09. Homecoming
Aria groaned in her sleep when she heard her phone ringing, "Damon, answer it, and tell whoever it is that Aria's busy".
Damon chuckled at his girlfriends actions, he grabbed her phone and realised it was Klaus calling.
"Klaus?" Damon answered confused.
"Where's Ari?" Klaus asked immediately.
"Well hello to you to" Damon said sarcastically.
"Not now Damon, where's Ari?" Klaus asked.
Damon frowned hearing the urgency in Klaus's voice.
"She's right next to me, peacefully sleeping" Damon replied.
"So Mikael didn't get to her?" Klaus asked confused.
"Mikael?" Damon asked confused, gaining Aria's attention.
"What's Nik saying?" Aria asked, Damon put the phone on speak.
"Stefan called me saying Elena daggered my father, because he came after Ari" Klaus informed, he immediately had his doubt when Stefan said that, he knew Aria was the one person Mikael vowed never to harm.
"Nik, Elena and gang are trying to trap you" Aria said, "Yesterday, she came over to know the story of your family, she wanted to know why she shouldn't wake Mikael up, Mikael never came after me, I feel like Elena and Stefan teamed up with him to kill you".
"Tonight is your homecoming, right?" Klaus asked.
"We are telling you that Stefan and Elena are working with your father to kill you and your worried about homecoming" Damon snapped.
"I've run my entire life, it's time this ends" Klaus said.
"Nik, are you sure about this?" Aria asked, slightly doubtful.
"I'm absolutely sure" Klaus replied, "See you both at homecoming".
After Klaus hanged up, Damon turned to Aria, "Your best friend has a death wish".
Aria sighed, "You heard him Damon, his tired of running".
"So what's the plan?" Damon asked.
"Would you believe me if I say for once I have no plan?" Aria asked.
"Aria Connor has no plan, that's a first" Damon teased.
"Ha ha ha, you're so funny" Aria said sarcastically.
"I know right" Damon replied, smiling at Aria.
"I have a question for you Mr. Salvatore" Aria said.
"Oh, please do ask Miss. Connor" Damon said.
"Will you, Damon Salvatore, be my date to homecoming?" Aria asked, making Damon smile.
"I thought you would never ask" Damon teased.
"Well I did, so?" Aria asked.
"Is this even a question, of course I will" Damon replied, pecking Aria's lips.
"Good" Aria whispered, "It would suck to go with someone that isn't my boyfriend".
"As if your boyfriend would let you go with someone else" Damon said.
Aria smiled, "I do have a possessive boyfriend, don't I?".
"Can you blame him?" Damon asked, "His girlfriend is hot".
Aria laughed and shook her head, "God, you are so cheesy".
Damon grabbed Aria's wrist and pulled her on top of him, "Yes I am".
And with that, Damon placed his lips on to Aria's.
***
"Wow Beks, you look hot" Aria complimented, entering Rebekah's room with Caroline, and seeing Rebekah in her red homecoming dress.
"I'm nervous" Rebekah admitted, looking at herself in the mirror in nervousness, "Embarrassing truth, this is my first high school dance".
"Ever?" Caroline asked shocked.
"I never really had time for high school before" Rebekah replied, "Nik and I were always moving around, running, anyway I didn't want to leave anything to chance".
"Well, after today, you and Klaus won't have to run anymore"Caroline said.
"After today, both of you will be free" Aria said, "And about high school, me and Caroline are going to make sure your experience is the best you can ever have".
"And first step to that, is making sure you have an amazing homecoming" Caroline said, giving Rebekah a small smile.
"Group hug, guys!" Aria yelled excitedly, "It's our first homecoming together, I think we deserve a group hug".
"Come here" Rebekah said, pulling the two girls into a hug, "Thank you, for everything".
"Always here" Aria and Caroline said simultaneously.
***
Aria's Dress for Homecoming
Aria looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, she knew tonight was going to be hectic, she knew for a fact someone was going to die, she could feel it, but she didn't tell anyone, she didn't want anyone to be worried, but she promised to herself that no matter what happens tonight, no one she cares about is getting hurt tonight.
Two pings on Aria's phone broke her trance.
The gym flooded, so homecoming has been shifted to Tyler's house, me and Rebekah are making our way there, you and your lover boy better hurry.
Care Bear
You were right, Stefan's no longer in the Forbes cell, something tells me Mikael has something to do with that, I will be there in fifteen minutes, can't wait to see you.
xoxo Damon
Aria laughed at Damon's text, as time went on, it seems like xoxo had become their thing without them even realising.
"You look beautiful" Elena said, entering Damon's room.
"What the hell do you want?" Aria snapped, the smile on her face immediately gone seeing Elena.
"I came to give you something" Elena said, walking towards Aria.
"I don't want anything from you Elena" Aria said.
"Not even this?" Elena asked, showing Aria a gold ring that had a red ruby in the middle of it.
Aria looked at the ring in shock, tears started welling in her eyes seeing it.
"Thats--".
"Your mothers" Elena finished.
"My dad gave her that" Aria said, one of the few memories she had of her parents included one of her dad and mom and her watching a movie, and then her dad suddenly getting on one knee and in a very playful manner re-proposing to her mother with that ring.
"It was in Mom's things, I guess after you parents died Liz wasn't the only one who got their things" Elena explained.
Aria took the ring from Elena's hand and looked at it, she was feeling so many emotions right now but she didn't want to fall weak infront of Elena.
"What's the catch?" Aria asked, "There's no way your giving me this out of the goodness of your heart".
Elena sighed, "Believe it or not Aria, I am giving you this out of the goodness of my heart, it's your mother's ring, you deserve to have it".
"No" Aria said, shaking her head, after getting betrayed by Elena so many times, Aria refused to believe anything that came out of her mouth "You're lying, your here for some other reason".
"Aria, tonight we know someone between Mikael and Klaus is going to die, and whoever dies, one of us is going to lose, one of us is going to hurt the other" Elena said, confusing Aria.
"Elena, where are you taking this?" Aria asked, "And tell me something, where did you even meet Mikael?".
"He found us" Elena revealed, "Katherine led him to us, he came up with a plan to lure Klaus back into town by saying that he went after you".
"Does Mikael know who I am?" Aria asked.
"No" Elena replied, "He only knows that your a girl Klaus cares for, he doesn't know your Ariana".
Aria scoffed, "Unbelievable, you are such a selfish little bitch Elena!".
Elena looked at Aria in shock, "Aria--".
"Don't!" Aria yelled, "You knew, you knew that once you tell Mikael about me, he wouldn't help you kill Klaus, that's why you've kept him away from me".
"For me nothing is above killing Klaus anymore" Elena replied.
"And for me nothing is above saving the people I care about" Aria snapped, "I will see you at homecoming Elena".
Aria went to leave, but Elena grabbed her hand, "I'm sorry Aria, I wish things could be different".
Aria looked at Elena in confusion, but before she could realise it, Bonnie had walked behind her and hit her on the head with a vase, knocking her out, her mother's ring, falling from her hand.
"I'm so sorry Aria" Bonnie whispered, looking at the unconscious girl in guilt.
"We had to do this Bonnie" Elena said, "You and me both know Aria being there, will destroy all our plans, we couldn't leave anything to chance".
Bonnie sighed, "By doing this, I basically destroyed mine and Aria's friendship forever, I really hope killing Klaus is worth losing everyone we care about Elena".
***
"How did he plan a better party than me so fast?" Caroline asked shocked, entering the Lockwood's mansion, Rebekah's arm looped around hers, "Wait is that a band outside?".
"Where the hell is Aria and Damon?" Rebekah asked, looking around anxiously.
"Blondie, Barbie Klaus" Damon greeted, walking over to the two girls.
"About bloody time" Rebekah snapped, "Where's Aria?".
Damon frowned hearing Rebekah, "What do you mean where's Aria, she said she will be here with you both".
Both Caroline and Rebekah frowned hearing Damon.
"Why would Aria come with us?" Caroline asked confused, "I thought we decided you and Aria will come together".
"We did, and I was half way back to her, when I received this" Damon replied, showing both the girls the message he received from Aria's phone.
Something urgent came up, had to go to homecoming with Rebekah and Caroline, I will see you there.
-Aria
"Okay, there is no way Aria sent this text, she never calls me Rebekah" Rebekah said.
"And she never calls me Caroline" Caroline said.
"Dammit!" Damon yelled, "I knew something was wrong the minute I got this text but I thought she was in a hurry and quickly typed this message".
"Guys, what are we going to do now?" Caroline asked, suddenly very worried, "Save Klaus, or save Aria?".
"We are going to save both of them" Damon said, "Blondie, you and Rebekah find Klaus, he is somewhere here, find him and make sure Mikael doesn't kill, I'm going to go find Aria".
"Call us when you find her" Rebekah said.
Damon nodded and quickly left the premises to find the girl he loves, really hoping she was fine.
***
Damon ran into the boarding house and started looking around for Aria, this was the last place Rebekah and Caroline had seen her, if she wasn't here, then Damon had no idea where she could be.
"Ria!" Damon yelled, hoping to get a response back, but he got nothing.
Damon suddenly froze when he heard a heartbeat coming from his room, he quickly ran towards his room and was shocked seeing an unconscious Aria laying on the floor, a small gash on the side of her forehead.
"Ria!" Damon yelled, running over to Aria, he bit into his wrist and tried to get Aria to drink his blood, but she wouldn't, "Come on Ria, you have to drink, please".
After a moment, Aria finally drank some of Damon's blood and slowly opened her eyes.
"Damon" Aria groaned, her head pounding.
"What happened here Ria?" Damon asked, wanting to know who hurt his girlfriend.
"It was Elena and Bonnie" Aria whispered, feeling extremely sick, "Elena distracted me while Bonnie hit me in the back of the head".
"I'm going to kill those two" Damon spat, fury shown clearly in his voice and eyes.
"Damon, you have to take me to homecoming" Aria said, trying to get up but failing.
"Ria, you're weak, you can hardly stand how are you going to go to homecoming?" Damon asked, holding Aria close to him.
"I can stop him" Aria said, "I can stop Mikael from killing Nik, he doesn't know I'm back, Elena never told him, I really feel like I can get to him, I really feel like I can save everyone's life".
"Ria--".
"Please Damon" Aria pleaded, "If I don't go, someone will die, I can stop someone from dying tonight, you need to let me go".
Damon sighed, he knew better then arguing with Aria over something she has already made her mind about, "Fine, let's go".
Before Aria could register anything, Damon picked Aria up in his arms and took her to his car, Aria didn't even bother question his actions, she was too tired.
***
"There you are" Caroline said, running over to Klaus who was busy playing beer pong.
"Caroline, right?" Klaus asked, "Ari's best friend".
"Sister, actually" Caroline corrected, "But I'm not here to talk about my relationship with Aria, I'm here to tell you that you need to get out of here Klaus, your father is here and his going to kill you".
Klaus smiled at Caroline, "Nice to know you care, love".
Caroline scoffed, "I don't care about you, I care about Aria losing someone she cares about".
"That reminds me, where is Ari?" Klaus asked, "I haven't seen her all night".
"We don't know" Caroline replied.
Klaus frowned hearing Caroline, "What do you mean you don't know where Ari is?".
"You heard me Klaus" Caroline snapped, equally as worried for Aria, "She's missing but Damon's gone to find her, I'm supposed to make sure you don't die".
Before Klaus could reply to Caroline, one of his hybrid walked over to him.
"You have a visitor".
"Tell my visitor I'm dealing with a family matter right now" Klaus snapped.
"He said his name is Mikael" The hybrid said, shocking both Caroline and Klaus.
"Then I mustn't keep him waiting" Klaus said, "Move everyone out back, I'm gonna have a little chat with my dad
"Klaus, don't" Caroline said, holding Klaus's arm, worry shown clearly in her eyes, "Please don't go".
"Relax love, I will be fine" Klaus said, "You should stay here, something tells me things are going to get real messy".
***
Klaus walked to the front door of the Lockwood house, to see his very much alive father standing there.
"Hello, Niklaus" Mikael greeted.
"Hello, Mikael" Klaus greeted, "Won't you come in? Oh, that's right, I forgot, you can't".
"Or you can come outside if you want" Mikael suggested.
"Or I could watch my hybrids tear you limb from limb" Klaus threatened, as a bunch of his hybrids walked behind Mikael.
"They can't kill me" Mikael reminded.
"True, but it'd make a hell of a party game" Klaus said, "All I have to do is rub these two fingers together, and they'll pounce".
"The big bad wolf" Mikael mocked, "You haven't changed, still hiding behind your playthings like a coward, oh, and you forget, they may be sired by you but they're still part vampire, and they can be compelled by me".
One of Klaus's hybrids walked over to Mikael, and handed a terrified Elena over to him.
"Come out and face me Niklaus, or she dies" Mikael threatened.
"Go ahead, kill her" Klaus said, shocking Elena.
"No, Klaus, he'll do it" Elena said.
"If she dies, this lot will be the last of your abominations" Mikael said.
"I don't need them, I just need to be rid of you" Klaus spat.
"To what end, Niklaus?" Mikael asked, "So you can live forever with no one at your side? Nobody cares about you anymore, boy! Who do you have other than whose loyalty you've forced?".
"He has us, he has his family" Rebekah said, as Caroline and her stood on either side of Klaus.
"How could you support him?" Mikael asked his daughter, "Do you even know what he and Kol did to your mother?".
"I do" Rebekah said, making Klaus look at her in shock, "But you and me both know what Nik and Kol did to her, she deserved it, she took Ariana from us".
"Ariana would never have wanted you to hate your mother so much, that you would be happy with her death" Mikael spat.
"You didn't know her" Klaus snapped, "You were never close to her as we were, you don't know what happened to us after we lost her!".
"She was like my daughter!" Mikael yelled, "Of course I was devastated with her death!".
Rebekah scoffed, "You had a weird way of showing that, as soon as Ariana died, you started hunting Nik and Kol down, you caused your own family to be on the run for centuries, and you have the nerve to come and say Nik is the monster when in reality, it's you, you've been after your own children for centuries, no good father does that, now I'm calling your bluff father, kill the bloody doppelganger, you're saving me the trouble from doing it myself".
"Tell your coward brother to come outside and face me, and I won't have to" Mikael said, turning to Klaus, "Or are you going hide behind the shadows of these two girls?".
"His not hiding behind our shadows" Caroline snapped, "We are standing by his side, whose standing behind your side? That's right, no one".
"My whole life, you've underestimated me" Klaus said, tears streaming down his face, "If you kill her, you lose your leverage, so go ahead, go on, kill her, come on, old man, kill her, kill her!".
Mikael suddenly started chuckling, "Ah, your impulse Niklaus, it has, and will forever be, the one thing that keeps you from truly being great".
"Your wrong about that" Aria said, standing behind Mikael, with Damon by her side, "You really need to stop underestimating your son".
Mikael looked at Aria in shock, "Ariana".
"Hello, Mikael" Aria greeted.
"He did it" Mikael whispered, "Kol actually bought you back".
"Yes he did" Aria said, "And I'm here to make sure you don't kill your son".
"His not my son" Mikael spat, "His a bastard".
"Come on Mikael, there has to be a small part of that once loved Nik before you let your pride come between you both" Aria said, "There has to be a moment in your life that you loved him, you just need to remember that moment, please remember, don't kill your own son".
Hearing Aria, Mikael's expressions softened for one second, but before anyone could notice, hatred replaced his expressions again, "I'm sorry my child, he needs to die".
Mikael turned to Elena and stabbed her.
Suddenly, Stefan speeded behind Klaus and stabbed him in the stomach with the white oak stake, making him scream in pain.
Caroline and Rebekah tried to run towards them, but Bonnie came and used her magic to give the two vampires a aneurysm.
Elena, who turned out to be Katherine, stood up, shocking Mikael.
"Katherine" Mikael said.
Katherine smirked, she pulled out two vervain grenades and threw it in the direction Damon, Aria and the hybrids were standing.
Damon quickly grabbed Aria and speeded them into the house before the grenades could harm them.
Stefan took the stake out of Klaus's stomach, and goes to stake him the heart, but Aria uses her magic to push him into a wall while Damon throws the white oak stake towards Klaus.
Klaus grabs the stake and speeds over to Mikael, he stakes him in the heart, causing him to scream in pain and go up into flames, while Stefan, Katherine and Bonnie ran away.
Damon brings Aria's into his chest, blocking her view of a burning Mikael, while Klaus, Caroline and Rebekah looked at Mikael's dead body.
***
"Damon, I'm fine, stop worrying" Aria said, as Damon laid Aria down on to the bed.
"Are you really?" Damon asked, sitting on the bed.
"I--", Aria sighed, "I don't know, I thought I could stop someone from dying tonight, I really thought I could get to Mikael, but I couldn't, I couldn't get to him, I--".
Suddenly Aria started sobbing, making Damon hug her.
"It's okay Ria, it's okay" Damon comforted.
"Why did Bonnie hurt me Damon?" Aria cried, "Why does everyone hurt me?".
"Shh" Damon soothed, running his hand through Aria's hair, "Not everyone's hurt you Ria, look around there's so many people whose still here and haven't hurt you, they've stuck by your side since day one, focus on them, forget everyone else".
Aria didn't say anything just tightened her hold on to Damon and sobbed harder.
***
Elena, Bonnie and Stefan entered Elena's house, and the trio froze in their spot when they saw Damon, Rebekah, Caroline and Jeremy in the living room.
"You invited her in?!" Elena asked Jeremy, shocked seeing Rebekah in the living room.
"You hurt Aria?!" Jeremy asked, glaring at Bonnie and Elena.
"Jeremy--".
"No Bonnie!" Jeremy yelled, "Did you forget that Aria is the same girl who stood by you despite everything you did to her?! She told me off for you!".
"Jeremy, we had to kill Klaus" Elena defended, shocked with seeing Jeremy look so angry, "Aria was never going to let us kill him".
"With great reason!" Jeremy yelled, "Klaus is her family Elena, something you used to be to her once, but now, you're her biggest enemy, I used to look up to you Elena, you were my selfless older sister, but now I don't even recognise you anymore".
Elena went to defend herself, but Damon stepped forward and placed his hand on Jeremy's shoulder.
"Go upstairs Jeremy, you don't want to be here for what's happening next" Damon said.
Jeremy nodded and went upstairs, without even looking towards his sister once.
As soon as Jeremy went upstairs, Damon speeded over to Bonnie and held her in a choke hold while Caroline held Elena and Rebekah held Stefan.
"Hurting Aria, bad move Bonnie" Damon said, his hold tightening on Bonnie's throat, making it very hard for her to breath, "Consider this your first mistake, next time you hurt Aria, I won't be so generous".
"Let go of her Damon!" Elena yelled, struggling in Caroline's hold.
Damon ignored Elena, and slammed Bonnie's head to the wall, knocking her unconscious, just like she did to Aria.
"Bonnie!" Elena yelled, running over to Bonnie after Caroline let go of her.
"How did you break my brother's compulsion?" Rebekah asked Stefan.
"Bonnie found a spell that can break a vampire's compulsion" Stefan admitted.
"Interesting" Rebekah said, she pulled out a wooden stake from her back pocket and stabbed Stefan in the stomach, "That's for trying to kill my brother".
"Let's go" Damon said.
Without sparing the trio a glance, Damon, Caroline and Rebekah left the Gilbert household.
***
"So, you're really going undagger our family?" Rebekah asked, walking by Klaus's side.
"I promised Ari that I would undagger our family before this years end" Klaus said, "And we both know it's high time, Kol and Ariana finally reunite".
Rebekah sighed, "As much as I want Ariana and Kol to reunite, Kol coming back is going to cause so much problems for Damon and Ariana".
"If Damon and Ari's love is as strong as they think it is, then Kol coming back shouldn't effect them" Klaus said.
"Damon and Ariana's love is much stronger then you think Nik" Rebekah said.
"I never said it wasn't" Klaus said, Rebekah and Klaus stood infront of a close truck.
"So this is it?" Rebekah asked, "The Mikaelson finally reunites?".
"I think it's high time, don't you?" Klaus asked, "Before I open this, I wanted to thank you".
"For what?" Rebekah asked confused.
"For standing by me" Klaus replied, "Despite knowing the truth about mother".
"I did promise you always and forever Nik" Rebekah said, "And I happen to stick to my promise".
Klaus smiled at Rebekah, he went to open the truck when his phone started ringing.
"Stefan, miss me already?" Klaus asked.
"I'm just calling to thank you for my freedom" Stefan replied.
"Well, I didn't have much of a choice in that, did I?" Klaus taunted.
"The thing is, it came at too high of a price" Stefan said, "You took everything from me Klaus, even my brother".
"Let bygones be bygones, trust me resentment gets old" Klaus said, "And we both know, your brother leaving you, wasn't my fault, it was your own".
Rebekah getting tired of Klaus and Stefan, stepped forward and went to open the truck.
"You know what never gets old?" Stefan asked.
Rebekah opened the truck, and both her and Klaus were shocked see the truck empty, their whole family was gone.
"Revenge" Stefan said.
"No" Klaus spat.
"What's the matter, Klaus?" Stefan mocked, "Missing something?".
"What are you doing?" Klaus asked.
"I'm just enjoying my freedom" Stefan replied.
"I will kill you and everyone you've ever met" Klaus threatened.
"You do that, and you'll never see your family again" Stefan replied, "I wonder Klaus, as someone who's been one step ahead for a thousand years, were you prepared for this?".
***
Okay, not going to lie this chapter was really hard to write which is why it's late, I really hope I did it justice, I'm so sorry if it sucked.
Anyways, if you guys remember in the Originals, Davina did a spell on Cami to break Klaus's compulsion on her, in my book, Bonnie used the same spell on Stefan.
Thoughts on Bonnie knocking Aria out?
Thoughts on the small Klaroline moment?
Thoughts on Rebekah and Caroline standing by Klaus's side?
Thoughts on Jeremy going off at Elena?
Thoughts on Damon going after Bonnie?
Next chapter: Mission get the Mikaelson family back.