"Merry Christmas!" Faye shouted, walking into the living room of the Daniels home and throwing confetti all over Lacey who was attempting to read on the couch. The blonde vampire spluttered when some of the scraps hit her nose, causing an itch.

"Faye, please tell me you do know it's not actually Christmas and everything going on right now is for a Winter Wonderland themed fundraiser." Lacey told the young hybrid as she stood up and tried to shake herself clean off the mess Faye had made on her, "I should kill you for this. I get ready, look nice and you ruin it."

"You just look extra festive now so it's okay." Faye said cheerfully, "And I know it's not Christmas, I'm not stupid. I'm just in a Christmas mood now. I wanna do Christmasy things."

"Does this mean you got presents?"

Faye jumped up excitedly, removing the hand from behind her back that Lacey hadn't even noticed she had been hiding to reveal a small box, "I got only you a gift because everyone else might have laughed in my face. Except Caroline. I really think she got gifts for everyone."

"Knowing her, she probably did." Lacey replied with the corner of her lip turned up in a small grin. She took the small box from her niece's hand and hesitated on opening it, "Is it going to blow up?" She raised her brow.

The hybrid rolled her eyes, "No, Lacey, open it."

Lacey let out a sigh before tugging at the ribbon Faye had tied around it and then opening the box when it was loose. Inside was a locket; a plain oval shaped locket with a silver chain that allowed it to hang. It was obviously something Faye had chosen herself and not anyone else. Faye knew Lacey more than anyone; she didn't want the attention grabbing jewelry, her daylight ring was as simple as possible and that's how she liked it. If Caroline or Damon had helped her chose it, it wouldn't work for her taste.

Faye smiled widely as Lacey plucked it from the box an examined it, "Time's a wastin', open it!"

Lacey rolled her eyes playfully at her before pushing her nail in between the clasp to prop the locket open. She held the cold silver in her hand and pushed the front cover aside to see the photo Faye placed inside. A gasp escaped her lips at the sight of it; a photo she didn't think she would ever see again.

Back when Polaroids were the only type of camera would could have on hand, it became one of Amelia's favorite things to use, along with Lacey when Amelia didn't have theirs in her hand. She took pictures of everything that happened throughout Faye's life and with some convincing on Faye's seventh birthday, took a picture of all of their lives. Charles and Amelia sat side by side on the couch, Faye sitting on them, one part of her on Amelia's left leg and one part of her on Charles' right. Elijah stood behind them, one of his hand placed on Charles' shoulder as he smiled genuinely at the camera. On the side of him was herself, Lacey Daniels, standing with her head leaning on Elijah's shoulder and her eyes full of the life she hadn't seen in years.

She had thought that photo was long gone after she had lost it in the attic about he third year after Faye was gone and she just never wanted to see that photo again of the time everything was perfect. But then here it was, in the locket Faye had gotten for her.

She hadn't even realized she was tearing up until she felt the cold tear run down her cheek. Faye giggled softly and reached to wipe the tear away.

"Where did you-?"

"Remember when we were cleaning out the attic?" Faye said with a small smile, "I found it in one of the old photo albums and thought it as a good picture. That's not the original copy because I have the original in a photo album of things I want to remember from those times and have plans to bring it to Bonnie or some witch one of these days when I get the chance. That's a copy Stefan helped me get made so I could fit it into that locket, which I hope you like because it costed Damon some big bucks-"

"But why?" Lacey cut her off to ask.

"Because I wanna say thank you." Faye shrugged and looked down, her cheeks red, "You've done a hell of a lot of shit for me, put up with me, been through hell for me and I can't thank you enough. I thought maybe this might be something that helps me repay the debt."

"Debt not repaid." Lacey teased her, "But I do really love it. Thank you, Faye."

"You're welcome." Faye managed to say before she was engulfed in a hug by the older woman.

"I love you, kid."

"I love you too, Lace."

__

"Stop attacking me! I'm on your side!" Faye said to the children who were throwing snowballs made up of fake snow at her. Whenever the town had an event, it seemed the children gravitated towards her the minute she was seen and she didn't mind them. She loved running around with them, being the person to count for hide and seek or just reeking havoc with them.

"Never!" On of the Fell boys, Jake, shouted, hitting her side once again with another ball of the fluff. She looked over at him, her eyes wide.

Faye scoffed at his words, "When I play with you guys, I expect you to be nice. This is not nice."

"But sometimes your mean." 

"Because you make me angry and then you don't like me when I'm angry."

"You're not the hulk." Allison Fell stated clearly and threw another snowball in the direction of her brother instead of Faye for once.

"Yes, I am and I will smash your brother if he keeps hitting me with snowballs." The hybrid responded before she was hit with another snowball on her back. She whipped around towards the boy giggling loudly, her mouth a gape, "Why you little-" Faye growled jokingly before chasing after him and picking him up easily. She swung him around as she ruffled his hair, earning laughs from the smaller boy.

A voice seeped into the small playful fight, causing the two to look towards its owner. Her heart fluttered slightly. She hadn't seen him since their date due to the fact she had been stolen away to New Orleans to find help for Elena. All the feelings she had were rushing back to her; the tiniest amount of adoration and whatever the hell the other thing was (Faye knew exactly what it was, she was just too scared to admit it yet). She swore she could feel her cheeks heating up and knew Klaus could see it from the smirk he was wearing.

 "Fighting children know, Faye? Never thought you would stoop that low."

"This is not a child. This is a demon." Faye informed the Original hybrid standing across from her. 

"Is this your boyfriend Faye?" Jake asked her.

She scoffed almost immediately, refusing the idea too quickly, "No, he's not my boyfriend." Faye rolled her at the boy and placed him on his feet, "Go away, Jake."

The boy smirked up at Faye before darting off in the direction of more kids who were attacking each other with the fake snow. Faye watched them for a moment before turning back to look at Klaus who was standing across from her.

"Hi, Klaus. Here to steal Tiny Tim's crutches?" The female hybrid teased him with a grin playing on her lips.

"Dickens was a dark man." He told her, "I believe you would have liked him."

She shrugged in response, "If he's anything like you, probably wouldn't have."

A chuckle escaped Klaus at her words, "Admit it, you've warmed up to me more than you ever thought you would."

Faye shyly smiled at him, her head tilting to the side as she looked at him.  "A little bit. You're not as bad as you used to be and being around you doesn't make me want to bulk anymore."

"Come on, love." He said to her, walking up to close the space in between them. They were inches from each other and it made Faye visibly gulp, "You enjoy my company." 

She needed to deflect as she always would. Think of things that made her annoyed or even angry with him.

"I did until I figured out you could've helped me with the sire bond problem." Faye told him, crossing her arms over her chest, "I was dragged to New Orleans and forced to miss more school than I wanted to."

Klaus clicked his tongue and glanced away, "The chance to go to New Orleans is much better than being crammed in a room with humans to learn about unnecessary things. So, you should be thanking me." Faye rolled her eyes for the second time that day at him. He let out a sigh, "Let me make it up to you, sweetheart? There's champagne in the Grill."

"And also prying adult eyes."

He gave her a look of disbelief, "Do you forgot that you have the power to compel away everyone's suspicions? Especially with the council having burned up the vervain supply."

Faye let out a huff before nodding, "Fine, lead the way."

Klaus gave her a closed lip smile and held out his hand for her to take. She slid hers into his, letting him guide her to the Grill which had been packed with people admiring the paintings and items up for action, everthing going to charity. Lacey was in there talking to Liz about the safety of the town and she spotted Faye, raising her brow. Faye didn't see it though, much more focused on where Klaus was taking her. Klaus walked her to one of the tables in the back away from most of the people, grabbing two glasses of champagne for Faye and him both on the way there.

Faye sat down at the table and Klaus handed her one of the glasses. He opted to stand up instead sitting down next to her. As Faye took as sip from her glass, she admired all the artwork littering the Grill.  One particularly caught her, the one that stood to her left, a few feet away. Even though she wasn't someone who knew lots about the works of art, she recognized the style and signature in the corner of the painting, nearly covered by the frame.

The lip of the glass rested against her own and her eyes flickered up to Klaus, "Cute snowflake."

An annoyed sigh left Klaus, "Is my work really that literal?"

"I'm messing with you, Klaus. It's actually really nice." Faye said truthfully, placing her glass down. Klaus looked down towards her, "And sad and lonely."

"I'm going to take that as a complement."

Faye scoffed, "It was a compliment. You do have another talent than ruining people's lives."

"Is this our thing?" Klaus quirked his brow with a wide smile, "Insults hiding whatever we have, love?"

"We don't have a thing. We don't have anything really except a mutual goal to find that cure."

Her denial was seen right through by Klaus, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he sat down in the chair that he had decided to neglect before and shrugged, "Whatever you say."

__

Faye at least an hour with Klaus, chatting about the cure and what was happening Elena, along with his concerns on the college she was attending. She didn't believe him when he brought it up that he was actually concerned, but as they continued talking, her undead heart was racing because it made her realize Klaus was so different than Tyler. Klaus asked her about her life, cared, wasn't all there to have sex with her as Tyler seemed to only care about.

But, it came to a close when she saw Caroline standing in the Grill with a panicked expression, watching the two the whole time. Faye finally excused herself to check on her when she disappeared out the side door of the Grill which led to an alleyway. Faye pushed open the door to walk onto the scene of Caroline and Stefan chatting.

"Tyler needs to call it off."

"Tyler needs to call what off?" Faye asked with a frown on her face. Stefan and Caroline both turned towards, relief and guilt swarming in their eyes, "What's going on?"

Caroline instantly started blabbing, "Tyler's doing something insane, Faye. He and the hybrids are all banding together to take down Klaus by putting him in Tyler's body and then locking him up somewhere." With each words, Faye's lip parted in a silent gasp and her eyebrows slowly shot up to her hairline. She hadn't expected all this in one day. 

"What the hell is he thinking?!" Faye shouted, her eyes wide at the revelation, "He's going to get himself killed if he fails."

"The problem is that we don't think he will." Stefan revealed to her, "But we have to stop it. Klaus is the only person who could lead us to the cure."

And she liked Klaus. There was another reason.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" She asked the two.

"Klaus would kill Tyler if he knew what he was planning." Stefan explained to her, "I don't think you want that right."

Faye nodded, understanding Stefan, "I get it, but now, we don't really have any other choice. We need to tell Klaus. He handles his hybrids, we're all in his good books for saving his life."

"What about Tyler?"

"I'll handle it." The Daniels girl told Caroline who was severely on edge, "We need to get this taken care of. Klaus needs to be around; Tyler needs to call it off."

Faye froze up when she heard footsteps and the scent of men's body wash and the forest was near to them. She whipped around to face Tyler Lockwood who stood at the top of the stair leading down to the alley way where months before Finn Mikaelson had been killed. His features showed his anger.

"Well, that's not going to happen." Her ex hissed at Faye who returned the grimaced he wore. He looked over towards Caroline next, walking down each othe steps to level them to each other, "You sold me out? I've had twelve hybrids sworn to secrecy for a month. I have Hayley and a witch risking their lives and you're blabbing my plan to them?"

Stefan stepped forward and closed the large gap between him and the male hybrid, "Look, all I'm asking you for is a little bit of time, okay?"

"How long? An hour? A day? Because every minute that goes by that we don't do this, they're at risk. You and Klaus already served one of them up for Jeremy to kill." Tyler glanced over his shoulder towards Faye who stood proudly, not even bothered by the decision she made days ago to save Elena, "I don't owe any of you anything." He turned around to begin walking away from them, "I'm taking him out."

Faye didn't want to negotiate or anything. She needed him to call it off. She sped in front of Tyler within an instant, "I'm not asking for any time. Call it off now or your going to get yourself killed."

"Is that a threat?" Tyler asked her.

"I'm just telling you what's going to happen once Klaus figures everything out. You know how he's always three steps ahead and we all seem to be lagging behind." Faye said, "I'm sorry, Tyler, but I can't let you do this."

"Stefan. Faye." Caroline alerted the two, her voice trembling.

"Care, I can't let him do this-"

"Faye!" 

It was Stefan this time who alerted her, his eyes looking over her. She turned around to see what he was looking at, which had been a wall of hybrids blocking the exit for them. 

The strawberry blonde turned around to look back at Tyler who simply shrugged.

"Sorry, Faye, but you don't have a choice."

__

Faye stood with her back pressed against one of the walls of the Lockwood cellar, glaring at the hybrids in front of her making sure none of them, meaning Stefan, Caroline and here, escaped. She was beyond angry at Tyler for coming up with a plan so idiotic that it could hurt everyone. Klaus would be gone, the cure, and Tyler would be gone too. As much as he hurt her, Faye couldn't stop herself from caring about the boy she had fallen in love with so easily. She didn't want his soul lost somewhere.

"Tyler." Caroline tried to grab his attention to attempt to reason with him. 

He ignored them all as he went a grabbed a chain from on top of a random box in the cellar. He dropped it in front of one of the female hybrids, "Keep them down here until we're ready to bring Klaus in. Use these if you have to."

"Tyler, you need to quit this." Faye stepped forward and told him, "I know you hate Klaus and want him gone, but there is much more at stake here."

"What the cure?" Tyler questioned, "You know what happens to a hybrid when he's cured of being a vampire? We go back to being werewolves; turning on every full moon. We could give a rat's ass about the cure and you shouldn't either."

"I'm worried about you!" Faye told him, "What happens if you all fail? Klaus will kill everyone, including you and I can't let that happen."

"You don't really give a shit anymore, Faye. You got your head so far up Klaus' ass." His voice dripped with venom. Faye kept her expression hard, not showing any effect by what he said.

"Once pack, always pack. No matter what you did, I will always care and I can't let you risk all of this for a revenge plot."

There was a moment of hesitation for Tyler. He stared into Faye's eyes moment, the tenseness of his shoulder's slowly fading away.

That moment faded away as quickly as it started. Tyler turned on his heel and began walking out of the cellar. When he was gone, the hybrids blocked the pathway for the three to leave. Faye snarled at them before going to sit down on the box.

It was quiet for a long time, Caroline pacing, Faye pouting and Stefan trying to keep everything leveled and come. Faye broke the silence after thirty minutes, having enough.

"This is crap, you know." Faye growled.

"It is! We are not hostages!" Caroline agreed and yelled out.

"Sure you are, sweetie." The female hybrid guarding them said to her with a cocky grin. Caroline sped in front of her, reading to tear out her heart. Faye caught her eye and shook her head, telling her she wasn't worth it.

The hybrids became alert again when Stefan's phone began ringing loudly in his pocket. They inched towards him, ready to attack if neccesary, but Stefan held up his hand once he saw who was calling.

"Relax." He said and the hybrids stopped, "It's my brother." Stefan answered his phone, "What's up?"

"Don't ask how or why or who, but I just found the answer to your Tyler problem." Damon began to explain carefully how Shane, the professor who creeped everyone out, knew where the island that had the cure on it was, meaning Klaus was no longer needed. Faye felt her heart drop at the thought of no one fighting for Klaus anymore. He was needed here; he didn't deserve to be trapped down wherever his traitor hybrids planned to keep him.

Stefan hung up his phone, looking relieved. He glanced between Caroline and Faye, "We don't need the sword." He said, which roughly translated to, we don't need Klaus.

The hybrids in the end had no choice but to let them go now that it seemed they didn't care any longer. They had tried to keep Faye behind, but she pushed past them and dared them to try something. She had to do something about all of this, because in the end, she knew something bad was going to happen.

__

Faye was determined to find Klaus and tell him everything that was going on. She would make sure there was no death somehow since she couldn't have Tyler killed as much as she was angry with him. The strawberry blonde wasn't sure how'd she do it, but it would happen.

Faye walked upon the town center where the festivities had somewhat calmed down and were coming to an end. She looked around for Klaus, not finding him anywhere. She could see Stefan who had left before her since she had to get past the hybrids who seemingly now belonged to Tyler. Caroline and Matt stood not to far off, talking lowly about something.

The Daniels girl went to go look in the Grill when he arm was grabbed by someone. She turned around, seeing Lacey standing their with a worried expression, something that usually was on her.

"What's going on?" She questioned, "I heard Tyler telling his mom they were taking out Klaus. Are you in on this?"

"No!" Faye quickly told her, "I've been trying to stop this ever since I heard about it. I'm trying to find Klaus now and warn him before someone ends up dead."

Lacey let out a sigh, "Maybe we should let this go down."

"What?" The younger girl asked astonished, "Lacey, no, we can't."

"I know you have something with Klaus or whatever, but maybe it's just better to let this all happen. His spawns will be out of our hair and maybe this town is-"

"It's not just a thing, Lacey, I might actually like him." Faye let the words come out before she even thought about it. Lacey's own eyes widened along with Faye's at the revelation. It made sense now. The feelings she was having for Klaus. She was attracted to him, sexually and romantically, and all this time she has just been brushing off the one thing she feared to say.

"I need to find him." She said.

"He's not here. He left after-" Lacey paused for a moment, her eyes even growing wider.

"After what?"

"After that werewolf girl told him what was about to happen."

Faye knew where Klaus was headed and turned away from Lacey to start running back to the place she had just left. Her arm was grabbed once again.

"Where are you going?" Her concerned aunt asked.

"To make sure less people die than needed." Faye answered.

"Then I'm going with you and we're taking the car before you ruin your dress more."

__

Faye and Lacey parked the car next to the cellar, already seeing that they were too late to save the hybrids. At least ten scattered the ground above, missing hearts and their heads. Klaus' scent was all over them, but he was already gone from the scene by the time they got there.

"There's twelve." Lacey told her after they had searched the whole place searching for Tyler's body, "Tyler's not one of them."

"Do we bury them or call Liz?" Faye questioned.

Lacey shook her head at Faye's second suggestion, "Bury them. We don't need the police all here wondering what happened." 

"Klaus is going to go after Tyler." Faye said, her voice trembling, "I need to do something before it happens. Tyler doesn't deserve to die."

Lacey nodded. She walked over and pressed a kiss to Faye's temple, "You go find Klaus or Tyler, either is good, and stop it. I'll stay here and call Stefan so we can get this all cleaned up." She looked at her niece with a small smile, "Be safe."

"I'm not the one who's got the Original hybrid wanting to kill me." Faye whispered before blurring away.

__

Faye was too late to stop Klaus from doing anything more disastrous than he already had. She was too late to save Carol Lockwood from his wrath towards her son, the water had already filled her lungs by the force of Klaus. 

Faye stood in shock as she watched Klaus let go of the mayor, letting her lay dead against the fountain in the middle of Mystic Falls. Her hand covered her mouth, tears threatening to spill at the sight. This was much worse than she imagined. She thought Klaus would have killed Tyler, not the only person he had left in his life. Carol hadn't deserved it.

The said main, the murderer, turned to the strawberry blonde standing there in horror. He was coated in blood that she was sure belonged to the hybrids he brutally killed for their betrayal. There was a flicker of guilt in his eyes, but it was washed away when he remembered what he did it for. A word wasn't spoke to her as he passed by her, walking away from everything.

And he left behind the girl going out of her mind as she stared at the mess he had made. Faye had thought Klaus was different now; thought he had finally stopped hiding behind the murderous persona he had used to make everyone fear him, but she was wrong. He still made himself out to be ruthless, a force to reckon with, and Faye hated it.

She clawed for her phone that rested in the handbag she still had with her despite the events of the day. Faye scrolled through her contacts before pressing the name of the Sheriff and pressing it to her ear.

"Liz?" She said softly, not trying to show that she was crying, "The mayor's dead."

And it was at the hands of the man she had finally figured out she had feelings for. At the hands of another man who had broken her heart.

__

A/N: YA'LL THOUGHT SOMETHING WAS GONNA HAPPEN RIGHT. YA'LL THOUGHT DIDN'T YA'LL. BUT INSTEAD, I MADE IT SAD AF AND CRUSHED YOUR HEART. How do you feel about this chapter? Whatcha think? Is it horrible? Are you pissed at me because I destroyed another chance at Klaye?

i just. this book is almost over and i just really want to get to the first kiss ya know. like its going to be the best chapter in existence because everything will just all fall together. also what is this chapter title? like i could not think of a good one at all.

Next chapter: EXERCISABLE FAYE TRAINING BBY HUNTERS, KLAYE ANGST AF, and also like some extreme sexual tension if i get to it ya know

REMEMBER I NEED TEN COMMENTS THAT DON'T INCLUDE THE WORD "UPDATE" OR ANYTHING LIKE IT FOR ME TO DO EXACTLY THAT.

- Karina