The Rage of Achilles
ONE - SENIOR
2009

The day, although it seemed alike to all the other hot summer days, made Achilles apprehensive. It made him stress on what college he wanted to attend and why, to keep his grades up, and about leaving the town he came to love. Football, Achilles had always taken a liking to, but he wasn't sure it was to the college level. Achilles had everything he needed in the town of Mystic Falls. Family, friends, magic, Elena... He couldn't leave the people he cared for, the people who cared for him when no one else had.

Sitting in the back seat of his cousin's car made Achilles feel a need to lean foreword for the sake of continuing their conversation. A look of annoyance plastered itself onto his face as he defended, "I hadn't planned on wrecking my car."

"I don't know-" Bonnie looked up into the mirror, her eyes slyly glancing at the older Bennett "-maybe you did. You knew I was picking up Elena." Her singsong voice became too unbearable for Achilles, causing him to sit back with a grumble and gaze out the window. The car began to slow in front of a homey, white house with grey roofing and a pale chimney.

It was just as he —who had been there a week prior to help Jenna, Elena's aunt, with a few handyman things she couldn't juggle— had remembered it. The white bench  swayed in the wind and the house was dimly lit, most of their light coming directly from the sun and through their uncovered windows.
Swinging, the maroon front door opened. Elena stepped out onto the porch, sporting a school bag. She wore bellbottom jeans that only showed the white toes of her black Converse shoes, her red blouse and white tank top were half covered by a black, leather jacket. She made her way across the dewy lawn to Bonnie's small, light grey car.

Elena Gilbert smiled at the driver as she stepped into the car, turning to set her things down in the floorboards and slam the car door shut. Achilles took her in like a fresh breath, enjoying the lavender perfume she wore and the way her brunette hair cascaded effortlessly down jacketed shoulders. Lavender and cinnamon were Elena Gilbert's interchangeable scents. Typically, she wore the flower perfume through the warm seasons and the comforting, cinnamon-vanilla smell throughout the colder ones.

Elena looked back at him, smiling as she asked, "What happened to your car?" Achilles snapped back into reality with a groan, leaning further into the seat and adjusting a hand into the maroon and yellow letterman jacket's pocket.

"Don't even get me started," he complained, watching as Elena laughed and turned back toward the front. Achilles owned a nice, used 2007 Jeep Wrangler. It was dark grey in color, simple and easy to wash. Grams had saved up money just to buy the boy a car around the time he'd turned sixteen.

In the past week, Achilles had found himself angered at the school football star, Tyler Lockwood,
for, well, various things and left the Lockwood Mansion in a fit of rage. The Bennett had learned not to drive while angry that night. Although he hadn't totalled the car, Achilles took full responsibility and willingly volunteered to pay for the repairs as Grams waved a nagging finger at him.

Bonnie took a quick glance at her cousin through the mirror before turning the steering wheel and directing her car off of Elena's street. "So Grams is telling me I'm psychic-" Elena smirked in amusement at the two Bennetts before focusing her eyes elsewhere.

"Bonnie!" Achilles' back straightened as he gave a pointed glance toward Elena, signifying that his cousin should stop talking. Unbothered, the brunette kept watching out the window in deep thought. Her eyes dimmed, smile dropping as she watched the cemetery pass by.

Bonnie rolled her eyes and continued, "Our ancestors were from Salem, witches and all that, I know, crazy, but she's going on and on about it, and I'm like, put this woman in a home already!" It was Achilles' turn to roll his eyes, Bonnie knew better than to deny what she had. "But then I started thinking, I predicted Obama and I predicted Heath Ledger-"

The backseat Bennett laughed, which sounded more along the lines of a scoff. "I predicted Heath Ledger. Moi." He held a dramatic hand over his chest, watching Bonnie through the mirror.

"-and," the younger Bennett continued, ignoring her cousin, "I still think Florida will break off and turn into little resort islands..." After noticing the odd silence coming from the other brunette, Bonnie turned to look at her suspiciously. She couldn't see Elena's fair face that was pointed at the window. "Elena!" The brunette jumped, turning to look at her friend. Beaming, Bonnie joked, "Back in the car."

Elena shook her head, clearing the dark fog from her mind and rejoining the conversation. "I did it again-" she closed her eyes apologetically, "-didn't I? I--I'm sorry, Bonnie." Her eyes reopened, focusing on the mentioned Bennett. "You were telling me that..."

"That I'm psychic now," Bonnie boastfully interrupt, raising her head with joking pride.

"Right...." Elena responded, unsure of what to say as the Bennett nodded at her and looked back toward the road. "O...kay, then predict something. About me."

Bonnie sighed, looking over at the girl and squinting her eyes in thought. "I see..."

"You should be seeing the road," Achilles interrupted, shifting uncomfortably in the back seat. Suddenly, as if on cue, a black blur hit the windshield. Bonnie slammed the breaks, driving her car off course and stopping next to the sidewalk. The other Bennett tried to reach foreword for the girls, but his body slammed back into the seat, restricted by the seatbelt as the car skid to a stop. Elena flung foreward, grasping the dash and car door so tight that her knuckles turned a bright shade of white.

"What was that?" Achilles exclaimed, his milk-chocolate orbs dancing between the two, scanning them for injuries. Taking deep breaths, Elena attempted at calming herself. When that didn't work, she closed her eyes and leaned back into the seat.

"Oh, my god! Elena, are you okay?" The female Bennett questioned frantically, remembering what had happened last spring.

"It's okay. I'm fine," the lavender smelling brunette breathed out, looking reassuringly at her best friend.

Bonnie stammered apologetically, guiltily furrowing her eyebrows, "It was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere."

"Really, I-I can't... be..." Elena took a long second to blink, finding her thoughts and words that tried to run away as her breathing slowed to normal "-freaked out by cars for the rest of my life."

Bonnie stopped for a moment, smiling proudly at her strong friend. "I predict," she began, Elena giving her a toothless smile, "this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times-" Elena nodded "-are over and you are going to be beyond happy." The girl calmed herself at Bonnie's words, giving a beaming grin to her friend as thanks. Elena wanted so bad to believe the words that left the Bennett's lips and she'd stop at nothing to make it happen. Achilles smiles, giving Bonnie an approving nod.

~

Eyes focusing on Bonnie in front of him and away from Matt Donovan, Elena's ex, walking their way, Achilles wiggled an eyebrow. He leaned into the hardback chair, his hand resting lazily on the circle table as he suggested, "We should start a Mystic Falls coven." Bonnie laughed shaking her head. "Seriously, you, Grams, and me. People will join soon enough when they hear how powerful we are." Suddenly, a chair was being scraped out from the tables and turned around, Matt Donovan sitting backwards on it, his arms leaning onto the top.

"Hey, Bonnie," he greeted and glanced over at Achilles. The two prideful teens gave brusque nods to one another. "How's Elena doing?"

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months," the Bennett girl admitted, a sad smile resting halfway on her lips.

"Has she said anything about me?" Matt wondered, gesturing a hand out in question as he talked. Achilles ignored the conversation, glancing around the Mystic Grill to find others to fraternise with. Caroline Forbes was in the corner by the pool tables talking to Tyler Lockwood who leaned nonchalantly on a cue. In his head, he'd made note to apologize to the fellow footballer. Although it hadn't initially been his fault, Achilles felt guilty for yelling at the guy. In a booth sat some of the smartest people in the older Bennett's Trigonometry class. He sighed, seeing no one worth much appeal to talk to and turned his attention back to Matt and Bonnie as the girl softly reasoned, "Give it more time, Matt."

Elena walked into the grill with a new, strikingly good-looking guy both looking around to find the table that Bonnie sat at. The pair wore jackets to shield themselves from the oncoming cold of Fall. All three students at the table frowned, watching as Elena smiled up at the new guy. Matt frowned out of lost hope, Achilles out of jealousy, and Bonnie from confusion and sorrow for the boys next to her.

"More time, huh?" Matt rhetorically asked, his tone dull and eyes unamused. Caroline and Tyler, along with the Bennett's, watched as Matt stood and walked over toward the couple.

After their quick introduction, Elena and the new guy neared the table. Achilles had heard about the new guy, Stefan, from the Freshman girls that talked too loud behind him in lunch. What he knew about the guy, though, was very limited and useless information like his eye color and the clothes he wore. As Stefan made it to them, though, Achilles gave props to the lunch girls for being highly accurate.

"Hey-" the Bennett stuck out a polite hand, a small smile on his lips "-I'm Achilles." Stefan took his hand causing the witch to pull back and widen his eyes. A confused face stared at the knowing one above him.

"Are you-"

"I'm good."

~

Everyone had gathered around the small table, pulling up needed chairs while Matt and Tyler walked off to play pool and talk rudely about the new guy. Achilles glanced from the table he sat at in the middle of the Mystic Grill to Matt and Tyler playing pool, wondering if it were better to stay and watch Caroline interrogate Stefan and Elena stare lovingly at him or if it were better to make amends with Tyler... and Matt. Achilles took the easy road, staying seated and watching Stefan skeptically, hoping one of Caroline's many questions would actually matter. The new guy shifted under Achilles set-in-stone stare, trying to make it seem like he was just fixing his position in the chair.

Bonnie nodded toward Stefan with a smile, wondering, "Parents?"

Stefan emotionlessly replied, "My parents passed away." The Bennett cousins frowned, giving one another a glance before watching as Stefan looked to Elena.

Elena, caught off guard by the revelation, continues the conversation elsewhere, "I'm sorry.-" he nodded "-Any siblings?"

The new guy gave a small smile that never met his eyes, faltering slightly as he informed, "None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Achilles squinted his eyes at the younger male before giving a questioning glance toward Bonnie, who made a small shrugging gesture.

The only blonde at the table became jealous with the way the new guy and Elena looked at each other. Caroline cut in, "So, Stefan-" she looked from Elena, still staring at Stefan, to the mentioned guy "-if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow." With her hands clasped together just under her face, Caroline rested her chin on them and gave him a flirty smile.  Achilles held back the urge to roll his eyes. Stefan, this new guy from nowhere and everywhere, gave the witch a malicious vibe.

Bonnie, a small beam on her face at Caroline's flirting attempt, simply summed, "It's a back to school thing at the falls."

Stefan cocked his head to lock eyes with Elena, wondering, "Are you going?"

Bonnie's beam never left her face as she gave Elena a devious look. "Of course she is." Elena, mouth still opened to respond, glanced at her friends and then smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she gazed at Stefan. His lips tilted at one corner, a form of happy smirk.

Achilles coughed, catching the table's attention, and announced, "I gotta talk to Tyler." Elena nodded, furrowing her brows in confusion at the sudden motion. As Achilles stood, Bonnie gave him an apologetic glance, to which he shrugged, walking backwards away from the table. He turned and then met with Matt and Tyler, who had recently retired to a booth for food. The pair of jocks gave each other quizzing, annoyed glances before focusing back on Achilles as he leaned his palms on the table.

"So-" the witch cleared his throat, watching the blank stares in front of him "-I'm sorry about the other night, Ty. It's just...you know how I get." Tyler nodded, gesturing for Achilles to take a seat by Matt. Glancing at the blond for approval, the Bennett sat.

"Look-" Tyler placed intertwined hands in the table, a truthful look in his eyes "-I know how you get because I'm the same way. I should-" he scratched his neck irritably "-be apologizing. I knew things that negatively involve her shouldn't come up in a conversation with you, but I did it anyways because..."

"Because you're a pusher?" Matt asked, leaning back into the cushioned booth. The Lockwood gave a glare to the blond, but nodded.

"Let's just call a truce," Achilles proclaimed, holding his hand out above the wooden table. A tan hand gripped his own tightly, shaking.

"Truce."

~

What does it mean to feel death?

Achilles pondered this question multiple times over, playing it in his head on a loop. Unable to answer it, he sighed. Feeling death when touching Stefan was worse than seeing it- and Achilles had seen death a plethora of times.

Back in his home town of New Orleans, Louisiana, Achilles felt unable to escape death. A friend of his mother's, Mrs. Tracy, had been found in an alley. After that day, many more acquaintances of his parents mysteriously died. His father had always warned him to stay away from an evil man, warned him never to do anything regrettable outside in the French Quarter.

Achilles and his family never stayed out late for they would inevitably find themselves like Mrs. Tracy. The older woman was only the first, though, and soon his sister another. Achilles shivered, thinking of Achelois Bennett. She was only four and he didn't remember her well, but he'd remembered loving and losing her so quickly, all at once.

Mystic Falls, he came to the conclusion, had its own tragedies alike to the town of New Orleans. Grayson and Miranda Gilbert had died just this past spring. He remembered when Gram's cat, Magi, died and- even though it was just a cat- how much it had effected the old woman.

Seeing death wasn't anything new for Achilles. Shaking Stefan's hand, he hadn't just felt death, he saw it. Blood and loose heads are what he saw. Terror and death are what he dealt. Worry filled Achilles. Was Stefan not as safe as he seemed? Was he planning on killing them all? The Bennett laughed dryly at himself. Of course not! he thought, is my magic going haywire?

Achilles slept that night, one question on his mind.

What does it mean to feel death?

~

Fog. Achilles turned full circle in the woods, scanning the area for something amiss. He wasn't sure what his eyes were looking to find, but —as the fog creeped around his feet— he knew it to be bad.

Turning again, something new appeared in the night. The old ruins of Fell's Church were at his feet. Crunching of sticks and leaves behind him made him swivel cautiously around. Something— someone was there, a dark shadow within the trunks of trees. A man's silhouette. Achilles stepped slowly back, into the cobblestone ruins of Fell's Church. Loosing his footing, Achilles felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Except, when he stopped falling there was blackness and- instead of the cheshire cat's smile- menacing white teeth of the silhouette, dripping with blood.

Achilles woke with a gasp, sitting upright. The smallest amount of sunlight shone down on him. He looked up the cobblestone stairs and frowned at the faintest drop of red on the corner of one. It was thick like red paint, but Achilles couldn't help but think... maybe his dream had been real.

His forehead, just above the brow bone, stung terribly and gave the worst migraine. Fingers met a wet, sticky forehead. He pulled his fingers away and examined. Chocolate eyes widened at the sight of blood. Standing, Achilles quickly made his escape from the underground that was left of Fell's Church.

Shaking his head and chuckling, Achilles looked back at the ruins.

Maybe the fact that I hit my head turned my dream into a nightmare.

~

Plot by: papertides
Thank you so much for letting me use this plot!