AN: This chapter took me a really long time to write but i finally did it!
Chapter 10
"What just happened?" Antonio whispered.
Gilbert shook his head. The two men stared at the spot where their best friend and his lover had once stood before they disappeared in a shimmering golden light.
"I can tell you one thing though..." Gilbert started, "I think that we better get to the hospital."
"What? Why?" Antonio asked a worried look on his face.
"Didn't you hear the song? He basically just told us that he just has to say goodbye to Joan!" Gilbert explained frantically.
"Or it could just be a song..." Antonio tried to reason but a hopeful look crossed his face. "Does this mean that he will be back?"
Gilbert looked down at his shoes then at his friend. "I don't know Toni...the awesome me really doesn't know..."
Francis opened his eyes and saw that he was back in limbo again. He could hear the songs of birds on the ever present faint wind. The blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds that lazily moved across the sky. The ground still looked like clear water that reflected the sky so that no one could tell which way was up or down. To most it would seem like a beautiful place but to Francis it still seemed like that empty, white void. He felt that if he were to yell there would be no echo and no one would be able to hear him.
"I know... I felt the same way." Joan whispered. "No one was around. I was confused and scared. I found out right away that this world reflects your emotions. When I first came here it was storming for days it seemed. This place has changed alot since then... I guess it started to change when I finally accepted that I was dead."
Francis looked at Joan from the corner of his eye. She was staring straight ahead with a sad look on her face. It finally occurred to him that she had had no one to help her through this. He wondered what she thought about for all these years. Yes, time did flow differently here but there still must have been time for her thoughts to wander. Now here they were, together again.
Francis turned his face up to the sky. "Maybe it's time..."
Antonio and Gilbert rushed into Francis's room to see Ivan leaning over him. He looked up at them and the look on his face stopped them in their tracks.
"I was just about to call Matthew... I'm sorry...but there isn't anything else we can do. It would be best if we took him off the life support." He said grimly.
Antonio's eyes widened as he slowly fell to his knees. Gilbert just stared straight ahead. Ivan, looking uncomfortable, quietly left the room shutting the door with a soft click. The sound of the door shutting felt like something final to Antonio. He felt like his body would break into a million shards if he kept the pain inside any longer. A sob burst out of his mouth before he could muffle it. He hugged himself trying to keep his body from breaking from the pain.
"Why? Why am I just now starting to feel this way?" Antonio thought as another sob escaped.
Gilbert continued to stare straight ahead.
"Silence is supposed to be peaceful." Gilbert thought, "So why does it feel like its slamming into my ears? Why do I feel like it might suffocate me?"
A memory slowly crawled its way into Gilbert's thoughts. The memory of when the trio first met was one of his favorites. Looking back at it, it seemed that Antonio and Francis were the ones that saved him not only from himself but from the world around him.
It was a few years after Gilbert was separated from Ludwig. The other kids at the foster home were all years older than him and beat him up because of his hair and eyes. He hated that place, so he rarely went home. Instead he would sleep in a tree in the park that was across the street from the school.
On one of the rare days Gilbert decided to go home after school it had started to rain hard. He started running and decided to take a short cut through an alley. It was dark so he didn't see the kids from his foster home waiting to jump him.
Gilbert didn't even see the first boy as he punched him in the back of the head making him fall to his knees. Trying to blink the stars from his eyes the others started to kick him, cheering each time one of them got Gilbert to cry out in pain. His vision started to go fuzzy when the kicking stopped. The oldest of the boys grabbed Gilbert by his neck and slammed him into the brick wall. Tears started to slip down Gilbert's cheeks mixing with the blood from a gash on his forehead.
"Are you scared?" the oldest boy smirked then turned his head when the sound of people running towards him. "What the hell?"
Gilbert found himself on the ground again but this time he wasn't the one getting beaten. He opened his eyes to see two boys fighting the foster home boys until they all ran away with their tails between their legs. Gilbert smiled then finally everything went black.
When he had come to Gilbert saw that he was now in an unfamiliar house. He turned his head and saw the two boys from the alley staring at him.
"I'm Antonio! This one here is Francis!" Antonio said cheerfully. "What's your name amigo?"
Gilbert glared at Antonio, "Why do you want to know?"
"Because I told you our names so it's only polite that you tell us yours!"
"Gilbert." He mumbled.
"Well Gilbert, you don't have to worry about those boys from the alley anymore! We made sure that they won't bother you again!" Antonio declared high fiving Francis.
"It doesn't matter if you did. I still have to live with them." Gilbert grumbled.
"We know. That's why we brought you to Old Fritz. He says that he will take care of you!" Francis said with a smile.
"What about my little brother?" Gilbert asked suspiciously.
"Of course he can stay here as well." A voice came from the other side of the room.
A man with long silver hair tied back came into the room. He had kind, old eyes and a smile to match. Surprisingly Gilbert instantly felt like he could trust this man.
Tears started pooling and running down his cheeks. Old Fritz immediately came over and wrapped him in a hug.
"What's wrong? Come now; tell me why you are crying." He said softly.
Gilbert shook his head and looked up at the man, Antonio and Francis with a huge grin, "Thank you... so much."
Antonio's sob cut through Gilbert's thoughts. He blinked a few times and realized that he had been crying. Still a little out of it, Gilbert looked at his best friend still crying on the floor. He knew that if it wasn't for Antonio or Francis then he would never have met Old Fritz or seen his brother again.
A song that Francis would always sing popped into Gilbert's head. But Gilbert had heard it before he had ever met Francis. He remembered the nights that he would wake up screaming from a nightmare and his mother running into the room. She wasn't French but she had loved the song anyways. Gilbert knelt down beside Antonio and wrapped him in a hug and started singing L'amour existe encore.
La solitude que je redoute
Qui me guette au bout de ma route
Je la mettrai dehors
Pour t'aimer une fois pour toutes
Pour t'aimer coûte que coûte
Malgré ce mal qui court
Et met l'amour à mort
Quand je m'endors contre ton corps
Alors je n'ai plus de doute
L'amour existe encore
AN: This was supposed to be the last chapter but I refuse to let it end like this! So there will be another chapter! Please review!
song translation:
The solitude I fear
Which is watching me at the end of my route
I will kick it out
To love once and for all
To love you at any price
Despite that sickness that runs
And kills the love
When I fall asleep against your body
Then I don't have any doubt
Love still exists