I was writing another Absolution fanfiction when a novel thought popped into my head: why write a story with a plot about which everyone already knows when I can just start afresh? The idea seemed much more enticing, thus this fanfiction was born.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this tiny prologue and look forward to the rest of the story! No hard feelings if you don't; I strive only to entertain, not to persuade. Please feel free to review if you have the time; your comments would be much appreciated :)
Prologue
Darkness had fallen, though a sliver of sunlight still gleamed in the west. The rain beat in flurries outside, pattering softly against the thick glass of the window, and the ashen-grey clouds of the tempest raging over the sea cast an ominous shadow that stretched miles across the city.
Victoria sat on the floor by the expansive window in her room, her back propped against the wall and her legs stretched out lazily in front of her. Her mind was too preoccupied for sleep, so she settled for watching the storm turn the sky grey and the water into a black mass of violent, thrashing waves.
Most days, she spent her time with Diana. They would pass the early hours of the morning reading in the library, spend the day talking - though that was mostly done on Diana's part; what little recounts Victoria had were nowhere near as interesting as the ones that Diana had - or even just sit in each other's company in tacit silence. Although she knew trusted Diana implicitly, there was a strain in their conversations - barely noticeable, but still present - that made her suspect that information was constantly being filtered through to her. Given Diana's line of work, she supposed that that shouldn't surprise her, but the barrier was there. The only times when she felt no hesitancy were the moments they spent in silence. Victoria loved these moments, for they were when she truly felt that there was nothing between them - no shields or pretenses or secrets.
There were also days, however, during which Diana was kept busy with her job. Sometimes, Victoria wished she could listen to Diana work, listen to her and see how she and 47 worked together. But the thought of what their work entailed stayed the young girl's curiosity. Diana never spoke of her work anyway, for which Victoria ultimately decided she was grateful.
She spent hours in bed contemplating the nature of the work that the only two adults in the world she trusted did. Sometimes, she supposed that bad people deserved to die. After all, firsthand experience had proven just how unimaginably corrupt and cruel people could be. Other times, though, she wasn't sure that they did deserve death. She was still trying to decide whether or not she should be trying to justify it at all.
Tonight was different. In the middle of the night, having lied in bed for hours restlessly, Victoria had gotten up to get a glass of water from the kitchen. On the way back, she'd heard Diana speaking to someone urgently. Curiosity urged her to follow the sound to a room lined with computer monitors. A guard standing outside the door, coldly and unnervingly motionless, glanced briefly at her before reaching behind him and closing the door shut. He didn't utter a word, but the message was clear.
Upon realizing that she wasn't going to learn anything from her side of the soundproofed door, Victoria had slowly trodden back to her room. There, she'd heard the precursory rumblings of an impending storm and settled herself down by the window to watch it pass.
Now utterly exhausted, Victoria let her forehead rest against the smooth pane. Her warm breath fogged up the cold glass of the window as she relaxed and let her eyes slowly droop shut. Only when she felt the tugs of sleep slowly begin to draw her into a peaceful rest did she dismiss any worries or thoughts of what might be happening behind closed doors and succumb to the darkness. She sat there, letting the shadows of the room close about her like comforting arms.