it's almost over
"IT'S A GOOD IDEA, STEFAN, WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?"
Athena looked at her pacing boyfriend helplessly from her spot on the end of the bed, a frown marring her pretty features.
"We can't just serve Elena on a silver platter to the crazy hybrid trying to kill her!"
She laughs incredulously. "Why not?! Why can't we do that?"
Stefan shakes his head, their voices echoing off the tall ceilings of his bedroom. "Because that's not what we do, Athena. We aren't making a deal with the devil,"
She stands, walking towards him with rising frustration. "No, that's not what you do, Stefan. I'm not trading our lives, I'm trying to save all of yours! Maybe Klaus can't kill me, maybe he won't even want to, but he can kill you in a heartbeat, okay? I'm trying to save your life and you just keep throwing yourself back into the line of fire."
"That's not what I'm doing, Athena, I'm just," He sighs, wiping a hand down his stressed features.
Athena scoffs, shaking her head at him as she chokes around the lump in her throat. "Why do you care so much about Elena, huh? Why are you so concerned about her surviving this?"
"Don't do that."
"Do what?" She throws her arms out, exasperated. "You can't sit here and tell me it's something out of the goodness of your heart. It's Elena, Stefan. It's never that simple when she's involved, and we both know it. So, tell me what the deal is, because I've been letting a lot of shit slide for the sake of keeping the peace but I am at my wit's end, Stefan,"
He scoffs. "You're at your wit's end? Really? Why is it so hard to believe that I just want to save her because it's the right thing to do?"
"The world isn't black and white, you can't just pick and choose what's right and what's wrong. You can't sit here and look at me like I'm the bad guy just because I'd rather Elena die than lose you or Damon or anyone else!"
"I don't think you're the bad guy!"
She lets out an incredulous, cold laugh. "That's funny because you've done ultimately nothing but tell me that what I'm doing is wrong. I mean, if you really see me as this horrible villain, how do you even sleep with me at night? How does it feel for your poor moral compass to be dating such a terrible person,"
Stefan shakes his head, a humorless laugh leaving his lips. "You're putting words into my mouth, Athena. Just because I'm not willing to sign her life away myself doesn't mean I'm calling you the bad guy."
"Oh, my god," She looks at him in disbelief, her face scrunching up. "You literally just said that you think I'm signing Elena's life away. I mean, if I knew you'd see it like that, I'd have already killed her!"
"Athena,"
"No! No, you're a condescending prick, okay? In case you weren't aware of this, you're not a saint. You have skeletons in your closet just like any one of us, and you would think that after so long, you'd realize it's not always as easy as right and wrong."
Anger and hurt flashes in Stefan's eyes and he takes a step towards her, looking down into her blazing irises. "I understand that it's not that easy, but there's a clear choice here, Athena!"
"So, you're willing to die for Elena? If I hand her over to Klaus all wrapped up with a bow, you're going to run after them and save her life and be killed in the meantime? Klaus won't spare you because you have empathy, okay? He's been trying to break his curse for a thousand years, and that's a hell of a lot more time than you've spent with Elena fucking Gilbert."
Athena scoffs, feeling tears burst over her waterline onto her flushed cheeks. "All I'm doing is looking at the big picture, Stefan. What has Elena ever done for any of us? She's spent her whole life hating me and making sure I was as miserable as possible, and the second you and Damon get to town, her mere existence causes problems between all of us,"
Stefan tries to speak, perhaps to calm her steady stream of tears she's not bothering to hold back anymore, but Athena doesn't let him get a word in.
"If we let Klaus kill Elena in the sacrifice, everything will be fine. We– we can graduate high school, we can go on and have a life, we'll be at peace, Stefan. Isn't that what you've always wanted?"
She drops her head into her hands, her shoulders trembling with her cries.
"Athena," He rests a hand on her shoulder and she pulls away from him, looking up at him with glassy brown eyes.
She looks at him with wide, wet eyes, looking more lost than ever. "Do you love her? Is that it? You have feelings for her still?"
"No," Stefan says immediately, looking appalled at the thought. "Athena, I would never do that to you,"
She shrugs her shoulders, using the sleeves of her sweater to wipe her cheeks off. "God," She shakes her head defeatedly. "You know, I thought after Caroline I'd never have to go through this again."
Stefan looks at her, regret pooling in his green eyes as Athena steps around him. "Sweetheart, please,"
She looks over her shoulder at him, a heart-wrenching look of sadness beaming in her eyes as tears stutter across her cheeks one by one. "Everyone always chooses Elena,"
She doesn't wait for him as she leaves the bedroom, hurrying down the stairs as her tears become more steady. She practically stumbles into the living room and falls onto the couch in a heap of sobs that fall flat in the still silence.
She feels like the universe truly has it out for her when she hears a throat clear behind her, and she snaps her head around to look at the intruder. "What? What is it?"
She meets Damon's concerned and apologetic gaze through her blurry one.
"There's, uh, there's someone here to see you,"
Athena sniffs her nose and watches as Damon steps aside, her eyes widening when she sees the smiling blonde and an unfamiliar-looking man standing beside her. "Lexi? How'd you get here so fast?"
Athena stands, her eyes still looking at the man warily. "Who's your friend?"
Lexi sighs, a slight sense of awkwardness coating her features. "Athena, I, uh, well, this is–"
"Apollo!" The man exclaims, making Athena's eyes widen impossibly. "I'm your brother, half-brother, technically. Artemis's twin."
Athena looks at him oddly, her eyes drifting to Lexi. "How do you know him?"
The vampire winces. "It's a long story,"
Shaking her head, Athena holds her hands up in surrender. "You know what? I need a drink."
She pushes through the trio standing in the doorway, eternally grateful that Stefan hadn't found the need to join the sudden crowd downstairs. She trails down the hallway to Damon's study, reaching down slightly to step out of her shoes and throw them carelessly on the floor by his desk.
She's barely able to pour herself a drink before she hears the door open and she braces herself to hear Stefan's voice, but is relieved when she hears Damon instead.
"So, uh, what's with the tears?"
She scoffs, not turning around to look at him as she throws back a hefty shot. "Your brother's an asshole,"
Damon smirks slightly, but the concern in his eyes is unmistakable. "I knew that, but it's never been directed at you for obvious reasons. Wanna talk about it?"
She bites her tongue, feeling another round of tears building. "Not really,"
Damon rests a hand on her shoulder, pulling her around to face him gently. His blue eyes soften with a rare sympathy at the sight of the silent tears streaming from her once-perfect makeup. "Athena,"
The glass falls from her hand and Damon catches her as she falls against him, her sobs racking her almost violently. His eyes widen and he holds the girl against him, his eyes darting to the still-shut door.
"Damon," She forces out in between cries. "Why doesn't anybody choose me? Why is it always her? Am I just not enough?"
Damon grits his teeth, his anger rising quickly at the thought of Stefan making her think these things.
"I just want him to be safe, and all he's doing is fighting me," Athena pulls away wiping at her flushed, tear-stained face. "I don't know what to do anymore. I don't– I don't trust him, Damon,"
Damon lays his hands on her shoulders, making her meet his gaze sternly. "Let me talk to him, okay? I'm sure something got lost in translation, we're all stressed right now and it's taking a toll. Just stay here and calm down, and I'll go talk to him."
Athena shakes her head, pulling away from him carefully to avoid the broken glass and bourbon on the floor. "I think I'm gonna go home for a little bit,"
Damon furrows his brows. "Go home?"
"To my dad's. I just think it's best if I go home for a while,"
The vampire tries to argue, but she's off and carrying her shoes loosely before he can even form a word on his tongue. His angered eyes flicker upwards to where he's been listening to his brother pace for the past ten minutes, and he clenches his fists at his side before storming out of his study and up the stairs.
──────
Athena rolls her irritated eyes when she hears her doorbell ring, and she gets up from the couch she's not even sat on in six months with an annoyed groan. She drags her slipper-covered feet to the front door and swings it open, a glare on her face.
"Damon, I told you to just let me– you're not Damon," Her eyes flicker in between the unexpected guests on her doorstep and she frowns deeply. "Elijah, why are you with Apollo? How did you even meet?"
"I came to the Salvatore house looking for you, and I got him instead. He said you came here to relax."
Her eyes narrow at Apollo, who has the decency to look ashamed at her wrath. "Can we come in? I feel like there's a lot of explaining to do between the three of us."
Sighing, Athena swings the door completely open and throws her arm out in the direction of the grand hallway. "Come on in, guys. Casa de Zeus is a motel for supernatural creatures at this point."
Elijah and Apollo step through the doorway and Athena leads them into the living room where she'd been wrapped up in blankets and mindlessly watching some rerun on the television for the past few hours.
She couldn't even begin to explain what she was watching, as she had been zoned out for so long, trying to ignore the ache in her chest that presented itself every time her pulse throbbed.
The men seated themselves, Apollo looking around wondrously in the same sense that Josh had. For her, it was a childhood home, but to them, she supposed it was Zeus's palace on Earth.
"–Athena? Are you listening?"
The goddess startles from her slight daze, rubbing at her chest through her sweatshirt. "I'm sorry," She shook her head at Elijah. "It's been a long day."
Apollo eyed her closely, watching her pained movements. "You and Stefan have already completed the bond?"
"Uh," Athena trails off, sharing an odd look with Elijah. "What bond?"
"Well, you're soulmates, right?"
Athena nods once, though it's unsure in the wake of their argument.
"So you've already completed the bond,"
"If by bond you mean confessing our love to one another in a magic tomb underground and having copious amounts of sex, then sure,"
Apollo's eyes widened. "Do you feel bad? I–" He stops, hesitating. "You're fighting right now, aren't you?"
She nods again.
"It makes you feel horrible, doesn't it?" He asks, his tone knowing. "Like you'd rather die than keep feeling it,"
Athena sat up slightly, furrowing her brows at him. "Do you have a soulmate, too?"
"Yes, my twin, Artemis," Apollo's eyes widen when he sees Athena's quick reaction of hesitant disgust, and he shakes his head furiously. "No, no, it's not like that. Soulmates aren't purely romantic. It's whatever bond the Fates have made for you."
Apollo clears his throat, looking at the two before him. "Artemis and I, our bond isn't one of normal siblings, we were twins, we're born from the same DNA, the same stars have mapped our souls and intertwined them. There ultimately isn't a thing we do without one another, even when we're apart. She's always in my mind."
"That's not– Stefan and I aren't like that."
"Like I said, it's different for everyone. Artemis and I take our bond very seriously because it saves our lives in battle, or times of strife. We've promised to never marry no matter who we love, we are loyal to one another until we die. Artemis is the goddess of chastity, for Zeus's sake!"
Athena's eyes widen, and she nearly laughs at the comical look of disbelief on Elijah's face. But she quickly sobers and looks at Apollo hopefully. "So, what do you think of Stefan and I's bond?"
"It depends on how you met, and things like that,"
Athena subconsciously rubs at her chest, her brows furrowing. "Well, we didn't start off on the best foot. On my part, at least– but my dad said that Stefan and I were never supposed to meet. He said he spent centuries prolonging our meeting, and our bond because he wanted to prevent it."
Apollo's fiery eyes suddenly flash with worry and Athena leans forward, looking at him suspiciously. "What?"
"Nothing, it's just," Apollo shakes his head. "What finally happened that allowed you to meet Stefan?"
Athena contemplates it for a moment. "I got into a car accident in May, and I drowned. My dad said that it shouldn't have happened and that my fate had changed in a way he couldn't see,"
"Oh,"
"What?" Athena sits up straight, looking at him with panic in her eyes. "What do you know?"
"Listen," Apollo sighed. "For the sake of myself and Elijah, why don't you just start from the beginning– from the car accident to now? If I hear all of it, I can hopefully make more sense of it."
Athena sighed, hesitating as she shifted her gaze to Elijah, who'd been stunned into silence. "I guess I did promise you my story in return for yours,"
The Original nods, remembering her words. "I promise you have my full attention."
Heaving a sigh, Athena folded her hands in her lap and thought back to May. "Well, I guess it technically all started when I went to this stupid party with my girlfriend and our friends."
──────
"Are you stupid?" Damon bursts into Stefan's room, crossing the room to grab him by his shirt and shove him backward. "Have you completely lost all of your common sense? I mean, seriously,"
"Damon," Stefan pushes his brother away, glaring at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that Athena just left because you can't put your stupid hero complex aside for five minutes to pay attention to your girlfriend!"
Stefan's eyes widen and he feels his heart plummet to his stomach. "She left? No, no, she couldn't–"
Damon scoffs. "I promise she did, and I know it was your fault because all she was asking was if she'd done something wrong. She was crying, Stefan. Crying! I don't do tears, especially from teenage goddesses with weapons at the ready!"
Stefan wipes his hands over his face. "I– I was just frustrated, I don't understand what's going on with me,"
The ripper shakes his head exasperatedly. "All I've been doing lately is getting defensive with her. It's like I'm looking over my shoulder every second of the day, and I don't know why. Athena told me she doesn't trust me anymore and I– I don't blame her. It feels like something in my mind is making me be like this, but I don't understand it,"
Damon furrows his brows. "You realize you sound insane, right?"
"I'm serious, Damon. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was compelled."
The raven-haired vampire's face falls suddenly, and Stefan raises a brow at him. "Stefan,"
"What?"
"Are you absolutely positive that you haven't had any run-ins with Originals in the past?"
He shakes his head, looking at his older brother incredulously. "No, Damon, I'd never even met any of them until Rose brought Elijah here. I've heard of Klaus, but I think I'd remember if I met one of the most dangerous creatures to exist."
Damon takes a wary step away from his brother, still eyeing him oddly. "Right, but Originals can compel other vampires, right?"
"We've been over this. Make your point before I actually go insane,"
"Originals can compel other vampires, Stefan," Damon repeats himself, giving him a pointed look. "That includes compelling them to forget they ever met."
Stefan's eyes widened. "No, no, it's not– I've technically died since I became a vampire, I mean, I've had my neck snapped a hundred times. Doesn't compulsion wear off if you die?"
"Well, yeah, sure, but there was that decade you spent drunk on blood, going all Ripper on Chicago that you don't really remember. And who's to say you haven't seen any Originals in the past five years to compel you again?"
"So, what, I've been compelled to keep a random teenage girl from Virginia safe, even though they couldn't guarantee I'd ever even know her? I mean, which one of the Originals would even want me to do that if they all want Klaus to break the curse?"
Damon clicks his tongue, a wry smile on his lips. "She's not just some kid from Virginia, though, Stefan. She's Katherine Pierce's doppelgänger. That's enough for people to want to kill her as is. Throw in the first vampires ever with a brother that has a curse bound to her, and it makes her life priceless."
Stefan's jaw drops slightly and he looks at his brother in disbelief. "I– I mean– I don't want to keep her safe for Klaus, I don't want the sacrifice to happen at all. Why would they compel me to not help break the curse, it doesn't make any sense,"
"Your girlfriend is a god and your best friend is banging her half-brother, I think we're way past making sense."
Stefan wipes a hand over his face, sighing tiredly. "We need to talk to Elijah and see if he knows anything,"
"I know where he is, but I don't know how welcome we'll be at the moment," Damon holds a finger up. "Well, I don't know how welcome you will be."
Stefan grimaces. "I have to make this right, okay? I can't lose Athena, and if I don't get rid of this compulsion, or whatever the hell is going on, that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"Finally, you're saying something I agree with. Let's go,"
Stefan follows his brother out of the door, but stops momentarily, his brows furrowing. "Wait– who is Lexi having sex with?"
──────
author's note; yk I was playing the sims and the first scene popped in my mind and I was like "pain. that is all."
originally published; 2.1.21. (happy birthday harry styles i love u sm my aquarius king)
edited: 12.4.23.
- liz