A/N: A huge thanks, once again, to all of you for reading and reviewing. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. I did go ahead and raise the rating, just because I'd rather be safe than sorry. No one is going to be jumping into bed anytime soon though. But given how much screen time Damon is going to be getting... ;)
Hope you guys enjoy the results of Damon and Cynthia's little experiment! (Don't kill me please.)
Also, to the guest who said this was your favourite story of yours to read, bless you. And bless your face.
The rest of the night passed in fitful bursts of sleep and agonizing stretches of time simply staring into blackness. Cynthia was aware when Jeremy weaved his way back into the house. He had showered to dampen some of the thick alcohol smell, but she could still clearly imagine the thick waves of misery he seemed to live in perpetually.
She had tried texting Damon to no avail. He was probably off tormenting her not twin or whatever else that gave him kicks. Knowing that just made her even grumpier and pissed off that she couldn't fall asleep. Or, alternatively, wake up back home.
Except Cynthia was finally starting to accept that this wasn't just an extended dream. Her dreams might be detailed, but she couldn't think of a time when they had ever involved sticking to a pre-established storyline. And sleeping? Within a dream? Well and maybe, but insomnia like this was a no.
Which, naturally, made it even harder to fall asleep.
And made her want to talk to her evil vampire BFF even more. It was an obnoxious loop. She and Damon had been texting so regularly and frequently that his radio silence since the party weight heavily on her. It was dumb to be upset with a fictional character. Which probably made her an idiot.
She was so not jealous of whatever was distracting him. Nope.
Giving up on rest altogether, Cynthia rolled across her bed to turn on the side lamp, illuminating a few feet around it in dim, warm light. She pulled out her phone again, and this time searched through her contacts. Stefan had pressed his number on her before leaving last night, something that had made Damon's jaw tense.
SOS please someone help me
It's unhealthy, for me to feel this way. The Rihanna song was stuck in her head now.
"You make me toss and turn, I can't sleep at night," Cynthia sung softly to herself. She had to do something to pass the time.
What happened?
Do you need me to come over?
Stefan replied in freaking record time. Cynthia was beyond impressed.
Can't sleep She texted, and before he could ask if it was something Damon did, added, Can we talk? Privately?
The girl waited a few moments, then decided to clarify. No telling Damon or Elena or anyone else?
He took a little while to reply, but not so long Cynthia was tempted to throw the ancient – to her mind – piece of technology back on the bed.
I do know what privately means ;)
The dead man speaks at last! And they say the dead tell no tales. At least someone was talking to her. Maybe she'd given him a heart attack with her SOS earlier. But it got his attention, didn't it? No regrets.
I'm so proud of you Stef. :P
More for using an emoticon and making a joke without directly saying yes or no than anything else.
What's your favorite color?
You want to swear me to secrecy over my favorite color?
No.. Yes. I don't know. What is it?
And don't say 'brown like Elena's eyes'.
That's way too corny, Pal
Blue or green. More blue though
Showing more insight than Cynthia would have credited him, Stefan texted her again.
What do you really want to ask?
She stared at her phone for a while, just trying to work up the nerve to actually type and send it. After a few breaths, Cynthia phrased it well enough that she was comfortable texting him her question.
How do you handle your reality changing overnight?
Discovering vampires are real. That you aren't just imagining a vivid hallucination world for yourself. Or at least, you don't think you are. And seriously, vampires are real here. And having to deal with decisions she didn't even actually make. Cynthia wasn't sure how Stefan would take her question. Probably more the 'vampires' bit, or possibly just 'parents dying'.
Although she really, really wasn't grieving over the deaths of strangers. Cynthia wasn't compassionate enough to reach that point.
One step at a time. When you go through a loss, you have to adjust.
And when that loss is of your whole future?
She glared at her phone, as if it were the real culprit in all of this. Before Stefan could ask if she had been threatened, or really attempt to clarify at all, she sent another text.
Nevermind. You should be resting up for the game today. Good luck.
Wishing she knew how to screenshot – or if she could – on this phone, Cynthia copied and sent her conversation with Stefan to Damon, giving him a heads up Stefan's feathers might be ruffled when Damon saw him next. Although, that wasn't really news. She didn't want Damon thinking she was siding with Stefan behind his back either.
Cynthia passed the rest of the night combing through 'her' memories and photo albums. She'd found a laptop, much good that did her when she had no idea what the password was. Pity that. If this Cynthia was anything like her, then that was precisely where she would have stored all of her important thoughts. Safe behind a password, and possibly saved again further still in an email or on a private forum.
Admittedly, Grayson and Miranda were probably nothing like her parents. Nowhere near as controlling or invasive, and given there was a private computer she also probably didn't need to fear a keylogger or anything of the like. On the flipside of that coin, there were two siblings to be potentially nosy and poke into her business. So Cynthia was still betting on that laptop.
By the time the sun had been up for several hours, Cynthia was bleary eyed and out of sorts. She had flat given up on sleeping since it was clearly being denied to her. She had instead invaded her not brother's room, seeing as she hadn't spoken more than maybe five words to him since she got here. Cynthia took a seat on the floor next to his door and just waited for him to wake up.
Once he finally shifted to get out of bed, she piped up, "What's up, baby bro?"
Jeremy didn't react well. There was some stumbling and cursing, and Cynthia was fairly sure he'd muttered 'Christo' at her Supernatural style. That was a bit offensive, but she couldn't deny that she was possessing this body. It also made Cynthia wonder if there was a correlation between watching Supernatural and being a potential vampire hunter.
Nah, had to be a coincidence, right?
"Oi! I'm not a demon, Jer."
"Could have fooled me," came the sleepy reply. Cynthia envied him his slumber, but twitched a smile all the same.
Stretching, she rose to her feet. "Someone is grumpy when he first wakes up," she teased. "How are things with you and Vicki?"
For some reason, her questioning seemed to anger Jeremy. His posture all but screamed 'why do you care?'
"Don't start with me. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."
Cynthia recoiled at her not brother's reaction. She might not have the best relationship with her own sibling, but family still meant something to her. Having a brother acting like he loathed her without even knowing why?
That sucked hard core. All this guilt being dumped over her head and accompanied by male brooding was beyond not cool.
"Whatever, I'm making pancakes," she told him in clipped tones. "Consider yourself informed."
Elena was far less grouchy, despite being pretty reluctant to get out of bed before ten on a Saturday. Cynthia had to coax her with the promise of coffee to get her down the stairs. Their brother was nowhere to be seen, but Cynthia started the coffee percolating as promised before setting to work on the pancakes.
After several minutes of lengthy silence, Cynthia paused in her whisking as she looked up to her not twin.
"You have a thoughtful face on. Something on your mind?"
Elena shook herself out of her fugue and moved to finally pour herself a cup of the fresh brew. "Just something Damon mentioned last night, I guess. It's not really a big deal."
The local King of Up to No Good had put a bee in Elena's bonnet. Well and so, that sadly didn't give her much to work with. He could have offered genuine advice orrr just have been using her to mess with Stefan.
"Is Damon giving you a hard time?" Cynthia asked, smiling down into the batter.
"Not really? I mean, yes, there is obviously huge drama between him and Stefan. That I do not want to get in the middle of..."
She couldn't help but interrupt. "But likely will anyway."
Elena chose to stare at her rather than finish her sentence, and Cynthia stared back at her with an innocently confused expression. "What? I'm just being realistic."
Her not twin huffed. "What I was going to say, is that he thought I should give up cheerleading."
Huh? He did? When had he even had time to see Elena practice? Why would it even come up? Or he care?
"Did he say why?"
Shut up. She still wasn't jealous.
"Just that I looked miserable when Bonnie and I were talking about learning the routines." Elena was blissfully ignorant of Cynthia's mental chatter.
Maybe Damon wasn't a fan of the whole Heroes mantra. Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.
"Do you want to stay in cheer, Elena?" Cynthia probed as she poured out the batter for the first set of pancakes to start baking.
"I don't know," Elena's shoulders rose in a tense shrug. "It's kind of like you said. I want to move forward with my life now. Cheerleading used to be fun, but it isn't now."
"But you don't necessarily want to completely give up on your old life, so to speak."
Cynthia kept checking under the pancakes with a spatula, flipping them once a side had completely cooked.
"Right. Exactly." Her not twin was smiling at Cynthia as if she was proud of her for winning a prize.
It made her want to be able to actually give good advice. But she wasn't sure what to say. 'Don't worry, Elena. Football might be effectively defunct anyway. It was probably only introduced so we could get a new history teacher in a couple of months who is new to town.'
"Well. Regardless, I would tell Care to rearrange things without you for tonight, since the routines probably take longer than an afternoon to get down. Just at a guess." She grinned as her not twin laughed at that, flipping a few pancakes onto a platter and repeating the process of cooking them with a new batch. "If you don't love cheerleading anymore, then there's no shame in admitting that and taking a break or leaving it altogether. Life's too short for self hate, Elena. Have fun with it."
"Yeah, I guess."
Elena went back to downing coffee like it was the only thing worth consuming, so Cynthia finished the pancakes, then shouted up at the ceiling. "Snooze, you lose on breakfast!"
Mid sentence, Jenna walked in. No doubt lured by the smell or the sound of teen angst.
"This is nice. What's the occasion?"
"Morning Aunt Jenna," Cynthia was proud of the fact she remembered to include the appellation 'aunt'. "I couldn't sleep. This is me bribing you all ahead of time to not hate me when I become even more exhausted and grumpy tonight."
Two sets of eyes peered at her curiously. "Are you actually going to the game?"
"Well, Matty and Stef are starting. So I should probably go and support my future brother in law."
Cynthia danced out of the way of Elena's retaliatory smack, her own plate of pancakes in hand. She sat down at the table with her not family and slathered her food with syrup.
"Sooo, how goes school?" She asked pointedly of Jenna, settling into a light, friendly conversation with them.
She had gotten dressed up, wearing one of her new scarves and a leather bracelet, about the time Elena had excused herself to go stare conflictedly at her cheerleading uniform. It was probably the height of clinginess, but considering Damon – her only real ally in this place – was ignoring her texts, she wanted to at least give it the old college try and swing by the Salvatore lair. Cynthia wasn't sure if he was off exploring some of the things she vaguely remembered about Isobel and her research, or if Damon was just being a general dick.
Either way, she still made her way to the Boarding House while the motley crew all went ridiculously early to the school for a night game. Football hadn't ever been her scene. She knocked perfunctorily on the front door, then went right ahead and opened it. Wandering through the house, Cynthia kept her arms crossed protectively around herself.
She was not put out that a certain someone was nowhere to be seen. Nope.
"What are you doing here?"
Cynthia pivoted to greet the human Salvatore with a crooked smile. "I came to see you!"
Zach frowned, and Cynthia belatedly realized that the man might actually take that as a threat, given he knew she was an associate of Damon's. Well, he knew she was Damon's 'snack bar', as he put it.
"You did what now?" Zach asked cautiously, taking a step sideways. Neither towards or away. Cynthia wondered if it was because he was hoping she had come for his promised help. Although he can't have thought it all that likely, given how little time it had been and how peppy she was acting.
"Aww, c'mon Zackie," the petite girl teased. "You're all 'mystery guy that no one ever sees.' It's tragic, truly, that you are set on denying me and the rest of the female and.. Otherwise interested in aesthetically pleasing males... population of Mystic Falls of the little eye candy it has native to it."
Stefan chose that moment to save his half however many greats grand nephew. He was already wearing his jersey, no doubt having been planning on heading down early. And good for him, really. Joining the team seemed to make him happy. And a happy Stefan was a less angsty Stefan, which Cynthia was totally in support of.
"Cynthia. I wasn't expecting you. Especially not after you cut off last night." He stared at her so seriously that her cheerful expression cracked. "Are you doing okay?"
"Hm? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine as roses. I just felt like I should come by. Is Damon here?"
"No, actually. Not right now."
Seeing Zach start to edge out of the room, Cynthia mustered up enough bubbliness to call after him dramatically, "Must our love be so tragically cut short? I'll wait for you!"
Stefan's eyes just tightened, and Cynthia straightened her spine in defiance. If she was going to be a teenager again, then she was going to take the good along with the bad. And that meant being obnoxious sometimes, and having fun. Particularly with something that would be funny if people would just lighten up.
At least your baby bro is home, she touch texted Damon.
"When will he be back? Your brother, I mean."
Probably never if Stefan had his way. He smiled so stiffly at her question. "You know Damon, there's no telling. He'll show up when you least want him around."
"That's silly," Cynthia argued. "I like having him around. That would mean I never got to see him. He wouldn't just abandon me, would he?"
"Do you really?" He was staring into her soul, and she was starting to feel a little violated.
"Y-yeah," she managed, flustered now. "Why wouldn't I?" Bad self, don't let the golden child get into your head! "He's my BFF!"
And there went that stare again, piercing her and pulling off each layer of her skin to reveal the clockwork underneath. "You've only known him a few days. Three. Technically, a little less."
"So we are a little behind you and Elena. No biggie."
Okay, so Stef had totally stalked Elena from the shadows or something for months probably. Which may be more or less creepy than Edward of Twilight fame. At least he had more valid reasons to be concerned enough to do so? And hadn't been inviting himself into her room? By default, since he didn't have a literal invitation at the time, but... point. She was justifying, wasn't she? Yep.
But anyway, technically, she had spied on bits of their past and possible future for a couple of years. And then had continued to gather nuggets of updates via the internet and friends. SO really, Cynthia was probably both far more prepared to be friends with Damon than Stefan was to be an epic love of Elena, she was also probably the winner of the creep award, if they were going to be comparing lists.
Yay her. She could creep with the best of them.
Of course, Stefan and Elena had the excuse of being drawn together and chemistry and blahblahblah. Cynthia just clicked with Damon and wanted to be his friend. Why was it so much more socially acceptable to have a crush and make decisions based upon it than it was to have a squish?
"I guess saying that it isn't the same won't hold much weight with you will it?" Stefan guessed.
Case in point.
"Noooope."
He gave a half laugh and closed some of the distance between them, lowering his voice.
"Are you feeling better though? Seriously? It sounded like things were weighing on you pretty heavily. If there's something you want to talk about, anything, then I'm all ears, okay?"
Cynthia squeezed his shoulder, smiling softly in return. "I'm okay. Really. I've just been... a little confused about somethings. I'm trying to make sense of stuff, and it's all very…. Complicated and unnecessary boring teenage drama."
"Who do you keep texting?" Stefan's timing was irritatingly perfect, as Cynthia had been about to message Damon again. She widened her eyes in an appeal for innocence.
"Idk, my BFF Jill?"
"Right." Stefan paused, probably not believing her. Nor should he. Cynthia had never had a BFF Jill in her life. She'd never even known someone actually named Jill. Although there was that one girl who answered to the name. "Hey, is it true that the way to a Gilbert's heart is through cheese fries?"
That had Cynthia's heartbeat quickening. If she were a rabbit, her ears and nose would be hypertwitching right now. Good thing she wasn't, because Cynthia preferred to play it cool in tricksy situations. And this was very tricksy indeed. She was pretty sure he already had Elena's heart on a hook and line, and he had to know it.
Dude, your brother is flirting with me. WTH
Also, she now was imagining Stefan as Bugs Bunny, seeing as he was a tricksy, wascawwy wabbit.
Cynthia smiled coyly up to Hero Hair. "You manage to flirt while looking super serious about everything. Has anyone told you that recently?"
Stefan winced at her deliberate misinterpretation. He was no doubt just trying to get to know her like Elena clearly wanted him to. "Cynthia, I'm not..."
"Sure, I'll go on a date with you later, Stef. We can bond. But you are paying."
Spinning on her heel again, Cynthia flounced out of the room ahead of him.
I have a date with your baby bro. This is all so sudden.
Can't wait to tell Elena
It was a good thing that today had started with pancakes, because aside from that, it pretty much blew. She ended up at the game with half the town, milling through druggies, families, and overweight husbands reliving their glory days.
Cynthia had found Caroline and made sure to pass on the news Elena might be resigning, something that resulted in both a hug and a strangled sound of frustration.
"Care, everything will be perfect. You're a planner with more self control and determination than most people have in their left pinkie." She smiled as the blonde girl lit up at the compliment and bounced away.
She barely knew this Caroline. Didn't know if she would ever be turned, if she would be spared from all of the torture that would follow if she was. Cynthia was changing things, which meant less certainty. And she didn't regret it for a moment.
If she was really stuck here, she was going to need to find that Striker, Slater, whatever computer vampire guru and get in touch with Elijah. And handle the whole Emily crystal problem. And Anna. Anna might be tricky.
This is why she needed her serial killer BFF around! Ugh!
She greeted Matt and Ty, not hanging around too long since Stefan could only talk so long with her not twin. But the rest of the time was agonizing. It was hours upon hours of 'I'm fine' and only getting snippets of conversation. By the time the game was finally about to start, Cynthia wished that she drank.
She had spent some time with Elena, teasing her about the fact Stefan was going to be taking her on a date. Sadly, Elena saw right through her scheme in seconds. The phrase 'only you' had been uttered several times.
Only you would consider an attempt to get to know you better a date, Cynthia.
Please, that was like, the definition of a date.
Only you would think it is hilarious to torment someone like that. Poor Stefan. I'll make sure he knows you are joking.
Speaking of definitions, if you looked up 'spoilsport' in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Elena Gilbert. Cynthia figured she could even get Jeremy to back her up on this one.
Only you would come and stay to something you hate. You don't have to actually wait for the game, you know. Everyone knows how you feel about football. You were pretty vocal about it when I went out for cheerleading and you categorically refused.
Cynthia had shrugged and stopped hanging around Elena then. She later camped herself next to Jeremy. He hadn't forgiven her yet for whatever crime she committed – she was really going to have to make something up to apologize for when they got home. Not that sitting next to him like a statue and ignoring all of his druggie 'friends' would do much good for her cause.
Tyler approached, all jock and cocky wolf rage, telling Jeremy that he could have Vick 'when he was done'. For a person who she could swear turned out to be not so bad, Tyler was a colossally awful human. What kind of person says something like that about another? Especially when that other person is the sister of your best friend?
Although, Damon did kill his brother's best friend. Would kill? Might?
Still a dick move.
Then, of course, Jeremy had to decide to drunk tackle him. Then Cynthia found herself attempting to push off the immovable, angry object that was Tyler Lockwood.
"GET OFF MY BROTHER!"
Vicki was trying too, but all either of them managed to do was get everyone else's attention. That, and Cynthia got a bit bruised in the process of trying to intercede. Enter Stefan the Hero. Cynthia rolled away and grabbed the broken glass bottle just before Jeremy could. She guarded the broken glass viciously. If football made Stefan this happy, then she wasn't going to make it easier for it to stop by Jeremy accidentally injuring Stefan. Broody McBroody Face might be a thing of the past sooner than later with a place to make friends and roughhouse and whatnot.
Jeremy wasn't exactly pleased with anyone right now. Elena still got through to him after Stefan ended the fight. As she always did. Because who could deny Elena Gilbert? Whatever. Cynthia glared darkly at Tyler and Vicki as she walked away, tossing the glass in a garbage bin and continuing towards the parking lot. Jer probably wouldn't be any happier with her for trying to break up his fight, or from keeping the bottle away from him when he'd reached for it. He'd have to suck it up.
Just like she would.
She and Damon had originally planned their little experiment using tonight as their test. Even if he was MIA, Cynthia wasn't going to drop her side of the deal. Damon was... well, himself. Incorrigible, impossible, a selfish jerk a whole lot of the time. He also really did mean a lot to her in an incredibly short amount of time.
Cynthia made sure to steer far away from her not twin's monster of a vehicle. The last thing she wanted was to be in earshot if Damon decided to bash her to make it clear to Elena that he would ditch her in a second for her more attractive twin. However he decided to test compelling Elena while she wore the talisman of an absolutely horrible mother, Cynthia did not want to know. Instead, she headed around back ahead of the football players. She found a place just inside the back door and hid as the players filed in.
If Damon didn't show, didn't confront Stefan about the vervain, then Cynthia wasn't sure what to do. What it would mean. It couldn't be a matter of simply trusting her, because if verbal proof was all either of them needed, being able to tell Damon things like how Stefan made him turn or why he protected the Bennetts would have been enough. And it also wouldn't help tell them how much they could change.
It would tell her if this was an alterable reality or if she was just stuck in a nightmare. Cynthia honestly wasn't sure which she would prefer. An alterable reality would make the whole being able to feel pain thing more tolerable. But being stuck in a nightmare might just mean she was in a coma or injured or something and could still wake up. Still go home.
The scary thing was, Cynthia couldn't actually remember falling asleep in reality. Well, her original world, universe, dimension, what have you. She could remember waking up to the comet, and remember having gone to work the day of. She had spent some time with her love, both hanging out doing separate things on computers, because that was their style. That, and binging on way too much sugar and caffeinated soda because d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. Her poor arteries and heart.
She didn't breathe a shaky sigh of relief when shortly after Matt came in she could hear ironic clapping. Cynthia rose to hug Matt instead, giving him a grin at his obvious bewilderment.
"Had to wish my big bro luck, didn't I?" Cynthia smiled up to him. "You'll do awesome tonight. I'm sure of it."
"Thanks, Cyn," Matt's voice was always so low and gravelly and serious. On impulse, she hugged him. "Go get 'em, tiger. I'm gonna hang here a little longer to wish my Pal good luck too."
"You're Pal?"
"Mn, Paladin. Stefan is so reserved and intent on being a good guy, you know? Seemed fitting."
Matt half nodded, being kind enough not to say anything about how weird that sounded. "I'll see you later, Cyn."
All she could do now was wait and eavesdrop on Stefan basically daring Damon to kill someone.
"Nice trick with the vervain in Elena's necklace." She could practically hear the smirk in Damon's voice. "I'm still going to get you back for trying to steal my twin. She really makes such a nice puppet, but you can't have her. I found her first."
"It isn't a contest, Damon. And they aren't toys for us to fight over. Just... go."
Which, naturally, couldn't be the end of it.
"I was impressed; I'll admit. It's been a while since someone could resist my compulsion." Unlike Stefan's, whose wasn't very strong given his current diet. Poor Vicki's head was probably just screwed up even more with all the mental rearranging the boys had done. Even if she had done plenty of damage and probably rewired her brain. Cynthia had been told wants that addicts seek to reduce pain, whereas normal, healthy individuals seek to increase pleasure. Which all sounds a bit simplified, but there is probably something to it. At least in that, once you become physiologically addicted, that addiction is a demon on your back for the rest of your life. Or unlife.
"Look at Cynthia, for instance," Damon was about to continue before Stefan cut him off.
"Are you sure you want to finish that sentence, Damon? Because from where I'm standing, Cynthia is doing a bang up job of getting out from under your influence."
She rolled her eyes. So much for 'private' conversation, huh, Steffy?
"What are you even talking about, Stefan?" Damon's voice was pure contempt. "I can guarantee that I know her far better than you do. She trusts me."
"Oh, I'm sure. But I haven't had to use compulsion on her or Elena once. Can you say the same?"
She could hear Damon make some non committal noise, and then there was silence. Perhaps he was pacing away. Perhaps they were having some very intense brotherly stare down of wills.
"Fair enough. You've made your point, brother. You are a boring goodie two shoes. I prefer to cut to the chase."
From there, the conversation only got worse. Threats were exchanged. And then, Cynthia got to listen to Stefan tell Damon he had humanity in him. This comment to the vampire who had ripped into her for trusting him to take her wishes into consideration. Not the best of choices. This is what happens when you avoid your brother for over a century. You lose the ability to read them. Apparently.
And there went Coach Tanner, too tipsy to notice her, but Cynthia followed after him at a run.
"Salvatore!"
Skidding to a stop, she ignored Tanner asking what she was doing here, and instead focused on Damon and Stefan. And it was so good to see Damon again, no matter how stupid that made her.
"Damon!" Cynthia called happily, running again to hug him. She jumped up into his arms, and Damon spun her around.
"You are the silliest human I've ever met. Do you know that?" He asked her fondly.
"Didja get my texts?" Cynthia stared up at him earnestly.
"Every one of them. Hang on just a second, Cyndy."
Her nose wrinkled in distaste. Damon could do better than calling her the name of a Dr. Seuss creature. She would have to tell him that.
Stefan, meanwhile, was trying to excuse himself with Tanner. Not that it did him all that much good, since Damon just vamp sped in front of the coach and compelled him. He spoke too low for her to properly hear, but it panicked Stefan all the same.
Then, Damon's expression turned positively evil as he grinned up at Stefan.
"So you think my attachment to Elena and her twin is because I love Katherine. That that love is my humanity, hm?"
"Damon..."
"No, no. You had your turn to speak, brother. But you see, I have just one question." Her evil vampire BFF set Cynthia back on the ground at last, her feet touching the pavement as he continued to support her weight. "What's this?"
Without any more warning, Damon savagely tore into her neck, all but draining her. Stefan had been far too shocked to intercede in time, so he was left staring in horror.
"Any one. Any where. Any time. Any place."
The plan had been to compel Tanner to retire from teaching and only serve as a football coach until they could find a replacement. Cynthia supposed that Damon kept to that, and added in the 'say nothing about me killing a student so far as you can tell right in front of you.' She wasn't sure. She just felt weightless. Damon had bitten deep enough that he had gone past her nerve endings, so Cynthia just found the world very blurry. She was so dizzy, and super aware of the earth spinning underneath her.
What was the line? Spinning at a thousand miles per hour? Rotating around the sun...
"What the hell, Damon!" Aww, Paladin sounded so flustered and betrayed on her behalf. Or his behalf, maybe.
"I know. I've completely spoiled your date, haven't I? Oops. Have fun explaining everything to Elena."
Strong arms picked her up casually.
"Good luck with the game, Stefan. I'd hurry if I was you. Try not to knock any more of the students dead. Or do. Oh, and take him with you."
She slept. If anything else was said, then Cynthia missed it altogether.
Opening her eyes again, she found herself curled up in bed and tangled amidst the blankets. There was a comforting warm presence to her right, and she had apparently grabbed and clung to a pillow overnight. Turning, Cynthia pushed curled locks out of her eyes.
Relief settled over her, and she launched herself at her sleeping boyfriend.
"I've missed you so much! It was horrible. I..."
"What 're you talking about?" The sleepy confusion was too adorable for Cynthia to care, and she tucked herself under his chin. She would just cling to him until everything from the long, overly detailed oriented dream faded from her mind.
"Nothing important. Love you."
He draped an arm around her in reply, holding her protectively close. Cynthia sighed and finally started to relax. He drifted back to sleep, and Cynthia thought about doing the same, or just trying to stay awake for the rest of her life.
"You aren't meant to be here."
Her chin jerked up rapidly and a low whine of disbelief as she stared into an awfully familiar face. Given that she had worn it for the past several days. Cynthia Gilbert, in the flesh. So to speak.
"I think you'll find it's the other way around." Cynthia countered. Arguing with a dream self! Achievement Unlocked. You have reached Insanity Level 5.
She didn't want to think about the fact her alternate dream self was here meant this was then, logically, a dream. The thought rose unbidden, and it was unfortunately like trying not to think about an elephant. Suddenly elephants were all she could picture.
"Just leave me alone!" She shouted, twisting and grabbing a pillow that was now in the place her boyfriend had been. Her nails dug into it for a second at this realization, and then she threw it as hard as she could at her hallucination.
And promptly came to in time to see Damon standing, grasping a pillow that had apparently been aimed at his head.
"Alright. I might deserve that."
Incredulous, Cynthia cautiously asked, "Damon?"
He just cocked an eyebrow at her and smirked, watching the panoply of emotions on her face.
"You seem stunned to see me. Did you forget how gorgeous I am, Cynthia?" He tsked in mock disappointment.
Sitting up from where she had apparently been lounging on a couch, she grimaced at him and retorted. "If you don't say so yourself?"
"Some people say that I'm awesome," he told her simply. "And they're right."
"You're still a dick."
"Yeah, that's true too." Damon inspected her. "You look worse now that you're awake than when you were unconscious from all the blood loss."
Cynthia's right hand flew to her neck, feeling confusedly for the wound that was no longer there. This whole magic spiel was seriously making determine reality from fiction a right pain.
"Bad dream," she mumbled, not feeling like elaborating more on her response right now. "Damon... am I awake or am I still dreaming?"
He tilted his head, "That's a bit of a philosophical question, isn't it?
This time, Cynthia intentionally threw the other couch pillow at him. Even if Damon did have a point. If she was dreaming this all her own, then dream!Damon would say it was real regardless. Instead, she focused more on their surroundings.
"We're at the boarding house? Is Zach not home? Or did you just hide the almost corpse when you brought me in?" Cynthia paused. "He seemed so upset about the idea of you killing me here earlier." Then, she batted her eyelashes up at Damon flirtatiously. "Or did he finally realize the epicness of our tragic love and decide to plan my funeral?"
"And here I thought you were my best friend. Now you're in love with Zach and dating Stefan. My, my, you are a busy girl, Miss Gilbert."
Hearing multiple layers to that jibe, Cynthia grabbed Damon's hand and squeezed it earnestly.
"You're the best and my favorite, Damon. You Salvatores are just like Pokemon. I wanna catch and play with you all."
He looked at her extremely seriously as Cynthia appealed to him worldlessly, her gaze earnest and open. At length, Damon finally spoke again.
"So you're saying I'm your Starter?"
The girl smiled radiantly at his tacit acceptance of her words. "That's right. I choose you, Pikachu!"
Damon snorted, then tugged on her hand. "C'mon, up and at 'em. You need food after all of that. And you're staying with me tonight."
"I am?" She blinked up at him, wondering when that was decided. And why it mattered. Not that she had any particular attachment to the Gilbert house or her room there.
"Mhmn. So wash up or whatever. I'd like to be back before the game is over."
And that's when everything started to make sense again.
"You want me to be out of the public long enough to convince Stefan I'm dead and to see what he tells Elena, don't you?"
Damon's devious expression answered everything that she needed to know.
"Can't I just want to spend time with my newest BFF? For shame, Cynthia. For shame."
She laughed and shook her head in response. "Somewhere with a drive thru it is. Or you could order in pizza. Can I have soda?"
"After tonight's performance? You can have whatever you'd like."