Elena ran into the last resort that her mind
could think of in a last ditch effort to find him.
The door of the 'The Drunkard' slammed after her
as she stood panting in the entrance.
She's been at a
dozen places looking for her little renegade.
She heard how depressed he could get and how
women hurt him before. She just hoped with all her
heart that he didn't do anything to himself.
"Excuse me," She walked towards the barman,
shaking her coat to dry it,
"Have you seen a tall, dark, moody looking
man-?"
"Ya mean, like, Vincent Valentine? Like, Claw
for a hand, red eyes, like?"
Kither Waterknob, the bartender, pointed to a
table in one of the darker corners of the bar.
She followed that extended finger and hardly saw
him, sitting in a lonely table in the dimness.
She didn't hurry now. She found him.
She walked among the few people who sat there.
They ignored her, obviously.
All her attention was on that man, who looked so
broken, so lonely, so hurt, so desperate. All those
with just holding an half empty glass in his claw arm and leaning his head on
his other. His hair fell over his shoulder, hiding most of his face. But as
Elena knew she would find his face, it was emotionless
"Vincent…?" She whispered when she stood by his
table.
His head slipped from his hand, and he looked up
at her. Elena noticed that his eyes were unfocused.
His face expressed nothing and he said nothing.
He stared at her for a short moment, and then returned to his glass. His
bandanna lay on the table in front of him.
"Wha' are you doin' here?" He asked quietly, his
Wutaien accent surfacing on a sea of alcohol.
"May I sit?" she indicated the free seat across
from him.
He did not reply, so she sat.
"Are you okey?" she asked with concern, leaning
to him and placing her arm on his claw. He withdrew it
quickly to his lap.
He remained in stiff silence. He didn't look at
her, his unsteady glare was only on the Martini.
"Are you drunk?"
After a paused for a short self-examination he
replied,
"Yup."
They said nothing. Elena didn't know what to
say, and Vincent didn't want to say anything, until he asked,
" Uh's James?"
Elena raised her brows in surprise and then
sighed.
"He's no one." She said.
Vincent played with the glass.
"He's just this guy I met one day at the
supermarket." She went on.
Anything but the uneasy silence. "He is nothing
to me. He's a pompous rich kid and my parents know his
parents. He decided that I'm in love with him and he bothers me ever since. I
gave him my parents address so Reno and Rude won't kill
him."
Again the horrible silence fell between
them.
"I don' deserve you." He spoke quietly, she
looked at him in surprise, "I have nothin'."
"I don't need anything..." She replied, confused
by his tone and his words.
After another awkward pause he
sighed,
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" he mumbled, his eyes
still fixed on the empty glass, watching the light refract
on it in so many ways.
"For what?" She tried to meet his eye, but to no
avail.
"For fallin' in love with you." He replied with
a sigh.
At first she drew back in amazement, but then
settled back in her seat with a little, maybe even a tad sad, smile.
"You fell in love with me?"
"Shhh…" He leaned forward and drunkenly placed
his finger on her lips.
He felt very cold to her. "Shhh… Don' tell
Elena." He said.
Her smile widened, she moved his finger but kept
a hold of his cold hand.
"Why not?"
He drew back and left her grip, a deep frown
creasing between his brows,
"She 'ates me."
"No she doesn't."
"Oh, yes, she does." He nodded his head a bit
too strong, "She 'ates me".
"I'm a clawed, deformed freak… I don' deserve
'appiness… love…" He was talking more to himself then to her.
His pain was deeper then she thought, deeper
then what she was told or what he showed. She understood now what her friendship
meant to him; by being with her he was willingly making himself vulnerable
again.
And they hurt him, her family. No, she is to
blame as well, she should have prepared her parents, she shouldn't have been
afraid to show her affection in front of her family and she shouldn't of
underestimated his hearing.
She was sure that he over heard some of her
parent's harsh (to say the least) words. They said dreadful things, and they
said them as if she thought the same when she didn't.
She looked to her lap a long moment, the only
sounds were the other few conversations of people in the bar. The dark man in
front of her said nothing. Elena searched her feelings, but she didn't have to
search very deep to find what she needed to say.
"I love you too." She quietly said, to
herself.
He raised his head and looked at her,
uncertainty in his eyes.
"Wha?"
She met his eye with a defiant grin.
"I love you." Was all she said.
Something in his eyes changed.
It was fear, his eyes suddenly filled with fear.
The drunken haze disappeared and was replaced with unmistakable dread. He looked
at his surrounding confusingly, then at Elena. As if he had just woken up and
realized what he had revealed. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it
before uttering a word.
Then, without further notice, he got up
abruptly, tripping the chair as he reached the back door
and left in a hurry.
Elena wondered but a moment on his intentions as
he left. She looked at her lap again. He was confused, he
needed time to think.
Yes, she loved him. Because he was like a lost
child that had nothing- and that when he thought he had
something, it was ripped away. He didn't want to hurt
anymore, that's all he ever wanted. She should let him go, and if and when he feels ready, he'll come back.
Maybe.
Hopefully.
A thunder rattled the windows of the bar, and
she suddenly remembered the storm outside. Discarding her
coat, she got up and rushed after him, mumbling his name
with a sigh.
"Wait!" she cried out to him, shouting to
overcome the roar of the rain on the vast, empty parking
lot they were in.
He didn't stop. He kept walking towards nothing,
there were only grass hills in the direction he was
heading, maybe even monsters.
"Wait!!" She cried again, but this time she was
close enough to grab his arm. He
turned to her and to her surprise she found anger in his eyes.
"What do you want from me?!" He barked
desperately, "I have nothing to give you!"
"I don't need anything!" she retorted, pulling
his arm so he'd somehow listen to her.
The rain had already gotten them both drenched.
His bandanna-less hair clung to his face in thick strands
and he breathed heavily. His tone softened,
"I have no home…" He said.
"We can rent something. Even in Rocket town, if
you want to be close to your friends."
"I have no occupation."
"You have hobbies."
"I have no family."
"That doesn't matter."
He looked at the sky, and then at his feet, then
at the sky again, this time longer and letting the drops of
rain fall upon his face. He closed his eyes for a moment,
then lowered his face and opened his eyes at Elena,
"I am a monster." He explained, showing her his
left arm and indicating his eyes,
anything to let her somehow know who he is... to make her understand now that he wasn't what she thought, that he was bad, evil, a
monster.
Elena contorted her little nose.
"I don't think so."
"I am." He assured her. She saw no monster in
his eyes, only pain and the beauty of
his heart. She took his claw in her hand and slipped her gentle fingers between his sharp metal ones.
"I… I don't care." If convincing him he wasn't a
monster didn't help right now, she
would try another strategy.
"You don't care?" he repeated in slight
disbelief.
She nodded,
"No." Then she added, holding both of his
shoulders so he'd fully turn
to her, "You see, Vincent
Valentine, all I want or need right now- is you."
He looked into her eyes a long moment, letting
the drops of rain fall over them both. He looked into her
eyes, looking for a lie, looking for something ,anything, but all he found was care, concern and hope… and -something else. Something he knew but forgot, something
he saw in another pair of eyes behind golden rimmed
spectacles.
Had he forgotten what it was? No. It was still
in his heart, simply dormant.
A feeling long forgotten, an emotion
unmistakable.
He then stepped half a step closer to
her.
He gently moved some wet strands out of her
face. She smiled up at him.
placing both of his hands on her cheeks, and
their lips met.
Her hands wrapped around his neck
lovingly.
Out there, in the rain, in the deserted parking
lot, both poring wet.
They kissed.
