00 | A Face History Never Forgets

     𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐈𝐍 𝐀 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 if you don't even know you're playing. Most games require wit and skills. Some only need luck. But all needs to be aware of the rules. One half of the players could not be more clueless.

To Dakota, her life is simple, not perfect, simple. Because perfect would mean her family will be in the dining room waiting for her when she comes down for breakfast before school. Perfect would mean friends that always show up for their plans. Perfect would mean pure bliss and zero worry. And neither of those exist in this simple life of hers.

She comes down the stairs and eats breakfast alone. She goes to school with her friends nowhere to be found. And in cases where she does find them, she feels out of place around them because of the secrets that she knows they are keeping from her. And they all started because of the Salvatore brothers.

Everything was nearly perfect before they arrived. But when they slithered their way in their circle of friends, Dakota was unknowingly pushed out. It's not that she hated Damon and Stefan. But she also didn't like them. She just wanted to be included.

"Kody!" Caroline exclaimed as she ran towards the redhead at the sight of her. Dakota was just passing the Mystic Grill when she was welcomed by Caroline's tight hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in so long."

That's because it's true. she thought. She pushed away the thought. She's obviously hanging on by a thread in this friend circle, she didn't want that thread to snap.

"Are you free tonight?" Caroline asked once she had finally released Dakota. "You have to come to Senior Prank Night. It's a school tradition! We're about to be seniors."

Dakota hesitated. Nights were hers. They're the only times when Dakota didn't have to worry about pretending.

"I don't know." Dakota answered.

"Come on! You've been so out of touch lately." the blonde stated. "This is our time to reconnect."

"Care–" Dakota began but she was immediately met by the girl's groan.

Caroline rolled her eyes not because she was annoyed at her, but she was simply frustrated. Caroline was in need of normalcy. Dakota was the closest to normalcy she's ever going to get. She then settled her eyes on Dakota's before she spoke. "You will go to Senior Prank Night tonight and have a great time."

"It'll be a blast!" Dakota answered, matching Caroline's enthusiasm.

The blonde gave Dakota another tight hug before telling her all the things that she needed to bring to set up the pranks that night. After that, they once again went their separate ways.

• ─────────────── •

Dakota was an introvert, that's for sure. She's not like Caroline or Elena or Bonnie who were social butterflies and would easily make friends with others. She didn't have that aura in her that makes everyone trust her. She didn't interfere when someone was in need. She didn't go out on dates. She didn't stand out in class for her grades. She's simply living on the sidelines. She liked it that way. Unbothered. Unnoticed. Invisible. What she didn't expect was her being unnoticed by her own friends as well.

"Oh, come on! Seriously?! Do you know how long it took for us to set all this up?!" Caroline whined when Matt walked in, setting off all the mouse traps that they had laid on the floor.

Matt looked completely flustered and confused as to what was happening and everyone could see that. It only took Tyler telling him what this was all about before he got it.

"Forgot about Senior Prank Night, huh?" Tyler said as he stood behind Caroline.

"Clearly." Matt replied. He was still sweating and panting from working out in the school's gym.

"How could you forget? We've only been waiting for this since, like, freshman year." Caroline ranted.

Partially incorrect. Dakota was not part of the people who were looking forward to this since freshman year. She only moved to Mystic Falls in sophomore year to live in her aunt's house who was barely even home after Dakota's parents died. It was the reason she first connected with Elena the following year and then she was introduced to the rest of the friend group. Nothing like a good old trauma bonding to spark a friendship between people.

"Yeah, Matt. If I'm doing this, you're doing this." Elena stated, pointing at herself and then him with a flashlight as she sat on an armchair. Behind her was Bonnie standing next to Dakota who was tending to her own small wound that she got when she was nipped by one of the mouse traps that went off.

No one seemed to notice the wound except for Caroline when she briefly looked at the redhead when the lights turned on before focusing on the conversation.

"I'm kind of surprised any of you are doing this." Matt said.

"Caroline's making us." Bonnie replied. Dakota glanced at her, sensing that even though Caroline was making them do this, it seemed like Bonnie needed this as well. A distraction. Dakota didn't bother to find out from what.

"We're about to be seniors. These are the memories that will stay with us forever and if we don't–" Caroline trailed off when finally, the voice of Dakota Grant cut through her own tiny invisible bubble and joined the conversation.

"And if we don't create these memories now, then what's the point of it all?" Dakota finished, sending the cheery blonde a wide smile as she suppressed the soft laugh that bubbled inside her.

"Go ahead. Make fun. I don't care." She said, flickering her gaze between each and every one of them.

"You're all lame, and I've got ten more classrooms to prank." Tyler said as he grabbed a bag and made his way out of the room while not missing the sweet smile that stretched on his girlfriend's face.

Right after Tyler were Elena and Dakota making their way out of the classroom as well.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Bonnie asked the two.

Dakota whipped around, her waves of auburn hair gracefully and effortlessly flowing as she turned around and held up her slightly bloodied index finger. "Just gonna find something to clean this up."

Caroline's gaze then shifted towards Elena. "To superglue Alaric's desk shut. I'm making memories."

This placed a wide, thankful smile on Caroline's lips and said "I love you!" before the two of them walked out of the classroom.

"I'm gonna head to the infirmary. They surely have something to cover this up." Dakota told Elena.

The brunette simply gave a smile and a nod before Dakota walked the opposite direction, Tyler and the other guys brisk walking past her as they went back to making the classrooms all pranked up.

Dakota could hear her own boots clicking against the floor, echoing across the hall. That's how empty the corridors were. It should be, given that it was nighttime. They were the ones that broke in. But as she got further and further from her friends and all alone, she couldn't help but notice how quiet it became. The infirmary and the gym were in the same direction. But once she dealt with her wound and stepped out of the infirmary, the noise coming from the gym suddenly stopped. Like there's no one there any more.

How long was she tending to her small wound? Surely not longer than ten minutes. It's just a small one. But then again, she had a tendency of being all paranoid over nothing. Which was the case right now until she finally saw Matt and Bonnie heading her way.

"Oh, good. I thought you guys suddenly left." Dakota said once the two reached her.

"Well, we're not leaving until every inch of this school is all set up for tomorrow." Bonnie said, a smile tugging on her lips.

"Fair enough." Dakota responded before she joined Matt and Bonnie as they headed toward the gym with rolls of toilet paper in hand. She was walking beside Bonnie, who she's slightly towering over as she was much taller. Bonnie stood at about 5 feet and 2 inches. Meanwhile, Dakota was 5 feet and 5 and a half inches tall.

They were closely approaching the door, and Bonnie being a few steps ahead of them, she pushed the gym's double doors herself, only to hear Elena's tone of warning with her yell.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" Elena's distressed voice ricocheted on the walls of the gym.

Dakota felt herself suck in a lot of air as she gasped when the tall, blonde, and blue-eyed man sped behind Bonnie and in front of her.

"I was wondering when you'd show up. Now, we can get started." Said the man, his British accent thick. "Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight."

"Dakota, get behind me." Matt grabbed Dakota's wrist and pulled her behind him, using his body as a shield from the one and only Klaus as he suddenly whirled his gaze towards them at the sound of an unfamiliar name. He surely hadn't heard of her in all the times he had 'spent' with her circle of friends.

"Dakota, is it?" Klaus wondered, barely seeing the girl's face since Matt was making sure that he could not so much as lay his eyes upon her. But only a fool would barricade Klaus from doing what he wants.

Klaus stepped towards Matt and in a blink of an eye, he had his hand wrapped around Matt's throat, causing a yelp to escape from Dakota's lips.

"Klaus, let him go!" Bonnie said, preparing herself for a fight if it comes to it.

"I will!" Klaus groaned. "I just need him to scooch a tad to the left."

When Klaus said 'a tad to the left', he actually meant sending Matt flying across the far left of the gym, landing on some of the filled cups laid out and abandoned for Senior Prank Night.

Dakota's breathing changed as her mouth released puffs of air while watching Matt try to get up with Elena's help. As she did, she could feel Klaus's gaze hot on her face. He wasn't looking at her anymore, he was staring. Observing.

When Dakota finally gathered the strength to turn and meet his gaze, she was taken aback by the reaction of the man before her. He seemed to be just as bewildered as she was while she stared right into the man's curious blue eyes.

"Impossible." Klaus whispered, but loud enough for Bonnie to hear.

"Don't hurt her. She's not a part of this. She doesn't know anything!" Bonnie stated.

Klaus's gaze dropped to her finger when he got a whiff of the redhead's blood. Taking her hand, he ripped the band aid off and saw the tiny blood just barely coming out of the small wound.

Human, he thought. He could already tell the taste of the young woman's blood just by the scent of it. It was quite tangy with a hint of sweetness in it that's almost undetectable. Drinking her blood would be like drinking a glass of fine aged wine. Oh, Klaus was tempted, alright. If only she wasn't more useful unharmed.

"On the contrary," Klaus replied to Bonnie's statement. "I think she's very much a part of this."

He let go of her hand before gently brushing his fingers through the front pieces of her rich auburn hair, starting from the top down to the tip of her curls.

"It seems I have another doppelgänger in my hands." Klaus said, his blue eyes narrowing at her.

Dakota's chest rising and falling at such a fast pace at this point.

"What?" She managed to squeeze out of her dried up throat, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Well, you're a doppelgänger, love." Klaus told her, an amused smile curling on his lips. "But not just any doppelgänger."

His hand made its way to her face, the back of his index finger caressing her cheek. "You seem to have the face of, dare I say, a family friend."

Dakota flinched at the mere touch, her breath hitched in her throat, she was no longer breathing. She could feel her lungs tightening from the act. Who was this man and what business does he have with her for him to think that he knows her very well?

"You might know her, actually, all of you." He said, briefly glancing over the other people present in the gym before settling his eyes back on the redhead.

"Her name was Mary Stuart."

• ─────────────── •

That is the prologue of Royal Game! Updates will be every Monday and Friday! There will be 23 chapters in Part One and I'm currently writing Part Two. Just a warning that the story might come off slow at first especially since part one of this book focuses more on getting to know the OCs and their story and how they meet the Mikaelsons. The plot will thicken as it progresses.

Another thing, this fic will be a lot darker than my other fics. Usually, I write light fics that are almost too comedic (aka Once In A Blue Moon & Loved In 1994) which was why a lot of people loved it. This one however, is more serious and quite heavy. But i intend to lighten up in the second part.

Also another warning, their story is kind of a slow burn. You'll know why in the coming chapters. For now, I hope this short prologue have encouraged you to keep reading in the future! I encourage everyone to leave comments because reading them motivates me so much <3