Novus Orsa
Vetus Amor
--
November was not a warm month, and the fourth greeted her with a gust of cold wind from her open window.
Opening her eyes, Evey blinked sleepily at the clock sitting on her nightstand. It read two minutes past twelve. Her room was freezing and she'd tangled her blanket and sheets in her legs at the bottom of her bed.
Groggily, she rolled over and glared at the window. Open. The gauzy curtains were billowing gently in the breeze, and she could hear the light pattering off rain outside on the street. The glow of a streetlamp illuminated her room the slighted. Groaning slightly to herself, Evey pulled herself out of bed and ran her hands through her hair. She'd let it grow, and now it reached to her chin in gentle waves – which meant bed head.
Wearing only her nightgown, Evey shuffled over to the window, goosebumps rising on her skin. Pulling the two panes shut, she latched them firmly closed and yanked the curtain over to cover it. Then, somewhat exasperated, she began to make her way back to her bed when her ears perked up at the sound of a peculiar noise. Her heart nearly jumped into her throat, thinking it an intruder, yet this noise was a familiar one of gentle music notes and a soft, crooning voice, barely audible…
Her heart did skip a beat this time when she realized that music was playing. In her apartment. In the middle of the night. She wasn't sure whether her heart was thumping with excitement, now, or fear. Or disbelief.
Evey cautiously ventured forward, trying not to make a sound as she stepped. Shivers ran up her spine. Her head was spinning. She suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented as if the air resisted every step she took. She could hear the music more clearly as she left her room.
Well, you can cry me a river,
Cry me a river,
I cried a river over you…
Out of the room, down the short hallway, Evey followed the source of the noise to the living room with a sense of dread and barely contained excitement. She almost couldn't bring herself to look around the corner. It was as if her sanity dangled precariously from a thin thread, and anything jarring would surely snap it. The hairs on her neck had risen, and in the back of her mind, she had convinced herself.
Of what?
Evey was torn between possibilities – rational explanations. Perhaps the power had gone out and the jukebox had started up on its own. That was why her clock said it was just after twelve, yet she couldn't recall it blinking.
You drove me,
Nearly drove me,
Out of my head,
While you never shed a tear…
Slowly, Evey peeked around the corner, her heart pounding madly in the confines of her ribcage – pounding in her ears. He would be there, her mind told her. He would be there, standing in the shadows, leaning over the jukebox. Listening…waiting.
Remember,
I remember,
All that you said…
There was nothing but darkness permeated by the subtle glow of the jukebox. It stood alone, just as out of place as ever.
Told me love was too plebeian,
Told me you were through with me.
Evey couldn't comprehend the disbelief she felt. Her body froze up. Her rationale laughed at her foolishness - it wasn't possible, what she thought was real.
And now you say you love me,
Well just to prove you do,
Come on and cry me a river,
Cry me a river,
I cried a river over you…
It was possible, she told herself, listening to the song as it began to fade into the darkness. He had been there. Her open window was a testament to that. Her open window every night. Dare she dream? Dare she even think of the possibility? Was she, perhaps, still asleep? The beating of her heart told her not.
I cried a river over you…
But why? After so long? She struggled with the answers, but knew that it was the way V was. The fourth of November. A year ago, I watched you die in my arms and sent you off in that train…
Yet now he was back. And he wanted her to know that. By playing this song…their song.
I cried a river over you…
Evey chewed her lip, feeling let down, yet in a way she was…content? She didn't know why. Rightly, she should feel angry. Rightly, she should be enraged. But she wasn't. She couldn't possibly expect V to stay, could she? Maybe he thought it would be too much of a shock, and Evey couldn't disagree with that. What would she have done if she'd seen him standing there?
Perhaps she would have fainted, she thought with a rueful smile.
I cried a river over you…
Returning to her room, Evey pulled the curtain back on her window and unlocked it. Then, glancing once more at her clock to affirm the reality of this realisation, she slipped back between her cool sheets and rested her head on her pillows, smile intact.
If V was indeed her nightly visitor, she wasn't going to stop him.
Yet she wasn't going to let him come as go just as he pleased. Not this time.
--
A/N: I meant for this to be a one shot, so I've said it's completed. However, instead of answering questions like I set out to do, I think I've only created more! Perhaps I'll write a companion piece or something…
Tell me what you think!
(Note: Shameless plug here. Go to my livejournal! I have some VFV fanart hanging around there, and there's bound to be more.)
