After Darkness
Chapter 4
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG-13
Usual disclaimer of "I own nothing"
V held Evey snugly in his arms, her tears slowly abating at the gentle strokes of his hand. Already he was planning on the questions she would ask that he would have to answer. But the biggest question of all was where they were now. She would, no doubt, want to be with him, and he would never refuse such a wonderful gift…but she still hadn’t seen what lay underneath the latex mask: evidence of years of pain, torture, and loneliness-all seared into his charred flesh.
Did she even know about Larkhill? God, what would she think? Would she be repulsed? Sympathetic? What if it drove her away?
A cold sick feeling washed over him, and a knot formed in his stomach. He couldn’t bear to think of that last thought.
Just then Evey sniffed noisily and leaned her head back from his chest to look up at him. She dashed the remaining tears away from her cheeks with the back of one hand and smiled a wide grin of sheer, unadulterated happiness. Her eyes were swimming with nothing but warmth, relief, and tender affection.
He returned her grin with one of his own.
She is so beautiful, even when she’s crying, he thought and brushed away a stray tear with his thumb.
“I knew there was something about Vincent that reminded me you. That was very clever with your Beatrice-Dante allusion,” she laughed, and reached up and stroked one latex cheek. “This is a mask.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Yes.” V nodded.
“It’s very you, and you have the most beautiful blue eyes I’ve ever seen,” she said, and nestled back down into his chest, completely oblivious to his stunned expression.
Beautiful eyes? There was something beautiful about him? Though he didn’t respond, he tightened his embrace and held her to him thinking that he could very well stay like this for all eternity. But Evey finally sighed and reared back, though still smiling.
“You know, just because I’m completely overjoyed at seeing you, doesn’t get you off the hook, mister. I intend to grill you for answers, and there’s no way you’re going to escape from me now,” she teased lightheartedly, but V knew that beneath her jumbled emotions, she was quite serious.
He chuckled low and deep in his throat and said, “Of course I will do my best to answer all your questions, and I have no desire of escaping you. Though, I suggest we commence with this ‘grilling’ in a setting more apropos.”
He took her hand and began to pull her toward the exit of the classroom.
“Were are we going?” Evey asked, bemused.
He turned to her with a smile, but continued to walk, slowing his inhumanly quick pace so that she may keep up.
“The Shadow Gallery.”
Evey’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’ve been in the gallery this whole time? But there have been government employees running in and out of there with antiques. How have you not yet been caught?”
“It’s not the old Gallery. More of the Shadow Gallery Part Deux.”
vVvVv
Evey sat on the couch observing the “second, temporary” replica Shadow Gallery. Many of V’s old favorite relics had been removed from the first and placed in the new large chamber, no doubt to avoid any working government officials walking in on him while they were reintegrating culture back into the new civil society. Eventually everything would be given back to the people, but Evey had the feeling that V wanted to hang onto a few for a bit longer. Every room was exactly the same in layout and location, except for some new pieces of artwork he had replaced the old ones with.
“Even the jukebox is here in the exact same place,” Evey laughed to herself.
V. He had gone off to his dressing room, claiming that he must remove the latex mask because his sensitive skin was beginning to become irritated by the adhesive.
And now, Evey was left alone with a few disturbing thoughts. Where was their relationship now? She wanted to be with him, but what if-
Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft sound of creaking leather. V rounded the couch and stood a few feet away from her. He was back in his full Fawkesian garb, minus the cloak, hat, and knives. There was a sudden warmth that washed over Evey at seeing him back as his usual self.
“May I get you anything? Food? Something to drink?” he asked politely.
Evey shook her head. “No, thank you.”
V tilted his head in reply and took the seat next to her on the couch, his movements smoothly elegant, hinting at controlled power. His knee came in close contact with her own, but, still uncertain, he was careful to not touch.
“So,” Evey began, “where do you want to start?”
V sighed heavily and replied, “That, my dear, is the question, isn’t it?”
He was silent for a few moments, his back as straight as a board, his fingers flexed on his knees, digging into the black cloth.
Noting his discomfort, Evey scooted up to his side, drawing his arm around her side and resting her head on his chest. He remained tense until Evey linked her fingers through his own, and he slowly began to relax.
“Let’s start from the night of the fifth,” she said, staring blankly down at their laced fingers. “How on earth-” she paused, struggling to form the right words. “You died in my arms, V. I felt it. And, I put you on that god awful train, how did….” Her voice trailed off.
V thought for a moment. “Well, I remember that at that moment I was consumed by what seemed just a warm, sticky blackness.”
She began languidly tracing little circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. “So, you died and came back to life?”
He felt the little tendrils of heat streaking up his arm from the spot her thumb was stroking and fought to keep his mind on track. “In a manner of speaking. One theory is that my body had suffered a significant loss of blood; therefore, I believe it shut down in order to preserve and restore my energy. But I needed the willpower to do so. Without it, I would have perished. This leads into my other theory: that I had the choice of either living or dying at that point, and I chose to live.”
Evey was silent while she digested the information, and then whispered, “Why did you choose to live? You told me that you were glad that you were finished. ‘No more tricks, no more lies, only truth.’” She propped her chin up on his arm, just enough to look at him.
The mask turned toward her to stare down into her eyes. “The truth is, Evey, I had once thought that my sole purpose was to bring down Sutler and his cronies. That night, I was sure that I had fulfilled my destiny.”
“But there was more?” She asked hopefully.
He nodded. “I believe that when your purpose has not been fulfilled, images and memories will pass in your mind of the things you have not accomplished. I was given a new purpose the eve I brought you the gallery. And that was what I saw when I was given the choice to live or die: images of you. I chose to live because of you.”
By now, his voice was thick with emotion as he watched a tear escape from Evey’s welled-up eyes. He brought a hand up to brush it away. A brilliant smile spread over her face as she held his hand to her cheek. She turned her head and nuzzled and kissed his palm, something he felt right through the fabric of the glove.
But then she did something he did not anticipate. Evey slowly, seductively pulled at the fingertips of the glove. It didn’t even register to V until his entire hand was bare to his, and more importantly, her view. He quickly tried to hide it, but she gently caught his arm and pried his fingers from a fist.
She spread his fingers out and took in the sight. It was exactly as she remembered. Mottled, red with white patches scattered across the surface. The texture was a different feel, it was supple and smooth, despite the ridges and valleys, but at the same time it had a very subtle coarseness to it. But it was him, and that was all that mattered.
V’s entire body tensed, and he gasped reflexively as Evey raised his hand to cup her face. She kissed each fingertip and continued down to scatter kisses across his palm.
He was overwhelmed by this entirely alien sensation, but he drank in every bit of it.
“How did you get off the train,” she said to his fingers as she continued to press kisses to them, much to V’s delight.
“I’m not absolutely sure exactly how I was able to get off the train. It’s…a blur, really. I assume I jumped. I mostly remember determination and a particular numbness. Once I was back in the gallery, I was able to rest and nurse myself back to health.”
She stopped. V nearly groaned aloud at the loss, but caught himself as she looked back up at him with remorse. “And I wasn’t there to help you through it. V, I’m so sorry. If I had known-” V stopped her by pressing a reddened finger to her lips and impulsively dragging a thumb across her full lower lip.
“You have nothing to apologize for, sweet Evey. I know that you would have helped me, had you known. But I’m glad you didn’t. You never would have spread your wings, so to speak, if you tended to me.”
She looked away guiltily. He was right. She would have compromised everything she had in order to stay down in the gallery with him. What he had done had been a selfless act on his part, and something that made her love for him grow all the more.
“I know,” she said, and climbed up onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her nose in the crook of his neck. V seemed momentarily taken by surprise, but he wrapped his arms around her with growing practice.
He smells bloody wonderful, Evey thought, breathing in his scent. Like a mixture of leather, coconut, and something masculine. I wonder if it’s a sin for a man to smell this good?
They held each other in silence for a few minutes, each simply basking in the other’s presence.
V was the first to break the silence. “May I inquire a question, Evey?”
“Hmm?” She hummed dreamily, a sound that shook V to his core. He very much hoped to evoke that sound from her again in the near future.
“What did you do during that time when I was healing?” He asked.
Evey snuggled closer in the safety of his arms, soaking up his warmth. “I slept a lot.”
There were a few moments of silence before V spoke. “Please forgive me, Evey,” he apologized in a hushed voice. “I-”
“You were there, in my dreams,” she interrupted with a sad smile as she ran a hand down the sleeve of his arm. “They were always pleasant. We would be talking, or walking together in the sunshine, or dancing, or….” Her voice trailed off and she turned her head to hide her face in the fabric of his chest. V craned his neck to glance down at her, seeing only the soft wave of her hair at the side of her head.
“Or what, Evey?” He prompted, stroking a hand up and down her back.
She sighed heavily into his chest and swallowed, incredulous that she was going to admit this, even to him.
But she gathered her courage and pressed on. “Sometimes…I imagined what it would have been like making love to you.…” came a low muffled voice from his chest. “I didn’t take the chance…and I had wondered what it would have been like…and it’s always been you V, never anyone else but you.”
V didn’t answer right away, and she waited in anticipation for his reply.
A wave of uncertainty and doubt crashed down on her as the silence of the room dragged on.
What did he think? Was he pleased? Regretful? Her previous thoughts began to creep back into her mind. She knew that he loved her, but did he was different that every other man she had ever known. ‘Love’ to the other men in her life meant a lustful craving. Of course, that wasn’t really what love was in her mind; she wanted the final step to be the most intimate act shared between her and her partner, never to be tainted by anyone else. Now she had chosen her mate. But to V…love to him may not encompass any primal desire. So, what was love to him?
When he gave no answer, she turned her face just enough that he may hear her clearly and pressed on.
“Please understand me, V. I slept because it was the only way to be with you.” She stared absently at her finger as she traced the seam of his shoulder, tears welling up in her eyes as she recalled the remainder of the memory. “And then I woke up.” Her voice thickened then cracked a bit on the last word and V tightened his embrace around her.
V was again silent, and then said in a pained voice, “Evey, you have never even seen my face. How could you have a dream about you making love to me?”
She smiled at her next words. “I don’t need a face to know that it was you, V. It was your presence, that’s all that mattered. That was something that was coming from my heart.”
“Yes, but-”
Evey rose up with her hands on his shoulders, straddling his legs and pinning him with an expression that silenced him as she tried to will him to understand. She knew what he was about to admit.
“Do you honestly believe that after all this time of me pining away for you that I would reject you because you don’t have the perfect skin?”
V seemed a bit taken aback. “You know about Larkhill?” He whispered, suddenly feeling all the more vulnerable.
Evey’s expression mollified. “Yes.” She tapped the mask to emphasize her next statement. “And I know what whatever lay beneath this mask is not as bad as you believe it to be.”
V looked away, unable to even meet her eyes though the mask. “I fear that it is far worse than that, my dear.” His hands clenched into fists at his next revelation. “Evey, Larkhill stole everything from me…my life, my memories, my right to humanity. I am merely a product of the events that happened there. I ceased to be who I was and morphed into an idea with nothing but hatred and vengeance to fuel my existence. I am, as you once said, a monster.”
Evey paused. Her own old words stung. But she had to make him see this. She had to make him see the good in himself.
“V,” she tilted his chin up to gaze into her eyes, her voice soft with so much emotion it almost made him weep. “I may have meant that at the time, but I was confused and had not accepted what you have done for me. I came to terms with that months ago, which was why I returned that night of the fifth. But V, Larkhill may have stolen those things, but it didn’t steal your human existence. Ideas are unfeeling, savage, and look at what you’ve done in the past. It’s true, you have killed, but you have protected the innocent. Look at what you’ve done for the country: you dethroned a corrupt government and gave hope back to the people. Look at what you did for me: you took me back to the safety of your own home and treated me with more dignity and respect than any other person I’ve met when you could have just left me for dead that day at the BTN. No, V, ideas are cold, but you have a heart that cares, and that makes you very human.”
V felt the tears well up in his eyes. How was she doing this? Despite his past, she was accepting him. Accepting him for who he was.
Evey continued. “I want to show you that Larkhill didn’t steal everything from you. Don’t you love me enough to trust me with the truth?”
At the last question, V quickly replied, “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love.”
But there was still a nagging feeling that he could not quell. Although Evey had admitted it earlier, he still felt that he should hear the words directly from her. “But Evey, what about…” His throat tightened at his next words. “What about that other man, Chris? I have seen you with him, and your demeanor seemed happy enough, and….” He looked away, unable to continue with such a painful thought.
She gently tipped his chin back up again to look directly into the mask’s eyes. “You thought that you had been replaced?” She asked softly, though it was more of a statement than a question.
“Yes,” he whispered.
Evey smile, affection only visible in her eyes. “Do you remember this?” She placed his fingers on the little diamond dangling beneath her throat. He fingered it, sucking in his breath as his fingertips brushed the skin surrounding the gem. The sensation was so new, so different than what he had any recollection of. It was warm and welcoming, and he began to feel his body react in a dangerous a primal craving to feel more, to lose himself in her until all the pain and torment of the world went away. But he did his best to squelch that feeling.
“Yes,” he said a bit breathlessly.
“I haven’t taken it off ever since the day you gave it to me. Do you really believe that I would wear it to this very day if there was someone else, if I didn’t accept what and who you are?” Her voice was tender and soft as she reached up and stroked the lips of the mask.
“Evey, although you’ve admitted your emotions clearly, you still haven’t even seen me, yet. My scars-“
“Make no difference to me, you obstinate, adorable man” she interrupted gently and affectionately as she leaned down until she was close enough to feel his warm breath on her lips as it wafted through the slit of the mask.
“I’m in love you, V. I have been for a long time now. And now that I have you, there is no hope of me ever rejecting you. You’ve got to know that, V. You’ve just got to.”
With that she lowered her lips to the mask in a kiss not unlike the one she gave the night of the fifth.
Though hindered, V did his best to return the kiss, straining against the confines of the mask, tasting the sweetness of her breath.
Then it ended all too soon as she pulled away, looking him deeply in the eyes and letting all her love shine through to him. He was struck with another urge to return the favor, to show her how much he truly loved her, but first he needed to trust her. And trust her he did.
“For you, I will,” he said.
Evey watched in amazement as V reached behind the silky curtain of his hair, unsure of weather it was a dream or it was truly happening. There was a soft sound of sliding leather as he moved one hand to grasp the edge of the mask and the ties fell to hang limp at the sides.
It’s real, she thought, and the mask slowly lowered to reveal the true face of her lover….
Author’s note: I’m so evil. I’m going to let you guys dangle off a cliffhanger for a while, mwahaha! Actually, I’m going to try to get the next chapter up a.s.a.p. I was anxious for an update, and unfortunately this is all I have time for. But rest assured, the next chapter will start off with a bang (no, not that sort of bang for you people with dirty minds ;), but that will come up soon, too).
“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love”-Hamlet, Act II, scene ii.