𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇
you just have to get through it

ALARIC was on the MRI while Meredith, Echo, and Elena were in the other side looking at the results.

"What are you looking for?" Echo questioned with furrowed brows as Meredith looked at the computer screen with narrowed eyes.

Last night, while Echo was at the Salvatore Boarding House with Damon, Elena was at him reading. She found a theory that Alaric's ring was changing him without him even knowing it. Weirdly enough, it made sense somehow. 

Being honest, Meredith said, "I don't know. A tumor, vascular anomalies. Anything physical that might explain his behavior. If it's medical, I can treat it," she told the girls. 

"And if it's not?" 

Meredith looked up at the twins. "Well... Then we'll deal with that, too." 

Echo crossed her arms and tilted her head. "When did you suspect him? That it was Alaric who was killing all of those people?" 

"It was after he told me about his ring," Meredith began to clarify to the girls, still looking at the monitors, "I remembered a story my grandmother had told me about Samantha Gilbert and her secret journal. I don't know if you know this, but we Fells are notorious busybodies." 

Elena crossed her arms, too. "Then why did you protect him?" 

"Because I'm a doctor," she stated simply. "I don't like to see someone hurt by something they have no control over. And, because when he and I first met, I felt like, I don't know, I... I just kind of want to help him." 

Echo looked back into the room watching Alaric who was in the MRI. Suddenly he pressed the button yelling, "No! Meredith! Meredith!"

Answering him back immediately, the doctor asked concerned, "Everything all right in there?" 

The girls waited a moment for a response before he told them, "Yeah. Yeah, everything's okay."

ALARIC, Echo, and Elena were in his hospital room talking to the annoyed man, telling him everything had come up normal.

The MRI they did came up with nothing meaning what ever was wrong with Alaric was supernatural. 

Slightly frustrated, Alaric said to them, "Because there is nothing wrong with me. I didn't kill Brian Walters, I didn't kill bill Forbes, and I sure as hell didn't shove a hunting knife into my stomach."  The older man looked down at the Gilbert family ring for a moment before looking back up at Elena. Sadness mixed with anger in his voice he said, "Or I did, and I've gone insane, just like your ancestor, who... wore that ring." 

Elena looked to Echo; they did not want to believe their guardian to be crazy. Elena sighed and said, "Look, I'm going to call Bonnie. The rings were made by a Bennett witch. Maybe a witch can reverse the damage." 

Alaric slid the ring across the table, "Take it. I don't want it anymore." 

"Ready to ditch this house of horrors?" Damon asked as he walked into the room and Echo walked over to stand with Alaric. Wincing a bit, Damon groaned, "Oof. You look terrible." 

The older man scoffed at his comment, "Yeah. Let me... let me check out of here."

Echo sent Damon a look before she followed behind the history teacher to check him out of the hospital. 

ECHO got out of the car at Wickery Bridge with Alaric, Damon and Meredith. The bridge was being restored as one of Carol's new project where she was bossing people around. Rebekah was talking with the mayor being watched by Damon closely. 

Having a gut feeling about the girl, Damon said, "Rebekah's up to something. She's been snooping around in places she shouldn't be." 

"As opposed to her usual murderous activities," Echo retorted at the vampire, wearing a smile on her face. He bent down and pecked her on the lips. "But, tell me why we are here? Ric should be at home right now."

"Just because Ric is an accidental psycho killer the world can't stop," he responded and Echo reached forward and slapped him upside the head, grinning as he turned around to stare at her with surprised eyes.

"Do you have any tact whatsoever?" Meredith asked Damon with a scowl on her features.

"Hey, that's my boyfriend you're talking about!" Echo exclaimed, "Also, no he does not." She giggled as Damon swiftly turned to her.

The group smiled as Carol made her way over to them. "Alaric! I'm glad you're here. Did you bring the sign? The restored wickery bridge sign. The history department promised me you would have it today." 

"No, I don't have the sign, actually. It slipped... slipped my mind. I've been... Busy," Alaric quickly explained his situation. 

The Mayor paused for a moment before saying, clearly annoyed, "Well, it's not an emergency. We'll just, um, unveil it when the bridge is complete," she told him, leaving his side in a rush. 

Alaric looked at both of the girls, begging, "Get me out of here!" 

"My pleasure," Meredith answered him as they prepared to leave. 

Damon didn't follow behind his eyes stuck on someone in the crowd, and Echo frowned, and grabbed his hand. He sighed and looked down at her. "I'm going to stick around for a bit."

Her brown eyes searched the crowd, forming the person who he had been staring at. "Who is that?" 

He looked down at her to see her clenching her jaw as she studied the redheaded woman. He grabbed he face in his hands and made her look up at him. "No one important. At least, I don't think so." He leaned down and pecked her lips before saying, "I'll come by later."

She nodded and watched as he walked away from her. She then sighed and turned to Alaric and Meredith, and said, "He's probably on his way to do get killed."

Alaric chuckled at her. "He can handle himself. Come on."

ALARIC and his two 'doctors' for the day were sitting in the Gilbert house reading the reports Meredith had found on him.

"I really don't think you should be looking through that stuff," the older brunette told him. 

"Well, it's the truth. Restraining orders and all. My life in a series of police reports," he said slightly ashamed of the things he had done. 

Speaking up, Meredith said, "You don't strike me as an angry guy. Which sounds weird, given everything. But... You don't." 

"Yeah, well, I was stupid when I was younger," Alaric said explaining himself to her, "But listen, it's not like these guys didn't have it coming. I mean..."  Picking up one of the files he said, "This guy here broke a beer bottle over a bartender's head. And this guy... Hit his girlfriend. And this guy... Okay, this guy was just a douche. Everyone needs to find a way to deal with their dark side. Some people meditate. I became a vampire hunter." Meredith hummed. "Mmm, semi-retired."

The two girls took seats at the table with him, and the guardian continued, "Listen, there's something that's not in these reports that I need to tell you about."

"Okay... Ominous. Shoot," Meredith told him.  

"Your cousin Logan Fell, the one who was vampire slayed... I did the slaying," he said waiting for the other shoes to drop when she got angry. 

Meredith paused for a moment before she said, "The vampire thing... It's not my fight. I use their blood for what I need and leave the judgment to everyone else. Although, I have kind of been wondering why you never drew a stake through Damon's heart." 

"I tried once. He killed me," Alaric stared and Meredith stared at him with wide eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, figures. The thing that started all this ring stuff was me being angry enough to think I could take on a vampire in the first place," he finished as Meredith took his hand inside hers.

Echo swallowed thickly, looking between them. She was sad to see that the woman in front of him wasn't Jenna, but Meredith did make him happy. So, as long as he is happy, she's happy.

ELENA who was now home was in the kitchen with Alaric who wrote something down and handed it to Elena while he thought the younger girl was distracted. "Listen, I want you to have this. This is a list of my bank accounts, passwords, where to find my will and how to contact my family just in case this doesn't go my way." 

"No, no, don't even think like that," Echo said as she walked over giving him his new cup of coffee. "We'll figure something out. We always figure something out. Just wait."

Alaric shook his head stubbornly. "Girls, I need to know that you two and Jeremy are going to be okay."

"We're all going to be fine," Elena encouraged him just before her phone rang. She answered walking away, "Caroline?"  The doppelgänger walked away leaving the two to wait for her to explain.

After a few seconds she hung up and Echo asked her, "Good news, bad news?" 

"Bonnie thinks that she can help you with a spell," she explained to them. 

Alaric sighed, telling her, "Well, it's worth a try." 

Explaining further, Elena said, "But she needs something that you wore before you put on the ring. Something personal." 

The female doctor walked up to them as Alaric answered uneasy, "Well, there's, uh... My wedding ring. It's at the loft." 

Nodding, Elena said, "Okay, yeah. Um, that's a good idea." 

"I think it's better if you stay here with me," Meredith said forcing him to sit back down. 

Echo turned to him with a small smile. "Yes you're staying here with your two very trusty caretakers." 

"Oh, you and your tranquilizers. It's in the dresser by the kitchen. It's in, uh, an aspirin bottle. Probably covered in cobwebs." 

Elena nodded, "Okay." The older girl looked to her little sister before she walked away leaving Echo to take care of Alaric with the doctor.

ALARIC was on the couch while Meredith was with Echo making coffee.

"Still with us?!" Meredith shouted to the older man. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm still with you," he answered tiredly.

"I'm half-dead, too. Neither one of us has slept in two days. Don't worry... I've got coffee on," she told him.

Without either of the girls realizing it he got up walking over to Meredith's purse taking out her vervain darts. 

"I live in this house but I have no idea where anything is. Elena and I are not the kitchen types," Echo mumbled to Meredith making her chuckle. "I only know where the coffee is."

Alaric rejoined the girls in the kitchen. "Looking for something?" 

"We don't know where anything is in this house," Meredith teased making fun of themselves, "I'm sorry, I can't remember, do you take cream?" 

Calmly, he said, "No cream." 

Speaking up as she turned to look at him, Echo  said, "We were going to make sandwiches. We don't know about you but were starving!" 

Alaric looked at both girls, inquisitive. "Can I ask you a question?" He asked with furrowed brows.

"No mustard. I hate mustard," Meredith responded sarcastically as she looked over her shoulder at him. 

Walking closer to the girls, he asked, "Do you ever feel remorse?" Alaric walked even closer to them with a knife in hand making Meredith to become fearful, and for Echo to push the older woman behind her.

Both stayed put as he stared straight at Echo. "Well... you do everything in your power to stay good, but you can't fight you're nature. I've read the books about you and your family." He chuckled darkly. "Yet you still try, so many people you could've saved if you did, starting with Jenna. One day, Echo, you'll be no better than me and I will laugh as you fall."

Echo narrowed her eyes at him as he continued, but was now staring at Meredith. "You are a council member. And the council was formed to protect the people of this town from vampires, yet here you all are, just looking the other way; ignoring your responsibilities. Like you, and your vampire blood. So I'm asking you. Do you ever feel remorse? Because you should." 

With out a second thought Alaric went to stab the doctor, but at the last second, Echo pushed her out of the way ending up with her getting stabbed, making her scream out. Meredith threw the coffee on him burning his skin, quickly he reacted by cutting Meredith's side in response to the pain as he was hunched over.  

The doctor quickly grabbed Echo and pulled her along as she tried to stop the bleeding from her wound. Meredith pushed her in front of her as they went towards the stairs, before they could Alaric cut them off. Alaric pushed Echo down dragging the knife on her leg making her scream out in even more pain. 

Meredith quickly pushed Alaric away from the teen, rushing helping her up, but when they tried to get up the stairs he grabbed Meredith's leg stopping her.

"Echo, go!" she screamed at the girl. 

"No way!" Echo shouted back as Meredith kicked Alaric away and they took off running again. Well, Echo was limping, groans and grunts passing her chapped lips.

The Fell woman grabbed Echo, pulling her up the stairs, and quickly ran into the bathroom.  Both females went and locked two out of the three doors as fast as they could.

Meredith quickly rushed towards the last door trying to shut it, but Alaric beat her there trying to force it back open.

Rushing to Meredith's aid, Echo grabbed a pair of scissors, and stabbed Alaric's hand, making him pull away. 

Once they were safe, Echo let out a shaky breath and looked down on her shirt, and saw a giant gash in her stomach and a matching one on her leg. "Oh fuck..."

Meredith watched as she saw the panic on the girls face just before Echo fell to the floor, the room feeling as if it was caving in on her. And them suddenly, the darkness welcomed her like an old friend.

ELENA and Stefan entered the house after a few hours and saw all the evidence of Alaric being the killer.

The Salvatore boy made a sign for Elena to wait, and she walked into the kitchen. 

As she waited patiently, Alaric came down the stairs, a towel in his hands. "Hey there," he greeted the young girl. 

Elena smiled, masking her fear, "Hi Um, Where's Meredith and Echo?" 

"Oh, she got called in to the hospital for a last minute surgery, but she'll be back later," he explained about Meredith before adding on quickly, "And Echo said she was going to go look for you." 

She nodded as she looked at his hands in the towel, "What happened?" 

"Oh, I broke a coffee cup and sliced my hand open trying to pick up the pieces," he quickly explained before changing the topic by asking, "But I'll... I'll live. Did Stefan or Echo catch up with you?" 

Elena shook her head, "No." 

Curious as he made his way down the stairs, he asked her, "Did you get my ring?" 

"I... I couldn't find it," she answered, obviously lying. 

Alaric chuckled as stood in front of her, answering as if nothing was wrong, "Yeah, well, my place is a bit of a disaster. I guess I'll, uh, I'll just have to go get it." 

Elena looked down seeing the knife on the floor, and seeing that she had seen the knife, Alaric went toward her to attack her, but Stefan arrived and strangled him from behind.

"No, don't hurt him," Elena begged with wide eyes.

"I'll try not to," he said as he strangled Alaric who then collapsed. He laid him on the floor and looked upstairs, "Elena, I need you to come upstairs with me." 

Elena looked upstairs for a split second before asking him, "Why?" 

"I'm going to need your help," he answered her as they went upstairs.

They went into the bathroom and she flicked the light on to see Meredith and Echo laying on the floor, bleeding. 

There was blood everywhere from Meredith trying to stop the bleeding on both of them. And they were unconscious.

Elena rushed over her sister touching her face. "Echo! Wake up, please!"

And just like that, Echo gasped away. "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw!" She exclaimed before slumping in Elena's arms, her body exhausted.