Set in 2x20
Ric is back!
Adjusting to our reality, part 27: Awake, as I can see
It hurt.
Up till then, it had hurt a little. And then it had hurt a lot more.
Alaric collapsed to the ground. His body fell clumsily on the floor.
But it wasn't that which hurt so much.
No. It was as if his whole body was being torn apart. Especially his left shoulder.
Left shoulder. Now he knew what was going on with the pain.
The teacher saw a girl. She looked a lot like Elena. Maybe it was her.
He closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was sitting on a chair, hands tied behind his back, and he was feeling much better. It seemed to him only a few seconds had passed, but he could guess it was more likely hours.
A man was sitting across the table, reading a book.
Alaric stayed silent, trying to guess what exactly had happened since he had last seen Isobel. He had no idea. He wasn't even sure how much time he had been out. All he knew was that he had had nightmares and dreams. What about, he couldn't say. Warmth, anger, surprise, discomfort, was all he had left from his slumber.
The man looked up. His body was that of a young man, and in a way his eyes too. But they were also very old. Bitter. And yet laughing.
"Awake, as I can see."
And he smiled, a sick, grim, horrendous smile. And then he left.
What was that about?
As the hunter began to twist his hands to free himself, a young woman stepped out of his apartment's bathroom. Alaric squinted his eyes. He had one hell of a headache, and had to concentrate if he wanted to see who she was. If only he knew her. Which wasn't certain at all.
It was... Elena.
Or...
"Katherine?"
The doppelganger grinned a sad grin and sat on the chair next to him.
"Klaus wants me to compel you to go and say something to the Salvatore brothers. I hope you're able to walk?"
"Should do it."
"Well, then..."
The vampire took away the bracelet full of vervain he always had with him. She looked him in the eyes, and began speaking. She was doing this thing with her pupils, that gave him a sticking nausea. But his mind cleared, and he felt like he could not only walk, but that he could actually walk straight ahead too.
Katherine walked around the chair to free him, and was surprised to see he had already undone the rope. She frowned, wondering how the teacher could have done that when he wasn't even able to think normally. She looked at him. He was massaging his wrists, and looked like it was no big deal.
"How did you do that?"
Alaric had a little smile, a tired, jaded smile. Freeing himself from this kind of ties wasn't much, even more so when no one was expecting him to do so.
"You're not part of the family with the greatest assassins in the last centuries as family members without some instinct and natural skills for this kind of things."
And he left, as if he had said something completely trivial.
The hunter searched for his car, not sure of where he had parked it. He couldn't find it, so he decided to go to the boarding house on foot. Maybe it was for the best. After all, though he could walk straight, the world was still more or less attacking him with all its might. That was usually called a headache, he knew that, but he was certain the world resented him personally. If it didn't, then why did he have to endure all this supernatural farce?
Anyway, if he tried to drive to the Salvatores', he might as well throw himself in a ditch already.
It took him some time, but if he felt like his head was going to blow up any minute, he was here.
Ric took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.
The door opened, and he came face to face with Jenna.
His heart missed a beat. Or it would have if he wasn't so weary.
Sure, he was happy to see her. He was happy to know she was alright. But he also knew that her threatening him with a crossbow was a good enough hint that she knew. And, either he had done something really rude lately without being aware of it, enough for her to hate him for the rest of her life, or something had happened while he was unconscious. If nothing had happened, she wouldn't have asked to be sure he was himself.
Damon, Stefan, Elena, and even Elijah, arrived in the hallway, and Alaric gulped. Something was definitely wrong. He had to find something to say, he had to prove he was himself, even if he didn't know why.
And why the hell was the Original alive in the first place? Elijah was supposed to be daggered in the basement, and...
No matter. He needed a proof. Now.
The story with Jeremy entering Jenna's room during their first night together came to his mind. Better than nothing. Of course, Jenna and Elena blushed. Ric didn't. He wasn't able to feel anything about saying it out loud right now. Somehow, his brain operated just fine, but his emotional center was bogged down. Too tired, certainly.
Things went their way.
Alaric delivered Klaus's message, and only then he understood the meaning of the words he had just let out. The sacrifice was this very night. And he was ashamed he wasn't even able to feel bad about it. And he was ashamed he wasn't even able to feel ashamed.
Everybody watched him fall upon the couch, as he held his head between his hands.
"I won't ask if you keep aspirin in this house, Damon, but sometimes I'd really like it if you could only be a normal guy, who gets hangover after drinking too much."
Of course, there was no aspirin.
Ric listened to them talking about what Klaus did while he was borrowing his body, and the hunter almost achieved to care. Now, he was there, sitting on this sofa with his best friend and his girlfriend, and nobody died, even though Klaus thought Bonnie had. And, except Isobel. But she had it coming. All in all, it could have been worse.
Elena went away at some point, he wasn't exactly sure why. Stefan followed her.
Alaric, Damon, Jenna and Elijah were still there, in the living room, and the silence was heavy.
"I guess I still have to apologize for one or two things... First of all, I apologize for stabbing you with the dagger."
Elijah raised an eyebrow. There was nothing behind this voice. It wasn't exactly a lie, but... Apologies weren't the same for this man than for other people. And the Original was sure he had already heard that tone somewhere...
"Apology accepted."
The teacher nodded, thankful for that. Then he turned to face Damon, who looked at him with...
"I'm sorry for the trouble, Damon. I wasn't the one who did all this, of course, but I wasn't careful enough to prevent it."
"Shut up, Ric. It's not like any of us ever thought the big bad original vampire could body jump into human beings. You've got nothing to worry about."
Ric frowned. His vision was still unfocused, but his hearing was fine. There was something in the vampire's voice that wasn't right. Pained. Wounded, even.
He'd think about it later.
"Jenna... I still have one thing to tell you, if I want to be completely honest with you."
Damon stiffened.
If Alaric was really going to say what the vampire thought he was going to say, the hunter was going to risk everything for his relationship. If Jenna...
The vampire bit his lower lip, only noticed by Elijah. He couldn't hope for Ric to be unhappy with Jenna. It'd have been selfish, and Damon was never selfish when it came to his best friend – or at least he tried not to be. He wanted Alaric to be happy. If Damon couldn't get his own happy ending, at least he'd find some comfort if he knew the man he loved was living a good life.
The teacher took off his shirt, and tore off the bandage he had underneath.
"This scar is not only a scar..."
Elijah interrupted, finally able to remember what it was that was so familiar with the man's eyes. The inhumanity of the Falkenbachs was the answer.
"Falkenbach. That explains a lot."
"Falken-what?"
Because that didn't explain anything to Jenna, who had no idea what they were talking about.
The Original sat down, and said two words about it being a curse that every member of a particular family had inherited at birth. A cursed legacy he had seen only twice in his life, and that he would always remember. It wasn't a curse to be considered as unimportant.
Damon winced when nobody was looking at him, which was almost all the time, since everyone's attention was focused on Alaric. Now they didn't even have this secret to keep. Now they all knew what he had spend days and weeks looking after, like a freaking stalker. And he and Alaric didn't have this bond between them anymore. Secrecy was dead, and with it had died the last hope he had about his love for Ric.
"Why is your scar stained with dried blood, exactly?"
It was better if he didn't think about it.
The hunter frowned, and tried to touch the damaged skin. His head started to pin, so Jenna did it for him, and effectively, the scar had been reopened lately.
Damon tensed up when she ran her fingers on Alaric's skin. This wasn't fair.
Hands clenched to the point he was drawing blood from his palms when the nails broke through.
In his jacket pocket, he felt something cold. He took it and looked at it for a while.
The ring Katherine had stolen from Klaus.
"Catch that, Ric."
And he threw it to his best friend who caught it without much effort.
The instant the hunter's skin came into contact with the jewellery, he knew he had made a mistake.
A terrible eletrical discharge made his heart goes crazy for three or four seconds. He could feel it, skipping an heartbeat. Then racing against his chest.
And for the same amout of time, he felt nothing. Not even fear, due to his lack of emotions.
Ric let go of the ring as soon as he could, and then he was back to normal. Almost. If shrieking on the sofa while shaking like a leaf could be called normal. If the fact that his scar started bleeding again, even if the blood smelled like death, even for a vampire, was considered normal.
"What the hell was that?!"
Elijah bent down, and put his hand on the ring. He recognized it as soon as he saw it.
"The Falkenbachs' weakness, if you can call it so. Enchanted jewelry, as always. The seal on your back and the seal on the amethyst are resonating, overriding without lasting effects the magic that is keeping you humane inside. In return, it inflicts great pain. But I've seen how this usually work out. A Falkenbach on the loose is terrible. Now, if you'll excuse me..."
The Original left, and Damon went back to his room. He didn't want to witness once more his own despair.
There he found Elena waiting for him, with her crazy resurrection plan, and it pissed him off how everyone was willing to throw away their life for the ones they loved, when he wasn't even able to get his own happiness. Anger took the best out of him, and he force-fed Elena some of his blood. He wasn't going to let her, whom he almost considered a little sister in some way, die on him because of an uncertain potion.
Stefan stopped him, but too late, and they fought. Then Alaric came in, shortly followed by Jenna. The hunter managed to get him to calm down and not do another stupid thing, such as stabbing his own brother.
Then Ric noticed. His bloodied coat could still be seen somewhere between the sheets of Damon's bed.
