Title: The Petrova paradox
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine, all belongs to CW
Rating: PG
Characters: Klaus, Elena, Katherine, Original Petrova (Sonja)
Summary: Klaus POV on the three Petrova that changed his life… for better or for worse.
As much as he'd like to, Klaus doesn't remember the first time he has seen Sonja. The young Petrova is only a few years younger than him, and she's been a servant in his father's household for as long as he can remember. Klaus remembers everything about her, but not her voice. Sonja lost the ability to speak very young, after witnessing her mother's death by some wild animals in the woods, and nothing Ayanna and his mother did helped the girl regain her voice. Klaus and Elijah are the only ones that can get past her defenses, the only ones that can steal a smile from her always melancholic face. They both love her, each in a different way, but it doesn't take long to Elijah to realize Sonja has already made her choice. Sonja is always with Klaus, offering her quiet company to him every time the young man needs to talk about Mikael or how much of a disappointment he is to his own father, and her calm influence always works like a charm on his tormented brother.
Even with Elijah and the other siblings keeping the secret, though, Klaus' attachment to Sonja doesn't go unnoticed as they hoped. Esther knows, and until the family is human she doesn't give much thought to the question. Especially, she never mentions anything to Mikael: the last thing she wants is to give her husband another reason to humiliate Klaus, and his blooming love with a girl of inferior birth could be the final straw in their already fragile relationship.
When the family turn into vampires and Klaus sheds human blood for the first time, everything changes. Suddenly, he's the bastard son, an abomination, her own mother turns her back on him, and everyone whispers behind his back everywhere he goes. The only thing that doesn't change is Sonja: she's still at his side, and Klaus is thankful to the Gods for this unexpected gift. He even dares to start thinking of a future for the two of them, away from the village, maybe even back to the Old World.
All it takes is one night, and for Klaus everything changes again. He succumbs to his ever-growing bloodlust once more, but this time his victim is not a nameless villager. It's Sonja. He manages somehow not to kill her, but the fear in Sonja's eyes is undeniable. Klaus tries to explain her that it wasn't meant to happen and that nothing has changed, but the words sounds false even to him. He considers compulsion for a moment, but instead, he lets her go and watches his girl go back to her house and close the door shut behind her. His heart sinks at the realization he might have lost her forever, but he's decided to make her understand he's not a monster, but the same Klaus she's known for her entire life.
He never has the chance to. Later that night, her mother betrays him once more in another foolish attempt to make amends for her past sins. And shockingly, so does Sonja. Mikael is only happy to show Klaus the girl's dead body laying in a puddle of her own blood and he describes him in detail how Sonja went to them and willingly offered herself to be sacrificed to seal he curse. Klaus at first refuses to believe him – not Sonja, of all people, not her – but in the end there's nothing he can do about it. He's cursed, and she's gone. There's nothing left for him there but pain, betrayal and heartbreak.
Before dying at his hands, her mother begs for his forgiveness and explains that the curse can be broken. Klaus must find and sacrifice a doppelganger of Sonja's - a descendent of the same Petrova bloodline - during a full moon, along with a vampire and a werewolf. Klaus thanks her for the help, and rips her heart out a second later.
He can't help but wonder what it'll feel like when he'll do the same thing to her when they'll meet again.
When Katerina is brought to him on his birthday, five hundred years have already passed. Five centuries Klaus spent searching the world for the doppelganger, and nurturing his hate for Sonja. He can't believe his luck when Elijah informs him the Original witch – the only way Klaus refers to Esther these days – was right, and Sonja's doppelganger actually exists. He plans everything carefully: the first meeting with Katerina, his growing interest in her. She trusts him, he can tell, and he cannot wait to see the pain in Katerina's eyes– Sonja's eyes – when he'll finally kill her. The pain only a deeply betrayed person can feel. The same he felt when the two most important women in his life cursed him.
He's almost amused by Elijah's attempts at saving her life. Just like in the old days, when that protective instinct was directed as Sonja… he doesn't miss, though, that this time his brother's feelings have nothing to do with friendship. Klaus feels nothing but pity for him. Vampires do not love, and do not care. Indulging in one of those emotions is a weakness that could lead to death or worse, and he is definitely too smart to fall into that trap again.
Klaus has been savoring the moment his curse would be over for so long that he barely contains his wrath when thanks to Trevor Katerina escapes and takes his freedom – his revenge – along with her. Elijah, ever the loyal brother, promises him to get her back, but not even him can anticipate Katerina's determination to stay alive no matter what. Klaus must give her credit, her plan to become a vampire and place herself forever out of his reach was certainly well carried out, but unfortunately for her, so will his revenge. Katerina made the mistake of telling him once about her family in Bulgaria, and since there won't be another doppelganger ever again he doesn't see why they should keep living in this world.
He also swears to himself that Katerina will regret her choice for the rest of her life.
The reveal of Elena's existence takes Klaus completely by surprise. He wonders how he could've missed something so important as Katerina having an illegitimate child while she was still human, but right now there are more important things he must take care of. Like, the two knights in shining armor ready to protect Elena with their lives – the Salvatore brothers. Or Elijah, his brother, once his more trusted ally and now an enemy. Or the rest of the lovely Elena's friends, just as ready to die for their friend as Stefan and Damon aree. He can't help but feel pity for all of them. Katerina's charm is lethal, but Sonja's is worse, and Elena got a lot of things from her. In fact, she got everything from her, and that's what make Klaus so deadset on making her suffer. This time the sacrifice will happen as planned, and nothing – not even Elijah – will stop him from getting what's rightfully his.
Klaus spent a lot of time imagining how the ritual would play out. The witch, chanting in Latin. The fire. The dead werewolf and vampire at his feet. The doppelganger, begging to be spared. The details changed over the years, the terror in the doppelganger's eyes always stayed the same. He can't help but feel a little disappointed when he turns to take Elena to her death and there's no trace of terror in her eyes. She cries silently – for Jenna, for Stefan, for herself – but she's not scared, not the way he wanted her to be. She's brave, he gives her that, to the point of replying to his sincere "Thank you" with an heartfelt "Go to hell." She's something in between Sonja and Katerina, he concludes. It's almost a pity she has to die and pay for crimes her ancestors committed.
The second he sinks his fangs into her neck, he's intoxicated. How can it be that Elena smells and tastes even better that Sonja, he doesn't understand, and frankly, he doesn't care. All he cares about is the sound of Elena's heartbeat slowing down, and her body going limp in his arms. Victorious at last, he thinks, releasing the girl from his grasp and watching her fall to the ground like a broken doll. Justice and revenge have both been served.
Or at least, so he thought.
When Elena runs into him during Senior Prank Night, he's equally relieved to see her face again and furious because this is what clearly prevents him from siring his hybrids. Klaus promises her to make her suffer, and he's a man of his word. He spends the night toying with her, taunting her and her friends, and this time he delivers a blow he's sure it will hurt his sweet Elena more than anything else: He takes his beloved Stefan away from her, and uses his bloodlust to hurt her. A delightful smile appears on his face at the sound of Elena's terrified screams, when Stefan bits her hard in the neck, but when the girl loses consciousness from the blood loss he orders Stefan to stop before he kills her. For some reason, he started thinking again of the night he was cursed and how the mother that rejected him decided to reveal him how to break the curse before he killed her. Was she really trying to make amends, as Rebekah was so sure of, or she was trying to ensure her curse would never be broken? He can't believe he's having those doubts right now, but there's a simple way to see if he's right or not. He gently takes Elena from Stefan's arms, letting her head rest on his shoulder, and collects a sample of her blood from the wound on her neck. It's not much, but it will do. And if he's wrong and the werewolf dies, well, he won't beat himself too hard over it.
Tyler successfully turns into an hybrid, though, and when he sees his glowing yellow eyes his first emotion is joy. Pure, unadulterated joy to have finally been able to create the first one of his new race. The second one is rage towards the Original witch, his mother, that even from the grave managed to screw with his head. The third one is about Sonja, and it's a mixture of hate, love and regret. If the witch lied about how he could break the curse, it's also extremely likely he was lied about Sonja's death too. She didn't kill herself to entrap him, he knows that now and he wishes he never doubted her. Anyway, Elena's stubborn defenders made him quite an unforeseen gift with all their annoying attempts to keep her alive, and now he intends to fully take advantage of that.
Klaus compels a nurse at the local hospital to take good care of his girl and to fill just a blood bag for now. He plans on giving her full time to recover before drawing more blood out of her once they reach his safehouse, miles away from that bloody town. Rebekah isn't thrilled at the idea of Elena Gilbert joining them, but she has the good sense of keeping her mouth shut for once.
He plans to come back to her room, take his girl in his arms and leave that bloody town once and for all; he doesn't expect Damon to show up, and definitely he doesn't expect him to name-drop Mikael seconds before he rips Damon's heart out of his chest. The only thing he can think about is running, as far and as fast as he can.
But he'll be back for her. Because of her blood, because of what she looks like.
Because he just traded an obsession for another, and this thought will never cease to amuse him.
Notes: Unbeta'd. This is my first TVD fic EVER and the first (and only) fic I've finished this year after the mother of all writer's blocks, so… be nice and review? Please?