Chapter 27

B: Jess glared at him. "I have gotten the help I need. So has Seth. I never said if you questioned Seth. I said ME. Me and only ME! He had his reasons for letting me go so "easily"." She said glaring at him. As he said that she and Seth needed help she sighed. "I heard the fucking stories. All the times you gave up missions to fuck her. Yeah, I know about all that. Yes, you have so gotten over her. Then why are you standing up for her? Why are you defending her when EVERYONE knows what happened? No one can amount to him, he is my only family. I don't let everything revolve around him. I got pissed off because everyone thinks so poorly of him because of my damned actions." She yelled.

"I don't need help and neither does my brother we had our help but sometimes people have slip ups. I don't believe in second chances. I have already given you a second one." She growled at him. Her body shook and she was crying. All over some guy who was questioning her. "You know you are just like everyone here. Questioning me. Everyone still does. They question if I should even be here. Alexander has already asked me several time if I wanted to be moved. He told me he could get me into the Paris Institute and I am going there, today." she screamed and ran to Alexander's office and slammed the door.

Alexander was taken back by her sudden change in mind, but he only nodded and sent her to pack her things and tell her brother goodbye. When she entered his room, he was with Dara, a colorful hunter that she had seen. She said her goodbyes and explained what had happen and then she left to go back to Alexander's office. He had moved her things to the main lobby and had a car coming for her.

Jess was about to leave when she saw Isaac. "Goodbye. Whatever happened between us is over. Please just leave it at that. You were better off anyways. Everyone is. Seth has found a girl and she is beautiful. He will be fine and so will you. I do love you but, I can't be with someone who cannot trust me. And you don't because you did nothing but question me since your brother." She said with a low sad voice. Leaving would be hard but she knew it was best for her.

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I: "Jess! Come back here! Jess you still aren't even hearing me! This is not about you and me anymore! It's about you and Seth. I want to help you! I'm telling you that you need help! The sooner you admit it and stop denying it then the better it will become! Don't run from me! You can't run from love Jess. Please stop this." This night was supposed to be special, and Jess promised to go with him by Belle, and now she left him all alone and has decided to leave him behind.

He watched her leave and waited outside until she emerged again. He did not leave, he didn't even move from that spot as he waited. When she finally returned, he was calm, hurt, and complacent. "Jess. Let me speak now." He took her hand softly. "You told me that I was defending Belle. It was not true. I learned a long time ago not to take up for her, so I haven't. You thought I was because all you saw was me protecting you had no reason to feel that. Secondly, I never snuck off to have sex with her. Sex happened between her and I after a mission that made me reconsider my loneliness and I decided to share my love with her. Finally Jess, you leaving is not because of me. I have ran after you, waited for you, chased you, only for you to throw it in my face and say that I don't trust you. That never came from my mouth. I love you Jess. But you are giving up on me. You are leaving without trying to work it out. Without trying to make it better between us. You want to run and run, and I can't chase you this time Jess. I can't leave the institute they would never let me."

He then stepped closer and grabbed her into a hug. "So please give me just tonight. You promised that we would be together, so please stay with me tonight. Tomorrow I will bring you to the plane myself. But please tonight stay with me Jess. I need you. " he begged her as he held her close. "Stay one night. And I promise I will let you go, and I won't try to stop you."

I: Jess simple looked at him. As he hugged her, she stiffened. She sighed as he begged. "I will stay until morning, but then I am leaving. Going to Paris will help me. I will have Seth and Blane drive me. I'm not staying in your room. I'm not going to be around you after we go to talk to Belle. I know that's why you want me to stay. I will go with you. Then after that I am going to Paris. I will probably return, but it won't be for a long while." She spoke with no emotions.

She was holding back everything she had inside her. She wanted to be with him but when he said all that stuff about her, she snapped inside. She blocked off all her emotions and she was not letting anyone break her walls. She went to go tell Alexander her plan and then got a bag and took it to her old room. The rest of her things were being shipped to Paris. Once she was done, she hunted down Isaac and looked at him. "Let's get this over with so I can spend time with Blane and Seth before I go." She said with a shrug.

I: Jess was being really unkind. He had never seen this side of her, and it hurt him to his heart. He wanted to make her happy and he wanted to help her and Seth solve the pain that caused them both to become so out of control and angry, but she wouldn't even admit that she needed help, love and someone to care about her.

He waited for her to return but he walked in silence. He led her to a very rich and expensive part of the city, a place where very rich mundane a lived and splurged their money. He took Jess to a large house, something like a mansion, and he knocked on the door.

A moment later a maid answered, and he deactivated his runes to be sure he was seen when she answered. "Isaac! Welcome back." The maid smiled and hugged him, and he hugged her back.

"May I speak to Isabelle."

He asked nicely, and the woman nodded and let them inside. Slowly he walked inside of the large home as if he knew exactly where to go. He led Jess with him, taking her hand and guiding her to a large staircase. He walked up the stairs taking Jess with him until they reached a hallway. He walked to the end of it and opened one of the doors. Inside there was a hospital bed, and a very sick young woman in it. She was so sick, that all of her hair had fallen out, and she looked very old.

The woman looked over at him, and she brightened as if he was the sun in the sky. "Zack..." Her voice was weak, tired, and terribly low. The raspy sound of her voice showed she was ill and dying slowly.

"Belle. This is my friend, Jess. We have come to...see you." He tried to get the words out. The woman nodded and gently pat the bed for them to sit.

"Zack. You came back to see me." She coughed lightly and Zack nodded with a smile and reached for a cup of water beside her bed. He held it for her to take a sip. "It's been so long. You didn't stop by last week." She said with a smile and he nodded.

"I'm sorry Belle. I'm here now though." He said. The woman then looked to Jess.

"Such a pretty girl. She must be very special if you brought her to see me." The woman lightly laughed and began to cough hard and she covered her mouth with a shaky hand and wiped a speck of blood to her handkerchief. "It won't be long now. These doctors, the bastards drain every dime you have only to tell you there is nothing they can do. These mundane a given so much false hope." She sighed and lay back. Belle looked to the ceiling and sadness overcame her. "Why are you here?" She asked in a shaky voice.

Isaac smiled and gently took her hand in his. "To tell you that I miss you Belle. I miss the way we used to laugh, the way we used to sneak out of the institute together to train. I miss our laughter." He said and she nodded remembering those times too. "I want you to know Belle, that over the years I was very angry, and hurt. But I forgive you now. I have fallen in love again, and the moment she stole my heart, my anger went away." He confessed and chuckled as he placed Belles hand to his chest. "I forgive you Belle. For everything. I want to let it go so I can move on. That's...what I came to say." He said and looked at her. "Use your runes Belle. Please. Come back to the institute and let us help you, we can heal you." He said sadly.

Belle smiled and shook her head. "Thank you for your forgiveness Zack. But I...I'm tired." She lay back and looked at him. "I chose this. I betrayed you, my family, my friends. I want to say that it was the mundane world and the mundane a who made me, but that's a lie. There are good mundane a too Zack. There are good people out here. I didn't choose to be a part of them. I chose to be a part of the others. The rowdy ones, the crazy ones, the carefree. And I hurt you. I hurt your brother. I hurt my mother and my father and my siblings. They hate me so much Zack. They don't visit and they don't write. They couldn't take anymore and now look at me. Look at me." She began to cry as she held his hand. "I am so thankful that you forgave me Zack. Even when I couldn't forgive myself. You loved me and I threw it back in your face and I am so sorry Zack. I should have listened, and I am so sorry. That is why I want to stay. I don't want Alexandar to see me, to see the consequences I suffer, because he would help me. I don't deserve it."

She leaned over and held his hand tightly. "If you have found love Zack, hold onto it. Don't ever, ever let it go. You fight for it. Don't let anyone keep you from the one you love. Don't betray them because you will wake up alone with a disease that no one can save you from. If this sweet girl is who you love, then please don't make the mistake I did and hold onto what is going to ruin your relationship. I couldn't let go of the mundane lifestyle. All I had to do was come home. Please Zack, do me one final favor. " the woman leaned to her dresser and opened a drawer. She took out a golden Stele and handed it to him.

"The day I left you for good, I started a rune to help me forget you and the institute forever. I did it because I was afraid you all would try to force me to come back and I didn't want to return. Now, I want you to finish it." She gently pulled up her sleeve with her weak hands. The partially done rune had healed and the tattoo was dark with years of age.

Zack slowly shook his head. "I can't do this Belle. There is still hope for you. If I could forgive you, your family could too."

She nodded. "I know they will and that's the problem. Why would I tell them I love them when I have less than a week left to live? Please Zack take my memories. Take my pain. I just want it to go away."

Zack nodded and gently flipped the Stele. He pressed the crystal to her and smiled at her trying to hide his sadness. "You two, will make the most beautiful children." She whispered. "I'm proud of you Zack. Please, make this young woman happy. Love her the way I could never have loved you." She asked seriously and Zack fought tears as he nodded.

The rune was painful and she cried, tensing as he drew it. Once it was done, she fainted from the pain, but she would not remember them when she woke. Zack took her Stele and tucked it into his pocket, and he looked at her sickly body.

He left the room quietly and closed the door behind Jess. He began to walk down the hallway to leave, but somewhere along the way he couldn't continue walking. Zack covered his face trying to hold it in, but he suddenly broken down and began to cry.

"Thank you Jess." He sobbed and took her hand. "Thank you for coming with me." He continued to cry as the person he had hated for so long was finally getting what he had felt she deserved, and now seeing it happen to her, he wished he could take it back.