A/N: I have noticed from some of the reviewers' responses that fact and fiction between this and other season 7 fanfics, as well as the actual show, things are merging a bit so I will be posting a short summary of the previous chapters from now on. If you remember everything perfectly skip on over the italics to get to the chapter.
Ch 1 – Alcide
Alcide gets killed in the attack by the swarm of Hep-V infected vampires at the end of season 6. Seeing that I wrote this entire story before watching season 7 they are more akin to the zombie like versions we saw in the season 6 finale. Sookie realises that though she cared for Alcide she stayed with him out of guilt rather than truly loving him.
Ch 2 – Jessica
Eric kills Jessica thinking she is Bill as he recuperates from his fight with the sun when the Warlow SPF ran out. He ends up crawling out of the shelter of his cave as he fears Bill will come after him next. He reopens the bond to Pam who is by his side instantly at the ready to take him to the windy shithole in Öland which she painted pink in retaliation for his extended absence.
Ch 3 – Sam
Sam commits suicide as Nicole and the baby were killed on the same night as Alcide. He waits till the moment Sookie returns from Jackson MI to do the deed. He feels like no one is there for him as anyone he's ever loved dies. He sent Sookie a goodbye note and an extensive list of all Bill's victims leaving Sookie to realise she isn't the angel of death but rather it is with Bill's introduction that the body count started to stack up. Sookie and Tara commiserate over ice cream post funeral but Tara runs off in sudden haste and Sookie follows her across the cemetery towards Bill's house.
Ch 4 – Bill
In exchange for being 'nice' to Sookie Pam is given the honour of killing Bill for his attempt to kill Eric. Although Tara's enthusiasm of seeing her maker again throws off Pam's upper hand Sookie ends up saving the day by tossing her the stake that ends Bill Compton's undead existence. Sookie demands to know where Eric is claiming she'll teleport her way over there seeing that the Southern states are held in quarantine to stop Hep-V from spreading any further. Sookie and Eric speak over the phone instead where she confesses to finding the girl in the white dress again, Bill had been keeping that hostage. Pam doesn't understand what's so magical about Sookie's shower.
Ch 5 – Lafayette
Another spirit possesses Lafayette and it turns deadly on the night Pam was supposed to air lift Sookie and a few others from the quarantine zone to then travel to Sweden where Eric continues to recover. Eric and Sookie talk over the phone as he tries to assure her everything will be okay and that she will be safely by his side soon enough. In the end it is revealed that Pam is to become Lafayette's maker in two nights.
Ch 6 – The Citizens of Bon Temps
Sookie, Jason and Willa hide out in the cubby while Pam, Lafayette and Tara reside in a turning grave. Violet tries to fight them on her own. The town of Bon Temps is terrorised by a larger swarm of Hep-V zombies who destroyed every single property and attempted to turn all the town's inhabitants in a mass grave. Sookie and Jason find Adylinn as a lone survivor in the former fae club Hooligan's clutching her father's dead body. They decide to burn everyone to make sure there are no successful turnings.
Ch 7 – Tara Mae Thornton
Pam escorted the last survivors safely out of Bon Temps and brings them to the windy shithole in Sweden. Eric convinces the US government, with a little blackmail info acquired through Sookie's telepathy, to take out the HEP-V infected vampires with UV-light equipped drones instead of simply containing the area and waiting for their food supply to die out. After 60 blissful years and a relatively happy existence on the anniversary of Bill's death Tara is taken out by a previously unknown vampire sister of Bill Compton. Pam is pissed.
Ch 8 – Jason Stackhouse
Sookie, Jason and Adylinn have not aged a day since leaving Bon Temps and are unknowing to the cause of it. Eric has become somewhat immune to the sun through continual blood exchanges with Sookie. Jason lived a very long and fulfilling life having a multitude of children with Adylinn after doing the rounds with any available woman in Sweden for the first twenty years. Tara nudged the couple in the right direction. Jason died a true hero rescuing others from a snowy mountaintop.
Ch 9 – Pamela Swynford de Beaufort
After millennia's by Eric and Sookie's side, Pam called it quits by giving a big F U to the sun. The following chapter will explain why. She'll happily be in hell having a three-way with the devil.
Chapter 10 – Sookie Stackhouse + Eric Northman
"Everything ends. Even the immortals." – Eric Northman s03e09
They sat in the same spot where it all started for them. Well truly started, the small creek under the heavy moon in the backwoods of her former home. It was the first time they had returned to these lands since Pam and Lafayette flew Sookie and the other out. Her home still stood proudly maintained by Eric for all this time. Jason's children and their descendants had visited now and then, curious of their family's simple beginnings. The stone slabs on their family graves had been replaced every century. Eric had done that for all the stones of the Bon Temps cemetery alongside the memorial plaque that listed all the names of those that had died that fateful night decimating the town's population to three. All gravestones had been meticulously maintained except one, Bill Compton's grave was left to the ages. It wasn't at Eric's behest but at Sookie's. And a little nudging from Pam.
It wouldn't be long now, they both knew that. The moon stood in a similar stance as it had then. They had debated between this place and the former ground that held Fangtasia. That is where they truly met the first time, eyes locking on to another across the dim lighted room. The absence of light made no difference to them.
The lustre of radiance. That is what it was like to them, they were each shining forth brightly towards one another. Fear had them pulling away instantly to what it could mean. They had discussed it often enough, how things could have been different but they had made peace with their past as it had been .Giving them time together neither one had ever thought possible.
"Remember that night?" she said into the cool air as they stared jointly at the last sight of the moon.
"When you walked into my bar?" he asked of the many special nights between them. That had been their beginning so he figured he would start there. She nodded in accordance against his chest placing a soft kiss to his once beating heart. "Like it was yesterday."
"Me too," she sighed wistfully as the emotions of those beginnings washed over them collectively.
"Remember when I turned you?" Eric prodded as he gently kissed the expanse of her forehead, the difference in their body temperatures still apparent.
"How could I forget?" she smiled up at him losing herself in his eyes. That never changed between them, they spoke more volumes in a gaze than words ever could. It also caused more problems than it should. "I was never angrier in my life."
"Not as angry as I was when I found I had no command of you." He chuckled at the memory. It certainly hadn't been a good night then but it offered for a lot of comic relief now.
"Well I was missing an essential set of equipment," she quipped with a smile showing of her decidedly human set of pearly whites. "You didn't even notice my heart was still beating."
"Did so," he snapped back like a petulant boy that was reminiscent of the Eric without his memories. He acted annoyed even though they both knew it to be a lie. The kiss he planted on her only confirmed as much.
"It was nice of Niall to explain after he was done laughing at us," Sookie said as her warm fingers found his intertwining them in his cold grasp. His lips grazed the back of her hand before he gave it a cool kiss.
The secret to her expanded life turned out to be the fae water they drank after all. It had been what the fairies had been fighting amongst each other over all those years. By abducting the hybrids and feeding them the fruit of the light they drained their essential spark allowing the fae to become truly immortal. However the formula had not been perfected till the last batch, which Sookie, Jason and Adylinn had drank from. None of the fairies had been able to drink that on account of Warlow's surprise attack. They were not without vulnerabilities, lemon and iron were lethal where they had never been before. Without knowing it they had instinctively avoided both.
Niall had thrown out the rest of the water and the formula, it had brought nothing but war and bloodshed. Aside from the incidental rogue fairy treat that was tossed Eric or Pam's way the Fae realm was now at peace. Adylinn and some of her descendants had retreated there since Pam's death a few weeks ago. Things were uncertain for their future but they had a possibility of it there.
Eric's botched attempt at turning Sookie never took hold over the spark that defined her fairy nature, it held far more strength than the magic that animated the nocturnal. Afterwards he felt he should have rationally known that, Sookie was more resilient than any other being he had ever come across. She had simply reset her life force when Eric had drained her of all her blood and replaced it with his own. It had been a harrowing experience for them both as she had made it quite clear that after the Warlow affair she never wanted to contemplate becoming a vampire again. He had made the decision for her and she was decidedly pissed. And horny, on account of all the blood. It was torment and delight all rolled into one.
They had excavated Jason's grave the next day but unfortunately the resetting life force only applied to those that carried the spark. The coffin had never been opened, Eric could smell the final decay that indicated only bones had remained inside while Sookie's telepathy had confirmed the rest. It had been an idle hope but one they could not afford to ignore.
"Do you have any regrets?" he asked refusing acknowledge the turning incident as one. Even if Sookie had hated him until the end of days in her newfound state Eric would have preferred it to her final death. Had she still wanted to die after that, they would go and meet the sun together. Just like now.
"Do you?" she asked with some accusation. It was still a sore spot between them even if it was so long ago.
"Some," he said without supplication. They were mostly of his time before her, despite the manipulations of his actions he would never regret a single step. Nor dispensing a single drop of his blood. It had brought him to her in the end, to this end.
"Wasting time," she finally answered as the silence had continued on.
"You really thought it would last forever?" They had experienced plenty of it, more millennia than any could have imagined. Through it all they had found something new and exciting to live for every night and partial day. It was a tradition instilled by Sookie as the memory of Godric's end had never left her. Despite Eric's lust for life she refused for time to defy them or beat them down.
She merely shrugged in response.
"Not even the earth could last as long as us," he returned supplying the answer of why they were both sitting here right now with a technologically improved version of the iStake strapped to their chests.
They were immortal but the universe wasn't. The sun was set to explode taking the rest with it. Sookie could have gone with Adylinn to the safety of the Fae realm. They didn't know how this solar system's demise would impact the alternate realm, but it stood a chance. It was, however, certain Eric would not be able to survive there despite his limited tolerance of the sun. They had attempted it once under Niall's invitation and she had nearly lost him then and with that experience she refused to test it again.
Eric could have accompanied Lafayette and Willa. They had departed weeks ago with Pam's empty seat next to them. They were off to a planet that sustained no human life but would be safe from the impact. There they would have to subsist on True Blood, which despite millennia of technology still tasted like cardboard shit. Eric was a survivor but that sounded more like sustaining rather than anything else. Sookie's immortality would allow her to journey there but she would continually die and reset again. Essentially she would be comatose and unable to decompose. Neither one of them wanted that for the rest of eternity nor did they want to be apart.
"So what now?" Sookie asked in a small voice. It didn't come out often, only when she deferred to him and Eric could easily count the number of times that had happened on his two hands.
"We start again, find each other once more."
"Think we'll find each other with more ease this time?" she probed with a small smile. The length of time they had been together had been comforting and rewarding but the thought of reliving those early sensations of the unknown gave her tingles with something to look forward to again. Their love was one of contentment and ease now but it no longer had that spark of newness. The thrill of the unknown was long lost. They had matured into something beautiful which spoke of a commitment that few could witness for themselves.
"Nothing's ever been easy with us," he said with a small chuckle as his fingers traced the line of her jaw to memory. "That's the beauty of it, is it not?"
She hummed in agreement. "How about you be the innocent virgin this time," Sookie mused. He looked down to her eyes once more as they filled with mirth. As always he relished at the sight. Nothing ever got old between them, even when they did.
"I hope for my sake that you get to wait a thousand years while I only have to wait till the age of twelve," he smirked with a waggle of his expressive brows. The sight of it still annoyed her and tickled her at the same time.
"Twelve!" she screeched incensed. "I'm not having sex with you at twelve!"
"Who says it will be you," Eric taunted delighting that the embers of her fire had never died down. "It's not like you offered yourself up like a virgin sacrifice to me. I need to have some experience to please the likes of you."
She rolled her eyes in annoyance though it was much more for dramatics' sake because they both enjoyed this 'argument' far more than either one would let up. As fundamental as their bond was to their relationship it lay long forgotten now as it had become all but an internal mechanisation. "And who will bring you to me? Pam?"
Eric remained pensively silent as he searched his mind for possible candidates before he finally settled on one. "Jessica."
"Jessica?" she retorted with a glint in her sparkly eyes. "Well at least you make it easy for me."
Eric let out a malcontent harrumph as he admitted, "I thought taking you from Bill would be like taking candy from a baby. Don't underestimate Lorena's line, their vampire gifts were all related to manipulation; blood, glamour and imitation."
"What did you say to Bill that made him let you go that night?" she asked in reference to that defining evening of their joined history that had led them to this exact spot. The creek, illuminated by a full moon where nature's carpet had engulfed them like a nest.
"I asked him to tell you I was born the night you found me. Because of you I went to my true death knowing what it means to love," he replied remembering that vulnerable moment on his knees. "I think that was Bill's only decent act."
"You never told me that before," she said with tears in her eyes at the beauty of his words. That their mere nights together had meant so much to him when he had no sense of the world around him anymore. Sookie no longer regretted letting him go when he regained his memories, she only truly came to understand the man with memories when he was no longer in her life and lived solely in her mind. She needed to make those mistakes to understand what he stood to offer her.
"You never asked." His thumbs cleansed her beautiful face of the damning tears. Eric had done it so often now that they no longer scared him nor did they make him feel helpless at the mere sight. He simply gave the comfort he could afford to give her.
"We should have done more of that," Sookie said regretfully.
"We will next time," he spoke assuredly as he kissed the tip of her nose.
Sookie swallowed the remnants of her tears while giving him an agreeable nod. Her mind turned back to the previous conversation they had as she asked "What will be your gift?"
"Cunnilingus," he returned without hesitation. Millennia's on this earth and she was still capable of blushing at his continual crudeness. She shook her head in admonishing but the tight smile of amusement was incapable of hiding on her expressive face.
"That's a skill not a gift," she pointed out in serious tone that neither one of them believed. "One which you apparently are intent on cultivating from the age of twelve." Her apparent jealousy and annoyance was one they both didn't deny to be true in their imagined alternate reality. Eric's glee merely ran rampant and infected her accordingly.
"Fine," he said giving in to her as he always did. "I will save myself for you even though you never did for me. I hope I last longer than 30 seconds for your sake."
"Thank you," Sookie expressed softly as her hand petted his forearm, like she always did when getting her way. Which was often. Pam had declared him pussy whipped from day one and even Jason did not shy away from calling him just that. He didn't care, as long as that pussy belonged to Sookie Stackhouse-Northman there was little he would deny her.
"How long?" she asked noticing the onset of twilight.
"Not long," he said showing her the countdown on the clock. "You can still go to Faerie," he offered once more as his fingertips trailed through her hair. She simply shook her head in defiance, it wasn't often she actually did what he told her to do. What he wanted her to do.
Their lips locked as their gazes remained unwavering. Their tongues stroked each other with practice and caresses only two lovers as old as they could express. There wasn't excitement only comfort. It was glorious to them both. The times of regret were over, they had carried many but none had emerged once reunited in the cool climates of the windy shithole. The fever that ran between them never died down and they both knew it would survive this.
"This is right," Sookie declared. "This is best."
"I knew you would be the death of me," he smirked one last time.
"Happy to oblige," she returned the words that had sounded archaic to her when he had first spoken them to her. "So this is the end."
"I love you," Eric said reverently as he stole her lips for the last time.
"I love you too," she breathed out before taking in the last gust of oxygen that would sustain her life.
"Till next time."
Their bodies fell to combust at the same time, his a dark ash and hers a bright sparkling dust. The winds twirled them together as they were one and apart again. The sun set to explode and all matter was lost.
…
"Everything ends. Even the immortals," Niall remarked to Lilith. "He said that once."
"Well he did have a psychic once," Lilith returned with a fangy smile to which Niall chuckled in delight.
"What do you say," Niall proffered. "Should we allow them their narrative?"
"Yeah," she said with a softness in her eyes. "Go on."
….
…
…
A/N: I warned for a non-traditional HEA and this was it and I hope you now all understand Pam's choice from last week. So I'll be sad to see this story go but I'm very thankful for all the wonderful reviews that were left behind in support for this story. I'm so pleased many of you stuck around after offing Bill, even if it didn't get any easier after that.
I wrote this in ten days before the season started because with all the spoilers that were being thrown around my stomach started to churn a little harder each time. (Had I written this during the season I wouldn't have thrown Bill a bone in this chapter so feel free to ignore that rare nicety). I knew I wanted closure and TB wasn't going to offer it. This did it for me.
This story isn't happy unicorns and rainbows so I don't know if people actually want to reread this at a later date but I have put up a completed .epub and .pdf file on my blog find the direct link on the It's Already Gone page which is up in my profile. If you want a different file format or have a specific device just leave a comment there and I will try to accommodate that if I can.
MsBuffy, Beta extraordinaire and devoted supporter of this fandom, is issuing a 'Dream Team' challenge where ten fanfic authors are nominated by the readers to rewrite Season 7. I have put the direct link in my profile as this site is censoring everything I type... Leave your suggestion for writers and betas in the comments section I'm not sure what the cut-off date is but it's soon. Results of the ten nominated authors will be up by the 28th. You don't need to sign up with wordpress in order to leave a comment behind.
Gyllene is also hosting a HEA contest on her site and she is encouraging new talent to join. Entries due by August 31st.
I got started with Sephrenia's Writing Challenge and it was a really great experience so don't be shy, it's all good fun. Nobody bites, well maybe Eric but I doubt you'd mind. Sephrenia will also be hosting another round of that challenge soon, the banners are already done and I will put in a reminder in an A/N in my other stories when it's fully up.