STATUS: available [ ] taken [×]
by pepperronys

* MEANS IT CAN BE CHANGED

TITLE: Survival Instincts
FANDOM: The Vampire Diaries
LOVE INTEREST(s): Jeremy Gilbert* (Cat), Stefan Salvatore* (Mira), Caroline Forbes* (Xander)
TIMELINE: AU*

CAST

zendaya as
CATRIONA "CAT" HOLLIS

candice patton as
ZEMIRA "MIRA" HOLLIS

charlize theron as
MORGANA HAWETHORNE

dylan o'brien as
XANDER HAWETHORNE

DESCRIPTION

Cat Hollis always knew that she was a witch. She loved magic and doing magic and everything to do with magic. Her favourite memories of her mother from before she died were when she taught Cat some magic, or showed her certain spells. She loved their magic shop, being the one behind it all even if it was her elder sister doing the business side of things. And most of all, she loved feeling like she was in on this great secret that none of her classmates or neighbours knew about.

But what she didn't love was how her family had fallen apart after the death of her mother. Her father was a shell of the lively man she'd once played pretend with, broken by the fact that he couldn't protect his wife. With her father unable to run the business anymore, her elder sister, Mira, had to step up as not only in charge of the business, but head of the family as well. But the magic gene had skipped her, so Cat was an equal partner in running the shop and taking care of their family. She didn't have time for friends, for extracurriculars, for anything else.

Well, until the zombies come and the town of Mystic Falls goes on lockdown, that is.

QUOTES

❝"Fear is what makes you smart," I told myself quietly. "Only a dead hero isn't afraid."❞

❝All of her days were full of strangeness here at the end of the world, but this day was standing out as one of the stranger ones.❞

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

- the empty Mystic Falls at the end of season five really made me think Zombie AU so here we are

- Mira is the eldest Hollis sibling, then Cat. And then they have two younger, twin siblings, Romielle and Romulan. Their dad is named Amadeus (his friends used to call him Ace) and their mom's name was Lovanna.

- Amadeus has a serious drinking problem. He's been arrested for drunk and disorderly... a lot. I think that Liz would give Mira and Cat a break and not like do anything too serious because she knows they're in a tight spot but she could only do this for so long. Amadeus needs serious help as he's very depressed and a definite alcoholic. He was there when Lovanna was killed and blames himself for not being able to protect her. He's also 100% human.

- their store is called Runes and Relics. It's one of those magic shops you see in towns and they sell like rocks and crystals and books and all that stuff but they're enchanted pieces (jewelry and whatnot) is actually enchanted by Cat and that's why they have such a good reputation.

- Morgana and Xander don't initially live in Mystic Falls. She is drawn into town because let's be honest guys, that town is on some kind of focal point or hellmouth or something. It's gotta be. Morgana believes her magic will be stronger there, so that's where they go.

- Xander is his mother's pawn. He doesn't want to do bad things but he doesn't think he could get away from her and doesn't think he deserves to after the bad things she's already made him do. So, at some point, he should switch sides.

- the Zombie virus is magical in origin in that Morgana is a witch and uses magic to create it, but it's not just a spell once it takes effect. Kind of like how vampirism was created by a spell but now you can't just undo vampirism that simply. So once the Zombie virus gets going, it will spiral out of control quickly and be hard for them to stop.

- I kind of think of these zombies being mostly just reanimated corpses that have control of their own bodies. We all know about the Other Side on tvd, so when these people are turned into zombies, it's not like they're brought back to life like we've seen them, their souls or whatever wouldn't go back into their bodies.

- Cat doesn't really have friends. She doesn't really have time, if that makes sense. I mean she's got her school work to do and she's also got the store to help run and her younger siblings and father to take care of. She doesn't have time to go out and hang out with people so she'd always be saying she couldn't hang out so eventually people just stopped asking

- she's a very sweet and kind girl, though. Like she's incredibly loyal so she'd be an amazing friend. And she's hella good at keeping a secret. She's smart and sarcastic, something most people don't know considering she's mostly quiet at school except for answering teacher's questions and stuff.

- since she doesn't really have friends and neither did Jeremy really at one point, I can see them being acquaintances before this all starts just from sitting at lunch tables together and stuff because there wasn't really anywhere else to sit. They never really talked, though. But if you think she missed how attractive he got... you would be very wrong.

- Mira on the other hand, is a lot more serious. She had to grow up faster than she wanted to. She never really got the chance to let go and just live her life. But she is also incredibly smart and knows a whole lot about magic despite not being able to actually do it.

- Morgana is ruthless. You cannot appeal to her good side and her humanity because there is no good side and she has no humanity. Xander wouldn't even be a good bargaining chip unless he was a key part of her plan. He's a pawn. All she cares about is her plan working and taking over the world. She's like an old-school villain. She's evil for evil's sake. She thinks that the end of the world would be fun and that she's superior enough to rule over whatever's left, if anything.

- while I don't think Morgana and Xander would be on Day One of their time in Mystic Falls when the story starts, they wouldn't have been there very long. No one really knows them still. And it will take Morgana a little while to get her first zombie and to get that zombie out infecting other people and then rising the rest of the dead

- she's starting with Mystic Falls as that's where she believes her magic will be strongest, so that's ground zero. But while she does intend on basically infecting the rest of the world, the Mystic Falls Gang (with the addition of Cat) manage to put a magic border around Mystic Falls, stopping anyone from leaving but also stopping anyone from coming inside to help them.

- this basically leaves Mystic Falls trapped with all of the zombies and nowhere to go. Lots of boarding up houses and other places. Hence, the imagery of an empty Mystic Falls from the end of season five.

- here are the zombie rules as I imagine them

- they are relatively slow. Definitely no running or sprinting of any kind. Bites turn people, but it's kind of like an infection that spreads, kills, resurrects as a zombie, so you could slow it down with a tourniquet. Shot to the head kills. Sound will attract them. Zombies burn. You can add others, but run them by me so we can be sure they make sense.

- with these kinds of stories, I think it's best to not give you an exact timeline of what should happen and when because zombies are hard and creating your own zombie apocalypse is also hard so I don't want to limit and stress you out. But, to help out a little, here's a basic timeline of what I think should happen.

- the first big thing should be the first zombie. It wanders around, bites at least one person, maybe more. The gang is confused. Because the first zombie bit people and was a success, Morgana starts raising more. Seeing the direction this is going, they put the magic border in and make sure that Morgana can't undo it. Mystic Falls is trapped with all of the zombies. Stuff happens and leads to defeating Morgana. They kill or get rid of all the zombies. The end!

- but again, that's my basic idea of how it should go, you can change and adapt that to fit better to your story. Remember to sprinkle feelings and stuff in there as well.

- I do have a secret about Lovanna for the person who takes the plot.

- You can change Mira and Xander's love interests. I didn't really know who exactly to put them with, to be honest.

- any other questions, feel free to send 'em my way. I'm always happy to help.