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The fight is over, they've won. The beacons are gone and everyone is free to leave.
The freedom came at a cost, but it could have been so much worse. It could have been so much better. Scott never really liked the two Militia, but even he could admit that the deaths of Martyn and Renheart should not have happened. The two—were they lovers?—dead, as result of Apo's uninformed attempt at saving Martyn’s life—a tragedy indeed.
The doctor, plagued by his own wretched thoughts, and Owen's vengeful hatred, Scott can only hope he has found peace in death. He is not sure if vampires get an afterlife, but if there is, the Doc deserves a kind one in Scott's opinion.
The vampires had lost people too. However Scott cannot bring himself to feel any kind of remorse about those. Pyro and Owen had it coming. His only regret is that he didn't have a role in their eventual deaths.
Scott had promised Avid revenge. Revenge he didn’t bring him in the end. Owen got a death more peaceful than he deserved. Scott mourns the fact that he did not get to punish him for taking what was Scott’s, although he is glad it was Shelby who got to Pyro. Avid had been her fledgling after all.
Now he stands here, in front of the grave he has built himself. The first one he has built, ever. It was fitting, in an ironic way. Avid had been the reason for many things Scott felt for the first time, after all.
He had been the first person who truly intrigued Scott. Shouting about vampires from the start, he had clocked Scott as a vampire—correctly—from day one. He had been one of the only people who didn’t fall for the charm of an elder vampire.
He had been the first time Scott had been genuinely surprised by another person. Scott prides himself in his ability to read people and predict their actions. He has been betrayed by many a ‘friend’, it had never left him surprised, disappointed maybe.
When Avid had kissed him at the beacon, it was the first time Scott had ever found himself stunned without words.
Avid had been the first time Scott felt anything akin to hope. A bright spark of energy to a light he wanted to keep at his side forever. Eternal life might sound amazing—and it is, don't get him wrong—but it can get so lonely and dull sometimes. Avid had been the first person that Scott felt he could maybe bear to share this eternal existence with. Aside from maybe Shelby, but it was different with her.
Love. Never before had Scott had someone love him so unconditionally the way that Avid had. Not out of fear, like Pyro had, or out of greed, like so many others before. And in turn he had been the first to make him ever feel love. Now, he has to give Shelby some credit here too. Without her help Scott would probably never have realised that that warm feeling he felt around Avid was love.
And of course he had been the reason the great Scott Goldsmith experienced grief, real grief, for the first time. And he had cried, a single tear of blood leaving a line across his face, more than Scott had thought vampires—he—were able to.
Scott places a wither rose on the grave, and stares at it. Its black petals curling and smoking with the poison that runs through the flower. It was his favourite flower, Avid told him once as they were hunting, dangerous and corrupted, yet still flourishing. Now that Scott thinks about it, it fits him, two beautiful things with a darkness deep within.
"Hey Avid" Scott begins softly. Is he really doing this, talking to the ground? “Shelby promised me that talking to you would make me feel better. All I feel is a bit silly. I should tell you, we did it. We won. Not by killing all the humans, like you wanted to do. No, we came to a peaceful agreement. Can you imagine?” Scott chuckles. If anyone not even a week ago would have told him how it all would end he would have laughed in their face, but now, he is here, talking to the grave of the man he loved.
“Everyone has left Oakhurst already. Well, except Cleo and Pearl. They say they will look after the castle for us. Shelby and Drift are planning to take me to explore the world. To see everything that has changed while I was asleep. I only wish that you could've come with. These were your plans, you should be able to teach me about everything yourself.” Scott trails off. His voice is thick with tears that threaten to fall.
“What I wouldn’t give to have you here once more” Words nothing more than a mumble. A thought meant for just himself, escaping his mouth.
The world goes silent, the crows stop their call, the howling of the wolves deep in the forest goes quiet, even the wind stills, as if it is holding its breath in anticipation. The silence stretches for what seems like an eternity. It builds, thicker, heavier. It is nearly suffocating, and then it bursts in a bright white light, striking down from the sky.
The blast wave knocks Scott to the ground, and he has barely any time to be upset about his clothes getting dirty, when the thunder rolls over him leaving his ears ringing. As his senses slowly come back to him, Scott stands up again, looking around to get his bearings. His gaze lands on Avid's grave, or at least, what is left of it. The headstone now has a crack running from top to bottom. The ground in front of it looks like it has exploded, chunks of dirt strewn around, leaving a small crater.
Despair wells up inside Scott. He knows that his unholy existence as a vampire goes against all laws of nature and gods, but does the world truly despise him so much that he is not even allowed a place of mourning.
Before his desperation can boil over to anger, a hand sticks up from the ground, freezing him in place.
The hand reaches up and begins to claw away at the ground, soon followed by a second one. And all Scott can do is stare. Stare as the hands dig more and more. Stare as arms breach the dirt. Stare as they are followed by a head, shoulders. Stare as a body slowly rises out of the grave.
No, it cannot be. No god would ever be so kind. Yet, it is. He looks different. An ink-black horn grows out from his hair. An equally black mark covers the right right side of his face, trailing off to his neck. And the eye surrounded by the blackness glows yellow. Despite all this, it is unmistakably Avid who stands before him.
Scott stands there, frozen, his body unable to move.
“Scott?” As if waiting for permission, Scott finally reacts. He reaches for Avid, stumbling as he makes his way over. Scott halts a few steps away, unsure of what to do.
“Hey there, did you miss me?” Avid teases, and Scott’s composure breaks. Closing the last distance, he hugs Avid firmly. One hand tangled in his hair, the other at his back clutching the fabric of his shirt in his claws. Scott presses his head against Avid’s neck in an effort to hide the tears he feels welling up in his eyes.
“I- Scott? Are you ok?” Avid brings his arms up to hug Scott back. Rubbing circles across his trembling back. “Wait, are you crying?” Avid tries to turn his head to look at Scott's face. “I wasn’t aware vampires could do that.”
“Well we can, as you can see. I wasn’t aware that vampires could survive being staked.” Scott glares at Avid. Or, he tries to, the effect greatly reduced by the tears still rolling down his face.
“Ah, yeah about that…” Avid scratches at his neck awkwardly. “Remember that scratch I had? Turns out vampirism doesn’t cure demon-inflicted curses. When I got scratched the demon began to possess me. Becoming a vampire didn’t undo that, it just halted the process. So when Pyro and Owen… when I died It took my soul to Limbo—that’s what It called it I believe—and disappeared. I don’t remember much of it. Only that it looked a bit like a forest?” He thinks for a bit, before continuing
“Anyways. So, I was just there, walking around, being generally sad that I was not alive anymore, and that I missed you and Shelby and Drift. Before I knew it the demon was back. It said that ‘you two are insufferable’ and something about ‘too many gay people’, ‘not this again’, and something about tubes? I'm not sure. Then there was this flash, and I woke up here, in the ground.” He turns to the grave, seemingly remembering something.
“Oh! Also I could see you, sort of. Your conversation with Shelby in the cave? I didn't know you felt that way Scott.” Avid’s voice has taken on a more teasing tone. “And you built me a grave! Visiting me and promising to avenge me! Aw, you really do love me don’t you?”
Scott’s brain is still turning from everything that happened, but he decides he cannot let Avid make fun of him any longer. He grabs the front of Avid’s shirt and yanks him down to kiss him, laughing against his lips as Avid makes a spluttering noise before melting into it.