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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 14, 2008 1:25:57 GMT -5
If it wasn't her, then the same could be said about whoever had showed up at her apartment. A fuzzy red tainted the edge of his vision as he struggled to get control of his breathing.
"I would never tell you that. Regardless," he managed, "You slept with someone on Thursday, and it certainly wasn't me." This fact alone was particularly painful. And he'd thought the agony of losing her couldn't get any worse. How naive.
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Post by Jules on Aug 14, 2008 1:30:02 GMT -5
"So what? We were both visited by strangers who looked exactly like the other one and proceeded to rip us to shreds? That makes no sense Armand. One of us is confused, and I know what happened. I know where I've been the past four days."
She knew this was a loosing battle. To understand what had happened, to understand why he'd changed his mind and why he was denying it now. Zizzy knew that when she left here, she was going to be sorely tempted to tarry in cloud form a second too long. She didn't think she could handle this pain, overwhelming and crushing, much longer.
"I'm sorry for whatever you thought I said, whatever you perceived me to have done. I didn't do any of it, and would never. I love you." Still. How stupid could she be?
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 14, 2008 1:37:25 GMT -5
"One of us is confused," he repeated, with a pointed glare in her direction. "Ask Alexander. Ask Genn. I was here all day Thursday."
He felt like he was made of paper mache and each word was a new razor blade ripping him into smaller and smaller pieces. She broke his heart, and then topped it off by coming back to tell him she cheated on him.
"Stop," he said, looking away. He winced at how pathetic his voice sounded. "Don't patronize me."
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Post by Jules on Aug 14, 2008 1:47:06 GMT -5
She was getting frustrated. Something wasn't right. Something didn't make sense. He wasn't lying, why would he? But she knew what had happened, she'd been there, obviously. "I'm not." She whispered, trying so hard to get a handle on the situation.
It really was as though they'd been played into some cruel, horrendous joke. She hadn't been here since the Party, which made no sense because he was convinced otherwise and yet couldn't recall being at her apartment on the same day. She wasn't crazy, and he didn't look crazy.
And then it hit her. The party, which had been interrupted by none other then Iker. Who had melted into Nellie's form to upset Alexander. What if?
Unable to bear the implications if she was right, Zizzy fell to the ground, crashing hard on her knees, and folding over almost completely, dropping her face into her lap. From between her fingers, pressed up against her face, she murmured 'I thought he was you.'
She felt sick, horrified. She could feel bile burning the back of her throat and she swallowed furiously. She looked up at him, face wet with new tears. "Armand, Iker."
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 14, 2008 1:57:28 GMT -5
He instinctively stepped toward her, concerned, as she hit the floor. The tormented expression on her face was enough to send his stomach pitching as she looked up, eyes shining.
Iker.
He stared at her, confused. He didn't feel anything, though he thought he should be. The longer he stared, however, the more strain her words placed on the barrier of denial. They got heavier and heavier until he heard a sharp crack.
The cracks spread loudly, but otherwise everything else seemed deafeningly silent. Everything suddenly and horrifyingly made sense. He had not fought with Zizzy four days ago, but with his old counterpart. And at her apartment, it hadn't been him that had... that had... with her....
With one last crack the barrier shattered and he was crushed by the weight of reality. Everything seemed to hit him at once; relief, because she did love him after all, pain, guilt, but mostly a red-hot rage that set his shoulders shaking and his pulse racing.
But first, first...
He collapsed at her side and drew her fiercely to him, kissing everything he could reach. "You love me," he whispered, almost crying with the words.
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Post by Jules on Aug 14, 2008 2:04:17 GMT -5
There was a pain inside her, a dull ache, a rage but it was pushed aside for the simple joy of having Armand back. He hadn't thought he was too good for her, he hadn't wanted to take a break, he wasn't leaving her, it hadn't just been for fun. She clung to him, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her lips to his when she could and any where else when she couldn't. "Yes, of course I do. I'm sorry." She broke into sobs though, because even as she glowed, she had to face the fact that on Thursday the man she'd slept with hadn't been Armand.
"I'm so, so, sorry. I love you, so much. I thought he was you." She could hardly breath for the well and confusing mix of emotion she felt. Overwhelming relief, along with a huge depth of rage and a horrible sense of sickness.
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Post by Miss Jack on Aug 14, 2008 2:09:34 GMT -5
"It's alright," he breathed.
It wasn't, but he didn't want her to hold herself accountable. He couldn't think about that right now. The very thought of him touching her that way made his blood boil. His eyes smouldered dangerously. "I'm going to kill him." Simple, matter of fact.
He kissed her again. He seemed to be magnetically stuck to her; he couldn't find the will to even loosen his hold. "I love you. More than my own life," he added.
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Post by Jules on Aug 14, 2008 2:19:43 GMT -5
It seemed like the first time in four days that she was able to take a proper breath. And not really, because he was kissing it out of her, but she couldn't care less if she asphyxiated as long as he stayed right here with her. She'd been so close to falling apart, to giving up on herself, literally, because for a while she'd been sure she'd never have him in her life again. And for all her 'independence' she knew now she wasn't quite ready to live in a world where she wasn't with Armand.
"We need a code word, of some kind." She was only half-joking. This couldn't ever happen again. "And we can't tell anyone what it is." Zizzy was glowing brighter for the relief she felt, after all that pain. After that look in his eyes. She placed a hand on his cheek. "I can't know what he said to you. What he made you think I wanted. But it's not true, that I know. None of it. I like your family, I love you." She couldn't stop saying it.
She would deal with what had happened in her apartment another time. The pain of it could be buried under the greater happiness she felt for this moment right now. But she couldn't help but agree with him. She wanted Iker dead.
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