Disclaimer: Though I would give my spleen to own V, sadly, I don't. Please don't tattle on me to the court.
"Good morning, everyone," Evey smiled cheerfully at the class. The students nodded and mumbled greetings as Evey set down a briefcase beside her desk. She spied Vincent in the front row and nodded hello. He returned it with his own.
"Now, today I will begin the lecture on the Divine Comedy. I trust you have all read the
book, so we will begin our discussion with a general and brief view of the entire work and then move to the first book, the Inferno, and the analysis of Dante's structure, themes, catharsis, style, and views."
Evey began to slowly pace around in the front of the room.
"Now, the Divine Comedy in its entirety is an allegory of the journey of the human spirit though life as well as a representation of Dante Alighieri's own journey (as seen with the main character Dante, who is the author himself). The journey begins with the soul straying from the path of God, as Dante describes being in the Dark Woods and is hindered by three beasts who prevent him from embarking on the path straight to heaven. The poet Virgil, who is a symbolic figure of human reason, must guide Dante along the path through hell and purgatory before he reaches heaven."
One graceful black clad hand arose from the line of students in the front row.
"You, of course, are familiar with the history of Alighieri's inspiration for one of the many characters of his work," Vincent said.
"Of course. He was inspired by the many corrupt political officials residing in Florence during the time of his banishment," Evey replied. "And he expressed his opinion of them by revealing their crimes and assigning them specific punishments in hell."\
"Not of those characters." Evey could have sworn she saw a particular twinkling in Vincent's eyes. " Of the purest character. Dante's express goal: Beatrice."
"Yes, his inspiration was drawn from Beatrice, hers was the symbol of heaven, and the spirit to guide Dante through Paradisio, but I haven't even discussed the elements of the Inferno yet." Evey eyed him questioningly, uncertain of where his conversation was leading.
"Oh, but the journey may be insignificant as compared to Dante's ultimate goal. He may have learned many things about sin and the corruption in the nine circles of hell, but he never would have learned them had it not been for Beatrice. She was his light, his salvation. Dante withstood almost certain death, but he loved his Beatrice enough to come back to her, so that he may find eternal peace within her arms."
There was a certain knowing smile on his face along with a glowing light within his eyes that set some warning bells off in Evey's head.
Was Vincent alluding to something?
He was deliberately turning her lecture into something almost to clue her into some mysterious issue…
Or was he just using her lecture to hit on her?
V use to do this to me too, Evey remembered happily for a moment. He would sometimes take his teachings and turn it into a puzzle to hint at the solution to a problem I was solving. Like the time he used Sherlock Holmes to hint where he hid me a present in the gallery.
She almost smiled at the memory, but wait…V?
Evey studied the handsome young man suspiciously who had never once lost his slightly smug expression. She thought back to the time he first introduced himself and summed it up to his presence now: his gentlemanly manners, his eloquence with words, even his physique; and although Vincent's voice was a notch higher than V's, dripping with Scottish descent, he certainly did have enough qualities similar to V…now more than ever.
Could it be….
No, it couldn't possibly be…but still.
"Er…thank you Mr. Verbeck. Would you mind discussing this further with me after class?"
Vincent's head inclined a fraction of an inch in reply.
"Thank you. Now…." Evey turned back to the quite confused class and resumed her lecture on Dante's unique style of terza rima, and his politically-inspired characters of the Inferno. This time, Vincent was silent, and didn't interrupt even once until the class was over. But Evey occasionally cast him a glance, curiously wondering about his infatuation with Beatrice.
Class ended at promptly eleven o'clock, and everyone gathered their notebooks and headed for the door. Vincent was the only one to stay behind. Evey was aware of him watching her file away papers in her desk while the classroom emptied, but she didn't glance up once until everyone was gone.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that there was some underlying meaning to your discussion Mr. Verbeck," she said when the last student shut the door. Vincent stood and placed his hands behind his back.
Even his stance is like…. Evey shook her head to wave off the thought.
He shrugged, feigning innocence. "And what sort of meaning would you presume?"
Evey sighed. "You were hitting on me."
"And what would lead you to believe that?" he asked with the faintest hint of a smug grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
She blinked then frowned. Did she really have to spell this out for him?
"Oh, don't you look so innocent, Mister Charm the Professor out of Her Pants," she remarked with her hands on her hips. She was starting to get annoyed. He was there when Charlotte delivered the remnants of the mask. He knew why she couldn't….
"'Beatrice was Dante's goal; Dante loved his Beatrice.' That's not really all too subtle of a hint."
He smiled, but said nothing.
Evey huffed an exasperated sigh and rubbed her temple. She didn't want to hurt his feelings; it was such a sweet way to woo a girl, and no doubt if V had said that to her, she'd melt into a puddle of emotion. But Vincent wasn't V. He was like V in many ways, but he never would be V…and she would end up hurting him in some way if she tried to pretend that he was.
"Look, I appreciate that you're trying to do, and your manner in which you're doing it is very romantic. But you know why I can't. You remind me a lot of Vuh…I mean…but it's not a good idea, okay?" She spun around and began sifting through papers on her desk, pretending that she was doing something important.
For a few moments, the only sound in the room was the shuffle of papers. Vincent was finally broke the silence.
"So you would deny your own happiness by clinging to your memories of the past?" It was a statement, not a question.
Evey whipped around, her eyes indignant and furious. How dare he make such an impertinent remark! He didn't even know her!
"You have absolutely no reason to dissect my life Mister Verbeck," she snapped, waving a fistful of papers at him. "And you have no idea what it's like to love someone with every fiber of your being only to have your heart ripped out and stomped on because a vendetta is more important. And just when you think that it's all over and you can finally be with him, he gets shot to bloody hell and bleeds to death. And you didn't even get to tell him that you loved him because you're such…a…god…damn…chicken."
By now, a few tears had shaken loose and were trickling down her cheeks. Her breathing had become labored at the finish of her sentence, and she paused to take a few deep breaths.
Control. She needed to regain control. V had once taught her the painful lesson of taking a firm grip on emotion, but all of the nostalgia and then the mask from the night of parliament…it had somehow weakened that grip until all she could feel was regret, pain, and a very sharp stab of loneliness.
She straightened up and smoothed out her black skirt and blouse. Vincent remained silent, but watched her with pained eyes.
She sniffed and swallowed back a lump that felt like the size of a boulder.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Verbeck. If this is all, I'll bid you good day." She turned away again and resumed her mindless task of rummaging though the items on her desk, hoping that he would take the hint and leave.
She was balancing a fat binder full of papers on her arm when a loud defeated sigh resounded behind her.
"I never meant to hurt you, Evey," a deep very English voice rumbled.
Evey froze. She knew that voice. It was the same deep and sensual voice that haunted her dreams, returning with the man it possessed. He would scoop her into his arms while she listened to the same wonderful voice repeat words of love and endearment a thousand times over…only to wake up to find that her subconscious had played a cruel trick on her.
Both of her arms went limp, and the binder fell to the ground with a loud schlop.
She slowly and disbelievingly turned around to face who she thought was Vincent Verbeck. He stood there with his hands hanging loosely at his sides, his posture a bit slumped and defeated, but his brilliant blue gaze remained firmly locked with hers.
"V?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, and her lips trembled at his name.
He nodded.
Slowly, almost as if she was approaching some wild animal, she stepped up to him until they were toe and toe. His eyes never wavered from hers.
"V?" Her voice was a bit louder as she tentatively reached out a trembling hand and touched his chest, the look in her wide eyes betrayed the feeling that he would disappear in front of her at any moment.
He nodded again, this time his own tears welling up in his eyes. "It's me, Evey."
It was all the confirmation she needed.
"V," she cried and flung herself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her all the while shushing and whispering to her as she sobbed into his chest.
V was barely aware of his own tears rolling down the smooth latex of his mask, he was so overjoyed with sensation of Evey's nearness. She clung to him as if her life depended on it, every curve molding to his own. Warm wetness soaked through the cloth of his shirt and snaked down his front as she continued to weep and shake against him. The scent of lavender tickled his nose while his cheek pressed against the side of her head.
And she's crying for me, V thought as joy flooded his being.
Suddenly, he felt a hard shove against his torso that was enough to propel him back a step. His eyes automatically snapped open to find Evey's flush and tear-stained face emerge in front of him as she stumbled away. In her eyes a whirlwind of emotion raged as she lifted an accusing finger at him.
"You bloody bastard, you were alive all along and you didn't even come to me," she ranted, her voice sharp. But on the last note, the anger disappeared from her eyes only to be replaced by a deep dark anguish.
"You didn't even come to me," she whispered in realization.
"Evey—" He reached out to her, but she stepped back shaking her head.
"Don't."
There was so much emotion in that word, so much sorrow in her eyes, V felt his heart crumple. He had made a horrible mistake. He should never have left her. Now, was there no hope of a future, or would Evey give him another chance?
His arms fell back to his sides. How on earth was he going to explain this?
"I apologize, Evey. I did not return to you because you don't belong with me in the shadows," he said with a heavy sigh. Evey didn't move a muscle and remained silent, so V pressed on. "I wanted you to break free of the darkness, break free of me. You belong in the light of this world you helped to create.
I only now see the error in my ways. I meant what I said the night of the fifth, but I never truly knew if you returned the same feeling. And I didn't know how much pain my alleged death caused you…I saw that man Chris a few times…and I thought…I thought you were happy and I had been replaced…and I…and you…" His shoulders slumped dejectedly and he averted his eyes as he realized he had failed the rest of his explanation.
There was silence for a few moments.
"You deliberately stayed away because you thought I needed a new life." She stepped towards him. V looked up hopefully.
"I was only thinking in your best interests, Evey."
"You hurt me and caused me grief because you thought that I belong in light instead of shadow." She continued to step towards him.
"I never meant to cause you any grief, Evey. But no matter what selfish part of me wanted to whisk you back away with me, I left you to stand on your own feet. To live the life you were born to live."
She stepped into the circle of his arms and rested her head against his chest.
"You love me."
V held her tightly against him and whispered softly into her hair, "Yes, Evey, I love you."
Author's notes: Thank you all for reviewing. I know this chapter is kind of short, but I decided to split it up into two. In the next chapter, I'm going to delve into some of the juicy stuff, so stick with me. I'm working hard to get this story routinely updated.