22. The Walking Dead
"So you send out a notice of your impending graduation and people feel obliged to give you money?" Rebekah asked, sitting with Aria and Caroline at the Grill.
"Yeap" Aria replied, "Also, I'm done".
"Me to" Rebekah said.
"Already?" Caroline asked shocked, "I'm only on my second batch".
"I don't have much family remember" Aria reminded, "Only Jenna, Elijah and Nik".
"Do all three of us really need to send three different graduation announcements to Nik and Elijah?" Rebekah asked.
"Yes" Aria and Caroline replied.
"This will show them that there are three people excepting and waiting for them to attend our graduation" Aria said, "I mean it's the least those two can do after leaving us here".
"Agreed" Caroline said.
"God, can you believe it guys, we are finally graduating" Aria said, "It still hasn't fully hit me".
"It won't hit you until you're on that stage, getting your diploma" Rebekah replied.
"We're getting old" Caroline said.
"We are vampires, Care" Aria reminded, "We don't get old".
"Fine" Caroline said, "We are moving on in life, how about that?".
"Much better" Aria replied.
"Next milestone, collage" Rebekah reminded.
"And we are going to get through it just like we got through high school" Aria said.
"One day at a time?" Caroline asked.
"One day at a time" Aria replied, just as her phone started to ring, "Hello?".
"Come to where to the twelve witches were sacrificed" Damien said, "I know how you can stop Silas".
***
"Damien?" Aria said, seeing Damien standing infront of her, "Why did you call me here? Did you get the tombstone?".
"I'm on it" Damien replied, "I'll have it before sunset".
"How?" Aria asked, slightly curious.
"Right now, Bonnie Bennett is stuck in her house, living her biggest nightmares over and over again" Damien replied, "And those nightmares won't stop until she gives up the tombstone, which she is very close to doing".
"So, why are we here?" Aria asked confused.
"Truth is Aria, even I don't know how to truly stop my brother" Damien replied, "But there is one person who does, who knows not only how to stop my brother but also me".
"Who?" Aria asked.
"Qetsiyah" Damien replied, "You want to get rid of Silas, then you need to lower the veil to the other side and talk to Qetsiyah, and you need to that tonight".
"Tonight?" Aria asked shocked.
Damien nodded, "You need to charge all three points of the expression triangle, then channel the energy from the tombstone, once you do that, you can easily drop the veil, but remember it will only be inside the three points, and only long enough to get what you need".
"To talk to Qetsiyah and stop Silas from unleashing hell on earth, and bring Jeremy back to life" Aria listed.
"You better get ready Aria" Damien said, "Tonight's going to be a hectic night for you".
***
"Hey, guys, thanks for coming" Liz told Damon and Kol, as both the vampires entered the hospital.
"Why were we invited?" Damon asked confused.
"Well, the hospital's kept the blood banks empty ever since they were raided last month" Liz replied, "We thought the very least it would help keep the vampire population away".
"And let me guess, it didn't" Kol said.
"See for yourself" Liz said, leading Kol and Damon towards the crime scene.
"Whoa" Damon said, looking at the scene infront of him, the patients wrists were slit, and there was blood all over the floor.
"There were four other victims in this wing, each one almost completely drained of blood" Liz informed, "You guys think it's the brothers?".
"It's not Damien" Kol replied.
"Yeah, Ria has been giving him a few blood bags each day" Damon said, "It has to be Silas".
"But five victims?" Liz asked, "That's a lot of blood, and it's not like he can take it with him".
"Unless he's fueling up for something huge" Kol replied.
"Huge?" Liz asked, "Any details would be helpful, considering I'm dealing with five grieving families out there and a psychic killer on the loose".
"Ri is dropping the veil to the other side" Kol informed, "We think Silas might know about it and is getting ready".
"I have no idea what that means" Liz said, "But is Aria going to be safe?".
"She will be safe Liz" Damon assured, "Don't worry".
"And dropping the veil to the other side means that Aria is putting down the invisible wall that separates our world from the world of the dead supernatural beings" Kol informed.
"Now, Silas wants that to go away so he can take the cure, die and not have to spend an eternity in a supernatural purgatory" Damon continued, "But both Damien and Ria want Damien to take the cure and die".
"Ri believes reuniting Damien and Adriana will remove the curse on her and Damon's bloodline" Kol clarified.
"And will it?" Liz asked.
"Ria's hoping it will" Damon replied, "But I'm not holding my breath".
"Why not?" Liz asked curious.
"Because he doesn't trust Damien" Kol replied, "But then again, he doesn't trust anyone".
"Shut up and follow me" Damon ordered.
"Where are we going?" Kol asked, following Damon.
"Finding Ria before Silas does" Damon replied.
***
"This is where the twelve hybrids died" Aria informed, as her and Damien walked into the Lockwood cellar.
"Do your thing" Damien said.
Aria nodded and closed her eyes and started chanting, as soon as Aria's chanting began, the wind around them picked up.
***
Rebekah and Caroline stepped out of the Grill, to see a huge wind storm picking up.
"The power's completely out!" Rebekah yelled over the wind.
"It's Aria!" Caroline yelled, "It has to be, she must have started the spell!".
"Go call Damon!" Rebekah yelled, "Make sure it's Aria and not something else".
Caroline nodded and went back in the Grill to call Damon.
***
"This is where the twelve humans died?" Damien asked, as they walked into the Young farm.
"Twelve humans burned to death right here" Aria replied, "Shane brainwashed them to die in vain for you and Silas, no offense".
"None taken" Damien assured.
Aria nodded, she started chanting, causing the lights around them to suddenly go off, after a moment Aria opened her eyes, "It's done, all the hotspots are now linked".
"You know the next step?" Damien asked.
Aria nodded, "It's time to drop the veil and put Silas down, once and for all".
***
"The power outages originated at three different places in town" Liz informed Damon and Kol, "The Young Farm, the Lockwood estate and a blown transformer off Old Miller Road".
"The three locations were the three massacres happened" Kol realised, "The one and only, expression triangle, so our first thought was right, Ri is starting the spell".
"So how do we find her?" Liz asked.
"She has to be somewhere in the triangle" Damon replied.
"If I was to take a guess, then I'd guess she will be right in the middle" Kol said, looking down at the map.
"And where exactly might that be?" Damon asked.
"The school" Kol replied.
***
"What are you two doing here?!" Damon yelled over the wind, as he and Kol got out of the car and saw Elena and Stefan walk towards them.
"Bonnie called out us!" Elena replied, having finally turned her humanity back on, "She said that Damien stole the tombstone from her, and she needs our help in getting it back".
"Yeah, good luck with that" Kol said, knowing those two had no chance against Damien, "Just stay out of our way!".
"Let's go look for Ria inside!" Damon said, Kol nodded and both the vampires went inside the school to look for Aria, completely ignoring Stefan and Elena's presences.
***
"Caroline" Damon said, entering the school cafeteria and seeing Caroline standing there.
"Did you find Ri?" Kol asked.
"I searched the whole school, she should be here" Caroline replied, suddenly the trio heard a crash sound behind them, "What was that?".
The trio walked towards the noise, which let them to the pantry, Damon stepped forward and opened the fridge from which the noise was coming from.
"Wonderful, the ice is melting" Damon realised.
Caroline sighed, "It just doesn't make any sense, this is the center of the triangle, if she's gonna do the spell, she has to do it here, this is where she should be".
"Maybe, we are standing over them" Damon said, looking down at the drain.
"The tunnels" Kol realised, "She's in the tunnels".
***
"This is the center of the expression triangle" Aria said, "I'm ready".
"And I kept my promise" Damien said, handing Aria the tombstone.
"Thank you" Aria said, "After we take care of Silas, we can finally reunite you and Adriana".
Damien didn't say anything, just gave Aria a small nod.
Aria held the tombstone in her hand, and started chanting, causing some of the blood from the stone to leak out and fall to the floor, as Aria kept chanting, the torches behind her lit up with fire, after a moment, Aria opened her eyes and looked towards Damien.
"It's done" Aria informed, "The veil is down".
***
Kol and Damon were walking in the empty school corridors, having separated from Caroline, when two people walked over to them.
"Need a hand with something?" Alaric asked, shocking Damon.
"Finn?" Kol asked shocked.
Finn smiled, "Hello, brother".
"So this is either really good or really bad" Damon said.
"It's good to see you too, Damon" Alaric said.
"As much as I would love to hug you and show some brotherly love" Kol told Finn, "I'm not so sure it's really you".
"Yeah, a lot of people aren't who they say they are around here" Damon said.
"Who else will it be?" Finn asked.
"Silas and Damien" Kol replied.
"Are you kidding me?" Alaric asked.
"See? Now, this puts us all in a bit of a pickle" Damon replied, "Because that is exactly what they would say".
Alaric walked over to a locker, opening it, he took out a bottle of bourbon, "Now, would Silas know about locker forty two?".
Damon smiled and hugged Alaric, realising it was really the history teacher.
"I don't know how to prove to you that I'm your brother" Finn told Kol, "I could tell a embarrassing story of your childhood, but I don't think you would want your new buddy to know about it".
"Actually, I would love to know" Damon said.
"Shut up Damon" Kol said, "So you're really Finn and not the psychic serial killer?".
"Yes Kol, I'm really your brother Finn" Finn assured, making Kol smile.
Kol stepped forward and hugged his brother, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually missed you".
Finn chuckled, "I missed you too, little brother".
"Hang on" Damon said, "If we can see you two, and we can touch you both, that means Ria did it, she dropped the veil".
"Did we ever doubt her?" Kol asked.
"Well, she hasn't dropped the veil completely, it's only down inside the expression triangle" Alaric informed, "If either me or Finn step outside of it, it's back to ghost world".
"Well, where is everybody?" Damon asked, "I figured with the veil down it'd be ghost-a-palooza".
"Not everyone on the other side had a reason to come back to this town" Finn replied.
"Just the ones like me and Finn, looking after their idiot best friends and brothers" Alaric said.
"Am I the only one worried about the ones who've come back to Mystic Falls looking for their enemies?" Kol asked.
"Unfortunately, you're not" Damon replied.
***
"I can't do it" Aria said, "I can't reach Qetsiyah".
"You need to focus Aria, put your full concentrate on contacting her" Damien instructed.
"I'm focusing, it's hard" Aria snapped.
"Well try again" Damien urged, "You want to stop Silas, right? Stop him from tormenting your friends, then you need to talk to Qetsiyah".
Aria sighed, "Fine" she said, "I'll try again", she closed her eyes and tried again, but once again nothing happened, "Damien, I'm telling you, it's not working, something's wrong", Aria opened her eyes, and was shocked seeing no sign of Damien, "Damien?! Damien, where are you?".
"My brother is currently out of reach, just like Qetsiyah".
Aria turned around to see Caroline standing behind her, "You're not Caroline, are you? You're Silas".
"Correct" Silas replied.
"But Damien told me that you and him could no longer get inside my head" Aria said.
"Damien can't get in your head, but I still can" Silas said, "I can make you see whatever I want you to see, so can Damien, but that love sick idiot would never do anything to you".
"What did you do to him?" Aria asked confused, "He was right here".
"He will be back, but by the time his back, I'm not sure you will be the same" Silas replied.
"What?" Aria asked confused.
"Am I disfigured monster?" Silas asked, "Of course not" he said, standing on the other side of Aria, now in Kol's form, "The monster is what I wanted you to see", Silas went to the other side of Aria, now in Caroline's form, "That's the beauty of all this, you have no idea who me or my brother are", once again Silas changed sides and went back to Kol's form, "Or what I look like", Silas went back to his real form, "Or how deep I am inside of your head", Silas changed back into Kol's form. "You thought that you were more powerful than me?", Silas changed into Caroline, "I am stronger than you can imagine, I defeated the hunter's curse in minutes, you thought that you could team up with my brother against me? You can't, I will always be one step ahead".
Aria glared at Silas, "I am more powerful then you Silas", Aria let out a loud banshee scream, the force of her scream pushing Silas away from her and into the rocks.
***
Silas, who was in Caroline's form, chuckled and stood up, "I have to give it to you Aria, you do have some strength in you".
"Come any closer and I will do much worse" Aria threatened.
"Finish the spell and I will be out of your hair in no time" Silas said, "Then when the veil is dropped completely, I can take the cure".
Aria looked at Silas in shock, when he pulled the cure out, "How did you get that?".
"Damien gave it to me" Silas replied.
"Why would Damien give the cure to you?" Aria asked confused.
"He wanted to keep you and Damon safe from me, so he gave the cure to me in exchange that I harm neither one of you" Silas replied.
"But you betrayed him" Aria snapped.
"Damien's deal was to not harm you or Damon, it never said anything about harming him" Silas clarified.
"Where is he Silas?" Aria asked.
"Somewhere in these tunnels, reliving Adriana's death over and over again" Silas asked, "Fun fact Aria, you know that me and my brother can get into other people's head, what you don't know is that we can get into each other's heads as well, and do much more damage to each other then we do to normal people".
"His your brother" Aria snapped.
"Whose standing between me and Adriana" Silas snapped back.
"Adriana was never yours Silas" Aria said, "She was always Damien's, she was his soulmate and not yours!".
"Adriana was mine!" Silas yelled, "She will always be mine!".
"That's your delusional" Aria said.
"I don't want to argue with you Aria" Silas said, "I just want to pass on, I'll even let you or my brother kill me, I'll be out of your life for good".
"I will not let every dead supernatural creature roam this earth just because I want to get rid of you" Aria snapped.
"Well, if you don't help me, I'll be roaming the earth" Silas said.
"My plan was never to drop the veil Silas" Aria said.
"I'm curious, what exactly was your plan?" Silas asked, "Powwow with my brother and Qetsiyah? Brainstorm ways to put me down? Qetsiyah's not coming, and neither is my brother, my brother is currently suffering and Qetsiyah wants us both on the other side for eternity".
"Ria?!", Aria heard Damon call her name, worrying her, "Ria!?".
"Ri, are you here?!" Kol yelled.
"That sounds familiar" Silas said, changing his form from Caroline to Alaric.
"Don't you dare touch them, Silas" Aria warned.
"You won't be able to stop me" Silas said.
"Watch me" Aria said, she opened her mouth to let out a yell, trying to warn Damon and Kol, but nothing came out of her mouth.
"You feel that Aria?" Silas asked, as Aria suddenly had trouble breathing, "The air thinning, to be fair, you don't need air, you're a vampire, but this will keep you down till I deal with your boyfriend and lover".
Silas walked away from her Aria, leaving her on the ground, trying to catch her breath.
"Aria!".
Aria opened her eyes, to see her best friend, Jeremy Gilbert standing over her.
"Come on Aria, breath" Jeremy instructed.
"I--", Aria tried to speak, but nothing came out of her mouth.
"Come on Aria" Jeremy said, getting worried, "Okay follow me, breath in, breath out", Aria tried to follow Jeremy's instruction but it was proving very hard, "Come on Aria, you can do it, breath in, breath out", Aria failed a few more times, but Jeremy didn't give up, eventually Aria started following Jeremy's instructions, her breathing slowly came back to normal.
"Is it really you?" Aria asked, still slightly out of breath.
"Would Silas sit here and get your breathing back to normal?" Jeremy teased.
Aria didn't say anything, just lunged forward and hugged Jeremy like her life depended on it, she started sobbing in the hug, "I missed you, I missed you so much".
"I missed you too Aria, but right now you need to get up and go to Damon and Kol before Silas gets to them" Jeremy said, helping Aria stand.
"Aria".
Jeremy and Aria turned around to see Sheila Bennett standing behind them.
"Grams?" Aria asked shocked.
"Hello, my child" Sheila said, giving Aria a smile.
"Oh, my god, Grams" Aria cried, hugging Sheila, "Are you okay?".
"I should be asking you that question" Sheila replied, "You've been through a lot since I saw you last".
"I'm fine, I've been raised by strong womens, who've taught me how to be strong despite everything I've been through" Aria said.
"I've been watching over you" Sheila said.
"Why?" Aria asked, "To see how much I can mess up?".
"You haven't messed up, don't ever think that" Sheila said, "You can still stop Silas".
"I can't, Grams" Aria said, "The two people who could help me, are no where to be seen".
"You don't need their help Aria" Grams said, "You're a tribrid Aria, you're Adriana's descendant, with Petrova blood, you can do anything you put your mind to".
"Grams is right Aria" Jeremy said, "If anyone can stop Silas it's you, we believe in you, now it's time you believe in yourself".
"You can do this" Sheila assured.
Aria looked between Jeremy and Grams, for some reason having them by her side gave her a new sense of strength.
***
Damon and Kol were walking in the tunnels, looking for Aria, when suddenly Alaric came up to them.
"Whoa, it's just me" Alaric said, "Did you find Silas?".
Before Damon or Kol could react, someone in Damon's form, came and punched Alaric in the phone, "Give it up Silas".
"Damien" Silas said, "I see you've recovered".
"It's going to take a lot more then that to keep me down, brother" Damien spat.
"Is this a bad time to say, that it's really weird for me seeing two of you?" Kol whispered to Damon.
"It's a horrible time" Damon whispered back.
Damien grabbed a nearby chain, and put it around Silas's neck, "I warned you not to mess with Aria and her friends".
Damien tightened the chain, causing Silas to yell in pain, just as Aria walked over to them, with Jeremy and Grams behind her.
"Without Qetsiyah I won't be able to kill you, but I do have it in me to stop you from creating havoc in mine and my friend's life" Aria said.
Aria started chanting, causing Silas to yell in pain, Damien let go of Silas, knowing he was too weak to escape, as Aria continued to chant, Silas slowly started to turn into stone, once Aria stopped chanting, his full body was turned into stone, with his hands covering his face, hiding his real face.
"What the hell?" Damon asked confused.
"He can't hide behind his powers anymore" Aria replied, "He's starting to show his real face".
"Which is what exactly?" Kol asked.
"Don't know" Aria replied, "And frankly, I don't care".
Sheila smiled at Aria, she stepped forward and hugged the exhausted witch, "You did it my child, you've proven that you are the most powerful witch".
"I couldn't have done it without all of you" Aria admitted, looking at everyone around her.
Damon didn't say anything, he stepped forward and kissed Aria, "I was so scared I was going to lose you again" he said, after breaking the kiss.
"Never again" Aria assured, hugging Damon, while he placed a kiss on her head.
"Welcome back, jerk" Kol said, hugging Jeremy.
Jeremy chuckled, "Nice to see you to, dick".
Aria and Damon broke the hug, and Aria looked around confused, "Where is he?".
"Who?" Jeremy asked.
"Damien" Aria replied, "Where did he go?".
"I don't know" Damon replied, equally confused.
***
"You ready?" Aria asked Jeremy.
"Aria, are you sure about this?" Jeremy asked, "I mean, you can bring back Alaric and Finn instead of me".
"No" Alaric said, walking into the cave with Finn, "Aria is bringing you back, not us".
"Oh my god" Aria whispered, looking at the two people with tears in her eyes, she quickly ran and hugged Alaric, "You're here, you both are here".
"Of course we are" Alaric said.
"It's good to see you, Aria" Finn said, hugging Aria.
"I missed both of you so much" Aria cried.
"We missed you to" Alaric said.
"Aria" Sheila said, walking in with Damon and Kol, "You're running out of time Aria, bring Jeremy back and put the veil back up".
"Yeah, okay" Aria said, a bit upset to see all these people leave, "By the way, what did you guys do with Silas's body?".
"Stefan's going to take care of him" Damon replied.
"Excuse me?" Aria asked.
"He said he want's to be the one who dumps Silas's body in the quarry, so we agreed" Kol replied.
"You both trusted Stefan?" Aria asked shocked.
"It's not like he can bring Silas back, Ri" Kol replied, "And if he does, then lets hope Silas's kills him so we no longer have to deal with him anymore".
Aria shook her head at Kol, she then turned to Jeremy, "You ready?".
Jeremy looked towards Alaric and Finn, "Are you both sure you want Aria to do this spell on me?".
"We're sure" Finn assured.
"Bring your best friend back, Aria" Alaric said, "We will wait for you guys outside".
Aria nodded, and with that all the ghost walked out, leaving Aria alone with Jeremy, Kol and Damon.
Aria took a deep breath, "Okay, let's do this", Aria placed her hand on Jeremy's chest, right above his heart, Aria started chanting and all the candles her and Jeremy set up, lit up, as Aria kept chanting, the wind got stronger and the fire got higher.
After a moment, Aria stopped chanting and both Jeremy and Aria gasped and fell to the floor unconscious.
"Ria!" Damon yelled, as he and Kol ran to Jeremy and Aria.
"Damon, he has a pulse" Kol said, checking Jeremy's pulse.
"What?" Damon asked shocked.
"She did it" Kol said, amazed, "Aria bought Jeremy back".
Just as Kol said that, Jeremy sat up with a gasp.
"Welcome back to the land of the living" Kol said, patting Jeremy's back.
"I'm alive?" Jeremy asked.
"You're alive" Kol replied.
Jeremy laughed, he looked towards Aria, but frowned seeing her unconscious, "Is she okay?".
"She's fine" Damon said, realising Aria was still breathing, "I think she's used to much magic, she's exhausted herself, I'm going to take her home".
Damon slowly picked Aria up in her arms, and speeded out of the tunnels.
***
Bonnie was walking in the woods when she suddenly fell unconscious, she finally woke up and looked at her surroundings in confusion, she slowly stood up, feeling like something was wrong with her.
"You should have listened to Aria".
"Grams?" Bonnie asked shocked.
"You played with black magic Bonnie, this is the consequence of it" Sheila said, confusing Bonnie.
"What?" Bonnie asked.
Sheila pointed behind Bonnie, who turned around and was shocked seeing her body still laying on the ground.
"Oh, my god" Bonnie cried, "I'm dead".
"Expression killed you Bonnie" Sheila said, "You should have listened to Aria, you should have never used such magic, now you must pay the price".
***
Presenting 4x22 of The Vampire Diaries . . .
How was the chapter?
Thoughts on Damon still not fully trusting Damien?
Thoughts on what Silas did to Damien, and where could Damien have gone to? 🤔
Thoughts on Damien having given the cure to Silas?
Thoughts on Aria defeating Silas and bringing Jeremy back, while Bonnie died due to expression?