Welcome to my very first Self-Insert fic! No Beta :( I've been sitting on this idea for a while now and thought it was high time I wrote it down and unleashed it on the world. Don't worry, I'm still working on my other stories (If very slowly) So, expect to see either them or this story added to in the future. :)
I tried to make this SI story as realistic as possible and explore the intricacies of what it would really be like to suddenly show up in a fictional world and take over someone else's body.
So, give me your thoughts on how you think I'm doing so far ;)
DISCLAIMER: Julie Plec owns all of TVD, TO and Legacies... I'm just borrowing her world cuz it's amazing.
Waking up in Vicki Donovan's body during transition was not something I could have ever seen coming. Actually, going to sleep and waking up in anyone else's body, let alone a fictional one on death's door, was not something I could have predicted happening at all…
It simply wasn't possible, the very idea of it happening broke the laws of physics!
And yet, as my eyes adjusted and my head rolled to the side, I came face to face with the wooden panelling of the Stefan Salvatore's bedroom floor and the Viki Donovan's discarded clothes lay scattered about, as irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
Somehow, I had managed to land myself smack bang in the middle of season one, episode six of The Vampire Diaries!?
Now that then begged the question… How?
Had I died in my sleep and been reincarnated? Had I switched bodies with the real Vicki Donovan? No, no… there was no real 'Vicki' because she was a fictional character! This all had to be some highly realistic lucid dream my mind had conjured up after watching the season two midway-finale of Legacies, right? RIGHT?!
Because if it wasn't a dream… I. WAS. SCREWED.
Victoria Donovan was NOT a character I liked, let alone wanted to be.
I mean, if I had to be anyone in the teenage soap opera, I would have preferred to be Bonnie Bennett, the badass witch. Or Caroline Forbes, the sassy and confident vampire.
HECK! Even Elena Gilbert with her never-ending funeral of a life was a better pick than the crack-head slut, soon-to-be-dead-dead Vicki.
The girl just had death flags for days!
Her alcoholic mother spent the majority of her time either hung-over on the couch or at Virginia Beach with her truck-driving boyfriend, Pete. While her gambling father had abandoned her at age three to move to Texas and start up a mechanic shop for a quote, "fresh start".
She was bullied at school for being poor, constantly failed her classes and was shunned by the other girls for being pretty. She had low self-esteem, a drug addiction, two rebounding boyfriends and a severe bout of depression that no amount of counselling could fix.
The girl had probably died inside years ago and only been forced to stick around so she could full-fill her role as the narrative plot device that gave deuteragonists' Matt Donovan and Jeremy Gilbert character arcs.
In short, her life sucked and her death hadn't been any better.
From what I could recall, Vicki went on to leave the Salvatore Mansion, have a spectacular meltdown at the Gilbert's house, run away to the Salvatore Crypt, feed on Logan Fell, become a Vampire, get locked up in the Salvatore Mansion (Again), escape to her house, go to the Halloween party at school and attack Jeremy.
THEN, get literally stabbed in the back by 'Im a saint' Stefan, trapping her on The Other Side, then Hell, only to finally find peace at the end of season eight.
Meaning (whether this was a dream or not) I now had a tricky dilemma on my hands.
Did I either:
A- Let Vicki die now by not fully transitioning.
B- Follow along with the show's plot and let her die at the party.
Or, C- Find a way to save her. (From Vampirism or death in general, I wasn't sure)
Neither option was great, let's be honest. But, lying on the floor half-naked and staring up that smug son of a bitch, Damon…
I realised that poor ole Victoria deserved better than what she got.
The writers were dicks for giving her such a terrible fate and as I had the unwanted power to do something about it, I owed it to justice to fix it!
This was my lucid dream and I was gonna do what I wanted.
So, having made up my mind to spend my next twenty-four-hours saving Vicki, I focused on dragging her heavy limbs off the ground and collapsing into Stefan's desk chair.
I took a moment to inspect my 'new' body, running my hands over my tanned thighs and knees. Followed by clenching and unclenching my toes and fingers, rolling my shoulders and neck back and forth and taking long deep breaths.
After a couple of minutes, I'm sad to say that everything still felt weird.
The room was swimming before my eyes and my head was pounding. But, the tingling in my veins and the newfound strength in my muscles felt oddly exhilarating. It was as if at any moment I could sprout wings and fly or keel over and vomit?!
CHOOSING to ignore that for now, I decided to focus on sticking with the script.
Hopefully, if I went word for word, my literal murderer wouldn't notice I'd just high-jacked his plaything's body and escape the house. (Fingers crossed!)
Immediately, I tried slurring out a confused, "What happened?" and had to do a double-take.
Actress Kelly Ewell's voice had spoken… as in, I had used her voice… even though my thoughts were in my own voice?
Yikes! That was gonna take some time to get used too.
Anyway, Damon interrupted my train of thought by declaring, "I killed you," nonchalantly.
I pretend to look shocked and mumbled out a relatively convincing, "Whaaat?"
"You're dead," He elaborated.
Internally I rolled my eyes at the pompous git. Outwardly, I repeated his words back to him and added an extra baffled, "How?" for good measure.
"Yeaaaa, let's not make a big deal out of it," He shrugged, walking over to the bed and perching on the edge. "You drank my blood, I killed you and now you have to feed in order to complete the process."
Well, he certainly wasn't earning any brownie points with that explanation.
Not only had he breezed by the fact I was currently inhabiting a DEAD BODY! He conveniently skipped out the part where one had to drink human blood within twenty-four hours of waking up or one would find themselves permanently dead.
Actually, now that I think about it, had the Salvatore seriously believed Vicki would jump straight to cannibalism as her saving grace? Because I certainly wouldn't have if I didn't know this was a show about goddamn VAMPIRES!
Swallowing back my righteous rage (a truly herculean effort, by the way) I went about ignoring Damon and instead concentrated on getting dressed.
Fortunately, Vik's leather vest hung off the back of my chair. Meaning all I had to do was slip my arms though, the right arm/ right hole to the left arm/ left hole.
Unfortunately, seeing with transitioning eyes that were hazed by who knows how many drugs, was near impossible. The four buttons switched from eight to ten to three, and back again… only zigzagged?
"Screw this," I huffed. Pants were more important than a done-up vest anyway.
Stumbling over to my jeans, I was suddenly struck by how surreal it was not seeing Damon through my laptop. From my now real-world perspective, he looked more like an arrogant jerk on steroids. Rather than the hot teenage idol, he was supposed to be.
Tripping over my jeans like an idiot, I promptly fell on my knees and began coordinating right leg/right hole, left leg/ left hole, taking a small eternity to do so.
All the while, Damon watched…
UGH! How did he manage to redeem himself again?
Finally zipping up my fly, I forced myself to stand up straight. Only to over-balance and crash into the bedpost hip first.
"You don't wanna be out there all alone," The jackass said, vamping in front of me, "You're about to get reeealy freaky."
I raised my chin and faced him head-on.
Up close and personal, I noticed that Ian Somerhalder really did have blue eyes that seemed to swirl like a mesmerizing whirlpool. His chiselled jaw, smooth skin, and casually coiffed black curls truly were perfect in that way only Greek Gods had any right to be.
Said chick-magnet flashed me his trademark grin and revelled his set of FANGS!?
Okay, you know what? Never. Mind.
I had a character to save and one DEAD, pretty boy wasn't going to distract me, damn it!
"Look," I put my hands on my hips and attempted to sound as bratty as possible, "I had a really good time but I just wanna go home."
Predictably ignoring my words, Damon (not Ian) cocked his head to the side and mock chided, "You're gonna start craving blood and until you get it, you're gonna be very out of it, you have to be careful."
YEAH RIGHT!
Because rolling around on the floor of a vampire's house was sooo much safer.
Straightening my shoulders, I flicked Vik's caramel brown hair out of my eyes and gave Damon an almighty shove, growling, "Come on, move!"
It didn't do much, as I'm-the-bad-brother-Salvatore's vampire strength far outclassed mine. But it did have the desired effect of getting him to step aside. (Without a sliver of hesitation, might I add)
I rolled my eyes.
Sticking to the script was becoming more annoying than it was worth, this scene was only supposed to last two minutes, tops. Instead, it felt like it could go on foreeever!
My legs took two steady steps towards the door when they suddenly tripped on air and I fell flat on my face.
"See?" The jackass sing-songed, "You're already starting to fall apart!"
ARGH! Why did body-swapping have to be so hard? The Travellers did it all the time and they made it look like a walk in the park. Not the blind-folded tightrope act I was suffering through!
Rolling onto my back, I glared spitefully at the Vampire. "Oh yeah?" I snapped, "To bad! I'm going home now."
"Okay, fine, just warning you…" He said, backing off.
This time I didn't even bother to stand up, knowing I'd just end up on the floor again. So, I army-crawled across the floorboards, ignoring how lame this probably looked, until my face was directly in front of the first step.
I took one look down and gulped.
It hadn't occurred to me till right this second that Stephen's room was in the attic. Meaning there were three flights of stairs leading to the ground floor, where my gate to freedom lay.
For any normal person, going down the stairs would be no problem, a no brainer really.
But not me.
HOW on EARTH was I supposed to waltz down THREE FLIGHTS of stairs without tripping?
It was a small miracle the 'real' Vicki had managed it in the first place. One glance down and my stomach threatened to crawl up my throat and slap me across the face!
"Actually," Damon said, oblivious to my inner turmoil, "You know what? You should go… In fact, if I were you, I would stop by my boyfriend Jeremy's house."
"Whatever," I scoffed.
There was no way in hell I was going to follow the plot and have a meltdown at the Gilberts. That would only lead to the original timeline continuing and that was NOT something I could let happen while on my watch!
My eyes swept the walls for a handhold as the rest of my body went about getting to my hands and knees. I heard Damon say, "And tell Elena I said, 'Hi'" as my eyes spotted a conveniently placed handrail on the right wall.
Naturally, I latched on for dear life and began to slowly shuffle down the steps, one by one.
Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…
So far so good.
"And tell Stefan to call me if you see him!" The vampire added.
I shook my head at his request. Not even the original Vicki had done that so why would I?
Right foot… left foot…
Calling the Salvatore Doppelganger would only lead to me ending up trapped in the Salvatore mansion even faster than last time. The ripper/vegetarian just wouldn't be able to help himself; he would see the transitioning human for the tragedy it was and then go out of his way to prevent her from turning into a, quote, "Vampire with issues."
Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…
After all, all he cared about at this point was protecting Elena from the 'dark side' of Vampirism. (A.K.A Rippers like himself… the hypocrite!)
Right foot… left foot…
I guess I couldn't exactly blame Stephen though, no matter how much I wanted too.
During episode six, there was an ongoing town investigation underway for the deaths of the Stoner Crew. Which, if you've forgotten, had been drained of blood and burnt to a crisp by Damon twelve hours earlier.
Right foot… left foot…
Stefan was busy recounting his backstory to a newly introduced to the supernatural Elena right now. While the Town Council were busy digging up the Gilbert Compass and sending their newbie hunter, Logan Fell on a search for the town's 'new' vampire.
Right foot… left foot… right foot… left foot…
My feet hit the landing of the second set of stairs and I smiled.
One down, two more to go!
Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…
As I continued my tedious trek down the stairs, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Vicki had served as the show's first glimpse at the Human-Vampire process.
Of course, the soap opera would go on to show many human-too-vampire transitions. But up until this point, the two species were mutually exclusive, with the whole 'How does one become a vampire?' question still a mystery.
Left foot… right foot…
Oh well, I guess I could let them use and abusive of Vicki's character slide this once. After all, it's not like I was going to let her be used again, so one more time couldn't hurt.
Left foot… right foot… Left foot… right foot…
Wait. A. Minute.
What was I planning to do once outside?
Did I want to become a vampire? Or, did I want to use my knowledge of the future to turn back into a human? Which one was going to be better for me in the long run?
(Assuming this wasn't a dream and I didn't wake up in the next twenty-four-eyes)
Left foot… right foot…
On the one hand, as a Vampire, I would have a constant craving for blood, something that would most likely be heightened for me as Ms Donovan had been addicted to drugs and suffered from a compulsive personality.
Not to mention the small fact that the sun could turn me to ashes, vervain acted like corrosive acid and my emotions would be 'heightened' (Meaning they would feel like bloody mood swings and cause a drastic personality change)
However, I would also have a strong sense of smell, taste, hearing and touch. My body would have super strength, speed, agility and healing. Plus, I would never age and be able to use compulsion, as well have the ability to heal humans with my blood and read minds.
Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…
That would all be helpful if I planned on surviving encounters with Witches, Werewolves, Originals, Hybrids and who knows what else.
But could I handle the changes?
I was the type of girl who buried her emotions and suffered from anxiety because of it. When I was sixteen, I'd been diagnosed with PTSD and had taken to medication in order to control my panic attacks and insomnia ever since.
Would I be able to live with all that buried trauma and emotion coming out without going, Ripper?
I just didn't know and that terrified me…
Left foot… right foot…
On the other hand, if I wanted to remain human then I would have to use my knowledge of the future and convince a powerful witch to perform some kind of necromancy spell.
That in itself had its own challenges.
The only witches in Mystic Falls during season one were Bonnie and Sheila Bennett. The former of which was just a rookie still struggling to float feathers and the latter being a devoted servant of nature's balance bullshit.
Meaning neither would want nor able to help me.
Left foot… right foot…
Then again, Vicki's long lost ancestor, Ethan Maxwell had been friends with Beatrice Bennett. The witch who had created the Maxwell Hell Bell, trapped the Sirens in The Armory and prevented Hellfire from destroying Mystic Falls in 1790.
Perhaps she could be persuaded to bring back Maxwell's only living female descendent to the land of the living?
Left foot… right foot… left foot… right foot…
I snickered at the thought.
Not only would I have to find a way to speak with Bennett witches ancestors, but I would also need to do so within TWENTY-FOUR-HOURS! Which, judging by the rate I was shuffling down the Salvatore's steps, was not going to be anywhere near long enough.
Nope, using witchy Joo Joo to be resurrected as a human wasn't going to happen.
Left foot… right foot…
That left me with my final choice… Death.
A small shudder ran down my spine as I reached the second landing. Letting Vicki die by not transitioning wasn't what I wanted to do. The whole idea reeked of injustice!
It simply wouldn't be fair to let her die forgotten and trapped as a ghost on the other side.
Left foot… right foot… Left foot… right foot…
No, no, I was keeping myself alive for Vik's sake even if it's the last thing I do.
If that meant I would have to become a vampire and suffer from heightened emotions, so be it!
Left foot… right foot… Left foot…
FINALLY, my legs stepped off the last step and I found myself, once again, taken aback. Like many fans, I had seen the first-floor corridor hundreds of times in the show.
But I'd never noticed the giant china vase hidden in the corner before. Or taken note of the numerous antique paintings hanging in ornate golden frames on the walls.
And where had all the mantels come from?
Everywhere the eye could see, there was a wooden mantel pushed against a vertical surface, weighed down by painted plates, lamps, pictures and preserved letters.
"Wow," My jaw dropped in disbelief.
I knew that the Salvatore's were vampires from the eighteen-hundreds, but seriously?
The sheer amount of clutter in their house was too much, even by hoarder standards!
Blinking away the shock, I promptly went about grabbing onto any flat surface and wobbling my way down the hall and around the corner. I was rewarded for my struggles with the most blessed sight of all times…
The front door.
Ignoring the three ancient paintings on the wall and another stray mantel, a wonderous choir of angles sang an angelic "Hallelujah!" as my hands curled around the handle.
Not wasting a second to think, I swung the door open
"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" I cried and slammed the door shut.
One glimpse at the sun and it had felt like my eyeballs were sizzling in their sockets!
How could I have forgotten that sunshine hurt soon-to-be-vampires!? It was like the golden rule of transitioning, followed right next to the silver rule 'Stay Somewhere Dark'.
"Damn it!" I huffed, mentally stomping my foot.
How on earth had Vicki managed to be outside while the sun shoved WHITE HOT POKERS INTO HER EYES!? Because unless she kept her eyelids closed and ran blindly to the gilberts, there was no way she could have survived the agony!
… but she had, hadn't she?
From what my mind could recall; Miss Donovan had shown up at Jeremy's wearing sunglasses, having seemingly acquired them off-screen somewhere.
At the time, I had assumed the writers had just written themselves an error but that couldn't be the case now.
This was (Impossibly) a real world.
Meaning a simple props error could not explain away why a character had a thing in one scene only to not have it in the next. Meaning Vik had gotten her shades from somewhere between the Salvatore Mansion and the Gilberts.
There was hope for me still!
My eyes quickly went about scanning the entryway and immediately zoned in on the mantel's three draws. The first held nothing but letters, all yellowing and rotten. The second was full of keys and the occasional thumbtack. While the third held a couple of picture frames, an old-fashioned letter opener and one pair of black sunglasses.
"Bingo!" A goofy grin spread across my lips as I slipped them on, "Alright Sun, here I come!"
Opening the door with confidence, I strode out of the house and into freedom.
At least, I would have if my body didn't insist on walking like an unstable toddler. My bare feet had barely stepped out the door when they tripped on the welcome mat and I dropped to my hands and knees, scraping them as they went.
A frustrated growl rose from my chest.
I had completed my first few goals of getting away from Damon, not tripping down the stairs, finding a pair of sunglasses and getting outside the Mansion.
So, WHY did walking down the driveway have to be such a MISSION?!
It was supposed to be a no-brainer, especially if I was dreaming.
But it wasn't and I hated it. (With a passion)
"Get your act together," I said, planting my feet on the gravel and sticking my butt into the air, "You can do this."
I took a deep breath, prayed a silent prayer to God and rose from the waist. As soon as my head was in line with my spine, my arms shot out for balance and my muscles tensed.
… 30 seconds… 60 seconds… 90 seconds…
Putting one foot in front of the other, I was careful not to lose my balance and started walking down the drive. My legs were wobbling, my head ached and my vision still swam, but I was determined to stay upright without support.
Two minutes… Three minutes… Four minutes…
Five minutes passed, my feet hit the footpath and I tripped AGAIN!
However, instead of faceplanting or dropping to my hands and knees, one of my feet shot in front of me and I caught myself mid-fall. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding as a triumphant smile lit up my face and my heart leapt for joy.
I HAD DONE IT!
Me, the clumsiest Clutts to ever exist, had walked down the driveway all by myself!
"Ha-ha!" I cheered, "Take that dream!"
(I was finally getting the hang of this body swap thing)
Now, first things first, where was a good place to complete the transition?
Obviously, there was the tried and true method of waiting till dark, going up to a stranger and biting them. But that would require a lot of waiting time and afterwards, I would be bound by night hours until I got a daylight ring.
Or there was the Caroline method, going to the hospital and drinking from a blood bag.
That way was safer, although not by much. I wouldn't have to wait for sundown but I would be at risk of accidentally cremating myself in the sunlight. That meant I would have to be confined to the hospital building until nightfall.
Taking a moment to sit on the curb, I weighed up the pros and cons.
Way number one:
Pro- I would stay hidden from the cops and the scooby gang.
Con- There was a higher chance of accidental death for the people I fed on and getting found by a wandering Logan Fell.
Way number two:
Pro- Everyone would know where I was and I wouldn't have to feed on a person.
Con- I would have to be careful not to accidentally cremate myself in the sun and not let anyone know I wasn't the 'real' Vicki Donovan.
Huh… In both options, the cons outweighed the pros, 2-1
This was turning out to be surprisingly more complicated than I thought.
Okay, okay, back to business.
What was my Don'ts, Do's and Needs?
I didn't want to become a murderer and I didn't want to be kidnapped by the Salvatore brothers for my 'own good' or continue the plot. I did want to clear Vick's name of the cops' suspect list and I did want to become a vampire safely. I would need a daylight amulet to masquerade as a human and I would need to come up with a way to hide my true identity and keep my knowledge of the future hidden.
Sooo…
Pretend to be a Traveller/Passenger? Pretend to be a seer/witch/ghost who used magic to possess Vick's body from the other side?
Mabey I could pretend to have had visions of my ancestor, Ethan Maxwell sent by Beatrice Bennett because I'm a Maxwell descendent and lost my memories that way in order to make room for the new ones?
Hahaha, no.
Sure, each one was plausible in the world of the Vampire Diaries but they were too far-fetched for the gang of Season One. They would most likely just kill me before I became another threat to their precious 'secret'.
"…"
I guess I could always go with amnesia, pretend I have no idea who or where I am, what is going on or how I got here. It's not like I would be lying either, just stretching the truth to suit my needs. (Mainly preventing Vicki from getting staked)
No one would be able to question my sudden personality change or weird quirks. The cops wouldn't be able to pin the junkie's murders on me, I'd have an excuse to not got to school or be out during the day and I wouldn't have to explain away my lack of knowledge about the town and Vicki's past relationships.
You know what? Yes.
Playing the vampire amnesiac was my best survival option.
Nodding my head, I pushed myself to my feet and began Operation: Transition.
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