Chapter Two

Why Now?

"Would you mind if I hurt you? Understand that I need to. Wish that I had other choices than to harm the one I love. What have you done now?! I know I'd better stop trying. You know that there's no denying. I won't show mercy on you now. I know, I should stop believing. I know, there's no retrieving. It's over now, what have you done..." ~ Within Temptation feat. Keith Caputo

"I watch the city burn. These dreams like ashes float away. Your voice I never heard. Only silence. Where were you when our hearts were bleeding. Where were you when it all crashed down. Never thought that you'd deceive me. Where are you now..." ~ Red

"She said I wonder when it'll be my day. 'Cause I'm not too far from breaking down. All I've got are screams inside. But somehow they come out in a smile, and I'm wondering if I'll always feel this way..." ~ One Less Reason

16 Days Earlier

Life constantly changes. People grow old and die. Technology progress. Empires rise and fall. Seasons come and go. In short, nothing stays the same. My father left me with a departing message, we all adapt to survive. So, when a life comes to an end sure we grief, but we eventually move on. It was part of the process. It was the roles we were given. Life always goes on. It doesn't care that you were dealt a bad hand.

It doesn't care that you're not ready for things to change. Life just happens.

Which brought me to believe that ultimately life sucks. I finally had things figured out and then it all changed. Like it always does. I stood facing my godfather, Jack Sullivan, visibly fighting the urge to not kick his ass. Jack has not changed a bit.

He was still the same man I remember leaving ninety years ago. He was a tall athletic man, with the looks of a model. He had dark hair and brown eyes. You'd think I'd be happy to see my godfather, but I wasn't. "Hello kiddo," he greeted like nothing's changed. Damon stepped between myself and Jack, not because he was afraid that Jack might harm me, but because he worried that I might attack Jack.

Damon wasn't wrong, my emotions were all over the place and I couldn't be trusted to not act on my anger. "What do you mean, you couldn't be happier?" I asked.

Damon noticeably flinched and snapped his head back to look at me, fear in his eyes.

He shook his head and I knew they were hiding something from me.

Footsteps in the corridor pulled our attention from the current situation. Damon jumped into action and dashed for the door, but wasn't quick enough. Stefan walked in and all hell broke loose. I've seen Stefan at his worst. But this was different.

He paused saw Jack and went straight for his neck, leaping through the air. Damon who was normally the one to attack first, leaped after Stefan tackling him to the ground. Damon held Stefan down, but was struggling. Stefan was furious.

"What the hell is going on!" I demanded taking a step forward. This whole situation reeked of secrecy. I knew something wasn't right. Both Stefan and Damon knew something that I didn't. I just never thought that Jack would be involved. I took another step closer my hands on my hips. "Someone better tell me what the hell is going on," I repeated, angrily. Stefan chucked Damon off him and got to his feet.

I thought he might go for Jack again, but he didn't. "I'm so sorry," Stefan said looking at me, regret and shame clouding his eyes. I sat down. No good could come of this.

I could feel it. "You didn't tell her, did you?" Jack asked astonished, smiling.

"Didn't tell me what?" I asked when no one spoke.

"I really thought you'd tell her, Stefan. I have to say I'm really surprised." Jack was enjoying this. Damon walked over to the window, turned and looked at Jack.

Jack simply smiled, not at all phased with what's happening. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at me. "Who's going to tell Avalon what it is we're all hiding," Jack said animatedly. "I didn't want to keep it from you, but Damon made me promise," Stefan said looking ashamed. "Oh for heaven's sake," Jack said after a couple of moments. "You grew up in Mystic Falls, Avalon," Jack said with a shrug, like it was no big deal. It of course was, because I always thought I'd grown up in Arizona. "That's impossible, I would've known if I had."

"Avalon-"

"It's Ava," I interjected.

"Ava, I took away your memory and replaced it with the ones you have now."

"Why would you do that?" I asked confused.

"Because of me," Damon said. I looked at Damon burning to ask him a million questions, but I couldn't bring myself to ask any. Damon looked away in sadness. Stefan got up and walked to the door. He punched the wall and turned around. "Because you fell in love with the wrong brother," Stefan said.

I shook my head, more confused than ever. "I don't understand."

"You fell in love with me and I broke your heart, Ava," Damon said turning around looking at me. "Okay can someone please explain all this to me?" I begged anxiously. This was the last thing I needed. I wasn't sure I was strong enough to handle whatever it was that was about to be said. "Your parents moved to Mystic Falls after your tenth birthday, Ava. It's then that you met the Salvatore brothers, and it's when-" Jack was interrupted by Damon. "We fell in love Ava, we were engaged," Damon said pained.

"That is not true," I said on the verge of tears. It couldn't be true. I would've remembered that. "I joined the Armed Services and left you," Damon finished, unable to look at me. "So what you just decided to take away my memories?" I asked Jack.

"You were heartbroken, Ava. Your father was trying to protect you."

"By erasing my memories!" I asked, a tear slipping down my cheek.

"He erased all our memories," Stefan corrected, crossly.

"You were never meant to fall in love with me but you did, and you were willing to sacrifice it all for me and I left you," Damon said looking at me.

"So why take away my memories?"

"Because you needed to be a Keeper, and you refused to after Damon left."

"That still doesn't explain taking away my memories," I said impatiently.

"Long ago a witch foretold that our race would be in strive and that a baby girl would lead us into a new era. It took your parents ten years to find you. You're life was never your own Ava. You were always meant to safe our kind." I stared at Jack in disbelief.

It's not every day that you hear from someone you love and trust that your whole life has been one big fat lie. I wanted to believe that Jack was lying to me, but looking at him I could see that he wasn't. Every single word was the truth.

"I think you should go," I said to both Damon and Stefan.

"Are you sure?" Stefan asked, a bit hesitantly.

"Yes," I said with a reassuring nod.

"Okay, we'll be in the living room if you need us," he said leaving. Damon followed Stefan without saying a word. I watched him go and for some reason I wasn't mad at him or Stefan. It's because I knew they were used just like I was.

I turned back and looked at Jack. "Are you telling me that my biological parents were killed so that I could partake in this 'prophecy'?" I couldn't believe that my parents would do something so vile as kill innocent humans.

"Your mother never knew any of this. She just took you in and loved you like her own," Jack said honestly. I shook my head and closed my eyes. How was it that I never knew any of this. Sure I knew that I was adopted, but I never got told the full story. Although I did find out that Katherine had killed my biological parents, and that was why I had no problem killing her when the order came. I just wish I'd known the whole story. "Your father did what he had to," Jack said pulling me from my thoughts. "My father did what he did to protect himself," I replied turning my back on Jack. I dragged my hands through my hair, letting out a sigh.

"Don't you dare speak ill of your father."

"My whole life I've been someone's property, used and abused for their own agendas!" I spun around, glaring at Jack. My body protested against the sudden movement, but my anger overruled any other emotions I was feeling.

"Your parents loved you!" Jack said defending my father's honor. He was my father's brother and best friend. Of course he'd defend him. "They were given you for this reason. You're meant to be your father's legacy."

"I don't want to be his legacy. I don't want any of this."

"You were given this for a reason."

"All my father gave me was misery." Jack sighed sensing that I was in no mood to see sense. "When you're ready you'll see that all of this happened for a reason, Ava."

We looked at each other millions of questions running through my head. So much still didn't make any sense. "And Damon?"

"You and Damon are like fire and ice. You need each other for balance and stability. Without each other you are two restless souls aimlessly wandering through existence."

"But you said that I was meant to fall in love with Stefan."

"Life sometimes follows its own path."

"Katherine killing my parents, me killing Katherine, Katherine turning Damon and Stefan. That was all part of some greater plan?"

"What happened to Damon was unfortunate," Jack said, genuinely displeased. "But life doesn't always go as planned, Ava. But yours took years of planning and scheming." I rolled my eyes. "Oh thanks, that makes me feel so much better."

"Avalon, your father wanted to protect you from the pain and heartache when he saw the bond between you and Damon. When Damon left you were inconsolable."

"So what, he thought taking away our memories would solve everything?"

"Even back then your relationship with Damon was erratic. The two of you would be inseparable one moment, and brawling the next. Even then you weren't afraid if your fights were physical and if blood was drawn. But you'd always forgive each other and go back to being inseparable."

"What about Stefan?"

"He was just there, wiping away the tears and blood when things went wrong. It was clear to The Assembly that the flaw in their plan was Damon."

"But that wasn't the only flaw was it?" I asked, aware that there was something else Jack wasn't telling me. "No. Because no matter what your father and I tried, you and Damon always found your way back to each other."

"That's why you erased our memories," I said some of the things said today making sense, but there were still a lot of things that didn't.

"Yes," Jack answered. "The only way we could protect you was to make you fall in love with Vincent." That made my blood boil and my anger flare.

"Do you know how much I suffered?" I asked furiously.

"It was a necessary part of the plan, and I apologize for that." Jack said it so casually, it chilled me to the bone. "He beat me senseless, and you're standing here telling me that this was all part of some plan?" I was slowly losing the ability to keep my anger under control. "You needed a reason to fight back."

"It did the opposite," I pointed out. "It made me give up. So, all the heartache and bruises were for nothing!" Jack shook his head, starting to get annoyed with the fact that I couldn't grasp the grand scheme of things.

"It wasn't for nothing, because you found Damon."

"After the prize you made me pay so I didn't."

"We should've known that you and Damon wouldn't be so easily discouraged. It's true what they say. There is nothing more powerful than that of true love."

"No," I said shaking my head and turning away. "There's nothing more powerful than the art of deceit." I walked to the window and leaned over breathing in fresh air. It was an attempt to clear my head. "You have to understand Ava, your father did what he did to protect our people. To give us hope when there was none."

"My whole life is a lie!" I snapped turning around. "Do you know what that feels like?" I asked, raising my voice. "Don't you see? It had to be this way," Jack said as a way to explain all of it. "No! All of this means nothing now."

"With Tobias and Vincent both deceased, you can take over."

"I don't want any of this, Jack."

"Ava, your father and The Assembly did what they thought would save our kind. We all make sacrifices." I looked at Jack and shook my head.

"Some just more than others it seems."

"Everything happens for a reason, Ava. I know that giving up Sasha was the hardest thing you ever had to do, but it was so that now she can join our fight."

"After ninety years you show up and tell me that not only has my whole life been a lie, but that I need to fight for the people who abandoned me. "

"Yes," he answered. "And you want me to this by using my only child?" I asked, trying to understand what it was he wanted from me.

"Just like you, she was brought into this life for a reason."

"I don't even know how this happened."

"The magic would've never worked if you and Damon weren't meant to be together. That proved that your father and I were wrong. You and Damon were always destined to find each other."

"Magic, right. Why?"

"You need five people in order to overtake The Assembly."

I openly stared at Jack, finally grasping some of what was said today. This fight Jack keeps on mentioning was to over throw the current Assembly and take over. I was meant to start a revolution that was going to make the race stronger.

My father and Jack had planned a new order. One where Keepers and supernatural beings worked together. That was why they wanted me to fall in love with Stefan, because he was the sensible one. But instead I fell in love with Damon who were hot headed and impulsive. But they didn't know Damon that well.

I saw what they didn't. I saw a man who was caring and protective. A man who would do anything to protect the people he loved. In the end it didn't really matter who I fell in love with, because all my father and Jack needed for their plan was for me to overtake the current Assembly and create one that would work alongside supernatural beings. "I refuse to use Sasha as just another pawn, I will not drag her into our world against her will. She doesn't even know she's my daughter for heaven's sake."

"Sometimes, Avalon, we all make sacrifices for the greater good."

I laughed. He must be bloody joking. "Haven't I sacrificed enough."

"This is when all those sacrifices become worthwhile."

I shook my head, my mind spinning. This was all too much.