The Girl That Died

Talk After Dark

It was already late at night when Alexandre came back. He brushed his hand through his blood-clotted hair and shook his head with a deep sigh:

"That was so unnecessarily exhausting."

He mumbled to himself, glad to be back and done for the night. He was tired but decided to check on Yvette quickly before going to sleep. Warm light shone through underneath the door and he knocked softly:

"Are you still awake?"

He asked, before opening the door carefully and peeking inside; Adette was still sitting by Yvette's side, caressing the back of the younger one's hand while reading one of the man's books. She looked up at him and whispered:

"Be quiet, she's asleep. Uneasy and having nightmares, but asleep."

Alexandre nodded silently, looking at his secretary who squirmed and whimpered quietly.

"Adette, go to sleep. I can stay with her."

He offered, sitting down next to her.

"Forget about it, you need rest. You look like you were attacked by a bunch of angry wolves!"

The woman argued, pointing at his messy hair and bloody clothes. 

"That's not a problem."

Alexandre protested and shrugged for emphasis:

"I can change clothes later. You took enough care of her, thank you."

His calm tone mixed with a certain seriousness as he pointed toward the door. 

"Alex you are impossible!"

The woman shook her head with a sinister expression on her face. Despite that, she stood up, throwing the book onto his lap:

"Your taste seriously lacks variety."

She joked and left, closing the door behind herself.

"I know."

The man sighed, smiling softly. He got a bit more comfortable and began to read; absentmindedly he hummed to himself meanwhile, the song that Yvette had sung the first time they had spent together in the music room. His gaze wandered to her face and for a few moments, he simply looked at her. 

A faint memory of his daughter was awoken inside him and made him smile yet again. He shook his head lightly; no, the daughter was not the right word. He never had his own children, rather a godchild he took care of often to make the life of her mother easier. With genuine effort, he tried to remember the girl he had left behind so selfishly more clearly but failed bitterly. And so all that was left for him was a feeling of regret he had not felt so strongly in a long time.

Thoughts started to cloud Alexandre's mind, about what might have happened to them, if they lived a nice life and that both were most certainly dead by now. It made him realize why Yvette had seemed so familiar from the very beginning and why he wanted to protect her no matter the cost. Even if it once more felt like it was out of selfishness, to calm his bad conscience and come to peace with the help of the thought to have been able to protect someone without cruelly leaving them. With no chance to ever explain why.

Gently he caressed Yvette's stitched cheek, accidentally waking her:

"Ow... Alexandre?"

She asked, still half asleep, and opened her eyes tiredly.

"I didn't mean to wake you. Just go back to sleep, I didn't want to leave you alone"

He explained with a calming gesture. She put her hand on his, contently leaning into the soft touch:

"Thank you. But you have to sleep too, you look drained."

She said with a yawn and gave him a sleepy smile.

"No, radish, I'm okay. I want to be sure everything is alright with you. Your sleep is uneasy enough as it is."

He explained with a denying movement of his head. 

"Alexandre, I don't want you to stay awake because of me. If it eases your mind you can sleep in my bed."

He chuckled as she made space for him:

"That's quite inappropriate."

An annoyed yet amused sigh came from the woman as she rolled her eyes:

"First of all, we've done this before if you remember. Second of all, we're friends and third of all it doesn't matter. You said it yourself, Shinigami don't care about the rules and norms of humans! And, most importantly, I am not a child anymore and can decide who to let into my bed."

She chuckled a bit about the last part. 

He thought about it for a moment but quickly shrugged and laid down beside her, scooting to the edge to leave her more space.

"Promise you will sleep, yes?"

Yvette requested seriously, brushing her fingers through her mentor's hair to get him to relax a bit. For once it wasn't too hard to ignore the blood.

"Yes, I promise. But not before you are back asleep, radish. The next time will be hard. Even harder than it's been so far. We have to plan so much and look for solutions for-"

Yvette interrupted him before he could finish speaking:

"Alexandre please calm down. I don't want to think about it right now, it's late and I would prefer nicer dreams."

The man nodded and stayed silent, pulling her closer after all: 

"I'm here, just wake me if you need anything."

He said and she nodded, happy in his embrace and feeling just a little safer.

It only took a few more minutes until she fell back into a light sleep and began dreaming again.

Alexandre pulled the blanket higher, knowing the night would be cold, and looked out the nearest window to watch the stars for a while. He concentrated only on the clear, starry sky before giving one more look to the sleeping woman:

"I promise I will protect you."

His voice was quiet and he finally gave in to his own tiredness, blissfully unaware of the man watching them through the other window. With a sadistic grin on his lips, he let himself fall backward, landing on the stone ground elegantly, disappearing with quietly echoing steps.