Sookie's thoughts are in italics. Niall's thoughts are bolded italics.

Eric's POV

I was so tired of seeing Sookie hurt and in pain. Maybe she was right in leaving to go to the Fae realm; at least she was safe there. Preston and I were frozen in fear; people throwing up and convulsing were a bit out of our scope of knowledge.

"What do we do?" Preston whimpered as Sookie covered the ground with her blood.

I toss my phone at Preston as I crouched down and pulled Sookie's hair out of her face, "Call Doctor Ludwig right now, her name is under Angry Shrew. Tell her the Fae princess is dying."

This was worse than after Neave and Lochlan. In addition to the blood she was throwing up, blood was dripping out of her lemon singed eyes. Freyda's parting note was deep and every movement of Sookie's abdomen caused even more blood to drip out of the calligraphic signature. There was deep bruising all over her body and I was sure that four of her ribs were cracked. I didn't even want to look at her back or wrists which smelled of burnt and dying flesh. How much more blood loss could she take? If it came to it, I would give her my blood without question. I refused to be separated from her ever again, even if it meant chasing someone who continued to pretend she didn't want me.

"Preston, where is she!" I growled out as Sookie's eyes rolled in the back of her head and I caught her from smacking her forehead on the ground.

There was a pop and my fangs snapped down. I looked up to see Doctor Ludwig walking over to us.

"Cool your fangs, Northman." Ludwig began pulling equipment out of her bag. "You will need to restrain her from convulsing and further injuring herself. And pretty boy, you'll need to get Niall. He'll need to come fix what he did up here." She tapped the side of Sookie's head.

"What do you mean?" Ludwig sighed at my questions, "What did he do to her!"

"Wrap this around her head while I talk." She handed over white cloth. "This is not my business to discuss, but I am sure you are as tired of the Fae secrecy as I am." I snorted. "I'm sure you can tell that Ms. Brigant is no longer herself. Even I remember what she was like after the Maenad attack, and she was not like this. My understanding is that Niall put a block on her humanity; it's almost like using her telepathic shields against her. In doing this she was able to embrace her spark to the maximum capabilities, or in other words utilizing all of her brain while most people only use a small percentage."

"Did he know the effects it would have on her as a person?" I had a new hope that Sookie would come back to me.

"We had discussed it when I came to heal her after her entrance into Fae. I had warned him, but he wanted her to be able to protect herself and the Brigant land. In my opinion, his actions were very self motivated, but some part of him had her best interest at heart." Ludwig sat back and shook her head.

"What? What should we do next?"

"I don't know."

I froze and stared at her. She looked very worried, something I had never seen her look like before.

"What if I give her my blood?" I tried to ignore the pleading tone of my voice.

"That might make it worse. She is in physical pain clearly, but her human emotions are tearing her apart from the inside. Claude had come to me about Ms. Brigant's heart pain, and I warned him that it was the bond trying to break through. If you give her blood, it would strengthen the bond and potentially cause her further pain. There might be brain damage, hell there probably already is. Regardless of the fact that she is more fae than human at this point, she still is human, and the effect of blocking this part of her is like stopping a vampire from drinking blood."

I growled out. We could never win, could we? Always fighting the impossible. I never wanted her life to be like this. She should spend her days tanning and her nights making love with me. If I could go back in time and stop Bill Compton from ever meeting her I would, even if it meant I never met her. No matter how much I wanted her and how empty my life was without her, I'd rather live in a world with her in it, then try to have her only to lose her.

"Her heart beat is getting slow, what do we do if Niall and Preston don't get back here in time?" I brushed Sookie's hair out of her face and grasped her hand.

"We'll have to take the risk then. If we don't time it right though, you might end up turning her and that might be worse. She might end up like Bubba."

"And hate me for taking the sun from her." I whispered.

"You'd be surprised what can happen when you love someone." Ludwig said it so quietly, I wasn't sure she had actually spoken.

Before I could respond, there was a pop as Niall and Preston appeared. They came to Sookie's side quickly.

"Your highness," Ludwig tilted her head to the old Fae. He looked older than usual, and his skin was a dull gray with a faded glow about him. Interesting.

"Vampire, get your hands off of her!" Niall bellowed at me.

"As much as I would like to rip your throat out, we don't have time for this. Fix what you have done to her."

"It may not help her. She may bleed out anyways." Niall looked away from his great granddaughter.

"It is more likely that she will finally be able to embrace her powers." I raised my eyebrows at Preston. He shrugged, "I like to eavesdrop. I heard Claude and Niall talking about how Susannah hasn't embraced her full powers yet because she isn't connected with her emotions. It's a key part of utilizing our powers. She will be a force to be reckoned with."

"And that in itself could be a problem," Niall said, "The factions will only get worse as it comes out that she is a powerful hybrid."

"That is your fault for not stopping all the fae from keeping their legs shut and sticking to their own kind. You reap the seeds you sow."

"Gentlemen, it's great that you are having this lovely little conversation. But if you don't get a fucking move on, it won't matter anymore." Ludwig gestured toward a now very pale Sookie.

Niall sighed and leaned beside her. He placed his palms on her temples and she started to glow, "If she has given up, this won't matter."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Susannah's POV

I was taking comfort in the darkness. I no longer enjoyed the light, and would probably never be able to see it again. Maybe I was dead. Probably not though, Niall would never let his heartless soldier die. I was exactly what he wanted and I don't know why it took me so long to realize it. I should have never left with him before, I should have just died along with Neave and Lochlan. Then Claude would never be in this mess and I would not be stuck here in the darkness. Again. At least there was no pain here. There was nothing and its magnitude echoed around me. It was lovely.

Looking at it from a logical perspective, it was easy to tell I was stuck in my mind again. Perhaps at the mercy of Niall once more. I would never listen to him again. He was dead to me. Or maybe I would listen, in hopes that he would inadvertently help me join Claude in death.

Susannah. I know you can hear me.

And you know everything, don't you.

This is not the time for your insolence. You are dying.

And?

Do you want to die?

I have nothing to live for. And why would I want to continue to live a life as your personal weapon?

I gave you a choice to those killings!

I seem to remember a discreet manipulation with each of those choices. Why don't you stop pretending like you fucking care. At least with Claude you were honest with your disgust for him.

Sookie –

You have absolutely no right to call me that. Get out of my head!

0-0-0-0-0

Eric's POV

I paced impatiently as Niall continued to concentrate on Sookie. His face went from concentrated to scrunched up and in pain. I walked closer as a bead of sweat traveled down his brow. His wrinkled hands started to clench into fists and Niall opened his mouth to let out a ragged breath.

Preston moved to crouch next to the old faery and murmured, "Something is not right."

"No shit, Sherlock." I jumped as Pam appeared next to me. How distracted was I to not sense her coming?

"Your sarcasm has not been missed, Pamela." I continued to stare at Sookie's beaten body lying on the ground. "Status report."

"Alcide and I successfully cleared the perimeter. Godric has taken three hostages back to the palace, for questioning." My child always was very efficient. "She does not look good, Eric."

Before I could respond, Niall was blown backwards off of Sookie by a blinding gold light that shot from around her head. He would have hit the rafters if not for his teleporting abilities. When he appeared next to us, Niall slumped to the ground and looked at his hands that were now gushing blood.

"She does not want to listen to me. I have never felt such rage before. Or defeat." Niall did not sound sad, in fact he sounded curious.

"Do you not care then? Are you happy that her power is growing you selfish bastard!" Preston started yelling in his face.

"We do not have time for this! Fix her now Niall or I will drain you dry." My worry for Sookie was causing my bloodlust to return.

"She will not listen to me! I cannot get past her subconscious to reach the shield blocking her humanity."

"Can you send me?" Everyone turned to look at me like I had a second head growing out of my body.

"She could kill you," Niall said.

"She is dying anyways," I leveled his stare.

"Master, please be rational about this."

"Pamela, please transport Claude's body back to Godric's palace. Sookie will want to have a ceremony for him when she wakes up." My tone did not leave room for her to argue.

"Northman, you don't even know what you are doing." Preston said as he healed Niall's hands.

"For fucks sakes. Make a decision or just send me my bill." Ludwig had the best bedside manner.

Niall got up and motioned for me to come closer, "Place your hands on her head, close your eyes and concentrate on what it would feel like to be talking to her. While we do this Ludwig and Preston please try to stop her blood loss. And Northman, I can make no guarantees for you safety."

I crouched next to Sookie and smoothed her hair back. I had missed running my fingers through these beautiful gold locks. I missed her and I needed her to come back to me. "Sookie would do it for me."

I closed my eyes as Niall placed his hands over mine. I growled at the contact, but tried to ignore it and focus. My Sookie. I want to talk to my Sookie. To hold her as her blue eyes stare into mine and she smiles at me as she makes a snappy remark.

When did it start raining? When I opened my eyes I saw Sookie, crouched in a corner with her knees drawn to her chest and her head bowed down. And it was pouring on us.

"Sookie?"

She turned her head to me and I could see her lower lip tremble and fat tears rolling down her cheeks. "Eric?"

I remained still as I stared at this person in front of me. She looked different, more human. There was no point to her ears, slight glow to her body, or indifferent look upon her face. She looked like my Sookie, who I had lost twelve years ago. I took a tentative step forward as it continued to pour down on us. I looked around to see only gray and the continuous rain that soaked us; where were we? I looked back down to Sookie to see she was trembling and had placed her head on her knees. When I got closer I crouched down to her until she met my gaze. I was tired of just looking as I yanked her into my embrace and smothered my face into her hair.

"I missed you so much, Eric." Her voice sounded hoarse. "I've been stuck here for so long."

"I should have come sooner. I let my grief defeat me instead of searching harder for you." I had ignored my personal feelings of disgust toward myself since the night Sookie had been taken, subconsciously blaming myself for allowing her to even consider leaving me.

"I shouldn't have given up on us." Sookie started to sob into my chest.

"Where are we?" I never liked when she cried, so hopefully distracting her would help.

"We're stuck in my mind. Ever since Niall put me in a catatonic state I have just been sitting here watching as the faery part of me lived my life. I can't get passed the barrier." Sookie let out a deep sigh, "I feel like I am in the fucking twilight zone."

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. This is why you didn't get into situations with the magical. "What's with the rain?"

"I am sad. My brother is dead. My emotions are haywire in here; I've never felt them so strong it's so frustrating. I feel like a pubescent teenager."

I smirked, she always was emotional. I stood up and pulled her with me without releasing her hand. She was never getting away from me again.

"How do we get out of here?" I tried to look up, but the rain was drowning my eyes.

"Eric, do you think I would have stayed here if I knew how to get out?" Sookie sounded exasperated.

"I don't really know what you would do anymore." My voice was bitter.

I started walking forward, pulling Sookie after me. She tried to keep up with my long gait, but ended up doing a slight jog after me.

"Eric be careful for the – "

Before she could finish my face smashed into an invisible barrier, "Fuck." I grabbed at my nose and felt it gushing out blood. Yeah that was broken.

I heard Sooke giggling beside me, "You never listen to me." It was nice to hear her laugh, or do anything other than be emotionless.

I reached forward cautiously, startling when I felt the invisible barrier pulsating. "What the hell is this?"

"Niall did it. There were many barriers the fae part of me had to break through when we got to the fae realm. With them gone there was nothing holding her back from embracing her powers." It was really weird listening to her talk about her other self.

"Why not break through this one?" I placed my hand against it and it felt like an electric fence.

"I don't think she can see it."

I noticed that the rain had stopped and I looked down to see Sookie staring contemplatively through the barrier. At least she had stopped crying.

"Well if she could break through it, so can you." I grabbed one of her hands and placed it against the barrier.

"Eric, I'm human. It doesn't work like that. I think only she can do it."

"You are the same person though."

"But in here we are two separate entities."

I was getting a massive headache from all of this. "You feel the same things though, correct?"

"To an extent. I am pretty sure it's muted for her and I get the brunt of her emotions, though. The physical stuff, that's more muted for me though."

"So all those times with Preston?" I didn't like that Sookie looked away from me when I asked the question.

"Let's not talk about this right now, Eric."

"There is a lot we need to discuss when we get out of this mess."

"What's the point, it's always just one mess after another. "

I grabbed Sookie by the shoulder and turned her to face me. I bent my knees until we were on the same eye level. "Sookie Stackhouse I cannot bear to live a life without you in it. However, it would be even worse to have you be with me and unhappy. We could be happy; you just have to be willing to fight for us like I always will. But I would let you go, if that is what you wanted from me."

Sookie inched closer to me and placed her hands on both of my cheeks, "I'm just tired of never having a break from the chaos. Let's deal with our current issues, before we do anything else."

I pushed my forehead against hers, and inhaled the scent that was purely Sookie. I ignored the fact that she was skirting around talking about our future.

"So how do we get her to break the barrier?"

I pulled Susannah's silver dagger out of my back pocket, "You stab me."

Human Sookie POV

I knew I looked like a fish out of water with the way my mouth was gaping and staring at Eric. There were no words to explain how great it was to see him again. I had missed him so much. The way his large body completely engulfed mine making me feel safe and wanted. And his eyes, that held a thousand years of wisdom that would make me feel like I was the only thing in his world when he gazed at me. My heart started to beat rapidly as we continued to stare at each other and I was beginning to feel warm all over. Oh great shepherdess of Judea, I loved him. I love Eric Northman.

"Sookie?" He looked worried by my extended silence.

"Eric I am not going to stab you."

"I am a vampire, it's not going to kill me."

"I am not blind, I can clearly see that that is a silver dagger."

"Well a regular weapon would be inefficient."

I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness. He rivaled my hardheadedness. "No."

"I'll stab myself then."

I moved closer to him and snatch the dagger out of his hands, "You will do no such thing! Will you just knock it off and take some time to think about this. What would doing this even accomplish!"

"I don't know if you realize this, but your body is bleeding out as we speak. Preston and Ludwig are doing everything they can to keep you alive, but we don't have time to be pragmatic about this, Sookie." His voice sounded tortured, like the image of my body lying there bleeding out was too hard for him to picture. "I am hoping that you still feel something for me, and my pain will hurt you and in turn hurt your fae counterpart. Making her come to my aid."

I thought about it for a few minutes. "Fine." I gripped the dagger in my hand tightly. I felt my back starting to perspire as the reality of having to stab Eric really hit me.

I jumped as Eric placed his hand on my arm, "Sookie it's going to be okay. You can do this. And besides think of it as payback for all the times I pissed you off. Now do you worst."

I rolled my eyes at his attempts at humor. I inhaled deeply and placed my hand on his chest, gazing at his eyes trying to convey my apologies for what I was about to do.

"Fast and quick, Sookie."

I thrust the dagger forward quickly and pulled it out. Eric hissed at the pain and slumped forward slightly, "Again." His grunt made tears come to my eyes.

"Eric, I can't."

"Then the first one will be for nothing."

"You are such an ass sometimes," I thrust the dagger into his body two more times and then threw it onto the ground.

Eric groaned and kneeled to the ground. When I looked at his abdomen, the gaping holes in his body were not healing. The silver, of course. He must have anticipated this and I grew angry at his sacrifice over me. I was so tired of people getting hurt for me.

"What the fuck are you doing?" I whipped around to see my other version glaring at me from the other side of the barrier. Her hands were crackling with a flickering light that looked like a candle flame about to go out. She looked pale and gaunt. She looked like somebody who was dying.

"How nice of you to join us, Susannah." Eric's voice did not sound happy at all. "If you wouldn't mind destroying this barrier and waking the fuck up, I'd really appreciate it."

"No." She crossed her arms and looked away from us.

"What do you mean no? Do you want to die? Do you want Eric to die?" I sounded frantic; we really didn't have time for this. Sometimes even I got mad at my stubborn streak.

"What is the point? I am tired of subjecting everyone to pain or trying to deal with all of this bureaucratic bullshit. Claude is dead and I will never forgive myself for that. I am done."

"Then I am too." Eric's blue eyes were boring holes into Susannah's. "A world without you means a world without Sookie, and that's a world not worth living in."

"I never knew you to be such a sap, Mr. Northman." Susannah sounded bored by the conversation.

Eric coughed roughly, "Sookie you might have punctured my kidney."

I was getting scared. Of being stuck in here forever. Of watching another person die. Of never getting the happiness with Eric that we deserved.

I stood up, shuddering as I wiped Eric's blood off on my jeans. "It's funny that you pretend not to care about Eric or anyone around you. When I know right now, your heart is palpitating painfully, almost to the point where you want to lay down and curl on a ball as you fight to continue to breathe through it. It's even more funny, that you say you loved Claude and you don't want to live anymore because you blame yourself for his death, and yet you don't want to avenge him. You know what you sound like to me, Susannah Brigant? A coward. And I know you didn't get that from me, so that must have been something Niall taught you. Because I would never let the death of someone I love go without consequence."

"I am not a coward you bitch. I'll kill you where you stand." Susannah's hands were igniting.

"Prove it." I gave her the Eric smirk and crossed my arms.

She gave me a snarl and sent several bursts of her concentrated light at the barrier. There was a bright light and the barrier shattered around us. I only had a few seconds of bewilderment before Susannah started to stalk towards me. Each step she took forward, I took one back. It was a dance between predator and prey and I started to breathe heavily. While Eric's plan to break the barrier was great and all, it didn't really help the situation we were in now. Neither of us knew what would happen if Susannah touched me or worse, if she killed me in here.

"Sookie. I think Niall – " I looked down at Eric to see him fading from my vision. His pale form was literally disappearing before my eyes. I hoped that whenever he got out of this shit show in my mind that Pam was able to heal him.

"We wouldn't want him getting in the way of our girl talk, would we?" Susannah chuckled. She sounded completely off her rocker. Is this what happened when you shut off your emotions, you went coo coo for cocoa puffs?

Susannah was getting too close to me, so I tightened my grip on the dagger and tried to remember everything Eric had ever told me about self defense.

This chapter has been sitting on my laptop for a couple weeks, but it's been frustrating because I don't like it and I didn't want to post it. I just didn't know what else to do with it. Thanks for reading and I hope you review. Maybe we'll break a hundred with this one?