21. The Sun Also Rises

"Oh, my head" Jenna complained, holding on to her head, "What's wrong with me?".

"It's part of the transformation" Caroline replied, remembering the time she turned.

"Do you remember what happened?" Elena asked Jenna.

"You called me" Jenna replied, "You were so scared, I should have realised that it wasn't you, the second I walked out of the house, someone grabbed me, a vampire".

"Klaus" Caroline realised.

"He made me drink his blood" Jenna revealed, "And I don't remember anything after that, where are we? What happened?".

"We're at the quarry, he brought us here" Elena replied.

"Why don't I remember anything?" Jenna asked, overwhelmed with everything that was happening.

"Jenna, do you remember, when I told you how someone becomes a vampire?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, if you die with vampire blood in your system, it's--", realisation suddenly crossed Jenna's face, "Oh, god" she whispered, "He killed me".

"Jenna, listen, everything's going to be okay, I'm gonna get you out of here" Elena promised, while Caroline stayed quiet, she didn't know any of them were getting out of this one.

"I'm a vampire?" Jenna asked shocked.

"And I bet you're hungry" Greta said, walking over to the trio.

Elena glared at Greta, she tried to rush towards her, but Greta used her magic to throw both Elena and Caroline away from Jenna, and made a circle of fire around them, prohibiting both the girls from helping Jenna.

"Don't bother trying to get through, I spelled the circle" Greta revealed to the two girls, who were trying to get out, "Both of you are trapped, no matter what you do".

"Greta, please just let her go" Elena pleaded, as Greta picked a rock from the ground.

"Greta, don't!" Caroline yelled, as Greta made a cut on her wrist.

"Klaus chose her" Greta simply said.

"No" Elena whispered.

"Drink it" Greta told Jenna.

"Jenna, don't" Elena said.

Caroline didn't know what to say, if Jenna didn't drink the blood she would die, but if she did drink the blood, then Klaus would kill her, whatever she did, it didn't look good for Elena's current guardian.

"I can't" Jenna whispered.

"Let her go" Elena pleaded, as Greta brought her bloody wrist closer to Jenna.

After resisting for a bit, Jenna couldn't resist anymore so she ended up drinking Greta's blood.

"No!" Elena cried.

After realising Jenna had enough, Greta pushed her away, and made a circle of fire around her, trapping her as well.

***

Brayden, Elijah, Stefan and Alaric got out of the car and started walking towards the witches house.

"The sacrifice is completed in stages as the full moon sets" Elijah informed the brothers, "First the werewolf is killed, then the vampire, then the doppelganger, finally the female soulmate, once Caroline dies, the curse will be broken, Klaus will become hybrid".

"So when do we attack?" Alaric asked.

"Caroline's death will activate his dormant werewolf side" Elijah replied, "He'll be vulnerable during the transformation, thats when Fae comes in".

"And you're sure Fae will survive this?" Stefan asked, worried for the heretic.

"If she can deliver him to the brink of death, I'll finish the job myself" Elijah replied, as Brayden's phone started ringing.

"Where the hell are you?" Brayden asked, answering his phone.

"You're not gonna like what I'm about to say" Damon said immediately, confusing Brayden.

"What the hell is going on, Damon?" Brayden asked, "Is the bloody sacrifice happening or not?".

"It's happening, I tried to stop it, but it got complicated" Damon replied.

"Okay fine, then we're going back to the original plan, Fae is ready and so are we" Brayden said.

"He's got Jenna, Bray" Damon informed, shocking his twin.

"What?" Brayden asked, hoping he heard wrong.

"He got Katherine to lure her out of the house" Damon replied.

"That ungrateful little bitch!" Brayden snapped, confusing Alaric, the only one without super hearing.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Alaric asked, seeing the worried look Stefan threw his way.

"He's going to use her as the vampire in the ritual" Damon added.

***

"I've got the moonstone" Klaus told Greta, while Jules screamed in pain, Greta having used her magic to slow her transformation down, "I spent 500 years looking for this", Klaus handed the moonstone over to Greta, "I hate to part with it".

Greta took the moonstone from Klaus's hand, she looked towards the full moon, "The moon has passed its apex" she realised, "Remember everything you need to do?".

"I remember" Klaus assured.

Greta dropped the moonstone into the alter, and watched as it exploded and went up in sparks, she then started chanting, while Klaus walked over to the girls.

"Everything I did, I was just trying to help Tyler" Jules cried.

"I was just trying to help Tyler as well" Caroline whispered, flinching when the memory of Jules and her fellow werewolves torturing her came into her mind.

"I didn't want him to be alone" Jules said, crying in pain.

"Shall we?" Klaus asked Jules, as the circle of fire around the werewolf went away.

Sensing an opportunity, Jules tried to run away, but Klaus quickly grabbed her and shoved her to the ground, and without wasting a second, he ripped her heart out, killing Jules on the spot.

***

"Why the hell would Klaus take Jenna for?" Fae asked, shocked with this new information.

"A punishment for meddling" Elijah replied.

"Klaus was gonna use Tyler and some other vampire for the ritual" Stefan informed.

"But me and Damon rescued them, and I made sure the vampire left town" Kaitlynn added.

"We have to get there before he kills Jenna" Fae stated, "I can kill Klaus before anyone dies".

"No" Kaitlynn said, shaking her head.

"Fae, if you use that much power, you'll be dead" Stefan reminded, "We've already been through this, it's not an option".

"But letting Jenna die is?" Fae snapped.

"No" Brayden said, finally speaking up, "Letting Jenna die isn't an option either, which is why I have an idea".

"What?" Stefan asked confused.

"I'm going to let Klaus sacrifice me instead" Brayden said, shocking everyone.

"Absolutely not!" Fae yelled.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Kaitlynn snapped.

"There is no other option guys!" Brayden yelled, "If I don't do this, then Jenna dies, and Jeremy is left with no one".

"No" Stefan stated, shaking his head, he refused to let his brother walk to his death.

"Stefan--".

"I'll offer myself to Klaus, Bray, not you" Stefan interrupted.

"That's not an option" Brayden said.

"None of you are offering yourself to Klaus" Fae snapped, glaring at the brothers, wondering if they have lost their mind.

"Yes, I am" Brayden stated.

"No" Stefan snapped, "Did you not hear what I said?! I'm not going to let you do this!".

"Stefan, all our vampire life, you've been begging me to be selfless, to do something good, this is my way of doing something good after all the bad I've done, you need to let me do this!" Brayden yelled.

"I am not losing my brother, after centuries we are finally starting to act like a family and now you want to die?!" Stefan yelled back.

"I don't want to die!" Brayden snapped, "But I have no choice".

"Let me offer myself to Klaus, Bray, please" Stefan pleaded.

Brayden shook his head, "You're my little brother Stefan, you're my responsibility, and I will never watch you die".

"So I'm supposed to watch you die?!" Stefan snapped.

"No" Brayden whispered, "You won't have to watch me die, because when you wake up, I'll be dead".

Before Stefan could react, Brayden had snapped his neck.

"Brayden!" Kaitlynn yelled, shocked with what he just did.

"None of you can stop me, I've already made up my mind, and you both know how stubborn I am" Brayden said, as Jeremy came out of the witches house with Alaric, who informed him about Jenna, "I'm going to save Jenna, but giving myself over to Klaus".

"Bray" Jeremy whispered, shocked with what he just heard.

Brayden looked at the youngest Gilbert, and gave him a small smile, "Go to Bonnie and figure out a way to save your sister Jer, I'm going to save your aunt".

Before anyone could stop him, Brayden had speeded away.

***

Klaus held Jules heart over the alter, and watched as her blood dripped into the fire.

"Does that mean it's working?" Klaus asked, seeing the blood boil.

"It's working" Greta assured.

Jenna looked at Elena, "The day that the lawyers called to tell me I was going to become your guardian, you know what my first thought was?", Elena shook her head, tears in her eyes, "Isn't there someone else who can do this?".

Elena sighed, "Jenna, there was no one else who could have gotten me and Jeremy through all of that" she said.

Jenna shook her head, feeling extremely emotional, "Just the thought that I almost passed up taking care of you".

"But you didn't" Elena reminded, "You put your entire life on hold to help us".

"Look around, Elena" Jenna said, "I failed you".

"No, you didn't" Elena assured, "I failed you, I'm so sorry".

"Jenna" Caroline whispered, making sure Klaus couldn't hear her, "As a vampire, your guilt is intensified, but it also comes with many perks, one of them being super speed, Jenna, once the fire is down, run, as fast as you can, please, and don't worry about me and Elena, we will be fine, save yourself".

Elena nodded in agreement, "We're gonna get through this, we'll be okay, I need you to believe that", Elena glanced at Klaus, and after seeing that he wasn't paying attention to them, she turned back to Jenna and whispered, "But promise me, when you get the chance, run".

Jenna looked at the two girls, and after a moment, nodded.

***

"He did what?!" Damon asked Kaitlynn.

Once Damon reached the witches house, he saw his younger brother, unconscious with his neck snapped, while his twin brother was no where to be seen.

"He said he didn't want Jenna to do" Kaitlynn whispered.

"What about Caroline?!" Damon yelled, "How is she going to come back to life if Brayden's dead?".

"According to Elijah, Fae will have three hours to bring one of them back, and Brayden made Fae promise that it will be Caroline" Kaitlynn said, feeling extremely emotional.

"And what are we supposed to tell Caroline, once she wakes up and realises her soulmate is dead, Kaitlynn?!" Damon yelled, "Her freaking soulmate!".

"I don't know!" Kaitlynn yelled back, "I don't know what to do Damon! I tried to stop him, but you know him and you know how stubborn he is!".

"We had a plan" Damon snapped, "We had a witch, she kills Klaus, no one has to die".

"Except for Fae?" Kaitlynn asked, glaring at Damon.

"No!" Damon yelled, feeling extremely on edge with the news that his twin might be dead right now, "Elijah was going to kill Klaus, once Fae brought him to a nearly dead state, remember?! God, Brayden, damn it!", Damon turned to a nearby wall and punched a hole through it.

"Damon, are you okay?" Kaitlynn asked, worried about the oldest Salvatore.

"No, Kaitlynn" Damon snapped, "I'm not okay, my twin brother is dying, how can I be okay?!".

"Damon--".

"Save it" Damon interrupted, walking away, "I guess this is how both the notorious Salvatore twins die".

"Wait, what do you mean by both?" Kaitlynn asked, but it was too late, as Damon had already walked away from her.

***

While Greta continued to chant, Klaus made his way over to Jenna, a wooden stake in his hand.

"Hello, Jenna" Klaus greeted.

Jenna glared at Klaus, and slowly stood up from the ground.

"Let her go, I understand that me and Caroline have to die, but she doesn't--", Elena tried to step towards Jenna, but the flames of the fire got higher, preventing her from getting out of the circle.

"Careful" Klaus warned.

"Elena, don't" Jenna said.

"No, Jenna, we can't leave Jeremy without a family" Elena cried, she then turned to Klaus, "I followed your rules, I did everything that you asked, I didn't run, please?".

"Well, well" Klaus said, "I don't recall you being on the guest list".

Everyone looked up at the hill, to see Brayden standing there.

"Brayden" Caroline whispered, a small smile on her face, but that was quickly gone when she realised he shouldn't be here.

"You and I need to have a talk, Klaus" Brayden stated, not looking towards Caroline, knowing if he looked at her, he will crumble.

"Very well, then" Klaus said, using his vampire speed to jump over to the middle Salvatore, "What can I do for you, Mr. Salvatore?".

"I'm here to offer myself as the vampire you sacrifice instead of Jenna" Brayden revealed, shocking Caroline who was eavesdropping on their conversation.

***

"I'm not here to interrupt your stupid ass ritual" Brayden said, "I'm just here to make sure Jenna doesn't die, let me take her place".

Hearing Brayden, Caroline started sobbing, realising if Klaus agreed, then she was going to lose her soulmate.

"Oh, I don't know" Klaus said, as Brayden tried to ignore Caroline's cries, "I rather appreciate the symmetry of four women, four goddesses sacrificed at nature's alter".

"Klaus, man or women, you will get what you want" Brayden snapped, "Just accept the damn deal".

"You're being quite the hero tonight, aren't you?" Klaus asked, "No wonder my brother took a liking in you, though from what I was told, all these hero antics were done by your youngest brother, not you, as far as I know, you are known as the selfish brother, who doesn't do anything unless it benefits him".

"Jenna, is the legal guardian of a friend of mine" Brayden informed, "He already lost his parents, and I'm here to make sure he doesn't lose her as well, now make the bloody trade, Klaus, set Jenna free, and I will stand perfectly still while you kill me".

***

"Caroline" Jenna whispered, looking at the hysterical girl.

"He's going to die" Caroline cried, "Brayden's going to die".

"Quite the predicament" Klaus said, as him and Brayden walked over to the three girls, "You know, it's funny, all this talk about preserving family, Elena, and here's Brayden, granting your wish".

"Brayden" Elena whispered, looking at the middle Salvatore, who ignored her and instead looked at his girlfriend.

"It's going to be okay" Brayden told Caroline.

"No" Caroline cried, shaking her head, "It's not going to be okay".

"Well, who's it gonna be, Elena?" Klaus asked the doppelganger, "Your aunt, or your best friend's soulmate?".

"No" Elena snapped.

"Oh, don't worry" Klaus said, "There's actually no choice".

Before Brayden could defend himself, Klaus speeded behind him and staked him in back.

"Brayden!" Caroline yelled, as he yelled in pain and fell to the floor.

Klaus broke the stake, leaving a piece of it in Brayden, making sure he couldn't take it out, "My brother might forgive me for compelling you, but he will never forgive me for killing you Brayden, if I kill you, then Kol will find a way to kill me, and I'd rather that not happen, for now, this will do".

Caroline looked away when Klaus snapped Brayden's neck, rendering him unconscious.

"Whenever you're ready, Greta" Klaus called out.

Caroline and Elena watched as the circle of fire around Jenna slowly went away.

"No" Elena cried.

"Your turn" Klaus told Jenna.

"No, Jenna, no" Elena cried, trying to get to her guardian but failing due to the fire around her.

"It's all right, Elena, I know what I have to do" Jenna assured.

Jenna suddenly speeded over to Greta and bit her neck, before she could cause significant damage, Klaus speeded behind her and staked her in the back, he then threw her on to the floor.

"Jenna, no" Elena sobbed.

"Turn it off, Jenna" Caroline cried, "Just turn it off, you won't be scared anymore".

Jenna nodded at Caroline, and as just Klaus walked over to her, Caroline and Elena saw Jenna's humanity turn off, and Klaus then stake her in the heart.

"No!" Elena yelled, watching her aunt desiccate, "Jenna! No, Jenna".

***

Brayden finally woke up from his snapped neck, he groaned in pain when he felt the stake still in his back, he tried to get it but it was out of his reach, he then looked towards the two girls, only to see them standing there with devastated looks on their faces. Brayden looked towards the alter, only to see Jenna's body laying there.

"No" Brayden whispered, realising he failed Jeremy.

"Brayden" Elena whispered, gaining his attention, "Are they gonna kill him?", Brayden simply nodded.

"It's time" Klaus told both Caroline and Elena, as the fire around the two girls disappeared.

Having no fight left in either of them, Elena and Caroline quietly walked over to the alter.

"Thank you" Klaus told the two girls.

"Go to hell" Elena spat, just as Klaus sank his teeth into her neck.

Just as Elena fell to the floor, dead, Klaus turned to Caroline, who was staring at her boyfriend, who had tears streaming down his face, before Caroline could react, a wooden stake was plunged into her heart.

"No!" Brayden yelled, watching the love of his life fall to the ground, with her skin all desiccated, he's eyes then landed on his wrist where he watched his soulmate mark slowly disappear, indicating that the soulmate of Brayden Salvatore was officially dead.

"I can feel it" Klaus said, "It's happening", Klaus looked up at the full moon, just as all his bones started breaking, and his eyes started glowing yellow, but before he could finish his transformation, he was thrown on to the ground by Fae.

Greta looked at the heretic in shock, but before she could stop her, Greta's neck was snapped by Damon, who quickly picked Caroline up in his arms and took her over to his brother, who was still laying on the floor in pain, while Stefan walked over to Elena, after exchanging a look with his brothers, he picked the doppelganger up and speeded out of there.

"No, you were dead!" Klaus yelled in pain, Fae ignored him and continued killing him.

Damon placed Caroline by Brayden.

"Caroline" Brayden whispered, shaking the Forbes girl, as Damon took the stake out of his back, "Get Caroline out of here, Damon!".

"What about you?!" Damon asked, as the weather around the brothers started getting worse.

"I'm not leaving until I watch that son of a bitch die" Brayden said, glaring at Klaus, he was the reason that Brayden lost his love, not once, but twice, first it was Kol, and now it was Caroline, safe to say Brayden had a personal vendetta against the Original hybrid, "Go, Damon!".

Damon nodded, he quickly grabbed Caroline and speeded out of there while Brayden walked over to Fae, the heretic and vampire watched as Elijah walked over to his brother.

"Elijah?" Klaus whispered in shock.

"Hello, brother" Elijah greeted.

Klaus gave Elijah a small smile, he's smile was turned into a yell when Elijah shoved his hand into his chest.

"In the name of our family, Niklaus" Elijah said, about to rip his brother's heart out.

"I didn't bury them at sea" Klaus admitted, stopping Elijah.

"What?" Elijah asked shocked.

"Their bodies are safe" Klaus revealed, "If you kill me, you'll never find them".

"Elijah" Kaitlynn whispered, coming and standing next to Brayden and Fae, "Please don't betray us".

Elijah looked at Kaitlynn, suddenly remembering that it was due to Klaus that he thought his own soulmate was dead for five hundred years.

"Elijah, I can take you to them" Klaus promised, "I give you my word, brother".

"Elijah, please" Fae pleaded, "You promised to end this".

Elijah looked at the trio, more so at Kaitlynn, "I need my family back" he whispered.

"No!" Brayden yelled, trying to rush over to the Originals, but Elijah quickly grabbed his brother and jumped over the fire.

***

"Is he dead?" Damon asked, as his twin, Fae and Kaitlynn rushed into the boarding house.

Brayden ignored his brother and rushed over to Caroline, who laid on the couch, her mother by her side, Damon having called her.

"Stop crying, Liz" Brayden said, "She's going to come back to us, she has to".

"How?" Liz sobbed.

"Through her and Brayden's connection" Fae revealed, walking over to the two soulmates.

"Fae, hurry, we only have two hours left" Kaitlynn said.

Fae nodded, "Hold her hand" she told Brayden, who without wasting any time complied.

Fae then put her hands over Caroline's heart, and started chanting, after a moment, Brayden started yelling as pain shot through him, Damon, Kaitlynn and Liz watched as veins appeared on his arms and transformed over to Caroline and travelled over to her heart, her skin slowly gaining back it's original color.

After a while, Fae finally stopped chanting and opened her eyes, "It's done" she revealed.

An exhausted Brayden turned to Caroline, "Come on, princess" he whispered, "Open your eyes, come back to me, please, come back".

A moment later, Caroline let out a gasp and opened her eyes.

"Brayden" Caroline whispered, breathing heavily, her eyes immediately landing on her worried soulmate.

"Hey, baby" Brayden whispered, feeling a huge weight lift off of his shoulders, "How you feeling?".

Caroline looked at Brayden, "Alive" she whispered, "I feel alive, Brayden".

Brayden smiled and hugged Caroline, who gladly hugged him back, both happy to be back in each others arms.

While the two soulmates were having there reunion, at the witches house, Elena Gilbert had also survived the sacrifice, due to Bonnie linking her life to John's, once Elena woke up, John had died.

***

"Hey" Brayden greeted, entering Jeremy's room, all ready in his black tux for both Jenna and John's funeral.

"Hey" Jeremy greeted, sitting on his bed.

Brayden walked over to the youngest Gilbert and sat next to him, "I'm so sorry, Jer" he whispered, feeling immense amount of guilt.

"It's not your fault, Bray" Jeremy assured, "You tried to save Jenna, you tried to take her place, none of this is your fault, it's weird you know, when I heard you say you were going to take Jenna's place, a part of me was relieved, then the other part realised I was going to lose my best friend, and I wished that you didn't die, turns out I got my wish, but on cost of Jenna's life".

"Stop" Brayden warned, "Don't blame yourself, whatever happened, you had nothing to do with it".

"I've lost so many people" Jeremy whispered, tears in his eyes.

Brayden sighed, "You still have me" he said, "Your best friend".

Jeremy looked at Brayden, "So it's official, we're best friends?".

"Yeap" Brayden replied.

"Thank you" Jeremy said, "For trying".

Brayden didn't say anything, just gave Jeremy a small smile.

***

Brayden walked by Jeremy's side, as the whole group walked over to the graves of Jenna Sommers and John Gilbert.

They all watched as Elena place a red rose on each of their graves, she then walked over to her parents grave, and placed two roses infront of their grave as well, with tears spilling down her face.

Brayden placed a comforting hand on Jeremy's shoulder, both him and Caroline had talked and they realised they needed to be there for the youngest Gilbert, under no circumstances could they let him fall into his old habits, they weren't going to let Jeremy throw his life away, Brayden was going to try to be the support system Jeremy needed right now, as long as he let him.

***

"Me and Brayden are gonna head back to the house" Stefan told Damon.

"I think I'll skip the coffee and tea cakes" Damon said.

"Don't be like that" Brayden warned, "I might not like Elena, but even I realise that right now, both her and Jeremy need a support system".

"And then what's the plan, Bray?" Damon asked, "The curse is broken, how does one go about killing an all-powerful wolf-vamp, and his two-faced older brother?".

"We have no idea" Stefan admitted.

"But that is tomorrow's problem, not today's" Brayden said.

"Actually Bray, it is today's problem, we need to get an idea, fast" Damon said.

"All I know is I don't want to bury another innocent person" Brayden said.

"I don't know about innocent, but you may need to bury your own brother, Bray" Damon said, confusing both his brothers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stefan asked.

"Tyler Lockwood bit me" Damon revealed, rolling his sleeve up and showing the bite to his brothers, shocking them, "It's actually more of a nip, really, but there it is".

Brayden grabbed Damon's arm and looked at the bite in shock, "Dammit Damon, why didn't you tell us sooner?!".

"We'll find something" Stefan assured his oldest brother.

"There has to be a cure somewhere" Brayden added, refusing to lose his twin brother.

Damon shook his head, "There's no cure" he reminded, refusing to have hope about something they didn't even know if it existed.

"We brought Caroline back to life, we even kept Elena human" Stefan reminded, "We found the way when there was no way".

"I'm not going to let you die Damon" Brayden said, "I'm going to find a way to save you".

"You wanna do something for me?" Damon asked, "Keep this from Kaitlynn, she's already devasted with Elijah's betrayal, she doesn't need to feel the guilt for not realising that I was bitten by Tyler".

Damon patted his twin brother's shoulder, and then walked away, leaving behind his two brothers, who were left wondering, how were they going to get their brother out of this mess?

***

Presenting 2x21 of The Vampire Diaries . . .

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Klaus killing Jenna?

Thoughts on Brayden offering to take Jenna's place?

Thoughts on Caroline dying infront of Brayden's eyes?

Thoughts on Damon revealing that he was bitten by Tyler to his brothers?