"Thank you. For letting me stay here," Jacquelyn smiled as offered them a cup of tea.
After Combeferre had returned a day after Jacquelyn had woken up properly, he had put them on a quarantine in Enjolras' flat, saying they would need time for the frostbite that had seemed to eat part of their right leg to heal.
"It's no problem." Enjolras said, sitting down next to them.
The last few days they'd spent at his flat had seemed to help further meld the bond between them that had grown after the all hallows eve ball, though it had been a bit awkward at first.
The room remained quiet for a few moments as they both stared off into the fire, until Enjolras quietly asked, "What was your father like? I've met a few De La Costa's but not your line of Coste's really."
Jacquelyn sighed, looking up at the ceiling, "He was a good man. Caring, compassionate, loving. He'd let us do what we wanted. Let me wear pants. He taught William and I to ride horses, and to shoot. We lived the way we wanted down there."
"He sounds a good man." Enjolras hummed.
"There was one time. We had traveled up North- to Norway- I- I think-" Jacquelyn paused, clearly thinking something over, confused, "That's strange. I- I can hardly remember it now. There was a ball, dancing-"
They frowned, and Enjolras only shrugged, "It would make sense if you didn't remember. Didn't you come to Paris when you were only 10?"
Jacquelyn nodded, more murmuring than singing, "Dancing bears, painted wings. Things I almost remember."
"Balls always seemed so strange when I was young. I never quite knew what was happening." Enjolras reflected.
"William and I used the sneak away. Father- he'd find us, some of the time anyway. When we went north, to Mamas home," They sighed, closing their eyes and reminiscing, "And a song, someone sings, Once Upon A December. Someone holds me safe and warm, horses prance through a silver storm."
Enjolras could almost see the picture of a ballroom they were painting, imagining them and William, as children sneaking off, "Figures dancing gracefully. Across her memory."
Jacqulyn longed to remember, to be able to picture the night exactly as it had happened, to be able to hold onto the feeling, "Long ago, far away, glowing dim as an ember. Things my heart yearns to know, things I wish to remember."
Enjolras looked at them, green eyes meeting blue, as they sang, "And a song, someone sings. Once Upon a December."
Jacquelyn chuckled, pushing a stray piece of hair out of their face, "It's silly."
"It's not silly."
Their eyes flicked up to him, though only for a moment before they looked back down at their tea, and Enjolras could feel his face flush as he watched their movement.
"What else do you remember? About going north?" He asked softly.
"I think- we- William and I, we would sneak away during balls. Go out into the snow," They sighed wistfully, "I'd give anything to remember those nights."
"We all long for past days." He murmured.
YOU ARE READING
The Darkest Night Will End
Fanfiction"There is a life, and there is a death, and there are beauty and melancholy in between." -Albert Camus In which three people, a marble man, a drunken cynic, and a tired soul, dragged through miserable lives tied together on some invisible string, f...
