A/N I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING! I ONLY OWN THIS PLOT! Ok, so this is the last chapter. I want to thank everyone who reviewed and added me and my story to their alerts and favorites. You guys are amazing. More info on my future story at the bottom A/N. Thanks to my beta Elena Rain.
Elena walked into school, the next morning shaking from head to toe. She had been there a million of times before and this is the first time she ever felt scared and trapped by it. Since when were there so many people? Why did they all suddenly look so dangerous? If she had Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline and even Lexi there with her why was she so scared of being there?
"Are you ok?"
Elena jumped startled by the voice. She put her hand over her racing heart. "Stefan, you scared me."
"I'm sorry, are you ok?"
"Has this school always been this scary?"
"You're just more skittish now, but I promise everything is going to be ok. I'm going to be here Caroline, Lexi, and Bonnie will help you in class too. "
Elena sighed and nodded. "I know I'm being stupid I'm sorry."
"No, you're not stupid and don't call yourself that. Someone hurt you, it's only natural you're going to be shaken by it. But just remember, I'm here and nobody is going to hurt you."
"Thank you, Stefan."
Elena and Stefan shared a hug. The first bell rang and Elena sighed. "I better get to home room. I wish you had that class with me. "
"I'll be waiting right outside the classroom for you. If anyone bothers you just tell me and I'll kill them."
A small smile appeared on her face. She nodded and walked away.
After homeroom Elena walked out looking for Stefan, where was he? He promised to be right here waiting for her? The only person she did see was Hunter Black, he had always liked her and flirted with her but someone had always been around to stop him, Jeremy, Matt, and Damon. But now she had none of them. He knew this too. He smirked and walked over to her.
"Hey, Babe is it hot in here because you're smoking."
Elena rolled her eyes. "Leave me alone, Hunter."
"Come on, don't be like that. You and I both know you secretly love me."
"No, I don't. I never have and I never will. Please, Hunter, just leave me alone!"
Elena went to walk away when Hunter grabbed her arm and pushed her back against the locker.
"DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM ME!" he screamed in her face. Elena gasped instantly being sent into a flashback.
"HEY!" a voice screamed.
Tyler walked over and pulled Hunter away from her. "That's no way to treat a lady Hunter, back off and leave Elena alone. If I find out your messing with her again I'll have coach kick you off the team."
Hunter growled and walked away. Tyler looked to Elena who was shaking.
"Are you ok? Did he hurt you?"
"No, he just really scared me." She whimpered.
"Can I do anything to help you?" he asked.
"Do you know where Stefan is?"
"Yeah, I saw him outside on the phone."
"Can you take me to him…please?"
"Sure, come on."
Tyler put his hand out to her. She looked to him, then to his hand.
He smiled. "Elena, trust me. I'm not going to hurt you. The sire thing is broken. I'm not the same jerk I was before. I promise, I'm nice now. You can trust me."
Elena nodded and put her shaking hand into his. He careful and gently guided Elena through the school until they reached the front. They got outside just as Stefan was walking in. Elena threw her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder.
"Whoa, hey, what's going on?" he asked holding her close and rubbing her back. "What happen?"
"Hunter was messing with her; I think it shook her up a little bit. She asked me to take her to you." Tyler said.
"Thanks, I've got it from here."
Tyler nodded and turned to walk away.
"Tyler?" Elena said looking up from his shoulder.
He turned back.
"Thank you, you're a good friend."
Tyler smiled. "Anytime, I told you. You can trust me. I'm not the same hybrid jerk who is sired to Klaus. I'm your friend. I'm the guy who will always and forever protect you and be your friends."
Elena smiled back. Stefan knew that was a smile of trust. She turned back around cuddled into him.
"Please can you take me home? I don't want to be here anymore."
Yeah she trusted Tyler but she was still shaken from her attack and all she needed was to be in a place where she felt safe. If the safe house was where she felt the safest then, that's where he would take her.
"Of course, come on, let's get out of here."
As bad as the day had been, one good thing did come out of it…Elena could now trust Tyler. She was really starting to heal from what Klaus did to her and Stefan was so proud.
They arrived back at the safe house and went inside. Stefan took Elena into the bedroom and sat down on the bed.
"You're safe now, Angel. I promise. Nobody can hurt you."
"I know, thank you for taking me here."
"Baby, this is your home now. I will always take you here when you need to feel safe. Do you want to talk about what happen?"
"I thought I was back with Klaus. His grip was so tight I couldn't get away from it. I was pinned against the wall and I couldn't get away. He was screaming at me on top of his lungs, he was angry, his veins popping out from under his eyes, his eyes bright red, his fangs in full view, them sinking into my neck and then pain as the blood slipped from my veins…you were talking about school weren't you? I'm sorry."
Stefan sighed. "Elena, you need to talk about Klaus, it's the only way you will get through it."
"I…I told you. He…he compelled me."
"Elena, please be honest with me. I only want to help you." Stefan sighed.
Elena sighed and looked down at her hands. She spoke softly, so softly, Stefan almost didn't even hear her. "It wasn't about what he did to me as what I saw. Klaus went to each wolf clan and told everyone they had a choice, be turned into a vampire or be killed. Very few choose to be killed but the few that did, Klaus didn't waste a second before ripping their hearts out. There was this one woman, and this one man at the very first clan we went to. I was still crying because I thought you were dead. They knew I was human and so they actually cared enough to ask if I was ok and if they had hurt me. This one woman, she was old enough to be my mother, she looked a little like my mother too. They had the same eye color. She was going to come over to comfort me, she hadn't even decided to make the change or not but because she tried to help me…"
"Klaus killed her?"
Elena shook her head. "He fed her his blood than he killed her. I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad, when she woke up she'd still be on my side but it didn't happen, after the change was made Klaus compelled her to be on his side and never comfort me and be nice to me again."
"What about this man?"
"He didn't want to make the change. He refused because he didn't want to hurt me. He was so nice, he just flat out refused to be turned because he didn't want to cause me any harm."
Stefan sighed. "Klaus killed him."
It wasn't a question it was a statement. Stefan knew Klaus well enough to know how he would react to something like that.
"Klaus snapped his neck and his dead body dropped right in front of me. He didn't even know me. I didn't even know him but he had tried to help me. Now he's dead." She choked out. "Same with that girl."
Stefan sighed and kissed her forehead. "I know it's upsetting to see. I saw worse when I was on the run with Klaus, because this time all the wolves he tried to turn died."
Elena nodded. "I saw one of them; they did look very scary, with the blood eyes and….everything."
Stefan nodded with her. "Did you see any of that?"
"No, not with my blood."
"So they fed off you?"
"Not at first, Klaus let them use blood bags that he had, had the nurse create."
"That's why you freaked out at the hospital?"
Elena nodded. "I thought Klaus had taken me back to the hospital to get more of my blood."
Stefan sighed. "I'm sorry; I thought I'd be helping."
Elena shook her head. "Once I saw you and heard your voice I knew I was safe."
"You still struggled."
"Stefan, something you should learn about me, I hate needles."
Stefan chuckled. "Your best friends and boyfriend are vampires, your other best friend is a witch, you can stake me in the gut without a second thought and yet a little tiny needle scares you?" he teased.
She nodded. "I have ever since my parents died. I used to wake up screaming for them, the first few days I was in the hospital, just screaming on top of my lungs and I wouldn't calm down until I saw them. So they'd always sedate me and I guess I just started to hate them."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have laughed."
"It's ok, what you said was funny, and it's true."
"Wait a second, now I see what you're doing."
"What?"
"Elena, did you really think you'd be able to change the subject that fast and I wouldn't notice?"
She whined. "I was hoping…"
Stefan laughed. "You can't trick a vampire."
She sighed. "It wasn't about tricking you, I just….I don't like talking about it."
"I know, I hate talking about when I was the ripper but Lexi makes me talk about it, and remember it. She says it will help me in the long run, that's all I'm trying to do for you."
Elena nodded She buried her face in his chest and clung to him tighter. "Every day it was the same thing. I'd wake up, Klaus and Rebecca, plus however many hybrids we had, would feed off me. Klaus would force me to drink his blood to keep me alive. We'd travel to the next clan and then Klaus would change or kill them all. After he ran out of bags he had to use me, so I was fed off of…again. Klaus fed me his blood again to heal me. At night, I'd have nightmares of the sacrifice and Jenna's death, and then I'd see it again only it's you who died instead of Jenna. When I'd wake up crying Klaus would be laughing at me. That's how it was…for five months. I don't remember where and when he compelled me to not trust the others but I know he did, you told me so, if more happen it was under compulsion because I don't remember anything else."
Stefan nodded. He squeezed her to his chest and kissed her head. "It's ok, you're safe now. Klaus can't and won't hurt you ever again. I'm proud of you. I know right now it hurts but I promise later….you'll feel so much better."
Elena just nodded and kept her face buried in his chest, inhaling his scent as a reminder that he was there was comforting her, as he rubbed her back and gently rocked her. She had told him the truth, she had done something good, so why did she feel so awful? Why was she still scared that Klaus would kill her?
She clung tighter to Stefan at that thought and whimpered. "Stefan, please…." She begged. "…please don't let Klaus get me again. Please don't let him hurt me."
"Baby, shhh, Klaus is dead. He can't hurt you anymore. Michael killed him."
Elena wasn't soothed by that. Stefan removed her face from his chest.
"Baby, look at me, why are you so scared of Klaus, he's dead, he can't hurt you anymore."
"I have to fear Klaus, even after he is dead I will always fear him." She answered in a monotone voice
"Oh no…." Stefan sighed. "…You're under compulsion."
"I am?" she whimpered.
Stefan nodded. "That's why you can't get the peace you need to heal."
"What can we do?"
"I don't know. I'll call Lexi see if she has any ideas."
"No, please don't leave me." She whimpered, clinging to him even tighter.
"Shhh, I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere."
He reached into his pocket and called Lexi. Once he was finished he hung up.
"Lexi is on her way here, she said she had a few ideas she thinks will help." Stefan told her.
"What if they don't?"
"I'm not going to rest, Elena, until you find that peace. I don't care what I have to do."
Elena nodded. "I'm scared, Stefan." She whimpered.
"I right here, you're safe. I promise. Don't be scared."
Stefan hugged her tight and rubbed her back rocking her back and forth. Elena snuggled into his arms and just relaxed into his hold.
A few minutes later Lexi was there. Stefan explained the situation to her and she sighed.
"Ok, we have two choices, one she can try to break it on her own like she did with her friends."
"How?" Stefan asked.
"We take her to see Klaus's dead body? If she sees that maybe it was register to her that he's dead and she's safe."
Stefan shook his head. "The compulsion is to fear him even after he has died. She knows he is dead, she believes it, but because of the compulsion she's still living her life in fear every day that he'll come back and hurt her."
Lexi sighed and nodded. "There is only one other way and honestly, Stefan you won't like it."
They shared and look and Stefan sighed. "Is it really the only way?"
Lexi nodded. "I can do it if you want, but if you do it right she will remember it."
Stefan sighed. He looked down at Elena's who face was still buried in his chest.
"I always promised myself I'd never do that to her."
"It could be the only way to break the compulsion, Stefan; you'd be giving her the peace she needs."
Stefan sighed. "Elena, can you look at me for minute?"
She looked up at him. He kissed her forehead and smiled softly. "I need your permission before I do anything. So tell me, are you ok with it?"
"With what?"
"Lexi believes I can reverse the compulsion with compulsion."
"How?"
"Well. Let's say I compel you to go downstairs and make me a smoothie, Stefan can come in a compel you not to go downstairs and not to make me a smoothie. He just reversed the compulsion with compulsion." Lexi explained.
"But I'll only do it if you allow it. I would never control you without your permission." Stefan told her.
Elena sighed and nodded. "I trust you, Stefan, more than anyone else in this whole world. I trust you with me life, I love you Stefan and so far our love has been strong enough to conquer all. I believe it can conquer this too. Do it, I trust you."
"Ok, look me in the eyes and just relax, take some deep breaths, don't be scared. I won't hurt you. I promise."
Lexi chuckled. "Stefan, you're more nervous than she is."
Elena giggled. "It's ok, I trust you, Stefan. Just please, break this compulsion."
Stefan took a deep breath and let it out. He locked eyes with Elena and compelled her.
"Elena, any compulsion you've been under the past five months has been broken, you will no longer fear Klaus, and you know he is dead and that he cannot hurt you anymore. You will be able to find peace and move on from what he did to you. When I break the compulsion you will remember be telling you this and me compelling you, but any other compulsion you were under is broken, you're free."
Stefan broke the compulsion and watched as Elena blinked and few times. She looked around.
"Did it work?"
"I don't know, how do you feel about Klaus?" Lexi asked.
"He's dead, he cannot hurt me anymore….yay!" Elena screamed. "It worked!"
Stefan and Lexi laughed. Elena was finally free of the compulsion and that meant finally free of Klaus….forever.
A couple days later Elena felt good enough to return home. When she walked in she was instantly greeted by hugs of her family, maybe not blood family, but Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, Jeremy, even Matt, were all her friends and all her family. They all loved her enough and in the end that was why they had been able to overpower and defeat Klaus, because he'd never be able to understand the power of love.
A/N So what do you think? I know lame cheesy ending but I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway please tell me what you thought. Here is a summary for the next story The Power of Tears-All it took was one look at Elena's tear stained face for his insides to explode with emotion. The only words she'd speak were "Jeremy's dead." My version of the upcoming mid-season premiere. I should have it out tomorrow before the show airs. Let me know if you're interested.