08. Rose
Stefan shut his locker and saw Jeremy making his way towards him.
"Hey, Jeremy" Stefan greeted.
"Look Aria and Elena have to let me know if I'm supposed to cover for them, I mean Jenna's cool with you and Elena and she's kind of warming up to Damon and Aria, but you guys are pushing it" Jeremy said.
"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked confused.
"You and Elena, Damon and Aria" Jeremy replied, "Look I'm glad you guys are back together, but if they are gonna sleep over--".
"Wait, hold on a minute, me and Elena are not back together, and far as I know, neither are Damon and Aria" Stefan interrupted.
"Wait, they didn't stay at your place last night?" Jeremy asked.
"No, I mean I saw both of them at the party but that was it, none of them slept over" Stefan replied.
"Because both Elena and Aria's beds hadn't been slept in" Jeremy explained, "And Mrs Lockwood said that Elena's car was still in the driveway, where are they then?".
***
Aria woke up with a massive headache, she held her head and looked around in confusion, that's when she realised she was in a old building, everything that had happened last night came crashing back to her, including how both her and Elena got kidnapped.
"Elena" Aria realised, she looked around for her best friend and saw her unconscious on the other couch, Aria quickly got up from her seat, ignoring the pain in her wounds and ran over to her best friend, and started shaking her, "Elena, come Elena, wake up".
Elena groaned and slowly woke up, just like Aria, she was extremely confused with her surroundings, "Aria, where are we?".
Before Aria could reply, a man, both the girls have never seen in their life, entered the room.
"Who are you?" Aria asked confused, not knowing why a stranger would want to kidnap her and Elena.
"What do you want?" Elena asked.
"Shh" The man ordered, Aria glared at him and tried to give him an aneurysm, but she frowned when her magic didn't work, seeing what Aria was trying to do, the mystery man smirked, "Your magic isn't going to work, I've given you some herbs which will stop your magic for a few hours, so no point trying", the mystery man's eyes landed on Aria's wounds, causing veins to appear under his eyes, making Elena and Aria realise he was a vampire, "Just a taste".
"No!" Elena yelled, not wanting her best friend to get hurt again, but the mystery man pushed her away and went to bite a struggling Aria, when a women entered the room.
"Trevor, control yourself" The woman snapped, stopping Trevor from biting Aria.
"Buzz kill" Trevor taunted, walking away from Aria, while Elena ran back to her and hugged her.
"What do you want with us?" Elena asked the mystery woman.
"My god, you look just like her" The mystery woman said, looking at both Elena and Aria in fascination, "And your the last Connor witch".
"She's not though, she's not--".
"Be quiet" The mystery woman interrupted Aria.
"But I'm not Katherine" Elena insisted, standing up while Aria stayed seated, "My name is Elena Gilbert, this is my best friend Aria Connor, you don't have to do this".
"I know who you are, I said, be quiet".
Aria could tell the mystery woman was getting angry at Elena, "Elena stop talking" Aria warned, not wanting Elena's stubbornness to end up causing her to get hurt.
"What do you want?" Elena asked, ignoring Aria's warning.
The mystery woman had enough of Elena's questions and slapped her across the face, rendering her unconscious.
Aria looked at the scene infront of her in shock, the mystery woman turned to Aria, "Don't try anything smart, or the same thing will happen to you".
Aria didn't say anything, just simply nodded, if Aria was to be honest, without her magic she felt useless, she knew without her magic she had no chance against these vampires, and she didn't want to die today, so she stayed quiet, hoping Elena had learnt her lesson and next time will take her warning seriously.
***
"This has Katherine written all over it" Stefan said.
"Katherine's in the tomb, trust me I'm the one who shut her in" Damon answered.
"Did you?" Stefan asked, not believing his brother.
"Did I what, Stefan?" Damon asked, glaring at his younger brother.
"Well I know you've wanted revenge from Katherine" Stefan said, "I can't imagine you just leaving her in the tomb without torturing her".
"She's in the tomb, period, end of story" Damon snapped, "But she did say something to me right before I shut her in, I thought she was lying".
"What did she say?" Stefan asked eagerly.
"Aria and Elena are in danger" Damon replied.
"What and you didn't think you should ask her to elaborate?" Stefan asked, furious.
"Everything she says is a lie, how am I supposed to know she's going to start spouting out the truth?" Damon defended.
"We have to go talk to her" Stefan realised.
"No, no" Damon disagreed, "Let me tell you how that's gonna go, we're gonna go ask her for help, she's gonna negotiate a release, which you're gonna be dumb enough to give her, and then she's gonna get out and kill us, that's exactly what she wants".
"I don't really care" Stefan said, only caring for Elena and Aria's safety.
"It's a bad idea, Stefan" Damon warned.
"It's Elena and Aria" Stefan replied, walking away from Damon.
***
Aria sat on the couch next to a still unconscious Elena, playing with her bracelet and eavesdropping on Trevor and the mystery woman's conversation.
"How are the girls?".
"One is still passed out, the other is busy staring at her bracelet" Trevor replied.
Aria looked down at the bracelet Damon gave her, she just hoped like always Damon would come to her save, right now she needed him more then ever, without her magic, only Damon could save her, and Aria really hoped he came before it was too late.
"You didn't touch them, did you?".
"Give me some credit" Trevor said offended, as Elena slowly started to wake up, "So you called him?".
Aria put a finger to her lips and gestured Elena to be quiet, she pointed to her ear and then towards the doorways, telling her to listen, Elena nodded in understanding.
"No, I called one of his contacts, you know how this works".
"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah?" Trevor asked impaitently.
Aria frowned, for some reason the name Elijah seemed really familiar to her.
"They say he got it".
Elena stood up and grabbed Aria's wrist and made her stand up, both the best friends very quietly started walking towards the voices.
"Wonderful, and what?" Trevor asked.
"So that's it Trevor, he either got it or he didn't, we just have to wait".
"Look, it's not too late, we can leave them, we don't have to go through with this" Trevor said, extremely scared of the man who was coming for Elena and Aria.
"I'm sick of running".
"Yeah?" Trevor asked, "Well, running keeps us from dying".
"Elijah's old school, if he accepts our deal, we're free".
As Aria and Elena were walking, Elena's foot landed on a uneven floor panel, causing the floor to creak when Elena stepped on it.
"Both of you!" The mystery woman yelled, having seen Aria and Elena, "There's nothing around here for miles, if both of you think you're getting out of this house, you're tragically wrong, understand?".
"Whose Elijah?" Aria asked, genuinely wanting to know why she felt like she knew this man, without even meeting him before.
"He's your worst nightmare".
***
"I can't undo the tomb spell Stefan, even if I wanted to" Bonnie said, "It took me, my grams and Aria to do it the first time".
"Alright, but I can open the door, right? I could talk to her?" Stefan asked.
"Yeah, but Damon's right, she's not gonna tell you anything" Bonnie replied, "Not without something in return".
"I know, but Bonnie I have to do something" Stefan said frustrated, "I have no idea who has Elena and Aria, I have no idea where they are".
"What if there was another way to find them?" Bonnie asked.
***
"How does this work?" Jeremy asked, laying a map down on the desk.
"I'll use your blood to draw energy for the tracking spell" Bonnie explained, "You and Elena are blood related, it'll make the connection stronger, and if we manage to track Elena, we will also get to Aria".
"Alaric said we gotta clear out within 10 minutes, I got weapons, he stocked me up" Stefan informed, entering the classroom.
"Are you ready?" Bonnie asked Jeremy, who nodded.
Bonnie made a cut in the middle of Jeremy's palm, and Jeremy let his blood spill on to the map, Bonnie then started chanting, as Bonnie was chanting, Jeremy's blood started moving down the map and stopped right on Reidsville.
"There" Bonnie pointed, "They are there".
"That's 300 miles away" Jeremy said.
"No, Bonnie, we need a more exact location then that" Stefan said.
"That's as close as I can get" Bonnie informed.
"We can map it, aerial view" Jeremy said, "It'll show us what's around there, help us narrow down the area".
"Call me with whatever you find" Stefan said, walking towards the door.
"No, no, no I'm coming with you" Jeremy argued, stopping Stefan.
"No Jeremy, you're not" Stefan stated.
"I'm not gonna just sit here" Jeremy said, "What if they are hurt? What if--?".
"They're not" Stefan interrupted, "You two go back to your house just in case, I'm gonna call the minute I find them".
"Well you can't do this alone" Jeremy stated.
"He's not, let's go" Damon said, entering the classroom.
"You're coming with me?" Stefan asked confused.
"It's Aria, Stefan" Damon said, "She's scared, I can feel it, I'm coming with you, I need to save her before it's too late".
***
"Alaric sure likes his weapons" Damon said, driving to rescue both Elena and Aria.
If Damon was to be honest, he could care less about what happens to Elena, he was only going on this rescue mission for Aria, he could feel how scared she felt and that feeling made him extremely uneasy, he needed to get to her and that to fast, if while getting to Aria he will need to rescue Elena, then against his better judgement, Damon will do that, he will rescue not only Aria but also Elena.
"What the hell is that?" Damon asked, as Stefan fiddled around with a grenade like weapon.
"It's a vervain bomb or a grenade launcher, something like that" Stefan vaguely explained.
"Weird" Damon commented.
"Hey, how much further is it?" Stefan asked anxiously.
"About 80 miles" Damon replied.
"Who do you think took them?" Stefan asked curiously.
"Someone from Katherine's past must have taken Elena, she said she was running from someone" Damon reminded, "And Aria was with Elena, so she must have been caught in the crossfire".
"Thank you, for helping me" Stefan said genuinely.
"Can we not do the whole road trip bonding thing?" Damon asked, "Cliche of it all makes itch".
"Aw, come on, Damon" Stefan said, "We both know that you being in this car has absolutely nothing to do with me anyway".
"And the elephant in the room let's out a mighty roar" Damon teased.
"It's doesn't have to be an elephant, you know, let's talk about it" Stefan encouraged.
"There's nothing to talk about" Damon assured.
"That's not true, sure, there is" Stefan said, not letting the topic go, "Just say it, I mean are you in this car because you wanna help your brother rescue his girlfriend and bestfriend or you in this car to rescue the girl you love, while not caring about the girl I love?" Damon smirked, "I mean, come on, express yourself, I happen to like road trip bonding".
"Well if you're so eager to know, then listen" Damon snapped, "I could care less if Elena lives or dies, if to save Aria, I have to push Elena infront of death, then you bet I will do so, for me nothing is more important then Aria, I'm not going to let history repeat itself Stefan, not when it comes to Aria".
Stefan knew Damon was talking about the fact, how in 1864, Damon had left Natalie alone and went to rescue Katherine, the girl Stefan loved, just so his younger brother didn't suffer, in doing so, he couldn't protect Natalie because he was too busy protecting Katherine, he chose his brother's love over his, and to this day, Damon blamed himself for it, but with Aria he wasn't going to make the same mistake, if it came down to choosing between Aria and Elena, Damon would always choose Aria, and what scared Stefan was that, so would he.
***
"Why are we here?" Elena asked, the women whose name her and Aria still didn't know.
"You keep asking me these questions like I'm gonna answer them".
"Why won't you?" Elena asked.
"That's another one".
"Look, you have us trapped here, we can't go anywhere" Aria said, "Can you please just tell us why you kidnapped us, we deserve to know".
"I personally want nothing to do with you both, I'm just a delivery service".
"To Elijah?" Aria asked.
"Two points to the eavesdropper".
"Who is he? Is he a vampire?" Elena asked.
"He's one of the vampires, the originals".
Aria froze, the mystery women's words going around in her head, the originals, Aria felt like she knew the originals, she felt like she had a connection to them, how and why Aria didn't know, all she knew was that she wasn't scared of Elijah, not like Elena and the other two vampires were, instead she was intrigued, she wanted to meet Elijah, because for some stupid reason, Aria felt like he wouldn't hurt her.
"What do you mean the originals?" Elena asked confused.
"Again with the questions, haven't the Salvatores been teaching you vampire history?".
"You know Stefan and Damon?" Aria asked confused.
"I know of them, a hundred yeas back, a friend of mine tried to set me up with Stefan, she said he was one of the good ones, more of a sucker for the bad boys, though, but I digress".
"Can relate" Aria mumbled, her mind going back to Damon.
"Who are the Originals?" Elena asked.
"Trevor and I have been running for 500 years, we're tired, we want it over, we're using you both to negotiate ourselves out of an old mess".
"What's so special about us?" Aria asked.
"Because you're the last Connor witch, and you're friend is a Petrova doppelganger, both of you are the key to breaking the curse".
"What curse?" Aria asked confused, "The Sun and the Moon one?".
"Well, looks like unlike you're friend, you know your history".
"How are me and Elena the key to breaking this curse? I thought the moonstone is what broke the curse" Aria said, confused out of her mind.
"No, the moonstone is what binds the curse, sacrifice and channelling is what breaks it".
"Excuse me?" Aria asked confused, "What do you mean sacrifice and channelling?".
"Sacrifice, meaning the blood of the doppelganger, you're friends the doppelganger, channeling, meaning while the sacrifice is happening, a Connor witch, meaning you, must be channeled, which means, in order to break the curse, you're friend dies, and before you ask, what happens to the Connor witch is undetermined, it's 50-50 chance of you surviving, but a spell this big, I'm going to go on a limb here and say you aren't going to survive either".
***
"Tell us more" Elena demanded.
"Captivity's made her pushy, eh?" Trevor mocked, covering the windows with wooden planks, "What do you wanna know witchy and doppelicious?".
"Don't call me witchy" Aria snapped, glaring at Trevor, only one person had the right to call her witchy and that person was definitely not Trevor.
"And captivity has made her feisty" Trevor smirked.
"Who are you guys running from?" Aria asked, ignoring Trevor's words.
"The Originals" Trevor replied.
"Yeah, I got that" Aria snapped, "But who are they?".
"The first family, the old world, Rose and I pissed them off" Trevor said, finally telling the girls the name of the mystery woman, Rose.
"Mm-mm" Rose said, giving Trevor a look.
"Correction, I pissed them off" Trevor corrected, "Rose had my back, and for over half a millennium, they've wanted us dead".
"What the hell did you do that someone wants you dead for 500 years?" Aria asked curiously.
"He made the same mistake countless others did, he trusted Katerina Petrova" Rose said.
"Katherine" Elena whispered.
"The one and only" Rose said.
"Poor you" Aria commented, "You trusted a right bitch".
Rose and Trevor chuckled at Aria's words, they actually liked the Connor witch, they definitely preferred Aria over Elena, as Aria wasn't as demanding as Elena, and she seemed like a fun person to be around.
"Can't argue with that" Rose said, "Katerina was the first Petrova doppelganger".
"I helped her escape her fate, and now I've--Sorry, we've been marked ever since" Trevor said.
"Which is why we're not gonna make the same mistake again" Rose said.
No matter how much Rose liked Aria, at the end of the day it was all about survival, and if to survive Rose had to sacrifice Aria, so be it.
***
After realising they weren't going to get anymore answers from Rose and Trevor, Elena and Aria sat back on the couch, when suddenly Aria felt a paper underneath her hand, Aria picked the paper up in confusion, not remembering this being here before.
Opening it, a smile came over Aria's face, it was a note from Bonnie, it said that Stefan and Damon are coming for her and Elena, Aria breathed out a sigh of relief, knowing that Stefan and Damon had realised her and Elena were missing and now they were coming to take them back home.
***
Aria and Elena sat on the couch when a panicked Trevor entered the room.
"He's here, this was a mistake" Trevor said, immensely scared.
"No, I told you I would get us out of this, you have to trust me" Rose assured.
"No, he wants me dead, Rose!" Trevor yelled.
"He wants them more" Rose retorted, pointing to confused Aria and Elena.
"I can't do it, you give them to him, he'll have mercy on you" Trevor snapped, "But I need to get out of here".
"Hey" Rose said, "What are we?"
Trevor took deep breaths, in an small attempt to calm himself down, "We're family, forever".
Rose nodded and suddenly the group of four heard loud knocking on the front door.
"You're scared" Aria noted.
Rose ignored Aria and turned to Trevor, "Stay here with them, and don't make a sound".
Trevor nodded and Rose left to greet, Elijah.
***
Rose stepped down the stairs and saw Elijah standing at the front door.
"Rose Marie" Elijah greeted, "Is there somewhere we can talk?".
Rose sighed and pointed to the room next to them, "Yes, in here, you have to forgive the house".
"Oh, no, what's a little dirt?" Elijah asked, walking towards the room, "I completely understand, so tell me, what is it that gives you the courage to call me?".
"I wanted my freedom, I'm tired of running" Rose replied, "Are you in a position to grant me that?".
"I have complete authority to grant pardon to you and your little pet--What is his name these days? Trevor--If I so see fit" Elijah said.
"Katerina Petrova" Rose said, gaining Elijah's attention.
"I'm listening" Elijah said.
"She didn't burn in the church in 1864" Rose informed.
"Continue" Elijah said, sitting down on the seat.
"She survived" Rose continued, "And she is the one, who for all these years has been going around and killing the Connor witches, she is the reason as to why the Connor bloodline is now extinct".
"Where is she?" Elijah asked.
"You don't seem surprised by this" Rose observed.
"Oh, when you called and invited me into this armpit of civilisation, which is a mere three hours from the town we know as Mystic Falls, I surmised it had everything to do with Katerina" Elijah explained, "Do you have her in your possession?".
"No, but I have better" Rose informed, "I have her doppelganger and the last Connor witch alive".
"That's impossible" Elijah said shocked, "Her family line ended with her, I know that for a fact, and it's been decades since anyone has seen any sign of a Connor witch".
"Then the facts are wrong" Rose said.
"Well, show them to me" Elijah demanded.
"Elijah, you're a man of honor, you're to be trusted, but I wanna hear you say it again" Rose said, still a bit apprehensive that Elijah would forgive her and Trevor.
"You have my word that I will pardon you" Elijah promised.
"Follow me" Rose said, leading Elijah to where Elena and Aria were.
Elena and Aria were anxiously pacing in the room Rose had forced them to stay in, they were hoping Stefan and Damon were close to them otherwise they were screwed.
Elijah entered the room and both Elena and Aria looked at him in shocked, Elijah hadn't seen Aria yet, he was too shocked seeing Elena.
Elijah speeded infront of Elena, catching her off guard, and causing her to take a few step backwards, Elijah stepped forward, leaving almost no space between himself and Elena, and smelled her, "Human, it's impossible".
Elijah then looked towards Aria, and seeing her, he froze, "Ariana" Elijah whispered shocked.
Aria looked at Elijah in confusion, she swears she knew him, but she didn't know from where, maybe he was part of her past life, which will explain why he called her Ariana.
Elijah speeded infront of Aria, and brought his hand over to her cheek, "You're alive, the prophecy came true, if only he was here to see you, he would have been delighted" Elijah whispered, looking as Aria as if she will disappear as soon as he blinked.
"I know you" Aria said, "I don't know how, but I know you".
"Well of course you know me Ariana" Elijah said, a small smile forming on his face, "We're family".
***
"Whose he?" Aria asked Elijah, "You said he would be delighted to see him me, whose he?".
Elijah frowned, "He was right, you have no memory of your previous life, do you?".
Aria shook her head in denial, "I mean other then the dreams I get of me and this mystery boy, I know nothing about my past".
Elijah smiled at Aria, "Well then, looks like we have a lot to talk about, we should get going".
"Please, don't let him take us" Elena pleaded, not knowing why Aria wasn't scared of Elijah.
"One last piece of business, then we're done" Elijah said, ignoring Elena's cry, and walking over to a still terrified Trevor.
"I've waited so long for this day, Elijah" Trevor said, "I'm truly very sorry".
"Oh, no, your apology is not necessary" Elijah assured, walking around Trevor.
"Yes, yes, it is" Trevor insisted, "You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you".
"Well, yes, you are the guilty one" Elijah said, "And Rose aided you because she was loyal to you, that I honor, where was your loyalty?".
"I beg your forgiveness" Trevor pleaded.
"So granted" Elijah said, and before anyone could register anything, Trevor's head was cut off.
"You--" Rose cried in shock.
"Don't, Rose" Elijah interrupted, "Now that you're free", Elijah turned to a scared Elena and a shocked Aria, "Come".
"No, what about the moonstone?" Elena asked, hoping to delay Elijah and give Stefan and Damon more time to get here, while Aria looked at her as if she has lost her mind.
"What do you know about the moonstone?" Elijah asked.
"I know that you need it, and I know where it is" Elena replied.
"Yes?" Elijah urged.
"I can help you get it" Elena promised.
"Tell me where it is" Elijah said.
"It doesn't work that way" Elena snapped.
"Elena" Aria warned, she believed captivity had made Elena lose her mind, otherwise who in their right mind would question a guy they just saw rip someone's head off with his bear hands.
"Are you negotiating with me?" Elijah asked Elena, slightly amused, he then turned to a still hysterical Rose.
"It's the first I've heard of it" Rose replied, glaring at Elijah.
Elijah turned to Elena and Aria knew he was about to do something to her so she quickly stood in between the two, "I'll tell you" Aria said, "I'll tell you, just don't hurt Elena".
Elijah looked at Aria fondly, some things never change, in her past life Aria would not let a scratch come upon the people she cared about and this life that hadn't changed, something Elijah was very happy about.
"Please do tell" Elijah said.
"The moonstone is in the tomb underneath the church ruins, its with Katherine, she's trapped in there with it" Aria explained.
"Interesting" Elijah said, and suddenly there was a sound of glass breaking, "What is that?".
"I don't know" Rose replied.
"Who else is in this house?" Elijah asked.
"I don't know" Rose repeated.
Elijah harshly grabbed Elena's arm and gently grabbed Aria's hand and led them both to the front door.
Elijah stood with the two girls by her side, when suddenly there was a whoosh behind him, he pushed Elena to Rose while himself stood protectively infront of Aria, and suddenly there was another whoosh.
"Rose?".
"I don't know who it is" Rose promised.
"Up here" Everyone heard, Aria and Elena looked at each other in shock, they knew who that was, it was Stefan.
Elijah speeded up the stairs, but saw no one.
"Down here".
Aria smiled hearing Damon's voice, but she hoped he didn't hurt Elijah, she didn't want Elijah hurt as it seemed like he knew the answers to her questions.
Elijah looked down to see no one except the three confused girls, suddenly a stake went through Elijah's hand, distracting him from the girls, Elijah removed the stake from his hand and looked up to see the three girls gone.
Damon took Aria and Rose behind a wall, looking at Damon, Aria couldn't help but hug him, and Damon gladly hugged her back, he missed having Aria in his arms.
"You came" Aria whispered.
"Of course I came" Damon whispered, "Now stay really quiet Aria, I'm going to go kill that man".
"Damon, wait you can't--".
"Excuse me" Elijah interrupted Aria, before she could tell Damon that he couldn't kill Elijah, "To whom it may concern, you're making a grave mistake if you think that you can beat me, you can't, you hear that? I repeat, you cannot beat me", Elijah grabbed the wooden coat hanger near him, "So I want both the girls on the count of three or heads will role, do we understand each other?".
"I'll come with you" Elena said, standing on top of the stairs, "Just please don't hurt my friends, they just wanted to help me out".
Elijah speeded infront of Elena making her gasp in shock, "What game are you playing with me and where is Ariana?".
Elena didn't reply, instead she threw a vervain grande on Elijah, burning his skin, but Elijah quickly recovered from that and started making his way towards Elena, when suddenly Stefan came and started rapidly shooting wooden bullets at him, but those wooden bullet hardly affected Elijah as he kept walking forward, Stefan then grabbed Elijah and both of them fell down the stairs, Elijah went to charge at Stefan, but before he could, Damon came and using the coat hanger, staked Elijah to the wall.
Seeing Elijah dead, Rose ran away, Damon went to follow but Elena stopped him.
"Just let her go" Elena said,
Damon looked on top of the stairs to see both Elena and Aria standing there, Aria looked at Elijah's body with tears in her eyes, for some reason she felt extremely horrible seeing Elijah dead.
"Ria" Damon whispered.
Aria looked at Damon and without wasting a second, she ran down the stairs and into Damon's awaiting arms, this was where she needed to be, this was the only place that can bring her comfort.
Stefan looked at Damon and Aria with a unreadable expression on his face.
"Stefan" Elena said, gaining Stefan's attention.
"Hey, you okay? You hurt?" Stefan asked.
"I'm okay, are you?" Elena asked, confused about the look Stefan gave Damon and Aria, who were still hugging each other.
"Yeah, I'm fine, come here" Stefan said, hugging Elena, but his eyes stuck on Aria and Damon.
***
Elena helped Aria climb the stairs of their house, as soon as they reached the top they saw Bonnie and Jeremy waiting for them.
"Oh, my god" Bonnie said, hugging Elena while Jeremy hugged Aria.
"You both okay?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah" Aria whispered, though she felt anything but okay, "We're okay".
Bonnie broke the hug with Elena and hugged Aria.
"Hey" Aria said, comforting a sobbing Bonnie, "Don't cry Bon Bon, we got your message, you saved us, if you didn't track us down, then Stefan and Damon would have never found us, so don't cry, be proud of yourself".
Bonnie didn't say anything just hugged Aria tightly, happy to have both her best friends back.
***
After using the bathroom, Aria entered her room and was shocked seeing Stefan there.
"Stefan?" Aria asked confused, "What are you doing here?".
"You dropped this at the old house" Stefan said, showing Aria the bracelet Damon gave her.
"Oh, my god" Aria said, looking at the bracelet in Stefan's hand in happiness, "I thought lost it, thank you so much for getting it back for me".
"No worries Aria" Stefan said, "But before I give you this, I need to tell you something".
"What?" Aria asked confused.
"What I'm about to say is very selfish of me, I know that, but you once told me that you will always listen to me without any judgements, and I'm hoping you will do that today" Stefan said.
"Of course I will Stefan" Aria said, "Tell me, what's on your mind?".
"I love Elena" Stefan said, "I really do, but I don't love her as much as I love you".
Aria looked at Stefan wide eyed, this was not what she was excepting, "Stefan--".
"I know you love Damon" Stefan interrupted, "But I needed to get this off my chest, otherwise I will lose my mind, Damon keeps asking me if I love you and every time I make an excuse or just avoid his question because I don't have the guts to admit that I'm in love with my brother's girl, and who in their right mind wouldn't love you, you're beautiful, kind, compassionate, and you never give up on people, when Elena gave up on me, you stayed by my side, you knew I could have hurt you, but still you stayed, you know what scares me, today Damon was telling me that he would let Elena die if it means you would be safe, and then I started think who would I choose, and it scared me that my heart said you, I don't deserve you Aria, but my brother does, you bring out his humanity, something that I haven't seen in decades, I can never snatch that from him, when it comes to you I can't be selfish, which is why I can't let you remember this", Stefan stepped forward and placed a light kiss on Aria's forehead, who was looking at him with tears in her eyes, Stefan then looked right into Aria's eyes, "I wish you didn't have to forget this, but you do".
Aria closed her eyes and when she opened it, no one was infront of her, the bracelet Damon gave her was wrapped around her wrist, and she was standing in the middle of her room, with no recollection of Stefan being here.
***
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