┏━━━ ————————━━━┓

𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 - 𝐂𝐡. 27
"it didn't feel like a dream
I- I'm not sure what's real anymore."

┗━━━————————━━━┛

       — "WHAT DO YOU WANT NIK?" Skyler muttered into the phone as she rolled over in bed beside Kol who covered his head with a pillow as he groaned.

Neither were ready to get up yet however just a moment before, they were rudely awakened by Skyler's phone. They both knew the only person who ever called her at this god-awful time was Klaus.

Skyler frowned as someone else who was decidedly not Klaus responded, "Rebekah?" She asked confused, she sat up, "Woah slow down. What happened?" She asked as the girl on the other side of the phone raged — something to do with Klaus. Like usual.

"He left me!!" Rebekah screamed through the phone, so loud even Kol, with his head still under the pillow, winced, "He left me alone in this wretched town!"

"Why?" Skyler asked confused. That was her mistake. She should've known not to ask that, she did know but she was currently half asleep, okay? Cut her some slack.

"Do you think I bloody know a single thing that goes through his brain?" Rebekah huffed, "Just come here!"

"What?" Skyler responded in shock, she looked over at Kol who took the pillow off his head to stare back at her.

"Come to Mystic Falls. " Rebekah demanded, "Now!"

Click.

Just like that, Rebekah had hung up. Skyler pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at Kol in shock, "Your sister is... something else."

"You're telling me." Kol replied with a chuckle.

"She wants me to go to Mystic Falls." She told him.

He nodded. He had heard already, even without trying to he was able to hear the whole conversation, "I know." He responded, "Are you going to go?"

"I don't know." She said, letting out a huff as she flopped back onto the bed, her head landed on her pillow beside Kol. "Should I?" She asked, turning on her side to look at him, her lips pressed into a light pout, "Would it be terrible if I stayed here forever?"

He hummed, looking at her fondly, "I don't think I'm the right one to ask about that darling."

She sighed and pointed out, "Rebekah's going to kill Nik if I don't."

"She will either way." He responded knowingly, "She's been itching for a reason to and he just gave it to her on a silver platter."

Skyler hummed in agreement, looking at him. They both knew how this would end. "You're going to come to town soon, aren't you?"

Kol reached out, caressing her cheek, "The second my brother gives me the word, I'll be there."

She nodded, "I'll go." She told him, curling into his chest, "But not yet."

He nodded in agreement and wrapped his arms around her, whispering, "Okay, my gem."

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       "BROTHER," Skyler called as she walked into the Salvatore house, "you're home."

"And so are you." Damon responded as he walked up to her curiously, drink in hand, "What? The big bad hybrid let you go too?"

She shrugged, remembering that she was supposed to be kidnapped like Stefan except she didn't come back when Stefan did, she left, not wanting to return to Mystic Falls... well, ever. But here she was. It seemed this place had a way of bringing you back. "I guess without Stefan he didn't have much use for me." She told him.

Damon eyed her cautiously, "Right. So he just let you go, just like that?"

"Just like that." She agreed. Shrugging, she added, "I don't know what goes through that guy's head and I don't want to know." She shivered theatrically before looking around, "So where's my partner in crime?"

"School." He told her distastefully.

She cringed in response, "Seriously? We get kidnapped by the big bad and the first thing he does after is going to school? While I'm still kidnapped?" She questioned incredulously with a scoff, "Good to know what his priorities are."

"Awww poor you." He replied sarcastically.

"Did you even notice I was gone?" She asked with an arched brow.

He waved his hands around, "Of course I did." He paused, "There was less sarcasm."

"Gee, thanks." She said sarcastically, scoffing. She stood up, heading for the stairs, "I'll be in my room."

"Oh come on!" Damon groaned, left alone again.

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       "WHY do we have to be here?" Skyler whined as she walked through the bonfire party with her big brother. Nearby, students are holding up a guy by his legs as he does a keg stand while everyone chants "drink," including the goody-two-shoes doppelgänger, Elena who laughed as Stefan watched nearby from a tree like the stalker he is.

"To keep an eye on Barbie and Stefanie of course." Damon responded, looking at his sister, "Don't you know? We're the designated babysitters."

She scowled, looking away. She caught sight of Rebekah sitting by the campfire ahead of them. She was roasting a marshmallow when they came over, Damon sat down on the blonde's right while Skyler took the left. "What? No friends your own age?" Rebekah asked, looking at Damon.

"Like you can talk." He responded.

Rebekah brought her burning marshmallow away from the fire, blowing on it. It's burnt. Skyler stifled a laugh, "Is this supposed to be fun? I've been through 10 of these." She complained.

"No, you're just doing it all wrong. This is a little rough on the outside." Damon said, pulling off the burnt outer layer of the marshmallow to reveal the sweet inside, "But the inside... yum." He moved the stick, putting the marshmallow in her mouth. She took it and met his gaze as she licked his fingers. Skyler cringed, grossed out.

"Mmm, it's good." Rebekah told him as Skyler stood up, leaving them to their flirting with a pointed look at Rebekah. Damon may not know that the woman he was flirting with was his sister-in-law, but Rebekah did. She winked at her.

Skyler shook her head, going to the keg stand for a drink while wishing these teens got ahold of something stronger.

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        "YOU look... uh not sober." Skyler heard Alaric tell Elena as she walked over, trying to find her brother.

"The plan worked. That's all that matters." Elena said, having not noticed Skyler.

Skyler frowned, walking up to them she made her presence known, "What plan? Where's Stefan?" She looked between them and then followed their gazes to where her twin lay unconscious on the floor, "What's going on here?" She questioned, turning to Elena. Suddenly, she heard something behind her as pain erupted in her back, she let out a gasp as she fell to the floor.

Her eyes felt heavy, she found herself fighting to keep them open as Elena and Alaric stood over her, watching her. "Why?" She managed to get out before the world got dark around her.

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       SKYLER groaned as she woke with a pounding headache. She opened her eyes, looking around to find herself in the Salvatore boarding house, her clothes smelling of fire. She found Stefan by the front door with two stakes driven through his chest, though they missed his heart narrowly. It seemed Elena didn't have the best aim.

She turned as she heard a noise behind her, "What the hell happened today Damon?" She questioned as she looked around for her older brother, "Seriously has the doppelbitch gone insane?"

She looked around, finding nobody but her and her unconscious brother in the room. She thought maybe Damon had just left, but then she heard it again, footsteps, right behind her, it had to be... "Damon?" She followed the footsteps out of the house, looking around in confusion for her older brother who had to be playing tricks on her.

She frowned, "Damon? Come on this isn't funny anymore you jerk." Skyler heard a noise in the woods then like a twig snapping beneath a shoe. She spun around, looking at the tall forest that surrounded the Salvatore house, "Damon!"

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       "LOW blow, Stefan, low blow." Damon was telling Stefan when Skyler entered the house to find her eldest brother tied to a chair, a stoker from the fireplace in his chest, and his ring on the floor.

"What trouble did you get yourself into now brother o mine?" Skyler called, her heels clicked on the wood floor as she strode in, her head held high in confidence, "Bring home the wrong girl?" she asked pausing at the doorway, "Or guy," She added with a shrug, "whatever tickles your pickle." She told him, Damon and Stefan sent their sister exasperated looks.

"Whatever twisted twins ripper game this is, leave me out of it." Damon said.

"I didn't do this." Stefan responded, looking over at Skyler who shook her head. She had been gone since last night, hunting down whoever was watching her in that forest but she had found nothing.

"Quit screwing around." He snapped, growing agitated.

"I didn't." Stefan persisted. He walked over to him, checking the chains, "It's pretty messed up though right?"

"Yep." Damon responded with a glare.

"It's kinky for sure." Skyler commented, lifting one of the chains before she gave a shrug and took out the iron stick abruptly, Damon shouted, glaring at her.

Stefan reached down, starting to remove the chains when he got another idea. Dropping the chains, he left. "Yeah not to worry, I'll just untangle myself." Damon huffed left alone with Skyler.

"Really?" She asked mockingly, her voice dripping with false kindness, "Thanks, I'm starved." She told him, leaving after Stefan. She ran to the woods leaving Damon to untangle himself from whatever mess he got himself into. Hey, he volunteered.

She heard a twig snap, and a wolf howled in the distance. She looked around, her eyes narrowing as she twisted in circles, looking for the source. "Whoever this is, I'm not playing games!"

"You can't hide forever!" She screamed into the trees with barely concealed desperation, "Come out!"

"Skyler." A voice called, quiet as a whisper, like the wind it was gone when she turned to look. She ran without paying attention and wound up at the ruins of the old Salvatore house.

"This isn't a game!" She screamed again, nobody was there, yet she still felt eyes on her. Frustrated, she sat against one of the collapsed pillars with a groan. "I'll find you." She growled.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, time blurred, the birds chirped and eventually, she was fighting to keep her eyes open.

She shook her head, no. Someone was here, and she had to find them. Before they found her. She narrowed her eyes before her head fell back, hitting the pillar.

"Skyler..." A voice called, leveled with barely hidden anger and oh-so-familiar.

The voice stunned Skyler still as she opened her eyes. She looked around, searching for a source just something or someone, anyone that could have caused that noise beside him. "You've disappointed me." It called again seemingly from nowhere, "You and your insolent brothers."

"Who are you?" She questioned, her heart pounded in her chest. The forest was quieter than before, and strangely still as though the entire world had gone quiet and it was just her and the voice of a dead man.

"I know it has been a while but surely you haven't forgotten your own father." The voice drawled, a figure coming out from the darkness but it wasn't her father. It couldn't be because he was dead.

Skyler shook as she stared at the man, his voice, his very presence, real or fake, filled her with fear. "You're not my father." She said sternly, her voice shaky, "He's dead."

"I am." He agreed, "Because you killed me. You and your brothers." He spat out viciously causing her to flinch away subconsciously, "You killed me the day you turned into monsters."

"You're not my father." She repeated shakily before she turned and made a run for it, leaving the ghost behind. When she looked back, he was gone.

Skyler breathed out shakily before she ran.

She startled awake against the pillar, pushing herself against it until she stood. She looked at her hands, her eyes widening when she found blood covering them. She looked around, she was alone in the woods.

She ran, unsure of if she was still dreaming.

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       "SKYGEM!" Kol called as Skyler came into the house, he jumped off the couch and dashed to her. Holding her arms, he looked her over for injuries. She was shaking, her heart pounded rapidly in her chest however she appeared uninjured besides the blood on her hands.

He furrowed his brows, narrowing his eyes as he tried to silently figure out whose blood it was. "It's not mine." She whispered knowing he had seen the blood on her, holding onto him protectively.

After seeing her dad, she had ran until she found herself in the city, she looked at the humans that passed her by, she had been so close to turning everything off, it would have been so easy... but she wouldn't let her father win. He won too many times when he was alive. She wouldn't let him win even in death. So she ran again, this time to Kol.

"It's not mine. I'm not a monster." She told him, holding onto him a little tighter as he realized she wasn't trying to protect him but rather hold onto him to keep herself going. "I'm not a monster..." She repeated, her voice cracked as he pulled her into his arms, "I know." He told her, "I know."

He led her upstairs where he lay her down and let her rest in his arms in silence until she was ready to speak.

"I had a dream..." she started quietly, staring at the white pillow case, "about my dad. But it was different. It felt real."

"He called me a monster." She admitted tears welled in her eyes. She closed them, "It didn't feel like a dream and I- I'm not sure what's real anymore."

Laying his head down on the pillow behind her, he pulled her into his arms, "I'm real." He whispered, "You're real. We're real. And if we are monsters, at least we're together." She smiled softly, bitterly. They'd both been called monsters so many times throughout their lives, by his mother, by her father, by strangers, by family. It hurt all the same. The truth usually did.

She sighed, holding onto a fistful of his shirt, she grounded herself to him and allowed their souls to find each other. Kol listened to her heartbeat as it went from pounding just about out of her chest to slow and steady as she slowly fell asleep.

Before he knew it, he was getting tired too. His eyelids felt heavy, drooping down as he held her close and listened to her heartbeat. He was still worried about her, she'd had nightmares before about her father, but none this bad... at least not for several decades. He was worried this town was going to ruin her brothers while she watched helplessly, that he would be left to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, but now he couldn't help but worry if it would ruin her too. But, she was here, safe in his arms, and for now, that was enough as his eyes fell close.

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       WHEN Skyler woke up later that day, Kol was still asleep behind her, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist even in deep sleep. She lifted her head and took a look around the room as she let out a yawn. The sun was still out, that was good.

She looked around for her phone on the nearby nightstand however she couldn't find it anywhere so albeit reluctantly, she wrestled herself out of Kol's arms and made her way downstairs, hoping to find it somewhere down there.

She remembered having it when she reached the house though she had taken a short walk around the property first to clear her head a little... maybe. She went outside, looking around in the grass. She was careful not to go too far from the house, knowing Kol was sure to worry when he woke to find her gone, but without thinking she wandered further and further with an absent mind until she found herself by an old oak tree. Her eyes scanned the area when they reached the oak tree and found something peculiar on it.

Furrowing her brows curiously, she stepped forward to take a closer look. Reaching her hand forward, she traced two familiar letters carved into the tree. H + S.

"Hadrian." She whispered in stunned realization. She turned to look at the house for what felt like the first time, but instead of seeing a wide empty space and the big house in front of her, she saw Hadrian standing in front of her looking the same as he had over a hundred years ago when he died.

"Skyler." He whispered as he stared at her in surprise.

"How is this real- how did this-" she struggled to find the right words to say, the right questions to ask. How could she possibly know what to say when her ex-fiance was standing right in front of her while her husband slept in the house behind them?

"I don't know. I was... I was on the other side of the veil and then I was here." He looked at her in confusion, his green eyes had the same innocent awestruck sparkle they had so long ago, the same one that she used to have, "Are you dead?"

"No." She responded hastily and then winced, "Well kind of. I'm a vampire."

"Talk about a fairytale." He muttered, realizing after he spoke that she could hear him, "I'm a werewolf. My whole family was."

Skyler was shocked, how had she never realized her best friend — her fiancé — was a werewolf and his family... "Oh my god, your family." She said in shock, "Stefan - he--"

"Killed us." He finished rather bluntly, seeming surprisingly unbothered when speaking of his murderer. Skyler must have let her surprise show because he chuckled, "It's been over a hundred years, Skyler. Did you think I'd still be holding a grudge against him?"

"You should." She blurted out suddenly, "We died, we're not humans anymore but that didn't give him reason to kill you, you didn't deserve to..."

"Sky," he called softly. In the same way he did centuries ago whenever he had to pull her out of her own head after her father got into it, "it wasn't your fault. I don't blame you and I've already forgiven Stefan... maybe you should too."

Skyler didn't seem to agree and was about to argue her point when suddenly she heard him and everything stopped.

"Skyler!" He called. She turned without hesitation, eyes immediately searching for Kol as a soft smile found its way on her face as if on instinct as he rushed over to her. "What are you doing out here? I thought something might have happened."

"Nothing happened, I'm fine," She assured him softly as his eyes ran over her in search of injuries, "I was just looking for my phone when I found..." She turned to gesture to Hadrian only to find the spot he had just been in empty.

"A tree?" Kol asked in confusion.

Skyler blinked realizing without Hadrian there, she had gestured towards a plain old oak tree instead. "A very old tree." She corrected, "But no phone. So, we should go inside. Now." She urged. Grabbing his hand, she rushed him inside.

"What's going on?" He asked confused and overall worried, "Skygem..."

"Do you know where my phone is?" She asked once they were inside, closing the door and locking it behind her. If ghosts were roaming Mystic Falls, she needed to be safe.

She frowned, pausing. Would a locked door stop a ghost? Never mind, she didn't want to know.

She turned to him, "I need to call my brothers."

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       "WHERE have you been?" Damon questioned when he answered Skyler's call, "This town has gone to hell. There are freaking ghosts literally haunting us!"

"I know." Skyler responded, turning as she stood on the porch outside the temporary Mikaelson house. Her eyes subconsciously found the old oak tree with hers and Hadrian's initials carved in them where he had appeared to her earlier.

"What do you mean you know?" Damon asked.

She took a deep breath and admitted softly, "I saw Hadrian."

ೃ⁀➷

𝟑,𝟒𝟐𝟐 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

— hey there! to clarify a few things from this chapter, I imagine the veil for all of the dead is thin at the time of the episode which is how her father shows up in her dream (yes it was a dream) and how he led her to the ruins of the Salvatore home, where he died and where the veil is even thinner for him. There isn't enough Giuseppe angst for the Salvatore siblings

Extra notes...

— geniunely love Hadrian's character and may have to explore it along with his history with Skyler in the future