Night had fallen between the converstion that Anneke had with Rinalee, but now it was her and Karl. And, in all honesty, she was in a situation that she could not even attempt a joke out of. Her own heart, her own soul was now out for the revealing, but it would only be for the person she had admired for quite a while.
Hide what must be hid, tell what must be told.
Karl's words echoed in her head. What was she to do? Should she think through her words or simply spill out her heart?
Suddenly she felt a tie being tied loosely around her neck, and her gaze looked up to his smiling face.
"I kinda wondered if that tie looked better on you than on me" the Roboter said, keeping the tie loose around her neck. He had his top two buttons undone, and a faint scar had shown at the base of his neck.
"...what happened there, Karl?" she asked, glancing to the scar.
"That was from the accident that... that almost killed me" he replied sadly. Curious she opened one more button to see the extent of the scar. It was only enough to scar the shoulder, yet it missed his heart. But, of course, the circumstances of that injury could've been much worse also.
Quietly she undid the back buttons of her high collar, and one button from each side of her coat, revealing a scar that started just below her left ear, running down the side of the neck, over her collarbone, stopping just above where her heart was.
"This" she explained "was when I fought against the enemy in the beginning of their invasion. One of the Troopers almost killed me. Rekah had to heal me before taking care of anything else. The girl almost died." She then sat down on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest. "I wanted to help out the girls, and two almost died because of it." She closed her eyes, sighed for a moment as a tear or two fell down her cheek. Karl did NOT need to see her in this state.
Finally she lay down on the grass, staring at the stars beyond the trees, the bright moon that added a spark to the tears that finally spilt down her cheeks.
"There's a lot that needs to be said" she said, her eyes finally meeting his. He nodded and, lying down on his stomach beside her, began to undo one of the four ribbons that held part of her hair in a total of two braids. But she was unaware of what he was doing, her eyes back to the skies. "There's just... there's just so much I want to tell you, but I'm afraid.
"There's just this... unsettling fear in my heart that--"
But Karl interrupted her by placing one finger on her lips, and in silence he undid the remaining three ribbons and, placing them to the side, looked at her adoringly. Her eyes blinked and, glancing to the side, bit her lower lip. No one, and not even her three best friends of their entire lives, had dared to see Anneke without her trademark two braids that adorned her face and the rest of her loosened hair. But the mensch-maschine, in all his admiration for her, dared what the girls themselves would've considered unthinkable.
"If all you've known is fear, it's time to disregard that fear" he said. "Yes, I overheard the conversation with Rinalee. And no, I understand. Trust me. If I didn't, I don't think I'd be here now, would I?"
A lopsided smile crossed her face, and she shrugged. "Good... good point, Karl" was all she could say. But why the silence? Somehow there was more that needed to be said, but for the moment the words died when he wrapped one arm around her, held her face gently with the other hand and trailed soft kisses along the battle scar.
Her train of thought derailed quickly--what the hell is he doing!? became her last thought as her eyes fixed towards the starry sky, and then at the quiet scenery around her. This was something highly new to her and, even more surprisingly, highly unexpected of Karl to do. Yet she lacked the nerve to stop it. In fact, she didn't want to stop it. But not much was left to be done as he made his way back up the scar to her left ear, and God help her if she didn't do something, say something. NOW. But even that train of thought derailed as his lips kissed her ear and, tormentingly, brushed against her cheek.
"Karl?" she spoke--at long last.
"Mmhmm?" he wondered, his eyes meeting hers.
"You have any idea how much of a pain in the neck you really, really are?" she asked with a wry, lopsided smile. His eyes widened.
"How so, Anya!?" he retorted.
But she still kept that smile on her face. "You didn't ask me what needed to be said, you dork" she replied dryly.
He blinked. "Oh."
She giggled in reply. "Never mind, disregard, disregard..." She wanted only to be with him, to just think the night away and he could happily trail kisses along her scar to his heart's content! But his eyes fixed back to hers.
"Now now, Anya... you're tellin' me..." he demanded with a grin as he trailed a finger along the scar. She giggled even more in response.
"Cut that out, goofball!!" she squealed. "That tickles!!"
Karl's eyes lit up. "Oh my!" he exclaimed. "So my little princess Anya's ticklish, eh!? Well then I guess I'll have to torture you until you speak up!" And he tickled her mercilessly until she pleaded for him to stop, so that she could catch her breath. Quickly he took both of her hands and placed her arms criss-crossed behind her head so that she rested a bit on her wrists; taking one of her ribbons he tied her wrists together so that she couldn't get away or fight back. Finally, he took off his jacket and, after placing that besides the ribbons, held her face in both hands so that their eyes met.
"Now, are you going to be a good goofball and tell me what's up or do I have to mercilessly force it out of you in excruciatingly good measures?" he said softly, a content yet amused smile on his face.
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