Disclaimer: I do not own Frankenstein. Just that one copy I bought at the bookstore.
A/N: Just a oneshot on what I believe would have happened if the second monster had not been destroyed. I realize this angle has been done far too many times (with even a movie devoted to the same general idea), but it's a project I worked on for school and grew to like. So, enjoy.
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Victor rested his head in his hands. However badly he had felt about this project before, the feeling was twice as bad now. Now that it had…come alive. The female creature that now sat confused, disoriented, and chained behind the locked door he now sat with his back to. Victor was at least 99 sure his newest creation would not try to escape just yet, but he had still taken the precaution of chaining her to the slab she had been brought to life on.
He had tried his best to make her more normal. Her full height was somewhat less than that of his first monster, but she still stood at an impressive seven-and-a-half feet tall. He had chosen her skin more carefully, and it now covered most of her muscles, leaving only raw muscle on her hips, thighs, and breasts. Victor had even gone to the trouble to cover up most of her stitches, although without true living skin they would never really heal. Despite this, she was definitely and improvement from his previous creature.
What was he saying? An improvement? His monster should have been locked away and left to die, not improved upon! Victor wasn't even sure why he was doing this anymore…and then he remembered. For her. For Elizabeth, his more-than-sister who would soon become his wife once this nightmare was over. That was all his creation wanted anyway: a mate. Shouldn't Victor's thoughts and desires be as simple as his creation's?
As he thought this, a figure loomed over him, the shadow of the figure covering him completely in its shadow. Victor had no need to look up: it could have only been one thing. Besides that, Victor did not want to look into the dull yellow eyes of the thing he had created which now controlled him.
"The deed is done, she is yours." Victor told him in a monotone, spoken more in disgust of what he had done than the hate towards his creations that he felt.
Although Victor did not look up to see his creature's face, it curled into a manic grin, wrapping around his face in an expression quite foreign to his black lips.
"May I see her?" the creature asked in gravelly tones, but with an excitement almost like that of a child's. Victor said nothing, but quietly stood up and unlocked the door behind him to reveal a creature not unlike the one standing behind him.
Her black hair fell down her neck in shaggy locks over her skin, which in places was too-pale and in others was a reddish color. Her eyes looked up, misty black and confused, blinking in the sudden onslaught of sunlight that had entered the room. Her lips were a bit fuller that that of the first creation's, but still stood out black and rigid against the porcelain white of the skin surrounding them.
The first creature walked over to her tentatively, stooping down in the low ceiling of the hut and looking at her as if she might at any second disappear. With one large yellowed hand, he reached out and took a hold of her face, stroking the patchy skin of her cheek with one finger. Where his finger touched he left a purplish bruise, evidently he was still not fully aware of his strength. The female did not react to the bruise outwardly, just sat still and mystified by the world around her, black eyes darting back and forth.
"She is not pretty," the first monster finally decided, "but she is mine." With that, he broke the chains on her arms and legs with a simple snap and helped her to her own shaky feet.
"Good. Fine. Now begone, demon, and take her away with you. Do not linger here a moment longer than is necessary."
"Your wish is my command, creator." The creature said with a cruel emphasis on the word 'creator.' It hit Victor like a slap in the face, and he visibly recoiled. His first creation smirked at the irony, and picked up his new bride as carefully as he knew how, cradling her awkwardly in his arms. As he ducked out of the door and made for the shore, he yelled back:
"Until we meet again, Victor Frankenstein!"
Victor flinched yet again. Oh, how he hoped that day would never come.
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That day came far sooner than Victor expected. In fact, it came two weeks later at Victor's own wedding. The monster decided it was time he bid one final farewell to the man who created him.
The skies were overcast, not at all the kind of skies suitable for a wedding, but the date had already been set and most of the guests had arrived. Most of the invited guests, at least. Two of the guests were definitely NOT welcome there, but that didn't stop them from showing up anyway. While the other wedding guests filed through the white flowered archway that had replaced the church's entrance, the uninvited couple snuck as quietly as they could around the outside of the church to look inside through the blue stained glass windows that stood magnificently at the front of the church. The view was distorted through the colored glass, of course, but the two looking through it didn't mind at all.
One little girl filing into the church behind her mother looked out for a last peek into the woods that bordered the building. She could just make out some shadows in the woods, moving very quickly toward the front of the church. She craned her head to look, but as soon as she saw them, they were gone. She tugged on the hem of her mother's green dress and told her just that. The woman stopped to shush her daughter of such nonsense, but as she turned around she heard something that chilled her bones. A first voice came so low and gravelly it could have belonged to the devil himself, and second higher version of the voice followed, both of them coming from the front of the church, just around the corner.
"We will be able to watch them comfortably from here, my dear Safie."
"Yes, my love."
She did not know what they meant, but she certainly didn't like the idea of those voices watching the service. Who knew why the two evil-voiced, giant, shadow people would want to spy on a wedding service? She shuddered, and ushered her daughter inside.
"Just go inside, Anna. It was probably nothing," she reassured not only her daughter, but herself.
"But mommy, you saw them too!" Anna protested.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Now get that silly nonsense out of your head and get inside. It looks like it's about to rain…"
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Victor should have been happy. It was his wedding day, was it not? But somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling that something would go wrong. His father chalked it up to pre-wedding jitters, and assured him his anxiety would be over soon. But Victor was sure that wasn't the reason he was so nervous and jumpy. He wanted to marry Elizabeth. In fact, he had wanted to marry her for most of his life.
He looked at himself in the mirror that stood in the small, drafty room of the church where he had gotten dressed. He looked quite sharp, actually, in his wedding outfit. His hair, which had gone neglected for weeks, had now been combed and slicked back on his forehead. His old suit had been mended quite well by Elizabeth herself, who had proven to be quite good at sewing. It looked as good as new. Actually, Victor thought with a small self-indulgent grin, better than new. If only his face wasn't as pale as the crisp white shirt he wore under the suit, he would have looked…handsome. With all of the horrible things that had happened to him recently, Victor hadn't had time to keep up appearances. But he had to admit; for once he looked really good.
As he admired his reflection, Henry Clerval burst in through the door, his usual jovial self.
"My good friend Frankenstein! How sharp you look on this glorious day!"
"But Henry, the sky outside is grey. This day does not look to be glorious at all. What will happen to the wedding if it begins to rain?"
"Ah, but Victor, you must never judge a book by its cover or a day by its skies. Your wedding day will be glorious if you choose to make it so!"
"Henry, my good friend, how you can always cheer my sprits! Come, let us join my wedding!"
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Victor now stood at the altar, the threshold to a new, monster-free existence with the love of his life at his side. She stood across from him now, eyes glowing with the warmth he had missed so much during his cold days on that desolate island with only his failed creation and its successor to keep him company. But that was all behind him now. Or, as he realized with shock, behind her…
There, though the stained glass behind his beloved, he could make out the ghastly figures of his two creatures: the monster and his wife. Even through the distorted blue panes he could make out his first creation's fiendish grin, while the female stared at the scene in wonder, as this was presumably her first time viewing humans in a crowd of this many.
"Victor?" whispered a worried voice: Elizabeth's.
Victor realized the shocked expression he wore on his face was probably very worrisome, but he couldn't seem to change it as his eyes were locked with the creature's. He couldn't even bring himself to say something, to reassure her. He could only stand there gaping like an idiot.
"What is it? I mean, if you really don't want to marry me this is the time to do it—after this you're stuck with me," at this point she let out a quiet, nervous giggle, still whispering on one breath. "I mean, I'm not saying that I don't want you to marry me—I really do want this—it's just, you've been acting funny lately, and if there's someone else…I guess what I'm asking is…you do still want to get married, right? The priest here will probably prattle on for a few more minutes…so we've still got time to do this with dignity…do you still want this to happen?"
"I DO!" Victor replied forcefully, snapping himself out of his staring contest with his creation, who was still looking on the scene smugly. The priest stopped his sermon abruptly to look at Victor with a fake smile plastered across his face, cracking slightly at the disturbance.
"My boy, the 'I do's' are for later!" he said, harsh undertones becoming subtly visible in his cheerful voice. The congregation, nevertheless, laughed quietly at his small joke. "May I go on?" Victor nodded for him to continue, and the priest's voice fell into a monotone again.
"There's no other woman?" Elizabeth confirmed quietly.
"None…well, not the kind you're thinking of. None I would want to marry, at least." Victor reassured her, now reminded of his second creation. Elizabeth was clearly confused, but relented her questioning anyway.
"I…I'm not quite sure what you mean, but if that's what you say, I'll trust you until the end." At this, Victor finally smiled and looked down at his bride.
"And I will be there with you every step of the way."
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As Elizabeth and Victor finally kissed, the creatures turned away. The larger one took his wife's hand in his, and they began to walk away. He realized now that although he did not love her for her beauty, intelligence, or even her personality, he loved her for the way in which she utterly and completely trusted him. As the first creation looked back on the past few weeks, he remembered how she was in the beginning, so confused like he was, and like a child in her wonder and naïve fascination with the world around her.
Not wanting her to feel identity-less as he had, the first creature had decided to give her a name. After some thought, he finally had settled on Safie. Safie had been the first woman he had ever had the pleasure of knowing, even if they hadn't actually met. Not only that, but she was the first creature he had ever seen that could express love for someone in a deep and powerful way as she had loved Felix. And the monster was certain that his Safie would be able to name him in return, when she was ready. No matter how long it took.
And maybe then the monster could be someone. And he would be that someone for his Safie.
They left then, and neither Victor Frankenstein nor anyone else ever saw either of his creations ever again. And maybe, for just one couple in Geneva, the world was a better place.