Lunamor

Ed’s braid was better than Jenny’s. Maybe she’d have to ask him for help next time she wanted to braid her hair. She sat still so he could finish, happy at the spontaneous free hairdo.

Jenny determined that a second attempt at a braid would be futile, so she kissed Ed again instead. 11 - 12. She was nearly caught up.

Jenny tried to make a tiny braid in Ed’s hair, but gave up pretty quickly. She could barely make a braid with long hair; his was much too short. She laughed a little at seeing her pitiful attempt. It looked pretty silly on him.

“Yeah. I will.” Jenny had Ed. He helped her stay ok. Her life was so much better with him in it. She still has trouble understanding how lucky she was to have met him. How lucky she was that he loved her too.

“I love you too.” Jenny’s blush was now slowly fading. People probably could still see them, but she decided to pretend that they couldn’t. She was certainly distracted enough to do so. Everything felt wonderful despite things seeming awful just a few minutes ago.

“Because a bunch of people were probably staring.” Jenny was tempted to peek back up and check if that was the case, but decided not to risk it. Hiding rather conspicuously like this likely had just drawn more attention, but at least no one could see her. She was still blushing, but also smiling.

Ed was smiling. That meant it had probably worked. Jenny grinned back. Seeing him happy made her happy, too. She blushed, realizing that she had once again forgotten that they were surrounded by people. She sunk down until her head was below the top of her seat in an attempt to hide.

Jenny smiled. Somehow, Ed had already put her back into a positive mood. He was really good at pulling her back from the edge. She needed to make sure he didn’t have to do that often. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, both in case he was sad and because she really wanted to. Plus, she’d been falling behind. 10 - 12.

Jenny managed to stop crying. She was pretty embarrassed about crying so much. People on the quest cried a lot in general, though, so they probably didn’t judge her too much. Her messy bun had already come loose. ”Thanks for sticking with me.” Her words were a bit muffled from her face pressed against his chest.

“I don’t want to leave you.” That wasn’t a lie. Leaving Ed was the last thing Jenny wanted. It would break her heart. She realized that there was no point in sulking around until the inevitable. That would just make them both miserable. She hugged him from the side. ”I love you.”

“It might be. I’d hopped into Elsie’s dream and saw him in this void thing, so I pulled him out of it. It might’ve messed something up, broken him. And nothing I did afterwards helped. Even going directly into his dreams. All Elsie had to do was ask him to come back.” She hugged her knees tighter. ”When I left, everything got better.”

“I hurt people.” Jenny couldn’t meet his eyes. She was probably hurting him right now. He always got so worried for her. And she always gave him reasons to be.

“I’m sorry.” Jenny mumbled to Ed. She was so selfish, putting him through this. There wasn’t anything she could do that wouldn’t hurt him. Stay, and she forced him to be around a liability. Leave, and she broke his heart.

He shouldn’t be. Jenny didn’t deserve that. Ed didn’t deserve that, either. She was a burden. A liability. Why was he apologizing? Jenny was there one who had messed everything up.

Jenny shook her head. Ed couldn’t change who she was. He couldn’t turn her into something other than a monster. She never should’ve been there.

Jenny looked towards them and nodded. Her face was streaked with tears. She did nothing more than that. She’d go along with what Elsie said only. Elsie had managed to bring Terrance back just by asking. That probably meant Jenny had just been driving him away.

Jenny didn’t react. She didn’t register anything else going on around her. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and she didn’t bother to stop them. She deserved to feel this way. Feeling happy would just make her more of a monster, anyways. She realized that a large part of her unhappiness was from guilt, not from losing Terrance. That made her feel far worse. Jenny was apparently more concerned for herself than the guy who had been condemned to some horrible fate.

Jenny didn’t respond, just shrugging. She returned to her seat and sat down, hugging her knees to her chest. It was best for everyone if she didn’t intervene. She couldn’t hurt anyone that way.

Jenny doubted gorgon blood would work. Whatever had happened to Terrance, it hadn’t hurt him physically. She didn’t mention her thoughts, though. Who was she to ever suggest how best to help someone?

He wasn’t dead. But he might’ve as well been. Terrance was trapped somewhere, and she had no idea how to rescue him. She likely had accidentally taken part in somehow stranding his mind. Jenny silently shook her head. She wasn’t sure what to do, so she just stood there. She looked expressionless. Killer. Murderer. Monster. That was all she was. She never should’ve tried to help. Jenny should’ve left him be. Stupid, worthless Jenny.

Jenny sat there for a while longer. She wasn’t sure how long. It was hard to track the passing of time when you were sitting in nothingness. Eventually, she picked up Sword. There was nothing more she could do, so it was time to wake up. Feeling cold and empty, she slashed her throat. She opened her eyes, finding herself awake and in the train. Jenny immediately went to Terrance and felt for a pulse. She hadn’t liked those lights and voices fading.

Jenny had scared it all away. She sat on whatever the equivalent of the ground was and hugged her knees to her chest. There wasn’t anything else she could think of to help Terrance. But she couldn’t just give up on him. Any ideas, Gift? @Weaver of Lights

“No, don’t leave!” Jenny held up Gift and yelled into it as loudly as she could. ”TERRANCE!” This probably wouldn’t work, but Jenny didn’t know what else to try.