"Is everything packed?" Caroline asked hurriedly. "Because we have no time. Matt activated the 'evacuation protocol', everyone in Mystic Falls is about to be on the road."
"No," Riley said, answering her original question. "I think I have all the essentials, but we'll have to leave everything else behind." Riley looked at the house that had been her first home in Mystic Falls. "I can't believe we don't even get to say a proper goodbye."
"We can't think like that," Caroline reminded her sister. "Riles, I just got off the phone with Stefan – Katherine hid Elena's body. She says that by 10pm, Mystic Falls will burn, and Elena will burn with it."
Riley stopped her true, terrified reaction in its tracks. "OK, that's fine. We still have some time, we'll just have to find Elena. There's not many places that Katherine could hide a human body."
"Stefan's on his way to the high school," Caroline informed her, also hiding her true terrified reaction. "I said we'd meet him there."
"Good," Riley nodded, as the front door opened and Ric entered.
"Bonnie's in the car with the girls, let's go," he urged them.
"Listen," Caroline started nervously. "I need you to go ahead. We're gonna stay here and help Stefan." She cleared her throat. "Katherine has taken Elena's body... we're gonna help them find her."
"No," Ric said automatically, putting his foot down. "No, Caroline. The girls need you. Both of you."
"Damon is not gonna leave this town if Elena's still inside," Riley reminded him, absentmindedly turning the new piece of jewelry on her ring finger. "And I'm not leaving without him."
Before Ric could respond, Caroline jumped in. "The girls have you. Okay? Get them to the Armory, and we'll meet you there soon. I promise."
Ric sighed deeply. "I don't need to remind either of you what it's like to lose your mother. Don't make me have to tell those girls you died because you put somebody else before them."
Caroline looked at him determinedly. Because as much as she loved Stefan, and Elena, and Mystic Falls, nothing came before her girls. "You won't have to. We will both get out of here safely. I promise."
He turned reluctantly, joining the girls and Bonnie, while Caroline and Riley looked around the house one more time.
"This is it," Caroline said sadly.
Riley nodded, dragging her eyes away. "Let's find Elena."
***
They walked through their high school, for probably the last time ever, with Stefan by their side.
"She's in the boiler room," he told them. "Kai spelled her in, she can't get out."
Caroline shook her head in despair. "So what are we supposed to do? We can't just leave Elena here."
Riley stopped walking, looking at Stefan, who knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Care, we're not gonna leave Elena here. You are gonna go to the Armory and be with Ric and Bonnie and the girls."
Caroline looked at her sister in disbelief. "Are you seriously expecting me to leave you here, Riles?"
Riley nodded. "Yeah, I am. Because Damon feels so guilty about the Kai sleeping spell thing that he's never gonna leave Elena to die alone. And I'm not leaving him."
Tears sprang to Caroline's eyes. "Riley, do not even think about letting my kids grow up without their godmother."
"I'm not," Riley said immediately. "Look, I don't plan on still being here when Vicki rings that last bell. I just... I have to talk to him, Care."
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Unstoppable | The Vampire Diaries
Fanfiction❝Because there was no possible way that someone who was alive in the 1920s could still be alive today. No possible way.❞ [TVD 1x01+] Riley Fletcher is a human. In a normal town, this would make her extremely ordinary. In Mystic Falls, this makes he...
