*laughs nervously* no no, I totally know what regular updates are... I know you guys tell me not to apologise, but I cannot help but enthuse about how much I appreciate you all! You keep me going, honestly.

-YD-

Vlad walked until his legs ached, which was no small feat in a town as small and sleepy as Stokely, before finally heading back to the castle. He showered off the sweat he'd worked up, changed into some comfy (and bright) clothes before he headed downstairs to watch his dads TV with a snack. He didn't really like being off school, although he wasn't too disappointed about not having to deal with the awful tension between he and Ingrid.

He drank hot chocolate and tried not to look at the newspaper, tried not to imagine the uproar and the panic and the politics of the death he'd apparently caused within his own mind. The injuries he'd sustained in the Dream World had faded, healed remarkably fast.

"What did you do?"

The voice almost made him leap out of his skin, spinning in his seat so fast he all but fell out of it.

"Ingrid!"

"Yes, yes. Explain yourself."

"What am I explaining? What is it you think I did?"

His brain still kicking in, Vlad straightened up, hyper-aware of his half-sister looming over him with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face.

"It was some kind of hallucination, but it did this to me."

Ingrid pulled up her sleeve, peeled off a thin gauze that revealed healing marks on her wrist. Burn marks. She'd been fang-cuffed in his dream.

"I... I didn't do anything."

"They said you had to fight for me."

How much had she seen? Vlad had told her to go, but then he'd been distracted and so she might not have done so before he woke up in the hospital bed. He probably should have paid more attention.

"What did you see?"

"Nothing, I... woke up?"

Vlad nodded, frowning in thought. How had his dreams dragged her in? Had his urge to protect her pushed Ingrid out again?

"It's very complicated, but the important thing is that it shouldn't happen again. Your burns should heal quickly, but I could find you something to put on them if you want."

Ingrid shook her head, wrapping the gauze back around her healing wrist. He hoped nobody caught sight and thought she'd been hurting herself.

"So, what was it?"

"Uh. Vampire... dream thing. But going by what my dad said and what I read, it should be done with. I don't know how or why you got pulled in to it, but the thing in question is definitely dealt with."

Ingrid quirked an eyebrow.

"Meaning?"

Vlad reached for the newspaper article, holding it out to her.

"That's who you saw. The Grand High Vampire."

"And he's... dead?"

"Well, we're all dead. But yeah, he's dust."

Being so close to Ingrid was jarring to say the least, after missing her quite so much. Ever since the whole mess about their sharing a father had tumbled out, they'd ironically become more like strangers for people who probably should have been trying to get along anew as siblings. But instead, they were further back than before they'd began even speaking properly when he first noticed the signs of her impending vampirism.

"Dramatic. Does this have any impact on me?"

Vlad debated telling her, just to get it all off his chest, but his mind wouldn't let him.

"Nope. You'll still transform come May first."

It was so close, and they still weren't really set on what was going to happen after. Ingrid wasn't going to be able to return to school and take her GCSEs, for one thing. And then there was her mother and young George to consider too.

"Still don't get why they said you had to fight for me."

Vlad shrugged.

"It was about tempting me to fight for something that matters, I guess. I haven't had long enough to really put down roots here in Stokely, so it was you or my dad, I guess."

"Not your mum?"

He snorted.

"Nooooo. Your mother is lovely, and could not be any more different to my mother even if she was a werewolf. Actually, my mum would like that."

Vlad shuddered, shoving the whole werewolf runaway saga out of his mind.

"Right. Well. I'm leaving now I have my answer."

He wanted her to stay, but didn't know what he could say to get her to. So Vlad let her go with a sigh, slumping against the castles front door when it was closed behind her again. Running a hand through his hair, Vlad dragged himself back through the castle, still not sure what to do about the whole Chosen One thing. Why him? Of every vampire in the entire world, they had to pick the most unhappy-about-it one to supposedly lead the vampires to a new age or something?

Unless they wanted a world of veggie vamps leaving humans alone...

And Vlad had never displayed anything particularly impressive, power-wise. The Chosen One was supposed to have untold power, and he wasn't even showing much of the possible pre-transformation flickers. Ingrid had shown more power than him, and she was a Dimidius!

When he went back to school, Robin was curious about his episode and his absence. Vlad did his best not to go into too much detail - sure, Robin would listen, but he also couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut, especially if Vlad mentioned Ingrid let alone the Grand High Vampire deal.

"So is it all over?"

"Seems that way. I've been sleeping normally and not dropping all over the place, and the hospital cleared me."

Their maths teacher droned on at the front, but Vlad barely heard any of it as his mind whirled, focus solely on the memories of his weird clash with His Grandness in his mind. Why Ingrid? Yes, she mattered to him, but so did his dad - reluctantly, but mattering all the same. So what was it about Ingrid specifically? He'd not really known her that long, though the whole time he had had been intense, physically and then emotionally.

So why her?

-YD-

I'm on hiatus from HTTYD fics and still somehow behind on everything send help I am not a good author haha.