My partial rewrite of Defenders Oath

Enjoy.

Liam smiled at the mirror, trying to focus on the curve of his lips, mimicking the look from his memories as best he could. It wasn't that he wasn't happy, he was one of the rare few that enjoyed school afterall, but he knew that Jeremy would be getting high before school started, Elena would worry herself ragged cause of Jeremy, Jenna would feel guilty and sad... it would be a clusterfuck really. He hated the conflict in his broken family, but there was little he could do about it... you couldn't force people to heal, no matter what you wanted.

And so, the Eldest Gilbert Male decided to put on a smile and face the world. He wasn't Elena, consumed with so much sadness she lost her light, or Jeremy who had become a druggie and drunk. He was stronger then they were, he hadn't allowed himself to be destroyed by their parents deaths... unlike them he spent the summer wisely and actually tried to heal as much as he could. He went to therapy, he worked out five days a week, he got better at cooking since he was the only family member who knew how to, started going to Self defense classes, swam alot, took driving lessons to get over his fear of cars...

He didn't lose himself, he refused to lose himself.

Did he grief, gods yes, day in and out... losing his parents had been like losing a piece of his soul...

But he refused to lose any more then he had to...

He liked being happy and damn it he tried to be happy again, or at least not sad all of the time.

It had bee a hard summer to be honest, he wasn't always sure he'd make it through, but somehow he did and he was stronger for it. Now it was time to lift up his siblings, and Jenna, be strong for them. He wasn't sure if he was ready for the burden but damn it he would try... probably with some tough love, since that was more his style anyway, but he would play his part.

For them, always for them.

Satisifed with himself, with his smile, he all but threw himself down the stairs, he pulled Jenna close as he passed by and kissed her cheek, making her giggle a little. "I love you, Jenna."

His favorite, and only, aunt rolled her eyes before pecking his cheek softly. "Love you too, handsome."

Elena, his twin and most annoying sibling, walked down next to him without so much as a how do you do. He rolled his eyes at her a little, taking in her beautiful form. Thinner then thin with perfect olive skin and straight brown hair, Elena was the kind of beautiful that just made people like and trust her. Everyone did, literally everyone. It was kind of annoying but he dealt with it with as much grace as possible... which wasn't always much if he was being honest.

Of course he mainly dealt with it by swearing he was adopted, which was fair since he looked nothing like his sister coming out with black hair, whiter then white skin and green eyes. He was also short, like 5'5'' unlike Elena who stood at 5'7'' without heels and Jeremy who was easily six feet tall and thicker then both of them. Liam was skinny like his sister, but wiry and athletic versus Elena's model thinness. Personally he thought he was pretty hot, he would sleep with himself if given the chance.

Jenna, not sensing his random thoughts, called out. "Toast. I can make toast."

Elena sighed. "It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna."

Then his pain in the ass little brother walked in. "Is there coffee?"

"Your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared." Jenna pulled out money, holding it out for them all. "Lunch money?"

Elena shook her head, and Jeremy tried to grab the money, but Liam snatched it. "I made breakfast burritos, you two will eat it and you will enjoy it before school. Jenna, we got this, go to school since your thesis thingy is today." His tone broke no argument, not even from the now moody Jeremy, who just pouted and did as he said.

Elena, with her typical lack of ability to read people, turned to Jeremy, who was sipping on Coffee. " You okay?"

"Don't start." He said, making Liam sigh.

"Enough both of you. Jer, if I hear your with Vicki or doing drugs at School I am putting a foot up your ass. Elena, leave him be and let him grieve on his own. Stop harassing him, let him breathe a little." He raised his hands when they started to protest. "Jer, you are privilged as hell and have an attitude, you wouldn't do well in Juvie. Knock it with the drugs. Pots fine, some booze is fine but nothing more or you deal with me. Elena, your not his mother and frankly you aren't any better with your grief then he is... let him be and let him deal as he needs to.

I am not dealing with your guy's crap this early in the school year. Grow up both of you." Tired of dealing with them already, he hurried out of the house. "Elena, Bonnie's probably already here, hurry up."

'''

Bonnie's beautiful face always brought out the worst in Liam, he was never fond of the girl. She was too... annoying for him, and really unappreciative towards her Grams who literally raised her. Losing his parents made him resent that part of her all the more. He had met Grams before, many times, and he liked her well enough. Her stories were interesting, and she really seemed to care about her Granddaughter.

Trying to be silent so he would not hit or insult the girl, Liam just put in music in one ear and listened with the other just in case Elena freaked out from the car.

"So Grams is telling me I'm psychic. Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already! But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger, and I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands...Elena! Back in the car."

Elena, having fazed out, didn't seem to notice Liam's worried eyes. " I did it again, didn't I? I-I'm sorry, Bonnie. You were telling me that..."

"That's she's psychic, like everyone says her Grams is... well they call her a witch but that is besides that point."

"Right. Okay, then predict something. About me."

Bonnie, being sweet, smiled at her friend. " I see..." A bird slammed into the car then, shocking the tree of them and forcing Bonnie to pull over swiftly. "What was that?! Oh, my god! Elena, are you okay?"

'Yeah, I'm fine too, it's not like I wasn't in the car with her when our parents died... of course no one remembers that...sigh.'

Still worried about his sister, he turned to her as she sat up and said. "It's okay. I'm fine."

Bonnie didn't buy it clearly. "It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere."

"Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life."

"I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy."

A shiver washed over Liam at that, like someone walking over his grave. 'Why ... why do I feel like that is... wrong.' He tried to ignore it, but something felt wrong about how she said those words. He had felt that before, before his parents died... when they walked into the car to pick up Elena from the party. That same feeling of dread as the rain began to fall, that pit in his stomach that left him feeling raw and exposed as if he was being watched.

He hoped it was just his imagination... this time at least.

'''

Making to school, he moved away from his annoying sister and her friend and hurried over to where he saw Matt Donovan mooning over his sister. Annoyed, he yanked out a headphone. " Seriously, you broke up months ago, move on Matty." He rolled his eyes a the puppy pain in Matt's eyes. "Life is more then my sister, stop mooning over her and get a life."

He was being cold, he knew that Matty hadn't had a lot in life thanks to his shitty parents, so he really held onto Elena as a symbol for how life could be good. Still it was unhealthy for his sort of friend, and Liam hated to see that weird effect Elena had on everyone, where they were so dependent on her for approval. Even their parents had been like that for some reason... it was annoying but no matter how jealous he was that she could do that, he still adored his sister didn't hold it against her...

Mostly anyway.

Matt sighed. "I know your right, but... sigh, I don't know, I guess it's the way it happened, you know. I always saw her as my wife, eventually."

"Life happens Matty, move on and let her go. Find someone better, trust me she isn't all you made her up to be in your head. She has faults." Sighing a little, realizing how jealous he sounded, Liam realized it was time for class. "I have AP Math today, see you later. Stop mooning."

Happy that he scolded his sort of friend, he moved on and hurried to class, grateful that unlike his siblings he excelled enough in school to not take the same classes as them. He loved his family and all but they were annoying and he never really attached the same way they all had. Jenna being the natural exception...

Thankfully class wasn't that hard, so he was allowed to brood a little about his lack of real friends and connection to his family...

'''

The Grill was the only place to hang out in Mystic Falls that lacked a drug problem and for that reason alone Liam allowed himself to go with Elena to the Grill. He may not be close to his sister or her friends as he would have liked to be ( especially after the crash), but he knew that Matt would be there and the boy would need serious back up if Elena was going there as well. The boy rarely had it easy, so someone had to care for him and Liam figured it might as well be him.

Elena called out to their Aunt as they made their way to leave. " We're meeting Bonnie at the grill."

Jenna nodded. "Okay, have fun. Wait, I got this. Don't stay out late, it's a school night."

"Well done, Aunt Jenna." Then she opened the door, seeing and stopping as an unfamiliar face stood there. Oh."

The boy, who Liam didn't recognize, offered a smile. " Sorry, I was about to knock. I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was...strange."

'Oh, so they know each other... wait, I heard about a new guy at School, didn't give it much thought. He has nice hair and pretty eyes but his face is too square so... meh, I give him a seven.' Deciding to be quiet, curious to see where this was going and if he was reading the sexual tension correctly, he just listened to their conversation.

"No worries." His sister said. " I get it, blood makes you squeamish."

"Um, something like that. How's your leg?" He gestured to his sister's leg.

Elena lifted her pant legs, showing a covered up cut. " Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch, barely. How did you know where I lived?"

And it was that question that set Liam on edge, Elena made a rare good point there. "It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back." The tall boy handed Elena a familiar book, her diary.

"Oh, I must have dropped it. I-thank you."

"Don't worry, I didn't...read it."

"No? Why not? Most people would have." She sounded impressed, as if basic decency was sexy... ugh.

"Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine.

That seemed to shock his sister. You keep a journal?

With some hesitancy, the boy nodded. ""Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important."

"Yeah. I'm just gonna...umm, you don't have to stay out there."

"I'm fine. Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting a friend. Do you want to come?"

Sighing, Liam turned and focused a tiny glare at his sister. "Thanks for asking, always sweet of you... " He ignored her cringe. " Hello, names Liam, who are you?" He held out his hand.

"Stefan, Stefan Salvatore."

Stefan grabbed his hand, shaking it as a horrible feeling of sheer death overtook Liam, making his already fair skin lose any color it had. He wanted to scream and shout in fear as cold, dry, horror crawled up his skin and settled into his soul. Without letting his fear show, Liam pulled away, masking his shaking hands behind his back.

"Nice to meet you, Stefan... shall we go then, or are we just waiting out here with our thumbs up our butts?"

Stefan laughed a little at that, and they finally started to move. Liam took the chance to check out Stefan's backside, smirking a little at his sister, who blushed. Whispering low, he said. "He's got a nice ass at least."

He enjoyed her utter embarrassment and it did well to mask his utter terror. 'What was that I felt... why... what the hell is going on. I have never felt anything like that, it was so... wrong...'

;;

Stefan smirked a little, hearing Liam's words. But more satisfying then that was Elena's huff of embarrassment, it was fun to him to get that kind of response from her. Made him feel human, as if he wasn't a monster. Still, he was worried. What the hell happened to make Liam so afraid of him all of a sudden. It was a familiar reaction, but one that made no sense. Katherine wasn't a witch and neither was the Gilbert line...

So why did Liam act like a witch did when they touched a vampire?

He needed more information...

He would keep an eye on Liam, until he could figure things out. Who knew, the kid might be a witch from whomever Elena and his Biological family was.

:::

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was fun, it was a partial rewrite. He has no clue of his potential and I want it to develop more naturally...

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.