The Vampire Diaries(BxB)

3: The Homecoming Choice

It's an hour earlier, as Stefan, Damon, and I are in the Salvatore Boarding House Library, talking about a plan. "All right, let's say that Mikael followed Ethan in here. He tried to grab him, so he could use him as bait." Stefan says. "And you, what? Vervained him?" I ask. "No, we vervained him. The guy's an Original. Make it realistic." Damon says, as I look at him. "Ok, fine. We vervained him, and in the process discovered that he had a dagger." Stefan says, as I look at him. "Which he planned to use on Rebekah. But instead." I say. "We drove it through his heart." He says. "And what happens when he asks to see Mikael's body?" I ask. "Good point. You, my brother, have been compelled to do what Klaus says. So the idea is to lure him back here and kill him, the last thing we need is you getting tripped up and tongue tied." Damon says, as I look at him, and back to Stefan, and nod. "Well, don't look at me. I am just in charge of getting him back here." He says. "Klaus is smart. If we tell him that Mikael is dead, he'll want proof." I say. "Then I shall be dead." Mikael says, as we look at him, and walk over to him. "What if he wants to see you in person?" I ask. "Well that means our plan is working. Klaus will absolutely want to see my body. You lure him here, and I will kill him." He says. "With what? Those daggers don't work on him." Stefan says. "Well, I'm in possession of a stake fashioned from the wood of the ancient White Oak tree. The one that left these ashes when it burned." Mikael says, and picks up the vial of ash with his left hand. "Where is it?" Damon asks, and Mikael picks up the dagger. "Not here. Knowing its location is my insurance policy." He says, and dips the dagger into the ash. "Against what?" Stefan asks, and Mikael puts the vial down, and approaches us with the dagger in his right hand. "You leaving this in my heart. You see, a vampire can't dagger an Original without dying. So.. it falls to you." He says, offering me the dagger, and I take it with my right hand. "You. You want me to actually dagger you?" I ask. "Klaus will leave nothing to chance. Especially when it comes to trust." He says. It's the present time, as Stefan is on the phone with Klaus, his phone in his right hand. "Well, he's here. Come by whenever. It's true. I saw it with my own eyes. That's not a problem. She's right here." He says, and walks over to Rebekah, and hands her the phone, and she takes it with her right hand. "Hello, Nik." She says, and looks at me, and I nod. "It's true. He's finally out of our lives for good. I miss you. I'm miserable here. Good. I'll see you then, brother." She says, and hangs up, and hands them phone back to Stefan, who takes it with his left hand. "He bought it. He's coming home." She says, and turns around, and walks off. "Now was that easy or what?" He asks, smiling, as I look at him, and sigh. "Let's just get this over with." I say, and walk over to Mikael's body, and crouch down, put my right hand on the dagger, and pull it out. It's the next day, as I'm looking through my closet, as Mark's sitting on my bed, looking at the drawing photos, and I sigh, and pull out a light blue formal long sleeve. "I hate everything in my closet. I have nothing to wear to Homecoming." I say, and put it back. "So don't go. Let's stay home, order takeout and over analyze ancient hieroglyphic thingies with Alaric." He says, as I pull out my Hunter Green formal long sleeve, and look at him, as he's smiling. "We have to. Tony will kill us." I say, and put it back in my closet. "Tony actually has a date." He says, as I look at him, and walk over to him, and sit in front of him. "You know that you can talk to me about Jeremy, right?" I ask. "don't need to talk about it. He fell in love with his ghost girlfriend and lied about it. What's done is done." He says. "You have to talk about it. He hurt you, Mark. I'm mad at him, too." I say, pointing to myself with my right index finger, and put my hand down. "But.. I also know that he cares for you, pal." I say. "You're mad at your little brother. You'll yell at him a little, teach him a life lesson. You can't really be mad like I am mad." He says. "Mark." I say, and he interrupts me. "And you shouldn't have to be. He's your brother. So no I can't really talk to you about it. So no, I can't really talk to you about it." He says, and I nod. I'm at the Salvatore Boarding House, in Damon's bedroom, as he's in the bathroom, preparing weapons. "We can't trust Rebekah not to turn on us." I say. "Oh, really? Because these Original vampires are usually so reliable." He says, sarcastically. "Mark was right. Rebekah may be mad at Klaus now, but.. he is her brother." I say, and walk towards him. "Her lying, mama killing, dagger happy brother. The Wolfsbane's ready." He says, and I sigh. "There are too many things that can go wrong with this plan. Too many people that can make it go wrong." I say. "Well, I am formulating a secret contingency plan." He says. "Really?" I ask, and we look at each other. "What is it?" I ask. "Well, if I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret." He says, smiling, and tilts his head to the right, and I turn around, and see Stefan. "I need to borrow a tie." He says. "You have your own ties." Damon says, as I look forward. "I'm a hundred and sixty teo years old and I'm going to a Homecoming Dance. I need better ties." Stefan says, and I look at him. "You could not go." I say, and he smiles. "I'm compelled to protect you. And if I look at your track record at high school dances, it's pretty tragic." He says, pointing at me with his right index finger, and puts his hand down. "With my luck you'll go and get yourself murdered by the Homecoming King." He says, and walks off, and I sigh, and look forward, and pick up a Wolfsbane Grenade, and Damon hits my right hand. "Ah, no." He says. "I know how to do it. Alaric taught me." I say, and he takes it from me, as I'm looking at him. "Ethan, if this thing blows up in our face just remember only one of us heals quickly." He says, and we hear footsteps, and stop talking. "Ah, please tell me that you have a better plan than Wolfsbane Grenades." Stefan says, as Damon fills up another Grenade. "Never your mind, brother. The less you know the better." Damon says, and Damon hands me the Grenade, and I hand him another one to fill up. "My freedom from Klaus rests entirely upon you two executing your plan perfectly. So, excuse me if I'm a bit cynical." Stefan says, and begins to walk off, and I turn to him. "Your the one that we should be worried about." I say, and he stops, and looks at me. "If Klaus asks you one wrong question, whole thing falls apart." I say. "You do have reason to worry, but if I look back in our history of epic plan failures, it's usually because one of us let our Humanity get in the way. Upon taking odds on how this thing goes down, it's certainly not gonna be me who screws it up. I'll see you at Homecoming. I can't wait." He says, pointing at me with his right index finger, and puts his hand down, and turns around, and walks off, and I look forward. I walk to Stefan's bedroom, and see Rebekah in her green dress, looking in the mirror, and I stop in the doorway, and cross my arms. "Getting a head start, huh?" I ask, smiling, and she looks at me, smiling. "Embarrassing truth? This is my first High School dance." She says, and looks back at the mirror. "Ever?" I ask, and uncross my arms. "I never really had time for High School before. Nik and I were always moving around. Running. Anyway, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. Have you heard anymore from him?" She asks. "No. But I'm sure that when he does return, he'll do it with flair." I say, nodding. "And Damon and my father are all set with their plan?" She asks. "Yes." I say, nodding, and she looks at me, and walks towards my direction. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know, I just. I want to go to the dance and leave the rest to Mikael." She says, and I approach her. "I know it's really hard. So thank you for helping us get Klaus back into town." I say. "Just be careful. I've been running for a thousand years for a reason. Mikael is not a good person and he definitely can't be trusted. No one in my family can." She says, and has tears in her eyes. "Are you okay?" I ask. "I've spent my whole life loving and hating my brother with equal measure. I never thought that I'd be the one to help drive a stake through his heart." She says, and shakes her head, and walks back over to the mirror. No tears. I. I don't want to ruin my makeup. How do I look?" She asks, and I approach her. "Beautiful and amazing." I say, smiling. "But you're missing one thing." I say, and pull her necklace out of my right pocket, and she looks at me. "My Mother's Necklace. Forged by real gold." She says. "You should wear it tonight." I say, nodding, and she turns back to the mirror. "May I?" I ask, and she nods, and I put the necklace around her neck, and she lifts her hair, and I pull it around, and hook the chain, and I let go, and she sets her hair down. "Thank you." She says, smiling. "You know, you're my favorite and only soon to be sister in law." I say. "You're not half bad yourself." She says, as I touch her left shoulder, and pull out the dagger with my right, gently. "Please forgive me." I say, and dagger her in the back. "I'm so sorry. I can't leave anything to chance either. I really do want us to be friends. But, tonight had to be perfect." I say, and she gasps, and falls to the ground, and I breathe heavily. I'm sitting on Stefan's bed, and Damon covers Rebekah's body with a huge blanket. "In the back. Harsh." He says, and crouches down, and I sigh. "It had to be done. Rebekah was never gonna be completely on our side." I say, and he looks at me. "Hey, I'm not judging you. It's very.. Alex of you." He says. "Not the way to make me feel better about myself, Damon." I say. "It was a compliment.. sort of." He says. "Stefan's right. Someone's going to let their Humanity get in the way and screw this whole thing up." I say, and sigh. "And it's probably gonna be me." I say, and he straightens up, and walk over to me. "Ethan, you just daggered somebody." He says, and sits next to me. "You're going to be fine." He says. "Yeah. But I feel bad about it. I care too much. That's the problem, Damon. I'm the Weak Link." I say. "If it makes you feel any better, she's not really dead." He says, smiling. "Do you trust him? Mikael?" I ask. "Nope." He says, and looks forward, shaking his head. "What about Stefan?" I ask. "No." He says, and shakes his head. "Not as long as he's under Klaus' control." He says. "Then we need a better plan." I say. "I know what to do." He says, and looks at me. "Your just not gonna like it." He says. "Why not?" I ask. "Because when this all goes down, I don't want you having any part of it." He says. "What does that mean?" I ask. Alex. "Do you trust me?" He asks. "Yes." I say. "Then you have nothing to worry about." He says, smiling. It's nighttime, as I'm in my Casual clothes, and get a phone call from an unknown caller, and answer it, as I'm holding it with my right hand. "Hello?" I ask. "Hello, Ethan. It's Alex. I'm making this brief. I owe you for that bottle of blood when I was stuck in that God awful Tomb. I'm assuming you already know that I'm part of Damon's plan?" He asks. "Yes." I say. "Good. I'll be using those Grenades to destroy his Hybrids, while portraying as you. I'll send you a text if and when there's an opportunity that Mikael doesn't have the stake. That will mean you being the one to kill Klaus in the end. I'll be wearing a black formal long sleeve with a silver tie and black shoes and black pants. Understood?" He asks. "I understand." I say, and he hangs up. I'm walking down the hall, on the phone with Tony. "So, does that mean I don't have to go?" I ask. "You wish. No, Tyler is moving the party to his house." He says. "Kegs and Beer Pong for Homecoming? That's.. different." I say, and hear a knock on my door. "Just say you're still coming." He says, and I hear a knock on my door, and sigh. "I'll see you there." I say, and hang up, and open the door, and see Matt in a suit, holding a whitr rose in a plastic container. "Ethan." He says, and I smile at him. "Hi, Matt." I say. "Hey." He says. "Um, slight problem with your Homecoming date." I say. "What happened?" He asks. "How would you feel about a back up date?" I ask. I arrive to Homecoming, and Alex and I have switched places. I'm walking around, and see Klaus holding a beer in his right hand, and sigh. "Where's your date?" He asks. "Getting me a drink." I say, and he offers his beer to me, and I roll my eyes, and he gives a small laugh, and pulls it back to him. "Well.. seems I have you to thank for Mikael's demise." He says. "He came at me. I didn't have a choice." I say. "Still I'm impressed. It's not easy for a human to dagger an Original." He says, smiling. "It wasn't the first time." I say. "Right. You're fiancé, Elijah." He says, and looks behind him, and I look around, and he looks back at me. "You seem nervous." He says. "I'm not nervous. I just don't like you." I say. "Right. Let's get straight to the point then, shall I, love? People have been after me for a thousand years. And I am always one step ahead. So whatever it is you're thinking of trying, go for it, give it your best shot. You won't succeed." He says. "Watch me." I say, smiling. "Game on." He says, and takes my right hand, and kisses it. "See you later, love." He says, smiling. I'm walking around, and someone grabs me, and drags me over to Mikael and Klaus, and I see Alex. "So much for our plan." I say. "I know right?" He asks, and Mikael grabs my right arm and Alex's left. "Come out and face me, Niklaus. Or they both die." Mikael says. "Go ahead. Kill them." Klaus says. "No, Klaus. He'll do it." Alex and I both say. "If he dies, this lot will be the last of your abominations." Mikael says. "I don't need them. I just need to be rid of you." Klaus says. "To what end, Niklaus? So you can live forever with no one at your side? Nobody cares about you anymore, boy!" Mikael exclaims, and Alex and I look at each other. "What do you have other than those whose loyalty you forced? No one. No one." Mikael says, and Klaus' eyes begin to tear up. I know what I have to do. I'd be a hypocrite not to. "I'm calling your bluff, Father. Kill him." Klaus says. "Come outside and face me, you little coward. And I won't have to." Mikael says. "My whole life you've underestimated me. If you kill him you lose your leverage. So go ahead. Go on. Kill him. Come on, old man. Kill him. Kill him!" Klaus yells, and Mikael laughs. "Your impulse, Niklaus. It has and will forever be the one thing that keeps you from truly being great." Mikael says, and stabs Alex and I both in the back with knives, and we gasp, and he rips them out, and we fall, and I hear yelling. "Alex.." I whisper, and he bites his right wrist. "Ohh. You are so not dying today." He says, and feeds my his blood, and we both stand up. "Alex. Ethan." Mikael says, and Alex turns around, and so do I, and we pull out two Wolfsbane Grenades each from both our pockets. "Kamboom." We both say, and throw them at the Hybrids. "You need to get the stake and end this." He says. "On it." I say, and we see Mikael and Klaus, fighting, and I see the stake, and run over to it, and grab it with my right hand, and they stop fighting. "I dare you both to come near me, and I'll find a way to stab both of you. I want to do it, Mikael." I say, and offer my left hand, and he takes it, and we walk over to Klaus. "You're welcome." I say. "Thank you. I've been waiting for a thousand years for this moment." Mikael says, and I raise the wooden stake up, and lightning strikes it, and I put my hand down. "I know." I say, putting my left hand down, and turn to Mikael, stabbing him in heart, and he falls, as I let go of the stake, and his body catches fire, and I look at Klaus. "Thank you, love." He says, and I nod, and we walk in to see Stefan pinning Damon down. "What did you do, Stefan? Ethan?" He asks. "I knew that if I killed Mikael, Klaus would owe me one. And I couldn't be deemed a hypocrite for what happened with Bill." I say. "So, it was Tony's Father who did that. Not your own. Well, consider this the one I owe you. Stefan has earned his freedom." Klaus says, and Stefan stands up, and walks over to us. "Thank you, my friend. You no longer have to do as I say. You're free." Klaus says, compellingly, and Stefan closes his eyes, and opens them, and we see that Damon is gone, and he looks at me. "Stefan?" I ask, and he walks off, as I cry. "I'm sorry, love." He says, and kisses my cheek, and pulls out a box. "Um. Happy late Birthday." He says, and I give a small smile. "Thank you." I say, and open it, and see a golden chain bracelet, and put it on my left hand. "Thank you." I say, and hug him, putting my hands on his back, and his on my waist. "You're still an asshole, you know that, right?" I ask, and he laughs. "I know." He says. I'm in the Salvatore Boarding House Living Room with Damon, with my arms crossed. "We thought of everything, Ethan! Klaus having Hybrids, Mikael turning on us. We brought in Alex so you weren't in danger. And yet, you still were! Anything that could have gone wrong, we were prepared! We never would of thought you'd be the one to betray us all!" He yells, and pours a drink. "We were counting on Stefan wanting him dead more than anything. But. I saw the fear in Klaus' eyes when his Father said that shit to me. I wish someone had been there to kill Bill for what he did to me. And if I would have let Klaus die tonight, I couldn't have lived with the guilt of being able to stop something that horrible. I'm sorry!" I exclaim. "We blew it. It's all your fault." He says. "Where's Alex?" I ask, uncrossing my arms. "He ran for the hills, like usual. He told you, didn't he?" He asks. "Yeah." I say. "The minute things got bad. Who blames him? Klaus would have crushed him." He says, approaching me. "I had him, Ethan. I had Klaus. This could've all been over! But it's your fault!" He yells, and throws the bottle of Scotch into the fire. "Hey.. Damon, hey." I say, and touch his face with my right hand. "Hey, listen to me. We'll survive this. We always survive. Trust me." I say, putting my other hand on the other side of his cheek and he takes my hands off. "We're never getting Stefan back. You know that, don't you?" He asks. "Then we'll let him go. Ok? We'll have to let him go." I say, and he nods, and his phone rings, and he answers it. "Not interested in the play by play of our failure right now, Alex. That's not very comforting at the moment. You're going back into hiding? Take care of yourself, Alex." He says, and hangs up. "Go. Just go. This isn't something that can be forgiven. Go! I hate you!" He yells coldly, and I begin crying, and nod, and turn around, and walk off.