Characters: Strauss, Stella, cameos made by Saverhagen, Yuki and Cynthia
Summary: To die was nothing compared to seeing her again.
Pairings: Strauss x Stella
Disclaimer: I don't own Record of a Fallen Vampire.
I wake up and I can see nothing at first except a white expanse covering me like some warm, soft blanket.
Then, my eyes clear, and I see a velvet expanse of a midnight sky, the moon a round, swollen jewel amidst the black velvet bed, and rolling hills and lush grass.
I remember this place.
And death is sweeter than I previously thought it.
Strauss walks across the grassy hills at a slow, leisurely pace. There is no enemy here, not in this place. No risk of injury or death, not here. He can roam with his guard lowered for the first time in centuries, and actually smile without feeling pain making his breath grow jagged.
Kingdom of Night and other lands, all lovely places I thought never to see again. Now where are the faces that time forgot?
Sooner rather than later, Strauss does begin to see the faces, the old and the new. Dhampires who served under him, their faces fresh and gleaming, some curious, some welcoming, some wary and others downright hostile. Strauss sees only the friendliness and none of the hostility.
There are still more. A woman as tall as a man with her long braid of hair white with age but still unbowed, her back and shoulders straight and erect. A young girl, nearly as tall as her but much more slender, with dark hair and eyes. They have no fear of him, nor any hatred, surprisingly. Just quiet appraisal. Strauss moves on.
Beyond that, leaning on a tree and smoking on a cigarette is a girl who laughs when she sees him and waves. Here is the girl who will smile and friends and strangers and enemies all alike. Strauss nods to her, his smile melancholy all of a sudden, and hurries on impatiently.
Humming reaches his ears, with the familiar smell of a sweet, light flower being carried on the soft breeze.
She's sitting on the slope of a hill, placing flowers in a basket. In another basket, nearby, there is a sleeping infant with pale hair.
Stella looks up, and smiles. "Strauss," she greets him, sing-song, "you are very, very late."
Strauss smiles gently, as he kneels in the grass beside her. "Better late than never, Stella. And I promise, I'll make it up to you."
After all, he has all of eternity to wipe the slate clean.
And Stella smiles again, sweetly as she reaches up to adjust Strauss's collar, and every pain melts away with the touch of her skin against his for the first time in over a thousand years.