Body & Soul - Klaus Mikaelson

Interlude

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𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓭𝓸𝓮𝓼𝓷'𝓽 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓵 𝓪𝓷𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰,

𝓲𝓽 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼 𝓾𝓼 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷.

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Grief was never meant to be a friend. It's one of the worst conditions humanity can fall victim to. The pain not only rattles the mind but rages war against the body, focusing the brunt of its power at the heart as it tears away the love that dies with the soul. It's not something that's supposed to be glued to a person.

Yet it seems to be the only friend that has been constantly by my side. When everyone else fails me, grief has returned to me and has been a rock-hard pillow for me to fall on each and every day. Grief is supposed to be a far distant enemy, one that comes around every couple of years. Yet each day that it exists, Mystic Falls is haunted by grief. Our cemetery is filled with those who have mourned, those who have died too soon, and those who have met the supernatural in a way they were never meant to.

My life has been stained with blood and loss, with tragedy and the supernatural since the day that I was born. I've spent most of my life in a constant state of devastation waiting for the next blow to knock me off my feet.

Life knows no bounds, it doesn't keep a count of how people it has ripped from life, it just takes and it takes and keeps sending friends to death, yet Death can never send anything back. Why would it want to? It has friends when life gives away lives, not all of the living could say the same.

When I was little, I always thought that my parents were strong, invincible even. My dad was this werewolf Alpha, in the military, fighting for good just because others couldn't. My mom was a hero at home, she made life easy and she knew how to protect us from the future.

Yet they both ended up being so delicate.

My dad took one wrong step and was blown to pieces by a rogue land mine. It destroyed my mom, to feel my dad being blown to bits, feeling his body be completely destroyed. The only thing that came home was a half set of dog tags and an American flag. I don't know how she survived it, I don't know how I house that memory, but I did it so she wouldn't have to live with that constant grief, that constant pain. You could say my dad really did go out with a bang.

On the other hand, my mom went out in one of the most human ways possible. A car accident. I didn't understand that for a long time. How could such a remarkable woman, a witch, die like a human? Granted she didn't have her magic, but it felt wrong to know she died that way.

Truth is, no matter what, we're vulnerable. We aren't free from grief or pain, from death and loss. You could be the most powerful person in the world and still be wrecked with life. It's the way of this world, others just don't have to see it. Some people could go their whole life without feeling true grief. Some of us can't go a week without feeling it. I wish I was one of those people that were oblivious.

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Damon shudders on the floor. His features are written over with confusion as he holds a desiccated Ric to his chest. Sobs fall silently from his lips, and his body sways with sadness. I don't think I've ever seen Damon as broken as he is right now. This is his best friend, the man who tried to kill him, only for them to fall into drinking buddies.