The time of the plague

Chapter eleven

Darkness cascaded the illuminated night sky; the once bustling movement of a plethora of servants and nurses surrounding Lucio's wing, finally quietened down for the day. The final number of maids began to clear up the Count's bedroom scattered with various documents and burnt the finest chamomile incense to help send them to slumber. Tilde, while packing up her possessions, had finally finished having a conversation with Vanessa; filled with laughter and elation. The mermaid was so effortlessly supporting and hilarious, Tilde couldn't help but admire it.
The dealer thought to herself, "I never got to know Vanessa that well until today and I don't think I have ever found a more better friend,". Yet her smile flickered as she frowned in sorrow, "I don't want her to die. If only I could save her...".
Her contemplation was then obstructed by Vanessa who suggested, "Well Tilde... I guess you should be setting off to sleep. Thank you for looking after me, it has meant so much,"
Tilde giggled jokingly, "No problem, I will be here at the break of dawn tomorrow anyways so don't you worry. You won't be getting rid of me any time soon!" slowly approaching the door, "I'll see you till then. Goodbye,". Vanessa weakly waved back as the dealer slowly closed the door, leaving her alone with Lucio.

Coughing violently, Lucio couldn't help but feel a sense of ache in his body which was etched with tension from the events of the day.
"Vanessa, I think I'm going to take a bath- maybe that will help. Do you want to join me?' Lucio asked as he yawned tiresomely.
Sensing the return of the previous agony in her chest, she gritted through the torture, "No thank you, Lucio... feeling quite tired after today. I might just go to sleep,"
Sympathy clouding his profile, he gently leaned over and kissed her rouged lips as he carefully stoked her hair.
"Okay then darling, you can go to sleep. But I want to give you something after my shower. You promise you'll wake up by then," Lucio uttered with warmth.
Giggling playfully, "Okay sure, just wake me and I'll be up,"
Smiling intently at his one and only, he found it unavoidable to cherish this moment with her. In the midst of their tortuous suffering, they had each other.
A maid shuffled towards the distracted Lucio as she asked, "Count Lucio, I heard you wanted a bath? Shall I escort you to the nearby bath chambers in the wing?"
Slightly bitter about the disruption, he mumbled as he arose, "Yes please,".
Once he had left the room, Vanessa began to slowly fall asleep.

Julian and Nazali were packing their things and putting on the clothes Nazali took from the servant dorms.
"Hey Nazali don't forget i want to say goodbye to Vanessa" Julian said putting his bag on his shoulder and draping the red material on as a scarf.
"Oh yeah right,come on let's go and do that- then we will be leaving. I'll be on the lookout for anyone and be quick, we don't want to get caught" Nazali said leading the way to Lucio's wing. Once he entered the bedroom,Julian looked around and saw Vanessa was on her own. He woke her up by shaking her lightly and whispering "Vanessa wake up i have something to tell you".
Vanessa woke up really confused as she mustered dazily, "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to apologise to you for poisoning you. I didn't mean-" Julian said but was interrupted by Vanessa who insisted, "No Julian, I don't want your apology please just leave. You can't be caught here,"
"But Vanessa-" Julian started but he got interrupted by Vanessa again "No Julian, you need to leave now. I don't care for your apology and I don't care how sorry you are. I'm going to die because of you... so please just leave" Vanessa gruntled before rolling over so she had her back to Julian.
"Alright then,"Julian muttered reluctantly, "I'll be on my way then,"-placing the doll made in his likeness on the bedside table. Julian cautiously left the room and nodded to Nazali- commencing their departure from Vesuvia.

After a while, Lucio walked out of the bathroom with a box in his hand. He walked over excitedly to the bed and sat next to Vanessa. He reached out and brushed her hair out of her face as he softly whispered "Vanessa darling it's time to wake up,I've got a surprise for you!"
A few moments passed and Vanessa didn't stir or respond in any way to Lucio. He tried again by softly shaking her. He just thought that maybe she was in a deeper sleep than normal. But after a while of Vanessa not responding to him, he shakily reached out to check Vanessa's pulse. Nothing.
When he couldn't feel it, he refused to believe that she was gone but reality dawned on him. Lucio opened the box he had with him which held a ring. "Darling I was going to propose to you but the universe took you away from me before you were meant to go. I just wish I was able to ask you this question and see your face when you saw the ring. I wish we could have gotten married and started a family together but the cruel fate stole you from me too soon,". Wiping sorrowful tears from his eyes, Lucio continued "But don't worry dear, I'll join you soon and we can spend the afterlife together and enjoy each other's presence again. We won't have to worry about losing one another because we will always be together. Me and you...always," he sobbed, placing the ring onto her ring finger before picking up a box of matches and lighting quite a few of them. He flung them to the end of the bed and as it engulfed in flames, he pulled Vanessa into his arms and whispered "darling i'll be seeing you soon, I hope you're waiting for me".