Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You)

A while, and after a day of denial, Jeremy was watching his sister finally break. She was squirting lighter fluid everywhere, babbling like a lunatic, sadness and loss in her voice. Kol sat with Jer, watching as she lost herself. Caroline, Stefan and Damon were watching with looks of horror and fear upon their faces
“We need a cover story, right? You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier? Well, what are we gonna say - animal attack, 'tumbled down the stairs'? No. We burn the house down with him inside of it.” she said frantically, squirting the fluid over the couch.
Jeremy chewed his lower lip, shaking his head, wishing she could hear him, “Elena.. please.”
“Elena, stop it.” Stefan’s voice rose in a panic.
Elena yelled back, “Why? Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches.” she poured liquid on said sketches, then kicked something over, “ I don't want this Xbox.” she breathed, spilling liquid on that also, then chucked down the empty bottle of fluid, going to the cabinet and grabbing some a bottle of their ex guardian Alaric’s bourbon, “Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it, I mean, unless you guys are willing to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back.” she turned to Damon, “Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back. Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't.”
She walked over to Jeremy’s body, pouring the flammable bourbon over it. Jeremy teared up, wanting her to stop so badly. He felt Kol step closer.
“Jeremy, mate… lets just go.” his voice wavered.
Jeremy turned to him, “I can’t! We’re thinking of each other.”
Elena continued her grief-filled rant, “I don't know, I mean, does that make me a bad person? I-I have no idea.” Jeremy could tell she was going to fall apart, then saw her take the Gilbert ring off his finger and toss it to the elder Salvatore, “He's not gonna need that anymore.”
“Elena, stop it. You're scaring me!” Caroline cried out.
Elena shouted back, picking up the picture on the mantle, “What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's no - there's no room in the Gilbert family plot.” she chucked down the picture so hard that the glass smashed, and both Jeremy and Kol flinched, “Jenna and-and John took the last spots.”
She chucked the bottle of bourbon at the wall, and it cracked into tiny pieces. Then she grabbed a match and lit it.
“Elena, please.. please just stop!” Jeremy clapped his hands over his ears like an upset child.
Kol tried to speak, “Stop thinking about her… we need to go. You shouldn’t see this.”
“No, no, Elena. Stop.” Stefan practically begged.
Elena screamed back at him, “There's nothing here for me anymore, Stefan. Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died-- my mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna and Alaric, John, even John. I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to-- I mean, how am I gonna-- I can't even-- There's nothing left for me-- aah!” she cried out as the match had been burnt down by the flame and scorched her hand, making her drop it.
Before it hit the fluid, Damon vamp sped over, right through Kol and Jer, and caught it. Elena started to sob and crumble, making Jeremy also upset.
Damon swallowed and said to his love, “Elena, I need you to calm down.”
“No, no, no, I can't. I can't. I can't. I--” she fell to her knees, weeping brokenly, and each sob tore her phantom brother to pieces. Then she grabbed at her head, “No. It hurts. It hurts. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts.”
Jeremy whispered to her, “I’m here, Elena, please just hear me.”
“Jeremy… Come on, mate.” Kol looked down at the grieving Elena, actually feeling sorry for her, “You’ll upset yourself. Come on.”
Stefan looked to his brother, “Damon…” he exhaled, “Help her.”
The elder Salvatore brother went to her and pulled her close whilst she shakily cried, “I-I..”
“I can help you. I want you to let me help you.” he stroked her face, murmuring comfortingly, “I can help you.”
She whimpered, “How?”
“Turn it off.” he looked at her.
Jeremy’s eyes widened, “No… don’t you dare, Damon, you-you dick!”
“What? No, no.” Stefan began, but Damon held up his hand to silence him, then continued.
He said to her, “Just turn it off, and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off.”
Elena’s face went still, and Jeremy cried out as he began to feel her detatchment. There was no expression on her face whatsoever, no sadness, no happiness, nothing. The tears stopped falling from her eyes, but his own were coming down like a waterfall as he tried to talk to her, wishing more than ever for life. It was hard to believe he once wanted death, because now, all he wanted was to be alive instead of staring at his own body, and the emotionless husk that had once been his sister. Kol huffed and knelt beside him, doing the last thing that Jeremy had expected him to do. He had thought that the Original that he had murdered, the one who had been arguing with him for the past day, his sworn enemy would’ve stood there and laughed or made fun of him, or left him. Instead, he pulled him into an embrace, cradling the hunter’s head against his shoulder, trying to hush him.
Elena stood up, her posture straight and expression empty, whilst Jeremy was just trying to reel in his emotions. He full on sobbed into Kol’s shoulder, feeling the coldness of being truly and utterly dead. He had died before, many times, but always came back, and this had a permanent feel to it. Stefan and Damon left the room.
“Jeremy, I swear that I’ll find a way back.” Kol whispered into his ear, “But you’ll need to calm yourself, okay?”
Jeremy was trembling, “I-I can’t… I’m nothing to anyone anymore. I-I’m just a pathetic ghost and--and…” he cried out again, feeling Matt’s grief from elsewhere, a picture flashing in his mind of his best friend crying alone in his car.
“Jeremy?” Kol’s voice was choked with emotion, “I know how you feel… lost… forgotten.” the Original’s dark eyes actually filled with tears, “But I swear to you… It’ll get better.”
Jeremy snapped, pulling away, “How? How can it fucking get better? My sister is emotionless!”
“I swear so is my brother.” Kol swallowed his own tears, “Either that or insane. He forgot about me quickly, and only cares about Caroline. And Rebekah?” he barked a humorless laugh, “She only cares about getting the bloody cure and becoming a real girl!”
Jeremy sniffled, “I just can’t watch her do this… can’t watch her become this.”
“Become what?” Kol looked down, already knowing his answer.
Jeremy replied, “A monster.”
“Bet you wish you never killed me, huh?” Kol tried to joke.
Jeremy yelled, “It’s not all about you! Maybe you should just leave me, okay? J-Just go. Please… please.” his voice dropped to a low whimper, “Just go.”
“I can’t leave you like this.” Kol wiped away one of the boy’s tears away, “It’d be wrong.”
Jeremy hissed, “Your morals went out the windowa long damn time ago!”
“True.” Kol noted, “But I happened to actually like you in Denver. You were a mate.”
Jeremy sniffled, “Why can’t you just l--leave me alone?”
“Because… I don’t like being dead… and I need your help.” Kol admitted.
Jeremy could feel more tears course down his cheeks as he mumbled, “I don’t want to feel..”
“Look, Jeremy, mate..” Kol murmured, “We have to go.”
Jeremy saw Elena take another match and strike it, looking blankly into the dancing flame, then up at Stefan and Damon, who ran in.
“Elena, don't do this. We can find another cover story.” Damon tried to reason with her, but she seemed adamant in her choice.
She shook her head, talking in an eerily calm voice, “This is the best one. No one'll ask questions.”
“Look, if you burn down the house, it'll be gone.” Stefan practically begged her not to do it, “What if one day when this is all over, you want to come home again?”
Her empty gaze lingered on the flame once more, then back at the younger Salvatore and she stated, “I won’t.” before dropping the match to the floor and watching the floor ignite, then walking out with both brothers in tow.
“Elena!” Jeremy cried out, “No!”
Kol’s eyes widened as the flames licked around them, through them, engulfing Jeremy’s body. He couldn’t feel the heat of the blaze on the back of his neck like he had done when he was murdered, but could tell by the paling look on Jeremy’s face that the hunter could almost, the connection between spectre and body one that was undeniably there. He grabbed the hunter’s arm, seeing the fire burn up the stairs, now smelling that sickening stench of boiling flesh, seeing the Gilbert boy’s mortal shell being completely consumed, the fire scorching his arms. Jeremy cried out in pain and fright, and Kol tugged harder on him.
“Come on!” he yelled, then saw Jeremy’s eyes transfix themselves on a photograph of his parents that was being devoured by bright oranges, blacks, yellows, whites and reds.
Jeremy’s voice broke, “I don’t want to… I want my mommy.”
“Jeremy.” Kol took the younger’s face between two hands, slapping him to get his attention, “We. Need. To. Go. Mate.”
Jeremy slinked away from the Original’s grasp, the smoke rising and blurring his vision, “Everyone is here… Everyone I love. Elena’s emotions lie here.”
“Mate...” Kol sighed, “We need to get out of here. You shouldn’t watch your own body burn up, like I-- like I had to.”
Jeremy gripped his head, his dark eyes bleeding tears, “I have to be dreaming… I can’t be dead, I can’t be--”
All of a sudden, they were both out of the house and in somewhere dark, somewhere that looked like a cave. Jeremy looked around, dizzy, disoriented and frightened. Kol shushed him as his eyes scoured around, looking for an idea where they were.
“W-What happened?” Jeremy inhaled to stop sobbing, sniffling and wiping his eyes.
Kol gave a slight glare, “Trying to find that one out, actually.”
“This all has to be a dream.” Jeremy breathed, “I-- I’m not dead, and you’re not here. I must be on the drugs again and be having a-a crazy, drug-enduced nightmare.”
Kol rolled his eyes, “Do you ever shut up?” he growled.
“Look asshole, I’m just trying to-” he was cut off by another voice.
A soft, childish voice sang, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey… You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take… my sunshine away…”
A cold shiver passed through the boys, and Kol froze, recognizing the voice, “It’s-- It’s my mother’s voice. She knows we’re here.”
“Dude… This is creepy.” Jeremy looked around the cave.
Kol backed away and suddenly tripped over something, landing on his back. Jeremy tried to see what the Original fell over, but it was too dark.
He helped up Kol, “Do your vampy eyes work in the dark?”
“I’m a vampire,” grumbled Kol, “Not a carrot, nor a glowstick. We cannot see in the dark.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes, “Well, do you have something that lights up?”
“My phone…” Kol searched his pockets, “Should be in here… I died with it.” he pulled it out and unlocked it, “Ha. No signal.”
The screen was still on his music and read brightly, 12 Gauge - Bundle Of Hiss. Kol gave a sad smile - that was the last song he had ever listened to in his existence. Then he turned his phone around for light and let out a loud yelp when he saw what he had tripped over. It was the savaged body of his deceased elder brother, Finn. He nearly dropped his phone, then stepped back a few inches, shock shaking him.
“Kol?” Jeremy looked to the Original, “Lets go.”
Kol nodded, looking as sick as a human, “Okay.”
They walked with ease through the walls of the cave, Jeremy noticing they were not that deep in the woods surrounding the town of Mystic Falls. They walked until something suddenly caught Jeremy’s attention. A house, in the middle of nowhere, that Jeremy was sure hadn’t been there prior to his death.
“Jer?” Kol turned back when he realised his acquaintance had stopped, “What is it, mate?”
Jeremy looked confused, “This house wasn’t here before.” he went to walk through the wall, but bumped into it face first.
“You are hopeless…” Kol kicked the house’s door open, “That’s how you in-- We didn’t fall through, did we?”
Jeremy groaned, rubbing his head, “Well done, Captain Slowpoke.”
“Hey, just because we had a huggy moment back at Hotel Inferno,” Kol growled, “Doesn’t mean I will hesitate in kicking your arse.”
Jeremy walked into the house - it looked nearly exactly like his old one, only the walls were a different colour. He ran upstairs to see an almost empty bedroom that had two beds.
“We can, for some reason, feel this house.” Jeremy called down, and Kol was suddenly beside him, “So… I get one bed, you get the other.”
Kol nodded, “Bloody need some sleep.”
“Says the vampire who was asleep in a coffin for decades.” Jeremy teased.
Kol corrected, “Two hundred and forty something years, to be almost precise.”
“Okay, Genius.” Jeremy sat on the bed, whilst Kol more flopped down.
He asked the hunter as he kicked off his shoes and removed his jacket and shirt, “You don’t snore, do you? Because I have supernatural hearing and a tendency to kill those who keep me awake.”
“No.” Jeremy answered, doing the same, “Do you?” he clambered under the duvet.
Kol laughed and pulled his own duvet over his head, “No.”
A silence fell between them following that statement, and after a few moments of staring at the Original, Jeremy felt sleep tugging at his eyelids.
He yawned, “We can deal with all this in the morning. ‘Night, asshat.”
“‘Night, mate.” Kol replied.
Jeremy turned around and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him. Kol listened to the human’s gentle breaths as he slept, feeling his own lethargy start to claim him.
Then a noise roused him slightly - a whimper. He saw Jeremy turn again, soft noises of pain escaping him. Soon enough, the hunter was crying in his sleep. Despite feeling remorse, he knew he needed sleep, so tugged a pillow over his ears, and soon enough, he was unconscious, literally dead to the world.