For Centuries - Season 2 [Completed]

Episode 10

"The Other Side", Ruelle

At 7PM, it was already so dark that it looked like it was the middle of the night. And with the Christmas lights off the streets, the festive part of the winter was gone. I put my gloves and a hat on since the weather was colder and colder.

The Moroccan restaurant where I was supposed to meet Amaury was on a very small street in the 4th district. Pushing the door, it felt as if you entered a family's living room. The owners were adorable, and their cooking was, in my opinion, one of the best in town. It was early, and we were alone in the restaurant. The perfect setting, I hoped so, for a peaceful conversation with my best friend.

We talked about Paris, about Berlin, about the club, and then Amaury said: "There was someone in my life." I waited for him to continue. "His name was Giovanni. He was a mortal. I cannot tell you how much I loved him. It made sense, him and me, you know?" I nodded. "I lost him." I took his hand. "We lived together in Berlin, that's why it's hard for me to stay there now."

I tilted my head. "I understand. I am so sorry for your loss, darling."

"I would have loved for you to meet him. You would have adored him."

"I am sure I would have."

After dinner, we walked towards his hotel, and I could feel he had been waiting all night long to tell me something else. "Darling," he finally said, "I don't know how to tell you that, so I'm just going to say it. I'm dying."

I froze. "What? How?"

"A curse from an ancient creature. In four months, I will fall into some sort of a coma and never wake up. Giovanni, he was hurt by a spell. I was going to lose him. So I made a deal. He would live, but I had to renounce my immortality. I would die in fifty years, which is four months from now. That's why I wanted to see you so badly, but at the same time I was so scared."

I was stunned. "No. It... it is not possible. There must be something we can do."

He looked at me with so much pain in his eyes. "I've tried everything, Elise. I traveled everywhere to find a solution. But there is none."

I shook my head. "I refuse to give up on this. We are going to figure this out."

"Elise," he whispered.

"No. I will not accept this. I just got you back." My voice broke. "I am not going to lose you again. No."

Tears ran down his face, and I wrapped my arms around him. "I am not letting you go without a fight, Amaury. You cannot ask me that. We are going to find a solution together, do you hear me?"

The winter wind was blowing through the dark streets as a lamentation, and it felt like the space around us shrank as if the buildings were going to collapse. I was lost.