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"E-Eleanor?" I stammered out, my eyes wide open, staring at the woman standing before me with a smile. "Is this real?" I asked her, afraid that it was my mind playing tricks on me.
She came forward, hands crossed in front of her. "Of course it is," She nodded her head.
"H-How?" I whispered.
She smiled widely, placing her hands on both sides of my face, her blue-green eyes boring into my shocked brown ones. "I once promised you, I'll always be there when you need me the most...here I am,"
I bowed down my head, my lips trembling as tears started flowing down my face. "I'm so sorry..." I told her in a clogged voice.
She hugged me, placing her hand on the back of my head. "Hey, it's okay," She whispered.
"...for everything you had to endure because of me,"
"Look at me," She broke apart, cupping my face in her hands again. "I'm not suffering," She stated with a small reassuring smile. "I'm at peace, wherever I am. We all are," I stayed silent, choking up. "Noah and Lexi are at peace, watching over you from up there, every step of the way. Do you think they're happy, seeing you suffer for something that was not your fault?" She asked and I instantly shook my head.
"It was my fault," I corrected her, sobbing.
"No, it wasn't," She asserted, wiping away my tears. "Whatever we did, it was all because we love you...and it hurts us, watching you in all this pain..." She grabbed my shoulders. "You've don't nothing wrong, Rose,"
I kept shaking my head at her, looking at the ground. "I don't deserve to be loved,"
She instantly raised my chin with her hand, prompting me to meet her eyes. "No, no. You deserve everything this world has to offer. You are loved by everyone, Rose..." She sighed. "Sadly, love comes at the cost of pain. You can't
have one without the other,"
"I can't face them," I admitted, my chest rising up and down with every heavy breath I was taking. "Or Damon...I can't live stuck in the middle. Every time I try to take a step forward, something happens and I'm pushed even further back..." I paused, closing my eyes for a second, my eyes tearing up once again. "And it hurts so bad that...I can't breathe anymore,"
She smiled lightly, hugging me and I buried my face in the crook of her neck while clinging onto her. "I know, I know," She whispered assuringly. "I've seen everything. You don't have to explain yourself to me...Rose, however easy it is to run away from all your problems and to stay in that bubble of denial, one day...you'd get tired and you'd want to come home but you wouldn't be able to, because of the guilt of running away." She rubbed my back, kissing my forehead lightly. "So, don't. Don't run, Rose. Face it...You have your friends, your family who love you so much. Let them help you find peace and comfort,"
I nodded my head, looking up to her. "And what about him?" I questioned.
"Do you love him?"
No. Maybe. "I don't know," I answered, shaking my head.
She sighed, brushing my hair away from my face and tucking them behind my ears. "If you don't admit it, you'll never be able to find closure. And without closure, the pain will never go away," As she spoke, our surroundings rumbled. I looked behind me to see the trees beginning to fade away. "You're waking up,"
I nodded in agreement, quickly turning towards her with furrowed eyebrows. "Will I see you again?" I asked her.
She smiled. "I told you...I'll always be there when you need me. In fact," She placed her hand on my chest, right above my heart. "I'm already in here with you, aren't I?" She asked and I smiled at her, hugging her tightly.
She kissed my forehead after we broke apart and I took a few steps back from her. I turned around to face the white oblivion that was making our way towards us, ready to wake up. No, no, no. Wait. I looked at her again and she raised her eyebrows at me. "El?" I called out, rushing over to her and hugging her once again. "I love you...and I hope you're happy wherever you are,"
She smiled at me widely, kissing my forehead once again. "I am. I love you too, Rosa..." She hugged me again as my surroundings disappeared and I clung to her, taking in the familiar warmth as much as I could. "Now go and be happy..." She whispered and I gave her a nod. With that, I snapped my eyes open with a smile on my face.
I sighed, looking aside to see Klaus sitting on the edge of the bed, holding my hand. "Welcome back, Rose," He let out as my eyes roamed across the room to see Caroline sitting nearby with Bonnie and Elena. Enzo was watching me, confusion spread across everyone's faces. They were unsure if I had my humanity back or not.
"Hey Carebear," I mumbled tiredly, realizing only now how tired I truly was. After my torture session, I had only drunk one blood bag. The others were afraid that I might run away if I had my strength back.
Caroline smiled widely as everyone else sighed in relief, all of their faces breaking out in smiles as I made it clear that I was back. In an instant, she made her way towards me and hugged me. "Oh, I've missed you," Her hug was rather too tight. She was rocking my body side to side as I froze, looking at Klaus with wide eyes who chuckled. Don't laugh you jerk, help me!
"Careful, love. She's quite weak. Don't want to break her bones now, do we?" He stated and Caroline broke apart from me, an embarrassed look on her face.
"Sorry!" She apologised and I beamed up to her silently, pulling her in for a hug again. I closed my eyes for a second, opening them only to meet a pair of hazel eyes from across the room. He smiled at me softly and I gave him a small smile when another pair of blue eyes joined him, handing him a cup of coffee. Embarrassed about what had happened last night, I quickly turned my eyes away from them, breaking away from Caroline.
Bonnie handed me a blood bag and I grabbed her arm gently. "Hey Bon," I whispered. "Good to have you back,"
"You too," She replied softly, hugging me.
I looked towards Klaus, then to everyone. "Can you guys excuse us for a minute? I need to talk to him." Everyone nodded, quickly making their way out of the room. I frowned when Damon and Klaus exchanged a glance, the former shaking his head at him while the latter quickly nodded in understanding. When did these two become best friends?
After Damon left, Klaus turned towards me. "You two seem cosy," I commented, drinking from the bloodbag
"Hmm...we have a mere understanding, that's all," Klaus answered. "People tend to get close when it comes to their loved ones,"
I knitted my brows in confusion. "What are you trying to say?"
"How do you think I know what I showed you?" He asked and I looked down at my hands. Of course. "I was sitting comfortably at home, painting, drinking when someone's name popped up on my phone screen. Surprise! Surprise! Damon Salvatore was calling me," I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled. "He was the one who informed me about you and...the memory,"
"Wow," I mumbled, impressed by the fact that these two worked together for me. "What made you think it would work?"
He hummed, taking the bag from me and tossing it in the dustbin while I opened another. "It worked, didn't it?"
I nodded, slurping the blood. He paused for a second, taking my hand in his as I raised my eyebrows at him. "Look, I don't know what's going on in your head or your life but, all I know is that you two need to put on your big boy and big girl pants and have a talk,"
I stayed silent, placing the blood bag down. "There's nothing to talk about," I retorted.
"Rose, you've always been the wise one, the one who makes people want to change. Damon. Me." He whispered, his hand squeezing mine. "But somehow, when it comes to you...you're one of the stupidest people I have come across in my entire life,"
I hit him on the shoulder. "Hey!" Dick!
Klaus chuckled and I glared at him, huffing. He spoke again, his voice turning serious. "I'm not saying that you love him or he loves you, no. That's for you two to decide...All I'm saying is that You. Need. To. Talk."
I clicked my tongue. "If I could just comment on the irony of this situation..."
"That is why you should listen to me," He kept his serious tone, smiling at himself. "During those thousand years, whenever my siblings would try to reason or talk to me, I'd answer them with a dagger in their hearts...You've seen where it has brought us centuries later," He sighed looking up to me. "The day I got to know that Hayley was pregnant, I didn't wanna believe it. "Kill her and the baby. What do I care?"," He repeated the words he had said to Sophie Deveraux, pausing.
I squeezed his hand in assurance. "I know. I was there," I replied softly.
He chuckled lightly. "Of course you were...Then, you also know who convinced me to accept her," I nodded. "Hope is the best thing that has happened to me during the whole millennium of my horrible existence and I'd rather not think about how things would've turned out if I had daggered Elijah instead of listening to him,"
"You do have a point," I responded with a small smile which he returned as we sat in silence for a while.
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ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴ ᴘᴏᴠ:
"Mmm...What's the occasion?" Damon asked Bonnie as they sat down on the dining table in the kitchen of the Boarding House. He smiled at the plate of pancakes placed before him, adorned with a smile made of blueberries and fangs of whipped cream, just like how he used to do in the Prison world.
The Bennett witch had called him downstairs, wanting to meet while Klaus and Rose talked upstairs. The rest of the gang had scattered, some had gone out to the grill, the others to do some other work, leaving the four of them in the house.
Bonnie picked up her fork and knife, looking at Damon. "Nothing. We're just going to eat..." She beamed. "And talk like civilized people,"
Damon's smile faded, replaced by a fake one. "Right!" He placed his arms on the table, crossing them. "What is it about?"
"You know what," She stated seriously.
The older Salvatore sighed, knowing exactly what she was talking about. He was in no mood to talk about his feelings with everything that had been going on in his life. "We've already talked about this, Bonnie," He replied in a bored voice.
"Yes!" She placed her fork down, getting up from her seat and sitting next to her friend. "And you're just as confused as you were last time,"
He rolled his eyes at the Bennett witch. "I'm not confused, Bonnie...I told you, Elena is my present and Rose was my past," His voice implied seriousness but Bonnie had a determined look on her face. She knew that Damon still felt something for Rose but wasn't admitting it.
She clicked her tongue, biting her lip in concentration. She looked up to him with disapproval. "You're a much bigger idiot than I thought you were...God! You love her, Damon!" Bonnie's voice was low so that the others couldn't listen.
Damon froze hearing her words. His girlfriend's best friend just admitted to him that she thought he was in love with his ex. He couldn't stop himself from wondering whether Elena also thought that about him or not. He knew that there was something, love or not. The love and adoration he had for Rose couldn't just vanish away with a flick of his wrist.
He looked at her incredulously. "Of course, I do," He admitted. "But I'm in love with Elena." He spoke, emphasizing the word 'in'.
"I'm not saying that you aren't," The witch countered instantly. "Look, you need to talk to Rose,"
"I will," Damon replied nonchalantly, putting a piece of pancakes in his mouth, trying his best to avoid the interrogation he was being subjected to.
Bonnie shook her head at him. "No, you won't," Damon closed his eyes shut, looking up to her with a fake smile as he chewed his food. As much as he tried to avoid anything related to Rose, she kept popping up out of nowhere. "I've seen the recordings, Damon. What happened a year ago?"
The Salvatore mentally cursed himself for taking a video of himself talking about his feelings. He knew he shouldn't have and now, everyone kept reminding him of how big of a mistake it was. It was just supposed to be something to help him stay sane when he had no one to talk to. He couldn't exactly tell Bonnie since she was Elena's friend and there weren't the closest people in the world.
"If you don't let it out, it's never going to stop haunting you," She told him softly, wanting nothing but to help her friend. Sure she hated this man at first but Bonnie Bennett had grown to like Damon Salvatore. Dare she say, even beginning to love the man and care for him.
Damon still hesitated, sighing. He fiddled with the finger on his ring, tracing the engraving on it as he spoke. "After she died, Remember when I would just vanish into thin air and show up hours later?" She nodded her head as another sigh escaped his lips. "I used to hallucinate Rose. That's where I was all that time..."
Her eyes softened immediately. Everyone knew how much Damon had suffered after Rose died. They were all shocked when he confessed his feelings for Elena, thinking that he was focusing on her as a distraction from his departed beloved. But now that the older Salvatore had told her one of his secrets, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.
"Damon, why didn't you-" She began in a strangulated voice before being cut off.
"What?" He guffawed mockingly. "Tell us? That was the only thing keeping me alive, Bonnie. I couldn't just let you all take it away from me." She nodded in understanding, squeezing his hand in comfort. "The last time I ever hallucinated her...I...I said something I shouldn't have,"
She furrowed her eyebrows, maintaining her calm and comforting composure. "What did you say to her?" She asked him. Damon didn't meet her eyes, ashamed by what he had done that night. "Say it aloud, Damon." She pleaded with him.
He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before meeting her eyes. His blue eyes showing emotions she had seldom seen. "I told her that I wished I never met her or fell in love with her..." He sighed heavily, shaking his head in guilt. "That...I wished she had stayed dead after Klaus killed her,"
Bonnie's eyes widened, shocked that he would say something like that to her but she quickly brushed it off before Damon noticed it, not wanting to guilt-trip the man. "You didn't mean that, Damon. I saw how devastated you were when she died. We all did,"
She tried to reassure him, much to his disapproval. Damon wanted to hear how vile and evil he was for hurting her like that. He wanted to be abhorrent to all of them. But Bonnie wasn't going to do that. She wasn't going to let him beat himself up and he knew it.
"Do you know why I stopped seeing her after that?" He asked her and she shook her head in response. "Not because she begged me to, but because I realized how I ended up hurting her every time..." He took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to admit and beamed up to Bonnie with a fake smile. "She deserves better, Bon. Someone like my brother, who wouldn't hurt her as I did...I don't deserve her or the love she has given me,"
Damon ignored the pang of pain and jealously tugging at his heart. He wasn't lying when he said that he was happy for Stefan and Rose but he couldn't help but feel a little sad.
"That's not for you to decide, Damon. You have to tell her how you feel," His friend retorted, wanting nothing but the best for him.
Bonnie Benett had been friends with Elena Gilbert since they were babies but for once, she had decided to pick someone over her. And by helping Damon sort out his feelings for Rose, she was in a way helping Elena too.
"I'll try to," Damon replied, nodding at her. Bonnie smiled lightly at the genuine and honest tone of her friend. "Can we please talk about something else now?" He asked her.
She nodded, deciding to not push any further. "That reminds me..." She trailed off, going over to where she had been previously seated and holding up a small box to Damon who frowned. "After suffering from hours of horrendous body pains and one hell of a headache, I present to you...the cure," Damon got up from his seat, eyes widening. "So, just please give it to her and get this over with,"
She opened the lid, revealing a small vial inside the box, a vial all of them were very familiar with. Elena had wasted her chance of turning into a human again by giving it to Katherine but now they had it back. "You told anyone else?" He questioned.
"Nope," She answered, popping the p.
"Good," He nodded his head at her as she handed him the box. "Let it stay that way,"
If word got out about the cure, everyone would try to obtain it and Damon didn't want that. He wanted Elena to get everything she was looking for, even if a part of him didn't want her to take the cure.
Both of them stood by the dining table, looking at the cure with relief, not noticing the third person watching the interaction from afar. He sighed internally, his disapproval at the fact that they were going to hide such an important thing from the others clear in his hazel eyes.
ʀᴏsᴇ's ᴘᴏᴠ:
"Goodbye, Love," Klaus got up from the bed with a smile that I instantly returned. He leaned in closer to my face, kissing my cheek as Stefan came into my view, leaning against the door.
"Bye Klaus," I replied softly and he walked out of the room, patting Stefan on his shoulder at which he nodded.
Left alone in the room, we met each other's eyes. Silence spread through the room as we stared at each other. It was only then I realised where I had been resting all along. I was in his room, lying on his bed, covered in his scent. "Hey," He gave me a small smile, walking over to me.
"Hey," I greeted back as he sat on the edge of the bed.
I smiled at him lightly, trying to ignore certain images of him and me that kept popping up in my head. "How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Pretty good for someone who had been burning alive just a few hours ago..." I let out an awkward chuckle.
His smile faded, eyes full of guilt. "Yeah...Sorry about that,"
I shook my head at him assuringly. "Oh, no. It's okay. It needed to be done," I mumbled lowly.
"Can I ask you something?" He questioned and I nodded my head at him, meeting his eyes. "If you had a chance to be human again, would you take it?"
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, tilting my head. "Where's this coming from?"
"Just curious,"
I shook my head, sighing. "I don't know. Maybe...I don't regret being a vampire but if truth is to be told, I kinda miss being human. The limited-time, the limited worries...Only after you have eternity, you realize it's not so special as you thought,"
"Well, you have me to keep you company," He replied, placing his hand on mine. I quickly became speechless, hesitant at his touch and he noticed, taking his hand off me. "Rose, about what happened-"
"I don't regret it," I cut him off, gazing into his guilty eyes. I slowly took his hand in mine, smiling at him. "I don't regret what happened between us, just how it happened," The guilt in his eyes disappeared, replaced by relief. "I stand by what I said to you before...I wanna give us a chance,"
"Me too," He whispered back. I covered my mouth with my hand, yawning while Stefan chuckled. He patted the top of my hand, getting up. "Rest,"
I quickly grabbed his hand, looking up at his confused face. "It's not nice to leave a lady alone in your room, Mr Salvatore," I teased him.
"Mmm...hmm?" He asked with a smirk, sitting down again. "Which philosopher said that?"
"That'd be me!" I raised my hand dramatically and he chuckled at my childish behaviour, kissing my forehead. "Who am I to say no to Her Majesty?" He stated, taking off his jacket to get into the sheets with me. I clutched his t-shirt into my hand, pulling him close to meet his lips as he hummed in approval, getting on top of me. "Sleep," He pecked my lips once again, rolling over to the other side and I snaked closer to him.
Stefan reached out to turn the lights off when he stopped, taken aback. He sat up quickly, holding something that looked like a camera in his hands. He clicked some buttons, watching a recording on it as I sat up, squinting my eyes at him. "Stef?" I called out but he didn't reply, his eyes widening. "Hey, what happened?" I asked him again.
He turned the screen towards me, a look of bewilderment on his face. He had paused the video, a woman displayed on the screen, strolling through the snowy forest. She was dressed in an old fashioned gown. Her facial features weren't clearly visible due to the poor quality of the camera. "My mother..." Stefan mumbled, his heartbeat racing up. "She's my mother,"
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