Chapter Twenty Eight: The Retreat Part II

They're not real, they're not real, a part of Katherine insisted inside of her. The agent part, the part of her that had survived for the past two years even after everything. But they look real, the second part of her, the humanity part of her insisted.

And it was true. Whatever magic the stone had, truly gave them something that they most desired. A happy memory. A wish that they so desperately wanted. Only to pull them back into the cold, grasps of death if they were foolish enough to fall for it.

The purple stone seemed to flash in front of her like a warning sign. Her babies gurgled and they waved their chubby arms at her, as if begging her to hold them. The sight was so sweet.

She could feel her whole body trembling as she pulled out the knife that she stolen from the kitchen earlier. What was wrong with her? She had killed thousands of time before, and now she couldn't take care of two illusions.

She placed the knife on top of her son's stomach and closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears from falling. "I am so sorry."

She stabbed the knife in her son's stomach. The baby let out a shriek that made Katherine give out a chocked sound. She tried to avoid the dead body, as she grabbed half of the stone. She turned to her daughter, her first born who was looking at her with baby innocence.

Trying to prevent the tears from falling she sliced the knife across her daughter's throat. She grabbed the second part of the stone and she could feel herself transporting back.


"You're still alive?" Loki didn't take his eyes away from Anne. He couldn't believe that she was here, with him. Anne led him back to a little fountain. "How is that possible?"

"It's not," Anne sighed, looking sadly. "I am still dead, but there is a way that I can come back to life. Then you and I can finally be together. We no longer have to fear Odin."

His eyes traced back to her own brown eyes. He had missed her so much, loved her over a 1000 years and here she was so closed to him.

Anne pressed both hands against his cheekbones. "I love you, Loki."

"Anne." He murmured as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Loki! Loki! Don't it's a trap!"

Loki pulled away and turned around to where the voice was coming from. Katherine was running towards him, waving the purple stone.

Loki turned back to Anne, and he saw that her beautiful face was now gray with pieces of skin barely hanging on to her bones. A corpse. "Loki," she begged. "Loki, please."

"LOKI! CALL HEIMDALL NOW!"

Loki turned away from Anne and grabbed Katherine's hand. "Take us back to earth."


"She has it around her scrawny little finger," Damon hissed to Stefan. They had been at a boring ball at the Fell's house for what felt like hours and they still hadn't managed to get the stone from Katherine, which was in the form of a ring. "New plan, you distract her and I'll jam a stake in her heart and you rip the stone from her finger."

"Why do I have to distract her?" Stefan protested.

"Because brother," Damon smirked, "Katherine seems to go for the naïve, goody two shoes type of a guy if Steve is any indication. And you're the man for the job. Remember don't act guilty."

Katherine winked at him and Stefan sighed. "Get the stake, ready."

Stefan followed Katherine into the back room where Katherine pulled him and pressed herself against the wall. "I was feeling bored, thankfully I got good company." She purred.

Stefan smiled. "I'm so glad that you enjoy my company, Miss Pierce."

Katherine started playing with his bow tie. "That is not all I enjoy."

Damon pulled Stefan away and attempted to stake Katherine. Katherine hissed as she easily grabbed the stake from Damon and attempted to stake him in return. Stefan pushed Katherine to the ground. "Damon!"

Damon used one hand to strangle Katherine and the other to remove the stone from her finger.


Everyone seemed to arrive back in Mystic Falls around the exact same time. They had agreed to meet up near the old clock tower. Caroline, Matt, Jeremy, and Bonnie were sitting on a park bench with several scratches and ruffled hair. Elijah, Klaus, and Rebekah were just stepping out of their car unharmed, but looking extremely sentimental. Elena looked like she had been crying and Damon had his arm wrapped around her shoulder, Stefan seemed to be the only one unruffled.

Loki and Katherine approached them at the same time that Heimdall was opening the portal for Tony, Natasha, and Clint. Tony was helping Clint walk and he was limping slightly, and Natasha had ripped her cat suit slightly.

Katherine looked at them bemused. "What happened to you guys?"

"Ditto." Tony raised an eyebrow in Katherine's direction. "What did you use to chop off your hair? An ax? Not a good luck, Kit Kat."

Katherine looked confused until she grabbed a too short strand of her hair. Oh, crap her beautiful curls. "Long story."

"We didn't get any damn illusions." Clint murmured bitterly. "We had to go through this garden with all this kinds of poisonous flowers. It almost killed us, that's why I'm limping, I must have inhaled some of the poison. I will have to shoot sitting down."

Loki looked at Natasha and Tony, trying not to be impressed that they both had managed not to suffer the same fate as Clint. "So what were your strategies?"

Tony snorted. "My suit and the fact that Romanoff runs like cheetah."

"How about you two?" Natasha asked. "We better hurry, we already wasted too much time."

Katherine approached them and everyone seemed to exchange weird looks about her disfigured haircut, but nobody commented on it. "Ok, congratulations on surviving the first part. Didn't know you had it, in you. Swell.

"That," Damon hissed at her. "Is the last favor I'm ever doing for you, Katherine."

"Well, let's hope we live to keep your promise." Katherine said dryly a she opened her bag. "Stones, please."

Caroline dropped in a yellow stone, Damon a pink stone, Natasha a red stone, and Rebekah a white stone.

There was an awkward moment in the air, until Clint broke it up. "So overall I'm guessing it sucked for everyone else too?"

Everyone mumbled their approval.

There was a roar of storms and a blinding white light, Caroline flinched as she grabbed Bonnie's arm. "What was that?"

"Well, it looks like the deadly Amora has decided to fight," Klaus said. "Good, I was getting bored."

Tony looked at the graying skies. "Get ready to fight."

-End of Chapter Twenty Eight-

Thanks for your reviews. Katherine and Steve will reunite in the next chapter. I'm working on a Steve/Rebekah and a Klaus/Natasha one shots, I will probably post them later this week :)