Chapter 8: Corpse Bride
"E-Emily!" Victor exclaimed in shock. "It is you!"
"Victor!" she cried happily, running forward to meet him.
The two embraced each other in a powerful hug, spinning around and revelling in the joy of seeing each other again. Although she no longer wore a veil, she was exactly as he remembered her – beautiful and with a kind face, and still dressed faithfully in her mother's tattered wedding dress.
"I-I thought I'd never see you again," Victor said. "I… I was afraid of that." Saying the words out loud made him realise how genuine they were, although it came as no surprise, considering how much Emily meant to him.
"I'm so happy to see you," she replied. Her tone suddenly quietened. "Well, not happy that you're… here, but… you know…"
The mood became sombre, and the two released each other. The young woman slowly made her way over to and sat down on a familiar worn wooden bench, patting the seat beside her gently. Victor obliged and sat down. The pair sat in an uncomfortable silence for a minute, before he spoke up.
"Emily, what are you doing here? I-I thought I had… set you free? I thought you had moved on."
She remained quiet, gazing forlornly across the jagged rooftops into the distance.
"Please," the newly-dead man pressed. "It's… important to me." He left it unsaid that the fact that he had been able to help her move on was one of the only reasons he had been able to leave her like he did.
The silence stretched on, before Emily finally took a deep breath and looked at him. "Well… when I was waiting there at the door of the chapel on our wedding night, I saw how happy you and Victoria made each other. And I made peace with the fact that, although I loved you, you were not mine."
Victor felt a twinge of guilt at her words. In the short time he had known her, she had shown herself to be a passionate, caring and selfless young woman, in both life and death.
"I waited at the chapel entrance," Emily continued, unaware of his warring thoughts. "And then… it happened." Seeing her compatriot's puzzled expression, she elaborated. "A wave of joy came over me. My spirit was finally freed from the burden that kept me trapped me in the Land of the Dead."
"So what happened?"
The wraithlike woman smiled lightly. "As I was leaving this world forever, my former life – and afterlife – flashed before my eyes." She pressed a hand to her mouth giggled daintily, and then her smile faded. "I… I also saw my father, back before I… died."
Victor felt her body stiffen and took her non-skeletal hand into her own, squeezing it reassuringly.
She smiled at the kind gesture and continued. "I realised that my purpose here wasn't finished after all, not yet. That's when I decided to stay here and wait for him… for when the time came. It's the least I could do after all that I've put him through – to make sure that the first face he sees in the Land of the Dead is a familiar one. And then…"
"Escort him across," he replied in understanding, to which Emily nodded. "You are a good daughter."
She bit her lip and looked down at his words. She remembered the huge argument she and her father had when he forbade her from getting married, and all the terrible things that she said. "If you say so..."
Another awkward silence fell between them, each remembering how much they used to enjoy the other's company.
It was Emily who addressed the elephant in the room. "How is Victoria? You two got married, right?"
"Uh, y-yes, we did," Victor stammered, caught off-guard by the question. "We've been married for a year. And she is pregnant."
"Oh, Victor, that is wonderful news!" the corpse bride chirped, her tone brightening. "How long until she is due?"
"About seven months." The young man smiled at the woman sitting beside him. "You know, if it was a girl, we had decided to name her after you. After everything you did for us, Victoria and I both made promises that you would never be forgotten."
Emily did not say anything, but the look in her eyes gave away how touched she was.
However, speaking of his wife's pregnancy rudely reminded Victor of the predicament he was in, and his mood took a decisive downturn, sorrow welling up inside him once again. "Although now I might not see either of them again."
"I see," Emily murmured beside him. "They are still alive." The pair gazed out across the underworld metropolis for a while, before she shifted uncomfortably. "If you don't mind my asking... how did you die?"
"There was a plague," he replied quietly. "It took my mother first."
"I'm so sorry," she said softly, taking his hand in her own again, her grasp soft and gentle.
The young man smiled sadly, and Emily pulled his head onto her shoulder in a show of morale support. They sat like that on the bench for a while, looking out across the dead town and taking comfort in each other's company, no words being said. It was apparent how much they had missed each other, and how happy they were to see one another again.
Victor considered telling her about the Valley of Death, but ultimately decided against it. For all he knew, the story could be a load of hogwash, and he did not want to get his hopes up too much.
A loud POP drew his attention, and he turned his head toward the dead bride. To his shock, one of her eyeballs had fallen out, and a familiar ugly green maggot poked his head out of the empty eye-socket.
"Well, well, isn't this romantic?" he said with a cheeky grin.
Victor immediately lifted his head off of Emily's shoulder and the two sprang apart, their eyes widening when they realised how it must have looked.
"It-It wasn't like that – " he blabbed.
For her part, Emily simply plucked the maggot from her eye-socket and flung him away. "Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong!" she scolded after him, before bending over to retrieve her dropped eyeball.
"Is he... going to be alright?" Victor asked, looking in the direction where the maggot had flown out of sight.
"Oh, sure, he'll be fine," she replied nonchalantly. "A little too fine. He'll find a way back into my head at some point later."
That said, they returned their gazes to one another, their nervous expressions perfect mirrors of the other. A couple of times, both went to say something, but could not find anything suitable to say. Just as the silence was becoming unbearable, Victor tugged on his collar and twisted his cravat nervously.
"Uh, sh-shall we go for a walk?" he said as he stood up, desperate to break the dense air between them. "B-Bonjangles was exp-pecting me back at the bar..."
Emily's expression faltered for a moment, but then she smiled and took his proffered hand and climbed to her feet. He immediately withdrew his hand and started toward the stairs, but the ghost of his touch lingered on her hand, and she flexed her skeletal fingers. As much as she fondly remembered her 'marriage' to the man, Victor was married for real now. Although death had parted him from his new bride, they would be reunited eventually.
She could never have him.
A pained expression came across Emily's face at this latest train of thought, but she shook the feeling away and followed Victor down the stairs. She had let him go – to be with Victoria – and she accepted that. As much as she loved him, his heart belonged to another.
That was how it would always be.
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I am very sorry for taking so long to update, and for the relatively short chapter. Writer's block is a pain, huh? But I'm personally quite proud of myself – I have updated all 5 stories I'm working on in the last couple of months.
A reviewer asked about Death, who was mentioned in this story. To answer your question, he is one of the Four Horsemen (they are also mentioned in 'Chapter 4: The Killing Frost').
Feel free to leave a comment, flame or whatever you wish. Thank you for your time and see you next chapter!
