Friday Night Bites - Part 2
Dinner was rough going. Elena was trying her hardest, bless her heart, but Stefan could feel the physical tension in the dining room. Bonnie was ignoring him, picking at her food like she wanted to eat but didn't want to eat in front of him. Caroline was unusually quiet, occasionally piping in with opinions but mostly keeping her mouth shut. Elena was the one doing the most talking; Stefan kept up with her conversation as best he could, but it was noticeable that two of the four tablemates were feeling uncomfortable. For what reasons, he wasn't sure for both of them.
Who was he kidding? Stefan's mind was occupied as well. Damon's words hours ago still unsettled him greatly. He didn't trust his brother, and he especially didn't trust his brother around Victoria. The girl was a wandering soul, someone who was in an entirely new environment. She didn't need Damon tripping her up along the way; Victoria needed focus and direction.
"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan, breaking him out of his little mental sidetrack. Stefan gave Elena a warm, gentle smile.
"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," Stefan teased, taking a bite of his food. It was really good; he knew it wasn't homemade but he didn't want Elena to feel embarrassed for ordering takeout and just putting it into some fancy bowls (Bonnie's overheard words, not his own).
Elena looked towards Bonnie, an awkward smile on her face. "Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him, and -"
"- Yeah, I heard," Bonnie interrupted, shoveling a large bite of food into her mouth. Elena's mouth fell into a thin line, but she tried again. Stefan appreciated her dedication.
"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena suggested, glancing towards Caroline. The blonde was oblivious to the conversation, staring down at her lap. Stefan could see the faint glow from a phone screen shining back up at her. Caroline's lower lip was caught between her teeth. She was worried. Probably about Victoria. Kelly had called Caroline before Stefan left the boarding house for school that day, but other than that, she hadn't had any contact with Victoria.
"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Bonnie's answer was short and obviously an attempt to get him to think that she was boring so he would leave her alone. Stefan saw through the trick and Elena did too.
"No, about the witches," Elena insisted. Well, that was interesting. Stefan sat up a little straighter as Elena turned to look at him. There was a look of genuine interest in her eyes as she said, "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool."
Bonnie grunted from across the table, disgust hidden within her dark eyes. "Cool isn't the word I'd use."
"Well, it's certainly interesting," Stefan commented, turning to look at Bonnie with interest. "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s."
"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie huffed, correcting him. Stefan paused, his eyes widening in shock.
"Really? Salem witches?"
"Yeah."
He leaned back in his chair a little, blinking a few times to let that information sink into his brain. He couldn't help but chuckle as he said, "I would say that's pretty cool."
Bonnie seemed interested at his statement, because she sat up a little straighter. She looked at him with curiosity. "Really? Why?"
"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and nonconformity," Stefan explained, shrugging his shoulders lightly. There was a newfound light in Bonnie's eyes as she regarded him and he mentally fist-pumped. That had been the right thing to say and going by the look on Elena's face, he had done well.
The doorbell rang and everyone turned, Caroline included, to look at the door. Elena rose to her feet, brushing her hands off on her jeans, muttering, "Maybe Victoria decided to come after all?" as she headed off towards the door.
She opened it up and Stefan's heart stopped beating (though it was never beating to begin with). In front of the door stood Victoria, her sundress still on and a long dark coat over her shoulders to keep her warm. She had a beautiful scarf on, delicately hiding the black bruises scattered around her throat. However, Damon stood right behind her, a satisfied smirk on his face. Victoria caught Stefan's eyes as she mouthed "I'm sorry".
Elena seemed startled to see Victoria and Damon, and Victoria couldn't blame her. The last time she had seen Damon, the day before, the two of them had clashed. Their personalities didn't get along perfectly right now, not with Elena being head over heels for Stefan. Victoria licked her lips and looked past Elena towards Stefan, who was looking like he was about to pass out. She winced and shrugged her shoulders in an apology.
Next, Victoria turned her gaze towards Caroline, whose eyes were narrowed dangerously and whose lips were pressed tightly to one another in a thin line. She couldn't imagine what was going on in the mind of her friend. Here, her best friend had arrived after a day of missing school with the guy that she had warned her friend to stay away from, the same guy who "supposedly" was the one to choke her. The one who was supposed to be in jail.
"Surprise?" Victoria weakly murmured, turning her attention back to Elena. The teen was whipping her head between Victoria and Damon so many times that Victoria was sure she was going to get whiplash. "I-I know I'm a little late, but...I, um...well, we brought dessert?" She held up the little chocolate cake that Damon had arrived at her house with.
"Oh," Elena said, blinking. She couldn't formulate the words; Victoria understood that and felt that pain. It wasn't like she was jumping for joy at being at the dinner, but Damon had made a compelling argument (aka a detailed murder plan) as to why she needed to come.
"Hope you don't mind," Damon commented, drawing Elena's attention to him. Victoria's eyes caught Stefan jumping from his seat and marching over to the front door, where he stood tall behind Elena's shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" Stefan demanded, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Victoria for an answer. She mouthed quickly 'Death threat' and a knowing look passed over Stefan's eyes.
"Waiting for Elena to invite me and Victoria in," Damon mused, wrapping an arm around Victoria's shoulders. Victoria managed to keep her flinch to just clenching her teeth together. Stefan tensed as well.
"Oh, yeah, you can -"
"- No, no, no," Stefan interrupted. "He can't, uh, he can't stay. Can you, Damon? You promised that you were going to help Victoria catch up on her homework." He sent Victoria a subtle look and she nodded her head towards Stefan. She didn't think his attempt to give her an 'out' would work, but it was appreciated anyways. "I mean, we were, uh, just finishing up."
"It's fine," Elena insisted, breaking through Stefan's attempts to dissuade Damon's crazy plans. "Just come on in, you two."
"You have a beautiful home, Elena," Damon complimented as he took his arm away from Victoria to follow the seventeen year old into her home.
Victoria stepped through the door and shut it behind her. When she turned around, she took a step closer to Stefan. She didn't want Damon to overhear anything, although she knew there was a strong possibility that he would anyways.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Stefan demanded in the lightest whisper he could possibly manage. His body radiated unspoken aggression and defensiveness.
"Threatened to keep killing campers unless I came with him," Victoria replied, looking to the side. Elena was showing Damon to the living room and he was closer to her than either Victoria or Stefan were comfortable with. "Listen, remember our talk yesterday night?" Stefan nodded his head. "Hint: He won't hurt her."
Stefan's shoulders lightened up a little and he nodded. "Thank you. That does help quite a bit."
"I'm glad it helps you," Victoria huffed, rolling her eyes. She looked past Stefan towards Caroline, who had not moved from her spot at the table. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyes were dark. They were filled with hurt, betrayal, anger. Victoria tried to show the other teen how sorry she was with her look, but Caroline simply looked away. "Because I'm pretty sure that Damon just ruined my friendship."
Stefan frowned, glancing behind him towards Caroline, but didn't say anything. Elena called everyone into the living room, not giving Victoria the opportunity to try and talk with Caroline. Victoria set down the cake before following everyone into the living room. Stefan, Bonnie, and Elena claimed the couch while Caroline sat in one of the arm chairs. Across the room, Damon took the other chair. While Victoria was looking for a place to sit, Damon opened his arms. Victoria glared at him for even mentioning the idea, and he gave her a hard look in return. She mouthed, 'No way in hell', before moving to take a seat on the floor between Stefan and Caroline. Caroline noticeably moved her legs away from Victoria's body, and she tried to not let herself feel too hurt by the movement.
Elena was the first to break the silence, looking towards Victoria with a warm smile. Victoria couldn't find it in herself to return the look. All she could hear behind the smile was "It should have been her." "I'm glad you could come. You left before you heard, but Stefan made it on the football team."
"Wow," Victoria mused, nodding her head. She had to pretend that this news was all new for her. She turned to Stefan and felt a genuine smile come to her lips, however small it was. "I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Can't imagine how Tyler and Matt are feeling. But good for you. Go for it."
Stefan smiled and was about to say something when Damon beat him to the punch. "That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."
"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today," Caroline grumbled from behind Victoria. Victoria twisted around to send Caroline a sharp look, warning her about what she was about to say. Caroline pointedly ignored her and continued, "It's only because she missed summer camp. Ugh, I don't know how we're ever going to nail the routines."
"I'll work with her. She'll get it," Bonnie defended, reaching over to Elena to gently grab her hand. The friendship between the two of them was so strong and it warmed Victoria's heart a little. It paralleled how Victoria felt about Caroline, despite the fact that the blonde was refusing to talk to her or acknowledge her.
"I guess we can put her in the back," Caroline mumbled in agreement, leaning back in her seat.
"You know, you don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena," Damon commented, his gaze sweeping across the room to land on Elena. Victoria shivered against Damon's look. She didn't know if she was ever going to be comfortable in his presence. It was too...too much. That was the best way to describe it. Too flirty, too dark, too sarcastic, too hungry, too much.
"Oh, it's just cause her parents died."
"Caroline Elizabeth Forbes!" Victoria shouted, leaping to her feet. She hadn't expected her outburst, but she knew that Caroline was stepping out of line. Victoria didn't even know why she was defending Elena; maybe it was to fulfill some desperate hope that Elena would forgive her for killing her family. She glared down at Caroline, who seemed equally as shocked at Victoria's interruption. "Kitchen. Right. Now."
She snatched up Caroline's wrist and forcibly dragged the blonde into the kitchen. It would give the two of them the semblance of privacy. The Salvatore brothers would be more than able to hear the two of them, but Victoria wasn't worried about them. Damon wouldn't necessarily care about the teen drama. Stefan would know to keep his hands out of it.
Victoria brought Caroline around to the farthest part of the kitchen before letting go of her wrist. In a harsh whisper, Victoria hissed, "What is going on with you tonight? That was completely uncalled for!"
"Says the girl who swears she didn't call dibs on the hot stranger and then brings him around!" Caroline shot back, her hands on her hips. Her gaze was livid and Victoria found her temper rising to match the blonde's. "You told me that I had to run from him on the streets and yet you're shacking it up with him!"
"Trust me, I'm not entirely thrilled with this arrangement either!" Victoria snapped back, throwing her hands up into the air.
"You made it plenty obvious that he was the guy who choked you in the alleyway!" Caroline growled, folding her arms tight across her chest. "So tell me, Victoria: why should I stay away from the bad boy if you're just going to run right to him?"
Victoria let out a harsh sigh and folded her hands, pressing them tightly against her face as she tried to come up with a response. She couldn't keep lying to Caroline but she couldn't very well tell her the truth. And she had to come up with something, because based on the terrifying look on her face, Caroline Forbes was one step away from walking into the living room and slapping Damon.
"Ok, listen. I wasn't kidding when I said that you need to stay away from him, and it's not because I called dibs or whatever," Victoria began quickly, trying to control her breathing. She didn't need to get upset. It wasn't Caroline's fault. It was hers and no one else's. It's her fault! "But there was a miscommunication between the two of us. Damon wasn't the one to attack me. I-I thought it was him, at first, but I was wrong. I actually met Damon at the bonfire, right before I went to talk to Vicki. I-I thought he was kind of creepy, so I was trying to warn you off of him. Then I was attacked by a dude who looked like him. I was convinced it was him too but then, at the hospital, after I was attacked again, I realized it wasn't Damon. It was somebody else."
"That's a load of bullshit and you know it!" Caroline shouted and Victoria flinched backwards. She hadn't expected Caroline's violent outburst. Caroline threw her arms up in exasperation and gave Victoria a hard, angry stare. "I talked with my mom, Tori. The security at Mystic Falls Hospital and the police never took into custody a man who supposedly attacked you. There was no attack at the hospital. What did happen was that you left our meeting to meet Stefan with Elena and the next morning, you had black bruises."
"C-Caroline..."
"What does he have against you? Is he threatening you?" Caroline demanded, taking a few steps forward. Victoria took a few shaky steps back, wincing when she rammed up against the countertop. Caroline kept her steady approach forward. "Is he abusing you?"
"Caroline, please," Victoria whimpered. Something cold hit her cheeks and she reached up, her fingers brushing against a stray tear that fell from her eye. She wiped it away harshly and took a shaky breath in. "I-I can't do this right now."
"And why is that? Why can't you handle it? You spend so much time protecting me that you allow yourself to get hurt and I won't allow it."
"P-Please..."
"Tell me, Victoria! Why aren't you trying to save yourself?"
"Because I killed them!"
Caroline froze, her eyes wide with disbelief and Victoria didn't bother to try and stop the sobs that erupted from her body. Victoria collapsed to her knees, her arms moving to hug her ribs. She bit her lower lip, trying to keep her cries quiet. It didn't work. She knew the whole house could hear the two of them now. Caroline stumbled backwards, hitting the island. The blonde slid against the countertop until she was on the floor too. Her eyes were glassy and she seemed dazed. It made Victoria cry harder.
It was her fault.
It should have been her.
"W-What are you talking about, Tori?" Caroline murmured. Her throat was thick with emotions. "W-Who...?"
"The Gilberts," Victoria cried, shaking her head sharply. A sob interrupted her explanation and she slapped a hand against her mouth. Her breathing had increased. She was panicking. Again. Damn it, damn it, damn it! "I-I killed the Gilberts. It was all my fault."
"It was an accident, Tori..."
"Was it?" Victoria demanded, her shoulders heaving up and down. She shook her head and couldn't stop the shaking in her body. It felt like she was stuck in an earthquake or a dangerous rollercoaster and she couldn't get off. She let out a little hysterical laugh as tears continued to pour out of her eyes. "T-Then why the hell was I on that bridge? I-I startled them, I scared them, and we all got hit. I-If I hadn't been on t-that bridge...they would still be alive. I would have all my memories. I-It was all my fault." Victoria let out a cry that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a sob. "It should have been me. E-Elena should have one of her parents but instead, she only gets some messed up teen who can't go a day without crying and hyperventilating who can't remember a damn thing about her life!"
The last part came out as a shout and Victoria suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe. "I-I have to go."
She leapt to her feet and broke out into a sprint, moving quicker than she thought she could. She was glad that she was still wearing her shoes, not that sandals were the best for running. Running away from her problems, running away from Caroline and Elena. From the Salvatore brothers. From everyone.
Victoria got out of the house in record time and just picked a direction and started running. She stayed in the middle of the road, subconsciously glad that Mystic Falls rarely had traffic. There was a kind of relief to it; to just feel the air brushing across her body. She could pretend that she was a track star or an action movie star running away from villains. Victoria could forget that she was just some dysfunctional adult stuck in a teenager's body in a fictional universe where everything seemed to be her fault. She could pretend that she didn't connect how similar the night before and that night were too similar. She could pretend that she wasn't just running away from her problems. Victoria could just pretend.
Her sandal snagged and Victoria found herself pitching forward. Her face was heading for a face-first collision with the concrete. She didn't even have time to try and stop the fall. Victoria just closed her eyes and waited for her head to slam into the asphalt.
Somebody caught her by her arms, preventing her from fully hitting the asphalt. All that happened was her knees caught her fall. She could feel them scrape pretty badly, if the flash of hot pain was anything to go by. She let out a sharp cry and the person behind her flipped her around. Victoria was ready to see Damon or Stefan; they were the only ones who could have caught up with her. She was ready to yell at them. Ready to shift all of her sorrow and grief and guilt into rage and anger.
All those plans faded into pure confusion when she saw the person who stopped her. It was the man from the morning before; the one at the park who had gifted her the magical solution to her throat. The one who wasn't allowed to tell her his name or the name of their so called acquaintance.
"W-What the hell...?" Victoria whispered in disbelief, her face scrunching up. The man, who caught her by her elbows, helped her to her feet and lead her towards the sidewalk. Victoria followed him numbly, shocked into submission. "W-What are you doing here?"
"Our mutual acquaintance was concerned for your well-being," the stranger explained. When they reached the sidewalk, the man helped her sit on the curb. Victoria plopped down onto the concrete heavily. All of her tears and panic was gone. It was as if someone had slapped it out of her with shock. The man knelt down in front of her, catching her teary eyes with his own sympathetic ones. "And frankly, I was too, but I doubt my opinion would carry much weight with them."
"H-How did you know...?"
"We like to keep a close eye on you," the stranger supplied. "I apologize if that makes you uncomfortable, but...well, our mutual acquaintance does not enjoy seeing you in pain. I like to joke to myself that they've made it their goal to do everything in their power to keep you from pain. It's rather sweet in a creepy way." He tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing in a thoughtful manner. "You haven't taken the elixir yet, have you?"
"I-Is that what's in there? I haven't opened the box," Victoria admitted, licking her lips. A sharp chill raced through the air and she wrapped her arms around her torso. She shivered. "I-I don't trust you two."
To her surprise, the man nodded his head. "That's good. You shouldn't just trust us. You need to make sure we can be trusted." He gestured towards the road behind him. "I do hope my preventing of you breaking your nose against asphalt helps a little towards that."
The man tensed up suddenly and his head turned sharply down the road where she had just come from. "Your friends are coming." Victoria sighed downheartedly and the stranger took notice of that, though he didn't comment on it. "It is time that I depart then."
The man rose from his kneeling position, but before he could get far, Victoria reached forward and caught the bit of pants around his ankle. "Wait!"
The man paused and crouched down so he was back to being eye-level with her. Victoria licked her lips, powering through with her quick question. "Please. H-How do I know this acquaintance? W-What name can I-I call them or you or a-anyone!"
The man gave her a gentle smile, one that made her heart calm from its racing, rapid pace. "You're lucky I got to talk with them earlier. After your insistence yesterday at the gift-giving to know either of our names, they decided to give you a pseudonym, something that you can call the two of us."
Victoria couldn't take the suspense. "Well?"
"You may call me Raphael, one of the Archangels from Hebrew lore. As for our acquaintance, they say they are quite fond of the nickname, 'Noble'."
And he was gone in a blink of an eye.
Victoria stood awkwardly in the crowd, her arms folded tight across her body. The mix of teens, adults, and school faculty created a headache for Victoria, but it allowed her to hide. And at the moment, hiding was something that she needed to do.
An entire day had passed since the train wreck disguised as a "Get-To-Know-You" dinner for Stefan and Bonnie. An entire day since Victoria had met Raphael once more and learned a name to call him. And their so called mutual acquaintance. Noble. Something that was so pretentious. But it seemed rather fair to call the "acquaintance" that. Victoria knew that the person was already kind; who else would give a random girl an elixir that healed and stopped pain, all because she didn't like vampire blood? There couldn't have been many of those kinds of people lying around the supernatural community.
She was getting side-tracked. That seemed to be happening a lot, recently.
By some miracle or act of higher power, Victoria managed to evade the hunting Salvatore brothers until she got home. She liked to think that that was due to Raphael and Noble, but she wasn't about to sing their praises. While she was grateful that they had offered her a cure for her pain and Raphael had saved her from even more injuries (barring the scraped knees that were pretty much unavoidable), she still didn't trust them fully. It was a habit that Victoria was developing in this new world.
Kelly had been surprised and extremely worried for Victoria when she arrived at the house last night with tears in her eyes, knees scraped, and her whole appearance disheveled. She told Kelly that she just wanted to go to bed and to make sure neither Salvatore brother entered the house. She had gone to the bathroom, cleaned herself up and changed into pajamas, falling asleep quickly. The next morning, Victoria had Kelly take her to school. She blatantly ignored the gang and they ignored her too; Caroline was more obvious about it, talking to Bonnie and Elena and straight up not acknowledging her presence. Which was fine. Victoria wanted that.
They didn't need to be friends with a murderer.
Stefan, however, didn't seem to get the same memo. He was everywhere. He tried to engage her in conversation, wanting to talk about what happened at the dinner (which he obviously heard due to his vampire hearing) and why she ran away. He was also curious of how she managed to evade both he and his brother, each who were looking for her for different reasons. Victoria just refused to say anything.
Her only respite to Stefan's concerned presence was Biology. They were watching a documentary on the inner workings of the cell so she was able to just zone him out. Even in History, when she was stuck awkwardly with Stefan and Elena near her, they didn't try and say anything to her. She didn't say anything to them.
She was fine.
F - Freaky
I - Insecure
N - Neurotic
E - Exhausted
(Thanks, Italian Job!)
After school, she had Kelly pick her up and the two of them simply stayed home (Kelly blew off another appointment with her advisor, against Victoria's wishes), eating ice cream. Kelly explained some more about her family history, but if Victoria was being honest, most of it flew over her head. She wasn't able to pay proper attention. Her mind was still wrapped up in the happenings of the last few nights.
Which led Victoria to the tailgating party at the school's stadium, hidden away in the crowd from her friends. She kept her clothes simple but comfortably reassuring: jeans, soft ankle boots to keep out the chill, a black feathered scarf, and a dark blue Henley that reminded her of Klaus. She wasn't sure why that was entirely reassuring to her, given his dark backstory and history. But hey, those who have murdered others stay together, right?
Victoria stood near the back of the crowd, so when Mr. Tanner (who also doubled as the football coach. Victoria always found that a weird combination: History Teacher and Football Coach. Huh.) first started talking, she barely heard him. "Wait, wait, wait!" The cheering of the crowd fell silent and everyone watched Mr. Tanner with a sense of school spirit that was mostly absent any other time. "Let's be honest here. In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" The crowd booed here and Victoria rolled her eyes. It wasn't their fault that the football never had a Stefan Salvatore on it; Tyler Lockwood and Matt Donovan were pretty good football players, she couldn't lie. She had watched their practice. But Stefan was a vampire and that brought about a few more qualities that the boys didn't have in them. "But that is about to change."
The crowd cheered and Victoria shook her head lightly. A hand on her shoulder caused her to flinch and she whipped her head to the side. She sighed and relaxed significantly when she saw that it was just Vicki. The teen looked concerned for Victoria, so Victoria wrapped an arm around the younger girl's waist, bringing her into a tight side hug. Vicki seemed to preen under the attention and rested her head against Victoria's shoulder. The two watched silently as Mr. Tanner continued, "We've got some great new talent tonight starting on the offense, and I'm gonna tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these. Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!"
The crowd cheered wildly and Victoria couldn't spot Stefan in the crowd. She didn't know why she had tried to find him anyways.
"Those who have been waiting for us to put a check in the win column, I have only one thing to say to you," Mr. Tanner said, pausing for dramatic effect. There was almost a deadly look in his eyes as he growled, "Your Timberwolves are hungry."
The crowd cheered and Vicki scoffed. "It's just football."
"That's what I thought," Victoria mused, chuckling darkly. Vicki glanced over her shoulder and untangled her arm from Victoria. Victoria dropped her arm from Vicki and followed the teen's gaze. A frown came to her face when she spotted Tyler Lockwood heading towards them.
"Hey, babe. What's wrong?" Vicki asked, noticing the dark look on Tyler's face. The kid had always had a problem with anger and jealousy. It was a dangerous mix for him as a human and even worse as a werewolf and hybrid.
"Nothing," Tyler grunted. He glanced at Victoria and shook his head. "Cuz."
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Victoria asked, honestly curious.
Tyler seemed taken aback by the question and glanced at Vicki, a silent question in his eyes. Vicki gave him a stern look and Tyler didn't seem to catch on. The Lockwood shook his head in exasperation and looked away from the crowd, which was getting hyped up again by Tanner. His body tensed, like a predator who had just spotted his next prey. Victoria found the recipient of his evil stare. Jeremy. Shit!
"Is that Jeremy?" Tyler mused, his hands moving into fists.
"Wait, no! Ty!" Vicki yelled as Tyler strode confidently towards the younger Gilbert. Victoria followed, her brain running a mile a minute. Was she just supposed to stay to the side while Jeremy and Tyler fought it out until Stefan got there? He got up close to Jeremy and gave him a small shove, not enough to make him fall but enough to catch his attention. "No. Leave him alone."
"Oh, what do you care?" Tyler snapped, glancing rudely towards Vicki. He looked back towards Jeremy, who had a dark look on his face. "Don't look so down. You can have her when I'm done."
That was enough to cause Jeremy to snap. His fist went flying into Tyler's jaw and all hell broke loose. Fists were flying between the two boys and shouts of pain were heard faintly over the cheering crowd behind them. Victoria grabbed Vicki and pulled her out of harm's way. There was no way that she had just gotten her safe from Damon to lose her to a wayward fist.
Tyler managed to get the advantage, keeping on top of Jeremy and slamming fist after fist into the poor kid. It was at that moment that Victoria knew she had to step in. Stefan still wasn't there and she didn't know how much longer Jeremy could go before Tyler caused permanent damage.
"Stay here!" Victoria shouted to Vicki, before marching towards Tyler. When the boy's arm raised back up for another punch, Victoria reached out and grabbed his wrist. She held onto it tightly, straining to keep him from punching Jeremy. "Tyler! Knock it off! He's down!"
Victoria stumbled back as Tyler leapt up, rage in his eyes. Her blood ran cold and she was so dazed by the massive look of anger in his eyes that she didn't notice his fist flying towards her face. The impact was short, sharp, and one of the most painful things Victoria had ever experienced in her life. It was like someone had taken an iron rod and slammed it into her face with all of their might. She let out a cry of pain and fell quickly to the ground. Her whole world spun and her body wasn't quick enough to catch herself from hitting her head against the ground.
In a moment's notice, everything went numb. Sound became distorted in her ears and the world blurred. She wasn't able to have coherent thoughts. Victoria thought she heard shouting mixed with screams and desperate cries. It sounded like someone was saying her name frantically. There was pressure around her body in sharp bursts. Someone was touching her.
A blurred hand moved in front of her face and snapped its fingers. She blinked, wincing at the sharp sound as it stung her ears. A face replaced the hand. It was pretty. Gorgeous forest green eyes were the first thing to unblur and Victoria found her hand reaching up to poke the face's cheekbones. Were those things even real? You could slice cheese on them.
The person's mouth, also utterly gorgeous, was moving but no sound was coming out of it. Or maybe it was, and everything was just so distorted she couldn't concentrate. She narrowed her eyes and tried to do her best to read the words on the lips (albeit, not one of her strong suits).
The person was saying multitudes of different sentences, sometimes to her and other times off into the void, their face turned away from hers. Victoria was able to catch one word that she recognized. Her name. The person was trying to say her name.
Oh shit.
She was concussed.
That explained everything.
Victoria licked her lips and tried to concentrate. She willed her hearing to come back and the world to stop spinning. She internally begged that she would be able to understand the person's words. That she would be able to recognize the person.
She was being lifted slightly, she noticed. The person was shifting so she sat in their arms, her back propped up against a leg. Victoria frowned. The pretty person was familiar. But how? And why?
Stefan Salvatore.
Those two words flashed in Victoria's mind and it was like they were the magic words. All of her senses came flooding back in and she gave a cry of pain as the loud roaring of panicked people, the cries of Vicki Donovan, and the calm, but nervous voice of Stefan all came rushing back in. Her head was pounding and her face like it was on fire. Tears sprang to her eyes and she moved her hand to cradle her jaw. The other went to cover one of her ears. She wished she hadn't wished for her hearing back. It was all too loud and her head ached something fierce.
"Victoria," Stefan breathed and Victoria caught his eyes, though everything was slightly blurred again through her tears. "Victoria, can you hear me now?"
Victoria whimpered and nodded her head, hissing as that movement aggravated her jaw and her headache. Stefan's grip on her body tightened slightly and she heard him murmur something under his breath in what sounded like Italian. He looked back up and there was a visible look of relief in his eyes. "That's good. I need you to listen to me, alright?" Victoria blinked twice, hoping that that got the message across. She didn't know if she would be able to speak right away. "Ok, good. There is an ambulance coming this way. You have a major concussion, you need to go to the hospital right away."
"B-Buf..." Victoria spluttered. To her utter shock and horror, blood came spilling out of her mouth. She gave a cry of distress and tried to worm her way out of Stefan's arms, horrified at what was happening. Stefan's grip tightened on her, preventing her from moving without harming her.
"You're okay, you're okay," Stefan cooed, rubbing his hand against her arm soothingly. He moved his other hand so it was cradling her jaw, the opposite side of where Victoria had got walloped by Tyler. "Shh, shh. You're okay. You just bit the inside of your cheek when you fell. Happens occasionally. You're okay."
"Bloof..." Victoria whimpered.
"I'm holding my breath, it's fine. There's not that much." Yeah, I don't believe that for a moment, Stefan. His face looked like he was straining for control, but given his tight grip on her arms, it didn't seem as though he was going to let go of her anytime soon. Stefan looked up and off to the side. Victoria couldn't turn her head to see who he was talking to. "How far is the ambulance?"
"About a minute," she heard Elena respond. Tears sprang up to Victoria's eyes. Everything hurt so badly. It wasn't like when she drowned, where her lungs felt like they were burning themselves out of her body. Because while the pain of the punch itself was bad, it coupled with the emotional pain she was already enduring sucked. "Stefan, is she going to be okay?" Elena's voice sounded like she had been crying badly.
"She's going to be fine," Stefan reassured Elena before turning back to Victoria. Her eyelids were drooping. She was finding it rather hard to stay awake. The buzzing numbness from before was beginning to reappear and it was making her sleepy. Damn, Baby Gilbert, I only got punched once and feel like I'm dying all over again. You are made of some stronger stuff than I am, Kid. "Hey, Victoria." He gave her a sharp shake and she let out a little mewl of pain, squeezing her eyes tight against the pain. The lights of the stadium were beginning to make her headache worse. "I need you to stay awake. Open your eyes."
"I-It hurts," she tried to say, but with the ridiculous amount of blood in her mouth, it came out more like "If hurfs."
"I know it does," Stefan murmured, his voice softer. The lighter tone eased Victoria's headache slightly and gave her the courage to open her eyes again. Once more, there was relief in Stefan's face when she saw his green eyes. "There are those beautiful blue eyes."
"Keefh falking like fafh and Elena will be jealouf," Victoria spluttered, turning her head to the side to spit out the large amount of blood that was gathering up in her mouth. She groaned as the pain from her jaw and the area where she had hit her head on the ground connected in the back of her head. "If hurts, Fefan."
"I know, I know," Stefan hummed. The thumb on his hand on her face began to stroke her cheek softly. It reminded Victoria of when it was the two of them on her first day of school. He had been so kind to her then too. He was a good man. She had said it once and she would say it again and again.
"I-I'm forry for ruining your dinner lasf nighf," Victoria whispered. Her head was beginning to feel heavy. She rested it more and more against Stefan's hand. It seemed to fit so perfectly against her face and she hummed appreciatively. "I-I'm forry if I made you worry."
"You have nothing to apologize for," Stefan said immediately. He gave her arm a quick squeeze. "You're doing a great job, Tori. The ambulance just pulled up, I can hear them."
Victoria couldn't help but giggle, though it sounded more like a gargle with the blood in her mouth and the way her head was lolled to the side. Stefan's brow furrowed and the adorable wrinkles in his forehead appeared. "What's wrong?"
"I fink fhaf's fhe firf fime you've called me Fori," Victoria snickered. The ambulance sirens cut through the air and this time, Victoria could hear it too. It was loud. Too loud. She winced against the pain.
Mr. Tanner.
Damon.
Oh no.
"Fefan," Victoria stated, moving her hands away from her body and reaching forward to grab onto Stefan's jersey. He seemed startled at her sharp movement. She was too, honestly. It wore her out to just do that. "F-Fhere if a hinf you need."
"What I need is for the damn EMTs to get here quicker," Stefan grumbled, glancing angrily to the side. "Where the hell are they?"
"Fefan!" Victoria insisted, shaking him lightly. Stefan looked back down at her, concern evident. She tried to shake off the warm feeling she had in her stomach. Shock. You're just going into shock. "Hinf: eighf, fourfeen, fwenfy-fwo."
"Eight, fourteen, twenty-two?" he repeated, blinking incredulously. "What the hell does that mean?"
The EMTs had arrived and were beginning to usher Stefan away from Victoria. She struggled weakly against the strong men who were strapping her down (for her safety) to the medical gurney.
"Eighf, fourfeen, fwenfy-fwo!" Victoria repeated, and kept repeating until the ambulance doors closed. Then, she allowed herself to succumb to the numbness and she passed out.
A/N: Here y'all go! For anyone curious, auditions were meh, callbacks were good until they weren't, and I got a decent part in the show. It just happened to be the part that I really didn't want, so yeah XD. Oh well, that's show biz for ya! I hope you enjoy this, we got some cute Stetoria moments and then we finally learn the names of the mysterious man and his mysterious acquaintance. Raphael and Noble. These people will be pretty important later on, so I hope you like them! (We got 4.5k+ views! Woot woot!)
New Followers!: animexchick, Firestar Of Darkness
New Favoriters!: animexchick, pandandango
Not a lot of new people this time, but I expected that much.
Onto reviews!:
Sciave: Thank you! Yeah, and it was all totally unintentional to get that part of Elena's character out. The whole unintentional shipping triangle between Elena, Stefan, and Tori really does pull out intellectual theories and I thank you for being one of those theorists! They're always so interesting to read. Got it; another shipper for Datoria or Viamon (I don't know what those guys' ship name is just yet, I should probably do a poll or something). Oh my gosh, you are so right with Kelly. Like seriously, none of these girls' parents are gonna be winning awards. Kelly would beat them all out for it. Ooooh, just wait until Kelly Donovan comes in. Kelly LeBlanc vs. Kelly Donovan. That's gonna be a fight for the ages. I don't want to say anything about who will be saved or who will die, but please keep in mind that Victoria did ask Damon for one favor.
DBZFAN45: Tori is a fan of singing and dancing, so I would imagine that Disney is kind of a staple in her household. I know! The unintentional ship wars I started XD. I think the total consensus so far of ships that have been mentioned include: Stelena (Stefan x Elena), Stetoria (Stefan x Victoria), and Datoria/Viamon (Damon x Victoria). Victoria's become a part of the love square even if she had tried her best not to be. Hmm, that's interesting, your theory of her being on the road to become the vampire via Katherine, not Caroline. I think the Victoria right now wouldn't get along with Katherine, as she panics a little too easily, but I can see her warming up to Katherine as Victoria herself matures and works through her PTSD. Katherine would be the expert on trauma, honestly. And thank you! I'm glad this is your new crack fic. It's becoming mine as well XD. I also really love how you call me Author-san. It's a lovely nickname! YEAH I DO MUSICAL THEATRE TOO! Have done so for 6 years (I'm currently working on my 7th year in musical theater. 18 musicals, 1 Shakespearean play, 1 Backstage crew, 1 Online Christmas Show, and now I am working on my next musical which will make the number 19 musicals).
I'm glad all of you are enjoying this. I am too. If it isn't obvious by now, this story will not be for Tyler Lockwood lovers. I personally can't stand him; never have, never will. Funny enough, this story was originally not going to have Stefan and Damon as the large characters they are now. Stefan would've been like a normal friend, not one as close to Victoria as he is now, and Damon was supposed to be a hated character throughout the show. However, my writing brain seems to think that the Salvatore brothers deserve larger screentime for this fanfiction, so here they are! Ooooh, just wait until we get to the Mikaelsons (which won't be for a while, unfortunately).
Also, on Friday, we're going to have our first original chapter! I hope you all enjoy it and until next time, stay healthy and stay safe!
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