13. Total Eclipse of the Heart

Caroline, Kaitlynn and Fae entered their classroom together.

"So we all agree, no more moping about life's little failures" Caroline said, "And no more dabbling in the dark arts of boyfriends past, this is a fresh start".

"Couldn't agree more" Kaitlynn said, a smile on her face, "I happen to love fresh starts".

"So do I" Fae said, taking her seat, "But I would like to point out that I haven't been moping or dabbling, that's been you two, I've just been helping".

"No one likes a bragger, Fae" Caroline said, as her and Kaitlynn also took their seats.

"Wait, I thought you stopped moping and dabbling as well" a confused Fae said, "Didn't you and Brayden fix everything between the two of you?".

"We did" Caroline confirmed, a sheepish look forming on her face, "I was saying all that more for Kaitlynn's sake then mine".

"Wait, you and Brayden are back together?" a slightly shocked Kaitlynn asked.

"Yeap" Caroline confirmed, "Break time is officially over".

"That's, great" Kaitlynn said, giving Caroline a smile, but if you looked close enough, it was clear that it was a fake smile, something neither Fae or Caroline realised.

"Honestly, about time" Fae stated, "You two being miserable, makes everyone else miserable".

"Well now no one has to miserable anymore" Caroline stated, she then looked at Kaitlynn, "Nearly no one".

"It's fine Caroline, I'm okay" Kaitlynn assured.

"Oh please, everyone knows how much you love Damon, you're not okay, you're hiding your feelings" Fae said, "But fine, if you want to play hide and seek with your feelings, go ahead, but when those feelings do come out and you need a shoulder to cry on, me and Caroline will be right next to you".

"Absolutely" Caroline said, "Today is the dawning of a new ear for Kaitlynn, this is stage one in her metamorphosis into the land of the brave the free and the single".

"You and me aren't single" Fae pointed out.

"But our best friend is single, so for tonight, we are single adjacent" Caroline said, "So we can be her wing woman's", Caroline took out a flyer from her bag and handed it to Kaitlynn.

"Whitmore's annual bitter ball" Kaitlynn read, "A night to celebrate broken hearts, jilted lovers and bitter singles", Kaitlynn looked at Caroline, "This is my fresh start?".

"No, this is your purge, your cleanse" Caroline clarified, "This is where you rid yourself from the baggage better known as your tragic and mortifying first semester".

"I'll drink to that" Kaitlynn said, finally agreeing to the idea of bitter ball.

"Damon's going to kill you" Fae told Caroline.

"I'm doing this for him" Caroline defended.

"First of all, why would Damon kill Caroline?" a confused Kaitlynn asked, "And what do you mean you're doing this for Damon?".

"Damon will kill Caroline for helping you move on from him" Fae informed.

"And I'm doing this for him, because before you find your way back to him", Kaitlynn opened her mouth to protest, "Shh, don't say anything, we all know you and Damon are endgame, it's fine, you can take your time, but you are eventually going to go back to him, and I'm just helping you clear your mind and let go of all the baggage of the past before you and Damon have a second chance at all this".

"That is surprisingly clever" Fae praised.

"I know" Caroline smiled, "So, you in?".

"Absolutely" Fae confirmed, making Caroline smile and clap her hands in excitement, "Just, good luck convincing Brayden to act single".

"He'll do it for me" Caroline assured.

"That is true, he'd do anything for you" Fae said, making Caroline laugh and Kaitlynn frown.

***

Brayden returned home from his morning jog and immediately he was confused seeing his youngest brother standing next to a crashed car.

"Whose car did you crash?" a curious Brayden asked, "And did you have to crash it near our front door?".

"I didn't do this, Bray" Stefan clarified.

"Then who did?" a confused Brayden asked.

Stefan opened the boot of the car, revealing the dead body of Aaron Whitmore to Brayden, "Who do you think?".

Brayden let out an annoyed sighed, "Damon" he realised.

"Yeap" Stefan confirmed.

Brayden shook his head and marched into the boarding house, "Damon!" he yelled, "Where the hell are you?!".

"Keep it down will you" Brayden heard his twin's voice coming from the living room, walking towards the voice, Brayden was shocked seeing the absolute mess in the living room, with the chair cushions everywhere along with broken bottles of bourbon.

"What the hell did you do to my house?" a shocked Brayden asked.

"Sorry about the mess, I had some company and things got a little out of hand" Damon admitted.

"You want to tell us what the hell's going on out in the driveway?" Stefan asked, following Brayden into the living room.

"Ah" Damon remembered, slowly standing up, "I let Enzo drive last night, he's a little out of practice, almost ended up in the damn foyer".

"That's not what he's talking about" Brayden said.

Damon looked at his twin in confusion, when suddenly realisation drew on him, "Oh, you mean Aaron".

"Yeah" Stefan confirmed.

"Yeah, well, last night, we hunted him down, and I ripped his throat out" Damon informed, grabbing a bottle of bourbon from the table, "You know, I figured it's time to shove the last branch of the Whitmore family tree into the wood chipper, wouldn't you agree Bray?".

"I don't care about the Whitmore family or even Augustine anymore Damon" Brayden said, "The people who wronged us, are punished, I'm not going to keep chasing my past and lose my future".

"You mean lose Caroline" Damon realised.

"I'm not losing her" Brayden stated.

"So just for Blondie, you're going to forget everything that happened to us?" Damon asked.

"I'm not going to forgot, but I'm going to stop letting it control my freaking life" Brayden retorted.

"All hail the blondie effect" a bitter Damon said, taking a gulp out of the bourbon bottle.

"So Kaitlynn breaks up with you and your first instinct is to go on a killing spree" Stefan said, "Could you be any more predictable?".

"It was my idea, if it makes you feel any better" Enzo informed, walking into the room and forwarding his hand towards Brayden, "Enzo, remember? The guy your brother left behind for you".

"Get over it Enzo, I'm his brother, twin brother, you're just a disposable friend" an extremely annoyed Brayden snapped, making Enzo glare at him, "I'll always come before you".

"We'll see about that" Enzo said.

"We will" Brayden said, giving Enzo a mock smile.

"So, what, you guys are old pals again?" Stefan asked Damon, "Murder buddies, is that it?".

"Oh you know how it goes" Damon said, "I mean, I left him for dead, he tried to kill me, we worked things out, when you spend five years with someone in a dungeon, you have a pretty unbreakable bond", Damon handed the bottle of bourbon over to Enzo.

"Let's hope this new bond, doesn't ruin your old bonds, Damon" Brayden said, making Damon look at him, not expecting him to say that.

"Say, either of you haven't heard from Dr. Wes Maxfield by any chance?" Enzo asked Stefan and Brayden, "Bloke's next on the Augustine hit list, and he's a slippery little devil".

"Is that the plan?" Stefan asked Damon, "Kill off Augustine, and then go back to your sadistic, psychotic old self?".

"I happen to like my old sadistic self, Stefan" Damon retorted, "In fact, I miss that guy, that guy was dumb enough to try and change himself to get a girl, so get another hobby brothers, cause I'm not in the mood to be saved".

"What do you say?" Enzo asked Stefan and Brayden, "Should we get you two a new hobby? Golf? Scrapbooking?".

"Scrapbooking" Damon teased.

"Don't do this Damon" Brayden warned, "Don't go down a path that will make it impossible for Kaitlynn to reach you".

"But Bray, that's exactly what I'm trying to do" Damon said, "I don't want you, or Stefan, or Kaitlynn to reach me".

Stefan and Brayden exchanged a look between them, both realising that between the breakup with Kaitlynn and this new friendship with Enzo, they were close to losing their oldest brother to the darkest parts of him.

***

Brayden walked into the woods where Enzo was busy burying a body.

Brayden let out a humorless chuckle, "This is great, you're officially my brother's errand boy".

"Be a mate, grab a shovel" Enzo said, ignoring Brayden's taunt.

"No thanks, you might be my brothers errand boy, but I'm not yours" Brayden stated.

Enzo stopped digging a grave and turned to Brayden, "So why are you here?".

"Here to tell you to leave my brother alone and get the hell out of town" Brayden said, "You're taking advantage of Damon's broken heart and I don't like that, you want to kill the Augustine's? Go ahead, but stop involving Damon".

"He mentioned that you've turned a new leaf because of your girl" Enzo informed, "Look, you're welcome to join in on the fun", Enzo forwarded the shovel in his hand towards Brayden, "Looks like you could use it", Brayden stared at the shovel in Enzo's hand for a moment, before he finally grabbed it off him, "Good man".

Suddenly, before Enzo could even realise it, Brayden used the back of the shovel to hit Enzo into the grave, and before he could stand up, Brayden stabbed him in the stomach with the shovel.

"Consider this my last warning, Enzo" Brayden said, twisting the shovel, "Stay the hell away from my brother, get in your car, leave town and never look back".

"You think that hurts?" Enzo asked, grabbing the shovel and diving it deeper into him, "I'm curious Brayden, what do you think you could possibly do to me that hasn't been done a hundred times before? Go on, give it your best shot".

Brayden ripped the shovel out of Enzo's stomach and placed the metal bit against his neck, "Let's get one thing straight Enzo, you don't know me, even in the five years we were trapped together, you never knew me, you don't know why I have the reputation of the being the ruthless one, so keep testing me and you'll find out why I got that reputation, then Augustine will seem like heaven compared to what I will do to you".

***

Caroline entered her dorm room, where Kaitlynn was sitting on her bed, while staring at her phone, seeing Caroline enter the room, immediately caused Kaitlynn to put her phone away and stand up.

"Good" Kaitlynn said, walking over to her dresser, "You're back, I need your help", Kaitlynn held out two pairs of earrings and showed it to Caroline, "Diamon or dangly?".

"Since when does Kaitlynn Pierce accessorize?" a slightly confused Caroline asked.

"Since she's been conned to go to the Bitter Ball with her best friend, Suzy Sunshine" Kaitlynn replied, turning around and using the small mirror on the dresser to try out the earrings.

"Look, you're not fooling anyone" Caroline said, "I know that you're faking it".

"Faking?" a slightly shocked Kaitlynn asked, letting out what seemed like a nervous laugh, "I'm what?".

"Please, it is so obvious" Caroline said, as Kaitlynn turned to face her, a slight panic on her face, "You don't want me and Fae to worry about you that's why you are pretending that breaking up with Damon was no big deal".

Kaitlynn let out relieved laugh, "Caroline Forbes, how do you always see right through me?".

"Look, Kait, you don't have to pretend with me" Caroline assured, sitting down on her bed, Kaitlynn following, "And if you don't wanna go tonight, it's all good".

Kaitlynn opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, her eyes landed on Caroline's phone that was starting to ring, a call from Brayden.

Kaitlynn looked at Caroline, "Do you think Brayden would wanna come?".

"Uh, Brayden's not single" a confused Caroline pointed out.

"But you said you're going to be single adjacent for me today, so Brayden can do that as well" Kaitlynn said, grabbing Caroline's phone before she could and answering Brayden's call, "Hey, I was just about to call you".

"You're not Caroline" a confused Brayden said from the other side, causing the smile on Kaitlynn's face to fall.

"No, I'm not" Kaitlynn confirmed, a forced smile forming on her face.

"But I'm kind of glad you answered Caroline's phone, I anyways was going to ask her to get you" Brayden said, immediately causing the smile to form back on Kaitlynn's face.

"Really?" an excited Kaitlynn asked.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you and Caroline, but it's not a conversation I can have over the phone" Brayden said.

"What's wrong?" a curious Kaitlynn asked.

"It's about Damon's new buddy, Enzo" Brayden informed.

"Oh" Kaitlynn said, a confused look forming on her face, "Enzo, uh, okay, then maybe we should meet in person, actually, Caroline's dragging us to this whitmore thing for lonely hearts, I think you should come".

"Wait, Caroline's going to a event for lonely hearts?" a frowning Brayden asked, "I thought we were good".

Before Kaitlynn could say anything, Caroline stood up from her bed and snatched her phone from Kaitlynn's hand, "We are good" she said into the phone, missing the glare Kaitlynn was sending her, "We are so good, I'm going to this thing for Kaitlynn, you should come, bring Stefan and Damon as well, we'll all have fun together".

"Stefan, I can bring, Damon on the other hand, might be a little difficult" Brayden admitted.

"Is he okay?" a concerned Caroline asked.

"That's part of the conversation we can't have face to face" Brayden replied, "I'll see you tonight and tell you everything".

"Okay, see you tonight then" Caroline said.

"See you tonight, princess" Brayden said.

***

"Dead corsage?" an amused Kaitlynn asked, as her and Caroline entered the bitter ball together.

"Thank you" Caroline said, taking the corsage from Kaitlynn's hand.

Kaitlynn laughed and walked down the stairs while reading a message on her phone, "Hey".

Kaitlynn looked up from her phone and smiled seeing Brayden, "Hey, you made it".

"Yeap" Brayden said, looking behind Kaitlynn and a huge smile forming on his face seeing Caroline, before Kaitlynn could say anything, Brayden walked past her and rushed over to Caroline, whose back was towards him, as he reached her, he put his hands around her waist and pulled her back towards his chest, "Hey, beautiful".

A smiling Caroline turned around and faced Brayden, "I didn't think you'd actually come".

"You asked me to come, of course I came" Brayden said, "But I'm not pretending to be single, I can't spend another moment away from you".

Caroline smiled, she wrapped her arms around Brayden's neck, "Me neither" she said, before pulling Brayden down into a kiss, both the vampires once again not seeing Kaitlynn's extremely jealous gaze on them.

***

After dancing together for a bit, Caroline and Brayden stood to the side together.

"So, now that you've finished distracting me, mind telling me why you're actually here?" Caroline asked her boyfriend.

"To see you, obviously" Brayden said.

"That is part of" Caroline agreed, "But there's something else, isn't there? That's why you were so desperate to talk to Kaitlynn and me"

Brayden let out a sigh, "I wanted to have this conversation with both you and Kaitlynn, but I guess I'll tell you first, Damon fell off the deep end".

"What do you mean exactly by deep end?" a concerned Caroline asked.

"Well, he killed Aaron Whitmore" Brayden informed.

"He, what?!" a shocked Caroline asked.

"Yeah" Brayden confirmed, "And while one part of me coming here was for you, the other was to tell Kaitlynn and hope she can reach Damon, because me and Stefan certainly can't, but then I saw her, and I couldn't tell her anything".

"You think if you tell her what he did that she'll give up on him forever" Caroline realised.

"Would you blame her?" Brayden asked, "Because I sure as hell won't, there's only so much someone can tolerate but what I'm afraid of is that if Kaitlynn gives up on my brother, I'm going to lose him, I've seen Damon at his worst, hell I experienced it with him and I know more than anyone what that makes him feel, what that makes both of us feel, for us, it's the more pain we can cause people, the more reasons we give people to hate us, the more people hate us, the less they'll try to bring us back, and until now, I've never had to fight this side of him, usually I'm right there with him, but today I'm happy but he's miserable, and I don't know how to bring him back".

"Why all the dramatics, brother?" Damon asked, walking over to his brother with Fae.

"What are you doing here?" a confused Brayden asked.

"Fae, what's going on?" Caroline asked, seeing the upset look on the Bennett heretic's face.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not here as her date, we're not gonna break any bitter ball rules, not like you two" Damon said.

"Answer the damn question" Brayden snapped.

"Well, Fae is gonna find me a witch to do a locator spell on the elusive Dr. Wes Maxfield" Damon informed, "She's gonna find him, I'm gonna kill him, Fae, should I tell them?".

"Enzo has Jeremy" Fae revealed, "Stefan's trying to get him back, but I don't know if he's having any luck, and if I don't find a witch that will locate Wes by midnight, Enzo's going to kill Jeremy".

Fae handed her phone over to Brayden, looking at her phone, Brayden saw a photo of a tied up Jeremy, he then turned around, only to see Kaitlynn standing behind him, a shocked Kaitlynn walked over to Brayden had snatched the phone from his hand, she then glared at Damon, before walking away in anger.

***

After finding Liv Parker, a witch that was in her class, Fae, with the help of Caroline convinced the panicked girl to help Fae teach her how to do a locator spell on Wes while Brayden, Kaitlynn and Stefan worked on finding Jeremy.

"Vampires are real?" a panicked Liv asked, Fae and Caroline both having showed their vampires faces to the naive witch in order to get her to help them out, "Okay, that makes sense, actually, that makes no sense".

"Forget about vampires, I need you to concentrate on this spell" Fae instructed, "Concentrate on tapping into your magic, forget everything and everyone and just focus on your heartbeat, focus on the sound of your lungs".

"How long is this gonna take? an annoyed Damon asked.

"For a newbie witch to learn a complicated spell under massive stress?" Caroline asked, Damon gave her a look, "I have no idea, Fae?".

"Repeat after me" Fae told Liv, she then started saying the spell, Liv tried to follow but it wasn't easy.

"Wait, what?" Liv asked.

"Relax" Fae instructed, before repeating the spell again, slowly but surely Liv started repeating the spell and Fae handed Wes's cloth over to her, "Keep your eyes closed and use the blood on that cloth you're holding to find Wes".

"I have no idea what he looks like" Liv reminded.

"Doesn't matter" Fae said, "Just say the spell".

Liv nodded her head and started chanting, suddenly the lights started flickering and the wind around them picked up, Caroline let out a shocked gasp as the light bulbs around her started bursting and the chandelier snapped from the ceiling and fell to the ground.

"That a good sign?" a confused Damon asked.

"I can't do this" a panicked Liv said.

"Try again, Liv" Fae said, "You can do this".

Liz stood up, "I can't do this, don't you get it?! I've done horrible things, I've set buildings on fire, I've hurt people, I can't control any of it".

Damon's phone started ringing, "Witchy hotline, how may I help you? Damon speaking" he answered.

"What's taking so long?" an annoyed Enzo asked from the other side.

"They seem to have lost motivation" Damon informed, "Maybe you can inspire them".

Enzo chuckled, "With pleasure", Damon put his phone on speaker, "Let them know Jeremy will be dead very soon".

Damon turned the speaker off, "Thank you" he told Enzo, before hanging up on him.

"What are you doing?" an annoyed Caroline asked, "Damon, call him back right now and you tell him to stop", but Damon didn't do anything, "Damon, call him back!".

"Just so you know, cooperation is not optional" Damon informed.

***

While Caroline and Fae delt with Damon, Brayden, Stefan and Kaitlynn looked for Jeremy, who they eventually found being tortured by Enzo.

Brayden speeded over and slammed Enzo to the wall, while Kaitlynn and Stefan tended to Jeremy who Enzo had suffocated with a plastic bag.

"I told you to leave, Enzo" Brayden reminded, "You should have listened to me".

Enzo slammed Brayden to the wall, "Did I give you the impression I was taking orders from you? My bad".

A furious Brayden headbutted Enzo, he then grabbed him and threw him into a glass mirror, he then grabbed a poker and tried to stab Enzo, but Enzo rolled over causing Brayden to miss, the middle Salvatore once again tried to stab Enzo, only for him to kick him in the stomach and crawl over to a piece of wood placed on the floor, which he grabbed and threw right at Kaitlynn's back, who had managed to revive Jeremy with the help of Stefan.

"Brayden, help" Kaitlynn cried, Brayden removed the stake from Kaitlynn's back, ready to attack Enzo again, but this time with the full intention to kill him, when Damon entered the room.

"You missed all the fun" Enzo told the shocked Salvatore, who didn't expect to come to this scene.

"Spell worked" Damon informed after gathering himself, "Wes is in Richmond".

"Brilliant, I'll drive" Enzo said, giving Brayden's arm a pat before walking out the room.

"Hey, Damon" Stefan called out to his brother before he could also leave, "Don't bother coming back".

Damon looked at Kaitlynn, then at Brayden, wondering if his twin wanted the same thing, but Brayden was to angry to say anything to Damon right now, and Damon misunderstanding Brayden's silence, assumed he also didn't want him back.

A hurt and heartbroken Damon turned his back to the three most important people in his life, "I wasn't planning on it" he said, before following after Enzo.

***

While looking for Caroline, Brayden entered the girls dorm room, where he found no sign of Caroline, instead saw Kaitlynn looking at her back in the mirror.

"Oh sorry" Brayden apologised, "I thought Caroline was here".

"Nope" Kaitlynn said, giving Brayden a smile through the mirror, "Just plain old me".

"Right" Brayden whispered, "I'll see myself out then".

Brayden turned around to leave, "Ow" Kaitlynn cried, causing Brayden to turn back to her.

"You okay?" a concerned Brayden asked.

"I think I still have a splinter in my back" Kaitlynn informed, "Would you mind?".

"Uh, maybe you should wait for Caroline or Fae" an awkward Brayden said.

"Please Brayden" Kaitlynn pleaded, "This splinter hurts a lot, and I don't know when Caroline and Fae are going to get here".

"Kait--".

"Please" Kaitlynn pleaded again, "I'm asking you to take one splinter out, not to make out with me".

Brayden looked at Kaitlynn with a frown on his face, "You've been acting extremely weird lately".

Kaitlynn shrugged, "New beginnings, new me".

"Right" Brayden whispered, clenching his hands into a fist to stop himself from snapping at Kaitlynn, knowing it wouldn't help anyone.

"So are you going to help me?" a hopeful Kaitlynn asked.

"If I say no, will you let me leave?" Brayden asked.

"Nope" Kaitlynn replied.

"Great" Brayden said, stepping over to Kaitlynn, who turned back to the mirror, as Brayden stood behind her, she took the strap of her dress off and moved her hair to the side.

"Ow!" Kaitlynn cried as Brayden tried to take the splinter out.

"If you move then this splinter isn't coming out" Brayden warned.

"Sorry" a sheepish Kaitlynn said, "I think I know what you wanted to tell me tonight, Brayden", Kaitlynn winced in pain as Brayden finally managed to remove the splinter from her back.

"All done" Brayden informed, taking a massive step back from the Pierce vampire.

Kaitlynn turned to face the middle Salvatore, "Damon killed Aaron, didn't he?", Brayden let out a sigh, "He walked right through the threshold at the Whitmore house, he couldn't have done that if the owner hadn't been dead, Aaron was the owner".

"I tried telling you Kait, but the words just didn't come out of my mouth, I'm so sorry" a guilty Brayden apologised.

"Maybe I don't deserve anything from you but I thought we could be honest with each other no matter what" Kaitlynn said, fixing her dress strap.

"You want the truth from me, Kaitlynn?" an annoyed Brayden asked.

Kaitlynn nodded her head, "Yes".

"Fine, then listen" Brayden said, "I think you made a mistake breaking up with Damon, we're vampires Kaitlynn, we've all done bad things, so have you, so why are you holding this thing against him? Because the truth is Kaitlynn, even when Damon has gone way too far, he's always been there, for me, for you, he loves you more then he loves his own life, he changed himself to be a better man for you, and now that you've broken his heart, I'm afraid I'm going to lose that version of him, the version that only existed because of the love between you two".

"I know I'm not a saint, but I just can't go back to him, Brayden" Kaitlynn said, making Brayden close his eyes in frustration, "But if you wanna save him from himself, then I'll help you, but not for myself, and not for him", Kaitlynn placed her hand on Brayden's cheek, "For you".

Brayden removed Kaitlynn's hand from his cheek and took a step back from her, immediately causing a frown to appear on her face.

"I don't want you to save Damon for me" a frustrated Brayden said, "I want you to help me bring me back only if you still love him, if you don't then do me a favor, stay the hell away from him, I don't think right now he'll be able to take it if you tell him you've stopped loving him".

Brayden walked out the girls dorm room, his anger intensified but this time towards Kaitlynn, once Brayden had gone, a frustrated Kaitlynn grabbed her phone and threw it at her mirror, smashing it to pieces.

***

Presenting 5x13 of They Don't Know About Us!

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