Chapter Twenty-Nine: Fake You Out
I'm so afraid of what you have to say
'Cause I am quiet now and silence gives you space
I'll never be, be what you see inside
You say I'm not alone, but I am petrified
You say that you are close, is close the closest star?
You just feel twice as far, you just feel twice as far
And I'll fall down. And I'll break down. And I'll fake you out.
~Twenty One Pilots
Elena sat at the counter, staring down at her untouched bowl of cereal. She had gotten dressed this morning in a numb haze, throwing on a white tank top, a pair of jeans and some sandals. She hadn't seen Nilin for almost two days now and all she needed was for Nilly to be home. Elena couldn't stand not having her here, especially since she's had the massive secret weighing her down. Elena's heart welled up. She was missing Nilly, yet she was furious at Nilly. Elena still held the guilt in her chest of what transpired a few nights ago.
She stirred the over bloated corn puffs with her spoon. Elena wasn't the only one missing Nilly. The house held an eerie silence when she wasn't here. Everyone felt it, causing Jenna to repeatedly ask her when Nilly would be back. The thing was, Elena didn't have an answer. She gave up calling her phone a while ago, so now all she had to do was wait.
The door bell rang, Elena slid off the stool and padded out of the kitchen. She had asked Stefan to come over this morning. Any longer in the quiet house and her head would explode. She opened the door to a slightly grinning Stefan, hands in his jean pockets, green eyes on her.
"Hi," she said quietly as she stepped out of the way to let him in.
"Hello," he said pecking her on the lips. She took his hand and led him into the kitchen where her soggy cereal still sat. Elena dumped it down the drain and sat back on the stool across from Stefan.
"So…" he said softly as Elena put her head down. "How are you?"
She shook her head. "Fine I guess, just this worrying is killing me. Plus when she does come back I have to dump all of this on her. I'm afraid." Elena confessed, "What if this sends her back out there running?"
Stefan nodded, "You just have to see it from Nilly's point of view and how she's dealing with all this. All these secrets that have been piling up are crashing down on her and the way she's finding them out isn't ideal. Take it slowly, don't ramble it all out in a second. She won't be able to handle it," he said.
"Okay, but-" Elena went to say, but Stefan's head turned away from her and towards the door. That's when Elena heard the sound of the front door opening. She pushed off the stool and went out of the kitchen.
She saw Nilly, slowly closing the door behind her. A leather jacket around her, she was still wearing the black top and white shorts she had left in. Nilly turned around, her eyes locking on Elena. There was a moment of silence. Elena felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she slowly started towards Nilly. Suddenly they were both running down the hall, slamming in to each other. Elena's arms immediately wrapped around Nilly and she felt her do the same.
They were both clutching on to one another, head's buried in each others shoulders. "I'm sorry," Elena was mumbling over again. "I'm so sorry."
Nilly was shaking her head, "It's okay, it's okay Elena." Nilly pulled back from her. She wiped the tears from Elena's cheeks. "I was never mad, just hurt. I over reacted, I let my feelings get the best of me. I let it cloud my judgment. I ran out of here like a banshee and paid the consequences. Someone told me this would happen, and they warned me about my emotions. I guess I forgot," she was saying.
Elena looked at her, "What are you talking about?"
"I had a dream Elena, of my mom. She told me I would uncover secrets and she made me promise not to be mad or bitter. She told me that I had to look past that and forgive. I thought it off as just a dream and nothing more. I forgot, but on the way home I remembered. I remembered what my mother said, it made sense." Nilly choked out, as she felt like she would started crying.
"But not of this should have ever happened. This has all been my entire fault. I was trying to look out for you Nilin, like you've done for me all these years but I screwed up. And I'm just so sorry."
"Elena, I understand," was all Nilin answered, hugging her again. Nilin was the cool, calm, collective one. She saw everything from a cloud high above any situation. She was such a pure soul, Elena realized, who could see things others can't.
"There is something else I need to tell you." She felt Nilly go stiff in her arms and pull away slowly.
"What could I have possibly missed?" Nilly groaned slowly.
Elena stepped back, "Why don't we go into the kitchen?" Nilly eyed her suspiciously, anxiety flashing across her face. Even though she hesitated, Nilly did follow her. Elena went in sat on the stool again, Stefan was next to her now. She watched as Nilly walked in and froze in the doorway, eyes flashing between her and Stefan.
"Maybe you should sit, Nil." Elena suggested.
Nilly shook her head. "I'm okay," she said. There was a silent pause again, Elena not knowing what to say. "What is it Elena? Just spit it out already." Nilly said with a strained voice.
Elena took a deep breath, staring at Nilly. "What did Damon tell you about Katherine?" she said slowly. Nilly's eyebrows pulled together as she leaned on the door frame.
"Is this what this is all about?" Nilin questioned them.
"Yes and no, just answer please." Elena pushed, seeing Nilin's annoyance.
"Fine, well he told me the truth if you're wondering…" she answered. "He told me we looked a like." There was a pause and then Nilly said softly, "That he thought I was her the first time we met."
Elena nodded, surprised that Damon had actually said that. Elena didn't expect Damon to be the truthful kind. What'd Nilly do to get that information out of him? Elena looked to Stefan who was silently standing next to her, arms on the table.
He stood up straighter, looking at Nilly. "Damon and I met Katherine back in 1864. We both fell in love with her," he said slowly. "But then we found out her secret, I realized she had been compelling us. That none of it was real, but by then it was too late. We had died, transitioned and she was gone."
"Dragged away into Fell's Church, right?" Nilin said, shocking both Elena and Stefan. "He told me." Nilly explained. "How they rounded all the vampires up and locked them in the church, then they burnt it."
"Ri-right," he answered, seeming just as surprised as Elena at the fact Nilly knew this.
"I don't understand though, what does that have to do with anything?" she asked.
"That was back in 1864, Nilly. We thought she had died that day, but then I came back to MysticFalls more than a hundred years later and I saw Elena." Stefan continued. "Like you said before, when Damon first met you, when I first saw Elena I thought she was Katherine," he confessed. "But I realized she wasn't, I learned more about her and it was clear. But the resemblance was too close to just be a coincident. That's when I discovered something." Stefan said, turning back to Elena.
Elena took a shaky breath and looked at Nilly. Her eyes were on Elena, arms crossed over her chest. "He found something wrong, things that didn't add up. Our birth certificates looked normal, our parents are listened on them but when we look at the past history, there's nothing that shows either one of our mothers were pregnant." Elena explained.
"Wh-what are you saying?" Nilly asked.
"Our mothers never… they never gave birth to us Nilly," she said.
There was a pause and then Nilly started to laugh. "What are you talking about Elena? Of course they did," she said between giggles.
"Think about Nilly, when you were born your mother was going through her end stages of chemo and starting radiation. Do you know how unlikely it is to not only conceive but carry a baby full term during that? It's almost impossible." Elena urged.
"But not completely," Nilly shot back.
Elena shook her head. "Nilly that's the only record of your mom ever being in the hospital, for the cancer. My mother had no history indicating she was pregnant, no check up, no admissions, nothing."
"Are you trying to say that our parents aren't our parents or something?" Nilly asked, walking over to the island with her eyes glaring.
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Nilly." Elena confirmed softly.
"What would that mean?:" Nilin questioned. "That we're, what? Adopted?"
"That's exactly what that means, Nilin." Stefan answered. Instead taking a moment and letting everything sink in, Nilin was being Nilin and started rambling.
"How is that possible, we look a like, we're cousins…" Nilly's voice trailed off. "We're not cousins, are we?"
Elena shook her head. Then Stefan spoke up again, "You're sisters, Nilly."
Nilly starred at him for a moment, complete and utter shock on her face as the words finally made their way in. She leaned back on the kitchen wall, the leather jacket falling slightly off her shoulder.
"How-how is that even possible? We're not even the same age, I'm older than her. I've always been older than her." Nilly stammered.
"Nilly," Elena said. "My dad was head doctor in the hospital we were born in, your dad basically ran the court house." Nilly stared at her, her head shaking back and forth slightly. "They changed the date, Nilly. They wrote the birth certificates, they changed the dates and put their names on it. We were born on the same day," she continued. "Nilin we're twins."
Elena was afraid Nilly was about to faint, her eyes were huge and her face held a pale sickly color. Nilly slid down the wall, sitting on the floor with a thump. Elena went around the island to her, and knelt beside her.
"How does this link back to Katherine?" she asked with her head in her hands.
"We think it's the reason you and me look exactly like her. Stefan said she must have had a child before she turned." Elena answered. Nilly nodded.
"Is there anymore, any reason that we'd look like her?" Nilly asked.
Elena hadn't thought about it really, there was other more important question on her mind. "Not that we know, yet."
"Have you talked to anyone about this?" she asked.
Elena shook her head, "I was hoping you'd talk to your dad."
Nilly was quiet for a moment. "I don't want to know," she said quietly.
Elena stared at her in confusion. "What do you mean 'you don't want to know'? Don't you have questions?" Elena asked, standing up. Nilly stood too.
"I don't want to know, Elena. This doesn't change the way I look at my parents, or anything. I don't want to go after the people who gave us up. I don't want to know anything about them. This is a good thing Elena, we're sister. Something we always joked about being and now it's actually true. Why should we go chasing after these ghosts when all it's going to do is change this?"
"But aren't you curious as to why our parents did it, why they kept us and didn't hand us off to some adoption agency?" Elena asked.
"Yeah, I guess. But if we ask that question we're also opening this up for even more questions and probably answers were not going to like." Nilly answered.
"Fine, you might not want to know, but I do," she said, leaning on the counter. Elena could see why Nilly wouldn't want to take this any farther. What she was dealing with in her life right now was enough on her plate, so Elena understood. But that didn't mean she wasn't bubbling with questions.
"All I want to know is why our parents never told us, why we had to find out like this." Nilly said quietly, scratching her head.
"I want to know that too." Elena said just a softly. A silence fell over the kitchen for a little. Nilly's eyes drooping, focused on something out the window. Elena's own eyes were on the floor as she walked back over to Stefan.
Then Nilly, broke the quite. "I still get to be the oldest though, right?" she asked, her head popping up. They laughed, even Stefan couldn't help but smile.
"Sure Nilly, I'm still the more responsible one either way." Elena replied.
"I can't even argue, because it's true." Nilly sighed, causing them to all laugh again, but then Elena noticed Nilly's face sober as she walked over and sat on one of the island's stool.
"Well since you two drop a bomb on me, I see it only fit if I do the same," she said, stopping all the laughter and dropping all the smiles. Stefan and Elena exchanged nervous glances.
"Go on." Stefan said.
"Well, I'm guessing you know about the vampires in the tomb under the old FellsChurch. And that you just neglected to inform me," Nilly said slowly. Elena and Stefan were quiet. "Don't worry, Damon told me. He also told me about Katherine and how she's one of them down there. He also told me about his plan to get her out, which I'm assuming you know about." The room went quiet, and Nilly just nodded her head once.
"By the awkward silence, I'm guessing you're not going to like this then," she continued slowly.
"What is it Nilin?" Elena said, feeling edgy.
"I told Damon I'd help him open the tomb." Nilly said cautiously, eyes glued to the countertop.
"You what?" Elena snapped. "Why would you do that?"
"I have my reasons, Elena," she said, her eyes pinning Elena's.
Nilly looked to Stefan. "You know as well as I do that Damon is still in love with Katherine. We both also know she's the main reason he came back to MysticFalls, so once he has her…"
"He'll leave." Stefan finished Nilly's sentence. Elena looked back and forth between Nilly and Stefan.
"And that would solve all our problems…" Nilly said softly.
"It makes sense. So you help him and say he is actually reunited with Katherine then what?" Elena asked.
Nilin slid off the stool, pulling the jacket around her tighter. "Then they ride into the sunset or some bullshit like that, I guess." She headed for the door. "I'm going to go upstairs, I'm in desperate need of a shower." Nilly said, before leaving the room.
When she was out of hearing distance Elena turned to Stefan. "That didn't go like I expected," she said. Stefan just shook his head. "So what are we going to do now?"
"We help Damon." Stefan said.
"We what?" Elena eyes widened. "You aren't seriously thinking we play along with Nilin's plan, are you?"
Stefan put his hand on Elena's shoulder. "I'll tell Damon we'll help him, but it's a lie. I'll let him believe he could trust me." Stefan explained. Elena nodded. "It's going to be a lie though, Elena. You have to realize that Nilin's going to be on the other side of this, I think she honestly wants to help Damon. But they can't open that tomb and I don't want you to go against Nilin. You two don't need that right now."
"I understand, I just want to protect her and it's going to take a lot more than a rescue mission to make me forget who Damon is and everything he's done," she said.
"I don't want to be his enemy, Elena." Stefan said, his hands slipping from her shoulders. "But I can't let him do it." Elena put her hands on either side of Stefan face, forcing his dark emerald eyes on her.
"Then don't, and I'll help you, whatever it takes. Okay?" she said softly. Elena knew Damon couldn't let Katherine or the other vampires out of the tomb. She didn't know Nilly's reasons for aiding Damon, but she had to keep Nilly safe.
"Okay." Stefan smiled, leaning in to kiss Elena.
Author's Notes: Hello my lovelies. Hope you enjoyed, I would really like to know what you guys are thinking and that means REVIEW. Please, please, please, give me some kind of feed back here. At least after 29 chapters, haha. I take it all, the compliments and the criticism. So Favorite, Follow & Review. I will see you all on Friday.
RLS
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