soc_puppet | Fic: The Great Equalizer: 1/1

Fandom: The Corpse Bride
Summary: Victor and Victoria's honeymoon is cut unexpectedly short. Sap, OT3.
Notes: As far as I'm concerned? The whole 'butterfly' thing was just Emily's way of getting back home.
Fic: The Great Equalizer

Emily sighed morosely into her drink. Her afterlife wasn't going at all as she had hoped it would. First there was the incident with Barkus, then there was her not-so-happily-ever-after with Victor. She really didn't have any luck with men.

"New arrivals!" shouted the cook, and a cheer went up from the assembled crowd. Emily glanced up from her drink to see who it was, then did a double-take.

"Hey, you're not new!" the skeleton man accused.

Victor chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I suppose not. But my wife is, you see." Victoria smiled prettily.

"Victor?" Emily asked, allowing herself to hope. Victor was here. Perhaps they could become friends this time. Perhaps things would be better.

"Ah, hello, Emily." Victor said, smiling his familiar nervous smile at her. Emily smiled back, almost cheerfully.

"It's good to see you again," she said. "What brings you here?"

"Well, ah, we were on our honeymoon, you see, a trip to the mountains and..." Victor started, then trailed off.

"We were taking a coach," Victoria explained, picking up where her husband had left off. "And it was raining. The mountain roads can be awfully slippery and there was another coach coming, so we were driven off the road." She smiled somewhat. "I think the driver survived, and the horses."

"Oh. Well, that's good to hear, I guess." Emily shifted uncomfortably. Victoria elbowed her husband lightly in the side. Victor coughed, embarrassed.

"Anyway, we got here and we were talking--Victoria and I were, that is--we were talking about how much you'd done for us, and what you meant to us, and what we were thinking is... Well, we were thinking maybe we could give it a chance."

"Give what a chance?" Had Emily's heart been able to beat, it would have been doing double-time.

"We were thinking," Victoria said, taking one of Victor's hands and one of Emily's, "that maybe we could be a... family together. All three of us."

Emily stared at the two of them. "You were? Really?"

"Yes," Victor said, sounding hardly nervous at all.

"And we could all--?"

Victoria nodded. "It was my idea. I thought--that we could all share each other."

"Even..." Emily licked her lips. "Even me?"

Victoria smiled at her. "Yes."

"Well," said Emily, smiling with genuine happiness. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. Come, let's have a drink to celebrate!" Another rousing cheer went up from the crowd, and drinks were shoved at the three of them from all directions. Victor and Victoria smiled at Emily, and she smiled back, pulling a mug closer. It was the first day of the rest of their afterlives, and Emily planned to make every second count.

--Fin--

The happy ending they didn't get in the movie. I'm satisfied now.

...Wow, only five hours after watching it, too. A new record! Hope I got the characterization about right ^^a

Was anyone else thinking of would-be drag queens while watching the movie, or was it just me? (Actually, I kept on thinking of Frankenstein, too, but I think his fiancee was named Elizabeth.)