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"You've got a fire inside but your hearts so cold."

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JAMES POV

I can hear everyone calling my name but the only thing I can feel is the pain in my chest as I stand up, glancing down at my bloodstained shirt with a gaping hole above my heart, blood dripping everywhere.

I glance around in confusion and fear, worried that Silas may still be here only to find he's not. I look at my hands which are not covered in grey veins, and I take in oxygen through my lungs, the feeling igniting my body and making me feel alive. It's weird really, when I swear just a moment ago Silas ripped out my heart. But, I realize now that he was only playing tricks, only messing with my mind.

I turn around to walk back to everyone else only to see that everyone else is already here, surrounding me. Their faces are contorted with different emotions, none of which appear to be happy considering I'm alive, having just escaped death from the worlds oldest immortal. 

"What's going on? Did you not just see that?" I ask in amazement, extremely grateful that I'm alive.

"James," Stefan whispers lowly, tears welling in his eyes.

"What? I almost got killed by Silas and this is your reaction?" I tease, trying to lighten the mood. 

"James, you did get killed by Silas," Bonnie says grimly, her hands trembling as she points to something behind me.

"W-what?" I stutter, turning around slowly to what Bonnie is pointing at. My eyes follow her direction, landing on a dead body laying so peacefully on the ground with a gaping hole in it's chest, the same kind of hole that's in my shirt.

I walk over to the body in silence, observing it. It's covered in grey veins and cold to the touch. I grab the body's shoulder and turn it around, staring at the face. But it's not just any face, it's my face. It's my body. It's how I died. Silas wasn't playing any tricks with me. No, I really did die.

"No," I whisper, placing my hands on the back of my neck, stumbling backwards away from my body. I keep staring at it, blinking rapidly like it will disappear, like all of this is just a dream. Like Silas is getting in my head again, but he's not.

"James?" Joel croaks, tears spilling out his eyes as Lexi drapes an arm around him. He stares at me with such sorrow, such pain that I feel myself slowly falling apart from the inside out, desperately wishing that none of this is real.

"This isn't real. This can't bloody be happening," I whisper, my eyes wide as I keep staring at my own body.

"Oh, but it is bloody happening," Silas suddenly says, appearing as Blair once again as he runs full speed towards us, ready to attack and provoke Bonnie, but instead Bonnie attacks back, raising her hand and radiating magic through her body, sending Silas crumpling to the ground in pain.

She has tears in her eyes and anger written on her face as she gives out every piece of magic she has in her, every piece of magic that can be used towards Silas. "I may not be able to kill you, but I can stop you. This ends now Silas," Bonnie yells, sending a wave of wind flowing through the caves, Silas dropping to the ground in pain.

"I will make every drop of blood clot in your veins, every bone break within your body, every piece of your flesh turn to stone. You won't have powers anymore, Silas. You'll be nothing," she bellows, stepping closer to a struggling Silas who falls to the ground, turning to the wall to collapse.

All I can see as his hands turn to stone is Blair's face as he pretends to be her, his body still taking her form. It's as if watching Blair die, and I don't like it one bit. I feel as if I'm standing by hopelessly watching the one I love crumple to pieces, but I have to remind myself that the figure in front of me is not Blair, but the one who took me from her. The one who will break her heart once she finds out what has become of me. He is the one who tore my family apart.

Silas growls and groans before his face turns to stone, the figure of Blair disappearing as he becomes his true self. However, his face is covered with stone, making it impossible to see his real face. I guess we'll never know who my killer really was.

"It's done," Bonnie sighs, looking exhausted. Silas's body lays there beside mine, both of our bodies lifeless. I know that Silas isn't really dead, but all that matters is that he's gone.

"Now what? We can't keep the vail up for too long, or we'll have problems," Damon says, speaking the ugly truth. The only reason I'm still visible to the living right now is because of the lifted vail. But the vail down also means the increased threat of other angry supernatural creatures too from the other side.

"We deal with Silas, and see where the night takes us. Besides, it's graduation tomorrow," I say with a small smile, trying to sound reassuring.

"James," Joel asks quietly, wiping stray tears from his cheeks. "What about Blair? What are you going to tell her?" he asks, staring at my body.

I glance back at my body and quickly look away, not wanting to watch reality take over anymore. "Nothing," I say. "I'll tell her nothing for now."

"But James," Stefan begins.

"No, Stefan. Please, for me just please don't tell her. I will when the time is right," I say angrily, running a hand through my hair.

"James," Damon speaks up. "There never will be a right time," he says quietly, looking out for his sister. However I too am looking out for her, looking out for her well being. She doesn't need to know about this while things are looking up for her. We are finally happy, and I won't end that streak of happiness until I need too.

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BLAIR POV

After parking Klaus's ridiculously fast car in an empty parking spot, I sprint inside the school, looking frantically for anyone around but it's dead empty. It's like a ghost town, with papers scattered and lights flickering and everything.

I keep my hands clenched in fists as I quietly walk through the hallways, turning corners cautiously in case someone is near by. With the vail down, I have the dangerous potential of running into everyone and anyone from the other side, and frankly there's a long list of people I would prefer not to run into, Kol being one of them. Of course with my luck, I find him standing directly opposite to me down the school hallway, his arms crossed across his chest cockily as he walks towards me.

"Well, well, if it isn't the girl who broke my brother's heart," he sneers.

"Since when do you care about your brother?" I ask mockingly.

"That's a good question love, but the same could be said about you. How many times has your brother Damon stabbed you in your back?" Kol questions.

"That's different. At least my family doesn't place literal daggers in each other's hearts," I spit, standing my ground as Kol walks closer and closer.

"It appears everyone stabs another in the back at one point. Speaking of wasn't it you that stood idly by as Jeremy Gilbert forced a stake into my heart?" Kol asks, finally getting to his point. He's here to kill me, release his anger upon me over his death.

"I didn't kill you," I say, slowly backing up.

"That may be true love, but unfortunately you didn't save me either. I thought we were closer than that. It appears you can't trust everyone around here," Kol smirks before sprinting towards me to attack. I back away in an attempt to escape, but he's too fast and too strong as he pushes me to the ground, wrapping my arms around my back in a painful way that I can almost feel my bones breaking.

I cry out in pain and use every ounce of strength in me to release myself from Kol's grasp when suddenly he's magically lifted off of me, flying across the hallway and into a wall of lockers. I glance up at my saviour and realize it's not one, but two people who saved my life, and they look oddly familiar. I stand up as the couple approaches me, a man and a woman hand in hand.

"Thank you," I say, still trying to recognize who they are. They're witches, but I don't think I've ever really seen them before. "Who are you?" 

"Theodore's parents," the woman says. 

And then it hits me. I looked over their autopsy files, saw their pictures. Their corpses were too mangled from the crash to be recognizable, yet here they stand. 

"Rhonda and Anthony?" I ask, staring between the man and the woman. 

"That we are," the man says wearing a soft smile. 

"We don't have a lot of time, but we just wanted to say thank you Blair, for saving our little boy's life," the woman smiles. 

She steps forwards and gives me a hug, quickly releasing me as the man gives me a hug too. 

"You don't blame us?" I ask, unsure what to say. I can't help but still feel guilty about the whole thing. 

"No, not at all. It was just an accident, no one's fault," Anthony says, Rhonda nodding from beside them as they hold hands. 

"Make sure to tell James that we don't blame him either," Rhonda says. "We trust you two to make the right decisions regarding Theo." 

I smile slightly, my mind shifting back to James. "I have to go," I say. "Thank you again, for saving me." I glance back at Kol's unconscious body that lays on the ground. 

"Of course," Rhonda says. "Goodbye, Blair." 

I only smile before turning around and sprinting to the basement entrance of the school. I round the corner so fast that I go bumping into my one and only twin. 

"Stefan?" I ask, suddenly worried that it's Silas. 

"It's me," he assures me, wiggling his finger that wears the daylight ring. 

I smile and give him a hug, breaking apart from him quickly. "Where is James?" I ask. 

Stefan hesitates, shifting on his feet. "Blair, there's something you should know-" 

"I'm right here," James suddenly says, walking out from the gym with a whole group walking behind him. Joel, Bonnie, Damon and even Lexi all walk out of the gym, all expressing extremely mellow emotions.

I don't get to say much as James wraps his arms around me, making me forget about all the fear and anxiety bubbling up inside me. As I feel his touch against my skin, I relax knowing that he's real, that he's right in front of me. And in this moment, that's all that really matters.

"I'm right here," he repeats, whispering his words into my ear softly.

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[completed & edited: 09/12/2021]