Sincerely Yours [Stefan Salvatore]

[44. Senior Year]

[3x06; Smells Like Teen Spirit]

It was dark when Lucy woke up, her eyes aching from lack of sleep. She rolled out of bed and put on her workout clothes before heading downstairs to eat a granola bar for breakfast. She passed a grumbling Alaric on the way to the kitchen and greeted Elena quietly before grabbing a granola bar and chowing down.

After the events last night—which Lucy now knew included Klaus compelling Stefan to turn off his humanity and drink from Elena, and Klaus leaving Mystic Falls with two full bags of Elena's blood—Elena was determined to start learning self-defense like Lucy had during the spring and summer. Lucy was going to join her for support but work with Joel separately so they could develop her spell casting skills and try to make her siphoned magic last longer while still being effective.

She hated feeling useless all the time since the only thing she could do was fry someone's brain. After talking to Joel, he confided that he had been thinking about her skills as a siphon. He didn't want to offend her but he was pretty sure that once she siphoned magic from a person or her necklace, she forgot about it and that magic was being wasted. Lucy agreed; she pretty much siphoned, did magic, and siphoned again. She didn't usually stop to make sure there was still magic flowing through her veins.

That was how she found herself in the middle of the woods, watching her brother carefully for any of his sudden moves. She had siphoned magic from him fifteen minutes ago and when she concentrated, she could still feel the tingle in her limbs.

Joel didn't warn her as he lunged for her so Lucy only had a second to react. She narrowed her eyes and gave him an aneurysm; Joel flinched in pain but kept walking toward her. Lucy gritted her teeth and held out a hand toward him, trying to strengthen her spell.

Joel still didn't react the way she wanted to; he reached out her hands and grabbed her shoulders.

"Got you," Joel breathed as Lucy stopped her useless spell. "Okay, so your spells weaken around fifteen minutes depending on how much you siphon."

Lucy huffed, aggravated with her lack of progress. "Do you think I'll get better?"

"I'm not really sure, Lou," Joel shrugged thoughtfully. "I've never really worked with a witch—other than Bonnie—much less a siphoner."

Lucy's shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"But," Joel added, nudging her shoulder. "I think that if you practice, it's gonna be like any other skill, yeah? Like, it took you a while to get the hang of watercolors but you did it, right?"

"...Right," Lucy reluctantly nodded.

She was a perfectionist; she always had to make sure she was doing her best at everything. She was trying her best now, sure, but she wasn't doing and that's what frustrated her.