✰｡◍✰｡◍✰
When the Salvatores told Rose that they wanted to bring their mother back from the 1903 Prison World, she was beyond happy. However, the smile on her face turned to a scowl the second Kai Parker walked in to help. Even though he claimed that merging with Luke had changed him for he now had his younger brother's compassion but it's safe to say that nobody was convinced, especially not Rose and Bonnie.
Nevertheless, they both knew that they needed his help as he had the ascendant that could teleport them there. So, here they were in the 1903 Prison World hours later, searching for a certain blue-eyed Lily Salvatore. Little did they know, she had secrets of her own that could change their lives for the worse.
Bonnie and Kai looked for the ascendant outside the Salvatore Household, the psychotic siphoner catching snowflakes in his mouth like a child while the Bennett witch watched, rolling her eyes. On the other hand, Damon, Elena, Stefan and Rose searched for Lily in pairs inside the hefty mansion the Salvatores had grown up in.
"Aww, Stefie..." Rose held up a photo frame in her hands, glancing back and forth between the photo of a young Stefan and the older one before her in admiration. "You were always this cute!"
Stefan chuckled, taking the frame from her and smiling at it before placing it down on the drawer in the parlour. He admired the beaming girl before him, kissing her lips gently. "Mmm... Do you know how beautiful you look right now? It's such a pity that we're wearing so many clothes," He mused.
Rose hummed slightly with a giggle as he pecked her lips again. "Okay, Focus!" She scolded him playfully, continuing their exploration of the house.
The duo was about to walk into the big hallway in front of them when Rose stopped, noticing the stairs beside her. "Where do these go?" She asked him.
"The basement," Stefan replied, exchanging a look with The Petrova girl.
Knowing each other rather well, both of them descended the stairs and into the basement, not wanting to leave any part of the mansion unchecked. They made their downstairs, stopping in front of a door. As she stared into the isolated room through the door sill, unable to see clearly because of the dark, uneasiness spread over Rose, a familiar yet sinister aura looming into the darkness which she sensed instantly, turning towards Stefan.
"There are people in there..." She mumbled quite lowly, making Stefan furrow his eyebrows in confusion as she subconsciously opened the door, curious about where she had sensed such a vile presence before.
Rose opened the door silently, their eyes widening when a little bit of light entered the room, making their surroundings partially clear. Thanks to their heightened senses, the duo could clearly see what was in front of them.
The Petrova girl took a step forward, still in her trance of inquisitiveness, only to be stopped by Stefan. She shook her head at him, breaking free of his hold and he let her go, following her closely in a protective manner. Half a dozen desiccated vampires were seated across a table, dressed in old fashioned clothes. Letting the curiosity get the best of her, Rose got close to one of the vampires, touching her on the shoulder gently. Her hand moved, making the girl flinch.
Stefan got closer to her in an instant, backing her up from behind comfortingly as he placed his hand on hers, whispering in her ear. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here," Knowing Rose, he had comprehended that she was up to something.
She nodded in response, closing her eyes with a smile which quickly turned into a frown when she realized that the woman was pushing her back, not letting her inside her mind. They both engaged in a mental tug of war, the spirit witch emerging victorious at the end of it. Rose gasped as the memories of the vampire flooded her mind, realization hitting her hard. She jerked away from the woman, falling into Stefan's chest who tried to calm her down.
"What happened?" He asked the shocked girl who ignored his question, shaking her head.
"We need to find the others, Now!" Her tone was deadly serious, confusing Stefan even more. Before he could object, Rose took his hand, speeding them upstairs and outside the house where everyone had promised to meet beforehand.
Meanwhile, Damon and Elena had already met Lily, the former gaping at his mother who had been presumed dead. He had mixed feelings about the situation he was in. To begin with, he was relieved and happy to see his beloved mother whose early death had affected both the brothers deeply but on the other hand, he couldn't help but be suspicious of her. 'Why is she here?' The question kept repeating in his head as Lily smiled, equally confused as the couple before her, but equally relieved too.
Suddenly, a huge gush of air blew as Lily fell to the ground with a thud, revealing Rose and the younger Salvatore, who himself was in a haze.
"What the hell are you doing?" Damon asked her, looking at his temporarily dead mother.
"Where's Bonnie? We all need to get out of here!" The girl ignored him, frantically looking for the Bennett witch.
"Rose?" Elena called out in a worried voice, making her sigh.
She turned to face them all, glancing between the Salvatores. A sigh escaped her lips as she began. "Your mother's a ripper...and she's not alone here," The trio widened their eyes, trying to take in the new information. "There are six siphoners-slash-vampires in the basement of the house called the heretics...Your mother's imprisoned here because she was a deadly ripper and she killed with no remorse. The others got stuck in here with her...Listen to me, we can't let her out, if she does, they all do,"
"What are you saying?" Damon let out in disbelief as the others stayed silent, still processing her words.
"I got inside one's head, saw what they're capable of..." Rose whispered, peeking at the ripper on the ground. "I know what I'm telling you to do seems absurd,"
"Yeah," Damon instantly cut the girl off, looking at her incredulously.
"We can't just leave our mother here, Rose," Stefan reasoned, coming to stand close to his brother.
"I know, I know..." She admitted, running her hands through her hair. "But what I saw is also true. You saw my reaction, Stefan. It's not a pretty sight,"
"I don't care, it's not like any of us hasn't killed," The older Salvatore retorted, crossing his arms. He wasn't just going to leave his mother here to rot.
She shook her head at all of them, taking a step closer to Damon, starting into his familiar eyes. "A vengeful siphoner with the blood lust of a vampire? Haven't we seen it all before?" Rose asked him in a whisper.
Damon's stubborn demeanour faded away in an instant as silence spread over the group at the indirect mention of Ethan Hargrave. He was the man who had single-handedly done what hundreds of vampires or witches couldn't have. Inside the mansion in front of them were six more Ethan's, they couldn't just let them out.
"You have to trust me," Her voice came out as clogged, not because she was crying but because of the horrendous memories flashing before her eyes, the same happening to Damon.
His eyes softened, voice equally clogged as he remembered what had happened the last time a siphoner was running around in Mystic Falls. "I do trust you, more than you could ever know..."
All the while, Stefan had been staring at his mother, his eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry, Stefan," Rose told him genuinely.
He looked up at her. "It's not your fault," A ghost of a smile made its way onto his face, a single tear rolling down his cheek as he looked at Damon. "Help me get her inside the house?"
The older Salvatore nodded a little. Even though he maintained his calm composure which he had perfected over years of endless pain and suffering, on the inside, he was tearing up just like his brother, maybe even more because of his disability to show his emotions. Stefan picked his mother up in his arms, taking off towards their now gone home and Damon followed suit as the girls watched.
"God, it must be so hard for them," Elena mumbled lowly as they watched the boys disappear behind the trees.
"They're doing it for the world. Those people can't be let out at any cost," Rose replied, feeling sorry for the Salvatores. They had just met their mother and now they had to say goodbye to her.
The Gilbert girl shook her head, turning towards Rose. "They're not doing it for the world. They're doing it for you..." She smiled at her friend, a subtle glint of sadness and awe in her eyes. "Damon Salvatore always gets what he wants, no matter what happens or who gets hurt...but one word from Rose and he'll give it up in a second for her," She chuckled sadly. "Not gonna lie, I'm pretty jealous,"
Rose and Damon would always have an understanding better than any other. Elena Gilbert knew that but only now she realized what those words truly meant. She just got a sense of Deja vu, a glimpse of what the girls had teasingly called 'The Rose Effect' in the earlier days of their friendship. She had seen how happy and excited the Salvatores were to see the video of their mother or how all of that happiness faded away from their eyes when Rose told them the truth. Even though the Petrova girl was true, still, when did Damon Salvatore just give up like that? But he did. For Rose. And Stefan? He was visibly shattered but he still did it. For Rose.
Rose could see the sadness in Elena's eyes, mixed with just a bit of admiration. "He loves you, Elena," She asserted with a small smile, meaning every word.
"He does," She smiled back, agreeing. "I know that...I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I was just trying to help, even if I had a terrible way of doing that,"
Rose nodded in response, pulling her into a hug. "I'm sorry too, for calling you a bitch,"
Both the girl sighed, letting the bygones be bygones, hugging each other tightly as the Bennett girl came running towards them. From the other side, the Salvatores also joined them with blank faces, even though there was a storm of sorrow rumbling inside them. "Where's your mother?" Bonnie asked the boys.
"She's not coming," Rose replied instantly, much to her confusion.
She didn't retort or push any further, hiding her own secret. She had stabbed Kai repeatedly, intending to leave him here. "Let's go, then,"
"Where's Kai?" The spirit witch questioned. Almost on cue, Kai Parker emerged from behind the trees, limping and bleeding, making everyone's eyes widen.
Bonnie clenched her jaw, determined to get her revenge on the siphoner. She quickly grabbed everyone's hands, connecting them and began chanting while the others tried to understand what was going on around them.
"Bonnie!" Kai called out as a flash of light encircled them. "Please!"
Getting what was happening, Rose intervened. "Bonnie, stop! Bonnie!" The Bennett girl kept on chanting, ignoring the pleadings of Kai, who was slowly bleeding out. "Bonnie, Stop!" Rose jerked her hand away from the others, stopping Bonnie. "You can't leave him here!"
"Why?!" She gritted her teeth in anger. "He did!"
"He's a homicidal maniac, Bon..." Rose's voice was low as she spoke, placing her hands on her friend's shoulder. "We aren't,"
"Why are you trying to save him?" She asked baffled. Bonnie had thought that no one was going to have a problem with her plan. Truth to be told, no one did. No one other than Rose.
"I'm not trying to save him," Rose argued, shaking her head. "I'm trying to save you. I know you're angry and hurt and it's hard for you to see him move on despite how he made you suffer back in the Prison world. But, I also know this for a fact: Leaving him here isn't going to help you sleep at night, it's going to take away every fraction of peace you have left," Bonnie stayed silent while the others watched the interaction. "Your subconsciousness will haunt you forever. Trust me on this Bon, you know I've been there,"
Kai couldn't believe what he was seeing. The girl he tried to kill a month ago was trying to save him. He watched surprised as the others convinced Bonnie that what Rose was telling her was correct. Bonnie stayed silent still, a tear escaping her eye as she nodded, making Rose smile a little.
Elena hugged her, comforting the girl while Rose extended her hand towards Kai who stared at her, feeling a sudden surge of emotions he was unfamiliar with. He took her hand silently, the other staying on his bleeding wounds as Rose took him to the group. Within seconds, Bonnie began chanting the spell, a glimmer of light engulfing them as they disappeared from the 1903 Prison World, leaving behind the Heretics.
━━━✿━━━ ● ✿ ● ━━━✿━━━
ʀᴏsᴇ's ᴘᴏᴠ:
I leaned against the doorframe of an extra room in the boarding house, staring at Kai who was slumped on a chair. He took off his jacket, folding it roughly and placing it on his abdomen wound to slow down the bleeding. "You have to understand why she did it," I spoke out loud, diverting his attention to me.
He nodded with a serious face. "I do," Kai groaned in pain as blood soaked his jacket and he clutched it tighter against the gash.
I walked forward with a sigh. "Take off your shirt," I told him.
"What?" He retorted, making me roll my eyes.
I got closer to him, clutching his shirt and ripping it open from the middle as he watched in confusion. I took the jacket from him, throwing it aside and kneeled in front of him. A golden glow emitted from my hand as I placed it above his wound, healing it slowly as he panted, peeking at the huge tear as his body revived the tissues. I could've fed him my blood but it was a source of power for him and I didn't want to make him more powerful than he already was.
"Done," I announced, getting up from the floor and walking to the dresser. I took out a t-shirt and tossed it to him.
He caught it instantly, rising from the chair. He ran his hand over his bare torso, right where the wound was. "Thank you," He mumbled, looking up at me with grateful eyes. "For everything,"
"You're welcome," I replied nonchalantly. "The bathroom's that way. You can clean up," He nodded at me, smiling a little as I crossed my arms. "Let's make one thing clear...What I did today was for Bonnie, not you. Now, if you take one wrong step, do one wrong thing that makes me doubt my decision...I'll put you in the Prison world myself,"
He nodded at my words, walking closer to me, his hands fiddling with the T-shirt. "I know," He whispered. "But still, thank you,"
Kai leaned in closer to my face, making me furrow my eyebrows. He placed a kiss on my cheek gently, smiling at me as he turned around and walked into the bathroom, leaving me confused behind him. Did he just kiss me on the cheek?
"I can't believe that she lied about being dead all that time," Damon's distraught voice came from downstairs.
I felt sad for the brothers who would've gotten their mother if it wasn't for me. Maybe they even hated me for it or maybe they didn't, but I still felt guilty. Having seen what I saw in her mind, I knew for a fact that Lily wasn't going to leave their others behind. All of them shared a close bond like a family. They were so close that they even let Lily have their rations of blood while they desiccated.
"Guess it runs in the family," Stefan added in a mocking tone. What is he implying?
'Something bothering you, brother?"
"Yeah, Damon, something is bothering me,"
I listened to their conversation, confusion spread across my face. Stefan's tone was calm and sweet with just a tint of anger which made it seem more dangerous. It sounded like he was holding himself back from yelling at Damon which concerned me.
"The cure," Stefan announced out loud. The cure? His brother remained silent in response. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"
"What is he talking about, Damon?" Elena's confused voice joined in as Damon maintained his silent state. What is Stefan up to?
"You don't know?" He chuckled darkly. "Bonnie here got the cure for you and your boyfriend was going to give it to you without telling anyone else,"
My eyes widened as I listened on. Bonnie argued that the whole group had already decided to give Elena the cure and that Stefan had been the first one to agree. He retorted by stating that the time was different back then and even sneered at Elena on how she got together with his brother and everything was fine after that.
Stefan had a point when he told them that the others at least deserved to know about the cure. How could they just keep this from us?
"What's going on?" Kai jolted me awake from my thoughts. "Why are they yelling?"
It was only then I realized that the brothers were now engaged in an argument, their voices so loud that even Kai could hear them. I need to go. I sped downstairs into the parlour where everyone was. Damon and Stefan were standing chest to chest with each other, both of them looking really angry while Elena stood beside them, trying to stop them.
"What happened to you? This isn't you, Stefan!" Elena remarked with a disappointed voice, making Stefan chuckle and then look at her.
"You don't know who I am when I'm not in love with you, Elena," He replied in a dangerously low voice.
Elena was taken aback by his response and she took a step back from him, looking at the ground. Damon let out a chuckle, their faces just an inch apart. "It's not about me or Elena, is it? It's about her. You two get down and dirty and suddenly you wanna protect her," He smirked, provoking Stefan.
Bonnie, Elena, Caroline and Enzo's eyes widened with mine. "Guys?" I called out, making my presence known to them. I walked closer to them but they ignored me, looking at each other again. Please don't do this. Please don't say anything else!
All my internal prayers went unheard when Stefan opened his mouth again, making me close my eyes in shame. "It's funny that you mention it like that, brother, because If I remember it correctly...you were in there with us,"
Damon gritted his teeth, smiling as Stefan's smirk widened, not realizing what they just said in front of everyone. Gasps filled the room, heads snapping towards me, who was still staring at the ground in shame. I had never felt so ashamed in my life. "Y-You slept with them both?" Elena's shocked voice echoed throughout the room.
I looked up to the two men in front of me, a single tear rolling down my cheeks as they finally got what they had just done. Their lips parted, guilt filling their eyes. Caroline covered her mouth with her hands, not meeting my gaze while Elena just stared at me, Bonnie's eyes were closed as sat down on the couch next to Enzo, who was looking at us with a frown.
Face wet with tears, I rushed out of the boarding house. "Rose, wait!" Stefan called out from behind me but I didn't listen, hurrying off into the woods to lean against a tree for support. "Rose," Both of them stood before me as I slumped against the tree, shaking my head at them.
"Why?" I asked them, getting silence in response. Their heads were hung low in shame and regret as I got up and strolled up to them. "Why?!" I hit them on their chests, making them jerk back. "You. Had. To. Get. That. Out," I continued hitting them, crying until they crashed into a tree. "I hate you! I hate you both!" I yelled at them, moving away and falling into a dishevelled heap.
"I'm sorry...I didn't realize what I was going to say," Damon apologised, coming closer to me.
"That's the problem! You never do! You just open your mouth and spit things out and then you apologize!" I cried out. Damon placed his hand on my shoulder and I slapped it off harshly. "Don't touch me!"
Stefan came to kneel in front of me. "It's okay..."
"No, it's not okay, Stefan!" I argued, pushing my hair back with my hands. "Everyone thinks I'm a whore already!"
"No one thinks that about you! Look at me," He grabbed my face in his hands, eyes boring into mine. I tried to push him off but he didn't budge. "We slept with you too, didn't we? No matter what happens or what they say, we face it together,"
"Yeah," Damon agreed, nodding his head at me. "You're not alone, we're in this together," He kneeled next to us, whispering. "To get to you, they have to get through us first,"
I looked up to them both, the sadness and sincerity evident in their eyes. I did nothing as Stefan hugged me from one side and Damon joined in from the other, placing their heads in the crook of my neck. A sudden wave of sadness washed over me at their touch, reminding me that they had just lost their mother again. They needed me more than I needed them at that moment.
I wrapped my arms around them, our auras conjoined together. Closing my eyes, I let the familiar golden glow surround the three of us as I took away their sorrows for some time, letting them breathe in peace for a while, forgetting what had happened just minutes ago.
━━━✿━━━ ● ✿ ● ━━━✿━━━
We have crossed 5k! 🤗 I'm pretty excited about the next chapter. I think it's going to be one of the most beautiful chapters in the whole book, showing the bond between the Salvatores and Rose. The next update might be on Sunday! Till next time, beautiful people 🧡 *sending virtual hugs and love because we all need to do this more*