A/N: Ay, ay, ay, this chapter has been difficult, hence why it's taken so long to update. Apologies! Honestly, I may have given up if it weren't for the lovely reviews on the first chapter, so thank you for those.
Echo
In the two months that Ric had stayed with Elena and Jeremy, she had been very grateful for his presence. There was something a little reassuring about having an elder in the house, someone else to converse with, someone who led an adult life and had the wisdom to show for it. Granted, Ric wasn't an ordinary adult and he did have a habit of relying on whisky as his source of nutrition but he was there.
Elena hadn't known how accustomed she'd become to his presence until he left.
She'd felt abandoned. Like she'd lost another parent but one that she hadn't realised she had found to begin with. It occurred to her that Ric had become a parental figure that she and Jeremy had been looking for, albeit one with baggage. Really, they hadn't had one since the car crash. Elena loved Jenna dearly, but she had never viewed her as a parent. Jenna had been a friend, a sister, Cool Aunt Jenna. Not a parent. Ric had more years to his name than Jenna did. He'd had more life experience and he felt like a parent, a guardian, someone they could rely on to protect them, rather than someone they themselves had to protect. Ric was the father-figure that Elena and Jeremy had been missing and what they had been looking for without knowing it.
She remembers that he left as soon as she wakes the following morning but it still saddens her to see the couch empty of blankets. She pushes the issue out of her mind and goes straight out, not bothering with coffee or breakfast.
Sheriff Forbes is helpful and Elena's grateful as she gives Caroline's mother the phone to trace the call from last night.
Tennessee. They're still in Tennessee.
She's pissed off at how hard it is to work with Damon on getting Stefan back. It's like he's given up already. She remembers what he said to her the previous night "…he's never coming back. Not in your lifetime." She ponders this, trying to understand Damon. Damon is willing to wait. But he has an eternity to do so.
Elena isn't willing to wait. She doesn't have an eternity.
"You gave up on him, Damon."
"I didn't give up on him, Elena. I faced reality."
Well, reality could change.
"I'm not leaving until we find him."
The day for Stefan is the same as all the others. He does Klaus' bidding without really thinking about it, moving like a robot, doing what he's told. The fact that he's able to even stand on his own two feet is a result of the phone call he made. He knows he shouldn't have made it. He's guilty - he shouldn't have given her hope. But in that desperate moment, he was selfish and it was the only thing he could do to stop himself from falling apart.
You'll be okay. I love you, Stefan. Hold onto that. Never let that go.
Her voice replays in his head as he carries Ray, works with Klaus to turn the wolf pack.
The pain from the bite is excruciating. It's like every single nerve in his arm being pinched and pulled together then soaked in fuel and set alight. It takes him by shock and Ray gets away. He staggers to his feet, clutching his arm. Then he hears her voice. He sees them, knowing they are here for him and it hurts him all the more, that their efforts are fruitless.
When he hears Damon in trouble, he doesn't think. He runs to the source of the noise, trees blurring into each other and gets there just in time to pull Ray's throbbing heart from his cursed chest.
Damon tries to break through. Calls him out on phoning Elena. Tries to convince Stefan that she won't give up. It goes unsaid between them that Damon includes himself in that notion. So Stefan does the same, speaks of Elena, but at Damon too.
"Well, she has to. Because I'm never coming back."
He leaves, hoping Damon takes the hint this time.
The day has sucked. They were so close. Elena sits in the car feeling angry, worried and disappointed and vents her feelings to the man next to her.
"You're not a lost cause, Ric. You're just… lost. But so is Jeremy. So am I."
It seems she gets through to him and leans her head back. At least one good thing had come out of today.
Stefan watches as they leave. He sees her closer, the gloss of her eyes in the darkness. His heart aches. She looks so tired, and stressed, and ill and he hates himself that he's the cause of that, hates Klaus, hates the werewolves. He moves out of sight before he breaks.
She senses him. She could swear she sees him for a moment. But as she looks harder, there's nothing there and she resigns to the thought that she's imagining it because even if she knows it's make-believe, it's comforting to think that she might have just seen him.
Jeremy and Matt don't remember their last moments with the person they loved before that person was taken from them. Elena does.
She remembers his arms around her holding her close as he spoke in her ear that she should talk to Damon. She remembers his hands on her waist as they kissed. With him, gravity didn't keep her on the ground, he did. Centred her to the Earth. Even when she felt like she was flying a mile-high as he kissed her or as they made love. Now, she feels like she's floating away and out of control with black holes everywhere she looked.
"I killed the Doppelganger."
He never was a good liar. He doesn't know why he even tried it with Damon earlier, saying he didn't call Elena. But he hopes to whatever higher powers may be that his poker face is dead straight in this moment.
Klaus stares right at him, his face unreadable and the fear is boiling in Stefan's blood.
He doesn't expect Klaus to heal him and honestly, he's not sure whether he's relieved or disappointed that Klaus does.
"Turns out, you're the only comrade I have left."
Klaus's words take Stefan by surprise. He's not really sure not to make of them. He wishes that he could feel the same, because for the last two months he's never felt so alone. He can't even pretend anymore. His shadow is the only thing on his side and even that abandons him the darkest times. He screams inside sometimes for something, someone, anyone. All he hears is an echo.
A/N: Ugh, so I hate this chapter. Chapter two was originally going to cover episodes two and three combined but I found episode two so difficult to work with that I decided to keep it separate and in the end, I just thought I'd get it done and dusted. The title for this chapter is inspired by the song of the same name by Jason Walker, featured in the episode. Listen to it, I think it absolutely encapsulates Stefan at that time. It was very helpful to me in writing some of this.
I have story ideas coming out of my ears right now; the difficult part is writing them.
Thank you all for your patience!
