Author's Note: Hey, Guys :) So This is going to be a long author's note, but I wanted to get this out of the way before we get onto the actual story. Before you continue, you should know that this story is going to be an AU; I will my best to make it an accurate AU, but it is going to diverge slightly from the original season 2 plot. My interpretation of this story has been a couple of years in the making, ever since I daydreamed a few of the basic details. I've always thought TVD missed great opportunities to have a greater variety of mythological creatures in the canon. My main focus in this story will be my OC, Sabrina, and her relationships with those surrounding her, especially Caroline, Reyna (my secondary OC), and of course, Elijah since this is labeled an Elijah/ OC story. I would consider Sabrina to be a siren and Reyna to be a Shedim, which is similar to a morally ambivalent Jinn. I'll be going into greater detail over the course of the narrative.
One of the main reasons I'm writing this story is Caroline; I think they dismissed a lot of the trauma she endured in season 1, especially at the hands of Damon. I would consider that relationship to be abusive, physically, emotionally, and sexually. I will repeat it to the end of time, Caroline. Was. A. Minor. So be warned if you like Damon, I will definitely not be kind to him in the beginning. Even though I realize he does have character development eventually, that does not erase the harm he has caused, which I notice has become extremely romanticized in fanfiction. Caroline needed a stable relationship to lean back on in season 2, which definitely did not come in the form of her friends and mother in the canon series. I want to see her grow while still maintaining her Caroline-ness.
Everything is the same up to episode 2x01. Katherine still smothers Caroline after she ingests Damon's blood. When Caroline leaves in 2x02, instead of wandering down the road alone, she calls her cousin Sabrina Forbes. Sabrina is the daughter of Dan, Liz's brother, and Ellen Forbes, who both passed away. Sabrina was raised by Rose Forbes, Caroline and Sabrina's grandmother. We really don't know a lot about Caroline's family so I added where I saw fit. While these changes may not seem like much now, they do have a purpose later. Sabrina inherited Rose's cottage near the library where she will work in the story. Caroline will be there a lot, if not completely moving into the home as well. So if you made it to the end of this enormous note, thank you so much for bearing with me!
Lastly, I love comments and responding to comments. Share your best cookie recipe, tell me your opinions on Monet v. Caravaggio, say all the things. I love it all! Alright, so that's it. Strap into your seats, this is gonna be a helluva ride.
-Oracle
The Ocean Always Lies
Chapter One: I'm Coming Home
Song for the second scene found on Spotify: 'Mermaid's Calling #2' by Marta Mazurek, Barbara Wronska, from The Lure
-O-
College of William & Mary
May 2010
Sabrina watched another wave crest against the wooden pier beams. She finished tying her light brown hair into a loose side braid. She wished the waves could cover the whoops and hollers of all the frat brothers partying a street behind her. She always found the ocean to be paradoxically calming and terrifying, probably because she never learned to swim.
Her phone trilled. Reaching inside her pocket, she smiled when she saw 'Caroline' on the caller ID. She flipped open the phone, answering,
"What's up, babe? Can't you wait until I actually get home before you start bugging the.."
"I need you to come home," Caroline's voice cracked on the other end of the line.
Sabrina's smile fell. She shifted on her bench away from the lingering couple watching the sunset on the pier's end. She closed her book, jarred by the sudden change in her cousin's mood. Yesterday, she had been talking about the new hydrangeas she planted in front of the cottage Sabrina would be living in.
She pushed her phone more tightly against her ear. "Caroline," her voice lowered. "What's wrong? What happened?"
Caroline's breath came faster and heavier over the line. "You were right. All those times that I heard you and Reyna arguing.." Her breath broke over a hiccup. "Over the history and the monsters in the dark,"
Sabrina said her cousin's name urgently, but she continued in her frenzied ramble.
"He tried to make me forget." Caroline was breathing too quickly, edging on a sob. "But the memories… I can see— Oh, God,"
Squealing tires and a car horn echoed over the line. Caroline went silent.
"Care? Caroline! Answer me!"
Apparently, her loud interrogation disturbed the couple at the end of the pier. They walked past her, perturbed, leaving her alone. She lunged to her feet, stuffing her belongings into her purse, a container of lipgloss scattering across the wooden planks. The sun dropped below the horizon line, and she stumbled on her knees in the new darkness.
Another honk sounded over the phone as she caught the cosmetic tube before it fell in the water. She clenched the lipgloss into a tight fist, biting out Caroline's name again. Caroline responded with a mumble undecipherable.
Sabrina sank down further, leaning against the pier fenced grating. "Are you ok? Where are you?"
"I can remember everything." She choked. Car engines whizzed over the line. "He— he…"
"Caroline, are you next to a road or something?" Sabrina shook her head, quickly asking, "Where are you? I need to know where you are, ok?"
"I…" she went quiet before, "Ok, I'm about two miles from the hospital. It was dark so I checked myself out,"
"Wait— the hospital? Why were you in the hospital?"
"I swear, Sabrina," Caroline urged. "I have not hurt anyone. I left the nurse in my room. She doesn't even remember anything,"
Sabrina blew out a harsh breath through her nose. "You need to tell me what is going on. Right now,"
Sabrina pressed a finger against her other ear when the raucous fraternity party grew closer. "Caroline?" She prompted again. Caroline sniffed over the line before she explained where she was on the highway in relation to the rest of Mystic Falls. She squeezed her eyes shut, quelling the panic rising in her chest. She prayed that Caroline had not been touched by the supernatural curse that filled the streets of Mystic Falls. She fumbled with her cell phone as she texted Reyna with shaking fingers. Reassurance after reassurance tumbled from Sabrina's lips, keeping Caroline on the line until Reyna's response pinged up on her phone.
'Tell the brat to stay put. On my way,'
"Care, Reyna's on her way. I need you to go with her, alright?"
Sabrina knew Caroline opened her mouth to argue before she said quietly, "Ok,"
Sabrina felt tears well in her eyes as the wind picked up around her, the sound broken apart by the waves crashing against the pier. Caroline has always been the one with the spine of steel which she had inherited from their grandmother. Sabrina wanted to be the one to shoulder the weight this time instead.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Sabrina could almost hear her cousin shaking her head with curly blonde hair flowing over her shoulders. "Later. I just… I should be calling Elena or Stefan. I know this isn't all about me this time. I know that." Caroline took a shaking breath. Her voice wasn't frantic anymore, just defeated. "Can you come home? Please?"
Sabrina was already slinging her bag over her shoulder, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm leaving right now. I don't have to stop at my dorm. My stuff has already been mailed out or stuffed into my car." She huffed a pitiful laugh. "Look, I can make it by morning." Sabrina stopped, gripping the pier railing like a lifeline. "Everything's going to be ok, Caroline. I promise,"
She heard shifting, the single-engine of a motorcycle roaring, and branches being crushed on Caroline's end of the line. The wooden planks underneath her sneakers trembled. She turned her head slightly, seeing two male figures stumbling against one another underneath a street lamp, laughing, shoving one another. Her mouth curled into a grimace. That was one thing she would not miss about college.
"You know I should be on my way to the carnival. You know, God bless Elena, but I'm head of the committee. And the poor girl has no idea what the word fabulous is supposed to mean. Hey," Caroline said. "Reyna's here,"
The pressure in Sabrina's chest lessened slightly. "Ok," She sighed.
"Yeah, you think we could stop at the carnival to see how it's going?"
"Absolutely not. Right now, the fabulously lacking carnival is so going on the back burner, got it?"
Caroline groused, "Fine,"
"Can you pass the phone so I can talk to her?"
"Sure,"
Before she could pass the phone, Sabrina told her softly, "Hey," she wondered if Caroline would remember the nickname their grandmother gave her. She hoped she would. "Love you, bluebell,"
Sabrina received the scoffing laugh she was hoping for. "Whatever, peanut,"
There she is, Sabrina thought.
She grinned before she heard Reyna's low drawl. "You owe me, Forbes. This better be worth skipping out on my date." Sabrina imagined her best friend crossing her arms and getting that irritated furrow between her coal dark brows. Reyna paused, telling Caroline to wait by the motorcycle.
"I'm coming home, Reyna," her voice was resolute. "Tonight. I'm coming home tonight."
Reyna's tone lost the edge of disinterest when she quietly hissed, "Rina? The hell is going on? Why does the brat smell like our recent influx of vamp parasites?"
Sabrina froze, her breath catching. She ran her fingers roughly through her hair, mussing her hastily tied braid. "…no. She can't. She said she was in the hospital, but she didn't say anything about— Is she?"
Caroline's oath of 'I swear, Sabrina, I haven't hurt anyone. I left the nurse in my room. She doesn't even remember anything,' made more sense. A wave of nausea whirled through Sabrina's stomach, and she was suddenly glad for the support of the pier railing.
"Shit," Reyna swore under her breath.
"She's only seventeen," Sabrina murmured. "Who would…" She tried shaking away the thought. This was too much. She scrubbed a hand across her forehead. When she turned her head again, the two men had drawn closer. One of them caught her gaze, and her eyes darted back to the dark expanse of the ocean. They started yelling again, droning out what Sabrina tried to say.
"What is that noise? I thought you swore off parties,"
Sabrina frowned. "Just some drunk idiots,"
"What did you say?"
"I said, I need you to take her somewhere safe until I can get there,"
"Safe for her? Or safe for everyone else in this town? You and I both know the stories about the newly turned. The last thing we need is a bad rewrite of Carrie,"
The pressure in her chest returned. Reyna never pulled punches. She didn't know why she believed this would be different. Her tears finally got the better of her as one slipped down her cheek. She wanted to mourn, to rage and scream for every life milestone that Caroline would miss. She stubbornly wiped the tear away with the back of her hand. Reyna must have heard her because she said next,
"Oh, don't. Don't cry. Don't do that," Reyna moaned before, "Look, I'm going to take her to mom's,"
Sabrina nodded before remembering Reyna couldn't see her. "Yeah, ok. She'll know what to do,"
One of the men yelled behind her, "Hey!" laughing. He yelled again before Sabrina realized she was shouting at her. "Hey, come on over, baby!" He made vulgar gestures with his hands and hips.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw them edging closer. She reached into her pocket, her fingers wrapping around her car keys. She hate this, that she couldn't walk by herself at night. She hated that prickling awareness trickling down her neck and spine that was known to every girl.
The wind picked back up, battering the water against the wooden columns.
"I just need you to watch her until I can get there,"
"Fine. You know how much my mother loves company. She'd been saying that she didn't like how thin Care had been getting anyway," Reyna said it like it would be some great trouble, but Sabrina knew better, knew the Weinburg matriarch better. The thought drew a small smile. "She…uh, she misses you,"
Sabrina quirked an amused brow, the wind drying the rest of her tears. "Really? She does, huh?"
Reyna bristled over the line. "Don't fish for affection in subtext. You know I hate that,"
Sabrina shook her head before she grew serious again, "I need you to promise me you'll keep her safe, Reyna,"
She hadn't finagled a Shedim oath since middle school when she made Reyna swear to never tell Grandma Rose about her suspension slip. That was the day she learned about the oath of a Shedim, how it bound them to a person with golden tenterhooks. She had never asked for anything when she realized the seriousness of what she had asked. Until now.
"She's going to be fine," Reyna began.
"I know she is. Just promise me,"
"You're gonna make me do the thing, aren't you? Fine," Reyna bit out, and Sabrina waited, holding her breath. "I swear to you, Sabrina Forbes, I will protect and keep Caroline until you get here. She'll be under my personal care."She said boredly. "Happy?"
Sabrina felt the bargain weave under her skin, crawling warm in her chest. Reyna was no guardian angel or benevolent protector who worked for the greater good of humanity. Her best friend liked chaos' energy and the annual knife sale the next town over too much to be anything like that. But she never broke a promise, especially to family.
"Very,"
"Hey!" That grating voice shouted again. "Hey, frosty bitch! I'm talkin' to you,"
Sabrina's grip on her keys tightened, her heart skipping a beat. "Gross. I'm gonna have to go, Rey. These idiots aren't going away. If I start on the road now, I should be there by morning,"
Reyna hummed lowly, drawling, "I suppose I can suffer the night out at mom's,"
Sabrina ignored the men's catcalls behind her.
Reyna asked, carefully neutral. "And the sheriff? We have any problems with her yet?"
Sabrina scowled, doubting if Liz even knew that Caroline had been admitted into the hospital. "No. She won't be a problem,"
She heard Reyna move on her line, her motorcycle boots grinding against the gravel before she asked, "You gonna be ok to walk to your car yourself, or do you want me to stay on the line with you?"
For a long moment, Sabrina considered saying yes, if only for the fact that she didn't want to be the subject of the next Dateline episode. But she found herself answering, "Nah. I'll be good. My car's just across the street,"
"Fine. Be careful. I'll see you in a few hours,"
The line disconnected just as meaty fingers grabbed Sabrina's shoulder, whirling her around. The stench of cheap booze assaulted her senses, making her eyes water. Two young men about her age with various stains across their khaki shorts and their pink Ralph Lauren polos gathered around her, corralling her against the pier railing. Both of them had 'My-dad-is-a-lawyer' stamped across their foreheads. One of them wore a silver ball cap while the other's neck was layered with purple, green, and gold Mardi Gras beads. The man with the beads staggered closer. She stepped back, her spine smacking against the railing. She felt the salt spray against her bare legs. His prolonged leer made her skin crawl.
Sabrina lifted her hand gripping the key out of her pocket, resting it by her side. She tried to brush past them, but the grip on her arm returned with bruising force.
She glared at the appendage on her arm. "Let me go." She ripped her arm back.
Mardi Gras Beads was undeterred while his friend remained stony in his silence. His eyes focused below her neckline before zeroing in on her face with cruelty twisting his mouth into a sharp-edged smile.
"Didn't anyone tell you its rude to.." He slurred and stumbled over his words. "To ignore someone who's talkin',"
She tried walking past them, but his shove was quicker and more powerful than she expected. The blow knocked the air from her lungs. The man with the beads reached for her again, his sweaty palm contacting her neck. The touch caused her to lurch away on the backs of her heels.
"Where're you goin'?"
His breath was putrid, soured by alcohol, as it fanned across her face. His friend said nothing, only regarding her with a slimy disdain that left Sabrina feeling dirty. They weren't going to let her leave, she realized. She could see her white sedan just across the street from the boardwalk. It was late on a Friday night where all the bars were filled to capacity. No one would hear her. Why had she hung up on Reyna?
"We're just lookin' for a good time,"
Her temper flared as she resisted his grip, pulling away pressing further against the railing.
"Look somewhere else," she seethed. "Let me go,"
"Or what?"
The silence of his friend frightened Sabrina more than the preening alpha wannabe, especially when his fingers caught a tendril of her brown hair loosed from her braid. Sabrina had always been the one to never make a fuss. But now she wanted to scream and turn the air blue, cursing them into an early, watery grave.
When a hand latched onto her thigh through her dress, Sabrina lashed out. Her fist curled tight around her car key. She slashed at his face, leaving a jagged crimson trail across his right cheek. She reveled in his screeching howl.
She realized her mistake when she faced his friend. His eyes darkened with rage. He towered over her with more than two hundred and fifty pounds to his advantage. His arm reared back. His punch across his face sent her careening with black spotting her vision. She overbalanced, tumbling over the railing, plummeting into the dark, swirling waves below. Her head thrashed against one of the pier columns as her body plunged into the water.
The water was colder than she ever expected. She gasped, and the ice flooded her mouth, filling her choking her lungs. The ocean was colder and far more terrifying than any hell she could have ever imagined. The ice spread through her veins, turning every bone bitterly blue. The water swirled in the building storm, propelling her head back against the column. Her vision faded completely, and Sabrina felt herself die.
The person she thought about was Caroline. Not the insecure teenager who lived according to her neurosis, but the Caroline who stayed at Grandma Rose's house for weeks at a time who always had a new game to play, a story about a new boyfriend she only intended to keep until Valentine's Day was over, or her goal to become president of a party planning conglomerate. She recalled the day Reyna and Caroline kidnapped her, carrying her off to the falls and the descending pools at the top of an abandoned hiking trail. She had taken every float in existence with her, terrified she would be swallowed into the pool's depths. She remembered Reyna pushing her from the top of the tallest falls, remembered the thrilling rush that thrummed through her chest when her head submerged under the water, almost becoming an extension of the water.
Her terror began to fade as the ocean enfolded her, cradling her, caressing and healing wounds like a mother tending to an injured child.
The Ocean, she thought, returns the devotion wholeheartedly, not killing her but accepting her as a blood sister clinging to the last life in her soul, like a goddess hearing the prayer of a fallen believer, like her Grandma Rose kissing the bad dreams away.
Sabrina felt the moment she and the Ocean became a 'we' instead of a 'she' and 'I'. The pain in her head vanished as the water enveloped her, transforming the edges of her body into something different. The current pulled away the seams of her dress, stripping her away to nothing, soothing her skin in the cool water. She closed her eyes when she suddenly gulped a breath beginning to breathe on her own. With the saltwater burning her lungs with fire, she felt more alive than she ever remembered. Her mind still sought Caroline, how she needed to protect her chosen young and to crush those who hurt her.
Her legs brushed lastly, fusing together, blue scales searing her skin, rushing up to her bare sides and breasts. Her healing was complete, and she felt the saltwater seep into her heart.
Her long tail twisted in the current, stronger than her dancer's legs ever were. She ran a newly webbed, sharp-clawed hand over the scales, baring the sharp fangs in the dark water. A storm swirled above as sparse lightning flashed.
Mermaid, she thought first until something deep inside her howled, No. Siren.
The darkened streets filled with men preying on women— her sisters— were not made for women.
She flicked her tail, propelling herself toward the pier. She felt unlike herself, reveling in the smooth caresses of the sea.
The land was not made for women. This, she thought, my sea, my love, was made for sisters like me. When she dragged her murderers' bones down to the bottom after consuming their hearts, they too would know the Ocean was hers.
-O-
Charlie regretted hitting the girl the moment his fist made contact with her jaw. His face fell while he made a mad grab for her as she toppled over the pier railing. His heart pounded and not from the illicit substance he had snorted with his teammates in the back room of the bar.
He leaned over the railing, watching her disappear beneath the surface. He swore underneath his breath. Charlie jerked back, readying himself to jump in after her. He refused to lose his lacrosse scholarship over some bitch who refused to say yes to a good time. Kolby grabbed his arm before he could tear off his polo shirt.
"Let go, dude!" He tried to pull away, but despite Kolby's inebriated state, he still managed to hold on. "She's gonna drown,"
Kolby waved off his concern, pulling out a flask of whiskey from his cargo shorts. Kolby shook his head with a lop-sided grin. He slapped him on the shoulder before pointing to the waves. "C'mon, in five feet of water?" He scoffed. "Doubtful,"
At that moment, Charlie truly hated his friend.
He shook off his friend's hand, scowling. "You're not the one who pushed her in!" He yelled, panic cracking his voice.
Both of them looked up when a bolt of lightning struck near the lighthouse at the edge of the bay followed by an echoing crack of thunder. Charlie's chest constricted again. Kolby laughed.
Lightning flashed again in the distance. Kolby's eyes squinted like the light hurt his eyes, and Charlie knew his next suggestion would be to find and drink more cheap booze until they blacked out, waking up in a stranger's apartment. Dark clouds gathered faster than Charlie had ever seen.
Charlie pressed his palms against his eyes harshly enough to see spots dotting his vision.
"She's not comin' up, man, What if she's…"
"Dude. Chill. She'll wash up on the beach somewhere and go home,"
Charlie blanched. "What if she says something?"
He hadn't come from money like Kolby. He was just a kid from Brooklyn who got lucky enough to manage a full-ride scholarship. He followed around Kolby like a starstruck dog, especially after he flashed his dad's black AmEx card like it was nothing. Charlie had wanted that, that power that money and confidence brought.
Kolby's answer was quick and certain. "She won't. I know the type: quiet-girl-next-door like that from some small… town. Nah, she won't say jack,"
Charlie shook his head, a wave of nausea passing over him. He wished he had eaten more fries before he downed those tequila shots. "You can't know that,"
Kolby managed a leering, predatory grin in his stupor. "I've told you before. My dad has gotten me out of much… much worse than throwing some weird chic over a pier," he said. "Now, let's go. I'm not drunk enough to have any kind of fun,"
Charlie rubbed the back of his neck, casting one last glance over his shoulder to the water. He managed a laugh. "You're a crazy bastard, you know that,"
Kolby guffawed. "And if you're done with your guilt trip over one girl, I have the number of a guy who can get us some girls that don't mind being tossed around a little,"
Charlie perked up. Kolby threw an arm over Charlie's broad shoulders. "Get me off a' this water before I puke,"
Charlie's laugh was less forced that time. "Aim the other way,"
Charlie bore most of his friend's weight, taking small steps. They made their way past the first lamppost when Charlie heard it. He stilled, freezing mid-step. The hairs on the back of his neck raised, a delightful chill zinging down his body. Over the rhythm set by the waves and dulled thunder, a feminine voice floating through the crackling air. Kolby stiffened underneath his arm, and he knew his friend heard it too. His surroundings grew foggy while his limbs became heavy with more than just a drink. He stopped bearing his friend's weight. Charlie didn't spare Kolby another glance as he turned back around to face the water.
The delicate hum echoed in his ears, growing louder with each stumbling step he took back to the pier railing, back to the song. Kolby was shaken from one drunken stupor into another one equally as disinhibiting. Each note and melody tugged them closer. Charlie couldn't stop himself, no longer possessing control over his own thoughts. He couldn't think of anything besides the burning need to be closer. Closer to the song holding him and Kolby so tightly they gasped for air.
Charlie latched onto the railing, leaning over it, searching the waves. Another note sent him spiraling, forcing him to yell, calling out into the darkness. Then, a flash of iridescent blue spark in his vision. The blue shadow in the water smoothly edged closer. He noticed the loose brown hair tapering down a bareback before he registered a blue-scaled tail moving where bare legs should have been. A face rose from the water. While her mouth stayed out of sight, her song remained, growing louder when she spotted them.
No longer were her eyes terrified as they flashed green in a nearby lightning strike. Her skin glimmered like a wave's crest readying to crash while her face sharpened in the pale lamplight overhanging the water.
He could describe the hollowness in his chest as frozen despondency edging against terror. But still, Charlie couldn't look away.
She raised webbed hands from the water, enticing, inviting. Charlie didn't know if his shudder was from interest or revulsion. The rest of her face lifted from the water's surface, her lips curved as she sang. His chest constricted painfully while sharp, needle-like pain shot down his legs. Her song wound around him, trapping him, paralyzing any escape attempt.
He jolted when Kolby howled like a man possessed and released his grip on the pier railing. Kolby threw himself over it into the water. Charlie was forced to watch as the creature lunged at his friend with a mighty flick of its tail. He saw the fangs and claws then as they tore into flesh, cracking apart his chest before sinking under the water.
The heaviness still weighed against him even in her absence. She wanted him to see, he realized. To feel her terror.
His Abuela always warned the ghosts of his sins would find him out.
She rose again from the water. She had come to collect.
She began singing again. His feet moved, climbing up the wooden boards, onto the metal railing.
Charlie cried as he dove into the waves.
Fin...
-O-
Author's note: So, tell me what you think? Maybe? Is it worth continuing?