*2 DAYS LATER*

"Please tell me you have a dress." Caroline's voice came from over the phone.

"Okay." I said, looking at the pile of clothes and hangers I had just dumped on my bed. "I have a dress."

She sighed dramatically. "You don't have a dress, do you?"

"Nope."

"Rayna!"

"Don't Rayna me! I've had more important things to do, Care."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know, homework? House work? I mean, Ric isn't as responsible an adult as you'd think. And besides, he's been translating those symbols from the cave so I've been cooking too. Jeremy eats like a pig."

I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "Well how are you going to get a dress in time? The dance is tonight."

"I don't know," I sighed, looking at the pile of clothes. "I've torn apart my wardrobe, my drawers... Nothing."

"Maybe you could borrow something from Elena? She's the same size as you anyway."

"Care, I'm like an inch shorter than her, and besides— she's probably in the same situation as me. Hold on." I said, walking out into the hall and into Elena's room. She and Bonnie were on the bed.

"Elena, do you have a dress?"

"No. You?"

"No." I said, "Later Bon."

Bonnie smiled and waved and I left Elena's room. "Yep." I said into the phone. "I was right."

"I know. I heard. Vampire hearing, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Sometimes it was easy to forget Care was a vampire. She was just so... normal.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I'll have to borrow a dress off someone... Wait, I think Rebekah might have a dress I can borrow."

"A, she's taller than you, B, What is it with everyone and Rebekah?! Tyler talks about her like she's—"

"She isn't that bad, Care. You don't know her like I do."

"I know she's an original and you're a human. You should be careful."

I rolled my eyes but smiled. "Okay, Care. I will."

"Good. Gotta go, bye."

"Bye."

I hung up and threw my phone on my bed, sighing, before hanging my clothes back up. I heard the front door downstairs close and I ran into Elena's room.

"Was that Bonnie leaving?" I asked her. She nodded. "I gotta go to the Boarding House, want a lift?"

"I was just going to ask you the same thing." she said.

"Yay! Twin telepathy moment!"

I held my fist out for her to pump.

"Do not leave me hanging!"

She bumped her fist against mine and we both grinned.

"We should scrap book this." I said. "Twinno, where is your camera?"

She laughed and rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm, dragging me out of her room and downstairs.

As I entered the Boarding House Damon flashed infront of me.

"Are you going to Homecoming?" he asked me.

"Yeah." I said. "As if Care wouldn't let me go."

"Right." he said. "Afterwards we're having a drink at the Grill."

"Who?"

"You and me. Me and you. I and thy—"

"Right." I laughed, putting my hands on his shoulders. "I get it. Where is Rebekah?"

He pointed upstairs so I nodded and walked upstairs, careful to walk properly up the stairs, not on all fours like I did sometimes at home.

Only when no one was around, although Ric had caught me once. He found it hilarious.

I knocked on the door to Rebekah's room.

"Who is it?"

"I go by many names... Ray, Rain. One of my boyfriends called me Ray-Ray. We were five, and our first date was in the sand box at the park. He let me borrow his skipping rope... it was very romantic."

She opened the door with a raised eyebrow.

"Come in." she smiled, and I did.

"Nice." I said, looking around her room. My room here was bigger. Elena didn't have a spare room to go to in the Boarding House, because she could just stay in Stefan's room. I however had one for all the late nights we would spend there as my friend's plotted ways to kill and or get rid of whatever bad guy had just showed up in town.

"It's temporary." she said. "Until Nik comes back."

"He's coming back?" I asked. "When?"

She looked at me for a moment and sighed. "You don't know." she whispered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing." she shook her head. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I have a feeling this isn't just a friendly visit."

"Well," I laughed awkwardly. "The thing is, you know Homecoming? Well it's tonight and I, uh, sort of haven't got a dress..."

She shook her head. "How is it that I am more prepared for this than you? Don't you look forward to dances?"

"Not really." I shrugged.

It was true, I didn't really look forward to them. In fact, more often than not I dreaded them. They never ended well, and Elena always had a date. Which, don't get me wrong, was great. I was happy for her. But it meant I had no one to be with really. Because Bonnie and Caroline would often go off with their dates as well.

"Why?"

"I don't exactly have a date. It's pretty tragic."

"I don't have a date either." she admitted. "Anyway, I think I have the dress for you."

"Really?" I asked, perking up. "Thank you!"

She shook her head. "Don't thank me. I have enough money to buy every dress in the world. Twice. Even then I could afford the shoes as well."

"Wow." I said.

She grabbed my arm excitedly and dragged me to one of the wardrobes in her considerably large room. It was filled with dresses of different colours.

I stared opened mouthed. It was like I had stepped into a dress store.

Her finger trailed along the dresses until she stopped at a pink one.

"I don't do pink." she suggested another dress. "Too low... too long... too revealing..."

She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. "Wait." she said. "This one."

She pulled the hanger off the rail and put the dress against my body.

It was a beautiful white soft dress.

*I can't describe dresses to save my life. The link will be found on my profile. You may now continue*

"That's it!" she cried. "That's the one!" I smiled. "Thanks for this."

"You're welcome. Want to get ready, then?"

I nodded. As she got changed in her room, I went into the en suite bathroom and got dressed. I looked at myself in the full length mirror and smoothed the dress down, before knocking on the door.

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Rayna, I can get dressed with vampire speed."

"Oh." I said sheepishly as I opened the door. "You look great." I told her. She smiled.

"So do you." she then held up a bag of cosmetics. "Make up time!"

I groaned inwardly, having had to do this every sleepover with Care, I still wasn't used to it.

I spent the next hour with Rebekah doing make up, watching as she curled her hair.

"How are you doing your hair?" she asked me.

"I don't want to like curl it or anything. I kind of like it wavy. I think I'll leave it down."

"I've never seen you with your hair down before." she admitted.

"Not many people have." I told her. "I usually wear it up."

I took the hair bands from my hair and let it fall down to the small of my back.

She nodded. "Definitely leave it down."

"We're pretty early." I told her. "Have you ever been to a high school dance before?"

"No." she admitted. "I never really had time for high school. Nik and I were always moving around. Running."

I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"At least you can really live now." I smiled at her, and she smiled back. "I notice you call him Nik. Elijah didn't."

She shrugged. "My relationship with him is better than Elijah's. At least that's what I thought."

I frowned, but said nothing.

She was looking at herself in the full length mirror when I went through to the en suite bathroom to brush my hair. I closed the door behind me and ran the brush through my long waves when I heard Rebekah say something.

"Have you heard any more from him?"

"No. But I'm sure that when he does return he'll do it with flare." Elena replied dryly. I frowned, wondering why my sister was there. Quietly as one could in white heels, I tip toed towards the bathroom door and pressed my ear against it.

"And Damon and my father are all set with their plan?" Rebekah asked.

"Yes."

"Don't tell me. I don't want to know. I want to go to the dance and leave the rest to Mikael."

Mikael?

"Thank you for helping us get Klaus back into town." Elena said.

WHAT?!

"Just be careful." Rebekah said slightly louder. "I've been running for a thousand years for a reason. Mikael is not a good person and he definitely can't be trusted. No one in my family can."

I had a feeling she was talking more to me than to Elena. "You know, I've spent my whole life loving and hating my brother with equal measure. I never thought I'd be the one to drive a stake through his heart."

My hands flew to my mouth as I gasped inaudibly.

"No tears. I don't want to ruin my make up." Rebekah said. "How do I look?"

"You look amazing. But you're missing one thing."

"My mother's necklace." Rebekah gasped.

"You should wear it tonight... May I?"

I opened the door ever so slightly and peeked through the crack to see Elena putting on Rebekah's necklace.

"Thank you." Rebekah smiled.

But what Rebekah didn't see was my sister pointing the stake at her back.

"NO!" I screamed. But I was too late. Rebekah gasped as Elena literally stabbed her in the back.

Elena looked at me. "I'm so sorry. I can't leave anything to chance."

I glared at her as Rebekah's body fell to the ground.

"I had to do it. I couldn't leave anything to chance."

"You're going to kill Klaus! That's it, isn't it? You have Mikael and you're going to get him to kill Klaus so Stefan will be free of his compulsion. Elena, you can't going around planning murders and stabbing originals! This isn't you."

"I know! I know, okay?! But I have to. If it means getting Stefan back then I'll do it."

"But it's wrong, Elena."

"They're hardly innocent, Rain."

"No, Elena, this is wrong and you know it."

She didn't say anything, but looked down at Rebekah's body, guilt in her eyes. My expression softened.

"I'll see you later." I told her, as I walked past her I put my hand on her shoulder. She looked at me and smiled slightly.

I didn't smile, I just squeezed her shoulder gently before walking out of the room. I nearly walked into Damon in the process.

"She's right." he told me.

"No. She's not."

"That doesn't change anything. We have to do what we have to do to survive." he said.

"To survive? We can survive without making unnecessary enemies, Damon."

I walked past him and out of the Boarding House, taking the car home. Elena could get a lift back with him.

After arriving at the school with Care, we found out that the gym had conveniently, in my opinion, flooded. So we were now spending homecoming at Tyler's house.

Bonnie and I followed Caroline into his house and were surprised to see more people than... expected.

And I didn't recognize one of them.

"How did he plan a better party than me so fast?" Caroline asked, outraged. "Is that a band outside?"

"Who are all these people?" Bonnie asked. I shrugged.

"This is weird." Care said. "Where is Tyler?" She walked further into the house and Bonnie and I shared a look.

"Something's not right here." she said. "You feel that?"

I nodded. "Bad witchy vibe."

"What you thinking?" she asked me.

"I'm thinking that, taking Tyler's sire bond into consideration... He definitely did not plan this party alone."

Which meant Klaus was here. I had to tell him somehow. To warn him.

Where was he?

Bonnie nodded, and we walked further into the house. We ended up splitting up, as we both searched for Caroline. I walked into the large back garden and was surprised to see a band.

"Stefan." I said, glad to see a familiar face. He turned around and raised an eyebrow, before looking me up and down, a weird expression on his face.

"You look like you're going to eat me. Should I be worried?"

"Very." he smirked, and I laughed.

"What's going on here? I don't recognise anyone." I said. "Do you think maybe Klaus—"

"Hey Rain, Stefan." Tyler said, holding a box of beers.

"Hey Tyler." we chorused.

"Nice party you got going on here." Stefan said.

"Creepy is a more suitable word." I muttered.

"Thanks, but, uh, I'm not the one throwing it." Tyler said. "I'm just doing what Klaus wants."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not a party, man. It's a wake." Tyler answered before he walked off.

Stefan and I shared a confused look, before we realised the music had stopped, and it wasn't the singer speaking into the microphone.

"Good evening, everyone!" Klaus yelled.

"Oh. My. God." I said. "Are you kidding me?"

The crowd cheered.

"I want to thank you all for being here with me to celebrate." he said, before looking directly at Stefan. "It's been a long time coming."

"Rayna." Klaus said as he joined Stefan and I once Tyler had gone. "You look beautiful."

His eyes raked over my body and I hoped the fact that it was dark out meant he wouldn't see my blush.

I really wasn't good with compliments.

"So, this is quite the homecoming." Stefan said.

"I've been planning my father's funeral for a thousand years, granted in any version of it were any of you people invited but you get the idea."

"Wait." I said. "Mikael's dead? Jesus, Stefan, is it really necessary to keep everything from me?"

"You didn't know?" Klaus frowned.

"Rayna didn't need to know." Stefan said. He looked at me irritatedly.

"Why did you kill him?" I asked, hiding my smirk. I had figured that Mikael wasn't really dead, and Elena had told over the phone the part of the plan she knew before I came to Homecoming. "I mean, you spend all that time resurrecting him, why kill him?"

I knew that if I straight out told Klaus that they were trying to kill him, Stefan would kill me. And if not him, Mikael would. I had to make Klaus figure it out on his own. Which was going to be difficult.

Stefan was now glaring at me. "So what now?" he asked Klaus. "You stop running?"

Klaus chuckled. "Now I reunite my family." I swallowed, thinking of Rebekah.

"Your family." Stefan said, and I looked at him. Although his face held no emotion I could see the cogs turning in his head. "You mean the people you cart around in caskets."

"Non of that matters any more." Klaus said. "Mikael's gone. Bygones will be bygones."

Except Mikael wasn't gone.

"It seems the homecoming queen still walks among the living, which leads me to believe Rebekah isn't here. Where is she?"

"I have no idea." Stefan said. "I thought she was coming with Matt."

Klaus frowned. "Oh, be honest now, Stefan. Where's my sister?"

"I said I have no idea." Stefan replied. "Now would you like me to take you to your father?"

"Well it wouldn't be a party without the guest of honour now, would it? Bring him to me."

"Alright." Stefan said. "Perhaps there is something in it for me."

Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"My freedom from your compulsion."

"Oh, you want your freedom? Well once he's dead and his weapon destroyed you'll have your freedom. It'll be my pleasure to give it back to you."

Stefan nodded and left. I watched him walk away, until my vision became blurred. I saw a strange man, who somehow I knew must be Mikael, because he was drinking from Stefan's neck. The next thing I saw was Stefan lying unconscious on the floor.

"Everything all right there, sweetheart?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah." I lied. "Just— I, uh. I have to go. And I'm not your sweetheart!"

I practically ran away and inside until I found Bonnie, and we began to talk about meaningless things, and a dance club that didn't exist. Because we both knew that we were being listened to by that many hybrids that no doubt were there.

"Bonnie?" I asked. "Do you hear that?" We both turned to the right and walked into the room to see Damon holding Tyler against the wall, a strange looking stake in his hands.

Bonnie held out her palms, giving them both an anneurism.

They both held onto their heads, groaning and wincing in pain.

Bonnie released her hold on their brains and made Tyler pass out.

"You have got to teach me how to do that." I whispered.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Damon asked, standing up. "You weren't supposed to witchy migraine me!"

"You weren't supposed to kill Tyler!" she yelled back.

Go Bonnie!

"He tried to bite me." Damon defended, before bending down and picking up the stake and putting it in his inside jacket pocket.

"What is that?" Bonnie asked.

"Nothing."

"Oh my God, is that the—"

"Sssh." Damon whispered, then mouthed 'They're everywhere'.

I assumed he meant Hybrids.

"Wait." I said. "Slow down a sec here. What is that?"

Damon rolled his eyes before mouthing. 'White oak stake.' "In future it's better if we just fill you in on things." he decided.

"Yeah." I said, folding my arms across my chest and scowling. "I should think so."

"Why do you have it?" Bonnie asked.

"Because," he said. "I'm the only one who can get inside the house."

"Stefan." I said. "I had a vision and I saw him on the floor and then You Know Who was drinking his blood."

Damon smirked, and was about to say something when I beat him to it. "And no I do not mean Voldemort!"

"We had to get rid of Stefan." he whispered.

I nodded. They began whispering to each other so I left the room, to see there was no one there. I frowned, wondering where everyone went when someone flashed in front of me.

She had dark skin and pixie like hair with beautiful big eyes which were now narrowed at me.

"Mikael said to get the girl he cares about. The Prophet."

Before I knew what was happening, she grabbed my arm and ran at vampire speed.

When we stopped running I realized we were on the front porch. Right in front of me was Mikael, who was not looking at me, but at the doorway. I was positioned so that I could see the left side of him, and whoever he was looking at in the doorway couldn't see me.

There was a hand on my mouth.

I looked to my right to see Elena and my eyes widened, as did hers. I looked her up and down, and I knew that it was not Elena. It was Katherine, and she looked shocked to see me here.

'Katherine' I mouthed, frowning. Why was she impersonating Elena?

Unless this was a part of Damon's plan.

I had a feeling me being there wasn't apart of Damon's plan.

"They can't kill me." Mikael said. My breath hitched.

"True. But it'd make a hell of a party game." Klaus replied. I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me. I watched as the hybrids walked out onto the grass. "All I have to do is rub these two fingers together, and they'll pounce."

"The big bad wolf." Mikael smirked. "You haven't changed. Still hiding behind your play things. Like a coward. Don't you forget, they may be sired by you but they are still part vampire. And they can be compelled by me."

The hybrid with pixie hair let go of me and stepped out next to Mikael, looking at Klaus.

I looked at Katherine, mouthing 'What do I do?'

'Stay there' she mouthed back, 'You can't run now'. She gestured to Mikael.

I swallowed but nodded. She was right.

I opened my mouth when the hybrid grabbed me roughly by the arm and dragged me to the side so I was next to Mikael, facing Klaus.

Klaus' eyes widened and I watched him swallow.

I breathed heavily, scared for my life. Mikael would surely kill me.

Mikael held on tightly to my shoulder, laughing. I looked up at Klaus, who was the only person that could help me.

"Come out and face me, Niklaus." Mikael said. "Or she dies."

I could fell my heart pounding in my chest at a rate that definitely wasn't normal.

I watched Klaus' face, my eyes becoming wet for some reason, but he looked straight at Mikael. I noticed his knuckled were white as he clenched his fists.

"Go ahead." Klaus said. "Kill her."

You see? He was going to end up hurting you no matter what. The voice in my head said.

"If she dies," Mikael said, "You won't have anyone to tell you your future. To help you truly be two steps ahead. You know how hard it is to find a Prophet? If she dies, you'll lose the girl you —"

"I just need to be rid of you."

"To what ends, Niklaus? So you can live forever? With no one at your side?" he asked, pushing me forwards so that I was still outside the house, but directly in front of Klaus. "Nobody cares about you any more boy! Who do you have? Other than those whose loyalty you forced?"

Klaus looked down into my eyes, and I saw his too were filled with tears.

"No one." Mikael answered. "No one."

"I'm calling your bluff, father. Kill her."

Who's going to look after the house? Who's going to take care of Jeremy? To be there for Elena when she needs me?

"Come outside and face me you little coward." Mikael said. "And I won't have to."

"My whole life you've underestimated me." He said, and I saw that blood was dripping from his clenched fists. "If you kill her you lose your leverage,"

But Mikael doesn't lose his leverage because he has Katherine who he thinks is Elena. And Mikael can use 'Elena' as leverage because if she dies Klaus can't make more hybrids.

Mikael is going to kill me.

"So go ahead. Go on, kill her." I closed my eyes, bracing myself. "Come on, old man." Klaus said, his voice faltering slightly. "Kill her... KILL HER!"

I am going to die.

Mikael chuckled before sighing wistfully. "Your impulse, Niklaus. It has and forever be the one thing that keeps you from truly being great."

That was the last thing I heard, before I felt the sharp pain as a dagger was plunged in my back. As Mikael pulled it out my entire body was filled with indescribable pain, and I fell to the side.

"No." he cried. "NO!"

I heard a struggle going on, but I couldn't focus on anything.

All I could think about was the large pool of blood I was lying in. My blood.

This is it, I thought. I was sure this was it.

My last thought was how much better I could understand Rebekah now. Klaus wasn't the person I trusted the most, but I realised I had trusted him to save me. And he had betrayed that trust.

I closed my eyes for the last time and then...

I felt someone's wrist be forced into my mouth. Blood. I could taste blood.

I stared into Stefan's eyes and realised it was his blood I was drinking. The next few seconds seemed to last forever, and I slowly saw the emotions in his face begin to show. First there was shock, then pain.

I saw a tear fall.

And then he was gone.

I groaned and felt myself begin to heal, before Katherine held out a hand, helping me up. I tried not to show how much pain I was in.

I looked through the doorway to see Stefan holding Damon down, as Klaus lay on the floor. I watched as the original grabbed the white oak stake, and flashed towards Mikael.

Katherine and I watched as Mikael screamed in pain, and his body erupted into flames.

Everything was happening way too fast for anything to sink in.

Klaus stood back and looked from Mikael to me.

He took a step towards me but I held my hand out to stop him. "No. I get it. Trust me, you have no idea how much I get it."

He tilted his head to the side and shook it. Blue eyes wide and pleading.

"Rayna—"

I turned around and walked inside where Stefan was holding Damon down. Stefan got off of Damon and stood, turning to face Klaus. Damon also stood and checked over me. The red contrasted with the white of my dress, and I nodded my head, showing him I was fine. He glared daggers at Klaus and dragged me behind him.

I looked over Damon's shoulder at Klaus and Stefan. "Thank you, my friend." Klaus said. "You no longer have to do as I say. You're free." he compelled him.

Damon turned and lifted me into his arms before flashing us away.

When Damon and I had arrived at the Boarding House, Elena had been worried to say the least when I was covered in blood. After explaining to her what had happened, she stop worrying. A little.

I was sat on the sofa in some fresh clothes, and Elena and Damon were pacing.

"Rain, how are you feeling?" she asked.

"For the five billionth time, I am fine, Elena."

I didn't like being fussed over. Elena often worried too much about me, not that I could blame her, but still. Just because she was fifteen minutes older...

"You shouldn't have been there." she said. "Damon, if I didn't go she shouldn't have either—"

"I know, Elena! Okay?! I know! It's a mistake I won't be making again." he said, taking a large gulp of bourbon as I sipped from my glass.

I laughed. "Hey, Damon. When you said you wanted a drink later this wasn't what I had in mind."

He stopped pacing and rolled his eyes, but looked at me fondly.

Damon and I had a strange relationship. He was my best friend, and I knew he cared about me in his own way. Everyone knew it. He treated me like a sister, almost.

"How did this happen?" Elena asked, and Damon's face turned hard again.

He was mad at himself, more than anyone else. That much I could tell.

"We thought of everything, Elena. Klaus having hybrids, Mikael turning on us we brought in Katherine so you weren't in danger. Anything that could've gone wrong, we were prepared."

"I don't understand. Stefan wanted Klaus dead, more than anyone. That's what we were counting on."

"We blew it."

"Where's Katherine?" I asked.

"She ran for the hills like usual," Damon said, taking

another gulp of bourbon. "Whenever things get bad and who blames her? Klaus would've crushed her."

"I had him. I had Klaus. This could've all been over!" he yelled, throwing a glass of bourbon in the fire.

"Hey, Damon. Hey!" Elena said.

I rolled my eyes. "Step away from the angry vampire, Elena."

She didn't listen to me, so I sighed and looked down at the glass in my hands, ignoring them.

Elena was right. Stefan wanted Klaus dead more than anyone.

So why did he save him? And why did he save me?

OG AUTHOR'S NOTE:

A/N— Basically, in the show Stefan felt enough to save Damon. Therefore, I changed it slightly so he let enough emotions in to save Rayna. There are some thank you's I feel I need to make. I will start doing these every chapter but first I want to especially thank winxgirl1997 and chibichibi98 for always being among the first to review. Yours and everyone's positive feedback really makes my day, and it probably doesn't mean anything to any of you, but thank you

because knowing that people enjoy my writing and that I am making people happy means a lot to me. I would also like to thank yet again, Hermione Voldemort Riddle for all of her amazing advice, feedback and help. It really means a lot! Please Review. Constructive criticism welcome.

UPLOADER'S NOTE: Yet again, the bold and underline functions are not working. But yeah, this is getting quicker. I think now it just takes me like 30 minutes to upload a chapter which is much better than the time I was doing before. I'll see if I can upload one more chapter right now.