DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Book Thief, I just think its an amazing piece of artwork.
SUMMARY: This is an AU story of what I think would have happened should Alex Steiner have let Rudy go off to that school. Please read and review, maybe I'll come up with more!
At first, she rarely spoke. Liesel rejected words with the same passion that she had embraced them with before. She lived with what could only be called a form of survivor's guilt. It all seemed like a shell of normalicy. On the day of the funerals, Liesel stood silently beside Frau Hermann covered in the remains of Himmel Street. Through the crowd, her chocolate brown eyes scanned each face. Simultaneously avoiding the ceremony and looking-for him. But his lemon head was no where to be found. Would he ever return?
The thought kept Liesel up at night. Who would want to return to what would be an empty block where everyone was rumored to have died? Did he know she was still alive? Would he come back for her? Months passed, and the longer Liesel waited for Rudy Steiner, the more sure she became he was never coming back. Without him or Tommy to play with, Liesel moved to the Munich school, closer to where she and Max now lived. She was forced to make new friends, girlfriends this time. Slowly the wounds healed. She remained unable to escape the nightmares, but she was stronger, able to ignore them in the heat of the morning. Liesel never forgot Rudy Steiner, and there wasnt a day that went by when she didn't think of him, his lemon hair, and his never ending pestering to kiss him.
There were nights, when Liesel would wake drowning in the sheets as she stared into the vacant eyes of her Papa, drenched in a cold sweat. Tears would form in the back of her eyes, and she would thump back against the bed, staring at the ceiling. Only one thing would come to her mind, much like the previous images of Rudy in the corner in the nude. And as she studied the gentle curves of the design plastered on the ceiling, one word would be uttered from her lips.
"Rudy."
It was two years. Two years before she would see Rudy Steiner again, and two years before she had to actively relive some of the most horrifying experiences of her life.
THE RETURN OF ONE RUDY STEINER
Liesel Meminger, a sixteen year old young woman, was walking down the road after school. A voice shouted her name. She turned.
It was a foggy afternoon in the remaining Molching. Liesel was walking home from school with her best friend, Lily Jameson. She was a strong, independent girl, originally born in Ireland but moved to Germany when she was nearly three years old. She had long vibrant red hair with big banana curls and emerald green eyes. She had befriended Liesel when she came to the Munich school just after the bombing and Liesel gave her the large credit to why she was no longer such a loner or a tomboy.
Liesel and Lily both held their books in cloth sling bags, on their shoulder. Their topic for discussion today was how Thomas Sessler, a boy in their grade, had asked Lily to hang out with him the following Saturday. Lily was constantly bombarded by boys, whether they were insulting her and trying to piss her off, or falling over themselves to get to her, or both, and while she would never admit it herself, Liesel suffered a bit of the same problem.
"Didn't he just challenge you to a race last week?" Liesel asked. Her blonde hair, now long and straight, shined in the little sunlight that peeked through the clouds, and she tucked it behind her ear, letting it fall down her back freely. Her eyes-once a dangerous color was now soft and safe-scanned the ground for the stone she had been kicking down the street.
"Yes, which is exactly what I don't understand!" Lily protested, pulling on her own red curls in thought. As they reached the corner of the street, Lily stopped, and Liesel followed.
"What is it?" she asked her friend, turning to face her. Lily made a face, putting a thin finger to her lips.
"Listen. Don't you hear that?" The friends were silent for a second before she heard it.
"LIESEL! LIESEL MEMINGER! YOU SAUMENSCH!" Liesel turned behind her to face where they had just come from. She froze.
A MOMENT OF RECOGNITION
It wasn't just his colorful language, or this lemony head of hair that told Liesel it was him. Just moments before she had been thinking of him, by the very trigger of the wind. Its as if, she would say, she sensed him.
Rudy?
Her bag slipped from her shoulder, and barely above a whisper it slipped out. "Rudy?" she could feel Lily's eyes on her and the boy, but she couldn't take her eyes off the man heading towards her. He was close enough to her for her to see his smile, his crooked smile. "RUDY!" the scream rippled through the air and Liesel took off full force for him. He never expected her to throw her arms around him the way she did, but the moment she collided into him with a hug Rudy wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, spinning her around before putting her down. He held her for a silent moment, his face in the crook of her neck.
Liesel, oh Liesel. he thought, moaning in his head.
When she pulled away, Liesel had to fight the ridiculously strong and embarrassing urge to kiss him. She looked up at him through thick shy eyelashes, grinning. He grinned in return.
"I missed you Liesel." he said, and she was taken back at the deepness of his voice. He was older, as well, taller than her now and stronger, she could feel it. He, in turn, couldn't help his wandering eyes. They say that childhood love is the purest and truest kind-Rudy had loved Liesel from the moment she stepped onto that soccer field almost seven years ago. He loved her when she was a scrawny, poor, malnourished, dirty kid. The woman who stood before him, with her delicious curves and mouth watering figure set fire to the adolescent hormones in him, but it was the girl underneath, that he had always known, that he loved and always would.
Under his gaze Liesel blushed. "I missed you too, Rudy. When you didn't come-right after the-...well I thought..." she looked to her toes before taking him by the hand and leading him over to her Lily. In so many ways Liesel had always known Lily and Rudy would get along. They were so similar in so many ways, Liesel had often caught herself going to call her Rudy in the beginning. "Lily, this is Rudy. Rudy, this is Lily." she said, presenting him to Lily with a swell of pride. Lily gave Rudy the one over before smiling at him.
"So this is the Rudy-you've got good taste, Lies." if it was possible, Liesel got redder, sending Lily a dark look. I know, she thought to herself.
"Why didn't you come back? Why didn't you come for the funerals?" Liesel asked in a low voice. They were walking down what was left of Himmel Street now. At first, Liesel had been reluctant to go. But she came to the realization that she was going with Rudy, and that the war was over, and that she was safe.
When they first turned the corner, and stopped, Liesel took his hand. She could see the shock in his eyes, and as much as she wanted to comfort him, it was her that was looking for comfort. She could hear the silence of the after attack, and see the rubble and feel the fire. She saw her Papa and Mama sitting, dead, eyes lifeless in the aftermath. With a small gasp, containing to hold back tears, she turned into him, burying her face in his shoulder.
After a while, the two had followed the dancing sunset down the street. There was no physical contact between them now, but each silently longed for the presence of the other against their skin. Instead they filled the gap between them with words, and for the first time since the incident, Liesel embraced them. She told him the story, from the beginning-with Max-to the end, when she found Hans and Rosa Hubermann like statues in the ruins of their home.
And more. Her story continued, staying with Frau Hermann, finding Max on their doorstep just a year ago, moving in with him as he became her adopted father. The story carried them back to Amper River, where they stopped and sat at the base of the rushing water. Though it was mid-May the water was still warming from the sun, and Liesel thought of day he saved her book from the stream.
"Do you remember the day I dove in after that stupid book of yours?" Rudy interrupted the silence, voicing the very thoughts Liesel was chewing over in her head. She smiled, leaning back on her elbows as the last of the clouds finally cleared the way for the sunset to wash over the world. She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Yes, I do." she voiced. It was the day I almost kissed you, she thought to herself. "It was the last time you ever asked for a kiss, you stupid Saukerl." they laughed together, and Liesel propped herself up, her heart beating faster with her next thought. "Why?" she asked, folding her hands together and crossing her legs. She looked at him behind a curtain of blonde German hair. Beneath lemon colored bangs he squinted back at her.
"What do you mean, why?" he asked in a loud voice, rolling his eyes.
"Why did you stop asking?" silence fell against the bank of the Amper, and Rudy studied the current with subdued concentration. Liesel took the time to study his face in the sunlight. He had the strong jaw of a man, a hint of blond stubble forming on his chin. His eyes were deep and his face had lengthened and filled to that of a young man's. His arms and torso were fit from two years of rigorous training exercises mandatory in his school. But he had the same shaggy lemon hair and sparkling eyes he always had. The need for him became suddenly unignorable and she moved to sit next to him, facing the opposite direction. Her shoulder and side were against his thigh and her knee bounced against his shoulder. At the movement he looked up and smiled at her.
"It's not really important, youSaumensch. I think you should tell me more about living with Max-and your new school." his attempted to change the conversation was completely lost on Liesel, because as soon as he had focused on her she had made up her mind. She leaned forward slowly, coming to a stop inches from his face. Her chocolate eyes flickered to him and in a whispered she said,
"I wish you hadn't stopped asking." She studied the emotion in his eyes and the stun on Rudy's face before she saw him smile.
"How about a kiss, Saumensch?" he whispered back, before he leaned forward, closing the gap between them. As she felt his lips against hers, a smile and a sigh grazed her lips. Fireworks lit up the sky behind her eyes. He tasted sweet and strong. The second kiss with stronger, less gentle, and the third caught them wrapped their arms around each other as the sun said it's last goodbye.
On the bank of the Amper River, a boy and girl were entwined.