Chapter Three

[Comet Catastrophe.]

On the third episode of The Vampire Diaries, Elena was whistling Dixie with how good things were going for her. Ximena? Yeah, Ximena not so much.

The young Elemental just found her place in the world: and it had to be as property? She wanted to be a witch. She wanted to curse things and people in retaliation. She wanted so many things. Like to talk to her auntie, or even her grandpa. She wanted a big mac. She'd awoken early, unable to sleep for the first time since she switched universes courtesy of a nightmare involving Miles asking her why she left him. The tree's that hung above her head smelled of pine and the wind kissed Ximena's form, wrapping around her arms in an almost hug. Core magic- she sighed. The one good part about everything strange going on. Tapping into it felt like being shot up with morphine.

With no one up early enough to catch her- Ximena inhaled and began what she would be referring to as her training montage.

From sit ups and crunches to running over fallen trees in a route along the property. It had to be around 10am by the time she stopped. Another weird occurrence amongst the abundance of them, that first 24 hours she spent extremely sore appeared to be for a reason- she discovered looking over her newly taught calves and acquiring guns for biceps. Apparently traversing dimensions is like taking steroids just without all the random new hairs on your body, she thought with slight glee. After all...who doesn't wanna be strong and fit?

Don't even get her started on the two bubble-shaped rocks of perfection she now called her ass.

And the whole time she worked, she imagined tiny pellets of water dripping from the sky. She imagined the clouds opening up and letting it rain down on the Earth, she even imagined herself and the foliage around equally as damp.

When that rush of power came back- Ximena knew it'd worked.

"What are you doing?"

The familiar and enticing voice of Damon Salvatore interrupted. She jumped about a foot in the air, grinning sheepishly and itching the back of her head as she narrowly avoided landing on her butt. Thankful to have not lost a hand to the distraction.

"Attempting to change the weather" She answered honestly, slinging an arm through his quickly and tugging him towards the main property "c'mon it's about to rain."

They covered the short distance before they spoke again.

"I don't see any clouds…" Damon remarked, only for the sky to start crying mere seconds later anyway. Luckily for him the Elemental moved him out of the way before he got soaked.

"My savior" he drawled only half joking, not wanting his fresh outfit for the day to have to be scrapped so quickly and also not wanting to spend the majority of the afternoon air drying.

"Guess what?" Ximena told him.

"What?"

At first Damon didn't believe her about being an Elemental, but that was okay because he didn't believe her about being from another universe at first until she proved it. Which was what she was about to do all over again only, expedited. He'd just waited to see if some of her predictions came true like Lady Katherine taking an interest in both him and his brother which of course they did.

They arrived at his mothers gazebo and though it had been a few days, three to be exact, since the attack and the deal and the truth about what she is coming out- she'd yet to explain the growth of the tree. Damon had spoken to her fairly endlessly about it but for some reason she wasn't ready. She herself hadn't come to terms and was thinking of herself as a human. It took a bit to get used to 'that's gone and this is what is.'

She laid a hand on the harsh bark of the towering oak.

"I made this" Ximena didn't look at him as she spoke, instead closing her eyes.

She felt drained having just changed the weather but knew there was no such thing as running out for Elementals. Your body had to just be awake long enough, your brain able to focus. Damon yelled, not too loud, and she had to fight not to peek- knowing a branch of the tree extended with her mind and jabbed him (lightly) in the tummy.

"You couldn't have grown a flower or something?" he asked, sounding relatively harassed.

Ximena opened her eyes, having finished and laughed at Damon's facial expression.

"That wouldn't have made me laugh, though!"

The pair sat down like they'd known each other for ages and not about a week, beginning to chat about Damon's life and not her own as she preferred it that way. Usually. But today he was finding out more, she'd decided.

"So" Ximena cut into what the eldest Salvatore brother was about to say, her eyes glued on his "the reason you haven't seen me around and the reason for my new attire" she'd been shocked when he hadn't made a remark about her pants "is because Katherine purchased me."

Talking with him was nice and different because he knew she wasn't from his world, and therefore she didn't have to keep up with all the shitty pretenses and social cues like calling Katherine 'Miss Pierce.'

He looked like he understood (which is good for him because she truly didn't.) Saying those words out loud had her grimacing, angry at Katherine and this place in general. She was a person, not a fucking dog.

"But that's not valid because you do not technically exist, there is no paperwork. Miss Pierce must have forged the documents."

An 'Oh' moment.

Ximena let that sink in.

She was relieved that whatever fucked up system that was in place, kept her free from Katherine. But she was still bristling with rage. She hadn't even consulted with her before deciding she had the right to make such claims on her body. It was no wonder the bitch was hiding from her, she wasn't sure she would be able to control her anger around her.

All the clothing and food in the world doesn't matter if the bitch providing it is giving it to you because she owns you. What am I, Fido? Ximena thought with anguish. Demeaning is the main theme of 1800s Mystic Falls. Damon elaborated then- seeing his companion still bothered.

He placed a hand on her own cold one.

"Nobody owns you. Look at you, you're wearing pants and you survived a vampire attack on your first night. You do whatever you want and do not talk like a lady because you don't care what anyone thinks. You are a beautiful person."

He gave her a hug, just like he had the other day when he comforted her. Ximena feared for a day when the words loving and Damon no longer went together.

"Thanks, Damon," she mumbled into the puff of his own pirate-like shirt.

"Are you wearing my shirt?" he noticed somewhat amused.

"Emily gave it to me," she explained. "Therefore it's mine. I'm not giving it back."

He laughed at her, and it was a sweet moment of reprieve from the universe that had not treated her kindly. Ximena was reluctant to let go of him, and so she tried her best to soak it in for however long he would let her.

The Salvatore boarding house was flustered and running amok with celebratory plans for the evening's event, the comet. Said to only reveal itself every 100 and something years by the mundane, and on the witch side of things- Emily referred to it as a harbinger of doom. Big yikes. But hopefully it would be a pretty death symbol if nothing else.

And strangely- Ximena caught herself wondering where Klaus would be on such a night.

How could she not? After having the vision she did. He made her a chorizo burger with pancetta glazed french fries, while she bounced a fuckin' infant.

An infant whose face she couldn't shake for the life of her.

While she mostly raised Miles, thinking of him as her son- the baby in her vision…

Just as surely as she knew it to be a vision- her heart told her that had been their baby.

A harrowing realization that often haunted Ximena whenever she let her guard down. Like then, lounging in Katherine's bed by herself and waiting for Stefan to fetch her to join the festivities once Giueseppe dipped for a not-so-secret council meeting. Because what did that mean for everything? It told her that not only would she become entangled with the first vampires to ever exist, and their crackhead of a mother, but she'd become the heart of the plot for the Originals. What would happen to the wolves in the bayou and Hayley?

All the what ifs in the world. Ximena sighed- deeply troubled feeling like her permanent state.

The door swung open causing her to start, sitting up abruptly.

Katherine entered looking like the cat that got the canary. Ximena remembered the taste of her before dismissing the immodest thought and focusing. She had to be on her toes around the woman, no matter how delectable she was. That's what would literally kill the boys'. Her beautiful femininity. It drove Ximena insane every time the damn vampire walked in the room.

"What did you do?" Ximena asked with real anger, and a clear threat in her tone.

An 'answer me or face my wrath' tone.

Katherine didn't even seem to think about it- stripping completely naked and answering.

"Not even you could harsh my mellow, house-girl. I just spent a fabulous few nights in between the loins of the very large younger brother. His blood is almost as good as he is with his hips. And he was so easy to compel!" Katherine just blabbed on and on. Completely missing the storm brewing in her frenemy "it was like he wanted to be."

Fury. Rage. Flashes of the burning buildings and the scathed land rang out in Ximena's mind.

"My name is Ximena," she said, jaw clenched, anger burning in her eyes.

Katherine looked curiously at the candles in her room, as their flames grew unnaturally. But she didn't seem to be afraid, and that itself irked her.

Ximena tried to find some calm, as the last thing she wanted to do was risk harming any innocents. Not that the Petrova doppelganger was innocent, far from it...she knew. But there were others here in the house, she was unsure if she could contain her anger enough to control the fire. So she sighed, letting her anger go, for now at least. She needed a plan though, one that got Stefan far away from her.

"Cute," Katherine said, watching her calm herself down with an irritatingly smug smile on.

Ximena couldn't stand to be in the same room with her and her tempting grin any longer, and walked away from her.

"Where on earth are you going?" Katherine asked, unused to such a dismissive act.

She didn't bother to turn around as she opened the doors, they closed behind her with a satisfying thud. She walked aimlessly until she found herself outside, slowly making her way to the place that was becoming her safe harbor. The gazebo.

She didn't know what to do, or how to fix the amount of bullshit that Katherine was stirring up but she could no longer sit on her ass.

Ximena's time here might've been short, but she had grown attached to the Salvatore brothers, and like hell she would let that bitch walk over her. But there was only one person that truly scared Katherine and that was Klaus. As much power that she had at her fingertips she doubted she could find him, but still the urge grew. She could feel herself panicking, her thoughts scrambling as she tried to figure out a plan on what to do.

Emily had said that panicking, with her powers, would do her no good fucking good. And well, go fucking figure, she was right.

Ximena had only just barely managed to sit down before another vision took hold of her, her head bumping into the pillars behind her.

Maybe her powers had reacted to her desperate thoughts, because she spotted Klaus right away, walking towards her. His steps through the crowded streets slowed when he caught sight of her. His clothes weren't modern though, they looked familiar.

This was the present, she managed to piece together as she looked around. She looked at him again, curious as to why he could see her if she was seeing his present being.

"And who might you be, love?" Klaus asked.

Oddly enough, she wasn't scared of him. Which was fucking stupid she knew, but her visions of him, along with her foreknowledge made her feel safe.

Yeah...Ximena would slap herself if she could. He shouldn't be able to see her, right? This was fucking wild. Her new life was insanity- pure insanity.

"Ximena," she answered, but before she could say anything more, she was rudely snatched from her vision… or had it been a vision at all? She wasn't sure what to call it, but she blinked rapidly to shake off whatever the fuck she had just expeirenced.

It felt like all of her fury had released then- seeping into Klaus, she could only guess.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked, for what felt like the hundredth time since they had met. But in that moment she could answer honestly, as an idea formed in her head.

She supposed she owed Klaus a thank you letter, as he had partially inspired said idea as well as taking all of her pent up feelings. Even if the latter was nonconsensual. She would send him a fucking gift basket.. whenever that shit got invented.

"Yeah I am now," Ximena replied, smiling at him to soothe any worries he might've but almost definitely had. "Stefan...I want to try something. Do you have a minute?"

So far, her abilities didn't seem to have much of a stopping-point. As long as she put enough pure passion into it, and could hold her focus as hard as it was to tune into the fuckin' earth's core- she could do anything she set her mind to. As long as her actions were innocent and not evil.

He looked like he was thinking twice, remembering something- only to forget.

"Sure" he eventually said.

Avoiding the servants because Ximena hated living in the 1800s and did her best to ignore said fact, as well as Giuseppe and Damon and Katherine, was a hell of a task. But the two prevailed- finding themselves on the roof having climbed the oak tree that once never existed. If Stefan found it odd the way the branches moved for them- he didn't comment. But that didn't matter. He would get his explanation in mere minutes.

The Salvatore's house is so massive that on the roof, if it wasn't for her powers and Stefan's own body mass, Ximena feared she might blow away in the gale winds.

As they took their specific seats on one edge that showed off a lake a few miles out- she stilled her mind and looked for it. For that ringing feeling. Like she'd said before, trying to catch/hold a rubber band with chopsticks. Once she grabbed a hold of the core magic- Ximena reached for Stefan's hand and dove into the vibrations coming from his own heart.

Compulsion is made from nature and spirit magic separately- something that according to Emily doesn't even begin to compare to the stuff Elemental's work with. And let Ximena be clear: it tastes like shit.

Yes, tastes.

She can taste it as her own magic cleans out anything not blood, water, and bone- AKA Katherine's influence. She listened then- waiting to hear sounds of discomfort. And when she opened her eyes- Stefan stared back like he'd just seen a ghost. Ximena was hesitant to say anything, scared that breaking the silence would make him do something rash or accidentally fall. And despite all of her powers, she wasn't sure if she was capable of healing a broken neck yet.

"I know you must be in shock… but I can handle Katherine, I just need you to keep your head down and pretend, just for a little while longer," Ximena said, hesitantly speaking and breaking the shocked silence.

"I..she had me fooled, bewitched this entire time." Stefan said, and she could practically see his 1800s mind racing, "like father said" he didn't want to admit.

"Hey, I will protect you, and your brother, but I need you to promise me that you won't go do something stupid like confront her head on alright?" Ximena looked at him long and hard until he nodded.

"Katherine is… diabolical and clever it would appear. How would you get rid of her?" Stefan questioned her plans, allowing her to place a comforting arm around his shoulder.

She sighed when he asked the one question she didn't know how to answer. Maybe it was lazy of her but she had been hoping that the events of tonight would get rid of Katherine, at least for a short while. It appeared it did in a way. Ximena felt amused, imagining the curly haired brat roaming the first floor looking for him.

"That is something...that I will have to worry about," she replied, but she did need a plan just in case the vampire found him and tried to get her claws into him again. Which she would.

"I can try something else if you want? Give you some extra protection against her, Trojan condom style," she quipped, sighing when he gave her a confused look at her very hilarious joke.

"..If you think it would help, please go ahead. I...I trust you" Stefan understood her explanation and seemed to appreciate any help, which was questionable in itself as she was just winging it.

Ximena breathed in and out slowly, her hand in his grounding her as she tried to focus her powers once more until she could feel the blood, water and bone of his body. Doing this shit felt funny, and insanely intimate but she pushed her feelings aside to focus on what she wanted to do.

She pictured it in her mind, a boundary that would protect his mind from not only Katherine, but any other vampire who tried to fuck with his mind. She imagined the boundary as a maze of roses, and thorns that resembled daggers. She could feel her powers working in tandem with her imagination.

Maybe she had used too much power, because when she let go, she was taking deeper breaths than before and sweat was on her brow despite the cool night air. This time she didn't have a psychic to hold out a bucket in the nick of time- and her vomit shot out into the distance. Presumably splattering somewhere on the pristine property and hopefully not on somebody.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked her once again, but he had a funny look on his face that left her the worried one.

Fuck what if she had accidently hurt him? Thinking ahead doesn't always work out when you feel rushed by impending vampiric doom.

"Are you?" She retorted- wondering how it felt to be marked by core magic as a human.

"I'm okay, it's just odd.. I feel warm despite the high winds, and I… taste honey?" Stefan looked at her, confused by his own feelings and hoping she would have some answers.

"Like getting a CT with contrast?" Ximena said without thinking before snorting "nevermind."

As the townsfolk began crowding together with lit candles not too far off but far enough away to be considered a hundred or so miles- our heroine looked up at the sky alongside Stefan. They both waited for the comet and Ximena began speaking her thoughts out loud hoping to in some way comfort him.

"Katherine's real name is Katerina and she's on the run from a much bigger, badder, vampire. She's Bulgarian and had her whole family slaughtered by the man she's running from. Yet she chooses to use her immortality to do wrong unto others until finally being dragged to actual Hell" Ximena foretold with detail, refusing to look to see his reaction.

Though she felt him stiffen.

"You're beautiful" Stefan said then, surprisingly the utter shit out of her and reaching over to gently grab her chin and focus her gaze on him.

What the fuck was happening?

"Sorry, I just love looking into your eyes. Of all the people to know so much and have such power-I am glad it's you and not someone lesser," he spoke like a poet, she thought.

Ximena held his hand in her lap and grinned toothily.

"Stefan, you have a soulmate and it's not me. A blonde, loving, genius, who's sorta naive but means well. I've seen it."

There isn't a point in caring how that affects his later relationship with Elena. He and Caroline ended up together for a reason. Just the same as she knew Damon to be meant for Elena. And somehow, herself with Klaus.

Of course that ignites a different sort of spark in his eyes. He grinned back at her.

"Thank you for knowing me, Ximena Akkerman. You are no average servant, or woman."

Ximena laughed, all too loud.

"Ha! I think I'm just average enough. You're right about the servant thing though. I serve no man or woman. Other than mother nature, I suppose."

"Look!" Stefan barked suddenly and both their heads shot up. Just in time to catch the passing comet. A ball of nature's elements stuck in a loop of travel with no real purpose. Sure was gorgeous though, without all the lights of a modernized world to distract.

They hung out a little bit after and shared childhood tales of clumsiness and dislikes/interests. Ximena told him how important his bond with Damon would be in the long run, and how she too wanted to thank him for saving her. She didn't go into detail about how she arrived like she had with his brother- but the thought of said Salvatore made her rise.

"I'm going in, Bro" Ximena told him.

"I'll be in soon, Sis" Stefan said back, a huge smile on his face and that spark from when she informed him of Caroline's existence clearly behind it.

She found Damon in his fathers study and if it wasn't for her abilities allowing her to sense who was in the room- Ximena wouldn't have had the courage to enter. But she did, taking up the living chair accompanying the one Damon occupied in front of a roaring fire.

"Thanks for getting rid of Stefan so I could have time with Katherine," Damon said first, looking love stricken.

Great.

Ximena didn't even waste words considering she'd be wasting energy next.

She just hugged Damon, knowing he would be none the wiser, and planted the same mark she'd given Stefan on his left shoulder blade. It took less energy having an idea of what to do now. And when they pulled back, Damon went so far as to kiss her forehead. Somehow moved by the feelings of her magic invading.

"Want a drink?" he offered Ximena, reaching for the bottle to pour himself a new one while she took his previous drink.

Or so she thought.

In reality the cup belonged to Giuseppe and had been planted- once he'd realized the past servant had arrived back in the house in search of Damon. Having just barely avoided being caught- the fat racist sat waiting in the wings of the staircase listening.

Ximena brought the bourbon to her lips, accepting a drink from someone she considered her best friend with ease.

It doesn't hit instantly and while Damon rambles about he can't believe all the random lies Katherine incorporated into the compulsion in just a few days, she tells him all about how the bitch did the exact thing just with more sex to Stefan. With a pained look on his face- he almost missed it.

Ximena dropped to the floor like a brick with a loud crack- her head hitting the floor and blood beginning to seep out from the impact.

"Ximena! SOMEBODY, CALL A DOC- Father!?" Damon's shouting for help was cut short when his father appeared, swooping in with two servants. Lily and Marian, the chef.

The two women held Damon back while he thrashed, screamed, and kicked.

Katherine watched from her floor up-top with a satisfied grin- happy to be rid of the powerful threat getting in the way of all her plans. Completely unaware that she would soon share a similar fate.

And Giuseppe?

Giueseppe loaded the Elemental into the back of a carriage, slapping the back of the horse's ass and sending her off with no abandon or care. She thought her relationship with Stefan would save her- but her modern view distracted her. In reality, having any relationship at all with the boys' while being a brown girl in this hell hole had been her downfall.

Getting ready for bed, Stefan is interrupted by a sickening feeling he can't place and a pain in the back of his head. There was a sinking feeling in his gut as his thoughts turned to Ximena.

He headed out of his room to go look for Damon so they could check on Ximena together- only to be interrupted by the vampire who'd used him as her plaything. Katherine.

He swallowed, nervous as ever and hoping that the mark would work.

"Where have you been? I wanted to watch the comet with you, not your brother!" Katherine half teased and half nagged, light hearted and unaware that her plans of toying with them had already been foiled despite the removal of her original obstacle.

"...forgive me, I was tired," he replied, uncomfortable with the very sight of her.

"Not too tired for me I hope," Katherine said, approaching him. Making her intentions obvious as she sauntered forward.

Ximena's voice was loud and clear in his head. "I just need you to keep your head down and pretend, just for a little while longer."