Damon's plan to get Lily to turn Stefan's humanity on worked, now they had to deal with Caroline. Before, Aurora was all for leaving her alone, but ever since she used her as a human shield, Aurora was pissed and wanted to see Caroline suffer for awhile. She and Elena traded shifts with Jo and Alaric, Elena kept telling her she didn't have to go, worried about her since her incident with her sister, but Aurora assured she was fine, and had plenty to say to Caroline
"Knock, knock" Elena called out, "Elena" Aurora heard Caroline say from her end of the door, "And Aurora" she called, "Hi, Caroline" she sneered, "Let me guess, humanity police was your idea? Is it because I stabbed you?" Caroline asked, Aurora opened the latch, "See, I was fine with leaving you alone, but now you're just a pain in the ass" she snapped at her sister, who rolled her eyes back.
"We really want you back, Caroline" Elena told her, "Remember that time Jeremy died and you turned off your humanity and tried to kill the prom queen, a.k.a your best friend Bonnie?" Caroline questioned her, "I forget Stefan, was that before or after she killed some waitress for no reason?" she turned to the other vampire in the room. "I think it was after" Stefan replied, Caroline chuckled, "You see, Stefan and I are just finding it a little ironic that you think you're qualified to tell us how to deal with the death of a loved one"
"Elena, don't talk to her, she's just trying to get into your head" Aurora told her, "No, I'm not. I'm just telling the truth" Caroline replied, "Hey, I heard they left your boyfriend behind in 1903. Did Elena tell you how to feel?" she asked her sister, "Go to hell, Caroline. I'm not talking to you" Aurora snapped, Caroline chuckled again, "Did you, Elena?" she turned to the other brunette, "Because that seems to be what you're good at, telling others how to feel"
"I'm not here to preach to you, Caroline" Elena replied, "I just came to show you this" she held up the letter that Liz Forbes wrote to Caroline, Aurora already read the one that her mother left for her, sometimes Aurora wished she didn't, because it only caused so much more pain. "This letter from your Mom arrived at our dorm just a few days after her funeral. Apparently, there was something she wanted to tell you" Elena informed her.
Caroline's eyes flickered between the letter and the two girls behind the bar, humanity showing, her sights landing on Aurora, as that inch of humanity flickers away, "What? Rory didn't get one?" she fake pouts, "No, Caroline, I did. I got my own letter. And I think you should read yours" she told her sister. She didn't know what was in Caroline's letter, but she knows that the real Caroline would hate herself if she never read it.
Stefan grabbed the letter and handed it to Caroline, "Does this look real to you?" he asked her, Caroline grabbed and examined the letter, "Her impeccably perfect handwriting? Yup" she states, "Yeah, I remember when she taught us how to write our names in cursive" she adds, looking up at her sister for a brief moment, another flicker of her humanity showing, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
"So what? Am I supposed to read this and snap back to the sad, pathetic, motherless Caroline?" she says to the girls on the other side of the bars, "No" Aurora shakes her head, "You just read it, see what Mom said to you, because this Caroline at the moment, is just an act, a shell of the person you actually are. Deep down, you do want to read it" she says to her sister softly, Caroline smirks, turns to Stefan after looking at Aurora, "Burn it"
"What?" Stefan said, "Did I say stand there and look stupid? No. I said burn it" Caroline repeats herself, "Caroline, no" Aurora brings her hands around the bars of the room, peering into the room, as Caroline holds the letter out towards Stefan, "Well, maybe I should read it first" Stefan suggest, so Caroline doesn't go through and burn the letter her mother left behind.
"Why do you care?" Caroline scoffed, "I mean, what happens if you get your humanity back and you hate me for destroying the last thing your Mom wanted to say to you?" Stefan defends, hoping that Caroline doesn't catch onto the fact his humanity is intact. "Did those words seriously just come out of your mouth? God" she scoffed again, walking past Stefan to the table where a box of matches sat. She lit one and held it up towards Stefan, "Burn it, now"
"Stefan, don't. Give me the letter" Aurora begged, she knew deep, deep, down, the old Caroline was in there. And that one day she would want to read her Mom's letter. But doing this, burning it, ensured she'd never be able to read it. At least in Aurora's care, she'd be able to look after it until Caroline was back to her old self. Stefan brought the letter up to the match and it set on fire.
Caroline looked at Elena and Aurora, with a sly look as she blew out the match. "Sorry, Aurora, Elena. But if you want us back, you're gonna have to try a lot harder than that" Stefan said, dropping the letter and letting it burn, while Aurora and Elenea watched in shock as the their plan burnt away.
...
Aurora went to the Grill in hopes to devise a plan of getting Caroline's humanity back on. Damon came in and switched with her, or well, she left, she didn't really want to be around Damon right now. Since she burnt the letter their mother left behind for her, they had to dig deeper, find something that Caroline can't destroy or run away from, something meaningful. Aurora couldn't use anything in their house, since Caroline sold everything, so that was a no go.
They didn't have Stefan to trigger her emotions, since as far as Caroline is aware, he has his humanity off too, and last time when she saw he might turn his humanity on, she ran. So, that was also a no go. Their group was never good at making plans, because something always came in the way. The Tomb Vampires? People got kidnapped. Dealing with Katherine? Elena got kidnapped. Killing Klaus? Stefan kidnapped his family.
Aurora noticed a pattern in them, their plans usually ended up in someone being kidnapped or killed, so maybe that was it? It's just, there's only a few people in Caroline's life left whom she'd be devastated about if they got hurt, Aurora and Stefan. But, both are a no go there, when Caroline used Aurora as a human shield, the look on Caroline's face was unrecognizable.
Aurora believes that deep down, Caroline wouldn't have let her die, not after everything they went through. Aurora was one of the only people who followed Caroline's rules and left her alone post their Mom's funeral, so that has to count for something, right? That and she's her sister, the only family she has left.
The seat in front of her was taken, she looked up and saw Matt, "Hey, Matt" Aurora smiled at him, she hadn't see him since well, Caroline used her as a human shield. "Hey, I need your help" he tells her quietly, "With what?" she replies in the same way, confused why he was being so quiet, "That" he nodded his head to the side behind him.
She discreetly looked over his shoulder and saw Lily Salvatore, and Enzo, chatting at a nearby table. "How do they know each other?" she asks him, he shrugs his shoulders, "Beats me, she's meeting Bonnie, but she's running late, and I don't want to be alone distracting her" Matt tells her. "Right, so what am I supposed to do?" Aurora nods.
"Keep her occupied, while Bonnie looks" he informs, "She's looking for the ascendant, isn't she?" Aurora asks him, Matt looks over at Lily and Enzo, to see they're still talking, he looks back at Aurora and nods. She sighs, getting the ascendant from Lily would be way easier than getting it from Bonnie.
But, does she want to free Kai? If it meant these witch-vampire monsters would also be out in the world? She'd get Kai out another way. Because there's no way those things are being released into the world. "Fine, I'm in" Aurora mumbles, "Great, now go over there, and just talk to her, don't let her catch on that you're keeping her busy though" Matt warns her, before getting up and walking away. Aurora sighed again, packing her things away before walking over to the table they were at, interrupting their conversation.
"Enzo, hey, I didn't see you walk in, not very your scene" Aurora greets them, whenever her and Enzo were together, they never came to the Grill. Granted, they had a lot going on with college, him being sent free from Augustine, and some creepy Travellers and immortal beings. Aurora still has no idea how they had free time together with all that going on.
"Hello, Aurora" Enzo greets her with his charming smile, "Lily Salvatore, Aurora, Aurora–" he starts to introduce them, "Aurora" Lily cuts him off, "I know you, you came to the prison world with my son" she smiled, Aurora nods, "Yeah, that's me" she said awkwardly, pulling up a seat to join them at the table, "You know each other?" Enzo said looking between the two, "I should be asking you that. You never mentioned to me you knew Damon and Stefan's mother" she retorted back.
"On the contrary, love, I didn't know the woman who turned me was my old best friends mother" Enzo replied, "Small world" Aurora mumbled, "Yes, I turned Lorenzo the day I got locked up" Lily smiled at the pair, "You also have someone back in that prison world, correct? That young man?" Lily changed the topic, looking at her, Aurora nodded awkwardly, "Um, yeah, I do" Lily smiled again, "Wonderful, so you'll help me then"
"Um what?" Aurora said, "Help me get my friends back, because it'll mean your friend comes back" Lily clarifies, "We'd need the ascendant, and we don't have that, Damon does" Aurora lies, knowing Lily doesn't know that she knows she has it. Lily smiled again, "Not to worry about, I have the ascendant, and your friend Ms. Bennett has offered to get them out" she tells her in confidence, unaware that Bonnie at the moment is at her home, searching for the ascendant.
"That's... wonderful" Aurora put a smile on. Oh, she'd do anything to see Kai again, but from what she's read, these witch vampire monsters are not something you want to mess with. It's something her friends have not seen before and definitely would not be able to deal with. The power of a witch, the strength of a vampire, all combined to create a powerful creature.
"Isn't it?" Lily questioned, her smile dropping, "But it appears my lunch date has stood me up, so I hope you're both hungry" Lily says to Aurora and Enzo. "Yeah, starving" Aurora, cleared her throat, hoping Bonnie would hurry up and get here before Lily caught on she was hiding something.
...
Aurora arrives back at the apartment, Kai's apartment, she only moved in there a few days ago with him and she was already alone in there. It felt so empty without him in there. Everything was left intact their last day together there, Aurora sniffled a cry, she missed him, they only had such little time together.
She walked into the bedroom, noticing the bed was made to perfection since Kai was a perfectionist and everything had to be neat and tidy. Aurora admired that about him, you wouldn't think he was a perfectionist, given his explosive personality. But, once you got to actually know him, you learnt a lot of things you wouldn't expect about him.
She learnt a lot in the Prison World about him, a little bit too much, she's glad though she got to know him when she did, even if her friends didn't like him, she was always one to not follow the rules and expectations that her friends did, and Kai fitted all that. He was the dangerous type, the type you should cower and run away from, and though at first, Aurora would've done that, but after she got to know him, she realized there was more than what meets the eye.
She learnt that Kai just had a horrible childhood. His father abused him, and favored his other children over him, pushed him around and isolated him from everyone else. She related to Kai in some ways, feeling isolated and unloved by those around you. The only difference being, it was all in Aurora's head, she believed she had no one around her that loved her, but she actually did.
The same didn't apply for Kai, it was a reality. He did have Josette for a while, but a few years before he killed their other siblings, she too saw how their father and everyone else saw him. Kai really had no one around him to love and support him like a family should. A tear escapes Aurora's eye as she sees the letter her mother sent her, laying on the dresser in the room. She walks up and reads it again, the tears spilling out even more.
Aurora
I know this letter will find you after I'm gone. I know it will be difficult, but you are such a strong, independent woman, and I know in my death that you will be fine. It's okay to cry, it's okay to cry for a while, even 10 years after my death, it's okay to cry. Never apologize for that. It's a human thing to do. I know your life hasn't been the easiest and you've suffered a lot of loss and hardship, but you've gotten back up every time and kicked butt each time. I am so proud of you Aurora, and I know that you think that you need me, but I know that you don't. A mother knows when her child doesn't need her anymore, and this time is exactly that. You're strong Aurora. You are beautiful. You are independent. And I have no doubt that you will live a long, happy, successful life. You are so smart and I know you can do anything that you put your mind to. You have so many people in your life that love you, Aurora. Don't push them away when times get tough, you're going to need your friends, especially now. Let them in. The friends you have will be in your life forever, I see myself in you as well as Caroline, I turned out fine, and I know you both will as well. Take care of each other. You only have each other at the end of the day.
Love Mom.
...
Authors Note
Stop I almost cried to the letter Liz wrote for Aurora :( She deserves better, losing her mother and then Kai both close together. She can never be happy. But trauma builds character guys!!! Anyways, pretty sure Caroline and Aurora will talk next chapter🤭 So watch out for that.
Thanks for reading and 6K reads!