[3x09; Homecoming]
"All right, we'll say that Mikael followed Elena in here," Stefan stated as he walked into the library of the Boarding House, Joel, Elena, and Damon following him. "He tried to grab her so he could use her as bait."
"And you, what, vervained him?" Elena asked him skeptically; Stefan crossed his arms over his chest.
"No, we vervained him," Damon scoffed as he corrected her. "The guy's an Original. Make it realistic."
Stefan rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. We vervained him and in the process, discovered that he had a dagger."
"Which he planned to use on Rebekah," Joel added. "but instead..."
"We drove it through his heart," Stefan finished.
"And what happens when he asks to see Mikael's body?" Elena asked, cocking her head at Stefan.
"Good point," Damon pointed at her and then at Stefan. "You, my brother, have been compelled to do what Klaus says. So, if the idea is to lure him back here and kill him, the last thing we need is you getting tripped up and tongue tied."
Elena nodded in agreement and sent Stefan a pointed look.
"Well, don't look at me," Stefan shrugged, keeping up the ruse that he was still compelled. "I'm just in charge of getting him back here."
"Klaus is smart," Joel stated; he knew that the whole of the Original family was smart. One look at Lucy could tell you that. "If we tell him that Mikael's dead, he'll want proof."
"Than I shall be dead," a man walked into the library, his demeanor stiff. Joel could tell that he was dangerous just by the way he held himself.
The man—Joel knew him to be Mikael, who had visited the Salvatore brothers after he fed on Katherine—walked over to one of the tables and set down a dagger and a small jar of white ash.
Stefan and Elena walked over to Mikael while Joel and Damon stayed back.
"What if he wants to see you in person?" Elena wondered.
"Well, it means our plan is working," Mikael said simply. "Klaus will absolutely want to see my body. You lure him here and I will kill him."
"With what?" Stefan put his hands on his hips as he stared down Mikael. "Those daggers won't work on him."
"I'm in possession of a stake fashioned from the wood of the ancient white oak tree," Mikael told him and picked up the jar of ash. "The one that left these ashes when it burned."
Damon raised his eyebrows. "Where is it?"
"Not here," Mikael dipped the dagger into the white ash. "Knowing its location is my insurance policy."
"Against what?" Joel narrowed his eyes.
Mikael pressed his lips together and stepped toward Elena, holding the dagger out to her. "You leaving this in my heart," he said. "You see, a vampire can't dagger an Original without dying. So, it falls to you."
Elena took the dagger. "You want me to actually dagger you?"
"Klaus will leave nothing to chance. Especially when it comes to trust," Mikael insisted. "Now, before you use the dagger...Where is my daughter?"
"Rebekah?" Elena raised her eyebrows. "She's upstairs."
"No, not Rebekah," Mikael shook her head. "Luciana. She is still alive, isn't she?"
"What do you want with Lucy?" Stefan's voice was low and threatening as he stepped toward the Original.
Mikael gave Stefan an appraising look. "I have not seen my daughter in over a thousand years because of Klaus," he spat the hybrid's name. "I simply wish to see her."
"She's not involved in this," Joel spoke up protectively. "She doesn't know about our plan and we want to keep her out of it. If you want to see her, it will have to wait after Klaus is dead."
Mikael nodded in acceptance. "Well, then," he turned to Elena. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"
Twenty minutes later, Mikael was on the floor, desiccated with a dagger in his heart. Stefan sat a few feet away from him, his phone pressed to his ear while he waited for Klaus to answer his call.
He couldn't wait to be done with all of this.
"Portland is fantastic once you can get over all the whiny music and healthy-looking people," Klaus greeted him at once. "It's literally a breeding ground for werewolves."
Stefan didn't have time for small talk. "Your father's dead."
The other line was quiet for a few seconds. "What did you say to me?"
"Oh, my mistake," Stefan rolled his eyes. "Not your actual father and not dead. Mikael is daggered. What do you want me to do with the body?"
"Well, first, I want you to explain to me exactly what happened."
Stefan told him everything just like they all planned for him to do. He didn't add or forget anything to make sure that Klaus and the others thought his compulsion was still intact.
"I want to see him," Klaus growled angrily. "I want to see his rotting body for myself."
"Well, he's here," Stefan stood up and glanced at Mikael's body. "Come by whenever."
"If you're lying to me, Stefan, your compulsion will expose you," Klaus reminded him. "So answer with your life. Is what you're saying the truth?"
"It's true," Stefan clenched his jaw. "I saw it with my own eyes."
"I want to talk to Rebekah."
Stefan's eyes darted to Damon and Joel, both of them nodding at him. "That's not a problem. She's right here."
He walked over to Rebekah, where she was staring at her father's body with wet eyes, and handed her the phone.
"Hello, Nik," she said softly into the phone.
"Rebekah, love, what's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run-in with a dagger?"
"It's true," Rebekah exhaled. "He's finally out of our lives for good. I miss you. I'm miserable here."
"I'll be home soon," Klaus promised.
"Good. I'll see you then, brother," Rebekah hung up the call and handed the phone back to Stefan. "He bought it. He's coming home."
Stefan nodded gratefully at her and stuffed his phone in his pocket as she briskly walked out of the room. Stefan, Damon, Joel, and Elena turned to each other, surprised that the first part of their plan went off without a hitch.
"Now, was that easy or what?" Damon smirked.
Elena crouched down next to Mikael, rolling her eyes at his comment. "Let's just get this over with."
She pulled the dagger out of his heart.
-
Lucy walked next to Matt at school, both of them carrying crates of art supplies to decorate the gym for homecoming. She and Caroline were co-planning this dance together—they would plan prom, as well—and they were pretty excited for tonight.
Lucy didn't have a date but it didn't bother her at all. She just wanted to have fun tonight and not worry about keeping track of her date. Besides, Rebekah had asked Matt to the dance and she thought it was kind of cute.
Matt wasn't so sure, though. "Are you positive that it's okay I'm going with Rebekah?"
"Of course, it is," Lucy confirmed with a smile. "You're one of my best friends, Matt. You deserve to have fun."
"So, you're sure?"
"Yes. Why are you so worried about what I think?"
"Rebekah's your sister," Matt shrugged sheepishly. "And, you know, we had that thing."
"We had sex a couple of times and there were no feelings involved," Lucy gave him a reassuring smile. "And it's over. If you're okay, I'm okay. Okay?"
"Okay," Matt smiled in relief, glad that they could continue being friends with no drama involved. "and don't think I didn't notice that we stopped sleeping together when Stefan came back."
Lucy pursed her lips and playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Matthew," she carefully took his box from him to add to her own and placed it against her hip to juggle both. "Get to class."
"Your secret's safe with me, Luce," Matt started to walk away with a grin. "See ya."
Lucy rolled her eyes, not really bothered with the fact that Matt knew about her feelings for Stefan. She was sure he wouldn't say anything. Matt was good at keeping things private. She continued out to the courtyard where Caroline and Tyler were working on the van and set the boxes down.
"Hey," Caroline greeted her with a smile. "did you bring the glitter gun?"
"Sure did," Lucy confirmed, grabbing the glitter gun out of her box and handing it to her best friend. "One glitter gun."
Caroline beamed at her. "Thanks."
"This thing looks really good," Lucy gestured to the van where school spirit practically threw up on it. "Is it almost ready?"
"Soon," Caroline promised. "Just a few finishing touches. It would have gone quicker if you were helping."
"I already did the jerseys and the field," Lucy pointed to her artwork on the opposite side of the van. "Trust me, it would have taken longer with my perfectionist tendencies."
Caroline hummed and shook her head with a smile.
"Hey," Tyler left his place at the side of the van and walked up to them. "can't we ditch the decorating and go grab a bite?"
"Oh," Caroline perked up and set down her paintbrush. "I have a thermos in my bag."
Lucy grimaced at the thought of Caroline having a container of blood in her bag. What if it got all over her stuff?
"I mean a real bite," Tyler winced apologetically. "Rebekah knows some people who like to be fed on. They're into it; we don't even have to compel them."
Caroline bristled in disbelief. "Okay, first of all, I finally almost just got your mother to stop hating me. So, I probably don't want to get caught in some weird vampire threesome with her son," she stated. "And secondly, quit hanging out with Rebekah, the evil blood slut."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Caroline, remember what we talked about?" she reminded her best friend. "No slut-shaming...and Bekah's not evil."
Caroline scoffed heavily.
"Just keep the claws in tonight at the dance, okay," Tyler requested. "For me?"
"And me?" Lucy added hopefully.
Caroline pressed her lips together but nodded. "So, who has the misfortune of being compelled to be her date?"
"Matt said he'd take her."
"Wait, you set her up with Matt?" Caroline asked her boyfriend before turning to Lucy. "And you're okay with this?"
"I'm perfectly fine with Matt taking Bekah," Lucy confirmed. "She wants to go to the dance and Matt didn't have anyone to go with."
"Besides, he drinks vervain," Tyler pointed out. "she can't feed on him. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal, you guys," Caroline glared at Lucy and Tyler. "is that Matt is an innocent, good person who should not be going to dances with original vampires."
"You're being dramatic," Lucy shook her head. "Rebekah won't hurt Matt, I promise."
"He's a guy," Tyler added his support. "and Rebekah's hot. Don't overthink this."
Caroline gave him a suspicious look. "This is a sire thing, isn't it?" she pointed her paintbrush at him. "Please tell me this is some weird family extension of your sire bond to Klaus."
"I'm here hanging streamers and have glitter all over my hands," Tyler scoffed playfully. "If I'm sired to anybody, it's you."
Lucy snickered. "He's got a point, Care."
Caroline shot her an unpleased look. "Would you two stop ganging up on me?" she asked loudly. "It's freaking me out."
-
Lucy zipped up the back of Rebekah's red dress and walked around her, making sure it laid nicely against her. "It looks great," she told her. "I think red is your color."
"Do you think so?" Rebekah smiled weakly, looking at herself in the mirror.
"I think so," Lucy nodded. "but blue does make your eyes pop."
Rebekah looked at her with wide eyes. "You remember?"
"Of course," Lucy smiled slightly and clasped the bracelet Stefan got her around her wrist. "You never did get married, did you?"
"I didn't get the chance," Rebekah sighed as she looked to the mirror and fluffed out her curls. "You and Henrik died shortly after our conversation at the quarry. Our family scattered after Mother was killed."
Lucy frowned, knowing what was going on in Rebekah's head at the moment. While she had been talking to Henrik, Damon and Alaric found a cave under the Lockwood's property that had drawings about the original family. It was discovered that it was actually Klaus who killed Esther and not Mikael like Rebekah originally thought. Rebekah was devastated at the truth and Lucy tried to comfort her the best she could.
"I'm sorry, Bekah."
"It's over and done with," the look on the blonde's face disagreed with her words. "Come, let's get you in your dress."
Lucy smiled and allowed Rebekah to help her into the dress she got for her in Charlottesville. It was short, shiny, and black with fringe covering the skirt. Lucy fell in love with it immediately and thanked Rebekah profusely for getting it for her.
Once Lucy was dressed and made up, she and Rebekah took a picture together. It was a sweet photo and Rebekah got teary eyed over it. It was so strange for Lucy to see her sister so emotional but Rebekah insisted it was because tonight was such a big night for them.
"I have to go meet up with Caroline," Lucy reluctantly told Rebekah. "See you at the dance?"
"Of course," Rebekah beamed. "I'm looking forward to being Homecoming Queen."
Lucy laughed softly. "I'd be surprised if you didn't win, Bekah."
Rebekah grinned and waved her off. As Lucy was about to leave the Boarding House, Stefan stopped her with a charming grin and a nice-fitting suit that made Lucy equal parts amazed and angry—every time he wore a suit she got weak in the knees and she hated it.
"Look at you," he looked her up and down. "You look amazing."
Lucy's cheeks warmed under the layer of foundation she was wearing. "Thanks. You're going to the dance?"
"Well, someone's gotta escort you," Stefan held out his arm for her. "Shall we?"
Lucy didn't loop her arm with his. "Actually, I was going to the dance alone."
Stefan didn't look upset about her refusal. "At least let me drive you to school," he offered. "You can drink all the spiked punch you want, okay?"
Lucy pursed her lips as she looked at him thoughtfully. Something was different about him; without his humanity on, Stefan was a sarcastic asshole who loved to make people uncomfortable. He wasn't like that at the moment—he actually looked worried for her well-being.
"Fine," she agreed. "you can drive me to school. But you have to leave me alone after that."
"I don't get a dance?"
Lucy sighed. "Fine, one dance."
They arrived at the school an hour before the dance was supposed to start because of Lucy's duty as co-chairman of the dance committee. Unfortunately, there were police cars and firetrucks scattered all over the parking lot and there was water pouring out of the gym doors.
Lucy had no idea what was going on but she knew that it couldn't be good. If the gym was flooding so bad they needed firemen, it had to be a disaster in there.
She hurriedly got out of Stefan's Porsche and ran across the parking lot to find Caroline. Stefan quickly went after her and it didn't take them long to find the blonde vampire and her hybrid boyfriend looking at the school with devastation and anger.
"What happened?" Lucy asked as she and Stefan approached Tyler and Caroline.
"The gym's flooded," Tyler informed them. "The dance is canceled."
"The dance is canceled?" Lucy asked flatly, glaring over at the gym. "We spent a month planning and a week decorating and it's canceled? We got a photo booth!"
Caroline squeaked at the reminder of their big-ticket item. "What are we supposed to do?" she asked sadly.
"Go home?" Stefan suggested, not bothered by the destruction caused by the water.
Lucy and Caroline glared at him.
"How about we move the party to my house?" Tyler spoke up, looking toward Caroline. "Come on, I have the room."
"Kegs and beer pong for homecoming?" Stefan raised an eyebrow at him. "That's different."
Lucy and Caroline exchanged a thoughtful look before Caroline nodded at Tyler, giving him the go-ahead. He smiled excitedly and took off, pulling out his phone to make some calls.
"I'll start a text-chain to let everyone know the change of venue," Lucy sighed, pulling out her own phone.
"I'll call Elena," Caroline volunteered.
-
When Stefan and Lucy pulled up to the Lockwood mansion, they were shocked. The lawn was already packed with cars and they could hear loud music through the closed windows as red and white lights shined from the backyard.
"What the hell?" Lucy murmured as they got out of the car and saw the line of people in front of the house, waiting to get in. "How'd he plan this so fast?"
"I have no idea," Stefan looked around suspiciously.
The line into the dance—it was a party, really—went quicker than expected. They headed straight into the backyard—where they were shocked to find out a live band was playing in front of a huge crowd—and got drinks.
A slower song came on as Lucy was drinking the rest of her beer. Stefan held out an expectant hand for her and she raised an eyebrow at him.
"You told me we'd dance, remember?" he reminded her. "Come on, it's tradition."
"Fine," Lucy agreed, taking his hand. "Only one dance, though."
"Only one."
Stefan pulled her to the part of the yard that was sectioned off for dancing and they joined the couples that were enjoying the party together. Stefan slowly twirled Lucy around and pulled her to his chest, taking one hand in his own as they started to sway.
"This is nice," Stefan admitted. "familiar."
Lucy nodded in agreement and pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "You hate dancing."
Lucy remembered a time where she had to beg him to dance with her. Since then, they had danced at almost every party they went to. It was strange, yet amazing, to see how far they had come.
"Not with you," he whispered.
Lucy shivered and frowned in confusion. Was his humanity back on or not? Because he was sure acting like it was. This was her Stefan that was holding her close, his fingers lightly brushing against her bare back; it wasn't the Stefan she had seen lately.
She pulled her head away from his shoulder and looked up at him. "Do you have your humanity back on or are you just messing with me?"
Stefan's lips quirked and quickly spun her around. "How about I tell you when the night is over?"
Lucy rolled her eyes at him but enjoyed the rest of their dance. When the song ended and the band struck up a livelier tune, they joined the rest of the crowd by the stage.
"Hey, guys," Tyler greeted them as he approached with a case of beer. "What's up?"
"Hey, Tyler," Stefan nodded back at him. "Nice party you got going on here."
"Yeah, did you secretly have a binder full of back-up homecoming plans?" Lucy gave him a suspicious look.
Tyler chuckled. "No, I'm not even the one throwing it," he admitted. "I'm just doing what Klaus wants."
Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise. Last she heard—from Klaus himself, the day before—was that he was in Portland, Oregon. Why on earth would he come back to Mystic Falls so quickly? He was literally across the country.
"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"It's not a party," Tyler said as the song died down and the crowd cheered. "It's a wake."
Lucy gave Stefan a confused look as Klaus hopped on stage. "What is he doing here?"
Stefan didn't answer as Klaus took the microphone and started to speak to the crowd.
"Good evening, everyone!" he exclaimed. "I want to thank you all for being here with me to celebrate. It's been a long time coming."
As Klaus locked eyes with Stefan, Lucy roughly grabbed her best pal's arm. "What the hell is going on, Stefan?" she asked shortly. "What is Klaus talking about?"
"I don't know," Stefan lied; she could see it in his expression. "You should go find Elena."
"Stefan."
"I'll catch up with you later," he insisted. "Go on."
Lucy narrowed her eyes at him but did as he asked. She huffed and walked away from Stefan, trying to find her sister.
-
Lucy didn't find Elena but she did find Matt—without Rebekah, which concerned her—and Caroline by the keg. Caroline happily offered her a cup of beer and Lucy took it, taking a long sip as she tried to figure out what was going on.
Things only got weirder as Tyler approached them, pulling Matt and Caroline away from the keg so they could all talk. They didn't come back from the house and after fifteen minutes of waiting for them, Lucy wandered away from the keg.
She avoided the house, where she saw Klaus playing beer pong, of all things, and walked through the side gate, hoping to call Joel to pick her up.
"Luciana."
Lucy furrowed her eyebrows at the name and looked away from her phone, gasping when she saw exactly who had called her by her first name.
Mikael, her first father, stood in front of her, looking drastically different than the last memory she had of him. The last time she saw him, he was beating Niklaus in a duel and had cruelly pinned him to the ground to teach him a lesson. Now, he stood in a casual suit, his hair cropped short.
"Mikael."
What was he doing here? Rebekah told her a few weeks ago that he was desiccated in a tomb in some random cemetery, so how was he standing in front of her? Was he here to kill Klaus and Rebekah? Was he here to kill her?
She took a cautionary step away from him.
"No need to fear me, my dear," Mikael noticed the fear in her eyes. "It's been a long time. I wanted to see you again."
His words didn't settle her; she knew how dangerous Mikael was—her sister had told her many tales of his cruelty over the past thousand years. He even killed a man who Rebekah loved and was like a son to Klaus.
"What are you doing here?" she asked quietly. "Did you do something to Rebekah?"
"Your sister is in no danger," Mikael answered patiently. "It is Klaus that I have come to kill."
Lucy's heartbeat picked up as anxiety started to set in as pieces came together in her mind. The fact that Stefan insisted on taking her to the dance. The gym flooded and Tyler miraculously had a party planned. Klaus coming back to Mystic Falls and his confusing speech...there had been a plan in place.
And, once again, she knew nothing about it.
"You're going to kill Niklaus?"
She didn't know how to feel about that. Her first thought was, yeah, Klaus deserved to die. He killed Jenna, he tried to kill Elena, he took Stefan away from Mystic Falls and practically made him a slave for the whole summer—who else knew what he had done because he certainly was not a saint. But, upon further reflection, she didn't want him to die. Everything in her that was Luciana hated the idea of her big brother dying. Not when he had protected her, loved her, and nurtured her for twelve years.
"I can see the conflict in your eyes," Mikael observed. "Your mother said you would have memories of our family."
"Then you know I can't let you kill my brother," Lucy became resolved.
Mikael hummed, like he had expected her to say that. "Unfortunately, my dear, I have no choice."
Lucy gave him a confused look but as soon as she felt an aching pain hit her head, she knew what he meant. Mikael caught her in his arms as she fell to the ground, her vision going black.
-
Stefan looked away from Katherine as she started to call Damon, looking into the backseat where Lucy was still passed out by the hit she took from Mikael. Nothing had gone according to plan, but Damon was alive, Mikael wasn't going to come after them, and he was free from acting like Klaus' bitch.
"Not interested in the play by play of our failure right now, Katherine," Stefan looked back at Katherine when he heard Damon's voice coming from the speaker on her phone.
"I'm just calling to say goodbye," Katherine sighed. "I don't know what to tell you. You had a good plan, Damon, and that's high praise coming from me."
"It's not very comforting at the moment," Damon muttered bitterly. "You going back into hiding?"
"At least my life's not boring," Katherine stated. "Goodbye, Damon."
"Take care of yourself, Katherine."
The call ended; Katherine dropped her phone into the cupholder between her and Stefan.
"He doesn't know where it all went wrong." she sighed.
"He doesn't need to know," Stefan replied, leaning his head against his hand.
Katherine shook her head pulled the car over to the side of the road as they passed the border of Mystic Falls.
"Are you good from here?" she asked Stefan, glancing back at Lucy's still form. "I need to put about a million miles between myself and Klaus as soon as possible."
Stefan didn't say anything as he stared out the window thoughtfully.
"Stefan."
He thought about what happened only an hour ago. He had woken up in his library, his neck healed from Mikael's attack, to find Katherine, dressed in Elena's outfit, passing him a blood bad. She quickly told him Klaus' back-up plan where his hybrids tore Damon apart if he was killed.
Stefan had a choice to make and, of course, he chose his brother.
"How did you know that I would stop Damon?" he asked her.
"I didn't," Katherine sighed. "I was just hoping that you would want to."
"You wanted Klaus dead for five hundred years," Stefan reminded her. "Why would you risk all that just to save Damon's life?"
Katherine pressed her lips together and looked over at him. "I wasn't just trying to save Damon's life, Stefan. I was trying to save yours," she said. "Your humanity. Let's just say I like the old you better."
"Nah," Stefan scoffed. "Come on, Katherine. You don't care anything about yourself. You never have."
Katherine's eyes hardened. "You and I both know that's not true. I loved you. I loved Damon, too. And I love Lucia," her eyes went to her sister in the backseat and sighed heavily. "Humanity is a vampire's greatest weakness. No matter how easy it is to turn it off, it keeps trying to fight its way back in. Sometimes I let it."
Stefan shook his head. "I can't let it all back in," he whispered. "Not after everything I've done."
He had killed over a hundred people over the summer, slaughtered and tore them apart like they were animals. He fed from Elena, he antagonized his friends, he teased Lucy about her feelings for him. That wasn't who he truly was, yet he still did all of those things. How was he supposed to deal with that?
"Of course, you don't want to," Katherine agreed sympathetically. "but if you don't let yourself feel, you won't be able to do what I need you to do next."
Stefan raised his eyebrows. "What's that?"
"Get mad," Katherine smirked at him. "Invoke that revenge plan I know you have."
Stefan didn't even deny that he had a plan; Katherine was too smart.
"Now get out of my car," Katherine ordered. "And tell my sister I said goodbye."
•
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[Lucy's Dress]