By the time Eliot finally drifted off to sleep in one of the tiny beds at each side of the private passenger car, Claire still had not managed to find the best way to tell him the truth about what she was, as she was not even sure she should even try to do so, instead of just abandoning him after all. The truth would either lead to losing him anyway, or having to force her will upon him, and neither sounded like a particularly pleasant idea to her. Even despite Palmer’s recent counseling about how she needed to stop being afraid to use those powers they were given on the hapless mortals around her. It was not as if Eliot was endangering she or anyone else, so there was no need to keep him in line, so to speak. But at the same time, she knew she had to protect herself, but she could do that by simply compelling him to keep her safe from the sun, which didn’t necessarily require him to understand why.
But again, she knew that that would have to be addressed soon, thanks to agreeing to stay with him, as he plainly stated that he wished her to. And she actually wished to stay with him as well, at least on some level, at least for a time, at least until she helped him to figure out who he even was. It was now just a question of how to get him past the fact of what she was, and that was a question she still had no clear answer on. However it was definitely a question that would have to be dealt with very, very soon.
The train rolled on as morning quickly approached, and Eliot still slept soundly. Claire moved to pull the curtains shut tightly over the tiny windows at each side of the car and then glanced back at him again. She then moved once more to his ear as he slept, “you must never, ever let the sun touch my skin” she whispered quietly, as he simply murmured again, barely stirring in his sleep at the gentleness with which she whispered that command next to his ear.
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When the train finally reached the end of its line, the sun was already high in the sky outside. The halting of that continuous motion easily woke Eliot with a yawn as he brushed hair and sleep from his eyes. Once he finally was aware enough to open his eyes and glance across the car, was when he noted Claire soundly asleep on the bed at the opposite side of that car.
He felt a small smile touch his lips as his eyes fell on her and lingered a moment before finally pushing himself up from the bed. He began gathering their things, deciding to let her sleep just a bit longer as he did. Then when that task was finished, he glanced down at her once more, where she had still yet to stir at all. He shook his head at her seeming ability to sleep through anything, and sleep for quite a long time at that, if the previous day was any indication.
“Claire” he softly stated her name, to which he got no response, of course.
Just as Eliot was about to speak her name again, though more loudly, the conductor knocked at the door to their car, calling from the other side, “Nous avons atteint le dernier arrêt. Vous devez sortir du train maintenant, mon seigneur. ”
Sighing at the fact that even the other man’s rather loud instructions to leave the train didn’t seem to wake Claire, Eliot called back through the door, “Nous avons juste besoin de quelques instants de plus. Nous partirons bientôt. ”
“Très bien, mon seigneur” the instructor seemed to accept Eliot’s request to give them a few more moments to leave the train, as his footsteps then moved away down the corridor once more then.
Eliot sighed and looked back down at her once more, “Claire” he stated more loudly. “The train’s stopped Claire. I’m pretty sure that means they would like us to leave now” he told her with another shake of his head, though he still wore a smile for the moment. He watched her with growing concern as she still made no response whatsoever. “I’m not planning to carry you off of the train my dear, no matter how amusing that might actually be” he teased, pushing even more volume into his voice then.
That was when his level of concern rose even more as he reached down to place a hand over her velvet-clad shoulder to attempt to shake her awake instead. Even that got no response, as she continued to lay there motionless on her side, facing the wall of the train, her back to he and the rest of the car. He then took a breath and reached down again to roll her to her back instead, sure that would have to wake her. But alas, her arms and head just fell limply to the side.
“Claire” that was when the panic became much more obvious in his voice. He then reminded himself that she had slept very soundly all through the previous day as well, and he took a breath before reaching down to gently touch her neck. Though he then found that her skin was as cold as death. The mere shock of that revelation caused him to then immediately jerk his hand back as though the icy cold of her pale flesh had actually burnt him instead, the horror in his dark eyes apparent.
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When the sun set that evening, Eliot was still there in that train car, the conductor apparently having not returned again to bother checking to make sure that they had actually left as he had requested that morning. Though Eliot was not even aware of the fact that it was now evening. As if in shock, he was just sitting there on the floor of the car, his back to Claire’s bed. He sat with his knees pulled to his chest, his arms resting upon them, and his face buried against those arms.
“The train stopped?” was Claire’s groggy greeting as her eyes opened with that setting sun.
Hearing her voice behind him, Eliot bolted to his feet, whirling around to face her, and backing against the opposite wall of the car. An entirely new brand of shock written all over his reddened face. “Claire?” he nearly choked her name.
“Eliot” she returned, obviously thrown by his reaction to her simple question.
“You’re... you’re...” he stammered, any more words escaping him.
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“Are you all right?” she asked with concern as she pushed herself to a sitting position.
“Am I...” his stammer continued. He then just shook his head at the confusion on her face, and tried to force himself to even form English words, or any words at all at that point. “I thought you... “ another shake of his head, “Tu étais mort!”
Claire swallowed as she finally began to understand his current state. “Pardon?” was the only response she could come up with herself then.
“Tu...” he seemed to have to force his brain to even work then, “you” he corrected, “you were dead!”
“I was?” she returned, trying to force innocence into her tone.
“You were... I know you were. I touched your skin... you were...” he stammered, the struggle to even try to express himself in her tongue clear.
Claire swallowed as she tried to think as quickly as she could to find any kind of response to what had apparently occurred that day. “Obviously, I’m not dead” she forced the lie through her lips.
“But you...” he shook his head in further agitation as he began pacing the length of the tiny cabin. After another long moment where Claire also found herself struggling to come up with any words that could hope to calm him, or even be believable at all, Eliot was the one who spoke again, “I spent the entire day in here, with your... with you... thinking I was here with your dead body. The entire day!” he stated, his voice trembling, “you were dead. You had to be dead. And now...” he just shook his head again. “And I had no idea what I could even do, who I could tell. I don’t even know if you have any family or anything, Claire!”
She swallowed again, feeling a wave of guilt for the state she had now put him into by just trying to stay close to him, despite the fact that being close to her was something he had said he wanted, just the previous night. Though, now she wasn’t sure he would want to be anywhere near her after the shocked state he now found himself in simply because of Claire being what she was, and him being unaware of such.
“Again, not dead” was all she could say, scared to even try to explain herself, especially considering his current state.
Eliot finally stopped his pacing and slumped down into a defeated seat at the edge of his own bed, facing where she sat at the edge of hers, “I’m just... so confused right now” were the only words he could find then.
“I’m sorry” she whispered, not able to say any more herself.
“Sorry?” he scoffed. “Sorry for what? Me apparently completely losing my mind?” he shook his head once more, staring at the floor in continued disbelief.
“You haven’t lost your mind, Eliot” she told him with a gentle regret.
“Then what would you call it? I spent the entire day sitting here, thinking...” he just left the sentence at that, as he had already said those words more than once already.
“I just... I’m sorry, that I worried you” Claire told him, her sadness clear.
“Worried me?” he forced a small laugh of disbelief at that understatement, though there was also relief in that laugh, a massive amount of it, even if he still had no idea how to explain anything about that day and what he had been so sure was true.
“I guess, I just should have... prepared you” she stated softly.
“Prepared me? Prepared me for what, exactly?” he returned with another skeptical smile. Though Claire was having trouble giving him an answer for that question either just then.
Thankfully, there was not much more time for Claire to even try to have that conversation with him at that moment. Outside, the train station attendant must have heard their voices in the night as he passed by the parked locomotive. He abruptly entered the train and moved to push open the door of their car, giving them both angry, questioning looks in greeting.
“Ihr zwei! Aus dem Zug! Jetzt!” was his nearly shouted greeting as he angrily gestured for them to leave the train at once.
“German?” Claire asked questioningly as she looked at Eliot, “We’re in Germany now?” she asked with surprise.
“It is right next to France, love” Eliot smiled as he stood and offered a hand to help her to her feet as well. “And I didn’t know you knew German” he added as an afterthought.
“Jetzt!” the man repeated angrily.
“Alles klar, alles klar, wir gehen!” Eliot told the man with another shake of his head as he reached for the few belongings they had with them and proceeded to lead Claire from the train now that the sun was safely gone from the sky for the night, and she had once again returned to the land of the living, apparently.
Claire took in their surroundings for a long moment before looking back up at him, “so, Germany, huh?”
“Appears so” he confirmed, though there was distraction in his voice, and in his eyes as he looked back down at her for a long moment.
“Yes?” she asked, after waiting another moment for him to add anything else to his reply.
That was when Eliot absently dropped their bags to the ground next to their feet and took a deep breath, as though preparing himself for something or other. He then moved a step closer, took her face in his hands, and leaned down to press his lips over her own, shocking both of them then.
Not sure of whether she would slap him, run away, or do something completely different, Eliot was a bit surprised when she actually did kiss him back, hesitant though it was. After all, his surprise was nothing compared to hers when he had attempted that kiss at all, he was sure.
When he did finally step back from Claire, she did indeed look surprised, though not angry; a fact he was very grateful for. Claire cleared her throat a moment as she tried to find words once more, “and may I ask what brought that on?” hers was the voice with the stammer in it then. “Do you just really like Germany, or... ?”
Eliot couldn’t help a small, relieved chuckle. Then his smile became more hesitant, though sincere. “I suppose...” he cleared his own throat, “that I just really thought I should... I really wanted to do that... just once. Before you went and died on me again or anything” he threw in, hoping to cover his own nervousness in humor once more.
Claire allowed her own soft chuckle then, “no promises, I am a rather strange girl, after all.”
“The strangest” he agreed before picking up their belongings with one arm, and placing the other around her shoulders as he led her away from the train and into the next part of their very, very strange journey.
As the two made their way through the village nearest the train station, Claire’s eyes widened as she looked off in the distance to see miles and miles of a beautiful forest nearby, just as the lightest of snowflakes began to fall around them.
“It is rather lovely” Eliot stated as he followed her eyes.
“Wait. This is Germany. Is that the Black Forest?” she asked as she looked up at him.
“It would be” he confirmed.
“I’ve always wanted to see that” she smiled.
“Well you do appear to be getting that wish as we speak” he returned her smile.
“Are we staying here?” she asked hopefully. “I mean for a day or two” she quickly added.
Eliot smiled again, “last I checked, we didn’t have much of a plan. So I suppose we could. If you wanted.”
On that answer she simply smiled again before turning her eyes back to the forest in awe of its beauty. At the same moment, Eliot turned his eyes to her, becoming more and more keenly aware of her own beauty with each moment they spent together, no matter how odd those moments were quickly becoming.