Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis)

Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:55 am

It was still too unreal. His hand in hers, his thumb stroking her skin in a manner ten years hadn't managed to make her forget. And all she wanted was to stay like this forever, held securely to the one person that mattered, that had always been crucial in forming her own identity.

Ever since she had started to understand the meaning of things, Vanessa had known that she and Louis were supposed to be together. The exact formula hadn't worked itself out until she had matured enough to understand words like "promised", "betrothed" and "love" meant but even without that knowledge, it was always just the two of them.

It was the only way the world could possibly work.

The entering of the butler went completely noticed by her as the brunette concentrated on something much more important. The feeling of being whole again. When he moved, the witch instinctively tightened her hold on him, only to realize he was steering them towards the sofa.

Panic gripped her once more because sitting would mean she had to move away from him, move away from him again and then he would be gone again. Gone for years and years and she would go back to being the empty, hollow thing she had become in his absence.

But this time, he didn't let her go, scooping her neatly into his lap instead as she still clung to him, his thumb still rubbing reassuring circles on the back of her hand.

"I didn't want to leave you, Ven." Louis whispered, his thumb still brushing the back of her hand. "They wouldn't let me see you, nobody at all..."

"J'ai essayé," she somehow managed between sobs, head head still buried in his chest as she cried. "L'aurait pas me laisser." In broken sobs, Vanessa managed to convey how she had gone to Dominic for help. How she had left her wand behind in her hurry. How she had been locked, stunned and sedated only to be told later that he had left without saying goodbye.

"Je ne les ai pas cru," she finished, finally looking at him him through tear filled grey eyes. ""Not once. Ever..."

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Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) - Page 2 Rsz_ve10

Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:55 am

The story of how she tried to get to him the day he had been pulled from school was one Louis listened to in silence. The hatred for his own brother had been present since he was expelled from school, fuelled more in the knowledge he would take Louis' place at Vanessa's side. But now... now it was so much more than that. The bastard had trapped her from him, hurt her and fed her with lies and that much Louis could not take.

Had the man not been more worried about hurting Vanessa, his hands would have clenched in to fists at the betrayal of his own brother. A brother who no longer warranted such a title in his mind. Vanessa had not asked for trouble, she'd asked to see him one last time and Dominic had hurt her instead. "Je suis désolé." Louis whispered as she managed to tell him that she had never believed them. But she had, Vanessa was saving his feelings, but the lack of letters told him exactly what he needed to know.

His family had fed her lies, and she had believed them.

Louis allowed for a pause before his free hand moved to the one joined with hers, carefully letting her go for a mere moment as he took off the perfectly white material, resting them in her lap. The marks when he had taken the skin off his knuckles to try and get to her remained there to this day, his skin slightly more pale where the scars had formed. Louis didn't look at her as he began his side of the story to Vanessa, how they'd summoned him to the Headmaster's office, explained how Dominic had turned him in. How they'd refused to let him see her despite his pleading with them, how he'd tried to physically get through the door until his hands were raw and bloody.

Louis explained how they'd had to drag him from the grounds as he screamed for her to come to him. How nobody would listen throughout the whole ordeal to anything he said. When Louis reached the part about how their Grandmere had told him that Vanessa and Dominic would get married, Louis couldn't help but look to her for confirmation that it hadn't happened. Though he already knew that if she was here, it wouldn't be Dominic. Then, with one final act of courage, he pulled up his sleeve and showed her the mark he had been left with from the Grandmere for the moment he had told her that nobody could take Vanessa away from him.

"The night they left me at the army barracks, I sat next to the fence in the pouring rain, waiting for you to come to me. Nobody had noticed me until the next morning. I was still waiting, cold, soaked to the bone, but waiting. It was the same each night for a week, and then they made sure I couldn't get to the fence. Locking me in my room at night." Louis concluded, not having any strength left to look up from his hands. "I never gave up hope though, I was sure you would come eventually... and then I realised that it wasn't you who had that promise to keep. I was the one who let you down...

"But... I'm here now."

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Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:56 am

Pain was evident in every single tear shed between the two as Vanessa finished her story and Louis began his. Both their tales punctuated only by an apology he didn't have to make and one she would never be able to make enough times. As he listened to him telling his version, removing his gloves in the process, another shuddering sob escaped the woman, her hand reaching out to cradle his once more.

Without thinking, the witch brought his knuckles up to her lips, kissing them each in turn before giving the same treatment to the scars on his wrist. Grandmere's stinging hexes were instantly cognizable and in that moment, Vanessa had never hated the woman more.

"The night they left me at the army barracks, I sat next to the fence in the pouring rain, waiting for you to come to me..."

"I didn't know where you were..." the brunette replied brokenly. "They wouldn't t-tell me." She had tried everything over the coming months. She had tried screaming, fighting, begging, pleading, threatening. For anything, just an address she could write to. But they had been unrelenting, telling her to concentrate on her new future.

No one had realized that Louis was her past, present and future.

"The sent me a-away and I couldn't g-go back because..." She couldn't say it, couldn't express the horrible feel of disgust that rose in her every time she thought of Dominic, of his sickly, shaking hands on her person. So instead, Vanessa dd what she'd always done, curl into Louis more, hiding into him until all bad things went away.

"I never gave up hope though, I was sure you would come eventually... and then I realized that it wasn't you who had that promise to keep."

"Je suis une mauvaise personne," she admitted softly, reaching up softly to make him look at her, her eyes full of a kind of emotion she hadn't felt in ten years. "S'il vous plaît pardonnez-moi."

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Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:56 am

"I didn't know where you were..." the brunette replied brokenly. "They wouldn't t-tell me."

"I know. I know so very well what they did now." Louis assured her, watching her kiss the scars that had been self-inflicted so many years ago now. But he was glad he had them, it meant he could not go a day without a reminder that he had tried. Even if it looked like he had outwardly given up, he never stopped thinking about her. Worrying about her and everything she was doing. Being subjected to.

The moment she mentioned being a bad person, Louis shook his head at her for saying such things. "Vous n'êtes pas une mauvaise personne, Ven. Vous êtes ma ... ma personne." Louis amended, because if she was a bad person then he did not know what he was any more. He was no saint, he knew that, but Louis had done everything for what he believed to be the right reason. To this day he still believed he had done the right thing. His family honour was on the verge of being tarnished and he had done what was necessary. Relayed a message of necessity.

Though he would always wonder if he'd had done the same if Vanessa hadn't left his bed that night. If he'd spoken to her about it instead... No, it was not her fault only his.

"Je n'ai jamais tenu aucun blâme contre n'importe qui, mais moi-même. Je t'aime seulement, Vanessa, ne vous blâme pas."

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~ Lord Clement ~ Profile ~ 55 ~

Thank you to the amazing Ruby for the signatures! <3

Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:57 am

"I know. I know so very well what they did now."

The witch shook her head, curling into Louis even more because despite what he thought, he didn't not know what they'd done. And it was better that way. Better that all the pain in the universe could be encapsulated in her so none of it would ever touch him.

Except that he had always know when she was hurting. Trying to isolate her emotions from Louis was as straightforward as it had been ten years ago. Straightforwardly impossible. As the tears continued to flow, refusing to end, the witch tried to make herself as small as possible cradled to him. In a perfect world she would be fifteen again and he would be able to protect her from the world.

Protect her from everyone.

But they didn't live in a world of dreams, just nightmares that had lasted ten years. Nightmares which Vanessa had made her peace with, accepting them as her punishment for losing the most precious part of her life, until today when Louis had walked through the doors.

"Je n'ai jamais tenu aucun blâme contre n'importe qui, mais moi-même. Je t'aime seulement, Vanessa, ne vous blâme pas."

"Please don't leave this time..." she pleaded in a broken whisper, unsure if she was begging the fates or the man that held her. Vanessa would have begged anyone if the results were what she wanted. "Je ne peux pas vivre sans toi... il est difficile de respirer sans vous... Please..."

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Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:57 am

Louis sat waiting for her to calm down in his lap, his head resting on top of hers as his eyes watched the steam from the tea pot rise. But even that could only last so long and eventually the steam stopped rising. The only constant being the childlike figure of Vanessa curled in to his frame that would never feel out of place even if they were parted for thirty years, because some things were just meant to be.

"Please don't leave this time..."

Louis moved to kiss the side of her head, the only reassurance he could give her. "I can't offer you anything, Ven. I'm not supposed to be here. Your... I... If you want... Me to stay, it'll ruin your social standing, Ven. But if that's what you want, then I will stay until you tell me to leave." He whispered, uncertain with everything that surrounded them, but incapable of causing her pain all over again.

"Je ne peux pas vivre sans toi... il est difficile de respirer sans vous... Please..."

"I'm here. Always here." The man whispered in reply, she would know what he meant. She was the only one who could understand. He'd missed too long to go away, despite him being here only likely to give her more hassle than he was worth. With a trembling hand, he moved his fingers to her chin, pressing her face up towards his as his lips descended on hers. It was so tentative it could have been missed. But she was so precious he could afford to hurt her.

"I never got a chance... I love you, Ven, more than I can ever put in to words." He whispered against her lips, bringing their joined hands to his chest and pressing her hand over his heart. There was no way he could tell her how whole he felt right now, but she would know, Vanessa always knew.

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~ Lord Clement ~ Profile ~ 55 ~

Thank you to the amazing Ruby for the signatures! <3

Subject: Re: Woodstock, Oxfordshire - 1998 (Louis) Sun Dec 12, 2021 11:58 am

"I can't offer you anything, Ven. I'm not supposed to be here. Your... I... If you want... Me to stay, it'll ruin your social standing, Ven."

"Don't care," the witch managed, clinging to him harder. Social standing had been important once upon a time when she was being trained to uphold the prestige of House Clement. It had been important because her behavior would reflect on Louis growing up. Now, it was an act her father insisted she play out because there was nothing else to do. Empty places, empty people, empty conversations.

"I'm here. Always here."

The words left his lips, only to be embraced by her before they could get away, float and dissipate in the air. He had promised her once that he would never leave her alone but the world had been unkind, far too unkind to them. This time she would not let him go.

Because any problems they faced together would be better than staying without each other. If the last fifteen years had taught Vanessa anything, it was that life without Louis simply did not work.

As the man slowly reached out to lift her face, Vanessa's tear washed grey orbs met his, finding something in his eyes she thought she had lost forever.

Herself.

It was impossible that his lips hadn't changed in the time they'd been apart. But as he kissed her in the withdrawing room, an age away from what they'd once been, the world reversed.

And they were once again fifteen, and the rest of the world didn't matter.

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