Chapter Song: Dusk Till Dawn by Zayn & Sia

~Recap from Chapter 17~

"You turned it off, didn't you? He questioned Elena with a knowing smirk.

Everyone turned to him then to Elena.

"Turned what off?" Caroline asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Her humanity." Damon answered to the astonishment of everyone.

In response, Elena's face transformed to one void of emotion.

"Yeah, I did." With that said, she sped out the door and vanished into the dark before anyone could react.

~TGITW~

Chapter 19: True Love

MYSTIC FALLS. 2010 A.D.

The pain was too much.

Unbearable.

Everything in the room reminder her of him.

Anna sat on Jeremy's bed and surveyed the room. The room showed signs of wear and tear. Scruff marks on the walls and floor. Cracks on the furniture indicated constant use. Clothes randomly scattered.

As Anna continued to scan the room, her eyes fell on a slight bulge on the floor. Never noticing it until now, she became curious. She moved the dresser a bit to give her more room. Then she knelt on the floor and prodded the area, trying to figure out the cause. She felt a gap in the wood. Something was hidden here. Finally, one of the panels gave way and she found a hole underneath. Inside, it looked to be a journal.

Anna took the book out and started flipping the pages. She skimmed the book's content until one of the journal entries caused her to pause. Her eyes started to water, and droplets of tears fell on its pages as she read it.

I almost lost Anna today.

I still remember when they pulled her away from my arms. There had been nothing I could do to stop them. If Stefan had not saved her from that burning building, she would have been dead too, like the other vampires.

She's sleeping now. Here in my room. They assured me she was a bit bruised but will wake up.

As I watch her sleeping face, I feel a sense of relief. I don't know what I would do if I lost her.

All the memories of our time spent together rushed to my head. When we first met. Our encounters in the library. Her laughter. Her smile. Everything about her was perfect. Every moment with her had been amazing.

That's when I realized it.

I loved her. I have always loved her.

~TGITW~

After Elena fled, the Mystic Falls gang had to come up with a new strategy. Damon and Stefan would go after Elena. Caroline and Bonnie would help Finn and Sage. Other than offering her blood, Faith couldn't really do much of anything. The future she knew was changing. Some things had accelerated, and other things have not happened at all. She sat on one of the stools by the kitchen counter watching Caroline and Bonnie talk about the best way to approach things. Bonnie thinks that they should launch a sneak attack against the Originals while Caroline felt they could make the vampires see reason.

Finally reaching a dead lock, the two girls turned to Faith and snapped the question at her: "What do you think?"

Faith looked like a deer caught in the headlights. She knew if she sided with one the other person would get upset at her. Just when she thought she had no choice but to answer, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Faith jumped out of her seat and rushed to the door. The phrase "saved by the bell" coming to mind.

She opened the door, and it was Elena on the doorsteps.

"Elena!" Faith hugged the girl happily.

In retrospect, that was a really foolish action on her part.

The moment Faith stepped out of the door, Elena stabbed her with a syringe making her pass out.

~TGITW~

Bonnie blew it.

Again.

She had been so caught up arguing with Caroline that she let her guard down.

In an instant, Faith was taken away. Faith who was their only chance to turn Elena back to human. Faith who was their only chance to take out the Mikaelson threat.

She knew she had to make the phone call but she didn't really want to. Stefan had not been answering her calls, so she needed to call Damon and inform the brothers.

Ever since she thought Damon was going to die, she had found herself acting strangely around Damon. Then Damon committed an unforgiveable act of turning her mother into a vampire. But instead of hating him, she felt jealous when she found out he slept with Rebekah. And now, he had kissed her. I mean, what was that all about? What was it about Damon Salvatore that made her feel this way? Being around Damon was like living on a roller coaster, her emotions were all over the place.

After some time, she finally made the call.

"Hello…"

~TGITW~

NEW YORK CITY. 2010 A.D.

Damon hanged up the call. Bonnie had just finished telling him that Faith had been kidnapped.

He punched the air in frustration and tried to calm down before heading back inside.

His plan was starting to fall apart. He had no Elena and no cure. There was a couple of reasons the usually selfish Damon was even out here helping his brother.

For one, by helping Stefan and Elena, he would hopefully get on Bonnie's good side. God knows he needed it. For another, this will ease the guilt he had been feeling towards Stefan, especially with trying to hit on his girlfriend. Add to that, the fact that Damon thought he can only be happy if his brother was happy. That's one of the things Damon hated about holding on to his humanity. He was ridden with emotions like guilt and shame and the need to be unselfish.

Damon sighed and went back inside.

Stefan looked up from what he was working on and asked, "What was that about?"

"Oh, nothing." Damon shrugged. There was no point bothering Stefan with bad news. He figured they'll deal with one problem at a time.

The sound of the door opening caused both brothers to look up.

Elena Gilbert walked in through the front door. She was wearing a red-patterned dress with a jean jacket and black ankle boots. And she had dyed her hair with magenta highlights.

"Elena." Stefan whispered.

"Hello boys," She smiled mischievously at them. "I'm here to call a truce."

Stefan and Damon looked ready to pounce her, but Elena waved no with her finger at them.

"Uh-uh-uh, you do not want to that." She marched confidently in and slumped down on the couch facing them.

Stefan and Damon glanced at each other wondering what they should do.

"I believe you should have received a phone call by now regarding the whereabouts of a Ms. Faith Mikaelson?"

Stefan turned to Damon who shrugged and mouthed back an apology.

"Here's the deal boys. I. Don't. Want. The. Cure." She emphasized each word. "I like being a vampire. No hassle of dealing with all those pesky emotions like guilt and shame. You should know Damon."

Sensing there was something she was implying, Stefan turned to Damon and asked: "What's she talking about Damon?"

Damon shrugged and feigned ignorance.

Elena laughed out loud at their exchanged.

"I guess your brother didn't tell you huh Stefan?" Elena smiled wickedly. "He and I had this moment. I had confronted him about our first encounter. And about how he said he loved me then compelled me to forget. And sorry Stefan, but not sorry, I told him I had feelings for him too."

By now Stefan had a pained expression and Damon bowed his head in shame.

"How does that make you feel Stefan?" Elena walked up to Stefan and taunted the vampire. "That your brother and your girlfriend went behind your back?"

Stefan couldn't look either of them in the eye. It was taking everything in him to hold back his emotions. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"First, it was Katherine then it was me." Elena continued to provoke the brothers. This time walking up to Damon and touching his face. "He always has to go after the girl you love, doesn't he?"

Damon pushed her hand away and spoke determinedly: "I'm done Elena. I won't be swayed by Katherine or you anymore."

Damon thought back to all the moments he had spent with Bonnie. While it was true that he had feelings for Elena at the start, that wasn't the case anymore.

"I've found someone who I can love without feeling guilty." Damon continued, surprising Stefan and Elena. "Someone who makes me want to be better. Not be consumed by passion that flickers out. I can see a lifetime with this person, through all the every day and mundane."

Damon paused. Every word he had spoken was true. He felt it deep in his heart. For the first time, he didn't have any doubts. He was confident of his feelings. In fact, those feelings strengthened and empowered him now. It gave him a peace that he never knew before.

With a smile, he spoke: "I'm in love with Bonnie Bennett."

~TGITW~

MYSTIC FALLS. 2010 A.D.

It had been Katherine Pierce who had taken her. Faith should have known better. It looks like both doppelgangers were working together. They had somehow found a way to negate her resistance to compulsion. According to Katherine, they had used the blood of a werewolf as suggested by a witch.

So now Faith was being held captive by compulsion. She had freedom to move about but always had to come back, and she was not allowed to contact anybody.

It seems no matter what she does, there would be some unintended consequences of her actions. Faith felt helpless and weary. She felt like giving up.

Wanting some time to gather her thoughts and process everything, she had snuck out of the house and was headed to her favorite spot in the woods. The oak tree by the tiny stream. The place where the Mikaelsons had first found her over a millennium ago.

She sat at the base of the tree and started writing. She wrote her thoughts, all that has happened, and all her questions, doubts, and uncertainties. She must have been writing for hours when she heard a twig snap. She looked up and in front of her was Elena's doppelganger, Katherine.

Katherine had been following the group for the past few weeks. She knew what their plans were and reason for doing so. Faith was the one person she could not place. Katherine did not know who this girl was who had been staying with the Salvatore brothers and have been involved in their plans with the Originals. And trying to keep her presence a secret from the Mystic Falls gang, she couldn't just pull one of them aside and ask about Faith.

It wasn't until Elena fled that Katherine saw her chance. Katherine had approached Elena and had found out Faith's secrets. That she knew about the future. That she was related to the Originals. That she was the cure. Discovering this, Katherine was determined to use Faith to take down Klaus Mikaelson.

Over the weeks, Faith and Katherine had come to a strange understanding. There was something about the girl that Katherine liked. There was something about her that made it easy to talk about things. Or, maybe, it was just because Katherine had compelled her to keep their conversations secret. Whatever the reason, Katherine found herself developing a friendship with the girl.

Katherine sat beside Faith and snatched the notebook from her hands. Faith started to protest but quickly gave up. What could she do against a vampire?

Reading the parts that Faith wrote about Elijah, Katherine commented, "So he hates you huh? You should just forget about him."

Katherine tossed the journal back to Faith who caught it clumsily.

"True love is not real unless it is returned." Katherine added.

Faith stared at her incredulously as if she were talking nonsense.

Faith responded while shaking her head, "Is that what you really think? That's not love."

"Well, I beg to differ." Katherine said haughtily and got up to leave.

Faith grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"You can't possibly believe that."

"I do." Katherine replied adamantly.

"Love can be true without being returned. It's not about giving something in order to get something."

"What's the point if it's not reciprocated. It just means you weren't meant to be. True love, real love means you've found someone who loves you just as much as you love them." Katherine argued back.

"No," Faith replied, deep in thought. "You can't help falling in love but choosing who to love, choosing to love…that's something else altogether. Love is true because you've chosen to love that person, regardless of their past, regardless of hardships, regardless of it being returned.

Love is true because you've decided that no matter what, you are going to stand by that person and never give up on them. That you're going to love them even if it hurts."

As she said those last words, something clicked inside of Faith. She sat there in a daze. She remembered a conversation she had before with Elena. A conversation they had when Elena was struggling with her relationship with Stefan.

"True love is not true unless it has been tested. You can't call your love true if it has not withstood tests and challenges. Just like you can't be called a patient person if you have not been in a position where your patience has been tested. You can't call a person kind if they had not been in a situation that requires kindness. Love can start off as a feeling but it lasts by choice. It is about a choice, an action, a commitment. It's long-suffering and sacrificial. It's about not giving up."

The reason Faith liked the idea of Stefan and Elena together was because of their deep sense of love for one another. It didn't matter what the world threw at them, they always found their way back to each other. There were ups and downs but at the end of the day their love triumphed.

Love wasn't meant to be easy. She had chosen Elijah and damn it all, she wasn't just going to give up. She couldn't just accept the destiny written out in the show! Faith was going to keep fighting for him. She was going to keep choosing him. Even when it's hard, she was going to choose him.

"Hello? Earth to Faith." Noticing that Faith had gone still, Katherine waved her hand in Faith's face in an attempt to draw her out from her thoughts.

Without warning, Faith stood up, startling Katherine. Faith grabbed her bag and notebook from her then started racing back to the house.

True love is not true unless it has been tested.

She couldn't give up. She couldn't give up on her Elijah.