11. Things We Lost In The Fire

A delirious Damon stood in the middle of the Mikaelson's living room, looking at the unconscious bodies of Aria, Caroline and Kol in shock.

"No" Damon whispered, his eyes landed on Aria's body, "Ria", Damon quickly rushed towards Aria's body, he bit his wrist and fed Aria his blood, knowing that whenever the tribrid fell unconscious his blood brought her back, "Ria, I am so sorry" Damon whispered, "I promise I'll fix this, I promise my love will stop hurting you, I promise, just wake up".

After a moment, Aria slowly opened her eyes, "Damon" she whispered.

"I didn't know where I was" Damon whispered, feeling extremely guilty for hurting his soulmate, "I didn't know I was out".

"It's okay" Aria whispered, slowly sitting up, tears welling in her eyes seeing Damon's condition, "It's going to be okay".

"No" Damon whispered back, leaning his forehead against Aria, "Nothing is going to be okay Ria, not after this".

Before Aria could say anything else, Caroline came behind Damon and injected him with vervain, causing him to fall next to Aria, unconscious.

"Are you okay?" Caroline asked her sister, who was looking at Damon.

After a moment, Aria finally looked at her sister, "I think I was too late, Care" she whispered, feeling extremely terrified, "I think I might have failed to save Damon from his hell".

***

"I heard you the first twenty times you called me" Kol said, walking into the Mikaelson's basement where Damon was chained up.

"Then where the hell were you?" Damon snapped.

Kol looked at Damon, not knowing how to tell him that he was experiencing post hell hallucinations, "It doesn't matter" he finally said, "Are you calm now?".

"Oh, I'm clam" Damon assured, "And I know what you're gonna say to me, you're gonna say I screwed up so bad, I attacked you, Caroline and Ria, cause I thought I was stuck in that fake hell-world".

"First of all, I would never say things like that, that's more Caroline's thing" Kol said, "Second of all, yes, I am pissed at you for attacking Ria, but only this time, I don't blame you, I don't think Ria does either".

"Huh?" Damon asked confused, he knew how protective Kol was over Aria, so it was a huge surprise to him that Kol hadn't tortured him for hurting Aria, even if it was unintentional.

Kol sighed, "If I hadn't gone through the same thing as you, then I would have probably tortured you a lot, but I get it" he said, "Just this one time, no one is mad at you for hurting Ria, not even Ria herself".

"Wait, you skipped a bunch of stuff" Damon said, "First, I'm supposed to say that I see the error of my ways and then you tell me that that's not good enough as I hurt Ria and then you judge me harder, and then I say something mean but true, it totally throws you off balance--".

"Damon, you thought you were still in that damn stone" Kol interrupted, "We get it, so just relax and stop confusing me with Caroline and Rebekah, they are the judgy ones not me, and trust me, I get it, out of everyone, I get that the hell-stone does a serious number on you".

"Yeah" Damon whispered, remembering his time in the stone, "Yeah, it does, well, I'm here, and it's real, I'm ready for my bro-hug, that would entail you unchaining me Mikaelson".

"Nope" Kol said, confusing Damon, "I will unchain you, but once I know for sure you're not still being effected by that stone, because the truth is, that stone, or hell as well call it, screws with you, but that is nothing compared to post-hell".

"Finally! I've been wondering this whole house but found no one, wait, what the hell are you two doing in the basement, that too alone?!".

Damon and Kol looked towards the basement entrance and saw Kai standing there.

Kol chuckled seeing the siphoner witch, "Look who finally decided to come back from his world tour".

"This is temporary, Aria called me and threatened me that if I don't come to Rebekah's baby shower then she was to hex me, and I didn't want to take that chance, so here I am" Kai said, "Although, in her invination, Aria didn't mention that Mystic Falls had gotten worse since I last saw it".

"What do you mean?" Damon asked, "You were here when we had to evacuate because of the scary heretics".

"Yeah, he's not talking about the evacuation, Damon" Kol said.

"So, what is he talking about?" a confused Damon asked, "I know you didn't manage to screw the whole town up all over again while I was on my weekend trip to limbo".

"You weren't gone for a weekend Damon, you were gone for weeks" Kol informed, "And in those weeks, Julian and his people have taken over Mystic Falls".

"Excuse me?!" a shocked Damon asked.

"You heard me" Kol replied.

"Hey, so is there any cupcakes here?" Kai asked, making Kol and Damon give him a unbelievable look, "What? I'm hungry".

***

Aria and Caroline stood on the border of Mystic Falls, with Aria looking down at her phone.

"Why are you staring at your phone?" Caroline asked her sister, as the sisters stood leaning against Caroline's car.

"It's weird Care, Damon hasn't texted me even once, I texted Kol and after much emotional blackmail, he finally revealed that Damon hasn't even asked about my whereabouts" Aria replied, "I'm getting really worried".

"I think Damon feels guilty for hurting you" Caroline said.

"Yeah but even then, Damon would want to know where I am, and if I'm safe or not" Aria said, "Something doesn't feel right".

"You're overthinking Aria" Caroline said, "Damon has just gotten out of hell, give him a few days and he'll be back to normal in no time".

"I hope so" Aria whispered.

"I know so" Caroline replied, nudging Aria's shoulder.

Aria gave her sister a small smile, but even if she tired to, she couldn't get rid of the pit in her stomach that told her that something bad was about to happen, but what Aria had no idea and that scared the crap out of her.

Aria's chain of thoughts was broken when both her and Caroline heard two cars speeding in their direction.

"Action time" Aria whispered to her sister, who nodded in agreement.

Aria walked in the middle of the road and watched as the two cars speeded towards her, however before they could harm her, Aria used her magic to burst the engines of the two cars causing them to skid and then come to a sudden stop.

After a moment, two vampires came out of the car and started to charge towards Aria but Aria used her magic to give them both an aneurism and Caroline used that opportunity to come behind Julian's vampires and rip their hearts out.

"You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I miss the way Lily controlled her heretics" Caroline said, dropping the hearts of the vampires on to the ground.

"You and me both" Aria said, "Alright, let's go, we have a baby shower to prepare for".

Caroline nodded in agreement and walked to the driver seat of her car, while Aria turned to the dead bodies.

"Incendia" Aria chanted, lighting the dead bodies on fire and then sitting in the passenger seat and letting Caroline drive them away from the crime scene.

***

"Is Damon with you?" Aria asked Kol through the phone, while her and Caroline ran around their common room at Whitmore, preparing for Rebekah's baby shower.

"Yeah, I'm showing him the new Mystic Falls" Kol replied, looking behind him to see an absent minded Damon, pretending he wasn't eavesdropping on his and Aria's conversation.

"Okay, good" Aria said.

"That's not your everything is good voice, it's more your I'm worried voice" Kol realised.

"You said you gave Damon his phone, right?" Aria asked.

"Right" Kol replied.

"Well, I've been calling and texting, but he won't talk to me" Aria said, "And I'm not trying to be clingy, but I'm just worried".

"Don't be worried, Damon's fine" Kol assured, "I'm with him and I'll make sure he calls you",

"No" Aria said, "Don't force him to do anything, just keep me updated, okay?".

"Of course" Kol replied.

"Changing the topic" Aria said, "Are you sure you didn't volunteer yourself to show Damon the new Mystic Falls because you wanted out of the baby good tasting game?".

"Oh my god Ri, you caught me" Kol said sarcastically.

Aria chuckled, "Look, if you and Damon have time, come by okay, your brothers are also going to be here, along with Kai and I think Rebekah might have also convinced Enzo to come as well, it's a nice family gathering and it won't feel right without you and Damon here".

"I'll try my best to make it but even if I don't, I will still get Alaric that baby Bjorn thing you made me buy when I was drunk" Kol teased.

Aria laughed, "Good" she said, "And be safe today Kol, you finally made it back to reality, so stay in one piece okay?".

"I will, now hang up and go organise Beks baby shower, I'll see you soon" Kol said.

"See you soon Kol" Aria said, hanging up on the Original.

Once he got off the phone with Aria, Kol turned to Damon, "Why are you avoiding Ri?" he asked.

"I'm not avoiding anyone" Damon lied, truth was, he was majorly avoiding Aria, he was trying to create some distance between them, making it easier for both of them when they officially separate.

"Liar" Kol said, "Look Damon, when I got out of that stone, I needed someone to bring me back to reality, now is not the time for you to push Ri away, I don't know what you're doing, but she can help you, so stop being a wanker and talk to her".

Damon looked at Kol, "Did Ria bring you back to reality?" he asked.

Kol nodded, "She was the only one who could" he admitted.

After saying that, Kol went inside the Grill that Julian and his vampires had taken over, while Damon stayed outside for a moment, realising that if he wasn't in the picture then Kol and Aria would be together, Kol who has always kept Aria safe, who never walked out on her, who never hurt her, who never stopped loving her, who loved their kids like they were his own, who kept her alive while Damon put her in danger, at this moment, Damon Salvatore knew what he had to do, even if it will hurt him more then anything in this world.

***

Caroline, Rebekah and Aria stood to the side and watched as Alaric, Kai, Finn, Klaus and Elijah, tried putting nappies on dolls with their eyes covered with baby blankets, a game thought of by Caroline Forbes herself.

"This is a bloody nightmare" a shocked Rebekah stated, seeing all the men fail miserably.

"No Beks, this is perfect blackmail material" Aria said, videoing the whole thing with her phone, "You know what I want to know, how the hell is Nik bad at this? He has two kids and yet he is the most hopeless".

"Right?!" Caroline exclaimed, "This makes me not want to leave my kids alone with him anymore".

"You guys focus" a panicked Rebekah said, "In a few weeks I'm going to pop these babies out and hand them over to their father who--".

"Who put a nappy on better then the person who already has kids" Aria pointed, trying to calm Rebekah down.

Rebekah looked towards Alaric and realised while Klaus had somehow decapitated the doll's head, Finn had put the nappy on the doll's head, and Kai didn't even attempt to take part in the challenge just sat back and ate the cupcakes, both Elijah and Alaric were successful in putting the nappies on the dolls.

"How are you a father Nik?" Aria teased, walking over to the hybrid, with Caroline while Rebekah went to talk to Alaric.

"I was bloody blindfolded, Ari" Klaus defended.

"I am never trusting you with my kids, ever" Caroline said.

"First of all, our kids" Klaus corrected, "Second of all, like I told Ari, I was blindfolded, so I get a free pass this time".

"You depicted a doll, Niklaus" Elijah said, "You do not get a free pass for this".

"How did you even manage that?" Finn asked.

"The same way you managed to put the nappy on the bloody dolls head" Klaus retorted.

"I'm not the father here" Finn defended.

"But you are the uncle, you have changed those babies nappies as much as I have" Klaus reminded.

Aria chuckled, "Three big bad Originals changing babies nappies, this one is definitely going to go down in the history books".

"Totally" Caroline said, giving Aria a high five, while the Originals in talk simply shook their head at the two sisters amusement.

***

"Look at this Ari, your daughter loves me" Klaus boosted, carrying Mia in his arms.

Aria chuckled, "I think Mia just likes everyone" she said, which she wasn't lying as the youngest Salvatore had a habit of smiling at everyone.

"Shh, don't take this from me" Klaus said, "I am little Mia's favorite uncle, isn't that right Mia?".

In response Mia, started clapping her hands making Klaus give Aria a told you so look, who in return chuckled, while she was looking at Klaus and Mia, Aria's eyes landed behind them, where she saw Nora entering the baby shower.

"Hey Nik, I'll be right back" Aria said.

"Take your time" Klaus assured, playing with Mia while Aria walked towards Nora.

"Wasn't sure if you were going to make it" Aria told Nora.

Initially, when Aria found out what Nora had done to Kol, immediately she wanted to kill her, but when she had gone to attack her, the two witches ended up talking and Aria saw Nora's point of view, but she didn't forgive her, there was still a bit of tension, but neither of them attacked each other.

"Well, anything to postpone studying for midterms" Nora said, pulling out a gift from her bag.

"Please tell me you bought that out of the registry" Aria said.

"You mean that list of demands" Nora corrected, "No, see, I refuse to purchase anything called a milk warmer so instead, I bought these tiny, little socks that, for some reason, look like laced-up sneakers".

"Okay, that is a practical gift" Aria said, taking the socks from Nora's hands, "That's the only reason Beks is going to accept when I give her these, alright come on, let's get you a drink, but fair warning, drinks are in baby bottles, not my idea, you can blame both Caroline and Rebekah for that".

"Ah" Nora said, following Aria, "Infants drinking, what a lovely image, can't say I'm surprised".

***

"Hey" a panicked Kol said, rushing over to Aria, who was sitting on the floor playing with the triplets and twins.

"Hey" a confused Aria said, "What are you doing here?".

"Are you okay?" Kol asked, ignoring Aria's question.

Aria stood up and looked at Kol in worry, "I'm okay, but why do you look so panicked?" she asked.

"You weren't answering your phone and I panicked" a sheepish Kol admitted.

"I'm so sorry" Aria said, "Caroline's using my phone for the playlist, I didn't even know you called me".

"Did Damon come here?" Kol asked curiously.

"No" a confused Aria replied, "I thought he was with you".

"I don't where he went" Kol informed, "One second I thought he was with him, and then the next he just disappeared".

"Wait, what do you mean you thought he was with you?" Aria asked, suddenly worried for both Damon and Kol, Damon, because she didn't know where he was and Kol because he seemed kind of out of it.

"It's happening again, Ri" Kol informed, shocking Aria, "I can't tell what's real and what's not, one second I thought I was talking to Damon, but then he wasn't there".

"Hey, hey, hey" Aria whispered, putting her hand on a panicked Kol's chest, "It's going to be okay Kol".

"No" Kol said, grabbing Aria's hand, "It's not going to be okay Ri, I thought it was over, I thought the stone was done with me but I was wrong".

"We'll figure it out" Aria assured, "We fought it once, we'll do it again, together, okay? Just like we did it before, I need you to trust me when I say that you're going to be okay, now just take a deep breath, and relax".

Kol took a deep breath and looked at Aria, who gave him a encouraging smile, letting him know she was right here.

***

"Alright come on" Aria said, pushing Kol into her dorm room and closing the door behind her.

"Ri, what are you doing?" Kol asked confused, "We should be looking for Damon".

"We'll find Damon as well, but you can't help Damon, if you're not okay yourself" Aria said, "One thing at a time, okay? Damon needs both of us, but you can't be there for him if you are still in hell, so let's figure this out".

"Figure what out?" a frustrated Kol asked, "We already know that my soul was trapped in a bloody rock".

"Yeah, a rock you got out of after passing a test" Aria reminded, "You told me that you kept seeing me die in your hell, but you never told me how you passed the test, how did you earn your freedom, Kol?".

"I earned my freedom when you pulled me out of that damn thing with a spell" Kol said, not meeting Aria's eyes, he couldn't tell her what he did, he feared she wouldn't forgive him.

"You're lying" Aria stated, "Before I pulled you out, something else happened to you, something you think I will judge you for, but know this, I will never judge you because of a stupid stone, you had to do what you did to get out of that stone, whatever happened in there wasn't real, so stop hiding it Kol, let me help you, please".

"You can't help me, Ri" Kol said, slumping down Aria's bed.

Aria kneeled infront of Kol, "Let me try" she pleaded, "Let me try to help you get through this Kol, please, I hate seeing you like this".

Kol looked at Aria, he slid down the bed and sat infront of Aria, taking her hand in his, he remembered what he did in that phoenix stone.

"I was living in a repeating loop of misery" Kol started, "Every damn loop ended with me trying to save you from one thing or the other but Damon always came in the way and he didn't let me save you, everytime I saw Damon, I thought we both had to save you, but everytime I got close to saving you from whatever was trying to hurt you, Damon would stop me, I finally realised that there was only one way I could save you, if I wanted to save you, to make sure you survive, I had to get rid of Damon, so I killed him, I murdered him and at the time I didn't even regret it, I just wanted to save you, I killed my best friend so I could be your hero".

Aria sighed, "So now, you're hallucinating a pissed of Damon?" she asked, Kol nodded, "Kol, whatever happened in there, was the stone messing with your head, first of all, whenever I'm in danger, both you and Damon save me, not one of you".

"Has he?" Kol asked, looking at Damon, "Has Damon saved you or put you in dangerous situations because of his actions?".

For a second Aria looked at Kol stunned, "What are you saying?" she asked confused.

"The phoenix stone is trying to tell me something" Kol said, "It's trying to prove a damn point, I can never save you, because the real danger to your life is your own soulmate".

Aria looked at Kol and shook her head, "Do you really believe that, Kol?" she asked, "Do you really think that without Damon I would survive?".

"I don't know, Ri!" Kol snapped, standing up from the ground, "All I know is that I can't get the visions of you dying because of Damon out of my head, I'm terrified, okay?!".

Aria stood up and forced Kol to face, she then cupped his face, "You feel this?" she asked, "This is me, touching you, letting you know that I'm alive, I'm standing right infront of you, and I'm not dead, you know why? Because everytime I'm close to death, both you and Damon save me, not one, but both, I don't need one of you, I need both of you".

***

After their talk, both Aria and Kol gathered themselves and left the room to go find Damon, but before they could exist Whittemore, Nora blocked their path.

"We need to talk" Nora told Aria.

"Whatever it is, it's going to have to wait" Aria stated, "I've got more pressing issues I need to attend to".

Aria tried walking past Nora but she held her wrist, "This can't wait, Aria" a panicked Nora said, "We need to talk and we need to talk now".

Aria looked at Nora and frowned seeing the ever so confident heretic look so scared, so she turned to a equally confused Kol, "You go, I'll be right behind you".

Kol nodded in understanding and quickly left to find Damon while Aria turned to Nora, "This better be important, Nora".

Nora handed Aria a postcard that had an X on it, "After I left your party, I found this in my mail" she informed, "Is this yours and your friends idea of a joke?".

Aria took the postcard from Nora's hand and looked at in confusion, "Nora, this is a postcard, maybe your old pen pal sent it".

"If you sent this, you'd best admit it now, before I squeeze the truth from your trachea" Nora threatened.

Aria glared at the heretic infront of her, "I would like to see you try and touch me" she snapped, "And honestly Nora, I don't have time to sent you bloody postcards, if you couldn't tell, I've got my hands full right now, and tell me something, why the are you so scared of an X?".

"It's a warning" Nora revealed, "From the huntress".

"Am I meant to know who the huntress is?" a confused Aria asked.

"You certainly know her weapon" Nora replied.

Aria looked at Nora in confusion, then after a moment realisation dawned on her, "The phoenix sword?" she asked, "That's the huntress's weapon?".

"Yes" Nora replied, "Custom-made for her, she used it to put Julian in the stone, along with thousands of other vampires, she's ruthless, once you've been marked by her sword, she never stops hunting you, that's how Beau got his scar, she'll come for him now, she'll come for all of us".

"Okay, so how do we stop this huntress?" a worried Aria asked, not for herself but for Kol and Damon, and all her other friends.

"There's no stopping her, ever" Nora stated, "And there's no we involved, besides, she's not after you, so it's really not your concern".

"She goes after vampires" Aria reminded, "I am a vampire, and you are delusion if you think I'm going to sit back and do nothing when someone threatens the lives of the people I care about".

Nora looked at Aria for a moment, she then realised if there was anyone who can stop the huntress, then it would be Aria Connor, the original tribrid, "Then what do you propose we do?" she asked.

"We find the huntress before she find us" Aria replied.

***

After speaking to Nora, Aria went back to the Mikaelson mansion, where Kol told her Damon was.

"Hey" Aria greeted, giving Damon a small smile, but he ignored her and kept looking at the fire, "Damon?".

"Leave" Damon said, the cold tone in his voice catching Aria off guard.

"Damon, listen there's something you need to know" Aria said, walking over to Damon.

Damon suddenly smashed his glass of bourbon into the fire, causing Aria to gasp and flinch back in surprise, "Did you not hear me?!" he yelled, "Leave!".

"Why are you pushing me away?" Aria whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

Damon looked at Aria, "Because I don't want to be near you Ria, I can't be near you anymore".

Aria shook her head and stepped closer to Damon, "I'm not going to let you do this Damon" she said, "I'm not going to let you push me away, I don't know what you went through in that stone, but I'm here for you, okay? Just, let me help you, I promise we'll get through this together".

Damon shook his head, "Not this time" he whispered, "This time it's different".

Before Aria could say anything else to Damon, he speeded out the room, leaving behind a terrified Aria behind, who was suddenly scared of what the future held for both her and Damon.

***

Five Years From Now, 

With her voice playing in the background, Aria, who was trapped in a black storage box, used her two tied up feet to rapidly kick the door of the box, eventually succeeding in ripping the door off its hinges, which then caused her to fall out of the box, she then crawled over to a nail poking out of the bottom of a wall, using the nail she ripped the ropes that were tied on her hands, she then took the tape that was stuck on her mouth off and then proceeding to untie her feet.

"Stupid, bitch" Aria mumbled, standing up, as soon as Aria stood up, her hand went up to her chest, as she felt a familiar presence near her, immediately causing her eyes to go wide, "No, no, no" she whispered, "You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't be here, Damon".

Without wasting another second, Aria rushed to stop her from killing the father of her children.

***

Presenting 7x11 of Cold Hearted!

How was the chapter?

Thoughts on Damon refusing to talk to Aria after she brought him out of the phoenix stone?

Thoughts on everyone returning for Rebekah's baby shower?

Thoughts on Kol telling Aria what he went through in the phoenix stone?

Thoughts on Damon telling Aria to stay away from him?