They remained in silence behind an old oak. V´s mhis surrounded them the first moment they´d arrived and placed the illusion upon that part of the graveyard. They weren´t touching, merely standing one behind another to provide a support. V remembered Butch´s haunted look very well back in the mansion. The man needed his space. So he let him stare at his father´s grave and take it all in.

A dark figure was setting flowers on the fresh digged clay. There will be a green grass very soon. It was Butch´s mother not aware of their presence. She wasn´t crying, but neither was Butch and there was no trace of his other siblings. Perhaps the old man wasn´t popular among them either. That would suit Butch´s description of him.

"You know, it´s not like we were any close," Butch finally started to talk still looking at the moving figure in front of him. "It was even worse after my sister…" There was a sharp end to the sentence indicating that cop wasn´t about to finish it. It was the old scar never healing properly. "He kept his distance as my siblings did, making me believe I was truly a monster."

V gritted his teeth, but didn´t speak up. He knew that cop no more saw himself as a disappointment, not worthy of other´s respect and love. This was just a simple statement of how things were before.

"I don´t really know why I´m feeling this way. It´s irrational. It´s just that… I had never a chance to do something… No, no. I had it. But now it is gone. Always thinking there was a time to deal with it later." He gazed up to the sky, exhaling slowly the puff of warm air into the night. "I guess the time really passes differently out here and I chose to forget about it."

"Do you regret it? Leaving them?" V found himself asking, cursing in his thoughts.

Butch turned on his heels so quickly he almost crashed right into V´s face.
"If I regret having a loving family, a big house, six-pack on my stomach and you in my bed? I don´t think so. No." There was a hint of a smile playing on his lips.
"Good."
"Surprised I don´t miss any part of my old life? I practically do the same job, right?"
"Life isn´t just about the job," how hypocritically that sounded from him, "it´s also about this. It´s not the last time you are going to experience loss, Butch. You´ll see your siblings die and their children and the children of their children…"
"Yeah, I get it."
"But you won´t have any children while you stay with me." Damn it. He wasn´t supposed to talk about this right now and here.
"That´s what you´re worried about?"
V searched for cop´s eyes in the dark.
"I´m hardly a father material, V. And if I would have really stayed here with them? I would have been dead by now. Bullet in the head or alcohol poisoning. No happy family life for me."

Bullet in the head.

V fought away the image from his vision. He only wanted cop to be okey, to be balanced, so that scene would never come true. After a while he took a deep breath and let the mhis vanish into the thin air. Butch noticed immediately.
"What are you doing, V?" he asked alarmed, turning in the way of his father´s grave and freezing.

There she stood, looking straight at him with wet, confused eyes. His mother. His chance to do things right. To end things right – he realized. That was what Vishous offered. He swallowed the bump in his throat expecting his mother to run away screaming at any moment.

It was a mistake to think so.

"Butch?" a silent, yet high pitched voice asked, "is that really you?"
Ha gave Vishous a quick look and then made a careful step forward towards the light of the nearby street lamp.
"It´s me, mom."
"But how?" she cried out. One heartbeat later he was in her arms receiving the warmest and strongest embrace he´d ever experienced from her.
"We thought you were dead. Oh, my god." She took his face in her hands and looked him over. "You look so good, my son. So good. So healthy."

Taking in her reaction he´d had to be in a far worse shape back then than he originally thought.

"So strong, my boy. Like your father. Did you come home?"
She looked so happy to see him that it made him truly smile at her. That was how home should have felt like when he was a child. But that was in the past. He wouldn´t lie to her now.
"No, mom." Glancing back at Vishous he continued: "I´m here only for dad. Only tonight."
Her smile wavered, but didn´t disappear as she hugged him once more.

"I´m okey, mom. I have everything I need. I´m happy." He took her by her shoulders, gently.
"We won´t see each other again. I came to say goodbye."

Oh, how he dreamt to say those words instead of just vanishing from their world. And now it filled him with peace.
"Please say hi to everyone from me."
"Are you safe, Butch? Really safe?" The pain and regret in her eyes was tearing him apart. He didn´t remember her this way. He grabbed Vishous by his forearm and pulled him closer.
"This is Vishous, mom. We are together. He keeps me safe." No more lies.

He knew that she couldn´t agree, not until her beloved God would somehow explain that it was okey to be with whoever you want. Whoever that makes you a better person. But she tried. It was enough for him.
"Good. Then all is how it should be."

Surprised by her acceptance Butch felt like a tone of rock have just fallen from his chest. He felt whole. Like he´s just closed and sealed one chapter of his life to start fully enjoy the new one. He gazed one last time at his father´s grave enlighten by numerous candles. It was like a beacon gathering lost souls. He did something for his son after all and for that Butch won´t hate him forever. Maybe for some time. But not forever.

OOO

They arrived at the mansion few hours later, both of them feeling the need to get on their patrol as soon as possible. Vishous couldn´t stop thinking about how well the fate played it today. They were lucky that Butch could meet his mother in private. Was it a coincidence that V read the message late enough to miss the funeral? In the car cop had admitted that he felt very good to do this even despite it might cause them troubles with the king. He´d even thanked V for "pushing" him out of the fog – quite literally.

They decided to get something to eat first. Pit´s fridge was as empty as it could be. Thank you very much, Spot. Even Fritz wasn´t prepared to fill it this soon. He couldn´t really know that their small evil dog had such a huge appetite.

They were on the way to the common kitchen, cop talking about his new gun, when they heard a panicked voice calling for help. V rushed to the stairs as he recognized it immediately. They discovered Layla there, breathing hard with the hand on her chest and flushed in her cheeks from running.
"What happened?"

There was probably no one else in the mansion at the moment, at least not close enough to hear her shouting. Wrath´s office was too far, Fritz and stuff probably preparing a meal and brothers working in the streets.
He and Butch were the only one granted a permission to miss a patrol. Only them and… Lethre, who had a strict order to stay behind and feed as he was almost so stubborn and careless as him and cop. He´d suffered some minor injuries last time they were fighting and without blood his body wasn´t healing properly.

That had to be it. Something wrong with Lethre. Damn it, if he hurt that girl in any way.

He scanned Layla up and down and growled when he realized that her dress and hair were too messy for his liking.
"Tell us what happened. We will protect you." Please, let it not be so… They trusted the man maybe too much. How could they leave him alone with chosen without a supervision?
Layla shook her head, eyes darting from Butch to him.
"No, you misunderstood. I know what you think. He didn´t hurt me. He fed and then he showed a passion for me."
"That sonofabitch," Butch cursed already moving towards the stairs. "I´ll kill him."

Layla quickly grabbed his hand.
"I wanted it. He desired me and I desired him back." Butch let his temper drop a little. Yes, that could be true. Lethre sometimes reminded him of Rhage with his face and built and everything, the only difference was while Hollywood realized his obvious attraction, the man did not.

Layla frowned while explaining further. "There was something wrong with him afterwards. He called me by some other name and said strange things. And after it all ended he suddenly looked scared, confused, asking who I was and what happened…" She looked up at Butch. "I don´t think it was me who he saw that entire time." She sounded almost sad. "He asked me to leave so I did, but I´m afraid. He looked so…"

That was quite enough information for now. They separated. Butch took Layla gently by her hand and led her away to calm her down and ask more later. V went straight for Lethre´s room. He tried to remember Marhen´s words while walking. Scribe Virgin. She had taken something from the man, that was what Marhen had said. Rhage being drunk had mentioned that Lethre often dreamt about some woman. Was it the case? Was it her haunting him now?"

He stepped into the room, finding it empty. He reached a bathroom next. Just as he expected, Lethre was there sitting on the floor with his back to the bathtub and with nasty bleeding cuts on his right hand. He gazed at Vishous but then dropped his stare not saying a single word.
V walked around the broken glass and got first-aid on his way there. Nowadays it was placed in every room under the sink.

"Let me see that."
Lethre didn´t fight him on that matter. He let V clean the wound without a hiss and wrap it into few layers of a bandage.
"So, you want to talk? Layla was worried about you."
"Tell her I´m sorry. I won´t approach her again."
"She´s alright. No reason for that," V said sitting down as well. He intended to draw something from the man.
"Look, either you tell me what´s wrong and we may find a solution together or this keeps happening. Trust me." His visions. His headaches. They didn´t go away, but experiencing it all with cop helped him a lot. Even if there was no easy "solution" for him.

Lethre maybe wasn´t one to get bullied into talks he didn´t want to have, but he was smart. Smart enough to recognize what V had realized himself.
"I had a woman… once," he started after all proving V´s assumptions right. "But I can´t remember her properly, our time together. So I see her in my dreams, but I can hardly remember them later. Now I can see her even when I´m not sleeping." He wiped his eyes with resignation. "I think I´m going crazy."

They were both quiet, Vishous absorbing what was said.
"Did you love her?"
"Yes, I still do." V saw no lie in his eyes, they were like a surface of the ocean. The man simply knew that, even when he didn´t understand it. It was a raw emotion, Vishous recognized.
"Would remembering her help?"
Lethre shook his head. "I don´t really know. It may push me over the edge or pull me back. But it would be something."
V smiled absently after a while. "Then I have an idea." He had his attention. "It won´t be easy and there will be some law breaking involved."
Lethre gave him a serious look. "Nothing new then."

Greeting to all who are still reading and especially to Twin! :) Thank you for being still here and waiting for my return. This chapter is well deserved. Please enjoy. I´m deeply sorry about your dad. If you still want to talk outside of this review section, please send me your e-mail address. :)