1. Chapter 1 (1/1)
new story - a bit of an angsty au. spoilers for 4x09, kind of. various ships may occur, het and not, so deal with it. enjoy!
disclaimer: not mine.
"vlad," bertrand was shaking him gently. "vlad." he opened his eyes and sat up in his coffin, bertrand barely stepping back in time to avoid a headbutt."what's going on?" he was hardly awake, and surely there was no way ingrid had made another attempt to kill erin already? bertrand reached out, automatically it seemed, to smooth the chosen one's hair down."you almost burnt to ash today. there's no shame in it." his tutor seemed preoccupied, distant somehow, and it took a moment for him to notice vlad's confusion. "you were screaming."for a moment neither spoke, but then vlad decided that pride and dignity were overrated concepts anyway."it scared me." he paused, expecting to be rebuked, but bertrand just nodded understandingly and waited for him to go on. "when i was burning, i felt... i was in erin's arms, but i was turning to dust alone. i... i don't want to turn to dust. i don't want to die alone." bertrand sighed, hand ghosting across vlad's shoulders to give him a reassuring squeeze."i'll sit with you tonight. we never have to talk about it again, don't worry." they never discussed it after that, and bertrand never forgot.
he'd found the proof he needed, vlad was going to trust him again - he caught the stake and twisted it against his assailant before he was even aware that there /was/ a stake between himself and the hug he was moving in for. both male vampires stared down at the stake, unable to react and stop it piercing the chosen one's chest, oblivious to erin's gasp in the background."vlad-" bertrand's voice was a horrified, strangled apology. he hadn't meant- he would have taken the stake himself, gladly, given the power to turn back time. he would have taken it, even if he still didn't understand why it was there at all.vlad's eyes were wide with fear as his skin began to grey, and suddenly bertrand knew all he needed to know. it was the work of seconds to turn the stake again in vlad's unresisting hand and step forwards, finally wrapping his arms around the boy as he had meant to upon entering the room."not alone. i'm here, i'm right here with you, we go togeth..." it was as far as he got before they both collapsed into a single pile of dust on the cold floor.erin clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle her squeal of horror. for some minutes she stared silently at the ashes, before grief was pushed aside by a more immediate concern."oh, great." she forced a weak chuckle, without knowing why she was trying. blinking, she frowned at the ash through the tears that were threatening to fall. "leave me to explain to the draculas."