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RHYSAND ABERNATHY

"He was in love with you, Rhysand," Stefan said as he joined Rhysand in a café not two minutes off the university campus. "Katherine, though? You might cloud his every prominent thought from time to time, but Katherine tends to occupy his mind in every other. He was obsessed with her. The love he felt for her was compelled, but he refused to acknowledge that. He refuses to acknowledge that even now, over a century and a half since she was enclosed in the tomb."

Rhysand allowed himself a sigh, one hand finding the mug of tea he'd bought for himself. He brought it to his lips, allowing the hot earl gray to cascade down his throat in the moments after. Of course Katherine was what Damon was concerned about, the reignition of some old flame. She'd been his first love, though, so some part of it almost made sense. He was in denial, as well, about the fact that she'd compelled him, so such a thing was one Rhysand figured could contribute.

"Katherine is one part of our lives that he refuses to let go," Stefan said. "The hope is that he sees sense in due time, but until then? The Damon that you knew, the one you loved? Gone, far as things are looking."

"Last I heard, she was somewhere outside of America," Rhysand said. Stefans eyebrows quirked in surprise, and Rhysand merely shrugged.

"I've never met her," he said. "And, in fairness, I think I'm being perfectly reasonable in saying I don't want to, considering her reputation. I just make it a bit of a point to know of those who're running from the same thing I am." Or, the same person, really.

He'd never met Katherine, only knew of her the same things that everyone else did. He knew she was a Petrova doppleganger—meaning that she and Elena looked exactly alike—and that, while it'd been widely believed to that point that Katherine was in the tomb, she never was. Rumor said that she was on the run from Klaus for reasons relating to how she'd been turned, ones that Rhysand knew to be true thanks to the agreement that he would be Klauses companion upon his transition.

"Word might indicate that she's here," Stefan said. "Though, word will really only indicate that when she wants it to, so it could be a bit."

"I have contacts that'll notify me the second they catch sight of her," Klaus had contacts at one point. Rhysand had turned those contacts against him through the years, and so, it was to Rhysand that they were loyal. All he had to do to know Katherines precise location was make a few calls. "Anything more on the vamps from the tomb?"

"Far too little for me to be content," Stefan said. "They're stirring up the pot of shit, that's for sure. How's school going?"

Rhysand laughed. "Supernatural shit is out of the way, and now that it is, we exchange pleasantries?"

Stefan grinned. "I haven't gotten the chance to talk to you about life outside of the realms of the supernatural for far too long. I took the opportunity where I saw it."

"College is—" Rhysand paused. "It's strange, actually. I've been an engineering major in all of the times I've redone my education before. Classics is a whole new field, and I can't say I hate it." He'd loved it, actually. Choosing to major in Classics when applying to Mystic Falls University had, thus far, proven quite the good idea.

"I'm glad."

"How's your umpteenth high school diploma?"

Stefan laughed. "It's fine, so far," he said. "I've done it dozens of times before, but I can't say I hate it. With Elena, I've found quite the opposite, really. The workload with everything else going on is sometimes a bit much, but otherwise? Better than I expected my time in Mystic Falls to go."

Stefan got up with the words, ordered himself a coffee, and sat back down. The two of them spent the next few hours just talking, catching up like they'd not had the chance to in little over a decade.

Rhysand learned that the entire reason Stefan himself had gone back to Mystic Falls was to get the chance to meet Elena, that such a decision was one of the ones he didn't regret. He learned that staying in Mystic Falls was in his plan for the time being, that he would see where living there took him until it eventually drove him out.

Then, the two of them parted ways. Rhysand went to the last of his lectures, Stefan went to deal with the troubles being caused by the vampires that were fresh from more than a hundred years spent in the tomb, promising to shoot Rhysand a text with any updates.

--

Later, when he showed at the Salvatore boarding house, he was exhausted. Some part of him wanted to sleep, the other one wanted to head straight for New Orleans, pay Marcel a visit perhaps, and stay a while.

"You look like you've been hit by a truck," Stefan said with a slight laugh. "Are you all right?"

"I feel like it," Rhysand said with a slight nod. "I'm debating getting an early rest tonight. I feel like twelve hours might do me some good." It was just after seven. Even despite his words, Rhysand knew himself. He knew that he wouldn't go to sleep before midnight, and the cycle of exhaustion would continue, just as it always did.

He would stay awake, first to make sure he got something to eat—or, when one recalled his status as a vampire, perhaps drink was the right word?—and then simply because he could, because he would refuse to allow his mind to rest.

Damon entered shortly after Rhysand did, looking much like the Damon that Stefan had described. The entire vibe that he gave off was one of ruthlessness, the kind of energy one picked up when they'd had their heart broken by a past love all over again and they were quite pissed about it. If looks could kill, Rhysand was entirely sure that Damons would've.

The four of them functioned in relative silence over the next minutes. Stefan ordered dinner, Damon stirred in his thoughts, Elena filled the kettle as Rhysand grabbed mugs and teabags.

"You're going to need a ride to school tomorrow, with your car in the shop," Damon said as Rhysand grabbed the milk that he kept in the fridge. Elena passed him a frother and a small bowl.

"How'd you know my car ended up in the shop?"

"Stefan let it slip."

"Well, nothing prevents me from taking a bus," Rhysand said. "Unless, of course, you're only offering because you fancy a trip to the outskirts of the city? What, do you miss the views? The coffeeshops?"

"I do," Damon admitted. "That time, I just also need it to clear my head a bit. Coffee and good food just happens to be a bonus."

Rhysand allowed himself a laugh. "Well then, I wouldn't mind a ride from you," he said. "Thank you for offering."

Damon grinned. "Anytime, Abernathy," he said.

For a split second, for a small moment in time, it almost felt as though the two of them had been on the way to a sort of even ground. The interactions they had were still ones with some slight unease, ones with a bit of awkwardness to them, but they weren't as they'd once been. They weren't hostile, aggressive or based in hatred. They weren't full of insults and jabs and quips that made their hearts ache when came the end of the day. Rhysand considered it a step, and one they were taking in the right direction.