Something like before 4x06, but events change with everything about Damon, Jeremy and Elena, since it's Ariane who killed Connor, and I still needed a reason for Jeremy to accept becoming one of the Five.
As for Damon, he went back into danger-mode.


One world apart, part 10: Nothing out of the ordinary in Mystic Falls

Jeremy was frowning as he entered the house. He couldn't get the tattoo that had appeared on his arm out of his head. It just kept lurking around, in a corner of his mind, as if bringing with it an ill omen.

Which was, to be frank, certainly the case, considering it was meant to be seen only by potential and actual hunters of the Five, and sported only by the laters. Jeremy had already known he was a potential hunter, from what Connor had told him. And now, one of the five hunters was dead, namely, the very same Connor Jordan. Meaning, a new hunter was to appear. And go figure, the teenager, being a potential hunter, was apparently the one who would fill the place.

As if he could do that.

His sister was a vampire. His sister's boyfriend was a vampire. The brother of his sister's boyfriend was a vampire. One of his sister's best friends was a vampire. His kind-of-friend was a hybrid, between werewolf and vampire.

...Had he forgotten someone else that he desperately didn't want to kill, and that his new status probably meant he had to kill?

He didn't think so. And that was already enough reasons for him not to want to be a hunter of the Five. More than enough reasons. Even if it had only been about Elena...

Jeremy locked the front door, and turned around, planning to grab something to eat in the kitchen. There was probably some pizza left from the last time Alaric's ghost hadn't been stalking him to make sure he ate healthily.

The teenager did not make it to the kitchen.

In fact, he didn't make it anywhere.

Ric was leaning against the wall, a mere few feet away from Jeremy.

The potential / future / current / waiting-for-approval hunter started.

"You scared me. Don't come in unannounced like that, please."

The ghost didn't react to the teenager's poor attempt at a joke. In fact, he didn't react at all, keeping on observing Jeremy with that strange look in his eyes, that had truly frightened the teenager, from time to time. As if there was only calculation on his mind.

After what felt like an eternity, during which Jeremy didn't dare to move, Alaric finally looked him in the eyes, rather than to simply look at him.

"I'm here because you thought of me no so long ago, Jeremy. You should know that. That's why I'm here; I thought it better to wait for you to return at the house, rather than appear somewhere else where people I don't know could secretly see me. And while I could have ignored your unconscious call, it also got me out of trouble with an obsessive vampire boyfriend and a nosey grim reaper. I thank you for that, by the way."

Jeremy stared dumbly at the ghost of his previous legal guardian, stuck on the mention of the "grim reaper", and by the fact that Ric had just implied someone else than him could see the ghost. But before he could succeed in asking anything about either of those points, Ric moved out of the corridor, and towards the living room. The teenager followed, and sat down after seeing the ghost do just that.

Ric looked at him quizzically, frowning a bit.

"Is something the matter, Jeremy?"

The teenager half-choked at the question, and the ghost mused that yes, something was the matter.

As always in Mystic Falls, he should say. When it wasn't something about witches and vampires, it was about hybrids and ghosts. And when it was neither, it could still be grim reapers, werewolves, or cursed people. There was always something to be the matter. Maybe there was a signboard at the entrance of the city, with written "we welcome all supernatural troubles" on it. He'd have to check, just to be sure.

Oh, and there was also the fact that Jeremy had just been taken hostage by a mad supernatural vampire hunter earlier in the day. Nothing out of the ordinary in Mystic Falls.

Finally Jeremy managed to look Alaric in the eyes. He cleared his throat, and gestured to the arm where he could clearly see the Hunter's Mark, though he guessed Ric couldn't.

"Apparently Connor's death triggered my becoming one of the Five."

Alaric blinked, but his face showed more resignation with the fact that anyway, their lives were crap, than surprise. There was a small silence, during which the ghost wondered what exactly they had done to deserve this hell that were their lives, and Jeremy mused on the fact that people his age didn't usually go around beheading hybrids, vampires and whatnots.

"Any special urge to gruesomely murder vampires?"

"No. Well, for all we know, not yet. Except Damon, but that's to be expected. I don't know how he manages it, but he just grates on your nerves even after you've become somewhat friendly with him. It's as if his very existence was meant to upset people."

Ric rolled his eyes. He knew the feeling.

Just then, Jeremy's phone rang. The two shared a worried look, wondering what else exactly could go wrong after all that had happened lately.

Because, let's be honest. It could be a classmate calling to borrow the teenager's notes of the last math lesson. It really could. Even if asking Jeremy of all people for such a thing probably meant all the other students in his class had gone missing over the night. Possibly all the students in his year, in fact. Jeremy Gilbert wasn't known to take school really seriously. Pretty much the opposite, in fact. Not that he didn't have reasons for at least half of his non-attendance, but anyway.

So, this phone call could be from a worried student who needed help with math, even if Jeremy wasn't exactly the person to go to for help in such a case.

It could be.

But knowing their luck, it wasn't likely.

"Who is it?"

Better get prepared, Alaric mused.

Even if he wouldn't be able to do anything to help... except giving advice, perhaps.

Jeremy looked at his phone before taking the call, his lips forming a silent "Elena" as he did so.

Ah. One more hint that it wasn't something good. Not that Elena never called for good things. Just that she was the one to whom the worst things kept happening.

Well, at least it wasn't Damon calling, Ric thought drily.

Jeremy didn't even get the time to say anything, not even a greeting to his sister whom he hadn't seen much lately, as she was trying to control herself better with Stefan's help at the boarding house. Apparently she wasn't the best at controlling her thirst, and it might take a while.

"Jeremy, come to the river asap! Damon taunted one of Klaus' hybrids for I-don't-know-and-I-don't-want-to-know-what-reason, and they are fighting. I got shot with a vervein dart, and I can't contact anyone else! Please, hurry!"

The teenager said nothing, flabbergasted.

"Jeremy!"

"Right. I'm coming. I'll be there shortly. Try not to die in the meantime!"

And he hung up.

Jeremy and Alaric shared an aggravated look, before the former hunter took things into his hands.

"Take the stakes in the umbrella holder, and there is an axe under my bed. I don't think there is a crossbow anywhere in the house, you'll have to do without. Take the car, and meet me there. I'll take a look, and tell you the situation once you get there."

The teen nodded, already on his way to get the axe.

The ghost disappeared from the Gilbert house, and appeared where he believed he'd find two vampires and a hybrid, two of whom were probably fighting to the death. It was the public spot students always came to when they wanted to throw a party and take a dive in the river, not the one on the Lockwoods' estate.

Alaric immediately saw Elena groggily leaning against a fallen trunk, a dozen of meters away from his position. The young vampire was trying not to blink too much, searching for two blurry forms under the water. She had managed to get rid of the vervain dart that the hybrid had used on her when she had tried to intervene, but it had been a strong dose, and she still couldn't stand up. Getting her phone had been difficult enough...

Ric sighed, glad, for once, that Klaus wanted to keep her alive for some reason. He had no doubt as to why the girl had only been verveined; it had to be on Klaus' order.

Then the ghost shifted his attention to the blurry forms fighting underwater.

Ric wasn't sure how exactly, but Damon and the hybrid had ended up in the river, and were still trying to murder each other even so. From where he was, he could see the dark form of the hybrid possibly throttling another form with dark hair and pale skin, that was probably Damon.

Unless Damon had become a black and bald hybrid before he had decided to go and annoy a vampire who looked just like his previous self.

Alaric should have known, the moment the phone had rung, that, even if it was Elena calling, Damon might have been part of the problem. It wasn't as if his lover tended to act rashly when things didn't go his way. Damon was an example of self-control, as everyone in Mystic Falls knew.

People who knew otherwise were usually the vampire's friends, or dead – or his enemies.

Like Alaric, who was both his friend and dead, and even a bit more.

Forced to watch as the water around the two fighting supernatural beings turned worryingly scarlet, the ghost clenched his teeth with so much strength he might have found it painful if he had been alive and with a body.

Damon had been too quiet, after his death. He had been too well-behaved. And Ric had assumed the vampire was making progress with grieving!

How could he have been so blind?

If this, this mockery of a fight that he was watching, had not been triggered by Damon learning Alaric had been around all along, but still refused to let him know, if this wasn't Damon's usual brash reaction to the world, then Ric wasn't a Saltzman. Learning that the ghost was there had triggered something, maybe anger, maybe despair, Ric didn't know, in Damon, and now, there they were. Damon, doing something randomly stupid, and risking people's lives as he did so.

What was it, now?

The vampire wanted to die, maybe, and be with his lover?

Or was it only the selfish, bratty Damon Salvatore reacting to the fact that the world was unfair?

As the two were still fighting underwater, Ric heard the sound of a car's brakes. He disappeared from the riverbank, and appeared again on the side of the road. Jeremy was getting out of the car, axe already in hand.

The teenager saw the ghost, and walked to him, worry on his face.

"I did as quickly as I could."

"Don't worry, Elena's safe. Kind of. Somehow Damon and the hybrid are fighting in the river, and that may have contributed to the fact that they still haven't murdered each other completely."

The teen's eyebrows shot up, but he asked nothing. It wasn't as if Alaric knew why the two fighters had ended up in the water. Instead of losing more time chitchatting, Jeremy ran into the path, and towards the riverbank, a few meters below.

The teenager first stopped to look at his sister, who was now able to look up – more or less, as her chin still did its best to fall back on her torso, without her consent. The two shared a look, and then Jeremy turned back to the river, searching for Damon and his opponent.

There was more blood in the water than only a minute before, Ric noticed anxiously as he joined the teenager on the riverbank. With the water and the blood, he just couldn't see which of the two fighters was injured.

Even if Damon had started all this by behaving like an idiot, the ghost still hoped it wasn't him.

Jeremy hesitated an instant, before jumping in the river, axe still in hand. Walking against the water wasn't easy, but he eventually reached the two others. Noticing that it wasn't Damon who was above the hybrid, but the other way around, he raised the axe high in the air...

...Before making it fall fast on the neck of the hybrid, whose eyes had been quite busy bleeding since Damon had shoved his thumbs in them.

The amount of blood the river carried doubled instantly, and the headless body fell on a stunned vampire. If Damon hadn't already been out of air a long time ago, a great bubble of it would have escaped his mouth as he gasped under the unexpected weight.

As for the head of the hybrid, it went with the flow of the river.