*flashback | 1864*

"Get her in," Jonathan Gilbert instructed as the men carried a limp Luciana into the cart with her hands tied behind her back as they pushed her into the cage where the rest of the vampires were caught.

Hidden in the bushes a little further away from the carriage, Stefan and Damon watched in horror as the hunting on vampires went on.

"Circle around that way," Stefan whispered to Damon, "I'll distract them. Go."

Damon rushed off to help Katherine, who was already in the carriage as Stefan began to yell in order to grab the hunters' attention, "over here, there's another one! Quick, help me!"

Jonathan Gilbert and the rest rushed after the noise as Damon snuck around the back and knocked out a guard before unlocking the carriage and he helped out Katherine. Stefan had joined him by now as he helped how his own best friend and untied her hands.

"Stef, you need to get out of here," Luciana begged him as Damon continued to untie Katherine, "you all need to run."

"Yeah Lu, don't worry, we'll all run," Stefan began to reassure just as they heard a gunshot go off and Damon's body go limp as he fell to the ground.

"No!" Luciana yelled out as she and Stefan rushed to his side, "D-Damon, don't close your eyes."

Luciana took off her scarf and began to wrap it around Damon's chest as another gunshot went off and Stefan fell back from the impact as well.

"St-Stef?" Luciana mumbled as her hands continued to shake and the men ran towards them, typing up Katherine as Luciana begged, "no no, please don't hurt them, they're innocent! They didn't do anything, please they're bleeding! Please, j-just let me help them, please," she went on but all in vain as they tied up her arms again before covering her mouth with a cloth and shoving her into the carriage as her head hit the side, causing her to pass out from the impact. The hunters then all got on the carriage and rode off towards the church where these 'vampires' were meant to be burned.

*end of flaskback*

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"It's so hard to see him locked up like this," Elena said as she, Luciana and Damon stood watching Stefan struggling in the cellar of the Salvatore Mansion where Elena and Damon had locked him up, in order to 'detox' him off of human blood.

"You're the one who locked him up," Damon stated as Luciana glared at him.

"You helped her," she scoffed as Damon shrugged in response.

"I couldn't have him chewing on people while the town was looking for vampires, could I?" he asked rhetorically as Luciana rolled her eyes and him, "and what's with you being so on pissed off about this? It's for his own good."

"He didn't ask to be this way," Luciana reminded, "he's struggling and...I don't know, I just feel helpless."

"We all do," Elena agreed, "but like Damon said, it's for his own good. And we just want him to go back to normal again. Even Damon does."

"Because he cares for his brother," Luciana and Elena said at the same time as a smile broke out on their faces and Damon rolled his eyes at them.

"That's your thing, not mine," he denied as Luciana gave him a teasing look, causing him to scoff before he walked back upstairs, the girls following close behind.

"So, what's the plan now?" Luciana asked as Damon poured himself a drink.

"Well, I'm headed home," Elena answered, "I'll be back soon, though."

"You've been here every day, Elena. I think you need to give yourself a break, seriously," Luciana urged, "me and Damon will watch over Stefan for the day. You take a day off."

"You mean you'll watch over Stefan," Damon corrected, "I have work. Places to be with the teacher."

"Alaric? Since when are you two friends? I thought you hated each other."

"Oh come, you know Damon doesn't have any friends, Elena," Luciana mocked as Damon offered her a sarcastic smile.

"Lu, don't worry, I'll be here soon and then we can watch a movie while we watch over Stefan too," Elena suggested, "you can't stay here alone and Damon won't be here."

Luciana sighed in defeat as both Elena walked out of the house and Damon headed back to his room. Sighing in defeat, Luciana walked to the kitchen and pulled out her recipe book, trying to learn one of the recipes she had marked out.

Over the past few weeks of so many stressful incidents, Luciana had found her way back to her old hobby of cooking and baking and although no one but her really needed real food in the mansion, she would often try new recipes in order to create a distraction and calm herself. She'd cook for herself and Elena, with even Damon joining in sometimes. If there was still food left, as Luciana often went overboard with the amount, Elena would take it back home for Jeremy and Jenna or drop off some for Caroline, upon the redhead's insistence.

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About an hour later, Luciana had finally completed her recipe of spaghetti and meatballs when she heard footsteps in the kitchen as the brunette Gilbert girl walked in with a big smile on her face.

"Something smells good in here," Elena complimented as Luciana smiled back at her, "what're you making today?"

"Spaghetti and meatballs," Luciana answered, "the photos in the recipe-book looked tempting."

"I'm sure it's going to be yummy," Elena said, "your hands have magic. I swear, Jenna called you an angel when she tried your Risotto the other day. Jeremy asked me to ask you to send more, if possible."

"Of course, I'll make some before you leave today."

"Oh please no, you're already spoiling us way too much," Elena joked as Damon walked into the kitchen, having heard all the laughter.

"Oh goody, you're back," he said to Elena, "now you two can watch over my broody brother while I deal with some business."

"Where are you going? Is Alaric here already?" Luciana asked the raven-haired vampire then, "I made lunch if you and him want to eat before leaving."

"No, we're not hungry," Damon shrugged as Luciana glared at him, "what? Okay, fine, I am not hungry. I don't know about him and I can't be bothered to ask."

"Ugh fine," Luciana groaned as she took out a box from the shelf and filled it with some of the food before handing it to Damon, "here, give this to him, in case he gets hungry on the road."

"And what about me?"

"You said you're not hungry," Luciana retorted with a sly smile as Damon rolled his eyes at her words before taking the box from her.

"I'll be back soon," he told them, "stay out of trouble, both of you."

"We should be telling you that," Luciana called out was Damon walked out of the kitchen as Elena placed plates before both of them, serving Luciana's cooking to themselves.

After lunch, both the girls moved to the living room as they watched "When Harry Met Sally" on the TV they had moved out of Damon's room and into the living room instead. Over the course of the past few days, Elena and Luciana had gotten closer than ever as they spent most times of everyday together and had gotten to know each other better.

The two enjoyed each other's company and often had movie nights together where Elena would insist on showing Luciana all the classic movies that she had missed out on over time. Sometimes, even Caroline would join the two girls on the sleepover, having led to Luciana watching "The Notebook" over three times already.

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Night had fallen over Mystic Falls as hours had passed and Elena and Luciana had dozed off while gossiping after the movie had ended.

Luciana was still asleep on the couch when Damon walked back into the mansion and plopped down on the couch beside her, her feet resting over his lap as he sighed loudly.

"Hey, you're back," Elena greeted as she walked back into the room from the cellar downstairs, "how was your secret trip with Alaric?"

"Dead end," Damon shrugged, "although, I think I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis. How's Stefan?"

"Thought you didn't care," Elena teased as Damon rolled his eyes.

All the commotion and noises had caused Luciana's sleep to be disrupted as she tossed around, groaning in annoyance.

"Oh look, Miss Sleeping Beauty is awake," Damon joked as Luciana's eyes snapped open at his voice, "wasn't a 145 years of sleep enough for you?"

"Damon!" Elena warned as Damon laughed.

"What? I'm joking," he said as Luciana sat up on the couch, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the lingering sleep.

"When did you get back?" she asked in a hoarse voice as Elena sat down on the loveseat opposite the couch.

"Just now," Damon shrugged, "Ric said thanks for the food, by the way."

"There's more in the fridge if you want," Luciana told him as he shook his head 'no'.

"I'm good," he said as the redhead nodded in understanding.

"How's Stef?" Luciana then asked as she turned to Elena, "I'm so sorry I feel asleep."

"It's okay," Elena assured, "you've been having trouble sleeping lately, anyway."

At this, Damon perked up in confusion as he turned to the Ward, "you've been having trouble sleeping? Since when?"

"Since I woke up," Luciana shrugged, "you know, nightmares and these...these whispers that I keep hearing in my head. It's all probably just PTSD. I read about it from the book Elena brought me from her dad's collection."

Damon hummed as Elena resumed talking again, "Stefan is...I think he's getting there," she told them, "he's got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with. And it hasn't helped that you've spent the last 145 years punishing him for Katherine getting caught."

At Elena's words, Luciana frowned as her attention turned to Damon, who looked offended as he asked, "this is my fault now?"

"No, it's no one's fault, Damon," Elena replied, "I'm just saying you're not exactly innocent. You blamed him for Katherine, you made him feel guilty for Luciana getting dragged into this and dying for nothing. You...you made it your life's mission to make him miserable."

Damon's face scrunched up in offence as he removed Luciana's feet from his lap and got up from the couch as he snapped, "let me ask you a question, in this important soul-searching and cleansing of demons of Stefan's past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story? You think it's my fault he blames himself for everything? Luciana, you know him, do you really think he wouldn't have blamed himself for you getting caught even if I never said anything? If anything, I blamed you for it too."

"You...what?" Luciana asked in confusion, "you blamed me for what?"

"For Katherine," Damon yelled, "you were so busy helping Stefan that you let her get caught. She was your best friend! All you had to do was untie her and she could've helped us all!"

"You were both bleeding to your deaths!"

"Well, guess what? We did die!" Damon exclaimed back, "we died and when we woke up again, we were in transition. We thought Katherine was dead and so were you! And it was us who were left to suffer for centuries!"

"Damon, I didn't know-"

"Did not know we'd come back to life? Yeah, like it all the best friend bonding, Katherine forgot to mention that she used to feed us her blood," Damon scoffed in disbelief as Luciana got up from her seat and stormed towards him.

"You don't believe me?" she asked him, "you really think I'd let her do all that if I knew? Is that what you really think of me?"

"You had a vervain necklace, Luciana," Damon pointed out, "there's no way she compelled you to forget. You never took off the necklace."

"Damon, I...I did not know!" Luciana exclaimed desperately, "I had no idea! She always told me she fed on an animal diet because she didn't want to hurt anyone. She always told me she...she would convince Stefan to marry her after our wedding and then we could move out of Mystic Falls and start afresh. That she wouldn't have to live in fear anymore and we'd all be free."

"Yeah well, she told me she'd run away with me before the wedding," Damon snapped as Luciana's eyes widened at his words, "so, I guess she lied to us all and we're the ones left suffering for eternity because of it. I was the one left suffering because I was stupid to believe Stefan and think we could actually be alright if I we went through with the transition."

"Wait, Stefan was the one who completed the transition first?" Elena asked as Damon scoffed before turning to walk away as Elena held onto his arm and brought him to a halt, "Damon, you need to tell us. We need to know."

Damon sighed in defeat as he told the girls how Stefan had accidently killed their father and completed his transition before making Damon go through with it as well. He told them how Damon wanted to die because he thought Katherine was gone and didn't want to spend an eternity without her.

"The second Stefan had his first drop of human blood, he was a different person," Damon finally told them, "and not feeding now is his choice. If he's stupid enough to make it, so be it."

"Don't do that, okay?" Elena snapped at him, "don't pretend like you don't care," she said before running back to the cellar as Luciana frowned.

"Where is she going?" Damon asked the redhead who only shrugged in response, causing the raven-haired vampire to sigh before saying, "look, I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's been a long day and I shouldn't have lashed out on you."

"You're apologizing?" Luciana retorted with a raised brow as Damon rolled his eyes at her.

"Don't make me regret it," he groaned as Luciana chuckled softly yet with a hint of sadness hidden in it.

"It's alright," she assured him, "you've had this pent-up anger in you for so many years...you just needed an outlet."

"And about the wedding-"

"Hey, let's not, please?" Luciana interrupted, "it's been a 145 years. Let's not...dwell on all that. Nothing's the same anymore, anyway. I'll, uh...I'll be upstairs in my room if you or Elena need me."

And with that, the Luciana walked back upstairs as she pondered over everything she had learned from Damon tonight. About how they turned, about how Katherine had lied to her all along, about how her engagement wasn't even real. It was not as though she ever had strong feelings for Damon. He was her best friend's brother. They too grew up together and had known each other their entire lives but she was not in love with him. 

It didn't matter, however, when her mother passed away and Giuseppe revealed that him and her mother had always discussed for their children to be together and upon his insistence, Luciana had agreed to the engagement with Damon, thinking she could learn to love him with time. She knew Katherine was in love with Stefan and all the promises that Katherine had made about the four of them always being together were real to the redhead. It was only going to be a few more months till Luciana turned 18 and her wedding with Damon could be scheduled.

But that was all before the vampire situation worsened and the Battle of Willow Creek broke out. That all before she watched her friends die right before her eyes. That was all...145 years ago.