‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
Part 2: Rosalie and the Travelers
‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
Rosalie never had the opportunity to mourn someone in the land of the living. She passed long before her family which meant she never got to bury them herself, make the preparations herself.
She gave Qetsiyah a proper burial from their time and to her surprise, Bonnie, Elena and Caroline showed up to help. She had expected it to be a one woman kind of job considering Damon told her she should've buried Qetsiyah in some random spot in the woods like they did with Silas. As horrible as things had been, Rosalie didn't feel right about leaving the only person she knew in some random spot underground.
Qetsiyah may have done her wrong, but in the end she gave Rosalie what she always dreamed of: a second chance.
Between Elena and Caroline, they easily moved the body to an empty plot in the cemetery compelled for them by Caroline. There, Rosalie left a few of the things Qetsiyah had come to like from the new world, such as her favorite flowers and fruit. The hardest part was saying goodbye. A final goodbye. Rosalie didn't know it but she started crying towards the last moments just before the coffin was out of sight. She left marigolds on the freshly made grave and made the promise that she would come back often to leave new flowers.
"You didn't have to come and help," Rosalie said once they were back at the boarding house. She was dragging her feet towards the couch. "You didn't like her and I don't blame you."
"But we like you," Elena retorted, "And this is something you felt like you had to do so…we're here."
"Mm, you like me now?" Rosalie couldn't help the smile that tugged at her face. Two days ago they weren't exactly close friends.
"You brought my best friend back to life and didn't try to kill us," Elena said and plopped down on the couch beside Rosalie. "And that is good enough for me."
"Those are actually some very low standards…" Rosalie remarked and made the girls chuckle at her confused face.
"You brought me back to life," Bonnie then said, "which is very enough for me."
Caroline whipped a hand in the air to claim her turn. "And I just think you're funny, so good enough for me!"
Rosalie chuckled. She thought Caroline was the funniest out of the three as well. "Well, thank you…I…I don't know what I'm doing honestly. I know Qetsiyah was horrible but she's always been my friend and even when she tried killing me…it hurt to lose her for real this time. Is that pathetic?"
"In our circle, it's actually very normal," Caroline said, nodding her head. "But if you want, I can totally show you the ropes of this new world! You could even go to college!"
"College?" Rosalie barely uttered the word before Damon cut in.
"You want to send to college a girl who just came back to life from the ancient times?" He appeared by the threshold of the living room.
"I'm doing it," Bonnie reminded him.
"Yeah, but you're from this world, hello! Rosie over there barely figured out how to use Netflix yesterday." He suddenly pointed at Rosalie with narrow eyes. "Stay off my account. You're ruining my watchlist history."
Elena rolled her eyes at him and encouraged him to give them some space. Damon missed the whole subtly thing and made his way into the living room.
"I mean if you ask me, you should let yourself get acclimated to the new world." He came up to the bourbon stock and started making himself a drink. "College is fun, yes, but you'll also blow your cover and that is the real problem considering you two" — he pointed at Elena and Caroline — "have already blown it to smithereens." He then proceeded to make noises of an explosion.
"What's he talking about?" Rosalie looked at the two vampires in question. "People at your school know you're vampires?"
"It's a work in progress," Caroline said dismissively and turned to Damon with her hands on her hips. "And it's a situation that I already got under control, in case you forgot."
"She used Katherine to take my place and get inside a building without being invited," Elena explained to Rosalie who hummed.
"The doppelganger I refused to help increase her lifespan?"
"Thank you by the way," Damon winked at Rosalie.
"I didn't do it for you," she rolled her eyes. "I just don't want to do spells that alter someone's lifespan. I learned my lesson with Silas, alright? Although I do feel kind of bad for her…"
Damon made a noise like a buzzer. "Rule number one, if you want to stay here then you gotta join the 'I hate Katherine Pierce club' or it's out with the wolves for you."
"So," Bonnie said, clearing her throat, "what do you think you wanna do, Rosalie?"
"I…have no idea," Rosalie replied. She felt exhausted mentally and physically. She had spent a lot of hours crying and then planning a little burial and then doing some crying again. Thinking about what she was gonna do with her new life was just a bit overwhelming for her.
"Look, you don't have to figure it all out right now," Elena said, seeing the panic growing on Rosalie's face. "It's okay to just stop and think. We're having a party for Bonnie at the college if you want to come and have a little careless fun."
"I don't know…as much as I like this new world I haven't really been around that many people yet. If I do end up going to college, I don't wanna automatically be branded as the weird girl."
"Which you totally would be," Damon chimed in and ignored the girls' deadpanning looks. "And you are."
"I'll think about it," Rosalie settled with and decided it was time to go upstairs. She stopped walking only a few steps when another thought struck her.
"What's the matter?" Elena asked and the witch turned around.
"I need clothes," Rosalie said simply, having just re-realized that she was at zero when it came to personal objects. She didn't even have one sad book to her name. "We didn't exactly have money and…the little stuff I had is still in the cabin."
"We should burn that thing down already," Damon mumbled under his breath.
"I can come with you to grab some stuff," Bonnie volunteered, surprising Rosalie with the offer (and everyone else). "What? Qetsiyah was technically my ancestor and she did bring me back to life-ish." It was still difficult accepting the fact she wasn't entirely alive but instead a half ghost who was seen and heard.
"But the party…" Caroline said in a whine-ish voice. "It's for you."
"Yeah, and you should definitely attend your party," Rosalie said, "Besides, I don't know if I'm gonna go today. I have to prepare myself to go back there. Maybe I should just think about getting one of those jobs so I can start buying new stuff."
"I don't think getting a job is a good idea right now, Rosie," Damon said with a scrunched nose. "Then you really will blow all of our covers."
"Well, I need money! Otherwise how else will I survive!?"
"Easy there witchy, I can just compel you whatever you want or maybe…" Damon swayed his head until his sights were set on Caroline, "Our local barbie shopper can do it for you. No one knows taste like Caroline Forbes…or so they say."
Caroline rolled her eyes. "I'll take the compliment," she glanced at Rosalie, "and we can definitely go shopping tomorrow if you want."
"I'd appreciate it, thank you," Rosalie nodded. "I, uh, I'll go rest…hopefully." She turned away and continued to walk, her heart heavy.
~0~
The idea was to rest but tossing and turning didn't exactly lead to that. When Rosalie had enough, she sat up in her bed and angrily threw one of her pillows. She got up from bed and marched out of her room with all the intentions of God knows what.
She crashed into Stefan at the top of the staircase and apologized for not looking. She hadn't known he was at home. Since he killed Silas, he'd been pretty quiet and reclusive.
"Were you going somewhere?" Stefan asked her.
"Nowhere," Rosalie said with a bitter chuckle. "I literally have nowhere to go in this world." She noticed the weak attempt to smile from Stefan and tilted her head. "Are you okay? I know we haven't really talked since, you know…"
"Trust me, I'm not exactly the person you want to talk to right now…" Stefan said, sighing. His mind was consumed with the past and he couldn't get rid of them.
"That's a bummer considering I thought we were friends…" Rosalie flashed him a smile, "And it just so happens that we are both out of other friends for the time being."
Stefan gave a playful roll of his eyes. "I'm just saying I'm not the best candidate right now. And I'm sorry, by the way. For everything."
"If you're referring to the fact that you didn't show up to the burial, like I keep telling everyone…I don't blame you." Rosalie looked around and sighed. "I mean…we could be miserable here…or you could show me somewhere nicer to be miserable in?"
She had a rather innocent face that just brought a chuckle out of Stefan. "I promise you that I am not the best company…" he reiterated.
"Neither am I, trust me. So what do you say? Let's be miserable together?"
And so Stefan found himself agreeing to the horrible idea.
He ended up bringing Rosalie to the Mystic Grill and once he told her that there were only two options of iced coffees, she declared that he had managed to make her more miserable.
"What do people drink here then?" she asked at their table. She was looking around at the crowded restaurant, awed by the many faces. This was probably the first place she was out to without any ulterior dark plans.
Stefan had raised his finger to a coming waitress and ordered bourbon. When the waitress left, Rosalie's brows were furrowed at him.
"So you came to buy bourbon…when you have some at home?"
"It's better," he promised her. He motioned her to pick up the menu so she could pick something. She muttered 'it won't be bourbon, that's for sure' and began to pursue the menu. He had to admit that for someone who had virtually lost everything, she was doing a lot better than he was.
"Ooh — hold on," she made a face, "what are chili-cheese fries?"
Before Stefan answered, someone else stopped by their table. "Something that'll make your waist blow up like a balloon…"
Rosalie lowered the menu and revealed an awkward smile as Katherine Pierce practically glared down at her. "Katherine…" Rosalie swallowed nervously, "Hey…"
Katherine's glare only deepened on the woman and if she had any more strength, perhaps she would've squeezed the bottle in her hands until it broke. "Rosie…"
Stefan's eyes shifted between the women slightly bemused. "Did I miss something?"
Rosalie cleared her throat and pressed her hands down on the menu on the table. "I may have…said no…to prolonging Katherine's lifespan…"
"Cursing me to inevitable death," Katherine spat and smiled tightly. "Thank you, by the way."
"I'm sorry, Katherine, but tapping into that kind of magic is what got me here in the first place. It's not nature's way and trust me, I do not want to do anything that's gonna endanger my relationship with nature and, hello, my life!"
"Hello, my life is on the line!" Katherine scowled.
"Yeah, but you've lived for centuries! I died at 21!" scowled Rosalie.
Katherine rolled her eyes then for some reason grabbed a chair with them and sat down. At Stefan's and Rosalie's questioning looks, she announced that her bad day definitely counted for some company.
"You must be really desperate," Stefana remarked.
"Oh, you have no idea." Katherine chugged straight from the bottle.
"Okay, what exactly is wrong with you?"
"Other than the joint pain, the receding gums, and the fact that I have to pee every five minutes, I'm dandy. But hey! Enough about me. Why are you two here? Unlikely friendship here…"
"We're being miserable together," Rosalie replied. "But I think you're definitely winning."
Katherine laughed genuinely. "You got that right!" She offered Rosalie the bottle but she kindly rejected it. "I get why you're here," Katherine said to the witch, "You're all on your own now. Boo, hoo. But what about you?" she asked Stefan. "You're finally free so why are you hanging with the sad witch?"
Rosalie deadpanned the ex-vampire. She could see why Katherine wasn't popular amongst the group.
Stefan shrugged but at his attempt to be aloof, Katherine pressed him for a clearer answer, citing that with the way she'd been drinking there was no way she was going to remember today anyways.
"Look," Stefan began, sighing, "I thought that killing Silas would allow me to move on with my life, but I was wrong. I spent my summer locked in a safe. One minute, I think I'm fine, and the next, I feel like I'm dying all over again."
"Oooohh. Classic PTSD," Katherine declared. "You survived a pretty traumatic event, and now you're back, and you've got nothing but free time to just relive that terrible experience in the safe. Well, allow me to give your life purpose. Help me with one little favor?"
Stefan rolled his eyes. "Should've known this was gonna come around to you needing something from us."
"I'm just trying to help. What would I know about post-traumatic stress? I only had my newborn ripped from my arms by my judgmental father. Then, I had to run five hundred years after my entire family had been slaughtered by a psychopath, but hey! That didn't have any lingering side-effects."
Rosalie's had widened by the end. "Wow…now I kind of feel even worse about not helping…"
"Does that mean you will?" Katherine beamed for a second.
"Erm, no, sorry…but if Stefan doesn't want to help you with this new favor of yours, I can try?"
Well, now that Stefan heard Rosalie would put herself into whatever drama Katherine had going on, he couldn't leave her. "Fine, what do you need, Katherine?"
Katherine was delighted with the extra set of hands.
Twenty minutes later, she had a young brunette come meet them. Said brunette looked like she would rather be anywhere else but there. "I thought you never wanted to see me again? Why did you call me?" she said to Katherine with an odd accent.
"Stefan, Rosalie, I'd like you to meet Nadia Petrova, my daughter," Katherine gestured and thoroughly enjoyed the gawking reactions of Stefan and Rosalie. She dragged them to the storage room of the Grill to discuss whatever plan she had in mind.
"Just out of morbid curiosity, which one of you is younger?" Stefan asked after a moment of studying the two Petrovas.
Neither Katherine nor Nadia wasted time to say they were each the younger one.
"Wouldn't it technically be Nadia since she died years after Katherine did?" Rosalie said in thought. "Because Katherine's 500 years old and Nadia's just—"
"Thank you," Katherine promptly shut her up and actually thanked the fact that Matt Donovan had finally come to meet them. The busboy entered with a blade in his hand.
"Okay. So here's the knife the Traveler left behind with me. Now, what are we doing in here?" He eyed Stefan and Rosalie, questioning their presence, specifically Rosalie's since they hadn't technically met yet.
Katherine didn't give him the chance to ask for an introduction as she pushed him down into a chair and took the blade from him.
"That's a Traveler's blade?" Rosalie eyed the thing in Katherine's hands.
"Yup," Katherine popped the 'p' in her answer then flashed Rosalie a wide grin. "And you're looking at two of them right now."
"What — you two?" Rosalie looked between her and Nadia. "You're Travelers?"
Even Stefan was surprised. "You never said…"
"You never asked," countered Katherine. "My grandfather was a Traveler but then I became a vampire so there was never a need…"
Nadia had enough of the pointless chatter and walked up to Matt to force the Traveler in his mind to come out. Matt closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were pitch black. He closed them and then opened them to reveal his regular blue eyes.
Stefan was alarmed with the sight. "What the hell was that?"
"A Traveler," Rosalie answered him warily. "The newer version, anyways." Whatever time she had on Earth now, was time she did not want to cross paths with Travelers.
"Newer version?" Stefan looked at her, confused.
"Back in my day, this wasn't a thing for Travelers."
Katherine smirked. "She's calling on Matt's passenger."
The 'passenger' in Matt's head was out and freely speaking, albeit in Czech. The passenger eventually tried standing up but Stefan pushed him right back down. "Hello, Gregor. I'm Nadia's mother. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"What do you want?" Gregor spoke darkly.
"Here's the thing. Nadia is my only child. So naturally, I'm suspicious of anyone who wants to date her. Why don't you tell us the real reason why you're in Mystic Falls?"
"To track and kill Silas."
Katherine hummed. "So, it has absolutely nothing to do with this?" She raised the blade for him to see, and of course the sight of it alarmed him.
"How did you get that?"
When Gregor once again tried to get up, Stefan shoved him back down and kept a firm hand on his shoulder. "I would much rather be getting drunk right now, so why don't you stop wasting our time, and tell us what you're doing here?" He snatched the blade from Katherine and held it to Gregor's neck.
"Fine," hugged Gregor, "After Silas was dead, I was meant to kill her," he gestured to Katherine.
Katherine blinked. "I didn't see that one coming."
Nadia was outright offended. "You were using me to get to her? Why? Why would you kill her?"
"That's what the Travelers want. I don't question my orders."
"See why I don't want you dating my daughter?" Katherine said. "Because Travelers are ruthless, manipulative, hypocrites. I know," she glanced at Nadia, "because your grandfather was the absolute worst." She plucked the blade from Stefan's hand and stabbed Gregor with it, making Nadia (and Rosalie) gasp with shock.
"What the hell did you just do!?" Stefan scowled at her, for the blade was now embedded in Matt's chest.
"Give it a rest. Matt will be fine," Katherine said, shrugging, "Gregor, on the other hand, not so much. I just expelled his spirit. There's a reason why he wanted this knife so badly. It's the only thing that will truly kill a passenger."
~ 0 ~
Rosalie felt like since nobody but Nadia was actually going to wait for poor Matt Donovan to wake up (and even Nadia was technically waiting to see if Gregor was actually dead), she would do it. Stefan had returned outside to keep day drinking and she honestly found nothing appealing on the menu and this was a good distraction from thinking about her gloomy new life.
When Matt woke up hours later, he did so with a gasp and without an idea of what happened. Nadia was disheartened to see it was only Matt and immediately stormed out of the room.
"Easy there!" Rosalie gently said, standing before him. "You're good now. No passenger anymore."
Matt breathed heavily for a few minutes whole his mind raced to catch him up on what happened. "How long was I gone!?"
"A few hours but don't worry, Stefan compelled the other employees not to come in here so…you're good…I think…" Rosalie apologized, "This is all new for me. Compulsion and whatnot. That didn't really exist when I was alive."
"Ha…" Matt nodded but was still pretty freaked out by what happened.
"I meant it though, there's no more passenger in you. Katherine expelled him with that blade." Rosalie motioned to the blade she had left on a shelf. "Gregor is gone."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely. The blade is the only thing that can get rid of a passenger. Sorry about that. Travelers weren't always like this."
Matt felt confident enough to stand without losing his balance. He got up from his chair and reached for the blade left on the shelf. "And you knew the Travelers?"
"Once upon a time," Rosalie nodded. "Before they were cursed. It's actually a long story but I don't think you really wanna hear it."
"I don't," agreed Matt, then he smiled at her. "Rosalie, right? You brought Bonnie back?"
Rosalie nodded again. "That would be me. Nice to meet you."
"Matt Donovan, and likewise," Matt shook hands with her. "Thanks for sticking around but I'm okay."
"I'm glad, the Travelers can get, uh, nasty…as I'm sure you've noticed…"
Matt sarcastically smiled. "I noticed."
"I'll, uh, leave you then…maybe check in on Stefan or something…" Rosalie backtracked out of the storage room, "But a word of advice, please keep your eyes open because where there's one Traveler, there's definitely more."
She returned to the Mystic Grill but to her surprise, Stefan was nowhere in sight. Okay, sure hope I know how to get back home…
Home.
The word was soapy in her mouth — and thoughts. Who was she kidding? She didn't have a home. Home was 2000 years ago and she knew it. The heaviness crept back into her heart, the same feeling she'd been trying to forget all day by "napping" and visiting the restaurant.
"Hey," Matt startled her out of her thoughts, "you okay?"
Rosalie turned around and half smiled, reassuring him that she was fine. "Seems like my ride home disappeared on me."
"Oh, I can drive you back," Matt quickly volunteered. "I'm out of here anyways."
"Are you sure? I don't want to — I mean, I'm sure I can get back on my own—"
"It's fine," chuckled Matt. "You waited for me so let me pay you back the favor."
Rosalie ended up agreeing only because it was dark out and that meant it would be harder to tell the streets in the town. Plus, she wanted to see if Stefan was already back at the boarding house and if so maybe he was panicking about his trauma again. She didn't want him to be alone.
Matt had one of those old trucks that surprisingly worked just fine, something Matt laughed at when she blurted her thoughts about it. Be was beginning to genuinely like her. She was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the supernatural stuff he usually went through.
He left Rosalie on the front door of the boarding house and drove away. She stepped inside and thanked the Lord that the house seemed to never be locked.
"Stefan?" She called out almost at once but to her disappointment, he wasn't in the house either. This could be grounds to worry, she thought. She considered calling Damon or Elena for a moment but luckily, the front door opened and in came Stefan Salvatore looking pretty worse for wear. She could tell the moment he looked at her that he'd suddenly remembered about her.
"I am so sorry," he blurted, his entire face pale and not from his PTSD.
Rosalie began to smile as he apologized again. At least he looked very guilty which meant he hadn't done it on purpose. When she felt it was enough, she cut him off. "I'm totally fine! Your friend Matt drove me back so I'm fine, I promise."
"Still, I'm…I told you I wasn't good company," sighed Stefan. "Very bad company, actually."
"Stefan, I'm okay," chuckled Rosalie. "But clearly you aren't. What happened?"
Stefan motioned her to walk with him. He owed her that much. He told her about finding Katherine's suicide letter to her daughter Nadia and how he went to catch from the clock tower.
"Oh my God, she did that!?" Rosalie said, horrified. "Maybe I really should have helped her out!"
"No, it's not on you," Stefan said, sitting down with her on the couch. "You were right about her. She's lived 500 years. She's had a very long life and it has nothing to do with you."
"But to want to throw herself off the clock tower…" Rosalie shook her head, "It must be really getting to her. Maybe she should stay here to keep an eye on her."
Stefan raised an eyebrow at the witch. "You want to bring her here?"
"She's trying to kill herself and she's your friend, so—"
Stefan let out a strange noise between a laugh and a scoff. "She's…she's not my friend…"
"She's not?" Rosalie frowned in confusion. "Then why do you care about her?" Stefan shook his head at her. "Because you do care, I can see it on your face." Even as he tried avoiding her look, she could tell there was definitely some care. "Damon doesn't give a crap about her."
"It's a complicated story, and I'm surprised you don't already know it."
"If you mean because Qetsiyah spied on your doppelgangers, rest assured that was just her. I sort of had a distaste for identical copies of Silas and Amara after what happened."
Stefan's eyebrows raised together as he gave her a bemused look. "Then you must really be forcing yourself to like me, huh?"
Rosalie laughed. "You know, surprisingly, I haven't had to force myself to do anything around you. Even Elena. You are nothing like your doppelganger. Silas…" she ran out of a laugh and exhaled a heavy breath. "Let's be real, no one will ever be able to out-compete him. He will always be the person who killed me. It's hard to come back from that."
"I can imagine so…again…" Stefan made a gesture to his face, "Thanks for not automatically wanting to kill me. I can't imagine what it must be like to see me every day…"
"Not as hard as you think," Rosalie remarked. "The last time I saw Silas in our past, he was scary angry. I had never seen him like that but it was to be expected, I guess. He thought we killed Amara." She lowered her head the more she thought about her last moments. "He found me alone and…with his new strength and power…he…he used hypnosis so that I wouldn't scream." She swallowed hard. "He stabbed me, forced me to bleed out without making a single noise. You know I was the first supernatural to enter the Other Side? Fitting, I guess, since I helped make it. And it's been a long 2000 years since then."
Stefan listened silently, letting Rosalie say whatever she needed to. He wondered if she had ever spoken about her murder with anyone; he didn't dare ask. Bringing up Qetsiyah in another deep level would hurt her more than benefit her.
Instead, he reached out and placed a hand over hers on her lap. "I'm sorry that happened to you." He didn't think his simple words would be enough to get a heavy reaction from her, but it did. Tears gathered in her eyes and she breathed in shakily. He pulled his hand off hers immediately, apologizing for whatever he'd done.
"No, it's not you," Rosalie said through her sniffles, doing everything in her power to clean her face. "It's just no one's ever really said they were sorry. I know it's no one's fault but…it's nice to hear that someone else thought it wasn't okay."
Stefan nodded, understanding. Very few times did he hear that in his long life. He was happy to know that he was able to do it for someone else who actually deserved it.
"Gah, look at me," Rosalie let out a shaky breath, still trying to pull herself together. "You're the one suffering from that thing — PTSD? — and I'm here talking about stuff that happened 2000 years ago. Sorry."
"No, I…I think it's good for you…and I haven't exactly been a good friend today so…" Stefan felt the need to apologize one more time to her.
It was there that Rosalie decided they should both go rest, but she still reiterated that they should bring Katherine in to help her out. She also made a mental note to come up with a way to help Stefan out too.
~0~
Rosalie woke up very early and decided to put her efforts into getting to know her cellphone better by messaging Caroline Forbes. She wanted to go shopping for clothes but felt very guilty leaving Stefan alone since Damon was nowhere to be seen (it looked like he hadn't come back from the party last night). At the same time, she also felt like it was time to go back to the cabin and clear out hers and Qetsiyah's stuff once and for all.
The message turned into a phone call and the phone call turned into a three-way call — something Caroline promised to show Rosalie how to do — and then slowly, but surely, Caroline devised a plan to kill all the birds with one stone.
Caroline volunteered to help Stefan out and it was a non-negotiable term of the plan when she found out from Rosalie that Katherine Pierce had moved into the boarding house for the time being. Apparently, Katherine was a she-devil who couldn't be trusted.
So, Rosalie and Bonnie were headed to the cabin for that day. Bonnie was aware of the huge step that Rosalie was making and wanted to make it as easy as possible, if there was even a way.
Rosalie stood in front of the door for a while. Bonnie watched her read for the handle and then silently retract it. This went on for a full 5 minutes.
"Maybe I should have come alone.." Rosalie mumbled when she realized how long it had been and they were still outside.
"It's okay," Bonnie said gently, coming to stand beside her. "I get it. It's hard coming back to what you left behind."
Rosalie mused on just how similar hers and Bonnie's situation were. "Did you have this much trouble?"
"Well, my dad's gone and my mother's halfway around the world and my house was pretty much empty so…not a lot of stuff to deal with," Bonnie said, sighing. "I actually don't know if that was better or worse. No one's in my house…"
"Your house may have been empty but you had people waiting for you," Rosalie said, swallowing hard. "There's no one waiting for me today because I don't have anyone."
"You have us," Bonnie said, "And you know that we want to get to know you. And being friends means that we do the hard stuff together…like helping you clean out the cabin you stayed in with your friend."
Rosalie nodded. She took in a deep breath and finally went to open the door. She had no idea how Qetsiyah left the cabin before dying. Luckily, there wasn't a big mess to clean up…except the broken plates in the kitchen. She supposed Qetsiyah had gone into a fit of rage discovering she'd been betrayed by her.
"I can clean those up," Bonnie volunteered and started heading there.
"You don't have to," Rosalie stopped her midway. "They're just plates. I'm just here for my stuff, as little as it is." She eyed the dozens of plants left around, each one in direct sunlight and bound to die. Without thinking, she raised her hand and suddenly Bonnie watched each plant wither away. Rosalie sighed. "She cared a lot about the plants but I just…they're just reminders now."
Bonnie nodded. "I understand." Still, she cast another longing look at the dead plants. "Do you want me to get rid of them? I know I'm slow without magic but—"
"No, you're amazing Bonnie," Rosalie blurted and made Bonnie scoff with disbelief. "You are," Rosalie insisted. "Bonnie, not just anyone can be made the Anchor. You died and now you became a ghost with a foot here in our world and the other on the Other Side. And you're out here like it's nothing — going to college? — for real, you're cool."
A smile spread across Bonnie's face at that. "Thank you," she said, flushing. "Uh, you're definitely cool too, you know."
Now it was Rosalie scoffing. "Yeah, more like I'm an idiot. Seriously, I mean how else do you explain me getting caught up and all of this." She started heading towards the closed bedroom doors and opened them both, then stood in the middle deciding which one she was brave enough to see first.
She could see Qetsiyah's room from the corner of her eye and before she knew it, she was standing in front of it. Her eyes swept over the room and felt her heart hurt. The bed was neatly made and her curtains were drawn. She didn't have a lot of stuff — she'd always been about the plans.
"If it's too hard, I can pack up her stuff for you," Bonnie offered.
Rosalie gave a slow shake of her head. "She didn't have a lot of stuff. She, uh, prioritized the plans. Never planned for afterwards because the goal was to…die. I never really thought about what I would do if she let me live."
Bonnie didn't say anything but she took note of the way Rosalie spoke about her late friend. Even in death, Rosalie felt like Qetsiyah would still grant or deny permissions to her. It was no way to live at all.
"Have you seen her yet?" Rosalie's question startled Bonnie. She looked back at Bonnie curiously and slightly hopeful. "Has Qetsiyah spoken to you?"
"Um…no, sorry…" Bonnie felt guilty for answering with that but it was the truth. So far, her journey as the new Anchor involved brief meetings with people right before they crossed through her.
"Right…" Rosalie nodded to herself, "Why would she, now that Silas is over there too. It's only what she always dreamed of since the dawn of time." Bitterly, she walked into Qetsiyah's room and started taking in what she could pack and what was trash.
Bonnie left her to do what she needed to and decided to start in the living room. Time passed by in pure silence. Every now and then Bonnie swore that she could hear quiet sniffles from the bedroom but she honestly thought that Rosalie preferred to be alone. It was hard getting past someone's death — Bonnie knew the feeling down to a T. Sometimes, part of mourning was just the need of solitude.
In Qetisyah's room, Rosalie was putting clothes inside a box. Qetisyah didn't have that much but the little that she owned, Rosalie wanted to keep…at least for the time being. There was nothing really personal in the room, all in the name of things ending with their deaths. Finally, Rosalie put together a box with Qetisyah's clothes, a few of her jewelry (which ironically Rosalie had bought for her), and a few trinkets. Everything else was useless.
She left the box just beside the entrance and then proceeded to go inside her own room. She thanked Bonnie for packing a few things up in the living room and told her not to stress about anything. She was getting dangerously close to just leaving everything in the cabin and burning it or something.
Her room was up next and in it, Rosalie entered another struggle…was what she owned really that valuable? Like Qetsiyah, she didn't have a lot of clothes and a lot of personal things. She had ventured out to the closest town more than Qetsiyah which was why she owned a bit more random trinkets that she thought were cute. Those were the ones she dropped into her box immediately. Years from now, when she was close to death again, maybe she would glance at the trinkets and remember her first days of being alive again and how everything initially felt.
"Is that it?" Bonnie eyed the two boxes with a bit of disbelief. They had spent virtually the whole day in the cabin and the only things they would have to show were two boxes.
Rosalie let out a heavy breath and gazed at the living room. Bonnie had done a great job organizing things into corners but the more Rosalie looked at them, the less desire she had to take it with her. "In your house…when you got back…did you throw everything away?"
Bonnie shrugged mildly. "Just the things that brought me pain…some of them were my dad's."
Rosalie nodded. "That's how I feel about this stuff. I don't want to throw it all away because at the end of the day, there are no more memories of Qetisyah. There are no pictures of us, of anything from my home. If I don't bring something of hers with me then I am really leaving my past life behind. But bringing so much stuff…it hurts too." Feeling tears in her eyes, she rubbed them away with the backs of her hands. "I know I must sound completely crazy to you. She tried killing me for God's sake. And we established that she wasn't the friends to me…"
"It's okay to miss her, Rosalie," Bonnie said, feeling like it was something that Rosalie had to hear if only to keep the guilt away. "At the end of the day, you and her had a long relationship. None of us will ever make you feel bad about it."
Rosalie managed a small smile at the woman. "I like you, Bonnie. And I swear if there was a way to give you your magic back, I completely would."
Bonnie got the feeling that Rosalie would do that for her. She smiled back. "Looks like you and me have a lot of work to do when it comes to leaving things in the past. But I'll tell you what, just because I can't use my grimoires anymore doesn't mean you can't. I'm happy to give you my stuff so you can practice."
"Oh, no…no…" Rosalie shook her head and one of her hands, "My magic…it's…different…" Bonnie was reasonably confused but Rosalie never gave her a chance to ask about it. "You coming here with me was more than enough, trust me. Honestly, I feel like we should get back to Caroline and Stefan. I'm worried how he's doing."
"We can do that," Bonnie said, leaving the grimoire discussions for later. "What are you gonna do with the cabin, then?"
"I don't know," Rosalie said, "Damon suggested burning it down but I…I can't. I think I'm just going to leave it for the while. The original owner is dead anyway, so…"
She locked the cabin in the end. While things were still painful, maybe one day she could want to come back even for just a moment. Not everything had to be left behind.
"So…wanna get out of here?" Bonnie didn't mean to sound as excited as she did but it just made Rosalie laugh. The two girls then started laughing together and began picking up the boxes.
The drive back to Mystic Falls was a quick one, although one filled with trivial facts about Rosalie that just made Bonnie want to cackle, especially when Rosalie expressed interest in getting her driver's license despite never turning on a car ignition. The laughter carried into the boarding house where Caroline was in the living room.
"Hold on, is that a safe?" Bonnie had stopped laughing when she noticed the great silver case on the floor.
Rosalie gawked when she recognized it and nearly dropped the box in her hands. "Hold on, is that the safe Stefan was trapped in!?"
Caroline nodded and "mhm'd" brightly. "The good news is that it worked!"
"By what, traumatizing him all over again?" Bonnie put down her box on the floor for the moment.
"Is he alright?" Rosalie actually panicked for a moment.
"Oh yeah, he's upstairs with…" Caroline trailed off all of a sudden, leaving Rosalie and Bonnie to stare ar her, confused.
"Uh, Caroline? You okay?" Bonnie eventually asked the blonde.
Caroline snapped out of whatever trance she'd been stuck in and shook her head. "You know what, is anyone hungry!? Rosalie, have you ever had a milkshake with french fries!?"
"Uh, not really — hey!" Rosalie gasped at Caroline yanked her arm and Bonnie's towards the door.
"Caroline, where are you going!?"
"Far away from here!" Caroline blurted before shuddering to herself. "Milkshakes with french fries — a delicious combo! I promise! My treat now let's go!" She shoved Rosalie and Bonnie out the door then, with one last glance upstairs, she fled the house as well.
‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
Author's Note:
As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)