InsaneJournal

Elm and Inspector Abberline perform the basic courtesies for the victims of the previous chapters' violence, while Fury tries to console Violet over the death of her friend due to Frankensteins. But before they can leave the back street, Fury detects another person moving in the area.

This turns out to be Violet's long-lost mother, Mary Jeanette Kelly, who is now a Frankenstein. I'm not sure if she had her forearms chopped off in the previous battle, or she just comes this way, but Mary is back to a semblance of sanity and eager to reunite with her daughter. Fury is all for killing the Frankenstein right now, while Elm feels sympathy for a mother's love. As they're coming to blows, Abberline steps between them to talk Fury down for the moment. He takes some damage from this, but being very British, keeps a stiff upper lip.

Mary approaches Violet, arms outstretched, only to have her daughter tell her to stop. Violet's not convinced of her mother's good intentions, considering that when she last saw Mom, she had abandoned her husband and child to become a prostitute. Fury remembers that the mother's face was scratched out in Violet's picture of her family.






Mary tries to hug Violet anyway, but is foiled by her lack of forearms or hands. Violet is not much moved by the Frankenstein's distress, citing the slaughter of her new friends by the monsters. The girl breaks down and weeps.




This strikes a chord of memory in Mary. She remembers, before abandoning her child, a stormy night that frightened young Violet, and how she sang her daughter to sleep again. Here's a link to the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY5IyQC5irg

And for those of you who are on dialup, or don't trust Youtube, here's the public domain lyrics for "A Violet From Mother's Grave," by Will H. Fox.

Scenes of my childhood arise before my gaze,
Bringing recollections of bygone happy days.
When down in the meadows in childhood I would roam,
No one's left to cheer me now within that good old home;
Father and Mother they have passed away,
Sister and Brother now lay beneath the clay.
But while life does remain to cheer me I'll retain,
This small violet I plucked from Mother's grave.

Only a violet I plucked when but a boy,
And oft'imes when I'm sad at heart
This flow'r has giv'n me joy;
But while life does remain, in memoriam I'll retain,
This small violet I plucked from Mother's grave.




This morbid lullaby soothed Violet as a child, though she's less comforted now. She realizes that even though Mary's actions in life were horrible, in unlife she truly regrets what she has done. Violet begins to consider reconcilation.

But before the sentiment can get too sweet, the true villain of the piece arrives.



Yes, it's Jack the Ripper, who isn't about to let his toy (Mary Jeanette Kelly) escape his evil grasp. He knocks over a wall onto Inspector Abberline (who assures Elm that it's nothing, really) and Fury finds himself having to defend the monster he was so hot on killing just a few minutes ago. Jack and Fury banter a bit, setting up for the big fight scene next chapter.