AN: Thanks to x NikiSt x and HermioneandMarcus for your reviews. This is another chapter for you. I apologize for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. There are going to be two more chapters before the story ends. So enjoy everyone. Thank you.
Chapter 38: The Funeral
The small town called Mystic Falls was quiet today. The tragic events of last night took a toll on everyone. Maggie's death or more accurately murder, Kol almost getting killed, and of course the return of Zuriel in Violet's body left the protectors of the town in a very worried state. Things were getting from worse to worst very fast with the travelers. Not to mention, no one knew anything about Mikael yet. He could still be lurking around in the shadows.
Speaking of Maggie Fell's sudden death, everyone was sad about it but none more grieve filled than Shanyra and Emily. After all she was their best friend. Mourning her death wasn't enough for the girls. They needed to avenge her, together. They couldn't let Zuriel get away with killing Maggie. Shae and Emily were feeling so vengeful that they didn't care about their own safety or lives at all as they planned the destruction of Zuriel. Last night after Shae rescued Kol, she went back to being quiet and talked to no one. However this time her silence originated more from anger than from shock or sadness. The only person she let in was Emily. After all she lost Maggie too like her and understood exactly how Shae was feeling.
The townsfolk attended the funeral of Maggie to pay their respects and say goodbye. Shanyra and Emily came too but they remained quiet and kept to themselves the entire time. Everyone was being understanding of their mental and emotional state therefore no one bothered them however Shae's silence and detachment from everyone was making a certain original very restless. Kol was no longer controlled by Zuriel when he woke up from his unconsciousness. As soon as he woke up, he remembered everything he did, specially staking Maggie without a moment's hesitation. He felt very guilty about it once his mind was in his control again. Kol started panicking right away when he realized that Shae knew that he killed Maggie. The realization made him fear the worst. He wanted to talk to Shae desperately. He wanted to explain everything to her that he wasn't being himself and ask for her forgiveness. But she refused to talk to him. Kol thought Shae was hating him and being angry with him but that wasn't the truth. The matter was something else entirely. One that the original wasn't even thinking about.
"Shae doesn't hate you Kol. She knows the truth. You were being controlled by Zuriel. She's the one responsible for Maggie's death. Not you." Caroline tried to console a troubled Kol at the funeral which was taking place at the Fell state.
"Then why is she refusing to talk to me? I want to be with her right now. I know what she's going through and I wanna comfort her in her time of grieve. I also need to apologize to her." Kol said sighing out heavily. Maggie's death may not be his fault but her blood was still on his hands. It was a fact that no one could change. What if Shae couldn't forgive him for that? Not to mention she had warned him before that if he ever took another innocent person's life, he'd lose her forever. No, Kol couldn't let it happen. He can't lose Shanyra.
"You're not the only one she has locked out Kol. Shae isn't talking much to me either. Look, she just needs some space to mourn her friend and I think we should give it to her." Caroline tried to make the original understand but he couldn't agree with that.
"Maybe you're right and I swear I won't bother her but I just need to talk to her once. Just once. Please Caroline. I need to hear it from her mouth that she doesn't hate me. Please." Caroline sighed out heavily. She understood Kol's worries and fears. Taking only a moment to decide, she nodded her head in the end.
"Okay, I'll see what can I do." She said.
"Thank you. Thank you so much." Kol said feeling very grateful. Not long after, Caroline walked up to Shanyra and Emily. They were still standing together while supporting each other.
"Shae." When Caroline called her name, she looked at her. Caroline noticed that there was nothing but emptiness in her sister's eyes. It saddened her very much.
"I know this is not a good time but Kol really wants to speak with you." She said.
Without saying anything Shae looked away from Caroline, telling her without using any words that she didn't wish to speak with him. Unfortunately her sister wasn't ready to give up so easily. After all Caroline promised Kol that she'd try. And truth to be told, Shae's behavior was worrying her. Perhaps it'd be helpful for her if she lets Kol in and shares her sufferings with him. They were after all soul mates.
"Shae I know what you're going through but Kol is really worried right now. Please talk to him once. He thinks you hate him but I know that's not true. If you don't talk to him, he might do something stupid and reckless and get himself in trouble again. Not to mention Zuriel is still after him."
"Caroline is right Shae. You need to go and talk to him." Emily said, agreeing with the older Forbes but Caroline couldn't help but feel as if there was a hidden message in that statement. Shae glanced at Emily and they shared a look that Caroline noticed but couldn't understand. Suddenly Shanyra agreed to talk to Kol. It confused her sister but thankfully she didn't say anything.
After the service was over, Shae went to Kol. He was standing alone nearby the pond. She walked up to him but didn't speak up. Shae just stood beside Kol, being completely silent. Kol on the other hand felt hopeful as she came to meet him. But when he looked at her and saw that she wasn't even looking at him, his hope died immediately.
"So you hate me so much now that you can't even look at me anymore" said Kol with hurt in his voice. Shae still remained quiet and didn't utter a single word.
"Shanyra, I swear I couldn't do anything. I had no control over myself when I killed-" He kept himself from saying the name.
"Please tell me what can I do to fix everything? I can't bear your hatred. I'd rather die than live my life with your hatred." Silence took over and it lasted for a moment. But then finally Shae looked at Kol. The sadness in her eyes hurt Kol a lot. As if a white oak stake just pierced through his heart.
"I don't hate you Kol." She claimed as she assured him. "I thought you already knew that I can never hate you."
"Then why are you keeping me away from yourself?" Kol asked right away, sounding frustrated, impatient and most of all hurt. Shae had the answer prepared for him.
"Because Maggie's loss is mine to bear and Emily's. She was our best friend. You can't be a part of it even if you want to. If you really wish to help me through this, then just do one thing-" Shae said and Kol immediately nodded his head.
"I'll do anything." He said right away.
"Please leave me alone for sometime." Shae requested. Kol wanted to object but he realized it wouldn't work. She isn't going to let him be with her for as long as she wasn't done mourning her friend. So no matter how painful accepting the request was, he did it anyway. Though Kol turned a bit stern after that. It obviously hurt him that Shae was pushing him away instead of welcoming his company while she was going through a tough time. Why was he not worth sharing her pain with? After all you share happiness with even a stranger but you share your pain with people who are close to you. Was he not close to her? Kol was obviously under the impression that he was the closest person to Shanyra. Clearly he was wrong.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone. For as long as you want. But you wouldn't leave my mind. Not for a single moment." He said not hesitating to show his suffering that her behavior was causing him.
"I know." Shae said rather flatly without any emotion in her voice. Then she simply walked away from Kol without a single glance back at him.
Later that day, Shanyra, Emily, Damon and Enzo were going somewhere together in Damon's car. What these four were doing together was a pretty big and important question.
"So how exactly did you manage to throw Kol off your back?" Damon asked cheekily but with certain amount of interest in his voice. Any other time Shae would've snapped at him and told him that it was none of his business.
"I just told him to leave me alone for sometime." She replied with a shrug off her shoulders.
"And he agreed?" Damon asked with disbelieve in his voice.
"Yes." Shae stated.
"I think we should stop and see if someone is following us." Enzo suggested, not believing that Kol just agreed to let Shae be. Only if he knew that the original agreed because he was slightly heartbroken at this time. Emily however knew that. After all it was her who advised Shae that it'd be easy to keep Kol away if he's angry with her or hurt because of her.
"Kol is not following us." Shae said confidently.
"Well Kol may leave us alone but Elena might not. She's suspicious that I'm up to something." Damon said a little worriedly.
"Well she isn't wrong obviously" said Enzo. "I'm telling you; you should've told Elena everything."
"No." Emily said at once with strong tone of voice. Her inner wolf speaking that time.
"No one but the four of us should know what we are planning on doing."
"We're trying to find a way to kill Zuriel. I don't think anyone would've any problem with that" said Enzo thoughtfully.
"No but no one would let us put our lives in danger either and that's exactly what we are doing here" said Shanyra.
"And here's something I don't understand yet. Why did you two (Shanyra and Emily) came to me for help out of all the people?" Damon asked with serious curiosity.
"Because we know that after us, you're the one who wants Zuriel dead the most because sooner or later she's going to go after the last pair of doppelgangers. And we also know that you can die before letting anything happen to either Elena or Stefan" explained Emily.
"And thanks to Damon, I got dragged into this as well." Enzo complained rolling his eyes to himself.
"Well you're welcome to leave anytime you want." Shae said with nonchalant tone of voice.
"Nah, I'm already on board and I'm quite enjoying the ride."
Damon pulled over the car in front of an abandon barn. The four stepped out of the car and walked inside the barn. The place wasn't empty though. Markos was tied up with a post and he looked badly beaten. The credit obviously goes to Damon and Enzo.
"Zuriel must be looking for him. We have to hurry up" said Damon.
"We only need to know one thing Damon. Why was Zuriel destroyed the last time she tried to kill me? He must know why. As soon as you and Enzo can get the answer out of him, we can leave." Shae said with a calm and composed voice however inwardly she was boiling with anger, just like Emily was. Their calm was similar to the calm before a deadly storm.
"You heard the girl sweetheart." Enzo said to Markos, mocking him by calling him sweetheart.
"Tell us what happened four years ago?"
"Idiots, all of you. What happened four years ago was just an accident. It will never happen again. You will never be able to kill Zuriel. The mother of travelers is unbeatable." Markos spoke with aggression in his voice.
"And we don't believe that" said Damon at once.
"Everyone in this world is killable?"
"Not Zuriel." Markos said proudly. Damon was going to speak again but Shae interrupted him.
"You're avoiding the question Markos. What happened that night? Why I lived and Zuriel got so destroyed that it took her four years to get powerful again." Markos didn't speak which resulted in Emily unleashing her wolf nature on him. She started beating the crap out of him. When Enzo was about to join in instead of stopping her, Markos broke and started speaking.
"It's the soul that destroyed Zuriel that night." He said confusing everyone by that statement.
"What do you mean?" Damon asked.
"Zuriel's soul was already too powerful since she had many spells cast upon it in order to make herself immortal. But when that powerful soul was divided and a part of it was being possessed by another powerful supernatural being, that part became something more, something else as it got affected by the magic that was already within the original vampire. That night when the original was daggered and she was possessing the entire soul, it was more powerful than it ever was. I suspect that it even got a mind of it's own. And the soul recognized the girl as it's rightful possessor, therefore when Zuriel tried to take it forcefully, the power of the soul destroyed her. It was something she never anticipated. But she knows it now and has a solution for it as well. Zuriel won't be getting any more surprises this time. Like I said before, you can't beat her again."
"Let me guess, the solution is to make Shae give up the soul to Zuriel on her own." Damon said figuring it out right away.
"That's why she killed Maggie, isn't it? It was a message for us that if Shae doesn't give up the soul, she'd be killing everyone Shae cares about one by one." The look Markos gave him, confirmed Damon's theory. Suddenly Shae received a text from an unknown number. She read it and found that it was from Katherine.
"Looks like Markos was lying to us because Katherine has finally put together all the clues given to her by the ancient witches and guess what, Zuriel is very much killable." Shae informed her friends.
"I need to go and meet her ASAP" said Shanyra.
"I'll come with you." Emily said right away.
"No, I must go alone. Besides, I need you to persuade Bonnie to make Katherine immortal again otherwise she'd tell us nothing."
"I thought we won't involve anyone else into this- killing Zuriel mission" said Enzo.
"Turns out we need Bonnie's help as usual if we actually want to accomplish killing that evil traveler bitch." Shae stated the obvious.
"And what do we do meanwhile?" Damon asked in a Damon like way.
"Other than making sure no one finds out about what we are up to, I need you two to steal a dagger from Klaus so that I can use it on Kol. Zuriel will keep coming after him as long as he's possessing a part of the soul. I want him out of danger's way." They understood Shanyra's need to protect Kol and agreed to help. Besides, it'd be for the best anyway if the original stays locked up in a coffin for the time being. Otherwise one little hint that Shae was up to something and he'd most likely abduct her and take her somewhere far away even if it'd mean sentencing all of them to death at Zuriel's hands.
"What about him?" Enzo asked about Markos.
"I think we've used him for all he's worth. Would you like to take care of him or should I?" Emily asked.
"Oh it'd be my pleasure" said Enzo with a smirk.
"Let's leave." Emily said to Shae. They walked out of the barn leaving Damon and Enzo behind. Soon they heard a scream from Markos, signaling his death.
After such a long time, the chapter of the travelers are finally coming to an end. But in the end of the chapter, will there be the end of travelers only or someone else is going to perish along with them?