THERE WAS A GOING AWAY PARTY FOR JEREMY AND CHARLIE. However, only about three people showed up. It was just them and Matt and Alaric, and Damon and Elena were on their way after picking up the two's diplomas. Tyler and Caroline could not make it, but Charlie had arranged to say goodbye to them later. Jeremy sighed, "Look. I want to take this shot before Alaric changes his mind about letting me drink."

"This place is closed for another hour. I'm making an exception. Cheers," Alaric said, and they all clinked glasses before downing the shots. Then, the man pointed at the kid that he was the guardian of. "I swear, Jeremy, if I get a call from the drunk tank in Santa Fe..."

Jeremy was about to comment when Matt's phone started ringing on the table in front of them. He furrowed his eyebrows, and they all leaned in to see who it was. The Gilbert boy questioned, "Why is Enzo still alive, and why is he calling you?"

"More important question: Why and how did you get his number?" Charlie quizzed. She had never had a pleasant enough conversation with the man to be like, 'Oh, hey, could I get your phone number in case I need to reach you for no reason?'

"Nothing you two need to worry about," Matt assured them. He grabbed the phone and answered the call. He began walking away so that he could talk to the man without ruining the party. "Hey, it's Jeremy's going-away party. Whatever you want, it can wait a day."

The doorbell of the Mystic Grill chimed, and they all looked up to see Damon and Elena entering with two pieces of paper and two graduation caps. The Salvatore man held them up an announced, "Oh! Look who graduated."

"He was okay with it?" Jeremy exclaimed, and Charlie's eyes widened. She had honestly not been expecting to get her diploma, even on time with all of the school that they had missed and all of the trouble that they had caused. She was r pretty sure that there must have been some compulsion involved.

"Sure. I mean, practically flunking, missed 100 days of school, and you can barely spell the word 'cat,' but sure. He was fine with you graduating early," Damon explained sarcastically. He then looked over at the Lockwood girl. "Charlie was a bit harder with her thousands of volunteering hours, thirty extracurriculars, and near-perfect grades despite missing almost as many days."

Elena clarified, licking her lips at the sight of the bar and row of drinks that was open for their consumption, "We helped the process along. I'm gonna get a drink."

"Oh, look under the cap. I jacked a little going-away present from Ric's girlfriend's stash," Damon informed the younger Gilbert, whispering so that his sister or any of the other adults could hear. Charlie earned over and smiled widely as her boyfriend pulled a joint out from under the cap. Damon slapped his hand. "Put it away, you idiot. Tell your sister, I'll kill you... again."

"You have fun with that. I'm gonna go say goodbye to Tyler and Caroline," Charlie told them, and she kissed Jeremy quickly before grabbing her bag and heading out the door. She had to go to Whitmore to talk to them because they were occupied with some magical something or other.

"Oh, my God. I'm gonna miss you so much. You have to call me twice a week and tell me everything that's happening. Oh! We can write letters to each other. That's so aesthetic! Jeremy's fancy art school is going to be beautiful, and you get to be a normal person again going to a normal high school with normal people. I'm so excited for you. I'm gonna miss you so much."

There were a lot of hugs and tears when saying goodbye to Caroline, and the blonde girl barely even let her speak, which was very Caroline of her. It reminded the. Lockwood of when she returned to Mystic Falls after spending the summer with her Uncle Mason. Some things never change. "I'll miss you too, Care. I'll call you all the time, and we can swap stories."

"Please, please, please. I love you," the Forbes girl insisted, and the hugged one last time. Charlie had to force the tears back into her eyes because she knew that if she started crying that she would not be able to stop.

She stood up from Caroline's bed and made her way over to Tyler, who was standing in the doorway of the dorm room. He punched her in the shoulder. "Bye, dickhead."

"Bye, dickhead," she repeated, mimicking his actions. They stood like that for a moment with smiles on their faces until he finally caved in. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a hug because despite the fact that they did not get along a lot of the time, he was going to miss her.

As the pulled away, he patted her on the back and smiled. IN true brotherly fashion, he told her, "Have fun, but not too much fun."

"I'll try," she laughed out.

☾❄☽

THEY MET UP AT A BUS STOP OUTSIDE MYSTIC FALLS. Despite the fact that they had told everyone that Jeremy was going to an art school in Sante Fe, that was a lie. They were going there, but for a whole different reason. Alaris was there to guide them before they got on the bus, and he handed them two duffel bags that were filled with different kinds of vampire-hunting weapons.

"Look. This probably goes without saying, but you keep this shut till you get off the bus. Just stuff that above your seat. This is where you're headed. The bus will take you to a town about 30 miles north of Santa Fe," he explained. Then, the man handed Charlie a newspaper that had a story about some animal attacks there. "Now, I can't confirm if these are actual animal attacks or something else, but it's worth looking into..."

"We're on it," Charlie confirmed, and she took the paper and stuck it in her pocket for later. She grabbed both of the duffel bags and carried them over to the bus stop while Jeremy and Alaric conversed. She did not want to intrude too much on their goodbyes.

He shot a pointed look at the kid. "And, man, you're probably gonna have to generate some art to actually sell the story because if Elena finds out this is one big lie, she's not gonna just kill you, but she's gonna kill me, too."

"Yeah. Elena will be fine as long as she thinks that I'm safe," the Gilbert boy assured him. That was why they told her that they were headed to art school and not trying to kill vampires with nothing but weapons and their bare hands. They were not supernatural anymore, but they had killed plenty of supernatural beings in their time.

"And happy. You know, a responsible guardian would try and stop you..." the Saltzman man trailed off, and they raised their eyebrows, awaiting the rest of his sentence as Charlie rejoined her boyfriend's side, "But, believe it or not, you're actually an adult now, and you found your purpose. So might as well pursue it. Granted, being a vampire hunter doesn't lend itself to a healthy social life.

Jeremy shrugged, and he threw an arm around the girl beside him because she was al that he really needed to be happy. "Yeah, turns out a social life isn't as much fun as kicking vampire ass. Besides, I got Char."

"Just don't do anything stupid, okay? I'll send you leads. You can follow up on them," Alaric reminded them, even though they had gone over the plan multiple times already. He was just being a dad and freaking out over little things.

"You already went over this. No one needs to worry about me, okay?" Jeremy said, but that did not stop the man from wrapping his arms around him in a hug. "All right. It's not like I'm not gonna have e-mail or anything."

"Just shut up. Let me hug you. I'm proud of you, Jeremy," he breathed out. He pulled away before looking over to Charlie and patting her on the back. "You keep this one safe, all right?" She nodded with a smile, and they finished saying goodbye before the couple made their way over to the bus stop.

Before they left, they waved goodbye to Mystic Falls, not knowing when they were going to see it again.

They arrived in Santa Fe over a day later because it took so freaking long by bus. They als had to stop and switch buses at some point because one man could not drive them all the way there without rest. They were exhausted when they stepped off the bus, but Charlie'S eyes lit up when she saw the prettiest green car that she had ever seen,

"Oh, my God. That is a beautiful car." She jogged over to it to examine it, and Jeremy trusted slowly and tiredly behind her, wondering how the hell she could be that awake and not sore after the excruciatingly cramped and boring bus ride. Her eyes widened when she saw a piece of paper taped to it. "Holy crap."

"What?" he questioned, wondering what had gotten her so excited.

Instead of saying anything, she just ripped the paper off the car and held it up so that he could read it. 'To Baby Gilbert and Little Lockwoof, Thought you might need this for your adventures. - Damon.' Once he was done, she breathed out, "This is ours."

"No way," he scoffed, and she was quick to climb into the driver'S seat as he opened the door to sit next to her. He looked over at her excited expression, and he knew that there was no place that he would rather be. The sun was beginning to peek out over the horizon, and the sky looked beautiful. Suddenly, they were both wide awake and ready to start their adventures together. "Let's hunt ourselves a vampire."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

oh, my god, guys. we are officially done with unconditionally. jeremy and charlie's story is complete. i've been on this journey with them forever, and i'm actually sobbing right now because i have to say goodbye to them.

however, this does not have to be the end. let me know if y'all want some bonus chapters at some point where they return to mystic falls to help every once in a while. i would love to write some.

thank you guys so so much for all of the support and love on this book. i am going to miss you guys so much, and i love you all. i encourage you to read some of my other books, and i am planning on coming out with a kol mikaelson fic in the future since a lot of you guys were asking for one. 

again, thank you so much, and i'll miss you!!!!