Bambi and the Duke

She stood outside the room on the patio, her hands holding the rails as she leaned forward to feel the cool breeze that had traveled from one land after another through the forest to touch her face and go on its way. A soft smile settled on her lips as she stared at the horizon, the sky meeting the forest lines which stretched wide and far.

How long had it been? Thought Vivian to herself hearing the chirping birds that flew in the sky as it was the time of dusk. The music was sweet and soft which was tranquil to her mind which had been bubbling with plenty of questions over the past years.

Hearing the room door open, she didn’t turn to look but a wider smile appeared on her face when the person put his hands around her waist, leaning in to kiss her on her cheeks.

”I am home,” he whispered sweetly into her ears. It was something Vivian enjoyed and knew even for the next coming years she would still feel a feeling of bliss every time he kissed her like this. His love was everlasting, his promise being kept since the time he had vowed to love her.

”Welcome back home, Leo,” she replied back, her own hands wounding around his.

What more could a girl ever wish for? For the person whom she loved to love her back unconditionally without any hesitation. The man had proven her time after time how lucky she was to have him as her husband.

She felt him place his chin on her shoulder, looking at the sun that had begun to set down in the sky.

Almost seventy years had passed by since the time both Leonard and Vivian had come to find out about the time before they had come here to this strange place. And even with so many years, Vivian hadn’t given birth to a child of their own. It was because it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t a bad place but that was what the problem was. Before they had recovered back their memories after their death which was inflicted by Lord Nicholas’ ghoul, they had lived their life as if that was how it was meant to be. As if they belonged here and nothing was wrong. But the issue came when they realized for their actual memories to be replaced.

It was hard to explain, thought Vivian to herself. Did it mean that they had been transported to whatever world this was? Neither could Leo nor her explain it. But that wasn’t the worse part. It was when they figured out that this world didn’t have the people they knew or to be specific this world consisted of the people who were dead. At least most of them.

Her brother was here and the last time she had seen he was still alive before she had asked him to fetch Leo for her. There was no Lord Nicholas, no Hueren and many more they had lived their lives with but there were some who they had dearly missed.

People like Paul and Grace, who was Carmichael’s housekeeper were alive in this world which made her wonder and question what was real and if things had been fabricated by her mind out of insanity. With her not growing up at the Carmichael’s the servants had rather been surprised when Vivian had broken down into tears in the presence of Paul and the others. The last she had seen him, he had smiled at her, a smile urging her to be happy and not worry about him. She had missed him and the others terribly. Leonard made sure to spend time with his parents and his cousins where both Julliard and Charlotte often visited them. She had also met Sister Isabelle but then again, her son Lord Alexander didn’t exist in this world either. This wolrd they lived in was much more peaceful and quiet with no raging conflicts. Sure there were some black witches creating little problems but there was no massacre.

The world they had lived in wasn’t this one which only made her feel alien.

If it weren’t for Leonard, she didn’t know what she would have done. But would she had even realized her former self?

”How was work?” asked Vivian, her body slowly turning in the arms of Leo, ”Tired?” she asked, bringing up her hands to touch his face. Running it around his jawline, she leaned forward to leave a kiss on his lips, receiving a satisfying hum from him.

”The work here can hardly be called work. Sitting in the office of the council with no groundwork is a terrible punishment,” Vivian smiled hearing this. Though there were a lot of things that fell into the line with the way they had to live their life before, there were a few things which weren’t the same. For instance, Leonard didn’t work in the department he was used to working. It had nothing to do with solving death cases but was all about running reports, ”Why don’t you join back in the council, Bambi? I miss you there,” he stated closing his eyes when her hands started to massage both the sides of his temples.

”You don’t miss councilman Lionel and Heuren?” teased Vivian to see him smile, his eyes still closed.

”There are times I do but when I see Dutan and Max, it’s hard to say I do,” he answered her truthfully, ”There are people in here who we have missed terribly. People whom we both have loved and cared for. It makes me question sometimes if this is a reality with the rest being a bad dream,” he was questioning the same way she was, ”I am happy to have you here in my arms, Vivi. I will follow you if you leave this place to,” he promised her.

Vivian frowned, not happy as she remembered that he had killed himself for her sake, ”I can’t bear the thought of you going through something like that again. I don’t want anything repeating, the pain we both had to go through,” her voice turned sad where she felt her voice shake.

”Vivi. I am always here,” Leonard pulled her into his arms completely, holding her as he said it, ”I will make sure something like that never happens again. The black witch isn’t here to corrupt any of our hearts. You don’t have to worry about it,” Vivian nodded her head. That was true. This world that was free of worry didn’t have people who could disrupt the peace but then she thought out loud,

”Do you think our lives that we have lived which we have no memory of caused a domino effect which in turn change others lives,” she felt him pull back to look at her, ”Given that most of them aren’t part of this world, but also maybe it is possible that if I had continued to live with my parents there, the witches would have not been traded away. I and my brother could have prevented my parents from doing something so terrible which cost so many lives including their own.”

”Maybe,” Leonard ran his hand over Vivian’s head. His Bambi, he thought to himself. Compared to Vivian, Leonard had found out about the truth of their lives sooner but then he ha also dreamt about this place before Vivian had dreamt.

Though both Vivian and Leo had gone to meet Sister Isabelle after that as she was a great-grand white witch, they couldn’t get an actual answer. The only word the white witch had imparted on them was that there could be a possible medium that had pushed them here. Or rather their souls.

Both Leonard and Vivian wanted to go back where they had no idea how to return but at the same time, they didn’t want to. How could they when they knew some of their people continued to live here. It was a fragmented world that was hard to believe. It had taken Vivian more than a week to believe before she came to the point that this could be a universe that ran parallel to their own world they had come from. An alternate world which was very much real like anything else but there was no way out to it.

On Lady Isabelle’s words and guidance, they had visited many other white witches. Going through the books to find any possible clue as to where they were or what was going on but every turn they took was a dead end with no answers. It came to the point that after months and years started to pass by, they came to understand that there was no way out of this place.

Even if they did go back, would it be possible to live the life they did with their body that was already gone?

Standing on the tips of her toe, Vivian placed her lips back on Leonard’s. Feeling it move against her where he slowly parted her lips with his tongue. Tasting her and she did the same. Over the years, Vivian had upped her own game when it came to expressing her feelings for her husband. She loved to tease him at times and Leo played along.

”I cried a lot that day,” she admitted as they pulled back from each other. She hadn’t spoken about it until now, but she finally wanted to tell it out loud after the many years that had passed by. She wasn’t even sure if the year was the same or if they had gone back or forward, ”I didn’t mind dying but what hurt most was that...in those final times my heart ached for you but with the time and distance, nothing could have changed back there.”

”Why did you kill yourself, Vivi? I hadn’t reached there but you had already given up,” his own voice was filled with sorrow. He brushed her hair back which had moved to settle on her face, ”Were you worried that I would have to see you die in front of me?” he asked.

She shook her head, ”No. It wasn’t that.”

”What was it?” he coaxed her for an answer.

Vivian looked back into his red eyes that stared into hers, ”I didn’t want you going through the same thing with what happened to your mother. It felt unfair,” she hoped he would forgive her but knowing the love he had for her, he must have forgiven her long ago.

She knew the pain he had gone through, how many had he killed? How many upon his word had been put under the sentence of death? Leonard was the Duke who many respected. He had earned it but at the same time, there were some who didn’t understand his way of handlings things which left to a hostile relationship. But only the woman who had held the same burned or shared one would have understood how heavy his shoulders might have been with the number of responsibilities that was placed on him.

Not in many years would have Vivian want him to go through it again. By her asking the ghoul kill her, she had only reduced the prolonged pain for both of them.

”Forgive me for putting you through it,” she apologized and his eyebrows furrowed.

”I don’t question your judgment, Vivi. Never have I ever questioned it. If I have it would only be to know and hear the words from you directly. We are here now. That is what matters, isn’t it?”

”Do you think we will ever be able to go to the other side?” at her wondering question Leonard smiled.

”We have a lot of years to spend with each other and here. If we have come here, we should also be able to go back again,” said Leonard with the wind blowing and ruffling his blonde hair.

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