AN: I wrote this originally as an alternate ending for a book report. It is set during the bombing. Read and enjoy. This is my first Book Thief Fan Fic so no Flames please! Its not very long cause i am lazy :P
Bombs pounded on Himmel Street. They flattened anything they fell against and burned everything they touched. The entire street was asleep and I was waiting for their souls.
Only two souls never came to me.
Liesel Meminger and Rudy Steiner.
Their souls were not finished here yet.
Asleep in 33 Himmel's basement, Rudy and Liesel woke with a terror-filled start, only to find the stairs crushed by rubble and the roof caved in as if someone had stepped on it. Their screams were canceled out by the roar of the flames and their cries were ignored.
Why was Rudy there in the first place? You may ask.
Because Liesel wanted to show him two things. Her book and Max's sketches.
Rudy gawked at the sketches and laughed at the ones of him. He seemed impressed by Liesel's story.
"Its good, Saumensh, but it needs something."
"Like what?"
Rudy has smiled and said, "A kiss from a 'lemon-haired' boy."
Liesel had slapped him.
Moments later, they were slumped against the wall with the book open and the words of Max and Liesel watching them sleep from the basement walls.
The bombs first hit 32, where Frau Holtzapfel was asleep at her kitchen table. If she had been awake, I know her soul would have gladly followed me.
Rudy and Liesel woke slightly groggy and terrified. A bomb hit very near 33 and the impact sent the two hard against the floor and the roof of the basement caved in about a foot. Paint cans were sent flying.
Rudy sat up, blood trickling down his nose, "What's happening?" Rudy screamed.
Another bomb.
Another soul.
When Rudy saw that Liesel was not moving on the floor, he panicked. "Liesel! Wake up!" He shook her and saw her bleeding forehead. He shook her harder. No movement.
Another bomb. This time it hit directly on 33 and the stairs gave out under all the rubble as Rudy and Liesel were sent against the wall. The jolt woke up Liesel and she groaned before she realized what happened; she could only think of one thing to say.
"Papa," she whispered it at first, "Papa!" she desperately screamed his name repeatedly and tried to dig her way out of what used to be the stairs. The reality of what was happening hit Rudy and he helped Liesel dig, until another bomb hit and they were thrown against the wall again. This time they did not get up.
"We need to stay put, don't move, Saumensh."
Liesel did not say anything, she only sobbed into her knees.
"You know what would make me less scared?"
Liesel did not answer.
"A kiss."
Liesel lifted her head from her knees and looked Rudy in the eye. She was so sure that they were going to die, she was willing to make a bet that she normally would not keep.
"If we make it out alive, I'll kiss you,"
She would have to keep that bet.
When the bombs stopped, the two screamed for help, and eventually an LSE man found them, bloody and badly hurt. Rudy had a broken nose and Liesel had a concussion. Liesel looked at the still burning rubble that used to be Himmel Street. The sky was orange with ash and fire. It snowed black snow, and it burned when it landed on you.
Liesel first saw the broken burnt accordion.
Then she saw her foster parents.
She ran to them and broke down sobbing at their sides until the same LSE man took her away. Liesel was too drained of energy to fight back so she let herself be dragged.
It seemed that she and Rudy were the only survivors. They sat in the back seat of the LSE truck. Rudy silently looked out the window and Liesel fell into a nightmare-filled state of unconsciousness brought on by both her lack of sleep and her concussion.
By the time she woke up she was in a white room, propped up in an uncomfortable chair, people talked around her but she only recognized one. Ilsa Hermann.
Their house must not have been bombed, she was unfazed.
She ran to Ilsa and hugged her.
"Where is Rudy?" she asked between sobs.
"Take it easy, you're hurt, sit down." she tried to calm her but she persisted.
"I have to give Rudy something."
Ilsa gave in and led her to where Rudy was sleeping in another chair with his head on the armrest. Without waking him, she leaned over and kissed him, on the lips. She pulled away and said with a sad smile, "There, Saukerl, now stop asking me for it." the mayors wife led her away and set her in her own chair.
It will always be a mystery to me, how Liesel never realized that Rudy was awake the whole time.
AN: This is the part where you press the review button and give me love. 3
