Afternoon light slanted through the boarding house windows, painting golden rectangles across the worn floorboards.
Stefan sat in his favorite leather armchair, Milton's "Paradise Lost" open in his hands.
His eyes moved across the page, though occasionally they would lift to observe Elena, curled on the couch with college applications spread before her.
The scratch of her pen against paper formed a gentle counterpoint to the ticking grandfather clock. These quiet domestic moments had become precious to him since his return - islands of peace in the chaotic sea their lives had become.
"And in the lowest deep, a lower deep still threatening to devour me opens wide," Stefan murmured, the words from the page resonating with something deep within him.
Elena glanced up. "What was that?"
"Milton," he replied, tapping the page. "Just... thinking aloud."
She smiled, returning to her work. Stefan watched her for a moment longer, extending his awareness slightly to feel the steady current of her emotions - determination, hope, and beneath it all, that fierce need for him that still surprised him.
The front door opened and closed with deliberate force. Rebekah appeared in the doorway, golden hair loose around her shoulders, expression hovering between boredom and irritation.
"Well, isn't this domestic," she remarked, leaning against the doorframe. "Reading and homework. Thrilling."
Neither Stefan nor Elena responded. Rebekah's eyes narrowed slightly at being ignored. She pushed off from the doorframe and began wandering the room, picking up objects and setting them down with calculated carelessness.
"This town is unbearably dull," she continued, trailing her fingers along the spines of books on a shelf. "How do you stand it, Stefan? After Chicago, after Paris?"
"It has its charms," Stefan replied without looking up from his book.
Rebekah made a dismissive sound, lifting a framed photograph of Stefan and Elena. She studied it for a moment before setting it down facing away from the room.
"Have you achieved it yet?" she asked suddenly.
The non sequitur hung in the air. Stefan continued reading for several seconds before registering that the question was directed at him. Finally, he looked up, brow furrowed.
"Achieved what?"
Rebekah rolled her eyes. "Don't play dense with me, Stefan. Your dream. The one you used to go on about. Have you achieved it?"
Stefan closed his book, keeping one finger between the pages to mark his place. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."
"Your dream," Rebekah repeated, moving closer. "You always said you had one. Something important. Something you'd never share, not even with me." Her head tilted, studying him. "I'm curious if you've finally gotten it."
Elena set down her pen, attention caught by this exchange. Stefan felt her curiosity prickle against his awareness.
"That was a long time ago, Rebekah," he said carefully.
"Not for me," she countered. "For me, it was practically yesterday."
Stefan shrugged, reopening his book. "The Ripper had many grand ideas. Most of them meaningless."
"Oh, don't give me that," Rebekah scoffed. "The Ripper and you are the same person, Stefan. One is just more honest than the other."
Stefan ignored her, focusing determinedly on his reading. The silence stretched for several seconds before Rebekah moved with vampire speed. In a blur, she snatched the book from his hands, snapped it closed, and threw it across the room. It hit the far wall with a thud before falling to the floor, pages splayed.
"Hey!" Stefan rose halfway from his chair, genuine anger flashing in his eyes. "I was reading that."
Rebekah dropped onto the arm of his chair, draping herself across his shoulders. "Not anymore, you're not. You're going to answer my questions."
She leaned closer, her arm around his neck in a way that could become threatening with the slightest shift of pressure. "Because I don't buy this whole 'Ripper is different' nonsense. The Ripper is only you without inhibitions. Without shame, guilt, or morals to stop you from your desires."
Her voice dropped lower. "Your desires are your own, Stefan. They always have been."
Her eyes flicked to Elena. "Besides, even Elena seems to want to hear about this. Don't you, darling?"
Elena hesitated, then nodded. "I do, actually."
Stefan's jaw tightened. He was caught between them now, pinned by Rebekah's physical presence and Elena's genuine curiosity.
"Fine," he relented. "What exactly do you want to know?"
Rebekah smiled, victorious. "Your dream. The one that mattered more than anything else. The one you'd get so passionate about after feeding."
At Stefan's continued silence, Rebekah sighed dramatically. "Shall I refresh your memory, then? Quote you to yourself?"
She straightened, pushing her hair back from her face and adopting a serious, brooding expression that was a clear parody of Stefan's own. When she spoke, her voice dropped lower, mimicking his cadence with exaggerated gravity.
"'Dreams breathe life into men, and can cage them in suffering. Dreams elevate oneself. Dreams suppressed only burn the heart from within. There are those who care only about life and death.
Those are the dead. For they do not dream. They pursue nothing, yearn for nothing, but the rise of the sun on their skin. Pathetic fools, who only know the present, and are blind to the seas and rivers of future and past.'"
Elena let out a surprised laugh, then quickly covered her mouth when she saw Stefan's expression.
Stefan's face had gone utterly still.
The words echoed in his mind - his words, spoken in blood-soaked ecstasy decades ago, yet carrying the unmistakable philosophy of his first life as Helel- even without the return of memories then.
The division he tried so hard to maintain between his selves was crumbling under Rebekah's precise assault.
"I said a lot of things back then," he finally replied, voice deliberately casual. "Most of them meaningless."
"Meaningless?" Rebekah challenged. "You spoke those words the night we drained that philosophy professor in Vienna. You were covered in blood and more alive than I'd ever seen you."
Elena shifted on the couch, her emotions a complex swirl that Stefan could feel even without focusing his abilities - fascination, confusion, and a touch of unease.
"Did you really say that, Stefan?" she asked quietly. "About dreams?"
Stefan met her gaze, then looked away. "It was a different time."
"The time doesn't matter," Rebekah insisted. "The sentiment does. The Ripper wasn't some separate entity possessing you, Stefan. He was you without constraints. Your philosophy, your desires, just... uninhibited."
Stefan stood abruptly, dislodging Rebekah from her perch. He moved to the window, putting distance between himself and both women.
"What's your point with all this, Rebekah?" he asked, staring out at the afternoon light filtering through the trees. "Why dredge up the past?"
"Because I'm curious," she replied simply. "Do you have friends, Stefan?"
The question seemed to come from nowhere. Elena frowned, confusion evident on her face.
"What do you mean?" Elena asked. "Of course he has friends. Caroline, Bonnie, Matt-"
Rebekah waved a dismissive hand. "Not in the conventional sense people use the term. Stefan always had a... different take on friendship."
She approached Stefan at the window, her reflection appearing beside his in the glass. "To Stefan, only those who are equal to him in all respects can be his friends. That's why those he cares for, he doesn't truly call them friends. He calls them brother, sister or in the case of his women, dear, beloved, girlfriend."
Stefan remained silent, but Elena could see the tension in his shoulders.
"When Stefan first met us - Nik and me - and learned what we were..." Rebekah continued, her voice softening with memory. "I can never forget the look on his face. That expression of wonder at finding something so much above him."
She turned to face the room, leaning against the window beside Stefan. "He told me once that whenever he found someone more knowledgeable or stronger than him, he pursued everything about them. Wanted to possess everything about them, to rise above them."
Her eyes gleamed with remembered pleasure. "And apparently, Nik and I were his greatest challenges."
Stefan's silence was confirmation enough. Elena watched him, seeing aspects of the man she loved that she'd never fully recognized before.
"I still remember how you described us one night," Rebekah said, her voice losing its mocking edge, becoming almost wistful. She mimicked Stefan again, but this time without humor, with yearning instead:
"'You two are like the stars in the Heavens. Ones who are brighter than the sun and moon in the sky. I see it so clearly. Your radiance shines so brilliantly it blinds me. Bekah... Nik... How I seek to one day pluck you two from the skies, into my hands, and hold your lives within my palms, like you currently hold mine.'"
The words hung in the air between them. Elena's breath caught at their intensity - the reverence and ambition tangled together.
"I was always arrogant as the Ripper," Stefan said finally, his voice flat.
"Then deny it," Rebekah challenged immediately. "State right here, right now, that that is no longer the case. Give your word that you aren't lying, and deny it."
Stefan opened his mouth, then closed it again. His silence was answer enough.
Rebekah studied him, head tilted. "But something's changed, hasn't it? You... no longer look at us - at Nik and me - the same way."
She moved closer, her movements deliberate. "And it isn't about being used to our presence. You spent months with us before, and always had that look in your eyes."
Stefan remained still, face carefully neutral as she circled him.
"You haven't called Nik 'friend' even once in the week since I've been awake," she observed. "And you always loved to - while Nik called you brother, you always called him friend. Since Klaus was someone you saw as an equal, if not above you. Someone you wanted to reach, to conquer. Prove yourself superior."
She paused directly in front of him, eyes searching his. "Nik was always amused by it. He enjoyed it, in his way. But you don't do that anymore. You call him 'brother' now."
Her voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "Do you think yourself superior to Nik now, Stefan? If so... why?"
The question hung between them like a blade. Stefan felt Elena's alarm spike through their connection.
"You aren't stupid," Rebekah continued, relentless. "You've been acting strange. Different. And for some reason, you feel more... powerful these days."
Stefan's mind raced. He couldn't deny it - not entirely.
With his memories of his first life as Helel returned, with his psychic abilities awakening, his perception of Klaus had shifted.
He had always been... ambitious in his first life. Seeking knowledge of the essence of truth. Philosophizing, learning, studying, be it science or religion.
He looked through it all, and formed his view of the world...
The Original Hybrid was still dangerous, still physically stronger, but no longer seemed the untouchable god-like figure of before.
Klaus was growing arrogant, building armies rather than improving himself. Meanwhile, Stefan was evolving daily, unlocking abilities Klaus couldn't fathom.
Stefan was the one who unlocked the secrets of compulsion. The one seeking to improve himself, rather than surround himself by 'Yes' men.
In a direct confrontation, Klaus would still win - for now - but with planning, with his growing powers...
Not that he had any plans to act on it.
Since the memory return, Klaus would need to do something... drastic, for Stefan's brotherly love for him to be tossed aside- if it even can be fully, for like with Damon, Nik has carved himself into his heart as a true brother.
Before Stefan could formulate a response, Rebekah burst into laughter. The sudden shift was jarring, her musical laughter filling the room as she pointed at his face.
"You should see the look on your face!" she exclaimed, wiping a mock tear from her eye. "Like a deer caught under a hunter's knife!"
She shook her head, still chuckling. "I'm messing with you, Stefan. No one is stupid enough - let alone dear, brilliant Stef - to think themselves above my big brother."
She reached for his hand, bringing it to her lips and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. The gesture was both affectionate and claiming in a way, her eyes never leaving his.
"I'm famished," she announced, rising and stretching languidly. "I'd love for you to cook something, Stefan. You always were magnificent in the kitchen."
She moved toward the door with casual grace. "I'm going to get some fresh air. Let me know when dinner's ready."
The front door closed behind her with a soft click, leaving Stefan and Elena in silence. Stefan didn't buy Rebekah's sudden reversal for a second.
She had seen something in him -something that alarmed her enough to back away from the conversation.
She was protecting him, in her way. Ensuring that such a challenge to Klaus would never reach the Original Hybrid's ears.
She still... cared.
Elena broke the silence first. "Is it true? What she said about how you see friendship?"
Stefan crossed the room to retrieve his fallen book, buying time to compose his thoughts. "Rebekah has her own interpretations of things."
"That's not an answer," Elena observed quietly.
Stefan straightened, the book in his hands. "I value different relationships differently," he admitted carefully. "Always have."
Elena nodded slowly, processing this. "And what she said about dreams? About pursuing those stronger than you?"
Stefan returned to his chair, setting the book on the side table rather than reopening it. "Everyone has dreams, Elena. Ambitions. Things they want to achieve."
'Mine simply are to create a universe, a dimension of my own, so that I can control life and death, connect it to this one, and have you be immortal with me.' Stefan thought to himself- though as he did, he bit back a chuckle at how absurd that would sound to anyone who didn't know the potential he truly had right now.
"That's still not an answer," she said, but her tone was gentle rather than accusatory.
Stefan met her gaze. "Some parts of me haven't changed as much as I'd like to think," he said finally. "The Ripper... Loathe as I am to admit it, he's not separate from me. Just uninhibited, as Rebekah said."
Elena rose from the couch and came to perch on the arm of his chair, taking the spot Rebekah had vacated. "I'm not afraid of that, you know. Of all of you. I never have been."
She took his hand, her fingers warm against his cooler skin. "I just want to understand."
Stefan squeezed her hand gently. "I know."
His gaze drifted to the doorway where Rebekah had disappeared. The Original had backed away from the precipice, but Stefan knew with absolute certainty - she'd seen exactly what lay beyond it.
And yet still loved him, wanted to protect him.
He would protect her too for that.
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(Author note: So... A yandere, ambitious human, was Helel. I find the thought... fascinating. Hope you guys like it too. Do tell me what you think of Stefan now.
Well, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)