Salvatore Boarding House Stefan and I are still talking in the cellar. Stefan:"How can you even look at me right now?" Nevaeh:"You need to be able to talk about these things, Stefan. I need to hear them. Come upstairs. We can talk about it more, and we'll keep talking as long as you need." Stefan:"You're so sure I'm ready?" I pulled out Stefan's daylight ring and placed it on the cot next to him. Nevaeh:"And when you feel the same way...I'll be upstairs." ~~~***~~~ Grove Hill Residence Damon empties the blood bags,"Find anything yet?" Alaric:"No, I looked everywhere. The place is...the place is clean." Damon:"Well, I found this. Behind the blood in the fridge." Alaric:"Oh, man, this was a real dead end." Damon:"I wouldn't beat myself up over it, man. What did you think you we're gonna find, huh? Amelia with a cigar and slippers?" Alaric:"Oh, man. I...I gotta stop this. I can't...I can't keep searching for her." Damon:"Really? After only two years? That's actually moderately healthy." Alaric:"What are you going on? 146?" Damon:"Well, I figured the 200 mark is probably a good stopping point." Alaric:"Ahh. I mean, no answer is enough. I keep thinking I wanna know why, when, you know, the precise moment. When my wife decided life with me wasn't enough." Damon:"She charmed me, your wife Amelia. She talked a good game, man. She was smart. She had this excitement in her eyes. I probably should have known there was something different about her, some tie to Isabela. There had to be some reason I didn't kill her." Alaric:" That's enough, Damon. I don't wanna hear anymore. I just don't want to waste any more of my life. Searching for answers that I don't really want. I'm through with Amelia. I...I'm done with all of this. Yeah." ~~~***~~~ Pearl's Residence Anna enters the house,"Hey. What's the matter?" Pearl:"I need you to pack your things. We're leaving." Anna:"What? No." Pearl:"I was wrong to think that we could make a home here. It's time for us to move on." Anna:"But I don't want to move on. I want to stay." Pearl:"We can't stay. There's too many people here who know the truth...too much history." Anna:"So, what, you're just gonna give up, pack us up, and move us out?" Pearl:"It's not safe here. You know that." Anna:"Please." Pearl:"Is this about Jeremy?" Anna:"No. It's about me finally getting to build a life for myself. Please, mama." Pearl:"You gave me my life back. I am just trying to protect yours. I can't force you. It's your decision." ~~~***~~~ Salvatore Boarding House I was writing in my diary, when Damon enters the house. Damon:"Ugh, God. You're still here?" Nevaeh:"You like it when I'm here, don't lie. And we're you expecting anything else?" Damon:"No. Ahh." Damon picks up my legs and sits down on the couch. He places my legs over his lap. Nevaeh:"So, how was your 'errand'?" Damon:"Futile. Although, I think I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis. Has Stefan eaten yet?" Nevaeh:"I thought you didn't care." Damon:"Chalk it up to morbid curiosity." Nevaeh:"I think he's getting there. But he's got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with. And it doesn't help that you've spent the last 145 years punishing him for Isabela getting caught." Damon:"This is my fault now?" Nevaeh:"No, it's no ones fault, Damon. I'm just...saying you're not exactly innocent. You've made it your life's mission to make him miserable." Damon gets up,"Let me ask you a question. In all this important soul searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story?" Nevaeh:"He said that there was more." Damon:"Yeah. That's an understatement." I got up and walked towards Damon,"Damon...Damon. Tell me." ~~~***~~~ Quarry 1864 In a flashback, Stefan returns with a girl in his arms. Damon:"What are you doing? Who is that?" Stefan:"I brought her for you. She's a gift. Have a seat, please." Damon:"What have you don't, Stefan?" Stefan:"Damon, I've been to see father. He came at me. I didn't know my own strength. There was blood everywhere. He was dying, and the blood was too strong. I needed it. I had to have it." Damon:"You fed." Stefan:"Yes. And it was incredible. My body is exploding with power, Damon." Damon:"No." Stefan:"I can hear things from far away. I can see through the darkness. I can move, like it's magic. And the guilt, the pain...Damon, I can turn it off. It's a whole another world out there, Damon." Damon:"Isabela is dead, Stefan. There ms no world without her." Stefan:"No. You can turn that off too. You don't have to feel that pain anymore." Damon:"I don't want it." Stefan:"You're weak. You'll be dead soon. You need this." Damon:"No." Stefan:"You'll die." Damon:"No. I can't." Stefan:"Please. I won't let you die." Damon:"No. I can't." Stefan:"Don't fight it. We can do this...together." Damon drinks the blood of the girl. ~~~***~~~ Salvatore Boarding House Damon:"From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person. I suppose I should thank him. It's been a hell of a ride. Heh." Nevaeh:"Oh, my God. He said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but..." Damon:"His choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it." Nevaeh:"Don't do that. Okay? Don't pretend like you don't care." I got up from the couch. Damon:"Where are you going?" I went down into the cellar. Stefan is gone, but his ring is still laying on the cot. I picked it up, and ran out of the cell. ~~~***~~~ Gilbert Residence Jeremy is asleep in his bed, and Anna joins him. Jeremy:"Hey." Anna:"It's getting impossible to sneak up on you." Jeremy:"Nice try, though." Anna:"Sorry I woke you." Jeremy:"That's okay. You only woke me up halfway." Anna:"So,listen. I..." Jeremy:"That feels good." He went back to sleep. Anna kisses him,"Goodbye." ~~~***~~~ Quarry Stefan is at the quarry where Damon turned into a vampire. ~~~***~~~ Quarry 1864 Stefan and Damon are both vampires now. Stefan:"How do you feel?" Damon:"You were right. It is a while new world." Stefan:"We can explore it together." Damon:"You got what you wanted...you and me for all eternity. But here this, brother. I will make your life an eternity of misery for you." He walks away. Stefan:"Damon!" Damon leaves. Stefan in the present, is looking wearing. In the past, Emily finds Stefan. Emily:"You've transitioned." Stefan:"You'd have rather found me dead?" Emily:"Isabela saved my life once. I owed her. That doesn't mean I'd wish her curse on anyone." Stefan:"It feels more like a gift." Emily:"That will change." Stefan:"Why is that?" Emily:"Because even in death, your heart is pure, Stefan. I sense that in you. That will be your curse." She walks away. Stefan:"Emily, wait." ~~~***~~~ Quarry Stefan is still at the quarry, and I walked up to him. Nevaeh:"Stefan. Damon told me the rest of the story. I thought I might find you here." Stefan:"I should have died that night, just like I had chosen. I should have let Damon die, too." Nevaeh:"But you didn't. And if you die now, it's not gonna change what happened." Stefan:"Every single person that's been hurt...every single life that's been lost, it's because of me." Nevaeh:"That night that my parents died...I blew off family game night so I could go to some party. I ended up getting stranded, and they had to come pick me up. That's why we ended up in the car at Wickery Bridge. And that's why they died. Our actions are what set things in motions. But we have to live with that." Stefan:"I made a choice, Nevaeh. Because of that choice, a lot of people were hurt." Nevaeh:"You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person that the blood made you. You made a choice to be good, Stefan." Stefan:"No. Please don't do that." Nevaeh:"That's the person who jumped in the water to save the family whose car had driven off the bridge." Stefan:"Please. Don't make this all okay." Nevaeh:"That's the person who saved my life." Stefan:"You don't understand, Nevaeh." Nevaeh:"Then tell me." Stefan:" It hurts me. It hurts me, knowing what I've done, and that pain...That pain is with me all the time. And every day, I think that if I just...If I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy, and every day, I fight that. And I am so terrified that one day, I'm not gonna want to fight that anymore, Nevaeh. And the next time I hurt somebody...It could be you." Nevaeh:"There will be no next time." Stefan:"You don't know that." Nevaeh:"Maybe I don't. But what I do know is that you can take this, throw it in the quarry, and let the sun rise. Or you could take this ring and put it on and keep fighting." I gave him his ring and stood on my toes and kissed him. Nevaeh:"It's your choice." I start to walk away. Stefan:"Nevaeh:" Stefan puts on his ring and runs to me and kisses me passionately. ~~~***~~~ Pearl's Residence Harper prepares the luggage for Pearl. Pearl:"Thank you, Harper." Harper:"You're welcome." Pearl:"Annabelle should be back in a minute. You know, you don't have to come with us if you don't want to." Harper:"This was never my home, Miss Pearl. I was just a soldier who was left to die. You saved me. I'm coming with you." Pearl:"Let me help you with those." Pearl opens the main door and receives a pile in the heart. Harper catches her. ~~~***~~~ Salvatore Boarding House Third Person POV Nevaeh and Stefan walk into the library. Damon is in the sitting area. Damon:"Little boy lost." Nevaeh:"I'll be upstairs, ok?" Stefan:"Okay." Nevaeh:"Goodnight Damon." She walks upstairs to Stefan's room. Stefan:"Thank you." Damon:"No, Stefan, thank you. You're back on Bambi blood, and I'm the big badass brother again. All is right in the world." Stefan:"I mean it. Thank you. For...helping her take care of me." Damon:"You brood too much. Everything on this planet is not your fault. My actions, what I do, it's not your fault. I own them. They belong to me. You are not allowed to feel my guilt." Stefan:"Do you feel guilt?" Damon:"If I wanted to, it's there. Emily waited till after I turned to tell me she'd been successful in protecting Isabela with her spell. She didn't want me to know about the tomb. She thought it would impact my decision." Stefan:"She didn't want either of us to turn. She said that it was a curse." Damon:"Witches...judgy little thing." Stefan:"Why didn't you tell me?" Damon:"Cause I didn't want you to know. Cause I hated you and I still do." Stefan:"I know." Damon;"But not because you forced me to turn." Stefan:"Then why?" Damon:"Because she turned you. It was just supposed to be me, Stefan...just me." ~~~***~~~ Pearl's Residence Anna enters the house and discovers her mother and Harper, staked in the heart. Anna:"I'm back." She sees their dead bodies. "Oh! Mom! Mama! Uhh! Please don't leave me again. No. Please wake up. You have to wake up. No." She cries. ~~~***~~~ Woods John puts some stakes in the trunk of his car and calls Sheriff Forbes. John:"Sheriff Forbes, it's John Gilbert. Sorry to call so late. I have an update about the vampires." ~~~***~~~ Mystic Grill Alaric, sits at the bar, drinking alone. A woman with blonde hair approaches him. Amelia:"Hello, Ric." Alaric slowly faces his not so dead vampire wife,"Amelia."
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