A/N: I am terrible with history, and dates. Most of the references to the past in this chapter were inspired from Wiki history searches and dramatized for this story. Greek mythology heavily inspired Sophia's origins. Sorry if it seems out of left field, and too wordy. I was also partly inspired by The Magicians as I wrote this chapter. Sorry for grammar, spelling errors, etc... Comments and constructive criticism are welcome, thank you for reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries.
*Warning: Canon typical violence.
Season 4: Dark Reunion (Part 2)
Ancient Greece, 8th Century BC- 146 BC
The sort of magical practitioners who will come to be known as 'the Travelers' originated and belonged to a civilization that has come to be known as Ancient Greece. The Olympian Gods, as they were declared then, reigned supreme. Answering their follower's prayers was a source of amusement for many Gods, Goddesses, and deities alike. It was in large thanks to the Gods that the land was imbued with an abundance of magic. Great feats of magical acts were accomplished by mere mortals during this period.
Those with the gift for manipulating the magic that inhabited the nature around them would eventually go on to be titled witches.
Witches had the ability to harness the magic that existed and rippled in the universe around them.
This was why they were among the first to know that the Gods were casting their world aside, and taking their primordial magic with them.
Undecorated mortals would declare that the Gods abandoned them at the very end of this great era.
Witches knew that the Gods cursory interest in their small world was long anticipated. They could feel magic being leached from the trees, winds, and streams around them centuries before those who felt the Gods had forsaken them seemingly out of nowhere.
Now, Great Deities had not entirely abandoned this world for greener pastures, and a few took pity on the inhabitants of this realm
Then came the witches, Qetsiyah and Silas. Mere mortals who took it upon themselves to exploit the gifts the Gods had bestowed upon them. They would slight the last of the Gods who took pity on their world and forever change magic as it was known.
It was in part because of the diminished hum of magic in the air that paliá psychí's were so revered in magical communities.
It was a source of prominent debate on whether being a paliá psychí, or those destined to be reborn, was a gift or curse.
To go on and see the world change and grow surely must be a sign of being favored by the Gods, some thought. Never being able to lay at rest, possibly never able to reunite with loved ones in the afterlife, were the makings of a curse, others argued.
One thing could not be refuted. Cursed or gifted, all paliá psychí's were favored by the Goddess Persephone, the personification of Spring. Her magic and goodwill circulated the land when a paliá psychí was born.
The truth of the paliá psychí's existence has been intentionally hidden and misdirected. For their mothers, who were initially indulgent of mortals, grew to loathe them. They correctly predicted that their sons and daughters would be manipulated by desperate witches who were starved of the magic of old.
Amphithoe had always thought that when her time came, she would give herself whole back to the seas where she was born.
She who moves swiftly among the waves, at one with the bright azure blue water. When she was feeling particularly playful, she made a radiant vision of beauty for the sailors who swore they spotted her among the crashing ripples of dark water. Her luminescent skin glowed under the moonlight, shimmering dark hair fell to her waist, and her ever-changing eyes reflected the depths of the sea.
Proud and jaded Amphithoe, who didn't understand her sisters' folly to mother children who would inherit what it was that made them everlasting. Her sisters who renounced the sea and their own arcane, pelagic abilities before they had to. All for a frail and tedious mortal child.
She was the nereid of sea currents, a sea-nymph, and daughter of Nereus. Sailors prayed to her in the most hopeless of storms. When she was younger (unburdened and unwary), she would skillfully choreograph the onslaught of ripples and waves and steer sailors and fishermen alike away from the serrated and jagged rocks that would have been their death. This was when she had held the notion that sailors respected and rightfully feared the oceans where they were the visitors. They survived at the hand of her and her sisters' misplaced magnanimity.
With age came wisdom, and she would learn to dispel of this notion.
At first, she had been bewildered when the Gods began to renounce this world and the mortals who prayed to and cherished them so.
Then one by one, her sisters began to fade away or chose caste aside their power, and she understood.
When the old Gods left, they took their magic with them. An unfortunate number of nymphs would have to rely on human faith, and compassion for nature, for their very survival.
This was when Amphithoe learned of the cruelty of humans, of how self-serving they were. Not enough cared for the precarious position of nature, or how fragile it could be.
It was Amatheia who had faded away first, disappearing into brine waters before her eyes. She who rears fished. She foresaw sailors taking more than their fair share and paid their price.
Lovely and trusting Erato had been next, nearly stolen by a young and lovestruck fisherman. Already weakened by polluted waters, she turned back into sea foam in his arms. A heartbreaking choice to make before he could carry her beyond the ocean's threshold, beyond the point where her essence could no longer be returned to the seas.
Both beloved sisters. Amphithoe watched with pleasure as the sailors with the misfortune to cross her path crashed onto rocky shores.
Doto would not be the first to take a striking sailor for a lover, but she would be the first of the nereids to desert the sea in favor of marriage and motherhood.
A gift granted to them by the Goddess Persephone, who was fond of the nymphs that enhanced the beauty of Spring she bloomed on earth and cared for the trees, meadows, and beaches in her absence.
It would greatly shorten what was left of their lives, but if a nymph decided to leave that of which she presided over in favor of motherhood, their children would inherit the essence of the natural phenomena they had tended to.
Why any of her sisters would trade what precious time they left for that, was beyond Amphithoe.
She would have been among the last of her sisters to fade away, for nymphs were not like the Gods who were truly immortal.
She who presided over the ocean's currents and did not rely on mortal assistance for survival. If she had chosen a different path, she wondered how long she may have lived.
"I know you're there Amphithoe," Sao singsonged in a warm voice, "I caught you watching us when we first arrived."
The water cresting along the shoreline before the young women bubbled as shimmering seafoam took on the shape of a lithe, ethereal maiden.
"Sao."
Amphithoe's sister beamed at her. The sea-nymph had not seen any of her stray, nearly mortal sisters up close before.
But Sao was the first to bring her son with her, her babe, and so Amphithoe made an exception. If only to see what the fuss was about
Sao seemed as dreary as the rest of the mortals that inhabited the lands. Dull. If she didn't know any better, she would have never guessed the being before her was the one she called sister.
Sao's pale gold hair, which used to gleam and glitter, was now practically colorless. Her complexion was pallid, and her blue-green eyes no longer reflected the fathoms of the ocean below.
Sao was not deterred by the sour pinch of Amphithoes face.
"I know you don't understand my choice, but it was mine to make. Castor is a worthy man and the father of my son. Truly, I have no regrets."
Amphithoe stared at the bundle in her Sao's arms distastefully and didn't believe her sister's words.
Her sister who would have had centuries, maybe another millennium before her, had she not fallen in love with her fisherman.
Sao had been the nereid of rescue and safe passage of sailors, she had had no shortage of believers.
"Why would you give up your abilities to influence the sea for it?" Amphithoe questioned.
Sao laughed brightly, not offended.
As if she had read her sister's mind, Sao shared, "Perhaps I ended my time in the sea abruptly, but I couldn't imagine finding a more worthy sailor to father my son. Thanks to Castor, my son is to carry on with ease among the mortals. And from me, he inherited the spirit of the ocean. He is the great sea itself reborn. When his fleeting mortal life passes, he will be reborn again and again, as long as the oceans submerge the land."
Yes, Amphithoe was told that was the appeal of coupling with a mortal man. Persephone made it so the offspring of nymphs and mortals would be able to bypass the cycle of life and death.
"Simply… Hold him, please."
Amphithoe sighed and reached out to cradle the bundle. The babe was awake. He giggled and smiled as he saw Amphithoe's face, a chubby hand reaching out to grasp a stray lock of hair.
The sea nymph was in shock over the deep blue of her nephew's eyes, of the raw power that made up his being. Mortal he was, but he was the ocean made flesh and blood. The very best parts of her sister.
"He is magnificent."
1st Century B.C.
His name was Galen. Red of hair and grey of eye. Truly, it was his hair that had caught her interest. Such vivid color. Carmine strands that shined in the sun, stormy eyes that reflected the oceans at their worst.
The sailors that commanded his ship ordered him to this and that, his superiors.
He was strong and good-humored.
Terror had marred his face as he was thrown overboard in the wake of a calamitous storm.
Amphithoe swayed the currents before they could carry him too far below. He was still awake, and his eyes had widened when he caught sight of her. Amphithoe would be damned if she made herself known to the men on his ship.
And so, she breathed air into his mouth and whisked him to shore.
He was in awe of her, and she found herself peculiarly delighted by him. Of his childlike wonderment of the sea, of the deep respect he showed for the fickle waters.
He had been at the beginning of the journey to leave his home in the hopes of rising above his station.
Amphithoe's appearance belied her old age. If she so wanted to, she could dance with the ocean's currents for another millennium. But she was tired, so tired.
Galen was truly kind, Gods fearing, and he reminded her of the reverent sailors that inspired her to rescue them when she was younger.
She had only meant to seduce him, take him for a brief lover.
But he thought himself in love with her and beseeched her to marry him.
He hadn't wavered when she shed the ocean's glamour in favor of carrying a child, his child. Like her sisters before her, her complexion and hair lost their otherworldly shimmer, her eyes no longer held the depths of the sea's trenches.
She was still quite comely by mortal standards, but nearly every ounce of magic in her being went to the babe quickening within her.
Perhaps it was the daughter growing in her making her sentimental, but in the end, she allowed her sister Eoine of the beach strand to marry her and Galen.
On their short journey to the community where Galen grew up, she warned him not to share with anyone, but especially witches of the truth of their courtship. Of their daughter. Despairing mortals who ravaged the nature around them in the hopes of accomplishing the devastating magic their ancestors had.
With the aid of Persephone, the nymph's children were their best-kept secrets.
The witches who made up Galen's tribe welcomed the 'young' seeming couple back with open arms. They quickly felt the power within Amphithoe's pregnancy. Luckily, as with all nymphs' pregnancies, they read it as a sign of her daughter being what they deemed a paliá psychí, a soul being born into her first life and destined to be continually reborn.
None were the wiser of Amphithoe's origins.
She knew her daughter would be the ocean itself made flesh and blood. As long as the ocean's currents reigned powerfully, so would her daughter continue to elude permanent death.
Everyone declared that Sofia was born in the image of her mother. From the color of her complexion, the sable that colored her hair, and the darkness that colored her eyes.
Only Amphithoe saw how the dark of her daughter's eyes mirrored the deepest parts of the ocean.
Of course, Sofia was not without her father's attributes. She would grow to inherit his easy smile, his curls, his round face.
Her temperament was that of the seas on clear days, serene and soothing. She was a balm for Amphithoe's spirit, who loved her daughter more than she could have possibly imagined.
"Say this after me, Amara…"
Amphithoe watched with amused eyes as Sophia patiently taught the younger neighbor girl how to read. Amara's mother was of the few neighbor's Amphithoe could tolerate, a shrewd woman who knew better than to take what the witch elders said at face value.
Regarded as the underclass, inferior to the nobleman and noblewomen, the mother and daughter pair did not have the opportunity for education that Sofia's status afforded her. Seeing this as a great wrong, Sofia taught the girl three years younger than her what she knew. Over the years, Amphithoe felt that the relationship between the two girls was not unlike the one she shared with her sisters and was pleased there was at least one other her daughter could call a true friend.
Sofia was two and ten years old when her mother passed. She held her hand as Amphithoe's coughs racked her body.
"Mama," she cried out.
"I am too far from the ocean, sweet one," her mother smiled sadly as she grasped Sofija's hand tightly.
"Some of my sisters felt it was selfish to want you, and perhaps they have the right of things. In my old age, I admit, the hope of a legacy appealed to me. A part of me that would continue to live on and experience the wonders this world has to offer. A relic of old magic residing with the new."
Sofia stared at her mother with wide eyes, unsure of what to make of her words.
"What do you-"
"I see now that it was selfish of me, what with how the witches treat you as a boon of the Gods. If only they knew," her mother scoffed, which turned into another coughing fit.
Sofia was startled when her mother clasped her hands so tightly, her nails began to draw blood.
"Promise! Vow to never repeat what I have just told you."
Sofia nodded and vowed so to her mother. Amphithoe's expression softened.
"You may grow to curse me one day, and rightfully so. All I had thought about was what you would inherit from me, and in doing so, I failed to realize you are just as mortal as the rest of them."
Sofia's mouth felt dry. What was her mother talking about?
Her mother's breathing grew increasingly labored.
"Know that I love you, my daughter. You hold the very best parts of me."
Present Day Mystic Falls
After Sophia had calmed down, Klaus had been the perfect gentlemen as he escorted her to her front door. She had thinly smiled in apology as she pointedly didn't invite him in, but gave him one last crushing hug before she bid him goodnight.
He had likely assumed the tears she shed were on behalf of the life they had shared together, and the loss of what could have been. He wouldn't have been entirely wrong. But they were also for the legend Shane had told.
Qetsiyah. Silas. Amara.
Sophia collapsed into bed that night as she tried the snuff out the echoing voices in her mind.
If any had thought to ask her, Sophia would say she preferred the memories that came to her by the way of dreams in lieu of the potion that made it so she could relive an entire life.
Fragmented and baffling though they were, her dreams were the equivalent of learning to swim in a kiddy pool. They were like watching a movie, snippets of what her unconscious wanted her to know. Prescribed visions.
The damn herbs and potion threw her into the deep end, and left her disoriented and adrift. But could understand Hannah's logic of wanting to know the whole picture, especially as screams and the smell of blood threatened to assault her senses.
"I love the smell of this hair oil. Lavender?" Qetsiyah asked as Sofia nimbly braided her mistresses' hair down her back.
"Yes. If you'd like I can continue to use the mint? There. I am done" Sofia said as she stepped back so that Qetsiyah may look at herself in the mirror, gathering the courage to ask her mistress of a favor.
"No no, the lavender will do." Qetsiyah admired her reflection. A powerful witch destined to lead their tribe, and guide them into a new age of magic. Power aside, she was an incredibly comely woman. Tall, rich sienna skin, dark of hair and dark of eye, she would make a beautiful bride. Indeed, she was expecting a proposal of betrothal from her childhood sweetheart, Silas, who was rumored to be nearly as powerful as Qetsiyah herself.
"You have been unusually silent this morning, Sofia. I am used to you speaking much more frankly with me." The witch smiled kindly at her handmaiden.
Sofia quirked her lips up. "I- I overheard your mother is looking to add another handmaiden to your retinue, and I wondered if I may be so bold as to offer a suggestion?"
Qetsiyah pursed her lips. "Yes, yes. The elders are fearful I am overworking their dearest Sofia, the gods-sent paliá psychí." Qetsiyah laughed as Sofia felt herself blush.
"I don't understand how engaging me to a nobleman will appease the Gods, but they expect me to choose a suitor within the year."
"I can make some recommendations if you like. There is no one as well-formed as my Silas, but a few men come close." Her mistress offered with a wink.
Sofia nodded humbly in thanks.
"Now, who is it you would like to recommend for my retinue?"
"My neighbor, a dear friend of mine. Her name is Amara."
Sophia laid in bed, eyes shut, long after she had woken up. Reliving old memories through her dreams was no longer the shock it once was. As she feigned being asleep, she thought over what she had seen.
So. She had once known the witch Qetsiyah.
Sophia watched with laughing eyes as Caroline sweeped around the yard of the Founders Hall, fixing up and straightening out the table settings and flowers alike, talking on her cell all the while. Caroline finally hung it up as she made her way to Sophia.
Sophia raised her eyebrows as the bossy blonde flounced over to her.
"Elena told Stefan she has feelings for Damon!" Caroline hissed as she straightened out the champagne flutes Sophia had just organized row by row.
Sophia shrugged. "Does that really surprise you?" Caroline looked at the brunette with irate eyes.
"Sorry, me and Elena live together. I've been expecting this for awhile." Between worrying about Jeremy, and how her psyche was deeply unsettled by the names Silas and Qetsiyah, Elena's breakup with Stefan had been the least of her worries.
Caroline turned her head and Sophia followed her gaze to see Elena walking down the steps into the yard.
"We have got to shake some sense into her, and get that cure," Caroline said under her breath.
Sophia stiffened.
If Klaus could find the means to turn Elena back into a human and be able to sire more hybrids, she knew he would do it. In order to, he needed her brother. Sophia didn't like the idea of Jeremy pursuing vampire hunting on a good day, not when he was still a kid in high school. But the name Silas and Qetsiyah put her into a frenzy, and she knew that growing the tattoo of a map she couldn't see would lead to nothing good.
After reaching out to Hannah to see if the honey blonde could find any information on Shane and the legend of Silas, she had spent her morning meditating in order to self-soothe herself.
As Caroline made her frustrations be known to Elena about her love life, Sophia gazed blankly at the table before her, wondering how to approach sharing her doubts for finding the cure. Elena would probably be the easiest to persuade out of everyone, but there were much more demanding forces at work, such as Klaus and the Salvatores.
"C'mon Caroline. Everyone turns a blind eye when Sophia wants to explore her past with Klaus,but god forbid I figure out what my feelings actually mean just because they're for Damon."
Caroline was stunned silent as Elena looked matter of factly at the blonde. Sophia, who hadn't been paying especially close attention to the conversation before her, was jolted by hearing her name.
"Woah, I haven't weighed in at all-"
"I'm sorry Sophie, I didn't mean it like that. I just-"
"Excuse me, I'm a little lost. I'm here to interview contestants." Shane announced as he made his way over to the trio.
A stone wall fell over Sophia's face at the sight of him.
"You're professor Shane, right?" Elena asked pleasantly. After she pointed him in the right direction, Elena shared a look with Sophia.
"He's the one who told Damon how to break the hunter's curse."
Sophia nodded affirmatively to Elena's non-question.
Caroline put in her own two cents. "He's also the one who had Bonnie so obsessed with practicing magic that she bailed on pageant prep."
"And now he's judging Miss Mystic Falls," Sophia stated dryly.
"Jack of all trades, or kind of creepy?" Elena inquired suspiciously.
Sophia could dance at the fact it wasn't just her wary of the kind professor's intentions.
Sophia attempted to look busy while she stared at the blank clipboard in her hands as Caroline ordered about the poor fellow volunteers who were surely regretting signing up for this event.
She looked reproachfully at the vampire when the other teenage girls had left.
"Oh, come on!" Caroline burst, "They had all month to memorize the floral chart!"
Sophia laughed, glad at the sense of normalcy her friend exuded.
The mood shifted as Caroline's clear blue eyes looked at her somewhat fearfully.
"What?" Sophia asked, still smiling.
"I may have volunteered you to distract Klaus during the pageant tomorrow."
Sophia was silent as she processed what her friend had said, then sputtered as she tried to summon the words to ask Caroline what she was thinking and why on earth Klaus needed to be distracted this time.
"Actually, I swear I didn't mean to volunteer you, Sophie. It was an accident. Klaus came by earlier when you were upstairs. He kept backseat driving my volunteers, and ruining my seating chart. Then, when he asked if you would be here tomorrow and if you had a date, I just told him the truth. It was suddenly obvious what he was up to."
"What. the. Hell. Caroline?" Sophia didn't want to see Klaus. She played out a dozen scenarios in her head on how to talk him out of leaving Jeremy alone, and to forget about the cure. In each one of them, he could care less.
Not to mention, the 18-year-old girl in her was mortified that she had cried herself out in his arms the other night. She couldn't even begin to define what their relationship was, and this back and forth thing she had going on with him wasn't cute.
"I bitched without thinking, I was only joking. When Tyler called, I ranted to him about the whole thing, and he took it as an opportunity to keep helping hybrids break their sire bond. When I tried to tell him we can't keep putting you in that position, he… ignored me." Caroline said stiffly. "It's not fair to you Sophie, and I'm so sorry for putting you in this position. But if you're not here tomorrow to keep Klaus distracted, I'm scared of what he'll do to Tyler."
Sophia took in the grave expression on her friend's face, and how she wanted to give Tyler a fighting chance. "I wasn't even planning on going, I have nothing to wear. I… Is it bad that I don't want Ni... Klaus, to see me in any of my old founder's event dresses?"
A consoling smile appeared on Caroline's face. "Leave it to me."
"What do you think of Silas?"
"What- what of Silas?" Amara asked, nearly stumbling over her own feet, catching herself from falling at the last moment. She smiled bashfully at Sofia.
"Do you think he will be a worthy leader? I suppose it is something that Qetsiyah holds him in high esteem." Sofia continued.
Amara had made quick work of making herself indispensable to Qetsiyah, of knowing her preferences and routines.
Sofia had always known her friend to be a quick learner, a hard worker. Like most, it was not long before Qetsiyah had taken a shining to the younger handmaiden.
"He seems- kind. Thank you again for suggesting me for Qetsiyah's retinue. If you hadn't… Alieda had kept insisting-"
"You're a sister in everything but blood, Amara. I could not let you continue to work in a brothel if it was not what you wanted."
Where Sofia had been appointed Qetsiyah's handmaiden (a most coveted position) largely due to her birth status, Amara's mother had found her daughter work at the brothel she too worked at.
Amara was tasked with completing simple chores in the beginning. As she grew older, and her beauty grew more mature and refined, the madame had insisted that Amara go on to be a prostitute if she wanted to keep her job. Amara had never wanted to take after her mother, whose profession kept her from ever marrying.
Amara's sweet face turned inquisitive.
"What did you think of Elias?"
Sofia looked away from her friend as she felt her face grow heated.
"He is sweet and kind-"
"And handsome?" Amara said suggestively.
Sofia laughed. "And handsome."
So that was Amara. And she looked exactly like Elena. Or, rather, Elena looked like her.
Sophia pondered if this Amara was another in a long series of doppelgangers. Based on Shane's exhibit, Silas and Qetsiyah went back 2000 years. Sophia herself appeared to go back two- thousand years.
Caroline had set Sophia with a fitted, dark floral cocktail dress and accenting mute pink heels.
Sophia's mind repeatedly took apart and pieced back together her dream all morning as she got ready.
Past Sofia's affection for this Amara was not unlike what she felt for Elena and Jeremy, she would have done anything for her.
Our gravest mistake, her past self whispered.
After witnessing the utter bizarreness of the power struggle between Caroline, Damon, and Elena as they tried to help April pick out a dress before the pageant began, Sophia made her way outside. She watched as Damon approached Shane, baiting him, and Shane not rising to the bait.
"I was told you backed out of the pageant last year. A shame, I think."
Sophia whirled around and spotted Klaus surveying her admiringly, his smile a touch shy, and looking like the textbook definition of debonair in his perfectly tailored suit.
Damn him.
Sophia had excused herself away from Klaus after receiving a message from Elena that Jeremy was missing, and joined a huddle consisting of Caroline, Damon, and Elena. Jeremy was supposed to be April's escort.
"Do the math. Emo teen. Open bar. It's fine," Damon tried to reason as Elena called Jeremy on her phone.
"Matt said that Jeremy's been having nightmares about killing vampires and he's been hiding it from me. From us." Elena emphasized as she looked at Sophia imploringly.
Damon insisted that Elena not worry before going off to find Jeremy himself.
Caroline suggested that Elena stop by their house, and looked meaningfully at Sophia as she suggested the older Gilbert stay behind to help Caroline ask around here. Sophia nodded, refraining from turning her head to where she had left Klaus.
Even Sophia had to admit that something was off when Elena suddenly agreed with Damon's logic. She had been completely worried not five minutes ago, and now, she was rephrasing what Damon had said. As Caroline confronted Elena about Damon clouding her judgment, Sophia felt a hand on the small of her back.
"Your friend is making a scene," a low, accented voice said to her ear.
"Wow Caroline. Thank you for making this difficult time so much easier." And with that Elena stormed off.
"How did I become the bad guy?" Caroline asked of the now empty space before her.
Sophia took in a deep breath and reached out to squeeze Caroline's hand. "If it's any consolation, I've personally found you to be a godsend. And I think you're right, something's off about Elena."
The irritation on Caroline's face cleared after she spotted Klaus standing at Sophia's shoulder.
"You two enjoy the open bar. I have to go rendezvous with the judges."
Klaus asked Sophia to gather champagne flutes as he nicked a bottle of champagne from the bar.
"You wouldn't happen to know why Damon has suddenly become the Elena whisperer, would you? He's the only one who can really get through to her these days."
Klaus looked too smug for her liking as he remarked, "It'll all make sense eventually. In any event, I'll find the cure and your sister will return to her normal self."
Sophia nodded slowly, her eyes perturbed. What was it that kept her running back to the guy that ultimately held her family in so little regard? Thought of them as playthings. He claimed to care for her, in not so many words, but did that really mean anything?
"Is that not what you want?" Klaus asked curiously.
Sophia's mouth was dry. "Would- would you take the cure?"
"Now, why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet, hmm?" Klaus asked playfully as he met her eyes.
They took a seat on a clean white bench near the lake.
Sophia's face broke out her smile as she finally let herself be mollified by his company.
"At any point in the last millennium, you haven't been tempted even once?" Sophia wondered.
His lips quirked upwards as he popped the cork off the bottle, and he exaggeratedly shook his head in response to her question.
"I suppose your disbelief makes sense, you're practically a spokesperson for the human experience."
"I'd wager that I'm older than even you." Sophia fought to keep a smile on her face, not wanting to admit the melancholy she felt at her own words.
"Older than me you say?" Klaus asked as he filled her glass.
Sophia turned properly towards him so she could clink her glass with his. As much as she wanted to tell someone about her reaction to Shane's exhibit, her dreams, Klaus wasn't the right person. She had no idea what he would do with the information, and they had far different end games in mind. She hoped face betrayed nothing as she grinned teasingly at him.
"Oh, I suppose I should answer your question. Once. I was on a trek in the Andes, and a hummingbird flew up to me, and just hovered there staring at me. Its tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun. And I thought 'What a thing,' You know, to have to work that hard every day just to stay alive, to be constantly on the verge of death. And how satisfying every day must be that it survived. And that was the only time I thought about being human." Klaus nodded at her, his expression sober and eyes ruminative.
Sophia studied Klaus's face and found it to be sincere enough.
"My turn. Have you ever considered becoming a vampire?"
Sophia eyed the hybrid thoughtfully.
"After you die once or twice for not being strong enough, or fast enough, well- it helps me see the appeal. But honestly, it's not something I've thought too hard about, not like Elena's probably had to. Some of us have to get by without two codependent vampire boyfriends incessantly forcing immortality on us." Sophia smiled cheekily at Klaus who raised a high eyebrow.
"That was meant to be a dig at the Salvatore brothers, by the way. Not my sister."
"Your secrets are safe with me, Sophia. I too am familiar with sisters with trite taste in men" Klaus remarked mockingly. "All this said, however, you have to have at least one person in mind who would turn you if you asked."
Sophia frowned at him. "Should I consider this you offering?"
"As a last resort, perhaps. If it was what you wanted. I'd much prefer ensuring you go on to live a long, fulfilling life. With travel, love, perhaps a 'good' man your family can stomach. Children if you so desire."
Sophia looked at Klaus with wide eyes, confused.
"Oh, you haven't misread my intentions sweetheart. The benefit of you being a paliá psychí, and me immortal, is time. And there will be plenty of it to devote to you in another life. But you're an old soul whose track record indicates you haven't made it past 20. Wouldn't you like to?"
"Even if it could mean centuries before we find each other again?" Sophia wondered aloud before another thought occurred to her. "Not to mention, if you find me again, it'll mean a clean slate for you. Assuming I decide not to relive my pasts."
Klaus nodded sagely. "There is that."
At least he wasn't hiding his intentions. Sophia struggled to keep her breathing even as she stared into his eyes.
His face appeared unguarded as he studied her in return, and she found herself not knowing what to do with him. This once-husband of hers. Was it guilt, misplaced loyalty, attraction… genuine fondness the reason he appeared to care for her still?
"Why do you care if I go on to live a quote-unquote, fulfilling life?"
"Why did you care enough to warn me and mine from imminent death?"
He had her there.
They were now strolling lazily around the lake. Well, Klaus was, and Sophia struggled to keep her pace slow. She wasn't one for idle dawdles.
When they were far enough from the festivities, Klaus laced his fingers through hers and softly tugged her to stand in front of him. She could feel her heartbeat all over.
"Look- I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression the other night-"
"You were Sofija Mikaelson once. Promises were made. Vows of love, loyalty... among others," his smirk was sinful, "But you're not ready for that yet. I may no longer resemble the man your husband was, but I intend to fulfill his promises, one way or another. I care not how many lovers you take on in this life or any other, what paths you choose to explore. Despite it all, you are mine, Sophia." His eyes glittered, and she swore she saw the wolf lurking behind them.
Sophia wanted to scoff at the patriarchal sentiment and admitted to herself that she should probably feel more unease at how Klaus viewed their relationship. From the outside looking in, she probably appeared to be the deer ensnared by the wolf. Persephone captured by Hades.
But the truth of the matter was that she felt far from prey caught by a predator.
And he is mine, a possessive voice avowed.
Before Sophia attempted to respond to him… And how does one respond to such a sincere, proprietorial declaration other than a slap in the face?... Her phone rang.
Their "date" was cut short by a call from Elena, who had found out what happened to Jeremy.
Sophia nodded awkwardly in goodbye to Klaus, acting every bit the teenager she still was, keenly embarrassed and confused at the controlling nature he effortlessly drew out of her.
His blue shined mirthfully as he kissed the back of her hand, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Look, I know you guys really want the cure for Elena's sake, but I really don't think it's a good idea. Too many details don't add up, not to mention the fact that me and her want more for Jeremy."
Caroline and Stefan exchanged a long look before their eyes made their way back to her.
"I'm sorry, Sophie. Jeremy was willing to help for Elena's sake-" The brunette cut Stefan off.
"And thanks to the hunter's curse, now he has a taste for blood. Elena has to stay at the boarding house," Sophia turned to look pointedly at Caroline, "with Damon, so Jeremy doesn't unwillingly kill her!"
"Okay, okay. Everyone, let's just take a breather." Caroline looked sternly between vampire and old soul. Sophia settled into her cushioned chair as she looked frustratedly at the blonde.
Sophia had arrived home after the pageant just in time to see Elena packing a bag. She had found out that Stefan had been working behind their backs with Klaus to help grow Jeremy's hunter's mark, and his hunter's instinct was getting out of control. Meaning, if their little brother saw an opening to kill Elena, he would take it.
Incensed, Sophia made her way over to Caroline to yell at Stefan, who was staying at the blondes for the night.
"I know this is sorta beside the point," Caroline said apologetically to Sophia, "But Stefan, I know it's not pretty, it's not easy, but you can't give up on her."
Sophia wanted to throw her hands up in the air. Barring finding the cure, which could wait, Elena and Stefan had the rest of their immortality to work out their love triangle drama. They had all the time in the world. Her very mortal little brother who was standing at a crossroad- he couldn't.
"Caroline, she looked me in the eye and she told me to move on." Stefan reiterated for the blonde.
"She's lost," Caroline insisted, looking to Sophia for support, "There's something wrong with her...Just promise me you won't stop looking for the cure."
"Caroline." Sophia snapped, the corner of her head pounding.
"I'm sorry Sophie, but Klaus wouldn't let me even if I wanted to." Stefan shared apologetically.
Sophia remembered what Klaus had to say about Elena and Damon, and sat up abruptly as she connected the dots.
She thought back to what Klaus said earlier about the pair, and remembered why the wolves were sired to Klaus in the first place. They were grateful to their sire for sparing them the pain of turning on a full moon. She fought back a wince, remembering her own transitions.
"I really hate to add fuel to this fire, but I think I know what's going on between Damon and Elena."
Her sister was sired to the older Salvatore brother. It was the only explanation.
"One for you, one for you, and one for you," Elena said as cheerfully handed over a bottle of champagne each to Sophia, Bonnie, and Caroline.
It was the next evening, and Elena had proposed a girl's night at school earlier that day.
"I'm assuming this is for Caroline," declared Bonnie, picking up the blood bag that was in the same box that encased the liquor.
Before Caroline could grab it, Elena intercepted it. "Actually, it's for me."
Elena explained how thanks to Damon, she found out she could now drink from blood bags. Caroline's eyes snapped towards Sophia's, then back to Elena. "What do you mean thanks to Damon?"
After Bonnie instituted a no boy-talk rule, shutting down the onset of a fight between Caroline and Elena, she pulled out 'spirit tea', or what Caroline dubbed stoner tea.
"It opens up your chi, or whatever. And Sophie, Shane said it would help with your headaches. I really think you should give it a try."
Famous last words.
Sophia began to feel increasingly lightheaded as their little party escalated. The music was turned up as Bonnie recorded Elena speeding around the boarding house while Caroline shimmied to the beat.
"Sophie, join us," called out Elena who was dancing on the pool table.
Sophia felt the flame of a fire against her skin and the heat of a fever. If that wasn't enough, she was suddenly, severely nauseous.
She wanted nothing more than to curl up in a dark room.
She turned towards Bonnie who also sat on the couch.
"Do I look okay? I think I'm coming down with something."
The feel of Bonnie's cool hand on her forehead was almost pure bliss.
"Hmm. You feel a little warm, but honestly, you look completely fine."
"What's wrong?" Caroline asked as Elena looked at her in concern.
"Nothing I just- I think I just need to use the restroom."
"I know you're not actually using the restroom, we're coming in," Caroline shouted as she broke the locked doorknob to Damon's swanky bathroom.
Her friends and sister found Sophia curled up on the cool tile floor.
"There's plenty of beds if you need to sleep this off, Soph," Elena offered as she reached down to feel Sophia's forehead for herself.
"No thanks, I'm good here." Sophia so very much did not want to move.
"Then I guess we're bringing the party in here," decreed Bonnie as she settled herself beside the porcelain bathtub.
"I really don't know about those herbs Shane gave you Bonnie." Sophia had been fighting against the onslaught of fatigue, scared of what she might see if she fell asleep.
Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed. "You think they're making you sick? I don't really feel anything."
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a bed?" Elena was now lounging in the bathtub, and Sophia cursed herself for not thinking to do that.
Caroline smiled sympathetically." Are we disturbing the peace?"
"No no, I don't mind the company. I just need to rest my eyes." And with that, Sophia tried to let the drunken ramblings of two vampires and a witch calm her.
"Being a vampire is so weird", Elena smiled," Omigod, I love this bathtub. Why don't we come and hang out here more often?"
"I'll tell you why," Caroline volunteered, "Cooties. Think of all the germ-ridden skanks Damon has lured into his den of iniquity."
Those had been fighting words.
"I know his track record has been kind of spotty" Elena said as she tried to acknowledge the range of Damon's faults," But I don't hate him. I can't I- he- I think I'm falling in love with him."
Sophia clung to a bookshelf as the walls of the boarding house spun around her.
The conversation from upstairs had spiraled quickly and now her sister was on the verge of kicking them out.
"Ugh, You're not falling in love with him Elena. You're sired to him."
Sophia winced as her nausea intensified.
"What?"
"What are you talking about?"
Caroline looked regretfully at Sophia. "Sophie's the one who put it together. I'm sorry it came out like that, but it's true."
Sophia watched Elena's face as Caroline mentioned how Stefan could describe why they thought this better than she could. Wrong move.
"You need to leave. Now." Elena ordered as she stomped to the front door and opened it, revealing hybrids just on the other side.
They had overtaken them quickly, and Bonnie's magic was too haphazard to subdue them before they made hostages and Caroline and Sophia herself.
Sophia blinked rapidly as unfamiliar figures in colorful and exotic clothes momentarily stood in place of the hybrids.
She felt a relieving rush of cool air as she fell asleep.
She stood atop of a pyre, hearing beating rapidly, her body soaked in sweat.
"Please! Please don't do this!" she called out, her voice becoming hoarse due to the wafting smoke.
Her captors ignored her pleas in favor of vigorous chanting. A cult made up of neighbors, strangers, friends, loved ones. Their masks didn't fool her.
She had accepted her duty as a sacrifice on her 15th name day. Her being chosen was a testament to her parents, of how much she was highly valued by her village.
To be chosen as an offering for the gods meant she was among the best of her people.
While she hadn't been eager to be buried with her heart still beating, it was preferable to fighting for breath from the top of a pyre.
In doing so, the traitors who stole her were ensuring she would never meet the Gods, nor be reincarnated. Fools who followed a false deity by the name of Silas.
Just as the flames began to lick her feet, the men below her began to fall or were somehow thrown into the growing fire.
Before she knew it, she found herself unbound well away from the pyre.
"You're safe now, Sofija." The words of her people did not come naturally to her savior, but she could recognize what he meant to say. She wondered how he knew her name.
He made a horrifying image. Mouth caked by blood, sharp and protruding teeth, eyes bloodied red.
If she hadn't seen her childhood friend sacrificed by way of bludgeoning merely the previous moon, or if the man her father called brother had not stolen her from her home this night, she may have been properly terrified.
But she now knew there were more deplorable terrors than the being before her.
"Thank you."
What an odd man this Kol was. As foreign as he looked, as oddly dressed as he was, she felt as if they had met each other before.
The man in question grinned. "The witches told me of paliá psychí's, but it is another thing to see one, to know one."
Sofija frowned at him. "My people believe in reincarnation for all souls. What makes…paliá psychí's... notable?"
He looked amused. "Not all are reincarnated."
He didn't think highly of her beliefs, nor did the others he traveled with, and outright scoffed at her wish to be returned to her family to be sacrificed.
"Yes, yes I understand. Your people believe by sacrificing you, they will appease the gods and somehow outmaneuver the conquistadors. It's a senseless death. If Nik was here- If he knew you were here, he'd burn them all."
Sofija felt her breath catch. Kol searched her eyes contemplatively.
"I haven't decided if I should tell him yet."
Sophia moaned. She heard screams of pain near her. A familiar scream.
Caroline.
"Ease up Kim, Klaus won't like this," said an unfamiliar man.
"Huh, that's a very good point. Do you think he'll like this?" a woman responded.
Sophia gasped as she felt a hand clasp her throat, sharp canine claws pricking at her neck. She couldn't do much more than cry out, and her eyes still felt far too heavy to open.
She heard Tyler ordering Kim not to do it, then Elena.
"No! Wait wait wait wait. If you really want to hit Klaus where it hurts, then torture me instead. He's fixated on keeping me alive. You want real revenge, or not?"
A moment, then the nails were retracted and Sophia gasped in air.
"Stay back. Stay back! Or I'll rip her heart out right now." she heard Tyler threaten, before slipping back to another time.
"What does your kind have against Silas?"
"He is a false God. He whispers lies in the ears of my people to stray away from our path." An elder. A family friend. Family. These had been among the group this Silas had turned away.
Kol nodded thoughtfully. "This lot here claims Silas intends to reign hell on earth, uplift the dead. I'd rather he didn't."
Sophia looked at the group Kol traveled with. Mainly women, with the occasional man here and there. They too appeared to be Inca. They bustled around Kol and Sofija as they packed up their campsite.
"There there, don't fight it."
Sofija's eyes widened and her heart pulsed. Kol was forcing her to drink the blood that dripped from his wrist.
"Why did you make me do that!?" She looked at him, horrified.
"I've seen this malady kill much stronger than you, Sofija. It's decimated entire civilizations."
Sofija had kept quiet about her fever, the sores in her mouth. She thought it was the will of the Gods for not keeping her vow.
"Suicidal little thing, aren't you. I admire the Incas' contribution to magic, and I suppose their architecture. Their customs, however, leave much to be desired."
Sophia winced at the bright sunlight that shone on her face and peeked one eye open to see her friend watching her intently.
"Well, this is creepy." She smiled sleepily and felt relief for waking up in the 21st century. Her head pounded, and for a lack of a better term, she felt hungover. Whatever herbs she had taken was a bastardization of Bonnie's usual potion. She only had the bare minimum to go off on, but that had been a chilling past life. Sophia made the decision to be grateful for small mercies. For not having to relive an entire life where she was raised as a lamb for the slaughter.
Caroline frowned at her.
"Sophie, I didn't understand a word of what you just said."
Sophia sat up in alert. "I am Sofija- No! No. I am Sophia Gilbert." Heavily accented, but at least now Caroline understood her.
"Well that's new," observed her friend with wide eyes.
The blonde vampire helped escort Sophia down the stairs from Stefan's bedroom, as Sophia still didn't have proper motor control of her feet.
"You know, your hottie- creepy professor really knows his stuff, Bonnie." Sophia heard her sister say.
"It's been baby steps, but he's helping with a whole new kind of magic. He calls it expression." Bonnie shared as Sophia and Caroline finally made their way to them.
Elena beamed. "Sophie-"
"How sure are you that he gave you those herbs by accident. How much have you told him about me?" Her voice was hoarse, but she sounded more like herself.
Bonnie's hazel eyes widened."Sophie what-"
"Please just answer the question."
"When he first introduced the herbs to me, I mentioned that the majority of experience I had with herbs, in general, was the tonic I made for you. I never said exactly which one of my friends was a paliá psychí. It had to have been an accident if the herbs affected you badly, I'm sure Shane didn't know they would make you sick."
Bonnie's face was earnest. She had complete trust in the guy.
Sophia dug her nails into Caroline's wrist to keep the vampire from saying anything. Sophia was sure Shane didn't do anything by accident. When he talked of Silas… he wore the same expression as the cult followers in another life. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of telling him what she now knew. In effect, she also had to keep her suspicions from Bonnie until she learned enough to break her friend's trust in him.
Somehow, she had to get into contact with Kol.