CHAPTER ONE | GROWING PAINS

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THE NIGHT THAT ALARIC KILLED KLAUS CHANGED EVERYTHING. Rebekah, in a fit of rage against Alaric, caused Matt to crash and his car ended up going off Wickery Bridge. Stefan caught the accident and attempted to save Elena first, but she begged him to save Matt, and as a result, she died with vampire blood in her system. Naturally, Eden returned to her family home in the wake of what had happened. She knew her sister would find the adjusting period difficult, but what she worried was whether Elena would complete the transition.  Elena always looked at Eden differently since she became a vampire. Eden wasn't sure whether Elena was actively aware of it, but it happened. It was shame. As if she were ashamed of what the vampirism had done to her twin sister, and Eden didn't know whether she would put herself through that same cycle. Would she be strong enough?

"Way to get her hopes up for something that's never happened in the history of vampirism." Damon irritably grumbled as he strode into the kitchen with Stefan following close behind.

"What?" Eden lifted himself up onto the kitchen counter and furrowed her brows. "What's he done?"

"My baby brother has given Elena hope that there's another way out of this. She either feeds or she dies."

"Why would you—"

"—Neither of you were there the day Elena looked me in the eye and told me she absolutely never wanted this." Stefan was quick to cut the Gilbert girl off with a glare.

Damon shrugged. "Then you shouldn't have let her die."

"I never meant for her to die, she asked me to help Matt first and I did!"

"Oh, Damon, lay off him, would you?" Eden irritably snapped as she walked the eldest of the two brother's glare harshly to Stefan. "The choice wasn't exactly black and white; You save Elena, Matt dies. You save Matt, Elena's a vampire." The vampire rolled her eyes as she jumped down from the counter. "Let me talk to her. Perhaps I can try and dig us outta' the hole of hope that Stefan's placed us in."

Eden jogged her way up the staircase and delicately knocked on Elena's bedroom door. She gave it a few seconds before she finally pushed the door open to see Elena staring at her reflection in the mirror. "My gums hurt." Was the first thing Elena said. "And, this damn light... it hurts."

"Yup." Eden hummed knowingly as she took a few steps inside Elena's bedroom. "It will. Believe it or not, feeling like this is normal."

"Normal?" The transitioning vampire scoffed underneath her breath. "How is any of this normal, Eden?" Elena snapped immediately, and then sighed. "I'm— I'm sorry, okay?"

"You don't need to be. It's fine. My emotions were all over the place, too. And, to tell you the truth, that part doesn't get any easier. But, in time, the rest will." Eden told her sister with a sympathetic smile as she dropped down onto Elena's bed. "

"This must be hard for you." The doppelgänger blurted out which caused Eden to furrow her brows. "Klaus died. I died..."

Eden's face fell. She had tried so hard to distract herself with what was happening to Elena so she didn't need to think about Klaus and how much she was hurting. "Technically, you're not dead."

"But he is." Elena retorted.

"Stop." Eden snapped. She cleared her throat and suddenly shook her head. "I— I don't want to talk about him. I wanna focus on getting you through that. That's all that matters right now."

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Eden had no idea what she wanted anymore. She wanted to help her sister through her transition, but she also didn't want to be in Mystic Falls. Every little thing about the town now bore the lingering ghost of Klaus Mikaelson and she hated it. Klaus' death had torn a gaping chasm in her soul, leaving her with nothing but regrets for the way she handled their entire situation. She was drowning in a sea of maybe's that she had placed upon herself.Maybe if she had just succumb how she felt. Maybe if they had left town a long time ago. Maybe if she never laid eyes on him in the first place then it wouldn't feel so tortuous. 

The Gilbert girl wandered down into the centre of Mystic Falls with the intention of getting a coffee, however the cop cars parked outside the precinct piqued her interest. 

"Sorry, Liz. You're not going to work today." Pastor Young spoke toward Caroline's mother. 

"What're you talking about?" Liz scanned the several police officers that were eyeing her up. "What's going on?"

"They're taking your badge. You're not fit to protect us anymore."

A small scoff escaped Sheriff Forbes' lips. "You have no idea what you're up against."

"On the contrary, Liz, I've already taken your deputies. Got the town's entire supply of vervain including a stash found at the Salvatore house." Pastor Young explained. "We're making our move."

"Liz, everything okay?" Eden interjected as she wandered over toward them. The girl only had the best intentions given Liz was the mother of her best friend and if there was a problem, she wanted to help her. 

"Everything's fine, Eden. You should go home." Liz gave her a pointed look and placed more emphasis on the word home. 

"Eden... as in Gilbert." Pastor Young muttered underneath his breath as he looked to one of Liz's deputies. Taking it opportunity, the deputy moved behind Eden and attempted to place a vervain syringe into her neck but she caught his hand mid-air.

"Ooh! That's not nice, handsome." She gripped his wrist so hard that he dropped the syringe but then out of nowhere, a vervain dart shot through the air and got her in the back.

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The abrupt motion of her head constantly bashing against the side of the metal truck she had been placed in was what ultimately woke her up. As her head lifted, she noticed she wasn't alone— Rebekah and Caroline had also been taken captive. They were bound with vervain ropes around their wrists and shackles at their feet.

"Vervain ropes." Caroline concluded as she listened to the slight sizzle of her skin. "Looks like Alaric outed us all to the council."

A frustrated grunt left Eden's lips as she threw her head back against the metal, whilst Rebekah scoffed. "The council? What exactly do they think they can do to me?"

Rebekah's attempt at trying to make the situation seem a little less dire in her case was brought to a halt when the vehicle let out a large screech. It abruptly jolted before the van started to roll. Once the commotion had stopped, the back doors off the van were pulled off and sunlight began to pour in. The three girls squinted for a second to see non other than Tyler Lockwood.

"Tyler?" Caroline asked in disbelief as he jumped inside and began to undo Eden's ropes. 

"I'm harder to kill than you think." He helped prop the doppelgänger up, looking at her to make sure she wasn't hurt before he turned his attention tot he two girls. 

"You're alive? How are you alive?" Caroline cried just as Tyler managed to break Caroline's binds but a deputy car came racing up the road and toward the van. 

"No time— we've gotta go." He yanked Eden out of the van and attempted to disappear, leaving Caroline to undo Rebekah's restraints.

"Wait!" Rebekah breathlessly spoke as the sound of the sirens came closer and Tyler seemed to have disappeared with just Eden. "What about us?" 

Tyler's head poked back around the door as he looked directly at Rebekah. "Keep 'em busy, little sister." He gri nned before finally disappearing.

"No..." Caroline trailed off in horror. That wasn't Tyler, it was Klaus.

"No. That's not possible!"

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Tyler hurried Eden through the forest, but if she were being honest, she was confused about how the Lockwood boy was alive. And, he left Caroline behind and rescued her. None of it made sense. The two stopped running, as Eden turned around to face him with narrow eyes. "I don't understand. You died. Caroline saw you, so how—"

"—You could seem a little relieved that I'm not dead." Tyler scoffed. 

"None of what has just happened makes any sense. You died when Klaus died. And, you just— you left Caroline behind and took me..." The brunette vampire trailed off until the realisation hit her. "No... no, it can't be. You're not Tyler."

Klaus smirked. Despite being in the body of Tyler Lockwood, Eden still would recognise that smirk anywhere. "That's what I enjoy about you. You're so much more than a pretty face." 

A wave of emotion came across the Gilbert girl. He was dead. She thought he had died, but there he was. He was standing in front of her in the body of someone else. "But, I thought you were—" Eden frantically spoke and before she knew it, she slapped him straight across the face in a blind rage. "How the hell could you do this!"

"Listen." Klaus took a breath to try and calm himself down after Eden got her shot in. "I didn't have to risk exposure to come save you."

"Oh, and you think saving me makes up for all the crap you've put me through?" The Gilbert vampire placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away from her. "You wanna be my hero now? God, you're such a—" She shook her head. "Just put Tyler back in his body."

"Gladly. You and I both know you prefer mine, don't you?" He bit back with a slight smirk and then shrugged. "I'll need you to direct me to your friend. Bonnie. She's the one who did this."

"You told Bonnie, but you didn't tell me what was going on?" Eden raised an eyebrow in disbelief. 

"There was no time, love."

"You know, what, Klaus? Save it. Honestly, I really don't care." 

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Eden and Klaus had arrived at the old witches house where Jeremy and Bonnie already were. The whole walk over, Eden didn't speak to Klaus. She didn't want to. She hated him for not telling her what was going on. Klaus had told Bonnie he needed to be put back in his own body, and Jeremy was quick to jump to her defence. 

"She said she's not strong enough." Jeremy argued viciously.

"You were strong enough to put me in here, surely you're strong enough to get me out." The Hybrid pointedly glared at Bonnie. Eden, however, thought it was amusing. Klaus' threats weren't all that scary from Tyler's mouth.

The Bennett girl rolled her eyes. "I upset the sprits trying to save Elena. I can't use that magic again. It's too dangerous."

"Save Elena?" Eden furrowed her brows at the mention of her sister. She was unaware that Elena needed saving. "What do you mean?" 

"I figured maybe I could pull her spirit back. It was dark magic... it didn't work, anyways." Bonnie frowned, hopelessly.

"Bonnie, do the bloody spell!" Klaus yelled aloud which caused Bonnie and Jeremy to both jump in shock at his sudden anger.

"Woah! Inside voices, please." Eden yanked Klaus' arm away from Bonnie and Jeremy as she stepped closer to him. "We don't get what we want by shouting, do we? Lord knows how many times we have to go through this."

Klaus frowned. All of a sudden, he ripped open his shirt and dug his claws into the skin of Tyler's chest and gripped his hand around his heart. "Maybe if I rip Tyler's heart out it'll give Bonnie some motivation!"

"Stop, stop!" Eden screamed.

"He's bluffing!" Jeremy yelled above the sounds of anguish that left the mouth of Tyler Lockwood. "He needs a witch to do that."

"You think I don't have one? Or ten? Pick Bonnie!"

Eden knew Klaus' methods were extreme and she hated it. "Klaus, stop it!" 

"Fine, I'll do it!" Bonnie yelled loudly and finally Klaus removed his hand from Tyler's chest. 

"Good. Let's begin." He walked forward and dropped down to his knees in front of Bonnie. She placed her hands at the sides of Tyler's head and began to chant softly. 

"Eden, this is black magic. She shouldn't do this." Jeremy panicked. He glanced between his sister and the Bennett witch. 

Exasperatedly, Eden exhaled and shrugged. "Jer, I really don't think we have many options here."

"Tell your boyfriend to stop then!" Jeremy snapped again.

"Where— where am I?" Tyler started to speak. It had become clear that the spell had worked. Klaus had been removed from Tyler's body. He started to move forward, but then dropped to his knees Bonnie continued to chant.

"Bonnie, what's going on?" Eden's eyes were filled with panic as the Bennett girl was starting to chant more viciously than before. "Bon..."

"What's happening? Let me go!" Bonnie muttered in panic. Her eyes were wide and it was as if someone had hold of her hands. "Let me go! I'm sorry, Grams! Please, please don't do this to her!" Bonnie fell into Jeremy's arms hysterically. "What have I done? What did I do?"

"You're okay." The Gilbert boy wrapped his arms around Bonnie as she cried. "You're okay."

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 After Eden had made sure that Elena was okay, given the news that she had completed the transition, she headed straight for Klaus. The Gilbert girl made her way up the front path leading toward the door of Klaus' mansion. She didn't bother knocking, she just kicked the door open with her foot and walked straight inside. "Where are you, then? Hm?"

"I see that we've disregarded pleasantries this evening." Klaus smirked as he turned around with his arms folded against the chest. He looked better than she remembered. "Becoming quite a habit of yours, isn't it?"

"Why did you do it?" Eden simply asked. Her eyes contained hatred and hurt. All emotions Klaus had expected from her. "You could have told me. You could have been honest with me. Am I just deluding myself into thinking you actually give a crap?"

"No." Klaus immediately snapped. He seemed almost infuriated that she had suggested something so foolish. He cared about her, more than he thought possible. "I care about you. You know that. I understand the plan was a little drastic but precautions had to be taken."

"Drastic?" Eden scoffed in disbelief. "You let me watch you burn to death. You let me think you had died and then you just come back and, what? You think we can pick up where we left off? I can't trust you, Klaus."

"Oh, come on, love. You're being a bit rash, don't you think?" 

"Do you have any idea how it felt to watch you burn? To think you were dead." The Gilbert girl brushed the accidental tears that furiously began to fall down her cheeks. "I let myself fall for you. I was prepared to give my life up here to leave with you... and you let me think you were dead. You could've spared me so much hurt if you'd just told me. How do I know you're not gonna do something like that again?"

Klaus took a step forward. His hand brushed against her cheek like it had done so many times before. She missed the feeling of his touch— his skin against hers. "Because I'm not prepared to let anything part us again. I can promise you that, Eden."

The moment of comfortable silence enveloped them until the feeling overcame them. Eden found her lips pressed against his. It was something so euphoric and familiar as he brushed her hair from his face and cupped her cheek. He gently pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers as she smiled. "Prove it." Eden whispered softly.

Little did she know, he would. 

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