Beauty and the Beast | Vergil Sparda x reader

Chapter 24 - A Year

He doesn't think you've noticed, but you have.

Actively lowering his voice, and speaking with more respect when addressing the servants. As well as stopping from raising his voice at them, albeit with a growl, but it's still progress. You're still proud of him. Even with that he's been more... quiet and in his head. No, not in his normal self destructive way. Thoughts swirl in his eyes, but not the storm clouds from before. He hasn't tried to isolate himself either, in fact, he seemingly tries to keep you with him whenever he can.

His hands and eyes linger on you much longer than they normally do, offering forms of affection you never knew he'd ever want to express. It's like you've opened his mind, made him realize that- you are not temporary, you aren't going to leave. And your own theory is that he's grappling with the fact that the rest of his life here doesn't have to be gloomy and miserable. He can have more.

Just as the fall weather had come, it left as it got closer to late October- and the day you had been offered up to him as a lamb. The bitter cold and thick powdery snow coating the landscape, and instead of fear from the overwhelming isolation, you greeted it with a smile as if it were an old friend. The cold rolled in with quilt thick storm clouds, every few days a few more inches. Suzie had been very open with you about her using the moon to tell the dates all these years, and to you that made everything all the less confusing.

You'd finally managed to score a few hours away from your love, for as much as your heart beats for him, the feeling of his smothering attention as of recent is- well- smothering. You had decided to take a walk through the halls, them being a more pleasant place since you had taken the time to pull all of the curtains up. In the distance you hear the light clacking of shoes, and from the speed you know it isn't an echo of your own.

Turning the corner you come face to face with your friend. "Oh Madam!" Her face is bright with delight. "I'm so glad I found you, I don't know what you said to his highness but..." You cock an eyebrow. "Oh?" "Just now, he came to me and- Very politely, albeit awkward- tried to discuss having something special put on for you as a celebration for the year anniversary of you being here." Your eyes widen, cheeks flooding with warmth like the embers of a fire sparking up once more. Your heart pounds a bit in your chest.

"Did he now?" You felt the tickle of laughter in the back of your throat as she started to giggle herself. "Awe, You're flustered!" You shake your head, completely embarrassed that she could tell. And here you thought you'd gotten good at hiding it. "No! I just-"

The two of you sat in the large room where all of the food rations were kept, cross legged on top of crates while she peeled an apple with a small knife. "What exactly do you want to do? It is a big day after all." You shrug your shoulders, looking around at the shelves full of dried spices and goods. Even in your previous line of work, you still hadn't seen this much food in one place. How did they ever stop it from going bad? "I don't really see the point in celebrating it, then again I've never been one for celebrations."

"I've never had a birthday celebration either." Suzie's hands stop peeling at the apple, looking up at you in shock. "Oh lord, I lived in absolute squalor and I even had something done for my birthday." You laugh along with her. "That's the thing, I never wanted it. I would beg daddy not to do anything, no cake after dinner, don't sing to me, nothing. I hated all that unnecessary attention, I hadn't done anything to warrant it." She cuts a slice out of the apple and hands it to you. "You lived."

Taking it, you take a bite out of it. "Yeah, but what did I do to deserve that? My siblings had bright futures ahead of them and they- well, they didn't. All that was in my future, as the youngest, was to inherit the shop. And I did that." it all hits you at once, the feelings you've been holding back.