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Chapter Text

" STAY AWAY FROM ME! The next one of you who comes near me: I swear to God, I WILL KILL!"

Laura kept playing that moment inside her head, hearing Carmilla's destroyed voice over and over again. This was so wrong, in so many ways. She never meant for any of this to happen; the only reason she told Danny was to keep her safe. Mattie was evil, or so she thought at the time, and if she knew a way to prevent a catastrophe, she'd do it. She never thought that action would actually start one, rather than prevent it.

And Carmilla, God Carmilla, she would never forgive her; and why should her? She was right: Laura was a child, and she knew nothing. All of this time, trying to change Carmilla, forcing her to be someone she's not, to make her see the world is not always a dark place, to make her care for other things and not only her; and she ended up proving Carmilla that she was right all along, everyone, even those who love you, will hurt you, will betray you and leave you to bleed to death.

Even if Carmilla forgave her, she'd never forgive herself, she didn't deserve it. She'd been wrong all along. The world, as much as she hated to admit it, is not black and white but filled with shades of gray. Maybe Nietzsche was right when he said all good things approach their goal crookedly (yes, she had been reading Carmilla's books, looking for answers). You can do bad things, but have good intentions. You can do good things and have bad intentions. And sometimes, you could do good things and have good intentions, and yet manage to create even a bigger mess. She understood now.

That meant she had been wrong in a lot of things. Like when it came to Mattie. Mattie, who claimed she had never killed those kids at The Voice, much like Carmilla did last year when it came to the missing girls. If she believed Carmilla then, why didn't she believe Mattie now? Was it because she was jealous of Mattie and her relationship with Carmilla? Maybe, but if that was it then she really needed to kick herself. A who-knows-how-old vampire had been killed because she was too jealous to see she was telling the truth? Mattie, Carmilla's closest thing to family, the only one who never tried to abuse her or force her in any way, had died because Laura was behaving like a toddler? God, this was so messed up.

 "Ugh, I really don't have time for this," she thought, sitting with a book in her hands trying to figure it out "I have an attack to plan."

Even if she didn't know who killed the newspaper kids, it was still true that Vordie was in control of the school -Good move there, Hollis- and she had to put an end to it. It was her mess after all, this was all Laura's fault and she was going to fix it, even if she had to die to make it right.

And so she worked, all night. Perry and Laf had gone to find weapons for the troops, Kirsch had gone to get the Zetas and the Summers, and Danny had gone with Theo and Mel in an attempt to get the people they needed to fight. Danny, who would do anything for her, who always came like a white knight, trying to protect her. She remembered feeling trapped last semester. Every time she wanted to do something, Danny seemed to want to control everything; control her. She knew Danny meant well, but this was not the way. It wasn't the way then, and it isn't now. And even if Mattie had done a lot of bad things, she wasn't going to kill Danny, at least Laura didn't think so. She had thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that if Mattie wanted someone dead, she would have killed them. If things were actually gray, then maybe Mattie wasn't to blame, maybe Danny was wrong. She was scared to think of what that meant.

And so she pushed all those thoughts aside. Complaining and crying about the past wasn't going to change anything, and if they really wanted to take the school back, they would need to do it themselves. Besides, she had a lot of files to read if she wanted to find the answer, and they had very little time. The plan was pretty much settled: once Danny and Kirsch were back with the troops (by that time, Laura would already have a way to take away Vordie's power), and Laf and Perry had the weapons (Laf mentioned something about a warehouse near the Alchemy Club HQ having a few pieces of wood and tools), they would charge into the Dean's old office (now known as Vordie's HQ) and hit them with everything they've got. Sure, maybe it wasn't complex enough, but they managed to defeat the Dean with a similar strategy, right?

Just as Laura finished reading the files, a very excited LaFontaine entered the room followed by a very alarmed Perry.

"L, you need to check this out!" Laf said, an enormous grin on their face.

When Laura turned around, she saw LaFontaine grabbing a green chainsaw, and a wide-eyed Perry holding a giant bag filled with... stuff.

"Holy Hufflepuff  Laf! A chainsaw, really?"

"Hey, if this doesn't finish Vordie off, nothing will"

Just in that moment, Kirsch and Danny came in. "Little Laura," Kirsch said "the troops are ready."

So this was it. They didn't know how to remove Vordie's power, the only thing they've managed to find was that it required some sort of blood ritual (most of the books were in Latin and, sadly, the only person who could read it was... Gone). Now is not the time, Laura. Get it together. They had hoped to find the answers by the time the troops arrived, which wasn't possible now.

"We didn't find anything in the books, at least not the ones we were able to read. We'll have to hold off the attack. Danny, I'm gonna need you to-"

Before she could finish the sentence, a husky voice she knew only too well said, "Oh no you won't, if I have something to say about it"

Everyone turned around, Danny with a stake in her hand, and stared at Carmilla,  who was languidly standing at the door, a hard expression in her face. Laura looked right into her eyes, and when she did, she realized they weren't Carmilla's any longer. They were dark red like the blood she always used to drink, and seemed different, rougher, emptier. Her clothes were torn and her jaw tense. As soon as she was her, Laura knew: she had drunk the Anglerfish's blood. This didn't look like Carmilla at all; what Laura was looking at was a monster, an abomination and still... It was somehow the woman she loved, even if she never had the courage to say it out loud.

Anyone could feel the tension in the air, and the world seemed to stand still for a moment. Before anyone had time to say or do anything else, Laura stood up and, knowing that hell could break loose at any moment, she said: "Guys, calm down. Danny," she said staring at her "step back. I'll handle this."

Carmilla snorted, actually snorted, and looked Laura right in the eyes "Oh please, as if any of you were a match for me. Besides, I didn't come here to fight but to do you a favor. You see," she said as she grabbed one of the books Laura had been reading, the one in Latin, "the only way to defeat Grandpa up there," she said, pointing towards what used to be the Dean's office, "is to, well, use another kind of power, as strong as his, against him. You know, fight fire with fire. And, you see, as much as I would love to face him alone, it hasn't proved to be a successful idea so far. He has an army, and I need that army gone if I am to make a move."

"You've come to... help us?" said Laura, doing her best not to cry or run to hug her.

"Not precisely. I've merely come to offer you a deal. We have a common goal, you want him gone, I want him gone. You can't do this without me, and counting with your help would make things easier for me. So, do we have a deal?"

"Carm, what happened to you?" Laura whispered, and she was sure no one other than Carmilla could hear her. Carmilla stared at her, and Laura could swear she saw her eyes go soft for a moment before they turned even emptier than before, when she said:

"I said, do we have a deal?"

Laura turned her head back towards the rest of the group. Laf and Perry nodded, while Kirsch simply smiled like the puppy he is, and Danny stared at Laura as if to say 'are you sure about this?'

Laura nodded, turning around to face Carmilla and said "Deal."

"Good. We leave at midnight" she said as she walked out of the room, leaving Laura with an aching heart and with the weight of her decisions.

Chapter Text

After a long discussion (mostly with Danny, since the others thought having Carmilla on their side was an advantage), it was settled: Carmilla would join them during the battle and while the troops fought Vordenberg´s goons, they would infiltrate into the Dean´s office and defeat Vordie once and for all. Laf´s hunch had paid off, and now they all had weapons and even some pieces of armor (what those were doing in possession of the Alchemy Club was a mystery, and Laura was afraid to even contemplate the thought). Kirsch, along with Mel and Theo were in charge of all the troops, JP would support them during the battle—We could totally use your vampire strength, bro—while Perry and LaFontaine were meant to be a distraction; while the troops fought outside, they would try to distract Vordie's minions inside the offices; so Laura, Carmilla and Danny could infiltrate without Vordenberg knowing, reaching the Dean's office before he had a chance to escape. The idea seemed ridiculous to Laura, but Carmilla told her the Dean had a few secret passages for emergency situations which, if you thought about it, actually made sense.

According to Carmilla, she was, as she put it, minding her own business when she, quite literally, ran into the library. Completely unable to get out, she was forced to walk down the room, seeing is different books arranged themselves in the shelves. As she kept walking, a really big, really old book stood in front of her, showing her a complex diagram. After a reading a few pages, she had the answer. In order to take Vordenberg down, she would have to gather power from... The Anglerfish's blood. That would be fun, if she actually survived. She didn't really care about what Vordenberg did, but she still needed to kill him, she owned that to Mattie. And besides, it was impossible to leave the campus and right now there was nothing she needed more than to get away. She didn't tell Laura the last part, even if she didn't know how to feel about the other girl, she still knew somehow, deep inside, that she couldn't give her up. She had burned her presence inside of her, and the mark would remain there forever, a constant reminder to Carmilla.

After telling them her story (leaving most of the unimportant details out because what to do you care?), they figured that plan out. Carmilla wasn't sure how to feel about any of this, but she would play along, for now. The army of dimwits they've gathered were her door to getting to Vordie, to putting an end to this once and for all. Then, she would be free to do as she pleased; even if she didn't have a solid plan yet (part of her wanted to leave and never look back, part of her wanted to stay with Laura forever, part of her wanted to cease to exist), she needed to take this step before doing anything else.

With everything figured out, they headed into the evil's lair, ready for anything. After circling around a few buildings, they reached a few trees near the would-be-battlefield and Laura, Carmilla and Danny hid behind them, waiting for Laf's signal.

"This is gonna be awesome," they said as they ran behind the Zetas and Summers, a big bag on their shoulders and a huge grin on their face, while Perry followed them silently.

As soon as they passed the trees, they began hearing chanting and battle cries, from both sides. The fighting had began. Mel ran, bow in hand, and started throwing arrows at anyone that would try to come near her. Bodies started to fall as arrows reached the ground and tridents raced against the wind, finding chests ready to be crushed, causing more bodies to fall. It was brutal, Vordenberg's soldiers fighting as if guided by a silent invisible force, pushing them forward. From behind the trees Laura spotted Laf's fire-red hair, and suddenly realized what the bag contained: explosives.

"Oh my God!" cried Laura, "Where did they even find those?!"

"Probably in one of Mother's warehouses. She liked to be prepared for... unexpected situations" said Carmilla dryly, as if the mere action of talking to Laura hurt her in an inexplicable way.

"Right, because saving dynamite for an 'emergency' is totally something your mother would do" said Danny sarcastically. Evidently, whatever sort of peace they might have achieved a few weeks earlier was completely gone.

Carmilla was about to answer when something exploded. "That's the sign," she said, "let's go"

They began running towards the entrance, jumping over bodies and doing their best to avoid the people who were still fighting. They inevitably had to deal with a few, Danny using her bow to hit their faces as they got near. They got to the door only to find a big hole in the wall, probably LaFontaine's doing, and a lot of burned bodies. Before she could say anything, a big black panther was running inside the building at an incredible speed.

"Come on Danny, she might need us!" said Laura as she ran behind Carmilla, almost forgetting they were in the middle of a war zone. Danny followed her reluctantly. By the time they climbed the stairs and got to the Dean's office, Carmilla was already fighting Vordie's personal guards, trying to get to him. The office was at the end of the hall, and Carmilla seemed to have no trouble making her way slashing with her giant claws. She was considerably stronger than before, and clearly really pissed as she rushed through the corridors trying to get to the end, were a door was waiting for them, Vordenber inside.

When they finally got rid of the guards, Carmilla busted the door and as she came in, two incredibly tall men grabbed her from her paws and pressed her to the ground. These guys didn't seem like the rest, the V marks they had in their foreheads had a green glow, and their eyes were completely black. Carmilla managed to turn around, now lying on her side, and tried to bite one of them in the chest, without success.

Laura and Danny did her best to help her. Laura knew krav maga well enough, but never learned how to use any sort of weapon. Her father said they were dangerous, she could hurt herself. That's why the only thing she carried was a military knife Danny had given her to "keep her safe". To be honest, she didn't really know what to do with it, but thought it wasn't rocket science, just hack and slash, right? Danny shot a few arrows at one of the guys and even though he seemed to have slowed down, he was still breathing.

"Impossible" whisper Danny, complete disbelief in her voice.

Laura ran towards the same guy and stabbed him in the back, twice. He flinched and turned around, facing her. At this very instant two things happened: Danny shot an arrow to the guy's forehead, and Carmilla managed to stand up, facing the only guy that was left. He stepped back, evading Danny's arrows and waited for Carmilla to attack. When she tried to, he grabbed her by the neck, and before she could even do any real damage, he threw her out the window. Then, he stood facing Danny and Laura, who barely even had time to react.

"Fräulein Hollis, and company. Nice of you to join me" said Vodie, carefully standing behind the Dean's desk, making sure he had somewhere to hide in case something went wrong. Laura realized that the guard's retreat had brought them into the Dean's office. "If you could calm down for a minute, I would be more than glad to talk and get to an arrangement. I'm pretty good at those, like that time when—"

"Save it, Old Man" said Danny, pointing an arrow at his head "Game over"

"Oh, but Miss Lawrence, let's not be savages about this." He looked at his guard, "Please, show the lady some manners."

At that moment the only remaining guard grabbed Danny and touched her forehead with a small piece of metal, marking her with a glowing version of the black V she used to carry. Her eyes went black, and she dropped the bow and looked at Laura with a cold determination.

"You see my dear Fräulein, among all the interesting things the Dean had lying around in this office, she had that incredibly small tool which, if you add a bit of a God's blood, allows you to do a great deal of things. She's mine now, as is he" he said pointing to his bodyguard "Now, finish her"

The two of them approached Laura, and as they came nearer, she grabbed the small knife she'd been carrying with her and swung it around in an attempt to scare them away. It didn't work. Doing her best to avoid the blows they threw at her, she said: "You don't have to do this. This is my fault, this has been my fault all along. Take me and leave the rest of the campus alone."

"Sadly, I can't. This is my big opportunity to make it into the history books 'Baron Vordenberg, Vampire Slayer'. Wouldn't that be incredible? I don't have much time left, my dear, and this will probably be my only chance to redeem my ancestors."

She kept dodging blows as he spoke, and she was sure she was going to die when she suddenly heard a loud growl behind her and instinctively crouched, allowing Carmilla to jump over her and tear the bodyguard's head off with her claws. Only Danny and Vordie left. Carmilla looked back at Laura for a second and saw she was crying, knowing what came next; despite this, she gave a small nod, as if giving Carmilla permission to do what needed to be done. Danny tried to grab her bow, and when Carmilla made a move to stop her, she stick an arrow into one of her paws.

"Vordenberg, stop this!!" cried Laura, helpless while Carmilla tried to get rid of the arrow, Danny still trying to grab her bow.

"I'm afraid I can't do that either. See, in order to become powerful enough to fight the vampires on campus, and be part of my army, Miss Lawrence here took certain... vows. She knew the possible consequences of this, and chose anyway. There is only way to go back: Miss Karnstein here is the an incredibly powerful and well-known vampire. If I slay her, I'll make it into the books as the greatest Vampire Slayer there has ever been" he said, a great pride in his voice. "Also, my debt with my ancestors will finally be paid. Both of your companions already chose their path, my dear Fräulein, now it is up to you."

Laura looked Vordie straight in the eye and knew he was telling the truth. It made sense. Danny had good intentions, but could be incredibly reckless sometimes; and with this kind of things you can't be reckless. She knew what had to be done, but couldn't bring herself to do it, or even watch. Carmilla kept swinging her free paw around, in a poor attempt to hit Danny, who grabbed another arrow and repeated the process, now effectively trapping Carmilla, who was completely helpless now. She looked into Laura's eyes, as if asking her to choose.

She saw Danny had managed to grab her bow and was pointing right to Carmilla's head; Carmilla looked Danny right in the eyes, ready to take to take the final blow, ready to face the consequences of choosing Laura over and over again. At the same time, she was still trying to break the silver arrow—So silver really hurts vampires, huh?—even if she knew it was pointless.  

"Danny, please don't!" Laura cried, clinging to the tiny little hope that maybe Danny was still there, somewhere.

"It has to be done, Laura. You know it. She's evil, a manipulative cunt who has done nothing but hurt you" Danny said in a plain voice, tensing the bow.

Laura really had no time to think but that didn't matter; in that moment she saw everything clear as water: she loved Carmilla, and she would choose her over and over again, as she had chosen her in the past. Even if Carmilla never forgave her, the mere thought of a world where she wasn't around was unbearable to her.

"No!" She screamed and acting by instinct, she kicked Danny in the leg, hard, causing her to miss the shot. While Danny recovered, Laura ran to Carmilla and got rid of the arrows. As soon as she was free, she jumped towards Danny, tackling her and falling to the ground; she turned around to see Laura who whispered "Do it."

And as always, Carmilla obeyed. She bit Danny's neck, and the smell of blood flooded the room, bringing a sense of reality to what she had just done. Carmilla couldn't deny it felt good to end the red hair's life, avenging her sister. Laura felt sick, but had to keep going, for her friends, for the school, for Carmilla.

She turned to where Vordie used to be, realizing he wasn't there anymore. She looked at Carmilla, who was already running outside the room, heading to the end of the hallway where they found a passage in the same place a giant bookshelf used to be.

"Of course the Dean would have a passage hidden behind a library" she said sarcastically, following Carmilla through the small tunnel. They kept running until they reached the end, finding themselves emerging from underneath the ground, in the middle of the forest, far away from the battle.

Vordenberg wasn't far, lying tiredly against one of the trees, panting.

"I might be powerful, but I'm still an old man, Fräulein Hollis. You wouldn't kill an old man, now would you?" he said, in the sweetest tone she'd ever heard him use. Cunning, but not enough. Even if Laura didn't really want to kill him, Carmilla seemed to have other plans and, to be honest, she wasn't even sure what was right or wrong anymore. She'd let Carmilla have this one; she'd been right about so many things, why would she be wrong now?

"Do it, Carm. I don't care anymore" she said, a sudden feeling of tiredness filling her inside as if her mind was completely giving up, as if she wasn't capable of telling what the right thing was at this point. Who cares anyway?

Carmilla, as always, obeyed. She circled around Vordenberg, careful not to get to close in case he had some sort of trick up his sleeve and, when she saw him flinch she jumped, biting his head off and throwing it away, far far away from his body. There was a loud shredding sound, and then all of his body was gone, turned into ashes. Laura saw Carmilla shift into her human form again, rising with blood in her mouth, her eyes looking a little bit different than before, more like the ones she was used to see, more like herself.

"Carm I...." she trailed off, unsure of what to say. 'The next one of you who comes near me: I swear to God, I WILL KILL!' she had said; and yet it was her who came to them, offering help, saving them once again. Why? She needed to know, but somehow felt this wasn't the moment. She needed to say something else first, "...I'm so, so sorry"

"Laura—"

"No, please; I need to do this" she said, looking into her eyes and she knew Carmilla understood. "I'm sorry, about everything. I've been wrong all along. You were right about so much, Carm. I used to believe things were either wrong, or right, and out of all the people I've known, you're the only one that wouldn't fit into those categories. I could never place you and always treated it as if you were the problem, forcing you to change, to "be better" and I'm sorry. Only now do I see how wrong I was, how incredibly gray the world is and I know I messed up and I understand if you'll never forgive me but Carmilla I... I love you. It's taken me so much time and effort to realize and I just, I'm so sorry" she tried to look at Carmilla but the tears in her eyes wouldn't let het see anything. Just as she was going to wipe them, she felt Carmilla's hands in her cheeks, wiping away her tears and looking at her in a way she never had before. It wasn't anger, but it was just as strong and even before Laura had time to place the emotion, she felt Carmilla's lips on hers and it was even better than she remember it. For the first time, she really understood what people talked about when they talked about love. She felt it all over her body, this incredibly overwhelming and warm feeling filling her from inside, fixing what was broken; and that kiss felt like a promise, a promise to be better, to be good, to move forward and finally be what it was meant to be.

"Laura I," she said as she stepped back. "I love you too, but I can't do this right now. Not like this. I... I need time. Would you give me that?"

"Of course I will but, please, don't leave me again." she whispered, unable to control her voice.

"I won't. I promise." she said with a solemn look in her face. Laura noticed there was still a trace of hostility but most of it was gone. It would take time, but she was willing to wait all her life for her, if she had to. She hoped she wouldn't, though.

"Good. Now, let's go back. The battle is probably over."

"Lead the way" said Carmilla, and walked by Laura's side as they walked back to the campus.

Chapter Text

Carmilla decided going through the forest would be better than going the way they came. Laura didn't care anymore, and she followed her. As they approached the now deserted battlefield, they heard someone scream in the distance, "Perry, no!"

Laura stared at Carmilla in horror. What could possibly happen now? Carmilla held her gaze for a moment, and then focused so she could determine the exact place the sound had come from. She heard someone screaming. Loudly.

"And the adventure continues..." mumbled Carmilla under her breath as she began running alongside Laura, doing her best to avoid the bodies that were lying around all over the place. It had been a carnage, but at least it was over now. They kept running and even if Laura had no idea where they were going, Carmilla seemed to be sure, so Laura followed her obediently, only thinking What the hell is going on now?

They reached what used to be Lophii's lair, a huge crater right where the Lustig Theatre used to be. As Laura came near the hole, she caught a glimpse of red curly hair. Carmilla jumped quickly inside the hole, leaving Laura to figure out how she was going to get down.

As her feet touched the ground, Carmilla saw Perry, who looked nothing like herself, holding Lafontaine by the neck and giving Laura's friends a killer-glare. Bows were pointed at her, but as soon as Perry saw her, she smirked and turned towards Carmilla.

Perry's usual face changed completely and she said, "My dear, how pleasant of you to join us. Where's your-" she looked up and saw Laura, who was still trying to make her way down. "Ah, there she is."

Carmilla froze. That tone, that expression... It couldn't be. It simply couldn't be. "...Mother?" she asked, doing her best to hide the fear in her voice.

"Good to see all this playing hero business has kept your brain intact. I was afraid they'd ruined you."

Carmilla heard Laura gasp behind her, and then heard her feet touch the ground. She had to protect her, and somehow finish this, once and for all. But first, she needed answers. "I'm doing just fine, thank you." she said sarcastically, "What I want to know is... How?"

"You really didn't believe I was dead, did you Mircalla? I thought you of all people, would be smarter than that. See, I had this... Plan B, if you wish to call it that, in case an unfortunate event such as the one you performed last year happened. I have to say, I'd have never expected it from you, but such is the way of life, isn't it? Anyway, I spent some time bodiless-you have no idea how unpleasant that is-and then found this gorgeous shell to hold me. As soon as I saw those meddling newspaper kids gathering old books from the archives, I had to act. After doing some cleaning, I realized keeping an eye on you and your... new companions," she said with disgust, "would be a good idea, especially since that one," she said pointing towards Laura and Carmilla stiffed "loves to get into trouble so much."

"So it was you," Laura whispered in shock, "It was you all along."

"And she can think, who would have thought?" said the Dean with a small chuckle. Then, she turned to Carmilla, "At least you picked a smart one this time."

"Leave her out of this." Carmilla hissed. She knew her Mother was testing her, trying to make her make a mistake. She would not give her the pleasure.

"As you wish," she said, and then a wide grin spread over her face, "by the way, how's Matska?"

Carmilla felt her blood boiling. That was it. She was going to kill her, but she would have to think of a smart way to do so. She knew Mother was playing with her, testing her. And she planned to make her think she passed. So, she simply stared, expectantly.

"How quiet are you, darling. This isn't like you. You must be considering your options, yes? Well, let me put it like this. You can help you Mother, as you should, and together get rid of these annoying kids. Then we could decide what to do, I won't hold you if you wish to be free, at least for a few centuries. Or, you could try to fight me, and die right here, right now. Now darling, are you going to help your Mother?"

Carmilla glanced at Laura, who was looking at her. In that moment she knew, if she didn't before, that Laura was as inevitable to her as death is, that she was chained somehow and yet, it was the best prison she'd ever known, even if it all turned out to be a mess at the end. This possessive vampire crap was getting out of hand, but she couldn't help it. She looked at her options: her Mother had The Scientist, and was still in the body of Curly Sue, but Laura's friends had bows and arrows pointed at her, the only reason they hadn't shot being concerned over their friends. Laura's friends were looking at her, as if waiting for a signal, so Carmilla gave them  a small nod, and even before her Mother had a moment to react, she jumped forward, throwing Lafontaine to the ground, barely evading a rain of arrows.

She should have guessed Mother would still have some sort of supernatural powers. Luckily, the arrows were made of silver, so even if she wasn't really dead, at least she was unable to move. For a moment, Carmilla doubted. She knew her Mother had gone there to drink the fish's blood, and it didn't even matter if she had managed; what troubled her was that if she killed Mother right there, she would be killing Laura's friend too. She wasn't particularly fond of Anne Shirley, but she made excellent brownies. And she was Laura's friend. Ugh, this tiny human will be the death of me, I swear. She turned around, looking at Laura, looking for something, anything, to tell her what to do. But Laura wasn't looking at her but past her, and before Carmilla could react she heard a scream. She turned around to see a very sad but decided Lafontaine stick a stake into her Mother's chest, tears down their face.

As blood started to come out, the body slowly stopped moving until it finally froze. They stood up and looked at Carmilla, and she didn't see hate or rejection in their look; instead, she saw understanding, as if Lafontaine really understood what Carmilla had been trough, what she'd endured. And for some reason, that thought made her feel warm inside.

"Laura, get them out of here. I... I have to make sure this never happens again."

"What are you going to do?" whispered Laura, and she looked so beat Carmilla actually wanted to cry.

"Fire." she said simply. Laura nodded and led Lafontaine and the rest of the group out of the crater.

Carmilla took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the task at hand, doing her best to keep any thoughts regarding an usually-way-too-excited tiny blonde, or her family, out of her mind. Finally, she got to work.

Chapter Text

Months had passed, it was summer now. Things were finally quiet, for once. It hadn't been easy, but they were finally finding some stability. After Danny's death, Kirsch had been completely heartbroken. Now, he had decided to make something out of it-he had decided to help rebuild the Zetas, creating a new code and trying to fix their relationship with the Summers, even if it seemed impossible. He was trying, Laura would give him that. JP and Lafontaine had spent a lot of time in the lab, trying to explain Vordie's power-they only managed to discover it had something to do with some strange Greek myth, but not much else. It was all too "magical" for their tastes. Still, they didn't give up, and did research any time they could, if only for fun. Laura and Carmilla had gotten back together after Laura poured her heart out to Carmilla for a change. Everything seemed to be getting better.

Laura woke up only to find Carmilla snoring softly right next to her ear-Laura was insensibly glad they had managed to fix things. They would never get over what happened, but after the battle something seemed to shit between them. Laura had thought about it a lot, and came to the realization that, when she stopped Danny from killing Carmilla, she had done a lot more than just that. She had chosen, finally. She had, in a way, killed Danny herself. She sometimes wondered if it was really necessary, only to find out the answer was an immediate 'yes'. Carmilla had been in danger, and was alive thanks to her, thanks to what she did. Maybe it wasn't right, but it felt like it was, and that was enough. She knew Carmilla had known, even if she never told her, that she had chosen to save her for no other reason than the fact she wanted to, as Carmilla had done once, long ago. Laura had committed, indirectly, the very act she reproached her about-doing things for selfish reasons. She understood now, when Carmilla said it hadn't been easy, that she had been scared the whole time. Laura had been too, but the single idea of being without Carmilla was worse than any fate she could face. She didn't regret a single thing, even if she sometimes felt guilty about it.

She stood up and stretched, carefully making her way out of the room. There was no chance in Hell or Hogwarts that Carmilla would wake up-not only was she a heavy sleeper but it was also nowhere near noon. Besides, after last night, she could probably use the rest-but Laura was careful anyway.

She got to the kitchen only to find JP and Lafontaine trying to bake some cookies. At first, neither of them could enter the kitchen but, as time went by, they had gotten over it. They still missed Perry, no doubt, but at least they seemed to be doing better. They were closer than ever, and Laura had to admit she was very happy for them. She stood in the doorstep for a moment, contemplating them.

"I tell you JP, this is not right"

"But is says so right here!" he exclaimed, pointing towards the box he held in his hand, "exactly ten minutes."

"It can't be! You'll burn them!" they gasped. Gee, they really seem to be into this, Laura thought.

"Hey guys! What's going on?" she asked cheerily, sleep still in her voice.

"L! It's good you're here, could you please tell JP he can't let the cookies stay ten minutes or they'll burn?"

"Uh..."

"I'm merely following the recipe. If it says ten minutes, then ten minutes it is."

"Uh, I'll stay out of it, for once. Just please, don't burn the house, okay?"

Lafontaine groaned, while JP nodded happily. Laura made herself some cocoa and watched them fight over the cookies-they finally settled with nine minutes. Just as soon as they were ready, they all gathered to eat, exchanging jokes and commenting on how good the cookies tasted.

"Someone said cookies?" asked Carmilla, standing in the doorstep with a small smile. Laura turned towards her-at first surprised to hear her voice, she thought she was sleeping. Then, that look turned into something completely different, as she saw Carmilla wearing a baggy t-shirt and black shorts. After all they'd been through, one would think she couldn't love her as much as she did, need her as much as she did. They'd be wrong. If anything, she loved her even more.

Carmilla grabbed some blood and sat down next to her, stealing one of Laura's cookies. To think that, about a year ago, that would have caused a completely different reaction-now it simply caused Laura to grin happily. Carmilla had changed a lot too-Laura had helped her change, helped her see how wrong she was about so many things. She had finally found someone worth fighting for, someone who was also willing to fight for her, to love her for who she was, to accept her-flaws and all. She wouldn't have asked for anything more than her, Laura was all she needed. God, I truly am a sap, she thought as she smiled at Laura, adoration in her eyes-as if with her smile she was praising a goddess, as if Laura was the light that kept the universe in place.

It might not be the case but, in Carmilla's universe, it couldn't be more true.