chapter fifty seven

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  When the front door slammed open during the night, Lacey had shot up from the couch. She hadn't been expecting someone this late at night after hours of her wallowing in misery and when doors slam open in Mystic Falls at late hours, someone was coming to attack you. 

  The blonde slowly inched towards the front door, ready to fight whoever had come in. She was seconds from stepping into the hall before she nearly ran into Faye. She let out a small shriek, which caused Faye to let out a small scream herself.

  "Jesus, Faye." Lacey cursed, reaching to slap her niece's shoulder. "You scared the hell out of me! I thought you were someone bad!" 

  "What bad guy would use the front door?" 

  "A respectful one." 

  Faye snorted at her aunt and walked past her to get to the living room. "Well, I'm not a bad guy so you don't have to worry." 

  Lacey watched the hybrid in confusion, having not expected her to come home. "What are you doing here? I didn't think you would leave Klaus alone."

  "He's not in the Gilbert house anymore. The spell broke," Faye said dryly as she walked over to the couch. She dropped her bag to the ground before jumping onto the couch. Lacey was surprised at her statement, knowing there were very few ways a spell could break. Before she could ask anything, though, Faye released groaned. "I need a drink."

  "You're asking for alcohol..." Lacey eyed Faye, finding it odd. The girl wasn't a much of a drinker, but she could down vodka like it was nothing if there had been something that had devastated or stressed her out. "Did something bad happen?"

  "You have no freaking idea," she responded.

  The blonde vampire walked over the liquor cabinet in the back of the room and propped it open. She grabbed a bottle of bourbon and two glasses before walking back over to the couch. Lacey sat down next to her niece on the couch, placing the glasses and bourbon in front of them on the coffee table. She poured them both a glass which Faye immediately knocked back when handed to her.

  "Jesus christ, Faye," Lacey said, eyes wide at the hybrid. "What the hell happened?"

  "I'm gonna need the whole bottle to talk about that," Faye responded. She grabbed the bottle without hesitation and took a swig from it. "Where do I freaking start? Bonnie, Jeremy, and Damon are missing and possibly dead. There's only one dose of the cure. Tyler had to pack his bags and leave or Klaus would kill him. Oh, and then after I was saying goodbye to Tyler, me and Klaus kissed." 

  Nothing shocked Lacey much except for the final part of the list. She slapped Faye on the shoulder as she gasped. "You and Klaus kissed?!"

  Faye winced and rubbed her shoulder where the hit had landed. "That was the most shell shocking thing that happened out of all those? My friends could be dead!"

  "When are they not possible in danger?" Lacey asked with a small shrug of her shoulders. "It's not every day where you spontaneously kiss the guy you're in love with for the first time. What happened? What finally drove you guys to kiss?"

  Faye bit her lip as she thought about the question. She didn't really know why she suddenly had jumped on Klaus with so much passion filling her heart. She clutched the bottle a little tighter, staring off into the distance as the moment played in her head once again. 

  Faye hadn't stopped thinking about the kiss since the moment it happened. She couldn't get out of her head how the way her lips against his made a fitting pair that no one could deny or the way he pulled her close with his hands cupping her cheeks, his thumb brushing against her cheekbone as it became more intense. 

  Even with so much having happened that week that crushed her spirit, she found light in that kiss. It felt as if everything was falling into place though at the same time the world was collapsing around her. 

  "It all just happened really fast," Faye finally answered. "I was sad because Tyler had just left and then Klaus comes out because the spell dropped, talking all this crap about how I made him want to be good." She glanced down at her feet with a small grin appearing on her face as she thought of the words that had pushed her over the edge. 

  "And you kissed him?"

  "And I don't even regret it." The hybrid took another swig from the bottle before she continued speaking. "I really hope he doesn't regret it either. I mean, maybe it was at the worse time ever to do it, but it just felt so right."

  Lacey scoffed at her niece. "Faye, you'd be stupid to think he does. He's been following you around like a lost puppy for nearly a year and I doubt he would suddenly go back on everything he's been waiting for because it was the wrong time."

  "Yeah, maybe you're right." 

  Faye took one last drink from the bottle before setting it back down on the table. She let out a sigh before turning her eyes towards her aunt once again. This time, though, she really took in how her aunt looked. Her hair was messy, she wore sweatpants and she swore there was Cheeto residue on her tank top. It was obvious to anyone that she had had a rough night if they had seen her. 

  "Jesus christ, Lacey. You look like shit."

  "Well, thank you." Lacey snorted. She finally took a sip of the glass she had poured herself. 

  "You had a rough night didn't you?" Faye asked. Lacey did not respond but, instead took another long swig from the glass. 

  The zero response was enough for Faye to decide she had. She bit her lip, feeling like a terrible person. After everything that had happened in the past few days, she hadn't even realized that Lacey may have been affected at all, and there was no doubt she had been. 

  "I'm sorry, Lacey," the strawberry blonde told her. She shook her head, disappointed in herself. "We were so wrapped up in my drama, I never got to really ask you about how you were dealing with everything. I'm a piece of shit."

  "No, it's okay. I'm fine." Lacey glanced down at the ground. She nodded her head to herself, as if she was trying to tell her own self it was too. Her eyes then drifted back up to Faye. "Kol and I weren't as close as I was with the others. I only knew him for a couple years or so. I'm just worried about Elijah."

  Faye didn't know if she believed her or not. Lacey was always well put together when it came to devastating situations. This time around, she wasn't so much, but Faye knew to not press either when it came down to it. 

  "Yeah," Faye said. "Klaus told me you called him."

  Lacey nodded her head again, the bottle she had clutched tightly in her hand. "He didn't answer so I left a voicemail."

  Faye's eyes widened at her statement. "A voicemail?" She asked, astonished. "What the hell did you say?"  'Hey, Elijah, I know you left me like the prick you are, but just wanted to tell you that your brother's dead.'?"

  "Pretty much."

  "Jesus Christ, Lacey. You're an absolute mess."

  Lacey scoffed in offense, making a face at her niece. "So are you Miss 'I'm in love with the man who I used to try to murder all the time'."

  Faye sneered at Lacey jokingly. "That's cold," she dropped the sneer and shrugged, "but true."

  The blonde vampire snorted at the hybrid. She wrapped her arm around Faye, bringing her close into a side hug. Lacey held the bottle in her hand up high and sighed with a small smile on her face. "To us, Daniels women with good hearts, but don't know how to use them properly."

  Mimicking the same grin her aunt had, Faye grabbed the half filled glass that she had originally abandoned for the bottle and raised it. 

  "I can drink to that."

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  The annoyed whine of Lacey Daniels intertwined with the sound of her phone's ringtone at its high volume awoke Faye from her nap. The hybrid sat up quickly when her aunt poked her leg, bleary-eyed from the deep she was in. Her hands were clasped around an empty bottle of whiskey, something she and Lacey had finished off together in desperate need to drown their worries in alcohol.

  Faye's eyes finally cleared up and she sat up from her lounging position. Her phone continued to ring as she looked around the room, trying to figure out the time. It wasn't night as it had been when she had fallen asleep seeing as the sun was peeking through the closed blinds. She let out a sigh and pushed back her hair, trying to collect herself.

  "Answer your phone so I can go back to sleep," Lacey told her, irritated by the noise of her ringtone. The woman's eyes barely open as her head rested against the back of the couch. 

  Faye huffed in annoyance and reached to grab her phone on the coffee table. She held the screen up to her face so she could read the name flashing on it, wondering who would be calling her. When she read Stefan's name she no longer hesitated to answer.

  "Hey. What's up?" 

  "Hey, I need you to meet me at Elena's right now," Stefan rushed out, barely offering her a greeting. Faye frowned, finding it odd that he had said to meet him at Elena's when they were supposed to still be on the island searching for the cure. She perked up, suddenly wide awake.

  "Elena's?" Faye asked him almost immediately after his statement. "When did you get back in town?"

  "This morning." His answer was short and quick, not even daring to go into it. He sounded more than stressed as he spoke to her. "Faye, please get over here," he said. 

  Worry peaked in Faye after she heard his tone of voice. Something was obviously wrong, there was no doubt about it. She stood up from her seat on the couch and walked out from behind the coffee table. She ran a hand through her hair nervously and began pacing the room.

  "Did something happen?" She asked him. "Did you find the cure?" There was a silence for a moment, no reply coming from Stefan. Faye heard him sigh deeply. It was as if he was hiding something from her. "Stef, is there something wrong? Is Damon okay?

  "Damon's fine."

  Faye sighed in relief knowing both of her boys were okay, but there was still something wrong. Bonnie and Jeremy had been gone along with Damon.

  "What about Bonnie? Jeremy?"

  "Jeremy's dead."

  Her phone slipped from her hands at the words. It clattered against the hardwood floor, the sound of the glass screen cracking being heard with a super hearing. Lacey jumped up at the noise, shocked by it. Faye didn't even care about it at the time.

  "Faye, what's-?"

  The hybrid was gone before Lacey could even finish her question. She darted out the door at an inhuman speed, not even saying goodbye. She didn't think to. All she could think about was running; running to Stefan; running to figure out the truth because what he just said had to be a damn lie. Jeremy Gilbert, the boy who stumbled over his words when he first met her, could not be dead. There was no way in hell.

  Faye did not care at all who saw her blur past. She skidded to a stop when she saw the Gilbert home, the one she had spent so much of her time in the past few days. Stefan was standing outside, his phone pressed his ear. His eyes turned when he heard her stop, a look of surprise on his face. Stefan lowered his phone from his face and into his pocket before he spoke to her.

  "Faye-"

  "Tell me you're lying." It was the first thing the strawberry blonde hybrid said, cutting him off. Her fist were clenched at her side as she stormed up to him. The amount of fury in her would make you think she was angry with someone, ready to kill, but no. She was ready to break. "Tell me Jeremy's up there laughing with his sister and this is all a dumb joke you played to get back at me for staying behind."

  Stefan was silent for a moment. He pursed his lips and inhaled deeply through his nose. He didn't want it to be true either, but it was. 

  "I can't," he told her. "He's dead, Faye."

  "Stefan..." Faye bit down her lip harsly, trying to keep herself from crying out. "What the hell happened?"

  "Katherine followed us to the island. She killed him to get the cure."

  Faye had seen several people die in the past few years, many at her own hand. She had seen people pass away that were her friends, her enemies, strangers. To her standards, she handled most of them very well and mourned as she would, but this was different. Jeremy Gilbert was her pack.

  She had only had one pack member die before him. Alaric Saltzman death was unexpected. No one was prepared that the man who would die many times but would awake soon enough would finally meet his end. It was heartbreaking and terrible because Faye had known she had failed to protect him when it was her job. Alaric told her that couldn't have done a thing and all the blame fell on Esther. She accepted that as fact, to give the dying man a little less grief, just as he accepted his own fate of dying human rather than a vampire. It was his choice, a choice that wasn't fulfilled, but he had decided it. 

  Jeremy was a whole different story. Faye could have saved him. If she hadn't have found it in her heart to comfort Klaus, she could have stopped Katherine before she had the chance to lay her hands on him. He would still have a life, a life he wanted to live surrounded by friends and family. Alaric chose death instead of immortal life, but Jeremy only had the option of joining the other side.

  The worst part was, she expected the cure to cause death. She knew that someone would die. Faye had only thought Kol would be the worst of it, though. She did not expect sweet teenage Jeremy Gilbert to die at the hands of someone who looked exactly like his older sister. 

  "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit." Tears welled up in her eyes as everything hit her. Jeremy was dead. She failed him. The hybrid ran a hand through her messy hair, pushing it back out of her face. "I should have been there. I'm the alpha of this damn pack! I was supposed to protect him!"

  Stefan reached to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it. "Faye, no one knew what Katherine had been planning," he tried to tell her. "Not you, not me, not Elena; no one."

  Faye shook her head at him, her lips pressing together into a thin line. "I knew something bad was going to happen, though." 

  The vampire with her didn't say a word. He glanced down at his feet at her words, as if disappointed in himself too. It seemed as if everyone was blaming themselves for Jeremy's death that day. Faye cursed herself for not being there and Stefan cursed himself for not heeding her warning.

  Stefan quickly pushed aside the guilt they were both feeling. He moved his arms around Faye further and coaxed her towards the Gilbert house. "Come on. Caroline's inside."

  Faye nodded and wiped away the tears that had spilled onto her cheeks. She knew there would be someone in there she would need to comfort and her time to mourn a fallen friend would have to be later in the day.

  The two walked up the porch together and into the Gilbert house. The minute she was inside, Faye caught the scent of three people. Caroline and Elena's were strong and prominent in the household. 

  Faye sighed at the thought of the Gilbert girl. Her brother had been the last of her blood family and through everything Elena had done in attempts to protect him, he was gone because of her own doppelganger. As someone who's family was dwindled down to a single aunt and a godfather who had fallen off the face of the Earth, Faye couldn't imagine how she felt. Not only was it the worse thing possible to ever happen, but it was going to feel worse than it would if she were human. Every stage of grief that Elena had gone through more than once would become ten times worse this time around. That girl would need her friends more than ever now.

  The third scent was one of the boy that everyone cried over. It was more faded than usual, his musk smelling more like a memory with traces of death. Faye furrowed her brows together at it. There was only one explanation for the smell: Jeremy's body was there.

  "Why is Jeremy's body here?" Faye muttered to Stefan in confusion. "Why didn't you take him to the morgue or something?"

  Stefan pushed his lips into a thin line as they walked into the kitchen where Caroline was. The blonde vampire turned away from the sink where she had been cleaning something up and exchanged a sad smile with the two. 

  Stefan gave her a small nod in greeting before answering Faye's question. "Elena is sure that his ring is going to revive him. She won't leave his side."

  "How long has she been like that?" Caroline spoke up before Faye could say anything. She looked toward Stefan with pity etched into her expression for Elena.

  "Ever since we found his body," he answered. "She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up."

  Faye shook her head. "But he's not going to wake up."

  "Does Elena know that?" Caroline asked, concerned.

  "Obviously not or his body wouldn't be here." 

  Stefan inhaled deeply at Faye's statement. Both girls looked over at him as he ran his hand through his hair.

  "Look," he said. "Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in." 

  "She can't stay like that forever."

  "I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to, you know..." Stefan trailed off. He didn't want to say it out loud. It sounded like a terrible thing to do to a person when said.

  Caroline had no problem with it. "Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is ok?" 

  Caroline was bitter about the idea, the strawberry blonde could hear it in her voice. It was the only one that would work, though, unless she called Klaus and pleaded with him to compel Elena, but Faye knew he wouldn't help the murderer of his brother.

  "I-"

  Faye couldn't even finish her statement as Elena Gilbert's voice cracked through the room, interrupting her.

  "I'm not in denial."

  All eyes turned towards the former doppelganger. She stood in the opening of her kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest, almost glaring at every supernatural creature in there. Faye gulped, knowing this wasn't going to run out okay.

  "I know that he was supernatural," she told them, "but did you see? His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal." She shrugged. "It's possible, right?"

  "Elena..."

  "It's possible, Caroline," Elena snapped at the blonde. "There's a chance. It may be minuscule, but it's hope, and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way..." She shook her head at the thought. "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead. I'm not in denial"

  I'm not in denial. I'm not in denial. Faye caught the repeated phrase in Elena's ramblings. 

  It sounded exactly like something someone in denial would say.

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  Jeremy's body was already in the third stage of death and Elena still did not believe her brother wasn't going to wake. She did not believe Meredith Fell when she came in to try and take the body. She didn't even believe it when Matt Donovan came in sobbing, him himself realizing the boy was dead and not coming back.

  Faye sat outside on the steps of the Gilbert home, her eyes on the ground. She waited patiently for Damon and Bonnie to return from the island, exactly like the rest of the supernatural of Mystic Falls. She wasn't waiting inside, though, despite the rest of the group being there. Her own feelings clashed with the hope radiating off of each any every person inside. 

  The day seemed to have gone by so quickly with as many twists and turns as any day in Mystic Falls. One moment, she was believing Jeremy Gilbert was not coming back, then the next Damon calls to raise their spirits. He was on his way back with Bonnie at his side, the witch who knows how to save the fallen hunter.

  It had to be too good to be true. When Stefan told her, she didn't believe that Bonnie could just save him. No one came back from the dead without consequences. Jeremy himself was proof of that after all when ghost soon plagued his life. There was going to be some cost to it if it would even work, and in the end, it wouldn't be worth it. 

  "Hey."

  The sound of Caroline's defeated tone of voice shook her from her thoughts. Faye glanced up from the ground to the blonde who stood beside, shoulders sagging, a tired expression on her face. The day seemed to have taken a toll on her.

  She plopped down onto the step next to Faye, immediately resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. Caroline huffed as she stared out across the street.

  "You okay?" Faye asked her.

  "No, not really," Caroline admitted to her. She turned her head to look the hybrid next to her. "Everythings a mess. Jeremy's dead, Katherine stole the cure and Tyler's running for the hills.

  "I heard you calling him earlier," Faye said at the mention of her exes' name. "Tyler."

  Caroline nodded. "Yeah. I thought he should know Jeremy was gone."

  "Did you ever get a hold of him?" 

  "No."

  "Probably ditched his phone so no one could track him."

  "Yeah, probably."

  Caroline took in a deep breath and turned her head again to face out across the street. The two sat together for a moment in silence, thinking of what life had become for them. It wasn't at all like they had expected it to.

  The blonde vampire suddenly sat up straight and spoke her mind. "I just can't believe everything happened like this, though, you know," she said. "I thought things were finally going to be okay. I thought we were going to have our happy high school ending."

  Faye bit her lip, knowing how she felt. She remembered thinking the end of her senior year wasn't going to be as terrible as the beginning. In the first few days, it had gone better than it had the previous year and Faye had believed, finally, it was time for her to live the way she wanted to.

  She had thought her and Tyler would go to prom together and that she would spend her nights studying for finals with a smile on her face. The hybrid was terribly wrong. The only thing that had happened according to plan was her getting accepted into Whittmore and she couldn't even celebrate it with her best friends with the drama the cure had created.

  "We can still have it, Care," Faye said, attempting to be optimistic. She wanted her happy ending more than anything. "High school's not over yet."

  Caroline reached over and squeezed Faye's hand thankfully, taking in her words. They both hoped for it. After all, they had earned it.

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  The purr of Damon's Camero caught the attention of Caroline and Faye who had been sitting in silence, still patiently waiting. Faye watched as the car pulled up against the curb in front of the house. She jumped up when she heard the gears shift into park and the passenger side door click open. 

  Caroline rushed to Bonnie the minute she saw the girl climbing out of the car, wrapping her arms tightly around her. Faye followed behind her, walking up the minute she pulled back from the hug.

  "Thank God," Caroline said. "We were so, so worried" 

  "I'm ok," Bonnie assured her with a small smile on her face.

  Damon got out of the driver seat finally and walked over to Faye. Relief filled her as she saw him. Stefan had assured her he was okay after the kidnapping, but it was better to see him in person without a scratch.

  She pulled him into a tight hug. "Sorry I wasn't there to protect you from whoever kidnapped you."

  "It was another one of those dick hunters," he said quickly, not returning the hug for long. Damon pulled back from it, a serious expression on his face.

  Faye furrowed her brows together. She had never seen him like that before. Of course, there were times when Damon had tossed out his usual sarcastic personality when the situation needed it, but this time was different. He looked almost scared as he as he glanced over at Bonnie and Caroline who were still talking. 

  The blonde vampire gestured towards the Gilbert home, telling Bonnie that everyone was waiting inside for her. She nodded and left Caroline, Damon and Faye by themselves as she headed for the door.  Once she was out of earshot, Damon spoke again.

  "Could you get Stefan out here?" He asked Caroline.

  Caroline nodded to him. She didn't do it right away, though. She stayed put for a moment. "They said that she knows what to do," she said to Damon.

  Damon didn't confirm what she had said. Instead, he gave a stern look. "Caroline, I need to talk to my brother."

  She mimicked Faye's expression of confusion at Damon's tone of voice. He sounded worried, desperate.Caroline glanced over at Faye as if to ask her "what the hell?". The hybrid only shook her head.

  The blonde vampire didn't question Damon like she had wanted to, the look had sent her telling her that she would handle it. She went to go get Stefan with an awkward "okay" passing her lips, going on the same path Bonnie had up to the Gilbert house.

  Faye waited for Stefan to arrive before finally asking what had been on her mind since the moment she saw his face. The younger Salvatore came to stand beside her, looking at his brother.

  "Okay, what's wrong?" The strawberry blonde asked.

  His answer was simple but more concerning than she had expected. "Bonnie." 

  "Bonnie?" Stefan raised his brows at him.

  "She's out of her mind," Damon began to explain to them. "The nutty Professor has got her totally brainwashed. She wants to help Silas do something."

  "Silas?" Faye couldn't believe what she was hearing. "The supposed evil monster guy?"

  "Yeah," Damon answered with a nod. "She's obsessed, now. I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the other side."

  Stefan's squinted in confusion. "Drop the veil? What does that even mean?"

  "What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one or some. It's every supernatural being over there."

  "She did that awhile back," Faye told Stefan in attempts to help Damon explain it. "You could see every ghost and feel them until Bonnie shut the door to keep the ghosts in." 

  She remembered that day; the day she had first seen her parents. It was so clear in her mind. She remembered laughing with them, trying to make a memory with her family that she would be able to hold on before she had to say goodbye. Oh, how she longed for that to happen again. 

  "That's when Mason Lockwood shoved a fire poker through my chest," Damon replied, remembering it himself. "Three massacres, three hot spots, and the witch spell of the century, every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance, again. This time, the veil's not going back up."

  For a second, Faye almost didn't have a problem with the veil falling again, but then she realized fully what he said. "Three massacres?" 

  "Two are already done," Damon informed her. "She needs to kill twelve more people and then she's ready to rock and roll."

  "We can't let her-"

  Stefan didn't finish his statement before Caroline came out onto the front porch with a panicked look on her face. Everyone turned to her in wonder.

  "Damon!" She called out to him. "It's Elena."

  They way she said it, they didn't have to ask if Elena was in trouble, because she was. Damon did not hesitate to rush to her. Stefan was close behind for Elena along with Faye who had to make sure her pack was alright. 

  The three entered the house with Caroline again, being met with Bonnie and Matt looking up the stairs after Elena, concerned. Damon didn't stop to ask what had happened or anything. He pushed everyone aside and went straight upstairs to where Elena was.

  Caroline didn't need to say anything for Faye to know what had happened. She listened to Elena's cries from upstairs, the Gilbert girl finally realizing Jeremy was not coming back. Damon was trying to console her, telling her he could help her, but she wasn't listening. When Faye heard her say they needed to deal with the body, she knew the night would not turn out well from here. She could tell Stefan knew as well.

  The green eyed vampire glanced over to the teenage boy standing with them. "Matt, you should take Bonnie home."

  Matt didn't question it; he knew it was an order, not a suggestion. He put his hand on Bonnie's shoulder and attempted to coax her out of the house. For a moment, she didn't want to leave, but eventually, she gave in to Matt's push and Faye's stern gaze. She let the blond quarterback lead her out the door.

  Elena came downstairs the minute they were gone, Matt's truck revving up outside and pulling away. She moved past the three who had been waiting for her to come down and out into the living room. Stefan followed her, Faye and Caroline behind him.

  "Where's Bonnie?" Elena asked when she saw the witch was no longer there.

  Stefan was the one who answered her. "We told Matt to take her home. We thought it'd be best."

  "Ok. Guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way." 

  "Do what?" There was fear in Caroline's voice. 

  She wasn't the only one afraid of what Elena was about to do. Faye was on edge, watching Elena's every move. She knew the girl was going to snap any second and she was preparing herself for it. 

  Steps sounded on the staircase, causing the hybrid to turn around. Damon came down the stairs, the smell of death becoming more prominent the closer he got down the stairs. Jeremy was in his arms, the body wrapped in a sheet covering his head.

  "Put his body on the couch." Elena ordered Damon with her finger pointed towards the sofa. He didn't protest, only listened. He passed by where Faye, Caroline and Stefan all stood together, watching, and laid Jeremy down.

  Once he was there, Elena moved towards the kitchen. The first cabinet door slamming open made Caroline nearly jump. Faye's eyes followed the blonde as she began to walk towards the kitchen, Elena still slamming draws and cabinets open and shut.

  "Elena?" She cautiously said. "Elena, you need help finding something?"

  Elena didn't respond until she reached into a cabinet over the stove. She pulled something out, no one able to see what it was until she turned and popped open its lid. Lighter fluid. Faye wondered if everyone in the room heard her gulp.

  "Got it." 

  Elena turned the bottle upside down and began drowning the kitchen in the liquid. Caroline gasped at what she was watching. Faye clenched her teeth together. This was Elena snapping; her pouring lighter fluid on ever inch of the kitchen.

  "What are you doing?" Stefan asked in in astonishment.

  "We need a cover story, right? You guys didn't think I heard you earlier?" Elena said to him, speaking of when him, Faye and Caroline had all been outside discussing what they would tell the town. "Well, what are we gonna say? Animal attack, tumble down the stairs? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it." 

  There was something in her voice that scared Faye. Elena had never sounded more broken and the hybrid hadn't ever imagined it. Elena was the strong one; the survivor. She fought and persisted with broken edges that she claimed would heal. Elena didn't sound like herself anymore. She sounded mad.

  Stefan took a step towards his ex-girlfriend and held up his hand. "Elena, stop it" 

  "Why?" Elena turned around with fury in her eyes. "Because you want me to not be in denial?"  You want me to face the truth?"

  "This is the truth, Stefan." Her voice was cold as she spoke to him, but full of emotion at the same time. "I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches." I don't want this Xbox." She destroyed both objects with the liquid. There was no saving them. 

  The bottle was empty by this point and she tossed it across the room. Elena found a supplement for it, though, grabbing a bottle of liquor off one of the shelves.  "Not gonna need this bourbon anymore," she said. She began to walk away from the shelves and over to where Jeremy was. "Alaric is not here to drink it, I mean unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the other side to get him back." 

  She looked around the room as she spoke, but her eyes eventually landed on Damon. "Would you?" She asked. "I know you want your drinking buddy back. Would you, Damon?" He didn't say anything to her, only looked at her with pain in his eyes. "Because I wouldn't."

  Elena moved over to Jeremy and splashed him with the bourbon she had. "I don't know. I mean, does that make me a bad person? I have no idea."

  When she was finished, she took the Gilbert ring from his finger, the useless thing that she had hoped would work. Elena gave it to Damon for him to keep. "He's not gonna need that anymore."

  "Elena, stop it," Caroline demanded, her voice shaking as she shouted at her. "You're scaring me!" 

  "What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline?" Elena questioned as she moved away from Jeremy again and over to the fireplace mantel. She grabbed one of the photo frames from it and slammed it in to the ground. The sound of glass shattering filled the room. I mean, there's no room in the Gilbert family plot. Jenna and John took the last spots." Elena threw the bottle of bourbon in her hand against the wall.

  She was finally finished with her preparation and lit a match she had against the mantel. Faye finally made her move, shaking out of her own shock and fear. She jumped forward.

  "No, you need to stop before you do something you regret," Faye tried to tell her.

  "I'm not going to regret this, Faye. There's nothing here for me anymore. Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died. You know how that feels, right..." 

  Oh, Faye did. She lives in the house where she murdered her own parents, but she wasn't going to burn it down in her own grief.  

  "My mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric, John, even John." Elena cried out the names of those she had lost. "I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to-" She came to a loss of words, stuttering. Everything seemed to be hitting her like a freight train. "I mean, how am I gonna-- I can't even-- There's nothing left for me."

  The match she had been holding finally burnt out during her rambling. The flame hit her hand, causing her to yelp at the sting. It dropped to the ground, but Damon was quick enough to catch it. He blew it out before attempting to comfort Elena.

  "Elena, I need you to calm down," he told her.

  "No, no, no." The doppelganger shook her head wildly. A sob racked through her chest as she dropped to the ground. " I can't. I can't. I can't. I- I can't. I can't," she continued to repeat. "No. It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts."

  Damon dropped to a crouch next to her, as her cries filled the room. Caroline reached over and grabbed Faye's hand, looking for comfort herself. No one could bear to see her like this.

  "Damon..." Stefan finally spoke up and got his brother's attention. The older Salvatore looked up at him, seeming lost. "Help her."

  Damon nodded, understanding what to do. He turned back to Elena and cupped her chin. He moved her head so she could look straight up at him."I can help you," he said. "I want you to let me help you. I can help you."

  "How?"

  "Turn it off."

  "What?" Faye almost shouted when she heard what he was doing. She knew that wasn't what Stefan meant at all. "No, no."

  Damon didn't listen. "Just turn it off, and everything will go away," he continued on. "That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off."

  Faye kept her eyes on Elena who nodded. Her eyes squinted shut for a moment as if she were attempting to find the switch in the back of her mind. She saw Elena change in seconds, the once crying girl becoming a stone cold figure.

  She was gone and in the next morning, so was the Gilbert house.

  ❧ ❧ ❧  

A/N: LONGEST EVERYTHING. LONGEST CHAPTER, LONGEST WAIT TIME FOR A CHAPTER. Holy fuck so like how did this get so long. Anyways, I'm really so so sorry for keeping you guys waiting. It was really hard to write this chapter for some reason because Faye wasn't close to Jeremy really. She felt pain of his death, but like it wasn't as bad as others. So, like, super sorry that this was shit?

THERE'S ONLY SEVEN MORE CHAPTERS LEFT AHHHHH. This includes the chapter that will lead into the sequel all about Lacey. So, in reality, there's only six more chapters of FTHOAW left? I started crying about this the other night because I've worked on this book for so long and it's crazy.

THE NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA BE FUCKING LIT I'M TELLING YOU THAT RN. SO MUCH WILL GO DOWN THAT YOU'LL BE LIKE WAIT WHAT.

Next chapter: Faye is a mission to kill a Kitty Kat, Hayley Marshall needs to be protected by a strong old blonde vampire, and Faye and Klaus have a chat (amongst other things).

REMEMBER I NEED TEN COMMENTS THAT DON'T INCLUDE THE WORD "UPDATE" OR ANYTHING LIKE IT FOR ME TO DO EXACTLY THAT.

- Karina