Author's note: Thanks for the love, darlings! :D
Chapters are coming quick! You are all utterly delightful.
The chaos continued to rise to unspeakable and unprecedented levels all over Mystic Falls, as the population of the small town near doubled with the unexpected influx of visitors who felt a sudden compulsion to head in its direction – with each and every obstacle suddenly evaporating – unaware that they had arrived to meet their respective Twin Flames.
Kol and Davina stood in front of the police station, watching Caroline, Stefan, Damon, and Elena converse – the latter of whom was the only vampire of the quartet still with her humanity intact, though she desperately tried to convince them otherwise.
Kol picked up on it immediately, having been a vampire himself previously, and now gifted with magic that allowed him to discern feelings and intentions – a kind of clairsentience he learned from some witches during his honeymoon in the Amazon with Davina. Although, he considered, it should have been relatively obvious to the three of them, as well – her empathy was nearly pouring from her very soul.
Unless they simply didn't want to see it. They had their reasons, he supposed, mentally shrugging, and turned to his lovely wife, who was watching them intently.
"They killed me, you know," Kol announced in a way that was entirely too casual for the statement – although, almost any delivery would count as such.
"What!?" Davina exclaimed, reacting much more appropriately.
"I obviously got better," Kol explained wryly, lifting his eyebrows suggestively. "I tried to kill them first," he explained as though that would be sufficient.
"Why?" Davina prodded impatiently, thinking she may have overestimated her husband's intelligence if he really thought she'd let that go.
"I tried to stop them from awakening an ancient evil, but they were too intent on looking for the Cure for Vampirism. Kids," he waved dismissively.
"What!?"
"Klaus, Rebekah, and Freya were helping. Like I said, kids," he smirked wryly.
Davina shook her head. "At least you're back now. So, are we here for vengeance?" she asked with more mischief than any genuine wickedness. Kol knew her well enough to understand that she wouldn't want to truly hurt anyone out of vengeance – protection, yes – but not for revenge. A little fun could certainly be had at their expense, though.
"We, my darling, are here for mischief!" Kol sang, taking her hand, and inching them closer to overhear their conversation.
"I think it would be a bit difficult - to compel that many people," Elena tried desperately to argue, with widened eyes. "There are literally scores of people here, with more arriving every few minutes. We're bound to miss someone," she pressed, in a way she hoped was convincing.
"So?" Stefan balked. "We'll just have to kill most of them. Big deal. Leave like," he pretended to think. "One survivor. Covered in entrails, or something."
"Sure you could control your inner Geppetto for that one, Stef?" Damon teased. "I know how much you like making dolls."
"W-what if someone films us?" Elena persisted, stuttering, running out of ideas to stall.
"You worry too much," Damon said in an almost soothing tone, cupping her cheeks in a way that nearly resembled the soothing gesture he would use to comfort her when his humanity was on. Except something felt very different, but Elena melted into it regardless, closing her eyes and allowing herself a brief moment to pretend, to calm her trembling nerves. "We'll just take away their phones after we kill them," he followed in the same tone, with just a little dash of playful mischief, though it was mostly cold, jarring Elena out of her fantasy entirely. While she normally loved the carefree part of his personality that allowed her to feel so alive, right now, she found it almost terrifying. "Start a side-hustle. Stolen from Stiffs. We can start with phones, then move our way up bigger. I've always wanted a Rembrandt," Damon trailed off with a wry smirk. "Mostly because Papa Salvatore hates him. Just another way to stick it to him. I'm sure one of these bratty little rich kids connections to one."
The tendency to risk and play and seek the humor in life was intoxicating and alluring and overwhelmingly attractive. But without empathy to regulate it and steer it, Elena suddenly found it petrifying.
"Sounds fun," Elena squeaked, then suddenly had an idea – one that she genuinely hoped would make the tiny spark of humanity she occasionally saw in him rise like a roaring inferno. "But I think I can find a better use of our time," she whispered in a way she hoped was sultry, grabbing the lapels of his shirt to pull him into a heated kiss.
Before she was able to, however, Caroline found herself becoming increasingly frustrated. Once again, Elena was the center of attention. How? How did this keep happening? And now she was positively ruining all her plans to use Damon to make Stefan jealous. Argh! That little doppel-bitch!
Grabbing Elena and unceremoniously tossing her out of the way, she took her place and planted a big one on Damon, all the while keeping Stefan in her peripheral vision.
"What the hell are you doing, Caroline?" Elena sneered, pushing her away.
"Ooh, girl fight!" Damon beamed, grinning almost impossibly wide. He knew he'd put a stop to it before either of them got seriously hurt – hey, where did that come from? He shuddered, and focused on keeping his humanity way, way down.
Stefan just rolled his eyes. Did anyone actually think watching Caroline and Elena fight was somehow more entertaining that carnage and mayhem? What was wrong with his brother? There were so many walls in Mystic Falls, just waiting to be filled with names. The Boarding House had scores of empty walls, without even a single fatality lovingly orchestrated, crafted, and recorded by him! After all, he was an artist! He would have felt ashamed of himself for his lack of productivity, if he was capable of feeling shame. As such, he only felt mild disappointment.
"Everything just has to be about you, doesn't it Elena?" Caroline roared, grabbing a thick branch from a nearby tree. "You just couldn't stay away, could you?"
"Care, what's gotten into you?" Elena asked desperately, unable to believe that the Caroline she knew and loved was so far gone beneath the humanity switch, while trying to weave out of the way of her lunges, refusing to hurt her friend. "You're better than this!"
"Exactly! I am better," Caroline preened, twisting the twig in her hands like a pretty baton. She was a former cheerleader, after all - thank you very much. "And you're just an annoying crybaby," she snarled, moving behind her elegantly, ready to drive the twig into her heart. At the last moment, Elena side-stepped and fell back, watching the three vampires with wild eyes.
"Why isn't she fighting back?" Stefan mumbled to himself, watching the girls through narrowed eyes, and then suddenly grabbed the nearest human girl – a willowy brunette walking by, dancing to the music in her iPod. Without further ado, he allowed his fangs to elongate, and brutally plunged them into the girl's throat, practically tearing her neck apart in his enthusiasm, causing her to unleash a shrill scream.
"Ugh, Stef, you have worse table manners than Matt Donovan," Damon groaned with a roll of his eyes, growing visibly annoyed. "And her screaming's giving me a headache. I feel like I fell in headfirst into Justin Bieber's preteen playground. Gross."
Damon tried moving in front of the girl to compel her to be quiet, when Stefan roughly pushed him away, his eyes becoming feral. "No, I like it," he snarled.
"Ew," Damon backed away, with a roll of his eyes, leaving him to his carnage. "No style, whatsoever. How am I even related to you?"
Elena watched the exchange with wide, terrified eyes, feeling profound empathy for the girl. If she was too obvious in her desire to save her, she'd immediately give herself away. So what to do? Stefan locked eyes with her and smiled, blood pouring down his chin. He slowly dragged his fangs down the girl's throat, tearing it even more.
The decision was made for her. "No!" Elena cried out.
Before she could stop herself, she tore the girl from Stefan's arms, standing in front of her protectively.
"I knew it," Stefan smiled – not smirked – but genuinely smiled, in a way that absolutely reached his eyes. It was terrifying, Elena thought. "I knew you were faking."
Elena was so busy watching Stefan for a potential assault that she completely forgot about Caroline behind her, who sprang with the twig, aiming it directly at her heart.
In that split moment, the tiny spark within Damon was given brief dominion of his body, and he lunged to shield Elena from Caroline, knocking them both down in the process. He groaned, finding himself laying on top of her, with the twig protruding from his back, having gone straight through his stomach, and coming face to face with Elena's shocked and grateful dark eyes. For a second, she thought she saw something familiar in his gaze – a tenderness that he seemed to save precisely for her. And just as quickly, it was gone. But his humanity had been strong enough to allow him to save her, at least, so hope was well alive.
"Kol!" Davina, who was busy trying to heal the girl that Stefan had all but massacred, screamed. "Do something!"
Closing his eyes, Kol gathered the magic within himself and aimed it at Damon and Elena, engulfing them in bands of vivid light. Within seconds, they vanished.
"Where did they go?" Davina asked. "Where did you send them?"
"I'm not sure," Kol replied, his eyes trained on the other two vampires who finally noticed them.
Freya was positively exhausted as she finally walked into Mikaelson Manor. She'd dropped off Luke at his house, demanding a promise that he would take it easy and stay off his ankle. What a positively exhausting day. She could use a bath, or a glass of wine, or both.
Anything relaxing would be nice, but it seemed like everything consistently fell on her shoulders.
Would she ever know a day of peace?
Just as her ruminations became increasingly maudlin, she bumped into that suspicious vampire they'd hired to write a play for the wedding on his way out – Lorenzo? Enzo? Something St. John?
"Oh, hello Ms. Mikaelson," he greeted amicably. "I was just in to see Ms. Bennett."
"Why?" Freya asked with narrowed eyes, her naturally suspicious nature rising to the fore, before she realized she was being quite rude and caught herself.
"I just wanted to chat about the forthcoming project for which you hired us," he answered breezily, not remotely affected by the witch's mistrustful attitude.
"I see," Freya replied. "What did you want to know?"
"Oh, I have everything I need," Enzo grinned, in a way that Freya found a bit too smug. He was definitely hiding something. Calm down, Freya. She laughed internally then. If she wasn't a witch, and thus able to heal herself, she'd probably be worried about her blood pressure.
"Do you now?"
"Yep," Enzo replied easily. "Ms. Bennett has been very helpful, but if I find that I have further questions, I'll be sure to call. You have a great day!" he continued cheerfully, before exiting with a speed that was decidedly superhuman. Freya just shrugged. She tended to have that effect on people.
Enzo entered Lockwood Manor happily, finding his cast-mates lounging about on its many couches. The majority of them were previously sired hybrids of one Klaus Mikaelson, who had taken great pains – quite literally – to finally detach themselves from the hybrid and live autonomous lives.
It was not an experience that filled them with any particular sense of joy, having forced themselves to undergo a painful transformation hundreds of times to finally be free.
Needless to say, Klaus was far from their favorite person.
"So, how did it go?" asked Tyler Lockwood, his assistant director. "Were you able to find out anything useful?"
"Oh, I believe I've struck a veritable goldmine, my friend," Enzo grinned, putting a companionable arm around his friend's shoulders. "We've hit the jackpot."
"Any more money metaphors you want to throw my way?" Tyler smirked.
"Just the look on Klaus Mikaelson's face when we present this play – our money shot. We'll call it The Curse of the Sun and the Moon, and it's going to be a doozy."
"I can't wait," Tyler grinned, and the cast-mates gathered around to hear the tale, while Enzo took out his notebook and began to write.
This play was going to make quite the splash.
Just a little reminder that this is an AU in which Freya was awakened early and joined the Mystic Falls crew on their adventure, and thus, gave the Cure to Kol immediately after his resurrection. Silas and Qetsiyah were dispatched pretty easily as a result of all the extra witch power, as well.
A Midsummer Night's Dream features a fight between Hermia and Helena, so I knew I had to work it in somehow. So, there you have it. :D
I decided to not go to sleep until I finish the next chapter, so here we are! :D
We'll find out where Kol sent Damon and Elena in the next chapter. Right now, Kol and Davina are too busy dealing with Caroline and Stefan.
Thank you for being delightful, everyone. Hugs and love. Please be sure to leave a review, so I can learn all your lovely feelings. :)