22. Home

Once Brayden had passed through to the other side, Fae had rushed to find Caroline, knowing if the Forbes vampire knew about Brayden's death then she would be breaking apart and that's exactly what she saw when she made her away over to Caroline at the Whitmore college parking lot, a heartbroken Caroline sobbing over Brayden's body and begging him to wake up, Fae then helped Caroline move Brayden's body into the empty common room of their dorm building, currently Caroline sat by the couch that had Brayden's body and cried, her tears refusing to stop.

After hearing about the death of their brother from Fae, Stefan and Damon rushed back to Whitmore with Kaitlynn right behind them, "Oh my god, Brayden" a shocked Kaitlynn whispered, while Damon and Stefan froze in their step, the moment their eyes landed on Brayden's dead body it's like their whole world stopped.

"I didn't know where else to bring him" Fae whispered, placing a hand on Caroline's shoulder, trying her best to comfort the hysterical vampire but she knew right now it wasn't her comfort that Caroline wanted, it was her soulmate's, "I just knew that we couldn't leave him outside in the parking lot".

"You have a plan, right?" Caroline cried to Fae, "You said that you could bring people back, tell me that you can being him back!".

"We'll bring him back, come on" Damon said, finally speaking up, while Fae looked between Damon, Stefan and Caroline, the three people most effected by Brayden's death, she didn't know how to tell them she had no idea how to bring Brayden back, "Let's get away from prying eyes".

Stefan nodded his head, he quickly grabbed a blanket and put it over Brayden's dead body, the group of five completely unaware that Brayden was watching them from the other side, his heart breaking seeing the people he loved the most in the world break like this.

As Brayden took a deep sigh, a sudden rumbling caught his attention, Brayden looked around and realised this was the oblivion coming for him, Brayden tried to grab on to something but couldn't and the oblivion started dragging him across the floorboard, just as he was about to go upwards, a hand grabbed his wrist, Brayden looked at the person who was holding on to him and small chuckle came out of him, "Kol".

"I've got you darling" Kol assured, pulling Brayden towards him, once the two were clear from the oblivion, Kol looked at Brayden, "Hey Bray, long time no see".

"Yeah, no kidding" Brayden whispered, really happy to see Kol again, after he died, he had lost all hope in ever seeing the original ever again, someone he was no longer in love with, but he was still someone he cared for deeply.

***

"Oh, great, grandma just passed us" an annoyed Liv taunted her brother.

"If you wanna drive, just say so" Luke said.

"No, I want you to drive" Liv stated, "Just at a speed more fitting for two people who just tried to commit murder".

"They are not following us, Markos stripped the town of spirit magic" Luke reminded, "There's no way they survived it".

"Something tells me they did" Liv said, seeing Kaitlynn appear infront of their car, immediately causing Luke to press hard on the brake.

"I bet if I turn around--", Luke turned around and saw Caroline standing there.

"Using our own tricks against us" Liv said, as her and Luke got out of the car, "Jerks".

"So here's a tip for later, fleeing the crime scene through a main road isn't the greatest idea" Kaitlynn taunted.

"You really wanna do this again?" Liv asked, glaring at the two vampires.

"You mean the part you try to kill one of the soulmates from Silas and Amara's bloodline?" Kaitlynn asked, "Don't bother, someone did your work for you, Brayden's dead".

A shocked Liv looked towards Caroline, she knew Brayden was her soulmate, and his death would have killed a part of her, "I know you don't believe me but I am sorry".

"That's not enough" Caroline snapped.

"You have to help us bring him back" Kaitlynn said.

"Look, I get what you need from us" Liv said, "But if both soulmates from Silas and Amara's bloodline are alive again, the travelers can re-start their spell, witch magic goes bye bye and all you vamps, you're goners".

"Except they're not gonna be able to start the spell again" Kaitlynn clarified, "Because to bring Brayden back, we're gonna kill all the travelers, that includes Markos".

"We can't help you" Luke stated, "Even if we wanted to, our coven would kill us".

"Brayden saved your life" Caroline reminded.

"I know he did but--".

"We can't risk it" Liv finished, Caroline glared at Liv, she then used her vamp speed to rush over to Luke and snap his neck, "No!".

"Your brother is officially on the other side, think you can risk it now?" Caroline asked, she didn't care if this was too extreme, no one was going to stop Brayden from returning back to her.

***

"Class is in session, first assignment, anti-magic perimeter" Damon said, walking over to Matt and Jeremy who were in a Whitmore lecture hall, "Gilbert? What do you got?".

"I walked around Mystic Falls this morning to see where my hunter instincts disappeared" Jeremy informed.

"Meaning what, your biceps shrunk and your brain got smaller?" Damon asked.

"Meaning I have a supernatural urge to kill vampires" Jeremy reminded, "So wherever I hated you less, there was no magic".

"The cemetery's outside of the no magic perimeter" Damon realised, looking down at the map laid on the table, "Couple of unpopulated areas, other than that--".

"Hey, Professor Salvatore, not everyone can see the map" Caroline reminded through the phone.

"Did you actually forget about us?" Kaitlynn asked.

"Donovan, you had one job" an annoyed Damon said.

Matt grabbed his phone, "I'll send you a picture right now" he assured, taking a picture of the map and sending it over to the girls.

Kaitlynn pulled out her phone and saw the picture of the map, "You guys, we should be there to help".

"No" Damon stated, "You should not be, you're on witch duty because without crazy-locks, no one's risking from the dead, so next order of business, mass murder, quarterback?", Matt laid another map across the table, "Thank you, okay I got these from the sheriff, apparently there was some truth to her evacuation story, there's a major gas line that runs underneath the town, now if it did leak, it could be deadly, as in massive explosion kind of deadly".

"We can't blow up our hometown" Matt protested.

"Says one of the only people left in this group who can actually live there" Damon taunted.

"Matt's right, we can't blow up the whole of Mystic Falls" Kaitlynn said, "We just need to lure all the travelers into one place".

"How?" a frustrated Caroline asked, "We can't lure anyone anywhere stuck out here".

"And that's where your mama comes in" Damon informed, "She will convince them to gather somewhere inside, meanwhile, these two geniuses", Damon pointed at Matt and Jeremy, "At seven o'clock will turn on the gas, let it leak, we'll have about ten minutes before anyone can smell it, you clear out, boom, travelers gone, resurrection spell starts, loved ones return, good? Good? Class dismissed".

***

"Remind me again why we're looking for a dead history teacher vampire and not spending the time with each other?" an annoyed Kol asked Brayden, as he followed Brayden into Grill.

"We can spend as much as time as you want once we both come back to life" Brayden assured, making the smile on Kol's face flatter, he knew he was going to come back, but he didn't know how to tell Brayden it wasn't going to be with him.

"You sure your soulmate won't mind?" Kol asked, really hoping Brayden didn't sense the sudden change in his behaviour.

"She knows I love her, plus maybe you two can hang out with each other" Brayden suggested.

"Hanging out with my ex-boyfriend's current soulmate, that's really what's it's come to?" an amused Kol asked.

Brayden chuckled, "Hey, we're long past the love triangle shit, there's nothing to be awkward about anymore".

"But there is" Kol retorted.

Brayden sighed, "It will only be awkward if you two make it awkward, there is no reason for two important people in my life to not get along with each other".

"One is more important then the other though" Kol pointed out.

"She's more important then the whole world" Brayden admitted, "And maybe when we both get out of here, you will find that person as well".

"I wouldn't put my bet on that" a slightly bitter Kol said, "No one will love a psychotic maniac".

"I don't know Kol, if someone can love the ruthless Salvatore, something tells me someone can love the psychotic maniac as well" Brayden said.

Kol opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, his and Brayden's eyes landed on the entrance of the grill when they heard the voice of Sheriff Elizabeth Forbes, "Listen, I might not carry a lot of weight with you people, but I'm still the sheriff and I still represent the people who live here" she stated, walking into the Grill with Markos.

"Travelers haven't been able to gather for centuries" Markos reminded, "Last thing they'll tolerate is a list of your ground rules".

Liz looked around the grill, when suddenly an idea popped into her head, "What if there's an open bar?".

"She's trying to gather the travelers into one place" Brayden realised, "They must have a plan".

***

"Why did Ric have to disappear now?" an annoyed Brayden asked, once he and Kol walked out of the history classroom.

"There's three options here, one, Alaric is still somewhere here on the other side, we just have to look harder, two, he found peace, or three--".

"The oblivion took him" Brayden finished, a worried look on his face.

"Yeah" Kol whispered, as the two now walked down the empty corridors of Mystic Falls High.

Brayden looked at Kol, a curious look on his face, "Why didn't you find peace?".

"You really think I'm gonna find peace?" Kol asked, "Don't be silly Brayden, we both know I'm going the opposite direction".

"You and me both" Brayden stated.

"Hey, at least now we both know if all of this fails, we will see each other in hell" Kol teased.

Brayden laughed, "We certainly will".

"Now come on, let's get you to where you're supposed to be" Kol said.

"But we haven't found Alaric yet" Brayden pointed out.

"If Alaric is still here, then something tells me he'll find his own way, right now we need to get you back to Caroline" Kol stated, Brayden thought about his words for a second before nodding his head and the two vampires left the school and went towards the cemetery where Fae was going to be bringing all of them back.

***

Both Kol and Brayden had made their way over to Fae where Fae told Brayden that in order to kill all the travelers, Damon had to kill himself and obviously Kaitlynn couldn't let him do that alone so she died along with him.

"Fae!" Luke yelled, coming out of the crypt and walking over to where Brayden, Kol, Enzo, Tyler and Lexi, who Brayden was so happy to see, stood, "Look, it's too much for her, we need to start now".

"Absolutely not!" Brayden protested, "No one is leaving until Damon gets here".

"I don't care" Luke stated, putting his hands on either side of Fae and passing through to the real world.

***

"Guys we're running out of time" a worried Fae pointed out to the group, "You guys need to start coming through".

"What about everyone else?" Tyler asked over the harsh winds around them.

"You don't have to tell me twice" Enzo said, stepping over to Fae and passing through to the real world, in the real world, Enzo let out a sigh of relief before starting to walk away from Fae, just as Caroline entered the cemetery, "Ah, see you around, gorgeous".

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief seeing Enzo come back alive, this means the spell was working and Brayden was about to come back home to her, "Come on Brayden" she whispered, looking at Fae anxiously, "Come back to me".

"Come on, next person, hurry!" Fae insisted, "We're seriously running out of time", Fae looked at Brayden, her number one priority was to bring him home, to his brothers, to his love, "Grab my hand, Brayden".

Brayden looked at Fae's hand, "I can't" he whispered.

"What do you mean you can't?" a confused Kol asked, "You have to".

"He's right, you have to go, come on" Lexi insisted.

Brayden shook his head, "You two go, I'm not leaving without Damon".

"Are you serious right now?" an angry Lexi asked.

"I'm sorry Lex, but he's my brother" Brayden said, before running away from the group.

"Brayden!" a shocked Fae yelled but Brayden didn't turn back, he needed to find his brother before the time was up.

"Dammit Brayden" Kol mumbled, he then looked at Fae, "Continue your spell, I'll bring him back".

Kol quickly rushed after Brayden, while Lexi and Fae exchanged worried looks between them, both hoping and praying Stefan doesn't end up losing both his brothers.

***

"Damon!" Brayden yelled, running over to his twin once he found him with Alaric in the woods.

"Why the hell haven't you left yet Brayden?" a shocked Damon asked.

"You really think I was gonna leave without?" Brayden retorted.

"Okay if you two have had your little reunion, let's get going" Kol insisted, "We're really cutting it short here".

Damon nodded his head, "Let's go", and with that the four men quickly rushed over to Fae, who was very impatiently waiting for them, "Fae!".

"Oh thank god" Fae whispered, so happy to see both Damon and Brayden again.

Brayden looked at Kol, "Go" he said, gesturing towards Fae.

Kol looked down at his hands and realised he was starting to disappear, he then looked at Brayden and gave him a small smile, "I can't, Bray".

Brayden looked at Kol in confusion, "What the hell is happening to you?".

"Don't worry about me, rest assured we will meet again" Kol said, before he fully disappeared from Brayden's sight.

"What just happened?" a shocked Brayden asked Fae.

"I have no idea" an equally shocked Fae admitted.

"Please tell me he's not dead" a worried Brayden said.

"I don't think he's dead" Fae assured, "That wasn't death, that was something else".

"Something we will figure out once we get back to the land of living" Damon assured his brother, "Right now we need to get going".

Fae nodded her head in agreement, she stepped forward and grabbed Alaric and helped him pass through her to the real world.

***

"Where's Kaitlynn?" a worried Damon asked Fae.

"She's back in the real world with Caroline now" Fae assured, "Now it's time for you two to get back to them".

"Can't wait" Brayden whispered, an excitement in his voice once he realised he will be with Caroline, but that excitement immediately went away when Fae grabbed him but nothing happened, "That's not good, is it?".

"What?" a confused Fae mumbled, before stepped away from Brayden and grabbing Damon, but once again nothing happened.

"Well, would you look at that?" Damon said sarcastically.

Brayden let out a bitter chuckle, "Came into the world together, left the world together" he teased his brother, but both Fae and Damon knew he wasn't happy about this, his heart was breaking apart, just like Damon and Fae's was.

***

Both Kaitlynn and Caroline rushed into the Salvatore's shock, expecting to find Liv still doing the spell but to their shock, Liv was not there, she was gone, the spell had stopped, but Damon and Brayden weren't back.

"Oh my god" Kaitlynn whispered.

"No, no, no" Caroline cried, she stepped further into the crypt, looking for any sign of Liv, "Where is she? She can't just leave like this! Brayden still has to come back to me!".

"Fae" Kaitlynn said, seeing Fae enter the crypt, "We have to find those two, I will feed their spleen to them if I have to but they're restarting this damn spell!".

"They can't restart the spell again, Kait" a teary eyed Fae informed, "We only had one shot at this".

"So what?" Caroline asked, "There has to be another way, Brayden hasn't come back yet, we need to bring him back, please Fae, bring him back".

"I wish I could" Fae cried, "I tried I really tried, but it's too late now".

"No" Kaitlynn said, shaking her head, "No", before Fae could comfort her best friend, Kaitlynn had rushed out of the crypt, the four walls suddenly making it hard for the Pierce vampire to breathe.

Fae let out a sigh before turning to Caroline who had slumped against the wall in defeat, "He's here" she informed, making Caroline look at her, "He didn't want to leave without saying goodbye to you".

Caroline immediately started shaking her head, "No, no, I won't, I won't say it, I won't say goodbye, I can't".

Brayden walked closer to Caroline while Fae walked out, giving the two soulmates some privacy.

"You lied to me Brayden" Caroline sobbed, "You promised me eternity, but you left me".

"I haven't left you princess" Brayden whispered, using his thumb to caress Caroline's cheek, which Caroline immediately felt causing her to cry even more, "I might not physically be there for you, but my love for you will live on for eternity".

"Please don't go" Caroline sobbed, "I can't live without you".

"You're gonna have to" Brayden whispered, "Live your life Caroline Forbes, for the two of us, just know that in this whole entire world, you were the one who had Brayden Salvatore, the ruthless Salvatore wrapped around her fingers, without even trying, I've been alive for over a century, a lot of things have happened to me, but you are the greatest, I am one lucky bastard, I get to die telling the world that I was loved by Caroline Forbes, the woman of my dreams, life can't get any better then that, goodbye Caroline, remember that I will love you, forever, even death won't be able to take you out of my heart, maybe we will meet again, in another lifetime, then I promise, I'll do everything in my power to stay with you, but our journey in this lifetime ends here baby, goodbye princess".

Brayden then turned around and left the crypt, tears streaming down his own face, he didn't turn back to see Caroline again, because he knew, if he turned back, it will just get harder for him to leave.

Almost like she sensed Brayden leave, the moment Brayden walked away, Caroline fell to the floor crying her lungs out, "Please don't go Brayden, please come back to me!".

***

A sobbing Kaitlynn leaned against the tree, while she sat on the ground, "I hate you, I hate you so much, you promised not to break my heart, you're a liar!" she sobbed, she started crying even more when she felt an invisible force remove her hair from face, she didn't have to guess to know that it was Damon, here to say goodbye.

"Even if I wanted to apologise, you couldn't hear me" a sad Damon said, kneeling infront of Kaitlynn, "So I won't".

"Just come back, please come back" Kaitlynn cried, "I swear to god Damon, if you don't come back to me, I'll never forgive you!".

"I don't have a choice, baby" Damon whispered, "You are by far the greatest thing that ever happened to me in my hundred and seventy three years on this earth, the fact that I get to die knowing that I was loved not just by anyone, by you, Kaitlynn Pierce, is the epitome of a fulfilled life, it was never really gonna get any better than this, I peaked".

"This was supposed to be our time, you promised this time no one will separate us" Kaitlynn sobbed.

"I love you, Kaitlynn" Damon whispered.

"Please Damon, I love you" Kaitlynn cried, "Please don't make me live on this earth without, I won't be able to do it".

"Bye" Damon said, after giving Kaitlynn one last look, Damon stood up and walked away from her with an extremely heavy heart.

***

"Hey" Fae greeted, sitting on the bench while on the call with Stefan.

"Where are you?" a desperate Stefan asked, tears in his eyes, "Please tell me where you are Fae, I really need you".

"I'm so sorry" Fae cried, "I'm sorry that I couldn't bring your brothers back to you, I thought if you had them, you'd be fine without me, but I failed".

Stefan froze for a moment, "Without you?" he asked, "What do you mean without you, Fae?!"

"I lied to you, Stefan" Fae revealed, "I told you that there was a way for me to stop being the anchor, but there isn't, when the other side collapses, I go with it".

"No" Stefan whispered, shaking his head, tears streaming down his face, he couldn't lose his brothers and the love of his life, all in one day, "No! You promised you'd come back!".

"I know" Fae cried, "But I couldn't tell you the truth, it would've changed the way our last days together panned out, and I didn't want anything to change Stefan, I wanted to die with as much memories of you as I can have in my heart, you and I were happy, I didn't want us to be sad".

"No, no, you're not leaving me" Stefan said, "Just tell me where you are, I'm coming to you".

"I can't see you, Stefan" Fae sobbed, "I won't be able to say goodbye".

"This isn't goodbye!" Stefan snapped.

"Come on Stefan, we both know I already died the day before graduation" Fae reminded, "These days that I've been alive, they've been a gift, a gift that I have to return now, I'm just thankful that I didn't waste even one second of it, I'm thankful that this time, I get to say goodbye to you before I die, remember I love you Stefan Salvatore, okay?".

"Don't say it like that" Stefan cried, "It feels like the last time I'm hearing it".

"It is the last time, Stefan" Fae cried.

"I love you Fae" Stefan sobbed.

"And I love you, for eternity" Fae sobbed.

"Fae please just tell me where you are" Stefan pleaded, "Please let me come to you".

"Goodbye Stefan" Fae said, before hanging up on the youngest Salvatore and having a breakdown.

While on the other hand, Stefan looked down at his phone, "No!" he yelled, before smashing his phone to the ground and rushing to find Fae, not knowing that he was too late.

***

As the wind around them picked up, Brayden and Damon made their way over to Fae.

"This place is going down, isn't it?" Damon asked Fae, as the weather around them got worse.

"Yeap" Fae confirmed.

"So where do you think we're gonna go, heaven or hell?" Brayden teased.

"How can you be in a teasing mode right now?" Fae asked.

Brayden sighed, "It's better if I don't think about reality, I will lose it otherwise".

"Me too" Fae whispered, grabbing Brayden's hand, she then turned to Damon and grabbed his hand as well, "Ready?".

"Not really" Brayden admitted.

"Will it hurt?" a fearful Fae asked, as the white light started approaching them.

"I don't kno--", Damon's words were cut of as the white light fully engulfed him, Brayden and Fae.

***

Presenting 5x22 of They Don't Know About Us!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Kol saving Brayden from the oblivion?

Thoughts on Caroline snapping Luke's neck?

Thoughts on Brayden telling Kol he will find love one day?

Thoughts on Brayden going back for Damon?

Thoughts on Brayden, Damon and Fae's goodbye to Caroline, Kaitlynn and Stefan?