Chapter Text
Madness had taken hold of him once more. The fever, the singular vision- even if it wasn't nearly so consuming as it had been with his- the creature. He had to complete this request, as much as he had put it off. Gods, he'd extended his due date so long, it was a wonder that that monstrous creature hadn't already started dispatching his loved ones. How could he trust the words of a monster when it had already shed innocent blood?
His darling little William...
Victor's hands shook but he pulled them away from the- the Bride before he could damage her. He bent, gasping through the agony in his chest. He had not been the one to end his little brother's life but it was still his fault. He'd created that devilish thing, and now William and Justine were dead. He did not think himself wrong from running that first night. Would not any man run from horror? But he regretted his notes, the ones that allowed the creature to know him. He regretted detailing his toil, every moment he spent painstakingly putting that creature together.
The first of his errors. All that time spent finding the best- most handsome parts. He remembered how often his body ached, how his fingers throbbed from the unending stitching. In comparison, this Bride didn't get even a fourth of the same care. Yet he still tried to make the Bride good enough. He still had pride in his work no matter how much he hated and quaked at the sight of his surgical instruments.
He never thought he would ever pick them up again, especially not to make another monster.
He never would have if not for the threat towards his family- even with the compassion he'd somehow felt towards the creature that had wandered so far from his 'birth'. Why- why should he feel any compassion!? Being rejected from the world because of his stature and looks- it was a lonely existence. But that was not his fault! He'd chosen the most handsome parts! He worked his fingers to the bone to stitch every part!
And here he was, hunted down and coerced. Even now he swore he felt those daemon eyes upon him. Victor moaned, clutching his aching head. He felt sick, woozy and weak- but he still had work to do.
Victor made himself stand, swallowing back his nausea, and continued stitching the last line. When he snipped off the last thread, the Bride was finished- only missing one thing. A womb. He could not allow her to give birth to undead children. He couldn't put that upon the world no matter what. But other than that, she would be his family's savior. Seeing the Bride finished, he found the disturbing and hideous thing almost beautiful- purely for the role she would play.
Eager to be done, to know that his family would be safe, he flipped the switch of his apparatus.
The Bride twitched and jerked before her eyes snapped open. Victor laughed, breathless. It worked! It had not just been luck! Victor grinned widely and reached out, cupping that ugly face.
"Welcome- to the land of the living!" He said, his eyes crinkling from how wide his smile was,"You, my family's savior..."
It was obvious that she didn't understand. Her blackened eyes -the opposite of the creature's yellow- slowly blinked. Then her mouth shakily raised in its stitched corners. It was ugly in his eyes- somehow she was more revolting than the creature, yet he had chosen pretty parts for her too. She pressed into his touch and he almost shuddered in disgust but forced back the physical reaction. He needed to be gentle right now and shoving her away was not that.
Strange that there was no fear of her like he had with the creature- only pure disgust.
"Will you be his Eve?" He murmured so softly, keeping his voice gentle as to not frighten her. It truly wouldn't do for her to run off in fright, taking his family's salvation with her, "Or a Lilith? Though I did not think of him as Adam but Noah. Made to Shepard humanity into a new age..."
It was oddly depressing, how wrong his original purpose was distorted. The creature he made, he never thought past the ending success but in doing that, his brother and nanny were both dead. His family's lives hung in the balance.
Would it always? Will this Bride take one look at the creature and run? Or would she stay and be the creature's wife as he'd so wanted.
A wife for a man.
A mate for a beast.
Exactly as the creature said.
"You will endeavor to keep him content, won't you?" He whispered, stroking her awful feeling cheeks -cold and strangely clammy. He hated it-, "My family's safety relies on-!"
The cottage door burst open and Victor nearly screamed in fright. He crashed against the Bride without a thought besides getting away from the threat. The Bride let out a strange sound that was like a banshee's wail, a supposed scream of her own. Things happened too fast and Victor found himself on his back, feet away from the Bride. He heard a beastly roar and wailing sounds. When he looked up, horror filled him.
The Creature was tearing the Bride apart.
"NO!" Victor shouted, "You wretched beast! What are you doing?! She was ready!"
Now she wasn't. The Bride lay in pieces on the ground. This- There was no way he could fix her without starting over. Her parts weren't just ripped but broken. Victor mindlessly crawled to where her head was but before he could touch it, he was lifted. He gasped, choking on a pained groan as his bruised back hit the table that previously held the Bride.
"WHY?!" The Creature shouted, agony in his voice, "Seconds old and you fawned! Why?! Why did she get your affections and touch!?"
Victor's eyes widened, incredulous.
"You-! You destroyed your bride because I- touched her?! Because you thought I cared for her?!" Fury filled Victor's chest. All that work, all that fear, for nothing!
"I did not care for her even an ounce! Comparing how much I put into creating you verses her- it's incomparable! The only reason I showed any 'care' was because she was to be your bride!!" His chest was heaving with his anger, his face flushed with rage, "I did as I said I would. I made you your bride- and you destroyed her! I should have known not to trust your word!"
His face was suddenly grabbed and the creature's face was too close. How angry he was that there was no room for disgust.
"No. I still require a companion- a mate. But now I know I do not want just any person. No, my Bride must be one person, Creator. You."
Victor froze, his mind refusing to comprehend the- ridiculousness of the Creature's words. But then the Creature kept speaking. That cold, stitched hand stroking his face and tracing his features.
"Can you do it, My Creator? You made that woman to keep your family. Can you bear to be my companion for the same?"
"Insolent-!!" Victor couldn't even say more, his rage was too great. Curse the day he succeeded in his Creature's creation!! He tried to hit the creature but the hulking beast gripped his wrists in one large hand and pinned them above his head. He arched, trying to buck the creature off him. The wretched beast only pressed him down harder. The cold line of the creature's body overwhelming his own. He had made the creature too large, proportionate to his eight foot frame.
"Insolent, impertinent, beastly, wretched. Call me all you wish, Creator. I am all of this because of you."
"Do not blame your baseness on me! I did not teach you such things!"
"You did not teach me at all!"
"I was frightened!" Victor matched the creature's loudness, his heart pounding, "I made you as the Shepard- my Noah of Ark! But you- deadened eyes and looming over my bed as I slept vulnerable. You reached like a specter of death- of course I ran!!" It was all spilling out, sleepless nights and constant fear loosening his tongue.
"And I see that I was not wrong to do so! Two years since I laid eyes upon you and my first true interaction with you- YOU MURDERED MY BROTHER!! You framed our beloved nanny! All for his last name you condemned an innocent child to death! Yet you scorn my hatred- do you have the right?!"
"You made me-!"
"And I regret it!" Victor shouted right back, traitorous tears in his eyes, "Curse the day I made you- and curse that I actually felt compassion for the life you led despite the horror you wrought upon my family! Here I am now, being coerced once more to spare the little family I have left. I made you your bride but jealousy overcame and you tore her apart just because I touched her."
"Then feel compassion once more." The creature entreated, pressing his large head to Victor's chest without releasing the man, "I will keep my word so long as it is you who joins me. Maker, my Creator- pity or compassion, I care not. I will no longer harm another. I will not seek anyone but you. My Creator- join me and I will be ever gentle."
Rage still flowed through Victor's veins but he forced himself not to react. He made himself breathe instead, striving to ignore the heavy smell of iron and focus on that strangely pleasant woodsy musk that lingered just under.
How tired he was already. He wanted to be free from this torment. He wanted to hear his dear Henry's soothing words, see Elizabeth's bright smile; feel his father's calming touch.
"To what end, Creature. Will you not soon tear me apart as you did your bride?" Victor slowly said, an emptiness replacing the anger that had burned so hot.
"No!" The creature shouted into his chest, "No, I will keep you and- and you can learn to care for me again. You put every part of me together, chose every piece. Can you not show affection to your creature once more?"
"I might have once, but you stained your hands with the blood of my family."
The creature's breathing grew ragged and he felt wetness upon his chest. Victor pressed his lips together but did not try to fight this farce of a hug, caught as he was. He did not have even a fraction of the same monstrous strength the creature had.
Then the creature raised his head, staring with wild and desperate eyes, "You said I was to be your Noah- I can be that!"
"You were my Noah. Now-..." Victor didn't even know anymore. Was the creature Lucifer? The most beautiful angel- fallen to become ruler of hell? Accurate in part. Lucifer fell for not wishing to worship any above God. And here, they had both fallen because of sin. The sin of rewriting death and the sin of blood spilled.
"No- No! I refuse! We can not be so heavily torn! You will see! I will show you!" The Creature swore and Victor's heart stuttered, that elusive fear coming back.
"What are you-?!" Victor nearly bit his tongue as he was lifted again- as if he weighed no more than a single feather. His face fell into the furs of the creature's garb and he groaned. The sudden change dizzied him. He scrambled to push himself up but fell back down. His few months without caring for his physical body was quickly making itself known. Though not nearly the same excited haze as for the creature, he'd still neglected to eat or sleep.
His eyes fluttered, his head heavy, "C-Creature I-..." his voice was weak and he distantly felt the creature tense. Then he was flying again. Victor saw the creature's face for just a moment before it became too much. Darkness took over and swallowed him whole.