The morning had been well-spent for Ralf and Johannes as they stood at the window, the purple-eyed child once blind now looking towards her hometown, her beloved Mensch-Maschine behind her with his arms around her. The two smiled as their eyes glanced over the busy streets outside their window, as Fritz and Alessandro ran out of the Spacelab's doors and through the gates to capture the day ahead of them.
As life began to unfold in Düsseldorf, Johannes closed her eyes, letting the memory sink into her soul--a while ago Ralf had kissed her until they were dizzy from lack of air and their senses rendered numb. But what sealed the memory even more were the words he said, who he was to her,
"Meine liebe Prinzessin... my dear, sweet Princess..."
A content grin crossed her bright face as she opened her eyes to catch the city glowing in sunlight. She'd never seen a city so full of life before, and it was only a matter of time before she and Ralf would join in the joyful outside world. But for the moment, it was only her and her beloved, happy in each other's company.
"Elibeth, you look like you're half asleep!!"
"Yeah, so do you, Annika."
Inside the Spacelab's meeting room, Elizabeth and Anneke laughed in conversation as Florian, Karl and Wolfgang talked amongst themselves. Rebekah helped Professor Henning in checking up on the healing status of the Maschinen and she smiled in the thought of the guys having healed for the most part. But all became silent when two familiar voices were heard in the hallway, heading for the room.
"Okay, so this is the hallway..."
"Yep, and we're about to approach the meeting room, straight ahead."
"Alright, that room we're about to enter is the meeting room."
"That's it, princess."
All seven turned their heads to the door to look at Johannes enter the meeting room without hesitation, followed by Ralf. She smiled walking into the room, and went to the nearest empty chair at the table.
"And this...?" she asked, looking to Ralf, who nodded but once.
"That's a chair" he explained.
"A chair!" she noted. "I sit in a chair!" And with a proud grin she sat down on the chair.
"Correct, Johanna" Ralf smiled with glee. "And do you remember what that is over there?" he asked, pointing to the window.
Johannes nodded. "That is also a window, Ralf?" she said, curious.
"Yep" he nodded. "That's also a window."
"Yay!" she cheered. He simply smiled at her in adoration.
"And how many fingers am I holding up!?" Karl asked, holding up a hand with four fingers.
The young woman blinked and counted for a moment. "Ein... zwei, drei... vier!" she counted with a bright, cheerful grin. "Four fingers!!"
Elizabeth and everyone--except for Ralf, because he already knew--stared in wonder at what they could only call a miracle.
"Is that Karl, Ralf?" Johannes asked, pointing to Karl, who smiled in joyful affirmation of what was to be the best treat about returning home.
"Yes, that's Karl" her beloved explained. "Can you figure out who else is everyone here in the room?"
The young woman blinked and, taking a look around, looked to Rebekah. But the youngest of the Quartet looked with a glowing smile and spoke only a sentence:
"You... you can see us, can't you, Joseraph?"
Johannes grinned. "You are Rebekah!" she whispered enthusiastically. The redhead nodded, tears welling in her eyes. The purple-eyed woman stood up and carefully walked to Florian, who gave her his hands.
"This is familiar, is it not?" he asked smiling.
She closed her eyes, remembering the train ride to Athens, and nodded smiling. "Yes!" she answered, opening her eyes. "You must be Florian!" But he said not another word as he hugged her. Her eyes then met the pale green eyes of her older sister.
"Jo... Johanne" Elizabeth whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.
"...meine geliebte ältere Schwester" Johannes whispered to her, tears falling from her own eyes; "mein Elizabeth."
Elizabeth immediately knew--the only person to ever address her as her dear older sister had to be Johannes. But the younger used to address her as that when she cried in the elder's arms. Now... there was only joy, that the younger was blessed with sight. With that the elder sister went to her younger and hugged her tightly.
"How sweeter the sight... that you've been blessed to see!" Elizabeth whispered as she smiled admirably into her younger sister's eyes.
"So I'm guessing you're recognizing voices and matching them to everyone?" Wolfgang asked with a grin.
Johannes nodded with a smile to him. "I'm trying to remember... we haven't talked a lot, have we?"
"Yeah, sorry about that, Joey" he said apologetically.
She giggled. "You must be Wolfgang then!!"
"How the heck!?" he laughed.
"Because you're the only person I know of that calls me Joey!" she explained with a grin.
"Damn... busted" laughed Karl watching the scene. But Wolfgang laughed with his best friend--Karl was right. But, it was a good humor for everyone, because many a miracle had passed within the first half of the new day.
"Well surprise, I'm not gonna kill you because your eyes are my favorite color!" a familiar voice chimed in. Johannes turned her head to look at a grinning Anneke, who had her arms open to hug her best friend's little sister that they all loved so dearly.
Johannes smiled and, letting go of her sister, walked to hug Anneke tightly. "Annika!" she laughed as they hugged and cried. "I can see you, all of you, Annika...!"
"Well I'll be supershorted!" Henning laughed as he watched all the events unfold in the meeting room. "The Robots have their hearts, Miss Johannes is no longer blind. Miracles abound! What sweeter way to return home than to have this all occur?" With that he stood up and added to the hug.
Then, one by one, starting with Ralf, they all joined in the hug until Johannes was surrounded by people she loved, they who cared about her because they knew she couldn't live without them. For a moment her eyes locked with those of everyone, one at a time. Finally, she whispered as she relished in the hug, "This is what hope does to all of us. This is what love allows for all of us!"
All was in silence as Fritz and Alessandro returned and entered the meeting room. Their eyes watching the group hug, smiles were on both of their faces. Then, with a nod to each other, they added to the hug, with little Alessandro scooting in the center to hug Johannes.
"Noi tutto l'amore voi, Signorina Johannes" the orphan whispered, a smile to catch Johannes' cheerful face as he hugged her. "We all love you--very, very much!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment