September 6, 2010

Elena lay in bed staring at the alarm clock that reads; 5:15 am, contemplating the events of the past few days with a clarity of hindsight that only her bed could give her. Considering that nothing in her life ever worked out the way it was supposed to, she figured it made some kind of bizarre sense that in the course of getting Stefan back, he would lose his humanity.

Shaking her head, she sat up, swinging her legs on the floor. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess as she got dressed and continued to tumble over each other as she brushed her hair.

Her eyes were drawn to the photos littering her mirror. Immediately, Elena was assaulted by smiling, happy snapshots of her and Stefan - most from that blissful Golden Era where Katherine had been a faceless memory. Looking at them now was like looking at someone else's life, the next doppelganger that could do a better job than her.

Down the hall in the other room, Louise was sat on her window seat, knees pulled to her chest with her journal resting on them as she scribbled in it.

Dear diary,

I can't believe it.

Here I am in my childhood home at 5:30 in the morning, just a few hours before my senior year of high school begins.

I remember the morning of my junior year so vividly, the last morning of my life before the Salvatore brothers were introduced. The Louise I was then — the one who should be here now — was so lost. I didn't feel like I belonged here, or like I belonged anywhere. I was searching for something that was just out of reach.

My bedroom looks just the way it always did, warm and cosy. My bay window gives me a view onto the quince tree outside. Down the hall is my twin sister, Elena and next door my darling baby brother, Jeremy.

Everything feels as if I might break it, it's so fragile. This moment has been gone for years.

Louise stopped writing and stared at her last line, shaking her head. Soon, she'd see everyone, everything, unchanged. They'd been so naïve — in a good way — focused on popularity and high school romances, and unaware of the darkness that hovered just outside their pleasant lives. She'd never appreciated what she had then. This time, she'd know to savour those moments of innocence.

With a heavy sigh, she closed her journal and tossed it to the side before swinging her legs onto the floor. She made her way towards her bedroom door and stepped out, making her way down the hall and toward her sister's room.

Approaching the closed door, she listened intently for any sound of life inside, but all she heard was silence. Knocking once, she waited a few long moments before knocking again and twisting the doorknob, calling out softly. "Elena?"

Her gaze drawn immediately toward the vanity where Elena sat, staring listlessly at her reflection in the mirror.

Louise eased into the room, watching her sister sweep her hair over her shoulder to expose the smooth column of her throat revealing the twin bite marks - angry and red. She probed the swollen wound with trembling fingers, wincing at the slight contact and jerking her hand away as her eyes filled with tears.

"Elena." Louise said quietly, not wanting to scare her. She jumped like a frightened kitten anyway, twisting in her seat as she frantically rearranged her hair to hide the bite marks.

"Louise." she said, blinking furiously to banish the tears. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I knocked twice." Louise said, leaving the door open a crack as she made her way to the foot of her sister's bed and sank to the mattress.

"Oh." Elena replied, her cheeks turning pink as she offered a small smile. "Sorry, I'm a little slow. I haven't been sleeping well."

I can't imagine why, Louise thought as she watched Elena wrap a hair tie around her finger so tightly that the tip turned white. She probably wasn't sleeping at all. As usual, she was doing everything she could to keep it together.

Elena absently tucked her hair behind her ear, inadvertently baring the bite marks on her neck. Every instinct she had warned Louise against bringing it up but her gaze was drawn to the wound and she had to know. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Elena said automatically, avoiding her sister's eye as she curled her fingers into fists. Her eyes began filling with tears at an alarming rate, revealing just how tightly she was clinging to control and how close she was to an emotional breakdown.

"Are you sure?" Louise asked, prying a little. Moving forward on the bed, she inched closer to her. "Elena."

Pressing her lips together into a hard line, Elena looked toward the ceiling and swallowed. "It...um...really hurts." she finally revealed in a small voice that was beginning to break. "I didn't expect it to hurt so much. Isn't that stupid? I mean, it's a vampire bite, of course it...it hurts."

"I'm sor-"

"Do you think it's going to scar?" she asked as the first tear slipped down her cheek.

"I don't...know." Louise answered honestly before rising from the bed in a sudden burst of inspiration. She couldn't undo what Stefan had done, but maybe she could help erase the evidence. "I could ask Damon for his blood for you. It'll heal the bite, take away the pain-"

"No." Elena cried, leaping skittishly to her feet and backing away from her twin toward the window as she shook her head vehemently. "No, Louise. No more blood, no more biting, please. I don't...I can't."

"Okay." Louise replied, holding her hands in acquiescence as she gave her some space. "Okay. No blood, Elena. It was just an idea."

Elena nodded jerkily, her breathing heavy as she shifted her weight from foot to foot and wiped away the tears that continued to fall relentlessly down her cheeks. Her mouth worked soundlessly, opening and closing on phantom syllables until finally Louise could make out the words.

"Why?" she asked, running both hands through her hair as she paced, her breaths coming in tortured gasps as her chest heaved. "Why did he do this? I know that he was compelled, but why couldn't he fight it? Why couldn't stop? How could Stefan...how could he..." she stopped directly in front of Louise, gazing at her through lashes clumped with tears. "How could he do this to me?"

Louise had a second to flounder for an answer as her heart broke for her twin.

━ ➶ 𓆉｡˚ ✧ ༉‧₊˚. ━

"Here we are. Senior year." Caroline stated she stood with Elena, Louise and Bonnie staring at Mystic Falls High.

Bonnie eyed the school, feeling sort of defeated. "Anyone else think it should feel slightly more empowering?"

"Like we need to feel anymore empowering." Louise muttered with a light scoff. Then she started pointing between her friends. "You're a witch, you're a doppelganger, Caroline's a vampire and I'm a seer/doppelganger...we're pretty much too overpowered for this school."

"But still, it seems as if we've spent forever trying to get here, and now we're here, it's been ruined and pushed aside by something bigger." Bonnie stated.

"Okay. So prank night was a bust. But we are accepting it, and we are moving on." Caroline jutted out her chin and nodded.

"You're right. I mean, why should I let the fact that my boyfriend is seeing the ghost of his dead girlfriends hinder this experience?" Bonnie said sadly, sarcasm dripping in her voice.

Joining in, Louise added. "Or the fact that I had to watch my best friend nearly drain my sister dry and now some ancient hybrid is obsessed with my blood put me in a mood?"

"Yes!" Caroline cheered. "And why should I let the fact that my boyfriend was turned into a hybrid put a damper on an otherwise fabulous day."

The three girls stood in front of their friend with forced smiles on their faces. Finally, breaking her silence, Elena announced. "Today's our anniversary. Technically, Stefan and I met on the first day of school last year."

Louise and Caroline shared an uncomfortable glance before the blonde muttered. "Yeah. You win."

Bonnie raised a brow. "Are you sure you want to be here?"

"I have to be here. I have to put it behind me. New year. New life." Elena nodded confidently as she walked towards the school building. The three supernaturals all glanced at each other. Caroline was the first to follow after Elena. Shaking her head with wry amusement, Louise went to follow suit but a hand dragged her back.

"Oh!" she said, taking a step back to look at Bonnie. Immediately, concern replaced some of her good humour at the serious expression on the witch's face. "What's wrong?"

"I had the dream again." Bonnie explained without preamble, worry creasing her brow. Stifling an exasperated sigh, Louise looked longingly towards the school building. She didn't need to ask her friend for clarification, she'd been hearing about 'the dream' for a week now.

The first time it happened, a day after she'd return from Klaus, Bonnie had called her in a panic, waking her from a deep sleep. Louise had been struggling to clear the cobwebs from her brain as her friend had peppered her with questions, demanding to know if she was still human. Lying next to her, Damon had snatched the phone from her hand and asked Bonnie what the hell she was talking about. After a series of terse reassurances that he hadn't turn anybody into anything, Bonnie had explained the accusation.

"I'm walking through the school, searching for Louise because she's in danger, but I don't know why." Bonnie explained as Damon had put the phone on speaker so Louise could hear as well. "I come to turn down the corridor and my heart starts beating faster and I can't breathe because somehow I know what I'm going to find."

Louise's heart had been in her throat, rending her mute, so Damon had prodded Bonnie. After taking a moment to collect herself, she had continued. "You're lying on the floor covered in blood. I'm crying trying to get to you, but the hallway seem so long and I'm not even half way there when you move. You open your eyes and sit up. I can't speak, but I watch as you start to...to change. You-you were a vampire."

Louise's had been overcome by a heady mixture of panic and expectation. Bonnie's dreams had been prophetic before and this one seemed particularly vivid. Damon, however, had dismissed it as nothing but an overactive imagination, a nightmare brought on by the ordeal with Klaus and the fact that he had given Louise his blood.

Bonnie, however, had refused to let it go, and in the past week, she'd had the dream three times. This latest occurrence brought the grand total to four and Louise was running out of ways to reassure her friend her mortal life wasn't on the line.

"Louise, did you hear what I said?" Bonnie demanded in a low voice as she glanced nervously at the passing throng of students. "I had the dream. Again. That makes four times."

"I know, I heard you." Louise murmured, preparing to explain yet again that she was very much human and - if Damon had anything to say about it - very much going to stay that way.

"That's all you can say?" she asked incredulously.

"What do you want me to say?" Louise countered. Lowering her voice, she inched closer. "It's just a dream, Bonnie."

"But what if not?" she pressed, grabbing Louise's arm. "What if it's..."

"A prophesy?" Louise concluded, raising a brow. "Bonnie, come on, we've been over this. If this was anything other than some kind of trauma induced nightmare it would have happened already."

After a long pause during which the parking lot continued to empty, Bonnie offered a small shrug, mumbling. "I know." A moment later, however, the urgency was back. "It's getting more detailed, though. I can, like, smell the blood and when you wake up, you're-"

"Have you ever heard of a prophetic dream taking so long to play out?" Louise interrupted before Bonnie could further hint what Vampire Dream-Louise had done, driving the point home for what she hoped would be the last time.

Bonnie pursed her lips and took even longer to respond. "No."

"No." Louise repeated, smiling as she touched Bonnie's shoulder. "Look, I appreciate that you're worried about me."

"But-"

"But nothing." she sook her head. "Even if there is some truth to it - some truth that's taking it's sweet time to materialise - Damon's not going to let me turn into a vampire, okay?"

Chewing her bottom lip, Bonnie eyed her with obvious indecision. There were only a handful of students in the parking lot and Louise waited for her friend to admit defeat. Bonnie sighed. "I know he won't. I'm sorry for being such a pain, it's just...it's so real, Louise."

"No, it's a dream." Louise assured her. "Remember that, Bonnie. It's only a dream."

Somewhat, mollified, Bonnie smile and they turn toward the school.

━ ➶ 𓆉｡˚ ✧ ༉‧₊˚. ━

Vivienne paced the small, dark Mausoleum, trying to ignore the way the wall seemed to be closing in on her. Her and Katherine were attempting to coax Mikael awake by offering him blood and animals that he could eat and still he hadn't moved so much as an eyelid. She was growing impatient waiting for the vampire to wake.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty, wake up already." Vivienne huffed in annoyance as the Original continued to lie there unmoving. She continued to pace.

"Come on, Mikael." Katherine taunted, dangling a mouse in front of his face. "Breakfast." She glanced over at her sister when she heard her phone ring but averted her eyes back to Mikael. "Mm, yummy. Mikael, wake up!" she huffed in annoyance as the Original continued to lie there unmoving.

"What?" Vivienne snapped into the phone once she put it to her ear.

"What? What do you mean, "what"? I've been calling you for two days." Her ex-lover's voice rang through the phone.

Pacing again, Vivienne replied. "Odd, that's exactly how long I've been ignoring you."

"Jeremy Gilbert told me that you and Katherine found Mikael."

"Sort of. He's a little bit out of commission. He won't eat." Running a hand through her hair, Vivienne stalked back to the coffin just as Katherine tossed the mouse onto Mikael's chest in annoyance. "And I've tried everything...Gravediggers, mourners, mice, rats, bats. He's just not interested."

"Well, try harder. We need him to kill Klaus so I can de-rippefy Stefan before he destroys my house."

"Fine." Vivienne hissed as she turned on her heel. Through the crypt door window she saw a man in the cemetery, a bouquet of flowers in his hands, standing in front of a gave. Her eyes darkened. "I'll give it another shot." She put the phone back in her trouser pocket and glared at Mikael. "I'll be right back." She muttered before slipping out the door.

Katherine gave her sister a sceptical look. Not longer than five minutes was Vivienne pushing the crypt door open as she dragged a now dead's man body behind her. She wasted no time moving toward the coffin and held the body above a mummified Mikael. A few drops of blood fell into Mikael's mouth. Normal, human colour returned to his skin, still a bit pale. What took nearly an hour to begin was over in a matter of seconds as Mikael's eyes flew open and stared at the twins, blinking in the dim light.

"No! Get it away!" Mikael ordered as he rattled in the chains.

"You need blood." Katherine grumbled, quickly recovering from her shock.

"Get it away from me!" Mikael hollered.

With a roll of her eyes, Vivienne hurled the body across the room before dusting off her hands. "Happy?"

"Thank you." Mikael replied dryly.

"I remember you. Chicago, 1920s. You were looking for Klaus." Katherine mused and Vivienne nodded in memory just as Mikael closed his eyes once again.

"You're not so scary for a...badass vampire vampire Hunter." Vivienne added.

━ ➶ 𓆉｡˚ ✧ ༉‧₊˚. ━

Louise grumbled under her breath as she opened her locker and shoved her math books inside. Her phone rang and she sighed, knowing quite well who it was - Damon - she had been ignoring his calls for the last two school periods after all. "What?" Louise snapped when she put the phone to her ear, prompting it up with her shoulder as she searched for her history notebook.

"You've been ignoring me."

Louise gasped sarcastically. "Oh, you picked up on that huh?"

"You're still mad." Damon noted.

"Yeah I'm still mad that you left my brother with Katherine and Vivienne!" She grabbed her book and furiously slammed her locker door shut. She held the phone to her ear properly. "You left him with two psychotic vampires who kidnapped him. You hurt him!"

"And it was all for a valid cause! Did you miss the part where Klaus ran the hell out of here when I told him we found Mikael?" Damon sighed. "Yes, I had to rough up your brother to get his ghostly girlfriend to talk but it wasn't personal."

Louise was fiercely protective of her little brother and Damon had to have know she would give him grief for touching him. "I bet you didn't even try asking him nicely." she sneered.

"That would have been a waste of precious time."

"You don't know that."

"No, I don't." Damon admitted. "But Jeremy's perfectly fine. Katherine and Vivienne are waking Mikael and soon Klaus will be dead. It's a win."

"Whatever." Louise muttered.

"I've said I'm sorry, okay?" Damon apologised and when Louise did not respond, he added. "Look, I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important." he started. "We have a new housemate."

The brunette frowned at Damon's words but it peeked her curiosity. "Who?"

"Barbie Klaus."

"Rebekah?" Louise asked in disbelief and Damon hummed. "She's living with you now? Why?"

"She's stranded. Apparently Klaus left her in the dust after I name-dropped Mikael." Damon told her. "Can you tell Elena not to drop by anytime soon? You know, I don't think it'll be a good idea to have Stefan's exes in the same house."

"Agreed." Louise nodded. "What has Stefan been up anyway?"

"Oh, you know. Draining young girls and leaving them all over the house."

"Great." Louise muttered before sigh heavily just as she spotted Caroline putting up a flyer on the wall that said; Spirit Squad Back-to-school Bonfire. "Look, I have to go." Once Damon replied bye, she hung up the phone. She approached her blonde friend. "I completely forgot about the bonfire."

"You have to go." Caroline insisted eagerly. "It's our first spirit squad event. And it sets the bar for the whole year."

Louise laughed. "Relax, Caroline. I'll be there."

"Thank you. It's just that-"

Tyler cut Caroline off when he placed a passionate kiss on her lips. "Happy first day!"

Louise spotted a red stain on his shirt and her eyes grew wide. "Is that blood?" She shook her head. "Tyler!"

"Oh my God!" Caroline hissed as she caught Tyler's wrist tugging him into the bathroom.

Just as the couple disappeared in the bathroom, Elena approached her sister with a confused look as her eyes darted from the bathroom to her sister. Louise sighed and gave a look that said 'You don't want to know.' First period hadn't even started yet and Louise felt a headache coming on.

"You should probably stay away from the boarding house for a while." Louise told her, confusing her that much more.

"Why?"

"Barbie Klaus has decided to take residency in one of the many spare rooms." Louise explained, glancing down at her phone as if they were having a casual conversation.

"Rebekah is staying there now? Why?"