Wednesday turned to leave the Weathervane, the bell on the door letting out a sharp, crisp ring behind her, as if sounding the final note of her cold judgment.
Victor looked as if all the bones had been sucked out of him, stumbling a few steps before slumping heavily back into the booth.
He curled up, clutching his head tightly with both hands, gasping for air as if he were a drowning man struggling for breath.
He couldn't refute Wednesday's words.
Her words were like a precision scalpel dipped in ice, ruthlessly peeling away his layers of disguise and accurately piercing his deepest, most guarded core—
The primal fear originating from the childhood laboratory, which he desperately tried to cover and numb with madness, noise, endless chocolate, and everything else he could think of.
"Victor..." Enid's heart ached for him, and she immediately stepped forward to tightly hug his trembling body.
She had never seen Victor like this, stripped of all his flamboyant madness and exaggerated smiles, as fragile as glass that would shatter at a touch.
"Victor, what you two were just talking about... dismembered and sewn back together... what did that mean?" Her voice trembled, her eyes filled with fear and confusion.
"No... please... don't ask... don't mention it again..." Victor's voice was muffled against Enid's shoulder, carrying a broken sob.
He was like a young beast gravely wounded by a hunter's trap, only able to let out a mournful cry, shrinking into her embrace as if trying to draw a bit of warmth from her to ward off the bone-chilling cold.
Enid's heart tightened as she looked up at the huge white eyes quietly peeking out from Victor's shoulder.
There was no greed or playfulness in Venom's gaze now, only a heavy, almost sorrowful calm.
It extended a pitch-black, viscous tentacle and tapped it extremely gently against Enid's temple.
"Watch, girl," Venom's deep voice echoed directly in the depths of her mind. "See what he has been... fighting against all this time."
Boom—!!!
In an instant, a massive, dark, and suffocating torrent of memories surged into Enid's mind!
She was suddenly thrown into a cold, pale world filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant.
Her field of vision became very low, like a child's. She (he) was pinned firmly to a cold operating table, the shadowless lamp stinging her eyes.
A group of people in white coats wearing eerie plague doctor masks surrounded her (him), their eyes through the glass goggles as cold as if looking at an inanimate object.
The scalpel fell, a flash of cold light.
"Ah—! No! Please! It hurts! Mama... Mama..." Shrieking, heart-wrenching screams and pleas for mercy erupted from her (his) throat, echoing in the empty laboratory.
No one responded. There was only the cold clinking of metal instruments.
Once, twice, ten times, a hundred times... the same operating table, the same cold blade, the same screams gradually weakening.
Fear was gradually replaced by numbness, screams turned into silent tears, and finally, even the tears dried up.
Those eyes that were once filled with fear slowly became hollow, and then, from that hollowness, a strange, twisted light began to grow... Later, he began to use the most vicious words to provoke those "Plague Doctor People" until his lips were roughly sewn shut... The scene suddenly shifted! Enid felt herself become the grown-up Victor.
She (he) was holding Wednesday's hand, spinning and dancing wildly in a forest clearing scattered with body parts and the scent of blood! An extremely excited, almost twisted smile of ecstasy bloomed on his face, and he let out a hearty laugh!
"Great... we can play games together again! This time... this time I must find their 'Hive'! I'll dig out all the 'chocolates' and eat them!"
But beneath this facade of ecstasy, Enid clearly "felt" Victor's deepest real emotions—a sea of bone-chilling fear that was nearly drowning him!
The fear of laboratory memories resurfacing, the fear of the "Plague Doctor People" appearing again—this fear was so massive it was nearly bursting his heart!
And he could only use all his strength to press all that ecstasy and excitement onto his face like a mask, covering the panic that was about to overwhelm him!
That waltz was an ultimate fear performed through madness.
The scene shifted one last time, becoming Venom's perspective.
At night, Victor fell asleep.
But his sea of consciousness was not peaceful; it was surging with ink-black waves of fear.
Venom's massive black body drifted in this ocean of fear. It did nothing, only quietly accompanying him, enduring the tremors and nightmares from the deepest part of its host's soul.
It devoured his fear like it devoured chocolate, but the taste of this fear was clearly not delicious.
After the night of the Harvest Festival, these waves became even more turbulent and violent... [Memory Ends]
Venom's tentacle retracted.
Enid snapped out of it, her face as pale as paper, her body trembling uncontrollably as tears instantly burst forth like a broken dam.
She finally understood.
She understood his seemingly absurd madness, his endless noise, his pathological dependence on chocolate... everything was to fight against something.
She hugged the still slightly trembling Victor in her arms even more tightly, almost with all her strength, as if trying to use her own body heat to dispel the bone-chilling cold originating from the depths of his soul.
"I'm sorry... Victor... I'm sorry..." she sobbed, repeating incoherently, "I shouldn't have asked... I didn't know... I didn't know you..."
She finally understood what kind of hell was buried beneath his brilliant smile.
Enid clumsily patted Victor's back; her movements were uncoordinated, yet they carried a nearly instinctive tenderness.
She knew she couldn't dispel the fear deeply rooted in his soul, so she just used her small, warm body to try and block out that coldness over and over again.
Under her comfort, Victor's tense body slowly, extremely slowly, relaxed.
The violent tremors gradually subsided, leaving only a faint, imperceptible shudder in his breath, like ripples remaining on the water's surface after a storm.
He still kept his face buried deep in Enid's shoulder, not looking up, as if it were the only sanctuary that could block out all external gazes and harm.
After a long while, he finally spoke in a muffled, incredibly hoarse voice heavy with nasal congestion:
"I'm sorry."
This apology was as light as a feather, yet so heavy it made Enid's heart suddenly ache.
"What are you sorry for!" She immediately shook her head, her voice carrying the softness and urgency of someone who had just cried. "The ones who should say sorry are those bad guys! Not you!"
Victor was silent for a few seconds before speaking again, his voice still very low, but with an added hint of self-deprecating bitterness:
"I'm sorry... for letting you see... such a terrible side of me."
He paused and added with difficulty, "Like a useless... terrified coward."
"You're not!" Enid immediately retorted, her tone resolute. She even cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look into her red, swollen, yet exceptionally serious eyes.
"Victor Black is the bravest person I've ever met!" Her voice wasn't loud, but it was filled with unquestionable power.
"You went through such terrible things... but you didn't become what they wanted! You didn't become cold or hateful! You're still laughing! Still making noise! Still finding ways to protect the people you care about!"
Her fingertips gently brushed across his moist eyes, her voice tender yet firm: "You're just... just fighting in your own way. That's not terrible at all; it's... it's amazing."
Victor stared at her blankly. Those eyes that were always dancing with mad light were now like they had been washed in water, moist and filled with broken confusion and a... faint, carefully cradled warmth.
He seemed to be looking for something in Enid's steady gaze that would allow him to piece himself back together.
Finally, he extremely slowly and tentatively leaned his forehead against Enid's. It was a gesture of dependence, of seeking support.
"Really?" he asked softly, his voice carrying an imperceptible fragility and hope.
"Really!" Enid nodded vigorously, her forehead rubbing against his. "Truer than chocolate!"
An extremely faint, almost invisible curve struggled to form at the corner of Victor's mouth.
Like the first crack in a gloomy sky.
A small spark of courage was ignited by Enid's clumsy but sincere words, burning weakly in Victor's cold chest.
It was so small and fragile, as if it would be swallowed by the dark tide surging from the depths of his memory at any moment, but it did exist—a sliver of real light piercing through the years of accumulated shadows of fear in his heart.
Only a sliver, but it was enough.
Victor took a deep breath. That breath no longer carried a trembling chill, but was filled with the sweet, warm air of the cafe.
He stood up, his posture becoming upright once again, and that familiar, almost overflowing vitality returned to his body language.
A flamboyant and brilliant smile bloomed on his face. This time, it wasn't a mask or a disguise, but something real, growing out of that sliver of light.
"Alright!" he announced, his voice regaining its usual loudness and dramatic flair, but with an underlying layer of calm determination.
"It seems wallowing in self-pity won't solve any problems, right, Venom?"
Venom popped out from his collar, its huge white eyes glancing at him. Its tone was still full of disdain, but it seemed to have relaxed a bit.
"Finally saying something decent. But if you dare make the scent of fear that thick again, I'll go partner up with that goth girl. At least she's emotionally stable."
Victor laughed heartily, a laugh that was joyful and real. He reached out and ruffled Enid's hair. "Thanks, Enid. I'll take your 'amazing' certification!"
He turned his gaze out the window, looking toward the dense forest deep within Nevermore Academy. His smile faded slightly, and his eyes became sharp and focused.
"Now then," he cracked his wrists, his tone light yet carrying an unquestionable firmness. "It's time to provide some 'logistical support' for our captain."
"After all," he winked, that familiar mad light flickering in his eyes again, but this time with a different weight in its depths. "A good Watson won't be fired that easily, right?"
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