Plura Ater Nox

Chapter 31

She lay in bed, her head splitting in anguishing pain. The light that penetrated her eyes when she first opened her eyes after passing out was painful. She let out a groan, as she moved her arm to shield her line of vision, before she sat up suddenly, realising she in bed dressed in only her lingerie.

She hadn't the faintest clue how or why she was in bed and of all things, in her lingerie. She blinked, continuing to stare down, only imagining what possible reason there could be for such a thing. Of course, she really couldn't think of anything.

She moaned softly, closing her eyes, as she raised a hand to her head, as she went through all possibilities as to why she wound up like this. She couldn't think of any reason why she was like this…

Then it hit her as her eyes perused the room, landing on the forgotten shin in the corner of the room.

Giving a cry, feeling her heart catch in her throat, Aimée jumped out, reaching for it.

Tears stung her eyes as she clutched the only remains of Johann that she had. The shin was held in the heat of her palm, warmed by her tears. She wept for what she lost, the only man she had ever loved who loved her back as she loved him.

The shin she clutched tightly lit up, pulling from her hands, landing on the floor, as a green sprout shot up, a blossom budding a top. From there, the bud turned into a rose, which had in the centre a small crystal dew drop, which rested on a petal before sliding off, splashing on the floor. From that dew drop, in the shroud of crystal clear water, rose up Johann, clutching the rose. The water fell, revealing his form, lightly sprinkled in dew droplets, his hair glistening with it.
"I'm not easily killed, my dear, Aimée."

Gasping out, she gave an ecstatic cry, casting herself into his arms, weeping in happiness. "Oh god…oh god… Thank god…"

Smiling softly, he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on the top of her head. "I had planned for the idea that I would get killed, so I sent in an illusion to take my place." He cupped her face in his hands. "Yorck is gone. He won't hurt you now, no one will. Not as long as I'm around to protect you."

She couldn't speak, only hold him close, inhaling his scent, assuring herself that the person she witnessed dying had only been an illusionary figure falling to the ground burnt to death.

"Don't leave me…" she gasped out between relieved sobs.

Stroking her hair, he smiled softly. "I won't. But, I must return to my post, can I entrust you to fulfil the remainder of the task of luring the so-called 'Allied Forces' into a trap, that will lay them to waste before the might that is Germany?!"

She nodded, as he gently stroked her cheek before kissing her softly and vanishing into thin air.

'I won't let you down.'

~~~~

He stood on the corner near her house, his soft brown eyes looking up at the window that was hers, through long fiery red-bangs that hung limply in his face, drenched with sweat. He shifted uneasily, his palms sweaty. He had been standing here for quite some time. He had been doing this for about six months now. He couldn't find the courage to go up to ask her…

He still spoke to her at the base. That he did smoothly. He never sweated anxiously around her; courting her was an easy task. But…to dare to ask her such a question sent his mind into spasms of delirium.

He ran his fingers through his damp hair.

He feared rejection.

There was a war on and he knew that Chelsea wouldn't commit to a life-long relationship, especially at the risk of him getting killed in action. He sighed morosely. 'I wish there was an easier way to go about this… This is mad!'

He felt like tearing his hair out in the midst of frustration.

"Chelsea, will you marry me?" He whispered out the words. In practice it was easy. He didn't choke on his words. They crossed his lips with ease.
The light up in her apartment had faded, but he hadn't noticed, or that someone was near him. He didn't know that anyone was there, until he got a response to his question.

"Yes I will, Brennan." She replied. She wrapped her arms around him.

Chelsea had been standing behind him for the last minute, long enough to hear his practice. She didn't want to say anything quite yet. She was enjoying his soft voice against the gentle breeze. She had watched him with tears misting in her eyes.

Turning around, Brennan swept her off her feet.

Giggling, Chelsea wrapped her arms around his neck holding him close. This was the first time since the start of the war had she felt this happy. A shred of hope was returned to her tired soul. There was a silver lining in the storm cloud. Just like her older brother had once told her, "God cannot close a door without opening a window".

Setting her down, Brennan passionately kissed her before he broke apart from her, going down on one knee and taking her hand in his. "Chelsea Llewellyn, will you give the honour of having your hand in holy matrimony?"

Tears misted in her eyes. "Yes...oh yes. Yes I will, Brennan." She cried out happily, falling to her knees and throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him deeply.

Grabbing her hand, Brennan stood up, pulling her along. "Then let's elope tonight! There'll be a minister who will do this."

~~~~

Through a miracle of sorts, they had escaped a fate so horrible that words failed to describe it. They had been on the run for about a year. It was hard to move, especially with the Germans occupying all of Europe on such a grand scale. Neither had ever imagined that they would get this far. They had been pessimistic the day that a man of the SS had come to them promising them freedom. He then turned on them, betraying them and killing their mother.

The man had been killed by the younger of the siblings, a feisty young boy, whose name was well-suited for his demeanour. Though, these days it didn't seem suited for him, for he was very docile and followed his sister's orders carefully. He didn't want either of them to get caught, for if they did, they would be captured and taken to one of the legendary death camps.

They moved silently through the night, over the lush green lands that belonged to the French farmers. Soon thanks to his sister's patience, they would be arriving in the coastal town of Calais, where they would find someone who would kindly help them. From there, they would find freedom from the brutal dictatorship of Hitler.

On the horizon sat the small quaint French village they were seeking. It seemed undisturbed from a distance. In the night sky, it was utterly picture perfect, not a flaw to it. Silhouetted against the velvet starry-night sky was the high steeple of the Cathedral in the centre of the town, with the small houses surrounding it symmetrically. The houses were built together very closely and appeared to not be more than one or two floors high. A faint light came from the town, just enough to light the path for the night visitor.

Carefully placed irrigation canals ran into the village. They were parallel to each other. They separated each of the farmers' fielders, which seemed to be built on the seigniorial system. From the ground were green sprouts, all planted in perfect symmetry to each other. The leaves of the crops gently blew in the soft midnight breeze.

As they drew closer to the village of Calais, the two siblings past a modest graveyard. The graveyard was encased by well-kept shrubbery. It was a soft emerald green, but under the moonlight of the night sky, it was more of a dark jade green. This was the fence surrounded the graveyard for the most part, except for the Iron Gate at the front. In the graveyard itself were the tombstones of the buried. Their headstones were placed in a parallel and in a very simple yet intricate geometrical pattern, with a large statue set in the centre. It appeared to be the immaculate virgin.

Now, unlike back in Innsbruck, Austria, they didn't have the comfort of trees surrounded them. There were very few out here. It was evident that they had been cleared a long time ago by the French in order to transform the land into profitable farmland.

Taking her brother's hand, the girl led her brother over to a small cliff. "We'll stay here for the night. It's not the best, but we're in France. I heard from locals that the north hates the Germans; it's the Vichy government in the south that is shipping out our people." She explained, as she wrapped her cloak tightly around her body.

Like her brother, she didn't have much on her person. When the SS officers had left, she had released her illusion that had kept her and her brother safe from the SS Officers. She had never trusted Agent Keplar. He was far too pretentious for her liking. Even though they had been lovers in the previous life, she had no reason to trust him.

Her brother had been right about him; he was right to be suspicious. That's why she had erected the illusion. It had been order to protect them from the man and his colleagues. She felt safe in the world of her illusion and felt that her brother was safe. But she felt regret for her actions because she had forgotten to protect their beloved mother. Their mother had been brutally slain by those four German SS officers.

Sighing, the young man sat in the dirt. He looked sadly to his sister. "Arielle, do we have any or crackers? I'm hungry."

The young woman's brow furrowed. She reached under her cloak and took out the bag of food she carried with her. Her brother carried anything that could get them money. They would play for pennies. They were skilled on instruments, so he carried a flute and a piccolo. He also carried a few possessions he had managed to get from the house. She carried the food and a couple of clothing items for them. They had nothing else in the way of worldly possessions. The only item they had was a few coins that they used in order to buy bread and if they were lucky, fruit.

Pulling out her small cloth sack, she opened it. Searching through, she found half an apple. She pulled out a knife. "Here, we'll share this. It'll tide us over until morning breaks. Once it does, we can go into town and see if we can get help or get pointed in the right direction."

After his sister cut up the apple into two equal portions, while he ate his, he queried, "Why didn't we stay in Paris? We could have hid there, or underground! I hear they do that in London."

Arielle smiled softly. Her brother could still be amusing. He could see a lighter side to this bleak dismal existence that they were leading at the time. "I don't know, maybe it's true. But we'll have to see. Right now, our only concern is getting out of here."

"Where are we going to go?" Achan asked, as he calmly munched on the little apple he had got. This was his supper. These meagre meals weren't as bad as the ones they had got in the ghetto. At least when he and his sister had to fend for themselves, they could get better food than what they got from the Germans.

"Either the United States of America or Canada; Mama has family over there. She showed me letters when I was younger. The letters were filled with hope and a future that wasn't preordained by racist Germans who think that just because they have blue eyes and blonde hair that they are superior and all of the rest of us are inferior."

"How will we get there? We have no money, except for a few coins!"

"We'll get to London first and earn our money there. Or…we'll try and find a way to land as refugees." Arielle sighed softly. "Though who will help a couple of vagabond children…" tears fell from her eyes.

"We aren't children! We're almost adults, or at least you are! We'll get something. You got us this far, Arielle, you can get us the rest of the way. Please, don't give up now!" Achan gripped his sister by her shoulders, staring her hard in the eye. "You made me go on every time I wanted to curl up and die. You promised me a better life every time I was sad. You told me that we would get out of here and over to some place better… You said we would make it. You can't give up now! We're almost there! C'mon, just one more country!

"When I started to give up hope as we travelled through Sudetenland, you dragged me along against my will, saying promises of a place where we would be happy. You saved us from the SS officers, and you're now giving up? When we're so close?"

Closing her eyes as she listened to her brother's words, she heard her own voice over taking his. Those words were very similar to the ones of encouragement she had said to him on their journey. She had told him the same thing. She had given him hope and made promises that they would be ok and that they would escape this nightmare forever. He was right, she couldn't give up now, not after all she had said and had done up to this point.

She was just very exhausted and wanted to lie down on a comfy bed and sleep. That's all she wanted really. Just to lie on a comfy bed and sleep. A hot bath would also be nice. That is what she was missing right now. She didn't mind the scantly meals or the simple clothing. She could deal with the few worldly possessions they had. She just longed for a roof over her head and a bed under her back.

She gave a small smile. "Sorry, Achan, I'm just really tired and all I want to do right now is lie on a soft mattress and sleep. I want to bring the thick blankets around my body and cuddle into the bed, hugging my pillow."

"It's okay, Arielle, I want to too…" Achan replied, as he took his cloak and turned it into a pillow. It was a warm night out, so he didn't need anything to cover him while he slept. He was fine just like that. Groaning contently, he stretched back and curled up, his arm under his cloak. "Good night, Arielle."

"Good night." She whispered. She didn't move to do the same thing. Instead, she sat, leaning against the rocks that were behind them. She didn't know if she could sleep. So, she decided to stay awake. Sun rise wasn't too far off anyway….

~~~~

Author's Notes: Ah, I bet that surprised you, didn't it? You were expecting them to be dead? Hey, I already brought Miboshi back once. Why don't I do it for a few others (well, at least with those who it is plausible). Anyway, we are getting closer to the final chapter. I hope you're enjoying this. Feel free to tell me what you think.