Long, Lost and Previously Dead - CoopPenny (2024)

Chapter 1: A familiar face

Chapter Text

Everything was too fast and too slow, too vivid and too faded, his perception was dizzying and yet completely focused. What terrified him the most, other than the confusing environment, was the fact that Jeremy was completely aware that this was a dream, or he thinks its a dream…

Disoriented and vision blurring in and out, Jeremy tried to look at his surroundings, taking in a green leaf that nearly hit him in the face as he rushed by and then stared around at the blurry image of brown columns that he could only guess were trees. The area was dimly lit but at the same time, it was all too bright, silver and gold light flashing around him at odd intervals, but Jeremy was never blinded by the differences as he rushed passed the wooded areas.

It took him an embarrassingly long amount of time for Jeremy to figure out that someone was holding his hand, dragging him through the forest, but no matter what he did, Jeremy couldn’t seem to drag his eyes further than the hand that was clasped within his own. However, as he concentrated on the hand, he noticed that the appendage seemed to change, pale hands belonging to a man changing to a more delicate long-fingered feminine before changing to one that bore more scars and it carried on changing.

“… ic…” a distorted voice interrupted his thoughts and Jeremy blinked with confusion. Why did his mind feel so slow? What was wrong with him? “… see… gerous… b… ur sure… go… werewolves…”

“What?” Jeremy tried to get out, but his tongue felt heavy and wouldn’t cooperate with his mind.

“Werewolves…” the voice said again and Jeremy was finally able to raise his head enough to see the person who was dragging him through the blurred forest by his hand, but he could barely make out an outline as he tried to blink and squint to see who the person was. He couldn’t make out anything.

“Werewolves…”

“What about werewolves?” Jeremy asked, the question spoken so much slower than Jeremy had intended it. It felt like he was forced into a slow-motion reality, but his mind was at the speed of normal time, making him frustrated and confused.

Suddenly, Jeremy was falling, falling, falling…

It felt like he was going to fall forever when he suddenly hit a hard surface, forcing all the air from his lungs. Scared and confused, Jeremy tried to scramble up, but his body felt numb and he was barely about to crawl to his hands and knees before he looked up…

Supernatural, glowing amber eyes peered at Jeremy from the pitch black that no light seemed to be able to penetrate but those beastly eyes.

Bone-deep terror-filled Jeremy to his very core as he stared at those eyes.

Suddenly, the beast leapt forward, sharp white teeth glinting in the silver moonlight-

“NO!”-

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Hand floundering, Jeremy grabbed his blaring alarm and practically ripped it from the cord in the wall to finally shut it off.

When silence descended his dark room once again, Jeremy let out a shuddering breath and tried to wipe the sweat that had gathered on his forehead, but stopped when he realised that he was still holding the alarm. Dropping the device on his bed, Jeremy practically leapt from the covers and made his way to the bathroom to get a shower. Jeremy didn’t even try to be quiet in the much-too-early hours of the morning, he knew that he was alone in the house and he’d long since given up the pretence of imagining that there was…

Under the heat of the water, glass already fogging up with how hot he’d turned it, Jeremy wiped away his latest night of horror, robotically going through the routine of scrubbing himself clean, rubbing himself nearly raw as he tried to remove the lingering feel of hands all over him, nerve-endings still remembering the dream despite the fact that Jeremy couldn’t remember a single thing. That was a normal thing for Jeremy, these days. He’d have a horrifically intense dream and when he woke up, he’d be sweating and scared with no memory of why he was like that. The only thing that seemed to stay with him was the fact that he was scared - terrified - and the fact that he’d died.

The dreams had started when his parents had died.

He saw a school therapist for a while during the summer, but each time he went he felt no better and stopped attending the sessions in the end. Grief had kept Jeremy hidden in his room and his recurring nightmares made his nights just as hard. In the end, Jeremy had turned to drugs. He’d discovered that the drugs helped both the days and nights: during the day, he was too stoned to care about anything other than his next hit or the burn of cheap booze pouring down his throat; during the nights if Jeremy was stoned and drunk enough, he’d get no dreams and wouldn’t wake up in a cold sweat.

However, with the vampire business that had moved into town, things had steadily gotten more and more f*cked up again. Fear and paranoia was now a constant presence in his every waking moment - Elena having left him in a house which had been invaded by far too many vampires for him to ever feel comfortable - and his anxiety and stress seemed to show in school as his teachers tried to contact Jenna, but she just assured them that Jeremy was just going through something. The excuse seemed to work because when wasn’t he going through something. First was his parents' deaths, then Vicky went missing before she turned up dead and then just as he was beginning to heal from that heartbreak, Anna was brutally killed by his uncle… It was just one thing after another and Jeremy could practically feel himself cracking under the pressure.

That certain track-record made Jeremy even warier and scared when it came to Bonnie, his new girlfriend. More often than not, Jeremy felt so much fear for what would happen to Bonnie that he’d considered breaking up with her more than he was truly willing to admit; the only thing that held him back from doing so was the fact that he loved her and if he loved her and trusted her, then he should have faith in her.

Finishing up with his shower, Jeremy hopped out from the stall and wrapped a towel around himself before he walked up to the mirror and wiped away the condensation. His reflection was not of a carefree teenager that was up for a good laugh and chasing girls like he should be at his age. No, the bags under his eyes were too dark and prominent, his brown eyes looked a bit too haunted for someone who was carefree, his face was a little bit too pale for someone who should constantly be outside - instead he was trying to stay safe in the boundaries of his home as much as possible…

Lately, it felt like his dreams had gotten worse. They felt more frequent and intense to what he was usually used to and it made Jeremy itch for a little pill to take his mind off the daunting event that was his own dreams or maybe he could blaze up one of the cigarettes that he still kept in his desk drawer. However, as soon as the temptation entered his mind, Jeremy immediately felt repulsed by it and the urge disappeared (in those times, Jeremy wondered if Elena had asked Damon to compel Jeremy’s slowly growing addiction away as well as the memories of Vicky’s death).

Checking the time on his phone, Jeremy sighed. He had an hour before the start of school, but he didn’t want to stay in this empty house anymore. Maybe he can hang out in the library and do a bit of homework before classes started?

Grabbing his bag and stuffing them with the textbooks that he’d need for the day, Jeremy descended down the stairs to grab a bit of toast before leaving but paused on the last step when he caught movement in the kitchen. Fear shot through him like a bullet as he silently took out the stake from his inside jacket pocket - he always had three stakes hidden on him, no matter what - and silently crept down the last step and slowly made his way to the kitchen.

Peering around the corner, Jeremy finally released his breath when he saw that it was just John making a coffee. Hiding the stake away, Jeremy went to creep back and leave the house without his uncle’s knowledge - he didn’t want to speak to the man any more than he had to.

“Good morning, Jeremy,” the casual greeting came and Jeremy hissed a curse between his lips as he froze up in the hall.

“Morning,” he grumbled from his hiding space, not moving out from behind the doorway in a reluctance to actually converse with the man.

“It’s a little early to be up for school isn’t it?” John prodded and Jeremy could practically hear the accusation in his tone - accusation from what though, Jeremy didn’t know.

Sighing, the teen stepped out from the doorway and crossed his arms as he stared down into his uncle’s crystal eyes, “I’m going to the library, you got a problem with that?”

The man’s thin lips twitched into a vague smile before he took a sip from his coffee, eyes knowing and judging as he stared at his nephew, “No problem at all. I’m glad you’re taking your studies more seriously,” he smiled again and Jeremy finally understood why Elena had always hated their uncle, his meticulous nature was starting to rub Jeremy the wrong way.

Just as the teen was about the leave again, John spoke up once again, “You look tired. You getting a good enough sleep?” he questioned and instantly Jeremy felt his nerves bristling with irritation, anger and irritation flooding his system as he glared down at his uncle with cold dark eyes.

“I sleep just fine.”

John merely rose his eyebrows, the emotion on his face at an all-time minimal, at Jeremy’s clipped tone. “It was just a question Jere,” he defended, “I get concerned about you sometimes.”

At that, Jeremy couldn’t resist a bark of harsh laughter that left him as he shook his head and grinned humorously, “Yeah, right. You don’t care about anyone but yourself and Isabel.” he hissed.

“Excuse me?” John started in a dangerous tone as he slowly got up from his seat at the breakfast bar and set his coffee down, “I care about you. I care about this family. I care about yours and Elena’s safety and health. I care about this town and its people-“

“Stop lying to me!” Jeremy thundered, his voice ringing throughout the kitchen as he glared murderously at his uncle, feeling completely done with the man, “If you cared you would have been here from the f*cking start! You would have been there for me and Elena when mum and dad died, you would have been there when Elena met the Salvatores, you would have been here to help us when we needed you, not because Isabel snapped her fingers and told you to! If you cared about Elena, you would have told her that you were her real father when she was looking for you! If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t have killed my girlfriend!” Jeremy shouted, each proclamation bringing him closer and closer to John until he was barely an inch away from the man and thrusting an angry finger in his face. “Everything you’ve done to ‘help’ us, has only ever brought us more pain…”

Silence hung around them like a guillotine, ready to fall at any moment as Jeremy breathed deeply to get his temper under control and John stared at Jeremy with unreadable eyes.

“I may have not been there for you then,” John finally spoke up, the admittance making Jeremy blink in slight shock, “But I’m here now and I can see you suffering. Being in this kind of life isn’t easy and it isn’t something that a kid as young as you should have ever been involved in and I never wanted this for you - neither did your parents… All I’m trying to say is that I’m here for you, now.”

Jeremy scoffed as he turned away from the older man and started to walk out the kitchen, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” was all he said before he marched himself out of the house and slammed the front door.

God, Klaus swore that if he ever had to go undercover into another high school, it would be too soon.

As someone who’s lived for over a thousand years, one would think that history was a favourite topic of his, but in actuality, he hated the subject. Well, he cared for his own history, his triumphs and achievements (he really did miss the days in which he could slaughter an entire village of people and, still, none would be privy to the existence of vampires), but the idea of learning about other wars and battles and the statistics of deaths and all that other rubbish. It was all very boring.

It didn’t really help when all he could feel was growing irritation for all the students at the school. As a history teacher, Klaus got very little respect to what he was used to. The teenagers were visibly bored during the class and often interrupted his class with rude inputs to which Klaus had tried to grin and bear it, all while imagining himself ripping apart their necks and draining them dry.

The fact that Klaus wasn’t in his own body didn’t help either. While some of his supernatural abilities passed over to his human vessel, his compulsion being his main skill, the human was still weak. Klaus’ senses had been dulled and dampened, unable to hear across the classroom, let alone a few corridors down, and his sight had been greatly diminished. What was probably worse was the fact that his speed and strength were practically nonexistent whilst he was in this body. Sure, if the body was killed, Klaus would just go back to his own, but that didn’t take away the niggling annoyance of currently feeling so weak. There was also the fact that the body itself was annoying as hell. Klaus hated the clothes the man usually wore, hated the way he barely styled his hair and allowed it to fall over one side of his forehead and hated the American accent that flowed from the man’s lips. It just wasn’t Klaus’ body and his impatience to get out of it only grew.

Honestly, Klaus had only wanted to get his eyes on his doppelgänger and maybe learn a little bit more about the group he was going to kill - he needed all the information he could get, especially if that thing about the Witch was true.

He saw Elena Gilbert in the first hour of the school day, as well as the rest of the little group. Part one accomplished. But then, to keep his cover as the history teacher, Klaus had to go through the entire day teaching a bunch of kids he’d rather just kill.

By the last period of the day, Klaus was more than ready to just leave the establishment and never go back but held back the irrational move by reassuring himself that it was only one hour left and then he was finished.

This was one of his youngest classes, the kids ranging from ages fourteen to fifteen - Freshmen, who would soon go into their sophom*ore year in a few short months. The only upside to the class was the knowledge that this was supposed to be Elena’s little brother’s class - if the register was anything to go by. Klaus didn’t even bother to look up at the students as he pretended to write some notes in a little book that Alaric kept on his desk.

When the bell went off, Klaus glanced up and gave a fake smile, “Alright class,” he started for what felt like the thousandth time that day but froze when his eyes landed on someone in the second row, seated closest to one of the windows.

Words seemed to dry up in Klaus’ throat as he openly stared at the familiar features that he hadn’t seen in so many years. Sure, his hair was shorter and he looked a little older than how Klaus remembered him, but no matter how old the vampire got, he would never forget the colour of that floppy brown hair, he would never forget the position of those little moles that dotted the side of his pale face, would never forget the shade of deep, earthy brown that burned amber in the sunlight. Klaus could never forget the face of his most precious little brother, who’d died before he and the others had been turned into vampires.

Never before had Klaus even considered the possibility of ever being able to see Henrik again, and he never expected his little brother to be none other than Jeremy Gilbert…

Anxiety weighed on Jeremy’s mind throughout the whole day, getting increasingly more overwhelming as the day wore on. Jeremy wasn’t sure that Bonnie knew how he felt about her dying. She seemed to be so… okay with it like it was her role and responsibility to be the dying martyr of their group, her sacrifice being necessary for the ‘greater good’ as a dedicated ‘servant of nature’. Never mind the fact that she had a family she would be leaving behind, never mind the fact that she was a seventeen-year-old kid, never mind that she would be leaving Jeremy all alone to crumble after losing yet another loved one…

Throughout the entire day, he’d been conflicted and so close to having panic attacks that he’d excused himself from every class except Alaric’s. He couldn’t concentrate of anything other than Bonnie telling him that she might die with when she saved his sister, stressing to him the fact that it was the only way and that he should have faith in her.

It felt unfair.

It felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. What was he supposed to do? Did he tell the others and loose Bonnie’s faith and trust in him and also lose his sister along the way? Or did he keep his mouth shut and silently watched Bonnie walk to her death? He swore to God, no other fifteen-year-old had to go through these kinds of decisions…

Anxiety seemed to take roots in him throughout the day. Not only did it weigh heavily on his shoulders, but he felt it building with every step he walked, felt it squeezing at his heart with every beat, felt it inching into his lungs, making it hard to breathe, and felt it invading his subconscious thoughts as evert time he closed his eyes he saw flashes of dark, glassy, dead eyes that looked like Bonnie’s… It felt like his thoughts were eating him alive and by the time night fell and he was walking towards the gym doors, the music thumping through his chest in time with his heart, the anxiety felt like it was going to cripple him.

As soon as the entered the dance, Jeremy felt like he was hyperaware of his surroundings, eyes scanning over every entrance and exit as he tried to think of a getaway plan for when everything went pear-shaped, as it usually does.

Suddenly, the music simmered down and one of the organisers, a cheerleader probably, that Jeremy couldn’t remember the exact name of took the stage and grinned widely at the crowd, "Thanks for being here everybody,” and the whole gym cheered loudly, making Jeremy flinch slightly at the loudness. Bonnie gave him a concerned glance and squeezed his hand in comfort before they both concentrated on the stage again. "We have a special shout-out tonight! This is for Elena. From Klaus,” she finished and then the music went up again and it left Jeremy feeling more chilled to the core than he had been for the entire day.

Jeremy was barely paying attention to what the others were saying as he tried to breathe properly, concentrating on not having any kind of panic attack at the prospect that Klaus was here. Because if Klaus was here, then Bonnie would go after him. And if Bonnie went after Klaus, then she was going to die…

“Good idea,” Bonnie’s voice filtered into his head, making Jeremy blink and push away his spiralling thoughts.

The teen had only a moment of confusion before he registered the fact that Bonnie was trying to lead him out to the dance floor. Instant reluctance took over as Jeremy tried to gently tug Bonnie back and shook his head, “No, no, I really don’t feel like dancing,” he pleaded, but his pleads were dismissed as Bonnie cast him a mischievous grin over her shoulder and she just pulled him harder.

“Too bad.”

Together, the couple swayed to the music and Jeremy could almost pretend that Bonnie wasn’t on a suicide mission. As he stared deeply into her beautiful eyes, her hands warm around his neck as they just settled in one another’s company, Jeremy felt like he was just dancing with his girlfriend and not feeling like she was saying goodbye to him without actually saying the words.

All too soon, the image was shattered when Damon stepped up beside them, trademark smirk on his lips as he focused ice-blue eyes on Bonnie, “May I?” he questioned, all while sounding like he was making a demand.

Reality shattering the image once again, Jeremy cast one last desperate look at Bonnie before he gave a slight nod and walked away. It took everything in Jeremy to not say anything to anyone as he marched himself out of the gym and into one of the dark and desolate corridors of the school, hands trembling and breath stuttering as he tried to control his feelings of helplessness. Jeremy couldn’t help but feel a little bit betrayed by Bonnie. She spoke to him about her death and sacrifice for Elena, telling him that Elena was her best friend and had to save her - Bonnie would die for Elena, so why couldn’t she live for Jeremy? It felt like Bonnie was choosing his sister over him, even after telling her his fears of losing her, even after telling her that he loved her, she was still choosing Elena.

“sh*t!” Jeremy hissed between his teeth as he tried to stop the burning in his eyes. He couldn’t cry. He couldn’t break down. Not here. Not now.

“Jeremy,” Stefan called from down the hall as he jogged towards Jeremy, concern in his eyes, "What are you doing? Elena thinks we should stick together.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” the teen croaked out and then cleared his throat, wincing when Stefan gave him a disbelieving look and stepped forward as if to hug the teenager. Contact was the last thing Jeremy needed right now, and so he stepped back and waved his hand, “I’ve got my ring,” he tried to smile, but the muscles in his face didn’t seem to want to cooperate as his lips twitched down and tears blurred his vision, “It’s… It’s Bonnie…”

“What is it?” Stefan questioned, voice soft and comforting and his hand twitched slightly as if he wanted to touch the teen. If Jeremy had the will to smile, he would, Stefan was always the only one of the group that seemed to remember Jeremy’s age. While it had frustrated Jeremy when the group threw his age in his face in an effort to ‘protect’ him, it now seemed like they expected him to be okay with everything and shoulder his emotions in order to get a job done. Stefan was always the one who asked him if he was okay when Jeremy really needed it… “Hey,” the vampire prompted, giving the hesitant teen an imploring look, “You got something on your mind, spit it out.”

At that moment, Jeremy’s inner battle seemed to fall away and only one option was clear to him - he just hoped Bonnie forgave him for blabbing her secret. "If Bonnie takes on Klaus, channelling all that energy's going to kill her.”

The silence between the pair was nearly suffocating as Stefan’s eyes grew wide and he looked at Jeremy with alarm and disbelief.

“What?”

"But she doesn't want Elena to know, 'cause if Elena knows, she's gonna try to stop her. And it's Elena that could turn up dead, so…” Jeremy stuttered out a breath as he wrapped his fingers around his hair and a tear escaped from his eyes before he could stop it, “What am I supposed to do?”

At the sound of his desperate question, Stefan seemed to drop all pretences of keeping away from the teen as Jeremy suddenly found himself wrapped up in Stefan’s arms, the vampire’s hand in his hair as he tried to shush Jeremy and calm him down, rocking them slightly. “You’re not supposed to do anything. Leave it with me,” he assured Jeremy as he untangled his limbs from Jeremy, “I’ll take care if it.” and then from one blink to the next, Stefan was gone and Jeremy finally felt like he could properly breathe again.

Unwilling to get back to the party, Jeremy shoved his hands in his pockets and walked further down the dark hallways, feeling the constant thrum of the loud music fade from his chest the further to walked away. When he couldn’t feel the music at all, Jeremy took a deep breath. He felt so much better already. Getting away from the party and telling Stefan about Bonnie had done wonders to relax him and he didn’t feel like he was constantly choking.

However, nothing good ever seemed to last long in this town as Jeremy spotted three boys that he recognised from school waiting for him in the dark. A bad feeling rose in his chest, but Jeremy didn’t let that cow him as he carried on walking towards the waiting boys, "What's going on, guys?”

"You okay, Gilbert? You don't look so good,” the ringleader said and Jeremy could instantly tell from the tone that the three guys weren’t looking for any peaceful conversation to take place.

Holding up his hands placatingly, Jeremy glared at the leader, "Dude, seriously? Wrong day, wrong guy.”

However, that seemed to do nothing to deter them as the first guy swung his fist and clocked Jeremy in the jaw, hard enough for the younger teen to accidentally bit his lip and make it bleed. Before Jeremy even had a chance to recover, the other two leapt at him and grabbed his arms, fingers digging into his arms hard enough to bruise, and then he felt a familiar pain as the lead-guy punched him in the nose, blood instantly beginning to flow down - though it wasn’t hard enough to break, which Jeremy was thankful for. After that, Jeremy felt a few punches landing on his stomach before the two boys released his arms and threw him to the floor, a rain of kicks landing on him in all directions. All Jeremy could do was curl up as much as he could and wait for the beating to be over-

“Hey, idiots!” a voice interrupted and the kicking finally stopped. Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief, never before had Jeremy been thankful to hear Damon’s voice.

Glancing up, Jeremy was quick enough to see the leader pull out a crossbow and fire a wooden stake without a second of hesitation. The stick, impaling the dark vampire’s shoulder.

"Let me guess…” Damon grunted as he pulled out the stake, "Klaus says hi?”

It was all a blur of movement and by the time Jeremy was able to get his feet back under him, the three compelled teens were down and Stefan and Damon were talking. “Go find Bonnie and Elena. I got this. Go.” Stefan nodded to Damon and the older vampire didn’t need to be told twice before he was speeding away. “You okay?” Stefan questioned as he looked over Jeremy, taking in the bloody lip and nose.

“No,” Jeremy managed to get out, breathe unsteady as he tried to breathe around his injured ribs. In an instant, the vampire was beside Jeremy, steady hands grabbing his arm and slowly allowing Jeremy to straighten out properly.

“You okay?” Stefan asked again, a conflicted look in his eyes like he wanted to go after the others, but also didn’t want to leave Jeremy alone and vulnerable.

Nodding, Jeremy tried to wipe some of the blood on his face away, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Go help Damon.”

The vampire didn’t need much more prompting as he nodded and sped away, leaving Jeremy in the dark, empty hallway, surrounded by three unconscious teenagers. Slowly, Jeremy made his way to the toilets, wincing every now and again because of his tender ribs, trying to go faster and clean up so he could go and help the others. But, Jeremy couldn’t go out with a bloodied face, that was just asking for attention.

Slipping into the toilets and turning the taps, Jeremy wasted no time in grabbing a wad of paper towels and running it under warm water. Without much hesitation, Jeremy started to wipe away the blood, ignoring the way the water turned pink before it slipped down the drain. “sh*t!” Jeremy hissed between his teeth when he dabbed at his slip lip with a little too much enthusiasm, before carrying on with the task. It was quite sad that Jeremy was so used to cleaning blood off his face that the task felt like nothing more than a hindrance.

Throwing the bloodied paper towel in the bin, Jeremy was about to start looking for the others, when drowsiness suddenly took over him. Exhausted, Jeremy was unable to catch himself when his knees gave out, but just before he hit the floor, arms caged around him before he felt his body being lifted from the cold, grimy floor of the school toilets.

“Who…” was all Jeremy was able to slur before his eyes rolled and darkness swiftly took over…

Jeremy hummed as he snuggled into his pillow, comfortable and content in the warmth of his bed. It had been so long since he’d woken up naturally, no alarm to disturb him, no strange, terrifying dreams to startle him awake - it was a good sleep and Jeremy was very reluctant to get the day started and go to school. Jeremy frowned, he didn’t even remember getting in and going to bed. What happened yest-

Suddenly, Jeremy bolted upright and tried to look around him with wide, frightened eyes. He remembered the dance, the attack in the hallway and he remembered being in the toilets, but after that, he didn’t remember a thing…

“Where am I?” Jeremy questioned, voice still rough from sleep as he stumbled up from the bed and tried to calm down enough to look around and take in his surroundings. Frowning, Jeremy patted his ribs, feeling no pain where a rib had been at least bruised. So he’d been healed and that meant he’d been taken by a vampire, but as Jeremy looked around, he realised something: this was Ric’s place. He recognised the interior of the spare bedroom, the half-bare bricks and the whitewashed wooden furniture that was surprisingly fashionable for a single man, Jeremy had stayed in here many a time when he’d needed someplace to hide from Elena and the group. Jeremy must have been attacked and one of the Salvatores had given him blood, but why was he here? What happened? Was Bonnie alright?

Feeling more frantic and needing answers, Jeremy started to make his way to the door (distantly he noted that his shoes seemed to have been taken, but were not left in the room) and when he tried to turn the handle, he found that it was stuck, locked. His panic building, Jeremy tried again just to make sure before he abandoned his effort and walked towards the large windows. Sure, Jeremy was quite high up, but if he remembered correctly, it was the spare bedroom that has the fire-escape attached to it. Pulling the curtains out the way, Jeremy narrowed his eyes at the daylight that nearly blinded him, before he tried to slide the window open, but he only had the same results as the door. Pausing his efforts, Jeremy leaned closer to the window seal and spotted the reason why he couldn’t slide it open: there was a clear solution that had lined the entire thing, which Jeremy could only guess was superglue.

With nothing to pry the window open, Jeremy abandoned his task and glared at the door.

Marking up to the barrier, Jeremy banged on the wood, “Hey! Alaric!” Jeremy shouted, annoyance clear in his tone, “C’mon! Open the door!” he banged on the wood again, before he huffed in frustration, dragged a hand through his hair and stepped away for a second to calm down.

However, just as Jeremy stepped away, the door’s lock clicked off and in stepped Alaric. Jeremy felt a flood of relief at the sight of his sort-of-guardian and was about to ask why the door was locked when Jeremy suddenly felt the words stick in his throat. The teen didn’t know why, but just looking at Ric, it felt as if something was wrong. It was a niggling feeling that just wouldn’t go away and it made Jeremy take a wary step back. Jeremy may not have been the smartest kid in his grade, but he was far from stupid and he knew that if his instincts were telling him to run, then something was very wrong.

“Ric?” Jeremy asked as he furrowed his brows.

At Jeremy’s question, Alaric’s face twisted into a smile that he’d never seen before, it was like a shark’s grin and every fibre of Jeremy’s being was screaming that he was in danger. “Not quite,” Ric swaggered further into the room but made sure that he was still blocking the door from Jeremy’s escape.

“Who are you?” Jeremy demanded, all hint of hesitance gone from his voice as he tried to stand tall and stare down at the intruder.

“To your little group, my name is Klaus,” Alaric bowed his head slightly a small smirk in place and then his eyes seemed to soften for a moment, though that could have been a trick of the light, “But you may call me Niklaus.”

Jeremy didn’t think he’d ever gone through so many rapid emotions as he stared at Alaric- no, this was Klaus, not his aunt’s boyfriend. Fear, anger, confusion, panic, worry, curiosity, it was nearly impossible to distinguish which emotion he was feeling and which ones he wasn’t. Luckily, Jeremy was able to push his emotions aside as he took another step back, unwilling to be too close to the mad vampire, “Why am I here? What did you do to Bonnie?”

“Did you know that there are certain supernatural phenomenons that not even the Witches can verify,” Klaus started, tone educational as he stepped ever closer to Jeremy, who matched his possessed friend’s movements until his back bumped into a wall, “Sure, there are the standard vampires, witches, werewolves, doppelgängers, syphons and travellers, but there is one supernatural race in which can neither be confirmed nor denied and that is reincarnation. Do you know what that is?” Klaus prodded.

“Yes,” Jeremy gritted out, feeling uncomfortable with how close the man to him, “What’s that got to do with me?”

The expression on Alaric’s face changed into something that was actually familiar on the man’s face. It was an expression of love and sorrow, a loss which pained Klaus from long ago; Alaric usually had that expression when he thought about Isobel before he found out that she’d left him to become a vampire. Jeremy would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious as to who Klaus could have lost that had meant so much to him.

“You see,” Klaus started off, licking his lips in a nervous tick, “While I may be an original vampire, the first of my kind, there are other originals…”

“There are more of you?” Jeremy asked with a slight quiver in his voice. With all the fear, stress and trouble that Jeremy and the group had been put through because of one original vampire, Jeremy wasn’t sure if he was ready to face a reality in which there were several…

“Yes,” Klaus nodded, a touch of warmth to his smile, “In the beginning, when we were human, there were seven of us. Seven siblings. My eldest sibling, I never knew. She died before I ever got to meet. For many years, my family lived happily, until the youngest of my siblings, my little brother, Henrik, got attacked and killed by a werewolf. After that, my remaining siblings and I were turned into vampires and the rest is history. I loved my little brother very much, but I have long since accepted that I will never see him again, not even in death… That is until very recently when I saw you.”

There was a brief pause that hung in the air as Jeremy stared at the vampire, wariness and confusion in his eyes before he dared to open his mouth and speak the words that he thought the original was trying to hint at. “You think that I’m your brother?”

“No,” Klaus shook his head, tone stern as he looked at Jeremy with hard eyes, “I know you’re my brother. Same looks, same mannerisms, maybe you look a little old and your hair is a little shorter, but I would know my little brother anywhere and you are him. You are Henrik, reborn.”

“No, I’m not,” Jeremy denied instantly and he nearly retracted his statement at the narrowed look that earned him, but Jeremy gathered his courage and gritted his teeth, “I might be some kind of doppelgänger, or similar to your brother, but I'm not Henrik. My name is Jeremy Gilbert and my sister is Elena Gilbert. Nothing more, nothing less.”

A dark look entered Klaus’ face and Jeremy didn’t think he’d ever be able to look at Alaric the same, now that he knew the man could pull off such a murderous expression. Suddenly, Klaus was far too close to Jeremy for comfort, hands fisted into the 60s style vest that he still hadn’t taken off from the decade dance the night before, as he shoved Jeremy into the wall as he leaned in and whispered, “You may have convinced yourself of such claims, but I know differently brother,” he growled out and Jeremy gulped in fear and the man’s anger and intensity. Then, Klaus moved away, far away enough for Jeremy to finally breath easier, “Stay here. Don’t try to leave.”

“You can’t compel me,” Jeremy claimed with a glare, “I’m on vervain.”

“True,” Klaus nodded and then smirked, causing a shiver of fear to rush down the human’s spine, “But that doesn’t stop me from getting one of my witches to place a spell on the door and it’s only a matter of days until the vervain fades from your system,” and with that, Klaus turned on his heel and left the room. The sound of the lock clicking into place seemed to echo throughout the small room just as Jeremy managed to reach it.

“Wait! Wait!” Jeremy shouted, voice cracking with desperation, “What about Bonnie! What happened to Bonnie! Let me out! Klaus!”

Chapter 2: A day in a room

Chapter Text

“There was a time…” Elijah murmured as he cast his mind back to the past, back to a time when he did anything and everything for Klaus as part of their bond as brothers and the pact they both made, along with Rebecka, That Day, “I’d have done anything for Klaus…” Elijah thought back to when they were all human, looking out for one another and basking in the simplicity of life, a time before they were vampires before he understood what true grief and loss meant, “As his older brother it had always been in my best interests to protect and support him. However, these days, the novelty seems to have worn off.”

“What?” the doppelgänger nearly chocked out, doe brown eyes wide with undeniable shock as she looked at him with new eyes. He guessed that her reaction was warranted; Elena and her group had always assumed him as some old lackey of Niklaus’, his true identity put a whole new spin on events to come.

“Yes,” he nodded drolly, “Klaus is my brother.”

“I heard that. I’m still processing,” she stated, a wrinkle between her brows as she attempted to come to terms with the impossible piece of information that he had thrown at her.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Elijah lifted his tea a little higher, "Yes, I'm a little behind on the times, but I believe the term you're searching for is ‘OMG’,” he took a sip from his tea to hide the amused quirk of his lips as Elena dragged her hands through her hair in minor distress.

Elena blinked, mind still trying to take in the information before she sighed and shook her head, seeming to give up on the process before she regained a new determined light in her eyes, “What about my brother? Is that another 'trick'? Will Jeremy be alright?” Elena questioned, voice gaining strength with the new subject change.

“Ah…” Elijah trailed off with a look of slight pain in his eyes before the emotion faded back into his mask, “While Klaus’ usual tricks do involve killing off one’s family one by one, I’m afraid Jeremy would be a different case altogether.”

“What do you mean?” Elena demanded, tone forceful and Elijah could see the surprisingly protective side of a girl who Elijah had only seen as a manipulative damsel in distress.

“The origin story of how my family were turned into vampires if a long one, and one I will not impart today,” Elijah sighed, an aching pain in his heart at the memory he was trying to delve up, “My mother bore seven children, but only five of us were turned into vampires, my youngest brother’s death being the catalyst for our turning. Henrik was barely thirteen summers before he was killed by werewolves during a full moon and the loss of our little brother was staggering to all of us, most of all to Klaus, who loved Henrik very, very dearly.” Elijah sighed again, remembering how pale Niklaus’ face was when he emerged from the woods, clutching Henrik’s small, bloodied body, “Your brother happens to share a very strong resemblance to him.”

In all honesty, it was a very strong resemblance, so strong that even Elijah nearly broke form when he first saw the boy. It was uncanny, but Elijah remained focused and made sure to keep well away from the boy as he constantly told himself that Jeremy was not Henrik. The task had been harder than Elijah had expected. He’d only had one slip up when he was feeling especially nostalgic and couldn’t resist the urge the sped to the Gilbert’s residence and stand in a dark corner of Jeremy’s room, watching the kid sleep - it didn’t help that when Jeremy mumbled in his sleep, it sounded like he was speaking a mix of Nordic and English, or the fact that when he inspected the teen’s room more, Elijah found many charcoal drawings of distorted and nightmarish pictures of wolves, the very beast in which Henrik had been killed by…

“So,” Elena started, tanned face growing paler by the second, “He thinks that Jeremy’s a doppelgänger?”

“No,” Elijah snapped, the harsh and sudden exclamation causing the girl to violently flinch. Elijah couldn’t bring himself to apologise as he silently brought his irrational anger under control. While Klaus was most definitely a monster when he wanted to be, he would never do anything to harm anything that reminded him of Henrik; it was one of the main reasons why Klaus never hunted children and killed off vampires that did. “Jeremy is under no danger from my brother, though I suspect that he would be most unwilling to let him go. If anything, Klaus may even convince himself that Jeremy is Henrik’s reincarnate.”

“Reincarnation’s a real thing?” Elena questioned, tone incredulous.

This time, Elijah allowed his lips to twitch slightly in amusem*nt - humans had such closed minds, even when faced with evidence of the impossible, they still refused to believe.

“I’m surprised you have such a hard time believing in the concept, considering everything else,” Elijah rose an elegant eyebrow and the doppelgänger had the decency to wince at her slight oversight.

“So Klaus thinks that Jeremy is his dead brother?” Elena asked tone once again incredulous with an added head-tilt.

“If Jeremy is a true reincarnate, he could retain memories of his former life as Henrik, though they would be buried deep in his subconsciousness and it would be notoriously difficult to trigger them at all. That is added onto the fact that true reincarnations are extremely rear and often falsely confirmed or dismissed,” Elijah supplied and he honestly felt conflicted about if he wanted Jeremy to be a true reincarnation of Henrik or not. On one hand, Elijah missed his little brother terribly and would do just about anything to have the child back in his arm, safe and where he belonged. However, on the other hand, Henrik’s appearance could lead to complications that Elijah was never prepared for and he wasn’t sure if he could handle Henrik’s coming back from the dead after he spent centuries coming to terms with it…

“What does that mean for Jeremy?” Elena spoke up, interrupting his train of thought, “Is he in danger? What’s Klaus going to do to him?”

“Klaus would never kill Jeremy, but that is to say that he would be very unwilling to let him go, especially if he’s convinced himself that Jeremy is in fact, Henrik.” Elijah supplied, keeping his face clear as Elena’s face crumpled and her eyes started to grow shiny with unshed tears.

However, the doppelgänger seemed to catch herself just in time as she took a deep shuddering breath and wiped her eyes. There were a few minutes of silence as Elena attempted to gather herself and then looked at Elijah with new eyes - the original was polite enough to ignore the slight redness around her eyes that hadn’t quite left yet, “So, there’s a whole family of originals?” she changed the subject, obviously unable to carry on the conversation about her brother and his undetermined fate.

Honestly, Elijah didn’t understand why Elena was getting so worked up over Jeremy’s disappearance. Even when the original had first come to Mystic Falls to observe them all, it was clear that she tried to push Jeremy out of the loop on a constant basis. The group, in general, seemed to ignore the young teenager as they went about protecting Elena from anything and everything, leaving him alone with nothing but vervain to protect him at the worst of times. But, as much as Elijah wanted to, he kept his mouth shut. After all, it was none of his business about how Jeremy seemed to be treated by his sister, even if he did look like Henrik…

“Well, as I said, my mother bore seven children and my father was a wealthy landowner in a village in Eastern Europe…”

Damon felt like he could constantly roll his eyes as he leapt up the last steps of the apartment building that he was all too familiar with, dragging his latest toy with him as she complained, a nervousness in her voice that he could only feel partly guilty for.

"I don't think this is a good idea.”

“It’s investigative journalism…” Damon grinned at her in a half attempt to soothe any doubts she may have, he couldn’t have her running away, after all, he needed her to get in. for some reason, despite their budding bromance based around alcoholism and being forced to hang around teenagers, Alaric still hasn’t invited him into his place. “We’re investigating.”

Andie took a visibly deep breath, only hesitating slightly before she went ahead and gave a few loud knocks on the door before calling through the wooden barrier with a tentative and unsure voice, “Alaric, are you home? It’s Andie, er, Star. Jenna’s friend?” she said the last part like a question and Damon could see her wince from the corner of his eye before he concentrated his hearing on anything that was on the other side of the door.

He was hoping that both Jeremy and Katherine were trapped in Alaric’s place, hopefully, they both weren’t dead. While Damon generally didn’t care about the two - well he had an all-consuming hatred for Katherine, so he cared a little in that regard - he also didn’t want to return with Elena’s little brother’s dead body and her reaction to that. His ears were still ringing from when she shouted at him and Stefan about leaving Jeremy, injured, in a dark and isolated hallway… So, maybe that wasn’t one of Damon’s best moments, but it wasn’t his fault that Super Stefan had left the squirt there as well!

Either way, Damon was hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

Impatient, Damon pulled out the spare key he’d swiped off his friend and unlocked the door before gesturing for the uncertain journalist to push it open, which she did. As the dark wood slowly swung open, it revealed the miserable-looking Katherine Pierce standing just a few feet away.

“Thank God,” she stated, impatience in her tone as he stared at them

Andie was completely undeterred by the tone as she stepped over the premises and looked at Katherine with vague intrigue, "Wow! You were right. She looks exactly like Elena,” she stepped further into the apartment, though Katherine barely spared the woman a second glance before she turned to stare at Damon.

Testing his luck, Damon went to move forward and sighed in frustration when the invisible force prevented him from doing so, “Yep…” he answered Andie before he stepped back a little bit and concentrated his ice-blue eyes onto one of the missing people of the hour, "Thought you might be dead.”

Katherine tilted her chin up slightly and the fear in her eyes just went to show how terrified the vampire truly was, "Unfortunately not. What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to rescue you,” Andie supplied.

“No, sweetie,” Damon interrupted, smirking as he saw the vague shadow of hope die instantly upon his words, “We’re here to see if she deserves to be rescued and to rescue Jeremy if he’s here,” he corrected with a sweet smile before he fell away made make room for a serious one, “Is he here?”

Instantly, Katherine went to open her mouth, but no words came out.

“You can’t say…” Damon murmured in thought before he looked to Andie, “Sweetie, can you check around the place? Make sure no rooms have been locked?”

“Sure, honey,” Andie smiled before she went off to do exactly that.

"I figured you still might be kicking. Alaric-Klaus was blending way too easily. Figured he probably had some coaching,” Damon smirked before he pulled out the small bottle from his inside pocket, the clear liquid bringing a light of hope to the vampire’s dull eyes.

“Is that…”

“Vervain? Your salvation?” Damon shook the bottle.

“It won't undo anything.”

“There’s always a loophole. Did he tell you to do absolutely everything he says until the end of time?” he prompted.

“No,” she denied and seemed surprised that she was able to answer the question at all as she looked at Damon with no small amount of shock. She’d probably forgotten that he was actually considered smart under all his years and years of obsession and irrational actions.

“There’s your loophole. Drink this and it'll prevent any further compulsion,” he threw it at her and watched as she instantly yanked off the cork and downed the contents, pain scrunching her features as she coughed around the poison.

“Damon!” Andie suddenly called out and Damon’s hearing perked up with interest, “I think I found him! But I can’t even touch the handle. It’s like something’s there, stopping me!”

“Witches…” Damon hissed out, annoyance growing for the irritating species.

Then, there was a knocking on the door and Damon could only assume that Andie was trying to get the trapped occupant’s attention. “Jeremy? Are you in there?” she called out, just as she had before, “It’s Andie Star. I used to babysit you with Jenna when you were little!” Huh, he didn’t know that. Looked like one learnt something new every day.

“Andie?” another voice came from the distance, muffled from behind the door and Damon let out a small sigh of relief. At least he could tell Elena that her little bro was definitely alive, “Andie! You gotta help me get out of here! I can’t even go near the door!” he shouted, sounding panicked, “I think his witches did something!”

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious Baby Gilbert!” Damon called out, hopefully, he was loud enough for the kid to hear him.

There was a small pause and Damon could only assume the kid was crying with joy at the sound of his voice. “Damon! You’ve got to get me the f*ck out of here! The guy’s insane!”

“My, my, such language for someone your age!” Damon mock gasped.

“I’m fifteen!” the kid reproached and Damon blinked at the age. He didn’t know why he felt so shocked at the kid’s age, but quickly dismissed the thought before anything ridiculous like lingering guilt for endangering someone so young could affect him. “I can f*cking swear if I want! and you’d be swearing too if some vampire psycho told you that you're his long-dead baby brother and locked you in a room so the vervain can drain out of your system!” the kid shouted, sounding more and more hysterical until he was practically bellowing at them through the door. To be honest, Damon would be swearing as well in Jeremy’s case.

“Point taken,” the vampire murmured as he shared a look with Katherine, before he raised his voice for Jeremy again, “Can you get to the door?” he asked.

Katherine tried to reply, but no answer came - another compulsion by the vampire of the century - but Damon couldn’t withhold the small surprised eyebrow raise when she managed to shake her head. With that answered, there was now the predicament that Damon was in. He’d found Jeremy, but couldn’t get him out of the locked room, a combination of Witch voodoo and vampire rules. There was also the case of Damon only having had one phial of vervain, in which he’d given to Katherine, and even if he did have another one, there was the question of how he was supposed to give it to the teen through a solid door. There was nothing more than Damon could do and while he would usually just turn around and leave the kid to it, Damon couldn’t shake the feeling that if he left the kid, now, he wasn’t going to be seeing him any time soon…

“Just leave!” Jeremy suddenly called out, startling Damon from his thoughts, “Klaus or one of his lackeys might be back at any minute! You can’t do anything for me anyways…” the last part was mumbled, probably not intended for Damon to hear, but the truth of the statement still stung a bit. “Just…” there was a moment of hesitation on Jeremy’s part like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say or didn’t know if he wanted to say it. “Bonnie… Is she okay?”

There was a moment of silence and Damon could tell that the teenager was holding his breath, silently praying for Bonnie to be safe, “Bonnie’s fine,” Damon called out, just loud enough for Jeremy to here, before he sighed and turned away from the open door, “Andie! Come on, let’s go!” he called out and the vampire heard a soft murmur of reassurance and ‘goodbye’ from his girlfriend before the sound of her heeled footsteps got closer and closer until she revealed herself from around the corner. Turning to Katherine, he gave her a half glare as he stated, "You owe me. And I will collect,” before he turned away from the apartment and started walking down the stairs.

Andie only lingered enough to say a small, polite farewell to the vampire bitch, before she caught up to him and instantly wrapped her arm around his waist, while he curled his own arm around her shoulders, the position relaxed and carefree in opposition to his rapid and stressful thoughts. “We really just going to leave him?” Andie questioned, looking slightly guilty as she peeked behind her shoulder as if she could get a parting glance from Jeremy.

“There’s nothing more we can do…”

Jeremy did nothing more than lay on the bed, bored out of his mind…

He’d spent the entire day in one room, trapped and alone with very little to entertain him. If the anticipation and fear of Klaus didn’t kill him, then the boredom surely would. After Jeremy had finally calmed down from having the door locked and suddenly being unable to get near the door-handle (magic), he’d taken to attempting to find alternate escape routes or at least something to contact the others. Jeremy practically flipped the room upside down.

He tried to force open the window, which was apparently nailed or superglued or spelled to the window-seel, and when he tried to smash it with his elbow, he’s simply bounced off of the force-field that had suddenly shimmered to life. After that failure, Jeremy had scoured the wall, pressing down and brushing his fingers over every small ridge and bare brick in an attempt to find some sort of hidden escape route. It was unlikely, but Jeremy was desperate and it wasn’t like he had loads to do. However, predictably, there were no hidden doors discovered.

Knowing a lost cause when he saw one, Jeremy designated his time in not being bored, but no matter what draw Jeremy couldn’t seem to find anything of entertainment - he couldn’t even find a damn book! It was only when Jeremy was muttering curses at how his life was turning out when he accidentally knocked his knuckles against the bottom of the chest he was searching through and paused. It sounded odd and Jeremy frowned in confusion as he tried to think of why such a sound had caught his attention so much. Knocking again, Jeremy decided to follow his instincts and felt along the edges of the wooden bottom, eyes widening with mild surprise when he felt a small catch. A false bottom. Grinning, Jeremy ripped open the false bottom of the deep chest and searched through his newly discovered treasure. His grin widened when he pulled out a crossbow, a few bolts to go with it and a few sharpened stakes.

After that, Jeremy had spent the next hour or so practicing his aim on the door, until it was riddled with holes. Alaric would have to get a new door for his guest bedroom. Jeremy knew that the man would probably rip him a new one when he found out what Jeremy had done to his room and his door, but the teen was finding it very hard to care at the moment.

However, all too soon, Jeremy quickly got bored once again. Never before had he wished to have his school books so he could study and do some homework…

Then, activity started outside of his room, loud music distant but still rattling his door with the force of it. He’d tried to yell for attention, but quickly gave up when he realised that it was probably one of Klaus’ henchmen and he was wasting his time in shouting at them. Not ten minutes later, the music stopped and Jeremy stared at the door, wishing that he could see or hear what was happening in the rest of the house. However, he was soon nearly jumping for joy and brimming with hope when he heard a feminine voice on the other end of the door and recognised it to be one of Jenna’s friends, Andie the news lady, and he was even more thrilled when he realised that Damon was there as well. While Damon would never be his favourite vampire that lurked around his sister (not after he killed Vicki and force Jeremy to forget) he was relieved to hear such familiar voices once again.

But that euphoria and hope of escape was soon sapped from Jeremy when they explained that they couldn’t get to him. Tears stung his eyes when they told him the Andie couldn’t touch the door and Damon couldn’t set foot in the apartment and his hands trembled when they told him that they needed to leave before Klaus came back and killed them all. Jeremy had passed on his acceptance and revelled in the fact that he knew that Bonnie was alive and well which made his heart feel a little less painful, but he couldn’t stop the dull throbbing in his chest when their voices floated away, a sound which Jeremy could only guess was the front door closing behind them. He tried to ignore the feeling. He tried to tell himself that they had no choice, that they would be back for him when they could, that they would never leave him there to die at the mercy of Klaus, not unless they had no choice. But Jeremy just couldn’t stop the sting of rejection and the ache of abandonment that seemed to be trying to crack open his soul.

Now, all he was doing was laying on the bed, keeping his mind as blank as he possibly could as he tried to avoid freaking himself out again. When you were involved in the supernatural, you couldn’t afford to be frantic and freak out because that only got you killed instantly; the best route was to always be level-headed and as calm as possible. Staring at the ceiling, Jeremy wasn’t really aware of his surroundings or what was happening in the outside world, but he was suddenly all too aware when Klaus came back.

The constant low thrum of music was suddenly cut off and Jeremy could hear a loud smash of glass shattering against a wall. Jeremy was up and off of the bed within a matter of seconds, snatching up the crossbow and started to expertly load it as he hovered in the corner, eyeing the door like it was a monster preparing to attack. Several minutes passed, but Jeremy didn’t dare relax, knowing full well that Klaus could come into the room at any moment and Jeremy couldn’t do a damn thing to prevent it, but he could damn well try…

Then the door made a sound and Jeremy tensed impossibly further as he listened to the click of the lock and the slow, dreaded turn of the handle. Hefting up the crossbow, Jeremy didn’t hesitate to squeeze the trigger when a man appeared by the door, the arrow heading straight for the man’s heart and it would have struck true if the man hadn’t possessed the reflex to catch the damn thing mid-flight.

Jeremy pursed his lips in mild displeasure, eyes narrowed in a heated glare as he observed the vampire. He had an air of displeasure but not one of surprise as his piercing blue eyes stared at the small arrow before throwing it to the side, eyes landing on Jeremy with an intensity that made the teen’s blood freeze in his very veins. Every inch of the vampire’s frame, every minuscule movement was filled with confidence and power that Jeremy would never be able to completely comprehend and it made Jeremy shudder at having to face such power - a mindless prey looking into the eyes of an intelligent predator.

“Nice shot, brother,” the vampire finally spoke - accent crisp and British and sounding so old - after several tense seconds of silence as he casually threw the arrow to the side, never taking his eyes off Jeremy as he gave a lazy sort of smile, “Just not fast enough.”

“What do you want?” Jeremy demanded in a hard tone, glare still in place as he gripped the crossbow tighter against him, despite the fact that it wasn’t loaded and wouldn’t do him any good.

The vampire tusked, stepping further into the room with lazy strides, making his way closer towards Jeremy, who couldn’t quite hide his fear as his hands gave a small tremble. “Can’t I visit my baby brother?” he questioned with a hint of teasing, full lips quirking up in the corner. Then, when he was but a few feet in front of Jeremy, paying no mind at all to the crossbow pointed at his chest, he stopped and regarded Jeremy with serious eyes, “Recognise me?”

Jeremy took a moment to sweep his eyes over the vampire, analysing the monster as slowly as he dared, noting the fact that the vampire was just as tall as Jeremy, chest wide with muscled arms, but not overly so, with a strong jaw that was covered in a light stubble, lips full and red, with a small nose and bright blue eyes which were overshadowed by his dark blonde eyebrows. His hair gave Jeremy a moment of pause, taking in the short strands and the dark blonde colouring, making Jeremy’s eyebrows twitch down slightly in mild confusion as the teen couldn’t shake the feeling that the man’s hair was supposed to be longer, but quickly pushed the odd idea away.

“No,” Jeremy stated in a controlled tone.

In response, Klaus narrowed his eyes even further and before Jeremy knew what was happening, his crossbow was thrown and broken on impact as it made contact with the opposite wall and a hand was clamped around Jeremy’s jaw, forcing the teen to stare into the vampire’s eyes as his body was shoved against the wall. Breath coming out raggedly through his nose, Jeremy felt his hands twitch up to grab at Klaus’ wrist before he forced them to his sides, not wanting to touch the vampire any more than he had to. Suddenly, Klaus leaned in close and Jeremy practically stopped breathing as he stared at blue eyes that had tainted darker, red slowly clouding the whites as he stared deeply into Jeremy’s doe brown, as he murmured threateningly, “Do not lie to be, brother, you will not like the consequences… Now, let’s try this again,” he leaned a little bit away, so Jeremy could look at the vampire’s whole face, “Do. You. Recognise. Me?”

Again, Jeremy tried to deny and shake his head, but stopped and couldn’t quite hide his wince of pain when Klaus dug hid nails into the vulnerable flesh of Jeremy’s jaw. Opening his mouth, Jeremy released a shuddering breath as he tried to explain, voice shamefully weak as he stared fearfully at the deranged original, “I- No. It- It’s the hair!” he managed to choke out and made a small sigh of relief when the vampire eased up the grip on his jaw.

“What about my hair?” Klaus prompted in a small murmur as he stared at Jeremy like he was the only thing in the world.

Jeremy hesitated for another moment before he gave his reluctant answer, “It should be… longer…” Jeremy sighed as he looked at the short stands and let his eyes track down before he settled on the vampire’s shoulder, “To around your shoulders…” then Jeremy blinked and wished the vampire wasn’t so close to him so he could rub a tired hand down his face, “I don’t know-“ Jeremy started but choked himself off when Klaus’ hand moved from his jaw to cup the back of his neck, fingers gently tangling in the dark hair as he moved Jeremy forward. Before the teen to do anything to fight against the hold, Klaus’ forehead gently connected with his own, piercing blue eyes hidden beneath closed eyelids, the vampire’s face a picture of peace and serenity as if he was basking in Jeremy’s presence. Jeremy couldn’t help but lean into the touch a little at the gentle and oddly intimate contact - it had been a long time since someone, other than Bonnie, had touched him so gently and lovingly - but he refused to close his eyes as he stared at the original before him, a hint of fear and wariness keeping him from relaxing completely.

It felt like forever before Klaus finally released a long and deep sigh, and moved back, lowly retracting his hands from Jeremy like he was very reluctant to let go. Then, the vampire righted himself and started to retreat from the room, “I’ll be back later, baby brother,” he then looked over his shoulder and smirked at Jeremy, “The sacrifice happens tonight.”

As soon as Jeremy registered what Klaus had said, panic and anger shot through him like a live wire and was running towards the door before he was even conscious of his movement. However, Jeremy was too late as the vampire stepped out of the room and shut the door in the teen’s face, but that didn’t stop Jeremy from pounding on the door and shouting, begging for the vampire to leave his sister alone, to not kill her and take her away from him as he tried and failed to touch the door handle once again.

It was a while before Jeremy calmed down again, tears and anger rushing through him like it hadn’t done since the night he was informed of his parents’ deaths. All too soon, exhaustion made itself known as his emotional tidal waves began to retreat and he could do nothing more than quietly sob on the bed until he finally fell asleep, trapped, helpless and alone once again…

Hours ticked by unnoticed by Jeremy as he slept. He slept heavily through the commotion of Damon and Alaric coming back home, the pair attempting to call to Jeremy through the door before Katherine told them that the kid was asleep after ‘his little tantrum’. He slept through Klaus returning home and opening the door to check on him, only to silently retreat when he discovered Jeremy’s unconscious state, a smirk quirking at his lips before he rounded on Katherine and then Damon when the vampire tried to rub his false victory in Klaus’ face. He slept through, well into the night unaware that his sister and aunt were being sacrificed and that his uncle had traded his own life for Elena’s.

Jeremy only jolted awake when a wolf’s howl sounded off from a distance, the noise electing momentary instinctual fear before he pushed it away, shook his head and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he winced at the dull pain in his head - a pain he was all too familiar with when he cried himself to sleep. He didn’t know why the thought of werewolves scared him more than the thought of vampires, but the only thing Jeremy could do was shake it off and keep as far away from Tyler as possible. Sighing and looking around at the darkness, Jeremy finally hefted himself off of the bed and walked towards the door once again, ignoring his heavily crinkled shirt and trousers which he’d still not changed from since the night of the decade dance. The task was practically pointless, Jeremy knew that he wasn’t going to be able to even touch the damn door handle, but he just had to check…

Warm flesh made contact with chilled metal and Jeremy flinched back and held his hand at the unexpectedness of it as if it had injured him. Blinking with disbelief, Jeremy touched the handle again and could barely contain his laugh of joy as he could feel the metal again, but as he went to pull it down, he felt a rush of near-crippling helplessness as all the hope that had surged in him was drained in a matter of seconds.

It was locked. The door was locked. Even with Jeremy being able to touch the handle, he was still locked and trapped inside. There was no way that- “Oh…” Jeremy murmured to himself, realisation hitting him with a force that left him blinking stupidly and then rolling his eyes at himself for being so dumb…

Within a matter of seconds, Jeremy was throwing his entire weight against the door as he kicked it, once, twice- and then fell on the floor when the old hinges couldn’t take the attack anymore. At least he was out of that damn room, though.

Scraping himself off the floor and dusting himself off, Jeremy finally looked around and blinked when he saw Elena standing in the kitchen. Had she been here this whole time? Jeremy shook his head at the question, elation running through him at the knowledge that his sister was safe, that his sister wasn’t dead, that Jeremy could still save her. Happiness thrumming through him, Jeremy smiled and stepped forward to hug Elena, who still had yet to move or speak, when he froze, smile faltering as he gazed at his sister. It took Jeremy another second to blink and notice that Elena didn’t seem ‘right’: her clothes were not the usual layers with long-comfortable sleeves; her hair was wavy and curled opposed to her usual straight; what was most telling were her eyes, the same innocent brown that he was familiar with, but, at the same time, they seemed ancient and haunted. Katherine.

“Katherine,” Jeremy stated the name bluntly without really meaning to speak out loud in the first place.

The vampire blinked as well, minutely shocked before her usual conniving smirk was fixed to her lips once again, “I don’t think anyone’s ever told me apart from Elena so fast. Bravo, Jeremy,” she did small sarcastic clap.

Ignoring the vampire, for the most part, Jeremy did a quick look around the apartment, shoulders relaxing ever so slightly at the confirmation that Klaus wasn’t lurking about anywhere. Once the prospect of freedom really hit Jeremy, the teen wasted no time in rushing towards the door. He needed to help Elena, he needed to help Bonnie and he couldn’t do that from Alaric’s home. However, he only managed a handful of steps before Katherine sped in front of him, blocking his way.

“Get out of the way, Katherine,” Jeremy practically growled at her as he stared her down with as much hate he could manage. He didn’t know why the vampire wasn’t dead, or why she wasn’t attacking and drinking from him (though, there was a possibility that Klaus had compelled her not to harm him), but he didn’t care. He needed to get to his sister.

“You’re too late,” Katherine spoke up, just as Jeremy moved around her, making him freeze, “The moon’s already come passed its apex, the sacrifice is over. Elena and your little Aunt Jenna are dead.”

Pain, like never before, seemed to rip at Jeremy’s heart like a rabid beast. It was a kind of pain that nearly brought Jeremy to his knees, crippling helplessness and sorrow coming down upon him like an avalanche of emotions. Elena was dead. His sister, who he’d worked so hard to protect and keep happy, was dead. It almost didn’t seem real, like he was trapped in some twisted lucid dream that he had absolutely no control over. Aunt Jenna. Did she just say that Jenna was also dead? No. No. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t real!

“I don’t believe you…” Jeremy managed to choke out around the pain of his emotions, without sounding like he was truly dying inside. He turned to face her, swinging around to bare his teeth at the ancient bitch, uncaring that she could see the tears brimming in his eyes, “You’re wrong!”

“Believe what you want,” Katherine dismissed easily as she turned away and sashayed herself towards the kitchen, “But that doesn’t mean I lied.”

Jeremy didn’t know what to say to that. He was alone (with Katherine, but that didn’t count), upset, panicked and very hungry. He just wanted to go home. He wanted to curl up on his bed, turn his music up to its highest volume and cry his pain-riddled heart out. He couldn’t handle this any more. Without thinking much more than the word ‘home’, Jeremy ignored the feel of Katherine’s eyes following him out the door, nearly tripped and fell down an entire flight of stairs in his haste to distance himself from the apartment, before he stumbled out onto the street. Jeremy paused as he looked around, taking in the darkness and complete lack of people before looking up at the silver light of that accursed full moon that had always unnerved him, ever since he was a small child…

Taking in a shuddering breath in an attempt to calm himself down, before he turned in the direction of home, familiar with the route back to his home from Alaric’s place, and started running. Jeremy ran like the hounds of hell were on his heels, pumping his legs and letting the sound of his panting breath and the slam of his feet hitting the night-chilled pavement fill his ears with a running mantra of ‘home’ playing in his mind. By the time Jeremy got to the halfway point, at across the road from the graveyard, the teen was cursing the fact that Alaric lived on the opposite side of town from, literally everyone else in their little ‘supernatural club'.

On the second to last corner from his home, Jeremy let a small smile of relief bloom over his face. Home. He was almost home. He was almost there-

Jeremy's world suddenly cut off and the next thing he knew he was blinking dazedly from the cool ground. What happened…

One moment he was running, pushing himself to go faster, the next he felt like he’d been hit by a truck as he was taken off of his feet and thrown to the ground, whacking his head on the ground in the process. He winced when pain shot up his arm, the small loose stones of the concrete digging in and scraping away at his delicate skin until blood was flowing down his arm and he couldn’t really think straight as he tried to sit up, but something heavy pressed him down. What…

Blinking the dizziness from his eyes, Jeremy managed to finally look up at the weight that was pressing him down and nearly couldn’t suppress a scream in time when he could see a giant wolf peering down at him, eyes glinting maliciously in the low light of the dreaded full moon. Before Jeremy could think of anything more to do than freeze up with fear, the wolf rushed forward, mouth open and Jeremy was sure that this was how he was going to die… Only to find himself being tugged from the back of his shirt collar and bodily dragged across the road towards the surrounding woods that the wolf had obviously come from.

The wolf was obviously a werewolf and it was either a werewolf that preferred to drag its prey back to its territory and then eat, or the group had failed to stop the sacrifice like Katherine had said, and this was Klaus in his wolf form trying to drag Jeremy back to his prison or kill him. Either way, those thoughts were terrifying and Jeremy instantly started to struggle and shout.

“Let go!” he demanded, twisting his arms back to try and get the wolf to release him, despite knowing that his efforts were in vain. From the angle his arms were, he would never be able to gain enough strength or a proper grip to struggle free and even if he could fight off a werewolf, who had enough strength to take down a vampire, his escape would only be momentary as the wolf would just grab him again.

The wolf wasted no time in dragged Jeremy further into the woods, uncaring of the teen’s shouts of abuse and demands and the hits to his muzzle, which probably felt like nothing more than kitten-taps.

By the time they stopped, Jeremy was extremely tired. His voice was hoarse from shouting, his legs hurt from running so long and from being dragged through the woods, hitting forest debris like fallen sticks and large stones along the way. This day was just the worst. And, to add on top of that, he still hadn’t eaten or drank anything… When they came to an abrupt stop, Jeremy had a little hope that he might be able to get away - just choose a direction and run as fast as he could. But his half-assed plan was fraughted when the wolf practically laid on top of him, the sudden and heavy weight making Jeremy lose all the air in his lungs. Once Jeremy had settled down again, completely still and rigid from his fear, but not completely terrified with the knowledge that Klaus didn’t seem intent on killing him at the moment, he allowed himself to relax marginally when it was clear that the giant, furry body on top of him wasn’t keen on going anywhere any time soon.

Annoyed and barely managing to get his breath back with so much weight on his chest, Jeremy tried to make himself stop trembling as he fisted his hands into the massive wolf’s sides and tried to physically list the beast off of him. As a result, Jeremy was left panting and exhausted as he let his hands fall uselessly to the ground, his energy completely sapped from him. It didn’t really help mattered when the wolf was looking at him and Jeremy couldn’t help but feel that Klaus was amused at his failed efforts.

Glaring for a few seconds, Jeremy decided to give up completely as he let his head fall with a muttered, “It’s not my fault you're fat…” which the werewolf obviously heard as he gave a small offended growl, which had Jeremy seizing up again, before he placed his muzzle in his captor’s neck so that his cold nose was pocking the teen’s sensitive flesh, making him yelp and squirm.

“I would cease your resistance, Jeremy,” a posh and cultured voice suddenly announced from out of Jeremy’s view, “I don’t believe that Niklaus is going to be moving any time soon and when he comes out of his transformation, he will not be too pleased with your attempted escape.” Upon that last word, the man (vampire) suddenly came into Jeremy’s sight, standing above his head, deep brown eyes looking down into Jeremy’s own from above and, to the teen’s surprise, he recognised him. Honestly, Jeremy didn’t have any kind of contact with Elijah when the man first came into town, or even when everything was going down and Alaric stabbed him. But, what was he doing here? How did he escape the Salvatore’s basem*nt? Why was he here now? What was going on?

“I can see you have many questions,” the vampire spoke before Jeremy to even attempt to organise his scrambled thoughts, a minuscule smile quirking one corner of his lips, as he slowly crouched down, absently sweeping his suit jacket out of the way in the process, “But they are for another time after my brother changes back.”

“What-“ Jeremy barely managed to gasp out, eyes wide and shocked as his mind focused on one word: ‘brother’. This guy was Klaus’ brother?

“Go to sleep,” the vampire demanded, large, dangerous hand nearly tickling the teen’s forehead as he brushed a few strands of unkempt hair from Jeremy’s eyes. The teen could barely even spare a panicked thought that the vervain in his system had finally flushed out before his eyes were closing and the oblivion of sleep soon followed after...

When Jeremy woke up, he kept his eyes closed as memories of the past day filtered through his mind’s eye. He knew where he was - the loud tweeting of morning birds and the rough texture of dried leaves on his face told him enough - and the lack of near-crushing weight on his chest told him that Klaus was no longer on top of him. So that pegged the question: where were they?

Slowly, cautiously, opening his eyes, Jeremy looked around and took in the morning sunshine, the fallen dried leaves and twigs with a few flowers that sprung in odd patched across the ground. He looked around some more. No one. They weren’t anywhere in sight? Did they leave him? Did they just let him go? Shaking off the questions, Jeremy chose not to look a gift horse in the mouth and started to run, following the vague tracks in the dirt, which had obviously been from where Klaus had dragged Jeremy through the forest.

“Where do you think you're going?” a voice called out and Jeremy nearly stumbled in his haste to stop when there were very suddenly, to powerful vampires in front of him, staring at him, one staring with an expression of vague indifference with something unreadable in his eyes while the other looked far from impressed. In fact, Jeremy was very surprised that Klaus wasn’t trying to rip him apart limb from limb at this very moment.

“Morning run?” Jeremy supplied, his sleep-addled mind unable to filter his words in time.

By the look of Klaus’ darkening expression, dismemberment might be an easier way to go…

Chapter 3: From bad to worse

Chapter Text

Jeremy honestly felt like crying.

He was confused, hungry, alone, tired and with two very, very dangerous creatures. If Jeremy were to guess, the only reason why he wasn’t collapsing on the floor and sobbing his heart out was because there were far too many emotions for him to process. He was vibrating with anger, frozen by fear, dizzy with confusion and steady with adrenaline. Too much adrenaline. It felt like he was going to combust with these warring emotions, all of them weathering and beating against his desperate thoughts to keep calm and find some way of escape.

“Come along, Henrik,” Klaus practically hissed as he tugged harshly on the sleeve of the teen’s arm, nearly causing Jeremy to stumble and fall once again, hands trembling with the sudden spike of his fear.

“Is that really necessary, Niklaus?” Elijah commended as he walked beside Jeremy, frowning at Klaus’ back in clear disapproval of his treatment of their newly discovered little brother. Jeremy glanced at Elijah from the corner of his eye, only to startle and train his eyes forward when he accidentally made eye contact. While Elijah seemed to be the lesser of the two evils, he was still an original vampire and he’d still compelled Jeremy with absolutely no qualms. Elijah was dangerous and Jeremy wouldn’t be making the same mistake as his sister in trusting him…

“Yes,” the hybrid glared back at the vampire, blue eyes flashing with anger, “He should know better than to run around at night on a full moon!” he transferred his glare to Jeremy, who flinched. Honestly, Jeremy didn’t know if he was more afraid of the implications of the full moon and other werewolves killing him, or of Klaus and his blue inferno of a glare. “What were you thinking?!” he growled at the teen, practically spitting venom as they all came to a stand-still in the middle of the woods.

It took Jeremy a bit too long to figure out that the hybrid was actually waiting for an answer, his stare furious and expectant. Anger and frustration suddenly reared its head and Jeremy was suddenly talking without even realising it, the use of compulsion completely unnecessary. “Maybe I wouldn’t try to run away if you thought to give me some food and water or didn’t lock me in a room with nothing to do!” Jeremy had started in a low hissing voice, but it had gotten stronger and louder the longer he went on his preservation instinct taking a momentary break as he glared at the perpetrator.

Klaus looked like he was about to snap, teeth bared and dark veins peaking from beneath his skin and Jeremy was ready to gear himself up for a screaming match (he’d had so many with his sister these days that it was almost second nature) when a loud growling sound pierced the air. At the loud sound, Jeremy couldn’t help but duck his head, face turning beet-red in embarrassment despite the fact that his stomach had just proven his point.

“I think,” Elijah started slowly as he stepped between the teen and the hybrid, prying Klaus’ vice-like fingers from Jeremy’s sleeve so he could take a more gentle grip on his reincarnated little brother’s arm, “That we should get back to… wherever it is you’ve hold up in this time and order something for Jeremy to eat. Yes?” he questioned the pair and Jeremy wanted to know how the vampire had made it sound like a suggestion without it being one at the same time.

“No!” Jeremy exclaimed, pulling on his arm as he tried to get away from Elijah in vain, “Just let me go home!”

“While I’m sure that you want to go back to your empty little house,” Klaus glared with hard eyes and Jeremy tried to ignore the deep and painful pang in his chest at the reminder that he had no one left, “I don’t really think you have much of a choice at the moment,” the hybrid hinted tauntingly and Jeremy only glared harder when he spotted a cruel smirk curling the man’s lips, “Better choose wisely, Henrik.”

“My name is not Henrik!” Jeremy practically bellowed, rage and grief finally bursting out of him like a broken dam and without thought or hesitation, Jeremy tried to throw himself at the damn hybrid, aiming to punch and kick. However, before he could land a single blow, Jeremy suddenly felt an arm wrap around his chest, his feet lifting and ground as he was spun away with a dizzying speed. The next thing Jeremy knew, he was held in the cage of Elijah’s arms and Klaus was suddenly over ten meters away from where Jeremy wanted him and so he struggled and shouted, fire and murder in his eyes as he spat profanities at the hybrid, uncaring if they’d get him killed.

“Henrik,” Elijah tried to interrupt, hands gripped tightly around Jeremy’s wrists like a pair of shackles to stop the teen from punching him, though Jeremy refused to stop his struggles and shouting as he twisted his head to avoid the vampire’s compelling stare, “Henrik, stop!”

“I’m not Henrik!” Jeremy bellowed once more, brown eyes meeting brown eyes and Jeremy banished the peeking thought that Elijah’s orbs looked so much like his own. Silence seemed to hang in the air for a split second before Jeremy felt his face crumpling, senseless rage and anger giving way to grief, confusion and fear. Before Jeremy was even aware of it, both him and Elijah were sitting on the forest floor, the elder having gathered the teen against his chest as Jeremy sobbed his heart out, heaving sobs making it hard to breath as he tried to smother his face into the vampire’s chest, clutching the suit lapels like a life-line as he felt a large hand gently carding through his hair. Jeremy was desperate and scared enough to pretend that the hand was his dead father’s and not a vicious vampire who could kill him in a second.

Slowly, the gentle hand madeits way to his chin, lifting it up and gently wiping a thumb over the teen’s tear-soaked cheek and Jeremy barely caught a murmur of words before exhaustion came crashing over him like a tidal wave and the teen wasn’t even able to whine in protest before darkness took him, causing him to slump forwards into the ancient vampire’s embrace.

“Was that really necessary?” Elijah asked as he hefted Jeremy into his arms with ease, sparing a look of disapproval at Klaus.

Klaus rose his eyebrows at the older vampire with mock-surprise, though not before there was a flash of something dark and unreadable in his eyes at he stared at Jeremy in Elijah’s arms, “Yes,” he rolled his eyes and started to walk out of the forest again, “It would do him well to remember his past life with us and to remind him of it at every opportunity. You don’t know what may trigger him into finally unlocking his memories.”

“Did you ever think of the possibility that he may never remember being Henrik?” Elijah interjected with a slight glare as he subconsciously held Jeremy’s unconscious form a little tighter, “Or that actively forcing him to remember could cause him harm?” Elijah pressed further, tightening his grip even further and only easing up when he heard a slight moan of protest from his human brother, “Did you ever think of Jeremy’s best interests? Henrik was human and he showed very little potential in growing into a warlock. He would have lived a normal, human life - if he’d lived a complete life. Maybe Jeremy-“

“His name is not Jeremy!” Klaus suddenly spat as he spun around and stalked back to his trailing brother, squaring off to him as he glared daggers at emotionless brown orbs, “This is Henrik! He is our brother! His life would have been with his family a thousand years ago and he is still belong to this family now! He is ours! Our little brother! And he is one I will not forsake a second time! So don’t to dare suggest to me that we leave him here to have a 'normal life’!”

“This is not about you,” Elijah spat back, still maintaining his ever persistent calm, even in the face of his most fearsome sibling, “This is about Jeremy and what is best for him. I don’t believe that actively trying to cut out the life that he spent as ‘Jeremy’ is a commendable idea. He has a life here. A family. You can’t compel that away from him.”

At this, Klaus scoffed as he stepped away from his brother and swung out his arms in a grand gesture, “What life, Elijah? What family?” he let his arms fall to his sides, “He has no one left in this godforsaken pit of a town. What will he go back to? An empty home? Halls filled with ghosts of memories passed? Why forsake him to that isolated suffering when he could have us as his willing family? A family that would never forget about him. A family that would care and cherish him far more than the doppelgänger and her little club ever did,” he paused to let his statement sink in, his silver-tongue coming to play more than it had in years, “This is Henrik, Elijah, no matter what name or memories he goes by, now.”

There was a long silence in the clearing as the brother’s stared at one another before Elijah finally sighed and adjusted Jeremy so that his head rested more comfortably on Elijah’s shoulder. “I don’t think this is a discussion to have out in the open, brother,” he gestured politely in the direction they’d been moving in, “Shall we?”

Klaus said nothing as he gave a small nod of agreement and then sped out, easily manoeuvring around the sparsely populated trees. Elijah quickly followed suit, easily keeping up, even with the added load of Jeremy. In a matter of seconds, Klaus and Elijah had arrived in the apartment building of the local vampire hunter, both slowly as they arrived at the stairs. Instantly, both of them knew what was waiting for them upstairs. After all, neither Katerina nor Stefan Salvatore were making much of an effort to keep their voices down or remain weary of their surroundings.

With an eye roll of how stupid modern vampires seemed to be, the brothers sped up the stairs before slowing to casually walk in, startling both the vampires into immediate silence. Klaus didn’t bother to hide his smirk as he caught the looks of dark rage and hatred that seemed to dance in both Katerina and Stefan’s eyes, like demonic silhouettes dancing behind the screen of light, their anger was right on the surface, ready to burst out at a moment’s notice. The hybrid particularly enjoyed the slight widening of Stefan’s eyes when he saw Elijah walk into the room with Jeremy in his arms.

“Jeremy-“

“Ah, ah, ah,” Klaus clicked his tonguemockingly as he watched Elijah gently place their brother on the sofa, “Not so fast, Stefan.”

“What are you doing with Jeremy?” Stefan demanded, jaw clenching with the rush of fear and anger flowing through his system.

“That,” Klaus enunciated for the young vampire, “Is none of your concern? Now, I suggest you explain why you’re here before my patience runs out,” there was a moment of silence and Klaus could practically see the vampire’s thoughts turning and churning as his hazel eyes flickered to Jeremy and then Klaus, internally weighing and debating which cause was more important: his original purpose, or the little brother his his dead girlfriend. “Tick tock, Salvatore,” Klaus cautioned, which seemed to make up Stefan’s mind as he dragged his eyes away from Jeremy and settled them firmly on Klaus.

“I need your help… For my brother,” he asked, tone stiff and unpleasant in the face of having to beg his enemy for anything.

"Well, whatever it is, it's gonna have to wait a tick,” he patted Elijah on the shoulder before he squeezed it, as if he was relishing the shadow of their former companionship, "You see, I have an obligation to my brother that requires my immediate attention,” he smirked at Stefan at the end, which made it all the more harder for the younger not to snap and try to rip the damn hybrid’s head off.

Then Elijah spoke up, his tone so chilling that it swiftly snapped Stefan out of his irrational and death-sentancing wants, "You understand how important family is, or you wouldn't be here,” he stepped forward as to neatly dislodge Klaus’s hand from him, "My brother gave me his word that he would reunite me with my own,” he gave a look to Jeremy, the stare lingering a little bit too long, “And then we will all leave this godforsaken town,” he sniffed with displeasure.

For a horror-filled second of realisation, Stefan knew that Elijah was planning to leave with his family once he’d gotten them and there was no doubt in his mind that Jeremy would be taken with him. Elijah was going to take Jeremy away. Away from his home town, away from his school, and away from his very much alive sister, who was worried sick with his absence.

“And so I shall.” Suddenly, Klaus lunged forward, hitting Elijah in the chest and for a second, everything seemed to freeze as Stefan watched with fear and confusion. It was only clear that Klaus had stabbed his own brother with the dagger when Elijah gave a pained groan and his skin started to grey. Then, the hybrid leaned forward, whispering into Elijah’s ear as he stated, “Henrik will never be yours to take. Sleep well, brother,” and then Klaus stepped back, letting Elijah fall to the ground, dead. Slowly with a smirk still stretching his lips, Klaus turned to face Stefan, "Now, what am I gonna do with you?”

It was concerning how Jeremy was beginning to tell the difference from waking up after falling asleep and waking up after being compelled to sleep. Waking up from a natural, restful sleep was more slow, as is he was transitioning into the waking world bit by bit as to not make it too jarring for him when he finally came back to reality. When he was compelled and forced to sleep for a time, he hovered for a small time, on the cusp of being completely awake and falling back to sleep, as if the compulsion hadn’t quite worn off yet, and then reality hit him hard and fast, making Jeremy jolt up and gasp for breath, the sensation of falling in his chest and stomach.

Instantly knowing that he was in danger, Jeremy sat up, scrambling off the sofa he didn’t remember lying on as he unseeingly glanced about him with wide, frightened eyes.

“Ah, Henrik,” a voice interrupted his panic, making Jeremy still and blink before he finally came back to reality, clearing him of the film of instinctual panic. However, the realty was so much worse and the toxic mixture of fear and panic seized his heart once again. “So nice of you to be finally awake,” Klaus carried on, as if Jeremy wasn’t clearly trembling at the very sight of him.

Jeremy then frowned in confusion as he looked about Alaric’s apartment. Klaus was in the kitchen, leaning leisurely against the counter, that annoyingly permanent smirk still on his lips as he gazed at Jeremy with piercing eyes that routed the human to the spot, but Klaus’ presence wasn’t the thing that confused Jeremy. What confused the teenager was the fact that Stefan was with him…

“Stefan?” Jeremy questioned as if doubting that the vampire was really there.

But Stefan didn’t say anything, just continuing to weakly hang his head, red staining the tips of his fingers, roping up his arms, and practically dripping from his face. The vampire was panting, his chest heaving for breath as if he was starved of oxygen, his hands trembling violently, as if he was loosing control and was barely grasping them with stiff fingers. He looked ill and as Stefan looked back at Jeremy, eyes dark and red with want and hunger. Like he wanted nothing more than to rip Jeremy apart and drain every last millimetre of blood from his veins. Jeremy had never been scared of Stefan before. Compared to Damon - who’d actually killed Jeremy and would have succeeded in the teen’s permanent death if not for his Gilbert Ring - Stefan was a Saint and had always worked to keep, as many people as possible, safe from the ever relentless suffocating tide of the supernatural. Now, Jeremy could only feel fear for the thing that crouched before him and he wondered if he was finally getting a peek of the ‘monster’ that Stefan had always spoke hauntingly about…

“Easy, little brother,” Klaus smiled, an expression which would have been warm and comforting on anyone else, “Don’t worry about the Ripper. He’s perfectly safe.”

“Ripper?” Jeremy’s frown deepened, then he looked around, spotting Katherine seated on the arm of the sofa, arms folded and expression carefully blank, and Elijah, lying on the floor, skin grey and dark veins spidered over his exposed skin, clearly dead, “What? I-“

“Are you hungry, brother?” Klaus interrupted and Jeremy was far too confused and far too fearful to refute the familial claim at that very moment. With the mention of food, Jeremy’s stomach growled with irritation and agreement, making the teen flush with slight embarrassment before he gave a tentative nod. Klaus stretched his lips into something a little bit more real, as he picked up a package from the opposite counter behind him and offered it to the teen, “From what I understand, you frequent that small restaurant in town. I had Katerina pick something up for you. Come, take a seat,” he gestured to the space beside him.

Jeremy stared at the hybrid warily. He didn’t want to get closer to the murderer, he didn’t even want to hear that stupid and obnoxious voice of his, but there was no chance of Jeremy even making a step towards the door, let alone actually escaping. Maybe, with the help of Stefan, they could both get away, but just looking at his sister’s boyfriend, Jeremy could see that Stefan was more in need of his help than the other way around. He was stuck here, with a maniac. Not even Elijah could help him anymore…

“Henrik,” Klaus’ sharp tone ripped Jeremy away from his thoughts as his eyes instantly flicked up to connect with intense blue, “You will sit down and eat. One way or another…” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Klaus was threatening him with…

Tense as a board, Jeremy forced his legs to move, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other as he made his way closer to Klaus through the thick silence of the room. It felt like Jeremy was walking to his death and he couldn’t stop the small trembles of fear that showed as he attempted and failed to put on a brave front. Robotically, Jeremy reached of the stall chair beside Klaus, where he’s placed the food and cautiously sat down, tense and ready to bolt at the first possible sign of danger.

Strangely, just as Jeremy began to reach to unpack the bag and eat, Klaus took over. Jeremy could do nothing but stare disbelievingly as Klaus leaned over the counter slightly and started to rip open the brown paper bag, tearing the package for easier and quicker access before he started to take out the orange polystyrene containers, helpfully setting them in front of Jeremy and opening the lid for him. Jeremy blinked at the outlandish behaviour and could do nothing more than open his mouth in protest when Klaus placed some cutlery beside him as well as a few bottles of different sauces that Jeremy hadn’t noticed before.

It was like a mother trying to provide for her child…

With that disturbing analogy, Jeremy frowned and went to give a scathing retort when the heavenly smell of food finally registered to his nose. Mouth watering and his stomach groaning more than ever, Jeremy became even more aware of the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything in a long while. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate, but he remembered that the last time food was offered up to him, Jeremy had to turn it away - his fear and anxiety for what would happen to his sister and his girlfriend being too much for him to stomach. Troubles forgotten in favour of nourishment, Jeremy swiftly picked up the large burger, uncaring that half of it was in danger of falling out the end and that his hands were decorated with smudges of the ketchup and started to devour his meal. As Jeremy relished in the burger, eating a few chips between the huge mouthfuls, he ignored the eyes on him, he ignored the fact that he was surrounded by vampires and he ignored the fact that Klaus had just gotten him a pint of water from the tap.

All too soon, the meal was consumed and after downing the entire glass of water, Jeremy’s hunger and thirst were completely stated, leaving him to slowly come to the realisation that he’d eaten the entire meal in under five minutes while acting like some scavenging animal… Cheeks beet-red, Jeremy reluctantly looked up from the counter, catching Katherine’s disgusted glances, Stefan’s borderline delirious staring and Klaus’s very pleased and very amused looks.

For a moment, Jeremy had the urge to apologise for his lack of table manners, the voice of his scolding mother echoing in his head from what felt like a life time ago, but he stopped himself just in time. Clenching his stiff fingers into a fist, Jeremy clenched his jaw. He had nothing to apologise for. He’d been kidnapped by a delusional vampire-werewolf hybrid and had been locked in a room with no food, water or any possible access to a bathroom - they should be thankful that the faint smell of an unwashed teenager was the only scent lingering in that room…

Suddenly, Jeremy felt something rough on the side of his face and flinched away, causing the moment to stop. With a quick glance to the side, Jeremy saw that Klaus had been attempting to rub some smears of ketchup from Jeremy’s face with a clothe.

“Come, come, brother,” Klaus chuckled, with a edge to it that made Jeremy shiver with fear, “I was only trying to help."

Cheeks inflamingto compensate his overwhelming surge of embarrassment, Jeremy shook his head, “I-I can do that… Please,” the teen added when Klaus looked like he was going to ignore Jeremy’s claim and continue wiping the human’s face like he was an incompetent child.

The plea seemed to do something for the ancient vampire as he paused before a blooming smile lifted his cheeks as he offered the clothe, which Jeremy hesitantly took and then started to furiously wipe his face and hands of leftover food. It was hard to do anything with the weight of the three stronger brings’ stares on him, but Jeremy swiftly powered through and finished before putting the clothe back on the table.

The silence felt almost suffocating and Jeremy felt like the three were just staring at him, devouring him with their eyes, hungry, possessive eyes…

“Why is Stefan here?” Jeremy spoke up, unable to take the silence for much longer.

“Stefan’s here because Damon had a little run in with the local werewolf and my blood is the cure,” Klaus smirked at the weakly glaring vampire, a cruel glint in his sky-blue eyes, “But, as we all know: nothing in this world is for free.”

“Damon got bit?” Jeremy asked, doe brown eyes widening with shock. Jeremy may have been out of the loop for quite a bit of the supernatural details - at Elena’s request - but he was aware enough to know what happened to a vampire when they get bitten by a werewolf. Elena had been the one to tell him about her firsthand experience with Rose - a vampire that Jeremy’s never mer before - warning him from ever interacting with such a horrific case. She’d also told him that it was a death sentence. No cure… Until now, at least…

Klaus chuckled, an evil sound that seemed to fill up the entire apartment, “He actually got bit while trying to delay my plans. As a result, your aunt Jenna paid the price.”

At that declaration, Jeremy’s entire form seemed to stiffen. The teen had known that his aunt had died. He’d known that both Elena and Jenna had died from Katherine telling him, but a small part of him hadn’t believed her. A small naïve part of him had hoped that he’d crash through his front door and see his Aunt Jenna cooking in the kitchen with Alaric with Elena and Stefan upstairs in her room. But, with Klaus’ confirmation in that bragging tone, Jeremy’s small flame of hope was extinguished like a lit candle in the rain, only to ignite into an explosion of hurt and fury in his chest.

“No more,” Stefan suddenly growled out, gaining Klaus’ attention and stopping Jeremy from doing something stupid, like punching the thousand-years-old hybrid in the face, “Not until you give me the cure.”

Klaus looked down at Stefan a light in his eyes that made Jeremy shift as he attempted to suppress his fear. There was something about that look in the ancient hybrid’s piercing blue eyes, like he was looking down at a bug that had no understanding that they were hanging off the bottom of the food chain. It showed how powerful Klaus really was and the fact that the hybrid was fully aware of that fact. “Not until we make a deal,” he tutted mockingly, as he fluidly slipped from his chair and inched closer to the panting vampire, "It's your choice, Stefan. You can either remain here living your life in Mystic Falls, or you can embrace what you truly are, leave town with me and Henrik, and save your brother's life.”

Instantly, Jeremy’s head snapped up towards the hybrid, eyes wide and shocked with horror slowly creeping at the edges. “What?” he blurted out unthinkingly, “I’m not going with you.”

As fast as Jeremy had blurted out the words, he wish he could take them back… The rooms seemed to freeze, every possible molecule holding its breath, time standing still, as the rooms dropped a few degrees.

The look that Klaus was giving him made Jeremy want to run and hide as fear gripped his heart with icy fingers and pressed threateningly on his throat.

“What was that, brother?” the blonde asked, tone light and easy with an undertone of warning, light blue eyes darkening with his rising anger.

Steeling his nerves and curling his fingers into a tight, grounding fist, Jeremy looked at the delusional hybrid, brown eyes trained on the man’s eyebrows as to avoid compulsion as much as he possibly could. “I’m not going with you,” he stated again, voice wavering only slightly at the end, “I’m staying here. This is my home. I go to school here, I have friends here, I have a girlfriend here. I can’t just leave that all behind.”

Klaus regarded him with cold eyes that didn’t match the smirk on his face, “All those trivial things you worry about are meaningless. Transferring schools is an easy task and with my history of knowledge, public schooling isn’t even an issue. Your friends are replaceable, your ‘girlfriend’,” he spat out the word as if it was a deceased thing on his tongue, “Is replaceable. And your home is empty, no other ‘family members’ are tying you here, anymore-“

“Yeah, because you killed them all!” Jeremy spoke over anger and pain tinting his words, but it was as if Klaus didn’t hear him as he carried on talking.

“And, more importantly,” he loomed over Jeremy, dark eyes tinting red as black veins emerging from his pale skin, “You don’t get a say in the matter.”

The dark tone had Jeremy holding his tongue, despite the fact that he desperately wanted to retort and fight the crazed hybrid. It was something about that tone that had a shiver of pure fear rushing down the teen’s spine, something that he was unfortunately becoming used to, and reminded him of the fact that just because Klaus viewed him as his ‘little brother’, didn’t mean he was exempt from any kind of pain or punishment that the hybrid saw fit. While it seemed unlikely that the blond would kill Jeremy without a second thought, Elijah’s still and grey body a few feet away was a prime example of what Klaus did to those that betrayed or fought him.

Jeremy’s prolonged silence seemed to be answer enough for the temperamental hybrid as he turned his attention back to a rigid Stefan and let his lips quirk up into something that all had learned to dread. Casually, Klaus tossed the hunched vampire a bag of blood, watching with gleaming eyes as Stefan attempted to inhale it in a matter of second.

“Sweetheart,” Klaus called out with a mocking endearment as he finally turned his attention to the only being that hadn’t said a word since Jeremy had woken up. As soon as the hybrid and vampire doppelgänger made eye contact, Jeremy watched Klaus’ eyes contract as he compelled her, “Take this to Damon and then come right back,” he ordered sternly as he offered the small vial of blood to her, which she took almost robotically.

“You want me to leave?” Katherine asked as she curled her fingers around the small glass bottle, a breathy and hopeful tone in his voice that sent alarm bells off in Jeremy’s head.

“No!” Stefan shouted, eyes wide with fear and desperation as he watched the exchange.

“Yes,” Klaus smiled with a hint of teeth, “And if I were you,” he started, but didn’t get the chance to finish as Katherine blurred out the door without a second more of hesitation, leaving only empty air where she once stood, “I’d hurry,” he finished before he turned back to Stefan as he sat down in his chair.

The younger vampire looked at the hybrid with wide eyes, “She’ll never take it to him,” he stated with an edge of pleading, but Klaus merely looked indifferent, obviously unconcerned with the fact that Damon would die. Stefan hung his head as he looked at the blood smudged tiles of the kitchen floor, looking utterly broken as he repeated in a whisper, “She’ll never take it to him…”

Everything seemed to have gone to hell…

Jeremy had absolutely no choice in following the two immortal beings as Klaus kept a firm grip on his wrist, tightening and threatening to bruise whenever Jeremy pulled or lagged behind too much for his liking. If Jeremy wasn’t internally freaking out and fearing for his life, he would have felt embarrassed at the fact that Klaus was treating him like a wandering child. The teen had no say in anything that happened as men entered Alaric’s apartment, taking Elijah’s body as Klaus lead them to some truck with a bunch of coffins in, the hybrid dragging Jeremy by the wrist the entire time as Stefan stiffly followed, looking as if the world had just crumbled around him.

Jeremy could only watch in horror as Klaus said his goodbyes to Elijah before he closed the casket and Jeremy looked around at the other polished wooden boxes. Was that the rest of Klaus’ family? Jeremy paled at the thought? Was this what Klaus would do to him if he stepped out of line too much? Would he kill Jeremy and stuff him in one of his caskets and be dragged around the country with the hybrid, kept as some sort of memento? From the smirk that Klaus aimed at Jeremy as the teen came to his sudden realisation, Jeremy knew that the crazed hybrid would do just that…

When Stefan stared at the girl that was running away, sobbing hard with the terror that flowed through her, Jeremy knew exactly what would happen. As he tried to turn away from the scene, eyes closed and hand creeping up to cover his ears and he ducked his head down, Klaus grabbed Jeremy with steel-like hands. In an instant, Klaus had turned Jeremy around, pressing the teen to his chest as the hybrid pinned his arms down and gripped his face so he couldn’t look away from Stefan and the running girl. Jeremy slammed his eyes closed, unwilling to witness his sister’s boyfriend killing - no, ‘hunting’ was a more correct term - an innocent girl, who could have been no older than Jeremy himself.

“Open your eyes, Henrik,” Klaus hissed in his ear and Jeremy would have ignored the command if the pain of Klaus’ fingering digging into his jaw hadn’t forced him to peel them open. “You don’t want to miss this. Seeing a Ripper on the hunt is a very rare thing to witness.”

Jeremy felt tears run down his face as he was forced to watch Stefan speed up to the girl, face demonic as he buried his face into her neck, undeterred by her screams. The teen flinched in Klaus’ hold when the screaming was suddenly cut off as Stefan practically ripped her head off, the wet sound of it dropping and rolling across the ground making Jeremy want to throw up. Finally, Klaus seemed to allow Jeremy to turn away from the nightmarish scene, but didn’t allow the teen to step away as he brought a gentle hand to the back of Jeremy’s head, long fingers carding through the dark locks as he provided comfort, making soothing noises over the grotesque sounds of Stefan feeding.

Then, from one moment to the next, Jeremy was placed in the back seat of a car, child-locks clicking into place, as Klaus drove and Stefan sat silently in the passenger seat. Klaus was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the suffocating silence as he drove, always going a little over the speed limit, as Stefan stared ahead blankly. The vampire was wearing a new clean shirt to replace the blood soaked one, but Jeremy could still see the slight stain of blood over the man’s hands and under his fingernails, where he hadn’t been able to wash it all away.

Feeling sick at the memory, Jeremy went back to silently looking out the window, stare blank as he watched the forest trees whizz by him. It was only when he saw the sign: ‘You are now leaving Mystic Falls’ did Jeremy feel the last of his hope drain away. Fear and dread settled heavily in his stomach as they drove further and further away from the town that he called home and further away from the people who could have possibly helped him escape from the hybrid’s clutches… Jeremy knew that there would be very little chance of ever escaping from Klaus now…

And, from the knowing look that Klaus was giving Jeremy through his rearview mirror, he knew it too…

Chapter 4: Road Trip

Chapter Text

Jeremy always imagined that he’d go travelling when he was older.

It wasn’t a deep-seated desire to see the world and experience the different cultures, but he didn’t want to live and grow old in the town he was born in, having done absolutely nothing exciting. He imagined that it would be fun and that he’d get to do something like that when he was in college, taking a year out from his studies to traverse the country with nothing but a bag full of clothes and friends by his side. But, now, Jeremy couldn’t help but feel like, what was supposed to be an exhilarating experience, had been taken away from him…

It was nearing the end of Jeremy’s summer holidays and it had been the worst one he’d ever experienced - the summer of dealing and grieving his parents’ deaths included…

Klaus had taken full control of Jeremy’s life as he dragged the teen across the country, grinning and laughing like he was taking a trip with his loving family rather than a terrified teenager that he’d kidnapped. Klaus, for lack of better words, was overprotective of Jeremy; for instance, a random man had accidentally knocked Jeremy into a wall in their drunken stupor and Klaus had taken it upon himself to rip the stranger’s head off, causing Jeremy to get a face-full of blood and the rest of the bar’s occupants to be compelled. The hybrid was like a hawk as he watched over Jeremy, making the teen tense and paranoid at the constant feel of the immortal's eyes on his back.

And let's not forget about Stefan, the Ripper Vampire of the century…

What was more disconcerting than being kidnapped from his home and taken all over the country after finding out that his aunt and sister had been murdered by said kidnapper, was the personality change that Stefan seemed to go through.

Once, Jeremy had considered Damon more dangerous of the two brothers. He was irrational and reckless with a long line of dead bodies that seemed to circle the entire town and beyond. Damon was cold and a murderer, while Stefan was gentle went out of his way to not kill innocent people. But this new side that Stefan was showing proved all of those observations wrong. If Damon was cold, Stefan was like the Antarctic.

At best, he would ignore Jeremy and pretend that the teen didn’t even exist as he did whatever Klaus wanted.

At worst, Stefan would look at Jeremy, eyes dark and hungry as he momentarily lost himself to whatever monster resided within him. On those occasions, Jeremy couldn’t help but freeze up in fear, eyes wide and startled as his instincts reacted to something that wanted nothing more than to rip his head off and consume him. Jeremy was sure that if Klaus hadn’t compelled Stefan to never hurt his 'precious little brother', he’d have been dead within a week of travelling with them.

However, on top of all that, Jeremy had stopped trying to escape…

At the very beginning, Jeremy had been trying to get away from Klaus and his insane claims of being his big brother. The teen had tried almost everything from planning a route of escape and procuring a bus ticket, to simply attempting to run. Jeremy didn’t know why Klaus didn’t simply compel Jeremy to stay put, but he wasn’t going to complain any time soon. The beginning of the trip consisted of two weeks of constant escape attempts, only to be retrieved by either Klaus or Stefan, with a forceful hand on the back of his neck or simply being thrown over a hard shoulder, and a punishment of being locked in the boot of the car for the rest of the day. It was a lot of escape attempts and a lot of time spent in the darkness of a cramped boot that felt more like a sauna. The end of the day usually consisted of Klaus yanking the boot open before grabbing a fist of Jeremy’s sweat-drenched shirt and hauling the teen out, having to take most of his weight as Jeremy tried to shake feeling back into his legs - on one such occasion, Jeremy had suffered from severe dehydration and had passed out, causing Klaus to always stock up on water bottles.

By the beginning of the third week, Jeremy had managed to convince someone to give him a lift to anywhere possible while Klaus and Stefan were busy in another bar. The teen couldn’t believe his luck when he managed to get into the truck without Klaus suddenly appearing to take him away again. Jeremy had even dared to hope when the man started the car and had gone down two roads and then the man’s car came to a screeching stop, just in time to avoid hitting a very furious-looking Klaus; Jeremy could see the hybrid’s dark veins and amber eyes as he stared right at Jeremy. Frozen in fear, Jeremy didn’t dare look away from Klaus until the sound of the car door being torn off its hinges caught his attention. Jeremy didn’t even have time to give a shout of surprise as he was roughly pried out of the car by a blank-faced Stefan before being forced to stand and face Klaus, who had the driver in his own harsh grip. All of them ignored the shouted profanities of the stranger as Klaus stared at Jeremy, then, without warning, Klaus bared his fangs and ripped into the man’s neck, lifeblood splattering over the road as Klaus messily tore into him. The driver’s screams of pain made Jeremy feel queasy and he tried to turn away, but Stefan’s bruising grip on his arm forced him to stay still. It felt like an eternity before the innocent man finally stopped screaming, his anguished voice trailing into silence as he finally died. Klaus shoved the body to the ground without a care, his face still a monstrous visage as he walked to Jeremy. The teen could only stare numbly at the man’s body as Klaus smeared still-warm blood into Jeremy’s face with his blood-soaked hands as he whispered, “His death was your fault,” into Jeremy’s ear before walking away, Stefan dragging a silent and numb Jeremy behind him. Hours later, Jeremy would stand alone in a bathroom as he stared at his reflection before he finally got the courage to wash away the flakey, dried blood that Klaus had wiped on his face, the blood of the man that Jeremy had killed…

That was the last time Jeremy had tried to escape…

It didn’t help that Jeremy was slowly getting used to Klaus’ presence, either…

At first, Jeremy had been timid but resistant when it came to Klaus, not talking out of fear of being killed. Then, the fear of death simmered down and Jeremy’s acts of rebellion were a bit more loud and abrasive as he cursed the hybrid to hell and back as well as making more escape attempts. Throughout it all, Klaus had been annoyingly patient with the teen, while Stefan continued to ignore the teen and his suffering. Then, after Jeremy’s last escape attempt, he found himself finally accepting that he was never going to be able to run from Klaus (at least, not any time soon) and with that acceptance, Jeremy started to talk back.

Jeremy didn’t even know when he started to really talk to the ancient hybrid. It had gone from anger and stone, cold silence, to long conversations about anything and nothing -mainly about art, which Jeremy was always happy to talk about - like they were best friends or brothers... The sudden realisation had hit Jeremy with the strength of a high-speed lorry and it had resulted in Jeremy sputtering on his words mid-conversation and ignoring Klaus’ enquiries as he stared down at his lap in silent horror. Jeremy had remained silent for two days before he finally started to talk again -unwilling to revert back to his previous vow to silent hatred - although he spoke with more reluctance and wariness than before.

Klaus just seemed to be happy that his ‘little brother’ was talking to him, a warm smile and a delighted gleam in his eyes that made him look like his physical age as he and Jeremy spoke about the many things that they had in common, art being the most prominent subject.

Currently, Jeremy was, once again, in the back of a locked car, valiantly ignoring the pressing humid heat of Tennessee, as he waited for Klaus and Stefan to exit the lone country house. Silently, the teen flicked through his pad-book of sketches, trying to ignore the fact that he knew what was about to happen, or was already happening, in the house.

After Jeremy had stopped trying to run away and started to respond to the hybrid’s attempts to bond with him, Jeremy had expressed a desire to draw. He’d received a sketchpad of high-class, expensive paper and a range of charcoal, pencils and watercolours within the hour. Slowly and intently, Jeremy flipped through the pages, the entire pad almost completely filled with detailed drawings and paintings of anything and everything. At the front of the sketchbook, filling nearly ten pages, was different drawings of the beach that they’d travelled along. Jeremy has never been to the ocean and the sight of the sandy beaches and lazy waves took his breath away. The teen had spent hours upon hours, just sketching the scenery before him, trying to capture every angle that he possibly could. After they moved away from the coast, Jeremy was content to draw anything that caught his eye, from the butterfly that had caught his attention for a second to a detailed charcoal drawing of Klaus gently smiling at him. There were even sketches of his aunt and sister, each stoke of his pencil was chased lovingly by his thumb as he drew with a pang of sadness and mourning that he was all too familiar with; he’d done the same thing with his parents, drawing hundreds of images before his mourning became too great and he packed it all away. While watercolours weren’t exactly Jeremy’s preferred art style, he still used them and practiced, with the help of Klaus’ pointers, until he was able to get a few decent paintings.

The driver’s door opened.

Jeremy didn’t even have to look away from his drawings to know who it was.

“We’ll be leaving in a few minutes,” Klaus notified him, the crisp British accent filtering through his distracted thoughts, “Stefan’s just finishing up with them.” At that comment, Jeremy looked up from his sketchbook with dark eye, glaring slightly at the smug look of the hybrid, obviously feeling satisfied that he’d gotten Jeremy to look at him.

After a long lag of silence, Jeremy sighed and tucked his artwork away, there was no way that Klaus would leave him alone without getting his whole attention first, “Where we heading to next?”

“We,” Klaus started with a brighter grin, excitement dancing in his eyes, which was better than the usual glints of frustration and rage that the hybrid was prone to when something hadn’t gone his way or according to plan, “Are going to Toll, to a little bar called the Southern Comfort on Highway forty-one,” he gave a pleased hum at the end, looking like the cat that caught the canary.

“I’m guessing that this’ll lead you right to that ‘Ray’ that you’ve been looking for all this time?” Jeremy rose an inquiring eyebrow, fisting his hands in the large pocket of his hoodie as he tried to hide his flinch at the muffled scream of pain that was coming from inside the house.

“That’s the general idea, little brother,” Klaus smiled.

“So,” Jeremy started as he clenched his fists into a white-knuckled grip, “After you find Ray and do what you’ve… planned to do,” Jeremy stumbled a little, not actually knowing what Klaus had planned for the summer, having not told Jeremy a single thing as he dragged the teen and the other vampire all over the country. “Can I go home?”

At his innocent question, Klaus’ eyes turned dark, his excited smile becoming more threatening and predatory, “I thought that we had moved past this, Henrik?”

Jeremy frowned deeper at the name, but made no move to comment after so many failed corrections, before he scoffed, “We didn’t move past anything, I just stopped asking about it,” Jeremy wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained for the time being, “Summer is nearly over and I’m barely sixteen, I have to go back and finish school,” he stated, though he didn’t care that much for school, it was a valid excuse and, now that Jeremy thought about it: what had the hybrid planned to do about that? In no uncertain terms, Klaus had kidnapped Jeremy, so there was a possibility that Jeremy would never be able to go back to Mystic Falls, but he also doubted that the hybrid wanted to neglect his ‘precious little brother’s’ education. Had Klaus planned to school him on the road, or something?

However, from the covered-up surprise on his face, Klaus obviously hadn’t thought that far ahead when it came to keeping Jeremy.

Then, the passenger door opened and Stefan entered the conversation, “There is always homeschooling and hired tutors, if you’re really concerned about your education,” Stefan gave a sarcastic smile at Jeremy, knowing fully well that Jeremy didn’t care about school, at all. Well, with werewolves and vampires running around, threatening your life and killing your family, education and graduating high school didn’t seem as big a deal as it once was. “Though, high school doesn’t matter when you’re immortal. You have all the time in the world to get your diploma,” he grinned back at Jeremy with a predatory smile that matched Klaus’, taking in the teen’s paling features.

“I’m not becoming a vampire,” Jeremy stated, trying to make his tone as firm as possible, despite his mounting terror.

“Why not?” Stefan rose his eyebrows, with a fake look of astonishment, “I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“I’m not becoming a vampire,” Jeremy repeated with gritted teeth, brown eyes darkening at the reminder of such a painful and confusing time. It was true, he’d wanted to become a vampire for Vicki and then for Anna - two girls that he’d loved with his entire being before they were ripped away from him - but after Damon had killed him, Jeremy had fallen out of the desire of eternal love and eternal life.

Stefan gave a loud, sharp laugh, every inch of his face twisting into a mean, mocking smile, “Do you really think you have a choice in that, Jeremy?”

“I don’t want to be a vampire,” Jeremy sneered at him, anger and hurt filling him as he stared at the person who had once been nice and kind to him.

“Well,” Klaus interrupted the tense not-argument, “That’s not up to you now, is it, Henrik?” he questioned with a dark glint in his eyes that sent a shiver up the teen’s spine. He hated it when Klaus got that look in his eyes, a thirst written all over the ancient being’s face, a possessiveness that frightened the life out of Jeremy and made the teen think that he was never, ever going to be able to escape. “When the time is right, you will become a vampire. I won't lose you again. Not to werewolves, not to vampires and not to time. You are mine, Henrik, and I will be the one to turn you one day,” he stated with a finality that made Jeremy want to run and hide as his brown eyes stared into dark blue, leaving no illusion that Klaus wasn’t being completely serious.

Jeremy looked away first, letting his hair fall in front of his face as he stared down at his lap, hair that was longer than how the teen usually had it because Klaus refused to let Jeremy get a haircut. The tense, toxic silence dragged on for a few seconds more before both immortals turned to the front of the car and started the engine, quietly discussing the next part of their journey.

Silently, Jeremy sat on the uncomfortable bar stool. The place was run down, with sticky dark floors, chipped tables and worn material staples over the wobbly chairs. The place was old, but clearly well-loved by the loyal customers that frequented there at all hours of the day. The teen smiled dully at the compelled bartender when they stepped over to refill his glass of co*ke without charge, just as Klaus had ordered him, as Jeremy picked at his cheese covered fries beside.

“What’s got you so down, little brother?” Klaus called as e sauntered over to where Jeremy had seated himself at the end of the bar.

“Nothing.”

The immortal chuckled as he patted Jeremy’s shoulder before leaning slightly into his side, “Don’t tell me you’re still upset that you’re not allowed a beer.”

Jeremy felt a small tick in his eyebrow as he glared at the hybrid, “I’ve drunk beer before, it shouldn’t be a big deal…”

“Twenty-one is the legal drinking age, my dear Henrik,” Klaus smirked down at him and Jeremy just knew the immortal was laughing at him for how young he was. At barely sixteen, Jeremy was only just old enough to start learning to drive.

“You kill and eat people,” Jeremy grumbled back, mildly horrified at how the statement didn’t make him horrified anymore, “I don’t you should start caring about the law, now.”

Just as Klaus was about to reply, an amused light in his eye whenever Jeremy ‘bantered’ back with him, he paused and his smile turned into something more dark and sinister. Instantly, Jeremy tensed. “Ah,” Klaus smirked as he turned to face the door a little bit and squeezed the teen’s shoulder, “Looks like our guest of honour is finally here,” his smirk turns sharp and excited before he looked back at Jeremy, “Just act natural, little brother,” he gave one last squeeze of his shoulder, a silent warning, before walking over to the pool table to wait for his unsuspecting prey.

The stranger walked in a few minutes later, greeting people with unsuspecting familiarity, a smile in his voice and a few pats on peoples shoulders. Jeremy didn’t dare turn around as he stared at a small crack on the wall and held his soft drink with a white-knuckled grip. If he turned around, Jeremy wouldn’t be able to stop himself from shouting a warning and he knew that, if he did, the man’s death would be so much worse than it could be…

“Ray?” Klaus’ voice spoke up and Jeremy had no other reaction than to hunch his shoulders further as he stared intently at the crack, “Ray Sutton?”

“Who wants to know?” the stranger shot back, instantly suspicious.

"I've been looking everywhere for you,” Klaus started, his tell-tale smirk evident by his tone of voice alone, "We started in Florida, Pensacola. I met a young chap there who you used to work with before you moved to Memphis, now he directed me to two lovely young women. And they led me here, to you.”

There was a loaded silence between the pair before Ray spoke up again, “I think I’ll be going now,” Jeremy heard steps and could only imagine that the man was trying to calmly walk away.

"Not so fast mate,” Klaus let out a cruel-sounding chuckle, "You only just got here, now your type are very hard to come by.”

Jeremy tensed at the mention of werewolves, an instinctual fear seizing his throat without his control before he managed to shake it off. Despite his tentative friendship with Tyler, Jeremy still couldn’t get over his fear of wolves and the sound of echoing howls in the distance never failed to make his blood freeze. This man that they had been looking for was a werewolf and, despite how hopeless he was about to be before Klaus, Jeremy couldn’t help but harness a small fear of him.

"Can you bring out the darts please?” Stefan’s slightly raised voice brought Jeremy back to the conversation happening a few feet away, "Tell you what Ray, we're gonna play a little drinking game, something I like to call truth or wolfsbane,” Stefan gave a small sad*stic smile as he teasingly dangled a pouch and then pulled out a plant that Jeremy was all too familiar with, his mind flashing back to Tyler’s uncle as the memory of his screams of agony echoed through his mind.

“Oh, this is gonna be fun, Ray,” Klaus laughed along with Stefan, as he crowded closer to the petrified wolf.

“Klaus,” Jeremy finally spoke up, wincing at how weak his voice sounded in that moment, “Can I wait by the car?” he reluctantly brought his face from the small crack to face Klaus properly, not even daring to look at Ray’s pleading, desperate eyes.

“Now,” Klaus started and Jeremy instantly knew that the hybrid wasn’t going to make this easy for him, “Why would I let you do that? You haven’t exactly proven to be the most trustworthy in the past few months.”

“I haven’t tried to escape in weeks,” Jeremy retorted, anger quickly bubbling up, “I don’t have a phone or any car keys and if I do make a run for it, either you or Stefan can catch me in a matter of seconds. I can’t run away,” he clenched his fist tighter, trying to keep his irritation in check, “I just… don’t want to see this…” He didn’t want to see someone else get killed in front of him, he didn’t want to watch another person's life drain from their eyes or overhear their last faded screams. He’d seen and heard enough of death and suffering to last him a lifetime from this road trip alone…

There was a moment of silence as Jeremy stared into Klaus’ eyes, trying to mentally plead for the hybrid to let him wait outside. There was no lesson to be learnt, no punishment to dish out, there was absolutely no reason that Klaus could want Jeremy to stay and watch, other than because the hybrid wanted him to.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, Klaus nodded and Jeremy felt his shoulders sag with relief as he spun on his heel to walk out of the bar. Only to stumble into Klaus’ chest.

“Wha-?” was all Jeremy managed to get out before his brown orbs connected with hypnotic blue.

“Go to sleep, little brother,” Klaus’ voice echoed inside Jeremy’s head and before he could do or say anything else, the darkness of sleep consumed him…

“You have got to stop doing that!” Jeremy snapped as soon as he saw Klaus again, anger overtaking his usually constant fear.

It had been god knows how many days since Klaus had compelled Jeremy to fall asleep after finding Ray. After that, Jeremy had no idea where he was, but he knew he wasn’t safe when his few seconds of consciousness was met with a stranger leaning over him and injecting something into his arm. The next thing Jeremy knew, he was gently being coerced out of bed by Klaus as the teen groggily came back to awareness.

“And stop it!” Jeremy tried to push the other’s hands away, which Klaus surprisingly allowed, “I can get dressed on my own! I’m not a child!”

Klaus snorted, eyes gleaming with mirth as he looked down at the teen, as he gestured to the dark button-up, “If you can do it, be my guest.”

Glaring with teenage defiance, Jeremy looked down at the shirt and got to work, or he would have if it wasn’t so difficult to do. Frustrations swiftly building, Jeremy glared at the buttons as he tried to get his uncooperative fingers to move how he intended them to. “Stupid drugs,” Jeremy hissed as he finally gave up, an embarrassed heat enveloping his face as he reluctantly cast his eyes to Klaus as a silent plea of help. Thank god he’d been dressed in jeans beforehand.

With a surprisingly minimal amount of gloating, Klaus got back to work in buttoning up the dark shirt. The act was simple and mundane, almost domestic and Jeremy couldn’t help but think back to the times that Elena had helped him with his tie for whatever kind of special event that was happing in town. A deep ache erupted in Jeremy’s chest before he could beat down the image, homesickness hitting the teen like a train.

“There,” Klaus smiled, as Jeremy rolled the sleeves to his elbows to combat the heat outside, “All finished.”

“What happened?” Jeremy questioned, suspicion prominent as he stared at the hybrid, who was being more gentle and attentive than usual. Sure, he was possessive, controlling and an all-round asshole, but he was never this kind. Something must have happened while he’d been out, “And where are we?” Jeremy tagged on, just noticing the busy populace when he heard a loud car horn, a distinct contrast to the rural places they’d been travelling around all summer.

“We’re in the windy city, Chicago, to get some advice from an old friend of mine,” Klaus explained as he leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms as he stared down at Jeremy’s smaller form, “Though, that seems to have gone belly up…”

“What-“ Jeremy hesitated, unsure if he really wanted to know, “What happened-“

“He’s dead,” Klaus stated bluntly, face contorting with irritation and eyes growing darker, “As is the rest of his pack. I can’t turn them into hybrids and I don’t know why…”

The following silence was tense as Klaus seemed to be trapped in his own angry and obsessive thoughts, the atmosphere getting heavier between them until Jeremy shifted in awkwardness, instantly gaining the intense stare of the ancient hybrid. Feeling like a deer in the headlights, Jeremy froze perfectly still, muscles tense with his instincts screaming a war of fight or flight in his mind.

“Come on,” Klaus gestured with his head, the tension of the room instantly draining away, though Jeremy didn’t dare relax just yet, “I have someone I want you to meet.”

Brows furrowing in mild confusion, Jeremy carefully lifted himself from the bed, wary of his stiff limbs, before he followed behind the hybrid at a sedate pace and couldn’t help but feel like a little kid trailing after their big brother. Jeremy cringed at the mental image, shaking his head to disband the notion. They were not brothers. They were kidnapper and victim. They were defenceless human and ancient vampire-werewolf hybrid. Klaus was the man that had killed the last of his family and Jeremy was the innocent bystander that Klaus had brought along for further emotional torture. They were not brothers and, in Jeremy’s mind, they never would be, not after everything that has happened.

“Where are we going?” Jeremy asked as he stepped out of the building and into the sunlight, making him squint, “And who are we meeting?”

The hybrid barely gave him a backwards glance as he continued to lead the way. As they continued through the busy streets and back alleyways, Jeremy gained more strength in his limbs as the lingering effects of the drug finally started to leave his system. It was kind of sad and concerning that something so scary as getting drugged by your kidnapper was barely worth mentioning or being fearful over. This had happened far too many times for Jeremy to be comfortable, but, at the same time, what could he possibly do to prevent it? Then again, the fact that he was settling for this new controlled lifestyle that he was slowly being introduced to was terrifying in itself, but struggling against it would only bring him and others around him more pain and suffering. What was he supposed to do? Should he be fighting more? Should he try to run again, despite knowing the repercussions? Should he settle and get used to Klaus being his ‘brother’? Was this his life now?

Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose as the on-coming headache, effectively cutting off his spiralling thoughts. This wasn’t something that he should or needed to be dealing with at this very second. The situation was complicated and it would do him no good to freak himself out about it all.

“We’re here,” Klaus cut through his thoughts like a sharp blade, causing the teen to jolt slightly.

Looking around, Jeremy spied the desolate location of the warehouse-like building, the grey concrete and walls making it seem bland and boring. Jeremy didn’t think that a building that could potentially hold sinister events should have such a monotone backdrop colour like it was trying to catch Jeremy off guard… Maybe he was thinking too deeply into these things…

Silently, Klaus led them into the large building, which seemed more like a storage facility than anything, with large shelves filled with random and unused materials for all sorts of things. As they turned the corner, Jeremy could distantly hear soft voices, one deeper and one higher, a man and a woman. Was one of them the person that Klaus had wanted Jeremy to meet?

Then, Klaus turned one last corner through the maze of storage shelves and came to a stop, Jeremy automatically followed suit. Looking past the hybrid, Jeremy could instantly spot the two other people in the room, identifying one as Stefan, who was lazily leaning on the wall, arms crossed casually as he tilted his head in Jeremy and Klaus’ direction, silently acknowledging their presence. The other was a strange woman, who was wearing very odd clothes, her white dress filled with beads and tassels that didn’t seem to fit in with the usual dresses that some women were known to wear. She stared at the pair with wide blue eyes, red-painted lips parted in silent shock.

It took Jeremy a moment to realise that the woman was staring straight at him.

“Henrik?”

Chapter 5: Sisters

Chapter Text

Over the summer break, Elena hadn’t been doing so well…

First, she was kidnapped and sacrificed to a thousand-year-old vampire in order for him to become even stronger than he already was, to feel the life slowly draining out of her had been terrifying, to feel all her blood rush into one direction, to feel a sudden coldness at the tips of her fingers as the warmth of her essence was drank from her, to feel her senses slowly start to fail her until everything faded in a dull conclusion of blackness. Dying had been terrifying and scarring, she had continuous nightmares of the sensation and they didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

The nightmares were worse when she realised that she’d screamed herself awake in an empty house.

She was surrounded by her comforting friends, who barely left her alone to breathe whenever she stepped out of her house, but that didn’t dispute the fact that she’d never felt more alone…

Her aunt Jenna had died. After everything that she’d done to try and keep her safe, after all the lying, all the drugging of vervain in her aunt’s morning coffee and perfume, all the sneaking around, after everything, and Jenna had still died. She’d died, scared, confused and helpless, right in front of Elena…

Then, Elena woke up, still human.

The joy of being alive and human lasted as long as it took for her friends to tell her that her father, John, had sacrificed himself for her. Bonnie told her that he’d snuck out the back at the last second, taking in one last peaceful sunrise before he joined Elena’s parents.

Relief, joy, sadness, anger, confusion, grief and more was all that flashed through her as she took in more and more bad news along with the fact that she’d survived against overwhelming odds. Everything was confusing in those few days. Especially when she found out that Damon was a dead vampire walking after Tyler accidentally bit him, along with the shame and regret she felt at having rejected the blue-eyed vampire’s apology.

Then, Damon wasn’t going to die, but with that relief became horror when she realised what Stefan had done to keep Damon in the land of the living…

Everything was a mess and, in the end, Elena had been sat on the floor, worried, grieving and heartbroken as she thought over all the things that Klaus would do to Stefan, or force Stefan to do. What was she supposed to do, now? Stefan had become her rock, he was the one that had saved her when she was still drowning in her overwhelming grief, mere months after her parents’ deaths and he was the one to protect her when the world’s dangers became too much to handle. He was the love of her life and, without him, Elena just felt lost. It was just a constant bombardment of one thing after another and Elena didn’t think she could take much more of it…

But, there was even worse news to come…

The worse news came in the form of Bonnie and Damon on her front porch, after having finally picked herself up from her living room floor. The witch couldn’t even get the words out as she looked at Elena through tearful green eyes that held nothing but sorrow and regret, so Damon was forced to take over, an expression of genuine sympathy on his face as he looked at the teenage girl, who had already been through so, so much. “It’s about Jeremy…” the vampire finally got out and Elena felt like the floor had opened up beneath her…

Months passed. Stefan and Jeremy were still missing.

After all the time that had passed her by, the feelings of loneliness and longing as she searched for Stefan, thinking of all the things that she could have done better, thinking of all the ways she should have been stronger in order to fight and get out of the situation on her own. If she had been stronger, then maybe the loss wouldn’t have been so bad, maybe she still have Stefan by her side… maybe Jeremy would still be in his room and not god knows where…

Thoughts about Jeremy kept Elena in her bed for most of the day. She’d held two funerals in his absence, two funerals for the family members that they’d lost and as she said her departing words to both John and Jenna, Elena couldn’t help but feel that it was wrong that Jeremy wasn’t there. She vividly remembered her parents’ funeral, tears streaming down her face as she silently wallowed in guilt and grief, until Jeremy stepped up beside her and took her hand, squeezing her limp fingers in his large palm, before he told her that they’d get through it together. As looked down at the twin graves of her aunt and birth-father, Elena couldn’t help but long for her missing brother, couldn’t help but long for that comforting words and his warm silent presence that let her know that he was still there, that she wasn’t completely alone in the world.

When she got lonely and depressed enough to try and hide from the world, Damon would be the one that would try and snap her out of it, going from soft and comforting to tough love and spiteful, depending on how he felt for the day. Sometimes it would work and Elena would try to smile through her grief and worry, just like she’d done before, but other times, she couldn’t find it in herself to move an inch and would just ignore him until he gave up and went away.

It didn’t help that her spiralling thoughts would constantly circle around the fact that Klaus had no real need for Jeremy other than a blood-bag for the road; for all Elena knew, Jeremy had long since been dead, his body left somewhere to decompose until it was beyond recognisable. The only reason Klaus would have for taking Jeremy in the first place was to get an edge over Elena and force her to comply if the need arose - though, she didn’t fight when Klaus came for her so the leverage went unused - and now that Elena was ‘dead’, Jeremy had served his purpose in Klaus’ eyes. All this time, she could just be wondering and searching for a dead man…

Usually, it was easy enough to shake her head and disband the thoughts, but oftentimes, Elena could only fixate on the very real and possible fact, spiralling and getting herself worked up until she was sobbing on the floor in whatever room she’d walked into. But, when she could, Elena would throw the dark thoughts away and focus on getting her brother back, safe and by her side, where he belonged. She couldn’t afford to think negatively, now, she needed to cling onto hope, even when the odds weren’t in her favour.

Oftentimes, her depression wasn’t even because Stefan and Jeremy were missing or dead, it was because, now that her brother wasn’t here, she realised how much she’d ignored him. Whenever she became upset, her friends would try to comfort her about Stefan and not about her little brother; she’d try and think of what he was up to these days and come up blank; she’d go into his room and find all these art pieces that she never even knew about - she remembered a time when Jeremy would proudly show his art pieces to her and the rest of the family, a bright grin on his face as he tried to keep his charcoal-coated fingers away from every surface.

It was only when Jeremy was gone that she finally realised how much she’d been ignoring him, how much she’d been pushing him away, or forgetting about him in favour of her love life.

It seemed to hit her like a train with how little she actually knew that was going on with her brother…

How was he doing in school? The only thing she actually knew about was history and that was due to her close relation with Alaric. How was he doing with Bonnie? Was he happy? Was she happy? Did he have other friends after he dropped his ‘stoner group’? Had he signed up for driving lessons? She was so out of the loop on her own brother’s life, she couldn’t help but feel like a bad sister. Sure, the things in her life were stressful and deadly, but surely that would be more reason to keep her little brother close and as safe as possible, not the other way around?

Now that Jeremy had been taken away from her, it was like reality had slapped her in the face. She was a bad sister. Had been a bad sister since their parents had died as she pushed Jeremy away in order to survive the crushing guilt that came over her every time she faced him and she had continued to be a bad sister to him ever since.

Halfway through the summer, Elena finally shook off the last of her feelings of helplessness as she started to research, tracking movements across the country that could have been the actions of Klaus. She was determined to get her brother and boyfriend back from that monster, even if it killed her - much to Damon’s displeasure.

“Look,” the sarcastic vampire smirked down at her as he snatched the small slip of paper from her fingers, “Why don’t you go to the Grill, see Caroline and Bonnie and have a nice little human birthday and leave the Klaus Thing to me, yeah?” he carelessly shoved the paper in his jacket before he strode past her.

“Do you really think I can enjoy my birthday when Jeremy and Stefan are in danger?” Elena glared at the vampire’s back, irritation and impatience steadily rising.

They’d just made it to the bottom of the stairs, Elena hot on Damon’s heels, when he sharply turned around, causing the doppelgänger to crash into his chest. With that unbearable smirk still on his face, “You never know until you try,” and then his smirk slipped off his face, “Stefan is my business, so why don’t you enjoy the heights of being a teenager in a small, boring town like you were fighting for and leave the supernatural, dangerous stuff to me.”

Elena glares at his retreating back, anger and irritation sparking deep within her, “Stefan may be your little brother but, don’t forget, Jeremy is mine,” she stares into his crystal blue eyes with a steely gaze, “Every reason you have to find Stefan: because he saved your life, because he’s always been there, because he’s your little brother that you remember following you around as a child. I have them too. Jeremy risked everything to try and save me, risked everything as soon as I dragged him into the supernatural world. Jeremy’s always been there for me, during my first breakup, during our parents’ deaths and every other time I’ve needed him. And, he’s my little brother, whether by blood or not, I remember when he was born and I remember holding him for the first time and I remember looking at him and thinking that I would do anything to protect him! Even when I’ve forgotten about him, or pushed him away, or argued with him, I still want him back with me, I want to know that he’s safe, with me,” Elena sucked in a shuddering breath, emotions going haywire as she put on a resolute face and stood tall in front of the silent vampire, “I think you should understand that more than anyone, Damon.” Then, she stormed past him, more determined than ever to try and find her little brother.

She would find Jeremy and Stefan, no matter what, because if she didn’t… Elena didn’t know if she could handle it…

“What about this one?” Rebekah gave a twirl before stopping, hand on hip in a model pose as she presented the umpteenth number of clothing that she was curious about.

Jeremy has long since lost the will to live and a headache was slowly starting to make itself known as he silently cursed Klaus and Stefan for sacrificing him to Rebekah’s crazy fashion frenzy. Vaguely, Jeremy remembered being forced into a shopping trip with Elena and her friends; he remembered actually running away, causing the police to be called after Elena was crying down the phone to her parents about how she’d lost him; Liz Forbes had picked Jeremy up from the park, three miles away from where he was supposed to be. After that day, Elena and everyone else in their immediate social circle knew to never force Jeremy to go shopping with them.

Unfortunately, Klaus and Rebekah had never gotten the memo. And, even more, unfortunately, their superior senses and their fixation on him being their long-dead little brother, kept Jeremy from being able to successfully creep away and save himself from the horror of shopping.

“Oi! Hen-Jeremy, at least try to pretend to be interested!” Rebekah complained, completely skipping over her little slip - Jeremy was just happy that she was attempting to make an effort to call him by his preferred name, unlike the Hybrid menace.

Shaking his head of the memories, Jeremy took a moment to look at Rebekah, taking in the tight black dress that barely covered her ass and then grimacing in response. He really didn’t want to see that.

“Surely, there’s more to this dress?” she muttered loud enough for him to hear as she tried to pull the revealing dress down to cover more of her legs.

“Unfortunately,” Jeremy sighed as he rubbed his tired eyes, “That is the whole dress, but that’ll be something to go nightclubbing in. Y’know, cheap drinks, low lighting - that kinda stuff,” he shook his head as he crossed his arms, “I don’t think that’s your kind of dress anyway.”

“Oh?” the ancient vampire placed a deceptively delicate hand on her hip as she rose an eyebrow at him, “And what would be my kind of dress, dear brother?” she gave a small, taunting smirk, though the barest hint of a gleam in her blue eyes told Jeremy that she was taking great amusem*nt from this.

“I, um, I don’t really know…” Jeremy’s arms uncrossed as he dragged his nails through the back of his shaggy hair in a nervous tic, “Maybe something that’s a bit longer? Plainer? Like silk or cotton?” though, those were the only two materials for ‘nice’ dresses that he knew about, “I don’t know… Dresses that are all done up and over the top or barely cover anything are made that way to gain more attention, to make them seem prettier or more… unique?” he really had no idea what he was saying anymore, “But you don’t need that…”

“And why not?” she pressed, head tilting slightly and the slight gleam of amusem*nt had become brighter.

“You’re really enjoying this aren’t you?” he narrowed his eyes at her, a grin tugging on his lips.

“Yes,” she grinned back and Jeremy couldn’t help but think her smile looked so much like his own before he pushed the invasive thoughts into the dark corner of his mind. The ancient vampire waved her hands at him and laughed, “Go on, carry on.”

“What the hell did I say before?” Jeremy muttered to himself, mind going blank.

“You were saying that I didn’t need a flashy dress or an overly exposed one and I asked you why you thought so,” she curved her lips into a charming rendition of a smile and she stared at him expectantly making Jeremy feel that he needed to watch his wording…

“Right,” Jeremy rubbed his neck nervously once again, “Well, er, you are very pretty, but in a graceful kind of way and you’re also old- Wait! Not old- Well you are very old, but I meant in a more… er, mature? Yes, you are very mature and a simple, elegant dress would go well for you than… anything… else - God, please make me stop talking!” Jeremy nearly shouted as he pulled at his shaggy locks with both hands, silently screaming at how much of an idiot he was. He was pretty sure he’d never done anything so nerve-racking or awkward in his entire life! She was definitely going to kill him now, reincarnated brother, or not-

“Oh my God,” Rebekah sputtered out before she dissolved into loud, amused laughter, blue eyes alight with mirth as she raised a hand in an attempt to cover up her laughter.

Feeling laughed at and his pride a little wounded, Jeremy crossed his arms and huffed as he turned his head away. It was only then that Jeremy realised that some people were looking overdue to Rebekah’s laughter; Jeremy would have been more embarrassed if he didn’t notice the watching men turn a little bit more leery and interested as their eyes travelled up and down Rebekah’s figure. It was only then that Jeremy realised that the ancient vampire was still in the ridiculously short dress. Suddenly, an overprotective instinct took over and Jeremy’s hands turned to fists in his crossed arms as he flexed the little amount of muscle that he had as he stepped a little in front of the still-laughing Rebekah and sent them all a dark warning glare. As soon as the men saw Jeremy’s glare, they turned away and back to what they were originally doing.

Focusing back on Rebekah, Jeremy had the decency to look slightly sheepish as he met the blonde’s eye, fumbling slightly over his words as he tried to come up with some kind of explanation for his sudden attitude.

“What was that about?” she questioned, a knowing tone in her voice as she took a cursory glance around the store.

“What was what about?” When in doubt, play dumb.

“What did they all do to deserve the fabled Mikaelson glare? Do I dare even ask?” she inquired, eyebrow raised and looking far too amused for Jeremy’s liking.

“It was nothing,” the teen shrugged, before he did a double-take at her words and frowned, “‘Fabled Mikaelson Glare’? What's that?”

“That,” she started as she turned to head back to their little corner of the store, “Is our family curse,” she gave a self-depreciative smile at Jeremy, “Our father was a Viking before he settled down with our mother, so anger and violence is almost second nature to our family. Unfortunately, some of us are more affected by it than others, Klaus being one of the more severe cases,” she rolled her eyes as she patted Jeremy’s back as a small comfort before going back to the dressing room to try on another outfit.

Jeremy was silent for a moment, thinking deeply as he waited patiently for Rebekah to reemerge with another modern outfit on.

“What about this one?” she twirled around, showing off the styled shirt and dark jeans, reminding Jeremy of something that Elena would wear.

“That one looks more casual,” he smiled, “It looks nice on you, makes you look like you’re in high school.”

Rebekah gave him a narrow-eyed stare before she stepped closer to him, “Alright, what’s wrong?” Jeremy tilted his head in confusion to which she rolled her eyes, “Oh, don’t give me that look. Clearly, you have something on your mind, so what is it? What’s wrong?”

Hesitating slightly, Jeremy took a deep breath before finally deciding to get it out in the open, “How can you be so sure that I’m your reincarnated brother?” he questioned, staring at her with assessing and imploring eyes, “You haven’t seen Henrik in… I don’t even know how long, but I know that it’s been more than a few centuries for you. You all believed him to be dead, you knew that there was no chance of him ever come back to you, but you’ve accepted that he’s back through Klaus’ word alone. I could be anyone. I could be a doppelgänger, or maybe someone who just looks a lot like Henrik, or maybe it’s some kind of spell to trick you into thinking I am him. I just… don’t understand how you can accept something so… impossible.”

In the warehouse, when Jeremy had first been introduced to Rebekah as her long-deceased brother, the ancient vampire had understandably been confused and enraged at Klaus for ‘trying to replace Henrik with the next crapy look-alike’ and would have snapped Jeremy’s head if Klaus hadn’t intervened with all the aggression of a mother wolf protecting her pup. Then, Klaus had sped Rebekah to the nearest corner of the warehouse, hushed words exchanged in a low enough tone so the lone human in the room couldn’t overhear. Rebekah seemed to calm down at that point before she examined Jeremy with a more critical eye to the point where the teenager couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably from foot to foot. Then, from one second to the next, Rebekah had enveloped him in a crushing - but surprisingly careful of her vampire strength - hug, tears pricking at the corner of her eyes as she swept him off his feet, completely ignoring Jeremy’s persistent comments that he wasn’t Henrik. Then, she and Klaus delved into an argument over a lost necklace, shouting and raving at one another before both calmed down enough for her to complain about still being in a ‘dusty old dress’. From one moment to the next, Rebekah was leading Jeremy by the hand and telling him about all the shopping she had to do now that she was in a new century while Klaus and Stefan waved at him with evil smirks on their faces…

He didn’t know what Klaus had said to Rebekah to change her mind, nor did he knew what she saw when she looked at him. It confused and frustrated him, even more, when he couldn’t seem to bring himself to act as coldly towards her as he did to Klaus. He could always bring that down to the fact that Klaus was the one that actually kidnapped him, not Rebekah, but she wasn’t exactly protesting very loudly about Jeremy’s situation.

Maybe he was just getting his feelings mixed up? Maybe he missed Elena so much that he was seeing her in Rebekah, despite their completely different personalities. Maybe it was the fact that Jeremy had been missing the presence of an attentive older sister since before the Salvatores had hit the town and, now, that presence was being offered up freely and he couldn’t help but soak it up.

Jeremy didn’t even want to consider the possibility that the reason he felt so comfortable with Rebekah was because Klaus was right and he actually was their late brother. He was scared that the feelings he felt for Rebekah were the residual emotions from a past life that was buried deep within his psyche. He was scared that those memories were slowly awakening with each passing day that he was forced to spend with them. And he was scared about what that might insinuate about him and everything that he’s ever known…

“Always and Forever had always been our family motto, even before we became vampires,” Rebekah finally spoke after what felt like an eternity of contemplative silence between them, “It’s a promise to always stand together against everything that life throws at us. It’s a promise to always be there for one another when it counts. It’s a promise that’s lasted a millennium, despite all the problems that we’ve had amongst one another.”

“Always and Forever,” Jeremy hummed aloud in thought, before he gave an endearing smile to the blonde, “That sounds like a nice promise to one another.” Though, it struck him as strangely wholesome for such a fearsome family of violent killers…

Jeremy jolted slightly when he suddenly felt a hand sliding into his own and his eyes flicked down to his and Rebekah’s interlocking fingers within his as she gave light, comforting squeezes.

“You’re just like him,” Rebekah tried to give a small smile, but it fell almost instantly, “You’ve got Kol’s hair and Elijah’s eyes and you’ve got mother’s nose. Your mannerisms just scream Henrik,” she gave a small, wet laugh and it was clear that she was trapped in memories of the past as she spoke about her centuries-dead brother, “Despite all of our brashness and violence, you were always the calmest of us all, always willing to be a shoulder to lean on despite being the youngest of us all, but you were always ready to jump into a fight if you felt like someone had done us wrong. You feel so much like him - your presence, your voice, your personality - it’s hard to object Nik’s claims,” the vampire then stared into his eyes, blue gazing intensely into brown, not even attempting to compel him as she stared into his eyes, into his soul, “And if Henrik were to have found some kind of way to come back to us, no matter how impossible or strenuous, I don’t doubt for one second that he wouldn’t have taken it…”

The pair settled into a loaded silence for a moment before Jeremy shook off his confusing thoughts and feelings and gave Rebekah a somewhat warm smile as he said, “We should finish up shopping before Klaus and Stefan come back and ruin it,” earning a surprised laugh from Rebekah before she grinned and nodded in agreement.

Despite the boring activity of shopping, Jeremy would take any distraction that he could just so he could ignore the thoughts running ramped. Thoughts like wishing Rebekah was his sister instead of Elena. Thoughts like maybe he really was Henrik; the ramblings of a crazy hybrid that had kidnapped him, was one thing, the confident declaration of the possibility from a vampire that was completely sound-of-mind, was another. Thoughts like maybe he should stay…

Chapter 6: Gloria’s Bar

Chapter Text

“Well, don’t you look better,” Klaus grinned at his younger siblings as they came into the bar, Jeremy looking notably tired in new expensive clothes lead by the arm that was linked within Rebekah’s, while Rebekah’s happy glow changed to a bitter and angry smile as she strode in wearing her new modern clothes.

“Burn in hellfire, Nik,” the blonde huffed, finally unlinking her arm from Jeremy, losing the nice sisterly act so fast that it almost gave the human teen whiplash.

“Oh, ho,” a different voice suddenly spoke up and Jeremy nearly jumped out of his skin before he whipped his head around to face the woman he hadn’t even noticed until now. She was old, older than Jeremy expected for someone that was friends with Klaus, meaning she probably wasn’t a vampire. She gave the young teen a critical once over, and gave a mock-look of disapproval as she swung her hand out on her hip, “Aren’t you a little bit too young to be in a bar?”

“I can still drink,” Jeremy blurted in an instinctual protest before his eyes caught the various amount of candles that she was in the middle of taking out of a cardboard box and placing it on one of the bar tables. All of which told Jeremy that the new woman was a witch.

“Sure you can, hun,” the white-haired woman laughed before she continued setting her candles, “Tell me, how’s someone so young and human end up running around with original vampires?”

“I, er-“

“This,” Klaus spoke over the floundering teen as he casually made his way to Jeremy’s side, arm slithering over his back and lightly squeezing his shoulder; a possessive move, if Jeremy ever saw one, “Is my little brother, Henrik, united with his family at long last,” he grinned at the witch with a hint of too many teeth as he squeezed the teen’s shoulder a little tighter before releasing.

The witch was understandably shocked as her dark eyes flickered from Klaus and Jeremy, trying to see if it was true or not. “Oh, wow,” she finally uttered after a long stretch of loaded silence, “I did not expect that coming,” her face broke out into a friendly grin once again before she tilted her head towards the bar, “C’mon, honey, I’ll get you that drink.”

“Really?” Jeremy blinked, shocked at the sudden change of attitude with the alcohol privileges.

“Sure,” she turned her head over her shoulder to look back at him as they made their way towards her selection of alcohol, “Virgin margarita?” she smiled.

“Yes, plea- Wait,” Jeremy’s happy smile fell as he registered her words, making the teen pout at her (though he’d deny such an action ’til his dying day) as the witch barked a loud laugh. With a sigh, Jeremy resigned himself to the fact that he may never be able to drink alcohol again as he slumped into a stool at the end, “Just a soda then, please.”

The old witch hummed, eyes dancing with amusem*nt before she slid a glass off her shelf and got to work.

Discreetly, Jeremy glanced at Klaus and Rebekah, the siblings speaking in hushed tones with one another before he turned his attention back to the bartender, “Um, my name’s Jeremy, by the way,” he awkwardly tapped the wooden surface of the bar in a nervous manner, hoping Klaus would be too distracted to start up the usual argument over his name.

The woman gave Jeremy a slightly strained smile and what he thought to be a flash of sympathy, before she continued to cut up a lime for his drink, neglecting to answer overall.

“Here you go, hun,” the witch smiled as she added in a little bendy straw, chuckling at his weak glare before he thanked her.

Despite Jeremy feeling miffed about the childish straw, he still used it as he started guzzling the much-needed sugar from the carbonated drink - he needed all the energy he could get after such an exhausting shopping trip. However, when the first mouthful hit his tongue, Jeremy froze. The drink had a familiar taste to it, almost hidden by the sweetness and the fizziness of the drink, but after so many months of tasting it in his coffee, the teen could recognise the taste of vervain from anywhere.

Immediately, Jeremy resumed drinking his co*ke, thankful that his moment’s pause was not picked up on by either vampire. He barely managed to stop himself from guzzling the entire thing as he lifted his head from the drink and made eye contact with the witch, giving a small, barely-there nod as a show of gratitude. With vervain in his system, Jeremy might actually have a chance of escaping, so long as he was patient and was smart about it.

There was a moment of tense silence as Jeremy continued to drink his vervain laced co*ke at the bar, Rebekah and Klaus whispering at the end of it, while Gloria continued to set up the candles. Boredom growing, Jeremy’s mind began to trail off as he thought about the city that he was in, Chicago. He didn’t really know much about the city, other than the stereotypical norms: good food (mainly pizza), museums, old speakeasies. The teen wracked his brains as he tried to remember his history classes about Chicago, but the only thing he could remember was that there were an absurd amount of gangs and mob organisations in the 1920s when the ban on alcohol was still a thing. From Jeremy’s knowledge, the city’s art schools were very good and it had been one of the universities that Jeremy had looked at when he was forced to take part in career day.

“Where have you been?” Rebekah’s voice cut through Jeremy’s thoughts, making the teen turn his head to see that Stefan had walked in.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, not at all apologetic, “Just had to clear my head,”

Klaus bobbed his head, eyes flicking to Rebekah briefly before returning to the younger vampire, “I get that.”

“What’s she doing?” he stepped closer to Gloria as the witch continued to ignore his presence as she flexed her hand over the large tome.

“Failing.”

The witch huffed and rolled her eyes, hands falling to her sides as she gave Klaus a Look, “It’s hard to find something when you don’t have anything to go on.”

“So use me,” Rebekah spoke up as she hopped off her stool and made her way to the candle filled table, “I only wore it for a thousand years.”

“See?” Gloria gestured for the vampire to a clear bit of the table to sit on, “Now this one offers a solution. Alright, give me your hand, sweetheart.”

“She’s, uh, she’s looking for the necklace, huh?” Stefan spoke and Jeremy narrowed his eyes at his sister’s former boyfriend. The vampire had his arms crossed - a standard sign of nervousness or defensiveness within body language - and he’d stumbled slightly over his words. Klaus, Rebekah and Gloria didn’t seem to notice his little moment of weakness, keener to find the necklace than to pay much attention to Stefan. It was clear to Jeremy that Stefan didn’t want the necklace found, for whatever reason and, for the first time since Jeremy had been kidnapped, it felt like the teen was actually looking at Stefan and not the coldhearted Ripper that Klaus had turned him into.

Stefan’s eyes caught into Jeremy’s own, before the vampire became neutral once again, going back to his cool and detached act. It was an act. He was acting. Could it be possible that Stefan had been acting all summer? Could it be possible that Stefan was still the same vampire Jeremy had come to know in Mystic Falls? But, if he was acting, who was he trying to protect by deceiving Klaus?

Jeremy didn’t know what the hell was going on, he felt like he’d been left out of the loop and now, he couldn’t make heads or tails of what was going on. But, whatever Stefan was trying to protect or hide, must be for a good reason and so, Jeremy turned his eyes back to Gloria and Rebekah as he downed the rest of his drink and set the glass aside.

“I found it,” Gloria’s voice cut through Jeremy’s thoughts, the declaration as sharp and forbidding as a knife.

“So, where is it?” Rebekah demanded, more than eager to get back her possession; Jeremy didn’t know the significance of the necklace, but it must have held some kind of sentimental value for the blonde to have worn it for a thousand years.

The witch shook her head, eyes closed and her eyebrows drawn close in obvious concentration, “It doesn’t work like that, doll. I get images. There’s a girl with her friends-“

“Yes, a dead girl with dead friends, if I don’t get my necklace back,” Rebekah snapped, more than peeved about the necklace having a new owner.

“Well,” Gloria hedged and Jeremy had no idea how the witch had kept herself so calm and patient in the eyes of two irritated original vampires, “I’ll have to dive back in to get details-“

“So dive,” Klaus all but demanded.

“I need more time,” the witch gave Klaus another Look. Jeremy tensed when Klaus’ eyes narrowed further before he walked over to Gloria in a threatening manner, looking as intimidating as possible as he leaned over her table and stared intently at her. The old witch merely scoffed, “And space. You’re hashing my ju-ju,” she waved him off like a lingering child at her work.

“We can wait,” Klaus countered, still not moving an inch.

“I’m sure you can,” she bobbed her head in agreement, “But, that’s not what I asked.”

The look in Klaus’ eyes became darker and Jeremy felt so tense, he felt as if he were a lowly prey caught in the presence of a powerful predator. Jeremy wanted to help the witch, who had helped him without him even asking her, but he felt terror clawing at his throat and he couldn’t unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth.

“Hey,” Stefan interrupted Klaus before the hybrid blew up, causing Jeremy to breathe easier as his lungs finally loosened up, “Hey, you know, why don’t we just come back later. I’m hungry anyway. I’ll let you pick who we eat.” Stefan gave a winning smile and it took a moment for Klaus to silently agree before the younger vampire was making his way towards the door, the vampire siblings following behind.

“Come along, little brother,” Klaus looked back at the teen, making Jeremy silently curse - for a moment, it looked as if they’d all forgotten that Jeremy was actually in the bar as well.

“Can I stay here?” Jeremy asked, tone casual and uncaring. The only sign of his nervousness was the small twitching jumps of his leg, “I really don’t want to watch you eat people again.” It was always traumatic for Jeremy to hear and see Klaus and Stefan kill humans, especially Stefan since there was usually a guarantee that the unlucky victim would lose their head in the process.

For a long moment, Jeremy barely allowed himself to breathe as he stared at Klaus, trying to mentally beg the vampire to let him stay in within the safety of the bar and within the presence of someone he somewhat trusted. Jeremy felt his stomach plummet when it looked like Klaus was about to say no, but then Rebekah interrupted.

“I don’t see why not,” she tilted her head in consideration and rose her eyes at Klaus’ small glare.

There was some kind of silent conversation going on between the siblings before Klaus sighed in obvious defeat and stepped towards Jeremy. The teen knew what was coming back the hybrid even made eye contact.

Pupil contracting, Klaus stared straight at the teen, “You will stay with Gloria and when you decide to leave, you will only go straight to the warehouse and wait for us there, okay?” he finished and Jeremy did his best at pretending to be compelled as he silently nodded his head in agreement and when Klaus looked away, the teen made sure to blink and pretend that he’d just come back to himself. Never before had Jeremy felt so thankful that Damon was so liberal in compelling people, so he knew, from witnessing it many times, to make his face slack and his responses a little slow. “Alright, let’s go,” Klaus turned back around, confident in his compulsion, and headed out to kill some unsuspecting people.

Jeremy practically held his breath as he watched all the vampires leave, watching them get further and further away and even when they were completely out of sight, Jeremy didn’t dare say a word until a few minutes later, when he was sure that they were out of hearing range. Heaving a huge sigh of relief, Jeremy felt like sliding to the floor onto his knees as sudden emotional exhaustion hit him like a truck.

“Oh, thank god,” he breathed as he roughly pulled his shaggy hair from his face before he turned to look at the waiting witch, “Thank you, for that. I know you risked a lot in being found out, but I’m glad that you did.”

“I risked more than a lot, you know,” the witch rose a single eyebrow as she turned to rub-down the tables, “If Klaus, or Rebekah, catches on, I’m dead.”

Jeremy was silent as he stared at the old witch. She didn’t seem like the type of person that would stick her neck out for no reason, she seemed like the lone wolf type, someone who only knew what to do to stay alive, damn everyone else. Jeremy had met those types before; Vicki had been like that, not letting herself care about anyone as she chased the high of the drugs; Katherine had been another one, old hearted and letting others take the fall as she ran with her life. So, if this witch was like Vicki and Katherine, then why would she help Jeremy, despite knowing the risks?

“Why would you help me then?”

There was a small silence within the bar as Jeremy gave the witch time to gather her thoughts and put them into some kind of semblance of an explanation. It was a minute before she deemed something worthy of the question he was asking.

Her eyes turned sad before she turned back to the table in order to hide them, “Honey, there’s a reason for why I’ve extended my life to look after my bar… There’s a reason for why there’s no one here to take it off my hands…” she gave a sigh and, suddenly, she looked so much older than she appeared, "When you’re young, you think that everything you do is right, you make one decision for yourself and then, that’s it. It doesn’t matter if everyone tells you you’re doing the wrong thing because you convince yourself that you’re in the right. That decision was to back Klaus and his family. Not many witches like vampires, especially the original ones, so, my family being from a long line of magical descendants, hated them on principle, and then me by extension. And, because they rejected me, I broke off everything with them… Then, as you get older and you become less naive, you realise all the mistakes that you’ve made and all the things you said that you can’t take back… Following Klaus being one of them.”

“So, you helped me as… What? Some form of redemption?” Jeremy asked, “If you’re looking to fix mistakes, why are you still helping Klaus? Why don’t you just turn him away?”

At this, Gloria threw her head back and laughed, the sound bitter and lonely to Jeremy’s ears, making his heart constrict with empathy. “Oh, honey, it’s a little too late for me,” her smile was bitter as she stared at him, “I’ve made my bed and one day I’ll have to lay in it. I’ll never be able to make up for some of the terrible things I’ve done, whether it was on purpose or by accident, but I can make peace with it knowing that I helped out every now and again.”

The bar tapered into silence after that, the conversation obviously finished, as Gloria turned back to rubbing down her bar while Jeremy sat there in thoughtful silence. It was clear to him that the witch felt like it was too late for her - she’d admitted it herself - it was too late for her to turn around suddenly and exclaim that she regretted doing every horrible thing in her life and then turn a new leave like it made everything that she’d done in the past better, negating the pain that she’d caused others in favour of making herself feel good like their past suffering no longer mattered… It was kind of like what Damon was doing. He was changing ‘for the better' and so he believed that all his wrong-doings, the deaths, the sufferings, the torments, even what he’d done to Caroline, was now null and void because he became ‘good’. Only, Gloria had settled for being the villain of the story, despite not truly being one…

Jeremy understood what the old witch was saying, but it was still a difficult pill to swallow.

“Can you show me how to do all the drinks?” He just wanted to change the conversation onto anything else, there was nothing he could say to make her feel better and she wouldn’t want his pity anyway, “Before Klaus came into town, I was thinking of getting a summer job at the local bar. My sister’s ex was telling me that he could teach me how to make all the co*cktails and stuff if I got a job there, but then…” he made a little awkward gesture, a little uncomfortable in saying ‘I got kidnapped’ in such a casual way.

The witch broke out into a large smile as she chuckled, eyes turning fond as she looked him over and then nodded her head, “Yeah, sure, honey, come behind the bar,” she waved him over and Jeremy jumped at the chance of some kind of distraction. Anything to get his mind off of what he was really going through. “You could run, you know,” the witch suddenly spoke up as she picked up the vodka, “You’ve got vervain in your system, Klaus’ compulsion didn’t work. You’re free to leave whenever you want.”

Jeremy gave a self-deprecating smile, “I’ve had way too many failed escape attempts for me to jump the gun and get myself caught in an instant. If Klaus catches me with vervain in my system, I’ll never get a moment of privacy ever again…” And Gloria would be killed in an instant…

As much as Jeremy would have liked to run for the hills and never look back, he knew that he’d never get that far; just blindly running away had only gotten others killed and him locked in the boot of the car as punishment. No. If he wanted to escape and stay free, then he needed to think about it rationally and smartly, but he also needed to do it fast. He had a small window of opportunity, only three to four days until the vervain was completely flushed out of his system and then he’d be back to square one.

“Hey,” the yell jolted him out of his frantic thoughts and he was only just able to catch the bottle of vodka thrown at him. Wide eyes, Jeremy stared up at Gloria, who was only grinding at him, “Get your head out the clouds, hun. I thought you wanted to learn?”

Giving a small smile of appreciation, Jeremy nodded and finally joined her behind the bar. It was a welcomed distraction, one that both of them needed…

“Now, the first thing you’ve gotta know is that mixing drinks is all about the pizazz. Flipping bottles, throwing ice-cubes - anything to put on a little show for the customers. Alright, you watching? Good.”

Hours passed in a blur and Jeremy couldn’t help but grin. It had been so much fun and the teen honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so hard and freely. He’d desperately needed that and if the sad, departing smile that Gloria offered him was anything to go by, she did as well. Time had passed without even realising and then Jeremy had left with a new nervousness in him as he thought about Klaus becoming impatient and getting Jeremy himself - Gloria also needed to get a start on the task that Klaus had demanded of her.

Mournfully, Jeremy looked to the restaurants and fast food places, nose easily catching the various scents of spices and flavours as his stomach growled in protest. God, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten and his growing hunger only made him think of eating Chicago pizza even more. From what he’d heard, the city’s pizza was supposed to be super cheesy and it was known for having a really thick crust, Jeremy could practically taste the doughy, cheesy, tomato goodness as he greedily inhaled at the various smells floating around him.

“Damn it, Klaus,” Jeremy grumbled as he ducked his head down and buried his hands in his pockets. He didn’t have any money. Klaus would never give him any as a way to control and keep Jeremy close. The last time the teen had managed to get ahold of some money, he’d managed to get a bus ticket - though, Klaus had easily ripped it to shreds when he’d discovered it… So, with no money and no way to get to the food that he was heavily salivating for, Jeremy moved on, forcing his feet to carry him in the direction of the warehouse as he’d been ordered to.

Suddenly, a movement at the corner of his eye took Jeremy’s attention and he stopped dead in his tracks. His wide, brown eyes then narrowed as he stared at the reflective glass across the street, but he only saw himself and the people passing him by. Spanning his visual search wider, Jeremy looked from left to right, trying to confirm something that he’d barely caught a glimpse of.

The teen frowned before he shook his head and carried on. For a second, he could have sworn that he’d seen Elena, long dark hair billowing back from her shoulders as she walked down the semi-busy street, but it must have been his imagination. To be honest, he hadn’t stopped thinking about Elena since Klaus had brought Rebekah into his life, so it was really no wonder that he’d imagined her…

Brushing off the event entirely, Jeremy continued on his walk, shoulders getting tenser and tenser the closer he got to the destination; the earlier joy and happiness washing away in an instant-

“Ugh!” Jeremy grunted as his back slammed against the solid bricks of the wall behind him, forcing the air out of his lungs as he gave a few hard blinks in order to stop his head from spinning. He had no idea what just happened. One second, he was walking and the next he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Hey,” a familiar voice violently cut through his confusion and small, slim hands pressed him more firmly against the wall of what he could now deduce as an alleyway. “Hey! Look at me!” the voice demanded again and Jeremy could feel himself being pulled forward by his jacket as someone fisted their hands into the material.

Shaking his head and finally getting his breathing back under control, Jeremy was finally confronted by the image of Elena, frown marring her face as she stood before Jeremy’s prone form. But, this wasn’t Elena. The presence was wrong, how she held herself was wrong, her attitude was wrong, her hair was wrong, the way her lips twisted into a sneer was wrong. This was definitely not his sister. “Katherine?”

The grin that peeled her lips back from her teeth was nothing but predatory with delight as she leaned back slightly from her intimidating pose. “Wow, I don’t think someone has told me apart from Elena so quickly. But then again,” she gave a mocking look of consideration, “I would expect nothing less from the doting baby brother.”

“What do you want, Katherine?” he glared. God, he hated this woman.

“Careful with the tone, Baby Gilbert,” she smirked, “I know you’ve gotten used to vampires sparing your pathetic life, but I can still kill you.”

“I know,” he gave her an annoyed look, “But I also know that if you wanted to kill me, you would have done it in an instant and, since I’m still alive, that means you want something.”

“Clever boy,” she hummed before she backed off just enough for the teen to detach his back from the wall, “I left Mystic Falls, expecting you, Elena and everyone in that town to be dead and gone, but, not only are you not dead, but you’re also with Klaus and I want to know why,” her tone became demanding at the end.

“Why’d you want to know?” he co*ked an eyebrow, acting braver than he really felt.

“Just call me curious,” she tilted her head and gave a smile that looked a little weird. When he realised that the vampire was trying to flirt with him in order to gain the information that she wanted, Jeremy’s face became disgusted. At his expression, Katherine blinked and then rolled her eyes, “Right. I forgot that Elena’s your sister.”

“I think I’m scarred for life…” Jeremy muttered, feeling completely horrified before he gave a full-body shudder.

Katherine then became serious as she gave Jeremy a flat look, “I want to know because information gathering and forming connections is how someone stays alive and I really, really like staying alive. So, Baby Gilbert, why are you still alive? Why are you still with Klaus?”

“It’s not like I’m with him on purpose,” Jeremy groused, nose wrinkling at the vampire’s wording before he crossed his hands and sent her a defiant look, “Why should I tell you anything? The only thing you’ve tried to do is kill us at best and backstab us at worse.”

“Well, if you’re not gonna talk, then I guess I no longer have any use for you,” she gave a sarcastic smile and before Jeremy could say anything more, her hands were on his neck and then the familiar darkness of death greeted him…

Jeremy gasped awake, eyes bugged and lungs heaving as his body tried to get over the shock. “Stone cold bitch,” he uttered as soon as his body had calmed down, irritation rising as he lifted a hand to rub at the pain in his neck, only to pause when there was no pain… That was odd, of all the times that he’s had his neck broken in the past, he’s always had a really bad neckache afterwards.

Casting his eyes around the place, Jeremy’s brows continued to furrow when he didn’t recognise the place in the slightest and that the area around him was ashen and grey like all the colours had been washed away to a dull and faded backdrop. Quickly, Jeremy glanced down at his hand, confusion growing when the Gilbert ring on his finger seemed to glow with vibrant colouring. The blue stone and the silver was bright against the grey-washed colours of the world.

“Where the hell am I?” he muttered to himself as he tried to look around, panic growing when nothing seemed to change, he forced himself to calm down when he heard a loud and long car horn. Noise meant life. Relief flooding him, Jeremy took towards the sound, swiftly emerging from the wide alleyway he’d woken up in. Instantly, Jeremy nearly ran into someone and barely managed to dodge the rushing woman, “Oh, sorry…” he trailed off as the woman carried on walking, unbothered and like she hadn’t heard him at all.

Shrugging it off as a rude woman in a hurry, Jeremy still had to try and figure out where the hell he was. Conveniently, a man strode out of a coffee shop, beverage in hand and steps slow, like he had all the time in the world. Surely, he wasn’t too busy to give Jeremy some directions. “Hey! Sorry to disturb you, but do you know-“ Jeremy choked on his words as the man walked through him. The sensation itself was weird as the man didn’t give any indication of seeing or hearing him as he stepped through Jeremy, a cold sensation crawling up his spine and he shuddered. Snapping his head around to watch the man with wide, haunted eyes, Jeremy saw the man shiver as well before carrying on with his day.

“What the hell?” Jeremy breathed, barely stopping himself from freaking out. He was dead. How was he dead?! Didn’t the Gilbert Ring work?! It had worked in the past, so why had it stopped working now?! “I’m dead?”

“Not quite,” a voice interrupted and Jeremy jumped a foot in the air before he spun around, nearly tripping over his own foot as he did so. The voice belonged to an older blonde woman, her hair naturally wavy as the ends brushed at her mid-back, and her face was pale and unblemished as she gave him a soft smile.

“Who are you?” Jeremy instantly demanded, fear and courage crashing through him as he stared at the woman with narrowed eyes, muscles tense to run at a moment’s notice, “Where are we? And what did you mean ‘not quite’?”

“Calm yourself, child,” the woman soothed, stepping closer before stopping her movements when Jeremy took a hasty one back. She raised her hands as a universal sign of ‘no harm’, “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m trying to help you,” she gave another soft smile as she slowly lowered her hands, “You’re on the Other Side. For longer than anyone in the realm can remember, supernatural beings like vampires and witches have come here when they die. We usually wander alone, watching the people we used to know, or the world we used to live in change slowly over the years. But you are not dead,” she pointed at Jeremy’s hand and the teen looked down at the colourful ring, “That piece of magic keeps you anchored to your body so you don’t pass on. Instead, you appear here, in the Other Side, before you are able to find and return to your body. However, every time you die, you will appear further and further away from your body,” she calmly explained and Jeremy nodded slowly before he froze when a thought occurred to him.

“Wait, how do you know all that? And I’ve used the ring before, how comes I don’t remember this happening before?” he tilted his head, unsure whether to be suspicious or just curious about the woman. She didn’t seem dangerous, but a lot of things in the world that didn’t seem that way would rip your heart out.

The stranger smiled at him, patient and friendly, “I believe I’ve run into a few ancestors of yours in the past and you won’t remember anything from the Other Side. I don’t know why, but as soon as you re-enter your body, you’ll have forgotten all of this.”

“Oh…” Jeremy managed to say, settling down completely and not backing away as the stranger started to make her way closer to him once again. He didn’t know how to feel about not being able to control what he remembers (it just brings back the time that Damon and Elena had done the exact same thing to him against his will), but he’d rather get back to his body than keep his memories. “Er, thanks for telling me, er, miss…”

“Just call me Esther.”

“Cool, my name’s Jeremy,” he gave a small but genuine smile of greeting.

Esther’s smile became wider in response to Jeremy’s, joy lighting up her bright eyes before he reached forward and wound her hand around his and gently pulled him forward, “Come, I know where your body is.”

Without further hesitance, Jeremy followed. He didn’t know why, but he just felt like he could trust this lady, that she wouldn’t try to harm him. It felt a little weird to hold her hand, but he just shrugged it off to a cultural difference (he could tell that her accent was English, but with how old her dress looked, he wasn’t so sure…) and didn’t have the heart to awkwardly pull his appendage back while she was just trying to be nice and show him the way back to his body.

“So, when did you live?” Jeremy asked, curiosity untameable as he looked at the ageless woman - History was his favourite subject, after art, of course. She turned to him with an endeared smile and then started to answer all the questions he could possibly have for her.

Ten minutes later, Jeremy started to vaguely recognise the streets and spoke up when Esther finished her explanation of what her son used to do for paint, “I think we’re close, now. I think I recognise the streets,” he smiled, relief filling him as he started to walk faster, eager to get out of the grey-washed world. There was an urge in his chest that was pulling at him, making him think that he was close to where he was supposed to be.

As they rounded one last corner, Jeremy swiftly eyed his crumpled over body that was lazily hidden behind an overflowing dumpster. Looking down, he could see some kind of liquid was seeping into the side of his trousers. God, he hated Katherine.

Turning, Jeremy gave a small smile to the helpful woman as he gestured to his limp body, “Well, I guess this is me,” his smile fell as he turned serious, “Thank you, for everything. It was really nice meeting you.”

“It was nothing, my child,” and before he could say anything more, Esther had stepped up to him, cupping his face, thumbs gently brushing over the bone of his cheeks. Jeremy had frozen up and could only stare, wide-eyed as the woman in front of him gave him a sad, strained smile, tears pricking at her eyes, before she leaned in the rest of the way and pressed her lips firmly to his forehead, her entire body trembling with untold emotion before she finally stepped away from him and gave a firm push to his chest—

Jeremy gasped awake, eyes bugged and lungs heaving as his body tried to get over the shock. “Stone cold bitch,” he uttered as soon as his body had calmed down, irritation rising as he lifted a hand to rub at the pain in his neck, groaning as it seemed to shoot up and down his spine. He looked around and cursed when the sky looked a little more orange than when he started to head back to the warehouse. Klaus was going to kill him!

The teen groaned when he shifted himself up and some kind of substance had seeped into the side of his leg. God, he hated Katherine. Cursing his outing bad luck, Jeremy tried to rub away the brewing headache with a grimace before standing up. He frowned with confusion as he rubbed his forehead a little lighter. He didn’t know why, but it kind of felt like someone had recently touched his forehead, but shrugged off the confusion in favour of getting back to the warehouse.

Hopefully, if Klaus wasn’t too annoyed, he’d buy a mountain of fast food for his ‘little brother’, especially if Jeremy told him about being killed by Katherine. Bitch deserved to be hunted by the biggest asshole in the world…

Chapter 7: Confused betrayals

Chapter Text

The road seemed repetitive and slow as Jeremy gazed out of the window with glazed eyes. There was complete silence in the van as Klaus angrily drove, lips pressed into a thin line and jaw clenching and unclenching as if he was staving off the hurtful and damning words that forcefully sprung to his mind but was holding back for his little brother’s sake. Rebekah was much the same way as Klaus as she stared at the road before her, not uttering a single word as the sound of the engine filled the tense silence. Jeremy could tell that she wasn’t as mad as the hybrid, but she was still marginally upset with him (Jeremy didn’t want to think about how he possibly knew how angry Klaus and Rebekah was just by looking at them, especially when he’d known Rebekah for less than five hours).

Stefan was in the back of the van, dead to the world with his neck at an awkward angle… The teen would have tried to help him in some way, but his built-up instincts over the summer told him that Klaus would be anything but happy if he tried to push the boundaries in this situation.

Apparently, Stefan hadn’t been as emotionless and off the rails as he appeared to be. In fact, he had been discovered by Rebekah to be asking questions he had no business asking, revealing the fact that he’d been acting the entire time. Jeremy wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, he’d been relieved that Stefan wasn’t an actual monster, that he wasn’t this unfeeling thing that he’d been forced to stand next to, that there was still some semblance of the man that had defended his sister and strangers from the supernatural happenings as much as he possibly could. On the other hand, Jeremy felt… cheated. Here he was suffering alone, practically terrified of his own shadow and haunted by the hybrid that was convinced about something that might not even be true. Here he was, feeling like he was going crazy, feeling like he was slowly losing the will to resist, feeling ignored by the one familiar thing he had since being dragged kicking and screaming from Mystic Falls, only for it to turn out that Stefan could have relieved some of the weight from Jeremy's shoulders. If Stefan had at least acknowledged him, maybe Jeremy wouldn’t feel like he was at the end of his rope, maybe he wouldn’t feel like his world was collapsing around him, maybe he wouldn’t have started to lean on Klaus - just ever so slightly - in the face of Stefan’s stone-cold rejection. There were a lot of ‘what if’s, ‘but’s and ‘maybe’s, but the main thing rolling around in Jeremy’s head was the fact that Stefan could have told Jeremy at any time that his sister was alive, if not in a verbal way in fear of being discovered, then in a nod or an unsent text. But no, the vampire had left Jeremy to mourn, to cry and to feel like he had lost everyone he could have possibly cared about in the entire world; no parents, no aunt, no sister. A massive unmovable weight rested on his chest as he thought of the times that Stefan had stared at him with cold eyes as the teen cried and sobbed and wished for his older sister, only to be threatened by Klaus (who was annoyed and jealous that his ‘little brother’ longed for a different family that wasn’t Klaus’) with the prospect of the hybrid returning to the teen’s home town and slaughtering every last one of them. If Jeremy had known about his sister’s survival, would he have been able to resist for longer? Would he have been able to cling to the hope of escape if he’d known he had one last family member still alive?

Betrayal settled over Jeremy like a heavy cloak, the hurtful emotions clinging to every part of him like dirtied oil; his lungs, his heart and the inside of his throat lined with the viscous substance. It was an ugly emotion, one that was painful and throbbing like an infected wound he couldn’t get to, but no matter what Jeremy tried to do, he couldn’t shake the feeling off.

It didn’t help that Jeremy felt confused about the feeling of betrayal. What Stefan had done was for a good cause and if Jeremy ever found out that his sister was safe, Klaus could easily compel the information out of him. Stefan had done this to protect Elena. Could the teen really be sad about that? Should he? Was he allowed to feel betrayed when it was for a good cause?

Betrayal turned into sadness. Sadness turned into anger. Anger turned into confusion. Confusion turned to guilt. Guilt turned back into betrayal and the whole cycle started over again.

The colourful emotions mixed and clumped together, becoming ugly and turning an indecipherable colour, much like mixing watercolours, and they filled up his chest until he felt like he was drowning in them. The silence didn’t help, but the teen could barely work up the strength to open his mouth, let alone utter a few meek words. The face of their dual anger was too fresh in his mind for there to be any scrap of courage.

He remembered everything vividly…

After waking up in a greyscale alley beside a building, Jeremy had rushed to Klaus’ demanded destination and before he could get a word of excuse out of his mouth, his shirt was snatched and yanked. It was only when his back slammed into a wall and his vision came back to him, did Jeremy realise that a vampire had sped him into the building. He didn’t even have to open his eyes to know that it was Klaus in front of him and it also wasn’t hard to guess that the hybrid was pissed.

“Where were you?” Klaus growled and Jeremy couldn’t help the instinctive gasp of breath as he stared at the glowering hybrid with wide, fearful eyes. With Jeremy’s continued unwilling silence, completely unable to utter a word in the face of the ancient being’s wrath, Klaus’ face started to distort with black veins over his cheeks and his eyes starting to darken and glow with werewolf amber and vampire red. “You better start talking, little brother,” he grumbled in a low threatening tone, “You won't want to find out what I do to our siblings when they disappoint me…”

Finally, Jeremy was able to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth as he managed to gasp out, “I died.”

“What?” Rebekah spoke up from behind, suddenly making her appearance as she stared at Jeremy with hard eyes, “You died? What do you mean?”

“My-my ring,” the teen wriggled his hand a little to indicate the large gaudy ring that had been passed down through his family, “When I die from a supernatural cause, it brings me back…”

“Who would dare try to kill you, little brother?” Klaus demanded, his earlier anger forgotten in favour of his overprotectiveness.

“K-Katherine,” Jeremy admitted, cursing himself for the small stutter, his fear finally unclenching from around his heart.

“Katerina?” Rebekah spoke up with narrowed eyes, suspicion written plainly on her face, “Is he lying about the ring? How did he get that?” she directed at Klaus, but before the hybrid could answer, Jeremy jumped to support his claims.

“I’m not lying!” he glared at the blonde, “It’s a family heirloom. An ancestor of mine from the civil war created the rings when the town had a vampire problem. One of the Bennett witches helped him make it…” the human trailed off when he noticed that the pair were looking at him oddly, Rebekah’s eyes were blown wide while Klaus was smirking at the teen with obvious delight. “What?” he questioned, his apprehension coming back ten-fold.

“You know Nordic…” Rebekah breathed, eyes still startlingly wide with apparent shock.

Then it was Jeremy’s turn to frown as he shook his head, “No?” What kind of question was that? Wasn’t Nordic a very old and very dead language? Why would she think that Jeremy knew that?

“What language did you just hear?” Klaus asked, head tilting to the side with obvious curiosity.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy tilted his own head, unconsciously copying the hybrid.

“When Rebekah asked that question, you understood her, didn’t you?” Klaus prodded further, a certain joy alright in his eyes that made Jeremy feel a bit nervous.

“Of course I did?” the teen squinted his eyes at the pair, his mind felt like it was moving slowly through the shock of so many things that had happened today, “She was speaking English.”

“No, Henrik,” Rebekah shook her head, a smile growing on her lips as she stared at Jeremy like it was the first time seeing him, “I spoke Nordic - the language that my brothers and I grew up with when we were human. And you responded in the same language.”

There was a long, pregnant silence as Jeremy stared at Rebekah in disbelief. It felt like the entire building had turned into a vacuum of space and Jeremy could barely get his lungs to cooperate as he tried to process what they were saying to him. He, Jeremy, had spoken an ancient language without even realising… How… How was that possible?

“Convinced?” Klaus suddenly spoke and Jeremy blinked back to reality in time to watch as Klaus turned to look over his shoulder at his younger sibling.

“Completely…” Rebekah breathed, her shock of the situation finally wearing off as her smile turned blindingly bright with happiness as she gazed at Jeremy with a warmth that definitely hadn’t been there before. Then the vampire shifted to the side and fear flooded through Jeremy’s system once more as he stared at an unmoving and very dead Stefan that had been carelessly left on the floor.

Noticing his diverted attention, Klaus’ expression turned stormy again a twisted grin breaking out on his face as he made a show of turning to look down at Stefan before looking back at Jeremy, “Ah, yes, I nearly forgot in the face of our latest development, but it seems that Stefan here has been a bit naughty. Asking questions he shouldn’t ask, lying to my face and killing my witches. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now, would you, little brother?”

“What- I don- What?” was all Jeremy managed to force out. What the hell was going on? Wasn’t Stefan Klaus’ best friend, now?

“Oh, for god’s sake,” Rebekah huffed out, rolling her eyes as she shoved Klaus out of the way to force the hybrid to let go of the human, “Do you know that your doppelgänger bitch is alive?”

“What?” Jeremy asked and he felt like his entire being was suspended with a rush of hope as he stared at the hostile blonde with wide eyes, “Elena’s alive? My sister’s alive?” he asked in quick succession, desperation tingeing the edges of his words as they flew out of his mouth. However, the instant he said those words, he wished he could take them back as Rebekah’s own expression turned dark and thunderous as she stared down at him, her aura of ‘predictor’ becoming so thick and clear that it had Jeremy trembling at the mere sight.

As quick as a blink, her hands were on his shirt as she lifted him up slightly, forcing their faces as closely as she could possibly get them as she bared her sharp teeth and emitted an inhuman growl, “What the hell did you just say?” she asked lowly, but Jeremy could only stare at the deadly woman with a terrified expression, “That. Bitch. Is. Not. Your. Sister. I. AM!” she bellowed in his face making the teen’s ears ring and the silence that followed was just as deafening.

Silence crushed over them like a tsunami, suffocating and overwhelming, as Rebekah awaited a response from her little brother. There were clearly two answers that Jeremy could go with: one answer was the right one, which would lead to the whole situation being dropped with little to no repercussions insight; the other answer was the wrong one, which would only lead to anger and hurt which would either put Jeremy’s life or livelihood, at a huge risk… Thankfully, Jeremy knew what the right response was as he jerkily nodded his head in agreement, not trusting himself to talk, in order to satisfy the murderous duo before him.

That seemed to do the trick as the lines and veins that had erupted over Rebekah’s smooth face faded away and the mask of a smiling human took the monster’s place. A disconcerting sight, especially since the human mask was such an innocent visage.

“Always the jealous type, huh, sister?” Klaus finally spoke up from the back, a look of amusem*nt on his face as he stared at the pair.

“Drop dead, Nik…” Rebekah grumbled as she started to soothe out the small wrinkles that she’d made in Jeremy’s shirt, obviously back to her attitude of ‘doting, caring, long-suffering sister’.

“It seems that Henrik was none the wiser as well,” Klaus casually observed as he stared at Jeremy, his previously threatening appearance completely gone, though Jeremy still couldn’t stop the ice-cold fingers of fear trailing down his spine from the mere memory of it. This was the first time since Jeremy had been taken that the teen felt like his life was in any real danger.

A few short hours later, lead to where Jeremy was now. Awkwardly sitting in the back as the silence slowly killed him… When his parents were alive, the only road trips they’d really taken were the short rides to their lake cabin during the summer - even then, the location was still accessible by cycling, so it wasn’t that long in the car anyway. Spending so much time in the car all summer with Klaus and Stefan had been a hard adjustment, his boredom constantly rearing its head; his legs cramping from being in the same position for so long; not to mention his newfound disgust for cheap, easy meals that had been bought from the gas station that’d stopped at - never before had Jeremy craved vegetables and homemade meals more in his life. Unfortunately, he had gotten used to it after a time. He had no real choice but to adjust. The meals were cured by grabbing a fruit or vegetable packet whenever he was allowed in a store; the physical discomfort was cured by turning around every so often and laying his legs over the back seats; his boredom was cured through his sketchpads and afternoon naps.

So, as he stared out of his darkening window, watching the almost hypnotic scene of the tall trees and other repetitive objects passing by at a quiet blurred speed, the teen felt his eyes start to get heavy. The stress of the day was finally starting to catch up to him: meeting Rebekah, being killed, Klaus being scary, Stefan temporarily dead, Stefan’s betrayal and, finally, being forcefully dragged into the back of the car and buckled in. It was more stress than any fifteen year old was equipped to deal with and Jeremy found it completely unsurprising that he felt this burnt-out…

Jeremy opened his eyes and blinked for a moment, not completely understanding what he was seeing before him. The scene before him was fuzzy and bright with distorted images that came into focus every couple of seconds. Looking around, Jeremy could see a forest, the tall pines jolting and moving unnaturally against the overly bright blue sky as the scene continued to blur and focus. The forest wasn’t really a surprising thing to dream of: Jeremy had grown up around the thick woods of Mystic Falls and in recent times, the teen was always running through the woods for one reason or another, especially since vampires had come back to town.

Stepping forward, Jeremy silently subjected himself for a nice walk through the mirage-like forest, letting his bare feet crunch over the ground, feeling the forest dropping's poke at his hard soles and crunch under his weight, but he didn’t feel any of the sharp pain that should have accompanied such an action. It was weird, but Jeremy felt like he’d gone through the woods like these thousands of times-

“Ah, there you are little brother!” came a shout from behind and Jeremy barely managed to turn around before he was seized snd lifted up into the air like he weighed of nothing, held high above the persons head as they playfully threw them up and down. Jeremy couldn’t help but laugh loudly and childishly as joy and elation rushed through him a wide carefree smile painting his features - an action he hasn’t done since he was a small kid - as he stared down at the familiar face.

“Nik!” Jeremy cheered, waving his arms in the air, making the hybrid grin back with just as much happiness as Jeremy. Wait. Nik? Hybrid? This was Klaus. Why was he so happy to see the monster that had ruined his life? Jeremy hated the hybrid with a passion, but as he stared down at the man, Jeremy started to notice things. One, the clothes he was wearing were definitely not of this century. Two, his hair was far too long and his eyes seemed more… Brighter, somehow. Like he was less burdened by life and knowledge. He seemed… Human… Three, Jeremy was much, much smaller than he should have been, especially if the hybrid could lift him high off the floor…

“What are you doing out here?” the man asked, grin still playing on his lips as Henrik’s feet touched the floor again, “And where are your shoes?”

“I left them,” Henrik shrugged and looked away. He wasn’t pouting, no matter how much everyone said he did it. He doesn’t pout. Period.

With a raised eyebrow, Nik tilted his head once again, the wavy dirty blonde locks shifting with him, “Why did you leave them? We wear shoes to protect our feet. What if there was a broken sword tip on the ground and you walked on it? What do you think would happen?”

Jeremy looked down, a rush of shame flooding his chest before he managed to beat it away, “It could cut me…”

“And?” his older brother prompted, ever patient with the youngest of their little clan.

“And mother would have to heal me…”

“And?”

“And father would tell me off…” Henrik finished with a huff, his shame easily giving way to annoyance as he crossed his arms, “But mother said that she used to do it all the time when she was my age! And it feels better this way!” He really did hate those clunky shoes that had more holes than any of his other clothes. They were uncomfortable and they pinched his feet in the wrong places!

Nik rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t quite hide his amusem*nt from the minor twitch from his lips, “Mother is a very powerful witch and she used to walk around with no shoes because it connects her more to nature. And it’s better for your feet to hurt from your shoes, than from a sharp object,” he lightly reprimanded, before he swooped down and picked Henrik up again and then started to walk back the way they’d both come from.

“Hey! Wait!” Jeremy struggled a little, despite knowing that his strength was nothing in the face of Klaus before he settled down and looked to where he was headed, “I wanted to play in the river today.”

“On your own?” Nik rose a sceptical eyebrow at his little brother, a little bit of concern flashing across his face. The river could be a dangerous place, no matter how harmless it seemed at first glance. Henrik had been told time and time again that he wasn’t allowed near the river on his own, especially considering the fact that he couldn’t swim.

“No,” Henrik shook his head and sighed as he settled down, even more, accepting his fate, “Gorm said that he’d meet me there when he finished his chores.”

“Henrik…” Nik sighed with a small groan. It had been a reoccurring topic to stop the youngest of their family from going to dangerous places and doing dangerous things. The time where Henrik had found and played with a wolf cub, before nearly getting eaten by the mother, was still a very fresh event in the entire villages’ minds.

“I just wanted to practice my archery in private…” Henrik relented before looking away with disappointment and shame. Father didn’t approve of the fact that Henrik had taken to the bow and arrow more than the sword during their training and it had gotten to the point where Father would get mad at Henrik when he used them outside of their training. It was hard to swallow as his Father has always been nice to Henrik, had nearly doted on him as much as he doted on Rebekah, but as soon as the youngest was at the right age to train and ‘become a man', there had been nothing but disappointment and contempt when father looked at him, now…

Nik didn’t have to say anything as he shifted Henrik a little closer and continued their trek in the lapse of conversation. It was an open secret in the family that their father was the hardest on Nik, for reasons unknown to all of them. No one would understand how Henrik feels more than Nik- Jeremy shook himself as he came back to his own awareness in the dream. The teen didn’t know if this was lucid dreaming or something else, but it felt like he was fading in and out of his own awareness. It was like he was being transferred to memories that he’d long since forgotten, but he couldn’t remember anything deeper than what he was experiencing right now.

“Henrik?” the voice jolted Jeremy out of his thoughts and his eyes shot up to meet the hybrid’s. But what he saw wasn’t what he was expecting as the Klaus of old seemed to have disappeared. The centuries-old tunic shirt and leather belt were replaced with the modern henley shirt that the hybrid preferred with blue jeans and dark boots, his hair was cropped short once again and a necklace of some kind gleamed slightly from around the neck of his shirt. “What’s the matter, Henrik?” Klaus grinned down at Jeremy, his tone and his stare a lot more threatening than a few seconds before, making Jeremy tremble slightly in the hybrid’s arms. Jeremy silently cursed the fact that he was still a child, which made him feel all the more threatened and vulnerable.

An echoing growl could be heard throughout the woods, the sound bouncing off the trees and stabbing through his ear as if the creature was right beside him. Fear shot through him like a live-wire as his head snapped about only to find that the brightness of the forest had suddenly been submerged in darkness. Jeremy could hardly see anything, but the silhouettes of the large tree trunks that surrounded them, though that was only with the help of the full moon’s silver light…

A growl emitted through the woods once again and Jeremy started to breathe faster as he stared into the darkness with wide, terrified eyes, trying desperately to see the beast that would attack him, but it only felt like his eyes were being consumed with the pitch blackness of is surroundings. Another growl. A rustle that was far too close for comfort.

At this point, Jeremy was trembling with no small amount of horror as he stared at the trees, waiting for his death. In the darkness, wolf eyes started to illuminate from the sparse light of the moon, making them look haunting and demonic as the eyes slowly crept forward.

“K-Klaus,” Jeremy risked a whisper to the hybrid that was still holding him and Jeremy grabbed the man’s shirt with a desperate white-knuckled grip. “Pl-Please, Klaus-s,” Jeremy begged with a whimper, tears pricking at his eyes as panic started to slowly consume him from the inside out, like a parasite. “We- We need to r-r-run. Pl-ease, Klaus…” the teen-turned-child hiccuped at the end as hot tears finally spilt down his cold, pale cheeks.

The wolves were so close now that Jeremy could see the white flash of their wickedly sharp teeth in the moonlight.

“What’s the matter, Henrik?” Klaus asked again, a low grumble to his voice that had Jeremy completely freezing as dread washed over him like an icy bucket of water. Slowly and with great effort, Jeremy looked away from the wolves that were inches forwards as he stared at the hybrid, whose face had been cast in shadows.

For a moment, everything seemed to stop. Time stopped, sound stopped, as the world seemingly held its breathe as Jeremy stared at the shadowed face of the monster holding him.

Then, in a flash of movement, Klaus’ eyes gleamed amber in the moonlight and his jaw unhinged to reveal rows of fangs that were far sharper than anything Jeremy had ever seen before as black veins visibly throbbed and pulsed over his entire face. A true picture of a monster.

Then he lunged for Jeremy’s throat-

Jeremy gasped awake like it was his first time taking in air, heaving in great lungfuls of oxygen as if he’d never experience the sensation ever again. In his state of panic, Jeremy vaguely noted that he hadn’t screamed himself awake this time; the dreams had been getting more and more frequent during the road trip and Klaus had learned to wake the teen when he starts to toss and turn, but Stefan had only stared at him with mild annoyance as Jeremy tried to come back to reality - another betrayal that the teen didn’t want to think about. It was stupid but he felt very self-conscious about his nightmares, especially since he couldn’t remember one detail of it; there were a lot of scarier things in the real world, but the demons his mind likes to create had him screaming and crying into the night. It was something Jeremy knew he shouldn’t be embarrassed by - he couldn’t control what he dreamt, after all - but that was just how he felt.

Luckily, there was no one around this time (no stare of judgment from Stefan and no touches of concern from Klaus) and so he sat up and thought back to his dream, though he knew it to be useless. He never remembered his nightmares, no matter what he tried to do to trigger the memories - the websites that he followed were useless in that regard - all that came back to him was a sense of fear. Honestly, Jeremy didn’t know if he should be annoyed or not; on one hand, the frustration of not knowing was endless and repetitive, but, at the same time, he was timid to explore that deep-rooted fear that he always woke up with. It was like being caught between a rock and a hard place…

Maybe it was best to forget the dream, after all? Jeremy was never too fond of wolves in the first place, so why would he want to investigate that any further? He had more important things to worry about anyway-

Wait. What?

Jeremy froze and blinked as his mind came to a screeching halt.

Wolves. He’d dreamt about wolves surroundings him… He could remember…

Suddenly, all at once and with the force of a freight train, that horrible, terrible dream forced itself back into his mind, each scene played out with a clarity that made fear climb up the teen’s throat like he was about to be sick. It wasn’t even the end of his nightmarish dream that had Jeremy in such a state of panic, but the fact that he remembered walking around the forest with Not-Klaus, he remembered being Henrik in the dream and how happy he was to be in the hybrid’s arms. The worst thing about it was that it didn’t even feel like a dream… It felt like a memory. Swiftly, Jeremy caught that train of thought before it could develop, firmly focusing his mind on the logical explanation of Klaus having insisted on the subject so much that his subconsciousness was beginning to accept it and make up a fake role in order to appease the delusional hybrid. That made sense. The human mind was a tricky place and if it can convince a victim that it was safe with an abuser, then it can definitely conger up some kind of illusion where Klaus’ forceful explanations were true.

Steadfastly, he ignored the niggling thoughts that his mind wasn’t making up the tricks, that everything was beginning to add up. His deathly fear of wolves and werewolves, his better-than-average aim with Alaric’s crossbow despite having never handled one before, his sudden use and understanding of a dead language and many more little things that Jeremy had absently picked up on before dismissing. It was all adding up and making sense. Maybe he really was a reincarnation…

“Henrik?” a voice called with gentleness and uncertainty that had Jeremy blinking out of his stance and letting air flow back into his lungs after he unconsciously held his breath. “Henrik?” the voice came again and Jeremy whipped his head around to stare at the voice like a deer caught in a truck’s headlights. It took a moment for Jeremy to recognise the platinum blonde hair and the concerned blue eyes as Rebekah. Shakily, the teen released another breathe he’d been holding (he really had to stop holding his breath when he was startled) as he raised a shaky hand to his forehead, grimacing slightly when he touched the cold sweat that had stayed since he’d woken from his nightmare.

“I’m fine,” he finally got out, his voice alone seeming to quell the worry within the hovering vampire, “Just a nightmare…”

“What was it about?” the woman asked, brows furrowing slightly with obvious curiosity as Jeremy stared back at her with an unreadable expression.

In his mind’s eye, Jeremy saw Klaus’ monstrous face again, demonic and twisted open to expose sharp fangs that were too many and too big to possibly fit in a human mouth and then he shook it away and focused his eyes on the street lights he could see from the windscreen, “Nothing. I never remember my nightmares…” There was a pregnant pause as Rebekah stared at him - the teen wasn’t stupid to be convinced that she’d bought his half-assed lie for even a second, but he still hoped she’d let sleeping dogs lie - before she sighed and gestured her head to the side.

“C’mon, we’re here, now.”

“Where are we?” Jeremy asked as he climbed out of the car, his legs a little wobbly and unstable from being in one position for too long but managed to recover fast enough as he straightened up and looked around. She didn’t even have to answer. He’d spent fifteen years of his life in one town, looking upon the same buildings, walking down the same streets. He’d known his home town no matter how far, or how long he’d travelled from it. “Home…” Jeremy uttered, staring around at the darkened sky with an emotion he didn’t want to unpack right now, as he looked at the lights on the surrounding buildings with open longing and want.

“Not for very long,” was the only warning Jeremy got before he was stuffed back into the car once again, a huff of surprised breath leaving him as his back hit the seats and a weight settled on top of him.

Panic, anger and annoyance came rushing forth in Jeremy’s mind as he clenched his jaw and glared up at the hybrid through the mess of his too-long hair as darkly as he could, while the ancient being pinned him to the seats by his shoulders, overpowering Jeremy in every way possible. “Get off me,” Jeremy hissed through his bared teeth, an action and a sound that he’d never made before meeting the ever-smug immortal.

In answer, the hybrid grinned down at him and Jeremy tried not to lose his nerve as his vision was filled with that threatening face, his mind flickering back to his nightmare as he struggled in vain against the overwhelming strength of the other. “Calm down, little brother. No need for that look,” he teased Jeremy like it was all just a sick game to him like he didn’t realise that Jeremy was in pain because of him like he thought Jeremy was participating when he was anything but.

“Let me go!” Jeremy shouted, his anger and desperation so all-consuming that he couldn’t even find it in himself to feel embarrassed by his voice-crack, “I wanna go home! Let me go! Now!” he struggled more ferociously, writhing and kicking and shaking his head from side to side as he tried everything in his power to throw the monster off of him. Jeremy hadn’t fought so hard against Klaus since the beginning of their impromptu trip. In Jeremy’s mind, he knew that this was useless (fighting back against Klaus had always been useless) but he couldn’t get this repetitive phrase out of his head. He was so close to home, closer than he’d ever been all summer. He was home and he was so close. So, so close. So close. There was no way Jeremy could give up on something that was so close, it was basically brushing his fingertips.

“That’s enough, Henrik!” Klaus shouted back, seizing the teen’s hands to stop him from hitting at the impenetrable wall that was Klaus’ chest and face.

“My name is not Henrik! I am not your brother! Henrik is dead!” Jeremy screamed back, only pausing for a second to stare down at Klaus, making sure that the hybrid knew that Jeremy wasn’t Henrik, would never be Henrik. God! Why couldn’t he get that through his head!

“Enough!” Klaus snapped and then Jeremy felt a pain in his face, the force of it snapping his head to the side and he stopped struggling as he stared at the dark interior of the car in a pained daze, wondering what the hell had just happened. He barely even registered that the weight over him was suddenly gone and there was raged screaming in the background, mainly from a woman as Jeremy laid on the back seats, stunned and wondering what had just happened as an ache bloomed on his cheek and copper slid over his lax tongue.

Before Jeremy even knew it, his vision was taken over by Rebekah, her chilled hands cupping his heated cheek with a delicate caress as she gently turned his face towards her. At this point, Jeremy had come back to himself a little more as he slowly started to realise that Klaus had hit him, hard enough to snap his head to the side, hard enough for his teeth to cut the inside of his cheek from the blow. Klaus had hit him and it terrified Jeremy and made him feel the bubbling of betrayal and resentment for an action that Klaus had never displayed before, had never even hinted at before. It was an unspoken line that Klaus had promised not to cross and he’d shattered that promise into a million pieces.

“Henrik,” Rebekah spoke, tone light but firm as she tried to gain his full attention. He didn’t even have time to consider his actions before he was staring into her eyes, the pupil contracting and dilating hypnotically. “Forget what Nik did to you. You tripped and hit your face on a street light,” she commanded, changing his memories, erasing the emotional hurt that had come from Klaus’ actions. “Go to sleep, little brother. We’ll be back before you know it.” she soothed, her hand carding through his mussed hair, her nails gently scraping his scalp as the teen allowed his eyes to roll back and his breath to even out.

There was a silence in the air as Rebekah watch her precious human little brother sleep, a purple bruise already forming on his face from the abuse, returning that spark of anger to her once more. Spinning around, blue eyes alight with rage and hellfire, Rebekah was all too eager to return back to their screaming match when she caught sight of Nik. Her brother was easy to anger, controlling, sad*stic and oftentimes cruel, even to his family members. Nik was the sibling that had staked their siblings for years and years when they disappointed him, only letting them out when he needed them.

Over the years, Rebekah had seen Nik in a number of states, but this was a rare sight… He looked… miserable, to say the least. He kept his eyes trained in their peacefully sleeping Henrik with a look that screamed regret and looking for all the world that he wished he could take back his revolting actions, turn back time and stop this from ever occurring. Regret was not a common look on Niklaus and Rebekah doubted that she actually remembered a moment of clarity in which it had happened in the past.

Her words were not needed for him to understand what he’d done wrong, but she was still willing to twist the knife just a bit more.

“So much for your promises,” she snapped at him, knowing the other original knew exactly what she was referring to despite the years that had passed them by. The hybrid did nothing but scowl at her, lips pinched and eyes dark in a silent warning as to not push her luck.

“Come on,” Klaus nodded to the distance, “We’ve got work to do.” After shutting and locking the vehicle, they were both off, sprinting rapidly through the darkness…

“sh*t,” Jeremy sharply cursed as he opened his eyes and sat up, ignoring the throbbing ache in his cheek as he stared at the darkened windows of the locked door. There was no way he could get out of this easily, though he was just glad that the compulsion had failed. Thank god for Gloria. He’d have to thank her- Jeremy stopped his train of thought as he thought back to what Klaus had said in the warehouse. Stefan had killed her, which was how they’d found out Stefan had been working against them. Out of respect, Jeremy bowed his head for a moment, wishing that he could have gotten to know her more - she’d seemed like a really nice person, despite her allegiance to Klaus. Then he raised steady eyes to the sealed exit before him, determination rushing through his veins like a wildfire.

If there was no way to unlock the door, then he’d just have to break the glass. Easy. Right?

Taking off his hoodie, Jeremy shifted about in his limited space before clumsily wrapping the clothing around his elbow. This was what they did in the movies, right? The extra padding was so their elbow wouldn’t get ripped to shreds when they pounded against the glass. Taking a few steady breaths, Jeremy stared at the glass with a determined light before he threw his entire body weight into the swing of his elbow. Only for his elbow to painfully bounce off of the glass and redirect the momentum into his eye.

Clutching his newly injured eye in pain, Jeremy groaned and rolled on his back. “sh*t!” Jeremy hissed as he sat back up and tried to blink his eye, but the pain was still quite prominent, so he stopped and groaned once again. “Well… That was embarrassing…” he muttered to himself, wincing at the throbbing pain in his eye. The state of his face was just getting worse and worse…

So, it was nothing like the movies, then. Maybe it was time to get smart?

Looking around for anything useful, Jeremy felt like giving up until he caught a glint of silver from a streetlight shining through the window, which made the teen pause. Strength wasn’t the answer - it often never was. He had to think smart in order to escape, in order to survive.

“I’m so stupid…” Jeremy whispered as he frantically picked up the seatbelt clip, running his fingers over the cool metal before he pulled it to make it as loose as he could. Rearing his hand back, Jeremy struck the glass once again, internally wincing at the loud sound and grumbled when it only made a small mark. He struck the glass again and was about to go in for a third when he stopped and remembered something from his classes (he wasn’t the smartest kid in the world, but he was by no means stupid). With any form of material, there would always be a weakness when it came to a change in direction or pattern: for wood, the joint of the planks was the weakest; for metal, it was the bend that made it compromised. Maybe that was the same way with glass? The middle of the glass was strong and retained its full integrity, but at the edges…

Plan in mind, Jeremy lifted his tool once again and struck with rapid succession, his hits getting stronger and stronger as he thought of home, of Elena and everyone else that he desperately wanted to go back to. And then it shattered. However, the fact that it gave way was so surprising that Jeremy nearly fell through. The teen barely acknowledged the pain in his arm and the obvious cuts and blood in order to stare at the newly broken window.

Elation and hope shot through him like a bolt of lightning and before Jeremy even knew what he was doing, he dived through the hole, to the outside world. As soon as he hit the chilled concrete, Jeremy was extremely aware that he escaped and this escape was going very, very well.

But only if he managed to get to a safe place.

With that, Jeremy picked himself off the floor, ignoring the sharp pain in his hands, before he started to run. He didn’t know where he was going, or what direction, or what streets he was taking, he just knew that he needed to run as fast and far away from the original siblings as he could. At that point, his memory had become spotty and absent, a rush and blur of motion and inarticulate thought before he blinked and he was suddenly in front of his house.

The feeling of relief had never been so powerful and overwhelming, it felt like he was being taken by a tidal wave and could barely keep his head above the water. Jeremy could cry if he was in any state other than relief and panic.

Banging on the door with all his might, Jeremy stood back and shifted from foot to foot, impatience making his hands twitch and paranoia made him glance at the moving shadows closing in on him. It felt like an eternity had passed before the door was swung open to reveal the shocked face of Alaric, the man staring at the teen like he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“J-Jere?” he stuttered.

And that was it for Jeremy.

Barely aware of himself, Jeremy felt his knees give out as his face crumpled, hot tears already streaming down his cheeks as he stared up at the man, who rushed forward to catch him. Indecipherable babble started to spill from Jeremy’s lips as he sobbed and cried his heart out, tears quickly soaking the history teacher’s flannel shirt as the man hugged him and tried to soothe him as best as he could in his own panicked state. The teen didn’t even care when Alaric started to drag his limb, trembling body into the house, the man settling on the floor as soon as they were past the threshold and the door was firmly closed.

Alaric tried to shush him as he settled the distressed teen on his lap and rocked them back and forth, hand on the back of his head as he cradled Jeremy to his chest, trying everything in his power to soothe him. But, no matter how much the teen tried, he couldn’t stop the sobs that wracked his entire body as he grabbed his teacher’s shirt in a white-knuckled grip, his emotions swirling and mixing in a violent and overwhelming way that Jeremy could only respond to with more tears and hysterical sobbing.

In the end, Alaric could only settle on his soothing gestures as he tilted his head down to rest his cheek on top of the trembling teen’s head a constant stream of “It’s okay. You’re home, now. You’re safe, now,” leaving his lips, as they sat on the floor, in the middle of the hallway.

Chapter 8: Home

Chapter Text

“Where is everyone?” Jeremy asked, voice raw and rough from all the crying, making the teen wince at the ugly sound. It had taken Jeremy a good ten minutes of hysterically crying for him to calm down again, which had Alaric panicking and trying to manage the teen’s erratic breathing throughout the entire thing so Jeremy didn’t pass out from hyperventilation throughout the entire ordeal. Now, he was sitting on the kitchen stool, a hot chocolate in his hands - the vampire hunter wouldn’t give him any coffee, for some reason - staring and the rapidly cooling liquid with a haunted look in his eyes.

The relief and joy the teen had felt earlier had all but washed away and replaced with dark and foreboding emotions of dread, fear and worry. He could only imagine what Klaus and Rebekah’s reactions would be when they find the broken glass, the blood from his scratched up hand and forearm and figured out that he’d been given vervain to go against their orders. Despite the fact that he had no idea how they’d react, he still knew that they’d never leave him alone. Both the original vampires were convinced that he was their long lost little brother that had died a thousand years ago and there was not a chance (especially with how they reacted sometimes, possessiveness and overprotectiveness so obvious that even a blind man could see) that they would ever allow him to stay in town without them close by to obsessively watch over him. Therefore, they would never leave town, which put everyone else in danger…

Jeremy may have escaped, but he wasn’t deluded to think that he wasn’t in the exact same situation as he had been before.

Even if they weren’t content to watch him as he lived with his sister and his friends, they could always snatch him up when he went outside. Sure, neither Klaus nor Rebekah had been invited in, but Jeremy couldn’t spend the rest of his life trapped in a house.

The thoughts swiftly brought him crashing back down to reality as he blankly stared at the drink in his hands, darkly wondering when the two vampires would knock at his door and threaten the whole town for his compliance…

“Jeremy?” Alaric’s uncertain voice snapped the teen back into reality as he stared at the teacher with wide, startled eyes before he forced himself to relax once again.

“Sorry,” Jeremy deflated, forcing his shoulders to slump as he looked at Alaric’s concerned face, the expression making Jeremy uncomfortable as he unconsciously started to tug on his shaggy hair - a nervous habit he’d developed over the past couple of months. God, Jeremy must look like a mess right now. Though looking at the usually strong vampire hunter, now, it was clear that he’d been through some sh*t since the teen had been away, but that was only normal considering how smitten he’d been with his Aunt Jenna… A wave of sadness and loss hit the teen full force as he thought of the aunt he’d never be able to see again, another gravestone for him to visit every year. It made Jeremy frown though when he thought of why Alaric was here, in his house when the teacher had his own apartment in town. That also pegged the question: “What’s Uncle John? Wouldn’t he take over guardianship after… Since Aunt Jenna’s not around anymore?” Shouldn’t he be here? The man had even said that he was going to be more involved, that he was going to be there for them. Where was he?

However, upon looking at Alaric, the slight widening of the man’s eyes, the small tilt of his head and the corners of his lips twitching down before he looked back at Jeremy with an apologetic expression. Alaric didn’t even need to say the words… The man’s expression was enough…

“Jeremy…” the teacher started, regret covering his tone.

“How’d he die?” Jeremy mustered up the words, not caring that he’d cut across Alaric’s pained explanation.

There was a moment of stilted silence before the hunter sighed, leaning forward to balance his elbows on the table as he tiredly rubbed his face. “There was a spell,” he finally spoke, “I don’t know how John had found it, but he said that his connection to Elena, as her biological father, could save her from dying and becoming a vampire. Bonnie cast the spell and we thought that was that… He died as soon as the sun came up…” There was a continued silence as Alaric stared at Jeremy with all the sympathy in the world, but Jeremy merely sat there in silence as he thought of the last words he’d hissed at John before the man died ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’… Regret and guilt invaded Jeremy’s soul, the emotion crawling over him and festering like an infected wound as a tear escaped the teen’s eyes. “I know this probably doesn’t mean anything coming from me - we never really saw eye to eye - but I’m so sorry for your loss, Jeremy…”

The teen shook his head as more tears escaped him. Another loss. Another regretful and painful loss. The last conversation he’d had with John was an argument where Jeremy shouted that the man didn’t care about him or Elena… God, did Jeremy wish that he could take back those words that he’d shouted out of spite and agitation. Jeremy didn’t know what he wanted his last words for his uncle to be, but it definitely wasn’t what he’d said at the time. Did his uncle die thinking that Jeremy hated him? Did he die thinking that this was the only way he’d prove his words to Jeremy? Were Jeremy’s words spiralling in the man’s head as he gave Bonnie the spell? Was Jeremy the reason why he threw his life away so readily?

A warm gently hand enveloped his shoulder and, this time, Jeremy didn’t flinch away and instead leaned forward until his forehead rested on Alaric’s collarbone, the man slowly and cautiously moving closer as he wrapped his arms around Jeremy, the hold getting stronger and firmer when Jeremy did nothing but lean into the comforting warmth. A few minutes passed like that as Jeremy silently cried, a few hiccupping breathes passing his lips as Alaric soothingly rubbed his hand up and down the teen’s back as he allowed him to cry.

“Jeremy?” the teacher spoke up when the teen seemed to calm down a little bit, his eyes were red but he was no longer crying, and the teen perked up slightly at the quietly instant tone. “How did you get here? How did you escape from Klaus?”

Urgency and panic came back to him like a slap to the face as his eyes snapped to Alaric with wide eyes, his grief temporarily forgotten, “Where’s Elena?”

“She’s at the school,” Alaric frowned in confusion but he could obviously sense the teen’s panic as his casual stance became more alert as he straightened and tensed, “It’s senior prank night-“

“I didn’t escape from Klaus,” Jeremy exclaimed as he put the hot drink down, nearly burning his hand in the process as it sloshed over the rim from the force of it. The teen winced before he corrected himself, “I mean, I did escape from him, but he was already in Mystic Falls,” Jeremy got up from the chair, clenching his fists until his knuckles were white, causing some of the barely clotted cuts to break open again, “And he knows that Elena’s alive.”

“What?” Alaric asked, completely lost as he stepped forward and tried to make Jeremy sit down again, “What do you mean? Why should it matter that Elena’s alive? He’s already a hybrid, isn’t he?”

“He can’t make other hybrids!” Jeremy shouted, barely about to hold his head about the panic crushing down on his chest, running his trembling bloodied hand through, “That’s what he’s been trying to do all summer, but during the transition, they bleed out and die,” Jeremy was just a little bit thankful that he’d been put under during that time. It wasn’t particularly something that anyone would want to experience or remember, “He was trying to find out what was happening in Chicago, but then he found out that Elena was still alive and came here! We have to get to the school! Now!”

“Jeremy, listen-!”

“No! Alaric we have to go, now!”

“Jeremy, you can’t go to the school! What if Klaus gets you again?!”

“I can’t just sit here again, Ric!” Jeremy bellowed as he stepped out of the teacher’s range, in case he tried to physically restrain him, “I’ve already experienced Elena dying once, I’m not going through that again!”

Alaric seemed to finally stop as he looked at the teen with no small amount of concern and pity, eyes sadly noting that the teen was trembling, the wide-eyed almost feral look in his eyes, the blood that was beginning to drip from his torn-up arm. In all, Jeremy looked like a mess; a mess that was nowhere near a legal adult and already had a haunted quality in their eyes; a mess that had already lost more than their fair share of loved ones in such short a span of time. Alaric doubted that Jeremy had even had the time to process everything that he’d lost, everything that he’d been put through, and it was starting to show…

“Jeremy,” the hunter started, trying to make his voice as soft and soothing as he possibly could, “I know how you feel-“

“No, Ric, you don’t-“

“Yes,” the hunter interrupted sharply and firmly, and the spark of pain on the man’s face had the teen pausing, “I do… Bonnie put up a barrier so I couldn’t follow. They said it was too dangerous for me to go with them and get Jenna and Elena. I had to sit there and wait, for hours, only for them to tell me that Jenna had been sacrificed and Klaus was still at large… And then they told me that you had been taken. I couldn’t do anything…” the man sighed, suddenly seeming a lot older than he appeared to be, “So, yes, Jeremy, I know how you feel, but, right now, you’re hurt and bleeding and as soon as Klaus realises that you’ve escaped, he’ll try to kidnap you again. Inside this house, where he physically can’t get you, is our safest option. Especially since we have no idea why exactly he kidnapped you in the first place.”

“I’m his little brother.”

“What…”

At Alaric’s shocked tone, Jeremy felt himself freeze with the same amount of shock, if not more, eyes wide with steadily mounting horror. Had he just… Why did he say that with so much confidence? Honestly, Jeremy hadn’t been thinking much on his answer, his mind more occupied with panicked thoughts of Elena, Bonnie and everyone else, but as soon as he heard his own words echo back into his ears, his mind, once again, ceased all thoughts… Before it rushed with a mix of denials, uncertainties and profanities, making it feel like his head was about to explode from the force of the thoughts. The words had sounded… so casual, so certain. It was as if Jeremy was actually admitting that Klaus was his brother like it was a fact and not a delusion that the insane hybrid had been hammering into his head all summer.

Jeremy had said it like it was the truth…

And that scared the teen more than anything in this town ever could.

“No…” Jeremy started, his voice was barely audible under his breath, “No,” he uttered a little louder and Alaric took a half step closer to the clearly distressed teen, unsure of what he should do, “No,” the teen’s voice wobbled and then Jeremy felt his knees give out, before warm strong arms wrapped around him, stopping him from smacking the ground, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It’s not true. That’s not true! Klaus isn’t my brother. He isn’t,” Jeremy adamantly shook his head, hot tears spilling down his cheeks with a fast succession that didn’t seem it would be slowing down anytime soon, all while Alaric had slowly lowered them both to the ground, letting the crying and muttering teen instinctively curl into him and grab his shirt in a white-knuckled grip, getting blood and tears on the man. “I don’t have a brother. I’m not Henrik. I’m not Henrik. Elena is my sister. Not Rebekah. I’m not his little brother.”

Silently, Alaric continued to hold Jeremy, arms secure and gently squeezing the teen in his arms as he quietly broke down. The hunter felt lost as he stared down at the teen. It was hard to remember the kid’s real age when he seemed to handle everything so maturely, soft-spoken and barely freaking out about the dangers of the supernatural had the teen casting a version of himself that was like an adult who was able to take care of himself. It was hard to remember that Jeremy was only fifteen-turning-sixteen, two years younger than Elena. It was easy to forget about age when it came to the supernatural because vampires and death didn’t discriminate against age, so when Alaric remembers just how young everyone - except the Salvatore brothers - is, it’s like a slap to the face that has Alaric choking on the guilt that lurks in the back of his throat.

“I don’t understand,” Alaric started gently, trying to coax Jeremy into explaining what was going on, “Of course Klaus isn’t your brother and who’s Henrik?”

There was a moment of silence as Jeremy seems to mentally gather himself before he leaned back slightly, trying to get enough space to look at Ric properly. “Klaus seems to think that I’m the reincarnation of his little brother, Henrik, who died a thousand years ago. That’s why he took me when he left Mystic Falls.” Jeremy seemed to collapse back into the hunter’s chest as more tears came forth, his hopelessness of the situation slowly sinking in like a rock submerging into the depths of the ocean.

“It’s okay, Jere,” Alaric soothed, his hand burying itself in the teen’s hair in an attempt to calm him down, “We’ll figure this out.”

“It’s not… It’s not okay…” Jeremy suddenly spoke up and the odd tone in the other’s voice had the teacher tensing slightly before he looked down in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

There was a moment of silence as Jeremy stared up at Alaric, his expression unreadable before he looked down, shame suddenly colouring his face, “It’s not going to be okay… Because I think it might be true…”

The whole night had gone from bad to worse, in Elena’s opinion.

It'd gone from planning wholesome pranks with her friends at school to trying to survive a life and death situation so fast that it had her head spinning. She barely managed to keep her head straight as she tried not to break down from sheer fear and frustration, staring into the pained eyes of the love of her life and praying that he wouldn’t be forced to kill her, that something would intervene and ultimately save her from this nightmare.

Her hopes had been low, even before that point in the night, as a girl, who turned out to be Klaus’ younger sister, Rebekah, threw her across the gymnasium and broke her arm. The blonde had looked ready to rip Elena’s head off until Klaus intervened - though, from the look on his face, he would have been happy to watch the doppelgänger be beaten to death if he hadn’t needed her for the mystery of his failed hybrids.

All Elena had been able to do was watch, once again, as one of the people that she loved was tormented and compelled. The silent anguish coming from Stefan had been palpable as the timer counted down; her death, at the hands of her lover, close at hand.

Then, she woke up to her blood being taken from a nurse, the cold of the air biting at her skin and his fingers quaking with weakness as she tried to move - it was a dreaded feeling she always associated with her death when Klaus drank from her until darkness closed in. It sent her into a panic that she couldn’t express as she tried to move, to run, to do anything other than state the obvious, but her efforts were in vain as awareness slipped through her fingers, possibly for the last time.

She came to in the Salvatore house, a place that she’d come to associate with protection and comfort, her old house holding nothing but fast-fading echoes of the people that used to live there. At times, she made an effort to stay in her house, spending time with Alaric - trying not to think of the missing person that should be upstairs drawing in their room as they listened to music, that was way too loud, through their headphones - but, more often than not, she found herself lingering in the boardinghouse, failing in seeking comfort from Damon for their missing brothers.

Now, she was curled up on the sofa with a glass of scotch in hand and feeling like the last semblance of peace and normalcy that she’d barely managed to dig up had been blown away. It was naive to think that she’d be able to have a year of normal high school stress, especially with the trend that was the last year or so of her life…

“I shouldn’t have left you,” Daman stared into her eyes, crystal blue open and earnest as he spoke, “I promise you… I will never leave you again."

Elena felt her lips twitch a little bit, a timid but genuine smile threatening to break over her face from the vampire’s words-

“Well, isn’t this cosy?”

And just like that, her smile died.

“What’re you doing here, brother?” Damon questioned, obviously wary, as Elena curled up a bit tighter, worry and fear coiling around her chest like a snake.

“Last I checked, I live here,” Stefan stated casually as he strode into the house, not caring how tense and scared the pair visibly were, and helped himself to a drink, “Klaus is gone… Well, not after a bit of screaming when he got back to the car. But he asked me to keep an eye on you and Jeremy until he comes back. So, from now on, you’re under my protection,” he held his glass to Damon, all while his eyes never left Elena.

Finally, Elena understood what Damon had always tried to tell her about his brother. Stefan wasn’t the same when he was on human blood, with his emotions turned off… She’d shrugged him off once before, seeing only her boyfriend struggling through addiction for her - sure he was going through a hard time, but he was still Stefan and she loved him, no matter what. But now, she understood. This person was not Stefan. This was a stranger. It was a stranger that had walked into her safe sanctuary, a stranger that had walked across the living room, a stranger that was drinking scotch and it was a stranger that was promising her safety, looking at her like she was worth nothing to him, like he never loved her, or cared for her. Stefan had turned into a stranger and the thought of having him so close to her terrified her down to the core.

The stranger smirked at the pair, “Mmm, by all means, carry on,” he tilted his head back to down half of his drink.

“Wait,” Damon suddenly spoke up, shocking Elena from her inner panic, “You said you have to protect Jeremy. Jeremy’s back?” the vampire sat a little straighter as he glanced down at Elena and then back to Stefan for confirmation.

The other vampire took his time leisurely finishing his drink before he answered with a careless wave of his hand as he poured another glass, “Yeah, he’s back. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to get ahold of some vervain and broke the back window trying to get out. Klaus was pissed when he found out,” he shook his head and took another drink, “But I guess he had better things to do cause he just told me to take care of you and him and then left.”

“Jeremy…” Elena uttered the name with a hope that she didn’t want to consume her, “You said Jeremy’s here? He’s safe?” she demanded, her questions getting louder as she forced herself to stand from the sofa.

“Yeah, he’s back,” Stefan nodded and then shrugged, “Not sure about ‘safe’, though.”

“Well, where is he?!” Elena shouted, desperations dripping from her voice, “Did you see him?!”

“How should I know where he is?” Stefan rolled his eyes and finished his second drink and was already in the process of pouring a third, “This is some good stuff.”

“Would you stop drinking and answer her questions?” Damon glared.

“Hey, if you had to spend months drinking watered-down beer and spirits from backwater bars, then you’d be guzzling this down too,” he downed another glass before settling for drinking out of the tumbler, “And why do you suddenly care about the kid?”

Damon’s only answer was to narrow his eyes, a silent warning for the other to shut up, to which Stefan merely smirked and carried on drinking.

“Home…” the doppelgänger muttered, the word coming to her like a sudden realisation as she turned on her heel and started to run to her car, ignoring the fact that Damon jumped into the passenger seat as she swiftly pulled away. She made her way home in record time and didn’t even put her hand-break on as she jumped from the diver's seat and nearly fell through her front door in a rush to see her brother, to make sure that he was right, that he was safe and alive and here.

“Elena?” Alaric asked, frozen mid-step in the hallway and blinking down at her in utter surprise from her frantic entrance, “Are you okay? Where-“

“Ric!” the teen interrupted as she practically jumped at him, her fingers curling into his shirt so she could anchor herself, “Ric, where’s Jere? Is he here? Is he safe? Is that blood?!” she screeched at the end, eyes nearly bugging out of her head as she stared at the blood on the man’s hands, but there was no cut or other injury in sight.

“I’m fine, it’s not mine,” the teacher quickly soothed as he gently took her hands from his clothes, “Jere’s-“

“Elena?”

The small hallway suddenly went silent and all eyes turned to the lone figure that stood in the living room entryway. Elena stood silently as she took in her little brother for the first time in months, her eyes running down his form and tweaking her heart at every little thing that she saw, from the bandages that were thickly wrapped around his right arm to the fact that he’d grown at least an inch more since she’d last seen him, to the familiar haunted look in his eyes. He seemed to be doing the same with her as his own eyes looked her up and down, trying to spy all the little things that had changed since he’d been forcefully taken away from her, after believing that she’d died all those months ago.

“Jeremy,” Elena manage to choke out before tears clouded her vision and she threw herself at her little brother, Jeremy doing much the same as he wrapped his arms around her a little too tightly, like he was scared that she was fake, that she would somehow slip from his hug if he didn’t hold on tight enough. Elena did care. She had her brother back. After months of wondering if he was alive, if he was safe if she would ever see him again. “Don’t ever leave me again!” she cried into his shoulder.

Jeremy shook his head, his own tears soaking her shoulder as he allowed everything that he’d been holding in for the last few months release and flow out of him, the presence of his sister allowing him to feel safe for the first time in a while, his stress and fear practically forgotten. “Don’t wanna leave!” he managed to sob out, his voice loud and breaking in an embarrassing way, but he was too happy and relieved to even care.

The others watched as the siblings cried and sobbed into one another, happiness and relief pouring off of them as they hugged out of desperation and reassurances and it didn’t seem like they would be letting go of one another any time soon, so both Alaric and Damon stepped out of the house, giving the siblings some privacy as they poured their hearts out to each another.

The Gilbert siblings were together again and it was clear that they wouldn’t be separated any time soon.

Chapter 9: Back to normal

Chapter Text

With a sigh, Rebekah went to get the car, feelings of inadequacy and hurt thriving in his chest like an inferno, forcing her to push it all down before it had the chance to consume her. ‘I’ll be alone’. That’s what he said… He said that he’d be all alone if he was unable to create any hybrids. The words alone sting in the gaping wounds of his dismissive attitude. He’ll be alone. Like Rebekah didn’t exist. Like Rebekah hadn’t stayed loyal to him for centuries. Like Rebekah wasn’t his family who swore a forever oath that day. Like she didn’t matter in his eyes…

It hurt.

But Rebekah had no intention of ever showing it.

She would follow his lead, like always, and she would earn his favour, like always, and he would see that she was there for him. One day. However, for now, she had Henrik to think of and care for, the brother who she hadn’t seen in a thousand years! It would be good to have him back, one more shard restored to their fractured family, one step closer to making them somewhat whole again. The blonde couldn’t wait-

The vampire came to a screeching halt, eyes trained on the truck with a deadly focus, “Blood…” she murmured and then looked at the ground, easily spying the light that reflected off of the millions of pieces of glass, glinting like mock gems, that had been scattered haphazardly on the chilling concrete. Dread filling her stomach and twisting it up into sickening knots, Rebekah’s eyes trailed up to the truck, catching a few lines of dried blood here and there before they finally settled on the shattered window. Henrik was long gone.

“Rebekah!” Klaus stopped beside her, tone slightly panicked, “Something urgent has just come up, I need to…” he trailed off, eyes taking in and analysing exactly what Rebekah had done seconds prior, his face darkening in fury as he took in the complete and utter absence of their youngest brother. “Where is he?” he demanded, voice deepened into an animalistic growl as his anger seemed to ten-fold, “WHERE IS HE?!” the hybrid roared, loud and guttural as the demand echoed through the dark streets of the insignificant town. “HENRIK! COME BACK HERE, NOW!”

“He’s not here, Nik,” Rebekah spoke over his bellowing words, arms crossed and guarded in the face of his anger, though she made sure to keep her face petulant on the side of concerned, “He’s gone!”

“Then where is he?!” Klaus shouted, rage barely quelled as he stepped towards her, height practically looming as his eyes simultaneously darkened and became luminous.

Rebekah refused to stand down, her own eyes darkening as she gave as good as she got, “How should I know?! He was compelled to stay here! He should still be here!”

“Well, HE’S NOT HERE!”

“I CAN SEE THAT, NIK!” Rebekah screeched back, her own temper heightening as Klaus’ egged her on, worry, frustration and rage shining through with all of its ugliness.

“Maybe he got ahold of some vervain?” a cool voice interrupted the screaming match before it came to blows and both original siblings swung their heads around to glare furiously at Stefan, who was leaning against a lamppost without a care in the world. Perhaps, if he still has his emotions, Stefan would have turned tail and ran, or at least seized up with freight in the face of such a murderous pair of glares from extremely powerful vampires, but with no fear to keep him in check, Stefan merely raised an eyebrow, “Most of the glass is outside more than inside, meaning that someone broke out, not broke in. You compelled him to stay put, so…” he trailed off, his answer obvious to the spectating siblings.

“But how did he get ahold of…” Rebekah started and then paused, her face lightly scrunched with thought before her eyes widened with realisation, “Gloria.”

“Bingo!” Stefan shot her a finger gun.

“So he’s been pretending to be compelled this whole time?” Klaus questioned, though it was clear he didn’t need an answer as he let it hang in the air, face turned down a random street as he stared into the dark, his expression unreadable, “Biding his time until we left him alone…”

“He’s probably gotten so used to being compelled over the summer that he knew exactly what to do,” Stefan shrugged uncaringly, after all, he’d sat on the sidelines as he watched the teen get compelled nearly every other day, whether it was to get him to eat, or to get him to lay in the boot of the car without much hassle. The teen may have been under control, but he was still conscious of what was going on and how his body was reacting.

“Where is he now?” Rebekah demanded, glare in place as she stared back at Stefan dispassionately, blue eyes cool and unfeeling when they suddenly took on a hard edge as she bared her teeth, “Don’t tell me that he went back to that doppelgänger bitch!”

“Well, that is his sister,” the younger vampire shrugged, however that proved to be the wrong this to do as he suddenly found himself kicking at the air as he spluttered and gasped for breath, his bulging eyes staring down at Rebekah as she peered up at with a cold murderous glare.

“Excuse me?” the original vampire asked, tone soft and quiet in comparison to her usual loud shrieks of displeasure, “Do you want to perhaps repeat that, Salvatore?” she questioned, but ultimately didn’t care for his answer as she went on, fingers digging painfully into the flesh of his neck, threatening to puncture it with agonising force alone, “I am Henrik’s sister. Me. Not some ugly two-bit whor*. Me. Do you understand?”

“Relax, sister,” Klaus added on, voice as lax and languid as if he hadn’t a care in the world, “I’m sure Stefan didn’t mean it like that. Besides, what he says has merit. Henrik maybe our little brother, but he still has the majority of his memories as Jeremy Gilbert.”

“You think he went back to the Gilberts?” Rebekah asked, unceremoniously dropping Stefan to the floor, not even sparing him a glance as he instantly crumpled to the floor in heaving, coughing, gasps of air, all of her attention on Klaus and her absent little brother.

“Without a doubt,” Klaus nodded, his own frown of displeasure etched into his face.

“What’ll we do, now?” the blonde crossed her arms, looking to her brother for some kind of game plan. He always had a plan, no matter the situation, he always had a vision. It had kept her and her siblings alive for a long, long time, which was why she stayed with him, despite the constant fear and consequence of ever failing him.

The hybrid cast the dark road a look of contemplation, obviously deep in thought, before he turned to Rebekah and shook his head, his small smirk getting wider as he gained more confidence in whatever decision he’d made. “Change of plan. I’m gonna head off and create my hybrids, build my army. I’ve got a little bit of blood and that’ll have to do for now, on short notice.”

“And?” Rebekah pressed, taking a step towards Klaus as she stared at him intently, frustration showing through, “What about Henrik? What about me? Are you really going to leave us behind?”

“Of course not,” the hybrid smoothed over, a charismatic smile in place, “I’ll be coming back to collect, but Henrik is safe here, for now. Elena Gilbert cares for our little brother and what she has an interest in, these people will fall over themselves to protect. So, my dear friend,” Klaus started as he rounded on Stefan, who had just fully recovered from the blonde’s attack, eyes connecting as the hybrid instigated a new compulsion, “You’ll be looking after Elena and Henrik, for me. Make sure they don’t get hurt and make sure they don’t run away, okay?” with that, Klaus was making his way towards the truck.

“Wait! Are you serious?” Rebekah asked, curls bouncing as she marched forward, “You’re just going to leave me here? When will you be back? Where do I stay?” there was an abundance of questions on the tip of her tongue, but it was clear that Klaus wasn’t going to wait that long as he hopped into the front and started the vehicle.

“Just stay put and look after Henrik. I’ll be back, dear sister,” he smirked at her, ignoring her expression of complete offence and frustration before he pulled out of the parking area and drove off without another parting word, leaving Rebekah and Stefan on the dark, desolate street of the accursed town.

“Well, that’s just-“ Rebekah turned around to consult with the Salvatore brother, only to freeze when she only saw empty air, the vampire having stead away when she was distracted. “Great…” she finished, tone dejected in the face of being abandoned by both her brother and her ex-lover. Things were changing, fast, and Rebekah couldn’t help but feel like she’d been left out in the dark, both literally and figuratively.

Everything was a whole load of mess, but first things first on her list of things to do was to get some more clothes. The vampire looked up at the low orange glow in the sky, it was far too early for the shops to be open, but there was a very strong possibility that some staff would be prepping inside, ready to start the day, so it would be easy to compel them to help pick out some things for her. She’d have to think of a place to live afterwards and from there, she’d figure everything else out.

But, first, she wanted some new clothes.

Going back to school seemed to be the safest option out there, for the moment. While Elena had tried to argue against it, at first, stating that her recently-returned-brother needed the safety of their anti-original-vampire household, just in case they were still in town, and that he needed a few days to recuperate after the summer he’d been forced to endure. However, to Jeremy, she might have well have said that she was going to kill him. Fear filled the teen’s chest like liquid nitrogen at the prospect of being left alone, all alone in a quiet house that was so far away from his sister and his friends, with nothing but his thoughts for company. Jeremy had no idea why the thought of being alone scared him so much, but it did and he resolutely shot down her idea almost as soon as it came out of her mouth. Surprisingly, Damon had backed him up, though he was more condescending and smug-like as he patted the teen’s shoulder and stated that they couldn’t baby Jeremy and that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life indoors, afraid of something that may or may not happen.

Damon’s reasoning had been the only reason why Jeremy hadn’t been sealed in his own house as per Elena’s orders, though it was clear that he wouldn’t have all that much freedom as Elena led him about the school by the crook of his arm, fearful of letting him go as her eyes constantly shifted about, worried of any and all danger about them. Jeremy couldn’t really find the fault in that. After all, Jeremy was her last remaining family, just like Elena was his. The danger that they were both currently in was staggering and it made the siblings tense for the next shoe to inevitably drop. However, it appeared that Elena was more on edge than Jeremy was.

It was almost a relief when they were forced to part ways for their classes, though they didn’t part without the promise to meet one another at the benches during break. Classes were as boring as usual, but Jeremy savoured the normality of it all as he sat in his assigned seat and wrote down what the teachers droned on about. Although there were a few times when Jeremy was pulled aside by a teacher, their expressions pulled into masks of concern as they asked him about his injuries with gently questions, the bruises on his face and the bandages on his arm were a cause of great concern, it would seem.

With practiced ease, Jeremy waved them off with the story of going off to find a good sketching place and getting a little too far into nature with clumsy feet. The excuse seemed to do well enough as they all nodded and then shifted him off to his next class, letting Jeremy breathe a subtle sigh of relief. An abuse investigation was the last thing Jeremy needed after everything that had gone on. Beforehand, Damon had attempted to give Jeremy some blood, but the teen had rapidly paled before scrambling away, unable to catch his instinctive reaction before it was too late. Understandably, Elena had been confused, but Damon had merely looked at Jeremy with carefully hidden concern. Once the hesitant and downplayed story of Klaus’ promise to one day turn Jeremy came to light, Elena made no attempt to conceal her horror, while Damon’s ice-blue eyes filled with understanding, easily backing down. From there, Damon had offered up a believable story for him to go about his day with relative ease.

In all, Jeremy didn’t mind the injuries that lingered in plain sight, although it made the people in their inner circle a little flat-footed to see. None of them had probably seen any lingering injuries for a long time, after all, Matt was the only normal human in their group and he usually stayed out of supernatural stuff unless he was directly involved. More often than not, it was Elena that got constantly injured, but she always took a helping of vampire blood to rid herself of the long-term effects. Despite the aching pains and the few lingering gazes from random students, Jeremy was more than happy to heal up the human way in order to keep any and all vampire blood out of his system.

Right then, the lunch bell echoed throughout the building, startling Jeremy from his lacklustre thoughts before he started to automatically pick up his books, which basically just had the curriculum listed out. The first day of the school year was never interesting, it was just teachers telling the students what they were going to learn, when they were going to learn it and what they excited their students to learn from it. It was a basic guideline for the rest of the year and Jeremy was just thankful that there was very little brain-power needed for it.

Merging with the sweeping crowds, Jeremy merely kept his head down as he made it to his locker; he could just dump the books and get his sketchpad for lunch and his last class, which just so happened to be art, and then he could make it towards the benches to meet with Elena and everyone else. Hopefully, his turbulent feelings of unease would vanish when he got invested in school again.

“Hey, Jeremy!” a voice called out and the teen whipped his head around like a meerkat sensing danger, only to sigh with utter relief when he came face to face with Bonnie, who looked a little sheepish at having obviously startled him, “Sorry…”

With a sheepish smile of his own, Jeremy waved the witch off and they both continued to walk to his locker, “It’s no problem. I’m just a little… on edge, I guess…”

“Rightfully so, in my opinion,” Bonnie gently touched his elbow, the action slow and cautious just in case he decided to pull back, “How’ve you been?”

“Honestly? Hell,” Jeremy hummed distractedly, “But, I know things’ll get better and I know I’ll be fine. But right now, my teeth itch and I just feel…”

“Exhausted,” Bonnie answered for him, giving him a faint smile of understanding when he turned to look at her, “I get it…”

“… I know you do…” Jeremy sighed, the pressure in his chest lessening slightly when the witch’s hand slid from his elbow to his hand, both of them squeezing the other’s hand in a show of quiet comfort and support, “You wanted to talk about something?”

“Yes…” Bonnie started, her tone hesitant and slightly fearful and her hand twitched like she wanted to pull it away, “I know you’re going through something right now and… I know that relationships can cause a lot of stress and I don’t want you to…”

“You want to break up,” Jeremy finished off for her. While Jeremy wouldn’t say he didn’t feel a little hurt, he instantly knew what the witch was trying to explain. A healthy relationship, especially a relatively new and young one like their own, needed to be nurtured with attention and support to make sure that it thrived. It was the type of love and support that neither Jeremy nor Bonnie could give one another at the moment, not while they were both so thawed and delicate. If they stayed together and healed together, it would develop into co-dependency, which could lead to more issues in the future, or they’d unintentionally hurt one another as they tried to overcome their own raging feelings, causing hate and mistrust… Jeremy may be young, but he’d grown up a hell of a lot since the start of everything and he had a better handle and understanding of his emotions than most teenagers his age - the exact same could be said for Bonnie.

“I know it probably sounds selfish and-“ the witch started, guilt clear as day on her face, but Jeremy squeezed her hand, giving her firm reassurance.

“I understand,” the teen smiled at her before he closed his locker and tucked his sketchpad under his arm, “We can’t… dedicate ourselves to one another, not with everything that’s happening right now and not with everything that’s just happened,” he smiled a bit wider when the witch looked up at him with open relief, “Maybe, when we’re older and when everything is behind us, and if we still feel the same way, we can give this another go?” he finished off hesitantly, uncertainty colouring his tone.

However, it seemed to be the right thing to say as Bonnie’s entire face softened as she nodded in agreement, “I’d like that, Jeremy. Thanks for understanding and I hope that we’ll still be friends?” she looked away, afraid of rejection despite the ridiculousness of the request.

“Of course, we’ll still be friends,” Jeremy huffed a small laugh of amusem*nt, smiling warming at the witch’s visible relief at his acceptance. “Y’know, I think that was the most anticlimactic and amicable breakup that’s ever happened in the history of relationship breakups.”

In response, Bonnie grinned and gave him a playful shove, earning a startled laugh from the other, “Shut up!”

“What? I’m just being honest!” Jeremy chuckled, holding out his hands in mock surrender. “I’ll see you later,” he waved off the witch as she turned to get to her own locker and continued on his way at a lazy pace. Distantly, Jeremy thought about how nice it had been to laugh, he hadn’t given a genuine laugh for anything in what felt like a long, long time. It was… freeing, in a way. Picking his head up from looking at the ground, Jeremy started to weave through the crowds of lingering and stationary students, the light of the doors beckoning as he made his way to the field.

However, almost instantly, Jeremy found himself freezing up, all previous joy and warmness disappearing like a vacuum of space had invaded his chest, leaving nothing but isolated iciness that he felt like he was choking on. His heart was beating in his ear, muting any and all other sounds around him, and it felt like he was about to throw up as his face rapidly drained of colour, his hands were disgustingly clammy and his entire form trembled. Desperately, he wanted to turn tail and run, but soul-crushing fear kept his feet planted on the ground, rendering him completely immobile. It was Klaus. Klaus was right there, leaning on one of the lockers and looking right at Jeremy with a twisted smirk. The hybrid was going to grab him, was going to make him suffer for running away and disobeying him, he was going to kill everyone, he was going to kill his sister and his friends and-

He wasn’t there.

Blinking again, Jeremy finally regained control of his body as he whipped his head from left to right and the loud noise of the corridor hit him like a gunshot to the head, making him feel dizzy and disoriented. It felt like there was too much air and not enough air at the same time, but he was perfectly aware that he was breathing. He didn’t know what was going on. What was happening to him? He just saw Klaus! Where was he? Jeremy couldn’t see him anymore! Where'd he go?!

Sounds were buzzing around him and he could distinctly hear a voice, someone talking to him in low soft tones, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He saw curled blonde hair and he knew that it was Caroline. Caroline, Elena’s friend and a vampire that was on their ‘side’. There was a tugging on Jeremy’s wrist and he went willingly, allowing the blonde cheerleader to guide him somewhere, away from everything for a short while.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” a soft feminine tone whispered to him, coaxing him into calming down, her hands gently cupping his face, “Breathe with me, okay? Breathe in through your nose, hold for five seconds and breathe it out through your mouth. Copy my breathing,” she instructed, patient and firm before she started to breathe loudly, the very sound of it controlled and regulated to his very ears. Jeremy didn’t know when he’d closed his eyes, but he didn’t feel like opening them right now, the peaceful darkness before his eyes cutting off one more stimulus that was beginning to overwhelm him. Slowly, the teen attempted to follow Caroline’s breathing instructions, his hesitant shuddering breathes gaining more and more steady as he concentrated on his breathing alone, allowing his chest to expand and deflate in a rhythmic pace that had him completely distracted from his earlier panic.

“That’s it,” Caroline continued her support, her thumbs gently sweeping over the bones of his cheeks in an offer of small comfort, “You’re doing great, keep breathing like that.”

Jeremy frowned as he continued to breathe slowly and carefully, something was wrong here. He could feel it, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Finally opening his eyes, Jeremy grunted in frustration as his vision only blurred, “C-Caroline?” the teen asked hesitantly, feeling like his throat was wrecked as he squeezed his eyes closed and rubbed them for good measure. When his vision was finally clear, Jeremy looked up at his upperclassman and froze.

“I am not that blonde bimbo,” the vampire huffed in clear offence but seemed to keep her cool in fear of spooking the teen.

“R-Rebekah…” Jeremy choked out, the breath in his lungs constricting once again as his throat felt like it was about to close up. So, he really did see Klaus. If Rebekah was here, then so was the original hybrid.

“Hey, hey, hey,” the vampire shushed, eyes focused on his own as she took deep calming breaths, “Breathe. Just like me. See?” she took a breath again and Jeremy followed suit, effectively calming himself down once again. “You okay, now?”

“Yeah,” he croaked out, completely slumping against the wall behind him, feeling completely exhausted. Taking a cursory look around, Jeremy knew that they were in the hallway cupboard, the mop leaning against the opposite wall only confirmed it. What he didn’t find was a lingering hybrid staring down at him with intense eyes. “Where’s Klaus?” he asked, not wanting to hear the answer, but finding that he couldn’t let it hang in the air for much longer.

“Hell for all I care,” the blonde shrugged as she shifted her body to sit beside him, “Bastard left me here last night when everything else was said and done. I don’t know when he’ll be back, but it’ll be a little while until his return.”

“Wh-What?” Jeremy blinked. She was sh*tting him, right? “B-But I thought I saw… I thought…” Jeremy was sure that he saw him, his smug face standing out from the crowd, pinning him in place.

“You thought what?” she pressed, a small frown in place as she peered at him. This was probably the most gentle that he’d ever seen her, she was usually so fierce and assertive.

“I thought I saw Klaus. In the hallway. Staring at me,” Jeremy admitted, sounding less and less sure the more he went on, “But then he was gone and I couldn’t see him and I…”

“Had a panic attack,” Rebekah finished off, her small frown turning into something grim as she lead her eyes away from the vulnerable teen to face the opposite wall. Jeremy merely kept quiet as it was clear that she was contemplating something.

Whatever it was that she wanted to ask, she clearly decided against it as she shook her head, “Well, I can say for certain that Klaus is out of town, so you don’t need to panic.”

Jeremy gave a short laugh, the sound ugly and bitter as it fell from his lips like bile, “Yeah, but he’ll be coming back soon, right? Elena and Damon said that Stefan had been ordered to make sure that me and Elena don’t run away. I’m assuming that’s the same task for you?”

“… Yes,” the blonde admitted and the teen blinked in slight surprise at the easy admission, but covered it with a deep frown, “He’ll be back and he’ll take you. Even if I was willing to help, I wouldn’t be able to stop him from doing that…” Rebekah spoke softly, each word like a sorrowful damnation of his very soul. Jeremy couldn’t help the tear that slipped past his control as he drew his legs up to his chest, hugging them tightly as he tried to control the flow of anguish that wanted to be let loose. In all honesty, Jeremy knew that he wouldn’t have been able to escape. Sure, Jeremy had been able to get out of the truck and he’d been able to get back to his house and his life, but Klaus was far too powerful and far too obsessive for Jeremy to actually be safe for very long. He was living on borrowed time and he’d known that from the start, but it still felt like a kick to the gut when it was confirmed.

“Why are you here?” Jeremy questioned, turning his head from his knees to peer at her. He needed a change in the conversation. If he talked about Klaus any longer, Jeremy knew he was going to lose it, “I mean, why are you in high school?”

Instantly, the blonde grinned, her whole face brightening as she sat up straighter, her expression and tone of sympathy completely shrugged off, “I enrolled to be a student here! I haven’t been part of society for over a hundred years and while the small crash tutorial with Nik and Stefan was a little bit of help, getting an education will only help me in the long run!”

“Why didn’t you just… go to a library?” Jeremy asked, genuinely confused. The woman was a thousand years old and she chose to voluntarily go to high school… Maybe it was so she could keep an eye on him and Elena more effectively? It could be it, that was the most logical explanation after all, but Jeremy couldn’t help but feel like it was something else entirely…

Instead, the blonde shrugs, expression completely uncaring, “Nothing else to do in this boring old town. What is there to do for fun anyway?”

It took Jeremy a time to realise that she was actually asking him a question, causing him to flounder a bit, “Ah, well, I, um… I guess the town’s pretty boring, but there’s always some kind of local event going on, either with the school or with the Founding Families?” he offered, wincing internally when it came off more like a question. Jeremy sighed and forced his shoulders to slump a bit, “The usual hang out is the Mystic Grill for hangouts and drinking, and I think there’s a party in the woods coming up soon, but I’m not sure what it's about…”

“You don’t seem like you know a lot of ‘fun’ things to do,” Rebekah observed, a small smile of amusem*nt tugging on her lips.

“You noticed that, huh?” Jeremy gave a self-deprecating smile, rubbing at the back of his neck in awkwardness, “I used to be, but…” his parents died and he dealt with it by doing drugs and hanging with Vicki and her crew, who were all killed by Damon. That was how it started and, while he’d been attempting to get his life back on the rails, there was still an unspoken distance between him and the rest of his classmates. And now, after the summer he’d just had, he was even more reluctant to attach himself to people, who weren’t part of their ‘supernatural club’. “Too much happened and I’m no longer interested in those kinds of things.”

Just then, the bell went off to signal that lunch was over, startling Jeremy so badly, that he felt like he had a minor heart attack, which only served to amuse the original vampire to no end. Damnit! He was supposed to meet Elena and everyone else for lunch! Lately, his sister had been more attentive than she had in a long while, he didn’t doubt that she would demand some sort of explanation at the end of school.

“Here,” Rebekah thrust his phone back into his hands - Wait! When had she taken his phone?! “My number’s in there. I know that your experience with Nik… was less than favourable and I probably didn’t give off the greatest first impression, but I would like to get to know you, as Jeremy, not as Henrik. Call me whenever you want to hang out,” and with that, she stood up and left Jeremy to sit in the janitor’s closet in the dark by himself.

Silently, Jeremy looked at his phone screen, the blonde vampire’s phone number staring back at him with an incomprehensible weight. He should delete this. In no way shape or form, was Jeremy willing to carry on or admit this delusion that both Klaus and Rebekah carried, so he needed to push her away at every opportunity, he needed to cut off all of her attempts to bond with him in fear of manipulations later on.

Jeremy locked his phone, the number still added to his contacts, before he put it in his pocket.

The late bell sounded in Jeremy’s ears and the teen sighed. He needed to get to class, everything else could wait.

It was late when Jeremy settled in his room, sprawled over his bed as he focused on his latest sketch, the one activity he’d been doing as a constant since he’d safely returned to his town. Honestly, it had become more of a habit in current times. Drawing and art had always been Jeremy’s passion and he’d always hoped to make some sort of career from it, but as he got older, the less and less he spent invested in his art - sure he still did works every now and again, but he wasn’t as obsessed with it as he had been when he was younger. However, after following Klaus all summer with his drawings being his safe haven and the only thing he was allowed to do, Jeremy found himself picking up his charcoal sticks more and more, pages and pages of different drawings and paintings filling up his room. Maybe he could start building up a portfolio for college, if he managed to actually live to see graduation, that was…

Right now, he had no idea what he was drawing, just allowing his pencil to guide him as his mind took a walk away from reality for a little while. The teen had been right in assuming that Elena would be pissed when she next saw him, which did nothing but tear completely through his frayed nerves. Stefan’s annoying commentary did nothing to help that fact, either…

What was wrong with Jeremy?!

He was home! He’d finally gotten to see his home and hold his loved ones again as he’d so desperately dreamed since he’d first been forcibly taken from the town! Since he’d left Mystic Falls, the only thing he’d thought about was returning! Sure, he’d thought that Elena was dead, but he’d wanted to get back to everyone else, he wanted to grieve with them, he wanted to comfort them and be comforted by them! And, now, it was like he couldn’t stand it!

Elena was being attentive and caring and wanting to be with him and look after him, but all Jeremy found himself doing was pushing her away, his chest constricting with faux suffocation in the face of her worrying. Jeremy loved her with all his heart and wanted nothing more than to stay with her and make sure she stayed safe and alive for the rest of his days! So why… Why did he always get so angry with her and the others? Why was he pushing them away? Why did he snap at them? It was always so sudden! One minute he was calm and at ease, completely normal, and then the next it felt like bugs were crawling all over his skin! Why… The teen’s actions and feelings were all jumbled up and the immense guilt threatened to choke him when he kept Rebekah’s number a secret from everyone else. He didn’t know why he kept it, or why he kept it from the others…

Everything just felt so… out of sorts…

The teen had come home expecting everything to be normal, wanting to ignore everything that happened, but…

Jeremy shook his head, eyes still unfocused as he carried on senselessly drawing whatever he wanted.

It wasn’t like he was angry, or snappish all the time. For the most part, he felt unchanged. The teen still felt as calm and centred as he usually was, but he found that he couldn’t keep that cool when the others pushed him in ways he didn’t want them to. He didn’t like Damon constantly crowding him, trying to get information about Klaus out of him, pressing more and more, even when Jeremy claimed to know very little. He didn’t like Alaric trying to get him to open up about things that he wasn’t ready to talk about, it made Jeremy on edge as the teacher bothered him with surprise questions all throughout the day. He didn’t like Stefan coming anywhere near him, the feelings of anger and betrayal bubbling in his chest until it felt like his whole body was on fire, the fire blew up into an inferno when Stefan started to press the teen’s buttons, easily getting under his skin until he cracked. He didn’t like Elena’s over-protectiveness and her constant gaze as if he would disappear at any moment (which only reminded him that it was a very real possibility) and he didn’t like the fact that she was sending in everyone else in order to ‘help him out’.

It was only serving to stress him out even more and Jeremy truly didn’t know when he was going to lose it with them, but he could feel that it was a very close and a very real possibility…

“What am I gonna do…” the teen muttered to himself as he rubbed at the side of his face, though he was careful as to not get any stains on his face as he did so. Blinking back into reality, Jeremy looked down at his drawing and froze in place, “What?” he asked faintly, hands minutely trembling as he picked up the paper to look at it closer.

He’d drawn Klaus, but it was different… Jeremy had drawn Klaus in old clothes and long straggly hair, a small bouquet of wildflowers in his hands as he smiled, brightly, warmly, innocently, from the paper. Jeremy had never seen Klaus smile like that, the teen didn’t think he was capable of such a thing…

Scrambling up from his bed, Jeremy’s breath caught in his lungs as he looked at the new pages of drawings that he’d spilt on the floor, all of them of places and people he’d never seen before, but everything he’d drawn had been… old. Wildflowers and nature all around with small flimsy structures that looked to be huts and gently smiling people who he’d never met before. Still in shock, Jeremy snatched up a few odd ones that stood out to him - of people he recognised and didn’t at the same time - looking over Rebekah’s elegantly smiling countenance, little flowers were woven into her hair, Elijah with long dark hair grinning with no small amount of mirk as he handled a large sword and Elena… Or, what Jeremy thought to be Elena, but the woman looked like she belonged in the same time period as everything else he’d drawn. Another doppelgänger? Or maybe he’d just unconsciously drawn his sister in that time period? What-

“Jeremy?” Elena knocked, causing the teen to seize up with a rush of complete and utter fear and panic. He wasn’t even able to shout at her to go away before she was turning the handle and striding into his room, completely unprecedented, “I think we need to talk-“ she cut herself off as she stared at the floor, eyes widening at all of the drawings, his floor barely visible bellow the mess.

“Elena…” Jeremy managed to choke out of his tight throat, his heart thudding against his ribcage erratically.

His sister said nothing as she crouched down and picked up a drawing, this one being of Klaus holding up some kind of carved trinket on a string, presenting it to a dark-haired boy that Jeremy had never seen before, both of them drawn to suit some ancient time period. Slowly, Elena turned from the drawing, eyes taking in what seemed to be hundreds more of the same thing.

“Jeremy,” she started, tone careful and slightly scared, “What is all this?”

Letting the pages in his hands flutter to the ground, to join the rest of them, Jeremy brought a hand up to clutch at his hair, his knuckles turning white as he tried to beat down his panic. Eyes slightly wet, Jeremy looked and Elena and shook his head, “I don’t know…”

He was a fool to ever think things would go back to the way they were…

Chapter 10: Peeling back truths

Chapter Text

There was a crack in the wall. It wasn’t very noticeable - Jeremy had never noticed that there had been a crack in the wall before - but it was there, dark lines marring the plain canvas, ruining the image of pristine that the room was supposed to give off. A perfect picture shattered and broken. Maybe it wasn’t as extreme as seeing a crack in the glass, but, right now, the crack was all Jeremy could see, it was all he could concentrate on. Those small, seemingly insignificant black lines, webbing out from the corner of the room, like a small fungus. At this time, that small crack was barely anything to worry about (after all, the house was stable and the foundations undamaged, so it was hardly going to collapse any time soon) but those black lines were a weakness, as small as it may be, but a weakness nonetheless. It was a weakness that could be taken advantage of and over time, the crack would grow bigger, become deeper, until it was the first thing that everyone saw when they walked into the room…

“Jeremy,” Elena suddenly spoke up, voice taking on a pleading and soft edge, making the teen tense like he was anticipating a punch, “Please… Please look at me, Jere.”

At that moment, more than anything in the world, Jeremy didn’t want to look at his sister. He didn’t want to see those eyes that could never hide any of her emotions, he didn’t want to see the worry, the hurt and the… disappointment that would shine through her doe-brown eyes that were so much like his own, so much like their dad’s… Seeing those emotions reflecting back at him would kill Jeremy for sure, he knew it. His brows furrowed deeper as he stared more intently at the crack in the wall, he could almost imagine seeing the black lines inch themselves further across the wall, millimetre by millimetre.

“Jeremy, please,” Elena tried again, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, making Jeremy tense and hold his knees to his chest even tighter than before, “I know… this much be really scary for you, but if you could help me understand, maybe I can do something for you? Maybe we can get you some help? Please, just… talk to me, okay?” she paused and Jeremy could tell that she was holding her breath in anticipation for some kind of answer.

He said nothing.

“Don’t do this again, Jeremy,” Elena started, her tone harder, but no less tearful than it had been a second ago, “Don’t shut down on me. Don’t shut me out. I’ve seen you like this before, when our parents died and I can’t watch you do that to yourself again, not after everything we’ve been through! Not after everything we’ve lost! Last time I had Jenna to help me out, I can’t watch you shut down by myself, I just-!”

“I’m fine,” Jeremy spoke up, an involuntary action that had him subtly digging his nails into his forearms, ignoring the sting of pain that erupted from aggravating the barely scabbed-over wounds that were already there.

“You could have said anything in the world, other than ‘I’m fine’ and I would have believed you…” Elena gave a weak huff, her voice missing the panic and hysteria that had clung to it before.

“Sometimes it’s the only thing you can say,” Jeremy muttered into his knees, still refusing to look at her, still refusing to face the reality that had been so cruelly slapped into his face.

Elena sat there in silence for a moment and Jeremy could just picture the expression of sympathy and understanding as she whispered, “I know,” before they both tapered off into silence, neither willing to make the effort to talk in those few moments. Jeremy would have been fine just sitting there in silence for the rest of his life if there was even a small chance of avoiding this conversation, but he knew from experience that life was rarely so kind…

“Alright,” a loud intrusive voice suddenly cut through the silence like a knife, startling Jeremy into looking away from his crack and towards the impatient pale-eyed vampire standing next to Elena, “We’ve tried the whole ‘nurturing’ approach to this-“

“Damon-“

“No, Elena,” the vampire cut her off, not even sparing her a glance as he kept his sights solely on the teen before him, “We need information and he’s got it. Klaus is a very dangerous enemy to go up against, so we need every edge we can get to even have a chance of survival. Now, we need to know what the hell is going on with you, why he kept you alive all this time and why he wants you back!” Jeremy flinched at the reminder, which both Elena and Damon caught instantly.

“That’s enough, Damon,” Elena tried, her tone of voice firm and hard with authority, which the vampire ignored.

Seeing the flinch as a chink in the armour, Damon went all in, “He’s barely said anything about his little vacation away from home and when we do ask, he tries everything he can to avoid talking about it!” he huffed at Elena whilst waving an accusing hand towards Jeremy, who merely glared harder at the vampire. Ice-blue eyes instantly connected with molten brown challengingly, “In all that time, how do we even know he’s on our side anymore!” It felt like Jeremy’s chest had been savagely ripped through by a knife. “How do we know he’s not reporting every little thing we do back to Klaus, even now!” he then produced Jeremy’s phone from his pocket and waved it tauntingly towards the teen, who froze and paled at the sudden implication, “After all, he’s got dear old Rebekah saved on here,” he carelessly through the phone on the table between them, the loud clatter of it sounding throughout the entirely silent room. “With that little secret out in the open, you’ve got to wonder what else he’s been hiding from us-“

“That’s enough, Damon!” Elena shouted this time, halting the vampire instantly from saying anything more damaging than he already had. The pair stared challengingly at one another, a silent battle of wills flaring between them as Elena continued, “Jeremy is my brother, so we’ll deal with this my way,” they stared at one another for another few seconds and Jeremy had to force himself to breathe steadily to keep himself from instinctively freezing up.

It was only broken when Damon finally stepped back, hands held up in mock-surrender and his usual smug expression in place, allowing Elena to concentrate back on her younger brother, ready to continue with her line of questioning, but Jeremy felt drained and tired and he’d had enough with the good-cop-bad-cop interrogation the pair had going on.

“I’m not compromised,” Jeremy started voice soft and slightly croaky like he’d been choking back his emotions for a long while, and he watched impassively as Elena snapped her jaw closed, eyes alight with eagerness, wanting him desperately to open up to her. Her expression only made him feel worse than he already was, “I’m not with Klaus in any way shape or form - the fact that you’d even suggest that-“ he started to growl at the vampire with a dark glower, only to stop mid-way and take a deep breath. He needed to keep calm. Losing his temper would do nothing for him right now. But he couldn’t quite help the bitterness that still seeped through his words, “My little ‘vacation’ as you called it, was nothing but pure hell. While Klaus never did anything to harm me… Physically,” he corrected himself, but frown when he realised that wasn’t exactly the truth either after all the bruise on his face could easily testify to that, “He did everything he could to convince me of his little delusion, which was why he kept me alive all this time…”

“He was trying to convince you that you were Henrik,” Elena stated slowly, coming to her own conclusion. At Jeremy’s surprised look, she jolted slightly and elaborated, “Elijah told me that you bared a strong resemblance to his little brother, Henrik, and that was why Klaus took you.”

The teen nodded, “Yeah, he said that I was his reincarnation,”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Damon waved his hands, gaining the pair’s attention, “So all this was Klaus trying to get his little brother back from the dead? Nothing else?”

“What other reason would he need?” Jeremy asked, unsure if he should feel exasperated or offended by the vampire’s back-handed comment, “It’s not like he would have taken me to know about your plans. For one, he thought that Elena was dead, which is what I thought too up until a few days ago, and he’d done recon about our group, so he knew that I’m not exactly in the epicentre of your plans,” the teen rolled his eyes, memory cast back to all the times he’d been excluded from an important plan just because Elena was slightly concerned, or didn’t want him involved.

“Well, it’s just hard to believe that the great thousand-year-old werewolf-vampire hybrid would believe in a little fairy-tale,” Damon scoffed condescendingly.

Nothing more would have been said on that subject if Jeremy hadn’t clammed up the way he did, eyes suddenly trained back on the crack in the wall with an unnatural hyper-focus that instantly grabbed Elena’s attention. With a call of his name, Jeremy reluctantly brought his eyes back to hers.

“There’s something more, isn’t there?”

“Yeah,” the teen admitted after a brief moment of silence, the suspension was thick in the air and Jeremy couldn’t help the image of a mute crowd staring as his head was placed on a chopping block, his eyes closing as he let his lips form the words of his own damnation, “I don’t think it’s a delusion…” and the guillotine falls…

“What?” Elena breathed out, shock evident in her tone and face, looking at Jeremy like he admitted to killing their parents. Guilt weighed on his chest, threatening to crush him. “What the hell are you talking about, Jere?”

“I’m saying that what Klaus thinks…” he took another breath, but it didn’t feel like he was fulling his lungs with air at all, “I’m saying that I’m the reincarnation of Henrik.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me…” Damon uttered, frustration and anger clear in his eyes, though Jeremy wasn’t sure if it was entirely directed towards him, “He’s brainwashed you!”

“No-“

“There’s got to be an explanation for you-"

“There’s no other explanation!” Damon shouted, cutting off Elena’s somewhat-calm approach, violently gesturing at the curled up teen, “He said so himself. It’s not physical damage that Klaus did to him, it’s phycological! This might even be a lasting effect from a compulsion!”

“No,” Jeremy shook his head, “He never compelled me to believe him, just to stay in the car, or to go to sleep.” As far as Jeremy knew, Klaus had all the certainty in the world that he would trigger Jeremy’s memories without compelling the teen to just believe him.

“How would you know,” Damon cut across his train of thought, freezing him in his tracks, “In the time you’ve spent together, after everything he’s done to you and made you do, can you say, with complete clarity, that Klaus has never compelled you to believe that you’re Henrik that then force you to forget he compelled you to think that? Can you?” the vampire goaded and Jeremy frowned, doubt entering his mind and knocking him off-kilter. Was that all this is? Had this all been a compulsion? What if Jeremy was drawing wolves and the original family and strangers of a past era because of a compulsion? What if the time he spoke a dead language had been from Klaus planting the words in his brain? What if all those times that Klaus had been surprised or happy when Jeremy ‘remembered’ something had merely been acting? What if. What if. What if. Questions and possibilities circled around the teen’s head, making him dizzy, making him unsure of his own thoughts and actions. Currently, vervain protected him, but just because he was drinking ad wearing it now, didn’t mean that any long-term compulsions were revered, it didn’t work like that…

“… I don’t know,” Jeremy finally admitted, his heart feeling like it was trying to pound through his chest, all while he was subtly attempting to calm himself down, nails digging painfully into his forearms.

Honestly, Jeremy hated the sense of dysphoria that came with his admission. While the idea of actually being Klaus’ little, long-since dead brother, miraculously back from the grave against all odds was not what Jeremy would call the best case scenario, but it was something that he’d been certain of. After all the confusion and fear he’d gone through, his unexplainable fear of wolves, the nightmares he’d been made to endure and every other shock that had come with his time before and with Klaus, Jeremy had just been relieved to have an answer, some kind of label that he could work around, only for Damon’s logical refute to drive into his side like a runaway lorry. The answer to all of Jeremy’s problems felt like it had slipped through his fingers like water, completely ungraspable and unretrievable, leaving him back in square one. Everything that he’d had to suffer through, all the denial and torment that he’d painstakingly endured in order to finally accept what had been thrust into his face all summer, only for that prospect to go up in flames. It felt like it had all been for nothing like the entire summer had been overly painful and pointless all at once.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, if I was you,” a voice suddenly interrupted, causing everyone to instantly tense in dread and surprise.

Damon recovered the fastest as he turned his irritated glare towards the intruder, jaw clenching and unclenching in clear annoyance at the other’s mere presence, “And what the hell are you doing here?”

Stefan placed a hand over his heart, an action of mock-offence, although his face hardly moved from the bored expression that seemed to be permanently fixed there, “Ouch, that hurt, brother,” he adopted a lazy smirk as he sauntered further into the room, “Especially after all that time you wasted in trying to find me,” his smirk widened into a toothy grin that seemed more sad*stic and threatening than anything else, making the two humans of the room tense instinctively, until the grin faded to something more neutral, “Besides, Klaus ordered me to look after Elena and little Henrik, here,” he nodded to the siblings in order, “Seems like the most logical thing to do in looking after them is to be in the same room as them.”

The older vampire didn’t say anything to that, his clenching jaw more noticeable than before.

“What do you mean?” Elena spoke up, though it was clear that she was biting her tongue for the ‘Henrik’ comment, her eyes flicking from Stefan to Jeremy, “Do you know something?”

“I know lots of things,” Stefan agreed easily with a bob of his head, “But I do know that it doesn’t matter whether you believe Jeremy’s Henrik or not, it makes no difference at the end of the day,” he shrugged carelessly. Jeremy shifted uncomfortably as his skin prickled with the weight of the vampire’s gaze.

“What are you talking about?” Damon huffed, completely done with the topic, “It’s practically impossible. And even if he was a reincarnation, he’s still Jeremy Gilbert, annoying pain in my ass.” Mean, but true, Jeremy silently nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

“Damon!” Elena chastised, but the guilty party only gave an unapologetic shrug.

“What I mean,” Stefan spoke up, gaining everyone’s attention before he lost it entirely, “Is that even if Jeremy wasn’t the reincarnation of Henrik, that won't stop Klaus from thinking and acting like he is. The same goes for Rebekah and Elijah and possibly everyone else in their little eternal family. And even if you prove to them that they’re wrong,” Stefan spoke louder upon seeing Damon open his mouth to add his useless two cents, “It could very well end with Jeremy’s death, at best, or the complete removal and fabrication of Jeremy’s memories, at worst. No matter how you look at things, Klaus views Jeremy as his and there’s not much you can do about that,” he shook his head and Elena silently looked down at the low table between them, defeat evident in the slump of her shoulders.

“Maybe we can hide him?” Elena wondered, her words more for herself than the room at large, “Send him away, give him a different name and a new identity? I know we’ve got some old family friends in Denver, I’m sure they won't mind-“

“-Elena-“ Jeremy started, but his voice got overshadowed by his sister’s rising voice.

“-I’m sure they’ve got a great art program there and you can go to school like a normal teenager!” Elena’s eyes lit up, her idea sounding better and better the more she spoke about it, “You’ll be away from the danger of everything in town and then we’ll come to get you when everything blows over and everything’s safe-“

“-Elena-“ he tried again.

“-That way, if you actually are compromised, you won't be able to tell Klaus anything about our plans, because you won't even be involved! Maybe if you really like it there, you could even stay there and completely out of this town! You could even have a normal life and a normal education and then maybe you can go to an art college-!”

“Elena!”

“What?!” the doppelgänger screamed back at her brother just as loudly, eyes finally focusing on him, “This could be a chance of a lifetime, Jere! You could be safe!”

“Or I could be a sitting duck!” the teen shot back, irritation and irrational anger breaking out uncontrollably, “I just got back home, to you and to everyone else, only for you to want to get rid of me! Am I such a huge burden to you that you can’t even stand to see me for two minutes before you send me on my merry way, out of your life, forever?! And this isn’t the case of Klaus kicking up some sand and me getting caught in the crossfire!” he was standing up now, his meekness and fear were long gone, as he glared down at Elena with a fury that was practically burning his chest and lungs, the flames of his anger flaring up all the more with no sign of stopping, “I am a target and if you think that just moving me an hour or so away will be nothing more than a mild inconvenience to someone like him, then your even crazier than he is!” he was lashing out and the lid on his anger had long-since popped off. He wanted it to hurt, he wanted to say things that would hurt her in the way that she’d just unintentionally hurt him, and there was no way he could stop any of the words that tumbled out, even if he wanted to. “And then-“

“Jeremy,” a voice spoke up, tone firm and full of warning, instantly snapping the teen out of his red-hazed anger. Dumbly, he turned to look at Damon, who was watching the entire ordeal with an unreadable expression. He’d completely forgotten that anyone besides him and Elena was there. “That’s enough.”

Blinking, Jeremy stepped back, feeling somewhat shaky at the speed at which his fury had left him as he finally came to himself. He looked down at Elena, who was still seated on the chair opposite him, but she seemed shaken, her eyes wide and mouth agape, like she couldn’t believe what Jeremy had done. Chancing a look down, Jeremy dismissed his earlier assessment, it wasn’t disbelief she was feeling, but fear if the fine trembling of her hands were anything to go back. Feeling slightly sickened at himself and ashamed, Jeremy looked away and clenched his fists, barely feeling his sharp nails digging into the palms of his hands.

“I think I’ll be in my room,” he started, voice as soft as it usually was, if slightly shaky with repressed emotions, “Sorry,” he uttered before he practically ran from the room and bolted up the stairs. He didn’t even bother to try to eavesdrop on the trio's conversion, which was most likely going to be about him, as he secured himself safely in the confines of his room.

However, the situation wasn’t much better as he stood there, staring down at the many, many pages of drawings that littered the floor of his room. He eyed the images of the past, of people he didn’t know and didn’t want to know. Was all of this really a compulsion? Looking at the complete mass of the pages before him, Jeremy felt like he should be impressed with how far Klaus had gone to convince him if the compulsion theory was even true…

Jeremy growled in frustration as he stomped further into his room and snatched up his sketchpad, his fingers itching to be occupied by something.

Honestly, Jeremy didn’t even know why he was so frustrated! Sure, he was brought up with the value to express himself, even if he never really tried to before his parents died, but his anger just seemed to be ready to leap out of him at a moment’s notice, as if his control over it was merely an illusion that he’d convinced himself of. Why was he so quick to anger? Why was he so on edge? Why was the anger still simmering inside of him, when he was completely removed from the situation?! Why wasn’t he calming down?!

Control long gone, Jeremy started to dig his pencil into the paper, creating deep and violent groves - if it wasn’t for the thickness of the drawing paper, it surely would have been shredded to pieces - the image indistinguishable, though the teen hardly noticed as he gritted his teeth with barely contained fury.

Was this ‘Mikaelson anger’, like Rebekah had mentioned in the store? Had Klaus altered his personality to allow Jeremy to feel anger quicker than before? Could vampires do that? Or, was this something else entirely, something he hadn’t considered before?

The questions were consuming him, mocking him as they circled around him, demanding answers that he couldn’t even hope to provide.

It felt like he was at the end of his rope…

In one swift move, Jeremy slashed his pencil down like a knife and finally ripped the thick paper in half and he stopped, frozen in time for a split second that seemed to stretch out for an eternity. Then, all at once, like a slap to the face, everything came into focus and Jeremy shakily dropped the pencil, barely taking note that it rolled off his pad and landed on the floor with a small clatter.

Trying to take a deep breath to calm himself down, Jeremy stood up from the bed and gathered his shoes and jacket.

Fresh air was as good a start as anything else. For a second, he checked around for his phone but stopped when he remembered that Damon still had it. Whatever. He didn’t need it. He’d take a walk, clear his head- Maybe he’d go to the Grill and get a drink? If Matt was there, maybe he could be open to a conversation? Maybe Jeremy could ask about getting a job there like he’d intended to do at the start of summer? A job would be a perfect distraction for him.

Mind made up and determined to forget his simmering problems, Jeremy opened the window and slithered down the drainage pipe like he’d done so many times before, stuffed his hands deep into his pockets, and made his way to the bar. Elena would be pissed at him, but he’d deal with that later. Right now, he needed to keep his nerves from fraying more than they already were.

For the first time in a long while, he was going to put his own needs first…

“He’s never acted out like that before… Never…” Elena paced around the room, arms folded around her stomach as if she was hugging herself, giving herself the small comfort that she needed.

“Really?” Stefan’s disbelieving drawl interrupted her before she could go onto whatever kind of rant that she wanted. Slowly, she stopped and turned to him, annoyance plain on her face as she eyed the vampire wearing her boyfriend’s face. His voice alone was enough to get Elena’s back up. “He, a young teenager, who’s primarily controlled by their out-of-order hormones, as well as having gone through a momentous about of trauma, in which he’s barely told anyone about, or expressed in any kind of way? Hum, that seems unlikely,” he offered a playful grin, that seemed more mocking and threatening than anything else.

Rolling her eyes, Elena huffed at the unwanted vampire’s sarcasm before she turned her attention to Damon, “What could this be? You said that Jeremy might be compelled by Klaus to act a certain way, right? Do you think this could be a side effect?”

However, instead of leaping to agree with her, Damon had a rear frown marring his face, a look of contemplation etched into his expression.

“Damon?” the teen called, stepping closer as if she was about to reach out for him, but stopped when the vampire’s crystalline blue eyes jumped back to hers before he slowly shook his head.

“I don’t think so…”

“What?” Elena blinked, momentarily surprised by the denial before irritation took place and she eyed the vampire seriously, “What do you mean? You were the one that said that Klaus was the one behind this whole mess! He could've messed up Jeremy’s head- No. He has messed by Jeremy’s head! He actually believes that he’s Klaus’ dead brother-“

“That was just a theory,”

“But you said-!”

“I know, Elena!” Damon snapped, glaring at her, “But just because it’s the answer you want the most, doesn’t mean it’s the right one! But we’re not talking about Jeremy’s delusion right now, we’re talking about why your oh so loving little brother snapped at you like he was about to hit you!”

Silence echoed throughout the living room and Elena could feel the weight of it on her shoulders like it was a tangible thing, forcing her to shift in slight discomfort.

Stefan snorted, a cruel smile twisting his lips, completely unapologetic that he broke the tension between them all, “Come on, you know exactly what’s going on, Elena.”

“No, I-“

“Yes, you do,” he cut her off, their eyes connecting, challenging, before the vampire blew out a small laugh once again, “You see Jeremy as a docile little brother, soft-spoken, going with the flow, being the general background character and the little helper in your life story,” Stefan waved his hand as if showing the comment little disregard, “As he’s gotten over his druggy girlfriend - oops, sorry. I meant after you forcefully compelled him to suppress memories of someone he loved, he was exactly that. But he wasn’t like that when I first met him. He was knee-deep in drugs and alcohol, practically on the edge of being an addict, having fights in school and stealing. You remember when he slashed me with broken glass, right?”

“What’s the point of all this? Jeremy’s changed. It’s not exactly uncommon for teenagers to experiment and go through rebellious phases before they begin to figure everything out,” Elena shrugged, shoulder hunched and tense, her tone strained with an edge of defensiveness.

“But he only started acting that way when his parents died,” Stefan bluntly pointed out what Elena obviously hadn’t wanted to bring up. “That was all grief-turned-anger. The suddenness of their deaths, the loss and the feelings of loneliness attributed to the ‘rebellious phase’ he went through. Practically a cry for help. Unresolved trauma always makes people act out of character. Some people close themselves off from the world, some people put on a mask to pretend everything’s fine,” Stefan gave Elena a pointed look, to which she clenched her hands and jaw, remaining silent, “And some people turn to anger, just like Jeremy.”

“Like Jeremy…” Elena muttered, her mind trying to catch up with the vampire’s unnecessarily lengthy explanation.

“Trauma?” Damon questioned, nose scrunched in a way that showed he was sceptical like he thought the idea was ridiculous.

Stefan gave a mean chuckle as he settled a mocking gaze on his brother, looking at the elder like he was stupid, “You’ve lived through how many wars in your lifetime? And you still don’t know what PTSD looks like when it practically smacks you in the face?”

Elena’s eyes widened, eyes flickering from one Salvatore to the other, “Post-traumatic stress disorder…”

“There, you see?” Stefan smiled at her, like he was proud of her for finally figuring it out, “It all makes sense now, right?”

“Brother…” Damon started, tone hard and edged like a dagger, filled with an emotion that Elena couldn’t quite put the words to, “What did Klaus do to Jeremy? Tell us everything. Now.”

“I see you’re finally asking the right questions,” Stefan smirked, clear enjoyment on his face as he eyed the waiting pair.

Elena felt like she was barely grasping the situation as it was, one thing hopping to another in fast concession, to the point where she could barely process the answers she needed before it was ripped from her hands and something else was brought up, like never-ending conspiracy theories. Now, she was finally going to get a straight answer, but the sudden well of dread that made her sick to her stomach had Elena second-guessing if she wanted the answers in the first place…

Her brother had become a mystery in the time they’d been forced apart and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to bridge the gap that had been created…

However, it didn’t seem like she had much choice in the matter, Elena silently winced, feeling like she was completely unprepared as Stefan smirked, happy to recall the tale of torment he’d been witness to all summer.

Chapter 11: Updates with Matt

Chapter Text

The Grill was practically dead when Jeremy wandered in, a street light blinking on behind him before he closed the door. Sure there were still a few stragglers at the bar and commandeering the pool table, but it wasn’t packed with schoolmates and other people Jeremy knew, which was a blessing in disguise.

Happy with the minimal amount of social interaction he’d have to force himself through, Jeremy discreetly slid into a corner booth and released a deep sigh of relief. In truth, the teen couldn’t stay here for very long, just a few hours at most. As soon as Elena found out that Jeremy was no longer in his room, this would be the first place that they’d look, so, to keep any and all social embarrassment nonexistent, Jeremy knew that he’d have to go back in a few hours rather than Damon picking him up by his scruff and forcing him out the door in front of everyone.

“Hey, Jere,” a familiar voice had Jeremy snapping out of his thoughts as he jerked his head up to look at the newcomer with surprised, wide eyes.

“Oh, Matt,” Jeremy visibly relaxed back into his seat and offered the blonde a weak smile, “It’s just you. How you doing?”

The football player rose a sceptical eyebrow at the other teen’s weird response, “Better than you, from your reaction. You okay, man?” he asked, obvious concern in his tone.

Jeremy hid a grimace before it could form, trying for a weak smile as he answered, “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…” he struggle for the words, eyes rolling to the ceiling momentarily in thought before concentrating back on Matt, “Been a bit much, you know?”

“I do not know,” the blonde shook his head, “Whenever it comes to stuff that’s happening with Elena and in this town, I’m usually the last to know until I’m dragged into it,” he shrugged as if to say ‘what can you do’ like it happened so often that he was past the point of protesting or being surprised.

In all honesty, Matt was right. Matt was human and so he was generally kept out of the way while things were coming to a head, seen as weak and defenceless - it was like he’d only be in the way if he really tried to help. Jeremy knew what that was like, in some regard. At the very beginning, he’d been compelled to forget about the supernatural, an attempt to keep him out of the loop for as long as possible. When Jeremy found out, Elena and the others had compromised, letting him keep the knowledge that he had, but shuffling him off to the side when it came to the real dangers of the town; he’d experienced the cold dismissals, the sympathetic shake of a head, the deafly quiet that settled over a room that had been full of whispers until he walked through the door. However, Jeremy was usually kept within the loop because Elena was his sister, and Matt had no real connection to the doppelgänger anymore…

Jeremy wondered how Matt could continue to appear so calm and collected when anyone else would be frustrated and angry.

“I don’t know what’s going on with my head,” Jeremy started, expression open and stressed in a way that no one as young as him should be, “You know why I was taken by Klaus, right?”

“It was because you looked like his little brother, right?” Matt tilted his head, the frown on his face displaying the sheer confusion he felt on a matter.

“He thought I was his dead brother’s reincarnation, back when the originals were all human,” Jeremy corrected, voice sounding tired as he brought a hand up to tiredly rub at his eyes (he would have used both hands if his other wasn’t still smarting from his own rough treatment during Elena’s interrogation), “And I believed it.”

“You did?” he sounded taken aback, blinking rapidly at the revelation.

“It just… made sense,” Jeremy concluded, “There’s been things happening to me lately that I couldn’t figure out and it was never a big concern of mine compared to what was happening at the time,” there was always something happening in this town and everything was always life or death with no in-between, “I started to consider it after a while and…”

“It was an answer,” Matt finished, nodding in clear understanding, “It was an issue that had been bugging you for a while and someone finally gave you a label for it. It’s only natural to try to find a label for something you don’t completely understand.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy breathed out, a real smile making its way to his lips, relieved that someone finally understood where he was coming from and didn’t look at him like he’d grown another head. “Exactly.”

“But, it doesn’t look like that’s the case anymore,” the blonde hedged a guess, words measured and careful, like he wasn’t entirely certain of his observation.

At this, Jeremy gave a deep sigh, fingers pinching hard into his nose for a few seconds before he let it settle on the table, “Damon said that there’s a possibility that Klaus compelled me to believe that I’m Henrik… I feel like I’m back at square one with all this crap and I’m not even sure if there was an issue to start with. Maybe Klaus planted those memories in me as well? I feel like I can’t trust my own thoughts and actions!” he clenched his fist tightly, restraining himself from hitting the table and making a scene in the quiet restaurant, “It doesn’t help that I feel like Elena’s trying to keep me out of the loop again. It’s been a few days and she won't tell me anything about what happened on prank night, other than the fact that Stefan shut off his emotions,” the teen shook his head, trying to let go of the frustration that was bubbling in his chest.

“Well, I guess I could fill you in a little bit. I was there, after all,” he scratched the back of his head, blue eyes flickering away before settling on the younger teen again, “I’m not clear with what happened with Elena and Stefan, but I do know that Tyler’s been turned into a hybrid and he’s been acting… weird lately.”

“What?” Jeremy stared at the blonde with wide eyes, a cold feeling settling in his chest as he thought about what Klaus had said about his earlier trials, that they’d all failed; died. He’d heard about Elena being the missing ingredient for Klaus to make hybrids, that was why his sister was still alive and why Stefan was 'looking after' both him and Elena, but he didn’t know about Tyler. If Klaus hadn’t figured out he needed Elena’s blood, or if he’d been wrong in his guess, that would have been another person he knew added to the body count.

“Caroline said that it only worked because he used Elena’s blood,” Matt shrugged, obviously only having the bare bones of what had happened in that regard, “And, er, something weird happened with me,” he offered, tone slightly awkward as he rubbed the back of his neck and nervously looked off to the side.

“How so?” the teen asked warily.

“Well, Katherine came to town again,” Jeremy had to resist the urge to scowl at the mere mention of the bitch, who seemed to crawl in and out of the woodworks whenever she so pleased; he was still very bitter about her randomly killing him in Chicago. “And she was talking about a vampire vampire hunter, who Klaus was scared of, but the only one who could possibly him was already dead,” he shrugged and Jeremy frowned in confusion. Where was this going exactly?

“So, it was just a dead end?”

“Not really…” Matt disagreed slowly, hesitance clear in his voice, a wince on his features, like he was ashamed to admit something stupid.

“What did you do?” Jeremy commanded, his voice strained as he stared at the blonde intensely.

“Well, Bonnie read in her book about something her ancestors thought about and it was that someone who’s been dead could have the potential of contacting the ‘Other Side’, which could, in theory, connect me to this Anna girl and get the information-“

“Anna?” Jeremy jolted, brown eyes wide with surprise and no small amount of hope as he stared at an extremely uncomfortable-looking Matt, “You…” he attempted to gather his thoughts and emotions, “You spoke to her? You can see her?”

“Er, yeah,” the blonde rubbed the back of his neck, a sympathetic expression on his face, “I know that you and her used to go out and no, I can’t see her whenever I want. She explained to me that it was a push and pull thing, where we both had to want to see one another for it to work. The only reason she appeared to me was because she’d been watching us talk.”

“Wait,” Jeremy paused before he looked at Matt with slowly dawning horror, “You said that to contact the Other Side, you had to die…” he stared at Matt, who looked more than a little ashamed, “You killed yourself?” the younger teen asked, voice barely above a whisper and seeped in disbelief.

Matt nodded, “During Prank Night, I tied some weights around me and jumped into the pool. It was the only thing I could think to do, at the time. Bonnie found me, brought me back, but she said she used a bit of the magic that the book recommended to make the connection stronger and it worked,” he shrugged his shoulders like he hadn’t killed himself, like he hadn’t experienced the worst way to die over a mere theory, like he hadn’t been affected in the slightest by the event, “It worked, though, so I couldn’t complain. Anna told us where Michael was and then Katherine and Damon went off to find it. Then, we tried looking for a way to help Tyler, but the witches on the Other Side wouldn’t tell us, said that hybrids were unnatural and disgusting and then they went away. Thankfully, Klaus figured out how to save Ty by himself…” he shook his head and Jeremy could only imagine the strain they’d all been under that night, he could almost imagine Matt’s face dropping in despair when their one hope refused to help them when it became clear to him that his best friend would die and there was nothing he could do about it…

“And…” he started, gaining Jeremy’s full attention at how unsure the other sounded, “That’s not all…”

“What?” the younger asked, wariness obvious in his tone and expression as he squinted up at the blonde.

“I can, sort of, see Vicki,” Matt admitted after a small tense silence and Jeremy felt like someone had sucked up all of the oxygen from the air, his own breath stuck in the back of his throat.

“You… What?”

Licking his lips nervously, blue eyes flickered to the chair opposite Jeremy and then to where his hand was on the table, before focusing back on Jeremy and taking a deep breath, “I- I can see Vicki. She came to me afterwards and she said… She said that she could come back to us.”

Breath still stuck in his throat, Jeremy was barely about to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth as he croaked out, “She can come back to life? How?”

“I don’t know yet,” Matt shook his head, “She won't tell me all the details, but she needs me to make our connection stronger so she can do something on this side,” his blue eyes once again flickered to the seat opposite Jeremy, making the other teen follow his line of sight. There was nothing there, just empty space, but…

“She’s here,” Jeremy looked from the empty spot and back to Matt for confirmation, to which the blonde nodded.

“She says ‘hi’, by the way,” Matt gave a small smile, voice slightly strained with emotion, “Said you look well,”

“Can you ask her what it is she needs to do?” Jeremy questioned, “Maybe we can help her?”

There was a small pause as Matt looked towards the vacant seat, listening to a voice that Jeremy couldn’t even begin to grasp before the blonde shook his head, “You can’t help her, but she said that she’s sorry about what happened… that night…”

At this, Jeremy felt a bitter smile twist his lips as he shook his head, “I don’t remember anything. They took my memories of it all and made me think that you told me you were going to leave. I’m sorry I-“

“She’s holding your hand,” Matt interrupted, sorrow plain as day on his features. This was a hard topic to discuss for both of them. Jeremy looked at his hand that was on the table, the other was clenched tightly on his lap, he could only picture the image of her hand, slim fingers curling around his knuckles before squeezing gently. He couldn’t remember if her nails had been painted the day she’d died, he couldn’t remember a lot of things about her, now that she was gone, the perfect memory of her blurring around the edges, little details slowly fading away. It made the teen pinch his lips, regret and guilt flooding his system as he forced his eyes to stare at the empty spot in front of him and then directed them to Matt. “She said there’s nothing to be sorry for, it wasn’t your fault and she’ll be with us soon… She’s gone, now,” the blonde rubbed the back of his head, mussing up his hair, “I’m not sure where she goes when she’s not in my line of sight, but she won't tell me anything that’s going on with her.”

“When did you start…”

“Seeing her?” Matt finished for him, “She showed up right after everything had cooled down and everyone had gone home. I haven’t even talked to Bonnie about this and Vicki doesn’t want me to… Everything seems to be a little bit more messed up than usual after Prank Night.”

“Sorry I wasn’t there to help…” Jeremy looked down at the wooden grain of the table, guilt making his chest feel tight, and his thoughts more than jumbled from everything that Matt just told him.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, man,” Matt shook his head and clapped a warm, supporting hand over the teen’s shoulder, “You couldn’t have known what we were doing, where we were, or anything. And, even if you did show up at the school, Klaus would have just taken you back straight away. If anything, I’m sorry that it took you saving yourself to get you back to us,”

“It’s fine. There wasn’t anything anyone could do,” Jeremy waved him off.

“Still though,” Matt sighed, “I wish you hadn’t gone through that, Jere.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go through that, either,” Jeremy gave a sad smile, which Matt matched with an easiness that made the younger teen’s heart just a bit heavier.

The low bustling of the restaurant washed over them as their conversation simmered off and then Matt shot a quick look at the bar when he heard his name being called, another man waving him over, in order to help him out. “Sorry, Jere, did you want to order anything before I get back to work?”

“Yeah, just a coffee, please,” Jeremy bobbed his head but paused when his stomach made an audible noise, causing his cheeks to flare in embarrassment.

“And a portion of fries, yeah?” Matt questioned, a teasing grin on his lips.

“Probably for the best, yeah,” Jeremy agreed easily, trying to will his blush down, before turning his attention down to his hands as Matt stepped away. Maybe, when the blonde came back, Jeremy could ask him to pick up some job forms; doing something as mediocre as bussing tables might be the thing that Jeremy was looking for to destress from the usual chaos of the town. It would also help to have some of his own money in his pockets.

Alone, Jeremy darted his eyes around the room, making sure that his sister, nor Damon was hiding at the bar, keeping an eye on him, holding his breath in anticipation as he did so. The sweep clean, Jeremy turned his attention back to his own hands before he sighed and visibly relaxed into his chair, letting his head fall back into the plushness of the booth, his hair tickling past his ears as the long strands gave way to gravity. He really, really needed to get a haircut. Silently, Jeremy picked up a small tuft of the brown mess and brought it before his eyes in disinterest. It would be nice to have a haircut, the length and weight of it had been near-deadly to him during the summer heat, clinging to his forehead, sticking to the nape of his neck, making its way into his mouth at random points in the day. At one point, Jeremy had even tried to tie some of it back, gathering the visually impairing strands and clipping it at the back of his head, but he’d undone it immediately after when he’d judged his own reflection to be an idiot - the moral of the story, he didn’t like having long hair, no matter what fashion he attempted to style it in. Maybe he could book a hair appointment tomorrow-

“I thought you’d at least text me back at some point, Jeremy,” a voice cut across his internal thoughts with the speed of a bullet, halting any and all process as his lax muscles tensed with startled shock.

Slowly, Jeremy allowed his dark eyes to move from the lightly frizzed ends of his hair to the familiar blonde ancient vampire, who had been standing at the end of his table for god knows how long. They stared at one another for a few long seconds before her blonde eyebrow lifted and she co*cked her hip slightly, “Well?” she questioned, finishing the picture of expectation.

“They took my phone away from me,” Jeremy shrugged, his brain finally restarting enough for him to react, forcing his muscles to relax again as his eyes fell on the table again, “They saw your texts after Elena found out about the drawings,” his eyes slipped closed as he sighed long and deep, trying to physically expel the stress from his body. When he opened them again, Rebekah had sat down, across from him, a wince of sympathy down turning her lips - though Jeremy noted that there didn’t seem to be a hint of regret.

“Well, I guess I can let that slide,” she nodded as if she was offering him a gracious leeway, to which he snorted, “What drawings?”

sh*t, Jeremy hissed internally, he probably shouldn’t have mentioned that.

“It’s nothing,” the teen shook his head dismissively but paused mid-action at the sheer Look the blonde gave him. Jeremy wasn’t sure why, but with that one Look alone, he knew it was best to comply and fast - he didn’t want to think about why and how he got those intense feelings like he’d known Rebekah for years, long enough to decipher her looks in an instant, rather than the small-time it actually was. He didn’t want to think about those feelings of recognition, the ones that made Jeremy feel so sure that he was Henrik, because there was a chance that those feelings were fake- “I didn’t bring any with me but they were sketches from the past. I don’t know what era I was drawing, the clothes and buildings just looked old,” he shrugged dismissively. While history was one of his better subjects, thanks to Ric, the school system only really looked into important, recent history and local history. “But the people in them…” the teen sighed, hand rubbing over his bangs and messing it up even more - he didn’t know when exactly that had become a habit for him, “Some of them were complete strangers, I couldn’t have placed them even if I tried, but others were of you.”

“You don’t say…” Rebekah leaned further forward, obviously far too interested for any and all intentions to be mistaken as innocent. Jeremy couldn’t even bring himself to be wary as he simply cast her a deadpanned look, which she merely grinned further at, amusem*nt flashing in her eyes, “That’s not all is it?” she suddenly asked, amusem*nt somewhat clearing up.

“I also drew some of Klaus and Elijah,” Jeremy shrugged, not seeing the point in hiding it. It wasn’t like the vampire could do much with the information. “And I also drew Elena, but… It wasn’t her,” that had been bugging him since he properly looked at the sketches of his sister. In every way, the drawings looked to be perfect and exact, but he just couldn’t shake off the feeling that the woman he was drawing wasn’t his sister.

“Tatia,” Rebekah offered, however from her startled expression, Jeremy didn’t think the vampire had meant to say it aloud.

“She would have been the doppelgänger from your time right?” Jeremy hedged, feeling like he was clumsily putting the pieces together, “Klaus told me about the curse while we were… on our trip. He said that the doppelgänger was crucial for the ritual because one was sacrificed when the curse was originally created, which was why he thought he had to kill Elena.”

The blonde vampire suddenly huffed as she pulled herself up from leaning over the table to slump against the padded back of the booth chairs, irritation clear on her face, “Can we not talk about that whor*? Even the name sounds like it belongs to a two-dollar prostitute.”

Instantly, Jeremy narrowed his eyes in a deadly glare, irritation and anger rising on his sister’s behalf, “I know that you don’t like my sister, for some unknown reason, but that doesn’t mean you can talk like that about her. Especially not in front of me,” he finished, his glare deepening as Rebekah stared down at him with a clear challenge in her eyes.

The tension was thick and stifling between them for what felt like an age - in reality, it was a handful of seconds - before Rebekah broke the staring contest and sunk in her chair in defeat, “Very well. I’ll try not to be so obvious about my dislike. Happy?”

“Very,” Jeremy bobbed his head, feeling extremely pleased with himself at getting her to compromise - something, he felt, would be very hard for anyone other than him.

At that point, Matt arrived with Jeremy’s order, blue eyes startled and alarmed as they flicked from the younger teen to the obvious threat sitting across from him. Jeremy tensed slightly at his presence. This wasn’t a hostile meeting and Jeremy didn’t want to make it into one, while Matt was the more level-headed one of their little misfit group, Jeremy wouldn’t put it passed the blonde to act irrationally in order to defend someone in immediate danger.

“You okay, Jere?” Matt asked and Jeremy thanked everything that was good and holy that the blonde had decided to go for the subtle route.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Jeremy smiled. Read: I’m not in danger. “Me and Rebekah were just planning on hanging out alone tonight,” Read: don’t call the others here. “But I think your manager’s calling you back to the bar,” he pointed at the completely disinterested manager. Read: you need to leave, now.

The blonde was still tense and wary, for obvious reason, but he seemed to trust Jeremy’s unspoken words as he stepped back slightly. “I’ll see you later, then. Call me if you need anything else.” he gave his customer service smile and backed away. Read: call me if you’re in danger!

With that, Jeremy picked up a fry and shoved it in his mouth, trying to force himself into a sense of calm he didn’t feel after avoiding what could have been an extremely bad situation. Chancing a look at the vampire, Jeremy scowled a little at how amused she seemed to look. Thankfully, she seemed to let it go as she stole a fry for herself.

“So, who was that little dish?” she rose an eyebrow, looking far, far too interested for Jeremy to think about being calm ever again.

Trying not to choke on his food, Jeremy showed a feigned casual expression, “Matt?” he questioned, incredulously, “He’s a nice guy. Can’t say much else,” she looked even more interested, “He’s a friend of mine, though, so could you not…”

The blonde rolled her eyes, a look mixed with exasperation and amusem*nt clear in her sky blue eyes, “I wasn’t thinking of taking a bite, don’t worry,” the conversation tapered off, leaving them both in semi-uncomfortable silence as they picked at Jeremy’s small basket of fries. “What happened over the summer, then?”

Jeremy really did choke this time…

Eyes still watering, Jeremy just managed to not spew the entire table with coffee as he cleared his throat enough to speak, “W-Wh-Why’d you wanna know?” he coughed again and pounded on his chest, wincing at his own action (ignoring the way Rebekah subtly pinched the rim of his mug and dragged it away from him before settling it within her own grasp) before focusing on the blonde before him, eyes guarded.

A dainty shoulder lifted in a half-shrug, “Klaus didn’t tell me anything about your time together, just that you’d all been touring Southern America for the summer, looking for werewolves. I was just curious about what else you did.”

‘Your time together’.

It sounded like Jeremy had willingly gone with Klaus, that it had merely been a friendly journey together that Rebekah had missed out on and, now, eagerly wanted to know. She made it sound as if Jeremy hadn’t screamed and cried for the majority of it like he hadn’t been forced to witness death after death until he’d become numb to the sight of it like it had been willing.

“Hen- Jeremy?” Rebekah corrected herself, but Jeremy heard the slip all the same and it made something inside his chest twist-up even further than it was.

“We didn’t ‘spend time together’, or ‘bond’,” the human teen damn-near growled, expression twisted into something dark and furious, “He kidnapped me, threatened me, killed my friends and family, made me feel like I was going crazy!” Jeremy hissed lowly at her as he curled his fingers into his palms, barely even noticing when his nail started to painfully dig into his palms. He ignored the way Rebekah’s hold tightened around his coffee, “I tried to run away so many times and as ‘punishment’ he’d stuff me into the trunk for hours on end, first time he did it, I passed out from the heat! And the one time someone actually tried to help me, he killed them and said it wouldn’t have happened if I had listened to him and did what I was told! But, the real slap in the face was when he punched me and you didn’t do anything other than try to erase my memories of it!” he couldn’t hold onto his low hissing and ended up shouting by the end of it, fury rushing through his veins completely unchecked. Before Jeremy was really aware of what was going on, he found himself storming out of the suddenly-dead-silent bar and out into the night.

Silently, Rebekah watched her little brother leave, his entire form trembling with the sheer velocity of anger that he’d unleashed on her and she could only watch it unfold like a natural disaster.

Silently, Rebekah stewed in her own raging anger, the rippling tide of it crashing against her chest, demanding blood and vengeance and pain, all of which was directed at Klaus, who was god know’s where.

Silently, Rebekah vowed to cause their brother as much pain as she possibly could and scream at him for doing something so cruel to their precious baby brother, who was delicate and human and who they had barely gotten back within their lives!

Silently, Rebekah broke the cup within her hands, uncaring that the shards poked into her skin and the vervain-laced coffee burned painfully over her clenched hands, gaze dark and murderous as contempt rolled in her stomach.

Silently, Rebekah stood and marched her way back to the Salvatore boarding house.

She had a lot of things to think about…

Chapter 12: Ghost town

Chapter Text

A week passed and there was barely any change.

Neither Damon nor Elena had really spoken to him in that time and Jeremy wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse. While it was better for him to have more space and liberties than before, the complete avoidance was more emotionally damaging than he expected it to be. The teen hadn’t noticed it at first, especially since Damon’s whole personality was being aloof and saying he doesn’t care where Jeremy went, but it had been Elena that gave it away. She’d visibly tense when he walked into a room before hurriedly excusing herself from the area, she’d dodged his calls like she was avoiding a stalker and she’d come up with the lamest excuses known to man. For all that Elena was calm and assertive in a dangerous situation, she became extremely awkward when she was trying to avoid someone…

Why they were both avoiding him was unconfirmed, but Jeremy had caught a few guilty brown-eyed gazes from his sister when she thought he wasn’t looking. The reason for his sister’s apparent guilt was completely unknown to Jeremy, but he was passed the point of truly caring as he continued with his life and the demands of school work.

Another annoyance added to his ever-growing list was the presence of Stefan. The vampire had been ordered by Klaus to watch over both Jeremy and Elena, to make sure they wouldn’t be hurt and to make sure that they didn’t try to run away. On the bright side, the vampire seemed to be more interested in antagonising Elena than sticking to Jeremy. However, the times that the annoyance did disturb Jeremy, it was little comments and jabs about the summer, how pathetic he was, and the inevitability of the teen becoming a vampire. Try as he might, Jeremy tried to ignore him, knowing full well that the emotionless vampire was merely attempting to get a rise out of him, but more often than not, Jeremy would snap and start to shout or throw something at him - nothing Jeremy did seemed to bother Stefan, the smirk ever present on his face as Jeremy stormed away. The teen felt more than relieved that by some unspoken agreement, Rebekah was the main one to watch over Jeremy, while Stefan antagonised Elena.

Rebekah was surprisingly casual. At first, Jeremy had expected her to be volatile and overbearing (much like Klaus), especially after everything he’d thrown in her face about Klaus - he’d half expected her to call him a selfish liar, rearing to her brother’s defence. However, she’d been anything but. Sure, she was slightly overbearing and seemed to constantly prop up whenever Jeremy found himself alone, but she wasn’t violent towards him, called him by his real name and helped him with his homework. Not once had she mentioned their talk and all the things he’d revealed about his and Klaus’ time together over the summer, which Jeremy was more than relieved to discover as he absolutely hated talking about it. Hell, she even brought him back little gifts from her periodic shopping sprees in and out of town, anything from soaps and bath salts to a random video game she thought he’d like.

There was also the added bonus of finally managing to get Matt to bring him some work forms for the Grill. Jeremy had cursed up a storm when he realised he’d forgotten to ask about a job when he’d yelled at and then proceeded to ditch Rebekah when he was at the Grill. That issue was easily solved when he merely called up Matt and asked him to bring the forms into school the next day. The job was pending, but Jeremy was confident enough in Matt’s ‘good word’ to not lose sleep over it.

Jeremy had asked the blonde about Vicki and how she was doing, but Matt had looked down, guilt and sadness evident in his expression. The teen didn’t know all the details, but Matt had revealed that bringing his sister back had resulted in failure and he’d been forced to say goodbye to her and finally move on. Jeremy was disappointed that he’d never be able to see Vicki again, especially after getting his hopes up, but the teen was glad that Matt had finally gotten closure for the death of his sister, it must have been nice to actually be able to say goodbye one last time.

So, overall, the week hadn’t been that bad. The only thing that was giving him any real grief was the advanced algebra homework that his sad*stic math teacher had ‘gifted’ to him as an ‘extra credit’ project. The teen felt like he was two seconds from ripping his hair out from frustration, or merely chucking in his pen and giving up completely.

“Why is this so confusing?” Jeremy sighed as he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes, just hard enough to feel a twinge of pain, before running his hands down his face with a deep guttural sigh. In all honesty, Jeremy didn’t need to complete this extra credit piece, but he wanted something to fall back on if his grades slipped again - which would most likely happen, especially with all the added drama and stress that had been added to his shoulders lately. It was better safe than sorry.

However, he was sure that Elena would have had no problem with that at all.

Jeremy frowned at the sudden thought, a huff of irritation leaving his lips before he attempted to same question for the fourth time.

Growing up, Jeremy had been convinced that Elena had taken all of the intelligence genes of the family (their dad had been a doctor, after all, and he didn’t manage to become a doctor because he was stupid) as she had always excelled in academic achievements, while Jeremy could barely wrap his head around it. However, in exchange, Jeremy had been given his artistic streak, proving to be talented in anything to do with creativity and art, while Elena couldn’t even draw a dog without making it look like some kind of eldritch being made of nightmares. It had frustrated her to no end when they were younger, while it had made Jeremy practically giddy from the discovery. That strive to ‘beat his sister’ had then turned into a genuine love for his art and his constant practice could be seen in the meticulous sketches he could create today.

But art wasn’t going to help him with his maths!

Jeremy paused and blinked down at his paper, sighing loudly in frustration when he realised he was halfway finished doodling a potted sunflower. Forcing himself to stop, Jeremy resolutely turned his eyes back to the question at hand, trying to force his mind to crunch the numbers so that he could figure out the answer to this stupid dumb question!

A few seconds later, Jeremy was back to doodling his sunflower, his question left unsolved in favour of finishing the little doodle. He couldn’t fully occupy his mind with the problem until he removed all of his attention from the unfinished sunflower and the solution to that was to finish the doodle and then get back to the question!

“You know,” a voice jolted Jeremy to a complete stop, pencil hovering over the paper, “I want to say that you were never this bad at studying, but if I think back to all our library sessions, I would always have to nag you to get back to the writing and research instead of your doodles,” the voice laughed and Jeremy felt a minute tremble in his hands, his heart pounding in his ears as he placed the face to the voice within his mind perfectly, “I think it was imperative that you wrote up your history paper in the end, cause there were so many doodles on the hand-written one!” the voice laughed again, a soft bell-like sound that Jeremy felt like he hadn’t heard in years.

Desperation flooded his chest and strained his heart as it begged him to turn around with a speed that would break the sound barrier, but the teen could only manage a slow turning of his head, his entire form trembling with the inner struggle. As soon as he completed the turn and laid eyes on the speaker, Jeremy sucked in a deep shuddering breath as brown eyes widened with disbelief.

“Anna?” he questioned hesitation and uncertainty in his voice.

The girl he thought long dead, smiled at him, joy crinkling her eyes at the corners, as she gave a small wave of her fingers, “Hey Jeremy.”

“H-Hi,” the teen managed to choke out as he felt a weird heat come to his eyes. To his horror, Jeremy realised that he was on the cusp of crying, face flushed and vision blurred, but he managed to catch himself before they slipped down his cheeks, tilted his head back and blinked his eyes clear before his slightly wet gaze settled on the girl he never truly stopped loving. “H-How are you here? I th-thought I’d never see you again-“

“I don’t know,” the dead vampire shook her head, her black hair fanning around her for a second before settling down again, “I was just… here like I always am and then… it felt like a barrier had been dropped.”

“Do you think it was a spell?” Jeremy asked, a frown creasing his forehead slightly, “But I didn’t think that was any kind of spell like this in Bonnie’s book.”

“Maybe,” Anna bobbed her head slightly, deep in thought, “I usually find that if there’s something that can’t easily be explained, it must be magic,” she shrugged and Jeremy was about to say something when he paused, thinking over the statement before nodding his head. That wasn’t a bad way to think, in all honesty, and, from his own experiences, a weird magic spell was usually the cause for all of his headaches.

Suddenly, Jeremy froze, posture stiff as he finally realised what Anna had said, “You’re always here?” he asked, strained caution nearly making his voice crack, “So… You saw everything… When I was with Klaus, you saw everything?” he turned his head away, eyes focused on the corner of the room, where his bed was.

When he glanced back, Jeremy was slightly shocked to see her eyes dark with vampiric rage, eyes flashing red and she bared her lengthened fangs, expression twisted into something that was truly pissed off. Jeremy’s eyes widened with shock for a moment, having never seen such an expression on someone he loved, before he snapped his head to the side again, his dejection and fear rushing through him like an unstoppable tidal wave. Anna must really hate him if she was looking at him like that. The whole time she was watching him… Did she feel disgusted by him, by how weak he was? Did she find him pathetic and helpless? She had every right to hate his guts, after all, if she’d never involved herself with him, she and her mother might have never been killed-

“Jeremy,” a warm and very solid hand brushed over his cheek, touching his skin like it was the most delicate and precious thing in the world, “It’s fine. I’m sorry… I wasn’t angry at you.”

Tentatively, the teen looked down and was instantly entranced by the girl’s earnest dark eyes, silently pleading with him to believe her, to trust her and he instantly felt all of his negative emotions crumble and fade away. Jeremy sighed, eyes sliding shut, as he let his head fall forward, gently pressing his forehead to her own. Opening his eyes, Jeremy stared down at Anna with a love that hadn’t faded since the day she’d died. “I’ve missed you,” his tone was low and quiet like he was sharing a secret that was meant solely for her.

Gently, Anna’s small hands slid from his to loop around his neck and shoulders, her body pressing against his own, as his arms looped around her waist, returning the embrace with just as much tenderness and enthusiasm. Wordlessly, their lips met as if there was a magnetic pull between them, warmth and rightness flooding through them as the world fell away. They only parted when Jeremy needed the air and, even then, neither of them gave a hint of moving any further away from one another, savouring the heat and touch of the one they loved.

“I missed you, too,” Anna spoke lowly, for Jeremy’s ears only, despite being the only ones in the house. “It- It’s so lonely here. I’m all alone and there’s nothing to do but… watch…”

“And you watched me…” Jeremy sighed and let his head fall upon her slim shoulder for a brief moment before he picked it back up to stare into her eyes, expression remorseful, “I’m sorry you had to see all of that.”

“… I’m sorry I couldn’t help you,” she returned as she slid her hands down his shoulders to rest on his bare arms. The bandages were gone, now, the large cuts from the broken glass having healed enough, but obvious scars were left in their wake, red and raised with how new they were, standing out against his pale skin. They were long and jagged with most of the damage at his knuckles and the back of his hand. Jeremy had seen more than a few teachers glancing at him for the new scars and he could tell that they suspected that the cuts had been self-inflicted from his grief at the loss of more family members.

Jeremy twisted his wrists to grab her forearms in return, pulling them closer once again, “I’m fine, now that you’re here with me,” he leaned down to capture her lips again, a small brush of contact between them as he whispered, “I love you, Anna, and I haven’t stopped loving you since the day you died.”

The vampire smiled against his lips, eyes wet with emotion, “I love you too, Jeremy,” they kissed once again and their hearts warmed at the acceptance of one another, like something between them had clicked into place after so long without the other.

A few minutes later, they were on his bed, however, sex was the furthest thing from their minds as they merely laid over the soft covers, limbs loosely curled over one another as they closed their eyes and relaxed, completely content to bask in the silent presence of one another. For Jeremy, it was like he was just realising how tense and wound up he’d been, all these months, as he finally allowed his muscles and limbs to relax, letting his guard fall away completely as he soothed himself with the presence of someone he trusted and loved. As for Anna, she was simply enjoying the skin-ship that she’d been deprived of for the entire time she’d been dead, letting her body soak up Jeremy’s warm heat and settling her hand over his heart, feeling the light steady beats of his heart and silently revelling in the fact that she could finally touch him again.

No words were traded between them.

No words were needed.

It was like they’d each had a wound that was open and weeping, unable to close and heal and, now that they were in one another’s arms, the infection was fading fast and their itchy skin was finally settling back into place.

“…my! Jeremy!” Elena’s loud voice cut through their peace like a jagged knife and the pair could do nothing more than tense from initial surprise before the bedroom door was thrown open with enough force to crash into the wall. The pair could do nothing more than stare from the bed as their eyes settled on an out-of-breath human doppelgänger, who stared back at them with an equal amount of astonishment, “Anna?”

“The infections back…” Jeremy muttered under his breath, earning a strange look from Anna before they swiftly detangled themselves and stood up from the bed. The teen frowned when he met the judging stare of his sister, brown eyes narrowed and accusing, like he’d done something wrong, but dismissed him in favour of speaking on her phone.

“Any updates on where my necklace is?” Elena asked, tone slightly stressed as she shuffled her feet. The agitation and worry were plain as day in Elena’s entire body language and Jeremy couldn’t help but jump to the conclusion that it was linked to Anna’s sudden visibility. And it was all centred around Elena’s necklace. Jeremy frowned. Why did nearly everything that happened to them involve that necklace in some way or another? Maybe it was cursed with bad luck? Or maybe it was just Elena that was bad luck…

“You need to disappear or evaporate or whatever it is that you ghosts do,” Elena’s hard-voiced demand interrupted Jeremy’s thoughts, her glare focused on Anna.

Instantly feeling defensive, Jeremy glared right back, arm rising in front of Anna, to gain his sister’s attention, “Hey, it’s not her fault-“

“You’re right, it’s yours.”

“What?” Jeremy asked tone a mix of incredulous, offended and confused. His anger started to rise when he saw Anna disappear from the corner of his eye.

“You know what,” Elena gave him a disgusted look and a scoff, “You can explain yourself to Bonnie after I help her deal with the ghost problem.”

“I don’t have to explain anything,” Jeremy glowered, feeling like he was seconds away from going into a rage, the clear judgment in her eyes pushing all of his buttons. “Bonnie and I aren’t together anymore, we broke up weeks ago. What I do with my love life, now, has nothing to do with her and it certainly has nothing to do with you.”

“So, all that time with her, all those memories with her were what? Nothing important to you? How do you think she’s going to feel when she discovers that after a few weeks, you’ve moved on from her!? What? You’ve got Anna back, so now you’ll drop Bonnie like it never happened?! Are you gonna do the same thing to Anna if Vicki comes back?! ” Elena asked, tone accusing and raised.

Jeremy couldn’t help it as his face split into a sharp, biting grin, a bitter laugh bubbling up and escaping his throat as he shook his head, anger and disbelief churning in his stomach, “You don’t know a single thing do you? Not a single,” his fingers curled into a white-knuckled grip, “f*cking,” his form was trembling with the effort it took him to retrain himself from throwing something at the wall in a rage, “Thing,” he bared his teeth in a threatening manner, eyes dark with an untold promise, forcing Elena to realise the landmine she’d decided to maliciously stamp on.

“Jere…” Elena started as soon as she dared to unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

“No, Elena!” the younger forcefully cut across her, already knowing what she was about to say and do, “You don’t get to puss*-foot around this, you don’t get to backtrack, and you don’t get to pretend that you ‘didn’t mean it’, because you did and you wanted it to hurt me! You did it with mum and dad and anyone else that you could manipulate to make yourself seem better than you actually are whenever you said or did anything that went over the line!”

“Okay, okay,” she tried, tone soft and placating, hands up in a defensive manner, as if he was the one that had attacked her without reason, as if he was the cautious one to be around out of the two of them, “How about we calm down, Jere-“

“Don’t!” Jeremy shouted sharply, eyes narrowing when she visibly flinched from it, “Don’t tell me to calm down when I have every f*cking reason to be angry, right now! You don’t know anything and you don’t understand either! My girlfriends, my partners, who I thought I’d be with forever, who I thought I’d marry, who I thought I’d have a family with, are dead! They died Elena! They didn’t move on, they didn’t dump me, they died! Maybe you don’t understand what I’m feeling because Stefan is still alive and you still have a chance, but I expected you to have some level of sympathy! Those feelings don’t just go away, Elena! They’re always there and it’s painful, it’s so painful sometimes because I know they died because of me,” Jeremy felt tears sting his eyes, blurring Elena’s remorseful face from his vision, but he pushed on, unable to stop the words from flowing after so long of keeping them contained, “Anna died because John was my uncle and Vicki died because I’m your brother… And I have to live with that knowledge, every day, for the rest of my life. You wouldn’t understand what it feels like to finally have Anna back, to finally touch her again, to say that I’m sorry, to tell her I love her when I thought I’d never be able to do that again,” tears were streaming down his face, now, but he was past the point of caring as he stared at Elena, whose face was in a similar state, “How could you say that they meant nothing to me?” he uttered out, at last, voice quiet and full of hurt betrayal.

Elena had no words for him as she stood there, eyes downturned with shame as she continued to silently cry in front of him. Understanding that he wasn’t going to get a response any time soon, Jeremy sighed deeply and shook his head before he stepped around his sister, brushing passed her in a silent dismissal. He didn’t have time for Elena at the moment, he needed to find Anna before she slipped through his fingers once again.

The atmosphere outside was strange. Jeremy couldn’t remember what kind of town event was going on for there to be such a crowd, but the air felt ominous and heavy, like something terrible was on the cusp of happening; It felt like a timer was about to go out and there were only a few last grains of sands left to fall. Swiftly, Jeremy pushed that from his mind, focus pin-pointed on finding Anna. It was only after he found her that the horrible feeling in his chest started to make sense. With the veil between life and death completely removed, that meant that all the enemies that they’d all faced were back and they were back for revenge, the tomb vampires being the main culprits.

The answer to their problems weighed heavily on Jeremy’s soul, making his shoulders hunch as his chest tightened, but he didn’t want to say it aloud, didn’t want to face the truth he already knew.

However, as it had been proven time and time again in Jeremy’s life, avoidance of the truth only made it harder to swallow at a later time.

Anna had the necklace so that Bonnie could close the gate. Deep down, he knew that Anna had held the necklace the entire time they’d been looking for it and he knew exactly why she did so, which was why he’d defended her from the others. He avoided the truth of the matter for as long as possible and Jeremy didn’t know if this was for better or worse as it felt like his heart was breaking all over again…

"This spell is just going to break your foothold, right? Does that mean you’ll still be here… Just watching me live my life?” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady to remain strong, to not let her see how much this was killing him.

“No,” the vampire shook her head, a sad smile touching her lips before it disappeared, "Elena was right. I'm holding you back from moving on with your life. I’m not going to stay here with you, I’ll move around the country and, hopefully, one day, I’ll move on entirely.”

Jeremy felt his eyes begin to sting, "Anna…"

"I'm sorry I took the necklace,” a small, choked sob filled the air, tears plain in her eyes as she looked up at him, making the lump of emotions in his throat harder to breathe around. "I just thought, with all the tomb vampires out, that maybe…”

"You might find your mother,” Jeremy nodded, his internal theory confirmed. He didn’t blame her for wanting to see her mother. After all, Jeremy thought about seeing his parents again almost every day.

"I don't know where she is, Jeremy,” she sobbed out, hurt and desperation straining her voice until it cracked in places, "I don't know if she's moved on and found peace, or if there's even any peace to be found-“

“Hey,” he interrupted before she could spiral further into her panicked thoughts and fears, “There is, Anna. Okay? There has to be. I believe that, okay?”

She was properly crying now as tears continuously streamed down her face, showing no sign of stopping any time soon, "I just… I don't want to be alone anymore…” she trailed off in a faint whimper, her very words full of fear and a soul-deep longing that had Jeremy unable to hold back his tears anymore and they slowly slipped down his cheeks.

There was nothing else to really do but hug her and offer as much comfort as he possibly could. She held onto him just as tightly as he held onto her, knowing deep in their chests, that this was going to be the last time they could ever do this. "Look at me,” Jeremy asked as he cupped a hand over her face, thumb swiping over her cheek to delicately wipe away her falling tears, "You're not going to be alone. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what. Okay?” he asked as he pressed her face against his chest once again, only relenting when he felt her nod her head in agreement. They both knew that what he said was bullsh*t, there was no way that Jeremy could be there for her, he couldn’t see or talk to her when the veil was back up, and she would be alone, again. But pretty lies were all that Jeremy could give her and Anna seemed more than content to accept it, given the hopeless situation.

“There’s one more thing,” Anna managed to croak out, her very breathe shuddering with the force of her tears, “There’s someone on the Other Side that’s watching you,” Anna shook her head quickly as Jeremy went to question her further, “I don’t know who she is, or why she’s watching you, I just know that she’s old and powerful. Please be careful, Jeremy,” she looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging him to listen to her.

“I will,” was his instant reassurance, expression just as serious as his statement before it melted into something like amusem*nt, “I’ll be fine. Do you know how many times someone’s tried to kill me, yourself included?” he grinned, ignoring the tears that were still slipping from both of their eyes, a choked laugh escaping him when she lightly slapped his chest, “Sorry, sorry! I’ll be fine, I promise. You don’t have to worry about me anymore, Anna. I love you,” he whispered into her hair one last time as he gently squeezed her.

“… I love you, too, Jeremy,” Anna whispered back, her hand clenching tightly into his shirt, as reluctant to let go of him as he was of her.

They forced themselves to step back from one another after a moment longer, trying to soak up one another’s being as much as they could before they parted forever, once again. A cool metal chain of a necklace was slid into his hand and from one blink to the next, Anna was gone…

“I’ll miss you, Anna…” Jeremy uttered into the cold air of the night, his emotions threatening to well up and choke him to death. However, he forced them down and started down the street. Saving the town came first. He can let himself fall apart after that.

A few days had passed since Bonnie sealed up the Other Side. The witch had taken to ignoring him after Elena had ‘informed’ her of Anna and Jeremy’s reunion, angry and hurt that he would jump back with an ex so quickly like he’d settle for Bonnie because she was all that was available to him, like what they had wasn’t real. Wisely, Jeremy kept his mouth shut, knowing that if he let loose the pain and hurt swirling in his chest, he would only hurt both of them even more than they already were. Caroline was the one to tell him that Bonnie had been extremely broken up about having to say goodbye to her grandmother again and it killed him to know that he couldn’t comfort her through something like that, knowing that he was the last person that she wanted to see…

It had been a lonely few days, but Jeremy wouldn’t have even been up for the company if it has been offered. Instead of involving himself in the Viking drawings within a newly discovered cave that ghost-Mason had led them to, he was curled up in his room, blankly staring at a wall. The only thing that Jeremy could really be bothered to do was go to school and that was just so he could keep under everyone’s radar and remain undisturbed for as long as he possibly could. It felt like Anna had been killed all over again; the small budding light of hope in his chest thoroughly snuffed out and never to be lit again. It was numbing and painful at the same time, which confused the teen beyond belief, but he could hardly muster much effort for the weird conflicting emotions he was feeling.

In all honesty, Jeremy wanted to be angry. That was how he got through Anna’s death the first time. Uncle John had been the person to blame for Anna’s death, he was the one who had personally killed her and her mother, and that anger and betrayal had been the balm that had coated his blistered grief-filled heart, allowing him to function at a semi-normal level.

However, there was no one to blame this time. No one had killed Anna. She was already dead. It was Jeremy who had been stupid enough to hope, against all logic, that Anna could stay beside him like she was alive again…

With that sad, suffocating ending to their reunion, Jeremy had decided to detach himself from reality. Only for a little while. Jeremy didn’t think his chaotic life would allow him more than a few days of feeling sorry for himself before things got complicated and dangerous once again.

Jeremy sighed tiredly as he stuffed his hands deeper into the pockets of his hoodie and started to walk across the neatly cut front lawn of the Salvatore Boarding House. The place was a lot further away than was convenient, nearly isolated as it was semi-buried in the woods of Mystic Falls, and it had been quite a walk for Jeremy to make, grumbling and glowering at the pavement the entire time. The teen had left his geography textbook at the house quite a while ago, but couldn’t hold off getting it any longer as he needed it to write a paper and with most of the gang not talking to him, he would have to get himself, without a lift of any kind - he really needed to sign up for driving lessons at school…

Completely bored and mildly irritated, Jeremy knocked on the large oaken door before turning the knob and letting himself in; with the number of times people had broken into all of their homes, one would think that they’d get into the habit of locking it or getting some kind of sensory security system for the regular intruders that came through the boarding house. It didn’t matter if he knocked or not, anyone in the house would have heard him walking up to the door.

“Damon?” Jeremy called, looking around the large corridor as he closed the door behind him, “I just came by for my textbook!” he paused, waiting for some kind of response before shrugging carelessly when he heard none. They must all be out, or something.

However, as soon as he stepped into the living room, where he remembered he’d left his book, he paused and froze up when he saw a man he’d never seen before. Instantly panicked, Jeremy’s flight response kicked in as he turned on his heel to flee the premises, but he’d barely taken a step before the (then-assumed and now-confirmed) vampire was in front of him, blocking his escape.

Gritting his teeth against his overwhelming fear, Jeremy glowered at the vampire, “Who the hell are you and why are you here?”

In all honesty, Jeremy was expecting some kind of snide remark about how weak and human he was, or how they were going to kill him and eat him, which was how most encounters with unknown vampires usually happened, but the man did none of that. He stood in front of Jeremy, looking completely spellbound, crystal blue eyes filled with complete disbelief and confusion, eyes flickering over Jeremy like he didn’t know if what he was seeing was real.

Completely taken off guard, Jeremy missed it when the vampire reached out to him, but as soon as he felt gentle, warm hands cupping the side of his face, Jeremy completely froze, breath stilling in his lungs as he waited for the vampire to either snap his neck or (hopefully) pull away. What was most confusing was the sheen of tears in the strange man’s eyes.

“Henrik,” the vampire spoke, tone sure and strong, like there was no doubt in his mind.

With that one word alone, Jeremy knew who, or rather what was in front of him.

Another original vampire.

Chapter 13: The source

Chapter Text

Jeremy could do nothing more than stand there and stare at the original vampire before him, eyes wide and muscles barely twitching as crystal blue eyes looked into brown with an emotion that the teenager could only describe as love and pure affection. The rough thumb of the ancient being swept over the arch of Jeremy’s cheek with a gentleness that spoke of how much he seemed to cherish the human before him.

It was odd.

Jeremy’s arms twitched with the unspoken want to wrap his arms around the vampire and hold onto him for dear life, a rush of relief and affection flooding Jeremy’s chest to the point of nearly overwhelming him, but, on the other hand, Jeremy had never met this man before in his entire life. It was easy to pick out his face from one of the teen’s multiple sketches, further confirming the man’s place among the other original vampires, but the rush of these foreign emotions for someone who should be a stranger to him had Jeremy caught in a war of indecisiveness. Should he listen to his screaming heart and hug the stranger like he hadn’t seen him in years, or should he listen to his head and run away from the unknown, as fast as he can?

“I’ve missed you so very much, my son,” the man breathed, his words overflowing with love as his hand moved to cup the back of Jeremy’s neck and press their foreheads together.

Tongue heavy in his mouth, Jeremy could do nothing more than stare, wide-eyed, at the vampire, as his piercing blue eyes slipped closed and his severe expression relaxed into something more tranquil.

A few moments passed until Jeremy was able to speak, throat dry and feeling slightly choked up for reasons he didn’t understand, nor did he want to delve into, “I-I’m not…”

The elder pulled away, a frown of confusion on his face as his eyes roamed over Jeremy’s face, trying to see if there was something wrong. His hand slipped from the back of his neck to resettle at the vampire’s side once again as he stepped back, allowing Jeremy to finally breathe properly again.

“I’m not… Henrik,” Jeremy finally got out, voice hesitant and reluctant - no matter who it was, it never got easier for Jeremy to tell the person that he wasn’t ‘Henrik’, like he was stealing a moment of relief from the person, like he was ripping open that scar, which was just about to heal over completely, leaving them in a worse state than they were before… “I’m sorry,” his eyes fell to the floor in shame before he could stop them. He had nothing to be ashamed of, but it was hard not to express when the vampire before him had offered him a love that was not Jeremy’s to accept… “My name’s Jeremy Gilbert, but I apparently look like Henrik Mikaelson…”

“A reincarnation…” the man uttered, eyes turning analytical as he looked Jeremy up and down, “Or, at least a partial one…” he then stiffly nodded his head in greeting, any and all gentleness completely irradiated from his features, “I am Mikael, the head of the Original Family and the Mikaelson Clan. Tell me, boy, have you experienced any strange dreams, or taken action on things you normally wouldn’t?”

“… Er, yes. To both,” Jeremy admitted, unsure if he should be telling the truth or not, “But more things started happening after Klaus took me…”

“Niklaus took you?” he asked, tone suddenly dangerous with a sharp edge that made Jeremy’s heart flip in fear, “Ah, of course, that abomination would dare to touch you, even after he was the cause of your past death!” he hissed lowly, looking like he was seconds away from spitting venom.

“B-But it was the wolves-“ Jeremy clamped his lips together. He hadn’t meant to say that. Ever.

Ocean blue eyes stared at Jeremy with surprise and budding hope, “It seems that you have more of your past memories than I previously thought, but you are missing the whole story, my son,” Mikael shook his head and Jeremy felt like he should have been more surprised that this man happened to be the Father of the original vampires and not like he’d known that fact from the start, “While it’s true that you… Henrik passed from an attack from the werewolf tribe, it was Niklaus who had taken him that night, and it was him who brought back the torn and bloodied body far too late to even begin to save him…” he shook his head, hate and anger settling over his face like it was his default expression. For some reason, Jeremy felt a little more relaxed and familiar with Mikael’s angry expression rather than the gentle gestures of love he’d exhibited before.

Instantly, Jeremy felt like a few more puzzle pieces had settled into place as he reviewed some of his moments with Klaus, the odd words and warnings that had confused Jeremy, before he brushed them off, finally made a bit more sense. The fact that Klaus would always compel the teen to stay within sight during the full moon; the rare looks that he managed to catch, a flash of guilt and shame before it was covered up by that ever-present smirk; all the times that Klaus had sent Jeremy away, or forced him to sleep, whenever there were rumours of werewolves in a near-by forest that he wanted to find and turn. Suddenly, the crazy precautions didn’t seem too crazy anymore…

“We begged for Ayana’s help,” the blonde continued, regaining the teen’s attention, “As she was the most powerful healer in the village, but you had already passed on. We weren’t even able to contact you from the Other Side as you never developed any magic. It was a hopeless endeavour from the very start and it was something that our family couldn’t move on from, so to stop such a painful thing from ever happening again, my wife, Ester, the original witch, created a spell, which lead to the creation of vampires.”

Jeremy nodded his head, trying to take everything in, storing the information for use in the future - Elena and the others had seen fit to screen any and all information from the teen, leaving him in the dark more often than not, so anything worth making a note of was like gold in Jeremy’s books. Then, he frowned and focused on the vampire once again.

“How do you know it’s a ‘partial reincarnation’? Have you seen stuff like this before?” he leaned close, maybe there was some kind of way to stop it, or speed it up. It was torture when Jeremy woke up in the mornings, unsure what was a memory and what was a fabrication of his fixated mind. If it stopped completely, maybe he could distance himself from Klaus and everyone else. Maybe he could completely cut ties when they realised that he could never become Henrik.

“It’s not common, but I have seen some cases in which a reincarnation has occurred, but they were all completely unique cases. Some remembered their past lives from the moment they were reborn, some remembered after a triggering event, usually something traumatic that had happened to them in their previous life, and some merely displayed attributes and skills of their past life, while never truly regaining their memories. There are more cases where the person looks nothing like they did in their previous life, with nothing connecting their current bloodline to their previous one, but there have been cases where the two people look uncannily the same as they once did in their past life - although those particular occurrences are extremely rare,” Mikael listed, sounding like he’d spent years researching the theory and studying the various cases, “A partial reincarnation is only a temporary stage. Slowly but surely, more memories will come back to you and you will someday remember your life as Henrik Mikaelson, alongside your life as Jeremy Gilbert. The rate at which you remember varies completely. It could take you years to regain everything, or it could take you a matter of months, or weeks. Although, it seems as if Niklaus has tried his utmost best to speed up your process as much as possible. Foolish child that he is!” he spat, face twisting into something hard and angry once again.

“No one seems to know anything about it,” Jeremy confided, feeling slightly relieved and a little bit desperate as he spoke to the man, his eagerness taking him a step closer to the vampire, “Not even Klaus could tell me everything and he’s…” Jeremy trailed off as his mind finally caught up to his words. That was right. Klaus knew about reincarnation and such, but he wasn’t as nearly informed as he usually was - the whole phenomenon was rare and believed to be theoretical to most, despite some known evidence. It was clear that Mikael had done intensive research on such an occasion and while Jeremy knew that a creature of eternal life would probably pick up more than one hobby, the teen couldn’t help but immediately dismiss the idea of Mikael researching anything just because it interested him. “You knew I’d come back,” he muttered to himself, although the vampire heard him regardless, before he turned his deep brown eyes to icy blue ones once again, confusion and a small hint of fear mixing into his tone, “All these years, you were searching for me, weren’t you? H-How… How did you know I’d come back as a reincarnation?”

The blue eyes had gained a darker hue at Jeremy’s questions as he simply stared at the waiting teenager. As the heavy gaze settled on Jeremy, he felt his voice settle in the back of his throat, making him unable to do anything but wait for the other to answer him. It felt like an eternity passed before Mikael finally spoke, “The idea of reincarnation was shared in both mine and Ester’s cultures, and while you were completely unreachable to us, we knew there was still a chance that you could come back to us, even if it was in a completely different bloodline and era… But there was no guarantee that you would go through that process or simply linger in the afterlife and even then, we might not ever have known about your rebirth until it was much too late to reclaim you.”

Jeremy felt his eyes widen as his fingers buried themselves in his hair, tugging harshly on the strands as his mind pieced it all together, making up a picture he didn’t want to confront. “No… You didn’t… Tell me you didn’t…” Jeremy uttered as he shook his head, but Mikael paid him no mind as he carried on.

“Ester made a ritual to ensure that your soul took the reincarnation route and that you would appear like your past self. It was an extremely dark spell. Ayana and the others had warned us against committing such an act, there would always be a consequence in going against the tides of nature and our punishment ended up being that we’d have to wait a thousand years until your rebirth... Your mother and I just could stand the thought of never seeing you again. Once it was finished, all we had to do was wait for you to come about again, but that could have been a hundred years in the future and we all would have been old and withered by that point and so-“

“You turned yourself and the others into vampires…” Jeremy cut him off before frowning in confusion and disbelief, “But Rebekah told me why you became vampires and she said-“

“It was to fight against the wolves,” Mikael interrupted in turn, nodding his head in agreement, “Ester and I had lost two children to the wills of nature and supernatural means and if I wanted to go to war with the werewolves, then my children and I needed to be just as strong, if not stronger than those beasts. Ester also felt that she couldn’t handle the act of burying another of her blood and so ensured that she would never have to. Those were all factors that took part in the decision to turn our children, but ensuring that we would be alive when we found you in the future also played a part in that decision,” suddenly, Mikael’s expression turned dangerous and angry once more, “But we could never determine the effect it would have on all of my children. They became monsters, their former discipline wretched when their bloodlust took over and while they became supernaturally strong, their emotional state was unpredictable and unstable on a constant basis. The final straw was encountered when Niklaus killed his mother. After that, I devoted myself to hunt down Niklaus, and all those that sided with him, to destroy him once and for all - removing the mistake that I had made all those years ago,” then Mikael sighed, the slump in his shoulders clearly displaying the exhaustion that he’d carried for millennia. “While I chased Niklaus, I searched for you. I tracked every rumour and followed every lead that even hinted at your rebirth. But, as decades of searching turned into centuries, I found my hope dwindling. Then, around a decade ago, I came to Mystic Falls in search of the rumoured doppelgänger…”

“And you found me…” Jeremy finished for him.

“And I found you,” Mikael’s lips twitched into a small smile, that disappeared as soon as it was formed, “I had given up hope of ever finding you at that point. I had accepted the fact that Ester’s spell had failed and that I would never see you again. But, there you were, running around, chasing after the doppelgänger with your hands coated in charcoal. I was about to take you and kill the doppelgänger, but in my moment of distraction, the Bennett witch bound me with dark magic and left me to desiccate.”

Instantly, Jeremy instantly tensed up, muscles seizing with the preparation to run at any second as soon as those words left the original’s mouth. Mikael had every intention of kidnapping him as soon as he laid eyes on Jeremy, even as a little kid. It was clear that the vampire had no care at all for what kind of effect that would have had on him, or his family… Mikael was no different than Klaus: cruel, selfish and demanding. The only difference between the two was that Klaus had actually succeeded in kidnapping him, while Mikael was stopped just in time - although, there was no one to prevent the vampire from actually taking him, now…

Suddenly, Jeremy understood just how much danger he was in as he subtly attempted to take a step back. Never before had he felt like such a complete idiot as he did at that moment…

“It’s impractical to take you, right now,” the vampire casually brought up, blue eyes hard and analytical once again, obviously catching onto Jeremy’s budding flight instincts, “My mission, first and foremost, is ridding the world of Klaus and since this is the closest opportunity I’ve come to ending him in a century, I will not waste this moment.”

The words didn’t calm Jeremy in the slightest as he could hear the unspoken words that Mikael was implying: that he would take Jeremy after he’d killed Klaus. It took everything in the teen not to break out into hysterical laughter or sobs (most likely both), keeping his emotions in hold with an iron-clad grip as he stared back at the vampire with his own determined stare. Even if the situation seemed hopeless, Jeremy wasn’t going to back down. He’d gained his freedom from Klaus, from that little trip to hell that still had Jeremy jerking from his sleep with a scream trapped in his throat, and he’d do anything and everything he could to keep that kind of situation from ever happening again.

Slowly, Mikael’s lips twitched up in the corner, amusem*nt and, for some reason, pride shining through his chilling blue eyes as Jeremy stared him down with his unchanging expression. “Your determination and fire is admirable, my son,” the vampire reached up and clamped a firm hand over the teen’s shoulder, the friendly gesture was nothing more than a trap, “But you’ll find soon enough that you have very little say in what becomes of you.” Jeremy’s brows only furrowed deeper at those words, a beginning of a sneer scrunching up his nose slightly as his mind resisted how similar Mikael’s words were to Klaus - they really were as equally evil as one another.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, or with anyone ever again,” the teen stared down at the other with a dark glower over his face, which made him truly look murderous, “I’ll kill you before I ever let that happen.”

Suddenly, a hand clasped over Mikael’s wrist and Jeremy’s vision was filled with the wide back of Damon Salvatore, who was finally back from wherever the hell he’d wandered off to. However, Mikael seemed to be a lot more powerful than Damon as the blonde vampire’s hand was still clutched over Jeremy’s shoulder, grip unrelenting and powerful.

“Hey, there,” Damon started in his usual co*cky tone, Jeremy could just imagine the smirk that was pulling at the brunette’s lips, “What’s happening here, Little Gilbert?”

“Nothing,” Jeremy practically growled, unable to completely shelf his anger and fear as he glowered at the vampire’s back as if his eyes alone could penetrate the flesh and kill the blonde vampire on the other side, through his will alone. “I’ll just take my textbook and leave.”

But Mikael wouldn’t let go of Jeremy’s shoulder, the strong fingers curling into the fabric like steel clamps that had been welded shut. There were a few minutes of silence as Damon stared tensely at Mikael, Mikael stared at Jeremy over the weaker vampire’s shoulder with piercing eyes, and Jeremy returned the stare with a fierce glare and pinched lips. Finally, Mikael’s fingers flexed and released the teen’s shirt completely, allowing Jeremy to take a few steps back while Damon shifted his body to completely obscure the teen from view.

Glancing over to the living room, Jeremy easily spotted the needed item as he strode over and scooped it up in his arms, cradling the overpriced and overly large textbook in the crook of his elbow before he spun on his heel and marched towards the door, not planning to give the two vampires a second glance as he aimed for the front door.

“There is no way to stop the process of your reincarnation,” Mikael suddenly spoke up, freezing Jeremy mid-step, just a few feet from making his escape, “Maybe if you had never been found, or had never been involved in the supernatural world, you would have lived your mortal life, blissfully unaware of your true self, but there is no way to stop it once it’s been triggered. Slowly but surely, you will remember your life as Henrik,” Jeremy whipped his head around with gritted teeth as he glowered at the smug vampire and was about to spit out a scathing remark when the immortal spoke once again, “And when that finally happens, nothing will stop me from reclaiming you as mine own. Do you understand, Jeremy?”

Frustration and anger surging in his chest, Jeremy did nothing more but purse his lips into a thin line before he shifted his gaze to Damon and gave a silent nod of thanks and farewell, not trusting himself to speak at that moment. Forcing his legs to move, Jeremy ripped open the door and slammed it behind him, making the glass shudder, before he started his brisk walk home, knuckled bleached white from how hard he was clenching the book to his chest.

He needed to call Rebekah immediately or find her somehow because she hadn’t been answering his texts in the last few days (maybe she accidentally crushed her phone again). Wherever she was, Jeremy needed to find her and tell her everything that he’d found out!

“What the hell was that?” Damon demanded once he made sure that Jeremy was far away enough to not overhear hear them.

“I have no earthly idea what you mean,” Mikael gave an insincere smile, eyes challenging as they stared into Damon’s own.

“Stay away from Jeremy,” Damon warned, “He has nothing to do with this.”

“On the contrary, he has everything to do with this,” the original hunter gave a deep condescending chuckle, “Just how long did you think you could hide my own son from me?”

“Jeremy isn’t a thousand-year-old vampire with severe daddy issues, so I think you may have the wrong person there,” the younger vampire gave a lame smile, “Jeez, first Klaus, and now you? Maybe age really does affect a vampire’s mind?”

The blonde huffed, “Believe what you must, boy, but I will be back to reclaim my youngest son once my goal has finally been completed.

Instantly, Damon usually sarcastic attitude turned sharp and his constant smirk instantly fell, “Jeremy wasn’t ever a part of our deal and he never will be.”

“I have had a claim to his life from the second he was born,” Mikael dismissed, looking like he was honestly amused by the shorter’s comment, “My children are mine own, and that is final. Now, shall we get back to business and review the finer details?”

Damon pressed his lips together, anger and frustration burning inside his throat before he forced it down again. In truth, Damon never really cared for Jeremy, he was merely another expendable pawn that he was willing to sacrifice if need be, but he wasn’t completely without sympathy for the young teen. So many things had happened to the kid in such a short about of time, Damon was surprised that he hadn’t packed up his stuff and gone into hiding already, shed himself of any and all attachments as he searched for a new life on the other side of the country - although, it may be that the only thing holding him back was his own humanity as a mortal being, he couldn’t just switch it off as vampires could. Just looking at the kid, Damon could see how stressed out he was, hair unkempt, shoulders hunched and defensive, and eyes bruised from lack of sleep and it only reminded Damon about how young the kid was - far too young to properly deal with all this in an emotionally healthy way, even fully grown adults would struggle or fail with what the kid was currently going through. It was the worst time in Jeremy’s life for him to be alone, but Elena was too caught up in her own troubles and school to pay much attention to her suffering little brother. Damon could see that the kid needed someone in his life to lean on, but the vampire wasn’t so invested or sympathetic to step in himself and solve anything - it wasn’t his place to do anything.

“Fine,” Damon agreed, rolling his eyes, “Just so you know, Rebekah’s been taken out of the running - can’t have any repeats after what Elijah did. Now, we just need to move onto the next phase, which is spreading the word that you’re dead and luring him back to town.”

“Yes,” Mikael nodded in agreement, not even blinking at the fact that he’d admitted to daggering his own daughter, “However, there may be another way to lure him back without the risk of myself being incapacitated.”

Damon furrowed his brow in thought, before his eyes widened with shock and budding horror, “No, absolutely not.”

“It’s an option that will garner the best results,” Mikael explained, tone indicating that he thought Damon was being a child, “The obsession he has with Henrik far surpasses any obsession he has with the doppelgänger and making more of his own kind. Even when he was human, Niklaus would go out of his way to be with Henrik and he was the most devastated when he died. He has a thousand years to make up for that absence, which is why he acts so irrational when Jeremy expresses any and all need for distance. The only reason he didn’t drag Jeremy into wolf hunting once again was that Henrik died that way and he trusts Rebekah enough to protect him. Using Jeremy is the perfect opportunity and it should not be wasted.”

“This isn’t about getting to Klaus anymore,” Damon argued, eyes narrowed into slits, “This is you trying to keep Jeremy as close to you as possible because you know he’s a flight risk. Tracking down a human is much harder than tracking down a vampire when there are no body trials to follow.”

“You speak as if I need your council,” Mikael scoffed, eyes turning more jaded and icy as his hand shot out to grip Damon by his throat and effortlessly lift him off his feet, “Listen here, boy, I hold all of the cards - I know Niklaus the best, I know his thoughts, his actions, his emotions, and I have the only means to permanently kill him. You had nothing but that doppelgänger for me to use as bait and now, her presence isn’t even necessary. The only reason I involved you was because the illusion of a common goal is better than petty resistance. You’re thoughts mean absolutely nothing to me,” he smirked viciously before he threw Damon into the opposite wall and sped away.

Hurting and coughing, Damon forced his hand to work as he palmed the phone in his jeans, unable to move much in his crumpled position on the floor. He pressed the needed buttons before pressing it to his ear, “Hey, negotiations fell through,” he grunted as he attempted to sit up, a glare of displeasure in place, “He’s going after Jeremy instead.”

Chapter 14: Another problem

Chapter Text

Rumours were going about the school, whispered among the teachers, whose voices would temper down whenever Alaric came into the staff room to get some much-needed coffee. The hunter had never really paid much attention to it until a substitute teacher, whom he was on friendly terms with, revealed the big secret. The more the other teacher spoke, the paler Alaric’s complexion became as his panic and anxiety threatened to take hold of him.

It was only with great restraint that he was able to smile politely, say a word of thanks to the other and then he headed back to his classroom in the anticipation of teaching bored students for the next three hours until the end of school. He texted all the others, putting urgency in the text to show how important the news was.

As he waited for the others to arrive, Alaric leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to ward off an oncoming headache as his mind whirled and fixated on how it could have all been avoided. It came quite bitterly amusing to Ric that the thing that was giving him more anxiety and stress than anything else he’d faced, wasn’t even supernatural.

Ten minutes ticked by, the hands on the clock dragging against the surface in an attempt to go slower, making his frustration climb to unbelievable heights until he felt like he was wearing a hole into the ground from how much he was tapping his foot.

“God, where are they?” he muttered into the empty room, a huff hissing through his teeth as he crossed his arms.

Just then, the tell-tale sounds of multiple footsteps clicked down the linoleum floors of the corridors, allowing the teacher to relax, if only slightly. The kids suddenly streamed in with polite smiles of greetings before they sat down on the surrounding desks and chairs, looking at him with expectant eyes.

“Where’s Damon?” the hunter questioned, still slightly annoyed, “And what the hell is he doing here?” he pointed at the smirking Stefan, who was even more insufferable than Damon was - which was saying a lot.

“Wow,” Stefan raised his thick eyebrows in mock shock, sarcasm practically dripping from his words, “That really hurts. I thought we had something special, Ric.”

“I’m about two seconds from throwing a vervain grenade at you.”

“Try it-“

“Okay, enough!” Elena spoke up, stepping up to block them from each other’s sight before she turned to face Alaric completely, “He’s here because he saw my phone when you texted, so we couldn’t get him to leave. Now, what’s the problem, Ric? Anything new come up?”

“Not in the supernatural department, no,” the teacher admitted with a shake of his head, collectively earning confused frowns from everyone.

“Oh, no!” Stefan spoke up again and Alaric was really getting tired of hearing his voice every two seconds, “Is it our grades Mr Saltzman?!”

“I looked at mine just last week, they seemed to be doing alright,” Caroline spoke up, concern and panic rearing its head as she stared at Alaric with wide blue eyes.

“No, This has nothing to do with your grades, everyone is doing fine last time I checked,” he shook his head and was about to go on when Bonnie stood up with a scrape of her chair.

“Well if it’s not an update about Klaus and it’s not about our grades, I’ll be heading off,” she slung her bag over her shoulder and went towards the door, the others looking to follow as they snatched up their own possessions.

“Social services might take Jeremy away!” Ric shouted standing up from his own chair, effectively freezing everyone in the room. Sighing, the hunter let himself fall back into his chair as he watched the group retract from the door to stare at him with varying expressions, “Look, apparently there’s been talk among the teachers, in the last month or so, that they think Jeremy isn’t doing too well in school.”

“What?” Elena started, head tilted in confusion before she turned angry, “Is he skipping class again? Are his grades slipping? Don’t worry, Ric, I’ll talk to him and-“

“It’s none of that, Elena…” the teacher sighed again, reluctance and sympathy flooding his features as he stared at her. He knew exactly why the other teachers were talking about social services and he didn’t exactly blame them. As an educator, Alaric was trained to spot any tells that a student was silently suffering from their home life and Jeremy just happened to tick every box. “They think there’s something wrong with his home life… They think he’s being neglected and abused, to some extent.”

Silence had never felt so heavy, in Alaric’s opinion.

“Wh-What?” Elena stuttered, disbelief and hurt clear on her face.

In all honesty, Ric could understand what Elena was feeling. With all the life-threatening crap that they go through on a monthly basis, it was hard to keep yourself above the water, let alone someone under your care. Life was up in the air at the moment and there wasn’t a single moment where each and every one of them wasn’t tense and ready for some kind of random attack. Usually, Jeremy was extremely mature for his age and the teachers didn’t really have to worry about him (after the drug phase was over and done with), but with the trauma, he’d recently gone through and the lack of support and attention of the people around him (which was the usual amount of attention he’d gotten before he got kidnapped by Klaus), it was harder for him to appear as if everything was going great in his life and the teachers had all picked that up.

Hell, even Alaric couldn’t deny the obvious signs that Jeremy had exhibited since he’d gotten back to Mystic Falls. The way he distanced himself from his other classmates, even more than he previously did, the dark bags that seemed to be a permanent fixture under his eyes, and the avoidance of any and all talks the teachers tried to offer up. Jeremy had even avoided Alaric when he tried to sit the teen down and find out what was wrong and how he was doing at home!

Pinching the bridge of his brow, Alaric forced himself to get through this in one go, “He’s exhibiting traits that can be linked to neglect and abuse. Someone with Jeremy’s background would be watched a lot more than any other student in the school, so there’s a chance that an evaluation might be conducted… You could lose Jeremy for good, depending on how bad they think it is.”

“If the teachers have been talking for a month, why didn’t you tell us about all this before!” Elena shouted as she whirled around to yell at the elder man.

Instantly, a frown fell in place as his defensiveness rose, “Do you think our friendship is unknown to the entire school?! They had every right to assume that I’d warn you in advance if I did find out - which I’m doing right now! The only reason I even found out about it was that one of the TAs like me!”

“Well, what do we do?” Bonnie spoke up, looking as panicked as Elena, “We can’t just tell them that the vampire’s in town keep trying to kidnap him!”

“Maybe-“ Elena started, tone a little calmer than it had been seconds before, “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing…”

“What do you-“ Caroline started with a look of confusion before she was cut off, surprisingly, by Stefan.

“We’ve had this debate before, Elena,” Stefan rolled his eyes, “Sending Jeremy away won't protect him, it’ll just piss Klaus off more before he goes and picks up his little brother with zero resistance.”

“… Sending Jeremy away…” Bonnie uttered, eyes wide with shock before they narrowed, “He would never agree to leave this place, not when his last remaining friends and family are in danger!”

“Well, little Elena wasn’t thinking about asking for Jeremy’s permission, if you know what I mean,” Stefan hummed teasingly as he gazed at Elena, who didn’t have a shred of guilt on her face.

“You want to compel him?!” Caroline shouted offence and anger clear on her face, “After you promised him that you would never do it again?! You can’t just do that Elena!”

“It’s for his own protection and it was only a consideration!” Elena refuted harshly.

“That you’ve brought up more than once,” Alaric pointed out, disappointment pouring off of him. “I don’t think you understand, Elena. If they take Jeremy away, you will never see him again. They won’t tell you where they’re putting him, they won’t tell you how he’s doing and they’ll involve the police if you try to contact him before he’s at least eighteen years old. And then, it’ll be Jeremy who has the decision to contact you and involve you in his life again, not the other way around… I’m not sure if he’d ever forgive you if it came down to that…”

“And I wouldn’t blame him if he never did!” Bonnie sneered at the brunette before she hiked her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the room, Caroline following her lead with a fierce glare shot at the doppelgänger before she walked out of sight.

Alaric gave the lingering vampire a firm glare, which he thankfully listened to as he held up his hands in surrender and strolled out of the room. Although he probably wouldn’t leave the school as a whole without Elena, it was enough to give the girl some sense of space.

Elena heaved a sigh as she sunk down into the nearest seat, shoulders slumping with defeat as her eyes slid shut, tiredness making her seem like she’d aged at least a decade, nothing like how a kid her age should look. Alaric pressed his lips together, guilt and regret seizing his heart as he looked at the picture she made… What would Jenna say to this? How would Jenna comfort Elena? What would she do in this complicated and awful situation? It wasn’t often that Alaric let himself think about Jenna, always making it a point to keep his eyes forward and his priorities and thoughts in the living, but in times like these, he couldn’t keep away the longing and yearning that stabbed at his soul, thinking about how much better she’d be in looking out for the kids than he was, how much comforting and supportive she would have been in his place and how she’d be able to keep the kids in line when their morals began to warp…

“What do I do, Ric?” Elena finally spoke up, pulling the teacher from his depressing thoughts, “I just… keep messing up, don’t I?” a bitter laugh escaped her lips as she wiped her hand down her face, “It’s like I keep taking more and more steps back whenever it comes to Jeremy…”

“What do you mean?” the hunter stepped back and settled back into his own chair, making sure to keep his voice smooth and inviting as his teacher training had taught him.

“I mean I keep,” she waved her hand feebly, “Doing and saying these awful things to him! When Klaus took him, I felt like I finally understood what I’d lost. In those months, I realised how much I’d put Jeremy through and how… wrong it all was! I promised that when I found him again, I’d protect him and never mistreat or take advantage of him ever again, but not even a week passed and I was back to treating him like I always did - worse even! And I didn’t even realise it until losing him became a possibility again!” she raked her hands through her scalp, messing up her hair slightly, eyes watering as she panicked, “I… I know there’s been this… gap between us since our parents died and I thought it we getting better, but now it feels like I’ve burnt down the bridge separating us…” she took in a quivering breath as tears started to leak from her eyes, “I just don’t know what to do. How do I even begin to fix this? And what if it's already too late to fix it?"

Alaric could see the girl’s dilemma. While Elena was legally now an adult, she was still very much a kid where it counted and had no knowledge or experience when it came to looking after a young teenager - Alaric had been the shoulder that Jenna leaned on when she cried out her own frustrations, the age of twenty-five being far too young to properly look after and care for two teenagers who had recently lost their parents, her sister and brother-in-law. It was abundantly clear that Elena loved her brother, though she judged and degraded him more harshly than she should on some occasions, she wasn’t used to the fact that Jeremy had no caretaker anymore. Usually, Elena could spend her minimum amount of time with her brother, do the supernatural stuff and get on with the rest of her day as Jeremy went back to Jenna for the night, but Elena had neglected to change her routine when Jenna died, allowing Jeremy to wandering about their empty home, alone, with nothing but his own thoughts to linger on, which was a dangerous thing with what he’d gone through recently.

Elena was lashing out with the sudden weight of caring for Jeremy and trying to survive in a world that seemed determined to kill her off in one way or another, not understanding the change in Jeremy’s behaviour and that his existence in her life had grown more complicated than she’d wanted. At the age of eighteen, Elena had no chance in looking after her brother, who was most likely suffering from undiagnosed PTSD, depersonalisation disorder, survivor’s guilt, and many other unknown things, which frustrated the doppelgänger to no end, creating more of a wedge in the siblings' relationship with her inability to adapt, accept, or deal with Jeremy’s change behaviour.

On the other hand, Alaric’s heart went out to Jeremy, who was probably feeling like he was so alone in the world, with no one to turn to and when he did turn to someone who was willing to give him all the comfort he needed (Rebekah) he was shunned and yelled at by the social group that had been largely ignoring him in favour of ‘more important things’. The teacher could only imagine the kinds of psychological damage that had been wrecked through Jeremy’s mind just from that treatment alone, not including the summer he’d spent under captivity, or the multiple guardians and loved ones he’d lost in the span of just a couple of years.

The two Gilbert siblings had gone through absolute hell and had suffered more than their fair share of troubles, with more to inevitably come in the future with the threat of Klaus still weighing on their shoulders. Both of them needed years of therapy to even begin to get over their traumas, but the main difference between the siblings was that Elena had a social network to rely on and fall back on, while Jeremy was left to fall on his own.

Now, with the threat of Jeremy being taken away indefinitely, Alaric wasn’t sure if the siblings could handle the forced separation, once again, along with everything else going on in their lives. It could also be the invisible breaking point for either of them, which could be why Elena was subconsciously reaching for a solution which would send Jeremy away, completely avoiding the possibility of suddenly losing him forever just like every other family member in her life.

Shaking his head, the hunter mentally shoved the thoughts away. It was useless to think of such things when he was merely guessing, he wasn’t a therapist, counsellor, or a psychologist in the slightest and so, he shouldn’t even attempt to deal with things of the mind, for fear of making it worse. The siblings needed real help from a real professional, not half-cobbled ideas and thoughts of a teacher/vampire hunter.

“I don’t think it’s too late to fix anything, Elena,” the hunter started, his tone starting off soft and unsure before he became more confident in his words, “But I do think that you need to talk to someone about… everything that’s happened.”

“Like… talking to a therapist?” Elena questioned, her tears ebbing away, tone incredulous.

“Yeah,” Ric nodded, “Neither of you has talked to anyone about losing Jenna, or John… or your birth mum. You also need to be in the same room and have a conversation that won't derail into an argument and a therapist would be a great impartial third party for you to converse with.” From the look on her face, it was clear as day what she thought of the idea, which made Alaric sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose, “Just… Think about it, okay? If nothing else, you can both give it a try and if you don’t like it, we can find something else. Therapy doesn’t work for everyone, after all.”

“They’d send us both to the mental hospital as soon as we opened our mouths, Ric!” the brunette huffed, a flash of genuine amusem*nt appearing on her face.

“You might find one that’s in the know if you look hard enough,” the history teacher shrugged, looking completely unbothered before he aimed a gentle smile at the teen, “Now, Hurry home and do your homework, I’ve got some lesson plans to make up before I leave here.”

“Thanks, Ric,” Elena turned her lips up in a faint smile as she stood and turned to leave, “See you later!”

Raising his hand in turn, the hunter turned his focus to the sheets in front of him and sighed, he really hoped the Gilbert siblings could sort things out one day, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t going to happen any time soon…

Elena stepped down the wide school corridor at a fast pace, her mind flashing through possible solutions for her newest problem at hand. She couldn’t lose Jeremy, she didn’t know if her heart could handle the idea of her last remaining family being taken away. Her mind instantly went to solving the problem by supernatural means. If people came to assess her brother and the environment in their home, then she could easily get Damon to compel them to report back all good things. That was a sound plan if she ever heard of one!

The sharp ringing of her phone instantly tore her from her thought, making her pause for a second as she dug out her phone from the small pocket of her jeans.

“Speak of the devil…” Elena muttered as she held the phone to her ear, “Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, negotiations fell through,” Damon’s voice rasped through the speaker, sounding pained as he released a small grunt.

“Wh-What?” Elena stuttered, her mind instantly recalling that Damon had told her he was going to have a chat with Mikael, “What do you-"

“He’s going after Jeremy instead.”

Elena instantly felt like the world had been ripped out from under her feet…

Chapter 15: Unwanted company

Chapter Text

Feeling more exhausted than he should have been after walking to the Salvatore Boarding house and back, Jeremy let his shoulders sag and his head briefly fall forwards as he breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of his own home. These days, Jeremy found it harder and harder to leave his home, a moment of panic erupting in the back of his head whenever he lifted his hand to open the front door and go to school, something he was forced to shove back time and time again, so he was more than relieved to get back into his comfort zone after that awful meeting that was still ringing in his head and grating on his nerves.

Irritation coming back ten-fold, Jeremy narrowed his eyes in a glare as he stepped up his path, steps a little harsher than necessary as he flipped out the keys from his pocket-

“Hello, once again, Jeremy,” a familiar voice directly behind the teen made him freeze up completely, as his grip around his keys became white-knuckled from sheer shock and freight, “Won't you invite me in?”

At those words, Jeremy’s body seemed to want to listen to commands again as he instantly threw himself towards his door, hoping against all logic that he’d be fast enough to beat the supernatural speed of an original vampire. However, he was barely able to put a step of distance between them when a large calloused hand enveloped the back of his neck, strong fingers squeezing into the sides in warning, instantly stopping any and all movement.

“I-I thought you weren’t going to take me until after you killed Klaus!” Jeremy managed to blurt out between heaving, panicked breaths, dropping the keys to the floor with a loud clatter as his hands flew up to grip the man’s hand when his fingers squeezed just a bit too tightly at the mention of the other’s name. It was a futile attempt to pry the vampire’s hand from him, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying it as his fear shot through his system like an electric shock.

“This isn’t a kidnapping,” Mikael forced Jeremy to bend his knees as he picked up the keys from the floor, before standing straight again, “This is nothing more than a ploy to lure that abomination back to town. Now,” he shook the teen threateningly, ignoring the way Jeremy’s entire form was trembling with barely suppressed fear and anger, “Invite me in.”

Jeremy clenched his jaw, anger welling up from within the pit of his stomach like a growing furnace as was about to growl out a biting remark when the fingers around his neck tightened further, making any potential words turn into a hiss of pain. Mikael pulled him back as Jeremy reflexively tried to pull away from the point of pain, “Do not test me, boy,” the vampire warned voice deep and threatening.

Closing his eyes tightly against the pain, Jeremy let those cursed words fall through his lips in a barely audible whisper, “Come in…”

Thankfully, Mikael didn’t say anything in response as he unlocked the door and stepped into the house with his firm grip still encircling the back of Jeremy’s neck, forcing the teen to stumble into the house alongside him. When the front door was firmly closed and locked behind them, Mikael finally let Jeremy go, allowing the human to jolt his body forward in an attempt to create as much distance between them as possible, his glare instantly on his features in order to desperately hide how much fear was currently coursing through his body like a live wire - Jeremy didn’t even think that he felt this afraid when Klaus took him.

“You are not to leave this house without my explicit permission and if you should attempt to, I will not hesitate to break your ankles and kill whoever would try to help you escape,” Mikael stated like he was simply laying out some ground rules, “Now, perhaps you should get something to eat. I do believe that this is about the prime time that mortals prepare lunch.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but blink at the bizarre sentence, giving the stern vampire a confused look before he turned and did as he was told without further comment. He definitely wasn’t going to say anything while the back of his neck was still smarting from the assault he’d barely been able to entire - God, he could only imagine the bruises that would show from it.

For a second, Jeremy lingered in the kitchen, unsure what to do when he’d practically been forced to go into the room, looking around at the different appliances with a blank stare as his brain tried to comprehend what exactly everything did and what he even wanted to make. However, as soon as he heard slow footsteps receding up the stairs, Jeremy’s shoulders slumped and his brain started to work once again. Taking another look around, Jeremy couldn’t help but sigh before wandering to the large fridge and staring at the random pieces of food product and thinking of how he might even begin the make it into a sandwich of some kind. Everything was a bit bare, the numerous shelves looking pitifully empty, as he hadn’t gone shopping in the last few weeks as he’d been far too busy and stressed to even attempt to make his meal plan once again. In the last few days, Jeremy had survived by ordering portions of chips at the Mystic Grill, unable to stand being in a house that was so quiet most of the time. Unfortunately, his neglect for the house had come back to bite him in the ass.

Jeremy sighed at himself before he pulled out some butter and set it on the side. Maybe he could find some kind of hidden bread substitutes in the cupboards? The last of the bread had gone mouldy a few days ago and Jeremy hadn’t thought to replace it…

“Damn it, I could really use some alcohol right about now…” Jeremy muttered to himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose and cursed himself once again. He’d drunk the last of the alcohol in the house practically as soon as he’d escaped Klaus and ran home and there was no chance that he could’ve just walked to the shops and added a few bottles to the basket - it was a relatively small town and everyone would know that he was underaged, even with a good fake ID.

Turning to the next best thing, Jeremy turned on the coffee machine and put a pot on, silently hoping that the rush of caffeine would help him deal with the situation better.

Mikael made his way to the second floor without any prompting or shame in doing so. While he’d made sure his expression remained to be as constant and clear as a blank piece of paper, Mikael couldn’t deny the small stirrings of… happiness that seeing Henrik brought him. Truly, he felt ashamed that he’d given up all those years ago, thinking that his and his wife’s efforts had been a failure, but he had finally seen the desired results. It had been worth the wait to see his youngest child once again, one of many burdens finally lifting from his heavy chest.

While the reunion hadn’t been what he’d pictured for Henrik - the idealistic family-wide unity having been shattered to pieces the second Niklaus killed Esther and started running - it had been enough to move Mikael’s heart after so long of it being dead and still. Mikael hadn’t questioned the Salvatores' nerves, nor the fact that the doppelgänger seemed more than cautious of him, but the hunter had merely chalked that up to them being intimidated by such an old and powerful figure in close proximity, but now he knew that their fear was for a different reason. Mikael wondered how hard they’d all words to keep Jeremy’s name from their mouths when discussing plans in their home, only for the boy to walk in and destroy the whole illusion.

The timing had been perfect and Mikael distantly wondered if Henrik’s soul had known he was there, yearning and longing for his father that he hadn’t been in the presence of in so, so long, making it so Jeremy needed to be at the Salvatores' house at that exact moment. It was most likely something of that degree, as Mikael had picked up a few half-made gestures that Jeremy emitted like his body started to react to Mikael in a familial manner before he stopped himself.

From the kitchen, the hunter could hear the teen opening and closing cupboard doors, huffing when he obviously found nothing to eat, making Mikael note that they’d have to go shopping at some point…

Coming to the first door, Mikael stepped inside without hesitance, blue eyes scanning around with disinterest as he analysed what was there. It was a large room and had light pastel colours with soft furniture that had a slight fluffiness to it - obviously, this was Elena Gilbert’s room. It looked luxurious and was decorated with a mass amount of pictures and memories of the past and present, but there was a staleness to the air and a lack of emotion in the room which told Mikael that it hadn’t been used for quite some time, which made sense when the vampire remembered seeing the doppelgänger’s presence hanging heavily in the Salvatore manner. The Boarding House had human food packed into the cupboards, female products in the bathrooms, and feminine laundry in the hampers, while Elena’s actual room felt cold and hollow in comparison like she’d forgotten that it was even here.

Dismissing the room entirely with a low hum, the blonde stepped out of the room and travelled to the next room, which could only be Jeremy’s. The door was cracked open, giving Mikael a preview of the chaotic mess that lay within, papers left on the floor, stacks of books piled near the desk on the floor, and his bed was rumpled and unmade as it hung half off the bed from where it looked like he’d rolled onto the floor when he awoke that morning. The vampire’s unreadable expression hid his disapproval of the state of the room, mentally noting all the things that could prove to be a tripping hazard in the future, but he also knew that Jeremy had been without guidance for a long time, so a little bit of mess was to be expected. It was something that Mikael could rectify now that he was there to take care of Jeremy.

The vampire blinked when he came across something unexpected. Slowly, he knelt down and pried up one of the fly-away pages that had been trampled into the floor, shifting some other objects aside in order to get to it without ripping it entirely. Shock and excitement had Mikael momentarily frozen as he stared down at the charcoal drawing of himself, his severe expression and sharp eyes depicted perfectly with his long, crumpled hair just barely brushing his strongly squared shoulders. Mikael hadn’t had hair that long for many hundreds of years and the mere sight of it brought back memories that he had thought long forgotten. The drawing had looked so painfully human that Mikael felt nostalgia hit him like a runaway truck, the force of it making his fingers tighten around the page, crinkling it.

“Looks like he’s further along the process than I first thought…” Mikael muttered to himself, a smile of happiness daring to twitch at the corner of his lips before he controlled himself once again. Looking around at the other pages, the vampire could easily see other charcoal drawings that had been dumped on the floor in a tattered mess, like Jeremy had swept them all off of his desk in a fit of anger. The more he collected, the more he could see that Jeremy was drawing things of the past, from when he was Henrik. He drew their old home, he drew Ayana smiling down at a group of village children with a few herbs in her hand (a scene from when she would teach the village children of the different herbs they could use), he drew their family in all their human glory, smiling and happy as they ran through the trees without a care in the world and he drew Mikael’s wife, Henrik’s mother, smiling softly from over her small potions stations that they kept in the side of the small hut. Every picture brought Mikael back in time when he was nothing but a powerless mortal that worried about the winters and the local werewolf packs.

Then, one of the pictures brought him up short. The drawing was of a woman smiling, who Mikael had never seen before. While his memory had faded over the years, losing colour and life, he still remembered every face that was within their little village and this woman was someone who had never been there. The sketch detailed the woman as being from the past, the old dress and apron supporting that fact, but she was nothing but a stranger in Mikael’s eyes. Flipping through more pages, Mikael saw a mix of their family, the other villagers and people who, the blonde was certain, he’d never seen in his millennia of life…

Or perhaps this was merely random drawings that he’d made of various strangers in the town, sketching them in old-fashioned clothing to add something extra to it, and Mikael was simply overtaking something that should’ve been a passing thought. Either way, the blonde planned to question his son on the cast-aside sketches, just to be sure—

Just as Mikael was about to fold the pages and slip them inside his jacket, his entire form stiffened and his head co*cked to the side as his sensitive ears caught something. Abandoning all thoughts and actions, the blonde dropped whatever was in his hands as he shot down the stairs, silently settling himself in the cushioned chair furthermost away from the door. From the corner of his eye, Mikael could see that Jeremy hadn’t noticed him as the teen continued to curse under his breath about his current predicament, face like thunder as he stirred a boiling pot of what seemed to be pasta, a half-drunken cup of coffee at his side with another pot already brewing on the other side of the kitchen.

Still frowning, Jeremy steps away from the pot and takes a step towards an open cupboard, stopping in his tracks when his eyes fell on Mikael, his expression changing from frustration to mild confusion and surprise as he blurted out, “When did you come back down?”

However, instead of answering, Mikael merely cast his critical blue eyes towards the hallway, just in time for them to hear the loud bang of the front door as it hit the opposite wall, making the teen startle enough to visibly jump in the air.

“Jeremy?! Jeremy are you here?!” a familiar and annoying presence bellowed from the hallway, her voice echoing around the house. The sound of clumsy steps followed as the woman dashed further into the house, catching her shoulder on the wall as she recklessly turned the corner. Dishevelled and panting with a wild look of pure panic in her wide eyes, Elena took a few minutes to pin her eyes on Jeremy. Seeing that the boy was uninjured and therefore safe, the doppelgänger’s stressed features seemed to erase from reality as an expression of sheer relief overcame her, “Oh, thank god, Jere! You’re okay! I thought that I was too late and that Mikael-“

The blonde vampire chose that moment to pointedly clear his throat, making the words instantly die in the woman’s throat, leaving the room ringing with silence. Slowly, Elena’s eyes turned to the elegantly seated original, who stared back at her with a dead expression. The two humans were completely frozen as their instincts worked overtime, forcing them to be mobile in the face of such a formidable predator, simply waiting for him to act before they could possibly determine their own.

Although, it seemed that the doppelgänger wasn’t completely without protective instincts as her body started to shift towards the kitchen, in an attempt to place herself between the father and son duo. As amusing as the whole situation was, Mikael had no intention of letting anyone, let alone a weak mortal, believe that they could come between him and Henrik, even if the effort was fruitless on her part.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you, Miss Gilbert,” Mikael stated with a low and intimidating voice, blue eyes solely focused on the tense doppelgänger, listening as her heart’s rapid beating became even faster.

“M-Mikael,” Jeremy managed to get out, forcing a slight tremor from his voice as he took a half step forward. The frown that had marred the teen’s face was replaced with open fear, his wide eyes silently begging Mikael to spare his sister’s life. The sight of it made the Viking feel a jolt of disapproval and disappointment in Jeremy, the open weakness that the boy was exhibiting everything that Mikael had made sure to drill into all of his children’s heads when they were growing up, Henrik included. The thoughts and emotions were irrational, but they still made Mikael flex his muscles in a want to kill off the doppelgänger and get rid of such an obvious weakness that his youngest had. But, Mikael hadn’t survived so long in the world by letting his emotions fuel his actions, and so, chose to remain still.

“Leave,” the vampire ordered in a tone that left no room for arguments, “Before I find you too tiresome to keep around for my contingency plan.”

Foolishly, the girl looked like she was about to start shouting and demanding things again like she was completely under the illusion that she had any power whatsoever. Fortunately, Mikael didn’t mind providing a reality check if the situation called for it.

However, before a single word could slip through the annoyance's lips, Jeremy intervened, “Elena,” he stared at his sister with a hard and commanding expression, skilfully preventing her from saying something she would regret, “I’m okay.”

“What?” she blurted, shock and hurt flashing over her face before she covered it up, “But Jere-“

“He’s not going to hurt me,” the teen reassured his sister, eyes flicking to the seated vampire before focusing back on her, “It’s just until we deal with Klaus and then it’s all over, okay? It’ll just be for a few days and then everything goes back to normal,”

Elena looked hesitant as she looked from Jeremy to Mikael, and back again, visibly debating over what she should do before she set her lips in a grim line, “Fine. But I’m staying here as well-“

“That won't be needed,” Mikael immediately dismissed.

“There’s no way I’m letting Jeremy stay here with you, on his own,” she looked down at the blonde with a hard stare, daring the vampire to argue against her, “I’m staying.”

“I’m afraid that’s not something up for debate,” Mikael smiled blandly, “My plan entails using Jeremy and his likeness to Henrik to lure Niklaus back to town and then use him as a distraction against him. If that fails, then I will use you. If you were to stay with Jeremy, then both of you would be in Niklaus’ grasp and I have nothing else to bargain with,” he explained with a condescending tone.

“I can’t just leave Jeremy here alone!”

“Why?” Mikael rose a judgemental eyebrow, “It’s obvious that Jeremy has been living here, alone, for some time, now.”

At the silent accusation, Elena’s face flushed with embarrassment, and anger before she furrowed her brow in a hard glare and opened her mouth to yell, but was once again stopped when Jeremy called her name.

“It’s fine,” he stated forcefully.

“But-“

“Elena,” he started again, but his tone was gentler, “I promise I’ll be fine and if anything happens, I’ll phone you straight away…”

The doppelgänger stared at Jeremy, face unreadable, but she seemed to find what she was looking for as she heaved a quiet sigh and took a half step back from the teen and back towards the door. “The second that you feel something off, you call me, okay?” with the conformation nod from Jeremy, Elena gave one last pained look to her brother and a dark glower at the original vampire hunter before she retreated from the house, leaving the remaining pair in absolute silence.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Mikael asked, curiosity getting the best of him, “Once that abomination is finally dealt with, I’ll be collecting you and leaving this place indefinitely.”

“Kidnapping is survivable,” Jeremy answered after a moment of contemplative silence, “You can’t lie to me and say that you would have let her live if she tried to take me away, plan or no plan.”

Mikael’s lips twitched slightly before he forced them into a neutral line once again, the teen was smarter than anyone gave him credit for, “Yes, I would have killed her. Plan, or no plan…”

With that, Jeremy turned back to the stove and muttered curses under his breath as he swiftly extinguished the flame and shifted the pot aside. Apparently, instead of boiling over, the water had dissolved completely, slightly baking the pasta to the surface.

“Now, let's move on to our next issue,” Mikael spoke up once again, making the teen pause and turn to face him, confusion flickering over his face as he had an internal debate about what the original could be talking about.

Tense and cautious, Jeremy looked at Mikael with every ounce of suspicion he could muster, “… What is it?”

“This is the last thing I expected…” Jeremy muttered under his breath as his dead eyes scanned the shelves in front of him.

“Every growing boy needs the correct amount of sustenance,” Mikael spoke up as he leaned slightly against the shopping trolly, ignoring the fact that Jeremy had obviously been talking to himself.

Sighing, Jeremy picked up the cereal he needed (noting the deal attached to it) and placed it in the trolly. Shopping with the vampire felt oddly embarrassing, Jeremy had always done it on his own, even when Jenna was alive and taking care of them, his scatterbrained aunt being preoccupied with her school work, taking care of teenagers, and completing staggering piles of paperwork in order to take care of said teenagers. Sometimes she’d forget that a large amount of food shopping was needed and so Jeremy would take it upon himself to subtly fill the fridge when things were getting low. It felt odd to be doing something like this with someone else, especially the powerful and old vampire who claimed to be his father and was threatening to kidnap him after killing his ‘brother’. It was worse when some of the older ladies and shopping mothers kept side-eyeing the completely disinterested vampire like they were looking at a hunk of meat…

“Definitely awkward…” he muttered once again with a sigh, leading the blonde down the fruit and vegetable aisle, checking off his mental food list.

As soon as Elena had reluctantly left, Mikael had then proceeded to drag Jeremy to the shops in preparation for food shopping. The sudden and odd task had Jeremy silently complying, too stunned to resist or put up any sort of fight. Apparently, it was a two-man job as Mikael hadn’t been to a human food store in an untold amount of years (there was never really a need to go) and he refused to let Jeremy go alone, due to the fact that the teen was a flight risk. So, it ended up with Mikael steering the trolly, while Jeremy lead them down every aisle, adding everything that had been depleted from the kitchen as well as some toiletries.

In his head, Jeremy couldn’t help but remember the times he went to the store with his parents, as a kid and right before they both died. Grayson Gilbert very rarely ventured to the store and if he did, he was equipped with a crumpled piece of paper with all of the needed items and a blank stare as his eyes roamed over the different products - more than once, he would buy the wrong thing and Miranda with merely sigh in perplexed amusem*nt as he patted his shoulder for a job-well-done. Miranda was the one that Jeremy went with to the shops (Elena rarely had the time to do such a menial task when she had friends, school, boyfriend and cheer squad practice to deal with, so Jeremy would often volunteer his own time to help their mother) leading the teen from isle to isle in quick succession as the teen dutifully followed behind, pushing the trolly and pulling a put-upon expression as it got steadily heavier with each new item added.

Looking at the stoic vampire from the corner of his eyes, Jeremy wondered how he should feel about the original intruding on such a precious memory. Should he feel angered and indignant that, now, whenever he thinks of going to the store, he not only thinks of his parents, but of the time an ancient vampire forced him to buy food? Should he feel amused that such a powerful being was doing something so entertainingly simple, like watching a dog correctly use a human toilet? Should he feel nothing of it at all? After all, Jeremy had been to the store on many occasions, with and without his parents, and it wasn’t exactly a special bonding experience they’d once participated in and it wasn’t like Mikael was trying to teach him how to draw, or anything…

Still, Jeremy couldn’t help but think that maybe Mikael was trying to form some kind of connection between them by doing this with him.

“How much more do you need to get?” Mikael spoke, startling Jeremy from his internal musings.

It took him a moment to realise what the vampire had said before he distractedly pointed towards the end of the shop, “I just need a few frozen things and then we can go to check out, faðir.”

It took Jeremy a few steps down the aisle to realise that Mikael was no longer with him, having frozen on the spot, as he stared at Jeremy with an unreadable expression, knuckles white as he tightly gripped the bar. It only took Jeremy a few seconds of frowning in confusion, before realisation and horror struck him like a bolt of lightning. Instantly, his face and the tips of his ears became inflamed with embarrassment as he stared at the original hunter with shock-wide eyes and his mouth agape.

“I- No- I- W-What I mean- I didn’t-“ Jeremy stammered out, his chest growing tighter as he fumbled in the face of Mikael’s stoic expression.

“It seems that some of your memories have unlocked Henrik’s mother tongue,” the blonde commented, finally unfreezing and proceeding as normal towards Jeremy.

Happy that the man didn’t seem to be addressing the fact that Jeremy had called him ‘father’, the teen turned and continued to their desired location, “I did it before, but I didn’t know I was speaking it until Klaus pointed it out - it just sounded like English to me,” he shrugged, “I don’t actually know the language… It’s like I have muscle memory without any actual memory of it.”

“Intriguing,” the vampire hummed, watching as Jeremy opened a freezer door to pinch a bag of chips, “Perhaps if I give you a few teachings, you could have a better understanding of it? The language could then come more naturally and you would be able to prevent yourself from using it among any unwanted company.”

Jeremy paused for a second before he spun on his heel and carried on with his task, although he was pretty sure that the ancient being had caught the light flush of happiness on his cheeks anyway, “Thanks. I’ll probably take you up on that.”

“Of course, minn sonr.” Mikael replied in kind, an extremely small smile gracing his own stern features as he watched Jeremy dig further into his chosen freezer, completely missing the phenomenon.

“… Rebekah’s been taken out of the running, I don’t know where they hid the body,” Stefan reported over the phone with mild annoyance in his voice, “I’m not sure what I can do to settle this all backdown and I don’t know what their planning, Bonnie’s been burning sage a lot more than usual.”

“That’s fine, Stefan,” Klaus waved off, keeping his voice controlled with a face like thunder, “I’ve done what I’ve set out to do. I’ll be back in a few days.” he hung up without another word, trying to resist the urge to throw his phone against the wall and smash it into a million pieces. This was not how he wanted things to go, but he couldn’t just turn his back on the situation, not when Henrik’s life and well-fair hung in the balance.

Growling low in his throat and flashing his gold eyes, Klaus turned to one of his minions, “Tell the others to pack what they want. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

“Where to, Boss?” the hybrid asked.

“Back to Mystic Falls, Virginia,” Klaus informed grimly. He waited for the minion to walk off, before he turned his face to the window, his expression set in stone as he glared at the horizon, “No more running,” he uttered to himself, “I’m finally strong enough to take him down once and for all… For Henrik...”

Chapter 16: Inner turmoils

Chapter Text

Living with Mikael hadn’t been as bad as Jeremy had been expecting.

At first, the mere presence of the original vampire hunter felt like pure hell: he wasn’t someone that Jeremy wanted to be around and the teen wasn’t exactly thrilled to have another person in the house after he’d become accustomed to living on his own. All the new freedoms and responsibilities that he’d gotten used to over the months were suddenly thrown out the window and it made Jeremy’s hackles go up in an instant, like stroking a cat’s fur in the wrong direction.

The vampire was a constant presence, acting like a second shadow when Jeremy was around the house and while he never forced Jeremy to constantly interact, he did make sure that he was within the teen’s eyesight, either helping to cut vegetables for dinner, or reading a book quietly from the corner of Jeremy’s eye. It made the hair on the back of the teen’s neck stand on end, muscles tense and waiting for some undermining comment or threat, which never came. If Jeremy didn’t know any better, he’d say that Mikael was trying to condition him into accepting the vampire’s presence, so when it came for the original to take him, it wouldn’t be much of a drastic situation to get used to.

While Jeremy had sighed with relief at the thought of school and time away from the vampire’s gaze, he’d somehow forgotten the complexity of high school and how much of a trial it was. Classes, essays, asshole teachers, asshole classmates and more, were not the safe haven that Jeremy was desperately searching for. The silver lining had been that the teen had an excuse to stay behind at school ‘in order to complete his studies' and hide out in the library for as long as he could. However, that plan had swiftly come crumbling down when Mikael had strolled into the building and dragged Jeremy out by force after the vampire had waited outside in his new car. After that, the new rule was established that Jeremy would come out of school as soon as the bell rang to be picked up by Mikael, who was always on time…

The vampire was definitely trying to condition him, like some form of Stockholm syndrome, at least that was Jeremy’s winning theory for the time being.

What was most disappointing was that the rest of the gang didn’t so much as blink at his new situation. While Matt and Alaric had taken him aside to make sure he was okay and not in any danger - Alaric going so far as to give him an extra bundle of vervain and a selection of small weapons - the others hadn’t shown any kind of concern. Elena had asked how he was getting on before waving goodbye as she’d done before, and the others didn’t even mention his predicament and whenever it was brought up in conversation, they’d steer it in a completely different direction, not addressing the issue at all. Jeremy tried not to debate that the lack of response from everyone was because he wasn’t Elena, that he wasn’t as important as Elena and so his health, happiness and freedom didn’t matter. He tried not to think about how Bonnie, Caroline and the Salvatore brothers would have forcibly taken him from that house and all but declared war on Mikael if it had been Elena in his place.

Forcibly, Jeremy shoved down those emotions and insecurities, bringing his focus back to the sketchpad that he’d been drawing in while his mind was elsewhere. Instantly a rush of instinctual fear rushed through the teen as he blinked down at the gothic drawing. The setting was all black and so dark that his fingers and hands were completely coated in charcoal, and he could make out the figures of trees in the dark shades, but he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure. Between the shadowed trees, were dozens of wolf eyes, the moonlight reflecting off retinas, making them eerily white as they all focused on him from within their drawn landscape. Jeremy tried to swallow, his logical mind repeating, on a mantra, that it wasn’t real, that it was merely a drawing, and that he had no reason to be scared, but that didn’t stop his hand from trembling as he messily ripped the page from his book, crumpling it in a white-knuckled grip before he let it fall to the floor. Internally, Jeremy knew what he’d drawn, knew that he’d drawn the last moments before his Henrik’s death, but he had no desire to even acknowledge something so obviously traumatic and set his charcoal pencil on a new blank canvas, determined to draw the formation of flowers that were on the table before him.

“How much longer are you going to deny the obvious?” Mikael’s voice came from behind him, not startling Jeremy nearly as much as it should - another sign that the teen had lived in the vampire’s presence for far too long.

“Deny what?” Jeremy asked with a small displeased huff - he’d stopped blanking the vampire when it became clear that Mikael could out-silence him…

“That you and Henrik are one and the same,” the blonde stepped around Jeremy’s chair and sat on the sofa, “At one point, you were convinced, yourself, weren’t you?”

How did he know that?

“That’s neither here nor there,” Jeremy shrugged as he turned his eyes back to his drawing, lightly sketching the outline he wanted, “And even if I am Henrik’s reincarnation, why would that matter? I am not Henrik in this life, I am Jeremy and I have been over fifteen years. Memories are… weird. They can be repressed or changed, and they don’t define who you are, so why would it matter that I have some of his?”

Mikael was quiet for a while, blue eyes practically burning into Jeremy’s skin with an unreadable expression. The teen thought the conversion was over until the vampire spoke once more, tone decisive, “If a family member, say, Elena, lost her memories of everything that she’d ever experienced in life: her name, her schooling, her family. Would she be someone else? Or would she still be Elena to you?” the question was met with silence; Jeremy was completely unwilling to concede and admit that the blonde was right on some level. “By some miracle, my son has been reborn and he has even regained some of his memories. You may not be the same person, but in my eyes, you were and will always be my son, Jeremy.”

For a few seconds, Jeremy sat with silent consideration, his sketching momentarily forgotten, “You call me Jeremy…” he started, before halting slightly, but Mikael seemed to have more than enough patience for Jeremy to stumble through his thoughts, “I like that… When I was with Klaus, he never called me ‘Jeremy’, only ‘Henrik’ and it felt like he was trying to replace me with him. But you never call me Henrik…”

Instantly, at the mere mention of Klaus, Mikael’s expression became distasteful, like he was sucking on a lemon, and sniffed in displeasure, “That impudent, weak child knows nothing. A millennium of life with all the knowledge at his fingertips and yet he continues to remain stupid. I have spent many years gathering information and reading studies on your condition, as well as many others, and I know that just because you are Henrik Mikaelson, doesn’t mean that you aren’t Jeremy Gilbert.”

“Couldn’t you just… compel me to forget myself?” Jeremy asked, genuinely curious. To Jeremy, Mikael seemed like a rare breed of vampire. After spending so much time with the Salvatore brothers and other passing vampires (who are now all dead), Jeremy never depicted any of them as being smart. Some were knowledgable, but most tended to act foolish with a god complex so large that Jeremy wondered how they were even still alive (i.e. the Salvatore brothers), but Mikael showed an intelligence that was completely separate from his ruthless reputation. Mikael was philosophical and kept up with the times and ideals, broadening his understanding of the world more and more despite being born at a time when people believed that Norse gods existed and that if they sailed over the horizon, they’d fall off the face of the earth.

“I could,” Mikael nodded, “But the brain is much more complicated than that,” he shook his head and then sat forward, an action that Jeremy noticed to be the vampire’s ‘lecture position’, making the teen’s lips twitch with unwanted fondness, “While vampires would be considered the apex predator of this entire world, there are still a few short-comings. A stake to the heart kills us, a werewolf bite is fatal and the sunlight is damning. There is a reason why when a compelled human becomes a vampire, they remember everything they were forced to forget,” Jeremy’s mind instantly went to Caroline, “When we compel humans to forget, the memory isn’t extracted from their mind, but suppressed in a way that is inaccessible and when they are turned into a vampire, the brain is temporarily killed, before it reboots, allowing those particular memories to resurface.”

“So, you’re saying that you could make me forget, but choose not to because I could get it all back if I became a vampire?” Jeremy frowned with a tilt of his head. Surely, with the Mikaelson family being originals, they could just compel him as a vampire.

“This is merely an example of how complicated the human brain is when it comes to suppressed memories,” Mikael corrected with a patience that always took Jeremy by surprise, “Usually, compulsion is a basis of mind control, temporarily manipulating the brain’s functions and directing them in a way that we desire, but there is a backlash if the orders are too complicated or long - the brain knows something is wrong, which halts the compulsion and leaves the human in a confused daze. An entire person’s life is a huge amount of knowledge to suppress and while it could be possible, for a small time, the brain would never be able to hide such a vast amount of information from itself and would eventually come back little by little. Even as an original vampire, I would never be able to completely suppress your life and experiences as Jeremy Gilbert.”

In response, Jeremy hummed, curiosity satisfied in a way that he knew he’d never get from anyone else in Mystic Falls. Elena and everyone else seemed happy to accept everything that they knew as the absolute truth, which was why they were blind-sided so often by things such as the existence of werewolves and the concept of the original vampires; something Jeremy always attempted to question, only to be ignored or turned away. It felt nice to have someone provide him with the answers that he was so often denied.

“Would you like to carry on our session in Norse?” Mikael asked after a moment of content silence between them.

Instantly, Jeremy’s satisfaction came crumbling down. While Mikael was a better housemate than Jeremy had expected, the vampire had an uncanny sense of perfection, believing that anything and everything that anyone attempts in life should be done to death - in other words, give it your all, or give it nothing. Mikael was very against half-assing anything and that led to some of their difficult language sessions becoming intense to the point that Jeremy wished a painful death on either himself or the vampire before him…

“Do I have a choice?” Jeremy gave the blonde a disdainful side-eye.

Mikael’s response was a simple deadpan, “No.”

Jeremy took back every semi-nice thing he ever thought about the psychotic vampire…

For a few days, now, Jeremy had noticed something suspicious at school and for once, it had nothing to do with the supernatural of Mystic Falls - he thinks… School had been as dull and boring as usual (Jeremy didn’t have any friends in his year and he saw no reason to reach out to any of them in the first place - they’d only be killed through involvement anyways, so he didn’t see the point in trying), but he’d noticed that the teachers had been giving him strange looks for a while, now. In all honesty, the teen had no idea when those looks started, but now that he’d noticed, he couldn’t help the way his nerves flared and frayed under the extra unwanted attention.

The teachers didn’t seem compelled in any kind of way and Jeremy knew that Alaric liked to douse the staff room coffee machine with vervain, so it wasn’t anything supernatural. At the very least, none of the others were overly concerned, or curious about the teachers, so Jeremy forced the idea to the back of his mind.

It was his art teacher that made the first move.

During breaks and lunch periods, Jeremy liked to linger in the art room, the teacher allowing him to use the supplies for his messier art pieces, like painting (Grayson and Miranda Gilbert had never allowed Jeremy to use paints in the house, limiting him to pencil and charcoal drawings - a rule that he continued to follow, despite their passing). Mrs Addison shared enough of his passion for art to let him do as he pleased, so long as he didn’t use the room for a hangout. She was the only teacher Jeremy actually liked, besides Alaric, of course.

“Jeremy,” a hesitant voice started, jolting the teen from their artistic trance.

Blinking, Jeremy pulled away from his oil painting and looked around the empty classroom, “Sorry Mrs Addison, did I miss the bell, again?”

The short elderly woman shook her head, her rainbow-streaked white hair swaying with the motion, “No dear, I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”

Looking at the woman, Jeremy could feel his hackles rise and dread churn in his stomach at the teacher’s hesitant and concerned demeanour, before swallowing the emotions back down and giving a firm nod.

“The other teachers and I know that you don’t like to visit the school’s therapist, and with your aunt Jenna’s recent passing, I was wondering if you were doing okay?” she tilted her head, but Jeremy hesitated slightly when he saw the old woman’s eyes, a hidden concern lurking in-between the words of her question.

“I’m not gonna lie, it was hard to come to terms with, which was why a family friend of ours decided to take me out of state for the summer,” Jeremy gave a lacklustre smile, ignoring the wrongness that his words brought to him. It was the agreed story he and everyone else was sticking to if anyone ever asked about his kidnapping, no matter how much Jeremy felt like he and everyone else was downplaying what had happened to him, “But I think I’ve been doing okay since I came back,” he lied through his teeth.

“How about at home? Is everything okay there?” the teacher prodded, a little too instantly for Jeremy’s liking.

“Everything’s fine, Mrs Addison,” Jeremy snapped a little bit too harshly than he’d intended, making him internally wince. “Sorry Mrs A, I know you’re worried, but could I get back to my project? Please?” he tacked on, trying to be polite as possible, despite how agitated he felt at all the interrogative questions.

The teacher looked a little upset, her eyes flickering down briefly before she seemed to gather herself and offered a smile, “That’s fine, dear, I just wanted to check up on my favourite student.”

Relief nearly flooded Jeremy’s system at the usual banter that the elderly lady held in her tone and Jeremy couldn’t help but offer an amused smile, “I don’t think your supposed to have a favourite, Mrs A.”

“What the others don’t know, won't hurt them,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand, making Jeremy chuckle, “You have twenty minutes until the lunch bell, make sure to pack away your thing before you leave, yes?”

“Of course, Mrs A,” the teen huffed with a smirk, secretly relieved that he’d managed to dodge the small woman’s questions.

Over an hour later, the last bell rang and Jeremy immediately gathered his things to meet Mikael in the parking area, like he did every other day - much to the teen’s silent irritation. A hard breeze smacked Jeremy in the side of the face, tussling the half-curled strands of hair into his vision, the locks now having grown past his ears and his bangs reaching down to his lips - he really, really needed to book a haircut at some point, or it was going to reach down to his shoulders soon.

Suddenly, a strong hand clamped around his shoulder, stopping him mid-stride as he worked to gather his hair from his face.

“Oh,” he fumbled slightly in surprise, “Sorry about that, I didn’t see you…” Jeremy pulled the stubborn strands from his eyes, in defiance of the wind, only to trail off in shock as the beginnings of fear and dread dropped into the pit of his stomach. Before him stood a terrifyingly familiar face and a terrifyingly familiar smirk. “Klaus…” was all Jeremy managed to blurt out, the rest of his voice clogging up in his throat.

“Hello, little brother,” Klaus hummed, a devious glint in his eyes as he moved to swing his arm over Jeremy’s shoulders, keeping a subtle and firm grip on the teen the entire time, “I heard from a little bird that you’re living situation had recently changed.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything - couldn’t say anything - as his muscles tensed and his brain seized with the effort to compute what he was seeing before him. While Jeremy knew that the vampire would come back, while he knew that being in Mystic Falls was merely a brief intermission, the teen still couldn’t bring himself to move passed his all-consuming fear and dread. It was like the dam that was holding all of his emotions and thoughts about Klaus had finally broken. The worst thing was that Jeremy had known that dam was going to break at some point, but he never knew just how powerful those feelings and thoughts would be when they hit him all at once…

“Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

The hand on his shoulder tightened a little bit, giving Jeremy enough warning for his eyes to widen with realisation as his stomach sank with dread. The only words to escape Jeremy’s lips was a panicked stutter of, “W-Wait-“ before all sense of direction left him and he was forced to close his eyes. When the awareness came back to him, Jeremy jerked his head up to stare around at the view of endless trees from where his body was uncomfortably slung over Klaus’ shoulder. An instant later, the usual queasiness that came from vampire travel had Jeremy closing his eyes again in an attempt to regain control of his stomach - how Elena managed to handle tug-of-war via vampire speed, Jeremy would never know.

“And now,” Klaus gracefully spun on his heel, with his arms theatrically held out, with a smirk on his lips, not even blinking when Jeremy stumbled over a tree root as he attempted to gather his bearings, “We wait.”

“Wait?” Jeremy questioned, finally finding his right footing, “What are we- Where- Why-“

“I gathered that father was keeping you in close proximity other than to lure me back into town,” Klaus gave a knowing smile, “There were a million other ways to have caught my attention and force my hand, but he chose to go with keeping you at his beck and call. All that did was expose a weakness that I can and will take advantage of.”

“I could say the same thing about you, boy,” a chilling voice washed over the pair, immediately forcing their attention to the new presence. Mikael regarded Klaus with a sneer as he dropped three bloodied hearts on the forest floor, uncaring of the dead leaves and dirt that clung to the useless organ. “You haven’t changed at all,” he looked Klaus up and down, stepping passed the hearts without a second look back, “Still so weak and cowardly that you have others attempt to do your grunt work, I see.”

“It’s called being smart and powerful, something that seems to elude you,” Klaus sneered in turn, true hatred flashing in his eyes.

“You think yourself stronger, boy?” Mikael snarled, lips curling up in a threatening way.

Klaus remained cool and collected as he stared down the man that had chased him down like a dog for his entire life, that had nearly driven him insane from fear of being caught, that had kept him from truly enjoying immortality as he attempted to keep a low profile in every city he landed in. This was the man that lead a deep-seated hatred for Klaus, for centuries, for reasons that the hybrid never truly knew…

“This ends today!” Klaus roared with all the fierceness of a Viking warrior he was trained to be as a child.

Then, between one blink to the next, the vampires clashed, bodies moving in a blur of motion to the point where Jeremy could only guess what was happening. Klaus was on the offensive as he charged with all of his strength, letting his werewolf take control as his teeth and eyes flashed with murder and claws extended on the tips of his fingers, while Mikael blocked and dodged each attempt with a practiced ease that made the whole fight look choreographed. There was a deadly grace in the way that both powerful beings moved that kept Jeremy from looking away and running for his life, while he still had the chance.

Jeremy flinched when Klaus’ kick landed on a tree as Mikael spun out of the way, causing the bark to buckle and crack, the noise deafening to the point that Jeremy was forced to cover his ears as he watched the tree slowly sway and fall with horror in his eyes. He was forced to duck and cover when large splinters exploded from the fallen tree, flying several feet in all directions. The growing dangers of a supernatural fight was causing Jeremy’s internal vice to start screaming at him to turn on his heel and run as fast as he could, anything to get away from the situation he was being forced to witness, but primal fear kept him rooted to the spot as he stared at the chaos with unblinking eyes, hands curled in a white-knuckled grip to the point where his blunt nails were cutting into his palms.

Then, Mikael threw his head back and gave a deep laugh that made Jeremy’s form turn rigid like ice was crawling up his spine and spreading down to all his limbs, keeping him in place. Jeremy had never heard anyone laugh like that, but the teen knew that it would soon be another reoccurring feature in his nightmares. The sheer insanity and bloodlust that came from that one sound alone was haunting and completely out of place for some of Mikael’s character and it made Jeremy think about who, exactly, he’d been living with all this time.

“You call this power?” Mikael roared, fanged teeth bared to the hybrid, “You say how much you’ve changed and grown stronger, now that you’ve unlocked that disgusting vermin inside of you, but all I see is the weak cowardly child that you’ve always been! Always too slow! Always too weak! Always too emotional! Everything about you has always been lacking and that stands true to this day!”

“ENOUGH!” the hybrid bellowed, his control visibly slipping more and more, “You know nothing! You spent a thousand years hunting me down, seeking my demise and FOR WHAT?! This hate goes far beyond the death of your wife and the discovery of her infidelity with me! You have always attacked me, tortured me and for no other reason than your fake posturing!” he growled, “You despised all of us in some way, every piece of imperfection picked at and obsessed over! Every show of brilliance brushed off and dismissed! Only Henrik was ever spared from your hatred and that was only because he had yet to reach the age to experience it!”

“Henrik was nothing but innocent in the face of your treachery-“

“And I will not allow him to fall to your hands!” Klaus carried on, his voice overthrowing Mikael’s easily, “I will not allow him to experience your expectations and your tortures! I will not allow him to grow as I did, as all of us did! I will not allow him to live in fear of your rage and contempt!” Another punch was thrown, but Mikael managed to skilfully duck away.

“And yet, which of us has done him more damage?” Mikael pointed out cruelly, making Jeremy subconsciously flinch at the unwanted reminder, while Klaus looked down at his father with nothing but pure rage, “Which of us does he have nightmares about, which of us has harmed him and terrorised him, which of us does he actively run away from without the use of compulsion to keep him near?!”

“SHUT UP!!!” Klaus charged forward with no thought or plan, anger driving him to act irrationally.

Jeremy’s eyes widened when Mikael pulled out a white wooden stake from within his jacket, a gleam of madness and victory in his blue eyes. A rush of indeterminable emotions and thoughts rushed through Jeremy’s system, like an electric current, all of them mixing and going far too fast to pick out and process; the only thing he could think of was his last talk with Elena, at school, when she mentioned that Mikael had a weapon to kill Klaus once and for all, although she had no clue what it actually was. All rational thought seemed to abandon him, forcing Jeremy to act on instinct alone.

“Nikaus!” the teen shouted, raw panic cracking his voice as his heart seized with something akin to fear, “Watch out!”

From one instant to the next, with a speed that Jeremy’s human eyes couldn’t keep up with, Klaus seemed to regain his rationalisation, but Jeremy couldn’t see if the hit had landed, Klaus’ back hiding the result as both the originals stood in the middle of the ripped up forest, completely immobile. For a moment, Jeremy could only stare at the pair with wide eyes, breath in his throat and his lungs burning as the seconds of stillness ticked by. Then, Mikael moved back, a smile curling his lips and Jeremy felt the bottom of his heart drop out. The hit had landed. Niklaus was dead. He was dead.

But then Mikael stepped back, stumbling until he landed on the downtrodden ground, and it was only then that Jeremy realised that the stake he’d intended for Klaus was sticking out of his own chest. Instantly, the hunter started to turn grey, skin shrivelling as he choked out a pained gasp. If anything, the pain and fear in Jeremy’s heart tripled in intensity, tears instantly pricking at his eyes as he stared at Mikael.

Blue eyes met brown and Jeremy finally felt reality come back to him, jolting his body into movement. Against his will, his foot stepped forward, one after the other until he was breaking out into a run, his eyes solely pinned on Mikael’s prone form. However, before he could get to the hunter, steel-like arms wrapped around him and pulled him away, the teen’s legs swinging in the air before they settled on the ground again.

“Henrik,” Klaus started, easily holding into the struggling teen, as he kept him away from Mikael, “Calm down. It’s over! It’s over.”

The tears were heavy, now, streaming down his cheeks as his face twisted with anguish. No words escaped his mouth. In all, he didn’t know what he wanted to say, what he should say, or what the right thing to say even was. Staring into those dying blue eyes, Jeremy felt a crippling amount of guilt wash over him with the force of a tsunami. It was his fault. If he hadn’t called out; if he’d just kept quiet; if he’d turned and ran away when he had the chance, none of this would have happened.

“I-I’m s-sor-ry,” Jeremy managed to shudder out between his swallowed sobs of breath, uncaring that Klaus’ grip grew even tighter at Jeremy’s words.

“Henrik,” Mikael started, tone stressed and weak as more and more of him shrivelled up, “Jeremy, my son…” he took a shuddering, dying breath, “I am glad to have finally found you, after all these years of searching… Even if it was just for a little while…” before anything else could be said, Mikael’s body suddenly caught alight, flames scorching the clothes and eating away at the skin, destroying the immortal body within seconds.

“Faðir…” Jeremy whimpered softly, feeling like his heart was breaking as he watched Mikael burn away.

“Come on,” Klaus spoke again, tone softer than before as he pulled Jeremy more firmly into his arms, thankfully ignoring the teen’s faint hiccuping sobs, “It’s over…”

That was the last thing that Jeremy recalled before he realised he was in front of his house. Either Klaus had compelled him to sleep, or Jeremy had simply disassociated from the overwhelming emotions he’d been feeling, the teen didn’t know. What he did know, was that he was perched on the wooden steps of the familiar porch of his home, without Klaus anywhere in sight. Maybe he had some courtesy to leave Jeremy alone for the time being; the teen would have completely shut down if even more stress had been added to his shoulders. Whatever the hybrid’s reason was for giving the teen some space, he was thankful.

Drained and tired, in a way that Jeremy had never felt before, he picked himself up from the uncomfortable steps and proceeded to make his way inside and then up the stairs, to his bedroom. He couldn’t bring himself to deal with much of anything else. It was over and Jeremy had been helpless to do anything and, even in the aftermath, he was still helpless in what was bound to happen to him, whatever that may be.

With defeat, guilt, grief and all manner of other emotions weighing on his mind and shoulders, Jeremy flopped bonelessly onto his bed, not even attempting to remove his dirt-crusted clothes, and drifted off to sleep…

Chapter 17: Fight back

Chapter Text

Days pass without a word or sign from Klaus, but Jeremy was learning not to give a damn about the man at the moment. He’d spent so much time worrying over Klaus’ presence and his anger and his possible future actions, he’d exhausted himself from constant stress and worry. For now, Jeremy set aside his emotions of fear for Klaus, an accomplishment easily done when he thought over his own bitter emotions towards the hybrid.

Ever since Jeremy had been dropped off at home, without Mikael there to drag him out of bed, pester him about cleanliness and showering, and pile his plate with food that Jeremy didn’t know he had in the cupboards. The house was… empty. Once again, Jeremy was alone and he couldn’t bring himself to climb over the mass of guilt, shame and loneliness that was trying to suffocate him.

He couldn’t bring himself to go down the stairs and eat food; he couldn’t bring himself to care about school, let alone actually pull himself together enough to go there; he couldn’t even bring himself to take off the mud-crusted clothes he’d worn that night. For some reason, Jeremy couldn’t get himself to do anything, but lay in bed and sleep the days away.

Slowly, Jeremy’s world was turning grey and he couldn’t find it in himself to particularly care. The only thing he did was turn over in his bed to face the wall, further ignoring the world around him.

That was until Caroline, Matt and Tyler practically broke down his front door. Or well, Caroline and Matt did, while Tyler was stuck outside the door without an invite due to his new hybrid status.

The blonde duo had all but frogmarched him to the front door, forcing the younger teen to invite the football player in, before they dumped him in the living room. There, they all sat in silence, staring at him with unreadable eyes, making Jeremy’s irritation grow, and grow, and grow…

“What?!” Jeremy snapped, glare in place as he eyed each of the unwelcome guests, “Why are you here? What do you want?”

“Jere…” Caroline started, tone soft and comforting in a way that Jeremy hated. Caroline had never talked to him like that before like he was some kind of victim like he needed kiddie gloves like he hadn’t gotten through tougher sh*t than this.

As if sensing that his hackles were raised, Matt jumped in, his usual ‘older brother’ vibe in full force as he stared at Jeremy with sympathetic blue eyes, “Look, Jeremy, it’s clear that you’re going through a hard time right now and we just wanted to make sure that you were okay.”

“I’m fine,” Jeremy stated, tone hard and guarded as he attempted to force the trio out of his house through sheer will alone. Tyler scoffed loudly and Jeremy’s irritation rose further, tinging with anger, “Got something to say, Wolf-boy?”

“Yeah,” Tyler scoffed once more, “Do you think we’re stupid?” Jeremy went to deliver another scathing remark, but was spoken over by the hybrid, “You don’t show up to school, you don’t answer our calls. Hell, the only reason we know that Mikael is dead is because Klaus came by and ‘released’ Stefan from his service! It’s clear that you haven’t showered or changed clothes in several days! Have you even eaten anything, huh?!”

“Tyler!” Matt cut off the hybrid from any further ranting, cutting his friend a stern glare.

“Jere we’re just worried about you,” Carline carried on, her tone just as soft and caring as before, “We had no idea if you were dead or alive and Elena is worried sick-“

“Bullsh*t.”

“What?” Caroline blinked in slight shock before her brows crinkled in confusion.

Jeremy gave the trio a disbelieving look before he shook his head and gave a bitter chuckle, “Elena? Being worried about me? Total bullsh*t, right there.”

“Jere, what do you mean?” Caroline carried on, looking genuinely confused by Jeremy’s attitude, “She’s your sister, of course, she’s worried about you-“

“No, she doesn’t!” Jeremy cut off, voice raised and echoing through the empty house, “Maybe she did, once upon a time, and maybe she did when I wasn’t here this summer, but she doesn’t actually care. If she cared, she would have done everything in her power to get me away from Mikael. If she cared, she would have stayed by my side the whole time. If she cared, she would be here, right now!” he shouted, his eyes stinging from tears that he refused to let fall, “Elena hasn’t been an older sister to me in a long time, so don’t f*cking tell me that she’s worried about me, because we all know that’s f*cking bullsh*t!” he took a breath to calm down, his voice coming back down to a reasonable level, “Elena’s always had a list of priorities in her mind and once upon a time, I was near the top of the list, but right now, with Stefan, Damon and Klaus, I don’t even break the top ten, and that’s a fact.”

The silence was stinging, but Jeremy revelled in it as he stared at the awkwardly shifting teens. Everything he’d said was the truth and there wasn’t a way any of them could refute that.

“Elena is one can of worms that isn’t going to get sorted out any time soon,” Tyler spoke up, face open and earnest, “But we didn’t come here to tell you about Elena, or anyone else, we came here for you. And don’t spout some sh*t about Elena, because she isn’t why you haven’t moved from your bed in four days. So, are you gonna keep puss*footing about the problem, or are you going to tell us?”

Jeremy kept quiet, lips pursed and body language guarded - he wasn’t going to tell them a single thing.

“I never told you about what happened with Vicki, did I?” Matt asked with a solemn tone, regret and grief on his face, “It was great to talk to her and, in a way, her being killed was the best thing that had happened to me. Not because I lost her, but because, now, we could spend more than five minutes without her running off to drink in the forest, or take any line of pills that she could get ahold of. For the first time in years, Vicki was completely sober and was holding a normal conversation. It was everything I had ever dreamed of when she was alive,” Matt sighed deeply, shoulders hunching slightly like the confession was physically weighing on him, “She kept talking about being able to come back and I remember thinking that I would do anything to make that happen. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did, no one does… But, it turns out, her plan was to use this ‘witch on the Other Side’s’ power to kill Elena… For a split second, I considered letting her do it. I thought about how Vicki could turn things around, how she could finish school and get a job, find the right guy and settle down. I thought about how she could have the perfect life I always wanted her to have one day, instead of the death she got because of her thin connection to Elena. But then, I thought about how Elena didn’t deserve to die either and I knew I couldn’t sit back and live with that knowledge… So, I severed Vicki’s connection to me and I haven’t seen her since,” Matt finished weakly, a small tremor in his voice before he managed to get ahold of his emotions once again, “It felt like I’d killed Vicki all over again… It took me a long time to come back from that, to stop feeling as angry or hollow, because of what I did. It still bothers me sometimes, the emotions would just catch me by surprise at the most random times. I’m better now, and I have my friends to thank for that. I didn’t have to tell them everything, but them just being there for me, was enough.”

Jeremy twisted his fingers together, picking at his nails, as he tried to process what Matt had said and how the teen had felt. How had Jeremy missed all of that? How had he gotten so consumed by his own problems, that he’d looked at Matt every day, at school, and completely dismissed him?

Then, Caroline leaned forward slightly, a grimace on her face and her usually bright blue eyes clouded with pained memories, “My dad kidnapped me and tortured me for an entire day…” her hands trembled slightly before she clenched them in a white-knuckled grip, “He was a member of the Forbes family. He’d read the journals, practiced with the weapons and hated vampires with a passion, so when he found out that I was one… He did everything he could to ‘cure’ me. He took my daylight ring and opened the shutters of the cell I was in… It wasn’t enough to kill me, but it was enough to make me wish for it…” she laughed bitterly, a strange sound to come from a person that Jeremy always perceived as bright and bubbly, “When I finally got rescued, I managed to talk to my dad. I hoped that if I could explain to him… If I could just tell him about how much control I have and how I was still the little girl he loved, but he only called me a monster and walked away… I wish that I could hate him, I wish that I could turn my back on him, like he did to me, and cut him from my life forever. If he refused to change, or open his mind just a little bit for his only child, then why should I give a damn about him. But, in reality, I know that if he came back into my life and asked to hang out for the day, I’d jump at the chance. I wish I could hate him,” she repeated again, hot tears slowly falling down her cheeks, “But I love him too much.”

Silently, everyone turned to look at Tyler, watching expectantly until the hybrid huffed and rolled his eyes, “Fine, I guess it’s my time for our little share circle,” he roughly rubbed his chin, his leg jigging before he clamped his hand over it, “I’m not angry that Klaus killed me. Sure, it sucked and it was a terrifying experience, but I’d rather be a hybrid than a werewolf. You can’t imagine what it was like for me to experience the most painful and terrifying thing in my life, and then wait another thirty days for the exact same thing to happen again. It was a miserable existence of torture and waiting… I’m glad that Klaus turned me into a hybrid, that I never have to turn on the full moon ever again. And that might seem f*cked up to everyone else, but I don’t give a sh*t what Elena and the others think,” he huffed, a glare of distaste on his features before he shook it off and nodded to Jeremy, “Now, you go.”

Jeremy felt his chest seize up again, like the words he wanted to say were being plunged as far down his throat as they would go. What he was feeling… He could barely make heads or tails of it. It was just so… ridiculous that Jeremy felt like as soon as he uttered the thoughts that were on his mind, he’d be sent to a mental asylum.

As if reading his mind, Caroline reached forward and tentatively touched his hand, her grip growing bolder when he didn’t flinch away from the contact, “There’s no wrong answer here, Jere. We’ve all gone through messed up stuff and we don’t exactly… deal with the issues correctly. But the one thing we can do is be there for one another, which is what we want to do for you. Just getting something off your chest and telling someone how you feel, or think, can do wonders for you.”

For a moment, Jeremy considered just getting up from the sofa, going to his room and locking the door. He wanted to run from this… God, did he ever want to run from all of this, but something stopped him. Something about Caroline’s words hit him, he didn’t know who or when, but he felt like someone had given him that kind of advice before…

“Mikael made it clear from the very beginning that, as soon as Klaus dropped dead, he was going to skip town and take me with him, whether I wanted to or not,” Jeremy started, shamelessly stalling for what he was about to spout out in a few seconds, “He was terrifying and I wanted him out of my space, my house, and my life, but… God, I don’t even know what he did, but he started to make me feel… Happy? Wanted? I don’t know what I felt, but Mikael would drop me off and pick me up from school, teach me more about what the hell’s going on with me, and he would go shopping with me for food when we were running low,” he laughed wetly at that, the memory of their first shopping trip becoming painful, “I even accidentally f*cking called him ‘dad’!” he shot up from the cushions, suddenly finding it unbearable to stay still, “How lame- How desperate can one person be, to call a person, who wanted to kill your sister and kidnap you, ‘dad’?! What?! Am I that much of a f*cking wreck that as soon as someone shows me, even a smidgen, of affection, I see them as my f*cking family?!” Jeremy shouted, pacing the living room.

The others were staring at him, patiently waiting for him to finish… whatever the hell he was talking about. Jeremy didn’t even know what he was saying anymore; he’d opened a dam and now everything was pouring out, whether it made sense or not. “Don’t even get me started on Klaus,” Jeremy bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile, looking truly insane for a split second, “Bastard kidnapped me and tormented me for the entire summer. Every time I did something wrong, I’d go a mile in the trunk of the car! I’d try to escape and he’d kill the people trying to help me! He told me every day that he was going to turn me into a vampire and he’d laugh when I told him otherwise - like I was just some kid that didn’t have a say in the matter! Even when I came back and he left me alone for a while, I had panic attacks and nightmares and I still can’t stand the idea of vampire blood in my system, in case he ever makes good on that promise!” tears were streaming down his face at this point, his trembling hands failing to keep up with the pace, “Did you know that Mikael actually had a shot of killing Klaus? I could see it, plain as day, and then I opened my mouth and told him to watch out. I called out Klaus’ name because I didn’t want him to die because I care for him and I couldn’t stand there and watch it happen. But now Mikael’s dead and I can’t help but feel like I’ve lost my dad all over again! And it doesn’t help that I know exactly how f*cked up this all is! It’s like there’s a constant voice in the back of my head calling me a freak!” Jeremy tried to take a deep breath, lungs working overtime from the amount of shouting he was doing, “I just… I just…” all the fight seemed to drain away in an instant and Jeremy could feel his muscles losing strength again as his shoulders slumped, “I don’t know what to think or feel anymore… And I’m tired of trying to figure out if they’re right, or not…”

There was a lingering silence for a while. Not the type of silence where judging eyes pricked the back of his neck and made him want to run away, but a silence of patience, like they were making sure that he’d gotten everything out, or like they were carefully contemplating his words instead of shrugging them off. Jeremy didn’t mind this kind of silence, it soothed him, in a way, and made him feel like he wasn’t completely crazy.

“You’re crazy,” Tyler bluntly proclaimed, making Jeremy feel like someone had stabbed him in the heart.

Anger jumped to his aid like a well-wielded weapon, “Shut up! At least I’m not a walking half-zombie that’s thankful to his murderer for killing him!”

The football player scoffed, “‘Half-zombie’, you’re one to talk, revived dead little brother of the original vampire family!”

“It’s reincarnation,” Jeremy corrected with no small amount of spite, “Get it right, dick head.”

“You little sh-“

“Okay!” Caroline cut across, tone sharp and commanding as she effortlessly cut through their little tiff, “I believe that when we agreed to this, we were going to keep an open mind about what we’ve all been through. Everyone’s experienced their own fair share of trauma here, and it’s good to start talking about it with others, who don’t call one another crazy, Tyler, or zombies, Jeremy.”

“Well, he started it-“

“Aw, why don’t you cry me a river, pill pusher-“

“I don’t even do that anymore-“

“Enough!” Caroline shouted, “I don’t care who started it, but I’m finishing it! This is supposed to be a safe place to unravel any issues and make us feel better, not a name-calling session for the dumb and immature!”

“Er, Care,” Matt spoke up, blue eyes alight with amusem*nt and mischief, “You’re kind of the one doing the name-calling, now,”

“Who’s side are you on?!” Caroline flung her hands in the air, in complete exasperation.

Jeremy couldn’t help it, it started as a small sensation in his stomach and only continued to grow in strength as the conversation/argument went on. In the end, he couldn’t contain it any longer and a loud, wheezing, real laugh burst out from his mouth, making everyone completely freeze mid-squabble to stare at him. God, it had felt like a long time since Jeremy had laughed like this, probably since before his parents had died. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders (maybe not all of it, but enough for him to be able to breathe and think properly) and it seemed to be a contagious action, because before Jeremy could force himself to calm down, the rest of the room was laughing with him, their minds finally catching up to the hilarity of the situation.

Once the laughter died down, the four settled in for a mundane evening, watching movies, eating junk food and complaining loudly about the teachers. It was nice and like a breath of fresh air for all of them - it was like they were just teenagers, for the first time in ages. By the time everyone was ready to leave, Jeremy felt better for the first time in a while and grinned widely as he waved them goodbye. It was only Caroline that lingered for a little bit, a smile curling her lips, but concern in her eyes.

“Are you sure you’re okay, now?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy nodded, a grateful expression on his face, “I’m fine, now. I’m not gonna lie and say I’ve never felt better, but… I feel good enough to go to school tomorrow.”

“It’s the weekend, Jere.”

“sh*t!” the teen cursed under his breath, before he shook off the minor set back, “Well, nonetheless, I feel a lot better, now. Thank you for thinking of this and helping me. You’re a true friend,” he reached out and hugged the blonde, something he hadn’t done to Caroline for years, before waving her off of his porch and bidding her goodnight.

For the first time in ages, Jeremy was in a good mood, his chest light and his body feeling flighty - it felt nice.

But, Jeremy also knew the unfortunate pattern of his life: a moment of relief and happiness would always be followed by torment and pain. It was only a matter of time before something came from the left field to beat him over the head again… But, for now, he could enjoy the high of happiness, for a little while longer, at least.

The bane of his happiness turned out to be the appearance of Klaus, something that the teen had seen coming from a mile away. And it wasn’t something he wanted to deal with when he was getting back into the swing of school and catching up on assignments. Caroline, Matt and Tyler had kept in contact the entire time, texting about meet-ups and activities that they could do - Jeremy and Tyler were going to do some crossbow practice.

“Why are you here?” Jeremy asked bluntly, staring at Klaus with as much fake courage as he could muster, students weaving around them as they raced to their car, or to the bus, eager to get home.

“What?” Klaus pouted slightly, although his eyes were alight with amusem*nt, “No hug? It’s been quite a while, little brother, I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

“I would have been happy to never see you again, you mean?” Jeremy fired back. He had no idea how he was being so bold, but he didn’t want to stop now - this was the freest he’d ever felt when talking to the terrifying hybrid. Maybe he really was crazy?

“Come now,” the hybrid smirked, although there was a hidden warning in his eyes, “You don’t really mean that. After all, you chose me over Mikael.”

“I didn’t do a damn thing,” the teen sneered, practically spitting venom, “You may think I chose you over Mikael, but I didn’t. In the heat of the moment, my stupid scrambled memories made me call your name, but don’t think for a second that it means I forgive you. I wish you had died, instead of him.”

Jeremy made to step around the hybrid, when a painfully tight grip clamped around his elbow, halting any kind of movement. Terrified, but determined, Jeremy turned his head to direct a fierce glare at the hybrid, not even flinching when Klaus met him with one of his own.

“I didn’t say you could leave, yet.”

“You know, you ramble on about how awful Mikael was and how he was abusive and generally a piece of sh*t, which he probably absolutely was. But you’re exactly the same, if not worse,” Jeremy glowered, uncaring at the fact that Klaus’ grip got tighter to the point that the bone was creaking, “You’re sad*stic and condescending and nothing anyone ever does seems to be good enough for you. As soon as someone does something that you don’t like, you punish them in a cruel way that scars them forever. Does that remind you of anyone?” he hissed lowly, anger rising on Rebekah’s behalf. She’d never confided in him about her time asleep, but he could tell that she felt hurt by Klaus’ actions, and was more than confused and distraught by the changed times that she was forced to suddenly get used to and accept - despite how fast she got herself caught up.

“If I was you, I’d be careful about how you speak to me,” Klaus warned, face scrunched in a thunderous rage that he was barely keeping contained.

“If you don’t like it, then maybe you should walk away,” Jeremy sneered, refusing to back down, “And while you’re at it, tell your lackeys to mind their own business.” Jeremy had been more than aware of the extra eyes on him and he was far too… experienced to brush it off as mere paranoia when he saw the same few strangers every couple of hours.

Yanking his arm from Klaus’ grip, Jeremy carried on walking towards his and Tyler’s agreed 'meet up point', feeling lighter than he had in a while. Jeremy knew that he’d pay for it later, in some way, but he was past the point of caring. What else could the hybrid do to him that he hadn’t done already?

“Nice!” Tyler called, face split in a grin of boyish glee, as he retrieved the arrow.

“What’s the point of this again?” Jeremy asked in confusion. While Jeremy liked to train with weapons whenever he could (it was only natural when he was a mere human among supernatural powerhouses), the point of this meet-up wasn’t training. Tyler simply wanted to shoot things.

“The point,” Tyler started, handing Jeremy the blot back before taking a swig of his beer can, “Is that I’m pissed at Caroline and you… Well, there’s no need to rub salt in the wound by listing it-“

“Nice,” Jeremy grumbled sarcastically, half-heartedly jabbing his elbow into the other’s ribs.

“The point is to get drunk and shoot stuff,” Tyler continued, stepping in front of the range again to add his can to the collection.

“Profound,” the younger rolled his eyes, lips slightly quirked with amusem*nt, “If Alaric finds out I took this, he’s gonna use it on me,” he waved the crossbow for empathise, before reloading it with too much ease to ever be considered an amateur.

“So, what’s the deal with that?” the hybrid asked, genuinely curious, “Is he, like, your guardian, now?”

For a moment, Jeremy hesitated, his mind coming up short of the actual answer. On paper, Elena was his guardian and was supposed to take care of everything he needed until he was eighteen, but she was never there. Jeremy saw Alaric more often than Elena, and the man did help Jeremy in more moral situations, or with his schoolwork and such, but he didn’t stay with Jeremy enough to be considered an actual candidate. It was confusing and definitely not something he wanted to unload on Tyler.

Instead, Jeremy shrugged, “Sort of…” he took a pause, trying to find the right words, “I think he feels responsible for me. As the only human adult in the group, I think he feels like he needs to take care of all of us if you know what I mean? But, because he was going out with Jenna when she died, he feels like he has to keep a closer eye on me and Elena.”

“Do you like him?”

Alaric was the only person that Jeremy could depend on, without a doubt, and have his best interests at heart.

“Yeah,” Jeremy bobbed his head, feeling like this was the first question he’d answered completely honestly, “Yeah, I like him. Now, do you wanna get out of my way?” He peered around the weapon, to aim an expectant expression at the idiot immortal.

Chuckling, Tyler waved the warning away, "I'm a hybrid, Gilbert. You can't kill me unless you cut off my head or rip out my heart. And you're not gonna do it with that lame ass crossbow!” he taunted, grinning, "Go ahead! Take a shot! Unless you don't think you can hit me?”

Taking the bait, Jeremy fires, right on target. Only to have the bolt snatched out of the air before it could meet flesh. The teens stood in silence for a moment, both more than awed and enthused by the quick reflexes.

“We doing that again?” Jeremy questioned.

“Hell yeah,” Tyler instantly agreed, widening his stance in preparation, as Jeremy readied another shot.

They carried on their actives for several hours, the hybrid making the ‘target’ progressively harder as they zoomed around the human archer, and made up trick shots involving - and failing - to bend the bold around a tree, firing behind his back, firing blindfolded and much, much more. It was excellent practice for Jeremy when it came to the weapon and proved to be extremely fun. For the first time in ages, Jeremy felt like he was back to doing ‘dumb boy things’ like he used to.

However, the bad thing about hanging out in the woods was that they needed to go home to get any sort of refreshments, which Jeremy was in desperate need of. Leaving the hybrid outside, Jeremy stepped into the house, having every intention to grab a couple of bottles and make a snack, before rushing out the door again.

“Just in time!” the shout startled him slightly, “We’re cooking.”

For a second, Jeremy considered asking her what she was doing there, her and Alaric - he hadn’t seen either of them at the house since Mikael first set up shop - but he held his tongue. There was no need to cause an argument by saying something that might be seen as antagonistic. “Sorry, just passing through,” he grabbed the needed bottles from the fridge.

"Ah, well I thought we would all stay in,” Alaric offered an awkward smile to the teen, “Have a meal together like a typical atypical family.”

“Why?” Jeremy frowned, feeling like the pair were trying to lure him into some kind of trap.

“Because we haven’t had dinner together in a while,” Elena started, “Because I barely see you at school and because you barely pick up my calls anymore.”

“Who’s fault is that?” Jeremy questioned the doppelgänger with a glare, feeling like a cat stroked the wrong way with the tone of voice Elena was directing at him. It sounded as if she was blaming him for all of those instances and blaming him for the invisible distance between them that seemed to be growing by the second.

Instantly on the defensive, Elena snapped back, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Whatever,” Jeremy huffed, really not wanting to get into all this when Tyler could hear everything, “Look, can we do this later? I made plans with Tyler. He's right outside,” he shoved his thumb in the front door’s vague direction.

"Oh wait!” Alaric waved his hands, looking slightly alarmed, "When did you start hanging out with Tyler Lockwood?”

“I don't know…” Jeremy shrugged, not wanting to tell them about the impromptu therapy session that Caroline had thrown at him, "Does it matter?”

"Yeah, Jeremy! It matters!” Elena spoke in a ‘what the hell were you thinking’ tone like he was an idiot, "He was sired by Klaus. He's dangerous.”

So were her boyfriends, one of what had actually killed him in the past. Biting his tongue, Jeremy forced his lips into a waned smile, "He can still hear you. He is right outside. Besides you of all people are gonna lecture me on who I can and can't hang out with?”

“What is with the attitude?” Elena glares and Jeremy feels like he’s seconds from flipping out, his temper hanging by a fraying thread.

"Yeah, whatever, this is lame. Tyler is waiting,” the teen insists, needing to leave before he did or said something he’d regret, only to sigh in annoyance when Elena stepped in his way.

"Oh, no no!” she wagged her finger at him like a child, "You're not going anywhere, especially not with Tyler.”

Helplessly, Jeremy looked to Alaric, hoping that the teacher would bail him out-

"I'm with her on this, Jere. Sorry.”

- Only to have that hope crushed into a billion pieces…

Fully agitated, Jeremy rolled his shoulders as he bobbed his head in consideration, "All right, fine. You want me to stay in? Let's all stay in then,” he aims a particularly nasty smirk at Elena before he shouts, "Yo, Tyler! Come on in!”

“Jeremy!” Elena exclaims at him, staring up at him with betrayal shining in her eyes.

For a split second, Jeremy feels slightly guilty, but then instantly shrugs it off and hardens his eyes as he stares down at her. This was his house, not hers - it hadn’t been her house in a long time, not since she started staying over at the Boarding House for weeks at a time - and he could pick and choose whoever the hell he wanted to come in.

As soon as Tyler appeared, looking far more award than his usual overconfident self, Jeremy threw him the other bottle of water. “Thanks,” he smiled slightly, before taking a polite sip.

The tension was thick in the air as everyone stared at one another, making it hard to breathe- But Jeremy was determined to stand his ground, this time, and he wasn’t going to budge for anything.

Unsurprisingly, Elena broke the loaded silence first, "This is weird. Klaus has hybrids stalking me and now you're just sitting in our kitchen,” he gestured to Tyler, looking at him like he was going to attack her at any second.

"Look, maybe I should go,” the hybrid offered, wanting to defuse the situation. The fact that Elena and Jeremy had issues with one another was as obvious as day and night within the group, but it was another thing to see it play out in person.

“No, stay,” Jeremy insisted, giving the doppelgänger a challenging stare, "You're not doing anything wrong.”

"Unless you have to, you know, check in with your hybrid master,” Elena jabbed back, looking back at Jeremy, just as challengingly.

Tyler laughed, gaining the room’s attention. "It's not like that, Elena.”

Alaric looked curious, but the tone in his voice made it clear that he was about to try and prove some point to everyone, "Tell me Tyler… What is the difference between being sired and being compelled?”

“Compulsion,” the hybrid teen paused in contemplation, trying to find the right words to describe what he felt, “That's just mind control, like hypnosis. And being sired is… It's like faith. You do something because you believe it's the right thing.”

"So you believe that serving Klaus is the right thing?” Elena tilted her head condescendingly and Jeremy only managed to grit his teeth because he was curious about the answer as well.

Tyler was still all smiles, despite Elena and Alaric’s obvious interrogation tactics, "I don't serve him. Klaus released me from a curse that was ruining my life. I owe him for that.”

"What if he asked you to jump off a bridge?” Alaric squinted his eyes.

"He wouldn't! And even if he did I'd be fine. I'm a hybrid.” Tyler gestured to himself, his smile looking more strained than anything else.

Then, Elena decided to take the questions one step further, "Okay, so what if he asked you to rip your own heart out?”

"Again, he wouldn’t.”

"What if he did?” Elena insisted.

"I don't know!” Tyler threw his hands up in exasperation, patience finally breaking, "Then I'd rip out my heart!”

Shocked silence was the only answer and Jeremy felt anxiety rise in his chest. He wasn’t concerned about his own safety, or that Tyler was in his house, but at the fact that Klaus could so easily kill Tyler. It didn’t take much to set Klaus off and, if he thought that threatening Tyler or forcing Tyler to kill himself was something he could use against all of them, then the ancient hybrid would do it in a heartbeat. Jeremy knew Klaus enough to know that, if he was angry enough, he would act first and ask questions later. However, Tyler and the others didn’t seem to notice how close to death the teen really was.

"You guys sound like Caroline,” Tyler declared in annoyance, “Getting all freaked out over something you don't understand."

Elena shook her head, disappointment clear on her face, like what Tyler was doing was an actual choice he’d made, "You're right Tyler I don't understand. Klaus has terrorised every single one of us and you're just blindly loyal to him.”

"You're overthinking it,” the footballer insisted, "I can still make my own decisions.”

This was way worse than compulsion. It went far beyond altering a person's memories, or actions, but twisting their emotions and their logic. It was cruel and there were far too many unknowns to think comfortably about it. If Klaus were to order Tyler to kill himself, would Tyler do the deed with a smile on his face, believing that he was doing something grand and worthy of praise? Or would he be crying and helpless and begging for his life as his clawed hand inched its way towards his beating chest? What if Klaus demanded that he kill one of his friends, like Caroline or Matt? Would he carry out the order unwillingly? Happily? Or would the order shock his system enough that it breaks the bond? That was another question to uncover: how strong was the bond and could it be broken? The questions were unending and it made Jeremy’s head spin at the lack of answers. Frustration started to build up as yet another unknown about the supernatural world was uncovered, taking them completely off guard, once again. The thing they always suffered from was the lack of information about whatever situation they were currently in. First, there were werewolves, which Damon was adamant didn’t exist, then there were the originals and that dumpster fire, then the whole reincarnation thing and everyone trying to convince him that he was just crazy, and now the sire-bond with hybrids. Jeremy was getting sick and tired of being caught unaware, he just wanted-

A sharp ringing of his phone cut him off and Jeremy felt himself falling into an all too familiar haze…

-“-my! Jeremy! Are you alright?! Talk to me! Say something!” Elena’s voice screeched in his ears, but Jeremy could no nothing more than wince as he slowly started to come back to himself.

“Wha-? Elena?” was all Jeremy managed to get out before a complete stranger’s voice interrupted him.

"There I go again. Bumping into people…” the man behind the wheel shrugged and smiled like he hadn’t nearly hit someone. Then his eyes switched down to Jeremy, his fake smile still in place, “You should be more careful in how you speak to Klaus, Jeremy. Until next time,” he waved and then drove off, without a care in the world.

Jeremy struggled to shake his shock as he watched Elena dash to Alaric’s side - Ric who wasn’t moving, to talking. Finding strength on fawn-like legs, Jeremy joined Elena at Ric’s side and tried to check the man over with unsteady eyes.

"He's gonna be alright,” Elena breathed a sigh of relief, dropping Ric’s hand once she found the ring. She then turned scared and worried eyes to Jeremy, her slim fingers curling around his wrist to reassure herself that he was still breathing, "Are you all right?”

"I don't understand…” Jeremy frowned and shook his head, trying the find a start and end to his memories.

"Who was that on the phone earlier?”

Realisation and dread speared through him like a javelin to the chest as he exclaimed "It was Klaus!”

"You were compelled, Jeremy! We've gotta get him inside," the doppelgänger started to gather Ric into her arms, already struggling with the dead weight of the man’s head and shoulders, “Help me!”

After that, Jeremy’s mind went offline, everything on auto-mode as his mind tried not to break at the newly added stress, not even noticing when Damon arrived at the scene. Klaus, Niklaus, the obsessive, possessive, little brother-loving, original immortal hybrid, had tried to kill him. He’d used Tyler to wane him off of vervain, which means he’d tampered with Jeremy’s coffee machine on one of their numerous hangouts, and stole his bracelet. When had Klaus compelled him? Was it in the woods, with Tyler? Was it a few days ago? No… It was at school when Klaus had ambushed him after classes. But, that was just the compulsion. Had Jeremy run out of chances with the hybrid? Did the man simply want him dead, now? The teen had known that the hybrid’s patience wasn’t endless, but after everything, he’d put Jeremy through-

“I’m not becoming a vampire.”

“Well, that’s not up to you now, is it, Henrik?”

“Oh, my god…” Jeremy managed to murmur through his trembling fingers, nausea hitting him full force.

“Jeremy?” Elena asked, taking a hesitant step towards him, like he was some kind of wild animal, while Damon gave him an uninterested stare.

However, before anything further could be said, Jeremy raced to the kitchen sink and choked out what little food he’d eaten that day and retched, his entire body shaking from the force of the action. A warm comforting hand rubbed over his quivering shoulders as he breathed heavily against the metal, suddenly feeling weak and tired…

He felt like he was done with everything…

"None of us are gonna make it out of this town alive.”

Those words were more true than Jeremy would ever want them to be. Klaus was like a cat that was tormenting their food with the idea of freedom. Klaus always got what he wanted in the end. There was no use in lying to themselves about it. However, it seemed that not everyone had arrived at the same conclusions as him, which lead to yet another argument with Elena before he picked up his crossbow and stormed out with those parting words.

Fury and betrayal flooded his chest as he scoured the woods for any sign of the hybrid that he left his house - left Jeremy to die - not long ago. Left Jeremy to get compelled over the phone and hit by a car while he had Klaus’ blood in his system. If Alaric hadn’t been fast enough, Jeremy would be going through transition.

It didn’t take long for Jeremy to find Tyler again, the sack of sh*t sitting on the tree stump they’d spent the whole afternoon as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The simmering anger in his chest vamped up at the mere sight of him, allowing Jeremy to take aim with a steady hand.

"Don't do it, Jeremy,” Tyler called, sounding like he couldn’t give two sh*ts.

"Why not?” the teen challenged, "You stabbed my back, I stab yours.”

"I didn't stab you in the back!” Tyler shot off the sump and spun around, finally facing the human.

An ugly, bitter laugh erupted from Jeremy’s throat, “No, of course, you didn’t,” he shook his head as his laughter died down, expression instantly becoming more flat and dead (for that one instant moment, Tyler could see the shuddering resemblance that Jeremy and Klaus shared, and silently vowed to never speak of word of it to anyone) “How could you? Right now, in your eyes, Klaus can do no wrong and so, you can’t do any wrong either. Which is why you don’t see anything wrong with taking the vervain from my coffee, or my bracelet-“

“Look, I never thought he would try to turn you like that,” Tyler tried to reason, sounding a little desperate.

"It's Klaus, Tyler!” Jeremy thundered, making the hybrid wince at the volume, "What did you think was gonna happen?”

“He finally got you back, do you really think he’s going to let you grow old and die?” Tyler questioned, sounding like he thought Jeremy was being the ridiculous one, “He cares about you and the rest of your family! He just wants all of you back and where you belong.”

Without a hint of hesitation, Jeremy pulled the trigger, irritation spiking slightly when the damn hybrid merely catches it, an offended look on his face.

"What the hell?!”

"Whenever Klaus wants something, someone ends up dead!” the teen growled, his weapon creaking from how tightly he was gripping it, "You think about that next time before you blindly do whatever he says."

“Jere!” the football player called, but Jeremy merely shook his head and started to walk away, "You should stay inside. Klaus isn't gonna stop until he gets all those coffins and you back. He's not done with you.”

“We’ll see about that…” Jeremy growled to no one in particular as he marched through the woods. He needed to get back to Damon and Elena. If they had any chance of beating Klaus, then they would have to do it together. There would be no room for benching people or excluding people for ‘their own protection’, this was serious sh*t and if there was any misinformation between them, it could lead to their downfall. They needed to set aside any differences and insecurities and plan this out together, or Klaus was going to win without even trying.

They’d been on the defensive for far too long. They were no longer the dopey-eyed humans, who thought that vampires were a myth; they had seen death, they had known loss and suffering, and they were experienced in the hardest ways possible. For the entire time they’d known about the supernatural, Jeremy and the rest of the group had been on the defensive, and they had paid for it. Now was the time to look their enemy in the eyes and show them what ‘weak humans’ could do.

Jeremy looked up when he heard a commotion at the front door, eyes darkening with hate and anger when he saw a familiar hybrid standing at their door, Elena trying to plead with him and Alaric on the floor, convulsing.

They needed to start fighting back.

"He's gonna die. Might want to invite me in, Elena.”

Or what he’d said earlier was going to come to pass: none of them would leave Mystic Falls alive.

With a calm that should have been impossible in a life-or-death situation, Jeremy aimed his crossbow and let it fly. He didn’t even spare a smirk when he landed his mark and the hybrid went down, shock and pain making him temporarily immobile.

“Jeremy!” Elena shouted, staring at her brother with wide eyes.

“He's not dead yet,” Jeremy shook his head as he stepped over the twitching body and passed Elena and Alaric. They needed to do this fast, or the hybrid was going to recover and they’ll lose their element of surprise. He ignored Elena’s voice calling out to him as he swiftly snatched up the meat cleaver, acting so fast his mind could barely keep up.

"What are you doing?” Elena questioned, confused and slightly scared as her eyes switched from Jeremy, to the knife and back.

Without a word, Jeremy grabbed the hybrid by the shirt and lifted him up. As soon as the neck was exposed, Jeremy struck hard and fast, using everything Alaric had taught him to cut off the head as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Warm blood spurted up his arm as he cut through the artery, making the grip on his knife slippery, but Jeremy persisted until he felt no more resistance, having cut through to the other side.

Ignoring Elena’s screams, Jeremy stood up and wiped the splatter of blood from his face as he looked down at his handy work, his victoriousness warring with his nausea from the sight, “Now, he’s dead.” Finally, he looked down at Elena, who was still in shock from his actions, her form slightly trembling as she stared at him, "We've gotta get Alaric to the hospital, now.”

With that, Jeremy dropped the knife before he retreated back into the house to wash off the blood and change his soaked clothes. Now, that his mind had finally caught up, his hands started to shake and his breathing picked up, tears blurring his eyes and his stomach churning from how slick the blood felt between his fingers. Jeremy was throwing his body into the bathroom before the saliva had even started to coat his mouth. Emptying stomach bile into the toilet left Jeremy feeling like all of his energy had been drained from him - along with his throat and stomach burning from throwing up once again - so he didn’t flinch or move away when a warm, comforting hand rubbed over his shaking shoulders.

“It’s okay. You’re okay, Jeremy. You’re okay,” Elena whispered as she tentatively wrapped her arms over his shoulders, her hand carding through his hair like she always would whenever he was upset as a kid, “I’m here, you’re okay, Jere,” her arms coiled around him tighter as Jeremy shook his head.

“We can’t do this, right now,” he protested, voice weak and raw sounding, “We can do this later. We need to get Alaric to the hospital, okay?” he questioned, silently begging her to agree with him, to put this on the shelf and focus on more important things. To his relief, Elena retracted herself and gave a wordless nod, before rushing out of the room, leaving Jeremy on the floor of the bathroom to gather himself together.

They could fight Klaus, they could do this, it was just something they were all going to have to get used to…

The moon was merely a crescent as he looked at the ninth sky, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight, so the light shone brightly, the tops of houses outlined with a silvery glow as the inked canvas of the night sky displayed its constellations of stars, that were - for once - unhindered by the light pollution of the town. It was deceptively peaceful. Once upon a time, Jeremy saw the night sky as something beautiful, but now that he knew the dangers and what walked on those solitary streets, he’d fallen out of love with it all.

Sighing, Jeremy looked down at his latest art project: the night sky. However, the shading and drawing provided an edge that seemed threatening and foreboding, no matter how innocent and beautifully he tried to sketch it. He felt too strongly about the prospect of ‘night’ to keep it wholly out of his sketches.

Today had been rough, physically, mentally and emotionally drained by all accounts. So much had happened that Jeremy felt like he couldn’t even handle another conversation, let alone something dangerous, like Klaus breaking in.

“Hey,” Elena’s voice penetrated his thoughts, nearly making his hand jolt and ruin his sketch, “Can we talk?”

Ask and thee shall receive…

“Ahh, what did I do, now?” he questioned, internally begging her to say goodnight and close his door.

"I've been thinking about what you said earlier,” she began hesitantly, making Jeremy lean forward in his chair, in attention, "About how we should pack up and go…”

Guilt squeezing his heart like a tight band, Jeremy shook his head and sighed, "Elena, I didn't mean any of that-

"But you were right,” she spoke over him, looking like she was desperate to complete her thoughts, "You shouldn't have to give up a normal life, just because of me.”

“But, it’s not just because of you, Elena,” Jeremy stood up and stepped closer to his sister, a bad feeling lingering in his chest at the look in her eyes, “Klaus is after me, just as much as he's after you. Look, I was wrong to say those words. We can get out of this town, we can beat Klaus - we just have to work together,” Jeremy started, trying to convince her, but with her brown eyes downcast and defeated, Jeremy felt like he’d already lost her. Suddenly, Damon appeared beside Elena, jaw twitching as he looked at Jeremy with regret, making the teen back away, his fear and dread climbing to new heights, "What's going on?”

"Your sister thinks we should have another one of our talks,” the vampire claimed and Jeremy instantly knew what he was referring to.

“No,” the teen started, voice sounding hollow, “No, don’t do this. Not again! You promised, Elena!”

“This is for your own good, Jeremy,” Elena shook her head, her eyes still refusing to meet his own, “I’m sorry.”

Damon stepped closer, crowding Jeremy into the corner of his room, making the teen feel agitated as he glared at the vampire with nothing but hate and despise. Instantly, Jeremy picked up a pencil, silently cursing the fact that he kept his weapons in the draw by Damon’s foot.

“Stay the hell away from me,” he threatened, sounding intimidating despite his laughable weapon.

“You don’t need to make this harder than it needs to be, Little Gilbert,” Damon rose his hands as he inched closer, blue eyes trained on the pencil. Out of everyone that underestimated Jeremy, Damon was the person that did it the least; the vampire seemed to know that Jeremy wasn’t a helpless child, counting down all of the teen’s moments in which he’d been a threat - and there had been a surprising amount of them, with the latest being that he’d decapitated a hybrid with a kitchen knife.

With narrowed eyes, Jeremy stared at the vampire’s chin as he bared his teeth in a mockery of a grin, “I’m not going anywhere.”

For a tense moment, the pair were completely still, waiting for the other to attack first. Jeremy tightened his grip on his pencil and then Damon was instantly on him, grabbing him by the shoulder and shoving him onto the bed. Jeremy wasted no time in stabbing the pencil into the vampire’s hand, making Damon jolt away with a hiss of pain, creating enough space for Jeremy to stick his foot between them and kick the vampire away from him.

However, his victory didn’t last very long as Damon used his vampire speed to grab Jeremy, before the teen could make it past him, and threw him on the floor with enough force to stun and disorientate him for a second. A second was all the vampire needed as he pinned Jeremy completely to the floor, wrists held to his sides while Damon sat on his stomach. No matter how much Jeremy thrashed or kneed the vampire in the back, he refused to move.

“Enough, Jeremy! That’s enough!” Damon shouted, shaking him a little.

With his muscles and energy spent, Jeremy just laid on the floor, body completely lax as a sense of defeat settled over him. The teen forced the tears of fear and frustration back as he grit his teeth, still refusing to look the vampire in the eye.

“Jeremy,” Damon started, voice softer than he’d ever heard it, “I’m sorry. But if there’s a chance that you can get out there and make a life for yourself, you’ve gotta take it…”

The few seconds of silence felt like hours to Jeremy as he thought over the vampire’s words and ignored Elena’s muffled sobs and Alaric’s soft shushing. He didn’t want or need another life without his family and friends, but the others weren’t going to hear anything he had to say. They had made the decision for him and there was nothing he could do to convince them otherwise. Right now, by fighting, he was only denying the inevitable.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Jeremy slowly allowed his eyes to focus back on the vampire hovering over him, brown eyes connecting with blue. Instantly, the pupils started to dilate and Jeremy felt the all too familiar haze of compulsion slowly take over.

“Here's the thing, Jere. You're gonna go out of town for a while - a long while…”

Chapter 18: Rainbow Bain

Chapter Text

Why didn’t anything ever go to plan? For all of his intelligence, for all of his brilliance, why did his plans - the ones that truly mattered - always fail? Was this karma? Was it just a series of unfortunate coincidences? Or was he simply too merciful, to the point where it became a problem later on?

Whatever the hell was controlling the universe, fate, God, the devil, or nothing at all, Klaus could only pinch the bridge of his nose in an attempt to keep his brimming migraine at bay - a pain that immortal beings shouldn’t even be capable of feeling, due to their accelerated healing! His plan had epically failed: from orchestrating the doppelgänger’s life to regaining his coffined family members. Everything that could have possibly gone wrong had gone wrong, and Klaus’ brain was hurting from trying to save himself from this situation.

It was only by some small miracle that Esther had forgiven him and wanted to remain as a family, which stopped Klaus’ plan from falling apart altogether. The house that he’d built for them to all comfortably live in, was riddled with holes from everyone's temper tantrums, and with the daggers out of reach, he currently had little to nothing to lord over them. So, overall, everything was a complete mess…

“Where the hell is Henrik?” Rebekah demanded, after a mere fraction of peace had come to pass, arms crossed as she glared down at Klaus expectantly.

“Ah, yes,” Elijah started with a note of condescending, “How has our little brother faired in your presence?”

Anger swiftly rising once again, Klaus pursed his lips and glared at the pair, “He’s safe.”

“What?” Kol blinked, surprise evident on his features as he stared at the trio, “Henrik?”

“What’s going on?” Finn demanded coolly, tone slow and clear - something that was quickly getting on Klaus’ nerves, despite it having been nine centuries since he’d heard it.

“Should you tell them, or should I?” Rebekah rose a single eyebrow, a clear threat in her eyes.

“Henrik’s been reincarnated, and resides here, in Mystic Falls, as Elena Gilbert’s, the doppelgänger’s, little brother, Jeremy Gilbert,” Elijah supplied before Klaus could even part his lips, “Although, I was very unfortunately incapacitated before we could discover if he remembered anything from that previous life.”

Rebekah huffed a laugh, a gleam of happiness showing through for a couple of seconds, “He definitely remembers. He told me that they sometimes come to him in drips and drabs, like random pieces of a puzzle that don’t connect yet. I remember him telling me that he draws the memories out sometimes just so he can get physical visualisation, but sometimes their random and he has no idea who the person is.”

“That’s amazing,” Elijah stated, staring at his sister in wonder. There was always a chance that Jeremy could remember his life as Henrik, but Elijah was never one to get his hopes up when things were so unknown. Something loosened in his chest at the fact that Jeremy did, in fact, remember them, even if it wasn’t completely.

“That’s all I managed to get before that doppelgänger bitch stabbed me in the back,” Rebekah growled, her fury back to full throttle, as she turned her attention back to Klaus, “Now, where is he? What did you do to him?”

“Hold on,” Kol rose his hand, a disbelieving smirk curling his lips, “Are you serious about this? Henrik’s alive again, can remember us, and is related to the current doppelgänger? Ever think that this ‘Mystic gang’ that’s been giving our dear brother so much trouble is just using this obvious weakness to their advantage?”

Before the three witnesses could disagree, Esther rose her hand for silence, effortlessly achieving it, as she looked around at her children with content, “I can bring further support to the reawakening of our dear Henrik. After all, I was the one that orchestrated his reincarnation when he died.”

Silence swept through the room as the siblings stared at their mother with shock-wide eyes, a realisation slowly coming to each of them until Finn stepped forward once again and looked at their other with something akin to pride, “The spell worked.”

Esther gave a small smile as she gracefully nodded her head, “The spell worked. It merely took longer than expected. Now,” she turned to Klaus, expression expectant, “My son, where has Henrik been placed?”

“Well,” Klaus drawled as he stepped about his awkwardly standing siblings to seat himself on his torn sofa, “Now, that I have a chance to explain,” he gave them all a mean smile, to which his siblings rolled their eyes at, “Henrik is no longer in Mystic Falls. The doppelgänger had deemed the town far too unsafe for him and sent him to the other side of the country, to Oregon, where he stays in a flat that he inherited from his father and attends the local high school.”

“Why the hell is he there and not here?” Kol sneered, eyes narrowed with obvious agitation.

“Because, my dear simple brother,” Klaus smirked when Kol’s veins bled black, “I hadn’t yet finished renovations. At the moment, the idiot sheep that is Elena and her little group, think that they’ve succeeded in hiding him, so they’ve let their guard down. When I’ve put my plan into place, I’ll take Henrik before they even know what happened.”

Elijah rose his brows in surprise as he stepped closer to Klaus, looking down at his brother with curiosity, “What’s made you forgo your usual methods? By now, you would have snatched Jeremy up, locked him in a room, or compelled him to stay, and taunt the others.”

“My usual methods involve a lot of risks and when the worst happens, I always have a plan B. There is only one Henrik and I’m not willing to play tug of war on something so precious to me. To us,” he corrected himself as he gave a meaningful glance at his surrounding company, “Getting Henrik is a delicate matter, and I plan to play for keeps. But, right now, I need Henrik in Oregon, while I get everything ironed out in Mystic Falls.”

“Right, then,” Rebekah bobbed her head in agreement, “So, what’s the plan?”

Klaus leaned forwards, the entire family’s attention completely on him, “Well, first things first: Kol, I need you to keep a closer eye on him.”

Everything was blurred. Nothing made sense. There was simply a sense of rage and fear of what was about to happen to him, what he knew was about to happen to him.

A laugh echoed around him, deep and menacing, taunting him about his inevitable death without words.

He staggered over a root, a careless move that had him tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword as a jolt of pain flared over his shoulder. The sword was heavy and put a strain on his dislocated shoulder, just from holding it, but he couldn’t bare to drop his only means of defence.

It was over.

Deep down, he knew his life was over.

The laughing got louder.

Anger-fuelled courage had him lifting his chin, willing to look the disgusting monster in the eye. He wouldn’t give the beast the satisfaction of tasting his fear as it savagely took his life.

“Face me, coward!” he roared, voice straining as spittle flew from his mouth, fingers curling around the soft worn leather of his sword like it was his final lifeline.

The laughter abruptly stopped and everything became eerily quiet - the only sound to reach his ears was his own uneven panting breaths.

The hair on the back of his neck raised. There was something behind him. Instantly, he spun on his heel, ready to face down his last battle-

Knock. Knock. Knock, knock.

Jeremy jolted out of his sleep, his breaths just as fast as the man in his dreams. A grimace formed on his face as he swiped at the cold sweat on his face, irritation quickly replacing his fear as he gingerly detached himself from his tangled sheets.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Alright!” Jeremy shouted, nearly falling to the floor as the last of his sheets gripped his ankle. The knocks on his door continued without pause, making Jeremy jog to the door and rip it open with a look of death written on his face. That merely revealed the widely grinning face, who Jeremy - unfortunately - knew extremely well... And she still hadn’t stopped knocking on his door, despite the teen having opened it. “Alright! That’s enough!” he grabbed her hand.

“Rise and shine, Jere-Jere!” the bane of his existence cheered, not even registering the glare of icy contempt he was aiming at her, “You ready to go?”

“Do you have to do that every morning?” Jeremy grumbled as he finally released the woman’s hand and shuffled back into his dimly lit bedroom, “I have neighbours, y’know?”

“I know,” she merely chirped back, grin wide with merriment as she happily swayed back and forth, from heel to toe, her purple and blue hair swaying with her.

“Rain,” Jeremy began in a begging voice, “S’il vous plâte, it’s so early in the morning and I’ve got an important test coming up and-“

“Aw!” the colourful woman cooed, looking genuinely happy as her hands fluttered around her in - what she described as - a ‘contained happy dance’, “You’re remembering some of your French!”

Jeremy rose a judgmental eyebrow as he pulled a grey shirt over his head, “You know I’m only learning it out of necessity. Do you know how many times you slip back into your French when you're explaining stuff to me?”

“Oui, I know,” she merely chuckled, “Now, come, mon petit Jerry! It’s time for our little run!”

“Okay,” Jeremy huffed as he dumped himself on his bed and forcefully yanked his socks on, “One, our ‘little runs’ are at least five miles of sprinting. Two, my name is Jeremy, not ‘Jerry’. And three, I am not small!” he glared down at the much shorter woman, which he towered over, once he’d finished pulling his running shoes on.

“Maybe so,” Rain smirked up at the young teen, a glint of humour in her eyes, “But until you can beat me in a fight, you’ll always be mon petit Jerry, to me. Now, let's go!” she turned on her heel and started to run away, jolting Jeremy out of his grumbling as he fumbled with his keys.

“H-Hold on! Wait! I’ve still got to lock up!” he called to her, missing the lock a few times before he finally slid the key into place.

“Then you better move fast!” was the only thing he got back, making Jeremy roll his eyes fondly before stuffing the keys in his zipped pocket and sprinting after her.

He was improving. Slowly but surely, he was getting there. At the very least, he can see a difference from when he first started training with Rain: he no longer felt short of breath or taste blood at the back of his throat; his muscles didn’t burn so much that it made him want to cry; and he no longer suffered from jelly-legs halfway through their ‘jogs’. Well, the jogs were more like mini-marathons. He wasn’t as good as Rain - although, it seemed like an impossible feat to even consider catching up to the muscled woman - but he was starting to become close to what she considered to be the ‘bare minimum’, for his fitness.

It was annoying at first like his efforts were being brushed off, despite believing that he was doing decently. Now, however, Jeremy knew that Rain was measuring him up to a supernatural scale, and while he would never be as strong or as fast as a vampire, he could make sure he at least had a chance by being as physically fit as he possibly could. If he wanted to live and survive, he needed this training and Rain’s firm encouragement.

Above all else, Rain wanted Jeremy to live, and so she went out of her way to help him do that. It was a hell of a lot more than anyone in Mystic Falls had ever given him and while Alaric had tried, the hunter was purely weapon-based and couldn’t really help Jeremy in that way Rain was. For the first time since the supernatural world was brought to his knowledge, Jeremy felt like he had a chance!

Jeremy had never been more relieved that he started working at the local student bar. If he hadn’t, he would have never served Rain her beer or commented on her awesome tattoo. When he first arrived in Oregon, Jeremy felt lost, a feeling twisting in his chest like he didn’t want to be here like he wanted to turn tail and head back to Mystic Falls, but he shook that feeling off, determined to settle down for a normal life. He enrolled in a local school and he lived in a comfortable flat that his dad had left to him and Elena in his will.

Friends were hard to come by as the new kid and he quickly built up the reputation of ‘loner artist’ around the school - it especially didn’t help when the notable scars on his hand and arm ignited the rumour that he was part of a gang, which as why he had to transfer to a school across the country. While bullies had tried to start stuff with him, their fragile egos needing extra security around the new kid, Jeremy was fast to warn them off. The good side was that the bullies were scared away, but the bad news was that Jeremy had been far too efficient that he got suspended and, after he came back, the other students were too intimidated by him to even try to approach him. It was a rough start to a new place, and despite being placed as ‘public enemy number one’ within the school, Jeremy put his head down, got on with his schoolwork, and got a job.

For a while, his life was monotonous and lonely, with students avoiding him and his teachers calling his presence after class to ‘ask him how he’s doing’ - just like Mystic Falls, but without the deadly supernatural presence - that was until one Rainbow Bain showed up at the bar. Rainbow, or ‘Rain’ as she preferred to be called, was a strong, muscular woman, of the likeness, that Jeremy had never seen before (the girls in his school admired only thin figures and would bully those with a more curvy figure - having muscles would be the peak of anti-feminine in their eyes) and she could easily bend a steel crowbar in half. As soon as he mentioned her cool tats, she stared at him with a strange look in her eyes and then proceeded to practically kidnap him after work… That had been one of the singular, most terrifying and embarrassing moments of his life, especially when it involved the whole bar laughing, while his voice loudly cracked with panic, and Rain hefted him over her head and exited the bar.

Despite their rocky start and Rain constantly running after him while screaming ‘my protege’ no matter how many people were currently around them, Jeremy looked up to the extremely intimidating woman. She was nearly everything that he wanted to be - minus being gay, dying his hair bright colours, and piercings through his nipples, which she was all very loudly proud about. Jeremy couldn’t even count the number of times he’d had to drag her away from a girl when it was time for training. Rainbow was the most eccentric woman that he’d ever had the pleasure of meeting and Jeremy couldn’t be more grateful for her existence, especially when it came to the whole ‘Hunter’ thing.

Rain didn’t have a family, having lost them all in France in some freak accident when she was a little girl, barely able to remember the blurred events. It was when she was in Foster Care, that she met a random American with a cool sleeve tattoo, got adopted by said man and was taken to America. The man turned into her second father as he nurtured and trained her, teaching her about her history as a Hunter and the potential she showed by being able to see his tattoo, which is invisible to nearly everyone. She had the books on their history, the original Five and how they died, as well as the original purpose of the tattoo.

As a result, Rain often treated Jeremy like her little brother and would sometimes call him such when she slipped into rapid French, but on the downside, he was forced to read ancient tomes about the Five Hunters on top of his usual school work - most of which was actually in Latin, or some other language that Jeremy had to learn and translate.

“Come on!” Rain called, bringing Jeremy back from his thoughts, a large grin on her face as she easily jogged over large tree roots without even looking, “We’re nearly at the clearing!”

“Oh, thank god,” Jeremy huffed, muscles straining to keep up with her fast pace.

Ten minutes of huffing, groaning and one count of nearly stacking it later, Jeremy was finally in the clearing where he promptly fell flat on his face and refused to move, groaning obnoxiously loud while Rain barked out a boisterous laugh. He didn’t even twitch when a hand tussled the back of his sweaty hair, as the woman dropped down beside him.

The peaceful silence didn’t last long as an insistent hand tapped his shoulder, although Jeremy just ignored it in favour of pressing his cheek more firmly into the morning dew that clung to the blades of grass. That is until the hand whacked his shoulder in a stinging slap that made Jeremy bolt upright with an exclamation of pain.

“What was that for?” the teen pouted as he rubbed the sore spot, faux betrayal shining in his eyes as she grinned widely at him.

“Do your stretches, or you’ll hurt later,” Rain huffed as she proceeded to touch her toes, prompting Jeremy to do the same. A few minutes of silence followed as Jeremy went through the movements, as he’d done a hundred times before, when Rain spoke once again, “Something on your mind, mon petit Jerry?”

At the unexpected question, Jeremy leaned a little too far and had to catch himself before he fell flat on his face again, “N-No? Why? I’m fine?”

“Is that a question, or an answer?” Rain rose an eyebrow, her lips twitching with mild amusem*nt. Jeremy pursed his lips, eyes flickering away, which wiped the amusem*nt straight from Rain’s face as she stared at the teen with hard, serious eyes as she gently curled her hand over his tense shoulder and spoke in a comforting tone, “What’s the matter, Jeremy?”

“It’s just… Another dream…” Jeremy sighed, worry lining his face as he continued his stretches, Rain following suit. Usually, Jeremy’s ‘dreams’ didn’t cause him much concern, he knew where they were coming from and they were often happy, with a few nightmarish ones sprinkled in between. But the dream he had before Rain chucked him out of bed was one that he’d had before, something repetitive and reoccurring, unlike all the others. It was definitely a death dream, but… Henrik had been killed by werewolves when he was an innocent child, not a fully grown man, lugging around a giant broadsword. Right?

“The same one?” Rain tilted her head, piercings swaying with her hair.

Rain was extremely intuitive and while she respected Jeremy’s history and want for privacy, she seemed to know certain things about him, just by being around him. She knew that he was knowledgeable about vampires and the supernatural, knew that he had more than just a complicated relationship with that world and she knew about the strange dreams that weren’t really dreams. Early on, he had accused her of being a spy, but that merely got him a face full of dirt and a loud scoff as she proclaimed that he was as easy to read as a mischievous toddler…

“Yeah, it’s the same one,” Jeremy sighed, letting his muscles relax as he finished with his routine stretches, “I just can’t make sense of it… Well, I can’t make sense of most of them, but this one’s more strange and scary than usual.”

“Maybe you can draw about it?” the hunter patted his shoulder, “You usually feel better whenever you draw out your dreams anyways.”

“But these… are different from the others…” Jeremy trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain it in a way that made sense. They were walking, now, Rain probably having sensed that he wasn’t in the mood for another run back to his flat. “It’s like a different point of view. The usual ones I have are… They’re in the third person, sort of. I can feel what’s happening and I’m involved in conversations, but I’m looking at myself interacting with others most of the time… It’s hard to explain,” Jeremy gripped his hair lightly in frustration, “But the ones I’m having right now are in first person. I can’t control what I do or say… It’s like I’m trapped within the body, only experiencing and saying what he is… Does that make sense?”

“Not a bit,” Rain stated bluntly, as she shook her head and slung her arm over his shoulder, making him sway slightly with the added weight, “But that’s fine. You don’t need me to understand completely, for me to help you. Sometimes it’s just good to talk to someone and get something off your chest.”

Jeremy hummed, nodding, remembering how much better he felt after Caroline’s impromptu group therapy session. They didn’t have a clue what he was going through, or what he was feeling, and they didn’t have a solution for them, but it was comforting to know that he wasn’t the only f*cked up one in the group and he felt lighter after unloading all of his internal turmoils. “I know,” he smiled gratefully at the Hunter, “Thanks for listening anyways, Rain.”

“Non problème, mon petit Jeremy,” the woman ruffled his hair and then started to jog the rest of the way back to his place, prompting Jeremy to follow after her.

It was nice to talk to someone in a place where he was so alone and set apart from everyone, even if that person was an eccentric Frenchwoman, who seemed to be the embodiment of chaos itself on most days and kept trying to get him to go to a pricing shop so that they could ‘match’. It was enough for Jeremy to let go of the dream, for now, and the edge of paranoia that came with it.

He had Rain with him, now. He was fine.

Chapter 19: Dragged into the fold

Chapter Text

‘… flames were glorious and I’m sure that our gracious Lord in Heaven would be proud of our process. Even though we still face the scourge upon this country, we are confident that we are doing God’s work here, one witch burning at a time. Our achievements may be few and far between, but we are assertive and righteous in our God-given task of purifying the lands of the creeping witchcraft that plagues them. I believe-‘

“Do I really have to read this load of crap?” Jeremy huffed as he shoved the tome away, completely done with the puritan mumbo-jumbo that went on, page after page, after page. It talked about ‘God’, ‘the righteous path’, and ‘foul witches’ and towns ‘plagued with Devil possessed wenches’. “It’s giving me a headache,” he pinched the bridge of his nose, irritation lessening now that he wasn’t forcing his eyes to scan over the ancient drivel, “Did you really read all of this?” he turned to Rain with an incredulous stare.

The woman scoffed, her feet on the table as she balanced on the back legs of her chair, completely ignoring the disapproving looks that the librarian was shooting her, “Of course not. Nearly threw the thing in the ocean after reading the first sentence.”

“What?” Jeremy deadpanned, brain stalling for a split-second before he gaped at the smirking woman in complete offence, “Are you serious?! Then why the hell am I reading it? It’s practically useless,” he flicked his fingers at the old pages in complete disinterest, “It basically says the same thing over and over again,” the teen rubbed his eyes and groaned, “I never knew people were so religious back then…”

“I wanted to see how far you’d get,” Rain shrugged, “This is a record of every Hunter that’s ever even touched this book. Passed down from one Hunter to the next. These people believed that they were hand-picked by God Himself and had the complex to show it. I’m surprised you even got through the first page!” the evil woman cackled as she leaned forward to pick up the book again.

“I thought it was mandatory…” Jeremy grumbled with a glare as he slouched in his chair. He was about to grumble at the woman more when he noticed the ridged tenseness of her muscles, an unreadable expression plastered on her face. “What’s the matter?”

“You read this?” Rain asked, her tone tight and weird in a way that made Jeremy tense and wary as well. Was something wrong? Was she tense because of the book, or was it something else?

Tentatively, Jeremy righted himself and leaned forward to see the book again, eyes running over the familiar script, but ultimately found nothing wrong with it. “Yeah? Rain, what’s the matter? Are you okay?”

“Jeremy, it’s written in German. Well, Middle Low German, to be precise, but…” she gave Jeremy a weird look, “I thought you said you didn’t speak another language than English and some high school Spanish?”

Fear took Jeremy’s heart for a second, confusion and panic rushing through him like he was touching a live wire. He could read German? He could have sworn it was all English? Why- How could- The only time that kind of thing had happened was when Jeremy had accidentally spoken Nordic, but that was because of the whole reincarnation thing! Henrik would never have been able to learn German- His dreams… The new weird dreams he’d been getting and the drawings of the strange people from a time and era that the originals weren’t from… Did that mean…

Hiding his realisation as best as he could, Jeremy looked into Rain’s assessing eyes and rigidly shook his head before his face cracked in a nervous smile, “Er, I, um- Did I say Spanish? I meant that I learned German. Yeah, I was never really good at speaking it, but I can read it really well,” he aimed a strained smile at the Hunter as he rubbed the back of his neck, mentally ordering himself to stop sweating like a guilty person.

“You are literally the worst liar in the whole world, Jay-Jay,” Rain stated bluntly, ignoring the offended sputtering of the teen, before she sighed and cast the teen a rare serious look, that had Jeremy stilling and paying attention in an instant, “I know you have a past with vampires. That much is obvious, considering the compulsion you’re currently under to make you stay here. But, considering the amount of trust I’m putting in you, in the hopes that you will inherit and, one day, pass on the books of mon maître, I would think that I’ve gained some of that trust from you… There is something happening to you, something that has been on your mind for a while, and I would like to know what,” Silence ebbed between them as Rain gave the teen an open look, while Jeremy held his breath, his panicked mind frantically trying to weigh the pros and cons in revealing his secret. However, his silence stretched on for too long as Rain gently closed her eyes and sighed before looking back at Jeremy with the most earnest expression he’d ever seen. “That is fine. If you feel the need to keep it all in a little longer, that is fine. But I am here when you want to open up.”

“Why?” Jeremy blurted out before he could stop himself, his emotions dangerously close to spilling out into a confused mess of everything, “Why do you care? Couldn’t you just threaten me? Or refused to teach me anything else until I spill? Why are you being so…” Reasonable- Understandable- Patient- Doing the opposite of what everyone and his sister would do?

“I am your trainer, your senior Hunter and you are my potential, my student,” Rain shrugged, like it was as simple as that, “It is my job to look after you, physically, mentally, emotionally, until you are ready to become a Hunter. Without my support and my teachings, you will not live long in this world - the fact that you have is a miracle in and of itself, but, mon frère, I can see the scars that have nearly destroyed you, physically and mentally,” her fingers brushed over the scars on his hand, "It is my job to make you live for as long as possible and I would not achieve that by refusing to teach you,” she scoffed, wrinkling her nose in disgust, at the mere suggestion of it, before it smoothed out once again, “Physically you are doing well, but mentally and emotionally, I can see something burdens you: nightmares, dissociation and paranoia - to name a few. However, forcing someone to speak when they aren’t prepared to do so will never help. I am willing to wait for you. Just know that I am here when you wish to open up and then we can figure it out together. Okay?” she finally grinned, warm and welcoming in a way that made Jeremy believe every word she just spoke; she wouldn’t try to trick him, or manipulate him in some way, she would wait until he was good and ready to tell her.

Jeremy gave a wobbly smile before he bobbed his head in return, “Okay.”

For a moment, the pair looked away from one another, however, before the awkwardness could set in, Jeremy frowned and turned back to Rain, with a question that had been in the back of his mind for a while, now: “How do I become a Hunter?” The Frenchwoman paused before she turned to the curious teen with a patient look, “I know it’s not from killing a vampire, or something like that, or I would’ve gotten my tattoos already. So, how’s it done? A ritual, or something?”

“Or something,” Rain offered up a half smile, “Unfortunately, that’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own, just like I did. Don’t worry, you’ll figure it out when the time comes,” she smiled sadly, a distant look in her eyes that told Jeremy that her mind was years behind them, an expression that meant that Rain was thinking about her old Master, the man that took her in and practically raised her. “Anyway,” she clapped her hands and grinned, ignoring the harsh shushing of the librarian, “You’ve read more of the book than, me but mon maître taught me everything I ever needed, so if you’ve got any other questions: ask away.”

“Well,” Jeremy tapped his fingers on the table, “I kept reading in there about a ‘Hunter’s Curse’, but it never explains more than that. Is that what this is?” he flicked his finger from Rain to himself, “Are we cursed?”

“No,” the woman chuckled, as she dragged her fingers through her colourful flyaway hair, “We’re not cursed. While I have no idea how the system goes, or what makes us so special that we’re chosen to be Hunters. At most, the selection seems random, but the reference to the Hunter’s Curse, is something else… In our line of work, more often than not, we die young and usually at the hands of those that we hunt. When that happens, a curse is triggered and the thing that killed the hunter will suffer visions and night terrors until it drives them crazy and they ultimately kill themselves. It’s kind of like… a failsafe. Something to make sure that we kill the thing that killed us.”

“So, what?” Jeremy started off, tilting his head, feeling more than confused, “When we die, we have to stick around until the vampire that killed us is dead? Are we stuck in limbo, or something, until the deed’s done?”

“That,” Rain drawled with a pointed finger, “I have no idea about. But, that’s neither here nor there, in all honesty. After all, the idea of life after death has always been the biggest mystery,” she shrugged, “It’s just something that every human faces and Hunter’s are no exceptions.”

“There’s also something else…” Jeremy frowned, eyes grazing over the open tome, which he now sees to be German words, rather than the English that he thought he was seeing before, “At the beginning of this entry, they say something about an impulse and… Well, every entry, at the very beginning, it’s always…”

“Obsessive? Crazy? Deranged?” Rain guessed, a small smile tugging at her lips.

Steadily, Jeremy’s eyes met hers, a hint of panic bubbling up before he was able to successfully swallow it, “Am I gonna go crazy?”

The small smile on Rain’s face instantly washed away, as she pursed her lips, eyes flickering away briefly before she took a deep, steadying breath and placed a firm, comforting hand around Jeremy’s bicep, “There will be a time where… You’ll look back and see that you were crazy. It happens when you first awaken as a Hunter… You’re overcome with this… Hate and it flows through you… It feels like all the past Hunters that had died are channelling their anger and hate through you, and, as a result, you become… Driven. Every vampire is disgusting, any sympathiser is lower than dirt. It’s the only thing you think about and it’s the only thing you want to think about. For a time, I just travelled up and down the country, coast to coast, killing vampires - I barely ate or slept and I trashed my phone when my friends were calling me too much,” Rain shook her head, regret shining in her eyes, “I lost a lot of friends and said a lot of awful things to them… It was like the brain convinced itself that they were holding me back and just getting in my way…”

“… But you snapped out of it,” Jeremy hedged, “That much is clear, or you wouldn’t be here with me.”

“That’s true,” Rain offered a wan smile, “But three years of complete radio silence after telling someone that they’re better off dead can destroy any relationship.”

“How’d you snap out of it?”

“I died,” Rain shrugged, completely unbothered, which made the teen choke on nothing.

“Wh-What?!”

“I died,” the woman shrugged again, “Vampire I was hunting got lucky,” she lifted her shirt, exposing the shiny scarring of her left side that stretched from her hip to above her ribs, a chunk of flesh notably missing, before pulling the material back down, “Left me for dead in the woods. The only reason I survived was because a bunch of campers found me - though not before one of them accidentally peed on me-“

“What?”

“Anyway,” Rain spoke over Jeremy, completely ignoring his incredulous stare, “I died on the table twice but managed to pull through. Throughout the entire time, I was in the hospital… No one came to see me. I lost everything and I didn’t even realise it until I lost my life. That small moment of clarity helped me overcome the anger and rage, helped me fight it off when it threatened to come back, and then my life was mine once again. Obviously, I still travel, but I have friends and I have hobbies, now. The only downside is that I never truly got over my Impulse.”

“What do you mean?” Jeremy frowned and tilted his head slightly.

“It comes back, every now and again, but I’m fine for the most part,” Rain offered a wane smile.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence between them and Rain’s small smile slowly melted away again, her eyes trained on Jeremy’s hands, her fingers twitching and twisting around each other. Tentatively, Rain reached over and placed her hand on his, effectively stopping all movements.

“Hey,” she started, tone unusually gentle and quiet, “What’s on your mind, mon frère?”

“… I don’t want to lose my friends,” Jeremy admitted, shoulders reaching his ears as he tried to make himself smaller, “I have people that I love back and home and some of them are…” vampires, werewolves, witches. If there was anything that Jeremy had learnt from that damned tome, Hunters didn’t always stick to vampire hunting. What if he became a Hunter and he killed Caroline, or Tyler - and possibly everybody else - and then walked away with no regrets because in his twisted rage-filled mind ‘it was the right thing to do’? What if he became a monster? What if he became one of those people that Damon and Stefan had to take down because he posed too much danger to them and the town? He couldn’t even begin to think of the complications that would occur when he brought Klaus and the original vampire family into account.

“The impulse is… weird, from what I know,” Rain started, a small strain to her voice, before she cleared her throat, “Mon maître said that his impulse only lasted a month, he had close family and closer friends. Even when he pushed them away, they wouldn’t leave him alone and, eventually, he got over the impulse and lived a relatively normal Hunter life. Within the book, there are records of people who never experienced the impulse, people who overcome it without any outside intervention at all, and there are some who never shake it… But you have people in your corner, people that love you. They’ll snap you out of it.”

There was no hint of deceit on her face, or in her voice. Jeremy didn’t know how she was so certain that his friends and family would be there for him, considering that none of them were anywhere close to him, at this moment in time. Maybe the group would attempt to snap him out of it if they knew what was going on, but they had been caught by surprise far too many times for them to even begin to decipher that something was going on. Klaus, on the other hand… Jeremy couldn’t help but shudder at the thought. Klaus might not be able to snap him out of it, but Jeremy was sure that the hybrid would chain him up in a room until the end of time if he could.

Uncertainty and fear threatened to grip Jeremy’s heart with icy claws, but the teen shook that off, mind jumping to a separate, but equally concerning topic: Jeremy could read German. The last thing the teen wanted to do was jump to conclusions, but everything was just a bit too familiar for him to brush off, so he was faced with another possible truth to get his head around: he’d had another reincarnation.

Before his life as Jeremy Gilbert, after his life as Henrik Mikaelson, he’d lived in a different time. He’d had a life where he spoke Old German (and probably lived there, as well), owned a sword, and was murdered in a forest, by what could only be some kind of supernatural creature - most likely a vampire. He didn’t know anything else about that life, the only other clues being the random sketches that he never gave a second thought to!

The feeling of being overwhelmed dawned on him like a looming shadow, making his lungs feel tight as the steadily growing list of problems started to stifle him. Strained, Jeremy offered a smile to his mentor as he excused himself for the bathroom, ignoring her pitying and understanding gaze as he woodenly walked to the exit. He just needed a minute. It felt like the bottled emotions he worked so hard to keep contained were breaking out, the spidering cracks growing longer and deeper with the added weight of his new discoveries. This was yet another issue to add to his mountain of problems; an issue that was far too large for him to handle on his own.

By the time Jeremy came out of his thoughts, he was standing in the blessedly silent toilets, clutching the sink in a white-knuckled grip as he blankly stared at his reflection. He looked larger. It was something he noticed when his muscles no longer screamed at him from the excessive exercise. He’d been fit, in Mystic Falls, and agile enough to at least survive his supernatural interactions, but with the amount of training he was doing in Oregon, he’d neatly filled into his lanky form, looking healthier than he ever did before. But, as he looked at his pale, haunted face, Jeremy couldn’t help but think that nothing had changed - he was still the scared human kid that was constantly in way over his head.

“f*ck…” Jeremy hissed between his teeth as he turned his gaze from his reflection to stare down at the sink.

“Language, Baby Gilbert,” a voice tutted from behind him, making the hair raise on the back of Jeremy’s neck as he spun on his heel to face the potential assailant.

For a moment, Jeremy could do nothing but blink as his eyes travelled from a cooly smirking Damon Salvatore, to his gently smiling sister, and back again. Luckily, his brain kicked in a few seconds later as his brows twitched down in confusion, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Rude,” Damon stated as he mockingly shook his head.

“Well- I mean…” Jeremy grimaced at his stuttering, “It’s great to see you both, but… Why are you here?” Their presence could only mean one thing: trouble was coming.

“Jeremy,” Elena started, tone soft in a way that Jeremy hated. Whenever she used that tone, she wanted him to do something that he wouldn’t like, “We… We need your help-“

“Here’s the gist, Baby Gilbert,” Damon interrupted, completely blanking Elena as she aimed a chilling glare towards him, “Stuff’s developed in Mystic Falls and we’re losing ground. Fast. We need an edge and to get an edge, we need information. Namely, information about the Original family. Which is where you come in.”

Jeremy frowned as he crossed his arms, leaning against the sink as he stared at the duo with a guarded expression, “Last time we talked about this, you were convinced that I was making it all up, or that Klaus had compelled me. What’s changed your mind, now?”

“New information has come to light, Jere,” Elena spoke up before Damon could deliver another snarky comment, “It was the original witch. She cast a spell on Henrik’s soul so that he’d come back to them, forcing him into a reincarnation cycle.”

“I know,” Jeremy shrugged.

“Wait, hold on,” Damon theatrically held up a hand, “You already knew? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because you’d never believe me,” Jeremy scoffed with a roll of his eyes. He needed to get back soon, or Rain would start searching for him, “Mikael was more than willing to answer my questions when we lived together and explained everything to me. Look,” Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to keep his frustration at bay, “I don’t know what I could tell you about Henrik and his family. All the information that I could possibly have is over a thousand years outdated and, even then, I still have holes in my memory. Sorry,” he shrugged, not looking sorry at all, before he pushed himself from the sink and made to walk out of the toilet, only for Damon to speed towards him and grab his wrist.

“You’re really just gonna walk away from us, from your sister?” he questioned coldly.

“You’re the ones that walked out on me first,” Jeremy sneered, a familiar sense of rage burning in his chest.

“Jeremy, please-“

“No, Elena!” the teen snapped, turning his sneer to his sister, who instantly flinched away, “You don’t get to do this to me, okay? You sent me away. You sent me away from everything I’ve ever known and told me to live my life. Well, I’ve lived my life. I go to school, I do my homework and I go to career fairs. I have friends here, obligations here. I’m not just going to up and move everything again because you snap your fingers in my face!” In the ringing silence of the bathroom, Jeremy closed his eyes and took a deep steadying breath, trying to regain his cool. When he opened his eyes again, they were hard and serious in the face of his sister’s tearful expression, “Go home, Elena.”

Jeremy merely stared expressionlessly as his older sister floundered, seemingly taken off guard by how reluctant he was to come back to heel, “I-I know what I did was-"

“Mon petit Jay-Jay!” a voice suddenly intruded, along with a series of knocks on the bathroom door, “You’ve been a while. Are you okay?”

For a second, Jeremy was frozen, his muscles stiff and his breath trapped in his throat as his head whipped around to face the closed bathroom door, heart attempting to thud out of his chest. He didn’t know why, but instinctive fear rushed through him at the thought of Damon and Elena meeting Rain, a dread settling in his stomach like something awful was about to happen.

“W-Wait,” Jeremy’s voice cracked, his mouth finally listening to his screaming brain, “Wait! Don’t come in!” he lunged towards the door but was held back by Damon’s persistent hold around his wrist.

Before Jeremy could yank his hand free, the door opened and Rain stepped into the room.

“What the f*ck is going on here?” Rain demanded, tone low and deadly as her eyes settled sharply on Damon, who still had a tight hold on Jeremy.

“Rain…” Jeremy started, trying to forcibly move past his shock at how terrifying Rainbow seemed at that moment, “It’s not-“

“Why don’t you mind your own business, huh?” Damon interrupted, levelling a threatening look at the woman, a sarcastic smile curling his lips.

“Wait,” Jeremy started again, “Don’t-“

“Answer my damn question, connard,” Rain sneered, feet shifting into a familiar stance.

“I said,” Damon bared his human teeth, eyes focusing on Rain with a strange intensity. He was about to compel her. Jeremy only had a few milliseconds of realisation before it was too late, “Get out of here.”

“Vampire,” Rain hissed between her teeth, her eyes narrowed into slits.

Before anyone could even blink, Rain had leapt into action as she pulled a pair of wooden stakes from the inside of her jacket, the weapons fitting into her hands like she’d been born to wield them. Her aim was true and strong as her stake was about to bury itself in Damon’s heart, forcing the vampire to drop Jeremy’s hand and leap away, surprise wiping all co*ckiness from his face. With that, Rain took a protective stance in front of Jeremy, murderous intent practically dripping from every pore as she levelled a look at both Damon and Elena. However, her eyes soon focused solely on Damon, a look slowly bleeding into her eyes - a look that Jeremy had never seen before.

“Rain?” the teen questioned, feeling hesitant to put his hand on her shoulder.

“Filthy vampire scum!” Rain shouted as she went to attack Damon once again, her hunting instincts driving her to a single-minded focus.

“The impulse,” Jeremy whispered with dawning dreaded realisation. He needed to stop her, he needed to snap her out of it! “Rain! Stop!”

“Jeremy!” Elena shouted, swiftly stepping into the teen’s space to grab his arm, “Stay away from her!”

“She’s my friend!” was all Jeremy shouted back, pure panic and dread making his hands shake. Jeremy knew what Damon did to ‘dangers’, whether they were a potential danger, or not, he killed them. The vampire would never hesitate to kill a Hunter; the only reason Alaric was still alive was because of his ring - something that Rain didn’t have. “Damon! Don’t hurt her!”

“Her?!” Damon shouted, his eyes not even flickering to Jeremy as he barely dodged another attack, “What about me?!”

“Just-!”

“Well, well, well,” a suave voice interrupted, stealing everyone’s attention in an instant. The stranger stood and smirked that them, like he was merely amused by the events taking place, like a petty god being entertained by mortals. “What’s going on here, huh?”

“Kol…” Elena whimpered the firm touch on Jeremy’s shoulder, now turning painful as she dug her nails into his skin.

“Doppelgänger,” the original nodded, “So nice to see you again,” then he turned from the woman, like she never existed in the first place, eyes burning into Jeremy’s own, “Been a long time, little brother. How’ve you been?”

However, the taunting smirk soon twitched down as Jeremy simply stared at him. No, he didn’t simply stare. The teen looked upon Kol with a pale face, looking more sick than shocked as his eyes drilled into Kol’s with the most haunted look he’d ever seen in his long, long life.

“Du... Du bist derjenige, der mich getötet hat…” Jeremy uttered, voice quaking around the words as he looked at Kol with nothing but fear and terror. Everyone looked at Jeremy with confusion, the foreign words barely sinking in as Kol completely lost any and all confidence, an oddly serious and grim expression shadowing his face.

“Jere?” Rain started, looking to have snapped out of her craze as soon as Kol stepped into the room, her eyes full of concern and panic.

But Jeremy couldn’t hear her over the ringing in his ears, his form shaking and eyes slightly unfocused as he stared at the original vampire with tunnel vision. “You f*cking killed me!” the teen roared before he rushed into action, taking his own hidden stake from his jacket as he charged forward, aiming to end the bastard’s life. However, his ancient opponent reacted much too fast as his vision spun and the next thing he knew, his stake had been embedded into the opposite wall, next to Elena’s head and the filthy vampire was at his back as he held Jeremy in a strong choke hold, the pressure far too hard for him to even get a small wisp of oxygen into his lungs.

Swiftly, the teen’s sight started to blur and black spots were beginning to form in his vision. The last thing he saw before he passed out was Rain’s face, twisted and pinched in concern and fear, for him, before her head snapped to the side…

Chapter 20: Past memories

Chapter Text

Wildflowers swayed in the light breeze, yellows, pinks and purples bobbing along in the sea of tall green grass as he stalked through the field, eyes trained on the floundering child before him. He’d been chasing her for well over an hour, and she always manage to slip away. Well, now he was about to catch her completely unaware and finally win this age-old game between them.

Instantly, he darted forward with a roar of determination, completely taking his opponent by surprise as he seized her from under her arms and lifted her into the air. The girl shrieked in fear and surprise as she instantly started to struggle, but she was no match for him!

“I’ve got you, now!” he declared, hefting the struggling child higher.

“Big brother!” the girl laughed, joy and glee echoing around them as he twirled her around, “Big Brother! No! Put me down!”

“Ha! Ha!” he laughed evilly, “I’ll never let you go! No one can save you, now!”

“Sibylle!” the girl screeched, making him wince as the sound travelled through his ears.

“Anna!” came the answering bellow and suddenly he felt another small being tackling him from behind. His eyes blew wide as he lost his balance and his foot caught on the uneven earth, forcing him to pull Sibylle to his chest so she wouldn’t accidentally get hurt. However, as soon as he was on the ground, the two girls attacked mercilessly by jumping and screaming in his ear.

They only stopped when a familiar voice called them from afar, “Anna! Sibylle! Lewis! Lunch is ready!”

“Coming, Mother!” they called in unison before they all scrambled up from the ground and raced towards their home, eager for food after running around the fields all morning.

It was hard work and the usually pleasant sun seemed more vindictive as it beat down on his shoulders, making sweat drip from his nose and run into his eyes while he tried to work. His hands were sore, but he was determined to carry on; Lewis was growing into a man now and it was time to learn his father’s trade and start working on the farm. It was hard and he’d quickly fallen behind in his small section, but he was determined.

“Lewis,” his father called, looking down at him, before his eyes travelled to Lewis’ scythe, “Here. You need to hold it like this,” he leaned down and adjusted the small hands over the tool, and then stood up to display a sweeping motion with his own scythe, “Then, you can do the cuts cleaner.”

“Okay, Thank you, Father!” Lewis chirped before he copied his father’s example and instantly noticed that he’d been able to cut more cleanly than he had before.

A large warm hand settled in his hair, gently ruffling the sweaty strands as his father smiled down at him with pride, “Good job, son.”

Lewis’s face broke out in a large grin and his chest was abuzz with joy and happiness. He lifted the blade again, holding it the correct way once again as he swiped at the barley once again.

The flames glowed against the twilight sky, embers dancing in the shallow breeze, captivating everyone around it, being as deceitfully beautiful as always. Lewis always loved their annual bonfires, where everyone in the village gathered for the day, breaking bread together, setting up games and, then gathering together to watch the beautiful flames stretch into the night sky, the orange glow keeping them safe from the creeping darkness for hours.

However, the happy memory was obliterated in favour of the horrifying sight of a woman being burned alive at the stake. Her screams of torture would forever be seared into his brain, echoing around the clearing as the entire village was forced to watch in silence.

Lewis had never seen a witch burning before. He’d never even heard of one before the strange man waltzed into their farming village and accused a woman of witchcraft. From there, everything went from bad to worse as the lady - a nice lady that had helped one of his little sisters with a scraped knee, using one of her balms - was dragged from her house and tied to a post as the man spat out venomous words and ordered his men to pile their harvested barley around her feet.

Anna and Sibylle had sobbed into his chest, hands clutching at his shirt, fingers curling tighter in fear as the screams of the burning woman carried on and on and on, scaring them beyond comprehension. Lewis could do nothing more than curl his arms around them protectively and stare at the gruesome display.

The monster was still preaching, telling everyone about his divine mission and his goal to purge the land from witchcraft, but Lewis could barely pay attention to the words, his eyes drawn to the man’s arm. It was a tattoo, but it was oddly detailed, with dark swirls and intricate pictures, something extremely different from the usually unidentifiable splotches of ink that Lewis usually saw.

Eventually, Lewis managed to force his eyes away from the tattoo and looked up, only to feel the breath freeze in his lungs when the monster’s eyes were focused solely on him, his eyes aglow from the blazing fire. The evil man had a look of slow realisation as his eyes darted to his tattoo and then back to Lewis and Lewis felt like a stone had been dropped into his stomach.

Quickly, Lewis looked away and settled his cheek on one of his sister’s heads, determined to put the small interaction out of his mind. There was nothing to worry about. Lewis wasn’t a witch and, soon, the man would move to the next town, looking for another woman to accuse.

Everything was fine.

He was fine.

Lewis hates it here. He missed his family, he misses his village, he misses the fields and everything else that used to be in his life. But he couldn’t go back, not until his apprenticeship was finished and that wouldn’t happen until Lord Johann declared it so.

After the witch burning in his village, Lord Johann had taken Lewis and what could a family of farmers do against a Lord if he wanted to take one of their children. In fact, it was seen as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that Lewis should be eternally grateful for - something that Lord Johann reminded him of time and time again.

Lord Johann was a vampire hunter, someone that was chosen to fight against the supernatural vermin that stalked the shadows of their world and he had declared Lewis as a potential hunter, someone who would take up that mantle in the future. In a perfect world, Lord Johann would never allow a commoner to learn the sacred craft, but Hunters were so few and far between that he’d been forced to make an exception.

The training was brutal and it only served to be a stress reliever for Lord Johann as he beat Lewis until he was half-unconscious; Lewis was learning to read, but every missed word was met with a cruel insult and a slap to the face. He was treated like a servant and Lewis hated every moment of it, resentment growing by the day until he dreamed of packing his things and going back home - if only his family wouldn’t be killed upon Lord Johann’s discovery…

Lewis didn’t think he could ever feel more powerless, he was just a peasant child in a world that seemed determined to ruin his life completely…

It had been well over a week since Lord Johann had stepped into the dense forest in search of the supposed vampire that had been sighted. It had left three women and two young men dead, drained of blood. They suspected that it occupied some sort of cave in the forest, unable to stay in such a small village during the day without causing some suspicion. Commending his skill and past victories against the darkness that plagued their lands, Lord Johann had scoffed at the prospect of the cowering creature and had told Lewis that he shouldn’t be more than a day to fell the creature.

A week has passed.

That could only mean one thing.

Lord Johann was dead… and Lewis couldn’t be more relieved.

Packing up what meagre possessions he had, Lewis strapped his sword to his hip, and his crossbow to his back and set off for his own journey in hunting the supernatural. No one would find it strange that he took to the road alone, as a fresh fifteen-year-old man, it was expected that he venture out and make something of himself.

Swiftly, Lewis paid the stablehand a few coins and took Lord Johann’s horse (the forest had been much too thick for the Lord to take her with him) before trotting out of the village, without even glancing back. Lewis was more than ready to start his life, without Johann.

The weight was light in his arms as he trekked through the dense forest, paying no mind to the setting sun as he used the partial light to navigate around the roots and shrubbery. Blonde hairs from the little girl’s head tickled his nose, forcing Lewis to awkwardly shift her so her head rested on his shoulder, little puffs of breath hitting the hollow of his neck. She was a heavy sleeper, and Lewis couldn’t help but think of his little sisters when he had to bring them home after playing and then falling asleep in the field. Although, Lewis didn’t exactly blame the kid for being so utterly exhausted, especially after such a stressful and traumatic event.

It hadn’t been a vampire - thankfully, otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a little girl to save - but the villagers had claimed that a beast was stealing their young, forcing Lewis into action. The ‘beast’ had been nothing but a normal, mortal man, who had decided to spend his time kidnapping children from forest trails and killing them. It was a disgusting excuse of a human being, one that Lewis was more than happy to cut down.

Looking down at his arm, he frowned at the invisible ink that barely reached to the middle of his forearm - Johann’s tattoo had been past his bicep and still looked to be unfinished - and sighed. He would have liked it to have been a vampire, simply to complete more of his tattoo but hunting down a serial killer was more common than one would think when attempting to hunt vampires and the like. Vampires were smart and often shifted town before anyone could really speculate that a monster was among them, while serial killers were often crazed and stupid as they lingered in a town for too long and too obviously.

Lewis hated serial killers, if only because it always served to remind the hunter that humans could often be eviler than the supernatural…

His breath was caught in his lungs as his heart clenched in pure fear and panic, griping his entire body and forcing it to a standstill. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. All he could do was stared with wide and panicked eyes as he stared at the monster before him, the monster that was charmingly speaking to the baker’s wife, flashing human teeth merrily as sunlight outlined his skin.

The monster was in the sunlight. It shouldn’t be able to. Johann had forced Lewis to watch one scream and practically rip itself apart as its flesh burned away in the morning sun. It shouldn’t be possible for the monster to walk in the sunlight, and yet, here one was.

The only reason why Lewis even knew the ‘man’ was really a vampire was that Lewis had a strong sense for when one was near, like a constant ringing in the back of his mind, alerting him to be prepared. The fact that he’d found one in broad daylight was more fear-inducing than Lewis ever thought it’d be.

What was even more terrifying was when the vampire finished his conversation and looked up, directly into Lewis’ eyes. It wasn’t a normal reaction that a vampire would have when coming across a hated hunter, it was one of disbelief and… awe, which made Lewis feel nearly overwhelmed with panic.

The sunlight vampire took an aborted step towards the hunter, hand outstretched as his voice cracked with pain and disbelief.

“...Henrik?”

Lewis ran through the forest, weaving through trees and shrubbery like his life depended on it - because it did! Fear and adrenaline was the only reason he was still able to run, trying to outrun the thing that was most likely behind him.

The sunlight vampire had tried to take him. It’d forced Lewis into a narrow, dark alley and then proceeded to pin the hunter to the wall and force their eyes to meet. It had tried to control Lewis, but it didn’t work. Vampire tricks never worked on Hunters, much to Lewis’ relief.

Catching the monster off guard, Lewis lunged forward with a blade, a move that was easily evaded, as he called the beast a devil. Lewis could see the fury and anger that lit up the creature’s eyes at the insults that flew from the hunter’s mouth. The next thing Lewis knew, his own blade was pried from his hands and buried in his shoulder, forcing a cry of pain to fall from the hunter’s mouth as the creature vindictively twisted the blade.

It was all a blur after that, but Lewis managed to get free, his instincts kicking in as he sprinted from danger, ignoring the low-hanging branches that whipped him in the face. The only thing on his mind was to run, as far and fast as he possibly could.

Darkness had swiftly fallen around him, engulfing him so completely, Lewis could barely see the thick roots on the floor. His only saving grace was the silvery glow of the full moon, but, even then, the thick canopy of the trees assured Lewis that he wouldn’t be able to see very far.

Everything was completely silent and devoid of life, like the very essence of nature knew what was about to come and had already fallen into quiet mourning.

Fear tasted bitter and unbearable on Lewis’ tongue, but he found it in himself to unsheathe his sword, valiantly ignoring the tremble and pain in his arm as he hefted the heavy metal. If he was to die, then he would die fighting!

“Face me, coward!” Lewis roared, letting anger and defiance overrun his fear as he glowered unseeingly at the deep shadows before him.

Only silence answered back, the only thing to fill the void being Lewis’ uneven breaths. Then, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and the hunter whirled around, his sword cutting through the air in a wide arc. The monster shot forward, using speeds that Lewis couldn’t even hope to defend against, its face demonically twisted with blood-red eyes and black veins.

Unforgiving hands clutched Lewis’ head and before the hunter could blink-

Jeremy startled awake, a scream caught in his throat as his heart attempted to beat out of his chest. His limbs reacted on impulse, floundering erratically in order to keep the monster away from him. He didn’t want to die. He wasn’t ready to die! He wanted to see his family again! He wanted to hug his little sisters again! He wanted to see his mother and father again! He wanted to see the fields and the farms that he hadn’t seen since he was a child! He didn’t want to go- he wasn’t ready to go!

Somehow, his feet managed to find purchase, allowing him to frantically stumble to his feet, his body lunging to the right in an attempt to get away from the danger. However, his unfocused eyes didn’t manage to catch the floral chair that stood in his way, making him flip with the furniture and onto the floor again with a loud clatter; the hunter didn’t even feel his elbow and hip smarting from the fall as he forced his limbs to cooperate once again.

Suddenly, hands - strong, bruising, restricting, terrifying hands - clamped over his shoulders, forcing him to look into familiar brown eyes. A movement forced Jeremy’s eyes down, blinking as he tried to focus on the lips moving, forming words that seemed muffled and too far away to decipher. Looking back at the eyes, Jeremy felt himself flinch at the cold hard look in those brown orbs, holding an age to them that the teen couldn’t possibly comprehend. However, despite the scary look in his eyes, Jeremy could see worry and regret. The brown eyes looked… sad, but that sadness seemed to meld back into the cold and hardness that had scared Jeremy before, leaving the teen confused and fearful.

With all the force of a runaway truck, Jeremy suddenly came back to himself, his senses and memories coming back all at once, attempting to overwhelm him. His lungs were burning, forcing him to gasp for air like he’d been starved of it, thankfully relieving some of the pain and stress he was putting on the organ.

“That’s it,” the accented voice filtered through, making the teen flinch, “Breathe, little brother. Breathe in for four seconds, hold for three, out for five, okay? Like I’m doing, now,” he followed his own instructions, his movements slightly exaggerated, but Jeremy couldn’t help but be thankful for that, imitating the actions in front of him rather than trying to force his scrambled mind to understand the instructions.

Within a few minutes, Jeremy could breathe normally again and was finally able to see the person that had helped him, grateful for their help. Only for that gratitude to be swept away in an instant as his eyes gazed upon Kol, his usual mischievous expression replaced with something uncannily serious…

“Wh-“ Jeremy tried, only to cough. The teen gritted his teeth when the vampire placed a large, warm hand on his head, gently ruffling his hair.

“Take a moment,” Kol lightly scolded, “Breathe.”

Scowling, Jeremy forced himself to breathe, letting his anger for the vampire show, which only made the ancient being huff in amusem*nt.

“What’s that face for, little brother?” Kol grinned, fangs on full display, “I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

“Are you really going to skip over the fact that you killed me?” Jeremy glared, voice raspy as he gently palmed his throat. It was most likely bruised from Kol’s assault.

“Maybe,” Kol admitted, his grin falling in an instant, “But I wouldn’t have lost my temper if you hadn’t called me all those names, baby brother.”

“I was a vampire hunter,” Jeremy hissed, anger and frustration taking full control, “And I didn’t have any of my First Life Memories… Did you even tell the others that you found me all those years ago?”

“What?” Kol laughed, “Are you crazy? Do you know what the others would have done to me if I told them that I found Henrik, alive and well, only to have killed him myself? I would have gone straight into the coffin, with no hope of escape - just like Finn,” he then made a dismissive gesture with his hand, “Not that it mattered. I practically went insane with your Hunter Curse. After enough rampages, Klaus said I was too risky to roam free, so he daggered me. The next time I awoke, your ghost was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed that another one had awakened.”

“What?” Jeremy blinked, “Awakened? How?” It was one of the few things he was never taught by Rainbow…

“You don’t know?” Kol tilted his head and Jeremy got the distant feeling that he was being mocked, “Well, I guess, as your much wiser and older brother, I could tell you…”

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, quickly catching on, “… What do you want?”

“Mother and Klaus seem to be keen on playing House for a little while,” Kol started, “However, our family’s been quite… divided when you died in your first life. I wanted to ensure that you would turn up to family dinners when asked.”

Scowling, Jeremy looked at the smirking vampire for any sign of deceit before quickly giving up, “Once a month,” he gritted out.

“Five days a week,” Kol held up five fingers, “You can have weekends to yourself.”

“Twice a month.”

“Six days a week.”

“Ugh! Fine! Once a week!”

“Twice.”

The pair stared at one another, Jeremy’s eyes narrowed into slits, while Kol looked like he was having the time of his life. “Fine. Twice a week, and that’s it. Okay?”

The vampire hummed in obvious amusem*nt before he bobbed his head, “Deal. Now, the way to awaken a hunter is for them to kill a vampire.”

“What?” Jeremy blinked, “But I’ve already killed a vampire. Several, even.”

“Well, there’s a catch,” Kol stepped in before Jeremy could say anything more, “It’s called the Brotherhood of the Five. Meaning, there are only to be five hunters in the world a one time, but, now that your little friend is dead, there are currently only four in the world.”

“… Meaning that if I kill a vampire, now, I’ll awaken as a Hunter…” Jeremy murmured.

“Exactly,” Kol nodded, “There are two ways to end a Hunter’s Curse. One, the vampire that killed them finally kills themselves; or two, a new Hunter awakens, nullifying the curse.”

Damon killed Rain, a fully awakened, active Hunter. Thus, as a punishment, he will be cursed until he dies, allowing Rain to complete her last mission. Damon would die, unless Jeremy decided to stop it. Her death was a bitter pill to swallow, and if Jeremy wasn’t so used to death, he would probably be inconsolable, but the reality was that he felt nothing but guilt and sadness. Anger came a close third in his list of current emotions and because of that, Jeremy made a mental promise that he wouldn’t awaken as a Hunter until Rain has her revenge. Damon had been given chance after chance to prove himself to be more than the monster everyone first assumed him to be. The only reason he’s even been allowed to linger in their town for so long was because he wanted to protect Elena: the person everyone was willing to sacrifice their family, friends and morals for…

“Well, it’s been great catching up, Henrik,” Kol grinned, effectively pulling Jeremy from his inner ranting, “But I must be off.”

“You’re leaving?” Jeremy asked without thinking.

“I’ve already completed what I came here to do,” he waved over his shoulder, drawing Jeremy’s attention to the dead woman that was hanging from the wall with a wooden stake to the heart. “I’ll see you sometime at dinner, but I’d hurry back to Mystic Falls sooner rather than later… There’s someone that’s dying to see you.”

And from one blink to the next, Kol was gone, leaving Jeremy alone in a desolate house, in the middle of nowhere, with a dead vampire…

“Great…” Jeremy sighed, feeling completely done with everything.

Chapter 21: Dark discoveries

Chapter Text

Damon downed the rest of his drink, swallowing the bitter liquid with ease, before he forced himself to stand to pour another one. This would be… around his sixth drink in however many hours he’d been home alone. It was a wonder he didn’t just drink from the bottle, at this point, but he merely poured another glass and fell back into the soft leather of his sofa. Things had been getting more and more complicated lately and he couldn’t help but blame Little Gilbert for the uncharted waters he found himself in.

It was complicated enough to face off against the original vampires, and then there were more of them, and then there was their witchy mother (who was somehow still alive); once you added Jeremy into the mix, it was impossible to navigate. Usually, Damon prided himself in being smart and cunning, a skill he’d developed over the years, and he was able to survive impossible situations, but he found himself with one foot in the grave and no way to step back out. The boding sense of The End had Damon’s hackles up on a constant basis.

One thing he didn’t like was Jeremy’s attitude. Ever since he and Elena found him at Mary’s house (their lead to discover which bloodline he and Stefan were part of) staring blankly at the wall. Apparently, Kol killed Mary and left the littlest Gilbert at the house for them to find - for what reason the ancient vampire had for leaving the boy, Damon had no idea, but he didn’t like it.

Nowadays, it felt like Jeremy wasn’t on their side. He stared at Elena with cold detached brown eyes, a haunted quality to them that had Damon guessing that he blamed Elena for everything that had gone wrong. However, the teen accepted the hug from his older sister, assuring her that he was fine and that he wasn’t injured. His verbal reassurances were enough for Elena to sigh and then move on, but Damon couldn’t help but keep his eye on the teen. Jeremy seemed… different in the time that he’d been away from Mystic Falls. Granted, it wasn’t much of a difference (no one could change so much in just five months) but the teen was bulkier, more confident in his movements and his silence no longer seemed as meek as they once were. What especially caught Damon’s attention was the lack of mention of Damon killing his little friend, but the vampire swiftly put that from his mind, not particularly caring that he killed the woman in self-defence - the kid should know better than to make friends with vampire hunters.

Despite the question about Jeremy’s allegiance, Damon didn’t really feel the need to make a big fuss over it: he could easily deal with a human and Little Gilbert was back to keeping to himself in his house, so…. There wasn’t really much of a threat, just a precaution…

But if it wasn’t the original family, or Jeremy making him so paranoid, then what was?

The vampire downed the rest of his drink once again, before he muttered, “Maybe I’m just tired?”

“Tired?” a voice questioned behind him. A voice he didn’t recognise in the slightest, “If you’re tired, then maybe you should shove a wooden stake where it belongs?”

Shocked and surprised, Damon whirled around at superhuman speed to face the intruder- Only to find absolutely no one there. But… There was a voice. He heard someone, specifically a woman, speak. He could have sworn he heard them…

“Damon?” Elena spoke, bringing him back from… whatever he was thinking.

“What?” the vampire narrowed his eyes, confidence overcoming any kind of confusion in an instant. He co*cked his hip and folded his arms as he gave his usual telltale smirk, “Aren’t you supposed to be with your brother, you know, at your house? Why are you here?”

“In case you forgot, my name is on the lease. This is my house,” Elena shot back, her tone blunter than ever. However, her expression instantly broke into something more hesitant, “Besides, I don’t think Jeremy wants to see me right now…”

“Giving you the cold shoulder?”

“It’s not… that…” Elena hedged, looking uncertain as she dragged her fingers through her hair, “He talks to me, but he seems… distant and I- I think I…”

“You what?” Damon questioned, a hint of seriousness to his tone.

“I think I heard him crying in his bedroom… Jeremy doesn’t cry easily,” Elena looked down and gripped her arm, “The last time I heard him cry was at our parents’ funeral… He’s not the same… I don’t know what to do.”

“Grief can do that to a person, I suppose,” Damon shrugged, uncaringly.

Damon pursed his lips, mind casting back to the girl that had been with Jeremy, the vampire could barely remember her face, but he remembered that she had brightly coloured hair and was a vampire hunter. Damon had met a lot of vampire hunters in his years, but that girl was the first one to make him drop his co*ckiness. She’d been fast and strong, supernaturally so, and if she hadn’t gotten distracted, Damon didn’t think he would have won that fight - not that he cared that much, but he still won at the end of the day.

“But he only knew her for a short period of time,” Elena shook her head, “She shouldn’t have affected him this much.”

“He was there for five months, not five days,” Damon huffed. For someone as lonesome and introverted as Jeremy to make a friend that wasn’t connected to his sister, was probably a big deal to the young teen. Humans could form attachments fast under the right circ*mstances. “Look, you don’t know their relationship, or what they bonded over, but I think you did the right thing in giving him some space, for now,” geez, when did he become the ‘responsible one’, “Let him recuperate and settle back into the town, let him fix his routine before you go prying for answers again. Then, we can ask him about the originals, sound good?”

Elena let her stressed expression fall into a relieved smile (making his heart flutter) before she bobbed her head in agreement, “You’re right. Thanks, Damon. See you in the morning?”

“Yeah, head to bed. It’s a school night,” the vampire huffed, rolling his eyes as she walked away, her long hair bouncing and swaying with every step she took up the stairs. His ears twitched slightly when her door gently clicked shut and her lock slid into place, allowing him to finally sag his shoulders and fall back into his comfortable sofa. Being the problem-solver wasn’t really on his list of skills, Stefan was the ‘responsible brother’, while Damon had always held up the ‘chaotic’ title. Usually, whenever Stefan fell off the wagon, Damon would steer clear, uninterested in whatever shenanigans he’d try to drag Damon into, but in Mystic Falls, with Elena, the originals and everything else going on, he couldn’t exactly skip town. “What am I gonna do?” he murmured as he pinched the bridge of his nose for… the nth time that day.

Well, it wasn’t exactly going to do him good if he stressed about it for the rest of the night.

Heaving a massive sigh, Damon picked himself up from the sofa and set his drink down with a small thud, his glum form directed towards the stairs. Only to come up short when he nearly stumbled into a small figure in front of him. Damon’s eyes widened when he saw that it was that hunter woman, her eyes dark and haunting as they stared into his soul, her colourful hair hanging around her face like limp rat tails as her soaked clothing dripped at their feet, a small puddle quickly forming under her feet. She opens her blue-tinted lips as if to say something, only for more water to leak past her lips, a never-ending stream of water wetting the floor further. Suddenly, her neck dipped at an unnatural angle and her bloodless soaked hand reached towards him, causing the fear-stricken vampire to flinch back and close his eyes-

Snapping his eyes open, Damon looked at the woman- Only to find no one there… Searching the room, Damon found no woman, apart from Elena, within the manor at all and looking down proved that there was no water from the dripping wet stranger. It must have been some kind of hallucination. He must be more stressed than he realised if that was the case… It couldn’t have been a ghost. He’d dealt with ghosts before, they didn’t display their injuries from when they died and certainly didn’t display aspects of where their body had been thrown.

Jeremy wasn’t expecting company.

It seemed to be some unspoken agreement amongst the group that they would leave the teen alone for the time being. Jeremy could only be thankful for the space they were granting him, having fully expected Elena to be on him as soon as he stepped back into Mystic Falls. He needed some time to cool down from his ever-present anger that was simmering in his chest, an anger that had stopped since he accepted the fact that Rain had died and that she’d been killed by, none other than, Damon Salvatore himself.

So, when a demanding knock sounded on his front door, Jeremy instantly tensed up, his simmering anger swiftly coming to a boil. However, as much as he wanted to ignore it, the knocking was loud and insistent, forcing Jeremy to huffily stomp his way to the door and swing it open, lips peeled back in a snarl as he readied himself to spit venom at whatever poor sap that had to decide to ruin his quiet day.

Pulling the door with way more force than necessary, Jeremy glared down at the intruder, only for his anger and his glower to instantly fall away as he came face to face with Rebekah, who looked as nonchalant as ever.

“Well,” the blonde started, looking at Jeremy like he was being particularly stupid, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“Haven’t I already done that?” Jeremy muttered, more to himself than anything before he stepped aside and allowed the vampire through.

“Yes, but I do have manners, little brother.”

“Since when?” Jeremy huffed, a weak smile pulling at his lips as he firmly shut the door and followed the original into the living room.

Rebekah wasted no time in making herself at home as she elegantly flopped onto the sofa, before gesturing him to do the same. The teen couldn’t help the twitch of his lips at the action, reluctant amusem*nt warming his chest.

“Why are you here?” Jeremy asked calmly as he settled in the armchair, “Better yet, how did you know I was back?”

The blonde rolled her eyes as she scoffed, “Your little friends aren’t really smart when it comes to discussing recent events. They speak rather loudly, so it’s really no surprise that I heard them all the way from their little classroom meeting.” Then, she shifted, the digits of her fingers twitching slightly before she forced them still, “As for the reason why I’m here… I saw your texts.”

Jeremy blinked, a frown beginning to form before realisation took hold and a grimace settled into place, “Sorry I stopped texting you…” He’d almost forgotten about that. While Mikael had been living with him, waiting for Klaus to arrive with guns blazing, Jeremy had been texting the blonde, asking where she was, telling her what was happening, and asking her if she was okay. It became clear to Jeremy that the others had done something to Rebekah, keeping the original under control while they allowed Mikael to do his thing. Even then, Jeremy had still texted her on occasion, wishing that she would reply back… Jeremy stopped texting her when he was sent away the phrase ‘leave and don’t look back’ ringing in his ears.

A gentle, but real, smile graced his sister’s lips as she shook her head, “It’s fine. Klaus told me you’d been sent away… We’ve got a house, now,” she failed to cover her light snort, “I don’t think we’ve lived together since we were human - we’re already at one another’s throat. You should come over!” she grinned brightly, “Mother really wants to see you again!”

“Yeah, sure, I can’t wait to accidentally get my throat ripped out,” Jeremy chuckled.

“I’m sure if you were there, everyone would be on their best behaviour,” Rebekah laughed, but it tapered off when Jeremy’s face twisted into another grimace.

“I seriously doubt that,” the teen huffed, “If Klaus and Kol are there, I don’t think it would be a very argument-free visit…”

A guarded look darkened her eyes as she tilted her head, “Kol? Why would you argue with Kol?”

Jeremy felt like he’d triggered some kind of landmine, his foot frozen on the metaphorical detonator, unsure if it would turn out to be a dud or if it would blow up in his face, “… He didn’t tell you what happened?”

The blonde narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, as she growled out, “Apparently not everything...”

“Well,” Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly awkward, but he felt like if he was going to talk to anyone about what happened, it would be Rebekah. While they’d only just started to get close before she was daggered, he still felt a connection with her that felt more trustworthy than his connection to Elena - although, he knew that was most his memories of Henrik coming into play. “Turns out… Henrik isn’t my only past life…”

“What?” Rebekah blinked, looking like she’d been slapped in the face, before it swiftly formed into a confused frown, “Kol never told us about that…”

Quick like a bandaid. Just get it out. “That would be because he was the one that killed me.” And just watch the blood spew all over the place.

“He did WHAT?!” the blonde bellowed, her vampire peeking out in her fury.

From one blink to the next, Rebekah was gone and Jeremy was left to quietly stare at an empty sofa. He would feel bad about sicking Rebekah on Kol, but then Jeremy would look back on his last memories as Lewis, and then shrug that guilt off like a threadbare coat. The vampire didn’t even have the decency to apologise.

However, his smirk was wiped off his face, half an hour later, when he got a text from an unknown number saying that they’d get revenge and that they expect him round for dinner on the weekend. Throwing his head back with a loud groan, Jeremy merely stomped up to his room and flopped down on his bed face first - if he was lucky enough, maybe he’d accidentally smother himself to death…

It was a couple of days before Jeremy would be reinstated back into the local high school. It would usually take longer to process a transfer, but because of Jeremy’s swift return, the paperwork was still all backed up, so it was only a matter of putting it all back into the student files. The teen was more than happy to spend that time trying to get settled back into the house, ignoring the ugly feelings churning in his chest as he eyed the drab walls that surrounded him. After living in a flat, even for a short amount of time, he’d grown comfortable with living in a space that was tailored to a singular resident, and now, back in his house, he could feel the echo of the empty rooms much more clearly than he ever had before…

At that time, he decided to preoccupy himself by leafing through his (obsessive) amount of drawings. At the moment, he had gathered three separate piles: Jeremy’s life, Lewis’ life, and Henrik’s life. They were relatively easy to sort when he analysed the time period of clothing he’d sketched out. Honestly, Jeremy didn’t know why it had never occurred to him that he had more than one reincarnation when he’d drawn so much of Lewis’ life. He must have been extremely stressed if he never thought to worry about the random time period he was constantly drawing without any kind of thought. Gently, he traced the sketches of his little sisters, their grins bright and mischievous as they raced through the long grass, a distant pang throbbing through his heart at the sight of them, a blurry memory of their exact drawings springing to mind.

Lewis’ life had been longer, but no less tragic than Henrik’s had been. No, Henrik’s life had been fine: a family that loved him, a village that accepted him, and, while there had been a few struggles of life, like lack of food, winter hardships, and Mikael being a terrible parent, the negatives seemed to dim in the face of a child’s happiness. Only Henrik’s end had been tragic and everything that happened after his death. Lewis had struggled for long periods of time, especially under that abusive, woman-hating bastard that he’d been forced to follow around, but things did get better for him. While Lewis had been scared during his hunts, he still felt a level of accomplishment and satisfaction at the end of it and, at that point, it really seemed like Lewis could lead a truly happy life. That is until Kol entered the scene and killed him; yet another tragic end… Briefly, Jeremy wondered if the same would happen to him.

After he sorted out the last of the drawings, Jeremy let himself give a sigh of relief when he saw that there were only three time periods: modern, the 1600s, and Viking. It wasn’t the most reliable source to go on when counting how many lives he’s lived, but drawing strange people and scenes seemed to be the early indications of retrieving those memories. Hopefully, it would just be those two. Jeremy really didn’t want to find out that he’d lived another life, or something, with his luck he would probably have been killed by another Mikaelson sibling…

For some reason, Jeremy was almost certain that Henrik and Lewis were his only other lives, Mikael’s voice ringing in his head about how there were always consequences for going against nature and that having to wait so long for Henrik to be reborn had been the price. Sure, the gap hadn’t been as long as a thousand years like they’d first predicted, but it was still hundreds of years between the starts and stops of his lives - some instances of reincarnation had people remembering their children and seeing them when they were on their last dregs of life… But just having a ‘feeling’ about it and keeping track of his sketches weren’t solid defences, so the teen would keep an open mind and a wary eye for anything that didn’t fit either of his past lives.

The two peaceful days at home came to a swift end as the prospect of school loomed over him. Jeremy had plans to merely skip it (he’d been reinstated by Friday, so there was no point going to school for one day before the weekend) but that was ruined when Rebekah dragged him out from his covers by his ankle and stuffed a piece of toast in his mouth before she forced him outside, where he came face to face with, none other than, Kol.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Jeremy glared at the siblings, arms crossed as he tried to stand his ground - although his human stubbornness was no match for the woman’s vampire strength as she continued to drag him from the house, passed a smirking Kol and towards the overly expensive parked car.

“Didn’t you hear?” Kol asked, his voice practically soaking in sarcasm, “I go to school as well, now.”

Jeremy gave the ancient being a despondent stare before he shook his head, “You’re ancient, powerful beings, who could do almost anything if they wanted and you decide to go to school, the one thing every teenager in America absolutely hates… I feel like you should be ashamed…”

That only earned him a light (in vampire terms) whack to the back of the head from Rebekah and a choke of surprised laughter from Kol, before he was shoved into the car and the three of them sped off, in the direction of school. There wasn’t even any room for awkwardness as Jeremy clung to the seats for dear life as Rebekah sped down the streets, revving the engine as loudly as she could as she raced down the streets at breakneck speeds. By the time they pulled up into school, Rebekah slamming on the breaks so hard that Jeremy’s nose was smarting from accidentally smashing it into the back of Kol’s headrest, the teen just about threw the door open and dived from the car, legs shaky and unstable as he slowly attempted to correct himself and keep down whatever was in his stomach.

“Oh, my god…” Jeremy breathed, face pale as he stumbled towards a tree to keep himself upright, “What the f*ck was that?”

“What?” Rebekah asked, looking like the picture of innocence, which Jeremy knew to be a f*cking lie.

“Never mind…” the teen settled, rolling his eyes before pushing away from the tree and heading to the reception desk, expertly ignoring the silent stares of his classmates. His stomach still churned from the ride, but it had ebbed enough for him to comfortably ignore. Did Rebekah even have a valid driver’s licence? The mere thought sent a shiver of terror and dread down his spine, forcing the teen to stop any and all follow-up questions - for his own peace of mind.

No one approached him as he reentered the school, hands buried deep in his pockets and eyes cast to the floor as he glowered at the bland linoleum floors that he hated so much. In his other school, back in Oregon, the floors had been bright and patterned, with paint splashed on the walls, and the lockers randomly coloured - when he’d asked a teacher in passing, she merely stated that it was to create a more welcoming and happy environment for the kids. He never thought much of the school's brightness, until he was faced with the dreary, colourless walls once again; it only seemed to drive home the fact that he was really back in Mystic Falls, that he was really back in that house, and that Rainbow really was dead…

Suddenly, his already underwhelming desire to attend school breached the negative numbers as he numbly approached the front desk. The interaction was disjointed and blurred as Jeremy asked for his timetable, his voice far too loud and distant for his liking while the receptionist offered a few kind words, all of which buzzed within the teen’s ears. He blinked hard, trying to snap out of… whatever this was. Mildly panicked, Jeremy looked at the receptionist, whose face had twisted into a deep frown of concern, her hand reaching out to touch his own, which was curled around the edge of her desk in a white-knuckled grip. The idea of physical touch felt physically sickening, so Jeremy merely offered a bland smile and a few hastily put towards words, that he hoped made sense, before he all but ran from the small room.

In one blink to the next, Jeremy found himself in the library’s bathroom, breath unsteady and eyes unfocused as his brain tried to process what was happening. He knew what was happening. It was hard not to understand what was happening when he’d been through his kind of thing, far too many times to count. His mind knew what he had to do, but his body had always been uncooperative whenever he was in this state.

Trembling, cold fingers palmed at the familiar walls of the bathroom stall, floundering slightly until he finally felt the grooves in the wall. The stall was covered in marker in all different colours, with all different phrases, but there was one quote in particular that had been carved into the wall, something that Jeremy meticulously ran his fingers over, again and again, and again. The tips of his fingers started to feel a little oversensitive from how much he was tracing it, but he merely used that to ground him further, brushing over the chicken scratch until he started to actively think about what it said, his breathing slowly coming back under his control.

What did it say, again?

It’d been so long since he’d been in this school, or even had a panic attack that he was finding it hard to remember. What was it?

Finally, when Jeremy’s breathing was back under control, the pain in his lungs no longer burning through him, the teen opened his eyes, ignoring how sore and raw they felt from his uncontrollable crying, and stared at the words before him.

‘DUMASS!’

Jeremy found himself weakly chuckling at the word, a fond memory coming to mind. It had been Vicki that had stretched that into the door - he couldn’t believe that he’d nearly forgotten that it was her. His parents had recently died and he and Vicki had just started to hang out, when he was suddenly hit with a panic attack, out of nowhere in the corridors. Instantly, Vicki kicked into action and dragged him through the maze of corridors until they came to the boy’s bathroom in the library (thank god, she’d thought to go into the guy’s bathroom and not the girl’s) and had calmed him down. They spent the rest of the school day there, speaking softly to one another and smoking cigarettes. It was only when the lunch bell rang that she pulled a penknife from her bag and started to cut into the stall, placing it low enough so that he’d be able to easily trace it when sitting on the floor. “You can trace over this if you have one when I’m not around, that’s what usually helps me whenever I have a panic attack.” she’d shrugged. “What the hell? Why dumbass? Write something meaningful!” Jeremy had laughed at her. “It is meaningful! It stands for ‘you’re not alone, dumbass’!” “Then write the whole sentence! And why’s it spelt wrong?!” “Like I can be bothered to scratch in a whole f*cking sentence, dumbass!” “You still spelt it wrong! The real dumbass is you!”. That was probably the day he started to fall in love with her… Guilt flooded his system when he remembered what had happened to her and when he thought about how little he thought of her, now.

Sighing, Jeremy gently rubbed at his wet cheeks, the skin feeling a bit irritated now that the salted tears were drying, as he pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head against the wall. The late bell rang shrilly from outside the bathroom door and Jeremy didn’t even flinch, completely ignoring it in favour of focusing on his own exhaustion. He didn’t have plans to attend his classes for the rest of the day, especially when he thought about the drama that was bound to occur at the break when Elena and co. and the younger Mikaelson siblings tried to steal his attention…

He’d really just wanted to skip today…

Damon gulped down the rest of his bourbon and smacked it firmly down onto the wood of the bar, skilfully ignoring the bartender’s dirty look as he picked up another one. There were currently six glasses in front of him and five of them were empty and the last one was in his hand… It had been a long, hard few days… Especially with that bitch’s ghost following him around.

“Ow, now that one hurt!” the dead hunter winced, not even attempting to hide her grin as she put her blue-tinted hands over her soundless heart, “You’re gonna hurt this poor French woman’s heart, monsieur!” she declared dramatically. Damon could see why she and Jeremy had gotten along in Oregon, they were both as annoying as each other.

“Why don’t you just… fade away? Or something else that ghosts do,” he flitted her fingers at her, scowl deepening when she merely continued to grin at him, “How are you even here?” he muttered as he downed the rest of his drink and turned his body to face her, “Bonnie said that the veil was stable, you shouldn’t be here. You got a witch doing you favours?”

“Wow, for a vampire as old as you are, you really are clueless, aren’t you?” the woman laughed and laughed and laughed, the sound getting more and more hysterical and horrific as it went on, “You’re such a f*cking dipsh*t!” she pointed her blue finger at him, her laughter echoing around him, making Damon want to rip his ears off just to make her stop, “It’s no wonder that everyone keeps dying around you! That everyone wants to leave you! You’re stupidity just keeps getting people killed!” she carried on laughing and laughing, louder and louder- then there was nothing but silence. The complete and sudden absence of noise made his ears ring and somehow seemed worse than the continuous laughter that had invaded his senses.

He didn’t understand what was going on. How was she doing this? How was she here? She was just a weak human hunter! How was she haunting him from behind the veil and why was she only showing herself to him?! Was it because he’d killed her? Or was it something else? She laughed in his face when he asked about a witch helping her, so it wasn’t another ‘Ghost Vicki’ situation, but then what else could it be? Was he really putting everyone else in danger? He couldn’t even argue against her claims about being oblivious, especially when he hadn’t even known that werewolves were a real f*cking species until everything with Tyler happened. Was he really so inept? Was he just biding his time until he watched his brother and everyone else die because he was too prideful to actually research the other supernatural possibilities? Maybe he really was-

“Hello, mate?” a hard, cold hand smacked onto Damon’s shoulder, jolting the vampire from his spiralling thoughts. Feeling a cold sweat down his spine, Damon thoroughly shoved those thoughts and questions in the back of his mind as he turned his attention to an all too familiar face. Scowl back in place, Damon turned back to the bar and signalled for another five drinks - he was going to need them if he was going to deal with Klaus.

“What are you doing here?” Damon sneered, sarcasm and disdain dripping from his words, “No teenagers to kidnap and/or kill?”

“Glass houses, Salvatore,” Klaus smirked, inviting himself to sit beside Damon and take one of his drinks, “From what I’ve heard, you’ve killed your own fair share of toddlers in town.”

“He’s got you there, vampire,” the hunter appeared on his other side, making Damon visibly tense before he forced himself to relax, “Do you even remember all the people you’ve killed, or do they just all blend into one? Don’t you think that it’s funny that you became a vampire with the intention of getting your happily ever after and not only did you fail in that, but you’ve also ruined thousands of other people’s lives with your existence alone!” she laughed, her grin more of a baring of teeth, "Makes you think if you were better off dead? Your mother thought the same way, right? Why else would she have left you with that father of yours?”

“Something wrong?” Klaus questioned with an innocent tilt of his head.

God, it was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place…

“I’m fine…” Damon pursed his lips into a strained smile before he knocked back another drink.

There was a tense silence between them - well, tense for Damon, anyway. Why did the damn hybrid always come down to the bar while Damon was still there? Did he stake out the place and wait until Damon showed up? And he always seemed to come when Damon was in the worst mood-

“He must really want you dead,” the bastard stated, face carved into a deep grin as he cooly looked over Damon’s hunched form.

“What?” the younger spat, feeling more than done before… whatever this was, had even started, “A lot of people want me dead, you’re gonna have to be more specific,” he raised his glass in a salute before knocking it back.

“Henrik,” Klaus offered casually.

This time, Damon wasn’t able to hide his reaction as he paused in his drinking and set the glass down once again, levelling icy blue eyes at the smug hybrid, all traces of co*ckiness and sarcasm completely absent.

“Or Jeremy, as he goes by in this life,” Klaus carried on, ignoring the other’s look, “I bet he’s not even mentioned it to you-“

“What the f*ck are you talking about,” Damon growled as he set his glass down with shattering force. The bartender and everyone else in the bar did nothing; Klaus must have compelled them all before Damon arrived.

The hybrid slowly let his mouth close and form into his usual trade mark smirk, basking in the crack of Damon’s character, “You really have no idea what I’m talking about do you?”

Damon’s face flexed, barely restraining himself from vamping out as bubbling anger was quickly turning into all-consuming rage. “If you’re not going to tell me, then I suggest you get the hell out of my face!”

“Jeremy’s little friend in Oregon wasn’t your usual breed of hunter,” of course Klaus knew about everything that went down when retrieving Jeremy, “She was one of the Five. And I can tell by your face, that you have no earthly idea what that means. I don’t know what they were first created for, but I do know that they evolved to be vampire hunters and were gifted supernatural abilities in order to do so. They are fundamentally human, they grow old, they need certain foods and sleep to be healthy, and they die when you rip their throats out, but they have an… interesting side effect when they're killed by vampires, called the Hunter’s Curse.”

“… So you’re saying that it isn’t the bitch’s ghost I’m seeing, but part of a curse that triggered when I killed her?” Damon asked, voice slow as he tried to understand how much deep sh*t he was in, this time.

Klaus nodded his head as he grabbed another drink from Damon, expertly ignoring the other’s glare, “She will continue to haunt you, whispering words of torment in your ears, unearthing truths that you wished to burry and forming into loved ones to taunt you and she will continue to do so until you kill yourself.”

At this, Damon scoffed, “Bitch can haunt me as much as she wants, I can just drown her out.”

“You’ll see,” Klaus sent him a look that made chills race down Damon’s spine, a look that suggested…

“It happened to you…”

“It did,” the hybrid nodded, “And if I wasn’t an original, I would have died hundreds of years ago… They do something to your head. The longer they stay, the worse it gets and any form of weakness that you have, they can and will exploit, until you can’t take it anymore… I wouldn’t give you more than a week,” Klaus grinned at him, spiteful and full of pettiness.

“… Jeremy can stop this, can’t he?” Damon questions, although he’s more than certain that he’s right. That’s why Klaus said that the teen wanted him dead. “He knows what’s going on and he hasn’t said anything… But how…” How can Jeremy help?

Klaus glanced at him from the corner of his eye, looking like the cat that caught the canary, “Jeremy’s a Hunter too. Rain had been training him for when he activates his powers. I guess he felt more loyalty to her than to you lot since he seems to want her to get her last revenge on the vampire that killed her-“

“Save me the posturing and the guilt trip and just tell me,” Damon huffed, more than done with this interaction.

“He needs to kill a vampire,” Klaus finally stated, before downing the last of his stolen drink, “Only then will he be acknowledged as a Hunter and become one of the Five. After that, the curse will stop immediately.”

The hybrid stands up to leave, still looking as smug as ever despite supplying potentially life-saving information to an enemy he’s wanted to decapitate many times over. It brought a wave of suspicion crashing through Damon’s chest and his elation for finally having the answers he desperately needed fizzled out into nothing but dread.

“Why are you telling me this?” Damon asked, his eyes narrowing, making the original pause, “What are you planning?”

“What?” Klaus blinked ‘innocently’, looking at the picture of hurt and offended, “Can’t figure it out?” was all he snidely asked before he slinked off, back to where he’d come from.

Damon scoffed as he rose the rest of his drink to his lips, but the unsettling feeling seemed to linger unpleasantly in his gut, making him wince as the drink slid down his throat. Great, so that was the bar ruined!

Slapping down a random amount of money, Damon didn’t waste any more time drinking and he sped home, the new information ringing in his ears. He’d known that there was something wrong with Jeremy - there had been for a while, now - but he didn’t think that the teen would go so far as to try and kill one of their members. Ever since those memories had scrambled his mind, the kid hadn’t been the same; he’d look at them differently, a darker look in his eyes that spoke of trauma and pain, stuff that could easily change a person; he just didn’t care like he used to and Damon could see that his priorities had shifted. Jeremy wasn’t on their side and he hadn’t been for a long time…

First things first, Damon needed to get Jeremy to kill a vampire, so that his little part-time girlfriend would stop haunting him. It didn’t matter that Klaus had obviously planned something, it only mattered that Damon was going to survive this, by any means necessary. After he was in the clear, he’d tell the others that Jeremy wasn’t with them anymore and then they could cut off contact with him immediately. If Damon really got his way, he’d break the little sh*t’s neck when everything was over, but Elena wouldn’t like that and he’d be stuck with the Hunter’s Curse all over again…

“Now I’ve just got to lock the little sh*t in the cellar…” Damon muttered as he passed by his kitchen, only to turn rigid when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. His breath stuttered and broke in his throat as he turned to the incomprehensible sight with wide eyes. There stood a woman with her back to him, but Damon would know this woman anywhere, from any angle…

“Mother…” Damon breathed, eyes raking over the 1800s-style floor-length floral dress that had once been her favourite to wear. It had been her favourite because Damon had been the one to silently watch as his father cut it to pieces in front of her. “You’re- You’re not- No. You can’t-“

“Damon?” a soft, familiar voice uttered and it made Damon silent once more as he watched the woman turn to reveal the face of his mother, a mother he hadn’t seen since he was nothing but a boy who was beginning to grow into a young teenager. God, he didn’t even know how much he missed that voice until he heard it. “Are you okay, lamb?” she questioned, her blue eyes - so much like his own - searched his frozen form.

“I… I’m okay…” Damon managed to unstick his tongue, “Just a little shocked.”

“Oh, honey,” she hummed in sympathy, before she swiftly moved on, “Where’s your brother, dear? Is he around? Honestly, you could never get one without the other when you were growing up!” she chuckled, the sound airy and polite, just like she always used to.

A smile tugged at Damon’s lips, nostalgia swelling in his chest which was swiftly followed by sadness when he thought of everything that had happened since. He was far from the innocent little boy that used to offer a tight fistful of dandelions with a wide gap-toothed smile to his mother, even before he was turned into a vampire, he was deceitful, jealous and manipulative, especially towards his little brother.

“I'm sorry, mama…” Damon whispered, his chest felt like it was trying to rip itself open as he looked down, unable to face her disappointment and anger, “I’m-“

Soft, warm hands gently cupped his cheeks, lifting his head up until their eyes connected, blue on blue, and Damon couldn’t see anything but love and compassion as she tendering rubbed circled over his cheekbones. She shushed him when he went to speak once again, “It’s okay, dear. It’s fine. Everything you’ve done doesn’t matter to me. It just matters that you’re safe and you’re here, with me.”

“But I’ve done so many… awful things, mother…” Damon uttered, looking and feeling absolutely miserable.

“You know,” the kind woman spoke up after a moment of silence between them, “If you’re that regretful, there’s something you can do.”

“What?” Damon frowned, a distant unnamed feeling churning in his stomach.

“You could always take off your ring and step into the sun, my child,” Lillian offered softly as she carded her fingers through his hair.

The distant feeling grew stronger.

“What- You mean…” Damon stepped away from the woman, away from her warm, forgiving embrace, “You mean kill myself? How could you…” ask me to do that…

“Oh, honey,” she uttered, looking pained, as unshed tears filled her eyes, “You’ve been through so much: so much pain, so much regret, so much loneliness. I can barely stand to watch it, my precious son,” her hands were back on him again, pulling him into a warm, firm hug. The last time he’d hugged her, he barely reached her shoulders, now she can barely reach his… “Besides, you’ve never wanted this life anyway. You never wanted to become a vampire. Would it really be a struggle to conclude such a long life of pain and misfortune when you never wanted it in the first place? Will you come back with me, my son?”

Damon thought about everything that had happened to him, shaking his head when he decided that it was simply too many and too painful to count. What was the point of living a life of immortality when it only brought you grief and pain? His mother was right, in that regard. And… he missed her. He missed her so much more than he’d anticipated and she wanted him to join her, to be with her after so many years of patiently waiting for him to arrive.

“Ok-“

“Damon” a deep voice interrupted behind him and the illusion instantly broke.

The unnamed feeling reared its head once again and Damon scrambled back from his mother, from those thoughts, and from one blink to the next, the image of his mother was replaced by the Hunter haunting him. She said nothing as she blankly gazed at him, her eyes dark with promise before she merely grinned and faded away. It had been her. The entire time, it’d been her and she’d nearly made him agree to…

“Damon,” a heavy hand clamped over his shoulder, startling him enough to rush to the opposite side of the room.

Heart in his mouth and eyes darting around the room in fear, Damon finally managed to settle his gaze on Stefan, who looked concerned and… scared.

A grim understanding swiftly came over Damon as he composed himself and sighed, “How much did you hear?”

“All of it.”

“Why am I here…” Jeremy groaned as he looked down at the oak table in front of him, contemplating whether or not he should smack his head down and try to knock himself out. However, the side-eyed look from Elijah was enough to deter him, so he merely sighed and sank lower into his seat. “I thought this was supposed to be at the weekend?” He’d just finished his second day of school - in which he’d actually attended his classes that time - when Rebekah and Kol had appeared on either side of him and practically frogmarched him to their car. Then, after one heart attack-inducing car ride, he was in front of the Mikaelson manor.

“Yes, but considering you’re current record, we concluded that you would simply bail when the time came, so we decided that the more… direct approach would be more successful,” Elijah spoke, looking like the picture of unruffled in his finely pressed three-piece suit.

Looking around the table, Jeremy couldn’t help but notice that all of the siblings, including himself, seemed to be dressed for different occasions. Elijah was in his suit, which was a usual state for him, making him look like he was going to attend a gala after this; Finn was in a suit as well, sans the tie, but it was beige in colour and he looked like he’d just gotten off work as a teacher; Klaus dressed like an artist, his black cord necklaces hanging over his v-neck top, with a few leather bracelets around his left wrist; Rebekah dressed like a popular and rich teenage girl; Kol dressed like he was the local bad boy, with a ‘worn in’ leather jack over his unzipped grey hoodie; Esther dressed like… a mum. The witch seemed to have a very specific taste that made her look like she had kids rampaging in high school and would cope by sipping a glass of red wine in front of the TV in the middle of the day… Jeremy, on the other hand, looked like he’d been found in and/or dragged through a gutter - when attending school, he generally didn’t dress to impress.

“Well, I guess you’re not wrong…” Jeremy shamelessly admitted, making Kol ‘cough’ into his glass of wine. “Also, why am I the only one with juice?” he commented with a deadpanned expression as he held up his glass of orange juice for emphasis. Kol’s ‘coughing’ became worse.

“You’re under twenty-one,” Klaus shrugged, a smirk of amusem*nt tugging at his lips, making Jeremy think that the juice was his idea, “It’s against the law.”

This was ridiculous! “You commit first-degree murder on a daily basis and you draw the line at underage drinking?”

“What Klaus means to say is that you are still extremely young and while you have a history of drinking, we would prefer that you withhold such habits whilst in our presence,” Elijah explained with the suave of a lawyer.

“Last time I saw you, you literally kidnapped me!” Jeremy threw his hands in the air, before turning to the youngest original with daggers in his eyes, “Stop laughing, Kol!” which apparently did nothing as the vampire stopped his ‘coughing fit’ and started to outwardly roar with laughter, causing him to nearly tipping out of his chair.

“My children,” Esther finally spoke, raising her hand slightly before they could all start shouting across the table at one another, “Please calm yourselves. I understand that this is new and exciting, but I simply desired a quiet, pleasant dinner with you all,” she looked around at all of them, her eyes lingering on Jeremy for longer than the others. It must be so weird for her to see her dead son alive, after all these years. From what Kol had explained to him, Esther had been watching them from beyond the Veil for years, watching over them and her coffin, waiting for the right occasion in which she could resurrect herself; it was all very confusing to Jeremy, who didn’t really understand the technical and magical side of it all, but he managed to get the gist. Even if she knew that he would be reborn again, it must still feel weird for her…

“Yes,” Klaus spoke up again, giving Jeremy a critical look up and down, making the teen glower at him, “Unfortunately some of us don’t seem to know that a ‘pleasant dinner’ involves dressing the part.”

“At least I’m not dressed as a couch-surfing ‘artist’ who’s trying and failing to find his muse!” Jeremy jabbed back, the insult apparently striking true when the hybrid’s smirk completely evaporated into an unimpressed glare.

It was only made worse when both Rebekah and Kol broke out into peals of laughter, both completely taken off guard by Jeremy’s swift remark. Even Finn had to move his hand to tactfully cover his amusem*nt.

“Careful of your words, little brother,” he growled, eyes gleaming amber.

“Or what?” Jeremy sneered back, “You’ll shove me into the trunk of your car, with no food or water, again?”

The air was beginning to grow tense, the previous amusem*nt instantly evaporating as eyes silently flickered between Jeremy and Klaus, who looked like they were about to launch themselves over the table at one another. Klaus’ teeth lengthened with promise and Jeremy’s hand slid under his jacket, where his wooden stake was kept-

“Enough!” Esther bellowed, the room darkening with anger and power as she loudly stood up from the table, her glare flickering from Klaus or Jeremy, making the pair of them instantly feel cowed as they settled back down. Once, it became clear that nothing more would happen, the witch’s glare dissipated and the room brightened back to normal. “I understand that many, many things have happened between all of us, in the past, but we are still a family and we can move forward as such. I don’t expect you to forgive one another in an instant, but I do expect you to handle it peacefully and maturely, without dragging everyone else into it.” A moment of silence passed. No one refused outwardly, but no one agreed either - things between them were more complicated for the cut-and-dry solution that Esther was enforcing. Instead, both Jeremy and Klaus decided to silently put a pin in it, for the time being: Klaus was willing to because he held too much respect for his mother to argue against her; Jeremy was willing because he knew that he had to deal with these meals twice a week and he didn’t want them to be even more of a silent torture than they already were.

“So,” Esther started again, after a suitable amount of silence, a pleasant smile on her face, “How have your studies been, Jeremy?”

Instantly, the teen tensed, feeling like he’d been placed in the hot seat as he glanced around at the numerous eyes on him, “Er, well, ahem!” he fiddled with the slightly ripped hem of his sleeve, “It’s going fine, I guess? Nothing to write home about,” he shrugged.

“Really?” Klaus spoke up again, making Jeremy’s eyebrow visibly twitch in annoyance, “I heard you didn’t attend any of your classes, yesterday.”

“How did you…” Jeremy started, eyes wide with momentary surprise before he looked at Kol and Rebekah - ah, of course. His eyes settled back on Klaus with a steely gaze, “Spying on me, now?”

Klaus did nothing but smirk as he sipped more of his wine (which, Jeremy had a sneaking suspicion, was laced with blood) making the teen roll his eyes. In truth, Jeremy wasn’t that pissed about the spying at school. The teen had learned that school was far from a safe haven after his time spent with Mikael. It was just annoying that it was merely one more thing to think about, while in school.

“From what I’ve heard, you’re a bit of an artist?” Elijah spoke, his tone very diplomatic despite the tension in the room, “How long have you been interested in such activities?”

“Since I could remember, I guess,” Jeremy shrugged, feeling like they were stepping back onto neutral ground, “My parents started buying me all sorts of art supplies after I started to draw on the walls,” Jeremy couldn’t help the small fond smile, he didn’t get to talk about his parents often and it felt nice when he recalled such memories, “It all escalated from there, from what I was told.”

From there, the dinner became more comfortable. The immortals seemed to circle around topics from then on, keeping up pleasantries and making small talk by asking about hobbies and thoughts of his future. Klaus didn’t say much of anything else during the rest of the meal, simply observing how Jeremy interacted with the rest of the family and how he became slightly more comfortable around them. It was a meal of testing the waters and Jeremy was more than happy to play along, rather than being brutally interrogated by them at every turn. They all seemed to want to make a good impression, which Jeremy found odd, considering everything that had happened, but he decided not to voice it so as to not ripple the calm atmosphere.

“Have you thought about studying magic?” Esther asked, setting her fork down after eating half of her dessert.

“Er,” Jeremy blinked before he quickly swallowed his mouthful and tilted his head in confusion, “Not really. Why would I?”

“Well, in your past life, you had a large aptitude for magic, but you were far too young to unlock it, which was why you never ended up on the Other Side,” Esther explained, “I was wondering if you ever thought about pursuing it in this life.”

Jeremy’s smile became strained at the thought of it. No matter what he’d said in the past about wanting to be more powerful, or wanting to be a vampire, Jeremy couldn’t think of anything worse than becoming a supernatural creature, further cementing his place in that world. He would be tied, spiritually and magically, to Esther and their magical ancestors before them - Bonnie had described it as a wonderful thing, but Jeremy couldn’t think of anything worse. There was also the question: if he became a witch, could he no longer become a Hunter? He surely couldn’t be both right? His heart twisted when he thought of Rain and how much she had tried to teach him before her untimely death. Wouldn’t that be like spitting on her grave?

“I haven’t seen any signs of it, so I don’t think it transferred over when I reincarnated,” Jeremy offered a tense smile.

“It might just be a matter of unlocking it,” Esther easily waved her hand at the excuse, “A ritual could easily fix that, especially with my magic to power it.”

Seeing no way around it, Jeremy bit his lip before he spoke once again, “I’d rather not.”

“Excuse me?” Esther blinked, looking shocked and confused.

“I just don’t think becoming a witch is for me,” Jeremy shook his head, trying to look as polite as possible, “I have no interest in the craft and would like to continue to live as a human,” he stated in a tone that left no room for arguments. Then again, if she persisted, he could easily just walk out of the house - the deal was to stay for dinner and dinner was over.

Esther stared at Jeremy with an unreadable expression, before she let her face melt into a courteous smile and offered a respectful nod, “If that’s what you wish, then that’s fine.”

And all of the tension in the room instantly faded, relieving Jeremy and surprising him - for some reason, he felt like that was all too easy, but brushed it off. Making an exaggerated look out the window at the darkening sky, Jeremy started to stand.

“I’m sorry to cut this short,” he really wasn’t, “But I have homework to do,” he didn’t, “And not a lot of time to do it, so I really have to go home, now.”

“Well, you could always stay here,” Klaus finally spoke up, making Jeremy become completely rigid. The hybrid smirked, looking more than amused by Jeremy’s internal panic, “You have a room upstairs, full of clothes and art supplies, waiting for you. You could stay and make this your home, with all of us, your family, instead of going back to that empty house. When I built this place, I had all of my siblings in mind, including you, Henrik.”

At the name, Jeremy’s panic morphed into an all too familiar rage, his face twisting into a murderous glare, “For the thousandth time, my name is Jeremy! And you’re not my f*cking family! And I would never, EVER live with you!” the teen bellowed, his words echoing throughout the entire house. Before anyone could say anything more, the teen turned around the stormed out of the house.

The nerve of that man! Who the f*ck did he think he was?! Out of context, it sounded like he genuinely cared and didn’t want Jeremy to be on his own, but the look on the hybrid’s face and after everything he’d said in the past, it was obvious what the man was trying to hint at. The fact that he still used that name, despite everyone else calling him ‘Jeremy’ the entire night, was just another ‘f*ck you’ in the teen’s eyes.

And he still had another dinner to go to before the week was over. Jeremy could only feel dread when he thought about how awkward the next dinner was going to be, after yelling at the hybrid like that, in front of everyone - it was only ever Klaus that made Jeremy feel that kind of anger. Jeremy thought about trying to avoid it, but he had a sneaking suspicion that Rebekah, or Kol, would just drag him there anyways.

Then there was that weird conversation about becoming a witch… He didn’t want to even begin to try and pick that apart.

“God, what am I gonna do…” he sighed into the night, looking up at the half moon with a resigned air. Shaking his head, Jeremy put his mind to other matters, like school and hunter training, but it wasn’t until he was halfway home that he realised that he’d left his school bag behind…

Chapter 22: The last straw

Chapter Text

The school was desolate once again, his reluctant, slow, footsteps echoing through the hollow halls, making Jeremy grimace in distaste. Quiet, like this, always set him on edge, like he was walking towards something ominous without the choice to turn back and run away from it. He knew it couldn't run from this, not if the text from Elena was anything to go by: 'Alaric's classroom, after school'. It was a demand more than an offer, which Jeremy could only assume meant that he was somehow in trouble. When wasn't he in trouble with Elena, these days? It was like everything he did, no matter how small, was nitpicked and criticised by everyone around him. It became clear to the teen that the others no longer saw him as 'one of them', but rather a potential threat that they may have to get rid of in the future. The thought alone made it impossible to sleep, or eat, causing Jeremy to look more gaunt and tired than usual around the school - which prompted more concern from the teachers.

It was fine.

He was fine.

Jeremy carried on, down the halls, ignoring how his anxiety spiked and twisted in his gut, ignoring the clamminess in his hands and ignoring how everything in him was telling him to turn around and simply go home. No, if he didn't go now, they would hunt him down and surprise him later on. It was better to get this over with now, rather than later...

Distantly, the teen noted that he was tracing his scars, his deft fingers gently circling and following the lines of scars that were from punching through Klaus' car window, the marks still raised and red, despite the time having passed. Surprisingly, it was quite soothing and so Jeremy kept repeating the action until he was outside of Alaric's classroom door and forced his hands to his sides.

Everyone was there - all except Damon, who Jeremy couldn't help but feel grateful for - standing around the class in varying states of impatience as they waited for his arrival. As Jeremy walked through the door, everyone stopped and stared, making Jeremy feel hot all over as his anxiety instantly skyrocketed.

There was nothing but silence for a long while before Jeremy shifted his feet and focused his eyes on Elena, "So, what's this about?"

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Elena questioned back, eyes dark with anger as her clenched fists at her sides shook.

"Doing-?"

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to us?!" Elena exploded, cutting off her brother as her arms swept out to gesture to everyone, "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?!" she violently gestured to herself, tears pricking her eyes as she looked at Jeremy like he'd betrayed her in some way. Playing the victim - as always.

Anger and irritation were quick to replace any anxiety or confusion he felt, as Jeremy clenched his own fists and glared down at his sister, "And what is this awful thing I've done to you?"

At this, Stefan stepped forward, lips pursed with displeasure as he crossed his arms, "You've been keeping secrets from us, Jeremy," he stated. Not asked, or coerced, but stated, like anything Jeremy had to say against whatever this was, would only be more damnable.

Instantly, Jeremy's hackles rose, but he refused to speak. Why would he waste his words on someone who sees them as nothing?

"Jeremy," Elena called her tone scolding, earning the teen glowering focus once more. Was she really trying to tell him off for not answering something that wasn't even a question?

Instead of snapping at them, like he wanted, Jeremy took a deep, steadying breath, reeling in his anger before he did or said something he'd regret. Nothing good would come from yelling without thought and storming out before he even fully understood the situation.

"What have I done this time?" Jeremy reluctantly asked, feeling the beginnings of a headache pulse at his temples.

Elena looked back at the others, who merely kept quiet and looked on, before she glanced at Stefan and then focused on Jeremy once again, "It's about Damon."

Jeremy quirked his eyebrow, not revealing anything other than indifference for the dark-haired vampire, "What about Damon?"

"Damon's dying," Stefan took over, eyes narrowed, "And we know that you can save him."

sh*t. How did they find out?

"I can?" Jeremy questioned, deciding to play safe and act stupid.

"Enough, Jeremy!" Elena snapped, her anger on full display, "We know that you can break his curse! We know that you can save Damon and we know that you've known about it all along!" she stepped forward, getting into Jeremy's space, but the teen refused to step back, "Why didn't you do anything?! Why didn't you say anything?! What were you thinking, Jeremy?!"

The teen didn't say anything, as he just silently looked down at Elena. She spoke to him like he was a bumbling idiot, who didn't know right from wrong, or any kind of idea what he was doing. Elena seemed to view him as someone incapable of thinking, especially if it wasn't centred around her and her opinions. Either that or she truly didn't know him anymore, their bonds as brother and sister fraying and fading to the point of nearly snapping - they were nothing but strangers to each other and while Jeremy was willing to let it fade the rest of the way, Elena seemed to grow frustrated as she pulled on the bond, not realising that it was so close to breaking forever.

"Do you want Damon to die?!" Elena shouted, looking seconds away from grabbing Jeremy and shaking him back and forth.

"Yes!" the teen snapped, making Elena visibly falter in shock and dawning horror, but Jeremy wouldn't allow the doppelganger to speak as he powered through, "Yes, I want him to die! It's the least he deserves after everything he's done!"

"He hasn't done anything to you!" Elena screeched, nearly losing her cool entirely.

At this, Jeremy couldn't help but laugh, bitter and deep as he looked at Elena with so much sorrow, grief and anger that she hesitantly stepped back, "You seem to have a short memory when it comes to those two," Jeremy gestured to Stefan, hate clear on his face, "I have more than enough reasons to want him dead and since you've gaslighted yourself into believing that he's the best vampire to walk the earth, let me remind you that he's killed me in the past, was the reason why aunt Jenna was targeted by Klaus, was the reason uncle John sacrificed himself for you, and killed my friend in Oregon without even a word of regret! He's an awful person and the only reason you've kept him around was because you're survival is his top priority! He'd sacrifice everyone in this room for you and you wouldn't give a sh*t, so long as you kept breathing!"

"That is not true!" Elena bellowed back, her own anger rising to challenge, "I care about everyone and if you think that Jenna and John's deaths didn't affect me as much as they affected you, then what does that say about you, huh? Damon is one of us! And, yes, he's done awful things in the past, things that he has yet to completely atone for, but he's trying and everyone can see he's trying!"

"He's not trying to atone for f*cking anything, Elena!" Jeremy shook his head, wondering if his sister had always been this dumb, "He only does things to get to you, to earn your forgiveness, to earn your attention, to earn your love and favour. The only apologies he's made were when his life was in danger from the person he'd wronged in the first place!"

"This is about your stupid little crush, isn't it?" Elena questioned a cruel edge to her voice, making Jeremy freeze in utter confusion and disbelief, "You fall in love so easily, Jere. It's a shame that your Oregon girlfriend was killed, but it wasn't love and we did it to protect you."

"Shut up," Jeremy uttered, tone low and warning, but Elena merely ignored him. As always.

"She was clearly crazy! She stormed in, with no word or warning and then started to attack Damon, for no reason! He was just defending himself!" Elena pointed out.

"I said shut up," Jeremy warned once again his voice louder and more commanding, his clenched fists so tight that his nails were beginning to bite into the skin.

"He can't be blamed for something like that, Jere," Elena carried on, paying no attention to the shift in the atmosphere, "Her attack on top of Kol interfering, she was just collateral damage, nothing more nothing less. You should do the healthy thing and move on-"

"I said SHUT UP!" Jeremy roared, white-hot fury rushing through his veins in an uncontrollable force of nature, like a tsunami, "JUST SHUT UP! You don't know a DAMN THING! Not a f*ckING damn thing, Elena! Rain wasn't my girlfriend, she was my trainer and mentor, she was teaching me how to be a vampire hunter! You know, after so many times that I've been nearly killed and kidnapped by the supernatural, without so much as a self-defence lesson! And Damon's death will be from his own actions, not mine!"

"But you know what's wrong with him, don't you?" Stefan stepped in when it was clear that Elena was too cowed to make a further comment.

Jeremy glared at the vampire from the corner of his eye, lips pursed with displeasure, "Yes, but it's nothing that I can do to help," he shrugged, completely uncaring, "Damon brought this upon himself. Killing random people, if and when he wants to, has finally caught up to him," he looked around at the others, who'd yet to utter a single word. He then offered a sardonic smile, eyes settling on the only talkative pair in the room, "You don't even know what's wrong with him, do you? Or how I'm supposed to even help him. Or what exactly comes after..." he stared them down, daring them to prove him wrong.

Surprisingly, Stefan was the one to speak up as he moved himself in front of Elena, forcing Jeremy to take his focus from her and onto him - like he was protecting her from Jeremy, that thought alone left a sour taste in the teen's mouth - "We know that she was a hunter, which is why Damon's been cursed," Jeremy kept his face from showing his surprise; he honestly didn't think that they would know what was going on. "And we know that you can end his suffering."

"He can end his own suffering if he wants to," Jeremy shot back. They must have gone to some research place again like they usually did when they were stumped about the supernatural world; it wasn't like Jeremy was hiding the fact that he was a potential hunter particularly well, especially not with the giant dusty book that he leaves around. Two plus two, equalled four. Jeremy folded his arms, "I'm not helping you," he turned to leave without another word when Elena suddenly shot out and grabbed his arm.

"Don't you dare walk away from us, Jeremy Grey Gilbert!" Elena thundered, her immaculate nails digging into his flesh.

Jeremy viciously ripped his arm from her grip, creating red welts along his bicep, "Don't touch me!" he practically spat, venom dripping from his words.

"How could you be so selfish!" the doppelganger shouted back, "This is a life, we're talking about, Jere!"

"No, this is Damon!" Jeremy shouted, "He's an egotistical piece of sh*t that no one likes! Think about what you're asking me to do!" Jeremy then bit out a laugh, "Not that you've ever cared about what the rest of us think, anyway-"

"I care! I care about everyone i-"

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Jeremy bellowed, annoyed by all the interrupting and being over-spoken, "You've only ever cared about your life, your best interests! Where was your sympathy when Bonnie's Grams died for no reason! Where was your sympathy when he turned and killed Vicki! Where was your sympathy when he killed Tyler's uncle and all you did was smile in his face when he asked where he was! Where was your sympathy when you found out what he was doing to Caroline!" he gestured to the silent participants, who shifted their eyes away when Elena turned to them as well.

"No, that's not-" Elena struggled to get out, "That's not-"

"You've been witness to every single one of his actions and yet you call him a 'good guy'," Jeremy scowled, "And yet I'm the bad guy for wanting my friend to avenge herself against her murderer - explain that logic, Elena! The fact that you're so adamant in defending him says a lot more about you than it does about me..."

"You don't know what you're doing," Elena slowly shook her head, echoing his words back at him, "We need to be a united front, especially with the originals sticking around. We don't know what they're planning when they're going to attack, nothing. But we do know that they're messing with your head and we know that we need every helping hand we can get, even Damons... Please, Jeremy," Elena sighed, suddenly looking exhausted and stressed, "I'm sorry for your loss, I truly am, but I need you to look at the bigger picture and do the right thing, here."

Jeremy was silent for a moment before he gave his own bone-weary sigh and looked down at his sister - god, when had to gotten taller than her? - "What was her name?"

"W-What?" Elena blinked clearly shocked at the response.

"What," Jeremy started, his tone more firm and demanding, "Was her name? What was my friend's name? The woman whose meaningless death you want me to cast aside so easily - what was her name?"

"I- I- Well, I- um," Elena stuttered, a panicked expression crossing her face as she floundered around.

Jeremy narrowed his eyes, "If you're truly sorry for what happened to her, then you would know her name, right? Or were you lying to me?"

"I, well, her name..." Elena trailed off, truly at a loss for words.

The teen merely scoffed and rolled his eyes, "You really are Uncle John's daughter."

The next thing Jeremy knew, his eyes were facing the wall and his cheek was pulsing with rhythmic pain, within the next second, Jeremy realised that Elena had slapped him across the face. Slowly, he turned his attention back to the doppelganger, whose hand was still raised with a furious expression. Everyone else in the room looked startled and shocked, their expressions slowly shifting to outrage as they too registered what had happened, their eyes flickering from Elena to Jeremy.

Jeremy only snapped out of his observations when Stefan stepped in front of Elena like he was protecting her from him, like he was the one that was most likely to attack. The teen glowered at the vampire for the silent implications before he scoffed once again and exited the room, slamming the door hard enough to make the glass shudder. They could villainize him all they wanted, but he knew where he stood with them - at the end of the day, Jeremy was the one that walked out with scratch marks on his arm and a mark blooming on his cheek, not Elena, or any of the other silent spectators.

What was he supposed to do, now? When he thought about his relationship with Elena, it seemed... irreparable. As he walked away from that classroom, it felt like the flames of their argument died, the embers fading to dull ash, leaving nothing, absolutely nothing, behind. It felt like this was the last straw, for both of them...

Then it pegged the question, who did he rely on, now?

No matter how much he'd like to deny it, there really were two opposing factions in this town, the Mikaelson Family and the Mystery Falls Gang. Jeremy had just cut any and all ties to them, meaning that he had no one to turn to when in trouble and he would be under constant suspicion from the entire group; with the Mikaelsons, he had nothing but bad history and bad blood, some more than others, but that also meant he had no support there, either.

He was alone. Well and truly alone, in a way that had hadn't been before - and it was of his own making...

And with everything he was going through and was about to go through - mainly because of the confusion that would come when he turned into a Hunter - he really needed a solid foundation to rely on and he'd just bulldozed his strongest and oldest one! How was he supposed to-

"Jeremy?" a voice called - it was soft and cautious, but it still made Jeremy jump of out of his skin.

Whipping his head up, he stared at the intruder with wide, startled eyes, before he instantly calmed down, realising that it was his art teacher. He let an easy smile take away as he patted his pounding heart, "Ah, Mrs Addison, you really scared me," he chuckled lightly.

However, the teacher didn't smile back, her withered face twisted in concern and sympathy as she stepped closer to him, "Jeremy, your face..." she trailed off, looking more hesitant than she ever had before.

"My-" Jeremy started as he lifted his hand to his cheek, only to flinch when his face flared up again. Pulling his hand away, he saw the blood. Elena must have caught his skin with her rings when she hit him. Jeremy hadn't even noticed until the teacher pointed it out. "I, er-"

"Oh, dear," the woman held out her hand, gesturing, "Let's get you to the medical office, okay?"

That seemed to have the opposite effect as Jeremy took a half-step back, "Wait, no. I-I'm fine. I can take care of this. It's nothing," he waved it away. If he went to the nurse's office, he'd have to fill out a report and that was just a whole thing he didn't want to deal with - also, the nurse was hella scary and Jeremy didn't think he'd be able to come up with a convincing lie at this moment in time.

She still looked at him with worry, something that would ultimately drive her to report this, to free her conscience of whatever burden she felt, which wasn't good for Jeremy in the long run. Just when it looked like she was about to persist, she seemed to hesitate and rethink her words before sighing.

"How about my classroom?" she tentatively asked, like she was talking to a scared wild animal rather than a moody teenager, "I won't report this, but at least let me help you. I've got disinfectant and bandages in my classroom," she offered and Jeremy couldn't think of any reason why he shouldn't. He made up his mind when he thought about the fact that he'd have to walk home without a proper bandage to hide the cut.

"Fine," Jeremy deflated, head hanging in defeat before he turned around to follow the art teacher back to her corridor.

Mrs Addison merely laughed, soft and breezy as she shook her head, "You make it sound like I'm taking you to an exam!"

Jeremy forced a soft laugh past his lips as he stared down at his shoes, his mind going over the argument, trying to decide whether or not he was in the right, and how much worse things were going to get between him and his sister. Ever since he'd escaped from Klaus, it felt like everything just kept getting worse and Jeremy knew that he wasn't really helping things improve on his end either (he was self-aware enough to know that), but he couldn't stop himself from bucking every time Elena tried to tie him down... Things just seemed irreparable, now and Jeremy was finding it harder and harder to think of reasons that he should stay...

"Sit down, dear," a grandmotherly voice startled Jeremy from his thoughts - something that seemed to happen far too often - as he looked around and realised that they'd arrived in the art room, the only comfortable seat, besides the teacher's chair, in the room, before he sat down. Jeremy silently watched as the old woman pottered around her classroom, gently shifting badly formed clay pots out of the way to get to her box of first aid.

The pair were silent as the woman plopped down in front of him and got to work on his face, cleaning the blood from his face before spraying disinfectant on the wound - something that Jeremy didn't even twitch at, which only made the teacher more concerned - before finally sealing a sizeable white medical plaster over the wound. They sat in the quiet for a moment before Jeremy attempted to offer a smile, internally wincing when he only managed to twitch them silently upwards.

"Jeremy..." Mrs Addison started, her old face twisting to show off deeper wrinkles as her brows and mouth twisted with concern, "I- I know you don't want to talk about this, but I know something's been happening..." she sighed, her eyes trained on the pink scars along his hand and arm, it was clear as day that they weren't self-harm scars, which only seemed to concern the faculty even more, "Has things at home been okay?"

"I'm fine," Jeremy shook his head, as he pulled up his sleeve to show off the jagged scarring, "I got this when I slipped on some spilt water and put my fist through the window. It was an accident." That was as close to the truth he could make it, all the best lies were sprinkled with a touch of truth.

"And was this an accident too?" the teacher asked, voice and expression soft as she gestured to his newly bandaged face.

Instantly, Jeremy's face became closed off and cold, "Yes," and then abruptly stood up, ignoring the flash of regret on the teacher's face as she stood up as well, "Thanks for this Mrs Addison, I'll see you in class on Wednesday, yeah?" and then swiftly moved to leave the room, running away.

"Jeremy!" the teacher called, her voice staying the same volume as it usually held, but much more sterner than he'd ever heard her before. Once she'd seen that he'd paused in his retreat, her tone became gentle again, worry practically palpable as she looked at him, "If you ever need to talk, or if you get injured again, I'm always here, okay?"

There was a tense moment between them and the teacher felt her hope slowly diminish when it looked like her favourite student was about to simply walk away without another word. When she heard a soft "okay" in return, it sent a flood of relief through her system. Keeping her emotions in check, the art teacher simply nodded and then watched as the tall student stood and silently retreated from her classroom, head down and shoulder hunched, most likely already lost in thought. Mrs. Addison sighed as she started to pack away her first aid kit, ignoring the deep pang her heart emitted when she thought of the young teenager, silently wishing that she could do more than she already was. Things like this were tricky, especially in a small town such as Mystic Falls, but with Jeremy completely unwilling to open up or come forward, there was little else she could do but watch from a distance in hopeless silence...

"He was all hiding in the bushes and sh*t, trying to be discreet, but then he saw a body fly out the window and when he looks, it was freaking Dumbledore! Dumbledore died so hard, dude! And then Harry looks up and Snape's all 'I killed the Headmaster' and all that sh*t. So then Snape's the confirmed bad guy and Harry's all 'I knew that all along', but it's not like that - but that's revealed near the end of the movies. And then-!"

"Dear Lord, shut the f*ck up!" Damon screamed, not even caring that his voice cracked, gripping his hair like he wanted to pull it out, "I don't give a f*ck about Harry Potter! I can't believe how long this sh*t is!"

"Well, duh," the blue-tinted woman rolled her eyes, "It's a series, of course, it's going to be long. Now, don't interrupt me, it's just getting good."

"How many books on this were there?" the vampire groaned incredulously, digging his fingers into his eyes just a touch too hard, "You must be near the end, now..."

"Well, I'm just coming to the end of the sixth book and the finale is the seventh book, but there're a few spin-offs as well that I wanted to go through!" the dead Frenchwoman commented lightly, looking far too bright for Damon's liking, "And I can't believe you broke your 'vow of silence' this early. You really are soft," she grinned maliciously, dead eyes sparking with cruelty.

"Why does it have to be about this, though?" Damon grumbled, more to himself than to the spectre in the room. At first, the vampire was sure that his own mind was coming up with these illusions like the Hunter's Curse (or whatever it was called) had attached itself to his mind and it went from there, but now he wasn't so sure. The hallucination of his mother had cemented that fact, but the extremely detailed, and yet annoyingly vague, explanation on an entire book series he never even glanced at - Stefan was the nerd, not Damon.

"What? You wanna know about my life? My story?" the woman asked curiously, a touch of amusem*nt in her tone, "You don't care about human life. You never have. Not even when you were a human yourself," she laughed, loud and mean. She laughed like that a lot. Damon hated that laugh. "You've always been a selfish piece of sh*t, so much so that even your mother abandoned you-"

"You don't know a f*cking thing about my mother!" Damon hissed, rage swiftly taking hold, "She loved me. And Stefan. She left because of Father's abuse."

"And yet, instead of taking her sons with her, to protect them from the man she feared so much that she would run away, she left them right there. In his tender care," Rain's face fell into a dead expression, making a shiver run up Damon's spine - the image was more than disconcerting. "Stop being so naive. She ran away from being a mother, just as much as she ran away from being a wife," she stretched her blue lips into a wan smile, "You really are the most pitiful creature, you know?"

"Shut up," Damon uttered, turning his gaze to glare at the stone wall. He didn't want to look at her anymore.

"Every attempt you've ever made at love has just completely backfired!" she laughs once again, "Your mum, your brother, Katherine. My god, did Katherine go down like the atomic bomb! That was just a horrific train crash from start to finish!" she laughed once again, "I mean talk about being completely pathetic-"

"Shut the f*ck up!" Damon bellowed, his face shifting into a monster, "I'm glad everything with Katherine worked out the way it did! She was a stone-cold bitch and I practically dodged a bullet!"

"Maybe," the entity shrugged, "But does that really excuse everything else you did?" Damon found himself tensing, a cold sweat breaking out on his skin as a feeling of dread settled jaggedly in his stomach. He couldn't even find it in himself to say anything, already knowing exactly what she was going to say. "I honestly feel bad for Stefan. Geez... Of all the people in the world, he was cursed to have a big brother like you? It's not every day that you watch your little brother being raped, knowing he was being raped, and feel nothing but hate and jealousy towards him. Didn't you promise your mama that you'd protect him? Looks like we can count that as a broken promise, eh?" she questioned, a teasing lilt to her voice, teeth bared in a mocking smile.

"Leave me alone..." Damon gritted passed his teeth, his nails digging into his palms so hard that blood was starting to seep out.

"Just one of many, I guess," Rain casually shrugged, completely undeterred by the vampire's warning, "You couldn't even help your brother when he needed you the most! It took a third party to step in and actually help him. What did you do again?" she wondered, finger tapping her cheek in consideration before she lit up with the answer.

"I said shut up!" he bared his fangs at her, but she didn't even acknowledge him, let alone flinch.

"Oh yeah, you taunted him and tried to make him go off the rails again. What a f*cking disgusting example of an older brother!" she spat, pure venom dripping from her words as she shoved them in his face as brutally as she possibly could.

"I said SHUT THE f*ck UP!" Damon roared, looking like every bit the monster that he felt, "LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T CARE ABOUT WHAT I DID TO STEFAN! I DON'T CARE WHAT THAT BITCH DID TO HIM! I DON'T CARE THAT I KILLED YOU! I'M GLAD YOU'RE f*ckING DEAD! YOU DESERVE IT! AND AFTER THIS, I'M GOING TO RIP THAT LITTLE sh*t'S HEAD OFF AND LAUGH!"

For a moment, the silence rang in his ears, feelings of regret, panic and then tentative relief filled him when he looked around his cell and saw no ghostly presence at all. Only to tense once again, hair rising on the back of his neck when he heard the all too familiar bone-chilling laughter. She was driving him crazy. Slowly, but surely, he was going insane. Which was what she wanted from the very start.

"I'm not even f*cking here, sh*t for brains!" the woman continued to laugh, the sound bordering on hysterical, "I left ages ago. Everything you just heard is your brain talking to you! Maybe you should start listening to your head for a change?"

"What do you mean?" Damon mumbled, more to himself than to the ghost behind him, "You're still here-" he turned and the rest of his words clogged in his throat as he saw the empty space behind him. The woman was nowhere to be seen, but he'd only just been- She was a ghost, she could appear and reappear at the drop of a hat. This was merely just another way to mess with his head... Or was it?

"No," Damon uttered, spinning around on the spot, desperate to catch even the smallest glimpse of the woman, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" he punched the wall, barely even registering the flash of pain as he thrashed around, "Where are you?! I know you're here! I'm not crazy! Where is she? Where is she? I know she's here. I know it. It's not me. She was here. She was here. I'm not crazy. I'm-" Words seemed to violently clog in his throat, making it burn as he caught sight of his brother's face through the bars in the door's window, his dark, pitying, disappointed eyes staring right into his own. "How-" Damon coughed, his voice strained as he tried to recover from the feeling of having the world pulled out from under him, "How long have you been there?"

Stefan merely stared in utter silence, his eyes observing, judging, thinking, before he broke it with a soft admittance of, "A while..."

Silence stretched between the two of them once more and, for once, Damon couldn't think of a damn thing to say, his mind so jumbled up on what he should say - denial, apologies, explanations, rejection - that he ended up saying nothing at all... Stefan had always been the quiet one, in everything they did, Stefan's reactions were always more tame than Damon's own - a feature that seemed to follow them even after they'd left their mortal lives behind. It was a silence that Damon had gotten used to over the decades, and he had once gained a sense of calm from his little brother's quiet nature, but, right now, it felt more like torture than anything else.

Just as Damon was about to blurt anything that came to mind, Stefan spoke up, voice low and soothing, "I'm sorry..."

Blue eyes blinked rapidly at the younger as he attempted to compute what he'd just heard, "Why are you-"

The loud sound of the deadbolt unlocking was loud in the small space between them, as was the creaking sound of the hinges as the too-heavy door shifted open. Now, the only thing standing between Damon and the outside world was Stefan, making something stir in Damon's chest, even as he eagerly stood up from the floor, barely registering the dirt that clung to his clothes as he took a hesitant step forward. If he stayed in this room any longer, he didn't think his mind would be able to come back, at least not in the way he and everyone else would hope...

"What are you doing, Stefan?" Damon asked, slightly hesitant as he tried to garner what the younger was thinking from his unreadable eyes.

"I'm doing what you did for me," Stefan explained, stepping back to allow Damon to pass him, if he wished, "You're not an animal that needs to be locked up, you're my brother and, despite everything that has happened between us, I can't stand the sight of you like this. Not for another second," Stefan looked away, looking regretful and bitter before he turned to face Damon once again, his face set and determined, "Do what you want to do. Whatever decision you make... I'll respect it, no matter what. You do what you choose to do..."

The silence that followed was less intense or stressful, and Damon could see that Stefan was trying not to show his timidness as he addressed his brother one more time, "I'm sorry that I forced you into this life. It's something that I've always regretted doing to you... I just hope that, after all this time, that you've forgiven me, even just a little bit..." with one final nod - a nod of farewell, a nod of respect, a nod of acceptance and forgiveness - Stefan was gone, leaving Damon on his own once again.

For a moment, Damon stared at the empty spot, where his brother had stood, his mind blissfully quiet for the first time in what felt like a while. Then he brushed some more dirt and dust from his black jeans and stepped out of the cell.

Jeremy cursed as Stefan threw him on the ground, wheezing in pain when his back and ribs hit a twisted tree root. He tried to turn over, to crawl away from his attacker, but he barely made it a foot before his ankle was seized and he was dragged through the fallen twigs and dead leaves. Just as the teen was trying to come to himself again, Stefan stooped over him, replacing his bruising grip with something cold and heavy that pinched at his skin.

The teen could barely put two and two together as he shifted and groaned on the cold ground, clenching his eyes closed before he forced them open. Only one minute ago, he'd been deep asleep in the comfort of his warm bed, completely oblivious to the outside world, when he was rudely awoken by rough hands yanking him out of bed and onto the floor before being picked up and sped to... wherever he was, right now. It usually took a human a second to come back to themselves when they've been transported at supernatural speeds, let alone when they'd just been so aggressively woken up!

"What," Jeremy managed, anger and confusion blearing through his senses, "The f*ck was that!" he finally sat up, glowering up at the vampire with murder in his eyes and dead leaves stuck in his hair, and was about to continue yelling when a small clink sound caught his attention...

Jeremy felt all the blood drain from his face as he saw the glint of metal in the moonlight (he suppressed a shiver at the thought of the full moon towering over his shoulder), his eyes following the sliver of it amongst the dead leaves until they landed on the shackle around his ankle. A huff of laughter escaped his lips for a split second, hysteria rising in his chest, as he stared down at the restraint, nothing but panic and confusion churning in his chest before his body finally jolted into action, his hands scrambling for the chain. Jeremy wasted no time in pulling it taunt, trying to see where the other end of the chain went, his heart sinking when he saw that it had been thrust through the thick trunk of the tree, some form of anchor attached to the end so that it would be impossible to threat the chain back through the tree. The only way to set himself free would be to unlock the cuff itself, with a key that Jeremy didn't have, and that Stefan wouldn't be giving to him any time soon...

"You know this could have been easily avoided, right?" Stefan questioned, though he didn't seem to be looking for an answer as he stared down at the teenager with such apathy that, for a split second, Jeremy thought that the vampire had turned off his emotions again.

"Drop dead!" the teen hissed, hatred and hurt weighing in his chest as he began to yank on the chain, despite knowing fully well that it was useless. He tried to keep his mind calm and logical, just like Rain always told him, he may not be smart in the educational system's traditional sense, but he was smart in other ways, ways that would surely help him get out of this mess. Then, a thought struck him like an arrow to the chest: had this been planned? They'd gone out of their way to ask him as politely as possible (at least in their opinion) to save Damon, which was plan A. But, ultimately, whenever the group was faced with the stubbornness of a singular person, they had the tendency to force their will and ideals on others - take Luka and Jonas Martin, or, even Mason Lockwood, for example. They killed and trampled over those they perceived to be in the way and now it appeared as though Jeremy had been added to that list of victims.

However, Jeremy still had a niggling feeling (hope) that Elena hadn't been involved. Maybe this was the route everyone was taking, but she shut that down, he was her brother, after all. Maybe she didn't know that this was happening? Maybe Stefan was acting on his own? Maybe-

"This was Elena's idea," Stefan supplied bluntly and it took Jeremy a moment to realise that he'd been talking out loud, or at least uttering loud enough for Stefan's sensitive ears to pick up.

Jeremy's breath stuttered in his throat, barely managing to choke out a devastated "What?" as he stared up at the unsympathetic vampire with wide, disbelieving eyes. As much as Jeremy wanted to deny it, wanted to shout at the blood-sucker for lying to him, or trying to trick him, Jeremy couldn't because he knew that he was telling the truth... He didn't want to think that Elena would do something like this to him, that this was where she'd draw the line, even with their strained relationship, she wouldn't even dream of doing something like this to him... But acceptance came before his denial could even begin, like he'd been expecting something like this for a long time, now...

"You can come out, now," Stefan called and, for a second, Jeremy thought that Elena was here, hidden within the shadows of the trees, watching and waiting for her cue, but then a girl with bouncy brown curls stepped out, a slack look to her face that indicated that she'd been compelled. She was his age and Jeremy knew that for a fact because he recognised her from some of his classes - Jessica, if he remembered her name correctly. She wasn't popular, but she seemed to have a little circle of close-knit friends and her hand was raised during class more than other students were. She was one of those good people who were bound to have a bright future, that was until a vampire ruined it.

Without much fanfare, Stefan shoved his bloody wrist into her mouth and then snapped her neck. Jeremy didn't even have enough time to yell before she was on the ground, chest still and eyes glassy and sightless with death. Jaw clenched, Jeremy glared up at the vampire, who merely looked back with those same blank eyes - it was like he was looking at a stranger. Jeremy meant nothing to him; the only thing Stefan ever felt for him was always in correlation to Elena's feelings towards him. So, now that Elena couldn't give two sh*ts about him, neither did Stefan... It left something bitter in Jeremy's mouth as it became more apparent than ever to the teen that he'd been used, but this wasn't completely unexpected, unfortunately.

Before another scathing comment could fall from Jeremy's lips, Stefan threw something beside him, something that Jeremy quickly discovered was a wooden stake as he lifted it from between the twigs and decomposing leaves. Before the teen could even open his mouth, the vampire was on him once again, lunging forward with his fingers poised like claws. Jeremy howled into the night at the unexpected pain, his dirtied hand instantly flying up to cover the pain radiating from his forearm.

With a shuddering breath, body tense from the sudden attack, Jeremy glared at the vermin before him, taking in the slightly pleased curl of the vampire's lip as he flicked the human blood from his blunt fingernails. Even without the sharpness of actual claws, super strength was more than enough to cause serious injury - though it seemed to rank higher on the pain scale.

"Kill or be killed," was all Stefan said before he sped away, leaving Jeremy injured, chained to a tree, and beside a dead body that had all the dangers of a time bomb.

Jeremy could only stare down at the dead body as he held the stake in his bad hand and used his good hand to try and stem the thick flow of blood, trembling from the pain and the sniping chill of the night.

Elena hummed as she brushed her fingers over the crystal bottles of unnamed alcohol in the glass cabinet, brows twitching as she tried to decide which one he would want. Damon had always been one to drink scotch, around a jug-full in each sitting, but she wasn't sure if, maybe there was another drink he liked. Maybe he had a special drink for whenever he felt down, or a drink he preferred when he tried to cheer himself up? Or maybe he just drank scotch...

Damon wasn't that much of a deep and complicated person, so scotch would have to do. He'd need it, especially given everything that Jeremy was putting him through. Honestly, Elena was at a loss about what to do with him. It was obvious that he was a traitor, that he'd put his lot in with the originals - she'd even heard from Stefan that Jeremy had gone round theirs for dinner, earlier in the week - so there was no use trying to coerce him into doing something for them. Elena sighed as she thought about her brother, about what she could have done differently to stop him from being manipulated by them, but everything was so frantic and chaotic that he fell through the cracks. She wished there was another way, but if they wanted Damon to survive, this was what they had to do, even if that meant she didn't like it.

Shaking her head, Elena purged her brother from her thoughts and focused back on Damon. Damon was the one who needed help, who needed to be looked after. He was the one that was struggling the most, right now. And the thing that would calm Damon down, was a nice, extremely full, glass of scotch and a bag of blood that she'd pick up on the way to the cell. Choosing an especially dark one (dark meant more alcohol content, right?) Elena dumped it out into a glass tumbler and was on her way.

For a moment, she hesitated in going down the basem*nt stairs - she never liked going down this part of the house - before she pushed herself forward, steadfastly ignoring the twist in her stomach at the thought of how miserable Damon was going to be. She froze when she turned the corner, hands nearly fumbling with the crystal glasses before she forcefully set them down on the stairs, eyes trained on what clearly used to be the cellar door. The heavy door looked as if it'd been ripped from the frame, some of the actual frame on the floor beside it. It looked as if a rabid animal had thrown itself at the door again and again until it ultimately gave way, Elena could even see a fair amount of blood around the door's surface - it looked as if a mindless monster had broken free.

Faintly, Elena stepped inside the destroyed room, large eyes shakily taking in the grooves on the walls, like claw marks, to all the obliterated furniture that had been cast around the room until she finally settled on a sole gaudy ring that looked to have been placed delicately in the centre of the mess.

Panic instantly seized Elena's chest as she swung herself out of the room and then flew up the stairs, nearly dropping her phone as she ripped it out of her back pocket, growling with frustration when her fingers fumbled on the screen. She reached the living room when she finally got to Stefan's number and impatiently waited for the vampire to pick up.

With the long-awaited click of the connection, Stefan didn't even manage to get a word in before Elena was shrieking into the phone in, what could only be described as, a complete word vomit. "Iwentdownintothecellar andthedoorwassmashed andtheroomwasdestroyed andDamon'snotthere! Damon'sgone!"

"What?" Stefan's voice interrupted before she could say anything more, confusion clear in his tone, "What did you say? Slow down, Elena."

"Damon's gone!" she yelled, nervously shifting from foot to foot as Stefan fell silent on the other end of the line.

"What do you mean he's gone?" he asked, tone hard like he was trying and slowly failing to keep himself calm.

"I walked down there and the door was destroyed!" Elena started again, on a much calmer note, "He wasn't in there and there was blood... I think he broke down the door himself."

Stefan cursed over the line, "It seems like whatever that thing's done to his head had more effect than we thought..."

"Stefan," Elena took a shuddering breath, dread churning in her stomach, "He left his ring."

There was a moment of silence before Stefan spoke once again, stern and authoritative, "Call everyone. Look in the usual spaces and then wherever in general. Right now, he's not himself, so he probably won't be where we expect him. Just make sure they fan out and to call me straight away, if they find him, okay?"

Elena bobbed her head, stress lines creasing her forehead, "Okay. I'll call them all. What about Jeremy?"

"He's in the woods with that girl. By the time the sun begins to rise, he'd have killed her and Damon will be safe and sane again," Stefan explained and Elena breathed, the ball of stress and guilt releasing ever so slightly.

"How was he?"

Stefan seemed to hesitate for a moment before he sighed, "He wasn't happy, Elena... which is understandable. He'll get over it. Just give it time..."

"I feel like I've just destroyed any chance I had in repairing this..." Elena admitted, tone soft and quiet like she was revealing a secret.

"Just give it time, Elena," Stefan repeated, "Just some space and time, okay?"

"Okay," Elena nodded, she wasn't totally reassured, but she felt better than she had before. "Good luck."

"You too," was the last thing the vampire said before he hung up.

Elena stared at her phone for a few seconds, her mind contemplating what she'd agreed to do to her little brother. It was awful, but it had to be done. They needed all the allies they could get and Damon was one of the most powerful in their corner. This was for the best, for the greater good of their town and their lives. In the long run, Jeremy will see, but as of right now, he was going to hate her guts to the ends of the earth...

Shaking off her troubling thoughts, Elena went to her contact list - now was not the time to contemplate her regrets, she had to find Damon. And fast.

The blood had more or less clotted, now, but Jeremy still gripped his wounded arm as it throbbed in pain. He'd since curled in on himself to conserve warmth, the stake placed within reaching distance as he kept his eyes trained on the dead body, waiting for her to spring up and attack him. Maybe he could talk her down? There were benefits to being a vampire, but there were just as many footfalls, if not more. Maybe he could convince her to simply die a mortal death? But then again, what healthy teenager would accept death so willingly?

Staring unblinkingly at the body didn't stop Jeremy from full-body flinching when the dead body suddenly lurched back to life, ripping his blood-coated hand away from his wound to snatch up the stake as he watched the teenager shift around and groan in confusion and pain.

"Wha-?" she managed to croak before she started heaving, her whole body trembling with the effort. When she finished her episode, she finally raised her head enough to see Jeremy curled up at the base of a tree, staring at her with wide frightened eyes. Her grimace quickly turned into a frown of confusion as she continued to right herself until she was sat on the ground with her legs splayed out in front of her.

"Y-Yeah," Jeremy stuttered, barely managing to breathe out the words, "You're Jessica, right? Sorry I don't know your last name..." he finished lamely, awkwardness pouring off of him in waves.

However, instead of being offended, the girl merely bobbed her head and tried to remove some dead leaves from her matted hair, "Yeah. No worries. It's Jessica Willfrom. Do you know where we are? Why are we here? Why are you here?" she questioned, fingers lightly digging into her head as she tried to remember what had happened.

"I, um..." Jeremy trailed off, unsure of what to say, or where to go from here. What the hell was he supposed to do in this situation? She was just an innocent teenage girl. An innocent teenage girl who was just turned into a vampire without her knowledge or consent - well, a transitioning vampire.

"Oh, my god!" she suddenly yelped, jolting forward with such speed that Jeremy flinched away, making her pause. She then hesitantly gestured towards Jeremy, her gaze slower on his form, "Y-You're arm..." she stared, worry and slight fear quickly taking hold as she looked at how bad it appeared in the low light, "Are you okay. Who did this to you?"

Jeremy's mind was a mess of indecision as he tried to think about whether or not to explain everything to the girl or keep it from her. Caroline was once in the same boat as Jessica, right? Maybe Jessica could learn to be a good vampire and grow from this tragic event? His mind was so preoccupied that he didn't realise that his body had simply gone on autopilot as he muttered a bland, "Stefan" as an answer.

"Stefan?!" Jessica yelled back in disbelief, making the chained teen flinch once again, "As is Stefan Salvatore? I don't think that he... would... Wait..." Jessica suddenly got a really weird look in her eyes, distant in a way that told Jeremy her mind wasn't present at the moment.

Was she remembering? Or was her instincts kicking in? "Jessica?" Jeremy called hesitantly, internally warring with himself about whether or not to move closer to comfort or continue to stay out of her immediate range.

"He- He's not human," the teen breathed, her words barely audible over her sudden and irregular intake of breath. "His face. I saw his face! It was all-! He's a monster!" she yelled with a tinge of hysteria, swiftly entering into a panic attack.

Abandoning his previous internal debate, Jeremy sprung forth, nearly tripping over the chain before he settled beside her, close but not touching as he put on his most commanding and stable tone of voice, "Jessica, I need you to look at me," he stated, swiftly earning the girls attention as wide eyes settled on his own, both of them ignoring the continuous streams of tears that were flowing down her face, "Okay. Good. Now breathe with me. Copy what I'm doing. Can you do that?" this earned a barely noticeable nod from the girl and Jeremy got straight to work, breathing deeply through his nose so that his chest filled out, holding it, and then letting it steadily whoosh out from his mouth. The girl attempted to follow, but it was a clear struggle, so Jeremy decided to add instructions, keeping a soothing voice, "C'mon. In through your nose, for one, two, three, four, five," the girl did as instructed, eyes never losing connection to his own, "Hold for one, two, three, four, five. And then out through your mouth for one, two, three, four, five. Okay? Let's try that again," Jeremy stayed quiet as he started the breathing pattern over again, this time holding his fingers in front of the girl, counting to five over and over again. It took a few minutes for Jessica to calm down again, but Jeremy was patient, repeating his actions over and over until she gave a weak hiccup and finally looked away, her hand coming up to wipe away the sticky trails of semi-dried tears from her cheeks.

"Thanks," she croaked out, and then they merely sat in silence, taking calmness and support just from one another's presence as they sat on the forest floor in the dead of night. It felt like they'd sat in silence for hours when Jessica spoke once again, his voice no longer croaky and raw, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Jeremy shifted, looking blankly at the end of the chain, threaded through the tree, "Vicki," he uttered softly. He rarely spoke about her to anyone. No one really cared that she'd gone. Matt still cared, but he was firmly in the mindset of moving on, not allowing himself to even think of her (Jeremy had gone to Matt's house at one point and found that all the family photos that had once lined the walls and lovingly donned the side tables had been taken down; Jeremy had wanted to be mad at Matt for getting rid of all traces of his own sister, but Jeremy sadly understood and held his tongue, he had no room to judge when it came to types of mourning). "She was always really good at this kind of thing."

"Oh," Jessica blinked, her tone and face completely surprised.

Jeremy couldn't help a dry chuckle of amusem*nt, "She didn't seem the type, did she?"

"No," Jessica shook her head, "Not at all. You heard from her recently?" she asked, instinctively following the guidelines of small talk despite the situation they were in.

"She's dead," Jeremy stated, a bit too bluntly, "She died the day she supposedly skipped town. It was just a story to cover up her murder."

"Wh-What?" Jessica stuttered, her face suddenly pale and pained.

Jeremy sighed, shoulders sagging with the weight of the world, "There's a lot about this town that you don't know..."

Damon stumbled on nothing as he wandered the empty streets of the edges of Mystic Falls. He didn’t know where he was, despite knowing the place for over a century. As soon as he was out of that damned room, he’d just taken off, with no conscious thought as to where he was going, which had resulted in him not knowing where he was. The only thing he was certain of was the fact that he was still in Mystic Falls and that was only because he could see the ‘goodbye’ board a few hundred yards ahead of him.

He was alone. So utterly alone, but Damon couldn’t bring himself to care. He’d been on his own for a long time, it was only suitable that he’d be alone in his death as well. Even with Stefan coming along for the ride, Damon had always been left alone to his own devices. Meaningful relationships were nonexistent and what relationships he did maintain were toxic.

His relationship with Stefan had always been strained, too many things have happened between them, too many things unsaid, too many things misinterpreted. This was the first time since they were turned that they managed to have a somewhat stable relationship. Things were… good between them.

Looking up at the dark sky, Damon couldn’t help a pang of disappointment when he only saw an overcast sky - he would have liked to see the stars, but not everyone got what they wanted - he sighed and looked back down, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he blankly stared at the black tarmac, getting lost in thought once again…

Damon still remembered those words that he’d spat out at Stefan, all those years ago, when they’d just been freshly turned. When Stefan had more or less shoved that girl in his face, forcing him to turn into a vampire when Damon had clearly stated his opinions on it… The initial betrayal that his brother would outright go against his older brother’s wishes had lasted no more than a second. What prompted Damon to promise Stefan about ruining his eternal life was the amplified bitterness and jealousy that took hold when he thought about how Katherine had chosen Stefan, would always choose Stefan over him, and since he was no longer about to earn Katherine’s affections over his brother, Stefan would have to be the one that was punished.

The ghost bitch was right, what kind of brother thought like that? What kind of older brother was he? It was despicable, disgusting even, but Damon had always been much too prideful and much too in denial to do anything in the way of mending their relationship or apologising for his own faults.

Even now, Damon hadn’t offered any real apology towards his brother and yet he’d been offered forgiveness… Stefan had forgiven him, closing that chapter of grief in his life with a finality that had Damon speechless, a finality that was then coupled with an open door. The way Stefan put it, he was simply righting a wrong he’d committed all those years ago, and finally severing any kind of lingering obligation Damon had towards him.

If there was a right time to go, it would probably be now…

Damon blinked around himself, frowning slightly as he took in the change of scenery. He was now surrounded by trees, the sky slowly lighting up with the temptation of dawn. Looking down, Damon frowned. He was at a grave site; not just any grave site, but the one that the old town’s people had been buried, their gravestones crumpling and fading with time and neglect. Damon didn’t know when the town had shifted around, enough to seemingly exclude their old graveyard, but he was sort of thankful for it. This place was desolate and lonely and it gave him peace to stare down at the names of the names he’d once known by heart. The vampire was silent as he stared down at his own name, the letters faded and cracked with moss covering nearly half of it. Stefan’s own grave stood right beside his own.

The inscription was no longer there if there ever had been one in the first place - Damon had never bothered to check before. After he and Stefan had tried and failed to save Katherine, Theodore Salvatore didn’t even bother to lie about their deaths, openly admitting to the other founding families that his own sons had sided with the devil’s spawn and he’d shot them himself. The town held no love for the dead brothers after that, but they held enough sympathy and memories for them that they created graves for them - even when they couldn’t find the bodies. However, they still made it clear that the brothers would forever be ostracised from the town, even in death, as their ‘final resting place’ had been positioned far, far from the other good people of the town, isolated on the very outskirts of the overgrown graveyard, on a small hill that gave way to a wide and open view of the landscape. It was actually a very nice view, one that the founding families obviously didn’t consider when placing them there.

Damon had stumbled upon the sight during one of the many times he’d crashed at Mystic Falls. He didn’t think Stefan even knew that they had graves and Damon didn’t feel the need to tell him. It was as good a place as any to just stand and think, while he waited for the sun to come up…

The sky had since exploded into a barrage of colours, yellows, reds and oranges bleeding together in a beautiful mimicry of flames, creating the perfect grand entrance for the coming sun. Damon twisted his ring in consideration, turning the familiar metal around his finger like he’d done a million times before he ripped it from its place and he launched it into the wilderness, never to be seen again.

It was time.

He’s made his peace with everything. It was time to go. It felt like it was the right time to go…

Jessica rubbed her face, digging her fingers a little too harshly into her skin as she dragged her hands down, looking more aged in the last couple of hours than she had in her entire life. Jeremy’s heart really went out to her, it really did, especially given the circ*mstances that she’d been forced into. It was like her entire world had been upended and nothing seemed to fit into place anymore…

“S-So, I’m gonna be a monster?” Jessica breathed out, barely audible as she looked on the verge of a panic attack.

“… A vampire,” Jeremy stated, not denying the girl’s label, but not wanting to be heartless enough to confirm it.

“… Immortality…” she uttered, almost too quiet for Jeremy to hear.

“Is… That something you want? Immortality?” Jeremy questioned, trying not to let the budding fear show on his face. What if she wanted to be a vampire and he was forced to kill her? What would he do? He really didn’t want to kill her; she was innocent in a way that Jeremy and the rest of the ‘gang’ weren’t.

“No,” the teen shook her head, a frown fixed to her brow at the question, “No. I don’t want to live forever. Then, I’d have to watch everyone I love…” die. She’d have to watch them all move on without her, growing their families, living their lives, and then dying - all without her there to share in it. She would be alone. No friends. No family. No lover. Her life as a human would be over, along with all of the connections that she’s made thus far… “But I don’t want to die…”

“I-I know this sucks,” Jeremy started, the sheer guilt churning in his stomach making him feel physically sick, “Th-This isn’t fair. I- I wish there was a way to reverse this, but…”

“There isn’t one…” Jessica finished, eyes glued to her hands as silent tears dripped down her face, in a haunting picture of sorrow that Jeremy knew he’d never forget.

Dawn was beginning to break, allowing their eyes to finally survey their surroundings after being stuck in the dark for so long. Jeremy was thankful that the night seemed to be passing today, but as he glanced at Jessica, he knew that she didn’t feel the same way. Mid-transition, the sun brought her more pain than it should, pressing on her eyes and skin like the sun itself was too close. It was painful and uncomfortable and it made the girl look more pale than she had in the dark.

“Jeremy, I don’t wanna die,” Jessica broke down into sobs, the heart-wrenching sounds piercing Jeremy like a spear. “Wh-Wh-What’s my mum gonna do? Wh-What about my little sister? Wha-What are they g-gonna do without me, Jeremy? What am I supposed to do?!” she finished with a shout and Jeremy couldn’t say anything.

There was nothing he could possibly say to make this better. There were no words of comfort, or support that he could give to her. Instead, he silently offered his dirtied hand, which she blankly stared at. Then, with a sorrowful hiccup, Jessica reached out and grasped his hand, taking comfort in the tethered teen as she waited for her death. She could probably feel her body getting weaker as time went on and she wasn’t shaking from the cold, despite her hand feeling so stiff and chilled. Her body was slowly shutting down. She didn’t have much time left.

Jeremy squeezed the girl’s hand as tightly as he could, drawing as much comfort from her as she did from him. He wouldn’t leave her; he was determined to be there with her until the very end.

They sat there for a while, together amongst the dead leaves, holding each other’s hand for dear life as they watched the sun slowly come up, inch by sluggish inch.

Jessica shifted closer to him, seeking warmth for her chilled body; it was a little too close for comfort, but Jeremy allowed it as he focused back on the skyline, guilt and sorrow lining his chest and stomach. He wished he could do more, but what else was there to do-

"I'm sorry," was the only softly whispered warning before he felt sharp teeth rip into his neck, forcing a scream of pain and surprise from him.

"J-Jess-" Jeremy barely managed to get out, the tips of his finger rapidly growing colder as more blood was forcefully drawn from his body. The pure panic that rushed through his system like molten lava was the only thing that kept him awake, actively forcing dark spots from his vision as he gripped the girl's hair, curling his fingers as tightly as possible into her locks as he attempted to pry her from his neck.

However, this only seemed to make her latch onto him harder, her fangs sinking deeper as she tried to drink faster, pulling him closer so that he was nearly on top of her. Jeremy felt his eyes start to flutter, and his strength began to fade, as the eternal darkness slowly started to creep closer. For a slit second, Jeremy considered giving in to it, considered just leaving everything behind and being done with everything... Life felt hard, harder than he'd ever anticipated. Jeremy's mind went to his parents, a time when he'd flopped his body onto the kitchen table and groaned about life - the expectation of school and the tediousness of homework - groaning louder into the polished wood when his dad ruffled his head and gave one of his deep chuckles before teasingly telling Jeremy that life would only get harder, to value his time in school before he was forced into the 'real working world'. His dad had been right, life was hard, the trials that it had put him through had been damn near soul-crushing and Jeremy didn't think he could survive much more if it carried on...

"One day you'll look back on all this and wish you could go back," Greyson smiled, warm and happy as he lovingly gripped his wife's hand as she passed him a coffee.

They promised that they would always be there for him, that Elena would always be here with him. Where were they? Why aren't they here? Why did they all leave him?

"But everything is just so hard," Jeremy had whined, like a little brat, pouting at his father, though he'd never admit it, "All the teachers say is that we need to study, or we'll end up with a bad life," he rolled his eyes. Teachers only ever cared about tests and student grades.

Everything was so, so hard. How could anyone possibly ask him to buck up and carry on?

The grip on the vampire's hair loosened, although his hand was unable to completely move away as his numb fingers tangled in her dark strands.

"Don't listen to them, or anyone else," Greyson scoffed at the notion of teachers, "No matter what you grow up to do, so long as you are happy, nothing else matters."

"But what about you and mum?" Jeremy asked, small and insecure as he looked up at the strongest, kindest man he'd ever known, "Won't you be disappointed?"

Jeremy felt hot tears roll down his cheeks, as he slowly started to accept his fate.

"I love you," Greyson stated like it was the most truthful thing he could ever say, "I could never be disappointed in you. The only thing you have to be concerned with is if you ever disappoint yourself."

Jeremy's fingers twitched, the teen forcing them to move over and over again until they limply fell from Jessica's hair.

"But so long as you give it your all, that will never happen."

A familiar feeling brushed the tips of his fingers, something soother and sterner than the fragile leaves surrounding them.

"All you need to do,"

Jeremy forced his eyes wide open as his hand curled around the wooden object, finding strength that he didn't know he still had as he lifted it up.

"is fight."

With teeth bared, Jeremy let out a single strangled sound of determination before he brought the stake down on the vampire's back, using enough force to pierce through the skin and bury it firmly into her heart. Jessica released a pained grunt, her mouth unlatching from his neck in an instant, blood dribbling down her chin as she looked down at him with pained shock across her features. She moved her mouth like she wanted to say something to him, words of resentment, sorrow, or confusion, but she never got the chance as her eyes quickly became glassy, a look that Jeremy had become all too familiar with in the past year or so, and her skin turned grey.

Jeremy could only breathe heavily as her body fell to the side with a lifeless thump, never to move or speak again.

More hot tears rushed down Jeremy's face as he lifted a trembling hand to his wounded neck, trying to save and contain what little blood he had left. Guilt and pain and sorrow hit the teen like a truck, nearly taking his breath away as a loud raw sob escaped his lips, eyes never straying from Jessica's still form, even as his vision blurred with tears.

Everything was fading fast as Jeremy pitched forward, her name lingering on his lips like a plead for forgiveness.

"Jessica..."

"Damon!"

Chapter 23: Displacement

Chapter Text

Things came back in drips and drabs, his senses slowly coming back to him one by one, as if they were reluctant to do so. Jeremy wasn't even sure when he became aware of the fact that he was waking up, so he wasn't sure which of his senses decided to come back first, only that they came back to him slowly. From far too much experience - and from the killer headache that was pounding behind his eyes - Jeremy knew that he hadn't fallen unconscious by his own will. With he groan, Jeremy attempted to open his eyes, hissing as the sterile lights above irritated his corneas. The annoying noise right beside his ear became more and more persistent and it took Jeremy a moment to realise that the noise was his heart monitor, his heart picking up the pace as confusion and fear accompanied his slow wakefulness.

The heart monitor just about skyrocketed when the door burst open, a grown woman in dark blue scrubs storming towards him, like she was on a mission. Instantly, her demeanour changed, her eyes swiftly assessing the situation as she formed her determined look into a warm and welcoming expression, her movements calm and precise, allowing him to easily follow her movements as she stepped closer to his bedside.

"Jeremy," she called tentatively, keeping her voice soft and soothing, "My name is Nurse Miya. Right now, I need you to calm down, can you do that for me?"

"I- Calm?" Jeremy gasped out, surprise shooting through him when he realised that he was having a panic attack, his lungs burning with the sudden acknowledgement. He needed to calm down. Slow his breathing, but no matter what he did, he couldn't seem to control the intake of his breath, sobs and hot tears slowly being added to the mix. "Ca- Can-" he can't! He can't do it!

The nurse seemed to understand his dilemma as she rushed to his bed, hands hovering within his vision to force his attention on her. "Look. Tell me five things you can see. Can you do that for me, Jeremy? Slowly, look around the room and tell me five things you can see."

"I-I-I," Jeremy tried, his own voice nearly choking him as he tried to suck in more air than he could handle.

"Come on, you can do it. Take your time. Look around and tell me what you see," she continued softly, encouragingly.

Determined, Jeremy looked around, forcing his eyes to blink away the tears and focus on his surroundings, "I-I se-e a, um, a win-do-w," he tried, his heaving breaths forcing the words apart without meaning to.

The nurse nodded, smiling brightly, "Yes. Window. That's one thing and now four more."

The teen gave a jerky nod as he scanned the room once again, his eyes landing on the small and extremely old television on the wall opposite, "TV," he uttered, his voice almost giving out mid-syllable, making it notable waver.

"Good, good," the nurse smiled, "Three more, okay? three more."

It was light out, showcasing a serene blue sky, "S-Sky," he came up with next. He then brought his eyes back to the nurse, seeing her nod and smile encouragingly at him as he listed his fourth item, "Y-You."

"That's four," she nodded, her afro slightly swaying with the movement, "One more to go," she squeezed his hand, causing Jeremy to look down at their linked hands. When had she taken his hand? Had she held his hand from the beginning, or had she done it when he was searching for things to name? Nonetheless, Jeremy looked at their linked hands and his breath froze in his throat once again.

"A tattoo..." he breathed, eyes trained on the back of his hand, where a dark circular mark covered the skin from his knuckles to his wrist. He might have been out of it, but he knew exactly what the mark was as well as how and why it had gotten there. All sense of calmness and logic abandoned him as the memories came screaming back at him, forcing him to relive everything once again within a split second.

One second, he seemed frozen in time, staring down at the tattoo with a blank expression, the next, he was ripping his hand away from the nurse as he attempted to remove the ink with his own nails. Luckily, he wasn't strong enough to penetrate the skin, as exhausted and weak as he was, but he did manage to leave impressive red welts on the back of his hand before the nurse snatched his hands away from each other, shouting into the hallway for assistance. Jeremy struggled against her hold, feeling like a newborn kitten in terms of strength as he shouted gibberish into the room and thrashed around on the bed. Jeremy didn't even feel it when someone injected sedatives into his arm, too caught up in his panic and fear as memories of the forest and Jessica bombarded his mind. Before the teen could even register his sudden exhaustion, his eyes were slipping closed and sleep embraced him once more.

The second time Jeremy woke up, he was relatively calm to the point where he was still completely alone. The panic was over and Jeremy could only stare out of the window with blank eyes as his mind raced within. However, no matter how many times Jeremy thought it over, the situation never got better. Jessica was dead, having given into her fear in the last seconds of her life, and now Jeremy was a Hunter, one of the Five. Honestly, Jeremy didn't feel any different but he knew he was different. Technically, Jeremy was no longer human; he was now stronger than a human, reacted faster than a human, couldn't be compelled, couldn't be turned and had an invisible tattoo that would grow the more vampires he killed. Rough, calloused fingers ran over the back of his hand, following the circle over and over. The only thing that really comforted Jeremy was the fact that Klaus wouldn't be able to turn him into a vampire like he always threatened to do.

But the negatives of his situation far outweighed the positives, with the main negative being that Elena was the one who put him in this situation in the first place. Absentmindedly, Jeremy's fingers traced further up his arm, brushing over the thick bandages that had been wrapped snugly around his arm. The wounds underneath throbbed with the memory, Stefan's vicious face flashing through his mind, making Jeremy's brows scrunch in anger and hate. There hadn't been any real need for Stefan to injure him in such a way, he merely did it because he could - his own form of punishment for not voluntarily helping Damon.

Slowly, tiredly, Jeremy glanced down the bed to see his ankle which was similarly wrapped in bandages, just noticeable under the thin hospital blanket. Jeremy hadn't even noticed that his ankle had been injured, but he guessed that the metal shackle had chaffed his skin quite badly, even if he only wore it for a few hours. Distantly, the hunter wondered if his ankle would scar. There was no question about whether or not his arm would scar, it was too deep to not scar; Jeremy wouldn't be surprised if it had required stitches.

As for the wound on his neck... Jeremy wasn't sure about that one and he didn't really want to think about it.

From the reflection of the window, Jeremy could see that the bandage on his cheek had been changed, although not as thick as the one before. Hopefully, that one wouldn't scar, especially since it was on his face, but knowing his luck, Jeremy wasn't building his hopes up.

Overall, he looked like an utter wreck and that wasn't even considering the scars that trailed up his other arm. He looked so pathetic that Jeremy couldn't help the small bitter chuckle that fell from his lips. Jeremy couldn't even begin to think about what the nurses and doctors thought about his condition, at worst they'd think domestic abuse and at best they might chalk it up to teenage recklessness and let it go.

Besides that, what was he going to do when he was released? There was no way that Jeremy was going back to his house, where he knew Elena would be waiting. She'd planned this, had planned for Jeremy to kill or be killed, had forced him to save the murderer of his friend. He didn't want to see her. He didn't want to speak to her. What she did to him was unforgivable and if it hadn't been for the supernatural element in all of this, Jeremy would see to it that she went to prison. He hated it here, in this town. The only time he'd been marginally happy was when he was in Oregon, alone and any from everything and everything associated with this goddamned town. Maybe he could leave? Maybe he could run away, never to come back, or even look back? Maybe he could change his name, get something cheap to rent whilst he worked, maybe he could choose some trade or stick to retail jobs? Maybe he could go through a system where he could get his GED whilst working - he'd have to hide his real age, but that was fine with him - maybe sign up for a night school system? There, in a town far, far away from anything supernatural and anything to do with Mystic Falls, Jeremy could live a normal, boring life and forget that he even had a sister in the first place.

Maybe-

"Jeremy?" a voice spoke, suddenly very close to him, making him visibly jump and turn to the stranger with wide, startled eyes. The woman jumped back as well, equally as startled as he was, as she raised her hands in the air as if to say she was safe.

"Oh," Jeremy uttered, blinking slightly before he offered a strained smile, mentally praying for his cheeks to cool down from his flood of embarrassment, "Sorry about that. You scared me," he admitted lamely, still trying (and failing) to play it off.

The woman merely gave him a knowing and fond smile, bobbing her head along as she adjusted her clipboard into a more comfortable position, "No worries. You were a million miles away," she chuckled warming, making Jeremy feel a little more relaxed, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," Jeremy shrugged. He was as well as he could be after last night. Wait. Was it last night? How long had he been here? How long had he been asleep? How did they find him? Or did Stefan or someone else fetch him after the 'deed was done'? "How..." Jeremy pursed his lips, hesitating slightly before pushing on, "How long have I been asleep? And how did I get here?"

At this, the nurse's face twisted slightly before smoothing out once again; Jeremy would have missed it, if he hadn't been looking so closely, "We don't know who brought you in. An on-call nurse found you round the corner of the front entrance... You were already unconscious when they brought you in, but by the looks of the injuries and the dirt on you, it looks like you were attacked in the forest... Do you remember what happened?"

Jeremy paused as if he was thinking back, or trying to recall a memory, knowing from experience that if he answered too quickly the person would know he was lying. Slowly, Jeremy shook his head, "No, I don't remember anything after leaving school yesterday. I'm sorry," he flickered his eyes down as if he were bashful for not remembering more. People who were unused to these situations tended to be more hesitant and awkward, especially when they were unsure and outside their comfort zone. The nurse might not be some kind of psychoanalyst, but it never hurt to cover all his bases, just in case... Maybe he should be more concerned about how he knew this sort of stuff...

"That's fine," she waved off easily, "There's nothing to apologise for. And it's been four days since you were admitted. The wound on your arm was pretty deep, you needed around twenty-one stitches," called it, "We did our best to clean it, but a minor infection had already started to set in when you arrived. You had a fever for two days and on the third day, you woke up, but you ended up having a panic attack. The doctor had to inject you with a sedative when you started to hurt yourself in your panic," the nurse finished her explanation and Jeremy remained quiet as he looked down at his blanket-covered lap, deep in thought.

Calmly, probably more calm than he should feel at the moment, Jeremy processed the information given to him. He must have had a weird look on his face, or he'd been quiet for a little too long because the nurse reached out as if to take hold of his hand, before she retracted it back. Jeremy paid attention to the nurse once again, noting the way she shifted and fluttered her hands at her sides (maybe she was a new nurse?) looking like she wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to say it.

Feeling sorry for the young nurse, Jeremy tried for a polite smile as he asked, "Is there anything else?"

"I- well," the nurse looked down before she seemed to steel herself and face Jeremy once more, "There's someone here to visit you-"

"I don't want to see her," Jeremy answered instantly, a flash of fear rushing through him before he shoved it down his chest. He didn't want to feel scared of Elena, he wanted to feel angry and irritated, he didn't want to be afraid of her; she didn't deserve his fear, she didn't deserve that power over him. Swiftly, he formed his fearful expression into a glower of hatred, "Send her away."

"Who-?"

"Elena," Jeremy supplied before the nurse could even finish her sentence, "My sister. I don't want to see her. Under any circ*mstances, do not let her in," Jeremy stated firmly, fists clenched so tightly, that his nails threatened to prick his palms. While Jeremy knew that Elena could just have the staff compelled to let her in, if there was any chance that she hadn't bought her murderous guard dogs with her, Jeremy wanted to keep her out as much as possible.

The nurse suddenly looked very sullen and understanding, a hard look in her eyes as they flickered over his bandaged injuries and his exposed scars. Warily, Jeremy watched as she curled her fingers just a little tighter around her clipboard. "It's not your sister. She hasn't come to visit since we notified her of your condition... There's someone that needs to talk to you. They're part of the Child Protective Services and they just want to ask you some questions, if that's okay?" she finished in a more delicate voice.

"What?" Jeremy numbly asked, feeling like white noise had suddenly taken over his world as he stared at the worried nurse with shocked eyes. "Wh-What?" he repeated again, trying to fight the sensation of his tongue twisting as he forced himself to process and respond, "Why- Why would they... be here?"

"They're just concerned about you," the nurse offered, "I'm sure they're just here for a general checkup after what's happened to you."

That... Made sense. Jeremy was surely on their list of 'Children of Concern' after going through multiple guardians and losing multiple family members in such a short space of time. Then there was the concern about Jeremy's ping-pong transfer. All that and then ending up in the hospital for suspicious injuries, which were bound to get someone to come for a wellness check, just to clear their conscience. It was nothing. Jeremy just had to keep his cool and not act suspicious. Refusing to see CPS was extremely suspicious.

"That's... fine," Jeremy decided, trying to ease his face into something more pleasant than the death-mongering scowl that he'd been wearing before.

The nurse merely bobbed her head, before ducking out of the room, presumedly, to go get the CPS agent. For the second that he was alone, Jeremy took a deep calming breath to soothe his nerves, his eyes unwittingly flickering to the back of his hand before he brought his attention to the door opening once again and a suited woman stepping inside. She didn't look intimidating in the slightest, with her petit build and shiny black hair, with wide eyes that only emitted warmth and understanding, but as she assessed Jeremy, he could see a pang of pity take over her features for a brief moment before she cleared it away.

"Hi," she greeted, a twang of an Indian accent in her voice, "You must be Jeremy. I'm Dia. I'm a representative with the child protective services, I think you've met my college before, Mr Davis?"

At the mere mention of the name, Jeremy's face twisted. He remembered that man, the way he'd looked at them, the way he spoke to them, the way he subtly threatened Aunt Jenna whilst using himself and Elena to do so. Jeremy knew, that if that bastard had it his way, he and Elena would have been sent off into group homes, far away from one another. For the first couple of months that the Gilbert siblings were in Jenna's care, the man would not leave them alone. In the end, Jenna complained to the CPS enough for them to pull him from their case completely and, after that, everything was back to normal and they could all finally grieve in peace.

"Yeah," Jeremy admitted, face looking like he was sucking on a lemon, "I remember. He's not here is he?"

"No," Dia quickly shook her head, "He's not here. I've been given your case since then and I was going to come by for a wellness check in a month from now, but this," she gestured to the hospital bed, "Has brought it forward."

"I thought we were over all that? I don't need a wellness check, I'm fine," the hunter stated, voice firm and leaving no room for arguments.

Dia looked contemplative before she gave a heavy sigh, her mask finally falling away completely to reveal her regretful expression.

"This isn't just a wellness check, is it?" Jeremy questioned, a feeling of dread corroding the bottom of his stomach.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy," the agent replied, truly looking sorry for him, "But there have been far too many reports and all calls and letters to your sister, your primary guardian, have been either ignored or denied. Your record shows of drug and substance abuse-"

"I've stopped that," he insisted, face twisting with regret, before shaking his head, "I haven't touched a pill since Vicki went away and I haven't had a drop of alcohol since before Jenna died. Are you really gonna use my grief over my parents dying over me?"

"No, of course not," Dia was quick to reassure, "But, you have to understand, that, along with everything else that's been noted, doesn't add up to a good home life, not one suitable for a minor, anyway."

"I'm sixteen," Jeremy pressed, "I don't need twenty-four/seven surveillance."

"The neglect is only one issue of many, Jeremy-"

"I never said neglect-"

"It's been stated in reports, police reports, that neighbours have expressed concern over your sister moving into the Salvatore Boarding House and leaving you to live alone. When was the last time she actually came by the house?" Dia challenged, but she seemed to let up when Jeremy hesitated, not having a solid answer to her question. When was the last time he'd seen Elena in the house? She didn't even come by to make sure he still had food, Jeremy was the one to do all the shopping. She didn't even visit him when Mikael held him hostage... "Look, this isn't an attack on you, okay? This is about how your sister doesn't seem to have your best interests at heart and is, perhaps, not mature enough to take over your safety and well-being."

Jeremy opened his mouth to defend her, or at least lie on her behalf, but he couldn't. After everything she'd done, after last night, Jeremy wouldn't, couldn't say a nice thing about her, even if it was probably in his best interest to do so. So, wisely, Jeremy pressed his lips shut and said nothing.

"Then," Dia's eyes moved down to the exposed scars on his arm. The hospital light made them look worse than they were, making his skin appear more pale and the scars appear more red and sore, "There are you're numerous scars and injuries that your teachers at school have raised multiple issues with."

"These were an accident," Jeremy dismissed.

"What did you do?" she questioned, patiently.

"Put my arm through a glass door," Jeremy supplied easily. That was sort of the truth. In a way. After all, Jeremy did put his fist through glass and it was a door, he just left out the bit where he was escaping through a car door after being kidnapped.

However, his explanation didn't seem to convince the woman as she merely hummed and raised her eyebrow disbelievingly.

"I know it sounds stupid, but it's true," sort of.

"Then, there's your hospitalisation, right now," Dia continued as if he hadn't said anything, "From my understanding, your sister has been notified of your admittance, and once again when you woke up, the first time, and she still hasn't made an effort to contact the hospital or to come and see you. And from what I heard, you have no desire to see your sister either-"

"Hey, that was a private conversation-!"

"Then there's the video evidence that Elena even hit you, which matched the injury on your cheek," Dia spoke over him, dominating the conversation effortlessly.

"I- What?" Jeremy paused as he thought of who could have recorded in that room. It had only been their little 'gang' and none of them would turn on Elena like that, "How did you..."

"There are CCTV cameras all over your school, as well as in each individual classroom," Dia supplied, more than willing to take the time to explain to him, "Your history teacher was the one to request the footage before he submitted it to us. Other teachers at your school have pressed concerns before, but without evidence, there was little we could do. Visual evidence as well as physical evidence of your guardian hitting you, as well as everything else I've listed, is more than enough reason for you to be removed from her care, indefinitely."

"What are you trying to say?" Jeremy asked slowly, feeling like his brain was running slow, finding it difficult to process. He couldn't even begin to process the fact that Alaric had been the one to turn against Elena and instead decided to put it in the back of his mind to sort out later. "Are you going to take me away?"

Dia glanced down, looking pained for a moment before she refocused her attention on him, "Yes. We are going to take you away. Elena can no longer take care of you. However, that doesn't mean that she can't come to visit you, once you've settled and if you allow it. Miss Gilbert has already been informed of the circ*mstances and is willing to comply."

Elena was okay with this? Well, Jeremy wasn't exactly surprised to hear that after everything she'd put him through, but it still stung to know that she was willing to send him away. Bitterness welled up when he considered the fact that she'd happily uprooted his new life in Oregon and killed his friend in order to get him back to a town he'd been glad to see the back of, and now that he was useless to her, she didn't seem to care where he went.

"Where am I going to go?" he questioned, preying that it would be far away from Mystic Falls.

"Actually, a family's stepped forward to foster you, so you don't even have to leave your home town," Dia smiled, looking relieved that she could finally deliver some 'good news' to her charge.

Instantly, Jeremy felt disappointment crash over him. Why did he even try to get his hopes up?

"They called the Mikaelsons," Dia continued as she flipped her page to confirm the name, "I believe you're friends with Kol and Rebekah?"

"I- What?" Jeremy stared at the woman with wide eyes, mute horror slowly inching into his features, "They did what?"

"Klaus Mikaelson will be the one to pick you up when you're cleared from the hospital," Dia went on as if she hadn't heard him, completely ignoring his terrible reaction, "They've already collected your possessions, so you don't have to go back to your former residence. We've checked the place and it's suitable for your needs. We've profiled everyone in the residence as well and they passed all the background checks. We'll do a wellness check in a month to see how you're settling in."

She'd been compelled, Jeremy realised feeling like a bucket of ice water had been poured down his spine. The report was true, that much Jeremy could tell, they were going to take him away, but they'd probably planned to take him somewhere out of the town; that was where the Mikaelsons intervened. Jeremy didn't have a choice in the matter. The social workers would only be compelled into compliance and legally, Jeremy would reside with them, so if he were to be picked up by police, he would be delivered to them in a heartbeat. There would be no escape. Not this time.

This is such a piss take, Jeremy thought, feeling like his eyebrow was going to twitch itself off his face as he glared up at the 'gathering' before him.

Contrary to what the social worker had stated, Jeremy had not been picked up by Klaus, but by one of his goons, who'd promptly stuffed him into the back of the car before peeling out of the hospital parking area and nearly sending the teen back to the ER with a stress-induced heart attack. Then, as they swung around the excessively large driveway, they came to a jolting stop in front of the stairs that led up to the mansion-like house, where the whole family had gathered to greet him. All of them had displays of smugness on their faces, not even bothering to hide it as he approached them, with Klaus in the middle and having the most punchable smug face of all time. Damn, Jeremy would give anything to punch the asshole and for it to actually hurt the hybrid!

"Little brother!" Klaus greeted loudly because he was an asshole, "Glad to have you home, finally, after all this time!" he went in for a hug, but Jeremy skipped back.

"Don't touch me!" he glowered at the man, trying to sentence him to instant death from his glare alone.

"Come now, Brother," Klaus ignored him and slinked beside him, throwing his arm over Jeremy's shoulder, "Don't be like that! Without our intervention, I bet you would have been sent to some kind of ungodly group home in the city."

"I think I would have preferred that, rather than being forced to stay in a house that hosted the most successful serial killers of all time and in a town that's nearly killed me a hundred times over!" Jeremy hissed out, trying and failing to knock off the hybrid's arm.

"I don't think it's the town that's nearly killed you," Kol supplied 'helpfully', "More like the doppelganger's horrid planning."

"Shut up!" Jeremy hissed towards the other, feeling particularly hostile, but that did nothing to damper the other's grin. Oh, god, he was going to be unbearable, wasn't he?

"Now, now," Esther spoke up, voice soft and soothing, which only made Jeremy angrier, "Let's not do this here. Come, Jeremy, you must feel starved. I'm told that hospitals don't feed their patients very well."

"That's... Sort of true, I guess," Jeremy nodded. What had the siblings been telling her about the modern world? "What have you got?"

"I've managed to recreate my favourite leek and chicken stew!" Esther smiled, instantly taking up his hand and pulling him into the house, making Jeremy's muscles tense from how close to brushed by the siblings. All Jeremy could think was that he now had vampires at all sides of him, especially at his back whilst stepping into an enclosed space. It made his skin feel like he was breaking out into hives, mind racing with different escapes and attacks that he could perform, but he ultimately knew that he didn't stand a chance against them and do, and he forced himself to calm down. However, from the side eye that Elijah was giving him, Jeremy hadn't been very successful.

All too soon, Jeremy was in his allocated seat, staring down at a bowl of mush... What even was this? This was stew? It looks like it was blended together. Hesitantly, Jeremy glanced beside him, making eye contact with Kol, who merely shook his head with wide eyes and shoved a spoonful into his mouth. Looking to the other side of him, Jeremy accidentally caught the eye of Esther, who was staring at him with anticipation, shifting in his seat with a hopeful look on her face, waiting for him to eat.

Feeling like he was between a rock and a hard place, Jeremy dipped his spoon in and shoved a mouthful down the hatch. The hunter carefully controlled his features when he registered the textures, the carrots (or what he thought to be carrots) were complete mush, like she'd battered them with a spoon for some reason; the potatoes were undercooked; the meat was stringy, somehow; and it was clear that the onion hadn't been skinned properly because he nearly started to chock on the flakey skin. It wasn't the worst, but it was extremely far from the best - it probably hit second place in the 'worst dishes' ranking. Nonetheless, Jeremy hummed pleasantly and smiled towards Esther while bobbing his head up and down, glad when she looked happy and relieved.

"It's hard to get used to the appliances that are used these days," Esther admitted, somewhat sheepishly, "But Rebekah's been helping me and Niklaus introduced me to the Yout tubes."

"I think you mean YouTube," Jeremy muttered with a strained smile. Whatever she'd watched, maybe she hadn't watched properly, or maybe she watched some sort of bogus channel, because this was far from edible. Jeremy stuffed another spoonful in his mouth, nonetheless. It must be hard to suddenly have to use these alien appliances with little to no knowledge of what the hell it was supposed to do - Rebekah didn't seem to be the type to cook either, so it had all probably been a losing battle from the start. It was clear that putting Esther in front of a computer screen had been the last resort.

"Nevertheless, it's nice to finally have the family all together under one roof, once again," Klaus grinned at Jeremy, who merely glowered back, "I do hope that things continue to go in our favour."

"Like you're not the one pulling the strings?" Jeremy couldn't help but speak up, his blood swiftly heating up as he gripped his knife like a weapon.

"Jeremy," Elijah snipped, looking rather done with his and Klaus' constant squabbling, "Not now. Perhaps we can discuss matters later, at a more appropriate time and setting."

"So this is how it's gonna be?" Jeremy growled, unable to control his anger and unwilling to, "Anything Klaus does, no matter how badly it affects me or anyone else, is excused because you want to play at being the perfect family?" he sneered, voice low and sardonic. The entire table had gone quiet, merely watching the scene unfolding before them, none of them seemed inclined to step in, Esther, Rebekah and Finn keeping their expressions blank, while Kol looked as if Christmas had come early.

"Must we really do this every time we're together?" Elijah sighed, which only served to piss off the teen even more.

"Must you really keep hurting me?" Jeremy sneered back.

"Hurting you?" Esther questioned, looking alert and ready to step in at a moment's notice.

"We have not harmed you-" Elijah continued, ignoring his mother's question.

"Oh, I beg to f*cking differ," Jeremy nearly growled, muscles tensing as if to attack, "I've lost count of the number of things you've all done to me, Klaus being the worst one."

"Are we really bringing this up again?" Klaus asked in a bored tone, "I believe you've brought this up before."

Jeremy pounded his fist into the table, looking like he was seconds away from leaping over the table, "I have every f*cking right to be pissed at that and you know it! But right now, I'm more pissed at the fact that you got the CPS involved and compelled the worker to send me here!"

"I asked them to do that," Esther spoke up in their defence, "It was clear that your sister had been mistreating you- Finn was the one to find you in the woods! If he hadn't arrived in time, you would have died from blood loss!"

"How did they know I was a Hunter?!" Jeremy shouted, feeling like his sanity was hanging by a thread, "I sure as hell didn't tell them! And I sure as hell didn't tell them that killing a vampire would end Damon's curse!" Klaus' eyes flickered down briefly, but Jeremy zeroed in on it like a predator on prey, "It was you, wasn't it?" Jeremy sneered, eyes boring into Klaus as the hybrid pinched his lips, "What did you say to them?!"

"I merely found a weakness in their lack of knowledge and decided to taunt them with the fact that you wanted one of their own dead," Klaus admitted tensely, "But I never thought they'd respond the way they did."

"No, you never thought they'd take it that far!" Jeremy corrected hotly, his form trembling with the urge to leap from his seat and stab him.

"Be that as it may," Esther jumped in, "You're here now and -"

She never got further than that as Jeremy released a roar of anger before he leapt on the table and threw his steak knife with deadly accuracy. Obviously surprised and caught off guard, the knife landed its mark and sunk into the hollow of the hybrid's throat, making Klaus choke on his own blood and giving Jeremy immense satisfaction. Not giving the man any time to recover, the teen ran across the table and bodily tackled Klaus from his chair and onto the floor, fists already flying before Jeremy had even made the decision.

Unfortunately, Jeremy didn't stay at an advantage for very long as he left firm hands grab him from behind, pulling him off of Klaus' form with a single easy tug. Without even looking, Jeremy knew it was Elijah and so he wasted no time in slamming his elbow repeatedly into the vampire's side.

"Henrik- Jeremy! Calm down!" Elijah shouted sternly, trying to regain control of the situation.

"All you've ever done, since you came into town, is RUIN MY LIFE!" Jeremy screamed, close to tears as he continued to struggle like a rabid animal, "What the f*ck do you want from me!? Let me go! I'll f*cking kill you, you blood-sucking leech!" Jeremy was practically frothing at the mouth as he did all he could to struggle out of Elijah's grip, unknowingly tapping into his supernatural strength and forcing the suited brother to hold him more tightly, ensuring that he'd leave bruises afterwards.

"I think it's the Hunter spirit!" Jeremy heard Esther shout, slight panic in her voice as Jeremy thrashed enough to reach his pocket, pulled out a poorly fashioned wooden stake and stabbed Elijah in the side, forcing the vampire to let him go.

The teen didn't waste his time as he leapt towards Klaus once again, a crazed bloodthirsty glint in his eyes as he wielded his bloodied stake once again and went for the heart. However, before he could even make contact, Jeremy felt a solid form bodily tackle him to the floor, the weight and strength far too great for Jeremy to even shove the form an inch away from him. From the corner of his eyes, Jeremy saw the grim, stern face of Finn as he attempted to hold the teen down without harming him too much. This only added more fuel to the fire.

"Get the f*ck off me!" Jeremy roared, turning enough to reach around and repeatedly stab the eldest brother in the back, but the only thing he did was grunt in pain and hold on tighter. Sound seemed to filter back in for a split second and the hunter could only growl like a wild animal as the witch spoke with the other leeches.

"Can't you spell him to sleep, or something?" the female parasite shouted at the witch.

"I-I've tried! The Five have always been more impervious to magic than normal mortals!"

"Then try something stronger!" the youngest lashed back, impatient, "Do something before he hurts himself!"

He needed to kill them all, before they got to him, before they forced him to pass out! He needed to take out the vampires, but first, he needed to take out the witch helping them. Staring up his thrashing once again, Jeremy just managed to wriggle out from Finn's hold, the vampire's back covered in blood and puncture marks from his repeated assault, making his way to his unsteady feet before he made eye contact with the witch. The eye contact only lasted a split second before he launched himself at her, stake in hand and raised to strike.

However, luck didn't seem to be on Jeremy's side as the witch rushed through a bunch of Latin words before he could even make it halfway towards her. The spell worked instantaneously and Jeremy quickly found his body giving out on him and falling to the floor against his command, his vision and mind going dark before he even finished meeting the ground...

Chapter 24: Settlement

Chapter Text

Esther could only watch as her youngest, her child, her reason for immortalising her other children, as the powerful spell swiftly took hold and his brown soulful eyes rolled back, her body crumpling to the ground as if he were a puppet who'd strings had been severed. Thankfully, Kol managed to catch the teen before he could knock his head on the floor, easily lifting him up in a carry before he walked towards the soft and gently - far more gently than Esther would have thought he would - setting him down on the sofa.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Rebekah breathed, still standing by the dinner table where she'd been shocked still.

"Seems like our dearest little brother still harbours a lot of rage towards me," Niklaus shrugged, like it was old news, as he picked himself up from the floor and inspected his ruined jacket.

"No," Elijah spoke up, face pulled into a considering frown as he eyed the unconscious human, "He may hate us, in all varying degrees, but he's never been so..."

"Violent," Rebekah finished off, her shock slowly starting to wear off as she stepped closer to Henrik.

"Well, what do you say, mother?" Kol suddenly spoke up and then every eye in the room was plastered onto her.

"What do you mean, my son?" Esther questioned, her tone patient as she calmly looked back at them.

"You called it a 'Hunter spirit'," Kol went on, his dark eyes, so much like his little brother's boring into her own, "You know what that was, what happened to him. Tell us."

"Careful how you speak to our Mother, Kol," Finn suddenly spoke up, coming to her defence like the good son he was. He'd always been so mild-mannered and by far her most calm child, but his father's fire always showed itself whenever he felt like Esther was being disrespected.

The ancient witch merely smiled at her eldest and he instantly backed off, listening and conceding to his mother's silent wishes. With that dealt with, Esther elegantly turned her head to face the rest of her expectant children, "As you know the Brotherhood of the Five are no ordinary hunters. They were made to compete with vampires, to hunt them down with a relentless passion and hatred, but a human's drive can fade in time and murderous anger is a hard emotion to maintain if one doesn't have a source... The Hunter Spirit is a compulsion that all Hunters inherit when they are called upon. For some, it is a mild drive, like a voice in the back of their heads that can easily be ignored, or pushed aside; for others, it can be an all-consuming fire that takes over, like the Spirit takes over and inhabits the other's body."

"Is Henrik gone?" Niklaus spoke, his expression completely heartbroken as he looked at his little brother. No matter what the hybrid had done to Jeremy and how cruel his actions and words were, he still very much loved his baby brother, much like he loved all of his siblings, despite their complicated relationships with one another.

"No," Esther answered, sending a flood of relief throughout the entire room, "He's not been consumed by it, but Henrik's never had a good experience with the supernatural world, only pain, terror and loss, which the Spirit takes full advantage of. It influences him in an extreme way..." she trailed off looking troubled. Esther saw it, and for a split second, she saw the Spirit take full control, when he turned towards her and went for the kill. He would have killed her and that terrified her... but it also made her more determined.

"So how do we get it out of him?" Niklaus questioned, looking down at their youngest's slack face.

"We can't," Esther stated, simply, "The Hunter Spirit has always been there, that's what made him a Potential. It only activated when the requirements had been met. To attempt to remove the Spirit would be to kill him."

"Can we turn him?" Rebekah offered, obviously grabbing at straws, "Would that force the Spirit back into a dormant state?"

"No," Esther shook her head, "That would only kill him. I thought you'd encountered the Five before?" she distinctly remembered watching Niklaus kill them, but she did leave them every now and again, so maybe there was just that one experience?

"We never researched them," Elijah admitted, "Or perhaps, the correct term would be that we were never able to. Once Niklaus killed them all, we had assumed the matter dealt with - Niklaus' Hunter Curse notwithstanding. It only occurred to us that the Five could be carried on a few hundred years later when we happened upon a lone one. But the Hunter Curse was all the more reason to simply avoid them and we haven't had an interaction with them until now."

"Except when Kol killed our brother's former reincarnation, that is," Rebekah added spitefully, making Kol grimace at the memory and the torture afterward.

"Ah, yes," Elijah nodded as he shot said vampire a side-eye, "Except for that piece of information that has only been recently brought to light. Thank you for reminding me, little sister."

"Yeah, thanks for that, suck up," Kol sneered without much heat.

"Why are you angry at me?" Rebekah scoffed, "You're the one that killed our little brother in a past life."

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind," Kol rolled his eyes and then gestured to Klaus, "Besides, Jeremy seems to be more pissed at Niklaus than at me, which says a lot about what our dearest big brother put him through."

Klaus took a threatening step forward, his eyes shining amber with suppressed anger, "Why don't you-"

"Enough!" Esther shouted, swiftly gaining control of the situation, which had completely derailed itself, "What matters now is Jeremy. As I said, the past will be buried and we shall all move on from this, as a family. We've all hurt Henrik in some way, whether it be in the past, or in this life, but there is room for healing and forgiveness." They had all hurt in, all in different ways, but Esther was here now and she would make everything right.

"Then what are we to do?" Finn finally spoke up, surprising many of the siblings. Finn had never really been close to them, Henrik having been included in that statement when he was alive, so it was shocking to see him actually express some concern for one of his younger siblings. "How can we live with him if he continues to be so volatile towards us?"

With that, the witch started to pace, brows drawn together in thought, when she suddenly froze, her body halting mid-step as she stared at nothing. Then, she spun into motion, snapping her head around with a suddenness that would have made any lesser being flinch, her eyes solely trained on Niklaus. She remembered the spell, the actions and magic so fresh in her mind, that it felt like she'd only done it yesterday rather than a thousand years ago. It was so simple, that Esther didn't know why she hadn't thought of it sooner.

She hadn't even thought of it when she found Lewis and followed him throughout his life, watching him cry with struggle and laugh with victory, growing from a small abused child to a kind and brave young man. It was probably one of her greatest regrets when she led Kol to Lewis, thinking that everything would fall into place, but the boy never had any recollection of his past life, resulting in the hostile meeting and the even more hostile end. It had been a mistake, one that Esther had not been keen to repeat, but Jeremy's life had been so out of her control and influence that she had no choice as everything unravelled, fell apart and came together all at once. It merely served to remind Esther that no matter how powerful a witch she was, Nature and Fate were not hers to control, she was the servant, not the ruler.

"No," Niklaus instantly caught onto her silent train of thought, his face threatening to crumple at the mere suggestion.

The witch pursed her lips, "Nik-"

"No!" the hybrid growled louder, fury making his eyes change and for his fangs to drop, "Don't even think about it! You will not curse him as you have me!"

Esther pulled herself to her full height, taking a more authoritative stance, "It is the only way to help him-"

"No," Klaus growled again, putting his foot down, "I will not allow it. Find another way! Any other way!"

"I will not bind him the same as I did you!" the witch spat, completely done with this back and forth. She was the matriarch of this family, she knew what was best, she'd led her family in the past and she would lead them now! "The Hunter Spirit is running rampant in his soul, taking advantage of his negative emotions and using those to further its agenda. With the spell, he will have more control, he will be able to think for himself instead of being overwhelmed and overrun by his own emotions."

"Can he not learn to control it naturally?" Elijah stepped in, a grim expression on his face, his entire body tense. It was obvious that he was remembering Niklaus' own binding, the realisation and guilt that came after would have been nearly all-consuming, and now it was happening all over again with the only change being that it would be happening to their youngest. "Surely, there is some kind of training that he could partake in to make the urge more manageable."

Esther hummed in thought, a considerable look on her face before she nodded her head, "That is plausible. Jeremy has a very strong character, full of determination and stubbornness, I believe that if he willed it, given time, he would conquer his new instincts."

"Then surely, we must attempt that before resorting to magic," Rebekah stepped in, a hopeful expression on her face like they'd just found the answer to their struggle. It almost made Esther feel guilty for what she was going to say next, but her daughter was no stranger to disappointments in life.

"Why would he try?" the witch asked, immediately halting any blooming hope that had started to gather in her children's hearts, "In a life where his friends and family have died, one after the other, due to vampire intervention; in a life where he's lived and ran in pure terror because of vampires; in a life where he bores many scars, physically and mentally, from situations and dangers caused by vampires. Jeremy would not fight those instincts, he would embrace them and use them to survive in a world that has harmed him so much, or even use them for revenge," the room had gone completely silent now and her children wouldn't even look at her, all of them facing away or staring blankly as they contemplated their own wrongdoings towards Jeremy, which had only added fuel to the raging fire within him. "Not even Elena would be able to curry favour with him anymore. The Five have been known, in the past, to kill off vampire sympathisers in order to get to their targets."

"He would truly kill her?" Elijah questioned, a frown of concern marring his features as he stared back at his unconscious little brother.

"He is not her brother, anymore," Finn spoke up, gaining the entire attention of the room once again, "She made that perfectly clear by forcing his hand in such a way... Left in the middle of the forest and chained to the tree like an abandoned dog. Any tentative relationship that they once shared has been severed. They are nothing to one another now."

"Thanks for that little review, big brother," Klaus snapped back cattily, sneering down at the stoic and unbothered vampire, "But that still doesn't mean that binding him in such a way is the ultimate solution. I've felt what it's like to have something locked and kept away from you, always on the cusp of touching, but never truly. For years, I felt half-crazed with the sensation that I was only half of myself and no matter how hard I pulled or fought, I would be forever missing something that was constantly within reach. I will not let the same fate fall upon, Henrik!"

"It won't be the same," Esther insisted, tone stern and leaving no room for arguments.

"Do we even have any other choice?" Finn spoke up once again, face still as neutral as it always was. Klaus couldn't help but roll his eyes - of course, he would side with Mother on this. "It's either the spell, or we contain him for the rest of his life."

"I don't see why we can't do exactly that," Niklaus sniffed, looking annoyed as his eyes flicked from Esther to Finn. "Exposure and time will surely allow him to get used to us and calm down."

"We're not a poison that he can build up an immunity to," Kol sighed, looking pained, "It's not ideal, but the spell might be the only thing that can help him."

With a pinched face, Niklaus turned to the last two people in the room, "And you, what is your stance on this?"

Rebekah merely turned her face away, turning away from her brother, a silent indication of what her decision was, while Elijah looked at the hybrid with grim determination, "It will not be the same as last time."

With the family voting firmly against Klaus, the hybrid turned away with a fierce growl before flipping the extremely expensive oakwood side table across the room and taking a chunk out of the pillar that he swiped his hand at, leaving dust and splinters in his wake. Fine! They were making a mistake! He knew it would be a mistake! He could feel it. He'd left that soul-crushing emptiness before and now Henrik would suffer the same fate. But with the family against him and no leg to stand on, Klaus had to let this go. He would have no choice but to trust in their mother once again...

Why did this feel like such a huge mistake?

Jeremy stared at himself in the mirror, twisting as much as he was able to see the mark, a swirl of resentment and gratefulness churning in his chest as he looked at it.

It had been a week since Jeremy had arrived at the Mikaelson manor, a week since he flipped out and threw himself at Klaus from over the dinner table, a week since he let the blood-thirst take over. In that week, the teen had been locked in his new room, an exact replica of his room at his home, which only served to piss him off more. He'd spent the first few days tearing up the room, even going as far as ripping the mattress to pieces as he did everything in his power to kick the door down or slam it open. However, it seemed to be reinforced with something to stop it from breaking completely because no matter how hard Jeremy went at it, or how my cracks and faults appeared in the wood, it still remained stubbornly whole and closed. Esther must have cast some kind of spell to keep it from breaking completely...

Jeremy had even tried to smash through the window but had only succeeded in getting himself winded as the spell through him across the room and into the opposite wall... Which confirmed the use of a spell to keep him in the room...

There had even been a small slat at the bottom, in which his food and drink were pushed through. They all seemed to make sure that their hands weren't anywhere near the vicinity of the open slat, especially after that one time he tried to yank one of their hands through the hole and sever it with a large jagged glass shard. He'd cut up his own hands as a result, but it had been worth it to get those few slashes in. It also spoke volumes when the food slat had been there before everything had gone down on the first night.

On many occasions, each of them had attempted to speak to him, either mocking him for his animalistic behaviour, or assurances of Esther finding a 'cure' soon, or merely droning on about their own day and their little pitiful struggles. More often than not, Jeremy would just yell profanities at them, raging at them for trapping him, for ruining his life, for everything and anything bad that had ever happened to him. However, there were times that pure exhaustion and hopelessness would flood him and he could do nothing but allow his body to relax wherever it had sprawled out and listened in stony silence.

Murderous anger and bloodlust were a constant thing that churned in his chest, contaminating his lungs and invading every one of his cells until Jeremy felt like he was going crazy and the only thing he could think about was the vampires just outside his door and the vampires on the loose in a town full of innocents. He wanted to kill them. He wanted to see the stolen life drain from their eyes as their skin set into an ugly grey hue, never to step another cursed foot on this earth ever again. It consumed his every waking thought as well as his unconscious ones, his dreams full of blood and violence. He was slowly going crazy, but Jeremy could barely find it in himself to truly care.

They came in the night, when they were certain he was asleep, laying upon the ruined carpet with splinters of wood poking into his skin. By the time he started to realise what was going on, Esther had cast another one of her spells and his world went dark once more. The next time he woke up, Jeremy's head felt clearer than it had in days, able to think of anything other than killing and disgusting vampires for more than a few minutes. He felt more... sane and stable, the anger that had been alight in his blood like a raging forest fire was finally back down to the size of a pilot light. That wasn't to say that he wasn't still angry at the originals and snubbed them any chance he could get, but he no longer threw himself at them in a murderous rage - although there was always time for Klaus to open his huge mouth and change that...

Another bad thing was the runes that accompanied it, Mikael had taught him enough Old Norse to read all three of his names, which had been tattooed down his spine, nearly cutting his back in half. The tattoo, without context, looked cool and might have even been something that Jeremy would have considered getting when he was older, albeit maybe with different words. But the thing was, he wasn't older and he hadn't planned or consented to it, which made Jeremy frown with mournful resentment instead of awe-filled eyes. He'd simply been ambushed in the room he'd been trapped in for a week and woke up with a sore back...

Honestly, Jeremy didn't know how to feel. Should he feel violated? Grateful? Angry? Relieved? Would it make sense to feel all of them at once, despite them being so contradictory? Esther had said it had been necessary, that she needed to bring him back to himself rather than letting the Hunter Spirit influence him more than it was supposed to. The tattoo itself was so long due to the complexity of the spell; Esther hadn't completely suppressed the Spirit, which would have killed him, but she'd done it to the point where Jeremy could control it and, over time, the tether that she'd placed could be released a bit at a time, so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed like he was.

Honestly, Jeremy couldn't help but think of Rain and what she'd told him about her first years as a Hunter. She'd been completely obsessed with killing and finding the next target, to the point where she'd more or less erased herself from her family and friends' lives. Maybe she too had been overwhelmed by the Hunter Spirit and it had taken those years to calm down and regain control over it? She'd been utterly alone, full of hatred and bloodlust, but then she'd come back to herself and had been able to live a relatively ordinary life... Until she met Jeremy and her life came to a careless end.

But the teen had to wonder: why had he, Jeremy, been so overwhelmed by the Hunter's Spirit - or the 'Hunter's Drive' as it was mentioned many times in Rainbow's tome - but Lewis hadn't? They were the same person, the same soul, but they had reacted completely differently when they came into the Brotherhood. Lewis had never experienced the Hunter's Drive, he'd calmly and systematically moved from one town to the other, travelling from word of mouth alone, in order to hunt down the vampires that preyed on the weak and innocent. There had been no sense of urgency when Lewis took up the mark and carried on what his Master had left behind, no bloodlust, no mind-consuming urge of huntkillstabdie like Jeremy had faced. It was strange and while Jeremy had many formulating theories, he had very little ways to test or prove them so he forced himself to be content with merely thinking it over.

Once again, Jeremy's eyes strayed to the lettering down his spine: ᛃᛖᚱᛖᛗᛁ ᛚᛖᚹᛁᛊ ᚺᛖᚾᚱᛁᚲ - Jeremy Lewis Henrik. He resented the fact that it was just another bullet point in the list of things that people have done to him without his say-so or knowledge. The list was growing worryingly long... But Jeremy also knew that, if Rain was still here, she would be relieved that Jeremy wouldn't fall to the bloodlust of the hunt like she did. During their time together, she told him of her recovery and how empty and sorrowful she'd felt, like her life was suddenly over, her connections gone and her Drive at a controlled level. She'd become depressed and beside herself with regret, especially when she came to learn that her once-friends had moved on, gotten married and had kids without her - they didn't even want to reconnect with her. It was the worst feeling in the world and she'd died with those regrets buried in her heart and she'd expressed again and again that she never wanted Jeremy to go through that. Ever.

So, that left him at an impasse, should he feel angry and violated that something had been placed on his body without his consent (they never would have gotten his consent, not when he couldn't think of anything worse than being touched by one of those accused creatures), or should he be thankful for the fact that he wouldn't be repeating Rain's history, like she'd always feared? His chest was getting hot again, his emotions beginning to churn and bubble like the beginnings of a volcanic eruption, ready to burst the lash out any anything and everyone when it gets to the right blood-boiling pressure. Instantly, Jeremy started his breathing exercises, ripping his eyes away from his reflection, away from the tattooed spell along his back, in an attempt to calm himself down.

Esther had said this would happen. While Jeremy generally liked to consider himself a relatively calm person, his Hunter side now made his emotions a little bit more unstable, making them harder to predict and control. The witch had warned him that he would still need to regulate his emotions, despite her spell, and that he would mainly be triggered a lot easier by things that would only have upset him a little in the past. The teen didn't see it as a major disadvantage, he'd gone through his fair share of panic attacks and bouts of rage and he knew how to calm himself down, it would only happen more frequently, now.

Pulling a shirt over his head, Jeremy started towards his door, only to stop and hover at his door, nervousness and hesitance making him pause. He hadn't been out of this room since he let the bloodlust take over and he felt, once again, like he was heading into the lion's den. Jeremy nearly took his hand away from the door handle when his stomach loudly reminded him of why, exactly, he was thinking of venturing out in the first place. The room catering had stopped as soon as Esther deemed it safe, so there was no chance of avoiding the others.

With a deep steadying breath, Jeremy turned the handle and stepped out into the hall with his head held high.

"Jeremy?" came a sudden voice, making the teen jump about a foot in the air.

The Hunter spun around with his fists clenched at his chest to stop his heart from breaking through his ribcage, only to deflate and give a sigh of relief when he was met with the familiar form of Rebekah, who looked faintly amused.

"You're jumpy," she smirked, but Jeremy merely levelled her with a glare, making the amusem*nt instantly fall from her face, "Look, I know this isn't ideal-"

"Oh, you have no f*cking idea-"

"But," Rebekah spoke over the teen, looking more stern and mature than her youthful face showed, "You don't have any other choice in the matter, so might as well get used to the nice house, good food and all the expensive art utensils you lay your eyes on."

Jeremy released a bitter laugh, as he turned to face the vampire, "That's your advice? 'Just get over it'?"

The blonde looked momentarily startled as she instantly shook her head, "That's not what I said-"

"But it was implied," Jeremy scoffed and then turned to find the kitchen once more, done with the conversation.

"You can't go anywhere," Rebekah pursed, making the teen stop in his tracks, "If we don't bring you back, the law will. Your sister doesn't want you but we do, so why are you resisting this so much! We can take care of you more than Elena ever could!"

"She isn't my sister and this isn't about Elena!" Jeremy hissed, anger threatening to spill at the mere mention of that woman's name, "This is about manipulating my situation so that you can get your own way! I may not be jumping over the table to stab anyone any time soon, but that sure as hell doesn't mean that I'm happy about this," he huffed and then turned once again, leaving the blonde vampire alone in the hallway.

Just as Jeremy reached the door, he turned and regarded Rebekah with a cool look, "Just because you're forever seventeen doesn't mean I am too. I age out in two years and as soon as I hit eighteen, I'm leaving this godforsaken town. For good," he nearly growled before he pushed the door open and make his way from the vampire and through the ridiculously large house.

Two weeks dragged by, feeling like a month to Jeremy, who'd been forced into house arrest. It was a time of awkwardness, tenseness and, strangely, acceptance. The awkwardness and the tenseness had been more than anticipated, he never made it quiet about how much he didn't want to be there, with them all, and his unwillingness to carry a conversation made for a tense atmosphere at the dinner table. In all, Jeremy had spent the majority of the first week ignoring them and simply waking away from them mid-word, but by the second week, the teen felt like he was going to tear his hair out from boredom. Later on, Jeremy found out that the reason for his restlessness had been because the hunter side of him was restless, his new instincts going haywire in a house full of prey.

By the second week, Jeremy had found himself, accidentally, responding to their questions and quietly basking in their presence, to the point where he unconsciously sought them out and felt disappointed when the sibling he was looking for wasn't in their usual spot. As much as Jeremy tried to brush it away and remain strong, he had to concede that his brain was still very much human, despite the new instincts, and he craved attention. Usually, Jeremy was able to ignore it, but that was because he had no choice - Elena was never home and the others didn't bother with him until they needed something from him - but now that he was suddenly faced with a house full of people that wanted to be with him, he found it harder and harder to resist with each passing day. This resulted in the small sliver of acceptance he felt towards them.

Klaus had been a different mountain to climb together and Jeremy still found himself ignoring and avoiding him, but, at the same time, Jeremy couldn't find it in himself to be outright hostile towards the hybrid, especially when he heard about Klaus' stance against the suppression spell in the first place. It was tentative and Jeremy didn't know how to approach the immortal, or even if he wanted to, at all. The only thing that made the teen feel better was the fact that it was clear as day that Klaus felt just as lost as Jeremy did. Their relationship was in limbo and the hunter had no clue which path the pair would trail down. Still, Jeremy made sure to constantly remind himself of The Summer; he would be sure to not easily forget, nor forgive...

Standing outside of the school felt daunting and foreign. He'd spent so much time away from it and dealing with so many things that were far more important than his education that it felt like he was going to a new school entirely. The only thing that stopped him from feeling like he was completely out of sorts was the homework that Rebekah constantly brought back to him. Just that morning, he had to double back to his room because he'd nearly gone to school in his usual short sleeves - Jeremy preferred not to showcase the new and old scars on his arms, or else he'd just add more fuel to the rumour mill - and then he had to double-back once again when he realised that he'd forgotten his bag, as well.

Not to mention the fact that he'd have to face the teachers that had caused his accommodation issues in the first place, including Alaric, who'd even submitted video evidence against Elena. They'd all been trying to help him, but all they did was force him to trade one living issue for another. Although, now that he thought about it, Jeremy wasn't sure if he was grateful, or not, because if the report and his rehousing never happened, then he would still be under Elena's thumb and he would have had to deal with constantly seeing the group and them acting self-righteous despite what they'd done to him.

Anger simmered up a little higher, making the teen grip the strap of his bag with white knuckles, the thought of Elena, Stefan and Damon flaunting their despicable actions in front of him, thinking that they were in the right, made his emotions well up once again. In truth, Jeremy hadn't really thought of Elena, or the others, very much over the past few weeks, more preoccupied with other, more pressing, things, but now he felt like he was about to be slapped in the face by their mere presence and he felt completely unprepared to receive it...

Taking a deep breath, Jeremy started to walk the familiar corridors to his locker, his eyes firmly trained on the walls of the school, refusing to make any kind of eye contact, despite the fact that he could feel their stares digging into his skin like hot pokers. God, it was like his parents had died all over again, he just couldn't get away from the lingering stares or the poorly concealed whispers.

Paranoia and agitation flooded Jeremy's system, making his muscles bunch with tenseness as he mentally considered just turning on his heel and skipping school altogether. Maybe he could bribe one of the siblings to homeschool him, or compel the teachers to allow him to graduate early? There was absolutely no chance of that... Not unless he was willing to give them something that he wouldn't probably regret giving.

Jeremy slammed the door of his locker closed, sliding the chosen textbooks carelessly into his bag, before slinging it over his shoulder and heading down the familiar halls to his first class of the day, dread churning in his stomach as the whispers around him seemed to become louder, as if encouraged by his lack of reaction. Ignore it, ignore it, ignore it, just like you've always done, just ignore everything-

"Jeremy!" a familiar voice called and the teen nearly found himself choking on air at the unexpected shout.

Swivelling his head, Jeremy simply stared in slight surprise as Matt waved and walked over, a polite smile on his face as he weaved through the crowded hallways. "Oh, hey," Jeremy returned lamely. Did they all hate him? Why was Matt talking to him?

By the time Jeremy turned to properly face him, Matt had made it the rest of the way towards him, suddenly looking hesitant, like he wasn't quite sure what to say. The jock clenched his fingers as he looked down at Jeremy with slight concern, his eyes flicking to the small scar on the hunter's cheek, the one that Elena had given him (it was barely noticeable unless you were looking for it) "I just wanted... I hope... Are you doing okay?" he finally settled on.

Jeremy blinked. He was expecting the teen to be way more confrontational, in all honesty. "I'm as fine as I can be. They're treating me fine if that's what you mean," the teen shrugged. As much as Jeremy had issues with just about all of them, they didn't go out of their way to make his life miserable - if anything, they were doing everything they could to make him comfortable, which was strange, in and of itself.

"Okay, good," the jock sighed, relief making his shoulders sag, "That's good. As long as you're safe, that's all," he went to place a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, but seemed to think better of it as he froze and awkwardly reached to rub the back of his neck. "Look, Jere," he started, looking away, looking far too guilty that he really should, "I'm really sor-"

"No," the hunter cut him off, eyes now boring into the other's, "You have nothing to apologise for. At all. Everything that happened was down to those involved, not down to you, who probably didn't even get a say," Jeremy shook his head. Sure, he'd felt a little bitter about the others merely standing aside and doing nothing as Elena chewed him out and slapped him, but what could they have done? Even if they spoke up, they'd merely get ignored and walked over.

"But I-"

"I don't want an apology from you," Jeremy started, voice harsher than he'd meant for it to be, making the blonde wince with guilt and sympathy, stepping back slightly. Instantly, Jeremy cleared up his automatic glare and sighed, "Matt, you've done nothing wrong. I bet you didn't even find out what happened until after it was all done..." the blonde winced again and Jeremy knew he'd hit the nail on the head.

"I just..." Matt attempted but seemed to be at a loss for words, once again.

"I know," Jeremy offered a weak smile, that didn't reach his eyes, "But I'm fine. Trust me." The blonde bobbed his head and went to say something else when the shrill sound of the bell went off overhead, rudely putting an end to their conversation. With a hurried wave goodbye, Jeremy went to his classes, feeling far lighter than he had been before. There were still the whispers and the stares, but Jeremy didn't find them as burdensome as he had before.

Classes seemed to fly by before his very eyes, going suspiciously faster than they ever had before, and before he knew it, the end bell was ringing and Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. He'd spent his lunch hiding in the art room with Mrs Addison, avoiding everyone and everything. The teacher didn't say anything about his presence, merely smiling at him and recommending a brand of pencils that had been on the rise. Jeremy was more than relieved that he'd managed a day without bumping into Elena, or the others - Matt being the sole exception.

Swiftly, Jeremy gathered up all his stuff and was among the first to run out of the classroom. He didn't want to linger around and up the chances of Rebekah and Kol finding him and driving him back to the house - he didn't think he'd be able to handle another ride after the roller coaster he'd been forced to endure that morning. Speed walking down the halls, practically throwing his books back into the locker, Jeremy made it into the sunlight in record time and didn't waste a moment as he started on his familiar path away from the school.

"Jeremy!" a voice called and the teen felt his entire form go rigid and his blood turn to ice as he instantly registered the voice. For a split second, Jeremy remained frozen in terror and indecision and then he was walking again, eyes trained forward as he pulled his face into a pinched expression. He didn't want to talk to her. Especially not after what she'd done to him. She didn't have the right to talk to him.

"Jeremy!" the voice called again, much closer than before. Jeremy determinedly stared forward. He didn't want to know. Whatever the hell she had to say to him, he didn't want to know. He didn't even want to look at her. "Jeremy!" the call came once again, more angry and annoyed, followed by a hand on his arm.

Instantly, Jeremy jolted away, a sneer on his lips as he looked down at the girl, "Don't touch me," he growled lowly, his voice low in warning.

Elena instantly snatched her hand away, a startled expression crossing her face for a second before it was replaced with an irritated frown, "Then stop when I'm trying to talk to you!"

"I have nothing to say to you!" Jeremy scoffed, easily dismissing her to continue walking to the Mikaelsons.

"Jeremy, I am your sister-"

"No, you're not, Elena!" Jeremy snapped, a little louder than he'd intended to, but he brushed that off to glower at her.

"Do you really want to do this here, of all places?" Elena challenged, a matching glower appearing on her own face.

"I'm not the one that chased you down, Elena," Jeremy glanced back, only seeing Bonnie and Caroline standing awkwardly by the tree, "Where's the rest of the gang then? Or did you send your dogs ahead of me in case you weren't able to catch me?"

"My dogs?" Elena questioned, looking completely lost, before realisation flashed across her face, soon followed by sadness as she looked down, "Oh... You don't know then?"

"Know what, Elena?" the hunter asked despite knowing that he was probably playing into her hand. Worse comes to worst, Jeremy could always simply turn around and walk away.

"Stefan hasn't been out of his house in weeks. Not since..." Elena looked down, sorrow clear as day on her face, "The night Damon died..."

Time felt like it was hovering in place as the hunter stared down at the doppelgänger with shock-wide eyes, "What?" he finally managed to utter, unsticking his tongue from the roof of his mouth. "I thought he..." survived...

"Stefan saw him," Elena looked devastated like she'd lost a dear close friend of hers, "Everyone searched for him all night, but we couldn't find him anywhere. Stefan said he found him in the forest, next to their own graves... The sun rose... We were too late to save him," Elena let loose a sob, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh..." Jeremy breathed, staring down at the woman for a second longer before he turned and started to walk away again.

"Oh?" Elena echoed, looking stunned and then enraged, "Is that all you have to say?! 'Oh'?!"

"Yes?" Jeremy looked back, completely confused. What had she expected?

"Damon's dead, Jeremy!" Elena hissed, "And all you can say is 'oh'? What's wrong with you?! Are you that wrong in the head?!"

"Why would I be sad that the murderer that killed my friend and trainer is now dead? That the one that murdered Vicki is now dead? That the one that got Aunt Jenna killed is now dead?“ Jeremy tilted his head, he could honestly go on and on if he cared enough. He hadn't exactly made his hatred of Damon a secret, after all. Why was this so shocking for her? Did she think that it was a love-hate relationship or something? Maybe she thought that he'd feel guilty? "I'm going to my house now," Jeremy turned and casually waved back at her, leaving her too shocked to react.

Unsure what to do, Elena stiffly turned to walk back to her friends, completely shell-shocked by her little brother's reaction to such terrible news.

"Oh, and Elena!" the hunter called back, making Elena perk back up, only to falter when she was met with a vicious grin, "Thanks for the good news."