Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There was heat all around him as he panted, desperate to release it and get it out of him. His lively brown eyes were now drooping from exhaustion and his entire face was flushed with a high fever. Jeremy couldn’t believe that it had taken Elena and the others a few hours of debate to figure out that his miserable condition was a natural human fever. They had thought his illness had come from some kind of supernatural disease that Jeremy had been targeted for due to being connected to Elena (which caused a few hours of Elena bemoaning the fact that the whole world was out to get her and ‘why can’t I just be normal?’) before they figured out that it was caused from waiting hours in the freezing cold, soaking wet from the river after Damon and Elena forgot to pick him up after sending him into the woods for some reason he couldn’t be bothered to think of at the moment. It just goes to prove that their lives were so enveloped in the supernatural world, they forgot that the human world could be just as deadly and tedious.

Suddenly, the cold seemed to hit Jeremy and he shivered violently as he tried to bury himself in the pile of blankets that he’d kicked off after being so suffocatingly hot. God, he hated this…

What was worse, was that after they’d deduced his illness, they decided that moving him from his own home and into the old and chilling Salvatore boarding house was best for him, ignoring all his protests about leaving the nest he’d created in his bed as they merrily dragged him away. The reasons for this was so that they could keep a closer eye on him and guard him against their ‘enemies’ while he was ill and weak, but since he’d been dumped in one of Stefan’s spare rooms, no one had come to check on him at all. It took him half an hour to finally motivate himself to get out of the foreign bed and get a cool glass of water for his parched throat - weakly calling out and getting nothing in response had proved to Jeremy that the house had long since been deserted. He was just thankful that there was an on-suite in this room - he really didn’t want to try his chances of travelling to the kitchen and back without falling over.

Despite obviously being abandoned in his ill state, Jeremy couldn’t find it in himself to feel annoyed (he was too weak at the moment) as he chatted ideally with Vicki and Anna, both of the ghosts keeping him company as his immune system fought off the warring virus. Odd. It took him another moment to figure out what was odd, though, as he blearily looked at both Anna and Vicki, who looked at one another in confusion at his own baffled expression. They were both there at the same time… That had never happened before...

“You’re both here…” he mumbled weakly, tired eyes looking from one deceased girlfriend to another. And it really was sad that both of the romances he’d ever experienced in his short life had been ended swiftly due to their deaths… “How can you both be here?”

At this, Vicki sat down beside Jeremy’s bedside, the mattress not even dipping, as she moved her hand to caress the side of his face, just shy of actually touching him. Jeremy felt a sudden coolness where Vicki was near-touching him, making him moan in appreciation as he aimed a weak smile at her, “Thanks, Vic,” he mumbled, shifting slightly as he tried to push his face into her coolness. He groaned miserably when she snatched her hand away, looking down at him with shocked brown eyes.

“Vicki?” Anna questioned, looking confused and fascinated at the same time.

“I - I felt it…” Vicki breathed and such a confession had Jeremy out of his drowsy state as he stared up at her with alert wide eyes, “It was a… warm tingling feeling on my hand…” she then turned to Jeremy, brown curls bouncing over her shoulders as she looked down at him, “Did you feel that, Jer?”

“Yeah,” he croaked, before he snatched up his tall glass of chilled water and took a quick sip to clear his throat, “It felt cold… How… Am I dying?” Jeremy questioned. That could be the only logical reason, right? He was ill, he was seeing more than one dead person at a time and he could feel them to a minimal extent, maybe he was slowly crossing over?

Before fear could grip him, Anna shook her head, “No, that’s not it. When a medium dies, their sight gets weaker, not stronger… Maybe it’s your illness?” she offered, though she didn’t sound completely sure of herself as she said it - she frowned and crossed her arms, deep in thought.

“Maybe it’s because you’re alone?” Vicki tentatively ventured, looking down at Jeremy with deep sympathy.

“I’m not alone-“ he went to protest, but was interrupted by Anna and Vicki’s harsh stares - man, did he have a type…

“Jeremy,” Anna started, disdain and anger in her expression that was clearly not aimed at him, “You are sick with fever, physically weak with no phone or laptop ‘cause your sister forgot to bring anything with you when she dumped you here against your will. What’s worse is that as soon as she dumped you here, she left. No one wants to be alone when they're ill… So maybe you’re subconsciously pulling harder on your link to the Other Side? Calling out to me and Vicki so you won't be alone. And, maybe the fact that you’re ill enhances that?”

“Could make sense… I guess,” he groaned at the end, a throbbing pain spiking sharply in his head from trying to think about something so complicated. Looking as pitiful as ever, Jeremy let himself fall back into his layers of cover, a hot flush coming over his body once again as he slipped away from his alertness that had temporarily overcome the illness before.

“So glad y‘re here, Vicki and Anna,” he grumbled slipping back into his heated muddled haze once again, “So sorry, you go’ killed ‘cause of me…” he sniffed, looking at the two girls he would have died for, would have become a vampire for. His eyes focused a little on Vicki once again, “I don’t even remember your death… They took my memories of you… They jus’ took them…” he bemoaned, tears coming to his eyes at the thought. He honestly wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or resentful for Elena and Damon’s interference.

Anna and Vicki shushed him, murmuring sweet nothings as he babbled at them, brain to mouth filter effectively broken in his high fevered state. Eventually, he fell asleep and the girls left his side to wander around like they usually did when he wasn’t there to talk to.

By the time his fever broke, it was dark outside and Jeremy could tell that no one had come home. He felt sweaty and weak still, but he was relieved that the hot and cold flushes were over. What he couldn’t stand was the stuffy air that seemed to have accumulated within the room. Opening a window was an option, but Jeremy didn’t want to be hit by night freezing night breeze, and so sloppily draped a blanket around him as he shuffled to his door, bare feet uncomfortably cold in the hardwood floors. However, when he tried to turn the brass nob, which felt too cold on his comfortably warm fingers, he found that it was locked. He spent a few moments of yanking and jiggling the handle, just to make sure, but it stayed stiff and stubborn against his weak hold.

“Fuck you, Damon,” Jeremy groaned as he lightly thumped his head on the solid wood that was the same colour at the flooring.

“Amen to that!”

Startled, Jeremy nearly lost his balance as he tried to face the sudden and unfamiliar voice within the room. His brown eyes widened, even more, when he saw a girl that he’d never seen before, smirking widely with an amused twinkle in her eyes as she cooly leaned against one of the bedposts. A ghost, if he were to wager a guess.

“Who?” he croaked out before coughing into his fisted hand, “Who are you?” he tilted his head in obvious confusion, not caring when his floppy brown hair fell in his eyes - he really needed to get a hair cut, though.

“I’m Lexie,” the bubbly-looking blonde introduced herself, “Stefan’s friend. Damon got me killed by the Council when I came to visit Stef for his birthday,” she shrugged as if it was old news. Which, to her, it probably was. She then pushed herself off of the post, coming to stand a few feet from the ill teen and her smirk took on a more caring warmth that reminded Jeremy of a mother’s caring smile. “You must be Elena’s brother: Jeremy, the medium.”

“Er, yeah…” Jeremy trailed off awkwardly, “How am I seeing you right now? I thought I could only connect to the dead if I was thinking of them and they were thinking of me at the same time? I remember you from Elena’s diary, but…” he stepped forward, looking down at the small blonde vampire curiously, “I’ve never met you before. How are we connecting?”

The vampire shrugged.

“You know, for a centuries-old vampire, you sure don’t act like it…” Jeremy deadpanned, but it only made Lexie smile wider.

“Why thank you,” she chirped, flipping her long hair over her shoulder, “You sure know how to charm a vampire, don’t you Jeremy?” she leaned in flirtatiously, eyes dancing with half-hidden amusement. Despite knowing that she was joking, Jeremy couldn’t stop the embarrassed blush from heating his cheeks even more than they were. His reaction only got Lexie to laugh, something deep and loud as she threw back her head, instead of the soft bell-chimes that he would have thought her to emit when she laughed - like Elena did, with her little giggle that seemed to drive other guys crazy. He liked Lexie’s type of laugh more. “Aw!” she cooed and if she could, Jeremy thought that she would have pinched his cheeks, “So cute!” she exclaimed, laughing once again.

“Why are you here?” Jeremy questioned, “Did you want me to tell Stefan something?”

At the suggestion, Lexie waved her hand dismissively, “Nah. He’s doing fine on his own… Well, as fine as he can be in Mystic Falls. This place is a curse…”

“Can’t disagree with you there…” Jeremy muttered, thinking of all the misfortune that seemed to stain the place’s history books, from the time of Vikings until the present day.

“Oh,” Lexie smirked, looking at Jeremy with knowing eyes, “Do I hear resentment from one of the ‘Founding Families’ heirs for their own town? I thought you Gilberts were proud of your history!”

“Not when my uncle kills my girlfriend in cold blood.” Jeremy bit out. He’d forgiven his Uncle a long time ago for that. One couldn’t remain mad at a dead man, especially since John had saved his sister’s life. But Jeremy couldn’t help but be filled with bitterness over his Uncle’s actions and his hypocrisy when he’d been alive - those old feelings usually resurfaced whenever he saw Anna and how sad and lonely she looked while on the Other Side. Both Anna and Vicki had described what the Other Side was like, and they’d both described it as lonely. He looked at Lexie, the vampire still so cheery and full of obvious spunk, despite that ever-present loneliness she must fell…

“Hey,” Lexie snapped her fingers in front of his face, grabbing his straying attention once again, bright and open face set in a deep frown, “None of that.”

“None of what?” Jeremy asked, innocently.

The blonde snorted, rolling her eyes in good humour as she shot him a look that just screamed a silent and world-wary ‘teenagers…’ - Jeremy couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up at her expression. He didn’t think he’d ever met someone that was so expressive in his life. “You know what I’m talking about,” she tutted and shook her head, “I’ve been alive longer than you can comprehend, I’ve seen all the looks, including the ones of guilt and pity. I am exactly where I should be,” she nodded firmly, like a woman on a mission, “I can move on from here anytime that I want.”

“Then, why don’t you?” Jeremy asked. He certainly would, given the chance, if what Anna and Vicki said about the Other Side was true.

“I made a promise to always look out for Stefan,” she gently smiled at Jeremy, looking sad and peaceful at the same time, “Until I know he’s in a good place, I’m not going anywhere,” she finished firmly and Jeremy knew that no level of convincing on his or Stefan’s part could ever get her to leave and move on. It was admirable.

“You’re a really good friend, Lexie,” Jeremy gave a tentative smile, his comment barely above a whisper, but he knew that she heard him when her determined smile gave way to a warmer one.

“Thanks, kid,” and if she could, Jeremy knew she would be ruffling his hair.

A gentle silence fell between them and Jeremy could feel that Lexie was gearing up to leave. Just before she left, he reached out, stopping short of her elbow, as he looked up at her with warm brown eyes. “If you ever want to talk to me again, or if you want me to pass something on to Stefan… I’m here.”

“You’re a sweet kid, Jeremy,” was all she said and within a blink of his eyes, she was gone and Jeremy was alone once again

A week had gone by and Jeremy’s fever was finished with. He didn’t feel like a pile of shivering crap anymore and he was allowed to go home as he was no longer too weak to protect himself.

Everything was back to normal.

Except it wasn’t.

For some reason, Jeremy’s medium powers going all screwy while he’d been ill had become a permanent feature and he found himself constantly surrounded by dead people. It wasn’t even just supernatural people any more! He could see normal people as well! It took him a few days to get used to it all, but he soon found himself getting used to the unexpected company. The ghosts around him were generally nice and even funny at times. There was one guy called Jamie Gilbert, who was his great uncle, or something, who helped Jeremy finish his history homework when he was struggling on what sources to use. Ghosts were more helpful than anyone gave them credit for. The only thing that Jeremy found strange about the whole situation was how easily Jeremy adapted to his new way of life.

“And then he was all like, ‘come on, bro’ and trying to get in my face,” Andy cackled, a human girl around the same age as Jeremy that had died around ten years ago. The two got along like a house on fire, both of them being relative loners as teenagers, “And I kneed him in the nuts so hard, he wet himself!” she cackled and Jeremy simultaneously laughed and groaned, rolling back on the sofa as he held his privates in mock sympathy.

“I can’t imagine how much pain he would have been in,” Jeremy laughed, “Who was it? Would I know them?”

“Well, Mr Shrunken-Dick, was none other than Logan Fell!” she cackled gleefully once again, laughing even harder when she caught the look of his shocked face.

“Are you kidding me?!” he nearly screeched, sitting up properly to face her with shocked round eyes, “Logan Fell?! He’s the douche bag that went out with my Aunt and broke her heart!”

“Pure gold, right?” she grinned widely, green eyes shining with old mirth as she looked up at Jeremy from where she was laying on his sofa.

He shook his head as he smiled and went to open up his mouth to talk when he heard a loud clatter from behind him. Startled, he whipped around to face the intruder, face draining of blood when he saw Elena, who was open-mouthed and staring at her little brother like she’d caught him torturing an animal, her phone on the floor from when she’d dropped it from her shock. Stefan was directly behind her, lips pressed into a thin line and hazel eyes full of understanding as he looked into Jeremy’s eyes and then flickered to the empty space he’d been talking to.

“Sorry, Jere,” Andy winced, sounding sympathetic as she looked from Jeremy to the shocked couple in the doorway, bob-cut hair whipping about her from under her green beanie, “I’ll come back later.”

He offered her a smile, ignoring his sister and her ex for the moment, “Yeah, see ya.” he nodded and he stood up from the sofa and started to walk into the kitchen when Andy left.

“Jere- Jeremy!” Elena called out, having snapped out of her shock, and storming into the kitchen after him, Stefan hot on her heels, “What the hell was that?!”

“My imaginary friend?” he shrugged, not bothering to look at her over his shoulder. He gave a long-suffering sigh when she grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn and face her, Jeremy going with the touch willingly.

“You are too old to have an imaginary friend, Jeremy,” she berated him while giving him a condescending look, which irritated him to no end, “What the hell was that?”

When Jeremy made no move to answer, she opened her mouth again to start ranting and try to guilt-trip her brother into telling her the truth, but Stefan interrupted her, “Your powers have gotten stronger haven’t they?” he asked, arms crossed and tone neutral.

Jeremy looked away and sighed, “Look,” he started in a placating tone, “It’s not a big deal-“

“Not a big deal?!” Elena screeched, looking stressed and freaked out, “What the hell, Jeremy? How could you not tell me?!”

Turning on his sister with a hard glare, he stated in a challenging tone, “Because it was none of your business, Elena.”

“Your my brother, Jeremy,” she hissed, getting closer to him, “Everything you do is my business.”

Jeremy couldn’t help but scoff and roll his eyes, “Yeah, right.”

“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” she demanded, but before Jeremy could say anything more, Stefan placed a hand on Elena’s shoulder and gently pulled her back from crowding Jeremy.

“Jeremy,” he started and his placating tone only made Jeremy bristle more, but he held his tongue. Stefan was the one Salvatore brother that Jeremy had no problems with, it was Damon that Jeremy openly despised. “Just tell us, how and when this happened.”

“Fine,” he huffed after a few tense seconds of consideration, “When I got ill, a week ago, I could see both Vicki and Anna at the same time and then I saw your friend, Lexie,” he couldn’t help the sad smile that bloomed on Jeremy’s face when Stefan gave an expression that was in equal parts shocked and longing, “Despite the fact that I never met her before… I thought it was just the fever or something, but when I got better…”

“It didn’t go back to normal…” Stefan finished for him, sounding thoughtful and considerate. He suddenly looked at Jeremy with a mix of hurt and hopeful eyes, “How-“ he swallowed and Jeremy could easily see how much Lexie had meant to Stefan - it made more sense, now, why she stayed behind to watch over him, “How is she?”

Jeremy looked beside him and smiled warmly when he saw Lexie, who was looking at Stefan just as longingly as he was looking at Jeremy.

Instantly, Stefan caught the look and smiled, “She’s here, now, isn’t she?”

Lexie smiled as well, huffing a gentle laugh at her old friend’s question.

“Yeah,” Jeremy nodded, “She’s here. And she’s fine, I think she’s just enjoying the complications of your love life. She said it’s like a soap opera.” Jeremy grinned after he’d finished reciting her message, which made Stefan give a weak laugh.

“She would,” the vampire shook his head. There was a moment of silence and when Jeremy looked beside him again, Lexie was gone, which was what he told the vampire before him.

“So…” Elena spoke up, sounding hesitant, “You can see ghosts all the time, now?”

“Pretty much,” Jeremy sighed as he rubbed his forehead in an effort to ward off the oncoming headache that he could distantly feel.

“Who were you talking to on the sofa?” she questioned, sounding interested.

Jeremy chuckled, “That would be Andy Dowsett, she was the same age as when she died,” he smiled, “She’s been hanging around, looking out for her sister, who has a wife and kids, now.”

“Was she a werewolf, or something?” Elena asked.

“No, she’s human,” Jeremy shrugged and then Elena got quiet, looking hopeful and fearful as she looked up at her little brother. Instantly, he knew what she wanted him to do. “No.”

“Jeremy, we can talk to mum and dad again, ple-“

“I said, no!” Jeremy cut her off, face twisted in a scowl, which she instantly copied.

“Why not?” she demanded, “I would have thought that you were the first one to see and talk to them, to say goodbye, one last time!” she all but begged, looking up at Jeremy with pleading brown eyes.

His own eyes went hard as he glared down at her, “I said no, Elena! Talking to them through someone else and actually seeing them are different things. I want nothing more than to call mum and dad, Aunt Jenna and Uncle John for a quick ‘hi’, but they’re dead and I’ve said my goodbyes and I’ve made my peace with their deaths. I’m not dragging all that back up again ‘cause you said ‘pretty please’!”

“You may have made your peace, but I haven’t made mine!” she thundered back, looking at Jeremy with wet eyes, Stefan completely ignored by the two fighting siblings, “They all died because of me, Jere! I just want to say that I’m sorry!”

“Then say sorry to their graves!” Jeremy yelled, completely through with the conversation, “I’m not calling them, Elena, end of story.” he stated with finality.

Elena looked at him, sorrow and anger in her eyes. For a second she looked like she was going to say something more, but instead just turned away from him, dismissing him coldly from her presence, as she picked up Stefan’s hand and dragged him back out of the house. They left Jeremy in the silence of the house once again, leaving the teen to feel guilty for his denial of his sister’s desperate request.

“I did the right thing, didn’t I?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” Anna nodded, voice soft and reassuring from beside him, “The only one who would have been hurt by that request was you. You did the right thing.”

“You don’t think I was being hypocritical?” he asked as he turned to face her, “I mean, I see you and Vic all the time.”

“That’s different,” Anna rolled her eyes as she moved to the kitchen island, easily hopping up to sit on the ledge, “Both Vicki and I were your friends before we were your lovers. Dead lovers are different from dead family. Trust me, you did the right thing,” she assured him, her hand hovering above his shoulder before she blinked out of existence as well, leaving Jeremy to finish off some of his artwork that he’d been doing before Andy showed up.

Chapter Text

After the argument with Elena, she somehow swayed the others to have some kind of opinion about it. Caroline had been vocal about the fact that she thought it was selfish that he was keeping Elena from finally moving on from their family members’ deaths. Bonnie had tried a more persuading approach and left it alone when he snapped at her (in the corner of his eye he could see Luka, the male witch that Damon had indirectly killed). Stefan didn’t really have anything to say about the matter, he didn’t agree with Elena’s argument, but it was clear that he didn’t want to go against her. Tyler didn’t really care, just said that Jeremy being able to constantly see ghosts was really cool or really creepy - he didn’t ask about his uncle Mason, even when the older wolf was standing right beside him, invisible and watchful over his only living relative left. Matt had been the only one to outright agree with Jeremy, he had seen Vicki on the Other Side and it had caused him a lot of heartbreak to let her go and finally move on, even as she screamed at him to not block her out.

Damon was the most vocal out of the lot, talking obnoxiously loud in a way that had Jeremy wanting to throw a brick at his dumb head, persistent and annoying in a way that wore Jeremy down to his last frayed nerve. In the end, Jeremy gave in and snapped, shouting at Damon about Zach Salvatore in the corner who kept screaming about how the vampire had murdered his wife and unborn child. That had gotten the dark-haired vampire to clam up, pain and guilt shining in his bright blue eyes as he turned away from the teen. Jeremy had left the vampire alone under the silent guide of Rose, an unknown vampire that he had been asked to summon before, who told him that Damon needed to be alone for a while.

To get some peace, Jeremy had picked up his bag of blank sketch pads and charcoal and didn’t tell anyone where he was going as he marched into the woods, to the nice little place by the water that his dad used to take him to as a kid. He knew it was dangerous to walk alone in the woods, that the Originals were all in the town and were bound to start some trouble sooner or later, but he couldn’t stand the knowledge that Elena could ambush him at any second while he was at home. So, the woods it was.

As he got deeper into the shrubbery, brown eyes, that looked a deep auburn in the sun, looking around the terrain as he pulled out his earphones and listened for the water, stumbling over a rock every now and again as he journeyed to his destination. When he saw the waterfall of his childhood, Jeremy couldn’t help but stop for a moment and smile. He remembered when his dad had first taken him here, remembered when he was too bouncy and excitable, causing him to slip and fall in the lake. Jeremy had come out of there, soaking wet with a cut knee, but it was still one of his fondest memories of his childhood.

Shaking the memory from his head, Jeremy took a few steps back and found a large tree that he used to sit down by for hours as he drew, sketching variations of the waterfall before him so many times, his hands were blackened from the former stick of charcoal, which had turned into a nub, and his face was covered in smudges of black from when he’d stretched an itch here and there. With a sad smile, he sat himself down on the roots of the tree, shuffled his song list to a more soothing and flowing tune for the occasion, and got out his equipment, ready to draw.

On the blank paper, he only got the basics of the sketch, mainly the outline of the rock features and the tip of the waterfall. He looked up again, ready to go into more detail and catch the essence of the water itse-

“What the fuck!” Jeremy screamed in fright when his vision was suddenly interrupted by a swinging body before him.

His exclamation got a laugh from, what Jeremy could clearly see was a boy, the kid still swinging from the low branch of the tree as he grinned down at Jeremy with a wide boyish smile that had the teen snorting. Upon a closer look, Jeremy could see that the kid had oddly long hair that didn’t look like it’d been washed properly in a while and had dead leaves and twigs sticking out of the untidy mop, his clothes were items that Jeremy had only ever seen in old movies, all full of horribly-cut cotton shirts, that were called tunics or something, and everything is done up with leather and string. This kid had been dead a long time…

“Hi!” the kid chirped before he dropped down in front of Jeremy - the little rascal couldn’t be more than eleven or twelve years old. He hopped closer to Jeremy, hands coyly folded behind his back as he none-too-casually leaned over and peered at Jeremy’s base sketch. The kid’s doe brown eyes went wide with awe and wonder and he leaned further down to get a closer look at Jeremy’s art. He then turned back to Jeremy, who couldn’t quite suppress a smirk at the kid’s antics, “You are a drawer!” he exclaimed, “My older brother’s a drawer, like you! He’s so good at it! He makes paints from all the plants and water from the river.”

“That’s cool,” Jeremy smiled and the kid beamed at Jeremy, his smile positively radiant, “What about you? Do you draw?"

The kid shook his head, mattered hair swaying from left to right, “No, I want to train to fight and hunt to support my family! Father said that I’m really good with a knife and that next year, I can start training with my sword! I wanted to train with a bow, but Father said that a bow and arrow was a coward’s weapon in the battlefield…” he trailed off sounding disheartened, but before Jeremy could say anything to cheer the kid up, he was back to being bright and happy again, “I have a really big family!” he chirped and Jeremy had to suppress a frown at the boy’s words, only now catching on that the kid was talking as if he was still alive, but surely he knew that he was dead. Right? “I have a mama, a Father, four big brothers and a big sister! I’m the youngest,” he jabbed a thumb at his chest with pride of his familial status, “What about you?”

Jeremy’s patient smile turned sad, but he answered the curious child nonetheless, “I have an older cousin, who was raised as my sister.”

“What about your parents? Do you have any other siblings? What about an aunt or uncle? I don’t have any of those, but some kids in the village do,” he implored, head tilting to the side as he looked at Jeremy expectantly.

“Nope,” Jeremy shook his head, “Just me and Elena. But we have more than enough friends to make up our family.” Jeremy smiled, trying not to make it seem sad. While it was true that Elena had friends to support her in replacement of their lost family, Jeremy had been unintentionally excluded from that. But then he’d built his support around some of the ghosts that he’d befriended.

“Oh…” the kid trailed off, twisting his hands together as he looked down in a mix of sorrow and shame for Jeremy’s loss, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey,” Jeremy started, voice soft and soothing, but it was loud enough to catch the kid’s lowered eyes with his own. He gave a crooked smile, “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m Jeremy. What’s your name?”

“Henrik.” he chirped back to being happy once again. Kid bounced back fast. But the name somehow sounded familiar… Where had he heard that name?

Shaking off his thoughts, Jeremy gave a tentative smile as he asked, “What are you still doing here?” hoping to God that the kid knew what Jeremy was hinting at.

Henrik smiled something mischievous, and there was just something about that same that Jeremy couldn’t quite put his finger on, but his dark eyes shined with knowing and understanding. “I’m waiting for my siblings, it’s taking a really long time, but I don’t mind waiting,” he chirped with a shrug and before Jeremy could say anything more, he gestured for Jeremy to follow him, bouncing from foot to foot excitably, “Come on! Come play with me!”

“What?” Jeremy blinked, but he still found himself standing and putting his things next to a large tree root, “Um, sure. What do you want to play?” Jeremy asked. He couldn’t help but feel awkward by this predicament. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ‘played’, he’d never had many friends to ‘play’ with when he’d been younger had had no younger siblings of his own.

“We can play tag!” Henrik exclaimed, “I’ll count to ten, while you hide somewhere!” without further confirmation, the kid turned to face the tree, hands over his eyes as he started to count in a strange language that Jeremy had never heard before. It was probably a dead language like Latin or something…

Quickly looking around, Jeremy jogged up the hill a little bit more, dodging around the big rock formation that was big enough to hide Jeremy’s larger form just as the kid finished counting down, exclaiming out in English that he was coming to find Jeremy. The kid laughed and ran around, muttering to himself out loud as he searched behind one tree or another with a ‘not here, but what about over there’ which had Jeremy silently chuckling at the adorableness of it all.

Suddenly, the kid’s head popped up from above him with a loud and joyous, “Found you!”

Jeremy chuckled, eyes sparkling with amusement as he stood up from his hiding place, “Yeah, you found me,” he laughed, hand twitching with the want to reach out and ruffle the kid’s chair, despite all the tangles and debris, “It’s my turn to count, right?” he asked and Henrik nodded, smile broad and toothy.

“You have to count, slowly, up to ten and you're not allowed to look, then you can come find me!” he commanded in a tone that was all too used to explaining the rules to someone that broke or twisted them.

Dutifully, Jeremy nodded and did just that.

Jeremy didn’t know for how many hours that he was out there as he completely lost track of time, playing and messing around with the child ghost. He got so enraptured by their games and teasing that Jeremy was shocked when he looked up at the sky and found an orange colour training it, showing him that it was less than an hour away from falling dark. Panicked, Jeremy looked around and found that he was nowhere near his belongings, which included his bag and phone.

“Crap,” Jeremy cursed quietly as he tried to look around for any clues. The river wasn’t too far away from him and he felt relief when he assured himself that he would only need to follow the river back to the waterfall in order to collect his stuff and then head home as fast as possible.

“Jere?” Henrik popped up in his vision again, an expression of confusion and curiosity on his face as he tilted his head ever so slightly, “What’s the matter?”

“It’s starting to get dark and I need to collect my things before I go home,” Jeremy explained with a warm smile, but it dropped when Henrik’s happy expression broke into a cast fallen one, causing Jeremy to crouch down to keep eye contact, “Hey,” he prodded gently, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want you to go,” Henrik grumbled miserably.

“I’m really sorry, Henrik, but I have to,” Jeremy explained gently, “But I can come visit you and you can come visit me anytime you want, okay? And,” he added before the kid could open his mouth to protest anymore, “We did promise each other that I’d teach you to draw and you’d teach me some Old Norse, and I’m definitely holding you to that promise,” Jeremy winked with a cheeky grin, earning a small laugh from the child. Then, Jeremy stood back up and warmly gestured for the kid to follow him, which he did, all while babbling about anything and everything, Jeremy listening intently or chiming in when he had something to offer, which seemed to please Henrik all the more.

It took them about half an hour before Jeremy started to hear the roaring of the waterfall ahead of him, sending a bolt of relief through his chest. Thank God it wasn’t completely dark yet!

Just when they broke out into the clearing, Jeremy’s lips stretched into an accomplished smile when he saw his things, exactly where he’d left them. But, just as he was about to jog over to the tree and start packing up his things to go home, a voice interrupted him, sharp and cold as it rang across the clearing, “Hello, Medium,” the British accent greeted, but there was nothing polite about the sound of it. Immediately, Jeremy’s thoughts jumped to the Original family, but as his dark eyes darted up to meet the intruder, he found that it was an older fellow, in sinister dark clothing and icy blue eyes that rooted Jeremy to the ground. It took a moment, but Jeremy soon took a step back, crowding the ghost child behind him when he figured out that this was Mikael, the Original siblings’ father, who had hunted them down for centuries. He was also killed by Klaus when the Mystic Falls Gang ruined his plans, via Stefan.

Cold blue eyes scanned over Jeremy like he was a piece of gum on the bottom of the man’s shoe, but then his eyes landed on the child that was with Jeremy and he suddenly looked like he’d been punched in the face by someone who was actually stronger than himself. Henrik only seemed to hide behind Jeremy more, a whimper escaping his lips when he peered out from behind Jeremy’s leg and found that the vampire hunter was looking at him.

“Henrik…” Mikael trailed off and suddenly, it hit Jeremy. This was the youngest Mikaelson, who’s death had kicked off the Original Witch’s idea to force her children to be immortal. Suddenly, his cold eyes returned to Jeremy, shocked expression fading to scary neutral, “So it’s true. Your medium powers have grown stronger. Perhaps you're not useless after all,” he then turned to Henrik once again, face unchanged, “Henrik, my son, come here.” he demanded and, if Jeremy didn’t know any better, it sounded as if Mikael wanted to kill the poor kid.

Henrik seemed to have the same idea because he hid even more behind Jeremy, silently and rapidly shaking his head in refusal.

This seemed to anger the dead vampire as his expression quickly grew dark and thunderous, “Henrik! Stop hiding away like a coward and come here!” he shouted and Jeremy didn’t have to look behind him to know that the kid was trembling in the face of his terrifying father.

“Leave him alone!” Jeremy shouted back in defence, feeling a sudden surge of protectiveness well up in his chest for the innocent kid.

Blue eyes glared back at Jeremy as the ancient vampire hissed, “Stay out of this, Boy,” he sneered at the end as he stared at both Jeremy and Henrik like they were insolent children. Offended, Jeremy glared back at the man, trying to hide his fear of him, despite the fact that he was ready dead and couldn’t actually do anything to Jeremy.

“No, you stay out of this Old Man,” Jeremy sneered, “He doesn’t want to see you, so go away!”

“I never thought I’d see the day that one of the precious Scooby Gang went mad!” a voice suddenly interrupted and Jeremy whipped around to see that it was none other than Klaus. It was obvious that Klaus couldn’t see Mikael or Henrik as he kept his eyes trained on, what he assumed to be, the only person in the clearing, who was shouting at a tree. Dammit, why was this his life?! “Though, with that ring of yours, I don’t think it was that farfetched,” he shrugged and Jeremy had to ignore the joyous shout of ‘Nik’ from Henrik and the growled out tone of ‘Niklaus’ from Mikael, which none but Jeremy could hear.

“Such a spineless abomination!” Mikael hissed, looking at Klaus like he was seconds away from just charging the hybrid, “I should have killed him in the river when I had the chance! If only your mother didn’t stop me!” he shouted at Klaus.

Henrik was shaking again, but this time it was clearly with anger as he came out from behind Jeremy and started to shout at his father, “Don’t talk about Nicky like that! He never did anything wrong! You’re just a bully!”

“Insolent brat!” Mikael hissed as he took a step towards the courageous child.

Unable to stop himself, Jeremy ran in front of Henrik, and shouted, “I said, leave him alone, asshole!” which effectively cut interrupted Klaus in the middle of whatever the hell he was droning on about that Jeremy had tuned out in order to pay attention to Henrik and Mikael.

“How dare you!” Michael thundered and both Jeremy and Henrik took a small, slightly stumbling step back.

“Shut up!” Jeremy shouted, getting angry at the annoyance of Mikael, who was clearly just posturing, “Go away, he doesn’t want you here, so why don’t you go back to your little hidey-hole and think up more never-plots about killing the rest of your children!”

Silence resounded around the clearing as Jeremy stood tensely in front of Henrik. Then, from one breath to the next, Mikael smirked at Jeremy with a look that promised the teen that he would regret speaking to the vampire hunter like he just did one day… It was a look that made Jeremy shudder with fear, but before anything more could be said, Mikael disappeared from Jeremy’s view and went back to his silent afterlife. Completely ignoring Klaus, Jeremy looked down at Henrik, who smiled up at the teen with such a blinding smile that Jeremy couldn’t help a small awkward smile back.

“Thanks, Jere… Come visit me tomorrow!” Henrik called out before he went running towards the tree line with a cheeky wink back at the Medium before he disappeared from view as well.

With both Mikael and Henrik gone, Jeremy awkwardly turned back to face Klaus, who’s eyebrow was raised at the teen with the utmost expectancy that Jeremy couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Well,” Jeremy trailed off as he looked at his stuff, “I’ll be going, now…” he quickly jammed his possessions in his back and started to walk in the vague direction of home again.

Before Jeremy could take another step, Klaus vamp-sped in front of him, forcing Jeremy to stop, or completely run into him. However, that decision was ultimately taken away from him as, right at that moment, he tripped on a root and fell right into the Hybrid’s solid chest, the Original instinctively closing his arms around Jeremy before the teen could regain his bearings and try to scramble away.

Trapped in the hybrid’s arms and face beat red, Jeremy stared up at the taller man with wide brown eyes, making himself glare when the wolf was looking down at Jeremy with a smirk (that’s where Henrik got his smirk from…) and a spark in his ocean blue eyes that Jeremy couldn’t quite identify.

“My, my, Little Jeremy,” the hybrid chuckled deeply and Jeremy could feel the vibrations through the man’s toned chest, which made him flush even hotter, for some reason, “You’re not falling for me, are you?”

Suddenly, the whole world seemed to pause for a second and Jeremy just blinked up at the deadly vampire, opening and closing his mouth due to shock before he finally settled on, “That was the most terrible Dad-joke I’ve ever heard…” As soon as the words escaped his mouth, he felt like he could strangle himself for saying something like that to a person that could tear off his head within seconds.

However, as Jeremy started to mentally spiral, Klaus laughed again, which only made Jeremy feel like his face was even more on fire, Damon could probably roast his stupid marshmallows from the heat of his cheeks alone…

“Er, can you let go of me, now?” Jeremy questioned, feeling embarrassed as he ducked his head from the hybrid’s sight. There was a moment of silence and for a second, Jeremy thought that Klaus was going to deny his request, but then the hybrid retracted his arms and Jeremy breathed a small sigh of relief as he stepped back from Klaus, who was still looking at Jeremy with that damn smirk.

“What, pray tell, was that all about?” Klaus questioned and Jeremy’s brain scrambled for some kind of excuse.

“Drama class project?” Jeremy hedged, hoping against all hope that Klaus would take the excuse and let the teen run all the way home to the arms of his demanding sister…

Klaus huffed in amusement, “Try again,” he then started to prowl forward, like a predator circling prey. Jeremy couldn’t look away from those blue eyes as he started to slowly retreat, wanting to keep the distance that Klaus seemed determined to close. Then, there was a thick tree at the human’s back and he had no choice but to watch with wide eyes as Klaus got threateningly closer. “Who were you talking to, Jeremy.”

Jeremy pursed his lips, not wanting to say anything. That was until Klaus let out a rumbling growl by Jeremy’s ear and he felt a sharpened fang brush against his jaw. Self-preservation instincts kicking in, Jeremy blurted out, “Mikael. It was Mikael."

Klaus drew back and stared deeply into Jeremy’s eyes, his pupil dilating as if he were about to compel someone. For one horrifying moment, Jeremy realised that his vervain bracelet was absent from his wrist, and then Klaus spoke and Jeremy’s panicked thoughts ebbed away, “Who else were you talking to?”

“Henrik,” Jeremy answered the murmured answer on his lips loud in the forest, despite the muted roar of the waterfall behind them.

“Henrik…” Klaus trailed off, sounded shocked before he resumed his interrogation, “How can you see him? Why was he here?”

“I can see him because my ability as a Medium somehow strengthened, I can see people I never knew, supernatural and human,” Jeremy answered and no matter what he willed, he couldn’t stop himself from spilling all of the secrets he didn’t want to share with this man, “Henrik told me he’d been waiting for his siblings for a long time, but he didn’t mind waiting.”

For a second, Klaus looked sad, but as fast as it appeared, it was wiped away to a more neutral expression, “How did your ability grow?”

“I was ill and no one was there to help me,” Jeremy supplied, internally wincing at how needy and childish that sounded, “Anna said that I was reaching for someone, which made my abilities stronger, but it didn’t go away after it passed. I don’t know what’s going on and Elena isn’t helping me reverse it.”

“Why isn’t Elena helping you?” Klaus asked, more curious, now than anything else.

“She wants me to call our parents, but I don’t want to, so she’s not helping me,” Jeremy supplied. Klaus looked like he wanted to say more, but then he stepped back from the teen and broke the compulsion, which made Jeremy blink and furrow his brow in confusion.

Silently, Klaus held up Jeremy’s vervain bracelet and the teen’s eyes widened before he quickly snatched it back and scrambled to tie it around his wrist, glancing up at Klaus with no small amount of fear and confusion. Klaus ignored the look as he stepped back, allowing the boy room to brush past him and escape, “Leave, before I change my mind.” Klaus commanded and Jeremy looked up at the hybrid with a little uncertainty before he dashed for his escape, intent on running and not stopping until he was in the safety of his home.

Klaus silently watched the boy go, before looking at the ground and shaking his head slightly at the bag that the boy had left behind in his hurry to escape. Curious, Klaus opened the bag and pulled out a sketch pad. Interest peeked, Klaus flipped through some of the pages and paused in silent admiration as he looked at all the life-style sketches that the boy had etched out for hours at the time - he seemed to be very talented with a stick of charcoal, which seemed to be his preferred style of art. It held a mass amount of people that Klaus didn’t know and he had to wonder if Jeremy had taken to drawing some of the ghosts that he could, now, see without much effort. A smirk touched Klaus’ lips when he came upon drawings that Jeremy had made of him and his siblings. Talented indeed.

As he snapped the book closed, Klaus placed it gently back into the boy’s bag and resolved to return it to him at a later date.

A smirk stretched at his lips at the excuse of seeing the Little Gilbert again, the kid’s deer-in-the-headlights tendency seemed to amuse his wolf greatly. Klaus was sure that Henrik wouldn’t mind if he teased his newfound friend. Just a little bit…