The gallery was completely quiet. Most of the candles had burned down and gone out by themselves, leaving the scent of candle wax behind and giving the once empty gallery a lived in feel. A large bedroom door opened in a dark hallway, and the man from room five emerged quietly and closed the door behind him.
He carried a dagger in his gloved hand with an intention, but first he leaned on the door, took a breath, and closed his eyes. He had to do the task he set out to do, but a reflection on the events of the night before clouded his thinking. He wondered what had been the last stand, the final piece that had altered him. He said "Ah," quietly to himself as he realized that his vanquisher had been the most powerful force in the universe. Love.
He turned his attention toward an engraved ornate door and walked toward it. As he pushed the door with both hands, the smell of roses, and the rich gleaming red of the Scarlet Carsons empowered him. He took a deep breath. V removed his gloves, put his dagger in his belt temporarily, and stood in the isle to reach his hands out on either side of him. He touched the vibrant flowers…
Many moments past and V found himself in the middle of the Gallery looking around at its contents.
He walked over to the piano, lifted the cover, and seated. His hands lightly rested on the keys as he thought of what to play. A smile crept on one side of his face as played "Funeral for a Friend". The notes rang out to the respect of its composer.
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The sound of piano woke Evey as she took in a deep breath and yawned. The room was completely dark and she rubbed her eyes in that darkness, then sat upright. Her hand went to the top the comforter and felt some thing strangely familiar. She stretched and turned on the lamp overcome by the brilliance of the carefully arranged roses. They completely covered the bed. She picked one up and brought it to her face. The thought of V cutting his precious gems and placing them on the bed while she slept was doting and romantic.
Never had she felt so loved by a man and never had she felt that she had ever loved any other. She smiled back at the roses, but really to herself for being able to find a measure of happiness in a desperate world.
She pulled the covers back and realized that she had nothing to wear. There were large towels in the small bathroom that joined the bedroom. Her body ached as she stood. She turned on the light and looked around to see if there was anything different about the way that he would groom himself other than expensive colognes and the like. Nothing unfamiliar.
She remembered that during their love making the night before, she attempted to touch him. To touch his face. His head. Anything that would give her a clue of his appearance. He eventually grabbed her hands asked her if she would prefer if he tied her up. Not waiting for her response, he tied her up anyway, as his desire for her became more profound. She wanted him to feel at ease. She felt her heart skip a beat at the thought of seeing him, the man that she knew him to be now that they were lovers. Evey grabbed a large towel, wrapped it around herself and went to follow the source of the music. She stopped abruptly by a draft coming from a far wall in the bathroom.
Her eyes narrowed to a small seam in the wall that went to the floor and up to what resembled a doorframe.
She touched it.
V heard his bedroom door open and immediately stood to see his beloved wrapped in a towel carrying a single rose and smelling it. He smiled underneath the mask and looked at her face as she immerged. She had this kind of childish playful look on her face.
"I must say you look quite happy in your new choice of attire." He toyed with her and she blushed. "Ah, blushing are we? Good Morning to you too."
"Good Morning. And thank you for the beautiful roses. I presume they were meant for me?" Her eyebrow went up as she twirled it in her hand and walked over to him, handing it to him.
He took the rose and breathed in looking at it. "Last night was…" He paused deep in thought looking at the Scarlet Carson and then at her. "Let's just say you have me at a disadvantage, because there are no words for it." She reached and lovingly touched the mask to look into his face, speechless herself.
He placed the rose on top of the piano and looked down at the keyboard.
"Don't stop playing on account of me. You play brilliantly. I have never heard that piece before." V sat down again. "When did you learn how to play like that?" She gestured and sat next to him.
"I don't know." V said as he looked at his hands, and then withdrew them so she couldn't see them anymore.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
"No, no. I guess I never thought about it before."
"Fascinating how the mind works. In its own defense it will remember only the things it wants to."
"Somehow that no longer matters to me." V looked at his hands again. "What only concerns me now is the present." He gazed at her and didn't say a word as if everything he felt couldn't be put into words.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "Perhaps I can make you blush for me once more while I ravish you again." He whispered with that fiendish voice only used for his intended victims.
"That sounds wonderful. But I am afraid I am quite sore from all of your ravishing throughout the night." They giggled as their noses went together and she felt the warmth of his strong embrace. "And I am also quite starving."
V laughed. Evey listened, amazed that she had never heard him truly laugh before. There was that one time when she first met him in the alley, but that was not the same type of laughter. This came from someplace way deep inside of him. It was wonderful to hear, and very becoming.
"Then Evey, perhaps we shall make a date later this evening when you are feeling less…shall we say… contented?"
"Oh, you are such a sexy man." She beamed as she stroked his soft hair and looked into his face. This was a place where there were no barriers and she eagerly took advantage of the right of touch she earned. "Yes you are correct. Contented is a much proper word for it, and yes, it's a date."
"Very well then." He gently took hold of her hands looking down at them as he squeezed them. "I shall make us something to eat while you bathe, but I am afraid I will have to finish up some rather pressing business afterward." His voice took on a different tone that revealed his intent. Immediately Evey went to protest and stopped herself. She knew it wouldn't do any good. He must have noticed because it was almost as he was interrupting her thoughts.
"I will call upon you when I am done. In my estimation it will be sometime late this evening."
"I'll be looking forward to it." She stood up and adjusted the towel around herself as she walked away, her eyes staying with him until she was out of sight.
V sat for a few more moments after he put his leather gloves back on, then closed the piano cover. He thought about all of the arrangements that he had made, and wondered how Evey would take the news when he broke it to her. He would wait to tell her until this evening. He decided. He would tell her everything.
V put his apron on and went to making breakfast for the two of them, eating his portion before she came to sit down.
"What's this?" She looked at her plate smelling the food he had placed in front of her.
"Oh…uh…egg soufflé." He turned back to glance at her plate and then resumed what he was doing.
"This is wonderful." She said as she took another mouthful.
V didn't respond. His mood had become more ominous and brooding. Quite different from the person Evey encountered this morning. He seemed distracted and rushed through the task of cleaning before he returned to work. She was watching him the whole time while she ate. He removed his apron and started to walk away then stopped.
He turned his attention to her, forgetting his manners.
"I would prefer if you would find a more permanent residence in my bedroom from now on Evey. But please do not enter my chambers if I am not with you. I have …work that must be attended to, and I cannot afford for it to be brought awry at such a delicate time." He looked as if her were going to say more, and then decided not to.
"Alright." She nodded and looked at him with concern.
She was happy that he wanted her close to him, but she got the impression he was hiding something. Something that made him uneasy. Something that made him appear fearful.
V saw her expression change and went to her. He held her face with his gloved hand, his voice softened momentarily. "Don't worry Evey. I won't be long. And please wait up for me."
"I will." She assured him smiling as he looked down at her for a time.
V frowned underneath the mask and overlooked the dread that came between them like the face of death Romeo and Juliet exchanged before their final adieu. He backed away and paused before he rushed away into his dark corridor to his rooms. He was eager to start his work and went through the bedroom to the monitor room. There he watched the screens turn on. Nothing moved in any of the monitors, except V noticed there was a glass on the end table on the Chancellor's monitor that wasn't there before. V looked down at the control panel and hit rewind.
The images from last night came into view. V spotted the diary being read by what appeared to be the SSU General of the Marine Corps. Special Terrorism Unit. He recognized the special insignia the General wore on his badge plate. He rewound further and found the General accompanied by another man, possibly a Lieutenant. V could not see his face. He watched carefully at what transpired between them; the gleam of the General's eye and the exchange that they shared.
V knew it wouldn't be long before every citizen donned this nightmare and the slavery it created.