Closed | Please don't leave me...

[otrazhenie]

Who: Elena & Salvatore Fam CR
Where: Salvatore House
When: Saturday, June 3 - Tuesday, June 6
What: Elena is not doing very well following the departure of Damon, Stefan, and Katherine.
Warnings: Talk of death, blood, and other unpleasant things likely.
Note: Brackets or prose, I'll match your format.

[Closed to Salvatore Family CR]

The first day they didn't come home, she worried. It's what Elena does, she worries about the people she loves. If it had just been one of them, or even two, then she would have worried less, because more likely than not they were probably out investigating and had gotten caught up in whatever it was they were looking into. Maybe they were testing the wall, maybe the tracker Stefan had removed, who knew. But it was all three of them.

Damon. Stefan. Katherine. They didn't come home, and they didn't answer their cell phones. They weren't at the garage, or the school, or any of the businesses on Main Street.

So she started looking. Elena drove through town, checking every street there was for some sign of her family. She asked strangers on the street if they had seen any of them around, no she was sure everything was fine, she just needed to get hold of them and their phones had probably died. It was an effort not to alarm people, to keep up the friendly facade of not being terrified of what this place had done to them now. And when she didn't find any answers, she started making phonecalls.

Nyx. Emma. Percy. Magnus and Alec and Izzy. Anyone they'd called friend or family. "Have you seen Damon? Stefan? Katherine?" The entire weekend she spent looking for them. Finally, on Monday she started walking the woods, going as far as she could for as long as she could. She knew the signs of freshly dug graves, but she didn't know whether to be grateful or distressed that she didn't find any.

On Tuesday she faced the facts. They were gone. Damon, the love of her life who she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with. Stefan, the person who knew her best in the world. And Katherine, a woman she both hated and loved because of this cursed town. Gone.

She only makes two calls that day. One to Nyx, and the other to Caroline. Both after she's screamed and cried and bloodied the kitchen in the house that had started to feel almost like a home, if only because of the people who had been in it. "They're gone," she tells them both. "Damon, Stefan, and Katherine. They're gone, and I don't think they're coming back." And then she ends the call because she has to cry again, she can't do this again, she can't lose her family. But she has and there's nothing she can do about it except grieve.

It's what Elena Gilbert does best, isn't it? Grieve for loved ones lost.

Comments

Closed | Please come back to me...

[otrazhenie]

[ They're gone. Those words, that horrible fact, echoes through her mind as another day dawns where her family doesn't come home. Another sleepless night on the couch, hoping to find them walking through the door like nothing is wrong, and she finally faces reality. They're gone and they're not coming back.

And they're not just gone. They've been taken from her. There's absolutely no doubt in Elena's mind that Damon would have left her willingly, and Stefan would never have left her behind. Even Katherine, with the strange relationship they've had in the town at odds with their past, wouldn't have just left her there, she believes that. They've all been taken and if they haven't returned by now--

No. They're not dead. They can't be dead, she can't have lost even more of her family. She can't have lost Damon, not when they haven't gotten to have even a glimpse of that perfect human life together. But-- what if they are?

There's a knife in her hand before she knows it, the need to do something overruling any sense of self-preservation. She carves into her own leg, blood trickling down her bare leg as she pries out the tracker, red smearing along her shorts as she stands with the knife in one hand and the tiny object in the other. Facing the camera she knows is in the kitchen, she limps toward it, trailing blood across the floor. ]

Is this what you want? For us to act out, to break your stupid rules? We played your game! [ She screams it at the camera and throws the tracker at it, hearing the sound of it hitting something but her human eyes not following where it lands. ] Well, I'm done. I'm done.

[ She grabs at the posted list of those rules, just hanging there on the wall in a simple frame like some sort of prized possession. It's thrown to the floor, glass shattering and landing in the streaks of red. ] Give them back or I'll break every one of those rules, I swear.

[ But there's no response. No immediate ringing of the phone, no knocking at the door in the minutes that drag on. Why should they respond to her? She's just a human girl, with no way of causing any real damage, not like the vampires they'd taken from her. So she slumps to the floor, the knife sliding from her hand, and she cries. Bitter, broken sobs as her world ends again. And between those sobs she begs the people behind this for just one thing. ]

Please give them back to me. Please.

[ And when the tears end, she makes those calls. To Nyx. To Caroline. To tell them. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx didn't sit on his ass when Elena first called to ask if he'd seen them. He spent the weekend looking, likely covering much of the same ground she did. Refusing to believe they'd disappeared. Just like Rachel did.

Elena's second call, however, had him dropping everything. He'd have just jumped the fence and crossed through his neighbors yards if it hadn't been for Crowe. He doesn't bother knocking when he arrives, just lets himself in and calls out for his sister; panic a heavy weight in his chest. A whole family, just gone. It wasn't as brutal as his other losses, but almost worse. Without even the chance to do something it's like he's less than helpless. Even Crowe had at least left a body behind to mourn.]

Elena!

[otrazhenie]

[ Everyone had gone looking, it seems, but no one found a trace of them. Her family who was stolen from her. Hours of walking the town, asking so much people, and still-- Nothing.

Elena doesn't expect anyone to arrive, least of all Nyx. She should have, she realizes, because of course he's come. He's her brother. He's not, but he is, and as much as she wishes Jeremy were, she's glad that she still has someone. Even if she'd rather he not see her like this. ]

I'm-- [ in here. The words break and are lost as her throat tightens on another sob. ]

[sirnyxalot]

[He follows the sound of her voice to the kitchen and has to stop short at the sight of blood streaking. He follows it until he sees her, and he has to grit his teeth to hide how much it hurts and worries him.]

Elena, what did you do?

[Nothing less than what he would have done, he's sure. He grabs a hand towel to press against the wound on her leg and kneels next to her.]

[otrazhenie]

I just wanted them to take me too. [ Her breath hitches and she shakes her head, anger and pain and grief swirling around inside her and making everything so overwhelming. She should be used to this by now, but she's not, and she probably never will be. ]

I can't do this.

[sirnyxalot]

[Nyx lets out a shuddering breath, casting softly to cool the towel.]

I don't want them to take you.

[It's soft. A selfish need to cling to what little he can hold on to. It's not about him, but... he can't lose her too.]

You don't have to do it alone, you know.

[otrazhenie]

[ But that's how grief works. It doesn't matter how many others are around you, if they're feeling the loss of the same people, grief is different for everyone and you can only face those emotions alone. Having someone to hold her hand will help give her strength, but in the end she's the only one who will be able to make herself get out of bed to face each morning.

How is she supposed to do it without them, though? Without-- She leans closer to Nyx, wordlessly asking for comfort because: ] I can't lose him again.

[sirnyxalot]

[He wraps his free arm around her, glancing around to take in the full scale of the damage. It looks worse than it probably is, but then most pain isn't visible.]

Stefan?

[That's what his memories say, anyway, but just because it's real here doesn't make it true.]

[allfornothing]

When Elena's distressed call comes on Sunday, and Crowe can hear the distress in her voice, even though she's trying to tone it down, Crowe has to bite down a question. Who? Because for the first moment, those names mean nothing. She doesn't remember anything about them. (But she knows that is not the right answer to Elena's question, and she swallows it down.) Her answer is 'no' and Elena barely has the patience to wait for Crowe's 'are you okay?' before moving on to the next person to ask.

A moment or five after she hangs up, she remembers. Not who they are, no, but she remembers remembering them. Katherine as Nyx and Elena's sister. Elena and Stefan's wedding. Damon... only very vaguely. But remembering that she used to remember is far more terrifying than anything, especially right now.

She spends Sunday night and most of Monday furious, and also a little clingy with Raven, when she can be. That gut wound needs proper treatment and time for healing, and Crowe remembers just all of the things that means, though her own was higher up on the body.

But then Tuesday brings a call to Nyx, and Crowe is there for that, and she gives Nyx a ride on his bike, but she lets him in to talk to Elena first. Because he is her brother, of sorts, and his being there means more.

Eventually, she makes her way to the front door, too.

Knocks.