05. Coming Home Was A Mistake

The triplets sat on the dinning table, drawing, while Aria made them and herself and Kol some hot chocolate while Kol made some pancakes for the triplets.

"Here you go" Aria said, placing the hot chocolates in front of the triplets, "Be careful it's hot".

"How much longer do we have to wait for the pancakes, dad?" Alec asked.

"Don't rush perfection" Kol simply replied.

"But I'm hungry" Alec complained.

"You're hungry?" an amused Aria asked, "You literally sneaked out of bed at 6am to eat most of the ice cream Alec".

"That was my dessert" Alec defended.

"You're supposed to eat dessert after your food idiot, not before" Asher said.

"Mom, Asher called me a idiot!" Alec complained .

"Mom, Alec's yelling too loudly, tell him to stop" Mia complained.

Aria chuckled and shook her head in amusement at her kids, but before she could say anything, her phone started ringing, taking it out of her back pocket, she realised it was Matt.

"Hey" Aria greeted.

"Hey" Matt greeted.

From Matt's voice, Aria could tell he was crying, "You found his body, didn't you?" Aria whispered, as soon as Caroline told her about Damon killing Tyler, Aria called Matt telling him to find Tyler's body, she wanted him to have a proper funeral, at first Matt refused to believe Aria but after constantly calling Tyler and receiving no reply from him, Matt realised Aria was right, Tyler was dead, so he did everything in his power to find his body, which he eventually did find, stuffed in the back of an abandoned car.

"Yeah" Matt whispered, "Aria, look, I know we aren't the same kids who grew up together, I know there is a lot of bad history between us, mainly because of me and Tyler, and I know this is asking a lot, but I just want to give Tyler a proper goodbye".

Aria sighed, "You're right Matt, there is a lot of bad history, but at the same I haven't forgotten how we all used to be before we were all shoved into this supernatural world, Tyler was a great friend of mine, and that Tyler deserves a proper goodbye".

***

Dear Salvatore Triplets,

Life can be so funny sometimes, you don't realise when someone you grew up, someone you used to go on play dates with, suddenly becomes your enemy, but then that same someone dies and instead of relief, you feel awful, that's what I'm feeling right now, Tyler tried to hurt Nik, I remember that and for that I hate him but I can't forget the Tyler that I grew up with, the Tyler that after my parents death took me and Caroline near the old Lockwood's well to make me smile again, he did all these stupid antics, he didn't stop till I stopped crying and started laughing, that's the Tyler I think deserved better.

"Hey" Seline greeted, walking over to Aria who was currently sitting on the Salvatore's porch.

"Hey" Aria greeted, confused seeing Seline here, "What are you doing here? It's your day off today".

"Kol told me you and Caroline lost an old friend" Seline informed, sitting next to Aria.

"Yeah" Aria whispered.

"I'm happy to take the triplets for the day if you need me to" Seline offered.

Aria gave Seline a grateful smile, "Thank you Seline, that would actually be a huge help".

"Were you close with him?" Seline asked.

Aria sighed, "We used to be" she informed, "We grew up together, we were particularly family".

"You aren't anymore?" Seline asked.

Aria shook her head, "We aren't kids anymore" she replied, "We both grew up and our beliefs and opinions changed and because of that both of us found ourselves on the opposite sides of a battle".

"I get it" Seline said, "I lost my family because of the difference in beliefs and opinions".

"You lost everyone?" Aria asked.

"I have a sister but we're sort of estranged, mainly because I believe in something else and she believes in something else" Seline informed, "Anyways, I'm sure wherever Tyler is, he's at peace".

"I sure hope so" Aria whispered, she then shook her head and looked at Seline, "I should really go now, but are you this isn't a bother?".

"Not at all, go" Seline assured, "I heard there's a carnival in town, thought it might be nice to take the triplets".

Aria chuckled, "They would absolutely love that".

"Seline!" Mia yelled, running outside.

"Hey Mia" Seline greeted.

"Come play with me please, Asher and Alec are boring me" Mia pleaded.

"Of course" Seline said, she looked at Aria, "Duty calls".

Aria chuckled, "Go on".

Seline stood up and walked over to Mia, "Let's race your brothers to see who can get their shoes on first".

"I'll win" Mia stated, running to tell her brothers about the race.

***

Matt, Alaric, Kol and Caroline carried Tyler's casket to his grave while Aria walked behind them, all dressed in their black funeral clothing, as the group placed his casket infront of the grave, they were shocked seeing five more graves dug behind Tyler's grave.

"I was wondering when you guys were gonna show up".

The group of five turned around and came face to face with Damon.

"Body's probably starting to smell a little bit" Damon said, "Tried to keep it as intact as I could, but I got to admit, I got a little carried away about the whole ripping the throat out thing", Kol picked up the shovel that was placed near him, he didn't want to hurt Damon but he also knew right now Damon was capable of anything, "My apologises to Donovan, I'm sure you cleaned him up real nice", Kol snapped the shovel in half and threw the metal part on the ground while holding the wooden part in his hand, "What are you gonna do with that?" Damon asked, "Stake me? Go ahead, try it, but first", Damon pointed to the five dug out graves, "Take your pick, cause I'm gonna bury every one of you", Kol took a step towards Damon, "Easy" Damon warned, "Underestimating me is what got Tyler killed", Matt tried to slowly take his gun out of his pocket but Damon saw that coming, causing him to speed over to him and hold him in a choke hold, "Matt Donovan, the only living boy in Mystic Falls, you know, it's shocking you managed to stay human this long, maybe I should fix that".

"Is that why you're here?" Aria asked, finally speaking up, she took small steps towards Damon and Matt, "Did you really come back home to make empty threats?".

"Not empty, Aria" Damon said, letting go of Matt to allow himself to bite his wrist and then force his blood down Matt's throat, "Don't move or I'll snap his neck, give Matt here a non-transferrable invitation to our supernatural breakfast club",

"Damon, enough" Caroline snapped.

"Sweet Caroline, how many innocent people did you kill on your no humanity bender, hmm?" Damon asked, "Doesn't matter what you say or don't, the devil knows what you did".

"What's happened to you?" a concerned Alaric asked.

"What's so surprising about this?" Damon retorted, "I'm who I've always been".

"No" Aria said, shaking her head, "This isn't who you've always been, I know you Damon, I've known you for a very long time, this person standing infront of me isn't the Damon I know, he isn't the Damon I fell in love with".

Damon chuckled, "Aria Connor, everyone, certified genius, knows you better than you know yourself".

"Damon, just go" an annoyed Caroline demanded, "Nobody wants you here".

Damon looked at Caroline, then at Aria, "Why is there still love in your eyes?" he asked, feeling extremely frustrated, "Everyone here is looking at me with anger, but you're looking at me with love, why?".

Aria shrugged, "Call me stupid, but I'm not giving up on you, if you want me to give up on you then you're going to have to rip my heart out from chest, the very heart that beats only for you".

For a second Damon did nothing but stare at Aria, the next second he let go of Matt and rushed away.

Kol and Caroline looked at each other, they had seen the flicker of emotions in Damon's eyes while Aria was talking, it was obvious to them that Aria was the only one who could bring Damon back, because she wasn't just the key Damon's humanity, she was Damon's humanity.

***

Alaric, Kol, Aria and Caroline sat at the Grill together.

"Remember, it's not Damon" Alaric reminded, "This is Damon under the control of a she-devil, we have to find a way to break her control, and we will, I've got my interns working on it".

"And, in the meantime, what, let me run wild and kill someone else?" Caroline asked.

"I am trying to prevent that, you know" Alaric informed.

"Guys, even if we do somehow break Sybil's control over Damon, once he remembers everything he did in her control, he's going to spiral thinking what his kids are gonna think of him, he may never come back from that, especially since the past few years, he's been trying so hard to be a better man for his kids, even when he wasn't with them" Kol said.

"Kol, what exactly are you suggesting here?" a confused Aria asked.

"I'm suggesting that we need to find a way to save Damon not just from the siren but also himself" Kol replied, "Ri, I know you're going to hate this idea, but for Damon's own good, I think we should put him down".

"And for how long exactly are we going to put him down for?" a shocked Aria asked.

"Till we remove the sirens from our lives" Kol replied.

Aria thought about it for a second, she knew Kol was right, but hurting Damon didn't sit well with her, "Kol, are you sure about this?" she asked, slightly skeptic about this plan.

Kol nodded his head in response, "It's for Damon's own good, Ri" he said, "And it's the only way we can make sure he doesn't come after any of us".

***

Damon walked over to Sybil's cell in the armory, Sybil who was sitting on the bed with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them, "Well, this is a surprise" she said, not expecting Damon to come here.

"To be clear, we're not friends, and I'm not here to set you free" Damon said, though Sybil had replaced Aria in Damon's mind, but Damon still couldn't get himself to trust Sybil, to fully submit himself to her, "In fact, I never want to see you again".

"Why are you here then?" Sybil asked.

"Because I want answers" Damon replied, "I stole that hunk of junk from Donovan's mystery dad, burned all my bridges, made everyone hate me, well mostly everybody, I'm guessing it's because you're still in my head".

"And what makes you think that?" Sybil asked, still not facing Damon.

"Because none of it's for me" Damon replied, "I can't quite understand why I have free will and yet I'm still your errand boy, I do things to make you happy, and I don't know why".

Sybil finally faced Damon, "Sounds like you have regrets", Sybil stood up from her bed, "Regret implies that you're not a loyal servant".

"What are you talking about?" a confused Damon asked, "I killed Tyler Lockwood, of course I'm loyal".

"No, you're upset and not because of Tyler but because of Aria" Sybil connected.

"Aria doesn't care about me anymore" Damon stated, but even he knew that was a lie.

"That's a lie and we both know it" Sybil said, "You saw that Aria was upset because of Tyler's death and that doesn't sit well with you, does it? The fact that Aria is upset, here you are, troubled, hostile, you know what that tells me? That you're not completely mine, that the cold, dark heart of Damon Salvatore still belongs to Aria Connor, she still makes you feel things you shouldn't be feeling".

"I don't feel anything anymore" Damon defended.

"Wrong" Sybil said, "It's written all over your face, your humanity is riding that dimmer switch, and right now because of Aria it is pushing itself up, and it feels terrible, doesn't it?".

"Shut up" Damon said.

"Dimmer goes up, and you'll get your feelings back" Sybil continued, "Maybe Aria will love you again, but, boy, will it feel awful, and your kids reaction to everything you've done, let's not even think about that".

"Stop talking" Damon snapped, glaring at Sybil, walking away from the siren.

"Dimmer that switch back down, and all these bad feelings and all this confusion, it'll all disappear" Sybil said, "Me? I prefer option B, the dimmer down, total abandonment".

Damon turned and slammed his hand on the window, "I said shut up!" he yelled, "Shut up! What do you want from me?".

"I want you, Damon" Sybil replied, "All of you, I can rewrite your subconscious, but that will only get me so far, I'm not going to have you the way that I want you while you still have these emotional ties to your past, while your still connected to Aria", Sybil placed her hand where Damon's was, "Go see Kol and Aria, let them guide that dimmer switch up until you feel everything, if that's how you want to live your life, go ahead--live it, maybe you'll find some small pockets of happiness before death delivers you to Cade".

***

Seline and the triplets were currently at the carnival.

"Good try" Seline praised, as the triplets tried tossing the rings onto the bottles, but failed each time, "Almost".

"Why is this so hard?!" an annoyed Alec complained.

"Oh" Seline cooed, she suddenly started humming a song and walked over to the vendor in charge of the stall, "Why don't you give the triplets a goldfish for their efforts?", hearing Seline, immediately the triplets started jumping up and down in happiness, "We'll take that one" Seline said, pointing a dead goldfish.

"What's wrong with that fish?" a confused Asher asked, as the vendor handed Seline the fish, "Is it sick?".

"Aw, I think he might be dead" Seline informed, "But that's okay, tell you what, we'll take him home and give him a proper burial".

"Sounds good" Mia said, while her brothers nodded their heads, agreeing with Seline's suggestion.

***

Aria entered the boarding house living room while looking down at her phone, at the picture Seline sent of the triplets enjoying their cotton candy.

"I sometimes doubt Seline is human" Aria said, walking over to Kol, "I mean how is she so perfect with the triplets?", Aria finally looked up from her phone and that's when her eyes landed on the gun in Kol's hands, "Kol, what are you doing with that?".

"Damon texted me a little while ago" Kol informed, putting the gun in his jacket pocket, "He wants to meet up with me at the carnival".

"The carnival?" a confused Aria asked, "Why does he want to meet you there?".

"I honestly don't know" Kol admitted, "What I do know is that this is my only chance at having a clear chance to put him down".

Kol tried to walk past Aria but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist, "I'm coming with you" she stated.

Kol immediately shook his head, "No Ri, it's better if I do this by myself".

"No, it's not" Aria argued.

Kol looked at Aria, "You know this is the right thing to do, right?".

"I know" Aria whispered, "I'm just scared after this he will never forgive us, I'm scared that this might cause me to lose him forever".

Kol sighed, "Ri, till the sirens are still in the picture, the Damon you love, is going to stay lost".

After placing a quick kiss on Aria's forehead, Kol walked out the boarding house, leaving an emotional Aria behind to think about his words.

***

Kol entered the carnival Damon had called him to but to his confusion as he was entering it, everyone else was leaving it.

"Hey, what's going on?" Kol asked a random girl, "Why is everyone leaving the carnival?".

"Gas leak, we're being evacuated".

Kol knew this was no gas leak, this was Damon, so he walked further in but suddenly stopped feeling someone behind, turning around he saw a struggling Damon standing there.

"Kol" Damon greeted, "I need your help".

"You need my help?" a surprised Kol asked, "Yeah, definitely was not expecting that, especially since the last time we saw each other you made it clear you wanted to severe all our ties".

"Yeah, in hindsight, that might have been a bit dramatic" Damon said.

"If you're here to take it back, don't bother, it's already done the damage" Kol said, "Even if Sybil made you say it".

"Yeah, see, this is where it gets tricky" Damon said, "I want to serve her Kol, I mean, I have to, and serving her keeps me away from the big bad devil himself, and I want to stay away from hell as long as humanly possible".

"And you're going to do that by turning your humanity off?" Kol asked.

"There are worse fates" Damon defended.

"Fine, then let me help you" Kol said, "Just let me help you Damon".

"You're gonna make me turn it back on" Damon concluded, "No, No I don't want to do that, Kol".

"But you have to" Kol retorted, "You can't stay like this for the rest of your immortal life".

"Why not?" Damon challenged, "Isn't this easier? There are no amends to be made Kol, I can't munch on bunnies and save people, and work my way back to peace, I'm hell-bound, so, why? Tell me, knowing what I know, why would I ever want to feel again?".

"Because if we can't feel anything Damon, we might as well be living as a dead corpse" Kol snapped.

"Exactly" Damon said, "What's the point?".

"No" Kol said, shaking his head, "You're lying to me and you're lying to yourself, I can see your humanity, just come home, talk to Aria, she will teach you how to be happy again, your kids can teach you".

"How?" a confused Damon.

"It won't be easy" Kol admitted, "But if you let us be there for you, then we can help you, just let us help Damon".

"I-I can't, Kol" Damon said, "I ruined everything".

"Not everything" Kol said, "I'm still here, and the girl you love is till waiting for you to come back to her, like you promised her you would".

Damon thought about it for a second, he then shook his head, "No, I can't".

Kol suddenly pulled the vervain gun out of his jacket and shot at Damon but Damon easily caught the vervain bullet, he then glared at Kol and rushed over to him and shoved him to the ground, he held Kol by his collars.

"Is that how you help me?" a furious Damon asked, "Vervain?".

"It's not like you left me with any other choice" Kol snapped, kicking Damon away from him, "You've lost your mind, you don't know what you're doing anymore".

Damon stood up and glared at Kol, "I know exactly what I'm doing" he snapped, "Humanity's gone dark, anything goes now".

Before Damon could attack Kol again, Aria suddenly speeded behind him and snapped his neck, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious.

"Great timing" Kol said, standing up and getting rid of the dirt on his jacket.

Aria didn't say anything to Kol, she just stared at Damon's unconscious body in guilt.

***

The triplets stood with Seline at an abandoned warehouse.

"Are we going to bury the fish?" a confused Mia asked, looking at the fish who was placed on some wood.

"Yes, but in our own way" Seline informed, "You see, we are made up of two parts, our body and our soul, see, some people are very special, and when they die, a man named Cade comes to take their soul away".

"Does Cade take their body as well?" a curious Alec asked.

"No" Seline replied, "But that doesn't mean the bodies aren't special, too, they needed to be treated with dignity to find peace in death, and Cade respects that, he appreciates the effort, let's show him what we did".

"How?" a confused Asher asked.

"We can call him" Seline replied, "But I need you to hold mine and each other's hands, okay?".

The triplets nodded, Asher and Mia held Seline's hands, while Alec held Mia and then Seline stated humming, but Seline suddenly let go of Mia's hand when she started siphoning her.

"Did I hurt you?" a scared Mia asked.

"Oh, not at all, you were perfect" Seline assured, "You took just the right amount of magic, now, I need the three of you to say the special word".

"Incendia" the triplets said in unison, they gasped in amazement seeing the fish's body go up in flames.

"Excellent job, guys" Seline praised, "I think you're ready".

"For what?" Alec asked.

"It's a surprise" Seline replied, walking out the warehouse with the triplets.

The triplets unaware that the fire they caused was also burning  Georgie's rotten hidden corpse.

***

Aria watched as Kol chained Damon's unconscious body up and placed him in the casket placed in the Salvatore crypt.

"I'm sorry" a guilty Kol whispered to Damon, he then stepped back and allowed Aria to walk over to Damon.

"I'll see you soon, Damon" Aria whispered, tears welling in her eyes, "Very soon".

***

Dear Salvatore Triplets,

Today I had to put down your father, it was for his own good but still it didn't feel right, it felt awful, like I had just ripped my own heart out of my chest, and in a way I guess I did, your father is the one who has my heart and as long as he's gone, I don't think my heart will ever function properly.

When you three fall in love, just remember one thing, no matter what life throws at you, no matter how many times you and the person you love are forced to separate, if you are meant to be, then nothing in this universe will stop you two from reuniting, just like me and Damon, life has thrown a lot at us, but I'm not giving up till my last breath, and I know if the situation was reversed then neither would Damon, because that's what falling in love is all about, it's about never giving up on each other, never giving up on hope.

After writing in her diary, Aria shut her diary and then looked at the graves infront of her.

"I miss you both" Aria whispered, looking at Amelia and Liz's graves, "I wish you two were here to tell me what to do next".

Kol walked over to Aria and without saying anything, sat next to her and Aria simply put her head on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Kol asked.

"Nope" Aria replied, "You?".

"Nope" Kol replied.

Aria let out a small chuckle, "We should probably go home now and let Seline off for the night".

Kol sighed, "The triplets are going to ask about Damon".

"I know" Aria whispered.

"What are we going to tell them?" Kol asked.

"I have no idea" Aria admitted, just as her phone was starting to ring, taking it out of her pocket, she realised Matt was calling her, "Matt?".

"Aria, please tell me you're with your kids" a panicked Matt said.

"Matt, what's wrong?" a suddenly worried Aria asked.

"Tyler knew he was going to die, Aria" Matt informed, "Which is why after his death, he sent me a letter, in the letter he told me he was coming to you Aria, to inform you the truth about your babysitter, Seline".

"Seline?" a confused Aria asked, "What truth about Seline?".

"Seline is the second siren" Matt revealed, shocking both Aria and Kol, "Seline is Sybil's sister and Tyler knew that, that's why Sybil made Damon kill him, because she knew Tyler was coming to tell you the truth".

Aria looked at Kol, shock and fear evident on her face, "The triplets" she whispered, "They're with Seline right now".

Immediately both Kol and Aria stood up from the ground and rushed towards the boarding house.

***

As soon as Aria and Kol left the cemetery, Sybil, who had escaped the armory after Dorian, another one of Alaric's intern, stop banging the pitchfork into the intercom and gone to identify Georgie's remains, having being called by the police to the same warehouse the triplets were with Seline.

A man under Sybil's spell, used bolt cutters to cut Damon's chain, immediately causing his eyes to snap open.

"Thank you" Sybil told the man, "You're a doll".

"You're here" Damon realised.

"Of course I am" Sybil said, "What happened?".

"I saw the truth" Damon replied, "Feelings make you weak, I'm done feeling".

"Good" Sybil said, "Now, is your little existential crisis over? Because we have things to do, it'll be fun, I promise".

Damon sat up in his casket, "I'm all yours" he told Sybil.

Sybil let out a satisfied chuckle, she then held her hand out and Damon placed his hand in hers and Sybil helped him jump out of the casket.

Sybil placed both her hands on Damon's shoulder, "You must be starving", she gestured for the man under her spell to come forward and once he did, Damon ripped into his throat while a smug looking Sybil stood back and watched the scene in satisfaction.

***

"Mia?!" a panicked Aria called out, rushing into the boarding house.

"Asher?! Alec?!" an equally Kol yelled, rushing into the boarding house behind Aria.

"Babies, where are you?!" Aria yelled, "Please answer mommy!".

Kol rushed up to the triplets room, "Bunny, are you in here?!" he called out, but got no response in return.

Aria speeded up to her and Damon's room, "Come on guys, please come out, I'm getting worried now!" she called out, but even she got no response back, but as she walked into her and Damon's room, a kids drawing placed on the bed caught her eye, "Kol!" she called out, picking the drawing up and looking at it in shock.

"What?" Kol asked, running into the room, "Did you find them?".

Aria shook her head, "I didn't find them" she whispered, "I found this".

Aria handed Kol the picture, looking at it, he immediately knew Mia had drawn it, but what shocked him was what she drew, she had drawn herself, Asher and Alec, standing next to Cade and Seline as a happy family.

***

Presenting 8x05 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria wanting Tyler to have a proper goodbye?

Thoughts on Kol and Caroline realising that only Aria could bring Damon back?

Thoughts on Kol and Aria putting Damon down?

Thoughts on Damon submitting fully to Sybil?

Thoughts on Seline kidnapping the triplets?