THE VAMPIRE MIRACLE
8. FOUR LONG MONTHS LATER
~FOUR MONTHS LATER~
It has been four months now. Four months since the other side disappeared. Four months since Damon and Bonnie have been gone. She was nearly one month pregnant when it happened. Now she is five months pregnant. Five long months. She is all alone. Of course she has her mom, when she's not working. Elena, not so much. Stefan left town with Katherine and Nadia hours after the incident. That day was the last time she saw them. She talked to Katherine most days but she didn't say much about Stefan.
They were supposed to have their loved ones back. That was the plan. She should have known by now that whatever they do, nothing goes according to plan. But she had hope. She had hope that this wasn't like the other times their plan went sideways. She felt stupid for having hope. Don't get me wrong, she's glad she has Tyler back, but something doesn't feel right.
Anyway summer is over and the blonde don't plan on going back go school. So she basically dropped out of Whitmore. She spends most of her summer going through books to figure out a way to bring back her best friend and baby daddy. She is not giving up. There is no way Damon and Bonnie are gone. She can feel that they are not gone, they are not completely gone, yet.
~ON THE BORDER OF MYSTIC FALLS~
"I dropped out of Whitmore. Why would I support their stupid football team?" Caroline walks past the sign into Mystic Falls, where her mom's patrol car is parked.
"It's the opening game of the season, Caroline. Time to come home." The brunette told her friend.
"I am home! I just signed the lease to my new apartment." The blonde told her.
"On the border of a town that doesn't want you. That's not home... That's sad." Elena remarked.
"You don't even like football." Caroline justified.
"No, but I like drinking in the parking lot beforehand." Elena told her friend.
"Caroline, you're coming." Tyler comes up behind Elena and starts talking into the phone.m
"Tyler, don't act like you have any ground to stand on. You skipped an entire year…" Caroline told him.
"And you hounded me for an entire year! So here I am... Now get your ass back here." Tyler told the blonde.
Luke is standing behind Tyler and he catches Elena's eye, pulling out the small pouch in his bag. Elena nonchalantly waves him off.
"Caroline, I'm picking you up at 6 p. m. sharp tomorrow. Okay? Bring your school spirit. Bye!" Elena hangs up the phone.
"Anyway...as I was saying, I haven't exactly found a spell that can undo an anti-magic border per se, but this book mentions travelers. Which isn't all that helpful, but at least it puts us a step in the right direction…" The blonde said to her mother.
"Sweetheart.." Liz called her daughter.
"Yeah?" Caroline responded.
"You should go with them tomorrow." Liz tells her daughter.
"No, we're going to go see a movie!" Caroline told her.
"We have spent the entire summer together." Liz tells her.
"Ahhh. You're sick of me…" Caroline sighed.
"Caroline, you just lost one of your best friends and the father of your child. It makes sense that you want to hold on to what's familiar, but Elena lost them too. She clearly misses you." Liz told her daughter.
"No... Elena has clearly taken up residency on planet denial; where football is more important than her boyfriend being swept away into oblivion. Do you know she has barely cried for him? I mean, she was a full-on wreck over Bonnie for months, but when you mention Damon, it's like nothing ever happened." Caroline told her.
"Caroline, Elena has experienced more grief than anyone I've ever met. You should cut her some slack." Liz's phone starts buzzing, interrupting their conversation.
"What? Did someone trample over Ms. Davis' flower bed again?" Caroline asked.
"Two kids were admitted to the hospital with suspicious wounds on their necks…" Liz replied.
"Vampire attacks? How? Vampires can't get into Mystic Falls." Caroline said.
"No, but they can lurk around the borders. I gotta cut lunch short... That's it. I gotta take care of this." Liz gets up to leave, forgetting to pack up her basket. "Listen, consider Elena's offer, okay? Mystic Falls isn't going anywhere."
Caroline suddenly realizes she left the basket.
"Hey. Don't forget your basket." Caroline reaches over the anti-magic line to hand the basket to her and her skin starts to burn, causing her to drop the basket on the ground.
~ON THE ROAD~
"What did you do? Why the hell are you feeding on people" The blonde asked her friends after witnessing what just happened.
"It's fine. I've compelled everyone else." The brunette said, wiping the blood off her face.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on. So you're the border-lurker?" The blonde asked in shock. "The what?" The brunette asked in confusion. "Yeah, did you know my mom's been out looking for a vampire prowler." Caroline told her.
"The herbs... Luke's been giving me. They make me so thirsty." Elena turns away from Caroline. "I am not thinking straight." She said.
"Whoa, what herbs?" Caroline asked.
"They make me see Damon." Elena turns to Caroline. "I can talk to him, and, and I can be with him, and -"
"God, is this what you've been doing this whole time? Hallucinating your dead boyfriend?" Caroline asked.
"I tried to grieve him, Caroline. Trust me, I know grief. I've got grieving down to a science at this point, and I tried. But every time I let it sink in that I'm never gonna see him again, I feel like I'm gonna die." The brunette said.
"Oh God, I get it okay? I do. But, there are better ways to get through this." Caroline told her friend.
"Like what? Like dropping out of school and having picnics with my mom, near the town border? Or maybe I could pull a Stefan and bounce from country to country, chasing some false hope that we're gonna find a way to bring Damon and Bonnie back. We're all getting through it. This is me, getting through it, okay?" Elena told her.
"Yeah but you're not getting through it, Elena. You're just pressing pause." Caroline said. "Look, I'll call my mom and she can fix all this. But you need to get out of here, go hide, okay? So just... go." The blonde sighs as she watches her best friend vamp-speed away.
~AT WHITMORE COLLEGE DORM ROOM~
The brunette was cleaning out her dorm of anything that reminded her of Damon Salvatore. The blonde was right. She isn't working through her grief. She is just suppressing it. It's time to face reality. Damon is dead and he isn't coming back.
"Throwing away all things that remind you of the great Damon Salvatore, I see." She heard a British voice behind her.
"What do you want Klaus, I'm busy." The brunette barely noticed him.
"Caroline told me of your little, you know, imaginary dead boyfriend, does he happen to be here by any chance?" The hybrid asked.
"No. Not anymore." The brunette gulp. "But I don't see the problem of having him around. Caroline still thinks he and Bonnie are magically going to come back somehow. I'm not the one that needs to face reality. I'm not the one looking through all those magic books trying to find a way to bring those two back." Elena let out.
"So this is Caroline's fault?" The hybrid asked.
"Yes...I mean no. I don't know. One moment she's telling me to face reality and then the next, she's telling me there may be a way to bring both Damon and Bonnie back. What am I supposed to do, grieve or go on with my life, hoping they would magically come back?" The brunette asked.
"You know, there is something magical about magic." Klaus said as he sat on the doppelgänger's bed.
"Why do you say that?" The doppelgänger asked as he patted the spot next to him.
"Magic can sometimes give people hope. Maybe something in Caroline gave her hope. She may have already grieved but you and I both know Caroline, hope is all she leads on." Klaus told her.
"Even if it isn't true?" Elena asked.
"Even if it isn't true." Klaus replied.
"Why are you telling me all of this?" The brunette asked.
"I don't know. Maybe it's because I also have faced a lot of loss and grieves in my long line of life. You lived thousands of years, you go through a lot. You see everything, all the good and unfortunately, all the bad." Klaus told her.
The doppelgänger looked at The hybrid for a moment. She still can't put a finger on why he is telling her all of this. All she could think of is Damon. She can't live off false hope. Even if her friend is. She had to move on. At the moment, it felt like the right thing to do. She connected her lip with the hybrid. The hybrid was taken back at the doppelgänger's action. But that didn't stop him from kissing her back. He figured, she decided to not live off false hope but instead to grieve for the lost. And this is how she is doing it.
The hybrid wrapped his arms around the doppelgänger's waist. He picked her up having her straddle him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He landed them on her bed.
~THE NEXT MORNING~
"OH MY GOD!" The blonde exclaimed making the hybrid and the doppelgänger quickly awake.
"Oh my god, Caroline." Elena exclaimed as Caroline walked out of the dorm room, quickly closing the door behind her.
Elena quickly covers herself up as Klaus scatters to look for his clothes.
The hybrid found his clothing. He quickly put them on and walked out, not before apologizing to the brunette.
When he came out of the dorm room, Caroline gave him a shock but questionable look. He then looked down to her baby bump that was now slightly visible.
"You never said you are with child." Klaus said.
"Yeah well there's a lot of things I don't tell you for many many reasons. Like this one for example." She told him.
He wanted to ask who the father was so he started to open his mouth but the blonde beat him to it.
"Just…hmm" The blonde grunt. "Just get out of here." She told him as she rubbed her
with her fingers.
When he walked away, she stormed into the room.
"Klaus Mikaelson, are you serious? When I said you should try to grieve and move on, I didn't mean you should sleep with the next guy, you come across." She told her.
"Look, it just happened. And I don't know how and why but it did." The brunette justified. "And beside, you were the one that told him about me, you know, seeing Damon thing." Elena said.
"Elena-" The blonde started.
"No Caroline, stop. You wanted me to move on and here I am, moving on. But what happened with Klaus means nothing." Elena told her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get rid of everything that reminds me of, you know who." The brunette returned to what she was doing before the original Hybrid interrupted her.
The blonde just looked at her friend.
This is all her fault.
~CABIN IN SAVANNAH, GEORGIA~
"How's Caroline?" The younger Salvatore asked the Petrova Doppelgänger.
"She's still trying." Katherine told him. "Stefan, she still thinks you're following a lead. You can't-" The Doppelgänger started.
"I know. And I'll tell her, eventually." Stefan told her.
The Doppelgänger sighed.
"Hey, please keep this from her. I still need time." Stefan told her.
"Ok, but I can't keep lying to her." Katherine told him.
"I know." Stefan smiled fondly of the new friendship between the Petrova girl and the blonde.
~AT WHITMORE COLLEGE DORM ROOM~
Alaric is closing the shades, Elena in sitting in a chair across from an empty one.
"Talk me through it again?" Elena asked her father figure.
"I raided the psychology department's research library, and a nutshell would be using a combination of hypnotherapy and memory reprocessing techniques." Alaric explained.
Elena nods, Alaric has already sat down in front of her. He places a hand on her knee and looks into her eyes, compelling her.
"The more we talk, the more you'll relax and open your mind to me. Alaric stops compelling her and settles back. "We're going to be searching through memories that are deeply embedded, and each significant memory that we hit which is connected to Damon I will help you modify. And this should eventually lead us to the signature memory which once erased will create a positive domino effect through all your other memories." Alaric explained.
"Can't you just compel me to forget everything at once? Or we can go get a beer?" Elena asked as they laughed softly.
"I am supernaturally rewiring three years of your memories. If it were that easy, I wouldn't be so terrifying." Alaric explained to her.
Elena nods, she looks sad. Alaric places his hand on her knee, compelling her again.
"I have some questions. Answer them honestly." He told her.
"I will answer everything honestly." Elena responded.
"Do you have doubts about this?" Alaric asked.
"Yes. But I know I have to do this." Elena replied.
"Are you afraid?" He asked her.
"More sad and guilt than afraid." Elena told him.
"Why sad and guilt?" Alaric asked his daughter figure.
"Sad because I don't want to stop loving him. And I feel guilt because I slept with his enemy, his and mine's enemy." Elena replied.
"Do you trust me, to be digging around in your mind?" He asked her.
"I trust you completely." Elena smiled at him.
"Okay. Well then let's--let's get started...Who is Damon Salvatore?" Alaric asked.
"He was my boyfriend, I loved him and he died." Elena answered.
"And when did you first meet him?" Alaric asked.
"I was in high school." Elena said.
~FLASHBACK TO WHEN ELENA AND DAMON FIRST MET~
"Katherine." Damon said as he walked up to her on the empty road.
"No, I'm Elena." Elena told him.
"I'm Damon." Damon introduced himself.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"And what was he like?" Alaric asked.
"There was something different about him, dangerous. But not in a way that scared me. He was exciting." Elena replied.
~FLASHBACK AGAIN TO WHEN DAMON AND ELENA FIRST MET~
"I don't know what I want." Elena said to Damon.
"Well, that's not true. You want what everybody wants." Damon told her.
"What?" Elena asked.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"And how did he make you feel?" Alaric asked.
"Like anything was possible." Elena replied.
Alaric looks her in the eyes, compelling her again.
"You had a nice moment in the road with a stranger. But that's all he was, a stranger." Alaric compelled her.
"Stranger, two people passing in the night." Elena repeated.
A tear is on her face.
"Are you okay?" Alaric asked.
"Hmm, yeah let's just keep going." Elena told him.
~FLASHBACK TO WHEN DAMON KISSED ELENA ON HER PORCH~
"No, you know what? If I'm going to feel guilty about something, I'm going to feel guilty about this." Damon said before he kisses her.
~END OF FLASHBACK~
"He kissed me. I mean, I shouldn't have let him. I knew that he was in love with me, and even though Stefan and I were on the outs, I shouldn't have let him." Elena said.
Alaric leans forward, looking into her eyes, compelling her.
"He kissed you, you thought it was inappropriate. You told him so." Alaric said.
"I told him it was wrong." Elena told him.
"Who is Damon Salvatore?" Alaric asked again.
"He was my boyfriend." Elena answered. "I loved him, and...he--he died." Elena stuttered.
Before Alaric could continue, the door to his office opened and the blonde came in.
"Hi...uh I came to return these books." She handed the book to the older man.
"Uh thank you for returning the books." Alaric got up to put the books in the shelves when Elena stood up.
"Mhm...so...what's going on here?" She asked as she look between the two.
"Uh nothing...we were just…"
"Going over notes…"
"Yep! We are going over notes. I doze off last class and we uh we have an exam coming up so I am getting notes and—" Elena started to say.
"Elena...you're lying."
"Gee Caroline, nothing gets past you these days do they?" Elena asked.
"Nope!" Caroline told her. "What are you two up to? And I want the truth, this time." She said.
Elena looked at Ric before she turned back to her friend.
"I asked Ric to compel away my memories of Damon." Elena told her.
"You what?" Caroline yelled.
"Care—you told me I had to move with my life and I can't do that without thinking about Damon every second of every day for the rest of my life." Elena told her.
"I get it, Elena, but—" Caroline started.
"I have to do this, Caroline. I can't live like this anymore." Elena told her. "Ric is just going to compel away all the good memories I have of him."
"That's it? You're going to forget everything about Damon? All your love for him? What he sacrificed?" Caroline asked. "Damon didn't die because he decided he was done with life. He died...he risked his own life so we could have the people we love back. To save you, Ric. And this is how you thank him? Damon wasn't just your boyfriend, Elena. He was a son, a brother, a friend…" Caroline told them.
Alaric looks down in disappointment.
"He was going to be a father. My daughter is going to grow up without her father in her life. I can't change that but I can keep his memories alive. Believe it or not, Damon was a hero. He doesn't deserve to be forgotten because you can't handle the pain of losing him. He deserves to be remembered for what he did. For risking his own life to save our home. A home we can't go back to yet, I'm still working on a way to break the barrier down. But what he did has to count for something." Caroline told them. "I can't stop you, Elena, but I have a feeling you are going to regret it one day." Caroline said before leaving the room to the two to figure out whether they are going to continue on with their plan or not.
~IN MYSTIC FALLS; FOUR MONTHS AGO~
Bright white screen, slowly fading onto Damon's face, he's opening his eyes. They are in the same place they were when they died. He looks over at Bonnie, their hands are still interlaced and they both let go.
"Huh. That got awkward fast." Damon said.
They are both still looking around confusedly.
"What happened? Where are we?" She begins to walk away, out of the woods.
"Where are you going? Hey." He follows her and now they are in the middle of the street, still in Mystic Falls, Damon reaches up to touch his teeth. "Well, I feel a fang. I'm still a vampire. Either I'm a dead vampire or Mystic Falls is no longer magic free." Damon said.
"Look." Bonnie said.
Damon follows her gaze and sees that she is looking at the Mystic Grill, he's confused.
"I definitely blew that up about an hour ago." The raven said just as confused as the witch was.
"Why don't we see any people? If we're still on the Other Side we should at least be able to see the living." Bonnie stated.
They're still puzzled and looking around.
"Where the hell are we? And I don't mean geographically." Damon said.
"I have no idea." The witch replied.
END OF CHAPTER
A:N: I HATED HOW ELENA HAD RIC COMPEL AWAY ALL GOOD MEMORIES OF DAMON! YES HE DIED BUT HE DIDN'T GET KILLED BY AN ENEMY OF THEIRS! HE RISKED HIS LIFE TO GET RID OF THE TRAVELERS AND SAVE THEM BEFORE THE OTHER SIDE DISAPPEARED FOR GOOD! ANYWAY, HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS CHAPTER REWRITE! THANK YOUUU FOR READING!