Over one hundred years without crying and she thought she'd forgotten how. Now she couldn't stop. Beneath the hands covering her face she began to laugh, watery and cracked. She was so happy.

"Chloé, are you all right?" Jean-Jacques murmured quietly, head still pressed against hers, shaking slightly with his own more subdued sobbing.

"It's so warm." It came out strained. "It's so warm, Jean-Jacques. And... and the flowers... and the-" She started rambling, words flowing from her in a choked stream that didn't make a lick of sense.

Still, Jean-Jacques responded affirmatively to every half-baked thought, letting her get everything out as he sat with her and listened.

When she finally stopped talking, throat dry and chest heaving with exertion she grabbed Jean-Jacques's coat and clung onto it, resting her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat right by her ear. They were both alive. And they were going to live together. Outside Gévaudan. She'd never considered the possibility. She had planned for everything, had her entire life and death organised neatly within her head, now there was nothing to replace it.

Chloé had not once been so unsure of where her path in life was leading. Freedom truly was terrifying. She'd been set adrift in a new world without anything to guide her.

"Chloé?" Jean-Jacques said gently, as if she were liable to shatter to pieces with one wrong move, and maybe she was. Alternatively, he may have wanted to avoid being punched again.

She wet her lips, trying to think of what to say. There was too much. "Where's Jeanne?" She settled for.

Jean-Jacques blinked, surprised. "She left. I expect to find her friends."

"I see... I'm glad Jeanne is in the company of such remarkable individuals. Getting to see her again was like a miracle, she seems so much happier than last time." Chloé paused for a moment. "I'm tired."

"We should probably follow after Jeanne..."

"No, Jean-Jacques, I'm really tired." She pressed a hand to her forehead. "This might have been too much excitement for me to handle. I'm... going to close my eyes for a while."

"Chloé?"

She slumped against him almost immediately and he steadied her with hands on her shoulders. He shook her gently and she showed no response at all, only breathing softly, gentle look on her face. She really wasn't lying about being exhausted, usually it took far longer for her to fall asleep.

Jean-Jacques adjusted their position, pulling her against his side protectively. He was a little relieved she could rest, after so many years of driving herself to the brink.

It wasn't long before Jeanne returned, followed soon after by Noé and that Vanitas fellow; all of whom he asked to be careful not to wake Chloé. Just like Chloé he had his true name restored by the strange book. It felt odd having his true name back to how it used to be, especially when he'd never minded its corrupted state. It wasn't a bad feeling. It was like a weight he hadn't known he'd been carrying had simply disappeared, leaving him lighter than he'd realised was possible.

"Even with that taken care of I won't be able to leave the two of you like I would with other curse-bearers," Vanitas scowled. "After what Chloé d'Apchier unleashed all kinds of people will be gunning for you. I don't want to have wasted all this effort if you're just going to die anyway."

"We could bring them back to Paris and ask Count Orlok for help," Noé suggested.

"You really are a naive country bumpkin. Orlok can't be trusted, no one in a position of power like that can be." Vanitas glanced at Jeanne unconsciously.

She noticed, furrowing her brows. "My knowing Chloé's location would put her in danger, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Vanitas replied bluntly, but not unkindly. "If the senate gets that information from you..."

"I understand."

Jeanne strode out into the field of asterisque flowers, baffling everyone, until she pulled a battered piece of fabric from beneath the petals. Her cloak that she abandoned in the chaos after saving Chloé. She returned to the group and crouched in front of Chloé and Jean-Jacques.

"I'm sorry for everything," she said to Jean-Jacques. "Please take care of her for me." She wrapped the cloak around Chloé's shoulders. "And when she wakes up tell her I'll see her again, and that I'll be thinking of her."

"I'm sorry as well," Jean-Jacques replied awkwardly. "Thank you... for saving us."

Jeanne smiled at him, giving him a quick one-armed hug before pulling back and standing. "I'll be leaving now. It's best I don't stay any longer than I have to. Vanitas!" She turned to him. "I'm counting on you."

"I'll do everything I can." He didn't look her in the eyes when he said it.

Then Jeanne was gone.

"You go find Dante, Noé," Vanitas ordered. "I'll handle this. I know somewhere I can send them. We'll meet at the inn in Saugues and by then they'll be long gone."

Noé opened his mouth to protest, reluctantly shutting it when he saw the serious look on Vanitas's face. Vanitas beckoned Jean-Jacques and he gathered Chloé in his arms. With a wave goodbye Noé started heading in the opposite direction to them. After they'd been walking for long enough to be far into the woods Vanitas cleared his throat.

"I didn't want to say this in front of the other but she's probably not just asleep."

Jean-Jacques froze in his tracks. "What do you mean by that?"

Vanitas grumbled. "Look, It's a miracle she was able to maintain such a large dimension for as long as she did. The dimension itself was trying to kill her, and I expect it would have if you weren't there constantly killing that part of it first. The toll for pushing her body so far is catching up to her all at once."

"Will she be all right? How do I get her to wake up?" He couldn't stop the panic rising in his voice.

"You don't need to be so alarmed. Her body is repairing itself, and she's strong. If you want Chloé d'Apchier to live through this all you have to do is keep protecting her until she wakes up."

"How long will that take?"

"I don't know."

Jean-Jacques had to hold himself back from baring his teeth, aware that Vanitas wasn't at fault, no matter how angry that answer made him. "You don't know."

Vanitas shrugged defeatedly. "I haven't seen this before, not personally. If I could be more help to you I would. I get that you're her companion and that you're worried. Trust me, she will be fine. It might just take a while."

Jean-Jacques accepted his reassurance unenthusiastically, not having much choice otherwise. Vanitas was the only one with any idea what was wrong with her, so he had to believe him.

They trudged a little further before Vanitas began giving him instructions on how to get to a safe house. Vanitas explained it multiple times, making sure it was ingrained in Jean-Jacques' head and stressing the importance of keeping out of sight as much as possible.

Jean-Jacques didn't really understand why, even now, they couldn't truly be free. He was frustrated by his ignorance of the outside world and who exactly the people who wanted to hurt them even were. How they thought hunting Chloé would benefit them. The only thing he wanted was for everyone to leave Chloé and him alone. They would be more than happy with a quiet life. Deserved it even.

***

Jean-Jacques finally arrived at the place Vanitas had told him about. It was tiny and run-down, certainly not a place that stood out as anything remarkable. It actually reminded Jean-Jacques vaguely of his family's house in the village. He shifted Chloé to one arm, using the other to reach up and tear the board just above the door frame from its place. Inside the small hollow he had opened was the key, just as he'd been told.

Jean-Jacques opened the house, closing and locking the door behind them immediately. The house was a single open plan room, with a bed, a tiny fireplace, a couple of chairs and a cupboard. He took Chloé to the bed first, laying her on top of the sheets before surveying the room.

It was homely in a depressing sort of way, like the house had been forgotten by time. Evidence of its previous use was in the scratches on the furniture, the abundance of mismatched blankets and the dry, withered flowers on the windowsill. Jean-Jacques wished he could open the windows. He knew he couldn't. No unnecessary risks were going to be taken, even if he doubted anyone would see, let alone recognise, him or Chloé.

He opened the cupboard in the corner of the room, finding cutlery, a broom and a stockpile of preserved foods. He took the broom. Idleness made him anxious so, to occupy himself, he started to clean. It was familiar and calming to do something he had so many times before. He knew of course that the house was no castle, he would be finished in no time. Left to wait uselessly for further instructions on what to do.

He was out of Gévaudan, yet the sense of hope he'd been feeling was already beginning to waver. The world had always been cruel to them, why should it be any different now? It was hard not to descend into pessimism when he only had his own thoughts for company.

One thing that kept an ember of that hope burning was Noé - and maybe his friends as well. Noé had proved to him that there were good people besides Chloé. The simple fact that someone understood and would stand up for them made everything a lot less scary. He'd never had anyone besides Chloé, it was massively solacing to be able to put his faith in anyone other than her. Especially when he was dealing with a burden that was impossible to share with her.

***

About a week had passed and nothing had changed. Jean-Jacques hadn't really expected it to. If Chloé were going to wake up that quickly he expected Vanitas would have told him so. He finished adding another log to the fire and pulled up a chair beside the bed.

Jean-Jacques brushed the hair aside from Chloé's cheek, holding his hand there and feeling her warmth. He couldn't stop the sinking feeling he felt every time he had to look at her sleeping face, and he looked at it often. She was right beside him and still so very far away.

He wanted to hear her voice, he was already forgetting what she sounded like.

Jean-Jacques rested a hand on top of Chloé's and settled back in his chair. He listlessly traced patterns into her skin.

"I'll be waiting for you. As long as it takes. Whether that means a hundred years or a thousand I'll be right here when you open your eyes.

"Then I'll make you all your favourite foods, because I'm sure you'll be hungry, and you'll be the first to taste all the new recipes I learn in the meantime."

Jean-Jacques closed his eyes, imagining it.

"We'll buy a house together, a real home that won't have so many empty rooms, something more comfortable for two. Maybe we could even have a garden, we do both love flowers. We'll get to see how they change with the seasons, that should be exciting."

"Although - I hope you don't mind me saying - I'd prefer you didn't awaken in winter. We've had enough of that for a lifetime. Time for a change, don't you think?

"There's so much to see and do, and I want to experience all of it with you. Chloé, until then, I'll take care of you, so rest as long as you need. Don't worry about me, not even for a moment."

Jean-Jacques bent his head, tears building at the corners of his eyes. He'd had similar conversations with her every day. In the unlikely event she could hear him he wanted her to know everything was okay. Although, if he were being honest, he did it mostly for himself.

He got up from the chair and gingerly lay down beside her, trying not to jostle the bed. He couldn't wait to leave the safe house to somewhere they could have the tiniest bit more freedom. Being stuck alone in one room with an unresponsive Chloé was going to drive him mad. Not that he would ever let her out of his sight, but with nothing else to occupy his mind besides his loneliness it was a dreadful situation.

Idly his hand played with the strands of her hair, feeling it slip through his fingers like silk. He'd been brushing her hair for her - he'd been doing everything for her - often multiple times a day. There wasn't much else to do.

"I miss you."