Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries / The Originals, or any of the characters, plot-lines, dialogues from the shows or books
However, I do own Catherine Matthews/ my very own Katherine Peirce, her backstory, the storyline, and any additional characters that do not belong to The Vampire Diaries or The Originals. Characters in this story may not have the same opinion as you. These characters are all fictional.
"Katherine...Kath," a hand on her shoulders, and soft voice next to her ear, shook Katherine out of her trance.
"Huh?" The vampire asked, looking at a concerned Hayley.
"Are you alright?" The Labonair wolf inquired with a frown, as she didn't she the doppelganger so distracted before. Because Katherine is someone who is always on her toes, aware of her surroundings.
"Yeah," Katherine nodded her head, taking a deep breath. "Just...thinking."
"About...Elena?" Hayley asked, cocking her head to aside.
"Yeah," Katherine confessed, "It just feels...so surreal. I never thought she would just stay dead. I really thought she will come back to life, and everything just goes back to the way it was."
"Well, I didn't really know her, "Hayley said, taking a seat beside Katherine on the Salvatore couch. "But...It's her decision, so..."
"Has she lost her bloody mind," Caroline said, in an incredulous tone.
"I tried telling her," Jeremy began, "But she is saying it's her decision. And that for once she wants to decide for herself."
"Well, there is a reason we decide," Damon scoffed, "Because look what type of decisions she is making. This just proves my point."
Stefan raised a hand and paused his brother's angry retort. He simply looked at Jeremy and swallowed his tears before asking, "where is she?"
Jeremy raised his hand and pointed into the empty space beside Stefan. The younger Salvatore turned to the said directions and questioned. "Why do you want to do this, Elena. Why do you want to die at 18? You still have a whole life ahead of you. You didn't even graduate. What about Jeremy and Jenna. Are you just gonna leave them?" Stefan's voice cracked by the end of it. "What about me...us?"
"She is saying, it's the right thing to do," Jeremy said, looking at the empty space, reciting whatever Elena is saying. "She said this is what's right for everyone. That, she should have died months ago in that accident along with our parents. But you saved her and showed her an epic love. She is saying it's okay and that Jenna and I have all of you to look after us."
The younger Gilbert was in tears, "She is saying, she would rather stay dead, and find peace than be a reason for our problems."
"It's not your fault, Elena. None of this is your fault," Bonnie said, shaking his head vehemently.
"She is saying it is her fault. Her fault that Bonnie's mother left, and it would be her fault if she comes back at the expense of bonnie's grandmother's peace," Jeremy began...
...As Elena recited, "I don't care if I didn't get to live the happy life I dreamed of. It would always be in my conscience that everything that's happened, and will happen...they happen because of me."
"I always knew I will never make it to the end when I realized what all lurked around in the dark, and, unfortunately, everything is linked to doppelgangers," Elena's spirit said with a sad smile, something only Jeremy could see and interpret. "If it was not Mikael, it will be some another. I will never be safe again, Stefan. Not as a human. And I don't want to be a vampire either. I never wanted it then, I don't want it now. So, I realized that this is it."
And Jenna broke down at that, along with her two best friends.
"Even if I do come back to life without anything going wrong, I will have to face these dangers every step of my life. I already died twice, Stefan. I don't want to die anymore. I don't want to watch my back every time. It is a miracle Alaric had a ring with me when he died, what's to say it won't be Jenna next," The dead doppelganger said, as she exhaled a sigh, "I know it's selfish of me to ask you all to let me go. But I would rather watch all my loved ones live a good life from here than be a cause of their deaths," Elena said in tears, "This is my decision, and I hope you respect it like all the others."
"Why didn't you go to the funeral with others?" Hayley questioned after some time, her legs on the couch, close to her chest.
"Elena and I never saw eye to eye," Katherine said, facing the werewolf, her chin in her knees, lips pursued in thought, "I don't know if it was because of the definition of the doppelganger or something. But...I didn't like her, and she didn't like me. We just sustained the presence of each other. And the funeral is something of a close affair. None of the town people were invited, except for Caroline's mum and her boyfriend, Matt. It will be hard to explain why her heart is ripped out."
"By the way, Eve called a few minutes ago. It seems vampires are lurking around the bayou," Hayley said, getting the vampires undivided attention.
"I think Marcel's making his move," Katherine commented, thinking it over.
"You think he is planning an attack?" Hayley asked, alarmed.
"No one likes being backed into a corner, Hayley," the vampire reminded, "I threatened him to leave you alone, using the wolves and Klaus as leverage. So, now Marcel is planning to take that away by killing the wolves. But he can't do it now. He has to wait until the next full moon because the pack will be in their human forms, and they can't bite back."
'What do we do then?" Hayley inquired.
"We move," was Katherine's simple answer.
"We can't run," Hayley said, in disbelief.
"Of course you can," Katherine said with a scoff, "Running is not a weakness...that's what wolves do. You might be a predator throughout the month, but not on the full moon."
"They won't agree," Hayley said, shaking her head, "They won't agree to leave their home."
"Home is not just a place, Hayley," Katherine said, her mouth twitching at dialogue she was about to say, "It's the people."
And when Hayley heard dialogue from a movie that has yet to come out, she made a face, and Katherine chuckled. "Jokes apart, I am sure Jackson will understand if it comes from his beloved betrothed."
Hayley just threw her hands in the air, slightly frustrated, "Fine, we will leave. But where do we even go then?"
"Leave that to me," Katherine waved her hands as it wasn't a big deal, "I have contacts, and I sure have a place for them to live."
When Hayley looked troubled even then, the vampire sighed, saying, "It's not a permanent solution, okay. Just until we find a solution."
"Fine," Hayley agreed at last. Katherine was her unofficial mentor, after all.
"A solution for what?" Klaus' British accent was heard, as the hybrid entered the boarding house, with Elijah on his heels.
"What are you doing here?" Katherine inquired, her nose scrunched up in thought.
"Don't be so happy to see me, love," Klaus snarked at the deadpanned expression on the girls' faces. "I have just come to give you all a reward for your hand in my father's demise."
"You gave it by leaving Elena for the dead," Katherine said as she rolled her eyes, "And I am sure they will be more than happy if you left them alone as well."
"The latter request is not possible. You see, I have built a home for myself and my siblings here to live for a while," Klaus said with a tight smile, "Sure it was done so I could stay close to the doppelganger, but circumstances changed now."
"What Niklaus is trying to say is...Katerina," Elijah began, "This was our home once, and now that my father is no longer a hindrance to our peace and we can undagger our siblings, we decided to stay here and make this place our home again."
"You want to make Mystic Falls as a home to five original vampires," Katherine repeated, her expression in disbelief, "This place will be a cemetery in a day if one of your sibling's ego gets hurt over a minuscule thing."
"Well," Klaus smirked, "Let's hope it won't come to that."
Both Hayley and Katherine scoffed at that. "You are such a diva," mumbled the werewolf.
Elijah's lips twitched at that, "I am sorry, we haven't met. I am Elijah," the noble one introduced.
"Andrea."
"Hayley."
The Mikaelson brothers raised their eyebrows while the werewolf and doppelganger rolled their eyes with a sigh.
"She is adopted. And she just found out her birth name is Andrea," Katherine cleared the confusion.
"So, little wolf, where has this one picked you up from," Klaus inquired, looking at Hayley.
"Uh...ah," Katherine said, making a noise in the back of her throat, "You are not getting any more details."
"You wound me, Katerina," Klaus said in a mock hurt tone, "You really think I would track down her pack and turn them."
"You were the one saying it," the doppelganger commented, "But yeah. I don't think so. I know so."
Before he could say anything, a flurry of black-dressed figures stepped into the house, after they said their goodbyes to one Elena Gilbert.
"Ugh," Damon made a sound when he saw the uninvited guests in his living room, "I should change the deed to this house again."
"Always a pleasure, Damon," Elijah greeted, adjusting his suit. "I hope the event went without any disturbance."
"It did," Rose said, clearing her throat, as a red-eyed Stefan went past the guests with a tight nod and made his way upstairs to his room, Katherine following him close behind.
"What are you doing here?" Katherin heard Damon ask, as she made her way up the stairs.
"Well, we decided as an act of goodwill, it will be nice to inform you that the rest of our siblings will be joining us here soon," Klaus began, and Katherine tuned them out when she stood outside Stefan's room.
She saw the younger Salvatore sitting on his bed with his legs apart and hands over his face. The heartbroken look clear on his face. She knocked on the open door, and when Stefan looked over to her, she made her way inside.
"Hey," She greeted with a tight smile and received an equally tightlipped one in return.
The anti-social Katherine cleared her throat, trying to figure out how to speak to a broken-hearted vampire. "I know this is tough for you. And seeing my face doesn't really help much for everyone here either. So, I thought of spending the night at Caroline's. Hayley and I will leave tomorrow early in the morning."
"Oh! No," Stefan croaked out, licking his dry lips a bit, "You don't have to do that, Katherine. You are your own person, just like Elena. You can stay here for as many days as you want. We have a lot of free bedrooms for you and your friend Hayley."
Katherine smiled sadly, "We might be our own person, Stefan. But our face is one and the same. And I know what you must be feeling. It might have been years ago, but I can still remember the loss I felt when I lost my family. Just because the wound healed over time, that doesn't mean the scars faded."
And only Catherine knew about which set of parents she was talking about.
Stefan bobbed his head at that, looking into his lap. "Almost two centuries, and it still hurts the same when you watch the people you love, die. One would think we would be used to it by now."
Katherine licked her lips in contemplation. She took a few steps to his side and sat on the edge of the bed beside him. She placed her hand on his shoulders and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"I might not be the right person to give you this advice, but...you need to be strong in times like this. Don't push people away. There are a lot of people around you that love you for you. That will never abandon you," the vampire began, "Damon might come out to be a dick sometimes, but he will always be there for you. Give each other a chance, and you won't have to go through this alone."
Catherine gave his shoulder another squeeze, "Just...promise me one thing. Promise me that you won't turn off your emotions. Don't turn off the pain and guilt in you. Let it stay. It's what defines your love for her."
Stefan turned his head to look at the doppelganger in the eyes, tears welling in his own. When Katherine squeezed his hand in expectation, Stefan thought for a minute before he nodded his head, saying, "I promise."
"Good," Katherine declared as she got up, motioning Stefan to do the same.
"Let me give you a goodbye hug," the doppelganger said, spreading her arms wide, and the younger vampire agreed to it, diving right into the welcoming arms.
"I am sorry, I couldn't be of more help," Katherine mumbled into his chest.
Stefan, however, shook his head, his arms tightening around her, "You being here was enough," he said into her neck.
Catherine didn't know how long they were like that...in each other arms. But she let him. Ironically, it was the death anniversary of her parents as well, and the vampire very much needed the hug. So, she let herself sink in the warmth of fellow doppelganger.
"Don't go, Katherine," Stefan said, his voice muffled and barely above a whisper. "Stay here and keep an eye on me for a while." he requested.
The Petrova doppelganger exhaled a breath and nodded her head at last. Doing a good thing on her parent's death anniversary by helping a Ripper. Why not?
And so, Katherine agreed.
Ohh! I am nearing 1K. so this chapter is for all those who made it possible...
Love you. hugs and kisses.