22. Founder's Day

"Look at you two, all retro" Damon commented, walking over to his brothers, who were in their retro clothing, waiting for Elena and Caroline to arrive.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked confused.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" Damon asked, "Bonnie deactivated the Gilbert invention, Isobel's gone and it's Founder's Day, I'm here to eat cotton candy and watch one of my brother be happy with his girl, while other is just so miserable".

"Don't start" Stefan warned.

"Is he wrong?" Brayden asked, "I mean, what exactly are you doing Stefan, what happened to breaking up with Elena?".

"I will, okay, trust me I will, I don't want to lead her on anymore" Stefan replied, "But I already ditched her once on Miss Mystic, I can't ditch her again".

"You ditched her because of her and our brother's mistake" Brayden reminded.

"I thought she would help him" Damon defended.

"We all clearly saw how much she helped him" Brayden said sarcastically, looking around for Caroline when his eyes landed on Elena, who looked at him and smiled and gave him a little bow, "For someone who isn't suppose to be Katherine, she definitely has her qualities".

Damon and Stefan looked at where Brayden was looking, "Yikes" Damon commented.

"I need to find Caroline" Brayden said, he patted Stefan's shoulder, "Good luck, brother".

***

"Damon!" Caroline yelled, running over to the oldest Salvatore, she handed him a camera, "Time for pictures, first take a picture of me and Brayden".

Damon chuckled, "Fine, say cheese".

Brayden put his arms around Caroline, and both of them smiled at the camera as Damon took the picture.

"Time for a group photo, where's Stefan?" Caroline asked.

"Probably hiding somewhere" Brayden replied.

"I'm not hiding brother" Stefan said, walking over to his brothers with Elena.

"Elena, here" Caroline said, taking the camera from Damon and handing it to Elena, "Take a photo of me with the brothers".

"Oh, okay" Elena said, a bit awkwardly.

After handing the camera to Elena, Caroline walked over to the brothers, and Brayden picked her up in his arms, making Caroline laugh, while Stefan and Damon laughed at his brother, it was a picture perfect moment.

"Done" Elena said.

"Okay" Caroline said, as Brayden carefully putting Caroline down, "Alright, now time for a photo of just you three".

"Seriously?" Brayden asked.

"Seriously" Caroline replied, grabbing the camera from Elena, "Come on, you guys are brothers, at least act like it".

"What do you want us to do?" Brayden asked, "Give each other piggy back rides?".

"As tempting as that is, that's not what I want you to do" Caroline replied, "At least put your arm around each other, come on guys".

Brayden sighed, he put one arm around Damon and the other around Stefan, "Happy?".

"Very" Caroline replied, "Now smile boys".

The brothers smiled and looked towards the camera, a rare moment between the brothers that was caused due to Caroline Forbes.

***

"Let's give a big hand to the Mystic Falls High School Marching Band" Carol Lockwood announced, as the marching band started the founder's day parade, "And for a little local history Mr. Saltzman's students have re-created Virginia's Battle of Willow Creek" she announced, as the float in which Jeremy and Tyler were in went by, "Ladies and gentleman, please welcome our stunning Miss Mystic Falls court and their handsome escorts", the float in which Caroline, Brayden, Stefan and Elena were started rolling through, "This is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls, aren't they beautiful?".

Caroline saw Damon in the crowd and waved at him, he laughed but nonetheless waved back.

"You know, you suit this period look" Brayden whispered into Caroline's ear.

"Really?" Caroline asked.

"Really" Brayden whispered.

***

"Jeremy" Brayden greeted, walking beside the youngest Gilbert.

While Brayden and Damon were at the Grill, Brayden had overheard Jeremy going off at Elena for asking Brayden to take his memories of Vicki's death away from him.

"If you're here to defend Elena, then just leave me alone" Jeremy snapped, having seen Brayden at the Grill.

"I'd rather stake myself then defend your sister" Brayden said, "I need to talk to you about something else".

"What?" Jeremy asked, slightly confused.

"You need to know why I did it" Brayden replied, "You need to why I took away the memory of Vicki's death from you".

"Why?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Because I've been in your position before, there was a girl, her name was Kaitlynn, she was my first love, and for years I thought she will be my only love, and due to my father, I lost her" Brayden explained, "And that ruined me, I turned into someone I stopped recognising, the pain, the sorrow, it ate at me, when I saw you after Vicki's death, I saw me, and I remembered what Kaitlynn's death did to me, I know taking your memory of Vicki was wrong, but it was the only thing that could have helped you, you were already drinking alcohol and doing drugs because of your parents death, I don't even want to know what you would have done if you remembered Vicki's death, I'm not saying what I did was right, I know it was wrong, but I was just trying to help, and I needed you to know that".

After explaining his reasoning to Jeremy, Brayden turned to leave.

"Thank you" Jeremy whispered, making Brayden stop, "I--I understand why you did it, thanks for explaining it to me".

Brayden gave Jeremy a small nod, then walked away from him.

***

It was now nighttime, and Brayden and Caroline were walking around town square, hand in hand.

"Here" Brayden said, feeding Caroline some cotton candy.

"Why aren't you eating?" Caroline asked, "This is really good".

"It's too sweet for me" Brayden replied.

"You're boring" Caroline teased.

"Thank you" Brayden said, grabbing Caroline's wrist and spinning her around, and pulling her towards him.

"Hi" Caroline laughed.

"Hey" Brayden whispered, his eyes darting towards Caroline's lips, and just as he was about to kiss her, Anna walked over to the two.

"We need to talk" Anna interrupted.

Brayden groaned, and glared at Anna, "You're still alive?".

"There's something you need to know" Anna said, "The vampires from the tomb are planning an attack tonight".

"And how the hell do you know that?" Brayden asked confused.

"I went to them" Anna replied, "They think I'm with them, I'm not, they want the founding families dead".

Brayden and Caroline looked at each other in concern, "When is this happening?" Brayden asked.

"When the fireworks start" Anna replied.

"John Gilbert wants to use the invention on the tomb vampires" Brayden informed Anna.

"Then we can't be here" Anna said, suddenly very worried.

"The invention no longer works, a witch deactivated it" Brayden assured.

"Then a lot of people are gonna die" Anna said, "Including your girlfriend, if you're forgetting, then let me remind you that she's part of a founding family".

"I can protect my girlfriend" Brayden snapped, holding Caroline's hand, "You tell me, where are the tomb vampires right now?".

"They're already here, Brayden" Anna informed.

***

"Brayden, where are we going?" Caroline asked confused.

"You're going home, princess" Brayden replied.

"What? No" Caroline said, shaking her head, "I'm not leaving you".

"Caroline, I will be fine, the vampires aren't after me, they're after you" Brayden said, "You need to go", Brayden's eyes landed behind Caroline where Matt and Tyler were.

"Tyler!" Brayden called out, "Can you take Caroline home?".

"Yeah sure" Tyler replied.

"Brayden, no" Caroline whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

"I'll be fine" Brayden assured, cupping Caroline's face, "I need you to be okay as well, go home and stay inside, I will see you before the night ends".

"Promise?" Caroline asked.

"I promise" Brayden replied, kissing Caroline's forehead, "Now go, I need to find Stefan and Damon".

After giving Brayden one last glance, Caroline walked away with Tyler and Matt.

***

Brayden ran over to Damon and Alaric, "We have a problem" he informed the two.

"What?" Damon asked confused.

"Ric, do you have those vamp weapons you carry around?" Brayden asked.

"Yeah, in my car, why do you ask?" Alaric asked confused.

"What's going on Brayden?" Damon asked, seeing his brother's worried face.

"The tomb vampires are here" Brayden replied, "They want to kill the founding family members, we need all the stakes we can find, it's about to get bloody".

"Yeah, got it" Alaric said, walking to his car.

"We need to find Stefan" Brayden told Damon, who nodded and the twins left to go find their younger brother.

***

Damon and Brayden finally found Stefan, with Elena, he was trying to break up with Elena, but it was proving very hard as Elena wouldn't let him talk, she kept apologising and wouldn't listen to Stefan.

"Stefan" Brayden said.

"What's wrong?" Stefan asked, seeing both of his brother's slightly panicked face.

"Fifteen words or less, tomb vamps are here" Damon replied, "Founding families are the target".

"I've sent Caroline home already, if you care about her", Brayden pointed to Elena, "Then get her out of here".

"Wait, where are you two going?" Stefan asked worried.

"That's more than fifteen words, Stefan" Damon replied, walking away with Brayden.

Stefan went to follow his brothers, but Elena held his hand, stopping him, "We need to find Jeremy, he's out here somewhere" she said.

Stefan looked in the direction his brothers left in and then back at Elena, after a moment he nodded, "Let's go find him, come on".

***

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Damon asked, as he and Brayden entered the building in which John was in.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do" John replied.

Brayden went to charge at John, when suddenly he and Damon fell to the floor, pain shooting through their heads, John Gilbert had activated the Gilbert device.

Brayden and Damon yelled in pain, while John walked over to the two vampires and injected both of them with vervain.

***

Caroline was in the car with Tyler and Matt, playing with her necklace, she was really worried for the three brothers, she just hoped they were okay.

"What the hell is that?" Tyler asked suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Caroline asked, not realising her necklace was starting to glow.

"That noise" Tyler replied.

"Wait, what noise?" Matt asked confused.

"Oh!" Tyler yelled in pain.

"Whoa" Matt said.

"Tyler? Tyler!" Caroline yelled, as Tyler started losing control of the car.

"Dude, hey!" Matt yelled, "Caroline, the wheel!".

"Tyler!" Caroline yelled, trying to get control of the car but failing, as their car crashed right into a fence.

***

Brayden groaned and slowly opened his eyes, he realised he was in a building's basement, looking to his side he saw his twin, laying there unconscious.

"Damon" Brayden whispered, just as John walked down the stairs, and started pouring gasoline all over the basement.

Brayden watched John, as he turned to leave, but before he could leave, Anna held his foot, stopping him.

"Anna" John realised, he turned to the other deputies, "You can head up, I'll take it from here", Brayden watched as John pulled out a stake from his jacket pocket.

"Please" Anna pleaded, but John ignored her pleading, and staked her in the heart.

John grabbed a can of gasoline and started pouring it over the stairs as he went upstairs, he then lit a match and threw it into the basement, causing flames to erupt everywhere.

"Brayden" Damon whispered, causing Brayden to look at him.

"We're so dead" Brayden whispered to his twin.

***

"You okay?" Elena asked Stefan.

Stefan had also gone down due to the Gilbert device, but both Elena and Alaric had managed to hide him from all the deputies.

"It was like needles were piercing my skull" Stefan informed, "And it just stopped".

"I saw at least five vampires go down" Alaric informed, he looked at Elena, "They're taking them to your family's old building".

"It's the Gilbert device" Stefan realised, "It has to be".

"But how did he get it to work?" Elena asked confused, "Bonnie unspelled it".

"Or maybe she didn't" Alaric said.

"She did, we saw her do it" Elena said.

"No, he's right, think about it" Stefan said, "We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires".

"So we could protect you" Elena defended.

"And Damon and Brayden, vampires" Stefan retorted, "Where's Damon and Brayden?".

"I don't know" Alaric replied, "I haven't seen them since this started".

"Can you get my brother?" Elena asked Alaric, "Take him home?".

"Of course" Alaric replied, going to find Jeremy.

"I need to go find my brothers" Stefan said, standing up and running to find his two older brothers.

***

Damon and Brayden groaned in pain, as the fire around them got higher.

"Mayor" Damon said shocked, "Is that you?".

"What are you two doing here?" Mayor Lockwood asked confused.

"We're vampires" Brayden replied, shocking the mayor, "What are you?".

"No, really" Damon said, trying to crawl over to the mayor, "The vervain didn't affect you, you're not a vampire, what the hell are you?".

While trying to escape Brayden and Damon, Mayor Lockwood ended up crawling over to another tomb vampire.

"Mayor Lockwood" the vampire greeted, without wasting any time, he snapped the mayor's neck, killing him.

***

"You okay?" Matt asked Caroline, "Your side took the biggest hit".

"I'm fine, but have you seen my necklace?" Caroline asked, having lost the necklace Brayden gave to her in the accident.

"Forget the necklace Caroline" Matt said, "You need to get checked out".

"No, I'm fine, I'm fine, they're helping Tyler" Caroline assured, who was on the ground unconscious.

"Pulse is steadying" one of the medics said.

While Matt went to go check on Tyler, Caroline took deep breaths, not feeling fine at all.

"What the hell?" One of the medics said, opening Tyler's eye and seeing something unusual.

"What? What's wrong?" Matt asked worried, kneeling beside Tyler.

"The eyes" the medic said, before they could check again, Tyler gasped and opened his eyes, making Matt breath a sigh of relief.

"What happened?" Tyler asked confused.

"Dude, don't scare me like that" Matt said.

"Hey, she needs some help over here" A women called out.

Matt turned around to see Caroline laying on the road, unconscious.

***

After realising the Gilbert's old building was on fire, both Stefan and Elena ran over there, where they saw John.

"Where's Damon and Brayden?" Elena asked John.

"With the rest of them, where they should be" John replied, "It's over for those two".

"You're crazy" Elena spat.

"Why? Because I'm doing what should've been done 145 years ago?" John asked, "This is the right thing, Elena", he looked at Stefan, "Go head, you won't make it out, you'll save me the trouble of killing you myself".

Stefan ignored John and turned to Elena, "You know the building well, is there another entrance in?".

"Utility door, there's one around the side" Elena replied.

Stefan nodded and without wasting a second rushed to save his brothers.

***

"Hey! You can't go in there" Bonnie yelled, as Stefan ran to the utility door, but Stefan ignored her and opened the door, "The fire will take you out!".

Stefan turned to Bonnie, "They're my brothers, Bonnie" he said, running inside, unknown to him, there was another witch other then Bonnie present there, who smiled seeing Stefan's care for his brothers, and she decided to do what she was here for, protect the Salvatore brothers from trouble, just like old times.

Stefan reached the basement door, and tried to open it but it was too hot, he tried again and this time he succeeded as the knob was no longer hot, confusing him but he put his confusion aside and opened the door, as soon as he opened the doors, he was met with high flames blocking his path, Stefan watched in shock as the fire on the stairs slowly reduced, making it easier for Stefan to run to his brothers.

"Damon! Brayden!" Stefan yelled.

"Take him" Brayden ordered, "Take Damon first".

"Brayden, no" Damon said, as Stefan helped him up.

"Go" Brayden ordered.

"Hold on" Stefan told Brayden, before speeding away with Damon.

Brayden didn't have to wait long at all, when Stefan speeded back down and grabbed Brayden, "Come on, come on", while Stefan helped Brayden up, both of them didn't realise that the necklace that told Brayden when Caroline was in danger, was on the floor, burning.

As soon as Brayden and Stefan were out, the fire around the stairs were back, blocking any other vampire from getting out.

Stefan and Brayden came out of the building, and Stefan helped Brayden sit down on the floor next to Damon, all of them coughing due to the smoke.

"Thank you" Stefan told Bonnie, confusing her.

"Why are you thanking me?" Bonnie asked.

"You used your magic to reduce the fire" Stefan replied, "Didn't you?".

"Stefan, I didn't do any magic, I'm shocked myself as to how you got them out" Bonnie replied.

"If you didn't help us, then who did?" Brayden asked, as Stefan started looking around.

Suddenly, Stefan's eyes landed on someone, he couldn't see the girl's face, but he saw her back, "Fae" he whispered, shocking the two brothers.

"What?" Damon asked.

Stefan didn't reply, instead speeded over to the tree, when it got there, no one was there, confusing him, he could have sworn a girl was standing right here, a girl that resembled a lot like the girl who he has been waiting for.

***

Jeremy entered his room to see Brayden sitting there already, shocking him.

"What are you doing here?" Jeremy asked confused.

"Anna's dead" Brayden informed.

"I figured that once they took her away" Jeremy said.

"I know you had feelings for her" Brayden said, standing up.

"Yeah, I did" Jeremy confirmed.

"You should know, it was your uncle" Brayden informed.

"What?" Jeremy asked shocked.

"Your uncle John Gilbert, staked her, right infront of my eyes" Brayden replied, "I was laying on the ground, helpless, when all I wanted to do was, help her, but no matter what I tried, I was too weak".

"Why are you telling me all this?" Jeremy asked confused.

"I took away your suffering once before" Brayden replied, "I have the ability to do it again, but this time, it will your choice, not Elena's and definitely not mine".

"Look, I know you think you took it away, but it's still there" Jeremy said, "Even if I can't remember why, I still feel empty, alone, and making me forget won't fix it, it won't fix what's really wrong".

"I understand" Brayden said, "But you should know, you're not alone Jeremy, if you need a friend, I'm here, currently I have a vacancy in that department".

Jeremy nodded, "I'll keep that in mind" he said, just as Brayden's phone started ringing.

Taking his phone out, Brayden realised Damon was calling him, "What?" he asked.

"Brayden, where are you?" Damon asked, in a panicked voice.

"Somewhere" Brayden replied, "Why, what's wrong?".

"It's Caroline, Brayden" Damon informed, "She's in the hospital".

***

"Liz!" Brayden yelled, running over to the Sheriff, with Stefan and Damon right behind him, "Is she okay? Can I see her? What are the doctors saying?".

"Brayden, calm down" Liz said, tears in her eyes.

"Please, tell me she's okay" Brayden pleaded.

"There was internal bleeding, they're taking her into surgery" Liz informed.

"What else did they say?" Stefan asked, as Brayden sat on the seats in worry.

"She's gonna be alright, right?" Damon asked.

"They're gonna do everything they can" Liz replied.

Liz walked away to sign some papers for Caroline's surgery, while Damon and Stefan sat on either side of Brayden.

"I can't lose her" Brayden whispered, "I can't lose her".

"You won't" Damon assured, "Brayden, you can save her, with your blood".

"Damon's right" Stefan said, "Once everyone's gone, give Caroline your blood, and she will come back to you".

"I can't believe, you're agreeing to that" Brayden told Stefan.

"It's Caroline, Brayden" Stefan said, "The girl you let in after Kaitlynn, the girl who made you realise that you have a heart, I would never want her to leave you".

"Thank you" Brayden whispered to Stefan, "For saving me and Damon tonight".

Stefan gave his brothers a small smile, "You're my brothers, you saved me, it's only fair I return the favor".

The three brothers smiled at each other, and sat in the waiting room together, waiting for everyone to leave so Caroline could come back to Brayden.

***

Presenting 1x22 of The Vampire Diaries. . .

HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS! ACT ONE OF THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT IS OFFICIALLY DONE!

Overall, how was the season? Did you guys like or hate it?

For next season, I'm going to need your guy's help, as we know the next season is very Elena centered if you guys have suggestion of how I can make it Caroline centered then please do tell me as I am struggling a bit.

On a brighter note, Kaitlynn and Fae are officially coming! How's excited?! I know I am!

p.s just wanted to clear none of the brothers kissed Katherine in this chapter.

Anyways, back to this chapter, how was it?

Thoughts on Caroline forcing the brothers to take photos with her?

Thoughts on both Brayden and Caroline losing their necklaces? I wonder how that will affect in them in the future 👀🙈

Thoughts on who the unknown witch could be who saved the brothers?

Thoughts on Brayden's reaction after finding out about Caroline's accident?