Monsters in the Night
Whale sat in the break room with a bottle of whisky, getting more drunk by the minute. He just didn't know what to do. The Outsider was slowly dying in the ER, but Whale couldn't care less. He could either save the Outsider and risk the whole town's "secret", or he could let the man die and never back able to live with himself, either way, he was screwed.
Whale took one last swig of the drink and got up. He noticed that his pager was frantically sent messages every few seconds. He took off his white coat and threw it in with the other dirty scrubs. He then quickly stumbled over through the door and out the hospital without any thought. He ran, past the parking lot and Main Street and towards the docks. Whale always felt comforted by the sounds of the ocean slapping up against the pier, the simple sound of the waves made him feel like everything was a little less complicated. All though this night it wouldn't help at all.
I'm a monster, whale thought, I'm a monster and I always will be. He couldn't forget what he'd done to his brother, Gherhart. He'd gotten him killed, brought him back to life, let him kill their father and then refused to let Gherhart go even when he begged him. Why? Because he was a coward, whom no one, eventually not even his brother, loved. He knew that in his cursed state, was a womanizing deadbeat that annoyed and took advantage of everyone he met, including Snow freakin' White. But that wasn't who Victor Frankenstein was, who he was. Victor was still an imperfect man in his world, but at least he was respectful. Victor was really a quiet, shy man, but no one seemed able to see past Whale, and even if they did, all they saw was a man who created monsters, and was himself, a monster. Victor didn't think it would ever end or that they would ever see past his cursed self. He didn't see a better time, he didn't see hope. He took out Gherhart's watch and thought about his miserable life.
Victor sat on the edge of the pier and stared into the deep, dark water. The dangerous water. He kept feeling hopeless and depressed and like a monster. He didn't see the end, he didn't feel good, Victor felt nothing at all. Suddenly he jumped up and stared down into the water. It was very cold, at least 20 degrees out, there was frost on the trees and snow wasn't far away. The water had to be almost as cold. Victor did the math and found that jumping into that water would the answer to his problems.
He stood a little closer to the water and was about to jump when he suddenly heard his name being shouted.
" ?!", it was Ruby, the beautiful wolf-girl. She looked worried and he wonder why that was because she wasn't possibly worried about him, no one was.
Victor threw the pocket watch into the water.
"Don't come near me!" He said without looking at Ruby
Then he walked off the pier not caring if Ruby saw or not and fell. Time slowed down, Victor's life past before his eyes, with all it's misery and loneliness so painfully obvious, Victor thought he had made the right choice, KNOWN, he had made the right choice.
But unexpectedly, right as his toes hit the icy water, Ruby caught him by his shirt. Victor didn't know how she had gotten over here that quickly, but forgot everything else when he saw her face.
He was perplexed, her luminous eyes were tear-filled and her face held an expression of pure terror, but he couldn't guess why. It could be that Storybrooke was under attack again, but Victor didn't care about the rest of the town. At that moment, he simply wanted to find the cause of Ruby's terror and stop it. He couldn't really say why, other than he felt odd when he saw Ruby was upset, a kind of dull ache in his chest.
Ruby pulled him up on to the concrete and backed away a little, all the while tears streamed down her face.
"Ruby..." He said softly.
She just stared at him for a while, until, almost inaudible, she whispered, "Why?"
He assumed she meant why had he run away from the hospital.
"I didn't want to save the Out-" he began to rush out.
"NO!",she shouted forcefully, "NOT THAT, YOU... SELFISH... BASTARD!" She spat out each word with venom. Her face was red with hair that flew in her face and she was sobbed, "Why would you try to do that?" Ruby said in a hoarse voice.
Victor only now realized that the girl of his dreams was genuinely frightened for him. This took him by surprise and he struggled to speak.
"I-I-I dont, I mean I can't" he stuttered trying to find his words, "I couldn't see a way." He finally managed to say.
Ruby's face softened and she sat down next to him.
Whale didn't know what to do so he started rambling on about his life. He told her everything, about his father, about Gherhart, about his depression.
"I wanted my name to stand for life" He said miserably, " but everybody just thinks it's the name of a monster", Victor chuckled ruefully. " I guess they're right about that."
"Rumplestilskin says that magic has a price, but from where I'm standing, it seems that science does too", he stared off into space for a moment, lost in his thoughts, "Everytime I try to save a life, someone else dies."
Victor was slipping back into a funk, and it appeared that Ruby noticed and turned the topic towards herself.
"Hey, yeah, you're Frankenstein, and I'm the werewolf. I ate my boyfriend." She said with confidence, although looking a little down now too. Victor didn't say anything, just furrowed his brows slfeeling in surprise. He knew that Ruby turned into a wild, but he honestly didn't think that she was capable of violence. "Regina though she was punishing us by erasing who we were, but I think she underestimated how much crap we wanted to forget."
Ruby looked proud when this statement managed to make Victor laugh a little and lighten the mood.
"Yeah" he murmured, still not with Ruby.
"But we can't let it stop us. She gave us a chance to start over, and I want to take it, I think you should too"
But unfortunately, Victor's eyes were still glazed over and he wasn't paying attention to Ruby.
"I wasn't such a bad guy you know. I wanted to bring life back, but he never got over our mother, if I could just have brought her back-" he was interrupted by a frustrated Ruby.
"That guy at the hospital, someone keeps calling for him, maybe a wife, a mother" she said forcefully. "Maybe there's still some stuff you can fix."
This snapped Victor out of it; he looked up at Ruby and whispered, "But how can I?".
His emotions must have played right out on his face because as he turned to Ruby, her face softened and she looked fondly at him.
"You've been able to do it for a while now," she said, "you just need some encouragement" she said softly. She then preceded to take Victor's hand in hers and bring him close to her. Victor didn't know what to do. Did she want him to kiss her? To stand there and look at her? He didn't think that either of the choices were right, so he put his arms around her in an embrace. He could smell that her hair had the sent of roses and honey. Ruby buried her face into his shoulder and they stood like that for a moment, in that moment Victor felt something he hadn't in a long time, happiness. Victor pulled back first, he really was a gentleman and didn't want to feel like he was compromising her integrity, but if Victor didn't know better, he'd say Ruby looked disappointed, maybe even a little sad. But look quickly slid of her face and was replaced by a strange one, a sort of mixture of happiness and...hope?
"Better?", she asked.
"Better" he stated, and he was, " I know what I have to do."
"And what might that be?" Ruby said, definitely pleased with herself now.
"You know what." Victor said teasingly "Walk with me?" he asked her.
"Gladly."
A couple of hours after they arrived at the hospital, greeted by the red-faced group of hero's, Victor had finished the operation on Greg Mendall. He waited until he was sure that the man would live to tell Sheriff Swan.
He came out and Ruby came over to him with curiosity in her eyes.
"Where are they?", he asked.
She responded, "They're getting coffee from the vending machine".
At that moment the group came back.
"What's the verdict?" Emma asked.
"He'll live" is all Victor had to say. Ruby grabbed his arm.
"You did it?!",she asked excitedly.
Victor nodded his head feeling touched that Ruby was praising him.
"Thank you, monster to monster" he said softly, wanting to go back to that special moment at the docks.
Ruby, however blushed a little and didn't say anything, perhaps embarrassed about being seen with him, he would be too, but was still a little hurt.
"Thank goodness", the Prince said.
"Or me" he said.
It seemed like Ruby was the only one willing to acknowledge that Victor had acted uncharacteristically heroic. This also seemed to rub Ruby the wrong way, since she wrinkled her nose a little in frustration.
The group walked away chatting on away about what to do with the Outsider. Victor felt no better than he did earlier that evening. He started to walk away when Ruby came up and tapped his shoulder.
" She pulled him closer and said, "Hey, I am thanking you."
That was the best moment of Victor's miserable life and he would remember it always, he would remember everything about it. He would remeber how he recognised the smell of roses and honey, how they both closed their eyes and he ran his hand through her hair, and of course, he would remember the soft touch and sweet taste of her lips.
His first kiss with Ruby the wolf girl was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
"That was quite a thank you" he said quietly, a little shocked.
"Well, I felt you deserved it" she looked at him in such a way that he wanted to grab her and never let her go. This was so foreign to Victor, he had never, not once felt this way about anyone and no one had ever felt this way about him either. So when Ruby blushed a little and tried to leave, he gently grabbed her shoulder and turned he around.
"Please, don't be embarrassed by me, I really like you", he instantly regretted the words, they sounded desperate even to himself.
Ruby looked a little sad when he said that and he prepared himself for another let down.
Instead he got a this, "I'm not embarrassed by you, I'm embarrassed by myself. I know that this will turn into something more if I stay with you. Your're just so sweet and nice, I don't you to be another loved one that I attack." She had tears in her eyes now.
"I know the feeling," he said kindly, "but like you said, we can't let that stop us. If you really just don't like me, it's alri-"
"No, no I do like you, I know you don't think that someone could, but I do." She insisted, and said "I just don't want to hurt you."
"Really? You like me?" Victor asked incredulously.
"I think I might love you" Ruby said shyly.
This was the moment at which Victor's whole soul lifted up in joy and he knew he was at a turning point.
She turned away and started to head towards the others but turned back to Victor's dazed form and said,
"I think this may be the start of something really, really beuatiful."
