fic; a tribute to the dead (tvd)
title: a tribute to the dead
fandom: the vampire diaries
rating: PG-13
summary: a tribute to the dead (all of them are not included) characters on the television show the vampire diaries.
001.
Zach Salvatore knew he was doomed the moment Damon Salvatore showed up that night.
He took Stefan aside the first chance he got and told him to get rid of his brother and do it quick. He couldn't even bother trying to be nice about it. Damon was a bad man. Not to mention the fangs.
And then Stefan managed to get Damon and for a moment Zach actually allowed himself to think that everything would be alright. With Damon locked in the basement and Stefan off playing human with the Gilbert girl there was a chance everyone would get through this mess alive.
Oh, how wrong he was.
Zach lived around death. He was expecting it to one day claim him too. But when Damon put his cold hands around his neck all he could wonder was when did family stop mattering?
002.
Vicki Donovan died twice. She almost died several more times before that but her heart actually stopped beating at two occasions.
The first time she wasn't expecting it. Her and Damon had been dancing around like drunk teenagers and things had just slowed down. Her head was on his shoulders, tears streaming down her face and she felt so hopeless. When Damon told her he knew what could help she actually believed him. For one short lived moment she actually let herself hope that things would be okay, that this stranger who had been nothing but horrible to her would be able to solve the mess that was her life. Then he snapped her neck.
The second time she was staked by Stefan Salvatore. He was supposed to be the good brother too. Well, that proved everyone wrong. She wasn't even expecting it. All she could focus on was the smell of fresh blood and the fact that tearing Elena Gilbert's head off would feel really fucking good. Then there was a pain. An unbearable, world destructive pain that was worse than anything she had ever felt before. And being the white-trash druggie of the town Vicki knew a few things about pain.
She always thought death would be a relief. A final end to the fucked up life she was living. She was wrong, on both occasions.
003.
Lexi just wanted to see her friend.
She wanted to spend time with Stefan. Make sure he was doing okay. Tease him about Elena. That was all.
Lexi had a life.
She had a boyfriend - no, a soul mate - waiting for her at home. She had friends. She was even taking a few art classes at the community college in town.
Damon didn't just take Lexi away from the world. He took her away from people who loved her. And a lot of people loved Lexi. She was a pretty lovable person, actually.
When he took that stake and drove it to her heart she managed to choke out a why. She needed to know he was taking her away from all the people that she loved. She wanted to know why he had chosen this dark route when he had once been so against his brother living that way. She couldn't take leaving the world without a satisfying answer.
"Its part of the plan."
That was not it.
004.
Sheila Bennett did not die an honorable death.
Some might argue that she did. Those vampires probably would. But even though she was saving lives Sheila did not believe it to be honorable at all. To her, vampires were evil. Even Stefan Salvatore whom she knew had nothing but good intension was still a creature of the dark. And dying to save one of them was just a waste.
Halfway through the spell Sheila knew things would end badly. Oh she was strong enough to do it, especially with the help of her dear Bonnie. But she also knew that while she might get the vampires out of there safely she wasn't strong enough to do so without hurting herself. She still continued. She kept going because while it certainly wasn't a good cause to die for Sheila Bennett did not break promises. Not even when it came to life or death.
So she died. She died so that a soulless man could get a cold-hearted devil out of a tomb. She died and left her Bonnie alone in the world to battle the evils surrounding her. She died and she did it for nothing.
005.
Anna died thinking of her mother.
Maybe she should have been thinking about Jeremy and how heart-broken he would be when he realized she was gone. Maybe she should have been thinking about whether Damon Salvatore would die with her or not. There were a lot of things she could have and should have been thinking about.
But all she thought of was her mother.
Anna spent over a century searching for a way to get her mother back. When she finally did life was cruel enough to steal her right back. While Anna wasn't actually sixteen years old that did not mean she was old enough to live without Pearl. It didn't mean she wanted to.
So even though she was surrounded by fire and knew there was no way she would survive she stayed put. She didn't fight but let the flames eat away at her body. If it meant she'd see her mother again then she didn't even mind.
006.
Mayor Richard Lockwood never imagined that he'd die that way. He had done so well hiding their family secret from everyone - including his wife and son - and didn't for once second think that the plan to take out those other supernatural demons would hurt him. He would have gladly let the whole town get eaten by vampires to stay alive himself.
Richard was always a selfish man. He did what he had to and consequences weren't important. As long as he came in first place and got what he wanted he could forget about the tears and wounds he had caused along the way.
He didn't have many regrets. He got most of what he ever wanted out of life. A beautiful wife, an important position in society and an impressive hairline for his age. The only thing he wished he could have done differently was the relationship with Tyler.
Tyler was a good kid. Maybe it wasn't that obvious to everyone else but Richard was sure of it. While he never told Tyler he thought so he knew his son would get far. He knew he'd do better than his father in life.
And what hurt the most while he got eaten alive by flames wasn't the pain of his flesh burning or the smell of dead bodies. It was knowing that Tyler would never understand that Richard loved him.
007.
Mason Lockwood wasn't stupid. He could have gotten better grades in school, yes. He could have done something more important with his life, sure. But when it came down to it he had brains and knew how to use them.
So when Katherine Pierce came along he knew to be suspicious. He fell in love with her quick and fast but he didn't turn blind because of that. He knew she was trouble and he knew she'd get him into it too.
While Damon was torturing him he kept insisting that Katherine loved him. But while Mason might have wished that what he was saying was true the only reason he said any of it was to piss Damon off. And it worked. To the point where he got his heart ripped out.
Mason loved Katherine. He loved her with a deep, burning passion and always hoped that she one day would feel that way about him. But he wasn't stupid. He always knew that she'd get him into trouble.
008.
Rose had been told that death was peaceful. She had been told that sometimes, if you were lucky, it could even be a relief. She never believed any of it.
She probably shouldn't have pushed Damon to the side. She probably shouldn't have let herself feel that way about Damon in the first place. She probably should have stayed as far away as she could have from Mystic Falls.
But its impossible to live for five hundred years without making a few mistakes along the way.
The road to her death was harsh and painful. But the end? The end was better than the last centuries put together.
Maybe pushing Damon to the side wasn't a mistake. Maybe letting herself care wasn't a fault. Maybe Mystic Falls was the perfect place to die.
009.
Elijah had died many times.
The first time was when their family figured out there was a way for them to died. Klaus was holding the dagger in his hands, an expression of wonder on his face, and before Elijah had time to blink his brother had launched forward and stabbed him.
When he was brought back to life Klaus just shrugged and told him it needed to be tested. When Elijah asked him how he had known he'd be able to bring him back to life Klaus just smirked.
"I didn't."
It was the first time Elijah ever questioned his brothers loyalty. It was also the first time he ever felt scared of Klaus.
It was almost ironic that the last time was by the same hand.