Title: Something Real
Disclaimer:I don't own TVD. Duh J
Character/Pairing: Tyler/Caroline
Rating: PG
Summary: He is a monster. And from now on, he always will be.
Word Count:455
Author's notes/warnings: Just a short little drabble I wrote set during ep 2x08. The scene where Caroline comforts Tyler right after his transformation was heartbreaking and I just wanted to write that scene from his perspective. I seem to be doing a lot of that lately. Lol. Enjoy and comment :)
Tyler is trembling in the cold cellar and it's all he can do to stay sane. His body is worn out so completely and all he wants is to surrender to the darkness slowly swallowing his surroundings on the edges of his vision. Passing out would be a blessing at this point but two soft hands are holding him, keeping him rooted in the agonizing hell that has abruptly become his entire world. But they're her hands and he welcomes them like water in a desert.
"You're okay. You're okay," she says to him, as though if she says it enough it will somehow be true and they can just push tonight's events away like some nightmare.
But Tyler knows that it's a lie. He's nowhere near okay. How could he be after what he just went through? After what they both went through? How could he be okay after transforming into a vicious creature that hungered for nothing more than to tear into the flesh of the one girl, the one person, willing to stand by his side?
He is a monster. And from now on, he always will be. It doesn't matter how normal he looks to everyone else or if Caroline tells him a million times that he'll be okay. He knows that he's doomed to forever remain in the shadows as the monster he'd become and nothing and no one could change that.
The realization spreads through him like a wildfire that he can't escape from and suddenly it's hard for him to breathe. He can't even think anymore. It hurts too much.
God, it hurts so much.
"You made it," he hears her say to him as she pulls him somewhat into her a lap and holds onto him for dear life. "You didn't get out. You're okay."
"No I'm not," Tyler says, his voice going weak as the small declaration passes his lips.
With those words, tears mix in with the dirt and grime on his face and it takes him a moment to realize that they're his. He knows he shouldn't cry in front of her. He doesn't want to seem weak but he can't stop. Sobs wrack his body and he shakes with every single one that tears from his lips. The agony of the situation is too much for him to bear and as though she senses it, Caroline holds him even tighter as he cries.
"You're gonna be fine Tyler," she says to him in a fierce whisper. "I swear."
Something about the way she says those last two words makes them sink in and Tyler becomes conscious of the fact that he may not be okay now but, in her arms, he could be.