Whatever It Takes {Two | Alaric Saltzman}

Hold On

There was a clearing in the woods not far from Abigail and Alaric's McKinley apartment that they'd claimed as their training grounds. He often had the upper hand when they sparred, but there had been a few times when she managed to beat him. This, however, was not one of those times.

"This will never be a fair fight." She staggered backwards. "You're basically an Original vampire."

"And you are still friends with a couple of them," he laughed out. "And you know what move I'm going to make before I do, so, you know what? You're right."

She connected a one-two punch. "Everything is falling apart."

He sped around her, locking her hands behind her back. "Everything is not falling apart."

"Damon and Bonnie are dead. They're dead." She broke free of his grasp, spinning around to face him. "Elena is exactly where I was when you died. She just won't admit it to herself, that's the only thing keeping her together. And I get that, but she's barely cried for him. I mean, she cried over Bonnie for months, but when you mention Damon, it's like nothing ever happened."

"She doesn't want to let go."

"I don't want to either, but the worst thing that could possibly happen, happened." She hit him so hard that he flew into a tree. "Oh, my God! I'm sorry."

"I'm fine. Come on."

She left her feet grounded in the dirt, staring back at him.

He motioned her forward. "Don't stop now."

"Tyler is hiding. Pretending he's okay, pretending he can outrun the werewolf gene. Matt and Jeremy never leave Mystic Falls anymore." As anger became her primary emotion, she took the lead. "There's an invisible, anti-magic wall standing between us. And no matter how hard we work to help Caroline do something about it, I just don't know if there is anything that can be done."

In one swift motion, he was hovering over her. "And what about you, Bea? Huh?"

"I'm worried about you. You know that."

"It's hard." He released her from his grasp but didn't make a move to stand up. "The bloodlust, the heightened emotions... immortality."

She swallowed hard, looking up at him with sad eyes. "You hate it, Ric."

"Maybe, but guess what?" He kissed her. "I have you."

With Caroline on speaker, Tyler, Elena, and Abigail walked toward Scull Bar.

"I dropped out of Whitmore," she grumbled. "Why would I support their stupid football team?"

Abigail sighed. "It's the opening game of the season, Caroline!"

"Come on," Elena said. "Time to come home."

"I am home! I just signed the lease to my new apartment."

"On the border of a town that doesn't want you," Elena amended. "That's not home. That's sad."

"You don't even like football."

"But I like drinking in the parking lot beforehand."

"Caroline," Tyler said, "you're coming."

She scoffed. "Don't act like you have any ground to stand on. You skipped an entire year!"

"And you hounded me for an entire year!" He exclaimed. "I am finally here, ready to partake in all the stuff you guys told me I was missing out on, so get your ass to campus."

"I'm picking you up at six o'clock sharp on Saturday," Elena stressed. "Bring your school spirit. Bye!"

Alaric was at the front of his classroom writing on the chalkboard when the veins creeped out from under his eyes. Abigail was quick to put her hand on his shoulder, even as the last of the class trickled in, even as his eyes returned to normal, and even as he told her he was okay. But the look on his face was one she had seen before, so she walked right to the one person in the room who shouldn't have been there in the first place.