CHAPTER NINETEEN | THE DEPARTED

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JEREMY FOUND ELENA UNCONSCIOUS IN THEIR UPSTAIRS ROOM AND IMMEDIATELY TOOK HER TO THE HOSPITAL. Though, after a quick assessment from Meredith, Elena turned out to be fine. Jeremy took her home with the assistance of Riley, Caroline, Tyler, and Matt. Riley explained the situation to Stefan and Damon, and Stefan decided he would come back to help out whilst Damon carried on with Klaus.

"I'm being over coddled. I feel completely fine." Elena whined from the couch, her eyes connected with Riley as she walked into the living room. "Riles, please, tell them they're overreacting."

"Can't." Riley shrugged with a short smile. "You've got two gorgeous men running around after you. Enjoy it, Elena."

"Woah. Hang on a second, did Riley Evans just issue us a compliment, Matt?" Stefan scoffed in the direction of Matt, then he wandered into the living room. His attention moved to Elena. "You're on house arrest. You're supposed to be coddled."

"Wouldn't it be smarter if we just got you the hell out of town?" Matt raised an eyebrow to see both Elena and Riley glare at him with looks of disagreement.

"And do what? Go on the run for the rest of my life? No thank you." The Gilbert got up from her seat and shoved the blanket off of her lap. "And I'm not an invalid. I'm done with the couch."

Matt watched Elena wander out of the living room, then raised an eyebrow toward Stefan and Riley. "So, you're just gonna let her call the shots?" He asked the two in a disapproving tone though he knew that arguing with Elena's wishes was a bad idea.

"Why not? She's making her own decisions. There's nothing wrong with that."

"Even if they're wrong?" He continued on.

"Nothing wrong with free will, Matt. Trust me, you don't realize that until you lose it." Stefan nodded, his hand rested on Riley's shoulder while they moved into the kitchen and away from Matt. "Speaking of making decisions," Stefan whispered in his best friend's ear. "I heard you slept with Damon last night. Does that mean the two of you are back together?"

"Heard as in heard. Or, heard as in he told you?" The strawberry-blonde anxiously asked as she watched a smirk grow on Stefan's face. "Oh. Right. I—um. I didn't know you were home."

"I guessed as much." The Salvatore chuckled softly, then folded his arm across his chest.

"Honestly, I don't even know." She let a small sigh escape her lips. "We didn't really get a chance to talk about it afterward."

Stefan furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"I kinda, uh— left straight after he fell asleep." Riley awkwardly admitted when she saw Stefan's eyes widened.

"No way."

"Yeah, okay. I know, I'm not doing amazingly. I just don't know how I bring that up into conversation. Hey, I dumped you a few weeks ago 'cause I overreacted and now I've decided that I can't live without you." Riley scoffed quietly. "I just felt awkward laying there afterward."

"Stefan? Riley?" Elena's shaky voice echoed from the hallway. They walked down to see the front door wide open with Elijah stood on the doorstep.

"Elijah?" Riley spoke his name breathlessly, her eyes connected with his.

"Hello again." He greeted, though it was directed more at Riley than anyone else. He entered the house as if nothing had happened and made Elena follow him into the kitchen where he spoke about how they could defeat Alaric. "All we need is to take that stake away from him. Once he's been disarmed, the weapons in my possession, my family will scatter to the ends of the Earth and Alaric will follow us."

"And you'll just—" Stefan stepped forward and took a seat next to Elena at the dining table while Matt and Riley remained stood against the kitchen worktop. "Run?"

"We've done it before." Elijah nodded back. "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?"

They also discovered that Esther used Elena's blood when she turned Alaric into a vampire hunter so that his life was bound to hers. If she died, he died too.

"We finally stopped him, Elijah. After everything that he's done to us, I can't just let you bring him back." Elena shook her head and sighed heavily.

"She's got a point. Putting Klaus down was a hard enough job. Who's to say that when we give you him, he won't come back and kill her himself?" Riley tilted her head and narrowed her eyes toward the Original.

Elijah's gaze lingered on Riley for a moment before he smirked and turned his gaze back toward Elena. "I give you my word, Elena. I will not revive Klaus within yours, nor even within your children's lifetimes. Perhaps it'll finally teach him some manners."

Matt stepped forward with irritation that had instantly grown on his face. "Why should she trust you? All you've done is screw her over."

"And for that, I'm deeply ashamed. But know this, she could have been dead the instant I walked through that door tonight." Elijah's eyes returned back to the gaze of the doppelganger. "So, Elena, I leave it to you to make the decision whether to trust me or not."

"Not!" Damon's voice boomed through the phone that was placed on the center of the kitchen table. "Hello! Did that concussion give you brain damage? His lunatic siblings will kill you the first chance they get, Riley was right."

The group listened to Damon's voice boom down the speakerphone. Riley held her hands to her head in annoyance. "Damon."

"Rebekah and Kol will honor the terms if you return Klaus' body to us, Elena will come to no harm," Elijah spoke as the room turned silent, almost like they were thinking about trusting him. "Do we have a deal?"

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

Stefan looked at Riley who shared the same look as he did. He glanced back toward the doppelganger. "Elena, it's up to you."

"Oh, come on! Riley, please do something."

"Wait, hang on." Riley held her hand up and then glanced at the Original. "You never explained why you wanted Klaus' body."

"He's my brother. We remain together."

Elena could understand the desire of being together with her family. After all, her only wish is that she could be reunited with her own. Eventually, she nodded slowly. "We have a deal."

"Thank you." Elijah nodded when he got to his feet. He turned and his gaze once again met Riley's. "Riley, could I trouble you for a word in private please?"

"Uh. Of course." Riley shakily accepted and got up from her seat while Stefan glared at her with wary eyes but Riley knew that Elijah would never hurt her. The pair stepped out onto the front porch as Riley pulled the door shut and looked up at him. "Elijah, what's the matter?"

"I heard about you and Damon." He immediately spoke with a sympathetic look. "That he broke your heart? Riley, I am truly sorry."

Riley took a breath as she fixed her eyes on the night sky ahead of her, though Elijah's remained on her. "Well, uh— it's a little complicated if I'm honest."

"We are not all like that, you know." Elijah smiled lightly and then carefully took hold of her hand. "One day, I would love to get a chance to show you that. You must understand that I find you absolutely captivating. And, I—" Elijah hesitated for a moment. "But, I know you're in love with Damon, and I respect that. But, if your feelings do indeed change one day, I'll be waiting." And with that, he was gone.

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Stefan and Riley paused in the middle of the woods, Jeremy a few feet ahead of them. They had concocted a plan where they would find Alaric and disarm him before he could kill Klaus and his entire sire line. Stefan pushed his phone to his ear, almost like he knew what this phone call was about. "Damon?"

"Bad news, brother. Alaric staked Klaus. He's dead." Stefan stood frozen, his eyes fixed to the strawberry-blonde witch in front of him.

Riley knew that just by looking at Stefan's face, something was seriously wrong. "What's he saying? I can't hear him."

"Huh. I feel okay. Do you feel anything?" Stefan asked and then Riley slowly began to piece it together. Klaus must've been dead.

"No."

"It took Sage about an hour before she got sick."

"No, no way," Riley muttered to herself quietly as she began to pace back and forth. Riley was panicking. There was so much that she hadn't said to Damon, she hadn't even told him that she forgave him. "What if Klaus was lying? What if he isn't the sire of your bloodline.

"Well, if he wasn't lying, hours not enough to get you all the way back to Mystic Falls," Stefan confirmed with a slight nod. He could've sworn he saw Riley's heartbreak right in front of him.

"What, so we can have an epic goodbye, Stefan?" A scoff left Damon's lips.

"Not us, brother." Stefan nodded and turned around to see the strawberry-blonde's."You and Riley."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to say goodbye for both of us, won't you? Call me if you cough up a lung."

Stefan remained frozen. He prayed that Klaus being their sire was just some sort of ruse for Klaus' life to mean something to them. A million feelings washed over him but all he wanted to do was believe that everything was going to be okay, even though it wasn't.

"You're going to be fine. Both of you. You're going to be fine." Riley hysterically repeated with a sure nod. "Elena— Elena needs to know what's going on."

"Uh—" Jeremy cut in with a guilty look all over his face. "Elena's not at home. Matt and I, we're getting her out of town."

Stefan nodded slowly, he turned his eyes back to Riley and nodded calmly. "It's gonna be okay. Klaus was lying. We're all going to be okay."

Footsteps approached from the distance to reveal Elijah and Caroline behind them. Elijah wore a confused expression when he saw the tears in Riley's eyes whilst Caroline rushed over to her and held her in her embrace.

Elijah couldn't help but feel himself break when he saw Riley crying. He held buried his feelings for the strawberry-blonde for so long in the name of keeping her safe, but he wanted nothing more than to hold her at this moment. "What happened?" Elijah demanded with his eyes fixed on her.

"I— I need to speak to Damon." Riley sniffed. She pulled herself of out the blonde vampire's hold, pulled her phone from her pocket, and stepped off into the distance.

"Riley." Damon exhaled deeply as a scoff left Riley's lips. "I told Stefan to say goodbye for me."

Riley scoffed as she heard Damon's whining voice from the other line. "Were you seriously going to let your brother be the one to say goodbye for you? What the hell, Damon. After everything that we have been through!"

"I don't do goodbyes, you know that, Riles."

"I don't care! I guess we all need to try new things once in a while." She yelled out as her arms waved frantically around to express her annoyance. "Are you— are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"Right now, I'm fine. And I will be fine, you and I will have a laugh when we find out that Klaus lied." The Salvatore tried his best to sound reassuring, but it was obvious even he didn't believe his own lies this time.

"You think you and I would be used to this by now." Riley almost laughed as she sat down on a tree stump. "I mean, what? This is the second time we've been in this position. Your impending death. How many more times are we gonna do this, Damon?"

"I don't know. How long's a lifetime again?" He chuckled softly.

The pair laughed softly before a silence gripped hold of them. "Listen to me, Damon. You're going to be fine. You're going to be fine and you're gonna come home to me. Do you hear me? You're gonna be okay and I'm gonna see you real soon, promise me."

"Real soon. I love you."

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Damon and Stefan didn't die, and for some reason, Klaus' sireline didn't perish along with him. Nobody knew exactly how or why, but that was the least of their worries. Rebekah wanted revenge on Alaric for killing her brother and the only way to get rid of him for good was to kill Elena.

The Original vampire positioned herself in the middle of the road just as Matt's truck came speeding down, he swerved out of the way of her and ended up driving off Wickery Bridge. Fortunately, Stefan jumped straight into the water to save them both, but this time it wasn't Elena he saved.

It was Matt. Elena was dead.

Riley sat in the waiting room, tears in her eyes whilst Stefan was in the morgue with Elena's body. She suddenly saw the pair of double doors burst open and Damon ran straight through. "Riley!" He yelled. He had a look of despair shadowing his face while blood covered most of his mouth. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's Elena? Is sh—"

"Damon. Damon, you need to stop and listen to me." Riley yanked him by the arm and stopped him in his furious warpath through the hospital. "When Jeremy took Elena in she had bleeding on the brain. She helped her. Meredith fed her vampire blood."

"Riley— what?"

"Elena's not dead. She's in transition."

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