A/N: Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of the Vampire Diaries or L.J. Smith's work.

Also, I'm not super happy with these next two chapters, but here goes nothing.

Once again, I apologize for any mistakes, etc...

Season 2: The Awakening (Part 1)

"Sofia, wake up." said a hushed, urgent voice. Sofia, still in the throes of heavy sleep, tried to sink further into the feather-soft bed, a luxury she was still not used to. Suddenly registering her companion's voice, Sofia jerked upwards in a panic, blinking owlishly.

Her and Katerina shared a large, lavish room, generously provided by a Lord who sought Katerina's affection. Sofia was posing as her handmaiden to provide her legitimacy as a noblewoman.

Sofia could barely make out her friend's face in all the darkness, the only light in the room provided by a single candle.

"What is wrong, Katerina?" Both of them spoke in their native tongue of Bulgaria. Sofia was not able to speak the English tongue half as well as Katerina, who had become fluent at an enviable speed.

"They mean to kill me," Katerina whispered frantically.

"How do you -" Sofia abruptly ended her query. It was not her place to question Katerina.

"Trefor told me". Her unspoken question was answered anyway.

Sofia bit her lip.

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

Katerina was excellent at anticipating those around her, it was how they survived thus far.

"Trefor is going to help me escape, but I intend to help provide you an exit before I go " whispered Katerina.

Sophia's eyes flickered as she began to wake up. She winces at the bright, fluorescent light that stings her eyes. The remnants of her dream quickly began to fade away, but what stuck with her was a name. Katerina Petrova.

"Sophie, thank god." she hears Aunt Jenna's voice before she sees her.

"Doctor, nurse, help! Someone, please come in here," she hears Elena say.

Sophia immediately startles at the sight of her sister, her heartbeat picking up.

"Sophie it's okay, it's just me," Elena says nervously, as she steps closer to her.

It's Elena, something in her confirms, and she begins to relax.

"I-" Sophia immediately winces in pain.

"Shh, you're safe now. Don't try to talk, Sophie," says Aunt Jenna gently as she smooths Sophia's hair back.

The doctor checks her out soon after and confirms that she is healthy enough to go home. Sophia would later learn that Elena had called an ambulance right away after seeing John bleeding on the ground, but she had not caught sight of Sophie's unconscious body until she went exploring the house for the intruder. Aunt Jenna ended up riding in the ambulance with Sophia while John was in another, and Elena said that she would meet them at the hospital after checking up on Jeremy.

At first, the doctor on call had been concerned with Sophia's heavy concussion, but most of his concerns dissipated after she slept through the night. Fortunately, her bruised throat looked worse than it was. They recommended bed rest and absolutely no straining her throat by talking for the next 2 to 3 days. All in all, she was expected to make a full recovery. With the aid of pain medication, she could finish healing at home.

John had provided a murky cover story while he was still conscious, and said that neither of them had been able to get a good look at the attacker.

At Sophia's insistence, Aunt Jenna set her up in the living room once they returned home. After making sure her niece was as comfortable as possible, she left for the market to buy food that would be easy for Sophia to eat.

Elena had been mostly quiet throughout Jenna's mother henning. After she left, however…

"Sophie I am so sorry for everything. I know I screwed up, please-" Elena pleaded as she crouched on the floor beside Sophia, who was laying on the couch.

Sophia cut Elena off by grabbing her hands and squeezing them gently. Sophia smiled reassuringly at Elena, her eyes blurred with tears.

'I forgive you' she mouthed.

When Jenna returned less than 30 minutes later, Elena excused herself to go check on Caroline at the hospital. She had been in a car accident the night before. While Jenna was preparing her food in the kitchen, Elena quietly promised Sophia she would tell her everything later.

Jenna and Sophia had an acceptable reason to not attend Mayor Lockwood's quickly put together wake that day. He had passed away the night before. As she watched TV with her aunt, Sophia kept replaying her attack in her mind, wondering how it was possible there was a vampire running around who looked exactly like Elena. Between being foggy from the medication, apologies, Aunt Jenna overhearing, and Sophia's throat burning like hell when she talked, she hadn't been able to share this information with Elena.

Aunt Jenna had managed to find an old whiteboard and marker, which she insisted Sophie use to communicate with her. At one point Jeremy had joined them for a movie, before also leaving to meet up with Elena, who stopped by the wake. They returned shortly after. Sophia got Elena to cajole Jenna to go to her bedroom to sleep since she had been up the better part of the night at the hospital.

Before she left to make sure Jenna really went to sleep, Elena looked sternly at Jeremy.

"Tell her what you did."

Sophia looked questioningly at Jeremy who looked guilty and annoyed at the same time. He took a seat in the armchair.

"Well, at least you won't be able to yell at me for how stupid I was." Jeremy smiled bitterly.

He then told her of Anna's death, and how she had given him blood beforehand. In a state of distraught, he took her blood before plying himself with pills in the hope of turning himself into a vampire.

Sophia gaped at him, before hitting his forearm with her whiteboard multiple times.

"Ow, Ow. Stop hitting. I know, I was stupid." said Jeremy, gently stopping her attack by clasping the whiteboard. He let it go once he was sure Sophia would cease-fire, and went on to explain how Stephan confirmed that he hadn't taken enough pills to die, and Anna's blood in his system had actually healed the potential overdose.

Once he was done talking, he was unable to meet her eyes. Sophie reached out to hug him, which he hesitatingly returned. She then wrote on the whiteboard that she was sorry for Anna's death.

Before he left for his bedroom, Sophia wrote on the whiteboard 'Don't ever do anything like that again' and gently smacked him on the arm one more time for good measure, eliciting a watery laugh from Jeremy.

Thanks to another dose of pain medication from earlier, Sophia fell asleep before she could check in with Elena as the drowsiness had finally kicked in.

Sophia startled awake later that night, her sleep mercifully dreamless. She was bundled up in a blanket and felt another pillow beneath her head. Elena must have tucked her in. The clock in the living room read 11:46 p.m. She may as well go spend the rest of the night in her bed.

Sophia's breath caught in her throat as she stumbled upon the scene in her bedroom.

A tearful Elena was cradling an unconscious Jeremy, while Stephan crouched at her side.

"What happened?" asked Sophie, her throat burning as she tripped over her feet to reach her siblings. She fell to her knees beside Jeremy, asking Elena again what was wrong.

"Damon snapped his neck". Stephan told her, his face solemn.

"What, why.." said Sophia, who suddenly became aware of the tears running down her face.

"He'll be o- okay," assured Elena, stuttering. "John must've given him the ring. It'll bring Jeremy back," said Elena tearfully.

Sophie clutched Jeremy's hand, the one that wore a twin of Alaric's ring.

Just then Jeremy's eyes flashed open, and he struggled a little in Elean's hold.

"Is he okay? Is he okay?" asked Elena frantically.

"He's okay, you're okay" Stephan assured Elena and Jeremy.

"Damon killed me, Damon killed me," said Jeremy, shocked and scared. She hadn't seen that expression on his face since he found out about their parent's car accident.

Overwhelmed with relief, Sophia let go of Jeremy's hand and encircled her arms around her brother and sister, enveloping them in a crushing hug.

"Why would Damon want to kill Jeremy? And how did that ring bring him back to life?" demanded Sophie in a low, croaky voice.

It was now 4 in the morning, and Elena and Sophia were sitting vigil outside Jeremy's room. About an hour or so after he came back to life, he had wanted to be alone. Meanwhile, his sisters both sat against his closed bedroom door out in the hallway. Stephan had left a few hours ago to give them privacy.

"Damon was convinced he was in love with me." Elena began, her body shaking in newfound rage..

"But I love Stephan, and I wouldn't kiss him and I couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear. Jeremy walked in as I was trying to get him out of my room and Damon took out his frustration on him." she explained in a dead voice.

In the early hours of the morning, with both of them unable to sleep, Elena did her best to explain to Sophia the trouble she had found herself in after dating Stephan. She spoke of the difficult time she had coming to terms with the existence of vampires, and what that meant in regard of her relationship to Stephan. Of how her feelings towards him eventually overpowered any hesitance she had.

With bated breath, Elena shared how she befriended Damon. Of how, at first, she and Stephan tried to keep Damon's destruction to a minimum, and then detailed the brother's love affair with a vampire named Katherine, who turned both brothers immortal during the time of the civil war.

Stephan kept an old picture of Katherine, which was how Elena found out that she was a carbon copy of Elena. The brothers had been under the impression that Katherine was stuck in a tomb in Mystic Falls, until they found out otherwise when they tried to get her out. This led to all the vampires from the tomb who had been locked up there since the 1860s being released.

Elena then explained a little bit about the Council made from the founding families of Mystic Falls, and how they wanted some contraption of Jonathon Gilberts that would incapacitate vampires. Elena had been under the impression that Bonnie, who was indeed a witch, had muted the contraptions capabilities. It turned out that wasn't the case, and chaos had reigned all over town the other night, with Damon and Stephan nearly dying without Bonnie's eventual help.

"Elena, Katherine is back in Mystic Falls?" asked Sophia with wide eyes.

Elena looked sick. "You didn't say anything, we hoped you didn't remember."

Sophia nodded, and explained the violent encounter, forgoing how she knew the name, Katerina.

The next day after the "incident", Elena relentlessly tried to return to normalcy by taking over the carnival, since Caroline was still at the hospital. She also used the event to try to get Jeremy and her to act more like teenagers.

Sophia was still on bed rest and managed to evade both tickets taking duty and a vampire Caroline.

Elena arrived home from the carnival looking like a light breeze would push her over the edge. In the privacy of their bedroom, she explained how Katherine had killed Caroline, who still had had Damon's blood in her system. Bonnie had insisted on it when they were at the hospital the other day since Caroline's odds at survival didn't look good. As a tragic result, Caroline was now a vampire. In her newfound bloodlust, Caroline had killed one of the students. Damon then tried to kill Caroline to nip any problem she might be in the bud, but thankfully, Elena talked him out of it. Then Bonnie tried to kill Damon, blaming him for what had happened to Caroline, which Elena also talked her out of. Sophia wasn't sure she would have been able to do the same in her position.

Elena was in the restroom getting ready for bed, understandably exhausted after the night she had. Sophia walked over to their bedroom window to close the curtain.

"Jesus," exclaimed Sophia when she saw Stephan outside on the ledge. With a sigh, she opened it for him.

"Thanks, sorry I just went to the window without thinking," said Stephan, wryly apologetic.

Hand placed over her violently beating heart, Sophia said, "It's okay." After a beat, " I actually wanted to thank you for what you did for Caroline." Sophia's face was solemn.

Stephan nodded. "It's going to be a lot of hard work on her part, but I'll do my best to help her adjust," said Stephan, equally serious.

"Well, I'm getting the feeling that you're not here for me." smiled Sophia, "I'll just get out of your way, Elena should be out soon." Sophia began to walk to the bedroom door.

As they heard the bathroom doorknob turn, Stephan mouthed 'thank you' as Sophie stepped out of the room.

An hour or so later, Elena told her in detail of the Ferris wheel experience Stephan had insisted on. It was all disgustingly romantic.

The weekend after, Elena planned a road trip to Duke University to try to learn more about Katherine. Whenever Sophia thought about her, she had flickerings of a dream that had mostly faded, but the name Katerina Petrova continued to stay with her.

Elena had filled her in on the finer details that she forgot to include when she was giving Sophie the bullet points of what had occurred in the first semester of school. Such as, how Alaric had been married to her birth mother, who was now an egomaniacal vampire who had once tried to kill Jeremy.

God, there was so much information to keep up with.

Damon was also accompanying them on their trip since Stephan was going to spend the day training Caroline on how to hone her instincts. She hadn't been to school all week, worried about her bloodlust. Plus, Bonnie hadn't been convinced to make Caroline a daylight ring yet.

As Elena got ready for the day, Sophia left early to go visit Caroline.

She wanted to avoid Damon, who even Jeremy had managed to let bygones be bygones with, and decided to risk her chances with the baby vampire.

On the way there, Sophia pondered how Elena and Jeremy got the whole 'let's be above killing' mentality with ruthless killers. But she could also appreciate how her siblings weren't too far gone, how they didn't have it in them to end a life even if it was Damon's. Sophia's not sure she could honestly claim the same if she thought she could get away with it.

The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her that vampires didn't see the people around them as, well, people. Being a vampire with only other vampires being a true harm to them, and being immortal, it made sense if they just stopped caring after a few centuries, give or take a decade.

As a fellow human, however, and a rather empathetic one, Sophia was protective of other humans. With vampires with so little disregard like Damon running around, loath as she was to admit it, she was starting to understand the founding families' vampire hunting council mentality a lot better.

But getting to know Stephen better had disrupted most biases she would have had against vampires even before they started. Having Caroline being able to live on as a vampire was far better than the alternative, and she was still innately Caroline despite what Jonathon Gilbert's journals would have her believe.

Ever since the concussion Katherine had given her, the voices in Sophia's head had quieted. For how long was anyone's guess. While Elena went to find out more about Katherine, Sophia resolved to find out exactly what was going on with her. With witches and vampires running around, maybe there was another explanation that didn't lead to her needing to be medicated.

"Hi Caroline," Sophie smiled as she walked inside her house.

"Hey Sophie." smiled Caroline.

"I see being a vampire has brought out your emo side. Or you know, about as emo you would get," said Sophie, noting Caroline's sudden penchant for smoky eyeshadow.

"Hey, I don't do emo. Let's talk committees," said Caroline, her tone suddenly business like.

Since Sophia was almost in every committee that Caroline was in, she was her eyes and ears while Caroline was out of school that week.

Sophia couldn't fathom how Caroline was even able to care about things like funding for new cheerleading uniforms in the midst of a huge life change, but Stephan said to encourage it, and that it was a good thing. Something about grounding Caroline.

In the end, it was Stephan who had been able to talk Bonnie into making a daylight ring for Caroline.

Bonnie's attitude toward Caroline was disconcerting to Sophia, as Bonnie constantly reminded her of the life she had taken. Then again, she wasn't there, she hadn't met the poor guy, hadn't seen his lifeless body. But she had seen part of the aftermath, of how haunted Caroline was by her actions.

After ensuring Caroline's daylight ring worked properly, Sophie decided to leave with Bonnie and left Stephan to impart his vampire wisdom on Caroline.

"A little rough on her, don't you think," said Sophia as Bonnie drove them to her house.

"Like or not, she's a vampire now. She's dangerous, Sophie," said Bonnie stubbornly. Sophia had already gone a few rounds with Bonnie on this subject, so she decided to let it be.

As Bonnie parked in her driveway, Sophia said, "I actually have an ulterior motive for inviting myself over."

Bonnie's dad was at work, so they sat at her kitchen table as Sophia began to explain the voices that were talking to her since the beginning of the school year.

"They sound like me, a slightly bitter and sometimes meaner version of me, but me nonetheless. And I don't know what to make of it. And the night Katherine attacked me, I was able to differentiate between her and Elena. I called her Katerina without thinking about it." Sophia paused for a moment before continuing on. "I can barely remember them, but I think I've had dreams about her. The only thing I really remember about them though is a name. Katerina Petrova." Sophia finished, looking at her friend for an answer.

Bonnie gazed at her with a pensive look on her face.

"This doesn't sound like anything I've come across in a spellbook, but it reminds me of stories grams told me when I was a kid. Of reincarnation," said Bonnie thoughtfully. "In the story, they were a symptom of someone's past lives trying to warn them of old mistakes."

"Do you think that's possible? Reincarnation, I mean,"

"I'll do a little digging around in Gram's occult books, they're filled with her notes. Maybe we'll get lucky and I'll find something. Don't worry, we'll figure this out." said Bonnie gently as tears filled Sophia's eyes.

"I don't why I'm crying, I've just felt like such a basket case for months, and.."

"Hey, if vampires and witches can exist, why can't reincarnation be a thing." smiled Bonnie as she leaned to hug Sophia.

As grateful as Sophia was, she had a hard time conflating this Bonnie with the one who wanted to leave Caroline stuck in the dark.

As it turned out, Bonnie's reincarnation theory may be on the right track. Sophie let out an internal sigh of relief when Elena returned back from the university with information on Katherine's background, or as she should say, Katerina Petrova.

It's not Gilbert insanity running in my blood, thought Sophia, thankful for physical proof she wasn't making things up.

As they were getting ready for bed, Elena shared how what Damon told her about having more in common with Katherine than just looks was eating away at her a bit.

Sophia rolled her eyes. "He killed our brother, Elena. And he admitted that he didn't know Jeremy was wearing the ring. You did what you had to do. Plus, you're the reason he's alive after multiple threats of death even after writing him off as a friend. He has no high ground here."

The next day Stephan stops by the house to meet with Elena. While he's there, he explains to both of them of his and Caroline's run-in with a werewolf, and it provides much-needed context to the sun and the moon curse that Elena learned about at the university. Something about it nagged at the back of Sophia's mind.

The next weekend, Sophia stayed over at Bonnie's to help her comb through her grandmother's very many occult books. While they manage to find more information on werewolves, and even a few tidbits here and there about the sun and the moon curse, nada about reincarnation.

That also happens to be the weekend Damon and Alaric enacted their plan to find out more about werewolves via the very cute Mason Lockwood, an old high school friend of Aunt Jenna's. She also missed Caroline's methodological, catty, undermining of Elena and Stephan's relationship.

Elena and Stephan are terrible at pretending they are broken up and are fooling no one in the Gilbert household. Sophia went out of her way to stay out of her bedroom even before Elena realized she wasn't fooling her, just so Elena could have some alone time with her supernatural boyfriend.

"Was that Stephan I heard in Elena's room this morning?" asked Aunt Jenna with a raised eyebrow as Sophia ate her toast.

"I plead the fifth," said Sophia, not taking her eyes off her SAT practice book. She was so behind on studying.

"When are the SATs?" asked Jenna.

"Next month. School piled last semester and I missed the chance to enroll for the fall exams. I have to ace the ones in the Spring." said Sophia. It was a wonder anyone got any school work done around here.

"You'll be fine, you've been on the principal's honor roll since kindergarten," said Aunt Jenna.

"Are you gonna go to the picnic today?" she further questioned.

"Nah, I think I just really need to buckle down today and study."

"Alright, don't wear yourself out," said Aunt Jenna, squeezing Sophia's shoulder on her way out.

Elena later relayed what occurred at the picnic, from Caroline being a reluctant spy for Katherine to Caroline's mom finding out her daughter is a vampire.

Poor Caroline. If Jonathan Gilbert's journals are anything to go by, council members are under the impression that vampires are demons wearing a human meat suit.

Then there's Jeremy to worry about, who's ignoring Elena and going out of his way to get wrapped up the supernatural life of Mystic Falls. Sophia learns from him that Tyler Lockwood might be a werewolf, or have the gene for it, and the concept of the moonstone. Sophia doesn't even hold it against Elena that she never got around to telling her about all of this, what with the Katherine drama.

"Tyler nearly killed a girl," says Jeremy as he rehashes what happened when he hung out with Tyler.

Sophia just nods. "From what I understand, people with the werewolf gene are pre dispositioned to have a huge temper. Their biology wants the gene to be activated, which they have to kill someone to do. Speaking of which, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to be around him" says Sophia.

Jeremy raises his eyebrows, "How do you know all this?"

"I stumbled across some books when I was hanging out with Bonnie. Seriously Jeremy-"

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. I'm not scared of Tyler," says Jeremy, relentless.

Goddammit, Jeremy. You'd think being in close proximity to a murderous ticking time bomb would give him pause. Then again, willingly interacting with Damon must have desensitized him to the danger.

"Beside's, without me no one would know that the Lockwood's have the moonstone."

While her friends and family spent the day volunteering for the masquerade ball the next day, Sophia stayed in with some of Bonnie's grandmother's books.

Tyler had apparently let up and gave Mason the moonstone, which led to Stephan suffering vervain overexposure at the bottom of the Lockwood well and Elena fending off snakes as she retrieved it. Meanwhile, once again Sofia was holed up studying and played the third wheel when Jenna insisted that she take a break to help her and Alaric for dinner that night.

Ric and Sophia both saw Elena arrive home, sopping wet, and Sophia excused herself to get the scoop from her.

Sophia was hovering near Elena as she strained to hear who was on the other side of the phone. They all saw too late as Aunt Jenna plunged a knife into her stomach.

"We have 'Never been kissed', '10 things I hate about you', and -"

"Sophie, you really didn't have to dig all these movies up, I was fine with whatever was on TV," said Aunt Jenna from where she was laying on the couch.

"It was honestly no trouble, most of them were already here from that time when I was on mandatory bed rest." smiled Sophia.

"Let's make it a goal to avoid hospitalization for the rest of the year, I won't walk into my very own knife, and we'll have Elena and Stephan escort you everywhere to keep an eye on stranglers." proposed Aunt Jenna, trying to keep her voice light.

Sophia glanced upward and blinked slowly to keep her gathering tears at bay.

"I will if you will," said Sophie with a weak smile.

"Oh, Sophie," said Aunt Jenna as she reached out to wipe a tear Sophia had missed.

"I should go check in on Jeremy and Elena," said Sophie as Matt walked back to the living room.

He had helped them to get Jenna back from the hospital. Alaric and Stephan had been otherwise mysteriously occupied.

As Sophie entered the kitchen she heard Jeremy say, "You're being naive and you know it." as he headed towards the front door.

He ignored Elena as she asked where he was going.

"I'm going to go see what he's up to," said Sophia, not liking the look in Jeremy's eyes.

"Jeremy, wait up!" yelled Sophia as she ran to the passenger's side of the car before Jeremy could pull out of the driveway.

"Sophie-"

"I won't try to stop you, but I'm going with you," said Sophia, leaving no room for argument.

She didn't bother asking Jeremy where they were going, already having a pretty good idea.

She felt at odds with herself. On one hand, she didn't want her family to put themselves in unnecessary danger, but remembering Aunt Jenna impaling herself with a knife made her see red.

Sophia adored Aunt Jenna when she was a little girl, was heartbroken as she could be at 11 years old when she learned her aunt was moving out of state. Even after her parents' deaths, Aunt Jenna continued to encourage her to go to school out of state, not wanting Mystic Falls to hold her back.

"We're going to kill Katherine," stated Stephan.

Sophia didn't blink an eye.

"So-phia, long time no see, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were avoiding me," said Damon.

"Leave her alone Damon," said Jeremy warily as Damon grinned maniacally at her.

"Leave me alone Damon," Sophie repeated as she attempted to evade him.

He held a bottle of scotch out towards her.

His pupils dilating, he suggested cooly "Take a shot,"

Sophia's eyes narrowed as she caught his intention.

"Are you trying to compel me?" she asked in confusion.

Jeremy attempted to walk back from the couch, but Stephan's arm kept him in place.

" You do realize I take vervain, right?" said Sophia, who belatedly connected the dots. She took vervain at Elena's insistence, but she knew, and Damon suspected, that she didn't need it.

"You weren't on vervain that night at the Grill," said Damon in a low voice, eyeing her with distrust.

"Damon, are you seriously questioning this right now?" asked Stephan in exasperation.

By now, he and Jeremy were a few feet away from them.

Stephan tried to step between them, but Damon effortlessly shoved him away as he towered over Sophia.

"Careful Damon, I doubt Elena would be willing to give your friendship a third chance if you snapped my neck. You see, I don't have a magical, life resuscitating ring," said Sophia acidly, not breaking eye contact.

"What's going on here?" questioned Alaric, startling Sophia. She turned around to see him standing at the doorway, crossbow on hand and shouldering a large duffel bag.

"We're all good here Ric", said Damon, finally stepping away from her.

"Little ol' Sophie here is going to help us kill Katherine."

Sophia didn't get the full lay of the plan until Bonnie arrived, and realizing she didn't have much to contribute and would instead be more cannon fodder for Katherine, volunteered to help Alaric distract Elena for the evening instead.

It was Alaric who broke first and gave in to Elena's questions. Before that, Sophia had done a pretty good job evading Elena's concerns. Realizing she would get nowhere with her sister, Elena asked Ric to help her with the dishes. Distracted from talking to Aunt Jenna, Sophia only realized what had happened just in time to catch up to Elena before she drove off.

On the way to the Lockwoods, Sophia informed Elena of the plan, to her sister's annoyance.

"How am I suppose to feel if one of them gets hurt because of me?" asked Elena as she parked.

"It's not just about you Elena, pretty much everyone has a stake in this", Sophia told her sister softly.

"She put Damon and Stephan through the wringer, killed Caroline, threatened Bonnie, and almost killed Aunt Jenna."

Elena looked at her, still defiant.

"Look, we're already here, we might as well check in with Jeremy. Even I can see it's not the soundest plan," said Sophia as she unbuckled her seat belt.

Elena stayed out of sight as best she could, wanting to stay out of Katherine's path. Sophia walked through the crowd in search of her friends, sticking out like a sore thumb with everyone dressed to the nines and her in her jeans and Jenna's college sweatshirt.

After practically wandering around the whole mansion, she catches a break when she sees Bonnie. Bonnie ignores her calls, making a beeline toward a tall woman in a flattering black dress whose mocha skin tone was a similar shade to Bonnie's.

Sophia elbowed her way through the throng of people, attracting more than a few angry stares and swears, before making her way to Bonnie and the woman.

She finds her friend and the woman in an emptier room and sees Bonnie handing the moonstone to the woman.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Sophia demands, grabbing the woman's arm.

The woman, whose name she would later learn is Lucy, looks at Sophia stunned.

"You're... ancient," says Lucy with a brief laugh, looking at her with huge eyes.

"What-" "Do you know what she is?" Both Sophia and Bonnie question her at the same time, respectively.

Gently removing Sophia's hand from her wrist, Lucy meets her eyes.

"Bonnie already knows she can trust me. I promise you, Katherine won't win this one." And then she walks away.

Breathless, Sophia turns to Bonnie.

"How do you know her?"

Sophia spends the night at Bonnie's, at her friend's insistence. Sophia volunteered to sit in the back seat as Jeremy dropped them off. She didn't miss the shift in Jeremy's expression when he realized that his older sister would be joining him and Bonnie.

'Hmmm' wondered Sophia.

They both sat at Bonnie's back porch, a battered leather folder stuffed with papers in Bonnie's lap.

"Lucy told me what you are. It turns out the reincarnation theory was pretty much spot on." Says Bonnie with a tired smile.

"You're an old soul, Sophie."

A little bit later, Sophie pours over the papers Bonnie had found. Since Lucy gave Bonnie a better concept of the sort of information she was looking for, when they got back to her house, Bonnie was able to go through Grams piles of books and papers more easily. Both girls had sorted everything into separate piles earlier by subject matter.

"Why is there so little information on- what I am?" asks Sophia.

"From what I can make of Grams notes, witches way back when came to an agreement to 'not interfere with a palia pyches journey'" Bonnie quoted.

"While the majority of witches just ignored them, a few went out of their way to cloak an old soul's presence when they stumbled across one. Slowly over the centuries, it got to the point where most old souls were cloaked and hidden in plain sight," said Bonnie with a small smile.

"Any books or lore about you have pretty much disappeared, and it's an unspoken rule for older generations to tell younger ones about old souls through word of mouth, to not document them".

"Lucky for me, your Grams did not play by the rules," Sophia said, looking at the spread of papers before her.

"According to this, one of Grams students must have been one. She sought Grams intentionally. Like you, she was haunted by the voices of past lives. I also think she was the first and only one Grams had met. As an academic, she couldn't help but document what happened, as little as it may be." said Bonnie.

"How did Lucy recognize what I was if you couldn't? I must be cloaked, right?" wondered Sophia.

"The only way Lucy would have been able to recognize you was if she had performed cloaking magic on another old soul herself. And yes, I think you are. I get no read off you" confirmed Bonnie, looking thoughtful.

"Based on what it says here, most witches generally agree that old souls should not know about their previous lives, that it would be too disruptive to their psyche…"

"My psyche is already disrupted, Bonnie. I can't go back."

Bonnie had found a potion in Emily's spellbook to relive past lives.

"It's going to take a few weeks to put together. Some of the ingredients need to… marinate… a bit before it'll be ready" said Bonnie.

As she drove home around 6 in the morning, Sophia idly wondered if being an old soul built up a tolerance against vampire compulsion. It was something she kept forgetting to mention to Bonnie. Bonnie had let Sophia borrow her car so she could go home to get ready for school and then drive back to pick her up.

Sophia felt giddy that she finally had answers, her fingers tapping on the steering wheel rhythmically, not even the voices in her head could get her down.

Bonnie had promised her she wouldn't tell the others, not even Elena, of what they found out. The voice in her head had suddenly reawoken when she thought about telling her sister what she had learned.

Do not dare, it had threatened ominously. And just like that, Sophia was suddenly paranoid about what would happen if this information got out.

As far as supernatural beings go, she was definitely on the lower end of the food chain, just one step above being a plain regular human. But she decided to listen to what felt like a centuries-old, gut instinct.

Sophia thought it was odd when her sister didn't return her text last night but figured she probably made up with Stephan. Elena's empty, unruffled bed confirmed her suspicions when she got up to their room.

Before she can go to her third-period class in school the next day, Jeremy pulls her into an abandoned classroom, where Bonnie was set up with a map and her grimoire. Stephan meets them there shortly after. They quickly catch her up on Elena's kidnapping, and, via Jeremy, use blood magic to track down Elena.

Sophia does not feel at ease until Elena returns home, but the pleasant feelings don't last long. She feels as if her heart will beat out of her chest at the mention of Elijah and the Originals.

Elijah's not dead, something in her says with certainty. She also knows, unequivocally, that Elena is in danger and they're all in over their heads.

She's left guessing at what to make of the delighted laugh in her head.

As she had with Caroline, Sophia feels the need to stick to Elena like glue over the next few days in an attempt to soothe her worries. She goes with Elena to the Salvatore boarding house the next morning.

"Okay, so you're saying the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" Elena mildly questions from her seat on the couch, Sophia at her side.

'Oh, you sweet summer child', Sophia thinks of Stephan, privately agreeing with Rose's affirmative answer.

Sophia's lips twitched as Damon tried to rationalize what Rose was telling them, and was practical enough to lean towards a 'solid maybe'.

Rose had eyed Sophia curiously earlier when she showed up with Elena.

"Have we met before?" questioned Sophia, the same eerie feeling crawling over her as it had when she met Stephan.

"I don't believe so," said the vampire in a smooth, English accent. Her blue eyes suggested otherwise, but there were more important things to worry about.

Elena later grabs her by the elbow and indicates with her eyes to follow her lead. Her sister then excuses them from the conversation by saying they should go to school and brushes off Stephan's self invite to go with them.

When Elena finally realizes she won't be able to shrug her sister off, she lets her in on her plan to get information from Katherine.

Sophia later watches, mildly impressed, as Elena guilts Caroline into uncovering the tomb and covering her tracks with the Salvatore brothers.

"Hello, Elena," Katherine rasps, ignoring her and Caroline.

Katherine dismisses Caroline but continues to disregard Sophie's presence. Sophia watches as Elena baits Katherine for information with aid of blood, courtesy of Caroline.

"You have the Petrova fire," Katherine acknowledges of Elena before gulping down the blood her sister provided her.

"And you inherit the Rakovski meekness," says Katherine, finally acknowledging Sophia, slightly more disdainful.

"Pardon," says Sophia, while Elena eyes at the haggard vampire, confused.

And so, Katherine begins the tale of her history with Klaus, starting with the baby she had out of wedlock.

She tacts on how she accepted the companionship of one battered Sofia Rakovski on her way to England, a young woman of a similar age who had her own reasons for wanting out of Bulgaria.

"Funny how you inherited the namesake of your doppelganger all these years later," ponders Katherine.

Sophia schools her features to match Elena's, who looks back at her with shock etched on her face.

"You're claiming that you knew Sophie's doppelganger when you were human? And that Sophie another doppelganger?" asked Elena.

"It was difficult to be certain at first, but I got decent glimpses of Sofia before her father melted her face half off. I'm certain that Sophie here is her doppelganger," confirms Katherine.

"But, her line is rather unremarkable as far as doppelgangers go. It's why you and I are in this mess in the first place," says Katherine, once again ignoring Sophia and looking at Elena.

As Katherine continues her story, Sophia wonders what Katherine made of their first interaction in this life. It must have thrown her off a bit, how she acknowledged her as 'Katerina'. Clearly, doppelgangers don't inherit their predecessors' memories.

Katherine mentions how Sofia posed as her handmaiden in England.

After mentioning some of the details of what the doppelganger's sacrifice plays in the curse, she shares how it was Sofia who stole the moonstone from Klaus's study before she made her escape.

"She was a quiet little thing, no one gave her a second thought," said Katherine, meeting Sophia's eyes again.

"What happened to her?" asks Elena.

"I separated from her once we initially escaped Klaus, she would have only slowed me down. Last I heard she was tracked down by Klaus's henchmen and killed," Katherine shrugged casually.

That's not quite how events unfolded, a voice in her head shared, unimpressed with Katherine.

Something in her also aches at mentions of Klaus. Elena looks at Katherine in disgust.

While Elena was sympathetic to Rose and Trevor's plight, Sophia was surprised to find herself as blasé towards Trevor's death as the 500-year-old vampire was.

Elena puts together how Katherine was going to offer her, and all the other ingredients to break the curse, to Klaus on a platter in an attempt to reduce his anger towards her.

Mentions of the curse nag at Sophie, but the voices are frustratingly quiet during those moments.

"Better you die than I," is the sentiment Katherine leaves Elena with before she disappears into the tomb.

But of course, she returns when Stephan puts together where Elena was at.

"Whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance. On your friends, on your family, on everyone you've ever loved." Katherine hammers in.

Stephan tried to deny what Katherine was warning them of, but it was apparent to all the women in the room he was grasping at straws.

Stephan gave her and Elena a ride back to their house. On the way there Elena told him everything that Katherine had shared with them, and made him promise not to tell anyone of Sophia's doppelganger status. All hell had broken loose when Elena's was disclosed, and Elena didn't trust that Katherine had told them the complete truth about Sophia. For her part, Sophia stayed quiet, guilt gnawing at her.

Sophia entered the house and shut the door behind her, leaving Stephan to comfort Elena.

Sophia was disturbed with how familiar the voices in her were with the apparent Original Vampires, but par of course, they were useless when she wanted them to share more.

Sophia later learns of the random attack that Rose and Damon went through, leaving them to conclude that Elijah is still in play.

According to Rose's contact, it is possible to destroy the curse so that Elena's role in it becomes a non-issue. This sounded a little too good to be true to Sophia, and Elena didn't quite buy it either, with her friends and family at stake. She also doesn't want to risk letting Katherine out of the tomb, which is the chance they would have to take in order to retrieve the moonstone.

When studying with Caroline, the blonde vampire informs her how she saw Tyler Lockwood trigger the werewolf curse, and how she is helping him come to terms with everything. The whole situation sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but knowing she won't be able to talk Caroline down, Sophia makes her promise to be careful.

Sophia accompanies Bonnie to the tomb and witnesses as their plan goes to shit right before her very eyes. It ends with Jeremy tortured by Katherine, and Stephan saving him. As a result, he's stuck in the tomb with her.

And the cherry to top off her day is that Elena sneaked away with Rose to try to contact Klaus and inform him that she was ripe for the curses' sacrifice. And Elijah of all people had killed the vampires who had come to collect her. That was peculiar.

Sophie doesn't know what to make of Elena's determination to sacrifice herself, but it doesn't sit well with her. She begrudgingly agrees with Bonnie and Jeremy's plan to trap Elena inside their house so she doesn't martyr herself off.

Annoyed with Sophia for her part in the plan, Elena isolated herself in their room. Taking the hint, Sophia relegated herself to the bottom half of the house.

"Anyone home?" questioned Aunt Jenna as she entered the house.

"In here," Sophia responded loudly, seated at the kitchen table working on homework.

"Elijah, this is one of my nieces, Sophia. Sophia, this is Elijah," introduces Aunt Jenna.

Sophia feels a jolt at the sound of the name Elijah. It is only due to ingrained manners that she was able to smile and say, "Nice to meet you Elijah." and reached out for a handshake.

Elijah's eyes had slightly widened at the sight of her, but he quickly masked any surprise he felt with polite interest.

"And you as well Sophia," says Elijah. Sophia feels her heart race at his introduction, but someone in her is overjoyed to see him.

"Elijah here is writing a book on the history of Mystic Falls. Do you remember where your mother stored her historical society stuff?" questions her Aunt, blissfully unaware who she had invited into their home.

Sophia silently curses herself for agreeing with Elena and not letting their Aunt in the know of the secret supernatural underbelly of Mystic Falls.

"I think she kept everything in the hallway closet right around here," says Sophia, determinedly not looking at the original vampire.

"Alright, well don't let us interrupt you," says Jenna, gesturing to the layer of homework papers and text on the table.

Sophia manages a smile as she returns to her seat, and Jenna and Elijah head towards the closet.

By the time it occurred to Sophia to text Elena a warning, she had already heard her sister coming down the stairs and Jenna greeting her soon after.

Elena practically pulls her arm out of her socket as she runs up the stairs when Elijah leaves, Sophia at her heels.

Elena knocks quickly at Jeremy's door, but Elijah is at their side in the blink of an eye and holds his index finger to his mouth. Taking the hint, Elena sends Jeremy to go help Jenna.

Elijah says he wants to 'chat'. Sophia grabs hold of Elena's hand as they make their way to their bedroom.

"Oh, forgive the intrusion, I mean your family no harm" says Elijah as he takes a seat on the windowsill.

"Why did you kill those vampires who tried to take me?" Elena counters Elijah as she shuts the door.

"And together we can protect everyone that matters to you." proposes Elijah, looking pointedly at Sophia, before returning his gaze to Elena. He had just outlined to Elena why he didn't intend for her to be sacrificed, Klaus's reclusiveness, and his intention to kill Klaus.

Something about that last statement in particular deeply confounded Sophia more than it should've.

Sophia didn't speak at all throughout Elijah and Elena's conversation, instead listening with rapt attention.

Before Elena, in typical Elena fashion, agrees to the deal, she bargains for Stephan's release from the tomb.

The next day Stephan resolves to track down Isobel in the hopes to find out more about Elijah, and Sophia resolves to take the plunge and ask Bonnie if the potion is ready so she can learn about what happened in her past life with Katherine.

"It's been ready for a few days now, I'm sorry I just-"

"Bonnie it's okay, it's been a really crazy couple of days. Everyone has been asking so much of you. I feel guilty for bringing this up after everything, but-"

"But you could learn something that might help Elena," finishes Bonnie determinedly.

Sophia was in Bonnie's room, wringing her hands and feeling awful for asking more of Bonnie. Before asking for the potion, Sophia had informed Bonnie how de- spelling the moonstone was a lie and the deal that Elena made with Elijah.

"I've mixed the potion with tea, and I knew based on the ingredients that I put in that it's not going to taste pretty, so I mixed it with a good dose of honey," said Bonnie, handing a steaming mug to Sophie.

Sophia winces as she takes a gulp, and fights the urge to gag.

"Do I want to know what's in this?" questions Sophie as she continues drinking.

"You really don't."

It takes a little over 40 minutes for Sophia to feel the effects of the potion. She was watching trashy TV with Bonnie in the living room, while the young witch was worried that she messed up the potion. It crept on Sophia slowly, a mild drowsiness. Then Sophia began yawning, almost falling asleep on Bonnie's shoulder, her eyelids heavy.

"We better get you to my bed," says Bonnie as she leads Sophia to her bedroom, as these had been the symptoms she was waiting for.

Sofia Rakovsky felt a fear spike in her as mother let it be known she was displeased with her work.

"Useless girl, get out of my sight." her mother demanded.

Sofia, at 8 years old, was tasked with watching her year old little brother, the treasure of the Rakovsky family. Her parents had been most displeased that the only survivor of many miscarriages was Sofia, an inconsequential, useless girl who wouldn't be able to support or continue the family name. Then came Andon.

Sofia adored Andon, whose hair was black of color and dark of eye, same as Sofia. She had stayed up the better part of the night, tending to her younger brother's cries and aches.

They were just outside their cottage, with Andon playing with various stones that Sofia had gathered for him. Sofia's head kept slipping to her shoulder, her eyes flickering shut, before she jerked herself awake and resumed watch over Adon. Soon, her restless night overcame her and she drifted to sleep.

Sofia was forcefully awoken by her father dragging her by her hair.

"You useless child, we only gave you one job. Watch over your brother!" her father shouted at her. Sofia caught sight of a wailing, red-faced Andon who was being soothed by their mother when her father suddenly swung her head into a wall of the cottage.

"Wretched girl." he glowered, backhanding her.

Her father's punishments led to the accumulation of scars on Sofia's face that eventually stopped healing. Despite this, a persistent man from the nearby village sought her hand in marriage when she came to be four and ten years of age. He was nearly 10 years older than her and overwhelmed her with affection she never knew from her parents.

Sofia begs her suitor to steal her in the night and run away with her. He pretends to indulge her wishes, before ultimately going to her father for permission to court her despite her warning him not to.

"Do you have no family loyalty girl! Well, he won't want you when I'm through with you." Her father roared, sticking Sofia's face into the fire.

In a display of uncharacteristic sympathy, Sophia's mother gathered snow from outside and attempted to soothe her burns.

Sophia could no longer see properly out of her left eye, and half her face felt rough to the touch and disfigured. Her brother now bursts into tears at the sight of her.

Her would-be suitor picked another girl to marry, and many in the nearby village averted their eyes from her as she went from shop to shop to gather supplies for her family.

Sofia frequently looked forward to encountering Katerina, a girl whose family lived down the road from her cottage. Their paths often coincided, and soon Katerina had taken to waiting for Sophia outside her cottage so they could walk to the village together.

Katerina gave Sofia an old cloak of hers for the winter when hers became tattered with holes. When Katerina saw how half of Sofia's face was disfigured with burn scars, the next day she provided her a soothing pomade to rub over the injury. Other than providing instructions, she spoke no further word on the subject.

The brown-eyed beauty continued to make conversation with her despite Sophia's battered face. Sophia was sad she had not encountered her acquaintance in nearly a year.

At six and ten years of age, Sophia found herself wandering outside in the moonlight, locked outside her family's cottage for some slight her father took up against her. It was blind luck that she came across Katerina's party as they were gathering supplies into their caravan.

Katerina called out to her, initially planning to say goodbye. She informed Sofia she was being escorted out of Bulgaria, her eyes not shying away from Sofia's face like so many others did.

At the last moment, she offered for Sofia to go with her. Sofia only paused for a second before agreeing to Katerina's offer. The men escorting them looked confused by the turn of events, but to Sofia's shock, they followed Katerina's wishes.

Someone would be stealing her away in the night, just not the person Sofia thought it would be.

Something about Katerina intrinsically felt familiar to Sofija. Katerina's parents had paid to ensure that Katerina left Bulgaria, but that was where their generosity ended.

It was on their way to a new country that Katerina shared her plans of passing herself off as a noblewoman in the hopes of finding a husband to support her for the rest of her days, and she wanted Sofia to act as a handmaid to provide legitimacy to her claim. In return for her help, Katerina promised her there would always be a place for her at her home.

Had nearly anyone else proposed this plan, Sofia would have thought them insane. But… Katerina was beautiful and magnetic enough to be successful. She learned the English language and etiquette at a bewildering speed and had charmed an older English noblewoman, with no children of her own, into housing them both. She clothed Katerina in fine gowns, and Sofia spent her time there learning from the maids who attended the women's property.

Sofia was grateful that Katerina found her that night. Living the rest of her life as Katerina's handmaid, fed and kept warm, was a better life than she could have hoped for. She learned early on in their journey to not question Katerina's actions or instincts.

One night she awakened to Katerina crying. Her shoulders shaking, face still lovely when twisted in sadness, Katerina shared how she was never allowed to hold her baby daughter. Sofia hugged her companion and soothed her until she fell back asleep. It was the most they ever spoke on the subject.

It was soon after that Katerina came under the attention of Lord Klaus and Lord Elijah, who soon invited her to stay at their castle. Katerina insisted to the Lords that her handmaiden stay in her room, which they saw no issue with.

The speed at which Katerina's betrothal to the Lord Niklaus came to fruition spun Sophia's head, and her tasks soon became overwhelmed with wedding preparations.

Busy with her maid duties, Sofia occasionally noticed how Katerina displayed a softness towards Lord Elijah that she lacked with her intended.

Katerina quickly learned that the engagement was nothing but a mummer's farce, and became aware of the Lord's true intentions.

"I need to ask one last favor of you, Sofia, before we can escape with Trefor," Katerina pleaded to her.

Wanting to ensure her friend's survival, Sofia set out to complete the task Katerina asked of her. Sofia swapped duties with the maid who usually attended to Lord Niklaus's study, with only one guard at the door. It was easy enough to grab the pale moonstone, which frankly looked insignificant to Sofia.

Sofia was to wait until Katerina came to her so she could take the stone, which she did close to sunrise. Katerina thought it would be in their best interest to separate, so Katerina bundled up Sofia in one of her finer dresses, a warm cloak, and gave her some spare jewelry to barter for housing and food.

Katerina and Trefor set Sofia off in the direction of a nearby village, while they took off to the woods.

Sofia found a room for the night at a Tavern, but when she went to retire for the night, the Lord Elijah was there waiting for her.

"Katerina's scent is all over you," he said as he circled her.

" You were intended to throw us off her trail, but you may still have use yet." he told her bluntly, his expression flat.

He nodded at a woman who suddenly entered the room, and Sofia was suddenly asleep.

She woke up on the couch in a room with only Lord Niklaus for company.

"I'm told you're the one they call Sofia, Katerina's handmaiden," he said in fluent Bulgarian, a predatory gleam in his eye. He was seated across from her.

Sofia was frozen in fear.

Niklaus rose from his chair, walked over to her, and crouched in front of her. He looked her in the eye and said, "Don't be scared. There now. Tell me about Katerina's escape."

Throughout her tale, his calmness dissipated. Sophia, terrified of his reaction to her stealing the moonstone, somehow regained enough control over herself and claimed Katerina had somehow stolen it. Niklaus had displayed visceral anger when he learned of Trefor's betrayal, punching a hole into the castle's stone wall.

Something in her drank up the sight of him, willingly wanting to tell him everything she knew. This was the first time she was in close proximity to him, and his presence was captivating. She found him beautiful for someone who inspired so much fear.

Sophia felt numb as Niklaus sent a messenger to put his men on the right trail. She still hadn't processed Katerina's betrayal.

He kept her for amusement after his men had their orders.

"Your face is littered in scars," Niklaus said softly as he ran a thumb across her rough cheek.

"Tell me how you acquired them," he demanded as he returned to his seat.

In a rough voice, Sofia detailed her father's abuse, struggling to mention the finer points.

She saw a nearly imperceptible shift in Niklaus's eyes, but he changed his expression before she had the chance to interpret it.

It was at that moment that a messenger delivered the news that his men returned with Trefor.

Starting to walk towards the door, with his back to her, Lord Niklaus said, "I won't hold you accountable for Katerina's actions, and I will allow you to return to your duties as a servant. Stay in here for the day, tomorrow you may resume using Katerina's old quarters." and then he left.

Sofia felt shocked at his words, wondering what provoked this kindness. If it was a kindness.

The day's events caught up to her, and she fell asleep once again.

Sofia was startled awake when the doors to the study burst open.

"Trefor we need to go before they realize you're gone." said a stern, female voice.

Sofia rolled off the couch in her hastiness to stand up.

Suddenly she was pressed against the wall, held there by a bloody Trefor.

"Where is she?" he hissed, his face that of a demon.

On the other side of Trefor was a woman with long, tawny brown hair.

"Where is Katerina?" he demanded again, slamming her against the wall.

Sofia felt the same pull she felt when Niklaus interrogated her, her head swimming in pain.

"I do not know, last I saw her, both of you -". Trefor growled, and Sofia swallowed her scream.

"Trefor, leave the girl be! You have no one but yourself to blame for Katerina. We must go now before they learn of your escape." The woman spoke quickly, looking at the door.

"I have not fed since I last saw Katerina" Trefor rasped as he eyed Sofia in hunger.

"Trefor release the girl, Klaus must have kept her alive for a reason." his friend commanded, but it was too late.

Sofia felt Trefor's sharp teeth pierce her neck and cried out in pain as he fed on her. The last thing she saw was the monster's companion looking at her friend in anger.

Sophia gasps as she wakes, her hand clasped at her neck, sobbing.

"Sophie.." says Bonnie in a low voice, her voice scratchy from sleep.

"Where am I? Where am I?" Sophia gasps, not recognizing her darkened surroundings.

"Sophie, I don't understand what you're saying. But you're okay, it's me Bonnie. You're okay, you're okay," Bonnie murmurs as she hugs Sophia in an attempt to calm her.

Sophia feels as if her neck is burning, and she doesn't recognize the room she's in.

"You're going to be okay Sophie," says Bonnie as she holds her palm to Sophia's head and says something low under her breath.

Sophia falls back against the pillows, her eyes shut.

A/n: Some of the italicized dialogue was quoted directly from the show.