Like an orchid, they bloomed. First in twos, then into fives and tens. There were fingermen, that much is obvious, there were just workers - government workers on government missions, there were BTN top blokes who greased the countries massive iron lips, and there were priests, there were earmen and eyemen.

They were technical workers and wives and children. They were the horsemen who died in the riots, the mothers of babes who caught the cocktails and the friends and lovers of party members. This was not their revolution. This wasn't their world anymore. Norsfire was a fading glow slowly being snuffed out.

They were a smattering, who stood at its base with matches and burning paper.

By the pricking of my thumbs…

It seems me, our vendetta is inverted …

Lying in bed, Evey flicked aimlessly through an old paperback, absorbing nothing of meaning or cohesion. Impatiently, she waited for sleep who sluggishly denied her his presence. She set the book down and rolled over, burying her face in a pillow. Her mind wandered.

…V.

Her trail lead her right to V.

And suddenly all she could think of was...

Pressing her lips to him, feeling blistering heat score in her insides. His arms gathering her together, pulling her to him. Feeling someone wanting her. Feeling him needing her. She soaked up the sensation, basking in it while it lasted, egging her own thoughts on. As her memory solidified she insisted on it, trying to fill in the gaps as best her mind could. Evey tried to piece together a solid image of his face in her mind but it wavered and changed as she developed it.

And she was there with him on the edge of the bed again, her hands gripping to him tightly like she would fall if she let go. Things moving faster than possible, faster than light. Her hands consumes his soothing texture. Evey left a trail of kisses along his jaw…on his hand… feet…? He was away from her all of the sudden. Out of her arms. He was heading for the door, boots clattered on the stones. She could hear them. She felt them. Then everything was thrown into darkness.

Her eyes were open. How long had her eyes been open? In the black could be heard the echoing patter of his feet. The door creaked open…

…closed. The door was being closed.

"Wait?" she breathed. "V, is that you?"

"I was just turning off the lamp, Evey. I wouldn't want to waste oil, that's all." The creaking returned as he stepped back out into the gallery. V's shape cast an indistinct silhouette in the passage. His hat and cape were over his arm. "Goodnight."

"Where are you going?"

"Off to get some groceries for the morning."

"Wait!" That was much louder than it should have been, she thought. In the silence she could hear it had stopped him dead in the doorway. Evey was struck with nothing to say. He waited.

"Be safe… please? Come home safe." At this he remained still frozen. He appeared to be thinking, though she couldn't tell what about. V looked out at the clock and then back again. Eventually he inquired:

"Are you tired Evey?"

"Not really."…maybe just a little…

"Would you like to come with me?" In the dark, a smile crossed her face. He could barely see it but it was there.

"Absolutely." He breathed a smile in return, Evey could hear it.

"I'll get you a coat."

The world didn't feel whole. Not only to the rebels, but to everyone. There was order, it came in bursts. There wasn't total chaos, there wasn't absolute structure either. The best way to describe it is to say that things were the way they were.

Where they would go from there was anyone's guess. In some ways society was a poisoned flower afraid to grow again. In the absence of order, anger and fear continued to rage. People turned on one another. People turned against society. People turned against the church, against religion, against anything that had ever tried to give them order. While the pyre of burning cheering gratitude towards V and the revolution still seemed alive and well and while celebrations were many and people were living again, things were uncertain.

Stores were rebuilt and put back into business. The NBBC and BTN were wiped off the face of the earth, their remains fleeing to the clean zone's farthest corners. London was alive with riots in its car-less streets, though most of them made up of out of work men and women. Entire buildings were graffiti coated or burnt to the ground. But the fire department still ran. People colonised the abandoned zones like ants colonising fruit. As the city grew and spread, conflicts died out. London was London again, you could say.

V almost hadn't noticed till now. Evey walked at his side into the street as they headed out of a subway opening towards the east, where the trains tracks were.

"Its beautiful isn't it?"

"Sorry?"

"Lights," she said, "Lights in the city again."

"Yes. Very Beautiful." They made sweet little yellow squares that scurried across the shining surface of his mask. Her eyes were lost on his face.

The sunlight was weak and almost non existent casting over the two as they moved from tunnel to ally across endless streets until they reached the rail side loading yard.

"Why would they deliver no early in the morning?"

"The more refined things, the French bread and butter, the milk from Spain, the Meat and Clean Water are all the things that are brought in for those who can afford them. Sutler for example."

"Where will they go now?"

"Depends, do you like French bread?" Evey cracked a smile. It wasn't often that she'd heard him joke.

"And the fruit and vegetables come from the docks?"

"Usually," he whispered as they approached an unguarded car.

The night was fruitful to say the least.* The two returned to the tunnels no less than two hours later, each with a full black duffle bag at their sides.

"Thankyou. For letting me come, I mean."

"I hoped you'd enjoy it."

"It's nice to know how it's done, how you get it all." She heaved the strap of the bag up her arm a little.

"It's easier than I thought it would be."

"Its easier now that half the Chancellor's guard aren't skulking the tracks at daybreak." V pulled an ancient key from somewhere she couldn't see and unlocked the wooden door. The two unloaded the massive burdens in the kitchen. **

"I had a lovely time."

"Good, I did as well." he spoke adjusting his gloves. "It's nice to have some conversation."

"Its nice to have some fresh butter." They shared a glance in the dark, albeit accidentally, only lit by the tunnels dim distant bulbs. "Goodnight, V." Silently, Evey leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

A gunshot blared in the rear tunnels and Evey found herself surrounded in black.

*A pun so bad you (reader) are lucky I haven't been arrested under the Geneva convention for torturous puns

** OOOH so THAT'S where that kitchen door does...