Ambience ~ n.m.

15; The Departed

'Dirty Paws' by Of Monsters and Men

"The forest that once was green was colored black by those killing machines."

I was downstairs eating cereal with Aunt Jenna. Elena came walking downstairs with her cheerleading outfit on. "Good morning, cheery," I smile.

"Morning," Elena smiled back. "Jeremy locked himself in the bathroom again. Does he think we don't know what he's doing in there?" Elena scoffed.

"He's fourteen. They don't think," Jenna murmured. Elena grabbed the coffee pot and Jenna stopped her. "Hey, you'll get me in trouble with your mom," Jenna whispered. I had to laugh. Mom told us that we aren't allowed to drink coffee till we are sixteen.

Oh, well. Jokes on her. The school has coffee.

"Morning," Mom called as she walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, mom," Elena and I granted together. Mom kissed Elena on the cheek and grabbed my head to plant a kiss on my forehead. "Hey! Can we do this after I finish a bite?" I ask, with my mouth full of Cheerios.

I woke up from my slight nap right when Damon's phone began to ring. Jeremy told us that Elena collapsed and he took her to the hospital. "You did what?" Damon asked.

"When you find your sister unconscious you call nine-one-one," Jeremy defended.

"Not when you have a parade of vampires at your disposal," Damon shouted.

"Every Original is going to want Elena dead to stop Alaric. She's a sitting duck in there.," Stefan told him.

"Well, Meredith wants to keep her here for observation," Jeremy replied.

"Jeremy, get Elena home," Damon demanded. "We're on our way," Damon told Jeremy. Damon hung up and I sighed. Damon scoffed. "Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you not being the dumbest brother on Earth?" Damon asked Stefan.

"Well, he did the best he could do. You two are gone so you can't blame him." I tell them.

Damon waved me off. "You know one of us needs to keep moving, right? If Klaus really is the sire of our bloodline, we need to keep his body hidden before Alaric finds him, kills him, and we all end up dead," Stefan explains.

"Our life is one big proverbial coin toss," Damon told his brother.

They flipped a coin.

Damon was supposed to go, but he insisted to Stefan to go. I sat in the front seat and Damon drove. I knew why he did it, but you can't deny that he loves Elena. If he didn't he would've gone in a heartbeat, but he thinks that Stefan is better for her.

I personally don't.

Damon's phone rang and he answered it. "What's up?" he asked. Damon then put the phone on speaker and put it on the center console. I gave him a confused look and Damon mouthed 'Elijah'. I gave a surprised look and listened as he put it on speaker.

"All we need to do is take that stake away from him. Once he's been disarmed, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth, and Alaric will follow us," Elijah explained.

"And you'll just... run?" Stefan asked, with Elijah.

"We've done it before. Klaus and Rebekah had spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half century while Elena and Harper are able to live out the rest of their natural life?" Elijah asked.

"We finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back," Elena intervened.

"I give you my word, Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours, nor within your children's lifetimes. Perhaps it'll finally teach him some manners," Elijah stated.