Chapter Text
"...So that's what happened, gentle viewers! I'm gonna take a break from this, but I promise, I'll be back soon. Thanks for watching!" said Laura as she turned off the camera. It was done. The battle was over, and even with everything that was lost, they still won, in the end. The University was safe, Vordenberg was dead, Carmilla was back for good-which was a good thing (one Laura truly wasn't expecting)-and everyone seemed to be dealing pretty well with what happened, all things considered.
Kirsch was really sad about what happened to Danny. Actually, that’s a huge understatement; he was completely heartbroken. Laura felt bad for him; she truly did, seeing him walking aimlessly around the house, glancing towards the Summer Society HQ through the window, as if he almost expected to see her running in the track with her sisters. She missed Danny too of course, and she couldn’t shake the idea that this was her fault-despite of the several reassurances Carmilla had given her, claiming “Mattie, Vordie and I also played a huge rule there, Laura. You didn’t do this alone, not any of it.”-But if anything, she felt tired. Really tired, and not just in a physical way, but in a mental way. She couldn’t take anything anymore, she didn’t know how to function properly, what to do, what was right or wrong, or even if such things existed anymore.
Despite all of this suffering, the one that seemed to be having most trouble dealing with everything was Perry. She hadn’t been the same since the semester started, and she had been victim of pretty much every bad thing that had happened. She spent most of her days asking everybody if they needed anything, and when they said they didn’t, she would clean every surface on sight, claiming the house was awfully dirty, even when it was spotless. After Lafontaine convinced her she needed to sleep, she took a few hours off and actually slept. When she woke up, she kept cleaning the house even if there was nothing to clean.
In order to stop her, Lafontaine had decided to take her with them to the lab so she could keep them company while they analyzed some samples taken from the battle. Kirsch was still moving his stuff to the Dean's house, since he had been kicked from the Zetas after what happened with Theo; JP was probably doing research now that the library was back-he seemed really interested in the properties of the Charter, and of Lophii’s blood-and Carmilla was being her broody self somewhere, a book in her hands, doing everything in her power not to think about her sister and the fact that she had lost the only family she had, the only person besides Laura she truly cared about.
Laura was about to finish editing her video when a much stressed Perry came running into the room, shaking; her eyes empty.
"Laura... Laura... You need to help. They... They-Oh my God!" Perry cried, tears falling from her eyes. Laura stood up and ran to hug her, doing her best to comfort her friend, even if she had no idea what was going on.
"Perry, slow down. What happened?"
She stopped sobbing-barely-and tried her best to explain what had happened "I don't know. We went to the lab and after I tried to clean the tubes they were using for the third time, they told me to go clean the other room. And so I did. Then... Then I don't really remember what happened and when I came back I-" she began crying again, Laura holding her in her arms, the weight of what Perry had just said settling in just as she began talking again. "I found them lying in a very strange position, the lab completely destroyed, as was their body. I have no idea what happened Laura, why would this happen?"
Now Laura was crying too, and they stayed like that for a while. Finally, Laura convinced Perry to take a shower and calm herself down, even if that was nearly impossible.
She sat down at the leather couch, and stared blankly to the wall, lost in thought-why would anybody do this? What happened? Oh God, what´s going on?
She was so lost in her own thoughts she didn’t hear Carmilla sitting next to her, putting an arm around her.
“What happened cupcake, are you okay?” she said, slowly rubbing her back, tracing patterns through her sweater.
“Carm, Lafontaine… They’re dead.” Laura said, the sobs she had been holding finally coming out; Carmilla instinctively hugging her, a sad expression on her face.
“I’m very sorry Laura… I actually kind of liked them.”
Laura stared at her for a moment, completely in awe. Carmilla liked Laf? Well, she seemed to stand them a whole lot more than the rest, but still. It was nice to know Carmilla was actually able to care about someone other than her. She smiled sadly at her, and put her head on her shoulder. Laura closed her eyes, feeling Carmilla’s slow, steady breaths next to her. It was calming somehow, to know she was there; that even if their relationship wasn’t what it was, she was still able to feel the way she did before. Maybe there was hope for them after all.
JP didn’t take Laf’s death well. He locked himself in the basement, only going out when he needed blood. Laura couldn’t blame him; his best friend in over a century had died. But JP hiding down there meant Carmilla was now in charge of doing the supply runs, something she seemed uncomfortable doing. When Laura asked about it, she simply said “It´s not the same without the Mad Scientist around. I feel uneasy now, as if something really bad was about to happen.”
Needless to say, Lafontaine’s death had been an incredibly tough blow for Perry. She had spent the first five days cleaning the house over and over-even the creepy basement nobody dared to come into now-and cooking incredibly large amounts of food that nobody was going to eat anyway because now wasn’t the time for eating.
Also, Lafontaine's death meant they wouldn't be able to do any other kind of research or learn anything that required advanced scientific knowledge-Sure, they had JP, but he refused to speak to anyone; and to be honest Laura wasn't really sure he could do it on his own. There was also the fact the labs were completely destroyed, along with the only evidence and samples they'd managed to get from the battlefield.
Laura had a really bad feeling about all of this, but forced herself to keep moving. She felt the need to record another video, to tell everyone what had happened, but she didn't even have the energy to do it. Tragedy followed her wherever she went, it was unavoidable. She wasn't sure it was worth trying anything anymore. She could feel nothing; nothing at all.