Emily had been working non-stop for the past two days since the bonfire to find a way to bring the real Stefan Salvatore back. Emily, of course, knew the emotionless vampire wasn't going to tell her anything useful to help her, so the Radkova witch found herself digging into Stefan's journals.
Emily always hated the idea of invading someone's privacy, especially her ex-boyfriend's, but this was between getting Stefan back or losing him completely to that evil vampire side of him.
The Radkova witch had even enlisted Elena, who gladly agreed to help, before they began reading through Stefan's journals. The Gilbert twins focused all of their attention on the time period when Stefan had his emotions switched off and it all started in the beginning of 1922.
It was a lot to get through. It was way more than Emily had ever imagined. The Gilbert twins had at least eight journals each to read through. However, Emily guessed it made sense after finding out that it took Stefan thirteen years before he finally flipped his switch back on and allowed himself to feel again.
The Gilbert twins were on their third day of research. It was a pretty Sunday afternoon, so instead of being stuffed into a dark room at the Salvatore boarding house, they were sitting at a table outside of Mystic Grill in the warm weather.
Emily and Elena worked together in a comfortable silence while they occasionally threw ideas out to each other about how they could help turn Stefan's emotions back on. However, the Gilbert twins' focus was suddenly pulled away from the journals when they heard someone call out to them, "hey!"
Emily quickly looked and followed the sound of the voice before she smiled when she noticed a waving Jenna with Alaric and Jeremy heading their way.
Emily placed a grey Mystic Grill napkin into the journal to mark her place before she closed the leather book just as the trio arrived at her and Elena's table. "What are you guys doing here?" The Radkova witch curiously asked as she folded her arms on top of the table.
"I know you girls are working hard, so I thought we would join you for lunch," the Sommers vampire proclaimed as she took a seat at the round table with Alaric on her left and Jeremy sitting on her right.
Elena immediately grinned over to her aunt. "That sounds great," the human girl murmured. "I was starting to get hungry, anyway," Elena added with a chuckle.
"Perfect," the Sommers vampire murmured with a grin of her own. Jenna glanced around the table before she announced to the group, "I'm gonna go grab some menus."
The table was silent for a moment as the group watched Jenna head inside of Mystic Grill before Alaric focused his gaze onto the Gilbert twins. "How's the research going?" Alaric inquired as he nodded his head towards the journals that was spread around the table.
"It's going," Emily murmured. "It's rough having to read through everything Stefan had to go through," the Radkova witch admitted as a brief frown appeared on her face. "It's a lot of pain," Emily absently whispered as she lightly stroked the front of Stefan's journal.
The human Petrova doppelganger quickly reached next to her before she gave Emily's hand a light squeeze to offer her some sort of comfort. Elena knew how hard Emily was struggling through this. Hell, it was difficult for Elena herself to read through Stefan's journey of getting his emotions back.
"But we might have an idea," Elena told the group before she focused her brown gaze onto Jeremy. "We need your help," the Gilbert girl told her brother.
Jeremy immediately furrowed his brows in confusion as he glanced between his two sisters. "How could I help?" Jeremy questioned in uncertainty.
"We noticed a common denominator through all of these journals," Elena stated as she pointed at the leather books lying across the table. "It's Lexi," the human girl uttered as she gave Emily a moment to herself. "Lexi is Stefan's best friend and she was the one to bring him back before," Elena explained to the group.
"So, where is she now that we need her?" Alaric inquired.
"That's the thing," Emily murmured as she joined the conversation. "She's dead," the Radkova witch revealed.
Jeremy's brown eyes swiftly widened once he realized why his sisters were asking for his help with this. "You want me to try to reach her, don't you?" Jeremy asked to confirm what he thought.
Emily nodded her head before she released a deep breath. "I would do it myself," Emily uttered as she pointed towards her chest before she stated, "but I can only contact the dead when I have something that belongs to them or I'm connected to them in some way like I am with Maria and Darina."
Jeremy tossed his arms up in the air before he huffed, "I don't even know if she's on the other side."
Alaric moved his blue eyes between the eldest and the youngest Gilbert siblings before he curiously asked, "is that what it's called?"
Emily, Elena, and Jeremy all nodded their heads in unison for three different reasons.
"That's where we were after the sacrifice," the Radkova witch stated as she moved her index finger between herself and Elena. "It's like an afterlife for the supernatural," Emily uttered as she tried to describe the place to Alaric.
"Yeah," Elena murmured in agreement with her twin sister. "I was stuck there for all those months I was dead," the human girl recalled as a frown appeared on her face.
The other side was honestly the worse experience in Elena Gilbert's life. Elena always hated the fact that she could see her loved ones but she could never talk to them. It was very lonely. It was neither Heaven or Hell. It was herself and nothing else.
"So, like purgatory?" Alaric inquired as he glanced at each of the three Gilbert teenagers.
"Sort of," Jeremy muttered as he pulled his brows together. "Anna said it's like being here with all of us, only we can't see or hear her," the Gilbert teenager recalled what the other side resident told him. "She can't interact with anyone," Jeremy quietly uttered, "she's all alone."
"Well, Vicki could interact," Alaric reminded the trio of siblings before he focused his gaze onto Emily, who had been there with him. "She blew up my car," Alaric muttered.
Emily quickly shook her head. "It's different... I think," Emily murmured as she briefly glanced over to her brother for confirmation.
"Bonnie said Vicki was getting help from a witch on the other side," Emily reminded the vampire hunter. "That's the only way Vicki could physically mess with us," Emily stated.
"Yeah," Jeremy muttered in agreement with his eldest sister. "Anna... She doing this all by herself," the human teenager mumbled.
The vampire hunter innocently held his hands up in the air. "I'm just saying," Alaric proclaimed, "maybe we learned our lesson about summoning dead people."
"But Lexi isn't dangerous or vengeful," Emily confidently told the vampire hunter. "She always only wanted the best for Stefan," the Radkova witch stated before she swore, "it won't be the same like what happened with Vicki."
The Radkova witch, of course, only met Lexi less than a handful of times but she was positive in her assessment. Emily just knew Lexi wouldn't be an issue for them like Vicki Donovan was at the bonfire.
"We aren't even sure we can get in touch with her," Elena proclaimed to calm the vampire hunter's worries. Elena turned to look over to her brother before she asked Jeremy, "do you think you can?"
Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," the human teenager admitted. "I didn't have an emotional connection with her," Jeremy reminded his sisters, "I never even met her."
Alaric heavily dropped his palm down onto the table to gain the Gilbert siblings' attention. "Can we just drop it, please?" The vampire hunter huffed.
Emily frowned as she looked over to the vampire hunter. "That's not an option, Ric," the Radkova witch exclaimed. "Lexi is our only choice," Emily stated, "she's the only one who can help bring the real Stefan back."
"She's right," Elena murmured in agreement with her twin sister. "Damon doesn't even know what to do," the Gilbert girl uttered.
Elena had asked her boyfriend for help last night but the older Salvatore vampire was just as clueless as they were with how to bring the real Stefan back.
"Lexi is our best option," Elena insisted.
"Don't you think we have had a few too many dead vampires in our past to be sitting here thinking of them watching us?" Alaric countered with his right eyebrow raised.
The Radkova witch released a heavy sigh as she slowly her head. "I thought you said you trusted me," Emily mumbled as she looked over at the vampire hunter, "I thought you said you would help me."
Alaric's shoulders sagged as he stared at the saddened witch. "I did and I do, Emily," the vampire hunter promised.
"But we can't have what happened at the bonfire to happen again or we might not live through it," Alaric insisted. "We can go against all the vampires in the world but ghosts are wildcards," Alaric proclaimed.
"You could barely get out there," Alaric reminded the Radkova witch from what happened with Vicki Donovan. "All the training and magic didn't help us," the vampire hunter muttered as he shook his head. "Ghosts are unpredictable," Alaric stated.
"But this is different," the Radkova witch exclaimed as she tried to get Alaric to understand her plan. "Vicki had a strong witch helping her interact with us," Emily reminded the vampire hunter before she shook her head and stated, "Lexi would just have Jeremy to talk to us."
While the Radkova witch and the vampire hunter continued to go back and forth with one another, Elena had glanced over to her silent brother before she quickly furrowed her brows in confusion at what she saw.
It looked like Jeremy was listening and smiling towards someone when he was actually only staring at the empty seat that the Sommers vampire had been occupying.
Elena quickly gasped and her brown eyes widened when she realized the reason behind Jeremy's strange behavior. "Is Anna here right now?" The Gilbert girl hurriedly asked.
Jeremy swiftly moved his brown eyes over to Elena and away from the ghost beside him. "No, no," Jeremy stuttered out before he quickly pushed himself out of his seat. "I'm going to go, uh, check my work schedule," the Gilbert teenager muttered before he hurriedly walked away from the table and Elena's interrogation.
"He was definitely talking to her," Emily commented as she watched Jeremy practically sprint into Mystic Grill while also almost knocking Jenna down in the process.
The Radkova witch would gladly defend her family like no tomorrow but she wasn't a fan of what Jeremy was doing by talking to Anna.
Emily, of course, understood why since Jeremy was the only person the dead vampire was able to talk to but the Radkova witch felt that Bonnie deserved to be respected. In Emily's opinion, it wasn't right that Jeremy was talking to his dead ex-girlfriend when he had a perfectly living, loving, and caring one in the Bennett witch.
Jenna was chuckling to herself as she arrived at the table to join her boyfriend and nieces. "Where's the fire?" The Sommers vampire joked as she placed the menus down onto the table. "I thought we were having lunch together," Jenna mumbled as a frown slowly appeared on her face.
However, before any of the trio could explain to Jenna about what was going on with Jeremy, a new person suddenly arrived at the table.
"Hey, guys," Stefan murmured as he lazily greeted the group. Stefan took a seat beside the Radkova witch before a pout took over his lips. "Who forgot to invite me to the family summit?" Stefan asked.
"You would have to be family to be invited," the Sommers vampire deadpanned as she looked at Stefan with a slight glare to her hazel eyes.
Jenna wouldn't lie, she did hold some resentment towards the Salvatore vampire. Jenna understood that it wasn't exactly Stefan's fault and Klaus forced him to kill Andie but it still pained the Sommers vampire to see Stefan here alive while her best friend was dead.
Stefan looked over to the Sommers vampire with an amused smirk before his green eyes noticed the familiar leather books resting across the table. "Look at what we have here," Stefan muttered as he reached over and grabbed one of the journals.
The Salvatore vampire flipped open the journal before he began to quickly scan through the pages. Stefan released a tsk before he muttered, "all these words." The emotionless vampire carelessly tossed the journal back onto the table as he stated, "I forgot how much I used to care."
"I didn't," Emily quietly murmured as she focused her green gaze onto her ex-boyfriend. "You are one of the most compassionate person I have ever known," the Radkova witch proclaimed, "you put the well-being of others above yourself. You are caring and filled of so much love."
Stefan carelessly waved his hand to brush off the Radkova witch's words. "That's all in the past," the Salvatore vampire insisted.
Emily shook her head as a tiny smile played on her lips. "It's not," the Radkova witch confidently proclaimed. "You still care. You still care about me and everyone else here," Emily told the Salvatore vampire.
Stefan shot an amused smirk over to the Radkova witch. "Why torture yourself with old memories?" The Salvatore vampire inquired as he curiously twitched his head to the side. "It's for the best if we just move on and accept things as they are," Stefan told the Radkova witch.
"What's the point of you being here again?" Elena asked as she glared at the emotionless vampire. "If you're just going to hurt Emily even more than you already have, then you can just leave," Elena snapped, "no one needs you here."
Elena, of course, knew they were trying to save the real Stefan with all the research she and Emily had been doing for the past few days. However, Elena would rather not have to deal with this Stefan any longer than she had to. This emotionless Stefan just knew how to hurt her twin sister's heart and Elena wasn't a fan of that at all.
The Salvatore vampire chuckled as he moved his green gaze over to Elena. "You think I want to be here?" Stefan asked as he raised his right eyebrow. "I would much rather be anywhere but here with you downers," Stefan muttered before he pointed his index finger towards the Radkova witch.
"Emily's here and I have to look out for Emily," the Salvatore vampire told the group around the table. "Besides," Stefan began as a smirk lifted onto his face before he uttered, "there's going to be people everywhere here tonight. There's going to be lots to eat."
Emily looked over to the emotionless vampire with a hard glare. "Stefan," the Radkova witch warned her ex-boyfriend.
Stefan boastfully chuckled before he innocently raised his palms up in the air. "I'm only kidding," Stefan promised. "No need to bring out your witchy magic," the Salvatore vampire told Emily as he reached over and tapped the top of Emily's hand on the table, where blue veins were beginning to shoot up.
The Radkova witch instantly swiped her hand away from Stefan's touch. "Watch yourself," Emily snapped.
Stefan smirked over at the Radkova witch as he slowly stood up from the table. "I'll see you soon, baby," the Salvatore vampire murmured before he headed into Mystic Grill.
The Radkova witch silently watched Stefan enter the building before she focused back onto the faces around the table. Emily heaved out a sigh when she noticed Jenna and Elena's worried looks and Alaric's challenging one staring at her.
Emily focused on Alaric's sole emotion as she shook her head at the older man. "I can't drop it, Ric," the Radkova witch muttered.
Emily pointed her index finger back to where the emotionless vampire left to before she proclaimed, "we can't leave him like that. He doesn't deserve that." Emily waved her hands around to point at all of the innocent humans surrounding them before Emily reminded the vampire hunter, "it's not safe for Mystic Falls to have Stefan stuck like this."
Alaric released a heavy sigh as he listened to the Radkova witch's argument. "I'm not saying to drop it," the vampire hunter told Emily, "but at least keep looking for an alternative." Alaric shook his head head before he muttered, "the last thing we need is to have more ghosts of our enemies roaming around."