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A single hour had passed since the wedding and it was still hard to believe everything they had just witnessed. No one would believe the tales had it been anyone else, but Victoria and Emily had lived this tale.
The tale of the corpse groom. How he died, lived on in the afterlife, and soon became free.
Seeing Victor turn into a small herd of butterflies was still a surprise to them. While it was heart aching to watch him leave, it was comforting to know he was at peace after so long. Months of being lost and alone...he was finally free.
A sigh left Emily, looking up at Victoria, who sat across from her in the room. Their families were still gone, having run off from the dead still, leaving the two girls there in the church. She saw that she was going through the same thing that she was, playing with the ring on her hand. Sighing aloud, Emily got up, walking over to Victoria, taking a seat beside her. Victoria looked up to her friend, a look of heartache clear on her face.
“It’s okay, Victoria. It’s over now. Barkis is gone and Victor...Victor has moved on.” Emily said, taking her friend’s hand and patting her back.
Victoria shook her head, “And that’s the problem. Goodness...he shouldn’t have died. He didn’t deserve this. Him of all people didn’t deserve such a fate…”. Her shoulders shook as she began to cry. Emily frowned, rubbing Victoria’s back. “Shh, it’s okay dear. Come on, you’re too beautiful to cry.” Emily whispered.
A gentle tapping noise caught her attention, making her look up. To her shock, she saw a familiar light blue butterfly flying up to the window. Her heart ached a bit seeing the butterfly, having a feeling of understanding.
Looking down at Victoria, Emily tipped her friend’s chin up, making Victoria look up. Both women saw the butterfly from the window, sighing gently as it flew off. “He’s free, Victoria. He wanted us to move on, so we should for him. It doesn’t mean we should forget him, more of...remember why we’re here, and what he meant to us.” Emily smiled.
Victoria sniffled, but nodded as a weak smile formed on her face. “You’re right…” she looked to her best friend, “We should talk about what we remember about him...we both loved him after all.”.
This made Emily think for a moment, before slowly nodding. “Exactly, we both loved him. Albeit...different versions of him, but nonetheless, we loved him. You should go first, you knew him first.” Emily said, a smile on her face. Victoria gave a small nod, sighing a moment as she began to tell the story.
“It happened a few months ago, when I first sent you the letters. Our family had...run out of money, so they were going to marry me off to Victor so we could get money. Similar to the deal where they married you off to Barkis. They’d get status and we’d get money. Neither of us were...entirely thrilled, but when we actually met.” A smile formed on her face, “He was playing the piano, and I came out to listen. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard of. We spoke for a moment, but mother found us and was furious. We headed to the rehearsal and...it went rather poorly.”.
Her voice wavered and Emily caught on what part was coming up. “He...he ran. Victor wasn’t good with confrontation, quiet, and sweet. He ran off and...I never saw him again. I knew him only for a few hours, but I felt a connection. We both understood each other. At least I thought I did, then Barkis tells us how he’s run off with the family money, going off to another village. I...I should’ve known something was wrong. Maybe I could’ve-”
Emily took her best friend’s hand, a sad look crossing over her face. “You couldn’t have known. It was all Barkis’ fault. He’s a cruel manipulative monster that would pray on anyone to get what he wants.” Emily stated, “And...it was the only way I met him.”.
In a way, Victor’s death was the only thing that stopped Barkis. He fell in love with her and in a way...she loved him. His death was horrible, yes, but it revealed Barkis as the monster he was, and helped stop him.
And now...after months after being alone without any memory of himself, he was free.
“To be honest, when I first met Victor, it was...interesting.” Gave her one of the biggest frights in her life, “Believe it or not, I was practicing my vows in forest when I spotted a stick. I acted out my vows and proposed. Don’t judge, okay? And he came out from the ground and took me with him to the afterlife!”
There was no point going into serious detail, after all, she mourned Victor so much still.
“He took me to the afterlife and of course I lost my mind over it. I mean, there were so many skeletons and corpses! I swore I was dreaming, but I wasn’t. Believe it or not, they sung to me. I ended up running, but Victor found me shortly after.” Emily gasped as Scraps ran over, jumping onto her lap, “And I met this little sweetheart. Victor’s sweet little Scraps. We spoke for a moment and I…”. Emily stopped, frowning.
“Why can’t you understand? I’m not the woman who wanted to marry you. It was all a mistake. I could never marry you.” The two were shocked by the words that just left her, and a pang of guilt hit Emily as she realized that she said such a hurtful thing.
“I actually got to know him for a bit and I agreed to at last marry him. Though you know I can’t have things only ‘alright’, so we had the wedding ‘upstairs’. You know the rest of the story.”
Victoria nodded a bit, looking at her friend, “I never thought I’d see Victor again...it was all so...startling. Marrying you nonetheless, no offense.” Him actually remembering her brought her such joy in the end… and it gave him such peace knowing they’d be safe.
“He loved us both and knew we’d be safe. We have each other, we’re going to be okay.” Emily said, her optimism spreading to her friend. Victoria held her hand for a moment, sighing softly as she saw the blue butterfly flying away from the window.
Letting out a peaceful sigh, Emily stood up, lifting a confused Victoria up as well. “What are you doing?” Victoria asked.
“Come on, we have to find the Van Dorts. It’s only right they know the truth.”