Untold Knowledge

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We're in Stefan's Cellar, talking to him. "Stefan. Stefan." Damon says, as Stefan gasps. "Stefan. I love you, Stefan." I say, and Damon rubs my shoulders. "Come on." He says, and we turn to the door, and walk over to it, and walk out, and look back at Stefan, and see Damon close the door, and walk off. I touch the bars, and look at Stefan, as he's sweating, and I let the bars go, and turn to my right, and walk off. We're back at the Cellar, as I see he's facing the right, asleep. "It's so hard to see him locked up like this." I say. "You're the who locked him up." He says, and I look at him. "You helped." I say. "I couldn't have him running around chewing on people while the town was looking for vampires, now, could I?" He asks. "It had nothing to do with you actually caring about him." I say. "Your thing, not mine." He says, as I have my arms crossed, and walks off, and I look back at Stefan, and turn to the right, and walk off. I walk in the Living Room, and exhale, and see Damon holding the piece that Pearl gave him. "Did you ever figure out what that is?" I ask, and look around for my jacket. "Nope. Whatever it is, it doesn't work." He says, and I find it, and put it on. "Pearl didn't say anything else about it?" I ask. "She thought she was stealing his Vampire Compass, but it was a Pocket Watch." He says, as I fold my jeans. "That Johnathan Gilbert was a crazy scientist." He says, as I look up, and give a small laugh, and put my jeans in my bag. "Have you spoken to you're Uncle lately?" He asks, and I look up at him. "I've been avoiding him, actually. That and I've been here most nights." I say. "So you'll be here again tonight?" He asks. "Is that a problem?" I ask, and he turns around, and looks at me. "Yes. You're a complete nuisance." He says, sarcastically, as I grab my bag, and give a small laugh. "I'll see you later." I say, smiling, and walk off. I'm at home grabbing extra clothes, as I'm calling Damon. "What?" He asks. "I'm just grabbing some extra clothes, and then I'll be right over. How's Stefan?" I ask. "Extra Broody. Hold on. He won't eat anything. He has to eat. What's his favorite.. kind of, um.. uh.." I say. "His favorite kind of what?" He asks. "Type of Animal blood that he prefers?" I ask. "Ew. Gross." He says, jokingly, and I sigh. "You're joking doesn't help." I say, and open my closet. "Helps me. Now, hurry up. I can't babysit all night. I have things to do." He says. "I would say, drop dead, but.." I say, smiling. "Ha. Ha. Stefan likes.. Puppy blood. Little Golden Retriever puppies with cute, fluffy ears. That's his favorite." He says, and I scoff, and hang up. I close my closet, as I look to the left, and see John. "Sorry." He says, smiling. "Uncle John. I didn't see you there." I say. "I thought we could talk. We haven't had a chance to catch up." He says, walking around, as I walk to the door. "I'm actually just heading out, so.." I say. "Well, it won't take long." He says, and I turn around, and look at him. "What did you want to talk about?" I ask, as he picks up the picture of Mom and Dad, and looks at it. "Well.." He says, and sets the picture down, and looks at me. "I know you know." He says. "Know what?" I ask, as he smiles. "It's really silly to keep pretending. What do you think your Mother would say if she knew you were dating a Vampire?" He asks. "Which Mother?" I ask, and turn around, and walk off. I arrive back to the entrance of Stefan's Cellar, and see him sitting up, looking down. "How you feeling?" I ask, and see the bottle of Animal blood on the floor. "Damon says you need to drink that." I say, and look back at him, as he shakes his head. "You need it, Stefan. Can't survive without it." I say, and he looks up at me. "I don't want to survive." He says. "What?" I ask, and he looks back down. "No, don't say that." I say, and he looks back up to me. "I'm sorry, Ethan. No more. After what I've done, it has to end. I just want it over." He says. It's nighttime, as I'm in the Living Room, sitting on the couch, with Damon in the room. "He's just being dramatic. He's not gonna starve himself." He says. "Why would he say that?" I ask, and look at him. "He feels bad about hurting that boy." He says, and I look forward. "It's very typical Stefan Martyr stuff. It will pass." He says, and I look at him. "Will it?" I ask, and he nods. "Because he seemed to be in a lot of pain." I say  shaking my head. "Yeah. Well, that will pass, too, once he eats." He says. "I didn't mean physical pain." I say. "I know what you meant." He says, and I look forward. "Look, are you gonna be ok here if I run out? I have to go to an errand with the Teacher." He says, and I look at him. "The Teacher? Alaric? Are you two friends now?" I ask. "I don't have any friends, Ethan." He says, and turns around, and begins to walk off. "Right." I say, smiling, and look forward.  "You should, um, you should stay up here. You shouldn't be down there by yourself." He says. "I'll be fine." I say. "You know.. you're very trusting of him, given the circumstances." He says, and I look at him, and he begins to walk off. "So are you." I say, and he stops, and turns around, looking at me. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be leaving." I say. "I won't be long." He says, and turns around, and walks off, and I look forward, and sigh. I'm back at the Cellar, looking at Stefan, as he's sitting up, with his head down. "You know, Damon hasn't fed me Vervain in a while." He says, lifting his head up. I could be at those bars in a flash, and you'd be dead." He says. "Yeah, you could." I say, shaking my head. "But you won't." I say. "Please just go away. I don't want you here." He says, and looks back down, and I unlock the door, and open it, and he looks at me. "What are you doing? Get out of here." He says, as I walk in, and close the door. "No." I say, approaching him. "You're taking a stupid risk. I could hurt you." He says. "Then I'm stupid." I say, and crouch down, and pick up the bottle of Animal blood, with my right hand, and straighten back up, holding the bottle out to him. "You need to drink this." I say. "Ethan, get out of here, or you'll regret it." He says. "Drink. I sad, mad, and he he vampspeeds to me, knocks the bottle out of my hand, and his eyes turn red, and his veins show up. "I said get out!" He yells. "No." I say, and his face changes normal, and he looks down, and lifts his head up, and turns around, and walks back over to the bed, and sits down, putting his head down, and I exhale, and walk over to him, as he lifts his head up, and I sit next to him. "Talk to me, Stefan. Why are you doing this?" I ask, and he closes his eyes. "I'm making the decision I should have made years ago." He says, and puts his head down. "What are you talking about?" I ask, and he lifts his head up, looking at me. "You have to feed in order to complete the Transition." He says. "I know that." I say, and he looks away from me, and back to me. "It was a choice I shouldn't have made. I fed on my Father's blood, and became a Vampire. I didn't want to, but the blood was euphoric. How can you even look at me right now?" He asks. "You need to be able to talk about these things, Stefan." I say, and he looks down. "I need to hear them." I say, and touch his right arm, rubbing it, gently. "Come upstairs. We can talk about it more. " I say, and shake my head. "And we'll keep talking as long as you need." I say, and he looks at me. "You're so sure I'm ready." He says, nodding, and so do I, and he gives a small smile, and I look down, and pull his ring out of my left pocket, and look at him, holding it up. "And when you feel the same way.. I'll be upstairs. Waiting for you." I say, and set his ring down, and kiss his cheek, and stand up, and walk to the door, open it, and walk out. I'm sitting on the couch, writing in my journal, and hear footsteps. "Ugh. God. You're still here?" He asks, as I look at him and he sits by and grabs my legs, as I stop writing. "Were you expecting anything else?" I ask. "No." He says, and sits down, putting my feet over his lap, as I turn my body to face him. "Ahh." He says. "So, how was the, errand?" I ask. "Futile. Although, I think I witnessed the Teacher having an existential crisis. Has Stefan eaten yet?" He asks, and I put my feet down. "I thought you didn't care." I say. "Chalk it up to Morbid Curiosity." He says, smiling. "I think he's getting there." I say, nodding. "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 one hundred and forty five years punishing him for Alex getting caught." I say. "This is my fault now?" He asks. "No, it's no one's fault, Damon. I'm just.. saying you're not exactly innocent." I say, and he looks confused. "You've made it your Life's Mission to make him miserable." I say, and he looks to the left, and back to me, and stands up, and I look at him. "Let me ask you a question. In all this important Soul Searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan's past." He says, and I sit up. "Did you ever manage to get the rest of the story?" He asks. "He said there was more." I say. "Yeah. That's an understatement." He says, beginning to walk off, and I set my journal down, and stand up, following him. "Damon.." I say, jogging over to him. "Damon." I say, touching his right arm, and he looks at me. "Tell me." I say, and put my hand down. "He's the one who forced me to change into a Vampire at the Quarry. He's a bloodaholic." He says, and pours himself a drink, and downs it, as I have my arms crossed, and he pours himself another drink. "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." He says, and gives a fake laugh, and downs his drink. "Oh, my God. He said he wanted to die. That's why he won't feed. Now I understand why, but." I say, and he interrupts me, as he pours himself another drink. "His choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it." He says, about to drink his drink. "Don't do that. Ok? Don't pretend like you don't care." I say, shaking my head, and jog off to the Cellar, and walk in, and see him gone. I look at the bed, and see his ring, and run over to it, and pick it up, and turn around, and run out the door. I arrive to the Quarry, and see Stefan shaking. "Stefan." I say, and he stops shaking, and looks at me, and I take a few steps towards him. "Damon told me the rest of the story. I thought I might find you here." I say, and he nods. "I should have died that night, just like I had chosen. I should have let Damon die, too." He says, and I walk closer to him. "But you didn't. And if you die now, it's not gonna change what happened." I say. "Every single person that's been hurt.." He says, shaking his head. "Every single life that's been lost, it's because of me." He says, and gives a small smile. "The night that my parents died.. I blew off family night so that 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 motion. But we have to live with that." I say, and he nods, and looks down, and shakes his head, and looks up at me. "I made a choice, Ethan. And bcause of that choice, a lot of people were hurt." He says, nodding. "You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person that the blood made you." I say, as he shakes his head. "You made a choice to be good, Stefan." I say, taking another step forward. "No. Please don't do that." He says. "That's the person who jumped in the water to save the family whose car had driven off the bridge." I say, walking over to him. "Please. Don't make this all okay." He says. "That's the person who saved my life. The one who made me happy again." I say. "You don't understand, Ethan." He says, extending his hands. "Then tell me." I say, as he starts crying, and so do I, and he puts his hands down. "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." He says, touching his forehead with his left hand, and closes his eyes, and puts his hand down. "Just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop." He says, opening his eyes, and nods. "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, Ethan." He says, shaking his head. And the next time I hurt somebody.. It could be you." He says, and I shake my head. "There will be no next time." I say, smiling, and he gives a sad smile. "You don't know that." He says, shaking his head. "Maybe I don't. But what I do know.." I say, and hold up the ring in my right hand. "Is that you can take this, throw it in the Quarry, and let the Sun rise." I say, and he looks at the ring. "Or you could take this ring and put it on, and keep fighting." I say, moving my hand up and down, and he extends his hand, as I stop, and put it in his hands, and close his hand with my left, and hold his wrist with my right, and he closes his eyes, and I step closer, and touch the right side of his face, and kiss him. "It's your choice." I say, touching his chest with my left hand, and put it down, and he looks down, and I turn around, and begin to walk off, crying more. "Ethan." He says, and I stop walking, and turn around, looking at him, and he looks up at me, and back down, and puts his ring on his left ring finger, where he always keeps it, and runs over to me, as I run over to him, smiling, and he touches the sides of my face, missing me, and I run my hands through his hair, and we rest our heads on each other's shoulders. I arrive back to the Living Room, holding Stefan's left hand, and see Damon on the couch, holding the piece, and looking up at us. "Little boy lost." He says, and I touch Stefan's arm, rubbing it. "I'll be upstairs, ok?" I ask Stefan, as he looks at me. "Ok." He says, and I look at Damon. "Goodnight, Damon." I say, and let Stefan's arm go, and turn around, and walk off.

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