Wednesday turned and left the Weathervane. The bell on the door let out a sharp jingle behind her, as if playing the final note to her cold verdict.
As if all his bones had been removed, Victor staggered a few steps and slumped heavily back into the booth.
He curled up, clutching his head tightly with both hands, gasping for air in big gulps. Every breath sounded like a drowning man struggling.
He couldn't refute Wednesday's words.
Her words were like an ice-dipped, surgically precise scalpel. Mercilessly, they dissected his layers of disguise, stabbing accurately into his deepest, most guarded core—
The primal fear originating from the childhood lab, 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 terribly. She rushed forward immediately, hugging his trembling body tightly.
She had never seen Victor like this. Stripped of all his flamboyant madness and exaggerated smiles, he was as fragile as glass that could shatter at a touch.
"Victor, what did you mean just now... by dismembered and stitched... what does that mean?" Her voice trembled, her eyes full of fear and confusion.
"No... please... don't ask... don't mention it anymore..." Victor's voice was muffled in the hollow of Enid's shoulder, carrying a broken sob.
Like a young beast grievously wounded by a hunter's trap, capable only of whimpering, he shrank desperately into her embrace, as if trying to draw a tiny bit of warmth from her to ward off the bone-chilling cold.
Enid's heart clenched. She looked up at the pair of giant white eyes quietly peeking out from Victor's shoulder.
Venom's eyes held none of their usual greed or mockery, only a heavy, almost sorrowful calm.
He extended a pitch-black, viscous tentacle and touched it extremely gently to Enid's temple.
"Watch, girl," Venom's low voice seemed to resound directly in the depths of her mind. "See what he has been fighting against... all this time."
BOOM—!!!
Instantly, a massive, dark, suffocating torrent of memories rushed into Enid's mind!
She was violently thrown into a cold, pale world filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant.
The viewpoint became very low, like a child's. She (he) was firmly strapped to a cold operating table, the shadowless lamp stinging her eyes.
A group of people wearing white coats and eerie beak masks surrounded her (him). Their gazes through the glass eyepieces were as cold as if looking at an inanimate object.
The scalpel descended, a flash of cold light.
"AHH—! NO! PLEASE! IT HURTS! MOMMY... MOMMY..." Shrill, heart-rending screams and pleas for mercy burst from her (his) throat, echoing in the empty laboratory.
No one answered. Only the cold sound of metal instruments clinking.
Once, twice, ten times, hundreds of times... the same operating table, the same cold blades, the same screams gradually growing weaker.
Fear was gradually replaced by numbness. Screams turned into silent tears, and finally, even the tears dried up.
Those eyes once filled with fear slowly became hollow. Then, from that hollowness, a trace of strange, twisted light bred...
Later, he began to provoke those "Beak-men" with the most vicious language, until his lips were crudely sewn shut...
The scene switched abruptly! Enid felt herself become the grown-up Victor.
She (he) was holding Wednesday's hand, spinning and dancing madly in a forest clearing scattered with body parts and the smell of blood! Her face bloomed with a smile of extreme excitement, ecstasy bordering on distortion, letting out hearty laughter!
"Great... we can play games together again! This time... this time I must find their 'main nest'! Dig out all the 'chocolates' and eat them!"
But beneath this facade of ecstasy, Enid clearly "felt" the true emotion in the deepest part of Victor's heart—it was an ocean of bone-chilling fear that almost drowned him!
Fear of the resurfacing lab memories, fear of the "Beak-men" appearing again. This fear was so massive it almost burst his heart!
And he could only use all his strength to press all the ecstasy and excitement onto his face like a mask, to cover up the impending panic!
That waltz was an extreme fear performed with madness.
The view switched finally, becoming Venom's perspective.
Night. Victor was asleep.
But his sea of consciousness wasn't peaceful; it surged with pitch-black, ink-like waves representing fear.
Venom's massive black body bobbed in this ocean of fear. He did nothing, only quietly accompanying, bearing the tremors and nightmares from the deepest part of his host's soul.
He devoured his fear, like devouring chocolate, but the taste of this fear was clearly not delicious.
After the Harvest Festival night, these waves became even more violent...
[Memories End]
Venom's tentacle retracted.
Enid snapped back to reality, her face pale as paper. Her body trembled violently uncontrollably, and tears burst forth like a dam breaking.
She finally understood.
Understood his seemingly absurd madness, the endless noise, the pathological reliance on chocolate... everything was to fight against something.
She hugged the still trembling Victor in her arms even tighter, almost using all her strength, as if trying to use her own body heat to dispel the cold chill originating from the depths of his soul.
"I'm sorry... Victor... I'm sorry..." She choked, 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 under his brilliant smile.
Enid patted Victor's back clumsily. Her movements lacked method but carried an almost instinctive tenderness.
She knew she couldn't dispel the fear deeply rooted in his soul. She was just using her small, warm body, time and again, trying to block out that coldness.
Under her soothing, Victor's tense body slowly, extremely slowly, relaxed.
The violent trembling gradually subsided, leaving only subtle, imperceptible shudders between breaths, like ripples on water after a storm.
He still buried his face deeply in the hollow of Enid's shoulder, not looking up, as if that was the only sanctuary that could block all external gazes and harm.
After a long while, he finally spoke, his voice muffled, thick with nasal congestion and incredibly raspy:
"I'm sorry."
This apology was light as a feather, yet heavy enough to make Enid's heart clench painfully.
"Sorry for what!" She shook her head immediately, her voice soft and urgent after crying. "The ones who should be sorry are those bad guys! Not you!"
Victor was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. His voice was still low, but now carried a trace of bitter self-mockery:
"Sorry... for letting you see... such a terrible side."
He paused, adding with difficulty: "Like a useless... scared-witless piece of trash."
"You are not!" Enid retorted immediately, her tone decisive. She even cupped his face with her hands, forcing him to look into her red-swollen but incredibly serious eyes.
"Victor Black is the bravest person I have ever met!" Her voice wasn't loud, but it was filled with unquestionable power.
"You went through such terrible things... You didn't become what they wanted! You didn't become cold or hateful! You're still laughing! Still making noise! Still trying to protect the people you care about!"
Her fingertips gently brushed the corner of his eye, her voice gentle but firm: "You are just... just fighting in your own way. That is not terrible at all. That... that is amazing."
Victor stared at her blankly. Those eyes usually dancing with manic light looked as if washed by water—wet, filled with broken confusion and a trace of... carefully cradled, faint warmth.
He seemed to be searching for something in Enid's firm gaze that could help him piece himself back together.
Finally, extremely slowly and tentatively, he rested his forehead lightly against hers. It was a gesture of reliance, seeking support.
"Really?" he asked softly, his voice carrying imperceptible fragility and hope.
"Really!" Enid nodded vigorously, her forehead rubbing against his. "Truer than chocolate!"
An extremely faint, almost invisible arc struggled to curve at the corner of Victor's mouth.
Like the first crack in a gloomy sky.
A spark of courage was ignited by Enid's clumsy yet sincere words, burning faintly in Victor's cold chest.
It was so small, so fragile, as if it would be swallowed by the dark tide from deep memory the next moment, but it existed—a real light piercing the accumulated haze of fear in his heart.
Only a sliver, but enough.
Victor took a deep breath. That breath no longer carried trembling coldness, but was filled with the sweet, warm air of the cafe.
He stood up, his posture becoming upright again. That familiar, almost overflowing vitality returned to his body language.
A flamboyant, brilliant smile bloomed on his face. This time it wasn't a mask, wasn't a disguise, but real, growing out from that faint light.
"Alright!" he announced, his voice regaining its usual volume and dramatic cadence, but with a layer of calm determination underneath.
"Looks like drowning in self-pity won't solve any problems, right, Venom?"
Venom popped out of his collar, glancing at him with giant white eyes. His tone was still disdainful but seemed more relaxed:
"Finally saying something decent. But if you dare make the taste of fear that strong again, I'm partnering with that goth girl. At least she's emotionally stable."
Victor laughed heartily, the sound uninhibited and real. He reached out and ruffled Enid's hair: "Thanks, Enid. I accept your 'amazing' certification!"
He turned his gaze out the window, looking toward the dense forest deep within Nevermore Academy. His smile faded slightly, his eyes becoming sharp and focused.
"So," he rolled his wrists, his tone relaxed but carrying unquestionable firmness, "it's time to provide our Captain with a little 'logistical support'."
"After all," he winked, that familiar manic light flickering in his eyes again, but this time with a different weight in its depths, "a good Watson doesn't get fired that easily, right?"