26|BRAVE NEW WORLD

Gemma is sitting in front of the fireplace in the foyer of the Salvatore Boarding House, her eyes trained on the words of one of the lesser books she owns. She'd started out the day trying to actually read it, but with Damon's pacing and rambling, she'd began to worry he was going to snap and she certainly wanted to be around when that happened.

You see, after the events of the day of Mayor Lockwood's memorial, Katherine paid Damon a visit and gave him so rough love as well. Gemma's brother didn't take the heat too well, especially when the older vampire confessed she had never loved him. After having his heart crushed, as Gemma likes to say, he swung by the Gilbert residence and snapped Jeremy's neck. Why he chose the most uninvolved person ever, the raven haired woman will never know. It wasn't really her business. She wasn't particularly fond of the youngest Gilbert.

She finally gives up on attempting to read and snaps her book shut, glaring at Damon when his attention bounces to her. "What?" He hisses.

Gemma blinks slowly, "your bad attitude is really rubbing off on me and I don't appreciate it."

Damon blanches, "you're kidding me, right? You're the poster child for being in a bad mood and you're scolding me?"

The female Salvatore takes his words under consideration before nodding, "fair enough. Carry on."

He smiles dryly and grabs a blood bag off of the coffee table in front of Gemma, pouring it into the empty Whiskey glass occupying his hands. He silently groans when the front door opens, revealing Stefan in all his glory. Gemma has a similar reaction, trying to sink further into the floor if possible.

"Care for one?" Damon questions their brother.

"No, thank you," he says, a chipper tone to his voice. "I'm not hungry, I just ate."

"Are you worried that one day, all the forest animals are going to band together and fight back? I mean, surely they talk."

"Oh, they do," Gemma informs them, playing along. "They rebel at dawn."

"You're so funny," Stefan says blankly before turning to Damon. "I'm just glad that's a blood bag and not a sorority girl supplying your dinner."

Damon pauses before smirking, "I like this. You, walking on eggshells around me because you think I'm going to explode. Very suspenseful. Is Elena worried to? I bet I'm your every conversation."

Gemma would assume killing Jeremy Gilbert out of pure rage would be enough of an explosion, but she supposes her brother and Elena don't think the same way.

"Have you heard from Katherine?" Stefan makes a dig.

The brunette woman winces to herself. Low blow, for sure. Not even Gemma herself would've said that. Ever.

"I think the Lockwood's have a family secret because the Gilbert device affected them but vervain didn't, so they're not vampire. They're something else," the eldest of the three changes the subject.

"Is this your new obsession?"

"You'd rather some unknown supernatural element running rampant among our town?" Damon snarks, "fine. I'll drop it."

"We haven't seen the last of Katherine, you do know that, right?"

Gemma pushes herself from the floor into a standing position, raising her eyebrows at her youngest brother. "Thanks for that, captain obvious. Like we didn't know."

Stefan scowls, "I'm just saying, we have no idea what she's up to."

"Sure we do," Damon chirps. "She came back to get her chops off with you, and to confess her undying eternal love for Gemma, so I'm going to let you guys deal with her because I have more important things to do, like explode. Cheers!" He raises his glass to his siblings and disappears down the hallway.

Stefan steadies Gemma with a hard look and the woman scoffs out a laugh, throwing her hands up in surrender. "Don't look at me, little brother. You're the one with the girlfriend. Who do you think she's after?"

.....

It's later on and Gemma's standing at the concession stand with Jeremy, a slushy in one hand and a handful of popcorn from the teenager in the other. As far as children go, the youngest Gilbert is fairly decent. He spotted her, reeled her in with snacks and now he's questioning her about Damon. In hindsight, what he's doing is suspicious but the raven haired woman didn't care. Her brother could take care of himself.

"Jeremy," Damon greets from behind the duo. Gemma spins on her heel as if she's been caught and continues eating her popcorn. "It's so good to see you alive."

Gemma sees the hint of confusion on his face at her hanging out with the teenager but she just shrugs, readying her for the drama about to unfold in front of her.

"Aren't you a little old for a high school carnival?" Jeremy questions, his eyes squinted.

"A hundred and fifty years too old," Damon snides back, taking a handful of Jeremy's popcorn.

"You're pretty funny cracking jokes when I could, I don't know, blow the whole lid off this thing by telling someone what you really are."

Gemma looks at the teenager, betrayed. She thought they were bonding.

Damon snatches him away and pulls him into the ground, "please tell me that wasn't a threat."

"Maybe it is," Jeremy flashes his Gilbert ring.

Gemma purses her lips and lets out a heavy sigh, knowing that was a mistake.

Damon puts the teen in a chokehold, bringing his lips close to his ears so no one else can hear him. "This is what we're not going to do: we're not going to walk around like we're invincible when it's this easy for me to end you." He releases Jeremy but says in close proximity, threatening the boy. "If you want to tell people what I really am, go ahead and try." He holds up the boys ring before flicking it toward him, the piece of jewelry falling in the dirt. "I'll shove that ring so far up your ass, you'll have something to really choke on."

Gemma scurries behind Damon and falls into step with him, shrugging her shoulders. "So, what now?"

When she sees her brother's amused smirk, she knows they're in for trouble.

.....

When Gemma thought trouble was in her future, she was sorely mistaken. She was hoping to pull some pranks, maybe piss off Stefan; she'd even settle for taunting Elena at this point. What she did not imagine was having to stalk the Lockwood's because of her older brother's paranoia.

"You two are lurking," Stefan comments from behind them, walking up in silence.

"Save your breath," Gemma murmurs, sipping her slushy. "I've tried already."

"I'm observing," Damon corrects him.

"More like obsessing."

Damon raises his eyebrows and nods toward Tyler Lockwood when the teenager cheers at his victory, being undefeated in arm wrestling thus far. Gemma sighs in annoyance, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"He's got strength," the raven haired man notes.

"He's a triple varsity athlete," Stefan says in boredom. "Of course has strength. You're reaching."

The three siblings watch as Mason Lockwood approach the scene, flashing a toothy, smug smile toward his nephew. "I bet I can take you," he mocks.

"Enter the uncle," Damon muses.

"That's ridiculous," the youngest of the three scoffs.

Mason beats his nephew and Tyler groans, cursing under his breath. After a long second of gathering himself, he stands taller and cheers for his uncle. "Okay, he's the champ! Who wants to go next?"

"Gemma wants to go!" Damon shoves his sister forward.

All eyes turn to her and she freezes, the straw of her slushy still between her lips. She quickly swallows down what she has in her mouth and pushes her drink into Damon's hands, glaring at him as she shuffles forward into the crowd. "Yeah, sure..." she clears her throat, contemplating her options. Either way, she'd have to lose. In reality, she couldn't win to a man Mason Lockwood's size and everyone knew it.

She comes face to face with Mason and flashes him a tight smile, "my brother has hope for me."

Mason winks, "your brother's wrong but I might go easy on you."

Gemma grimaces and locks hands with the man, determines to give him a run for his money at first. His little comment riled her up. When Tyler ends his countdown, she tightens her grip and applies all of her supernatural force, her heart plummeting when she's met with a real struggle. "What the fuck?" In her surprise, she weakens and Mason's able to push her arm down, continuing to be the reigning champ. The female Salvatore swallows her pride and stalks back to her brothers, ripping her drink from Damon's hands.

"You didn't put in any effort at all," Damon snaps.

"Yes, I did," Gemma retorts. "I'm not as weak as you think."

He squints at her for a long second before grabbing her arm, "you two come with me."

.....

Damon and Gemma are still discussing the current problem at hand, taking residence in the hallway when the two vampires sense a presence. Gemma tenses and glances to her left, her eyes going wide when she sees Caroline a few feet away, a menacing expression on her face.

"Hey blondie," Damon greets her. "They let you out?"

"I remember," she says.

"What do you remember?" He taunts her, not catching on.

It falls into place for Gemma rather quickly the more she gazes at the blonde, noticing the subtle changes in her appearance. There's a few things becoming a vampire does for you. Making you almost flawless to the eye is one of them. If Gemma were a human, she would've never noticed the difference in Caroline.

"I remember how you manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories, fed on me."

Gemma would usually be worried, and she'd have stepped in by now; but she's going to let Caroline have her moment. The blonde couldn't overpower Damon anyway, so Gemma wasn't worried about her brother's safety.

"You're crazy," Damon accuses.

"Memories have been coming back, in pieces."

"You can't remember," he shakes his head in disbelief. "It's impossible, I mean, unless you're becoming a—" he stops himself and his eyes widen in shock, sending Gemma a look of distress.

"I have a message from Katherine," the blonde smiles. "She says game on." She pushes Damon with her newfound strength and sends him flying across the hall, hitting the lockers and falling to the floor with a thud. "You suck," she spits out. She turns Gemma and the raven haired girl almost feels intimidated when Caroline's icy eyes land on her. The Forbes leans forward and plucks the slushy out of Gemma's hands, sending her a wink before sauntering down the hall.

"What the hell was that?" Damon groans.

"I don't know," Gemma mutters. "But I'm pretty sure it means we're screwed."

.....

not edited.

i think it's been a whole year. i'm so sorry 🥹 please forgive me