Work Text:
Grace and Daniel are running down the hallway when suddenly Charity is blocking their exit, the barrel of her gun pointed straight at the blonde. Daniel doesn't falter in his place sheltering the gun from the bride.
"Get out of the way," Charity bites out, but he doesn't, he won't. What an idiot, she thinks to herself, no wonder he's the useless brother and not the one who's fated to be king of this dominion.
A small breeze passes through the room, possibly from a broken window. It wafts over the scent of Charity's favorite mint perfume. It curls into Daniel's nose and makes his knees wobble, but his legs do not move. He tries not to think about how much he loved that perfume on her when they first met. How it remained on her wrists and neck even when he kissed her there over and over and --
Instead he thinks about how easy it was for her to become cold and bloodthirsty after his parents told her the story of Mr. Le Bail, of how his parents arranged the marriage as quickly as they could before Daniel could change his mind for someone with even lower-born blood -- or even lower qualms about murder. The spearmint smell stabs at his nose now and he wipes away the cold.
Charity's own nose wrinkles. "You would honestly choose her over me?"
Being hunted all night for sport makes Grace brave. "I think at this point he's choosing whichever woman isn't trying to kill him."
Charity adjusts her grip. "You don't understand what it means to sacrifice for the greater good."
Grace hugs Daniel from the side, still looking straight at Charity. "I know that's supposed to be the true meaning of Charity."
Charity lets out a roar of frustration. Daniel lifts his hands and pleads "You don't have to --" BANG. The bullet catches in the side of Daniel's throat. Grace jumps back, screaming, but soon feels something else lodge in her chest. She collapses to the ground, right next to Daniel.
As her eyes close, the last thing she hears is a new older voice shouting "Charity, you fool! We were supposed to all kill her the correct way in the ritual! If we don't we'll all be dead by sunrise --"
The last thing she sees is a ghostly man standing over her and Daniel, giving a short nod of approval.
***
Grace wakes up with a start in the center of a dimly lit cave. She's still wearing her wedding dress, but it's now clean and white again. The rest of her is clear of any blood or gashes as well. Daniel sits up next, as alive as ever. "Le Bail..." he croaks out, "let us have an afterlife?" He sighs. "This has got to be some form of eternal punishment."
"What do you mean?" she blinks.
He fists his hands through his loose curls. "All I ever do is get people in danger and get them killed. This is all my fault." He wiped at loose tears. "I kept trying so hard not to be a Le Domas like them. But I'm still a murderer and a demon and a grim reaper, and now I'm dragging you down with me--"
Grace leans forward and grabs his stubbly face in a kiss. To her surprise, he returns it, gently cupping her powdered face in return. As they break apart, he inhales. She smells like roses and pomegranates. "A truly evil person wouldn't have chosen to save a stranger over his own wife," she insisted, her blue eyes set.
"I only married her since you were so set on Alex," he muttered. "If I'd gotten to you first I never would've let them all hurt you."
You're fine choosing me over Charity for all eternity?" She leans back. "I thought you two always liked being together..."
He snorts,"Of course not, we were married," he quipped. "Mother forced me to marry after hearing you and Alex were getting serious." He's embarrassed to admit he only picked Charity because, if he couldn't have Grace, at least his rebound would also be named after a virtue.
"Well..." Grace looks down at her flower-lace skirt. "we could elope now that we're both dead, and nothing really matters anymore," she tries to joke. "I mean, why waste a good wedding dress?" Her voice cracks. "Come on, it's only for the rest of our afterlives..."
His head tilts. "I must really be rubbing off on you if you're joking this much under pressure."
"Hey, just be glad I'm not adding in another joke about you rubbing off on me," she replied, then immediately cringed. Maybe this really was an eternal punishment.
But luckily, Daniel just laughed, and leaned in to kiss her again. "Grace, will you marry me and let me take your last name instead of mine?"
"I will," she smiled, "and all I know about my birth family is that my legal last name is Hunter."
They embrace, Grace putting her lips against Daniel's ungashed throat. He kisses her palm, smooth like it'd never been punctured by a rusty nail. They were safe now, had each other, and had won the game.