N: Ok,I suck for keeping you guys waiting for so long, I know. But I was stuk on this last chapter; I wrote it a million times and it just didn't live up to my expectations.I still feel it could've been better, but I couldn't keep writing it any longer.I also had my exams last week, so no time. But finally, here it is, the last chapter of "season three –off the wagon. I decided to leave you with a few questions since I will go for the fourth chapter that will be the continuation of this one when I'll have some time – probably the winter break.
As always, a big, big thank you to my beta, Valerie(2serendipity) for helping me; girl you are great! Now, enjoy and take this opportunity to leave your last review for this story!
At the end of the road
"Stefan…" Elena murmured, barely audible.
"I'm sorry to interrupt; by all means, continue! I mean, you DO want himmorethanyoueverwantedanythinginyourlife, right?" Stefan smirked and the gesture gave Elena chills down her spine.
"Don't get cocky now, brother. Just because you've been tearing people apart all summer doesn't make you stronger than me!" Damon said and in a split second he was in the hall, holding Stefan against the wall; his hand was holding him by his throat.
"So, you finally got the girl, huh?" Stefan asked in a strangled voice. "To bad you had to wait for me to take off so she would take an interest in you…"
"Now, now, boys; it's not the time for this!" Beatrice said, coming out of Adney's room. She waved her hand in the air and had Stefan and Damon glued to opposite walls.
"Damn it, Beatrice, I can't move," Damon mumbled.
"I know you can't…"
"I see you found another witch," Stefan interrupted her.
"You'll talk when I tell you to talk!" Beatrice shouted and Stefan found himself incapable to speak. "I already have more than enough reasons to kill you, so don't give me any more or you'll be just a gray corpse in a second. Now…" she turned to Damon, "…behave, or I'll make you spend the day against this wall."
"You can't do that," Damon protested.
"Wanna bet?"
"Fine, I'll be asaint," he said with a fake smile.
Beatrice moved her hand again and Damon was finally free to move. In a heartbeat he was standing beside Elena; he took her hand in his and asked her if she was ok. She bit her bottom lip nervously and nodded.
"Now, I'm going to ask you about your new friend, Klaus; if you say anything else besides what I ask you, you'll go back to being paint on the wall. I have other methods to get the information out of your head, but they are slightly less comfortable for you. Your choice. Now, talk!"
"You need to hurry. Klaus is trying to get the original Petrova back…"
"That's what he told you?" Adney asked, speaking for the first time since he got out of the bedroom, following Beatrice.
"He didn't tell me anything. He has this big old book that he says is precious. He never lets anyone near it and he told me to get Katherine for him. I went to warn her that Klaus is close and she told me his plan. He's going to sacrifice the first doppelganger and some other magical things and chant something from that book to raise Eli… I forgot her name…"
"Elisaveta," Adney murmured.
"Yeah…"
***season three – off the wagon***
"Maybe we should let him do it then. I mean, if your mom would be able to kill him," Elena said and Adney smiled weakly.
"She most certainly will have the ability to kill him, but she had the chance before and she didn't do it. I guess that, at the end of the day we choose love over anything else…" Elena's eyes flew in Damon's direction, then in Stefan's, who raised an eyebrow at her like he was asking her 'who do you love, Elena?' "…but that's not the reason I don't want that to happen…"
"Oh, yeah, I forgot the fun part," Stefan said. He wasn't against the wall anymore. He was in a chair in the corner of the living room. "If he manages to get her back, all other living or dead doppelgangers disappear."
"Disappear?" Beatrice asked.
"Yes…and supposedly so does the memory of them. So no one that knew Katherine and Elena will actually remember them."
"Well, maybe…" Elena started, but before she could finish, Damon placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her slightly.
"No, that's NOT an option. I thought you stopped with the suicide missions…"
"Damon…"
"I won't let anything happen to you, Elena! I can't…"
"Damon…"
"I just…"
"Damon!"
"Yes," he finally said in a softer tone.
"I was going to say, before I was rudely interrupted," she said giving Damon a cold glace. "That maybe we can use this in our advantage..."
***season three – off the wagon***
"You ok?" Elijah asked, stepping over the doorsill to join Adney on the terrace.
"Let me see… kill my father and save the world, or let him kill two innocent people and ruin the life of many others to get my mother back from the grave…? Tough decision…no, I'm not ok," Adney said; his gaze stuck on a big tree in front of him. His face was so concentrated you'd think he was counting the leaves…if only it wasn't end of November and there weren't any leaves to be seen.
"Most decisions concerning the world's wellbeing are tough…"
"Didn't the thought cross your mind?"
"The thought of letting my brother bring Elisaveta back?" Elijah asked, but didn't wait for an answer; he knew well enough that that was the question Adney wanted an answer for. "A few centuries ago I would've done it myself…"
"What changed?"
"I finally grew up," he smiled, but his smile faded before Adney even got to see it. "I realized that your mother would've never wanted that and I knew that I had to respect her decision."
"She loved you, you know? I read her journals…the way she wrote about you…I could tell. Did you love her?"
"More than I ever loved anything…" Elijah answered in a sad voice.
"Then why did you let her go through all that alone?"
"Well…at first I was hurt and confused…she wrote me a letter and told me she loved Klaus and she would always love him; she told me not to look for her. That if she didn't want to be found no one would find her and I believed her. She was smart… of course, a few weeks later I found out my brother and my family had banished her from the country and I started looking for her. When I found her, she told me she was pregnant with my brother's child. Now that I think about it, it shouldn't have stopped me from taking care of her; after all, she never promised me anything, she was married to him, but I was young and stupid…I found my brother and apologised, that's when I pledged my loyalty to him…"
"But…now you're fighting against him…" Adney said, sounding confused.
"Well, when he started killing my family one by one, I realized that he wasn't the brother I knew and respected; he had turned into a monster, obsessed with breaking that curse… and so I chose my family over him."
"Why was he so desperate to break the curse, he was pretty powerful even as a vampire?"
"He never fit; he didn't belong with the vampires and he didn't belong with the werewolves so he wanted to create his own race… which sounds pathetic if you think about it, right?"
"I guess…I understand where he's coming from though…"
***season three – off the wagon***
"I just want you to understand why am I doing this," Elena said and Jeremy shook his head.
"No, I don't; it's not like you can fight…you're not even helping them. I'm sorry, but I just think it's stupid, this whole plan of yours is stupid."
"I need to do this for myself, Jeremy. Klaus took everything from me. He took my aunt, my biological parents, my boyfriend…even my life. When he goes down, I want to be there; I need to be there. On the bright side, if anything happens to me, you'll be able to see me as a ghost," Elena said smiling.
"You're not…this is not funny, Elena; you're all I have left…"
"Hey…" Elena reached out and pulled her brother into a tight hug. "It will be ok; nothing will happen to me, I promise, I'll be careful. Plus, Damon will be there, and he will never let anything happen to me," she said confidently. If there was anything in this world she was completely sure of, it was the fact that Damon would always protect her.
"Just…please come back!" Jeremy whispered.
"I will."
***season three – off the wagon***
"Because I need a second base in case something goes wrong, Blondie," Damon said, his eyes open wide, trying to make the young vampire understand his words.
"But…what if…what if something happens to Elena? I can be her bodyguard…"
"Do you really think I'll let anything happen to her?"
"No…" Caroline admitted.
"Tatiana, Neo and Alexander will be here as well."
"Just…be careful…" Caroline whispered and Damon just nodded slightly.
Damon came out of Caroline's room and found himself face to face with Tatiana.
"Oh, come on, champion, don't go soft on me now!" she said, noticing the sad and conflicted expression on Damon's face.
"Take care of them, would you?"
"I will. You have my word that my dear brother won't get anywhere near them."
"Thank you."
"Now you can relax, everything will be good and you and your girl will be free again."
"Yes…"
"You don't sound very enthusiastic about it…"
"Let's just say that Klaus wasn't really the problem to begin with," Damon finally said after a few moments of silence.
"Stefan…" she guessed.
"Yes, Stefan, my brother, the man she still loves, the one she'll never give up on," Damon said. He didn't expect Elena to give up on Stefan, he didn't even want her to; Stefan was his brother and he would do anything in his power to get her back.
"So you're willing to give her up without a fight?" Tatiana asked.
"She deserves more…"
"Then do more and fight for her! You fought for her life, now fight for her heart…although I don't think it will be much of a fight since she's clearly in love with you," she said and when Damon finally opened his mouth to answer, he realized he would be talking to himself.
***season three – off the wagon***
"What are you doing here on the roof? I looked for you everywhere," Damon asked, stepping over the windowsill.
Elena was on her back, with her hands under her head and didn't move as Damon slowly approached her.
"I'm watching the stars…" she said. "Did you know that some of them don't even exist anymore, even though we still see them?" she finally moved her head to the left and looked at him. "Yes, they exploded, but their light can take years to reach the earth, so…" there was a moment of silence before Elena finally broke it. "Stay here with me a little while?"
He did as told and laid down beside her. Elena turned towards him and looked directly into his eyes.
"If something goes wrong tomorrow and Klaus kills us all…"
"Elena…" Damon interrupted, but she didn't let him finish.
"Just let me say this!" he nodded and she continued. "If we don't survive this, I just want… I want you to know something…" she took a deep breath in a failed attempt to stop the tears from leaving her sparkly eyes, "…I want you to know that…I love you," she finally said and Damon raised an eyebrow at her.
"As a friend…" he figured.
"No, Damon… I mean, of course I care about you as a friend, but I love you like a woman loves a man. It makes sense… because when I think about something happening to you, I can't breathe…"
And then there was silence…and more silence…
"Say something!" Elena shouted.
"Do you know the feeling when you want something more than anything in the world, but you just know there's no way in hell it's going to happen; and then one day it happens, and you just don't know how to react?" Damon asked and Elena smiled weakly.
"Well, it happened…" she mumbled.
"Elena…" he murmured her name, taking her left hand into his.
"You're a great man, Damon Salvatore, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise!"
"I won't, as long as you'll be there to remind me," he said.
"Always…"
"Promise me!"
"I promise."
Elena looked back at the sky, shiny stars sparkling in her eyes, hiding her tears. She took a deep breath and turned her head back to Damon.
"Promise me you won't do anything stupid!"
"I won't."
"I can't lose you, Damon…" a tear left her eye and Damon used his index finger to wipe it off her nose. "…promise me you'll be careful, promise me!"
"I promise."
"Thank you," she said in a wiper and then they just stood there holding hands and watching the sky until the lightened and the morning fog covered the stars.
***season three – off the wagon***
"What happened? Did you find Katerina?" Klaus asked as soon as the door closed behind Stefan.
"I know where she is," Stefan said with a smirk.
"Perfect, perfect; we will go tonight," Klaus informed Stefan and got out of the room.
Stefan pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and texted his brother, hoping he wasn't making a big mistake agreeing to go against Klaus.
'He will be there.'
Damon read the message and informed the others that the plan was on for that night. They were ready to wait a few days, but it looked like Klaus wasn't.
***season three – off the wagon***
"Are you sure this is the place you saw her?" Klaus asked and Stefan nodded.
"I've been expecting you…" a voice came from behind the house and soon a man came into sight.
"And you are?" Klaus asked, a little surprised.
"I'm a gift from Katerina," the guy said and Klaus raised an eyebrow at him. He looked in Stefan's direction like he was expecting an explanation, but Stefan just shrugged and Klaus returned his attention to the stranger that had a confidence Klaus didn't like.
"Katerina… and where is she?"
"That's not important. I think you and I should have a talk…"
"Really?"
"I heard you're looking for me…after what…over a 1000 years you finally decide you want to know your son?"
"My…"
"Son…" Klaus turned around immediately at the sound of his mother's voice. She was standing just a few steps ahead of him, just as beautiful and pure as he remembered her.
"Mother, what are you…how…"
"I'm here to say goodbye, Nick," she said, closing the distance between them and cupping his left cheek. "I love you, baby. I always will, but this needs to be done…" a few tears slipped on her cheeks and she immediately brushed them away.
"You didn't really think we'd all just stay dead forever, did you?" Elijah asked.
"No…although I was hoping for it," Klaus said, not at all surprised by the fact that his brother was there as well.
"I wouldn't miss the day you'd finally be dead for anything."
"That won't happen; none of you can kill me…"
"No, but I can," Adney yelled from behind him.
"This…you betrayed me, didn't you?" Klaus shouted and rushed towards Stefan, but suddenly someone was in his way and the stake entered her chest, right between her breasts.
"Katherine…no…no…" Stefan yelled, rushing towards her.
"Wrong doppelganger, I was looking for the other one…I know you're here, Elena, come out my dear! Come out or I'll kill your precious Salvatore brothers…" he said and Elena stepped away from behind a big old tree.
"Now that's more like it, the whole gang's here; no, wait where's the little witch? Oh wait, she's dead," he said and started walking towards Elena at normal, human speed.
"You…" Klaus said, pointing towards Elena, "…or them?" he asked, pointing towards Stefan and Damon.
"Me; kill me, leave them alone!" Elena said without thinking twice about it.
"How noble of you to give your life for two vampires, two monsters, two predators…"
Stefan was still curled up above Katherine who was more dead-ish than usual… he finally found the courage to pull the stake out of her chest and that's when he noticed the stake was actually a pointy piece of metal.
Tears of joy were pouring from his eyes, no matter how much he tried to hold them in. As unbelievable as it sounded, he was 'happy' she would eventually wake up. He didn't really have time to think about her and him…about them, about the way he felt about her. He found himself willing to protect her and make sure there'd be yet another day to see her…but he still didn't forget that she broke his heart…and then there was Elena; sweet, caring Elena…yeah, he was confused.
"Enough of this; I have the power to end it and so I shall," Adney said and took a few steps back before running towards 'his father' at full speed, jumping over his body in full werewolf form. It wasn't long before Klaus himself shifted and soon they were just two wolves growling and attacking each other.
"Now…I need you to distract Klaus now!" Beatrice shouted and Damon and Elijah went after Klaus.
"You know what to do, no matter what, keep the story!" Elena said pulling the black and red dearth from her pocket.
***season three – off the wagon***
Klaus manage to bite Elijah twice and he almost bit Damon before he heard Beatrice yell Elena's name. Damon immediately turned around and saw Elena at Beatrice's feet; blood coming out from what it seemed like every single inch of her body. His whole existence flashed before his eyes; every minute he spent with her, every word she ever spoke to him, every caress and every breath she ever took.
He was on his knees by her side in less than a split second.
"What the hell happened? I was away for only a minute? How…who…why? How could you let this happen?" Damon shouted to Beatrice.
"Damon…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I was distracted by Klaus as he bit Elijah and I didn't see it coming…"
"Who?"
"A vampire…one of Klaus's vampires, I suppose…I was fast, but not fast enough…God, Damon I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…" she mumbled.
"No…Elena…please baby, hold on…she's not breathing, Beatrice…why isn't she breathing? Do something…God, please Beatrice you have to…you can't let her…"
"There's nothing I can do Damon. I can't play with life and you know that…"
Not long ago Damon would've proved to everyone that he didn't have a heart, but right now, he could practically feel his heart break in his chest. The light of his darkness, the main reason for his whole existence was lying breathless in his arms. Her hair a beautiful mess…a few dead leaves were painting a pretty picture over her head and Damon brushed them away. He passed his finger through her hair…her curly hair…
"What the…Katherine?" he yelled as soon as he realized who he was holding.
"I'm sorry, Damon, but you wouldn't have let me do it otherwise," Beatrice whispered and before Damon could ask, he heard Elena scream. He turned around and saw Klaus moving away from her, only this time it was really Elena and she was hurt…bitten by Klaus.
He rushed to her side and grabbed her hand in his.
"Elena…what have you done?" he asked and she opened her eyes and smiled weakly.
"Damon…" she murmured and Damon lowered his head so she wouldn't feel the need to speak up. The last thing he wanted was to waste her energy. She squeezed his hand slightly and he was grateful she still had the force to do that.
"I'm sorry…" was all she said before her eyes closed and she let go of his hand.
"The only thing I can do is stop the bleeding and heal her internal organs, but she'll have to fight on her own the rest of the way," Beatrice said, kneeling at Damon's side.
She placed her hands on Elena's abdomen and started rambling something that Damon picked out as a mix of Latin and Rumanian; once she was done, she fainted; her body dropping to the ground just beside Elena's.
***season three – off the wagon***
As soon as his fangs pierced Adney's skin, Klaus pulled back and fell to the ground a few feet away, growling and moaning in pain. The torment lasted just a minute or two, but for everyone expecting to see if the plan worked and they finally managed to kill Klaus, it seemed like hours. He finally took his last breath and turned back to his human form. But his skin was white and gray and his lips turned purple.
His mother rushed to his side and crushed to the ground, placing his head in her lap. Shaky sobs took over her body and no one dared to stop her mourning process.
***season three – off the wagon***
They'd won the battle, but no one really felt like a winner.
Stefan was caring for Katherine;
Damon was caring for Elena;
Elijah was caring for Adney;
Ophelia was caring for her son's DEAD body;
Alaric was caring for Beatrice.
***season three – off the wagon***
Jeremy woke up almost screaming and Charity jumped out of bed at supernatural speed, asking him what was wrong.
"Nothing…it was a dream…just a dream," Jeremy mumbled uncomfortably. He fell quiet, ashamed for acting like a little girl and scaring his 'date' out of bed.
"Don't ever, ever do that to a vampire; I could've killed you!" she shouted, getting back in bed, right beside him. "Are you ok?" she asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yeah…I am…" he murmured, trying to get out of bed, but Charity stopped him.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
It was almost morning, but the sun hadn't risen yet, so it was still dark outside which, after that particular dream, kind of freaked Jeremy out.
"I'm going to turn on the lights if that's ok with you," he said and she smiled weakly.
"I got it," she said and flipped her hand, which caused the light to turn on.
"Wha…how did…are you a…"
"A vampire witch? Yes, I am…" she answered.
"Oh…" that was all Jeremy got out…
"I'm sorry, Jeremy, but I…I'm actually not here by mistake, or for you I'm afraid…" she stated in a sad tone. She got out of bed, took a few steps and took a seat by the edge. "The thing is…I don't know how much sense this would make to you or even if you'll know what I'm talking about, but I'll tell you anyway, cause I believe you need to know and I owe you that," she said and Jeremy raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to continue.
"Hmm…how do I put this…The Order's back…and they want her dead…" she finally managed.
"Who?" Jeremy asked, confused.
"Your sister…" Charity answered after a few moments of complete silence.
N: Here you go, this is it I hope you liked it and I certainly hope you'll keep an eye out for the next one – which will answer most of your questions as in: why Elena had to be bitten by Klaus and wha's the deal with the loving two half-brothers curse as well as more about this vampire-witch and the New Order.
Thank you for staying with me and please don't forget to review!