Message from the Other Side are letters and emails between members of the Coalitions of Minnows and Jack's team, which are meant to be final words for their friends to be read in the event of their death.
History[]
Early History[]
For ten years, as the Coalition of Minnows team prepared to undertake a mission to restore the Golden Capstone, they grew close enough to consider each other family. However, during the mission itself, the Coalition lost Noddy, Doris Epper and Big Ears, leading Jack West Jr to realise that there would always be the risk of being killed without a chance to say goodbye.
As the team prepared to go back to their normal lives, jack suggested that everybody (barring the still young Lily) write an email or letter for him or someone else important to them from the team -which they would call messages from the Other Side - to be read by him or someone else important to them from the team should they perish during a possible follow-up mission. Everyone agreed with this, and over the next two years, Wizard, Zoe Kissane, Sky Monster, Pooh Bear and Stretch (and presumably Fuzzy) all composed their own Messages and sent them to Jack, who kept both digital and hard copies of the Messages, and distributed some copies on to other members of the team that were also intended recipients.
After the mission to rebuild the Machine and repel Dark Star ended, Jack read Wizard's Message from the Other Side letter, in which his mentor had noted that their friendship had helped him cope with Doris's death, his hope that he would die content in knowing that his life meant something, and that his death would mean that he could be with Doris once again.
Due to them having become trusted members of the team during the Dark Sun mission, Julius and Lachlan Adamson were suggested to write their own Messages from the Other Side, to be read by Jack and their twin should something happen to them.
Eight years after the Machine mission, as he was talking with Lily and Alby Calvin, Jack realised just how much the pair had grown, and decided to ask them to write Message from the Other Side as well, explaining how the team had come to start writing them and showing him the Message Wizard had written for him. After a few days, Lily and Alby had both composed their letters and sent them in to Jack.
The Three Secret Cities[]
During the attack in London to try to draw out Jack and Lily, perpetrated by the Knights of the Golden Eight, Lachlan and his family ruthlessly were executed. In the aftermath, the distraught and broken Julius read Lachlan's Message from the Other Side letter, in which Lachlan had written that Julius was more than his brother but also his best friend, that he'd hoped he'd gone down fighting, and requesting that he be avenged if some "evil shithead" had killed him.
Julius attempted to fulfill his twin's wish to take vengeance by attacking Aragon Castle, but when he was rendered unconscious, Jaeger Eins took the printout of Lachlan's Message from him. Upon having Julius caged, Eins mocked Julius for his failed attempt at revenge and read out the Message to taunt him. After hearing Lachlan's Message for Julius, Lily began to cry in sympathy, while Eins disrespectfully crumbled the letter into a ball and tossed it into the chasm below.
After Lily was apparently killed during the sacrificial ceremony at the Altar of the Cosmos, the distraught Jack read Lily's Message from the Other Side. In her Message, Lily recounted her gladness of having being raised by Jack and the other members of the team, and knowing that her death might break his spirit and make him want to give up, Lily wrote that she wanted Jack to keep on fighting. After reading his daughter's Message, Jack vowed to keep on fighting in her memory.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
Assuming them killed during the rescue of Lily in Moscow, Jack opened Sky Monster and Pooh Bears' Messages from the Other Side before setting off for the first iron mountain. In Sky Monster's Message for Jack, the pilot had expressed his gratitude to Jack for including him in his adventures and giving his life meaning, and which Jack was surprised to see was also signed with his real name. Pooh Bear's, however was much shorter; in addition to a few words for Jack, Lily and Stretch, the Message contained an apology for having to leave the team.
When Pooh and Sky Monster later reunited with the team, Jack whispered to the latter that he had read his Message because he had assumed him dead, though Sky Monster wasn't worried and assured Jack that he had meant every word in his Message.
While en-route to the fifth iron mountain, Jack decided to read a Message from the Other Side that his mother had written at some point prior to her death at General Rastor's hands. As Mae had requested that he read the Message with Zoe and Lily, Jack called them over, and together they read Mae's last words. In the Message Mae had written, she noted that she was proud of the life she had lived, for it had been good and interesting, and that Jack had been the best thing she had ever accomplished. In addition, Mae's Message from the Other Side included some imparting words of wisdom for Zoe and Lily, before ending with a thank you to Jack for letting her join his adventures.
Before he set off for the Supreme Labyrinth, Jack prepared some copies of his own Message from the Other Side and gave one to Pooh Bear and Stretch. While Stretch tried to implore Jack to not think that he would not survive the Labyrinth, Jack pointed out that he had no guarantees of survival and wanted to give them his Message just in case, and so Pooh Bear promised that they would look after it.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
When Zoe apparently fell to her death in the First Cavern, the distraught Jack recalled the part of his own Message that had been meant for Zoe, and lamented that she would never read it. After Lily helped to try to comfort Jack, he read Zoe's Message for him, in which Zoe had written a couple of paragraphs confirming her love for him, and that his love for her in turn had made her life worthwhile.
After Jack's helmet was knocked off during his attempt to escape the explosion caused by a crimson orb, the copy of Jack's Message for his friends was left partially sticking out of the helmet's utility box. When Sphinx spotted the helmet as he and Ricardo Mendoza passed by the wreckage, he briefly examined the letter and quickly what it was, scoffing that Jack had been weak and sentimental.
Trivia[]
- As he was a survivor of the original Capstone mission, it can be presumed that Fuzzy also wrote a Message from the Other Side some time prior to his death.