Conflicted | K.Mikaelson

[2] Smells Like Teen Spirit

"Elena walked into my room at 5:30 in the morning. "Come on, Emma, get up." she encouraged. I groaned and turned over to the other side of my bed. I felt something soft hit my head, realizing she threw a pillow at me.

"Come back in 3 hours." I replied in a raspy voice. "No can do. We have training with Alaric. Come on, get up." she repeated. I groaned once again before rolling out of my warm and comfy bed. After Damon dropped me off at our house last night, I slept like a baby from what happened yesterday.

When she left, I got dressed and looked at myself in my mirror above my dresser. I hated my bed head hair, but thankfully they invented brushes, allowing me to put my hair into a neat ponytail. After feeling satisfied with my look, I walked out my room door, at the same time as Elena apparently, because we bumped into each other.

We both chuckled a bit before heading for the stairs, meeting Alaric there. "Good morning." Elena greeted. Ric looked a bit hungover. He held up his hand, signaling to her he wasn't in the mood for talking. We exchanged worried looks before continuing down the stairs.

~

Alaric punched a fake dummy. He was teaching us how to fight vampires. More like teaching Elena, though. "So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes." he explained the contraption he had on his arm. "Easy enough." Elena nodded. Elena punched the dummy, but nothing happened.

I chuckled at her attempt, causing her to look back at me and glare. I put up my hands in defense. She tried again, with the same result as he first try. She then started hitting it. "It's like its jammed or something." she said.

"You're not strong enough." Alaric simply stated. "Start lifting some weights, get some meat on your bones, Lena." I smirked. She looked at me. "You try to do it Ms. Get some meat on your bones." she playfully glared. I shrugged and hopped down from where I was sitting.

I strapped one of the gadgets on my wrist. After a moment, I punched the dummy, the stakes ejecting immediately into it. Elena gaped while Alaric looked impressed. "Nice job, Emma." he smiled. "Thanks Ric." I nodded. Elena turns back to Alaric.

"Thanks for not sugar coating it." she sighed. "You know what this is?" Alaric asks as he holds up a vervain grande. "A vervain grenade, I've used one before." Elena replied. "Then you know the element of surprise is the only advantage when it comes to a vampire." he continued. I nodded my head in agreement.

He undid the vervain grenade and tossed it to Elena. "Surprise." he added. "Oh my god!" Elena freaks out chucking it to me. I sigh and quickly use all of my force to send it flying in the air, exploding midway. I looked back at Alaric, who seemed unfazed.

"This isn't a joke to me, Ric." Elena scolded. "You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want, they will hurt whoever they want, and they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature." Alaric responds. "You don't have to use pronouns, you can say Stefan." Elena sighs.

"Look, I get why you're here. Stefan hurt you, you don't want it to happen again." Alaric says. "But you think that I'm crazy. To believe that I can protect myself from a vampire who's flipped the switch on his humanity." she breathes. "I think you both found a way to get out of bed this morning. And that makes you both the strongest people I know." he says looking between Elena and I. I give him a small smile.

"I think you can do pretty much anything." Alaric turns back to Elena. He hands her one of the contraptions. She takes it and then looks at me. "Ready for our first day?" she asks. "Ready as I'll ever be I guess." I chuckle slightly. Elena gives me a small smile before we walk out of the woods.

~

Caroline, Bonnie, Elena, and I all stand in a line together in front of school. "Here we are, senior year." Caroline says. "Anyone else think this should feel slightly more empowering?" Bonnie asks. I chuckle slightly. Caroline looks between all of us before throwing her hands up. "Ok, so prank night was a bust. But, we are accepting it and we're moving on." she declares.