Chapter Text
• 7 April 2350 — the Korinn house •
It was almost 10:30pm before Florian and Elizabeth called it an evening, after what was a full day of celebrating his Birthday. The usual breakfast with a side of dancing, then a few errands to run — including the occasional grocery shopping trip. Then a little quiet time back home, before a party with the rest of the Metropolitan Council. Kling Klang was the party hub this time, with Claudia and Jean-Maríe making the Döner Kebab for the celebration. And while it was truly a lovely time to be had by all, it was also a low-key chill time — especially with the Council's two kittens at the party as well!
But now the Quartet Captain and her husband were in bed after all that went down. Worn out from the day, Florian fell asleep first, an arm wrapped lovingly around Elizabeth as she smiled at him. Even though the party was fairly chill, the day as a whole was pretty full; she couldn't blame him for falling asleep once they changed into jammies and got into bed.
Carefully she lifted up his shirt to look at the scar where he had suffered his most critical injury, the one that ran slightly diagonal through his stomach and abdomen, and remembered when they'd first talked about it. That conversation seemed so long ago, back in Vienna when they were hiding from the Darkström! And yet, it all seemed like it wasn't too far back that she first saw it...
She gasped lightly — “My God, Flori, what happened?”
He blinked for a moment, until he looked down and nodded. “Ah, ja... okay, so this is the reason why I've had to turn my back to you whenever we changed clothes.” She went to take a closer look at it, as he explained what happened. “We were in the middle of one rescue mission, which happened in Milan about a year ago. One Darkström soldier used a chunk of a burnt tank to try and take me out. The damage was worse than critical.”
Elizabeth straightened up as their eyes met and he continued. “That was the critical wound that resulted in the operation that began my transitioning from fully human to semi-human. Henning had to replace my bones with metal. Same thing with the other Roboter, as a result we are in the middle of our changing into Mensch-Maschinen.”
“So you four each suffered an injury critical enough to undertake the operation?”
He nodded. “We had to undertake it. We needed to. We felt we weren't finished yet. And we wanted to keep going. So here we are.”
A lopsided smile crossed her face as she reached one hand to touch that scar. Memories crossed her mind — from the first time she touched that wound while they were in Vienna, to when she touched it for the first time after she had survived her Roboter Operation. That was the night before the Battle of Metropolis, which decided the war in Radioland. But she could recall falling asleep, still trying to process life as a Roboter, and worried about the future. Things were different back then. And Florian could not have been more worried for the love of his life...
Suddenly, hours later, the sound of her voice shouting his name caused him to wake up in alarm. A bad dream? But Elizabeth was in tears, wide awake and trembling. “Meine Eliza, what is it?” her fiancé whispered to her, tightening his embrace around her. It wasn't until he noticed one of her hands had crossed the scar at his abdomen and stomach — the wound that brought him to face the Roboter Operation. His eyes widened... he knew.
She remembered how he mentioned about the ability to see the stories behind the scars. He had warned her. Tried to prepare her. Knew that if she saw how he'd suffered, it could damn near break her.
After a few minutes she calmed down some, thanks mostly to his comforting embrace and gentle forehead kisses. He gave her space to process what she had experienced for the first time, something he knew would frighten her.
“...better, meine Liebe?”
“Ja. Danke, mein Flori.” Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, still a bit shaken from what she'd seen.
“Bitteschön, Eliza.” The Mensch-Maschine sighed to himself, refusing to let go of her as she would fall back to sleep a short time later. “I promise you, you'll never break like that again.”
Elizabeth was brought back to the present moment as Florian tightened his embrace. “Meine Frau, go to sleep” he said softly, planting a kiss on the top of her head.
“How did you know I was still awake, mein Mann?” she chuckled, wrapping an arm around his waist.
He opened his eyes and smiled at her. “I just know, Eliza. Not that I mind it. But it's been a day for the both of us.” He wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her to him. “And I know you and Johanna have a meeting tomorrow with Michael and the Auxiliary Council. So I think you should sleep so you're well-rested and ready for tomorrow's meeting.”
Elizabeth nodded slightly. “Ja, this is true.” There was still much to be sorted out as the Auxiliary Council was still very new, and Johannes wanted to arrange matters accordingly. While the Metropolitan Council had oversight concerning both Realms, the Auxiliary Council would oversee matters beyond that — including Civilian Patrol, which would oversee neighborhoods so that the Police would only be deployed in emergencies. This was something Michael himself wanted to discuss with the Princess and Captain of the Council, as he was the Chief Constable of Metropolis, and felt that a Civilian Patrol should be a better idea now that the Darkström was no more.
With a light chuckle and a kiss to her lips, Florian smiled before closing his eyes to fall back to sleep. Elizabeth rested her head against his heart, finally closing her eyes as she would fall asleep to his heartbeat. Another something she loved about him — that he didn't hesitate to make a priority of protecting her, their family, their beloved friends. Their home Realms. But he was right... the next day would be a busy one, and Elizabeth Schneider had to be ready.
Oh, how long of a way they came since they first met over two years ago. And yet... for all of that, between them, nothing had changed. Except, perhaps, that their love had grown — and Florian Schneider could not have been more grateful for that love. For his wife. These, he would tell her often if not daily. Because sometimes, love was how they kept healing from wounds that only they could see.