𝟏• 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂 | 𝐓𝐕𝐃 ✓

𝐒𝐈𝐗

"...SINCE EVERYONE'S BASICALLY BAILING, I'll be taking you to the school to help prepare for the dance!" Caroline finished exasperatedly, taking a deep breath to relax. Her relaxation was, however, short lived when she heard the undeniable sound of sipping from a straw in an almost empty cup. "Aurelia!" She exclaimed, frowning considerably.

"Uh— yes, oh— yeah, Caroline?" The series of stutters, followed by the sound of something dropping into a metallic container. "I was paying attention."

"And...?"

"I'll uh... do it..." Aurelia's voice was unsure and slow, as if she was cautious about her words. "Go out, or whatever."

"You don't sound very enthusiastic." Caroline huffed loudly, before hearing a small sigh from her sister's end. "Aurelia, I'm taking you to school to help prepare for the dance; only Elena's gonna be there and—" She stopped for a moment, realizing the slight distaste the blonde had for the doppelganger. "I know you don't like her."

"She's just extremely... irritating... and, well, annoying. I don't not like her; I'd just prefer to hang out with someone else." After several moments, she continued. "It's fine, Caroline. One person's not going to stop me from spending time with you."

"Really?"

"You know it. I'll see you at the school." With a small click, Aurelia had hung up, making Caroline frown considerably as she looked up at Stefan, who walked into the Salvatore Boarding House moments ago.

"Hey," She began, taking a look down at a large and seemingly empty duffel bag in his hand. "What're you carrying that around for? And where are you coming from?" Stefan sighed and threw the bag to the ground, before pinching the bridge of his nose in clear frustration. "Stefan?"

"You know how the Originals have Damon, right?" Caroline blinked several times in shock as he said that. "Aurelia didn't tell you that? Really?" With a small shake of her head, her surprise only grew. "They took him in for Rebekah's revenge fantasy, and then found out about Finn's death, which in turn sent Sage over here last night to kill me."

"Wait, what?!" At this point, Caroline was completely astounded by the number of things that had taken place after she left his place for the night. "She came over here to kill you?!" After a nod, she blinked several times and struggled to come up with a clear sentence. "S-She's nine centuries older than you are?! How did you manage that mess?!"

"I didn't, actually." He answered, his frustration toning down marginally as he took a seat on the large couch. "She brought her friend, Troy with her to attack me and then come after the rest of you... but," He had to pause for a moment, as if he was still absorbing his own thoughts. "They died. The both of them."

"How?"

"They were about to kill me, but Sage... she started coughing, while her skin turned pale." He vaguely narrated. "Soon enough it was hard for her to muster a strong punch at all. Even Troy began exhibiting the same symptoms, until they started bleeding from their nose and ears and eventually just shriveled up and died." He was clearly still confounded by the events of the previous night, which didn't bring Caroline any sort of comfort. "I didn't even try to kill them, they died on their own."

"How did that happen?" She had to question the obvious, but much to her expectation, Stefan only shook his head. "You don't know."

"I don't." He repeated. "But what's worse is that I got a call from a very angry Klaus Mikaelson just minutes later, with him threatening me to bring back all of the white oak stakes we had." He explained. "He'd kill Damon otherwise."