Reborn as a Gilbert Chapter 7: Riley's Flashbacks, a Vampire Diaries + Originals Crossover fanfic

Reborn as a Gilbert

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING EXCEPT MY IDEAS AND EVERYTHING I WRITE IS FICTION

Summary: Riley Collins was a normal sixteen-year-old foster kid from Harlem. One night her curiosity got the better of her and it cost her her life, or that is what she thought. One moment she lays on the ground in the middle of Central Park where her life was being drained from her and then the next she is being reborn into a world where Vampires were real and her family has a legacy of vampire hunting. This is her journey.

Thank you all for all of the reviews and I am sorry for not posting sooner. Also, the voting for whos on whos side is still open and if anyone has any good ideas post them in a review and you might see them in the story. I hope everyone is being safe this trying year.

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Okay in the future Riley and Elena will be against each other on something, who do you think should be each of their sides. Vote in the poll on my profile but just a spoiler, Alaric and Jeremy will be on Riley's but everyone else is fair game.

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CHAPTER 7: Riley's Flashbacks

Riley first transformed into her first animal form about a year after she had tapped into her powers while conscious. It was a normal day of Elena making her life a living hell at school and home so Riley had decided to go to her meadow and practice her powers. While on the way there Riley loved to stretch her senses as far out as they could go and just be at peace with the forest around her but today something different happened. As she connected to the forest around her a different warm intense feeling started to move through her and when she opened her eyes she saw that her veins had started to glow underneath her skin giving off a golden light. The light wasn't hurting her so she just watched as the light spread throughout her entire body. The light had just reached her eyes which gave off an eerie glow as she felt her eyes change and before she knew it she had shrunk.

Before Riley could try to understand what just happened her mind was flooded with all new information about dogs. The information ranged from their anatomy to their instincts which she also had, but all her thoughts came to a halt as she saw a bunny. Without even thinking of her actions Riley took off after the rabbit. She chased that thing for a good mile and a half before it gave her the slip into a hollowed-out tree trunk. When her mind caught up with her actions Riley finally took inventory of herself. Four legs, fur, a tail, HOLY SHIT SHE WAS A DOG. Then everything went black.

When she woke up she realized that her crazy dream of turning into a dog was actually a reality and she had a good proper freakout. In human form, this would have been her pacing around and muttering to herself but apparently, in dog form it was her sitting down and howling like she was howling for her life. After a good 30 minutes Riley's logical side of her mind took over and she began to analyze this newfound power like she did all her others but she kept getting distracted by her dog mind as she began to call all the info floating around her head. That meant that changing back became her priority. The first thing she tried was just imagining her human form and hoping for the best but nope, nothing happened. She decided to try again but this time she focused on how the new energy felt and looked like as it flowed through her veins.

When she opened her eyes again she was still squatting in the dirt but she was in human form and thankfully she still had her clothes. Luck seemed to be on her side because she wasn't that far from her meadow so she continued her earlier trek and didn't waste any time practicing her newfound power. That night after getting ready for bed and making sure everyone else in the house was asleep Riley shut and locked her door before going over to her full-length mirror. She again focused on her new power and just like before her veins lit up and then she was in dog form. Knowing you could transform into an animal was one thing but looking into a mirror and seeing yourself for the first time as an animal were two completely different concepts. Riley was a good size Sable German Shepherd but her eyes were still her bright ocean blue color.

After changing back and forth so much the light show didn't last as long as her shifts became quicker and quicker. Her goal was to have an almost instant shift soon. Also after a while, all her new dog senses finally settled down into her brain and didn't take control of her actions anymore. Giant Plus. After a bit more admiring of herself Riley finally called the day quits and went to sleep.

Over the next week, Riley noticed that while in human form her senses were slowly amplifying until they were at the same level as her dog form. This was a joy and a curse all at the same time but it soon became her new normal.

Her next form to show itself was her cat form. During school, one Friday Riley began to feel her shifting power start to stir and amplify on its own during her history class. Without any forewarning, Riley bolted out of the classroom and ran for the exit as fast as she could. The school of course bordered the woods so it didn't take long for her to be concealed completely from any prying eyes.

Just like before once the power reached her eyes she shifted. This time she knew what to expect and wasn't taken completely off guard when her mind got the download or upload of info but there was still a problem. The new info and instincts were that of a cat and she already had dog instincts melded with her mind. Let's just say that the next half hour was brutal for Riley as her mind raged and was at war with itself. Finally, it was over, and since she had already basically skipped school and her parents would be notified either way about her actions she decided to take refuge in her meadow of course. She spent the rest of the day there shifting between her dog and cat form. Turns out that she didn't have to shift back to being human before shifting to the other animal which would save a ton of time.

That night when her parents grilled her she had told them a slight version of the truth. "I don't know what happened dad. One second I'm fine sitting in history class and then the next it feels like I couldn't breathe and I just had to get out of there." Since Riley was a model student and an all-around good kid the school had been more worried than mad. Thus leading to her parents being more worried than mad. Thus leading to her not even being grounded but told that if it happened again make sure she told her teacher before coming home.

Riley loved how easy it was to manipulate her parents. That night of course she admired her new animal form before going to sleep. Again her eyes were still her bright ocean blue and she was a tabby cat. Mainly white but with patches of black and grey stripes in the mix.

Her third form to show was of course her bird form and luckily she wasn't at school, heck she wasn't even awake. This happened around her 12th birthday, well a week before her birthday. She was having a nice dream before she was yanked awake by info download into her mind and her new instincts. That had to be the worst shift she had ever done because she was still half asleep and her animal instincts easily overpowered her mind that night which of course meant her new eagle owl form went crazy trying to get outside. This of course led to the entire house being woke up by her racket which led to them letting her being caught. Let's just say being stuck in a box was not very fun but she had more to worry about when she finally regained her human mind.

Since she was stuck in the box and her parents didn't know about her powers the only thing they saw was a wild animal in their daughter's room and said daughter was nowhere to be seen. Now she could have waited for the box she was in to be left alone, transform back and go pretend to sleep somewhere in the house or possibly the front porch swing and make up an excuse. Then they would question what had happened to the owl and Riley didn't want anyone to get any suspicion about what she could do so she just stayed still where she was.

This turned out to be a big mistake though because when her parents couldn't find her they of course called the Sheriff. Before anyone knew it she was listed as a missing person and an amber alert went out, they thought she had been kidnapped. Well crud how was she supposed to get herself out of this pickle. Stupid bird form. In the chaos of their child being missing her parents completely forgot about the wild owl, they caught flying around the house but of course, Elena didn't. Elena couldn't stand that Riley was getting all this attention so she decided to get her parent's attention back on her by opening the box.

At first, Riley just stared at Elena but when Elena tries to pet her Riley had enough and flew out the box right into Elenas 15-year-old shocked and scared face. Payback is a B****. When the Gilberts heard Elena screamed they rushed into the kitchen and saw the owl flying around her head before it flew out the back door and someone had left it open. Phew, sweet freedom Riley thought as she flew off into the night, she still had some animal instinct in control a bit because the only thing she wanted was to get as far away from her house and those noisy people as she could. After about an hour of flying Riley slowly got control of her mind again and landed at a gas station. She had no clue where she was.

Riley could say that was never more scared in her entire life. She was still in bird form without even a faint idea of where she was, her parents thought she had been kidnapped and she didn't know what to do. The first thing first was to retake her human form so she flew into the woods and landed. It took a few tries to get her shift to go through with how nervous she was but finally, Riley was back in her human form squatting down in the dirt in her PJs. She tripped a few times as she made her way back to the gas station. It was a 24-hour station so hopefully, she could get some kind of help inside.

The bell rang above the door and the frightened 12-year-old made her way out of the hot and humid night. The kid behind the counter couldn't have been more than 19 and was half asleep when she walked in. She must have been a sight to see in her pink and purple PJs which had some dirt and tears due to her trip in the woods along with her scared face which if anyone ever asked she was not crying. And she most certainly didn't burst into tears when the kid asked her what was wrong. The shocked kid just stared at the crying little girl before his instincts as a big brother kicked in and the girl was soon wrapped up in his jacket sitting in the break room with a cold coke in front of her.

He then made his way back out into the store to call the cops but was stopped when the door opened again and of course with his luck, a robber holding a gun walked into the store. This was not his first rodeo with being robbed but now with a child in the back room, he was more scared than anything.

Riley was drinking her can of coke the kid gave her trying to think of ways to set this mess right without her powers being discovered or her becoming grounded for the rest of her life. She was yanked out of her thoughts when she heard a loud bang. Without a second thought, Riley jumped up out of her seat and rushed into the store thinking that the kid must have tripped or something but she was so wrong. Since the hallway to the breakroom came out behind the register the first thing she saw when she ran out was the nice kid that had helped her was lying on the ground with blood coming out of the hole in his chest. Riley was so stunned at this that she didn't even notice the man across the counter who was now pointing the gun at her.

She looked up when she heard a click and as her eyes landed on the gun it went off. Riley reacted on instinct by throwing her hand up in front of her and calling on her powers. Both the robber and Riley were surprised when the bullet bounced off what appeared to be a shield of some sort. The robber was the first one to come to his senses and continued to empty his gun at Riley but every time the bullet just bounced off the shield. When his gun was empty he decided to take out a knife and was about to hop over the counter but Riley finally came to her senses and ran into the back hallway and back into the break room shutting and locking the door before hiding behind the small row of lockers that were in the back corner of the room.

Of course, that didn't stop the robber as he just kicked down the door and proceeded to tear through the small room and before she knew it he was standing in front of her with his knife out in front of him. They both stared at each other before the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. Deciding that he had had enough he raised the knife with the intent to kill Riley but a loud bang was heard from the doorway of the breakroom and the robber fell to the ground dead. Riley looked over at the doorway from her hiding spot and saw the kid that had been shot holding a shotgun in his lap. He gave Riley one last smile before he finally slumped down himself and the gun clattered to the floor.

Riley was beyond petrified at this point and sat frozen in her hidey-hole staring at the kid that just saved her life.

It wasn't long until the gas station was crawling with cops and other personnel. There were the people from the morgue to take the two dead bodies away and a social worker from CPS and Paramedic was called when Riley had been discovered by the first responding officer. Riley was still in her hidey-hole curled up in a fetal position trying to process what had just happened. The paramedic said that the child was in shock and they needed to get her to the hospital asap. The only problem was Riley was now fully behind the lockers where nobody could reach her so they had to wait for somebody to get a drill to unbolt the lockers from the floor. Finally 45 minutes after the first officer had shown up at the scene Riley was in the ambulance on her way to the hospital.

The detective on the screen recognized the child immediately when she had been pulled out as the child that went missing earlier that night in a town called Mystic Falls which was about an hour and a half away.

The next time Riley woke up she was in a hospital with her dad sleeping in a chair next to her bed. She was wondering what had happened when it all came rushing back to her. Her bird form, trapped in the box, being reported missing, flying away, and of course the gas station. When she remembered the part of the kid and the robber her heart rate must have spiked because she could hear a frantic beeping in the background somewhere and her dad was suddenly holding her. She eventually calmed down and relaxed into her dad's embrace and broke down crying.

She must have cried herself to sleep because the next thing she knew she was waking up to the sun shining through the curtains of the hospital room and she could hear her mom and dad outside her room talking. Riley was grateful that she woke up alone because now that she had processed what she had been through she could now plan, man she was also thankful that she had the mind of the adult and not an actual 12-year-old. Okay, her parents and everyone else thought she had been kidnapped and since she didn't want anyone to know she had powers at least not yet she was going to go with it.

She could say that she woke up thirsty and went to get a glass of water but before she left her room someone put a smelly rag over her face and then she woke up in a car. It was dark so she couldn't see who was driving it but when it pulled into the gas station she snuck out of the car when the person went inside. The person came out and saw her out of the car and yelled but she ran into the woods where she tripped and fell before hiding. She eventually heard some yelling and heard the car pull off. She then made her way back to the gas station where the story didn't need any altering from the actual events. She went through the events of the night again trying to remember if the gas station had cameras and she didn't remember seeing any. Not to mention the station was one of the older ones that the owners never like to update due to the cost it would take.

Her parents came in shortly after she had gotten the story straight in her mind and then it was showtime. Like she thought the gas station didn't have cameras and the only other people that were there that night were dead so the cops didn't have any reason to not believe her. The only thing she couldn't put a stop to was the manhunt for her supposed kidnapper and since all she could remember was a red 4 door car and an average male with brown hair she was positive that nothing was going to come of it.

So some good things came from her night of horrors. First, she loved her new animal form because she could now fly more openly. Second, she now had a shield to improve on, and last but not least Elena actually got in trouble for something. The biggest downside from that night was now the entire town was on edge and wouldn't calm down for a long time. The seniors hated it because every party they had planned was busted and everyone was sent home. The mayor even installed a curfew for everyone under 18 that wouldn't be lifted for an entire year.

Her parents were the worst though. They never let her out of their site except for school and none of the Gilbert kids were allowed to walk anywhere anymore. Thankfully they settled down by summertime and Riley did feel a little guilty for all the trouble but it was still better than the alternative.

When her parents finally let her out by herself again she practically ran to her meadow and practiced all of her powers until she almost couldn't stand.

She eventually snuck her dad's handgun out once a month to test how her shield was coming along and was very happy with its progress.

It also didn't take long to have her shifts almost instant and if you didn't know to look for it you wouldn't even notice the light flow through her veins but her eyes were still a dead give away.

It was an accident she discovered her fire power. Elena pulled a mean prank on Riley which peeved her off to no end. Riley was pacing around her room muttering to herself when she suddenly slammed her hand down on her desk and woooooofffffff. Her desk was covered in flames. It's safe to say that she needed a new desk after that and got grounded when her parents thought she had been playing with matches but Riley didn't care, she could create and control fire.

Her meadow had a few black spots when she was playing with her new power but she was having too much fun to care. She especially loved that she combined her light and fire power to create fireballs. Heck yah. Overtime she could turn her fire different colors which was really cool and she could control whether the fire burnt or was harmless. Her Halloween costume was awesome and she won first place in the costume competition that year.

On one of the days that Riley was grounded, she decided to test the limits of her flying power to see how far it had come since she first started practicing it. She told her mom and dad that she was going to do an all-day study session in her room and not to bother her. She even took drinks and snacks so they wouldn't come to get her if she missed a meal or two. She started at 8 in the morning and just lazily floated around her room in circles. That was the most boring day she had ever had but it paid off in the end. She could fly at that pace for 12 hours and if she went faster she calculated it would be around 6 hours.

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