"Everything's going to go fine, don't worry..." Caroline's hug got tighter with every sigh that escaped her lips while they teetered in the Forbes driveway. Things were falling apart right about then: Elena had vampire blood in her system and she was going to come back a vampire, Bonnie seemed to be weak to come through the spell alive, and Kat Gilbert was going to die.

Of course, no one besides Kat herself knew about her impending death but that didn't make her predicament any less worrisome. Caroline hadn't left her side for the past hour, constantly mumbling things like, "You're immortal, you're not going to die, pfft!" and "Don't go into the light okay? I won't be able to bear Elena's ego all by myself"

Kat didn't have the heart to tell her.

If Caroline was this worried, what about the others? Kat didn't want to venture into that vortex of sadness, but she knew she had to face it sometime today. What would happen when Jeremy wakes up in the morning, coming downstairs to not see her sitting at the kitchen counter with a ready smile. Would he cry? Would he turn to drugs again? Will he miss seeing her? What will happen to Jenna or John?

Probably nothing, since Elena will be right with them.

"I'll just go catch some rest, I gotta help Bonnie tonight," Kat sighed against Caroline's shoulder. No matter how tight Caroline's hug was, it was just as desperate from Kat. Kat wanted to remember how the comfort felt one last time, the softness of the one person she grew closer to more than her mother.

Caroline Forbes was her best friend, her sister, her angel and far so much more than just a broken girl.

"Oh I don't want to go," Caroline groaned in a tantrum. She was a vampire, an asset that was supposed to be protected from Klaus, which made Kat urge her out of town. There was no werewolf in town for as long as Kat knew, with Tyler being gone long ago.

"I don't want to go either," Kat mumbled. Caroline thought she wasn't making sense, but she was. Kat didn't want to go, she didn't want to leave everyone behind. The idea of being a hero sounded far more lonely than it did an hour ago when she saw Stefan leave with Elena.

It wasn't that she didn't want to save her friends, it's just that she had no choice but to leave them to fend for themselves after her death.

What if they got into another deadly situation right and she was too busy being dead to help them?

"Well, you could always..." Caroline dragged her suggestion with a smirk. The small smile that twinkled on Caroline's face pricked tears at Kat's eyes, "I don't know, bolt to some beach with your boy toy! Honestly it's his fault Elena's going to be a vampire."

"He's not my boy toy. Bye Care." Kat stated, pushing Caroline into her car.

"Remember to—"

"Not be on the phone when I'm driving and to call you when I get there?" Caroline finished her best friend's concerned instructions, "Yes mom. You're the one who has to be careful. Maybe make sure Damon doesn't do something stupid to get you killed." The last part was mumbled as she squeezed into her car.

Kat suppressed a smile at the irony, waving the blonde vampire off as she drove off.

Caroline had never shown any compassion towards Damon, even before he and Kat started sleeping together. Half of her friends had the same amount of respect towards him, which was none. They considered Damon Salvatore a homicidal killing machine with no compassion for humans like them.

The first part was true, Damon had killed ruthlessly in his past, even a while in the first few days of coming to Mystic Falls. He felt anger as bloodlust, sadness as torture. And love...

He felt love as lust.

But he changed. It was slow, barely noticeable to others but it was there. He fell in love with Elena. But his brother getting her instead, flipped a switch in his mind. The grief came pouring in, he started caring for people, most importantly, he started caring for Elena.

A dark corner of Kat's mind could understand why Damon did what he did. She didn't support it, but she understood it.

Thinking of Damon, Kat felt stupid. Here she was, thinking of a vampire who loved her twin sister, but slept with Kat just to get a rise out of Elena. What was worse, was that she cared and worried for Damon nonetheless.

He was the perfect form of broken, he needed his car and just some love to cope up, taking Kat's support whenever it was needed. If Caroline or Jeremy was hurt, surprisingly Damon would be the first person Kat would call for help.

Kat mumbled to herself, getting into her own classic Camaro and drove off with veiled pain at leaving her best friend behind.

—◾—

She'd miss this car. Kat caressed the leather of her seat, remembering the first time she had seen her then alive father, Grayson Gilbert drive it. Elena was too competitive and two couldn't fit in the first passenger seat. So she'd only ever sat in the back till that day when her twin sister was not with them.

Kat was mesmerized by how loving her father's touch had been as he showed each part of the car that he got from his grandfather before he had married her mother. "Is the car hurt?" baby Kat had gasped when she saw a scratch on the leather dashboard. Grayson had just laughed, picked her up into his lap to tell her the story about his grandfather and grandmother.

His grandmother had lost her sight quite early, but she and his grandfather fell madly in love. She was often reminded that she didn't deserve the grandfather because she couldn't see him. One day, when the grandfather found her crying to herself, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Why are you laughing," she'd shouted, "I hate you!"

"Then?" Kat remembered asking her dad eagerly. Grayson ruffled her hair with a starstruck smile, "Then... he sat her in this car."

The grandfather had given his wife a nail file, held her hand to the leather of the dashboard, "I'm going to drive you to my clinic, and I will tell you the directions. Carve the map okay?"

The grandmother thought he was out of his mind, but he just insisted. "Spoil it, I don't care. I'm trying to prove a point darling. That's right, dig it deep like you hate me."

The directions were 2 lefts, a right and driving around a circle junction to take a left.

And she had raggedly carved out every one of those directions onto the dashboard. "Why did you take me out here you old hag?" she had asked.

The old man had taken her hand and ran her fingers over the map she just etched, "This is where I will be if I'm not with you. You want to know what I look like, I look exactly like what you called me: an old hag. But I'm hoping you imagine me as just how you saw me first. As the doctor who fixed up your broken nose. You don't need to see me to love me, but you have to trust me to love me. And I trust you. I love you no matter what."

"No matter what?" the grandmother sniffled into his palm.

"No matter what." the grandfather had replied.

Ever since she had heard that story, Kat desperately wanted to find a love like that. Half blind, half sarcastic and one whole family. The moment she saw Stefan Salvatore, every atom in her body had told her that he was what she was looking for. When he told her he was a vampire, Kat saw nothing different in him to deter him from her feelings. She became his friend, loving him from afar while he pined over Elena. He held her steady through her discovery of being a supernatural. And she held his hand through all the trouble both Katherine Pierce and Elena had put him through.

But she was sick of being the girl who would die without a love like France and Vienna Gilbert. So she slept with Damon, in hopes that she would get over Stefan.

Kat's hands skimmed over the map in nostalgia when she parked her car in the garage. She had called Damon to her house, refraining to mention the reason. She found him sitting in her room, while the whole house was empty.

Jeremy was out at the witch house with Bonnie to help her, while Jenna was with Alaric at the Grill. As usual, Elena was with Stefan.

Kat's lips opened in a sigh as soon her eyes fell on his tense form leaning against her headboard. Her boyfriend— as she wanted to call him— was shirtless, probably even pantless as he stretched his legs under her duvet.

"Hey beautiful."

She was here to talk, to say her goodbyes to the one man who knew and understood what she wanted as her darkest desires. Having sex with him was not one of the first things she had on her mind. But she was going to sacrifice herself in a few hours, and seeing him like that kicked her adrenaline into high drive.

Suddenly, her hands were clawing away at clothing that covered her and she was jumping over the bed to kiss Damon with vigor. Damon caught in stride, his hands roaming all over her body just like she wanted. The bed swung with them, Kat wrapping her hands behind Damon's neck and his legs swung around her waist.

"I love you," she whispered. It was nothing like she imagined her confession would be, nor to the person she expected to say it to. But she said it and meant it.

His hands stopped moving, his breath freezing against her neck and his legs falling limp to the bed.

Everything pauses between them for several moments. Kat looked into Damon's eyes, resting their foreheads against each other. Maybe he didn't want to hear it, but she wanted to get it off her chest.

But what if she will forever be a substitute for Elena as their relationship first started out as? Didn't he like her enough?

Going against every panicked assumption running through her mind, he leaned into her touch once more, slowly. His nose skimmed hers as he saw her through all her defensive exterior: the shell of selflessness that people often took for granted. Kat Gilbert, at that moment, did the most selfish thing by admitting that she loved Damon.

Every one needed to be selfish and in love sometimes, and Damon felt a tinge of emotion in his gut at hearing her tell him what he didn't know he wanted to hear.

"Love me like you love Stefan?" he looked bashfully into her eyes.

Kat couldn't help but smile sadly at the vulnerable change in Damon's gaze. He was doing it again— comparing himself to his brother just to convince himself he was always the lesser one.

"I love you in a way I could never love him." Kat placed her lips over his. In the next moment, they were out of breath and feeling each other like their veins were pumping with some drug. Damon breathed a laugh, falling into happy chuckle as he flipped her over, "I'll rock your world,"

"So do it," she gasps against his ear, fisting his hair desperately, "One last time."

He didn't quite pay attention to her words, too busy sinking into their whirlwind of passion.

—◾—

"What do you want Klaus?" Kat heard Katerina Petrova groan from the other side of the door. It was weird to share a name with your previous-life's twin sister, but with Rina, she was not Kat or just a small damsel of Mystic Falls.

With Rina, she was Violetta Petrova, the Bulgarian doppelganger married into the royal order of Mikaelsons and Guardian of all supernatural.

Klaus had kidnapped and locked Rina in Alaric's old apartment, compelling and torturing information out of her. He was confident of compulsion by the lack of guards or lackeys guarding the premises.

Right then, Katerina stood in the middle of the empty condo with her eyes wide in stark surprise. It wasn't Klaus as she expected, but her sister.

The Pierce vampire's words came out in hurried Bulgarian, urgent and scared, "Letty? Kavko pravish tuk?! Izbyagal! Izbyagal!" (What are you doing? Run!)

"Neka govorya Rina! I came here to—"

Katherine's lush brown curls swayed rabidly as she shook her head, "Why aren't you out of town yet? Run! Klaus can't know you're here!"

The elder Gilbert's foot hovered over the spelled threshold of the apartment, trying to fight against any witches and booby spells. None at all. She fearlessly stepped into the room.

"I came here to give you this," She held out a few folded papers from her hands. "I'll be gone in a second okay?"

Katherine hastily snatched the papers from her hand. Looking at her now while being faced by the thought of imminent death, Kat felt a desperate urge to hug her sister. The last time they had hugged was in her previous life, five hundred years ago when she was dying in Katerina's arms.

Katerina went rigid in surprise as Kat... her Violetta, barreled into her arms. Her hug was tight, as if she was holding sand that would slip away the moment her hold relaxed. They fell to the ground, onto their knees as Kat felt all the burden of her secrets surface in her silently.

She felt so guilty for everything.

She left Damon spelled into sleep under her sheets, hugging air instead of her. She left her letter for him right between his fingers as she came to say goodbye to Rina, one last time.

Kat and Elena were supposed to die in Klaus' sacrifice, along with another werewolf and a vampire. But Elena did not want to come back as a bloodthirsty supernatural vampire, while Kat's wish was more duty-centered. She didn't want Klaus to live after tonight.

Kat had linked her life to Klaus' life, so when she would perform her spell, she would die. And he would die with her. Just as the soul of her Guardian veins would leave her, Elena's one and only threat would be no more. She would be safe and alive along with the rest of Mystic Falls.

A soul for a soul.

Kat felt horrible and treacherous, even if she was trying to save the people she cared about. Including Rina.

"I have to do this," she whispered into Rina's mop of curly hair, "I'm sorry Rina."

"Do what?" Rina stood up in confusion. Somehow, whatever dread Letta felt, Rina could feel in her own heart. This time, the feeling didn't seem too welcome.

"Letta what do you have to do?"

Kat couldn't stay here anymore, there were only two hours left to strike seven. Klaus would be there at Boarding House after that to take her and Elena.

"I, I have to, I have to go. Obicham te tolkova mnogo Rina. You can get out once I kill Niklaus." she kisses her sister's forehead urgently as she stumbles to the threshold of the condo. Katherine trailed behind her, confused.

"Kill Niklaus? Letta what do you mean..." she trailed off, her eyes widening in horror as realization struck her. She sped ahead to grab her sister from leaving but the Guardian had already stepped foot beyond the threshold, the very line that Katherine was compelled to not cross.

"Letta please don't do this. There's no way you could survive it!" Katherine gasped.

"It's going to be alright," Kat shook her head with a sad smile. Rina had seen that smile before.

It was the smile Letta had given her five hundred years ago when she was dying in her arms. Guilty, selfless and caring.

Just like then, Katherine couldn't help her own sister as she wanted to walk directly into the burning den of the devil. She just got her sister back after such a long time. Violetta was the only family she had left.

"Don't do this Letta," Katherine repeated as the girl in front of her chanted a spell under her breath. "Letta I swear to God, if I lose you again I will kill everyone on this Earth until I find a way to bring you back!"

Chanting.

"You listen to me? I will crawl to Hell and back to bring you back and but I will never forgive you if you do this. Letta, don't. Don't this again, you can't survive this time!"

Kat shook her head ever so slightly, now opening her eyes to gaze over, "Read the letter, okay? I love you so... so much Rina. Remember that I love you."

"No!" Katherine punched the door, running a hole through it as she blinked back her tears.

"Say it. I love you Rina. Remember okay? I'm so sorry. Never forget, obicham te tolkova mnogo Rina!" I love you so much.

"Somnum."

Katherine Pierce fell to the ground unconscious as her only family walked to her death.

—◾—

"Viv?" Stefan peered at Kat in the front yard of the Salvatore Boarding House. When he came home with Elena, he hadn't realized he would come home to his best friend elbow deep in fresh mud and saplings. She was moving with her superspeed, shifting things around as she buried little plants in small holes she dug out.

Elena went inside, not bothering to see what was wrong with her twin. She had problems that were way serious and life-altering than something Kat was silently muttering over. Elena felt angry— instead of assuring her about how she would be alright, Kat chose to tinker around with plants. What did she even expect anyway?

So it was just Stefan with Kat, who ordered him around instead of stopping at his voice.

"Wait, what are you doing? Hey! Vivi..." he stopped her hand gently, holding her in place. Her hands were caked with mud and trembling as she pulled them back from Stefan.

"Your hands." she sniffled, not meeting his gaze, "They'll get dirty."

Her voice was strained and raw as she walked by him yet again. Stefan shook his head at her, deliberately taking her hands into his with the same tone of whisper, "I don't mind."

He gently led her hands into the little roots of the sapling she was planting, reaching into the hole she had dug. She was feeling a myriad of complicated emotions, he could see. Tension was radiating off her in tumultuous waves and her heart was running a mile a minute. He didn't know how to help but he was doing the one thing that could make her calm.

He was letting her do what she wanted. If she wanted to freak out, he would be there to bring her back.

After thumping some soil onto the last of the saplings, Kat let go of the knot in her nerves. She teetered down onto her behind, all her limbs spread out flat on the ground as she rested them.

"The front yard needed more color. So I ordered, um... I ordered some—"

"Snapdragons..." Stefan nodded with a smile. They were probably her most favorite flowers, especially red snapdragons. There were five old muddy pots at her bay window, teeming with snapdragons and more baby vines.

"You like them?" she asked softly. The sun was already setting far across the tree blocked horizon, casting a macabrely beautiful aura on their foreheads. Kat could hear the everything within a mile radius, but none of the sounds of the forests sounded as soothing as the sound of Stefan's low, rapid heartbeat.

And she doubted none could be ever so assuring as Stefan's thin lips stretching into a wide smile. "I love them."

His smile was too infectious, making Kat's lips lift up too. And with the smile came the tears. Kat burst into a muffled wail, sobbing into her elbows. Stefan's eyes widened at her sudden flip in reaction, trying to urgently coax her face up from between her muddy hands.

"Hey, hey. Viv..."

She looked up at him, eyes overflowing with big fat tears. Seeing Stefan's brows pulled up in concern just made everything so worse for her conscience that Kat's cries got more desperate.

"I'm sorry, seriously. I shouldn't be crying, but... seriously!"

Stefan sighed quickly, wrapping his arms around her, mud and all. She sobbed into the collar of his shirt, fisting it in places as she clung onto him like a she was a baby sloth. He cooed, rocking her sideways and back and forth with slow breaths. She had never shown any fear about the sacrifice— about knowing that she and her sister essentially would die and come back. She moved the whole town upside town to find a way to bring back Elena, only to have Damon ruin it all. This made her all the more deserving of a breakdown. Stefan felt beyond angry at his brother, but Kat was his first priority now.

"Easy... Focus on my voice, that's right. That's right, yes... Let it all out. I'm here."

She hiccupped and sniffled, finally being able to feel the gentle thump of his low heartbeat in his chest. Blood lightly pumped through his veins and she breathed right when Stefan did.

After she calmed down, Stefan didn't move away from her but his hold had become more gentle as he whispered to her, "I'm not saying that it's going to be alright..."

Kat nodded, mumbling out a low 'yes'. She and Stefan had agreed in the beginning, to never write their fear or pain off as stupid or needless. They never said it was going to be okay if they could help it. Perhaps, both of them agreed on one thing— if doom ever struck them, they were going to face it with their face held high instead of being burdened by false optimism.

"I'm going to miss everyone," Kat whispered.

She heard Elena shuffling towards the balcony to look at them, so she left Stefan's arms to lean back against the grass. Kat couldn't leave Stefan with the image of a cheater in the least. He was too pure for that.

Stefan fell back beside her, hands folded behind his head as they looked at the floating reddish clouds together. "You're going to come back, Viv. We have the plan remember?"

She didn't respond to that, digging her fingers into the dirt beneath her. She was usually the one who usually played the role of calming goat in her group, so it felt weird to be on the receiving end of such reassurance.

Everyone was busy believing that things were going to turn out good. Not one moment had they cared about what she thought or how she felt about their plan. Well, Kat Gilbert thought that their plan was dumb. Niklaus would be the most persistent demon that would plague them forever if he could help it.

Bonnie and Elena, along with the rest of her group, thought that they had the best plan they could use. Maybe the Gilbert sisters wouldn't die tonight, but Bonnie certainly would if she ever used up that much of her power. Her magic was not as strong as it needed to be. Destroying the sacrifice grounds would drain Bonnie of most of her energy. However none of the supernaturals around her knew— let alone remember— what the result of leaving Klaus alive would be.

Kat remembered being on the run from him after she destroyed the ritual in her previous lifetime. She had flashes of memory when she was not able to see Rina for more than a year. It woke her up as nightmares for months. Kat remembered stepping into her childhood Petrova home only to find her whole family slashed to death. Only stopping the ritual would not only make Klaus vengeful. His fury would make him more motivated than the completing his ritual would.

If any of her friends must remember the feeling of peace, he must be killed.

She and Stefan stayed in silence like that, morbid and secretive. Until they both heard a pair of swooshing footsteps far in the forest. The sound was distinct, not at all human. In barely a beat, Kat and Stefan jumped up to their feet.

How did time run out so fast?

Elena came running down with the same panic that was painted across Kat's eyes. She came barreling right into Stefan's arms with one declaration, "He's here."

She didn't look scared or angry, she just seemed resigned and panicked.

"Hello lovelies."

Their faces whipped to the entrance of the grounds to see a lone man standing tall and smug. His voice sent lead-like rigidity up Kat's spine. She refused to be intimidated by his nonchalantly murderous smile as he sauntered closer to them with every breath.

Kat wanted to hold Stefan's arm one last time, but both his hands were trying to hold Elena back as she faced the man who would ultimately kill her. Or at least try.

"Klaus."

"You both look splendid," he laughed. It was amused and careless. His eyes grazed over the twins in an inspective look. He was surprisingly clad in modern clothing, some of Alaric's as he tilted his head knowingly— a signal to get going.

"I'll be a minute," Kat states.

Klaus couldn't help but see the Violetta part of her. So scared, yet so strong. He could feel the fire in her eyes, the one thing that a Petrova could never go without. Violetta Petrova could beg and make it sound like a beckon.

"Ah you're family Letta," Klaus smirks knowingly, successful in riling her up, "You get all the time you want."

Kat felt surprisingly calm as she stood feet away from her version of a demon. It was her calm that rooted her into place, like a metal ball tied to her feet, promising that the journey to the bottom would be quick.

Everything was getting real, and fast. The time had come.

Kat turned to Stefan. His eyes were pooling with glossy tears as he held Elena close to his him. The younger Gilbert hugged him just as tightly, moving to kiss him desperately. As if it was the last time they would get to kiss.

Kat wished she could wait until they were done, but she had more than a thousand things running in her mind and not a lot of time left to say them.

"Jeremy takes three and half spoons of sugar in his milk every morning." she said abruptly.

The couple parted in surprise at Kat's words, but she continued, fiddling with her hands, "Three and a half teaspoons, not tablespoons. You need to be specific because he still doesn't know the difference. Okay? Be specific."

"Viv—"

"And Jenna needs to take proper driving lessons, because she can't teach Jeremy otherwise. Tell Matt and Tyler that I sent them the money for that house in Florida we always wanted,"

"Vivi please," Stefan hugs her close, shaking her out of her rambling, "Stop—"

"No it's—!" she sighs, "Tell Caroline that she can keep the painting she stole from me, and tell her that the secret ingredient she wants is crushed pepper with basil. She needs to remember to call her father once in every week. The number ends with a 9, not a 6 like she always dials."

Stefan's shoulders shook with sobs as his muddy hands tightened along her cheeks. He was holding her the way she always wanted to be held by him. His tears clinked onto her own cheeks as she laughed hysterically.

He couldn't laugh. Her laughs brought on his sobs harder, he all but pulled her to him as tightly as possible, "I promised I wouldn't leave you again. I won't."

Her chuckling faded, she looked up at him, "Then I will. Somnum."

Stefan fell limp under her spell, his fingers dropping as they left a trail of mud down her cheek. His peacefully unconscious body was now dead weight against her chest. Kat cast a determined look at Elena, "Whatever happens now, it's between us."

—◾—

A few minutes later, all the people spelled into sleep across Mystic Falls gasped awake.

Damon was confused and vulnerably naked in Kat's house. He woke up right where he had fallen asleep— in Kat's bed. But she was no longer cocooned under his arm. In her place instead, were some papers that crinkled under the weight of his fingers. How did he fall asleep? Where was Kat?

He frowned, various dangerous scenarios flashing through his mind as he grabbed up the letter in panic. The moment his eyes took in the first sentence of his lover's looped cursive, he bolted.

All the bad things he thought? This was the worst.

Across town, Stefan's eyes flew open to tenderly wet earth. He sped onto his stumbling feet to be met with the darkness of a dipping Sun. The last thing he remembered were Kat Gilbert's eyes. Her guilty look was burned into his mind as he called out for her desperately from the edge of the woods. All he got in reply was his own voice echoing.

The sky seemed like it was moving. The clouds were growling, the air whooshing past the trees with eerie whistles. A single bolt of lightning streaked the dark canvas, halting every particle in the air until a clap of thunder thudded through the Earth. All that was held motionless in the air around him, fell fast.

The ground shook under the impact, the rough whiplash bending the trees themselves. As strong as the natural blow was, it diminished just as quickly. Too quickly.

When the air no longer pressing down upon him, he got up with a grunt, rushing to the place that sent nature howling its ugly head.

The Falls.

His head spun as he refused to believe that the worst had happened. Even with vampire speed, he didn't feel he moved quickly enough. His mind ran faster. In a matter of seconds, he stood at the edge of the clearing. His vision was attacked with heavy smoke and rain as the trees burned a glaring orange in the dark of the dusk.

Four people stood at different openings of the clearing. Elijah and Bonnie, Stefan, Damon and Katherine.

Their legs sagged like they couldn't move fast enough, everything spun like a carousel around them. They could hear low moans through the crackling of wood burning, but only one heart beat in their ears.

Dear Damon,

If you're reading this letter, then I must already be dead.

"Ah hell no" Damon shook his head, pushing himself to speed through the sizzling fire that blocked him from beyond the smoke. The cries grew louder, the pit in his stomach now a whirlpool that sucked out his breath.

Dead, that's a funny word. Because dead somehow means the end of life. I don't believe that, because you are the one who showed me that there could be life in death too. So before I go find the life in my death, I wanted to say sorry.

"Come back, please come back..." They heard desperate cries.

I'm sorry that Katherine turned you into a vampire, and I'm sorry for all the pain you had to bear to get Elena. You see, I said 'get', which means I'm confident you'll be with her by the time you read this completely. At least I hope so, I wouldn't know what will happen after the sacrifice. I know that you love her, just like Stefan does. Maybe even more. But even if I know you don't love me, I wanted to say that I do love you Damon. For what it's worth, I do love you...

The problem with loving two people at the same time, is that your heart is bound to two volatile strings of fate. People say it's twice the love. But what they never mention is, it is twice the pain too.

Seeing her, unmoving in Elena's arms, Stefan realized he couldn't breath. He felt human all of a sudden, like a seventeen year old innocent boy looking at a girl he loved, dead at an altar. Her skin was still as glossy and flushed as it was before she left. It gave him useless hope that she might be alive after all.

"S-She ki-killed Klaus. But then, but then she was falling and I couldn't help her!" Elena cried.

Her cries drove Damon farther from the clearing, stumbling and shaking his head. Elijah was on his knees, silent and furious. He didn't stare at either of his family, not at his dead brother across from the altar nor his dead wife. He couldn't.

Bonnie fell to her knees beside Elena, hugging her as hard as she could. She was sobbing uncontrollably, muffling her wails behind a wall of overflowing tears.

"Stefan, Stefan tell me she isn't dead! She mu-must be turning or something. DO SOMETHING! Stefan please, she can't be dead, no... No she can't be... No!"

There was no heartbeat. Not a semblance of soul left in her.

Stefan wanted to die. He wanted to die just to see her once again, to see his Vivi's smile once again.

He made his way up the stone, his hands trembling as he tried to hold her hand.

"Vivi?" he squeezed her arm, whispering. His voice was broken and so hopeful. Maybe this was all a game. Maybe she was just playing games, to make Stefan laugh.

But deep inside, he knew it wasn't a game. It wasn't a lie.

The warmth he always felt on her skin was gone, it was now as cold as his skin. Her skin was slowly turning into a corpse, streaked with mud, leaves and blood that seeped out of tiny cuts. She almost looked like a bleeding statue if it wasn't for her eyes.

Oh her eyes. Her eyes were what made Stefan fall in love with her. Their innocence made him believe in miracles, in fairies and even his own redemption.

But now they were hollow pools of expressionless green staring back at him. Gone was the twinkle of life in them, the only fire being the image of flames that were eating away at the land around them. They were macabrely still.

Katerina stumbled into Stefan, not daring to let her tears escape as they kneeled beside Letta— the lifeless corpse of her sister. The Pierce vampire hung from Stefan's arm, not in control of her weight as reality swayed for her. His arm caught around her as her legs threatened to give out.

Stefan didn't realize when he let go of Katherine to take Vivi into his arms, or when he began sobbing into her hair. They were still unkempt curls, soaking in his tears patiently as he hid his face in them. They still smelled of the Earth, and lavender.

It was weird to not have one of her hats butt into his forehead as he hugged her. It was weird to not have her arms hug him back, sway him back and forth like she wanted the embrace to never end.

No, it was just Stefan now. Him and her lifeless body that shook with his every sob.

He hugged her close to his heart, kissing her cheek with his tear-ridden lips as he cradled her desperately. It reminded him of the first time they hugged. Vivi was so afraid of being left alone, she cried for him to not leave her alone. That night, she fell asleep against him, sniffling like a little girl who clung to her mother to feel safe from the cruel world.

Suddenly, every memory he made with her flashed by his hazy eyes.

"No... Vivi... Look at me! Look at me!" he takes her face into his palms with a muffled sob, "Look at me! I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, I'm here" he hugged her softly. She buried herself into his embrace as the Falls gushed beside them in the moonlit night.

"Do you... like it?" she asked him slowly. Her face was waiting in apprehension, squinting in fear and guilt. It was his birthday, he finally felt light as Lexi and Vivi huddled beside him in the Grill. He looked at the watch she had made for him. "Like it? I love it!" He smiled. Her tense face fell, immediately morphing into a relieved laugh. She squealed in happiness, getting out of the booth with his hand in hers as she pulled him out behind her. "Let's dance. Stefan Salvatore smiled at me tonight. This must be celebrated!"

"I'm so sorry..." he whispered, holding her by her shoulders. He took her necklace in his hand as she clung onto him desperately, knowing what was happening. Her fingers fisted his jacket, the very one that she cried into when she confessed her inner turmoil to him months ago. When everything was simple and the world was at peace.

"Dance with me, Mister Salvatore." The innocent glint in her moonlit eyes, the same words, yet so much sincerity... He was struck by her smile. He was yet to move, merely watching as his new best friend moved herself to a pure melody that rang from her throat. "That's not the right song," Stefan shook his head. Kat's laugh chimed through the cold air, a childish squeak of knowledge hiding in her hums. "Just dance with me. Pretend the world doesn't exist. C'mon!"

"A-And at last..." Stefan's voice came out a meek plea as he sang for her.

One last time.

It could never be as good as hers, but it was a memory of a happy time. The gentle notes of her voice hummed in his memory as he gave her the best farewell he could.

"And at last I see the light... And it's like the fog has lifted..."

"And at last I see... the light. And it's like the sky is new..."

"And it's warm and real and bright... And the world somehow shifted."

"All at once, everything looks d-different. Now that I... Now that I... See you. Now that I, see you..."

—◾—

Miles away in an abandoned parking lot in Whittemore, Caroline Forbes felt a tingle up her spine.

dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ

As soon as she felt the voice whisper in her mind, she looked around with a gasp, "Who?!"

No one.

"Who is that!"

dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ

"Who is that, show yourself!"

The sourceless voice grew violent still, groaning in her mind,

dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ! ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ! ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ! zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ

With a final loud scream in her mind, every light in the vicinity burst, leaving her in darkness. The voice was no more, only pitch dark and dead silence around Caroline.

dₒᵥₑᵣᵢₑₜₒ ᵣₐzbᵢₜₒ zₗₒₜₒ ₛₑ ᵣₐzₘŭᵣdₐ, the ghost had tried to shout hopelessly. Trust shattered is evil stirred.

𝓔𝓥𝓘𝓛 𝓝𝓔𝓥𝓔𝓡 𝓓𝓘𝓔𝓢.

𝓐𝓝𝓓 𝓣𝓗𝓔𝓨 𝓦𝓘𝓛𝓛 𝓑𝓔 𝓑𝓐𝓒𝓚...

Irene's corner

*hands rolls of tissues*