When Giotto woke up again it was already dark outside. But what irritated him most was that he was covered with a blanket and that his shoes had been taken off. For a second he couldn't find an explanation for that and was wondering whether he had done it himself before he had fallen asleep, but then he realized that most likely Alaude had looked after him.

The Italian sighed and slowly got up, although he would have liked to stay in the bed for a little longer. But it would be rude not to look after Alaude since the man probably was waiting for him. Additionally Giotto felt hungry.

He was surprised when he saw a new set of clothes on a chair in the bedroom. When he took a closer look at them he realized that they were his size and he was sure that they were meant for him. So he got changed quickly, being rather fond of the soft and clean feeling of the cloth. Messily he left his old clothes on the bedroom's floor, not wanting to let the French wait longer than necessary.

When he left the bedroom he already noticed the smell of food and the soft light that shone upstairs from the first floor. He followed the smell and the light and finally entered the living room in which Alaude was sitting at a table, writing a letter. In front of him a couple of different dishes were placed on the table and Giotto could already feel his mouth watering. He was starving terribly. And that was what actually betrayed him since suddenly his stomach started to growl. At the sound of this Alaude looked up and examined Giotto cautiously.

"You're awake." He stated needlessly. "Did you have a good rest?"

"Yes, thank you." Giotto said silently and sat down next to Alaude. "Did you make all the food?" He wondered and examined the different dishes.

"Yes, I thought you might be hungry once you had a lie-in. I already had something so feel free to take whatever you like. Sorry I didn't wait, but you sure slept long and I was rather hungry a while ago."

Giotto just nodded and gave Alaude a light smile.

"It's alright. I wouldn't have liked the thought of you starving just because I was asleep." He added and started to load his plate. Once Giotto had started to eat he also smiled and happily. He always had liked the food Alaude made and being able to taste it now again actually made him even happier than the fact that the food filled his empty stomach.

"I really like it, thank you." He said in between two bites and then examining the letter in front of Alaude while enjoying the food. "Who are you writing to?"

"It's a letter to Luc. I really should keep him up to date or he will start to worry." The French said. "If you want you can add some pages of your own."

Giotto froze at these words and gave Alaude a rather unsecure almost frightened look.

"I doubt this is a good idea. I believe he might not want to receive anything from me. He seemed to be rather peeved at me." He answered since he still remembered Luc's harsh words in the letter Alaude had brought him.

"Well, it's up to you, but you can trust me, Luc's not a resentful man." He returned and finished his letter. "But you still have time to think of it so no need to decide upon this now."

Giotto nodded silently, looking at his plate thoughtfully. Somehow he had lost his appetite. But of course Alaude noticed the change in Giotto's mood and he stopped writing the letter and instead looking more attentively at the blonde Italian.

"Giotto, I am sure he never was really angry at you at all. Besides I wouldn't let anyone harm you." He said with a rather soft voice and reached for Giotto's hand. However the younger man quickly pulled his hand back and looked at the French with sad and disbelieving eyes.

"Tell me, how can actually believe that? How can you say that he never was angry at me? How can you not be angry at me? You're the one who should be angry the most. You should be furious. I disappointed you so much, you and everybody else. I just left you behind. How can you not hate me?" Giotto teared up while he was talking since all the memories about his last days in Sicily returned at once. Memories about the time he had spent there and about the people he had lived with and of course memories about the time he had been able to spend together with Alaude.

"You just have to hate me. Please at least show some disappointment." Giotto added, trying to hold back the tears.

Alaude just watched him silently for a moment, but then he slowly shook his head.

"Giotto, I never hated you and I never could hate you. When I talked to G after I had returned from Paris I wanted to know what had happened, but he couldn't give me all the details. Yet, I knew that something worse had been going on and I was sure you had a good reason for just leaving. Of course, I was sad and I always kept wondering whether it would have been different if I had been there back then. But I never hated you. How could I when I actually still loved you so much?" The French answered with a soft voice that became more and more lovable while he was talking. And Giotto, who just couldn't believe what he was hearing, wasn't able to hold the tears back any longer and he started to cry.

Alaude looked at him with pain in his eyes. He had always disliked Giotto's tears, because he had felt powerless every time he saw them rolling down his cheeks. But right now he felt totally overstrained. He actually had tried to comfort Giotto by telling him this, but now it seemed like his words had worsened the whole situation.

"Giotto, please, stop crying. I'm saying the truth. I never hated you." He said with a low and unsecure voice, but Giotto just kept crying, looking at Alaude with his big orange eyes.

"How can you never have hated me? I left you behind and I didn't even leave you a message. For six years I didn't even write you a single letter. I even married and got a son. How can you just say you love me?" Giotto was shaking. The whole situation just complete overstrained him. He didn't know what to do and what to think but even when he was making use of his hyperintuition he could feel that Alaude was telling the truth. He had never hated him and he didn't even hate him right now. There was only love.

Meanwhile Alaude slowly got up and came closer to Giotto. He leant down towards him and pulled him in a gentle embrace.

"Just don't leave me again, please." Alaude mumbled lowly, gently stroking Giotto's back in order to calm him down. But this almost seemed to be impossible for the Italian.

"I am so sorry, please forgive me. I was just so scared. I thought I might put you in extreme danger. I was just worried about your safety. I was worried about everyone's safety. But I was such a fool." Giotto said with a hoarse voice, trying to calm himself down again, but Alaude surely didn't make it easy although he of course didn't mean to make it worse for Giotto.

"It's alright. I already forgave you years ago. I know you just did what you thought was best for everyone." He responded soothingly, still stroking the smaller one's back.

"But it wasn't the best for everyone. I only made it worse and I hurt you so much." Giotto went on apologizing to his former Cloud Guardian, but the man suddenly just shut him off by placing a rather gentle kiss on his lips.

For a moment Giotto was confused and irritated and he thought of breaking the kiss again, but then he realized the love and gentleness Alaude was placing in the kiss. It had been ages he had been kissed like that and so he slowly closed his eyes, placed his arms around his lover's neck and just enjoyed the kiss while silent tears kept running down his face. He had made a huge mistake in his past and probably he would never be able to get free of this guilt, but maybe he could try to create a better future for Alaude and him and so he swore to himself that he would stay by the French's side from now on until the very end.