08. Dead Man On Campus

Fae entered her, Kaitlynn and Caroline's dorm room, and immediately she was shocked seeing the amount of alcohol her two best friends had bought for her welcome back to life party.

"So, from the amount of alcohol I'm currently seeing, I'm going to assume and say this welcome back to life party isn't going to be a lowkey event" Fae said, gaining the attention of her friends.

"Absolutely not" Kaitlynn said, "This isn't just a party to celebrate the fact that you're back, it's also to celebrate the fact that we've finally managed to get rid of both Silas and Qetsiyah".

"Which equals a massive cause for celebration" an excited Caroline said.

"Which equals into a massive party" Kaitlynn added, "I mean, we're hoping at least, since both me and Caroline kind of haven't made any friends in college yet".

An amused Fae shook her head at her two friends, she then looked at the Forbes vampire, "I thought you were going to spend some time with Brayden today?".

Caroline sighed, "He wants one day to himself" she informed, "He even refused to talk to Stefan and Damon".

"Is he okay?" a concerned Kaitlynn asked.

"Honestly, I don't think so" Caroline admitted, "But we all know him, he'd rather suffer then open up, so I'm giving him today to get his feeling straight, but tomorrow I'm not planning on leaving him till he opens up, I mean I don't want to be clingy but I'm really worried about him".

"You're not being clingy" Fae assured, "Brayden is a stubborn person and if you want him to open up to you, then you're going to have to be equally as stubborn".

"Facts" Kaitlynn agreed, making Caroline smile at her two best friends, glad they didn't find her being worried for Brayden as her being a clingy soulmate.

***

After talking to Kaitlynn on the phone, Damon entered the Salvatore's library where Brayden sat, staring at the fire infront of him, Stefan having gone to Whittemore to spend some time with Fae, he still was having a hard time believing his girlfriend was back, only he knows how hard it was for him when Fae decided the first thing she wanted to after coming back to life is start college with Caroline and Kaitlynn.

"So apparently, we've been invited to a college party" Damon informed, he waited a moment for a comment from Brayden, but frowned when he said nothing, "Yeah, that was my first reaction too, then Kaitlynn promised a bottomless well of top-shelf alcohol".

Damon stood behind Brayden, eagerly waiting for a reply from him, but unknown to him, his words weren't being registered by Brayden, as he was too busy recalling his time in the safe.

"Brayden", a startled Brayden opened his eyes and saw his twin brother now standing infront of him, "You okay?" a concerned Damon asked, having never seen his brother like this before.

"I'm peachy" Brayden lied.

"How about my favorite reading chair?" Damon asked, gesturing towards the chair Brayden was sitting, a chair that without him even realising Brayden had ripped into with his fingers.

Brayden quickly removed his fingers from the chair and stood up, "Tell Kaitlynn that I appericate the invite, but I'm not really in the mood for a party".

Brayden turned to leave, but Damon quickly stopped him, "Caroline's going to be there, don't you two have a lot you need to talk about".

"Caroline and I will talk when I'm ready, something she understands, it's high time you understand that as well" Brayden snapped, annoyed at his brother for trying to use Caroline's name to get him to come to this party.

"Bray--", Brayden didn't let Damon complete his sentence, he just simply walked out the room, really needing to distract himself before he lost his mind.

***

"I handed out all of the party's fliers" an excited Kaitlynn announced, entering her dorm building, "And Stefan's already here, him and Fae are currently spending time together, and Damon's coming later on, I asked him to try and convince Brayden to come as well".

"Brayden's not going to come, Kait" Caroline stated.

"Who knows, maybe Damon will manage to convince him" Kaitlynn suggested.

Caroline shook her head, "No one can convince Brayden to do something he doesn't want to do" she reminded, just as her phone started ringing.

Kaitlynn grabbed Caroline's phone and frowned seeing Jesse calling her, "Why is Wes's biology TA calling you?" she asked, showing Caroline her phone.

Caroline looked at her phone in confusion, "I have no idea, I haven't talked to him in days" she admitted, grabbing her phone from Kaitlynn and answering it, "Well, look who rose from the dead".

"I need your help" a panicked Jesse said from the other side.

"What happened, Jesse?" a suddenly concerned Caroline asked.

"Just come to my room please" Jesse pleaded.

"Okay, I'm coming, but what's going on?" a confused Caroline asked.

"It's a long story" Jesse replied, "My roommate's gonna be home".

Kaitlynn looked at Caroline in confusion as she rushed towards Jesse's room.

***

Caroline entered Jesse's dorm room and to her shock, she saw Jesse drinking his roommate Aaron's blood, the Forbes vampire quickly rushed towards Jesse and shoved him away from the unconscious boy.

"Oh my god" Caroline whispered, looking at Aaron in worry, seeing Jesse still wanting to attack Aaron, Caroline quickly slammed Jesse to the wall, breaking him out of his hunger trance, "Who the hell turned you into a vampire?!".

***

"It was torture, I was in some cell all day and then at night he'd take me out and do experiments on me" Jesse explained to Caroline about what Wes did to him.

"What kind of experiments?" a curious Caroline asked.

"I don't know, he's starve me and then inject me with some weird blood" Jesse replied, "What am I supposed to tell my parents? They left me all these messages, they're wondering where the hell I am".

"We're going to call them and tell them that you lost your phone but you're okay" Caroline said, sitting next to Jesse, "Where's Wes now?".

"I locked him in his lab after I attacked him" Jesse explained, "Honestly, the whole escape was kind of a blur, I wasn't exactly in my right mind".

"Well, you're new and you're hungry" Caroline said.

"Which is why I'm here" Kaitlynn said, entering the room, "I brought our stash of blood bags", Kaitlynn handed Jesse a blood bag, "How you feeling, Jesse?".

"Our stash?" a shocked Jesse asked, "You're a vampire too?".

"Of course I am" Kaitlynn confirmed, "And it's not as bad as you think, you were just turned the wrong way, but don't worry, as time goes on, being a vampire will become much easier, now come on, drink up, you must be hungry", Jesse nodded his head and proceeded to drink the blood bag while Kaitlynn looked towards an unconscious Aaron, "How's he?".

"He's all right, he's alive" Caroline informed.

"I'll heal him" Kaitlynn offered.

"Kaitlynn wait, I was thinking that Jesse could do it" Caroline suggested, she looked at Jesse, "You're a vampire now, you may have hurt him, but you can also heal him, with your blood, bite into your wrist".

"What?" a confused Jesse asked.

"Just bite" Caroline insisted, Jesse nodded and finally bit into his wrist, Caroline then grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards Aaron and placed Jesse's wrist on Aaron's mouth, as Aaron drank his blood, Jesse watched in fascination as Aaron's wound healed up.

"Holy crap, that's insane" Jesse whispered.

"You wanna teach him about compulsion?" a smiling Caroline asked Kaitlynn, who smiled back at her.

***

Brayden walked into the Grill, he sat down on one of the tables and signaled for a waitress, however before a waitress could reach him, Katherine Pierce did.

"Hey stranger" Katherine greeted, taking a seat infront of Brayden, she showed him the bottle of bourbon she took from the bar, "Look what I stole".

Brayden groaned in annoyance, he slammed his head to the table, "I wanted one day without disturbance, just one" he mumbled.

"Hey, come on" Katherine said, "Please just have one drink with me, please, Brayden I have had a bad year, really, and it would be nice to have a friendly face".

Brayden sighed, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen" he whispered, "I'm about to have a pity drink with Katherine freaking Pierce".

"See, the universe at work" Katherine teased, "I don't know if you knew this, but our bloodline stars are fated to be together, so like it or not, you're gonna end up with somebody from my family line".

"Wrong" Brayden stated, "The universe doesn't want me to end with just anyone from your bloodline, specifically it wants me to end up with your sister, Kaitlynn".

"Yes, the universe seems to have all of its eggs in the Kaitlynn basket" a bitter Katherine said, pouring herself a shot, "But at this point, I don't really blame it".

Brayden frowned seeing Katherine down the shot, "What's up with you?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Other than the joint pain, receding gums and the fact that I have to pee every five minutes, I'm dandy" Katherine said, "But hey, enough about me, why are you all by your lonesome?".

"I wanted one day to myself" Brayden replied, "You know, without annoying people talking to me and pissing me off".

A clearly drunk Katherine let out a chuckle, "Well, if you did want to talk to someone, I'm right here" she said, pouring herself another shot, "And let's be honest, I'm wasted, so I'm not gonna remember".

As Katherine downed her shot, Brayden let out a defeated sigh, "Ever since I came out of the safe and got my memories back, my goal had been to kill Silas, I thought killing him would allow me to let go of the past and move on, but that just doesn't seem to be happening, the summer I spent locked in that damn safe, messed with my head, one minute I'm completely fine and the next I feel like I'm back at the quarry, drowning again and again".

"Oh, classic PTSD" Katherine realised, "You survived a pretty traumatic event, and now you're back and you've got nothing but free time to just relive that terrible experience in the safe, well, allow me to give your life a purpose, help me with one little favor".

Brayden let out a small chuckle, "How could I think this wasn't going to come around and become about you?" he said, downing a shot.

"I'm just trying to help" Katherine defended, "What would I know about post-traumatic stress? I only had my newborn ripped from my arms by my judgmental father and then I had to run five hundred years after my entire family had been slaughtered by a psychopath, but hey, that didn't have any lingering side effects".

A frustrated Katherine stood up from the table and tried to walk away, but Brayden stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"All right, stop" Brayden said, "Tell me what you need from me".

Before Katherine could reveal anything to Brayden, Nadia, her long lost daughter walked over to the duo, "I thought you never wanted to see me again, why'd you call me?" she asked.

Katherine turned to a confused Brayden, who was wondering who this new girl was, "Brayden, I'd like you to meet Nadia Petrova, my daughter".

"I'm sorry, what?!" a shocked Brayden asked.

***

Brayden, Katherine and Nadia stood together in the back room of the Grill.

"I'm going to regret asking this" Brayden said, observing the mother daughter duo standing infront of him, "But just out of extremely morbid curiosity, whose younger out of you two?".

"I am" Both Katherine and Nadia said at the same time.

"Of course" Brayden mumbled, just as Matt entered the back room.

"Okay, so here's the knife the traveler left behind with me" Matt informed, showing the trio the knife, "Now what are we doing in here?".

"Take a seat, Matt" Katherine said, taking the knife from Matt's hand and shoving him on to the seat behind him, she then walked over to her daughter and with her hand gestured towards Matt.

Nadia let out a frustrated sigh, "This is ridiculous" she said, walking over to Matt, she then placed her hand on the side of Matt's face and in czech demanded for the passenger in Matt's body to come forward, immediately causing Matt's eyes to go  black before turning back to his normal eyes.

"What just happened?" a shocked Brayden asked, wondering if he was once again hallucinating things or was this real.

"She's calling on Matt's passenger" Katherine informed.

"What am I doing here?" the passenger in Matt's body asked, speaking to Nadia in czech.

"It's okay, sweetheart" Nadia said, also speaking in czech.

As soon as the passenger's eyes landed on Katherine, he stood up from his seat and glared at her, "Woah, easy there buddy" Brayden said, standing behind Matt and forcing him to sit back down.

Katherine smirked at the passenger, "Hello, Gregor, I'm Nadia's mother, it's a pleasure to finally meet you".

"What do you want?" Gregor asked, speaking to Katherine in english.

"Here's the thing, Nadia's my only child" Katherine replied, putting her arm around her daughter, "So, naturally, I'm suspicious of anyone who wants to date her, why don't you tell us the real reason why you're in Mystic Falls".

"To track and kill Silas" Gregor informed.

"Oh, so it has absolutely nothing to do with this?" Katherine asked, showing Gregor the travelers knife.

"How did you get that?" a shocked Gregor asked, he stood up and tried to snatch the knife from Katherine's hand, but Brayden quickly grabbed him, he put his arm around his neck and started chocking him.

"I am already really annoyed that the one day I asked to be alone I got roped into another Petrova mess, so without making me any more annoyed then I already am, spill as to what you're doing here" Brayden demanded.

Katherine took the knife out of the cover and held it against Gregor's neck.

"Fine, after Silas was dead, I was meant to kill her" Gregor informed, gesturing towards Katherine.

"I didn't see that one coming" a shocked Katherine said.

"You were using me to get to her?" a hurt Nadia asked, "Why? Why would you kill her?".

"That's what the Travelers want, I don't question my orders" Gregor replied.

"See why I don't want you dating my daughter?" an angry Katherine asked, "Because travelers are ruthless, manipulative hypocrites", Katherine too a step back from Gregor, "I know because her grandfather was one", Katherine stabbed Gregor with the traveler's knife.

"What the hell did you just do?" a shocked Brayden asked, placing a unconscious Matt on to the chair, and an emotional Nadia kneeled infront of his body.

"Give it a rest, Matt will be fine" Katherine assured, "Gregor, on the other hand, not so much, I just expelled his spirit, there's a reason why he wanted this knife so badly, it's the only thing that will truly kill a passenger".

***

Brayden sat on the bar at the Mystic Grill, drinking bourbon when suddenly someone bumped into him, Brayden looked at the person and then around him and realised how crowded the Grill had gotten, immediately Brayden's breathing started getting heavy, once again he felt himself back at the quarry.

However, before Brayden could get too lost in his thought, the sound of glass crushing brought him out of his trance, looking down at his now bloody hand, Brayden realised he had crushed the glass in his hands without even realising it.

Quickly Brayden stood up from the bar stool and after much difficulty, he managed to leave the Grill through the back door, as soon as he stepped out, he put his head on the railing and tried to calm himself down, but kept failing, no matter what he did, he couldn't get rid of the image of him drowning.

"There you are" Katherine said, also coming out.

"Not now, Katherine" Brayden warned, moving down the stairs and on to the ground, he then put his hands on his knees and tried to come back to reality, but it wasn't easy.

Katherine looked at Brayden in concern, "Brayden?" she called out, following after the middle Salvatore, "You're okay, relax".

Brayden turned around in anger and wrapped his hand around Katherine's throat, "Don't tell me to relax! I can't relax!" he snapped, choking Katherine.

"Two options, Brayden" Katherine managed to get out, "You either deal with this now or you run, but either way, it's gonna catch up to you", but none of Katherine's words reached Brayden's ears, he was back in the safe, causing his grip on Katherine to tighten, "I can't breathe, Brayden", but Brayden didn't loosen his grip, "Brayden, tell me the name of the first person that you ever loved, name her".

"Scarlett Allen" Brayden managed to get out.

"And the next?" Katherine asked, Brayden closed his eyes and tried to focus on Katherine's voice and not his nightmare, "Focus on the name".

"Kaitlynn Pierce" Brayden finally said.

"See? You're in control" Katherine pointed out, "On solid ground, you're not drowning, you're not dying, name them!".

"Kol Mikaelson" Brayden continued, "Caroline Forbes".

As soon as Brayden said Caroline's name, he let go of Katherine and fell to the floor.

"Caroline" Brayden whispered, on his knees, "Caroline".

Brayden closed his eyes and instead of remembering his time in the safe, he started remembering Caroline, and suddenly it became a lot easier to come back to reality.

"See? I told you I knew what I was doing" Katherine said, rubbing her neck.

Brayden opened his eyes and looked at Katherine, "It was stupid of you to come near me" he said, as he stood up from the ground, "But despite that, thank you".

"You were right" Nadia informed, walking over to the duo before Katherine could say anything, "Gregor is dead, happy now?".

"You deserve better, Nadia" Katherine said.

Nadia glared at her mother, "Rot in hell" she said, before walking away.

***

Brayden was back at the bar, once again drinking to get rid of the horrible feeling that was going through him, when his phone, that was placed on the bar, started ringing, fully tending to hang up on whoever was calling him, Brayden grabbed his phone, but seeing who was calling him, immediately caused his finger to freeze on the hang up button.

Princess 👑 calling . . .

"Hey" Brayden greeted, straight away answering the phone.

Caroline, who sat on a bench on the Whitmore campus, closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, "I didn't think you'd answer".

Brayden frowned hearing Caroline's voice, "What's wrong?" he asked, immediately sensing that something was wrong with Caroline.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Caroline asked, "You sound terrible Brayden".

"And you sound sad" Brayden retorted, "What happened?".

"Do you remember Jesse?" Caroline asked, "You met him when you had no memories".

"The guy who had a crush on you" Brayden remembered, jealously evident in his voice.

"He's dead" Caroline informed.

"Oh" Brayden whispered, not knowing if he should be glad or not, "What happened?".

"It's a long story" Caroline whispered.

"I have time" Brayden assured, stepping down from the barstool.

"Well, Wes, the biology professor here at Whitmore, he killed Jesse after he realised Jesse had vampire blood in his system, he then kept him in his lab and experimented on him, he made it so instead of craving human blood, Jesse would crave vampire blood" Caroline informed.

"What?!" a shocked Brayden asked, walking out the grill and walking down the pavements of Mystic Falls, "How is that even possible?".

"I don't know" Caroline admitted, "Wes is a twisted scientist".

"So, how did Jesse die?" a curious Brayden asked.

"Turns out, Wes turned Jesse into a ripper, once he bit into a vampire's neck, he wouldn't stop drinking from them till he ripped their head off" Caroline replied, "And Jesse ended up biting into Damon's neck".

Brayden's eyes went wide in alarm, "Is Damon--?".

"Damon's okay" Caroline informed a worried Brayden, "Kaitlynn saved Damon by--".

Realisation drew on Brayden, he figured out what happened, "By killing Jesse" he finished, "Kaitlynn killed Jesse".

"Yeah" Caroline confirmed.

"Are you mad at her?" Brayden asked.

Caroline sighed, "I'm not mad at her, I know she was just saving Damon's life, I can never be mad at her for that, I'm just disappointed in myself".

"What did you do?" a confused Brayden asked.

"Nothing Brayden, that's the problem, I did nothing for Jesse" Caroline cried, "I promised to help him, but instead he's dead because I couldn't fulfil my promise to help him, I was suppose to help him".

"Caroline, this isn't your fault, or Kaitlynn's" Brayden said, "From what I see, it's no one but Wes's fault".

"I should've tried harder, maybe I could have saved him" a guilty Caroline cried.

"Or maybe he would have attacked you" Brayden retorted, "After what Wes did to Jesse, I don't see how else all of this could have ended".

"So there is nothing I could have done?" Caroline whispered.

"I think you would have tried your best, but I think Wes signed Jesse's death certificate the moment he turned him into a vampire eater" Brayden said.

Caroline sighed, "I'm sorry for putting all this on you, I just didn't know who else to talk to".

"Come on Caroline, you know I'm always here for you" Brayden assured.

"And you should know I'm always here for you" Caroline said, "I know something isn't right Brayden, but if you don't tell me then I can't help you".

Brayden sighed, "It's not that easy to talk about, Caroline".

"I know" Caroline whispered, "But the more you keep it in, the more it will hurt".

Brayden opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when his eyes landed on the top of the clocktower he was passing, "Katherine?".

"What?" Caroline asked, not sure if she heard Brayden correctly or not.

"Katherine's standing on top of the clocktower" Brayden informed Caroline.

"What is she doing up there?" Caroline asked, confused with what was going on in Katherine's head.

Brayden's eyes widen in shock when he saw Katherine turn around and spread her hands.

"She's going to jump" Brayden realised.

"What?!" a shocked Caroline asked, just as Katherine jumped down the clocktower, however before she could hit the ground, Brayden had speeded over to her and caught her in his arms.

"What the hell are you doing?!" a furious Brayden asked a shocked Katherine, who wasn't expecting to be saved by anyone, let alone Brayden.

"I told you" Katherine said, as Brayden helped her stand, "You either face your problems or you run, I chose option three".

"What problem is so big that you, Katherine freaking Pierce, decided instead of facing it, I'm going to jump off the clock tower?" Brayden asked.

"I'm dying, Brayden" a teary eyed Katherine informed, "I'm dying of old age, I don't know, the cure did something to speed up the entire mortifying process".

Brayden sighed, "I'm not good at helping people with their emotions Katherine, all I can say is that you're Katherine Pierce, there's a lot worse you've dealt with then old age".

An amused Katherine looked on as Braden walked away from her, back on his phone, talking to Caroline who was shocked hearing that Katherine was dying, an old emotion back in Katherine's eyes as she looked at Brayden's retreating figure.

***

Fae and Stefan entered Fae's shared dorm room, and as soon as Fae shut the door, Stefan trapped her between himself and the door and kissed her, after a brief make out session, Stefan picked Fae up, causing the Bennett to wrap her legs around his waist and letting Stefan lead her towards the bed.

"We shouldn't be doing this here" Fae whispered, as Stefan laid her down on her bed, "Caroline and Kaitlynn will be here any second".

Stefan stood over Fae, "We'll hear them before they enter" he assured, before taking his shirt off and hovering over his girlfriend, and proceeding to kiss down her neck.

"What in the world?!".

Fae quickly shoved Stefan away from her the moment she heard another voice in the room.

"Jesse?" a shocked Fae asked, seeing Jesse standing in the corner of the room.

"What?" a confused Stefan asked, looking where Fae was looking but seeing no one.

Fae looked at Stefan, then back at Jesse, her eyes widening in realisation, "You're dead" she whispered, walking over to Jesse, that will explain why Stefan couldn't see him.

"I'm not ready" Jesse cried, "I don't want this".

"I know" Fae whispered, just as Jesse held her forearms and passed through her to go to the other side, immediately causing Fae to scream in pain.

"Fae!" a worried Stefan yelled, rushing over to his girlfriend and grabbing her before she could fall to the ground, "Fae, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling her into his arms.

Fae hugged Stefan tightly, once she caught her breath, she finally spoke, "I'm the anchor to the other side, every time a supernatural being dies, they have to pass through me".

Stefan broke the hug and looked at Fae in shock, "Every?" he asked, Fae nodded her head in confirmation, "Fae, why are you telling me this now?!".

"Because it doesn't matter, Stefan" Fae stated.

"You're in pain, Fae" Stefan snapped, "Of course it matters".

"No, what matters is that I'm back" Fae snapped back, "I don't care what I have to go through, what I care about is being back here with you and Caroline, Kaitlynn, Brayden, Damon, everyone that I love and care about, that's all that matters".

Stefan sighed, "I can't stand you being in pain" he whispered.

Fae stepped forward and cupped Stefan's face in her hands, "I know, but as long as I have you, I'll be fine" she assured, before leaning forward and placing her lips on to Stefan's.

***

Damon, who had been captured by Wes, when he was torturing him, woke up and found himself back in a familiar cell, as he looked around the cell, flashes of the time him and his brother were captured here started going around his head, as Damon turned his eyes landed on what him and Brayden had carved on to the wall.

D.S. 53
B.S. 53

After sixty years of freedom, Damon Salvatore was back in the very cell of whose memories both him and Brayden refused to remember.

***

Presenting 5x08 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

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