The Way Back Home: A 1917 Fanfic

Chapter 31: Never Say Never

The first thing Amelia heard when she awoke the next morning was the twittering of birds outside as her mind slowly broke through her unconsciousness. Her body stirred as she released a groan of refusal to fully awaken, tempted to sink back into sleep for a few more moments, her arm outstretched as her hand landed on the wooden bedside table for the tired woman to glance at the clock.

Opening her eyes to focus her vision, she blinked the grogginess away as her body rose into a more aware state of movement. The hands on the clock's face read that it was half past ten in the morning. A stab of guilt assaulted her gut when Anelia realized how late she had slept in. She had been more exhausted than she thought from yesterday.

The blonde woman sat up from the bed, her tangled hair curling around her forehead and eyes as her rattled equilibrium caused a slight burst of vertigo to compromise her ability to remain upright, her arms supporting her weight. Placing a hand to her forehead, Amelia brushed her hair out of her face as she removed the covers and soft linen sheets from her legs and slowly swung them over the edge of the bed to place her stocking-covered feet on the wood floor.

The more awake she became, the vivid memory of her nightmare last night became more apparent in her thoughts. Amelia enfolded her arms around herself as though she could still feel Joseph's arms holding her. She had never recalled seeing him in such agony since Will had told him about Tom...that defeated look on his proud, hopeful face as he had processed the news of his kid brother's death.

That look had haunted her every day ever since she had first embraced him as a friend. Wrapped the vulnerable man in her arms who still tried to keep the illusion of quiet stoicism and that damned English stiff upper lip.

Amelia thought back to what Nurse Rosette had said to her when they had talked about both the lieutenant and lance corporal who were enamored with her and she had asked the older woman how she could cope with her holding such power over two men.

How her heart belonged to one man and her soul to another...

And Amelia knew who her soul had been tied to. A string from her ribs entwined with that of another if one were to paraphrase the wording of Edward Rochester's connection to Jane Eyre.

And he had held her deceased body in his arms with Tom at his side...and Amelia heard her answer in her ear, with the same voice she longed to hear at that moment.

Thomas Blake continued to be her guide and confidante, however impossible it seemed, his voice aloud around her as though he was there physically in front of her.

"Tom, is it true? If I go back to 2023 and try to come back here to 1917, I'll die?" She kept her voice to a low whisper, a shiver shaking through her spine. Her trembling hands wrapped her shawl around her shoulders.

I don't know for certain if death will be the result, Amelia. But it'll be a great risk for you to alternate between times. Remember when you fainted back at the farmhouse and Scho carried you outside?

"I thought I fainted because of the shock after I figured out where I was. Back in 2023, I never really blacked out like that before; I thought women mainly did that because of wearing corsets too tight." A smirk crossed her face at the biting touch of irony before the seriousness set in.

And she didn't count being roofied or sedated against her will either.

Her stomach lurched with nausea at the thought of Kurt awaiting her return.

Amelia, there's a good chance that once you go back to 2023, you'll remain in good health, but it will make you weaker; it'll take a toll on your body. And if you return here after that... it's possible you may not survive. You can only choose one or the other.