Log: Ongoing.

[gentlequill.livejournal.com]

When; 19th June.
Rating; PG-13.
Characters; Louis de Pointe du Lac (gentlequill) and Claudia de Lioncourt/de Pointe du Lac (sansfinpetit).
Summary; Louis and Claudia reunite upon Louis' entrance into the city.
Log;

Louis's footsteps were silent as he drifted through the streets of the city, reaching the square in what seemed to be an odd transition of time and space. But then, his sense of time was unlike that of others, or so he had been told time and time again. He did not know whether the moment had seemed too long or too short, whether he was eager to see Claudia, or whether he dreaded it. As his eyes traced the floor, adjusting to the shape around him and watching others walk past, late and dark as it was, he paused. None of them were that familiar petite figure. None of them were the one Louis sought and had missed so desperately. Her memory had been a scar to his heart in so many ways, her loss something he had hardly borne. His rage had been terrible to behold, his destruction of the theatre in Paris the warning to others not to cross him. Louis's grief was a powerful thing, capable of reducing the target of his malice to ashes.

And then, the familiar tap of small steps, and he turned slowly, looking for the source of them. His mind wrote the thought in exquisite lettering for him, lilting in the air on the edge of infinite possibility...and hope that he had believed to have died with her and his separation from Lestat.

Claudia?

Comments

[sansfinpetit.livejournal.com]

He was the one she had wanted to see the most. When she had first arrived, she was terrified, having just died, and had hoped beyond hope that one of them would find her here. When Lestat had arrived, it was with apprehension that she greeted him, and disappointment that it had been he and not her beloved to have found her first. It was unfair, but then, Claudia's entire immortal life had been unfair. Surely, she couldn't expect the City to treat her any different?

It was the second time she was to meet someone at this place. She avoided the fountain, walking around it, unwilling to gaze into its crystalline depths and see images of things unspeakable, things that made her heart grow cold and frightened her more than anything else ever had. She hoped that Louis would not look into the water - he was too beautiful, too precious to experience the loss and fear that the fountain had to offer.

The City itself was beautiful, she thought, and so were its people. They were different, intriguing, and tantalizing. Being so close to them, yet knowing that she could not hunt just yet, was thrilling. So many different mortals, so many different tastes...

Her heart sped up as she could feel Louis's presence grow stronger. She resisted the urge to run to him, but kept her steps easy and measured. His dark hair shone in the moonlight, and he was just as beautiful as she remembered, and she thought that she would die again at the pure bliss of being able to look into those green eyes again.

"Louis...it really is you," she whispered, her child-like voice cutting through the crowd's murmur. Slowly, she approached him, her eyes unbelieving, yet thrilled that this was not a dream, her Louis was really here.

[gentlequill.livejournal.com]

A familiar silvery tone cut through the air, reaching his ears and finally reconciling itself to his mind. That tone that he had never thought to hear again was addressing him, the voice that was barely a whisper to mortal ears so clear to him. As she approached, his eyes took her in, the fact that she looked so whole and well, and the sight chased away for a time those nightmares of ashes and a body crumbling to nothing beneath the slightest touch.

"Ma petite..." Overcome, he snatched her into his arms, lifting her from her feet into a fierce hold, reminiscent of how he had once recalled them to be. Such an echo of how father and daughter, lover and lover had reeled around the sitting room of their flat on the Rue Royale, reading each other heavy books whilst he played with her curls gently, brushing her hair. It was another time, another place...another life. And they were here, all of them.

[sansfinpetit.livejournal.com]

It was too good to be true. If this City, if having Louis hold her as tight as death, was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. Everything was right again, the world was once more theirs for the taking...the grand adventure could begin again, and what was broken was mending, even though there was still one piece absent of their puzzle. Only with his return would they be whole once again.

She hugged him back as tightly as her little arms could muster, relief surging through her. Armand had not destroyed him after all. He was here, he was safe, and he was as he had always been, his skin just as smooth, and his embrace just as strong and warm as she remembered it. Even though she had only seen him what seemed to her to be a few days ago, it felt like centuries had passed.

"I had hoped you would find me here..." she murmured into his neck, her fingers curling around his dark hair just as they had done years ago when they had shared the same coffin. "I had told you, once, that I could not go on without you, and your absence was more painful than I had thought possible. But you are here, we are together again."

For now, she could forget what he had done to her when she was a mortal. For now, she could relish in his company and give into the blissful feeling that comes with reuniting with a loved one after an eternity of being apart...for now, she would let herself be happy.

[gentlequill.livejournal.com]

At the gentle slip of tiny fingertips into his hair, his heart reeled and he only held her more tightly, his cheek pressed to hers. His voice was quicksilver and a soft rush of emotion into her ear, and it seemed that he could not say enough all at once. Louis fell to explanation, first, something that he had had no peace with for so many years.

"Cherie, I heard you...I tried so hard to get to you, both of you..."

Grief delineated marble smooth skin and gave age to green eyes which had previously seemed clear. Only upon closer inspection could one even begin to gauge what Louis was feeling. When he was not quite so emotionally provoked, he appeared as if he were a statue, standing, watching and waiting for a call that none knew the source of. For so long, he had been only a part of a whole, and the places where others had been wept and bled for him as he remained a silent figure, carved into the embrace of time and grief like a secret language. He swallowed back the sore feeling in his throat, and forced down the hollow ache in his chest where other parts yet bled.

"You have been all right? Have you been safe? Have you spoken with Lestat?"

[sansfinpetit.livejournal.com]

She didn't know that he heard her screams as the sun began to rise. She didn't know...how great had his grief been? How desperately had he tried to get to her? To see his beautiful grief in such clarity made the hate that she had for her fathers diminish at its core...she and Lestat both had that in common; whenever Louis showed the tiniest expression of emotion or humanity, they weakened.

"...It's all right, mon cher, it's all right. We're together again...and see, even Armand could not keep you from me," she murmured, stroking his dark hair, and feeling a selfish surge of pleasure that her Louis, his Claudia, and their Lestat were reunited, and that Armand was not in the equation.

"There are others like us here," she told him. "One of them, a girl named Divia...she is like me, Louis. A woman trapped in a child's body. She is very kind, and has been watching over me. But there are humans here who hunt our kind, and there are even other vampires who serve these humans...I can't imagine why."

She paused, deciding to choose her words regarding Lestat carefully. "...Yes, I have. He is...well, he is the same as he ever was. Alive, if we can even be considered so." She didn't mention the fact that it seemed as if he had missed her, which was strange...she had thought that they hated each other, but he seemed to be keeping her on her toes. Either way, they would all be together again, and things would be better. Back to the way they were before, but different.

[gentlequill.livejournal.com]

Pressing a fervent, rapid kiss to her cheek, to her forehead, he closed his eyes and just took in the feeling of having her close again. How many nights had he woken from the vampiric sleep paralysis to call for her, hearing those screams again and again in nightmares that he could not escape? Too many, perhaps, but yet, here they were once again.

"I was with Armand for many years after all of it happened. I left of my own accord, eventually, and I never went back."

Looking down at her a moment later, his gaze was troubled.

"You have not been hunted, have you?"

At the mention of Lestat, Louis drew in a deep breath, not meeting Claudia's gaze. Alive, then...it was a preferable knowledge to the alternative. And yet, he was uneasy about seeing his maker once again...simply because the three of them had been so difficult when they were together. Arguments and bliss swung back and forth like a pendulum, memories flooding Louis's mind until they all simply...stopped. "Unchanged...that sounds like him." There was no rancour in his voice, but there was a hint of emotion that still saturated his words and threatened to betray the fact that he was not quite as calm as he was currently appearing.

[sansfinpetit.livejournal.com]

His lips felt like homecoming, and was the most welcoming thing she had felt in a very long time, it seemed. He set her down gently, ever the doting Louis, and she took one of his large hands in her small ones, not ready to break the contact yet.

"No, I haven't. I have let them know that I am no threat...we cannot kill here. It would be too dangerous," Claudia said. "But food is food, after all."

She tilted her head slightly, her blond curls flowing past her shoulders as she watched him. She could see the internal struggle, the one that they all had to live with: they loved and hated each other, neither emotion coming out on top, always indecisive...

"Yes," she whispered. "Unchanged. Louis..." She paused, wanting to choose her next words carefully. "...how long has it been since they killed me?"