'Eliza' A Side Story pt3

This is the halfway point of the story... Not as many groundbreaking events here, but a breath of fresh air's good sometimes, especially when you're working on a self-imposed schedule. This chapter's also shorter, but the next one's longer--The last one, the fifth chapter, is the shortest. I only put this in as some sort of showing the light at the end of the tunnel, heh. And really I wanted a little more development before I put up chapter 4 for you, so... Here's part three! Please enjoy!


PART 3:

“Good morning!” Fujuju grinned happily, and the students all looked up, surprised at the loud noise the books made as they hit the large wooden desk. The noise echoed throughout the walls of the round auditorium, and he found this noise amusing.

He chuckled to himself, and removed his heavy jacket—Then the other heavy jacket he had on beneath this, then the scarf, gloves, and finally hat. He was still wearing a heavy jacket as he began to address the students.

It had close to seven been months since his awakening in a strange time, on a strange planet that was filled with even stranger people. It had been six months since he had been accepted to help at the university where Eliza’s father worked at, and four months since the girl had become a student there herself, and already one of the top science and mathematics students on campus.

She wasn’t in his class, though, she had already moved on to higher mathematics than the ones he taught.

“Now who here is ready to receive their grades?” he asked, clasping his hands together. The ten students in the room looked up at him darkly, although there was a twinkle of mischievousness in the eyes of two boys in the back.

“While I’m finishing preparing them, I have a film for the rest of you to watch! It’s all on the wonders of space! I think you’ll find it very, very amusing, as I did,” he chuckled even as he opened up the canister and pulled over the projector. One of the students slammed their head down on the desk.

Then he pulled down the white projector screen, and his smile fell. The two boys broke into laughing, and he stood there, pale, and looked out at the class. He shook his head and placed a hand over his face; break couldn’t start early enough.



“One strand at a time, this isn’t a race!” the maid snapped, and Fujuju sighed, and picked up another piece of tinsel from the white box, and placed it on the bright green tree.

Even inside the house he was still dressed in a heavy sweater, jacket—Everything but gloves, although his hands were freezing in the cold British December. He had somehow managed to land tree decorating duty, but this didn’t bother him as what was still on his mind—Mainly his last class of the day. He was dreading the possibility of the ordeal spreading throughout the campus.

While he pondered this Eliza sat, stringing popcorn and occasionally stealing a piece for herself.

“You’ll ruin your dinner,” the maid chided her; although her back had been turned the entire time, she was still able to somehow know exactly what Eliza was up to.

“So what’s this I heard about your class today?” he stopped dead, and his face went red. “They’ve been talking about it all over campus! Even Father got a good laugh at it…”

“I didn’t find it amusing…” he replied. “Placing pinups on the projector screen during the last day of class… Really now…”

“I heard it was hilarious, that you were practically ready to snap the necks of the boys who did it! I can’t believe they got you to actually get mad! Oh, Nanny, if you didn’t know, a pinup is a—”

“I’m not that old to not know what that is, Eliza dear,” the maid replied, and slapped away his hand as he attempted to place two strands on the same branch. She took the box from him and huffed, “Just leave me to this! Really you can’t tell me you didn’t do anything close to this in Switzerland!”

“Dragging in a tree from the freezing cold and decorating it with household items? I can’t say we did,” he answered with a shake of the head, and Eliza stood.

“All done, Nanny! We’re going to go out for a bit!” Eliza set down the popcorn strand and smiled. “I’ll go get my coat!”

“Go? Out there? On purpose?” he choked, but she only walked past him, and hopped up to her room.

The maid, meanwhile, glared at him, “I know people from Switzerland… If you’re Swiss, I’m that Hayworth girl you obsess over!”

“If you’re Miss Hayworth I’d say the camera is more than a little kind to you.”

“Cheeky bastard,” the maid muttered. “Don’t think I don’t see what’s going on here. With looks like that, there’s only one thing you could be…”
His chest tightened with panic as she stared at him for a moment, looking him up and down—How could she know!? He was relieved as the word, “Irish” rolled off her lips.

“You… You’ve got me,” he sighed, holding up his hands. “I am one-hundred percent Irish. Not a drop of Swiss blood in me.”

“I knew it! I knew it from the moment I saw you! You—”

“All ready!” Eliza ran back down, and handed him his gloves.

“Have a nice time, dearest,” the maid smiled sweetly to the girl, then went about decorating the tree. “Don’t let him pick on you any, let Nanny know if he even tries anything! She'd like a good excuse to beat some sense into him!”

“Your maid figured out my dark secret… That I’m indeed an Irishman,” he said with a laugh as they walked out. “Perhaps we can get a lesson or two in here for you while we’re out in this miserable weather… I heard you missed a problem on your physics final.”

“It was only one! No lessons on break, I beg of you. You do make them interesting, but I’m only one person!” she laughed. “You’re to enjoy yourself during this break, too, that’s an order as your tutor!”
“But I do enjoy myself when I’m teaching…” he answered, and immediately shook as they hit the breeze of cold snowfall. “It’s perfect weather to teach about the affects of certain chemicals in the environment, though… It’s like one large ice box out here…”

“You really don’t take well to cold, even in that form. It never snowed where you were from?” she asked.

“They could control the weather where I came from,” he answered. “We didn’t have oceans, either. Or deserts, for that matter. We didn’t really have seasons like you have…”

“Sounds dreadfully boring! What about rainforests? Did you have any of those?”

“Well, no, but we had other sorts of forests…” he answered. “But the leaves never changed color. And we didn’t have swing dancing. But perhaps that’s a good thing, given my failure in anything relating to that particular subject.”

“That’s terrible!” she gasped, her eyes wide. “I couldn’t live in a place like that! Do... Do you ever think about going back to it?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’d be even more confusing than this place… At this point I know more about your planet then my own. If there are still people on there, I certainly wouldn’t want to be known as a survivor from that mission… Why, I’d never be left alone!”

“Do you ever wonder if any of your friends survived? On that mission…”

“You’re certainly full of questions today! Am I being interviewed?” he remarked as they walked down the icy stretch of white. There were Christmas lights strung liberally in some household windows, but this was about it in the way of decorations. A few trees could be seen already lit in windows, often through white lace curtains.

And then there was a group of schoolchildren huddled around an old metal drum, gathered around it for warmth. Fujuju stopped, staring at the flame, and Eliza did as well, studying his serious expression for a few moments with worry.

“…Certainly would make things warmer around here…” he said in a whisper.

“Yes, but… All of those lovely books would be destroyed, too. And you don’t want that, would you? What would Shakespeare think? How about Cervantes? Or Swift! Why, he’d have a fit if you burnt him!” she said quietly, and tugged on his arm. After a few moments, he shook his head, glancing at the flame only once more before continuing on the path with her.

“That was very, very good!” she exclaimed, “By this time next year, you’ll be just as normal as anyone else around here! Well, as normal as can be expected. Who knows what they’ll ration next year, and how people will take to it.”

“…Next year?”

“Yes, well… Next December… Why, what’s wrong with that? You don’t have plans, do you?”

“No, I just… Haven’t thought about how definite this really is until now,” he admitted. “It’s… Dreadful knowing that…”

“You’re going to be stuck with my family.”

“…That I’m going to be stuck with this nose!” he answered with a laugh, and she returned this after recovering.

“It’s not bad, someone will like it!” she replied, and now they were walking down, closer to the shops and markets. He caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of one closed shop, and was taken aback for a moment by the person who looked back at him. Was this the person he’d be looking at every day from now on?

“Here we are!” she chirped as they came to a large pond, frozen over and thick and milky with a sheet of ice. The trees were all black and deadened, but everyone surrounding the lake, or on it, paid no heed to this. And he was stunned at what he saw, having never seen ice skating before. “Here’s the site of our lesson today!”

“What happened to no lessons?”

“None for me, that is. You’ve got plenty of work ahead of you!” she smiled, and held up what she had believed to be a purse. In fact, they were ice blades. She sat on the snow and hitched up her skirt enough for her to get to her snow shoes, and then tied the ice skates onto these.

Fujuju also took a seat on the snow, shivering as he did so, and watched as she tied his skates for him. She walked quite easily—He was fine until it came time to go out onto the ice.

“Bend your knees! Bend them, come on now,” she laughed and took hold of his hands. “You’re doing fine, just fine!”

She held him steady as she floated out onto the ice, him leaning on her arms for balance, “Just… Pretend you’re roller skating!”

“Roller what?”

“Dear… Here, I’m going to let you go.”

“Nonono—” but she did so, and slowly skated backwards from him, leaving him standing there to balance on his own. He laughed a bit, then went to skate forward—Eliza was too slow to keep him from falling, and they both tumbled onto the hard ice, him on his back and her face-first. Fortunately, she didn’t hit her face against the ice, and looked up at the stunned alien.

“I promise this starts to be fun after the first few tries,” she puffed as she looked down at him.

“Please allow me to know when it does,” he answered.



“And now you’ll have a story to tell your alien friends if you ever meet up with them!” she said with a smile as she walked back down the street beside him. It was almost dark out already, and they both trudged back to the house, sore from the falls. “You can tell them that one, and the one about when I attempted to teach you how to drive! That’s my favorite one! We spent all day repairing that old henhouse you crashed into!”

“No. They’re never to know about this. Or of the henhouse,” he muttered, limping down the road. He could see his breath in the air as he walked on beside her, and he did a double take as he noticed she was looking at him. “Is everything all right, dear?”

“Would you go back with them?”

“Pardon?”

“Would you go back… If you found out that everyone on your platoon was still alive, too?”

He stared at her for a few moments, then looked away, to think about this. It was a question of whether or not he wanted to be a human or….

“You’re a bright girl,” he laughed, and tilted his head. “And brighter than myself, I’ll admit. I suppose if that question presents itself, I’ll tackle it then.”

“Until then you’ll just stay part or our family, how does that sound?” she offered. “Hrm? Oh, my, don’t tell me I upset you, not this close to Christmas!”

“It’s just… The most generous offer I’ve ever been given. It’s a bit shocking, really…” he answered quietly. “Even on Keron, I didn’t have that.”

“Well, more incentive to stay!” she grinned and giggled. She continued down the street, and even though most of the shops were closed at this point, they were still able to look into the windows. “…Those windows used to be a lot more full… I hope that someday you’ll be able to see them like that. There were… Beautiful suits and dresses in this window! And in that one… Well, all sorts of cakes! As soon as this war’s over, I’m getting one of those cakes again. I’m going to get one for my wedding, too.”

“I suppose it’s good to have your goals,” he laughed, and she looked a bit offended by his laughter.

“I know you don’t like Thomas, but you don’t have to laugh at me about it! I wouldn’t make fun of your girlfriend if you had one!” she smacked him on the shoulder a lightly and resumed walking.

“Oh, I’m much too bright for that,” he answered, and didn’t pay attention that Eliza had stopped walking; his attention was gained once again, though, as a snowball hit him on the back of the head. He bent down, lifted up his hat, and brushed off the snow—As soon as he stood, there was another snowball, this one hitting his back.

Eliza looked up at him and smiled, daring him to fight back. He only looked at her, totally puzzled. She sighed, shook her head, and walked over to him—She placed the mound of snow she’d gathered in his hands, and then stood back.

“Now you throw it at me,” she said, straightening her dress and tilting her hat to prepare for it.

“…Why?...” he looked down at the wet, cold object, and back up at her.

“Because it’s fun,” she answered. “Come on, this is another lesson and you’re already failing miserably! Just throw it!”

He did so, but it barely hit her. She groaned, and formed another snowball, and placed it in his hands, and stood back, “If you ever have children someone’s going to have to show them how to do this, and I have a feeling it’s going to be me who’s going to have to come and show them! Now try harder!”

“Eliza, I—”

“Or I’ll tell Nanny you’re the one who clipped up her magazine just to get the Rita Hayworth photo!”

The snowball hit her directly in the face. Fujuju’s smile fell as she bent over, and he rushed over to make sure she was all right.

“That bloody HURT!” she said through, of all things, laughter.

“Eliza! I… I’m so sorry, I…”

“It’s fine, I had that coming!” she giggled, and stood up straight. “I knew it was you who did that! And to think I got the blame for it!”

“I…” he was speechless; she continued smiling, and whistled as she took him by the arm and removed his own hat, putting it on her head.

“Good to know after millions of years confusing women are still in fashion,” he said with amusement.



Eliza shut her book and yawned. From the clock it was already late in the night… Or early in the morning. It was past her bedtime, at any rate.

“I have to shut off the lights now, before I’m in trouble,” she yawned, and nudged Fujuju, who laid on the edge of the bed, now in his original form but still bundled down with heavy blankets. She crawled over to where he laid out across a heavy book, and saw he had fallen asleep.

“Hmm,” she looked down at the story he’d been reading, then over to the sleeping Keronian. She leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek, just for a moment. Needless to say, this woke him up, and he blinked, and looked up at her, his face red.

“Well, I wanted to see if you were a prince or not!” she explained, pointing to the story he’d been reading. He only sighed and shut the book, and sat up, pulling the covers tighter.

“What happened to all of that boyfriend talk? Really you’re going to be trouble,” he asked.

“Oh, it’s not fooling around or anything! There was probably more to any one you got when you were little and in school! You’re not a prince, so I don’t have anything to worry about,” he looked at her, irritated by this comment.

“I’m also a man,” he answered. “With feelings, I might add.”

“Don’t be so sensitive!” she lifted him up and pulled him closer over to the window by her bed. “It’s a clear night out—Show me what direction you all came from…”

“All of this sudden fascination… Well… If I can remember the coordinates correctly, it was somewhere, over… There…” he pointed to the top right of the pane. “Who knows, there could be a planet full of people there who look just like me right now as we speak…”

“Not celebrating Christmas or anything,” she sighed, and he turned his head to look up at her.

“All right, now, what’s with this talk? It’s beginning to concern me, child,” he asked. “Are you convinced I’m off to somewhere? That’d certainly be news to me!”

“Well, it’s just that… I know Tommy’s away with his family now, but once he gets back, it won’t be soon before he’s gone off to fight… And I lost my Mum already, and truthfully today I started wondering about whether or not I’d end up losing you eventually, as well.”

“…My dear girl, as of now, I have nowhere else I’d rather be in time or place than right here,” he answered. “I’ll hold onto this as long as I can.”

“Do… Do you think things will change, though?” she was now hugging onto him, and he sighed, and remained quiet. “…Elijah?”

“Of course they will. Things always change,” he patted her on the hand to console the worried girl. “But you needn’t worry, the important thing now is to just enjoy the time we do have. Nothing lasts forever… That’s the beauty of things, wouldn’t you agree? The ending of a story may be the saddest part, but… It’s the ride that’s the most enjoyable, not the destination, correct?”

“You’re not allowed to leave, I won’t allow it. Enough has changed on me already,” she muttered, and clutched onto him tighter. “I’ll chase you down, if I need be.”

“Don’t you think Thomas will be jealous? He doesn’t very well seem to like me…”

“Oh, give it time! You’ll both be the best of friends, I’m sure of it!” she yawned, and as a result, didn’t hear the snort of skepticism he gave.
She laid back on the bed, and he grunted and he fell back, still in her arms, “…What is it you want most for Christmas?”

“…For the world to start making sense,” he answered. “And what is it you’d like, Eliza?”

“…It doesn’t matter now, does it? I know you got me a copy of one of Freud’s books…”

“I’m that predictable?”

“No, I peeked,” she laughed and shut her eyes.

“Just as I did….”

“Elijah, you didn’t!” she gasped, opened her eyes and looked down at him.

“…No, but now that you admitted you did, I must say I’m disappointed…”

“Oh you’re impossible!” she sighed and turned her back to him. He sighed and wriggled out of the blankets, and clicked on the symbol on his hat—He was then back to his human form.

Picked up his book, and made it to the door before turning around to where she laid, “You never said what you wanted the most.”

“Oh… To be able to make up my mind,” she answered, her back still facing him.

He was puzzled by this statement, but instead of pursuing it any further he opened the door to the bedroom and walked out into the hall.

He walked into his room, tossed aside his book, and walked over to the dresser mirror, leaning against the top of the old wooden furnishing, “Tell me you could get used to waking up to see me everyday. It… It’s just a few changes, correct? You’re still the same person, just… A completely different look and name. Other than that you’re the same.”

He gave a confident-looking smile, but… He was still unsure. He took a seat on his bed and stared up at the mirror again; a human—forever.

Meanwhile, he was unaware that there was someone out front of his door. Eliza adjusted her hair, raised a hand to knock on the door, then shut her eyes tightly, and slowly lowered it, “…I just wanted to say that… No, no… I—Well, I—”

“Eliza?” she jumped and turned her head toward the sound of her voice—Her father, in a smoking jacket and his pajamas, standing in the hall.

“F-Father? What’re you doing awake, and at this hour?”

“Simply getting a glass of water… Did you need to both Mr. Grant for something?”

“No,” she shook her head, and backed away from the door quickly. “I simply… Remembered that he borrowed a book of mine!”

“And you’re asking him for it this late?”

“I didn’t want to forget. It’s one of my favorites,” she answered swiftly, her hands now in front of her and her eyes traveling between the door and her father.

“….Trouble him for it in the morning. In the meantime allow the poor boy his sleep. Really with how you bother him… You’re lucky he entertains it all!”

“I know,” she nodded quickly. “I’ll be right off to bed, Father.”

“See that you are. And I think you forgot to take off your makeup,” it was clear after a few moments of silence he would be the one to watch her leave. She did so, and quickly, disappearing into her room with a panicked and embarrassed slam of the door.

Her father looked at Fujuju’s door a moment, then Eliza’s. He gave a small groan and shook his head as he walked back to his own bedroom, “As if things weren’t becoming more and more difficult already…”