Author's Note:
First note: this beginning of this seemed almost... put on fast forward to me when I was spellchecking it. Especially the part where they're looking for Vicki towards the middle. It slows down towards the end, though. My AU scenes are always a bit more written out better, particularly in the first half of s1 as it's all very Elena focused, which actually brings me to my second note! During the part where Elena wants Jeremy's memories wiped, it could be interpreted as Elena bashing a bit? I personally didn't think it did, but I guess to some it might, so I figured I'd mention it.
Anyway, without further ado!
Caroline, Josiah and Elowen met up with Bonnie when they arrived at the school.
"You have one, too?" Bonnie asked under her breath, glancing at the amulet hanging around Elowen's neck. She nodded.
They were all distracted when Tyler approached, but Elowen just used this as an excuse to sneak away. She'd been wandering for maybe 20 minutes or so when she was abruptly grabbed and pulled into a classroom.
It was Stefan.
"What are yo-" She started to ask confusedly, but Stefan was quick to speak over her.
"Have you seen Vicki?"
Elowen's face went slack. She didn't like where this was going. "You mean she isn't with you?"
"Damon thought it was a great idea to teach her how to use superspeed," he explained.
"So she got away and now she's here?" Elowen tore off her witch hat. "Well, there goes my normal night. I'll help look for her."
"Thanks."
They left the classroom and went their separate ways. Soon after, Elowen ran into Josiah. She quickly filled him in on what was going on.
"Do you know if Jeremy's here?" She asked after she was done explaining. "That's probably who she's looking for."
"I think I saw him earlier with Elena," he replied. "I'll keep an eye on him. You find Vicki."
Soon after they split up, Elowen ran into Elena.
"Matt said Vicki was here," she said frantically when she saw who she crashed into.
"I know. Stefan's out looking for her right now and Josiah's checking on Jeremy."
Elena seemed to relax a little knowing that Jeremy wasn't alone.
"C'mon. We should help Stefan." Elena grabbed her arm and pulled her farther down the hallways. They weaved their way through the various people before finally coming across Stefan agian. This time he had Vicki with him.
"Thank god," breathed Elena.
"Vic, what are you doing?" Elowen quietly asked. "You could barely control yourself with me. What makes you think you can do it here?"
Before Vicki could reply, Matt spotted them and came to see what was wrong. Vicki saw this as an opportunity and pushed Stefan away.
"I told you to quit bothering me."
Matt's protective instincts kicked in and he stepped in front of Vicki.
"No, don't do this," Elowen pleaded. "Somebody is going to get hurt if you do."
"Was that a threat?" Questioned Matt.
"Matty, they won't leave me alone," Vicki said with a convincingly scared tone. She was hiding behind him with a shaking grip on his bicep.
Matt quickly came to her defense and got in Stefan's space. "You need to back the hell off, man."
"Matt, it's… it's okay," Elena tried to reassure him, but he wasn't having any of it.
"No! It's not okay. What's your problem?"
Elowen felt a breeze zip by her and turned. Vicki was gone. She seized Stefan's arm, gaining his attention. "She's gone," she stated frantically.
Elowen let go and ran off in the direction Stefan had brought her from. She hoped Josiah had found Jeremy and was keeping him safe. Her hopes were unfortunately squashed when she caught sight of Josiah's costume by itself.
"Jo!" She rushed forward. "Where's Jeremy?"
"I don't know!" Josiah exclaimed worriedly. "I had him with me but I looked away for one second and then he was gone."
"Vicki. It has to be." She started tugging him along with her. "Quick, let's go."
The two of them ran through the halls, barely managing to dodge the students milling about. Elowen had a feeling that she wasn't in the building anymore, so she headed towards one of the back entrances. It was reassuring to see Stefan's back disappearing through the same exit. By the time her and Josiah made it outside, Vicki had pushed Stefan off of her and sped off. For a second, they all stood there.
Finally, Stefan broke their stupor.
"Go. Get inside," he ordered, pushing Elena back towards the door. "Go!"
Elena grabbed Jeremy and dragged him back the way they came. Stefan started to look under the buses while Elowen and Josiah ran past them to see if they could find her in the open parking lot. In their absence, there was a crash and then a loud scream. Elowen dashed back just in time to see Stefan grab a lone piece of sharp wood.
"No!" She yelled, throwing her arm out, palm facing the two vampires. Both Stefan and Vicki went down the next second. The broken piece of wood Stefan had clattered to the ground. Josiah jumped forward and kicked it away.
Elowen lifted the spell from Stefan and allowed him to stand up. She made eye contact Vicki, tears beginning to fill her eyes, knowing this was the second time today she had to put someone she considered a friend in pain.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Movimiento," she enchanted, and with a twist of her wrist, snapped Vicki's neck.
"Vicki! No!" Jeremy screamed and tried to run towards her, but Stefan was able to hold him back just in time. Josiah quickly made his way over to try and calm him down.
"Jeremy, listen, she's okay," he reassured hastily. "She'll wake up."
Jeremy continued to struggle against Stefan. "No, she's not! Didn't you see?!"
"Get him out of here," Elena advised. Josiah pulled Jeremy away from the scene. Stefan trailed behind them to make sure he didn't try to get loose and run to Vicki. He pulled his phone out and called Damon as they left. Elena collapsed to the ground after they were gone, sobbing over Vicki's body.
"She's going to wake up," Elowen softly informed her, crouching next to her.
"I know. It's just…. Seeing her look dead is…." Elena trailed off.
"I get it." Elowen cast a glance at Elena and sighed. "You should go. You're bleeding. I'll take care of her, okay?"
Silently, Elena got off the ground and left the same way Stefan and Josiah had. Elowen sat there with Vicki's body for who knows how long before Damon showed up. She didn't even look at him as she gingerly hooked her hands under Vicki's arms and lifted her up.
"Are you ignoring me?" Damon asked, eyes narrowed as he scooped Vicki into his arms when Elowen handed her over. Elowen didn't answer and started to walk off. "So you are ignoring me. May I ask what I did to deserve the cold shoulder?"
Elowen stopped in her tracks. She turned on Damon, her face dark and furious.
"'What you did'?" She repeated with venom in her words. "This is your fault! If you hadn't been such an asshole and turned Vicki, none of this would've happened! She wouldn't have hurt Jeremy, or Elena, or me, or anyone for that matter, and we wouldn't have to lie to Matt. The least you could do is stay out of this and let Stefan help her because all you do is make everything worse."
"And I should care and listen to you because?" Damon questioned without a care. He was so unbothered that it made Elowen's blood boil.
"You can kiss Katherine goodbye if you don't."
Damon's nostrils flared. She twirled around and left, not bothering to see if Damon was following behind her or not.
"You keep saying you have no emotions, but here you are, feeling anger." Elowen slowly came to a stop again. "Things would be a lot easier if you just….. Let it in."
Both of them stood there in silence for a long while, neither of them uttering a word. Elowen sighed deeply when Damon didn't reply and shook her head.
"Just lock her in cellar for now," she instructed. "There's nothing we can do until she wakes up."
There was a whooshing sound and when Elowen turned around, Damon was gone.
Elowen had gone back to Elena's house to check on Jeremy. She spotted Stefan sitting on the bench on the porch as she trudged up the steps. She came over and sat next to him.
"This is not how I expected this night to go," she grumbled. "How is he?"
"Josiah has been trying to explain everything to him for the past 20 minutes," he mumbled as a response.. "He's still a bit confused. Elena asked him if he understood what happened tonight and he just started crying. I don't think I blame him."
They both sat there, Elowen leaning into Stefan. Neither knew what to say, but it seemed as if they both understood. Eventually, Elena came outside. Elowen immediately sat up.
"How's he doing?" She immediately asked.
Elena shrugged. "He's a mess. Josiah is being as patient as he can, but he's so confused. I don't want him to go through this again. Vicki may not technically be dead, but he doesn't understand that."
"What can I do?" Stefan asked. "I mean, what can we do?" He corrected himself, glancing at Elowen. "There's gotta be something."
"... Can you make him forget?" Elena wondered curiously.
Elowen was on her feet before anyone could blink. "Absolutely not. That's not your choice to make. Stefan and I let you have it, so why can't Jeremy?"
"Because he's just a kid!" Elena retaliated. She made it sound like it was the superior argument that would automatically win. Obviously, she'd never argued with someone who wasn't afraid to not give her what she wanted.
"And you aren't? Elena, you're 17," Elowen stressed the age, shaking her head in exasperation. "Why don't we just make you forget everything right now and walk away? Huh?"
"You wouldn't."
"Don't tempt me."
Stefan stood now, stepping in between them to diffuse the situation. "Listen, Elena, even if I did, there's no guarantee it would work. Because of who I am, how I live, I don't have the ability to do it right. And you already know Elowen won't do it."
"I'll do it." Damon announced as he appeared from around the corner. "If it's what you want." He wouldn't dare admit it, but Elowen had gotten to him. This was his mess, and if this was his opportunity to fix it, he'd take it.
"It's what I want," Elena replied confidently.
"No!" Elowen yelled. "It's not about what you want! It's not even about what's best for Jeremy. It's about what he wants. It's his life, not yours."
"But he's my brother!" Elena countered, as if that was enough of an answer to justify everything. The fact that she still thought she had some sort of authority over Jeremy's life was mind-blowing to Elowen. She thought her and Josiah had gotten it through her thick skull that she had no right to control his life the way she was, but apparently they hadn't.
"It doesn't matter, Elena!" Elowen nearly screamed back.
The front door creaked open, causing everyone to turn their heads to the source of the sound. Jeremy shuffled outside, his eyes downcast. Josiah was behind him.
"I want to forget," he mumbled, voice hoarse. "I don't…." he trailed off, shaking his head. "Every time I close my eyes, I see her neck breaking. Even if I know she's okay…. I don't wanna remember that." His eyes slid up towards Damon. "Tell me that Vicki found me tonight to officially break up with me. She has some stuff to take care of and she doesn't want me to wait for her. I'm gonna be hurt and I'll miss her, but it's for the best."
Damon stepped forward, but Josiah held a hand out.
"Wait." He turned to Jeremy. "Do you want to forget everything I just told you tonight, too?"
Jeremy thought this over for a few moments. Finally, he shook his head. "No. I want to remember that my best friend is a witch. You would've told me anyway, right? But I don't wanna remember anything about vampires. Um…." He swallowed, trying to rack his head for another lie to feed himself. "After Vicki dumped me, I went to find Jo and in order to cheer me up, he does some cool witch trick, or something."
Damon took another step, but this time it was Elowen who stopped him. He rolled his eyes at being interrupted yet again. "One last thing. If Jeremy ever finds out again, make sure he's aware that he knew before, but he was the one who wanted to forget. We'll avoid a lot of arguments that way."
"Are you done?" Damon snapped. Elowen rolled her eyes back at him and back away, allowing him to finally grab Jeremy by the arm.
"Will it hurt?" Jeremy nervously asked as Damon dragged him into the house.
"If you keep talking, I'll make sure it does."
Once they were gone, everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.
"See? He wanted to forget anyway," Elena said condescendingly, crossing her arms. She even had her nose in the air, as if she thought she'd won.
"That doesn't mean you have permission to take that choice away." Elowen retorted with an extra bite to her tone and turned her back on Elena, signaling that the conversation was over. "Can you take us home?" She asked Stefan instead. "We sorta went to the party in Caroline's car."
Josiah's eyes widened at the mention of the blonde. "Shit!" He hissed to himself. "I left in such a hurry that I didn't tell Caroline!" He dug his hand into his pocket and ran off, no doubt to call Caroline.
"Okaaaaay, you can take us home after Jo does damage control. It won't be too heavy?"
"I might not be as strong as Damon, but I'm still strong," Stefan brushed off. "I'll be fine."
Damon came back outside a couple of minutes later. "Talking about me, I presume?" He smirked. Elowen's nose wrinkled. He really thought everything was about him, didn't he? When he turned to Elena, it dropped. "It's done. He's up in his room, like nothing ever happened."
"Thank you."
"Yeah, yeah." He turned to Stefan, completely blowing her off. It's like she suddenly wasn't there. "I can take her home for ya, Stef. Two people is too much of a handful." Damon grabbed onto Elowen's wrist and took off before anyone could protest. The next second they were in front of her house. Elowen stumbled and fell onto her knees, her head spinning.
"God!" She gasped. "A warning would be nice next time. I feel like I'm gonna be sick."
"Oh, please. You'll be fine." Damon crouched down. "Now, onto business. I let Stefan teach Vicki his sad, vegetarian diet and you'll help me get into the tomb?"
"Tell me what you know about my family first." She was trying her best to climb back to her feet, but every time she moved, a fresh wave of nausea would overcome her.
"Oh for god sake!" He stood, leaving Elowen to struggle standing up on her own. "You keep changing the terms of this deal. I can't keep up anymore!"
"Who said anything about a deal?" She managed to ask. She'd succeeded to get up, except her head was still swimming. The world spun and she felt herself starting to tip over again, but Damon quickly grabbed onto the shirt of her costume and pulled her upright.
"See! You just did it again," he tsked as he stepped away from Elowen. "Goddammit!" Flustered, Damon ruffled his hair with both of his hands. He turned back to face her in defeat. "Fine, fine! I'll tell you what you want to know, but after that all negotiations go out the window, understood?"
Elowen took awhile to answer. She was doing her best to gather her thoughts as she fought the urge to throw up. She nervously chewed on her lip. What was she doing?
"I'll think about it," she said at last.
"It's better than nothing." Damon shrugged. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was growing on you."
She could hear that damn smirk in his voice before she even saw it. She rolled her eyes. "You wish. Goodnight, Damon." She turned to head up the patio steps, her fingers gripping the railing tightly. The lamp post caught her necklace and it gleamed, catching Damon's eye.
His jaw tightened at the sight of the second pendant. Of course she had it. If his little run in with Bonnie meant anything, he wouldn't be able to get either amulet back. Forcing a smile, he watched her disappear through the front door.
"Yeah. Goodnight."
Elowen was sprawled out on the floor of her bedroom, spaced out as she stared at her wall when Stefan and Josiah came home (she'd totally thrown up the second she got in the house, by the way). She'd changed out of her witch costume ages ago and was now wearing a plain shirt and pj pants.
She heard a sigh of relief from her door, but didn't move.
"I was worried when Damon just took off like that. I texted you to see if you were okay, but you never responded." Stefan walked over and took a seat next to her. Elowen broke her concentration on the wall to blankly stare at Stefan instead. Wordlessly, she tugged him down into a laying down position and rested her head on his chest. Nothing was said for awhile. Stefan ran his fingers through her hair, a gesture that comforted Elowen.
"You doin' alright?" He asked quietly.
"No," she whispered. "You were going to kill her." Tears began to sting her eyes as the events of tonight finally settled in. Stefan immediately started to shush her, taking her smaller form into his arms.
"I know. And I'm sorry," he apologized. "She was out of control and she was going to hurt Elena. I didn't know what else to do. Listen, it's gonna be okay. Just take one step at a time."
She didn't say anything, sniffling as a few tears slipped down her face. That's how she fell asleep, crying with Stefan holding her.
One step at a time.
If only it were that easy.