OG AUTHOR'S NOTE:

A/N— I took a risk this chapter. A part of it is done in Stefan's POV (Don't worry, it is made clear when it is and isn't Stefan in charge of narrative), so I'm not sure how you will all react to that. Please read the Author's note at the end. It's VERY important. Enjoy!

I lay in my bed and stared up at the ceiling. Silent, motionless. Numb.

I didn't flinch when I felt the pressure on the mattress shift as someone sat on my bed.

"You know," he said, "Jeremy and Elena are painting his room. It might be good for you to—"

"No." I said simply. "Some of us aren't ready to move on. I can't just pretend he never existed. I can't just act like someone else I love didn't die."

"Nobody expects you to move on, Rain." he explained gently. "Maybe the distraction would be good."

I sit up slowly and look at him. Stefan smiled reassuringly.

"Okay." I sighed.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." he said.

I walked into Ric's room to see Elena painting. "Where's Jeremy?" I asked, a slight edge to my voice. She turned and faced me. "In his room, I guess."

I nodded before grabbing a paint brush and moving to the far wall.

"What is it?" she asked me.

"It's almost as though I care about him more than you do." I said, loud enough for her to hear.

"I did care about him, Rain. But I have to move on. We all do. We can't dwell in the past, we have to..." I heard her drop the paint brush and she walked around so that she was standing next to me. I kept my eyes on the wall. My eyes were cold, focused. I wasn't going to get emotional in front of her.

"Look," she sighed. "I know it's hard. I know you're scared. So am I. I mean, we don't have anyone to take care of us anymore."

"It isn't that. I'm not scared, I mean I don't even care about that."

"Then what is it?" she asked gently.

I shrugged and looked at her. "Maybe we don't need anyone to take care of us."

She looked at me confused. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I loved my sister. But her and I... We had very different views on things. While she needed Stefan or Damon, and a parental figure to take care of her, I didn't. I could make it on my own, and she was strong. Stronger than me. She could make it on her own. She just didn't believe that she could. She needed people to rely on.

"It doesn't matter." I said, shaking my head.

"I don't just miss him for that." she said. "I miss coming home and being able to talk to him, yunno?" I nodded, a sad smile on my face. "But," she continued, "I guess the reason I'm not... That I am able to distract myself is that I still have you and Jere. I've been taking you for granted lately," I opened my mouth to argue but she raised a hand. "Don't." she said. "I know that I have, and I'm sorry. But with all that's been happening... We need to stick together. Not just us and Jeremy, mainly us. You and me. Because Jeremy hates this, all of this vampire stuff. We need to stick together, so that we can protect each other and to protect him."

I nodded my head. "I guess I've taken you for granted too." she pulled me in for a hug, almost suffocating me in the process, but I found myself not minding so much.

We pulled apart as her phone began to ring.

She walked over to the table and put down her paintbrush before picking it up, and looking at the caller ID.

"Who's that?" I asked almost cautiously. The expression on her face told me that something was wrong.

She looked over at me, and turned the phone around so that I could see the caller ID on the screen.

Alaric.

I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of me, and I snatched the phone from her hands, taking her by surprise.

I pressed accept and put the phone to my ear.

"Whoever the hell this is," my voice was dangerously low. "This is not funny. So, I suggest that you refrain from calling this number again. Because you will regret it."

"Who else would it be?" a familiar voice asked. "R-Ric?"

Elena looked at me, eyes wide. I put the phone on speaker.

She came to stand beside me.

"Listen closely." Alaric said. I saw her tense at the sound of his voice. "I'm at the school. I have Caroline. And if you want to keep her alive, I want you both to get in your car, and come down here right away. If you tell anyone where you are going, I will kill her."

The line went dead.

My twin and I shared a look of dismay. This was a trap. A trap to lure us in. But we had no choice. There was no way in hell either of us were going to let Care get hurt.

Elena and I walked down the hallway, me leading the way.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"Well," I said, walking at a brisk pace. "Considering he is using the home-field advantage— I'd say probably in his classroom." I said dryly.

"Then we're going the wrong way." she said. "I know." I shrugged, stopping at my locker.

"What are you doing?" she asked. "This is hardly the time to—"

I opened the door to my locker to reveal it filled with some familiar objects. Ric's weapons, from the house. There was a slingshot, three knives, two stakes and a syringe. I smirked as Elena's eyes widened.

It would have been stupid of me not to get these weapons before facing Alaric. I was powerful enough to hold him off for a while, but not for long enough to snap his neck, and surely not enough for Caroline to escape.

"I don't have any pockets." she whispered.

I gestured to her boots, and she nodded, grabbing a knife and sliding it down the back of her boot.

I grabbed the syringe and put it in my pocket before putting the second stake in my boot and the small knife in my pocket.

I slammed the locker door shut. My twin and I nodded to each other before heading towards the history classroom.

We stopped in the doorway, and I let out a shaky breath as I took in the sight before me.

Caroline was sat in a chair, a cloth covering her mouth.

He hands nailed to the desk in front of her with pencils.

She was crying.

And Alaric was just sat there, examining mine and Elena's faces.

I felt nothing but hatred for him in that moment.

He wasn't Ric. He was Alaric. And he wouldn't be the Ric I knew for a long time, probably not ever again. But that didn't matter now. I would mourn him later. I had to push all of those feelings aside. My guardian was dead.

"Let her go, Alaric." I said with strength I didn't feel.

"Free her yourself." he said.

I stared at him, and didn't move as Elena went to free Caroline.

We came all this way and he would just let her go? No.

"Elena, stop." I ordered. But my sister didn't listen. She just gave me a 'What the hell?' look.

I ignored the look of hurt and confusion on Caroline's face.

"Elena, listen to me, stop!"

But Elena didn't listen, and she pulled one of the pencils out of Caroline's hands. "Elena!"

In less than a second, Alaric was standing in front of them, plunging the pencil back. I gasped and ran to her side. "I'm gonna get you outta here," I promised. "Okay?" She nodded, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Just hang in there." I whispered as Elena yelled, "You said that you would let her go!"

"How many times do I have to tell you, Elena?!" Ric yelled. "Stop trusting vampires!"

Alaric moved to his desk at the front of the classroom as Elena sat down in the seat next to Care. I knelt on the ground in front of her as she whimpered.

Turning my head around slowly, I saw Alaric press his phone to his ear. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was distracted.

I turned back to Caroline and put my hand on her arm gently.

"I'm going to take some of the pain away," I whispered so quietly, I was surprised that even she, a vampire, could hear.

Her eyes filled with something akin to relief and she nodded mutely.

Closing my eyes, I focused hard, before opening them again.

The veins on her arms became black, as did the veins on mine as I sucked out some of her pain and let it flow into me.

It was almost unbearable. Like there was a fire in my throat and my hands trembled as I took the pain away from hers.

And this was only half of what she was going through.

She looked like a somewhat sizeable weight had been removed from her, and she nodded at me, signalling to stop. But I shook my head. No, if this was the only way I could help at the moment then I would.

Until I heard Alaric get out of his seat. Quickly, I removed my hands from her arms and clenched my fists, trying to ignore the pain that still lingered.

I watched as he placed a beaker filled with an amber liquid onto the desk next to us.

Vervain.

He removed the cloth that was tied over her mouth before soaking it in the vervain.

That explained why her throat had been burning.

"No more, please, no more." she whimpered.

"Alaric, stop." Elena said.

"Sit down." he growled, pushing her back onto the chair.

It became quickly apparent that any attempt I made would end the same way, or worse. So, again, I made the only protest I could. A silent one.

"This keeps the vervain in her system. It's like inhaling razor blades with every breath."

Caroline gasped as he tied the cloth around her mouth.

It required more power, more energy. But, using my mind, I focused hard, until the sensation of razor blades scraping the insides of my throat could be felt.

I bit my tongue to keep from crying out, and showed no emotion except one. Anger. My body began to shake, which Alaric would never think of as pain, but only rage at him.

"Why are you doing this?" Elena asked, completely oblivious as to what I was doing.

"To make it easier on you when you put her out of her misery." Alaric replied.

"What?" Elena asked. "No!"

"Isn't this what you wanted, Elena?" Alaric asked. "For me to teach you how to kill a vampire? Well, here's a vampire, Elena. Kill her."

He held out the stake to her.

"This isn't what I want." she said adamantly.

"Of course it is. All those hours you spent training, getting stronger. You could be a hunter, Elena. But you've never actually staked a vampire through the heart... And speaking of hearts." he said, turning towards me. "Why is it, that when I try to choke a vampire," his eyes glance towards Caroline, "With vervain your heartbeat picks up?"

"I'm angry at you for hurting her!"

"Anger." he scoffed. "Rayna, if you were just angry you'd have spoken a lot more. Go and sit over there." he pointed towards the desk next to Caroline.

"No." I bit out.

In a flash, he threw me into the seat and Caroline whimpered again.

"Whatever heroic notion it is that you have which makes you think that relieving a killer of some of it's pain... It would be wise to ignore it."

"Then stop hurting her! You wanna make a point, huh? Speak to us! You don't need to hurt her, she has nothing to do with this!"

"She has everything to do with this, Rayna! Don't you see?" he asked. "It is my responsibility to teach the both of you, he looked at Elena and then back at me, "The difference between wrong and right. A line that has obviously become very blurred to the both of you."

"How is this right?!" I exclaimed.

"She's a murderer." he said, pointing at her with the white oak stake. "She told me she killed someone and liked it. How is that right?! Listen, Rayna, your parents led the council. It was their life's mission to keep this town safe. They weren't dead six months before you undid it all," he said, looking at Elena.

"You don't know anything about them." she said.

"Why?" he asked, turning to me. "Am I wrong? Do you actually think that they'd be proud of you? Listen, if you don't side with the humans... You're just as bad as them. Now kill her." he handed the stake to me. "I trained you to do this. It's what we spent hours upon hours working towards." he grabbed me and pulled me up so that I was facing Caroline. "Don't you want to protect Elena? Jeremy? How long before she slips up and hurts one of them?"

I raised the stake into the air, my eyes locking with Caroline's big blue-green ones.

And I didn't see suspicion. I didn't see fear, or pre- judgement. She trusted me. She knew what I was going to do, almost before I did. I turned around and plunged the stake towards Ric, who caught me by the wrist.

"I thought I taught you better than that." he said, glaring at me.

I picked up the beaker of vervain from the desk. "You did." I said, before smashing it against the left side of his face.

"AAARRRGHHH!" He yelled, doubling over. I ran over to Caroline and Elena helped me untie her and pull out the pencils.

"Get help!" Elena yelled, pushing us both forwards. Alaric flashed behind Caroline and I, just infront of Elena. "No!" I yelled, as Caroline grabbed me and flashed us

both away.

Caroline stopped running and we both spun around, looking back at the classroom, and then at each other.

I felt a hand over my mouth and before I knew it I was flashed away again.

"Sh-shh," a voice whispered in my ear, "It's okay, it's me," I looked to the side and saw him, Caroline stood next to us, her head flicking between us and the classroom as though she wasn't sure where to go, or where to stay. "It's okay, you're safe," Klaus said, taking his hand off my mouth. "We'll save Elena, you go straight home. You stay inside, do you understand?" He spun me around to face him, and looked me seriously in the eyes. "Do you understand me?"

I nodded slowly, swallowing the lump which had formed in my throat. "Thank you." I said almost breathlessly.

He hesitated, before turning to Caroline. "Make sure she gets home, and she stays there."

Caroline nodded, and he sent a last look at me before flashing away.

I threw my arms around Caroline, and she hugged me back tightly.

"Thank you for coming," she said, "For saving me."

I looked around to find that she had flashed us outside her car in the car park.

"I'll take my car." I told her.

She nodded, before climbing into her own and I walked over to my car, knowing she was watching me as she drove away.

When she was out of sight, I ran back to the school.

I ran along the hallways, my stake in hand, and I stopped short as I saw Damon and Stefan lying on the floor unconscious.

Elena was gathering her breath as Alaric mounted Klaus, the white oak stake mere inches from his heart.

But I didn't have enough time to process what was happening before Elena's words echoed across the halls.

"Let him go, or I'll kill myself!"

She was holding a knife to her throat. The knife I had given her.

I cursed myself silently for being stupid enough to give an aspiring martyr a pointy object.

"Put it down, Elena." Alaric said.

"Why?" she asked. "Because you still need me alive? There's a reason why Esther used me to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal. So she tied your life to a human one. Mine. That way you only have one lifespan to kill all vampires and then you'll be gone. So when I die, you die too. That's it. It has to be!"

"You're wrong." Alaric said.

"Am I?" she asked.

"ELENA, DON'T!" I screamed as she began to cut her throat.

"Stop!" Alaric ordered. "STOP! STOP! STOP!"

Thankfully, she complied. Just as Klaus pushed Alaric off of him.

I felt someone grab me, and yet again I was dragged away at vampire-speed.

He stopped running and I blinked several times. Moving at such a speed was quite disorientating.

We were in a room. A bedroom.

I coughed awkwardly. "Uh, is this your—"

"No."

I frowned. Something wasn't right. "Elena." I whipped around to face him. "Where is she?"

"She's in the other room." he said, avoiding my eyes. He moved towards the door.

There was no windows in the room.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"Apparently, my mother took Elena's blood when turning your guardian into a vampire. Her life is tied to his... You're going to stay here until Alaric is dead."

My eyes widened in realization. "You can't kill her! She's my sister!"

"It's the only way to kill him."

"No, it's not. Klaus, Esther took my blood too." he looked at me for the first time.

"What?"

"A witch can only tie someone's life to one other person's. Not two. It doesn't work that way. It's me or Elena, Klaus. You can't kill her! What if— what if you do and Alaric still lives, huh? If you're gonna kill someone, kill me."

He swallowed, before saying, "Stay here."

"Klaus—" he flashed away, slamming the door behind him. "KLAUS!" I screamed, running to the door. It was locked. "KLAUS!" I banged my fists against the solid, metal door. "DON'T YOU DARE EVEN TOUCH HER! KLAUS!" I screamed, my body shaking. "I CAN'T LOSE HER! DON'T TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME TOO!"

Stefan's POV

After unlocking it, I pushed the metal door open and walked inside the room.

She was curled in a ball in the corner. "Rain?" I asked, rushing to her side.

She lifted her head and looked at me with big blue eyes, filled with unspeakable sorrow, they were alight with hope, but also with dread. Her skin was pale, and she was trembling.

"E-Elena."

"She's safe." Tyler said, before I could. I turned my head to see him standing at the doorway, arms folded across his chest. "She's okay. Damon's in the car with her, outside."

She let out a shaky breath and closed her eyes, relief covering her features. She shook her head. "I hate him."

I frowned, about to ask who, when Tyler spoke up again. "We dessicated him."

It was her turn to frown slightly, and she nodded her head, as though trying to convince herself of something.

Then she stood up, holding her chin high. "I'm going to see my sister."

Rayna's POV

I held my chin high, before walking out of the room and down the halls. Surprisingly, I found my way out of the house quite quickly and ran down the stairs before throwing my arms around Elena, practically knocking her over.

"I'm okay, Rain." she laughed, her voice slightly raspy. I clung onto her tightly.

Stefan and Damon walked us to the front door, and I sensed a love triangle heart to heart coming on so I walked straight into the house to see Caroline, Bonnie, Matt, Jeremy and Tyler in the kitchen.

"Welcome to our victory party!" Caroline beamed. "C'mon, let's do some shots!" Jeremy grinned, holding a glass to me knowing I was more likely to allow him to drink than Elena.

"You mean, you want me to sit here, pretend that someone I loved like family isn't dead slash a complete psycho, and celebrate 'getting rid' of someone? I think I'll pass. I am glad that everybody is okay and well. And I don't want to dampen anyone's moods or anything, so, I'll be upstairs brooding. Congratulations on your freedom, Ty."

"Uh... Thanks." he said.

I smiled slightly before turning around and walking upstairs, feeling slightly guilty as I did so. I didn't want to dampen everyone's mood. It wasn't my intention at all, honestly.

Closing the bedroom door behind me I walked towards my bed and stomped on a floorboard, hard. The other end of the loose floorboard lifted into the air and, kneeling down, I picked out the small sketchbook which had been underneath the floorboard.

Dear Diary,

I can't celebrate with them. I can't celebrate at all.

My pen hovered over the paper. I took a deep breath before continuing to write.

In everything that has been happening, I'm not surprised Elena has forgotten. She seems to truly believe that it was only her. But it was me too. Esther took my blood yesterday. Not just Elena's. She took my blood, Ric drank my blood. But Esther can't have tied both of our lives to his. It's not possible. So it's one of us. It has to be just one of us.

Elena, or me.

One of us has to die.

A look of determination came over my face. And I scribbled the last eight words down, before throwing the sketchbook carelessly in the hole in the floor before covering it with the floorboard once more. The words played over and over in my head. As much as I loved Ric, I had to accept that he was gone. Alaric had to die, because he wouldn't stop until he'd killed a lot of people.

I climbed under the covers of my bed, not bothering to change into pajamas, before turning off the lamps. I let the words play in my head once more, before drifting into the first peaceful sleep I'd had in a long time.

And I'm not gonna let it be her.

OG AUTHOR'S NOTE: A/N— This is THE MOST important author's note. I know not all of you read these, so I'll keep it quick for you.

The next chapter will mark the end of season 3. This is the next to penultimate chapter. I need EVERY READER

who has enjoyed this story and who WANTS me to continue, to either review OR PM me. And I mean as many of you as possible. I have been so pleased with all of the support and the views this story has received but I need all of your opinions. This is where you can all impact the journey of this story. If anyone does want me to continue, and to do a sequel containing season 4, please review or PM me. Next chapter, I will tell you all AT THE BEGINNING, if I will be doing a sequel, and I will possibly post it at the same time but I need to know if anyone actually wants me to write one! So, basically, if you want a sequel— let me know!: P Thank you x

UPLOADER'S NOTE: Not me editing this chapter in fcking class lol. Anyway! Lots of things happening in this chapter - we're also 2 chapters away from the sequel! Yay!