TRIGGER WARNING: character has PTSD panic attack, explicit torture scene, and suggestions of rape/other trauma. just triggers.

"you don't want to hear about my kinks?"

—

EDEN tried not to think about Harry's phone call. She tried to pretend it didn't exist. That it hadn't happened. That Dolohov wasn't actually coming for her.

He hadn't been sighted in weeks, not since the war ended. He was a lone wolf, galavanting on his own since Voldemort's demise and no one had so much as heard a whisper of him.

He definitely, definitely wasn't coming after her.

Denial is a River in Egypt.
Fuck off.

Eden clenched her right hand into a fist.

She looked up and spotted Jenna drinking a glass of wine over the counter, mumbling something to herself at her phone.

"Jenna?" Eden smiled, despite her anxiety about simply existing. "It's not even one yet."

Jenna looked back with a sheepish smile. "It's five o'clock somewhere, Eden. And I need this. Damon's been eying Elena and it's freaking me out. Plus, Ric's been acting weird lately and I have no clue what that's about."

Eden sighed, reaching to the cabinet above Jenna's head. She grabbed a second wine glass.

"Give me half the bottle, Jen, I cannot exist today without it."

The pair exchanged a small laugh and clinked glasses after Jenna poured a significant amount in each of theirs.

"To wine saving my sanity once again," Jenna joked.

"And to you for providing the wine."

"Amen, sister."

—

Eden did not like John Gilbert.

She probably never would.

"Eden," the man in question smiled over at her tightly. He didn't like her either. She didn't care.

He was a dick.

"John."

Before he could say anything else — which would probably result in Eden refraining from hexing him — Elena walked into the room and looked at Eden with wide eyes.

"Are you going to the parade?"

Eden shrugged, taking a bite of an apple she'd sliced into pieces and dipped into peanut butter.

"No. This town sucks."

"You could wear a pretty dress..." she half-sung.

"I'm not a founder's daughter. But Damon said they'd have cotton candy so I'll probably go for that."

"You're friends with Damon?" John asked curiously, an edge to his voice.

"Why do you care? Jealous that I have friends?"

John rolled his eyes but said nothing else.

"Just be careful around him. He's dangerous."

"Because he's a vampire?" Eden blinked, smirking at John's shocked expression. "I'm not an idiot, John, and don't pretend to care about me."

—

Eden was leaning against a pole, munching on a bag of popcorn when Jeremy and Elena walked past her, apparently in a fight.

"Jeremy come on!" Elena was pleading with him, dressed up in her founder's dress. "I was wondering where you were. You look great, and you guys did a really great job on the float."

"Go away Elena."

Eden pursed her lips at his words, shoving another handful in her mouth.

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

"Why don't you have Damon erase my memory again? Then I could go back to being your in-the-dark little brother."

Eden's eyes widened and she stepped forward, walking towards the pair with a frown.

"What'd he just say?"

"Stay out of this, Eden," Elena started, frowning at her aunt.

"Watch your mouth," Eden retorted, looking to Jeremy. "What did you mean by that?"

"She had Damon compel my memories when my girlfriend died. He turned her into a vampire and she tried to kill us and Elena had him erase my memories. I only remember because of Anna."

Eden rounded on Elena. "You did what?"

Elena shifted, adjusting her grip on the period dress. "It was to protect him. Jer," she turned to him with a guilty look. "It was to protect you. And Eden, you weren't even there. You can't make judgements on it."

"I can and I will," Eden offered Jeremy her popcorn. "Eat, I didn't see you eat breakfast."

Jeremy half-smiled, nodding in thanks. "I forgot, thanks, Eden. See you around."

"Jeremy—!" Elena tried, but he was already walking away, munching on Eden's popcorn.

"Let me make something clear," Eden searched Elena's face, seeing the irritation flashing across it. "Jeremy is a human being. With thoughts and feelings. Life is all about growing and evolving and hurting. He shouldn't have to have those memories, but it's not fair to take those away. And you certainly shouldn't be the one to take those from him."

"What do you know?" Elena crossed her arms. "You're barely in our lives anyway. You'll leave in a week when you get tired of us and we'll be better off because of it."

Elena tried to move past Eden, but she grabbed her arm.

"Is that how you feel?" Eden asked quietly. "Like I've abandoned you guys?"

Elena softened, nodding. "We needed you when Mom died. And you weren't here. You're never here. I get that you're from England and you live there and stuff, and that's great, really — good for you, but we needed you. And we had Jenna. So, no offense, you're family, but you don't get a say in our lives. In Jeremy's. In Jenna's. And not in mine."

Eden opened her mouth to respond but Elena shook her head. "Please don't."
Eden didn't say anything and Elena walked off, leaving Eden standing in the crowded park, wanting nothing more than to be anyone else in the crowd.

—

"Let's give a big hand to the Mystic Falls high school Marching Band!" Carol Lockwood cheered with the crowd as the parade moved down the street.

Eden watched, eyes flickering up to Damon's face, who was occupied flirtatiously waving at Elena.

"Gross," Eden remarked. "Please refrain from trying to steal my niece's attention when I'm around, okay?"

Damon smirked, glancing down at her. "And why would I do that? It's so fun to mess with you."

"I'll promise not to kill you in your sleep."

"I'm already dead," he remarked. "Does your witchy magic even work on vampires?"

"Of course," Eden shrugged, recalling the battle of Hogwarts. She'd never seen any of the European vampires during the battle, but she'd been told they were there. Draco fought nearly a dozen with Luna's help. She didn't know if her magic would work the same on vampires like Damon, coming from a magical bloodline. Probably, right?

"Or I can make you my first test subject."

"Ooh, kinky."

"If there's blood," Eden smirked. "And choking."

Damon's nose crinkled up. "Gross. Don't tell me that."

"Oh?" Eden's smirk widened. "You don't want to hear about my kinks? No worries, I have plenty, let me just—"

He slapped a hand over her mouth and shut her up, rolling his eyes. "Let me just stop you there, otherwise I might vomit."

Eden licked his hand and he grimaced, pulling it away, opening his mouth to say something when Bonnie interrupted them.

"What do you want?"

Eden turned back with a frown. "At the moment? Cotten candy. I had popcorn but I need something sweet to dissuade the salt."

Bonnie glanced at her. "I was talking to Damon." Her eyes moved to the raven-haired male. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

Damon smirked. "Same as Eden. Something sweet and sticky."

"Ew," Eden grimaced. "Is everything a sexual innuendo with you?"

"If it makes you uncomfortable, then yes."

"You're disgusting."

"I'm just watching the parade with my new best friend, Eden."

Eden snorted. "I'd rather get run over by the float."

"I can arrange that."

Bonnie looked between the two, shaking her head at Eden, before turning to leave.

"Where are you going?" Damon asked her.

"Away from you both."

Eden frowned, not understanding what she'd don't to upset the girl. She didn't actually like Damon, he was condescending and cruel and incredibly annoying, but their banter was a pleasant distraction from the darkness twisting inside her brain. She didn't mind his presence.

"I wanna say something to you."

Bonnie scowled at Damon. "Leave me alone."

"Thank you," he said earnestly. Eden raised her eyebrows at the sincere tone of voice, glancing between the pair. "That device Emily spelled could have killed me. I don't take what you did lightly, so...thank you."

"I did it for Elena."

"I know that. But I'm still very grateful. And...I owe you."

They stared at each other for a long moment, Eden looking between the pair before shaking her head.

"What is wrong with this town?" She muttered. "Everything is so dramatic."

"Enjoy the parade," Damon said to Bonnie softly, turning to Eden. "Cotton candy?"

"Fuck yeah," She nodded, glancing back at Bonnie. "See you around, witchy twin."

"Don't call me that," Bonnie looks over Eden's face. "Your kind...you're frauds. You don't care about balance and nature and you shouldn't wield magic like you do."

Eden stepped closer to Bonnie, head tilting a fraction. "Don't say shit to me, baby witch. I could crush you in a second. Enjoy your parade."

She turned around, anger brewing in her chest, following Damon to the cotton candy stand where he ordered her a stick of it.

"What was that about?" He asked her, grabbing a piece of her cotton candy. "I thought it was witches before bitches."

"Bonnie'a an ancestral witch," Eden shrugged, watching as the last float passed by them. "She gains power at a limitation from her ancestors. Mine is part of me, it's in my core. It takes a lot to drain my magic, and it's even harder with a wand. She needs nature for hers, I just need myself. I'd love to be her friend but it doesn't matter that much."

"Because we're friends."

Eden snorted, rolling her eyes. "In your dreams, Salvawhore. You're still an arrogant douchebag who flirts with minors."

"You're a minor."

"Semantics."

—

Eden and Damon separated an hour previously, the former preparing to head home but wanting to grab Jeremy and Anna and take them home with her.

Unfortunately, Damon found her nephew first.

"And from now on, don't talk to your sister that way either."

Eden's eyes narrowed at Damon's hand grasping her nephew's tightly and she stalked towards him, grabbing his wrist.

"You better remove your hand from my favorite nephew or so help me, Merlin, I will cut you into tiny pieces and you feed you to my goldfish."

"Your goldfish died," Jeremy supplied with a wince. "Sorry, Jenna didn't want to tell you."

Eden's face fell. "Not David Bowie."

"Like his namesake," Jeremy nodded sadly. "We had a funeral. Jenna sang."

Eden grimaced. "Maybe it's good I missed it then. At least he died in peace. Rest in bits, my little fishy. Rest in bits."

"Are you serious?" Damon asked with a raised eyebrow, hand still on Jeremy's arm. "You named your fish David Bowie?"

"My mom's favorite singer," Eden shrugged. "I was thirteen. Now get your hand off Jeremy."

"No can do, witchy, not until he apologizes to Elena."

"She erased my memories!"

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

"It wasn't her call to make," Eden spoke up on Jeremy's behalf. "I'm not gonna ask you again, Damon."

Jeremy glanced at Eden in thanks and tried to move from Damon's grasp, but the vampire held on tightly.

"Let me go before I cause a scene," Jeremy warned.

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

That's it.

Fuming, something snapped in Eden, seeing her helpless nephew standing under a vampire's grasp — someone she was actually beginning to kind of sort of like — so hellbent on using force over words.

She squeezed his wrist tightly, whispering a furious, "Petrificus Totalus."

Damon stiffened, eyes snapping to Eden's face before he fell back, his hand falling from Jeremy's.

Before he hit the ground, Stefan caught him, looking at Eden in a mixture of respect and fear.

"What—how did you do that? I thought you needed a wand. That's what Elena said."

"Most times, but the easier spells aren't as difficult to do wandlessly. Jeremy," she handed him Jenna's car keys. "You and Anna head home. I'll see you later."

He nodded, looking between her and Damon with wide eyes. "How—how did you...?"

"Oh," Eden smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, I thought I told you. I'm a witch. Different than Bonnie, though. I'll explain more later."

Jeremy nodded, shellshocked, before walking in a different direction.

"Can you...?" Stefan trailed off, glancing around and down at Damon, who was still rock solid in his arms, his body the same position as before.

"I'm not great at the counter-curse wandless, but let me see." She held her hand to Damon's chest, looking into his eyes. "Don't ever put your hands on Jeremy again, got it?" Damon blinked but otherwise didn't reply. "Finite."

Slowly, Damon's body regained control of itself and he moved out of Stefan's grasp. Immediately, he reached a hand to her throat.

"Don't ever do that again, witchy."

"Harder, daddy," Eden joked before Stefan pulled Damon away.

"See you later, Eden," Stefan smiled at her, though she detected a hint of fear in his eyes. Eden didn't respond, turning and heading down the street again in the direction of the Gilbert home.

Not fifteen minutes later, Eden was at the edge of town square when a high-pitched squealing sounded through her head.

"What the—"

She dropped to the ground, clutching her head in anguish, glancing around in hopes that Dolohov hadn't found her. Was this a new curse? Could it have been—

The Gilbert device.

That had to be it.

Fuck that hurt.

Eden tried to fight the pain but could feel herself growing weaker by the second. Something was injected into her neck with a needle and she frowned, limbs growing numb and shaky as memories flickered in her mind from the last time she'd felt such immense pain.

Someone grabbed her and everything went dark.

—

"Crucio!"

Eden tried not to scream. She bit her tongue so hard it bled, tasting the copper in her mouth, feeling it drip down her chin.

"Oh, come on, pet," Dolohov cooed above her. "You know I love it when you scream."

Eden's body trembled and her limbs felt like they'd been engulfed in fire. Every nerve in her body ached and protested, ripped apart again and again, like daggers ripping through her very soul and tearing it into smithereens.

A loud scream left her mouth and a choked sob fell from her lips when he laughed, the pain easing slightly.

He kneeled down in front of her, smiling at her twitching and trembling body. She couldn't even keep her eyes steadily on him.

He grinned sickeningly, pulling her up into his lap. She winced when his hands found her hair, stroking it like a wounded animal, petting her as though he owned her.

"Oh, my sweet pet," he cooed. "Such a good little bitch."

Tears fell from her cheeks and she twitched against him, the familiar nausea hitting her suddenly.

It was always the aftermath of the curse, she always puked and he always laughed. He mocked her and called her a worthless, disgusting creature.

He always flipped on her. Always called her good and then laughed when she got sick from the after effects of the most unforgivable curse.

Eden swallowed thickly, trying to hold it in but as her body spawned against itself and the room began to spin, she couldn't stop it.

"Eden."

She looked at Dolohov with a frown. Since when did he call her by her name?

"Eden."

He was shaking her. Her body was trembling and shaking and spawning. The urge to vomit intensified. Her lips trembled and she shook her head, which only increased the growing migraine.

"S-stop, please..." she begged, but it was futile.

He continued shaking her.

"Eden, dammit, wake up, I don't—come on, I can't get us both out of here."

Eden blinked and she was somewhere else. The manner dungeon was gone. The cold walls and dimly lit stone torches. Dolohov's hot breath on her cheek, his fingers skimming across her head and body trailed away.

A raven-haired man leaned in front of her, shaking her, exhaustion flittering across his face.

"Eden?" He asked, brushing back a piece of her hair. "You gotta stand up, you don't—you gotta get out of here."

Eden blinked. "W-who are you?" She asked, looking around him. It was hot in the room. Too hot.

It felt like the castle again, when they escaped the Fiendfyre set by Goyle and she watched as the flames crept towards her.

"It's Damon," the man supplied, looking down at her worriedly. "Eden, I got drugged with vervain. You have to go. Just—John killed Anna, I can't sit much longer, but you have to get out of here."

Who was Anna? Who was John?

Eden's eyebrows furrowed and she blinked slowly, feeling like she was watching the situation from somewhere else. She was disoriented and unfamiliar with her surroundings.

Where was Harry?

She missed Harry.

"Harry?" She asked the man, Damon. "Have you seen Harry?"

He gave her a confused look. "Who the hell's Harry? No, Eden, you have to—"

The flames next to Eden roared to life, grasping at more oxygen and creating near her. Damon pulled her close, shielding her body with his from the flames.

He pushed her back against the ground harshly, crying out.

Eden reached around for her wand, wishing she could help the strange man who just saved her life.

The flames stopped suddenly, pulling away from the pair. Another man climbed down the stairs to the left, rushing towards them.

"Damon! Eden!"

He had light brown hair, and a worried look on his face. He grabbed Damon, the man from before, and picked him up. "Eden, can you walk?"

Eden watched in confusion when Damon reached a hand out.

"I'm not leaving you down here, Eden, come on."

Eden frowned, reaching her hand up and grasping his tightly in her own. Leaning onto the brown-haired man for support, Damon pulled her up and held her close. They were out of the room a second later.

As fresh air hit her face and filled her lungs, Eden coughed, looking around fearfully. Where was she? Outside someplace, with a strange man who saved her and another who saved the both of them.

Why was she in a burning building? Was that—

"Elena?" Eden asked, looking at her niece. Why was she here? "Where's Harry?"

Elena's eyes widened and she walked towards Eden, glancing at the two men from the burning building. They were talking to a dark-skinned woman with fury in her gaze.

"Eden, you're—you're in Mystic Falls. Harry's back in Europe. Did you hit your head?"

"My head," Eden reached her hand up, feeling something warm and sticky on her hand. She pulled it down, looking at it curiously. "There's blood, Elena."

"Come on," Elena pulled her close, looking like she was trying not to cry. "Let's get you to the hospital, come on."

—

Someone's hand was wrapped around Eden's tightly.

Eden slowly opened her eyes, wincing at the light as it hit her eyes.

"Eden."

Eden looked to the right, spotting her sister's relieved expression, following her arm down to Eden's hand.

"Jenna," Eden breathed out, coughing loudly. "What happened?"

"You were trapped in Greyson's old office, the basement. It was a horrible accident, some people died. Damon and Stefan saved you."

"Oh my god," Eden breathed out. "Where are they? Where's Damon?"

She remembered Damon's worried face lit up by firelight and her heart dropped. Was he okay? She didn't need him dying for her — she didn't need anyone else's blood on her hands.

"He's okay, he was worried you wouldn't remember him."

Eden frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

Jenna glanced up, as though waiting for someone else to appear. Eden followed her eyesight but found no one.

"He said you couldn't remember him. Or Stefan. You kept asking for Harry, you didn't know where you were. I told Dr. Fell about it, she said there weren't any signs of a concussion, but you might've triggered a PTSD episode. I—I called Harry, he didn't give me details but he said there was a war and with the nightmares you have...why didn't you tell me?"

Eden looked away, swallowing thickly. Of course she had an attack at the worst possible point in time. Of course. Just her luck.

"I didn't want to worry you," Eden said in a small voice. It felt silly now. All of this could have been prevented, but she didn't — she just wanted to be normal.

"I went through a lot and I don't want to talk about it, I don't know if I'll ever be ready to talk about it, but I'm sorry I kept it from you."

Jenna squeezed her hands, wiping her eyes with a sniffle. "I can't lose you," she mumbled. "You're my baby sister. I already lost Miranda, don't make me lose you too."

"You won't," Eden said firmly. "I promise. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

—

sooooo this is not how I planned to write this chapter but there we go. hope you guys liked a little bit of angst and trauma. I also really thought Eden and Damon were gonna be enemies but I guess they're kinda frenemies?

my stories write themselves I stg I never know where I'm going with them. Can u tell???

anyways hope you all enjoyed tysm for the love I really like this story and it's super fun to write so hopefully you guys are liking it too.

lmk your thoughts and opinions!!! I love comments! hope everyone had a safe 4TH of July (if you're American, if you're not — you're lucky, can I live with you??) and I'll see you in the next chapter.