Since I want to have this completed before I go back to school on Tuesday, I figured I'd get this one up asap. We're so close to being done, guys! What are we gonna do?!? We only have 3 or 4 more chappies after this! And good news! This is a shorter chappy but I like it… it's sweet and gives us a break from the depressing stuff.

I'm prolly gonna update again tonight- so be sure to check back!!

This chapter contains something that happened in Takarazuka's production called "Franz Josef's Dream." A similar scene happened in the German version but I liked how Zuka did it a tad bit better....

ENJOY!!

Chapter 16
Alone

Elisabeth left Hofburg and never looked back. She refused to return to Austria, the memories were too painful for her to bear. With her assistant in tow, Elisabeth fled.

Some say that she was running from growing old and the inevitable coming of death. In truth, she was running from life. She ran from her past and the ghosts in it- her father, her mother, Helen, her sister, Becky, Joseph, Sophie, Valerie, Rudy… Death. Her Dark Prince. What had happened to them? She recalled how kind and loving he had been towards her as a little girl. Now, he seemed to find delight in torturing her. He had tried to destroy her life with Joseph. He was jealous of Joseph and the fact that he had Elisabeth- he had her body, for that was a promise made with marriage. But Elisabeth knew, as well as Death, that her soul belonged to her Dark Prince.

Over the course of three long, painful, lonely years, Elisabeth refused to stay in one place for more than several days. She roamed all throughout Europe, lost and alone. She had built up a life that had been for naught now that everything had been taken from her. She was alone and heart- broken and wanted nothing more than to rest. And during this time something unexpected happened. Elisabeth received a letter as she was checking into the Hôtel du Parc des Eaux-Vives in Switzerland.

Elisabeth looked at the envelope, searching for a return address. How did anyone know where to find her? She opened the letter, silently, and stared down at the signature at the bottom.

"Ma'am?" her assistant asked Elisabeth.

"It's from Joseph," Elisabeth whispered.

Throughout the following year, Elisabeth remained stationary and continued to exchange letters with her husband. It was as if they had forgotten all that had happened to them. They seemed to be starting over. They fabricated a new relationship, one that was different from what they once had. They grew to truly care for one another. It was not a love affair, but a friendship- a very special friendship.

Elisabeth returned from her afternoon walk with her assistant as the sun was setting behind the Alps far in the distance. Pulling her electric key out of her coat pocket, she heard movement from behind the cream colored door. She froze. Could it be Death coming to finally relieve her? To take her away from all of this pain? She quickly slid the key through the sensor, grasped the cold, metal handle, and opened the door.

Silhouetted by the pink and purple light shining off of the vast Lake Geneva through the window stood a man. A man of once great stature now hunched over, no doubt tired. Elisabeth flipped the light switch to reveal the man's identity. Slowly, he turned to lock a pair of old, sad, brown eyes on Elisabeth. Joseph.

He was well into his fifties and certainly looked it. His once chestnut brown hair was now snow white. His once somewhat handsome face was weathered and wrinkled. He carried a cane by his side as he appeared to have a bad knee. The years after Rudy's death had not been kind to him. To either of them, for that matter.

"Elisabeth," he said, breaking the deep silence between the two.

"Alexa," Elisabeth turned her head to the side. With a smile, she said to her assistant, "Could you give us a few minutes?"

As Alexa closed the door behind her, Elisabeth turned to look back at her husband, a man whom she had not seen in four years.

"Are you surprised to see me?" he asked as if apologizing for being there.

"No," closing her eyes, Elisabeth slowly shook her head. "I knew you would come eventually."

The distance between them was great- both physically and emotionally. Joseph moved slowly with his cane as he tried to close the gap between them.

"Come home, Sisi," he said softly, reaching out a hand towards his wife.

Elisabeth smiled. It had been years since he had called her that in such a loving way. Looking from his outstretched hand to his pleading eyes, Elisabeth asked:

"Why did you come, Joseph?"

Looking about the spacious room, Joseph slowly sat down on a floral patterned chair with a sigh. Elisabeth sat across the coffee table in a matching armchair. After a brief moment of silence, Joseph said:

"Last night I had a dream," he looked into his wife's beautiful chocolate brown eyes. "A dream about you."

"Me?" Elisabeth asked with a furrowed brow. Surely a mere dream would not have him travel from Vienna to Geneva in a single day?

"Yes. A man was in it as well."

"A man?" Elisabeth asked, her head snapping up to look at Joseph.

"Yes," Joseph said, surprised by his wife's sudden interest. "I couldn't describe him to you. I only saw his eyes. They were the bluest eyes I've ever seen! He said," he stopped as his wife placed her hand over her heart and whispered something to herself. "He said that I was his rival or… or his … enemy. He claimed that he loved you, not me. Could you believe it?" he said with a nervous laugh. "And he said that I would lose you. It made me worried and so I came to see how you were." He reached across the petit table and took a hold of Elisabeth's small hand.

"Come home, Sisi. We belong together," he sighed as he looked up into her eyes. "I love you… And love can overcome everything."

Elisabeth smiled sadly and slowly shook her head. "Love can do many things, Joseph. But I'm afraid it cannot do that," she took a deep, calming breath. "We've tried so hard time and again to make this work… but we're so different. We both have our own dreams and we belong in different worlds. You've always been a part of high society and politics. Me… I've never belonged there and we both know that. I belong out in the world, running through a field bare foot or swimming in the ocean. It has nothing to do with what either of us has done. We've both made horrible mistakes but that's not what separated us. It was… fate, I suppose. We're not the only people on Earth who's marriage didn't work out the way they do in fairy tales. We were once in love. Can't that be enough for the both of us?"

"Elisabeth, I love you," Joseph said softly.

"Joseph," she said with a kind smile. "We both know that it's just not meant to be."

Joseph smiled sadly, but nodded in acceptance. "Well then," he said as he slowly stood. "I'll be going. I just wanted to see you. I've missed you, Sisi. "

"Me too," Elisabeth said warmly as she accompanied her husband to the door. As Joseph opened the door, she caught his arm and said, "Let's try to forget the past, Joseph. May we part as very dear friends?"

The couple embraced one another, something they had not done in years. Joseph whispered softly in Elisabeth's ear, "The very best of friends."

With a final smile, Joseph was gone and, once again, Elisabeth was alone.

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