Poison & Wine - Chapter LXI

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The next day I was working my last shift ever at the Grill. I was in a better mood because graduation was tomorrow. The moment that it ended, my intent was to leave Mystic Falls for good and go live in Portland. I planned on going there for college next year. I was finally going to be rid of this place and all the memories... Not that anyone besides Rebekah knew this. Everyone assumed I was on good terms with them again now that Klaus was gone.

They've never been more wrong.

As I spent more and more time with them, I was realizing how painful it actually was. This town and all the memories, are just too much. That's why I can't live here anymore... I need to just go my own way.

As I worked around the bar, Rebekah kept Matt and I company. Rebekah, sitting at the bar, held up a graduation letter with her name written elegantly on it. Matt was on the other side of the bar, wiping it down with a rag. "So, let me get this straight: you send out a notice of your impending graduation and people feel obliged to give you money?" Rebekah asked.

"Pretty much,"

Rebekah sat the envelope down. "That sounds brilliant. Why aren't you participating?"

"I don't have a whole lot of family,"

"That makes three of us," I commented as I moved behind the bar and put some clean glasses down.

"I don't think it was my mother's dream to see me in a cap and gown. How about your mum?" Rebekah asked, looking at Matt.

"Let's just say I'm not holding my breath for a graduation check," Matt exhaled before going to clean off some tables.

I turned towards Rebekah. "Are they okay?"

She sighed. "Andy, you know you should pick up the bloody phone yourself and call,"

"I can't, I had a falling out with them both," I sat down in a bar stool Next to her.

"Why won't you let me tell you what they're up to?"

"Because then I'll think I need to go save Klaus and I don't think that needs to happen at this particular moment," I drummed my fingers on the bar. "I feel like I should mature a little more... I'm only eighteen, you know."

"Yes, but you are going to be nineteen in a few short months,"

"You remember my birthday?"

"Nik constantly spoke about throwing you a party to make up for last year," Rebekah sighed. "You have him around your little human finger. He would dagger Elijah and I in a second for you."

I looked down. "I hate him for what he did to you, Rebekah. I-I thought I'd be able to be with him, but then he... " I trailed off and traced circles on the wood with my index finger.

"Nik will always disappoint you, Andy. He will make your life hell if you try to love him. Trust me, he's not worth the pain,"

"I think he's worth it," I said in a murmur as I looked back at him. "I think as long as I love him, he will be worth it."

Rebekah shook her head. "And that's where you're going to screw yourself over in the end," Our conversation was interrupted by a returning Matt with Caroline at his side. Thankfully there had been no Silas accidents since last time.

My eyes drifted over to see Elena throwing darts. I hadn't spoken to her at all, not after everything that happened. Seeing her of everyone hurt the most. "Is it supposed to rain tonight?" Caroline asked as she took a seat beside Rebekah as Matt moved behind the bar.

"Do I look like a meteorologist?" Rebekah shot and Caroline gave her an exasperated look before looking over at Elena.

"Well, someone needs to do something, before she explodes," Caroline said.

"I got this," Rebekah said as she took a bottle of liquor and a shot glass and walked over to Elena.

We watched as Rebekah handed Elena the shot and she immediately tossed it back, then placed the glass on the table and resumed throwing darts. They spoke as Elena continued throwing darts, even managing once to hit the bullseye.

"I can't watch this anymore, she's getting no where," Caroline said before going to join them. As she reached them Elena was walking over to retrieve her darts.

I watched them for a moment before I couldn't handle it either. Walking over I caught the end of Elena's rant. "If you're waiting for an apology, you're not gonna get one. I can't let myself feel bad, because if I feel bad, then I feel everything, and... we've all seen how well I handle that,"

"So you're still an emotionless bitch then," I said bitterly and she looked over at me.

Just then the lights went out throughout the restaurant. I heard a smashing sound outside so Matt, Caroline, Rebekah and I went out to investigate as the other patrons left, running for cover. The wind was blowing so strong that if I wasn't holding onto Matt, it could've knocked me over.

Rebekah shouted to be heard over the wind, "The power's completely out!"

Caroline shouted back, "I'll call my mom - maybe she knows what's going on!" She went back inside as a police cruiser drove by with its sirens sounding.

"What could this be about?" Matt yelled.

I swallowed sharply. "Silas!"

We didn't know what was happening exactly, so we decided to find Bonnie. She wasn't answering her phone, thus we knew she probably had something to do with this. Caroline, Elena and I headed to the high school - the place where Caroline said they'd have to bring the veil down. Caroline and I went inside to look for Bonnie while Elena waited outside for the Salvatore brothers.

Caroline brought us straight to the cafeteria, saying this was the location. But Bonnie was no where to be found as we looked around the area. So as I waited in the cafeteria Caroline looked through the entire school with her vamp speed. Once she returned we tried calling her again with no luck. Soon, we were joined by Stefan.

He shined his flashlight on us. "Hey, there you two are. Any luck?"

"I searched the whole school. She should be here," Caroline groaned and kicked a chair.

Suddenly the noise of something falling over broke the silence and we all turned toward it. "What was that?" I asked softly, my heart beginning to race. Truth be told, Silas scared the shit out of me and I didn't really want to run into him again.

We walked over to the kitchens cautiously, of course I was in the back of the pack since I was a human. Caroline slowly approached the freezer and opened it... to reveal a bag of ice, which started dripping onto the floor.

"Hm. Ice is melting," I said dryly. "Maybe we should call the cops?"

Caroline shut the freezer door. "Ugh. It just doesn't make any sense. This is the center of the triangle. If she's gonna do the spell, she has to do it here. This is where they should be!"

"Actually, I think we're in the right place... " He shined his flashlight onto the floor, where the water from the melting ice is flowing down a drain. "...just the wrong elevation."

I beamed over at him. "Of course! You're a genius, Salvatore! Let's go!" I stepped back to let them go in front of me just in case someone - for example, Silas - decided to attack us.

Stefan put his phone up to his ear. "We need to see where Damon and Elena have gotten since we now know,"

They stayed on the phone for a minute before they agreed to meet up with us. We hurried towards the boiler room to go down into the basement. Yeah, I really wished that Klaus was here with me. It sucked knowing that, if it came to a confrontation, everyone here would protect Elena. It was like an instinct for them.

We made it down to the basement and were headed towards the location when we heard Bonnie screaming in pain. We quickly rushed into a chamber where she was writhing on the ground, gasping and yelling. "Bonnie. Bonnie, what happened?" Stefan asked as we bent down to her side.

"Katherine. Find Katherine. We're linked," She barely choked out before groaning.

"Then unlink her. You two go, I'll stay with Bonnie," Caroline said.

Stefan glanced at me before grabbing onto me and vamp running out of the chamber. By the time we found Katherine and Elena, my sister was taking her older doppelgänger out.

Elena was making a swing at Katherine but was thwarted by Stefan, who launched himself on her and pinned her to the ground. "Stefan!" She yelled.

Katherine smiled at him. "Thanks for the save, handsome,"

Stefan struggled to restrain Elena. "Get the hell out of here before I kill you myself,"

Katherine folded her arms. "Really? I'm your biggest problem right now?" She said before we watched her walk out of the room.

Stefan finally let go of Elena and they got up. "How could you save her? She was as good as dead," Elena growled.

"Yeah, and so was Bonnie. Bonnie used a spell to link herself to Katherine, so if you killed her, Bonnie would be dead, too," I said as I walked up to Stefan's side and folded my arms across my chest.

Elena looked at us in disbelief. "How do you know that?"

"Because we saw her, Elena. You almost killed your best friend,"

"I don't believe you,"

"Really? Seriously?" I scoffed.

"He never wanted me to kill Katherine," She said before looking over at him. "Why are you protecting her, Stefan?"

"Listen to yourself. Your rage is making you crazy," Stefan said, but I knew there was no use. She was too crazy.

"Do you still have feelings for her?"

"Oh, my God," I threw my hands up and walked a few feet away. I gave up, I just couldn't handle her with emotions either.

Stefan still tried, though. "This isn't even about Katherine, this is about Jeremy. What, you think that killing her will take all that pain away? It won't."

"Oh, but beating up cinder blocks will?"

"No, it's a distraction. Just like killing Katherine, just like turning your emotions off. The truth is, there are no shortcuts. You are a vampire, Elena. Loss is part of the deal. Look, I've been alive for 163 years. I have lost more loved ones than I can count, and it hurts me every single time,"

"So there's no hope? You're saying I'm hopeless?"

"No, I'm saying you have to face your grief. But you don't have to do it alone - I can help you," I looked over at them. The love Stefan had for her practically oozed off of him... And she had given it up for Damon. At least she had her boyfriend, the guy I'm in love with ran off to New Orleans and is doing God knows what.

Honestly, if Klaus showed back up here at this point, I might just forgive him for the cure stunt. I'd give him shit for it, but at the rate my life was going, I might not live to see twenty-five.

"Oh, of course you can. God, Stefan! Always trying to help, and you're concerned for me, it's just like―"

"You're transferring your rage onto me, that's good," He interrupted.

"I don't need to transfer anything. I can hate two people just fine,"

She started to leave and Stefan reached out to stop her. "Hey―"

Elena swung her fist into Stefan's face. "Just like the cinder block - nothing," She walked away then.

"I'll take care of this, I know where she's going," I said to Stefan before going off in the direction Elena had gone, but she was gone by the time I got outside so I climbed in my car.

I rode to the cemetery with just my thoughts. God, I missed all of the Mikaelsons. A part of me was hoping I'd get to see Kol since the veil was supposedly down, but so far I had seen no ghosts. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

My mind wondered off to that voicemail Klaus had left for me. Had I been on his mind these past few days? It seemed like he was all that was on my mind of late. Funny that you don't realize how much you actually love someone until they're gone... Even though Klaus wasn't "dead" gone, he was out of my life. I was pissed at him for leaving without saying good-bye. I mean, didn't I deserve it after everything we'd been through?

I got to the cemetery and went straight to the place we put Jeremy's grave. Sure enough, when I got there, Elena was there. But, there was someone else there, too.

"Kol?!" I cried out, tears in my eyes when I saw him standing there.

He had Elena by the throat and had lifted her into the air. She struggled to breathe, but I didn't really care. Kol was alive.

"Andy!" He grinned over at me. "Just give me a minute, won't you? I've got to finish this." He looked back up at Elena.

"No, Kol―" I started to move towards him but realized it was useless. He was an Original, I couldn't fight him as a human. My only chance was to try and convince him.

"Go ahead, Kol. Kill me. You'd be doing me a favor," Elena choked out.

Kol whispered, "As you wish, darling."

"Kol, stop! Please don't kill her!" I pleaded. He suddenly dropped her, but not because I asked him to. Because a stake came flying at him so he had to catch it. Looking back to see where it came from, I felt another stab in the heart at seeing the person with the cross brow.

"Jeremy?" I whispered out as I fell to my knees. Tears spilled out of my eyes now. My little brother.

"How many times do I need to kill you?" Jeremy questioned Kol.

Kol turned towards him. "Jeremy Gilbert... Welcome back. Now, what's the saying? 'Kill me once, shame on you. Kill me twice, shame on―'"

Suddenly Stefan vamp-sped at Kol and snapped his neck. I screamed without thinking. "Let's leave it at that, shall we?" Stefan said as I ran to Kol's body and cradled his head in my lap.

"Elena!" I heard Jeremy yell from behind me.

I didn't pay much attention and looked down at Kol and stroked his face. I couldn't believe he was actually alive.

"Andy?"

I looked up at Jeremy and smiled through my tears. "Hey," I said before taking his hand and yanking him down into a hug. "I am so sorry... You know I love you, Jer, right?" I whispered in his ear.

"Of course, I always knew. I love you, too, sis," He hugged me back. "And I'm sorry about giving you the pain that came with killing Kol before."

I briefly glared over at a crying Elena a few feet away. "You're the first to apologize, actually," I admitted before looking down at Kol and running my hand across his cheek. "I'm just glad you're both okay." I pulled Jeremy in for another hug before noticing Damon and Bonnie had joined the party. Where was Caroline?

Then again, I didn't really care. Kol was alive.

"So we are going to take Kol's body somewhere safe," Damon said as he stepped towards me. I grabbed the cross bow from Jeremy and aimed it at him.

"Touch him and you're dead," I growled. Damon immediately put his hands up and took a step back so I lowered it.

"Andy, he's going to try to kill Elena as soon as he wakes up," Stefan said.

"No, he won't, not if I don't want him to," I said as I looked back at his body. "All of you have always worked against me in every situation. You always have put Elena's wants and needs over mine... Can I just have this one thing? Can't I look after Kol?"

"Let her," Elena said from her spot. I glanced at her briefly before looking at Jeremy.

"Will you help me bring him to my car?" I asked and he acquiesced. Once Kol's still unconscious body was in the car, I hugged Jeremy and promised him I'd come see him as soon as Kol was under control.

On my way to Rebekah's house, Kol woke up. "What the hell?!" He growled as he sat up and looked around. "What am I doing here?"

"I'm taking you somewhere safe," I stated as I glanced over at him. "And then I'm going to find a way for you to come back to life."

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The End of Chapter LXI