ACVR

ACVR

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

EITO

Sleep came much easier to Eito than he anticipated after weeks of running on fumes, however, for a Realm that never saw the light of day, the night did not seem nearly long enough when morning finally came and he and Eva trudged downstairs to join their fellow Hosts. Both he and Eva had been terribly surprised to see that Mr. V and Ms. Scatter were indeed here and that their return hadn't been just a dream. Even Ischer seemed to be in a better mood now that the other two had returned to work.

It was almost strange how easily the four of them were able to easily slip back into their casual and usual routine of doing things, then again, now that they were all here, they could go back to their usual routines. Eito was able to speed a few things along with Eva in the sewing room and cranked out a few more items for the Villainous collection for the fall Scatter would run around the castle with her clipboard, checking things off, adding more things to her list, and somehow managing it all while Mr. V picked up the slack and responded to all of the mail that had come in for him as well as meeting with the handful of Villains that had yet to receive their secret Happy Ending. It should not have come as such a great surprise that so many of the Villains were able to achieve a Happy Ending, though it was very disheartening to know that some of the Villains simply could not be redeemed even with the assistance of their Recruits. Lord Claude Frollo, despite being the religious man he was, still fell into the pits of hell for trying to commit genocide again.

However, thanks to their Recruit's deeds, the Evil Queen Grimhilde lived happily as the wife of Frederick the blacksmith in a neighboring country where they could live to an old age together. The Queen of Hearts Iracebeth was able to live a happy life with the King of Hearts, Rubius, without many difficulties. Captain Hook lived a life of retirement of piracy and returned to his roots by teaching at an institution while Mr. Smee ran the library. Cruella was living the highlights of running her own fashion company and Hades was finally able to be properly reunited with his wife Persephone.

There were a few that, despite their best efforts, who they could not find or get in contact with in either their original Realm or the Anti-Realm. Scar was nowhere to be found, dead or alive, without so much as a single hair to trace him by. Ischer could not find his trail no matter how far he went in the Door Between. Ursula was so deep within the depths of the sea that it was believed she had somehow found her sister Morgana, but the trail was too inky to truly tell. Maleficent was able to be traced to a different forest in her Realm, living with Fae just like her, many with horns, wings, and magical abilities to possess the natural elements, and seemed to live a relatively happy life now that she was amongst her people.

Now that all the Villains were mostly taken care of, it was falling down to the crucial decision of reopening the program for other Villains who could use a second chance while providing their Recruits a chance at life, or all the Hosts taking a long break to recover after the year of arduous work. Mr. Po was firmly in the belief of taking a break while Mr. V was determined to find the loose ends. Though the other two Hosts were finally here, he and Eva deserved a break, and, in many ways, he just wanted to live a normal life with her, well as normal a life as people like them could. Still, Eito was tired of keeping people who hated him happy and he could at least tolerate it in a world where they weren't all murders or well-known Villains. Though Eva would easily argue that her heart was in her work and that her work was here in the Anti-Realm, Eito could see just how taxing things were just being here. Even if they were not to take a permanent time off, they at least needed a momentary absence. Now all he needed to do was convey this concern to Mr. V and hope he agreed. If he didn't then they would just have to leave altogether without looking back.

With Ms. Scatter taking the reins of her position again, Eva has been able to calmly work in her office and leisurely work on projects while Eito assisted her. Eva was currently in a tight zone of work and thought he took the chance to steal himself away and make his way towards Mr. V's office. With nearly all the staff missing or completely gone thanks to all the changes made through the Recruit's stories, Ischer has taken it upon himself to go around the Anti-Castle to fix broken windows and mirrors, dust with his immeasurable amount of magic, and commune with all the ghosts to get intel on the happenings within the Realm. If Eito needed a sign that the time to leave was nigh, all he needed to do was watch Ischer flit about the castle as though he owned the place as he worked.

Even the ride on the elevator was smoother, neater, and quieter that the bell's ding startled him when the doors opened to the floor of Mr. V's office. Ms. Scatter was not at her desk but from what he could see she had been busy with nearly everything upon her return as there were papers everywhere, slightly disorganized in an organized way and Varuo was busy jotting things away with his tail on paper. It was jarringly silent on this usual boisterous floor. Varuo didn't bother to look up as Eito passed and gently knocked on the doors leading to Mr. V's office and went inside without permission.

There were mountains of papers piled high on his desk, books and written journals floating in the air by skeletal hands, and Mr. V with a pair of round reading glasses on his face as he furiously typed on his typewriter. The crackle of the fire and the ticking of the typewriter keys were the only signs of life in his office. Not wanting to risk his work, Eito cleared his throat to get Mr. V's attention. It took three coughs before the ticking stopped and Mr. V peered over his glasses with a squint and scrunch of his nose.

"Po, that you?" His voice sounded dry and he quickly whipped his glasses off his face and stood to his feet. "What can I help you with, sir?"

"I hope so, but I wanted to check in on you first." He laughed nervously as he approached the table.

"Yes, yes, come in friend, come in."

With a snap of Mr. V's fingers, the skeletal hands stuck a finger in the books they held as a marker and went to rest on the filing cabinets behind him, the papers orderly situated themselves into proper manila folders, and the typewriter disappeared within the confined of his desk and was almost immediately replaced by two cups of coffee with a sugar jar and creamer pitcher.

"Good to see you, friend." Mr. V stretched his arms over his head and his feet forward as he repositioned himself in his chair. "It's good to see your face and even better to take a break."

Eito could see the bags under his eyes and couldn't help but wonder just how long the man in front of him had really gone without taking a break. It suddenly made him wary about requesting time off for he and Eva; there was still plenty of work within the castle to do as well as with the Villains. Where he'd previously been ready to drop everything and leave, seeing his employer looking so exhausted somehow made him rethink things.

"Cream or sugar?" Mr. V scratched out as he reached for a cup and went about pouring some of his brandy in it. "Brandy?"

"I'll take a pinch of salt to combat the bitterness." He eased himself into one of the chairs in front of the desk and slowly took his coffee.

"Suit yourself." Mr. V shrugged and took a shot back of brandy before tucking it away in a drawer. "Everythin' all right downstairs?"

"Fine, fine." He nodded slowly as he stirred in his salt to his coffee before taking a sip. It was almost magical how the salt could take away the bitterness of the coffee and somehow leave it a little sweeter than with sugar. "Busy, of course. Eva is due for a break in an hour and I'm just taking mine."

"That's good to hear." Mr. V smiled, a knowing twinkle in his eye as his hands cupped his coffee cup. "The whole fashion line she's been cookin' up goin' okay?"

"Much better now that I'm able to assist her." He admitted and held his own cup between his hands. "It's taxing work, but we'll both be glad when it's done."

"I can only imagine." Mr. V nodded and sipped his coffee. "I think we'll all be ready to take the season off after all this. . . It's definitely a lot more than I was anticipating."

"Sifting through all the journals?"

"More or less." He grimaced and dragged a hand down his face and somehow seemed to make himself look that more exhausted. "I can sift through what's available, but with some of the Recruits missing entirely, it's a little harder to trace. Not to mention there's a few Villains who've gone missing too thanks to our work. . . c'est la vie. But what's done is done and all I can do now is organize the stories as best I can. Tell me friend, what brought you here?"

His throat suddenly tightened, and his mouth felt dry despite the coffee. He did his best to smile, but the guilt chewing on his conscience somehow prevented it from reaching his eyes.

"You've mentioned about closing for a season, when would that be?"

That knowing twinkle in Mr. V's eyes almost seemed to dance and a sly smirk began to creep on his face. "At the end of the summer, just in time for the autumnal festivities so you and Villa can advertise and sell all the stuff you've made for Halloween. Why?"

"Well." His hands slid over his knees and he wetted his lips with his tongue. "I was hoping that Eva and I could take the rest of the year off. . . possibly until the spring."

The smirk fell and his eyes widened. "That's quite a long time. You'll be gone for nearly eight months."

"I know."

"I assume you have a good reason for it?"

"I do." He cleared his throat to make room for confidence. "I hope that Eva and I will be able to get married in addition to taking a bit of a break from the Anti-Realm."

"Wait, you aren't married?" Mr. V ran a hand through his dreadlocks in disbelief. "I thought –"

"We've been engaged for much longer than we originally planned." Eito interrupted, his fingers digging into his kneecaps. "Living the lives, we do, sometimes our plans just don't go accordingly."

"And y'all are wanting to get married while you're away?"

"If she still wants me, then yes." Eito laughed wryly.

"I don't see a problem with that." Mr. V shrugged casually with a gentle smile on his face. "However, you and I both know what it's like to live outside of this place, it's better and yet that more difficult to live in."

Eito's brow furrowed and Mr. V's smile saddened. Eito couldn't recall there ever being a time he looked so melancholy.

"However, all I ask is that you two finish up your show pieces by the end of the summer, and whatever else happens, happens." Mr. V waved his hand before slowly grabbing his cup again. "If life outside this Realm suits you, I won't stop you from seekin' out your own happiness. Should things not work out, you'll always be welcomed back, my friend. You and even hellions if you manage to reproduce."

"That'll be up to Eva." He chuckled nervously. "Though she likes other children, I don't know how much she'd want her own. But, thank you, Mr. V."

"Scatter and I will be invited to the wedding, at least?" He smirked as he leaned back in his chair.

"If Eva wants a wedding." He scratched the back of his neck nervously. "We've been engaged for so long; she may only want a courthouse wedding."

"Nothin' wrong with that." He shrugged. "Just let us know, and we'll be there. I know we're not the average coworkers or partners in this business, but I do consider y'all like family. So please, try not to forget about us."

There was a pep in his step as he prepared a wonderful lunch for his dearly beloved and couldn't help but feel hopeful as he returned to Eva's office and workstation. His heart thundered in his chest as he drew closer to the door and found Eva sitting in her chair looking back on her work. She'd managed to finish a few gowns to match the suits Eito had made; they were lovely silhouettes to behold. She didn't even turn to look at him as he approached her from behind and set the cheese board down.

"They're all lovely, dearest." He kissed the top of her head, his hand shaking nervously as it rested on the exposed skin of her shoulder.

"Of course, we made them." She hummed happily as she reached for his hand. "I can't wait to see them come to life on the runway though. Hopefully it'll all pay off."

"It will." He nodded as he carefully turned her chair around. "And hopefully you and I will be able to enjoy our time off when we go to the surface."

"Eito." Her jaw dropped with just the hint of a smile. "You didn't."

"I did." He chuckled triumphantly at her surprise and kneeled before her. "Mr. V was actually quite understanding given how things have been these past few months."

"And what exactly did you say to appease his generosity?" She raised a magenta brow at him, a smirk tugging at those lips he so desperately wanted to kiss.

"Well. . ." He laughed nervously and glanced at his hands before daring to look into the onyx eyes of his bespectacled beauty. "I told him we might get married. . ."

Her eyes widened with something he couldn't quite understand as she turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I think we should finally do it, Eva." He reached for her hand, clasping between his own. "I think we should finally get married."

"But what about –" She bit her lip and he knew what she was thinking as her eyes clouded over.

"We can reconcile with my family afterwards if we decide we like living on the surface, my beloved." He tucked her hair behind her ear and gently tipped her chin up. "If we decide that life in the light isn't worth it, we can always return here, or we can go anywhere you want."

She relaxed an inch, but he could still see the worry and fretting in her eye. Their past with his family, the whole reason why they came to the Anti-Realm was not something they could easily forget, nor would they, but Eito was beyond exhausted from trying to make an atonement for their sins. If there was anyone who could hold a grudge longer than his sister Edna, it was Eva, and she always held the worst grudges against herself.

"It isn't betraying anyone, to get married, Eva." He brushed his thumb against her cheek, trying to capture her full attention. "We're only betraying our own happiness if we keep waiting to make amends with people who may never forgive us. Can't we forgive ourselves just a little, and seek out a small boon of happiness?"

Her eyes darted back and forth as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you sure?"

He smiled gently at her and brushed a soft kiss to her forehead. "There's no one else in this world that I'd rather spend the rest of my life with. So let's get married."

Shaking beneath his hold, she slowly wrapped her arms around him and gave him a fierce hug.

"All right. Let's do it."

MR. V

He had anticipated things being rough upon their return, but he had not entirely anticipated the state of utter chaos the Anti-Realm had to offer him and Scatter. After spending a few nights to get all the books straightened, appointments delayed and corrected, correspondence responded to with apologies and favors, they'd barely managed to scratch the surface of everything they still needed to do. Ischer had surprisingly been very helpful in the matter of keeping things organized and busy and keeping the Villains predominately out of the castle, but they could only go so long before the others in the Anti-Realm began to ask questions to the whereabouts of the missing Villains.

Lord Claude Frollo was the only one of the Villains to return to the Anti-Realm, but his memories were completely altered and had no recollection of Veil or the program at all. They'd had a few meetings together since their return and it was only a marginal relief to know it was one less thing to worry about. There were still matters of deciphering the journals of the Recruits and reviewing the mirrors that Ischer recorded of their endeavors and stories for him to write down in detail. It was most frustrating to find most of the journals empty, either due to the lack of use or they finally managed to achieve their Happy Ending and had to rely on the mirrors. It was just extra work and Iacher refused to assist him further on the matter as he deemed it something outside of his required field of work field.

"If I'd have known the Magic Mirror was goin' to be this much of thorn in my side I'd have offered him a different deal." He groaned as he rubbed his eyes in an ill attempt to avoid looking at the piles of papers he'd have to go through.

"And if you'd known I was the daughter of Chernabog you might not have hired me years ago." Ashe chimed in as she set down two cups of tea before him and smiled down at him. He hated tea, if it wasn't chilled and sweet there was no point in it. He merely glared at the cup before glancing at her.

"What are you still doin' up?" He glanced at the clock. It was a little after midnight. "You should have been in bed two hours ago."

"My body clock hasn't readjusted to this Realm." She sighed as she pulled up a chair beside him and settled into it. "I'm teeming with too much energy to be sleeping."

"So you've come to harass me instead?" He cocked a brow at her as he propped his cheek in his hand. "Doesn't sound too wise."

"I came to see if there was anything I could do to help." She snipped and tucked her stray hair back into place with her clips. "Just because I lost my powers doesn't mean I'm entirely useless."

Mr. V's smile fell as he watched her pick up a stack of papers with a sticky note atop it labeled as "Fae". He hadn't been entirely aware of what her powers were before, and though she claimed that she lost them all, she kept her head high. Whatever power and control Astaroth had over her was finally pushed out by her own force of will and surrendered all her magical powers to get him to finally leave her. Her eyes no longer flickered gold when she was irritated or angry and even the veins of her skin remained blue instead of gold. He almost missed the flashes of gold in her eyes whenever he'd get a rise out of her, now he just made her face change colors instead.

Though she did not have the ability to fly or control magic, whatever she had touched here in the castle still acted under her control. Perhaps it was the castle showing her kindness and doing what it could for her now that she was more mortal, but Mr. V had a sneaking suspicion that she still possessed just an ounce of her original powers. Neither he nor their coworkers had brought the matter up again. Apparently, the ladies had a long discussion of what happened while Ms. Villa fixed and trimmed up Ashe's hair and in turn Ms. Villa told Mr. Po. It was great not having to explain everything all over again, but a part of him wondered just how the working woman beside him really felt about it all. She lost her original Realm, her father, her friends, her powers – sure she had a small balance of it here in the Anti-Realm, but she lost everything to her name save for her cat and the ability to continue to communicate with him.

"You've done pretty well with these." She gestured to the Fae papers she glanced over. "Your translations are getting better, even if they are just a little rough. It's good to see you're improving."

"I'm certain most of those were translated by Ischer." He snorted as his hand slowly crept closer to the tea she had made. "I haven't translated any of those."

"I had expected more from him." Her lips puckered into a pout as she frowned and neatly arranged the papers in order again. "I can take a look at these tonight if you'd like."

"Nah, don't worry about it tonight." He gently waved her offer away. "It's late and we both need to get some sort of sleep; else I'll be the one scolding you about staying up late soon."

She cracked a smile at him as she set the papers back in their place upon their stack before reaching for her own cup. "I take it you've heard the news?"

His mouth curled into a smirk at the loud announcement Villa had made about their wedding. "Po came by this afternoon to make sure he and Villa could have an extended leave while they're on the surface."

"Oh, dear, if they go, we may never see them again." She chuckled before sipping her tea. "Think they'll come back?"

"Not if they're smart." He grunted as he picked up his own cup and sipped the herbal tea. "I know I wouldn't."

"You visit your Realm from time to time." She pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I like comin' back." His nose wrinkled at the weak taste of caffeine. "Not to mention there's not much back in my Realm to keep me around."

"The food is enough to want to stay." She smiled and crossed her ankles. "I know I could spend a week there for food alone."

"Well, maybe when we get all this done, we'll go." A heat crawled up his neck and he pulled at the collar of his shirt to let some air down his back.

"We?" She smirked over her teacup with a mischievous glint in her eye. He nearly choked on his tea at her accusing look and turned his face away from her gaze.

"Ischer won't be interested in some good ole Louisiana cuisine, it'd be lost on him." He huffed and propped his chin in his hand. "Besides, we haven't done anything to celebrate our return. We can't steal Po and Villa's wedding thunder, so we might as well go and enjoy ourselves once we get everythin' done."

The smile on her face only grew bigger while the heat on the back of his neck grew hotter. She was practically beaming, and he wasn't entirely sure how to handle his heart beating so fast.

"I'd love to."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far!

I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. I'm juggling a lot of things right now, but I do promise that I am working on the stories as much as I can. Please make sure to leave a comment and tell me what you think, if you like this story enough, please share it!

Thanks so much for reading, and stay tuned!

Ko-fi/SarahtheWriter