REPOST! Though the prologue is pretty much the same, I changed some things about this story and therefore I felt the need to post this again. I was unsure what to do about certain things but I now I have pretty much everything planned for the first two seasons so you can expect a Chapter 1 pretty soon (probably the end of next week).
In this story, someone from our world wakes up in the Vampire Diaries, and yes, this is not so original or different. What is different from usual is the fact that, while Elena is still in the story, she's not the doppelganger (Elena is Grayson and Miranda's actual daughter in this story).
In fact there won't be any doppelgangers in this story. Katherine won't be the same Katherine as the show but she will be much more similar to the one from the books. There will still be a curse and Klaus wanting to break it but 'doppelganger blood' won't be the main ingredient.
The OC I created will, in a way, replace Vicki Donovan, in the sense that instead of Vicki, Matt's sister will be this OC which is called Barbara Maxwell. This OC will look a lot like the Elena Gilbert from the books (blonde hair, blue/violet eyes), however the Katherine in this story won't look like her either (though there may be a certain familial resemblance between them but that's all I'm going to reveal). The Maxwell family is, in this story, one of the founding families.
Like I said, there is no doppelganger in this story. The people who read the books will find certain similarities between this story and the book series though I will broadly follow the TV show. Some things are going to be AU but the main plot will stay the same as the one from the show (at least the first two seasons then I don't know yet).
BTW, I imagine Barbara as Barbara Palvin but with blond hair and blue-violet eyes though curvier in the chest department (basically with Barbara Palvin's body but with much bigger breasts - like 30J/30JJ) and Meredith as Bella Thorne. The OC Barbara will basically be like a Real Life Barbie (at least physically because her personality will be blunt, snarky and sarcastic).
Hope you like this idea and that you'll follow my story!
Prologue
The Strangest Dream
She wakes up in a hospital with a terrible headache and surrounded by strangers that somehow she still recognizes – and her friend Meredith, who somehow has copper hair now?
"Oh my god, Barbie you're awake!" She says with enthusiasm, her new glossy hair shining in the morning sunlight.
"Hey Barbs! Glad you're awake!" A familiar blond boy with baby blue eyes says with a smile at her.
"Meredith? What happened? And what happened to your hair?" Barbara asks her, confused.
Meredith looks alternatively at Barbara and then at her hair like she has no idea what Barbara is talking about. "What do you mean?"
"Well, it's red." Barbara explains. She also notices that her friend looks better – it's not only her hair that is different. Her skin is fair and flawless, her lips plumper, her breasts bigger.
"And?" Meredith looks even more confused, not understanding what Barbara means.
Barbara decides that she's too tired to explain and turns towards the man wearing a white coat.
The doctor – a vaguely familiar face with dark hair, olive skin and very dark eyes – checks her eyes with a light and measures her blood pressure and her heartbeat. Then, with a reassuring smile he says: "Everything looks fine Barbie. You just got hit really hard. You'll be right as new in no time."
Barbara looks at the doctor, still confused, then her gaze once again shifts to the blond boy. It is mostly because of him that she realizes she must still be dreaming. That would explain the changes in her best friend's appearance as well. Why Zach Roerig though? Why not Ian Somerhalder or Joseph Morgan? Sure he's hot, but definitely not her first choice if it's about Vampire Diaries actors.
Barbara nods at the doctor distractedly anyway and then immediately regrets it, feeling her skull pulsating with pain. They call her 'Barbie' - nobody has called her that since she was 10, not even her grandma that still calls her 'baba' though she's 17 years old.
They ask her questions she has no answer to – or rather she has answers that are somehow wrong or not exactly right – and they all assume worried faces but, then, they chalk it up to the volley ball she got hit with and the fact that the right side of her head had met the hard gym bleachers she had been sitting in at the time. Turns out she has lost a lot of blood and lost consciousness very quickly.
The doctor tells her they put stitches to close the wound but she needs to stay in the hospital to make sure she doesn't have a concussion. Then, with a last smile, he leaves her with Meredith and Zach.
"Meredith?"
"Hum?" Her friend asks, her eyes shifting towards the actor with a coy look.
"Why is he here?" Barbara asks in a whisper.
"Who?" Meredith asks, turning her attention towards Barbara. Zach looks at her as well, half-offended, half-worried.
"Him." She points.
"Your brother? Why wouldn't he be?"
"Come on, Barbs. You can't still be angry at me, can you?" Zach asks, exasperated.
"My brother? Angry at you? What?" Barbara asks with an I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about tone.
"Okay, fine. I shouldn't have ditched you this morning but Elena needed a ride so..."
"Elena?" Barbara turns towards Meredith but she seems perfectly at ease with the situation. "Wait...Matt?"
"Yeah?" Zach – who is actually Matt – answers.
Barbara groans, now sure she's in a dream, though why she should be dreaming about Matt Donovan being her brother, she doesn't know. And wait, does that make her Vicki Donovan? But no, everyone is still calling her Barbara - or Barbie really -. Seriously, why would she be dreaming about something like this? Sure, she likes 'The Vampire Diaries' well enough – or she did when it was still on air – but why would she dream of being Matt's sister of all people? That doesn't make any sense.
She ignores these stupid questions and tries to remember what happened.
Barbara does remember the fact that she was in the gym, practicing for the next game that would be held in less than three weeks, though she doesn't remember getting hit with a volley ball. It is possible, she supposes.
She was sitting down with Meredith, taking a break from the gruesome training their coach was submitting them to. She had her back towards the gym floor and her teammates. Maybe one of them had thought it would be funny to hit her with a ball to get her to come down and start training again. Maybe it had been an accident. She feels too crappy to ask.
She was tired and aching all over. Was it normal to feel like this in a dream?
"Barbs, hey, are you listening to me?" Matt asks her with a concerned frown. "I said I called Mom but you know how she is. She's always so busy with work, I don't know when she'll be back."
"Yeah, sure." She answers absentmindedly, and then realizes what Matt said. "Mom as in...Kelly Donovan?"
Matt looks at her very worried now. "Yes? Though she's been Kelly Maxwell for 18 years. Are you sure you're okay? You're acting weird. Maybe I should call Doctor Gilbert back."
"Doctor Gilbert? Grayson Gilbert?" 'What the hell?' she thinks to herself. "Elena's father?"
"Yes. Of course, who else?" Meredith asks her this time.
"And you don't find anything weird with all this? Nothing at all?"
"The only thing weird is how you're acting. Maybe you do have a concussion after all."
"Maybe I do." Barbara answers, completely bewildered about the situation.
"Huh, I swear I'm going to wring Mindi's little neck." Meredith says with an angry look. "She was the one who hit you with a ball, you know? I heard the principal wants to suspend her for a few days though..." She finishes with a grin.
"Mindi Rogers?" At Meredith's confirmation, Barbara nods; finally something that makes sense. So it hadn't been an accident after all. That girl had it in for her since their first day of freshman year. Barbara knows she's simply jealous of her but it's still annoying. Mindi is like a pestering fly that she can't get rid of.
"I called Sheriff Forbes as well." Matt says then. "You know, just in case you want to press charges for assault. She'll come as soon as she can to hear your statement. She said she was very busy today."
"I don't see what exactly is that keeps her so busy." Meredith adds. "I mean, we're in Mystic Falls after all."
"And nothing bad ever happens in Mystic Falls." Matt finishes, obviously repeating someone else's words – probably Elena's.
Barbara grins at that. "The Salvatore brothers haven't shown up yet, hum?" She asks with a smile.
The both of them look at her with matching confused faces. "Who?"
"Never mind." Barbara replies, though she's surprised Meredith doesn't know what she's talking about. She feels she's getting sleepy though how can she be getting sleepy when she is already asleep is a mystery to her. She just hopes her next dream would be more pleasant – and less boring. She could have at least dreamt of Carisle Cullen since she's in a hospital, or Derek Shepherd. Where were the hot guys when you needed them? Well, she supposes Matt was hot, but since he was her brother in this dream...
"Hey, don't fall asleep!" Matt orders her. "Doctor Gilbert says you can't sleep until tonight."
"Huh..." Barbara grumbles. "But I'm so tired."
"I know Barbs but you need to stay awake."
Grayson Gilbert returns in that moment and Matt tells him immediately that she's having some problems remembering things, asking strange questions etc.
"Well, I guess after such a blow to the head, some confusion and even some memory loss are normal. The scan didn't show any damage to the brain however so if such symptoms occur, they will be temporary, don't worry about it." Matt nods at that, relieved.
"How are you feeling? Do you have nausea, dizziness...?"
Barbara is about to shake her head when she remembers what happened the last time she did that. She answers verbally instead. "No. Just a little headache."
"Good, that's good. I think we can rule out concussion then. To be safe however, you'll need to stay awake for the rest of the day. Tonight we'll wake you every two hours and then, tomorrow, if you're feeling better, you'll get to go home. Sounds good?"
"Going home would be great." Barbara answers, thinking that she's getting tired of this strange dream. The doctor smiles at her – he does that a lot – and then leaves her with Meredith and Matt Donovan – or is Maxwell after all?
She's finding it all very strange: the realism of it all, the normalness of it. Weren't dreams supposed to be chaotic and confused? Jumping from one place to another without reason or logic?
Barbara decides not think too much about it at the moment. She's sure this strange dream would end sooner or later. Right now, she needs to go to the bathroom. And why is she dreaming of needing the bathroom anyway? Does that mean that if she dreams of using the toilet, would she actually pee in real life as well? Would she wake up with a wet bed like she did as a child? Can you imagine what a humiliating experience that would be? But maybe if she waits, the desperate need to pee would actually serve to wake her up. Maybe she should wait.
She listens to Matt and Meredith talking about their day at school – some names were familiar to her because they were people she knew from her school, others were familiar because they were characters from 'the vampire diaries' like Tyler, Elena, Bonnie, Caroline. She hums at regular intervals but she's only half-paying attention. Her need to pee is becoming unbearable. Finally, after twenty minutes she just can't resist anymore and, being done caring about what would happen, she asks Meredith to accompany her to the bathroom.
She relieves herself quickly and still there's no sign of her waking up. She goes to wash her hands and has the shock of her life.
She doesn't look like herself. Well, she does, but she does not.
The shape of her face, her nose or mouth, have not changed, but her eyes...her eyes were grey that morning. Now they have two colors, the upper part is lapis lazuli blue and the lower part is violet. Her hair were chestnut brown, now they are blonde, like spun gold. Her skin, once golden tanned, is now porcelain white and translucent, like alabaster.
Even her body is slightly different than it was. She always did have rather wide hips – though she was slender and athletic – but now, with a narrower waist than before and much bigger breasts, she has a perfect hourglass figure.
She has always been tall and beautiful – her mother's Hungarian genes are to thank for that – and playing varsity volleyball at school has definitely help in shaping her body in the right way but now, now she basically look like a real life Barbie.
In fact, she looks like she imagines the Elena Gilbert from the books would look like. What the hell is going on?