet and hot water.

He doesn't spend much time exploring. For one, it's hard to shake the feeling that someone will decide he's not supposed to be here. Being in the wrong place carried heavy consequences back at the compound, and even though Jesse knows logically that these people won't beat him, he's still pretty sure they're going to beat him. He only leaves the attic to shower - which takes a full hour, given all the grime and blood he needs to scrub off - and then he retreats back to his designated area.

Because he was killed, his powers haven't returned to their normal function yet. He's still all bruised and knotted up from the battle, his wrists raw where the metal handcuffs previously chafed. And the scars... Ugh, he only allowed himself a glance in the mirror, but it was enough to tell that his face isn't his face anymore. It'll be a miracle if anyone recognizes him without Will's introduction.

Though Jesse imagines that Will has warned everyone about the murderous fugitive sleeping in the attic.]