"A Moment In Time"
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters; those belong to their original creators. The way it's all stringed together is of my making. No profit is being made out of this (*sigh* unfortunately).
Fandom(s): Vampire Diaries
Character(s): Jeremy Gilbert, Alaric Saltzman and Damon Salvatore (some Bonnie Bennett and Qetsiyah)
Pairing: talks of Damon/Elena and Stefan/Elena (doppelgangers)
Rating: T
Words: 1,231 words
Requested By: none
Challenge/Summary: Alaric couldn't just sit back and watch Damon torture himself over Qetsiyah's thoughts on the doppelgangers. Alaric needed to set his best friend's mind at ease. But what is a ghost to do?
Inspiration: I just needed to say my piece on the topic that is the 'doppelganger destiny'…and that's where Alaric comes in.
Spoiler(s): everything up to ep. 5x03 ("Original Sin")
Time Frame: I guess this could be said to be happening the same time that Elena made her phone call to Matt. Either way, it's supposed to happen after Damon/Elena/Stefan return to the boarding house yet before Damon tells Elena what Qetsiyah told him.
A/N: At the end to avoid additional spoilers.
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"Destiny Isn't Set in Stone"
The front door to the Salvatore boarding house closed shut, informing the human occupant that he wasn't alone anymore.
"I guess they are back." Jeremy whispered before he turned his head back to Bonnie, who nodded in agreement. "I wonder if they were successful." He wondered out loud yet before his ghostly companion could respond, another voice did.
"More or less."
Jeremy and Bonnie whirled around to see Alaric leaning against the farthest wall with a raised eyebrow between the two teens.
"Alaric." The teenagers whispered simultaneously once they recognized the new ghost that had joined them.
Alaric looked between the two of them and noticed Jeremy's disheveled look; did he even get out of bed? "Please tell me you two haven't been sitting here all this time while everyone else has been dealing with Silas' chaos."
The teenagers looked at one another before looking down at the ground in a guilty manner. Jeremy had woken up to Bonnie's tearful face and he'd spent most of the day trying to console her.
Alaric sighed as he waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "Forget about it, we'll deal with that later. Right now, I need Jeremy to give a message to Damon." He pushed off the wall he was leaning against and made his way towards the teenagers; he was a man on a mission. "In the meantime, Bonnie I need you to spy on Qetsiyah. She's up to something." He supplied, knowing that this would take Bonnie's mind off of things.
Bonnie's eyes widened, "Wait, Qetsiyah's alive?" Jeremy was just as stunned as she was to hear that.
Alaric nodded and addressed Bonnie, "When you dropped the veil, she used that chance to bring herself back to life. If you shadow her, you can learn how to bring us back like she did." He explained what he quickly learned from Lexi (who has been shadowing Stefan since his escape) and he saw hope start to swirl in the newly dead witch's eyes. If Bonnie could figure out how to pull what Qetsiyah had, then there was a chance that she could replicate it on herself and hopefully on a few other ghosts (like him).
"How is she back?" Jeremy whispered after finally getting past his shock.
Alaric turned to face Jeremy, "I'll explain later. Right now I need you to give Damon a message before he talks himself into believing Qetsiyah's words."
Jeremy and Bonnie looked to one another before Bonnie disappeared to fulfill Alaric's request. Jeremy nodded, as if her disappearance showed her acceptance of the new missions, before he turned to face his ghostly guardian.
"What do I tell him?"
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Damon was pacing the inside of his bedroom. After carrying Stefan to the living room and placing him on the couch, he headed straight for his room because he needed to think. Qetsiyah's words were still playing around inside his head no matter how much he wished for them not to.
"Century after century, I watched versions of Stefan and Elena find each other, like magnets, always the same story—conquering all, falling in love."
The bitterness that went with her words, well Damon couldn't blame her for having that. Every part of him wanted to deny her words, but apparently they were alike in this scenario. And it make matters worse, it seemed like Qetsiyah had to drive another nail into that thought when she brought up destiny.
"Destiny has been trying to get the doppelgangers together forever."
Why was it destiny for them to be together? Wouldn't doppelgangers be created as punishment for Silas and Amara betraying nature by becoming immortal? How is this destiny a punishment for them? It seemed more like a punishment to Damon. Could he and Elena really be doomed before they truly had a change to begin? Why did everything and everyone always side with Stefan?
Many similar thoughts and questions ran through Damon's mind yet before he could really stew in the negativity that came with them, a knock at his door caught his attention. He stopped, turned and came face-to-face with Jeremy, who gave him a sheepish grin.
Damon sighed; he was a little annoyed yet slightly grateful for the interruption. "What do you want?"
"Alaric wanted me to give you a message." Jeremy explained as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
Damon blinked, he wasn't expecting that. "What message?"
Jeremy turned to his right, where the ghost in question stood, and waited for Alaric to give him the message before he faced Damon. "He said to tell you that they may be destined to fall in love but Qetsiyah never said that they were destined to be together in the end. I really don't get the gist of what that means but he won't elaborate for me."
Damon blinked a couple of times as he turned away from Jeremy. "Ric was there?" He didn't know how he felt about his best friend's ghost following him around.
Jeremy didn't need Alaric to nod his head to him to know the correct answer. "Yes."
Damon ran his conversation with Qetsiyah through his head again, only to realize that Alaric was right. The crazy witch never said that the doppelgangers got to be together in the end. She had only said that they were destined to find each other and fall in love. She never elaborated after that. Couples in love don't always end up together in the end. Could it be possible that destiny never planned for them to end up together after all the obstacles the doppelgangers were supposed to face together? Did Damon still have a chance?
Alaric could see the cogs working in his best friend's head. He wished that he could provide support for the struggling vampire but this was the best he could do…have Jeremy be the middle man for them in this moment. It was better than nothing.
The ghost cleared his throat, catching the medium's attention once again.
"Tell him that he can't give up. Tell him that destiny doesn't rule us." Alaric turned to face his former charge. "Remind him that Elena surviving Klaus' ritual proved that destiny isn't set in stone. Tell him history will not repeat itself." Alaric relayed to Jeremy who repeated his words to Damon a few moments later.
Damon straightened up after hearing Jeremy repeat words that he knew would only come from his dead best friend. If he wasn't sure before, he was sure of it now…he will never give up. He will not like history repeat itself. He will not lose Elena after everything they've been through together.
"History will not repeat itself." Damon repeated to himself before he turned to face Jeremy (and unknowingly Alaric too). No words were said but he nodded his head in thanks before he left his room; he needed to check on Elena and Stefan.
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Alaric exhaled deeply after Damon left his room. He hoped that Damon would make the right decision and not back down; it was his turn to end up with the girl he loved.
Jeremy turned to face Alaric; he didn't want to be in the dark anymore. "Are you going to fill me in now?"
That's all Alaric needed to start filling Jeremy in on what he learned when he followed Damon throughout his 'rescue Stefan' road trip.
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A/N #1: And there you have it! Just to clarify, Lexi has been shadowing Stefan since his release and Alaric has been shadowing Damon since Silas revealed himself to Damon. When Damon/Elena were driving back home with an unconscious Stefan, I figured that is when Lexi/Alaric got to talking about Qetsiyah since they'd be in the car with the three vampires. Does that make sense?
What did you think about Alaric's take on the whole doppelganger destiny thing?
Did you like/hate how Alaric wanted to ease Damon's mind?
Please let me know in a review!
A/N #2: Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my latest snippet/challenge on Nine Lives of Chloe King, it means the world to me (special thanks to Ghostwriter and babybluecat247 for their reviews)! I do hope to hear more of your thoughts on my snippets or on the situations I bring up in them. Reviews always bring a smile to my face!
Coming Up Next: TBA
Originally Published: October 19, 2013