Several weeks later
The weeks following your death were trying to say the least. Jacob quickly became uninterested and uncommunicative with those around him, choosing instead to become increasingly withdrawn and rarely step from his private car on the train.
Evie would look on, her brow furrowing in concern at the seeming downward spiral her brother had taken himself on "poor laddies nursing a broken heart Ms Frye" Agnes would explain when she'd carry back yet another trayful of untouched food "tis just time he needs Miss Frye..... That's all, I'm Sure of it " she would sigh
It was a particularly dark and miserable autumn evening, the sun had breathed it last weakened gasps of summer sunshine and the capital was soon threatening to be enveloped within the long pea soup thick smogs and life draining freezing frosts of winter once again.
With a deepened determined sigh, Evie secured the last fastening on her thick assassin coat before picking up a folded manuscript from her desk and placing it securely inside her coats lining for safe keeping.
"Right!" She huffed deliberately before She stepped purposely from the neatness and order of her own carriage and headed tentatively into her twins.
Jacobs car was dark, the blinds down, the dim glow from the oil lantern lit closeby barely gave Evie just enough light to find her way amongst the random litter of papers and empty bottles that had been strewn haphazardly across the floor.
Her nose crinkled at the thick musty smell of stale liquor that hung heavy in the carriage.
"Jacob?" She tested softly as her eyes lifted from the littered disorder of the floor and found his darkened form sat lounging back at his desk. His ankles were firmly crossed upon the surface and his body slumped deep within the chair.
His meagre, sorrowful state brought a sympathetic abatement to Evie's intended harshness. With a softened sigh, She tentatively stepped through the mess and lowered herself down upon the chaise close by.
"Jacob?" She attempted again as she watched him nonchalantly tear a page from the leather bound book he was holding. Without word he crumpled the page nosily before taking aim and tossing it, attempting to land it in the waste paper bin that sat some distance away. Evie's brow furrowed as the page landed just short of its target and rolled into countless other failed attempts.
"I've not seen you lately" she said softly as she turned her attentions back to him. The soft glow of the nearby lamp bathed his face and for the first time Evie saw the tired pain etched upon his now heavily whiskered face.
"That's because I've not been out much" he husked sharply before he tore another page from the book and took aim once more. she paused and watched him throw the paper across the room missing his intended target once more.
"I'm just on my way out if you fancy joining me?" She broached carefully, her head tilting sympathetically
He stifled the suggestion of a laugh within his nose as he began to tear yet another page out "do I look like I want to go out?" He replied quite sharply.
Evie's eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to glance a closer look at the book he was destroying.
"Jacob?......Jacob is that your Silas Marner book?" She asked inching slightly forward on the chaise, a little taken back "but you love that book!" She added as he tossed it slightly more vermantly this time
He cast his head back in the chair, allowing a loud laugh to bellow from his chest. "That's a good one sister!" He smiled as his laugh quickly slowed "'love' it's a funny thing isn't it hm?........ I've finally drawn the conclusion that Love is for losers" he seethed as he tore another page out
"Jacob don't do this" Evie said, her brow furrowing worryingly for her brother. "[name] wouldn't want you to be like this"
He scoffed a laugh before he angrily crumpled the page within his dirtied fingers and tossed it again making it tumble across the floor.
"It's been a full two weeks since the funeral Jacob, you need to start thinking about piecing things back together.... The brotherhood needs you, I NEED you" she implored making his fingers stop a moment.
"The funeral" he whispered to himself as his eyes stared blankly off across the floor
Evie slowly inched forward on the chaise, her elbows resting on her knees as she saw a slight break of emotion in her brothers eyes.
"It was a beautiful day .....You did her proud Jacob" Evie broached carefully
A slight suggestion of a smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth "at least she got the horses she always wanted" he whispered, his gaze still staring blankly off
"She did.... you did that Jacob, everything you did for her that day was perfect"
Jacob eyes blinked quickly as his attentions snapped him starkly round once more "pity the horses had to be black though sister!" He snapped before he began to tear at the book once more.
"Jacob you need to stop torturing yourself like this..... You need to pull yourself round and out of this gloom else I'm scared I won't have a brother around for much longer!" She said sharply, her patience beginning to waiver slightly
There was thick and pensive silence as Evie waited for a response.
"It was because of you, you know" he said suddenly as he crumpled the page he held
"What?" Evie asked a little lost "what was because of me?"
"Why she went to that bloody party in the first place" he hissed coldly launching the page from his hand "she was desperate to win your blessing you know...... She was afraid you didn't like her, afraid you thought she wasn't good enough for me. I told her not to do it, I told her not to be silly.... I mean, what on earth could there've been about her that you wouldn't have liked hm? WHAT EVIE?" He bellowed, his voice waivering as his emotions threatened to take hold once again.
"No Jacob!!" Evie snapped as she pushed herself quickly to her feet "don't you do this, DONT YOU DARE!" She said striding loudly across the carriage toward him
He slammed the book loudly shut before he swung his feet off his desk landing them on the floor with a loud thud.
"Don't you dare pin this on me brother!" She hissed angrily. "DONT YOU DARE!. What happened that day was tragic, if Id have had even the first inkling that Starrick would haven been there I'd have called the whole thing off ....OF COURSE I WOULD"
Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose tightly, his breathing fast and ragged as his blood began to heat within his veins
"Just Look at the state of you Jacob.... Look at what you've become!....Pffffft! Call yourself an assassin?" Her face crumpled disgustedly as her gaze bore angrily down on him "I'm sorry about what happened, GOD KNOWS I AM, but moping around forever isn't going to bring [name] back"
He took a deepened sharp breath in as his hand scraped down his bristled unkempt face. Without word his fingers lifted and he took the uncorked bottle of scotch from the desks surface and poured himself a hefty measure
"Jesus! You're becoming a laughing stock Jacob..... Have you seen yourself lately?, just how much of that have you had today?" She hissed
"Nowhere near enough Evie" he husked lowly. His voice broken and stolen as he lifted the glass and took a deepened drawl "I know it's not enough because I can still think straight" he eventually hissed as his top lips recoiled over his teeth and the alcohol stole the air from his lungs.
She looked at him, her head giving a slight suggestion of a shake and her nose Crinkling in disgust
"You're a mess Jacob, father would be turning in his grave if he could see you now" she seethed
"Then it's a good job he can't then, isn't it! " he replied, his shoulders giving a slight nonchalant shrug as if accompanying a stifled laugh. "Father this, father that.... I'm sick of doing everything for fathers sake Evie... I'm sick and tired of living in his bloody shadow!"
"We're living in his shadow because he was a great man Jacob... I only hope and pray that I become just half the assassin he was one day. Do something that would have made him proud of you Jacob.....join me and continue the work that father started?" She began enthusiastically. Her words only met with an exaggerated roll of the eyes from Jacob "DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIFE JACOB, BECOME THE ASSASSIN HE ALWAYS WANTED YOU TO BE!"
"FATHER IS DEAD!" Jacob boomed furiously
"AND SO IS [NAME]" Evie screeched ferociously in return.
There was a thick and angry silence between the twins as they both caught their heated incensed breath, neither of them wanting to gain eye contact with the other.
After a moments thought Evie closed her eyes defeatedly and sighed "I'm sorry Jacob, I didn't mean it.... Any of it" she said softly as she stepped over to his broken emotional form still sat at the desk "I know how much you're hurting"
Jacob didn't reply, his eyes threatening to fill with thick heated tears as he stared blankly at the desks surface in front of him.
Evie's gaze lifted from him before she loosened the fastenings slightly of her coat. Silently, her hand dipped inside the gap and she pulled out the folded manuscript she'd placed there earlier before throwing it onto the desk in front of him.
"Fancy coming along Jacob?" She asked as she rebuttoned her coat
Jacobs eyes focused on the thick paper Evie had thrown down in front of him, he instantly recognised it to be the one that he'd taken from Phillips' office the day you'd died
"Let's go and finish this, The Frye twins, together once again? What do you say Jacob?" She asked carefully as she watched his dirtied grubby fingers trace the faded lines of maps that were scribed upon the paper.
"What do I say?" He whispered blankly straightening in his chair. He took a deepened breath through his nose, the loosened emotion of his tears rattled loudly in his nose as he cleared his thoughts "what do I say?.......I say that I can't believe after everything that's happened that you still want to chase this foolish folly of a mission Evie.... " he said as his breathing deepened "have you completely lost all of your senses!" He hissed
Evie shuffled uncomfortably at his response, the last thing she wanted to do was to further offend
"Think about it Jacob, this NEEDS to be done, this is a chapter that needs to be closed for [your names]'s sake. If we don't do this then she died for absolutely nothing Jacob .... It's what she would have wanted, I know it" Evie pleaded.
"And you are an expert in what she would have wanted all of a sudden are you?" He scoffed sarcastically before he poured himself another glass of scotch.
Evie gave a deepened frustrated sigh out, she realised at that point that her efforts to pull her twin from his downward spiralling mood were in vane.
"Fine Jacob, but you carry on the route you've seemingly set yourself and you'll be reunited with her sooner than you think..... And when you are, send my regards won't you" she hissed acerbically before she turned from the carriage and strode purposely away.
Jacobs breath quickened as he heard her slide the carriage door closed with a firm and hateful slam. Just at that very moment, his blood seemingly boiled within his veins, the culmination of the recent few weeks stress and emotions bursting from his body in one violent burst. With a loud emotional bawl spilling from his lips, his arm dropped noisily and swept swiftly across his desks surface sending its contents hurtling with a loud smash onto the already messy floor.
It was all Jacob needed to unlock the dark and sickened emotions that he'd been carrying heavily the previous few weeks. He couldn't stop his bodies involuntary heave as his grief finally engulfed him