Chapter 65: Memorial
November 13, 2010
After Elena had fed, Stefan had advised Ellie that it would probably help Elena to give her space for a few days to get herself under control. Given that the panic of Elena's transition had subsided, Ellie also didn't feel particularly comfortable being around Elena after their fight. Jeremy and Jenna had been staying at their home, while Elena had been staying at the Salvatore boarding house.
After she found out that Elena had taken up residence in the boarding house, Ellie had been back at home with Jenna and Jeremy while still spending a good bit of time at the apartment with Elijah. The whole experience had been blissfully domestic in a sense. They hadn't gone any farther in their relationship than what'd they been doing. It was a relief for Ellie. He had made it incredibly clear that he wasn't going to push her for more than she was ready for or for more than what she wanted to do. It had helped her relax, though she wasn't surprised that he was so considerate.
Neither of them had spoken to Klaus in the past few days, though Ellie had also kept her distance from Rebekah. It felt strange, after having spent so much time with both Rebekah and Klaus. She'd explained to Elijah that she didn't hate Rebekah, not really, but she wasn't sure how to be around her. As always, Elijah had understood. His siblings had killed friends and lovers out of spite or rage, while it might have been something he was no longer surprised by, Ellie was not used to that kind of violence.
He could still remember the first time that Klaus had killed someone that Elijah had felt for. Klaus had accused Elijah's lover of being a witch that meant to bring about the end of their family. He'd ripped her heart out of her chest while Elijah watched in horror. It had happened so fast that Elijah hadn't even gotten a chance to save her. His name was the last thing she'd ever said. That nightmare had haunted him for years, his grief and regret relentless. In his grief, he didn't speak to Klaus for years. Ellie was good and pure so it didn't surprise him that despite everything, part of her still cared about Rebekah.
Ellie had found herself struggling. There was a part of her that wondered if she should still feel so comfortable around Elijah, especially after everything that had happened between their siblings. But she chose to be selfish for once, and she refused to let him go. When she thought of the apartment and of Elijah, the calmness of it felt like their own little world, a separation from everything that continued to go wrong. There were times where she wished she could hide away in the apartment forever. It was one of the few places she still felt truly safe.
Jeremy had taken to spending a bit more time with Matt, and with him spending the night at Matt's before the funeral, Ellie and Jenna had once again found themselves at Katherine's. They'd gotten up early to work out, and now Katherine was idly doing Ellie's hair. "Why do you wear it like this?" Katherine asked curiously.
"What do you mean?" Ellie asked. They were all in Katherine's bedroom, but Jenna had piled her school stuff onto Katherine's bed, only half paying attention to the conversation as she worked on yet another revision to her thesis.
"So straight, it's boring. It's far too Elena honestly. Let's do something different." Katherine explained. Ellie didn't protest as Katherine went to work, instead she allowed herself to relax.
"It's just the way I've always done my hair. It was the easiest thing to do." She admitted.
"Well of course it's easy, there's nothing to it. But you need to change it up a bit, make your lover boy sweat a little." Katherine commented.
Ellie's eyes shot wide as she looked over to Jenna. The blonde was grinning slyly but said nothing as she continued to work. "Jenna!" Ellie whined. "You told her?"
"Was it supposed to be a secret?" Jenna asked.
Katherine gave her a look as she met her gaze in the mirror. "Oh come on, you're not keeping secrets from me now, are you?"
"Well, no. But I wasn't…" Ellie hesitated.
The vampire put down the brush and raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't what?"
"Well, I mean, you and Elijah were something at one point. And it just felt kind of weird you know. I didn't know how you would feel about it." She admitted.
It shouldn't have surprised Katherine that Ellie was concerned how she would take it, but it wasn't like many people had really cared about her in the past five hundred years. "Ellie, that was over five hundred years ago, trust me, I'm over it. He was a good man to me, but I don't feel that way about him anymore, and he clearly has feelings for someone else."
"You haven't even seen us together, how would you even know?" Ellie asked.
"Because Jenna has eyes and has filled me in on all the little details." Katherine replied.
"Did she tell you that she threatened to kill him if he hurt me?"
Katherine snorted in amusement. "Jen, how could you leave out such an important part?" She teased.
"Oh you two can shut up." Jenna replied, but she was grinning.
"How did Elijah react to that?" Katherine asked curiously.
"Pretty well, I'd say." Ellie confirmed.
"Lovely Jenna, our fiercest protector." Katherine commented.
Jenna glared at them both. "I hate you guys. I'm trying to work on my thesis."
"It's not our fault your advisor is a dick." Ellie replied.
Katherine picked the curling iron up as she looked over to Jenna. "I could compel him to say that your thesis is perfect if you wanted me to." She offered.
"Oh don't tempt me. I might take you up on that."
"Are you going to be able to come to the funeral?" Ellie asked as Katherine started on her hair.
"Yeah, I mean, I went to school with some of those people. It wouldn't sit right with me to not go. Plus, Pastor Young was the one that baptized me as a kid. He was a good man." Jenna explained. Grief flashed across her face before she shook herself.
They fell into a comfortable silence, save for the music playing on Katherine's radio, as Jenna worked and Katherine did Ellie's hair. Just as Katherine finished Ellie's hair, Ellie's phone started to ring. "Who's that?" Katherine asked curiously. As she looked at the caller ID, she looked over to Ellie. "Stefan?"
"I don't know why he's calling, let me see." Ellie replied. "Hey, Stef. What's up?"
"Hey, are you busy right now?" He asked curiously.
"Not really, I'm just with Jenna. Is everything ok?"
"Yeah, I just had a witch question and I didn't want to bother Bonnie if I didn't have to."
"No, yeah I agree, she needs a break. Do you want me to swing by then? Help you with whatever it is?" She asked.
"That would be great, actually, because I have no idea what I'm looking at."
Katherine cocked her head to the side with interest, but Ellie just shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be there soon." Once they hung up, Jenna looked over at them. "Stefan needs witch help, so I should probably get going. Katherine, can I borrow a dress or something? I don't have time to go home."
"Yeah, of course, grab whatever." Katherine agreed easily.
Once Ellie had what she needed, she quickly made her way to her car. When she arrived, she found Stefan up in his room. "Hey, what's up?"
"Hey, take a look at this. Do these symbols look familiar to you?" He asked as he passed her a small washcloth with bullets dropped inside.
"Wait, are these bullets? Where did you get these?" She asked worriedly. They were stained red, clearly someone had been shot.
"Apparently, there's a new hunter in town. He shot Tyler last night." Stefan explained.
Ellie's eyes went wide. "Wait, is Ty ok?"
"Yeah, yeah. He's ok. None of them hit his heart." He assured her. "These burn to the touch and we didn't know why."
"Steeped in vervain?" She suggested.
"Possibly, but I didn't know if this symbol also played a part in it." He confessed.
She sighed heavily. "I don't want to bother Bon, but I don't know what these symbols are, if they even mean anything."
"I don't want to bother her either, but it's better to be safe than sorry."
As he stood, he paused and looked back at her. "What is it?" She asked in confusion. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing's wrong. Your hair, it's just different." He replied.
That wasn't what she was expecting. She hadn't even stopped to take a look at the finished product before she left Katherine's. She glanced in the long mirror Stefan had and was surprised to see that Katherine had styled it in waves. Katherine always had her hair in big voluminous curls, so Ellie had half expected that to be what she did to Ellie's hair. She found that she really liked the look. "Thanks, just trying something different." Ellie told him.
"It suits you." He complimented.
"Do you think she's gonna be ok to see us?" Ellie asked as she and Stefan drove towards Bonnie's house.
"I'm not sure. I haven't seen her in the last few days. Have you talked to her?" He asked.
"No. I tried to call her a couple times and she didn't answer." She replied.
"How bad was it?"
Ellie had briefly mentioned what had happened in the process of putting Klaus back into his own body, but hadn't really explained how it had affected the Bennett witch. "It was bad, Stef. The way she was screaming and I… I couldn't get to her like they wouldn't let me help her. She looked traumatized."
Stefan had called Ellie to take a look at bullets that he'd pulled out of Tyler when he'd apparently been shot by some man with vervain soaked gloves. When Ellie hadn't had an answer, they both thought it might help to see if Bonnie knew anything. When they pulled into her drive, it was unsurprising that Bonnie's dad wasn't home. "Bonnie?" Stefan called as he knocked on the door. "Bonnie, I know you're in there. I can hear you breathing." He said gently. "Bonnie, please, it's important."
"She's ok, right?" Ellie whispered as she reached for his hand. The longer it took for Bonnie to come to the door, the more she started to feel worried.
He held her hand tightly. "She's ok in the physical sense at least." He replied honestly. When Bonnie came to the door, she looked exhausted. "Hey, are you alright?" He moved to step in, only to stop when the barrier didn't allow him to. "Can I come in, please?" They both saw her tear-stained cheeks. She nodded and they both stepped in. "Hey, hey." He said softly as he pulled her into a hug.
Ellie moved to hold onto the other witch as well as Bonnie started to sniffle. When both Ellie and Stefan held onto her, the witch lost her control and choked out a sob. "It's ok, Bon. Just breathe, we're right here." Ellie used her magic to close the door as they gave Bonnie a minute so that she could let her feelings out.
When Bonnie finally pulled away from the two of them, Stefan gently asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Bonnie sniffled and led them over to the living room. She took a seat on the couch as Ellie took a seat in the armchair while Stefan sat on the arm of her seat. "I'm sure Ellie told you what she saw but… my Grams, it was like she was dying all over again. Just because I didn't listen to her about not doing black magic." She explained.
"Well, you're dealing with the other side. It's not reliable. Witches were probably just messing with your head, trying to teach you a lesson." Stefan replied.
"Well, it worked. I tried to do a basic nature spell this morning just to clear my head, and… it just brought it all back. Like it was happening all over again." Bonnie told them.
"Bon, I think Stefan's right. I mean, if your Grams had really been there as a ghost, surely Jeremy would have been able to see her and he didn't." Ellie suggested.
"Maybe, but it got to me all the same." Bonnie replied. "I'm sorry. I'm a mess. I've been holed up in here, avoiding everyone. I haven't answered your calls. I've completely blown off Jamie." Her eyes started to water again before she took a deep breath. "You guys came here cause you needed something, right?"
"Yeah, but it can wait." Stefan said as he stood up.
"No, come on, Stefan, I'm ok. Come on." Bonnie replied. "You're not exactly a drop by kind of guy. If something's wrong, tell me."
Ellie and Stefan shared a look, a silent debate between the two. Stefan nodded before he sat down next to Bonnie. "Alright." He agreed. He pulled out a handkerchief and opened it carefully to reveal the wooden bullets inside. "These burn to the touch. Could just be steeped in vervain, but this writing… have you ever seen anything like this before? I asked Ellie first and she hasn't seen it in any of the grimoires she's looked through."
"No, it's not magical writing, if that's what you're thinking." Bonnie replied.
"That's what I thought, but we figured it would be safer to ask you since you have other grimoires." Ellie told her.
"Where'd you get these?" Bonnie asked curiously.
"I think we have a new vampire hunter in town." Stefan confessed.
"Hmm. That's bad timing." Bonnie said.
Ellie scoffed slightly. "No kidding." She glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Stef." She said gently.
"Is something wrong?" Bonnie asked.
"No, we're just supposed to go to the funeral." Ellie told her.
"That's right. The funeral for the council members is today." Bonnie nodded her head. "It's ok, Ellie. You guys can go. I'm ok, really. I'm sorry that I don't feel up to going myself."
Ellie squeezed her hand. "Don't feel bad. You deserve some time to rest after what the witches put you through. I'll check in on you later, yeah?"
"Yeah."
She hugged Bonnie tightly before she and Stefan stood. "We'll see you later, Bonnie." Stefan said before they left her home. It didn't take long for Ellie and Stefan to dress for the funeral.
When they arrived at the church, Ellie almost immediately spotted Damon and Elena standing way too close together near a tree. "Stefan…" She trailed off when she noticed him staring.
Elena walked off without noticing their presence, but they both noticed Damon shoving what looked to be a blood bag into the purse that Elena left. "What's in the bag, Damon?" Stefan asked as they approached.
He scoffed before replying, "Mid-service snack. Church always gets me hungry. The whole blood of Christ thing, you know." When neither of them looked impressed, he admitted, "I brought it for Elena."
"You're really that intent on having your way?" Stefan asked.
"It's not my way. It's the only way." Damon replied.
"If she hurts someone, she'll be desperate to turn the guilt off. Maybe even desperate enough to shut off her humanity." Stefan hissed.
"What, and become a ripper?" Damon shot back.
Stefan gave him a dark look. "We can't let her be anything like me."
"Or god forbid she's anything like me. That's really what you're thinking." Damon challenged. "She's going to go off the rails eventually anyways, Stefan. So the faster we can make it happen, the sooner we can get her back on track."
"She's strong. If we help her, she can survive."
"She's starving, Stefan." Damon hissed.
"Wait, Damon, what are you talking about?" Ellie asked as she stepped slightly between the two brothers. They didn't need to come to blows in the middle of the churchyard.
He tore his gaze away from Stefan to look at her. "She hasn't been able to keep blood down for days."
"What are you talking about? She told me she was fine." Stefan asked.
"Well then she lied. Your four legged protein shake was a bust. The juice box was a no-go. She can't even keep my blood down." Damon explained.
Ellie felt Stefan tense behind her. "She drank from you?" He asked.
"Oops. Did I say that out loud?" Damon replied before he walked away.
Once he was gone, Ellie turned to face Stefan. "Wait, what does it mean that she drank from him Stefan?"
Stefan had a far away look on his face before he snapped back to the moment. "Nothing. Nothing. Let's go. The service is starting." They walked in as the pianist was playing soft music and stopped next to where Caroline and Tyler were sitting near the back. "What are you doing here, Tyler?"
"Being sensitive to the community's loss." Tyler replied.
Both Caroline and Ellie grinned. "Hmm. With a hunter out to get you?" Stefan asked.
"I'm not letting a hunter stop me from being where I'm supposed to be." Tyler said confidently.
"Also, if he shows his face, I'm gonna kick his ass." Caroline whispered.
Ellie snorted quietly in amusement before allowing Stefan to lead her over to another pew as Mayor Lockwood stepped up to the podium. "Before we begin the mass, we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to share a memory about our late friends on the town council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few words about her dad. April. April? Are you still here, honey?" When April didn't respond, she asked, "Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" Elena stood shakily. "Come on up, Elena."
Stefan had placed his arm around the back of the pew where Ellie sat and she could feel him tense. "She looks really sick, Stefan." She whispered quietly. He nodded before they both turned to see Damon walking in.
Damon took a seat on the other side of Ellie before commenting, "She doesn't look so good."
"Maybe you should have told me she was rejecting all food sources." Stefan replied.
"Jealousy's beneath you, brother."
"Oh, bite me." Stefan sassed.
She squeezed his knee in warning. "I, um, when I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak, and now that I'm up here I'm kind of nervous too." Elena started before she leaned forward slightly to hold onto the podium for support. "The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them."
Ellie frowned as Elena stopped talking at the exact same time Damon and Stefan both tensed. "What's going on? What's wrong?" She whispered.
"Nobody move. Don't turn around. It's a trap." Damon hissed.
"What's happening?" Ellie asked.
"There's blood and a lot of it." Damon replied.
Elena started to breathe heavily as she stuttered. "I, um…"
"Stefan, do something." Ellie begged. He quickly moved forward, and the moment he reached Elena, he pulled her into him.
The priest quickly replaced Elena. "Please turn to page forty two of your hymn book." He instructed. "Let us join together in song."
"Damon what the hell is happening?" Ellie whispered.
"The blood is getting to her. She's starving and is struggling to keep it together." Damon replied as they watched Stefan pull Elena as closely as he could. "I'm going to go rip his head off now." Obviously he was listening to someone reply, most likely Stefan, before he said, "Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off. You have ten seconds before I go old fashioned on the new guy. Three, two, one bye..."
Ellie shot her hand out to keep a tight grip on Damon's wrist, but it seemed unnecessary as he froze in his steps. "Wait what's happening?" Ellie asked as she caught a glimpse of both Tyler and Caroline reacting to whatever was being said that she couldn't hear.
Stefan carefully shifted Elena out of his grasp and let Matt take a hold of her. "The quarterback just offered to be Elena's snack pack." Damon told her with wide eyes. Her nails dug into the flesh of Damon's wrist as she waited for Elena to let go of Matt. Surely she wouldn't go overboard and drink too much when there was literally a vampire hunter waiting to catch one of them, right?
Elena moved back to Stefan, before she tried to move past him but Stefan held her in place. Ellie was so preoccupied with trying to make sure that Elena didn't get herself killed that she didn't even notice Tyler going up to the podium until he said, "Excuse me." The music cut out as he continued, "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young." Everyone moved to sit back down to let him talk. "Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me. But he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be part of a team; a community. Of giving yourself up for the sake of-"
A gunshot cut him off. The shot landed dead on and Tyler collapsed to the ground. Screams broke out in the church as everyone started to run. Damon ran towards the exit, but Ellie took off towards the front, pushing past people trying to escape. Stefan and Elena were right behind her. They made it up the steps just as Caroline did. Caroline rolled him over and pulled the stake out of his chest. Ellie counted her lucky stars that it was a few inches too low to hit his heart. Tyler let out a pained groan before he said, "I'm going to kill that bastard."
"Damon's way ahead of you. Stay here, I have to help him." Stefan instructed.
"What about April?" Elena asked worriedly.
"I got it. Go." Caroline instructed.
Stefan took off at Caroline's confirmation. "I have to call an ambulance." Mayor Lockwood said.
"No, no he's fine." Caroline replied.
"The whole town just watched you get shot." Mayor Lockwood reminded them. "I'm calling an ambulance."
"Call Dr. Fell. She can figure out some report to cover this up." Ellie suggested.
"That's a good idea." She agreed.
"Wait, where's Elena?" Ellie asked as she looked around.
"Tyler, get out of sight. No one needs to see that you're healed. Ellie, let's go." Caroline said. "Can you feel her?"
Ellie let her magic do the work. "Upstairs in the balcony. We've gotta hurry. If she loses control she could kill April."
The two girls took off in a run. When they hit the stairs, they'd almost made it up when they heard Elena let out a mix between a scream and a growl. Caroline sped ahead, catching Elena before she could hurt April. "She's not dead, but if you feed on her, you will kill her!" Caroline whispered frantically.
"Let go of me!" Elena demanded.
"Look at her!" Caroline insisted. "Look at her, Elena! It's April! April Young! She's not a warm body for you to feed on. She's your friend." Elena stopped pushing against Caroline and when the blonde felt certain that Elena wasn't going to lunge, she added, "She's an orphan. Just like you. And she is scared, just like you were."
April looked dead. Blood soaked the carpet around her and she had a cloth wrapped shoved in her mouth to gag her. Caroline bit into her wrist before kneeling down. She carefully pulled the gag out and put her wrist to April's mouth. After she drank from Caroline, she gasped heavily. "Please! Don't hurt me, please! Don't-" April cried.
"No one's going to hurt you." Caroline promised. "No one's going to hurt you."
Ellie moved and knelt down next to the crying girl. "Ellie?" April asked with teary eyes. "Ellie what's happening? What did he do to me?"
"It's going to be ok." Ellie promised her. "Just breathe for me, you're safe now." She wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but she could feel her magic at the tip of her fingers, ready to protect April from Elena if her sister lost control.
She continued to try and soothe the girl as Caroline stood to face Elena. "She needs you." Caroline told her. "You can make her forget all of this."
"Why did he do this?" April asked as she took in her bloodied clothes.
"No, I… I can't, Caroline. You have to do it." Elena denied.
"No. The only way you're going to learn is if you do it yourself." Caroline insisted.
"No… I, I can't."
"Yes, you can." Caroline said firmly as Ellie kept whispering quietly to April. "You just need to believe what you're telling her."
April was starting to hyperventilate as Elena knelt down next to her. "April, listen to me. Everything's going to be ok. You're going to get through this, just like I got through it. And I'm going to help you. I promise." Elena said.
The younger girl stilled and her breathing slowed as Elena's compulsion took effect. "I'm going to be ok." April repeated. "You're going to help me."
"You watched the funeral from up here so you could grieve alone. It was a beautiful service. People said really nice things." Elena continued and April smiled in relief.
After they were sure that Elena's compulsion had worked successfully, Ellie and Caroline had cleaned April up and taken her home. Elena had stayed at the church to get the bloodstains out of the carpet, despite Ellie's concern about her being around so much blood. When they'd returned to pick her up, she'd gotten blood stained into her clothes once more. "Can you drop us both off at the boarding house? My car is there." Ellie asked.
"Of course." Caroline agreed. It didn't take long to drive to the boarding house and once they'd been dropped off, the sun had already set.
"I'm going to go get changed." Elena said quietly as they walked in.
Stefan was still dressed in the outfit that he'd worn at church, though his jacket was tossed carelessly on the back of one of the chairs as he paced. "Stef, are you ok?" Ellie asked worriedly as she entered the room.
"Yeah." He said, though his voice was tight. She didn't believe him in the slightest. When Elena returned, she sat down silently in one of the chairs. He poured her a glass of what looked like bourbon before sliding it across the table towards her. Elena sniffed it and recoiled slightly in disgust. "Helps with the cravings." He explained as he poured a glass for himself.
She coughed after taking a sip and put the glass down. Ellie watched them both with interest. "You're mad." Elena commented. It didn't really seem necessary when it was as obvious as it was.
"Yeah, I'm mad. You lied to me." Stefan replied.
"I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you…" Elena tried to say.
"That would be considered lying, Elena." Ellie commented bluntly.
Stefan, clearly agreed with her. "Come on, Elena. You lied to me."
She sighed heavily before saying, "You were just so happy that things were going well, and… and…"
Stefan cut her off. "You think I'm happy?"
"I just didn't want to ruin it for you." Elena told him. From Ellie's perspective, it just felt like Elena was trying to come up with some sort of excuse so that she didn't have to take accountability for the fact that she lied.
"You're in hell, which means that I'm in hell. And then you go to Damon for help." He said in disbelief.
Elena let out a shaky breath. "Yeah, because I thought that he would understand." She replied.
"Wasn't it you who, not too long ago, was giving shit to Damon because you didn't think he was the person to help teach Stefan control? Why the sudden switch up?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Ellie…" Elena sighed.
Stefan held up a hand. "Wait, you think I don't?"
"Stefan, please." Elena begged.
"You fed on him, Elena. You fed on him." Stefan snapped. "And I know that may not mean much to you, but it means a lot to me. And I know it certainly meant a lot to Damon."
"I didn't want to hurt you. I'm… I'm sorry. I… look, I'm, I'm really, really sorry, I… why am I crying?" Elena asked in frustration as her eyes filled with tears. "I am so sick of crying." She huffed as she slammed her hand down on the table.
"Your emotions are a bit heightened right now." Stefan explained.
Elena had started to pace as she said, "I feel like I've been crying since the day that my parents died." Ellie tensed at the mention of them. "My life is… it's like a never ending funeral. We keep burying people, Stefan. You want to know what's heightened? It's grief. I can't stop feeling everyone's grief. All the hurt, I feel like it's trying to explode out of me."
Stefan walked towards her and took a gentle hold of her hands. "Hey, hey." He said gently. "Come on. Come with me."
"Where?" Elena asked.
"Something we need to do. Something all of us need to do." He said as he looked over at Ellie. "Come on." They followed Stefan out to his car and as he drove, Ellie couldn't help but understand Stefan a little bit better. His heart was so big and they were so similar to one another. Watching him put what he felt on the back burner to deal with Elena and her issues was like watching herself. How many times had she done exactly that? She'd done it not only for Elena, but for the others as well. Why were they always the ones that had to come second? Why was it that their feelings didn't get to come first?
When they arrived at the school, Caroline and Matt were already there along with Jenna and Jeremy. "What are we doing here?" Ellie asked as they walked over towards the tables that the others were sitting at.
"You'll see." Stefan said vaguely. Stefan started digging through a box as Ellie went to sit next to Jenna.
They waited for a few minutes before two more cars pulled up. Both Damon and Bonnie started to walk towards the group. "Stefan, what are we doing?" Damon asked as Ellie moved to Bonnie and hugged the other witch tightly.
"We're finishing the memorial we didn't get to have earlier." Stefan said as he started passing out paper lanterns. "We need to start healing, Damon. We've all lost so much, especially recently. I think we're numb to it. We push it away. We make a joke out of it; ignore how we feel. We never just let ourselves grieve."
"So you're lighting lanterns?" Damon asked skeptically.
"Yeah, yeah. We need to do this." Stefan replied.
Damon retorted and said, "What we need to do is find out who this hunter is and what he knows about the death of the council. We have more important things to be doing right now than this."
"Not tonight, we don't." Stefan disagreed. Damon scoffed but Stefan ignored him and said, "This is for my Uncle Zach. My friend Lexi. For Alaric."
Damon shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Alaric, but said nothing. Matt went next, saying, "This is for Vicki."
Caroline went next, saying, "This is for my dad and Tyler's."
Jeremy sighed and slid off the table, taking the lighter. "This is for our parents, for Vicki, Anna, and Alaric."
He offered the lighter to Damon but Damon held up his hand. "No way. I'm not doing that." He walked off, but Ellie shared a knowing look with Stefan.
Bonnie took it next, moving to stand next to Caroline. "This is for my Grams." She said shakily.
Jenna took the lighter from Bonnie. "This is for Miranda and Grayson, and for John."
Ellie moved to stand beside her and said, "This is for our parents, for John and Isobel, and for Dr. Martin and Luka."
Elena finally moved to stand next to Stefan as Ellie passed her the lighter. "This, um… is for my mom, my dad, and for everyone that you've all lost, everyone that this town has lost. And for me. I guess." Elena was the first to let her lantern go. They released them one by one and Ellie was surprised by how therapeutic it felt.
As they watched them float away, the group kind of separated to give everyone a moment to grieve those that they'd lost. Ellie longed to be able to see them again. She thought of getting to see them in the woods and the simultaneous relief and anguish she felt at the sight of them. Were they watching now? Were they proud of her? What did Isobel think about her relationship with Elijah? Even better, what did Dr. Martin and Luka think about her relationship?
She could almost hear Luka making some witty joke about it to make her blush. She missed him. They watched the lanterns until they floated out of sight. In truth, she had no idea how long the action of letting the lantern go would bring her comfort. It likely wouldn't last long. Especially not with the Elena drama on top of the homicidal vampire hunter that had rolled into town. Despite that, she decided to ignore those problems for the night, just like Stefan had said. They could deal with it in the morning. They deserved a night of peace.
Author's Note:
So this is definitely the shortest chapter we've had in a while, sorry about that. The next few chapters will be longer, getting back to around 8K shortly. We also don't get the Mikaelsons this chapter, but with everything Ellie was having to deal with we just didn't get the time for them. Also I wanted to say thank you guys so much for over 100,000 views! That's insane! Thank you so much for sticking with this story! You guys are amazing! But as always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review and let me know your thoughts.
To xenocanaan: I'm glad you enjoyed it!
To flawsome4ever: Rebekah definitely deserved so much more than what she got. They all need to get their priorities straight, for sure.
To IrisTurner: You're absolutely right, Kol didn't do anything to deserve to be killed by the Scooby Gang. It definitely was a genocide, and I think that's an important character moment for Elena. At the time, Jeremy was overwhelmed with the desire to kill vampires, but Elena was in her right mind. After all of her complaining about not wanting the cure, when push came to shove, she was willing to murder thousands to get it and somehow she still thinks she's better than Klaus.
To Gwenaria1: I'm glad you enjoyed the punching scene! It felt like something he deserved. I do plan for them to have good moments together, I'm just not sure what they are yet. Yes, he's definitely started to let Ellie in more and I love it. I think she is more powerful than Bonnie. But she's the backup witch mainly because of where she stands with the Mikaelsons and also because Elena knows that Ellie won't necessarily do what she wants the way Bonnie typically does. I don't think she's at Esther level right now, but that's because she's still developing her magic and getting stronger.
To Sumaiyahc06: I cried too don't worry it's ok. It was definitely chaotic where this chapter was a little slower, but I'm glad you enjoyed!
To Qewbix: Don't sweat it, life gets in the way sometimes I get it. Yes, grief is powerful and dangerous and because Ellie has lost people she loved and she saw how much it hurt Bekah and Elijah, she gets it even if she got hurt in the process as well. There's definitely going to be things that get changed, though everything has flowed pretty similarly to the show originally just so that we can get to the Originals, because let's be real TO is the better show anyways.
To brigitm28: She definitely did rip into him. I'm glad you get that it takes time for him to change. I know he's been pretty decent towards Ellie most of the time, but it would be out of character for him if he never messed up, which is why they're fighting now. Rebekah really does deserve everything. She was just a girl that wanted to love and be loved instead of being hurt.
To lolistarkiller: I'm also looking forward to it. The only reason Kol isn't here now is because logically, even though we want to see him, he had no reason to stay in Mystic Falls at the time. Oh Vamp Elena is definitely going to go too far for Ellie, but then again that might be intentional on my part lol. I've been thinking about Ellie dealing with the age problem, so don't worry, at some point it will be addressed.
To surgeonlaw: I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Her dynamics with the family is really fun to write so I'm glad you liked it!
To Daddy's LiL HeartBreaker: I'm glad it makes sense! Klaus is definitely a brat, but he would be out of character if he wasn't at least sometimes. They really can't catch a break can they? They definitely need quality time. And they have gotten time together off screen, but that's mostly just them being kind of domestic with one another because he isn't rushing her. Their friendship will mend eventually, Ellie just needs time.
To AdiraBraelynn: We really never did get to see Elijah happy and at peace without it being ripped away from him did we? I miss those moments too, but hopefully we'll get to see them develop together some more. A date would definitely be good! I feel bad for Bonnie because she was just trying to help, no matter the cost to herself. Bella was absolutely right, it doesn't make sense for her to not turn if she really wanted to be with him forever. Ellie definitely has a good hook, I guess all that training with Kat is paying off.
-Madame Magic
Posted: 4/17/21