A/N: (will be the same across all three updates) Heyheyhey ya girl is back just as promised! I've actually been working pretty well on this so joke's on anyone who thought I gave up LOL

Not quite on the first day on spring but let's face it, if you live up north in the USA, it's not spring yet. Though I'm sure we've all heard the heart breaking news, spoiler if you haven't but we all need to know, Supernatural is ending after this fall's fifteenth season. So my series won't be eternal since they wanna kill off my hopes and dreams -shrug- lmao jk for real though get the tissues. For those who care in the meantime, you've got this series! Monster is kicking off here with it's second half that will take care of seasons five and six of The Vampire Diaries. I will likely reference The Originals from time to time to peek in on Lethia; I have not yet decided if I'm doing a spin off.

Rise II: Devil in Me resumes with season 10 of Supernatural. A third installment (title TBD) will cover seasons 11 and 12.

And because I realized I hadn't done much with it yet I'm gonna try to shove some of the original Rise in starting today with chapter three.

Side note: there will be a new promo posted to my youtube shortly! Stay tuned for that and more updates!

Thank you to everyone who has been following and favoriting while waiting!
Here's what you were waiting so patiently for.

xoxo
Kuraki-chan

01: My Normal then Departed from Me.

For four days Nova was in and out of consciousness. Stefan and Damon found the three women entirely unconscious on the floor of the high school. After all of the catastrophe Kol had caused, the sealing and protection of the Other Side, and Nova's deadly bender they were glad to find the three still alive. Well, Katherine they couldn't have cared less about; they left her on the floor. Stefan brought Elena home, cleaned her up a bit, and laid her in her bed to rest before going to dump Silas' body. It only made sense to lock Nova in the basement while they had the chance.

When Stefan returned from Elena's house, he stopped briefly at the boarding house. He found his brother sitting in the cell with a still unconscious Nova in his lap. It was then that Stefan finally noticed Nova's hair was above her shoulders. The scattered and discarded locks along the high school's linoleum had gone mostly unnoticed to the younger brother. In all their years together Nova Vasile never had her hair shorter than the bottom of her shoulder blades. He allowed his brother a few more minutes of peace before they had to close the door. Damon took one last look at her before the steel door slammed shut and Stefan vanished.

On the fifth day, as her consciousness became more frequent, Nova started to feel the withdrawals. It began with a fever that scorched through her icy veins, then excruciating pain all across her body. Her mouth was more dry than she had ever felt in her extended life; her lips had begun to crack and split. The cold sweats drenched the already filthy clothes she had been in. It took most of what remained of her stamina to force off her torn leather jacket and let it fall to the floor. For over 24 hours straight Nova just writhed in pain on the cellar floor, not terribly hating how cold it felt against her fever. Halfway into the pain she couldn't take it anymore and started screaming. Anyone who walked into the Salvatore Boarding House could hear her.

Jeremy wanted nothing more than to at least talk to her, but his sister and Damon urged that she detox the drugs and angel blood before anyone spoke to her. Damon admitted once when she had gotten deep into the cocaine it took nearly three weeks to clear her system. She also wasn't entirely feral and purged angel blood so she was still allowed human blood. With all she had done that time around they were forced to essentially start to dessicate her and then very slowly they could bring her back to health.

Towards dusk on the eighth day Nova was panting, sweating, and dragging what was left of her nails across the cement floor. After doing it in the same spot so many times she started to leave indents and break off whatever was left for nail. Her throat was on fire from being so dry. She was wheezing and rasping. Yet still her humanity would not return.

She realized the angel blood had ruined her. It made her sick to think Carina had used such a trick to distract her. Who knew what she had missed from drowning in angel blood? Her best friend was pregnant with a tri-brid baby, to start. She found herself thinking of Zarya, wondering if the human girl was still kicking. As Nova became lucid from the drugs and angel blood leaving her system, she could feel a weight on her chest. The desire for survival was immense. Something wasn't right and it had to be Zarya.

Nova had never channeled anyone else but Lethia before. It was dangerously easy for the two of them from the Moore spell linking them. Part of her digressed momentarily and wondered how that spell would affect her during Lethia's pregnancy, or if it was even affecting Lethia at all anymore. She threw herself onto her back, her blurred vision focused on the dingy ceiling. She tried to ignore the sensations of Zarya's misery creeping towards her. Seconds ticked by like days. Had she actually died and ended up in Hell rather than the Other Side? The Other Side was still in tact and closed, wasn't it? She never thought much of Heaven or Hell, honestly. Wasn't Lucifer still in Hell? If he was, and she was, shouldn't he be bashing her skull through some Cage or flames already? No, she wasn't in Hell and she wasn't on the Other Side. She was very much alive and very much going crazy.

She began wavering in and out of consciousness again, that time with dreams and visions haunting her. Nova recognized Dean Winchester sitting across from her view in what looked like a little diner. She watched his eyes that were almost as green as her own flash entirely black. It awoke her abruptly, but the fever and throbbing head put her right back out. She was encased in darkness; a metal box barely large enough for a person to stand. Ice cold water was filling the space, filling her lungs. She couldn't scream because she would choke on the water. Everytime she died from drowning, her vampire nature brought her right back to drown again.

Nova woke up drenched in a cold sweat after. She gasped for air. Her tired, darkened eyes looked to the steel door with hatred. Slowly but surely she forced herself to crawl towards the door. It was much further than she anticipated, and she passed out several times during the trek, having an awful nightmare/vision each time. Brinking on the fifteenth morning Nova laid slumped up against the cold door breathing heavily. Her heart was pounding nearly out of her chest. She was starving. But she also knew nobody was going to check on her until they thought the rabies had passed. If she didn't still have her humanity off she figured she would have been crying by then, but she felt nothing of emotion. Nova could only feel the physical pain from her system detoxing.

She didn't care that they locked her in the basement. She didn't care that Elena and Lethia had turned it back on, or that Lethia was pregnant. She didn't even care about the things she would see. By the sixteenth day the visions weren't just when she would pass out; she had started hallucinating them while she was awake as well. She wanted nothing more than the energy to stand and start pulling or kicking apart the door but she could barely sit and breathe. After being flashed too often with hallucinations she started banging the back of her head against the door in an attempt to make them stop.

Nova saw Saskia at one point with the Mark of Cain vanishing from her arm. She could feel her ancestor's rage and weakness as the Mark faded but a disturbing joy seeping in. It bounced to Elena filling out paper after paper for Whitmore college. There were so many papers that the insignia of the college nearly burned its way into Nova's mind. Time seemed to reel back and she was at Whitmore college that time, only it was clearly decades prior. The entire grounds flashed through, dragging her into a dorm room. Bright green eyes of a young Siya Vasile stared back at her. Siya looked down at her knuckles that were torn and scabbing over before looking back at her reflection and putting makeup on the cuts and bruises across her cheeks and lips.

Nova received only a moment of peace before she was drowning in the dark, metal box again. As she started to choke the scene melted into something slowly. She could feel a hand around her throat choking just enough to show dominance and not threat. The hand was warmer than she ever felt, almost burning her icy skin. No, it wasn't just a show of dominance; it was sexual. Two shades of green eyes flashed before her own - one pair tinted with drops of light blue, the other darker and more olive hued. Nova slammed her head as hard as she could against the door until she was freed from the hallucination. She lost track of the time the hallucinations took from her.

Upstairs, Damon and Elena could hear her banging on the door. The first time Damon nearly flew down the stairs. Elena stopped him; they both knew full well it wasn't time yet. All Nova was doing was lashing out, trying to cause herself pain because she was losing it. Damon wasn't sure how much longer he could take it after an entire month. Once and a while he would sit at the top of the basement stairs with a bottle of bourbon and just listen to her breathe. He prayed to hear some kind of sob or plead for help. Hell, he'd even have taken her cussing him out. All he wanted was to hear her voice to start. Some nights when he just couldn't take it, knowing the love of his life was rotting slowly in the basement and not wanting to help herself, he would wander with his bottle until he ended up at her home in the woods. He would sit at her piano and just tap the keys, listening to the pitiful sound echo through the dark and silent house.

Elena and Lethia knew how difficult it must have been for Damon. He couldn't even bring himself to answer Lethia's phone calls. Elena had taken up talking to the blonde hybrid when she couldn't get ahold of Bonnie or Stefan anymore. The witch had left them a message saying she was traveling; that she wanted to find out more about the Moores and other witch covens out there. She needed to help fix herself after all of the Expression. Stefan had gone to get rid of Silas and never returned. He just sent Elena a cryptic text saying he needed some time and space after everything that happened. And with Lethia pregnant and in NOLA she was no longer attending Whitmore with them. It was solely down to Elena and Caroline anymore. How lonely their dorm room would be…

Days turned into weeks. Most of which Nova spent laying on the floor in front of the door when she couldn't sit up any longer. When she wasn't bombarded by hallucinations she was listening as best as she could. She didn't hear a lot of foot traffic, but she could hear when Damon was sitting at the top of the basement stairs. She could hear every time he tipped the bottle back. She could hear the steadiness of his breathing and heart rate as much as he forced them to be. A part of her was clawing desperately to call to him, even a whimper of his name. He would hear it, but he would also know it was a sign of weakness and her giving in. Nova swore she would never be weak again. She would survive the detox and their attempt to dessicate her because only then could she prove how strong she really was. She didn't need nephilim or angel blood or to cake her nostrils with cocaine. She just needed to survive and fight.

It was the last week and a half into the second month of summer when a knock sounded on the boarding house door. It had been at a time that Nova was unconscious entirely on the floor so the sound went unheard by her ears. Both Elena and Damon were in the parlour when they heard it. Any of their friends just walked right in; it was the boarding house. Daciana was bouncing between NOLA and wherever else from what Lethia would tell Elena, but nobody had heard from Saskia or Zarya in some time. There was no protective barrier at the door anymore since Elena had turned. No human owned the boarding house, allowing any vampire in anytime.

They stood when they heard the sound. Damon just didn't give a damn anymore. Whoever was at that door wouldn't stand a chance if they were there for an attack. He would kill anybody that tried to get in the way of him saving Nova. He'd kill anybody for Nova. Yet when the door was hastily pulled open, the older Salvatore froze. Elena couldn't see who it was or why they caused such a reaction in Damon but she knew it couldn't be good. Suddenly, Damon was shoved aside and Elena backed up defensively.

"Give me a break," came a boisterous female's voice with the most disturbing hint of a Romanian accent, "if I was here to murder anybody I would have done it rather than knocking on your door. This is a boarding house," bags plopped down in the entryway, "so I am here to be boarded thank you very much."

Elena was practically choking on the air when he saw the woman. Damon held a similar reaction as he remained frozen in place with the door wide open. "Z-Zina?!" She finally exclaimed. "B-but how?"

She looked around the boarding house with a hand on her hip. Her hair was straightened with a few inches taken off, ending just over her breasts. She had clearly found herself some modern clothes as she donned tight, faux leather jeggings, a lacy white blouse with long sleeves and a v-neck to show off her cleavage, and still shining black heels. She had come with two suitcases and a duffel bag that she left in the entryway as she walked into the parlour. She offered a shrug as she poured herself a glass of whiskey.

"You twits are perfectly content with Jeremy Gilbert brought back and your darling Bennett witch missing, but it's such a mystery how I broke out?" She took a good gulp of the whiskey without making a face before jingling her hand and wrist that held the glass around. Her ruby bracelet shimmered against her pale skin. "Come on, I have been plotting my escape for decades. Veil drops just enough where I can reach my bracelet and here I am to grace all of you with my magnificent existence. Just in time if I do say so myself; this town is pitiful."

"Absolutely not," Damon responded first and at last. He slammed the door shut and marched over to her, taking the glass from her hand and finishing it off. "I don't know what game you think you're up to since Nova isn't doing well right now, but so help me God I will send you right the fuck back to the Other Side right now."

Zina stared snarkily up at him. "Ooh, doesn't someone think they're big and brave today. Clearly you put on your big boy undies this morning. Too bad they're not going to help you when the fucking apocalypse starts."

"What apocalypse?" came Elena's soft voice as she stepped forward a couple of inches.

"Not like, the Heavenly apocalypse. No, the Winchesters and little Zarya botched that years ago." She waved her hand as if to wave it off. "This is Remiel's apocalypse coming. Everything is starting to come together for her."

"How would you know any of this if you've been on the Other Side for over a century though?"

"Because I was on the Other Side? Duh?" She rolled her pitch black eyes. "I was able to see everything. I know all about my sister's life and transgressions which is why I'm here; we're on a clock that's ticking faster than her becoming sober. Lucifer has Auriel Cressida, Remiel has Runa Vasile, and one Knight of Hell Demon Dean has Zarya."

"Do you know what Remiel's plan is then?" Another step forward from Elena as if she was starting to trust or believe the younger ravenette. "We've been dealing with so many of our own issues that we didn't even look into Remiel yet…"

"Well then thank the celestials that I arrived when I did," Zina shook her head as she looked at the trio. Still Damon only glared at her. "Remiel always wanted to prove her worth; to show all of her siblings that she wasn't just some baby archangel filled with useless hope. Her and Lucifer loved each other undyingly. They say Lucifer's crime was that he loved his Father too much to bow to humanity, but he always knew how his sister shined. She even had put in effort to help God create the world. She has the power of creation." Their eyes widened from the information. "Why do you think the stone has six very dangerous categories? Conjuration, Abjuration, Illusion, Transmutation, Divination, and Necromancy. Each of those six things were six abilities Remiel had that were too fucking powerful for her to contain. He sought to make her in the image of Lucifer with the promise of his ideas for humanity. Remiel is the most powerful being in all of existence and because of the Mark of Cain, her love for Lucifer, and constantly being put down by Michael and Raphael she's been able to do whatever it took to prove it."

"So what the hell are you doing here blathering all of this nonsense to us for?" Damon snapped. He was already at the end of his rope and then Zina fucking Vasile had to show up alive and well at their door. How much more could he take? "It has nothing to do with us. We don't fuck with angels out here. We never even knew they existed beforehand."

"That's exactly what Remiel was banking on, tâmpit," Zina hissed back. "You think Mystic Falls is just conveniently home of the supernatural? This town didn't even exist until the vikings found it. The vikings that turned into the Original family. The Original family that hosted Daciana Vasile. Nothing is a coincidence. Everything coincides with the Vasile blood and Remiel's plot."

"That still doesn't explain why you're telling us any of this or what you're doing here."

"Anybody with Vasile blood is tied to our own line. It links each and every one of us together. We were granted free will solely because we were born from mothers which was God's creation. Once Remiel has the power she needs and enough Vasiles she can access each and every one of us individually as our master creator. She can take that free will from us like a toy we weren't supposed to be playing with and then we are hers to command. Remiel's supernatural army that is so hell bent on survival we don't know how to die. Guess what tâmpit, that includes you and Bambi eyes over there along with Lethia Kross and, chances are, her devilish little tri-brid monster. Do you know what an archangel with her weapon and holy treasure can accomplish with an army of unkillable beasts at her command? I don't care what long term issues Nova and I have and will more than likely always retain; I will be damned straight to Hell this time rather than allow her to be some mind slave because she was vulnerable."

"What could you possibly do for Nova aside from try and kill her again? She's doing just fine detoxing in our hands and she will be on her feet in no time."

"Are you willing to put your lives on the line for that, Damon?"

"There's nothing else to do so yes I will. I can always bring Nova back from the edge."

"She jumped off the edge this time, Damon!" Zina shouted, growing angry. "You want to get through to her this time you have to dig deep. We have to really get into her head."

"That didn't even work on me when I shut off my humanity," Elena admitted with guilt. "They tried everything… Only when I thought my still human childhood best friend was actually dead did it shock my humanity back on."

"You seem to be mistaken then; my goal is not to turn my sister's humanity back on. That's not my problem nor is it in my paygrade to even attempt. But I can at least speed up the detox process and bring her to her senses."

"What's the point then if it won't turn her humanity back on?" Damon hissed bitterly.

"You know," she looked to him with dark cynicism, "I always heard how brilliant my sister was. How gallant the vampire at her side was. Yet all I have seen and what I'm currently seeing is a couple of damn imbeciles."

"Watch your mouth, Zina."

"No, I don't think I will. Clearly there are words you need to hear, starting with stop trying to be Nova's savior. She doesn't want to be rescued, Damon. She has the same ideals as Remiel essentially; survive and build an empire to show everyone that you are not weak. Nova was the one raised with a crown on her head. Once she marries she will legally own all Vasile land in the country of Romania. She's bought what she could of almost every night club across the globe. She's shredded down hunters and even Niklaus Mikaelson. She is everything Remiel seeks and that makes her a liability. Her humanity will come back on if or when it ever does. I don't know if there is a trauma great enough to break my sister. But at least if she's not wallowing in addiction and self-loathing then she can fight. So long as her body and mind are not goo when Remiel or Lucifer come for us then she can defend us. She can stand alongside us able to thwart the archangels' influence because her humanity is nonexistent."

"What makes you think she even would? Klaus and everyone in her past ruined her ever wanting to be queen of Vasile castle. She had enough of her parents' tyranny and rule. She was done adhering to what people expected of her so she derailed as far as she could possibly go. She wants nothing to do with the Vasile family or the horrors it brings. She would tell all of you to go fuck yourselves so let me save her some trouble since she can't talk right now."

Zina shook her head with her cold gaze fixated on Damon. "You truly don't get it, do you? Everything she has ever done and will continue to do are all for you, tâmpit. Just as Remiel and Lucifer remained alongside one another so continues the tradition."

"What tradition?" Elena asked quickly as soon as the words left Zina's mouth.

"Remiel never stood alone; she always had Lucifer by her side. When she forged her line of creatures, she destined each of us to the same bond. She used one of her own feathers and one of Lucifer's to ensure Saskia and Runa's lives during the birth. Every Vasile woman has a person - nondiscriminatory, could literally be anyone as angels are indifferent to sexual orientation - whom they are bound to for all eternity. They share a mark on each other's souls. It doesn't have to be romantic love either. Just another person that we feel undying fealty to. A person we love above our own lives and would do literally anything in our power to defend and fight for."

Elena immediately looked wide eyed to Damon. Everything came together at last. It was never a sire bond that held Nova and Damon together. It was never a sire bond that made her come every time he called. It wasn't even just loyalty or love. It was an undying, eternal bond forged by angel grace. He realized it was no coincidence that he ended up on the pier the day Nova arrived. He had no business being there but for some reason he chose to take the long way home that afternoon. And Nova was the first person out of the entire crowd that he actually saw. At last Damon shut his mouth and backed down with the realization. Seeing his reaction, Zina eased up and continued to explain calmly.

"Saskia and Cain," she told them softly. "Daciana and Niklaus. Carina and Kol. Nova and you, Damon. It's taken me a lot to find that much but as soon as I did I just knew. That's why you're extra and increasingly miserable right now - because of how bad off Nova is. To lose who you are bound to entirely is basically to rip out your heart and continue living as it beats and rots in frozen ground. I can speed up the process, Damon. That's part of my Power; my psychic abilities. But I'd like your help to ease the process and probably feed into your hope of saving her."

Damon was quiet for a long while, not answering her. In the silence he heard a soft groan; Nova was waking up again. Most of what Zina told him didn't matter in his head. He had to get his Nova back. His dolcezza. At last, with the girls impatiently waiting, he nodded curtly. "Let's hurry then."