Lunamor

Ed was crying. It was her fault; she’d been selfish. Jenny laid down next to him in an attempt to keep him company. She made sure to leave plenty of space between them so she didn’t accidentally touch him and hurt him.

Jenny kissed him back, trying her best to be gentle. She didn’t want to accidentally push him back to death’s door again. She likely should’ve insisted that he rest, but, well... she really liked this. He probably liked this too, anyways.

“Oh, sorry!” Jenny loosened her arm, feeling awful for hurting Ed. She still forgot how strong she was, sometimes. ”Do you wanna lie back down so you can rest while we wait for Aaron to finish his plant ball thing?”

Jenny shrugged. ”It’s just pain. I’ve dealt with it before, I’ll be fine. It’s certainly better than the alternative.” She might not be around to feel it later, anyways. She tightened her arm around Ed at that thought.

“Thank you.” Jenny wrapped an arm around Ed. He understood that he really did make her happier, now. ”Just don’t be afraid to punch me if you have to, ok? You’d technically not be punching me, anyways. It’d be some evil monster thing. I wouldn’t be conscious enough to feel it, probably.”

He was closing his eyes. Maybe he had a headache like she did. Jenny lowered her voice for both of their sakes. “I don’t think I could live with myself if I killed one of us. I would much, much rather be hurt instead.” Jenny cocked her head. ”Also, what do you mean by hurting me before? I can’t think of a time when you did.”

You are granted unlimited power, but now everyone judges you because it’s an ability some consider to be unnatural. I wish to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop.

Ed must’ve been out for a while, then. Now that her worry about losing him had passed, Jenny was starting to really process what had happened to her. She’d been taken over by something evil, something malicious. Something that probably wanted to kill her and her friends. She hadn’t gotten rid of it completely, either. She’d just returned it to the state it had been in before it possessed her. Would this happen again? “If I try to kill one of us, please do whatever it takes to stop me.” @RoyalBeeMage

He wasn’t answering her. Jenny began to sound frantic. She glanced around at the rest the group, inspecting them for injuries. ”Did I hurt anyone?” She tried to support Ed, helping him stay sitting up. She wanted to chastise Ed and make him rest, but she selfishly wanted his comfort.

“I don’t remember everything that happened. Did I… did I hurt anyone?” The voice had been urging her to do that for so long. It would make sense for it to jump at the opportunity to attack her friends. She shrunk in on herself, terrified of the answer.

“I’ve had this voice in my head for a while. It didn’t do much other than annoy me before, but this time it managed to take control somehow.” Jenny rubbed her temples in an attempt to alleviate her headache. Her voice quieted. ”I almost faded away.” She grabbed Ed’s hand again to remind herself that he was still there.

Honor blades, I’d probably inevitably end up killing a spren due to conflicting oaths. Would you rather be a skaa or a drab?

“I love you too.” Jenny was a blubbering mess by this point. She didn’t move for a while, continuing to let herself cry. Eventually, she looked to Jace and Aaron. ”Can you guys help Ed hurt less?” @RoyalBeeMage @Scars of Hathsin

Jenny threw her arms around Ed, careful to avoid worsening his injuries. He was alive. He was in pain, but alive. Shaking with relief, she quit trying to hold back her tears.

Jenny felt herself rapidly pulled back to the waking world. Either Ed had woken up or the worst had happened. She immediately looked to the side. ”Ed?!”

Jenny nodded silently. He was trying. She was still terrified. She then kissed Ed, just in case she wouldn’t get the chance to do that again.

“I…” She couldn’t lie. ”No.”

“You’d go to Elysium, if you wanted to. You would’ve died because you were injured fighting a monster on a quest to save the world.” Jenny tried to keep her fear out of her voice, but she couldn’t stop it from shaking slightly. She knew that Ed would end up somewhere wonderful, but she selfishly wanted him to stay with her instead. ”I just really don’t want you to go there yet.”

“Of course. I love you too.” Jenny tried to ignore the fact that her headache was still present. Normally, any physical ailments she had while awake didn’t affect her in her dreams. This was highly abnormal and thus highly concerning. Ed was by far her greatest worry at the moment, however.

“Can I help?” Jenny continued to hug Ed since that had seemed to help before. What he said scared her. She had already come very close to losing Ed before. If this was even worse, then he must be hanging on by a fraying thread.

“I’m so sorry for leaving like that. I felt something throw the voice off, so I needed to get back quickly so I could take the opportunity to kick it out of my head. I think it mostly worked.” Jenny pulled back slightly so she could study Ed’s face. ”Are you ok? You… well, you aren’t waking up.” She didn’t want to freak him out, but it was important for him to know this.

Waiting on him to wake up wasn’t working. She needed to figure out what was wrong. Jenny looked over to Jace. ”Please don’t wake me up.” She then proceeded to magically put herself to sleep. Immediately, she smashed her way out of her dream and back into Ed’s, not giving the voice time to react to her presence. ”Ed? Are you ok? @RoyalBeeMage

Jenny nodded, staring intently at Ed to make sure she’d notice if he stopped breathing. She couldn’t tell if everything seemed blurry because of the tears welling up in her eyes or the throbbing pain in her head. ”Please be ok, Ed.” @Weaver of Lies

“I’m ok, I think. I’m me.” She held Ed’s hand, trying her best not to panic. She wasn’t doing a particularly good job of it. ”Do you think he’s gonna wake up?” She’d been helping him stay, but she’d left. Jenny had abandoned him. This was her fault. She might’ve let Ed die. @Weaver of Lies

Jenny wasn’t sure if she was winning. She wasn’t even sure if she could win. Whatever this thing was, it was far more powerful than she was. It also didn’t appreciate the fact that she was resisting. Struggling against the darkness, she could feel herself fading again. Trying to completely fight it off was too much. So, instead, she just tried to move it instead. She let it stay, briefly yielding almost completely. The voice immediately rushed inwards, and right before it reached her, she shoved it to the side and trapped it where she’d been stuck before. NO! It fought to break free, but her wall held fast. She hadn’t trapped it completely, only having blocked its path in one direction. It would be able to come and go, but it was once again limited to only speaking. The shadows faded away, and Jenny slowly blinked open her eyes. Despite the fact that she’d just been healed, everything hurt immensely. She waved one of her hands around, checking to see if she could do that. Although her vision was still a bit blurry, she noticed that her nails had cut into her palm. She carefully sat up, wincing at her new, massive headache. Ed. He’d said he was dying. She looked to the side and noticed him motionless on the floor. Jenny scrambled over and gently shook him. He had to be ok.