19

—19.The Last Day

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

"Tonight is the full moon. We should assume that Klaus is prepared to break the curse." Elijah informed the group.

Aurora didn't know what to think, Klaus was here and everyone is planning to kill him -did she want him dead? She probably should, right? Is it bad that she knew deep down, inside her guarded heart, she still loved him?

Because love like that doesn't just disappear, even after decades of being apart.

"Elena said that the Sun and the Moon curse is fake? That it's actually just a curse placed on Klaus." Stefan questioned, his arms crossed as he gazed intently on the noble original.

"Klaus is a vampire born of a werewolf bloodline. The curse has kept his werewolf aspect from manifesting. But if he breaks it...He'll be a true hybrid."

Damon entered the room, his arrogance was booming off of him. "Then why are we letting him break the curse? We can kill him today. With Bonnie."

"Damon..." Aurora complained, obviously none of them were willing to end the witches life.

"No. Bonnie can't use that much power without dying."

Damon shrugged, "I'll write her a great eulogy." He smirked.

"It's not an option, Damon." Elena said firmly, shaking her head at the raven haired man.

"All right, how do we break this curse?" Stefan asked, redirecting the conversation.

"Well, the ritual itself is relatively straightforward. The ingredients, so to speak, you already know."

"The moonstone."

"A witch will channel the power of the full moon to release the spell that's bound within the stone. After that, Klaus, being both werewolf and vampire, will sacrifice one of each."

"And where do I fit into it?" Elena asked.

"The final part of the ritual." Elijah took a wooden box from the shelf. "Klaus must drink the blood of the doppelgänger...to the point of your death."

Damon looks at Elena as Stefan took her hand. Elijah opens the box and took a jar from it. "And that's where you come in."

"This is an elixir that I acquired some 500 years ago for Katerina. It possesses mystical properties of resuscitation."

"So I'll be dead?"

"And then you won't."

"That's your plan? A magical witch potion with no expiration date?" Damon looked at Elena. "You want to come back to life, what about John's ring?"

Aurora shook her head at her brother, "Those rings only work on humans. The doppelgänger's a supernatural occurrence. The ring won't work." She informed, swirling the bourbon in her glass.

"I'll take those odds over your elixir. What if it doesn't work, Elena?"

"Then I guess I'll just be dead."

Damon looked at Stefan with an exasperated expression. Stefan shrugged, it wasn't his choice to make. Damon looked at Elijah, then left.

"Do we know if Klaus has everything he needs to do this? Does he have a werewolf?"

"Klaus has been waiting to break this curse for over a thousand years. If he doesn't already have a werewolf, he probably will by tonight." Aurora muttered, no one but Elijah knew how scared she really was to come face-to-face with Klaus.

——

Everyone left the room, Stefan went to talk Damon into the plan and Elena went to do god knows what -some sort of doppelgänger thing.

Aurora stayed in the parlour room with Elijah, she needed to ask him a question about the whole "killing Klaus plan"

"'Lijah?" Aurora spoke as she sat on the leather couch.

Elijah looked up from the elixir, "Yes, Aurora."

She hesitated, playing with her fingers, "Your plan to kill N- Klaus." She corrected herself, "Why? What did he do that was so bad that you want him dead?"

Elijah moved closer to the Salvatore sister, sitting beside her on the leather couch, "I don't want to upset you, Aurora, but..."

"But? What, Elijah?" Aurora asked, watching his eyes scan the room, avoiding her pleasing expression. "What would upset me?"

"He buried them at sea." Elijah answered with pure anger, clenching his fists and his jaw.

Aurora shook her head -no, no, no he wouldn't, would he? "What do you mean 'he buried them?' Who?" She questioned, but she already knew -she just didn't want to believe it.

Elijah turned his head to her, his eyes swirled with emotions, one's Aurora hasn't seen in decades. "No. Why would he do that? He couldn't have." Aurora shook her head, standing up from the couch -running frustrated fingers through her hair.

"I'm so sorry, Aurora."

She threw her glass to the wall in anger, the glass shattered -pieces of glass falling everywhere. She looked down at the broken pieces, that's how her heart felt.

Kol. Her mind travelled to Kol. Her eyes filled with tears, hee vision clouded. Her knees buckled, causing her to fall to the ground.

She didn't let the tears fall, furiously blinking them away, "Why? Why would he do that?" She questioned, rage coating her voice.

"I don't know." He shook his head -his heart hurting for the pain Aurora is in. "I know how much you cared for them, I'm very sorry."

"He's the only sibling you have left, and you're still willing to kill him?" Aurora asked through the tears -avoiding saying his name.

"What he has done is unforgivable, I must end him." Elijah stated firmly, getting up from the leather couch and moving back to the elixir.

Why did that sentence send a wave of guilt and loss to her heart? she shouldn't care -he killed her best friends, Rebekah and Kol. She would never see them again. Aurora should want Klaus dead, right?

——

Everyone except Damon are gathered in the living room, apparently Klaus gave Alaric his body back -sending him here with a message, "the sacrifice happens tonight."

"So you don't remember anything that happened?" Stefan asked, leaning on his elbows.

"No. It's like I blacked out and woke up three days later. Katherine was there."

"She's under compulsion. Damon snuck her some vervain, but she can't leave until Klaus tells her she can."

Elena looked around the room, "Where is Damon?" She asked.

"Probably sulking in his room." Aurora mumbled -no emotion in her voice. Everyone was wondering what happened to her but decided not to question.

"So what else did I do?"

Suddenly, the vampires in the room heard noises of someone struggling and both Stefan and Aurora immediately jumped to their feet, speeding to Damon's room.

Stefan pushed Damon, causing Elena to fall, but Aurora caught her, setting her gently on the floor, examining her face. She had blood around her mouth. "Are you ok?" She asked, squeezing the girls knee.

Elena only nodded, too weak to speak, "What did you do?! Huh? What did you do?!" Stefan moved toward Elena.

"I saved her life." Damon looked at Elena. "You're so bent on dying, at least this way I know you'll come back."

"As a vampire! She'll come back a vampire!" Stefan shouted at Damon in pure anger.

"It's better than nothing else."

"How could you, of all people, take that choice away from her?" Aurora asked, standing from her spot on the ground beside Elena.

Damon looked at Elena again. "Go ahead: wish me an eternity of misery. Believe me, you'll get over it."

Stefan rushed over to Damon and pushed him. Damon took a wooden stick and pushed Stefan against a wall with it. "Admit it. You just wish you had the balls to do it yourself."

Stefan punched him in the face several times in a row. Damon fell on the floor -blood on his face. He took the wooden stick and drove it through Stefan's abdomen. Aurora rushed over, pushing Damon away, "Stop it!"

Alaric and Jenna arrive in the doorway after hearing all the commotion, "What the hell's going on?"

"Get him out of here!" Elena yelled.

Alaric moved toward Damon but he pushed him, got up and left. Aurora looked down at Stefan, "You good?"

Stefan nodded, "I'm fine." Aurora nodded, moving toward the door, "Where are you going?"

"I don't think it's a very good idea for Damon to be alone right now, who knows what he'll do."

Aurora walked into the parlour, Damon and Elijah seemed to be talking as Damon angrily dipped on his bourbon and Elijah was closing the elixir -not needing it anymore.

"Dames..." Aurora called out, moving closer to him.

Damon rolled his eyes, "Don't start, I don't need you lecturing me too."

"That's the opposite of what I was going to do, come one. We are going to the grill." She nodded toward the door, grabbing one of his arms -which he immediately jerked back. "Jeez, calm down." Aurora raised a hand.

"Fine." He groaned, "I need to get out of here anyway." Damon wrapped an arm around her shoulders, walking with her towards the door, "This is why your my favourite." He whispered.

She scoffed, "I'm your favourite wether or not I was going to do this."

——

Damon and Aurora sit at the bar and ask for a drink. Alaric arrives and sits next to Damon. "I'll have the same."

"I screwed up."

"Yeah. Yeah, you did." Alaric said as Aurora nodded, knocking back a shot of vodka.

"Yeah."

"Gentlemen? Lady? Why so glum?" The voice of all Auroras dreams and nightmares spoke. She froze in her seat, not daring to look in his direction.

She could feel the heat of his body as he stood within close proximity of her, she could feel his eyes on her, admiring her with his blue irises she used to love.

"Ugh. Klaus, I presume." Damon complained, turning his head to look at the original.

"In the flesh." He looks over at Alaric. "Thanks for the loaner, mate."

Aurora took another shot, ignoring the lustful stare that was pinned on the side of her face. Damon got up looking angry, blocking Klaus' view of Aurora, "Any reason you stopped by to say hi?"

"I'm told you and your brother fancy my doppelgänger. Just thought I'd remind you to not do anything you'll regret."

Damon broke into a smile at the irony of the comment. "Ha. Thanks for the advice. I don't suppose I could talk you into a postponement, by any chance, huh?"

"You are kidding?" He looked between Alaric and Aurora, "He is kidding, right?"

"No, not really." Alaric said.

Aurora shook her head, "Nope."

"I mean, come on, what's one month in the whole grand scheme of things?"

Klaus walked closer to Damon, "Let me be clear...I have my vampire. I have my werewolf. I have everything I need. The ritual will happen tonight. So if you want to live to see tomorrow, don't screw it up."

Klaus moved closer to Aurora, whispering in her ear, "I'll see you later, sweetheart." His breath fanned over her ear, tickling the hair on the nape of her neck, causing a shiver to go down her spine -then he left.

"That was fun." Damon said sarcastically, sitting back down in his seat.

"Yeah," Aurora took another shot before getting off of the barstool, "I'll be back. Don't die doing whatever stupid plan you come up with."

"How do you know it's stupid?"

Because your you, Dames." Aurora mentioned, ignoring the offended look he gave her.

Alaric shrugged in agreement, "She's not wrong."

Aurora said her goodbyes, speed walking out of the building, walking down the sidewalk until she saw the head of dirty blonde hair she was looking for.

She looked around, making sure no one was looking before vamp-speeding towards him. But suddenly she is being held against a brick wall in a dark alleyway.

"I knew you would follow me, love." She heard Klaus' voice, she opened her eyes, scanning his face and seeing how close it was to hers.

If she moved forward only an inch, her lips ghosted over his. Her eyes linger on his plump lips for a second before they travelled up to his eyes, "Get off of me." She pushed him away, pushing herself off the wall.

"No kiss? We haven't seen each other in decades, sweetheart and this is how you wish to act." He teased, placing a hand to his heart in fake hurt. But she can see in his eyes that it did hurt him a little that she pushed him away.

Aurora scoffed, "You don't deserve that."

"Are you still upset about the little dagger mishap, because I'm over it." Klaus said, leaning on the opposite wall, his eyes trained on her face.

Aurora narrowed her eyes at his smirk, "Of course I'm still mad, especially since Elijah told me what you did with them, how could you!?" She walked forward as Klaus pushed himself off the wall.

"Love-" Klaus started as he tried to gently grip her wrists, to keep her from pushing his chest.

"No! I can't even look at you! I knew you were cruel enough to dagger them but to throw them in the ocean? I can't believe I ever loved you." Aurora mumbled the last part, stumbling away from the man.

When her back was turned to him, she didn't see the way his jaw clenched or the way his eyes went wide with sadness, but before he could say anything she shook her head and sped away.

Leaving his heart to shatter in a million pieces. Loved— past tense.

WORD COUNT : 2237