Someday

Elizabeth knocked daintily on the door of the infirmary. She had snuck away from classes. She could not believe where the respect was in persisting to hold classes after the tragedy that the school had been struck with. She desperately hoped that Rockswell had not been following the direction of Elizabeth the First; if she had been, she would have refused, and would continue to deter from her path to her supposed greatness.

When she didn't receive any word from the person on the other side of the door, she knocked gently for another time. She had been sure she saw Dr Kamiya and Kuroe leaving the building earlier. Why was Napoleon not answering? Was he asleep? If so then there was no harm in just checking, was there? She tiptoed inside the room. It was still well-lit; the curtains weren't drawn and the back of Napoleon's bed wasn't pushed back for him to rest comfortably. He seemed to be staring at the wall across from himself.

"Napoleon…"

He wiped quickly at his eyes, "Yes, Elizabeth?" His words were hoarse and very quiet.

Elizabeth pulled a stool up to the bed and took a seat beside him. "We all miss her, Napoleon."

"I really should never have let her…"

"It's not your fault. You needed to focus on yourself."

"I spoke to her just the night before… I should have tried harder to talk her out of the whole thing…"

"Joan was very insistent."

"I had too much faith in myself; I told myself that if I was there then I could stop anything bad from happening."

Elizabeth took his hand, squeezing it in both of hers, "I'm sorry, Napoleon." She bowed her head over his hand that she held. "There's nothing I can say other than it's not your fault. I wish…"

What did she wish? Didn't she wish that maybe, maybe just for a bit, Napoleon's affections could be for her? Hadn't she wished, just for a bit, that maybe Joan would not take all of Napoleon for herself? Even in death, Joan had the appeal to take the mind and heart of the man she loved completely… But how could she win against Joan? How could she…put the blame on the dead girl? She couldn't do it! She was in love but…she wasn't crazy! She wasn't crazy! Was she crazy? Certainly not!

Joan…was a good person too! She just lost her way a bit; the fact that she was to die so young must have scared her into her insanity… It wasn't as though she took her own life; it wasn't her. It was…those other clones.

"It's not your fault, Napoleon. It was those other clones that did it…"

"She tried so hard to fight against her fate…"

"I don't…think fate had anything to do with it…" She didn't really believe that. There were two Joan's tied to that cross. Two Joan's were forced to die. It must have been fate. They couldn't run from fate.

"She needed someone. She needed me. She needed…to be shown… We needed to see beautiful things together. Someday; when we get out of here…"

Tears poured heavily down Elizabeth's pale cheeks. She bit down hard on her bottom lip, trying to hold back her tears. Where was someone to do that for her? Would there be such a person in her life? Now, or in the future?

"Those are really beautiful words, Napoleon." She sniffled, burying her head. She wished she had Nightingale's long hair; maybe then she could hide her tears, hide her shame… "I'm sure Joan would have loved to hear you say those words to her… She would have felt happy, even if for just a moment."

"How do you think she was when she died?" Napoleon also had tears shining in his eyes now. "Do you think…if maybe I told her…"

"I think if you told her, and if you didn't tell her, you still would have taken her death this hard." Elizabeth stood up slowly, still holding his hand tightly. "Because you really loved her, right, Napoleon?"

He clutched his chest, "This feeling…is surely love, isn't it?"

Elizabeth smiled faintly. "It's surely love."

"Why is it so difficult to say these things at the right time?"

"People are scared… Clones or humans…everyone is scared." She squeezed his hand a little tighter, and forced a smile, "I'm going to get back to classes, okay? Get well soon! Get plenty of rest." She said everything practically all in one breath, putting on her best and most well-used smile.

She exited the room quietly, pulling the door behind her. She then went to find Dr Kamiya and Kuroe. Kuroe immediately noted her paleness; she complained of a stomach ache for there was no way she could go back to class with tear stains on her face and a swelling in her chest. There was just no way they could treat her broken heart.

A/N: A little something I had been meaning to write for this fandom so here it is! Maybe I'll post something else of this series in the future; although I realize that it's short, I realized it also came out quite easily. Perhaps because it was planned?

If you've read this far, I'd appreciate it if you left a review and let me know what you thought. Thank you!