It's funny how we take things for granted in life.

Sometimes it's just little things, like a kiss when you get home from school and a question about your day. A breakfast brought to your bedroom in the early hours of the morning as you lie in your bed, your face a pale white and your temperature sky high.

Like waking up every morning, knowing that those whom you love are alive, are healthy, are safe...

My parents… Jenna.

John.

When people leave, I don't think you can ever really move on.

Which was precisely why I needed Jeremy. I needed him, Elena and Ric.

I needed them all, more than anything. Because when push comes to shove, family is all you have left.

Did that make me selfish? That I would want my brother to stay, even though there was a possibility he would be safer somewhere else?

Maybe it did.

Maybe I deserved this.

But Elena? Elena never deserved any of this. It wasn't fair.

I stared out of the car window. Everything that we drove past just became a blur of trees and road and darkness. Something swelled inside of me. A raw emotion.

Fear.

It was a feeling I hated above all, and yet recently I was feeling it much more than I should have.

Including now.

Stefan had kidnapped me and my sister.

But, like I said. Could this be karma for wanting Jeremy to stay with me?

I didn't know.

I didn't want to know.

I sat in the back of the car, glaring daggers at the back of Stefan's head.

I had trusted Stefan— this Stefan— to an extent, at least.

And now...

I had always been able to trust my instincts. And now it seemed they had lead me astray.

"So what's the plan, Stefan?" Elena asked with barely concealed rage. "What's the big move you're making?"

I didn't even have to listen to his reply to know what he would say. It was so blatantly obvious.

"I took Klaus' family to make him suffer. I'm not gonna let him..." I didn't quite catch the rest, but Elena's voice was loud and angry enough for me to hear. I was pretty sure he was speeding.

Of course. He was using us as leverage.

Once more, we were mere pawns in someone else's game. "So then what are you gonna do, huh? Are you gonna lock us in some cage and keep us hostage?" she asked.

"Maybe I'll just turn you both into vampires."

The way he said it, as though he sounded so sure of himself. It made me want to believe this was an act. That he wasn't actually prepared to do any of this, he was just pushing us away because it was easier for him to be a Ripper without us.

I didn't know what to believe, much less what to think of it all.

The only reason I hadn't given an aneurysm was that he was driving, and fast. Too fast.

I gripped onto the seat, trying to slow down my breathing. The sheer terror that Stefan was prepared to kill my sister and I, mixed with the fear of actually having a panic attack made it harder to breathe properly.

"Stop the car, Stefan!" Elena yelled. "STOP THE CAR,

STEFAN!"

He didn't answer. Elena looked back at me as Stefan got his phone out and began to dial a number.

'Are you okay?' She mouthed.

I shook my head. All of my anger at her was forgotten, and was now directed at Stefan.

Stefan was the one that came to Mystic Falls. Stefan was the one that started all of this.

Everything that happened was because of Stefan.

... Stefan saved Elena's life. Stefan saved my life. Stefan had saved us all at some point. He had been our protector— and Elena's... he was Elena's first love.

And now he was prepared to kill us both.

Stefan put the phone on speaker and Elena faced forwards again.

"Stefan, how nice to hear your voice." Klaus' voice came from the phone.

I'd never been happier to hear Klaus' voice in my life.

But I remembered that twenty four hours ago I had hoped Klaus would save my life... How wrong I had been.

But perhaps him not saving me from Mikael didn't mean he'd let Stefan kill me.

Perhaps.

Honestly, it was a little hard to keep track. It was as though the world couldn't quite decided if Elena and I should live or not.

Twenty four hours ago, Mikael had been alive.

Stefan had saved me when Klaus didn't. I had to hold onto that. I had to hold on to the hope that my sister, at least, was going to live until tomorrow. Because this was a situation in which I was completely powerless.

"Tell your hybrids to get outta town, Klaus." Stefan demanded.

"Well, that's not gonna happen until I get my coffins back."

"Okay. Well then I'm gonna drive your blood source off Wickery Bridge."

"I don't believe you, Stefan. You won't kill her."

Stefan let go of the steering wheel and bit his wrist before forcing it into Elena's mouth.

She started to cough as he put his hands back on the steering wheel. I gasped. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"What's going on?"

"I just fed her my blood! No more hybrids if she's a vampire. And Rayna still has my blood in her system from when I healed her, you know, when you let your dad try to kill her." Stefan said venemously.

"Rayna?"

"Klaus." I said. What had meant to come out as a yell for help, sounded more like a quiet beg. But with his vampire hearing, I knew he would still have heard me.

Stefan was beginning to drive faster.

"Say goodbye to your family, Klaus!" Stefan yelled. "Your Doppelganger... Your Prophet."

Elena screamed as he drove even faster. "STEFAN, SLOW DOWN!"

"STEFAN!" I shrieked. "STEFAN STOP IT!"

"Fine! I'll send them away! You win! Just stop the car."

"STEFAN!" I cried. "STEFAN STOP!"

"STOP THE CAR STEFAN!" Klaus bellowed.

Elena and I screamed as we skidded to a halt. My whole body jolted forwards.

"... Rayna?!"

Elena looked back at me as I tried to steady my breathing, or rather, I tried to breathe.

There were tears in her eyes.

"She's— She's having a panic attack." Elena said, looking at me concernedly. I could tell she was distraught from only her voice. "Just breathe." she whispered, stroking my hair.

My lungs felt like they were burning.

This wasn't a panic attack. This was... this was something else entirely.

Stefan ended the phone call and Elena climbed out of the car, slamming it shut before running around and helping me out. I practically fell onto the ground.

It was then that I realized we were on the bridge that my parents died on.

I stood up and Elena wrapped her arms around me as my breathing slowed, before she grabbed my hand and started walking away from Stefan.

"Get back in the car." Stefan ordered, slamming the car door behind him.

"Stay away from us." she cried, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Rayna, Elena, get back in the car!"

"HOW COULD YOU?!" She screamed, spinning on her heel. "Our parents died on this bridge...I almost died. You knew that... You're the one who saved me."

"Look, he had to believe that I would do it, alright? Your fear sold it." Stefan said, looking at me.

There was emotion in his eyes.

Maybe, a few hours ago, that would have given me hope.

Or even a few minutes ago.

But I just didn't care about that any more. It was pretty damn obvious he didn't feel anything.

I should just give up... But I can't. I have to fix him. How do I fix him?

"Well, what if he hadn't?" I asked. "What if he hadn't believed you, Stefan?"

"He did."

"BUT WHAT IF HE HADN'T?!"

"HE DID, RAYNA. HE BACKED DOWN. HE HAS A WEAKNESS, IF I KNOW HIS WEAKNESS, I CAN DESTROY HIM!"

I closed my mouth and swallowed.

"After everything, that's what mattered?" I asked. "Destroying Klaus?"

This was...

This was too far now.

The realization hit me, like a ton of bricks and it weighed my whole body down. Stefan was prepared to let Elena and I — no. No, that didn't matter. I didn't matter— I didn't care about me, as long as Elena was safe. Stefan was prepared to let Elena die, so he could get one over on Klaus? I couldn't let him hurt my sister.

I couldn't let him kill Klaus— which was what he was hell bent on doing. It was wrong.

It would make Stefan just as bad as Klaus.

Isn't he already?

"Destroying Klaus is all I have left."

"You had me!" Elena yelled.

He shook his head. "I lost you the minute I left town with him. You just haven't let yourself admit that yet."

"But you always had me." I whispered. He avoided my gaze.

But, as usual, I'm not enough.

"Is that what you're doing, trying to make me hate you?" she asked, having not heard me. "Trying to push everyone away?"

"I don't really care what you think about me anymore, Elena." he said.

We watched as he walked away from us and into his car, before driving off.

There had been a time, not so long ago, where Rebekah had cried on my shoulder after the revelation of Klaus murdering her mother.

I had thought that I couldn't begin to imagine the hollow, empty feeling of being betrayed by the person you trusted the most.

But now I understood it much better than I thought possible. A few weeks ago, in the summer, I had relied on Stefan to save me from Klaus.

Now it was Klaus that had saved me from Stefan.

Elena pulled out her phone. "I'm calling Damon to come pick us up, okay?" her voice was shaky, but I didn't mention this.

I shook my head. "Elena, I can't go in a car again. Ever. I just... I just can't right now, okay?"

"Rain, I really don't think you should live your life afraid of cars because—"

It seemed so pathetic. I knew that. Elena was the one in the car with my parents, Elena was the one who nearly died and I was the one too scared to even...

But I couldn't do it. At least, not yet. Not for a long time.

"I can't." I shook my head. "Please, I'll walk home." "It's not safe for you to go alone."

"I'll be fine, and I'll call you when I get home. Please." I begged.

"Fine." she sighed, and she pulled me in for a hug. "I'm sorry." I told her.

"Yeah... Me too."

In the end, Damon had walked us both home.

Though it hurt what Stefan had done, I had to push those bad feelings aside.

Too much was going on in my life to drown in self pity like a pathetic school girl. I had to be strong... I didn't think about it again, for the rest of the night. I avoided the thought of my brother, too...

But I didn't sleep, either.

The next morning, I was awake at an hour no human should ever be awake at. To make matters worse, I was in the gym.

Because apparently, Mystic Falls has a gym.

Mystic Falls has a gym.

... I didn't know either.

I was there because Ric had said, and I quote, "You're stronger than Elena so your training schedule will be more... complicated. You're going to start going to the gym every morning. And no, you don't have a choice."

Which translates to, "You're stronger than Elena so I'm going to put you through physical and mental torture every morning... And there is no escape."

So there I stood in my gym outfit, which was some clothes Caroline had ordered to wear over the phone when I had called asking what people wore in the gym. Of course she told me this after yelling at me for waking her up at 5am.

"I want you to spend twenty minutes," Ric said, pointing to the tread mill, "on the tread mill."

I looked at him blankly. "What's a treadmill?"

"Training-time is serious-time, Rain."

"I'm being serious." I told him. "What's a treadmill?"

He looked at me helplessly.

"Joking." I said. "Gosh, Ric, calm down." I stood on the treadmill. I looked at all the buttons. "So which setting do I - AHHHHHHH!" I screamed as I fell flat on my face.

Ric helped me up after quickly turning the tread mill off.

"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly, looking at my head for any injuries.

I gingerly touched my face.

"Yep." I said, grimacing. "But tomorrow my face will just be one big bruise... eugh." I shuddered.

"Oh my God, are you okay?!" A voice asked. I turned around to see Taylor.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Taylor Lautner.

Taylor is this guy from school. He was in my year, and one of Tyler's friends from football.

And he was very, very attractive.

He looked like a younger, blonder Alex Pettyfer.

My eyes were wide. Like a deer caught in headlights.

"Uh," I said dumbly. "Hi there."

Hi there?! a voice in my head, which sounded very much like Caroline, shrieked. Is that all you can come up with?! Say something else!

"So, what are you doing here?"

Yeah, what could he be doing in the gym, I wonder.

"Just working out." he laughed. "I saw you fall and just wondered—"

"Why the hell I don't know how to use a tread mill?" I asked, smirking.

He laughed.

Someone cleared their throat.

Way to ruin the moment, Ric.

He was standing with his arms crossed, watching Taylor who was slightly shorter than him through narrowed eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. See you at school." Taylor said, glancing awkwardly at Ric, "Bye Mr Saltzman." before leaving.

I glared at my now least favourite teacher.

"What? Don't even think about it, Rain. I teach that boy— I know what he's like."

I folded my arms across my chest sulkily.

"You know, you don't have to pretend to be okay." Ric said, frowning down at me. My arms dropped to my sides. "Elena told me what happened last night... You don't always have to pretend everything is normal when it isn't. I know that you're hurting, Rayna. And that's normal... It's harder for you without Jeremy, and now without Stefan too. But you don't always have to be the strong one."

"Yeah." I said with conviction. "I do."

He stared at me a while before shaking his head and sighing.

"You shouldn't have put it on the highest setting. You start off at a slow walking pace and then go faster." he said as though Taylor had never been here and our previous conversation hadn't existed.

"You could have told me before I fell on my face and broke every bone in my body!"

"Rayna," he said in his parenting tone. "You have not broken every bone in your body."

"Well it sure feels like it to me... Where is Elena anyway?"

"Out running again." he said.

I roared with laughter. "Training-time is serious-time, Ric." I mocked.

"I'm being serious."

I laughed again. "Yeah, she probably told you that. If I know my sister, and I do, she's in bed right now. Twin telepathy, Saltzman."

He laughed.

"So why are you at the gym, then?" I asked. "This doesn't have anything to do with a certain Doctor Fell, does it? The tall, sexy, gorgeous Meredith." I said, making kissy faces. Ric blushed. "Getting buff to impress, are we? Does her doctor's uniform turn you on or is it just her—"

"Back on the treadmill, Rayna." he ordered in a teacher- ish fashion, glaring at me.

I grinned.

"Back. On. The. Treadmill."

"Aw, but, Ric! You can't seriously make me go back on there!"

"I'm deadly serious." He told me. "Training-time is serious-time."

I sat in the kitchen with Elena and Bonnie, as my twin and I helped her look through many pictures of 'Abby Bennett's' from all over the country. Apparently, Bonnie thought her mom could help them open the coffin.

I was glad she could finally meet her mom again. Whether she wanted to or not, I knew Bonnie needed to talk to her.

Everyone needs their mom.

"You know you don't have to, right? Let Stefan obsess over the coffins. It doesn't have to fall on you." Elena said. She glanced sideways at me.

She was a little annoyed at me because I didn't tell her about the coffins.

But she waited months to tell me about vampires.

And she made Jeremy leave without asking my opinion first.

So I didn't feel too guilty about it.

Though, her and I were on speaking terms I was still awaiting a proper apology.

Not that I wouldn't forgive her, but, a little closure from her wouldn't have gone amiss.

It would help if she wasn't so damn stubborn.

"Actually, the coffin's spelled shut." Bonnie said. "That makes it a witch problem so it does fall on me." She glanced sideways at me.

And Rayna.

The words were unspoken, but they didn't need to be said.

We all knew it was true.

My supernatural abilities and my unwavering, ever present need to protect my sister, my family, and my friends from anything or anyone made it impossible for me to ever lead a normal life, or a life where I stayed away from all the supernatural goings on.

A peaceful, normal life did not seem to be in the cards for me.

I spent the rest of the day at home, rather than going on a road trip with Elena and Bonnie.

After spending a surprisingly relaxing day at home doing my homework, I was completely calm when I lay on my bed in pyjamas. I was ready to drift off to sleep.

All day, I'd busied myself with my studies— did anything to avoid thinking about how... lonely things were becoming.

I hadn't spoken to Tyler properly in ages. Or Caroline. They were sorting out their own problems, and while I wanted nothing more than to help them, I was so busy helping Damon, Elena, Ric or Stefan— I physically couldn't, not to mention that I was emotionally drained. With school, training with Ric, homework, housework, studying and my busy supernatural life I was completely drained.

But today had been quite therapeutic.

I guess I should have known it wouldn't last.

"It's like, eight and you're in bed, already." a voice said. And it wasn't mine.

I jumped up and glared at Damon, who was sat at the foot of my bed, smirking.

I threw a pillow at him, which he caught with ease. "Nice aim."

"Thank you. Ric has been training me."

Wait... was he being sarcastic?

He frowned. "Is that why there's a bruise on your cheek?" he asked, looking at me with concern. "Is it from the whole treadmill incident or do I have to kick someone's ass?"

"He told you?" I sighed. Thanks, Ric. "And yeah, it's from the treadmill." I said, before muttering under my breath. "Stupid bloody thing."

"Yeah he told me." he smirked. "Not your finest hour... It looks like someone punched you, though." he said, gesturing to the large black bruise on my left cheek.

"I know." I replied dully. "You know, if there was ever a time for vampire blood to heal me, I think this would be that

—"

"Elena would kill me."

"Oh." I said. "Sorry, I just assumed that you weren't completely whipped yet."

"I'm over a hundred years old, Rayna. If you're going to attempt reverse psychology on me, you're going to have to do better than that."

"I wasn't... Fine, okay?! Maybe I was."

"Anyway, there's a big coffin with your name on it so hurry up."

WHAT THE-?! "DAMON!"

He chuckled. "Relax, Rayna. I'm sure you'd see your own death coming. I need to see if one of our witches can figure out how to open the last coffin. Bonnie's taking too long."

"Oh, Bonnie's taking too long so I'm the last resort? I see how it is."

He rolled his eyes. "Get dressed."

"I will when you leave."

"Do I have to?"

"Nope. But if you value your life then yeah, you kinda do have to."

"You're no fun." he pouted.

"Actually, I am fun, just not the kinda fun you're thinking of."

"Whatever, just meet me there in half an hour."

"It takes longer than half an hour to walk there, Damon."

"Then face your fears and—" I glared at him. "Never mind."

There are so many stairs in this place, I thought as I ran down the stairs. The old witches' house was creepy in the daytime, and at night...

I shivered involuntarily as a familiar low voice cut through the air.

"... I will tear you limb from limb, and only then when you are a writhing mass of blood and flesh, will I rip your heart from your chest." Klaus said in a dangerous tone.

I would never admit this, but I'd never heard anyone with as good comebacks or threats as Klaus.

I rounded the corner to see him standing intimidatingly before Damon.

"Sorry," the aforementioned Salvatore spoke, "Same rules apply. You know, leverage and all. I know you want your family back, but something tells me you want what's in that coffin a lot more."

I looked at the three coffins, to see the large fourth one was missing.

The one which Bonnie couldn't open. Damon walked past Klaus and towards me.

"You totally just owned an original." I whispered. He rolled his eyes.

"Sorry." I whispered as he led me away. "Am I ruining your dramatic exit?"

"Yes."

Damon picked me up and flashed us away, and when I opened my eyes I was on my front porch.

He let me down gently, and I thanked him.

"Damon, what have you done?" I asked him. There was a strange glint in his eyes. Almost... victorious.

"You remember, Elijah, don't you?" he asked, smirking. "You can thank me later."

"You un-daggered him?!" I yelled, before a grin slowly made it's way on my face.

Dear Diary,

That is how you start one of these things, right? I mean— technically this isn't even a diary. Just an old sketchpad with a small doodle on the first page. I can't be bothered going out to buy a diary right now, seeing as realistically I'm never going to use this again. But— I mean, Caroline and Elena both have one. And it's either this or make a grimoire; but I don't know how to speak Latin, so I'm going with this— because keeping a diary is apparently a normal thing to do. Last night, around twenty four hours ago... After the whole Stefan thing— let's not get into that. It's too soon and I haven't even talked to Elena about it. I still haven't thanked Klaus yet.

Should I thank him? He saved my life... But only because of my powers. And he was probably just doing it to save his blood source.

But does that matter? He saved my sister's life. I owe him.

Anyway, I had a sort of panic attack. Which is normal, I mean I've had them before— except this time it was different. It felt like, rather than trying to breathe I was trying to keep something in. Something powerful. Was I going to pull a Peter Petrelli and explode? I don't know, but—

I stopped writing, hearing my phone start to ring. I picked it up.

"Care?"

"Rayna? It's— It's my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah— he's— he's..."

"Start at the beginning." I told her calmly.

"Okay, well, last night Tyler told me he loved me in the woods, and then—"

"Care, that's great!" I beamed.

She giggled. "Thanks, anyway— so we kissed and stuff, and then this morning he ran into my dad, who's back in town, as you know."

"I haven't seen him yet."

"Oh, well, that get's me onto the next thing. Tyler was letting my dad teach him to try and break free of the sire bond."

"That's amazing!"

"I know— but then Tyler attacked my dad and... He's okay, though. He's in the hospital. But tomorrow morning, can you come—"

"Of course I'll come with you, Care. How is he?"

"He's... he hasn't changed." she said. "And how are you?"

"I'm... I don't know what I am. Tyler told me he loved me and... I don't know."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Thanks."

"Night, Care."

"Night, Rain."

I put the phone down beside me and continued to write.

Care just called. I'm going tomorrow to visit her dad in hospital. I hope he's okay. I have... a bad feeling.

I always have a bad feeling.

OG AUTHOR'S NOTE: A/N— For the purposes of this story, Tyler never bit Caroline — Klaus never ordered him to. Thank you so much for all the reviews last chapter got! Over a hundred, already! Wow. Thank you all. Please continue to read, review and PM me. How did you all like this chapter? What does everyone think about Stefan and Klaus and even Taylor? He's an OC, so I'm wondering if I should include him in future chapters or not? Until next time.

UPLOADER'S NOTE: YAY! New Chapter!