A/n- Um...yeah. So it's been what? Five months? Sorry yo. Real life has me by the throat though i've been escaping to try to update/post up new stories. Not to mention I keep getting ideas for other fandoms *sigh* This chapter was the toughest for me to write. Not to mention that it probably seems rushed even after months.
To my lovely reviewers\readers: Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Reviews mostly motivate me to update ;)
Chapter is dedicated to my "editor" devils fate, for occasionally bringing me back to this fandom. It was a long wait wasn't it?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my plot.
Please review at the end!
Remember Me as I Once Was
Ch. 4- The Past Always Catches Up
Stefan blinks. His mind stops wandering over to delicious thoughts of ripping into the blonde's throat behind him. He doesn't know if he heard his friend clearly or not.
"What?" he askes in disbelief as he turns around to face Klaus once more.
Klaus grins and takes a long sip from his glass. The sneaky bastard always likes to keep people in suspense. He'll figure it out himself then. Stefan knows the name but he cannot place it with a face. Who is Elena Gilbert?
Stefan's mind conjures up an image of a dark beauty. She is dressed in a elegant dress, her curls arranged perfectly, and a coy smile is upon her lips. He frowns. That is Katherine Pierce, not Elena Gilbert. However it is just enough for his mind to click the pieces together. Elena Gilbert is a replica of the dark beauty. The doppelganger that Klaus has desperately needed and had gotten in the end. He remembers Klaus sinking his teeth into the exquisite blood that ran through Elena and draining her to death.
"Elena is alive?" he croaks out, shocked.
Klaus smiles, pointed a finger at him as he raises his glass to his lips, and says, "Of course. The doppelganger. She's my problem to this curse, Ripper. Let's solve that."
Stefan nods and parts his hands out in expectation before saying,"Are we going now?"
Klaus shakes his head, "Of course not, Stefan! Where would our manners be? We'll give Mrs. Elena time to settle her affairs by sundown tomorrow. After all, we aren't barbarians."
Inwardly Stefan rolled his eyes. Klaus was sometimes a hypocrite really. He waits for Klaus to finish drinking.
"I'll go call Rebekah and update her on this. Hopefully, she will have found the necklace and we can find out exactly how the doppelgangger is alive." Klaus said as he stood up and set the glass on the table before leaving the room.
Stefan and the girl are all alone again.
With a sudden speed, Stefan turns around and sank his teeth into the blonde. She doesn't cry out or struggles. He relished the sweet taste of her blood but Elena in his mind sours things. There is something Stefan should remember, something important, and it nags on the back of his mind.
But just what the hell is it?
0o0o0
"Really? The Forbidden City?" asked Elena in surprise. She is in her pajamas, ready to go to bed, and talking to her daughter Eliza in China on her cellphone. She paces back and forth in her old room as she relaxes to the sound of her daughter's chattering, of her description of the Forbidden City where her Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Bonnie had taken her and Johnathan.
"And Daddy? Can I talk to Daddy?" asked Eliza eagerly.
Elena's heart jumped to her throat as she lied, "Your Daddy is still on his business trip, honey. You'll see him when you get back."
She prays that Eliza won't keep on insisting to talk to her father like some times but Eliza just accepts it and started to talk about what she was going to do for the next three days. It is soothing to hear Eliza's voice, to know that at least someone was being protected from the drama happening right now.
"There's a pretty lady here with us, Mama. Aunt Bonnie says she's my aunt too! Auntie Care." babbled Eliza on joyfully.
At this, Elena stood up. Caroline was in China too? She suddenly feels as if there was a reunion of some sorts without her and briefly wonders whether Matt was also in China. Bonnie quickly tells Eliza to say goodbye to her mother because she wanted to talk to her. Bonnie knows she has committed a faux-pas but luckily Eliza didn't, otherwise she would have burst into tears about "not keeping the secret."
"Zai jian!That's good-bye here in China, Mama!" she said proudly.
"Goodnight Eliza." Elena replied just before there was the tell-tale noise of someone switching for the phone.
"Hey," started Bonnie, "Don't think that we planned this without you, Elena. We accidently bumped into Caroline in one of the specialty shops in Beijing and became glued to us."
There was an awkward silence between them. Though Bonnie and Elena were god-mothers to each other's first-born and talked to each other on the phone every other day, the fact was their friendship was becoming strained as the years passed. Elena was convinced that Caroline and Bonnie were keeping something from her but what?
"H-how is she? Caroline, I mean. I know Eliza is always in good hands with you." Elena asked.
More pause. As if Bonnie was choosing her words carefully to talk about Caroline.
"Good. Like always. You know how Caroline is." replied Bonnie offhandly.
No, I don't know Caroline anymore.
Instead, Elena said, "Give her my love."
"Of course. Goodnight Elena."
"Goodnight Bonnie."
They both disconnect.
She felt exhausted all of a sudden. Placing her cellphone on her nightstand, she turned off the lamp and quickly fell asleep.
Elena dreams.
0o0o0
Elena finds herself in the woods of Mystic Falls. It is completely dark except for flickering light beams here and there. She looks around to find the light source and finds herself standing inside a ring of fire which flames almost reaches the top of her nose. Bonnie is outside, drawing so close to the fire that Elena opens her mouth to warn her not to step so close. In the flickering light, Bonnie is uncharacteristically solemn and sad, with something otherworldly in her eyes. She has never seen this side of Bonnie before.
Bonnie speaks to her. I'm sorry. It is an apology but she doesn't understand, for what? Elena opens her mouth to tell her best friend, the godmother of her daughter, that whatever happens, she will always forgive her...
The flames suddenly roar tall and bright, making Elena lose sight of Bonnie and the reassurance dies on her lips, thanks to the fright. Bonnie is still there-or is she?
This Bonnie is different, the facial features are all wrong, everything about this Bonnie is all wrong. This Bonnie is dressed in servant garb of the olden days though she stands tall with her chin up in regal pride. Without breaking eye contact with Elena, this Bonnie starts to speak but the crackling of flames devour her sentences and only the final sentence reaches Elena.
You must remember.
Elena frowns. Remember what? Without her noticing, the flames die out dramatically and soft footsteps echo in the terrifying silence of the woods. She searches for the source of the sound but for a few heart-stopping moments she does not find it. It is on her right, her left, behind, in front of her, that sound of footsteps.
Finally, a figure emerges from the shadows of the trees in front of her. The moonlight shone light on the dark curls, the petite form, the confident stride as she walked until she was almost two inches away. It is Elena herself. But just like that different Bonnie, this is a different Elena. However, this Elena had everything Elena had. Everything was so chillingly perfect to the very last detail except...
This Elena was ancient. There is no other way to describe her. She is dressed in clothing so old, if she tells Elena it is from the time of Jesus himself, she would not doubt it. This Elena has a child on her hip, almost the same age as her own Eliza, and she speaks just like the other two. Just one sentence.
You must be brave, daughter.
They stare at each other, the same eyes, different feelings in them, when suddenly she is yanked back and Elena gasps in surprise as the child falls on the ground and begins to cry. Elena watches in horror as the young blonde man from this evening sucks her dry, as she tries to fight him off.
But most of all she watches the forgotten child sitting on the floor. The child grows until the age of seventeen and then the child shifted. The child is a girl, then a boy, a boy, then a girl, and etc. It goes on, each with their own familiar features depicting the family line they represent, until Elena sees a mirror image of herself again but this Elena is too conceited, cruelty is in her eyes, and it shifts to a girl again. Once more it goes on until it is Elena herself, this she knows for sure, and it shifts to a girl she does not know yet but will soon. Elena knows those cat eyes very well.
It is her daughter Eliza at age seventeen. This is her family line. She has tears in her eyes, so like Joshua's, and opens her mouth to speak as she locks gazes with Elena.
Then the blonde young man reaches for Eliza and whatever Eliza had to say died on her tongue as Elena screams in true terror. Behind them stands Bonnie, other Bonnie, and other Elena. Together they whisper softly to Elena as she watches him suck the blood out of future Eliza. It is just one word but it sends shivers of fear down her spine. Her mind prickles, she knows this word. Here she knows it very well.
Klaus.
0o0o0
Elena wakes up, her heart is pounding so fast she fears a heart attack. Checking the time on her alarm clock, she notices that only two hours had passed while sleeping. It is now two in the morning. She turns on the light as she gets up and begins to pace while taking deep breaths.
'It was just a dream. Apparently, you're too spooked by what happened yesterday with the blonde teenager.' she reassured herself.
The light casted from the lamp is too dim and unknowingly, Elena goes throughout the house, turning on all the possible lights. It is only until the house shines brightly that Elena feels her nerves -and her heart - settle down. She glances at the painting dominating almost the whole wall and smiles. It had been her favorite when she had been going through the horse-loving stage. With one hand, she traces the outline of the horse, feeling nostalgic. Her hand then lightly runs over the trim of the frame
Her hand suddenly rested on the journal behind the painting and she stills. How long has it been since she wrote in her diary? She gently takes out the diary from its hiding place. Elena cracks it open and immediately notices that there are multiple pages missing -in fact half of the journal was missing. She flips through the pages, skimming the entries, realizing with a pang that she never really kept up with the journal after Aunt Jenna died. In fact, she kinda stopped keeping a journal period.
She read the last entry she wrote on the last page, the truly last time she had been in Mystic Falls, surrounded by her friends.
I'm really going through with this. I am going to go to Boston, to study my passion. Hopefully, it'll all work out.
Only a short sentence about her hopes and nothing else beyond that. Guilty at this, Elena vowed to start keeping a journal again and writes in it throughout the whole day. Though she doesn't remember all that she did back while studying in the university, she tried to write details of what she did remember.
Her mind keeps going back to the missing pages - what did she do with them? What happened to those pages?
0o0o0
"How's it going in Chicago, Rebekah?"
She rolls her eyes at the tone her brother was using before replying, "Very well, actually. As you can see, I've already found it and am just staying put just because, Nik."
"Now, Now, don't take that tone with me Rebekah." Klaus warns. Once more she rolls her eyes at her reflection in the window. What the hell can he do to her many states away?
As her brother continued to talk, Rebekah casted a well-satisfied glance around the condo she managed to acquire right in the heart of downtown. She could look into the middle of Millenium Park from where she was standing.
" - the doppelganger is alive, Rebekah." finished Klaus.
She blinks, her expression arranged to one of shock. She hadn't been awake for that episode (and frankly she was glad she wasn't. She wouldn't have standed her man mooning over some imitation girl of his sire, who he loved before being turned. Seriously.) but she had gotten the dirty details from both Stefan and Nik. The doppelganger was drained of blood, Nik became a hybrid, Elijah got stabbed figuratively and literally, and etc.
At the thought of her older (once favorite) brother, Rebekah felt guilty. Klaus had daggered Elijah and pulled the dagger from Rebekah in a twisted sort of exchange. A sibling for another. Nik hadn't told her the details of why he had been daggered since Elijah had always been honorable and kept to his word.
Except for that one time they managed to find the doppelganger bitch, Katerina, and she had escaped. It had been the last time she had seen Elijah. Elijah had seperated his path from theirs then. Perhaps, he had changed and that's why Nik had daggered him.
"How is that possible Nik?" she asked.
"I don't know, dear sister. But tonight, Ripper and I are going to get reacquianted with our mutual friend. Find that necklace fast Rebekah."
He hangs up on her. She sets the phone down on the table to the right of her side and continued to stare out of the window, thinking. Rebekah had retraced her steps but no luck. Had it been two months, she would have found it by now but it has been decades and the city has changed. Only the outside because the inside of Chicago was still rotten and corrupt just as it was in the roaring 20s. Made it feel like home.
The man from the airport is suddenly behind her and she feels a surge of desire throughout her body. He really was a handsome man and rich too.
"So you're awake then?" she said, quirking an eyebrow at him through her reflection in the window before turning to him, "Good. How about you and I reenter the bedroom so you could finish what you started, hmm?"
He nods and turns to walk to the bedroom. Rebekah follows, licking her lips. He might just be the one with the best blood - it was simply delicious.
She postponed the search for the necklace to tomorrow. Rebekah needed to take out some frustrations.
0o0o0
He gave her a full day. Klaus is a gentleman after all. From the corner of his eye, he sees Stefan being restless. Stefan is ready to go though there is something worrying him from the look of that frown.
"It's almost time to go." he stated as he turned to Stefan and giving him a smirk.
"Why aren't we going now?" Stefan asked sullenly. The guy was all action and no thinking nowadays. He remembered a time where it has been the opposite. Stefan had been cautious, a strateger, when it had been all about keeping Elena alive.
His smirk turned wider. Perhaps he'll convince Stefan to kill the doppelganger if it turns out they didn't need her. An ironic situation that will greatly amuse him.
Mandy enters the room just then and Klaus turns to her with a raised brow.
"The room is ready for our guest." she announced.
"She won't be an inconvienance?" he inquired.
Mandy's head shook in response and he felt a sense of thrill. This time, he'll make sure the doppelganger stays dead...after she amuses him. Klaus turned back to the window and stayed in front of it, displaying to the occupants just how eager he was for sunset.
Soon, it came.
Klaus watched the rays of the sun dim at the approaching of the night and he smirked.
"Let's go."
The look on Stefan's face said, "Finally."
They took the car just for the cover of normalcy.
0o0o0
The doorbell rings and she automatically gets up to get it, cracking her back in relief. She had spent the whole day writing about the last 10 years of her life. Elena was currently at the time of her pregnancy and was writing down every detail she could remember about it.
The doorbell rings once, twice, a couple of more times rapidly.
"Alright already! I'm coming!" she grumbled to herself as she grasped the handle of the door and opened it.
She bit back a cry of surprise at seeing the rude blonde gentleman again.
"Now would you invite me in Elena?" he said cockily.
She retorted, "Why would I? I don't know you!"
"But I know you, Elena and frankly my dear, that's all that matters right now."
She makes a motion to close the door but a long cane suddenly blocks it from closing and force makes her take a step back as the door flew open again.
"That was rude. You used to have such good manners. Such a shame the years erased them." he said, mockingly sad.
"Just go away and leave me alone before I go and call the police!" she exclaimed, her heart thudding fast.
His face, teasing and light, turned dark and when he spoke, she started to fear for her life.
"Make one motion to call the police and I will kill them once they arrive." he said, veins starting to pop out around his eyes. His eyes started to turn red and when he smiled, the points of fangs showed.
Elena screams and runs to the back door, which she had opened earlier in the day to let in the breeze. She is almost out past the threshold when she notices the shadow among shadows and skidded to a stop. He steps out into her view, placing his hands on the door frame.
She is shocked beyond thinking. It can't be...
0o0o0
It is Stefan Salvatore. Her first passionate love.
Elena remembers him dimly from the photos she has from junior and senior years but it can't be, not logically. Who she thought was Stefan Salvatore couldn't possibly actually be him. He should be the same age as her now not frozen at seventeen years.
Nonetheless, she shockingly stammered out, "S-stefan?"
He nods and steps forward inside the house. She takes a step back. He takes a step forward. Elena turns to run but he is immediately behind her and grabs her by the neck before dragging her to the front door. Choking, Elena tried to pry off his fingers but to no luck. "Stefan's" hold on her neck was unbreakable.
From the corner of her eye she could see that the blonde teenager is wearing a smug smirk. The Bastard. When she got freed from this Stefan look-alike she was going to -
Elena's thoughts are shattered as he suddenly released his hold and pushes her across the threshold of the door. She stumbles from surprise.
"Go make sure everything is in place. I want no one to suspect anything, Ripper." ordered Klaus. With a nod, Stefan disappears for a minute before he was back. Elena blinked. That...no one was that fast!
"Done."
With extreme confidence, Klaus grabs Elena and drags her down the sidewalk before shoving her roughly into the car. Meanwhile Stefan got behind the steering wheel and turned it on.
The drive towards wherever they were going was silent.
0o0o0
They pulled up to a mansion that had seen better days, a beauty clinging on to the good old days. As soon as the car stops, Elena quickly opens the door to escape but Stefan is there in a flash, grabbing her arm tightly. The blonde chuckles in dark amusement.
Elena tries to wrench her arm from Stefan's grip but he is too strong for her and ends up hurting herself more. Stefan doesn't even notices that she's trying to escape anyway as he leads her inside the gorgeous foreclosed mansion. He drags her down the long elegant hallway and she notices a young woman peeking out of one of the rooms they've passed. Klaus slows down and stops in front of three rooms.
"Throw her in there." Klaus orders, pointing to a room with close doors.
At the sight of the room, Stefan hesitates. Noticing this, Klaus gave him a look.
"Well, don't daddle." he said, his voice crisp and commanding.
Without a further thought, he pushes Elena into the dark room. She stumbles and places her hand on a table to stabilize herself. Something clatters to the floor behind her before the door closes, leaving her in the dark. Kneeling on the floor, she felt her way across the floor to where the sound had stopped and her hand touched something.
She quickly figured out it was a flashlight and sighed in relief.
Turning on her flashlight, Elena rapidly casts its glow all over the room to see her surroundings. She notices that the table she was leaning against wasn't actually a table.
It was a coffin.
Looking around the room once more, she quickly realizes that it wasn't the only coffin in the room. There were perhaps four more, all placed in a semi circle around her.
She drops her flashlight as a scream fills the room and bounces off the wall. She bangs, pulls at the door, and struggles to get out but the door is enforced and locked. From outside, Klaus laughs at her screams. He has big plans for her.
It is only the beginning of her screams.