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"Damon's dead." Those two words broke Rio. His brother was dead. He'd left his brother because he was too much of a coward to face his feelings and he'd paid for it with his brother's life. Rio had gone into a sort of catatonic state. He did nothing except look after the baby. Of course he couldn't go to Mystic Falls, but Stefan had promised not to stay there either. Rio would wait for Stefan to come visit him in Colorado then move from there. As long as Stefan kept up his side of the deal and stayed out of Mystic Falls. Maybe Stefan would come with him to wherever he went next. But with Damon gone he knew he couldn't risk Stefan's life. Knowing all he did about Mystic Falls however, losing Damon didn't seem real. Rio kept waiting for Damon to come back to life. Apparently Bonnie had died too. And the Other side had collapsed. Almost every supernatural in Mystic Falls had died and come back to life. Except Damon. Stefan had told Rio that he saw Charlotte. That she could've come back but she knew Bonnie wouldn't have been able to survive all of that. That she stayed behind so that Bonnie wouldn't die. Not that it helped. Bonnie died anyways along with Damon.
Stefan left Rio after a month. He wanted to make a better life for himself- change. Rio understood. Stefan had been much closer to Damon since they'd become vampires. Sure, they'd had a lot of on-off moments, mainly off, but they'd always managed to get back together. Unlike Rio, who had almost never been there for his brothers. He wanted to stay with Stefan, but Stefan had refused. They'd even argued about it for a while, but Stefan wouldn't let, claiming he wanted some alone time to reflect on who he'd become. It took a long while before Rio had agreed to let Stefan go- over a week in fact. But eventually he did. He knew Stefan would never let up. But he kept tabs. Called Stefan every week. Stefan had gotten himself a new girlfriend, Ivy. Rio had a sneaking suspicion that there was a reason behind the fact that Stefan wanted to have some alone time. That he was trying to contact Damon. But Stefan wouldn't confirm. So he focused on his family. A baby did take up a lot of his time, and Rio regretted the fact that Charlotte wasn't there. She had always wanted a child. It seemed cruelly ironic that he was the one to be raising both her daughter as well as a newborn baby he'd adopted. Especially seeing as for the longest time he didn't want a child and a baby was all she ever wanted. Rio hadn't met Stefan's girlfriend and highly doubted she knew he existed but he knew Stefan was somewhat happy. It might have all been an illusion, but Stefan was happy. Rio didn't have to ask Anya to try to help search for Damon, but she didn't have a clue. Anya, however talented, had only been out of her magically induced comas for sixteen years. She wasn't as established with her magic, though she certainly held power, so her search didn't come up with much. Still, as torn and upset as Rio was, he had to keep it together. And though he couldn't meet up with Klaus, he could certainly talk to him. It would be odd if they suddenly cut communications. Klaus had been there for him when Charlotte died and he'd be there for him now that Damon was dead. The official cover story as to why Rio would be leaving New Orleans for good, was that Damon had died- true, and Rio needed to spend time with his other brother as well as keep Anya as far away from any possibility of danger. Of course it was all true, they'd just neglected to mention that Rio's brother didn't want to spend time with him, and Anya wasn't the only one he had to look after. There was nothing wrong with omitting half of the truth, so long the reasoning was valid. At least that was Rio's thinking.
Rio decided to take a spontaneous trip to visit Stefan in Savannah. He'd missed his brother, and he wanted to see him again. He was sure if he waited a year, Stefan would probably die too. Rio didn't want to wait too long. He'd rather have his brother for the next century and half. Alive and safe. Sam stayed behind- it was a full moon and she didn't want to risk anything. Especially not in front of the baby. She made sure to keep away on full moons, not trusting herself near Rhea. Usually she'd leave town at least, but this time there was no need. To people, Rio must have looked weird. A young man with a teenage girl and a baby, was slightly suspicious. Perhaps if it were just him and Rhea it would be fine. But what excuse could a thirty year old have for walking with a seventeen year old? He looked far too young to be her father, and he was too old to legally date her- not that he ever would. And he could pull off being her elder brother but no one would ever think that. Eventually he decided to forget about what others would think. If someone asked him, he'd say she's his sister in law and he's her guardian. That would hold, and even then he could use compulsion to find his way out.

Tiberius Salvatore: Mikaelson ExtendedWhere stories live. Discover now