Lost in Blue

𝕾𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖘𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖟𝖜𝖆𝖓𝖟𝖎𝖌: Forever Lost in Blue

Golden curls of hair spread and floated on the Rhine's surface. Its color blended in with the sunsets warm rays and reflected in each passing ripple. Her cerulean scales glittered in its light. She looked as if she had found peace, but the aura of gloom still clung to her.

"A long story that led us here, isn't it?" Loreley concluded her tale, her claws trailing along the pattern of the wood. "No wonder I thought you were Ruven when I first woke up. You look so alike."

"It does make a lot more sense now," Henning confirmed, nodding.

She broke into sad laughter. "You know, I'm glad he kept our promise, though. He didn't choose to die right afterwards and started another family instead. I'm truly glad."

Henning observed her azure orbs avert his gaze. She was right. If Ruven hadn't, the policeman wouldn't have even existed in the first place. He hesitated. Should he really tell her which path Ruven had chosen to go down afterwards? Should he really tell her of the picture he had found in the attic? After all that tragedy she had already lived through, should he cause her more pain or simply keep quiet for her sake?

He gulped. She deserved to know the truth, no matter how much it might hurt.

"Loreley, there is something ..." he began.

"I know. He became a monster. I know, Henning." She buried her head in her arms. "I saw his face before he closed the casket. I know the look of a tyrant when I see one. I've been one myself."

For a moment, he was rendered speechless. Was there even anything he could say to cheer her up? Anything to relieve the emotional pain? He could at least try.

"Not much is known what he did during the war, so there still could be a possibility he -"

Loreley lifted her head, only to shake it, curls accompanying the left and right motion by swinging along.

"It doesn't matter. I've read the history books you gave me. You don't need to try to comfort me. He's long gone. I always knew I would never see him again."

Loreley smiled faintly, the azure in her eyes took on a multitude of the most sorrowful, human emotions a subaqueous creature could possibly display in mere seconds. Sadness. Regret. Pain. Acceptance.

"I can tell you, apart from your appearance, you have very few things in common, character-wise. You shouldn't be worried about that at the very least," she reassured.

Everyone is tied to their lineage in one way or another. Be it due to inheritance of certain facial features, certain characteristics that ran in the family or just the simple fact that their name would take up the space on the family tree. So hearing her say he didn't share any of Ruven's characteristics, except appearance, was a relief. After all, no one liked to be compared to a distant ancestor who had participated in the darkest time of German history.

Henning flinched when her tender, pale fingers clutched his cheeks with both of her hands, leaving him equally as dumbfounded as mesmerized at her cool, foreign touch. Unlike any other time, he didn't withdraw.

"Who would have thought I would fall in love with a descendant of the man I once came to love. I loved spending my time with you, Henning," she spoke softly as she leaned in closer, her forehead pressed against his, "But now, it is time for me to go."

"Go? You mean to the Rhine?" he asked, eyes widened.

She nodded, thin-lipped. "I betrayed it again by saving you and turning N in to the police. If I don't go back, there will be punishment for the citizens on land."

The nixie closed her eyes for a few seconds and in silence, the two of them enjoyed the last few moments they would get to share with each other – ever. This time for sure, it would be truly for infinity.

Love, between two different beings such as themselves, was doomed to fail. The whims of fate had led them together, but it demanded them to part ways again. A fated encounter entailed a destined departure.

"Can you promise me something?" Loreley broke the silence.

"What is it?"

"The little boy. Bury him on your land. He never deserved to be laid to rest in the Rhine."

Henning just quietly nodded. There was no way he would refuse her last request and in all honesty, he had already made the decision to bury the little one in the family grave as soon as he found out he belonged to the Dorns. A proper burial was the least he could do.

"Thank you," she muttered in relief, "Now I'm the one who can keep my promise to him."

"I don't want you to go, Loreley," the words, filled with grief, burst out of him. He remembered his promises to her. "I haven't taken you to Kirmes yet. I haven't kept any of my promises made to you."

Loreley gave him a sad smile and put her cold hand on his shoulder.

"Our love will have a past and a present, but it will not grant us a future, Henning. I must return to the Rhine." She leaned in closer to whisper softly in his ear. "Farewell, mein Liebster. I shall become a memory of yours."

Her fingers ran through his hair as she brushed a few strands away. Loreley's rose lips brushed against his cheek, until they found their way to combine themselves with his, leaving him with no other choice than to comply to the nixie's intense kiss.

The policeman would never admit it openly, but giving in to the temptation had never been so rewarding. Soft tingles ran across their intertwined lips like electricity. Henning wholeheartedly forgot his surroundings and caved in to the fleeting feeling of butterflies in one's stomach. He secretly wished this moment would last forever, but reality simply didn't allow it.

When the nixie broke away from him, he exhaled deeply as the strange feeling of drowsiness settled in. To think a simple kiss could make him feel this paralyzed.

"That's the perfect farewell gift," Loreley whispered, flushed, a wide grin dancing on her lips. "Thank you, Henning. And I'm sorry."

In mere seconds, his sight deteriorated into a hazy mess. The world became out of focus, colors began to blend into another. His muscles became relaxed, too relaxed for him to really control his limbs. What the hell was happening?

And it was only then the realization dawned on him. In Gessler's notes, he briefly remembered skimming over them, there had been written something when it came to nixies. As beautiful as those creatures were, they were as equally dangerous. Equipped with claws, fangs and tails they were the predators of the rivers, but for humans, their most dangerous weapons were their voice and lips. A simple song could enchant one into delusion and one simple kiss was able to paralyze and immobilize a man for a few minutes.

Realizing what she had done, he called her name and tried to reach out to her, but Loreley's blurry silhouette plunged into the shallow waters of the Rhine and disappeared in its blue-green depths. With his strength gone and eyesight amiss, there was no way he could survive if he followed. Painful realization hit him. This was it. This was goodbye.

He would never see her again.

From the cloudy heavens above, even though it was only mid-October, the first snowflakes fell. In the distance, the winds carried the frigid winter cold, slowly congealing the waters beneath. First, only a thin layer of ice formed on the water's surface, gradually accumulating into thick masses of ice. Like back in the year 1928, for the first time in almost ninety years, the Rhine had frozen completely over.

Panting and shuddering from the sudden cold, Henning took a look at the snowy scenery before him, the Lorelei slate rock towering in the distance. He picked up Gessler's burgundy vest – the journalist would complain later on if he didn't - and slowly rose to his feet, taking one last look at the frozen river in front of him. He gritted his teeth.

Loreley was forever lost in blue and so was he.

Henning Dorn, policeman of Sankt Goarshausen, case of the mysterious woman salvaged from the Rhine: officially closed.