CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE / ACT TWO

History Repeating Itself.

"How'd this happen, hm?" Stefan paced back and forth across the classroom, trying to make sense of the current situation. Right after Angelina's little incident with her dear friend, she immediately went to go find the Salvatore brothers along with Elena to come with some sort of plan to figure out what to do for the time being.

Caroline was a mess, and they knew it. Becoming a vampire only made things worse, especially in those early days. Her emotions were all over the place, and she needed help and stability more than ever. They couldn't bear to see her struggle, especially now that she had to deal with the added challenges of vampirism.

Angelina had the distinct impression that she had been through this before. Katherine messes up her life, people die, and someone is turned. History, how it repeats itself.

"Well, I fed her blood, and Katherine obviously killed her, and A plus B equals.." Damon shrugged, his tone seemingly careless.

"But why?" Elena inquired.

"Because Katherine is a manipulative, nasty little slut."

"And she said 'Game on'?" Stefan continued to pace. "I mean, what does that even mean?"

"It means she's playing dirty, she wants us to know." The eldest brother replied.

"But why Caroline?" Elena crossed her arms, her confusion growing further and further.

"Because she knows she's close to us." Angelina finally broke her long silence by looking down at the ground and playing with her daylight ring before raising her head to face the group. "Caroline has no idea what's going on. The compulsions wearing off.. her cravings are getting stronger.. she's scared, she's confused.."

"I knew we shouldn't have compelled her.." Elena bit her fingernails.

"What else were we supposed to do?" The Petrova threw her head back, sighing, and she shrugged in response to her remark.

"We have to find her." Stefan interrupted their mini quarrel.

"Yep.." Damon exhaled. "And kill her."

"You're not gonna kill Caroline!" Elena immediately protested against his rash idea.

"She knows who we are! She's officially a liability."

"Or, we could get her under control and actually help her instead of giving up." Stefan argued. "Caroline doesn't deserve to be staked, she just needs help."

"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan?"

"Who's Vicki Donovan?" Angelina questioned.

"An idiot teenage girl who couldn't last a day as a vampire. I mean, Caroline's worse than her, she of all people will not make it as a vampire, her mothers a vampire hunter."

"Okay, did you guys try to help Vicki?"

"Tried, failed, and we're not dealing with a round two. Might as well stake her and put her out of her misery." He continued the debate by examining all of their facial expressions, which all carried the same solemn expression. "Guys, come on. We all know how this story ends, so just flip to the last chapter and-"

"It's not an option, Damon." Elena cut him off.

"No?" The vampire smirked and glanced at his brother. "Your silence is deafening, Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? Huh, talk about a town where history repeats itself."

"You all know I'm right."

"No, you're not." Angelina jumped off the desk she sat on. "No one's asking for your help. You can run off and do whatever you want; but we're helping Caroline."

"And why are you so hellbent on helping her?" He questioned her, leaning in towards her.

Angelina locked her gaze on him for a moment before looking away and backing up. "Because, like Stefan said, she doesn't deserve to be staked when she could've been helped." She replied, her response hesitant, almost as if she was backing down from arguing with him.

Fuming with frustration, Angelina stormed out of the classroom and charged down the hallway, her footsteps echoing in the empty corridors. She pushed open a back door, leading her straight into the carnival grounds.

With a sense of urgency driving her, she scanned the bustling carnival, searching for her friend amidst the chaos. Thoughts raced through her mind—where could Caroline be? What could she be up to? She needed to find her and get her away from the crowd, back to safety.

Amidst the cacophony of screams and laughter, Angelina heard footsteps trailing behind her. "Angelina!" Elena's voice pierced through the noise, and she turned to see her doppelgänger hurrying to catch up.

"Yeah?" Angelina rubbed her brow, stress building inside her with each passing second Caroline was out of sight.

"You're looking for Caroline, right?" She asked and she nodded in response. "I wanna help, she's my friend and- I should be there for her."

"I mean, unless you wanna end up as her first victim, I'd suggest staying away." She gave a sarcastic response though she was genuinely serious.

"I'll be fine, I promise." Elena reassured and the Petrova sighed, continuing to eye the rest of the carnival for her friend.

Elena eyed her up and down, detecting the overwhelming panic all over her face. "You agree with Damon, don't you?"

"Of course not." Angelina replied quickly. "Caroline shouldn't have to die, nor should she have to go through this alone. Trust me, I know what that's like."

"I thought you had Katherine with you?"

"She wasn't exactly the most comforting during our transition."

For a brief moment, there was silence between the two, and Gilbert felt a pang of pity for Angelina. "Katherine.. she's doing this to me, isn't she?"

"It doesn't matter who she's doing it to." She shrugged. "We just have to find-"

All of a sudden, the strong aroma of blood became more prominent to her..

and then the sound of crying..

and then the sound of Damon's and Caroline's voice.

"What is it?" Her doppelgänger inquired. "Do you hear her?"

"There's blood, a lot of it." Ignoring Elena's attempts to talk, Angelina raced towards the scent with her friend trailing behind. It didn't take long for them to reach a secluded spot at the back of the carnival, where they found Caroline in a dangerous situation.

Damon, stake in hand, held Caroline close, oblivious to the imminent threat. Without hesitation, Angelina intervened, grabbing Damon's arm and twisting it until she heard a satisfying snap. He fell to the ground in pain, but his vampire healing kicked in almost instantly.

Frustrated but determined, Angelina focused on getting Caroline out of harm's way, her mind racing with thoughts of how to handle the precarious situation they found themselves in.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled and left Caroline in the hands of Elena.

"I'm doing all of you a favor!" Damon snapped his arm back in place though he remained on the concrete.

"You're not doing anyone a favor!" She snapped, rolling her arms and resisting the urge to continue the violence, before returning her attention to her friend.

"Caroline, everything's gonna be fine, okay? I promise!" Elena attempted to confide in her friend, but the blonde pushed her away, tears streaming down her cheeks and blood smeared across strands of her hair, her mouth, her hands, and her jacket.

"Get away from me, you killed me!" Caroline cried, slowly backing away from the two of them.

"No, no, no, Caroline that wasn't me!" The Gilbert reassured, stepping towards her. "You know that, that was Katherine!"

"No! Then why does she look like you?! And why- why did she do this to me?!"

"There's too many people out here," Angelina took Caroline's hand in hers, attempting to be as gentle as possible with her and leading her to the back door to get away from the crowd.

"She will die." Damon had finally risen to his feet, a subtle smirk on his face taunting the three of them. "It's only a matter of time," he grinned.

"Yeah, well she's not gonna die tonight."

"Oh yeah she is." Before anyone could react, Damon grabbed the wooden stake and lunged towards Caroline. But Elena acted fast, positioning herself between Damon and her friend, her stance determined and protective.With Caroline behind her, the Gilbert faced Damon head-on, her gaze unwavering as she confronted the vampire, holding the weapon aloft.

"Please, Damon." She pleaded, out of breath from the arguments and fighting.

Angelina eyed him before gently grasping her friend's hand and led her away from him and Elena, pushing open the school's back door.

"Don't worry, Care. We'll get you cleaned up and it'll all be fine, alright?" Angelina wrapped her arms around Caroline, comforting her as she cried, guiding her into the girls' bathroom. With a quick glance around to ensure they were alone, she released Caroline's hand and turned on the sink. Grabbing some paper towels, she soaked them under the running water and gently wiped away the blood from her friend's face.

"What- What's happening to me?" She sobbed uncontrollably.

"I promise, I'll explain everything later." Angelina faced her, bending down to look her in the eyes and softly rubbing her shoulders to ease her nerves. "I'll get you home safely, and everything will be alright."

"Oh god, I'm a murder.. I'm a monster.."

"You are not a monster, Care." She tucked her blonde strands of hair behind her ears. "When you're in transition, everything's heightened. What you're feeling right now, if you let me help you learn some control, it'll all go away with time, I promise. Just let me help you."

Caroline's sobs gradually subsided, replaced by deep, shaky breaths. Unable to find her voice, she simply nodded in response to Angelina's comforting presence. The brunette enveloped her in a tight hug, and Caroline clung to her, finding solace in their embrace.

"Why did Katherine do this to me?" She spoke lowly, which almost shattered Angelina's heart.

"I have no idea, but I promise you, Stefan, Elena, and I.. we're not gonna let anything happen to you, alright?"

Caroline nodded, finding comfort in Angelina' embrace as she buried her head in her shoulder. The eldest vampire gently rubbed her back, offering reassurance in the midst of the chaos.

Tonight had been a complete disaster, and they had Katherine to thank for it. With Mason Lockwood lurking around, knowing who knows what about her, and Caroline struggling with her new vampire life, it seemed like Katherine was the only one coming out on top.

But Angelina wasn't about to give up without a fight. Despite her sister's cunning, she knew she was stronger, even if she wasn't as cunning. With the looming threat of the moonstone, she knew she had to act fast. Handing it over to Elijah was out of the question; they needed to destroy it before it could cause any more harm to them and the people they cared about.

AUTHORS NOTE

IS MAH BIRTHDAY 🥳

you wonder why angelina hasnt told her friends about mason being a werewolf. because plot.

anyways imagine writing this episode of tvd and not having a mental breakdown, like this chapter was just about 2000 words and it felt like a nightmare and i hated writing the "when ur in transition everythings heightened" sentence bc everytime stefan says that i wanna kms

IM NOT PROOF READING THIS BECAUSE THIS MONSTROSITY CANT BE FIXED, THIS IS FANFICTION WHAT DO U EXPECT

anyways idk if i said this before but if u want to know what angelina looks like specifically, just imagine katherine when she was in elenas body ik its specific but still cause like shes a mix of both of them, style and personality wise

or katherine and elena mixed together

LIKE THESE PICTURES RIGHT HERE

LIKE THE CURLY HAIR BUT WITH ELENAS FACE AND SORT OF STYLE

WHATEVER IDC GOODBYE