The Mundane Days: 1918 - 1925
The armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918, and several months before that, Francois Allègre was born. The man who should have been his father had already been killed during the war, participating in the Second Battle of the Marne, in which the Germans failed their last offensive attack before peace was brought through Europe. So it was this dawning of this era that Francois was raised by his mother and, when she died of pneumonia, his grandfather.
Living on the outskirts of a rural town, it was in 1925, something Francois does not distinctly remember, when a man who his grandfather simply called a "relative" without specification came to stay and board in the room above. A former soldier, he would talk to Francois' grandfather about the things he saw, such conversations Francois only got to listen to through the walls. He heard stories of Belgium, of a massacre the likes of which the world couldn't understand. The tale of a cursed beast he identified as Moroi. Francois barely ever spoke to this man and to this day, he wishes he had.
It was on the day the enigmatic stranger was set to depart that he parked his car where he saw Francois was returning home, having gone to town on an errand. He knelt before the boy and took his hand, and told him that in the rise of war, there would always be monsters. Francois then felt something he would come to know dearly; the inner warmth of healing power, transferred from the soldier, to him.
The soldier asked for Francois' mercy, and departed.
Rites of Passage: 1925 - 1944
Francois grew up learning the former trade of his grandfather, becoming a doctor trained in simple medical practices appropriate for the small town. He had employment in the clinic and made house calls with the older doctor who worked there, witnessing death with compassion in his heart. He discovered his ability to heal during this time, needing only to place his hands on the injured and the sick, depending on their sickness, and let his life bleed into the patient. It was incredibly exhausting, but nothing short of a miracle, though he kept it as private as he could.
It was on his grandfather's deathbed when he instructed Francois not to help him, an agonising feat for him to hold back on his power for the man he came to know as his only true family. But he did, a humbling experience, inheriting what land was still under his grandfather's name and working full time as a doctor. Eventually, he would sell his property, and move for the larger cities.
By the time World War II was occurring and the Germans had occupied France, Francois made the choice of joining the French Resistance, following a message he didn't quite understand but knowing he had the power to help the fight against what he believed to be evil: the Nazi regime. After demonstrating his abilities to key players of the French Resistance, he was utilised in treating wounded guerrilla soldiers as well as, eventually, Allied soldiers.
He was arrested in 1944, and deported to Dachau concentration camp. Though he was never told, it became increasingly clear that it was due to Francois' talent he was targeted specifically, thanks to whomever acted the role of Judas for whatever amount of silver coin. It was there that Francois both witnessed and was subjected to the infamous human experimentation implemented during the Nazi regime. It was also there that he met Kazimir Volken for the first time, under a different identity and rubbing shoulders with Nazi scientists and physicians, with a keen interest in what Francois could do.
The Darker Days: 1944 - 1956
He had never hated a man before until the nine months he endured Volken's experimentation and research. Francois had also never known that his ability could be used to drive off this particular monster, either, and the first time he showed Volken that there was a force in the world that could drive him away could have easily meant his execution. But Francois' ability was an invaluable asset and so he evaded execution, and was made to regenerate patients as well as undergo study. It seemed like it could go on forever, until the Americans finally liberated Dachau in April, 1945.
In the years that followed, Francois Allègre simply existed. His ability ensured he bore no marks of his ordeal, but there were plenty other less literal scars to bear. He traveled Europe as a wandering figure not so unlike the enigmatic soldier who had given him this ability, visiting hospitals, clinics, and deathbeds to spread his ability as far as one man could. He tried to learn about what he could do, but the Belgium soldier's identity was a mystery, gone with his dead grandfather, and so he tried to remember what he had been told, what he had overheard. Research led him to read about an event that occurred in what we know today to be the Rape of Belgium, and the massacre that occurred in the city of Leuven's university, and made a connection between the stories about what had happened there, and what he knew of Volken's ability. Francois came to believe that his power and Volken's power were irrevocably tied.
Volken was always a distant nightmare, and one Francois tried to banish when he researched as to whether the man had died, where he had come from, where he was now, how far back did this trail of ash go, and more horrifying, how far forward. Questions and random thoughts turned fanatical and feverish in his search, determined to heal the world of the greatest sickness he knew, this moroi, the soldiers' monster.
His searching led him to Nevada, the United States.
Chasing Destiny: 1956 - 1965
Primarily a healer of the French Resistance, Francois did not have the money and the skills to effectively shut down Kazimir's renewed researched. He stayed on the sidelines for a long time, noting disappearances and deaths around the area of his facility, and attempting to build enough of a case to draw government attention. When this wasn't moving fast enough for Francois' taste, he acted on impulse and attempted to use his ability, once more, against the Moroi.
He was summarily overpowered and taken as a prisoner of experimentation. It was a world apart, however, from the ordeal he endured in Europe, and instead spent much time in isolation and, after a time, conversation with Volken, even if there were inevitable bouts of cruelty. Rendered a helpless test subject, Francois scrounged up what compassion he still had left and tried to understand the man he so deeply hated. During that time, perhaps he did, a little. He also came to recognise the longevity his power was giving him, and at the same time, Kazimir was deteriorating.
During what would perhaps be his final day at Fort Dadelus, one way or another, three time travelers seemed to come for his rescue. As Kazimir was called away from yet another horrific experiment, Hiro Nakamura, Kimiko Nakamura and Xiulan Song, circa 2009, appeared in the operating room, stopping time and giving Francois the opportunity to heal himself. Hiro made the promise that if Francois told him everything he knew about Project Icarus, he would be freed, and so Francois agreed. He told them about Kazimir and his nature, what his research was, and something of himself as well. Hiro came to a grave realisation, and told Francois that it would not be his destiny to destroy or even to save Kazimir Volken - and that he would have to be left behind. Some of what the Japanese man had to say rang familiar, of what the Belgium soldier had done for him, and it was with a heavy heart that Francois accepted this fate, and watched as the three travelers disappeared.
At the same time, the government raided the facility, and on the brink of death, Kazimir Volken took on the identity of Richard Santiago. During the confusion, Francois managed to escape, with the knowledge that he would have to rethink what his purpose was. Old habits die hard. Francois was drawn to follow the trail of death into South America, where Kazimir disappeared with his new face, feeling solely responsible for the other man. As many lives as Volken took, Francois tried to save.
Ironic, that his preternatural ability to help should be the one to murder, and it was down to Francois' own humanity if he ever had a chance at redeeming Kazimir - but Francois kept to the promise he'd made Hiro, and focused only on doing good with his ability while he still had it.
And fate took its course.
The Rest, As They Say…: 1965 - 1994
Kazimir's scope of influence and power through rumour, and his accumulated wealth, meant that he had many more resources than the Frenchman, and Francois was left in the dust. It was the dull realisation that in all his chasing, he had failed to do as Kazimir had done and actually used his own longevity to his benefit. By the time Volken had disappeared into Europe, Francois was left to do as he may in South America. He continued to travel and to heal the sick and dying, moving back across the border into the southern portion of the United States, where he became known as a traveling faith healer, exclusively under his alias of Francis Allen.
Naturally, he could not entirely leave his mission alone. While giving Kazimir a wide berth, both by circumstance and by choice, Francois kept tabs on him and never leaving the shores of the United States too much, save for when it was necessary, determined to keep a handle on Kazimir's journeying. The accumulation of power was something Francois watched from the shores, and tried to set down in writing as much as he could as possible. A lot of his research was destroyed over the years, but the core of it, his keeping of journals, was maintained and kept safe.
Two things happened, in the mid-90s. One, Volken decided it was time to tie up a loose end, and sent an assassin to hunt down the healer before he could take part in the pending conflict that would come to a head in early 2009. Two, Francois was at the end of his rope in finding someone worthy of passing on his gift, someone strong enough to defeat Kazimir, someone who would not fail as he had failed, as the enigmatic soldier had failed.
He never got a chance. Driving along a stretch of road in the deep South, Louisiana, Francois' car was run off, toppling over once, twice downhill, glass cracking and metal twisting. In an attempt to drag himself out, his assassin simply gripped him by the coat, hauled him out the rest of the way, and drove a hunting knife into his torso three times.
The Moroi had sent his regards.
…Is History: 1994
Attempting to heal himself and unable to do so quick enough, not without food, not without energy, Francois staggered his way to the nearest town, but never made it as far as the buildings. Bleeding beneath his coat, he came to rest in the rural setting, and was chanced upon by a young girl, her blonde hair drawn into twin pigtails. Abigail Beauchamp, as she had introduced herself when asked, will never recall the dark-haired stranger, with his slightly strange accent and very tired smile, and she won't remember the way she'd felt warm underneath the hazy Louisiana sun at a mere touch to her hand, but it would be Francis Allen's, Francois Allègre's, last memory.
He apologised, and he bid her to run, before he shut his eyes.
