Chapter 19!!! Sorry I left you with such a cliffy (not like you had to wait long...) And FYI: Elisabeth's last words in real life were (supposedly), "What's happened to me." So I wanted to incorporate that into this story- I hope you spotted it. Tho I'm pretty sure most of you are as big fans of Elisabeth as I am so I don't really have to explain this... ANYWAY!! The final chappy is written up and boy is it good! But enough about that- we'll cross that bridge when it comes to us… This is a short chappy but I'll def. have the final chapter up right after!! NO MORE WAITING!!!!

NOTE: italics are the dialogue in the flashback

ENJOY!!

Chapter 19

The Truth

The officer stared at Luigi Lucheni as he finished his story. He had told the officer all about Elisabeth and her love affair with Death. If the officer had not seen the beautiful blond claiming to be Death with his own eyes, he would've thought the young Italian was insane. He had just listened to the last 35 years of this woman's life- a story filled with things that no one could possibly know.

"How do you know all of this?" he asked questioningly.

"Death told me," the man said. "After Death showed me the gun he went on to explain everything. He told me all about Elisabeth's life and the fact that she had been in love with him ever since she was a little girl. When she was twenty, she married a man whom she did not love. After that, her life spiraled downhill and she is now wandering around Europe, just waiting for her time to run out.

"If you're Death, why don't you do it? I asked him, still trying to wrap my brain around what I had just been told.

"For a moment, his cold, stone features softened. He said quietly (more so to himself than me, I think), I can't.

"I looked at him. But you're Death! Isn't it your job to kill her?

"I've tried, he said as he looked into my eyes. I've tried time and again. I tried when she was a little girl; I tried when she was grown. But I can't bring myself to take her life. It's far too precious.

"I suppose he realized that he had shared more than he had intended, so he quickly ended the conversation. As he stood up to leave he said:

"Make sure she doesn't feel it. She is not to feel any pain. She can't be made to suffer again. Pierce her through the heart. Do you understand?

"I simply nodded as Death walked through the door and left. I just stood there," he paused as he looked to the officer. "I'm sure you understand how I felt."

The officer looked at the handcuffed man. He was not going to give this crazed man the satisfaction of admitting that he, too, had surely lost his mind.

There was a knock at the metal door that caused the officer to look away from Luigi. He slowly walked to the door, not turning his back on the young assassin. A man was at the door with a cell phone in his hand which he held out to the officer.

"Hello?" he asked into the small device. "She is? Good. Thank you," he handed the phone back to the fellow officer, shut the door, and returned to the table in the middle of the room.

"Elisabeth just arrived at the hospital," he said, looking at Luigi's unchanged face. "God dammit man, she's dying!"

"Yes?" Luigi asked, questioning the point of the obvious statement made by the officer.

"Do you not understand that you killed her? This woman whom you admired so much and wanted to make happy."

"Haven't you been listening?" the Italian asked. "I didn't kill her. I am helping her find happiness."

"How so, exactly?" the officer spat.

"She's been depressed for years. She has begged for this. She's too scared to commit suicide. Death can't kill her because he's madly in love with her. It's a tragic catch-22. That's where I come in. I am allowing the two star crossed lovers to live 'happily ever after,'" he finish with a manic giggle.

"This isn't funny, Lucheni. She's dying! She only has a few minutes left to live!"

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