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Adrian could still feel the ice water prickling at his skin, and it would get worse when the night came. The nightmares still plagued them both, hands still reaching out to the other just to feel if the other was still there. This particular night was one that proved troublesome for Greta. Her pleading whines and cries still said the names of those who she tried to save, Marius’s name being repeated in between.
Alucard reached over to her thrashing form, trying to calm her down. “Greta! Greta, please! It’s me, it’s just me. You’re not there anymore…you’re not there. It’s just here, with me.” Greta could still feel the ice cold water prickling her skin, like a million knives that came upon her body all at once. The deathly cold grips of the water, the pain from the splinters as she gripped onto the board, and her dear friend.
The one she loved as her own family, her own brother, Marius Gharbi. The ice and cold that sunk its claws into him as he held her to the board, giving his own to let her go on and live hers. Her wet eyes and protesting hands were met with the caring ones of her husband who tried to calm her down. Frantically, she opened her eyes, chest heaving with deep breaths and forehead beaded with sweat.
Adrian knew that these dreams still plagued her, and though he couldn’t help her fight them off as much as he wanted to, he would try his damnedest. It pained him to see her like this but all he could do in this moment was try and hold her. Brushing her hair through his fingers, Alucard held her close, trying to offer whatever meek words of encouragement he could offer.
Greta’s breathing began to even out, eyes slowly opening to the arms of her husband that gently engulfed her. Realizing what had happened again, Greta’s shoulders gently shook with her soft sobs. Just when she thought that the past was behind them, its ugly head reared up from time to time.
Compelled to speak, Greta tried to manage words past her choked throat. “Is it wrong for us? To keep on living, when we’re here….but the rest of them…all of them. And Marius too.” What could one say to that? His wife’s words weighed heavy on his heart as he sought to comfort her. Holding her close, hands cupping her face, Adrian peered gently into Greta’s golden ones before he spoke.
“I cannot speak for them all, especially the ones who we’ve lost…but I do know this. I know that they cared and loved for the ones they had back home. Marius too.” Greta clenched her eyes shut and collapsed into her husband’s form. Adrian held her close, his face buried within her hair as his own tears fell onto her locks.
“He did not make his sacrifice in vain, and I miss him terribly as much as you do, I do know this….he wanted you to live your life. He wanted you to live a long life, and to be happy in it because it’s what’s you deserve.”
Her soft tears fell gently against his sleeping clothes, shoulders shaking as her sobs filled their bedroom. It was still months since that dreadful night, but it seemed that the point of getting better in life was a mile away. At least both man and woman who found each other on that voyage could endure together.