A/N: I'll admit, it has been SO long since I've last updated. And IM SO SORRY. I was quite busy with school work but I never forgot about writing this though :) Anyway, this chapter itself was pretty long to write. SO i hope you enjoy it and please please write a review :)

Chapter 9

Liesel was sitting at lunch accompanied by a couple of her classmates on the benches at school. It was the end of the day and she was stuck wearing a white blouse, a plaid skirt reaching up until her angles, long socks and black shoes. The girls she was sitting with, none of them she finally conceded to herself, she knew too well.

The sun was actually out and bright, which should have taken the entire Germany by surprise but for Liesel, for some reason, it hadn't astounded her as much.

"-Liesel. Nicht stimmen Sie tu? Don't you agree?" Natasha had asked her.

Liesel, who was entirely distracted by the simple sight of the newly altered sky, jerked her head towards her "friends" and said with a vacant expression pasted on her face, "What?"

Natasha laughed. "She can't agree, can she? I mean she's got Rudy, right?" she told the other girls. She focused her attention back on her. "I was talking about Theo," she whispered to Liesel. "He hasn't been keeping his eyes of off you for weeks." Natasha pointed to a boy across the field from them. He had brown curly hair and green eyes the color of a lime. As soon as he made eye contact with Liesel, he turned away instantly and walked away. Liesel's cheeks turned a little red. Natasha and the other girls laughed.

Natasha lifted her eyebrows and a little smirk grew on her narrow face. She pushed Liesel gently with her shoulder. "So," she said. "What do you think?"

Liesel was taken back. She bottled her anger inside her throat and shut it back inside her. "What?" she got up and started to pack. "Him?" she laughed. "I'm good." She searched for words inside her. "I've got to go. Uh, I'll see you guys later."

She hurried of in the opposite direction wondering how she actually ended up with these girls in the first place.

Liesel stopped by the bike racks to pick up her bike. She wasn't walking home today with Rudy. In fact she hadn't spoken to him or got the slightest glance of him at all today. She rolled her bike by the handles away from the school until it was out of sight. Then she jumped on and her feet pedaled the way home automatically as she enjoyed the light breeze that slid past her face and went rushing away from her. She was totally engrossed in some fantasy until she felt like her entire face hitting a wall and her body slamming onto cold ground. A sudden surge of pain speeded throughout her veins and her bones were on fire. Something slowly kicked in, as it numbed her body slowly forcing her to sleep, forcing her to let go of her consciousness and release her grip from the entire world.

Liesel didn't know how long she was knocked out, but when she found the ability to open her eyes again, she was back in her room lying comfortably in her bed staring at the dreary white ceiling.

"I'm glad you're awake," a voice said.

Liesel focused her eyes on the women sitting next to her, Frau Hermann. Her white stringy hair was pulled up into a soft bun. She sported a light yellow dress. She looked at Liesel with pity as she placed her hand or hers.

Liesel scanned the rest of her body, which was covered with a thick blue and red blanket. The numbness had been replaced with raw pain on various sides of her body.

Frau Hermann read her mind. "I suppose you want to know what happened, huh?"

Liesel nodded.

Frau Hermann laughed. "Well alright. You apparently were riding your bike home, perhaps daydreaming while you were doing so?" She smirked and cocked and eyebrow at Liesel who forced a smile. "You had a little accident with another rider that sent you flying and well," she paused to cough. "You hit the ground pretty hard."

It took a moment for Liesel to digest this. She remembered small parts of it, but definitely not the entire incident.

Ilsa stood up. "And as for how you got here, the girl who you hit brought you here," she said. Ilsa walked closer to Liesel and knelt down. She had a hint of curiosity and worry in her eyes. "Strange," she whispered into her ears. She cautiously looked around as if she wondered if someone was eavesdropping. "The girl claims to not know you, but she knew where you lived."

She stood up and scanned Liesel from head to toe. A smile replaced her forlorn look. "No broken bones, sweetheart, thank god. But it will take a couple of days for you to get up again. Now I'm going to make you some tea. And," Frau Hermann concluded with, "I bet you want to meet the person who gave you all this? I'll send her right up."

Liesel had no idea what Ilsa Hermann had meant, but her heart instantly froze when a girl appeared at her doorway wearing an expression that resembled a cross between a frightened squirrel and a sorry puppy on the streets. About the same age as Liesel, she was dressed in a top resembling the color of a plum. Her light blue jeans had been ripped at the knees and were tattered by the dirt. Her brown hair was spread out into strands.

But it was her lightning struck blue eyes that put the pieces together.

The frightened, terrorized blue eyes she had seen weeks and weeks ago in front of her and in her dreams that fixed her broken memories.

The corner of Liesel's mouth shook. Her teeth clattered against each other.

"You," she whispered. Her breaths were sharp.

The girl in the doorway came rushing over to Liesel's side as if she had ordered her to do so.

"I'm really sorry- " she scanned Liesel from head to toe, "-for all this."

But that wasn't what Liesel wanted to hear. Her eyes grew wide. "You- you've been following me around, haven't you?"

The girl's mouth widened but she didn't say anything. Her head subsided to her neck and she slowly walked away from Liesel. Liesel felt a pang of guilt. She didn't mean to sound so harsh.

Liesel didn't know how to approach her. She took a deep breath in. "Have you been following me?" she asked trying to sound calm.

The girl looked up and a teardrop fell down her cheek and left a wet trail. Her eyes scanned the room. "Just a little," she muttered dryly.

She didn't meet Liesel's eyes, but Liesel stared right into hers. "Why?"

The girls eyes darted around the room, as if she were trying to find an answer in the walls. "It's just the boy I've seen you with."

"What about him?" Liesel demanded.

She took a deep breath. "It's just… he looked liked someone I used to know." She wiped her eyes with the back of her palm. "But he's dead."

Liesel cocked an eyebrow at the girl. So Rudy looked like someone she knew, but was dead. So she followed them around. But Liesel remembered the first time she saw the girl. While in shock she had said someone's name. Probably the name of her dead friend.

But what was his name? There was something important to this Liesel couldn't remember.

"Wait." Liesel motioned the girl to sit next to her and she cautiously did so. "Your friend. What was his name?"

The girl said nothing at first as she stared into her calloused palms. The color of her eyes changed color as if it were frantic with fear. "Rudy Steiner."

But just as she spoke, a cold fist wrapped around Liesel's heart. A fireball plummeted from outside and created a hole inside her. Her jaw dropped. "What?"

"Rudy. Rudy Steiner."

In Liesel's mind, a thousand thoughts were bolting through as she was trying convincing to herself that none of this was real.

Rudy? Rudy dead? She wasn't supposed to know that? Liesel's hands started to sweat underneath the blanket. She folded them to keep them from shaking.

Liesel started to speak. "I think you're mistaken. Rudy? Rudy Steiner?"

The girl nodded as if another word said about this topic would only cause her more pain.

Liesel challenged her by trying to find a loophole. "Are you sure? Does does have blonde hair?"

The girl stared at her feet. "Yes."

"And blue eyes?"

The girl's eyes welled with tears. "Yes."

Liesel heart was pounding against her chest. "And siblings?"

The girl closed her eyes as tears fell down not even touching her cheeks. She breathed an answer. "Ja, many. Kurt and the others."

Liesel found herself in a position she couldn't name. What was she supposed to say to her?

She remembered the day Death had visited her. It had said that no one, no one but Liesel would know of Rudy Steiner's death.

But how did this girl, a girl whose name she didn't know and face she never saw, know of all of this.

But Liesel knew that that was a question that couldn't be answered.

"How do you know Rudy?"

The girl sighed. "It's a long story," she admitted.

Liesel needed an answer to all this. And she needed time to stall. "I have time."

She took a deep breath in and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand again Her breath was shaky. "Years ago, Rudy and I used to go attend school together." She spoke quietly, as of she only intended herself to hear it. "I didn't live on Himmel Street like him, but still he and I were best friends. And we were only nine or ten but I had a special bond with him." Her hands shook as she spoke but she folded them together to keep them steady. "Then, Hitler started to gain power and the war was stirring. My dad was asked to be a general for one of the armies under the Furer and we immediately had to leave for Berlin. I knew we were only young but I couldn't leave without him because he was everything to me." Her voice cracked when she said the last sentence. "I tried everything to convince my parents that I belonged here, but they wouldn't listen." Her eyes wandered to the window and she stared as if she was remembering a bad memory. "So I went along knowing that when the war was over, I would get to see him again." She closed her eyes tightly. "As time went along and as I got older, I started feeling something more for him. When the country was nearing the fall and the war was coming close to the end, I was over joyed. Of course that was before I heard about the Himmel Street bombings…" her eyes filled up with tears. "I was heartbroken." She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "There was only one survivor," she sniffed. "But, it wasn't him. Some girl…"

Liesel studied the girl. Her mind was racing with thousands of compelling thoughts as burning questions popped up.

She decided to ask her first one. "Did Rudy," she began, "you know like you too?"

The girl's eyes lit up though fear was prominent in the color of her eyes. She sighed happily. A smile caught the corners of her lips. "That's what I hoped for. I always loved him." She started playing with her strands of hair. "I know it sounds silly. I mean we were young but he was different from all the other boys at school. It's strange how the older I got, even though we were apart, my feelings grew stronger." Her voice was steady now, as if she were merely reciting a fairy tale instead of a sad memory. " When I was at Berlin, I always imagined how he would look like. Stonger, Leaner with big muscles." She chuckled to herself and looked at the ceiling trying to hold back her tears. "No point now, huh?" She looked tired, as if years and years of hope and determination could leave a permanent scar on your physical self. As if daydreaming was only there to bring your hopes up slowly and break you down easily and so casually. "But the reason I was following you. It's just your friend."Her eyes settled on Liesel directly. "He just looked so much like Rudy. And at first- I thought it was him, you know the first time you saw me…"

It was all too much for Liesel to take in. She had no idea about this girl. Rudy was her best friend too? Did he friend very single girl he met?

But Liesel pushed that aside. There were far more important things to worry about.

"Did you talk to anyone about this? You know his death and all." The words were uncomfortable on Liesel's tongue. Of course she had thought about Rudy's death a lot to her self, but never had she said it out loud.

The girl ran her hands through her hair. She thought back. "Well," she said quietly. "I do remember telling my parents when I heard. And then a week later, when I brought it up again, they didn't remember anything about it."

Because that's when Death had erased everyone's memory.

Well not everyone's.

Liesel shook her head. She didn't know what to think or to say. Should she tell the girl the truth about Rudy, or should she go on with the lie?

Liesel knew how it was to live in distraught. She knew how it was to love someone and then accept the fact that they were gone. She closed her eyes tight and opened them again. She didn't even know the girl's name but she worked around the truth.

"Listen," she said slowly. She forced the girl to look straight into her eyes. Liesel took a deep breath in. "Rudy, the boy you told me about, he's alive. The boy you've seen with me, that's Rudy."

The girl's eye's widened and instantly froze. Her lips trembled. "What?"

Liesel nodded. "He never died." Liesel put on her best acting skills. "I don't know why you think he did."

The girl stood up and placed her hand on her head. She paced the room. "Wait so he was the survivor of the bombings?"

"No, I was." Liesel gulped before lying. "But so did Rudy," she said quietly.

The girl looked at her in disbelief. Her face turned red."Crucified Christ!It was you? Sind se Ernst? Are you serious?"

Liesel smiled to hopefully lighten the air around them. "Ja, I moved to Himmel Street when I was about 12. I moved in with foster parents. After they died in the bombings, I moved in with the Mayor and Ilsa."

She looked uncomfortable. Or maybe a mix between uncomfortable and overjoyed, but Liesel couldn't tell.

Despite the fact she had followed Liesel around and lingered in her dreams, she seemed like a sweet girl who had as much of a life as Liesel. She was quite vulnerable, Liesel could conclude just by the way her brilliant blue eyes always looked down onto the ground.

"I suppose it's too much to take in. But, I'm Liesel. Liesel Meminger."

The girl looked up at Liesel and smiled. "Oh,I'm Kirsti. Kirsti Brandt."

She scanned Liesel from head to toe. "I'm so sorry about what I did. I wasn't following you this time, just heading home while daydreaming. I hope you'll forgive me."

Liesel laughed . "Don't worry. I'd only beat up Rudy if he did that."

Kirsti's ephermal smile disappeared as quick as it came. "Wait, Liesel. You're serious right? Rudy Steiner is alive?"

Liesel nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. I suppose many reports said I was the only survivor of the bombings. But that's not true."

Kirsti's face remained motionless. She stared out through the window and sighed quietly to herself. It was nearing the evening and the sun was setting, leaving the sky a shade of orange and red blended together.

Liesel could tell Kirsti was thinking hard. Obviously it was too much to take in at first. Liesel tried to imagine herself in Kirsti's position, but she couldn't fathom the thought. "Are you alright?" Liesel asked her softly.

She hesitated before answering. She shook her head. "It's just all these years I've lived thinking he was dead when he wasn't." She looked down at the ground again. "It just seems like a waste of time…"

Liesel swallowed and drew a deep breath. "I know. I know how you feel," was the only thing she could manage to say.

Kirsti forced a smile but Liesel could sense something wrong. "So," she started to ask cautiously. "Liesel, you and Rudy…"

Liesel stared at her fingers trying to avoid the question. "Ja," she answerd quietly.

Kirsti's shoulders slumped down and her eyes drooped.

Liesel looked up at her and I pang of guilt hit her. "I'm sorry. I know you loved him."

Kirsti shook her head. She chuckled. "No, no, don't be. I wasn't even expecting him to remember me. And besides, I really don't know what I think of him…"her voice trailed off all of a sudden.

It was quiet for a while as Liesel studied Kirsti. She definitely was one of the prettiest girls she'd seen. Beneath that insecurity and self-consciousness was a heart desired to be loved and a heart that could easily forgive. Her voice was as sweet to hear as the taste of honey droplets on lips. Her thin strands of brown hair accentuated her big electrifying blue eyes which were now a slight shade of red from crying.

She soon glanced at the clock behind Liesel. "Oh the time!" she exclaimed. She stood up and gave Liesel a warm smile. "I really should be going, but it was really nice meeting you." She walked towards the door of the bedroom and turned around. "Oh and Liesel," she added suddenly. "You're going to Marc Strasse? The school,right?I can tell by your uniform."

"Yes, why?"

"I'm starting to attend there next week. So I'll see you around."

Then it made sense why she was riding around that area earlier. "Wirklitch?" Liesel asked. "Really?Then I'll see you later."

She was walking out the room door when Liesel decided she had one last thing to say to her. "Kirsti?" she called out.

She turned her head towards Liesel.

"Maybe you should say hi to Rudy. He lives just down the street for you."

To Liesel, it looked like she just considered the though well manneredly as she agreed to do so and swiftly walked out the door. But Liesel could tell her heart was rapidly pumping inside forcing itself out of her body and her eyes were dancing and glittering.

She knew how it felt to think you have lost someone special.

And she knew how it felt to have them back.

And so will Kirsti.

A/N: What do you think? I promise more Rudy in the next chapters :D but please leave your thoughts and comments in the review section so I can read them! And i'll definitely respond! Again, sorry for the long wait and I'll try to update again soon, but bare with me! Thank you so much!

- Emma