Ch. 24 – The Sun Also Rises and As I Lay Dying 2x21-22
A/N: Oh boy, this is going to be a bumpy ride, leading to a giant rollercoaster of next season. If you think season 2 was juicy, just wait until you see what I've got planned for season 3.
I will warn you that I haven't put a specific trigger warning for this chapter. Nothing that is discussed is new to the show. I make references to Klaus's past abuse, which is part of the show. And obviously, warning for major character death, but death is part of the show. There is a bit of suicide threats and ideation that may be triggering, but while serious, it fits with the tone established by the show. Death is part of the supernatural world of the Vampire Diaries, but it is triggering to people and I do want to forewarn anyone who might be affected. Again, this is the sacrifice episode, so things go down, but please remain safe. There is no specific trigger warning line and there won't be a summary next chapter.
I also want to give a shoutout to the Guest review on the previous chapter! Your review was definitely getting at what I was trying to achieve when I created Emilia's character. I'm sorry I couldn't respond to you directly, but I love your review. As I loved all the reviews I receive. Thank you so much for your support!
Upload: 9/25/22
Klaus leads me to the edge of the forest with a clearing leading to the edge of a cliff. Rings of fire separating three different figures. Wait, that's three, plus the witch. Something's wrong. I walk a little closer and I can see one of the figures is Elena. I stop immediately.
"She is not supposed to be part of this. You have a doppelganger, me. You don't need her. Send her back," I tell him.
"And why would I do that, sweetheart? Now you and your little friends have messed with my plans too much. You released my vampire and my werewolf and killed one of my witches. And while I had a backup for each, I think it's rather poetic to have a backup doppelganger. And how could I turn down back up and leverage in the same tasty package." He says, looking both of us up and down. "I still have yet to make up my mind on which twin is which, so I suggest you be nice or I'll kill your sister." He pushes me forward, running into Elena. "I'm already going to be killing one of your relatives tonight, Emilia. I would so hate to have to kill another."
And that's when I see Jenna.
"What did you do to her?" I ask, pushing myself as close to the fire barrier as I can get.
"I turned her. She's my vampire now," Klaus answers.
"You can't do this!" I cry. Ok, that may not be the best response, but my brain is running through how I can save both members of my family with only one sacrifice.
"I think you'll find that I can," he replies, walking up to the barrier smirking. He steps back closer to his witch, "Now, my lovelies. Are we ready?"
In our separate fire circles (minus mine and Elena's who are in the same), everyone is illuminated. I recognize the werewolf sacrifice, holding her stomach and groaning miserably. It's Jules, the werewolf bitch who had Caroline tortured. I almost died because I was trying to protect my friend from her orders. Well, I guess, karma truly is a bitch.
"I've got the moonstone," Klaus says, pulling it out of his pocket. God, I never should have switched them back. "I spent 500 years looking for this. I hate to part with it." He hands it to the witch, Greta, as I find out from Elena. Greta Martin, in fact. Small world.
"The moon has passed its apex," she says. "Remember everything you need to do?"
"I remember," Klaus answers. Of course, he does. It's not like he's been preparing for this for a thousand years. I almost wish he answered more sarcastically. Greta drops the moonstone in the stone bowl at the altar, it breaks apart, sparking and starting a fire.
Greta starts chanting and Jules groans again.
Klaus starts walking up to the werewolf.
Jules recognizes her end is coming, so she turns to Elena, "Everything I did, I was just trying to help Tyler."
"Are you Jules?" Elena asks.
"She's the one who had me and Caroline tortured, Elena," I remind her. She also bit Rose, which killed her.
"I didn't want him to be alone," Jules says before she groans again.
Klaus steps up to her barrier, "Shall we?" Jules sits up a bit. And through Greta's chanting, the fire around Jules disappears. She growls, her wolf eyes showing. And launches herself at Klaus who immediately flips her, plunging his hand into her chest. He takes a moment to wipe a tear off her cheek and then he rips out her heart. Jules final breath leaving her in a gasp.
Despite all of it, I'm a little sorry she's dead. Her death marks my lessening time to save my family.
And with the first sacrifice down, Greta's chanting increases as does the magic surrounding us. A moment later I can feel a rush. Something just fell into place, but for some reason, it feels like more than what just occurred here. Klaus is walks up to Greta, heart in hand. And he squeezes it above the bowl, blood dripping into a bubbling concoction.
"Tell me it's working," Klaus demands.
"It's working," Greta replies. She doesn't even need to say it for me to know. I can feel it working myself.
Jenna sighs in the fire circle next to me. "The day the lawyers called to tell that I was going to be your guardian, you know what my first thought was?" We turn to face her. "Isn't there someone else who can do this?" And my heart falls.
"Jenna, there was no one else who could have gotten us three through all of that," Elena says.
"It's just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you," Jenna responds, shaking her head.
"But you didn't," I interject.
Elena squats down to Jenna's level and adds, "You put your entire life on hold to help us."
"Look around, Elena," Jenna says. "I failed you."
"No," I say, speaking up. I walk up close to our barrier to get her attention. "You didn't fail us. I failed you." I turn to my sister. "Both of you." I look between the both of them as I say, "I failed us. I kept secrets. I hid everything in hopes that I could save you both. And all it did was lead us here anyways. All of my work, all of my guilt and pain from hiding things from you guys, and all of it is just wasted. I wasted so much time with you both. And I'm so sorry."
Elena turns to Jenna, "Look, being a vampire intensifies your guilt. But it also makes you stronger and faster. You can fight back." I wanna disagree, but I feel frozen as I try to wrap my brain around the fact that I might not be able to save anyone. I know how futile fighting Klaus is, but I can't just tell her not to fight until the end, because that's what I would do. What we all are going to do. Gilbert stubbornness at its finest. Sommers women survive and we don't go down without a fight. Elena continues, "We're gonna get through this. We're gonna be okay. I need you to know that." She glances to Klaus and Greta, before looking back to Jenna. "Promise me, when you get the chance," she holds a finger to her lips and mouths, "run."
Jenna nods and mouths, "Ok."
A few minutes later, Klaus walks up again, "Hello, Jenna." She stands, still scared.
Elena stands up as well, "Let her go. I know I have to die, but she doesn't." She walks up to the fire barrier, which flashes higher when she gets too close. And she has to back up.
"Careful," is all Klaus says.
"Elena, don't," Jenna warns.
"No, Jenna," Elena yells, "we can't leave Jeremy without a family!" She turns to Klaus, "I followed your rules, I did everything that you asked. I didn't run. Please!"
The pleading does nothing for Klaus, but something does, because he pauses for a moment. "Well, well. I don't remember you being on the guest list," he says quietly. But he turns his head to a figure in the distance on top of the hill in front of us. It's Stefan. He says something that Klaus hears, and he replies, "Very well then." And Klaus flashes next to Stefan.
Elena turns to Jenna and explains vampire hearing in an attempt to hear the conversation happening above us. But I'm focusing on the things happening around us. The magic is getting stronger as Greta continues to chant, but softly. There's a lot going on. It's like there are layers to it. One is Greta, chanting away behind a bubbling concoction, which is layer two. And then there's something around me, in the air and ground and fire and water further away, even the full moon above us; the magic of nature. And then there's magic that feels like connections, between me and Elena, between me and Jenna, and connections farther away. And finally, there's a buzzing whisper. That sort of tingling that comes from a well-executed plan, or a color-coordinated closet, or a perfect circle. Something oddly satisfying, as if things are falling into place.
But after a few moments, the magic is shifting again. Something's going wrong. It takes a moment, but I can focus the wrongness on Greta. She's tiring, this is taking too long.
And then Jenna finally figures out the conversation above, "Stefan wants to take my place." And Elena freaks out, pacing. "Elena," Jenna tries to warn.
"I have to do something," Elena says pacing in our circle. "This can't happen. None of it."
"It's a little late for that," I snap. Elena's head whips to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out so harshly." The magic is screwing with my head. My head is screwing with itself.
"Quite the predicament," Klaus says, walking up to us with Stefan a few steps ahead. "You know, it's funny. All this talk of preserving family, and here's Stefan, granting your wish."
Elena sighs, "Stefan."
He nods reassuringly, "It's ok."
"Well, who's it going to be, Elena?" Klaus asks, gesturing with a stake.
"No," Elena refuses to answer.
"Oh, don't worry. There's actually no choice," Klaus says. And he flashes and stabs Stefan in the back with the stake.
Stefan screams out in pains, and Elena screams out his name in shock. Stefan groans out when Klaus pushing the stake further into his body.
"I have other plans for your boyfriend," Klaus continues, stepping away from the suffering Stefan. Stefan falls to the ground. "I want him alive. But for now…" and Klaus breaks Stefan's neck.
Elena gasps out in shock and Jenna and I tense in fear. Jenna is going to die. There's no changing that now.
"Whenever you are ready, Greta," Klaus states. And Greta takes a few deep breaths, trying to calm her exhausted pants before she starts chanting again. With a flick of her hand, the circle around Jenna disappears.
"No," Elena cries.
I'm completely frozen. Paralyzed with tension radiating throughout my whole body. I want to fight but I can't. There's nothing for me to fight here.
"Your turn," Klaus says.
"No, Jenna, no!" Elena cries, trying to get to our aunt. But the flames flash too high and Elena has to back off again.
"It's all right, Elena," Jenna replies. "I know what I have to do. I love you both, so much." I gasp when Jenna flashes, attacking Greta and biting her on the neck. Klaus flashes over and pulls Jenna off the witch. Jenna groans when she is caught and again when she is thrown to the ground.
Elena and I are both crying, but I'm doing it silently, shaking. Elena cries out loud, with gasping sobs. She is the one who looks Jenna in the eye and tells her to, "Just turn it off. Jenna. Turn it off. You won't be scared anymore."
Klaus flips Jenna to her back and crouches over her. Jenna cries as he plunges a stake into her chest, directly into her heart. It takes a few moments for her to truly die. The grey pallor of vampire death and desiccation taking its time crawling up her skin. Every shade her skin darkens, every second that passes, every heartbeat of mine I can hear, feels like minutes as I watch Jenna die.
When her body falls, I explode.
"NO!" I scream. God, everything hurts. I want to tear up my skin, rip out my heart to get it to stop. It's like this buzzing burn crawling through my skin, radiating from the pain in my stomach. I just want it to stop. I want to wake up and realize this is a terrible dream. I want Jenna. I want. I can't. I just. I need it. I need this gone. I want it to stop. I just wish it were…it were…was…ugh, it's getting worse. It's burning. I want. It. OUT!
An explosion rocks out from my body, flattening trees as the wavelength hits and throwing Klaus off of his feet from where he stands above my aunt's body. The fire circle around me and Elena is extinguished as Elena and Greta are both knocked to the ground during the shockwave. I fall to the ground after, exhausted and crying, but the feeling still buzzing around me. Around my head and building up in me. It almost hurts again, but that may be because everything hurts. Jenna is gone, and Elena is going to be next. But there's still a feeling of something settling. And I can't tell if that is a good or bad thing.
Klaus finally right himself, flashing down to face me, crying into the ground. "You have magic," he whispers. Almost excitedly. Like he's intrigued at the prospect. But I don't understand how this can be. "Oh, there's so much to do with that. My plans for you will just have to change." No!
Klaus walks away and gestures to Greta. She nods and takes a breath as she waves her arm and two fire circles arise, separating me and Elena.
I look up to see Elena's shocked face, tears still dripping down it. It's going to be her. All of my work and I can't do anything to stop him from picking her.
Greta keeps chanting, her voice now hoarse from the hours of chanting and Jenna's bite. She pours the blood of our aunt into her stupid pot and there's another whoosh as that part of the ritual is completed.
Stefan groans from the ground in front of us, waking up. He tries to reach for the stake still impaled in his back, but he can't reach. He turns his head to see Jenna, dead from the stake to her heart and his head falls back to the ground. He turns is head the other way to find Elena. He whispers an apology, but Elena shushes him.
"Are they going to kill him?" she mouths to him, tears still in her eyes.
"Yes," he answers. And Elena and I exchange glances. It doesn't make any of this worth it, but it does make us feel a bit better. Klaus will get what's coming to him. I have to keep reminding myself. One of my plans has to work and Klaus will get what's coming to him.
Klaus saunters up slowly. Drawing closer to Elena. This is it. "It's time," he says.
The fire around her dies down, but Elena just stares in anger at Klaus. He smirks, holding out a hand, which she ignores and gets up herself after a moment of deliberation. There's no getting out of this now. But that doesn't mean we can't fight back in little ways. She's sullenly silent as she walks up to the altar. Stefan is groaning in front of me, trying to get up to make some daring rescue.
Klaus grips Elena's chin, turning her face to his. "Thank you, Elena," he says.
"Go to hell," she replies.
He smirks, standing behind her and lowers his head to bite her neck. Stefan screams when her blood starts to drain, but all I can do is stare into Elena's eyes, which are locked onto mine.
"I love you, Lena," I mouth to her.
Her last words are, "Love you, Lia," before she falls unconscious and Klaus drinks the last of her blood.
Stefan screams again when her body falls to floor, but all I feel is…empty. As if I were the one drained. I can't hear Stefan's screams or Klaus's victorious laugh or Greta's chants. I just hear ringing and I can only see Elena's unseeing eyes in front of me.
Unlike with Jenna's turbulent death, this time, there's…nothing. No buzzing, no burning or crawling. Just a pit in my stomach, and a feeling of just white. A blank screen.
Just nothing.
I don't know how long it takes me to realize, but something has gone wrong. Instead of victorious howls of a transformed werewolf hybrid or the screams of a dying Klaus, he's yelling. Angry yelling.
I blink and I can see him raging. Trees are broken with trunks having been destroyed. Stefan is unconscious again, beatings to his face healing despite another broken neck. Greta is huddled against the stone altar, flipping through the grimoire she was using. And Klaus? Klaus is every bit the caged wolf, pacing and huffing at the stone altar. The Big Bad Wolf - still locked outside a brick house. Or really, still chained behind a wall of magic after a thousand years and the three sacrifices.
I almost start laughing, but I know the only thing protecting me is the ring of fire around me, which Greta is somehow maintaining. Gotta love little miracles. If I had more self-preservation, I would stay quiet. But I don't have anything left to lose anymore.
"A thousand years, and you still fuck it up," I say standing up. "Five hundred hunting the moonstone and another doppelganger. Three sacrifices in a ritual under the light of the full moon. And still, you failed. How does that feel, Niklaus?"
He stops at the sound of his name, tension gripping him, keeping him still. "The night is not over yet. I still have time to finish this. I will be a hybrid before this night is over." He turns "Or I would be if my WITCH would WORK!"
"Karma certainly is a bitch," I murmur, meandering along the edge of my fire ring, my hands ghosting along the flames.
"Shut up!" he shouts at me. And then he shouts again at a crying Greta.
And it hits me what went wrong; all those pieces have shifted, they no longer fit perfectly. Like instead of that perfect color-coordination, you realize that not all the colors really match. The sacrifice is not complete! He wasted too much time chatting with Stefan and otherwise getting distracted, and the blood started to waste. That's why Greta got so tired from chanting. Part of her magic had to go into maintain the spell while Klaus played with us. And now, he has to supplement more magic. He needs to use both doppelgangers. He needs my blood!
I actually start to chuckle out loud. And my laughs get louder as time progresses. God, I must sound insane, but I just can't believe it's come to this. Klaus needs my blood. Klaus kills Jenna as revenge and then he kills Elena, and now he still needs me. And he can't see it. And that's just fucking hilarious!
"I said SHUT UP!" he flashes, screaming at me. But he's behind flames and I don't give a crap. What's he going to do, kill me?
"I'm not going to do that," I answer. I get up real close to him, and I whisper to him, singsong-y, "I know something you don't know." And I step back, giggling.
"What is it?" he growls through his teeth.
"I know where you went wrong," I say, playing with the fire again.
"And what might that be?" he asks, teeth grinding in his mouth.
I just hum and make him stew for a minute. Oh, this is so much more fun. "You know in magic, there's a lot of power in twins. I mean, multiple children in one pregnancy is special, just in normal life. But in magic, it's quite spectacular. Twin witches are truly something to be seen. But twin doppelgangers? Stuff of legend." I turn to face him. "Did you ever wonder why there might be two Petrova doppelgangers?"
And he catches on. He turns to return to Greta to release the ring spell.
"But guess what, Klaus," I interrupt him. He turns back. "You're only getting one." And I pull out my dagger and place it on my left carotid artery, the dagger only slightly digging into my skin. He tries to flash forward, but I catch him, "Ah, ah, ah. Klaus. That's not how this is going to work." He stops. "Good. Now, I know you've never seen it, but I'm quite handy with this dagger. And with fighting vampires. One shift, one muscle movement and this dagger goes into my artery and I die in two seconds. Do you think you are fast enough to get enough blood in that time? Because I don't think you are. And unless you want to test it…" I pause, give him the chance to consider it. How much is he willing to risk, cause I'm willing to go all in. "Then, I suggest you stay right there."
His jaw clenches from his spot frozen on the outside of my fire ring.
I giggle, "Isn't it so horrible when someone ruins your carefully crafted plans?" I laugh, "And aren't you wishing you picked the right sister? Aren't you wishing you agreed to my deal? I could've lied down and been sacrificed like a good doppelganger, but you just had to kill my aunt and now, look at what you've gotten us into."
"It seems we are at an impasse, sweetheart."
"I wouldn't go quite so far. I think there are things still left to discuss."
He does a short pace, caged wolf at its finest. I mean I don't even think he really needs to break the curse. He's got enough wolf in him to make it work. "What do you want?" he asks me.
I pause. "I wanted a lot of things. I wanted to keep my sister alive and safe. I wanted to keep the little family I had left together. I wanted to live a long and happy life, but it looks like I'm not getting any of those things, so you should be asking yourself, why should I be giving anything to you?"
He paces again, before he gets feds up being kept apart by magic. He yells, "GRETA!" and the fire disappears, but I'm not worried. I've still got a dagger.
He turns and I press harder into my skin, cutting it deeper and bleeding harder than the few drops I was before, "I wouldn't move if I were you. The end of the Petrova's could be right here and where would that leave your curse?"
Klaus growls when he realizes, but with another gush of blood released from my neck, he stops. His whole body is still tense, ready for that one moment that I release my knife. But that's not going to happen.
And with a glance, my anger practically disappears. I can see Elena and Jenna, their bodies, lying close together. My breath rushes out and my knife slips a bit away, but Klaus sees and shifts and I'm back to focusing on him and my knife is still at my throat. "You've taken my family away from me," I whisper, tears building in my eyes. "I know family doesn't mean anything to you," I say, anger building again. "You pushed your siblings away until they betrayed you and then you KILLED them." He flinches at my scream. "But my family means everything to me! I was going to sacrifice myself to you to protect them. But you…You had to be selfish. You had to be the same egomaniac that forced your siblings to betray you! And you brought MY family into this!" I glance once more, and the tears start rushing out. The anger still present, but this time wilder, more emotional. "You killed them! You took my family from me! Why should I give anything?!" I rage at him, tears streaming down my face. "I should kill myself in front of you just out of spite," I spit at him.
"Emilia," he warns.
"NO!" I scream at him. "You don't get to say my name. You don't get anything from me."
I start to pace my area a bit, watching as his muscles strain from being held. But other than the one slip earlier, my knife hasn't moved from its spot in my neck. My left side is getting drenched in my blood, causing my clothes to stick and my head to lighten, but I continue to move. Each moment that passes is more blood lost from me, and the more tense Klaus becomes as he can see the evidence of how much blood is wasted and the reality of him losing out hits him.
But as it hits him, he becomes more erratic. He starts to mimic my pacing, never getting closer, but moving all the same. And he starts testing my boundaries beyond physical space. "You are not going to do it, Emilia. Give yourself over, sweetheart."
"I'm not your fucking sweetheart," I fume.
"C'mon on then. We can settle this. I promise to be gentle with you."
"I don't believe in any of your promises."
"How about a guarantee?"
I just hum noncommittally at him.
"I can guarantee you will see your family again," Klaus cajoles, smirking at me.
And it hits me. All of my plans. The spells I found. The magic I called upon to protect my family. All of it centered around the power of my sacrifice, both by giving myself over and by being part of this ritual. I can't kill myself. Not if I want them to come back.
I need to give myself to Klaus.
Doesn't mean I have to make it easy for him. Let's hope magic is forgiving, because I'm about to do something reckless.
"You want to make a deal, Klaus?" I ask him. My eyes squinting at him.
"If that's what I need to do," he answers with a veneer of politeness, "I'm willing to negotiate." And then he loses it, "Quickly, Emilia."
"You want my blood," I start. I'm starting to get a little breathless from the blood loss, but the I'm not worried yet. I can still hide it, then I've got time. I survived worse from the werewolves. And the more blood lost means less blood from Klaus.
"Obviously," he interrupts tensely.
I stop in front of him, but still at a distance. I confront him, dead on, "The beg for it."
"What?" he gasps out in shock.
"You heard me," I tell him, unamused. I then switch to holding the knife in my left hand. Klaus's eyebrows raise as he sees the knife jostle in the transition, but I don't give him the opening he desires. "Beg," I command, lifting my head up a bit, sending another larger gush out.
He glances to my wound, and at my knife in my left hand. "I don't beg," he grits out through his teeth. The blood making him angrier.
"You did once. Long ago. I'm sure you don't like to remember. Don't want to remember how weak you were," I spit at him a bit, before backing up slowly, my tone turning deadly. "Back in your human days, you used to beg a lot. You begged for mercy. For love. And as you cowered, craving the power that you still so desperately seek."
He stands absolutely still as I continue. "I said I found out a lot of your secrets. And your dismissal of my initial deal only gave me that much more motivation to find more out. I know why you want to complete this ritual. Why you need to break this curse. You can spit out excuses of feeling whole or achieving your destiny as a hybrid. But I know the truth. You want the power," I purr, "you were begging for lifetimes ago. The same power that you feel you need to defeat the one you've been running from for centuries."
"You begged, Niklaus. For mercy from your own mother as she cursed you with the very spell you are asking to break. You begged you brother, pleading for his love to save you, only for him to watch silently as both your curses took effect. And you begged every time your father beat you," I throw at him, whipping him with my words in the same manner as he used to be whipped.
"So, yes Niklaus," I say, getting as close as I have ever gotten to him. "You will beg. You will beg me for my blood, because I am your last obstacle to achieving what, you think, will give you the power to defeat him." I look him dead in the eye, "Because you're going to need that power. He's coming, Niklaus. He's coming for you and for your death." I take a step back, giving him room. My left arm is starting to twitch from holding the knife so long. Or the blood loss. Either way, I'm running out of time. "So, beg!"
He takes a moment and I can see the decision warring on his face. The fear of the upcoming threat, the thousand-year-old instincts to keep running, the reality of losing out on freeing himself from this curse. His decision is made when he sees me, really sees me, for the first time in a few minutes. The shaking hands, the deathly pallor, the blood absolutely drenching my clothes.
"Please, Emilia," he pleads, softly and sincerely. He's doing it, begging. I've won.
The knife drops out of my hands with a clang, and it startles Klaus. He takes a few seconds to realize what it is.
The blood is gushing at a speed that surprises me. It's not enough to kill me instantly, but I only have a few seconds left. And in those few seconds I have left, I speak what are sure to be my last words, "Mark my words, Klaus. Breaking this curse won't bring you anything you want," I breathe out. It's getting hard to stand and focus. "You will end up just as alone as you were when he left you bleeding in the woods." I try to stand as tall and as proud as I can for this last moment. "So, as my sister said, 'Go to hell,' Niklaus. Give your father a warm welcome when he finds you there."
I start to collapse, and he flashes over. I can feel him ripping my throat out in efforts to get as much of my remaining blood he can.
I can't even feel the pain.
Despite the blood rushing out of me, Klaus's presence around me, and Greta's weak chanting, I turn my head to Elena and Jenna.
I'm determined to have their faces be the last thing I see.
Magic accept my sacrifice, willingly done, with pure of heart and intentions. Protect my family. Do what you must with me but let my family live.
I hope my body lies with them when I'm gone.
I close my eyes peacefully.
And I let go.
Omake: At the Witch House, Bonnie and Jeremy are downstairs researching spells in efforts to save Elena.
Bonnie hears the wood creak upstairs, "Someone's here."
Jeremy points the light of the flashlight at the entrance to their room. Footsteps come down the stairs and Alaric enters, Jeremy relaxes, "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asks.
He walks over slowly, "Elijah and Stefan are upstairs. You mind if I have a second with Jeremy?"
"Sure, yeah. Of course," Bonnie answers, standing up.
Alaric is silently clutching his jaw until Bonnie leaves.
Jeremy sees the tension and asks, "What's going on?" standing up himself.
Alaric reluctantly answers, "Something's happened to Jenna. And Emilia," Alaric starts. He then details what's happening to Jeremy's family, while upstairs Bonnie is told the same by Stefan and Elijah.
The moments are both broken when John comes walking in. Or stumbling to be more precise.
Stefan rushes over while Bonnie and Elijah follow at slower paces.
"What's going on? What's happening to you?" Stefan asks, but John just pants out silently. He groans when Bonnie gets closer, breathing slightly easier. Behind them, Elijah smirks seeing the man's face and his pain.
The group rushes the sweating man inside and downstairs.
Alaric again asks, "What's going on?"
Stefan is about to answer when John sits up, and starts instead, "It's a curse. On me. I was magically compelled here, rather painfully. I don't know why, but I brought this." And he hands an old book to Bonnie. "I don't know why, but it's one of Johnathan Gilbert's journals. For some reason, I needed to bring it and come here." And he groans again, leaning over as the pain recedes a bit.
Bonnie grabs the book and she only has to hold it before it opens on its own and flips to the correct page. She reads what it is out loud, explaining to the group, "It's a resuscitation spell. It's one of Emily Bennett's spells she made for him."
John groans, his head falling forward.
Jeremy looks over Bonnie, reading the details over her shoulder, "Do you know what this is?" he asks his uncle.
"I had a hunch when I was forced to grab that journal," John answers. "There's a story in there about a mother who came to Emily Bennett for a spell to save her baby. The mother gave her life for her child to live. I imagine that I was brought here to do the same."
"And you're prepared to do this?" Alaric asks skeptically.
"It's not like I really have a choice here. But I would've either way," John answers a bit flippantly.
Elijah chuckles from behind the group, "Emilia was not going to take that chance," he comments.
Everyone turns to him shocked. Jeremy is the first one to shake out of it to ask, "What do you mean? What does my sister have to do with this?"
He nods, pulling an envelope out of his jacket. He looks to the names written on the outside of it for a moment, before he hands it over to the recipients, the two teens in front of him, "Your sister wrote this letter for me to deliver. If John were to arrive, I was to give this to you and Bonnie. It details the work that she's done and the plan that she is hoping that you together will accomplish."
Jeremy takes it silently, his hand shaking as he takes what might be the last words of his sister. He tears up as he sees her handwriting on the envelope.
Alaric is the one to encourage him to open it, with a "Jeremy, you can do this. We need to know what to do."
He opens it, but he hands it to Bonnie to read. She skims it silently before turning to the group, "It's a really detailed plan." She turns to John, "A few weeks ago, Em attacked you, right?"
Stefan is the one to answer, his brow furrows as he recollects, "Yeah, it was during the Isobel fiasco. I had to pull her off of him."
Bonnie nods, "It turns out she tried to curse him. A curse that uses the ties of your shared blood to get you to do something she wishes. She was going to use it to get you to actually care for your children. She thought it failed. And by all means, it should've, because Emilia doesn't have magic. But somehow she got a witch and used magic to invoke the curse to bring you here and for you to be used to for this spell."
Everyone stands around shocked for a moment before John stands up tall again, asking, "What else does it say?"
Bonnie flips through the handwritten pages for a moment, "Give me a second."
Alaric turns to John, surprised at his question, "What? You are just going to do this? I mean, you?"
John turns to him, "I don't have to explain anything to you. But the fact of the matter is, I know I should've stepped up a long time ago. And I've tried to get Emilia to see that I do care, but she doesn't trust me. And I know, that it's for good reason. If I can do something to prove it, listen to her words, her wants, her instructions, and be a part of her plan, then I'll do it. Because no matter what, she is still my daughter. And it's time I finally stepped up to be her father." He steps back and turns to Bonnie, "Now, what do I need to do?"
"There's roles for all of us, and I have a lot of directions," Bonnie answers, still flipping through pages.
"Just give us a summary," Stefan advises.
"Look, Emilia was detailed. She gave me all the steps of what she did, what to do for Klaus, reminders to not overexert myself no matter what, instructions for what to do with Elena's body and how to prepare it and John for this resurrection spell, in case her other plans go wrong. She doesn't say anything about herself other than what she did for us, nothing about what we can do to save her," Bonnie explains a little frantically.
Elijah answers the unasked question, "It's because she made arrangements for herself to come back but doesn't imagine that she will. That her plans will work for her. She planned for everyone before herself. She wants to save her sister and her aunt, and if that requires her to not come back, then she won't."
The room is silent as they process the words. Bonnie looks down, desperately trying to find something to help, but there's only two real plans to save someone, and both of them are for someone else, either Elena or now, Jenna.
"One of these plans can be utilized to save Jenna," Bonnie points out sadly. Alaric and Jeremy whip their heads to Bonnie and the paper in her hands, and then they realize.
"What does it say?" Alaric asks.
Bonnie flips to the end, "All it says is for someone to bring the bodies back here for me to complete any spells she had started, 'Don't be stupid,' 'Keep safe', and that she loves us."
The room again sits stunned at what will likely be Emilia's final words for them.
Elijah breathes for a moment before he checks his watch, he sighs silently, and he turns to catch Stefan's eye. He nods and turns to Bonnie who also nods. She hands the sheet of papers to Jeremy and they walk out.
It's time to get ready to kill Klaus. But thoughts of Emilia and her actions are not off their minds.
I wake up slowly.
It feels like swimming up from deep water. Mind-bending, changing every second that passes. Floating one moment and drowning the next.
But the feeling that sticks with me the most is the final one, an intense headache and blinding lights when I finally open my eyes.
I groan when the pain hits and it hits hard. It's as if once my body knows I'm awake and back, that every bit of pain rushes in. I can't hear anything, can't feel anything other than the pain. It feels like I'm burning from the inside out. Every inch of me feels like I'm roasting.
It starts as a constant rush of burning, then it comes in waves, increasing and decreasing the pain.
My body should be adapting to the pain, but it doesn't. It just keeps burning and sending shockwaves of pain through my body.
I don't know how long it lasts.
But eventually, I pass out again.
The second time I wake up, at least that I can remember I can, it's comes more suddenly. No swimming. Just a normal, woke-up-from-an-intense-dream kind of fog.
The headache and blinding lights remain the same.
This time there's no follow up burning pain. I tense and there's soreness, but it's manageable. I try again to open my eyes, this time letting in the light slowly. I let out a small groan at the pain, but I keep going until my eyes are fully open and seeing.
Seeing that I'm outside. It's early morning, the sun is barely in the sky.
It takes a minute or two, but I can manage to push through the muscle soreness to sit up and look around. I recognize these woods. I groan but I make myself turn around. I'm in the grass by the witch house, somewhere to the side of the house.
But the grass around me is completely flattened and burned in a perfect circle around me.
God, what happened?
I can feel the wind pick up around me. It brushes against my skin and blows through my hair playfully. It somehow gives me the strength to get up. Am I alive? What is this?
I look down and I'm wearing the same clothes as during the sacrifice. Both my top and pants are soaked in blood, but it's partially dried. My shirt cracks as I sit up. I lift my hand to check my neck. There's a semi-circular mark there. A bite mark. Klaus's.
He killed me. But does this mean I'm dead?
Did the elixir work? What about the sacrificial magic? Are Jenna and Elena alive? Too?
I manage to stand, and I stumble to the front door of the house. My skin tickles when I step inside, but it's only a passing thought as I continue to limp to the stairs and down them.
All I find are bodies.
Elena, Jenna, and John are flat on their backs. Jeremy is on the ground, clutching Bonnie. Alaric is slumped over against the wall by Jenna.
What is this? Did I fail? Did I kill them all?
How did everything go wrong?
They were all supposed to be fine! They were all supposed to be the ones alive while I was the one who was supposed to die! It was supposed to be me! Not them!
I stumble over to Elena who is frozen, but I collapse to the ground before I make it. And that's when I see it.
Breathing. Some of them are breathing.
Alaric, Jeremy, Bonnie. They are all breathing.
Why is no one else?
I crawl over to Elena first. I shake her but there's nothing. I flip to see Jenna. The stake that killed her is gone, but the blood remains. I gasp out a quiet sob when I see it. She was supposed to be safe! Magic was supposed to save her, not me! I failed! I failed her! Tears stream down my face silently. And I reach out a hand to rub against her face, but as soon as I touch her skin, the morning light hits and there's a spark of electricity.
And then, she gasps loudly.
I fall back in surprise, falling and hitting my hip on the ground. But Jenna continues to breathe again and sits up.
"Jenna?" I gasp out quietly.
She turns to me blinking, "Emilia?" I pull her into a hug, and she pulls me close and tight.
"I'm so sorry," I cry into her shoulder. "I let you die."
She shushes me. "You didn't let me die, Emilia. You fought for me until the end. I'm sorry I couldn't fight hard enough for you," she cries back. I sob out loud.
And when I open my eyes, I notice Alaric is awake behind us.
And then I get shocked from Jenna and we immediately release.
"What is happening?" I ask out loud.
My question wakes everyone up, because Jeremy, Bonnie, and Alaric start reacting. They call our names and give out hugs, including a big group hug that ends as soon as it starts because as soon as I touch Jenna, there's another shock, only this one starts to get painful.
Jeremy is the one to ask the question this time, "what's going on?"
I take stock of the situation. I'm alive and so is Jenna, but John and Elena are not. I haven't seen either of the Salvatore's or Elijah. "First, what happened last night?" I ask.
"Klaus broke his curse," Bonnie explains. "We followed your plan. John came and everything. Elijah gave us your note, but when it came to it, Elijah betrayed us."
"What?" I ask, shocked. He didn't do it? He broke our deal. After everything? But I swallow all of these rushing feelings and focus on the moment. "So, Klaus is still alive. What else?"
"Well, Elijah made sure your body was returned before he betrayed us," Alaric remarks gently.
I shake my head, "I don't care about that. Tell me about John."
"He came, just like you wanted," Jeremy answers.
Bonnie continues, "We did the spell just as you directed. He volunteered which made it easier. He was really adamant about it, especially when Damon came later and taunted about Elena possibly turning into a vampire. But, he did it."
Ok, so that's weird. The spell should've worked for Elena. "If John is dead, then Elena should be awake."
Everyone glances in different directions.
Bonnie speaks up, "He left a note for you. And one for Elena. Maybe the answer's in there."
I shake my head, "John wouldn't have understood the complexities of this magic. There's gotta be something that he said or did that changes things."
Bonnie starts to shake her head, but stops and remembers something, "His last words. After I did the spell, he murmured something. I didn't hear him because I was finishing the last of the words, but he said something. I didn't think about it then, but he may have said…something along the lines of 'I'm doing this for both of them.' I don't know."
My head shoots up when I hear his potential words, "He said he was doing this for both of us?" I ask for clarification.
"Something like that," Bonnie shrugs.
"Oh, no, no, no," I rush over to John and Elena's bodies. John is dead, he feels gone. But Elena…something is off. She's not quite dead. She doesn't feel dead. She feels warm, like her body is still working but it's like she's frozen. The magic got confused and now can't settle. "He was only supposed to die for Elena, but because we both died and he sacrificed himself for both of his children, he screwed up the magic. That's why she's not awake."
"How do we fix it?" Jeremy asks.
I pace a bit, my muscles still aching, but I ignore it. "I don't know," I answer. "But I swear I'll figure it out soon, but right now I still have questions, like how am I alive?"
Alaric answers this time, "We were hoping you could tell us. You didn't explain anything about how to save you. The only thing we knew was something Elijah mentioned about you 'making arrangements', but not trusting in it."
I nod, pacing. "I did, but it wasn't supposed to work. Not like this. I shouldn't be alive. Jenna, but not me."
Jenna is the one to ask, "Then how are we both here?" I stop and I turn to grab her hand, but when I touch her, there's another painful shock. "And why does that keep happening?" she asks, scared.
It takes a moment, but something clicks in my brain, "My plan worked, but something went really wrong."
"What do you mean?" Alaric asks.
"I sacrificed myself for Jenna. I gave up my life for hers. Well, hers and Elena's but with John's spell, my life went to Jenna. That's what was supposed to happen, anyway. But somehow, I came back too. And now, whatever magic that was used is mad at us."
"What?" Bonnie asks.
I pace as I try to explain, "The magic was warped. A loophole was found somehow, I don't know. But somehow, my sacrifice worked to bring us both back and now, magic is rejecting it."
"Rejecting?" Bonnie asks. She grabs a few of the scattered grimoires, flipping through to figure it out, but it hits her anyways, "You don't mean…"
"I mean, if the magic of the sacrifice isn't settled soon, either Jenna or I is going to die," I finish. "I have to die for Jenna to live, and maybe my death will settle John's sacrifice too and Elena will come back."
"No," Jeremy shouts. "We just got you back," he pleads. "I can't lose you too."
"You'll have Jenna and Elena, you'll be fine," I try to comfort him.
"That's not good enough," he cries.
"It has to be this way, Jeremy. Jenna and I can't be living together," I say, wiping his tears from his face.
"No," Jenna starts, walking towards me, "I can't let you sacrifice yourself for me. Not again." She tries to grab my hand but there's another shock. This one making us both gasp in pain and recoil.
"We can't live like this. I have to die," I explain.
"Wait, Emilia," Bonnie starts. "There's one more thing you should know."
"What?" I ask, turning to her.
"When your body was returned, we brought you down here with everyone else," she starts.
I interrupt, confused, "But I woke up outside?"
"Yeah, that's the thing," Bonnie continues. "You came back and there was no doubt that you were dead, I mean your body was mangled and damaged completely." She shivers as she looks to an empty spot in the room. I follow her gaze to a spot on the floor, where remnants of what I assume is my blood have dried on the ground.
"I might've pissed off Klaus. Like a lot," I quickly explain.
Bonnie shakes as she remembers, her voice getting thick with unshed tears, "Your body was a mess, but as soon as we brought you inside, you started to heal. I mean you had a lot of fatal wounds, including your neck absolutely destroyed and your body completely drained of blood." Jeremy grabs her hand and he wraps himself around her as she continues, "I mean it was horrifying to see your body like what is was. We could barely recognize you." She takes a shaky inhale, "but everything healed completely, except for your neck which just has a scar." I lift my hand to feel the raised edges of the deep scar tissue. "And then, when everything was healed, you started to wake up again. It was just small movements at first, but then you opened your eyes. And we thought everything was going to be fine, until I touched you, and then you started to scream." I remember as she describes everything. "You were rolling around, your body in agony, screaming your head off. And we couldn't do anything to fix it. I tried spells and herbs, but it only seemed to make things worse. Alaric had to carry you outside, just to make the noise a little bearable, because you were screaming so much. But as soon as he set you down on the grass, a fire sprung up around you."
"The burnt circle," I murmur.
"Yeah," Bonnie whispers. "You screamed for a few more minutes, but then it's like you passed out and everything stopped. Except we still couldn't touch you. We thought you might've died again, but the fire kept burning around you and we had to leave you be."
"What does this mean?" I question.
Bonnie grabs my hand, pulling my focus to her face, "I don't know what you did, Emilia. But whatever it is went through a lot to bring you back to life. And I don't know what will happen if you try to die again."
"But Jenna and I aren't able to both live," I state.
"Then I die," Jenna explains.
"No!" Jeremy, Alaric, and I all cry out.
"You can't die again, Jenna," Alaric pleads.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" She cries.
"Is Jenna still a vampire?" Jeremy asks. "What if we could have her turn again?"
Jenna pauses for a moment, checking. Her eyes darken and vein appear under her eyes. She shakes her head, "I'm still a vampire." And Jeremy falls a bit down.
Alaric is the next one to suggest something, "What if you guys both live and just don't touch each other. I mean the only time anything seems to happen is when you two touch, so just don't."
"It's not going to work like that," I explain. "The pain gets worse every time we touch, and this is just leading to something bigger. It's only going to get worse."
"What if you just don't live together?" Jeremy asks.
I start to shoot him down when I stop and think about something slightly different. "Jenna and I can't live together," I say, starting to pace again.
"That's what I just suggested," Jeremy comments.
I wave him off, "Not like that. I mean, kind of, but no. I mean, we can't live together. This magic is based on sacrifice. To bring Jenna back, I had to give myself up. But magic is about balance and us both coming back upsets that balance. We need to sacrifice something else to make everything right."
"We're not killing anyone," Alaric commands.
"That's not what I'm suggesting," I explain.
Bonnie joins in, "There are plenty of forms of sacrifice. Blood is usually the go to. Animals were used a lot in the old days."
I add, "But this magic is based on connection. I think we need to sacrifice that connection, ours," I gesture, "to bring back balance."
"How do you do that?" Jenna asks.
I take a deep breath, "It means that Jenna and I can't ever see each other again."
"What?" Jenna, Jeremy, and Alaric ask.
"Our connection is through our lives together as family, as guardian and child. We have to sever that connection if both of us are going to live," I explain, choking up.
"So, I adopt you," Alaric volunteers. "I become your guardian."
"It's not that simple," I say tearing up. I can't believe it's coming to this. "We really have to sever this connection. This is a sacrifice. And we've run out of lucky loopholes here. Jenna and I can't be together in any fashion," I start crying as I finish.
"We really can't see each other again?" Jenna asks, crying silently.
"Not if we both want to live," I answer.
"Then, I'll leave," Jenna decides.
"What?" I cry. "Jenna, no!"
"Emilia, look at what you have done for us," she starts. "You literally died for us. And you created all kinds of magical loopholes for everything. You got us out of an impossible situation. I can't compete with that."
"Jenna, it's not a competition," I respond.
"It's not," she agrees, shaking her head. "But you are already our protector. You've always been. From the very beginning, you were taking care of us at your parent's funeral. You fed us the whole summer. You bought the school supplies for you and your siblings. You were my partner in raising your siblings when I should've been taking care of you. You kept a whole world of supernatural things away from us, and when you couldn't do that, you protected us all. I may not know of all the things you have been doing this whole time, but I know I will never be able to do anywhere close to the same. You are already your siblings' guardian, it's just time you take that name for yourself." She tries to reach out to brush the tears off my cheek, but she stops, knowing the consequences of the action.
"But you have a life here, Jenna," I try to plead.
But she just shakes her head, "My life is technically over. I'm a vampire. I already died. There's no use for you to do the same. If I'm going to live an immortal life, I'm going to have to get used to starting over. May as well start now."
"Jenna," I plead again.
"No," she stops me. "I've made up my mind, Emilia. You sacrificed yourself for me. It's time I do the same for you."
"But Jenna, you may forget us," I try to explain through my tears. "We don't know what the magic will do."
"Then I forget you," she tries to shrug. "but I know that even if I can't remember you in my mind, I'll remember you in my heart, Emilia." And she breaks down crying again.
Jeremy is the one to pull her into a hug, "Don't go," he still tries to plead.
She pulls him close and rubs his head. She whispers, "Take care of your sisters for me." And he nods, stepping back and pulling me into a hug. I don't know who is holding back who, but either way, neither of us can move.
Alaric is the next one to step up to try to stop her, but she just pulls him in for a kiss, "I love you, Alaric."
"I'll come with you, Jenna. I don't want to lose you," he declares.
"Watch out for my kids for me," she asks.
"Jenna," he starts again.
"Alaric," she replies, staring him in the eye. "Take care of them for me." I don't know if she used compulsion or she just stunned him enough, but he nods and steps back.
She tries to leave but I stop her, calling out for her and breaking out of Jeremy's grip. I run over to a book and rip out a blank enough piece of paper. I find an almost dried-up pen, one of Jeremy's, and I scribble as much information as I can before I run over and hand it to Jenna. "I have some witch friends in different places. People I kind of trust. You are part of the supernatural world now; you are going to need some contacts. Just in case you need anything. One is in Oklahoma, she's pretty nice. The other's in Albuquerque, they're more of an asshole but they're good. Both of them will take care of you."
She takes the paper, thanks me.
And then she's gone.
I can feel some pressure lift, so I know it's real. The magic has accepted our sacrifice.
I collapse anyways.
Two days pass and Elena still hasn't woken. I've spent every moment with her that I can. Researching, talking, arguing with the Salvatore's when they get upset. As if they have more right to Elena than I do. I send them out to plan John's funeral. John and Jenna's, after I convinced the other three who saw her last that this is the best route. For all intents and purposes, Jenna is dead, from the same event that killed John. Even to the ones that know of Klaus, Jenna is dead. Only Alaric, Jeremy, Bonnie, and I know the truth. And I've sworn them to secrecy to keep it that way.
The only time I leave Elena is for the funeral. With no end to Elena's magical coma in sight, no answers or hints or anything in mind to help, life unfortunately has to proceed. There's a public wake at the house that I stand through alone. I stand in my new black lace dress, with a black scarf to hide my new scar, to accept condolences from the town in place of my siblings. In their minds, Jeremy is taking care of Elena, who was injured in the accident. In reality, Jeremy is watching over Elena's body at the witch house. There's no need for them to hear the talk of "The Tragic Gilbert family". I didn't think this could be explained by another car accident, less than a year after our parents. Not to mention my own before that. So, the story for the town is that John's crazy ex decided to take revenge against John, attacking him, Jenna, and Elena. John died protecting Elena, who is still in a coma, but Jenna died from her injuries.
God, I really wish I came up with a different excuse. Like maybe a fire. But frankly, I don't mind throwing Isobel and John under the metaphorical bus for this situation. Despite their goodbyes, I'm still feeling a little petty about everything.
But my siblings are safe enough from all of this. They don't need to hear the gossip and the sneers and the judgement. I couldn't save everyone. I arranged for John to be killed. This is something for me to withstand alone. All the pinched cheeks and polite wishes of condolences. All the casseroles and questions about "What's going to happen to you now?", "Why the scarf, dear?", "where are your siblings?" and "How are you dealing with all of this?". I give back polite answers and polite smiles as time drags through slowly. Luckily, every time I get tired and frustrated and my polite smile turns a bit dangerous, Caroline or Alaric steps up and accepts condolences on my part and gives me a break. I wouldn't have made it through this without bloodshed if they hadn't been here.
Following the wake, we have a quiet funeral ceremony in Gilbert funeral plot. The ones who know of what truly happened, crowd around an officiant as he blesses over the two caskets. Stefan and Damon stand silent in the back, while Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, Matt, and Alaric crowd around Jeremy and I; everyone holding two flowers. Except for me; I hold 5. The space next to me stands empty, the space where Elena is supposed to be. But in my head, I don't hear the officiant's words. All I can think of is John's last words to me.
I opened his note yesterday, hoping it would hold answers on how to fix Elena. Instead, he left a simple goodbye message. A message of his understanding of his failures as a parent, how he did hear the words I screamed at him, and how the asinine stubbornness I saw in him, he saw reflected so much better in me. Instead of the stubborn pride that he had, I had the sheer determination and love for family that he always admired in both of my mothers, Isobel and Miranda. He apologized for the mistakes he made and for never being there for me, despite how much he wished he was. He admits that he knew I cursed him, but he didn't care. He forgave me instantly and would've given himself up for me anyways. He should've and he knows that. He forgave me for everything. He forgave me and he loves me, no matter what happens. He said that a lot. In the end, he explains his message to Elena and leaving her his Gilbert ring for future generations. He says, that despite the love for the Gilbert family history he knows I have, for once, I deserved something special.
I take a moment to snap out of my thoughts and to look down at the new ring that's on my right hand. It's a silver ring with lapis lazuli and diamond pieces. The band is made up of two silver strands twisting around smaller pieces of lapis lazuli and diamonds. In the center, there's a larger, gorgeous, color-swirling piece of lapis lazuli surrounded by diamonds forming a flower with the diamonds as petals. John explained that he had this ring made out of the love from my parents. The silver strands are each from a ring of my fathers, John and Grayson. The diamonds are from my mother, Miranda's wedding set, with the largest diamond and the engagement ring still intact in the family safe deposit box for me to have in the future. The lapis lazuli is from Isobel's necklace. Apparently, he admits to stealing it from the Boarding House after Isobel's death. Together, they stand united in this ring, as a reminder of how much they love me and how even from beyond, they still stand with me to protect me and our family.
The sunlight glints off the ring when I lean down to place two of the roses from my hands onto John's grave. I mouth words of goodbye, both for him, and for Isobel as I place a rose for each of them. It's not here now, but I had a message placed on John's grave for Isobel. She may not be able to have been buried in her own grave or in this one, but it's my way of having them be honored as my biological parents, no matter what they did in their lives aside from that. I know that they abandoned me and disappointed me at every turn, but in the end, they both apologized and sacrificed themselves in some way for Elena and me. It may not be enough to make up for what they did in life, (not even close) but I can honor their deaths. I place two more flowers on the grave on John's side, the one marked for my parents. I place my last rose on the final grave in the line, Jenna's, and I step back. The new graves surrounding the previous one, each next to their respective sibling.
Jeremy is next to do the same, and Caroline hands me extra roses for us to place together for Elena. Everyone else places their two flowers on each new grave after that. My heart breaks when I see Alaric place an extra red rose on Jenna's grave. He didn't have to stay; he could've gone with her. But he places a hand on my shoulder and on Jeremy's as he passes us on his way back, and I sob. He gave her up for us, because she asked. I'll never be able to repay that.
The funeral ends as it passed for me, in distracted haze of tears. Caroline is the one to lead me out as all I can think about is 'What if I have to come back here in a few days, only this time my sister's body is the one that's dropped down into the ground.' It stuns me frozen and repeats in my head for the rest of the funeral. Caroline is the one to take care of me for the rest of the day.
Starting the day after the funeral and up to a week after the sacrifice, I'm unrelenting in my research. I have Bonnie run spells almost hourly. I send Jeremy on book runs to the Martin's daily because I'm too focused (and scared of potentially running into someone). Alaric and sometimes Matt bring food. Caroline brings clothes. And Stefan comes in every couple of hours for updates, but Damon doesn't.
Well, he tried once. He wanted to see Elena, make some apologies, but he couldn't. I didn't let him. The house didn't let him into the room either. I pushed his weird insistent behavior aside. He can attempt apologies later, right now, I'm busy trying to save what he broke. My first plan would've saved Elena just fine, even if the sacrifice required us both. But now she's stuck like this because of him. Because of both of us, really. But still, I'm at least doing something to fix it. He can make his apologies when I've fixed it.
Caroline has to argue with me for an hour to get me to leave Elena's side for the 'Movie in the Square'. It's Gone with the Wind, one of Caroline's favorites and she refuses to see it without me. She actually said the words, "And if you make me miss this movie, Emmy, I swear to god, I will sit here every minute of every day and complain at my max level of patented Caroline whine." And frankly, I didn't want to find out what hours of Caroline whine would sound like. She's broken it out in a few arguments when we were younger for just a moment, and I hated it. With her help and Bonnie's, we drag Jeremy out as well. Stefan stays behind to watch over Elena.
I hold the blankets, while Caroline is in charge of the snacks. Bonnie and Jeremy just hold hands, the slackers. Caroline tries to complain about our lack of costumes, but I just give her an exhausted look and she quiets down. She runs to help Bonnie grab something from the car, leaving me and Jeremy alone for a minute.
"So, you brought me to see a girls' movie," he says. I hand him the other side of the blanket.
"We had to get out of that dirty witch house, Jere," I try to explain. "At least that what Caroline says. I'm with you, I'd rather be trying to help Elena. But we need to continue to live, so this" I motion around us, "is our 4-hour distraction from reality."
"Is that what we are doing?" Jere asks while we fluff the blanket open, "Pretending like our lives aren't screwed. Our sister is in a magical coma, we just lost our aunt and our uncle-slash-your-father. No one says we need to act like we're normal."
"I'm not saying that we have to pretend to be okay, Jeremy," I answer, placing the blanket on the ground. "I'm saying that we need to keep living, even if others aren't. If I could fix everything right now, I would. Even if it would cost me my life. But as much as I hate this, and I really do, I can't fix anything right now. So, if I need to have us both dragged outside to get a little life into our lives, then fine, we're gonna be dragged." I sit down on the blanket and stare up at him, still standing.
Caroline comes back, holding up two baskets of snacks, "Hey, who's hungry?"
"Are we really doing this?" Jeremy mutters.
Caroline sets down the baskets and stands up again, "Yes, we are really doing this." She puts her hands on her hips, full blown cheer captain pose, and says, "We are going to take a page from Scarlett. We made it through the war. I know you guys went through hell, and it's still not quite over, and my mom knows I'm a vampire, so basically it's like Atlanta has burned." She sits down next to me. "And yet, in spite of everything," she fist pumps into the sky, "we persevere." She smiles at Jeremy and then at me.
I turn to Jeremy, and he sighs, "Alright." And he sits down on the blanket, "What are we eating?"
"Something good," Caroline answers. And I toss him a plastic water bottle.
We chat quietly for a while, just the three of us. Bonnie still hasn't returned, but she texted Jeremy earlier about an errand and promises that she'll be back before the movie starts. She joins us a bit later, smiling and sitting next to Jeremy, leaning against him. She catches my eye and nods her head to the side. I follow the direction of her nod and I see Stefan, who waves me over.
I make an excuse of going to the bathroom before the movie starts to the group and I walk over, "What's up?" I say, crossing my arms.
"The other night," Stefan starts, flinching a bit at my hardening gaze, "when Damon was helping Tyler, something happened."
I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment, and preparing myself for something stupid. I wave my hand for him to continue.
"Tyler was starting to transform, and Damon was bitten," Stefan explains.
I sigh, "That's why he was so insistent on apologizing," I realize. I take a moment and nod, "So he's dying, and you want me to find some way to stop it."
"I know you're mad at him, but he's my brother. I don't want to lose him," Stefan says.
"I don't know of anything like this. Werewolf venom is fatal as far as I know," I shrug. "And if I could find some magical cure-all, Elena would get first dibs." Damon's priority remains unsaid, but Stefan can figure out my meaning.
He nods, but tries a new tactic, "I've already had Bonnie speak with the spirits. We did a séance, like you did with Emily. The spirits said something about Klaus."
I flinch, "We're not talking about Klaus."
"Emilia," he starts.
"No," I whisper-shout at him. I look around at the crowds to make sure we are not making a scene. "This is supposed to be my distraction from reality. From constantly reliving over and over again how Klaus killed Elena while I frantically look for a way to save her. So, no. I'm not talking about Klaus."
I turn to leave, when Stefan grabs my arm, "Elijah, then."
I freeze and I hate myself for it. I take a deep breath before I look over my shoulder at Stefan, "I'm never thinking about that betrayer again. You want to find him, do it on your own." And I shrug off Stefan's arm. I'm about to stomp away when I give him one last thought, "My guess is either way, you are not going to like the answer." My blood is pumping through my body and I try to focus on the unnerving feeling that comes with the acute awareness of the sensation, and not on anything else.
The sun sets and the movie starts without another thought on my part. I focus on being surrounded by people, just normal humans going about their lives. No tragic deaths, no wild magic, just a normal day.
It isn't until we are at the scenes of the war when Jeremy gets a call that allows our reality to come rushing in.
Jeremy picks up his phone, "Hey Alaric."
"Tell me you are together, you and Emilia," Alaric frantically responds.
"Yeah, we're here with Caroline and Bonnie, watching the movie," Jeremy answers.
"Damon's escaped," Alaric blurts out. Fuck! "He got bit by Tyler during the full moon and now he's running around delirious."
"Oh my god," Jeremy breathes out. Bonnie and Caroline also looked shocked, but I'm trying to hide how panicked I am. This is bad.
"It gets worse," Alaric comments. "The cops are after him."
"That's not good," I say out loud. "Really not good."
"Yeah, look he's in bad shape, Jeremy. If you find him, lock him up somewhere safe. I'm on my way," Alaric finishes the call.
We all exchange looks. Jeremy stands about to go after the vampire, but us three girls stop him. Bonnie especially as she says, "Look, if Damon is off the rails, there is nothing you can do to stop him. Let us take care of it." Caroline nods behind her.
"You keep doing this," Jeremy argues back. "You left me behind before, and guess what. Jenna still died." Jeremy shifts when he says that, and I flinch. "Now we are all going to find Damon before he kills someone. Go ahead and try to stop me." And he walks off.
Bonnie follows after him, and I grab Caroline, "I have weapons in my car." She nods and we head over, officially separating into two groups.
Caroline and I search, trying to follow Damon's potential footsteps but we wind up having to hide from the wandering police more often than not. Jeremy is the one to find Damon, and he calls me to meet them at the closed Grille.
We get there just in time to see the Sheriff walk in ahead of us. We rush in to watch helplessly as Sheriff Forbes shoots Damon, only for him to move and the bullets to hit Jeremy instead.
No.
No, no, no, no.
NO!
NO! NO! NO!
I scream as emotions bubble up and out of me, violently. The lights explode but I don't see.
All I see is Jeremy's body. In slow motion. The holes starting to bleed rapidly and his body falling.
NO!
I can't! Not Jeremy! I can't lose Jeremy too!
I run over as fast as I can. I try to put pressure on his body, but my head is swimming. Tears are filling my eyes, my blood is rushing emotions through my body. I can't. I can't.
There's too much blood.
There's too much blood. Everything is red.
All I see is red.
Red shirt. My brother's shirt is now red.
It wasn't red before.
He's lost too much.
He's…He can't be.
He can't be gone.
My hands slip as I try to feel his neck for a pulse.
But…I can't…I can't feel anything.
He's dead.
He's dead.
Jeremy…my little brother…he's dead.
I can't.
I'm the last one…
I can't…I can't be here.
I stand up shakily, rub my arm across my face to try to get rid of the tears. There is still a wet feeling on my face. I can't…I can't be… I have to go. I have to leave. I need to get out of here.
I start running. Sprinting.
I can't be the last one.
I can't.
My entire family is dead.
I should be too.
Caroline follows me, but I don't realize until I'm already in my room. I don't know how I got here. But I know what I have to do.
I start pulling things out. Knives, letters, clothes. A bag. Caroline's voice is ringing in my ears, but I can't understand. What is she saying? What is she doing here?
"Emilia," she grabs me and shakes me.
"I can't be here," I cry. Before I pull out of her arms and keep packing. The shaking brought me back to focus. I know what I need to do.
I pack everything I can: clothes, sketchbooks, novels. I pull out prepared envelopes and notes, I add a few scribbles at the end and put them in the envelopes. I pause at two in particular. But I can't lose focus. Not yet. I have to go. I can't…I can't be here. If I stay here, I'll die. I know it. I leave the notes on the desk and I grab a stack post-it's, bright pink. I scribble down instructions as best as I can.
When that's done, I check over everything. Make sure I have as much as I can.
And then I give Caroline the notes. I think she's been calling my name this whole time. I hand it to her, looking her in the eye, and telling her, "Follow these instructions. You'll know what to do when it's time."
I hear her ask, "How will I know when it's time?"
"You'll know," I murmur, squeezing her hand. And I pull out my phone and dial.
The person answers after a few rings, "Emilia?" she asks.
"It's time," I cry into the phone. "You know what I need you to do."
And she starts chanting.
I'm sorry, Jeremy.
And everything goes black.
Omake: Caroline's POV
Caroline has never seen Emilia like this. Watching her that distraught with Jeremy was horrifying. But this is a new level. She's not even hearing her. Caroline keeps calling her friend's name, but Emilia keeps moving. Even when the blonde stands in Emilia's way, Em just moves around the other. It's like the brunette is in some weird sort of trance, and Care can't break her out of it. She can only stand aside as Emilia moves around her room, murmuring random phrases.
Then Emmy does it on her own. She looks Caroline in the eye and everything. And she hands her post-it's with numbered instructions throughout. The only thing she says it to follow it "when it's time."
Caroline stands pondering that instruction while Emilia finalizes everything.
Emilia dials someone, gives them an instruction and then chanting starts on the other side.
Caroline can only stand frozen as she watches her best friend undergo some spell. The chanting ends and Emilia stands still, completely blank. Caroline looks down and sees on her note: 1. Take off my necklace and my ring. 2. Compel me with this exact phrase. Caroline follows what the note says, holding the jewelry in her hand and she looks into her friend's dead eyes through her tears.
"You are going to forget this. You are going to remember that your family is all dead. Elena, Jenna, and John died from the sacrifice. Jeremy died from a bullet wound a few days later. You are going to leave town, because you don't want to be alone." Caroline's voice cracks as she cries reading the next part. "and you are leaving to keep yourself safe, even from yourself. You are going to leave without harming yourself. You will find help for yourself somewhere else." Caroline takes a shuddery breath and blinks her teary eyes clear before continuing, "You are going to remember that your friends love you and that one day, when it's safe, you'll return to them. But for now, you are going to leave as soon as this compulsion ends."
Caroline holds the compulsion just long enough for Emilia to repeat her words and for her to replace the jewelry. She steps back to let Emilia go, both from the compulsion and physically. And she watches as her blank friend takes her packed bags and walk silently out the door. She follows silently, watching as a zombie-like Emilia gets in her car and drives away.
Caroline looks down at the post-it in her hand. 3. Thank you. There are notes for everyone, explaining everything. Give them to the people applicable. If Elena wakes up one day, give her the note. If not, ask Alaric to take care of everything. His note should detail what to do in case. She looks at the last note of the stack. I love you and I'm sorry. Goodbye.
Caroline cries in the street, clutching her friend's last words to her chest.
Omake: Part 2
Caroline speeds back, grabbing notes and returning to her mom. She needs to find where everyone is. She needs her mom to know what she did. She's with her mom when she finds out that Bonnie saved Jeremy. She collapses, crying that her friend is still gone. After she emotionally reunites with her mom, she returns back to the house in time to deliver the first note, the one Emilia left untouched. Jeremy's.
She is the one to explain what happened to Emilia, not knowing whether the note might. Jeremy cries into his guardian's shoulder. Caroline hands Alaric his note silently. It takes them hours to calm down enough to read the notes. They boil down to a similar message of "I love you. Take care of each other." Jeremy gets a message from Bonnie when she receives hers. She tries to comfort with the fact that her note says that Emilia plans to return for senior year. It does little to help.
Alaric spends his first night, pacing between Jenna's room and the couch. A pattern he'll repeat a lot over the summer. He sobs when he sees Emilia's empty room. She lost so much in such a short time, and he's scared that he'll never see her again. And that he already failed what Jenna asked him to do.
Bonnie returns home from the witch house and her lost connection to the spirits to find that another connection is lost, her one to Emilia. Caroline explains, giving her the letter. The two friends cry into each other's shoulder. Upset about their friend leaving, and not knowing that her brother came back to life. They read their notes together, holding hands and leaving tear marks on the pages. Bonnie texts Jeremy, but she knows it won't do much to help. She feels wrong without her friend and without the spirits she feels has abandoned her for more than just bringing back Jeremy.
Caroline leaves Matt's letter on his porch. He finds it the next morning on his way to a shift at the Grille. He spends his breaks that day parsing out the letter and all the things he's missed. He regrets how poorly he treated his friend while he was running scared after learning about the supernatural. He offers a job to Jeremy the next day, hoping he can make it up to her by watching her brother until she gets back.
Stefan never receives his letter, having already sacrificed himself to Klaus.
Damon receives his in a state of delirium. Katherine is sent to deliver Klaus's blood to cur Damon and finds Caroline. Caroline hands her the letter and runs off, not wanting to spend more time with her killer than she has to. Katherine dodges the delirious Damon's advances. She laughs at his murmuring of Elena's name and sighs at her own as she shoves the blood down his throat. She leaves the note and disappears before Damon comes to. He feels empty when he reads his note. He drinks a whole bottle of bourbon and smashes it in anger at Emilia. He can't believe she abandoned them in this time of need. Elena is still in a coma and her twin fucking left. Despite his anger, he can't hide how he still feels a little empty.
Elena's note is left clutched in her hand, still comatose and unaware of the drama that's just played out.
The spirits of the house are the only ones to know what's going on. They know what's happening to Emilia and the journey that she is about to embark on. That the spell that Emilia used allowed for her brother to be revived. And that Elena wakes up as soon as Emilia crosses the town line.
A/N: WOW WOW WOW! End of season 2 in over 15,000 words! And what a wild ride! I hope you guys like some of the twists. But as I keep saying, it's all getting more intense from here.
I swear I meant for this to be updated after a month, but for some reason, I thought I uploaded at the end of August instead of the beginning. Oops. Anyways, I'm gonna try to be semi-consistent with uploads, but if I'm not, feel free to remind me in the comments. Someone did in my previous chapter and I loved it! Super funny review to receive!
As always, let me know what you think!