Warning: PTSD, mature language, suicidal thoughts (theoretically, but it's only for one little paragraph in the 2nd Victoria POV)
Please read at your own discretion.
Welcome to Season 2!
The Return - Part 1
Victoria
Victoria twirled around in a circle, feeling light, airy, and safe. The venue was beautiful, a lovely courtyard decorated in gold decals and sparkles. The ballgown she was wearing was gorgeous, decked out in the finest red crystals with dark gold details that made her skin just hum. The dress had a full circle skirt, which made every movement she did swishy (she loved herself a good swishy skirt), and a Queen Anne neckline, which made her long neck pop. Her hair was thrown up into a messy, but stylish updo and Victoria laughed at the pure joy that bubbled up from underneath her.
Her dance partner chuckled, spinning her back into his arms. The man in question ducked his head down, gently brushing his nose against Victoria's. "Have I told you recently how ravishing you are in that dress, my love?"
"Not in the last five minutes, you haven't," Victoria teased, popping up on her tiptoes to give her partner a quick kiss on the lips.
Her partner's brown eyes sparkled from behind his black domino mask and he growled in a sultry voice, "You look ravishing."
Goosebumps tickled Victoria's arms as she threaded herself into her partner's arms, enjoying the way he held her tightly against his body. "You don't look too bad yourself." And it was true; he wore a tailored suit that was black with a blood red tie that matched Victoria's dress. He was always conscious of fashion like that.
"From you, my love, it is one of the highest compliments," he murmured under his breath, his hands gravitating around her torso. His hands started up at her shoulders before moving south, brushing the sides of her chest, then her waist, before stopping at her lower back, just a hair's breadth from her ass.
He moved them around the dance floor with expert skill, keeping them pressed up against each other with every step. The music that played in the background soared through the air and Victoria shivered.
"This is perfect," she whispered, and given how close she and her partner were, their lips brushed up against each other with every word spoken. "I want to live in this moment forever."
Her partner's grip tightened and Victoria could just moan with how delicious it felt down in her core. "Then why don't we? We are the masters of our own fate, my love, and you are the Immortalis. Anything you want, you can create. Live in this moment forever."
"But what about -"
"- Choose to stay," he whispered, moving forward that inch to kiss her again. "Choose to be happy." He pressed another kiss to her and one of his hands drifted up to grip the back of her neck. "Choose me."
"Yes," Victoria moaned and she grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him tighter to her. She connected their lips and it felt right. "Yes, I will."
Complete.
She was happy.
Truly, genuinely happy.
"I'll choose -"
"- TORI!"
Victoria's head snapped away from her partner's and her eyes immediately locked onto the entrance of their little courtyard escape. There shouldn't have been anyone else. Victoria remembered distinctly only there being two of them...
...and yet, dressed in an identical ballgown to the one that Victoria was wearing, was Vicki.
"How are you here?" Victoria asked, dropping her hands from her partner's neck so she could turn and get a better look at Vicki. "What's the matter? What's going on?"
"You can't do this, Tori," Vicki pleaded, and Victoria was hit with how sad and worried Vicki sounded. But she sounded firm too. Like, she may not enjoy what she was about to do, but she knew she had to do it. "You have to let it go."
"Let what go?" Victoria asked, stepping forwards towards Vicki. "What's going on? I don't understand."
"If you stay here, you are going to die," Vicki explained, rushing towards Victoria. Victoria met her halfway and Vicki reached forward and grabbed Victoria's forearms, keeping her in place. Victoria frowned at the connection and tried to gently tug her arms away, but Vicki's grip kept them in place. "You need to let it go. All of it. This fantasy you have cooking in your head. This place, this happiness. You need to let him go -"
"- No -"
"- Tori, please, you are dying! -"
"- I'm not going to leave him!" Victoria argued, tugging once more to get her forearms free, though this time with more strength. Vicki had a rather impressive grip, though, and kept Victoria from leaving. "I just found him. I-I can't do it. Don't ask me to do it!"
"Tori, Noble is dead!" Vicki shouted, tears springing to her eyes. "Noble is dead and you can't bring him back. You need to let him go or you will die!"
"She is right, my love."
Victoria flipped around, facing her dance partner once more, and she let out a cry of distress when she saw the state of him. His perfectly tailored suit was now burnt, pieces of it missing to reveal charred areas of flesh. The top of his lapel was still burning with little embers glowing right by his neck. His domino mask was askew, and parts of his face were now black from burns. His hair, the parts of it that were still on his head, was singed. His lips were dried, cracking, and bleeding. That sparkle that had been in his eyes during their dance was gone and that was like a punch to the gut.
"N-Noble," Victoria croaked, tears rushing to her eyes. She moved to stagger towards him, but Vicki suddenly wrapped her arms around Victoria's torso, keeping her cemented in place. "I-I didn't know -"
"- This is not your fault, my love," Noble rasped, and even his voice sounded like he had inhaled every inch of smoke that had ever been produced. He took a step forward and flinched, as if moving hurt him. "I knew the risks."
"I-I can save you," Victoria stammered, her hands starting to fidget. "I-I'm the Immortalis; I'm supposed to save people, r-right -?"
"- My love, you can't save everyone," Noble whispered, shaking his head. "It is foolish to believe otherwise. You need to let me go."
"I-I can't do that," Victoria whimpered, getting hit with deja vu as previous words she had spoken into existence came from her lips again. "Don't ask me to do that. Don't you dare ask me to do that."
"I wouldn't ask it if we had any other choice," Noble murmured.
"I-I can keep this up!" Victoria pleaded, gesturing wildly to the perfect paradise she had created. "I know I can. I-I can't kill you. Please, don't make me do it. Not you. I-I can't. I can't kill you."
"I am already dead," Noble replied and Victoria let out a wail as those four words started a fire. Literally. The courtyard was up in flames in the blink of an eye, the fires licking at the heels of Noble's feet. Vicki tugged harder at Victoria's waist, but Victoria couldn't tear her gaze away from him. "You are the best thing to ever happen to me, Victoria LeBlanc -"
"- Shut up -"
"- I will treasure the time that we've spent together -"
"- Make it stop; I don't want hear this again. No -"
"- You meant everything to me -"
"- Noble, stop it!" Victoria sobbed.
"Victoria Khalida LeBlanc," Noble whispered just as the flames caught his trousers on fire. He barely managed to whisper, "I love you."
And then his entire body was up in flames.
And Victoria screamed.
It was cold.
And hot.
And dark.
And very cramped.
Victoria came to in a very violent manner, a scream tearing its way out of her mouth. Her cheeks felt wet and given the way her eyes stung, she knew she had been crying in her state of unconsciousness. Her body ached, but it wasn't a physical ache. It was an emotional ache.
He had been there.
Right there, in front of her.
But then he had died right in front of her eyes again.
Perished.
Died.
Gone.
Leaving her alone.
Always alone.
Victoria shifted in place, noting in the back of her mind that wherever she was, there was this sort of dampness that soaked through her skin. It was like a weighted blanket, keeping her pinned down. It was also really hard to breathe, but Victoria chalked that up to the sobs that hadn't stopped since her awakening.
There was also a rustling noise when she shifted, which was odd. She managed to have a pause in her sobs to take note of that. Her brow furrowed at the sound. It didn't sound like the rustling of a hospital bed, which she had assumed would be her destination of choice after the...incident (Victoria had unfortunately gotten well acquainted with the sound of hospital beds). She was pretty sure she hadn't died immediately afterwards, and she remembered someone picking her up and carrying her. Victoria must have died in transit, or something like that. But that sound...
It brought forth a memory that had long since been pushed to the back of Victoria's brain. The memory was of standing by and watching the local police station's medical examiners pick up Jesse's decaying body from out of the dumpster. That scene had been immediately followed by the ME's placing his body (what was left of it) inside of the body bag and zipping him up to keep all parts together.
Body bag.
She knew what a body bag smelled like.
Victoria didn't want to do it.
She didn't want to confirm a deep-seeded fear of hers.
But she had to know.
She felt her blood run cold as she took a hefty sniff and it was like all of her bodily functions froze.
It was the same smell.
Victoria reached her hands up and met resistance in the form of canvas. The feel, the texture, of the solid wall of fabric above her had previously been burned into Victoria's brain.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Victoria murmured as a panicked haze started to descend onto her.
She couldn't be back in a body bag.
Not again.
Her nightmares about the EMTs' deaths and her time spent trapped in a body bag (even for the short amount of time that she had been kept in there) had finally stopped just a month ago.
And now she was trapped again.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Victoria screamed out as her panic started to take control. Her panic told her to start punching, anything and in every direction. Her fist hit something hard, metal it seemed like, and the sudden impact against it made Victoria cry out in pain. Her hand started to throb and Victoria twitched at the sudden bursts of pain it was sending to her brain. She started to kick her legs around, flailing around this way and that. "No, no, no, no! Help! Somebody, help me! Please, I'm still alive! Somebody, get me out of here! Damon, Zach, anybody! Help me!"
"HELP ME!"
Damon
Damon rushed back to the hospital as soon as he was done with his hunting. He was ancy, wanting to get back to see Victoria and to stand guard over her as soon as possible. The hunting expedition had taken much, much longer than he had anticipated (the bucks were a little unruly this time of year, oddly enough), and then he had had to stop by the boarding house to get changed (because the bucks were little bitches who just couldn't keep freaking still while he was trying to kill them). Since he was already there, he had ducked in to see how Harper and Ms. Gibbons were doing, given the disaster that was yesterday (they were doing well, for anyone that was wondering).
Again, that all being said, he was very anxious to return to Victoria's bedside.
So to say that he was surprised to find Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes standing at the hospital's front desk when he arrived in the hospital's lobby would be an understatement. He really hadn't expected to see her. Her hands were fidgeting and her whole body was radiating tension. She had her phone opened in one hand and had started to punch in a number when Damon walked in. At the sound of the hospital doors opening, Liz's head shot up automatically to clock the new guest. She relaxed at the sight of Damon and let out a sigh of relief. "Damon, I was just about to call you."
"What's going on, Liz?" Damon couldn't help but ask, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like you to choose the hospital as your time-off spot." A sudden thought popped into the back of his head and he added, "And if it's about Victoria, I know already."
"Victoria?" Liz echoed, her eyes widening in shock. "What's wrong with Victoria?"
Welp.
He certainly walked himself right into that one.
"So you weren't about to call me to tell me about Victoria?" Damon asked to clarify the hole he was going to have to drag himself (and subsequently, Victoria) out of.
"No, no, no," Liz said, shaking her head. "What happened to Victoria?"
Time for my lying skills to come into play. "Victoria got hurt. Burned, actually. Kelly said that she and Jenna had sent her to Grayson Gilbert's clinic after the parade yesterday to pick up some files for them. I didn't know. She was there when the building caught fire, I guess, in a back room that nobody checked out. She was on the outskirts when it came down, and Zach was the one to get her from the rubble. She survived, thank goodness, but she's here in the hospital getting checked out," Damon explained.
Liz looked ready to pass out and she stumbled back until she was holding herself up with the hospital's front desk. "T-That's horrible."
"Why were you calling, Liz?" Damon asked, redirecting the conversation back to the reason behind Liz's almost call. "If it's not Victoria, then...?"
"C-Caroline's in surgery."
Damon froze, shock filling every bone in his body.
Caroline Forbes.
In surgery.
"What?" was the only word that came from his throat, a mix between a low, sultry hiss and a growl. "What happened?"
Liz didn't seemed faze by the sudden mood swing in Damon and began to explain in a shaky tone, "S-She was driving herself, Matt Donovan, and Tyler Lockwood back to Tyler's house when, according to Matt, Tyler started to flip out. Matt said that Tyler insisted he was hearing something loud and painful and he just lashed out. His actions caused Caroline to crash. Everyone seemed fine at the scene, Tyler was the worst case, so Matt had turned his attention away from Caroline and to him. But he said the moment that he looked back, her body was just...giving up. They brought her here immediately. The doctors said that they're doing everything that they can. I-I..." Liz's voice cracked and she paused to swallow heavily. "I just need your help, Damon."
"Sure, anything, Liz," Damon agreed immediately, nodding his head.
"Mayor Lockwood is here too, at the hospital," Liz said hurriedly, as if this was new information to Damon (Damon had been the one to grab the mayor and drag his sorry ass to the hospital, after doing a quick blood check to see if he had any vervain on or in him, which he didn't, and then compelling his subconscious to forget everyone who was in that basement). "They thought he was a vampire. They put him in the basement."
Damon's brow furrowed in confusion and he was already shaking his head. "Mayor Lockwood is a vampire?"
"No, no," Liz continued, shaking her head. "A mistake was made, I'm sure. The deputies said he dropped like the others when John's device went off but he..." Liz trailed off, then regained the strength and continued, "He can't be a vampire. I've known the man my whole life and now Carol Lockwood is going to want answers on who attacked her husband and all I can think of right now is that my baby and her best friend are in the hospital and -"
Liz broke off into sobs, unable to keep her composure any longer. Damon moved quick and pulled the Sheriff into his arms, wrapping her up tight and resting his chin against the top of her head. The Sheriff leaned into his embrace, eager to soak up the comfort that Damon was offering out to her. He let her cry for a few moments and just held her, letting himself be the comfort figure that Liz never seemed to truly have.
After the few moments ended, Damon whispered, "You handle Carol Lockwood. I'll go and find Caroline and take care of her. You have my word on that, okay?"
"I-I can't just leave my baby here alone -"
"- She won't be alone, Liz," Damon swore, taking a step back and clapping both of his hands on both of her shoulders. "You know that all of her friends are going to be on her like a hawk. Bonnie, Matt, Elena. Hell, even Lee will probably make an appearance and stand at the foot of her bed like a little guard dog."
"Lee," Liz sniffed, bringing up a hand to hastily wipe some tears from her face. "T-That's the guy who danced with her at the pageant, right?"
"When Matt couldn't show up? Yeah," Damon confirmed. "He's my younger brother's best friend's boyfriend, and don't ever tell him what I'm about to say to you, but he's honestly on the best guys I have ever met. He'll keep her safe, I promise."
That seemed to satiate Liz. "O-Okay. I-I'll go to Carol. Keep the girls safe?"
"With my life," Damon swore once more, though he did add in his mind, and my undead life. "Where's the surgery taking place right now?"
Liz rattled off a floor and room number and Damon left the Sheriff, not wanting to waste anymore time. Time was of the essence as it was. As soon as he was out of view, he used his vampiric speed and sped up the nearest staircase to the correct level, walking at a human job from then on to get to the correct room number. He knew he had reached the right place when he saw Bonnie and Elena standing together in the hallway.
He caught the tail end of Elena's sentence as he approached, "Is there something that you can do? Like a spell or something?"
"She doesn't know how," Damon interjected, casting a cool gaze onto Bonnie. He didn't know which witch betrayed them all just yet, but he wouldn't be surprised if the so-called witch was Bonnie. Kelly just didn't seem like the kind of mother to betray her only daughter's closest friends.
"No, I don't," Bonnie lamented, shaking her head.
"No, you don't, because it took Emily years to learn a spell like that," Damon chastised. Ambitious, young, and naïve witches were some of his least favorite kinds of witches to deal with.
"Well, I can take down a vampire," Bonnie retorted, not enjoying his sarcasm directed towards her. "That spell was easy to learn."
"There's a difference between offensive spells and healing spells," Damon snapped. "Point and shoot versus stitch somebody back together." He turned towards Elena, needing to put a pin the conversation he was having with Bonnie for the moment. "I can give Caroline some blood."
"No," Elena immediately disagreed, her head shaking back and forth so fast that it seemed like it was attached to a swivel. "No way."
"Just enough to heal her," Damon clarified, holding up a finger to silence Elena. "She'll be safe in the hospital and it will be out of her system in a day, and you can even ask Lee to come up and be her bodyguard during that time. She will be better, Elena. Isn't that what you want?"
"It's too risky!" Elena argued. "I can't agree to that!"
"Any more risky than one of you drinking blood to heal up?" Damon growled. Where was all of this 'no vampire blood' animosity coming from all of a sudden? "Caroline's just as deep into this mess as we all are, and I will be damned before I let her die -"
"- Do it."
Bonnie sounded so resolute that Damon snuck a glance back at the little Bennett witch. Her gaze was set and determined and she looked firm in her decision. She angled herself towards Elena and, noting the expression of disbelief on her best friend's face, insisted, "This is Caroline. We can't let her die." To Damon, she repeated, "Do it."
"Before I do this, I need to know if you were the one to reactivate the watch," Damon ordered.
Bonnie stood up straighter and Damon had to note that her heart never missed a single beat, nor did it increase or decrease as she stated firmly, "No, I didn't."
"Did you purposefully not take away the powers in the first place?"
"No, I didn't."
Still no change.
It seemed like Bonnie was telling the truth.
"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" Damon asked finally. He knew that Victoria didn't like it when her friends fought with each other. She played an excellent mediator, but it was exhausting and it took a toll on her, Damon knew.
"No," Bonnie shot back, and Damon just let out an agitated sigh. "But you'll heal Caroline anyways. For her, for yourself, and for Tori."
With that, Bonnie flipped around and stalked off, shouting over her shoulder, "I'm going to go check in on Tori!"
"Tell Pearl to send me an update text!" Damon called out, but Bonnie just ignored him. He sighed, but he let the little witch go on her way. What he really wanted to do was insist that Bonnie deliver his blood to Caroline so he could go and check in on his Mama Bear. He had had already been gone for much longer than he had originally wanted to.
"So, you got a cup or something for me to fill up?" Damon sighed, turning his head around to ask Elena.
The girl was lost in thought, gazing down at the floor while also biting her lip. It gave Elena an innocent, yet thoughtful aura. It was similar to how Victoria used to rub her wrists when she got nervous or anxious (his Mama Bear still did that on occasion, but it was rarer now). Damon took a step towards Elena and poked his finger straight into the center of her forehead.
Elena rocked back, shocked by the sudden impact, and turned her head up to glare at Damon. "What was that for?"
"You've got a concentration face on, McJudgey," Damon commented, his face pinching. He folded up his arms across his chest. "Nothing good happens when you have that concentration face; it usually ends up with Mama Bear's death, so spill: what's got your britches in a twist?"
Elena took a deep breath and then let it all out in one fell swoop. "Last night, one of the tomb vampires got into the house and almost killed John."
"What?" Damon demanded, his arms falling to his sides in shock. "When? What are you talking about?"
"It was right after I got me and Jeremy home. He went upstairs and I went for a walk down the block to clear my mind of today's - or maybe it's even yesterday's by now - crazy events and call Stefan, just to check in on him. When I got back, John was missing a few fingers and he was stabbed in the shoulder and the gut."
"Damn," Damon breathed, letting out a low whistle. "I mean, who doesn't have a personal vendetta against the man, but still..."
"Yeah, Father of the Year award, huh?" Elena grunted, shaking her head. "Try and kill my vampire boyfriend and then bleed out in my kitchen while I'm a walk."
Damon coughed and held up his finger again. "Excuse me, I think my brain just short-circuited. Did you say that John Gilbert was your father?" He had had his suspicions, but never something concrete.
"As confirmed by him when me and Stefan confronted him outside of my adopted dad's burning building," Elena explained, wrapping her arms around her middle in a makeshift version of comfort. "It was awful. Just to hear all that confirmation on suspicions that plagued my mind. I mean, it was freeing in one way because now I know that any father figure I could potentially have in the future can only go uphill, but it really sucks to find out that your bio dad's a douche."
"Join the Daddy Issues club, champ," Damon snorted, reaching forward to gently slug Elena's shoulder. That got a tentative smile out of her. "Now, I'm serious: you got a cup or something that I can use? We either get Caroline to drink it or you're gonna have to smuggle me a syringe and we can just inject it directly -"
"- DAMON!"
Damon's ears perked up instantly at the frantic cry that sounded too much like Bonnie Bennett's voice. He flipped around and spotted the dark-skinned teenager sprinting down the hallway that she had just seemingly left, her eyes wide and her heartbeat frantic.
She barreled straight into Damon, and if he hadn't been a vampire, the two of them would've gone sprawling onto the floor from her speed. He caught her, though barely, with a verbal 'oomph' and he had to clamp his hands down on either side of her arms in order to get her to stop running. "Easy on the goods there, little witch. What seems to be the issue now?"
"I can't find Victoria!" Bonnie panted, out of breath. Just how long had she been running for? Damon swore that as soon as Caroline was back on her feet, he was going to round up all the humans in their little posse and put them through Vampire Boot Camp. Anything if it meant that they could all gain just a little freaking stamina...
"Her room number is 814," Damon sighed, waving his hand around.
Bonnie surprised him by reaching up with her newly freed arm and grabbing his wrist. Damon couldn't help but be startled by the sudden contact. Bonnie didn't do physical contact with supernaturals, and she had made it pretty clear that she didn't want anything to do with him.
And she was making willing contact.
Again.
It was odd.
"No, Damon, I found the right room, but she's not in it," Bonnie stated, finally able to catch her breath. "I asked everyone around that I could find on the floor. Every doctor, nurse, IT, and hell, even the janitors, insist that Victoria LeBlanc hasn't been admitted into the hospital within the last twenty-four hours!"
"I just saw her," Damon protested, shaking his head in disbelief. "It's been maybe two hours. Maybe three. She was in her room and Pearl had taken a shift to guard her. It's not like she could just get up and walk out; she had a building fall on her!"
"That's what I thought," Bonnie explained and her hands started to move frantically as she talked. That also included the hand that was currently clamped around his wrist, so his hand started to move with hers as she continued, "So I tried looking for any of her personal belongings, something I could use to try and do a spell to track her down, in case she was running around frantic like the day she woke up from her second coma, right?" Damon nodded, playing along with Bonnie's little line of thought. "I couldn't find the belongings anywhere! When I called Zach about Amber earlier today -"
"- What happened to Amber?" Damon just groaned. Everyone was dropping like flies, seriously.
"She connected with all the vampires in the square emotionally and almost died because of it," Bonnie added in a rush, before shaking her head. "She's fine, I think. I left her with Ms. Gibbons and Harper," Odd, Damon hummed, his eyes narrowing slightly. I don't remember spotting the Empath there. Must not have been looking for her, "but back on track! When I called Zach about Amber earlier today, or it could've been last night, he was giving me the lowdown on Tori and told me where he put all of the clothes Lexi had grabbed from her house in case she woke up when he wasn't there, so we could help her help get changed. There's no clothes where he said there would be, Damon. Nothing. Not a cellphone, not an anklet or necklace, nothing!"
"Do you think one of the tomb vampires did this? Somebody that the council may have missed?" Damon questioned, his mind whirling. "Hospital's a public place that doesn't require an invitation to get into."
Elena interjected, taking a few steps so she came into both Bonnie and Damon's line of sight, "Bon, did the room have any blood?"
"Blood?"
"Yeah, like were there any blood splatters on the floor or on the bed or anything?"
Bonnie's brow furrowed for a moment as she recalled the memory, and then she shook her head. "N-No. No, there wasn't anything."
"It couldn't have been a tomb vampire then," Damon concluded, catching onto McJudgey's drift. "Most of them weren't there when one of their own took a little sip of Victoria's blood. They wouldn't know the side effects that came with drinking an Immortalis' blood; she already smells tasty, so they would be too tempted to take a quick bite before kidnapping. I know how vampires feed; even Lexi isn't a proper feeder. And if Lexi can't be a proper feeder after all these years, then there is no way that a tomb vampire could feed from Victoria so perfectly."
"And there's no body anywhere random," Elena added in.
"Okay, cross tomb vampire off of the list. John Gilbert, crossed off of the list -"
"- Since when was John ever on the list? -"
"- Don't interrupt me now, Bon-Bon, I'm on a roll. So no tomb vampies and no Johnny boy. We're running low on options here if we want to believe that a second party was involved," Damon grunted. Randomly, he asked Bonnie, "Do you have a cup?"
Bonnie blinked back in surprise and commented, "I have a water bottle. It's empty so it could work the same." She darted away from Damon to a small woven purse off to the side of the hallway. She rifled through it for a moment before producing a small water bottle that was empty. She uncapped it and tossed it to Damon, who caught it easily with one hand.
He jerked his hand forward, freeing his wrist from the sleeve of his jacket, and he brought his freed wrist up to his mouth. He bit down quick on his own wrist, ignoring the sudden flare of pain and the terrible throbbing, and he positioned the dripping wound over the mouth of the water bottle. It took much longer than he was comfortable with, and a few more bites, but he finally got the bottle filled to his desired amount. He caught the lid from Bonnie, who tossed it to him at the snap of his fingers, and then he capped it and handed the bottle off to Elena. "As soon as Caroline is out of surgery, you sneak in and feed her this. All of it, not a drop less, not a drop more, you hear me? It'll be enough to get her all healed up. After that, call our resident Southerner and have him come and babysit her."
"On it," Elena agreed.
To Bonnie, Damon snapped his fingers again. "Bon-Bon, you're with me. We're going Immortalis hunting."
Damon had just started to strut off when his phone started to ring. He growled angrily under his breath, "Seriously?" He whipped out his phone so fast it almost went flying from his fingers and clicked 'answer', not bothering to look at the caller I.D. "Whoever you are, I do not have the time."
"Damon, Katherine was here."
Damon paused and his whole face scrunched up. "Stefan? 'Here'? Where is 'here'?"
"At Elena's house. I've been here watching over Jeremy after he tried to overdose after the clinic fire."
"He tried to what?" Damon growled, his free hand clenching up into a tight fist. He let out a sharp breath and dragged that hand over his face in exasperation. "Are all the kids Mama Bear cares about just dropping like flies?"
"Not the point nor the time, Damon!" Stefan spat. "Katherine Pierce, the woman who looks identical to my girlfriend who compelled us back when we were alive? Remember her? Yeah, she showed up at Elena's house, pretending to be Elena, and I almost fell for it."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Damon sighed, shaking his head. "Pat you on the back for not falling for it? I really don't have the time for it. Missing Mama Bear to find and all -"
"- Missing?" Stefan interrupted, sounding confused. "What? Victoria's missing?"
"Focus up, Stefan!" Damon snapped. "What do you want me to do about Her Royal Bitchiness?"
"I need to talk to you, Elena, and Lexi. Maybe Zach too, but I thought he was at the hospital watching over Victoria, so I didn't want to bother him."
"But bothering me is totally acceptable," Damon grunted. "And I haven't seen Zach since I left for my hunting trip, which was hours ago. Pearl was supposed to be watching Victoria, but now she's missing too." He sighed. "Okay. You have five minutes of my time. That's it."
Damon hung up on Stefan and raced back to Elena, grabbing the blood bottle from Elena. "Change of plans." He tossed the bottle to Bonnie, who barely caught it after a few fumbles. "McJudgey, you're with me. Your lookalike made a surprise appearance at your house just now."
"Katherine?" Elena gasped, her eyes widening in distress. "She's here? In Mystic Falls?"
"Apparently," Damon sniffed. "Bon-Bon, give that to Blondie. I'll call Lee on the way out and once you're done, find one of the other vamps and go hunting for Victoria. I'll join when I can. Call me with updates."
"O-Okay."
"C'mon, McJudgey. I'm in a bad mood and there's no need to make that stronger."
Victoria
She had stopped screaming.
There really wasn't any point now.
No one would hear her.
No one could hear her.
She was just alone.
Alone.
Alone.
Always alone.
No one would find her.
No one could find her.
She was abandoned.
Lost.
A ship left to drift off out at sea.
There were actual times when Victoria wasn't positive she was still breathing. Part of her imagined that if she held her breath long enough, long enough to suffocate herself, that she would die and wake up and everything would be back to normal. She'd be in a hospital bed, yes, but she'd have Zach, Damon, Caroline, and her mom all by her side.
Caroline.
Caroline.
Holy shit.
Caroline.
Was she okay?
Had they all gotten into that car accident, like the canon had wanted them to?
Was Matt okay?
Was Tyler okay?
Was Caroline okay?
She needed to find out.
She needed to find out now.
Victoria couldn't just magic her way out of the bag. She had tried that near the start of her time in the...bag. The dampness that had soaked her body, in addition to the already building sweat (fun fact: it was freaking hot in a body bag), had the distinct scent of wyrmwood and it gave her body the tingles like wyrmwood did. That had meant that any and all gifts by the Immortalis were useless: enhanced abilities, her magic, and hell, even Mind Vicki, would be gone until she washed all the gunk off of her.
She already knew it would be pointless to try anything else...
Except...
Maybe...
Just maybe...
Her blood.
Of course.
"Nobody puts Baby in the fucking corner," Victoria couldn't help but hiss out darkly. She reached her hand up and towards her mouth and took a deep breath before releasing it out harshly. "I-It can't be that bad...right?"
She didn't leave herself time to second guess that statement.
Victoria bit down hard as hard as she could on her wrist and she definitely drew blood. She also drew out a long string of curse words from her mouth as she yanked her wrist back away from his face, crying out in a loud gasp, "Shit, shit, shit! Okay! Never doing that again. Uh-uh. Nope. Never again."
Victoria tentatively dabbed at her gaping wrist wound with her other hand, wincing as her touch burned the open wound. "Yeah, that's gonna be a bitch to try and fix." She rubbed the blood that she had collected onto both of her hands. She curled both of her hands into fists and shifted down on her back a little so she would have space to try and punch up at the metal directly behind her head. She had seen enough episodes of Castle with Caroline that she knew if she was in a medical examiner's office, the thin cover that closed the slot would be just behind her head.
She closed her eyes for just a moment, to center herself as best as she could.
I will get out of here.
I will get out of here.
Get out of here.
Get out of here.
GET OUT OF HERE.
Victoria's eyes flashed open and she let out a primal scream as she started to punch her fist at the metal by her head. Her fist immediately ripped through the canvas material of the...bag. Over and over again, she started to slam her fist into the metal door. Even when her fist started to ache and started to bleed, Victoria just switched to her other one (the one with the gaping wound). And when that one started to hurt too much? She changed fists again. It hurt and it stung, but Victoria relished the pain. The physical pain in her body didn't compare at all to the emotional pain in her heart.
The loss of Noble...
She didn't know if the Immortalis could die permanently from a broken heart, but given how she was feeling, it seemed possible.
Noble.
He was gone now.
Her mind couldn't really wrap around it.
He was gone.
Gone.
Gone.
Gone.
She was alone.
All alone.
Always alone.
Alone.
Alone.
Alone.
ALONE.
GONE.
HE WAS GONE.
NOBLE WAS GONE.
HE WAS DEAD.
Victoria let out another heartbroken scream as she threw as much power as she could in the final swing of her fist. The power behind her fist was enough for the metal to snap off of its hinges and Victoria could hear it go shooting off into the room behind.
She could also hear the sudden cursing of a person's voice echo throughout the spacious room.
"I so did not sign up to deal with a fucking zombie apocalypse!"
Victoria's thoughts stopped spiraling in that single moment.
Was that...?
It couldn't be...
...could it?
"E-Elena?" Victoria rasped, her eyes blinking back tears. Several coughs tore from her throat as her vocal cords strongly detested their own usage. She ignored that pain and raised her voice higher, trying to be as loud as she could. "Elena?"
"Ria?" she heard her friend reply in shock. "Is that you?"
Victoria stuck one of her free hands out, slipping it through the hole in the body bag and out into the newly freed room. "Elena! I'm in here! Help me, please!" Tears anew started to stream down her cheeks at the thought of being left in the...bag...for any longer.
She only wanted to be free.
There was a loud series of clicking noises (sounding like high heels from boots) as someone approached her and she felt a warm hand wrap itself around her own hand. Victoria wanted to sink into that warmth. It felt so good against her skin. "Ria, please tell me that this is your hand I am currently and not some dead person's."
"I-It's me!" Victoria croaked. "Elena, get me out of here, please!"
"I'm coming, Baby Bear," Elena promised and Elena's hand left Victoria's. Victoria's tears came down with renewed purpose now and she felt her hand start to shake. "Just give me a second, okay, Ria? I don't know how I'm supposed to drag this weird table thing out."
Victoria sniffled, but tried to comply. Tried to keep her panic and terror down.
It wasn't easy.
Victoria heard the sound of metal scraping metal, and it sounded like it came from below her. A moment later, she was moving backwards and she let out a startled gasp at the sudden movement. She did her best not to wiggle, not wanting to go face-planting down onto the floor, but it was hard. All she wanted to do was move and then...
...and then there was light.
Victoria's tears started back up once more, her shoulders heaving as the glowing image of Elena Gilbert appeared above her. The teenager pulled the zipper of the...bag...down and away, not stopping until the entire thing was unzipped. It was only then that Victoria's body went into automatic panic mode. Victoria basically threw herself off of the tray, collapsing hard onto the tile floor and crying out when her fall bent her wrist at a bad angle.
Elena was back at her side in the blink of an eye and she pulled Victoria up and into her arms. The teenager's arms wrapped themselves around Victoria's torso like a vice and Victoria's arms, more or less, attached themselves around Elena's neck. Victoria started to sob into Elena's shoulder as her friend hummed softly, rocking the two of them back and forth in a very maternal, comforting manner. One of Elena's free hands went up and cradled the back of Victoria's skull and Victoria felt like such a child, being cradled by her mom.
She wasn't upset about that.
"I got you, Ria. I got you," Elena hummed, squeezing Victoria as tightly as she dared. "I got you. You're safe now."
"I-It was so dark!" Victoria sobbed, clinging to her friend. "It was dark and I-I couldn't move and i-it was just like when I d-died all over again!"
"I know, Baby Bear, I know," Elena cooed in a soothing tone. "But listen, you go out of there, yeah? You did it. You made it. Everything's going to be okay now."
"H-He's dead, Elena. He died and I-I couldn't save him -"
"- I know, Ria. And I am so sorry," Elena shushed gently. She pulled back (forcing Victoria to pull back from the hug too, although the adult-turned-teen did it much more reluctantly) and Elena's hands popped up to her face, cradling it softly. "Do you want a shower?"
"Yes," Victoria cried, nodding her head. "Of course, yes. I-It was lined with wyrmwood. I-I couldn't use any of my powers until I pulled a vampire move."
Elena's eyes snapped down to Victoria's gaping wrist wound and she let out a gasp, before giving Victoria a very stern Gilbert look. "Victoria Khalida LeBlanc! You bit your wrist?"
"I-I needed the blood," Victoria sniffed, suddenly feeling very lightheaded. She bobbed in her spot a little and Elena's hand snapped up to Victoria's forehead.
The sudden warmth caused Victoria to sink into Elena's touch and Elena's eyes narrowed with worry. "Damn it, Ria, you have a fever. Okay, we need to get you back to a safe spot. Who has the closest house to the hospital?"
"L-Lexi and Lee, I think," Victoria murmured. Was it just her or were her limbs feeling much heavier than before? "I-Is the room spinning for you?"
"Shit," Elena cursed before she stated firmly, gripping Victoria's head so she was looking directly into her friend's eyes. "Ria, just go to sleep. I'll take care of us."
"O-Okay," Victoria whispered before promptly passing out.
When Victoria woke up again, she noticed a couple of things.
Number One: Screw emotional pain, she was in physical pain. A lot of it. Her body was aching and it felt like every blink of her eyelids was like a shotgun being fired off in her brain (she had never been shot in the head before; she hoped she never was). She couldn't move, couldn't think, could barely breathe, without some sort of pain wrecking her body.
Number Two: She was out of the hospital gown that she had been shoved into the body bag with and was now in a white nightgown that she didn't recognize. It was, however, unbelievably soft and it caressed her skin instead of making it feel like it was falling off. The blankets that she was shoved underneath also helped with that.
Number Three: She was wet, like someone had just cleaned her off. It was crazy, how instantaneous Victoria was able to pick up conversations from far away now that the wyrmwood was washed off of her.
Number Four: She was in the boarding house in Damon's bed.
Weird.
She heard some murmuring coming from outside of her door and Victoria strained her ears to try and hear whoever was talking (though she did let out a feeble whimper at the sudden spike of pain in her head that that action caused).
"Elena, is that you?"
"I found her, Bonnie."
"What? You found Victoria?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Is she okay?"
"As okay as you would be after waking up in a body bag," Elena snorted, and Victoria could just picture the teen rolling her eyes. "I have no idea how long she was in there, but it was enough time that she's not hurt at all from being underneath a collapsed building and she's feverish."
"Shit. Well, is she good enough to speak on the phone? Damon's running around like a mad man. After you guys split up at your house, he's been like a jungle cat just trying to hunt her down."
"I can check in on her, but Bon, the entire bag was covered with wyrmwood," Elena spoke. "I had Ms. Gibbons wash off the leftover wyrmwood that got left on her, so once she wakes up, she's going to be in a lot of pain. Can you make Damon behave enough to not hurt her?"
"Damon would never hurt Tori, Elena. You know this."
"Maybe not willing, but he's a guy, Bonnie. They all mess up at one time or another."
"Harsh much?" Victoria murmured to herself, and she winced at the way her words pulled at her dry and cracking lips.
"Hang on, Bon. I think Victoria just woke up. Go grab Damon and remember, tell him to behave. I don't want to hear any phone sex, even from the other room."
"Ew. Gross, Elena."
"You don't wanna hear it either, so I'm not wrong here."
Elena didn't knock at the door, to which Victoria was grateful for. It was bad enough Elena just entering the room. The squeaking of the hinges caused Victoria to whimper in distress and she slammed her eyes shut, hoping that canceling out one part of her senses would help ease the achiness in her head.
She felt the bed create a divot to her right and then a cold hand touched her forehead. Victoria whined at the contact before the hand jolted itself away, with a soft murmur of "Sorry, Ria" coming from Elena. Victoria heard some rustling from her pillows and then...
...then came his voice.
"Mama Bear?"
Victoria choked back a sob as she curled herself up tighter underneath the comforters that anchored her down to the bed. She pulled herself as close to the voice as she could, even though she knew it was coming from a phone. "D-Damon?"
"Hey there, Baby."
"Y-You're okay?"
"Yeah, Baby, I'm okay. I heard you're not doing well right now. Bonnie filled me in and I'm leaving the hospital now. I'll be there as soon as I can, okay?"
"O-Okay."
"How bad is it, Baby?"
"I-It hurts, Damon," Victoria whimpered, wanting to shake her head but knowing how much it will cause her aching head to pound. Her body felt like it was on the verge of convulsing, but reasoning told her that was just the chills racing down her spine. "I-I'm not okay and I don't think I-I will be okay for a r-really long time and I-I just want it to stop. M-Make it stop, please."
"I'm coming, Baby. I just need you to hold on a little longer and I'll be right there for you," Damon promised, to which Victoria made a sad and hurt, but affirmative, noise. "Okay. You have Harper and Ms. Gibbons there, right? And Elena, yeah?"
"Y-Yeah."
"Okay. They'll take care of you, Baby. You know them. They'll keep you safe."
"I-I was in a body bag, Damon," Victoria cried. She was just so tired and everything hurt and she just wanted it to stop. "I-I was in a body bag for hours and I-I couldn't get out and everything was hurting and I-I'm just so tired, Damon. I'm just s-so freaking tired."
"Shit. I'm sorry, Baby. I don't know how that happened, but give the word, and I will rip out anybody and everybody's heart that had something to do with it."
"I-I just want to sleep," Victoria sniffed, letting out a moan as she shivered. "I-I just want to feel better."
"I know, Baby, I know," Damon cooed, and she could hear him yelling to Bonnie on the other side, "Bonnie, call Kelly and tell her to meet us at the boarding house now!" To Victoria, he added, "We're gonna be there soon. Really soon."
"I-I miss you," Victoria whispered, swallowing heavily.
"I miss you too, Baby," Damon whispered back.
"Okay," Elena snapped and Victoria's eyes shot open as soon as she heard Elena snatch up the phone. Victoria's brow furrowed in confusion as she watched Elena stand at the edge of Damon's bed, bringing the phone in her hand that held Damon's voice up close to her lips. A smirk came to her face as she spoke to Damon. "I thought I made it clear when I said that I didn't want to hear any phone sex."
"Elena? Where's Mama Bear? What's happening?"
"Oh please," Elena sniffed, rolling her eyes. "I am not some wannabe lookalike who cries every fifteen minutes about how her life is so hard when there are people in this town who have had lives much harder. Her parents died. So what? Practically half of this town are orphans or on their way to being ones too."
Damon's next few words came out as a growl. "Katherine. If you so much as touch a single hair on Victoria's head -"
"Sorry, Damon, but your Mama Bear is currently busy now. Please leave a message at the beep." Elena then clicked 'end' on the phone, and immediately afterwards she took the phone and crushed it.
With her bare hands.
Elena let the phone remains sprinkle down to the floor and then she casted her gaze upon Victoria. A smirk returned to her lips and she commented with a raised eyebrow, "Guess the cat's out of the bag now."
A/N: I'M BAAAAAAACK!
Welcome everybody to Season 2! (cue rave noises). How's everyone's off time been? Mine has been SUPER productive and I am LOVING IT! I was able to get so many chapters finished (and by so many I just mean 3, including this one).
Y'all, we've reached over 101,000+ views on this story, which is just mind blowing. Plus, 440 Followers, 377 Favoriters, 3 Communities, and 676 reviews. Y'all are outstanding and I love each and every one of you very, very much.
Y'all better be prepared for Season 2, because we about to get angsty. There will be fluff!, but yeah, a lot of angst.
New Followers!: Usami Mandy, BIRD0FHERMES, mara41496, rtucker679, hunterofartemis126, Favakanbi, darkofthenight, AutumnCiel-K27
New Favoriters!: Usami Mandy, Kayumeee, Katt8500, mara41496, Sting3, rtucker679, tyrannenfresser, hunterofartemis126, AutumnCiel-K27
Onto reviews from the Season 1 Finale!:
KEZZ 1: Thank you!
kafo521: Thank you so much! And thank you so much for being with this story since almost the beginning. It really means a lot :D.
Child of Dreams: I know, I know, and I am sorry! The plot! It was all for the plot ::cue faux-sobbing::
DBZFAN45: Should Victoria's birthday be Immortalis' birthday? I hadn't even thought about that but maybe I should do it that way. It would still work with my general plot. Yeah, Mind Vicki, and Vicki when she was alive, honestly are like the little sarcastic sisters to Damon that he never had, but are identical in their sarcastic mannerisms. The Fries Before Guys comment will come into play eventually, but for right now, it remains a mystery ;p. 2nd AMENDMENT!: Let's just say that her mental state is not doing good right now. Kol's and Victoria's first meeting will be odd at first, but then they'll be besties, for sure. Oh yeah, Kol will be the knowledgeable one in the family about the Immortalis (besides Elijah, I should think. Elijah has already made some cults in the past so I feel like the Cult of the Crucifix would also be on his radar). Victoria has a habit of taking girls under her wings, despite how much older they may be from her, so I do feel like Rebekah will become one of those girls. For Amber Bradley's face-claim, instead of going with the already casted actress, I changed it to Emily Wickersham (she plays Ellie Bishop in NCIS). It was just easier for when I wanted to make some fan edits on my Instagram. Oh, it's so true. Everyone in Victoria's family (both past, present, and the eventual future) are hot. We'll be learning a little more about Mind Vicki and her powers this season, for sure!
Elyse1821: Nah, though it was both hard and enjoyable for me to write that scene. I was originally intending on killing him "off-screen" but then somehow that didn't work out in the end so we got dramatic death scene. I threw that murdery reference in there cuz Season 1 Finale was all about the callbacks to the rest of the series (did you see any of the other ones?). Victoria can "die", she just can't stay dead. Very important distinction, as you can see from where Victoria ended up in this chapter. Oh yeah, Kelly has some issues that will be addressed (and more issues piled on to those issues) in the upcoming chapters.
Kayumeee: Child. I mean, I relate, cuz I spoil TV shows for myself, but not fanfictions! (though I'm glad cuz you'll see my reviews XD). Your comment made me laugh so hard. Trust me. There is a happy ending. I'm talking hugs, I'm talking cuddles. Reuniting with loved ones, all that lovely jazz. Awwww, thank you! Bro...I didn't even think of that Shipping name like that, but now that's gonna be stuck in my head XD. I love Digimon, so that made my day. Oh yeah. We've still got a long way to do. Datoria does sound like Daytona. You're welcome! Yeaaaaaaah. She got better though!
We're gonna be going to a 2 week schedule as I get back into the flow of writing and as my theater company starts up a new show (we start rehearsals this weekend. Fingers-crossed everything goes well!). So, the next chapter of Season 2 will be posted in 2 weeks so on September 19th, a Monday.
Until next time,
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F