So . . . School started. I have a zillion things things to do, but I really, really, really, want to finish this story! I'm determined! I had written these flashback scenes before I shortened the story, so, because I only have one more present day chapter after this, I'm just going to put all the rest of the flashbacks into this chapter, so it's gunna be a long one.

I hope you enjoy them! And, reviews are life, so don't be afraid to let me know what you think.

August 5th 1944 (1)

"It looks so different." Elena observed, her eyes wide as she scanned her surroundings.

Lexi shrugged. "It's been 80 years. It's bound to look pretty different." She turned to her friend. "But I still can't imagine what it must be like for you. This is where you grew up, right?"

"Yeah. Before I was turned, I'd never gone more than a few miles from my home."

Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Even the scent of the place was different. There were restaurants and automobiles everywhere now. When she had lived here, there was only a small bar, a few food stalls, and the church in the center of town.

The two girls had just come from the site of where the Pierce house had once stood. It was now just piles of stones in the middle of a clearing. Only the bare foundation of the old house was still there. It had been bizarre for Elena, looking at that site. She could almost hear the laughter her and her twin used to share and see the small forms of them as children running through the trees. Her memories were like ghosts, a marriage laid over top the reality of the abandoned clearing. It was creepy.

"Come on, we should get something to eat." Lexi said, pulling Elena out of her memories and back into the present, where they were standing in the middle of town, probably looking very lost. Lexi grabbed her hand and began pulling her towards one of the restaurants.

Inside, people were milling about and talking. No one payed the two vampires much attention. Lexi immediately headed straight towards the bar, so Elena followed. They sat down in the last two seats available.

"You two are new around here, aren't you?" Asked the blonde man sitting on the other side of Elena. He didn't seem to be drunk, just curious.

"Yeah." Elena answered. "Something like that."

The man nodded. "Thought so. I've lived here as long as I can remember, and I don't think I've meet you before." He hesitated a moment, studying Elena's face before adding. "Although, your face looks familiar. What is your name?"

Elena debated giving her real family name to the man, but she wanted to know what he knew about the history of the town, so she decided to only use a false first name. "I'm Ellen Pierce. I'm descended from one of the founding families of this town. Maybe that's why I look so familiar."

He nodded slowly. "I guess that makes sense. So I guess all the rumors about Katherine Pierce having a child in secret before she died are true."

Elena tried to hide her quick intake of breath. That brought back long forgotten memories. Ones she had tried to suppress because if she had dwelled on them, her heart might have broken in sadness.

"I'm also a descendant of one of the founding families, I'm a Forbes." The man continued. "That's why I know so much about the history of this town. Especially the year 1864." He searched Elena's eyes, as if trying to see if she knew more then she was letting on about the past.

Elena tried to keep her composure. There was no way that he could knew that she was a vampire. Everyone had assumed she and her sister had died that night, hadn't they? Keeping her face as natural as possible, she inquired, "Why especially the year 1864?"

"August 25th, 1864, was the day that the founding families of this town were said to burn down a church." Mr. Forbes eyes still searched Elena's. He definitely knew much more about that night then he was saying, but he continued talking. "No one really knows why. There are some that say some of the townspeople were inside when it burned, but a few people believe that it wasn't people inside, but demons."

Elena turned her head to the side, acting curious and playful instead of calculating. He couldn't know. There was no way he knew who she was. "What do you believe, Mr. Forbes?"

He squinted at her and then suddenly stood up, tossing some money on the bar for the waiter. "It's all fairy tale of course. There is no such thing as demons and the founders may have been strange, but there's no way they would have brutally murdered 26 of the townspeople. Now, I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I must go now." He nodded first at Elena, and the Lexi. "It was nice to meet you. Perhaps I'll see you again soon."

With that, he turned towards the door and left.

August 5th 1944 (2)

Lexi jumped up from her seat as soon as the Forbes was out the door. "I'm going to follow him. He knows much more than he is letting on, and I plan on finding out what exactly that is."

Elena began to get up to follow her friend, but Lexi stopped her, pushing her back down into her chair. "No, you should stay here. You don't need to put yourself through any more of this. I'll be back soon."

Elena sighed and sat back down reluctantly. "Just be safe, okay Lexi?"

The blonde nodded. "I will."

Lexi ran over to the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the street. She glanced around, searching for a trace of the man they had been talking to a moment ago. After a few seconds, she heard his footsteps leading away from around the next corner. She speed over and peered around the wall. Sure enough, there he was, briskly walking away.

Lexi followed him out of the center of town. He continued to walk, and Lexi made sure he didn't know she was following him. She kept out of sight and moved around with no sound, as if she were lighter than a feather.

Finally he arrived at a large family home. He knocked and a few seconds later, another man opened the door. The man at the door glanced around behind the Forbes, checking for anyone following him, and Lexi ducked behind a tree. After a moment, the man at the door let the Forbes in and shut the door behind him.

Lexi snuck up close to the house and used her super hearing to listen in to what the men were saying. It quickly became clear that there were more than just the two of them inside, but a small group of men.

"How do you know for sure?"

"I don't. It's just a feeling. But I'm telling you, there was something off about those two." That was Forbes.

"Off?"

"How do you mean?"

"Like I said, I'm not sure." Forbes replied. "One of them said she was a Pierce"

"A Pierce?"

"You don't mean like, a member of the founding family Pierce, do you?"

"Yeah, that's what she said. And she knew that Pierce was a founding family. So she obviously knows enough about this town's history to know that."

"What did you do then?"

"I mentioned that day."

"Did she give any response to that?"

"Not really. In fact, I think she was too passive. I told her the story of the church and the so called rumors about demons, but she didn't give much of a response."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I think they're both vampires."

"What makes you say that? You weren't even there."

"They just seem suspicious, and it sounds like they know too much. Even if she is just a Pierce, like she says, we can't have people going knowing the truth about the history of this town."

"I agree with Gilbert. I think we should capture them. If we use vervain and it doesn't work, no harm done. If it does, then, well, we will have to solve that problem when we get there."

Lexi couldn't help but wonder how these men knew anything about vervain.

"I also agree. We should use vervain"

"Okay." Said Forbes. "All in favor of using vervain to take them down, say aye."

There was a chorus of "Aye"s as Lexi slipped away from the house.

She had to warn Elena.

August 5th 1944 (3)

Elena watched her friend run out the door to chase after the mysterious Forbes. She sighed again and turned back to the bar.

When she had finished her drink, she decided to do some more sightseeing by herself. Lexi would be able to find her, she had not doubt. She stepped out of the restaurant and began wandering around, not quite sure where she wanted to go.

Then she saw it. A familiar face. No, not familiar, her face. She stopped walking and stared. There was only one other person who had her face, and as far as she knew, her sister was still locked up by Klaus. Elena blinked a few times and shook her head and then looked up at the spot again. Empty.

Of course she had imagined it. There was no way Katherine had escaped Klaus. And even if she had, there was an even smaller chance of her tracking Elena down.

She took a deep breath and began walking again, trying to force her mind to think logically. Katherine was not here.

"Hello, sister."

Okay, Elena had definity not imagined that. She whirled around to find herself face to face with her twin.

Katherine continued, "I've been waiting an awfully long time for this you know."

"Katherine." Elena tried to put as little emotion into the name as she could, but the crack in her voice betrayed her.

Katherine smirked and tilted her head to the side. "Oh, so you do remember me? Because you seemed to have totally forgotten me for the past 50 years. Did you ever even try to break me free from Klaus's grip?"

Elena tried to hold herself together. "Katherine, I'm so sorry. Letting you get captured like that, and running for my life, was selfish of me. I shouldn't have done that to you. Please forgive me."

"Forgive you?" Katherine suddenly reached out and grabbed her sister by the throat, lifting her off the ground. They may have been vampires incapable of dying by suffocation, but it sure hurt. And Katherine had picked the perfect time to do it. At that moment, the street they were one was completely empty, despite it being perfect summer weather.

"How can I ever forgive you, Elena?" Katherine sneared. "You left me. Abandoned me. Forgiving you has never even been an option. Punishing you, making you suffer, those are both options."

"Please." That was all Elena could manage to say with a crushed windpipe. She could have put up much more of a fight, but she didn't. Honestly, Elena wasn't even sure what she was pleading for. Mercy, or punishment. She would be lying if she were to say she didn't deserved everything her sister wanted to do to her. She had been the one to abandon her own flesh and blood for her own skin.

Katherine threw her sister down to the ground. "You're pathetic." She crouched down to look into Elena's eyes. "You lay there, at my feet, begging for forgiveness, not even fighting back against me. How we are related, I have no idea."

Whosh. Something whizzed past Katherine's ear.

Katherine quickly looked up at the source. Surrounding the two vampires was a group of about eight people, all holding dart guns.

"Don't move." One of the men said. "These darts are filled with vervain."

August 5th 1944 (4):

Katherine growled and bared her fangs. Did these weak humans really think they could take down two eighty year old vampires?

A few of the men took unconscious steps backwards at the sight of her ferocious vampire face, but they didn't back down. Katherine almost rolled her eyes at that.

She reached her arm down to her sister. They may be at odds, but neither of them wanted to be taken down by a small group of humans who thought they knew what they were getting themselves into. It was too obvious to Katherine that these men had never actually seen a real vampire in action with their owns eyes. She smirked. They were in for a big reality check.

Elena grabbed her sister's hand and pulled herself to her feet, getting back her breathing. The two automatically went back to back. They were facing four men each. Katherine smiled. This was going to be fun.

At the same moment, both girls attacked. Katherine sped for the man closest to her. There in less then a second, she grabbed the dart gun out of his hands and tossed it at least a hundred yards away. Like taking candy from a baby. She twirled and kicked the gun out of the next man's hands. She punched him in the chest and set him flying. He landed ten feet away. She moved on. Grabbing the third man's head, she twisted, killing him instantly. As he dropped, she jumped over him, baring her fangs and went for the fourth man's neck. She drained his blood fast, but not wastefully. This was her food and she wasn't about to waste the chance to eat by trying to be fast.

That was when she felt something prick her arm. She took her fangs out of the man's neck and looked down, knowing what she would see, but not believing it. Sticking out the side of her arm was a dart, no longer filled with vervain. She looked up, searching for the person who had shot her. A little way away stood the man she had punched in the chest, his gun retrieved and aimed at her. His eyes were wide and his grip on his gun loosened as she began to sway, going dizzy from the vervain.

She quickly looked around and watched as something similar happened to her sister. One second she was fighting a one sided fight with one of the men in hand to hand combat, and the next there was a dart in the side of her neck. Both girls fell to the ground , first Katherine, followed a second later by her sister.

As Katherine began to black out, the last thing she saw was a straight haired blond girl pull up short from the scene. She looked at the two vampires with recognition in her eyes, and then glanced at the remaining men in terror. They didn't even notice she was there. She glanced again at the twins before turning and running in the other direction.

August 6th 1944:

Elena woke with her face shoved against a hard wood floor.

"What should we do with them?" A voice was saying.

"I don't know. We've never actually dealt with live vampires before. All we know is the stuff from the journals."

Journals? Elena thought. Like the journals her Father had kept? That must have been how these men had managed to learn about the poisonous effect of vervain on vampires. She kept her breathing steady and her eyes closed as her head cleared.

She listened for heartbeats.

Four.

There were four heartbeats.

Her own, the two men standing over her and talking, and . . . who else?

Katherine.

She remembered how her sister had been taken down by the vervain dart only moments before she had. She concentrated, and realized that Katherine's heartbeat was just as fast as her own. She wasn't asleep either, but neither of the men had noticed yet that both their captors were only feigning sleep.

"Should we stake them?" one of the men was asking the other.

There was a shuffle of clothing. "I don't know." The second man finally answered. "I've never killed someone before. I don't even know if it would actually work."

Elena felt the bonds on her wrists. They were the only things keeping her from going anywhere, other than her supposed vervain induced unconsciousness. The ropes didn't even have vervain on them. These men really had no idea what they were doing.

"But you have to remember," the first man was saying, "they aren't humans. And if the vervain worked, why wouldn't a stake?" From the sound of their voices, the men were behind her, so she took a risk.

"Katherine." She whispered so quietly she was almost not saying anything. "I know you are awake. Since these men obviously don't know what they are doing, I say we take them down and compel them to forget us."

"I'm in." Was Katherine's equally as quiet response.

Elena smiled. She liked working with her sister much more than working against her. "Get ready."

"Okay," the second man seemed to give in. "Then we stake them."

The men turned to look at their captives, and that was when Elena yelled, "NOW!"

Both girls broke the ropes tying their wrists together with ease, and jumped to their feet. Katherine lunged for one of the men's necks, and after hesitating for a moment, Elena followed suit and jumped towards the other. She hated hurting people, but she needed her full strength back in order for the the compulsion to work.

The doors burst open and a few more men came through, and then stopped short in shock at the scene before them.

Katherine let grabbed the man she had bitten on the shoulders and looked him in the eyes, compelling her to forget everything that had happened in the past few days. He nodded as his eyes when glazed. Elena did the same, and then they speed over to the men in the doorway, compelling them all to forget. When they were done their work, they left, speeding off in opposite directions, Elena wanting to find Lexi, and Katherine too tired to chase after her sister at the moment.

They would not see each other again for another 65 years.