Author's quick little note that probably takes up more space than it should: Hello, everyone! This is just the first part of a story that popped into my head at midnight after watching a certain video about Jane and Gunther (Here We Are) by Youtube user LightningFlash. Blah! I found myself glued to Gunther's potential (though now named impossible...sigh) romance with Jane, after seeing that video. And I used to be a complete Jester/Jane supporter, too! Well, to satisfy that part of me, I am also hoping to get through a Jane/Jester stroy, as well as a Pepper/Rake story...so, yeah.

DISCLAIMER: I was half asleep when I wrote this. Starting at midnight, by two thirty AM I had managed to finish this somewhat rough, sappy story. Forgive me if anything is overly lame or if there are spelling mistakes- though I believe I smoothed the typos out mostly, though I may have mixed up my Canadian/American spelling. In fact, the first three chapters were all written in between the hours of 12am and 3:30am. I need a life, huh?

But, on a more serious note, I will add more to the first three chapters if, and only if I get positive reviews, though I'm not exactly sure where it will go...we'll see...so it could take a while! Now, I've talked too much. Hope you enjoy "Change of Heart."

Confusion

Gunther didn't know exactly what it was that she made him feel. A mixture of emotions, all powerful and complex, flooded him. Annoyance, love, frustration, passion, and a variety of others overtook him. But overall confusion. Confusion as to why he had to say the stupid things he did. He didn't understand it. She made him feel so wonderful, yet at the same time so furious.

It only took a glance from those striking green eyes to make him melt inside, yet he covered himself well with a mask of insults. Yet, whenever she would toss back her retorts, each one pierced his heart like an arrow.

"Jane," he whispered her name tenderly to himself in the dark. It rolled off of his tongue sweetly, like honey, and he sighed. How he would love to speak his mind and heart to her, freely and truely, the way she could with Jester. Yet he knew it could never be. They would never be that close. He was sure that in her eyes, they would always be rivals. He was simply another knight on the battlefield, her comrade, perhaps, but never her love.

He regretted that day four years ago when he had told her he couldn't stand the sight of her. He wished he could turn back time, or do something to ease his pain at the memory. I was too young, he told himself bitterly, too young to understand my own heart. Gunther kicked himself mentally at his stupidity, and imagined her face, her green eyes, her mantle of soft red hair... it pained him dreadfully. How he longed to caress her hair, to hold her in his arms, to see her smile at him, to hear her laugh. He longed to be loved by her.

He turned over in his bed and pounded his pillow with his fist. He had to tell her. He was sure of it. Somehow he had to confess it. But...how? The thought made him tremble, and his pulse to quicken. Jane had made her contempt of him quite clear over the past six years. What would she do if he told her? She'd laugh, that's what, he thought, anger sweeping over him, she'd laugh, or else insult me. He shuddered. The thought scared him, more than any raging army, or being captured by enemy forces.

Gunther closed his eyes, and breathed in the warm scent of a summer's night. I'll tell her, he thought, setting his resolve. At my first chance, I'll tell her, and I'll take whatever she gives me. Scorn or understanding. He opened his eyes, and looked out of the window and into the night. He could see the castle from his room, and though he might be able to see her tower. There was a soft, flickering glow of candlelight in one of the windows, and he sighed once more.

"Jane," he whispered again, with longing. And then he closed his eyes and slept.

Jane was infuriated. And joyful, and giddy, and so full of emotion that she could barely contain herself. He made her feel so...so free and alive, and yet so angry and frustrated! She barely knew what to make of him. Confusion wrapped around her like an impenatrable armor.

Jane sat up on her bed and wrapped her arms around her knees, looking out into the night. He was out there somewhere, she knew, though probably asleep. She sighed, and looked instead to the candle by her bed. He, or anyone else for that matter, could never know how she truly felt.

"Gunther, you beef-brain," she muttered softly, burying her head in her arms.

She didn't know when it had truly begun, but something in her had softened towards Gunther recently. She loved it when he called out her name, even if he insulted her. His lightest touch on her hand sent thrills up her arm and shivers down her spine, and when his eyes met hers she struggled to not let him see her blush. Maggots...I don't understand. Why now? I've never felt anything before, she racked her brain for an answer she knew she did not have, and she bit her lip. She knew how he felt about her. Four years ago he had told her how he could barely stand to look at her. At the times the words had been those of relief, but now they stabbed at her whenever she thought of him. They could never be together, no matter how hard she wished it.

She pictured his serious face, his grey-green, truthful eyes and slicked back black hair, and felt a pang of longing. She longed for his companionship, to touch his cheek, to rest her head against his shoulder, to hold his hand. His hands were roughened and calloused from training, but also strong and reassuring. She remembered the feel of them from years before, and could not erase the memory of him grabbing her around the waist when she was twelve, to keep her from falling into a chasm. Maggots, maggots, maggots! Jane cursed herself silently. Why did she have to be such a girl?

She closed her eyes, but memories of Gunther sprung before her eyelids, all silly things. Sparring matches, hurtful words, the feel of her hand in his...She shook her head to clear her mind. Why couldn't he just bog off and out of her head?

Jane got up and paced her circular room. Their quest for skyleaf to cure Dragon, being thrown into the lake on her fifteenth birthday and his sheepish grin after the fact after Dragon chased him round the castle...memories swirled around her brain like fog, as she remembered the smallest things. Jane stopped pacing, and rested her forehead on the cool stone of the wall. She may have denied it before, but now it was imperative. What she needed was to let it out. She had to tell someone.

She bit her lip so hard that a hairline of blood trickled down her lip. She couldn't tell Jester. For all that she trusted and told him everything, she did not want to hurt him with her feelings towards Gunther. She had seen how it had affected him four years ago, and did not want to lose her best friend.

Dragon was completely out of the question, as was Pepper, considering that they had both unintentionally spread such a rumour before. She supposed she could tell her mother, but that was risky considering that her mother tended the young princess.

Jane knocked her head against the wall. Smithy and Rake would be awkward to speak with about such a topic, as would her father. That leaves...oh, bog weevils, Jane slapped the wall with her palm. There was only Gunther...and Gunther.

Jane sighed and crept back into bed. She tossed and turned, feeling no peace. She closed her eyes, and then it came to her. She knew exactly who she could tell, who would neither judge her nor share her secret. With a triumphant smile playing round her lips, Jane relaxed and drifted off to sleep.