A little oneshot I wrote for a friend who was feeling down. I wondered what it would be like if The Forbidden Game were true, and decided to write this brief piece entertaining the idea. This was inspired by the book as well as the movie Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows which you'll see at the end. Disclaimer: All characters belong to LJ Smith, and she belongs to herself. Enjoy!

Years Gone By

'...filled with promise.

If, someday, Julian should be reborn, she wished him well.'

Lisa Jane Smith stopped and looked at her final words of the story that meant her entire life to her.

The blonde woman's fingers came to a stop, resting on the computer keys as she stared at the last words. Silent tears streamed down her face and she rubbed them away quietly, breathing out as she released the shame and sorrow she had kept pent up for so many years. Her body began to tremble as emotion consumed her, and she swiped her hands away from her keyboard and placed them in her lap.

The grown woman scrunched her eyes shut before shaking away the memories that swam through her haunted mind. She didn't think she'd be able to do it, relive all the horrors of so many years ago. But she had promised herself that she would finish this. That this story WOULD be told. She owed him that much.

The woman sighed and pressed the return key twice. Though she tried to stop them, the memories came anyway in a harsh flash. Her friends, confused and scared as they woke up in a strange room, decorated ornately in an elegant Victorian style. Julian. A beautiful and inhuman boy stepping out from behind a folded screen and smiling at her as he spoke of every game having its prize. Her brown eyes widening in horror as she remembered a look like a starving tiger's.

Flash. Her running, driving her friend's old Spider terrified down the street, hopping out of it to dash wildly into her cousin's home in search of a base suspended in an old black and white photograph. Her love's hand in her own as fire swirled and roared around them. His brown-hazel eyes locked on hers as they spoke the words together. COOL WET GRASS.

Flash. The cool water sloshing around her legs as she strode over to the display in the long tunnel over to the boy in black gazing at her surprisedly. Julian. Pointing her finger at him accusingly as she told him that she cared for him. Her realizing that she loved him.

Flash. Her screams as Julian, the man she loved most stumbled and fell as his life was mercilessly scratched out from existence.

Gasping back to the present, tears threatened to spill once more. Lisa pressed her palms against her eyelids to make them go away. A sad remorse filled her as little spots of a terribly familiar color of blue danced against the blackness of the inside of her lids. The writer sighed again and looked once more to the faint light of the computer screen.

She lifted her hands to the keyboard and slowly typed the last two words of her story, the two most painful words she'd ever written and desperately hoped weren't true. The finality of them echoed in her head like a sad song she had forgotten years ago.

THE END

The letters stuck out from the blue-whiteness of the screen behind them. Lisa reminded herself that she'd have to get it fixed soon. Perhaps tomorrow. The woman rubbed her eyes tiredly. The words saddened her greatly, mocking her about the end of Julian's life. The end of everything in her life as it once was. People had come and passed over the years, but her memory of Julian always stayed. Every morning when she woke up she could see his alluring blue eyes, his wolfish grin, and could feel his name on her lips. Sometimes, he would appear in her dreams, just like she had promised. When Lisa woke she could never really remember them, only know she had caught a glimpse of the boy she had loved and lost, and desperately wanted more each time.

Sadly, she knew she would never get it. She would never see him again.

Her desire for him and the quiet, somber detachment from the rest of the world had gained understanding from her friends at first, and they had respectfully kept their distance from her until she could overcome her grief. And as time went on, it did get better. But the sorrow was always there, mourning beneath the surface. Ever since that day, something had changed in her, and they all knew it.

Years passed and as the friends began college, things were okay. Lisa lived a full life, and all was alright for a time. But time went on and they began to separate. First it was Ashley, who left to become a fashion designer. Then it was Sammy, who left the group to help with a small family business. One by one the friends all separated to love their own lives and forget the horrors of their dark past. Even her Deliah had left her eventually.

When the nightmares started, that was when Tom left. He had stuck with her through the days when she wouldn't say a word to anyone, the days when she would take one look at him and begin to cry. But as the nights of sleepless screams continued, they proved to be too much, and he left his little Janey-as he used to call her, before IT happened- just like all the others. Last she had heard he had found some nice brunette by the name of Sophie somewhere upstate and settled down. Lisa hadn't really cared.

Not long after that, she had realized what she wanted to do. Lisa knew she should have known it sooner, the joy she felt when she wrote. Back in her dark office, she smiled in the light of her computer. She remembered once when she was little, about six, she had written a poem in class and ever since then had loved to write. It was about a year after her grandfather had gone. The blonde woman's smile disappeared and she looked down.

Her brown eyes turned back to the computer, and she scrolled back looking at the story she had poured all her heart and soul into. It was a shame that if it were published, the world would think it just another fantasy book. Not knowing that every word was true. Lisa had made sure to change some names around, including some of her friends', her grandfather's and even her own name. But the most important ones, she kept. She owed it to them to do so. She owed it to Julian that his story would be told, and he would never be forgotten. Perhaps she wouldn't be the only one who dreamt him to a better place. Lisa thought he'd like that very much.

She smiled faintly. Yawning, her tiredness getting the best of her, Lisa decided it was time for bed. Her story was finished, and she'd read it enough times to know it was ready. The woman turned off the display screen and pushed out her chair. She stood took just a few steps to stand before her bed, her long blonde hair swishing behind her as she did. The author sat down on the edge of her bed and settled into its soft warmth, stealing one last glance at the shut-down computer across the room. After a few moments, she opened her eyes to stare at the bedside dresser before her. She eyed the top drawer cautiously, and a decision clicked in her mind.

Reaching out slowly, she slid out the drawer and reached into the far corner where she knew the piece of jewelry lay. She could feel its cool metal against her fingertips as she picked it up and closed the dresser. Lisa lay on her back and gazed at the ring she held in the darkness. She didn't need to see it to know what the inscription on the inside said. 'I am my only master'.

Lisa smiled.

She closed her eyes blissfully as she slipped the ring onto her finger, the place it had always belonged. Releasing a breath, the author felt a faint smile play on her lips as she turned and gave into the darkness of the night around her. One of the last thoughts that ran through her mind before sleep overtook her was something 'Michael' had said. It was just a simple, curious sentence, but it was one that had haunted her for years. 'What if—someday—somebody carved Julian's name back onto that runestave?' Then, she succumbed.

The house was silent as she fell into slumber. The entire complex was mute as everything in it stilled, and not a thing dared to even breathe.

Then- something moved. It was only slight, almost imperceptible, but a shadow almost seemed to have shifted. Sunken into the farthest corner of the woman's bedroom, sat a shadow irrevocably darker than all the others. And as the seconds passed the shadow seemed to rise up, almost as if it were alive and breathing, and moving of its own accord. The shadow shifted once more, and finally a figure began to take shape from the darkness.

First, a hand reached forth from the shadow. Then an arm. And a shoulder.

A leg stepped forward, and a head, and soon enough a man stepped out from the darkness. A sliver of moonlight peeked from between the curtains of the woman's bedroom window, and lit the inhumanly beautiful face of the boy who stood in the room looking as if he owned it. His teeth flashed in a grin, and the moonlight clearly lit his frosty white hair. Astonishingly dazzling blue eyes shone in the darkness as they turned to the sleeping form beneath the bed covers.

Walking with the silent grace of a panther, the sleek boy made his way over to the woman. He knelt beside her, and lifted a hand to her face. Laying his skin upon hers, he caressed her cheek for a moment, and the boy smiled lovingly as he gazed at her. A shock swept through her in response to his touch, and she whimpered in her sleep. He swept his thumb expertly along her cheekbone as he took in every detail of her face. She had aged, it was true. But he still saw the innocence, and youthful beauty he had fallen in love with so long ago. She was still the light to his darkness.

Fearing he may wake her, the shadow boy stood. Turning his gaze over his shoulder, he glanced at the computer she had just shut off. The shadow man grinned. Strutting soundlessly to the machine, he turned it on with a flourish of his hand and a whispered word. The bluish screen lit up, brightening the room, and he looked behind him to see if she had woken. The blonde made a small noise and turned over, and he turned absolutely still. When she made no other movement, and he could hear her steady breathing once more, the shadow man turned back to the screen.

Placing his hand elegantly on the mouse, he began to scroll through the word document. His eyes lit as he read her illustration of their meeting in the More Games store. He watched, enthralled, as he read each and every nightmare through her eyes. A twinge of guilt went through him, but he simply kept scrolling. As he read, he was glad to see that Tommy boy was portrayed as much an asshole as he was in real life. Julian grinned. Silently, as his love slept, he read.

Finally, he came to the end of the story. He looked on, unphased by his own death, and how the friends left the old man's house behind grown and seemingly changed for the better.

Then his stunning blue eyes fell upon the last two words. The End. He saw the words with sadness, somber that their tale had come to an end. But with a flash of azure blue the shadow man smiled deviously. He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping girl, and turned to the screen. Raising his hand above the keyboard, a single key clicked in the silence.

Satisfied, the boy disappeared into the shadows, waiting anxiously for morning to come.

And when it did, sun shining warmly in LJ's eyes she groaned as she awakened. Rubbing her eyes, she yawned, and turned to get up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a faint bluish glow. She blinked as she saw her computer lit. 'How strange,' she thought. 'I could've sworn I'd turned that off last night'. Reluctantly, she pushed away the covers and stood, walking slowly over to her computer. She sighed as she bent over and placed her hand on the mouse to save and exit out so she could turn off the entire computer this time. Lisa reasoned it must've just been some malfunction with the display screen. And she was just about to turn the machine off, when she noticed something had been changed. The blonde woman's eyes widened in shock as she gazed at the last page of her novel. Someone had altered it. Her mind raced as she desperately searched for an answer behind it, when suddenly, a light bulb lit in her mind. Not daring to breathe, she turned her head and looked at her hand, her gaze falling to the ring upon her finger. Her brown eyes flicked back to the words on the screen. Only one mark had been added, but it was one that sent butterflies fluttering through her, and suddenly she felt as if she were flying. LJ laughed delightedly despite herself, unbridled joy filling her to the very core.

She smiled, and somewhere, she felt Julian smile with her.

THE END

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