4Disclaimer: I don't own Tale of Two Cities Percy from Scarlett Pimpernel makes a show here too
Sydney's point of view
Here I sit in the darkness known as my life. The only light I have ever known is about to be thrust into the same darkness I have known since my youth. How can I allow that to happen? I watch her tenderly tuck in her little girl and pray for a miracle.
I know that no such miracle could happen on its own. It is far too late. Charles is set to die in 8 and 40 hours. Though we have many differences Charles and Lucie have become the best friends I have ever known. I love them. I would give...
I would give my life to keep a life you love beside you.
Those were words that I have spoken so many years ago. Did I mean those words? I did absolutely. Now life has made it complicated. Now my words can become actions. I have no fear of my own death.
I sit down and begin to draft a letter.
To my beloved and dearest friend,
I know you will recall the words that passed between us on a particular occasion and once you have read those words you will comprehend my actions. I said I would give my life to keep a life you love beside you. Though I will no longer be here in the physical I will always be with you in spirit. I love you as I always had and always will. This is the only solution and one day you will know why I had no other choice but to do this.
Sydney
I wanted to add all my love but somehow it didn't seem right.
Lucie knew I loved her. I put the letter in a sealed envolope and wrote on it to be opened on the day of my death.
I went out to take a walk. I looked around the city. There was so much everyone appreciated. My days of life have passed. Now it is time to pass into the next world. I quicken my pace and rush to the gate.
"I would like to see the prisioner Evermound," I told the guard.
"Come then," he said, "ten minutes. No more."
I followed him up the stairs to a small and crowded room. It couldn't have been more then 8 inches wide.
Charles looked up as he saw me.
"SYDNEY," he exclaimed, "Are you a prisioner here too?"
"Not yet," I said, "But I soon will be and you will be free."
Charles looked at me confused.
"I do not understand," he said.
"Never mind," I told him, "You soon will. Facts are fact but truth is truth and the heart needs to be what makes the decision. Always remember that."
"Okay," he said.
"No Darney I am serious," I said, "You have been so long in this condition. It is not unlike to believe you have been affected by your encaptore."
"Of course I have been," Charles said, "It would be impossible not to be affected by this."
"Exactly," I said, "Years ago I made a promise to someone I loved... someone I still love and it is a promise I intend to keep. I want you to put on my clothes and give me yours. I am going to take your place at the guillotine."
"Why would you do that," Charles asked me.
"Because," I said, "I love you all. Because I don't want the little one to grow up without a father and I don't want Lucie to live without her husband."
Charles looked up at me.
"Sydney you don't have to do this," he said.
"Really? You mean I don't have to do something nobody would do in their right minds? Of course I don't have to do it. I'm doing it because I want to do it. I just have one demand. You must stay as you always were."
He nodded.
"I promise."
"Good. Now give me your clothes and take mine."
Reluctuntly Charles agreed and we changed clothes. He walked out the door as me.
I sank to the floor. I had what I wanted finally. I got a chance to be Charles Darney but I would never have what he had. I would never have Lucie. I would never have Little Lucie. My life would soon be over. Still I felt a sense of peace and happiness. Lucie's life was going to be different then it would have been had Charles died and I lived.
4 and 20 hours passed slowly. It was lonely. There was nobody to talk to and little to do. I tried to sleep. I tried to focus on my breath.
Shortly after the o'clock of 12 AM... a man took me from my cell to await my death. He led me out the back door and down the stairs into a cariage. Then we started heading the other way.
It was me and one other person.
"Should the carriages be this small," I asked.
"If they weren't," came a familier voice, "Everyone would know you all escaped."
"Percy!"
"Yes cousin it is I," Percy said, "and what have you done to get yourself into such a pickle."
"I fell in love," I answered honestly
