Scarlet Love

By: Toraxchan

Disclaimer: I do not own anything V for Vendetta related! All rights are reserved to their respected owner.

Chapter One: It's Not a Dream

Evey Hammond awoke with a jerk at a crash in the telly room of the Shadow Gallery. "What…" she said as a slight moan came from the same direction. The date was November 6th , only a few hours after Parliament had blown up in a wondrous display of fireworks, and even longer since she had set the only man she had ever loved adrift in that cold train full of explosives. He was dead now, and she had to face it. But, how could she? He had said those words she longed to hear for so long, and she didn't even get a chance to say it back! She wanted to kill herself because of it.

After the fireworks had died down, she had come back to the Shadow Gallery and had gone to the only place she knew to go: V's room. The neatly made bed, with its black satin sheets, had been welcoming. She had fallen into the bed's warmth and wrapped herself in those sheets, imagining for one brief moment it was V's arms around her. She caught a whiff of V's scent and began to cry, pulling the covers tighter around her small, fragile frame. They had reminded her of V himself, so apt to take her in and save her life. "I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence,"V's deeps voice said, filling her memory. Evey now knew what he had meant: it had been destiny that had brought them together.

Suddenly, another thud, this time closer, brought her back to the situation at present. She had learned a lot of things from V in the year she had spent with him, and being able to blend in with her surroundings was one of them. Evey took one of V's daggers from a compartment on the wall, clutching it to her chest with all of her might. She backed against the cold, stone walls of the Shadow Gallery, letting the natural shadows and crevasses conceal her. Slowly she inched out of the room and into the hallway.

Steady moans and thuds could still be heard emerging from the main room. "How dare they come into V's home and break his wonderful things!" Evey thought bitterly, and then another, louder moan filled the halls. "However, if they're hurt…" she added more gently.

With each careful, silent step Evey took in the shadows, it brought her closer to the intruder. She rounded the corner, ready to pounce, but what she saw before her froze her dead in her tracks. A dark, familiar silhouette stood in the corner with a hand on the wall to hold itself up. "Oh my God…" There was no mistaking it. "V!" she shouted. Evey dropped the dagger and ran to his side. "Oh my God, V, it's really you! How…" Many thoughts raced through her mind and her speech came out in incoherent babbles.

"Hello, my dear Evey," V said from behind the mask. His voice was as deep and soft as ever, but obviously pained. It made Evey's heart melt.

"V!" Evey cried. "You were dead! How?" she sobbed harder.

V was saddened to have upset his love again, so he wrapped his arms around her. "My apologies for having upset you again," he affirmed.

"No, no, please," Evey rambled, maneuvering under his strong arms and placing them on her shoulders. "V, I'm going to help you to the couch, please lean on me," she instructed through tears, her voice broken by sobs.

"I am much too heavy for you, my dear," V soothed, trying to support as much of his own weight as he could, but Evey's insistence made him reconsider.

Evey felt V lean in against her a little more. She looked up at the towering figure above her and thought, "Oh no, I can't do this." Suddenly, as if by magic, or the Will of God, she found the strength from within and was able to help him to the couch.

"I'm surprised at you, Evey Hammond," V said, his smile matching that of the Guy Fawkes mask.

"How so?" she asked through tears. Then the reality of the situation hit her: "V's alive… here… with me… He's not gone!" More tears streamed from her brown eyes as she reached up and touched the cold, porcelain mask. Her slender fingers then moved gently to his chest and felt a heart beat. She jumped. "He is here!"

As if reading her mind, V placed a black, gloved hand on top of her milky white one and said, "Yes, Evey, I am alive and here."

Evey's sobs became more violent and she buried her face in his chest.

"I will never leave you again, that is a promise!" V said in a gasp at the surge of pain that shot through him.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," Evey said, backing away and wiping tears from her eyes.

"No, no, love, its okay." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

She allowed herself to be pulled back in and wrapped herself in his strength, warmth and scent. Evey noticed his breathing become deeper and more rhythmic. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him. "He is here…"

V felt her relax under his arms and hugged her closer and tighter.

Evey responded to his squeeze by calling his name. "V?"

"Yes, my dear, sweet Evey?"

Evey looked up into the black slits of the Guys Fawkes mask and said, "I love you too." She could see straight through that mask and knew he was smiling, so she returned it with one of her own. After getting over the fact that he was really there, and not just a figment of her imagination, she spoke again. "How bad are you hurt, V?"

He looked into the big, pleading eyes of his love and smiled again. "Not too bad, my sweet," he said weakly. "Just a few grazes." He could hear her audible gasp echo throughout the Shadow Gallery. "I am more tired than anything right now," he said to reassure her. It must have worked, because he felt her relax.

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed. "Come, I'll help you to your room." Evey stood, but felt a tug at her arm. She turned around to see hers and V's hands suspended in the air. Her eyes followed his arm up and her gaze landed on the black slits of the mask. They stayed that way… just looking at each other. It was the most comfortable silence Evey had ever experienced.

V smiled at her. Oh how he wished she could see the real him. But, no, she'd be repulsed and run away. However, hadn't she seen his hands that one morning? Hadn't she pitied him? Hadn't she been concerned? Maybe that was what V was most afraid of. Maybe Evey's love would turn to pity if she ever truly saw him. That thought scared him more than anything in the world. To lose Evey's love would be like dying again a thousand times! However, he'd rather die than be without Evey.

Evey sensed his tension and became concerned. "V?"

Her soft voice had roused him from his dreadful thoughts. "Yes?" he replied, trying to hide his own concern.

"Is… everything okay?" she asked kneeling beside him.

"It is, now that I am back with you," he whispered to her. He brought her hand to the mask's lips and pressed them gently to the back of her hand in a kiss.

Evey blushed and giggled. She breathed in deep and pushed it out quickly. "Right then, come along, V, let's get you to bed." She helped him up and found that her strength from earlier hadn't left. "Wait, V…"

"Hum?" he replied, his voice a low rumble.

"I… think I should have a look at your wounds…" Evey said quietly. She knew how sensitive he was about his skin, so she approached the subject cautiously.

He replied with silence.

"Dang it," she mumbled under her breath. She hated when she made him uncomfortable.

"V," she said a little more forcibly, but still gently. She felt the towering figure beside her slump.

"Evey, please don't."

Evey felt the distance in his voice. "But, V, they could get infected…" she started in protest.

"I am well aware, that is why I shall tend to them myself."

They reached V's room and she helped him to the bed. "If I can't do it, then would you please do it… tonight?" she asked softly.

"I'll fetch the medical supplies." Evey watched the mask bob up and down in agreement. She walked to the bathroom and opened the cabinet doors. "Antiseptic… cotton balls… gauze… surgical tape…" she listed out loud as she reached for each item. Evey placed them in a small basket and headed back to V's room.

She knocked on the door to announce her entrance and saw V lying on the bed. She smiled. "V…" she spoke into the air, her voice drifting to his ears.

V sat up in the bed and faced Evey. "I'm sorry… I seem to have drifted off. Please forgive me," he said with a nod of his head, a kind of bow, since he wasn't standing.

"Please, do not apologize for your body…" She was going to say 'body's needs' but fell short. "Um… that is… well… if you need sleep, then you must sleep," she fumbled.

She heard a small laugh, and then saw V cringe. "Please let me help you," she said gently, rushing over to him. "Don't you understand I love you and don't care what you look like?" She kneeled on the floor and placed her hands on his knees. Evey looked up at him with the most pleading eyes she could.

"Evey… I…"

Evey placed a finger on the lips of the mask and sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't dare force you to do something you didn't want to do." She placed a kiss on the tip of the mask's nose and headed for the door.

V grabbed a hold of her hand just before she could get out of reach. "I'm sorry…"

Evey nodded her head in understanding. "Please, call me back when you're done? I'd like to say goodnight."

"Of course I will, my love." He looked up at her and smiled.

And with that, Evey left and waited outside of his room, closing the door behind her.

When V heard the door click shut, he slowly removed his cloak, gloves, vest and shirt. It was painful, but nothing he couldn't handle. The mental pain he suffered at Larkhill was far worse. He pushed that horrid memory away. "Never again will I have that same fate." It was a promise he had made to himself a long time ago, and promised it every day. V let down his promise only once, and that was when he needed to release Evey from her fear. He felt as if he needed to suffer along side her. He never wanted to see her in that position again, and that was another promise he made. "Maybe that's why I didn't die. I swore to protect her, and that's what I'll do as long as I live!"

V once again pushed the horrid images from his mind and began to work on his wounds. He cleaned the area with antiseptic and placed a gauze over each and surgical tape to hold it in place. In all, he counted fourteen bullet grazes! "Thank Heaven none penetrated." He went to his wardrobe and got a fresh shirt, vest and new gloves. "I knew an extra pair would come in handy," he hummed cheerfully as he placed the gloves over his scarred hands. He went slowly back to his bed, the day's events finally catching up with him. When he was back at the bed, he discarded the bloody cotton balls and placed the antiseptic, leftover tape and gauze back into the basket and placed them on the bedside table.

"Evey?" he called out, wondering if she'd stayed by the door this entire time.

Evey heard him call and entered immediately. "How was it?" she asked tentatively. "It didn't hurt too much I hope…"

"Like a butterfly's wing upon the spring air," he smiled, not letting on to the throbbing pain all over his body. However, he knew it'd be worse in the morning. "Thank you."

"I'm glad," she said walking over to the bed. Evey sat down and placed a gentle hand upon his cold, gloved one.

Even through the thick, leather glove he could feel Evey's love and warmth. He sighed softly.

"V, is something wrong?" She asked, leaning in.

"No, dear Evey, I'm just thinking." His voice was low and sweet.

"Of what?" she asked curiously, tightening her grip on his hand.

V loved it when Evey got like this. She was like a little child asking a thousand questions. "I was thinking that, if this is what was to become of my pain," he said motioning toward their hands, "I'd relive it a thousand times!"

"Oh, V," Evey cried out. She laid her body across his chest in a hug. She sat up a few moments later and looked at him with only love in her eyes.

"Goodnight, goodnight, my love," he said sweetly in that low, husky voice.

"Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight 'til it be 'morrow," (1) she added with a smile. Evey once again kissed the mask and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Evey…"

"Hum?" she asked, turning around.

"Next time, keep my dagger behind you: metal reflects light you know," he chuckled, a sly grin forming beneath the mask.

Evey blushed harshly and a small, shocked gasp escaped her throat. "R-right, okay." She giggled and turned and walked out.

"Her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light…" (2) V whispered as she walked out.

Evey leaned against the closed door and smiled. "So do you, my love."

Evey sighed and walked to her room for bed. She knew it wouldn't be a long sleep, however: it'd be daylight soon. But she learned, living with V, that any time of day was good for him. And she didn't care either, as long she was with him… here… in the Shadow Gallery… forever. With that thought, she slid under the covers of her own bed. It was cold, but remembering V's strong arms around her warmed her up. Oh, how she loved him so.

Sleep started to nip at her eyelids, but she kept fighting it off, wanting to remember the event that had just happened. She didn't want to wake up and find all of this a dream! But, it wasn't… V was alive… and with her. Eventually, she gave up the battle with sleep and let it wash over her.

-- VEV --

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1- "Goodnight, goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say goodnight 'til it is 'morrow." Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare.

2-"Her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light." Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare.