gilbert boy ▪ tvd [completed]

|e l e v e n|

Alaric stood across from Jenna in the hall, his hands up in surrender. "Stay away from me!" Jenna snapped, holding a crossbow in her hands for her protection. 

"What's going on?" Elena asked as she, Stefan, Damon, and Elijah joined Jenna in the hallway, tensing up when they saw the human that Klaus had been inhabiting for a little while. 

"It's me, Elena, I swear, okay? He let me go. Klaus let me go." Alaric explained, his eyes darting between the doppelganger and his girlfriend, who currently aimed a deadly weapon. 

Damon's eyes narrowed in suspicion on his best friend. "Prove it." 

Alaric looked to Jenna, wracking his brain before something came to mind. "Okay, uh, the first night you and I spent together, Jeremy walked in right when I was about to-" 

"It's him," Jenna interrupts, dropping the crossbow. 

"Why did he let you go?" Stefan asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. This was Klaus they were talking about; it almost seemed too easy. 

"He wanted me to deliver a message," Alaric frowned, his eyes falling on Elena, who seemed to deflate. "The sacrifice happens tonight." 

She swallowed harshly as she nodded to herself. "And Charlie? He's okay?" 

Alaric nodded as he thought back to the Immortal. "He's still alive, he just looked a little out of it." 

"Of course he is, he's like a cockroach; he just doesn't seem to die."

Everyone ignored Damon's comment, but Elijah was quick to join the conversation. "'A little out of it'?" 

"He just seemed tired," Alaric shrugged as he looked at the Original. "He wasn't talking as much as he usually does, and it looks like his energy was being drained; he had pretty bad bags under his eyes." 

Elijah pursed his lips before releasing a breath he was holding, making Elena narrow her eyes on the Original vampire. "Elijah, is that bad?" His silence piqued the interest of the others. "Elijah, what's wrong with Charlie?" 

"When I found Charlie, he was dead," He began as he wandered back into the foyer, the others following him. "There wasn't any sign of life left in him. But I felt that I had to save him, so I found a witch, and performed a spell to bring him back. It's dangerous because his soul had already left his body. It went to a place where all supernatural beings go when they die, which is unusual because he's human just like the rest of your family-" 

"Charlie is adopted!" Jenna blurted, making everyone's eyes snap to her in shock. "Your parents were struggling to have kids, and this baby boy showed up at the hospital, perfectly healthy. It was like fate; it was like he meant to be their son. Your parents promised me never to tell anyone, but it seemed important now." 

"Do you know who his birth family is?" Elena asked, awkwardly crossing her arms. It felt odd thinking about it. Charlie was always the golden child of the Gilbert bloodline. She didn't want to believe it because it didn't seem true. He had every attribute every Gilbert ancestor shares: dark hair, dark eyes, and this undying sense of loyalty to family and friends. 

"No, there was no record of his parents. It was almost like they didn't exist." Jenna shrugged. "Your parents didn't care who's child he was. They adopted him, and nobody asked questions." 

"So, what does Charlie looking like he hasn't slept in a few days have to do with anything?" Stefan asked, still confused by what Elijah had said before. 

Elijah pursed his lips. "Charlie isn't a normal Immortal. Most Immortals are brought back from the brink of death," Elijah explained. "It's dangerous for any witch to pull a soul back from wherever it went after death. To put someone's soul back in their body in that fashion, it changes a person."