We get Rose to our house and into Damon's bed.
"Hi there." Damon greets, leaning over her.
She is super sweaty and pale. She gulps. "I'm sorry."
"Water under the bridge." I wave a hand.
"You went on a mifepristone rampage. It happens." Damon includes. I stifle a laugh, he's not wrong.
"Nothing we haven't all done before." I shrug.
She inhales sharply and looks over to the door where Elena appears.
"I'm sorry, Elena." Rose tells her. Don't be, I laugh to myself. "I don't like taking a human life. I never have."
She's better than me that's for sure. Wow, Rose is really sweet. I let out a chuckle. Funny how I am saying that after she's kidnapped my very recently.
"You shouldn't be here." Damon harshly tells Elena.
Elena just stands there very tense before coming up beside the bed.
"That's the worst part about death-the hunt. The need to kill. The thirst. Pleasure it bring you afterwards. I wasn't meant to be evil." Rose drones on. "It hurts."
"Then stop talking about it." Damon snaps. I nod in agreement. She rolls her eyes.
"Damon and Mystal are a lot like me." Rose tells Elena. Say what? "They want to care, but the minute they do, they run away from it."
I fight the urge to say something mean. Because deep down I knew she was right. So does Damon.
"I'm sorry for what I've done today." She chokes at the end of her sentence.
"I know." Elena nods softly.
"You and Mystal need to fight. I know that you're both scared, but you have to do it anyway." Rose encourages. I scoff a little. I am not scared. I have never been scared of anything. Not death, not the supernatural.
She starts coughing. Damon turns back around and I step closer. Elena reaches her hand out.
"Why are you so nice to me?" Rose smiles. Now I know she ain't talking to Damon and I. We are assholes.
"Us humans." Elena chuckles.
"You can never forget it." Rose says. "What it's like to be human. It haunts me." I like being a vampire way more, most of the time. "It's the only thing that's kept me going." Damon and I look at each other. "It doesn't hurt as much anymore." She says before gagging. Oh, I know what's coming. Then she starts groaning and screaming.
Elena looks back at us worried. "What do we do?"
"Go." Damon orders Elena, pushing past her. He doesn't want here for the very bad part. Damon sits on one side of Rose and I take a seat on the other.
"Damon... Mystal..." Elena whines.
"Just go." Damon tells her.
"We've got this." I bark out at her.
"Oh, my god! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Rose screams as Elena walks out. Rose starts sobbing again. "I can't take this anymore, make it stop!" We both place our hands on her and reposition her into both of our laps.
~~~~~
"Who would've thought you'd be a nice guy, and girl." She smiles. She's calmed down now.
"I'm not nice." I interject.
"I'm mean. I like it." Damon nods, going down the same path I was.
"You both lie." She shuts us up.
"Shhh." I say softly.
"Just sleep." Damon whispers. "Just sleep."
She closes her eyes and Damon and I nod to each other before starting the dream trick that vampires can do.
Damon and I peacefully sit on grass, waiting for Rose to see us. Everything is so beautiful. The grass bright green. The sky is clear blue. The leaves are all sorts of fall colors. There's a bunch of horses grazing. Rose finally noticed us and comes to sit in between us. She has on a blue dress and her hair is long and wavy, she looks younger. She looks like a Princess.
"This was my favorite place to come as a girl." She beams. That was the point Rose... but I hold my sarcasm. "How did you guys know?"
"Word gets around." Damon jokes.
She gives us a look. "You told Elena." I give her a real answer.
She starts to smile before she stopping in thought. "Am I dreaming?"
Both us Salvatore's shrug and she chuckles. All three of us smile genuinely. She exhales and then we all take a moment and relish in the sunlight. She is one of the only people to make us smile, like a real smile. Something about her, she's like the light that Damon and I needed.
"The sun is so warm." She closes her eyes, taking it all in. "I miss this. I miss being human."
"Humanity's not all it's cracked up to be," Damon remarks.
"Preach." I lean back, soaking up the sun and fresh air.
"I had friends. I had a family. I mattered." She reminisces.
"You still do." Damon and I both tell her.
"No." She disagrees, but smiles. "But you both do." She tears up. "You built a life, whether you want to admit it or not. I spent 500 years just existing." She reminds us.
So that's what I've been doing these past few decades. Just existing. I think she is trying to tell us to stop that, even if she thinks we have a life, she wants us to live it more. To enjoy it.
"You didn't have a choice." Damon dismisses. "You were running from Klaus."
Rose looks over at me and Damon then gives me an apologetic look.
"There's always a choice." She argues back.
"You know, you are ruining our perfect day, with your strange philosophical babbling." Damon teases, shakes his head.
"Yeah! He's right." I nod in agreement. "We're supposed to be having fun." I remind her, playfully nudging her shoulder with mine.
She puts her arms around us and pulls us in for a hug.
"I'd like to enjoy fresh air. Will you both enjoy it with me?" She asks.
"For a while." Damon smiles.
"Yeah. For a while." I smile as well. My heart swells. She intertwines her fingers in ours.
Back in reality Damon and I look at each sadly before we quickly focus back to the dream.
"Thank you." Rose says politely.
"For what?" Damon asks confused as am I.
"The pains gone." She informs.
"I'm glad." Damon whispers.
"Me too." I add quietly.
"Will I see them again?" She wonders as all three of us kinda start rocking together as we remain in each others arms. "My family?" She pauses, sitting up a little.
"I think you will see whoever you want to see." Damon assures. We don't really know, but we like to think that's how it will be.
"That would be nice." She nods. "Maybe I'll see Trevor, too." She gets hopeful, then it dawns on her. "I'm not afraid anymore." She acknowledges.
Damon reaches over for the stake outside of the dream, but I stop him real quick.
"Can I talk to Rose for a moment?" I ask Damon.
"Real quick." He gets up, giving us a minute alone.
"Yes?" She smiles, excited to see what I'm gonna say. I know Damon will just eavesdrop, but it's easier for me for him to not be right here.
"I am not good at these kinds of things, but- thank you." I start off. "You didn't question me about anything. You showed kindness and understanding, because you do understand. I guess I've been sort of running for a while, but you have made me want to stay here and be with my family. You know, besides Stefan and Damon, you're the first true friend I've had in ages. And I kinda, sort of, like way deep down, enjoyed it. And you have helped Damon a whole lot too. For the same reasons, and others. So yeah. Thank you, Rose." I wipe away a couple of tears that snuck up on me. "And you never even judged me for being with Klaus, even though you were running from him." I realize.
"That's the sweetest, most heartfelt thing I've heard in a while, and from you at all." She has some tears too. "I want to thank you as well. And I am so glad that I was that much help." We stand and hug. "And I never judged because I'm not judgy. We love who love, I just want you to be happy. You deserve the most happiness out of everyone, tied with Damon." She smiles.
"You have no idea how much that means to me." I tell her truthfully. "It was actually nice to have a girl best friend again. I've lost a few and so I didn't really want to try anymore." I admit.
"I liked it as well." Her smile widens. "Don't be afraid to try, okay?"
"Only for you." I tease and give her another big hug. "I actually don't mind this little trio we made." I laugh. Her and Damon nod. He laughs as well, joining us again.
"I'll race you guys to the trees." She challenges.
"Well, you and Mystal will lose." Damon jokes.
She shakes her head no. "I'm older and faster." She prides herself.
"Oh, you think?" Damon muses.
"We are controlling this dream. Maybe we'll cheat." I smirk playfully.
She starts giggling. "On the count of three."
Damon hovers the stake over her heart.
"One..." She goes first.
I put my hand on top of Damon's, as we start to shake and tear up.
"Two..." I go next.
We push the stake down into her heart and she lets out a little gasp. She starts graying as veins appear.
"Three..." Damon whispers.
We let the tears fall and he puts his chin on top of her head and I lean over into his shoulder as he puts his arm around me. Neither of us have shown this much emotion is a long time, and yes, we will go back to being the cold-hearted ones that we are later. But for now, it's okay.
~~~~
After a bit, we compose ourselves and Damon says we have to go. We take his car out to the middle of the woods. We lean against his car as we wait. A cop car pulls up and Liz gets out, walking over to us.
"Here's your vampire." Damon pops open his drink to reveal Rose's body.
Liz looks at us like we have superpowers, which I meannn, we do. "How did you find her?"
"Doesn't matter." I cut her off.
"What matters is that it's over." Damon finishes for me.
"Thank you, Damon. And you as well Mystal, it was nice to meet you. I am sorry it had to be like this though." She apologizes. It's actually genuine. "Once again, you've helped keep this town safe." She says to Damon since I just showed up.
"We can take care of burying the body," Damon offers.
We look sadly at Rose before shaking it off and Damon slams his trunk shut.
I will never forget you Rose.
Authors Note:
This part breaks my heart every time...
When I first wrote this 3 years ago, I was inspired by a trio of best friends I was apart of and I dedicated this chapter to them. Even though we are not close as anymore, I still want to honor them for this moment. The picture above is of us our senior year.... wow does time fly!!
And to this day this is still one of my favorite chapters ever to write <3