18. The Murder Of One

"So it's true?" Caroline asked, walking in the woods with Aria, "Ric killed my father?".

"Yeah" Aria whispered, "I know it's overwhelming and I totally get it if you're angry, but I did give him some herbs to help, I'm hoping they will heal him and keep his killer side from rising".

Caroline sighed, "I don't know what to feel honestly, like a part of me does blame Ric for killing my father, but the other part knows he wasn't Ric when he did it, I'm so conflicted right now".

"Care, it's okay to feel angry, it's okay to feel sad" Aria said, "You lost your father, no one excepts you to be just fine, both your father and Ric became victims of something supernatural, something none of them asked for, but it just happened, and I'm sorry it happened, but you understand that I can't turn my back on him right? I understand if you want nothing to do with him, I will respect your decision and so will Ric, no hard feelings at all, but I can't leave him alone in this situation".

"I know you can't Aria" Caroline said, giving Aria a small smile, "Because your Aria Connor-Forbes, you don't have it in you to turn your back on someone who needs you, but I need a little bit time, it's hard knowing he killed my father, I know it wasn't him, but it still hurt".

"Take all the time you want Care" Aria assured, "Just promise me, this won't affect us".

"Don't be silly Aria" Caroline replied, "Aria and Caroline are forever, never forget that".

"Never" Aria whispered, hugging Caroline.

"You know, you should take your own advice" Caroline said, breaking the hug.

"What advice?" Aria asked confused.

"You told me it's okay to feel angry, it's okay to feel sad" Caroline pointed, "You're allowed to be angry at Damon, you're allowed to be sad for your relationship, what you're not allowed to do is suppress your emotions".

Aria sighed, "I'm not suppressing anything Care, I just don't have time to be upset, I need to make sure Alaric doesn't go killer mode again, I still need to break the link between the Originals, and I need to make sure Elena and gang aren't planning anything stupid, I've got too much on my plate then to sit there and cry".

"It looks like to me you're not suppressing your emotions, you just refuse to acknowledge them" Caroline said.

"Think what you want Care, I don't care" Aria said, "Now walk faster, Nik is waiting for us".

Caroline shook her head at her best friend's stubbornness, but nonetheless followed her towards the Mikaelson mansion.

***

"Finn, Elijah!" Aria yelled, running into the Mikaelson and hugging the two older Mikaelson's.

"It's good to see you again, Ariana" Elijah said, smiling at the young witch.

"I've missed you both" Aria said.

"We missed you to" Finn said.

"What's he doing here?" Caroline snapped.

Aria turned around to see who Caroline was talking about, and she froze seeing Damon standing there, in her excitement to see Finn and Elijah, she didn't see Damon standing there.

"His helping us" Klaus said, confused with both Aria and Caroline's reactions.

Caroline went to snap at Damon, but Aria held her hand and lightly shook her head, telling her not to create a scene, the Mikaelson's still didn't know about Damon and Aria's break up, and Aria wanted to keep it like that for now, they had more important things to deal with then Aria and Damon breaking up.

***

"Ariana, where are you taking me?" Finn asked, as Aria dragged him along.

"There's someone I need you to meet" Aria replied, "Someone whose been waiting way too long to be reunited with you".

Finn looked at Aria in confusion, "Who?".

Before Aria could reply, Sage walked into the room, shocking Finn, who couldn't believe his eyes.

"Hello, Finn" Sage greeted.

"Sage" A shocked Finn said.

Finn and Sage ran into each other's arms and relished each other's presence to the fullest, both not believing that their nine hundred years wait was finally over.

"Well, what do you know?" Rebekah asked, walking into the room with Damon, "True love prevails".

Damon and Aria glanced at each other hearing Rebekah's words.

"It doesn't all the time though" Aria whispered, "Sometimes true love can fail".

Rebekah looked between Aria and Damon and frowned seeing their yearning glances to each other, it was like both of them wanted to run to each other but something was stopping them, Rebekah has never seen them like this before, when Caroline first told her about them breaking up because Damon let his insecurities and his brother's words get to him, Rebekah didn't believe her, she refused to believe Damon and Aria would break up, specially after knowing that they could hardly survive a day without each other, but seeing them like this confirmed Caroline's words.

Rebekah coughed, breaking Aria and Damon's eye contact, "Aria I have something to do, what do you need from me for this spell?".

"Just your blood" Aria replied.

"And where exactly are you going?" Damon asked curiously.

"To kidnap your brother so I can bring him here and torture him" Rebekah replied nonchalantly.

"What, why?" Aria asked confused.

Rebekah looked between Aria and Damon, "He tried to seduce me, and he hurt two people close to me".

Aria looked at Rebekah in confusion, not knowing who Stefan hurt, while Damon looked at her in shock, he realised she knew he had let his brother get to him.

***

Stefan hid his white oak stake in between the firewood, when suddenly he heard noise coming from downstairs.

"What the hell" Stefan whispered, going to check on who it was, as far as he knew Damon hadn't been home all night, so it couldn't be him, and Elena was at the Grill so it couldn't be her either.

Stefan walked down the stairs, when he heard more cluttering, he looked up to see no one, he turned around to check what was going on, when Rebekah walked over to him and stabbed him in the stomach.

"Hello, relationship destroyer" Rebekah greeted, giving Stefan an evil smirk.

***

"Stefan, where are you?" Elena said into the phone, leaving Stefan a voicemail, "Me, Bonnie and Matt are in the town square, hurry up and come here", Elena walked over to Bonnie and Matt, "Is it weird that Stefan's not returning my calls?".

"Is it weird that Klaus' brother's in the middle of Town Square?" Matt asked.

The trio turned around to see Finn and Sage walking through Town Square.

"That's Finn, I thought he left town" Elena said, confused seeing Finn back in Mystic Falls.

***

Stefan groaned in pain when Rebekah clamped the bear traps on to his wrists.

"I found them in the shed" Rebekah informed, "What kind of monster would trap a poor defenseless animal?".

"I see you're still angry at me for seducing you" Stefan taunted.

Rebekah chuckled, she walked over to the nearby counter and grabbed the knife placed there, "Oh please, you don't have it in you to seduce me, I'm an Original, or did you forget that?".

"Even if I failed to seduce you, I still got into your memories, didn't I?" Stefan asked, "Some Original you are".

Rebekah smirked, "You think you got into my memoires, without me knowing? I let you see my memories, because I wanted you to come and see me destroy the one thing you could have used against me and my family, like I said, I'm an Original, getting into my head, without my permission is impossible".

 "If that was your plan, then why am I hanging here?" Stefan asked.

"Because you refuse to back down from Aria!" Rebekah yelled, "Because of your words my best friend is suffering, every time you hurt Aria, I didn't do anything because Aria told me that this is the last time, but it never is, so I've had enough, I decided to take things in my own hands, firstly, I'm going to bleed the vervain from your system", Rebekah ripped Stefan's shirt, and cut him across his chest, making him groan in pain.

"You gonna compel me to forget Aria?" Stefan asked, glaring at Rebekah.

"Actually, I'd rather compel you to kill Elena" Rebekah replied, making Stefan's face fall, "But since vampires heal, bleeding you may take a while, we should probably stick to the major arteries", Rebekah cut Stefan on the side of his neck.

"Well, look what you caught" Klaus said, walking into the room with Damon.

"Damon" Stefan breathed, hoping his brother would help him, but instead he smirked seeing Stefan's condition.

"You're trying to bleed him out of vervain?" Damon asked, Rebekah nodded, "Then hang him upside down, it would be much easier".

"Hmm" Rebekah said, looking back at Stefan with a thoughtful expression, "No, that's too much effort, I'd rather cut his arteries".

"Excuse us, it's not like we have an expertise in this matter" Klaus said.

"Him more then me, obviously" Damon said.

"You know, why don't you two just leave me be and go help Aria with the spell?" Rebekah asked, she turned to Aria, "Or are you still ignoring her?".

"I'm not ignoring her" Damon snapped.

"Wait, you're ignoring Ari?" Klaus asked confused, "Why?".

Rebekah glared at Stefan, "Because they broke up".

"What?!" Klaus asked, looking at Damon in shock, "Why didn't anyone tell me this?".

"Didn't think it mattered" Damon replied, Klaus went to open his mouth, but Damon walked out the room.

"What the hell happened to them?" Klaus asked his sister.

"I don't know much, all I know is that Damon let his insecurities regarding Kol and his brother's words get to him" Rebekah said, stabbing Stefan with the knife, making him yell in pain.

***

Aria slapped Kol's hand away for what seemed like the hundredth time, "Kol, are you five?" Aria asked, "Stop touching everything and let me study the unlinking spell".

"Let me help" Kol said, "I'm bored".

"You want to help?" Aria asked, Kol nodded, "Then sit there quietly and let me read this in peace".

"But annoying you is so much more fun" Kol complained.

"Do you want to get unlinked from you siblings or not?" Aria asked.

"Well yeah" Kol replied, "Who in their bloody mind would willingly be linked to those lot".

"Right here" Elijah reminded, as he and Caroline looked at Kol and Aria in amusement.

"Oh, you're still here?" Kol asked sarcastically, "I didn't notice".

Aria slapped the back of Kol's head, "Shut up and sit next to Elijah".

"But--".

"Now" Aria said, sternly.

"Fine" A sulking Kol said, going and sitting next to Elijah.

Caroline chuckled, "Only you can boss Originals around like this Aria".

Aria went to reply, when Klaus bragged into the room, with Damon right behind him.

"You and Damon broke up?" Klaus asked Aria.

Aria looked at Klaus in shock, not knowing how he found out, Aria looked towards Damon, wondering if he told.

Damon shook his head, "Rebekah" he simply said.

Caroline faceplamed, she didn't think Rebekah would spill everything to Klaus.

"Are any of you going to talk?" Klaus asked, "When were you going to tell us?".

Aria sighed, "I was going to tell you guys after I unlinked you all".

"Why would you two break up?" Kol asked, shocked with this new information, "You two love each other".

Aria didn't want Kol to find out they broke up because of him, she didn't want him to feel guilty.

"Sometimes love isn't enough" Aria said, before Damon could speak, "Right now, both me and Damon are going through a lot, a relationship is the last thing we both need".

"But you both always give each other strength" Elijah said, confused.

"We do, or we did" Aria said, "Things have been a bit messy so we took a mutual decision in taking a break".

"So, this isn't permanent, right?" Klaus asked, looking between Damon and Aria.

Damon and Aria looked at each other, both of them had no idea if this was permanent or not.

"No" Damon replied, still looking towards Aria, "This isn't permanent".

"I need to grab another grimoire, I'll be back" Aria said, walking out the room, suddenly feeling very claustrophobic.

"I need to check on Stefan" Damon lied, following Aria out.

"I need a snack" Kol said, following Damon and Aria out.

Though his siblings believed Damon and Aria, Kol knew they were lying, there was something else going on, something none of them wanted everyone else to know.

***

"Aria, wait" Damon said, grabbing Aria's arm and stopping her from walking away from him.

"What do you want now Damon?" Aria asked, avoiding eye contact with blue eyed vampire.

"Why did you lie in there?" Damon asked, "Why didn't you tell them the truth, why didn't you tell them that I broke up with you because I let Stefan's words about Kol get to me?".

Aria sighed, "I didn't want Kol to feel bad, I didn't want to drag others into our problems Damon, and I didn't lie to them fully".

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"Damon, I wasn't lying when I said we have a lot we both are going through individually" Aria replied, "When you first broke up with me, I was devastated, I didn't know what went wrong, but slowly I realised it was for the best that we broke up".

"Aria--".

"No, just listen to me" Aria interrupted, "Right now, you have a lot you need to work through, deep down you have so many insecurities, so many fears which you need to work on before getting back into a relationship, and right now mentally, I am so screwed up, I am not in the stable mindset to be in a relationship, this break up, is going to help both of us put a restart on everything, once we solve our personal problems, if our love is true, then we will find our way back to each other".

Damon nodded, "I'm sorry".

"I'm sorry to" Aria whispered, placing a small kiss on Damon's cheek and then walking away from him.

Damon kept his eyes on Aria till she disappeared from his eyesight, what Aria didn't know was, Caroline's lecture on Damon had worked, as soon as Caroline left, Damon realised how big of an idiot he was, he wanted to run right back to Aria and apologise to her over and over again, but he didn't have the guts to face her, and today when he did face her, he didn't have the guts to say anything to her, he knew he screwed up, he messed the one relationship that meant the world to him, but now Damon was going to do everything in his power to fix his and Aria's broken relationship.

Unknown to both Damon and Aria, Kol had heard their conversation and guilt raised in his heart knowing he was the reason why Damon and Aria broke up, he knew now he had to do something, he had to fix this.

***

"You've had tequila before?" Sage asked Finn, slightly shocked.

"Yeah, the first thing Niklaus decided to get me try when I woke up from my nine hundred year old nap, was try the various alcohols" Finn replied.

Sage chuckled, "Sounds about right, come on, let's have some more", Sage placed some salt on Finn's wrist, and both of them took a shot of tequila.

"Still hate it" Finn complained.

"Have some lime" Sage said, looking at Finn in amusement.

"I am truly awed by the evolution of mankind" Finn said.

Sage laughed, Matt walked over to the two to grab their glasses, when Sage grabbed his wrist.

"Two more tequilas" Sage ordered.

"Cool, I'll, uh, let your waitress know" A slightly scared Matt said.

"Thanks" Sage said, as Matt walked away from the couple.

***

Aria stood infront of her grimoire and started chanting, while the rest of the siblings watched on.

Aria put all the siblings and her blood into one glass and then poured it over the table.

"Finally" Sage said, as their waitress bought them their shots, "Thanks", Sage lifted her shot glass up, "To living life to the fullest".

"To living life" Finn cheered.

Finn and Sage drank the tequila, only to then spit it back out.

"What the hell?" Sage said.

"Vervain" Finn spat.

Finn looked towards the back entrance of the Grill to see Bonnie standing there with a smirk on her face.

As Aria kept chanting, the blood on the table slowly but surely started separating from each other.

Bonnie hid behind the wall, waiting for Finn and Sage to come out.

Seeing them come out, Bonnie went to attack Finn when Sage grabbed her and threw her to the floor, causing the white oak in her hand to fall down the stairs.

"Finn, the stake" Sage called out, grabbing on to Bonnie.

The fire around the candles and in the fireplace got higher as Aria kept chanting, and the blood was officially separated.

Finn ran to grab the stake, while Bonnie gave Sage an aneurism.

As Finn was grabbing the stake, Elena came out of the Grill and staked Finn with a crossbow.

Finn got the wooden stake out of him, but before he could steady himself, Matt came and staked him with the white oak.

"No!" Sage yelled, as Bonnie, Matt and Elena ran away, "Finn, no".

Aria stood in the room after completing the spell, when suddenly she let out a huge scream.

"Finn!" Aria yelled, shattering all the glass around her.

"Aria!" Kol and Damon yelled, running over to the young witch, and grabbing her before she fell to the ground unconscious.

***

Elena, Bonnie and Matt sat in the Boarding House, waiting for Stefan to arrive, not realising that Stefan was in Rebekah's captivity.

Suddenly the door slammed opened, "Ding dong" Sage said, bragging into the house.

Bonnie tried to use her magic, but Sage grabbed her and threw her on to the floor.

Elena tried to run out of the house, when another vampire blocked her path, "I don't think so".

"We had to kill him, Sage" Bonnie said.

Sage ignored Bonnie and kicked her in the stomach, causing her to fall on to the table and shatter it.

"Stop!" Elena yelled, as the other vampire held on to Matt and Elena.

"Don't worry, your turn will come as well" Sage said, glaring at Elena.

Sage went to rip Bonnie's heart, but suddenly she started coughing, and blood stated pouring from her nose, she fell to the floor in pain.

"Troy, help me" Sage said.

Troy let go of Elena and Matt and went to help Sage when he also started coughing , both Troy and Sage started coughing out blood.

"What is happening to me?" A scared Sage asked, as her and Troy started desiccating.

"She just died" Elena said, shocked as to what had just happened.

"So Sage and Troy both die, within an hour of Finn" Matt said.

"But why?" Elena asked, "Were they bitten by a hybrid or--?".

"I don't think hybrid bites look like that" Matt pointed out, "Maybe she died out of sadness?".

"No, that doesn't explain Troy" Elena said.

"It's the blood, the bloodline, it has to be, think about it" Bonnie said, "Finn turned Sage, Sage turned Troy, they are all part of Finn's vampire bloodline".

"Are you saying that when an Original dies, every vampire that was turned by their bloodline also dies?" Matt asked shocked.

"If all the Originals die, so do all other vampires" Elena realised, "The entire vampire species would just be dead".

***

Elena entered the Mikaelson's mansion, with a duffel bag in hand, she had waited for Stefan to come back to the Boarding House for hours but he never came, so Elena asked Bonnie to do a locater spell on him, and they realised Stefan was at Klaus's mansion, realising Stefan wouldn't go there willingly, they figured out that Klaus had captured Stefan, which is why Elena was there to negotiate, knowing Klaus couldn't kill her because of his hybrids.

Elena entered the room Stefan was in, and was shocked seeing the state of him, he was hanging from the ceiling with blood dripping from his chest.

"You shouldn't be here" Stefan whispered.

"Klaus!" Elena yelled, ignoring Stefan, "I'm here".

"Right now is not a good time" Klaus said, entering the room with Rebekah and Elijah, while Kol, Damon and Caroline stayed with an unconscious Aria.

"How can we help you?" Elijah asked.

Elena put the duffel bag on the floor, "Make a deal with me".

"Elena, don't" Stefan said.

"In that bag, are eight stakes made out of white oak" Elena revealed, shocking the siblings, "The part of Wickery Bridge, your sister forgot to burn".

Klaus looked towards Rebekah in anger, "That's impossible" Rebekah snapped.

"We killed Finn" Elena informed.

Elijah, Klaus and Rebekah looked at Elena in shock, now they knew why Aria had yelled out Finn's name, she had sensed his death.

"You killed my brother?" Rebekah asked, glaring at Elena.

"Take these, and give me Stefan" Elena said, ignoring Rebekah.

"And how do I know there aren't any more left?" Klaus asked.

"Because there isn't" Elena replied.

"Let's be certain, shall we?" Klaus said, walking over to Stefan, "Leave".

"No" Stefan spat.

"Go on, leave" Klaus said.

"Nik, he's my plaything, not yours" Rebekah complained.

Klaus grabbed Stefan by the neck and started compelling him, "I said, go home".

Hearing Klaus, Stefan tries to get out of the bear traps, while yelling in pain, causing Elena to look away.

***

Stefan kept trying to get his hands out of the bear trap, when Klaus finally stopped him.

"All right stop, stop" Klaus said, "Stop, before you hurt yourself", Klaus turned to a disgusted Elena, "Well, I see that he can finally be compelled", Klaus turned to Stefan, "Now, minus the stake that's in my brother, how many more stakes are out there that can kill me and my family?".

"Eleven" Stefan replied.

"Eleven, really" Klaus said, turning to Elena, "So not eight, then".

"You really shouldn't have lied" Rebekah said.

"I'll get the other three" Elena said.

"Yeah, that'd be nice, or, since you lied, maybe I'll compel your boyfriend to chew out his own tongue".

"What is wrong with you?!" Elena yelled.

"What is wrong with you?" Klaus asked, "What did me and family do that you are so against us? Forget my family, what did Ari do to you that you are so against her?".

"You had hoped that by killing Finn, we would all die" Elijah realised, "Did you forget the part about Ariana being linked to us, because of you?".

"Realistically, it's you and Stefan here who are the real villains, not us" Klaus said.

"Enough!" Elena yelled, about to stake Klaus, when suddenly her hand froze in mid air.

Elena looked towards the entrance to see a furious Aria standing there.

"You killed him!" Aria yelled, using her magic to throw Elena into a wall.

"Aria--".

"No!" Aria yelled, using her magic to throw Elena into another wall, "I've had it with you Elena!", Aria used her magic to choke Elena, "When you came after me, I didn't care, but you came after my family, something I don't tolerate!", Aria waved her hand and Elena started coughing out blood.

"Aria, stop!" Stefan yelled.

Aria used her other hand to snap Stefan's neck.

"Ar-Aria" Elena breathed, struggling to breath.

Eventually seeing Elena about to fall unconscious, Aria stopped her magic.

"If I wanted to, I could end you right here Elena, but death would be too easy for you" Aria spat, glaring at Elena, "You are going to walk out of here, knowing that the only reason you are alive right now, is because I showed you mercy, you get to wake up every day, knowing I could have killed you, but I didn't because I wanted you to suffer much more, look around you Elena, you've lost everybody, you lost me, you lost Caroline, Ric, Jenna, hell even your own brother wants nothing to do with you, you go on and on about the Mikaelson's being evil, but they didn't kill anyone you cared about, but you did, you killed Finn!", Aria used her magic to shove Elena into another wall, she waved her hand and broke Elena's leg, making her yell out in pain.

"It's you Elena!" Aria yelled, breaking her hand, "It's you whose the problem not them!".

Aria used her magic to remove the bear traps from Stefan's hand, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Heal her, or don't, I don't really care, just throw them out of the bloody house" Aria told Klaus, who felt proud of the way Aria was torturing Elena, Aria then turned to Elena who was lying on the floor in pain, "Bring the other stakes Elena, otherwise it won't be good for you, and tell Bonnie and Matt, they better not come infront of me, otherwise I will became their worst nightmare!".

***

After threatening Elena, Aria had walked out of the house, worrying everyone, but they all knew where she was, so they decided to send Caroline after her, knowing right now, Aria needed her.

Kol dropped Caroline at the lake, where Aria was, Caroline quietly went and sat next to her.

"I can't believe his gone" Aria whispered, after a moment of silence, "I can't believe his gone Care".

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know" Aria replied, "What's the point of me sensing someone's death, if I can't save them, what's the point of me being a powerful being if I can't save the people I care about?".

"Sometimes we can't save everyone Aria" Caroline said.

"It's not fair" Aria cried, "It's not fair Care".

"I know" Caroline whispered, hugging Aria, "I know".

***

"Going somewhere?" Damon asked, seeing Kol place his bag into his car.

"Yeah, I'm going to Denver" Kol replied, confusing Damon.

"Denver?" Damon asked, "Why are you going to Denver?".

"Nik wants me to bring Jeremy back, he thinks he might be able to help Ri feel better" Kol replied, "I decided it was better if I go and get him, thinking I might stay there for a few days".

"Stay there?" Damon asked, "Why would you stay there?".

"Because I don't want to be the reason as to why Ri loses the person she loves" Kol replied.

"You heard" Damon realised.

"I did" Kol said.

"Listen Kol, I screwed up, it's as simple as that, me and Aria breaking up, it isn't your fault, it's not Aria's fault either, it's no one's but my own fault, I was an idiot, I believed my brothers words" Damon said, "I knew he loves Aria, I knew he would do anything to create doubts in my mind, but I still let him in, I still let him misguide me, this is my mess and I have to fix it, you leaving isn't going to fix me and Aria, that's something I have to do on my own".

"You're right" Kol said, "You screwed up, and only you can fix this, that's why I'm not leaving forever Damon, I can't leave Ri forever, I waited for a thousand years, I need her in my life, even if it's just as a friend, I'm not going to lie to you and say I don't love her, because I do, and she does love me, but no in the way you think she does, I'm important to her, but you, you're her life, even now, both of you aren't on the best terms, but despite that, whenever you enter the room, her eyes lit up, by the time I come back, you guys have better fixed this, she needs you right now Damon, don't let her go".

Damon let Kol's words sink in, he knew everything he said was right, he screwed up but despite that there was still love in Aria's eyes for him, meaning there was still hope for them.

"I won't" Damon promised.

***

Presenting 3x18 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

Firstly, I am soooo sorry for killing Finn, but that was the only way I could think of Aria torturing Elena, but I assure you this isn't the last time you have seen Finn >.<

Anyways, thoughts on everyone's reaction regarding Daria's break up?

Thoughts on Rebekah torturing Stefan?

Thoughts on Aria going off at Elena?

Thoughts on Kol leaving for Denver?

Alsooo...JEREMY IS RETURNING, YAY!!