EDITED 06/05/2017

"I thought you would understand. I trusted you to believe me. To listen to me."

I stood from my seat to leave, but wobbled slightly, the world around me spinning for just a moment as a pain erupted in my skull.

"Rayna," I felt Rebekah next to me in a moment. She had been my friend once, before killing Elena. And myself. And now she was concerned about me? "Are you-"

Dammit, I don't need anybody's help!

"I'm fine." I snapped.

Nobody ever wanted to help me when I actually needed someone, and now, suddenly it was different. Why?

"Rayna-" Klaus started. He sounded concerned, evidently having gotten over the whole accusing thing.

That was when I realised the blood coming from my nose.

I glared at him.

You don't get to care now.

"Stay away from me." I hissed.

Not caring for the look of hurt that flashed across his beautiful features for a brief moment, I turned and ran out of the mansion, hearing him throw the table against the wall in rage.

I sped in my car, not caring in those moments if I got a ticket for speeding. Or even if I were to crash. Everything, every moment piled on top of me.

Everything had gone to shit.

Mom. Dad. Jenna. John. Isabel. Ric.

Elena.

…Me.

Gone. And now, if I didn't do something, maybe even Jeremy. I couldn't let that happen. No. No way. Not ever.

I ran my fingers through my brown waves and exhaled slowly. The bottle in my hands swished as I swayed my body slightly. I had ended up in the cemetery somehow, though I wasn't sure how.

"I can't be the grown up," I told him, taking a swig. There I was, sat, speaking to a gravestone. "You're gone, Ric, and I can't do this. I've ruined everything… I've… I've pushed away my sister. Again. Made some terrible choices," I added, thinking back to the beach, with Klaus… our kiss."It sounds stupid. I just wanna feel…" I trailed off, not saying the final word aloud.

Loved.

"Stefan's paying the bills now, with all the Salvatore's money, and I… Klaus offered, too, yunno. Because he wants to take care of his… Prophet. I can't even do that. I've torn apart my family." I took a large gulp of the burning liquid. "I blame it on Elena, Katherine, Klaus, anybody for making this mess, but… It's me, isn't it?"

I then sat in silence at the graveyard in the dark, unaware of the figure lurking in the shadows.

The gentle breeze flowed through the leaves of the trees.

"I can't lose anyone else." I whispered.

"You don't have to." I heard a voice say from behind me.

Meanwhile, Back at the Mikaelson Mansion

Elijah, Kol and Rebekah Mikaelson remained in the same place they had been since Rayna Gilbert had left. Klaus had wasted no time in going after her, after destroying some furniture.

"He won't talk to me, Rebekah. Niklaus has a lot to think about."

"I have wanted this for a thousand years, Elijah. If he really gave a damn about me then this wouldn't be an issue."

"And he waited a thousand years before he could make hybrids. I am not saying that he is right," Elijah added quickly, before Rebekah began yelling again. "Nor am I saying that I agree with him."

"To hell with this," Kol scowled, standing from his armchair. "We don't need to wait for Klaus' approval. No one is getting that cure."

"But-" Rebekah began.

"Are you willing to bet my life for the sake of being human, sister?" Kol spat.

Rebekah hung her head and sighed. "No."

"Then we need to destroy any chance of that cure being found."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Rebekah asked him.

To her surprise, however, it was Elijah who answered.

"We kill the hunter."

"But what about Rayna?" Rebekah asked, her eyes slightly wide at the prospect of destroying what little friendship and loyalty still lay between Rayna and herself.

"I was more thinking along the lines of killing the doppelganger." Kol said. "She seems to be the root of our problems."

Elijah's response came in three words.

"Family above all."

Kol and Rebekah shared a look.

"You don't have to." I heard somebody say.

He sat beside me in the grass and I was frozen. He retrieved a tissue from his pocket (who knew Klaus carried those around with him?) and handed it to me. I took it, not sure what to say, and wiped the blood from my nose.

We were silent as the wind rustled through the leaves of the surrounding trees, until I offered him the bottle. He took it and took a quick swig.

This was the weirdest but oddly comfortable position I'd been in all day.

I couldn't be mad at him anymore, for some reason. Perhaps I was too tired. Either way, my head was pounding.

"Have you been sleeping?" he asked me.

I frowned at the odd question. "Yes."

He sighed. "You don't have to lie to me, Rayna."

"Fine. I've been having these nightmares. It's not a big deal."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't sound like nothing. Have you been worried?"

"I can see the future. I saw my own brother lying down, dead. Of course I've been worried."

"Rayna," Klaus began. He'd been using my name a lot lately, rather than love or sweetheart. "I won't go looking for this cure."

I did a double take. "But, your hybrids...Rebekah..."

"We'll find another way. Rebekah will be patient until then and so will I." he told me. "I'm not going to let your brother come to harm. Or mine, for that matter. I will protect Jeremy. You have my word."

I wasn't so sure about Rebekah being as patient, for some reason. But I believed Klaus wholeheartedly.

I felt fresh tears pricking at my eyes. "Thank you." I told him. His eyes bore into mine and he moved a strand of hair from my face. I leant my head on his shoulder as the wind continued to make the trees sing. I looked on at Alaric's grave and knew, somehow, that he could see me. Klaus and I. And that he knew Jeremy had the most powerful being on earth watching over him now. And that he'd be happy.

"I'm glad I met you." I whispered, closing my eyes.

"Not as glad as I am, love."

We stayed there for a long time, until he said my name, his tone implying that he wanted to ask me a question.

"Yeah?" I asked, still snuggling into him. He was so warm.

"Is Stefan living with you now?" he asked me.

"Sort of." I replied, after a while. "Why?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." he said, his fingers gently tracing patterns on my arm.

Klaus had insisted on walking me home. Unfortunately, however, I'd been casually sipping from the bottle and so he was having to put up with my intoxicated self.

He was laughing as I did an impression of what it looked like that one time when Jeremy had found a spider in his room.

"And then he started doing this kind of dance on the bed and screaming for me to come kill it." I continued, telling the most boring and pointless story in the world, but Klaus was still interested in it, for whatever reason.

I laughed, too, nearly falling into his side, feeling happier than in a long time.

The Following Morning

My fingers traced the swirls of colour which formed one half of a face. The face of Miranda Gilbert. The painting, two years later, remained unfinished.

What else, I wondered, would I leave behind incomplete? Unresolved? My relationship with my twin, my supposed other half was nonexistent. As was my friendship with Damon, who had once been my drinking buddy.

I slid the painting beneath my bed, shaking my head. I didn't want to leave it all behind. But mostly, I didn't want to leave Jeremy. Or Stefan, for that matter. Or Klaus.

I knew that Klaus had my back now, when it came to the cure. I knew it wasn't easy for him. And that made it so much more meaningful. And I felt like something was clawing at my chest, thinking of him now. Because I knew it was all real. And the thought of dying, now...

Dwelling on loneliness, heartbreak and pain wasn't accomplishing anything. I knew I was going to die. My vision the other morning had told me so. I just had to make everything before that count. I had to take care of the people I would be leaving behind. I had a responsibility.

Rubbing my eyes, I walked downstairs and set about making Jeremy a decent breakfast, which might encourage him to actually go to school. I, myself, had no intention of going there ever again. My head still pounded, but not from whatever was causing these unexplained headaches and nose bleeds, but from pure exhaustion. I hadn't slept at all the night before.

"Morning," Stefan said as I entered the kitchen. "You okay?" he asked me.

"Yeah," I smiled a small smile. "I'm making breakfast for Jere, you want anything?"

"No, thanks. I was thinking we could get some coffee on the way to school."

"I told you. I'm not going." I scowled moodily, cracking some eggs into a pan, only to end up with my hands covered in egg whites. My face scrunched in disgust.

"One fail isn't going to kill you. It wasn't a proper test. You'll be getting straight A's again in no time."

"No, I won't. I'm not- it's not salvageable." I muttered. "You want the cure for Elena so you two can go back to being… whatever. So you can focus on that and suck it up."

He said nothing. Stefan Salvatore merely frowned to himself as Jeremy entered the room.

"I'm not going to school today." He announced.

My arms almost automatically folded together and I narrowed my eyes, raising my eyebrows. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, you are. You don't make money being a hunter, you know. You make money by going to school. You get a job by going to school."

"Rain, I've literally just heard you telling Stefan that you're not going."

"Well, I'm in charge, so I can do what I want, but you have to listen to me."

"I don't wanna go today. I wanna know more about being a hunter. Bonnie has this book. It's about loads of different supernatural creatures. I'm gonna see her about it today."

Stefan and I shared a look, both clearly thinking the same thing.

"Every supernatural creature?" Stefan asked Jeremy, who nodded in response. Stefan looked at me. "Bonnie never told you."

I shook my head, frowning.

"No… she didn't."

Jeremy was looking at me smugly.

"Okay, fine." I relented. "You will eat breakfast and then we will go to see Bonnie. But tomorrow, you are going to school."

"I knew you'd see it my way." He smirked before laughing and hugging me.

I rolled my eyes but smiled and hugged him back while Stefan chuckled.

"Since when did you start talking to Bonnie, again?" I asked from the passenger seat. Stefan was driving us to Bonnie's house while Jeremy sat in the back.

"I dunno…"

"Anything you wanna tell us, Jeremy?" Stefan asked, his face alight with amusement. He and Jeremy seemed to have been bonding ever since Stefan began staying with us.

"Have you heard from Elena?" Jeremy asked, changing the subject and unwillingly creating tension.

"No." I replied. All hints of humour and teasing were gone from Stefan's face. "Have you?"

"She wants to meet me at the Grill later. She gets to skip school and nobody makes a fuss." He added, raising an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes. "You'll live."

"Jeremy," Bonnie smiled as she opened the door.

Her smile vanished, however, as she noticed the two figures behind him.

"Stefan, Rayna… Hi, I, uh, I didn't know that you would be coming."

"Yeah, well, it seems you might have been holding out on me," I said evenly and shrugged.

The witch swallowed and let us in.

"So, where is it, then, this book?"

"Rain… I…" she trailed off seeing the look on my face. "This way."

Bonnie led us into her living room and told us to sit down before disappearing into another room. When she returned, she carried a thick book that was covered in dust.

"Here it is. This book contains all of the supernatural creatures in existence. The ones Grams knew of, anyway."

She set down the book on the coffee table. Jeremy went first, flicking to the pages containing diagrams and information on the five.

His face studied the elegant letters.

"Hey, Rain." He said, his eyes not leaving the pages. I went and sat beside him to read with him. "It says here, the vivid dreams cease once the hunter has made his or her first kill." He read aloud. A frown covered his features. "I already made my first vampire kill. I'm still having those dreams."

I nearly shuddered as he mentioned killing that hybrid. Jeez, bro, don't remind me we've ruined your youth with this supernatural shit.

"So, why is he still experiencing the dreams?" Stefan asked Bonnie.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "It could be something else, your subconscious, maybe."

Jeremy's eyes returned to the large book presented before us.

The rest of us looked on in silence. Bonnie kept on sending me apologetic looks, while Stefan kept on smiling, mentally telling me it was all okay. Somehow, Stefan had always had that ability. The gift of making others feel safe.

Some time later, Jeremy closed the book, telling me he needed to meet Matt, which translated to him needing time alone. He thanked Bonnie before leaving, telling me I could call him if I needed him.

"I'm sorry, Rain… I didn't tell you about this because I was trying to protect you before you did something stupid. You will understand."

I frowned, "It's okay, Bonnie… I'd probably protect you too."

She looked relieved and beamed at me, before hugging me and saying that she was going to go make us some coffee. As she left the room, Stefan sat beside me, giving me another one of those reassuring smiles. He put an arm around both of my shoulders, causing me to freeze, and squeezed them. "It's okay. I mean, it can't be that bad, can it?"

I bit my lip.

If only we'd known just how wrong Stefan was.

"What page is it?" I called after Bonnie, whose reply came quickly from the kitchen.

"Turn to page 394."

I did as instructed and inhaled deeply.

This was it.

This was where I finally learnt what I was. At last.

'Prophets, often confused initially with witches, bear one physical characteristic making them…'

"Prophets, often confused initially with witches, bear one physical characteristic making them identifiable. Their eyes are a distinctive mystical blue colour, with spirals of other colours, namely gold. Few Prophets are known, as they go to great lengths to hide their identities due to how valuable they are." I grimaced. "Valuable? I'm not an object."

"This being said, their rarity is undeniable, and their power, even more so." Stefan read. "To the individuals that know of their existence, they are known to be able to see the future, even possessing other powers of a witch. Their visions are more reliable than that of a psychic, or even a witch. Characteristics include wisdom, loyalty and protectiveness. What is not known of a Prophet, is the significance of their blood, and their connection to the Iris Stone."

"What's an Iris Stone?" I asked Stefan, who shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Hmm." I hummed, "The blood of a Prophet is among the most valuable blood on earth, though few beings know the extent of its properties. Prophet blood can be used to replace that used in any ritual on earth, including vampire blood…" I trailed off, my eyes wide.

Oh my God.

"Oh my God." I whispered.

"That's why I never showed you this." Bonnie said sadly. She was stood at the doorway, holding two mugs in her hands.

"You- you knew I'd give my blood to Klaus. To make hybrids. Elena never had to… She never had to go through any of that."

My hands shakily ran through my hair. "You should have told me, Bonnie! I could… I could've-"

"Gotten yourself killed. Elena would have wanted me to do what I did, had she known…"

I blinked, pushing this to the side for the moment, before continuing to read silently.

My hand went to the stone around my neck. The one John had given to me.

"This is my Iris Stone?" I asked in a small voice.

"It enables you to come back to life." Stefan added. "John wasn't too bad, in the end, was he? He kept both his daughters alive."

I looked at Stefan, and thought, wow. He was the first person besides me to actually thank, or even appreciate John. Yeah, my biological father had his faults. Major faults, but… at the same time…

"Yeah," I breathed, and smiled at Stefan, my eyes locking with his. "If I tell Klaus that my blood can be used in place of Elena's, then at least he won't search for the cure."

"Wait- what?" Bonnie asked, sitting down with her own cup of coffee, having already given us our own. "Why don't you want anyone to search for the cure?"

Stefan also looked at me in confusion.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Uh, I think it's time we called a group meeting."

I sat in my room, pen in hand. I had written down everything that I knew.

'Prophet'

Appearance- blue eyes

Characteristics- Loyalty or whatever

Abilities- Magic, Clairvoyance, Super Efficient Blood and Connection to the Other Side

Weaknesses- Dunno

Other Information- The Gene is Hereditary, appearing in only a few bloodlines, and even then only every ten plus generations. Many Prophets don't survive far into their twenties. Bad track records with werewolves. Exceedingly rare, much debate over whether they exist.

According to Sheila's book, Werewolves in the past had utilised the abilities of the Prophet to get 'one over' on vampires, to little success, evidently. I still didn't know what a "Connection to the other side" even meant. After enlisting Google's services for help, I found a lot of religious stuff on Prophets, and a little about seers, but not much else.

A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"They're here." Jeremy's voice came.

"I'll be out in a sec," I told him.

I went to my mirror and sighed at the girl looking back at me. Why wasn't attractiveness one of the cool Prophet perks?

My dark curls were tied back into the usual pony tail. My pale skin was its normal pale self. My eyes were blue like normal. My legs were longer and slightly bigger than Elena's like normal. I was the uglier twin like normal. Everything was normal.

I went downstairs to see everyone that I had invited sat at the dining room table.

Jeremy, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, Matt, Damon, and… Elena.

"What is this about, Rain?" Matt asked, being the first to speak.

"Sorry if this was an inconvenience, guys, but… Look, I had, I've had some visions about the days to come. I brought you all here so everybody is on the same page, and nobody is confused when I tell them that we aren't looking for the cure."

"What?"

"That isn't your-"

"What the-?"

"Why?"

"What?"

"Everybody, quiet." Stefan said. The room of people fell silent. "Carry on, Ray."

I looked at him gratefully. "Okay. Well, this cure… There are some things in this world that are not meant to be found. The cure is one of those things. It will bring far more pain than it is worth."

"What are you saying?" Damon asked, "Where's that fight in you, for your sister. Your family."

"You can be sure that I'm doing this for my family, Damon." I told him.

"No, you aren't. We aren't going to let anything bad happen."

"This might hurt your ego, but you can't prevent the future."

"So why are you trying to?" he countered.

It was then, looking around at this group of people that I knew I could not dissuade them, I could only forge a plan of my own to save my brother.

"Now that everybody is here, anyway, I'd like to contribute an actual idea to the circle. In order to find this cure, Jeremy needs to complete his mark. Rather than doing this one vampire at a time… Might I suggest a shortcut?"

Stefan leaned forwards in his seat, instantly catching on.

"You want him to kill an original?" he asked.

Caroline looked at me, her eyes slightly wide.

"Of course." Bonnie said. "Jeremy kills an original, thousands of other vampires die at the same time. No faster way."

"So, we let thousands die just so that one vampire can become human?" I asked in disbelief.

"What do you mean, one vampire?" Matt asked.

"There is only one dose of the cure. There's only enough for one vampire."

"Which original were you thinking?" Jeremy asked.

Damon smirked. "Well, I never really liked Kol."