Title: Between Love and Death
Fandom: Corpse Bride (2005)
Relationships: Victor Van Dort/Victoria Everglot, Victor Van Dort/Emily (Corpse Bride) (one-sided)
Characters: Victor Van Dort, Victoria Everglot, Emily (Corpse Bride), Elder Gutknecht (Corpse Bride)
Tags: Angst, Injury, Redemption, Corpses, Death, Alternate Universe
Summary: In order to marry Victor, Emily decided she would join the land of the living. All she needed to do was exchange places with Victor's fiancé, Victoria. Emily thought she had been prepared to do anything to stay by his side—until she met her rival face-to-face.
THIS STORY COMES WITH COVER ART. To see the image, please go to my AO3 (Archive of Our Own) account (under the same username, RainbowSheltie). I cross-posted the story.
BETA: Annabelle
Emily and Victor weren't married. Those vows he proclaimed so perfectly only worked with the living, until death parted the two lovers. She was a corpse.
If Emily wanted to marry Victor, Elder Gutknecht said Victor would have to join her in death, by drinking the wine of ages (poison). That was something she could not ask of him. Her eyes began watering.
"Why did I have to fall in love with one of the living?" she bemoaned.
The Elder's bones creaked as she heard him flipping through the pages of one of his books. Eventually, he caught her attention.
"There may be a way, but it's not pleasant," he said. "It would require the utmost determination and a cold heart."
Emily perked up. If there were a chance to be the bride she had always dreamed of, then she had to take it, no matter what had to be done.
She turned to him.
"What must I do?" Emily demanded.
When he explained the plan, Emily couldn't help her hesitation.
"But to do that, I—"
The Elder nodded.
"— would have to send them to the land of the dead," he finished for her. "Once they are close to death, it would simply be a matter of trading places."
"I…" she trailed off.
How much did she love Victor? What was she willing to sacrifice?
"You would be alive again," the Elder said, interrupting her thoughts. "This is a rare opportunity if you decided to go through with it."
Victor shouldn't have to die for her. Instead, she would join him in the land of the living. To see the moon at night, feel the cool air on her face, or take a walk in the sun…death could wait. She would have a second chance.
Besides, Victoria couldn't play the piano, or dance, or sing. She didn't deserve Victor.
Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked up at Elder Gutknecht, determined.
"I'll do it," she said. "If it's between me and Victoria, I want it to be me."
"Very well," the Elder acknowledged.
He walked down from his podium and handed her a small bottle containing a red potion, along with a dagger, and a handkerchief.
"Do you remember the instructions I gave you?" he asked her.
Emily nodded.
"I'll be using the Ukrainian haunting spell again. Do you still remember the word to get back?"
"Hopscotch," she repeated obediently.
"Very good, then. If you succeed, Victor should appear by your side when you wake up." He explained. "Now then, I wish you luck."
She nodded confidently. "And thank you for everything."
"No problem, Emily. Anything for you,' he said.
There was a small explosion and Emily disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Emily found herself in the same place as the last time: the forest in the dead of night, standing two feet deep in heavy snow. It didn't take long to find the subject of her search, Victoria Everglot.
This startled Emily. She had expected a long search, maybe a chase, and Victoria pleading and begging for her life.
She repeated the instructions: pour the red potion over the dagger, stab Victoria in the heart and cover her face with the handkerchief, which would summon Victor. If Elder Gutknecht was right, then Victoria should turn into a corpse while Emily became one of the living.
Victoria had been persistent in her search for Victor, Emily would give her that. The woman lay unconscious, her body pinned under a massive tree limb, which was too heavy one of the living to move on their own.
Emily could move it if she chose. She was a corpse, so it would be an easy feat.
The young lady must have been there for quite a time because most of Victoria's body was covered in almost three inches of snow. Victoria's head and right arm seemed to have been sheltered by the branches above her.
This would be easy. Emily quickly uncorked the potion and poured it carefully over the blade.
As Emily walked closer, the crunching of the snow awoke Victoria, who looked at her.
"You're that—that corpse bride," Victoria uttered.
Her voice was shaky, and it seemed to take great effort for Victoria to speak. Emily knelt next to Victoria, who saw the knife in her skeleton hand, and Victor's ring in plain sight.
"He is mine." Emily stated. "Victor will be my husband, not yours. You are only in my way."
Victoria choked out a laugh.
"This morning, I was going to get married." Victoria smiled sadly, tears running down her face. "I was so unsure at first, and then I met Victor. He was so sweet to me, and there was something about him that made me think… he's the one.
"I thought that if it was with Victor, then I've become the luckiest woman in the world. How happy we would have been…"
Emily clenched the dagger's handle tightly. She could not be swayed by Victoria's story, not now. Not when she was so close. Victoria continued, but her voice was broken by hiccups between sobs.
"He was to be my husband." Victoria cried. "He was going to be mine until death do us part."
The knife dropped from Emily's hand. She couldn't kill this woman, who had just passed out. Emily knew instinctively, as one of the dead, that Victoria was close to joining her.
"Maybe death really has parted us," Emily said, looking at her ring.
Emily wanted so badly to become a bride, but her dream was taken from her. Did she have the right to steal that dream from someone else? Victoria was still alive, and still had so much to live for.
Looking at the handkerchief, Emily placed it over Victoria's head. A few moments later, Victor appeared next to them in a puff of smoke.
"Emily? What happened to—" Victor began, but stopped short when he saw Victoria lying motionless on the ground. He pulled the cloth from her face. "No! Victoria, Victoria!"
Victor's cries echoed through the forest and the pain tore at Emily's soul.
At this moment, Emily knew she would never become a bride. An eternity would pass, and she would still be here, waiting, yearning for a man to stand by her side. It was not the future she wanted.
With a swift flick of her wrist, Emily threw the knife into a snowbank behind her.
Victor was trying futilely to lift the branch from Victoria.
"Stand back," Emily said, pushing Victor aside.
She cracked her knuckles, flexed her finger bones and positioned herself at the base of the tree. Emily hauled it off the ground with ease and threw it back into the forest.
"Emily…" Victor began, but Emily hushed him. She slipped off the ring and placed it into Victor's hands.
"I realize now that I'll never be a bride. To stay here, waiting for a husband that will never come, I can't do that." Emily turned to Victoria. "She still has a chance and if I can give her what was denied me, then I will have no more regrets."
Townsfolk shouting Victoria's name reached their ears. Emily and Victor turned to see a small group searching the woods, heading in their direction.
Emily turned back to Victor and placed her bouquet in his hands. Its flowers immediately bloomed into life, in shades of beautiful bright blues. Actually, it was supposed to be the bride who caught the flowers, but in this case, Emily figured an exception could be made.
"You take care of her," Emily commanded gently.
Victor nodded.
"But—"
She could see he had been about to argue, but her face was steady and her determination did not waver.
"I—I can't thank you enough," he said instead.
"You've set me free. That is all I need," Emily replied.
Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There was no more anxiety, or the pain of loneliness covering her tracks. She was ready to move on and a wave of relief swept over her. The wind called out to her, a soothing voice that swept her up and left only butterflies in her place, flying off into the night sky.
Emily never knew that the townspeople had found Victoria just in time. Victor and Victoria's wedding was set for the week following her recovery.
Amazingly, the bouquet that Emily had gifted Victor for his wedding did not wilt until the day after the wedding vows had been pledged.