They returned to Mystic Falls with Jeremy and Katharine's bodies. Rebekah went home to Klaus's Mansion to update the family, Stefan took care of disposing of Katharine, and Elijah carried Jeremy back to the Gilbert house. When they walked in, Caroline was cleaning up around the kitchen.
"Hey! Stefan told me you were finally returning home and-"
Caroline stopped walking, noticing a pale and unconscious Jeremy in Elijah's arms. It was the look on the Original's face that let Caroline know that Jeremy was gone.
"Come on, let's get him upstairs," Elena said going up to make sure everything was set for her brother.
Elijah did as he was told, setting Jeremy gently on his bed. He watched as she pulled out a blanket for him.
"Elena…"
"Do you need anything?" Caroline interrupted, looking pointedly to Elijah while Elena focused on her brother.
"No," Elena said pulling a blanket over Jeremy's lap. "I just want to wait here until he wakes up."
Elijah narrowed his eyes at the blonde and decidedly kept his mouth closed. She interrupted them for a reason, he could tell.
"Let me know if you hear anything about Bonnie, though?" Elena requested, looking back at the pair as Elijah turned to leave.
Kissing Elena's head, Elijah walked out of Jeremy's room with Caroline.
"How the hell did this happen?" She asked softly to Elijah as they made their way downstairs. Before he could explain, the door opened and Stefan walked in.
Seeing the look on Caroline's face was all Stefan needed to see to know that she knew of Jeremy's death.
"Someone better explain right now," Caroline demanded. Stefan took the lead, bringing them to the kitchen and turning on the kitchen faucet so that Elena wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.
Elijah walked over to the back door peering out the door windows. They had lost Jeremy Gilbert. How was he going to help Elena get past this?
"And how long has she been like that?" Caroline wondered to them.
"Ever since we found his body," Elijah answered sadly with his hands in his pockets.
"She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up," Stefan added solemnly.
"But he's not going to wake up. She knows, that right?"
Elijah went back to staring out the window as Stefan answered the blonde's question. "I think she has to know that deep down inside. But this is Elena we are talking about. Jeremy was the one thing she had left. I think denial is the only thing holding her together right now."
"I'm not in denial," Elena said to all three of them. The three turned to her, Stefan going and shutting off the water.
"I know that he was supernatural, but did you see?" she asked them as she stepped closer. "His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal."
She looked to all of them. "It's possible, right?"
Caroline tried to take a step towards her friend. "Elena—"
"It's possible, Caroline," Elena said adamantly. "It may be minuscule but it's hope and I'm going to hold on to that hope with everything I got because there is no way—" she stopped. Her stomach churned. "there is absolutely no way that my brother is dead."
Stefan and Caroline glanced to Elijah.
"I'm not in denial," she told all of them before leaving the room.
Elijah looked to where Elena last stood, thinking carefully before pulling out his phone. "Klaus," Elijah spoke. "I need you and everyone here."
"How is she?" Rebekah wondered as she, Klaus, and Kol met Elijah, Stefan and Caroline on the porch.
The three didn't have words.
"What do we do?" Kol asked. He had never really dealt with a human in the grieving process. He had never cared enough to learn how to handle these situations.
"We need a plan," Caroline said desperately. "We need a plan and we need a funeral or cover story. We need a funeral and a cover story!"
They watched as Caroline began freaking out, pacing the porch. "I should get my mom involved. She will know what to do. She can help with that."
"We should get Matt," Stefan suggested, glancing at his coffee. Matt Donovan had something on them they none of them had. Humanity.
"Right, I'll go get Matt," Caroline said grabbing her jacket.
"I'll do it," Rebekah said from her position on the steps. She couldn't have felt more useless and if it was Matt Donovan she needed to obtain to make this all better, she would. "You need to get your mom, Caroline. You said yourself she will know what to do."
As both went to leave, Caroline stopped in her tracks. "…what's that smell?"
No one dared to answer the question, for it was too horrible to have to come to terms with. "It's his body," said Elijah. "It's beginning to decompose."
"Have your mom get Dr. Fell over here," Stefan added, before turning and walking into the house.
Elena waited and waited. She was restless with emotions and memories.
Jeremy was not dead. There was no way that Jeremy was dead.
"Elena," Kol's voice called as he walked up the steps. He went into Jeremy's room, oddly disturbed by the sight of the little Gilbert laying pale faced in bed.
"He'll be fine, Kol," Elena tried to reassure him as she caught the look on his face.
"Take a walk with me?" he asked, turning to her. After Stefan had walked inside the house and Caroline and Rebekah left, Elijah pleaded for his and Klaus's help. Elena was in denial. Elena wouldn't live through this. And most importantly, Elena wouldn't choose to live.
Elena shook her head. No, she couldn't leave Jeremy. He could wake up and she needed to be there.
"I'll stay with him," Elijah spoke, standing in the doorway of the bedroom. He was ashamed by his helplessness. He felt so incapable to assist Elena. Elijah could barely think to recommend in calling for Matt Donovan his mind was so unfocused. Stefan had been the one to stay on top of the ball and help with these matters.
Elijah needed help getting through to Elena that Jeremy was dead. She was going to be facing her decision of transitioning to a vampire or passing to the other side. She was going to have to make a choice and Elijah knew that if she figured out Jeremy was actually dead and on the other side, there was a very good chance she'd choose to go there too. And he couldn't lose her. He needed her to see past her brother's death and decide to continue on living. But in order to do that, she needed to get past her denial first.
Knowing that Jeremy would be safe with Elijah, Elena took Kol's hand and he led her outside to walk around the block.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you," Kol spoke. He was off attending to some other of Klaus's request down in New Orleans. "Nik and I didn't realize how strenuous the trip was going to be."
Elena shook her head. It was fine. "It's okay, Kol. We made it back. And Jeremy is going to make it."
Kol didn't touch that sentence. "And you?" Kol wondered. "What about you?"
Elena furrowed her brows. Her?
Realization hit her. The deal with the witches was pretty much fulfilled. They had left Silas at his resting place, with the cure now gone. The only thing they could do was entombed the area so that he hopefully wouldn't get out and people wouldn't get in.
"I-I…I don't know. I can't really think about that right now."
"Elena-"
"-No," she said sternly to Kol. "I can't-….I can't-" She told herself she wasn't going to break down, but her emotions were cascading over her.
There was nothing to be sad about. Jeremy was okay.
Kol took her in his arms and sighed as the girl tried to collect herself. This was going to be much harder than he thought.
Meredith Fell was the next to talk with Elena. Walking inside Jeremy's room, the doctor poked her head in.
"Elena?" she called. Elena was walking back from her room to Jeremy's.
"Meredith? What are you doing here?"
"I came to check on your brother," Meredith said cautiously and gentle. "May I?"
Elena immediately nodded. Of course. It made sense why Meredith would be here. She was a doctor. She was checking up on Jeremy's well being.
"You're not going to find any vitals," she told Meredith as the woman looked for a radial pulse. "It's the same thing that Ric used to go through. He'd just be dead until he wasn't."
Meredith glanced at Elena with a look in her eye.
"Once," Elena breathed, as her body and voice shook. "I remember Ric was gone for almost an entire day. Ric died, like, 4 times before he lost his mind. And Jeremy has died a few times, too -3, I think, so we're going to have to-"
Elena glanced to where Meredith was focused and found Elijah.
"-so, we'll have to keep an eye on him," she babbled. "because I don't want him to go crazy just like Ric did." She couldn't handle it if he did.
The doctor looked to Elijah, who gave a slight nod.
"Elena…it looks like Jeremy died of extreme blood loss," the doctor said gently as possible. "His neck also appears to be broken. The lack of blood explains why there's no lividity, but his muscles have tightened past the point of rigor mortis."
"No," Elena said shaking her head. She didn't want know what that meant, even though her brain already did.
"If he's left unattended, soon he'll start to bloat." The doctor pushed. "Within a few hours, his skin will discolor, and—"
"No!" Elena stated firmly. "No, he's not dead. Just stop."
Her little brother wasn't gone. He didn't leave her. He didn't go to the other side. He was here. He just needed to wake up.
"I need you to release the body to me," Meredith said more firmly. "We'll get him to a funeral home and prepare him for a viewing where you and his friends can say goodbye to him."
And that was when Elena lost it. She sped over, pushing the doctor against the wall. Elijah had to super speed over to intervene and hold her back.
"He's not dead, okay?!" she yelled to the doctor.
"The ring will save him," she said fighting against Elijah. "It's magic. We need more magic," Elena realized. "We have to find Bonnie. Bonnie can fix this," she cried. "We just need to find Bonnie. Someone just find me Bonnie!"
"Elena," Matt said carefully with Rebekah in tow. Elena calmed down as she watched Matt looked over to Jeremy's body. His face began to contort in anguish.
"No, Matt. It's fine. It's okay. It's okay."
Elijah released her from his arms and she went over to the human, consoling him gently.
That was Elena, always going to comfort the other person even though she was a wreck herself. Elijah loved her for it. But he also couldn't be more lost because of it.
The couple hugged and Elena continued to try and calm her friend down. "Bonnie will be here soon. And she'll fix everything, and it'll be all fine. Everything is gonna be fine."
Elijah met Rebekah's concerned eyes. There was no magic that could bring Jeremy Gilbert back.
Elena left with Matt for a while and in that time, Elijah, Stefan, Rebekah and Kol fought. Damon had called to say he had found Bonnie and that Bonnie knew of what to do, but the Originals knew better. There was no simply bringing him back.
Elijah was fuming that Stefan had called Elena posing it as if there was hope for a miracle resurrection.
"You can't just raise the dead!" Elijah yelled to Stefan.
"She says she knows something, so let's just hear her out!" Stefan shouted back as he walked down the stairs.
"You don't reverse death, mate!"
"Jeremy Gilbert is gone, Stefan," Rebekah said more sympathetically than her brothers. "He is beginning to decompose. We all see this. You can't try and make that false hope like Elena has work. We've had to blast the air conditioning just to slow the decomposition process."
"Rebekah's right," Klaus said calmly from the open front door. He still wasn't invited in. "You don't bring back the dead."
Damon commanded for Caroline to go get Elijah and the others while he waited outside the house for them. Bonnie had lost her mind.
"The whole flight home she talked about being the one to drop the veil between this side and the other side," Damon told them all.
"Drop the veil? What does that mean?" Stefan asked the group.
"It means raising every supernatural being," Elijah spoke surprised. Stefan still didn't understand.
"That myth of Silas being able to raise the dead…he wouldn't just raise one person, he'd raise them all," Klaus said blown away as well. Fear struck him slightly, thinking of all his enemies that would rise.
"If the veil gets dropped, the other side won't exist anymore," Kol added. "There would be nothing separating us. We'd all be one."
"She needs 3 massacres in 3 different hotspots," Damon whispered.
"…every supernatural being back with a vengeance," Rebekah stated unbelieved.
"Bonnie, you are talking like a crazy person!" Caroline yelled as she sat at the kitchen table. "You aren't killing 12 people, and you sure as hell can't invite every monster who has ever died back into this world!"
"I can do it!" Bonnie exclaimed. "I have the power."
Bonnie looked to Elena. "I can bring Jeremy back."
Her friends then sat around the table fighting. They talked over one another, yelling and fighting on what was wrong and what was right. The entire time they sat there, Elena stared off in space, panic beginning to creep inside her. It crept up from her belly and covered her entire chest. She sat there almost unable to breathe, paralyzed. The shouts and stern voices of her friends began to get drowned out and it was just the thud of her heartbeat echoing in her ears.
It was as if she got thrown into ice water. The panic jumped from her and she was left with this cold, hollow feeling. Getting up from the table, Elena left her friends and went upstairs.
The blanket she covered Jeremy with was now laying over him entirely. Making her way across the rest of the hallway, she dragged her feet over to his bedside, tears filling her eyes. Shakily, she reached for the blanket, taking in a small breath before uncovering his face.
Hey eyes met bright white skin and such stillness. She gasped. Oh god, he's dead.
"Elena," Klaus's voice called from the doorway. Normally she would have questioned how he got over the threshold and inside her house, but her mind was swirling with Jeremy.
"H-h-e's dead," Elena said with a tear down her cheek and her body shaking. "He's….dead. He's dead."
Jeremy stayed lying there, still and eyes closed.
He was dead.
Giving Elena her space and some time to collect her thoughts, Klaus stood wearily in the doorway,
"Klaus…he's dead," Elena said faced with shock and fear as she looked to him. The truth was beginning to hit her. "And he's been dead this entire time. I-"
Elena stopped breathing. "I can smell him," she whispered turning back to brother. His muscles have tightened past the point of rigor mortis Dr. Fell's voice echoed in Elena's head. Oh god. He's dead.
"How long has he smelled like that?" she demanded to the Hybrid with tears in her eyes. "How long?!"
"Quite a while," Klaus answered truthfully.
More tears fell down Elena's face. No. she would not break down in front of Klaus. She was strong. She had to keep moving. She had to keep going.
"Okay. Okay," she told herself. She wiped her tears and ran her hands through her hair. She had been through this before. She had done this. "We have to take care of his body. Bring him downstairs."
She pushed past Klaus and walked down the steps. We need a plan and we need a funeral or cover story Caroline's voice said from earlier in her head.
"Elena," Elijah said cautiously, meeting her at the bottom of the stairs.
"Where's Bonnie?" She asked brushing past him on a mission.
"I told Matt to drive her home," Stefan answered walking towards her. Nodding, she wiped a tear away.
"Set him on the couch," she commanded Klaus as he came down with Jeremy. She could barely look at her brother's blanketed body.
"Elena?" Kol wondered as she went searching through the cupboards, opening every drawer as if she was looking for something.
"Do you need help finding something, Elena?" Caroline wondered with worry as she glanced to the others in the room.
"Got it!" Elena answered, opening up the bottle of lighter fluid for the outdoor grill and covering the counters with it.
"Elena!" They all shouted in panic.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Rebekah yelled to her, pulling the plastic bottle of fluid out of her hands before the girl could go further than her kitchen table.
"We need a cover story, right?" She asked all of them as she retreated to the living room. "And what are we going to say? Animal attack? Tumble down the stairs? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it."
Elena went to the liquor cabinet and grabbed Alaric's bourbon. We won't need this anymore, she thought to herself.
"Elena, stop it," Stefan commanded sternly to her.
"Why?" Elena asked. Tears dripped from her eyes. "Because you want me to face the truth? Well here it is," She said spreading bourbon all over the living room. "I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want to be reminded of all the terrible things that have happened. I don't want to be reminded of the accident with Finn or when Klaus compelled my aunt Jenna to stab herself in the kitchen. We can't just bring back every supernatural creature on the other side just to get them back."
Elena's head was spinning. She couldn't let Bonnie kill 12 people or for the veil to drop.
"Elena, take a breath," Damon said in a calming voice.
Elena shook her head. "Does that make me a bad person?" she asked them. "I have no idea," she breathed as she continued to pour liquor all over. She loved her brother so much, but she couldn't let any of this happen.
Taking the ring off Jeremy's hand, she threw it to Klaus "I don't need that anymore."
"Elena stop it! You're scaring me!" Caroline cried.
"What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline?" Elena cried, as she went to pour alcohol on a picture of her and Jeremy.
"I mean, there's no room in the Gilbert family plot." She tossed the picture frame on the ground, watching it shatter. "Jenna and John took the last spots."
Guilt radiated through the Originals and they swallowed hard. Klaus seemed particularly shameful in that moment.
Breaking the last of the alcohol against the fireplace, she shook her head. Striking a match, Elena pulled at her hair. She couldn't handle all of this pain. All of this grief. It was too much.
"Elena, stop!" Rebekah commanded. Everyone eyes were on the burning match in her hands.
"There's nothing here for me anymore, Rebekah!" Elena yelled. "Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died – my mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric and John. Even John."
Elena's head spun. John. The man she never took time to know but gave his life for her.
"I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So, w-what am I supposed to do—I mean, how am I gonna-…. I can't even-" her mind couldn't process everything. "There's nothing left for me!"
Everything was out of control. Everything felt empty. She was alone.
The flame reached the end of the stick and with its heat burned Elena's skin. Crying out, she let go of the match.
Klaus sped over and grabbed, extinguishing the flame in his hand.
Elena stood there and sobbed.
"Elena," Damon said, trying to console her by walking towards her. Elena backed away from him, making the back of her legs hitting the couch where Jeremy laid.
"No. No, no, no," she cried, seeing her dead brother laying there. "I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't." She crossed her arms over in front of her and fell to her knees with grief. She sat beside Jeremy now, right near his face.
"Please, come back to me," she begged as she sobbed, staring at him, hoping for him to wake up. She held onto her brother, giving everything she could to make him live again. "Please, Jer. Please. I need you."
Elijah went over to her and grabbed her in his arms. Just as she did had done with Jeremy, Elijah did with her. Holding her close, he took her in his arms, rocking her and cupping her head.
"Shh, I got you," he kept telling her.
"It hurts. It hurts," she sobbed clutching onto him for dear life. "Make it stop. Just make it stop."
Elijah wished he could. He'd do anything for Elena in this moment to spare her from the pain she was in. As he tried to calm Elena, everyone looked away trying to deal with their own grief. What were they to do?
"Grab some of her things," Kol spoke as he watched Elijah hold Elena. This house could go up in flames and he couldn't let everything Elena had go with it. If there was one thing Kol had wished for in his years, it would have been to hold on to some of the things that were only memories now.
"Grab her clothes, Rebekah. And someone grab some things of Jeremy. Take any pictures of them and her family and get them outside and away from this house."
With speed, each vampire did what was told.
"P-p-pl-lease," Elena sobbed to whatever supernatural being was out there. "Please bring him back."
The spirits must have heard her because before Elena knew it, Grams was standing in her living room behind the sofa.
"You can bring him back," she said with hope in her eyes. Pulling away from Elijah, Elena quickly tried to compose herself. "Bring him back."
"Elena?" Elijah questioned. He looked to where she stared and saw nothing but empty space. He glanced to Klaus in concern.
"Bring him back to me," Elena commanded Grams. Getting up from Elijah's embrace, she straightened herself out.
"You know I can't do that, child," Grams answered. "We don't bring back the dead."
Tears fell down Elena's eyes. "But you brought back me. You can do the same to Jeremy. Make him a deal. He was a hunter. He can help you," she tried to reason.
Everyone began gathering back into the living room, peering over to where Elena looked but seemed to find nothing.
"What's going on?" Stefan asked quietly.
"I don't know," Kol said cautiously. Was Elena hallucinating?
"Elena, your time is up," Grams spoke. "You've done what we've asked of you. Look around you. You've brought everyone together and stopped Silas from walking this earth."
Elena didn't bother looking at everyone. She didn't care. Her sole focus was on Grams.
"But I'm not done!" she pushed. "The cure is still out there. Finn is still alive. He might try again. He-he…."
"Finn has the cure," Grams answered. "We don't mind him taking it."
Elena shook her head and tears fell from her eyes. No. There had to be something else to barter with.
"Bonnie," she breathed. She looked to Grams wide eyed. "Bonnie wants to raise the dead and drop the veil. Bring back Jeremy. He can convince her not to. I-I-If there was one person Bonnie would listen to, it'd be him!"
While Grams was interested in the news, she shook her head sadly. "I can't offer you much more time, child. And I can't bring Jeremy back to you. All I can give to you is tomorrow," Grams said. "You have until tomorrow at the stroke of midnight to decide what you want to do with your life."
Elena furrowed her brows. Why was this about her? It should be about Jeremy.
"Tomorrow? I don't need you time," she spoke angrily. "I need you to bring my brother back. I need you to bring back what you stole from me when you asked me to protect Silas's body from being risen. If it weren't for Jeremy, we would have never been able to get on that stupid island."
She stood there in anger and anguish. "You need to bring him back! You need to send him back to me! You all asked me to do this - you bartered with my life and then you took away his!"
Everyones' heart clenched.
"Elena," Elijah tried, pulling her back to face him. She shrugged out of his grasp and continued to glare at the empty space that was Grams.
"You can't just do this. You can't expect me to live while he is gone!"
And it was those words that sucked the air from the room. Everyone that cared deeply for Elena suddenly had to face the idea that they were going to lose her. The idea of her transitioning wouldn't be any longer. She was choosing not to live.
"I can't tell you what to do, child," Grams said. "But I can see you aren't in a headspace to make that decision right now."
"And the veil?" Elena wondered. Tears continued to pour down her eyes. "What about the veil?"
Grams was solemn and concerned. She had faith in her Bonnie that she wouldn't drop it, but there had been some talk. Could it be?
"I'm sorry child," Grams spoke. In a blink she had disappeared and all that was left was Elena standing there.
Jeremy wasn't coming back. Jeremy was dead.
Tears fell down her face faster and faster. He was gone. Her little brother was gone.
