The Beautiful Monster

"I don\'t know what we do now," he admitted. The path ahead wasn\'t clear. He didn\'t even know if they could beat Alaric.

They hadn\'t had much luck lately. They could injure him, but they couldn\'t deal the final blow that they needed to.

"We heal and then we figure out what to do next," Melina said, giving his shoulders a squeeze. She put an optimistic look on her face.

It felt like they were going in circles. He didn\'t know if he could do that any longer. He had to figure something else out, but he kept his thoughts to himself.

For now, he would heal. It felt like a truck hit him since he had been thrown around so much.

"Okay," he replied before glancing around. "Maybe let\'s go to the next town and stay there."

Melina glanced at Tyler.

"Would that be fine?" she asked him.

Tyler nodded, reaching his hand out to take hers. He pulled her against his side, placing his arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"That\'s fine. Let\'s get you on the RV," he said.

Alyssa lingered behind, giving Elias a sympathetic look.

Elias felt like he was splitting apart on the inside. Seeing Alyssa look at him like that only made him want to break down even more.

There were things that he couldn\'t tell Melina and the others, but he knew that he could open up to Alyssa.

He really needed to talk as more and more troubling thoughts filled his head.

"We need to talk," he told Alyssa in a quiet voice. He would wait until they got to the next town, but the ride there would be torture for him.

There was so much on his mind, and she was probably the only one who could make him feel somewhat better.

Alyssa nodded as she reached out to place her hand on his cheek.

"Okay," she said, giving him a comforting look.

Elias sighed and leaned his face into her hand, closing his eyes for a moment and trying to find some sort of peace in all of the chaos.

He didn\'t know if that was even possible, but he could at least pretend for a little while that his reality wasn\'t real.

**********

"We\'ve had a rough day today, but we can\'t let that ruin our spirits. We can still do this. We can beat him."

Elias didn\'t say anything as Melina gave the group a pep talk. He wasn\'t really in the mood for a pep talk, and it seemed like no one else was in the mood either.

Everyone had been beaten on. They were stressed out. It was time for the day to finally come to an end.

"Everyone, get some rest. We\'ll talk in the morning," Tyler said before ushering Melina into their motel room.

Elias sighed as he retreated into his and Alyssa\'s room. He didn\'t want to talk again in the morning.

The only person that he wanted to talk to was Alyssa. She understood him better than anyone, and he couldn\'t hide anything from her anyway.

She could see right through him, and he suspected that his stress was rolling off of him in waves.

Alyssa shut the door behind them, watching him sulk around the room with a frown on her face. She looked concerned as she moved to sit on the bed.

"Let\'s talk," she said, inviting him to sit on the bed next to her.

Elias nodded and crawled onto the bed, moving to sit against the headboard. He placed his hands in his lap, drawing in a steadying breath.

"I feel really lost, Alyssa. I\'m doubting every single move I make," he admitted to her. He didn\'t have much confidence going into this.

Now, it was completely obliterated after their lives were risked and Melina almost died. He couldn\'t take it.

Alyssa nodded, letting him talk.

"Melina almost died… I don\'t know what I would\'ve done if he killed her. Everything would\'ve fallen apart.

Then again, everything has been falling apart since this whole thing started," Elias muttered, shaking his head at himself. He was tired of losing.

"It\'s not falling apart," Alyssa said, reaching out to take one of his hands. "We knew this would be hard, but we\'re going to keep fighting."

Elias looked at her, feeling guilt fill him whole. She was so invested in this fight, and she believed in him so much. He didn\'t even believe in himself anymore.

People kept getting hurt every time they fought. Eventually, they wouldn\'t get so lucky and escape with their lives.

They could only dodge death so many times before they were finally caught in a corner. He felt like they were nearing that corner.

"Maybe you should go home. Stay in the penthouse. You\'ll be safe," he told her. He knew that she wouldn\'t take him up on his offer, but he still wanted to try.

He wished that she would run back to New York, to save herself. He wanted everyone to save themselves because he felt like he was dragging everyone down with his awful plans.

Melina had already dealt with enough trauma when it came to Alaric. She deserved a happy life with Tyler while the world was still in one piece.

He didn\'t care what Scott did, but he suspected some space between them would be a good thing. Everyone would be better off if they all separated, and he took care of this.

Maybe that was a suicide mission, but he couldn\'t stand by and watch his friends die. He couldn\'t handle it. He would rather face Alaric on his own.

He would either beat Alaric and save everyone, or he would die trying without having to watch his friends and the love of his life die.

There wasn\'t a perfect situation, and he knew that there wouldn\'t be a totally happy ending to all this. That just wasn\'t realistic, and he had to start facing facts.

"I\'m not leaving you, Elias. Don\'t try to push me away," Alyssa told him with a serious look on her face.. "I know I can\'t help much besides healing, but I\'m here for you."