Chapter 3
Learning
Victoria stood with her hands on her hips, watching as the two adults scrambled to their feet, arranging their clothing the best as they could.
" Victoria, " Evey was the first to speak. " I thought you were gone for the night."
" Really?" She replied watching the man, who now had her back to her. Victoria looked at her mother, then back to the man, then back at her mother. " You're not going to introduce us, Mother?"
Evey looked at V, a pleading look on her face.
" I'll handle it." He kissed her cheek lightly, then turned to his daughter. " Hello, Victoria." He smiled at her. " It's good to see you again."
Victoria knew that voice. " Mr King?" She gasped, " No, this can't be..."
" Victoria, please..." Evey began.
" Mother, how could you!" Victoria's eyes flashed with anger. " How could you do this on the anniversary of his death?"
" Victoria, it's not want you think, please let me explain..." Evey begged.
"No, I don't want to hear it, " She began to cry softly, " Not now...excuse me..." She hurried down the hallway toward her room.
"You handled that well..." Evey shot at V. " Now, our daughter hates me because she thinks. I'm defiling her father's memory--but in truth, I'm not, because the man I was making out with is her father, but she doesn't know that...Oh bloody hell!" Evey exclaimed as V started re-dressing in his cloak and knives, finally standing before her once more as his alter-ego.
" Leaving, so soon?" Evey asked sarcastically.
" No, Evey, I'm not leaving, I'm home to stay." He answered replacing the wig and mask. " I'm going to introduce Victoria to her father." He replied, a glint in his eye under the mask.
Evey started to get just a touch worried. " V, don't you scare her..."
V laughed softly, smiling under the mask. " My dear, if anyone is going to get scared, it will most likely be me." He placed his hat on his head, and began down the hallway.
Victoria cried into her pillow, she could not believe what she had seen. Even though she had never met her father, she loved him--from the stories her mother told her, to the tales of her father's vendetta that her Uncle Eric told her--she loved him, and now her mother had done the unspeakable.
" Victoria." A voice came from the shadows of her room.
She looked up, a shadow was very close to her bed. She could make the outline of a tall figure in a hat, something was draped around his shoulder--it looked like a cape of some sort. " Who are you?" She gasped.
A gloved hand grabbed her arm and pulled her upright in the bed, while the other hand reached for the lamp, light filling the room.
Victoria stared at the imposing figure before her, the Guy Fawkes mask never leaving her eyes. " Why are you dressed as V, Mr. King?" She paused, watching the figure, " Why are you dressed as my father?"
" Because I am your father, Victoria, I am V." He answered, his voice low, firm. " Your mother was trying to tell you before you interrupted her..." He paused, " which was very rude."
Victoria glared at him, her eyes defying him. " Prove it!" She challenged.
V backed away from the bed, threw his cape over his shoulders, and took two knives from his holster, twirling them in his hands, then letting them fly into the side of the nearby amoire. " Convinced?" He asked crossing his hands in front of himself.
Victoria stared unbelieving. Was this man really her father?
The door flew open, and Evey stood in the doorway, looking at the knives still vibrating in the wood.
Evey looked at him. " I told you not to scare her, V." She took Victoria in her arms.
Victoria looked up at her mother, a smile stretching from ear to ear. " He didn't scare me Mother."
Then turning to where V stood, " He was awesome!"
Victoria scrambled out of bed and threw her arms around his waist. " You're really him, you're really my father?" She watched as V dropped to his knees, her eyes never leaving that famous face.
He wrapped her tightly in his arms, careful not to let her skin be nicked by the sharp blades. " Yes, Victoria, I am really."
" But Mother has always told me that you died the night she blew up Parliament..."
" That is something that you no need longer worry about-- I am here now, and I'm staying." V assured her.
Evey wiped a tear from her eye as she watched them, V holding Victoria in his arms, her head laying on his chest. She walked over to the amoire, and tried to pull the knives out. After a few tries, she crossed her arms, looked at V and nodded her head in the direction of the knives. He walked over pulling them both out without a moment's hesitation, smiled at Evey and reholstered them. . " Would you like to go to the roof and watch the fireworks?"
Evey smiled back and shook her head, " I've had enough fireworks for tonight. You two go head."
Hand in hand, V and Victoria headed for the lift as Evey watched from the hallway. She'd have fireworks of her own later tonight. She smiled, and headed for the master bedroom.
The lift screeched to a rough halt on the roof, and V opened the gate, He took Victoria's hand in his gloved one, and walked her over to the edge of the building, and peered into the streets below--there must have been hundreds of people lining the streets as the first fireworks display shot off.
V turned to Victoria. " Would you mind if I removed this?" He pointed to the mask.
She shook her head, and watched as the mask slipped into his hands. She understood now why her mother had never given up hope, or the love she felt for him, after all, he was a very handsome!
" Ah, yes...much better." He smiled at her as he lifted her to the top of the ledge to sit, his arm firmly around her waist. " You look like your mother."
" Mother says I have your temperament, " She paused, then added, " and your blue eyes."
V chuckled softly. " Just what we need--a female V in the world."
Victoria sat looking at him
" Is there something wrong?"
" This afternoon, you had a beard--what happened to it?" Victoria asked, then reached out with her small fingers and touched one of the scars that still covered his face. " What happed to your face-- did you have an accident?"
V sighed a deep breath. He could explain the beard as part of the disguise he used , but he wasn't ready to explain about the scars-- at least not right now. " The beard is part of a disguise I use until the surgery is finished." He paused, then continued, " I will explain the fire to you when you get older."
" Father, " Victoria began, looking at him." Why didn't you come to see us before now?"
V's breath caught in his chest. He carefully picked his words. " Because I wanted your mother to have a life in this world, " he paused, watching the sky, then looked at his daughter, " not the dark world I lived in."
" You didn't know about me, then?" Victoria asked watching him.
" Not until today." He smiled at her, his daughter--his daughter! " When I was in the square today, and saw your mother, I wanted to run and hide--watching, from the shadows as I had done the last thirty years of my life. But, suddenly, I gathered my courage, and walked over. When your mother introduced herself and you as her daughter, I knew instantly. I stood there, praying, that you both would leave before my legs could no longer support me, and I fell on my face." Victoria giggled at that thought, and the last of the fireworks shook the sky, in V's emblem--the circle with the V through it.
" You know, you're a hero, now." Victoria hugged him, her small arms going around his neck as he picked her up from the ledge, holding her as the V faded from the sky.
" That's what they say..." He replied as he carried her toward the lift, his mask held protectively in her hands.
Victoria looked at him. ' You don't agree?"
" Ten years ago, Victoria, I was a monster. The only thing I thought about was my vendetta. I didn't care how many people I killed to see it to it's end. Then I met your mother, and everything changed--I changed, but I was to consumed by hatred to realize what she meant to me-- " he paused as the lift started down to the gallery. " until it was too late."
" You loved mother mother, didn't you?." Victoria asked as the lift shrieked to a halt.
" I still do. Very much." V replied as he set her on her feet, and they walked back to main room.
Over so soon?" Evey's voice came from the kitchen, as she appeared with two steaming cups of tea.
"I thought both of you could use this. It's a bit chilly out there."
V took one in his gloved hands. " Thanks, love." He smiled at Evey, and she felt herself blush.
" Com'on poppet, I'll take yours for you." Evey said to Victoria as they walked into the movie room.
Victoria looked up at V. " Father, will you stay here with us in the Shadow Gallery?" She asked as she sat down beside him on the sofa.
V sighed heavily. " I have another home."
" Where is it?" She asked.
" Up north..." He paused taking sip of the hot tea. " I have an estate called 'Ravensclaw'. I raise thoroughbreds."
Victoria's eyes lit up. " You raise horses?"
" Yes, I have over 500 right now." He smiled at her as Evey sat in the chair next to them.
" You raise horses?" Evey repeated, smiling at him.
" It's just north of Stratford on Hull. I've lived there for the last eight years as a country nobleman."
" A nobleman? You, V?" Evey giggled softly reaching for her tea.
" You find that funny?" He asked her, hurt showing in the blue eyes.
Evey's grin vanished, " V, I'm sorry--I didn't mean anything--" She stopped, then looked into the blue eyes she loved so much. " I just can't picture my blood thirsty vigilante living the life of a country gentleman." She tried to explain.
V was silent, his eyes never leaving hers. " I guess it is a bit out of character, " He stopped, looking down at his hands, " but I don't have my vendetta to keep me focused anymore--Evey, I needed something to do to keep my mind alive." He rose from the couch, and paced the floor--something she remembered him doing quite a lot the first couple of months that she had been with him in the gallery.
He stopped, running his hand through the short brown hair." Tonight was the first time in years that I let V live --god forgive me for saying it--but it felt good, I felt I had a purpose again..."
" V, can we discuss this later, please? " Evey touched his black clad arm.
" Cindy!" Victoria exclaimed, " I almost forgot! I told her I wouldn't be gone long. " She looked at her mother. " She's expecting me back over there."
" You are not walking by yourself, it's to late." Evey replied.
" I'll take her." V offered, " I don't think I'll be noticed that much..." He turned to Victoria. " Do you?"
She giggled softly, " No Father, there are so many V's out tonight, I don't think you would be noticed at all!"
V redressed in a few seconds and held out his hand. " I would be honored to escort you, young miss."
Victoria giggled as she grabbed her father's hand and smiled over at Evey.
"I'll be back momentarily." V smiled from under the Fawkesian mask, and she watched as they disappeared through the door.
V led his daughter through the tunnels at a slow pace, wanting to enjoy the company of the young girl.
He still hadn't quite grasped the news--he had always believed that a family of his own was not a real possibility. " Wait here." He told her as he walked out into the night, his eyes scanning for any type of movement coming from the deserted street where the collapsed tunnel emerged. Convinced that everything was safe, he walked back to where Victoria stood. " Stay close to me, we'll join the rest of the crowd at the lower part of the street."
" Father..." Victoria began, taking his hand once again. " How did you and Mother meet? She has never told me the whole story, only bits and pieces--" Victoria paused as they walked toward the dispersing crowd. " She would always start crying..."
" I rescued your mother, from several men who were intent on doing harm to her. " V replied as he and Victoria walked through the crowd. Several times, V would doff his hat in greeting as people oh and ah'd about his costume.
' If they only knew...'
" I believe we need to go this direction." V said as they turned left, and Victoria found herself in front of her friend's house in a matter of minutes.
" You are coming in?" She looked at him.
V shook his head. " I shall remain outside." He watched as Victoria knocked on the door. It was opened a moment later by a young girl around Victoria's age.
" Hey!" She exclaimed happily. " I thought maybe your mother decided not to let you back out." Cindy smiled at her, then her eyes caught the tall, black clad figure standing a few steps from her. " Who's that?" She whispered.
Victoria smiled at the figure, who tilted his head in recognition. " That's my father--he's been away on business and just returned."
" Bon jour, mademoiselle. " V spoke in a low, cultured voice as he bowed deeply.
" I'll be home early, I want to hear more of your stories." Victoria smiled as she wrapped her arms around his waist, to which, V dropped onto his knee, and hugged the girl tightly.
" I will eargly await your return." He whispered into Victoria's ear. " I love you." The words were bare whispers.
" I love you too." Victoria whispered back.
V watched as the door closed behind Victoria. A broad smile as wide as the mask he wore appeared on his lips under the mask. He turned and disappeared into the shadows.