open | super super super rusty brief surprise revival...

[otherwise]

Quick and painless — that was a lie. There was nothing quick or painless about having your neck broken. Maybe it seemed quick and relatively painless to the inflicter and the observer, but to the one experiencing that 'quick and painless' death, the brief moments that seemed to go on for hours and sharp spikes of pain unlike anything you've ever felt before said otherwise.

It hurt. It hurt a lot, and the darkness that enveloped him while he waited out his return wasn't exactly what you'd call comforting. Unsettling was more like it. There was nothing. Nothing but a dark veil cast over you, like you were underwater and unable to surface.

But eventually that ice cracked and Matt surged past it, taking a great big gulp of air that went rushing into his lungs so powerfully it startled him. He bolted upright, bumping against the cool metal of the railing that gnashed against the line of his spine. Vision still blurry, a rush of sounds assaulted him: birds, footsteps, voices, and the distinct sound of waves slapping against the side of a boat.

He'd only been on a boat once, with Elena's family out at the lake before her parents passed away, but the sound of water rushing against the side of a boat stuck with him as one of the most soothing sounds he's ever heard.

It had him twisting around and grasping the railing to peer down over it, to try and get an idea of where the hell he was. Had Damon gone back on his word and done away with his body? Had Elena? Had their attempt to get her to turn it back on gone awry?

Matt couldn't say. All he knew was that he wasn't where he should be, this wasn't exactly a boat, and there was a strong possibility that the ring hadn't worked like Damon said he would and death was having a good laugh at his expense over daring to trust the word of a Salvatore.

Comments

[lockwood]

Tyler's been on the boat for months now. Honestly? He doesn't ever want to go home. Why? Because his mother is dead back home, and she isn't here. He can have his mom back -- who wouldn't want to stay for that?

Still, there's a few people form home who aren't here that he misses and when he's making his way out on the deck today he spots one of them. Matt. His best friend. He runs over to him with the speed that comes with being a hybrid, crouching down next to him.

"No offense, but you kind of look like shit. Are you okay?"

Yeah, Tyler doesn't know about how they killed Matt to trigger back Elena's memories. He was on the run when that happened. So. A little confused. But happy to see his friend all the same. Like, a little ridiculously happy, honestly.

[resuming]

"Matt?"

His name is spoken on the edge of a lone, steadying breath. It's accompanied by a bittersweet ache that's almost relieving. The sight of him isn't unfamiliar. The sight of him on the ship, however, most definitely is. Selfishly, it's welcome for all the reasons it shouldn't be - it isn't safe here, despite what the voyage itself would like them to believe, and Matt will always be that boy she wants to protect against all possible costs.

(But then, isn't Mystic Falls unsafe, too? Isn't it true they have opportunities outside of their world they would never have otherwise?)

There isn't time to think about their timeline discrepancies. There isn't time to think of anything at all as Elena rushes over to him, intent on throwing her arms around Matt to embrace him. Elena, with her pin-straight, long dark hair and those dumb Converse sneakers she still doesn't go anywhere without. At least most days.

[vampireboulevard]

Caroline never really gets used to the fact that the boat can just take someone from anytime, anywhere. You think she would, with the number of her friends that are so far back from when they were before, when she has so much time on all of them, but she doesn't. Every time someone she lost, someone she loves, someone she misses, finds their way onto the boat, it's like she's being smacked in the face with it all over again.

(Oddly enough, the first thing that strikes her is that he looks so young. It's such a vain thing to notice, but she forgets that they were kids then, dumb and stupid and while she never changes, she knows that he did.)

It's the fact that he doesn't look okay that starts her back into action again, towel for the pool abandoned as she drops it at one end of the deck, zooming with vampire speed over from the other. Her knees connect with the deck hard, one hand moving to the side of his face as she draws his attention back to her.

"Matt? Hey, Matt, it's okay. You're okay."

She's not sure when he's from yet, but from what she can tell, it doesn't look good.