Disclaimer: I do not own The Book Thief.

Please note, The narrator, Death, writes in bold.

AN: This is somewhat continued from the chapter The Sky Stealer (page 379.) I don't know if you noticed yet, but there are also references from the book "City of Thieves" by David Benioff. Of course, I don't own it. Awhile back, I was considering writing yet another Book Thief fanfiction that involves crossover from "City of Thieves." It's the same time period, however it tells the Russian side of the war. For now, I'm content having some hints and references scattered here and there. "Let's Grow Up Together" definetly won't be a crossover of the two. I really need to finish the stories I start before I start new ones. I have reached a little bit of a writers block. I wanted to ask you guys. Did you still want me to continue Rudy's POV? I was entertaining that thought, but the other option I had was to continue Viktor and Liesel's story without knowing what Rudy is up to/ learning more about his dark nuances. Of course, Rudy will be coming back later on after he is done with the Nazi School. You guys can be expecting more from Bettina and perhaps more back story from Rosa. Once again Uploading what I have before school this morning!

AN: In response to Emperor Leo, no this isn't the end. I'm still continuing this story! Thank you for your kind words. My grandma is doing better she is halfway through her chemo and I'm praying things will turn out okay. I'm feeling a lot better and more inspired to write and I'm doing better in school now too. I also got engaged too so I'm over the moon rn(: Thanks for your constant support!

blackhellbutterfly, thank you so much for your support and I'm glad you continue to read! I usually always go back and edit older chapters/ insert new content whenever I'm not updating I'm always revising this story.

Melbruni, Muchas gracias. He encontrado más inspiración para continuar después de un período de tristeza ya que mi abuela está enferma de cáncer. Usé el traductor de Google, lo siento si esto es mala gramática jajaja.

Guests, thank you so much for liking and reading my fanfic!

A/N #2: PLEASE NOTE IN THIS FIC: LIESEL IS NOW 16, BETTINA IS 14, VIKTOR IS 18 AND RUDY IS 16 YEARS OLD!


Chapter 17: Invisible Language

Days blurred into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. But I'm getting ahead of myself again. Let's not get that far ahead. Where we are today is not too far from what we had yesterday. The Book Thief who once ran alongside Jessie Owens, now running with the Boy with Eyes like the Clouds. Not exactly, running as of yet, but getting by day by day. She had just had her heart torn in two and she still wasn't ready to decide between the two. Yes, I peeked in her diary.

***A POEM SHE WROTE***

His eyes were bright and blue. Your eyes were light and grey. Two different skies,

but I couldn't choose which shade of sky shone brighter as they both had a heart that was broken in two.

Liesel puts down her quill. She stares at her poem she just wrote in her "diary." Her "diary" is not an actual journal, but a compilation of loose posters. Those posters consist of Hitler propaganda posters she stole. There is no ink or paper left anywhere in Molching for ages now. Nor her Papa left to protect her books from being thrown away by Rosa. But there are plenty of these posters. On the backside of the heil Hitler poster which is blank she would press deeply with her quill to leave indents. To Rosa it looks like wrinkles in the poster, but to the Book Thief, when held at a slight angle was an invisible language. Her invisible language of thoughts, feelings and poems. Something not even Rosa could destroy.

Could she waste more time on writing about things that didn't matter? She had burned everything with Rudy. Was she ready to think about him yet? It had been 3 weeks ago that he had left for the Nazi School. Why couldn't she hate him? He had almost raped her that night. She saw the malice in his eyes. The undisguised hate, anger, and darkness in him. All the things she was trying to ignore since the beginning. His obsession with her, always wanting a kiss. Not taking no for an answer. She had seen it all and yet she didn't. She didn't want to see it. She didn't want to believe or even acknowledge that he never loved her, but is simply obsessed with her. But these aren't fully her thoughts alone. These are her talks with Viktor. Of him explaining these past weeks, that what Rudy most likely felt for her was some kind of obsessive lust. And the sight of her with someone else had sent him over the edge.

Viktor didn't know the whole truth. And Liesel is not ready to disclose it to him or anyone else anytime soon. Including herself. She is in denial about that night even within herself and still disgusted that she still cares about Rudy. She still had feelings for him despite him nearly stealing everything from her that night. Viktor didn't know that Rudy had stopped himself from giving in completely to his inner demons. Rudy stopped himself from raping her. But to Liesel, this did not console her. In fact, it tormented and disturbed her that he came so close to taking her by force. Viktor had merely stolen her lips, but Rudy had stolen far more. He had stolen her trust and broken her heart completely. Shattered it even. She felt she could never trust anyone with her heart again.

Even with Viktor's talks about love and obsession, she still didn't understand. Does that mean Viktor is obsessed with her as well? He had also made moves on her too. She had told him no too. He somehow seemed different about it than Rudy though. His motivation to pursue her didn't seem to come from a romantic interest in her. It just seemed like he was trying to soothe something in himself. And he even apologized for his behavior! And she even forgave him! He did say he felt a compulsion to break things. But why? Why did he want to hurt her at first? And why for the love of Gott had he not touched her since? Ever since Rudy had gone, he had been civil, cordial and friendly to her even. He didn't seem at all like the sex crazed moron she thought he was in the beginning. Nor a devil anymore. He didn't try to force her to do anything for him anymore. Instead, he seemed to be the one being ordered around by her.

Whatever! She didn't want to think about this any longer, she isn't a therapist. She couldn't fix Viktor, nor did she feel the need to. Instead, to her horror she is being drawn to him. Each and every day she starts feeling as if she wants him to kiss her. She didn't even know if she had recovered from Rudy yet, but already she feels like she wants Viktor now more than ever. But is she just using him to make herself feel better? That is the question. Viktor had once told her that you don't love someone. You love what they do for you. But that wasn't true was it? And she didn't love Viktor? Did she? No matter. She is supposed to meet him at the Amper Bridge. And that is exactly where she is heading. Their usual spot. It still felt weird to have something between them. Their usual spot, like it was something dirty and exciting... sexual.


Viktor stood at the bridge, his eyes overlooking the river's edge. The surging water messy, broken, fractured glass. The rush of the river, sharp in his ears is soothing. With Steiner out of the picture and his mother out of town once again for Gott knows what about his father. Things are calm for him once more. Or so it seemed on the surface.

***DARK THOUGHTS IN HIS MIND***

I liked it better when my life was a nightmare.

Now it is so perfect and pristine

that it makes me want to take a hammer and shatter everything.

I crave chaos. The call of destruction.

He was being a lot kinder to Liesel these days. It felt good. And strange that it felt good for him to do the things he secretly craved. To be kind. He could see her outline, her hair a shining halo in the distance. She is late. He wonders what kept her.