AN: Hello people out there, before I go all into my rant, I just want to say thank you to the few people who reviewed…you have definitely made a difference in my enthusiasm for this story, so once again, thank you! All right, now onto my rant: first off, it is just common fanfiction etiquette to review on a story that you read. I mean come on, before I started writing stories on fanfic I was obsessed with reading others, and I always tried to at least write one review for every incomplete and complete story I read, and now that I am an actual writer, I can understand why reviews are so important. It shows that people care enough about your story to make a comment about it, whether it is criticism or enthusiasm.
Reviews, as vain as it sounds, is what inspires most of my writing. Now, I am a very busy person and I do a lot during the day so I barely get any free time, so when I use that free time to write a chapter that I really put a lot of effort into and people are too lazy to review on it, it really disappoints me and rubs me the wrong way.
K, rant done, and once again, a million thanks to every one that has been reviewing, following, and favouriting.
In this chapter, we get another look at Ayris's past, and even a deeper look into Niklaus's head as well.
IMPORTANT! Okay, I'm not sure if you guys like the songs at the beginning of each chapter or not, but they're beginning to become a bit of a hassle, so instead of doing one for each scene, I'm gonna do one for each chapter, and if there is a scene that is just screaming to have a song, than I will put one for that too. Sorry! I just figured it was taking too much of my time trying to find the perfect songs.
Also: I changed something in the first chapter. It says that Ayris's mother is a firebender, and her father is an airbender. I switched that. Now her mother is an airbender and her father is a firebender. That's about it :D
Onto Chapter 11!
Edited: 10-19-16
Songs:
A Year Without Rain by Selena Gomez (Klaus and Ayris swimming scene)
Still Here by Digital Daggers (chapter song)
Disclaimer: Like I said since the first chapter, I do not own the Vampire Diaries, or the characters in it, or the songs above, or anything else you might recognize.
I cried out in pain as my head slammed into the hard rock wall behind me, my eyes widening as a strong tan hand shoots out and grips both my tiny wrists together and squeezes until I can feel it painfully bruising.
"Father!" a panicked Astro comes into my line of sight behind the large man in front of me "Stop it, she didn't know what she was doing!" he pleads.
But my father was far from being rational at the moment.
Taking his free hand, he conjures up a ball of fire and fires it at my twin. Astro yelps as he jumps out of the way of the deadly shot, his face crumples as he looks pleadingly with me. I know what he is trying to tell me, he's telling me to fight back. To attack with just as much fierceness as my father to get my brother and me out of this 'house' before he really starts getting violent.
But I know it won't work. He's a master, and I've barely gotten a handle on airbending and firebending. Plus I'm about half his size, meaning he could pummel me to the ground before I even raised a leg.
His cold gold eyes bore into mine "You're a freak, girl. You shouldn't even exist," he snarls "if you hadn't been born, Lilliana would still be alive!" he shouts.
I, of course, cower more into the wall as his rage-twisted face gets closer, spittle getting onto my face as he spits out each word as if it had personally wronged him. At the time, my young self couldn't understand what I did wrong. All I did was throw my hands out to stop the water that my brother knocked over from spilling onto the floor. I didn't understand why every time I bended something other than fire, my father would blow a fuse, as they say, nor did I know why my father blamed my mother's death on me.
All I could understand was that my father, the one who was supposed to love me and tuck me in at night, was yelling at me that I was a freak, that everything was my fault…and the pain.
Oh yes, I could definitely understand the pain that came from my father's limbs whenever he got angry with me.
I also felt envy. I loved my brother, more than anyone could even understand. But my younger version would notice that 'daddy' mostly beat up on her, and barely ever laid a hand on her older brother unless he tried to beat our father off of her.
My vulnerability and terror for my only parent is what ripped my childhood from me. My only happy moments were the ones where Astro and I were able to sneak out, and chase each other in the forest. That is where I met Cado.
That is where I really learned how to have fun. Where I could get away from the horror that was my life for a while, and could pretend that I wasn't being abused by my own flesh and blood. I might as well have been an orphan with the amount of love I was shown by my biological father, but I had my brother, and together, I thought we were unstoppable.
Too bad we didn't know that even the unstoppable ones have to fall eventually.
AIRBENDER GONE ROGUE
I hear another groan and whimper from the room across from mine.
What is she dreaming about? I pace in front of the large window that has an amazing view of the forest surrounding my house.
House. How I wish I could call it my home, but it wasn't. None of any of my old mansions had been either. Home was when all my siblings were together, when I would run inside the small hut that was our home at the smell of my mother's cooking. At that time, even my father was unusually docile.
Sometimes, I wish I could go back to that simplicity. Where all I had to worry about was feeding my family, where I would sword fight with my brothers and would lay with my sister when she would get scared of the lightning storms.
Rebekah.
Elijah.
Kol.
Finn.
Each person had their own place in my heart, some bigger than others, yet they all thought that I didn't care. And that hurt, to know that my once close siblings thought of me as a monster.
You are a monster. A voice inside my head whispers.
I don't deny it. Everything I've done, it has warped me until I became what I am today. I don't feel, and when I do it's normally anger or some other negative feeling. By now, I've given up any hope on becoming myself again. My soul has been too tarnished to go back to that fun-loving boy a thousand years, and some part of me doesn't want to. That part of me wants to be feared by all, a legend to be told to werewolves, witches, and vampires alike to keep them in line.
Besides, how could I change? I'm miles away from all morals I had when I was younger. The only moral that I ever did keep to, was respecting a women's virginity.
Now, I'm not saying I've never been a woman's first, because I have, I just have never had sex without their consent. Sure I've compelled some before, but they were always willing on some level. The reason why I refused to ever rape a women? Easy, Rebekah had almost had that terrible fate bestowed upon her, and even years later it would still haunt her in her dreams and cause her to climb into bed with me and rock her to sleep.
"Nooo please stop, please" my supernatural hearing pickes up on the teenager's mumbling as I hear her skin brush against the sheets, most likely turning restlessly in her bed. Another thing to contemplate: Ayris. What was I supposed to do about her? She was too attentive, too aware of her surroundings, and that made her dangerous. She had noticed things that even his siblings had yet to notice, although sometimes, I had a feeling that Bekah and Elijah could see through the miles of cement that kept me from trusting ever again.
I had trusted so many, and had been betrayed by just as much.
As I looked up at the almost full moon, it mocking me with its presence as I couldn't feel its pull like every other werewolf would be feeling at that moment, I couldn't help this last thought:
How could I learn to trust again?
AIRBENDER GONE ROGUE
"What are you looking at love?" Nik comes up to my side and motions towards the window I've been looking out of since breakfast.
I sigh in longing "The forest. I've always loved the peacefulness of it, reminds me that there are still places left in this world that haven't been tainted," Painful flashes of my dream threaten to drown me in depression, but I beat back the waves for another time. I refused to have a breakdown in front of Mr. emotionless himself.
"Get dressed and come with me," he demands, turning his back to me and stalking out the room without another word.
I raise both eyebrows in shock "Excuse me?" I say with probably more sass then necessary.
He looks over his shoulder at me "and make sure to dress comfortable" and with a cheeky smile he's gone.
I gawk at the space that he had just been in a second ago, and slowly my face twists into one of immense annoyance.
Jackass.
AIRBENDER GONE ROGUE
The leaves crunched under my hiking boots, a light breeze flows through the trees, cooling my naturally hot skin. Nik was just a few steps ahead of me; we hadn't spoken to each other since we left the mansion, and an awkward silence surrounds us in this serene environment. Well, until I had to open my big mouth.
"When are you awakening your siblings?" I nearly face-palm myself at the random and personal question. Nik, on the other hand, never brakes pace or even shows any sign of my question bothering him "That's a little random don't you think sweetheart? Besides, why do you want to anyways?" He stops to help me over a fallen tree truck with moss growing over it. A light spark shoots up my hand at the contact and I flinch away at the sensation as Nik does the same.
He felt it too? That's odd.
Neither one of us mentions anything about it, me cause I wasn't sure how to approach it, and he probably didn't want to talk about it either. He did walk next to me as we continued our trek through the woods though.
"I'm not sure," his smooth voice brakes through the quietness of our surroundings "I want to do it after I become a hybrid." He gazes stonily ahead. I realize I'm treading on dangerous waters, but I need to know, for both my and Elijah's sake.
"Why don't you do it now?"
He doesn't respond, just pushes his way through a clump of branches.
"We're here." His voice still has an edge to it, but has lightened up a little.
I stop dead in my tracks as we break through the line of trees, the sight in front of us making my jaw drop hilariously, which would have been funny if I wasn't too focused on the paradise in front of us.
Circling us was a line of beautiful trees, their green leaves standing out against the dark brown bark. Under and in front of those trees were flat black-grey rocks, stacked on top of each other. The large slabs almost seemed to form a beach. To the right was a cliff with those same rocks making up the cliff, a cascading waterfall seemed to come from the forest itself as I could only see a wall of trees behind it. The water fell into a small lagoon where it created a light spray and a tiny rainbow. Behind the waterfall, I could see a slight curve in the wall where it curved inwards creating a small cave only big enough to fit two, maybe three people in it. A line of rocks also lead behind the waterfall, creating a path or a wall to hold onto if you went in the water. Ahh, the water; it was such a pretty shade of blue, and it was so clear and clean, you could see the green of the forest surrounding us reflecting off the water. Breathing in through my nose, the scent of trees, water, and fresh air attacked my senses in a blissfully refreshing smell.
Looks like I found my new favorite place.
During my investigation of the area, I had yet to notice a tiny detail: Nik had shed all forms of clothing, except for his boxers which had magically disappeared and had been replaced by dark blue and black swimming trunks.
Holy hotness.
All thoughts in my head went blank, as I shamelessly checked out the cocky vampire. The sun filtering through the trees highlighted his hair until it appeared to be a light blond, with traces of light brown/red reflecting in the light. It was adorably messy, no doubt due to his lack of caring on what it looked like. His blonde-red stubble particularly stood out against his alabaster skin, along with his delicious red lips being pulled back in a smirk. In the light, his blue eyes seemed to have some grey in them, and they stood out against his dark creamy skin. That's another thing I never understood, I thought all vampire were supposed to be pale, yet Nik had a darker tint than most. Must be his werewolf side.
And it must be his werewolf side that made his body look so scrumptious.
I agree with my inner voice, none of the guys back at home looked that good, and trust me, firebenders were not lacking in the good genes part.
His body has a lean athletic build to it, not overly muscly (I find too much muscle doesn't look good on a guy) but you could definitely see the power contained within his body. Coiled muscles flexed under taunt skin, a dark blue almost navy colored feather was tattooed onto the front of his upper left bicep, tattooed birds fly from the feather across his chest and end near his heart. I blush in embarrassment as I realize he had been watching me watching him, and he had been enjoying it.
The Viking bastard.
After sending me another knowing look and smirk, he reaches up and takes off the three necklaces he has hanging around his neck, and gently places them on his pile of clothes.
Turning towards the water he says, "You coming love?" and without a backwards glance, dives gracefully into the water. His head pops up in the middle of the lagoon a minute later.
"What are you waiting for?" that's a good question hotness. Let's see, I want to go swimming, really badly actually, but swimming involves taking off clothes. I have no problem with Nik seeing me in only my bra and underwear, it's the scars and tattoos I have a problem flashing. Showing them means he will get even more curious about me, and curiosity leads to questions, and questions leads to lies and awkwardness.
But I really want to go swimming!
My eyes light up as an idea comes to me "If I ask you to do something, will you do it?" I barely raise my voice, as I know that he will hear it regardless.
"Depends on what it is love," he yells, seeing as how I don't have supernatural hearing.
Here goes nothing "When I take my clothes off, could you not gawk or ask questions about what you see?" I ask nervously.
He looks surprised and confused by what I asked, but nods anyways. Taking a deep breath of courage, I first take off my boots, socks, and than my pants. I dart my eyes up to Nik's, gauging his reaction to seeing my leg tattoos before showing my upper body. Other than glancing at them and keeping his eyes a little bit longer on some of the 'battle' scars I had, he didn't react much. Let's hope it stays that way.
Come on Ayris, what's the worst that could happen?
He could see my back. Not only would he see the wound that Elijah had seen, but he could also see the thing on my right shoulder that was much worse. That I thank the gods that Elijah didn't see when he lifted my shirt that night.
Shaking fingers reach for the hem as I pull my shirt off quickly, ready for whatever expressions might cross his face.
He seemed more interested in my upper body arrow tattoos, probably wondering why or how I had them. His eyebrow quirked up when he glanced at the special tattoo on my arm. That one I could understand his intrigue, I mean the tattoo was slightly glowing and was moving! It covers my entire upper bicep so that you can't even see the blue arrow tattoo that winds underneath it. The tattoo was broken up into four sections; the first was on the top right part of my bicep and was a glowing red color with flames at the bottom that reached for the top of the tattoo, and words in an ancient script were written in the flames. This is where the moving part comes in. If you gazed long enough at it, you would see that the flames seemingly flickered, like they were alive.
The second section was to the left of the flame one. This one was a white/grey color, almost silver really. This one had swirling lines all over it, and the lines and swirls would move in a circular motion, like the wind. Some more unreadable words swirled along with the lines.
The third and fourth section were located on the under side of my bicep. The one next to the silver colored one was a deep blue ocean color, with waves weaving in and out of each other with the words making up the outline of the waves. The last one was a forest green, like the color of the leaves around us at this moment. This one is different from the others. It has one dark green line at the bottom (I guess that is supposed to be the ground) and all the empty space is taken up by words.
Every section's color has 'tendrils' that weave into the ones beside it. For instance, the red one intertwines with the silver and green one and vice versa so that it all looks like one beautiful work of art.
A work of art that Nik can't seem to take his eyes off of. I figure if I do what he asked me to do earlier, than he would leave it alone. Taking a few steps back, I sprint towards the water and dive in just like Nik did, albeit not as gracefully.
The cool water washes over me like a comforting blanket, opening my eyes I see that the lagoon is almost like one huge rock bowl with water in it, except the bottom has some green seaweed. My hair flows behind me as I swim towards the deep end, located in the middle of the bowl and where Nik is waiting patiently. I go up for a breath a few feet in front of him.
I push my wet hair out of my eyes, glancing uncertainly at the hybrid.
Please don't ask questions. I pray to whatever power is up there.
Luckily, Nik only sends me one more inquisitive look "Shall we?" his voice never reveals anything, but I can tell by the way his smile doesn't reach his eyes that this is far from over. Better make the most of his silence while it lasts.
Grinning evilly, I bring one of my hands to my chest and push out, spraying water at the shocked Viking. He shakes out of his shock and locks his mischievous blue-grey orbs with my excited ones.
"You shouldn't have done that love" he grins before sending his own splash at me, disappearing under the water when I become distracted at rubbing the water out of my eyes. Once I gain my eyesight back, I gaze speculatively at the water around me, waiting for the hybrid to jump out and scare me.
But he doesn't.
Instead, two hands weave out of the water behind me and push me under the water as Nik comes up, effectively dunking my surprised self under. But as I swim out of his hold, I realize he's using his human strength to play with me. Love for my friend flows through me as I realize that he really can care about others. Friendship be damned, however, I'm not going down without a fight.
I use the same tactic that Nik did, popping up behind him and laughing as I practically jump on top of him, using all my weight to push him under. I squeal in surprise as Nik thrusts up against me, grabbing a hold of my legs to help keep my balance as he emerges from the water with me on his shoulders. A beautiful sound fills my ears and breaks the haze I was in from the sensation of Nik's rough hands on my smooth legs shooting tingling sensations through my limbs. I glance down at the head of wet curls below me, my eyes scrunching up in thought. They widen in realization, Nik was laughing.
Not his normal sad or depressed one, no this one was carefree and it sent another warm feeling through me. I was so happy that I could make him forget his troubles for a few moments that I forgot to notice his hands running up my tattooed legs and curling underneath them.
My hands latch onto his hair as I lean over his head and look down at him curiously.
"What are you doing?" my voice is full of confusion as I wonder why he changed his grip on me.
Blue-grey look up at me through blonde eyelashes as his red lips stretch into a grin "This."
My eyes widen as his hands heave upwards, successfully launching me into the air, I barely manage to lose my grip on his hair in time. My arms and legs flail, and I'm pretty sure my face is alight with happiness as I crash back into the water.
I'm still laughing as I break through the water.
"Do it again!" Nik laughs at the probably earnest look on my face. "Whatever you want love." His smoldering look pierces through me, my laughter dying in my throat as I realize the double meaning in his words.
"Can you launch me higher?"
AIRBENDER GONE ROGUE
Nik and I spent the rest of the day playing in the pool, chasing and splashing each other. Nik, staying true to his word, would launch me higher and higher each time. I even convinced him to let me do the same, but it took a lot of persuasion on my part.
"Ready?" I say, getting ready to go under. We had moved closer to the shallow end of the bowl so that I would have something to stand on seeing as I didn't have the strength to hold him up and swim at the same time.
The young-looking vampire gazes at me weirdly "Are you sure you can hold me up sweetheart? I don't mean to brag, but I am quiet heavy," his British accent sounds more pronounced by the end of his sentence.
"I used to do this all the time with my friends, and some of them were heavier than you." He stills looks uncertain.
"Trust me," I gaze pleadingly at him, a smile breaking out on my face when he nods.
Taking a deep breath, I go under and wait as Nik cautiously places his legs over my shoulders. Happy with my grip on his legs, I stand up to my full height. Other than a tiny bobble, I carry his weight easily. Like I did earlier, the hybrid grabs ahold of my hair, although I don't get why as his balance should be perfect. Oh well.
"Ready?" without waiting for him to say something, I crouch down to get some power from my legs, and push him upwards into the air and to the side. Nik gives a grunt of surprise as he smashes into the water; little waves ricocheting off the walls from his almost cannonball.
I laugh at the look on his put out face. "I think" laugh "we should" giggle, "go back" I say in between my laughter.
Sending me a mock glare "Yes, I think we should," he says.
Turning around, I swim back to where our clothes are. Moving my hair to one shoulder, I place my hands on the flat slippery surface and heave myself up out of the water. I was about to place my knees on the rocks to get the rest of my body out of the blue water, but a dangerous growl from behind me freezes me in place.
"Ayris, love, what is on your back?" His voice is no longer happy, instead it has an angry steel edge to it sharp enough to cut diamonds.
Wait a minute, my back?
My eyes widen in horror.
Crap. What now?
Long chapter eh?
Hope you liked it, and here is the chapter question:
If you could change one thing about the Vampire Diaries (characters, places, scenes, plots, etc) what would you change?
Hopefully I will update soon.
Review!
Atlafan1286