CANNOT BE SEEN

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A/N: OK, so, Hi everyone! I wrote this story because, really, after I saw the Village for the first time I was surprised and disappointed that the story ended so abruptly...as I'm sure many were... and of course I LOVE Lucius/Ivy...so... I decided to write this! It pretty much takes off from the end of the film. So, please, read and enjoy!...and review!

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Chapter 1

"The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning, after which sadness and impossibility may become the rule." Anita Brookner

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The air was thick with the now pungent smell of medicine. It drenched the air so fully that to take a breath was to taste the acrid medicament on your tongue. Though it no longer bothered Ivy Walker, she scarce but noticed it. Her unseeing eyes were trained on the only other being in the room. He lay on the bed completely still, save for his shallow breathing. The stark white sheets were tucked in around him, his face was slack with sleep, and his brow was slightly creased as if something was troubling his dreams. Lucius Hunt.

The doctor had administered the medicine Ivy had brought back several days ago, but Lucius had yet to wake. The doctor said that the medicine would 'take time...' the rest of the sentence was never spoken aloud, 'if it even works at all'. He had been very close to death, Ivy knew, and she prayed with every fiber of her being that he would pull through. He was everything to her. But it was all up to Lucius now, they had done everything they could, Lucius had to will himself awake. And Ivy knew he would...they had but to wait a little longer...and she knew he would awake for her.

She shifted slightly in her chair, propping her wary head up with her arm, and yawned delicately. It was early morning, the sun had just barely began to light the sky, Ivy knew because she could hear, as if in another world, the sounds of the men working the barn animals or the children out to play and the shouts of their parents, the sounds of early morning. A chill made its way down her back and she pulled her dress tighter around herself. She had been sitting up in the chair all night, sometimes getting up to pace around the room, she knew the room so well now, she didn't need a cane. The afternoon before, she had fallen asleep in her chair and had woken up, distressed at first to wonder if Lucius was alright, but rested. That, of course, had gradually worn off and now she was feeling the effects of such little sleep in the past few days.

Her father and Lucius's mother, Alice Hunt, would come in often, sometimes sitting up with her, and always offering to take over her post while she had a rest. She always refused. Sometimes she would fall asleep in her chair and her father would carry her to the only spare bed in the Hunt's house. She always woke up in a panic and stumbled down the hall back to Lucius's room, making sure his condition had not changed for the worse. She was always relieved to find it hadn't, but at the same time, saddened. She wished his condition would change. She hoped one day to stumble into his room and find him sitting up, and feel him staring at her with his deep expressive eyes.

And now Ivy wished for Lucius to simply stir. To roll over in his sleep, to cry out, anything. She pulled her chair closer to the bed and reached out with a shaking hand to the colored aura of Lucius. Almost fearful of hurting him, she gently stroked his soft brown hair. She was slightly surprised by the warmth that radiated from him. Ivy had been convinced he would be cold to the touch, but he was warm, as always. His color got more vibrant by the day, and Ivy took it as a good sign. A very good sign. She pulled her hand away after a moment and stood up.

Sighing, she turned away, looking sightlessly out of the window toward what she knew was the dark Covington woods. The journey she had weathered through those woods burned freshly on her mind and she sighed once more, rubbing her tired eyes.

A moan broke through her reverie. Ivy turned around quickly with a startled gasp and watched Lucius's color move, tossing.

"Lucius" She exhaled quietly, moving quickly to the bed, forgetting the chair was between where she stood and Lucius, she tripped over its leg and collapsed into the side of the bed as the chair skidded across the floor and clattered to the floor.

The noise provoked another moan from the form on the bed, and then a flurry of noise from a few doors down the hall, But Ivy was now breathing hard, sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at Lucius, oblivious to all else.

"Lucius" She repeated reaching out to touch the side of his face.

"Mmph...I-...I-Ivy" His voice was raspy and jagged, slurred and muffled, and so very quiet.

"Lucius" Ivy gasped and stroked the side of his face, tears filling her eyes.

The door burst open and Alice Hunt staggered in.

"What has happened?" She asked breathlessly, not knowing what to expect from the noise she had heard form her room and then she took in the sight in front of her.

"Oh, Lucius!" She cried out and rushed towards the bed, leaning down to kiss her son's slightly fevered forehead.

"M-Mother...?" Lucius turned his head with a slightly painful grimace and squinted at his mother.

"Yes, Lucius, it is I" His mother whispered and pushed the hair off Lucius's forehead. She stared at him with tears in her eyes, doing a better job of keeping them at bay than Ivy, who's were now sliding unchecked down her face.

"Do you feel pain, my son?" Alice asked in a slightly choked voice.

He shook his head, as if to dismiss the questions but winced a little and stopped with the pain of it.

"A little" he admitted with a slightly strained voice. Alice nodded, pressing her lips together firmly and stood up with a last tearful kiss to his hair.

"I'm going to go fetch the doctor, Lucius, do not move about."

He made a movement as if to nod but stopped short and his mother left the room with haste.

He turned his head ever slightly to the right and looked up at Ivy, when he saw the tears on her face his heart clenched.

"Ivy" He pushed the word past his dry, cracked lips and reached a weak shaking hand up to brush the tears from her cheeks.

She let out a half-sob and took Lucius's hand in her own, still quite afraid to damage him.

"Oh, Lucius, I was so worried." Ivy stated in a strangled voice as an explanation for her crying.

"Shh, I am fine" He whispered back in as soothing a voice as he could muster in his state.

"I love you" She said, the words nearly concealed by another sob and she leaned down to kiss the corner of Lucius's mouth.

"And I love you" He whispered weakly back, kissing the hand that held his own.

Ivy smiled through her tears and slowly dropped to kneel by the bed.

"Everything is going to be right, just rest" She murmured comfortingly, pulling herself closer to the bed and wiping her slightly red eyes.

Just then a muted scuffle was heard from the hall and then the doctor, Alice Hunt, and Edward Walker entered the room.

The Doctor was immediately by the side of the bed, leaning over Lucius. Edward put his hands on his daughter's shoulders and squeezed them tightly with a smile on his face, but before he could even speak the doctor straightened up and starting pulling things from his large black bag.

Addressing the others in the room, he spoke. "You all must leave whilst I examine him and tend to his wounds."

Ivy immediately tensed, she did not want to leave Lucius, if only for a moment.

Alice nodded in reluctant consent and stood, taking one last look at her son, before quietly removing herself from the room.

Mr. Walker gently started to pull Ivy away from the bed. "Of course. Come, Ivy"

Ivy reached out to Lucius and tried to evade her father's grasp, crying out "Papa!"

Panic tore at her heart; she did not want to leave her beloved.

Lucius sucked in a painful breath, watching Ivy struggle with her father and reached up slowly to touch her hand.

She squeezed his hand before letting it drop and nodding in unspoken acquiescence. Her father lead her from the room and she stared at the color of Lucius until the door closed and all she could see was black. She turned back to the color of her father.

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The damp morning air stung Ivy's cheeks, whipping her hair across her face. The grass was wet and frigid with the early dew that clung to her bare feet. The crisp icy wind chilled her to the bone. The smell of smoke and burning wood tickled her nose.

Still, she did not want to go back inside. When she left Lucius's room she sat at the table with Alice and her father. Alice had hugged Ivy to her and told her how happy she was that Ivy had gone to the towns to gather medicine to heal her son. She went on about how brave she was to have done it and how it had helped. Her father tried to soothe her as well, but she wanted only to get away. So she excused herself and they reluctantly promised to inform her when the doctor was finished.

And here she stood, freezing, in the gloomy early day, trying to organize her thoughts. Her precious Lucius had finally awoken and her heart had never felt such happiness. A smile spread suddenly across her face. They would soon be able to marry. To share their lives completely, to be together for the rest of their lives. She had never wanted anything more in her life. She had never felt so much love for anyone in her life. And now everything would turn out right.

Ivy turned and carefully made her way up the few steps and into the Hunts' home. Slowly she entered the house and moved towards the kitchen but was stilled by the hushed voices of her father and Mrs. Hunt. Knowing it was wrong, she still took a step closer to the voices, trying to make out the words. She couldn't. But, she could hear the tone in which they spoke. It was the tone in which Ivy and Lucius spoke to each other. A tone filled with care...love. Lucius had been right; Ivy could feel the tension between the two, even as she stood there out of eavesdropping distance. She smiled knowingly and turned back, skimming her hand along the wall, feeling her way towards Lucius's room.

Once she made it to his door she leaned in to hear the quiet voice of the doctor before leaning away and taking a seat on the floor just opposite the door that separated her from her love.

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"Ivy"

She was being shaken awake by her father.

"...Papa?" Ivy blinked.

"The doctor is finished examining Lucius, you may go back inside." His gentle voice broke through her cloud of grogginess. She must have fallen asleep waiting for the doctor to come out. She was huddled against the wall and she grasped out for her father's hand and pushed herself up.

She could see Lucius's color through the doorway and she let go of her father, making her way carefully towards the bed, stretching out her hands before her to make sure she did not run into anything.

"Stop" Lucius's slightly hoarse voice broke the still air. Ivy stopped walking immediately and recoiled her arms.

"What?" She whispered, not knowing what was wrong.

"There is a footstool right before you." The doctor had moved it away from the tall bed so he would have more room to move about by Lucius's bedside and Ivy had nearly tripped over it in her haste.

Ivy reached down to touch it and cautiously stepped over it, making her way to Lucius's bedside before sitting down on the edge.

Mr. Walker smiled at them. The love in their expressions made his heart swell, he remembered what it was like, he knew what it was like. With that thought he turned back to the hall to return to Alice. She was calmed now and they were talking like he knew she wanted to...but, what he really wanted was to flee, to run away and not to have Alice deduce his feelings for her. But, it was his duty to stay with her while the doctor explained Lucius's new needs and the like. After that, he would leave, he assured himself as he walked away from Lucius and Ivy.

A silence had descended upon them. Ivy was not sure what to say, for once in her life. She reached out silently and touched Lucius's chest. It was covered in bandages and she winced as she skimmed her hand over them.

Lucius trembled, he was slightly uncomfortable under her touch, even slightly ashamed of his wounds, but he wasn't quite sure why.

After a moment he pulled her hands away and pulled the blanket up higher, to cover the pristine white bandages that covered him from the top of his trousers to just under his arms.

"The doctor, he told me what you did to make me well." Lucius whispered finally, for once feeling the need to fill a silence with his voice.

Ivy looked down for a moment before looking back up to his face. "He did?" was all she could say.

Lucius nodded then flinched slightly and verbalized his answer. "Yes." When he realized she wasn't going to say anything he spoke again, the reluctance at speaking evident in his voice. "He said you traveled through Covington Woods, to the towns..."

Ivy played with a crease in the bed covers; she did not want to talk about this just yet. Seconds ticked by slowly.

"I did." She murmured reluctantly.

His color pulsed with curiosity and concern.

"...Did the creatures...try to harm you? ...what were the towns like?"

Ivy bit her lips together for a moment. "Can we...speak of this later Lucius?" Her voice shook ever so slightly.

His voice was now concerned and quiet, "All right, I am sorry."

Ivy smiled and put a hand over Lucius's. "Do not apologize" She requested before moving closer to Lucius.

"Do you feel pain any longer?" She whispered.

"Not much."

Ivy smiled. "That is good." She dragged her hand across Lucius's arm. "I am so very happy that you have awoken."

She could hear the rare smile in his voice when he said, "And I as well."

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TBC

Until next time...