07. Death And The Maiden

Brayden laid on his bed, having a nightmare of the time Silas trapped him in the quarry.

"My real face remind you of someone, Brayden?" Silas asked, before stabbing Brayden in the stomach with a stake.

"Silas" a shocked Brayden whispered.

Silas shoved Brayden into a safe, after locking it, he threw the safe into the quarry, leaving Brayden to drown over and over again for three months straight.

"Get me out!" Brayden yelled, rapidly banging on the door of the safe, he let out a painful yell when the water once again filled the safe and he once again started drowning with no one coming to save him.

"Brayden" Brayden heard Caroline's whisper.

Brayden gasped and sat up in his bed in shock, just as Caroline opened the curtains of his room, letting the sun in.

"Oh, hey" Caroline smiled, "I was just about to wake you, how was the sleep?".

"Horrible" Brayden admitted, holding his head in his hands.

"Well, it is the first time you've slept in your own bed since you lost your memories, but don't worry, slowly it'll get better" Caroline assured.

Brayden gave Caroline a small smile, "Not to be rude or anything, but why are you in my room so early?".

Caroline shrugged, "Do I need a reason?".

"To be in the room of a person you thought left you?" Brayden asked, masking his hurt with anger, "Yes, you do".

Caroline looked at Brayden wide eyed, "Oh my god".

"I didn't leave you Caroline, I was trapped, by Silas" Brayden said.

"You remember" Caroline whispered.

"Everything" Brayden informed.

"Wait, how did this happen?" a confused Caroline asked, as far as she knew, till last night Brayden had no memories.

"It was Tessa, she was here in my room when I entered last night" Brayden informed, "She was furious at me so she undid her spell and suddenly all the memories came rushing back".

Caroline laughed, "This is great".

Brayden looked at Caroline, "I wouldn't be so sure about that Caroline".

Caroline frowned hearing Brayden call her by her name, immediately her heart started telling her something was seriously wrong with Brayden, but before she could ask him what's wrong, he got out of bed and without another word went into his bathroom, leaving behind a terrified Caroline, who wondered if her biggest fear had come true, Brayden hated her for not looking for him.

***

Even though Brayden had no desire to be anyone's company, both his brothers barged into his room and dragged him downstairs to test his memories after Caroline informed them of Brayden remembering his past, as much as Brayden wanted to leave, he knew his brothers wouldn't let him till he answered all their questions so unwillingly he sat down and went through their interrogation.

"October, 1852" Damon said.

"I punched you and broke your nose because you wouldn't stop teasing me about my first crush" Brayden remembered.

"Which you still haven't apologised for" Damon reminded.

"And never will" Brayden retorted, making both Stefan and Damon smile, that sounded like their brother.

"How many times have you crashed your car?" Stefan asked.

"That's a trick question" Brayden replied, "The truth is, none of us know the exact number of times I've gotten into an accident".

"So, Tessa just gave you back your memories?" Damon asked, still having a hand time wrapping his head around that, "No strings attached?".

"It wasn't for free" Brayden clarified, "Trust me, it was a lot of pain to remember the last century of my life, I remembered everything, from the first memory of us to--", Brayden hesitated for a moment, "To drowning in that safe", Brayden remembered the man Qetsiyah sent to find him, opening his safe up.

"Brayden?" a concerned Kaitlynn called out, startling the middle Salvatore causing him to crush the glass that was currently in his hand, immediately causing Caroline to frown, her suspicion of something being seriously wrong, increasing every minute.

"Whoa" Damon said, "Easy there, buddy".

"You just went somewhere" a worried Stefan realised, "Where was it?".

"Are you sure any of you care?" Brayden asked, glaring at his brothers.

Caroline let out a defeated sigh, while Kaitlynn and his brothers looked at Brayden in confusion.

"What?" Kaitlynn asked.

Brayden shook his head, they couldn't even figure this out, he glanced at Caroline and the look on her face told him that the others might have not figured it out, but she did.

Brayden looked away from Caroline and after clearing his throat, he stood up, "I have to go" he said, however before anyone could stop him or he could take a step anywhere, a noise from the cellar downstairs caught Brayden's attention, "What the hell was that?".

"Uh, well, that is--".

"That is a serious situation" Kaitlynn informed.

"Of the doppelganger variety" Damon added.

"Wait, you have Katherine in our cellar?" a confused Brayden asked.

"It's not Katherine" Stefan clarified.

"Then who is it?" Brayden asked.

"Come see for yourself" Damon said, standing up from his seat.

***

While Stefan, Caroline and Kaitlynn stayed upstairs, Damon led Brayden downstairs so he can see their new doppelganger problem, Amara, Silas's soulmate.

"I don't know" Amara yelled, as Brayden looked at her through the small window in the cellar door, "I don't know".

"She seems like she's lost her mind" Brayden observed, "What happened to her?".

"I don't know" Amara repeated, bumping into the walls.

"Tessa turned her into a block of rock and kept her in a box for two thousand years" Damon informed, "Probably went stir crazy, like those deserted island guys that talk to volleyballs".

"I said, I don't know!" a panicked Amara yelled.

"Are you seriously telling me that the fate of the other side lies in the hands of this girl?" Brayden asked.

"Yep, she's the anchor" Damon informed.

"Leave me alone" Amara pleaded, "As long as she's alive, the other side exists, we can keep trying to get Fae from over there".

"I said, I don't know!" Amara yelled.

"Considering the fact that she's immortal, it seems to me that we literally have forever to get Fae back" Brayden said.

"You'd think, except last night she stuck a hole in Silas's neck sucked the cure out of him, so now she's not only nuts, she's mortal, which means we have to keep her ordinary little human heart beating until we get Fae back" Damon stated.

"And how do you plan to get Fae back exactly?" Brayden asked, turning around and facing his brother, a curious look on his face.

"Silas made a pinky promise he'd do a spell to bring her back" Damon revealed, "Unfortunately, he's taking his sweet time in coming back to Mystic Falls".

"Silas is coming back to Mystic Falls?" Brayden asked, Damon having missed the way he\is brother clenched his hands into a fist after hearing Silas's name.

Before Damon could reply, both the brothers heard Amara hurting herself.

"Ah, Amara, stop" an annoyed Damon said, opening cellar door and rushing into the room, he stopped Amara from biting her wrists.

"No!" Amara yelled, struggling in Damon's grip, "No, no, let me die, I want to die".

Damon looked at his brother, "Let's hope love is blind, or at least deaf".

***

"We need more time" Kaitlynn stated, after Damon told her, Caroline, Stefan and Brayden about Silas deciding not to help them bring Fae back, instead he was returning to kill Amara, which will in return also destroy the other side, where Fae currently was, "Protect Amara somehow".

"What if we move Amara to another place?" Caroline suggested.

"Silas is a witch, he's a living, breathing GPS tracking device" Damon reminded, "He'll track her wherever we take her".

"We aren't letting Silas anywhere near Amara till he agrees to bring Fae back" Stefan stated.

"Have you gone deaf?" Brayden asked his brother, "Silas isn't bringing Fae back, Stefan".

"I'm not giving up on her, Brayden" Stefan snapped.

"I'm not asking you to give up Stefan, I'm asking you to stop putting your hope in the wrong person" Brayden snapped back, "The best thing Silas is going to do for us, is die".

"But he's not dead" Kaitlynn pointed out, "And as long as he's alive, there's hope that he will bring Fae back".

Brayden looked at Caroline, he raised an eyebrow at her, "Anything you want to add?".

Caroline sighed, "Will it matter?".

"No, not really" Brayden replied, "I've decided, as the person who spent three months drowning in a quarry because of Silas, that bastard is dying as soon as I get my eyes on him, end of discussion".

"What's up with him?" a confused Kaitlynn asked Caroline after a furious Brayden had walked out the Salvatore's living room.

"He's currently channeling his trauma into anger" Caroline informed, she looked at Damon and Stefan, "If you two want Silas to bring Fae back, find him before Brayden does, because he will kill him the moment they come face to face".

***

"Kaitlynn told me to tell you that it's bad luck to kill your younger brother's doppelganger" Caroline said, leaning against Brayden's door and watching Brayden stare out his window.

"I'm not going to let him win, Caroline" Brayden said, "He can't win after what he made me go through".

Caroline sighed, "Have you thought about the fact that Silas is a witch? What will happen if Silas ends up killing you?" she asked, "I just got you back Brayden, please don't do anything that will make me lose you again".

"I had these few moments in that dreaded safe where I would be in a limbo, not dead, but not alive either" Brayden informed, still not facing Caroline, "Everything that made me happy, that gave me hope, all those things ran through my mind", Brayden faced Caroline, "Those are the things that kept me sane, gave me the strength to keep fighting and not take the easy way and just turn my humanity off, but then it came to the point that the pain got too much, there was so much pain that I couldn't remember those moments anymore".

"Brayden, I am so sorry" an emotional Caroline whispered.

Brayden gave Caroline a sad smile, "For what?" he asked, "For not finding me, or for thinking after everything I'd just leave you like that? Do you know that I can't sleep or even close my eyes without seeing Silas stabbing me, without feeling like I'm once again in that safe, drowning again and again, I can't take it anymore Caroline, if this doesn't stop, then I will lose my mind, I will turn my humanity off and turn into someone you can never love".

***

After realising Brayden wasn't going to let Silas live, Damon and Stefan came up with another plan after Jeremy told them that Amara could touch him and Fae, making them realise Amara had a foot on their world and the other side, causing the two brothers to go to Qetsiyah and ask her to make Fae the anchor instead of Amara.

However, while Qetsiyah was doing the spell, Silas showed up and cut the lights, taking that to his advantage, Brayden ended up kidnapping Amara.

"Sucky timing, Brayden" Silas said, answering his phone, while infront of Qetsiyah who he had stabbed with a fire poker.

"No actually, it's perfect timing" Brayden retorted, "The love of your life is with me, you have about ten minutes to find us".

"Well, I'm a little busy right now watching my nemesis bite it" Silas informed, "Plus, I have no interest in saving Amara's life".

Brayden let out a small chuckle, "That's a lie" he stated, "Amara is your soulmate Silas, and I know for a fact, no matter how angry you might be at your soulmate, the moment they're in danger, you will risk everything you have to protect her, so let me repeat myself, you have ten minutes, or your soulmate dies, brutally may I add".

***

Silas ended up finding Amara tied to a tree, her hands bound and a cloth around her mouth.

"Amara" Silas whispered, Brayden was right, the moment Silas heard that Brayden had Amara every instinct in his body told him to go and save her and that's exactly what he planned to do.

Silas quickly untied Amara and cupped her face in his hands, looking at her with tears in his eyes.

Amara placed her hands on either side of Silas's face, "I loved you" she cried, "I still do, but I can't live any longer, please understand".

Silas attached his forehead to Amara's, "I understand" he whispered after a moment, he looked into Amara's eyes, "I love you".

Silas pulled out a knife from his pocket and placed it on Amara's neck but hesitated to kill the woman he loved, "Silas, please" Amara pleaded, as tears fell down down Silas's face, "I'm ready".

After composing himself, Silas proceeded to make a cut on Amara's neck, who closed her eyes and waited for her death to come, however before Silas could kill her, he was shoved away from her by a furious Brayden Salvatore.

"Hello, Silas" Brayden greeted, before holding Silas by his neck and slamming him to the tree, "I've been waiting three months for you", Brayden tightened his grip on Silas's throat, "Do you feel that? Your throat is closing in isn't it? It's getting really hard to breathe, you feel like you're going to die, right? That's exactly how I felt for the past three months!".

Before Brayden could cause any damage on Silas, the former immortal being used his magic on the middle Salvatore, causing Brayden to let go of him and fall to the ground, holding his head in pain, "I hear every emotion is heightened for a vampire" Silas said, as Brayden yelled in pain, "All those memories must be eating you alive right now Brayden, what's it like to die? I've never done it, you must have done it, what a thousand times over the summer?".

"I'm gonna kill you!" Brayden yelled, trying to fight the pain but failing.

"Oh come on, I spent two thousand years alone in a tomb" Silas reminded, "You were locked up for, what, three months? Look at you, you're a mess, the safe was the easy part, wasn't it? Being forgotten about that's the real torture, isn't it?".

"He was never forgotten" Caroline said, suddenly appearing behind Silas and whacking him in the head with a branch, causing his magic on Brayden to stop, taking that to his advantage, Brayden grabbed the knife that Silas had dropped and quickly speeded over and stabbed Silas in the stomach.

"Silas!" a devastated Amara yelled, rushing over to her now dead soulmate.

Brayden looked towards Caroline, who was already looking at him, neither one of one saying anything.

***

Caroline stood to the side and watched as Brayden dug Silas's grave.

"Is it over?" Caroline asked, breaking the silence, "Since Silas is dead, is all of it over".

Brayden stopped digging the grave and looked at Silas's dead body, "Yeah" he said after a moment, "It's over".

"Are you okay, Brayden?" a worried Caroline asked.

"I'm perfect" Brayden lied, feeling anything but perfect, he still felt very broken.

"Say the same thing while looking at me" Caroline said, knowing Brayden was lying, "Look into my eyes and tell me that killing Silas got rid of all the PTSD you've been trying to hide from all of us, tell me now you'll be fine".

Brayden faced Caroline, "Why does it matter if I'm fine or not?".

"That always mattered Brayden" Caroline said, "I know that while you were suffering in that safe, grasping on to anything that would give you hope, fighting ever second to breathe, to hold on to your humanity, I was living my life, yes I was heartbroken, but I had people near me to make sure I was okay, I did what I wanted, I refused to think about you, I enjoyed my summer thinking you were somewhere enjoying yours, I refused to listen to Kaitlynn who had a feeling you were in trouble, so yeah Brayden, it's important for me to know that you're fine, I need to know that me helping you kill Silas, helped you in the end, I need to know you're going to be okay, I need to know that you're suffering has finally stopped".

Brayden looked at Caroline, "I waited for you" he whispered, "When I stopped drowning and that safe finally opened, the first person I wanted to see was you", Brayden looked behind Caroline where guilty Stefan, Damon and Kaitlynn stood, "I wanted to see my brothers".

"Just because they weren't the ones who found you, it doesn't mean they don't love you, Brayden".

Brayden turned around and his eyes went wide in shock, "Fae".

Fae smiled at Brayden, "Hey, Bray".

Brayden let out a small laugh, he had been avoiding thinking about Fae, he wasn't allowing himself to grieve because he refused to believe Fae was dead.

Without wasting a second, Brayden stepped forward and pulled the Bennett into a tight hug.

"I'm so happy to see you" Brayden whispered.

"Me too" Fae whispered, tears welling in her eyes, once they broke the hug, Fae looked at Brayden, "I'm so sorry for everything you went through Bray".

Brayden shook his head, "You have nothing to be sorry about".

Fae gave Brayden a small smile, she then looked behind him where her two emotional best friends stood.

"I didn't think it worked" Kaitlynn cried.

"But it did" Fae said, "Qetsiyah finished the spell before Amara killed herself".

"So you're real?" Caroline asked.

"As real as I'll ever be" Fae replied.

And that was all Caroline and Kaitlynn needed to rush towards their best friend and hug her tightly.

"You're back" Kaitlynn whispered happily.

"I'm back" Fae whispered, while hugging her best friend she looked at Damon, "Thank you" she mouthed, knowing he had the most to do with her being back.

"You're welcome" a smiling Damon said.

Fae then looked at the person next to Damon, "Stefan" she whispered.

Hearing Fae call out Stefan's name, caused Kaitlynn and Caroline to let go of their best friend, and let her make her way over to an emotional Stefan.

"Hey, stranger" Fae greeted, as tears streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry" Stefan cried, "I'm so sorry, Fae".

Fae shook her head, she immediately stepped closer and cupped Stefan's face, "You have nothing to apologise for, you did nothing wrong Stefan".

"I hated you Fae" Stefan cried.

"No, Stefan" Fae said, "You were hurt, you were angry, you didn't hate me, just the way I don't hate you for anything, because none of this was our fault".

Stefan nodded his head, he then stared at Fae for a moment, before he pulled her closer to him and placed his lips on to hers, Kaitlynn looked at Damon, who in turn laced their fingers together, while Caroline glanced at Brayden, who after giving her a glance, walked away, though he tried to hide, Caroline had seen it, Brayden still wasn't okay.

***

After reuniting with everyone, Fae sat on Stefan's bed while he showered.

"You're the anchor now".

Fae let out a startled yell seeing Qetsiyah appear suddenly, "Where the hell did you come from?".

"I'm dead" Qetsiyah informed, shocking Fae who stood up from the bed, "As I pass through you, you'll feel my death, you'll feel every death, every supernatural being that passes over to the other side will pass through you, sorry, that's gonna hurt like a bitch".

Qetsiyah placed her hand on Fae's shoulder, and immediately immense pain shot through Fae's body, she quickly put her hand over her mouth, falling to the ground and screaming into her hand, making sure Stefan doesn't hear her cry of agony.

***

Brayden rushed into his room, he placed his hand on his throat, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

"My real face remind you of someone, Brayden?".

Brayden fell to the floor as he remembered Silas stabbing him.

"Look into my eyes and tell me that killing Silas got rid of all the PTSD you've been trying to hide from all of us, tell me now you'll be fine".

Brayden remembered drowning in that safe over and over again, begging for someone to save him.

"No" Brayden breathed out, "It's suppose to be better, it's supposed to be over", but no what Brayden said, he couldn't stop his panic, it was anything but over.

***

Presenting 5x07 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Brayden's cold behavior towards his brothers and Caroline?

Thoughts on Brayden opening up to Caroline about what he felt like when he was trapped in the safe?

Thoughts on Caroline helping Brayden kill Silas?

Thoughts on both Fae and Brayden returning to their family but still being in physical and emotional pain?