A/N: Sooo sad chapter incoming, though you may have probably guessed this was coming up anyway. I still don't know if I did the moment any justice, but you can judge for yourself. By the way, originally there was going to be a lemon in this chapter, but I decided I didn't want to write something like that so soon in the story. I'm horribly impatient so I'm trying to hold off on that stuff. However there is a scene that has semi-graphic sexual content. You can use your imagination for the rest of it. c;
I'm kind of a little stuck on chapter 5 but I'm going to try and push through it today. Suggestions and help would be soooo much appreciated. I have 700+ views on this story so I must be doing something right, even if it's like one of my most recent reviews 'please update soon' I atleast know you like it, please don't be shy, we can all be friends, serious. D:
Thank you so much Emmettluver2010 and dakota . peeling for reviewing BTW! Sorry this chapter isn't as long as the others. :c
4
"I can't believe you two would be so stupid!"
Esther is livid as she plucks whatever silver she can from Godric's skin.
Eric is laid out next to them, far worse off than Godric and he is trying to convince Sookie that she needs to 'suck the silver out'.
Maker and progeny had both made it in time to shield, luckily, both girls when the blast had gone off; much to Esther's anger.
They could have met the true death.
"Sookie, don't listen to a word he says," Esther murmurs while she works on a solemn Godric, possibly silenced from guilt, he never liked being on the receiving end of an angry Esther; however rare it was "the silver will eventually be pushed out in the healing process. Just pluck whatever bits you can see out, it'll speed things up."
With a pained groan, Eric quits the dramatics and sits up as Sookie proceeds to crouch down and copy what Esther is doing.
"And you wonder why I never invite you anywhere." Eric said.
"Shut it, I'm still majorly pissed off with you both." Esther retorts.
Isabel approaches Godric after taking surveillance of the wreckage.
"Who's dead?" Godric asks.
"Stan, Paolo, Catherine and two human companions." Isabel said.
Godric finally stands, fully healed and Isabel addresses the remaining survivors of the blast.
"Everyone, please-" Isabel starts and is cut off by Jason.
"Hey! Listen up!" Jason says loudly.
Sookie finishes up with Eric and they both stand, Sookie goes to Bills side.
"They may come back," Godric says to the room "go to Hotel Carmilla, they have been alerted, security is in place."
Everyone slowly starts to move out, some carrying wounded. Godric, Eric and Esther are the last to leave together; Esther and Godric take one last look at the destruction and chaos that used to be their living room.
…
When they arrived at the hotel, Esther was very aware of her blood stained clothes and dust encrusted skin, but like Godric had said, the staff knew what had happened and paid them no mind as the three of them walked swiftly to the elevators.
"I still have my things in your room." Esther sighed towards Eric on the ride up, so they all stopped at Eric's room to grab Esther's belongings. Eric leaned on the door frame, looking utterly exhausted, even for a vampire.
"Sleep well, my child." Godric said as they went to leave; Esther's belongings now in his possession.
"Yeah, goodnight." Esther quipped, still in a mood.
Eric closed the door.
…
Godric's room was on the same level, so it wasn't long before Esther was flinging her bag of possessions down onto a new bed. She looked at herself in the full length mirror provided and her mouth turned downward in disgust. She was an absolute mess.
"Are you still upset?" Godric asked, coming up behind her.
She hesitated but eventually shook her head and he smiled.
"Come then, shower with me." He said.
They were finally able to be alone—albeit in a shitty circumstance—Esther wasn't about to refuse his advances.
"Well, if you insist." She said with a small amused smile.
"I do." He replied in a slightly deeper tone that sent waves of heat up her spine and completely wiped the smile from her face.
He took her hand in his, leading her towards the bathroom and a familiar excitement courses through her veins. They make it in to the bathroom and she watches silently as he switches the faucets on, causing steam to fog the glass as it fills the rest of the room.
He turns to face her and takes the hem of her ruined shirt in his hands; slowly sliding it up over her stomach and above her sheer black bra. Esther obediently lifts her arms and he completes the removal of the bloody fabric; tossing the garment into the corner of the room.
The undressing process is slow and methodical, which is pure agony for Esther, but she feels that he must need this. Something slow to ground him amongst all the fast.
Finally she stands before him bare and feeling a little vulnerable seeing as he is still fully clad in his clothing, but her insecurities fade away when he draws her body against his and claims her lips in an intensely deep kiss that takes the breath from her.
Her breasts are pressed up against the fabric of his sweater and the friction is making her impatient with need. Godric senses this and finally begins to remove his own clothing, discarding them in to the corner with the rest.
"Shower. Now." Godric says evenly.
Esther had almost forgotten about the still running water, even with the steam billowing around the both of them. She nods and slips underneath the water, supressing an embarrassing moan as the hot water collides with her tired and aching muscles. Godric follows behind her and slides the glass door shut behind him.
Esther is staring down at her feet, blue irises following the water as it stains a mucky mix of browns and red, blood and dirt both swirling in a watery dance and disappearing down the drain. It's almost entrancing.
Godric once again sets a slow, methodical pace as he begins to wash the more stubborn areas of dirt and blood out of her hair and skin. Esther is almost driven over the edge as his soap slicked hands glide over her breasts and seemingly every other inch of her skin, the action seems purely platonic; the main objective being to get her clean. Esther knows him too well though, she knows he's thoroughly enjoying her small sighs and the way her breath hitches when he grazes a particularly sensitive area, but it's only just not enough and she lets out a groan of frustration as he denies her any form of release for the second time. Godric merely responds with a knowing chuckle that she feels through his chest against her back.
"Patience, love." He murmurs.
Once he is done rinsing the last of the conditioner out of her hair, she figures it's his turn now, so she takes over with the soap.
Esther lacks the patience and grace, but she is still determined to give him a taste of his own medicine; making slow soapy trails down his flat ivory stomach. She is far more blatant about her teasing and she can't hold his piercing gaze for more than five seconds without blushing and looking down again, but even still she has him painfully hard and panting with quite unnecessary shallow breaths; old habits die hard et cetera. Pun appropriate but not intended.
"Enough." He almost growls finally and she is being flipped around and pressed into the wall of the shower; the cold glass sending a jolt up her spine in an intensely pleasurable way.
Esther knew that this was only the very beginning of a very long night with Godric.
…
"Do you have any idea of the fucking PR mess you've made?"
The inevitable meeting with Nan Flannigan had commenced and Esther was unbelievably high strung, which was odd because after last night, she thought she would be a pile of goo by now.
It was normal for Godric to exhaust her in the bedroom, but last night was insanity. It was like he was trying to memorise every inch of her body and more.
With a single look from Nan Flannigan, though, all of Godric's work was undone; her mere presence intimidated the hell out of Esther.
"And who has to fucking clean that shit up? Me. Not you, me." Nan seethed "I should drain every one of you bastards."
"Stan went to the church on his own; there was nothing we could do about it." Eric said.
"Everyone who knew Stan for the last three hundred years knew that he had a kink for killing humans, but you, his nest mates, his sheriff had no clue?" Nan said.
"And how were we supposed to know that this time he meant it?" Isabel said.
"Not my problem, yours." Nan said and looked pointedly at Godric. Esther bristles slightly but, as usual, the words she is too scared to say are spoken through the lips of a specific other.
"Don't talk to him that way." Eric says.
"Don't talk to me that way." Nan retorts and continues "Let's get to the point, how'd they manage to abduct you?" She asks Godric.
"They would have taken one of us eventually," Godric starts and he looks at Esther briefly before, almost hesitantly, continuing "I offered myself."
Esther instantly stiffens.
Driving a hot knife into her stomach would have hurt less; her face must look white as a ghost as she feels suddenly faint. Her eyes glance to Eric, trying to find some kind of answer to the question echoing around in her head at the sudden revelation but she gets nothing; he seems to be just as affected, no doubt a thousand times more than her. Eric has visibly become rigid in his seated position and his eyes seem to be burning holes through Godric.
Why…why would he do that?
She blinks rapidly, trying not to show a reaction. Godric seems to be avoiding her gaze and Sookie is giving her a look like she's expecting her to spontaneously combust at any moment.
Esther holds back the tidal wave of different emotions as Nan continues to speak.
"Why?" Nan asks.
"Why not?" Godric replies; seemingly unfazed.
"They wanted you to meet the sun and you were willing?" Nan asks.
The look that Sookie is sending Esther is filled with so much pity that Esther can't hold her gaze for longer than a second.
"What do you think?" Godric says.
"I think you're out of your mind." Nan says.
There is an awkward silence before she continues.
"And then I hear about a traitor?" Nan says.
"Irrelevant. Only a rumour, I'll take full responsibility." Godric says.
"You bet you will." Nan retorts.
"You cold bitch." Eric says lowly.
"Listen, this is a national vampire disaster," Nan says harshly "and nobody at the top has any sympathy for any of you. Sheriff, you fucked up, you're fired." She turns back to Godric with the last sentence.
"I agree. Of course," Godric says "Isabel should take over; she had no part in my disgrace."
Isabel looks taken back by his words and protests "Godric, fight back."
From Esther's position between Isabel and Godric, she is still stunned into silence, trying to take everything in and just wanting to shrink further back into the sofa.
"What are you saying? She's a bureaucrat; you don't have to take shit from her!" Eric says angrily.
"You wanna lose your area, Viking?" Nan threatens.
"Oh you don't have that kind of power." Eric retorts smugly.
"Hey, I'm on TV, try me." Nan warns.
"I'm to blame," Isabel says "I should have contained Stan the second Godric went missing."
"Isabel." Godric silences her and turns back to Nan "I remove myself from all positions of authority."
"Works for me." Nan says.
Sookie moves to say something but Bill holds her back "I owe him." She protests and continues to speak "Miss Flannigan," she addresses the intimidating vampire "Godric rescued Esther and I from a really large rapist."
Esther closes her eyes and inwardly cringes at Sookie's brashness.
"He probably would have killed us too," Sookie continued but was cut off by Nan.
"That's nice, moving on-
"No, listen," Sookie persisted "and then he rescued humans in that church, plus a whole lot of vampires. You think it's a PR mess now? It could have been a hundred-a million times worse. You should thank him."
"For getting kidnapped?" Nan asked "For attracting a suicide bomber? For piss poor judgment? I think not."
Eric lurched to his feet in raw anger, but Isabel jumped up and stopped him in his tracks "Don't." Isabel warned.
"Eric. It doesn't matter." Godric said.
There was a short pause where Eric stared intently at Godric, but he eventually gave in and sat back down.
"Tell me about the bombing, please." Nan continued to speak, completely unfazed "Every single detail."
"A boy walked in the lair, I thought he was someone's human companion…" Godric started.
He proceeded to go through the events that followed while everyone present remained silent.
…
"What a fucking fiasco." Nan said once Godric had finished "You're lucky I don't send you all to the magister." She sighed and continued.
"Godric, come to my suite and fill out the forms." Nan said.
"Soon. First I have something to say." Godric said and there was a short pause before he continued "I'm sorry. I apologise for all the harm I've caused, for all our lost ones, human and vampire. I will make amends, I swear it."
The silence was almost palpable as everyone took in his apology, the way Eric was looking at Godric made a horrible feeling snake its way up Esther's spine.
"Take it easy." Nan's voice cuts through the air, severing the moment "It's just a few signatures." She stood and clapped Godric on the shoulder as she and her people left the room.
Esther stays seated as Godric stands and she watches as Eric instantly blocks his path; an intense look on his features.
"No." Eric says.
"Look into my heart." Godric says.
"You have to listen to me."
"There's nothing to say."
"There is. What about to her?" Eric says through clenched teeth and Esther blinks as his icy gaze lands on her. She stands suddenly, but doesn't move.
Godric's shoulders sag a little and his eyes dance between his two companions briefly. He sighs and speaks finally, quietly.
"On the roof." Godric says; loud enough for Esther to hear.
Godric leaves the room and Eric shortly follows, finally tearing his gaze away from a shaken Esther. She's starting to piece things together slowly but she's in a state of denial, not ready to accept the way things are heading just yet.
How can he do this to me, to Eric?
Sookie steps into her field of vision and suddenly Esther feels arms around her shoulders.
"I'm so sorry. About everything." Sookie says sympathetically.
Esther, still in denial, shakes her head "There's…there's nothing to be sorry about," she forces a small smile onto her face shakily "t-things will be okay now."
The pity in the blonde's eyes intensifies and Sookie just nods silently, giving a last squeeze to Esther's arm.
Esther should know better than to lie to a telepath.
"I'm going to find Godric." Esther excuses herself with a last smile to Sookie before she leaves the room and heads for the rooftop on shaky legs.
…
"Two thousand years is enough."
Esther makes it to the rooftop as Godric talks with his back turned to Eric. The dreaded words finally cementing her suspicions and making everything real.
She stops at the top of the stairs and just watches; the sting of unshed tears threatening to spill but she forbids them. Dawn is fast approaching and a sense of panic settles in her stomach, what if they both leave her, together? She'll be left behind with no one.
"I can't accept this." Eric says. "It's insanity."
"Our existence is insanity." Godric says "We don't belong here."
"But we are here!" Eric shouts.
"It's not right, we're not right." Godric finally turns to face his progeny.
"You taught me there is no right or wrong, only survival… or death." Eric says.
"I told a lie…as it turns out." Godric says.
"I will keep you alive by force!" Eric seethes.
"Even if you could, why would you be so cruel?" Godric says.
Esther's heart breaks at Eric's next words, he sounds so helpless, she has never seen him in such a state. She can't understand what they're saying as they lapse into their native tongue, but she understands the pain in Eric's voice and the way Godric is responding so solemnly. Her foot moves forwards a step instinctively as he ends up on his knees and Esther has to bear witness to the tragic scene of Eric's heart-wrenching sobs. Tears of her own make their way down her cheeks and she wishes that this was all just a horrible nightmare, that things would go back to how they were.
"Father. Brother. Son."
Esther doesn't need a translation for those words and her heart constricts, more for Eric than herself.
Is it possible to feel this much pain for someone and still be alive?
"Let me go." Godric says to Eric.
"I won't let you die alone." Eric says and Esther lurches forwards a few more steps, she wants to scream 'No!', but her throat feels tight and dry and nothing will come out. Luckily, Godric speaks for her. He places a comforting hand on Eric's shoulder.
"Yes you will." His words cause Eric to shake with more sobs "As your maker, I command you."
In a quieter tone, Godric mutters a few more words in a foreign tongue, causing Eric to turn his head ever so slightly in her direction, nodding once and standing.
Their gaze lingers on each other for a moment longer before Eric turns and walks away without another word. When he reaches Esther, she takes his large hand in both of her small ones, squeezing gently.
"I'll stay with him." She whispers and both sets of glossy blue eyes meet in solemn understanding; surprisingly she feels his hand constrict as he returns the squeeze. Even through his own pain, Eric knows how hard this will be for her.
Esther lets his hand slip from hers and he leaves without a word or a glance back.
Now it's just the two of them and it takes a while until she is finally able to move her feet and approach Godric. If Eric can't convince him to stay, she has no hope and with great pain she accepts that fact.
If Godric truly is suffering, then who is she to try and force him to live for her own selfish needs? She loves him enough to let him go.
He was right; two thousand years is a long time, maybe long enough.
"It won't take long." Godric's words cut through her thoughts and she nods, coming to stand next to him.
"I know." She responds quietly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to demand an explanation, I think I'm beginning to understand myself." The tears still staining her cheeks tell a different story but she still manages to smile for him.
Godric dries her tears away with his thumb, keeping a comforting hand cupped around her cheek when he is done.
"This has been a long time coming. The night we met, I was waiting for sunrise," he confesses "for a time you made me forget everything, you made me believe I could be a better person, but…two thousand years is a very heavy burden, the things I have done…I knew it would catch up with me in the end."
"Believe me, I love you too much to try and make you stay." She said, covering the hand on her cheek with one of her own.
"To find so much love in one small human girl, you have made my last years truly memorable." He said.
"What will I do…after…" She couldn't bring herself to say it yet.
"My child will look after you, do not worry. He has agreed to take you in." He said.
She nodded in response.
"And you will care for him also?" he asked.
"Yes, of course. If he will let me. You know how he is." She said with a small smile.
Godric grinned sheepishly at her words "Maybe I should take the blame for that."
"Maybe, but Eric's pretty much his own self…" She smiled and there was a short pause as the reality of the situation seeped back in.
Esther noticed how much lighter it had gotten, it was only then that she noticed Godric's skin was emitting light tendrils of smoke and she gasped at the sight. He didn't have long, this was far too quick for her.
A sob escaped her lips "Aren't you scared?" She managed to ask and he smiled down at her.
"No. I am filled with joy." He says.
"Won't it hurt?" She says.
"I want to burn." He insists and more tears spill down her cheeks as she lurches forward to take his face between her hands and kiss him one last time.
Eventually she pulls apart just enough to speak "I'm afraid for you…" she whispers.
"A human to spend my last days with…" He brushes a thumb under her left eye "and human tears." He steps out of her embrace, lowering his hands to take both of hers in a firm grasp.
"Two thousand years old and this is the one moment where I am truly fulfilled." He says.
His focus is taken by the slowly rising sun and as the smoke emitting from his skin intensifies, he slowly slips his hands away from hers.
"You will be fine." He gives her one last smile as he walks towards the blinding sunrise.
Esther inhales a shaky breath as her tears flow freely now. She can do nothing but stand and watch as the love of her life fully submits himself to the sun.
Blue flames erupt from his skin and engulf the entirety of his body in a beautifully tragic display. Then he is gone. Taken away by the wind.
The hard cement of the rooftop bites into the flesh of her knees as she folds in on herself under the weight of sudden realisation.
Her hands fly up to her face in grief as harsh sobs wrack through her body; the full weight of what just happened finally hitting her and crushing her entirely.
; - ;
Oh my God guys. It happened. This episode killed me. Literally I'm dead. Godric was such a good character, I wish he had a bigger role.