A.N. Hello! So, I really love this series. And totally hate the ending. So I have written this to make myself feel better. I tried to keep in IC and feel I did pretty all right. Feel free to tell me your thoughts! Consider this and epilogue of sorts.

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I own the Forbidden Game? No. I wish.

Decent into Darkness

Jenny's decent into the abyss was a slow coming process. She hadn't even thought about it happening – didn't think it was possible anymore – until the day ice formed on the window.

Of course Jenny dreamed for Julian. She did it faithfully for a time, until she thought a sufficient amount of time had passed before she could stop dreaming for him.

She stopped those dreams, but sometimes she found she missed them.

That day, that cold winter day, Jenny woke to find frost on the windows.

She had a brief thought of Julian, of his cold demeanor, and then the thought passed.

It's effect, however, did not.

-0-0-0-0-

Tom noticed. Tom always noticed. It happened the coldest day of winter. Jenny bundled up extra that day, and she had a strange expression on her face.

Then she began to change. Not drastically. Slowly. Painstakingly, in Tom's sake.

She began with riddles. Asking for one a day. She would solve them quickly, then smiley triumphantly, like she had won something. But they weren't playing games anymore.

Next came the roses. Whenever she saw a rose, she always subconsciously would go over to it. Pick it. Rub it on her face. And then, for some inexplicable reason, she would sigh sadly. As if she were waiting for something.

Someone.

Tom thought that Julian was gone. That the dreams were over. He never minded them, but he couldn't stop feeling like a weight was lifted once they were gone.

Tom didn't want to lose Jenny again. He said he would fight, and he will.

But how can he win if he isn't playing against anyone?

-0-0-0-0-

Jenny didn't feel the change. Not until she was too far gone, anyway. Once she had noticed, she didn't do anything to stop it.

She wanted to run to the shadows, not shy away from them. She wanted to feel the cold, not hide from it.

She wanted to lose the game, so she could feel his triumph.

She started to dream again. He was always there.

She wanted to see him more and more.

The darkness, although scary, was comforting. She loved the light, yes. Always.

But light cannot live without the dark.

-0-0-0-0-

Jenny started sleeping later and later. Tom was scared, scared of what she was dreaming, but she always woke smiling. She was so bright, so happy, that it was hard to think she was dreaming of shadows.

Hell, he even thought he could smell the sunshine on her as she woke up. He stopped worrying so much. She was just tired, that was all.

-0-0-0-0-

She slept for a whole day.

After that, Tom worried. It was only when he voiced his concern that she stopped for a day or two. Then it was back to going to bed early and sleeping late.

The ring on her finger mocked him, but he never told her so.

-0-0-0-0-

Jenny remember the question she asked. What if someone carved his rune back into the rune stone?

What if he was alive again?

What if?

Jenny never even thought about carving it. She would never put anyone through what she went through.

But she could dream about it.

Then it was time. While in her dream, with the sky so blue it nearly blinded her, Jenny drew.

She knew what to draw. She drew it perfectly, beautifully.

She drew Julian back into life.

-0-0-0-0-

There came the day when Jenny didn't wake up. No matter how he poked or prodded, pushed or shoved, screamed or yelled, she would not wake up. She smelt like roses. Roses and silver. She had a glow surrounding her, engulfing her.

Tom knew. He knew that she wasn't going to wake up again. He couldn't handle it. Tom was meant to be with Jenny. But he couldn't compete with the laws of physics.

Darkness couldn't live without light. And, unfortunately for Tom, light could not live without darkness.