a/n: I tired myself out with all the possibilities of how the rest of the season is going to go. I finally gave up and decided to write my own version of the rest of the season, mostly so that if I don't like how it actually goes, I'll have my own version. Hope you enjoy! Also, please follow me on Twitter at _rachel_leann

Just let me know you're from here and I'll follow back. =)

Chapter 1 When the Lights Go Out

Elena stared out the window of her bedroom as frosted flakes of snow drifted to the ground. Moonlight reflected off the frozen water and tinted the flakes a faint blue. Unfortunately, this beautiful sight only caused her heart to ache.

Her mind swirled with memories over the past few days and how wild things had been. Breaking up with Stefan had been something that she hadn't seen coming, but something that had definitely needed to be done. Now, all her thoughts swirled around his brother, the man with the dark hair and bright blue eyes. He had told her to go home tonight so she had. No matter what he told her, she had agreed with. Most people would have thought she would have been free now that she was away from him, but that was far from the case. She was more captivated, more controlled, more enraptured by him now that she was apart than she had ever been when they were together.

To make things worse, she felt miserable. The coldness seeped into her bones in a way that she couldn't really explain, a way that didn't really make sense for someone who was dead to feel. Bonnie had spent the past hour with her, trying to explain how things had changed for the better, how Damon was letting her go so she could live her life on her own terms, not on his. When Bonnie had received a phone call, Elena had almost been relieved. After Bonnie had left though, the only thing Elena could think about was Damon.

Slowly, she pushed herself up from her seat at the window and crossed the room to her phone. Almost instinctively, she scrolled down until she found Damon's number. Pressing call, she lifted the phone to her ear and waited.

The rhythm of the tone was enough to drive her crazy. She had just decided to put her phone down she Damon picked up.

"Is everything okay?" he asked quickly.

A smile played across the edges of her lips. "I'm fine, Damon. I just wanted to talk to you."

Silence.

"Damon?"

"I can't now Elena," he said, the pain evident in his voice. "We will figure this out, Elena, but right now, you have to leave me alone."

And the line disconnected.

A frown tugged the corner of Elena's lips as she put her own phone down. Why couldn't he just accept her feelings for him? Despite the fact that his blood had created her, it had not created her feelings. Those had always been present, and had somehow intensified the second she had become a vampire.

And now, the only person she wanted to be with was being kept right out of her reach. She would find a way to convince Damon to be with her; she had to.

April let the dagger fall to the ground. The clank echoed through the dark cellar, causing her to jump. With her fastly beating heart, she could barely hold herself together as she reached down to touch Rebekah's face.

Then, she screamed.

Rebekah gasped for breath as her entire body convulsed. Then, as her body calmed down, she sat up and looked at April.

"I just pulled a dagger from your chest," April spoke through deep breaths. She was close to hyperventilating, but couldn't calm her body down. "How are you alive?"

Then, April's eyes grew wide.

"You're one of them too," she shrieked as she backed away. She tripped on the slick floor and crashed onto the hard stone. Blood covered her hands and clothes. It took all of her strength to keep herself from crying. "People like you aren't normal. People don't just die and come back to life!"

"April," Rebekah spoke as she climbed out of the casket. "Calm down. I can explain everything."

"NO!" April pushed herself back using her hands. "You're a monster." Tears fell down her face now. She reached up and brushed them away, but the blood on her hands only made bloody trails down her face. "I've spent all this time searching for you, wondering where you were, feeling deep down inside like you weren't okay. I've wasted all this time on someone who lied to me, who knew there was more to this world, and who still didn't tell me. I thought you were nice, Rebekah. I couldn't have been more wrong."

The shock and pain that flashed across Rebekah's face didn't slow April down. With those last words, April stood up and dashed out of the cellar.

Outside, the frigid night air astounded her. The cold air tore into her chest and sent agonizing pains throughout her body as she tried to run. As she dashed through the area, low lying limbs from trees brushed across her skin and cuts light scratches into her body. Despite the itchiness and blood, she didn't stop running; she couldn't.

When she finally reached the area where the trees disappeared into a starry night sky, she slowed down. Her body doubled over as she put her hands on her knees to brace herself.

Only a few steps away stood the road, but at this point, she truly had no idea what direction she needed to head in. As tremors shook through her body, she collapsed onto the grass.

Although the tears wanted to resume, her body simply didn't have the energy to allow them to continue. She had never felt more alone in her entire life. If Rebekah was one of them, then she had no idea who else in this place was like them too.

Her trembling hands pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through her numbers. The first person she came to was Jeremy. She remembered he had been late the day she had been crowned as Miss Mystic Falls. Maybe the reason he had been late had been connected with this mess as well.

Next, she came to Elena's number. Her finger hovered over the dial button for only a few seconds before moving on. If she wasn't going to trust Jeremy, she couldn't trust his sister either.

Then, she remembered Matt taking Jeremy's place to prevent her from being alone. That day he had shone her a kindness most people hadn't. She still wasn't sure if she could trust him, but right now, he was the only way she could get back to civilization.

It felt like an eternity passed before her eyes before he finally picked up the phone. A relief washed over her as she heard Matt's voice.

"April? Is something wrong?"

"Can you come get me Matt? I can't keep walking."

"I'll be there shortly. Just tell me where you are."

Quickly, April closed out of the call and used her phone to find her location. Although her phone told her the directions back to Mystic Falls, she couldn't find it in herself to make the trek alone. So with nothing else to do, she sat down on the ground and wrapped her arms around her knees.

Her eyes stared at the yellow dashed lines of the highway. Occasionally, a car would come by and its headlights would burn her watery eyes. From her spot underneath the tree, however, she was almost completely concealed. No one seemed to take any notice of her being there.

When she noticed Matt's car stop, she mechanically stood up and walked toward him. He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he pulled away and checked her face and body for wounds. "What happened, April?"

April's mouth turned into a frown. "I was in the forest. I saw things, Matt, that shouldn't be real. You're going to think I'm crazy."

A laugh escaped from Matt's lips. "I doubt that, April. Crazy things are normal here. And if you've seen things, you deserve to know the truth. I have a lot to tell you."

As they drove back toward the city, Matt told her about all the mysterious creatures that inhabited Mystic Falls. He told of how vampires had the ability to compel people, and how Jeremy, looking out for her safety, had given her vervain, which would prevent any vampire from tricking her again. He recounted all the events they had shared together that she had been forced to forget because someone had compelled her. And when she thought it wouldn't get any worse, he told her of how her Rebekah and Klaus couldn't be killed because they were the Original vampires.

"How long have they been alive?" she found herself asking when Matt had finished.

"A long time," he shrugged.

"And Caroline is one too. Oh, and Tyler. Right? I saw him looking in the cellar at the dead body there."

"What?" Matt slammed on the brakes. "What did you see?"

"There were a lot of dead bodies in the woods. When I was there, they were already dead. I never saw the person who did this. And," she took in a deep breath. "There was a casket that had Rebekah's body in it. There was a dagger in her chest and I didn't know what to do so I pulled it out." She let out her deep breath. "She's alive now."

Matt cursed. "I need to get you to your house April. You are not to invite anyone inside, okay? Clean up and go to bed and I'll be there as soon as I possibly can to fill you in on anything else you want to know, okay?"

"That sounds great," she said softly as her eyes watched her house draw closer. As they rolled to a stop, she offered him a shaky smile and climbed out. His eyes watched her all the way to her door. After unlocking it and walking inside, she glanced back to him. He offered her a final nod before he drove back toward the direction he had come from.

At least one thing had become apparent through the course of the night. Now, she wasn't sure she could trust anyone in the town.

Caroline sat inside her living room and flipped lazily through the channels. After a few moments of finding nothing, she turned the television off and sighed.

When her doorbell rang, she jumped. Then, being on her guard, she slowly got up and crossed the room. As she opened the door, fear instantly seized her.

"Klaus?" she said quickly as she surveyed the blood on his clothes. "What happened?"

"I need to speak to Tyler," he replied, his words articulated methodically. "Love, where is he?"

"I honestly have no idea," Caroline answered, secretly grateful that she really didn't know. "I take it you've had a rough night?"

"I have no more hybrids under my control. You can say that's a rough night."

Caroline sucked in a breath as she truly took in his demeanor now. Currently, Klaus resided under a forced calm. It would take only a small spark to explode that calm into a chaotic mess. She had no desire to be near him when that happened.

"Klaus," she spoke very softly. Her hands gripped the doorframe tightly. "What did you do?"

"What had to be done," he responded quickly as he turned to go. He paused and glanced back to Caroline for a split second. "If you manage to see Tyler, you can tell him we're even now."

With those words, he walked away. Caroline stood in the doorway as she simply watched him leave. It felt like years ago that she had walked alongside him the day of the Mystic Falls Pageant. On that day, she would have sworn that he had a human side. Now, seeing him after the plan to stop him had failed, she wasn't sure. Rushing back inside, she quickly grabbed her phone and dialed Tyler's number.

Tyler took a cautious step into his deathly silent house. His memory still tore at him as he recalled the visions of seeing the members of his pack lying dead on the cold ground. Klaus would pay for what he had done, but first, Tyler had to make sure to get his mother somewhere safe.

"Mom!" Tyler called into the silent house. His voice echoed throughout the area, but no reply came. "Mom! Where are you?"

He crept through the living room before moving into the dining area. As he saw the silhouette of a woman, he relaxed slightly. His mother currently sat at the table, facing away from him, with a glass of wine and a lit candle on the table.

"Mom, I didn't think I would-"

He stopped short as he reached out to touch his mother. Instead of her turning around to face him, her body shifted and collapsed onto the floor.

"Mom!" he screamed, but no reply came. When he checked for a pulse, there wasn't one. All signs of life had disappeared from her body.

His own body convulsed and shuddered as he felt the onslaughts of the change beginning. Taking in and letting out deep breaths, he remained calm enough to not change. Currently, he had no idea how he was going to defeat Klaus, he just knew he had to.

a/n: The beginning of a lot of fun plot lines. I hoped you enjoyed. As always, please review!