Litost: def. a state of agony and torment created by the sudden sight of one's own mystery
Chapter 25: Shit Has Hit The Fan.
"So, not only does Alessia potentially have a clone of herself, like Elena, but you guys loved the old Lessy clone?" Bons blinked her olive green eyes incredulously. "Are you guys secretly masochists, or something?"
She makes a good point.
"Yeah, at this point I think you two are just gluttons for punishment," Caroline adds nonchalantly, stuffing a forkful of scrambled eggs in her mouth.
Reaching over her arm to gesture to Caroline to pass the goddamn bacon already, I honestly can't believe that this is my new normal morning. Caroline primly spreads butter on her toast thinly, humming a light tune to herself adorably. Caroline was in the final stretch of finishing up her gorgeous Founders Parade float, with a bit of me, Bons, and Elena's help, and she was finally de-stressing. It had taken her a few sleepovers to get used to the fact that she didn't have to look cute at the breakfast table, but now, she's become completely comfortable at the Salvatores, hair in a mess and still in her pajamas. Bons, on the other hand, must've slept well because she was clearly about to have a great day. The vibes around her were super pleasant, and now that she wasn't as stressed about Isobel, she was practically melting into every chair.
Poor Bons.
She'd been so stressed out as of late that seeing her finally relax after two weeks was really nice. It was funny in a bit of a sad way how Bonnie was already somewhat unsurprised by any new supernatural dilemma.
Witches are real? Okay. There's a tomb that is sardine-packed with dangerous vampires? Alright. Altogether, she was becoming very adaptable in a very short period of time, doing her magic lessons when able, but not stressing if she was too busy to get to it. I guess she had taken it to heart when I told her to take it easy this year, despite everything.
She had done five AP classes last year, and it was just too much for her. Don't get me wrong, Bons is super smart, but that along with the pressure that non-founding family kids felt for not being born in the right family was all just too much for her. I told her to take it easy at the end of our cheer summer camp when she had a breakdown over starting junior year. It made me happy to see her taking my advice.
She smiles warmly at something Elena says, and as much as I'm not a fan of Gilbert, I know she makes my sister happy for the most part. All in all, feels like a beautiful morning.
Elena bites her lip, smiling at Bonnie but nervously fidgeting and clearly trying to not freak out.
Weird.
Then, I see her glance up at Stefan with a dark look, and the look on Stefan's face is perturbing. It's stiff, nervous, and if he were human, I'd be concerned about him passing out.
What the hell is their problem this morning?
Oh wait, duh, his ex-love looks like me!
Immediately choking on a laugh, I quickly descend into a coughing fit. Damon quickly starts laughing at my pain, and I can see the rest of the table struggling not to as well.
You're all comedians.
Gulping down my coffee in massive heated gulps to try and wash the cough away, I glower at the rest of the table. "Glad I have such good friends that laugh at me while I'm choking to death!"
Bons gives me major side-eye as she bites into another heap of hash browns coated in tabasco sauce. "'To death?' You're such a drama mama, Lessy."
Glaring playfully at my little sister, I straighten my figure and attempt to blow a loose curl out of my face. "Am not. I'm perfectly sensible."
Stefan snaps out of his nervous stupor to look at me in a hurtful amount of disbelief, eyebrow raised as amusement dances across his pretty face.
"Alessia. You almost cried when I told you that we were out of peanut butter this morning."
Rolling my eyes, I glare at the baby Salvatore for speaking such blasphemy in my presence. Not only that, he's reminded me of my painfully naked toast.
"Peanut butter is a serious matter, Stefan."
Damon decides to ride along on the Roast-of-Alessia train, adding, "Not to mention, you also mourned the loss of a squirrel you ran over last week."
"Hey!" I snap back, "I felt bad!"
Bons once again unhelpfully adds, "Lessy. You made me and Damon attend the funeral. You made me give a speech."
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* Flashback: 1 Week Ago *
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"I... Um.. This squirrel was an important and valid part of the animal kingdom. And.. We're all very sad that he's gone.." Bonnie speaks out awkwardly, as me, Damon, and her stand around the upwards stick on a patch of displaced dirt in the backyard. We're all wearing black, the color of mourning. Damon is wearing a suit in respect, and Bons is wearing a pretty black dress.
Another tear rolls down my cheek, and as I dab my liquid grief with my tissue, Damon groans loudly.
"Aly Cat. It's a fucking squirrel, can we finish this up already?"
I glare at him, "Well, if it wasn't for someone trying to tear my radio out in a vampire rage, I wouldn't have been distracted and hit the squirrel. Suck it up, Manslaughter-er."
He rubs his head tiredly with one hand. "That's not a word, dammit!"
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* Flashback End *
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Pouting, I cross my arms in a huff. "So we're gonna talk about me acting all caddywhompus, but not Damon tearing out my radio for listening to Nickelback?"
Smacking his palm against the table hard enough to make Elena and Caroline jump, I smirk victoriously at Damon's irritated face.
"Stop making up words, Aly. I'm begging. Also, Nickelback is garbage. You were warned ahead of time what I'd do if you kept playing it."
"This begging is sounding an awful lot like insulting my taste in music," I quip back, and I can tell that Damon isn't pleased at me at the moment by the way his fork looks wavy when he sets it down.
Aw, poor baby.
As if he read my mind, his eyes bore into mine, annoyance radiating off of the pretty blue shades. Stefan clears his throat, clearly wanting to change the subject before Elena remembers that I'm his reincarnated ex-love.
That's still a weird concept, to be honest.
"So, I know no one wants to talk about it right now, but what are we going to do about Isobel?" Stefan asks, quickly changing the mood of the table from 'playful banter' to 'war room'.
Caroline groans, rolling her pretty cornflower blue eyes, "Ugh. Aless was right. You are a 'fuddy dud', Stefan! I don't wanna talk about that first thing in the morning!"
With that, Damon doesn't even say anything, just exhales from his nose angrily and leaves.
There's a pause, until the room bursts with laughter. My sides hurt, I have tears rolling down my cheeks, and I already know in my soul that D is gonna get back at us for laughing at him. Wiping my eyes, I glance around the room and realize that Elena is the only one not laughing.
She's staring hard at the table, not blinking. Finally, she smacks the table hard, getting everyone in the room's attention, and probably Damon's as well if he isn't too far away.
Stefan quickly rights himself, standing up and walking towards Elena to check on her, but she smacks his hands away.
"Do you think that I'm just going to sit here and laugh when you've hidden something huge from me again, Stefan?"
Caroline chokes on her sip of orange juice, quickly righting herself as she watched the couple tensely. "You know, Elena, why don't we just let you and Stefan chat real quick and-!"
Stefan surprisingly cuts her off, "No. Please, stay. Love having an audience for our disagreements, Elena."
I blink up at him, very much surprised at his snarky tone of voice.
"Well," Elena winds up, "If you would actually talk to me in private, I wouldn't bring in an AUDIENCE!"
My squinting at the loud volume makes Elena's wrathful, bunny-slippered attention snap to me. "And you. I know it wasn't you really, but please just stay away from my boyfriend. Please, Alessia."
The eye roll I pull could touch heaven and I swear my sarcasm is so palpable, I can cut it. "Yes, Elena. Because I'm all up on your boyfriend's dick as it is."
She glares at me momentarily before going back at Stefan, and I just can't help but wonder if this is going to last all morning.
*
It lasted all morning.
I'm frankly surprised they didn't break up.
But, anyhoo.
Preparations for the Founders Parade were nearly complete, but Sergeant Caroline was on it like white on rice. Guiding people, positioning food vendors, the girl isn't even in charge of this thing, she just does it anyway because she's a control freak.
But she's my control freak.
Smiling at her momentarily, I turn back to tying and gluing pale yellow ribbons along the edge of the float. It was perfectly southern, and sweet, and very Care Bear.
Turning to grab the glue gun, I smile brightly at one Tyler Lockwood who's walking around the set with a giant black garbage bag. Catching another fly-away piece of colorful tissue paper, he smiles down warmly at me with the sun at his back.
"Heyo, Ty. Having fun with your first trial as a future garbage man?"
He smacks my arm playfully before moving to sit beside me. "Actually, believe it or not, I've missed you, you little shit. Where the hell have you been lately?"
Sighing, I lean my head against his shoulder tiredly, discreetly using the sleeve of his t-shirt to wipe off the sweat on my forehead. "Oh, Ty," I sigh dramatically, and he starts petting my head mockingly, "You wouldn't believe how hard I've worked the last two weeks! I'm surprised I don't have white hair."
"You did have white hair." He corrects, twisting my cheek for good measure.
Smacking his hand away, I pause momentarily, putting a finger to my lips. "Nuance," I shrug it off, "Point is, I'm tired and wanting to party."
Seriously though. Every party since this school year started, outside of that one bonfire, I have been super focused and very sober. Two things I don't love being. I had two brother vamps to deal with, another vamp playing everything behind the scenes.. really, I was just too busy to have a good time now, and it was killing my positive vibes.
I might've been an overachiever, but I also was the bonafide party queen of Mystic Falls. I was always ready to go if someone had drinks and a spot to drink them. There is a reputation for me to uphold.
"I know," Tyler cooes, playing with a particularly thick copper curl, "You've been so busy that Kiki Maddox is swiping your 'Dancing Queen' title."
Gasping offendedly, my eyes narrow on Tyler's and he immediately retreats into a placating stance, hands up as he shrugs at me.
"Hey! Don't shoot the messenger! I'm just letting you know that the longer your seat is open.. well," pausing before looking at me deep in my eyes, and I can tell he's kinda nervous.
"Ty, are you okay?"
"Yeah, totally. I just.. Well, I wanted to ask if—!"
Tyler is cut off when I hear someone calling out to me from the distance. Turning on my heel, I am greeted with the view of Jeremy Gilbert heading our way.
Hm. Well, can't necessarily say it's a pleasant surprise.
Groaning, Tyler rolls his pretty dark eyes, clearly irritated that he couldn't finish what he was asking me and shoving his large hands in his jean pockets boyishly. I smile up at him and pat his shoulder in mock-consolidation.
"Aw, don't worry, Ty, I'm never gone forever. Ask me later, though?" I ask, enjoying the soft, affectionate look he gives me in return.
Looking up at the now very close Baby Gilbert, he sighs once again, glancing over at me earnestly. "Ya know," he says under his breath, allowing only me to hear him, "If he does anything, tell me and I'll beat him to a pulp."
Rolling my eyes before playfully shoving him away from me, Tyler chuckles and shoves me straight back, promptly turning and waving his goodbye as he walks away.
My smile leaves and is quickly replaced by a blank face as Jeremy stops about two feet away with me, dark eyes unreadable as he puts his hands in his hoodie pockets. I set the ring of ribbon on the stool by my side, standing up and dusting off my hands just in case he wants revenge for the bloody nose.
"Howdy, little Gil. Did you need something from me?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. The immediate vibe I get is that he doesn't want to be here talking to me, but feels like he has to.
Glancing down at me from his impressive height, Jeremy attempts to subdue his glare at me, shuffling from one foot to the other nervously. He's silent for a few minutes, and I finally get fed up and turn to pick back up my ribbon. Or at least I would have if he hadn't grabbed my elbow.
I have to hold back the muscle-retained memory of jabbing when someone grabs me like this, instead glaring up at the boy. "Get the fuck on with it, Jeremy. I have a float to ribbon."
Sighing before angst-ily looking to and fro on the ground, his gaze meets mine once again. Eyes conflicted, he finally speaks.
"I remember what happened to Vicki."
Blink once.
Blink twice.
Oh yeah. Totes forgot that he found her diary.
My eyebrow quirks up again, and Jeremy seems perturbed by my lack of surprise. "Oh?" I ask.
"Yes," he breathes out, "I know you helped her after she bit Elena, and I wanted.. I wanted to say thanks. I know we don't like each other, but I don't know what I'd do without Vicki."
I shrug, "Don't sweat it. She didn't deserve to die. Is she doing okay? I haven't been able to call her this week."
Suddenly, I hear the familiar whoosh! of someone vamp speeding, and I turn around just in time to be knocked out with some sort of heavy handheld object.
You know I hear naps are lovely this time of year.
And with that, my brain slips into silent unconsciousness as my body is grabbed by my assailant.
*
Alessia...
Alessia...
Something shoves my shoulder repeatedly, but my ears feel like they're filled with cotton. My body felt ten times heavier than usual, and my brain fucking hurt.
Alessia...
"Alessia!! Wake up!!" I hear a familiar feminine voice call from the abyss, and suddenly I'm yanked out of whatever mental deprivation tank I was in. My heavy eyelids slowly open, revealing a disheveled Bonnie and Jeremy Gilbert. Blinking and then clutching my aching head, I turn to look at Bons.
"Where the fuck are we?" I mouth to her, unsure whether or not a vampire with super vampire hearing is involved.
Bons shrugs her shoulders, and although her olive eyes are steely, I can tell she is very scared right now. I nod at her to reassure her, but honestly, I have no idea where the fuck we are.
Looking around the sparsely decorated, otherwise empty living room, I realize exactly where I am as we all stand.
It's the fucking house Isobel was supposed to take Jeremy to.
Guess this confrontation is gonna happen a lot more quickly than I thought. Footsteps start approaching the room, and I immediately reach into my boot, sliding Jeremy the only stake I had brought with me today.
Gesturing quickly towards him to shove it somewhere, I take a small breath of relief when he hides it in his hoodie pocket.
That was pretty much giving him the Super Mario equivalent of a mushroom. One extra shot at living in case me and Bons got distracted. Not a lot of room for error.
Several nearly naked pretty people enter the room first, splitting up and circling around us. Well, I say circling around us, but what I really mean is that they all laid artfully on separate pieces of furniture, and I can help the curl of disgust that spirals up my nose. Isobel's past time of collecting humans like knick knacks was something I had already been previously aware of, but it was still really gross to see in person.
She's a pretty attractive woman, it shouldn't be that hard to find consenting lovers. Not to mention, if she could bag Alaric Saltzman, she'd do fine at getting regular lovers that were out of her league.
The lady of the hour approaches, and underneath the sound of her heels, I hear another pair of footsteps.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, who's my bad guy?
Glaring hard at the entrance to the room, I reach down and grab Bonnie's hand, squeezing it for some reassurance. Just need someone else to say that everything will be fine, just need someone to give me some reassurance. Bons squeezes my hand back firmly, letting me know she's there. My heart rate must be going nuts, but all I draw in is a strong breath from my nose as Isobel walks in.
Or rather, struts.
She enters the room like a cool breeze, eyes blank with a mock-friendly smile on her face. She scans all three of us coolly, and I cock an eyebrow when the third party member doesn't enter the room, instead hovering outside anonymously.
"Welcome, Alessia and Bonnie Bennett, to my home," the vampiress starts diplomatically gesturing to the rest of the beautiful white living room. "Sorry for all the 'cloak and daggers', but we just had to get you alone, somehow. You are both very social young women who don't dally alone for long, so we decided to grab you when it was earliest convenient with whoever happened to be chatting with you. By the way, Jeremy, welcome. You look a lot like Miranda."
Baby Gilbert stiffens slightly behind me, and I feel Bons move up closer to where she's standing beside me instead of behind me.
"What do you want with us?" She asks resolutely as she grips my hand tightly. I squeeze hers back in turn.
Isobel's smile becomes slightly brighter, moving to take a seat in the chair at the left of the front of the room with a cross of her legs. "Like I said, I represent a party who is very interested in the two of you. They would like to extend an offer to you Bennett witches."
My brow furrows, quickly getting irritated at all of this political speak that was beating around the bush. "Get on with it, Mama Gilbert. I have no patience for people who don't get to the fucking point."
"Here, allow me," a sultry voice calls out from the hallway, and I groan inwardly at who the mastermind is. It's obviously who I thought it was, and to be frank, I wasn't super hyped to meet her.
When Katherine Pierce struts into the room she's all wiles and a sexy, domineering attitude, which, believe me, was difficult to say about someone who had the same face as Elena Gilbert. Bonnie gasps beside me, the hand squeezing mine increasing the pressure exponentially. Baby Gilbert is frozen, a complete deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face.
Raising an eyebrow, I feel Katherine Pierce's gaze move down the line of us, analyzing slowly before meeting my gaze. She looks me up and down, dark eyes mischievous and familiar. When our eyes finally meet for the first time, the playful grin on her lips spread even wider.
"I'm feeling awful hypocritical, but you look exactly like her. I'm liking the change to red hair though, very bold. It's very new for me to be on the other end of that reaction."
"Thanks, cool. Get to the point," I say firmly, crossing my arms as I prepare to use my magic in case of a threat. Although it was super flattering to hear that she liked my hair. Seriously, out of all the people involved ain this weird scenario I was in, there were really only two people I'd respect if they told me my hair was shit: Katherine and Caroline.
Bons' opinion was valid, of course, and Rebekah was someone I'd take a note after, but those were my top two when it came to style. Anyone less giving me their opinion would be automatically invalidated.
Irrelevant. Focus.
Right.
Katherine is still looking deep in my eyes, and I swear right there that I have no idea how they mix up Katherine and Doppelena. Katherine has a sort of wily feral attitude about her. She's very survival-oriented, very smart. These are things that I already know about Katherine Pierce, but it's much more obvious seeing her in person.
"My point, little witch, is we need a bit of help, and you Bennett witches are the perfect solution."
Bonnie glares harder at her, "What 'problem', exactly? And why do you think we'd help the likes of you?"
Ah, there's that Bennett charm.
Suddenly, there's another set of footsteps approaching. Heavier ones. Sharply facing Katherine head on, I have a difficult time monitoring the snark in my voice when I ask, "Who's 'we', Katherine?"
"Well, that'd be me."
A deep voice calls out into the room, and my breath hitches when I catch sight of deep oak brown eyes rounding the corner.
Oh, this might've just gotten either better or worse.
"Elijah," I whisper nearly silently, breathless at just how crazy everything has become.
His eyes lock on mine, and it's like he's stuck. Probing brown eyes scan my face erratically, as if not believing I'm actually there. Suddenly, there's a whole lot of 'hot Original' in my face, right in front of where I stand besides Bons, making me let go of her hand. Gasping at the sudden intrusion to my personal space, Elijah takes it farther by taking another step forward and deeply inhaling the air around me, probably for a scent. I want to take a step back, it's so personal.
"Dahlia," he sighs affectionately, and the name makes my heart rate skyrocket and my fists clench tightly.
GOD FUCKING DAMMIT-!
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A/n: Hiya everyone, hope you're all doing well! Crazy chapter, huh? It's only gonna get crazier. I've decided to go balls to the walls with this idea, so let's see how far I can go. Have a great rest of your day!
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