cowritten with RandomFandoming, a genius, and beautiful human
Chapter One
A Different Kind of Pilot
Ximena Akkerman was many things; some could say a party girl, others might even refer to her as a homebody (starkly contrasting the other opinion.) However: let it be known that she's never done hard drugs. Waking up on that particular Monday...it felt like she had, though. For someone to be relatively cleaned up and right-minded while also waking up on a park bench, surrounded by people wearing ancient styled clothing- you'd have to assume they've just dropped acid.
Her head swiveled all dizzy, left and then right. Everywhere she looks- she's met with more confusion.
"What the fuck?" she can't help but say out loud.
Luckily no one heard her. She had a feeling the locals didn't typically hear that dastardly talk 'round their parts. But seriously...what in the yellow brick road? The last thing she remembered was conking out over a cup of brand new coffee, attempting to finish her paper with only an hour to spare. So much for getting her grade up in Finances.
"This place doesn't look like it even schools their women," Ximena mumbled, her lips chapped and her throat dry like the desert.
She got up with sore legs, feeling as if she's been running a thousand miles with an even more painful headache to boot. Of course, that's when she saw it. Or instead saw her. A face burned into her memory from recent years of binge-watching Netflix.
Emily...Bennett?
She was walking around in a gown and suddenly making the town look a lot more familiar for all its dreary pastel worth.
She found herself moving closer to the woman but stilled herself before risking exposure.
Well, she thought, trying not to panic, this just got a lot more interesting.
She scrubbed her hands across her face, hoping the rough motion would make her wake up from her delusions. But nothing seemed to work.
So perhaps it wasn't a dream but reality.
"Okay then," she said, looking around and taking notice of her surroundings.
People stole wary glances at her as they walked past her. She didn't know if it was her bizarre clothes or the color of her skin.
She honestly did not want to know.
What she needed right now was a plan, but the only thought running through her brain was of the Salvatores. They were the only somewhat sane bet as far as people to go to during a time of distress in Mystic Falls while everyone's rocking duvets and even powdered wigs here or there.
Would they even care?
She knew them, or at the very least of them, but they did not know anything about her.
Ximena didn't think she had any other option, though, at least none that would keep her alive. For the night, if nothing else.
Catching the eye of a boy half her age, she walked up to him, closing the distance between them with determined strides.
She just barely managed to avoid getting trampled on by horses on her way to him. As the rush of wind passed her form and adrenaline filled her- Ximena could swear for a mere moment that she felt the creatures. Not just their heartbeats, but the water and blood in their veins. She let out a sigh of relief when she made it to him safely and that, oddly enough, he hadn't run away from her.
The strange moment was over in a blink of an eye and pushed into the back of her mind as she placed her most charming smile onto her lips.
"Hello," Ximena said, greeting him softly.
The boy eyes her warily, and his clothes showed just how much wealth he, or at the very least, his family had.
She didn't need to be born in this time for her to be able to recognize a rich white boy when she saw one.
He gave her an odd glance but nodded his head politely at her. It was a tame reaction, his mouth stayed closed even as his eyes remained on the strange sight she must have made.
"I'm a bit lost. New in town. By any chance, do you know where I can locate the residence of one Giuseppe Salvatore? He's got two boys, Damon and Stefan?"
The boy - fuck, she would really like to know his name so she could stop calling that in her head, seemed to hesitate on speaking for a moment before pointing East.
She stared at him blankly, refusing to move until he opened his damn mouth and gave her more to go on. She wasn't Google Maps.
Gosh she was gonna miss that beautiful and deadly creation.
Of course, leave it to his mother to appear like a bat out of hell, her blonde hair piled high like a monument with white paint splattered across her cheeks. Ximena decided, fuck it. Maybe she could be Google Maps. With the same speed that saved her from being mauled by horses previously- she dashed to the left before re-centering herself away from the probable racists and looking towards East.
Her clothes already felt like they needed a wash, and with a grimace, she began her trek uphill and slightly out of town, with just the slightest hopes of not being eaten along the way.
Ximena Akkerman shouldn't be wandering around a mystical little fantasy show; she should be back in her universe earning money to help pay for her sister's accident baby, who said sister abandoned and left for Ximena to care for. Wild, but true. Luckily, her plentiful girlfriends often helped with and knew of the situation, so with her either dead or missing- it's not like Miles (the kid) would be lost forever.
Just lost to her.
She clenched her teeth then, saddened.
She wonders if she'll get a chance to grieve at any point.
Probably not.
Let it be known that Shien boots, y'know the cheap ones…? They're not made for shit like walking up dirt roads.
Ximena discovers this the hard way.
But successful is her middle name, she thinks, when she spots a house on the horizon.
Unfortunately, there's no 'Lucky' anywhere on the birth certificate. Ximena snorts at the thought, spotted the second she arrived. An older, unfamiliar bearded man caught her eye and waved her down within a few meters of the gates. So much for being a sneak about things…
"Finally! My shoes and the rest of the girls are in the den. Hurry up!" the man barked at her- clearly having a case of mistaken identity.
Oh, Ximena swallowed then, time to be sneaky after all. How much does it suck to be undercover help? She thinks back to her grandmother and the shit she went through to get to Pasadena, only to recall the loads of dead people throughout The Vampire Diaries that didn't die for any reason most of the time. To put it plainly: it's not a universe to go vacationing in.
"Coming!" She somehow found the courage to yell, her voice traveling just far enough for him to wave a hat dismissively at her and disappear.
She'll just put some nasty shit in his shoes instead of shining it. Or she'll try to. Ximena's still not quite sure if things are happening or not. Operating off them being just as life-threatening as if they are is logical, but it being a dream or a coma hallucination isn't out of the question either.
In reality, her only goal is to get inside and make contact with Stefan or Damon. Possibly bunk with the servants and hide perpetually from the work expected of said servants. Work smarter, not harder...right?
Ximena took a deep breath then as she made her way to the front of the house. She was so enthralled with the boarding houses' original state that she completely missed the rushing body coming out of the front door.
A man that felt more like a brick house knocked her clear on her ass.
"Fuck! I'm already sore!" Ximena hissed, rubbing her now sore behind from the stoop of the porch.
"Forgive me. I didn't see you there." The brick wall she bumped into talked.
She didn't realize there was a hand in front of her until she had already risen from the ground. Her brown eyes looked at the hand and slowly looked at the person who owned said hand.
Oh, well, that was less work for her, she supposed.
She took a good look at him, from his era-appropriate clothes to the football in his hand. She still felt like she was having some fucked up dream. It was surreal, looking at him and having him look back at her. The Damon Salvatore. And that doesn't just mean Ian Somerhalder, the actor- but instead a real-life version of what the casting director had been going for. His eyes were more crystalline, his jaw sharper, and his hair thicker.
"It's alright, I'm fine, thank you," she replied, taking a few steps back as some servants came out of the house.
She supposed she should say something to him to intrigue him, but whatever little she had planned was forgotten in the face of yet another fictional character in front of her. Breathing; all alive and shit. Real flesh that knocked her down, not just a figment of her imagination.
Ximena needed a nap, a really fucking long nap. Instead, she smiled at him, nodding dumbly as he left her with a final curious look in her direction.
As she watched him leave, she caught sight of yet another familiar face. Stefan. Patiently waiting for his brother's company, greeting him with a carefree smile - she felt sad that moments like these would be over too soon for them. She shook her head, her legs burning in protest against any movement, but she pressed on into the enchanting house.
It took her a moment to remember where she was even going, as the sight of the brothers had struck her dumb for a few moments.
She eventually decided to simply follow a pair of servants to where she supposed the den was.
The number of servants the Salvatores had shocked her and probably would've surprised anyone from the 21st century. What did they need two dozen women for if it had to do with shoes?
Ximena hovered near the door for a moment, hesitating briefly before she walked in with the girls she had followed.
Fake it till you make it, right?
She eyed the servants in the corner, shining shoes and placing them on the floor in an order unknown to her. Fuck, she did not want to touch those. They seemed to all run like a well oiled machine that she was not a part of, she needed an excuse. And fast, she thought, catching the eye of a servant. Thankfully, her brain wasn't that scrambled, and soon enough, it came to her.
Once upon a time- Ximena took a sign language class. She thanks God for it in such a setting. Where she knows next to nothing but has to act as though she does, it's much easier to keep up the pretense that there's just a communication error.
Doing basic fingerspelling works out and gets her placed beside the head servant woman, who has a more hands-on approach to showing Ximena how to do things. By literally grabbing you and physically forcing you into the motions. It worked, though, because our heroine had four neat stacks in front of her by the time the hour was up. It looked like autumn and winter outfits for Giuseppe.
She was surprised she could even remember his name.
Time passed so slowly, Ximena sat counting the ceiling tiles and wondering if she would forever be doomed to a life of waiting on a white man. It sounded ridiculous but was a hellish, very possible reality- she knew as her eyes dragged across each tired member of the help. Just as Giuseppe looked to be returning for inspection, she fingerspelled the bathroom only for no one to get it and for her to have to say it but with an accent as if she was deaf. She felt a little ashamed to resort to such methods; it felt like she was patronizing the deaf community. She was glad no one could see her fumbling to stay alive in such a strange era.
Her great auntie Rose always said Ximena was going to hell.. she hoped that the old hag would save her a seat.
It works out in the end. Even if the bathroom Giuseppe had for 'colored' folk turned out to be no more than a glorified portapotty outback. This racist town was going to drive her up the fucking wall, she knew. But it got her away from him. She feared he would see her face and be like, 'wait a minute, that 'aint one of mine.'
Once the inspection was over, Ximena was quickly brought to another room and roped into doing even more work. As she was put to more tedious things, a horrible thought occurred in her mind, but she couldn't wait for the older man to get axed. Ximena was worked to the bone when she noticed that the sun had started to go down and most of the servants were leaving. She was gently pushed by the head servant, whose name she had learned to be Lily, to follow those who were going.
She did as instructed eagerly, her entire body more than exhausted as she followed them to where she hoped there would be a bed. Her whole being felt wrung out to dry like the clothes she had been tasked to wash by hand.
Ximena had forgotten about things like food in her tired state, she just wanted some goddamn sleep, but her body reminded her of its needs when she smelt freshly baked bread. Her mouth watered instantly. She was relieved when she figured out that they were following the tempting smell. Hopefully, it meant she didn't have to resort to thievery and risk getting thrown in jail or her hands getting chopped off. She didn't know how they punished thieves here, and she hoped she would never find out.
To her surprise- Stefan was helping out the chef.
An older woman behind a clean kitchen that looked nothing like the 21st version of the boarding house. She's colored, like the rest of the help, specifically looking somewhere between Egyptian and Ukrainian. She wears the same drab clothing they all do except with knowing eyes. She stares at Ximena. Aware that Ximena is a stranger.
Ximena's heart sped up at that moment, and her breath caught. Was this the end of her ruse? So soon?
The panic seemed to do something because it felt like a Norco had just kicked in, and as things around her slowed, the sink to Ximena's right shot off and sprayed whoever was closest. Another face amongst the sea of unfamiliar women. The particular unfortunate victim cried out, and the chef hopped to comforting her.
Meanwhile, Stefan's eyes met with Ximena's shocked own.
He smiled at her warmly like the bread they'd been baking, going so far as to offer her a loaf despite the prying eyes of her fellow-servants. She feared being jumped by them for the special treatment but ignored such feelings- reaching forward and accepting the peace offering with a grateful grin back. For once since she'd awoken...she felt she'd made the right decision. Up until then, it felt very uncertain- being on the property.
As long as I get close to Stefan, she thinks, I live.
The taste of the homemade loaf exploded in her mouth, and it took all of her willpower to hold in her moans of joy. She chewed as slowly as possible and watched with a slightly more confident gaze as the chef's attention returned.
"Who's this?" The chef's wise hazel eyes looked over her every curve, and Stefan stared on with anticipation as if he too wanted to know.
Knowing that sign language won't save her, thanks to the very alarmed look being shot her way by Lily, Ximena is forced back into talking with a fake deaf tone of voice.
"Ximena Akkerman."
Ximena grimaced.
She thinks she sounds more like a death eater than an actual deaf person but hopefully, the small town's lack of experience would allow her to get away with it for long enough to escape from Mystic Falls with her life and the barest of belongings.
Before the chef can bark out her next question, Lily speaks up with a mouse-like tone.
"She's deaf, miss. And new."
"I can tell. I'm Marian" The chef introduced herself sharply- barely giving Lily a chance to finish her sentence.
And just like that, the tension dispersed. Well...almost.
"Since you've already eaten," Marian directed her pointed look towards Stefan, "why don't you get started on setting the table for the Salvatores dinner tonight?"
That 'ought to go great since I know next to fucking nothing about which fork is which and what order they go in.
Ximena just nodded mutely, swallowing another piece of her loaf shamelessly.
Setting to it- the rest of the women head towards a table meant to sit around six or eight people. They all pulled up chairs, and to Ximena's surprise, Stefan joined them. She would think he'd get beat for such an act. She wondered if he knew that and maybe just didn't care. Our main character's forehead then sat in sharp lines for a whopping ten minutes- growing more tired with each passing second. She just stared at the silverware as if they would animate and answer her prayers to tell her what order they go in.
Luckily, and not for the first or last time, Lily saved the day. She had to of seen the struggle from afar because it only took five minutes of explanation for Ximena to get it and handle everything.
Ximena was in the dining room (just a hall away) putting down fanciful napkins and staring in horror at a racist salt & pepper shaker when it happened.
"STEFAN!" followed by a resounding smack.
Fuck.
She had expected him to be punished for his unusual behavior. Still, it was an entirely different thing to witness it- a servant in passing having paused mid-opening of the door. An odd feeling welled inside of her as she watched the young boy cradle his now red cheek. She felt not only helpless but furious as she watched the older man talk down to his son and about people of color. Her hands clutched at the tablecloth, her eyes throwing daggers into the disgusting sight he made —
Ximena did not know what happened next, but the very sound of his voice grated on her nerves. She wanted him to stop, and in the next moment, she found her wishes granted.
Giuseppe clutched his ear, letting out a pitiful noise of pain as he hitched over. Everyone in the room looked at him in concern at his sudden and odd behavior.
Ximena couldn't bother to bring herself to feel anything but curiosity over what had happened.
Stefan stood frozen for a moment, still in shock over the verbal lashing he had just received, before rushing to his father's side.
"Father!" He called out, showing concern for a father that had just moments ago had been calling him a fool.
The servants hovered nervously near the man, some ready to catch him should he fall. She didn't know if it was out of genuine concern for the man or if they were afraid of what would happen should they not.
Ximena watched impassively as the older Salvatore eventually rose from his hunched-over position.
"Someone, please, go fetch the doctor," Stefan asked them, helping to support the weight of his father, who was still in obvious pain.
"No! I'm quite fine. There is no need!" Giuseppe shrugged off the hand keeping him standing and nearly stumbled back onto the floor, if not for his son's insistent help. Blood sat smattering the side of his head. She almost wished the disgusting man had fallen, and it would have probably been the only form of entertainment she would see nowadays. Although she did thank whatever force in the universe punished the severe fucker.
Things soon went to the way they were before, the only difference being that everyone was much quieter and tiptoed around the agitated man who still clutched at his ear in pain. At the same time, his son Damon talked to a stranger who Ximena assumed would be the doctor Giuseppe swore he didn't need.
How did that happen? The shit with his ear...it felt the same as when she avoided the horses earlier and when the sink popped off. Having plopped into the universe like a random Cheeto thrown at you in a movie theatre, with no explanation, an incidental casualty in her old universe- Ximena couldn't help but wonder if maybe she had something to do with the weird occurrences.
Wouldn't it be cool to have powers? Ximena thought to herself, humming as Lily showed her the way to the servant's quarters.
Only the young and elderly get beds. It's bizarre. Kids from ages of 5 to 17 got beds, as well as anyone from 50 to 100, while the mid-range workers slept on bales of hay out in the shed. And only got to come in during times of natural disasters...after locking up the gates around the however many acres.
This timeline would turn her into a monster, Ximena feared as she had already relished in the idea of killing Giuseppe, and it'd only been a day's work.
She oddly felt emotional when she was given servant clothes to change into for tomorrow. They were old and restitched hundreds of times by whoever had worn them before.
She didn't want to part with the clothes on her body, and it was the last piece of her old universe. But then she'd been cleaning and washing up shit all day. Why not wash her own outfit? Though that meant wearing the servant's clothing while she waited for them to dry, and staying up to watch, ensuring they wouldn't be stolen. Would this day ever end? Ximena thought.
That's how Damon finds her. Out in the back, half passed out by the washing basin left of the barn.
The stars are so bright it's fantastic. It looks nothing like what Ximena's used to. Centuries of building giant lit-up skyscrapers would destroy the natural beauty she witnessed that night. Her hair falls over her eyes just slightly with her head tilted back, her eyes cast upward as if she was scared that if she looked away, she'd miss the night.
"I don't believe we officially met." His voice startled her as much as the sight of him did. She wondered if she would ever get used to them being real, with flesh and bone.
"I didn't get a chance to introduce myself earlier. My name's Damon Salvatore," he said, slowly approaching her, watching her curiously.
She didn't know what to say to him, it was odd how nice the Salvatore boys were, in contrast to their shit of human father.
"Ximena," she said, reluctantly giving him her name, her voice rough and low from her mistreatment of it all day. The lack of water probably didn't fucking help either, she supposed. She let go of her iron grip on her wet clothes to watch him sit down next to her.
"Ximena," he repeated, looking at her to make sure he had pronounced it right.
She nodded slowly, eyeing him back just as curiously.
Ximena could no longer keep her thoughts inside her head. She was too tired, and this whole situation - from being yeeted into an entire other fucking fictional universe to the strange coincidences that kept happening around her.
Ximena was so tired from today's events that she just barely kept her facade of being deaf.
"Won't you be punished for talking with me like this?" Ximena asked, still speaking lowly so no one could hear her words.
Fuck, she thought, wouldn't she be punished if that dick caught her talking to one of his precious sons? Damon looked back towards the house in all of its glory, but after everything that had happened today, it felt a lot less picturesque and more like hell on earth.
"I do not know what you mean. I simply needed fresh air," he replied. His words had a straightforward meaning behind them that she caught onto quickly enough.
I won't tell him if you don't.
She relaxed her shoulders slightly, nodding in agreement with his words. Despite the exhaustion of the day, she pushed on and squeezed the excess water out of her clothes. Her cold fingers were shaking slightly as she tried to finish washing up. It felt demeaning as ever. Someone who looked like a god leaning over her as her broken, weary self worked just to be clean.
"You have strange, while lovely, attire, you know," Damon noticed out loud.
Ximena blinked- her brain all sleepy.
"Thank you?" She replied, but it came out more like a question than anything else. She couldn't tell if he was insulting her fashion sense or just curious about her modern clothes that were technically from the future.
A cardigan just warm enough for the winter but light enough to be worn out in the sun and a grey sundress, fitted and cotton. Ximena got lucky to have been wearing a dress when she arrived in the strange era, hating to imagine what would've happened trying to 'sneak' in wearing pants. Not one female wore them as far as she saw. She was surprised no one had fainted from the sight of her unshaven ankles.
Her relaxed mood was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps, fastly approaching them and loud in their arrival.
Ximena looked up at the servant, her heart beating ridiculously fast until it calmed as he looked right past her and towards the man at her side.
"Mr. Salvatore, your father is requesting your presence to greet an unexpected guest."
She looked down at her hands, hoping that the hair that covered her face would help shield her as much as the darkness.
Ximena watched as the man beside her sighed heavily, looking at her once more before he got up.
An unexpected guest?
Three guesses to who that might be, she thought, sarcastically. She was sad to see him leave. No matter how odd or difficult it was to be around these people, she would be incredibly lonely if not for the presence of the boys'. Waiting for her clothes to dry was pure fucking torture. She shivered as a gust of wind blew by, the night air making the sweat on her brow grow cold.
Ximena wanted to stay up, to wait for her clothes to dry and drop from pure exhaustion. But she underestimated the time it would take for them to dry and soon passed out near her still damp clothes.
Unfortunately, in the wee hours of 4 AM...a hungry and gorgeous new house guest wandered out with zero boundaries.
Katherine Pierce woke Ximena up by taking a not-so-delicate chunk out of her neck. She doesn't compel her not to scream, and she doesn't try not to make a mess. It actually seems like she's going a little crazy. All the pain in the world hits the minute her eyes open and take in the brunette form draped over her, digging in like a rottweiler.
What happens if I die in the wrong universe? Ximena didn't want to find out.
With her last breath hoping not to become the next piece of trash Emily Bennett throws out for Katherine, she uttered the vampire's actual name.
"Katerina…"
It smelled of her grandmother's specialty, a chorizo burger with pancetta glazed french fries, and a child sat on her lap.
One blink, two, three. Am I dreaming? Or dead? Ximena wondered.
A man cooks and they're in a nook of a kitchen, a tiny homey little space, and she can't believe it but...the man cooking her favorite food for her could only be none other than Niklaus Mikaelson. An air of confidence and power radiates off of him in a way that isn't just supernatural. His cheekbones are high, lips red, and the grin of a devil sits on his face when he catches her looking.
"Come here often, dear?" Klaus jokes, offering the baby she's holding an adorable wave.
The scene warped then with a huge gust of wind and replacing it- Ximena found herself in a bed. A bed with crimson sheets and her face cuddled between two beautiful tits.
Now, she thought, I know I'm dreaming.
"Are you gonna ask me if I wanna find my daughter again, or are you gonna do what you came here to do?" the purr of her supposed killer drawled.
Why in fuck am I dreaming about someone who just ate me?
Nothing makes sense, Ximena decided.
"Depends" Ximena replied, "what do you think I came here to do?"
In an instant and with a flush of perfume against her neck, she's pinned. Katherine stared into Ximena's soul with her big brown eyes and she can easily see how the boys' were able to tell her apart from Elena. You couldn't recreate the kind of fire from centuries on the run that shined in Katherine's doe-like orbs. The look and the roughness of the grip around her wrists- Ximena hoped then that, wherever her body is… it's not around a species that would be able to smell arousal.
It felt like they were about to screw each other's brains out but just as Katherine's pretty pink lips descended upon her own, she vanished. Everything vanished.
A feeling of utter abandonment replaced everything. Cold, harsh winds.
"Wake up, Ximena. You have to. I didn't bring you here to die" an unfamiliar woman's voice harshly echoed, ripping her out of her visions.
Reality washed over like a cold bucket of water only for serene darkness to follow. Her last thought being a simple one, and the same one she started the day with.
What the fuck?