Hello guys! That's my new and first fanfiction on the Vampire Diaries. English is not my first language, but I've a pretty good beta reader (Caseycoop) :D
I won't detail a lot the story in a summary, because the fun is in the mystery of it.
Long story short, my fanfiction will be about the Originals and how I see season 3. Elena and her friends will learn a lot about those mysterious Originals.
I won't tell you if it's a Stelena or a Delena story, it'll be just like the show. Mystery!

Enjoy and don't forget to review! I'll take any suggestion from my reader. :)
From your dear writer, Catherine!

Chapter One
The Beauty of the Dark

The sun was slowly rising and coloring the sky a salmon pink. Birds were starting to sing, enjoying a brand new day; summer had finally arrived and in the outside world everything seemed alright. Unfortunately, for one person, the world had literally stopped turning; for a week now, Elena had tried to fight against her feelings, but she was sick and tired of everything being a constant struggle. She had lost too many people lately; first, it was her parents a year ago, she managed to be strong enough for Jeremy and Jenna, but the loss was still there. Two weeks ago, she lost the only parent she had left in the sacrifice. If Jenna dying wasn't bad enough, it also felt so wrong for her to leave; being only an innocent victim whose death didn't change anything in the matter. Klaus was still alive and more dangerous than ever. John's death was also disturbing; she had hated him for so long and he just gave up his life to save her... his daughter. She thought she was brave enough to handle it and have enough strength for her brother and herself, but unfortunately, Damon's near death changed everything. He didn't die and she didn't lose her friend. Instead, she lost the only person who was able to make her smile during these dark days, Stefan was gone without even saying goodbye. She couldn't be mad at him for leaving because he did it to save his brother and to protect her...but it didn't make it any easier.

For over a week, she slept in Stefan's bed. Wearing his shirt, she cried all her emotions, hoping that one day everything would be easier; that one day, everything would be fine. For now, she needed some time alone to get up on her feet and to start fresh, to help her make it through all this. It wouldn't be easy, but she did it once, she could do it again. A goal. That's what she needed. The only goal she could consider was to get Stefan back home... but it seemed like an impossible thing to do.

Damon wasn't far from Elena. He kept an eye on her while she was sleeping; he was so worried about her. She had been a mess for over a week and he didn't know what he could do to help her. She had said less than three words to him in the last week, but he still tried to make it easier for her. Stefan's departure affected him as much as it affected her. For the first time in a very long time, he could forgive his brother. Stefan literally sacrificed himself to save his life and Damon would never forget it. He'd done some bad things to his little brother and he regretted it now...

What was happening to him? Did he have a heart? Damon chased away the thought and turned his attention back to Elena. She was still sleeping with an exhausted look on her face. He couldn't see her like this anymore; he needed to get some things done. He took his phone out his pocket.

"Heeeeello?" A sleepy voice yawned.

"Ric? Get Bonnie, Caroline and Jeremy, we need a meeting," he answered bluntly, in his natural direct tone.

"What? What time is it?" the other managed to articulate, still half asleep.

"I don't care. Get to the house as soon as possible."

With that, Damon hung up and looked at Elena, who was still soundly sleeping. He didn't want to bother her. It killed him to admit it, but he loved her like hell and he knew he never could have her. Slowly, he went back downstairs and made a drink. He surely needed it.

After Damon's call, Alaric got up and he stopped in front of Jeremy's bedroom to look at him. The poor boy had died, came back to life, and he seemed handle it well, but appearances can be misleading. Jeremy had suffered a lot this past few years and he built up a barrier to hide his weaknesses and feelings. The history teacher knew it and even if he had become a close friend because of Jenna and the vampire stuff, he felt that Jeremy needed something more from him... a paternal figure, maybe. He wasn't sure if he could handle it, but he could definitely try.

Downstairs, Alaric started the coffee machine and poured a bowl of cereal. Some noises came from upstairs and finally, Jeremy showed his tired face.

"We got an early bird this morning. How are you, buddy?" laughed Ric. "Want something to eat? I made coffee if you want."

The adolescent took a cup of coffee and joined Alaric at the table. He hadn't slept a lot lately because he had had weird visions of Ana and Vicky and he couldn't really understand them. It was like they were real and they wanted to give him a message...

"Jeremy, are you alright? You look tired," Alaric worried.

"I'm alright; it's just that I feel different since I 'died'... You know." He hesitated, mimicking the quotes in the air on the word 'died'.

"I see... I can't really help you with that. I mean I never came back to life like you did. You should talk about it with Bonnie; maybe she knows something with all her witchy books and stuff."

"I'm not sure she'll understand..."

His visions which weren't really visions but probably something else that didn't really scare him, but it was surely overwhelming and he didn't want to bother anyone with that.

"What do you think if I crash here for a while longer? You and Elena might need some parental supervision. I thought about it a lot lately and I can't leave both of you alone."

Jeremy clearly didn't see that coming. He knew he was only sixteen and he couldn't stay on his own yet, but with what he was living and Jenna's death, he completely forgot about those things. Ric wasn't the worst adult he knew and he was even somewhat of his friend, so why not? He had lost Jenna too and he surely needed some family to get through it.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? If you're not playing the role of the bad cop, I'm in." Jeremy answered with a little smile to encourage Alaric.

"Thanks buddy. I know that I'll never replace your parents or even Jenna; I just wanna be your adult friend who keeps an eye on you. It's better than nothing." Alaric smiled.

He stood up and went back to the kitchen where he dropped off his dishes and turned back to look at Jeremy.

"You should call Bonnie and tell her to meet us at the Salvatore's house." He proposed on a serious tone. "Your sister needs some help and she can't stay there anymore. She needs some fresh air. She needs to come back home."

"Right, I'll get Bonnie and Caroline, they're a lot better than me with Elena." Jeremy agreed.

It was time for him to do something for his sister. He'd missed her a lot, and there was nothing, he thought, he couldn't do for her.

Back at the Salvatore's house, a horrified scream came echoed directly to Damon, coming from the upper floor. Alerted, Damon, without thinking, ran as fast as he could to Elena. She was still sleeping, but she seemed having a terrible nightmare. He sat on the edge of the bed and placed his hand on her arm.

"Elena" He whispered. "Everything is alright, I'm here," he assured her.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, waking up.

"Stefan?" She murmured, her voice tinted with hope.

The matter broke Damon's heart soundly. She would always choose Stefan over him, no matter what, and he knew it.

"No, no, it's just me sweetheart. It's Damon." He said softly with a comforting smile.

Elena's eyes landed on him, and as soon as they did, she let out a loud sob, to which Damon responded by pulling her to his chest and hug her.

"I'd do anything for you, you know that," he tried to reassure her.

"Damon, we need to find him." Elena articulated, slowly wiping up her tears with trembling fingers.

"I'll do everything to get him back home, I promise."

Elena stayed in his arms wishing for the best. Fortunately, she could count on Damon; he always managed to find something to save the day; he'll find a way again. Her feelings were messed up and she didn't know what to do with them. She liked him, it was true, but it wasn't like what she felt with Stefan. It was two completely different things. The young girl couldn't stand the idea that she could be like Katherine and play with both of them. She wasn't like her evil double, and she never would be. Maybe Elena loved them both, but she'll have to choose unlike Katherine. For now, her choice was obviously Stefan and she'd have to keep her strength and forget how she could maybe feel about Damon... They really needed to talk.

"I'm sorry I kissed you..." She murmured.

Damon didn't want to hear a thing about that kiss. For him, it was unreal and he wasn't ready to talk about it with her. He was dying, she was sad, and it was clearly leading to her telling him goodbye. Just as he was about to reply, someone knocked at the front door, forcing him to kiss her forehead gently and leave her alone in the empty room.

Damon opened the door to Alaric and Jeremy; they both took place in the living room. As always, Damon poured himself a drink and offered one to Ric who gently refused. It was too early in the morning even for him.

"Where's Elena? Is she alright?" Jeremy questioned Damon.

He hadn't seen his sister in a week. They both needed to live their loss in their own way. At no time he didn't have a thought about her and what she was going through.

"She's alright, Jeremy."

The teenager frowned, staring hardly at Damon, who he had never really trusted with his sister, or with anything, really. Leaving him no time to talk, Caroline and Bonnie entered the room, Bonnie automatically moving towards Jeremy and grabbed his arm.

"We're here. What do you want, Damon?" Bonnie asked.

"Take a seat and I'll explain..." Damon answered.

At the same moment, Elena appeared, surprised that her brother and her friends were there. Her previous nightmare made her realized she needed to get back on her feet and do something about the situation.

"What's happening here?" Elena asked curiously.

Everyone looked at her with an enormous smile that matched hers, being extremely happy to see all of them. She went toward Jeremy, Bonnie and Caroline and hugged them all; she had missed them so much.

"Are you okay, Elena? We were so worried about you!" Caroline added while she was hugging her friend.

"I'm fine with you guys around. I've missed you too."

Damon watched the whole scene without any emotions. Those reunions were meaningless to him.

"Are we done with the emotional part?" He said with his natural direct tone. "We gotta do something about the Klaus and Stefan problem. For one, we didn't kill Klaus and he's more dangerous than ever now... And he's got Stefan."

"There's nothing we can do Damon. They can be anywhere in world right now..." claimed Bonnie hopelessly.

"He's an Original, plus he's a werewolf. Klaus is unstoppable," affirmed Caroline.

"Yeah, but we got Bonnie. Damon replied quickly, like he'd been prepared to hear that. "You're like a super witch now," he continued, turning to her. "You can't let Klaus out there, there has to be something you can do," Damon almost snapped, getting frustrated.

"She's maybe a super witch, but she ain't gonna sacrifice herself for the world." Jeremy defended his girlfriend.

Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy and Caroline started to argue with each other. The atmosphere got more tensed, the shouts got louder and nothing useful was said to help the situation. Elena looked at Alaric who hadn't said anything since the start.

"Ok kids, you gotta stop that," he finally said, calming everybody down. " Yelling at each other won't get us anywhere. We need a solution and we'll talk about it peacefully. We can't be divided if we want to kill Klaus. We gotta stick together." Ric reasoned them..

"Ric is right. We need to be together on this. We're talking about Stefan here. I can't lose him... We need to kill Klaus and get Stefan back. We have to," Elena added with confidence.

"I'm sorry Elena, but there's really nothing we can do... I mean Klaus is the most powerful creature out there and we don't even know what he'd done to Stefan..." Bonnie apologized, walking towards Elena to take her hand gently. "I'm deeply sorry..."

None of them had anything to add after that. Bonnie had said out loud what everyone else was thinking deep inside.

"Aw come on guys!" Damon complained. "We can try to track them and then figure something out. We can't stay here and wait for Stefan's return and..."

Someone knocked at the door. Who could it be? Everyone was there... Damon walked slowly to the door, his left eyebrow raised and a confused look on his face. Opening the door, he was more than surprised to see who was waiting on the porch.

"Katherine, what are you doing here? You've done enough!" Damon said with exasperation.

The old vampire entered the house without paying attention to Damon. She was calm, haughty and superior. Her presence brought the tension back in the room in a second.

"I need to see Elena Gilbert. Where is she?" asked the vampire on an authoritarian tone.

She arrived in the living room and her eyes met Elena's.

"You're not Katherine? Aren't you?" asked the doppelganger, confused.

"I'm surely not that bitch. I'm Sharletta, but you can call me Charlotte." The vampire approached and fixed Elena. "I have a deal for you."

So that's it for my first chapter. I hope you love the idea of Charlotte coming in Mystic Fall. I know she's not real, but I like what she might be. I made her a vampire, but I keep you another suprise. Don't forget to review and I'll post another chapter as soon as possible. Thank you a lot for reading me, it means a lot!
Cathee xoxo