I do not own TVD or TO.
I've been doing some foreshadowing since the very first chapter. I'm curious to see if anyone catches on to what I am planning.
April 2012
Were there not meant to be perks to her new existence? Wasn't that what all of the literature said?
Aside from eternal youth she saw nothing but the downside.
There were so many drawbacks: ravenous hunger, sunlight, infertility, and eternal youth. She was supposed to have time to decide what she had wanted, and now most of those decisions had been torn from her grasp.
Perhaps one of the biggest lies brought forth by popular culture was that she would be impervious to the cold. At the moment that seemed to sting worse than anything else; she suspected that was more due to her current location.
She wondered if her cold dismissal of Kol was a result of her fading humanity or Damon's instruction that she stop obsessing and focus on anything else.
Outwardly she was calm, but still the Original plagued her thoughts.
Did she deserve the cure after what she had done? Did she even want it?
Crossing her arms over her chest she shivered and turned away from the bickering group. Damon and Stefan were arguing and as usual it was over her. Bonnie was yelling and telling the brothers to shut up so she could concentrate. Jeremy seemed to be the only one doing anything productive; he was setting up the repelling equipment for himself and Bonnie. Rebekah was watching the entire exchange with a cold indifference, but Elena could see the impatience in her blue eyes.
Elena took one final look at them before silently slipping from the damp cave. Her feet glided over the wet ground towards the field of tall grasses a stone's throw from the cave.
Maybe she just wanted to lose herself for a while. Maybe she wanted to forget. Maybe she just wanted to vanish and pretend her troubles didn't exist.
She glanced over her shoulder to the empty mouth of the cave. Nobody had noticed her quiet exit yet. With a deep breath she sank into the sea of brown vegetation.
Stretching out on her back she tried to picture what it must have looked like in the throes of summer.
Her eyes drifted shut as she imagined the dry vegetation a vibrant green with flowers here and there.
Elena was unsure at what point she had slipped into the realm of dreams, or if she had at all. Perhaps she just wanted to embrace her inner child.
Maybe she wanted to be innocent again.
Her tiny fingers stroked the smooth petals of the flower. Bright red merged with yellow creating a vibrantly beautiful image.
Severing the stem she tucked the blossom into the pocket of the blue dress.
Thunder rumbled overhead as the sky cracked open.
Opening her eyes she stared at the light grey clouds rolling along. She tipped her head back and pursed her lips. Rolling onto her stomach and sitting up she narrowed her eyes.
Reaching into her pack she lifted the green leather and flipped to the middle where she had stored Elijah's letter. Turning another page she read a line that told her the date had been that of her death. She held open the journal on her knee.
Hesitantly she stretched out her hand and stroked the smooth petals of the flower. It was vibrant against the dead grass. Maybe it was wrong to take something so beautiful, but she was curious; there was something almost lively in the blossom.
She had never believed in omens of signs, not since she had been old enough to understand what her parents were explaining; they had not believed and therefore neither had she.
She had never believed in vampires either.
She broke off the stem and pressed it into her journal as the thunder rumbled. Closing the book she slid it away and stifled a shriek when the earth shook beneath her body.
She supposed there were a few perks to being a vampire. Only a few drops from the downpour clung to her hair when she sped into the cave.
"Where were you?" Rebekah tightened her grip on the flashlight.
"Just outside," Elena adjusted the pack on her back. She took a deep breath before jumping into the giant hole alongside Rebekah.
Nobody questioned when she suggested they split up at the branching tunnels. She did receive a few strange looks when she said that she would go with Rebekah.
Elena knew she would have been safer with anyone else, but she wanted to know that Jeremy was safe and he was safest with Bonnie. She didn't want to be around Damon at the moment, and Stefan was somehow worse. Elena wasn't sure what made him angrier: the knowledge that she had slept with Damon or the fact that she had obviously had feelings for his brother before turning.
She kept waiting for Rebekah to lash out at her. She deserved it after what she had done.
"I'm sorry," Elena's strained voice bounced off the low walls of the tunnel.
"Well that's a first," Rebekah muttered bitterly. "The backstabbing bitch is sorry for something."
"I didn't want to stab you Rebekah," Elena knew it was probably a bad idea to walk ahead of the blonde and expose her back, but she still did it. "I wasn't given a choice though," she cast her eyes on the ground, "the daggers could only be used by a human and Damon was rather… insistent." She glanced back over her shoulder and apologized again.
Rebekah got the sense Elena was apologizing for more than her betrayal as a human being. She pretended not to hear the slight sniffle or see the way the brunette swiped at her cheek.
Elena blinked back a few tears and swallowed when they stepped into a spacious cavern. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the tall table on which a desiccated body had been chained.
She approached slowly with Rebekah by her side and raked her eyes over the face.
"How long has this guy been down here?" Rebekah frowned at the face that resembled a clay funeral mask more than an actual face. "Mummies have more defined features."
"If you believe the story," Elena swallowed and ran her finger through a thick layer of dust, "then it's been over 2000 years."
"So where is it?" Rebekah held the flashlight aloft and looked around the edges of the table. "Do you think the top comes off?"
"No," Elena shook her head. She knew it was a solid piece of stone; though she didn't know how she knew. Her dark eyes narrowed when she saw the leathery hands curled higher than what should have been considered normal.
Elena tried not to cringe when the body creaked. She pulled on his hands until she could clearly see the small box.
"I think its right here," she held the box aloft. She couldn't quite shake the feeling that she had seen it somewhere before.
Rebekah eyed the dark wood with a deep frown.
"That can't be more than one dose," her blue eyes flashed dangerously.
"Don't be so hasty," Elena dropped the box in her bag, "it could be a recipe."
"It was left for him to take and turn himself human," Rebekah grumbled but followed Elena back through the dark path.
"Okay," Elena conceded, "maybe it's a dose and a recipe."
"Or, as is more likely the case, it is one cure."
"All the more reason to get it to Bonnie," Elena's head snapped around when a soft clatter sounded from the chamber.
Rebekah had been right. It was only the one dose. There was nothing inside the box but a small vial of thick red liquid.
Bonnie had spent several hours studying the substance before laying it on the coffee table in the boarding house. She blinked tiredly before lifting her eyes to the vampires who had filed into the room when the glass had made the softest of thumps.
"I would have to use all of it to try and replicate it," she braced her back against the couch and closed her eyes, "and even then there is no guarantee I can."
"So," Damon crossed his arms and glared at her, "you'd have to waste it with no promise of a payoff." He downed his bourbon when she nodded and slammed down the glass. "Absolutely not… Elena's not giving up her one chance to be human again just so Barbie Klaus can have her way."
"Damon," Elena narrowed her eyes when he slapped the vial in her hand. She shook her head and was holding out the vial to Rebekah when he said it. She was powerless to stop herself from uncorking the potion and pouring the contents into her mouth.
Elena had just enough time to hear Rebekah's outraged shriek before her knees buckled and her eyes drifted shut.
57 BC
She murmured a quiet spell to dry her clothes and followed Qetsiyah into the garden. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the woman. Something had shifted and she didn't think it was immortality. The longer she spent in Qetsiyah's presence the more convinced she was that her spell had not been used.
"Is everything alright?" She saw Elias moving passed a couple of windows in the villa. He had gone inside to change after greeting their guest.
Her heart stuttered when she spotted her sister bound to the low bench with a spell. Tears tracked down Amara's cheeks; her mouth opened as if to warn her when Qetsiyah closed a pair of shackles around her wrists.
"What are you doing?" She swallowed and shuddered when she felt her magic trapped inside her body. She could offer no defence when her body was propelled backwards onto the table and bound with strong vines.
Her terrified scream brought her husband running from the villa with a drawn blade. She gasped when his joints froze twenty paces from her.
"What are you doing?" She sobbed and struggled against the vines holding her to the table.
"Enacting my revenge," Qetsiyah voice was full of bitter rage as she withdrew a knife with a wicked curve and held it aloft. "I considered killing her, but then I came up with a better idea. Your sweet sister can spend eternity knowing she was responsible for your death."
She heard the outraged yell of Elias who had broken through Qetsiyah's spell. She screamed when the knife plunged into his body and he collapsed beside the table at Amara's feet; she barely heard her sister's whispered apologies, or heavy pleas that Qetsiyah not do it.
"Rest assured your death serves a purpose," Qetsiyah's hand was almost gentle on her cheek. "I'll be using your blood in a spell that will forever keep your sister apart from my love who she stole, and sentence her to eternal torment. Perhaps I'll leave your husband your heart."
The scream died in her throat when the knife drove into her chest. She wasn't sure if she was still alive when her beating heart was pulled from her body, or if she was watching from outside of her body.
The last thing she saw was Amara rocking forward and screaming in pain.
April 2012
Amara's scream echoed in her mind. She turned her head and blinked against the harsh unnatural light over her head.
Surely death was meant to be painless, so why was there a persistent ache behind her eyes? Why could she feel the leather beneath her body? Why could she hear the quietest of whispers from the crackling fire?
She opened her eyes slowly and stared up into eyes the blue of the summer sky. His words were strange to her, but she understood them fine.
"How do you feel?" He pulled her up into a sitting position.
She should have been more surprised when her reply came in the same strange language.
"Fine," she rubbed the back of her head, "my head hurts."
"I'll get you some aspirin."
She paled when she recognized the voice and lifted her eyes in time to see Silas exit the dark room.
"Bring her a snack too, Stefan," a blonde woman sat on the couch, "her stomach's rumbling."
Stefan? She blinked and turned to the woman beside her.
"Elena, aside from the headache," the blonde pressed her palm to the smooth forehead, "do you feel alright?"
Elena? The name sounded familiar. It was almost the same as her own
"I feel perfectly fine," she frowned and gazed around the room.
There was a tall young man with dark hair and eyes standing beside a short girl with caramel skin and rich chocolate hair. Both wore equal expressions of worry. The raven haired man was looking at her with an emotion that made her very uncomfortable; she wasn't sure whether to label it as love or obsession. The blonde beside her seemed kind enough. She was definitely preferred the blonde across the room who was glaring daggers at her.
"I feel fine," she swallowed when Silas' look alike pressed two white tablets into her hand along with a glass of water. Her confusion must have been evident on her face because the woman beside her told her she needed to swallow the aspirin.
She shook her head and lowered both the 'aspirin' and the water onto a low table. She didn't know any of these people, and she was instantly wary of anyone sharing Silas' features after what she knew had transpired.
She registered the shock and horror on their faces when she asked the question.
"Who are you people?" She cringed when the short brunette pushed the raven haired man aside and cupped her cheek. For a moment all she could see was Qetsiyah's knife held high over her head.
She knew instantly that the woman was a witch. Something was wrong though. She couldn't feel her own magic as clearly as she could before the knife had come down. It was still there deep in her body, but she felt as if it had been muted.
"Please don't touch me," her voice was little more than a whimper. She could see the hurt in the green eyes, but couldn't bring herself to feel anything but relief when the brunette backed off.
"What's wrong with her Bonnie?" The man with the dark hair asked.
"Well, Damon, she won't let me touch her," Bonnie glared at him, "so I don't know. I would assume its some form of temporary amnesia though. She's forgotten parts of her life but the memories should come back in time."
She tried not to let the angry voices affect her, but it was difficult. Everyone in the room seemed to have a different opinion about her mental state. There were those who suggested using vampire blood to speed the process, and those that wanted Bonnie to use magic to fix her mind. The unnamed blonde in the corner merely scoffed and wondered who really cared that much.
The kinder of the blondes seemed to see that she was growing overwhelmed and pulled her to her feet.
She didn't hesitate before following her through the large room and up a set of stairs.
"Where are you taking me…?" She tucked her hair behind her ear. She felt safe with the woman, but she had always been a curious person.
"Caroline," Caroline pointed to herself, "and I am taking you upstairs where you can clean up. You'll feel much better after a hot bath."
"We're friends aren't we?" She stepped into a room with a large white basin in the middle of the floor. Her eyes widened when Caroline turned a silver circle and steaming water fell into the basin.
"We are," Caroline added some bubble bath, "you'll remember it soon."
"Yeah," she murmured while slowly removing the strange garments. She knew with the utmost certainty that she would not.
So I am definitely going to do the two stories parallel to each other. I've already written the chapter(s) where KOLENA 'gets together/admits feelings/attraction' for the other version. There is still one or two chapters before the story breaks off though; the splitting point will be when she arrives in New Orleans... on a side note does anyone remember at what point in the year it was that Kol and Finn were inhabiting Vincent and Kaleb. I think it was Fall, but I'm not sure.
Also I go back to work in a few weeks so I might set SAF on the back burner so that I can finish Unobtainable before the end of summer. I have a really clear idea of where I want it to go and end; I just want to try and finish one more before I go back and have less time to write. I'm planning on doing it in three parts and there is one chapter left in the first part. The second two will not be as long as the first one... at least I don't think. The entire story should be between ten and fifteen chapters long.