Ch. 12

It was at approximately 8:53 when I came home, and upon arrival I felt utterly drained. I ignored the loud growling my stomach emitted from not eating the night before, and began to take off my boots and jacket so I could lie down. Normally I'd shower and change before going to sleep, but I had no more energy and just collapsed onto the sofa. Within minutes I had passed out, and the dreams began. As I drifted into sleep, I began to dream of various past memories. They were of Sareena, and the blissful moments we shared when we first met, the places we traveled to, and the joyous times we had within the walls of our once happy home. The very kind of memories that I vigorously fought to suppress for four years. Yet they abruptly returned with a vengeance only to further torment me.

One happy memory I was reliving was the day we celebrated our 3 year anniversary. It was early in the evening during the fall, and she had gone into town to go shopping and pay bills hours ago. She was unaware that the whole time since her departure, I had cleaned the entire house, cooked dinner, and made special preparations for us. "Vladimir?" she called upon her return. "Are you home?" I had just finished setting the table, lighting several candles, and played soft music when I replied, "I'm in the dining room, meine Königin" (my queen). She walked in with two armfuls of groceries and gasped in awe at what she saw. I stood by the table dressed in a black suit as the dining room glowed softly with candlelight and the table had been set for an elegant dinner. I brought the small stereo from our our bedroom and played music from her favorite CD. She forgot about the groceries in her arms when she put her hands over her mouth to confine her shock, and they began to fall. Fortunately I caught them before they could crash to the floor, and carried them into the kitchen. She followed me while taking off her coat and when I turned around she leaped up, wrapping herself onto me and gave me the most affectionate of kisses. She was in my arms as we stared deeply into each others' eyes and spoke. "You never fail to surprise me, and that's why I love you. Did you know that?" Before I could reply, I couldn't resist the opportunity to tenderly kiss her on the forehead. I have kissed her on her forehead many times, but every time I do so I always saw a faint blush upon her cheeks. "Well I think it's pretty obvious that surprising and loving you is what I live for, isn't it?" We kissed once more and I carried her back into the dining room. "So what did you make for dinner?" She unwrapped herself from me and walked towards the table while I pulled her seat out for her. Before walking back into the kitchen, I grabbed our plates, served even portions of food onto each one, and returned to the dining room. "Your favorite meal, sweetheart. Veal Marsala and mushrooms, with a side of Alfredo pasta, and a basket of fresh, baked bread." She clapped her hands and squealed with eager anticipation, and I couldn't help but laugh at how cute she was when she's happy. I poured a glass of wine for each of us and we ate our meal while occasionally stealing amorous glances at each other.

We finished eating and she got up to take the dishes into the kitchen. She returned to the dining room and I reached under the table to pull a gift bag out that contained her present. She looked surprised as she saw me place the bag on the table and asked, "What is that?" "It's today's garbage", I joked. "I put it in this lovely bag, and hid it under the table for you to take out." She didn't hesitate to playfully smack my arm and demand an honest reply while pouting. "You can be a real dork sometimes. Now tell me what's in the bag, jerk." I laughed but eventually stopped to reply. "Alright, alright, it's not garbage. It's actually my way of expressing my adoration for you, and how I want nothing more in this world than to be by your side until the end of time. She smiled and opened the bag which contained a black box. She carefully pulled it from the bag, and in that instant I commented. "I couldn't afford a present this year. So I got you this box." Once more my jests ended with me getting another smack to the arm. Yet I could hear her stifling her laughter as she anxiously she lifted the tab up. The contents within caused her to gasp and instantly brought tears to her eyes.

She reached in and pulled from the box a glass vase on which her name was elegantly engraved across the center, and in the vase were a dozen beautiful, silver dipped roses. She carefully set down the vase, and as I stood behind her wrapping my arms around her waist, I whispered softly into her ear, "Frohes Jubiläum, mein Engel (Happy anniversary, my angel). Ich liebe dich (I love you)." She wept silently in my arms so I began to wipe away her tears. "I know how fond you are of roses, so rather than giving you some that would eventually wither and die, I figured I'd give you ones you can keep forever." She stopped crying and turned towards me whilst still in my embrace and spoke, "They're beautiful, Vlad. I have never felt as happy as I am in this very moment. I'm grateful that we met 3 years ago, for all that you've done for me, the type of person you are, and for the moments we've spent together. I couldn't have asked for a better partner, friend, and boyfriend. You're sweet, funny, smart, brave, and simply amazing. I love you so much, Vladimir Blutmesser. I never want any of this to end." As her words slowly sank in, I realized that I was now the one weeping. It's the greatest feeling in existence: to love dearly and be loved in return. She noticed my tears and did not hesitate to hug me. Once more time stood still as we lost ourselves in each others' gaze. We were about to close the distance between us and lock lips again, when something abruptly roused me from my slumber and brought me back to reality.

I sat up from the sofa and realized that it was my phone ringing what woke me. On one hand I was slightly pissed and aggravated for being denied sleep yet again, but I was, at the same time, glad that the dream ended before it carried on any further. Rather than ignore my phone, I picked it up and saw an unknown number trying to contact me. It piqued my curiosity, but nevertheless I answered the call.

"This is Vlad."

"Hey Vlad, it's Maka. How are you?"

"I'm alright I guess. How about you? And how did you get my phone number?"

"I'm okay. I got your phone number from Ms. Marie"

"Ah, I see."

"Hey listen. I wanted to check and see if Kid ever gave you his address?"

"Nope he hasn't. I don't think he even established a time for when he wanted us to come over."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I asked and he said he'll be expecting us at 6."

"Alright then."

"I'm going to bring cupcakes, Soul will provide music, Tsubaki said she'll be bringing homemade cheesy chicken tacos, and Kid of course will provide the entertainment."

"Cool beans. I'll bring extra food and drinks."

"If you could, that would be awesome. Thanks Vlad."

"No problem. Let me know if anything else is required."

"I don't think so. At least not now for the time being. Anyway, I'll text you the address."

"Sweet. Thanks a bunch, Maka."

"You're welcome. See you tonight, Vlad. Bye."

"Adios."

I hung up and saw it was only 11:50. I got up and stretched while thinking of how to kill time for seven hours. I looked around the living room, and saw it was mostly clean. My phone buzzed again and saw Maka's text message which had the address. I looked over at my shelf of movies and remembered I bought the latest Blu-Ray disc set of my favorite TV show. Everyone else was a season ahead of me, but now I can catch up and see what I've missed. Yet before I lied back down on the sofa to binge watch, I decided to quickly shower and eat something. After taking a relaxing hot shower and getting dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, I checked my fridge to see that luck was on my side. There were two steaks and a bag of french fries in the freezer. I poured the french fries onto a cookie sheet and put them in the oven to bake, then I grabbed a pan from one of the cabinets, some tongs, a bottle of olive oil, a stick of butter, some spices and started cooking. Within five minutes I had two tender ribeyes, and some hot french fries. Eagerly I brought my meal over to the table and returned to the fridge to grab two beers to go with my "brunch". Once my plate was empty, I got up to throw the empty bottles in the recycling bin, washed the dishes, and retreated to the living room. Again I returned to my previous spot where I popped the disc into the Blu-Ray player, sat down on the sofa, and began my episode marathon.

Several hours passed and after watching the sixth episode, I checked the time which read 5:29. I shut off the TV and the Blu-Ray player, and put on my black high tops, and walked to the garage with my keys in hand. Once I was in my car, I opened the garage with my remote, and drove onto the road shutting the garage on my way out. From there I drove towards Death City, and stopped at the nearest store upon entering. I grabbed and bought 3 boxes of soda, salsa, nacho cheese dip, and bags of tortilla chips, and began to search for Kid's house. Finding his place wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, because from the supermarket I was only 15 minutes away. The other thing that made finding his house much easier was how easily the house stood out from among the rest of the neighborhood. I found his address, parked out on the street behind Soul's motorcycle, and walked through the entry gates and up to the front door with handfuls of groceries. For some odd reason I felt nervous about going in as I approached the door. Part of me wanted to just leave the stuff on the doorstep and turn away. Yet before I could begin to go with my plan; the door opened and Kid was greeting me as the loud music coming from inside resonated outside. "Ah welcome Vlad, I'm glad you could join us. Come inside, the others are waiting."

I followed him inside and we talked as he led me towards the living room. "I trust you didn't have any trouble finding my address?" While walking and talking my eyes wandered about, and took notice of the décor. "Not really, thanks to GPS. I must say, you have quite the lavish abode, Kid. I'm impressed by your meticulous attention to detail." He nodded and smiled broadly at my compliment but said nothing in reply. In any case we entered the living room where Soul, Black Star, Liz, and Patty were sitting on the floor playing video games. Kid then cleared his throat to get their attention, and instantly Soul paused the game. Black Star was annoyed that he paused the game abruptly and asked, "What are you doing, Soul? Trying to cheat just because I'm winning?" Soul scoffed at Black Star's statement and said, "No stupid. I paused because Kid's trying to say something." They all turned around saw I arrived and acknowledged my presence. All of them at once greeted me in unison, "Hey Vlad, what's up?" "Hey guys, hope you're hungry. I brought snacks." In a millisecond Soul and Black Star sat up and raced towards me to take the chips, dips, and soda from me and wasted no time in feasting. I was mostly surprised to see them playing on a Nintendo 64 game console. I didn't think anyone else had one, let alone one that still functioned. While they played I looked at the four of them, and noticed that Crona was nowhere to be found. "Hey Kid, where's Crona?" "He said that he was on his way, but that was an hour ago," Soul said. I couldn't help but feel worried that something had happened to him. I pulled my keys out of my pocket and said to Kid, "I'll be right back. I'm going to see if Crona needs a ride here." Kid said, "That's a good idea. He stays in the DWMA Dungeon Rooms, so he shouldn't be too far away, but regardless we'll be here waiting for you guys." I rushed out of Kid's house, got in my car and drove towards the school.