Aurelia sat up on the couch, her eyes adjusting to the dark as she looked around. She noticed all of her friends asleep either on the couch, or on the floor.
She slowly walked out of the living room, careful not to step on Tyler or Matt. She let out a breath, before her eyes landed on Stefan, who was asleep on a chair.
She sighed, adjusting the blanket on him before going up to the roof.
!
Elena stood up, rubbing her eyes in slight annoyance due to the sun's ray coming into the house through the windows. She glanced at each and every one of her friends; Tyler was asleep on the floor, and so was Matt, who was using the couch as a back rest. Caroline was asleep next to her, and Stefan was on a chair near the couch.
She could hear Damon in the kitchen, along with scribbling, and she pieced together that he was writing the eulogy.
She frowned, however, noticing no second blonde. "Aurelia?"
Stefan began to stir awake, and so did Caroline. "What's going on?" Caroline groggily asked, pushing off her blanket.
"Where's Aurelia?" The brunette asked, as Stefan stood up. "Did she go anywhere?"
"I don't know." Caroline answered, before looking around. "Aurelia?!"
The others were waking up, but Elena worriedly looked for Aurelia, afraid that the hybrid would do something she'd regret. "Okay, I'm going to check outside, and you guys look upstairs." Caroline nodded, before Elena jogged out of the house.
She opened the door and walked out to the drive way, before looking for the blonde. "Aurelia?"
She frowned when she heard no answer. She walked back inside, and went to close the door, when something kept it open. She sighed, before Aurelia appeared inside the house, making her jump.
"Aurelia!" Stefan and Caroline sped to the hall, before letting out sighs of relief at the sight of her.
"What?" Aurelia asked.
"Where were you? And why are you up so early? And dressed?" Elena asked, looking at her outfit; jeans, boots, and a dark top- for the first time in months. Aurelia pressed her lips together.
"I was on the roof." She answered, holding up a notepad. "I have plans for today, and I want everyone listening to me." She said, before walking past Stefan to the living room, and to a half-asleep Tyler and Matt.
She rolled her eyes.
"Hello?!" She exclaimed, making the two jump awake. "I want everyone to listen to me, because I plan to have a lot of things done by the end of today."
!
"You've all continuously asked Caroline and I what you can do to help." Aurelia said, tapping her notepad with a pen. "So, I've found ways." She added. "Caroline?"
"Aurelia's put together a list of five days' worth of work and projects." Caroline said. "She thinks I just project it better."
"So, what do you wanna do?" Elena asked. Aurelia looked at her.
"Have my mother celebrated and buried by today." She answered. "I wanna break rules and get everything done starting now."
"Sure, 'Lia." Matt said. "Whatever you two need." Aurelia smiled, before looking at her notes.
"Elena, Caroline, you two are coming with me." She said. "We are going to find ourselves a casket. Also, Caroline you need to help me look over the guests."
Just then, Damon walked in. "And what might be happening here?" He asked.
"Damon, perfect timing." Caroline said. "I saw you wasting a ton of paper today, so you're only on eulogy duty. The others will bear some of his chores."
The guys exchanged glances.
"One of you two are driving." Elena said, a few minutes later, walking out onto the driveway with Caroline and Aurelia. "I sent my car to Jeremy."
"Okay, I'll drive, and Caroline can look over the list of guests." Aurelia said. Caroline threw to keys to her as she opened the door.
!
"Well, I see the eulogy is coming along swimmingly." Stefan commented, walking into Damon's room as the latter finished fixing his tie.
"It's... percolating." He said.
"Listen." Stefan said. "I need your advice, and I need you not to be a dick about it because I have no one else to ask."
"Oh, this sounds promising."
"What did I just say?" He asked. Damon rolled his eyes, gesturing for him to continue. "Something happened between Aurelia and me."
"Oh, finally!"
"And then her mom died, and I haven't had a chance to talk to her about it, and I don't know the best way to handle it." He said.
"Well, then, don't handle it." Damon said, making him knit his eyebrows together.
"What?" He asked.
"It's not right." Damon said. "Her mother, ergo, the only mother figure she had because her biological one never actually did anything for her, is dead. And she's still dealing with everything, because you walked out on her when she was in a really bad state. She still finds it hard to look me in the eye and speak to me because she's upset about everything that went down last year, even though I'm over it." He explained. "Not to mention, Bonnie is stuck in another universe, and Luke is dead, and she has a lot of complications addressing her bloodline." He finished.
"She's getting better—"
"But she's not completely fine yet, is she?" He asked. "Have you seen her? She's moody and hasn't eaten in a while, and is mourning, so I say just don't."
"But she kissed me yesterday."
"Stefan, it's for her own good." He said. "Just don't do it. Not yet." Stefan looked down, licking his lips. "But don't talk to her about it yet. Not today. Let her and Caroline have it, because she's trying to aid her sister, who, FYI, has never been in a worse place." He then left the room.
!
"Your mother was such a vibrant woman." A woman, presumably one of Liz's acquaintances said to Caroline. "Even after your father ran off with that man—"
"Thank you, ma'am." Aurelia said, holding Caroline's forearms so as to prevent the conversation from going any further. "We'll see you at the funeral." She then pulled Caroline away with Elena, before pinching the bridge of her nose as she walked.
"Welcome to the world of awkward sympathies." Elena said to Caroline, who seemed to be in shock.
"I don't know how you survived this." She said. "Both of you."
"Oh, I'm not surviving this." Aurelia said. "I'm just dead on the inside and pondering about extremely important things in my mind, along with trying to make a pattern about mourning, because it just hurts more and more each time." She looked at her friends.
"Okay, let me help you with the pattern part." Elena began to say, as Aurelia instantly stopped listening, her mind drifting off to a few days ago. "Your responses will be different for each category of people in your life: friends of circumstance, casual acquaintances, loved ones—"
"I kissed Stefan." Aurelia said suddenly, before Caroline and Elena stopped, looking at her. "There's one thing on my mind, and I want to deal with it. I want to talk to him about it, but I don't he'll be honest about it, considering what we're doing today and all..."
"Then talk to him about it tomorrow." Elena said. Aurelia stopped looking down. "You already have a lot on your plate, with Luke and all—"
"Never mind. I'll do it myself." Aurelia said.
"Okay, come on, we're behind schedule." Caroline stated, looping her arm with Aurelia's.
The hybrid suddenly coughed several times, placing her hand on her chest. "Aurelia?" Elena asked, before she looked at the blonde in shock with the blood falling from her nose.
Aurelia swallowed, before clearing her throat. "I think something's wrong." She said. "I'll catch up."
Her friends shared a look, before leaving as she pulled her phone out. "Alaric, is Jo with you?" She asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Can I talk to her?"
"She's a bit sick."
"Well, so am I."
"What?" He asked. Aurelia wiped the blood from her nose. "One second."
She waited for a few seconds. "Hey, Aurelia." Jo said. "Are you okay?"
"I think it's Kai. I wouldn't just fall sick otherwise." She said.
"Well, it is." Jo said. "He's here, right now, throwing up in a bin."
"Hello, Aurelia!" She heard Kai's voice.
"Kai merged with Luke, instead of me, so something went wrong. Now, he just siphoned from me, and he thinks that I should give him my magic."
"What?"
!
"Caroline, I don't think I can give mom the song after the eulogy." Aurelia said softly. Caroline looked at her, bewildered.
"Why not?" She asked. Aurelia shook her head. "Fine, then, I'll do it."
"Thank you." She said, before heading out of the house.
!
Aurelia tucked her hair behind her ear, throwing her French braid over her shoulder as she looked at her mother's body from a distance. She then closed her eyes and tried her best not to cry.
"Aurelia." Opening her eyes, she turned her head to look at Stefan. "Doing alright?"
"Oh, yeah." She said. "I'm completely okay..." She trailed off. "With relation to what's going on." He looked at her in concern, walking over to her.
"You sure?" She shook her head.
"I don't know." She said. "I haven't been to a funeral since Bonnie's and that was over a year ago." She said, before sighing. "Um, I just, I don't know if I'm alright." she then looked at him. "Huh, following Elena's system is harder than one could think." She added. "Um, I was just supposed to place you in a category of circumstantial friends, casual acquaintances, or-or..." She looked at him. "Loved ones." He didn't answer, making her frown.
She really did want him to shed some light on the situation.
"I can, um, explain each if you really need to." She added nervously. "There's—"
"Aurelia, I want to talk to you about us, I really do want see if we can be anything..." He began. "But, uh, I don't think we should do anything right now. We should talk later, when you've gotten through the day and we're alone." She looked at him, a little stunned, before she blinked several times.
"Um, yeah." She said. "I'm sorry, I just keep messing things up." She said, before looking away from him. "Now's not the time." She bit her lip.
"Hey, hey." He said, pulling her into a hug. "It's okay. We decide on things when this is over." He pulled away, giving her a smile.
She was only able to give him a weak one as he walked away. She inhaled sharply, before looking at her mother, and smiling.
"I love you." She whispered, before turning around and wiping a tear away. "I'll be fine. I'll take care of Caroline."
!
Aurelia took a seat between Damon and Caroline, looking down as the pastor began to speak. Damon glanced over at her, before frowning at her pale skin. "You okay?" He asked. She nodded, placing her hand on top of Caroline's.
"We are here today to pay our tribute and our respect to a pillar of our community, our sister, our protector, Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes. We are also here today to show our love and support for Liz's family and friends." The pastor said, as Aurelia looked at the picture of Liz, smiling. She felt tears well up in her eyes, as she took a deep breath, looking over to Caroline, who looked like she was going to burst into tears.
She gave her sister's hand a small squeeze, letting her know she was there for her.
All deputies and the rest of the police force stood up, uniformly walking towards the casket to honor her. Two placed the American flag over it, as Aurelia swallowed hard, taking a deep breath.
She felt Damon take her hand, and she glanced at him, gratefully. He smiled, looking back as an office began to speak.
"Calling Sheriff Forbes." He said into the walkie-talkie on his shoulder. There was no response as Aurelia felt her heart slowly fall down to her stomach. "This is the last call for Sheriff Forbes." Aurelia closed her eyes, tears spilling as he spoke again. "No response. Radio Number 2-6 is out of service after twelve years and four months of police service. Gone but never forgotten." He then spun around. "Center!" All officer left and took their seats as Damon stood up to go for the eulogy.
He faced everyone, but his eyes were focused on the sisters.
"Liz Forbes was my friend. In her last moments, she asked me to pass a message along to her daughter and niece- the latter of which she considered a child of her own- but I cut her off before she could say too much. I told her she could tell Caroline and Aurelia herself, but she didn't get that chance." He said. "Your mother wanted you both to know how proud she was of you, and she should be. Caroline, you're a beautiful woman, a generous friend, and a bright light in a sea of dark. She thought of you as extraordinary, but she thought no less of you, Aurelia." Aurelia looked at him, not noticing that Stefan was looking at her. "You didn't spend as much time as Caroline had, but Liz wanted me to let you know that she was lucky for someone like you to be in her life, to take care of her. She was happy she got to help you and was able to when you went through hard times. In her eyes, you are brave, outspoken, beautiful, and caring. And so was she." He added. "Liz was a hero to this town. She was a hero to all of you, and she was a hero to me." He turned to look at the casket. "Goodbye, Sheriff. You will be missed." Aurelia smiled at him as he returned to his seat. Caroline proceeded to get up, but Aurelia held her hand.
"I'll do it." She said.
"But you said—"
"I want to. For her." She said. Caroline smiled and sat back down, as Aurelia stood up. Stefan and Damon exchanged knowing glances, as Caroline, Elena and Matt looked at each other, slightly confused about the fact that she was going to sing.
Once the blonde was standing next to the casket, she glanced at it, softly smiling before looking back at the rest of the town.
"Thank you all for taking time out to come here." She said. "I've only known Elizabeth Forbes for three years, but I love her. So, this is for the woman I consider my mother."
She briefly closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as her friends looked at her in anticipation. For the first time in years, she found herself singing in front of a large crowd.
"Go in peace," She began. "Go in kindness."
Stefan softly smiled at the sound of her familiar melodic voice.
"Go in love. Go in faith," She sang. "Leave the day, the day behind us. The day is done."
He leant forward, listening to her.
"Go in grace. Let us go into the dark. Not afraid, not alone. Let us hope by some good pleasure. Safely to, arrive home." She finished, letting out a breath.
She looked at her friends, softly smiling.
!
"Are you leaving?" Aurelia asked Caroline, who looked at her. She nodded.
"Yeah, I think I've done the whole funeral thing for one day."
"Okay, then I'll come with you." She said.
"Oh, no, I think that I'll leave early. Don't let me drag you down." She said. "It's two blocks, 'Lia. I'll be okay."
"But you shouldn't be alone, tonight." She said.
"I think that's exactly what I need. I'll wrap up and sleep early, okay?" She stated. "Thank you for planning everything."
"You're welcome." She said, still hesitant to let her go alone.
"I'll be fine, Aurelia. I just had to get through today." Caroline said, before leaving the Grill.
Aurelia sighed, before Elena walked up to her. "Are you good?"
"Yeah, I'm good." She said, looking off into space, thinking about Caroline.
She frowned suddenly, remembering her words.
"I just had to get through today."
It suddenly made sense. Caroline was calm and collected for most of the day. She only wanted to-
"Oh my God." She said, before looking around for her jacket.
!
"Nice speech." Stefan said, approaching Damon. "Listen, I was thinking about what you said about Aurelia."
"Aurelia." Damon said. "I forgot how good she was with music."
"Hm." He said. "You were wrong." Damon raised an eyebrow. "I may not be able to tell you completely about it, but long story short: I have feelings for Aurelia." He said. "Maybe she's sensitive and moody, but I still love her. And I want her to know that so I can be there for her. We have history, and even if something bad happens every time we get close, I want to know if we can happen again." He said. "I think it could turn into something better than the love we had."
"Well then, brother, stop wasting your time sitting with me. Something tells me she'd like to hear that." Damon said. Stefan smiled, before looking around to see Aurelia wearing her jacket. "Now go."
!
"Aurelia." Stefan said, as Aurelia spun around to look at him. "Hey, we need—"
"I have to go and talk to Caroline." She said, taking her phone. "We can talk later." Without another word she walked out of the Grill, before she disappeared with a blur.
He frowned, looking down. before he went ahead and set off for Caroline's and her place.
!
"I said I was fine, 'Lia." Caroline said, as Aurelia walked to stand a few feet behind her sister.
"I don't believe you, Caroline." She said. "I know what you're gonna do. That what you meant by what you said earlier, isn't it? You just agreed with me when I said that I wanted to get this done by today, I was scared that you weren't focusing on tomorrow. But you're not going to focus on tomorrow. You won't care by then."
"I thought I could get through the rough patch, but I can't. Damon said it's just going to get worse."
"You listened to Damon's advice?"
"I can't do worse, 'Lia. I didn't even think that there was worse."
"Caroline, you're talking about the humanity switch. That is not the right thing to do when you had people who care about you."
"Aurelia, you know it. You've been through it—"
"And I killed and killed for pleasure." Aurelia said. "When I did it, I'm sort of glad you weren't there to see it happen to me."
"That's my point, 'Lia." Caroline said. "You killed because you didn't care, because the pain and guilt you felt from killing was gone. Elena turned it off when she lost Jeremy. Elena erased her memories when she lost Damon. Stefan moved to Savannah and became a mechanic."
"Caroline—"
"When they came out the other end, the worst part of the pain was gone, and that's what I need." She said. Aurelia looked at her, desperation evident in her expression. "Come on, Aurelia, don't tell me that after everything, and after what Stefan said, you didn't think of turning it off. Even if it was for one second, you had to have thought about it."
"I did think about it." she said. "And then I realized that I'm surrounded by people that I love, even if Stefan doesn't want to be one of them."
"I lost my mom, Aurelia." Caroline said. "It-it hurts so bad, I can't breathe. I don't want worse. I shouldn't have to deal with it."
"No one should have to, Care." Aurelia said. "But life's like that. It's unfair, it throws things at us." She then pulled Caroline into a hug. "Come on, Caroline, listen to me. I will help you get through this. But I will not let my sister turn it off." Caroline sighed, wrapping her arms around Aurelia.
She then closed her eyes, before jerking the older vampire as her neck snapped and she fell to the ground. She looked at the body, before shaking her head. "That's not your choice to make."
!
"Aurelia?" Stefan asked, opening the door and walking into the house. "Hey, are you home? Sorry to barge in, the door was—" He stopped, spotting her body on the ground.
He ran to her, holding her up as he looked around.
"Aurelia?!" He said, before she gasped, her eyes opening as she placed her hand on her neck. She looked at Stefan.
"Stefan." She said, before looking around. "No, no, no, no, no!" She yelled, standing up. "Caroline!"
"Aurelia." Stefan said. "What's happening?"
"Caroline's not here." She said. "Which means..." She worried expression turned to one of realization, before she closed her eyes.
"Hey, you can tell me." He said. She bit her lip.
"She turned it off."
~