six no normal

✧

LUX HAD NEVER BEEN A PRINCESS OF MYSTIC FALLS. She knew she was pretty – that was clear from the time that Luke Crawford (captain of the football game) asked her out in middle school, or when Tyler Lockwood took her to the Christmas Dance their freshman year. The spitting image of her mother, Lux Morgan had long dirty blonde hair, doe eyes, and soft features that made her right for a beauty pageant queen.

         But, compared to the likes of her friends, or to Priscilla Humphries, she looked average. Just another blonde southern girl who had enough pretty privilege to get by, but not enough to steal the show. Caroline and Elena always stole the show. Elena was a natural beauty, the sweet and innocent kind that captivated audiences – an underdog, almost. And Caroline was a star; she excelled in the limelight, knew how to do her makeup glamorous and buy the best showstopping clothes.

         Caroline Forbes for a beauty queen winner, Lux Morgan looked too rebellious in the end. More plain, less glamorous, and too much like she had something haunting her eyes. And not the beautiful, attractive tragedy, but the one that warned others to stay away, screaming this girl has mommy issues that fucked her up forever.

         Sitting in front of her vanity, wiping away her makeup, she never felt so much like a leftover. A second glance, a second choice, pretty enough but never alluring. Maybe that's why she wanted Damon so badly; someone who chose her, who took her in and showed her the world over any other girl in Mystic Falls. He wasn't spending his nights with Elena, wasn't hanging off the arm of Caroline; he was with her, Lux Morgan.

         But no – he wasn't. He had Caroline wrapped around his finger, using her like a blood bag and compelling her. Damon was disgusting, and those feelings of admiration and lust turned to shame and hatred in her gut. Damon Salvatore was not the protective older brother, not the good guy, but the devil in disguise.

         God, of course she fell for it again.

         Her phone buzzed. She frowned, reading the message, doing as it said until she went to her front porch, and Stefan was standing there. He wasn't in his tux anymore – a simple tee and jeans, effortless, while she was still in her emerald dress from the Founder's Day Ball.

         "What are you doing here?" she asked, crossing her arms, "And how did you know where I lived?"

         "I went through Damon's memories," he answered, leaning against the column. "Look, Lux, I just – I wanted to let you know that Damon's not gonna be able to hurt anyone else for a long time."

         She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

         "I got him locked up and on vervain. He's too weak to get out, and no one'll let him escape. I'll make sure of it," he assured.

         "Thanks," she managed, feeling uncomfortable. She was grateful that Stefan managed to do something about Damon, because that monster didn't deserve to go out walking after what he did, but Stefan coming here... "Why are you telling me this?"

         He shrugged. "I thought you deserved to know," pause, "Going through his memories...I saw how close you two were."

         Unable to help herself, she snorted. "Yeah, close. More like he used me, the same way he used Caroline. I was such an idiot."

         "You aren't an idiot."

         "Yeah, I am. I fell for everything he said just because he was the first vampire I met. I – I hated you because of what he told me, I refused to be nice to you or let you explain, because I already decided that you had to be a bad person because he said so," Lux ranted before sighing, "I am sorry, by the way, for how I treated you."

         "It's okay," he accepted, "I understand."

         "But it wasn't right."

         "You don't hate me anymore, do you?" he asked.

         She shook her head. "No."

         "Then there's nothing to apologize for. You were in a vulnerable state, and Damon took advantage of that. It's not your fault, so don't blame yourself. If anything, I should've done something sooner," Stefan comforted her.

         She looked out at the street. All the houses she knew from memory, having lived here her entire life. "I just hope Caroline's okay. I mean, who does that? Use someone as their human blood bag? It's disgusting," she grimaced.

         On the grounds of morality, Lux knew she didn't have a leg to stand on. Like Stefan and Damon, she had killed her fair share of people, but she didn't string them along. She didn't keep them alive to use them again; she took and she killed, and that was that. Killing used to be the unforgivable sin in her book, and now look at her: seventeen the dancing queen with multiple deaths on her hand.

         Even though she knew how to control herself now, knew she didn't have to drain her victims entirely, she had a feeling that her tally was only going to go up. She had an eternity before her, being she could get through it without killing someone else was naïve. Wishful thinking of a child, and unfortunately, she didn't have the luxury of being a child anymore.

         "I'll check up on her on Monday," Stefan told her. She nodded, determined to look out for her friend as well, but still – it didn't seem like it would be enough anymore. Not after what Damon had done.

✧

         CAROLINE, DRESSED IN sweats, laid in her bed, looking like she had just woken up but still having a glow about her. That beauty queen shine poured through, but all Lux could feel was sympathy. Sympathy and guilt. If she had noticed the signs, rather than living in her own problems, she would've noticed and she could've done something sooner.

         "I remember the party," Caroline recounted to her and Bonnie, "Damon came up behind me, and he was kissing my neck, or biting my neck. I passed out. It's like there's holes in my memory lately. It's just weird. Maybe I let him bite me."

         More guilt poured into her stomach. Gaps in her memory – obvious compulsion. Damon telling her to forget, Stefan covering Damon's tracks. And this was what she was doing to people; she was compelling them, drinking from them, and then erasing the memory. And it wasn't for the same reasons, and she wasn't doing it repeatedly, but that differentiation didn't make her feel any better.

         "It's not your fault," Lux was quick to tell her. She never wanted Caroline to blame herself, or feel like her allowing Damon to do something justified his actions. She was the victim, Damon the monster – the only one who did wrong. "Whatever Damon did – bite you, hurt you – that's on him. It's not on you, at all."

         Caroline managed a smile. "Thanks, Lux," her smile turned to a frown, "I'm sorry for what I said last night. I – that was out of pocket. You're not second, or unworthy, you're great. If I had a choice between you or any guy in town, I'd choose you in a heartbeat."

         Her throat constricted slightly as tears leapt to her eyes. God, Caroline was just the best at apologies, but she always had been. "Thanks, Care," she got out, trying not to show how much it meant, but damn, did it mean a lot. "I'd choose you over any guy too. You too, Bonnie."

         "Wow, thanks. Almost forgotten by my best friends," Bonnie sarcastically replied.

         Caroline hit her lightly. "Oh, shut up. You know we love you and we couldn't do anything without you."

         Lux laughed, squeezing Bonnie and Caroline into a hug.

         "But let's just forget about Damon, okay? I just want to go back to normal," Caroline declared.

         "Agreed," Lux chimed.

         Things were never going to be normal, not for her. Her life officially stopped being normal during summer when she woke up craving blood. But, Caroline was still human. She was still aging and growing, still could live a human life, and live a wonderful one at that. Caroline had the chance to go to college, get married, have kids, grow old. She could have the human experience Lux never could.

         Because Lux was destined to never grow old. She knew how it would play out; she would go to college, Timothy would see her graduate, and somewhere between getting her first big girl job and looking for someone to marry and spend her life with, an accident would happen and Lux Morgan would die. There would be a small funeral, an empty casket would be buried in Mystic Falls Cemetery, and she would keep going like she wasn't leaving Timothy behind and alone.

         It would be hard, but it would be necessary. No one stayed young, not forever. No amount of lying about cosmetic surgery would be enough for everyone to believe that Lux Morgan was aging, so she would just have to die. There was no other option for her.

         Caroline wouldn't have to say goodbye to her family, wouldn't have to fake her death and move away, because Caroline was human – and wasn't that just the dream? Caroline could go back to normal, so that's the way it was going to be.

         And she agreed; she didn't want to think about Damon either.

         Bonnie looked around, picking up a necklace from Caroline's bedside table. "What's this?"

         "Damon gave it to me. Or, he was going to give it to me. All I know is, it's mine now," she shrugged.

         Bonnie twirled it around in her fingers. "It's ugly."

         "Well, get your grubby hands off it," Caroline joked, yanking the chain and putting it back where it was. Lux frowned. Odd.

✧

         LUX LEANED AGAINST the lockers, staring down the hallway as she walked Caroline hand out flyers. Elena and Bonnie caught her gaze, all staring at the blonde with varying degrees of concern.

         "The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who could pull off the bikini. I want, in your face, sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for god's sake."

         "Unbelievable," Elena scoffed, "It's like nothing happened."

         "She's in denial," Bonnie added.

         "Well, something traumatic did just happen to her," Lux spoke in defense of their friend, "Cut her some snack. You know, maybe it's best that she's just going back to normal. It's better than her having a full-on meltdown."

         "Maybe," Elena muttered.

         Stefan came up behind them, intently looking at Elena as he greeted her. "Hey."

         Lux traded a look with Bonnie. "Hey. You know, we gotta go. Gotta study before history," Lux let herself be tugged away with Bonnie, focusing her ears on her classmates rather than Elena and Stefan.

         "You're gonna be in the carwash, right?" Bonnie asked.

         "Cheerleaders and football only," Lux rolled her eyes, "I'm not in either."

         "You used to be," Bonnie pointed out.

         Lux clenched her jaw. Just another reminder of what human her did versus vampire her. Lux the human did cheer without complaint because that's what her friends did. Lux the vampire was too busy moping all summer to go to cheer camp, and less than willing to participate in the activity now that school was back in session. In a lot of ways, she wanted to be human. In others, she couldn't bear pretending.

         Even as a human, she didn't love cheer. She did it because Caroline urged her to and because Elena and Bonnie did it. It was a chance for the four of them to hang out more, and if she didn't, she would be the odd man out; the excluded, and she didn't want to be excluded when the other three did something together. So, she sucked it up every year, put her hair in a bow, and got out her pom-poms. Now, cheer was a reminder of her humanity, and too painful to touch.

         There were only so many ways she could pretend to be human.

         "But not anymore," Lux reminded her.

         "Come on, you have to," Bonnie urged.

         Lux rolled her eyes, playfully scoffing. "It's not a big deal if I don't, and it's not an even bigger deal because I am. Caroline already bugged me until I agreed."

         Bonnie hit her. "Why didn't you lead with that?"

         "It was more fun to tease you," Lux laughed, "Of course I'm doing the carwash. It should be fun. More fun than sitting at home anyway."

         "High praise. Don't let Caroline hear you," Bonnie teasingly warned.

         "My lips are sealed around her," Lux swore, winking Bonnie's way. Bonnie laughed, her joining in.

         The next day, when the fateful car wash arrived, Lux wore her sexiest bikini top and smallest shorts. The other girls wore the same, bending over cars to wave them and showing their cleavage, really putting the 'sexy' in the sexy suds car wash.

         She stayed with Caroline at the beginning. Registering people, taking their money, managing all the guys and girls, supporting her friend. Bonnie was busy washing with Matt, Elena and Stefan got together, finally undressing to an appropriate amount after Caroline yelled at them. 

         Eventually, Caroline stood up, going to check on everyone. Lux didn't think much about it until a long time passed – too long – and she got up herself, going to Stefan and Elena. "Hey, you guys haven't seen Caroline, have you?"

         "She said she was going to get some more towels," Elena informed her. Lux frowned, thanking them before walking into the school.

         "Caroline?" she called out loudly, looking around. She didn't know where Caroline kept the towels, so it was more of a mad goose chase. "Caroline?"

         There was no response, and she couldn't hear any grumblings from the girl. She continued looking for about ten minutes before going outside again.

         Searching for her friends, she first spotted Stefan, so she went over to him. "Now where's Elena?"

         "She had to go. Left with her Aunt Jenna," he told her, "Did you find Caroline."

         "Obviously not," she muttered, "I just don't know where she went. She was nowhere inside. I can't believe she bailed – it's so unlike her. I mean, she spent so long preparing for this event."

         Crossing her arms, she looked onward at the event, mentally cursing Caroline but also worrying about where she could be. Her frown deepened when she saw Bonnie standing still, locked in a position and staring forward. Her eyes widened when a car by Bonnie caught on fire. Rushing to her with Stefan beside her, she grasped Bonnie and forced her attention away.

         "Bonnie! Bonnie! Hey!"

         Coming back to reality, Bonnie blinked, gaining her bearings. "What just happened?"

         "You were in some kind of trance," Stefan said.

         "Did I do this?" Bonnie indicted towards the fire. Lux looked at it then back to her friend, sucking in a breath.

         "I think so, yeah."

         "Nobody else saw, did they?" Bonnie looked at them, her eyes pleading. They shook their heads. "Don't tell anybody. Please."

         Bonnie pushed passed them. Lux stood, watching Bonnie leave before looking back at the car that used to be on fire. "She did that – but that was like – it was like magic."

         Stefan clenched his jaw, eyes turning downward as he looked at her. "There's more than vampires in this world."

         "Witches," she concluded, "You're saying that Bonnie is a witch?"

         "The Bennett's are powerful witches. Bonnie seems like she's just now growing into her magic," Stefan whispered.

         She sighed, wiping the hair out of her face. Of course. Her friends couldn't just be normal, could they? If Bonnie was a witch, that meant she was trapped in this supernatural game with Lux, and that was the last thing she wanted. Really, she wouldn't wish the supernatural on her worst enemy.

         But with more supernatural creatures in Mystic Falls, the less normal it would be. Her and Stefan being out was bad enough – she was bad enough – and Damon had been a terror. But Bonnie? A witch? She wasn't ready for what would be coming next, or what it would mean for her friends.

authors note shorter chapter because honestly there wasn't a lot of scenes for lux to appear in, but that's alright. also yes i did change her faceclaim from jenny to kathryn just because i think that kathryn suits lux more and bc she looks younger and i want to emphasize the 17-year-old lux