Disclosure: True Blood is owned by Charlaine Harris and Allen Ball. I am nothing but a mouthpiece for the characters who dictate every move to me.

Pre Edit Count –   2,751 Words

Song I listened to for this chapter: Something I Need by OneRepublic.

Previously:

It is not his fault.

It is not Galiena’s fault.

They didn’t have  what their young souls needed.  They had never heard of a triad to even suspect it might be what they were missing, and their missing piece was not even thought of, so far in the future.

Eric had been what they needed, and Godric acknowledged that they both needed him.  It wasn’t that Galiena and he had been whole, and then needed Eric, as they had all thought; Eric had been missing from the very beginning.

With a flash of heat sinking through his body, his world goes dark, but Godric hears a woman’s voice telling him, “Now you understand.  You have one chance.”

Opening his eyes, Godric finds himself waking in the limo, with Eric and Sookie sitting across from him. The Bonds are fully open, something he has missed the last couple of years.

The world is holding its breath, all but two not knowing the future that had played out.  Those two are left with the information of that time, never to be forgotten.

But there was another in the shadows who was not meant to know that future; the path that all of existence was holding its  breath to not come true.  And that person slowly smirks as he fades away with his knowledge.

Now:

Godric stares at his mates in rapture. The Bonds are more than they have been in the last few years for him, but they are still muted. His eyes take in their clothing and widen as he realizes that the combination of clothes they are all wearing  indicate what time this is.

Before Sookie and Eric can react to the strong emotions crashing in on them from Godric’s side of the Bond, he is kneeling  before the two of them. His hands cup a side of each their faces. Blood red tears fall down his cheeks as he realizes that this is the evening of the trip to Fangtasia, the same night in the flashback where he made the decision that led them all to destruction. He can only hope that it is not too late, that the person who had interceded in his life to make him understand some truths that had him blinded by the light of the others’ explanations.

Of the two, Eric reacts first. His hand reaches up to hold his Maker, his mate’s, hand for a second, then he touches Godric’s face, wiping a tear away. He is not sure what has Godric so upset. Yes, Sookie is mad at Godric, but to have this level of devastation now when a moment ago there was only determination from his side? There is more to this, and that makes Eric’s mind start to probe what had happened.

But it is Sookie that breaks the stillness in the car as she probes the Bond from her side to Godric’s. Only feeling love and regret, she throws herself into his arms. She is crying because of the relief that she feels from Godric at her reaction, causing her own sense of soul-deep relief.

Godric’s arms wrap around her.

“Es tut mir leid, meine Liebe. Kannst du diesem alten Vampir für seine Kurzschlusshandlung verzeihen? Kannst du mich noch lieben? Und lässt du mich dich noch lieben, so viel wie ich es tue? Es tut mir leid … So sehr leid …“ (I am so sorry, my love. Can you forgive this old vampire for his lapse in brain  judgment? Can you still love me and let me love you as much as I do? I’m so sorry… So very sorry…) His eyes are closed as he holds her as close to him as he  possibly can.

Eric pulls them both towards him, holding them as they wrap themselves around each other. His eyes are red-rimmed as he too feels Godric’s emotions, the sense of desperation edging all Godric’s emotions. Godric is begging Sookie’s forgiveness with everything in him. Something had happened in the limo, and while Eric has no idea what it was, he thanks all the deities in his religion for bring Godric back to them. This is the man who had been the keystone most of their lives. Eric had not known until now how much they all needed Godric.

Leigh is watching them, her mind buzzing with the realization that somehow Freyja had worked her magic, and Godric is back with them. She will try to get to the bottom of what happened later. Now , Sookie and Eric are no longer in pain, and that is what matters to her. With that, her glowing green eyes close and she rests her magnificent head on her paws, basking in the love of the Fated Three flowing between them, and therefore her.

When they get back to the house, they are a bit calmer. Lost in the growing serenity, it is Eric who murmurs to them that they are home after a few minutes of them sitting in the limo. When the door opens, Godric has Sookie in his arms; they are in the house before Eric even rises from his seat. A smile appears on Eric’s face, and quickly exits the limo also. He feels the emotions of his mates, and he is guessing Godric is going to be showing Sookie how much by lifting the edict he had proclaimed earlier.

Leigh chuckles as she exits and makes her way to the house. As she walks in, Adele is in front of her. Leigh transforms to a human; she can communicate to others in her panther form, but she hates to talk to others besides her Makers and her Charges in that form. It allows for their surface thoughts to be known to her; to be truthful, she doesn’t like it.

Watching the panther morph into her human shape, which is unlike any Were’s that she had seen, Adele takes a moment to admire the clothing the sleek animal wears. She has a wardrobe to rival Pam’s.

Raising her eyebrow, Adele asks the panther, “I take it the evening went well?” She had not missed the blurs that she knew by now to be her vampires as they pass through, eager to be with her granddaughter. It was the only time Sookie wouldn’t say something to her is if they did that.

Not able to hide the grin at how right everything feels again, Leigh laughs. “Not quite. But the ride home was much better.” She will love finding out how Freyja fixed this.

“I expect that I will hear more later,” Adele smiles to Leigh. Closing her book, she slowly gets up, heading to her room and bed. She feels better once they are all in the house. It feels lived in, settled. She knows that they will be moving later, but until then, for the rest of however much time she has on this plane, she will be loved and they will be here. She smiles as she walks out of the living room. Soon Fintan. Soon we will be reunited. They are finally ready.

After making sure Adele is ok, Leigh nods her head; she walks out of the room and slides into her natural form to run a patrol. Now that she is officially here, she is looking forward to hunting Bill. With that in mind, the panther springs off the back porch door and runs low to the ground in great sweeping bounds, her mind much easier as she can feel the three in a better place.

For now they need to connect. She will keep an eye on them but leave them alone to allow them to sort this out.

Downstairs, Godric has every intention of showing his mates how much he is sorry, and how stupid that edict from him was. However, once Godric sets Sookie on the edge of the bed, he falls to his knees, overwhelmed by what he had lost for years, or what he would lose if he had continued on his earlier path. His head drops to her lap. Gripping her, he quietly cries.

Frowning as she feels his grief and relief –that is greater than it should be– Sookie tries to calm her mate by running her hands through his hair. She has dropped numerous kisses on his head, but she can feel his tears soaking through her dress, and she is worried.

Sookie looks up at Eric as he walks in, pausing as he sees his Maker on his knees.

‘He is really upset, Eric. Help me…’

Nodding his head, Eric walks to the side of his Maker, then drops down beside the two of them. He rests his hands on his mates’ shoulders. His mind has gone over the entire night; Godric had been the same way all night until these odd feelings appeared in the limo. Then it was like a different Godric had been dropped in somehow. Eric is not sure why but his maker feels… older in some way; as if he has lived through things that couldn’t be imagined. Eric needs him to calm, so they can find out what has happened. When one is associated with the likes of Hades and Niall, you are more likely to accept the fantastic.

Feeling both of his mates’ worry, Godric shudders. “I’m so sorry. I overreacted. I lost the two of you over my stubborn pride. Please don’t leave me,” he begs them, rubbing his head against Sookie’s stomach, his whole body needing the two of them closer.

Eric turns a puzzled look to Sookie and sees an equally lost look on her face. He answers the pleas in Godric’s voice gently, “Godric, you never lost us. Sookie and I were mad, but we wouldn’t leave you. You’re ours. To lose you, it would mean losing a very intrinsic part of our soul, of who we are.”  He can’t even fathom what could be making Godric so upset.

Shaking, Godric suddenly looks no older than a teenager at that moment, deaging himself from what he really is. With a bit of fumbling, he looks at both of them and shows them mentally the hell he had just lived through. His eyes close in pain as he remembers with perfect recall the desolation he felt when his world ended.

As they pour through his mind, both Sookie and Eric are left reeling as the images, the memories, bombard them. They see everything, Godric allowing them fully in his head. At first it is fast, but Sookie soon takes the reigns and gently pulls the three of them in a room. She imagines a movie screen in front of them; with gentle prodding, Godric starts over.

They see the death of their world, the burning and destruction. Godric stands waiting for the final sunrise to come take him away from all the pain that has come from one moment in time.

Sookie and Eric are unable to understand the apocalypse shown to them; they cannot fathom how the span of a few seconds to them was a lifetime to Godric. As they watch the movie of Godric’s life, Sookie and Eric hit pause during the flashback to Sookie’s former self being taken. The scene is not one they have ever seen before; Sookie does not remember her past life and Eric has not witnessed any of it since they have been connected.

Looking at the moment, Eric frowns. “You remembered this when you licked Sookie’s blood?” He is confused why Godric would remember this now and not before. He could not have remembered this before and be as affected as he was from the episode.

Godric is bracketed by both mates and nods, unable to speak as he is staring at the screen. His vampire memory had been a blessing earlier when he realized what night it was. But now it is a curse, allowing him as he had done many times during those years, to replay this memory to shore up his pride.

Eric also sees how frightened it makes Godric to realize their mate is so breakable, but Eric can also sees how upset she is now. Either way, this is misery for Eric, having to witness his mate being taken from Godric, stripped of her body, and all Godric had lived through from that period, and also during the life he had lived in those few seconds on their side of time.

Sookie is overwhelmed, but can understand why that time scared him. However, she is not backing down from her stance. Though she will work with him to make sure the future does not turn out like his vision, she will not be anything but their equal. They raised her that way, and she won’t accept anything less.

But something bothers her about the whole thing. Looking back at the screen, Sookie asks Godric to rewind his memories. When he does, she watches closely. “Godric, go forward, please.”

She gets up and walks to the screen, watching everything with a tilt to her head that they are familiar with when she is working through something in her head. She asks Godric, “Can you please replay another memory for me?” She needs to compare before she can declare her idea to them.

Godric looks at her, his own head cocking slightly to the side, a habit he has gotten from her. With a little smile in his face, he asks her, “Of what memory does mein Liebling (my darling) wish to see?”

Watching the screen intently, she sends him love as she makes her demands of him.  “Any of our human life. But nothing of what made you react the way you did.”

She is being bossy, but neither mate is upset. Godric and Eric look at each other as they realize that she did not upset Godric with the way she is acting; she is being bossier now.

Another puzzle piece becomes visible of what had happened with Godric.

Eric frowns,  about to say something about his revelations when the scene changes and Godric is showing them one of his most treasured memories. Of the two of them being joined, basically married, but with Hades conducting it, he goes deeper and helps join their two souls, doing what they have done with the Bond, and the ceremony they had conducted that night.

Sookie and Eric gasp softly they watch it. The absolute look of love on Sookie’s face and the whole scene would take anyone’s breath. Then he sees a reflection in the pool as they kneel before Hades; he is blown away by the look on Godric’s face. The same look of love and adoration he has seen many times when Godric is unguarded is there, but there is also an innocence and a sense of freedom on his face that is amazing. Since Godric dies after him and rises before him, he has never seen his face like this, though Sookie has mentioned he looks like this in his sleep.

Smiling through her tears, Sookie murmurs, “I wish I could remember.” The ceremony is more meaningful to her than any marriage they could come up with now –plus she would never want to have it where only one of her wonderful mates would be recognized as her husband– this ceremony is simple, but all that much more meaningful for it.

A smile graces Godric’s face as he tells her, “I will remember for you. Always.” And the two of them share a look, glad that there is now a way to share this and other such memories. Godric has lived many lifetimes, but the one as them both human, the times with Eric, and then with her are the most treasured in his mind.

Then something catches Eric’s attention. As much detail as there is in the memory, and there is a lot of detail,  the memories are faded. Not a lot, but there is a quality of a well-run old film. His eyes narrow at the realization.

As Eric’s and the rest of their thoughts are as words in this room, Sookie nods to Eric, confirming his thoughts. “That is what I thought. Godric, I think the memory was placed.” It is the only way the memory could be so clear and take Godric so by surprise. The others give Godric a feeling, like a glow from seeing well-loved memories, but nothing as intense as that reaction. While it is not a memory he would replay, the vividness of the feeling of loss felt like it had happened just recently, pushing him into his reaction.

Godric looks at her, a frown on his face. “I remember it. I feel the memories like I do anything I remember.” His eyes cloud over in pain, and he purposely wrenches his mind to another memory of he and Sookie from his human days, trying to see what they see.

Eric smiles as he watches a memory from that far-gone past of Sookie running with Godric in a forest.  “It is probably a memory. But it is as clear as a vampire memory. Play it again and look.” He cannot lie; he is enjoying a look at his mates in another time, a much simpler time that had not affected either of their souls.

Not wanting to, but doing as Eric requests, Godric goes back now to one of the most painful moments in his past. This time the painful memory plays, and Godric frowns, not seeing what they are telling him. It is clearer than it should be. But…

“We should have felt this with you, seen this. But Godric, Eric and I knew nothing of this.” Watching this, Sookie also enlightens Godric to another fact, one that might help him understand why they had no idea of this happening to him. Sookie is starting to see how everything fell in a domino effect. Them not talking to him, mad at him for being so cruel and how it grew worse and worse…

Godric’s head turns to hers and he can feel and see only truth in her. He asks them both to clarify what his mind is starting to tell him. “You didn’t feel or see any of this?”

Eric nods but quickly winces as the future him on the screen turns away from Godric in the new club. He never wanted Godric to know that he could not be controlled. But he agrees with the self in front of him. Even knowing what he does now, he would have reacted the same. It makes a sick sort of sense, and he does not like the information he gets from the show before him. They have many weaknesses that are showing.

So he answers his mate truthfully, “Nothing. And none of this has happened yet. But every detail of the club is correct. Even the stone columns that I designed to be flat if we are looking from our seats. That view can only be seen from our seats, nowhere else. I designed it that way to make sure we can’t be snuck up on, but breaking up anything attacking us, or recording us from any other angle.” The wall behind them was reinforced with silver, mercury, iron and anything else he, Niall, and Hades could come up with. It even sank in the ground and was the deepest part of the foundation. Both Niall and Hades had helped him with that one, liking the idea of their backs being protected.

Godric’s jaw clenches as he watches with them as his personal hell plays out before them. Eric and Sookie both flinch as they hear Godric’s thoughts on how inadequate he felt, that he had been enough for Sookie when they had been human, but now was so damaged that they needed Eric. In a way, he had been slowly torturing himself as he couldn’t reconcile his emotions.

He loves Eric as much as he loves Sookie –there is no difference to him– but at the same time the resentfulness, the misunderstanding, was driving him frantic.  The conflict was still there, but Godric escaped from the looming madness with denial. It wasn’t healthy, but neither was hating his mate, who is a part of him.

They watch as Godric’s vision shows them dying. They watch as the following morning, he goes to the highest rooftop he can find to sacrifice himself, his world dead to him many years before it actually died with their deaths. He had only lived to allow his mates to live. But the morning after they died, he met the sun.

Sookie, by this time in the film, is in Godric’s arms crying. She feels his emotions; how he felt dead inside, how hurt he was by the death of his mates. Godric couldn’t help them; he had been bound invisibly, and mocked when he cried out at their deaths as he struggled to be free to help them fight, live..  Then to only to find himself in his Dallas nest.  Not able to take the empty feeling, the feeling of complete loss, Godric walks out the door trying to find an end to the pain that wracked him.

Eric sits there stunned, shaking his head as he watches Godric wrestling with his demons and finally defeating them on that plain of darkness. “Could it really be this bad?” He cannot understand how it came to be; he understands even less how the three of them seem to have the fate of the world resting on them.

A glow forms in front of them, bursting into flames and a woman’s voice emanates from it.

“Yes; this will happen if Godric doesn’t correct his behavior and the two of you become obsessed with each other. If anything harms the balance between you three, yes this will happen. You have been told you are the trio of prophecy, and yet you have no idea how much the world is depending on you. The love between you three has been whispered in the memories of all races. It has spawned legends, and past fated trios have failed. But you are the ones that the world has held its breath for; the world has been formed for you to stand upon, to learn on.”

The voice is hard, driving in the lesson. Yes, Godric needed to fix his thoughts, and the other two needed to know what can happen if they throw off the balance of the Fated Three.

The three of them reach for each other to reassure themselves, holding onto each other, becoming the craft to let them sail through the troubled waters of fate.

Nothing is more powerful at this moment in time than the three of them, and yet, they have no clue of their power.

Watching the three of them, the figure softens her voice. “I may have set up the vision of the future, and it is a true vision, but your true enemy tried to influence it. Eric, Godric, you need to learn how to shield from Sookie. Eric, you need to teach Godric and Sookie how to control the Bonds. And Godric, you need to guard the other two. You are the rock that they lean on, depend on to lead them. Each of you influences the other two. Eric, unconsciously, has shielded Sookie partially, and her own shields did the rest through this last time, but it was not enough, obviously. Those shields failed all of you at a critical time. Now, that this chink in your armor has been found, your enemy will ruthlessly exploit it.” Her voice chills them with the clear, cold truth radiating from it.

Godric’s head drops. “Am I always going to be the one who brings them down?” Eric shielded Sookie, and she shielded herself, leaving him as the weak point.

Ignoring the shock of the other two as they turn to him in denial at his words, the figure wreathed in flames tells him, “No. You’re the one who inspires them, steadies them, and leads them. They love you, which is why you are being attacked. Take you down, and the others shall fall. No other solution. You were the easiest to attack, because you had doubts that you no longer have. Eric has never doubted himself to the level you had, and to be fair, only you lived through the time with your memories intact of the madness you descended into then climbed out of.”

The figure cocks her head and continues, “You now know the truth of who Eric is. He is not added later because of the two of you needing him. He was always missing. He is the reason Sookie wanted children. The world was too young, and you two came before anyone knew. What happened was a tragedy and not how it was supposed to be. But free will and other powers interfered with your life threads. In the original fate for the three of you, Godric and Sookie were to be taken to the Underworld and once Eric was on the earth and ready for the two of you, you would have found him. You would have taken him as the missing part of you both. Instead, Sookie was taken from the two of you. And this one action,” she says wryly, “caused the very fates to have to work quickly to correct it.”

Eric’s eyebrow arches as he says, in a familiar tone, “2,000 or even 1,000 years is quickly?”

With that Sookie notices something and she glances at Godric who nods to her saying he has noticed also.

“It is a drop of water in the sea of your lives.” Her smile is evident in her voice. “You three have barely begun to live. There was so much to get ready for these days. There were past ones that were hoped to be the ones. Helen of Troy with Paris and Agamemnon, but Agamemnon was too proud. Caesar, Cleopatra, and Mark Antony managed to miss each other. Trista , Isolde, and King Mark; Earl of Sandwich with Martha Ray and Rev. James Hackman. All these are trios that managed to not work out, but they could have.” The figure has been moving, pacing. The actions telling on the two who are observing more than she realizes.

Then she sighs, “But the trio closest to you three is considered a legend. King Arthur with Lancelot and Guinevere. They almost worked, but the enemy decided that they were the fated couple and attacked. She tried everything, and eventually brought them down. Because of the fact that they fit the prophecy so well, she thought she succeeded. That is, until she found that nothing had changed despite all the tragedy she caused. But she did gain something from it; a new player on the field, one that had no fate.” The figure’s voice is the opposite of the flames she was wreathed in.

Eric sits, thinking of the legend. But it is Sookie who breathes, “Mordred.” Yes, Mordred; the man with no fate, and one of the major players of the whole sordid tragedy.

The lady in the fire is proud of her, and that pride is evident in her voice as she answers. “Yes, Mordred. A being that was never meant to be, that was formed out of the evil of that tragedy. The ace in the hole. But fitting…”

She shakes her head and continues. “Now that you know what happened, you will work together. There are no other chances. You three have been careful, but the enemy is getting closer and is now jabbing at you, to see if you are the three. Once you have taught each other your skills, this will be the place to discuss your ideas. Be safe. As you just saw, you are the fate of the world.”

The flames start to fade out as she makes her departure before he finds her again.

Before she can disappear, Eric calls out, “Wait!” He surges to his feet, a thought coming to the fore of his mind, one that he knows is in the minds of everyone.

When she pauses, he asks her, “In Godric’s vision, the Mating never happened.”

She laughs. “I cannot even predict when that happens, Eric. If it could be predicted, it would be able to be stopped. No, that is hidden from all. It is coming, I promise.” And with that, she disappears…

Final count, 4,733 words.

Fairfarren~Wendy