fuck everyone else

[Aurora Snow]

Prompt List

• Reason
• Burn
• Sacrifice
• Passage
• Sister
• Fear
• Tempt
• Proof
• Humanity
• Terrify

[Aurora Snow]

H U M  A   N    I     T       Y

Aurora was on a short leash with just about everyone. She sat in Lucien's office, wondering what she'd done now, when the door opened and the esteemed leader walked in. She watched how he moved. He looked so much different than she had remembered in her few interactions as she'd risen through the ranks at Crimson, but the years had been hard on all of them, and the leaders had been no exception. Christian Shane's entire family had been killed, and he'd taken a leave of absence that she suspected was going to turn into a more permanent arrangement if the rumor mill was to be believed. Generally, she didn't partake in the chatter that was around her as she worked her day to day, but this was a persistent one, and she'd been more privy than most to the ongoings behind the scenes thanks to her relationship with Bacchus.

"Snow," Lucien said, her name the only greeting he offered. He sat down in the chair, and then leaned back in it a little. His cold eyes focused on her, and he pressed his lips together, as if trying to decide exactly what he wanted to say. So much of it bottlenecked at his throat. This was a delicate situation, and one he'd spoken at length about with Astrid, Indrani and Dev, but ultimately, the decision had fallen back to him as to whether he wanted to divulge the information he was about to tell her. In the end, he'd decided that he would, but now that he was sitting here, he wondered if he should.

"Am I in trouble?" she asked. Typically, when someone asked this, they would make a face, or flinch, or behave in some way that would give the impression they were concerned. But from Aurora, it was just a blank question, as if she were asking something much more simple. It didn't go unnoticed by Lucien, and it only dredged up conversations that he'd had that she also didn't know about as to where she was at, mentally.

"No," he said, and he offered no more exposition on the matter. When she didn't press him further, he leaned forward. "Aurora, there are some things that I need to tell you. I believe that, despite the moment having already passed, it will give you a little more clarity about the gravity of the situation that eventually lead you here."

"Shit," she muttered. She sighed, shifting in the chair. May as well get comfortable - usually this turned into an hour-long lecture about how there was concern for her reckless behaviour.

He held a hand up. "No, no," he said, and he did smile a little, if only because he could see where she was going with this. "I think you'll find I'm very unlike your last guild leader." What he meant was, he didn't do lectures. Lucien was short and to the point. He let his health professionals worry about the rest; he didn't feel that he needed to be as deeply involved with them as some others did. It was probably how Zaine had gotten as far as he had, though that would be getting addressed, and soon.

"So you're not going to launch into a diatribe about how I disappoint you?" she asked. She didn't crack a smile, but there was humour in her tone.

"Of course not. I do think, though, that you need to get a better picture about the secondary and tertiary orders of effect, particularly those that have been rolling off in a colossal avalanche after you buried a knife into Bacchus' chest."

"Okay," she said, nodding. She sat forward. "Hit me."

"The night that Midnight actually fell, did you know that Evan was taken?" More like, hit by a fucking Escalade, but, details.

She frowned. "No," she said honestly. "He's a big boy, he can take care of himself." And how. She'd never forget their last conversation. He'd taken some incredibly well-aimed shots at her, and they'd hit their mark as much as they could have. That one had stung for a few days after, but it was nothing that sleeping off some hangovers couldn't fix. Aurora was quite resilient.

"He died, Aurora."

Now she made a face. "No he didn't, she scoffed. "I saw him a month ago - and, I saw him several times after Midnight fell before that. Granted, it was about a year later, but he was definitely walking and talking." She was referring to the time he'd come to the cabin. Boy had that been swell. Having to convince him that she and Bacchus weren't in a relationship had been a great time, and he'd been far more receptive to what Bacchus had to say than what she did. "And, I talked to him on the phone quite a few times before that even happened," she added, as if to further dispute what he'd said.

"Do you think I'm lying?" Lucien asked.

"No, not at all. I think you have bad information."

"I can assure you, I don't." He paused, and then sighed. "Listen, there was much debate as to whether or not to even tell you this, but we figured that you'd find out sooner or later - "

"I literally just saw him a month ago, don't you think he'd have mentioned it?" she argued.

"No, Aurora, I don't. What I can't figure out is why you think he would."

Oh, so it was going to be this kind of conversation. "Alright, Lucien, you've made your point," she said, holding her hand up as if to stop the entire thing from going any further. "Okay, so, he died. He's clearly walking upright, and fine if his mouth is any indication of things."

Christ on a cross, but Lucien could see what Stav had warned him about. "Listen, I'm not going to get into the weeds over why a Phoenix entering its death and life cycle is a big deal, but the bottom line is it attracted a lot of things into our area that we may not be equipped to handle, and at the end of the day, it's all directly related to something you did. I didn't bring you in here to try and appeal to your humanity, or to guilt trip you - like I said, I'm not Batten, and I don't find it productive to try and get people to care about things that they clearly don't. I'm telling you this because in the coming months our workload is going to increase, and we are going to be dealing with things that we've never seen before. So, maybe next time, before you take a side job and run into something thinking only of the end game, try to stop for a fucking second and think of the bigger operational picture."

Lucien rarely swore these days, as he'd found that if he withheld it, when he did swear, it would have more of an impact. Obviously, by the look on her face, he had been right. "Do you understand me?" he asked, his tone dropping dangerously low. He was asking more than just if she understood the question; he was asking if she understood that if she fucked up, he wasn't bailing her out. She was not among friends here; there was no Stavros, and no Evan, and really, nobody at all who could help dig her out of a mess if she got into one. She would be on her own, and with some of the things he saw coming at them very soon, it was not a good way to be.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I understand."

"Good. That's all, Snow. Close the door behind you."



"So then he's like, 'I'm not going to try and appeal to your humanity or guilt trip you', and I just -"

Bacchus stopped what he was doing, watching Aurora gesture as she recounted her conversation with Lucien. She moved the wine glass as she spoke, and then stopped to take a sip, which was a good time for him to take a second to actually absorb what she was saying. Fucking couldn't get a word in edgewise when she was like this.

"Wait, stop," he said, holding the hand up that held the knife. He was cutting up chicken for the dinner they were in the process of making, the dinner that she was supposed to be helping with but instead had helped herself to the white wine he'd picked and hadn't done much else. "Go back to the part about Evan dying. You glossed over that."

She shrugged. "Yeah, he says he died. Well, that he entered the death and life cycle, or something? Look dude, I don't know, I'm so not versed in the otherworldly edicts, okay?"

"Aurora, that's a really big fucking deal," Bacchus said. He set the knife down, moving the chicken into the breading, and then hurried it into the dish that was bound for the oven.

"Not really, though? He's fine, trust me. He's walking and talking and just as pleasant as ever," she said, waving her hand with the glass again. She nearly spilled her wine on herself, and mumbled something as she reached for a paper towel to dab at the blue tanktop she wore.

He washed his hands and then picked up the kitchen towel, drying them as he tried to process this. "Yes, it is," he said, and his voice was all serious. "Aurora - Aurora, put the fucking wine glass down!" he snapped. He very rarely lost his patience with her; in fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd even raised his voice to her, but boy was she fucking pushing his buttons right now. She set the glass down, eyes wide, and her expression was utterly mystified, which only furthered his anger.

"Do you fucking understand what happens when a Phoenix dies? Or when any supernatural creature that powerful dies, for that matter?" he demanded.

"No," she admitted. "But - "

"I swear to fucking Christ, if you say 'he's fine' one more time, Aurora, I will leave you," he said, pointing at her angrily. That seemed to shut her up, and she sat down wordlessly into one of the chairs, staring at him. Fucking finally, she'd stopped talking.

"When something like that dies, it can be seen, and felt, on a global level by anything that's powerful enough to pick it up. And scavengers of all sorts, shit that you can't even fucking imagine will be coming to see if there are any bones they can pick their teeth with. You forget, I was dead, and when I was dead I got to see all manner of things that go bump in the night, and I promise, they are worse than anything Midnight, or any vampire for that matter, could throw at you. Aurora, there is shit out there that you just don't have any idea about. Shit that in my two-thousand years of living I tried very hard not to upset, or fuck with in any way, shape, or form. And say what you will about how you killed me, but up until that point, I was a bad motherfucker, and when I have to be the one that's actually afraid here, that's fucking saying something."

"You're afraid?" she asked.

"YES, Aurora," he yelled, throwing his hands up. "I don't understand what is broken in your fucking head where you can't see danger when it's right in front of you anymore, but believe me, knowing this now... This changes things. I have to completely scrap my lecture this week, I've got to get ahold of Nicolette and Diamond. I'm sure they're already tracking, but I need to get into the archive. We have to prepare for the absolute fucking worst. God damnit," he said, slamming his fist down on the table.

She jumped at that; finally, something that got a reaction out of her. "Jesus, Bacchus, calm down, I'm sure it's not that bad," she said, though there was an edge to her voice that he didn't often hear.

"It is that bad, Aurora. It's that bad, and more. And, aside from all of that - how can you sit there so utterly unaffected by all of this? Weren't you supposedly in love with this guy?"

"So I'm told," she said cryptically.

He left the kitchen, and she waited for a second, and then got up to follow him. She was shocked to find that he was getting his coat, and she all but blocked the front door before he got to it, arms folded. "So you're just going to leave, then?" she demanded.

"Aurora - " he started, and then stopped, scrubbing his face with his hands. "Not only do I have a mountain of work in front of me now, very suddenly, but I have to admit, I'm a little disturbed by how impassive you are at all of this. I kind of lost my appetite."

"I'm not impassive - what do you want me to do, though? Do you want me to cry? Or yell? Or run and hide? You pick, Bacchus."

He just stared at her for a moment, in total silence. "I want you to feel something about it, at the very least, Aurora. In the time that I've known you, up until a few months ago I was around you every day, and honestly, I watched you change from who you were into who you are now, and who you are now is just... cold."

"You're calling me cold? After the things you've done?" she asked. It wasn't shock in her voice that made it so quiet; it was rage. She moved from in front of the door, though, and in fact, opened it for him.

"I was cursed. What's your excuse?" he asked.

"Get out," she said.

"Don't have to fucking tell me twice," he snapped, and walked out of the door, not even stopping as it slammed behind him.