Hey guys, I know, I know, I'm waaay too slow with updating. Then again, none of you are reviewing.

Chapter 7: Slitting Stones
DISCLAIMER: No, still don't own Sirius. Jhye, however, is mine
WARNING: Oooh, self-mutilation and depressing content, do not read if against/squeamish.

All I can do is watch helplessly as she stands just out of reach, the sharp stone clutched between her blistered and bleeding fingers, fingers once slender and beautiful, drawing figures in her own blood. I can't do anything; my pleading only draws a twisted grin upon her face, one that seems to enjoy my agony, and her pain. There are deeps scars running up, down, and across her arms now, scars littered with tiny shards of rock. The places that aren't scarred are covered with fresh cuts and she's even moved on to bruises now. It kills me to see her now; pale face and lank hair, her eyes filled with nothing more than pain and blood lust, the arms scarred and her spirit broken.

She claims she has nothing to live for; and perhaps she is right. I find it difficult to admit this, but it honestly seems to be the truth. Life in Azkaban, no bright future there. Her only love snatched cruelly away-what else could she do? I spend hours, no matter how bleak the situation, trying to talk her out of her pain, trying to coax the sharp stone from between her bleeding fingers. She never came near me again, never since that morning she held me for dear life.

Until today. I was slightly surprised, to say the least, when I heard her whispering to me from her cell.

"Sunshine," she whispered, her voice as hollow as the reeds and terribly scratchy. I immediately got up and catered to her, hoping she might perhaps share with me the ability to make her misery disappear, even in the slightest. Giving her a quizzical look, I allowed her to speak as she wanted.

Looking even more forlorn and worn up close, she fell silent, the only sound in the entire chamber the soft rattle of her breath. Without a word she held out her closed fist, as if handing me something, and I accepted. I felt the cold stone as it fell into the palm of my hand, still slightly moist with her freshest cut, smoothed down from excessive use. I looked at it, matching her silence, and slowly closed my hand around it.

"Thank-you," I whispered quietly, crouching down to her level.

"Sunshine…Sirius…there's something I need to tell you," she began softly. "It's about Thomas."

"I'm always listening, Jhye, you know that."

"You…didn't look at him. Sirius, you didn't see him there-you told me…I did. I saw him-Sirius! He had my name etched into his skin. Over and over and over," she was growing more hysterical by the second, her voice rising and tears spilling from her eyes. "Jhye…I'm sorry…my love, my only love…I'll never leave you…"

I could only watch as she grew worse and worse for the wear, eyes watery and red, her heart literally broken into pieces that could never be rebuilt. "He lied…even to death he lied! Sirius, he told me everything would be alright, that he loved me more than anything, more than anything in his life. More than anything he'd ever know…how could he deceive me?" she wailed, sniffling desperately. "I mean…he was so strong…"

I hadn't any idea what to say to her, so I simply slid my hands around hers and gave them a gentle squeeze.

Moments passed and she merely looked at me, and I knew she hoped as much as I that there was something to say--something to make the situation better. "Oh, Jhye," I said, caressing her swollen fingers. At first she cringed with pain but soon sunk into the bars, staring blankly at her hands but allowing me to softly massage them.

Slightly more calm, her eyes refocused and traveled up to my face. I met her eyes, and as I did, I believe I saw the smallest trace of a smile. "You will always have me," I told her gently, "and you will always have Thomas. You know as well as I that he really did believe you were the best thing in his life," I continued, and her eyes watered but she did not cry.

Finally she nodded. "Perhaps…" she said softly, her eyes falling to her scarred wrists. "I thought it would help--I mean, someone told me it takes away your pain….and it does, Sirius, it really does. And then it all comes back, twice as bad," she drawled, "but I don't think you'd understand…you're stronger than that…"

At that moment I looked from her wrists back into her eyes, feeling slightly teary myself. "Trust me, Jhye, I know."

Well, review if you'd like the next chapter, I need some inspiration and will make time if anyone is waiting for it D