Unmasked

Chapter 18

You Set Me Free

V practically bolted down the hall the minute he sensed Evey closing in through the tunnels.

When she returned he was standing in the middle of the shadow gallery, hands folded neatly in front of him as he so often had. When Evey exited the lift and stepped into the light V's breath caught. The sight of himself, or rather, of Evey dressed in the Guy Fawkes mask and one of his wigs; he wasn't quite sure how he felt about it.

Evey set down her bag by the door and reached behind her head to try and find where the black ribbon that held the mask in place was.

"Let me," V stepped towards her and Evey dropped her hands immediately and allowed him to come up behind her.

His gloved fingers skimmed the skin of her neck lightly as he moved the wig behind her shoulder and her breath caught in her chest. Slowly he undid the ribbon and she carefully took the mask and wig off, handing them back to him.

"I think they suit you rather well," he remarked, taking them from her.

She stared at the mask in his hand then looked up at the one on his face, "I've worn enough masks as it is. I don't really have a taste for them anymore."

And one more look at his mask she strode past him to the kitchen where he had already made her a hot pot of tea.

—

Once V had returned his mask and wig to his room, he joined Evey where she sat at the kitchen table where she stared blankly at her steaming cup of tea.

"How did it go?" He asked tentatively.

She sighed, "Great, actually. We got a lot of things sorted out. We'll begin introducing all the new welfare programs, housing programs, releasing and retrials of the prisoners. We have decided on full and utter transparency. No more censorship. We will present the truth for the people to do with it what they will. It's going to take time for them to trust what we're saying though. Sutlers' government relied on secrets, lies.. complete and utter cooperation of the people. That's going to take a lot more work to undo than one meeting could possibly cover. But we've got the basics," she looked up at him. "The new Bailey was only half-finished remodeling when sutler fell," she stated.

V tilted his head quizzically, "and what do you think we should do with it?"

"We could blow it up again," she suggested all seriousness in her tone.

V laughed lightly, "Real victories are those that protect human life, not those that result from its destruction or emerge from its ashes."

"Who said that?"

"Hussein of Jordan"

"I still think we should blow it up," Evey huffed.

"The time for destruction is over, Evey. Now it is time to rebuild. Both buildings and trust," V counseled.

Evey nodded absentmindedly, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.

"What else is going on Evey?" V asked gently.

Evey reached a hand into the messenger bag at her side and pulled out a handful of wildflowers, "a girl stopped me when I was coming back," Evey looked down at the slightly crushed flowers quizzically, "she was selling these but she wanted V to have some. She said you were an angel and she wanted to thank you because now her mother and father don't cry as much." Evey's voice shook for a reason V could not quite decipher, "V do you believe in coincidence?"

"Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys," V quoted, "why do you ask?"

"Because the little girls name was Evie. And I met her in an alley dressed like you."

V mulled this over silently for a moment, "Maybe you're meant to continue the cycle. Did you consider kidnapping her and locking her in your underground dungeon for a year?"

Evey burst out laughing, "you're mad!" She exclaimed.

V shrugged, "Might I remind you, dear Evey, that only one of us decided to follow an armed masked man onto the rooftop of a building past curfew."

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes.

"And decided to save his life after he threatened to blow up your workplace," he continued.

She grimaced, reaching a hand up to touch the scar on the left side of her forehead, "I got pistol-whipped for that one," she remembered.

V reached out slowly to trace his thumb over the scar, "You've been hurt so many times because of me, Evey." He said sadly.

When he tried to draw back she put a hand over his, pulling it back to the side of her face, "and I would do it all again."

V took a selfish moment of satisfaction in the feeling of his hand to her face, even through his thick black gloves. Evey moved again, this time for the hem of his glove which was neatly tucked into his shirtsleeves so that not a sliver of scarred skin stuck out. V pulled his hand away before she could go any further, but to his surprise her grip didn't waver.

"It's just skin, V," she repeats her words from before the pauses thoughtfully before continuing, "Does it hurt?" she asked tentatively.

All the time, is what he thought, but out loud he said, "Evey you must understand, I am a symbol. The mask, the wig, the cape, they are not only to hide my identity but to represent the larger meaning of what I am doing-" he corrects himself quickly, "or rather what I have done."

"That's the problem, V," Evey replied, feeling exasperated, "You are a symbol. A symbol of a revolution and not of the world we are in now. But you can't kiss a symbol. Cannot touch it, or hold it. They don't bleed, they don't feel pain. They don't love. But you do. You're here in front of me," She grabbed his hand again and this time he didn't resist as she removed his glove and ran her soft hands over the rough pink scars, "I can touch you and hold you. I've seen you bleed. You do feel pain. You do love," her voice breaks on the last word along with her heart. It killed her to see that he had lost his purpose, his fight. It hit her for the thousandth time that surviving his revolution was never in any version of any of V's plans. Now, it was as if his heart had stopped while his body somehow continues to function.

V looks away from Evey in a gesture of uncertainty that was so foreign she almost let a tear slip out, "I didn't plan for you, Evey. You were not a surprise I could have predicted," was his only reply.

She laughed at this. V looked at her in surprise. Her head was thrown back, her eyes closed and her mouth wide. He couldn't decide if it was from amusement or hysteria. He was still trying to figure it out when she looked at him once again and said, "I never planned for you, either. After my brother and my parents," she looked somewhere over his shoulder, as if at something just out of her grasp, "after that I wanted nothing more than to forget about plagues and revolution. I was doing my best with what I had but I wasn't going anywhere. I was stuck."

"And then I trapped you down here with only me for company," V reminded her.

She laughed again, just a giggle this time, and grabbed his hand again, "No, V. You didn't trap me. You set me free."