What do you mean...I'm alive...aren't I?

[nora_fries]

I don't understand, I'm not dead, I can't be.

I don't want to be changed into that..thing. I just want, I want things to be the way they were.

If they can't be that way, then please, just put me away.



[Yes, I am evil...mwahahhaha]

Comments

[fear_itself]

What are you so afraid of?

[nora_fries]

[You mean aside from a fairly terrifying creature like you lurking up on her? Forgive her for inching back away.]


Of becoming something I'm not, something I would never want to be.

[fear_itself]

Face your fears. You will find yourself... transformed by them.

[nora_fries]

That's more or less what I'm afraid of. I don't want to change.

[fear_itself]

The alternative, of course, is to live in fear.

[a_cruel_chill]

[There will be stares. Oh, there will be stares.]

It...it can't be.

Nora?

[nora_fries]

[The stares are reciprocated]

Victor?

[frozendeadinme]

Nora....

[He pauses, half reaching out to her, before pulling his hand back]

[nora_fries]

Victor?

[She steps forward as he steps back]

It is you!

[frozendeadinme]

You should not have to see me this way.

[He retreats towards the comparative safety of a shadow.]

Please, Nora, remember me as I was, not as I have become...

[nora_fries]

Victor, please, don't turn away from me.

[She follows at a distance, Nora knows her husband well enough not to push, but to be that soft voice of compassion.]

Whatever you have become doesn't change who you are, Victor. You are the man I vowed to spend the rest of my life with.

[frozendeadinme]

[He sagged to his knees, slowly, just shaking his head]

That man perished, Nora. Perished for you, and I would do it again in a moment to preserve you - but to see you here, so alive and so free...I can offer you nothing but sorrow, as I am now. You should live your life, free of me...

[nora_fries]

[she continued forward, close enough to see him, and yes she is startled, but she doesn't scream or turn away.]

I would have died if not for you, how can you ask me to just turn away from that? Free of you? I could never be, Victor, I wouldn't want to if I could.

I love you.

[frozendeadinme]

Because all I can offer you is this...a broken, frozen husk. My love for you is eternal, but I cannot give you happiness. I am a remnant. I will guard you forever, and your descendants until the end of time. But I cannot give you a life.

[A sigh escapes him, a reflection of a life lived without hope]

I am hunted, despised. A monster.

[nora_fries]

[Nora let him make his statements, she listened and thought over what he said carefully. In the end there was really only one simple question.]

Do you love me?

[frozendeadinme]

[He looked up, and nodded slowly]

With every fiber of my being.

[nora_fries]

Then that's all that matters to me. Everything else we can work through, together.

[She reached out to him, her hand offered freely and without reserve.]

[frozendeadinme]

[He reached out, taking her hand with reverence, as if he expected it to disappear.]

Can this be real? You stand there, as perfect as the day we met.

[nora_fries]

[Forgive her the laughter, but it's well intended. Light, pure sound not a note of malice or sarcasm.]

I'm real, I'm here...and I've never been perfect.

[frozendeadinme]

[He leaned his helmeted head against her hand, as a priest might hold an icon]

In my eyes, you were. You made me whole once. And part of me still hopes you can do so again.

[nora_fries]

[The glass is cold, not surprising, but her hand caresses across it, touch without touch.]

Then I won't stop until I do, you've given up so much for me, let me give something back to you. You're the most brilliant man I know, we can find an answer.

[frozendeadinme]

[Slowly, he rose, silently cursing the armour that kept him alive beyond the sub-zero]

You are as stubborn as I. [A ghost of a smile crosses the familiar face] You always were.

[nora_fries]

[He was imposing, more so with the suit that both protected and separated them. But she had no fear of him, she moved in her head resting to his chest; her arms folding around him, again touch without touch, but for the moment it was enough, it had to be.]

As I recall that was part of why you asked me to marry you.

[frozendeadinme]

One of so many reasons.

[His hand brushed her hair, for the moment taking a semblance of comfort from the gossamer blonde threads he remembered so well]

My memories were unaffected by the accident. I remember everything, and when I sleep, I dream of those halcyon days, those perfect moments with you.