Maya woke up to the sounds of birds chirping and the bright sun glistening through her open window. She slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position. Next to her, folded in half, was a note, which she assumed came from Klaus.
Sorry love, I had some business to attend to. Till next time.
- Klaus
P.S. you snore
Maya smiled down at the note when the door opened and she shoved it under her pillow.
"Hey, Tyler told me what happened. How are you feeling?" Liam asked, staying by the door.
Horrible. "I'm pretty good considering," she answered nodding slightly, "there is this memorial thing at school today."
"When is it?"
"It starts at," Maya began, looking at her phone, "now. I have to go, I'll meet you here after?"
"Do you want me to come?"
"No, it'll be short and dumb, I'll be back soon," Maya said pecking him on the lips and grabbing a sweatshirt and shoes before making her way out the door.
"Carol Lockwood always said that togetherness in times of tragedy leads to healing, that one community is stronger than a thousand of its members. But how does a community stay strong after losing its leader? And Carol was so much more than a leader; she was an open-minded friend and a concerned mother, taken from us too soon by a terrible accident," Sheriff Forbes said as Maya entered the gym, staying by the door.
"Screw this," Tyler said, standing up and walking past everyone, ignoring Caroline's pleas.
"Please join me in observing a minute silence in her memory."
Maya kept her eyes open and she saw Elena walking over to Rebekah had previously stood.
Maya quickly made her way to where Elena had disappeared and found Elena and April conversing.
"April, what's wrong?" Elena asked.
"Nothing. I'm fine."
"But you're crying?"
"It's just the whole mayor thing, you know. It's bringing stuff up about my dad."
"And I know you're a vampire."
"Wait, what?"
Rebekah stood behind Elena and snapped her neck.
"Was that necessary?"
"No, but it was fun," Rebekah said with a smile.
Maya scoffed quietly and turned to leave when Rebekah appeared in front of her.
"Two down, three to go," Rebekah said before dragging Maya and Elena in the direction of the library.
"Let me go," Maya said slapping Rebekah's arm between each word.
"I may not be able to snap your neck, but I can compel you, pregnancy weakens your witch powers. Stay put or I'll make you," Rebekah said before pushing her in and throwing Elena at her, "I'll be back."
Maya leaned Elena against a bookshelf and took a seat next to her.
"The assembly is over," April said as she entered the room.
"What is going on?"
"The school will be empty soon...How many times did you compel me?"
Maya shot her a confused look before she continued, "Don't...don't lie. Rebekah says you lie."
"Rebekah isn't who you think she is, April."
"What? She's not a thousand-year-old Original vampire?"
"We can figure this out, but we have to get out of here," Maya said making her way to the door when she was stopped.
"Sorry, not allowed," Rebekah said before looking her straight in the eyes and compelling her, "Why don't you take a seat? The rest of the class will be here shortly."
Rebekah threw Caroline into the room and left once again.
Elena woke up with a groan and rubbed her head, "Wha-?"
Rebekah saved them all the trouble and walked over to Elena and compelled her as well.
After a few moments, Rebekah walked back into the library with Stefan and Liam.
"Stefan..." Elena said.
"Liam?" Maya said furrowing her eyebrows.
Elena stood up to walk over but Rebekah snapped at her, "Did I say you could move?"
Elena sat back down.
"Class is in session. You've all been compelled, you know the rules. Answer my questions honestly, no disobedience, no one leaves. April, my sweet, take notes. This is how you get answers in this town. Let's start with a little quiz. In the year 1114, my brother learned, thanks to yours truly, about a brotherhood of vampire hunters with tattoos that grew with each kill. These tattoos revealed what, Elena?"
"A map."
"Which led to...? Caroline?"
"A cure for vampirism."
"Perfect, so we're all caught up. Stefan Salvatore, the last time we saw each other, you had a vampire hunter, but in order to decode the map, you needed the location of the hunter's sword, which you got out of me using some very dirty tricks. Assuming you found the sword, you also found the cure, and yet, you're all still vampires, which means something went wrong."
Rebekah turned to April who was taking notes, not leaving out a single word. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, you asked me to take notes."
"I wasn't being literal, darling. But now that you mention it...a flow chart would be nice, which means index cards and push-pins. Go, fetch," Rebekah said and April left the room.
"You're wasting your time," Stefan pointed out, "We don't know anything."
"So, you just gave up? I thought you would do anything to save Elena? Even if it meant taking the cure yourself, so you could grow old and die with her?"
Elena looked shocked at this revelation.
"Why do you look so surprised?" Rebekah asked but no one answered. "I'm missing something. What is it?"
"They broke up, okay?" Caroline intervened causing Rebekah to smile. "Now let us go."
"Broke up? Wait, I'm confused. I thought Elena was your epic love, Stefan?" Rebekah mocked, taking a seat. "I asked you what happened. You have to tell me."
"She slept with Damon."
"This is amusing and all but why are we here?" Maya asked gesturing between Liam and herself.
"I heard from a source that you are in the middle of a very interesting love triangle, is that true?" Rebekah said, ignoring the question.
"What does that ha-"
"Answer the question. Is it true?"
Maya eyed Liam cautiously before looking back at Rebekah, "Yes."
"How do you feel about this one here?" Rebekah asked, gesturing toward Liam.
"I care about him."
"And my brother?"
"I'm in love with him and I hate myself for it," Maya said before quickly covering her mouth with her hand.
"Well this just gets more and more interesting."
Maya looked down to avoid the looks from everyone around the table, especially Liam, who looked hurt.
"Now that we got that sorted out, back to Stefan," Rebekah said turning to look at him. "How could she hurt you like that?"
"She didn't know it at the time, but she was sired to Damon."
"A sire bond. That's fascinating. And what do you think about that, Elena?"
"I think you're sad and bored and in desperate need of a hobby."
"You're hiding something. Fess up."
"I didn't sleep with Damon because of the sire bond. I slept with Damon because I'm in love with him."
Stefan looked visibly hurt and Elena looked extremely sorry.
"What does any of this have to do with the stupid cure?" Caroline said in an attempt to avoid a bad conversation.
"You're right. We got off the point. Stefan, how do I find the cure? Unless, you'd rather talk about Damon and Elena all day."
"There's a professor. He knows where the cure is," Stefan answered.
"Thank you. And, uh, where do I find this professor?" Rebekah asked.
"Sister...Look at this! You're even worse than Klaus," Kol said entering the library after what felt like forever.
"Kol, finally. Did you bring what I asked for?" Rebekah asked.
"You must be Shane," Rebekah said once Kol pushed him in.
Rebekah, Kol, and Shane all left the room leaving the five to sit awkwardly.
"Liam, I-?" Maya began but he cut her off.
"I don't want to hear it."
"Just let me explain."
"Explain what exactly? That you're in love with a psychopath and not me? Or that you didn't mean to hurt me and it just sort of happened? Like I said, I don't want to hear it."
"Still glued to your seats?" Rebekah said reentering the library, "Ahh, it's thick with tension in here. Let's spice things up a bit. Elena, truth or dare?"
"We're done playing your stupid games, Rebekah," Stefan pointed out.
"Truth or dare, Elena. You're compelled. Answer."
"Dare," Elena answered.
"I dare you to tell Stefan the truth about Damon."
"Seriously?" Caroline protested.
"Being with Damon makes me happy."
"Makes you happy? Clowns make you happy, Elena. Dig a little deeper."
"When I'm with him...it feels unpredictable, like...like I'm free."
"And how do you feel when you're with Stefan?"
"Stop," Caroline said.
"She can't, she's compelled."
"Lately, I feel like I'm a project, like I'm a problem that needs to be fixed. I think I make him sad, and I can't be with someone like that, because when he looks at me, all he sees is a broken toy."
"Do you still love Stefan?" Rebekah asked, a smile creeping onto her face.
"Yes."
"Are you still in love with Stefan?"
"No," Elena said as she looked like she was going to cry. The answer seemed to satisfy Rebekah so she turned to Stefan.
"Did that hurt? Having someone you love drive a dagger through your heart?"
"Go to hell."
"Did...that...hurt?"
"Yes."
"Welcome to the last 900 years of my life."
Stefan looked at Rebekah when the door opened revealing a pissed off Tyler.
"Ah, good, you're here. It was just getting depressing."
"What the hell is going on?" Tyler asked looking at everyone in the room.
"Listen to the rules carefully. Stay in the building, no vamp-running in the hallways," Rebekah said confusing everyone greatly.
"Vamp-running from what?" Caroline questioned.
Rebekah then turned to Tyler and compelled him, "Turn."
"What?" Elena asked, eyes widening.
"He can't, he'll lose control!" Caroline panicked.
"That's the whole point. I've exhausted all your knowledge. Now I have the professor to help me find the cure, you're just competition. Whoever finds it first gets to decide what to do with it. Use it, share it, destroy it, save it. I want that to be me."
"But if I turn, I'll kill them," Tyler pointed out as though nobody else realized that.
"Yes, you will. Turn," Rebekah said before leaving.
"Agh! I can fight this!" Tyler shouted in agony, falling into the bookshelves.
"Get out of here," he shouted as the five others in the room watched from the distance.
"Go-go!" Stefan shouted and they all ran out the door.
"That door's not gonna hold him!" Elena shouted.
Caroline disappeared and the rest of them ran down the hall away from Tyler.
Stefan and Elena shut the door and Stefan used a fire axe to keep it as shut as possible.
Tyler began growling and ramming into the door and it began denting and opening. Elena yanks off a locker door and sticks it through the door handles.
"You guys should go," Maya suggested as Tyler continued ramming into the door.
"What?" Liam asked as Stefan and Elena shot her a confused look.
"It won't hold much longer, you guys need to go. I'll help him."
"We aren't going to just leave you here," Elena protested.
"I'm a tribrid Elena. I'm part werewolf so his bite won't kill me. I'm a vampire so I am even more freakishly strong then I was as a werewolf. And I'm a witch, I can protect myself. Even if those three things aren't on my side, I have a pretty good feeling that the witches won't let my babies die for whatever sick twisted reason they are protecting them for. So yes Elena, you will be leaving me here. Find Bonnie, stay safe."
"Bonnie, what do you mean find Bon-?" Elena began but was cut off by Bonnie's shouts for help.
"Help! Someone help!"
"Go!" Maya shouted before entering the hallway where Tyler's growls had disappeared from.
"Tyler!" Maya shouted down the hallway.
Maya heard growls coming from the direction of the gym and she quickly made her way to it.
She entered the room to see a full fledged werewolf Tyler.
Once Tyler got a whiff of Maya, he charged towards her.
"Tyler!" Maya growled loudly, her eyes flashing gold.
Tyler stopped in his place. His features slowly began to retract and he fell to the floor in a fetal position. Maya ran to the table next to him and pulled off the tablecloth.
Caroline entered the room and dropped the weapon she held in her hand and she ran over as Maya wrapped the cloth around him.
"I'm so sorry," Tyler said in pain.
"What? No, it's not your fault," Caroline reassured.
"Yes, it was. This whole thing...it's all my fault."
"No..." Caroline said, shaking her head.
Tyler turned his head and saw the picture of his mother and he started crying, "I should have saved her."
Caroline placed her hand on his face and Maya grabbed his hand.
The three of them sat and silently cried as the two girls consoled Tyler.
Eventually, Tyler fell asleep. Maya looked up at Caroline, "I have to go make sure Elena, Stefan, and Liam are okay. Can you take him home?"
"Yeah, yeah. If anything is wrong, call me."
Maya nodded before slowly letting go of Tyler's hand. She stood up and made her way to the science lab, where they would be.
"Leave her out of this," Stefan said as Maya entered the room, "This is between me and you."
"You're still protecting her. Must I rip your bleeding heart from your chest and show you the scar tissue that is Elena Gilbert?"
"What the hell is going on?" Maya whispered to Liam who ignored her.
"There's a solution to all your problems, you know," Rebekah said, now talking to Elena, "I could compel him. Erase every memory he has of you...every day you spent together, every kiss, every lie, every ounce of pain...I could take away every bit of love he has for you. Give you both a clean slate. Just say the word, and I'll make you and all that misery you caused him disappear."
"Do it," Stefan said drawing everyone's attention to him and Elena looked shocked.
"Excuse me?" Rebekah questioned.
"Erase it all, every memory."
"Stefan? No!" Elena protested.
"I said to do it."
Rebekah stared at Stefan who looked completely desperate. She then started laughing, "No. That'd be far too easy. I refuse to make you forget her the way Klaus made you forget me."
"But at least you know how he really feels," Rebekah said facing Elena, a smile on her face before turning back to Stefan, "Consider your eternity of pain my revenge, Stefan. I've used you for all you're worth, so now, you're free to go."
Rebekah then left the room, leaving the four in silence.
Stefan stood still for a moment, he looked around the room slowly before walking out.
"Stefan, wait," Elena begged, following him out, Liam and Maya right behind her.
Elena eventually stopped and turned to Maya looking defeated.
"Elena, I-"
"It's fine, I'm fine," she said before vamp-speeding off.
Maya looked down at the floor before turning to Liam.
"I'm sorry," Maya said looking up at him.
"Yeah, you said that already," Liam said before walking out of the school leaving Maya alone.