ALMOST IS NEVER ENOUGH | TVD [4]

XXXIV • WHAT ARE YOU?

thirty-four. what are you?

The Armory Headquarters, Basement Vault

Matt wakes up with a gasp and looks to his left side to see he is holding the necklace with the Maxwell crest on it, given by Dorian, and he is breathing heavily as he sits up on the ground. He looks down to see that he is barefoot and the bottom of his feet are inexplicably covered in blood. He slowly stands up and realizes he is in the cave entrance of the Armory, right in the vault; he gets out through the big old door to hear sirens down the hallway, along with the flashing lights. He limps down the hallway, grunting in pain, and gasps with his arms suddenly raised in surrender when someone holding a flashlight and another holding a gun, step in his way in alarm, to reveal Minerva and Alaric, looking truly puzzled to see their local friend.

"Matt? How'd you get in here?" She flashes the light down to his bloody feet.

"What the hell? You scared us. Are you okay?" The older man asked him.

"No. Something's wrong with me."

****

Stefan's Volkswagen/Rosie's Acura

Stefan is in the middle of speeding away from the Bed and Breakfast in the black Volkswagen with blood covered hands and he is panting with sweat on his forehead, having flashes of his doings when his humanity was off, feeling overwhelmed with his emotions. He is interrupted when his cell phone rings and the caller ID is Rosie and he answers it quickly, "I'm here."

Rosie sighs in relief as she is in the back seat of her Acura, behind Caroline and Isaac, the latter driving it, "Stefan, thank God. I know what happened."

"Bonnie...she must be...I don't even know what to say. I don't know how I can...Every time I close my eyes, I see it play out over and over again in my head. And every time I open them, I see Enzo's blood on my hands." Oh God.

"Just please come home." His ex-fiancé sounded truly desperate.

The human gasps, "I can't do that." I don't even know where I'm going.

"Well, you can't run either, and you're not going anywhere without me anymore. Okay? So just tell me where you are. I'm coming to get you." Now.

"No. I can't face you, and I can't face Bonnie." Stefan hears a siren wailing not too far behind him, "Damn it. I'm being pulled over." He does so.

"Stefan..."

The loud police siren stops and a young male deputy gets out of the parked cruiser. He walks over to the sports car, spots Stefan's bloody hands on the steering wheel and immediately pulls his gun out in alarm, pointing it to him, "Hands where I can see 'em! Step out of the car, now!"

Stefan does so with his arms raised, helplessly, and the young deputy handcuffs him immediately over the hood of the black sports car as Rosie repeatedly called out his name, truly desperate, though neither of the two men are able to hear her because the door has been closed shut.

****

The Armory Headquarters

"I didn't even know you were in town."

Alaric sits opposite Matt, "Yeah, well, Minerva needed my help with something. Looks like she wasn't the only one. So what the hell happened?"

Minerva comes over to join them as she sits adjacent to both men.

The blonde shakes his head, "I don't know, but I'm telling you, I could feel the heat from the flames...hear the screams of all those people burning."