Chapter 12 - Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries.

A tall man with blond hair and blue eyes stood at the edge of Mystic Falls. His face was handsome and still looked relatively young even though he was older than time itself. Although his appearance did not show how old he was, his eyes betrayed that.

As he stood there, he closed his eyes silently searching the town even though he stood in the same place as before. He quickly found who he was looking for and he slightly smiled as he watched the woman who was just a smaller and female version of himself and her mother. The young woman could be seen sipping a cup of coffee and reading a book. He opened his eyes and he began to think of happier memories of the woman as a young girl.

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"Come on Celeste, honey, you can do it!" Nicole cooed as her daughter slowly began to take wobbling steps toward her. "Michael she's doing it, she's walking!" Nicole looked up at her husband with a huge smile and eyes glistening with unshed tears. Michael smiled back at his wife with nothing but pure joy on his face.

"Come on baby girl keep going!" Michael encouraged his daughter as she slowly walked towards him with shaky steps. As she began to wobble and fall, he quickly swept her up and threw in the air as she laughed gaily.

Michael and Nicole were quietly whispering in strained voices as a now ten year old Celeste did homework in her room. "You can't keep doing this, Michael. You have a duty to your family." Nicole said intensely.

Michael sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Nicole, I have a duty to the other angels and people as well. Why can't you understand that?"

"Your family should be your priority. Your daughter is growing up without a father!" Nicole's voice rose to a shout.

Celeste's head peeked out of her room with wide eyes. "Mom? Daddy!" She exclaimed in surprise and ran over to her father to hug him. Nicole gave Michael a pointed look that conveyed that this discussion was not over.

Fifteen year old Celeste breathed heavily as she glared at her mother in defiance. "I have a duty to people—to be their protector. That is why Dad has been training me the past four years now and that is what I'm called to do! Why can't you understand that?"

"Celeste Michelle Morrison! I forbid you to do that!" Nicole matched her daughter's glare with a steely one of her own that made Celeste falter slightly.

"You forbid me? You can't do that anymore, Mother!" Celeste stalked away from her mother and slammed the door shut to her room.

"Michael…" Nicole only needed to whisper his name and she felt him appear beside her. "We cannot, I will not allow our daughter to pursue the same path that you did. You cannot in good faith think that this is a good idea?" Nicole asked her husband incredulously.

Michael shook his head in sadness. "You're right darling." He said in resignation know what he needed to do. He bent down and kissed his wife gently before walking towards his daughter's room.

He softly knocked before entering his daughter's room. Celeste was sprawled on her bed furiously writing in her journal. He sat down on the edge of her bed and waited for her to stop writing.

"I just don't understand, Dad. Why doesn't she get that I want to protect people like you do?" Celeste's eyes flashed in brief anger and in that moment she looked so much like her mother.

Michael sighed in sadness. "Oh baby girl, she is just worried about you. Do you know how proud I am of you? You have grown up so fast." He affectionately touched her cheek and his eyes glistened.

"Dad, what's wrong? You're scaring me." Celeste gripped her father's hand and looked up at him in confusion.

"I want you to know that I love you so much." He kissed her on her forehead before placing his fingers where his lips were before.

Celeste blinked in confusion as she stared at the empty space on her bed in front of her. It seemed like there was something missing but she shrugged her shoulders before she grabbed her forgotten homework and intended to catch up on work that she was unexplainably behind on.

"It's done, Nicole. I will keep in touch," Michael hugged his wife tightly before seemingly disappearing into thin air.

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That was the last time that he had seen his daughter until now. He had of course, kept tabs on his little girl as well as Nicole but his duties continued to call him away. He felt eternally guilty that he had taken and altered her memories but it was a necessary thing he had to do. He had been completely heartbroken when he learned of his wife's death and had watched Celeste go down a dangerous path but he was unable to intervene. He was happy to see Celeste to be living a semi-normal life but he was disappointed to see that she had become friends with vampires—and not only that but was starting to take apart the intricate puzzle that was her life. He shook his head in dismay; he wouldn't be able to reveal himself quite yet. Taking one last glance at his daughter, he returned to his post.

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Celeste let her strawberry blond hair down and glanced at herself in the mirror. She had grown up to really look like her mother. Pulling the picture out of her parents that she had found at Vanessa's, she stared at the faces of her mother and father. Sometimes the ache of missing them—even her father whom she didn't even know—was so painful that it felt like she had lost them all over again.

She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard a knock at the door. She glanced at her watch, he was just in time.

Celeste grabbed her bag on her way to the front door and opened it to find Elijah standing there patiently waiting.

"So Elijah, where are we off to today?" She asked him with a smile on her face.

One hour later they were seated at a coffee shop that was on the edge of town that did not get a lot of town natives. Celeste and Elijah had been discussing the sun and the moon curse.

"So Elena made a deal with you? But she is still the human sacrifice in the curse…which means that she's going to die. Isn't there a way we can stop that?" Celeste asked with concern written on her features.

"There isn't a way we can stop her from dying, but there might be a way that we can stop her from staying dead. Because you are part angel, your blood has certain healing properties that are beneficial for humans." Elijah stated vaguely.

Celeste gave him a puzzled look. "And that means what exactly? That I can keep her from staying dead? How can I do that if I'm part of the sacrifice too?"

"We can take some of your blood before that time comes and have Stefan or Damon administer it to Elena right after she dies." Elijah took a sip of his tea.

Celeste traced her finger around the rim of her coffee cup, a million thoughts floating around in her head. She cleared her throat before asking the question she dreaded, "So what about me? Is there any chance of me surviving this?"

Surprise flickered in Elijah's eyes. Although Celeste was asking about her own fate she seemed completely calm and reserved on the outside and more than willing to die for her friends. "I honestly don't know, Celeste."

"Well do you know what can kill me?" Celeste let out a frustrated sigh.

"I strongly believe that it is the hybrid that my brother is trying to become. However, I cannot say for certain." Elijah stated.

"So what you're saying is that there is a 50/50 chance of me surviving this?" Celeste sighed deeply when Elijah nodded. "Okay, I can work with that. Let's not mention this to my friends okay? They are already worrying enough about Elena."

Elijah laid a hand on Celeste's arm; she was surprised that he was showing a more tender side to himself. "I sincerely hope that you survive this, Celeste. I would like to believe that we could one day be friends." Celeste smiled at him appreciatively.

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A few hours later, Celeste found herself back at Elena's house where she was informing her about everything that happened that day. Unfortunately, Rose was dead and that proved that a werewolf bite was indeed fatal to vampires. Celeste was sad to hear that she died—she had begun to grow fond of her.

Elena had tried talking to Damon but it didn't go well. Damon was checked out emotionally because he was in pain about Rose's death and didn't want to let anybody in. Celeste and Elena were still talking at the kitchen table when they heard the front door open and close.

They looked up to see Stefan who greeted Elena with a kiss and a smile to Celeste. "Rose?" He asked quietly but feeling like he already knew the answer to his question.

Elena shook her head sadly. Stefan continued, "I um..called Isobel."

"I know." Elena touched his arm.

"Excuse me? Why are you calling Isobel?" Celeste asked with an edge to her voice.

Stefan shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry, I had to."

"It's okay, did you find her?" Elena asked cautiously. Celeste's eyes grew wide as she saw who walked into the kitchen next.

"Not exactly. Hello Elena. Celeste." John Gilbert walked into the kitchen.

Celeste grew visibly angry. "What the hell are you doing here?" Her fingers itched, wanting to reach for some sort of weapon.

Elena looked up in surprise at Celeste's tone. "Do you two...know each other?"

John smirked slightly. "You could say that. We go way back, Celeste and I. I knew her mother."

A/N: Dun dun dun…how does John know Celeste and her mother? And why did her father alter her memories?

Sorry for the late update (again!). School is over now for winter break so hopefully I can get some more writing done! I tried my hand at writing an original chapter—let me know how all you lovely people liked it! Also thank you so much to those who read and favorited/followed! I really appreciate it. Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!