Amare [2] ➳ N. Mikaelson [ON HOLD]

➳ 5: death and the maiden

STEFAN sat in a leather chair in the boarding house parlor as Damon and Elena sat on the couch adjacent to him and Valentina stood nearby with her hands on the back of her hips.

Damon leaned forward in his seat and started testing the youngest brother's memories. "October 1852."

"You broke my nose trying to teach me how to throw a right hook," Stefan recalled the memory with a thoughtful look on his face.

"But not on purpose." Damon quickly defended himself and turned to Elena with a finger held up in the air. "Just to be clear." He set the record straight, earning a semi-amused laugh from her and a synchronized eye roll from the younger siblings. "How much did you pay for that hunk of junk motorcycle you ride?" He asked Stefan while smirking smugly over at him.

"That's a trick question. You bought me that motorcycle, although I'm guessing it was pretty expensive." Stefan provided the answer, flattening his lips and nodding his head slowly.

"So Tessa just gave you back your memories, no strings attached," Damon commented in confusion and furrowed his brow to match his tone.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a gift. It was a lot to take in at once, everything from blowing out the candles on my first birthday cake to... drowning in a safe." Stefan explained, his voice falling off at the end as he started to stare distantly at the floor in front of him.

"I know that feeling." Valentina frowned deeply as she instantly recognized that look. She walked across the room to stand behind him and place a soothing hand on his shoulder. "Stefan." She called out softly when she noticed his hand started to tighten around the glass of blood he had been holding.

The glass shattering to pieces under his grip snapped him back into reality and he looked around at everyone in concern.

Damon stared at the shards with wide eyes but didn't make a move toward him. "Whoa! Easy there, buddy."

Elena stood up from her seat and slowly approached the other doppelgänger. "Stefan, where did you go?"

Stefan glanced down at his palm, which had already healed from the self-inflicted wounds, and attempted to clear the air with an awkwardly placed joke. "All that and I still can't remember my own strength." He gave them a fake smile then stopped after hearing a loud thud coming from the basement downstairs. "What was that noise?"

"Uh, well that is..." Damon trailed off, trying to find a way to lie or make an excuse.

"We have a situation," Elena spoke up quickly.

"Of the doppelgänger variety," Damon added to her statement with a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah." Elena breathed out in frustration.

"Yeah. It never seems to fucking end, does it?" Valentina rhetorically questioned, her tone sharp and full of pure aggravation.

"Katherine?" Stefan asked out of habit.

"No, nope, not Katherine." Damon made one of his signature facial expressions before the three Salvatores traveled down the stairs into the cellar.

Stefan peered through the cell door window to see Amara screaming and trying to cut loose from her handcuffs. "I don't know! I don't know." She continued to repeat frantically while flailing around in fear.