Chapter 7 - There are Always Rules
Jenny was startled to find herself humming as she prepared for bed. She had said it. Finally. She had told him of their past. Somehow it had been more painful to face Julian every day without him knowing, as if she were lying to him.
She had known for a long time that she would have to give up her own life to bring Julian back. She had distanced herself from people. Hadn't wanted anyone to be hurt. In a way, she had been relieved when Julian didn't recognize her. It made things easier. Now that he knew she had been responsible for his death, things would change. He would hate her again. Playing a game in the meantime felt a little like tying up loose ends. She would enjoy spending that time with Julian, now that she didn't feel like she was tricking him. For the first time since that awful moment when he looked at her without any recognition, Jenny felt as if Julian were actually back.
Jenny struggled to wake up, brushing at her nose with irritation. She opened her eyes to see what looked like an ostrich plume being twitched over her nose. She blinked at Julian in confusion and he innocently withdrew the feather. It looked suspiciously as if he were fighting a smile.
"I've spent the night watching you Jenny."
She simply raised an eyebrow, mentally reviewing the events of yesterday. Hadn't she told him about her betrayal? Wasn't he supposed to be angry?
"Aren't you curious about the rules of the game?" he seemed to be pouting over her lack of curiosity.
"I thought I had to discover those as I played." She yawned, still not entirely awake, but recalling that first game.
Julian frowned, "Surely the stakes, at least, will interest you" his voice was chilly as he wrapped one of her wayward curls around his finger, idly raising it to his lips.
Jenny froze, suddenly very awake. "I don't have anything to lose or to forfeit." Her voice sounded plaintive to her hears. There, now he was acting as she had expected.
He raised a finger to her lips.
"You have to find my memories. If you find them, I will let you run away to death, as you seem so determined to do."
A pause stretched between them, as they both held their silence.
Finally, he broke the silence. His ultimatum as cryptic, as simple, as they always were, "If, by this Samhain, you have not found my memories, then I win."
"And?" Jenny asked sharply.
"And?" he smiled back at her.
"What happens if you win?"
"Oh" his voice was mocking again, "don't you know? You have to find out as you play the game." The mood, which had been so light, now was cold and threatening.
He broke the silence, "Don't you ever think, before you reject gifts? You won't look at me, you flinch away from me." He raised a hand to her face, his fingers hovering above her skin, so she could feel the warmth of them but not the touch "and apparently death is preferable to accepting the gift of my life. I had thought that I was cruel and cold, Jenny. But aren't you, pretending to be good, even more cruel?" his hand fell from her face and he disappeared.
She was too numb to cry. So she laughed. She had thought that she would make amends, but she was just hurting him again. It had all been useless, she had only messed things up again. Laughter poured out of her, as if it would escape.
A/N - Sorry about the posting hiatus, this semester was hard ;_;. And I may have joined a cosplay group to procrastinate applying to medical school.
