Ok, so here I am. After 6 days and 18 reviews, not a bad count let me tell you, even if I've had more, and according to my stats I have at least 31 readers (annonymous not included), but like someone around there said, I'm already getting quite the number of reviews!
Now, someone suggested that people found it harder to want to leave a review when there was no Bamon in the chapter, let me explain one thing. This fic it was supposed to be one sole fic, which first seven or so chapters would be dedicated to solidifying the Bamon pairing, and then we would move on into the actual action. Like I've probably said before the story just got out of my hands, my muse wanted some things to be done and I had to do them or risk leaving this fic unfinished (which wasn't an option) so I went along with it and this is what came out a fifteen chapter fic dedicated almost solely to Bamon. Yeah, we'll have small details of Caroline/Matt and Stelena, Caroline in particular will hold an important role in this fic. Since I like the show version of her so much more than the book and I wanted to do something special (still, this is part of what wasn't actually planned but my muse demanded). And before I keep digressing, there's also Damon, as much as I love Bamon, Damon is already going to be a tad OOC as it is, so I'll try to keep him as in character as I can, while still making my romance. In other words, this won't be easy people! I'll admit that most of the Bamon scenes will actually be flashbacks, before I can finally get them together again. Which will happen, trust me on that one.
So, having explained all that, I really, really hope to get a good number of reviews for this chapter. In fact I have an offer for you, if you help me reach the hundred mark I promise you a double update! With the first of those chapters coming the moment the review count reaches the hundred and the second less than twenty-four hours later (can't promise both together since I'm supposed to be studying for my upcoming exams, I'm going to begin studying for my Masters degree, and if my mom suspects I'm spending more time here than studying she'll restrict my use of the internet). So, yeah, that's , if the number isn't reached I'll still update by next Monday, or Tuesday at the latest.
Now enjoy, and remember that reviews make me very happy! And a happy author means happy readers (by means of more and sooner updates)!!!
Chapter 5. Crumbled Expectations
Caroline Forbes, only daughter of Mystic Falls' sheriff and one of Bonnie's BFFs was that particular evening standing in the porch-steps outside Sheila Bennet's home, she knew her friend had taken to sleeping there ever since the old woman had slipped into a coma, a little over two weeks ago.
Caroline wasn't fully sure of what exactly had possessed her to asking Matt, her boyfriend of almost three weeks now, for a 'rain-check' on that night's date; she'd just felt that, this day, her friend needed her more than him.
So she had gone and knocked on the door, only to find there was no one home. Still with that feeling of 'impending doom' on her gut the blonde had decided to wait a while, and right as she was about to lose the last sliver of patience she had left she finally saw her. Bonnie was rushing through the streets, almost stumbling, right in her direction.
Caroline got on her feet almost grumblingly, muttering under her breath about inconsiderate friends who aren't home when others choose to visit; she even opened her mouth to lash at Bonnie about it, when she suddenly saw the other girl's eyes.
Bonnie's usually bright hazel eyes, eyes that looked almost forest-green in the right light; in that moment looked brown, a very dark, very depressing tone of brown.
Caroline forgot everything she had been about to say right in that moment, as an instinct inside of her pointed out that the look in her friend's eyes was the proof of the 'impending doom' she had been feeling the past couple of hours.
"Bonnie…" Caroline called as she approached the other girl slowly. "What happened to you?"
Bonnie flinched visibly at the sound of the blonde's voice, it was quite obvious that she hadn't noticed the girl before that moment.
"Caro?" Bonnie asked in a low, careful voice. "Is that you?"
The tone of voice sounded so much like that of a scared child, so much unlike how Bonnie always sounded, that Caroline was scared instantly. Something had happened to her friend, something bad; someone had hurt the hazel-eyed girl, and that was simply unforgivable.
.---.
As she moved through the kitchen making tea, getting some cookies to go with it and an aspirin in case it was needed. She was nervous, that was obvious, never before had she had to be the strong link in the three girls' friendship, that was usually Bonnie's part. Elena was the nice, caring girl, as well as the healing one, looking after everyone to the best of her ability; Caroline was the quick-witted one, stubborn, bold, and a bit crazy at times; Bonnie was the strong one, the fighter, the fierce protector. They each had their part to play in their little group, their role in the 'triumvirate'. That's what some students in the school would call them sometimes, the triumvirate, the 'queens' of the school. They had been tight since elementary, so different they were from each other: Elena with her small figure, tanned skin, silky waves of auburn hair and almond-shaped chocolate eyes; Caroline with her slim body, creamy skin, golden-blonde locks and smoky-green eyes; Bonnie with that tall curvaceous figure, her skin like caramel, thick curls of ebony hair and big hazel-eyes. And despite what their differences might be, and the fights they might have at times, they still were the best of friends.
When Caroline got back into the living room, where she had left Bonnie, she realized that the dark-haired girl was sitting in the exactly same position as she had been when they had gotten in, sitting in the smallest sofa, her legs curled beneath her, and the rest of her body doubled over, Caroline for a moment wondered if she was crying, sick, or something of the sort, because the girl truly looked awful.
It was until the blonde got less than two feet from the sitting girl that she realized Bonnie kept mumbling something under her breath, it was:
"Stupid…stupid…so utterly stupid…" She kept admonishing herself. "How could I be this stupid? Spirits!"
"Ehm…Bonnie, what is going on?" Caroline asked, with as much strength as she could muster in such an unexpected situation.
"Oh Caro…" Bonnie hiccupped. "I'm so stupid."
"Bonnie, we're best friends, and you know how tact and I get along…we just don't." Caroline began babbling. "I've always been honest with you. And I'm being honest now. You're a lot of things, sometimes bad things; but stupid just isn't one of them."
"Yes I am!" Bonnie insisted sharply. "How else can it be explained that I would dare believe something this impossible, this…idiotic?!"
"No idea." Caroline replied with a tinge of sarcasm. "Seeing as I don't even know what you're talking about!"
Bonnie finally raised her head, and as Caroline looked into her eyes she froze, and came very close to dropping to her knees in shock, she had defiantly never seen Bonnie that bad. True, she had been pretty affected after her mom had died, when they were eleven, and when her grandmother had gone into a coma, a couple of weeks before; and yet Caroline somehow knew this wasn't because of either of those things. Something else had happened, something so bad it had totally broken Bonnie. That scared Caroline, a lot more than she would like to admit, it truly terrified her.
"Oh Caro…" Bonnie whispered again a hoarse voice.
And there it was that nickname again, another sign that something was very off.
"Caro…" The blonde repeated. "You hadn't called me that since shortly after we began highschool, and even in junior-high it was rare already."
"You remember?" Bonnie suddenly asked.
"Of course I remember." The blonde said good-naturedly. "You used to call me Caro all the time when we were little, just like I would call you Bon, and we would call Elena, Lena…not sure why we did that last one, though, it's not like it made that much of a difference."
"What else do you remember about that time?" Bonnie asked with sudden eagerness.
"Are you getting melancholic all of a sudden?" Caroline questioned but, after shaking her head, answered her. "I remember we became best friends on first year of elementary, that we liked to be together all the time, talking about stuff, drawing, and all that. I also remember that some of the older kids were sometimes mean to you, they called you names, and bullied you; I had to threaten them to tell my mom more than once so they would leave you alone."
"Is that all?"
"I also remember that your parents would almost never pick you up from school, someone else did, a family friend I guess. The others girls would call him the 'Dark and Handsome Older Man', or something like that…" she seemed to understand, at least part of it, suddenly. "Is that what this is about? This man?"
"What else do you remember about him?" Bonnie ignored Caroline's question to ask her own. "Do you remember what he looked like, or his name?"
"I don't remember much, actually. Most of the time my mom would pick me up before he got there, I mostly know what other girls would say about him: dark hair, bangs on his face, dark eyes, he dressed well, and had an expensive car. I believe I did see the car once, a black Ferrari? Kinda reminds me of someone else…Anyway, about the name, that one I most defiantly don't know, you never said. You always called him…"
"My Dark Angel."
"Yeah, that. You were always talking about him, about the stories he would tell you, all the places you wanted to see for yourself. Let me tell you, I never actually believed half of those stories but anyway. It was usually like that, until one day you just stopped speaking about him, just like that, it was as if he had never existed."
Bonnie couldn't help but agree with that assessment, especially considering that until less than a month she couldn't remember he had ever existed.
"What's going on Bonnie?" Caroline asked once again. "Why did you come to your home so late, and looking like hell? And what does any of this have to do with that man?"
"I found him…" Bonnie half-whispered, half-sobbed.
"Really?" Caroline's mind was in a whirl, trying to make sense of everything. "Is that a good thing? Or not? I'm not getting it Bonnie!"
"H…he d-doesn't want to ha…have anything t-to do wit…with me." Bonnie admitted in a broken voice as she looked down again.
"Why ever not?!" Caroline hissed.
The blonde was furious, whoever this 'Stranger' was, he was a 'Dead Man', for Heaven that she would find a way of making him pay for hurting Bonnie.
"Who is he?" Caroline asked, suddenly remembering she didn't actually know who the man was, she knew nothing more than the nicknames.
"You're not gonna believe it." Bonnie answered.
"Try me." Caroline insisted.
"It's complicated Caro, much more than you can even begin to imagine." Bonnie stalled. "It's complicated, and dangerous, it would be better for you not to get involved."
"Bonnie Bennett!" Caroline called authoritatively. "You're my best friend in the world, that gives me the right of getting involved. Tell me his name."
The young witch really didn't want to get her friend involved, she was human, and had already been through enough; and yet at the same time she needed someone to confide in, to help her deal with all the pain she was feeling, and despite the image of conceited and careless girl, Caroline was anything but, she was caring, and understanding, and one of her best friends…
Bonnie finally couldn't keep it in anymore, and with a pained moan revealed the name of her one time hero, the name of her now unknowing tormentor:
"Damon Salvatore…"
And as she said his name it came to her, like a stab in the middle of her chest, the memory of just how bad things had become less than an hour ago:
***Flashback***
She had been attacked in the park, by two vampires, and one had actually managed to get her, he'd been choking her until suddenly he was off her, staked just a moment later.
Bonnie was vaguely conscious of the other vampire scrambling away from her, keeping to the shadows so as not to be noticed; the rest of her mind was entirely focused on the one other person in the place; the man who had just saved her…again.
Two words left her lips before she could so much as think about stopping herself:
"Dark Angel…"
For a fraction of a second puzzlement was the only emotion visible in her savior's expression, but almost right away it disappeared, being replaced by a mix of arrogance and mockery.
"Well, well, Bonnie…I didn't know you made it your custom to give names to other people." He said with a dramatic posture. "And besides, I do believe you're way off here. Me? An angel? Only one of death and destruction…"
He continued mocking her slip, and yet she wasn't fully listening to him; in fact, she had mostly stopped listening after he'd said her name, he'd never called her by her first name, not even when they had been good friends, she had always been his 'Little Witch.'
Without saying a single word she spun around and then began running as fast as she possible could in the direction of her Grams' home, she could barely see through her tears, and even stumbled quite a few times, but she still managed to make it home in one piece.
And then she'd seen Caroline…
***End of Flashback***
Bonnie couldn't help but begin crying all over again.
He had promised her she would always be his Little Witch! Just like he would be her Dark Angel…He'd promised…And yet, who cared, right? It was just another promise broken…one more stupid, worthless promise…
"Bon?!" Caroline called loudly.
Bonnie's head snapped up, meeting Caroline's eyes, there was a shadow in them. It kinda reminded Bonnie of the time when bullies in elementary would go after her and Caro and Lena would then arrive just in time to send them running away.
Of course there were times when her friends couldn't be there, but then He would be there to help her…and there she was, once again going down the path she didn't want to go.
"Wanna explain me when exactly Damon Salvatore became your Dark Angel?" Caroline asked in a highly disbelieving tone.
"It's not that he suddenly became my Dark Angel, he's always been…or at least he used to be." Bonnie declared.
"Let me see if I understand this." Caroline said. "Damon, the egotistical, selfish, vicious, crazy, sadistic, bastard, Damon Salvatore, is your Childhood Protector?"
"Yes. And he's not that way, or at least he didn't use to be that way in the past." Bonnie sighed wistfully. "While he's always been pretty sarcastic, more than a little cocky, and loves to mock me constantly, he also used to be funny, and caring and protective, and…nice."
"Are we talking about the same man here?"
"Yes. I know how impossible it sounds Caro, believe me. Especially considering everything he's done these past few months…"
"What hasn't he done this past few months?! Bonnie, he used me, as his sex-buddy…true, I was using him for that too, but he manipulated me, and he abused me and…and…"
Something seemed to suddenly go off in Bonnie's mind as she heard her blonde friend speak, and as she saw the look in her eyes, the look of total terror…
"Caroline, how much do you remember of your time with Damon?" The young witch asked, carefully, almost dreading the answer.
"Everything…" Caroline whispered.
Suddenly the blonde cheerleader looked smaller, almost withdrawn in a way.
"Or mostly everything." The blonde continued. "I remember thinking he was really hot when I first met him, and when he showed interest in me I thought I was luckiest girl ever. You know how I tend to be second all the time, after Elena…no offense intended to her of course."
Bonnie just nodded, almost absently, truth is she was used to it too, Elena always seemed to call the attention of every single guy they met, both Bonnie and Caroline had had to grow used to it; and truth is, that while she had her Dark Angel in her life Bonnie hadn't cared that much.
"He invited me to a party on Friday, and then we just kept going through the weekend." The blonde continued. "Most of what happened in those days is pretty fuzzy, and I somehow know it's because of something he did. Something he kept doing the following weeks. At some point he gave me some crystal to keep for him, and then when I gave it to you he got angry, but I just couldn't get it back. I know he was angry, and he hurt me, but it's all in pieces. What I do remember clearly is almost two weeks ago, he had me use a compass to find…something, I don't even know what, he said he couldn't do it because he would interfere with the signal."
Bonnie knew what compass she meant, the Gilbert compass, it was in Elena's power now.
"How come you do remember that?" She asked, confused.
"He tried to make me forget, and I pretended I did." Caroline admitted. "But I didn't forget anything, and by then I had already begun remembering things. It's because of my mom, because of something she put in the coffee, some powdered herb…"
"Vervain." Bonnie whispered.
Suddenly it all made sense. Caroline was full of vervain, with both what she drank with the coffee and the necklace Stefan and Elena had gotten ready for her, so Damon could no longer compel her; also, somehow, drinking the vervain had made it so the memory-locks Damon had previously placed had weakened. It wasn't enough for her to remember everything clearly, but enough for her to know something was off.
"Do you know too, then?" Caroline guessed.
"What exactly is it that you know Caro?" Before admitting to everything Bonnie wanted to be fully sure of what exactly was that the blonde knew.
"Damon isn't human." Caroline stated confidently. "I guess Stefan most likely isn't either. I'm just not sure what exactly they are…"
Bonnie took a deep breath, she knew that what she was about to do was risky, but Caroline already knew quite a lot, it was better if she understood everything, maybe then she would also understand why secrecy was so important.
"You know all that, and yet you haven't said a word all this time." Bonnie commented.
"I was afraid!" Caroline called out. "Still am, actually. Damon has hurt me enough in the past, I get the feeling he came pretty close to killing me. And while I don't believe Stefan would hurt me, I still didn't want to face him. It's not like I have proof of anything anyway."
"Do you want to know?" Bonnie asked, she wasn't going to force such a burden on her friend.
"Yes." There was no doubt in Caroline, she wanted to know, needed to know.
"Vampires." The young witch revealed finally. "The Salvatore brothers are vampires."
Caroline let out a breath, she could hardly believe it, it sounded so unreal, and yet at the same time it made perfect sense. Both Damon and Stefan were vampires…Stefan…
"Does Elena know?" Caroline suddenly asked.
"Yes, she knows." Bonnie answered. "Stefan really isn't like his brother, more like his complete opposite actually. He doesn't feed on humans, and he really loves Elena. He even saved my life once, when Damon nearly killed me."
"Wait. He nearly killed you?" Caroline asked. "Bonnie, I understand how Elena got into this mess, dating Stefan and all that, but how exactly do you come into this?"
Bonnie remained silent for a second, she could still remember her Grams words, on how she shouldn't be telling her secret to anyone. But she needed to! She needed someone to confide in, someone who would listen to her, who would comfort her. And Elena, great friend as she was, couldn't always be there for her, she had her own troubles. She needed someone else, she needed her other best-friend…Caroline.
"I'm a witch." She announced finally.
The blonde seemed to take a second or two to absorb everything and finally nodded.
"I think I always knew." She declared finally. "I mean, there were all these odd occurrences that happened around you, and what those bullies called you. I of course thought it was just boys being idiots. But now, knowing that vampires do exist, that the supernatural is real, it kinda fits, don't you think?"
Bonnie had to agree there. Vampires were real, witches were real, it was logical; next they were going to discover werewolves were real too…better not jinx themselves.
"Very well, so you're a witch, and Damon Salvatore is…or at least was your Dark Angel." Caroline announced. "No problem with the first, but I'm still having trouble digesting the second. I just can't believe it you know, with how I know him to be…"
"I know it sounds unbelievable." Bonnie nodded. "But trust me, I'm saying the truth. The first time I met Damon Salvatore I was three years old, in my backyard, a dog somehow got inside and was coming after me; I don't know how it happened, he was suddenly there, and he distracted the dog enough for me to get inside the house…"
So Bonnie began her story, telling Caroline about every single memory she could remember in that moment, reliving them in a way she hadn't allowed herself to ever before, and as she did that she finally found the peace she had been lacking. Peace with herself, with her past.
She had such an extraordinary past; she'd known a wonderful man, who'd cared for her, protected her, mentored her, who had been there for her whenever she had needed him, giving her a shoulder to cry on, an arm to lean on, motivation to keep growing. True, he was no longer there, he existed, but he was no longer the man she had known, and that was alright, because she had changed too, she now could move forward on her own. She would always remember him, everything he was to her, but she could now walk by herself, she needed to.
Her Dark Angel was probably one of the most valuable people for her, but he was now gone. And she was no longer the Little Witch, she was now the Last Bennett Witch, the one meant to be the most powerful from the Line. It was time she took destiny in her own hands, time for her to step up and take her lineage; become who she was meant to be.
And as she decided that a sudden breeze entered the living room, it shook everything before finally enveloping Bonnie, making her clothes and hair flap around wildly for a few seconds.
Caroline, who had been deep in her thoughts after hearing Bonnie's story was brought out of her musings in time to see what was happening.
"Bonnie, what's going on?" She asked, half-confused, half-afraid.
"I'm not sure…" Bonnie admitted.
Not fully sure why she was doing it the young witch got on her feet and went to stand on the center of the room, the furniture moving away by itself, Caroline herself hurried to a corner, anxiousness written all over her expression.
"Bonnie…" Caroline began again.
But before a single word more could be said several things happened at once: a line of fire, a flash of lighting, a spiral of water, a small tornado and a fist of dirt seemed to arrive from different directions, circle around Bonnie and then land on the floor, forming in an instant a pentagram, pretty similar to the one Emily had used to destroy the Crystal several weeks earlier, except this time in enclosed all the elements.
Bonnie was still wondering what exactly everything meant when suddenly the brightest light she had ever since came at her from the pentagram and suddenly, all she knew was pain.
And say you'll hold
A place for me
In your heart.