AUTHOR'S NOTE
So, it's been almost a year since 500 years of solitude aired and I still feel like the ending could've been different. That's why I decided to write my own. It will probably be a two shot. Here's the first part. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.
"Wow, you really don't want to die, do you? I swear I just heard your heart stop." "Where am I?" Katherine asked, feeling disoriented. Hadn't she been in the Salvatore living room, seconds ago? "Still alive, sadly." "I thought I was a goner there for a second. I still have unfinished business." Katherine's mind was reeling. There was no way that she was going to die like this. "So do I." Katherine looked at Elena and raised a brow. This should be interesting. "I had this whole speech that I was preparing to give your unconscious body." "Let me guess: hate, loathe, screw you, die bitch, good riddance?" Elena fidgeted. Katherine bit back a smile. "Yes, but, there's one more thing: I forgive you." "You what?" Katherine blurted out, unable to bite back her surprise. After everything that she'd done to the girl with the same face, Elena decided to forgive her. No way that this was how her life was going to end. "I forgive you… You weren't born evil. Life made you that way… You lost everyone that you cared about way too young and you didn't have a family that looked after you. Sound familiar?" Katherine sighed. "Is this the 'we're not so different, you and I' doppelganger speech, because I'd be happy to skip it. Besides, we all know I'm the pretty one." Elena actually rolled her eyes at this. "I'll save it for the funeral we probably won't have for you." "Perfect." Katherine said through clenched teeth. "I just wanted to get the forgiveness part out. It's a part of me that I never want to lose." "Good for you." Katherine got up from the bed, finding strength that she didn't knew she still possessed. If Elena was going to hold on to her forgiving self, Katherine wasn't going to die in a bed in the Salvatore home. She was going to go give a certain someone a piece of her mind. Or several someone's. She should've done this sooner, but the ticking clock made it all the more dramatic. "What are you doing?" Elena asked as Katherine made her way to the door. "Like I said, I have unfinished business." And with that she walked out the door, dialling the number of a witch who owed her a favour.
"What the hell?" Damon said when he saw Katherine walking down the stairs. "Don't look so surprised Damon, I'm Katherine Pierce, I survive." "How?" Katherine smiled. "I have been around for five hundred years, I've me a lot of different people. I called in a favour." She didn't mention that it was only on borrowed time. The witch was able to keep her around for another week, tops. And as an added bonus, Katherine was looking like her eighteen year old self. If her plan didn't work she'd be dead within the week. It was worth it, though. She just needed one little thing. "Barbie, heard you got lost in the woods." Katherine said with a little wink. Caroline was looking absolutely mortified. "How?... When? It was nothing." The blonde stuttered, falling over her words. "I just need you to help a dying girl out." Before anyone had the chance to say anything, Nadia Petrova walked in the house, looking furious. "Why didn't you go through with it?" Nadia asked, skipping to Bulgarian. "I couldn't." Katherine replied in her mother tongue. Her daughter glared at her. "Why couldn't you give me this? You say you care about me, but you couldn't take Elena's life? Why?" All eyes were looking at the two Petrova woman. "She forgave me, okay? The mighty Katerina Petrova couldn't take away her doppelganger's life because, as much as I hate to admit it, Elena and I do have some things in common. I was her age when everything that I cared about was taken away. It was a moment of weakness." "A moment of weakness? We could've had more time." Katherine looked at her daughter. "I'm sorry I didn't take possession of my doppelganger's body, a girl fated to live the same life I've endured. I'm sorry, Nadia. But I've had a lot of time to think." Damn Elijah and his morals. Damn him for making her rethink her decision. She cursed him for not letting her just take over Elena's life and live with her daughter. To finally get her happy ending. She cursed the self-righteous prick. He was not going to get off so easy. "You suddenly care about her? I thought Katherine Pierce was above that." "Things change. Besides, I came up with a plan, sort of. It may or may not work. If it works, we'll have all the time in the world, if it doesn't, well, at least you'll be able to lead your life instead of looking for a mother who doesn't deserve you." Nadia stared at Katherine. "Fine." Nadia finally said. Katherine looked at her daughter in wonder. "We should get going, then. You only have a couple of days and it's a long drive." Katherine looked at Caroline. It would be so much easier if the baby vampire went with them. Caroline sighed. "Fine. But if this is one of your games, I'll kill you myself." "Care, you can't be serious? You owe her nothing." Elena said as she glared at Katherine. "I know, but it's my choice." Katherine smiled, knowing that she had won. Then she looked at all the people standing there. "Well, this is the last you'll see of the great Katherine Pierce. Goodbye. I'll see you on the Other Side, Bonnie." Or not. Katherine silently hoped.
She slid in the passenger seat next to her daughter. "You don't have to this, you know." Katherine said as Nadia sat down next to her. "I know. But after five hundred years, I'm going to make the most of the time that has been given. You were right when you said that I gave up my life. I guess it can wait a couple of days more." "Thank you." It was one of the most sincere thing Katherine had said in her entire life. "Okay, so where are we going?" Stefan said as he got in the backseat next to Caroline. "You weren't invited." Katherine said. "You think I'm going to let my best friend take off with you and your daughter? I'm sorry, but I don't trust you Petrova's at all." Katherine rolled her eyes, but didn't argue any further. "Fine." She sighed and Nadia took off.
They'd been on the road for a couple of hours. She still hadn't told Stefan and Caroline where they were going and they hadn't brought it up again. Nadia pulled over. "You should get something to eat." Nadia said, while getting out of the car. "You haven't told me what your plan is exactly." Katherine followed her daughter down the store, grabbing some very unhealthy snacks, not caring about the fat it contained. It felt nice to converse in her mother tongue again. It had been so long since Katherine had used it, she was surprised how easily it came to her. "So far, I've tried ingesting vampire blood, but it didn't work because of the cure." "You're going to the source." Katherine smiled. "Exactly, my daughter. Maybe the blood from an Original might do the trick." "And that's why you're only doing this now, you've exhausted every other option. You're going to die anyway, so why not take the leap."
Caroline and Stefan had remained in the car. "What happened in the woods, Care?" Stefan asked Caroline when they were alone. "Nothing. What do you think Katherine's planning?" "Maybe she knows a witch that can help her out? Honestly, I've long given up trying to figure out how the mind of Katherine Pierce operates." "Is it weird for me to feel a bit bad. Especially since she just got to know her daughter. It's kind of sad." Caroline wondered out loud. "It is sad. But it's Katherine's own choices that led her here. I feel sorry for Nadia. She never deserved any of this." "You think that, if Katherine had found Nadia in Bulgaria, you know, she would've been different. Kinder, gentler?" Caroline couldn't help but wonder whether Katherine could be nice. There must be something good left in Katherine, right? "It's possible. Nadia seems to bring out a different, more sincere and motherly side of Katherine."
"Nadia…" Katherine said hesitantly. "I don't want you anywhere near the Originals, okay? Even when I'm dead, there's a chance that they might kill you because you are my daughter." "So I can be your driver, but I can't be there with you to know whether your plan worked? I don't get to meet the person who's responsible for killing my family? Or the man that you have loved for five hundred years?" "No, you don't get to do that." "I'd love to see you stop me." Nadia said as she opened the door and got back in the car. "Listen to me, Nadia Petrova, you will not be entering the French Quarter. You'll stay out of it." When Nadia didn't respond she added. "That's an order, young lady. This is not what your life should have been like. You deserve better." Katherine said in as much of motherly authority as she could manage. Nadia turned to look at Katherine. Katherine glared at her daughter. Finally, Nadia accepted defeat.
Next stop: New Orleans