𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐃𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐄 [𝟐]

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐍𝐄

In that moment, it dawned on Riley. She never really thought about why the ghosts were still hanging around. "Oh. Oh, no."

"You're right. How selfish of me to be indulging in these precious moments with my formerly dead best friend. I should be sacrificing my own happiness for the good of others, right?" Stefan took back the whisky bottle from Riley with a grin. "I should be upstairs grooming my hero hair."

Damon cautiously stepped forward with a raised brow. "Are you drunk?"

"I don't know, Mom. Am I?"

"I'm not." Riley got up to her feet and moved toward her boyfriend with a pointed look on her face. "And, you're right. Something is clearly very wrong."

Stefan and Lexi just continued to chuckle in spite of the situation they were in. Damon moved forward and yanked another bottle from Lexi's grip. "Well, that's one way to celebrate our supernatural apocalypse. Now, care to hazard any guesses as to what the hell went wrong?"

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After speaking with Bonnie, it turned out she hit a snag when trying to put the veil back up. So, it gave the ghosts until full moon that evening to be with the people they loved. Stefan was indulging in the company of his best friend, while Elena was spending time with Jeremy and Alaric before they were swept back to the Other Side.

Riley had nobody on the Other side that had come back to pay her a visit, so she was preparing for the Graduation ceremony, whilst she felt Damon's eyes on her in the mirror. A soft chuckle left the witch's lips as she turned around to face him. "What? You don't like this outfit?"

"It's not the outfit. That— I love." Damon stepped forward and placed his hands gently against her waist. "So, I snagged the cure from Silas, yesterday. And, I've spent the entire day wondering what to do."

Riley furrowed her brows as she saw the troubled look that had spread across Damon's face. "What'd you mean?"

"Well, we've two options. Option A— We give the cure to Elena, she's no longer a vampire and can have the life she's always wanted. Option B— We don't give the cure to Elena, I take it, and we can have the life we wanted." Damon exhaled. "You see my problem here, Riles?"

"Listen, the whole reason that we even started looking for a cure to vampirism was for Elena. As much as we want to, I don't think that we could take that choice away from Elena." Riley tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she watched Damon hide his sadness with a smile.

"Hm. I figured you'd say that." He nodded slowly as the doppelgänger herself wandered appeared in their doorway. "Oh. Speak of the Devil."

"Hey. Sorry to interrupt." Elena innocently smiled, fiddling with her hands. "I just came to ask Riley what time we were planning on leaving for the graduation."

"Oh. Um— soon? Caroline's given me strict orders to be there a little earlier so we can take photographs." Riley rolled her eyes as she recalled the itinerary Caroline had given her. "But, whilst you're here, there's something we wanna give you."

Riley gave Damon an encouraging look as he twirled around and pulled out the cure from a small treasure chest at the side of the bed. "Consider it a graduation present."

"Guys, I can't take that." Elena's eyes were fixed on the small dose of the cure in the Salvatore's hand. "I'm not saying that I don't want it, obviously I want it, but that's the only one. There's only one cure. And, the hunters have it made pretty clear they're willing to kill everyone in Mystic Falls until they get it."