2 Years Later

Ilios sat at the window sill, eyes fixed upwards as the clouds were blown eastward by the wind. the moonlight growing strong and pulling back, leaving her in darkness once more.

She took several deep breaths of the crisp country air. The train had been small and dirty, covered in filth and squalor. Children pushed together like cattle. She missed her Father, her Mother, missed sitting alone and playing. 

She had been sent to help Gustave with dearest Mary. Dearest lonley child with Autumns eyes.

Luke was heading off to boarding school in the fall and Gustave was struggling to even speak with the adoring little girl. 

Ilios yearned for Eli on this last day more than ever.

Had it really been 10 months they were apart? She knew she had grown out of her thin shape, rounded out nicely and become less pale, but she knew little else what changes had improved her. 

Gustave for one had noticed how she sat more, read (Not upside down as was her custom) as a lady should, and was much more delicate and precise in her words. 

"You'll be rather pleased with her Mother," Gustave wrote in a poetic letter, "She changes like the winds these days. A pleasant breeze that has swept away the dust of the past off every shelf in this household. She brings back simpler times, happier ones, that I have long thought unattainable." 

Ilios smiled at the thought of that letter. She had oftentimes peaked over her brother's shoulder to see how her report came that week. Playing off her newest accomplishments as nothing In her own narrative she would send besides his. 

"Oh goodbye," she had cried desparingly as the small bitter little Mary had kissed her cheek. 

She ran to her brother and clutched his vest, "Oh I do wish you would come home." 

"Sweet child," Gustave had laughed drying her tears, "If only I could bring myself to." 

"You must come," Ilios insisted like a woman would old in age scolding her inferiors. "Mother must see Mary. And you'll worry Father sick." 

"Yes Dear," Gustave smiled helping her into the buggy. "Be sure to write."

"Goodbye, Gustave!" she said waving violently out the window. "Goodbye Mary!" 

She turned and blew kisses as they slowly rolled out of sight. 

"Where's she gone?" Mary asked in her small inquisitive voice. 

"Back home." 

"Oh," Mary said. her little eyes turned upward, confusion wracking her little mind. "Is she gone with mummy?"

Gustaves demeanor changed and he took the small girls hand, saying nothing and leading her inside. 

----------

The train ride home was long and tedious but Ilios didn't mind it. She had Mary's gift of a handkerchief wrapped up in her pocket. 

When she arrived at the train she couldn't help but feel out of breath. While visiting Gustave, she had traded her old School Girls outfits out for a corset and the old white lace gown Peter had boughten her so very long ago.  It pinched and prided, but it did make her feel rather distinguished and shockingly scandalous. 

What would her Father say!?

She departed off the train, she stood, bags in hand, standing on tippy toes every once and a while trying to see over the towering crowds.

A tall figure, hat brimmed low grabbed her arm. 

"Come with me," A young man's voice growled. 

"Let go of me!" Ilios shouted fiercely. 

"I said come on!" The voice boomed again just loud enough to hear. 

He tightened the grip around her wrist.

She went to give the man a good kick in the shins when he raised the brim of his hat ever so slights to reveal the white porcelain. 

"Father?" she thought to herself. 

"Come!" He commanded again. 

She picked up her bags and raced with the man through the crowd. 

When they had finally made it into the undercellar of the station they began to navigate the series of tunnels back to the Opera. 

As soon as the light diminished and the comforting dark of her old home enveloped her once again, the young man took off his hat and whipped his cloak around his arm, holding both delicately. 

Now she had gotten a good look at him. 

"Eli!" she exclaimed, "I thought you were Father!" 

Eli gave a silent, proud smile and turned away bashfully. 

It was like she was a stranger again! He didn't speak! How strange to not have him gush all over her. 

And thought the years had gone forward not back, it was as if they were toddlers again, her rattling on and him silent as the grave. 

It was strange having a companion again. Someone who knew everything about her who was her own age and family. 

She'd rather be alone most of the time, though she often wished in those moments she was not.

The skeletons of trees that line out path home stood side by side, and yet each growing apart, solitary in its purpose and thoughts.

"Alone lets you think," Eli had told her once before she left for school one morning.  "It lets you make friends with your enemies and know who you are. That's most important, finding yourself before you go off looking for others."

Those words came back to her now, for some reason. She felt she had found herself in the hectic melancholy that seeped over Gustaves life. A sort of joy in the sadness, one her Father had always spoken of but she had never understood. 

"That's the funny thing about Destlers, isn't it?" Ilios chuckled to herself, "We know too much of reality, so we dream dreams that can't hurt us. Worlds that can't break our hearts."

She looked again to her brother as he helped her into the boat. So close and yet so far he seemed to her. 

"Come now," She teased, "You must have taken some girl in this boat by now." 

Eli blushed, but pale grief also spread across his face 

"One." He shrugged. 

Ilios nearly squealed in excitement. "Where is she?! Can I meet her."

Eli shot her a fiery glance and kept his eyes fixed forward, "She's gone now." 

"Oh," Ilios said after a moment. 

Eli sensed his sister's pain in hurting him and gave a reluctant sigh. She was still the same Ilios, right? 

"Besides," he chuckled, "I tried kissing her cheek and I didn't much care for it." 

Ilios's eyes widened, "You did?! Was it magical? Did she cry."

"She did," Eli moaned to himself inwardly, "But not because I kissed her." 

On receiving nor response, Ilios fell silent again. 

"And how is everyone else? Is Father ill? is that why he didn't come for me." 

Eli nodded, "Ill enough. He composing again." 

Ilios grinned, "Really?! At long last? Why?" 

Eli smiled smugly to himself, "I'll tell you when you're older."

"Come on!" Ilios whined, "You know I can't stand you having secrets. What did I miss?" 

"You missed Winnie learning to say something other than No." Eli laughed, his icy demeanor wearing off and his old playfulness returning to their relationship. 

How grand he looked, so tall and strong rowing the boat across the lake. 

"Does the mask hurt?" Ilios asked after a moment's silence. 

"Yes," Eli shrugged, he turned and flashed her a toothy grin, "But you're worth it." 

Ilios couldn't resist. 

She was home at last after all. 

As the rounded past the gate and approached the shore she jumped up and pushed Eli from the small Boat, jumping in after him. 

Eli gave a shout of horror as he went toppling down. 

"Ilios!" he yelled, "Why?!"

"Because it's fun," Ilios laughed splashing him as she swam towards shore. 

Erik heard the commotion and peered out the window, a small smile spreading across his face. 

Ilios was home.