ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [4]

XVII • I WENT TO THE WOODS

seventeen. i went to the woods

Dallas Airfield, Texas

Night has fallen, and Damon remains sitting on the ground next to Stefan's motionless body, where he is looking sadly, with regret, at his 'lifeless' brother. Meanwhile, Valerie, who has just found Nora and Mary Louise's bodies and has wrapped them in sheets to be burned in the middle of the huge field near the air field, is holding Rayna's broken sword in her hands, staring at the now-broken Phoenix ruby stone with a devastated expression while crying for Nora, Mary Louise and Stefan. After a moment, Damon slowly approaches her from behind, and Valerie's grieving expression turns stony as she addressed him, not even bothering to turn around to face him.

"They didn't know...that Rayna had stabbed Stefan. That his spirit was already trapped in the Phoenix stone. They probably thought they were doing the world a favor. Those two poor souls." She shakes her head.

"Well, that's awfully generous. Of you, not them. Considering they never gave a damn about anyone else other than each other. So, if you're done mourning Thelma and Mary Louise, I think we should get out of here."

Valerie finally turns around to face him with undeniable angry tears in her blue eyes as she starts in on him, "I'm not going anywhere with you. You could have prevented this. All you had to do was take Stefan's scar and put your brother first, for once in your life. But you're never going to do that--"

"Hey! I'm trying to make it right, which is why we have to find Rayna and get Stefan's soul back in his body. ASAP." Damon expressed in frustration.

"The stone is destroyed, Damon. And Stefan with it."

No. "We don't know that."

"Yes, we do, if we have logic, and a sense of reason, and a brain."

"I see it differently, okay? If Stefan's dead, then I'm responsible. Which means I'm going to spend the rest of eternity haunted and doing penance and seeing my own self-loathing reflected in everyone else's actual loathing, especially Rosie's. And, I'm not ready for any of those things-- ergo, he's not dead. Try it my way. It's less depressing." Damon snapped.

"I see I've been charitable in assuming you have a brain..."

"You can keep being a Debbie Downer, or you can do a locator spell and help me find Rayna. What do you say?" The young man becomes visibly annoyed when the Heretic turns and walks away, "Where are you going?"

"To do what you just told me to do-- without you. Invisique." Valerie vanishes as her cloaking spell takes effect, and he scoffs in frustration.

"Really? Really?"

****

Mystic Grill Restaurant/Phone booth, Dallas

Matt is sitting alone at the abandoned bar in the local restaurant, contemplating his 'success' in avenging his dead fiancé by turning over Stefan to Rayna, when he suddenly gets a phone call, which he quickly answers, "Hello?" Pure shock appears on his handsome face to hear that it is Rayna herself who is calling him, almost mistaking her for Minerva or Rosie due to the same voice, but he knows that either Minerva or Rosie would always call him and the rest of their friends with her own cell phone.

Rayna, however, is currently using a phone booth somewhere, remaining truly frustrated from what happened to her sword, "Matt? I need help..."

The former bus boy frowns, truly puzzled by her evident distress, "Rayna?"