THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
S02:E18
C H A P T E R  T E N:
Arrival.

Her heart stopped in that moment, the world around her becoming a blur. She wondered, as her mother's words faded, if Katherine had known all along. Anastasiya wondered if the Mikaelsons, Kol being first to introduce himself, only showed interest in her because she was a Petrova that would somehow lead Klaus to what he wanted. She wondered if it had all been a lie, if the vampire had kept her human because he was afraid of cutting the bloodline before getting another doppelgänger. She wondered the worst things in those few seconds, everything swirling in her mind quicker than she could comprehend. She grasped at the thoughts, one of Elena being her relative, which meant she was loosely related to Isobel. Anastasiya's mouth went dry, parched from lack of words. She turned away from her mother, who's speaking had dimmed to a buzzing, and shook her head.

"You're ashamed," Anastasiya realized as she turned back toward her frowning, wide-eyed mother, "or... afraid." Her mother shook her head, stepping back a bit at the accusation. Anastasiya glanced at the crooked photo on the wall. A photo of her and Elena around the age of five, playing in a pumpkin patch."Isobel was here." A whisper, almost inaudible had left Anastasiya's mouth and it burned like poison. Her mother's eyes opened impossibly wider, mouth agape as she stared at her frowning daughter. Just the mention of the woman's name caused a shiver to roll down Odette's spine, but she wasn't quite sure why. "Did she hurt you?"

Odette shook her head, exclaiming a soft, "Heavens no!" It sounded almost as if her mother was defending Isobel. Merely the thought of Elena's vampire birth-mother hurting her made her want to jump from her skin. The platinum blonde glanced oddly at her mother, something was missing. Her hands were trembling as she watched Anastasiya march around her, back into the kitchen.

"Where is it?" Anastasiya demanded, searching the countertops and scanning the wooden floor.

Her mother's brows furrowed as she questioned, "What, dear?"

"Your necklace," the platinum blonde answered roughly, digging through miscellaneous draws. Her mother grasped for the chain around her neck, but nothing was there. Odette rubbed her bare chest, hoping it would reappear.

"I-I don't know." Odette was shaking. "It was here before Isobel-"

"Oh, good," Anastasiya laughed, slamming the draw shut. Odette jumped at the sound. "You've been compelled." The platinum blonde, even through a fit of rage and multiple other emotions, went to her mother. She soothingly grabbed her mother by the shoulders, her eyes soft, "It's alright, Mamma." The petite woman in front of her calmed slightly, shaking led violently. "Do you remember what Isobel said or did?"

Her mother took a deep breath and forced herself to stop shaking, responding, "She was looking for you, mentioning having already seen Elena. I don't remember her leaving. I don't know why I'm so scared." The Petrova women were strong, and Anastasiya could tell that her mother was ashamed for being aimlessly afraid.

"Who is Isobel to you?" the platinum blonde questioned, watching a small smile from on her mother's face.

"She is my cousin," Odette explained, but then furrowed her eyebrows. "But..." she frowned. "There was something off about her being here, I just can't remember what." Anastasiya nodded, gave her mother a warm embrace, and offered to make chamomile tea to calm her nerves. Odette never noticed the difference in taste from regular chamomile tea, and thanked her daughter gratefully for cheering her up. They both made their way upstairs and into their respective rooms.

Anastasiya closed her door and eyes at the same time, softly sighing as her back leaned into the white wood.

"That was a little dramatic," a woman's voice teased from inside of the room, "Don't cha think?" The platinum blonde's eyes shot open, but no one was there. She wondered if she was going insane and walked further into the room, turning slowly. Her eyes met the occupied spot at the door where she once stood. "Isobel?" She quickly grabbed the closest thing that could be used as a weapon, knowing her pocket knife was in the bag left out in her car. At that moment, as she looked over at the pencil in her hand, she was glad to have left her science project out.

"Ooh," Isobel teased again, stepping slowly toward Anastasiya, "planning on staking me? I wonder how your second cousin, Elena, would feel if you killed her mother."

Anastasiya scoffed, "I don't think she would give a damn."

Isobel walked around the room, looking at little trinkets and pictures as she divulged, "I know you feel him coming, like an attraction of opposite poles." She picked two magnets off of the whiteboard calendar, placing them in her hand and smirking as they connected. "You may not know it, but that yearning for him is a sign that he is near. He yearns for you, but he doesn't know you're alive. You're connected to him, Anastasiya." Isobel looked the platinum blonde in the eyes, emeralds clashing with grey rain clouds.

"Klaus?" she wondered, turning away from Isobel's intense stare. There was no response and, when she turned back, no one else in the room.

~

Walking into her history class,
Anastasiya went to sit in her designated seat in front of Elena, who smirked and waved the '60's Decade Dance' poster at the blonde. Anastasiya sat and turned toward Elena with a lopsided smile, shrugging.

"Well, I never truly made it to the Sixties. What could be the harm in going to a party themed around them?" she joked, a sardonic smile on her face as Elena rolled her eyes playfully.

"You always were an old soul," the brunette joked, her eyebrow raising. Anastasiya laughed, winking at Elena before facing the board. The doppelgänger looked over toward Stefan and gave him a victorious look. He returned an annoyed one and looked to the front of the class.

Alaric entered the classroom and greeted, "Hello, class. What..." he glanced through the notebook in his hand, raising a brow, "are we learning today?"

"With the decade dance tonight, we've been covering the sixties all week," Dana answered, sitting at the front of the class in front of Elena and Anastasiya. The platinum blonde looked back at Elena, giving her a confused glance. She pursed her lips and knitted her brows together for a moment. Elena shrugged. Alaric wasn't usually like this, off his game and unsure of his own lesson.

"Right," Alaric dropped his notebook on the desk, "the sixties." He moved to write on the board, but stopped and stared at the two girls sitting behind Dana. Anastasiya turned back around as Elena started to grab her jacket from her bag. She cocked her head in question at Alaric as Elena placed the jacket on her chair and started to focus back on the teacher. He glanced around the room, noticing confused students, and then turned toward the chalkboard.

"The... uh," he cleared his throat and started to write on the board. Anastasiya glanced over at Stefan, leaning back in her chair, and whispered inaudible to normal ears, "Is he drunk? Can you smell stuff like that?" Stefan shook his head and shrugged, mouthing, "He's sober."

"The sixties," Alaric stopped writing and his voice lowered to a mumble. "I wish there was something good I could say about the sixties, but..." His tone almost sounded saddened and regretful. Alaric turned around, gesturing his hands outward, "Actually, they kind of sucked." His eyes landed on Anastasiya and then he began to pace behind his desk, pointing out, "Except for The Beatles, of course. They made it bearable. Uh, what else was there? The Cuban missile thing, the...we walked on the moon. There was Watergate."

Elena spoke up, an amused smile on her face as she corrected, "Watergate was the seventies, Ric." Alaric stopped and the whole classroom went silent, everyone giving Elena different variations of the same confused glance. Her amused smile dropped and she corrected, "I-I mean, Mr. Saltzman." She tensed up, pleading that everyone would look away.

"Right," Alaric smiled, "it kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies." Elena gulped, feeling completely embarrassed. "Thank you," his voice was low, almost a whisper "Elena." Alaric turned back toward the board to continue his lesson.

~

Bonnie and Elena were sitting together in the cafeteria, having just finished a conversation about Jeremy and the dance they had been setting up for. Anastasiya made her way toward them urgency in her eyes. She sat down next to Bonnie, in front of Elena.

"So," Anastasia set her bag on the table, "Two things. We're second cousins and Isobel visited my mom and then me last night." Bonnie's mouth opened from shock as she looked between the two, now seeing them as family.

Elena's eyebrows knitted and she quickly quizzed, "What do you mean?"

"My mother's maiden last name is Petrova and she's cousins with Isobel Flemming. Half my family lives in Bulgaria. I never knew about Isobel because she's been missing since, like, forever. She compelled my mom
to forget whatever she said to her, other than looking for me and having already seen you," Anastasiya stopped for breath and watched for Elena's reaction.

"What'd Isobel say to you?" Elena wondered, absentmindedly leaning in.

"She just," Anastasiya tucked hair behind her ear nervously, "kinda taunted me about how we were family." Elena nodded slowly, wondering if she could believe the girl.

"So, you're both descendants of Katherine?" Bonnie asked, her mind finally turning its gears again. Elena and Anastasiya simultaneously nodded, their mouths in straight, dull lines.

"Hey, Anastasiya, there you are," Dana greeted as she came close to the girls. Anastasiya looked up from her friends and at Dana, who she was once friends with in third grade. "Okay," she continued, gesturing her hands out, "this is gonna sound freaky, but this totally hot guy wanted me to ask if you're going to the dance tonight." Anastasiya opened her mouth to reply, but Bonnie has beat her to it.

"Maybe she is. Who is he?" the witch answered, watching out for her friend.

Dana pouted and looked from Bonnie to Anastasiya, pleading, "You could at least meet him. He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus." The three girls froze, and Anastasiya forced an oncoming smile away. She wanted to meet him, to touch him again, but she didn't want Elena to become a victim of her selfish ways. She wanted to be afraid for Elena, but the action seemed lower than her because she knew better.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" the doppelgänger asked, turning to face Dana directly.

Dana smiled. "His name's Klaus. I know the name's stupid," she waved off the thought with her hand, "but I swear he's hot."

Bonnie glanced around at everyone, seeing no one unfamiliar. "Where is he? Is he here?" Her voice filled with worry as she looked back at Dana.

"I don't know," Dana blinked, looking blankly at the witch.

"She's been compelled," Bonnie muttered in realization.

Dana, once again, looked from Bonnie to Anastasiya. She smiled, gushing, "But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How cute is that?"

"Yeah," Anastasiya mumbled, looking down at her hands on the table, "real cute."

~

The Salvatore Boarding house was filled with supernaturals, and Anastasiya, who leaned back onto one of their fancy chairs. She wondered who decorated the place. Her guess was Stefan, or their dead 'uncle' Zach, because it definitely wasn't Damon. If Damon had the roll of decorating, Anastasiya imagined a very modern set of decor. She swung her feet onto the coffee table, crossing them as Damon leaned on the arm of her chair. She could smell the scent of leather mixed with bourbon and maybe a little cologne, but didn't mind it much.

"So we go to the dance, we find him," Damon says simply, shrugging.

"Really? How are we going to do that? We don't even know what he looks like," Stefan counters, unamused.

Damon rolls his eyes and points out, "Something tells me he's not gonna be sixteen and pimply. Besides, Anastasiya knows his face."

"He could be anywhere at any time," Stefan gestures his hands out widely, as if showing the wide variety of places Klaus could be. "He compelled somebody at school." He raised a brow at Bonnie and Elena. The witch looked guiltily away from Stefan as the doppelgänger tensed at his words.

"He could be anyone at any time," Anastasiya corrects, standing from her seat. "Theoretically."

"I guess it's not as safe as you guys thought, huh?" Stefan concludes, nodding toward Anastasiya and what she said.

"Anyone?" Damon questions, hopping off the chair and looking toward Anastasiya. Alaric entered the house, announcing, "Sorry, I'm late."

Anastasiya looking away from Alaric and back over to Damon, giving him a sorry smile, responding, "Nik likes his tricks." The history teacher made an inhumane noise and then coughed as if he were choking.

"Hey, Ric," Damon said, catching the teacher's attention and causing him to abruptly stop coughing. Damon raised an eyebrow before continuing, "I need you to put me down as a chaperone at the dance tonight. Klaus made his first move." Alaric cocked his head at Damon and walked further into the circle of friends.

"Okay," Elena sighed, "so we find him and then what, hmm? What's our plan of attack?" She looked around her group of friends, hoping one of them would have a plan.

"Me," Bonnie answered, looking around the circle at the group. She had an honest expression, not afraid to take down Klaus. Damon scrunched his nose at the idea. Anastasiya silently agreed with the older Salvatore, looking curiously at the witch. "I'm the plan." Bonnie looked over at Elena, a reassuring glint in her yes. "He has no idea how much power I can channel." Anastasiya watched as her friends reacted, Damon and Stefan were apprehensive, Elena was worried, and Alaric... he looked suspicious of the plan, looking Bonnie up and down. "If you can find him, I can kill him." Elena cocked her head at Stefan, signifying that she thought the plan could work.

Alaric laughed nervously, looking over at Stefan. The Salvatore looked at him with pursed lips and his hands on his hips. The teacher reasoned, "That's not going to be that easy. I mean, he is the biggest, baddest vampire around." Elena downcasted her eyes at the stated fact.

Anastasiya squinted her eyes, a hand gesturing toward Alaric as she asked, "Are you... okay, Ric? You've been off your game." Curiosity and wonder filled the vampire hunters eyes as he looked at Anastasiya.

His stare lingered on her a moment until Damon's interjection, "No, Alaric's right. I mean... what if he-" he used his vampire speed to rush at Bonnie, who raised her hand, using her powers to throw him across the room. Anastasiya laughed as Damon peeked over the table he had flown behind. Stefan's eyebrows were raised, his mouth turned town as if to say 'not bad' in an approving away as he looked at Bonnie.

"Well I was impressed," he admits.

Bonnie begins to walk around the group, claiming, "It doesn't matter if he's an original. I can take down anyone who comes at me." She stops in front of her best friend, assuring, "I can kill him, Elena. I know I can." Elena gave an appreciative smile at Bonnie's words, glad to have a friend like her.

~

Anastasiya walked into the school dance scene, searching the crowd for anyone she knew. Her shoes were white, patten leather heels that latched around the ankle. She had on a flowy white dress that had white dots and blue stripes alternating. Her hair was pinned back into a small beehive bun and she wore a white pearl bracelet around her wrist.

Spotting Damon, Anastasiya walked up to him just as she heard Stefan ask, "You guys ready to do this?" Elena and the platinum blonde smile at each other.

"I know I am."

~

Later on, the four meet up with Jeremy in front of the stage.

"Hey, Jer," Anastasiya greeted, waving at him.

"Hey," he replied, smiling softly.

"So," she clasped her hands together and sighed, "As it turns out, we're kinda indirectly related. I'm Elena's second cousin." His eyes widened and he was about to reply, but Dana had walked onto the stage and started speaking.

The music cut as she gushed, "Thanks for being here, everybody. We have a special shout-out tonight!" Anastasiya looked away from Jeremy and up at the stage. Everyone in the group stopped together to watch Dana. "This is for Anastasiya. From Klaus. He also sends his best to Elena."
Another song had started up and Elena and Anastasiya blink in shock at each other.

"I'm gonna go talk to Ric, see if he saw anything from the chaperone area," Anastasiya announced, departing from the group and going to Alaric at the end of the room. He was leaned against the white wall, practically smirking at the girl as she neared.

"Dedicated a whole song to me, how sweet," she said in a fake trance, leaning against the wall next to him. Her voice turned serious as she asked, "Have you seen anyone out of the ordinary? Sandy blonde hair, blue eyes, English accent, probably in a suit since- Are you even listening?" He was just gazing down at her, and she found it unbelievably creepy. She whacked him upside the head with her hand, interrogating, "Are you high or something?" as he rubbed his head and complained, "Ow!"

She walked away from Alaric, warning, "Ric has been smoking weed," as she passed Damon, who scrunched his nose and watched the girl walk away in confusion.

~

The school halls were empty, yet not silent. The party loudly sounded throughout them, voices of people talking and music playing. They were covered in peace signs and flowers that took ages to put up and would have to be taken down by next week. Anastasiya roamed them aimlessly, having left Bonnie and Elena to discuss why the witch shouldn't channel that much power. Her phone started to buzz in the small white purse she carried. Taking it out, she answered Stefan's call.

"Hey, S-"

"Are you still with Bonnie and Elena?" he interrupted urgently.

"Is everything okay?" she wondered, causing Stefan to sigh.

"Klaus set a distraction. Are you with them?" Stefan sounded demanding and angered. The anger wasn't aimed toward Anastasiya, though.

"No, I'm sorry," she called out over the loud grunt she heard on the other line. "Are you fighting someone?"

"Not anymore," he panted into the phone. "What part of the school are you in?"

"I'm on the bottom floor, english hall. Wh-" A gust of wind hit her, causing her dress to flow. She smiled at Stefan and ended the call.

"Let's find Elena," he suggested, grabbing Anastasiya by the waist and speeding them to another part of the school. The platinum blonde had sped around with a vampire two times in her twenty first century life, once with Elijah after they left the Mystic Grill and this time with Stefan, in the eye of the storm and chaos. She wished she could smile and laugh, but all she could do was fear for her friends' lives, which were being grasped by an old friend.

Stefan stopped and put Anastasiya down in the doorway of the gym, searching for Elena, who had spotted them and bid her goodbye to Caroline and Matt.

The trio ran back down the hallway, meeting halfway with Damon as he exited a classroom door.

"There you guys are," he said cheerfully, clapping his hands together.

Elena looked around frantically before looking back a Damon, asking, "What are you doing? Where's Bonnie?"

Damon frowned, claiming, "She's doing what she has to do."

"What?" Anastasiya exclaimed, her eyes wide with both fear and rage. She knew Klaus was strong and Bonnie would burn herself out just to kill him. Bonnie, Anastasiya regretted to admit to herself, was loyal enough to die for Elena.

Stefan stepped in front of the girls, demanding, "Where is she?" He glared at Damon, suddenly regretting putting trust in him.

"Stefan, let her do this," Damon said in a soft, yet angry tone.

"Damn it, Damon, where is she?!" Stefan roared, putting his foot down.

~

Without Damon's help, the trio ran the halls in search for Bonnie. They found her in the cafeteria, standing at the door. Anastasiya looked from injured Alaric-slash-Klaus on the ground to Bonnie's bloody nose. The witch snapped her head over and slammed the doors so the three can't get in.

"Bonnie, no!" Elena cried, banging on the door. Bonnie and Klaus continue to fight, lights bursting all around as Elena screamed, "No!" Stefan and Anastasiya try desperately to push the door open, but it doesn't even budge.

Bonnie looked over, smiling toothlessly at Elena as if she had already won her battle, as if she were silently saying 'goodbye.' Elena stopped and stared at her friend, the sparks falling all around the witch as a tear left her eye. The smile stayed imprinted in Elena's mind. The smile that was trying so hard to reassure her that everything would be alright and that it wasn't her fault, but it wasn't working.

As Klaus stood, Bonnie had used the last of her power. Suddenly, her body jerked back and she fell to the paper covered ground. "No!" All the lights in the room went out and the three stumbled into the room toward Bonnie.

Anastasiya stood back as she watched Elena cradle the dead witch. Her world had frozen over once again, voices became distant and faces blurred. She couldn't peel her eyes off the only thing that was in focus, Bonnie.

Not once in Anastasiya's life, had a close friend died. Sure, there were relatives and Vikki, but the closest thing that came to mind was Mason. It wasn't the same feeling, she knew. Mason was her brother's best friend, not hers. Bonnie was one of her closest friends and she had just watched her die, helplessly watched her die for Elena. Anastasiya had always swished to die of old age just before her friends did. She knew it was selfish to want to evade feeling pain by paining others.

Stefan glanced around the room, it was vacant of AlariKlaus. He looked back at Anastasiya, her face vacant and distant. Then, he looked toward his girlfriend as she pleaded for him to help Bonnie, to feed her his blood, to do something, anything. He looked down at lifeless Bonnie and back up at Elena, shaking his head like doctors did in tv shows and like he once had after stepping from an ambulance, "It's too late. I'm sorry."

Damon had entered the room as Elena began to scream and beg for Bonnie to wake back up. "Stefan, get Elena and Anastasiya out of here. I'll deal with the body."

"What do you mean, 'deal with it'?" Elena gasped out through the tears, wondering why Damon had become so cold.

"The sheriff can't know about this. Last thing we need's another mysterious death," he explained, picking up Bonnie.

"This is Bonnie!" Elena exclaimed, glaring at Damon.

The Salvatore looked toward his brother, demanding, " Get her home. Now. So I can clean this up."

~

Stefan had brought both Elena and Anastasiya back to the boarding house, hoping they would be safe there.

Sat on the couch, having not moved since she'd gotten to the boarding house, was Anastasiya. Stefan had draped a warm blanket over her in hopes she would have some reaction, but nothing had happened.

"Anastasiya?" Stefan crouched down in front of her, placing his cold hands on top of hers. She looked over at him, dully. Her eyes lacked the sparkle he was used to seeing, the emerald color was dimmed and glossed over. She hadn't shed a single tear. "Bonnie-" she flinched at the name, "she's alive, Anastasiya." For once, Stefan had gotten a reaction out of the girl. She furrowed her eyebrows and then turned her nose up at him. She didn't believe him.

"I saw her die," she whispered and if it weren't for his heightened hearing, he wouldn't have heard her.

"Call her." He handed his Blackberry over, the contact for Bonnie already pulled up. The platinum blonde pushed it away.

"I can't," she spoke meekly, shaking her head.

Stefan sighed, turning her head to face him. His hands weren't freezing, but they weren't entirely warm either. They had felt warm against her drained skin. A dead man's hands had managed to warm Anastasiya's skin. "You can."

Once she had gotten the guts to call Bonnie, Anastasiya frowned impatiently as it rang. Bonnie apologized and Anastasiya laughed, bubbling with more joy than she thought she owned. She still never cried, not a happy tear nor a mourning one.

Anastasiya was grateful toward Stefan, and smiled at him as she handed the phone back. "Thank you." He nodded, a close-lipped smile resting on his pretty features.

~

A/N
this is a long chapter whoop
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