Miss Mystic Falls - Part 4

Victoria strode down the staircase, her hand perched lightly on top of the railing. She wasn't entirely sure if she was breathing or if she was just holding her breath. She was running on autopilot. She had been anticipating that she was going to be the one to dance by herself, so to hear Zach's name announced right next to hers...she was still in shock.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Zach was suddenly there, dressed up in a beautiful dark suit with a kind smile and a reassuring gaze. He held his hand out to her, his palm facing upwards, and Victoria stared at it for a solid few seconds. Then, with a shaky hand, she reached her own out and placed it gently on top of Zach's outstretched hand. Zach's fingers curled around her hand and he led her forward through the crowd of men, women, and children. Victoria kept her other hand pressed tightly to her leg, lest anyone see just how shaky her hands were.

They crossed the precipice of the Founders' Hall, leading them outside where the other Miss Mystic Falls candidates were waiting patiently for Victoria (since she was the last one). Caroline didn't bother hiding her look of surprise to see Zach as Victoria's partner, and then she subtly swung her head towards Damon and Elena, who were looking at each other through narrowed eyes.

Victoria faintly heard the sound of Jenna whispering to presumably Alaric, "Where is Stefan? Why is she dancing with Damon? Why is Zach here? Is that...Lee? Stefan's best friend's boyfriend?"

"It's a long story," came Kelly LeBlanc's wearied reply.

Zach brought Victoria out of her eavesdropping by swinging her around, pulling her into the starting position of the dance. The music started, a soft little diddy played by two violinists and a pianist who seemed to be playing a piano that was slightly out of tune. Victoria curtsied to Zach and Zach gave her a low bow from the waist and the two began the dance.

"How do you know this dance?" Victoria questioned under her breath as she and Zach began the right hand around.

They switched hands and started to move the other way, with a left hand turn, as Zach replied with a little smirk, "I have lived in this town my entire life. There's some things that you just pick up among the years."

Victoria allowed herself to smile a little at that comment, because she really did understand what Zach meant. Her nerves shot back up again, however, and her smile dimmed, enough that Zach took notice and gave her hands a reassuring squeeze when they moved to promenade around the dance floor together.

"My brother was the one who actually taught me this dance," Zach explained lowly as he and Victoria passed by Caroline and Lee. Lee gave Zach a nod, one that the Salvatore returned, and Caroline and Victoria shared quick smiles before they were past each other, promenading to parts unknown. "He got invited by his girlfriend at the time to participate in the contest and he was the oldest person at the time to ever participate in the contest." Zach snorted and glanced towards Damon, who was spinning Elena under his arm with a tight expression on his face. "I think Uncle Damon may have beaten him out for that now, though."

Victoria snickered as Zach turned her into a turn and they got into ballroom position, with her hands on his shoulder and outstretched hands, and his holding her hand and on her waist. As they started to waltz, Victoria had to ask, "So what, they don't change the dance? It's been the same for a hundred forty-five some odd years?"

"How do you think Damon knows this dance?" Zach questioned in return, and Victoria had no room for argument there, so she just shrugged.

Zach led her with ease through the dance until they reached the point when they had to assemble in small groups of four (two couples paired together). The two couples would dance in a circle with each other before the ladies would switch their partners with each other. Lady One would dance with Gentleman Two and Lady Two would dance with Gentleman One.

Zach and Victoria lined themselves up in line, taking the position of Lady and Gentleman Two. Damon and Elena appeared on the other side, taking up the position in their foursome as Lady and Gentleman One. They began with a simple right hand turn with the group and Victoria could feel Damon staring holes into the back of her head. Victoria just kept her gaze forward, knowing that whatever sarcastic comments he had would be revealed when it was time for the two of them to dance together.

Once that turn was finished, they flipped around and walked around with a left hand turn. For the sake of not dwelling in the silence that was starting to grate on Victoria's nerves, she commented to Zach, "You don't talk about your brother very much. I think this was the second time since I've met you that you've mentioned him."

Zach flinched a little and Victoria felt bad for even making the observation in the first place. She opened her mouth to apologize profusely but Zach's shoulders shook with a chuckle and he said, "Yeah, it can be a little difficult to talk about him, but he was a good guy. I guess I just miss him. You and Lee remind me of him a lot. Lee being how ridiculous he always is, and you..."

"Me what?" Victoria asked as they turned so they were lined up with their new partners (Zach with Elena and Victoria with Damon). "How do I remind you of your brother?"

"You're always getting into trouble," Zach replied cheekily as he swept Elena up in ballroom position. He danced the two of them away and Victoria pouted as Damon took her in his arms.

The two started off with a simple waltz, mostly swaying in spot then actually gliding around the dance floor. Then Damon threw Victoria into a little spin, which she executed perfectly, before she swung back into his arms. They then took a turn dancing around the floor, passing other couples with a simple nod of hello.

"Are you enjoying the dancing?" Victoria couldn't help but ask, peering up into Damon's eyes curiously to see what his response would be.

"I'm dancing with McJudgey," came his tense reply, and it hit Victoria like a punch to the core. "How do you think I'm doing?"

Victoria frowned and turned her face away, choosing instead to look towards the other contestants as they danced around with new partners. It appeared that Caroline and Lee had gotten paired up with Amber and her dance partner, Wilmer, so Caroline was waltzing elegantly with Wilmer, who seemed like dancing was a part of his very soul (another kindred spirit) and Amber was giggling ridiculously at something that Lee had said to her.

Victoria felt Damon's breath hot against her neck as he sighed outwardly. He leaned close so the tips of his hair were brushing up against Victoria's neck and his lips brushed against her ear. "Sorry."

"It's alright, Damon."

"No, it's not," Damon grumbled, shaking his head. He pushed Victoria out, spinning her once more away from himself and then back into his arms. Once she was back, he placed his head back where it had been. "I'm taking my frustration out on you. That's not alright, and for that, I'm sorry."

"I'm really proud of you, you know?" Victoria murmured, tilting her head so she was looking towards Damon. He turned to face her as well and Victoria did her best not to think about how close their faces were to each other. "Apologizing, admitting that you're wrong? The Damon who put me up against a wall and tried to choke me the night that he attacked my pseudo-sister wouldn't have done that."

"The Damon who did that certainly wouldn't have been dancing with you either," Damon snorted, a playful twinkle in his eyes. "You have a nasty habit of getting under people's skin, Mama Bear. Everyone who gets in contact with you just has a way of loving you."

"That's not true," Victoria scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Let's count the evidence, shall we?" Damon laughed. "First off, you nabbed all of the human squad as your BFFs, even though you were a so-called amnesiac, so I figure that counts as one point. Then you have Stefan, another point. You got me to somehow like you, third point. Zach seemed to think that protecting you was of the upmost importance since you saved him from me killing him permanently, so fourth point. Then there's Lexi, fifth point. Lee and Noble and Raphael and Markus and Jeanine, although Raphael was a douche, all loved you and even created or joined an organization that was dedicated to protecting you and your supernatural kind, even before you were born, so that adds another five points, making it ten points in total. Then, of course, you have your mom, eleven points. Add on Harper, twelve. Pearl makes thirteen, and then I'm guessing that Legally Blonde reject over there is going to make our group fourteen."

Damon jerked his head to someone behind Victoria and she flipped her head around, trying to spot who he was pointing out. Amber was chatting with Lee before pointing over his shoulder towards where Victoria was dancing with Damon. Lee flipped the two of them around and sent Victoria a Lee-specialty smile before returning his attention back towards Amber.

"What makes you think that?" Victoria asked, turning her gaze back towards Damon.

He shrugged. "Call it a hunch."

The dance was starting to wind down, so the couples moved back to their foursome and the partners were re-exchanged for the previous ones. Victoria, now back in Zach's arms, finished the dance out with him, allowing the older Salvatore to guide her through the few final steps. When the band started to draw out the last chord, Zach (and all the other guys) moved Victoria (and all the other girls) into the patented Miss Mystic Falls dip (aka a normal dip). They held it there for a solid few seconds before the crowd that had gathered to watch them started to clap politely.

Zach brought Victoria back up and immediately offered out an arm to her. She looped her own through his and all the couples started to travel back into the house with the crowds of people following behind them.

Victoria gently tapped Zach's shoulder and leaned on her tiptoes so she could whisper to him, "I need to be close to the stage. There's a new specialty title they're giving me and then I have to sing a song for the other contestants to dance to."

"Got it," Zach replied, angling the two of them towards the front of the contestants. Damon sent the two of them a raised eyebrow of confusion, but Victoria just quickly shook her head, telling him that questioning their actions would not be worth it.

They reached the front of the stage just as Mayor Lockwood climbed up top, holding a hand out to silence the applause as soon as it started. He walked his way to the microphone, which was situated just a few feet to the right of where Zach and Victoria were standing.

"Thank you, our beautiful, wonderful community, for taking the time to come out to the Founders' Hall this afternoon to help us celebrate our age-old tradition of crowning the next Miss Mystic Falls!" Mayor Lockwood announced, and the crowd erupted into applause. He waited until the applause had started to die down before he continued, "As many of you may know, these past seven months have not been easy on many of the contestants. They have had to face the deaths of loved ones, agonizing fear in terrible situations, and so much more. These ladies are some of the strongest that I know of. One, in particular, stands out. She is a wonderful young woman who has put so much time and energy into our community, and it sickens me to say that we did not do the same to her."

Victoria's eyebrows shot up into her hairline at Mayor Lockwood's words and she swallowed heavily. What was he talking about? There were murmurs of unrest from the rest of the crowd and he continued on strong, a semi-passionate look in his eyes as he growled, "When she needed this community's help, members simply mocked her. When she needed our support, we turned away, but no more. It is because of this reason, plus her versatility in such trying times for herself personally, that we have decided to create a brand new title, aside from the title of Miss Mystic Falls, that we wish to give her. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a round of applause to the Songstress of Mystic Falls, Miss Victoria LeBlanc!"

Victoria blushed as the crowd erupted into loud cheers (though she heard Lee, Lexi, and Caroline's voices the loudest over the crowd). Zach guided her to the staircase and helped her up so she didn't trip and faceplant (read: Jennifer Lawrence). Zach walked with Victoria to the center of the stage by the microphone, where Mayor Lockwood was standing with an outstretched arm. She nodded her head once towards him and then another towards the crowd, trying to spot Caroline through the ruckus. She and Lee had managed to find a spot halfway back through the crowd and Caroline sent her a thumbs-up, which Victoria appreciated.

Mayor Lockwood held up a hand, silencing the crowd once more. "Ms. LeBlanc has agreed to sing a song for our other contestants to dance to, so I will need everyone to please exit to the sides of the room so there is enough space in the middle. And, if you would please keep your voices down, I have another special announcement. Unbeknownst to our candidates, we have had the court of Miss Mystic Falls picked out for over four months now. We asked someone close and special to each of the girls to say something encouraging to them, if they should win, and so Ms. LeBlanc, this one is for you."

Mayor Lockwood gestured roughly towards the back of the audience and Victoria tilted her head, wondering who they had gotten to speak for her.

"Hey, Blankie."

Tears instantly welled up in Victoria's eyes and she murmured an, "Oh my gosh." She clung to Zach tighter as the sound of Vicki Donovan's voice filled the room. Everyone went deadly quiet, though she spotted Damon's jaw drop in amazement. It was actually her. Vicki. Not Mind Vicki, not some hallucination (she could obviously tell that because the entire crowd was reacting to the voice, not just herself).

"So, apparently you are nominated with the chance to win the crown of Miss Mystic Falls, huh?" she heard Vicki's giggle, her voice slightly distorted over the sounds of an early 2000s recording device. "That's crazy. I remember you telling me just how crazy Caroline was about the two of you entering this competition, so I'm really glad that you two got nominated. Oh! And just for a reference of time, I'm recording this the week after the weird Founder's Ball at the Lockwood house, so I hope you're proud of how long I've managed to keep my mouth shut about this! Well, I hope I managed to keep my mouth shut about this. Damn, Caroline would literally kill me if she found out that I blabbed about this to you; psh, not like she knows she's nominated too or whatever. What? Oh. I can't say 'Damn', can I? Whoops."

Victoria laughed as watery tears spilled over her cheeks. She brought her free hand up to cover the lower half of her face as her lower lip started to wobble ridiculously.

"So, I'm supposed to tell you that you're a wonderful girl and that you're going to totally win, because honestly? In my mind, only Caroline could beat you, which knowing my luck, she totally will," Vicki snorted, and Victoria giggled. "I hope that made you laugh. I like it when you laugh. You've done so little of it since you woke up from the coma and I'm...gosh, words can't even begin to describe how anxious I feel when you're sad, so I really hope that come the time of the competition, you're smiling more and you're laughing and you are enjoying the life that you were meant to live. You are a savior, Victoria LeBlanc. You saved me, that's for sure; in more ways than one. So, let me, Victoria Donovan, be your savior and I'll let you in on a little secret you aren't supposed to know."

There was a little shuffling, as if Vicki was getting closer, and then, in a teasing whisper, "You are totally going to win this thing. And if for some supernatural or other reason I'm wrong, then you can force me to binge watch every single Barbie movie that has ever come into existence and I will not argue with you about it...much."

The room burst into light fits of laughter and Victoria smiled widely, tears beginning to slow down their descent.

More softly, with a gentle tweet in her words, Vicki concluded her recording, saying, "Thanks for being the best big sister a slightly drug-addicted, alcoholic and deranged teenage girl could ask for. I love you, Blankie. Go rock this."

"Love you too, Vicki," Victoria murmured in response as the recording faded away.

It came the moment that Mayor Lockwood announced Caroline Forbes as the new Miss Mystic Falls.

The feeling of helplessness.

Of hopelessness.

Victoria's grip on Zach's arm tightened exponentially as the audience applauded Caroline. She let out a harsh breath as her vision swarmed momentarily and her legs felt like they were ready to fall off at any moment. She thought she maybe heard Zach murmur her name in worry, but she was focusing so much on staying upright that she could have been wrong.

Zach sensed something was amiss and acted accordingly: he led Victoria gently, but firmly, off of the stage in a way that wouldn't detract from Caroline's shining moment and he brought Victoria around to an abandoned hallway at the Founders' Hall.

Victoria stumbled out of Zach's hold and grabbed onto a random hallway table, an ordained mirror hanging right above the small table. Her grip on the table was with white knuckles and Victoria could feel her heart pounding harder and harder against her ribcage.

"Victoria, what's happening?" Zach ordered, coming to her side. He placed a gentle hand on the small of her back.

Victoria reached up and palmed the area right above her heart. She winced and tried to stand up straighter, looking towards Zach with confusion. "I-I don't know, but something's wrong. I-I can just...feel it."

Victoria looked up into the mirror and saw Vicki looking back at her with concern in her eyes. Vicki reached up and placed a hand onto the mirror and frowned. "I feel it too."

"But what is making us feel this way?" Victoria breathed, shaking her head. "We changed what was supposed to happen when we got Amber to stay in the pageant, so we should be fine...right?"

"Knowing our luck, the answer to that is probably no," Vicki snorted, her brow scrunching up in thought.

Victoria let out a sigh of frustration and stood up straighter. She placed her hand onto the mirror to help straighten herself and she could have sworn that she felt her fingers brushing against Vicki's when -

"Stefan!"

Victoria blinked in surprise at the noise of her mother's voice breaking through the seemingly silence. Victoria looked back and forth, her confusion ramping up to astronomical heights when she didn't recognize the setting. They were in the woods, that was for sure. Away from the Founders' Hall. It wasn't the meadow that inspired her place of peace, but Victoria would be willing to bet that it was maybe in between (although all of the forest looked to the same to her, if she was being honest).

The only two things that Victoria did recognize was her mother, dressed up nicely in her attire for the pageant (aka a black maxi skirt with a red-roses blouse and thick dark brown belt), and Stefan, wearing a suit and looking like a drug addict needing a hit.

"Tori?" Victoria heard a voice hiss out and Victoria flipped around to the side to see Vicki hiding behind a tree, looking absolutely baffled.

"Vicki?" Victoria replied in a sharp murmur. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I have no idea!" Vicki shot back, her gaze fluttering back and forth between Stefan, Kelly, and Victoria. "What did you eat?"

"I didn't eat anything!" Victoria said with an affronted tone. "And I already had my wyrmwood hallucinations. I don't hallucinate and then take a break and hallucinate again!"

"Kelly, s-stay back," Stefan's shaky tone broke through Victoria's and Vicki's chattering and drew both girls' attention back to the scene playing out in front of them.

"You need to go to the boarding house," Kelly stated in a very motherly tone. "You're facing bad withdrawals and if you stay out here, you could hurt someone -"

"- E-Elena needs me -"

"- She's being taken care of, Stefan. You don't need to worry about her -"

"- T-Tori needs me -"

"- Victoria has Damon and Zach," Kelly firmly interrupted. "She has protection, Elena has protection. Hell, Caroline and Bonnie have protection. You need to be isolated from people right now. You've put yourself back onto human blood and it's only going to get worse if you don't start weening yourself back off or back on."

"I-I can't..."

"Yes, you can, Stefan," Kelly finished for him. "Now, I've been tasked with keeping an eye out for you. We can either go back to the boarding house or I can force you back."

Stefan licked his lips and nodded, swallowing heavily. "Y-You're right. I need to go away."

"Glad we came to the same conclusion," Kelly hummed, smiling gently towards him. "Now, we just need to -"

Kelly didn't get to finish her sentence, because in the blink of an eye, Stefan was on her, his fangs deep into the curve of her neck. It was Kelly's screams of pain that jolted Victoria out of the scene and -

- back to the real world.

Victoria staggered back away from the mirror, letting out a startled gasp as she did so. She hit Zach on her way back and he grabbed her shoulders, steadying her. Vicki, inside of the mirror, seemed equally as shocked at what had just happened.

"Victoria, are you okay?" Zach demanded, his hands roaming from her shoulders to the back of her neck as he checked her pulse.

"Kelly," Victoria spluttered. Victoria whipped her head to the side and she looked towards Zach with worry in her eyes. "Kelly's in danger."

Giving Zach no time to react, Victoria pulled herself out of his grip and ran. She took the back way out of the Founders' Hall and the moment that her heeled feet touched the earth outside, she booked it. She used all of her advanced senses, pounding her way into the woods. She blocked out her other senses and tried to pull up the memory of Kelly's scent. Her nose pricked as she caught the trail of her mother and she flashed away.

Victoria didn't slow down; not even when she spotted Stefan and Kelly. Kelly's arms were pinned to her side, her hands sparking with lightning, but it didn't seem to be doing anything to Stefan. Stefan continued to suck the blood out of Kelly and her mother's heartbeat was starting to slow...

GET HIM OFF.

Victoria forced herself into a sliding stop as her arms came up from her sides. The dark surroundings disappeared in favor of a black-and-white world and Victoria's hands sparked black...but that was it. Her powers weren't...working?

What the hell? Victoria thought to herself. The wyrmwood was already out of her system, so there was no feasible reason as to why her powers would be short-circuiting.

Faintly, Victoria heard a little desperate cry of pain from Kelly and Victoria growled, "Screw it." She took off running again and this time just decided to go for a full-body tackle of Stefan. Suffice to say, the youngest Salvatore was not expecting that. Stefan's fangs slid out of Kelly's neck as he was torn away from her, sent yards away from the matriarch LeBlanc. A loud boom echoed across the woods as Stefan and Victoria collided with each other and then the ground, ending up in a tangle of limbs.

As soon as they had stopped rolling and hitting the ground, Victoria forced herself off of Stefan. She staggered to her feet and hissed as her right ankle refused to hold any of her weight. "Damn it, Stefan. That freaking hurts!" She stumbled away from Stefan and sent a quick worried look towards Kelly. Much to her relief, Zach was kneeling beside Kelly, offering a freshly-bitten wrist to the White Witch for her to drink.

Victoria turned back towards Stefan, who was staggering to his feet. He palmed his chest, wincing, and Victoria even spotted small patches of blood dotting his pristinely white button-up. That brought Victoria a small amount of sadistic satisfaction. She had only ended up with a messed up ankle, but she must have broken a few ribs on Stefan's chest. How the logic worked on that, Victoria didn't know and she didn't care.

"Let's try this with a bit more of decorum, alright?" Victoria panted, shaking out her leg with her hurt ankle as if that would somehow make it all better. "Don't you dare drink from my mother."

"S-So...t-thirsty..."

"Tough luck, Stefan," Victoria spat, squaring her shoulders up. "You're not going to drink from Kelly and if you even try to drink from me, you would be dead before your body even hit the ground. We both saw what happened to Chrys."

Stefan's whole body was shaking. His eyes were rimmed red and Victoria felt like she had gotten sucker-punched in the gut.

He looked like Jesse.

He looked way too much like Jesse that fateful day that Victoria had found him dead inside of a dumpster.

Victoria pressed a hand against her heart and let out a shaky breath. "Oh, Stefan..."

"I can hear your heartbeats perfectly," Stefan whispered, his gaze lifting hesitantly to connect with Victoria's. The intensity in his gaze made Victoria suck in a tense breath of air. "Bah-dump, bah-dump. Back and forth, like a drumbeat, but with more force. It's...beautiful."

"Stefan -"

"- I-I don't want to be this way, Tori," Stefan whimpered, wrapping his arms across his body. There was a loud crack that filled the air and Victoria's eyes widened in dismay. He was holding himself so tightly that he was starting to fracture even more of his bones...? "I don't want to be dependent on this high."

"I know, Stefan," Victoria said in response, taking a hesitant limping step forward. "I know."

"The smell...it's drowning."

"I need you to hold your breath," Victoria ordered gently, and Stefan immediately did so. "Don't breathe a single ounce of air. Don't fall into the temptation. Don't become a Ripper."

That word made an immediate reaction in Stefan's body. He flinched and his eyes grew dangerously dark. "I'm not a Ripper."

"Not yet, Stefan, but if you continue down this road -"

Victoria let out a startled scream when Stefan was suddenly there, standing so close in front of her that they could be sharing the same air. His hands shot out and grabbed both of her wrists and Victoria let out a gasp of pain when she felt her bones grind against each other due to the pressure from his hands. Stefan's eyes were dark and the veins underneath his eyes were prominent. His mouth was decorated by his telltale fangs and he looked downright murderous. "I. Am not. A Ripper."

"The moment that Elena fed you her blood, you started the path to become one," Victoria shot back, trying to sound serious but failing miserably at that. The pain that radiated from her wrists was making it hard to focus on things. "I told you, Stefan, that I didn't want you becoming a Ripper because of me, and then you went and became one anyways!"

"I was too weak to protect you!" Stefan shouted back, spittle flying from his mouth to land on Victoria's face. She flinched back at that and let out a squeak of terror as his grip tightened on her wrists. There was an audible crack from her left wrist and a whimper tore itself out of her throat. She bit her lower lip, hard, trying to block out the pain as best as she could. "I need to be stronger. I need to be able to protect you. I need to be able to...to..."

Stefan trailed off, and his eyes dipped down, leaving the gaze of her eyes and settling on something else...

Her lips.

There was a faint taste of copper on the tip of her tongue and Victoria's tongue swept over her lower lip automatically. She had bit her lip so hard that she was bleeding.

And Stefan was looking at her like she was a five-course meal.

Shit.

"There was once a time I subconsciously wanted you to look at me like you are now," Victoria admitted in an unabashed whisper. She let her powers fold over her and the world started to fade back away into black-and-white. Henri's voice spoke softly in the recesses of her mind. It doesn't hurt that our blood is rich in magic, and can act as a booster of sorts to magical acts. "But unfortunately, you're taken and I've moved on."

GET OFF.

Victoria felt a low tug in her gut as her Immortalis magic drew upon the richness of her blood. The wrist that wasn't currently fractured wrapped itself around Stefan's wrist, placing her joint at an awkward, but manageable angle. Calling upon the supernatural strength that she rarely used, Victoria pushed as hard as she could.

Stefan went flying; not even his grip was good enough to keep a hold on Victoria. He slammed his back hard against a tree, sending the mossy bark covering flying in thousands of ways. Stefan hit the ground hard, letting out multiple gasps of air. Victoria brought her badly damaged wrist up to her stomach, holding her arm like it was in a sling and she hobbled forward. Her only-bruised wrist lifted up defensively in front of her body.

"You wanna do this again?" Victoria snapped. "Because take my advice: you really don't want to."

"I am not a Ripper," Stefan insisted with a groan as he pushed himself painfully up to his feet. "I-I just need to be stronger. Strong enough to protect you -"

"- Why is everybody thinking that they need to protect me?" Victoria shouted in exasperation, waving her hand around. "Newsflash, Stefan: I am not Elena! I don't need your protection, or Damon's, or Zach's, or Lee's, or Lexi's, or hell, even Noble's!"

"You are a human, Tori," Stefan growled, flipping around to face her. "You break, you die -"

Victoria lifted her hand and twisted her wrist sharply, black magic twirling around her fingertips. A loud crack filled the air and Stefan's neck (for lack of a better term) snapped to one side in a way that was not at all natural. He collapsed on the ground and didn't move.

As the black-and-white world faded away from a world of color, Victoria hissed, "I am the Immortalis."

Victoria panted and her body shook with the remnants of her fading adrenaline. She stumbled off to one side and leaned her shoulder up against a tree that hadn't been wrecked in the miniature fight. Her ankle was throbbing and her wrist was pulsating in little twinges of pain. Victoria could already feel a headache coming on.

She didn't even question it when she felt a warm hand press against the nape of her neck. Victoria just let out a sigh at the difference in temperature and murmured, "We need to get Stefan to the boarding house."

Noble's warm and dark timbre filled her senses as he replied, "I have already sent a message to Alexander. He will be here in seconds."

"I-Is...I-Is my mom...?"

"She is safe. Zachariah got to her in time."

"T-That's good," Victoria breathed, shaking her head wearily. "Hey...Noble?"

"Yes, Victoria?"

"Take me to the boarding house?"

"Of course."

Victoria closed her eyes and lifted her good arm to slip around Noble's shoulders. Noble's strong arms wrapped around her waist and slipped underneath her knees and a moment later, she was weightless. Victoria kept her hurting wrist on her stomach and held tight to Noble's neck with her free arm.

Victoria kept her eyes sealed shut and she pressed her face tight up against Noble's shoulder as he sped them away from the Founders' Hall and towards the boarding house. He didn't try to speak to her, but she did feel the faint rumblings that reminded her of humming coming from his chest. It was calming and it made Victoria's frantic heartbeat slow down.

Noble started to slow down and Victoria peeked an eye open in the direction away from Noble. Her brow furrowed in slight confusion at the sight in front of her and she couldn't help but comment, "Hey, Noble?"

"Yes, Victoria?"

"This is the boarding house's backyard."

"That is correct, Victoria."

"And that's a picnic basket and a blanket...with fairy lights everywhere."

"I am relieved to know that your eyesight has not been damaged."

Victoria slapped his chest, but immediately winced and murmured, "Ow, ow, ow! Bad hand, bad hand."

Noble gently set Victoria back onto the ground and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the beautiful royal blue blanket that was spread out across the back lawn. She heard a rustling noise behind her and a second later, Noble's tanned hand came into her field of vision in an all-too-familiar clear vial.

"Why am I not surprised that you have this on you?" Victoria snickered. "Could you help me open it?"

The vial disappeared and then reappeared a moment later with the topper off. She grabbed the vial with a muted 'thanks' and then knocked it back. She popped the bottle off of her lips with an audible pop and then handed the vial back to Noble.

She strode forward, glad to feel her ankle taking weight again. She took in the view in front of her and couldn't help but grin. "This is so cottagecore vibes and I am living for it. Who set this up?"

"I did," Noble replied. "I heard from Zachariah, who was told by Damon, about the wyrmwood situation from earlier. The hallucinations. I thought that you might enjoy a low-stakes picnic dinner to help destress after the long day." Victoria frowned and she felt her shoulders tense up. "Once again, I offer myself if you wish to discuss the contents of your hallucination. Of course, I understand if you do not feel well enough -"

"- It was of Logan Fell," Victoria answered honestly as she strode towards the blanket. She dropped down onto the blanket and immediately purred at how delicate and soft the fabric was underneath her fingertips. She flopped over onto it, looking up towards the night sky. "It was later in the day after I received the Immortalis powers, unknowingly, from Octavia. He...He had kissed me on my neck and it frightened me so much. In my hallucination, I pushed him away and was ready to throw some hands when he started speaking, saying Damon's nickname for me, and then, I saw Carol Lockwood and I realized that it was all just a hallucination."

"How did you dispel the hallucination this time?"

"Water," Victoria responded. "It's three-for-three at this point. It's a surefire way to get my wyrmwood hallucinations to stop, though how or why, I have no idea. Maybe I'm just special."

"I would argue that that is an understatement," Noble snorted, and Victoria couldn't help but giggle.

"Was that sarcasm I just heard, Noble?" Victoria asked, wiggling her eyebrows at the sky ridiculously.

"I do not know, Victoria," Noble hummed, his voice sounding much closer than it had been before. "Was it?"

A head appeared in her realm of vision and the first thought that Victoria had was that she knew it was Noble.

The second thought was that she could see every inch of his face.

"Holy shit!" Victoria yelped in surprise, bolting upright.

Except, Noble hadn't moved out of the way, so the two of them smacked foreheads in a rather spectacular fashion. They both let out loud strings of curses and Victoria's hand flashed to cradle her forehead as a headache started to pulsate.

"Ow, ow, ow," Victoria hummed, massaging her temple. A warm hand tried to reach out for her face but she swatted it away. "Stop it."

"Allow me to help, Victoria. It is partially my fault that you are injured."

Victoria sighed and rolled her eyes, but she dropped her hand to let Noble take care of her. One of Noble's hands grabbed her chin and directed her face to look at his. The other of his hands moved up to her forehead and he began to gently swipe his thumb across the area where her forehead had smacked up against his. That left Victoria to just stare in awe.

He was...not what she had been expecting.

Not in a bad way!

Just...different.

"You're a redhead?" Victoria couldn't help but ask, raising an eyebrow in disbelief as she looked at him. The hair that she was looking at was curly and a kind of red that Victoria recognized when she looked into a mirror. The bangs of his hair were longer than his sides, so the curls dropped down in front of his eyes. How he, with his gorgeous tanned skin, managed to get red hair to look attractive on him was a mystery. And the black domino mask he wore (which fitted well with his outfit, which consisted of a white button up with the top few buttons unbuttoned and a thick black vest)! It covered his cheekbones and his nose and left his jawline and distracting lips on full display. His eyes were a gorgeous dark brown color and they observed Victoria's forehead with slight concern and worry.

At Victoria's comment, his lips twitched into a smirk that sent warm fuzzies down to Victoria's stomach and his eyes sparkled with mischief.

"I find myself with a particular fondness for this color," Noble murmured, gesturing nonchalantly with a hand to the curls. Victoria felt her face flush as she heard the subtext of his sentence. I find myself with a particular fondness for this color because it is identical to the color of your hair. "Though the curls I am struggling to understand why anyone would wish for. They are more nuisance than help. Do not repeat these words to Alexander, but I may or may not have hit a tree when trying to get to the Founders' Hall for they were in my way constantly."

"I think they're gorgeous," Victoria answered honestly, and then her cheeks turned even redder when Noble looked at her again with those deep eyes. "W-Why are you masked and everything? It sounds from your loathing of this," Victoria allowed herself a moment of weakness and she reached up to ruffle the beautiful red curls on top of Noble's head, "that this is not your natural hair."

"I wanted to look at you, face-to-face, and have you look at me in return," Noble stated with no hesitation. He dropped his hand away from Victoria's forehead and let it rest down at his side. He shifted so he, too, was sitting on the throw blanket and Victoria shifted herself until she was facing him again. "I wanted you to see me, or at least, in this case, some parts of me."

"Yeah, but why?" Victoria asked, her brow furrowing lightly. She winced as her skin tugged at her bruised forehead and Noble frowned at her wincing. She waved him off subtly and reached up to gently stroke her forehead. "I get that you've watched over me since forever, but what's the real reason?"

Noble chuckled, his voice low and husky, and it sent a shiver down Victoria's spine. His eyes dropped to the blanket and he shook his head, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Your innocence surprises me still, Victoria, even after all these years."

"What?"

"Do you trust me?" Noble asked suddenly, lifting his eyes so they connected with Victoria's.

She sucked in a sharp breath. There was so much emotion behind the dark orbs that Victoria felt like she could lose herself in his gaze. Instead, she licked her lips and stammered out a, "Y-Yes."

"I need you to be absolutely certain."

"Yes, Noble, I trust you," Victoria admitted, concern lacing her words. What was going on? "Are you going to do something? What is it?"

"Something that I should have done months ago."

The words sent a shock down Victoria's spine as memories of her sexy times dream with Noble resurfaced.

And then, it happened.

Noble pushed himself forward from his seated position and his face overwhelmed Victoria's senses. He was everywhere she looked, everywhere she smelled. His nose bumped up against her own and Victoria let out a tentative gasp as his lips gently brushed up against hers. Victoria's eyes snapped shut out of instinct and she just froze. It was real. It was happening. It wasn't a dream anymore. It was real.

Noble was kissing her.

And good heavens, she wasn't kissing him back!

Noble moved to pull away and he only succeeded in gaining a few inches away from Victoria before her brain jumpstarted again. Acting on instincts and praying that that was enough, Victoria surged forward, bringing her hands up to cradle Noble's face. Her lips crashed against his in a delicious connection and the momentum of her body sent Noble sprawling onto the ground with Victoria draped across him. It probably looked ridiculous to an outsider's point of view, but Victoria didn't care.

Especially not when Noble started to move his lips in return. He was very skilled in the art of Kissing (so skillful that Victoria had to label it Kissing with a capital K) and he made Victoria moan against his lips when he dragged her lower lip in between his teeth to give it a little nibble. Noble planted his hands on her hips and in a quick swoosh, rolled the two over so Victoria was now the one pressed to the ground with Noble's warm, strong body hovering just inches above her body.

He gave her lips a few more pecks before he dragged his lips away from hers; instead, he rested them against her cheekbone and only then did Victoria have the courage to open her eyes. Even then, they were were basically slits, the shock of what had just happened not registering with her.

Her first kiss.

"What the hell was that?" Victoria whispered, her voice low and much more breathy than it ever was.

Noble smirked and rubbed his nose against hers, making an almost purring-like sound in his chest that rubbed against Victoria's body. She bit her lower lip to resist the urge to moan because hot damn, did that sound make her feel amazing.

"The start of a beautiful symphony," Noble murmured lowly as he dipped his head back down to kiss Victoria again.

Damon didn't want to watch anymore.

But he couldn't pull himself away from the windows.

His whole body felt numb and he felt tense and ready to murder everyone and yet, ready to just give it all up.

He barely registered the feeling of his nephew's hand clamping onto his shoulder. When Zach spoke, he spoke with quiet words, as to not be heard by the apparent happy couple outside, divided from them by a thick wall.

"I'm sorry."

"She wasn't mine," Damon murmured automatically. It was the truth. Victoria wasn't his to protect. She wasn't his to hold, to kiss, to love. She just...was, and it was stupid for Damon to even think that she was. She was her own person. She was in charge of who she gave her heart to, and it seemed that he wasn't the choice. "Not really."

"She might have well been," Zach responded, his hand tightening on Damon's shoulder. "Your bond -"

"- I don't want to talk about it -"

"- But what are you going to do?" Zach questioned, turning Damon and finally tearing his gaze away from the windows. Zach, still dressed in his formal attire with his left cuff slightly tinged red from his own blood. "Are you going to fight Noble for her?"

"Are you saying I should?"

"I want to know what you're going to do," Zach stated directly.

"Something about this tells me that you want me to say 'no'."

"This isn't a situation where I'm allowed to have an opinion like that," Zach replied, shaking his head. "I'm not her dad."

"You might as well be," Damon parroted, echoing Zach's words from earlier.

"Damon..."

"I-I can't do that to her," Damon murmured, sucking in a shaky breath and finally answering Zach's original question. "I can't put her in a position to choose. That's not fair to her. She's...She's already been through so much shit that she deserves to have an easy choice. The right choice."

"Just because he is Noble, that does not mean that he's the right choice," Zach growled, glaring at his uncle. "I don't want to ever hear those words from your mouth again. You are a good man, Uncle Damon. You can castrate me or hang me by my toenails for even suggesting such foolishness, but I've seen it. Now, say it."

"Say what, Zach?"

"Say: I'm a good man. I'm not going to leave you alone until you say it."

Damon sighed but answered defeatedly, "I'm a good man -"

"- Thank you -"

"- But I'm not going to be the good man that she needs."

"Maybe not romantically," Zach said diplomatically. "But I've seen the way you two interact. She calms you down from murder sprees, and you stand up to people when they put her down. Maybe she doesn't need you as a romantic interest now. Maybe she just needs a friend. Dare I say, her best friend." Zach squeezed his shoulder again and dropped his hand, a more somber look coming over his face. "For what it's worth, Uncle Damon, I'm proud of you. The man who..." Zach's eyes suddenly got misty and he swallowed hard, sucking in a sharp breath before letting it out in a harsh rasp. "The man who murdered my love all those years ago isn't the same one standing in front of me. And seeing the way you look at Victoria, how you treat Kelly, Caroline, and Lexi, it's finally given me the strength to tell you that I forgive you. I know I've already said that to you, but I feel like present circumstances require me to say it again. I'm so proud of how much you've changed, and I forgive you for everything in the past. I forgive you for what happened with Gail. Now, please Damon, for your sake and ours, learn to forgive yourself. Only then will you feel like you are worthy of anyone's love."

A/N: I'M ALIVE!

Hey y'all! So sorry I've been so MIA. Lethargy has been a constant company and I've been anticipating this chapter for so long that it was a pain in the behind to write.

VICTORIA'S FIRST KISS IS WITH NOBLE! Datoria fans, please don't come for me in the comments! You can express that you're upset, but please don't personally attack me for this choice. I do not have the willpower for it. Damon is NOT out of the running for the Shipping Wars, so he's still a possible option! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I've never written a kiss scene before (believe it or not) so I really hope this was a good one!

Okay, so some decision-making has been happening with me, myself, and I, and I have decided to go on a brief hiatus. We're gonna take 2-3 weeks off and then restart the weekly chapters on May 30th. I need some time just to be lazy because hot dang, we've been going hard for quite a while. I figured this was a good place to take a brief break. I'm going to be editing chapters in the brief break and getting a headstart on the next few chapters! (We're so close to Season 2! Whoo-whoo!)

THE SHIPPING WARS! (feel free to keep on voting (you can vote for more than one ship!); 1 full point for if you choose one ship, two half points for two separate ships, more than 2, smaller decimals. Anything that is not a full point will be italicized. This will not decide the final pairing; I already know who Victoria will end up with, I just want you all to be able to guess):

ROMANTIC:

Team Stetoria {Victoria/Stefan} (18.5): insert name here XD, sammyleann's dad, TikiKiki, Maistryia, Don't-Say-It-Feel-It, another guest, Lime, herewegoagain, K, emma, just another guest, heyyeah, Guest (3), guest4ithinklol, Guest (6), Guest (9), guest (1), theappleseed, Anaidiana, Hayden, Takinginspiration1, Serena Salvatore, Prometo, Lolita, MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime, Vogiatzis

Team Datoria {Victoria/Damon} (54.5): Sciave, Guest, ArganRose, CrystalAris, Marine76, Assenavira, CarlaPA, Guest (1), Maistryia, emma, just another guest, Freeshavacahdoh, Guest (3), Guest (4), Guest (6), sabrinaannpierson, Guest (7), Guest (8), Guest (9), guest (1), hfgfgfrdr, lillen20, Yolo, theappleseed, Guest (10), Juko, Bulma, Ellay, V, Ghest, charlievini, Guest (13), Guest (14), Guest (15), TrembleB4DietCoke, dhariti, Hayden, Guest (17), Elyse1821, Dannn, Yukihino-Sama, Dede, 4day, jazica, Guest (20), Unnisa, MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime, Tik, 00esoteric00, Hariana Halone, jenniferchase2402, Guest (23), garbolaughs39, Angel, Guest (24), bubbieluv21, MayMayMay, Guest (25), Ali, okuhleqotyiwe, MiaSlytherin

Team Vilijah {Victoria/Elijah} (52): guest, Guest, SoraLover987142, insert name here XD, sammyleann, Orange keys 25, LoyalElijahFangirl, Hinata Megumi, A. G Herz, Aryabloodlust, ferallahey, AngelColdHeart, BlueDragibus, dreamwalkerlisa, Guest, Stachelbeere, Guest (1), jocillyria, Guest (2), BookwormStrawberry, Ieviheichu, Teghan-Potter1370, karenc0r, Hachiko33200, Guest (11), Anaidiana, Dalia2009, wolfcorgi, Nia, Rory, Teghan-Potter1370, Guest (12), Shiro7, alessandra92, Guest (16), Guest (18), Karina, Serena Salvatore, xrysatsan, Lolita, jazica, Guest (19), MoonlightMiracle-SakurianaHime, TheLadyO, jjaejjae, Guest (21), Guest (22), NovemberSagittarius, RandomRivers, Frida Claire, Muskan Jain, sabrinachalamet, alexaguamenti, bubbieluv21, Chestney, exsailor1999

Team Klatoria {Victoria/Klaus} (6): Tayla141, TikiKiki, Guest (9), Mythology216 the Beard King, thisIsNotATest, Guest (10), Tris Hart

Team Koltoria {Victoria/Kol} (2.5): DreamerPop, MelissaMorningstar, Guest (11)

Team Vinn {Victoria/Finn} (1): silentmayhem

Team Vioble {Victoria/Noble} (2.5): Shiro7, Child of Dreams, Goodboiii

New Followers!: jorgejonathanrs, aimz88, Sadfluff, SunshineSupersAndSpace, scribbleddaydreams, PoisonedApples96

New Favoriters!: jorgejonathanrs, aimz88, Jewel1832

Onto reviews!:

Child of Dreams: Kelly will never pull a Sheila Bennett on Tori, so you don't ever have to worry about that! Gosh! A 4th read-thru? That's impressive. As for the dowry, I'm being a little AU about that cuz I can. I feel like dowries realistically are more affiliated with the Middle East and India, but I think any family can do it, it's just up to them, and I feel like the Vanacores are Big!Money so they would do it too. Yeah, it is supposed to be "compelled", hence the reason why I really need to take a break and hardcore edit. It was actually Stuart Martin that I was using for his voice, cuz it is just beautiful. He plays Detective Inspector William "Duke" Wellington in Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

Elyse1821: Hey! Thanks for checking in on me. I really appreciated it! It wasn't the dress that caused the hallucination but the dress did have something to do with the whole situation. Oh my gosh! How has your job been going? You've probably started grad school by now too XD. I never promised a Datoria kiss! I literally went back and double-checked cuz I didn't want to have promised something wrong. But no Datoria kiss...for now ;p.

DBZFAN45: The Salvatore boys seem to look at Victoria like she's a meal quite often. I love teasing y'all. You make it so easy. I can't imagine what Victoria would have turned out like if she was raised by Carol Lockwood. Is definitely an interesting thing to think about.

xrysatsan: Thank you! Fun fact: I've never written sexual tension before this story so this is all new to me, so I'm glad I'm doing a good job!

KEZZ 1: Thank you! Sorry it took so long! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

okuhleqotyiwe: I put a vote down for you for Team Datoria. I hope you aren't upset at me for this chapter. This story honestly is like just the redemption story for Damon Salvatore. It didn't start that way, but it definitely is going that way. I can't reveal too much about potential Stefan/Victoria things but I can say that nobody is out of the Shipping Wars just yet...so yeah XD.

exsailor1999: Your vote has been added! And all fair points. I can say that Finn does get a HEA...and gets put out of his misery. Though not in that order necessarily.

MiaSlytherin: I counted that as a vote for you. Lemme know if that's wrong. Thank you!

SorayukiChinatsu: Awww thank you! That's really sweet. If you are still feeling the Stetoria vibes, you can vote for both Team Stetoria and Team Vilijah. Just lemme know!

kimchi759: Yeah, Vicki is supposed to be Matt's older sister, but I watched the episode and then wrote the chapters and she acted so much like his younger sister that I just decided to change canon for this story to make things work better.

AuroraAstera: I have no idea if you'll even get this far, but lemme just say: Victoria and Kelly's names were really just a coincidence. It was never intended as such, and I was an idiot and didn't realize that Vicki was short for Victoria. However, I did justify it within my story, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. To me, Victoria is an uncommon name that I haven't seen in stories, so that's why I used it (Kelly too). It's too late to change it and I have no desire to change it. Victoria's an idiot because she's human. She is not going to remember everything, she is going to mess up, because she's not perfect. I like OCs that are flawed, and she definitely is. I respect your opinions on Kelly being in the story too much, but I have had more comments saying that the people want to see Kelly more, so majority rules. As for Kelly saying Jenna Sommers, some people just really like saying full names of their friends (some of my friends greet me by saying my full name; it's just the way some things happen).

Oh gosh, I'm tired. I think I'm going to take a nap after this. Or play The Sims 4. One of the two. Maybe both. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and if not, oh well?

Until next time,

Stay healthy and stay safe!

Love you guys and see you again in a few weeks!

BecomingFearless1F