02. Never Let Me Go

Five Years From Now,

Aria Connor sat in her home office, talking to her agent while at the same time keeping an eye on her daughter who was sitting in the corner, talking to Hope and Jayden on her tablet.

"Congratulations Aria, your book Heartless Love is once again a number one bestseller" Aria's agent Sophia said, "This is the third week in a row, you are going places kid, people are dying for book two, they want to know if the two star crossed lovers Ryke and Rose will find their way back to each other or not".

"Sophia, I told you this before and I'm telling you this now, Heartless Love isn't getting a sequel" Aria said.

"And I told you this before and I'm telling you this now, you can not end Ryke and Rose's story like this" Sophia said, "Those two need to reunite".

"Not all love stories are completed Sophia" Aria said, a distant look forming on her face.

Sophia signed, "There's nothing I can do to convince you to give them a sequel and this time use your real name instead of a pen name?".

"No and no" Aria simply said.

"You are one stubborn person" Sophia said.

"So everyone tells me" Aria said.

"Alright then, I tried, now hang up and work on your next master piece" Sophia said.

Aria chuckled, "Will do, bye Sophia".

"Bye Aria" Sophia said.

After seeing her mother hang the phone up, Mia ran over to her.

"Hey bunny" Aria said, picking Mia up and placing her in her lap, "Finished talking to Hope and Jayden?".

"Yeap" Mia said, handing her tablet over to her mother, "Mom, can I ask you a question?".

"Of course you can" Aria assured.

"Well, I asked Hope as to why Uncle Nik keeps taking her and JayJay to New Orleans, Hope said it's because New Orleans is their home and you have to visit home no matter how far you go from it" Mia said, "Then I remembered, that though we live in Dallas, you always tell me, Ash and Alec that your home is Mystic Falls because your parents were born there and so were you, right?".

"Right" A confused Aria said, not knowing where her daughter was taking this.

"So why don't we ever visit Mystic Falls?" Mia asked confused, "I mean, you and dad tell us stories but you never take us there, why's that?".

Aria sighed, "Mia, Mystic Falls will always be my home, and as much as I would love for you and your brothers to grow up in the same place as me, unfortunately that can't happen".

"Why not?" Mia asked curiously.

"Because Mystic Falls is a place that your mom and dad can't go back to" Aria admitted, "It's part of a dark past that I'll tell you and your brothers about once you've grown a bit more, for now just know that even know Mystic Falls is home, we aren't allowed there".

Before the ever so curious Mia could ask her mother questions, her brother's yell stopped her.

"Mom!" They heard Asher yell, "Nova and Alec are fighting again and dad can't stop them!".

"I'll go help dad" Mia quickly said, getting off of Aria's lap and running towards the door.

"Mia" Aria called, "Stop their fight, don't provoke them".

Mia smiled her mother, "I can not promise anything" she said, then running out of the door.

"This father and daughter duo are never going to get them to stop fighting" Aria mumbled, standing up from her seat to go and stop the fighting but as she did, she bent over as pain shot through her chest, "Dammit" she whispered, clutching her chest, "Not again".

Aria quickly sat down again and opened the first drawer on her desk, opening it, she took out a pill bottle, opening the bottle she took out one pill and put in her mouth and washed it down with a glass of water.

For a few moments, Aria sat there breathing heavily and waiting for the pain to go away, which though slowly, did eventually disappear.

***

Present Day,

Aria sat in Alaric's class, since she was back from Europe it also meant going back to college, and since the triplets were now in New Orleans with the twins and Klaus, Finn and Elijah, Aria could sit through Alaric's lecture without her mind worrying about what was happening to her kids while she wasn't with them.

"I want to talk about death" Alaric said, addressing the class, "More specifically, I wanna talk about what happens after, now I'm not gonna pretend like my good looks are the reason this class is so full, I've heard the same stories you have about Mystic Falls, ghost sightings, poltergeists".

"Zombies!" A student yelled, causing the whole class to laugh and Aria to shake her head.

"Zombies" Alaric said, "Now, let's talk about it, what's behind all of these stories? Now, almost every single culture has the lore of a creature or being that cheats death, why do our brains insist on inventing the most unbelievable things? It's because the reality of death is actually the most unbelievable thing of all, now the most terrifying thing that you're going to encounter in Mystic Falls is a trespassing ticket, so everyone just stay out".

After the class ended, Aria walked over to her adoptive father.

"So, what I gathered from your lecture is that the plan to turn Mystic Falls into a ghost town isn't working as well as you hoped it would" Aria said.

Alaric chuckled, "Well, they turned it into a ghost town, that part worked" he said, "Unfortunately for us, ghost towns are like amusement parks for college kids, the heretics have killed ten people already, two last night, idiots looking for a ghost selfie".

"Yeah college students have a tendency of being the biggest idiots" Aria said, making Alaric nod in agreement, "By the way, are you okay?", Alaric looked at Aria in confusion, "Since you didn't tell me, I managed to get it out of Damon as to why you were pretending to be in drunk in Europe".

Alaric sighed, "I knew it was a matter of time till you got it out of Damon".

Aria shrugged, "I have my ways".

"What ways?" Alaric asked, "All you have to do is look at him and Damon will spill all his secrets out to you".

Aria chuckled, "It's not my fault I have very persuasive eyes" she said, "Now stop changing the subject Ric, tell me, are you okay or not?".

"Am I okay after losing my money and my sanity to a series of con artists?" Alaric asked, "Yeah, don't worry, I'm over it".

"I'm sure you are but if you're not over it, that's alright to admit Ric" Aria said, "And tell me something, why would you go to con artists when you have a such a powerful daughter by your side?".

"What, you wouldn't think it's weird that I'm trying to contact my fiance, who's been dead for months?" Alaric asked.

"Oh come on Ric, after everything we've gone through alone and together, it would be weird to me if you weren't trying to contact her" Aria teased, after giving Alaric a small smile she turned to leave.

"Hey, Aria" Alaric called out, stopping Aria from leaving.

"Yeah?" Aria asked, turning to face Alaric again.

"Have you ever heard of the Phoenix Stone?" Alaric asked curiously.

Aria shook her head, "No I haven't" she replied, making the hopeful look on Alaric's face to fall, "But if you want, I can try finding out about it, maybe Kai might know".

"You'd do that?" Alaric asked.

"Of course I would" Aria replied, just as her phone started ringing, "It's Kol, I'll come talk to you when I find more about this stone".

"Thanks" Alaric said.

"No problem" Aria assured, walking out of the classroom and answering Kol's call, "How can I help you Mikaelson?".

"You and Damon are idiots" Kol said.

"Excuse me?" Aria asked confused, "What did me and Damon do for such a compliment?".

"Oh I don't know Ri, maybe the fact that you two killed one of Lily's heretics" Kol snapped.

"Are you seriously mad at us for that?" Aria asked confused, "I thought you loved murder".

"Of course I love murder" Kol said, "But because of you and Damon, Caroline is now caught in the crossfire".

Aria suddenly stopped in her track, "What do you mean Caroline is caught in the crossfire?".

"Lily and her heretics kidnapped Caroline as revenge for what you and Damon did" Kol replied.

Hearing that her sister was in danger, suddenly caused Aria to feel immense anger, "Kol, tell Rebekah to meet me at the boarding house.

"What?" Kol asked confused.

"No time for questions, just tell Rebekah we are rescuing our best friend" Aria replied.

"Ri, that's your furious voice, please don't do anything stupid" Kol warned.

"No, stupid is what Lily did" Aria snapped, "And if you don't send Rebekah, then that will also be a stupid move, because you're right, I am furious, and I will not stop till I get my sister back, so send Rebekah and don't you or Damon dare come, this is between us girls".

"Ri--", before Kol could complete her sentence, Aria hanged up on him and proceeded to go save her sister.

***

"Aria, wait!" Rebekah yelled, as a furious Aria walked over to front door of the boarding house.

Aria ignored Rebekah, she stood infront of the boarding house door, putting her hands infront of her, she let out a loud banshee scream and suddenly the front door came crashing down.

"Lily!" Aria yelled, "Come out right now or more hearts will be ripped out!".

"Aria" Lily said, walking over to the front door, slightly shocked with what Aria did to the door, "How can I help you?".

"Who the bloody hell is that?" Rebekah asked, looking behind Lily, where a women was vacuuming the house.

"Who, Lucy?" Lily asked, "She's the kind woman I've hired to clean up this house that you all let fall into disrepair".

"First of all, thank you so much for taking care of mine and my fiancé's house" Aria said, Lily opened her mouth to say something but Aria interrupted her, "Uh-ah, don't say that this is your house, because it isn't Lily, and neither is this town, you messed with the wrong girl because I've been dying to get my hands on you since the moment you came after my kids".

"I was never going to hurt them" Lily said, "They are my grandchildren Aria, I just needed my family back and I knew I had to force your hand for it".

"They are not your grandchildren!" Aria snapped, "You are nothing to my kids or me, so without making me anymore angry then I already am, give me my sister back Lily, or god so help me, I killed one of your heretics, I can and will kill everyone else if I don't get Caroline back".

"You killed Malcom?" Lily asked shocked.

"Yes" Aria replied, "I killed Malcom, think of it as revenge for trying to hurt my kids, now I won't ask again Lily, I want Caroline, now".

Lily glared at Aria, "I will not be doing that".

Aria smirked, "I was hoping you would say that" she said.

Rebekah and Aria looked at each other, the two girls then tried to rush in and attack Lily but to their shock, they couldn't enter the boarding house.

"Why the hell can we not enter our house?" Rebekah asked confused.

"Because this is no longer your house" Lily replied, "And I have the deed to prove it", Aria and Rebekah's eyes landed on the deed papers placed on the table next to Lily, "Now, if you two don't mind, I have to get ready to go bury my son".

"You might want to reserve a few more graves next to his" Aria said, glaring at Lily, "Because though we are walking away now, we will be back, and this time, no one will stop us from getting to Caroline, whoever comes in our way, their hearts will be across the room".

"Something we are experts in, as Aria proved last night" Rebekah said.

"Exactly" Aria said smirking.

Rebekah and Aria walked away leaving behind an apprehensive Lily.

***

"I'm guessing the plan failed?" Damon asked, seeing furious Rebekah and Aria entering the Mikaelson's office.

"Don't bother with that" Aria told Kol, seeing him looking at the map of the tunnels, ignoring Damon's comment, "It won't work".

"What are you on about?" Kol asked confused.

"Congratulations Damon, you no longer own your house" Rebekah informed.

"Meaning, we can't get in" Aria added.

"What?" Damon asked shocked.

"Turns out your mother is smarter then I gave her credit for" Aria replied, "Now, one of you need to call the registrar's office and find out who owns the house, then one of you call Kai and the other find the human".

"Then tell Kai to stop the human's heart" Rebekah continued.

"Not kill, only stop heart for a little bit of time" Aria quickly added, knowing how Damon, Kol and Kai got.

"And while we are doing all that what are you two doing?" Damon asked.

"We are rescuing Caroline" Rebekah replied.

Aria clapped her hands, "Chop, chop boys" she said, "We need to rescue Caroline before Nik finds out about this and ends up murdering you two".

"Why us?", "He can't kill me" Damon and Kol said stimuteanously.

Aria looked at Damon, "Because you two failed to save the love his life", she then turned to Kol, "You really think Nik won't figure out another way to make you suffer?".

"Now that we have that clear, me and Aria will be waiting for your text, hurry up" Rebekah said.

And with that both the girls left the room, leaving behind two very shocked vampires behind.

"What just happened?" Damon asked confused.

"Who the bloody hell put them in charge?" Kol asked, equally as confused as Damon.

***

"Turns out those three can listen to instructions" Rebekah said, reading Kol's text, that said they were good to go, "You ready?".

"Let's go save our best friend" Aria said.

Rebekah smirked, the two best friends then walked over to the front door, "She's fast in fixing things" Rebekah said, realising Lily had fixed the front door already.

"So I shouldn't break it again?" Aria asked.

"Only if no one answers" Rebekah replied, knocking on the front door.

"Are you serious?" Aria asked, when the door opened and Enzo revealed himself.

"May I help you?" Enzo asked the two girls.

"Did you know that the old hag was going to kidnap Caroline?" Rebekah asked, glaring at the vampire infront of her.

"Please tell me Lily hasn't corrupted you fully" Aria said, "Please Enzo, we just want Caroline, help us get her back and we will get out of your hair".

"That would be foolish of me, considering I'm the one who kidnapped her" Enzo informed.

"So you're telling me you would rather be Lily's errand boy then be our friend?" Rebekah asked.

"I chose you guys many times" Enzo replied, "Many times you guys chose each other over me, let's just say that Lily and I have similar views on loyalty".

Aria scoffed, "Please, the woman who abandoned her sons, she can't understand the concept of loyalty and family even if she tried".

"She didn't abandon her family, she merely abandoned her relatives" Enzo snapped, "There's a difference".

"That fact that you think that, means you don't understand the value of family or loyalty either Enzo, which means I'm done talking to you" Aria said, using her magic to snap Enzo's neck.

"Finally" Rebekah said, "Is it just me or has he gotten more annoying?".

"He's being misled by Lily" Aria said, as her and Rebekah stepped over Enzo's body and went to find Caroline, "We are going to have to get him to see Lily's true colors soon".

Rebekah groaned in annoyance, "Do we have to?" she asked.

Aria chuckled, "Yes we do" she replied, "Enzo isn't the bad guy, he's just a guy who can't tell the difference between right and wrong, now, ready to save Caroline?".

"Ready as I ever will be" Rebekah replied, and with that both the best friends speeded upstairs, wanting to grab their best friend and get out of here as soon as possible.

***

Aria and Rebekah rushed into Stefan's old room, where they saw Caroline, her hands tied up to the celling.

"Aria? Rebekah?" A confused Caroline said, "Is it you two or am I hallucinating?".

"What the bloody hell did they do to you?" Rebekah asked shocked.

"You mean, before or after the gallon of vervain they injected me with?" Caroline asked.

"Don't worry Care, we're going to get you out of here" Aria said, as her and Rebekah ran over to Caroline and both of them pulled on the chains, which eventually broke and caused Caroline to fall to the ground.

"You okay?" Rebekah asked, putting her hand on Caroline's shoulder, but quickly removing her hand when Caroline's skin burned her.

"What just happened?" Aria asked, kneeling by her sister.

Rebekah touched Caroline's skin again, which once again burned her, "Her skin" she said, "It's like it's vervain".

"Valerie's spell" Caroline realised.

"Whose Valerie?" Rebekah asked confused.

"Who cares, we don't have time, Kai can only stop that human's heart for six minutes, we only have three minutes left, we need to get Caroline out of here now" Aria said.

"How?" Rebekah asked, "She's too weak to walk on her own and we can't help her".

Aria put her hands above Caroline's shoulders and then started chanting, after a while she opened her eyes and touched Caroline's shoulder again and this time her skin didn't burn her, making all three of the girls laugh on relief.

"Come on Care Bear" Aria said, as Rebekah and her helped Caroline stand up, "Time to get out of here".

Without wasting another second, Aria and Rebekah rushed Caroline out of the boarding house and to safety.

***

"Hey, you called?" Aria asked, entering Alaric's classroom.

"Yeah, um, how's Caroline?" Alaric asked.

"Safe and sound in the Mikaelson's mansion, which by the way, we were thinking about putting in your name, Lily might be evil but she had the right idea about making sure unwanted vampires couldn't enter where she lived" Aria replied.

"Why me?" Alaric asked.

"Because you're the only human left in Mystic Falls that we trust" Aria replied.

"That's kind of sad" Alaric said.

"It's very sad" Aria corrected, "Anyways, why did you call me?".

Alaric sighed, "When we were talking earlier, I wasn't completely honest with you".

"About what?" Aria asked confused.

"About this" Alaric replied, showing Aria a small red stone.

"Is that?" Aria asked.

Alaric nodded, "It's the phoenix stone" he replied, "An old contact of mine at Duke told me about it, it's supposed to have resuscitative powers".

"Excuse me?" Aria asked shocked, "You're telling me that small little stone can bring someone back from the dead?".

"And that's why I didn't tell you, because I was avoiding that look" Alaric said.

"Ric, where the hell did you find this thing?" Aria asked.

"Well, you remember that night in New York?" Alaric asked.

"Yeah, I remember you passing out on the floor of the bar" Aria remembered, "Oh wait, when you pretended to pass out on the floor of the bar".

"Right, well, I snuck into the maritime museum because this was on display there" Alaric informed, holding the stone out for Aria.

Aria took the stone from Alaric's stone and examined it, "I mean, it's a pretty stone" she said, "But Ric, there's no magic coming from this stone".

Alaric chuckled, "Well, you are officially more honest than anyone I saw in Europe".

Aria laughed, she then closed her eyes and concentrated on the stone.

"What are you doing?" Alaric asked confused.

"Grams once told me that sometimes powerful witches have the ability to conceal a powerful talisman or relic by hiding the magic inside of the thing" Aria informed, closing her eyes and concentrating on the stone again, suddenly she gasped and a lot of visions started coming infront of her eyes, all of them of people screaming in pain, people who were covered in blood.

Aria gasped and dropped the stone from her hands but luckily Alaric caught it before it could touch the ground.

"What happened?" Alaric asked, worried seeing Aria have a panic look on her face.

"I have no idea" Aria whispered, "I just saw visions of a lot of people dying, Ric whatever you do, please don't use this stone, there's something really wrong with it, I feel like there's something very evil trapped in that, don't free it", Aria observed Alaric's reaction and realised he didn't look surprised, "But you knew that already, that's the real reason you didn't tell me about this stone till you ran out of options", Aria shook her head, "Ric, this is some serious magic, you can't mess with it without knowing the consequences, we have to destroy this stone".

***

"I am officially the destroyer of everyone's hopes and dreams" Aria said, entering her and Damon's shared bedroom in the Mikaelson mansion.

"So I take it things didn't go well with Ric?" Damon asked.

Aria laid next to Damon on the bed, she then put her head on Damon's chest, "He had hope that the stone will bring Jo back to life, but that stone Damon, it's evil, I'm afraid that if Ric uses it, it won't be Jo that he'll bring back".

"Yep, sounds about right" Damon said, running his fingers through Aria's hands, "So, about how long do we have before this evil engulfs the world? Just trying to plan my week".

"Well, I think I convinced him to drop the stone in acid" Aria said.

"You think?" Damon asked.

Aria sighed, "I just, I don't know if he will actually do it, that stone is his least shred of hope, I don't think he's ready to let go of it yet".

"Can you blame him?" Damon asked.

Aria sighed, she sat up and turned to Damon, "That's the thing, I can't blame him, which makes me feel even more bad for not being able to help him".

Damon sat up and face Aria, "Stop feeling bad, this isn't in your control".

"I just want to help him" Aria whispered.

"And you are helping him" Damon said, cupping Aria's face, "By being there for him".

Aria looked at Damon, "Thank you" she said.

"What for?" Damon asked confused.

"For being there for me" Aria replied.

Damon smiled, "Well, someone has to be there for you while you're there for everyone else" he said.

"What will I ever do without you?" Aria asked.

"Luckily for you, neither one of us will ever find out what we become without each other" Damon assured.

"Forever?" Aria asked.

"And ever" Damon replied, pulling Aria into a kiss.

Just as things were getting heated between Aria and Damon, Aria suddenly shoved Damon away from her and held her head in her hands.

"Ria?" A concerned Damon asked.

"Ugh!" Aria yelled, as suddenly the visions she saw when she touched the phoenix stone once again started showing up in her head.

"Ria?!" Damon called out, but Aria didn't response, instead she ended up falling unconscious.

***

Five Years From Now,

"Mom, Alec is trying to set my hair on fire!" Mia yelled from upstairs.

"Alec, no magic in the house!" Aria yelled, standing in the kitchen, "And stop troubling your sister!".

"It's not my fault mom!" Alec yelled, "Uncle Enzo took Nova home, now I'm bored!".

"Ashy, help me!" Aria heard Mia yell.

"Ash out of my way!" Alec yelled.

"Enough!" Asher yelled at both his siblings, "Do you two have nothing better to do?".

"I didn't do anything, it's Alec" Mia said, hugging her older brother.

"It's not always Alec's fault" Alec snapped.

Aria shook her head at her children's argument, if it was any other day, her and her fiance would be laughing at their antics, but today she was too exhausted. As Aria was leaning against the sink, two hands came on her shoulders and slowly started massaging Aria.

Aria sighed and leaned her head back on to the person's shoulder, who whispered in Aria's ear, "Rough day?".

"Mhmm" Aria said.

"Hot chocolate?" he asked.

Aria turned around and faced her fiance, "You're my life savior Kol Mikaelson, you know that?".

Kol chuckled, he put his hands on Aria's waist and pulled her closer to him, "Maybe" he whispered against Aria's lip.

Aria chuckled and placed her lips on to Kol's, who picked Aria up and placed her on the kitchen counter, Aria then hooked her legs around Kol's waist and pulled him closer to her as his hands went under Aria's shirt, however before things could escalate, they heard yelling.

 "Mom!" Mia yelled.

"Dad, I didn't do anything!" Alec yelled.

"Mom, dad, I can't take this anymore, I want to sleep at Beks's house!" Asher yelled.

Hearing the yelling, Kol and Aria separated from each other, attaching their foreheads together both of them started laughing.

"They are not going to calm down till you make them your special hot chocolate" Aria said, kissing Kol's nose.

Kol kissed Aria's forehead and helped her down the counter, "You go to them, I'll make the hot chocolate".

Aria kissed Kol's cheek and proceeded to walk out of the room, she turned around to face Kol one last time, "Whose turn is it to pick a movie tonight?".

"Alec's" Kol replied.

"Lovely" Aria mumbled, knowing her son had a habit of always picking horror movies.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you" Kol teased.

"Yeah, as if Mia would let go of you, but don't worry I have Ash to protect me" Aria said, walking out of the kitchen and leaving behind a chuckling Kol behind.

As Aria was climbing the stairs, her phone started ringing, realising it was her assistant Ava, Aria answered it.

"Ava" Aria greeted, confused as to why she was calling her, "Everything okay?".

"Hey, sorry for disturbing you but someone came by the office looking for you, so I thought to let you know" Ava replied.

"Looking for me?" Aria asked confused, "Who?".

"Someone named Damon Salvatore" Ava replied, "He said it was very important that he found you".

Hearing the name, Aria suddenly stopped walking and for a moment froze, the familiar ache in her heart increasing hearing the name she hadn't heard in the past five years.

"Did you tell him where I am?" Aria asked, after finally regaining her breath.

"No, I figured I should ask you before telling him anything, after much arguing he agreed to come back tomorrow" Ava informed.

"Ava, whatever you do, never ever tell Damon Salvatore where I am" Aria stated, "When he comes back, tell him you don't know where I am, hell tell him I'm dead".

Before Ava could say anything, Aria hanged up on her and sat on the step in shock.

"You don't get to come back now, you're too late" Aria whispered, tears streaming down her face, "I hate you Damon Salvatore and I will never let you near me or my kids again".

***

Presenting 7x02 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Aria and Rebekah rescuing Caroline from Lily's clutches?

Thoughts on Alaric asking Aria for help with the phoenix stone?

Thoughts on the visions Aria started having after touching the stone?

Thoughts on the flashforward five years later in which Aria and Kol are engaged?