thirty-five. the lies will catch up to you
Mystic Grill Restaurant, Three Days Ago (2018)
After the eleventh ring of the Maxwell bell from the clock tower by Matt, there is a sudden flash and Kai appears at the local restaurant with smoke radiating from his body and he is dressed in the same suit which he wore when he died, looking shocked and confused about the entire situation. He sees a waitress and mentioned a male waiter who's about to walk past.
"Hey, where am I?"
The young waiter frowns at the question, "Mystic Falls? The Grill?"
Kai gasps and smiles hearing that, "Oh my God. Is it too late to order food?" The waiter leads him to his small table for two and shows him the menu, "Beer, burger. Two burgers. No. No. Two beers, three burgers. Are the fries here good? I remember them being a little soggy. Oh, and a hot dog! A hot dog. Is that...is that crazy? Whatever. I'll do it. Dog me. It's my special day, I am here, and here is not hell, and that means that I am alive, so...thank you." He smiles as he hands back the menu to the waiter and taps on the small table, looking around at the other people, "Yeah, good."
He then opens up a small packet of jelly served on the table. He dips his two right fingers in and eats it, "It doesn't taste like anything." He gets up and takes another man's burger, bites into it and then spits it out, "Why...can't I taste anything?" Angered, he throws the food off the table and yells in frustration and denial, "Come on, come on. Come on, come on, come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Okay." He grabs a sharp knife and stabs it into his left hand, "I can't feel anything. I'm not here. I'm not alive."
"Okay, here's that beer." The same waiter looks at him in pure confusion.
Kai frowns, pulls the knife from his hand and points it towards the waiter. He lifts his other left hand up, "Motus." The waiter slides directly into the knife, penetrating his neck and killing him, "Well...at least I felt that."
****
The Armory Headquarters
"Is that weird or what?" Kai laughs slightly as he checks out the ancient artifact in the cave curiously, "I mean, I can still touch stuff. I'm not a ghost. More like a psychic imprint. Stuck between dimensions thanks to hell's bell. One foot on Earth, the other in Cade's nightmare world of hurt. On the run, off the grid. A renegade relying only on his wits." He laughs once more.
Minerva gives him a truly annoyed look, her arms folded, "Seriously?"
"A renegade. That's funny. I can still do magic if I siphon myself, but even then, it takes concentration. It's like having cell reception on Mars."
His judgmental ex-girlfriend looks away from him with a scoff of disbelief, "Well, this is just great. I see nothing has really changed about you."
"Aww, Mini, if you're still in love with me, just say so." The Heretic cooed.
Alaric, who is holding the dagger, roughly pushes him and pins him to the rocky wall, though he is totally unfazed by this, "You murdered my wife."
"Aah. Fiancé. It was mid-ceremony as I remember. But yes, yes, yes, huge, huge mistake. I see that now. I do." Kai raises his other left hand up at Alaric's side, "Motus." Though nothing happens, Damn it. "Okay."
"Ooh. Now I'm embarrassed." Minerva sarcastically mentioned for fun.
"Are you having a hard time concentrating?" The professor snarled at him.
"No." Malachai sends a quick glance at his ex-lover, "On second thought..."
Damon holds onto his human friend's shoulder from behind, "Ric, hey. I have some questions." Alaric lets go of Kai roughly and backs away from him, "Starting with...how the hell are you here? From the dead?"
The woman raises her thick dark brows, "The million dollar question."
"Why don't you tell me? You guys rang some giant bell, and suddenly, I could see Mystic Falls, so I went for it, and here I am, sort of. Please don't tell Cade."
"You were in hell?" Damon asked suspiciously, with a puzzled frown.
"Yeah, you killed me. I think I'm on the wait list for heaven, but they're not returning my calls." Kai looks back at his ex, who smiles sarcastically.
"You said you had a better idea than killing Cade with this dagger." Minerva reminded him to get them all back to the point of their discussion.
"Find a way to get me out of hell all the way, and then I'll help you kill Cade."
"I think we can manage without you." Alaric is about to stab him with the dagger when Kai holds his hands out in a defensive position as he spoke.
"What if I brought back Elena?"
Damon has his hold on Alaric's arm at that, "Let's hear him out, Ric."
Alaric releases his arm from his grasp and began to argue with Damon as the duo leave the cave, "The kid's a sociopath. You're going to get us all killed."
"Not necessarily."
"Then have at it, Damon, and while you're trying to outsmart the devil, I'm going to barricade myself in here with Minerva and my two girls, who in case you forgot, Kai tried to murder while they were still in utero."
"I haven't forgotten, Ric. Look, when I get out of him what I want, I will send him back to hell, in pieces, I promise you." The vampire nods a little.
"Well, whatever you're going to do, just do it far away from here." Please.
"How about a little faith, huh?" Damon asked from his best friend.
"Why don't you save that question for somebody who's never killed you?" Alaric turns and walks away from him, anxious about the new presence.
****
Mystic Falls Television News Station, Parking Lot
Rosie is sitting in the driver's seat of her parked black Acura, alone in the car, at the front parking lot of the significant place she works and is leaving Bonnie a voicemail, "Hey, it's Bonnie. Leave a message."
"Hey, it's me. Just calling to say...good morning. I know Stefan was going to pay you a visit last night and judging by the fact he never came home, it means it either went really well, or...really...not. I'd love to hear your voice, but if you're not ready to talk, I get it. Whatever you need. If you need time, space, gallons of red wine. I'm here for you, with or without Stefan." I love you. The young woman hangs up and looks outside through the window.
Matt arrives and parks his police cruiser not too far from her and gets out of the car and so does the woman with a sigh, "What can I do for you, Sheriff?"
"I need your help."
"Hmm. Even though I'm part of the darkness?"
"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, okay? We have bigger problems right now. I got three calls this morning from Mystic Falls residents wanting to report old crimes. Disappearances, cold cases...all involving Stefan. One of them even wondered if he was a vampire." The young local sheriff reported anxiously.
Rosie frowns at this extremely serious news, truly puzzled, "What?"
"I've been bringing them into the station and keeping them in separate rooms, trying to keep everyone quiet for now, which is a good start."
She shakes her head a little, "How could they know those things?"
"I don't know. They said these memories came back a couple days ago."
Her already-big doe hazel eyes widen in conclusion, "Oh my God. When Stefan turned human, everybody he ever compelled started to remember."
****
Mystic Falls Police Station/Damon's Camaro
Rosie's cell phone rings and she pulls it out of her purse to answer it while she is at the police station with Matt, "Hey. What do you need?" Talk quick.
Damon is on the other end of the line as he is driving his Camaro with Kai in the backseat, "Just calling to say good morning. You're working now, right?"
"Not really. But you left me nine messages this morning, so you obviously want something. I was just finished ignoring you." She fakes a smile.
"Good. And no, I don't want anything. I'm just, I have a question. Unrelated, um, have Bonnie made any progress getting Enzo out of hell?" He asked.
His closest best friend frowns, truly puzzled by this, "What?"
"I'm just saying, Cade got out. Why shouldn't Enzo?"
"Um, probably 'cause Cade used the Maxwell bell? Which is kind of a nonstarter now unless you want to risk nuking Mystic Falls again. She's not a practicing witch anymore, FYI, which is sad if you think about it."
"Yeah, but she's also not a quitter, Rosie, and neither are you."
"You know what? Why don't you call me back when you're not--"
"Whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, wait. Don't hang up. Rosie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I just, um, I was just hoping Bonnie had a solve for Enzo, because I might need a solution for someone else too." He informed her.
"Someone else like...?"
"Let's just say I had a semi-ghost situation. Someone halfway in our world, who really wanted to stay here for real. This is all hypothetical, Rosie, but what if there was a way to unlink Bonnie's life from Elena's? And what if the very...small price to pay was us freeing a soul from hell?" Damon spoke.
Rosie scoffs in disbelief, "First of all, by 'us', you mean Bonnie. Second of all, it's crazy and risky, because the only person who could break that link is Kai, and he's been dead for years." She can suddenly hear a sound which clearly didn't come from her closest best friend, "Who's sitting next to you?"
"Nobody."
Yeah, right. "Really? Because I just had the weirdest feeling. There's someone there with you. Someone you don't want me to know about."
Damon stops the car and simply parks it, "Look, let me be clear. Even if there were someone else here with me, I wouldn't want you to know." He gets out of the vehicle, "Because of a certain mind-reading devil that's on the lookout for escaped souls and what you don't know can't hurt us."
"Oh my God. Tell me you're not talking about Kai Parker."
Damon turns around to see Kai struggling to get out of the Camaro, "Of course not. Why would you even say that?" Kai finally gets out, shuts the door behind him and raises his hand at Damon as a gesture with a smile.
"Because I know you, and I know Kai when I sense him around, because I have this incredibly strong feeling that I can't explain."
The young man frowns in deep concern, "Everything okay, Princess?"
She sighs in a tired manner, "Not really." Stefan's missing.
"Word from the banshee said that sometimes she told herself she was psychic, and honestly, she does feel like one at times. Which would explain how she knows I'm hiding something, and why she can feel Kai, which is great. Do you think her psychic powers can help someone get free of hell?"
"I have no idea. You should ask Cade for that. He's the only one who would know the answer. Bonnie's going to ask him how to save Enzo, by the way."
"No. Bad idea, Rosie."
"Tell her that." Yourself. The young woman hangs up.
****
"It was about six years ago. There was this murderer, lying in a hospital bed, with a bullet wound. I'm supposed to be guarding his room. Then the damnest thing happened. This intense guy, weird hair, walks right up to me, looks me in the eye and says, 'Time for a little break'. I'm not supposed to leave my post. But the way he said it..." The man trailed off as he is sitting opposite of Rosie in the interrogation room around the local police station about Stefan while Matt is behind him, watching them as the sheriff.
She frowns in deep concern, "Like you were being compelled to obey."
He nods, "Yeah. Something like that. Anyway, I come back and the murderer vanished. Guess who takes the fall. I lost my badge. I lost my pension. I fell off the wagon."
"I'm so sorry this happened to you." Rosie leans forward and compels him, "But you are going to forget that night at the hospital. You're going to clean up and turn your life around. When you get a cheque from Stefan Salvatore in the mail, you are not going to ask questions. You're going to cash it and put that money to good use." She looks up at the respective sheriff and gestures for him to let the man go; Matt stands up from his seat.
"Thank you, Officer. If you feel like police work's still in your blood, give me a call." Matt shakes his right hand and the deputy gets up to leave.
Rosie watches him walk out the door and closes it behind him, "We should reach out to his family to make sure that their stories line up."
"You're taking this awfully well. Are you even listening--"
"To the horrific ripple effect that one vampire has on Mystic Falls? Yeah, Matt, I'm listening. And I'm doing the Math. And I am trying to keep it together right now because I'm the only person who can clean up this mess." The young woman gives him an undeniably tired look.
****
The Armory Headquarters/Restaurant
"How long do we have to stay here?" Josie asked as she, Lizzie and Minerva walk into a private room in the main building, the twins taking their coat off.
"Uh, I'm hoping just for the night, sweetie." Minerva's cell phone vibrates in her purse, so she pulls it out and sees the caller ID to be Damon, "Or maybe longer." She speed-walks out of the room to answer the phone call.
"Thought you were hunkering down."
"Care to explain to me why Twitter just notified me that CobraKai1972 is tweeting for the first time in four years from a diner?" She complained.
Kai is seen at the main bar of the diner, eating his ordered food alone as he's on his phone, "Better question: why are you still following him?"
Minerva rolls her big hazel eyes in annoyance, "Damon--"
"Don't worry. Bonnie's on it."
"Oh, good, you roped her in too. See, I was hoping you'd maximize the collateral damage--" Damon hangs up on her and sits next to Kai.
"Okay. We're going to take a small hiatus from social media." Damon is reaching for Kai's cell phone when he pulls it away from him even more.
"Ah-ah! I figured since you're forcing me to hang out with you while Bonnie talks to big guy downstairs, I may as well indulge in the little things, you know? Oh, hey." Kai raises his cell phone up for them both, "Selfie city." He takes a picture of them with the front camera, "Ah. Yeah, there it is. At least get a few likes while we wait. I sure hope Mini notices me." He looks at his crystal clear reflection through the front camera, "Oh no." He reaches up to see actual blood coming from his nostril, Damn it. "That's new."
Damon frowns, truly puzzled, "What's happening to you?"
"Think I might be starting to slip back into H-E-double-hockey-sticks." Kai coughs out blood and Damon quickly grabs a few tissues nearby and hands it to him so he can cough in it, "Hmm. Well, I hope Bonnie comes up with something good. 'Cause my clock's ticking. And if I go, so does your shot at happiness." He takes another selfie of himself now, grinning with his teeth.
Later on, a sickly Kai is carelessly thrown into a seat by Damon, right next to the wall, as he coughs and groans, "Thank you." Damon sits opposite him.
A young waitress approaches him, "You okay, sweetie?"
"Uh, yes. Lactose intolerance."
"Can we just have some napkins, please? Thanks." Damon asked.
"Ohh, it feels like I'm being dragged back to hell by my colon. Oh, I can't go back there. You're on fire all the time, and ghosts from your past come back to pull your skin off and occasionally, on really bad days, you go face-to-face with Cade, who is basically torture incarnate. This is all metaphorical. Except for the fire, which is literal." The spirit of hell groans in agony.
The same waitress comes back with some napkins and Damon thanked her, smiling tightly, "That sounds rough. Very." He hands him a few.
"Wait, wait, didn't you go there? Didn't you work with the devil? Ohh, I saw enough to convince me." Kai slowly sits up properly, holding his stomach.
"But my job with the siren was my way to escape the real deal."
Kai sighs tiredly, "Sirens. Man, were they hot?" Or cute like a banshee?
"Sure, if you're into cannibal divas." Damon smiles sarcastically.
"I think I am." Cannibal, huh?
"But the second you stop feeding them evil people, things get ugly. Also literal." Damon spies the waitress being bothered by the chef at the bar.
"So wait, that's what kept them going? Evil people?"
"Mmhmm."
"Oh, yes! Yes, that is it, it's so-- it makes so much sense! If hell is fueled by evil, and I'm still a little bit in hell, then maybe I can secure my footing here on Earth by-by killing a really bad person just like those sexy sirens did."
"Did I mention I'm trying to preserve my future with Elena by not killing anyone?" Just not to you yet, okay. The vampire snapped at him.
Kai couldn't help but laugh, "Damon, if you think that one more murder is going to seal your fate, then I have news for you: you are super deep in the karma hole."
"I have an eternity to make up for what I've done."
Kai coughs, "Yes, and who knows how long I have left. Face it, buddy, you need me. And I need you right now, because I can barely stand, let alone kill. Okay, come on, come on. Just one seriously bad person, use your best judgment. Do it for me, man. Do it for your bestie. Do it, do it for your bro. Do it for--"
"Don't say 'Elena'."
"Elen..."
Damon slams his hand down on the table and spots the chef from earlier at the bar, slapping the waitress' bottom sneakily as she walks past back into the kitchen in the back after a glare given at him, "Okay. Sure. He'll do." The icy blue-eyed vampire stands up and walks over to the same bar.
****
Mystic Falls Police Station
"I'm so sorry about your niece, Mr. Fell. They say that aneurysms are totally painless. It would have been like falling asleep." Rosie told him even though she is overly anxious since hearing the news from her banshee doppelgänger, over the phone earlier, about the gunshot involving Stefan.
"Thank you for stopping by." Matt said, having received information from Rosie about the near-death sound of someone who means a lot to her.
The man, Mr. Fell, gets up and leaves the room after Matt opened the door for him and Rosie lets out a shaky sigh before she gets up from her seat, "What are we going to do? I can't just stay here and keep wondering where Stefan might be, who's at a high probability is bleeding to death right now."
"Okay, Rosie, calm down. Surely, he wouldn't have gotten that far." Matt's cell phone rings and he answers it, "Hey, Dorian, what's up?"
"I did something bad." He is helplessly aiding Stefan, who's been shot in the side of his stomach, to leave the misty, distant woods together.
Matt and Rosie share a worried look at this before the younger former asked with a truly puzzled frown, "What are you talking about?"
"I kidnapped Stefan, I brought him out to the middle of nowhere, and I tried to murder him. There's so much blood. I need your help, man, come on."
Rosie grits her teeth in anger and snatches the cell phone, "I knew there was something shady about you. Slow down, and tell me exactly where you are. If you're lying and having more tricks up your sleeve, you're dead."
He sighs anxiously, "Rosie, I-I-I'm on Pineridge Road, somewhere near the abandoned power plant. Oh God, I'm so sorry--"
Rosie hangs up on him immediately and uses her vamp-speed to leave the private interrogation room, not awaiting for Matt anymore, who texts Dorian, 'Keep him awake. We're on our way', before he follows after her.
****
Pineridge Road
"You okay?" Stefan mentioned as he is still being aided by Dorian to walk with his own arm around his shoulders for support through the woods.
"Are you seriously asking me that right now? No, I'm not. Your girlfriend's going to kill me when she shows up. I thought this was what I wanted, but I--"
"Big difference between wanting to kill someone and actually doing it."
"How the hell was I supposed to know that? But if you die, wh-what happens to me? Rosie's going to kill me and send me to hell herself?"
He scoffs in disbelief, "I don't think that's my call." Stefan can't go on anymore as he lets go of him and falls to the ground on his back.
"Come on. No." Dorian kneels down to hold him anxiously, "No. Stefan. You can't die on me, man." He uncovers the shirt to see that the bullet is still inside of him and still bleeding severely, "Oh, that's bad. That's bad." The victim gasps in pain, "Sorry, I'm sorry. I wish I hadn't done this to you."
"Yeah. I know how you feel." He closes his eyes as he loses consciousness.
"Stefan. Stefan, don't do this. Do you hear me? Stefan. Stefan. Stefan! Stefan! Stefan, wake up. Wake up, Stefan. Come on. Stefan."
Rosie shows up with her vamp-speed and kneels down quickly, "Oh my God. No. No, no, no." She sees the specific spot where he was shot, "Oh God."
"Help us...don't you have to use vampire blood to save him?"
"No, Stefan took the cure. Vampire blood won't heal him anymore." No. This can't be it. You don't get to die on me, I'm not losing you again. She cries.
Stefan's soul is standing nearby, watching the whole scene in front of him, especially Rosie herself, truly reluctant and in actual pain to see her cry.
"We meet again." Cade shows up right next to him, watching the scene before them together, "I must admit, much sooner than I expected."
The former vampire frowns cluelessly, "What is this? Where am I?"
"You're dying, Stefan. We're in the space between your final heartbeats. Between this world and your fate." Arcadius explained truthfully.
"No." Stefan shakes his head in denial, frowning.
"Why are you so surprised? You're mortal. Your death is inevitable."
"But it doesn't have to happen today. I still have some unfinished business." The young man stares ahead at his poor, lovely former fiancé.
"Let go. It will be so much easier." The ancient psychic advised him.
"I can't. I have too much left to make up for."
"I meant it would be easier on Rosie. Have you even considered what your attempts at redemption will mean for her life? Fifty years of following you around. Of helping you grasp for a goal which you will never reach, as you become old. A burden. You're destined for hell, Stefan. Why should she be? If you truly love Rosie, you will release her from this suffering and give her back the life she was meant to have. An immortal life. Without you."
The significant ambulance finally arrives, led by Matt's police cruiser.
"You would still rather cling to that fragile existence?"
"I guess I'm stubborn. I want to live." Stefan nods in confirmation.
"Well. That's only human."
Stefan gasps awake and Rosie gasps as well, truly surprised in relief, "Oh God. You're going to be okay. Just stay with me." The paramedics quickly approach them, "I love you so much. You're going to be okay."
****
Mystic Grill Restaurant
Kai throws a dead male body in the large garbage bin at the back of the local restaurant, "Alright. Let's see what we got here. Oh, hey. Another fishing spot for us. A law office just a few blocks away. Talk about bang for your buck. Am I right? I'm right. You know I am." He scoffs in ridicule.
"Forget all these random kills." Damon simply asked him, tired already.
"I wasn't done with that."
"I know how to save you. But we're under a bit of a time crunch. See, the boss found out that you're here. Cade's coming for you." He informed him.
The Heretic frowns, deeply worried, "Wait, he's...he's on his way right now?"
"I don't have an exact ETA, but you know how impatient he gets."
"Oh...okay. What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?"
"I don't know what to do."
"Okay, tell me. What do we do?" Kai asked, truly desperate to be safe.
"We find a way to redeem you." Damon begins to walk him back to the parked Camaro on the side of the road, "So you don't have to go to hell."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about atonement. I'm talking about a giant, noble gesture of selfless generosity."
"I hate this already." The spirit of hell sarcastically commented.
"You need something that's going to push you over the edge in the eyes of Cade. Something to make up for all the pain that you've caused." Damon gives him a significant knowing look of his reference, "Something like...?"
"Oh, you mean like my relationship with Minerva. You've seen how she looked at me, man, it's over. It's been over for four years now, which you know, sucks because of you. I could've gotten her back, but you just had to come in and ruin it, which is actually...symmetry for us, right?" Kai spoke.
Damon rolls his icy blue eyes in pure annoyance, "You could've gotten her back if you would've just stayed like the punky butterfly you once were."
Malachai scoffs in ridicule, "And what does el jefe have in mind?"
"It's not up to him. It's up to me. People do forgive. And when they do, redemption is possible. I know that. Which is why, if you want my forgiveness, you're going to bring Elena Gilbert back to life. Right now."
****
Mystic Falls Hospital
It is night time already. Dorian is sitting on the bench in the main hallway of the Emergency Room waiting area when Matt approaches him with a stack of thick paperworks in his hands. Dorian stands up, clearly still guilty, frowning in deep concern of his poor victim, "How's Stefan?"
"Stable. Rosie told paramedics he was shot in a hunting accident."
"And they believed her?" Dorian earns a look, "Right. Of course they did."
"No one knows what really happened. This will all just...go away."
"I shot him, Matt. I was so angry and afraid, I actually tried killing someone. Pretty sure that makes me just as bad as him." The young intern nods.
"I've hurt people for the wrong reasons too. But that feeling in your gut? That voice telling you to hate yourself for what you did? That's not a bad thing. That means you're a good person." Matt advised, smiling warmly.
"What are those?"
"Police files on Stefan Salvatore. Going back decades. Crime reports, forensics tying him to dozens of murders and cold cases. He wants you to have them."
"Why?" Dorian is handed the stack of thick files.
"He's putting his fate in your hands. So if locking him up is the form of justice that you need, you can go ahead and pull that trigger. Or you can set aside the past, and work on building a better future. It's your choice." The respective local sheriff walks away, leaving the young man alone.
Dorian looks down at a police file and opens it, revealing printed photos of Stefan's victims, with their neck bleeding from being viciously fed on, horrifying Dorian. Oh my God. Meanwhile, Stefan is lying in bed in his hospital room when a nurse opens the curtain to let Rosie in to see him.
"The doctors stopped the hemorrhaging. They say you're lucky. You'll make a full recovery. Dorian saved your life, after almost ending it, I mean."
You saved my life too, always. "Well, I don't blame him. He may have pulled the trigger, but I leaded that gun years ago when I murdered his family. And he's not the only one on the list." The ex-vampire Ripper reminded her.
"I know. I've spent the entire day staring your collateral damage in the face, so I know what's going through your mind right now." She nods a little.
No, you don't. "You sure about that? Earlier, it would've been so much easier for me to let go. No more guilt. No regrets." Stefan wondered aloud.
She frowns in horror, "Just hell? Is that what you think you deserve?"
"Maybe. I don't know. I don't know who I am anymore."
"Stefan." Rosie slowly nears him so she can sit on the chair by his bedside, "You've only been this person, a human, for two days. Why don't you give yourself a chance to discover who you are now? Once you're discharged, I mean. Then maybe you'll know how to help the people that you've hurt."
"Because I think that means leaving Mystic Falls. Alone. To start over."
No. "Alone." Rosie repeated and he nods simply, Without me. No, I can't have that. I can't lose you again. "But I...I've stood by you through everything. In what world is ending this the answer to your problems?"
"I'm doing it for you--"
"Don't you dare say that this is about me!" Rosie stands up, truly angered by his decision, "This has nothing to do with me. Your walk of atonement and your guilt, your need to be a martyr to your past, that is all for you. Not me."
"Be honest. What future can we have?" His ex-fiancé doesn't reply to this as Stefan continues, "Unless you take the cure." She looks speechless at this and he looks away for a moment, "I know you would do it for me, but..."
"But then we're going to have to leave Damon, and you don't want that."
"No, Rosie, I love the idea of starting a human life with you. But in between you and my brother..." He shakes his head a little, "I don't know what the future looks like to live without him, but now that it has come to this, I'd have to convince myself that they were right; I'd be happy without him."
The young woman looks on at him in true sympathy, "And I'd be miserable without you. It's not that I don't like being a vampire, I do, because I don't believe you when you said that vampirism is only a means to an end. Vampirism is a means of protection, so we were never monsters, Stefan. We chose to feed on other people, but it doesn't have to be that way."
Stefan frowns, truly puzzled by her, "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that you don't deserve to go to hell, because you're a hero. That's who I've always seen you as — the man I've always loved, and I'd give anything to start over in a human life with him, to grow old together, and to keep fighting alongside that man to make things right again." She vented.
"You can't take the cure unless you tell Damon. He may have almost taken the cure with Elena without telling either of us, but that's no reason to--"
"I know. I'm not stupid, even though we were stupid enough to keep the cure a secret from him in the first place." She pauses for a moment, "You know you have to live with that guilt, but you don't have to do it alone, and if you think that you're nothing but a burden, then you're stupider than I thought because I know that you know better than to think like that."
She sighs in a tired manner and walks out of the room, contemplating her own decision now, leaving him to think about what she just truly expressed.