❪ 𝓢𝑰𝑿 𝓕𝑬𝑬𝑻 𝓤𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 ❫ ⚰️ ˖ ׁ ⁩ 𓂃
𝚃𝚅𝙳  ⸻  ✸ 🔮⭑.ᐟ
❝ 𝖥𝖨𝖥𝖳𝖤𝖤𝖭 𝖶𝖮𝖱𝖣𝖲 𝖮𝖱 𝖫𝖤𝖲𝖲 ❞

✦ ╮ 𝟐𝟑. ❝ 𝖥𝖮𝖴𝖭𝖣𝖤𝖱'𝖲 𝖣𝖠𝖸❞ ── .✦

     ❝WHOA! ❞ ANASTASIA STOOD by the door of her uncle's bedroom, "I haven't seen you dressed up like that in years. It's weird."

"You're in trouble." Stefan turned to his niece that stood dressed in her usual pair of ripped black jeans, a Rolling Stones t-shirt, her famous black leather jacket and a pair of blood red converse.

"What? What did I do?!" She looked at him in shock.

"Elena called me last night. You told Jeremy about vampires?" Stefan asked her, "What the hell were you thinking? She wanted to kee-,"

"I know! Okay, I know!" Anastasia exclaimed, "The first time I told him, I told him everything. A little bit of my history, a little bit of what happened the night with Vicki, me meeting Kol and a few other things. But I erased his memory right after! He let me do it. But then, he started asking all of these questions and started to figure it out all on his own, so I compelled him to remember me compelling me to forget everything I told him."

"Anastasia."

"No. No, you don't get to do that okay?" She shakes her head, pointing at her uncle. "Because when I was crying, begging, for Dad not to compel Jeremy, to not erase his memory, you just sat there and let it happen with no regards as to how it would make me feel!"

"Because it's what Elena wanted!" Stefan exclaimed, "You were being completely selfish."

"Yeah. It's all about what Elena wants and needs lately." Anastasia lets out a bitter laugh, "I'm so sorry that I wanted my boyfriend, the guy that I love which you know is hard for me to do, to know that I had no part in erasing his memories! I didn't want him to hate me when he found out in his on way! But I guess Elena's the only one who needs happiness in her life."

"Anastasia, get back in here!" Stefan called out as she turned and walked way from his bedroom door.

"Screw you!"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          JEREMY STOOD IN his bedroom, putting on his clothes for the Founders' Day Parade. "Anna."

"Look at you!" Anna exclaimed when he turned around.

"I know, it's stupid, huh? I'm part of the parade; but how are you?" Jeremy asked, "Stacie told me about your, Mom. I feel awful."

"Why?" She asked, "You didn't kill my mother, your uncle did."

"Are you sure it was him?" Jeremy asked.

"Who else would have done it?"

"He doesn't understand, Anna, it's who he is." Says Jeremy, "He hates all vampires. He's just doing what he thinks is right."

Anna looked taken back, "Are you defending him? What if he goes after Anastasia next?"

"No, no way. It's just....I do understand where he's coming from. He's convinced all the tomb vampires want revenge, or at least they did, but that's why we separated from them." Anna tells him. "My mom wasn't after revenge; she just wanted her life back. I have to get out of this town, Jeremy."

"You're leaving?" Jeremy asked.

Anna shrugged, "I had to give you this before I left." She held up a small vile with her blood in it. "It's my blood. Since Anastasia won't turn you, I decided to help you out."

"Wha...."

"If you die with it in your system, you'll come back."

"Anna...."

"I know you, what it's like for you.... being alone, always feeling empty inside, no one to understand. But when you're a vampire, you don't have to feel that way." Anna tells him, "You can shut it off. I can show you how."

"I wanted to, I did. But I don't think I can. Sorry." Jeremy looked down at the blood, looking back up he found his room empty.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "SAY CHEESE!" BONNIE exclaimed as she and Anastasia stood with Matt and Caroline, taking pictures.

"Oh, wait! Hide your cast, it's not era-appropriate!" Caroline tells Matt.

"Yeah. Matt, it's not era-appropriate." Anastasia teased.

"Seriously?"

"Yes!" The two girls exclaimed.

"Okay, fine." Matt moved closer to Caroline to hide his cast behind her back.

"I want with Bonnie now." Caroline says.

"Here, I can take it." Tyler smiled, taking the purple camera from her hand.

"I'll be on the float."

"I said I was sorry!" Tyler exclaimed as Matt walked away.

"You made out with his mother, and then you beat him to a pulp. You're gonna have to do a little bit more than sorry." Caroline tells him before leaving.

"Don't worry, Ty." Anastasia leans up to kiss his cheek with a reassuring smile, "Matty will forgive you eventually. You look kinda cute in your uniform."

Tyler chuckled, playfully rolling his eyes, "Thanks."

"You're very welcome."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

           "JEREMY!" ELENA RUNS after her brother, "I was wondering where you were. You look great, and you guys did a really great job on the float.

"Go away, Elena."

"Jeremy, come on! Please! I don't ant it to be like this between us."

"Why don't you have Damon erase my memory again? And then force my girlfriend to keep it from me. Then, I could go back to being your in-the-dark little brother." Jeremy tells her.

"Jer, please."

"Just don't!" He snatches his arm from her grip.

"Jeremy!" Anastasia calls out from where she stood next to Tyler, "I wanna get a picture with you and Tyler!"

"I'm coming!" He calls back, not taking his eyes off of his sister, "You can't fix this that easily. Something like this doesn't just get fixed."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "LET'S GIVE A big hand to the Mystic Falls high school marching band!" Mrs. Lockwood spoke into the microphone as the band and cheerleaders lead the float. "And for a little local history, Mr. Saltzman's students have recreated Virginia's Battle of Willow Creek."

Anastasia grinned as she watched the float go by, watching as Tyler shot at Jeremy, the boy pretending to die, "That's my boys!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our stunning Mystic Falls Court and their handsome escorts." The float that held Caroline, Matt, Stefan and Elena went by.

"Yeah! Go, blue eyes!" Anastasia shouted, playfully catching the kiss Matt blew her way.

"This is Caroline Forbes, Miss Mystic Falls. Aren't they beautiful?"

Damon moved to stand next to his daughter, waving playfully at Elena as she waved at Bonnie who was standing behind the father and daughter.

"What do you want?" Bonnie asked when Damon looked at her.

"Just watching the parade." Damon answered, following behind her as she walked away. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you." Bonnie tells him.

"I wanna say something to you." Damon tells her.

"Just leave me alone."

"Thank you." Damon said, "That device that Emily spelled could have killed me, and my daughter. I don't take what you did lightly so...thank you."

"I did it for Elena." Bonnie tells him.

"I know that, but I'm still very grateful. And I owe you." Damon said. "Enjoy the parade.

Bonnie watched him walk back to Anastasia and wrap his arm around her shoulders, bringing his daughter into his side and kissing the side of her head.

"Let's cheer for the Mystic Falls' high school football team. Alright! Let's show them our support, everybody!"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

           "I LIKE YOU better like this." Damon walked up to Elena in the Grill, "The period look, it....didn't suit you."

"Is that an insult?" Elena asked him.

"Actually, Elena, it is a compliment of the highest order."

"Look, I know Stefan is worried about our....friendship."

"Did he mention something to you, too?" Damon asked.

"No, did he mention something to you?"

"No, nothing worth repeating."

"So, I think you should stop with the flirty little comments and that eye-thing you do." Elena tells him.

"What eye thing?" Damon asked.

"Don't make me regret being your friend okay?" Elena asked, not noticing the hurt look on his face. Looking over at her brother who sat alone, Elena walked over to him, "I don't believe that we can't fix this. I lied, I was wrong. But you're my brother, Jer, and I love you, and I have to fix it. So just tell me, what can I do?"

"You can go to hell, Elena." Jeremy tells her before standing up and leaving.

"I have so many emotions, but I don't have any way to express them." Damon mocked Jeremy as he walked behind him, "Being a teenager is so hard!"

"You're a dick." Jeremy tells him as he keeps walking.

"You do not talk to me like that. I'm not your sister, and let's not forget who's daughter you're dating," Damon grabbed his arm, "And from now on, don't talk to your sister that way either."

"So, you're going to kill me just 'cause I hurt Elena's feelings?" Jeremy asked, "What about Stacie's feelings when you walked out on her when she was only four years old? How do you think she's gonna feel when she find out her father is the one who killed her boyfriend?"

Damon ignored the statement about his daughter," Cut her some slack."

"She erased my memories."

"No, I did." Damon said, "She was protecting you."

"It wasn't her call to make." Jeremy went to walk away but Damon grabbed his arm and pulled him back roughly. "Let go of me before I cause a scene."

"You'll be unconscious before you get a word out."

"Dad!" Anastasia ran over, pulling her boyfriend from his grip, "What are you doing?"

Stefan got in between his niece, her boyfriend, and Damon, keeping his gaze on his brother but talking to Jeremy, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"What my brother is trying to say is, don't blame Elena for this. Damon turned Vicki, I killed her. She was a threat to you, and she was a threat to your sister." Stefan said, "I'm sorry that it happened, I wish that it hadn't."

"You shouldn't have made me forget. I'll see you later." Jeremy kissed Anastasia's lips before walking away.

"Good cop, bad cop. I like it." Damon tells Stefan.

"What are you doing?" Anastasia asked.

"He's being a punk." Damon looked at his daughter, "I don't know what you see in him."

"Elena's relationship with her brother is none of your business. So stay out of it." Stefan tells his brother.

"Oh, there's only one "do-gooder" role available. My bad. I'm sorry." Laughed Damon.

"Get over yourself. We both know you're not doing this for the right reasons."

"You see, there you go with that little jealousy act again." Damon said, "What are the right reasons, Stefan? Enlighten me, please."

"Well, see Damon, it's only real when it comes from your desire to do the right thing for nothing in return, and I know that it is an entirely foreign concept to you." Stefan said, "I completely understand that you wouldn't get it."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "YOU'RE STILL AROUND?" Damon asked as he bumped into Anna, the sky now dark outside.

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

"How do you know this?" Damon asked.

"I went to them. They think I'm with them but I'm not." Anna said, "They want the Founding Families dead."

"When is this supposed to start?" Damon questioned.

"When the fireworks start."

"John Gilbert wants to use that invention on them." Damon said.

"Then we can't be here!" Anna tells him.

"It doesn't work, it's been deactivated."

"Well, then a lot of people are gonna die."

"Where are they right now?" Asked Damon.

"They're already here, Damon."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "RIC!" DAMON WALKED over to the history teacher.

"Yeah?"

"Come here." Damon pulled him away, "You keep those nifty little vampire darts in the car?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Because this square is crawling with tomb vampires. I think we might need a stake or two." Damon tells him.

Yeah, got it." Alaric leaves to get the stakes out of his car, Damon spotting Stefan and Elena not too far.

Cursing under his breath at not seeing his daughter in sight, he walked towards his brother and Elena, taking the Gilbert girl by the hand.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked.

"Saving your life. Fifteen words or less...Tomb vampires are here. Founding families are their target. Get her out of here, now!"

"Wait, where are you going?" Stefan asked his brother.

"To find my daughter." Damon said, "Oh! And that's more than fifteen words, Stefan.

"Wait, Jeremy is out here somewhere." Elena tells her boyfriend.

"Let's go find him, come on!"

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          ANASTASIA WALKED AROUND time square, looking around for her father and even her boyfriend when there was a sudden sharp pain going through her head and she falls to the ground, screaming out in pain as she clutched her head.

She fells the pain of a needle go through her neck as someone rushed over to her and she could already tell it was vervain as it slowly started to take over her body.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "ARE YOU OKAY?" Elena asked her boyfriend.

"It was like the needles were piercing my skull and it just stopped." Stefan tells her as Alaric comes down the stairs.

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

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

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

"Maybe she didn't." Alaric said.

"She did, we saw her do it!" Elena defended her best friend.

"No, no, no, he's right." Stefan shakes his head, "Think about it. We asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires."

"So we could protect you."

"And Damon. Vampires. Where is Damon?" Stefan asked, fear pricking at his heart, "And Anastasia? Where the hell is my niece?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him or her since this started." Alaric says.

"Can you get my brother, take him home?" Elena asked the history teacher.

"Of course."

"Let's go."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          DAMON LOOKED AROUND as he moves his body to lay next to his daughter as best as he could, catching the Mayor's eye, "Mayor. Is that you?"

"What are you doing here?" Mayor Lockwood looked over at the Salvatore boy, then down to his daughter.

"I'm a vampire. What's your excuse?" Damon asked, "No, really. The vervain didn't affect you, you're not a vampire, what the hell are you?"

The Mayor backs away from Damon and Anastasia, but he bumps into one of the tomb vampire's who was waking up.

"Mayor Lockwood!" The vampire exclaimed, reaching his arm around the Mayor and violently snapped his neck.

A groan rings out from next to Damon, causing him to look down at his daughter who slowly opened his eyes, "Dad? What happened?"

"Hey, don't look, okay?" Damon tells his daughter, shielding her body with his own, "Don't look, baby girl."

"What happened? Why are we in the fire?"

Damon pushes the hair out of his daughter's face, "Bonnie lied to us, honey. She didn't unspell the Gilbert invention."

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. I can hear them." Stefan stops Elena as he hears the fire. "The building is on fire."

"What?" Elena asked.

"The building is on fire!"

"Where is Damon?" Elena asked as she and Stefan went over to John.

"And Anastasia?" Stefan questioned.

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

"You're crazy!" Elena exclaimed

"Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty five years ago? This is the right thing, Elena."

Stefan kept looking at the building, worried for his brother and niece.

"Go ahead, you won't make it out." John tells him, "It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself."

"You know the building well, is there another way in?" Stefan asked Elena.

"Utility door, there's one around the side." Elena tells him and Stefan runs off. Once Elena tried to follow behind, John grabbed her arm.

"You take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire." John tells her.

"I'm asking you not to."

"That doesn't mean anything to me."

"As my father, it should." Said Elena.

"You know?" John asked.

"I wasn't sure, now I am." Elena tells him before going towards the building.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          STEFAN RUNS TOWARDS the emergency door to the building where his niece and brother were in, on their way to being burned to death.

"Hey, you can't go in there!" Bonnie tells him as she runs up. "The fire will take you out."

"He's my brother and she's my niece, Bonnie!" Stefan tells her before going into the building.

Stefan grabbed the doorknob but he couldn't get it open since it was too hot for him to grab and pull open.

"Stefan!" Elena ran around, trying to go into the building.

Bonnie grabbed her arm to stop her, "Elena, you can't go in there!"

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena asked her.

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Bonnie tells her before she starts to chant, "Ex spiritum intacullum, in terrum incendium, fes matos salvis adisdum!"

"Bonnie, I've got to get in there!" Elena said, but Bonnie kept going.

Inside, Stefan was finally able to get the door open but was met with a fire too large for him to go into. Suddenly, the flames started to diminish, Bonnie still chanting the spell from outside the building.

Going down the stairs, he was met by his brother and niece laying next to each other.

"Damon! Anastasia!" Stefan ran to their sides, "Come on, hurry!"

"Get her out of here first!" Damon demanded, pushing his little brother. "Get Anastasia out first!"

Stefan grabbed both his brother and niece, using his vamp-sped to get them out of the basement.

"Bonnie...Bonnie, what is it?" Elena asked after Bonnie stopped chanting the spell. "Are they gonna be okay?"

Bonnie smiled as Stefan came out of the building, Damon and Anastasia coughing since they took in the most fumes.

"Oh, my god!" Elena rushed to help Stefan lay Damon and Anastasia on the ground.

彡☆

          "THE FIRE IS out." Elena tells Stefan as he and Anastasia walk into the Grill, Stefan's arm wrapped around her shoulders, not wanting to let her go in that moment of time. "The story is the building's old wiring is what caused it."

"Did you see where Damon went?" Stefan asked her.

"No, he just kind of disappeared." Elena tells him.

"Figures."

"I'm so glad you're both okay." Elena hugged the two, pulling back as Anastasia pulled away.

"I try so hard...to hate him." Stefan says, "I guess it's just pointless."

"You care about him, so do I. But I love you Stefan, and I know that you are worried about that." Elena tells him.

"I just...you know, I know my brother."

"But I love you, Stefan."

"I'm gonna go." Anastasia tells them, pulling away from her uncle and walking away.

❱ 🌿⋆｡˚

          "MATT! TYLER!" ANASTASIA rushed into the hospital after getting a call from Matt to tell her that he, Tyler and Matt were in a car accident, "Are you guys alright? Where's Caroline?"

"We don't know yet." Tyler mumbled as he wrapped his arms around the Salvatore girl's waist. "Thank you for coming."

"Always, Ty."

"What's happening? Is she alright?" Matt asked, standing up as Sheriff Forbes got there.

"There was some internal bleeding; they're taking her into surgery." She tells them.

"What else did they say? Is she gonna be okay?" Anastasia asked, worried for the blonde.

"They're gonna do everything they can." She turned to Tyler, "Tyler, have you talked to your mom?"

"I left her a message telling her I was here." Tyler says.

"You need to call her."

"What is it?" Tyler asked.

"....It's your dad."

彡☆

         JEREMY STOOD IN the bathroom, looking in the mirror as he took the vial of Anna's blood and looked at it. After a few seconds, he took the cap off of it before drinking.

Then he grabbed the bottle of pain pills that were prescribed to and poured them all onto the counter, filling a cup up with water, he picked one of the pills up.

彡☆

          ANASTASIA HELD HER phone against her ear as she stood outside the hospital.

"Usually, it's me that's calling you, Sweetheart."

"I know. I, um, I was almost burned alive a few hours ago so I thought I'd call you." She looked around her.

"By who?"

"That doesn't matter. I just - I needed to hear someone else's voice besides the ones I've been around lately." She tells him.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

Anastasia hesitates before answering, "I'll be fine, Lijah."

彡☆

          JEREMY WAS STILL in the bathroom, having taken all the pills before he texted Anastasia to tell her he was sorry. Then he goes into his bedroom and laid on the bed, keeping his eyes open for as long as he could before the pills knocked him out.

彡☆

          JOHN WALKED TOWARDS the refrigerator, opening it to grab a bottle of water, and once he closed it, he jumped at seeing Elena standing there.

"You scared me." He tells her.

"Sorry."

"You know..I first met Isobel when I was a teenager. I fell in love with her instantly, although I"m pretty sure she never loved me. She was special." John started to explain. "A part of why I hate vampires so much is because of what he became, how it ruined her. And I never would have sent her to Damon had I known she wanted to turn." Elena put dishes. "It's my fault. I'm telling you this because I hoped maybe you'd understand."

"Thank you."

John put his hands on the counter as he moved to stand next to her. "Can I help?"

She looked down at his ring, "Sure." Using one of the kitchen knives, she cut his fingers off, causing the man to scream in pain as she pinned him against the sink.

"Katherine?!"

Her eyes changed, her fangs growing, "Hello, John. Goodbye, John." And she stabs him in the stomach.

彡☆

          "I LOOKED EVERYWHERE." Elena walked up the porch steps, on the phone with Stefan. "Yeah, someone definitely took my stuff. I'm just gonna check on Jeremy before I go to the hospital. Can you meet me there? Okay. I love you, Stefan."

Elena walked into the house, standing at the bottom of the staircase, "Jeremy!? Are you up?!"

Hearing the sound of a knife falling to the floor and someone groaning, Elena walked towards the kitchen.