A/N: I am sorry once again for the lateness of this one, guys. I've been really distracted by a number of things lately, so yeah. But I was able to write this in only two nights! all it took was the right amount of inspiration, and my good ol' Titanic soundtrack XD. believe it or not, that music's REALLY good when it comes to writing romance. I was able to sit down to it last night, and get out two and a half pages in an hour! I was all surprised with myself XD.

In other stuff, I'm REALLY lovin' the reviews, guys! It's shocked me how many I'm getting for this story, and they really do help give me the determination to keep writing. Though right now, I'm having soe much fun with this, I couldn't give it up either way, but still. It helps to know that I'm not the only one having fun

Oh, and I got my first flame! XD it made me giggle shmiggle, really. I appreciate flames just as much as I do regular reviews. At least I know people are giving this story a try. Though really, if you're not a fan of this pairing in the first place, I would hope the summary would tell you that's what this story's about, and that would be enough to turn you away, you know? I know there's a bit of a battle raging between the Victor/Emily fans, and the Victor/Victoria fans, and wasn't surprised when I got that flame. Honstly, I don't really mind Victor/Victoria, it's cute it's its own little way. I just thought Victor/Emily had so much more to it, therefor I love it lots more.

OOOH, and to one of my reviewers who asked ('im sorry, I can't remember your username > ;;;;): the title of the story didin't come from the bible, no. Just thought it up in meh head. Though that verse does go quite well with this story.

ANYway, enough with my incoherent rambling, and on with the chapter. I hope it's a decent length for you guys!

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Discalimer: see chapter one.

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"Though We Walk Through the Valley"

Chapter Seven - "A Bit of Hesitation"

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"Emily..."

She turned her head all around to try and find the source of that all-too-familiar voice calling out to her. It had been the fifth time the voice called her name, and she still could not see whom it came from. All she could see was thick, white mist on every side of her.

"Who's there?" she shouted, her voice echoing emptily. "Who's there?"

It was quiet for a moment, and then,

"Emily, have you forgotten?"

She continued to look in all directions, frantically searching. She knew that voice from somewhere, she knew she did. And it was almost hurting her to try and remember.

"Forgotten what?" she replied back.

Or quite a while, the voice didn't answer. After a few minutes, however, the mist began to clear up. Slowly, the mist began to thin out, reveling a dark path, which she was standing on. She looked down the path as far as she could see, but the mist was still too thick for her to see anything else. She squinted, trying her best to make out something, anything that could at least give her a hint of who the voice was coming from. And at last, to her excitement, a figure began to appear, though it must've been a good twenty or thirty feet away.

"Forgotten your feelings for me? Or my feelings for you?"

Emily's eyes widened, her heart now thumping in her chest. She gasped, the pulsing of the organ nearly painful. She clasped her hands to her chest in shock. She was dead! Had been for years now, and just as long had her heart stopped beating. How was it possible…

She gasped again, as she looked down the path once more. "It's couldn't be…" she whispered. The dark figure was no longer clouded over by the mist. He stood straight up, long slim legs holding up his body. Arms of the same shape hung from his small shoulders. On the top of his head rested thick, black hair, one tuft of it sticking out stubbornly, and painfully familiar large eyes looked on at her softly.

Her breath caught in her throat. She could barely manage out his name, "Victor…"

He smiled at her.

At once, she remembered his inquiry. "No, Victor…" she wanted desperately to go closer to him, but something held her back. She tried to move, but invisible hands held her still. "Of course I haven't forgotten you. I could never…"

"…Or my feelings for you?"

Had she been hearing things, or had he actually said that? She stopped in what she was saying, looking down at the ground below her. What was going on?

"Emily."

Almost mechanically, she looked up at him.

"I love you."

Her eyes widened as far as they possibly could. Her mouth hung open, and as hard as she tried, nothing would sound from it. She felt completely helpless.

And then Victor turned around and began walking away. She tried to move, to reach out her hand to him, anything to keep him from leaving, but she still was not permitted to move. And now, she was not permitted to speak, for she tried yelling for him, but her voice refused to work.

Tears stung at her eyelids as Victor's form became smaller and smaller with each second. She mouthed his name, hoping beyond hope that he would somehow be able to hear her.

He continued walking, and not longer thereafter, he was out of her line of vision. Only then was she permitted to cry out, and fall to her knees.

Her heart stopped beating.

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"Victor!"

Emily flung herself upright in her bed, gasping for breath. Her eyes were wide with fear, and she clung to the bed sheets as if they were going to save her from something.

A few seconds passed, and she began to calm down. She realized it had just been a dream, but still… it was unlike any other she'd had of Victor. Maybe it meant something.

A movement from right beside her ceased all thoughts, however. She turned her head to see what it was, and nearly fainted at what she saw.

Victor was rested upon his knees on the floor next to the bed, his head cradled in his arms upon the mattress. His eyes were closed, and soft breathing emitted from his small mouth in his slumber.

Only moments later, and to Emily's horror, Victor's eyes fluttered open. Her shouting his name must've woken him, and she could only stare as he slowly sat up from his sleeping position. For quite a few seconds, Victor didn't even seem to notice Emily sitting up, staring at him, looking scared to death. When he went to yawn though, he finally noticed her, and his eyes went wide.

"Emily!" he gasped, nearly falling backwards.

"Victor!" Emily mirrored.

For a moment, the two just stared at one another in utter shock. They're expressions were perfect copies of each other's; eyes wide, mouths gaping. A couple times, both went to say something, but could find nothing suitable to say. Silence surrounded them for quite a bit of time.

Emily was finally able to find her senses and ask him, "What… what're you doing here?" What he had said to her in her dream floating back into her memory, and she tried her best to knock it away.

Victor suddenly became uneasy. Sure, he could tell her how he had ended up there… Elder Gutneckt had sent him down, but then there was the question of why. He began fiddling with his tie. "Well, I… uh, the Elder sent me down here because IU was, er… causing a bit of a racket up in the Land of the Living…" he trailed off, feeling a cold sweat break out on his forehead. He wiped it away with the back of his hand.

As expected, Emily still looked thoroughly confused. "But why…?" she began, but Victor interrupted her.

"Look, it's getting hot in here, don't you think?" he asked, chuckling nervously. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

Still looking completely surprised, it took her a moment, but she nodded, and climbed out of the bed. Victor stood from the floor, and nearly ran into her as she stood up from the bed. He now remembered how he was taller than her, now that he was this close to her once again. Inches apart, all he could do at that moment was stare, as could she.

"Victor, wh—,"

Victor shushed her, something he did before stopping himself. She was looking at him, as if desperate for something to happen, though unknowing of what. She still had no clue how all of this happened, or why it was all happening, but something just told her to leave questions for later. Right now…

With all of his will power, Victor forced himself to break the trance between them. He shook his head, and smiled at Emily innocently, as if nothing had happened.

"Now then," he said with forced casualty. "Shall we go?"

Her expression flashed with disappointment for a moment, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. She mimicked his smile, and nodded. Victor, closest to the door, then took her hand in his, and led her out of the room.

Elder Gutneckt had returned to his usual spot atop his podium, flipping through one of his old books, a crow perched on top of his wine goblet. As the two entered the room, the old skeleton averted his gaze to them.

"Elder Gutneckt," Emily spoke. "Victor and I are going out for a while." The Elder smiled kindly, and nodded.

"Oh, and thanks so much again, Elder Gutneckt. You really are too kind to me," she said to him warmly, smiling.

"Anything for you, my dear," he replied back kindly. He watched them turn and walk down the flight of stairs, and then went back to his book.

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For a while, silence rung between the two as they walked the streets of the Land of the Dead. Others passed them here and there, and quite often, one would slightly stare at Victor, obviously having remembered him from the last time he'd been down there. This made him feel a bit uneasy around Emily, but did his best to try and ignore the attention.

After a few tries, Victor was finally able to get his voice to work. "Emily, look, I…" She turned her head to look at him, and for some reason, this caused a hesitation in his sentence. For a moment, he almost forgot what he was saying.

"You see…" and Victor actually thought he was going to be able to say it, but suddenly, the street they were walking on seemed much more crowded than seconds before, and more eyes seemed to pry on them as they walked past. Immediately, he lost his nerve. So, holding her hand just a bit tighter, he began to walk a bit faster.

"Let's go somewhere more… er, secluded, shall we?" he said nervously, chuckling slightly as he finished. His eyebrows furrowed in embarrassment, and he felt his pale cheeks go red. Thankfully, he had turned his face away from her before this happened, though.

Emily looked on at him, confused, but then her expression melted into one of happiness. She smiled, gazing at the back of his head and never letting her eyes waver. She never thought… never even dared to wish that she would be able to see Victor again, and yet… there he was, right in front of her, holding her hand, and leading her down the street. She felt a tear sting at her eye, but blinked it away. She couldn't let him see her cry like that, not now.

A few minutes passed with nothing said between the two, before they came to a flight of stairs. Victor knew where they were. Smiling, he made his way up the stairs, and onto an all-too-familiar veranda way up above the rest of the town. A rusted rod-iron railing curved its way around the edge, and you could see for miles around. And a bench sat on its own against the wall right next to the railing.

Emily recognized the spot at once, and she didn't know if victor had brought them there intentionally, or had just come across it. Either way, it made her smile all the wider.

Victor let go of her hand almost abruptly, and sharply turned to face her. It probably would've caused her to jump if she hadn't been paying attention to him so intently. For a moment, Victor's eyes looked determined, as if there was some kind of battle he had to win, or mystery he needed to solve. But then his eyes quickly changed, filled with something Emily couldn't quite name. She saw just a tiny bit of everything… sadness, guilt, happiness, delight, desperation… all in those large eyes of his that now stared at her.

"Look, Emily, I…" he bit his lip nervously, feeling himself to tremble ever so slightly. His heart was pounding so fast, it was almost painful. He really had no clue why he was so afraid… it should've been such an easy thing to tell her, especially since she seemed to still feel the same way about him. But then again, that shouldn't be reason at all to tell her… she has a right to know, either way, and he knew if he didn't tell her at some point or another, it would haunt him for the rest of his life. So, taking a deep breath, Victor mentally braced himself, and was about to try and speak once again, before a pair of slim arms suddenly wrapped themselves around his back.

Looking down with wide eyes, Victor could only see the top of Emily's head pressed against his chest. If possible, his heart picked up even more speed, and he knew that she had to feel it. For the longest time, neither said a word or moved.

"I'm… sorry, Victor," Emily finally whispered out. He looked down at her questioningly, even though she couldn't see his face. "I know this is improper, but… I'm just so glad…" he voice cracked, sobs beginning to rack her tiny frame. "… That you're here."

After a few seconds of being surprised wore off, Victor went to say something, but stopped when Emily began again.

"Please, just…" she sniffled quietly. "Just… let me stay here, Victor. Just for a little while…"

He could think of nothing to say. What could he say? Nothing he thought of would've made her feel any better, and with his luck, would only make her feel worse. So, gently, he finally moved his arms from their stiff, shocked position. He wrapped one arm across her shoulders, bringing her just a tiny bit closer to him, and one hand on the back of her head.

Resting his cheek on the top of her head, he closed his eyes.