Okay, so I finally kept a promise to you guys. Here is the next chapter. I am trying so hard to keep a regular pace with this, but it gets harder the longer this story goes on. I know that there are at least 300 people who still read each chapter, and I am grateful to each and every one of you. I want to give a special shout out to Imoen Grace for reviewing last chapter, especially since not a lot happened. I wanted to give you guys a little more substance with this chapter, and I hope that I succeeded. I hope you all enjoy.
Future Elena's POV
There was a lot of convincing, evading, and lying, but eventually everyone agreed to meet me at the boardinghouse at their assigned time. The people I love trusted me, and while this should fill me with joy, it only makes me feel worse for manipulating them and taking their free will away. If the roles were reversed and Damon or Stefan did this to me, it would take me weeks to forgive that betrayal of trust. Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to cover my actions, but I can't dwell on my inner contradictions, when the doorbell signals the arrival of my first victim.
Alaric is at the door confused and worried about my sudden pleas for him to come over, and once I see his trusting, concerned face, my resolve starts to weaken. I hold on to just enough strength to allow him inside, and he takes a seat opposite me on the couch. I don't say anything for a while. I just sit across from Alaric as he fills the silence with questions.
"Elena, what's wrong? Are you in trouble? Is someone else in trouble?" He asks, clearly troubled by my ominous reluctance to speak.
Alaric Saltzman, always the defender, the fixer, and the one we call when we need a hand. My only comfort in compelling him is that through my deceit he might get a chance at the life he always wanted, a life with my Aunt Jenna, a life filled with marriage and babies, a life that was taken away because he stayed to take care of me and Jeremy.
Ric's next words come out desperate and demanding, impatient for me to finally say something. "Please just stop with the silent stares, because you're scaring the Hell out of me," Alaric admits terrified. I make a move to sit next to him and grab ahold of his hand. He looks puzzled by my sudden gesture, and his shock allows me to gently pull out the vervain that he always keeps in his pocket. I speak strongly and warmly to my old friend, knowing it will likely be for the last time.
"I need you to know that back where I came from, in the future, you were more to me than just my history teacher, or my aunt's boyfriend, or another warrior in our fight against supernatural forces set to destroy us. You were also my friend, my protector, and I loved you like a father," I confess with the hint of a tear in my eyes. Alaric is floored by my admission, since in this time, we really weren't that close.
"Elena, I don't know what to say," Ric states softly, not sure what to do with himself at the moment.
"You don't have to say anything," I state, because I don't need any words to let me know how much he cares about me. His actions showed me that every day. "I just needed you to know." I back away, putting some distance between myself and Ric as I allow Damon to take control. He catches Ric's gaze and I can see the shift as the compulsion takes hold.
"Ric, you're going to be going away for a while," Damon tells Ric in a calming voice that I find hypnotizing. "You and Jenna decided to organize a little trip for Elena's friends. Katherine, Stefan, Caroline, Jeremy, and Tyler are coming along, but Elena is too busy to leave right now. You will visit some place warm and do annoying touristy things, and you won't come back until I tell you to return."
"I won't come back until you tell me to return," Alaric repeats back verbatim.
"I know you won't," Damon states before releasing him. Ric simply stands up and leaves without another word, his mind too confused for him to process what just happened, all that he knows is that he needs to start packing for his trip.
Damon comes up behind me and rubs circles on my back, which I lean into gratefully.
"Ready for our next appointment?" Damon asks after he hears footsteps coming up towards the door.
"As I'll ever be," I respond weakly, barely standing after my emotional goodbye to Alaric. Jenna raps loudly on the door. Once I open it, she barges in talking frantically.
"Elena, what is going on? Ric walked out of here like a zombie. You ask me to show up here without even a decent explanation as to why. What is the big secret?" Jenna questions me in huff. I promised her no more secrets and no more lies, what a liar I turned out to be. Not even home a week and I am already lying to her and going behind her back all over again. At l least I comfort myself in knowing that this will be the last time. I motion for her to take Ric's former spot on the couch.
"Just sit down and I'll explain," I urge, telling Jenna a half-truth. My voice cracks as I begin my second goodbye speech to someone that I love.
"You did a great job raising me and Jeremy after the accident. You were strong and resilient. I learned so much from watching you and trying to imitate that strength. Your whole world after my parents died was about taking care of me and Jeremy. Consider this me finally taking care of you." Before Jenna has a chance to question my speech or my meaning, I am removing her vervain necklace. I give her one last hug and whisper that I love her before Damon takes my place at Jenna's side. He stares into Jenna's eyes and repeats the same compulsion he did on Ric. Once he finishes, she gets right up and walks out the door just like Alaric.
Damon and I have a few minutes to wait alone before Tyler shows up. I don't say anything and neither does Damon, probably sensing that I don't want to talk about what we just did. Damon simply takes my hand and holds it within his own. It is such a small gesture, so normal and ordinary, but with him, nothing feels ordinary. I draw strength from him in that moment, and it helps me to keep fighting on against the pain.
Tyler's sudden knock is loud and commanding. It makes me jump a little in fear. I open the door and Tyler looks confused and maybe a little upset.
"You've got two minutes to explain what I'm doing here Elena," Tyler demands forcefully as he steps inside without another word.
Damon scoffs at Tyler's attitude and he remarks, "You're dead set on saving this guy, really?" Damon asks his question with a heavy dose of disbelief.
"Not helping." I remind him gently. The last thing I need is him scaring Tyler away.
"What are you two even talking about?" Tyler interrupts angrily. "Elena you invite me to your ex-boyfriend's house, out of the blue, when you and I have barely hung out since you broke up with Matt, and now I see you've invited this guy to our little talk. I don't even like this guy." Tyler confesses while gesturing towards Damon.
Somehow I settle him down enough to take a seat, and I thank my lucky stars that we never gave Tyler any vervain. He already is freaked out enough. The last thing we need is me removing something from his body without his consent. I don't take time to explain or help Tyler understand. I just begin my pre-practiced speech in my head as Tyler looks on confused.
"You're a good guy Tyler, despite everything that's happened to you," I admit to his surprise. This is before his relationship with Caroline, before he knows that his anger issues are outside his control, and this is probably the first time that he has heard someone call him a good person. He appears enormously grateful, and I am happy that I can give him something after all that he has suffered; all I have left to give him is my hope for the future. "The best side of you won out in the end, and I wish only good things for you in life."
"Are you dying?" Tyler asks unexpectedly. "Is that what the speech is about?" I can't help but laugh, because he is right. Why else would anyone give these types of speeches?
"Sort of," I admit sadly, "but that doesn't matter right now."
I scoot over as Damon works his magic and Tyler leaves as well. Matt runs into him as he is leaving and just walks through the open door.
"Why was Tyler here?" Matt asks confused. "Why am I here? I had to call someone to cover my shift, because you said it was important."
"Please just sit down Matt," I request gently, never one to doubt me, he takes a seat willingly.
"Is something wrong?" Matt questions, alarmed by the nature of our meeting.
"There always seems to be something wrong, some imminent danger," I note reflectively, "but through all of it you held steady. I needed to thank you for that. You helped me so much by just being the one normal thing in my life. I know that it was hard for you when I gave up on us and it was hard for you to watch me with Stefan, but that didn't stop you from being protective and understanding when I needed you. I'm sorry if knowing me made your life worse." All Matt claimed to want was a normal life with normal friends; instead he met me and fell in love with a supernatural doppelganger and then a newbie vampire. It's hard not to think he would have been better off hundreds of miles away from me.
"You're wrong," Matt contradicts me strongly. "I still don't know what this is about, and you're sort of scaring me with all this, but you have to know that your presence in my life was always and will always be a welcome one. I'm always going to be here," Matt reassures me. Damon senses I am on the brink of a breakdown and jumps in.
"Okay, I think that's enough soulful bonding, compulsion time." Matt wasn't on vervain, so it made things much simpler. I slipped some money into Matt's pocket as Damon started. "You recently just got a small inheritance from a long lost relative. You are going to use the money to finally take a much needed vacation from being boring." I shoot a disapproving stare in Damon's direction, but I don't think he notices. "Pack a bag, plan a trip, and don't come back till I tell you to," Damon commands.
After Matt leaves, I drop onto the couch and try to remember how to breathe. Each one of these goodbyes just makes everything harder. Damon prepares me a glass of bourbon from his vast collection of alcohol, and I accept it with gratitude.
"Last one," Damon reminds me, hopeful that it will cheer me up. He just doesn't realize that this will be the hardest one. I sent Jeremy away to Denver in my time to protect him, but still Klaus found him and brutally tortured him to death. The image of those polaroids that Klaus showed me of his handiwork will haunt me for the rest of my life, even if that is only for another couple days. I'm his big sister. I should have protected him better, controlled Stefan, something that would have saved him. But I can't keep punishing myself for my failures, if I save Jeremy now that is all that matters.
Another knock, signals my brother's arrival, and I take another breath before answering the door. Jeremy walks in immediately, repeating the same questions I've heard over and over again. "What's up, you said it was important when you called?" Jeremy asks curiously. We move over to the compulsion couch and take a seat next to each other.
"I asked you here to tell you what a great little brother you've been," I confess, while surreptitiously slipping off Jeremy's bracelet.
"Oh, my God you're dying," Jeremy states, fear clouding his face.
"I try and give you a compliment and you jump straight to deathbed confession," I respond, almost insulted. Ironic that he's right, of course.
"Give me another reason Elena, because you're scaring me," Jeremy replies genuinely. I stare back at him with sympathy and pity. Everyone keeps dying on him, and he lives in constant fear that one day, he's going to lose me too.
"I wish I could," I admit regretfully, "but you're right I could die. That doesn't mean that you need to die along with me. I dragged you into this enough. If it wasn't for me, you could have had a normal life, and I want that for you." Jeremy looks like he wants to argue, claim that he was a Gilbert and his life would never be normal, but I don't give him the chance. This wasn't the conversation I brought him here to have, and we need to get on with the compulsion before I lose it.
"I guess the only thing there is left to say is that I love you and I'm sorry for doing this to you again." My admission of guilt is sincere, but irrelevant, since it won't stop me from messing with his mind again. Damon finishes his last bit of compulsion and Jeremy walks out the door to join the others in packing.
I don't hold back now. There is no one left to be strong for anymore. Damon will let me be weak for a while, because he knows how much I desperately need it.
"Tell me I did the right thing," I beg. "Tell me I didn't just make another monumental mistake." Damon soothes me as he holds me tighter.
"You didn't," he promises softly. "All of those people that we just compelled are lucky to have you in their lives. We all are."
"You really think I'm worth all this effort?" I ask, my insecurities rising to the surface as I try to stifle my tears.
"Yes," Damon replies without thinking, "you're worth even more than you know."
After another minute of standing in that spot, Damon breaks the silence. "I should probably let you go, before we get ourselves in trouble again."
"You probably should," I agree, "but I don't want you to just yet. Please just give me another minute." Damon complies without another word, but two minutes pass, and I still can't pull away.
"The longer we stay like this, the harder it's going to be to walk away," Damon reminds me miserably. I gaze in his eyes, and in a moment of weakness, while our faces are too close together, and we are staring at each other's lips, I want to kiss him. I don't consider it because I desperately desire him, even though I do. I consider it because in my lowest moment, I need to know that I am still alive, that I'm still here. Damon makes me feel more alive than anyone. I lean in fully intent of closing the distance between us. That is until we both hear someone clearing their throat in the doorway. I separate quickly from Damon, once I realize my past self is staring at us sadly, obviously having seen our little moment.
"Anyone want to fill me in," she asks expectantly. I freeze in utter terror at what I almost did, and what she must think of me, so I do what I do best lately, I flee.
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