chapter sixty three

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  "Faye. I'm standing in one of my favorite places in the world, surrounded by food, music, art, culture, and all I can think about is how much I want to show it to you. Maybe one day you'll let me."

  She was not sure how many times she listened to it, but it was enough to make her emotions swirl in different directions. Anger; sadness; loneliness; nothing; they all came within five repeats of the same damn voicemail.

   "End of message. Press one to delete. Press seven-" Faye hung up at the sound of the automated voice. She tossed her phone across the bed, electing to stare at the ground rather than watch it thump on her comforter.

  Lacey was gone with Elijah; something she fought to happen as she believed her aunt deserved the world. The only thing she didn't realize was the reason they stayed; Faye's lover himself, Klaus Mikaelson. He had gone in the night after the moment he had danced with her at prom.

  She knew something had been up when he appeared, claiming he came to make her dreams come true. He wasn't doing it for that; he was saying goodbye. Klaus had known that when he had gone to New Orleans, he would continue to stay. 

  He stayed to become king. He chose power. Faye recalled the annoyed tone Lacey kept when she explained the situation, claiming he was going to ruin her plan to protect one of the only family Faye had left (which was another thing Faye had taken poorly, but that was a story for another time). Though, she also recalled the way she could feel her entire mood shift as it was revealed he wouldn't be returning.

  Faye Daniels knew better than to think he would chose her over everything he had ever wanted; power. She knew herself she would never chose Klaus over her pack entirely and couldn't expect the same of him. A slight part of her did, though, and it only ended with aching hearts, much worse than she had with Tyler. 

  "You've listened to that voicemail like a hundred times."

  Faye's eyes flickered up towards Caroline who stood with a sheepish smile across her lips. In the days Lacey had already been gone, the house became too quiet for the hybrid to handle. Caroline had been willing to be the place holder, comforting her all the while.

  Faye huffed in response, unable to find the words. A sad sigh escaped the Forbes, causing her to come towards the bed.

  "Scoot over," Caroline demanded. Faye reluctantly pushed herself to one side of the bed, allowing the blonde to tuck herself under the cover. Concern etched across the Forbes' face, a look Lacey herself would have worn seeing her niece in that state. "Are you okay?"

  "You tell me," Faye drawled. "The guy I was totally in love with left without saying goodbye and is probably not coming back."  She sounded exhausted as she spoke, as if something had stolen her entire life force from her. 

  "Honey..." Caroline pulled the strawberry blonde closer to her, squeezing her tightly in comfort. She embraced it, dropping her head on to the vampire's shoulder with ease.

  "I'm sick of hybrids breaking my heart."

  The blonde pulled a face, looking at her friend in sympathy. She ran a hand through Faye's hair and sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. "Klaus is going to be back, though, or you're going to run straight in to his arms in New Orleans. He wants you there."

  "That doesn't matter." The hybrid shrugged helplessly. "I can't just leave everything behind to run to him. New Orleans means no Whitmore and it means miles from my pack," Faye sighed as she lifted herself from Caroline, "and I doubt he would leave everything behind for me."

  They were a means to end; Faye should have known. Her and Klaus hadn't even a chance to deeply explore whatever they had and they had already met their end. She kept her eyes trained on her hands, her thumbs twirling around each other as she thought about their sudden closure.

  "Faye-" Caroline attempted to speak, but was cut off by Faye dramatically throwing herself back on the bed.

  "I'm just gonna' stay here and mope for the rest of eternity. Thanks for trying to cheer me up."

  Caroline wouldn't allow that, though. With a sudden jump from her spot, she stood right by Faye's bed and held out her hand. "I'm not going to let you sit here and rot," she exclaimed. "Let's go check up on Elena and then I'm going to fix all your Klaus issues, okay?"

  "Care-"

  Faye's protest was cut off by Caroline yanking her from the bed by her arm. The Daniels girl groaned as she was forced to stand up, having to confront the day. Her friend wore a hopefully smile on her face.

  "Today is going to be a good day."

  If only she could agree.

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  "Where is she?" Caroline's shrill voice of demand cut through the front entrance of the boarding house. She stormed into the foyer after Stefan, Faye following close behind without a word said. Their "good day" had already begun with some issue, as Stefan had denied Caroline any access to the emotionless doppelganger. "I want to see her."

 Stefan glanced behind Caroline to the strawberry blonde, silently pleading for her help. She only shrugged, knowing there was no way to stop Caroline from what she wanted. While she herself did not care to see the shell of what Elena used to be, Faye was still going to stand behind her friend.

  "We're not letting anyone see her," Stefan explained to the blonde, exasperated. "That's the whole point. Isolation leads to misery, leads to emotion." 

  "She's been here for days. She hasn't improved at all?" 

  "Look. She doesn't want to, Caroline," he shifted his gaze from her to the corner, almost as if he were ashamed, "not yet. She's devastated. She lost her brother. She attacked her friends. She killed an innocent woman." 

  Caroline crossed her arms over her chest, outraged by the fact there was no progress. "You said that you knew to help her." 

  Stefan turned back to her and nodded. "I did say that. We are." 

  "How, by torturing her?"

  "It's not torture," he assured her. "It's an intervention. The only chance we have with her is to provoke her, to trigger something; fear, anger, self-pity, anything."

  "Let me talk to her before any more interventioning," Caroline attempted to convince him. She pulled wide eyes at the Salvatore hoping for a positive answer. "If she's weak, she can't hurt me. Even if she tries, Faye can go down with me."

  Stefan seemed to be considering it as his eyes flicked from her to the quiet hybrid. He raised a brow at her, asking if she was on board. "Faye?"

  She offered him a simple shrug. "What's the worse that could happen?"

  Caroline's thankful gaze came back to Stefan, once again pleading to the reluctant vampire. "Please just let me try."

  Stefan gave in eventually and led them down to the cellar where Elena was. She was kept in the same room as all of the unpredictable vampires with some screws lose (and some humans as well). They all had the same look; weak, tired, and brooding.

  Elena welcomed the persona, her dreary form hidden away  in the corner of the room. Caroline let out a sad sigh as soon as Stefan had opened the door. Faye almost felt a tug at her heart for her pack mate, but she knew Elena wasn't there and her run down state is what it would take to bring her back. 

  "We're good," Faye told Stefan, letting he was good to go. His eyes darted between the three females cautiously before taking his leave. 

  The moment they were alone, Caroline pulled a vial from her jacket pocket, one full of blood. She moved to crouch down in front of her friend, popping the vial open to awaken her. Faye opted to stay in the back of the room, watching the scene unfold. 

  "I brought you something." Caroline waved a vial of blood at her. Elena, as weak as she was, perked at the sight of it. "It doesn't have any vervain in it, I swear. I just figured a little blood might help you think straight." She handed the bottle to her and Elena chugged it with desperation.  "For the record, I don't agree with what they're doing. I mean, I agree that you need to turn your humanity back on, but I don't think that making you suffer is the way to do it. That's not who you are."

  Elena rolled her eyes as she tossed the bottle aside. There was more color to her face as the blood coursed through her. "What makes you such an expert on who I am? 

  "Because we've been friends forever," Caroline scoffed. 

  "I tried to kill you, Caroline. I'm not exactly BFF material anymore."

  That was news to Faye. She stepped from the back, becoming more perched over Caroline's shoulder. "Wait you tried to kill her?" She exclaimed, her eyes turning wide at the brunette shriveled up below. 

  "Oh, don't get all over-protective on me. That clingy alpha thing gets annoying." Her head lagged to her shoulder, weak from the vervain and starvation. "I mean no wonder your aunt and boyfriends skipped town. I know Tyler said he's running for his life, but maybe he's running from you. Then Klaus..." Elena chuckled. "We all know he got what he wanted and was out."

  Faye pursed her lips, the words she said striking her heart. For a moment, she could only think she was right. Klaus had left right after he had gotten what he wanted in efforts to pursue something else. It made sense.

  Caroline wasn't going to let her believe that, though. A comforting hand came to brush the hybrids shoulder. "Don't listen to her," she said glancing towards Elena. "She's in pain. She's lashing out."

  Her attention turned towards the Gilbert as she spoke to her, "I get it, but you can't stay this way forever. We're about to graduate and start new lives, and you deserve..."

  Another dry laugh came from Elena. "Are you seriously talking about High-School graduation?" She asked. "Caroline, do you realize how pathetic you're gonna look in that cap and gown pretending to be human while your mom fake-smiles and just counts down the minutes until you leave town so that you can stop being a reminder that her daughter is a repulsive, blood sucking, control freak monster?"

  The hurt Faye had felt for her attack turned in to anger the moment Caroline's face dropped. The hopeful expression that had been etched across the girls face had disappeared at the hateful words spoken by Elena. Faye's glaring eyes kept a careful watch on the emotionless vampire. She could see her inching slowly to come to her feet, careful, but not enough to keep Faye from noticing.

  "It's really too bad Stefan stopped me before I put you out of your misery, but, hey, here's to second chances."

  Before Elena could even launch herself at Caroline, Faye's hands found her way around her draw. She abruptly moved, cracking Elena's neck with ease. The doppelganger collapsed to the ground with her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

  The Forbes looked up to her friend in a mix of shock and gratitude. "Thanks." Faye gave her a grim grin, knowing what she was getting thanked for wasn't the best.

  Stefan was barely surprised when he saw the outcome of the visit. Caroline turned to him, almost guilty for even testing his ways. 

  "Do whatever you have to do," she told him, defeated. Her hand reached for Faye's, grabbing a hold and giving it a slight tug. "We'll be upstairs."

  As Caroline pulled her along, the air now heavier after the Elena encounter, Faye could only think one thing; so much for the good day.

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  Another shout of agony rattled the halls of the boarding house, causing Faye to grit her teeth. The torture being cast upon Elena in attempts to gain emotion dragged on with each passing moment. It wasn't working, Faye could tell, but that didn't stop the Salvatore brothers from trying.  

  She regretted not taking Caroline up on her offer for fresh air. The smell of the woods would have been more comforting than burning flesh, but no, she had opted out. Faye instead sat patiently in the parlor room, waiting for her return.

  A flash of blonde hair passed by, Faye believing for a moment it was her vampire friend. It wasn't until she caught a glimpse at the face that she realized she was much wrong. It wasn't who she expected; far from it actually.

"Rebekah," her eyebrows furrowed in surprise at the youngest Mikaelson, "I thought you went to New Orleans."

  Rebekah eyes barely flickered towards her. "The days of in which I would follow my power hungry brother to the ends of the Earth are far behind me," she told the hybrid as she set down the brown paper bag radiating burgers on the table. The blonde then gave her full attention to Faye, her lips pursing. "Seems like they never came to you."

  Faye huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. A glare marred her face as she looked at her. "Don't start," she said. The hybrid had had quite enough hearing about how Klaus left her behind. Rebekah would have the worst to say of them all, even Elena possibly.

  "It's not a bad thing," Rebekah assured. Her voice was light as she spoke to her. "Staying out of Nik's quest for power is the better option for you, but not for him. He was an idiot to leave you behind." 

  The words softened Faye's harsh glare, not expecting Rebekah to make such a statement. She heard it from Caroline, telling her that Klaus was stupid if he tossed away the greatest thing that ever happened to him for a city. Faye couldn't assume that was the truth. It could have just been a white lie coming from her friend to comfort a broken heart.

  To hear it from Rebekah, though, almost made her believe it was true. A girl who owed her nothing, who loved her brother much more than she could ever care for the strawberry blonde, was saying Faye was too good to leave.

  The blonde scoffed, staring at the Daniels girl, "I swear after centuries of searching for something to make him whole, he cannot even recognize the chance he has with you." Jealousy seethes from each word, but it isn't bitter. It's more sad, yearning. "He believes regaining New Orleans will do that, but the love you possess for him is worth much more than a memory of a city."

  "Maybe you're wrong," Faye countered.

  "You looked past his wrong doings and saw someone who you could love. Us Mikaelsons rarely find someone willing to do so; to forgive our horrible acts we've done," Rebekah reasoned. "That is worth much more than whatever is left there for him to rule, I assure you." 

  Faye couldn't find what to say as she stared at the Mikaelson. There was a chance Rebekah was right, but it didn't change the fact Klaus did not see it the same was. He wasn't his love struck sister who wanted romance and someone to truly care for them despite their flaws. He was Klaus, who was not going to leave behind his chance to be king for a girl.

  She no longer wanted to dwell on the subject, sadness creeping up inside her again. Her posture switched as she stood up, standing straight instead of the slouch she once occupied.

  "Not that I don't love the pep talk," Faye said, changing the subject, "but what are you doing here?"

  Caroline cut in at that moment, coming back inside later than Faye had thought she would be. Matt stood at her side, surprised to see Rebekah standing with Faye. "Yeah, seriously."

  A sheepish smile grew on Rebekah's face at the sight of Matt Donovan, all of her attention focusing on him. "I don't mean to interfere. It's just I happen to know all they keep in this house is blood and booze. So I brought a peace offering." She gestured her hand towards the brown bag she had placed down earlier. "Burgers?"

  "Thanks."

  Caroline wasn't as thankful as Matt as her lips curled up into a snarl. "Yeah, we can't really entertain right now, but thanks for stopping by." 

  "I think I might stay," Rebekah responded to Caroline, standing her ground. "Matt mentioned that he was failing classes and needed a study buddy."

  It was to news to both Faye and Caroline hearing that, turning towards the friend in surprise. He blushed red with embarrassment. 

  "You're failing?"

  "Why didn't you ask me to help you study?" 

  Matt glanced back and forth between the two questioning girls before answering Caroline. "Well, I didn't exactly ask her."

  "Well, what classes are you failing?" 

  "I'm not failing," the boy lied, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly I'm just really, really behind in history and Italian and math..."

  "Matt!" 

  "This year's been a little distracting!" With his hands held up in defense, Matt Donovan had been cornered by Caroline who was more anxious at the thought of him failing than he was. 

  "We could all help," Rebekah butted in, suggesting. "'All hands on deck.' That's the motto around here, right? 

 "We don't have a motto." Caroline's grimace faltered as she looked away from Rebekah towards Matt. "Look, if you need to study, we're gonna study," she promised, already starting to back out the door. "I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna get my flash cards and my study guides and some energy bars. This is gonna be good."  

  In seconds, she had zoomed out the door, bursting with excitement. Two of the three left behind had nothing to say, used to the behavior, but Rebekah scrunched up her nose at the sight.

"You dated that?" She asked Matt. He only shrugged. 

"She likes projects."

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  Studying got boring fast. Between Faye herself being no help at all in two of the subjects and the other being easy for Rebekah to handle, it was pointless for her to sit there. All she did was see the desperate looks cast towards Matt from the blonde herself and wonder if Caroline had gotten lost getting to her home.

  Elena's screams had silenced long ago and were replaced with Stefan's sighs in defeat. Faye was sure her humanity was not going to come back that day, or any day for that matter. There was no reason for her to stick around and wait, so she left.

  Faye flickered the lights on the moment she stepped inside her home. She called it home, but for the first time since Lacey left, she realized it didn't much feel like it anymore. Caroline wasn't there so the silence surrounded her.  She could hear the creek of the wood under her feet with each step she took, the sound of wood settling sounding as it never had before. Her journey to the kitchen was the loudest one she had ever taken.

  The room that once busted with life under Lacey's stress cooking was dull. Faye no longer needed to wonder how it felt long ago when her aunt was left behind due to death and curses; the emptiness of a once lively house. There was no comparison to their situations, but Faye understood the loneliness of the house.

  Faye let out a sigh and went to the fridge, taking out a single blood bag. She settled herself down atop one of the counters with the bag in hand, her mind plagued but rushing thoughts.

  She was alone for once. She was utterly alone for the first time since she returned to civilization. Faye no longer had Lacey pestering at her or Elijah telling stories or Klaus trailing at her feet. Tyler was gone as well and the rest of her pack was in their own world, fighting different demons Faye couldn't help with.

  With Klaus gone, he not only left her with a broken heart, but he left her alone.

  And that's what made her saddest of all.

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A/N: So lets not talk about how I don't know ho to update in a reasonable time frame or give yall a good chapter bUT IT'S HARD CAUSE LIKE FAYE DOESN'T HAVE REALLY MUCH INVOLVEMENT WITH THE WHOLE HUMANITYLESS ELENA AND I DIDN'T WANT HER TO MEET SILAS UNTIL HE WAS PRETENDING TO BE STEFAN. also this chapter is shorter because its more of a filler until the final shit

anyways hi there are two chapters left of fthoaw and i hope yall cri with me

i've also decided some things that i will clear up in the final q&A 

Don't forget to start asking questions! The last Q&A section for you to ask anything you want concerning the story and the sequel is posted!

Next chapter: graduation preparation, silas makes bonnie crazzzzzyyy, and faye finds some family again along the way

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

- Karina