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fanficimagery · 1 year

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The Avenger and Her Vampire

You had been in New York for college for only a year when your aunt called to tell you the terrible news of your parents passing. You didn't mourn with them, instead choosing to go back to school. There, you lost yourself to the grief and wound up with the wrong crowd.

For years you've ignored your family, sending emails and postcards to let them know you were okay. But now that you're returning to your childhood home, there's some very important secrets your family has been keeping from you. Then again, you've got a secret of your own as well.

Words: 9.9K Author's Note: TVD AU. Slight Bonnie bashing which surprised me because I love her.

Mystic Falls would have looked exactly the same as you'd last seen it had it not been for all the suspicious men and women taking up Main Street, staring at you with suspicion as you drive by. There are even a few suspicious individuals down the street from your childhood home, so you pull up in front of your house while keeping an eye out for anyone nearby.

After parking and exiting your vehicle, you walk up towards the front door. The lights are on so you know someone's home and you readily ring the doorbell twice in a row, followed by knocking repeatedly. And then, before anyone can greet you, you open the door while sticking your head in.

"Hello! Anyone home?"

You only have to wait a few seconds before your aunt Jenna rounds the corner, her scowl immediately morphing into an elated smile. "YN!"

"Jenna!"

You push the door the rest of the way open, meeting your aunt halfway and throwing your arms around her in a hug. You grunt as she squeezes you, her embrace being a little tighter than you remember. Then when Jenna's had her fill, she pulls back while keeping her hands on your biceps, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"What happened? Why are you home?"

"What do you mean why am I home?" You huff a laugh. "Am I not welcomed here anymore?"

"Of course you are." She lightly swats your arm, "But it's been years, YN. The most we've seen of you is on FaceTime, so I ask again. What happened?"

You keep quiet for a moment longer before sighing with a slight roll of your eyes. "I'm going abroad over summer and I won't be able to be in contact with you guys, so I thought I'd come visit before I leave."

"Knew there was a reason." Her lips twitch. "But abroad? Tell me everything!"

Laughing, you let Jenna drag you towards the kitchen while you explain that you know the Tony Stark. What had started off as an intern gig working the front desk at Stark Industries led to CEO Pepper Potts asking you to run SI's social media accounts. Then from running SI's accounts, you were then given the passwords to the Avengers' social media accounts, and asked to clean them up.

By some divine intervention, you were friends with superheroes and then one of the richest men on Earth wanted to take you abroad as his personal assistant. And not being able to turn the opportunity down, you agreed.

"Wow. So superheroes, huh? What's Thor like?"

"He's possibly one of the most intimidating beings I've ever met, but at the compound where everyone can just be themselves without the public watching he's an absolute puppy. I adore that alien of a man."

Jenna laughs. "What even is your life?"

"I know. It's insane." As Jenna goes about putting away the dishes she had washed as you spoke, you ask, "So what's going on around here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Uhhh… Mystic Falls is a picturesque little town where nothing bad ever happens." Jenna snorts, gesturing for you to go on. "So why the hell are there so many randos hanging around and looking at me like I kicked their puppy?"

Her smile falls. "What?"

"Surely you've noticed it," you muse. "They're not exactly being subtle."

"Well no, but…" Your aunt suddenly looks spooked as she starts scouring the kitchen counters. "I need to call your sister."

"Elena? Why would you-"

The front door is suddenly kicked in, followed by men shouting. You and Jenna both yelp, whirling around towards the commotion, and then there's a liquid being spritzed into your face.

You cringe back. "What the fuck!" You yell.

"She's clear!"

You're shoved to the arms of a man wearing a paintball mask, whereas others are just wearing scarves to conceal their identity. A hand clamps onto your shoulder as your eyes wildly dart over every armed individual in your childhood home.

"What do we do with this one?"

"Take her. She's a sympathizer."

"What the hell is going on?" You ask, grunting a moment later when you're shoved towards the front door.

Jenna suddenly screams and you look towards her to see her hands covering her face.

"We got one!"

"Hey, leave her alone!" You shout, trying to move to aid your aunt. But you're kept in place, both by the hand on your shoulder and by the fact that when your aunt's hands fall away, her face is… it's not human. Your jaw drops as your aunt snarls, backhanding one man before she's spritzed in the face again. As she squeals in pain, face sizzling, a unique set of handcuffs are clamped around her wrists. "Jenna?" You hesitantly call out.

When Jenna hears you, she glances directly at you, and you watch her red irritated skin heal within seconds. The dark veins beneath her eyes slowly vanish and her too sharp canines disappear. "YN?" When you can only stare at her in shock, her bottom lip wobbles. "I can explain."

Several walkies go off at the same time, stating that they have someone incoming outside. Jenna is frog marched outside and once you get your bearings, you're quick to follow. There are several jeeps in front of your house, each outfitted with guns no normal civilian should have their hands on, and many others scattered about your yard.

"Jenna!" Your sister Elena appears out of nowhere, eyes panicked. "Hey! Let her go!" As Elena tries to rush towards your aunt, she meets the same fate as your aunt previously did. Only this time, they also stab her in the abdomen with what appears to be a wooden stake after she squeals in pain when her face starts to sizzle.

As Elena doubles over with a choked off shout, you practically fall down your porch steps in order to reach your sister. "Hey! Get away from her!"

As handcuffs are clapped around her wrists, Elena looks up at you in surprise. "Y-YN?"

"I said get away!" Subconsciously, an orb of red energy fills your palm, and you release it at those surrounding your sister as if pitching a baseball without even batting an eye.

"Retreat! We got an unknown!"

Several scared men and women rush back to their vehicles, hightailing it out of there while completely forgetting about your sister and aunt. Jenna stumbles over to Elena, the two of them trying to examine the cuffs around their wrists. But each time they touch them, they hiss in pain and have to stop.

Turning towards your family once the coast is clear, you ask, "What the hell is going on?"

"W-What?" Elena glances at you, warily. "What do you mean what's going on here? What's going on with you?! How did you-"

"Uh uh. Nope. We're not talking about me right now." You step forward until you can grab onto their cuffs with each hand. Then willing energy into them, they click open seconds later and fall away from their wrists. "I just outed myself in front of asshole strangers to save you, so you're gonna tell me what the hell is happening first and how the hell you and Jenna are whatever the hell you are."

Elena opens her mouth to retort, but Jenna cuts her off. "She's right, Elena. We owe her an explanation," she says while rubbing at her wrists

Your sister glances between you and your aunt as if in disbelief, before her shoulders sag and she heaves a sigh. "Fine. But I need to get everyone else here. This involves them too."

"Then get them here."

. . . .

Nearly an hour and a half later, well after the sun has gone down, you're sitting in your childhood living room while rubbing your temple from the onslaught of information your sister and friends have dropped on you.

Doppelgangers, vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids… the supernatural is very real and if you weren't friends with real life aliens, you'd have trouble believing everything you've been told.

"So let me get this straight- you," you say while looking at apparently a thousand year old hybrid with a ridiculously cute dimpled grin, "killed my aunt and turned her into a vampire to be used when you sacrificed my sister to break your curse, but you had a change of heart and used someone else instead, and now everyone's just cool with each other?"

"Something like that," Klaus Mikaelson muses.

You shake your head. "And you," you say while looking at his sister Rebekah, "actually got my sister killed which led her to waking up in transition to a vampire?"

"Mmm, yes." The blonde is oddly proud of that moment, it seems, as she smirks.

"Jesus…" you mumble.

"It's not like we're actually friends," Bonnie Bennet, witch extraordinaire, says. "Originals are just hard to kill and even if we did find a way to kill them, they're linked to their sire lines."

"You say that as if I should know what that means," you deadpan.

Bonnie really tries not to roll her eyes as Klaus and Rebekah chuckle at your attitude.

"What it means, love, is that if we kill one Original, then every vampire they turned and every vampire those turned, and so on and so forth, all die," Enzo tells you.

"Vampire extinction," Jeremy mumbles.

"We're just covering our own asses by inviting the Mikaelson family," Damon Salvatore says with a shrug. "If they're left out of the loop and someone miraculously kills them, they kill us too."

"Sounds fair." You shrug. "So now that I'm all caught up about you guys, does anyone care to fill me in on what the hell happened tonight? Who the hell are these randos walking around like vigilante military?"

"Someone saw something they weren't supposed to and went to my mom," Caroline says, "but since mom already knew about the supernatural, she tried to dissuade them so as not to reveal the secret."

"Only that didn't work and something is amplifying the fear of these locals and others they've invited to town into hunting down the nonhuman," Stefan Salvatore tells you.

You glance at Bonnie while wiggling your fingers. "Can't you just magic away the issue? What's good being a witch if you can't spell away the problem?"

"Finally! Thank you," Rebekah huffs.

Bonnie sneers at the Original vampire before crossing her arms and glaring at you. "I've tried. Whatever this is, is immune to my magic."

"What about you?" Elena asks.

You frown. "What about me?"

"Jenna and I saw what you did," she says. "Couldn't you-" It's her turn to wiggle her fingers, causing you to grin.

"What do you mean what she did?" Jeremy asks, glancing between you and your other sister. "What happened?"

"She threw this red blast of energy and knocked some guys on their asses," Jenna says, far too impressed with you now that she knows the new you isn't a threat. You're still the same niece she watched grow up.

Everyone glances at you and you sink into your seat. "YN, what happened to you?" Elena asks, wanting to understand.

"I fell in with the wrong crowd after mom and dad died," you tell the room at large. "They had some powers of their own, that I didn't know about until way later, and they apparently sought me out after sensing some very weak magic in me."

"You have magic?" Bonnie stands a little taller. "But we thought only Elena had magic in her blood because of the Petrova bloodline."

"Well, there's apparently magic in the Gilbert or Sommers bloodline," you say. "Anyway, this group used my grief to manipulate me. When they had my trust, they exposed me to a crystal that amplified the magic that was already in me." You raise a hand in front of you, letting a small orb of red energy develop and dance between your fingers. "They call it chaos magic."

"Holy shit," you hear someone breathe in awe.

"In the beginning, I was excited. I was special," you tell them, losing yourself to the memory. "But then one really bad situation led me to losing control of my emotions and…" You close your hand into a fist, and your hand glows brighter and brighter before you flick your fingers open. A short wave of red energy expands outward before dissipating. As you blink out of the memory, you catch sight of everyone staring at you, tense. You shrug. "I, uh, I wanted help after that. I didn't want to accidentally hurt someone, so I sought out someone who could help."

"Who could help with that?" Your sister asks.

"I wasn't too sure, but I sought out Steve Rogers."

"Captain America?!" Your brother practically shouts. "You sought out an American Icon!?"

"Don't say it like that." Your nose wrinkles. "Steve's more than what the government dubbed him as."

"Wait," Jenna speaks up, frowning. "So, is what you told me earlier true? Are you really going abroad with Tony Stark as his assistant or…?"

"Ehh…" You squeak, shrugging.

"YN…" Her eyes narrow and you sheepishly smile.

"It's more of a mission rather than a job opportunity."

"A mission?"

"Surprise!" You give them jazz hands, chuckling nervously now. "I may or may not be an Avenger in training."

"WHAT?!" Out of everyone, your brother Jeremy is most excited. "You're gonna be a superhero?!"

"I'm gonna try to be," you say. "Apparently my morals are a little skewed, so I'm gonna be on probation for a while."

Enzo smirks. "Where has this Gilbert been all my life?"

"Right?" Damon muses, earning a punch from Elena and a chuckle from nearly everyone else.

"Anyway, I-" Nearly as one, every vampire perks up and looks towards the door. "Uhh, what's happening?"

Stefan frowns. "It sounds like a drone." And sure enough, moments later after the words leave his mouth, a drone passes by one of the front windows.

"A drone?" Rebekah scoffs. "How cowardly of them."

Everyone makes their way outside, hesitating on the porch, while only the Original family and Enzo head down onto the front lawn. The drone continues to hover noisily until Klaus leaps and snatches it from the air. Pulling an envelope that had been taped to it, he then crushes the drone and tosses it aside.

"Oh. They sent a note," Rebekah muses. "That's very quaint of them."

Her brothers huff in amusement as Klaus quickly scans the note. Summarizing it, he says, "They want a meeting with the new threat in the clearing next to the Welcome to Mystic Falls sign."

"No. No way," Elena says.

"It's a trap." Damon's eyes roll. "No one's going anywhere. We need to come up with a plan to catch them off guard."

"What better way to catch them off guard than actually showing up?" You wonder, moving to step down the porch steps, but keeping your hand on the porch railing. "They have no idea what I'm capable of. They're idiots to call me out."

Jeremy shakes his head. "They'll see you as a sympathizer and shoot first, ask questions later."

"That's assuming they'll even get a shot in."

"YN, think about this," Jenna says. "You don't know what you're up against."

"And apparently neither do you," you retort. "Your witch has yet to protect this town, so it's time some new blood takes the lead for a bit."

Bonnie scoffs. "Be my guest."

"Well, if you're going, then I'm going," Elena says.

"Me too," Jeremy agrees.

"You're not leaving without me," Jenna then says.

Glancing over your shoulder, you smirk as you will your power to gather. "Good luck leaving the house then," you muse. Immediately your eyes flash red and a red shimmer envelops the house and porch.

"What?" You laugh as you jump off the porch steps. "What did you do?" Elena steps forward to follow but runs into an invisible shield. "YN!"

"What?" You feign innocence. "The way I see it, every one of you is vulnerable. Bullets and stakes can't harm an Original the way they can harm all of you."

"Enzo's not an Original," Elena says, eyes narrowing.

"No, but Enzo was already down here, so…" You shrug. "And besides, he's cute. I need something pretty to look at in case I die out there."

"YN, let us out," Elena says, shaking her head. "You're in over your head."

"No."

"Bonnie!" Elena whirls around, but even as Bonnie closes her eyes to chant, your shield doesn't waver.

The witch frowns. "I can't. This is magic I've never come across before."

"Of course you haven't. I'm apparently one of a kind." You wink and then look back at Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah, and Enzo. "So, are you coming with or not? I may need a lift if you guys are running there."

"Darling, it'll be my pleasure," Enzo says. You giggle as he swoops you up into a bridal carry, running with you as if you didn't weigh much.

You have to close your eyes given how fast Enzo is running, but when he stops and starts to put you down, you open them and look around. You're near the meeting place, watching the vampires stare off in one direction as they listen to something only they can hear.

"What's going on?" You murmur.

"There's more than we anticipated," Rebekah murmurs back. "And they're all armed."

"Wonderful." Everyone continues to listen and quietly plan their next move, and eventually you grow restless. "Screw this. I'm going in."

"No. Wait!"

The vampires hiss threats at you, but you roll your eyes and continue forward. Walking through the tall grass, you keep your eyes peeled for anyone lingering on the sides. You don't see anything out of the norm and eventually you come upon a group of men and women.

Shockingly, it's a woman who steps forward and who you assume is in charge. "Who are you?" She asks.

"Who am I?" You muse. "Who are you? You came into my home and attacked us, after all."

The woman has a swagger to her to step as she stops a couple yards in front of you, crossing her arms over her chest with a self-satisfied smirk. "We hunt vampires. We're ridding the world of these monsters, but you were a surprise. So again, who are you?"

"YN Gilbert," you tell her. "And you attacked my aunt and sister. So, you and I, we have a problem."

"Your family are monsters. And so are you." As soon as the words leave her mouth, all the armed individuals behind her raise their weapons and green lasers center on your chest. Glancing down at all the moving dots, you laugh. "Those vampire friends of yours might be invulnerable to bullets, but are you?"

"There's only one way to find out." At your side, your right hand starts to glow. You hear murmurs of distress and you smirk as you glance at the woman in charge. "Then again, you're a moment too late. You should have had them take the shot when you had the chance."

Before she can get a word out, you raise your hand and flick your wrist. The red energy enveloping your hand disperses, and you watch as every person who had their weapon trained on you goes rigid as their eyes briefly glow red. From one second to the next, they all turn and train their weapons on their boss.

"Have fun convincing your friends you're not the monster." Turning around, your steps briefly falter as the vampires stare at you in amusement. You hadn't even heard them come up behind you. "What?"

Elijah's lips twitch. "What did you do to them?"

"A little mind control, I think. We should get out of here and regroup so I can figure out our next move. I'm not sure how long our new friends will be under."

"What all are you capable of?" Klaus asks, eyeing you warily.

"Dunno. I'm still figuring that out. Now can we go? I'm pretty sure everyone at my house is pretty pissed given I locked them in."

"My family and I actually have something to take care of in New Orleans," Klaus says.

"We would appreciate it if you kept us in the loop," Elijah then tells you.

"Sure. I can get your number from someone when there's something to tell." The Mikaelson siblings disappear after agreeing and you turn to glance at Enzo with a grin. "And then there were two." You step closer, reaching for him so he can prepare to hold you again. "Let's go, handsome, before the people with guns come out of the little trance they're under."

He huffs a laugh as your arms go around his neck and you jump so he's forced to catch you. "As you wish."

The next morning you groggily walk downstairs, yawning and stepping into the kitchen where Stefan is surprisingly cooking.

"Morning," you sleepily mumble.

He smiles. "Morning. Sleep okay?"

You wrinkle your nose while making yourself a cup of coffee and think about why you didn't have that great of a sleep. After what happened to your aunt and sister, Elena didn't want anyone unprotected. Tyler and Caroline still opted to go home to keep an eye on their mothers, but everyone else decided to stay at the Gilbert house. Bonnie slept in Jeremy's room, Damon in Elena's, Stefan called dibs on the couch, and you felt bad that Enzo would have to sleep on the recliner. Instead, you offered to share with him so long as he knew there'd be no funny business.

"If I had known Enzo hogs the blanket, I'd have never offered to share my bed out of the goodness of my heart."

Stefan chuckles. "Would breakfast put you in a better mood?"

"Mmm. What'd you make?"

"There's eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, and toast."

You take a sip of your coffee before you stand. "I'll make my own eggs," you tell him. "I'm apparently picky with how they're made."

Stefan grins while stepping aside, watching as you find a small pan for your eggs. You crack three in the pan, scrambling them. Then while letting them cook for a moment, you head to the refrigerator to grab a bag of shredded cheese. Once they're nearly done to how you like them, you sprinkle a handful of cheese so the heat melts it just right.

"Cheesy eggs," you muse while plating them. "This is now the only way I can eat them."

Stefan grabs a fork and tries a forkful from the pan, humming a moment later. "Huh. Those are pretty good."

"Right?"

The two of you eat in peace before the rest of the house starts waking up. Jenna and Enzo join you right before Damon and Elena, and then Bonnie says a quick hello before taking her leave to get a jump on trying to figure out what's going on. Jeremy is the last to show up and you swat at his hand when he tries to steal your bacon.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Jeremy asks.

You shrug. "Probably roam the town and see if I can sense anything. Elena, nor Jenna, can tag along because those people know they're vampires."

"We're out of the running because they've been keeping an eye on the boarding house," Damon says.

"Which leaves me," Enzo smirks.

Jeremy huffs. "And me."

"Yeah, but you're only human, baby Gilbert."

Your brother grumbles and you laugh as you ruffle his hair. "Don't worry. I'll protect you and the pretty vampire from any threats."

Elena is not happy that you're going out on your own with only Enzo as vampire backup, but you tell her if she wants to involve herself then she can go help her witchy bestie. She's not impressed, but you couldn't care less, and you head out once Jeremy is done with breakfast.

"Someone else drive," you say while tossing your keys over your shoulder. "I need to sit in the back and somewhat concentrate."

"All you, mate," you hear Enzo say. "I just wanna sit pretty in the passenger seat."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

You slide into the back of your car, scooting towards the middle and letting Jeremy settle behind the wheel while Enzo makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat.

"So, what exactly are we doing?" Jeremy asks.

"No idea. Just drive up and down every street. If something gives me the heebie jeebies, I'll speak up and we'll check it out."

"And if you don't sense anything out of the norm?"

"Then we go back home and try again later." He looks at you through the rearview mirror and you sigh. "Jer, just drive. I love Elena, but I really don't wanna deal with all her questions right now."

"But you'll answer mine, right?"

"Ugh. If I must."

"Cool. So, what's it like living with superheroes?" He asks, starting your car and pulling away from the curb.

"It was fun, but a bit chaotic."

"Because of all the enemies the Avengers have?"

"No, because half of them act like children." You huff a laugh, remembering some of your fonder moments with them. "Hawkeye likes to hide the vents and start unexpected nerf wars. Captain America and the Winter Soldier know no boundaries, and I usually found one or both sitting at my kitchen table and eating all my food when they forgot to order their groceries. And Iron Man likes to know any and every dirty detail of a person's life."

"What about the Black Widow?" Jeremy muses.

"She's more of a meddling teenager. Kept trying to set me up with people."

Jeremy laughs. "Who?"

"First it was Steve, then when she realized I had a type she reluctantly guided me in Loki's direction."

Enzo turns in his seat. "The God of Mischief? She tried setting you up with the God of Mischief?"

"Yep." You pop the 'p' and grin. "Almost sealed the deal too, but Thor's a cockblock and he got called back to Asgard before anything interesting could happen."

"Good. You can do better than the god of mischief who once wanted to take over Earth," your brother mumbles.

"Oh yeah?" You scoot forward so you can peer into the front between your brother and Enzo. "So, what are your thoughts on blood sucking vampires?"

"Gross!" Enzo barks out a laugh and Jeremy's attention is divided between the road and his passenger. "You better have not seduced my sister, Enzo!"

"I didn't, mate, but I did think about it."

You're laughing now, punching Enzo's shoulder while you tell your brother, "Give me some credit. I don't sleep with people on the same day I meet them."

"The vampires are off limits."

"Come on," you groan. "I need to have some fun before I leave. It's either this vampire or the other vampire with the accent."

"The other vampire with an acc- Klaus? You wanna bone Klaus?!"

Your lips twitch while you try to remain serious. "One or the other. You gotta pick one."

"No. Not only no, but hell no!"

You and Enzo are laughing again, and Jeremy grumbles while watching where he's driving.

For the rest of the drive, you divide your attention by teasing your brother with your attraction to the vampire in the passenger seat, and trying to sense anything out of the norm. Unfortunately, nothing feels off to you and Jeremy ends up driving back home.

"Better luck next time, yeah?" Enzo says while exiting the vehicle.

"Yeah. Until then, I'm gonna nap. Wake me up for lunch," you tell Jeremy.

For days you drive around Mystic Falls at random times, but you don't find anything. You even try to meditate and cast out a mental net, but again you come up with nothing.

Not even Bonnie has any luck and when you start to get aggravated because you know people are watching your family and their friends, Enzo decides to get you out of the house without any chaperones.

"Dinner at the Mystic Grill? How romantic of you," you tiredly tease him.

"We can always have dinner with your family and the Salvatore's, love."

"Mystic Grill is perfect."

"Thought so."

While you and Enzo wait for your food, you talk a little bit more.

"So is Mystic Falls permanent or were you visiting when all hell broke loose?" You wonder.

"Visiting. I'm a bit of a wanderer." Enzo tells you as he pops a piece of tortilla chip into his mouth. "What about you? What are your plans after your vacation is up?"

"Well, my trip is pretty confidential, but I'll be gone for two weeks before heading back to New York."

"And is New York permanent?"

"Yep. It wasn't always, but after gaining these powers of mine it's kind of where I have to be now."

Enzo smirks. "Will you be allowed visitors?"

"Of course." You laugh. "But the superheroes are nosy and it won't be long until they figure out your secret if you start visiting me."

"A price I will have to pay if it means I can have sleepovers with my favorite Gilbert."

Heat embarrassingly blooms in your cheeks as you toss a piece of torn napkin at him, making him chuckle. Thankfully, the waitress shows up with your food and you're saved from retorting by biting into your chicken sandwich.

You eat in peace, only having to stop a few times to greet old friends and old friends of your parents when they realize you're back. When it's all said and done, Enzo can't stop smiling at you as you leave the Grill and start walking towards Main Square.

"What?"

"I didn't know you were so popular."

"That's what happens when you're the golden child of two of the most respected individuals in town."

"Ah, yes. Your father."

You wince. "Sorry. I forgot you said that he- and Augustine."

"Water under the bridge, love. Besides, you were only a child when all that went down."

As you continue to walk, your arms cross over your chest and Enzo's thumbs end up hooked in his front pockets. He tells you about his turning and the identity of his sire which sets you off into a round of giggles as you tell him he's basically the baby of the Salvatore clan. He huffs, but finds amusement in your amusement.

You're then telling him all about the one time Tony Stark took you out for drinks and you ended up with the worst hangover of your life when a sudden sense of dread washes over you. You stumble and Enzo reaches for your elbow, and you immediately glance around at your surroundings.

"What's wrong?"

"You don't feel that?" You ask, your left hand reaching for your chest as your heart starts to pound with fear. "Fuck. Whoever's responsible for igniting panic in Mystic Falls is here. I can- I feel like-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Take a breath, sweetheart."

"M'trying." You try to catch your breath while reinforcing a mental shield around your mind. As the seconds slowly tick on by, you eventually get yourself under control. As your gaze scans your surroundings, you find someone standing under the clock tower. And when you clock them, they immediately tense and try to scurry off. "There."

When Enzo sees where you're looking, he speeds off and you start walking until you're in the middle of Main Square. Enzo reappears with a struggling woman by his side and he rolls his eyes. "Enough." He grips her bicep a little tighter, jerking her so she gets the memo to stop trying to escape. "Explain yourself."

"Yes. Please do," you drawl.

"H-How did you fight off the f-fear?" She asks instead, glancing between you and Enzo. "No one is supposed t-to be able to."

"I'm one of a kind," you deadpan. "Now explain yourself."

"The vampires have taken over. I needed to protect everyone!"

"Vampires are the least of your worries." You huff. "So what if they take a sip from a local or three? You should be grateful the vampires keep the worst threats from stepping foot here."

She shakes her head. "You're wrong. This vampire has used his mind tricks on you!"

"That's where you're wrong, girlie," Enzo muses. "Miss Gilbert here can't be compelled. You, however-"

"Wait." You stop Enzo from trying to compel the girl. "How did you do it?" You ask her. "How are you riling the locals and their friends up? How are you controlling their fear?" As you were asking her questions, you took notice that her hand reached up to grasp the tiny jar that had been hanging around her neck. She shakes her head, refusing to answer, and you reach forward with quick reflexes to pull the necklace from around her neck. "What's this then?"

"Don't!" She tries to lunge for it, but Enzo holds her in place.

"Why? It's just a-" An unseen force hits you square in the chest, throwing you off your feet and sends you flying. You land on your back with a grunt and within a second Enzo is there to help you up back to feet. "What the fuck was that?" You mumble.

"I don't know."

When you get your bearings, you glance back at the woman who fidgets nervously with something inhuman and grotesque standing right behind her shoulder. You scoff at her, gripping her necklace tight in hand. "Are you kidding me? You want to rid the town of vampires, yet you have a fuckin' demon at your beck and call? Hypocrite."

"He's helping me."

"He's feeding off of you, idiot!" You shout back at her. "He's just feeding differently than a vampire does, but I guarantee you he's feeding from you."

"N-No. He said-"

"Demons lie," Enzo tells her. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's leeching off your soul and every other soul he instills fear in. You're not helping anyone. You're hurting them."

She gasps and stumbles away from the demon, trembling when its milky white eyes turn on her. "I-Is that true?"

The demon gives a nonchalant shrug and you shake your head in disappointment at the girl. Her eyes fill with tears. "I didn't- I didn't want-"

"How do I get rid of it?" You ask. "What's so important about the necklace?"

When the demon looks at you and takes a step in your direction, she says, "Break it. Breaking the jar breaks the spell. Everyone will go back to normal too."

The demon hisses and you roll your eyes while throwing the necklace down and letting Enzo stomp on it. As soon as the glass breaks, the demon squeals before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

You frown. "Well, that was anticlimactic."

Enzo snorts and then gestures towards the trembling woman. "What do we do with her?"

"Please don't kill me!" She cries. "I only wanted to help."

"I'm not going to kill you." You roll your eyes. "But you are going to take me to your house so I can gather everything that will remind you of the supernatural. Then I'm going to make you forget everything you know about us and make it so you never have to worry ever again."

"P-Promise?"

"Promise."

. . . .

An hour later, you and Enzo are going through boxes of occult paraphernalia that you'd taken from the woman's home. You had texted your sister to text Bonnie to meet you at the house, so you were currently waiting for the witch to show.

"I can't believe the villain was so utterly human who got lucky with the right books," Enzo drawls.

"Right? And to think- oh, pretty!" You cut yourself off, picking up a small crystal globe. "Do you think this is harmless?"

Enzo snorts. "I don't know, love. Ask the Bennett witch. She's walking up the porch steps right now."

Bonnie doesn't bother to knock, instead just walking right on in. She walks into the living room, exhaling softly as she takes in you and Enzo. "What happened? Did you find any new leads?"

"Did I find any new leads?" You muse, chuckling. She doesn't look impressed with you. "I found the problem and took care of it. Vampires can now roam around without fear that someone is going to stake them."

She stands a little taller. "What?"

"It was a normal civilian," Enzo says, "who got lucky with the right occult shop. She summoned a fear demon and didn't realize that while it was riling everyone up, it was also feeding on them."

"So we broke the spell, put the mind whammy on the woman who was causing you issues, and cleaned out her supernatural paraphernalia," you say while gesturing to the boxes in front of you. "I figured this stuff was better off in your hands than in someone else who would try their hand at summoning."

Bonnie steps further into the room to get a look in the boxes. "O-Oh. And this woman, she's okay?"

"Yes. Just because I have magic now doesn't make me a monster, Bonnie. The woman is fine and doesn't remember a thing."

"She also has the urge to better her life," Enzo says. "And if you don't believe us, we'll give you her address so you can check her out for yourself."

"No. It's fine," she says. "I just- I guess I'm so used to Damon solving our problems by killing the issue rather than solving it without bloodshed."

"Aren't you glad I'm not Damon." Bonnie finally cracks a grin at you and you raise the crystal globe so she can see it. "So do you think it's safe to keep this? It's really pretty."

Her and Enzo both snort, and she holds her hand out for it. "Let me see." You hand it over and you watch as she closes her eyes, muttering under her breath. After a few seconds, her eyes open and she passes it back to you. "It's fine. I don't think she ever had a chance to use it."

"Score." You keep the small globe and then gesture to the boxes. "All yours then, Bennet. Don't go summoning demons now."

She chuckles. "I won't."

Enzo helps her load the car with her new possessions and then he's looming over you as you sit on the couch. "What?" You slowly grin at him.

"We have the house to ourselves."

"We've had the house to ourselves, Enzo."

"Yes, but we were expecting company. Now, we are not."

Your laugh gets cut short as you yawn. "As much as I'm looking forward to checking out your vampire stamina, I'm beat."

"Fine. Off to bed we go and then you're mine for the next few days now that you don't have to solve Mystic Falls' problems."

"Yeah. Sure."

You're peacefully sleeping when you're rudely awakened by your phone. Normally you'd let it go to voicemail, but you know for a fact that you silenced it which means your phone's been hacked. And given that it's a Stark product, you have a very good feeling you know who hacked your phone for this rude awakening.

Turning onto your opposite side, reach for your phone and blindly answer it. You realize a second too late it's a video call and maneuver the phone so the camera doesn't catch anything behind you.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!"

You groan, keeping your eyes hooded because of the too bright screen. "Fuck off, Tony. What time is it?"

"It should be six your time, I think."

"Six?!" Your eyes open wider and you shift your position just a little, pulling the blanket up higher to cover your chest. "What the hell, Tony! I barely went to sleep like three hours ago."

"Mhm. And what were you doing three hours ago? Or should I say whom?" You catch his smirk and you scowl at him.

"I don't know what you're-"

"Cut the shit. I caught a glimpse of a very muscular back when you moved just moments ago. And a head of dark hair."

"Fuck." There's a snort behind you and you turn so you're on your back, shoving at Enzo's arm. "You just had to be here, didn't you?"

"You weren't complaining three hours ago, love."

Tony practically lights up. "Did you get a boyfriend?! Romanoff is going to be so pissed she wasn't the cause of this."

"He's not my boyfriend," you grumble. "He's just… convenient."

"Mhmm. And is this convenience going to be visiting New York when you get back from our trip?"

"Enzo knows it's a probationary mission," you tell him around a yawn. "And I don't know. Maybe."

Enzo changes position so he's also on his back, sleepily smirking at you. "Definitely."

"Then he's a boyfriend. Oh, I can't wait to tell the others. Our baby superhero is growing up so fast."

"You're both annoying." You yawn again. "Was there a purpose to this call, Stark, or can we go back to sleep?"

"Not really. I just missed my second favorite human."

"Second? Does Peter know he's been usurped of his position as second favorite? If not, I call dibs on rubbing it in his face."

"Rude. But anyway, I also made you a gift. I'll ship it out later, so be expecting a package later this week."

"Ugh. Should I be worried?"

"No, but I have a feeling your new boyfriend is going to love it."

"One- not the boyfriend. And two- goodbye, Tony."

You hang up before Tony can say anything else and set your phone aside. When you turn back around, you match Enzo's position so you're lying on your side, facing him. "What do you think he's sending you?"

"No idea, but I have a feeling it's either going to be something I need or something to embarrass me."

Enzo smiles as he tucks your hair behind your ear, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to your forehead. "Alright. Go back to sleep, love. It's still dark out."

"Mmm. Okay."

Two days later, as you're sitting on the porch swing with your sister and enjoying iced tea with your siblings and aunt, a delivery truck stops in front of the house. The conversation you'd been having ceases as the driver gets out and opens up the back of his truck. Then he grabs a rather large black box, and when he maneuvers it in his arms you see Stark Industries logo emblazoned on the front.

The driver then walks up the sidewalk to your porch, glancing at everyone with a small smile. "YN Gilbert?"

"That'd be me," you say, standing to meet him.

"Cool. I'm gonna need to see some ID and then need a signature before I can hand this over."

"Sure. No problem." You head inside to retrieve your ID and then meet the guy back outside. As you hand over your ID for him to scan, you then quickly sign your name and take the box from him. "Thanks!"

"No problem. Have a good day."

When you turn around, your family is staring. "What?"

"What is it?" Elena asks.

"Yeah. Open it. I want to see."

Huffing a laugh, you gesture towards the door. You rather not open a box from Tony outside just in case it's something not meant for civilian eyes. But alas, once you get the lid off, it's nothing scandalous or confidential. In fact, it's something you were hoping you didn't have to deal with so soon.

"A supersuit!" Jeremy exclaims. "You got your own supersuit!"

"Calm down, Jer," you grumble. Picking through the paper, you pull free a top, pants, a jacket, and even what appears to be a head piece.

"Oh. That's pretty," Elena says while taking the headpiece from you and gently touching the intricate red designs. "Are these meant to be horns?"

"I'm not even sure." Underneath a pair of boots, there's a note. Picking it up, you read it aloud with a sigh. "Enjoy the last week with your family. We'll be there to pick you up next Sunday. Wear the suit. With love and excitement to see your boy toy- Tony." You huff a laugh before looking back at the box, shaking your head as your family roams their fingers over the pieces of your suit they're holding.

"What material is this?" Jenna asks.

"Do you think they can make me a Halloween costume out of any extra material they have lying around?" Jeremy wonders.

Both you and Elena snort, and you start to gather your suit from them. "I don't know and no. Now let me put this away while you guys brainstorm what we're going to do for dinner."

"Don't you have plans with Enzo?" Jeremy scowls.

"Nope. And don't make faces," you tell him. "If anyone is allowed to make faces, it's me and Elena because you're boning one of her best friends." Jeremy balks when Jenna barks out a laugh and Elena can only shrug while telling him that you're not wrong. "Besides, Enzo knows how much I love you guys and knows I should be spending all this time with you. I'll see Enzo whenever I want after I get back from my mission."

Elena arches an eyebrow at you. "He's gonna visit you in New York?"

You shrug. "He says he will, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"You have that vampire wrapped around your finger," Jenna muses. "I won't be surprised if we see less and less of him once you get back to New York."

"If you say so."

During the last week with your family, Elena finds it in her to not be so attached to her boyfriend. You go shopping with Jeremy and Elena, catch up on all the juiciest gossip with Jenna, and a few times you have group dinners with the Salvatore brothers, Enzo, Caroline, and Bonnie.

They try to weasel out any information you can give about where you're going, but you keep mum about it and tell them if they stop asking, then you'll let them see you off when you're to be picked up. They agree.

Then the day before you're set to leave, you're surprised when you sit down for dinner right as the doorbell rings. Everyone freezes before Jenna glances around the table, counting everyone and trying to figure out who'd be at the door.

Suddenly Elena perks up, eyes sparkling. "I got it!"

You frown at her, but Damon, Stefan, Caroline, Jenna, and Enzo seem to be the only ones who catch on as to who is possibly at the door. You, Jeremy, and Bonnie can only shrug and wait for Elena to return.

So while waiting for your sister's return, you nudge Enzo and ask for him to pass the salad bowl.

"Rabbit food, YN? Seriously?" You startle in surprise at the voice, fumbling the bowl and glancing up to see a smirking Tony. "I know for a fact you're not fond of salad."

"Tony! What are- why are you-"

"He couldn't wait," Clint muses, entering the door with several stacked pizza boxes in hand.

The door opens again and your sister ushers in another familiar face. "And neither could Barton." Natasha grins.

"Shut up, Nat. You jumped at the chance too. Don't try to play it off."

"Someone had to make sure you idiots didn't wreak too much havoc." Then glancing at the gobsmacked and/or amused faces, she introduces herself. "Hello. I'm Natasha Romanoff."

"W-We know," Jeremy stammers. "Hi. It's, uh, it's nice to meet you."

You wrinkle your nose at your brother and reluctantly stand up to show Clint where he can place the pizzas he's brought. "Everyone, I'm pretty sure you know who Tony, Clint, and Natasha are. Guys, meet my family and friends." Then one by one, you introduce them to your aunt, sister, and brother first. Then you introduce Caroline, Bonnie, and the Salvatores, and save Enzo for last.

Tony gasps in delight. "I got dibs on the chair by the boyfriend!"

"Tony!" Everyone snickers and you shake your head in disbelief as Tony makes a beeline for your vacated chair. Then glancing back at Natasha and Clint, you gesture to the kitchen island. "We're all out of chairs, so it looks like we're standing."

"That's fine," Clint muses. "I'm good at standing."

"Me too."

"Hey YN, can I get a slice of that pizza?" Your brother asks.

"Yeah. Hang on." Though your family and friends are eating spaghetti and salad, a few of them request slices of pizza of their own. You and Clint serve them up, and then return to the kitchen island to get started on your own dinner.

"So who's got embarrassing high school stories?" Tony asks.

"Well…"

"Don't even think about it, Jer-bear," you immediately blurt. "I grew up with you and Elena. I have just as much ammunition against you than you do me."

"Yeah, but the Avengers aren't my co-workers. They're yours."

Your eyes narrow. "Alright, fine." The piece of pizza you had in hand is lowered. "Once when Jeremy was thirteen and our parents left us in charge, I walked in on him-"

"You promised to never bring that up!"

The room explodes into laughter and you grin. "Try me, baby brother. I dare you."

"Fine. I don't know anything."

"You buckled so easily," Caroline teases. She then sits a little straighter, smirking at the room at large. "Well, YN was a junior when Elena, Bonnie, and I entered high school, so-"

"I got dirt on you too, Forbes. I even have pictures before your HBIC days. Do you really wanna try me?"

Her smirk falls. "I burned all those."

"As if I didn't make doubles or even triples." Caroline pouts and goes back to twirling her spaghetti on her fork. "Does anyone else wanna try me then? Hmm." You glance at Bonnie who shakes her head with a grin and Jenna who arches an eyebrow at you. "Remember, Jen, I was there for every sloppy relationship and one night stand. I was eavesdropping long before you ever knew."

Jenna deflates. "I hate nosy children."

You bark out a laugh and happily pick up your pizza, taking a bite out of it. Tony frowns. "And here I thought I'd get some juicy blackmail on you, Gilbert."

"Keep it up, Tony, and I'll narc on you to Pepper. We both know she adores me."

"Yeah, yeah."

"So why are you guys here?" You ask, eating some more. "I thought I was supposed to be picked up tomorrow."

"Stark wanted to make sure the suit fit," Natasha says. "Have you tried it on?"

"Nope."

"Why not?" Tony squawks. "It's yours! I thought you'd jump at the chance to wear a suit made specifically for you."

"I've been bonding with the family." You roll your eyes. "Excuse me if I didn't want to squeeze myself into a suit and be gawked at."

"Hey, be glad it's not a catsuit like mine," Natasha muses. "Yours looks loads more comfortable."

"You guys aren't going to let this go until I try it on, aren't you?"

"Try it on! Try it on!" Jeremy starts to chant, followed by Caroline. "Try it on!"

"I hate you all."

Taking one last vicious bite out of your pizza, you drop it on your plate and leave to head upstairs to your room.

As soon as YN disappears from the kitchen, Tony turns towards Enzo. "So what are you intentions with the baby of the Avengers? Because let me tell you something, Lorenzo St. John, I know everything about you, the Salvatores, aunt Jenna, sister Elena, and friend Caroline."

The room goes deathly quiet and still, and Clint snorts. "Why do you guys look so shocked? You didn't think we'd be stupid to not investigate everything going on in this town, did you?"

"How?" Caroline wonders. "The council doesn't exist anymore and my mom knows better than to put that type of information on any electronic device where it can be hacked."

"Well someone was dumb enough to keep an electronic journal," Natasha muses, still casually eating as everyone else is too tense to move. "And while vampires and witches," she makes eye contact with Bonnie then, "all sound very whimsical, given our line of work we have to believe that there was an ounce of truth somewhere in there. So we dug and dug until we found pictures of the Salvatore brothers from way back in the day. There wasn't much on St. John, but there was quite the information dump on the Original family."

"So again I will ask," Tony says. "What are your intentions with YN?"

"Nothing. We're just having fun." Enzo shrugs. "I like the girl and we're just taking it day by day."

"Does she know about all of you?"

"She does," Jenna finally speaks up. "She showed up right before a group of men broke into my house and tried to take me by force."

Clint stands a little taller and Enzo waves him off. "Fear demon riled up some locals, but YN took care of it. All is fine now."

"What about this Original family?" Tony asks. "Do we need to worry about them?"

No one says anything and surprisingly it's Bonnie who speaks up. "They like to toe the line, but so long as they're left alone, it should be fine."

"They've racked up quite the body count." Natasha arches an eyebrow at her.

"So have Damon and Stefan." Bonnie shrugs. "But the Salvatores have learned from their past and live peacefully now. The Mikaelson family does their own thing, but so long as their family is not threatened, they stay under the radar. I doubt they want the government hounding them."

"We'll leave them alone for now, but the second they start making waves-"

"They'll behave." Damon rolls his eyes. "Klaus saw just a fraction of what YN can do and I doubt he wants her tapping into that power to subdue him. They might have a very powerful witchy sister back in New Orleans, but-"

"But YN's power is different than what the ancestors have shown us," Bonnie says. "No matter the experience of the witch, I have a feeling YN can easily outpower any of them."

"Shit. Really?" Now Tony looks intrigued, but before he can ask more about it, the kitchen door swings open.

"There. Happy?" You deadpan.

Everyone falls quiet and Enzo turns his seat to take a look at you. You mentally preen when you see his eyes subtly widen before looking you up and down, and then a leering smirk graces his features. "Hello, gorgeous."

You huff a laugh and flick his forehead as Caroline gushes. "Oh my god. You look so good in that!"

"It is comfortable," you reluctantly admit. "And I'm immensely grateful that my cleavage isn't out for all to see," you say while glancing down at the black and burgundy top of your suit. "And what even is this skirt or whatever it is?" You ask, turning sideways so you can point out the piece of material that's connected to the back bottom half of your top to give off the illusion of you wearing a cloak without really wearing one.

Tony shrugs. "Thought it looked neat. Do you want it gone?"

"Well, no…"

"Question." Elena sheepishly raises her hand. "If the world gets to see your suit in action and you become well known, can I borrow the suit for Halloween?"

"No." You laugh. "You are not dressing up as me for Halloween."

"But it's so pretty," she muses. "And that headpiece! God, I love that headpiece so much."

You shake your head at her, grinning, and then make your way back to the kitchen island. "Well now that everyone's done gawking, can I eat now? I'm starving."

For the duration of dinner, you let your family and friends spill a few secrets to keep Tony happy. Natasha keeps nudging you and gesturing to Enzo, but you shrug and blush when she wiggles her eyebrows.

"I have a feeling you have a thing for murderers," she quietly muses. "First Loki and now Enzo?"

You snort and shake your head, and then freeze when your eyes dart to her. She arches an eyebrow at you before smirking. You sigh in defeat. "Of course you know."

"As if we'd let an Avenger in training go back home without making sure everything was on the up and up. You're lucky Tony only kept the vampire secret between us three and didn't get Steve involved."

Your nose wrinkles. "He means well, but that man needs to realize not everything is sunshine and rainbows."

"Mhm. You don't have to tell me. I know perfectly well that we can coexist with vampires, but the second they start mindlessly murdering humans, then we're going to have an issue."

"Duly noted, Black Widow," Damon says aloud, letting her know he could hear her. "Though I am kind of interested to see how a vampire fares against someone such as yourself."

"Give me a few weeks and we'll test it out," she says.

Dinner conversation then turns into who they think can win a fight, and soon enough Jeremy has thrown all caution to the wind and is showing pictures from what he's dubbed as your teenage dirtbag days.

Soon enough Tony, Clint, and Natasha are leaving to hunker down in a bed and breakfast before they come back to pick you up tomorrow afternoon, and you're calling it an early night so you're not too exhausted the following morning.

As you walk into your room, you're not surprised to find Enzo already waiting in bed for you. Grinning, you crawl into bed until you're hovering above the dark haired vampire. "Hi," you muse, leaning down and quickly kissing him. "I'm surprised you're still here."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

You shrug and fall down atop the vampire, situating yourself until you're tucked into the crook of his arm with your head cushioned on his shoulder, your arm thrown over his chest, and your knee hiked up over his thigh. "Natasha usually scares people away or Tony intimidates them away."

"I don't know, love, the superheroes seemed to like us pretty well."

"You say that now, but wait until you show up in New York. You'll be their secret guinea pig that they test out their new gadgets on."

"As long as they don't cut me open, I have no issue with it."

"Ugh. They're gonna love you."

Enzo chuckles quietly. "I hope so. You're not getting away that easily."

"Can you guys stop being so cute? I'm not supposed to approve of whatever you guys have going on, but you're making it really hard to disapprove!"

You lift your head to shout at your door. "Shut up and go to sleep, Jenna!"

"Rude!"

Laughing, you let your head fall back on Enzo with a quiet groan. "They're all ridiculous. We're just having fun."

"Keep telling yourself that, love. Maybe one day down the line you'll actually believe it."

You pinch his side before turning your face to bite his pec. Enzo flinches and laughs some more. "You're not helping."

"Because you'll see it sooner or later that I'm the only one for you." He presses a kiss to your hairline and you sigh tiredly as you settle back down against him. "Now get some sleep." As you close your eyes and start to drift, you hear him ask, "Do you think I can compel your mission location out of that Hawkeye fella before you leave?"

"Don't you dare."

553 notes · View notes

captainsophiestark · 7 months

Text

Witch's Intuition

Mason Lockwood x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: The Vampire Diaries

Day 2 Prompt: "Don't worry, I got you."

Summary: What if Mason Lockwood had somebody who cared about him when he came to town, somebody who could keep him from his canon fate? Alternatively, I really love Mason Lockwood and the show didn't do him justice, so I wanted to. Reader is described as a girl.

Word Count: 10,445 lmao

Category: Angst, fluff, humor

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I sighed and stared straight ahead, hands still gripped tight on the steering wheel as I tried to psych myself up to get out of the car and go inside.

Damon Salvatore, my best friend in the entire world despite my better judgement, had asked me to come to a barbecue that Jenna Sommers was hosting. Her connection to Damon was ridiculous and confusing, and the entire barbecue was just a front for Damon and our mutual friend Ric to try to get a feel for the newest supernatural creature in town. And he wanted me here to help.

Mason Lockwood, the newest supernatural in question, had apparently gone to high school with Jenna and had recently returned to Mystic Falls. Damon felt confident he was a werewolf. As a witch, I knew for sure he was a werewolf, but absolutely no part of me wanted to get involved in the supernatural drama by telling him.

I should've known staying out of it would be impossible as long as Damon Salvatore remained my best friend.

At the sound of a knock on my window, I jumped so hard my head hit the roof of my car. I whipped around to find the werewolf I'd been thinking about standing outside my door, looking at me with a grin as he gave a little wave. I mentally cursed myself, then shoved open my door and climbed out.

"Hey," he said, giving me a bright smile that made butterflies explode in my chest. "I didn't realize you were coming to this, too."

Mason and I had met about a week ago at the grill, when he'd come over to the pool table and called winner on my game. I won, and we quickly hit it off the bat over the course of our first game, enough so that we ended up playing two more. He still didn't know I was a witch, and we'd only hung out a handful of times so far, but I still found my heart racing when he looked at me like he was looking at me now.

"Damon dragged me," I replied. "Although, I actually am excited to get to know Jenna a little better. And... others, at this party."

"Others?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. The grin took on a more flirty edge, and I couldn't help my heart speeding up a bit.

"Yeah, others. Other than Ric. I already know him."

"Okay," laughed Mason, fully throwing his head back as we started heading for the house together. "And I guess 'others' doesn't apply to Elena or Caroline either?"

"No, I know them too. I've heard all about the high school angst and then some."

"Did you tell them how much better it gets after graduation?"

"Oh yeah, I covered all the existential dread and challenge of trying to figure out what the hell to do with the rest of our lives."

"Okay good. As long as they know."

Mason and I shared a smile as we reached the door and he opened it for me, motioning for me to go ahead. I smiled, and we held our eye contact a few beats too long to be casual. Damon was going to kill me when he got here.

We quickly found Jenna and Elena in the kitchen, and I chatted with Elena a bit while Mason and Jenna caught up. I'd only gotten to Mystic Falls a little after the Salvatores, having graduated from college three years ago. At first, I'd come back to try to track down and record witch history, since so much of it was based here. But it didn't take me long to get sucked into the bullshit Damon and Stefan had found themselves neck-deep in as soon as I arrived.

For the first time, with Mason, I didn't totally mind it.

Within a few minutes of arrival, Mason decided it was time to go hunting for shot glasses and alcohol. Jenna pointed him in the right direction, and then he turned to me with a lopsided smile that made my heart stop in my chest.

"Come help me?"

"Sure thing."

I followed Mason through the house, leaving Jenna and Elena in the kitchen while we waited for everybody else to show up. He ducked into a closet, and I hovered just outside.

"Let's see here... Jenna's trying to be a responsible adult nowadays, but I bet I can still find where she stashed her old shot glasses..."

"I've spent too long finding cool shot glasses that I like to ever shove them all away in a closet forever," I mused, leaning against the door frame. Mason chuckled.

"I know what you mean. I've got different ones with the patterns of every surfboard I've ever owned."

I nodded. "That's nice, but I've got you beat. I've got supernatural-themed ones. For witches and vampires and werewolves."

Mason paused his searching to turn around and give me an appraising look. I shrugged, giving him a sheepish smile. He shook his head, but to my relief, he was smiling too.

"I should've realized you knew, with you being Damon's friend," he said, turning around to continue searching.

"Hey, I'm a born and raised witch. I knew about the supernatural long before Damon Salvatore ever came into my life, and I recognized what you were before he did too. Vampires have shittier senses than witches."

Mason snorted a laugh, then, pausing his search and half glancing back at me again, asked, "Did you tell him about me?"

"No. Damon can be a little... dramatic. I had no interest in him starting up a fight with my new favorite pool opponent."

Mason nodded, and thankfully, I caught a small smile on his face again.

"...You use some of that magic to cheat at pool?"

"Ha! That's also a no. I'm just a better player than you."

"Or maybe I just let you win," he said, turning to hand me a nice bottle of vodka that he'd dug out of the closet, a grin on his face.

"We can pretend that's what happened if you really want. But we both know the truth."

He sighed, then turned back around to grab the shot glasses he'd finally managed to find, shaking them to show me triumphantly.

"I guess we're just gonna have to go back to the Grill soon so you can teach me your ways."

"...It's a date."

Mason grinned and shot me a wink, then led me back through the house to the kitchen to rejoin Jenna and Elena. Elena, understandably, left when we started doing shots, and it wasn't much longer before Ric and Damon showed up. Jenna hated Damon, and after a few moments, Damon made it clear he wasn't going to be particularly friendly to Mason. I tried to ease the tension, but clearly, this barbecue wasn't going to be as fun and relaxing as the first ten minutes had been.

It didn't help that, every time I shared a moment with Mason, judgement absolutely radiated off of Damon. Lucky for me, I'd had a few years of practice ignoring those looks from him.

He'd told me today was a fact-finding mission, after all. And I was finding facts that pointed me towards liking Mason.

"I'm just saying, it doesn't take that long to set up Guitar Hero-"

"I will leave the party, Jenna," teased Mason, shooting her a smile as he plopped down on a loveseat in the living room next to me. "What else do we have? And by that, I mean literally anything else."

Jenna chucked a pillow at him, which Mason leaned into me to duck. I cackled, continuing to ignore the hell out of Damon staring at me from across the room.

"How about charades?" asked Alaric, bravely standing between Jenna and Mason even as Mason grabbed another pillow and cocked his arm back to throw it. "Or pictionary?"

"Pictionary sounds good to me!" Damon chimed in with an eagerness that made me incredibly suspicious. "I'll go get the board."

Low and behold, a few rounds later, Damon was using it to make ridiculously obvious werewolf references at Mason. The one silver lining was that Mason was as irritated with him as me, so we bonded a little as we gave him deadpan answers for things like Dances With Wolves as a pictionary clue. Jenna, the only one in the room completely out of the loop, also helped immensely by criticizing Damon's art every chance she got. I loved him, but he absolutely deserved every dig. Besides, his ego could take it.

After many rounds of various party games (although not Guitar Hero, at least not yet), we made our way to the table in the kitchen for some dessert. Elena and Caroline had left, which just left the adults. If Damon hadn't been dragging Mason into a pissing contest, it would've been the perfect party.

Alas, instead, Damon decided to continue to poke the bear, so to speak.

"Mason! Why don't you start us off," Damon said, bringing the pie to the table with a silver serving knife and setting it down directly in front of Mason. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

Mason looked at Damon, then turned the pie until the knife faced away from him before grabbing a slice with his bare hands. Damon and Ric shared a triumphant look.

"What?" said Mason, a slight edge to his tone as he stared right back at Damon. "I apologize. I'm an animal."

I shook my head, turning my attention to Jenna instead of the two of them staring each other down as she joined us at the table.

"So Mason, you and Jenna never dated?" asked Ric, apparently trying to break the tension between Mason and Damon. A valiant effort, but knowing Damon, I doubted he'd succeed.

"She was always lost in Logan Fell-land," Mason replied. Jenna huffed a laugh.

"Oh, my first mistake. Mason was a catch. He had girls lining up."

"Really?" said Damon, that fake-friendly tone in his voice that I knew meant trouble. "Huh. I always pegged you for a lone wolf."

"I'm sure I wasn't half the lady killer you were," Mason shot back without missing a beat. I snorted into my drink, completely failing to keep a smile off my face. Mason cut his eyes to me, the edge in his own smile fading for the briefest of seconds, before he looked back at Damon and raised his glass in toast. "To new friends."

He and Damon didn't take their eyes off each other once as we all clinked glasses and cheersed. When Damon kept doing his stare-down and looked ready to keep it up for the duration of pie, I kicked him under the table as hard as I could. He turned to glare at me, but their stare down was broken, and with Jenna's increasingly tipsy help we managed to turn things back into a mostly-friendly barbecue.

As the night went on, I found myself getting a new best friend in Jenna, with each joke she made and wink she shot in my direction when I sat particularly close to Mason. We moved back into the living room, sprawling on the couches with another round of beers. Jenna was much, much tipsier than I was, but I was having enough fun that I decided to lean into it more than I actually felt it. We cackled together as she told high school stories about Mason, then cheered like maniacs together when she finally pulled out Guitar Hero, against the protests of Mason and Ric.

"Alright, I'm gonna need another drink if we're really doing that," Mason sighed, a smile on his face all the same. He stood and headed into the kitchen, where I knew Damon was. I wanted to ignore it and get my literal groove on with Jenna, but I couldn't. I stood with a sigh and moved to follow him.

"Go get him girl!" Jenna called after me with a little 'whoop'! I whipped around, face burning, but she just grinned at me and winked. I shook my head, but found myself grinning back as I turned and left the room.

By the time I got to the kitchen, I could already hear Damon and Mason talking. Rather than interrupting to immediately change the topic or insert myself into the conversation, however, I decided to listen in. That way I could gauge just how hostile Damon and Mason were being to each other, and react accordingly.

"Come on, man, you don't think I know what this barbecue is about?" came Mason's voice.

"How do you know about me?" Damon, demanding, any of the fake-friendliness gone. "Your brother was completely clueless."

"It doesn't matter. I'm not your enemy, Damon."

"You tried to kill my brother." I fought back a scoff. That was a stretch, and we both knew it.

"That was a mistake."

"Really?"

"There was confusion. I couldn't chain myself up in time." Their voices had started coming closer, but I stayed put. "I have no control once I shift."

"What, no obedience school?"

"I'm serious. Let's not spark some age-old feud that doesn't apply to us."

"You expect me to believe that you're in Mystic Falls planting peace trees?"

"I lost my brother. My nephew lost his father. I'm here for my family."

And with that, I'd heard all I needed to hear. Damon, my best friend, as usual, was the aggressor. Thankfully, this time, it sounded like Mason might've made an argument that convinced him. We had bigger problems than one generally chill werewolf, after all.

I left, returning to Jenna and Ric and Guitar Hero. She smiled at me, clearly thinking I'd had a conversation with Mason I hadn't really had, and I leaned into it as she passed me a plastic guitar. Mason returned to the room a few moments later, followed by Damon. I ignored them both as I pretended to shred, and to both their credit, they cheered me on.

The rest of the party was a blast, with Mason much more relaxed after his conversation with Damon and Damon finally dropping all the stupid wolf jokes. Jenna and I acted ridiculous and had the time of our lives doing it, and whenever I wasn't shredding the imaginary guitar, Mason and I leaned against each other, laughing and talking the night away.

Finally, once I'd sobered up more and the sun had long-since gone down, and Jenna and I had finished half the songs on Guitar Hero, we wound up the party and all headed home. Damon stayed a moment longer to talk with Ric, so after giving Jenna a goodbye hug, I headed for my car without him. To my delight, Mason came with me, walking me to my car.

"You know, you're a little too good at Guitar Hero, I think," he said, bumping his shoulder into mine as we walked. I chuckled.

"And you're a little too ridiculously set against that game," I teased back. "What's the matter, you don't like fun?"

"I don't like watching Jenna butchering Black Sabbath. Watching you was... a little more fun."

I paused as we reached my car, smiling up at Mason with a glowing feeling in my chest. He smiled back at me, leaning against the front panel of my car.

"It was great getting to know you better tonight," I said, smiling at him and stalling the moment I'd actually have to leave. He grinned at me.

"You too. And I'd love to keep getting to know you better. Maybe at Volunteer Day tomorrow?"

"I was already planning on going, but it'll be much more fun with you there."

"Great." He flashed me a heart-stopping smile. "It's a date."

I was practically floating as I drove away, replaying the end of the night with Mason in my mind over and over again. The last time I'd felt anything like what I was starting to feel now... well, it hadn't ended well. I'd gotten Damon as a best friend out of it, which was a net positive no matter how much he annoyed me sometimes, but everything else had been an absolute nightmare. For the first time in three years, I found myself wanting to risk the heartache and get close to somebody in a non-friendship way again.

I'd been staying with Stefan and Damon since I got to town, and I expected a long lecture about 'flirting with the enemy' from Damon when I got home. But, blissfully, the house was empty. I wandered upstairs and fell into bed, thoughts of seeing Mason tomorrow letting me drift off with a smile on my face.

I should've known nothing in this town, in this world of supernaturals, could ever go that smoothly.

****************

The next morning, I woke up bright and early, unusually excited about Volunteer Day. A certain werewolf definitely had something to do with that, but thankfully, neither of the Salvatores was around on my way out to grill me about the grin on my face.

I'd gotten Mason's number last night, so I quickly shot off a text saying I was making a pre-volunteering coffee run and asking if he wanted anything. I took my time heading to my favorite coffee place, and the line was long enough that I waited at least ten minutes, but I didn't hear anything back from Mason.

I tried not to let it get to me as I ordered my usual, then an iced latte for Mason. Hopefully he would like it, and if he didn't, then at least it wouldn't go to waste, since I was always down for an iced latte.

I ended up arriving a little late to the event, but I wasn't complaining too much, since it meant I missed Carol Lockwood's speech. I scanned the crowd for Mason, then smiled when I noticed him under a newly-built picnic awning. Instead of smiling back, he looked away like he'd barely noticed me, continuing his conversation with Sheriff Forbes. I frowned.

I caught up to him walking away from the picnic awning, not too far into the newer part of the park that we were supposed to be fixing up today before its official opening. He walked quickly, and was apparently pretending not to notice me.

"Hey. Hey, Mason!"

He stopped and turned around with a frustrated sigh, his hands on his hips. The coffees lowered in my hands a little, and part of me suddenly wanted to run back the way I'd come from.

"What do you want?" he asked, none of the warmth or flirtiness from yesterday in his voice.

"I... brought you a coffee..." I said, holding it out to him slowly. He just stared at it. "Is something wrong?"

He huffed a humorless laugh. "That has to be a joke, right?"

"No, actually, it's not," I said, my temper flaring. "You're acting like a dick and I have no idea why, so-"

"You have no idea why?" He looked at me like he absolutely didn't believe me, and I just stared right back as I shook my head. Slowly, the anger fell from his face, to a more cautious confusion. "You don't know where your best friend, who you live with, went last night? Or what he did?"

"Oh God," I shook my head and dropped Mason's gaze, muttering to the leaves more than to him. "I knew I should've been worried when he didn't come home last night. Why can't he ever be out late for normal reasons?"

I sighed, shaking myself out of my thoughts and steeling my resolve as I looked at Mason again. The anger, at least, had gone from his face.

"I have no idea where Damon went or what he did last night," I said. "But... I feel like I should start by offering an apology on his behalf anyway? Maybe in the form of this iced latte I brought?"

Mason huffed a laugh and looked into the tree line, but I caught a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. The relief washing through my body almost took me to my knees.

"Yeah, alright," he finally said, taking a few steps closer and taking the latte from me. He looked me up and down as he sipped it, holding my gaze for a few long moments afterwards. I didn't look away once. "Damon stabbed me with a silver knife last night."

My eyes went wide, and a second later, dropped to Mason's chest to scan for any lingering sign of injury. Thankfully, he seemed to be fine.

"I thought... I thought you guys made peace last night?" I finally asked, meeting Mason's eyes again once I was satisfied he was healthy.

"I thought so too. But apparently Damon doesn't want peace. Stefan started the morning out with a little extra threat today, too, to try to keep me from getting revenge."

I sighed heavily, closing my eyes and shaking my head. I could feel a headache coming on.

"I'm so sorry, Mason," I said. "Ugh, I wish you would've told me when it happened. Or that Damon would've mentioned his stupid little plan, or Ric-"

"Why? You think the Salvatores would listen to you telling them not to come after me? You think Damon would listen to that?"

"Damon is... well, he's a lot of things. But if I talk to him, he'll back off."

Mason raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't understand how you're friends with him. Except maybe a dangerous level of delusion. He doesn't care about anybody but his own agenda. I've barely known him a day and I can already see that."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, debating my options. I had some very good reasons for trusting Damon as much as I did, but I wasn't totally sure I wanted to get into them, especially not with someone I'd only recently met. But that someone was starting to become important to me. I sighed, then knocked back the rest of my iced coffee. Decision made.

"Alright, listen. I don't owe you an explanation or a justification of my relationship with Damon. But... I like you. A lot. So I want you to know, so you can maybe understand."

Mason nodded, his expression thankfully more curious and open than anything else. We moved a few more feet away from the rest of the volunteer activities happening behind us to sit on a bench together, and I tried not to let our proximity and touching knees distract me.

"Okay, so, in college... I dated this guy."

"Don't tell me it was Damon."

I made a face. "Uck! Never."

"Okay, good," Mason laughed. "Sorry, I promise that'll be my one and only interruption.

"Honestly, it's probably better that we got that cleared up right away. I love him very much, but I would absolutely never date him."

"Good."

Mason held my eyes for an extra second, a little bit of that flirty behavior returning, and I felt heat rising to my cheeks. I cleared my throat and tried to refocus.

"Anyway, I dated this guy for a while. He wasn't Damon, but he was a vampire. I'm a witch, as you know, and I was raised knowing about my powers and everything else, so I knew a good amount about the supernatural world. I actually had class with him—his name was Andy—my freshman year, and we sat next to each other. I clocked him as a vampire immediately, and I don't think he was used to that.

"I wasn't sure about him at first, what with the whole vampire thing, but... we saw each other a lot. Same classes, all that. He was always nice, and funny, and when he eventually asked me out, I said yes.

"I'll skip to the important part, but basically, we dated for three years. By the time we were graduating, I'd fallen head over heels in love. I knew what he was, I knew the thought of 'together forever' brought a lot of problems we'd have to work through, including whether I could stand to stop being a witch and whether I could live with the curse of immortality. But... I knew we'd figure it out, together. I was convinced he was the love of my life."

I took a deep, shaky breath, trying to brace myself for what came next. This was only the second or third time I'd gone through it in the few years since it'd happened. Mason, to his credit, stayed quiet, letting me take my time.

"Right around graduation, when we were supposed to be doing ridiculous Senior Week activities and getting rid of the last of our assignments, taking pictures and getting ready to walk... all the supernatural drama and danger you can imagine came crashing down on our heads. Brought to our doorstep by Andy."

I shook my head, angry at myself as much as at Andy as the memories replayed, as vivid as the day they'd happened.

"He'd gotten involved in some ridiculous scheme with some other vampires, trying to prove some lore was real or something, and they needed a powerful witch. Without asking, Andy had volunteered me. When I didn't want to help, he threatened me, and left me to the wolves—no pun intended, sorry—left me to the vampires when they tried to force me to help. Damon stepped in and stopped them.

"Don't get me wrong, I know it was a completely selfish move," I said, finally looking at Mason again. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he moved a little closer, stopping just short of putting us shoulder to shoulder. "He wanted to stop the plan and the ritual and the spell, it had nothing to do with helping me. But once Andy and everyone around us was dead... I just fell apart. Damon, for all he acts the bad guy, didn't ditch me. I've asked him a couple times and he always brushes it off like it was nothing, but... he saved me in more ways than one that night. Since then, we've had each others' backs. It's kind of a weird friendship, but he's put his own life on the line to protect me more than once since then. I've done the same. I trust him completely, for the things where it really counts."

Mason sighed through his nose, looking away from me finally to stare at the ground. I watched him, watched his eyes dart around as he thought, until he met my eyes again.

"I get it. The people that pick you up and carry you through stuff like that... it's a special kind of bond. If you have that with Damon... I get it." We held eye contact for a few more moments, a wordless heaviness passing between us, and then Mason grinned. "So, what you're saying is I count as the important stuff for you?"

I bit my lip and looked away, fighting a smile and quickly losing to it.

"I... yeah, I guess I am saying that."

Mason and I laughed and worked together for a while longer on our various cleanup duties, until he told me he needed to go do trash duty in the woods, since the Sheriff had asked him to. I gave him my empty latte cup as a start, watching him with a smile as he walked away.

I tried to busy myself with volunteer work, the thing I'd actually come here for today, to keep my mind from running wild about Mason. I only half-succeeded. I hadn't felt anything close to this for somebody since Andy, and it scared me and thrilled me at the same time. The needle pinged back and forth between the two, but when Mason came back out of the woods looking rumpled, guilty, and glancing over his shoulder, it jumped all the way to scared.

"Mason?" I called, hurrying over to him. He shook his head, trying to duck past me again, but when I put a hand on his arm he stopped. "What happened?"

"Y/N..."

"Mason, what happened?" I pulled my attention from him, quickly scanning the gathered volunteers and then doing it again. Damon and Stefan were nowhere to be found. "What happened?"

Mason met my eyes and hesitated. Then, finally, "They tried to kill me. In the woods. They surrounded me, and Damon told me he'd give me a running head start before they ripped my heart out of my chest."

Immediately, my eyes darted to the woods behind Mason, scanning for my best friend. Ready to stop him. Until Mason continued.

"They're not coming back."

My eyes snapped to his again. "Explain."

"I told the Sheriff what they were. She's taking care of it."

I sprang back from Mason like touching him had burned me. He winced, but didn't do anything else.

"Are you kidding me? After everything I told you, everything we talked about?"

"I didn't have a whole lot of choice, between them and death. Besides, I told the Sheriff before I talked to you."

"Mason, you should have told to me! I would've talked to them, I would've made sure they didn't go after you if I knew it was such a pressing thing! We could've figured out the issue with the Sheriff together! What were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry. But it was kill or be killed-"

"This! This is why I hate this supernatural shit!" My voice had risen to a yell, but I didn't care. We were far enough away from everyone that they probably still couldn't hear me. And what did it matter, anyway? The Council already knew. "This is why nobody ever finds any lasting peace or happiness in this stupid, ridiculous world. Everyone is so fixated on revenge and killing anyone they feel even remotely threatened by. If you'd come to me, I could've kept you safe. Instead, you might've just gotten my best friend killed."

My voice broke on the last word, and I pushed past Mason and started for the woods before he could catch me crying. Unfortunately, he caught my arm before I could get away and turned me to face him, immediately dropping his grip when I tried to pull away.

"I am sorry. I really am. But I didn't know they would follow me into the woods. And they were ready to kill me. When I saw the Sheriff's people over Stefan's shoulder, it seemed like my only way out. I'm sorry."

I took a deep breath, giving him a curt nod before turning again and taking off into the woods, hoping against hope I could get to Damon and Stefan before it was too late. Things had gotten so out of hand, so fast. All I could do was focus on putting out one fire at a time, and hope we all came out of this alive.

I started at the Lockwood cellar, but found it empty. The floor had fresh blood on it, though, and with a little magic I traced Damon and Stefan back to the Salvatore Boarding House. That felt like a good sign.

I pulled into the driveway and sprang out of my car, slamming the door to the house open. I could see Caroline passed out on the couch, which didn't entirely make me feel better as I sprinted up to Damon's room.

I slammed the door open without bothering to knock, only to come face to face with my best friend, unharmed, shirtless, and staring at me like I was insane.

"Don't you ever knock?" he demanded, sounding exasperated as he pulled his shirt over his head. A hysterical laugh bubbled out of me, and I rushed over to hug him.

"You're one to talk," I shot back, wrapping him tighter in my embrace as I did. After a second, his arms came around me too and squeezed back.

"What's wrong?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I thought... I thought you might be dead."

"Well, I'm not." Slowly, gently, he pulled away. He grabbed my arms, looking intently into my eyes for a few long moments. "I'm not. Alright?"

I nodded, the adrenaline fading and leaving exhaustion in its place. I plopped down on his bed as he moved to shut the door.

"Can't have you getting me all sappy in public and ruining my reputation," he explained. I huffed a laugh, but quickly sobered as he sat next to me. I watched him, neither of us speaking for a minute, until he raised an eyebrow. "So... was that it, or...?"

"You can't go after Mason anymore."

"What?" he cried, shooting up and glaring at me. "What the hell are you talking about? He tried to kill me today. The Sheriff is in our basement right now while we wait for the vervain to work through her system because he exposed us. That mutt is dead."

"No. Damon, no," I said, standing too as I spoke. A strange calm had washed over me, and I met Damon's wild eyes with it. "Not Mason."

"Oh, gross. Really? Him?" He raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes at me. "Besides being a werewolf, he's a surfer. Are you serious?"

"Damon, come on. Just let it go. Just this once, end the cycle of revenge. You stabbed him, Stefan threatened him, he exposed you to the Sheriff, you tried to kill him, he tried to kill you. You're even, sort of. Just let this one go."

"How about, instead... I kill him?" The inappropriate brightness in his tone usually just made me roll my eyes or sigh while still sort of endearing him to me, but not this time.

"No! Damon, I'm not joking! This isn't some stupid thing where you can just turn around and break promises and it's fine! I never draw a line in the sand, but I am this time! I haven't felt anything close to this, not once, since Andy. And I am not going through anything like that again! You were right the first time. I'm glad you killed Andy, you saved me doing it. But I don't ever want to live through that again. This time is different, he's different. And I know I haven't technically known him very long, but just... please. Not Mason."

Damon held my stare for a few long, long moments, assessing. I stared right back, leaving every single thing I felt clear as day on my face, an open book for him to read. Finally, he sighed and rolled his eyes, in that exaggerated way he did whenever he gave in.

"Fine. I promise I won't kill Mason."

"Or try to kill Mason?"

"Yes, alright? If you're that convinced he's different... then fine. This one's different."

I flung myself forward and wrapped my arms tight around his middle before he could stop me. He grunted and grumbled, but hugged me back after a second anyway.

"Thanks, Day."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get out of here and get some sleep before someone catches me hugging you, alright?"

I pulled back with a grin. "Deal. Softie."

Damon narrowed his eyes at me, but I just cackled and bounced out of the room. It had been a long, stressful day, but things were looking up. Tomorrow, I'd talk to Mason. And this time would be different.

I passed out in bed as soon as my head hit the pillow. Today had been a long, emotional day, and I still had a few supernaturals to talk to tomorrow, since Stefan needed to be looped in too. I'd need all the rest I could get.

I got up the next morning a little later than I'd planned to, then dressed quickly to head over to the Lockwood's. I was helping set up for the upcoming masquerade ball, and I needed to talk to Mason. After getting coffee, of course.

As I headed down the stairs, I heard voices from the living room. I listened more closely as I approached, and I heard Damon say something like "this changes things" before they stopped at my arrival. I found Damon and Jeremy both looking at me like I'd interrupted something.

"Good morning..." I said, slowly reaching to retrieve my keys as I stared at them both suspiciously.

"Good morning," said Damon, flashing me a smile that didn't reach his eyes as Jeremy gave me a little nod.

"Everything okay in here...?"

"Completely."

I narrowed my eyes, glancing from Damon to Jeremy, then finally sighed.

"Alright, I have places to be and not enough willpower to involve myself in whatever this is. Just... don't do anything over the top stupid, alright?"

Both boys just gave little signs of acknowledgement as I slowly backed towards the door. I kept waiting for one of them to break, or for some obvious thing to jump out and catch my attention, but nothing came. I reached the door and finally turned my back on both of them, just hoping I wouldn't regret it.

I never got a moment of peace in Mystic Falls. Witch history and best friend or not, I might need to ditch this place sooner rather than later. Damon could come visit me somewhere with less supernatural drama.

This time, I only got one iced latte at the coffee shop before heading to the Lockwood's. As soon as I parked my car, I started scanning for Stefan, so I could talk to him and get him on the same page as Damon. The last thing I needed was the calmer Salvatore brother ruining the progress I'd made.

Thankfully, it didn't take me long to find him, or to convince him to leave Mason alone. He'd apparently only gotten on the same page as Damon about killing Mason after Mason had made a few threats of his own, and he said if I believed peace was still an option (especially one that I could sell Damon on), then he'd be happy to support me.

That left me with one last supernatural to work things out with. I had to do a few laps of the venue to find Mason, even though it was sort of his house. I finally managed to track him down outside, by a big pond a little distance away from the rest of everyone. He gave me a small smile when he saw me coming.

"What? No coffee for me today?"

"Coffee is only for people who haven't tried to kill my friends in the last twenty-four hours." The smile immediately dropped off Mason's face, his whole demeanor sobering.

"Look, Y/N-"

"Lucky for you, that timer expires tomorrow," I continued. "So... if we get roped into a third volunteer thing in three days, you can count on coffee for that."

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth again, this time a little more cautious.

"Does that mean we're okay?"

I took a deep breath, then nodded.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, Damon and Stefan are alive. I've talked to both of them. They both agreed to drop it. The three of you have done a bunch of mutual threatening and murder-attempting in the past forty-eight hours, and Damon understands that this is one of those important things he can't just brush off. They're willing to make peace, and actually mean it, from now on. For me. Can you do the same?"

Mason frowned and looked away, his eyes scanning the grass, pond, trees, and everything else while he thought. He shook his head, presumably to himself, then finally met my eyes again. He squared his shoulders, and through all of the emotions I'd experienced from him since I'd met him, he'd never been this serious.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can do the same. I don't want to get killed by a vampire, or get mixed up in trying so hard to kill one, let alone two. If they back off, for real... I'm happy to do the same."

I smiled, not as bright and full of joy as the first few times Mason and I had spent time together, but just a little ray of hope shining through after the storm I'd just weathered.

"Thank you."

He nodded, then that easy smile that had gotten a special place in my heart so quickly returned.

"So... this masquerade stuff, there's a ton of people here to help with it. Do you want to go for a walk instead?"

"I'd love that."

We took our time doing a full lap around the pond at turtle-speed, laughing and talking the entire time. We eventually did rejoin the rest of the workforce, but I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. We sorted masks and hung decorations together, which made it better. Mason even gave me a better introduction to his nephew, Tyler, who I'd only vaguely known before.

"Hey, pay attention," teased Mason, nudging me with his shoulder as we stood together, untangling a frankly ridiculous amount of lights with Tyler's help.

"I can't," I whined. "I'm falling asleep at the wheel. One coffee isn't even close to enough caffeine to wake me up."

"I could go on a coffee run," he suggested. I turned to him with wide eyes and an exaggerated gasp.

"You would be my hero forever."

He laughed. "Alright, alright, I'm on it. I'll take any excuse to get away from these lights. Ty, you want anything?"

"Sure. Black coffee."

"Alright. I'll be back in a few."

I smiled after him as he jogged up the lawn, only looking away when he finally disappeared from sight. As I turned back to the lights, I found Tyler staring at me with a raised eyebrow. I cleared my throat.

"You really like him, don't you?"

I sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I really do."

Tyler nodded, first to me then to himself, as he returned to working on the lights. I watched him for a minute, then continued.

"I know we don't actually know each other that well, so this might be over the line, but... I can tell he really cares about you. He talks about you a lot. I think he'd walk through fire for you. And I think he'd want you to know that."

Tyler glanced up at me, jaw tight, but he nodded all the same. He muttered a "thanks", and then we went back to our work, mostly in silence except for long strings of expletives for this Gordian Knot of a light string.

The glowing happiness in my chest kept me going without the coffee for a while, until I started to notice just how long it had been since Mason left. Tyler had moved on due to frustration with the lights, and now stood across the lawn, but Mason was nowhere to be found. Even if the line had been out the door, he should've been back by now.

I scanned the crowd again, looking for a few specific people and only finding one of them. Stefan was still here, but Damon and Jeremy were conspicuously missing. I started walking to Stefan, picking up the pace when I noticed Bonnie missing too.

"Stefan," I said, my heartbeat pounding in my ears as I tried to keep my panic under control. "Where is Damon?"

"Listen, you have to stay calm, alright-?"

"No, not alright! Where is Damon? Or, actually, no. Where is Mason?"

"He's dating Katherine. Bonnie touched him, and she had a vision about him. He's got the moonstone, and he's with her. He's been lying to all of us. Things have changed since this morning."

"Things have- fuck. That's exactly what Damon was saying to Jeremy this morning," I shook my head, mentally kicking myself for not putting the pieces together faster. "Where are they, Stefan?"

"Did you not hear me? He's working with the enemy-"

"Stefan Salvatore. I will ask you one more time, and then it'll be my turn to cross some fucking lines. Where. Are. They."

Stefan watched me for a moment, considering. Then, finally, he said, "They're at the boarding house."

I barely waited for him to finish his answer before I took off running. My lungs burned as I raced through the people swarming around Lockwood Manor, towards where I'd left my car. Apparently, Damon had decided that Bonnie's vision of Mason and Katherine, whatever else it meant, gave him a pass to change the rules. To break the promise he made to me last night. Which meant, if I didn't move fast enough, I might never see Mason again.

I flung myself into the driver's seat of my car, then took off for the Salvatore Boarding House. I barely managed to stay on the right side of 'safe driver', and made it there in record time. I screeched to a stop in front of the house, and as soon as I stepped out of my car, I heard Mason scream from inside. My heart dropped to my feet as I raced forward, flung the door open, and rushed inside.

I could see Damon hovering over someone, presumably Mason, in a chair with it's back to me. Jeremy hovered off to the side, looking horrified but refusing to do something or leave. I shoved past Jeremy roughly, flinging out my arms and using a burst of magic to send Damon flying into the nearest wall and away from Mason.

"What is WRONG with you?" I cried, raging at Damon, feeling an anger like I'd never felt towards my best friend before. "Did everything we talked about mean nothing to you? I know you have some crazy need to do everything the violent way, and I've never let it get to me before, but you've also never backstabbed me before! How could you do this to me?"

"You don't understand-"

"I understand perfectly."

With one last shove of my magic at Damon, I whirled around to look at Mason. He was bound to a chair from the dining room, covered in his own blood, a hopeless, broken look in his eyes. I tried not to break with him as I dropped to my knees and started working to untie him.

"It's okay, it's okay," I said, talking to keep myself calm as much as to keep Mason calm. "Don't worry, I got you."

Mason didn't respond, and I spared a glance up at him to see him watching me, his face contorted in pain. I did my best to speed up, but it was harder to work the ropes and chains with how badly my hands were shaking.

"He's in love with Katherine," came Damon's voice from behind me. There was no fight or victory in his words, and I still trusted him enough to leave my back to him, even as I ignored him. "He told me himself before you came in. He doesn't love you, he loves her. Like every other poor sucker she's brainwashed and ditched over the years."

I huffed a breath through my nose as I finally managed to remove the last of Mason's restraints, then stood to face Damon. He was still a good distance away, not threatening, just watching. Posture relaxed, face pressed into a concerned frown. Jeremy stood over his shoulder, watching us like a tennis match.

"Is that supposed to make me willing to let you torture and kill him?"

Damon shrugged, an insufferable look that I knew very, very well crossing his face.

"This isn't a joke, Damon. Just because you get some new information doesn't mean everything we talked about last night ceases to be important. You should have talked to me. Like a rational person! Not done... this," my voice broke a little on the final word as I pictured Mason again, those empty eyes that had been so full of light and joy before. "Tell me something. If I hadn't shown up... were you going to kill him?"

Damon looked away, and I had my answer. I snorted, then turned to help Mason stand, slinging one of his arms over my shoulder. He was incredibly heavy, and he wasn't strong enough to be much help either, but I could manage.

"I would've been doing him a favor," Damon finally said, calling after me as I helped Mason limp towards the door. "I've been where he is. I know what it's like to be lost in Katherine land. There's no hope for him."

I just raised my middle finger back at him as we continued to the door. I didn't look back as the front door shut behind me and I loaded Mason into the passenger seat of my car, then climbed into the driver's seat. I started the engine, but just kept staring straight ahead, a thousand different thoughts and noises racing around in my mind all at once. I tried to focus on one, to process things slowly, but I couldn't. So, I forced all of it out, instead keeping my eyes locked on the road ahead and pretending nothing else existed. I could do that, just long enough to get out of here.

Mason didn't speak, move, or make a sound for the entire drive back to the Lockwood house. It wasn't the safest place for him, but I didn't know where else to take him. I stayed silent, too, focusing entirely on trying to fight the wave of everything threatening to crash over me in the middle of evening traffic.

Thankfully, when we got back to the Lockwood house, all the volunteers had gone. I helped Mason out of the car, then continued to be his crutch as we limped through the front door. He broke his silence long enough to point me towards his room, and I helped him up the stairs and through the door. As gently as possible, I helped him ease down on the bed. His super-healing would fix the physical injuries fairly quickly all things considered, but Damon had spent the afternoon torturing him. That wasn't as easy to get past.

"Are you okay?" I finally asked. I knew it was a stupid question, especially with everything else floating around in my head, but I needed to know what he'd say. To gauge how close he might be to okay.

Mason sighed and ran a hand through his hair, refusing to meet my eyes.

"I'm fine. Or at least... I guess I will be."

I nodded. "I'm glad." And I meant it.

Mason huffed another heavy, heavy sigh, then finally looked up at me.

"Thank you. For saving me."

"Yeah, of course. I... I'm sorry I was wrong. That Damon went right back to... that."

Mason waved me off, rubbing the back of his neck and staring holes in the carpet. The silence hung between us, and I took a shuffling step backwards before deciding I couldn't leave without a few answers, even if Mason clearly felt like shit.

"Is it true?" I asked, still hovering by the doorway. Mason flinched, and I knew he knew what I meant, but I continued anyway. "What Damon and Stefan said... are you with Katherine?"

Mason grimaced and ducked his head, not meeting my eyes. I took a few more steps across the room towards him.

"Mason. Please answer me."

He huffed a hollow laugh, then looked up at me, pain written all over his face.

"I'm sorry."

I shook my head. This time, it was my turn for the hollow laugh.

"I'm so, so sorry. I was trying to help her. I... I love her. Or at least, I did... I thought she loved me too..."

"Katherine doesn't love anybody," I spat, my voice full of venom. "I watched Damon wrestle with that realization for a few years. Did she ever tell you? She played him and Stefan against each other, dated and toyed with them both in 1864. Escaped from being trapped with twenty-six other vampires and never looked back, all while she let Damon chase after her, knowing full well he was trying to find a way to save her from a trap she wasn't in. For almost a hundred and fifty years. She's ditched and killed and betrayed everyone she's ever been with, Mason. Think about that long and hard before you really decide to stick with her."

With that, I turned on my heel, the first tears starting to fall as I wrenched the door open. It slammed closed again before I could get through it, and I turned to find Mason standing before me, one arm extended to keep the door shut. He looked torn and pained, even more so when he noticed the tears I failed to hold back.

"I need you to know... it was real. I wasn't... faking it, or whatever, all those times we hung out. I... really do like you." I scoffed, but he continued before I could tell him off. "It's just... Kath was there for me after I triggered my curse. My friend kept coming at me, trying to beat me up because he thought I was sleeping with his girlfriend, which I wasn't. I pushed him too hard, and he fell, and... and he died. I killed him. That same night was the first night I transformed. Kath was there for me then, and for every minute after. She's... my Damon."

"Ha!" I shouted, shoving Mason's chest and pushing him back with all the force I could muster. He stumbled back more than a few steps, apparently still weak from whatever Damon had done. "Don't you ever, ever compare them. Damon sucks, and does bad things that hurt the people he cares about. Don't think I don't know that. But the difference is, he actually has people he cares about.

"And before you go running back to Katherine, after I saved your life, you should really think Mason: Katherine wants the moonstone. You got her the moonstone. If she knew you could get it for her, then what might she have done to make you want to get it for her?"

Mason shook his head, slowly at first and then faster and faster.

"No. No, she can't compel me. I know she can't."

"Sure. But I bet she could compel your friend. I mean, did you ever figure out why he thought you'd gone after his girlfriend? Or why he wouldn't listen to you or to reason, just came at you until you were forced to defend yourself? The best way to make you do her dirty work for her was to give you a vested interest in getting the moonstone. What better way than a ray of hope to try to break your new curse?"

Mason sat down hard on his bed, head in his hands and shaking. I opened the door again, never taking my eyes off of Mason, my heart shattering in my chest.

"Think long and hard about the truth and who you can actually trust, Mason. Following Katherine will only lead you down a road of pain and death."

With that, I turned on my heel and walked out of the room. This time, nobody stopped me. And I didn't look back.

I got in my car and drove, no destination in mind, trying to process. I'd been falling for Mason, hard, and he'd betrayed me. Damon, who I'd always been able to count on, had done the same. Everything had come crumbling down in less than an hour.

I didn't go back home, to the Salvatore house, until sunrise the next morning. I'd stayed out all night, wandering aimlessly with my car, driving around and slowly working through everything. And when I walked through the doors of the boarding house again, I'd found a new clarity.

"Hey." Damon stood in the hallway, arms crossed and looking concerned. I gave him a weak smile.

"Hey."

"...Everything okay?"

"No. No it's not. You crossed a line, Damon, and even if you never crossed it again... the supernatural drama just doesn't stop. So I'm done with it."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm leaving. I'm leaving Mystic Falls, and everything that comes with vampires and werewolves and even witches, before it destroys me. It's not worth it. I booked a flight to San Diego on my phone a few hours ago."

Damon tried to convince me to stay, but I wasn't hearing it. I'd made up my mind, and now, I wasn't changing it. He hovered as I packed my bags, my anger still simmering but fading now that I'd spent time processing. By a little after noon, I was ready to go.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay?" Damon finally asked as I stood on the threshold of the house, my bags already loaded into the car.

"I'm sure. I meant what I said, Day, I'm done with this stuff. But I'll make you a deal."

"...And what kind of deal would that be?"

"Don't kill Mason, and you're welcome to visit me any time."

Damon scowled. "All that, and you're still protecting him?"

I shrugged. "I'm over it, all the death. And I think Mason might be having a wakeup call of his own now. Just... please, Damon. Consider this a second chance. Don't kill Mason. Or torture him, or hurt him. No matter what you learn, or how the circumstances change. He's off limits."

Damon just looked at me for a long, long moment before finally nodding, slowly.

"Fine. And if he asks where you went?"

"You can tell him. I don't think he's gonna chase me all the way to San Diego, especially not if he's still hung up on Katherine like you said he is. And like I said... feel free to come visit. Or call whenever."

Damon nodded once, lips pursed in a tight line. I gave him a smile and a little salute before turning and climbing into my car. I took one last breath to steel myself, then turned the key and left Mystic Falls in the dust behind me.

****************

Two and a Half Months Later

I smiled from the porch of my new house (really closer to a shack) on the beach as I sipped my morning coffee. Watching the waves crash over the shore in the early morning light had become my routine, and I swear my blood pressure had dropped beyond belief as a result.

I hadn't had any supernatural visitors yet, but I knew it'd only be a matter of time. Despite everything, I hoped it would be Damon. There were a lot of things I didn't miss about living in the same sphere as him every day, but it had been nice to be so close to my best friend, even if he was a jackass a lot of the time.

Once the sun was a little higher in the sky and my mug was empty, I went back into the kitchen. The house had a thousand projects, and I'd only just started on the first one or two. I'd been doing those mostly by myself too, with little magical help, and it was nice. I could feel a little bit more of myself in this place with every change I made.

I set my mug in the sink and started to grab eggs out of the fridge when I heard a knock on the door. I wandered over to open it, then stopped dead when I saw who was on the other side.

Mason Lockwood. Iced latte in hand and a sheepish grin on his face.

"Hey," he said, holding out the coffee as a sort of offering. "I, uh... I hope it's okay that I'm here. Damon told me where you'd moved to, and I figured he'd never tell me if it wasn't alright with you. Even then. Honestly, I half expected to open this door and find an axe murderer or a random old man."

Despite myself, I snorted a laugh, and a small smile tugged its way onto my face. I reached out and took the coffee.

"It's good to see you," I said, and meant it. "I'm glad you're okay. Honestly, I think Damon probably sent you here as proof that he didn't kill you. I told him that was a condition of him being invited into my house."

This time, a small smile made its way onto Mason's face. We just looked at each other for a few minutes, hopeful smiles and an electric energy snaking between us, until I finally cleared my throat and took a half-step to the side.

"Do you... want to come in?"

Mason smiled, somehow still looking slightly pained.

"I... can't." I raised an eyebrow, and he rushed to continue. "I'd love to, for the record. It's just... I might've dragged Tyler out of Mystic Falls with me. And he might be waiting in the car."

For the first time, I glanced over Mason's shoulder to see Tyler sitting in the front seat of Mason's Bronco, arms crossed as he pointedly didn't look at us. I laughed.

"That's why it took me so long to get here," Mason continued. "You were right about Katherine. About everything, really. When I ditched her... she compelled a friend of Tyler's to get him to trigger the curse. Like she did to me."

My eyes widened in horror, and I took a step forward to rest my hand on Mason's arm before glancing over his shoulder again.

"Oh my God. Is he okay?"

Mason shrugged. "As okay as he can be. We're figuring it out. But I needed to stay to make sure he was okay, and that Katherine and the other supernaturals didn't get him killed. A lot went down after you left, but... we made it. So did Damon and Stefan. But we needed to get out, so I convinced Carol to let me take Ty for a little while."

I nodded. "I'm glad you did. Do you guys have a place to stay?"

"Yeah. I actually got a place down the beach from here," he said, blushing a little as he glanced away and rubbed at the back of his neck. "We just got into town, and I might've dragged Tyler here first without warning."

I laughed, then stepped fully out of my house, shutting the door behind me. Mason smiled, and my heart raced at our newfound proximity. I decided to let that impulse win and leaned up to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Mason looked shocked as I pulled away, then grinned a wolfish grin (pun intended) as he swept me into his arms and kissed me, for real. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, hard, completely indulging for a few long seconds before pulling back.

"Tyler's in the car," I said. I was a little breathless and smiling like an idiot, an expression Mason shared.

"He's fine, I left the window cracked."

My laugh was muffled as Mason leaned in and kissed me again, but this time I pulled away fairly quickly.

"I love that you're making vague dog jokes now, but I really don't want him to have to just sit there while we make out on my porch. Let me help you guys get settled in your new place, and then maybe we can go on a real date tonight?"

Mason beamed at me, pulling me close to his side and resting his forehead against mine.

"Sounds like a plan."

He gave me one last peck on the lips, then took my hand and tugged me down the stairs after him. I laughed, feeling freer and lighter than I had in a long time, as I opened the back door of his car and Mason hopped back in the driver's seat.

"Hey Tyler," I chirped. "It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah. Hi."

I caught Mason's eye in the rear view mirror, fighting and almost failing to hold back a laugh. His blue eyes sparkled like the ocean on a beautiful, clear day, and somehow I just knew we were at the start of something special and wonderful. Call it a witch's intuition, but I felt good about what the future held for me and Mason in San Diego.

****************

TVD Taglist: @elenavampire21

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mar1n3tt3 · 3 months

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#the vampire diaries #tvd #amara #amara petrova #katerina petrova #katherine pierce #damon salvatore #elena gilbert #rebekah mikaelson #beklena #jenna sommers #elijah mikaelson #tvd textposts #tvd text posts #textposts #text posts #caroline forbes #liz forbes

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annoyingvoidzombie · 5 months

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When Life Gives You Reunions

#tvd universe #tvd cast #julie plec #caroline forbes #stefan salvatore #jenna sommers #tyler lockwood #elena gilbert #katherine pierce #vicki donovan #the vampire diaries #tvd #nina dobrev #the originals #i miss them so much #i miss this show #tvdu #I was feeling epic

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tangleddd · 2 days

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Jenna looked up from where she stacking the meat to shoot her niece a pointed look. "Why is Damon coming?" Louise tried masking her nerves and shrugged. "Your boyfriend is the one who invited him. Come on, Jenna, be nice." Jenna scoffed. "I'll be nice when Damon learns to keep his paws off you." Tangled Diaries 2.04 'Memory Lane'

#louise gilbert #jenna sommers #tangled fate #s2 #2x04 #ocappreciation #tvd fanfiction #tvd fanfic #fyeahtvdocs

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crimsonlyinglilly · 10 days

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Day 13 Angry Tears

Still on catch up for whumpril, here's day 13

Familiar faces, set TVD season 3 end of ep 13 and beginning of Ep 14, take place before Adrenaline

Elijah doesn't deal with Esther's return well and Esther doesn't take the hint.

-----

I want us to be a family again. It echoed around in his head.

He had been silent since he had had to pull on Kol’s sleeve to ask him to stop Rebekah, to get her to leave Elena alone, his younger brother had stared at him a moment before vanishing after her one his second 'Please'.

After that he stood at a distance watching as Esther spoke to his remaining siblings. To reassure her boys, calming Finn's anger over her death and soothing Klaus’s nerves. It wasn’t that different from his childhood, Elijah stood quietly until he was needed to calm bickering younger siblings or distract them when mother wanted to focus on her dark arts.

I want us to be a family again.

She looked unchanged, her clothes a frozen picture of a long forgotten time, a village buried under dirt and people reduced to dust through the passage of time

And yet she was there, alive, speaking to them of forgiveness and new chances, and Elijah was bitter, angry, another parent returned but again the wrong one.

How come she got to speak of forgiveness when she had never asked for theirs when she stole their lives and futures from them. When she ignored her husband’s violence leaving bruises on them.

I want us to be a family again.

He had planned to wait for Rebekah and Kol, to apologize to for Elena’s actions and his failure to undagger her and to properly reunite with his brother. He had tried but watching as Finn and Klaus slipped back into the way things used to be, looking at mother as if she had done nothing wrong, made him sick, angry.

I want us to be a family again.

It was giving him a headache, Elijah Mikaeslon’s original love and idealization of her, his anger over her failings made worse by the countless deaths where he relieved them all over again. Watching Finn seemingly forgot the words they had shared months ago, before Elijah remembered everything.

They ruined us.

We can do better.

Remembering what Esther had done in the aftermath of him killing Tatia, what he had done to Klaus when he had learnt the truth.

And as Klaus looked between them, Elijah realised he couldn’t stay, as anger and secrets burned inside. Klaus couldn’t know that he knew about her, couldn’t learn what he had made Aurora do out of his own anger and grief.

He wanted to go home, to Jenna, Jeremy and his cats, to call Elena or his brothers, older brothers who cared, even if one was without his humanity it was still better than watching as two of his brothers apparently forgot all the pain Esther had caused them as they tried to please her.

He just needed to get away.

“Elijah, where are you going?” Klaus called before he managed to get to the door.

“Home.” He called back, ignoring the fact he could hear the three of them following him, he was surprised Klaus hadn’t used his speed to grab him but he supposed that was a positive of her presents.

“This is our home.” Klaus snapped, and Elijah twisted to face them.

Mother and her golden boys, Elijah smother the thought as he took them in Esther expression almost blank if not for the faint concern, Klaus angry and Finn looking at him almost pleadingly until Elijah met his eyes and he looked away.

They ruined us.

We can do better.

‘Apparently not’ Elijah thought, Finn could offer comfort to a teenager that barely remembered him but once Esther returned Elijah was once again a reminder of an event he wasn’t there for, an annoyance and obstruction.

“I’m not playing happy families,” he replied keeping his anger from his tone, adding as Klaus started looking hurt and Esther gained a disproving expression, “not with a woman always more concerned about her own appearance than the good of her children.”

Esther flinched at the words looking shocked to be the target of his anger while Klaus blinked looking at him with confusion.

He looked at Finn who kept looking away, Elijah would have taken it as an improvement if his older brother hadn’t reached out to Esther, to offer her comfort over the truth being laid at her feet.

Right, he should have known better.

I want us to be a family again.

She could have that but Elijah wasn’t going to be part of it.

—--

Jenna hadn’t asked much when he arrived at the door, just pulled him into a tight hug and let him go to his room, barely touched since he was last there.

He almost damaged the expensive suit that Klaus had brought him in his rush to get it off and change into his own clothes and pulled on one of Dad’s sweatshirts over the top.

It was still too big and he thinks as he breathes in he could almost pretend dad was still there.

Neither Luci or Kit seemed to hold any grudge over the months he had left them and had joined him as he pulled the cover over himself, he hadn’t wanted to talk or think.

It wasn’t fair, how come Mikeal and Esther returned when all they had done was hurt and damage their children while his parents, mum and dad, stayed dead no matter how much their children wanted-needed them.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat and kept his eyes closed ignoring the heat under his closed lids. He wasn’t sad, he was angry but he was a thousand years old, he was too old to cry over it.

—-

In the morning his call to Elena added more to his problems Kol had fulfilled his promise and stopped Rebekah and told her about Esther, Elijah pretty sure his twin knew he wasn’t happy about that by his flat tone but she had also told him what he had been missing stuck under Niklaus’s possessive guard since Mikeal’s death, Caroline’s dad was dead, Alaric was in hospital and someone was hunting down council members.

She was still staying at the boarding house, both a mentioned returning that day, excited about living together again, just the promise of that had managed to slightly loosen the knot inside him.

He could have his family back, Esther, Finn and Klaus could go back to playing happy family and Elijah could still have all his siblings, without needing to stop them killing each other. For a brief moment Esther’s return was a blessing.

When he smiled at Jenna it was real, it was content and peaceful as both ate breakfast at the table and he ignored the guilt at the idea of having left Jenna here alone, before it was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Elijah didn’t think to hesitate to answer the door, expecting to see either of his younger siblings, a chance to reconnect with them, he was more than disappointed when found someone else there

He froze when the door opened to Esther, looking far more suited to the modern day than she had, the night before.

It made looking at her hurt less but somehow made his anger worse.

“Hello?” Jenna called over Elijah's shoulder as he found his words gone as he starred.

“Hello, I'm Esther Mikaelson,” she introduced herself to Jenna smile at her over Elijah. “I’m inviting you to the Mikaelson ball and I've come to collect Elijah-”

“No.” he cut her off, looking at the envelope in her hands.

Gilbert House.

“Elijah” she started like a disappointed mother over a tantrum which she could have been if he was very aware he had been the one to deal with most of his younger siblings fights and tantrums, and that during most of his own he’d been left alone or for Finn to deal with. “I understand your anger, Klaus shouldn’t have forced you to move in with him, he should have allowed you to bring your belongings but as a fam-”

He almost choked as he listened to her, had she ignored what he said or was she so sure he would relent and return to his place, the one he had put himself when he was a child and it was the only way to get her attention, the way his brothers had.

“Please leave,” he cut her off “I’ve invited Rebekah and Kol” not you went unspoken.

“I asked them to let me speak-” she started, he ignored her instead trying to close the door.

“Don’t care.” he smiled until the door froze and he could feel her magic in the air.

“Eylaugr Mim”- she started old Norse rolling from her tongue as if her had never stopped speaking to which may have been true, Elijah was just relieved it no longer gave him a headache, however the idea that she thought she could browbeat him back into his place with a name snapped his temper.

“GILBERT.” he shouted, pleased that at least stopped her, “Elijah Gilbert, the name’s on the invitation Esther.” He lifted the paper to her and watched her as she took a step back at the use of her name, her reaction was a balm to the hot anger burning in his chest, the flicker of hurt he caught. “I love my siblings, they are the only thing I'm keeping. Mikael’s name and everything else from either of you, I cast off.”

“Elijah,” she called her hand going to her heart, and yet the magic holding the door didn’t let up “you're my son, a part of this family.”

I want us to be a family again.

He had a family; it was scattered and broken but it was his and she wasn’t a part of it.

“Fuck your family! The one where you ignored your favourite son’s tears so you could keep your husband, the standing you gained from him and your lover. He was the head of his pack; he could have claimed Niklaus, saved at least one of your children from the raging man you choose.” he revealed it all, the secrets that shaped them and scared them just as well, none of that matter to him anymore “I raised them as much as you, from the time i was five and you gave me Klaus, while you had fed Kol, then the same for Kol and Rebekah.”

He took a deep breath pleased when she kept quiet.

“The joys of this curse i’ve been living,” he explained sarcastically “is reliving every moment leading to my death, every time. I was never a child for you, neither was Finn really, just extra hands, we never got the chance to because you pushed everything you could on us. He might be happy to return to doing your bidding but i’m not, I've outgrown that need for the crumbs of your attention.”

“Elijah this is a second chance for all of us to do better.” She offered her hands reaching out, Elijah may have believed it before, but if she had changed, had seen the errors of her ways, where was the apology for turning him into the monster that had murdered the woman he loved, why was her power still stopping him from closing the door.

It was a mask, he wondered if she even knew how much of herself she was faking, at least it explained where Elijah had gotten that habit.

“All of us you failed first” he shook his head as he explained, “Try it with the others, they always mattered more, your secret keeper, your golden boy you kept from a good father for your own selfishness, your blessed prodigy that you stole his magic from, or the daughter you took any chance at a family of her own from.”

“You're my son.” she repeated but the words just caused the hot feeling in his eyes to grow.

He wasn’t going to cry, not in front of her, she didn’t get that, not after a childhood of ignoring his tears.

“You're not my mother.” he told her, the words offering him a lightness in his chest he took comfort in as he kept going “I’m the Gilbert's son, I was your spare set of hands.” he used the surprise at his own magic to slam the door before any more spite could escape him.

Angry tears escaped him instead as he glared at the door.

—--

Jenna waited for a moment after the door slammed, watching as her nephew’s back curled over slightly until the first shudder escaped him and she placed a hand of his shoulder.

She wasn’t going to force him to turn to her or anything of the sort just offer him the comfort she had wanted to do since she had been forced to sign the guardianship forms, to make sure he knew he wasn’t alone.

Her chest hurts when he twists and crumples against her, curling into her to hide, the way she used to watch him do with her sister despite the fact he’s taller than her, he wrapped her arms around him.

Another painful realisation was she had missed him growing in the last couple of months.

“I’m a thousand years old, I should be far beyond this.” came quietly and she just held him tighter. A thousand or eighteen, he was still her little nephew, the one she watched grow.

“I don't think you ever grow past your parents hurting you.” She tells him she had heard enough to work most of it out, Elijah was happy to be reunited with his original siblings but the same wasn’t true of his first parents.

“She’s not.” he snapped but he carried no weight, “I hate her.” he muttered into her shoulder, almost calmly if she hadn’t heard his voice crack.

“Oh honey.” she sighed sadly, reaching up and running a hand through his hair. He had cut it while he was living away, started gelling it but it seemed hadn’t done that yet this morning. “But you don't, do you?”

“I want to. She deserves it.” he grumbled.

“I’m sure.” She agrees, she had alway wondered where the maturity that had haunted her little nephew had come from, after learning about his dreams and past lives she had thought it was those that made sense. But no, it was a horrible pair of people who should never have become parents in the first place screwing up their kids, a thousand years ago, so bad that they haunted the world in the aftermath.

I raised them, he had said pain clear i was five. I was never a child.

“Why was it them that came back, why not mom and dad.” Elijah muttered angrily and Jenna hugged him tighter, knowing she couldn’t be her sister but needing him to know he wasn’t alone.

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