right where you left me

"THAT'S IT, JUST WATER FROM THE TAP?"

Grams looked over her shoulder at Elena, raising an arched eyebrow. "As opposed to what?"

"I just figured maybe it would have to be blessed or mystical or something."

Athena rolls her eyes, her nose scrunching up at the sound of Elena's voice. "You're such an idiot."

Elena's jaw dropped slightly and Stefan sighed, looking down at Athena. "Apologize, please,"

"Fine," Athena scoffed, fluttering her disdainful gaze onto the girl. "I'm sorry you're such an idiot."

Stefan heaves a sigh, shaking his head exasperatedly. "That's not– just come here," He wraps an arm around Athena's shoulders and pulls her away from Elena before her verbal assault escalates.

Damon shakes his head, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out a blood bag.

"What's that?"

The black-haired vampire looks at his brother. "It's for Katherine. Gotta have something to get her going. Unless Elena is offering a vein to tap."

Athena hid her wince, shifting uneasily beside Stefan as she watched Damon fidget mindlessly with his hands in anticipation. She wanted Damon to be happy, and if being with Katherine made him happy then she would do whatever was necessary to get her back. But she couldn't help but feel like Katherine wouldn't do the same for Damon.

If Damon had been trapped in a tomb, rotting slowly for the better part of a century, would Katherine put her life on the line and hundreds of others just to see him again? Without even knowing if she was in there in the first place, or if she even still loved him?

Perhaps Athena just hadn't found someone willing to do all of that for her, and therefore was unable to imagine doing it for anyone else. Perhaps she was being close-minded or selfish, but she couldn't seem to drop the feeling of dread in her bones.

Turning her head towards Damon, she can't stop the concern from creasing her forehead ever so slightly. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He furrows his brows, shrugging at her. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

Athena went to respond but stopped when she saw Bonnie turn towards them.

"We're ready."

"I, uh," Elena shifts uneasily. "I guess I should go get Anna."

The doppelgänger is quickly waved off on her task, and Athena tucks her hands into the pocket of the brown peacoat she would've forgotten if not for Stefan's hovering.

"So," Bonnie stands, looking at the trio before her. "When Elena gets back with Anna, we'll get her in the tomb with Damon. Once you two are in there, all you have to do is find Katherine before Anna finds her mother, and get out in time for us to put the shield back up."

Damon nods slightly, rolling his neck on his shoulders. "Sounds easy enough. What happens if Anna finds her mom first?"

"That's when we come in," Stefan gestures to himself and Athena. "We'll be standing guard, and if Anna tries to do anything sneaky, we take her out."

"Just, uh," Bonnie glances at Damon, looking slightly nervous at his piercing gaze. "Don't waste any time. We can keep the shield down for three minutes, tops. If you're still in there, you'll be trapped."

"Three minutes, got it," Damon heaves a sigh and turns to face the entrance of the tomb right as Anna and Elena walk down the crumbling cement steps. The raven-haired man faces her with a wicked smirk, ignoring the way she seems nervous in the presence of everyone else. "You hear that, Anna? We've got three minutes."

The young vampire nods, her hands tangling together in front of her as she eyes Bonnie and Athena warily.

"Oh, don't worry about them," Damon waves her concern off. "Everyone's over the whole kidnapping thing."

Bonnie's face twists at his words. "Actually,"

Damon claps his hands, cutting Bonnie off. "Let's just get this done with and then we can go back to holding grudges."

Bonnie and Grams clasp their hands together and begin their chants of Latin that seem nearly ominous in the firelight of the tomb.

"What are they saying?" Damon looks over his shoulder at Stefan and Athena.

"It's Latin," Athena answers, running her tongue along her teeth. "Hard to translate though, because it's also old magic that only witches understand. The literal translation would be inaccurate."

Stefan looks down at her, a glimmer of interest in his eyes lit by the flames. "How many languages do you speak?"

"Fluently? Four. I'm working on my Mandarin right now,"

"That's impressive,"

Athena winks up at him, a small smile pulling on her lips. "Υπάρχουν πολλά εντυπωσιακά πράγματα για μένα,"

The vampire raises his eyebrows in silent questioning and Athena shrugs, flicking her hair out of her face. "Greek. My dad raised me with the language, he's really into our heritage or whatever,"

"What's happening?" Elena stops their muted conversation, her eyes widening as the flames around the two witches suddenly burst and the rock begins to shift.

Bonnie and Grams stop their chants, and Bonnie looks up with wide eyes. "It worked!"

"Of course it worked," Grams breathed, patting her granddaughter's arm reassuringly.

"May I?" Damon takes a lit torch, guiding Anna into the tomb with one last look over his shoulder. "We'll be back."

Grams looks at Elena, shaking her head slightly. "You should go, sweetie. Before things get too rough."

Elena opens her mouth to protest but stops when Grams simply gestures to the steps with a borderline pitying look on her face. The brunette quickly disappears, most likely joining the party for some sort of alibi.

Damon and Anna disappear into the darkness of the tomb, and Athena turns to face the moonlit entrance of the tomb Elena had exited from moments ago. Her eyes widen in shock when she sees the familiar silhouette coming down the steps into the tomb with them.

"Dark down there?"

"I thought I told you to get out of town," She steps up, feeling Stefan appear behind her. His hand rests on her back and she reaches behind, squeezing it tightly in hers.

"I thought about it," Ben nods, a cocky smile on his face. "And then I thought, screw you."

"So, what? You're here to make sure Anna is okay?" Athena huffs a cold laugh, stepping away from him as Stefan crowds behind her. "She doesn't care about you, you were a means to an end. And you failed."

"I don't care," He shakes his head. "She already gave me what I want."

"You're gonna say eternal life?" Stefan speaks from behind her, and she clenches her jaw as Ben's gaze shifts to him. "You're really that stupid?"

Ben chuckles, unperturbed. "You know, I've heard about you. You don't feed. You're not strong enough to beat me."

Stefan lunges for him, but Ben switches up and reaches for Bonnie on the other side of Athena. The young witch yells out for help, but Ben disappears into the tomb with her before any of them can move.

"Bonnie!" Gram's panicked voice echoes through the tomb and Stefan looks between the older woman and Athena before he picks up a torch and heads for the tomb door.

"Stefan, wait!" Athena grabs his arm, her eyes wide with fear. "You'll get stuck, you can't go in there!"

"I can't leave Bonnie in there," He shakes his head, looking at Grams. "I'll get her back."

"Stefan!" Her voice echoes behind him as he disappears into the tomb, and she slams a fist into the crumbling sediment. She lets out a shaky sigh, her chest heaving with forced breaths as she faces Grams again. "Please tell me you can keep it open. Please,"

The woman hesitates before shaking her head. "I don't know. Without Bonnie's power, it could kill me."

"There's got to be something you can do," Athena scrambles, reaching for Sheila. "Is there something you can channel, or– or drain power from? Any power source?"

"Unless you were a witch, I can't do it, I'm sorry."

Athena bites the inside of her cheek anxiously, looking around the tomb. "I don't– I'm not a witch. But I'm something."

Sheila's eyes widen, and she reaches for Athena's hand, the teen allowing her to take it. Whatever she feels or sees seems to surprise her and her grip tightens before she releases her completely with a heavy sigh. "Oh, honey,"

"What? What did you see?" Athena looks up at her, a brief glimmer of hope shining through the panic. "Do you know what I am?"

Sheila nods, taking her hands again. "I can channel you, but only a little bit. You aren't strong enough yet."

Athena shakes her head. "As long as we get them out of there, I don't care. Take what you need."

Sheila nods, clasping their hands together. Her chants begin low, and Athena looks over her shoulder at the nearly shut tomb door, watching it try to fight Sheila's magic. She looks down at their intertwined hands, bracing herself when she sees her veins light up like sunlight beneath her skin.

Her lids flutter, but she forces her legs to stand still even as it begins to feel like she's being drained of all of her energy.

Her eyes snap back to the tomb when she hears the door shift and she looks back to Sheila worriedly. "It's not working! Just– just take more!"

"It'll kill you, Athena,"

"I don't care!" She cries over the burst of flames, tears falling from her eyes that seem to take Sheila by surprise. "Katherine is not in that damn tomb, but Damon is. Your granddaughter is in there, fighting for her life. And Stefan,"

She stumbles over her words, inhaling sharply as she tries to keep her tears at bay. "Stefan is in there, and I can't do this without him. I know that I'm just a stupid kid, but I need you to understand that if Stefan gets stuck in that tomb, I won't be able to–"

"You said your father has Greek heritage?" She stops Athena's ramblings, earning a confused nod in response. "Αιώνια φλόγα. That's what's inside you."

"Eternal flame?" Athena translates, her eyebrows furrowing. "What– what does that mean?"

Sheila shakes her head, readjusting the grip on the teenager's wrists. "This is going to hurt a little bit."

Athena goes to question her but loses all capability of her words as Sheila begins to channel her again. The teen cries out but doesn't let the witch loosen her grip in the slightest.

Her screams echo through into the tomb, and as she falls to her knees, Damon and Bonnie burst through the door.

"Athena!"

Damon rushes for them, but Bonnie holds him back, looking at the exchange of power with wide eyes. "Don't interrupt it. You could kill either one of them."

"It looks like she's killing Athena," He gestures to the collapsed girl, his worried eyes shifting back and forth between the two women. "Bonnie,"

"Damon, just trust me!" Bonnie yells over Athena's screams, wincing at the shrill sound of her pain echoing through the tomb.

Suddenly, Sheila takes her grip off of Athena and snaps her eyes open, facing Damon and Bonnie. "I couldn't take anymore, they wouldn't let me."

Bonnie rushes towards her grandma and hugs her as tightly as she can, stifling the sobs beginning to rise in her throat.

Damon rushes for Athena, helping her stand on her feet as her head lolls back and he meets the blackened state of her eyes. "Who stopped you?" His gaze shifted to Sheila, who shook her head apologetically as she and Bonnie parted.

"That girl is much more powerful than any of us," Sheila shakes a finger at Athena's weakened state. "But if I had taken any more power from her, it would've killed us both. I'm already weakened as is,"

Athena groans, her eyes fluttering as she forces her way back to complete consciousness. "Damon?"

"Hey, hey," Damon helps her steady herself as she tries to wash the confusion from her gaze. "It's alright, we're alright."

She furrows her brows, looking around at the tomb. "Stefan? Where's Stefan?"

Bonnie stops suddenly, looking around. "He was– he was right behind us. He pushed us out of the door right as the barrier went back up, I don't–"

Damon's eyes widen as he looks at the invisible barrier closing the tomb off from the outside world. "No, no, he was right there, he should've made it out,"

"No," Athena's voice breaks as she whispers her denial. She stumbles over to the door of the tomb, ignoring Damon's calls for her to stop. "No, no, no,"

"Athena, you can't get in. The barrier is back up," Damon stops her, pulling her away from the entrance.

"Stefan!"

"Athena!" His voice echoes from inside the tomb and she chokes on a sob that tears its way out of her throat.

The torch hanging beside the entrance lights up his panicked face as he comes into view, and Athena's hand lands on the invisible barrier, causing Stefan to do the same. "Stefan, what happened?"

"Anna found her mother, but Ben," He shook his head. "I had to kill him. He was completely out of it."

"It's okay," She nodded, fingers twitching like they were confused at the lack of contact between her and Stefan. "I tried. I tried to keep it open, I swear,"

He smiles, lips quivering with barely held-back tears of his own. "I know. I know, Athena. It's alright."

"Athena, we need to go," Damon speaks from behind her and she snaps her head around with a glare, seeing Grams leaning her weight on Bonnie who was looking worriedly at her grandmother.

"No, I don't– I can't,"

"Athena, I'll be okay. I promise."

"No," She shakes her head as Damon grabs her arms, pulling her away from the opening of the tomb gently. "No, I don't want to leave him. I can't,"

Damon grits his teeth as she fights him and he tightens his grip, picking her up off the ground so she stops dragging her feet. "Athena, he's going to be fine. We'll get him out, but we have to get out of here before someone finds us."

"No, I don't want to leave him here,"

Damon shakes his head, looking at his brother with apologetic eyes as the man winces at her hysterical state. "I'm sorry,"

The four of them disappear out of the tomb and Stefan lets out a shaky breath that echoes in the sudden silence.

He falls back against the tomb wall, shoulders shaking with the tears he struggled to hide from Athena as she tried to fight her way to him.

As if feeling his sudden anguish, his heart seems to ache from the loss of her presence, and he cradles his head in his hands, trying to remember the feeling of her presence and the rush that her touch gives him.

Blood and starvation be damned, he knows the first thing that will kill him is not having Athena at his side.

──────

author's note; the translation for the greek is "there's a lot of impressive things about me," because obviously athena is flirting with stefan in a tomb full of dead people,,, also yes ik the barrier didn't work like that in TVD but i dont care because i needed this to be extra painful so they can't even touch,, (im kinda sick for that - liz from the future)

originally published; 11.29.20. 

edited: 11.28.23. 

- liz