Chapter One: Fair Chances

"Gunther..."

"It is fine Jane."

"I...merely...it is-"

"Jane" Gunther paused to stoke the fire one last time, prodding a bit harsher than necessary "stop speaking. I can barely hear myself think with you constantly opening your mouth every half chance you get."

Jane tried to not let the words sting, but they did. Her eyes stared at him with a hint of indignation, but mostly with shame. Finally, she looked away, chewed on her bottom lip, and curled her arms around her legs. The night was cool and still, the only sound being the soft crackling of the fire, but Jane did not appreciate it in the least. This quiet was different, filled with a thick bitterness. It was worse knowing it was her fault it was this way.

She kept her eyes trained on the fire, momentarily forgetting the sting of her palm. Jane looked down at the bandage Gunther had wrapped around it with an absent mindedness, her other hand touching the area where most of her fingers used to be. Her mind was too busy re-playing what occurred yesterday. The smell of fresh blood as it sprayed in front of her, staining her hair and face as it flew into the auburn sky. It was always someone else's blood that scarred her the most. Many times she had wished it was hers, like tonight for example, and probably every night afterward.

The Day Before.

She gripped her sword, and with little time to think she parried and struck another knight square on the side. He let out a loud roar-like groan, fighting through the pain. Jane struck him again on the neck, and he went down without much of a fight, blood spraying on impact. Her breath was ragged, as it always was during a battle, but her mind was clear. One had to find some clarity in the chaos of war, without it there awaited certain death. Jane's eyes took a second to search for Gunther in the madness, for the wolf embellished on his armor plate. Before she had the chance, she was surrounded, two knights in front and behind her. She screamed, a demonstration of her zealousness and fierceness. A war cry was just bluff. It was a knight's reassurance in battle, like a lullaby, that was meant to give them a false sense of security. In reality they were all afraid, all sad, and all broken.

She waited for one of them to make the first move. Sir Theodore had always wanted about acting too quickly.

'Remember Jane, the knight who strikes first in impatience has less time to assess his situation. Give yourself the time you need to think, and think before you swing.'

His voice always rang in her head like a church bell, clear and with purpose. There was a pause between all of them, none willing to make the first move. Minutes passed, but Jane had patience, she would wait until her moment came.

"Argh!" Behind her she heard a familiar voice sound out, then the clink of swords coming together. Too afraid to turn around, she kept her eyes trained on the men in front of her; it proved to be the right choice. Quickly afterward both knights advanced, and Jane thrust her shield forward to stop her arm from being cut off. The weight of both weapons hitting itwas still strong enough to send a shaking pain across her arm, and send her back a couple steps. It took some footwork to keep herself on her feet. A knight on the ground was completely defenseless.

She could feel her heart beat in her temples. A hand grabbed her from behind, and Jane reflexively went to jab her elbow backwards, but luckily someone caught it. "Lady Jane, tis I."

"Timothy-I am relieved to see you."

Timothy looked worse for the wear; his eye was swollen shut and covered in blood from a wound on his forehead, yet somehow, he managed to smile at her.

"I believed you were in need of some help" he positioned his sword upward, eyes trained on the knights in front of them. Jane did not have much time to reply before the men attacked again. This time she lunged her shield at the appropriate time, and struck one of them fairly on his head. His helmet made a long 'cling!' as it hit against the shield, and he swung his sword wildly in an attempt to not be hit again. The blade struck her on her inner arm, and Jane let out a loud hiss when she felt the pain. The panic alone was enough to give her the strength she needed to strike him again, and Jane heard a sickening crack before striking him a third time. She did not stop until his body hit the floor.

Her victory was short lived as a spear flew from behind and knocked her shield out of her hand. A couple of inches to the right and she would have been dead. Instead she was left with a burning pain and a notable cut on her palm that began bleeding profusely. She did not have the time to properly assess it, but it was bad. Most of her fingers were broken, and it caused her to temporarily panic.

'Jane' Sir Theodore's voice rang again, but far more distantly than before. It hurt too much to pay attention.

Jane turned around and immediately her body went cold. It was much worse than she thought. The enemy was advancing towards them in a bigger group now, more knights than she could count. How was this possible? Were they losing the war?

Timothy was standing against her back now, when she glanced back to catch a glimpse his fear filled expression. She had seen the look before on her comrades, her enemies, herself. Jane willed a strong expression on her countenance, she needed to be strong for Timothy-he was just a squire after all. Not fully doused in the experience of war.

"Timothy listen to me, we must-"

"Jane!"

From afar Jane could hear the faint call of her name. Normally it would be difficult to hear much of anything amidst the screams, but his voice was always distinct to her. Perhaps it was because she had heard it so much in her youth.

"Gunther?" Without skipping a beat, her eyes landed on his frame, where he was locked in combat with a sizable knight. The two were struggling to overpower the other, sword against sword, but Gunther's eyes were on them.

"Jane-I am coming to help you! Do not advance."

Her eyebrows furrowed. Was he mad?! He had read her mind it seemed, because Jane knew the only tactical method that might work in such a situation was to advance forward in one direction as swiftly as possible and try to make their way to the other side. Being enclosed like this-waiting for his help when he needed some of his own. Jane looked at Gunther again to find him struggling still. Could he really be of help?

"Jane?" Timothy called in an almost desperate manner, inching closer to her as the knights began to form a proper circle. Soon their formation would be structured enough to move in with little chance of resistance; Jane knew she had a small window of opportunity now.

"Jane! Please-trust me!"

She could hear Gunther call out to her, but she did not turn this time. Her eyes were on the enemy. Could she really trust him? Gunther's judgement of all people?

"Jane!"

She was sweating now. She could hear the sharp intakes of breath escaping her. Gunther of all people? It repeated in her mind like a dark chant. She had just one chance. Just one.

What came after was a haze. A mess of screaming, the blaring sounds of steel, and an array of movement that was controlled yet not quite her own. Jane could not remember most of it, just the sight of blood flying into the air and falling back down, like the first rain of spring.

Jane was sore in more places than she could count. Simple actions like moving the finger on her bad hand hurt far too much, though the fire made it all feel a bit better. Still, she dared not complain, not even in the chamber of her thoughts where only she knew how she felt.

Not when Timothy was dead because of her.

She felt a pang deep within her, like a hot lance pressing against her core. Jane squeezed her bandaged hand as hard as she could until the feeling went away.

"Stop that" Gunther chastised when he saw what she was doing. He sighed as if annoyed by her gesture, or maybe it was her overall presence that vexed him. "You will make matters worse if your wounds becomes infected." He sat down on the opposite side of her, hands near the fire to keep them warm in the cooling night, but his eyes were somewhere else.

They stayed silent for moments longer, more than Jane cared to count, until finally she opened her mouth again to speak. Her mind was buzzing, and she was sure she was the last person he wanted to hear from tonight and possibly tomorrow, and even after that. But she could not help herself; she needed to tell him now, before she regretted it and chose to never talk about it again. There was a heaviness here she could not bear, one that would eat them both alive slowly. She needed to amend that.

"I am sorry."

"Jane…"

"If it were not for me then Timothy—"

"Jane."

"He was your squire and I—I—"

"I do not need your pity party. I do not need your useless reminders, and I do not need your after-thought guilt" Gunther snapped, shooting her an intense glare that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. He gave himself some time, eyes closed as if his head was spinning. Finally he sighed. "What I need to know is why you did not listen to me?"

The shame of answering was enough to make her look away, and when she did not Gunther scoffed and looked away too, as if disgusted. She much preferred that look compared to the one he gave her yesterday, the one of sheer horror and disappointment. He had comforted the boy in his final moments. Jane did not know Gunther could look so sad either.

It made her stomach knot again.

"Because I do not trust you" she finally said, meeting glances with him "Perhaps I never have trusted you…not fully. When I look at you Gunther, I still see the boy I used to know. The one who cheated and lied and was far too selfish to make good decisions. We never-we have grown beside one another yet..." she swallowed, suddenly feeling her throat and mouth dry up "…yet nothing has really changed between us."

Gunther shook his head dismissively, much like she expected him to. It was not because he could not believe what she was saying, moreover, it was the opposite. It was exactly what he was expecting her to say.

"I suppose you are right, I cannot say I like you any much more than I did before. You still as stubborn and as pigheaded as ever."

She knew he meant for those words to hurt with the way he said them. "That is true." She did not dare say otherwise, not that she disagreed, at least not this time. "I know I am difficult to deal with. I apologize."

Gunther scoffed again. "If you would learn that not everyone is against you Jane—that I am not against you—then perhaps you would not have to rely so heavily on your instincts. We are a team now Jane, is that so difficult for you to see?"

"Sometimes" she admitted.

There was more silence between them, while Gunther poked at the fire with a stick, lifting the end to watch it burn.

"Do you know? It brings me no pleasure in watching you suffer anymore. Especially over the death of someone we cared about. These things…they just happen. We cannot predict who will live or die or why it happens or when or how" he finally said, frowning.

"But if I can prevent it then I can—"

He shot her another glare.

"I mean…if we can lessen it with our distrust…then we should" she sighed "we should both…perhaps…learn to work together more."

"We? You are the one making all the mistakes."

Jane felt a sense of dejection until she realized the minuscule mirth in Gunther's eyes, a small smirk playing his lips.

"Gunther…"

"I accept your apology Jane" he added more earnestly, putting out the small flame by pressing the stick's end to the dirt "it is not easy having the death of a fellow soldier on your shoulders. I do not like the thought of adding to one's suffering over it. I know how that feels."

"If you accept my apology, then will you let me continue it? There is…so much I feel I must say."

He nodded somewhat hesitantly. She could tell he was uncomfortable sharing emotions, he had always been, but at least he allowed her this much.

It is funny, in a way. We have been through so much together, and yet we cannot seem to see eye to eye. I often remember hating you, but never quite remember when it had all started. I sometimes ask myself why it had to be this way between us…" when she could not finish her thoughts Gunther smiled, albeit sadly.

"Lasting impressions Jane" he responded "they are rather haunting. I cannot say I am not to blame either. I have not made life particularly simple for you."

Jane wanted to retort that, to say he did nothing wrong and blame herself again, but that in itself would not be the truth. She would be remiss in believing that she would have been able to trust Gunther much more easily if he had not disillusioned her time and again.

"I am trying-to change that is. It is not quite as simple as I believed it to be. Sometimes the shortcuts in life, the lies, they just make it all...easier." His lips drew tightly together in a thin line, as if refraining himself from saying more. She had caught him doing that sometimes, and at times she would wait to see if he continued until she grew frustrated and dropped the subject altogether. Hearing him now speak so gently and forlornly, she began to understand that perhaps some things were best left unsaid. There was more to him, it was merely a shame that she was seeing that now.

"I do not know you…not really" she admitted aloud "yet I have judged you time and again, and perhaps unfairly more times than I care to admit to. I am sorry for never really giving you the fair chance you deserved."

He looked at her with an expression she could not read. "I suppose we are mostly the same then, but changing, somehow."

"Slowly but surely" she smiled "For the better? I hope...now?"

"I believe so." He answered with a small smile of his own. After a while, he picked up the stick in his hand, lit the end and raised it to her "To fair chances then?"

Jane's smile grew, she could feel her cheeks reddening as she picked up a stick of her own with her good hand, touching her end with his until hers too was ablaze.

"To fair chances."

A/N: AHH. What a hoot! I'm having so much fun already for Janther Week :D

Thanks to everyone who's participated so far!

If anyone wants more information regarding the event please see the link below!

As for me, I wanted to write about both Jane and Gunther going through something like metanoia. I always kind of headcanon them as getting along by the time their adults and really knowing each other, so I wanted to play contrary to that idea. This is just the cusp of change that will take place between these two, and I felt something heavy should have caused it. I was going to go more in depth with Timothy and them talking about him, but I decided that I would just let that happen some other time in a universe where I don't have to write about it LOL.