Soo... it's 2am here but I did NOT want to make you guys wait too long for an update (school starts next week!!)... I know the last chappy was kind of a cliffy. I was originally planning on combining this chappy with 14 but it would've been WAY too long.

As you might have guessed, I made Marie, Rudy's lover, our der Tod. A nice twist, eh? I just think that, Death has 1,000 faces; he appears differently to every person. To Elisabeth, he's a handsome young man; to Rudy, he's a beautiful woman. Does that make sense?

Thanks to those of you who read and reviewed the last chappy- you know it always means a lot!!

Also!! I am beginning work on a new story (since this one is already completed)... not sure if any of you have heard of REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA but it is flippin' AWESOME and I HIGHLY recommend it to all of you!! If you like my writing check back in a few weeks for the new story... Now on with our tale!

ENJOY!

Chapter 15

Rejection

Elisabeth sat in Joseph's office, not hearing a word of what the chief of police had to say. The news of Rudy's death came to her and Joseph on the day of his 19th birthday.

"We found his body moments after it happened," the officer said, tentatively. "We had gotten a phone call from a resident in the area saying that they had seen lights on in Mayerling. We knew," he continued, gesturing to Joseph. "That you and your wife were not in town, so we went in to investigate. The house was completely empty. Except for," he paused, obviously uncomfortable. "Your son."

Joseph stood behind his wife who was sitting in his chair. Seeing her shoulders shaking as silent tears fell down her cheeks, he cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder. Surprisingly, she did not reject the physical contact.

This is all my fault, Elisabeth thought silently to herself. How could I have been so selfish?

Blinded by her disgust toward her husband, she had forgotten the love she had had for her son. Looking back, she realized that she had always been selfish- she had stolen Joseph from Becky; she went wherever she wanted to, whenever she wanted to; she had made those around her worry about her in her hopes of staying thin and beautiful; she had left Rudy, her little boy, in order to save herself. She had never once paused to think how her actions and decisions would effect those around her. If she had been a good person, a good wife, a good mother, she would have stayed. She wouldn't have let Death and his revelation control her and her decisions. She would've confronted the man she was married to and they would've worked through this obstacle and moved on. She would've been there for Rudy in his times of need, the way a mother should. She would've seen him become a man on his 18th birthday; she would've been there in his times of joy and times of sorrow. She would've been there to watch him fall in love.

Elisabeth brought herself back to her nightmare that was the present. Marie, she thought to herself as she recalled the final conversation she had had with her son. She looked up at the officer.

"What about Marie?" she asked her voice cracking as she choked back a fresh wave of tears. She knew that Rudy and Marie had run off together, what else could've possibly happened?

"Yes," the officer said quietly. He paused for a moment before continuing. "We have official records of your son marrying a girl two days prior to his death," he paused to look at Elisabeth. Even in this tragic moment, she still appeared as beautiful as ever. The officer hoped to find a way to tell her what he knew of her son and his alleged lover. "When we heard the gunshot in the house, we rushed to where the noise had come from- the basement. We found your son with a gun in his hand and a bullet wound to the head. We searched the basement, trying to find this 'Marie,'" he paused for a moment. "There was no sign of her in the house. We began to think that this wasn't a double suicide but a murder. I ordered my men to Vienna to try and have them be there when the girl returned. I, myself, got in this morning and my men had some surprising news for me," he knelt before Elisabeth. "There are no records of Marie Vetsera. She doesn't exist."

After a brief moment of silence that seemed to last for an eternity, Joseph said, shocked:

"But that's impossible!"

Elisabeth's ears didn't hear the rest of the words that passed between the President and Chief of Police. Her mind was busy trying to wrap itself around what this man had just told her. Marie Vetsera doesn't exist… How could that be possible? Rudy had planned on marrying the girl. He had described her to Elisabeth without any difficulties. Elisabeth knew Rudy to be trustworthy and most certainly not insane. He was never a child with much of an imagination and certainly not creative enough to fabricate a woman he claimed to be madly in love with. What was going on? How could an hallucination possibly make her son kill himself?

Elisabeth's head snapped up and her eyes widened with horror as she came to a terrifying realization. It was very possible for an hallucination to convince Rudy to commit suicide. There was someone who was more than capable of such a feat.

Der Tod.

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Not wanting to cause any more stir with the publicity, Rudy's death was announced to be a heart problem that led to a tragic and untimely death. The funeral was to be small and intimate with just family and close friends.

Elisabeth did not attend the memorial service. She told Joseph that she needed time to prepare herself to say her final goodbyes. She was to visit the grave later that night, alone. She spent the time prior to her visit to the cemetery in her room.

Her eyes had run dry, she could no longer cry for her little boy. It felt as if she had been here before…

Almost 20 years ago she had lost a child. No, not lost, Elisabeth thought, looking at her tear stained face. Taken. Was this simply another punishment? A lesson Death felt that she needed to learn? Did he take Rudy from her to prove that he still had control over her and her life, whether she admitted to it or not?

The night he had informed her of her husband's deceit, cleverly disguised as the doctor, had been the second time he offered her complete freedom and the second time she openly refused him. It was also the last time she saw him for three years. She had always been curious- when Death wasn't harassing her, what was he up to? But now she knew.

For the last three years he had been parading around Vienna, disguised as a beautiful young girl. He had spent three years as Marie Vetsera. Three years with her son, filling his head with ideas, hatred, and lies. He had infected her son, the same as he had done to Elisabeth.

Death had taken her son, the only thing that she had found in this life worth living for. And with Rudy, Death had taken away Elisabeth's will to live.

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Elisabeth slowly walked from the car to the family plot in the cemetery, a place she had not been in 20 years. In the distance, Elisabeth could see that the lone tombstone of Valerie was now standing beside a second one that belonged to her Rudolph. Before she realized it, she was standing before the pair of tombstones- one was old and weathered, the other, was pristine and new.

She knelt before the grave and placed her cheek against the smooth, cold marble.

Here Lies Rudolph Maximillian

Beloved Son of

Elisabeth & Joseph

1986- 2005

"Oh," Elisabeth whispered as a new flood of tears began to blur her vision. "Where are you, my baby?"

She placed her hand on the grave and began to run her finger along his name. 'R… u…d…o…l…p…h…" she mouthed as her fingers ran along the beautiful script. When she reached the end of the letters, she burst, uncontrollably, into a fit of sobs.

"Rudy," she cried between sobs. "I'm so sorry… This is all my fault." She allowed herself some time to cry. She cried her heart and soul out. She cried for Joseph and the love she once had for him, she cried for Rudy and the life he would never live, she cried for herself and the pathetic life she had lived and the life she would be forced to continue living alone.

"I should have never left you alone," she began apologetically. "You were the same as me!" she cried. "We both wanted to escape. I know you were robbed of your childhood. You could never laugh or play. I hated seeing you like that. I know you hated it, too. You didn't have any brothers or sisters, any friends, a father, or…" she paused. Her throat had gotten tight as she choked back her grief. "Or a mother.

"I've always been selfish. Whatever I wanted, I would take. I wanted your father, I got him. I wanted to travel, I did. I wanted a child and… I had one. I suppose I just wanted a child, I didn't want to be a mother. I realize that now… and I am so sorry. I wouldn't be able to do what I wanted if I always had to take care of a baby. But I loved you, Rudy. I really, truly did. I just never knew how to show my love," she paused, trying to find the words to express her sorrow and regret. "But I wouldn't blame you if you hated me. I was never a good person and I certainly wasn't a good mother. I should've been here for you when you needed me. We were both trying to find freedom in our own way. Oh," she paused. "If only I could hug you one last time…" she closed her eyes. "Now," she said solemnly. "We're both alone."

Elisabeth had lost track of time and space. She realized that she should return to the car as the cool night air blew all around her, but she could not tear herself away from Rudy. She let the cool breeze dry her tears. The cool, refreshing breeze slowly turned into a biting chill. Elisabeth's eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal the tails of a familiar black coat.

Elisabeth slowly raised her eyes. They traveled from the tails of the coat blowing in the wind, to a pair of black gloved hands clenched into tight fists, beautiful shoulder length blond hair, and they ended on a pair of penetrating, ice blue eyes.

Elisabeth knew of the term "déjà- vu", she knew it all too well. The cemetery. The loss of a child. The cold night. The broken heart. Death. All separated by twenty years, but so familiar. Looking back, Elisabeth had been furious, hurt, and willing to fight Death. She had been young and stupid and had thrown herself at Death in order to fight for her baby girl. But twenty years had gone by. Twenty long years. And she was tired.

Death stared down his perfectly upturned nose at her. He stood there, waiting. Waiting for her to act. He expected her to lash out irrationally as she had the last time they had met under the same circumstances. He expected her to scream at him, to blame him, to fight him as she had always done.

But the woman who knelt before him was not the free spirited girl she had once been. The years had changed her- she seemed tired and weathered. She appeared to have given up.

"Have you come to laugh at me?"

The hushed voice caused Death to come back to reality with a wicked smile. He realized that she had not given up… she had been defeated. She looked pathetic laying in the dirt, her black dress wrinkled and filthy, her brown hair, windblown, her red blotched face stained with salty tears. His heart wanted to reach out and comfort her, hold her, love her. But his mind told him that he needed to show her that he owned her and her life. He wanted her to feel what he had felt for thirty years. She had one last lesson to learn.

"You've tortured me long enough," the woman continued slowly, her icy glare almost matching Death's. Using the grave for support, she slowly raised herself to her feet, allowing her eyes to be level with Death's. Tears were pooling along her dark lashes, threatening to spill over. "You took my baby girl away from me, you destroyed my marriage with Joseph, you deceived my son and ripped him away from me," she paused as she stared deep into his eyes. "Why?" she whispered softly. "It's me that you want! Why did you feel the need to hurt them? Valerie, I could accept. You had no control over that-"

Death looked away from the woman before him. He had hated having to take the girl from Elisabeth. Back then, he had no choice. But now? Now he had stolen the boy out of spite.

Elisabeth's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "Joseph, too. He deceived me, you didn't. You told me the truth," she closed her eyes and shook her head. "But Rudy?

"Rudy meant everything to me, der Tod. Everything! And you know that. I've been so ashamed of the life that I have lived. Except for Rudy… Rudy was the only thing I was ever proud of. The only thing in this world that I loved. He was the only light in my life. My joy, my love. He gave me a reason to live, der Tod. And you took that away from me!"

She turned away, quickly, to hide her tears. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction in seeing her cry. Wiping dirt from the hem of her dress, she quietly asked:

"Are you trying to kill me?" She slowly returned her eyes to Death's icy stare. He seemed unphased by her accusations. "Der Tod," she whispered his name in a pained voice. "Why are you doing this? I thought that you loved me. You don't do these sorts of things to the person you love…. I would never do this to you…"

For a moment, Death allowed his icy façade to fall. I would never do this to you… What was it that she had meant by that? Could she possibly…

"You know what? You win," Elisabeth said with a pained smile, spreading her arms in a defeated gesture. "You wanted to show me that you control my life. That I have to depend on you. You wanted to torture me and kill me in a slow and painful way? You've succeeded. Congratulations.

"I loved Rudy more than life itself. He was my one love, my one reason to live," a new wave of tears began to fall. "And you took that away!" she cried, pointing a trembling, accusing finger at Death. She turned and covered her face with her hands, ashamed as she burst into a fit of sobs. "Der Tod," she whispered in a small voice. "Please," she said as she turned back to Death, her eyes begging. She was done. Ready to end the power struggle between the two. "Please."

She moved closer to Death, collapsing in his arms. Death's cold, strong arms wrapped around Elisabeth's trembling, frail form. He lowered them to the ground and cradled the sobbing woman against his chest.

"Please!" she cried through a sob. "Der Tod, help me… I want to die."

Death smiled as he heard this. He ran a cold, gloved hand through her hair, shushing her. He rocked her back and forth, comforting the heart broken woman. He wanted to take her, to end her suffering. Both her heart and her spirit were broken. Living would be torturous. Looking at her, she was vulnerable and finally opening up to him. However, he had done the same thing- he had offered her everything and she refused him, hurt him, and left him broken hearted. He wanted her to know what it felt like to be denied the one thing you truly wanted.

Through her chorus of pleas, Death leaned in close to Elisabeth's ear and whispered:

"No,"

Elisabeth's eyes shot open. She tried to pull away to look at him for an explanation, but Death's icy grip held her fast.

"I don't want you," he hissed venomously. "I don't need you."

And with that, Elisabeth felt Death's grip loosen as he disappeared. Elisabeth fell to the ground, lying on top of her son's grave. Horrified, she realized that she had been denied death- the one thing everyone was promised in the end. She wrapped her arms around her legs and curled into a ball. She lay there sobbing, broken, and utterly alone.

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