Always Getting Over You | The Vampire Diaries

Heart Of Darkness

3rd Person POV:

Early in the morning at the Salvatore Boarding House, Elena walked down the stairs to the basement holding a large duffel bag in her hands and approached one of the heavy metal doors that lead to a cell. She stopped in front of the door to peer through the bars and nibbled on her lower lip hesitantly.

"Alaric?" she called out warily as her dark brown eyes landed on the darkened silhouette of her guardian lying on the camp bed by the wall of the cell.

"Yep. Still me." Alaric replied idly without opening his eyes and Elena sighed audibly in relief as she unlocked the cell door. Alaric groaned a little as he pushed himself into sitting position and Elena walked into the room with a small smile on her lips. "You know, you shouldn't be in here. It defeats the point of the whole being locked in a cellar thing."

"Well, you still need the basics. Toothbrush, clothes, some boring books to help you sleep." Elena told him as she dropped the duffel bag on the ground besides that cot and Alaric quirked an eyebrow in interest as he picked up one of the books from the inside the bag.

"Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?" he asked her in amusement as the corners of his lips quirked up in a smile and Elena furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she snatched the novel from his grasp to look at the title.

"What? No, I grabbed.... Damon. Thinks he's hilarious."

"At least one of us still has a sense of humour." Alaric said drily as he shook his head at his best friend's antics and Elena frowned in concern as she looked at the dark circles under Alaric's eyes.

"Are you sure that you...? I mean you don't have to be kept in here." She told him honestly as her dark gaze swept around the small area of the cell and Alaric followed her look around the room longing look.

"Ah, no, this is... this is the right place for me to be. At least until you guys can convince my highly uncooperative alter ego to fess up to where I or he hid the white oak stake." He replied with a sad smile as he turned back to face her and she sighed in defeat as she ran a hand through her dark hair.

"We looked everywhere. You.... the other you, hid it well." Elena told him miserably as she sat down on the cot next to him and he frowned at her forlorn expression as he leaned his head back on the brick wall behind him.

"What's Klaus gonna do if you can't find it?"

"It's the only thing that will kill him, so wage war, murder people, you know Klaus stuff. And now that Rheanna knows Damon killed Lexi, I have the feeling she will only be too happy to help him with that." She explained sadly as she looked down at her clasped together hands and Alaric felt a rush of sympathy for the young girl in front of him that had suffered so much in such a short amount of time.

Elena sighed heavily once more before glancing up at the retired vampire hunter next to her and offering him a cautious smile. "Listen, Stefan is gonna watch over you for a little while. Now that Klaus knows where Jeremy is, it's not safe so, Damon and I are gonna go to Denver to pick him up."

"Why do you say that like you're waiting for me to disapprove?" he asked her in confusion as he watched her twist her hands together in her lap nervously and she shrugged her shoulders delicately as she turned her attention to the cell door instead of looking him in the eye.

"I don't know. Me and Damon. Traveling across the country."

"I guess I'm more curious to hear what Stefan has to say about it." Alaric stated honestly as he tilted his head to the side curiously and Elena bit her lower lip thoughtfully.

"Actually, it was his idea. He thinks that I have some unresolved feelings for Damon." She explained slowly as she turned to look Alaric in his hazel coloured eyes and was relieved that she could only see concern instead of the judgement she expected.