Chapter 7

A/N: if you think I own Eragon or Eldest(which I have read) you're wrong.

Jessie stared at the unscarred flesh in horror. What happened to it?

"But, it was bleeding just a second ago. I tore off a piece of my shirt," she rambled. "How could it have disappeared?"

"It may have 'disappeared' because it wasn't even there in the first place," Eragon growled.

"But it was there, I swear it was!" Jessie cried. "Why don't you believe me?" she screamed as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"I thought we went through this already," he said coldly. "Now come on, we have to get back to the campsite and find Murtagh."

Jessie let out a startled cry when Eragon mentioned Murtagh. She backed up but Eragon grabbed her wrist. She winced, but the pain brought her out of her terror and she quickly regained her clear head.

"Come on," Eragon growled and started pulling her from the cave. He managed to and kept holding Jessie, just in case she tries to run off again he told himself.

Jessie bit her lip and stumbled after Eragon. Her eyes were closed and she could feel her teeth cutting through her lip as she tried to block out the pain Eragon's grip was causing in her wrist.

"Stop it," she finally gasped when she tasted blood in her mouth. "You're hurting me," she whimpered.

Eragon stared at her. He could see beads of blood gathering on her delicate lips. What had made her bite her lip that hard? As he stood watching, one of the drops left the others and began to slide down her chin.

Then an awful thought came to mind: what if he was hurting her so much she had to keep from screaming?

"You're hurting me," she repeated quietly.

Eragon looked at her in alarm and dropped her hand as he backed away.

"I'm sorry Jessie. I'm so sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Jessie?" he asked quietly when he saw that she was grasping her wrist loosely. "Jessie, are you ok?" he asked, worried.

"No," she whispered. "I've never been ok. I'm never going to be ok.

"You think you can fool me. You think–no–you know that you can make me your friend, but then your going to make me choose again. And if I don't choose the right answers, you're going to hurt me until I break.

"But this time I'm not going to fight. It hurts too much," she whispered. "I'm going to do what I should have a long time ago."

"Jessie, stop talking like this, it's scaring me," Eragon said but Jessie was silent.

Confused and more than a little scared, Eragon gently took Jessie's hand. She made no move so he began walking. With a jerk, she followed him, her head down, as if ashamed.

They walked in silence. Eragon glanced over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure she was still there.

XXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they reached the camp, Eragon was becoming extremely unnerved by Jessie's silence.

It's not that she was overly talkative, but she'd normally start conversations. He'd tried several times but she hadn't responded.

"We're here," he said quietly. Jessie only nodded her head and kept staring at the ground.

Eragon felt anger beginning to build in his chest. Why wouldn't she respond? Hell, he'd be happy if she looked him in the eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you Jessie? Can't you look at me for one friggin second?" he yelled, not noticing her flinch back and stare at him through wide, fear-filled eyes. "I don't even know why I wanted to rescue you. You're a friggin weakling and coward. When Galbatorix got you on his side, I'd be able to defeat you without using any magic!

"I mean, you can't even remember the words for healing. You'd never be able to remember any of the complex spells.

"All you're good for is running away and getting beaten. I mean, even your parents beat you!" Eragon knew that what he was saying was sick and twisted, not to mention cruel, but he wasn't thinking about the effect it would have on her.

"Shut your friggin mouth, you sick bastard," Jessie hissed angrily, tears slipped down her face, unnoticed by both.

"No," Eragon growled. I'm not going to listen to some bitch who's only good for being a whore and f–"

"Thrysta," Jessie hissed and Eragon was thrown back. He hit the ground on his back more than fifteen feet away.

With a groan, he propped himself up on his shoulders and stared at Jessie.

She was breathing heavily and her body was shaking. Tears streamed from her eyes he saw, finally noticing.

"Shut up, you don't know anything now shut up," she whispered then looked away from him.

He was horrified to see her biting her already scarred lip. The partly scabbed cut broke open, spilling watery blood down her chin. Tears continued to flow from her tightly closed eyes and her shoulders shook with sobs.

Eragon slowly got to his feet and stared at Jessie. He cautiously walked up to her and experimentally wrapped his arms around her. She turned and flung her arms around his neck as she buried her head in his chest and sobbed.

Once again, he did nothing but hold her and let her know that he was there to comfort her as she let out everything she had been forced to hold in for so long.

"It's all true," she sobbed. "Everything you said was true. I try to change it but I can't. So I do the only thing that makes me forget. I–" she stopped and remained silent, her head still buried in his chest.

"Jessie, what do you mean 'everything I said was true'? The last things I said couldn't have been true, could they?"

She didn't look at him and he grew worried. He hadn't said that on the assumption that it had happened to her, he just said that because in his mind it had sounded like it would hurt her, which was all he had wanted to do then.

And it looks like I succeed he thought grimly.

"Jessie, stop acting like this, it's scaring me," he said as he tried to push her away so he could look at her. When he couldn't, he relaxed his arms and looped them around her shoulders. "Please don't tell me you were a whore," he pleaded as he gently stroked her hair.

She flinched and he felt a fresh wave of tears begin to dampen his tunic.

Slowly her head moved up until she was looking over his shoulder.

Tears still leaked from her eyes but in a strange and eerie way, she seemed much more confident and sure of herself.

"I can't," she whispered as she rested her chin on his shoulder and her arms tightened around his neck.

A/N: I know it's short, but I'm tired and I really wanted to post something. I have the some more written, I just need to type it. Anyway, sorry for the long wait, I haven't had time. Anyway, R&R please.