The Vampire Diaries: Trinity

Chapter Fifty: Smells Like Teen Spirit

Elena is wide awake when her alarm goes off. She looks at the clock and sees that it's 5 AM. Getting out of bed, she sees her reflection in the mirror and look at the bite mark on her neck. She gets out her make up to cover it up.

When she's finished she leaves her room and sees Alaric, who looks a bit hung-over. "Good morning." She greets but he just groans.

In the woods, Elena is training on one of Alaric's mannequins.

He shows her how to stake a vampire with a sleeve and two stakes in it. "So the pressure of your punch ejects the stakes."

"Easy enough." She tries but the stakes stay in the sleeve. "That's weird." She tries again but it doesn't work. "Must be jammed or something."

He shakes his head. "You're not strong enough. Better start lifting some weights, put some meat on your bones."

She rolls her eyes. "Thanks for not sugar-coating it."

He takes something out of his bag and shows it to her. "You know what this is?"

"A vervain grenade. I've used one before."

"Then you know the element of surprise is your only advantage when it comes to a vampire." He pulls the pin out of a grenade and tosses it to Elena. "Surprise."

"Oh my god." She throws it in the air and the grenade explodes. She glares at him. "This isn't a joke to me, Ric."

"You think I'm joking? Vampires will take whatever they want. They will hurt whoever they want. And they'll do it without remorse. It's their nature."

"You don't have to use pronouns. You can say Stefan."

He sighs. "Look, I get why you're here. Stefan hurt you. You don't want it to happen again."

"But you think that I'm crazy. To believe that I can protect myself from a vampire who's flipped the switch on his humanity."

"I think you found a way to get out of bed this morning. And that makes you the strongest person I know. I think that you can do pretty much anything." He gives her the sleeve with the stakes and she puts it back on.

Elena, Caroline and Bonnie are in front of the school. Elena has a scarf around her neck.

"Here we are." Caroline says. "Senior year."

"Anyone else think it should feel slightly more empowering?" Bonnie asks.

"Okay. So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it, and we are moving on."

"You're right. I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriends hinder this experience?"

"Yes! And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day."

"Today's our anniversary." Elena speaks. "Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year."

They look at her. "Yeah. You win." Caroline nods.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Bonnie asks.

Elena sighs. "I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year. New life." She starts to walk towards the school.

Caroline and Bonnie look at each other and follow Elena.

"Where's Trinity?" Bonnie asks. "I thought you said that she was ok?"

"She's in a candy coma." Elena tells them. "She broke up with Katherine and buried her grief by stuffing herself sick."

"I thought she ended things with Katherine before the summer?" Caroline asks.