A loud gasp instantly escaped the mouth of the Gilbert girl as she abruptly woke up before she hurriedly sat up from the unfamiliar feeling of an unknown bed underneath her. Emily almost immediately furrowed her brows together in confusion as she cautiously moved her green irises around her surroundings after she realized that she was, in fact, inside of a foreign house.
However, that wasn't what caused all of the Gilbert girl's puzzlement. It was from the fact that her loved ones were looking at her with an array of emotions and none of them were exactly positive if their frowns were anything to go by.
Emily didn't like not knowing what was going on when everyone else apparently did and especially when she didn't even know where she was at the moment, so the Gilbert girl opened her mouth to ask about what was happening. But before Emily had the chance to utter a single word, though, she was soon interrupted as she picked up the sound of a vampire moving with their enhanced speed before she was suddenly overcome by a familiar and warm hug that could only belong to her boyfriend.
"Thank God you're okay," the Salvatore vampire softly murmured into his girlfriend's neck while he let his tears freely drip out of his green eyes and he hugged Emily as tightly as he could without squeezing and breaking her lungs. Stefan honestly had been going out of his mind ever since he had painfully watched as Klaus had drained his girlfriend of her blood. The Salvatore vampire had been so afraid that the witch spell wasn't going to work as the hours passed by and he would never get to see his girlfriend alive and well again.
Emily released a small and heartfelt chuckle as she softly rubbed her right hand along her boyfriend's back. "I'm alright, babe," the Gilbert girl assured Stefan as much as she could because she knew from the past, just how worried Stefan could get about her and she knew that Stefan just needed that extra reassurance to realize that she was, in fact, okay. "I'm fine, babe, just like I promised you," Emily gently continued, "and you know I never break my promises. I'm safe. I'm home."
The couple of the eldest Gilbert and the younger Salvatore stayed in each other's arms for a few more minutes before Emily slowly pulled back once she couldn't feel anymore fresh tears soaking her shoulder. Emily looked into her boyfriend's green irises as she playfully joked, "you know no one can take me out."
"You are never allowed to do that ever again," the younger Salvatore vampire mumbled barely above a whisper as he softly ran his rough thumb across Emily's cheek. "That was your one die free card. No more," Stefan stated as he shook his head. The green eyed supernatural being gazed softly into his girlfriend's bright irises as he murmured, "I won't be able to take it if you are gone again, baby."
The Gilbert girl released a small chuckle as she nodded her head in agreement. "You won't find me arguing with that," Emily jokingly muttered at the idea that she would ever willingly die again before she commented, "one time is enough."
Emily honestly didn't have any recognition about her death and much of what happened right before it. The only thing the Gilbert girl could remember from the small pieces that her mind could think of which was when Klaus had drained Emily of her blood before everything had just turned dark. If someone asked Emily to describe what happened to her, she honestly for the life of her, couldn't recall the majority of anything.
"Good," Stefan murmured as he continued to gaze softly into his girlfriend's green irises before he slowly pulled Emily into a passionate kiss that showed all of the emotions that he had been feeling since the sacrifice. The Salvatore vampire knew it was probably selfish to practically be making out with Emily with everything that was going on but Stefan wanted, no needed, to feel his girlfriend as tightly as possible right now for his brain to understand that Emily was alive again.
The couple of the younger Salvatore and eldest Gilbert stayed in a loving and safe embrace with their lips molded together until Emily had to force herself to pull back and let oxygen back into her lungs. Emily decided that she would take the time to gain her breathing back to look around her surroundings for the first time since Stefan had vamped up to her and she didn't exactly get the chance to see who was actually all here with her.
The Gilbert girl immediately furrowed her brows, though, after about a half of a minute of looking between Damon, Alaric, Jenna, Jeremy, and Bonnie when she couldn't spot a certain face in her group of loved ones. "Where's Lena?" Emily curiously inquired as she rose her right eyebrow. The brunette released a small chuckle before she jokingly added, "I thought there would be a competition to who would get to me first between Lena and Stef."
However, when no one in the room chuckled and were also beginning to avoid her gaze, the Gilbert girl instantly became worried about her twin sister's whereabouts. Emily sluggishly pushed herself to be seated straighter on the twin sized bed in the unfamiliar house as she glanced at everyone in the room before she inquired in a serious tone, "where's my sister?"
Emily was honestly starting to get scared by the way everyone wasn't saying anything or telling her where Elena was, so the Gilbert girl focused her green irises onto the one person who had to know where her sister was and the one that she just noticed had tears in his eyes - Damon Salvatore.
"Dee..." The Gilbert girl nervously called out to her boyfriend's brother before she anxiously interrogated as she pronounced each and every word very slowly and cautiously, "where is my sister?"
Damon shakily squeezed his blue irises closed when he heard that the Gilbert girl's question was pointed directly at him. The older Salvatore honestly didn't have it in him to speak without immediately sobbing, so Damon slowly crossed the large bedroom as he tried to gain himself some time before he had to tell Emily the truth.
It took Damon about a solid three minutes of dragging his black ankle boots against the dark hardwood floors before he was finally standing right beside the Gilbert girl on the left side of the twin sized bed while his brother stood on her right. The older Salvatore vampire shakily brought his hand that had been previously tapping against his jeans to grab ahold of Emily's hand before Damon whispered with tears clouding his blue irises, "she's gone."
The Gilbert girl furrowed her brows together as she stared over to her boyfriend's brother in confusion. "What do you mean she's g-" Emily had began to question before she suddenly got this extreme intense pain inside of her head. Emily had to squeeze her green irises closed while she placed her hands over her ears as she felt as if someone was screaming into her mind.
Emily honestly didn't know how long it was before she finally opened her eyes with tears clouding her vision and she emotionlessly focused her gaze onto an old painting of a sunset that was hanging over her aunt's head. The brunette girl felt shell-shocked as she studied the beautiful painting while her whole world was crashing down on her as flashbacks of the sacrifice came back to her.
Emily felt like as if she was in a trance as she stared solely at the beautiful and innocent painting while she slowly recalled like a robot, "Jules was the werewolf... And... And... Elena." The thought of her twin sister finally snapped the Gilbert girl out of her trance as she swiftly locked her teary green irises with Damon's equally wet blue ones before she gasped in denial, "no, no, no. S-She can't be gone."
Emily frantically glanced at everyone in the room as if she tried to read their expressions and to find out if Damon was lying or joking around before she loudly wailed out when she could only see sadness and tears on each of her loved ones' faces, "why would she do that!?"
However, before anyone could even think of consoling or answering the sobbing girl, everyone instantly became on guard as the large house suddenly began to strangely shake with the rhythms of Emily's cries.
"Elijah said this might happen with her being a witch now," Stefan calmly explained to the vampires, witch, and the humans around the room, "it's just her body trying to adjust to her new powers." But when pictures and painting began to crash down onto the hardwood floors of the house that Elijah had compelled for Emily, the younger Salvatore knew he needed to step in.
"Hey, hey, hey," Stefan gently called out to the sobbing girl witch before he gently grabbed ahold of Emily's hand as to offer his girlfriend some comfort like he usually would do when she became wrapped in her emotions. However, though, as soon as Stefan's cold skin touched the young witch's warm hand, a wave of shock instantly traveled through Stefan's body so painfully that he had to quickly pull his hand away from his girlfriend's touch.
"Shit," the younger Salvatore swore as he looked down at his palm with his brows deeply furrowed in confusion as he felt as if his hand had just been encased in a glacier.
The Gilbert girl immediately began to sob even harder and louder when she realized what she had just done to her boyfriend. "I can't do anything right!" Emily cried out as she stared down at her shaking hands with tears flowing down the side of her reddened cheeks as she could feel the unfamiliar sensation of magic stinging her fingertips from when she had shocked her boyfriend.
Emily now knew that she could end up hurting someone else if what she did to the younger Salvatore and the shaking of the house was anything to go by, so the Gilbert girl - now Radkova witch - hurriedly rushed out of the twin sized bed and pushed herself into the furthest corner away from her everyone else.
"I just hurt everyone I love," Emily sobbed as she slowly sunk her body down to the hardwood floors while she slid her back down the shaking walls. The Gilbert girl pressed the heels of her hands into her wet green irises as she told everyone in the room in a quiet and broken voice, "you should all just get away from me while you have the chance."
The younger Salvatore vampire definitely wasn't just going to let his girlfriend think so negatively about herself and her new identity when everyone in the room didn't blame her for what happened and absolutely adored her, so Stefan quickly assured the Gilbert girl as he slowly moved to approach the sobbing witch, "hey, we're not going anywhere."
However, before the green eyed vampire could even get within three feet of his girlfriend, Stefan was instantly stopped when Emily practically screeched when she could strangely feel someone coming towards her and she hurriedly lifted up her head, "no! Stop!"
Stefan couldn't help but deeply frown as he watched his girlfriend mentally, emotionally, and physically break down right in front of him. It was as if the sacrifice had just stripped everything from Emily. There was none of her usual strength, positivity, or determination left inside of her. It was like Emily was a shell of what she used to be and it absolutely broke Stefan's heart.
Stefan would give anything in the world right now to just take away all of the pain that his girlfriend was experiencing right now from the lost of her twin sister to the affects of the brutal sacrifice. The younger Salvatore would do anything right now to just see that beautiful and carefree smile back on Emily's face again.
"I don't want to hurt you again," the Gilbert girl mumbled to her boyfriend as she continued to sob while she kept her palms facing outward as she prayed that Stefan wouldn't come any closer to her. Emily couldn't live with herself if she ended up hurting the love of her life again when she knew she was the cause of the pain he would feel.
The younger Salvatore vampire felt his heart break over and over again as he stared across at his girlfriend along with the way she was trying to push him away and isolate herself. Stefan knew that he needed to help calm the Gilbert girl from her emotions before she ended up hurting her own self, so Stefan glanced at everyone in the room as he asked them, "guys, can you give us a moment?"
There was instantly multiple mutters of small words of, 'okays,' and 'sures,' from the vampires, humans, and the only other witch in the room before the younger Salvatore, once again, tried to approach his girlfriend after he heard everyone exit out of the door to give him and Emily some privacy.
Stefan knew that he couldn't get too close to the young witch right now or she would end up panicking and cause her powers to go off again, so the green eyed vampire stood about two feet away from Emily. The younger Salvatore then slowly squatted down until he was leveled with his girlfriend's seated figure against the wall before he softly called out to her, "baby, hey, look at me."
Emily immediately and hurriedly shook her head as she held her face in the palm of her shaking hands whilst she continued to sob to herself. "You should just leave me," the Gilbert girl mumbled. Emily didn't see why anyone was still here right now when she was going to end up hurting them. There was no point for them to stick around, anyway, Emily thought, Elijah was probably right and I'll end up going crazy as well like all the other witches.
"I'm not going anywhere," Stefan instantly assured his girlfriend before he slowly and silently moved closer while Emily wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. The Salvatore vampire didn't even hesitate as he swiftly wrapped his arms around his sobbing girlfriend and brought Emily tightly into his chest as if he was trying to protect her from the demons in her mind.
"Wait! Stop!" The Gilbert girl hurriedly shouted as she tried to push herself out of Stefan's arms by using her elbows as soon as she realized that her warm body was touching the vampire's colder one. "I'm going to hurt you!" Emily yelped as she tried with all of her might to get away from her boyfriend, "please, Stef! Let me go!"
The Salvatore vampire gently shushed the panicking girl as he slowly ran his fingers through her matted brunette hair. "It's okay, baby, it's okay," Stefan softly whispered as he continued to steadily stroke Emily's mane. "I got you. You're going to be okay. I got you," Stefan murmured words of strength as he held his girlfriend on the ground and against the wall while Emily slowly began to calm down from her sobbing.
The Gilbert girl honestly felt like she could finally breathe for the first time in so long as she fisted her shaky hands into Stefan's grey Henley after she realized that her touch wasn't hurting him anymore. "I'm so sorry," Emily quietly mumbled into her boyfriend's chest as she continued to cry.
"Hey, you have nothing to apologize for," Stefan quickly assured his girlfriend. "We all knew this was going to be difficult," the Salvatore vampire stated, "but we aren't going anywhere." Stefan pointed his hand towards the closed door before he insisted, "I and everyone else in there are going to be right here with you, okay, baby?"
Emily sniffled as she slowly nodded her head against her boyfriend's cold chest. "Okay," the Gilbert girl simply whispered as she slowly began to calm down from her panicking moment after waking back up from the dead.
Emily knew, now that she was thinking level-headed, that she shouldn't expect everyone to give up on her when they have always been there for her. It was stupid of her to even think that she was going to be all alone in this new journey in her life when her loved ones have always supported her.
The couple of the Salvatore vampire and the new Radkova witch sat on the cold hardwood flooring for a couple of minutes of silence until Stefan heard Emily's heartbeat go back to its normal pace before Stefan lightly cleared his throat to gain his girlfriend's attention. "There she is," Stefan softly murmured once the young witch had lifted up her head and he could finally see her beautiful face for the first time in a while.
The Salvatore vampire silently brought his hand up to Emily's cheek and lightly ran his rough thumb across her warm skin as he softly inquired, "you doing okay?"
The Gilbert girl honestly didn't know how she was supposed to answer that question when she, obviously, wasn't in the lightest bit of being okay when her other half was dead and not by her side like she had been since the minute they were born. Emily mentally and emotionally wasn't okay - especially from the fact that she had strong magic currently flowing through her body that could hurt anyone without her even meaning to.
"I...I don't know," the Gilbert girl finally answered her boyfriend's question as she lightly shrugged her shoulders against his chest. Emily didn't think she would ever be okay again. It was like she lost a limb after remembering her twin sister wasn't going to be with her. It was as if something was broken inside of her and there was no way to repair it.
"And that's perfectly fine," Stefan instantly assured his girlfriend before he placed a soft kiss onto her warm forehead. "It's okay to not be okay. You've gone through so much in the last two days - hell in the last few months," the Salvatore vampire murmured against Emily's head as to give the confidence and energy that she needed right now, "the fact that you are even talking and walking at the moment just shows how strong you are."
"Thank you for not giving up on me," Emily murmured back against her boyfriend's chest instead of taking the compliment. The Gilbert girl couldn't find it in herself to take any words of positivity when all she felt like she was doing was failing -- failing Elena, failing Maria and Darina, failing all of her family and friends.
"Of course," the Salvatore vampire uttered as he softly ran his fingers through Emily's hair. "You can always count on me to be by your side no matter how difficult everything gets," Stefan assured his girlfriend as he listened to the calm sound of her heartbeat, "it doesn't matter if you don't want me around, I will always be in your corner. You can always count on me to be here for you."
Emily couldn't help but let a tiny smile pull up onto her chapped lips from her boyfriend's words. "I love you," the Gilbert girl softly murmured against Stefan's chest. Emily felt reassured from the vampire's comforting little speech about how he would be there for her. It made her feel better that she could at least count on someone to help her get through this.
"I love you, too," Stefan instantly replied back before he lifted the Gilbert girl's head from his chest. The Salvatore vampire gazed down into Emily's green irises with a soft smile playing on his lips before he leaned down and placed a gentle and comforting kiss onto her chapped and rough lips.
The couple of the Salvatore vampire and the Gilbert girl sat there for a few moments of tranquility before Stefan grew curious about something -- Emily's experience with being temporarily dead. Stefan gave his girlfriend's hand a small squeeze to gain her attention before he cautiously inquired once Emily focused her green irises onto him, "do... Do you remember anything that happened after the sacrifice?"
The Gilbert girl slowly furrowed her brows as she took in Stefan's question. Emily hadn't really put much thought in what happened when she didn't automatically remember it but she, too, was curious about what had happened, so Emily closed her green irises and tried to access her forgotten memories.
However, as soon as Emily tried to remember what had happened, her head instantly began to hurt as if someone was squeezing the life out of her brain. The Gilbert girl placed her hands on either side of her head as she released a piercing scream and tears began to fall down her warm cheeks while she pushed and pushed to remember her brief afterlife.
"Hey, hey, hey," the Salvatore vampire hurriedly called out as he quickly moved to sit in front of his girlfriend and grabbed ahold of her shoulders. "It's okay," Stefan quickly assured the young witch, "it's okay if you can't remember." Stefan didn't want his girlfriend to feel anymore pain, so if she couldn't recall these memories, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Stefan had just been curious about what happened all those hours.
Emily hurriedly shook her head as she refused to give up. "I have to remember," the Gilbert girl muttered through her clinched teeth as she continued to push and push to the back of her head to gain her memories back. Emily didn't know why but she felt that she had to remember what happened after the sacrifice. There was just something inside of her that was telling her that she needed to know what took place.
Stefan released a heavy sigh as he didn't want the Gilbert girl to have to go through anymore trauma than she already was but he also knew Emily's mind was already made, so the Salvatore vampire gently rubbed up and down his girlfriend's upper arms as he tried to comfort her while she continued to scream and push through her memories. "It's okay," Stefan voiced his assurance as he hoped it would help push the process more quickly before she injured herself, "you got this, baby. You can do it."
Emily couldn't even hear a single word that her boyfriend was saying as she felt like she was stuck in her mind instead of the real world. The Gilbert girl just continued to push through all of her memories that she already had and onto the ones that she obviously had been repressing for some reason.
However, finally, after a solid fifteen minutes of Emily screaming and sobbing through the pain, all of the memories of Emily's short afterlife that she had apparently had lost, suddenly began to fly through her mind at hyper-speed. Emily released a loud gasp with her eyes still closed before she replayed her memories to Stefan and herself, "I...I met Maria... And Darina. I...I don't remember where I am. It's some wooded area."
Emily furrowed her brows together as she dug deeper into another memory of her afterlife before she released an even louder gasp when she saw a scene appear into her mind. The Gilbert girl slowly opened her green irises and looked at Stefan with a frown embedded onto her chapped lips. "John... John is dead," Emily mumbled as she recalled her sister being there and telling her about their biological father.
Stefan released a small sigh as he nodded his head. The Salvatore vampire had hoped that he could wait a while before he told Emily the truth about John, but apparently she already knew. "Bonnie and John tried a spell to save Elena's life by giving up his own but it was a shot in the dark," Stefan explained what had happened with John, "but it didn't work since Elena wasn't human."
The Gilbert girl felt tears slowly begin to fall down her cheeks as she heard what happened to her biological father. Emily released an emotionless chuckle as she wiped her tears before she bitterly uttered, "I didn't even like him and I barely knew him, so why do I care?" The Gilbert girl ran her hand through her messy brunette hair as she rambled on to herself, "he tried to run my happiness so many times."
Emily glanced up to her boyfriend with tears still trailing down her reddened cheeks before she continued and questioned with an unsteady voice, "he tried to get rid of you and mess with my happiness, so why do I even care that he's dead?"
Stefan felt his heart break for the millionth time as he could see how emotional his girlfriend was becoming over the passing of her biological father. "It's okay," the Salvatore vampire softly murmured as he brought Emily into his chest while she wept. "No matter how much you couldn't stand John, he was still your father," Stefan consoled his girlfriend as he ran his hand gently down her back.
"He cared about you so much," the Salvatore vampire recalled from his own experience of watching John with his daughters. "He wasn't exactly mine and Damon's biggest fan," Stefan began with a small chuckle before he concluded, "but he truly did care and love you so much. You could see how proud he was of the woman that you were slowly becoming."
Stefan let his words soak into the Gilbert girl's mind for a few moments of silence before the Salvatore vampire assured his girlfriend, "and it's okay to mourn for John." The Salvatore vampire gently ran his fingers through Emily's brunette hair before he continued, "you have always known him as your uncle as a child and you cared for him. It doesn't change after you learned that John was your father. You still cared and loved him. It's okay to mourn for him." Stefan placed a soft kiss onto Emily's forehead as he assured her, "it's going to be alright. You will mourn but you will get better."
However, the Gilbert girl wasn't comforted by his words like Stefan thought she would be as Emily instantly began to shake her head as another memory came to the front of her brain. Emily couldn't even try to hold in the sob in her chest as she wailed at the images flying through her mind that it caused the house to shake once again.
Stefan immediately became worried for his girlfriend when the walls surrounding them began to vibrate. "Baby? What's wrong?" The Salvatore vampire hurriedly questioned as he moved in front of her and gripped onto her shaking shoulders. Stefan figured that his girlfriend's tears and sobbing had something to do with John, so he tried to console her and make her feel better as he told the young witch, "John didn't go painfully. He went peacefully. He went loving you so, so much."
Emily released another painful sob as she hurriedly shook her head to show that John's death wasn't causing this reaction. "I-I got to say my final goodbye to Lena," the Gilbert girl shakily and finally muttered as tears freely fell down the side of her reddened cheeks for the millionth time.
"Oh, sweetheart," the Salvatore vampire murmured as he realized what was going on. Stefan absolutely hated having to see Emily go through so much pain. He regretted so much for asking her to push into her memories. If he had known it would cause so much pain, Stefan would have just kept his mouth shut. However, Stefan knew he couldn't take it back now, so instead, he pulled Emily into his chest and began to rock her back and forth.
"Let it all out," the Salvatore vampire told his girlfriend as he knew it wouldn't be good for Emily to bottle up these strong emotions when Elena was so important to her. "I got you, baby," Stefan softly assured the Gilbert girl as to let her know that she could cry as much as she needed to while he continued to hold and rock her in his arms.
"I-I want my sister back," Emily sobbed into her boyfriend's chest as she could only thing about her other half who was no longer with her. "S-She shouldn't have been taken away from me - from us. She didn't deserve to die. She definitely didn't deserve to die at the hands of that piece of shit hybrid," Emily practically rambled and ranted as she went through the different emotions after the lost of her twin sister.
"S-She's my soul. She's my other half," Emily continued to sob into her boyfriend's chest as he gently ran his fingers through her hair. "I-I don't know how to go on without Lena. I don't know who I am without her," the Gilbert girl mumbled as she cried out for her twin, "I miss her. I miss her so, so much."
Emily honestly at this point couldn't hold anything in anymore. She just released all of the pain and grief that she was feeling from the death of her biological father and most importantly, the absolute robbery of her twin sister's life. Emily ignored the way that her powers fiercely shook every inch of the house as she mourned for twin sister for the first time since the sacrifice.
I'm so sorry I failed you, Lena, the young witch silently told her other half as warm tears continued to fall down her cheeks and loud sobs escaped from her sore throat while the Salvatore vampire held her closely. I miss you. Please come back to me, Emily practically pleaded to her deceased sister as if it would bring Elena back to her.