it's just begun

"IT'S CERTAINLY PLAUSIBLE, BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE."

Elijah shook his head, looking at the group of people gathered in Athena's living room. Apollo sat in a cushioned chair, his eyes still roaming around and curious to search the rest of the house. Damon was leaning against the fireplace, an obvious look of frustration on his features as he explained the entire situation to them.

The distance between Stefan and Athena, though obvious to them all, was not commented on and Elijah resisted the urge to linger his gaze on them, a curiosity having been born from Apollo and Athena's explanation of their heritage and what it meant to have a soulmate.

But for the sake of Damon's sanity, and perhaps Athena and Stefan's relationship, Elijah staved his questions away for the time being and allowed the brothers to propose their possible explanation for Stefan's behavior that had landed them here.

Shaking his head again, Elijah sighed and sat back against the chair he'd claimed earlier. "It just doesn't make sense for Klaus to compel you to protect Elena when he didn't know another doppelgänger would ever exist, and when he is trying to kill her."

"So, if we're entertaining the idea but taking Klaus out of the equation," Apollo looked at Elijah curiously. "Who could've compelled him?"

Elijah shrugs. "Well, it'd have to be an Original, and there's only five of us– most of which are daggered. And if he were compelled by an Original, it'd have to be someone who didn't want Klaus to break his curse, being as they want Elena to survive."

They all nodded, following along with his train of thought.

"I wouldn't do that, and Klaus obviously didn't, but Kol has been daggered for quite some time," Elijah glanced around, noting off Athena's curious look. "He's got a bit of a temper, and he likes to provoke my brother. You remind me of him, which isn't necessarily a good or bad thing, I suppose."

Athena contemplated offense for a moment before she conceded with a shrug. She knew the type of person she was, and she wasn't bothered by other people pointing it out to her.

"Rebekah has been daggered since the 20s because of an incident Klaus never told me about, and Finn," Elijah trails off, his voice dwindling quickly with a hesitant feeling lingering in the air. "No, it's not possible."

"What? What isn't possible?" Damon leans forward, his eyes narrowing at the Original.

"No, it– it can't be."

"Twenty minutes ago you didn't know that gods and goddesses were a thing, I think we're far past impossible by now,"

Elijah sighs, conceding her point easily despite his obvious reluctance to believe his train of thought. "Our brother Finn, he never liked what we are. He hated being a vampire, especially when he saw what it did to our siblings. He thought us monsters, and he always spoke of undoing our mother's mistake one day, but it was never taken seriously. He would need our mother to help weaken the spell she created in the first place, and he would need a linking spell to connect us all."

"He wanted to undo the spell your mom did that made you vampires?" Stefan questioned incredulously. "How would that even be possible?"

Elijah wipes a hand over his chin, surrendering his disbelief to logically think out the steps Finn would need to do. "It'd start with a linking spell, which any witch could do if they had something of every person involved. For us, it'd likely be our blood because it's the only thing we all have in common."

"But getting a blood sample from every Original vampire is impossible, considering one is extremely homicidal and paranoid, and the rest are taking vacations to purgatory."

"Exactly,"

"Humor me," Athena looks at Elijah, her dark eyes twisting with the gleam of determination and something else he couldn't quite recognize. It was a look he'd begun to notice on her face whenever she thought she had an idea, though, so he was curious to see where she was going with it. "What else would he have to do?"

"If he completed the linking spell, he'd need our mother, or a witch as powerful as her to weaken us all at the same time, and then he could simply kill himself and kill the rest of us along with him. But to even do permanent harm to himself, he'd need a white oak dagger and it just so happens that we burned the last remaining bit of white oak so we could never be killed."

Athena tucked her dark hair behind her ears, briefly tapping a manicured finger on her cheek. "If you got rid of all the white oak trees, how did John Gilbert have the ash of one?"

"His ancestors, presumably. They're notorious vampire hunters, I'm sure they heard whispers of vampires that could only be killed with one thing."

Stefan shook his head slightly, his brows furrowing. "Wait, so, you just told us all that Finn would have to do in order to kill you all, and if you know it, how do you know he's not already doing it? What makes that so impossible?"

"Because Finn is daggered, and so is my mother,"

Silence fell into the room, and Athena bit the inside of her cheek anxiously, her eyes darting to the floor as she racked her brain for some sort of solution. "There's no way that Finn could undagger himself, and I doubt Klaus would do it since I'm sure he's the one that did it in the first place,"

Elijah nods at her, confirming her assumptions.

"So, he'd need help. Someone who knew who he was, and what Klaus did to him so they could find him and undagger him one day."

Apollo shook his head. "But who could that be?"

"I don't know," Elijah muttered, frustration seeping into his shoulders and making him tense. His eyes shot upwards, landing on Stefan who shifted at the sudden attention on him. "If Finn has somehow compelled you to protect Elena and forget him entirely, he's closer to all of this than we realize."

"Where do we even start on tracking him down? Let alone killing him or daggering him again?"

"For Finn to actually do this, Klaus can't become a true hybrid, he can't break his curse. If he breaks the curse, he'll be too powerful to be stopped."

Damon tilts his head back slightly, his eyes rolling back. "So, basically, we have to help Klaus break the curse so that Finn can't kill you all."

"I'm afraid so,"

An irritated sigh automatically comes from Stefan, and an apologetic look follows. "I'm sorry," He shakes his head. "I– I can't. I have to go. You guys need to do whatever it is you need to do, but I can't know. If this is really what's going on, I can't be involved in stopping it."

Athena sits up as he stands, reaching for him, but he's gone before she can grab his hand and she drops her arm back down defeatedly. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she ignores the three sets of eyes looking at her, awaiting her outburst.

Instead, she takes in a deep breath and exhales it as she looks at Elijah. "The full moon is in a week, and we have to break the curse by then. When is Klaus going to be here?"

"If I'm being honest, he already is,"

"What?" Damon snaps, looking at Elijah angrily. "Why wouldn't you tell us?"

"Because I don't know for sure," Elijah glares back at him momentarily. "Klaus would never come here without observing a little bit at first, and he's very fond of body-jumping, so he could be any stranger in town or even someone we know."

"Great," The vampire sighs, a wry smile on his face. "So, there's a possibility that an Original is walking around town wearing the face of a waitress, or a janitor or something. That's just what I wanted to hear."

Athena huffs a humorless laugh at him. "Or your best friend's face. But he'd have to be a damn good actor to pretend to like you."

──────

"So, what's going on with you and Stefan?"

Athena looks up as Lexi walks into the room, a tentative but curious look on her face as she approaches the goddess. Sighing in borderline irritation, she flips the page of the magazine in her lap lazily. "Why didn't you tell me you knew what I was when we first met?"

"Because your brother told me in private, and I wasn't the person you needed to hear it from. Your turn. What's going on?"

"Stefan's been compelled by an Original and it's affecting our relationship at the moment. I'm sure we'll be fine,"

Lexi scoffs at Athena's obvious anger, but she takes note of the resigned defeat in her voice. "You can't just hope you'll be fine eventually, soulmates or not you have to make an effort."

Sighing again, Athena glares up at the blonde vampire who remains unperturbed. "I'm making all of the effort, Lexi, that's why I'm so pissed off. I've done everything but kiss the ground he walks on, so it's his turn to put some work in. Besides, I can't even trust anything he says right now, so it doesn't matter. It just– doesn't matter."

"So you're just going to let some stupid Original ruin your entire relationship? It took you months to get with him, and you're just going to throw it all away?"

"I'm not throwing it–"

"Yes, you are," Lexi cuts her off, glaring at her. "Yes, Stefan's compulsion doesn't excuse his behavior, but it doesn't give you an excuse to shut him out and pretend you aren't completely freaking out."

Athena shakes her head, throwing the magazine to the side as she looks up at Lexi. "Of course, I'm freaking out! For six months my entire life has been vampires, witches, werewolves, and stupid doppelgängers who think the world owes them something! And– and gods and goddesses and idiot fathers who lie to you for seventeen years about who you are!"

She laughs coldly, her shoulders slumping defeatedly. "My life has been absolute chaos for months, I can't remember the last time I thought about something normal like what I'd wear to a school dance or what I want to do when I graduate."

She drops her head into her hands, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "Some days I still wonder why I survived the car accident, and I wonder why my father did what he did, and I have so many questions that I'll never be able to ask, and Stefan– Stefan makes it all better. He's supposed to make it all better."

She sniffs, smiling pitifully for herself. "Waking up to him smiling makes my mornings a little easier, and holding his hand in the hallway at school makes every boring class worth it. He makes sarcastic jokes, he teases me, and laughs at me. When he knows I'm bored in class, he'll say something that only I can hear just because he knows it makes me feel better."

Athena meets Lexi's gaze, her hands pushing her dark hair off her face. "He makes it all worth it, Lexi. So when we're fighting, when he's got no choice but to obey a stupid Original vampire's commands, and when I'm trying to save the people I love, I want to give up. Why would I fight so hard to one day have a future with Stefan when every single thing in the universe seems to want something different, including him?"

Lexi begins to respond, but she stops and turns her head, her eyes widening when she sees her friend standing in the doorway with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Athena follows her line of sight and bites her tongue, shaking her head defeatedly.

"I'm gonna give you guys a few minutes," Lexi pats her knee, smiling slightly. "Don't shut everyone out, Athena. It'll drive you crazy."

The two wait for her to be gone, the door shut tight behind her, and Athena breaks the silence with a sad laugh.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough," He says, though it's not angry like she'd originally assumed it'd be. It's almost guilty, which makes her watch him closely as he takes a seat near her. "Athena, why wouldn't you tell me about any of this? You know you can come to me about anything, right?"

She sighs, fumbling with her fingers awkwardly. He belatedly realizes he's the only person that she allows to see like this. Flushed cheeks stained with tired tears, her hair frizzy and slept on, her manicure chipped from where she picked at it anxiously. She's not the picture of perfection like always, yet she is as radiant as she ever is to him.

"It's– it's not personal, Stefan. I haven't talked to anyone about this. I just think it's easier to deal with it on my own until I have it all figured out."

"You can't always deal with it on your own, Athena. The life we live, it's heavy and it takes a toll on people, no matter how strong they are. It's not something to be ashamed of. I'd be more worried if you were completely fine after everything you've been through."

He sighs, reaching for her hand and intertwining their fingers together. "I wish things could be different right now, Athena, because you deserve better than this. Better than what I can give you. I always think that, though. But I always remind myself that you chose me. Soulmates or not, you chose me in the end."

Athena smiles slightly, her tear-swollen eyes squinting shut with the action.

"We won't always get along, and we won't always be on the same page, compulsion aside. But everything with you, everything, is easy. Loving you is as easy as breathing, and I feel like I've been loving you longer than I've been breathing."

Her breath hitches and he leans forward, tucking her frizzy hair off of her forehead. "You are my future, Athena. I want you to be by my side as long as you'll have me at yours, and whatever happens, I want it to happen with you."

He squeezes her hand where it's intertwined with him, and the invisible little string tying them together pulls taut in a reminder of what they have. Bathed red in the blood they've spilled, the string ties them together and no matter who tries to cut it, it stays strong.

His green eyes scan her face, a slight look of awe crossing his features. "I love you, Athena Hunt and nothing in this world will ever change that. And I'm sorry that I haven't been good to you lately, but I promise I'm going to do everything I can to make things right. I promise, Athena. Things will get better, even if they have to get a little worse first. Do you hear me?"

She nods, not trusting her voice briefly. Clearing her throat, she nods again. "I believe you,"

"It's going to be okay. We're going to be okay."

She nods as he pulls her into his chest, and wraps her arms around him as her shoulders shake with soft sobs. Peacefully, he soothes her and rests his head atop hers, wishing he could take every bit of hurt from her heart and see her smile once more.

And he knows that just because it's not an easy feat, it's not impossible, and he's going to fulfill his promise to her.

"Why don't you go get in the shower, yeah? I'll join you in a few minutes, and maybe we'll go on a date later. Just dinner, or something simple."

Athena pulls back, looking up at him. "A date?"

"Yeah," He smiles, kissing her cheek. "Am I allowed to take my girlfriend on a date?"

She rolls her eyes, a hint of her usual sarcasm shining in her glassy eyes. "I guess so,"

Shaking his head, Stefan holds her hand as she slides off the bed onto her feet. "Go on, I'll be there in a minute,"

Athena turns and stalks off into his bathroom, and he waits for the shower to turn on before reaching for his phone. His knee bounces as he glances between the bathroom and holds the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Bonnie, hey. I have a question,"

"What's up?"

Stefan sighs, running his free hand through his hair. "Can you get rid of compulsion on a vampire? Like, if I was compelled by an Original, could you get rid of it like you can with humans?"

There's a slight pause from the witch before she comes back. "Did something happen with Elijah? I thought we were cool with him,"

"No, no, it wasn't Elijah. It's a long story, and I promise I'll explain everything, but I need to know if you can do it."

She sighs, and he imagines her shrugging slightly. "I'm not sure, but it can't hurt to try, right?"

Hope sparks in his chest despite the chance it won't work, and Stefan sighs in relief. "Athena and I are going out tonight, but after that can I come over? The full moon is in a week, and I can't risk this going on with Klaus showing his face soon."

"Of course. I can't promise anything, but I'll do as much as I can.'

"Thank you, Bonnie, you're a lifesaver,"

The young witch chuckles slightly. "I'm a humble hero, Stefan. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"See you later," He hangs up, dropping his phone on the bed next to him right as Athena calls for him.

"Stefan! I'm naked and covered in bubbles, what could be more important right now?"

He stands, laughing as he pulls his shirt over his head, dropping it carelessly on the floor, leaving a trail of his clothes into the bathroom. "Nothing is more important, Athena. I promise,"

──────

"Where did you get that?"

Athena holds her hand on a weathered page of Jonathan Gilbert's journal, looking up at a hesitant Stefan. "I stole it from Bonnie, who stole it from Elena, who stole it from Jeremy."

Stefan raises a brow in amusement, clearing his throat. "What have you read so far?"

"Basically just Jonathan Gilbert being a bastard, which is no surprise. It seems to run in the family,"

"I, uh," He clears his throat again, and Athena frowns at his apparent unease. "I don't know if you'll want to read much further. Jonathan wasn't very old when he died."

She eyes him up and down, sitting up on the couch completely. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you want me to read this journal?"

Stefan heaves a sigh and sits down across from her, still looking at the journal in his hand. "Jonathan kept a lot of stuff from the founding families, including things about me,"

Athena raises a brow, silently urging him on.

"I didn't know about his ring," Stefan starts, sitting back against the cushioned surface. "I was acting out of anger and sadness, everything was ten times worse because I was a vampire. I just wanted revenge for Katherine, and so did Damon."

Athena sighs, closing the journal in her lap. "He talks about you like you were a monster,"

Stefan looks at her, his eyes slightly wide. "I was,"

"No, you were grieving. Sure, in most cases, people don't turn to murder, but you were just turned into a vampire and you didn't have someone to teach you to control things. I mean, look at how you taught Caroline. Can you say you would've acted like you did back then if you had someone to help you?"

Stefan doesn't say anything for a moment before he shakes his head slightly and gestures to the journal in her lap. "If you're going to know the truth, I'd rather you hear it from me,"

Athena sighs softly, a hint of defeat glimmering in her eyes before she smiles at him and nods. "Of course," She leans forward and sets the journal down on the coffee table, pointedly tying it shut again. "Tell me what happened."

"In the weeks after I became a vampire, I relished in it. I took it to the darkest place I could,"

He tells her of his murderous soirees, of how Damon reacted when he found his brother neck-deep in some random woman with promises of the founding families' deaths, or impending doom.

It doesn't shock her if anything. She sits back and keeps a passive look on her face, scared of Stefan seeing something that would make him revert to the quiet, brooding man she'd met all those months ago.

"I was terrified," Stefan shook his head, recalling the fear that had flooded him at the thought of Damon leaving. "The moment he said he was done with me, and that he was leaving town, I panicked. I wasn't myself, I was full of guilt for what I did to my father, and what I'd done to Damon."

Stefan meets her dark eyes, his shimmering at the hazy, haunting memories of his past. "I had no other means of survival without Damon, so I turned it off. It was the only way I could've handled it all."

She sees the similarities now, especially with him drinking human blood again. When she found out he was going overboard, he panicked, promised her anything to stay, and forgave him. He was so different, yet still so similar.

Athena thinks of her father telling her that he prolonged her birth for centuries because of when Stefan was a human back in 1864, and she briefly ponders what it would've been like to be in Mystic Falls during that time. She wonders if she would've fallen in love with Stefan when he was a human and saved him from Katherine's poisoning touch.

Fear fills her at the thought of Stefan being human, and she silently questions if this is what he felt with her before she grew into her powers. Perhaps he still feels like she could be taken from him at any second, it would explain a lot of his behavior.

"With no humanity, I was driven by the hunt for blood. Hunt, prey, kill. It was all I knew."

Athena hums, tracing a circle on her bare knee where it was crossed on her lap on the couch. "Were you ever caught by a human?"

Stefan raises his brows slightly, before shaking his head. "There was a war going on. The thing about wartime," He huffs, visibly recalling it. "Endless, anonymous blood supply. I fed on the wounded, dying soldiers, and no one suspected a thing. I hadn't been caught until,"

Athena raises a brow, leaning forward. "Until what?"

"Until Lexi," He smirks slightly at her shocked look. "Or Alexia Branson, as she was known back then."

"No way," Athena sits up, a smile growing on her face. "Lexi really has spent a hundred years saving your ass, huh?"

"I wouldn't put it like that," Stefan rolls his eyes, wondering what Lexi could've possibly said to Athena to make her say that. "She'd heard that Mystic Falls was a good place for vampires. She had no idea they'd all been massacred. She needed a place to crash, so I brought her home with me."

Stefan sighed, falling back into a somber mode. "When she'd seen what I'd done, all the people I'd killed and not even bothered to bury, she called me a ripper. It was the first I'd heard of it, but,"

He shrugs, and Athena stands, walking over to the couch he was sitting on and plopping herself down beside him. She took his hand in hers, smiling supportively as he struggled through his story. "She helped me. I couldn't have survived this long if she hadn't helped me."

Athena smiles, thinking of the blonde. "She is pretty great. I don't know what I would've done if Damon had killed her that night,"

Stefan shakes his head, thinking of how far they'd come from that night. He recalls Athena, in her silky dress and her tan legs wrapped around his waist. A smile grows on his face when he thinks of how utterly infatuated he'd been with her that night, and when they almost kissed on the bench, he thought his heart would stop all over again.

It amazed him that he still felt that way with her. She made his heart rush, she could make him blush in a way no one else could, and laugh harder than he ever had. She loved him so openly, and freely, it almost terrified him, but he only wanted more. He'd take anything she gave him, even if it wasn't much right now.

"Stefan," She sighed, making him bring his attention back to the present. "I won't ever be able to understand what you went through and what you struggle with, but I'll do my best to help you, okay? I– I know how much guilt you carry with you, and I just want you to know that I'll never be angry at you for those things. You're a vampire, and like Lexi said, there are good parts and bad parts– I just– I love it all. I love you."

Stefan looks at her in disbelief, yet he's not surprised at all. "I love you, too. Forever."

She smiles, lifting their intertwined hands to kiss the back of his. "Forever,"

Sighing, Stefan's eyes flicker to the journal. "Is that the only one you got from Bonnie?"

Athena drops their hands, reaching for the journal. "No, I got a few more, but I haven't read them, just skimmed them briefly. Here's another one," She twists, reaching for another leather-bound journal off the side table beside the couch.

She splits it down the middle, opening it to a random page that she skims momentarily. Her eyes widen and she slaps Stefan's arm, making him look at her confusedly. "What is it?"

"Jonathan Gilbert knew about the Originals, he researched them,"

"What?"

"Look," She turned to show him, her finger pointing out the countless scribbles and small notes about the Original vampires. "He could never seem to find any truth in what he'd heard, but there's so much information about them. We should ask Elijah if any of it's true,"

Stefan sighed, his eyes running over the page. "Wait, what does that say?"

"What? Oh," She follows his line of sight, where his finger points to a passage surrounded by a messy drawing of a familiar-looking dagger. "'The wood from one tree, and one tree alone, an ancient white oak would bring death to an Original vampire. When the tree burned, all hope was thought lost,'"

"Elijah already told us that," Stefan frowns, looking at the depiction of the dagger. 'Does it say anything about the dagger?"

Athena continues reading, her frown deepening. "'But the ash from the tree was saved and witches forged a dagger to which the ash could be bonded. This alchemic bond provides the necessary poison.'"

Her eyes skim further down and they widen frightfully, and she glances at Stefan, who's watching worriedly. "'It must be brandished by humans alone, for it will bring death to all demons who wield it.'"

Stefan grabbed the journal, re-reading the sentence she'd just announced. "Vampires can't use the dagger, which means we can't dagger Finn and get rid of my compulsion."

Athena looks at him with wide eyes as he stands, throwing the journal harshly onto the coffee table as his frustration seeps over rapidly. "Stefan," She stands, reaching for him as he angrily paces. "Stefan, there's plenty of us that could dagger Finn."

"The only non-vampires are you and Bonnie, and Bonnie isn't strong enough yet to take down an Original, it'll kill her," He grits his teeth, looking at her. "And who knows what it could do to you? Just because you're not a vampire doesn't mean it won't hurt you. I can't let you do that on your own, Athena. I can't,"

"Stefan, we don't have a choice," She pulls his arm, making him stop and face her. "I can do it. I can dagger Finn, I promise."

"Athena,"

"Do you trust me?" She raises a brow at him expectantly. "Do you trust me, Stefan?"

He sighs, nodding his head. "Yes,"

She grabs his hand, looking up at him. "Then let me save your life. I promise that I'll be fine."

Stefan sighs and uses their entangled hands to pull her to him in a bone-crushing hug she easily returns. He rests his chin atop her head, placing a brief kiss on it as he attempts to ease his fears. "If there's any other way to kill Finn, we're doing it,"

"Whatever you say, Stefan,"

──────

"Well, he's dead, right?" Damon frowns, looking at Bonnie and Caroline. "Elijah killed Jonas for trying to kill you all at the Grill."

"Yes, he's dead," Bonnie sighs. "But I think he's trying to contact me from the other side."

Damon huffs a laugh, pouring a drink. "Do we live in a Paranormal Activity movie?"

"Damon," Caroline rolls her eyes, nudging Bonnie supportively. "Tell him what you told me."

Bonnie sighs, wringing her hands together. "He gave me a grimoire a while back before everything happened, and I woke up last night to the pages being flipped around like it was windy or something."

"So, you left a window open. It happens," He shrugs, but Bonnie steps forward, forgoing her hesitance.

"When the grimoire settled, it was on a page about Originals. Specifically, a spell for a weapon that can hurt Originals."

Damon stops his actions, looking down at Bonnie suspiciously. "What weapon?"

"The dagger," Bonnie answers, watching his eyes widen. "It was the spell that created the dagger John gave you to use on Elijah."

Damon's interest disappears before her eyes and she watches as he comes around the edge of the counter, standing before her. "Look, you had a witchy moment and it was weird, but we've got bigger things to focus on right now. Like how much progress you're making on getting rid of Stefan's compulsion."

Bonnie sighs. "It's hard to undo compulsion when I don't know the extent of it. It could be useless to even try if Finn is coming here any time soon,"

Damon grits his teeth and goes to step past Bonnie, but the witch reaches out for him, her fingers wrapping around his forearm. "Damon, please,"

He stops, looking down at where she is touching him before meeting her brown eyes.

"I wouldn't have come to you if it wasn't serious. Just listen to me, please,"

"Fine,"

"The spell explained how to make a dagger and to use the ash from the white oak tree that they burned, but there's something else. If the dagger isn't used by a human, it will kill the person using it. It's made specifically for humans to kill Originals with."

Damon's eyes widen and he recalls John Gilbert's smiling face as he handed the dagger off willingly to Damon. The vampire grits his teeth, looking at Bonnie and Caroline in disbelief. "John Gilbert wanted me to use the dagger on Elijah so that it would kill me,"

The two girls nod, and Damon curses under his breath. "I'm going to kill him,"

He shifts, turning away from Bonnie, who quickly stops him again by tightening her grip on his arm. "Wait!"

"What now?" He looks down at her, narrowing his eyes.

Bonnie peers up at him, eyes wide and hopeful, yet always glimmering with a hint of fear. Even though she was a witch, she was still so frighteningly human. "Let me help you,"

Damon's eyes widen at her prospect, and he glances at Caroline who nods shortly, confirming Bonnie's words. Clearing his throat, Damon nods at the two girls. "Someone needs to tell Elijah that John Gilbert is trying to kill all of us."

"I can tell Elijah," Caroline holds her hand up, already pulling her phone out.

"What about Athena and Stefan? And Lexi,"

Damon rolls his eyes but nods at the witch. "You call Athena, I'll deal with Lexi,"

"How are you going to do that? I thought Lexi didn't like you,"

"She doesn't," Damon smiles slightly. "But I'm hoping to bury the hatchet for the sake of our lives."

──────

author's note; do y'all ever have gut feelings about a person and always end up being right?? like do you ever just have a bad feeling about someone from the start, and despite everyone else being fine, you don't like them and then it turns out you were right all along lmao,, cause I do it a lot and I honestly hate it. I hate feeling like that bc I feel like I'm just being a bitch or something.  (the inherent experience of being autistic with pattern recognition - liz from the future)

originally published; 2.8.21. 

edited: 12.4.23.

- liz