Certain Demolitions: Play a Fantasia

9. There are some changes Krisotph plans to make now that he's leaving Germany for the last time. And the small ones count just as much as the big ones.

Chapter 9: Blue Water

[Status: Canon in the context of C.D.; set in Chapter 58.]

Departing From the French side of the English Channel

1944

There was a small room in the ferry that was given to Kristoph when he boarded. There were few passengers on the transport, and several soldiers, mostly American, who were going back to London on leave. The Captain of the ship and his escorts had decided that it would be better if Kristoph stayed largely out of sight.

It was a condition he was glad to agree too. The trip out of Germany and through France had been long and had more than it's fair share of problems; most simply from being held up by military transports. His ability to speak both French and English had been extremely useful during the trip. The French were looking in askance at anyone they suspected of being German.

But the two American soldiers he was traveling with had kept close and they had made it to the shoreline yesterday to wait for the next boat with extra space to take them across the Channel.

The small room had a bed, a small table, and small chest of drawers, all bolted down. As soon as he was inside, Kristoph locked the door behind him, tucked his valise under the bed, and set his cane on the floor next to the bed, in case it was needed. He took off his suit jacket, the ribbon around his neck, and the crescent moon pin he was wearing, and laid all the items on the table.

He was exhausted, and since he was alone, he was not afraid to give into it. He took off his shoes, and then curled up under the blankets on the bed. He was asleep in minutes.

(-)

Kristoph couldn't figure out what had woken him. He lay in bed, trying to determine what had changed. Then it dawned on him. The sound of the engines, a constant from the moment they'd boarded the ship, was gone.

He waited and listened for a moment longer, but when the noise didn't start up again, he reluctantly threw the blankets off and reached for his shoes.

When he was dressed sans his cane - his knee had so far given him no trouble - he left the room and went up to the deck. When he emerged from below, there were only a few people on the deck, one of whom was one of his escorts, Private First Class Jones. He spotted Kristoph and came over. "Mr. Gavin?" The man's Southern accent was think.

"Private Jones." Kristoph acknowledged. "It sounds like we've stopped."

"We have. There are some problems we're trying to navigate," Jones said.

Kristoph went over to the railing. Around the boat floated pieces of flotsam and debris. He turned back to Jones. "What happened?"

"We don't know. It may have been a stray U-boat attack. Or it might be debris that came out into the Channel with the last tide," Jones said. "We've stopped because we're trying to get the debris out of the way up front so that we don't scrape up the bottom, since we don't know what we're dealing with, and the Captain might call for an escort."

Kristoph nodded and turned back to the railing. All around them, dark blue water stretched out as far as one could see. Kristoph leaned his head against the rail, looking at the floor of the boat and the line of blue at the edge of it where the water started. He was still tired, in spite of his nap.

"Are ya alright?" Jones' voice was next to him suddenly, and he felt the man place a hand on his back. Kristoph cringed inside. These Americans were so ...touchy. They were always touching him. Putting a hand on one's back was something he would have done to Klavier if the latter was sick, but Klavier was his brother. He barely knew these two men, but that didn't stop them from putting a hand on his shoulder or grabbing his upper arm and steering him in the direction they wanted him to go.

"I'm fine," He said coolly. Take your hand off of me. "Just a little tired."

Jones patted him on the back. Kristoph reminded himself that striking the man would not be a good idea, no matter how tempting it was. "Well, we'll be in England soon." Jones did remove his hand and walked away after that. Kristoph was relieved.

Some more flotsam floated by the front of the boat. Kristoph leaned his head on the railing again and reminded himself that it was true that they would be in England soon. There was no such thing as a direct line to America these days, it seems.

The emerald stone set in the poison ring on his hand caught his attention. The hidden compartment in the ring was empty now. The gold was etched on either side of the stone with the family crest; the same family crest that was on the signet ring Klavier wore. Kristoph straightened up and slid the ring off his finger, weighing it in his hand carefully.

He remembered how, a long time ago, he had seen the von Metz children - there were only five of them at the time - playing with each other in the park, and how he was only there with his mother and wished he had a sibling to play with because he was tired of being alone. And then the year he turned eight, after wishing for a younger sibling for almost two years, Klavier had been born. He had no idea why this memory had come back to him now.

After a moment, Kristoph pitched the ring as far as he could over the side of the boat.

He would buy a new ring when he got to London, if he could. Something in sapphire this time. Green had never been his color. If he couldn't get anything in London, he would find out if any of the jewelry he'd sent to America with Klavier had made it through the war; there had been a sapphire ring that had been a family heirloom, or he would buy something in America.

The ring landed with a plonk! in the water, and he watched the symbol of his past life disappear beneath the waves.

[A/N:] So now that Certain Demolitions is basically over I can post some of these sidefics without spoiling things. Here, have a slightly melancholic interlude for Chapter 58. I think that after four years of living a double life, Kristoph is just tired of the whole thing.

Part of Kristoph's objections to being touched comes from him being himself, but somewhere in my research I got the idea that what Jones is doing would be frowned upon by Germans. Not entirely sure where I got the impression, and I probably didn't bookmark the article either. Which is a long way of saying if I'm wrong, PM me and tell me. I've actually put a hand on the back of an acquaintance before to comfort them after a rough time in their lives, which was amazingly OOC occurrence for this introvert, so that's why Jones is doing it: he's thinking of it as a comforting or friendly gesture. Kristoph disagrees, but, there's not much he can say or do about it either.

Alright, is that everything? I think so.

Please review!