𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄
the relief of giving in to destruction
ECHO WAS STILL on her knees when Elena and Jack arrived, beaten and bloody. It seemed they had a run in with Katherine, too.
Elena came to a stop when her brown eyes landed on her brothers lifeless form, and her undead heart stopped beating. Then, taking in a deep breath, she sped towards her little brother, held him in her arms, sobbing. "Jeremy! Oh, no. No!" She checked his hand to see his Gilbert ring was still on his finger. "It's fine. You're gonna be okay. The ring will bring you back. You're gonna be okay, Jeremy. You're gonna be fine."
"I'm so sorry," Jack murmured as he stood still, tears falling down his cheeks at a rapid speed. "I should be able to help. I'm so sorry."
Stefan then walked in and looked at the scene in shock. "Oh, no."
Suddenly, Damon ran in panting slightly from the vervain in his system. His bright blue eyes landed on Echo's still frame, and immediately ran over to her. "Echo!" He tried to gain her attention, but her brown eyes would never leave Jeremy's dead body in Elena's arms. "Little warrior, look at me please."
"He's dead," she mumbled, her chest physically hurting as if someone reached into her chest and pulled her heart out. "He is dead!" She shouted and turned to stare her boyfriend in the eyes who quickly pulled her into a hug, trying to comfort as best as he could.
After calming Echo down as much as he could, Damon watched as Echo walked over to Elena and Jack. The three of them stayed by Jeremy's dead body, waiting for him to wake up somehow.
Damon let out a breath and walked over to his brother. "How'd this happen?"
"It was Katherine. She must have been following us this whole time," Stefan explained with a pained look.
Damon ran a hand down his face. "What about the cure, or Silas?"
Stefan sighed heavily and shook his head. "If there was anything in there at all, it's all gone."
"Where the hell is Bonnie?" Damon snapped in stress.
"I have no idea. She went looking for Jeremy last night. She never came back," Stefan stated, shrugging. He then sighed heavily. "Damon, they are in there waiting for the Gilbert ring to bring Jeremy back to life."
"Okay, fine. I'll wait with them." Damon sighed and started walking toward the sisters and Jack.
Stefan our his hand up to stop him. "Damon, listen to me. Jeremy was one of the Five, a hunter."
The blue eyed Salvatore froze and he clenched his jaw. "He's supernatural. The ring won't work anymore." He paused and looked at Stefan. "They won't survive this." He swallowed and glanced over at the twins who were holding one another, sniffling. "I'll find Bonnie. You get them off this island." He made eye contact with his brother and squeezed his shoulder. "And you better not hurt any of them."
HOURS LATER, the two vampires, sisters, and Jack arrived back in Mystic Falls.
Caroline was scrubbing the floor when the door opened and Elena walked in with a neutral expression, Echo holding her hand. Jack followed shortly behind, and then Stefan walked in behind her carrying Jeremy's body.
The blonde heard them and stood up. "Hey, you're home. I was trying to clean the burn mark where Kol— " She noticed that Stefan was carrying Jeremy's body wrapped in a blanket. "—I couldn't get the spot out."
Stefan shook his head a little at Caroline.
"Come on. Let's get him upstairs," Elena said, walking up the stairs and he quickly followed while Caroline stood there completely immobile from shock.
Echo watched her sister go up the stairs and then glanced at Jack. "Go up there with her. Please." Once he was gone, she turned to Caroline and her lips began trembling. "Care, I—" She ran towards her best friend and into her arms, sobbing. "He's gone. My little brother is gone."
Caroline bit her lip, trying to not cry as she rubbed her best friends back. "I'm so sorry, Echo."
And like that, Echo stopped sobbing, and stepped back, clenching her jaw. "Katherine did this. Snuck in right underneath us and killed Jeremy before taking the cure." Her dark eyes pooled with tears as she scowled. "I'm going to kill her if it's the last thing I do. She doesn't deserve to live after that."
LATER ON, Caroline was dumping a bucket of water into the sink and talking to Stefan as Echo sat at the table, staring blankly at the wall.
"How long has she been like that?" The blonde questioned in concern, talking about Elena. She was worried about Echo too, but at least she came to terms that Jeremy wasn't going to wake up.
Stefan sighed heavily. "Ever since we found his body. She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up."
"But he's not going to wake up. She knows that, right?" Caroline asked, worried for her friend.
Stefan held a finger up to his lips to silence her then walked over to the sink and r-' the tap, using the noise to cover their conversation. "Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in."
The blonde shook her head quickly. "But she can't stay like that forever."
"I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to help Echo." Stefan gestured to Echo who was now twirling a knife as she thought about the many ways to torture Katherine.
Elena appeared in the kitchen. "I'm not in denial," she stated, swallowing thickly. "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see?" She asked them in hope and denial. "His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?"
Caroline looked at her in sympathy. "Elena—"
Elena held up her hand, tears shining in her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall. "It's possible, Caroline. There's a chance. It may be miniscule, but it's hope and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that my—" She paused for a moment. "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead." She nodded then quickly shook her head a bit. "I'm not in denial."
Before anyone else could say or do anything, Echo threw the knife at the wall, the blade embedding into it. "He better wake up or else Katherine is going to find out that Klaus is the least scary monster in this realm." She slammed her hands down on the table and ran up the stairs to watch over her little brothers body.
When she realized no one was nearby, she grabbed a lamp and flung it at the wall before falling to her knees, and crying loudly.
AFTER THE VAMPIRES smelt Jeremy's decaying body. they called Meredith over, who pulled the blanket over Jeremy's face and left his room.
Stefan was on the staircase landing, adjusting pictures on a shelf on the wall, while Meredith adjusted the thermostat.
"I'm bumping the A/C. We're not gonna be able to leave him in there for much longer."
"I hate this!" Echo shouted as she stood at the bottom of the stairs. "My bro— my brother is gone and the person who did this is running free." She bit her lip and stared blankly at the wall. "I have been through this so many times. I have seen everyone — at one point in my life — die, sometimes over and over again. You'd think you'll get over it eventually. But, that's the thing about being human, about having a heart — it hurts and it will never stop hurting." She swallowed thickly and clenched her jaw. "When I find Katherine, I'm going to make sure that she never hurts anyone else again." She nodded her head and swiveled around, going towards the chest in the living room that held weapons.
AFTER DAMON CALLED and said he was on his way back with Bonnie, Elena came home from spending some time with Matt just in time as they got there.
Seeing as Echo was in her room, packing every possible weapon she could, Damon went up there to spend the time with her as Elena talked with Bonnie.
A few more hours later, after Damon talked with Echo, and Elena stayed with Jeremy's body, they decided to go downstairs. Echo had multiple bags full of weapons and walked towards the door, and outside. She then placed the bags in her car before making her way back inside.
She came in right when Elena said, "I guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way."
Caroline looked at her in confusion. "Do what?"
Elena turned to Damon, who had arrived downstairs with Jeremy's body. "Put his body on the couch." She walked into the kitchen and started opening and closing cabinets.
Echo watched with an unreadable expression as Damon laid her brothers body on the couch. "I'm so sorry that I have failed you, Jer."
"Elena, you need help finding something?" Caroline asked kindly, and glanced at Echo who was staring blankly at Jeremy.
Elena grabbed a bottle of lighter fluid out of a cabinet and began spraying it over the counter. "Got it."
"What are you doing?" Stefan questioned in shock and worry.
Elena continued to spray the fluid everywhere. "We need a cover story, right? You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier? Well, what are we gonna say — animal attack, "tumbled down the stairs"? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it." She made her made it to the living room and sprayed the couch.
"And that's why I packed all valuables earlier and put them in my car," Echo spoke up, glancing to Damon who had asked her why she was packing earlier. Some pictures, money, and clothes was what Echo packed, and Elena had done the same thing.
"Elena, stop it!" Stefan shouted, grabbing the girls arm, but stopped when Echo pulled out a taser, and pushed it in front of his face as a warning.
Elena stopped and looked at him bewildered. "Why? Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches." She sprayed them with lighter fluid and kicked something. "I don't want this Xbox." She then threw down the empty bottle and reached into a cabinet. "Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it, I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back."
She turned to look at Damon. "Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back." She the walked toward him. "Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't." She walked over to Jeremy's body and splashed bourbon all over him. "I don't know, I mean, does that make me a bad person? I — I have no idea." Elena pulled the Gilbert ring off of Jeremy's finger and tossed it to Echo who pocketed it. "He's not gonna need that anymore."
"Elena, stop it. You're scaring me!" Caroline shouted in horror before swiveling around to face her best friend. "Knock some sense into her!"
Echo slowly looked the blonde in the eyes. "Why? Jeremy is dead and he's not coming back. He deserves to be at rest." This was the closest she could get to giving him a proper hunters burial.
Elena took down a picture frame from the fireplace mantle. "What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's no — there's no room in the Gilbert family plot." She threw the frame down on the floor and the glass cracked. "Jenna and — and John took the last spots." She threw the empty bottle of bourbon against the wall and it shattered into pieces, then grabbed a match from the mantle and lit it.
"No, no, Elena. Stop!" Stefan screamed at the doppelgänger.
"Stop trying to control me, Stefan!" She shouted back, glaring at him. "There's nothing here for us anymore!" More tears pooled in her eyes. "Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that Echo and I love that have died — our mom, our dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric, John, even John. I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to — I mean, how am I gonna — I can't even-- There's nothing left for us — aah!"
The flame had burned down on the match and started to burn Elena's hand so she dropped the match, but Damon sped over and caught it before it could ignite on the lighter fluid everywhere. Then Elena sobbed and started to crumble right in front of everyone.
Echo clenched her jaw as she watched her sister breakdown. Tears tatted rolling down her cheeks before she angrily wiped them away and sniffed loudly.
"Elena, please calm down," Jack spoke up, scared for the girl. "Please. We can — we can find some—"
"No, no, no, I can't. I can't. I can't. I—" She fell to her knees, immeasurable pain and grief distorting her face as she grabbed at her head. "No. It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts." She continued sobbing loudly as everyone watched her.
"I hate this!" Echo shouted loudly and grabbed a picture frame before flinging it at the wall, the glass shattering everywhere. "Fuck this!" She grabbed a lamp and shoved it off, it hitting the floor with a loud thud, the lightbulb shattering.
She was heaving up and down, and shoved Damon's hand away from her as he tried to reach out and comfort her. "Don't touch me!" She exclaimed, voice cracking.
"I don't want to feel anything," Elena mumbled as she stared at the shattered picture frame that Echo had thrown.
They all watched as Elena's tear-stained face turned utterly expressionless and still. The light left her eyes, as though something inside her had died.
"No..." Caroline whispered in horror and sympathy as she watched as Elena flipped her switch. And it seemed as if Echo did too as she went completely unreadable.
Elena stood up and grabbed another match and lit it. Locking eyes with her sister, she flicked the match down on her brother.
The six of them walked out of the house, as if their childhood home wasn't up in flames — literally.
Walking over to the bags of weapons, Echo opened up her trunk and flung them it. Clenching her jaw, she grabbed the trunks door and said, "we got work to do," before slamming it shut.