Title: Differences
Words: 1,205
Summary: A comparison of four women. Lady Katherine, Katherine Pierce, Elena Gilbert, and Elena Gilbert. Told in the POV of Stefan Salvatore. A comparison of the book and the TV show
AN. The first two drabbles are from the books, the second two from the TV show if you couldn't have figured that out. (If you haven't read the books you should still be able to understand despite the differences.
Lady Katherine
She was always weak. He finds that funny, because ever since he had first met her she could crush him without blinking an eye. Yet, somehow she was the fragile one. She has long blonde hair and pale blue eyes filled with childlike trust and love. And he adores her. He would do anything for that look in her eyes. For her to be his to protect and love. Forever. It has never had a greater meaning than when he is with Katherine. Could she not see that his love is strongest?
He sees the same look in Damon's eyes. The way that his hard eyes soften with the touch of Katherine's hand on his shoulder. Sees the way he holds out her chair like a gentlemen at dinner just to see the smile come across her lips. He sees all this, yet he knows he loves her more. For who could love her more than him? And after all she was his first. He repeats this so much that he even believes it.
But Katherine, childlike Katherine, never saw that it was a choice. Her naivety was her downfall. She believed the best of people. With Katherine, the world was meant to live in. There were no difficult decisions or heartbreak. She could have the world. Somehow it led to her death. He cries and he kills his brother. He never gets over her.
Elena Gilbert
When he first sees her all he sees is Katherine. He sees blonde hair and blue eyes. They have the same nose and their lips are the same perfect shade of pink. He thinks it is her at first, Katherine is dead. (How could he ever forget that?)
He notices the little differences over all the time that he watches her. Her jaw is less angular. Her hair a shade more blonde. Her eyes darker than Katherine's ever had been. He finds that though she looks almost exactly like Katherine, on the inside she could not be more different.
She rules the school, he notices that right off. Everyone looks up when she walks in the room and she knows it. She is used to getting her way and she always makes sure that she does. She scares him when she looks at him with that definite determination in her eyes. You will be mine, her eyes say and somehow he believes them. She wants him and in the end she gets him.
It feels like history is repeating itself when he sees Damon watching her. His face is a mix of predator and lover. He wants her, maybe more than Stefan does. (It's funny because when he was with Katherine he was always sure that it was him that wanted her more.) Stefan knows that he loves Elena, but he also knows that he isn't good for her. (He thinks maybe Katherine wasn't too good for him either)
"I am not Katherine," she tells him one night, "I will not tear you and Damon apart." (He thinks that Katherine had already destroyed any bond of brotherhood they had ever had, but he doesn't say that)
Stefan knows she has to choose, as Katherine would not. Elena knows this too and yet she keeps both brothers close to her. And he thinks that maybe on the inside she is more like Katherine that she thinks.
Katherine Pierce
He is caught in her trap the first moment he sets eyes on her. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen and he thinks he will never see one more so. (He never does) She smiles at him and he is gone. (There is no going back.)
She laughs and flirts, sending a glance that she knows will make him putty in her hands. He finds that he will do anything for her. She is an angel, with curls like silk and eyes like chocolate. He loves her with an ease that surprises him. What surprises him more is the ease in which Damon falls in love with her.
She chooses him. He is surprised with the amount of satisfaction that that brings to him. She dances with him, their bodies not touching (but he wants them to, with an intensity that astounds him). She looks beautiful and he tells her so. She laughs and looks away modestly but her eyes are quick to catch his again. She uses her beauty to her full advantage. (And what an advantage it is)
He takes her home and they talk, her laughing and flirting, him serious. He pours his heart out to her and she watches him the laughter gone from her eyes. And then her lips are on his and it is heaven. And then she is gone with a twirl of her skirts and the thump of her door closing. (Off to Damon who loves her nearly as much as Stefan does).
He wonders if she loves him or if she loves his brother. He lies in his bed and he wonders if he knows his angel at all. But when she comes to him in the middle of the night, looking beautiful and fragile in the darkness he wonders why he ever doubts her at all.
Elena Gilbert
She's always been fragile. She's not weak, but she is delicate. It's what has always differentiated her from Katherine. She laughs and flirts but there is an innocence about her that makes him scared to touch her. She is delicate both in the fragileness of her human body and in the way she places her trust so easily in him. He is afraid it will shatter in his hands. He knows that the fragments would cut him. He stays, because she needs his protection more than anything. (And she looks just like Katherine. The same big brown eyes, the same brown hair. But, he would never admit that. Not ever.)
Damon stays too. There is a flicker of insanity in it. When he came to Mystic Falls it was for Katherine. (Everything had always been for Katherine.) But he is not here for Katherine anymore, as unbelievable as it seems, he is here for Elena. He would give his life for her, Stefan knows this. He wonders when Damon started caring about anyone other than himself. (He thinks maybe it has something to do with wide innocent brown eyes. But he doesn't like to think like that. Not ever.)
As unbelievable as it seems, they are friends. Stefan doesn't think Damon has ever had any friends, but they are friends. And as unbelievable as it seems, Damon makes her stronger. She will stand up to him, she will protect him (Since when has Damon needed protection?), she will fight with him. He understands everything about her (Katherine was always a mystery) and yet he doesn't understand this.
