❝humanity❞
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"CHARLOTTE, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Elena reached for her sister, dragging her into a relieved hug that Charlotte reluctantly returned. "I've been worried sick,"

Charlotte pulls away from Elena to hug Jeremy, squeezing him tight in a silent apology he easily accepts. "I spent the night at Cory's, but I'll be home tonight. I didn't think you'd be here tonight, Jer,"

He shrugs, darting his eyes away from her to look around at the students gathered at the school. Charlotte narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously, following his frantic gaze. "I wasn't, but, uh, Elena convinced me."

"She did?" Charlotte's lips twisted into a slight frown as she glanced at her sister, her suspicion rising with Jeremy's poorly feigned excuses. Quickly shaking her head, she gave Jeremy a knowing look as she hooked her arm with his. "Right. Of course she did. Come on, Elena, let's go inside."

Jeremy clenched his jaw and she smiled sweetly up at him, a look on her face that meant he'd obviously been caught in his lies.

Nodding slowly, confused, Elena leads her siblings into the school, looking around at the decorations that had transformed the sterile hallways of their school into a flashy haunted house.

Matt approached them, his eyes set firmly on Elena, and Charlotte pulled Jeremy back a bit as the two began talking. She sighed when she saw the irritation in her brother's eyes and fixed the fake glasses sitting on her nose. "She's here, isn't she?"

Jeremy rolled his eyes at her prodding, but he nodded, knowing there was no use in lying to Charlotte. "Look, I'm– I'm just gonna talk to her for a minute and make sure she's okay."

Charlotte heaved a sigh, but stepped out of the way to let him pass by. He sent her a look of gratitude and she quickly yanked him back, a stern look in her eyes. "Promise me if she starts acting weird you'll leave,"

"What? Charlie–"

"Promise me, Jeremy. The second she does something weird, just walk away."

Jeremy's brows furrowed at the pleading tone in her voice and he couldn't help but nod, a new swirl of anxiety suddenly rolling through his stomach at the thought of whatever may have Charlotte so scared. He rolled his shoulders back and tucked his hands in his jacket pockets, stepping past Matt and Elena to walk further into the party.

"Hey, where's he going?"

"To talk to Vicki," Charlotte kept her tone purposefully blasé, giving her sister and Matt a once over. "You guys better not let Caroline see you in last year's costumes, she was on one about Bonnie not dressing up at school earlier."

"Well, if Bonnie didn't dress up, we should be in the clear,"

Charlotte huffed a laugh, giving Matt an incredulous look. "Have you met Caroline? Bonnie is dressed up now."

"Wait, Charlotte, did you say Jeremy was talking to Vicki?" Elena held her hand up, her chest heaving with panic. "She's here?"

"Yeah, you can't miss her," Matt shrugged. "She's a vampire."

Elena's jaw clenched and she glared at Charlotte, stepping past Matt to grab her sister. "I– I have to go find him."

Charlotte pulled her wrist from Elena's hold as they walked away from Matt, pushing through the crowds gathered in the decorated halls. "Elena, stop,"

"Are you crazy, Charlie? She could hurt him. She doesn't have any control!"

"Treating her like a basket case is only going to make it worse, Elena," Charlotte hurried after her sister, her orange and red Velma ensemble swishing with her hurried steps. "Why do you think Jeremy never listens to you, huh? You treat him like you don't trust him!"

"How can I trust him when he constantly does this stuff to me? I feel like I can't even trust you because you're always the one helping him in the first place!"

"Maybe he wouldn't have to go behind your back all the time if you stopped treating him like a junkie."

Elena reared back like Charlotte had slapped her and Charlotte clenched her jaw, refusing to let the remnants of the tears she'd shed last night to Cory show in her eyes. "Jeremy isn't twelve anymore, Elena. He's our little brother, yeah, but he's not little anymore. He's going through just as much as you and me, and you don't realize that not everyone can write in their diary and feel better. It's not that easy for him, or for me."

Charlotte tucked her haphazardly straightened hair behind her ears, having felt odd the whole night because of her lack of curls due to Cory's insistence she commit to being Velma. "I get why you don't trust me, okay? I'm the one that went off the deep end. But you can't blame me for being like this, just like you can't blame Jeremy for the way he is. It's not fair to judge either of us for how we're handling Mom and Dad."

Elena let out a shaky sigh and shook her head, her apology written all over her face. "I don't– I don't blame you, Charlotte. I'm just so scared of losing you. I– I know that you're doing better, and that you're putting it all behind you, but sometimes it's hard to see you and not see,"

Elena trailed off, an obvious memory hitting her as she spoke. A haunted, terrified look reflected in her dark eyes and it made her look terrifyingly young for a moment before she blinked it away. "I'm sorry, Charlie. I am. But if I have to trust you, then I need you to trust me, okay? I can't sleep at night knowing Jeremy is with Vicki, and it's not because of the drugs or anything else. After everything that's happened these past few days with Stefan and Damon, I just,"

"You need to let Stefan handle it." Charlotte's tone changed as she looked over Elena's shoulder, her eyes locked on Stefan as he approached with Vicki in tow. "He and Damon are the only ones that know what they're doing. We need to stay out of it."

She laid a hand on Elena's shoulder as the two vampires approached them and she shot Vicki a small smile that the girl seemed relieved to see. "Nice costume, Vic." She looked at Stefan and Elena, giving her sister a pointed look to heed her words. "I'm going to find Cory. Please, Elena, just, trust me. For once."

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"Your little friend Bonnie has become a pain in my ass,"

Charlotte stiffened as the familiar voice filled her ears and she shot a pleading look up at the sky, wishing that she had the vampiric speed to help her run far away from this situation.

"You know, I didn't take you for a Velma. Seems like a Charlotte thing to do."

Charlotte spun around, shooting him a knowing look. "Wrong twin, right idea,"

His eyes widened briefly as he took her in with a renewed gaze, and his brows twitched on his forehead as he grimaced. "Straight hair isn't a good look for you,"

She hummed, smiling humorlessly as she sipped her non-spiked punch. "I have to agree. What's your problem with Bonnie?"

He rolls his eyes at the reminder, scanning the hoards of humans surrounding him in a variety of supposed scary caricatures. "She has something that belongs to me, and I tried to take it back. To my utter shock, my thing burned me."

"Are you talking about that ugly yellow necklace? Because if not, I think you need to see a doctor about any uncomfortable burning happening."

His eyes sparked with interest and she regretted engaging with him the moment she saw it. He even disregarded her jab in favor of questioning her. "Yeah, I am. How do you know about it?"

"For one, because she tried to pawn it off on me first. After that whole scene in your basement, your compulsion seemed to turn her off from you so she wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. And because I had to hear her complain about it up until she gave it to Bonnie, which only made me hate it more."

He frowned at her surly demeanor, the frown twisted on her lips entirely uncharacteristic of her. "You're just a ray of sunshine tonight, aren't you?"

"Yeah, well, I have you to thank for that. Really it's Stefan's fault," She scoffs, her favor for her sister's boyfriend diminishing by the day. "If he'd just left Elena alone, we wouldn't be in this mess. I wouldn't be fighting with my sister, my brother's life wouldn't be at risk, and you wouldn't be about to ask me something."

She stopped speaking so abruptly it took him a minute to register her pointed gaze. "What do you want?"

Mentally shaking himself from the odd lull he'd fallen into the more she spoke of her current state, his eyes lit up in a manner she presumed was supposed to be charming. It would've worked on her, had she not known what a royal douche he was. "I need that necklace back, and you seem like the perfect person to get it for me."

"What do you need it for?"

He raised a brow, silently shocked at her initial response. "Are you going to get it?"

"It depends on what you need it for,"

"If I tell you, you aren't going to get it for me."

"How about you just tell me and let me decide what I want to do?"

Damon clenches his jaw, seeing a tiny bit of amusement flash in her eyes at the sight of his rising frustration. "I have killed people for talking less, Charlotte. How about you get me the damn necklace and then I'll tell you what it's for? That way I know you're trustworthy."

She scoffed, taking another sip of her punch. "That's bullshit. How about I just guess what it's for, and you tell me when I get it right,"

He rolls his eyes at her confidence, a smirk growing on his face. "If you can't guess it in three tries, you have to get it for me without asking anymore questions."

"Fine,"

"Fine,"

She holds up a finger, counting down. "You like to wear ugly jewelry in your alone time, because it makes you feel pretty."

Damon glared and she laughed to herself. "Fine. Next guess is it's something to do with Stefan,"

"Getting warmer, sunshine. Last guess, let's hear it."

"Well," She narrowed her eyes, suddenly serious as she peered into his eyes long enough to make him finally break away. "If Stefan's somehow involved in it, and you obviously didn't want me to know what it was for because you think I'd run and tell him, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it has something to do with Katherine."

There was a faint, barely noticeable tick in Damon's jaw and Charlotte would've missed it had she not been watching his every move for a reaction. She hummed, eyes lighting up smugly. "So, Katherine. I'm not surprised. What's so special about it, though?"

Huffing petulantly, he glared down at her. "Technically you didn't get it right. All you said was Katherine, so I win. Get the damn amulet for me, or I'll feed your brother to Vicki."

Though Charlotte could hear the taunting tone to his voice, she also knew better than to doubt his threats, so she just sighed in defeat. "I will eventually figure out the real reason, you know that, right?"

"Yeah," He nods, agreeing easily. "But I'm hoping that by the time that happens, you're too late to do anything about it."

"You're an ass, you know that, right?"

"Everyone says that, but I don't see it,"

She scoffs, unmoving as he begins to walk back towards the school. Her stubbornness makes him roll his eyes and he turns around, yanking her in front of him and keeping a firm hand on her back to keep her moving.

"Oh, look at that," Damon pulls his phone out of his pocket, a devious smirk lighting up his face when Stefan's name pops up. "He always comes crawling back."

Charlotte tilts her head at him, a reflective but not harsh look on her face as she regards his glee. "You're a sadist,"

He winks, and she rolls her eyes, turning her gaze away from him as he answers. "What?"

Charlotte doesn't hear whatever it is that Stefan says on the other line, but Damon's face drops almost immediately and she feels that familiar swirl of dread pool in her stomach.

"What? What is it?"

Damon gives her a solemn look that only furthers her rising panic and she swallows roughly. "You need to go home."

"What happened?"

"Charlotte," He turned her around, pushing her towards the parking lot. "Get in your car and go home. Jeremy needs you."

"Tell me what happened, Damon,"

The man clenches his jaw, still pushing her in the direction of her car, and she shoves his hands away, a shake to her voice that comes easily after so many of these moments in her life.

"Stefan can tell you, he's waiting at home with Jeremy. Your family is fine, now go home,"

"I don't want to hear it from Stefan, I wanna hear it from you. What the hell is going on?"

He bites out a sigh, his frustration obvious. "Vicki is dead. She attacked Jeremy, and Stefan had to kill her. She's dead."

Charlotte's jaw falls open and she stutters around an instinctive response before realizing she has nothing to say. Clamping her jaw shut with an audible clack, she pulls her car keys out of the purse she'd been clinging to all night and nods at him. "Okay. I'm going home."

Damon's brows twitch ever so slightly at her sudden composure, but she's walking away from him before he can even question it. He's too worried about moving Vicki's body without anyone seeing to question why he'd even be worried about her in the first place.

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Charlotte's still on her brother's bed when Elena comes rushing up the stairs, and she's careful to only move her head so she doesn't jostle Jeremy's head where it lays on a pillow in her lap.

Elena falters and Charlotte takes in the injury on her shoulder and the blood on her dress and recalls Stefan's warnings about how Vicki had attacked Elena, but she was fine.

She thinks she would be more worried about Elena if she wasn't so concerned with Jeremy's almost catatonic state, spare for the tremble to his body and the tears that steadily tracked down his cheeks.

Elena takes the last few steps into the room and sits on the edge of the bed, reaching for Jeremy. "Do you understand what happened tonight?"

Jeremy takes in a shaky breath, still not lifting his head from Charlotte's lap. "No, I don't understand. I mean, I know what I saw, but– I don't understand."

"She was going to kill me,"

"Elena," Charlotte tenses at her blunt words, giving her a scolding look.

"Now she's dead," Jeremy cries into the fabric of his pillowcase. "Vicki's dead."

Elena clamps her hand on top of Jeremy's on the bed, her face wrought with pity. "I'm so sorry, Jer,"

Jeremy rolls away from her comforts, looking up at Charlotte helplessly. "Why does everybody have to die on me?"

Charlotte inhales sharply and the tears she'd been holding back fall silently on her cheeks. She shakes her head apologetically and wipes her thumb across his damp cheek, allowing for more tears to fall. "I'm sorry, Jeremy. I'm sorry that I can't make this stop."

The siblings sit in their misery for a moment, a sight reminiscent of just months ago when they did the same after their parents died, and again when Charlotte nearly did, too. It's not lost on the eldest Gilbert girl that she is one of the people that almost left Jeremy, and the guilt she feels is as heavy as any other burden she takes on.

"Charlie," Elena croaks, her voice hoarse as she holds back her tears. "Can I talk to you?"

The girl shoots a pointed look at their brother and Charlotte nods, gently lifting Jeremy's head up from her lap and placing him back down on the bed after sliding to her feet. "I'll be right back, Jer,"

He nods, and she can tell he barely heard her, lost in his grief.

Charlotte follows her sister down the stairs and the twins stop in the entryway, unresolved tension sitting between them from the previous night. "Elena?"

"I think we should compel Jeremy."

"What?"

"Look at him, Charlie," Elena whispers sternly, gesturing upstairs towards Jeremy's room and Charlotte's eyes follow the movement wildly. "He's never going to come back from this. I don't want him in this life, and I know you don't either. Wouldn't it just make more sense for him to never know it even happened?"

Charlotte shook her head, looking at her sister incredulously. "You can't just compel his feelings away, Elena. He lost someone he loved tonight, someone that helped him through everything we've been through this year. Why would you want to take that away from him?"

"I know what he's feeling right now, and you do, too. If you had the ability to take all of the pain away, wouldn't you do it?"

Charlotte thinks on it for a moment, but she already knows her answer. If she could take all of her family's pain away, she could. But compelling them wouldn't do it. The only way she could undo all of the pain is by bringing their parents back to life, and she knows that vampires have amazing powers, but they can't save someone that's already dead.

"No," She mutters, shaking her head at Elena's desperate, pleading look. "No, because pain is what makes us human. It's what separates us from people like Stefan and Damon, and Vicki. I don't want Jeremy to be in pain, but if we take the last thing he has from Vicki away from him, he will never forgive us."

"Charlotte–"

"Elena, I love you." Charlotte sighs, exhaustion seeping deep into her bones, making her feel ten pounds heavier. "I'm smart enough to realize when you're not really asking me to do something. You're going to do this, and I can't stop you. But I'm telling you right now, if this comes back to bite you in the ass, I will not defend you."

Elena looks hurt, and Charlotte knows it's deserved, but she has no room to be dishonest anymore when things like this are starting to become normal. Lying only gets you killed, and that's something she's not willing to risk after seeing Jeremy tonight.

"I have to do this for him."

Charlotte nods. "I know. But I won't help you."

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author's note; somehow this chapter is over 3000 words?? and i immediately started writing the next one and it's already at 2200??? i cannot be silenced 

edited and published; 1.25.22.

- liz