CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | THE DEPARTED 

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THE FEELING OF FINALLY KISSING STEFAN SALVATORE LIT AN INFERNO OF INSIDE KLARA. She had fantasized about what it would be like to kiss him— what his lips would feel like pressed against hers. And, it felt magical. She waved Stefan and Damon off on their journey to the Atlantic, where they planned to sink Klaus' body. Once the SUV was out of sight, Klara headed home.

The smile hadn't faded from Klara's safe even as she walked into the Salvatore House an hour after their lips collided. A sigh of relief left the vampire's mouth as she threw herself backwards onto the couch but her moment to reminisce was shortlived as her phone again to buzz. "Hey, Jer. What's up?" 

"I uh, I tried to get hold of Stefan and Damon but their phones were going to voicemail and I didn't know what to—" Jeremy Gilbert rambled on down the other end of the line which caused Klara to interrupt him.

"Jeremy, I can't understand the rambling." The blonde slowed her voice in an attempt to help him. "I need you to explain to me very slowly and calmly what the problem is."

Klara listened to Jeremy instantly take a breath before he spoke. "I found Elena upstairs, she was unconscious and there was loads of blood, okay. So, I took her to the hosp—" 

"Please tell me the end of that sentence isn't that you took Elena to the hospital." Silence befell the line and that was when Klara groaned quietly. "Alaric's life is linked to Elena's and the only way to stop him is to kill her. Every Original that isn't desiccated in a box is gonna come after her."

"When you find your sister unconscious, you call 9-1-1, Klara."

"Jeremy, listen to me. You need to get Elena home, now. I'll try and get hold of Stefan and Damon, they need to know what's going on." Klara wasted absolutely no time ending the call with Jeremy. She understood that he wanted to make sure that Elena was okay, but she wasn't safe in the hospital one bit.

Klara lifted herself up from the couch, she knew that she probably would have to meet Jeremy and Elena back at the Gilbert residence but before they, she had to call the Salvatore brothers. "Goldie-Locks, you're interrupting brother bonding."

"Jeremy found Elena unconscious and took her to the hospital," Klara explained vaguely but soon heard Damon begin to speak. "And, yes, before you ask, I told Jeremy to get Elena home and I'd meet him there. I just thought that I'd let you two know what was going on."

"Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you not being the dumbest brother on Earth?" Klara heard Damon say, presumably to Stefan.

"Damon, you need to keep moving. If Klaus really is the sire of our bloodline, we need to keep his body hidden before Alaric finds him, kills him and we all end up dead." Stefan ordered his older brother. "Klara, I'm on my way back. I'll meet you at Elena's."

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When Klara arrived at Elena's, she saw the doppelganger laid out on the couch with Matt beside her. She looked okay, for now, but it was clear that the group was still pretty cautious. Matt lifted himself up from the armchair nearest Elena and insisted that he would fix the doppelganger a snack, but Klara knew that it was probably so the girls could speak privately.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Klara asked her friend in a worried tone. She then lifted her wrist up to her mouth and prepared to bite. "Do you want some—"

"What? No, no." Elena chuckled lightly as she watched the blonde awkwardly lower her wrist from her mouth. "I'm okay, Klara." She then sat up on the couch and looked at her friend. "I know that what I'm doing isn't right, it's not fair on them. So, I have to let one of them go."

Klara studied the way Elena's voice shook at the thought of letting either of the Salvatore brothers go. "But which one?"

The doppelganger shrugged lightly as her eyes fell back to Klara's. "Do you—do you have feelings for Stefan?" The blonde hesitantly nodded while Elena swallowed thickly. "He told me that he had feelings for you, I just didn't know that you felt the same."

"Yeah, I never really let it be common knowledge that I've got feelings for him. I mean, I wanted to be respectful to you and your relationship with Stefan." Klara let her hand ran through her hair as Elena's head tilted. "I mean, to be honest, I wanted to deny the way I felt because you're my best friend— I'd die for you. The last thing I wanted was to get feelings for your boyfriend. I'm so sorry."

"Klara, you have nothing to apologize for." A small smile crept over Elena's face as the grabbed the blonde by the hand. "I'm just sorry that this situation is so screwed up."

As the words dripped from Elena's mouth, the front door swung open to reveal Stefan. His eyes contained worry as he looked between the blonde and the brunette. "Hey." He turned to Elena. "You okay?"

Out of respect for Klara, Elena didn't rise from her seat to hug the Salvatore, despite wanting to. She just nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, now that you're here, you can help Matt in the kitchen," Klara smirked toward Stefan. She knew that Stefan loved to cook and he loved to look after people even more— it was the best of both worlds for him.

Elena and Klara slumped back onto the couch, the brunette's head was rested on Klara's shoulder while Matt and Stefan were in the kitchen. "I'm being over-coddled. I feel completely fine."

"You're on house arrest. You're supposed to be over-coddled." Stefan told the girl with a light smile, though he couldn't resist Klara's gaze. 

Matt also looked up. "Wouldn't it be smarter if we just got you the hell out of town?"

"And do what? Go on the run for the rest of my life? No, thank you." Elena lifted her head up from Klara's shoulder then pulled herself from the couch. "And I'm not an invalid. I'm done with the couch."

Klara's eyes walked Elena walk out of the room, and that's when she joined the kitchen with Matt and Stefan. The human sighed toward the vampires. "So, you two are just gonna let her call the shots?"

"I mean, it's her choice. Nothing wrong with making decisions for yourself." Klara smiled lightly as her back rested against the kitchen island.

"Even if they're wrong?"

"Nothing wrong with free will, Matt." Stefan shrugged. "Trust me. You don't realize that 'till you lose it." The Salvatore's eyes fell on Klara who nodded slowly.

"Stefan. Klara." Elena called out. Their eyes turned from each other to the hallway where Elena stood in front of Elijah. Fear thumped through Klara's body as she saw the Original, who must've wanted his brother back.

"Elijah." 

The Original nodded. "Hello, again." He greeted simply. He stepped inside the house with ease while Elena led him into the kitchen. He took a seat at the table, but Klara couldn't shake the feeling of fear that ran through her. "It has come to my attention that my mother has turned Alaric into a vampire hunter whose life conveniently remains linked to Elena's."

"And, by that tone of voice, I assume you have a plan." Klara tilted her head as her head remained underneath her chin. 

"All we need is to take that stake away from him. Once he's been disarmed, the weapon's in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us."

"And you'll just... run?" Stefan asked with a hint of skepticism in his voice as he moved beside Klara. It wouldn't have been the first time Elijah double-crossed them.

"We've done it before." Elijah shrugged. "Klaus and Rebekah spent the better part of a thousand years evading my father. What's another half-century while Elena's able to live out the rest of her natural life?"

"We've finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back." Elena explained to the Original.

"I give you my world, Elena, I will not revive Klaus within yours, nor even within your children's lifetimes." Elijah took a breath. "Perhaps it'll finally teach him some manners."

"Why should she trust you?" Matt spoke up. "All you've done is screw her over?"

Klara nodded in agreement. "Donovan's got a point."

"And for that, I'm deeply ashamed. But, know this—She could've been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight. So, Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not."

"Not!" Damon's voice boomed from the speaker of the cellphone that laid flat in the middle of the dining table. "Hello? Did that concussion give you brain damage? His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get!"

"Rebekah and Kol will honour the terms," Elijah said toward the cellphone. "If you return Klaus' body to us, Elena will come to no harm. Do we have a deal?"

"No! No, no, no, no. Did I mention? No!" 

Klara rolled her eyes at Damon's clear objection to making any sort of deal with Elijah, but she understood. "Okay, wait. Before we go shaking any hands. Answer me this, Elijah: Why do you want Klaus' body?"

"He's my brother," Elijah answered immediately. "We remain together."

Elena swallowed thickly and nodded as she glanced down toward the cellphone, then back to Elijah. "We have a deal."

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The group had devised a plan to find Alaric and disarm him before he found Klaus. Caroline and Elijah took one side of the forest while Stefan, Klara and Jeremy took the other. "Where the hell is he?" Klara looked around, slightly unnerved. She knew that Alaric was strong—too strong.

"I don't know," Stefan answered cautiously as he looked around. His ringing phone illuminated his face the moment he pulled it from his jeans pocket to answer Damon's call. "Damon."

"Bad news, brother." Klara halted immediately as she listened to Damon's broken voice. "Alaric staked Klaus. He's dead."

With wide eyes, Stefan turned around to face Klara. He knew that with Klaus dead, they would all follow soon enough. "I feel okay. Klara looks okay. Do you feel anything?"

"No." 

Klara stepped forward. She knew what was going on, and she was fearful. "But, wait. Sage didn't get sick until an hour after Finn's death."

Damon hummed quietly. "Yeah, or Klaus was lying about being the sire of our bloodline."

"Well, if he wasn't lying an hour's not enough time to get you all the way back to Mystic Falls." Stefan breathed out once more.

"What? So we can have an epic good-bye, Stefan?" The eldest of the two brother's spoke in a mocking tone.

Tears began to well in his eyes at the thought of dying. At the thought of not being able to see his brother in their final moments. "Not us, brother. You and Elena." 

"Call me if you or Klara cough up a lung." Stefan lowered his phone from his ear and turned around. He felt broken and he was terrified of dying but he was worried about Damon being alone.

"Stefan, Klara..." Jeremy Gilbert's eyes darted between the two vampires. "Elena's not at home. Matt and I... We're getting her out of town."

Both vampire's nodded with understanding. All Jeremy wanted was his sister be safe, even more so now that Alaric was on the loose. "Stefan, are we—"

"—It's going to be fine. Klaus was lying. We're all gonna be okay." Stefan knew that it would be easier to deny the truth, but their eyes darted to Caroline and Elijah who stepped toward them.

"What happened?" The Original vampire asked with hard eyes. 

"Alaric knew what were we doing. He found Klaus—he's dead."  

Klara couldn't handle it. They were all going to die, after everything that they had gone through to stop Klaus and make sure that they were all safe—they were just sentenced to death like this. It didn't make sense. She sped off into the distance and rested her back against the bottom of a tree, while she hysterically began to cry. 

Stefan sped in front of her and grabbed her by the upper-arms. He held onto her tightly as her eyes widened when she saw him. "Klara. Hey, Klara. Everything is going to be fine, I prom—"

"—I can deal with dying, it's not me that I'm worried about. It's all of you." Klara hysterically flapped her arms around in the air but Stefan held her steady. "It's you. I can't lose you, not after everything we've been through together. I love you. I just needed to tell you at least once."

Stefan never imagined that Klara would be the one to say those words first. But, he also never imagined that he would be sentenced to death because Alaric had staked Klaus, but there they were. "I love you." Klara threw her arms around his neck as their lips crashed against each other. Stefan's arms fell down Klara's body effortlessly until their lips finally parted. "I realized the way I felt about you sooner. I'm sorry."

Klara chuckled quietly, despite the tears that still threatened to pour from her eyes. "At least I can die happy, right?" Klara's phone began to vibrate in her back pocket. She pulled it out and showed Stefan the caller ID—Rebekah. 

"You're alive. Congratulations." The blonde spoke down the phone as Stefan listened intently as they walked toward his car. "Elijah spoke to Elena. Her and Matt should be arriving back in town any minute."

"Yeah. We know. He also told us that you and him would be as far away from Mystic Falls as you can possibly get, so I'm sure you can understand my clear confusion." Klara stated. 

"That's the problem. Elijah says that we have to run, that the hunter will keep coming after us, but I don't want to run anymore, Klara." Stefan and Klara both halted and widened their eyes at each other. "I've spent my whole life running."

"What're you talking about?" Stefan asked toward Klara's phone. "We had a deal.

"I'm sorry, but Klaus is dead. There is no deal. If my brothers and I are going to survive, we need to get rid of Alaric and the only way to get rid of Alaric—" 

Was to kill Elena.

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