Chapter One: Of Introductions and Accidents

He was looking out the window of the small, pink colored room out onto the gray, depressing streets of Victorian England, wondering why anyone would feel the need to reside in such a dismal place, and what was holding him back there, when suddenly a tiny yawn startled his thoughts and made him smile. Then he knew what was holding him back, making him stay in this dreadful place after all. He reached down and brushed his hand over the fuzzy head of his daughter, who had just woken from her nap. She yawned again and squirmed underneath all her blankets. Quickly he picked her up and held her in his arms, loving the way her large blue eyes sparkled at him. And then, she did something unusual.

She smiled.

She astounded him; whenever the cruel yet common factors of life got him, she could always cheer him up with a smile. If anything she did not deserve to have a father like him, but a palace full of servants to tend to her every need…

She a very special little girl, he thought, to be born when she was. Her birthday was but three days after Christmas, the Lord's birthday, and not that long after he had married his wife. She was special. With big blue eyes and tiny black tuffs of hair and a smile like no other, there was no doubt she was not an attractive baby…and she already could speak a few words English, which meant she was clever. Yes, Victor Van Dort thought, his Lily was perfect.

But not was his luck, as the story goes on…

That day Victor was especially cheerful and offered to take his beautiful wife, Victoria, on a walk. He was all ready, with a coat over his torso and grin on his face. Victoria Van Dort, however, was not too keen on leaving a one-year-old alone in her home with just a few servants to watch her.

"I'll come some other time," she said to him, "when Lily is still sleeping. You can't always trust those people, you know, most of them are quite elderly."

"Alright," replied Victor, bending over and kissing his wife's cheek. "Good-bye. I love you."

And with that, he was off. First he strode over to market to watch the workers at their jobs, and then over to the bridge to thin a little. Visiting the bridge was always the hardest part for him. It amazed him that something that had happened two years ago could still bother him so much, but everytime he looked out onto the sky he found himself thinking of her. Emily. A dead woman whom he had set free and, of all things, married. And by total mistake, as well. But it had helped him fall even more in love with Victoria, and so even his misadventure with the infamous Corpse Bride was not without merit. Emily was a beautiful woman…dead, yes, but very beautiful and very kind. Sometimes he wondered if, when she had transformed, if had left for good or if she was still there, in the Land of Dead, waiting for somebody to love her.

It was then that Victor finally noticed he had been leaning over the edge of the bridge, his head absorbed with thoughts, and had gone just a little too far. Before he could stop himself his feet flew over his head and, without having the time or courage to scream, he found himself falling into the water below.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please review if you like it or have a bit of critism. :-) But please, no flames. They make it hard to sleep at night. (And I'm not kidding, either!)