Lucien's eyes opened to a world that seemed too bright, too sharp.
Golden irises reflected Katherine's worried face hovering above him, her features swimming into focus like a photograph developing.
"I'm back," he said simply.
His voice sounded strange to his own ears - higher, younger. After hours in Stefan's adult body, returning to his original form felt like being compressed into a too-small container.
Every sensation was both familiar and but a bit weird, his limbs responding a beat too late to his commands.
Katherine's hand trembled slightly as she reached toward him, hesitating just shy of touching his face, as if afraid he might shatter. "Lucien?" Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
He attempted to sit up, muscles protesting the movement. His body felt hollow, drained of blood until moments ago when he'd revived it upon reentry. The world tilted precariously as he pushed himself to his feet.
"Careful," Katherine cautioned, steadying him as he swayed.
Lucien took a deep breath, feeling his lungs expand in his small chest.
Everything seemed larger from this vantage point - the ruined chamber, the scattered remains of nightcreatures, the watching faces of everyone.
His gaze though fixed on the figure lying spread-eagle on the ground several yards away. Dracula's eyes were open, staring vacantly at the ceiling, his chest rising and falling with unnecessary breaths - a human habit the vampire lord had never abandoned.
Gently, Lucien disengaged from Katherine's supportive hold.
"Let me go for a moment," he said, his voice steadier now, trying to walk off.
Katherine's eyes widened. "You can barely stand."
"I'm fine." He took a step forward, then another, each movement becoming more natural as he reclaimed this body as his own.
Katherine moved to follow, but Klaus's hand fell on her shoulder, restraining her.
"Let him," the Original Hybrid murmured, curiosity evident in his expression.
Lucien approached Dracula slowly, his footsteps echoing in the cavernous chamber.
The vampire lord didn't acknowledge him, continuing to stare upward as if the ceiling held some profound truth.
When Lucien reached him, he stood silently for a long moment, looking down at his former tormentor.
Dracula's face was restored, his eyes healed by vampiric regeneration now that Lucien's demonic compulsion had broken- with him no longer being either demon or vampire.
His body remained broken, limbs at odd angles, chest a mass of burns where the divine fire had struck.
Without a word, Lucien lowered himself to sit cross-legged beside Dracula's head. The stone floor was cold beneath him, still slick with nightcreature blood in places. He folded his hands in his lap and simply waited.
The silence stretched between them, taut as a bowstring.
"Where has that hate gone?" Dracula suddenly asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
At the same moment, Lucien spoke: "He still loves you, you know."
Both speaking in unision.
Dracula's lips curled into the beginning of a snarl as he processed what the boy said. He opened his mouth to deny it vehemently, but Lucien continued before he could speak.
"There's no point in denying it," Lucien said, his tone matter-of-fact. "Even as you're dying right now, without the Blessing of God anymore, the divine wrath is still not reaching you."
Dracula's jaw clenched, muscles working beneath the skin as he swallowed whatever retort he'd prepared. His eyes darted around the chamber, as if seeking evidence of the divine judgment that should be consuming him in this unholy place.
The silence returned, heavier this time.
"It's logical that I don't hate you anymore," Lucien finally said, his voice casual, as if discussing the weather.
"Hate is a feeling of wrongness towards an injustice done to you, making you want to pay back those who wronged you with pain and suffering. A feeling that is the seeking of... justice for yourself." He shrugged slightly. "I've already done that."
Lucien's normal blue eyes remained fixed on Dracula's face as he continued. "For every wrong you caused me, I've already made you pay.
For taking my light, I now have taken your light.
For forcing my Dad into a situation where he sacrificed his life force, causing me to give up my life Force, the killing of Elaine, I've now taken your life, as you took ours before."
His voice remained eerily calm, almost detached. "For every bit of pain, and spilled drop of blood of mine from Isaac's knives and whip, the crucifixion, I've made you bleed and feel just as much pain when I tore you apart and healed you over and over again.
For the threat and humiliating feeling of being threatened to be castrated, I castrated you and made you feel it a thousandfold."
Lucien shifted slightly, adjusting his position. "I've taken my due. I still dislike you, of course, but hate is a painful emotion to keep. It burns, you should know. That's why one desires so much to bring the other who wronged him pain, to quell that hate.
I won't suffer it now anymore."
Dracula processed this in silence, then chuckled humorlessly, the sound rattling in his chest. "If only everyone had so much balance within them like you. If only everyone was so logical."
Lucien stared at him for another long, silent moment. The chamber was utterly still, the watching group barely breathing as they observed this strange conversation.
"You know," Lucien said suddenly, "the reason you lost was because you were Dracula. If you were Gabriel Belmont, I wouldn't have stood a chance."
Dracula's head whipped toward Lucien, eyes widening in shock. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded.
"During the possession, I saw... a lot," Lucien explained. "Some memories here, other knowledge there, even things that you couldn't have known about yourself."
His voice took on a thoughtful quality. "And I've seen how powerful you were when you were still God's champion. How many times you've saved the world. The killing of Camilla, the stalemate with Ramiel, how many times you had interfered in Hell's and Azazel's plans. The amount of demons and monsters and false gods you've killed."
Lucien's expression grew almost admiring. "I was particularly impressed when you killed off those dozen disciples of Cain, the 1st Generation of the Knights of Hell..." He shook his head slightly. "All that power was lost the moment you chose vampirism and abandoned all the light inside you - only God's love keeping his blessing still within you."
Fury contorted Dracula's features. "If God loved me so much," he spat, "then he shouldn't have taken from me the reason I had to live! What is the point of His damn blessing, or the power I had as a human, when it couldn't keep my beloved wife alive from a mere damn illness?"
Dracula's voice rose, echoing through the chamber. "All that power could still not keep Death away. I fought and clawed when the Horseman came on his pale horse and took Marie from me, but it was to no avail. Even God's champion cannot fight off the End of Life."
His chest heaved with emotion. "I did so much in His name, saved the world more than a dozen times, and this is how I was repaid!" His voice cracked with centuries of bitterness. "Damn Him and His love! And damn Him and His world!"
There was only silence as Dracula heaved angrily, after finishing.
Lucien regarded him coldly. "Stop blaming others for your own failures," he finally said, his voice cutting through Dracula's rage like a blade. "It was because of you that Marie fell ill. Her worry, her sorrow at your pain. Humans are humans, and that will affect them."
He leaned forward slightly. "Had you ever thought how your wife feels every time you came back home injured, or every time you died and rose after three days and nights? In that time, your wife was grieving for you, wondering if this time it would be permanent or not."
Dracula's expression faltered.
"God had sent his angels to you," Lucien continued relentlessly. "Offered you peace and rest with Marie in Heaven after she died, but you refused. You wanted it all. The prestige, the fame, the power, the love of the people, the angels, and God whenever you won against another evil, thwarted another of the Devil's schemes."
His eyes narrowed. "And when you couldn't have both, you snapped. And blamed your Maker."
"Who was it that chose me as the protector of the prophets?" Dracula demanded, struggling to push himself up on his elbows.
"Who was it that made me the Sword of God on Earth? Who was it that directed me towards the evils? If I had stopped, who would have been there to save the world?"
His voice rose again. "I was protecting everyone, I was protecting Marie, I was protecting the world! God should have saved my wife, and not let her fall ill!"
"God created free will," Lucien countered. "God didn't force you into that position. You could have stopped, and someone else would've taken your place, but you couldn't trust anyone with the job, and didn't wish to let go of the ever-growing power that came with it."
Lucien's voice softened slightly. "Despite knowing that God would make sure to reward you, your wife, and children with protection from all the enemies you made in your divine quest."
"Good actions are rewarded with good luck," Lucien continued, his tone shifting to something almost professorial. "The world bends in small, logical ways to grant them what they need, and the more good one does, the more this happens, for a joyous life. And the opposite is true as well - the more evil done, it will catch up to you. You should have known this."
"Killing monsters curses you," Dracula countered, "and makes your luck worse."
"The good luck overweighs that, doing good is easier thane evil. Even a kind word is good." Lucien responded without hesitation. "It's how God made the world, so that there is justice. Free will is truly free - there is true responsibility, and no one is innocent in their pain.
For if they did more good, they would have had a better fate to not get into that evil situation, or be saved from that evil situation."
As he spoke the last line, Lucien glanced briefly toward Elaine, who stood trembling beside Katherine.
"Your wife was suffering when you, with your free will, chose not to stop, when she herself also did not want to abandon you.
So her own negative feelings, alongside the very rules God made for the world, for balance between good and evil, caused her to fall ill and gave her a peaceful death, a place in Heaven, to wait for you in peace. But you threw that away.
God may love you, but He will not be unjust by breaking his own laws and continuing her suffering simply to please you..
It was justice."
Dracula could only clench his teeth, and fists, nails digging into his palms, bleeding, as he with a snarled suddenly, threw a glance toward Stefan, who stood next to Rebekah. "Justice? Is that what you call taking my blessing from God and transferring it to him?" he demanded.
Everyone except Lucien turned in surprise to look at Stefan, who stared down at himself in confusion.
"I sensed what you did," Dracula continued, returning his gaze to Lucien. "You burned your name into the Blessing of God, making use of your status as the Son of God to make Stefan the new champion - no, YOUR champion."
His lips curled in disgust. "One that will not be able to truly die so long as you favor him and you are alive, growing stronger than the evil that killed him."
"Yes," Lucien confirmed simply. "Stefan paid for the pain he caused - and more when he was under your knife. Good had to equalize it, and it gave me the opportunity, a realization and idea to do it - to give Stefan something he deserved for all the suffering he endured."
Lucien turned to Stefan, his eyes warming slightly, his tone becoming softer. "I promised you safety, care, and friendship, so long as you said yes to me and were on my side, not betraying me. This is me fulfilling it."
Dracula fell silent, gazing back at the ceiling. After a long moment, he asked quietly, "What is the point of all this? Why are you even talking to me? There has to be something deeper to this, some twisted desire for closure."
"I simply want to make you understand," Lucien replied, "and to not fight what I'm about to do." He placed his palm on Dracula's chest, causing everyone to tense.
"Do you want to see your wife again?" Lucien asked softly, after a moment of silence.
Dracula's eyes widened, his breath catching. For a moment, he seemed speechless. Then, in a whisper barely audible: "Are you sending me to Heaven?"
"No, Lucien!" Trevor shouted, stepping forward. "Dracula is a monster! He doesn't deserve peace, but to burn!"
Lucien didn't look away from Dracula as he responded. "He will burn. No, I'm not just going to send him to Heaven. What I'm going to do is bind a significant amount of my grace around his soul - so that demons and corruption can't reach it in Hell. So that Dracula burns and does his time in Hell while not turning into a demon."
Lucien's voice remained steady. "And if- if Dracula in Hell repents and seeks God's forgiveness... well, it's up to God what to do. I simply don't want to see Dracula ever again - especially as a demon."
Dracula remained silent for a long moment, his eyes searching Lucien's face. Finally, he spoke: "Do it. I won't fight."
Lucien looked into his eyes, reaching through the Force to sense Dracula's emotions, searching for deception. Finding only sincerity, he nodded slightly.
Lucien's eyes blazed gold again, as golden light began to flow from Lucien's hand, tendrils spreading across Dracula's chest and into his being.
The light reached every part of him, illuminating him from within before gradually fading. Everyone except Lucien and Elena squinted against the brilliance.
As the light faded, Dracula's body began to disintegrate, turning to dust starting from his feet and slowly working upward. A begrudging smile crossed his face.
"He was waiting for this," Dracula murmured, his voice growing fainter as his body crumbled. "That's why He didn't let me die till now..."
His face was the last to dissolve, expression peaceful in his final moment before he was truly, finally gone - a pile of dust on the stone floor where the Prince of Darkness had lain.
Having now gone to Hell.
Lucien let out a deep breath, falling backward slightly. He steadied himself with his hands on the floor, his small body trembling with exhaustion.
Katherine and Elena rushed toward him immediately.
"Are you alright?" Elena asked, kneeling beside him, her hands hovering uncertainly.
"Yeah," Lucien managed between breaths. "I'm just tired."
The castle suddenly shuddered violently, stones grinding against each other as the structure swayed.
"What's happening?" Elaine asked, fear evident in her voice as she clutched at Trevor's arm.
"This castle was bound by Dracula as a soul object," Klaus explained, looking upward as dust and small debris rained down. "The only way to truly keep it and all it contains safe. Without Dracula around anymore, it's falling apart."
"We should get out of here soon," Elijah said, his calm voice belying the urgency in his eyes.
"Elijah," Klaus turned to his brother, "transform into your Griffin form again - take us all on your back. You're the fastest of us all."
Elijah nodded, stepping into a clear space.
His form began to change, limbs elongating, feathers erupting from his skin as he grew to massive size. Within moments, a gigantic griffin stood where Elijah had been, powerful wings folded against his sides.
Lucien approached, his steps steadier now. "I'll help Elena maintain the grace barrier," he said, raising his hand toward Vader.
The Qareen understood the gesture immediately, dissolving into red light and smoke that flowed toward Lucien's palm, condensing into the card he had created.
Everyone climbed onto Elijah's massive griffin form. Katherine settled behind Lucien, arms wrapped protectively around him, holding him against her chest.
Elena sat beside them, her blue-white dome of protective light surrounding the entire group, Lucien himself adding a golden one surrounding it, to let her be able to rest when she tires.
Elijah spread his wings and launched upward, powerful muscles propelling them through the hole in the castle ceiling. Below them, the structure began to collapse in earnest, walls crumbling and towers toppling.
"Do you think Isaac and Hector were still inside?" Stefan asked, looking back at the disintegrating castle.
Lucien shook his head. "I doubt it. They probably left the moment Dracula began dying - Isaac probably forced by Hector, since I can't see that mad fucker wanting to leave, probably would've wanted to die with his Master."
Lucien fell silent for a moment. "It's unlikely that we've seen the last of them."
As they soared higher, the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah spread beneath them, a vast wasteland of divine judgment.
The castle continued to collapse, everything inside beginning to burn, folding in on itself until it was nothing but a cloud of dust on the blasted landscape.
Lucien leaned back against Katherine, his golden eyes reflecting the clouded sky as they flew toward the boundary of the cursed land, leaving Dracula's remains behind them.
It was finally over.
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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter.
Yeah, the Dracula arc is finally over.
I hope you guys enjoyed it, and it was appropriately long.
I had been hyping Dracula up for 60+ chapters, so 16 chapters should be fine for the arc, right?
Do please tell me how you found it, it will let me improve my writing for the future.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)