•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Elena let out a sob as she stumbles over to the edge of Wickery Bridge, taking in deep, shaky breath of the chilly night air. She leans over it, crying into the wind, knowing she will remain unheard but not caring a bit.

    Her heart twists in pain as she leans her back against the bridge and slides down, burying her head in her hands. Shakily, Elena pulls out her phone, her thumb hovering over a number. After a deep breath, she steadies her voice and waits for them to pick up.

    "Hello?"

    "Hey... Where are you? I kind of need a favor."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

    A car comes to a slow stop in front of Elena, the headlights blinding her tear soaked eyes. She holds a hand up to block it out, squinting in the brightness.

    Arabella steps out of the car, raising a brow at the doppelganger as she walks over. "Elena?"

    "Hey," She gives her a small, teary smile. "Thanks for coming."

    "You're lucky I was just a town over," Arabella returns the smile. "Planning my great escape. Are you okay? You don't look too good."

    "Physically? I'm fine," Elena sniffs, turning and walking back to the edge of the bridge. She peers over, staring down at the calm water. "Stefan tried to drive me off the bridge."

    "What?"

    "To threaten Klaus," Elena explains, her lip trembling. "He force fed me his blood and locked me in the car with Klaus on the phone," Arabella sighs, rubbing her face tiredly. She's only been gone for a few days and yet mayhem has already broken out.

    "You know he would never actually hurt you," She softly points out, coming beside the Gilbert girl. "He was just trying to scare Klaus."

    "I know that," Elena nods, letting the cold wind to prick her cheeks. "But still... he could've threatened Klaus in any way. But to try and drive me off this bridge... it's like he's trying to make me hate him."

    "What's so special about this bridge?"

    "It's where my parents died," Elena responds, a faraway look in her eyes. Arabella's face softens.

    "Right. Car accident. I remember Stefan telling me," She leans her elbows against the wall. "I'm sorry. But Elena, let's be honest. You and I aren't exactly best friends," Arabella turns fully towards her. "Why call me?"

    Elena sighs, looking down. "Stefan did something to you. A long time ago. I don't know what it was, but clearly, it was bad enough that you tried to end his life over it," Her brown eyes meet green one's. "You don't have to tell me anything. But I just need to know... how did you forgive him? Because, honestly, Arabella? I don't know if this is something I could ever forgive Stefan for."

    Arabella purses her lips, looking back straight over the waters. She's silent for a few moments, and Elena assumes she just won't answer. Until she finally speaks up again.

    "When I was first turned," She begins, already knowing she'll probably regret telling Elena this. "I had no one. Nothing. I tried to end my life because of the unbearable loneliness I had felt everyday, and then all of sudden, I was facing an eternity of it. I spent a year by myself, miserable. Though I had a daylight ring, I remained inside all the time. I fed only when I absolutely had to, and I never bothered to explore the capabilities of my newfound powers. Until one day, something changed."

    Elena looks up, raising a brow. "What?" A small ghost of a smile dances on Arabella's lips as she reminisces.

    "I met a man."

New York, 1867

    Lou Devin, the local butcher, stepped out into the crisp autumn air, holding a bag filled with trash in one hand and a newspaper filled with excess meat in another. He tossed the bag into the trash can, kneeling down beside it and unwrapping the paper.

    "Tsk, tsk, tsk," He clicked his tongue a few times, and tapped his fingers on the dusty floor. "C'mon. Chow time."

    Five or six cats appeared from hidden locations, meowing contently as they rushed for their nightly dinner. Lou smiled as they ate, the aging lines creasing the corners of his gray eyes. If his wife and daughter weren't so allergic, he would've taken every single one of these beauties home by now.

    Suddenly, all the cats' ears perked up, and in a second they've scrambled back to their hiding spots. Lou frowned, a moment later hearing the rustling they must've caught on to. He stood up, squinting in the darkness.

    "Hello? Anybody there?" A figure stepped out, into the dim lights that lit the back of the alley. The outline of a woman appeared, dressed in a long, deep blue dress with her face covered by a feather hat. Lou straightened up, his frown deepening. "Eh... we're closed for the night, madam," She continued walking forward. "Madam? Can I help you?"

    "Yes, Mr. Devin," The woman looked up, her face an unusual thing indeed. Where there were supposed to be eyes, there was a glowing violet surrounded by a murky, bloody red, dark veins hungrily moving through the skin beneath. "You can help me."

    Lou let out a strangled gasp. "W- what are you?!"

    "I truly am sorry for this," The woman sighed sadly, speeding up to him nonetheless and sinking her fangs into his throat. Lou struggled and cried as he fought for his life, but in a few seconds, his body, drained completely of blood, fell limp.

    Arabella Salvatore dropped it, her hands shaking like they always did when she took a life. A tear slid down her cheek, mixing with the blood coating her lips and chin.

    She hated killing for her own personal hunger. She despised it. It stirred something sickening within her.

    "Well, this is a wee bit depressing," Arabella straightened up the male voice, tinged with a deep, Irish accent. Her eyes darkened red again as she readied herself for another attack. "Woah, there, missy! I know that stance. No need to attack, I am a friend."

    "I do not have friends," Arabella snapped. The man laughed.

    "Well, aren't you a miserable one?" She finally turned around, glaring at the man who stood in the shadows, just barely touching the light. He was dressed casually in a long coat, and the light shone on his reddish brown locks. Hazel eyes watched her closely with amusement as he rubbed the slight stubble that adorned his sharp jaw.

    "Are you a vampire?" Arabella asked quietly. She had begun to get these... feelings every time she was around different supernatural creatures. No doubt caused by her Talisman. Vampires always held such an odd one.

    "Well, you're smart, I'll give ya that," He grinned, walking forward. "What's yer name?"

    "What do you care to know?"

    "Ah, trust issues, as well," He clicked his tongue and tilted his head slightly. "But yeh can trust me. In fact, I can help ya. I know what ya truly want."

"And what might that be?"

    "You want to not be alone any more," He took another step toward Arabella, but something about him seemed... safe. "You want to feel human, despite the limitations. I know because we are a lot alike, ma dear," He extended a hand with a warm smile. "Desmond Gallagher."

Present Day

    A warm smile adorns Arabella's lips as she tells the story. The way she met Desmond was so... simple. Yet it made her heart flutter each time she thought about it.

    "Desmond was the first person I truly could count on after I turned," Arabella continues. Elena has a soft smile as she listens. "We became fast friends, and he taught me how to be a vampire without truly being a vampire. In his eyes, we were just humans with a little something extra on the side."

    She laughs, thinking back to how he used to say it. It always brought a smile to her face.

    "He was the one who helped me find Stefan and Damon again-- I hadn't even know they were still alive until he mentioned hearing about two brothers who had been turned. Though he traveled alone, Des had friends everywhere. I don't think there was anybody who hated him, honestly," Arabella looks up at stars, sighing. "It's no surprise we ended up falling in love. The two of us traveled around the world, together. And in 1910, Des proposed to me," Elena gasps in surprise.

    "You married him?" A small laugh escapes Arabella's lips as she nods.

    "I did. A year later, in New York, exactly where we had first met," She closes her eyes, remembering the ceremony. It had been small, with only herself, Desmond, and her brothers in attendance. But the happiness she had felt that day, dressed up in the long white gown as she left that church hand in hand with the man she loved... oh how she wishes to go back there sometimes. "I think our wedding day was the happiest I'd ever been. We ended up getting an apartment together right in the very city we had first met. Life was good, for those few years I had him by my side. "

    Elena's smile slowly fades as realization hits. "But something happened? Didn't it?"

    "Something always happens, Elena," Arabella's eyes snap open, her lips turning down as she realizes she's come to that part of the story. The part she's dreaded telling with every inch of her being.

New York, 1920

    "Who was that?" Desmond looked up from the radio box he had been listening to, watching his wife step away from the telephone.

    "Alexia Branson-- Stefan's old friend," She explained, coming and taking a seat beside him. "She was wondering if I could perform a locator spell to find him."

    "I hope she does," Desmond pursed his lips as he laid a hand on her leg. "I know how worried you've been, darling."

    "Yes, well, he's off the rails," Arabella sighed, laying her hand over his. "I should go get to it. Oh! I was planning on cooking tonight. I won't be able to."

    "Ari, I love ya, but yer cooking makes me want to relive me death," Desmond joked, earning a playful shove from his wife. "And I was beheaded!"

    "Oh, shut it," Arabella rolled her eyes, standing up. "Like you're any better."

    "Considering I was a chef as a human, I do think I was," Desmond called after, chuckling. Arabella went off into the spare bedroom in their apartment, where she had her witchcraft materials stored. Setting them onto the table, she grabbed a shirt of Stefan's she had stored away. Arabella had a few personal items from both her brothers, just in case she ever needed to find them.

    She set up the spells, holding her hands over the map and beginning the recitation.

    "Phasmatos Tribum, Nas Ex Veras, Sequitas Sanguinem," Her eyes fluttered open as she looked down, frowning. The sand she had spilled on the map did not move. It remained in New York, which meant she had done the spell wrong. Or...

    "Arabella!" She didn't get a chance to think as Desmond shouted out her name, the panic evident in his voice. Arabella's eyes widened as she sped back to the living room in an instant, a gasp escaping her throat at the sight.

    Stefan stood behind Desmond, and he held him in place tightly with a stake pricking his throat. He looked... different. A hunger and danger in his eyes Arabella almost didn't even recognize.

    "Stefan?" Arabella's brows shot up. "Lexi and I have been searching everywhere for you, what--"

    "Oh I know. An annoyance, you two are," Stefan spit, glaring. "But let us allow bygones to be bygones. That's not the reason I am here."

    "Stefan, let go of Des," Arabella ordered, the magic swirling in her eyes. Stefan slid the tip of the stake into Desmond's neck, and earned a scream from the older vampire.

    "I wouldn't," He warned, smirking. "I'm actually here for the source of your magic. You see, I pissed off some witches. Mistakenly. And they promised to lay off my trail as long as I took that dandy little necklace off your hands."

    "Or what?" Arabella tested, narrowing her eyes. Stefan's smirk widened.

    "You can say goodbye to your husband."

    "He's bluffing, darling," Desmond grunted, shifting painfully in the Ripper's grasp. "I can hear his heartbeat."

    "Don't listen to him, Ara. I'll kill him. I will!"

    "No, Des is right," Arabella raised a brow as she took a step towards them. "You would never kill him. I'm calling your bluff, Stef," Stefan said nothing, but simply raised his brows at his sister.

    "Your loss," He shrugged, and in an instant, grabbed the stake and pushed it through Desmond's stomach. A scream erupted from his throat as Arabella watched with wide, fearful eyes.

    "Stop it!"

    "You can stop it, sister!" Stefan yelled back, glaring. "You can end his suffering right here and now!  Just give me that damn necklace."

    "Fine!" Arabella shouted, ripping the Talisman from her neck and chucking it to the floor by Stefan's feet. "You said you would end his suffering. Let him live!" Stefan smiled, clicking his tongue.

    "Oh, sister," He shook his head sadly. "I said I would end his suffering. Never said I would allow him to live," With that, Stefan pulled the stake out of Desmond's stomach... and plunged it into his heart.

    A shrilling scream ripped from Arabella's lips, watching in horror as her husband's eyes glazed over and his body turned grey.

    "Goodbye, sister," Stefan dropped his body to the ground. "Should've cooperated. Perhaps this could've been avoided," He didn't wait for a response, speeding out of the apartment, the Talisman leaving with him.

    Arabella stumbled over to Desmond, picking up his head in her hands as she sobbed. "Pl- please, wake up. Please, Des!"

    And so she held him, sobbing over the body of the man she once loved. Now dead, at the hands of her own brother.

Present Day

    At this point, tears have trickled down Arabella's cheeks, dripping onto the stone. Elena watches her with a horrified expression.

"Stefan killed your husband," It's not a question, but a statement. She still hasn't fully registered it. Arabella nods mutely.

"I was stupid," She sighs, her voice level despite her tear streaked face. "I should've just given him the damn Talisman. But... I really didn't think he would do it. I'd never seen Stefan as a Ripper before that. Hell, I hadn't even ever turned my own humanity off yet. I had no idea how dangerous a vampire like that could truly be."

"Stefan killed your husband," Elena repeats, shaking her head. "Oh my God. That's why you tried to kill him in 1922. That's why you want nothing to do with him. Oh, and I was so horrible to you! I tried to guilt you about not helping--"

"It's not your fault," Arabella shakes her head, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "You didn't know. To be honest, it was years before I could even look at Stefan again. After what he did... I refused to even call him my brother," Elena frowns.

"So what changed?" She asks. "How did you forgive him?" Arabella laughs grimly, wiping away the tears.

"Lexi tried for years to arrange a meeting. He left voicemail after voicemail, wrote letter after letter... God, he must have apologized, like, two hundred times. But I refused to acknowledge any of them. For sixty-nine years, I lived my life pretending like Stefan Salvatore never existed," Arabella sighs, shaking her head. "After awhile, I guess I just... missed him. Isn't that funny? Missing the one person who took away my source of happiness?"

Elena smiles slightly, shaking her head. "He's your brother."

"Yeah, well," Arabella sighs, rubbing her temples. "I suppose he is."

Mystic Falls, 1994

    Stefan wiped the sweat droplets clinging to his forehead as he chopped the wood, the summer sun beating down upon his back. He stood in front of the Boarding House, getting ready for a small bonfire get together his distant nephew, Zach Salvatore, was arranging tonight.

    The low rumble of an engine caught his attention, the vampire straightening up and squinting into the bright sunlight. He made out a sleek, grey car slowly coming through the driveway. The 1969 Jaguar came to a park, but his eyes widened like saucers as Arabella stepped out, dressed in flared jeans and a tucked in tee. She moved her round sunglasses to the tip of her nose, narrowing her eyes at Stefan, before making her way towards him.

    Stefan set the axe down, gulping as he watched his sister closely. It had been years since he'd last seen her. And even then, she ignored him as if he were just a ghost. He didn't blame her. He would have done the same if he had been in her position. He murdered his brother-in-law in cold blood, without a touch of remorse. Of course she was angry. Yet, seeing her now... it made his heart ache. He'd missed her.

    "Arabella?" He asked, as if she wasn't quite there. Stefan is shocked when she offered up a small smile.

    "Hello, brother," She greeted, tucking her hand into her back pocket. "Long time no see."

    "You're talking to me," Stefan pointed out dumbly. It had been too long since she'd actually spoken a word towards him. Arabella nodded, glancing at the pile of logs.

    "I am," She confirmed, turning her gaze back to him. "I..." She trailed off, not quite sure what to say. It had been too long.

    "I've missed you," Stefan decided to add, taking a step forward. "Ara, you have no idea how sorry--"

    "Don't," Arabella shook her head, holding a hand up. "I asked Damon years ago to never mention Desmond, and I want the same from you, moving forward," Stefan frowned.

    "Moving forward?" He repeated. "Are you..." He didn't finish, almost embarrassed to ask. But the pounding hope in his chest prayed that she'd say what he hoped.

    "I'm ready... to try and forgive you," Arabella ignored the way her stomach twisted itself into a knot. "You did something unspeakable to me. But, at the end of the day, you're my brother," She casted her gaze down. "Des would've wanted me to show you forgiveness. I think I've spent enough years disappointing him."

    "I deserved it," Stefan shook his head, crossing his arms. "And if you want to move forward, I'm more than happy to," A small grin broke across Arabella's lips.

    "Good. Because believe it or not, I've kinda missed you. Having Damon as company is just as annoying as it sounds," They both laughed at her joke, and Stefan just then noticed the bag in her hand.

    "You're staying?"

    "Yeah. Called Zach ahead already, let him know," She nodded, her smile suddenly fading. "But Stefan, there's something you need to know. Something you need to promise me, if we're going to be family again," Stefan nodded quickly.

    "Of course."

    "You need to promise me you won't become a Ripper again," Arabella cursed herself at how her voice shook. "You need to promise me you won't lose control. I know it's hard to control it, and it's a lot to ask, but Stefan..." She took a deep breath, staring him straightly in the eye. "If you go back to being that version of yourself... I'm done. There will be no second chances. And I won't hesitate to kill you this time, if the time comes," Stefan frowned slightly at her words. This time. He ignored it however, because a second chance was better than nothing.

    "I'll control it," He promised, laying a hand on her arm. "Thank you, sister."

Present Day

"So, you forgave him?" Elena asks. Arabella clenches her jaw, staring straight ahead.

"I told him I did," She admits. "But honestly? I don't know if I ever really could. To this day, when I look at his face... I see the face of the man who took away my husband. Especially now. It's sometimes hard to remember he's my brother," Arabella turns towards Elena, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Look, Elena, my point of all this isn't that you shouldn't forgive Stefan. He's not himself. And it's going to be hard to bring him back from that."

"We should've just listened to you," Elena murmurs, shaking her head. "You were right. Going after Stefan was a mistake. Ever since we tried to find him over the summer, nothing good has happened. We haven't had one win. If anything, Stefan only got worse."

"There's something left," Arabella shakes her head in disagreement. "Otherwise he would have driven you right over that bridge. He's coming back, bit by bit."

Elena frowns, staring down into the water.

"I know that," She looks up at the Salvatore girl, an almost fearful look in her eyes. "I'm just scared that when he does, he won't be the same."

Arabella is silent for a moment, allowing her words to sink in. With a sigh, she says,

"You and I both, Gilbert."

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Author's Note:

This chapter was more so just to explain Arabella and Stefan's messy history, so that's why it's kinda just goes between flashbacks. Personally, I don't really like when in books, the author just has a run on paragraph of the main character explaining to the reader their entire past in like, the first chapter, so I try to incorporate into the story haha sorry if it comes off as a boring chapter (I really hope not though).

Anyways, don't forget to comment and vote if you enjoy the story! It's not really getting that much attention yet, which is understandable, but if you read a chapter and enjoy it plz vote, it honestly makes my day! Also, comment your thoughts and stuff cause those are also fun to read <3

Okay I'm done, bye!

-Athena