Tu Es Ma Lumière

197 - Pompeii

Side Note - Inspired by Doctor Who series four episode two, the Fires of Pompeii.

Inspiration - You lied to us! And yet this was meant to be.

/

The room shakes with such ferocity that  the vases and the plates fall and smash against the flooring. The temperature is sweltering, the Gods roar with such anger and hatred that it's almost tyrannical. The young wife of the eldest son of the Medici clan cries out in fear as the screams echo in the sizable room in which she hid. Vesuvius hits and he screams, the Gods attempt to sooth him, but his temper and temperament is so loud and so terrifying that she can barely breathe. Her lungs burn as she ash flies around the room, her body jerks frantically, although she had no control over any movement. She tries her best to pull her knees to her chest. She cries in fear, the warmth of her tears now cool in comparison to the heat her body feels. She cannot breathe, the smoke and the ash choke her breath from her lungs.

The ash begins to rain heavier upon the ceiling of the Medici family home. She can hear the cries of her mother and father in law's children, the little ones, so scared. Her body trembles with fear as the roar begins to grow louder and louder, the bellow in her ears deafening and terrifying. She sobs in desperation as her body moves without her consent, the flimsy dark blue gown she had donned now soiled with sweat and ash. She trembles and she cries out in desperation, the fear filling her lungs and her heart overwhelming. The British Tribal Princess, delivered to the extremely powerful Medici family at the age of five, wed to their eldest son at the age of twelve, made famous by her blood and her sight and her marriage, now trembled frantically, huddled underneath a table, her black hair covered in flakes of white.

"Marietta! Marietta!" Marietta de Medici looks up at the sound of her terrified husbands' voice as he shouts for her. She can barely hear him through the rumbling and roaring of mount Vesuvius as he bellows and spits at their people in Italy. Through her tears, she can see her husband burst through the door, his elder half brother at his side, their father just behind them. She can see the fear in their eyes, and the young girl watches as Enrico rushes to Catalina, who knees at the floor with the littlest of the children. Sebastiano casts himself in another room, while Marietta de Medici finds the strength to call for her husband through her burning lungs.

"Francesco!" she cries out. The sound gets louder and louder, her tears grow heavier as her perfect blonde husband casts himself into her arms in an instant. He holds her so tightly in his arms that it seems, for a moment at least, Vesuvius cannot harm her. The God's fury of being overtaken in power by little more than a fourteen year old boy is proven mighty, his roar grows louder and the ash grows heavier. The screams grow heavier and louder, tearing into Marietta's heart as she cries louder, in fear in desperation. She doesn't know.

The two of them look at each other then, Francesco and Marietta. The blonde boy is on his knees, his pretty young wife laying on her side, propped up by his body. They cry in desperation, in hopelessness as the realisation that they are to die in this moment settles into their blood. Marietta sobs another time as her husband presses a hand to the slight bulge of her abdomen. Nobody knew yet, apart from the family. The life that was to bring such joy would never set their eyes upon the world in all of her majestic beauty. But in that moment, a horrid sense of peace flows through them, as Francesco presses his hand to his wife's abdomen, while their eyes connect.

The lava breaks through the walls like they are made of no matter whatsoever. The redness sends them into the next life in an instant, but it's almost okay, in a way. Because in thousands and thousands of years, man will remember the tragedy of Pompeii, and they will set their eyes on the forms of Francesco and Marietta, still clutching at each other like it's all they will ever have again.