The face-claim for Effie Martin is Zendaya; I don't own the Vampire Diaries.
"Remind yourself. Nobody's built like you. You design yourself."
—Jay Z
Chapter One:
Mystic Falls Is For Bitches.
Effie Martin was not a happy witch.
It was one thing for her sister to run off with some fucking Original; it was another thing for her father to help out the Original's brother to try and get her back— but, this was too far.
And all because he wouldn't believe Effie when she told him that Greta Martin left on her own to join Klaus Mikaelson.
Sitting there, pretty as a daisy, with a mean scowl on her face as she looked out the window, the angry young woman was finding it difficult not to break something in the '98 Honda Accord as it continued its route off of the freeway and back into civilization.
Brown eyes bright with anger flared towards her father every now and again, her thick brows lowering into a darker glower each time.
Her father, Jonas Martin, stared firmly out the window, trying to ignore his younger daughter's continued glares at the back of his head. Things had not been the same since Melanie had died— and he had been a fool for thinking it would ever go back to normal.
The fretful, tragedy-stricken man looked like he was twenty years older, and he'd be lying if he said that it had nothing to do with his children. In particular, his daughters seemed to enjoy finding new ways to make the man panic— the latest being Greta's kidnapping by the devil himself, Klaus Mikaelson.
He was a father on a mission, one of increasing risk and price.
When his little Effie had told him that Greta left on her own— abandoned their already grieving family— the old man couldn't bear the weight of his own heartbreak. He spiraled, and whilst in the five stages of grief, Jonas got misdirected at anger and unfortunately stayed there. As much as the father didn't want to admit it to himself— Greta was his baby girl. His first-born's birth was the greatest, and she had him absolutely wrapped around her pinkie finger the second he got his arms around her.
Jonas might not have wanted to think he picked favorites— but, it was obvious to Effie that he preferred her older sister to her— and most likely, he preferred Greta over her twin, too.
Said twin sat passively in the passenger's seat, looking nearly dead eyed out the windshield as the car drove past a large white sign saying, Welcome to Mysic Falls.
Luka Martin was a tired young man.
The last four years since their mother had passed had negatively impacted his family so severely that he wasn't sure if it could be saved. His father had become a shell of his former self, hiding with a bottle of beer while his kids needed him in their grief. Greta got so obsessed with attention that she took risks whenever she could. And, Effie... she grew violent. Bloodthirsty.
This could've brought a different family closer together.
And it hurts him to think of the repercussions of just how far they'd been driven apart.
Both of his sisters had reacted poorly to their mother's premature demise, spiraling into very different toxic spirals.
Greta found herself in a position where she was desperate for affection from her mother, and since Mom wasn't present, the misguided witch tried finding it elsewhere.
Greta had been well known on their block for being easy, and this brought the wrong kind of attention on his twin sister, Effie. Older guys were being brought into the house all the time, their father not present to actually monitor, and some made the mistake that the then sixteen year-old was as easy as the nineteen year-old.
The first time it had happened, there had been a large clatter from her bedroom one night, paired with his baby sister screaming. The young Luka had sprinted from his bedroom across the hall, swinging open his sister's bedroom door just as Greta and Jonas also joined him. When the door swung open, the three were frozen for a few moments at what they saw.
There, on the floor, was the man Greta had brought home that night, groaning and shouting in pain. His face was busted, bleeding all over himself and Effie's bedroom carpet. Above him stood Effie— but, the dark look in her eyes was more haunting than what she was actually doing. To Luka, at least.
Effie had her softball bat— one that had been gifted to her in a tourney— gripped tightly in her bronzed hands as she angrily screamed at the intruder, continuing to slam the bat into his torso over and over and over.
Well, until Luka stopped her before she killed the guy.
As she sneered down at the man with pure disdain painted on her face, as well as several drops of the man's blood, Luka knew she wasn't gonna be the same.
Two years had passed since then, Effie and Luka reaching the age of eighteen just a few months ago.
Euphemia Martin had always had an impressive temper— even born angry and screaming— but, something really changed in her that day. She never did anything that risked their neighborhood discovering their secret, but Effie had grown increasingly unruly throughout the last three years.
Started small— talking back to her teachers, talking back to their dad, etc. but, it had morphed itself into something quite violent over time.
And now, Luka's biggest concern wasn't with the rest of his family— who he was pretty sure was lost, anyway— it was saving Effie from herself.
The car continued to rumble throughout the streets of Mystic Falls before Jonas felt another pang deep in his stomach. Sighing, the older man took a deep breath before addressing the tense car.
"How about we stop at the school? We can get you guys registered today while I move all our crap in," Jonas awkwardly chuckled, much to his daughter's annoyance.
Effie didn't want to hear a single word from him— but, she'd be lying if she said the long car ride hadn't made her exceedingly ready to escape the confines of the car.
Giving a barely there hum of approval, she continued to stare out at the stereotypical small town through her window; lost in her own ever-spiraling thoughts.
I already fucking hate it here, Effie sighed in her mind, one hand cupping her cheek as the other brushed one of her thick brown waves out of her face.
She hated that her father was pimping out their magic over someone who didn't even want to be part of the family anyway. Effie hated that she hated her sister for what she had done to their already broken family. And, she really hated seeing how all of this was affecting her little brother.
Luka had maintained his status as being the sunshine of the Martins, having been the younger twin by four and a half minutes and fully embracing the role, but it had significantly dampened since Greta's little escapade. Effie could see her brother sinking further and further into a deep depression— and, she wasn't sure if she could pull him out.
Especially here.
The beat-up car pulled up to the school eventually, finding numerous students littered all around the campus. It was pretty nerve wracking to be in such a new place with all of these new faces eyeing their unfamiliar vehicle— but she pretty much immediately decided she didn't give a fuck.
Quickly unbuckling, Effie was the first one out.
She needed distance from her father, before she accidentally popped one of their tires for the third time today.
She ignored her father's calls from behind, instead continuing to move further and further away from the car and her father. She felt the familiar beat of jogging footsteps following her after, glancing over to find Luka at her side with a tight, friendly smile on his face.
"Dad said to eat up this week. Apparently, we're doing this pretty soon," he huffed as he strode beside his angry twin.
An eye roll strongly takes over the majority of her expression as she paused where they stood, scanning for some sort of entrance.
"Of course, he did. He loves whoring out our magic for people who abandon us," Effie snapped back, not particularly towards Luka.
Luka's eyes turned slightly firm towards his twin, not enjoying when his sister spoke of their dad that way. Jonas Martin might have been a little lost now, but Luka was certain that one day their father would return to his normal self.
"Effs, you need to take it easier on him. We aren't the only ones who lost someone," the warlock attempted to correct his sister, but she just stopped in the middle of the grassy patch on the campus.
As other students brusquely walked past, Effie scoffed in her brother's face, disbelief filling her that her brother could be so ignorant of the situation. Their father had gone full-crack pot once Greta left, and she knew by the look in her sister's eyes when they last spoke that Greta had no intentions of coming back.
Whether or not she had to hurt them.
"Uh huh. Keep telling yourself that," Effie sarcastically replied with an annoyed shake of her curly brown head.
She knew that she was not being sensitive to her brother's emotions, but he needed to ball the fuck up and admit the truth to himself. Their family was never gonna be the same, and their father was to blame. Good ol' dad had been MIA for months after their mother passed away. He didn't work, he didn't do shit except sit around, drink, and grieve when life was moving on without him.
It was the only thing that kept Effie from absolutely despising their sister.
Effie Martin understood very well the feeling of wanting to escape from it all— but, she couldn't forgive her big sister for leaving her and Luka to deal with the aftermath. Greta didn't even have the guts to tell their dad, herself; instead, she relied on Effie to take the big hits, same as she had always done since the twins were five.
In Effie's eyes, Luka was an idiot for thinking that people could change.
The twins both silently acknowledged the divide that had spread between them as they stood on the grass, the wind slightly picking up around them as they glared at one another.
Effie was much more wild and impetuous compared to her obedient, loyal brother, and their attitudes had finally started to clash as they matured. The witch couldn't understand how her brother couldn't see that Greta and their dad had given up on them; the warlock couldn't fathom how his sister had given up on their family so quickly.
Sighing, Luka, of course, gave in first with a sneaky grin on his bronzed face, "Come on, let's ask someone where this office is. I'm not trying to be walking around all morning with your lame ass."
Effie let out a laugh at her good brother cussing.
"Oh, please. The only reason people look at us is because of me."
"We're twins. It's literally the same thing in different gender packaging."
"You're bald. That automatically makes me the better twin."
Subconsciously touching his shaved head, as they approached two teens in front of them, Luka shot back, "First off, shaved. Second, fuck off."
"Ooh, two cuss words in a day. You trying to go to hell?" Effie teased back, glad to have the last word as they got too close to the pair of students ahead for her brother to snipe back.
The banter had been nice while it lasted, though.
"Uh, excuse me," Luka interrupted, already checking out the pretty brown girl across from the tall boy, "Do you guys know where the office is?"
Effie's sharp brown eyes analyzed the pair in front of her, not bothering to smile in welcome like her brother did.
There was the boy, first. He was tall, muscular, cute, with shaggy brown hair. The boy had chocolate brown eyes that practically screamed 'teenage boy.' He's like a big puppy, she thought to herself as he glanced at her brother.
There was a slight twist to his face when he looked at her brother, and she only had to turn to find exactly what the problem was: her brother making goo-goo eyes at the pretty brunette across the way.
It was especially obvious by how quickly he rapid-fired detailed directions to the front office.
Oh, a crush. That's gross, Effie thought to herself.
Turning her attention to said brunette, Effie felt a certain spark in her; an automatic awareness of exactly what the girl was: witch.
This was Effie's gift— a supernatural sonar for things that went bump in the night.
She never needed to touch someone to feel it, and different breeds brought out different feelings. As for fellow witches, there was an almost instant sensation of being around someone familiar.
Olive eyes met Effie's with a smile, if not a bit of curiosity towards the newcomers.
Bonnie Bennett couldn't quite understand why she felt like comfortable with them— she just did. While it was a strange feeling, the young witch was eager to reach out to hands that could understand her— especially with her Grams gone. And that's precisely the feeling that the two strangers in front of her gave.
The first one Bonnie noticed was, obviously, the cute brown boy.
He had bronze skin and dark eyes that smiled warmly back at her, glint of apparent interest in his eyes. Confident, relaxed, sweet; all could describe the vibe that she felt from the cute stranger. There weren't many cute black guys in Mystic Falls, but this boy would definitely be on the list in her book.
And, then, there was the girl that stood beside him.
No such warmth came off of the new girl, and she watched Bonnie Bennett like she already didn't like her. Chocolate brown eyes looked back at Bonnie analytically before giving her a nod in greeting.
The girl was tall, lithe, and gorgeous. High cheekbones, caramel complexion, and general 'don't give a fuck' attitude written clear across her forehead combined to make a perplexing array of contrasts. She wore an oversized black t-shirt tucked into a pair of denim shorts, and a simple grey sweatshirt tied around her waist; as if the fall weather didn't bother her one bit.
She was a girl with 'effortless pretty,' as Caroline liked to say; someone who could wear a potato sack and still be intimidating.
Jeremy Gilbert, on the other hand, hadn't even noticed the girl. He only saw the boy who was making eyes at the girl he finally asked out.
Quickly, the baby Gilbert added to his directions, "You must be new here."
Luka, ever the perceptive warlock quickly identified the boy's pointed phrasing, amiably replying, "Yeah, I am, and so is my twin. Kinda hard to hide it," he chuckled, before introducing the Martin twins to the strangers, "My name's Luka, and this here is Effie."
Finally having reigned in his initial outburst of jealousy, he politely smiled at Luka, extending his hand out to shake the other boy's.
"I'm Jeremy. This is Bonnie."
Effie— thoroughly bored with the small talk of it all— didn't bother to announce her exit as her twin continued to drool over the baby witch, instead just walking off in the direction that the office was, now that she had the info. Bonnie and Jeremy watched as she made tracks away from them, both a bit stunned at the cold shoulder before glancing over at Luka.
Luka watched his sister walk away with tired eyes, used to her general attitude towards people.
He knew that Effie didn't care much for people in general.
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A/N:
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the initial chapter of Survivor!
Thanks for the read, and let me know if you think I should have a ship in here for Effie.
And if so, who do you think would work best for what you know of the character so far?
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