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"Leaving already?"
Victor had been out on the balcony, observing the calm waters of the Seine as they reflected the sunlight just beginning to peek over the horizon. A sight he'd seen thousands of times before, from hundreds of different balconies, some his own, some not. He stroked his beard. He'd heard his most recent bedmate rise some ten minutes ago, silent, deciding whether or not to intervene, most likely. Even the turmoil of the world would have to try its damnedest to stop him from frivolous flings– the most entertaining kind.
He kept his eye on the riverside as the balcony doors opened further. He was sure he remembered this woman's name, just not immediately.
"Did I wake you?" He certainly hadn't. Not when he'd been fully dressed and with all of his gear on twelve minutes before she so much as stirred under the blankets. "My apologies, the morning is just so beautiful. Wouldn't you agree?"
She was silent a moment longer. Victor had her looks memorized, had since they first met eyes over twinkling night lights and a thin veneer of fog and cigarette smoke that made the air hazy like a walking dream. She had a delicate sort of beauty; graying locks that fell over her shoulders, olive skin, aging like a fine, fragrant wine. Mature enough to know when not to get attached.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Victor chuckled. The answer was clear. She only wanted him to say it.
He had greater worries than seeking out some form of permanent domesticity. War was still raging across the world, even after Jin Kazama had relinquished control of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Even after Heihachi had once again found himself dead, perhaps more permanently this time. Each moment of peace was borrowed, tied to an invisible hourglass with sand that slipped by faster and faster before the inevitable. Those who hungered for power were never truly full, and an organization lacking in bite could do nothing but roll over in the face of that hunger.
“You didn’t answer mine.”
Another stretch of silence. Victor turned to her. She had a lilac silk robe on, nothing more. Hair haphazardly shaken into place. Rosalie, that was it. He looked to the river again, slowly illuminating in the sun.
“If businesses like G Corporation continue to have their way, there won’t be any more peaceful mornings like these. I take that quite personally."
She moved closer, further from the balcony doors. Victor held the railing with one hand, the other resting at his hip. The hilt of his karambit was near undetectable under his coat.
“It’s very easy to live in the now. In the rays of the sun, unobscured by the clouds of war. But it is only a matter of time before that warmth becomes a distant memory, should no one rise to the occasion of defending it. Defending the balance of the world and the future as a whole.”
“And do you plan to do all of that on your own?”
He chuckled again.
“No. Of course not. I have many different allies at my side who have all agreed these things are worthy of protecting.”
Victor turned to her once more, this time allotting her all of his attention. There was an unspoken plea in her eyes, asking him to stay, to put all else behind him. That look never worked. But, despite himself, he enjoyed the way those silent suggestions pulled at him. He freed a hand to brush her hair aside, trail his fingers along her jaw and tilt her chin up slightly.
“You’ll come to desire the sunlight much more than you desire me.”
She huffed, the ghost of a smile on her lips. Perhaps Victor would see her again sometime.
“I suppose those rumors about you were true.”
Ah. Perhaps not.
When Victor drew away from her again, she closed her robe tighter around herself. Enough of a sign that she was no longer looking for an answer and instead prepared to part ways. The day was young and there were many matters to see to. He pulled his shades free from his coat pocket, glanced at the rising sun once again through the lenses.
“You have many more dawns and dusks ahead of you. I'll make sure of that.”
She smiled again, wry this time, an air of desire behind it.
"Well then, next time you can cut all the grandiose talk and simply say you aren't planning to stay for coffee."
Victor watched her as she turned away. A a slight breeze blows and catches the ends of her robe with it. When she looked back, approaching the balcony doors, Victor had already vanished. A phantom.