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Charlotte coughed and rubbed her cheeks with her hands She was still shaking She yelled over the din “Don’t be ridiculous, Bran It’s my fault And I’m not sorry! Why should I be sorry? Napoleon always dies at the end”
A terrific BOOM shattered the air and Charlotte died
At least, she thought she had It felt like dying One moment she was Charlotte and the next all she could see was blackness and all she could hear was nothing and she was lying flat on the ground with no feeling in any part of her It was over It hadn’t hurt too badly, she supposed It could have been worse At least she’d gone first, protecting theet her in time
“Charlotte!”
A loud, whiny voice was ruining her death She wished it would stop and let her be
“Charlotte!”
Charlotte opened her eyes Black s on top of her, crying and shaking and slapping her over and over But he didn’t look like he was enjoying it asfor soown She pulled out a flask wrapped in leather and spotted fur A flask they’d seen on the belts of so many soldiers Oh, clever, clever Anne!
“Hullo, Bran,” she wheezed
Charlotte turned her head A cannonball glowed red in the rubble Bran had pushed her out of the way and onto the lonely pile of rock where Napoleon had ended
“I saved you,” Branwell sobbed “I saved you I really did All by myself”
Charlotte reached up and stroked his dark hair
“We’ve got to save them, too,” Anne cried Anne would never allow any creature to suffer, no ly, no matter how many times it bit her, no matter how little it would do for her if she were in its place and it in hers Not right in front of her Not while Anne froether The girl who stood over Brunty and would not take one step was buried deep in her heart now She was thoroughly Anne again
“Oh, Old Boney can go hang but poor Josephine? I can’t bear it! What if they didn’t get eaten really? Luggage doesn’t just sit still It goes places What if Napoleon and Josephine didn’t die in the suitcase after all, but were transported to an island in the sea, andand”
Charlotte smiled as Branwell let her up and took up the Game of And “And the island was so far fro again, but there was plenty of elk to hunt and claood for potatoes, with a little house for Josephine and none for Napoleon”
Branwell hugged his elbows to his sides “And they lived there until they got old and never caused any more trouble because the island was surrounded by woruard and kept them safe, and for a little while, Old Boney didn’t have to be Old Boney anymore”