Perhaps the innkeeper had second thoughts about telling Lucius which room Ethan was staying in, but when an out of breath, non-Hrimskan speaker slams his hands on the front desk and yells a name in his face, he may not have wanted the situation to escalate.

"Ethan!" Lucius banged on the door, ignoring the looks he got from a nearby couple on their way to their room. "Ethan, are you there!?"

An immense relief flushed over him as a drowsy-eyed Ethan answered the door in just his pants.

"It's the middle of the morning," he said with an accusatory scowl. "Just because your sleep patterns are a mess doesn't mean mi—"

His sentence ended abruptly as Lucius pulled him in for a tight hug.

"Thank Dyris," he mumbled into Ethan's shoulder, while the latter awkwardly raised his hands to hug him back.

"Right, uh... I've missed you too." Ethan patted his back, voice having taken a turn towards confusion. "Everything alright?"

"I thought they'd gotten to you already." Lucius released his grip. "The— The people at that monastery. Aldrik's men. They're... Coming to look for you, I'm certain."

Ethan glanced around, gesturing for Lucius to come inside the room before more people could ogle his underdressed body for too long.

"So, let's calm down." He stretched his back before sitting down on the narrow bed in front of a tightly shut, curtain covered window. "What's going on?"

"I told you." Lucius was still catching his breath. "Those people— They've... They're coming here. They're looking for you."

Ethan, instead of panicking appropriately according to Lucius, sighed through his nose.

"They've already been here," he said, and Lucius' eyes widened.

"They...?"

"Perks of shroud walking." Ethan smiled. "Catching me is far from easy. Even Derek struggles with that."

"Oh..." It seemed like the wrong time for Lucius to bring up when Derek had shot Ethan in the head. "... Right."

"What I don't know yet is why they were looking for me." Ethan patted the spot next to him on the bed. "Did any of you tell them about me?"

Lucius shook his head, eyes facing the floor as he sat down.

"They've been following us," he almost whispered. "Maybe they were questioning why Frey would be staying at an inn alone at his age, or they just... Didn't trust us, or something."

"And you think they've figured out what I am?"

Lucius nodded.

"Aldrik... Said the last thing we need for the sealing ritual is..." His mouth had gone dry. "... Proof that The Unity has triumphed over The Waste, as a component."

Ethan was quiet at first, perhaps still not quite getting it.

"So..."

"Something like the... Remains of an unholy being." Lucius' hands trembled, still refusing to look him in the eyes. "Aldrik said they'd found a way to retrieve it, so— So I was afraid they'd come here to..."

He trailed off, waiting for Ethan to speak, but no reply came. Finally, Lucius had to look up.

Ethan's expression was blank, eerily so. Not that having his life threatened should provide any positive emotions, but Lucius would have preferred at least a hint to what was going through his head.

"I'm... So relieved you're alright thou—"

"How are you going to find something like that?"

Lucius' heart stopped, and he found himself speechless as he met Ethan's gaze. His voice was calm, but eerily so. Not the tone he sometimes shared with his father, but not his usual, friendly kind either.

"I..."

"Are you just going to stroll outside and casually happen upon an unholy person?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "And then just sacrifice them?"

"I didn't... Stop to think about it..." Lucius said, barely audibly. "... I just rushed here to make sure you were alright."

"And that's nice and all, but... What are you going to do?" Ethan insisted on knowing. "I know you don't want anyone getting hurt anymore, you've told me so, but now that it's necessary?"

Lucius pulled his knees up, resting his chin against them.

"Could it be done in another way? Are there really no alternatives to cold-blooded murder?"

"It'd be an exorcism, I guess." Ethan shrugged. "But that clearly isn't an option, and I don't know how to gather physical pieces of a banished blight anyway."

"So it's solid remains, then." Lucius burrowed his face in his knees. "Like an actual body."

Ethan shifted on the bed.

"Probably not a body. You won't get an intact, unholy being if they're caught by The Unity."

"So..."

"Ashes."

Lucius glanced up towards the covered window. What kind of monster would do that? Except Damien, or Derek, or the monks in that monastery.

Perhaps a lot of people, after all.

"I can't just... Intentionally kill someone for something like this," he whispered, but the veins inside him writhed at the idea. He needed to think of his own health, and his importance. He had things to get back to, unlike creatures already doomed by their existence. They didn't have a town to run, or a friend to save. They couldn't change the world the way Lucius was set on doing.

His eyes shifted to Ethan. It didn't pertain to him. He was important, if not to others then to Lucius, and to Anthony.

Lucius' chest twisted again. Anthony. He had to get back to him as well, wherever he was. Wasn't all that worth just a small sacrifice?

His eyes widened, and though he quickly tried to shove the thought away it still festered inside his head. A small sacrifice.

"Do..." He still hesitated, a twinge of fear awakening by that mere thought being allowed in his head. "... Do the burns spread past where the sunlight hits?"

Ethan turned his head slightly.

"... What are you saying?"

"It's just, you know... I don't need a lot of it, and it would heal after a while, wouldn't it?"

Ethan stared at him now, and he let out a low, shaky laugh in disbelief.

"You're not actually asking me that."

Lucius had turned away to face forward, grip around his knees tightening.

"What else can we do?"

After a long silence, he had to look back at Ethan, whose face was far from calm anymore. A blend of shock, dread, and perhaps most of all contempt had spilled over it, and he drew a trembling breath.

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you know what you're asking of me?"

"I— Yes, I know, but—"

"You want to burn part of me in the sun... To the point of it turning to ash."

Lucius couldn't look him in the eyes anymore.

"I never wanted it to come to something like this, and I... I understand what a heartless request it is." He chewed on his lip, and to his remorse the crawling sensation returned to his ribcage like a spider infestation. "But I don't know what else there is."

Another tormenting silence ensued while Lucius waited for a reply. He could understand Ethan's refusal to speak though. What he was asking of him was unforgivable, yet he couldn't retract his question either.

He just couldn't.

"I don't know what I could do to ever repay—" he began, but Ethan finally found his words.

"Abram was right."

Lucius' heart stung, but he swallowed with a slow nod.

"I know," he whispered. "I've put you in danger enough already."

"It's not that." Dread had twisted Ethan's expression, and his breaths were shallow. "It's... You. The irresistible urge to help you... To keep you safe, no matter what."

"I don't—" Lucius shook his head in horror. "I never meant for— For something like that to happen."

"So don't make me," Ethan pleaded. "Take it back. Take your request back."

Lucius opened his mouth, only to close it again. He couldn't utter those words. He couldn't miss the one chance he had to finally be done.

"Please," Ethan continued, sensing the hesitation in Lucius with increasing desperation.

Lucius drew a deep breath, chest squeezing his heart as if the veins refused its feelings of regret.

"... What other options are there, Ethan? If the ritual fails, or doesn't happen, I'll die."

Ethan gritted his teeth, squeezing his eyes together before seemingly forced to speak.

"I know." His voice was weak, matching the sudden fragility of his face. "It... It will heal, unlike you would."

It plagued Lucius to see him like that. He wanted nothing more than to stop where things were heading.

No, something more. One thing was more important.

"We'll do it quickly," he promised, trying to convince them both that it was just a brief, casual thing and not subjecting a vampire to divine punishment for merely existing. "I'll be here with you."

Ethan finally dared to open his eyes just a little, and he glanced towards the closed window.

Then he nodded.

Lucius noticed his own hand shaking as he removed the blinds to reach for the shutter. He didn't want to. He could stop it at any moment.

No, he wanted to. He needed to.

He pressed his lips together, flinching as sunlight hit him as if it could harm him as well. It was just warmth though. Harmless, pleasant warmth.

He didn't open it all the way, letting just a beam into the room before facing Ethan again.

"Should be enough." For some dumb reason he tried to smile reassuringly before reaching his hand into the light. "Ready?"

Ethan let out a weak, joyless laugh with no other reply. He raised his hand, understandably struggling to bring it closer to Lucius'.

Impatience grew inside Lucius. Every moment of wait meant a chance for Ethan to back out. He couldn't back out now. Not when Lucius' life was on the line.

How can I blame him? I'm asking him to burn his hand to ashes.

For my sake. For my survival, because he cares about me.

That does not equate unconditional sacrifices.

It does for me.

Then Ethan sucked in a breath, plunging his hand into the sunlight to interlock fingers with Lucius.

The result was immediate, and he let out a sharp gasp as blisters bubbled up over his hand. Every inch of Lucius' body wanted to move, to push him away from the light and apologise, to tell him they would find another way.

But he couldn't. He could only stare at the searing, bursting skin with terror in his eyes. He could only hear Ethan's stifled cries and sobs with a numbing sting in his heart, but never move away. He kept a firm hold around his friend's disintegrating hand, wondering if he would be able to release him if he'd try to pull away. If he could even allow him to say no.

Ethan's entire body convulsed, tears streaming down his face and teeth being ground together by a clenched jaw as blackened parts of his fingertips began to slip off their bones. The smell made Lucius gag, but he held it back with a strained grimace.

This needs to stop. I can't do this to him.

I've already come this far. Stopping now would be pointless.

I need to stop him. I need to let go.

But he didn't. Deep down he felt no desire to. His desire to survive was stronger.

At last, a soft, surprisingly cold substance landed against the back of Lucius' hand, and he glanced down at the ashes with forced denial. Those weren't ashes from his friend. They weren't remains of a person. They were just ashes from any old, burnt piece of wood, so he had no reason to despair. The crumbling grip around his hand that he refused to stare at directly was no cause to feel bad.

It's enough.

Yet Lucius remained still. How would he know it was enough? How much did the ritual require? Aldrik mentioned remains of something unholy, but would a hand suffice?

Perhaps just a little more.

Then he finally cracked, biting hard into his lower lip to snap out of his own mind.

No!

He moved forward to shove Ethan away, releasing him from divine torture while clashing voices stormed around inside his head. He refused to listen. Whatever they were trying to say, he wanted no part in it. He just wanted it all to stop.

"Ethan," he croaked, tears spilling down over his cheeks now as well as he finally dared to look at the charred bones between them. Ethan's forearm was gone. All that was left from below his elbow had turned to dust, and a whimper escaped Lucius' lips. "I'm— I..."

How could he find the words to justify what he'd done? What he'd made Ethan do? He wanted to claim that Ethan had chosen it himself, but he wasn't convinced anymore. Who would do such a thing by their own volition?

Ethan didn't speak. He wouldn't even open his eyes to look. Not at his arm, not at his friend, not at the ashes staining the covers. Nothing.

Lucius didn't deserve to touch him. He had no right to even assume Ethan would want it, but he couldn't just sit there. Without touching the ashes between them, Lucius went forward to throw his arms around Ethan with a sob.

"I'm so— So..." He still couldn't say it, no matter how much he wanted to, or needed to. It was the least he was supposed to do, but it was impossible. "... I shouldn't have... I— I don't..."

"I'll be fine," Ethan barely managed to utter through clenched teeth while he for some unexplainable reason agreed to hug Lucius back with the one arm he still had. His face was pale, almost grey in hue, and his eyes looked sunken in. "Feeling a bit tired though, so... I should rest."

"Yes, of course." Lucius hurried to close the window and blinds again. Guilt finally embraced him completely, and the urge to throw his head into the wall was overwhelming. What had he done? What could he do to make amends? He couldn't even apologise. He couldn't offer his tainted blood for Ethan to regain his strength.

"You should hurry back to the others though, shouldn't you?" Ethan raised his arm to cover his face, chest heaving and sweat prickling his skin. "Hurry with the sealing."

"No." Lucius' eye twitched as he went against his urge to head back. "I'm not leaving you like this."

"You—"

"You're hurt because of me. What if they come back? You can't shroud walk like this."

Ethan looked like he was going to attempt a weak objection, but it turned into a heavy breath instead, so Lucius continued.

"I'm staying." He stood up slowly to fetch a bowl he'd spotted on the desk next to a washcloth. "The ritual is tonight at earliest, so at least the sun will be down when I leave."

More thoughts invaded his head while he scooped up as much of the ashes as he could without smearing them against the covers. He was touching the remains of an arm. His friend's arm. No matter how he tried to ignore it, the fact tore through any defence his mind could conjure.

What was happening to him? He'd come there to ensure Ethan's safety yet he'd been the one to hurt him in the end, all to save his own skin.

He placed the bowl on the desk again before going back to lie down next to Ethan, carefully stroking back some tendrils of hair that had fallen across his face, but he barely seemed to notice.

Lucius pursed his lips.

"You know, even if the ritual succeeds, I fear Captain Vandelay might have my head for this."

Ethan managed the weakest hint of smiles Lucius had ever seen.

"I'll be honest... You didn't make a very good first impression."

"I rarely do," Lucius admitted. "But I reckon this case— Or any case with you involved, really, strikes a nerve with him."

Ethan didn't object to it, but he didn't give a reply either so Lucius continued, unable to help his curiosity.

"There's more to the two of you, isn't there? You both seem very... Fond of each other."

"We've known each other for a long time." Ethan dodged the real question. "He's pretty much always been there for me."

"And you for him?"

A nod.

Lucius' heart stung, and he stared up at the dark ceiling for a while.

"You're... There for a lot of people, huh."

No reply came, and he turned his head again to notice Ethan had fallen asleep. Fortunately, his breath was heavy enough to indicate life, or undeath.

Lucius released a deep breath as well, and he ran a trembling hand through Ethan's hair with an attempted smile.

"Sleep well."

***

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Oooof, poor Ethan... This was honestly a pretty last minute thing that I added, but I think it helps show Lucius' gradual corruption because man, that is NOT friendly behavior. As always, please let me know what you all think of the chapter!