Chapter Text
Matt eventually left Mystic Falls. He would like to say that it’s because he’s sick and tired of all the supernatural crap in the town, but really, yes—part of the reason was the supernatural crap. He’s skipping town not because he had finally see value in himself and wised up. Instead, he left town with bloodlust parching his throat and curdling in his stomach, wearing a human skin over his monster face.
He left on his trusty blue truck with just one packed bag only consisting of his wallet and clothes. He left behind his phone, everything he ever knew growing up, and a promise to Bonnie that he’d contact her once he reached somewhere safe.
It’s not like he has anything worthwhile in his future if he stayed. He had been striving for the position of deputy before he died, but no one would want a murderous vampire as their town’s protector anymore.
It was really kinda stupid and lame how he died. As a human, he had survived Katherine Pierce, the Original vampires, dark witches, the Salvatore brothers, even possession, dammit—but of all the idiotic times he forgot to take his vervain tea, he had gotten ambushed by a hungry vampire passing by his town.
He could still remember the day as if it had just happened minutes ago...
“Yes, I brought the cups. I didn’t forget.” He repeated in exasperation. “No, of course I did remember the cutleries, Elena.”
He adjusted his grip on the plastic bags, holding the phone with a shoulder against his ear. He dug into his pockets, searching for his truck keys. There was a dull shuffling that he ignored, brushing it off as a stray breeze.
“I’ll see you in ten minutes.” He said. “I’m just on my way over.”
His fingers finally brushed over the cool metal of his keys. Just as he slipped them out of his pocket, he felt a force slammed into his back, punching the breath out of him.
“—Matt? Matt?!” Elena’s voice was faraway and tiny from his phone, the screen cracked from the impact of the drop.
He blinked away the tears of pain and double vision to see a vampire snarling in his face. He was still holding on his truck keys, and he instinctively rammed the sharp point into the vampire’s neck.
There was a loud howl and a crack that preluded the sudden agony in his arm. He could hear someone screaming—only to realize a few seconds later that it was him. The vampire pulled back his head, baring his throat and ripped their fangs into his flesh.
His pitiful human strength was no match against the vampire’s strength. He beat pathetically at the vampire’s unyielding arms, his struggles waning by the second. It was, he mused, a little bit like drowning. The cold seeping into his bones, replacing blood with ice. The odd floaty sensation that seized his limbs, making them simultaneously heavy and weightless. The contradiction makes his head spun, his vision blackening.
The last thing he heard was a furious growl, a hissed howl cutting off and Elena shouting his name frantically.
He woke up a few days later, alive and more ravenous than ever. Elena had stayed by his side the entire time he was unconscious, and he was greeted by her guilty and regretful expression when he awoken. He didn’t need to be a genius to guess what had happened.
A lingering taste of copper remained on his tongue, the remnants of his first love’s blood.
He had wanted to die at first. He didn’t want to become like Caroline and Elena, cursed to immortality with a perpetual taste for blood.
Ironically, of all people, it had been Damon that convinced him to live. Damon, forced to live because of his younger brother.
He drank from a blood bag and completed his transition. He tried not to think of how thin his control was, of how a human throat would replace the blood bag one day when that control snaps. He swore that he would never switch off his humanity. He had seen the damages Elena and Stefan had wrought when they switched off their pain—everything that made them human. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how much the guilt would consume him, he would endure it.
As far as being a vampire goes, Stefan and Damon were the worst that he could emulate. One who has too little control, on the verge of slipping into Ripper mode at the slightest trigger, and the other a vicious, coldblooded murderer who was responsible for his sister’s death. Doesn’t matters if the latter had claimed to have turn over a new leaf. Matt would forever grieve for his sister.
To everyone’s surprise, he had turned to Caroline instead.
It hadn’t been a snap decision; his intention to leave Mystic Falls. He had been mulling over his decision ever since he woke up a vampire.
Bonnie had been the only one he told. It was the only thing he could do to thank her for the daylight ring. It was a plain silver band, inconspicuous against his tanned skin. A lovely present for his birthday.
Happy fucking birthday to me, he thought bitterly. Forever stuck at the age of twenty. The only consolation was that at least he had died a legal adult, and could pass off as being in his early twenties outside town.
She gave him a protective talisman to shield him from any tracking spells, her email address and a promise to update her once every month before sending him on his way.
And then he left.
He left behind a short note for Elena and Caroline—the former to express forgiveness, the latter to tell her not to come after him. He left his favourite football with Tyler and his phone with Jeremy. He owed them that at least. At least they could sell them for cash.
Mystic Falls had raised him, but it had also broken him.
He always knew he would die in Mystic Falls, just not the way he had envisioned.
Unlike Elena, he has no one to stay for. His family were dead or gone, his friends doesn’t need him. His whole life was destroyed in just a split moment, just because a vampire found him appealing enough for a light snack.
Knowing Mystic Falls’ unnatural luck in attracting the supernatural, it wouldn’t be long before the next disaster hits the town. He loved his friends. He would die and kill for them, but he’s tired. He’s so, so tired. He’s sick of the loneliness, the feeling that he would always come second in everyone’s eyes. He would never be chosen first. Never be someone’s world.
Perhaps his brief summer love with Rebekah had made him greedy. She might be a monster, but she had given him her heart. For three months, she had looked at him, and only him.
It made him selfish.
One day, he would die again, and he would never open his eyes.
Rebekah’s brief glimpse of the outside world had been tempting. He still has so many places he wanted to see and explore. The decision to leave was almost easy to make. He just needed to find the same courage he had when he left with Rebekah.