FIC: The Necessary Steps :: Enemies Once More [R (4/4)]
Story Title: The Necessary Steps
Chapter Title: Enemies Once More (4/4)
Author: DMitchell1985
Beta: desertcreature
Fact Checker: decadence1
Genre: Drama and a bit of Angst
Rating: R - "adult" language/situations and a couple gruesome descriptions.
Summary: No matter what he did or how many of his brothers were murdered by the Vampires, Lucian's infatuations continue to burrow deeper still into the clan that betrayed him all of those centuries ago. All the while, Selene is forced to face the dissolution of her reality at the hands of an unexpected culprit. Despite all of this, they both take the necessary steps on their parts to bring about the end of the war.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the canon characters, places, or events that are included in my story. And no, I don't make a monetary profit off of my fiction, only the occasional review.
Warnings: Slash, some porn-ish material (How in the heck did that get in there?!), incest (Lucian/Kraven) and a couple of rather unsavory descriptions of what Lycans can accomplish when they are pissed off.
Spoilers: Underworld and Underworld: Evolution
Pairings: Lucian/Selene, Lucian/Kraven, Lucian/Sonja, Selene/Marcus, Selene/Michael, and Kraven/Erika
Chapter Word Count: 1,135
LJ Crossposting: my LiveJournal, uw_fanfic, _underworld_, and __underworld__
Author's Notes: This was written for my own Multi-Fandom Unloved Pairings Challenge.
Well, this is the end of the fic. I hope the journey was enjoyable for you as a reader. I certainly appreciate everyone who has stuck it out until the end of the fic. The long notes are at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter List:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
-
A great splash of cold water caught Lucian in the face as he tried to dive away. The Vampire truly was faster than she looked. If she were not already cursed with the fangs of her kind, he would have surely blessed her with the claws of his own this very night.
He could see why Viktor had turned her. She was strong, able, and loyal. All traits that any wise leader could read from a person's quietest remarks to their grandest achievements.
Yes, Selene had certainly been worth the worry. He now understood why Kraven had grown to become uncontrollably smitten with her. It would have been easy enough for anyone to fall for her after witnessing one her broad smiles being directed solely at them. When she grinned like that, with all of her teeth pressed tightly against her lips, it was as if nothing else in Life or History mattered. Everything centered on Now and there wasn't a thought to spare for Before or After. For how could there be? They didn't exist.
Lucian returned her smile that fed the rare blissful moment of peace he was being permitted. Although it would soon come to an end, he took pleasure in absorbing as much of the scene as his eyes would allow. He studied the way the moonlight reflected off of the crown of Selene's head and the stream that flowed along its course around them. He watched her raise her arms high above her head and relished the way the simple movement caused her breasts to protrude forward all the more.
Selene used her planned distraction to pelt her companion with another wave of icy water. She threw her head back and laughed at his sputtered claims that she was playing "unfairly."
"I'm a Vampire. We don't play fair. I thought you knew that." Selene grinned brightly and backed away as Lucian raised his own arms in preparation to splash her in return. She did not get far before a large wave came down over her head, soaking her hair to the roots.
The wave's creator followed in its wake to clasp her soundly about her middle. Her flight turned into a peal of shared laughter.
"I was aware of that fact, but my concentration was sabotaged." Lucian drew his captive closer to his chest. "I blame you for this."
"Oh? And what sort of distraction was it?" Selene made an unconvincing attempt to free herself.
"I think you know." Lucian's grin grew wider still.
"It was the breasts, wasn't it? They never fail to come through for me." Selene chuckled at her own admission.
"No. . ." said Lucian in a suddenly serious tone. "It was. . . "
He considered informing her about the way the moonlight seemed to be drawn to every inch of her and how radiant she looked when her hair was illuminated in it's glow. But before he even finished thinking the words to himself, he knew that they were simply too ridiculous to utter. Of course, she was right about the breasts. . .
". . .something else," he finished lamely.
The amusement in Selene's eyes danced on, as though she knew what he could not bring himself to say. "Oh?"
"Yeah." Lucian gave a small, dramatic frown to give the impression that he was being worn down. "All right, I admit it. It was the breasts!" Lucian laughed loudly enough to startle several birds sleeping nearby into making a drowsy escape away from all of the noise he was causing. At Lucian's declaration, Selene's chuckles joined Lucian's, which caused several more birds to leave their roosts.
Their amusement had not fully faded away before the somber tone of their previous confrontation returned to fill the lag in conversation. Lucian cleared his throat and untangled his arms from around Selene's waist. He watched as her eyes reluctantly slid away from his face and back toward the patch of grass they'd occupied for the better part of two hours. First arguing, then resolving the disagreement.
Selene was first to retreat to the bank and begin gathering her clothing. She did not look up when Lucian left the water to do the same. Although she had enjoyed the evening, she had a task to complete before it was too late and Kraven doomed them all to a number of unknown fates. The only person who possessed the strength to save the coven from Kraven's madness needed to be Awoken, and she had every intention of seeing it done.
As she lifted her left foot to step into her left pant leg, something soft collided with her right arm. She glanced up to find Lucian zipping up his pants and staring at her with an unreadable expression upon his face. He nodded to her feet, indicating that she was to pick up whatever it was that he had thrown at her. Without taking her eyes off of him, Selene lowered her hand to the pile of crumpled material.
"It might help you get back into that plastic suit if you dried off first." Lucian sank down onto the grass and began pulling on his socks and boots.
Selene examined the material closely and realized that it was Lucian's own shirt. She looked over at him to question his reasoning, but he spoke up first.
"Would you mind hurrying up with that? I do have somewhere to be tonight." The words and tone were harsh; however, they felt like they were anything but to Selene.
"Yeah." Selene said no more as she quickly rubbed the shirt over her skin and removed the majority of the moisture. She tossed the shirt in Lucian's direction and carried on where she left off.
Once they were both fully dressed, neither met the other's eyes. For what would they say? Thanks for the sex.? Had a wonderful time, let's get together again some time.? Wow, Kraven's really been holding out on me!?
Lucian brushed away the awkward air that seemed to suffocate the clearing. "Tell Kraven that I will be seeing him soon enough." He smirked and turned to walk away.
"Will do. I am sure that you will be entertaining a guest of your own sooner than you think." Selene's eyes bore into Lucian's back as he left the clearing. She heard his stride falter once more, but he did not stop this time.
She sighed to herself as she watched him go. She needed to get back to the mansion. There was much to do, and she had already whittled away most of the night.
But, she thought to herself, at least I had a terrific time doing it.
She, too, turned toward the direction of her own car. She gave the clearing one last look, and headed for home.
-
The End! - Whew!!!
Author's Notes 2: Now, for the longer author's notes that I didn't have space for at the beginning of the first chapter.
I wanted to address why both Marcus and Viktor are Awake at the same time in my fic. I made use of the canon line of who is awake and who is in hibernation. No matter who the pattern started with, the line of succession goes: Amelia >>> Marcus >>> Viktor >>> Amelia >>> Marcus >>> Viktor, and so on. I figured that the Elder who performs the Awakening ceremony does not go into hibernation immediately following the event. They might, but it is certainly possible that they take a day or two to wrap up any loose ends they don't want hanging around for two hundred years, when they will again be Awakened.
As for where this fic fits into canon, I did my best to fit it into the tiny canon timeline of Underworld's three days. It is supposed to occur after Selene realizes who she shot in Michael's building, but before she Awakens Viktor. I gave her the clearing as her sanctuary, because she seems the type to want to have her own space to use during her downtime. She would have been in a clock tower somewhere, but I really wanted to write a fic where Selene got to spend some time outdoors away from the house. I mean, she can't spend all of her time there, can she? I certainly don't think so.
Initially, she had been in an actual forest setting outside of London, but then I thought about the time it would take her to travel all the way out there and back again. It just didn't fit. Logically, she wouldn't be able to make it there, argue with Lucian, and make it back to the house in time. So, I looked around on the Internet and found a park in London that fit most of the descriptions I had already made up. That park is Richmond Park, which is owned by the British Royals. More information on the park can be found here:
http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/richmond_park/
Most of all, I do hope that you enjoyed my "little" fic that sort of grew because I didn't know where I wanted it to go. I didn't even know how I was going to write a Lucian/Selene fic. I kept freaking out because all of these pairings I hadn't anticipated continued to pop up, especially the Selene/Marcus one. That one was straight out of left field for me. I did find that when I was fighting the natural progression of things, it drove me nuts. But when I just wrote what came to me, I was okay. Go figure. Heh. = D
Lastly, but never least, I want to again thank my talented betas, indigochild76 and desertcreature. You know that I absolutely worship the both of you for helping my fic to be the best that it could be. I also have to thank decadence1 once more for helping me out with the fic. I certainly hadn't expected such a nice person to come out of nowhere to verify some of the park facts that I made use of. All of you are treasures.
-Danielle
Chapter Title: Enemies Once More (4/4)
Author: DMitchell1985
Beta: desertcreature
Fact Checker: decadence1
Genre: Drama and a bit of Angst
Rating: R - "adult" language/situations and a couple gruesome descriptions.
Summary: No matter what he did or how many of his brothers were murdered by the Vampires, Lucian's infatuations continue to burrow deeper still into the clan that betrayed him all of those centuries ago. All the while, Selene is forced to face the dissolution of her reality at the hands of an unexpected culprit. Despite all of this, they both take the necessary steps on their parts to bring about the end of the war.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the canon characters, places, or events that are included in my story. And no, I don't make a monetary profit off of my fiction, only the occasional review.
Warnings: Slash, some porn-ish material (How in the heck did that get in there?!), incest (Lucian/Kraven) and a couple of rather unsavory descriptions of what Lycans can accomplish when they are pissed off.
Spoilers: Underworld and Underworld: Evolution
Pairings: Lucian/Selene, Lucian/Kraven, Lucian/Sonja, Selene/Marcus, Selene/Michael, and Kraven/Erika
Chapter Word Count: 1,135
LJ Crossposting: my LiveJournal, uw_fanfic, _underworld_, and __underworld__
Author's Notes: This was written for my own Multi-Fandom Unloved Pairings Challenge.
Well, this is the end of the fic. I hope the journey was enjoyable for you as a reader. I certainly appreciate everyone who has stuck it out until the end of the fic. The long notes are at the end of this chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter List:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
-
A great splash of cold water caught Lucian in the face as he tried to dive away. The Vampire truly was faster than she looked. If she were not already cursed with the fangs of her kind, he would have surely blessed her with the claws of his own this very night.
He could see why Viktor had turned her. She was strong, able, and loyal. All traits that any wise leader could read from a person's quietest remarks to their grandest achievements.
Yes, Selene had certainly been worth the worry. He now understood why Kraven had grown to become uncontrollably smitten with her. It would have been easy enough for anyone to fall for her after witnessing one her broad smiles being directed solely at them. When she grinned like that, with all of her teeth pressed tightly against her lips, it was as if nothing else in Life or History mattered. Everything centered on Now and there wasn't a thought to spare for Before or After. For how could there be? They didn't exist.
Lucian returned her smile that fed the rare blissful moment of peace he was being permitted. Although it would soon come to an end, he took pleasure in absorbing as much of the scene as his eyes would allow. He studied the way the moonlight reflected off of the crown of Selene's head and the stream that flowed along its course around them. He watched her raise her arms high above her head and relished the way the simple movement caused her breasts to protrude forward all the more.
Selene used her planned distraction to pelt her companion with another wave of icy water. She threw her head back and laughed at his sputtered claims that she was playing "unfairly."
"I'm a Vampire. We don't play fair. I thought you knew that." Selene grinned brightly and backed away as Lucian raised his own arms in preparation to splash her in return. She did not get far before a large wave came down over her head, soaking her hair to the roots.
The wave's creator followed in its wake to clasp her soundly about her middle. Her flight turned into a peal of shared laughter.
"I was aware of that fact, but my concentration was sabotaged." Lucian drew his captive closer to his chest. "I blame you for this."
"Oh? And what sort of distraction was it?" Selene made an unconvincing attempt to free herself.
"I think you know." Lucian's grin grew wider still.
"It was the breasts, wasn't it? They never fail to come through for me." Selene chuckled at her own admission.
"No. . ." said Lucian in a suddenly serious tone. "It was. . . "
He considered informing her about the way the moonlight seemed to be drawn to every inch of her and how radiant she looked when her hair was illuminated in it's glow. But before he even finished thinking the words to himself, he knew that they were simply too ridiculous to utter. Of course, she was right about the breasts. . .
". . .something else," he finished lamely.
The amusement in Selene's eyes danced on, as though she knew what he could not bring himself to say. "Oh?"
"Yeah." Lucian gave a small, dramatic frown to give the impression that he was being worn down. "All right, I admit it. It was the breasts!" Lucian laughed loudly enough to startle several birds sleeping nearby into making a drowsy escape away from all of the noise he was causing. At Lucian's declaration, Selene's chuckles joined Lucian's, which caused several more birds to leave their roosts.
Their amusement had not fully faded away before the somber tone of their previous confrontation returned to fill the lag in conversation. Lucian cleared his throat and untangled his arms from around Selene's waist. He watched as her eyes reluctantly slid away from his face and back toward the patch of grass they'd occupied for the better part of two hours. First arguing, then resolving the disagreement.
Selene was first to retreat to the bank and begin gathering her clothing. She did not look up when Lucian left the water to do the same. Although she had enjoyed the evening, she had a task to complete before it was too late and Kraven doomed them all to a number of unknown fates. The only person who possessed the strength to save the coven from Kraven's madness needed to be Awoken, and she had every intention of seeing it done.
As she lifted her left foot to step into her left pant leg, something soft collided with her right arm. She glanced up to find Lucian zipping up his pants and staring at her with an unreadable expression upon his face. He nodded to her feet, indicating that she was to pick up whatever it was that he had thrown at her. Without taking her eyes off of him, Selene lowered her hand to the pile of crumpled material.
"It might help you get back into that plastic suit if you dried off first." Lucian sank down onto the grass and began pulling on his socks and boots.
Selene examined the material closely and realized that it was Lucian's own shirt. She looked over at him to question his reasoning, but he spoke up first.
"Would you mind hurrying up with that? I do have somewhere to be tonight." The words and tone were harsh; however, they felt like they were anything but to Selene.
"Yeah." Selene said no more as she quickly rubbed the shirt over her skin and removed the majority of the moisture. She tossed the shirt in Lucian's direction and carried on where she left off.
Once they were both fully dressed, neither met the other's eyes. For what would they say? Thanks for the sex.? Had a wonderful time, let's get together again some time.? Wow, Kraven's really been holding out on me!?
Lucian brushed away the awkward air that seemed to suffocate the clearing. "Tell Kraven that I will be seeing him soon enough." He smirked and turned to walk away.
"Will do. I am sure that you will be entertaining a guest of your own sooner than you think." Selene's eyes bore into Lucian's back as he left the clearing. She heard his stride falter once more, but he did not stop this time.
She sighed to herself as she watched him go. She needed to get back to the mansion. There was much to do, and she had already whittled away most of the night.
But, she thought to herself, at least I had a terrific time doing it.
She, too, turned toward the direction of her own car. She gave the clearing one last look, and headed for home.
-
The End! - Whew!!!
Author's Notes 2: Now, for the longer author's notes that I didn't have space for at the beginning of the first chapter.
I wanted to address why both Marcus and Viktor are Awake at the same time in my fic. I made use of the canon line of who is awake and who is in hibernation. No matter who the pattern started with, the line of succession goes: Amelia >>> Marcus >>> Viktor >>> Amelia >>> Marcus >>> Viktor, and so on. I figured that the Elder who performs the Awakening ceremony does not go into hibernation immediately following the event. They might, but it is certainly possible that they take a day or two to wrap up any loose ends they don't want hanging around for two hundred years, when they will again be Awakened.
As for where this fic fits into canon, I did my best to fit it into the tiny canon timeline of Underworld's three days. It is supposed to occur after Selene realizes who she shot in Michael's building, but before she Awakens Viktor. I gave her the clearing as her sanctuary, because she seems the type to want to have her own space to use during her downtime. She would have been in a clock tower somewhere, but I really wanted to write a fic where Selene got to spend some time outdoors away from the house. I mean, she can't spend all of her time there, can she? I certainly don't think so.
Initially, she had been in an actual forest setting outside of London, but then I thought about the time it would take her to travel all the way out there and back again. It just didn't fit. Logically, she wouldn't be able to make it there, argue with Lucian, and make it back to the house in time. So, I looked around on the Internet and found a park in London that fit most of the descriptions I had already made up. That park is Richmond Park, which is owned by the British Royals. More information on the park can be found here:
http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/richmond_park/
Most of all, I do hope that you enjoyed my "little" fic that sort of grew because I didn't know where I wanted it to go. I didn't even know how I was going to write a Lucian/Selene fic. I kept freaking out because all of these pairings I hadn't anticipated continued to pop up, especially the Selene/Marcus one. That one was straight out of left field for me. I did find that when I was fighting the natural progression of things, it drove me nuts. But when I just wrote what came to me, I was okay. Go figure. Heh. = D
Lastly, but never least, I want to again thank my talented betas, indigochild76 and desertcreature. You know that I absolutely worship the both of you for helping my fic to be the best that it could be. I also have to thank decadence1 once more for helping me out with the fic. I certainly hadn't expected such a nice person to come out of nowhere to verify some of the park facts that I made use of. All of you are treasures.
-Danielle