My newest Re-Animator story involves a oneshot view of Daniel Cain after the events of "Bride", after the beginning of "Beyond" when Herbert West was put away for good. I do imagine he was broken from the events, but the fact that putting together that woman with Meg's heart ultimately made him realize he would never reunite with her and accepted her death. I read other stories in which he was officially a loner, his only friend and science partner locked away, and unable to get a woman because of his past, as well as two involving him losing his medical license and life as a doctor period. It broke my heart to see him like that, so this latest will give a better sight for him - but there are still bits of the past which still haunt Dan Cain to this day as he works to put his life back together.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Re-Animator or its characters. And the story is named after the song by Enya, which is one of my favorites of all time. :)
She was wearing the most elegant dress he had ever seen; it fit her body in all the right places, the incredible lace dazzling with beading and crystals, the sleeves stopping at the elbows and the chest curves flaunted but still covered. Her hair was accented with a headband of pearls and diamonds instead of with a veil...but overall, it was her smile shining bright and her entire face glowing as she walked his way, carrying a bouquet of flowers matching those lining the aisle. The environment was perfect, picturesque - and it was just the two of them. Today would be just the two of them, as it should be.
He fingered the ring in his pocket, the one from his mother which she left him before she died, telling him that this particular love stone was so deep that you would drown, like the ocean. Giving into temptation that you lost yourself in the abyss. And that was why he promised he would give this to the one walking to stand before him. She was his first love and would be his last love ever.
But as soon as she was in front of him, everything changed.
The sky overhead had been shining down on them, full of love and life, and now the clouds obscured the sun, darkening everything around them to a dull gray, devoid of life. The flowers down the aisle shriveled and died, and the leaves of the trees had fallen and scattered in the wind that had picked up; a cold chill washed over his body through the fine material of his suit. Today was supposed to be without flaws, but luck had not been kind to him.
Nothing had ever gone right for him. Not in the hospital, not in life when his mother died and his father couldn't save her...not any time.
"Dan." Her voice made him look into her eyes, vibrant and blue despite the gloom. "Don't pay attention to anything else; it's just us. Nothing else matters." If only he could, but not when everything around them was dying all the time. She took both of his hands in hers, but they were not soft and warm as he hoped.
They were cold and slim, as though dead for awhile. It dawned on him that she was not the living, breathing bride he had wanted. He quickly drew his hands back. "No, it's not...you're not...alive...none of this is!"
Her lively eyes were wide now, and her face twisting - he meant literally twisting. She was going to cry, and when she did, it was an unholy shriek to the heavens. Of a broken heart that could never be healed. As she continued to scream, she reached up with one hand and tore the front of her dress down, the bouquet of dead flowers scattering across the concrete. She partially exposed her bosom so her other hand came up to penetrate through the flesh so easily and past the sternum - it was the most grisly sight he had ever seen, a sight he was used to and had SEEN before - until she withdrew it again...
...and her own heart was in her palm, beating rapidly and held out to him.
~o~
He awoke every night screaming, sweating and finding that he was safe in bed, but safety in his own home never made it go away. Even therapy was no match for it, despite time healing some of his wounds.
Dan Cain was always able to laugh himself to sleep at what a joke he was internally.
Meg's death had become a part of his existence; he was nothing but a zombie, but to everyone else, including Francesca, he was normal and "recovered" from the trauma of being the "forced partner of the wicked Dr. Herbert West". It had been four years since his former partner-in-crime had been tried and put away at the Arkham State Asylum, but it did not help him down the road to emotional recovery. The fact that Megan was gone had settled in, but now that West was gone, he did not feel any safer. The memories haunted him in the morning and even more at night; Francesca might have been through hell with him, but she'd been through little portions of it. She stayed with him since the trial of Herbert West ended, but she didn't know what it was like to work and accomplish the long-lived goal of conquering death only to meddle with body parts - the idea belonging to a sick and twisted man who took everything away from him.
His cat.
His girlfriend, whom he was supposed to marry after graduation.
His entire life.
West had been out of his mind, playing around with body parts instead of whole beings; he had screamed that night before the trial that he did it for Dan, made that woman with Meg's heart for HIM. He'd wanted Dan happy again, he said, but it wasn't the Meg he remembered. He had felt like they were still helping people by entering new realms and methods, because simply re-animating dead bodies hadn't worked when Dr. Hill was still in the picture. Herbert had wasted his time with trial and error, even though a part of Dan's mind had reminded him that was what life and science was all about...but this was wrong. And because of that, Chapham had caught up to them, the rest of those monsters - and Dr. Hill's head. Francesca's dog was killed, and Francesca almost killed herself; she left Dan for it, but returned in time for the trial and Dr. Herbert West sentenced to life.
He had wanted to get his life back on track, returning and finishing medical school in two more years, but it didn't feel the same. Now he was getting married; it was the happiest day of his life...yet it felt like a long-lost dream. He and Meg should have been married, but she was gone. Francesca was his new life, she made him happy, but even the deepest emotional scars could not be healed that easily.
"Do you, Daniel Cain, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do." His answer was soft and barely audible to his own ears, but the minister as well as the minimal guests heard. He stood under a tree with his bride in front of him, wearing a soft golden mermaid gown of luxurious satin, ruched and bejeweled below the waist - quite different from his precious dream which became a nightmare. Her hair was braided lovingly behind her head, the veil short and single-layered, edged with an antique Italian lace. And she was smiling, although her eyes spoke another story. They read through him and saw that he was still unsure, promised him they would still work this through. If only he believed it entirely.
"Do you, Francesca Danelli, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
She nodded. "I do."
He'd given her his mother's ring which had been left to him. And to think the symbolism had been the irony, about temptation dragging you into deep waters. That was exactly what he had done, and now he was reaping it. West must be doing it in prison at this very moment, for the rest of his life. But on the lighter side, it was the special "something borrowed, something blue". As he was placing the band with the companion, he found himself looking past Francesca's shoulder - and met with a familiar pair of glaring eyes behind large spectacles blazing fire.
He froze in the middle of sliding the ring on her finger when Herbert West eyed him with the utmost betrayal and hatred. Accusing him of abandoning him and everything they shared. Reminding him that he would never let him live in peace.
"Daniel?"
He blinked and looked at Francesca. She was eyeing him with fawning concern. He smiled. "I'm sorry," he whispered, finishing sliding the ring into place. He leaned in and kissed her then at the minister's pronounce of them being Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Cain. That simple kiss and embrace was enough to tell him that West wasn't here and wasn't going to crash into his life again. He existed only in his memory now, not in his existence.
I really wanted to keep it short and sweet, angsty and a start down the journey of emotional and mental recovery, which takes more time than physical. I just wanted Dan happy again. And for those who haven't seen any of my previous Re-Animator fics, feel free. :D I just LOVE Jeffrey Combs.