Vampire Academy Book 4: Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Listen, I'm a Dragoway truther, and I support Rose, Lissa & Christian as a Polycule. But Ship literally whatever you wanna ship in this series, its silly and fun, and anyway my OTP of all time is Sydrian - speaking of, shout out to my first ever attempt at a Sydney -- hilarious to me now because I changed her whole design pretty much completely.
Anyway, here's a book 4 group shot before I put those in an actual setting with real visuals.
Excerpt from the end of Blood Promise, Chapter 30
Adrian had said seeing me in dreams couldn't compare to seeing me in person. The same was true with Lissa. Being in her head was nothing like being near her in reality. The door opened, and it was like an apparition materializing before me, some sort of heavenly messenger descended from above. I'd never been away from her for this long, and after all this time, part of me wondered if I was imagining this.
Her hand went to her mouth, and she stared at me wide-eyed. I think she felt the same way -- and she hadn't even had warning of my visit. She'd just been told I was coming "soon." No doubt I seemed like a phantom to her too.
And with that reunion... it was like I was emerging from a cave - one I'd been in for almost five weeks - into the bright light of day. When Dimitri had turned, I'd felt like I'd lost part of my soul. When I'd left Lissa, another piece had gone. Now, seeing her... I began to think maybe my soul might be able to heal. Maybe I could go on after all. I didn't feel 100 percent whole yet, but her presence filled up that missing part of me. I felt more like myself than I had in ages.
A world of questions and confusion hung in the silence between us. In spite of everything we'd been through with Avery, there was still a lot of unresolved business from when I had first left the school. For the first time since I'd set foot on the Academy's grounds, I felt afraid. Afraid that Lissa would reject me or scream at me for what I'd done.
Instead, she drew me into a giant hug. "I knew it," she said. She was already choking on her sobs. "I knew you'd come back."
"Of course," I murmured into her shoulder. "I said I would."
I mean, come on, there's murmuring for god's sake. How are they not cannon??????
Summary: World Cup fluff. Alessia has no idea you're on your way to Australia to surprise her before the final.
———
“Did you watch the game?” Alessia asks, calling you at the earliest opportunity after the semi final ends. You know she must still be at the stadium and you can hear the sounds of her teammates celebrating in the background.
“As if I’d miss a match as important as this one,” you reply. “Your goal, baby - that was something special.”
“Really?” Alessia asks, the giddiness apparent in her voice, even over the phone.
“Yeah, it was. It was incredible. You’re incredible.”
“I wish you could be here,” Alessia says.
You glance up at the departure board and read the words “Sydney - gate opens in 20 minutes” before you sigh and reply, “Yeah, so do I. I’m sorry.”
Because what Alessia doesn’t know is that you watched her semi final match from an airport lounge in Singapore, where you have a layover between flights on your way out to Sydney.
“Don’t apologise,” Alessia reassures you. “I know how hard it is for you to get time off work.”
It has been hard, you’ve been so busy at work recently that you were forced to stay in England while Alessia competes on the other side of the world. But after the Lionesses won their quarter final, you knew you had to fly out to Australia for Alessia’s final match, whether it was the final or the third place match, just to get the chance to see your girl play in a World Cup. And now that you know it’ll be a World Cup final that she’s playing in, you’re extremely glad that you managed to persuade your boss to let you have the time off.
“Anyway, it means a lot to know you’re supporting me, even from so far away,” Alessia continues.
It takes all the effort you can muster not to confess everything and tell her that you’re not as far away as she might think, but you’re determined to keep this a surprise.
“Always supporting you,” you promise her. “All the way to the World Cup final.”
You can practically hear her beaming down the phone, and you can picture the way her face scrunches up in delight as she replies, “It doesn’t feel real yet. I don’t think it’ll feel real until we actually step out on the pitch.”
“I’m so proud of you,” you tell Alessia.
You hear the opening bars of ABBA’s Mamma Mia followed by a shriek down the phone, then the distinctive sound of your girlfriend’s laughter.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Alessia apologises. “Ella wants me to dance. I’m gonna have to go. But I love you and miss you so much!”
“Love you too! See you soon!”
You only realise the slip of your tongue when Alessia has already hung up, by which time you can only hope that she’s too distracted by the dressing room celebrations to notice and ruin the surprise of your impending arrival in Australia.
———
For reasons you can’t explain, you’re nervous as you wait by the Sydney harbour, against the backdrop of the opera house and the famous bridge. You only landed in Australia this morning, and though it’s now early afternoon, it feels like the middle of the night to you.
You’re about to see your girlfriend for the first time in six weeks and Alessia has no idea. Maybe that’s why you’re nervous, afraid that your sudden appearance on the other side of the world to where Alessia currently thinks you are will somehow distract her from her preparations for the biggest football game of her career.
You check your phone for the millionth time in the last twenty minutes. Your most recent message is one from Luca, who is in on the surprise, telling you that Alessia insisted on stopping for coffee and that they’ll be with you in ten minutes.
That was fourteen minutes ago.
You turn around, leaning back against the harbour railing, and glance down at the bouquet of flowers in your hand. What if this was a silly idea? What if your arrival in Australia two days before such an important game is a distraction for Alessia? What if she has other plans for her last day off before the tournament ends and you’re taking that away?
But then you glance up and you see her in the distance, walking towards you with her brothers on either side of her, laughing at something that one of them has just said, and your heart stops in your chest. She’s changed out of the England tracksuits you’ve become so accustomed to seeing pictures of her wearing and into a pair of dark trousers and a white crop top, a pair of sunglasses perched on the top of her head that pushes her blonde hair out of her face. Maybe it’s the sun kissed glow from spending more than a month in Australia, maybe it’s the fact that she looks so relaxed and happy, maybe it’s the fact that you haven’t seen her in person for so long, but she looks like a goddess as she strides obliviously towards you.
You push yourself off the railing and try to straighten up your own appearance, fully aware that spending thirty hours on planes and in airports and your current state of jetlag probably means you resemble a zombie more than your normal human self, certainly not somebody worthy of Alessia, but you can only hope that doesn’t matter.
She continues to come closer, still unaware that she’s walking towards you, until she’s close enough that you can hear the familiar laughter as she jokes around with her brothers.
And then her blue eyes find yours and being the clumsy girl that she is, she actually stumbles slightly when she sees you, doing a double take as she recognises you.
“Oh my god,” Alessia says, and then she’s running towards you.
You hold your arms out wide as Alessia launches herself at you, knocking you slightly off balance as she wraps her arms tightly around you and buries her face into your neck. It feels so strange, yet so familiar to have Alessia in your arms after so long apart, and you’re never going to take spending time with her for granted again.
“But … but you’re in England?” she says, her voice muffled by your hair.
“I’m pretty sure this is Australia,” you reply lightheartedly, squeezing her tighter.
“What are you doing here?” Alessia asks, pulling back and cupping your head with a hand on each side of your jaw, staring at you in disbelief, as if she still isn’t completely sure that you’re not a figment of her own imagination.
“Sightseeing,” you tease her. “No, I’m here to see you, silly. My girl’s playing in a World Cup final on Sunday - do you really think I’d miss the chance to see that live?”
“But we talked yesterday,” Alessia says, her face scrunching up in a cute frown. “You were at home.”
“I lied, I was in an airport in Singapore,” you confess.
Alessia’s eyes widen in surprise, then she says, “You sneaky little… I can’t believe you’re actually here.”
“These are for you, by the way,” you say, untangling your arms from around Alessia so you can present her with the bouquet of flowers you bought - red and white for England, obviously - before they get too squashed.
“They’re beautiful,” Alessia says, as she accepts the gift and admires the flowers.
“Beautiful flowers for my beautiful girl,” you say cheesily. “I’ve got something else for you too.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh huh,” you nod, as you place your hands on Alessia’s hips and pull her closer, pushing yourself up on your tiptoes to close the height difference and press your lips against hers.
Alessia’s lips are exactly as soft as you remember them and she gasps at the contact, before pulling you in even closer with her free hand. You try to savour the moment, enjoying the way that Alessia’s aura surrounds every part of you, her lips pliant beneath yours as you fit together like it hasn’t been over a month since you last got to kiss her.
It’s a special kiss, one that you wish could last forever, but a kiss that is ultimately ruined by a raucous wolf whistle followed by fake retching noises from Alessia’s brothers nearby.
Alessia pulls back with a groan, then turns to her brothers to scold them.
“Okay, you two can get lost now. I want to spend my day off with my girlfriend.”
You turn to Luca and Giorgio and give them an apologetic shrug.
“Sorry guys, Lessi makes the rules.”
You endure a bit more teasing, Luca continuing to gag while Giorgio makes a comment about you being whipped, but that’s quickly forgotten as Alessia pulls you in for another kiss, and by the time you break apart again, the Russo brothers have got the message and left you alone with your girlfriend.
“This is the best day ever,” Alessia says, reaching for your hand and threading her fingers through yours as you start to walk side by side towards the Sydney Opera House.
“Are you sure about that?” you tease her. “I mean, you scored a goal that helped your team get through to their first ever World Cup final yesterday. That sounds like a pretty hard day to beat.”
“That was good but this is better,” Alessia answers without hesitating. “I might have to reconsider on Sunday though. You know, if we…”
Alessia trails off without saying the word win, and you know probably still can’t quite get her head around the fact that winning the World Cup is a possibility.
“Whatever the result, I’m so glad I can be here to support you,” you tell her, bringing your joined hands to your lips and pressing a kiss to the back of her fingers. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
You’ve travelled halfway around the world for Alessia, and you’d do the same journey a hundred times over, just to see the smile that spreads across her face at your words.
Sam was nervous, a feeling she had become accustomed to over her years of playing football. However this time it had nothing to do with her favourite sport and everything to do with the extra weight in her pocket.
The two of you were sitting on your shared couch, Mamma Mia playing on the TV after you had begged Sam to watch it with you. She of course said yes, although Sam had started to notice she rarely ever said no to you.
Your hand was resting on her knee, your legs intertwined with hers, a smile on your face as you mouth the words to the songs playing on the screen. Sam’s heart beat just that little bit faster as she watched you.
She knew you were the one for her, she knew from the moment she had seen you. The two of you ran into each other at the grocery store, apologises left both your mouths as you helped each other pick up the lost items.
Sam couldn’t help but admire how beautiful you were, the way your eyes lit up as you smiled - thanking her for her help, even though she had been the one to cause the trouble.
It took her a few seconds to be able to pinpoint your accent, her eyebrows frowning in confusion.
“You’re from Aus?”
You nodded your head, somehow your smile growing even further. “Yeah, Sydney. Just visiting some friends”
“Ah, the dark side” Sam responded, giggles leaving your lips - Sam swore her heart stopped for a second. You were beautiful.
“What about you?”
“Perth”
The conversation ran a few more minutes before you two remembered you were both needed other places. Sam knew she couldn’t let you go, not without your number at least.
You grabbed her phone off her and placed your number in, before sending a message off so you would have Sam’s number too.
“Y/N? Pretty name” Sam read off the screen before looking back up at you. “For a pretty girl”
“That was horrible” You laugh out, adding a comment asking how many girls that had worked on before. Sam claimed she’d have to wait for your reply to get the correct answer.
With goodbyes said, and numbers given Sam left that grocery store excited for what would come of it.
Fast forward four years later, Sam was fortunate enough to call you her girlfriend. By the end of the night, Sam was hoping for more.
She could feel her phone buzzing off, friends and families asking if she had popped the question yet. You too had taken notice of the constant buzzing, turning your head with a questioning look on your face.
“What’s with all the paparazzi Kerr?”
Sam felt herself freeze up, and she knew the second she had, you had felt it too. Your eyebrows arch even more as you move your body to face your girlfriend instead.
“Just the group chat going off, Macca found a pub she wants us all to try”
She knows you don’t believe a word of what she said, but Meryl Streep starts to sing ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and ultimately takes your attention off her. Your lips moving once again, Sam planting a kiss on your hairline, as you sink back into her embrace.
The movie moved along, you squeezing Sam’s leg a few times at your favourite parts. Sam watched as Sophia floated off the screen, you letting out a small yawn as the screen faded.
The ending credits start soon enough, a burst of energy waking you up enough to jump off the couch, reaching your hands out to pull Sam up with you. She pretends to dislike the idea but gives in as you give another push.
It doesn’t take long for the two of you to start dancing, Sam keeping her hands on your waist as you both move around together. Laughter leaves both your lips, as Sam brings you down, planting a kiss on your lips before bringing you back up again.
“I love you” you mumble onto her lips, kissing them once again before pulling away to continue to dance.
Sam could feel the box move around in her pocket, her eyes never leaving you, as you danced around the living room.
Her mum had always told Sam that she would always know when the right moment was, there would be a shift in the atmosphere - a feeling of completeness. Whether that had been scoring a goal or asking a girl out on a date.
Sam felt it shift, and although she had felt this kind of change before, many times as she would go for a goal - this was nothing compared.
She doesn’t remember taking the box out of her pocket, or getting down on one knee - but she will never forget the look on your face as you turn around to see her, ring in her hand and her lip in between her teeth.
Everything she had prepared to say went straight out the window, your hands covering your mouth, as you tried to assess what exactly was happening.
“Y/N, I promise you I had a whole speech planned out. One that I made everyone we know hear over and over again until I had perfected it for you. But I can’t seem to remember shit from it. But what I do know is that I want to marry you. I’ve wanted to marry you since the day we bumped into each other in that grocery store. I know we’ve taken a while to get here, a long-distance relationship was never in the cards for either of us, but you made it worth it. And I am so glad that we did because look at what we’ve become.”
She pauses, tears streaming down both your faces - you now joining her on the floor. Your hands holding onto her arms, you can feel a slight shake coming from Sam but ignore it as you listen to everything she has to say.
“I love you Y/N and I want the world to know just how much I love you. I want them to see my - our last name on your back as you cheer me on. I want to watch our kids grow old together and get all grossed out when we kiss in front of them. I want the rushed mornings and the lazy Sunday afternoons. I want everything with you Y/N. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, Will You Marry Me?”
Your lips are on hers in an instant, your tears mixing as you nod your head.
“Yes! Yes, Yes! A hundred times Yes” Sam manages to pull you even closer, kissing her girlfriend fiancé.
Thank you to everyone who joined the Summer Secret Pal event! I hope you had as much fun as I did! It was so wonderful to see the fandom come together, share their talents, and make others smile with their gifts.
Alphabetical by recipient
☀️ To: @aesthetic-aag 🏖️From: @peonyblossom
Gaius x Adeeba (Edit)
☀️ To: @bri1234 🏖️From: @coffeeheartaddict2
A Letter to My Beloved: Trystan x Emily (fan fiction)
☀️ To: @cadybear420 🏖️From: @aesthetic-aag
Aiden x Evie (edit)
☀️ To: @choicesmc 🏖️From: @peonierose
Rin (Art)
Jiahao (Moodboard/Aesthetics)
☀️ To: @choiceswithmika 🏖️From: @zhoumeyourlove
Zig x Mikaylyn (Art)
☀️ To: @coffeeheartaddict2 🏖️From: @moominofthevalley
Aailah (COP MC) and Casey (Oph MC) Moodboards
☀️ To: @eadanga 🏖️From: @oh-so-youre-a-nerd
Chris Powell (Art)
☀️ To: @gaiuskamilah 🏖️From: @tveitertotwrites
Ellie (edits and art)
☀️ To: @jerzwriter 🏖️From: @ladylamrian
Sweet Mornings: Tobias x Casey (fan fiction + moodboard)
☀️ To: @kilvalir 🏖️From: @rosesnink
Uluvalir: Tyril x Asphodelus (Fan Fiction)
☀️ To: @ladylamrian 🏖️From: @lover-also-fighter-also
Ernest Sinclaire x Clara (Aesthetic)
☀️ To: @lilyoffandoms 🏖️From: @kilvalir
Maiele (Edit)
☀️ To: @lover-also-fighter-also 🏖️From: @jerzwriter
Anitha (Moodboard)
☀️ To: @moominofthevalley 🏖️From: @choicesmc
Emily Rose (Moodboard)
☀️ To: @oh-so-youre-a-nerd 🏖️From: @thosehallowedhalls
Discovery: Martin x Wind (fan fiction)
☀️ To: @peonierose 🏖️From: @pulpitude
Bryce x Luna (Edits)
☀️ To: @peonyblossom 🏖️From: @cadybear420
Ajay x Matty , Ethan x Sydney, Thomas x Jackie (Edits)
☀️ To: @pupitude 🏖️From: @lilyoffandoms
Euphemia ‘Mia’ Labelle x Amalia de León (Art)
☀️ To: @rosesnink 🏖️From: @storyofmychoices
Kate O'Malley Geometric (Art)
May O'Malley (Moodboard)