Summary: Five lifetimes, two lovers. One happy ending.

Rating: T (incestual themes [but don't worry, they don't get a happy ending for their choices])

Disclaimer: Don't own Wizards of Waverly Place

France- 1943

"Jaus..." the young man looked up from the book he was reading by candlelight across the room to see the dark, frightened eyes of his younger sister. He set his book down as slowly and quietly as he could and slid towards her, putting an arm around her.

"I hate the dark," she whispered. Their confinement to the secret room in the Le Favre house had lasted for five months already and not knowing anything was driving them both mad. "I miss Pater and Mutti and Maximillian."

"As do I, Zandra," he whispered, holding her close. "This political mess is surely going to be over soon though. Hitler will be defeated."

"I am so frightened though, Jaus. It has been so long since we have had news of the outside world."

"I have heard M. Le Favre talk of a resistance," Jaus whispered back. "Surely they will prevail and things will be better soon."

"I do hope you're right," Zandra whispered, brushing a dark curl out of her eyes. Jaus kissed her forehead and rocked her gently, singing a soft lullaby that their Mutti had sang to them as children, to scare away the darkness.

Hush hush my baby, you're safe with me

I'll be by your side to watch you sleep

Hush hush baby, don't you cry

Morning will come and bring light to your side.

Through his calm exterior, Jaus was still worried inside. He could feel how thin Zandra had already grown in the last five months, through her clothing. He worried about how little she got to eat, how scared she was of being found and captured by Hitler's men and especially over his growing affection for her that he knew was outside the acceptable boundaries of their relationship. She was his only connection to the outside world in this troubled time and he worried that he was displacing his fear and confusion into unacceptable feelings for her. They needed each other though and she was the only thing that could comfort and calm him in his time of trouble.

"Jaus?" Zandra spoke softly, shifting slightly. A hand closed over his and he felt a tingle of electricity between them. He closed his eyes to disguise the pleasure he felt at her touch.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I love you."

"And I you," Jaus said, swallowing a gulp of air.

"Shall we pray to God that he will watch over us?" she whispered. Jaus pursed his lips, growing angry. Where had their God been when they had been forced to wear a Star of David on all their clothes? Where had he been when the SS had seized the Goldmans next door? Or when Pater and Mutti had decided in secret to send their youngest son off to America to be adopted as the son of Mutti's sister, beginning to tear at the fabric of their family? Where had their God been when Jaus and Zandra had been sent to France in secret, to go in hiding with a strange family?

"No." Jaus answered finally. "God is not listening."

"How can you say that?" Zandra asked, heart dropping. "But...it's true isn't it?" the horrified tone in her voice confirmed she had been having growing doubts as well. It was bad enough that their family had been torn apart, that their younger brother was someone else's son, that their very lives had been destroyed...but now her brother had lost his faith? Zandra felt hot tears sting her eyes, making her shut her mouth tightly lest her crying be heard.

"Shhh," Jaus whispered, holding her tightly to his chest. "I didn't mean to upset you, Zan."

"We have nothing left then. God has abandoned us, he does not care. I have nothing..." she said, voice hoarse and thick. "Mutti and Pater are dead! Maximillian does not belong to us anymore. I have no friends, no God..."

"Shh!" Jaus said. "You have me." He bent to kiss her forehead again, hoping it would quell her tears. "We have each other, that's what counts right now. I will protect you and keep you safe." he vowed. In the dim light he could see her face relax, looking towards him, eyes shiny and round.

"Do you promise?" she asked, voice low and earnest. He nodded and she laid her head on his chest, holding him close to her. He could hear the sound of her heart, thudding slowly in her chest. She was his only source of comfort and he needed her desperately. He needed more though, he needed to forget his pain and worry, to fold himself around her and make them a single entity. The ache settled deep in his chest and he breathed stiffly to try to keep from acting on impulse.

"I promise," Jaus said finally. Zandra felt her eyelids grow heavy and she snuggled against Jaus as she drifted from consciousness.

Time meant nothing in their little room anymore. They spent days sometimes, hidden behind the wall in the hall closet under the stairs, passing the time with silly games and wistful daydreams of the day they could be free. One day though, Zandra realized that her fifteenth birthday had passed without them realizing it.

"I shall have cake today," Zandra said, trying to lighten the gloomy mood of their room.

"What?" Jaus was busy recounting the cracks in the floor and wasn't paying attention.

"We've been here longer than five months," Zandra announced. "I don't know precisely how much longer, but I'm sure of this."

"How do you know this?" Jaus asked, coming back to sit with her on their tired out mattress.

"I made a mark on the floor with my fingernail for every month we were here after the first, there are six marks on the floor." Zandra admitted sheepishly.

"Ah right. So we've been here over five months then," Jaus said, going back to counting the cracks in the floor.

"Do you know what that means?" There was a hint of a smile in Zandra's voice and Jaus turned back to her, shrugging.

"My fifteenth birthday was five months and twenty-four days after the day we came here, and that means I am now fifteen," she grinned in the darkness and Jaus came over to her side again.

"Zandra!" he hugged her. "We shall celebrate with dancing merriment and we shall beg M. Le Favre to give us a bit of candle and you shall blow it out. Now, I regret that I have no present to give you but you may ask for one thing and I shall endeavor to give it to you, my favorite sister," he smiled, hugging her again.

"I have one wish..." Zandra said thoughtfully. "I shall not wish it until I have my candle though, my dear brother."

The two siblings were invited to dinner after the Le Favre family had made certain that the coast was clear for them to eat and they joined the French family in their daily meal, both siblings eating heartily with joy that night. They begged a bit of candle off their new family and even got a whole cake as their new family celebrated Zandra's birthday, happy to do so for their quiet guests.

Once they had returned to their secret room for the night, candle in hand, Jaus made a production of lighting the candle, letting it glow dimly in the dark of their secret room.

"Now, make your wish!" Jaus said merrily. "It's one minute to midnight, almost time for your birthday to be over!" Zandra obediently leaned over the candle, dark hair falling forward. Jaus watched his sister in the light of the candle. Her whole being seemed to glow and he felt the urge to reach out and brush her hair away. Instead he watched her as she pursed her lips, blowing air through to blow the flame out. Her eyes were closed, Jaus could see the longing on her face for whatever her wish was. He hoped desperately that he could make her wish come true.

"So, what did you wish?" he asked as she pulled away from the candle.

"I wished..." she seemed hesitant, a light blush appeared on her cheeks that he could see even in the darkness.

"Go on," he encouraged, gathering her into his arms, holding her close. "You can tell me."

"I do not believe it wise," she said quietly.

"Whatever you want, if it is in my power, I shall endeavor to grant it, Zandra, my dear sister."

"I am fifteen years old," she said. "I shall not get much older." Jaus looked like he was about to protest but Zandra silenced him with a look. "And I have not yet had my first kiss."

"Zandra, we will be safe, we will go home and be reunited with Mutter and Pater and Maximillian."

"Jaus, the days grow longer and longer and we have yet to be able to go home." Zandra said, a hint of impatience in her words. "And I long for a memory to take with me should the worst happen. A memory of something I have achieved in my life."

"So you want me to find a way to get you someone to kiss?" Jaus said, a grimace on his face at the thought of his sister touching lips with anyone of the male persuasion.

"There is someone I want to kiss," Zandra said slowly. Jaus' eyes widened in realization and he shook his head vehemently.

"It's wrong!" His voice was a harsh whisper. "It's beyond wrong, Zandra!"

"Jaus, please!" His sister's voice was full of tears and pleading. "I may never get a first kiss. It's the only thing I want for my birthday." Jaus was silent for several minutes. He felt sick, torn into pieces. One piece longed to do anything to please his sister, another wanted to wretch at the thought of the line he would be crossing if he gave in. Another piece, a dark, secret piece of him was ready to give into the darkest part of his desires.

"I cannot," Jaus said, finally speaking. "That is a wish I cannot fulfill." Zandra looked crushed and tears filled her dark eyes.

"Then you wound me beyond repair tonight," she said, anger turning her words bitter.

"Zandra," Jaus pleaded. "Please understand, it's wrong and we should not indulge even in these desperate times in such debauchery that God would smite us for."

"Leave me be," she snapped. She shuffled off to a corner of the dark room, wrapping herself in the threadbare comforter for comfort. Jaus could hear the sound of her tears and his heart broke, feeling a sense of despair he'd never encountered before. Something inside him snapped, hearing her desperate tears in that dark room. They had such darkness and pain in their lives as of late, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to give her one little bit of happiness that night.

"Zandra," Jaus spoke softly. She stopped crying long enough to look over at him.

"Yes?"

"Come here," he said. She wiped her wet face, shuffling over to her brother. "You must not think to this after this moment. Just remember the feeling, do not remember the giver." Zandra's heart swelled with hope. Jaus gathered her in his arms, first pressing a tender kiss to her temple, then smoothing her hair back from her wet eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment before he leaned his head slowly down to brush his lips across hers, barely there.

All at once something exploded inside Zandra. She grabbed his face, pulling it against her own. Jaus himself seemed to lose all control as well as he reciprocated, kissing her fervently, as if she were a long, cold drink of water in an endless desert. The passion between those two souls in that room blossomed that night and became a raging inferno. Nothing could stop their kisses, finally giving into dark desire.

The next day, all hell broke loose. German soldiers stormed the Le Favre household, breaking furniture in their search for the two Jewish children in hiding. A neighbor had tipped Nazi soldiers off after seeing a flickering candle in a window late the night well after the Le Favre's had gone to bed. The two were wrapped around each other when they were found. Jaus was shot in their bed and Zandra was dragged off, forced onto a train.

There, standing in line behind others just like her, the memory of the kiss was seared into her brain. Her last thoughts on that day were the way Jaus' lips moved against hers, the way his skin was so soft and how he touched her so gently. She walked into the gas chamber with a smile on her tear-stained face.

A/N: Oh my god this has been a long time in coming! I'm sorry for making you all wait sooo long. First my life got uber hectic and then I got writers block on this story. Then, for the last six months, I've been without internet. Yesterday we got it installed! So I promise to provide updates MUCH more frequently now! *HUGS and thanks to all who liked this story enough to review even though I couldn't respond for so long!* *gives out cookies*

Anyway, we're coming up next chapter to the Justin and Alex incarnations we're all familiar with and love.

PS I just saw the WoWP Movie today and I thought it rocked! I love all the magic, notice how they've all gotten much better since the beginning of the show! And all the tender little Justin/Alex sibling bonding made me want to hug my computer monitor!

As always, enjoy and review if you like it!