Katherine always liked the myth of Icarus, son of Daedalus, the architect of the Labyrinth of Crete. When King Minos trapped them both in the very warren his father created, thus marked the journey of wax, ambition, and flight. When he fell, with his wax wings melting from the heat of the sun, Icarus died with a smile on his face. When Katerina died, burned from the warmth of her own life, her trust, Katherine smiled at the birth of her freedom.
"What's so important with that stupid rock, anyway?" Alyssandra muttered angrily, "How can something so tiny cause this much trouble?"
Her doppelgänger is so much like her, Katerina. She's got her fun, her hair, and her naivete. It crushed her, Katherine, to find out that's probably why he liked her so much. Katherine could lie and say what she was about to do was nothing personal, but it simply wasn't. Alyssandra was everything she was and wasn't.
So she smiles, "Aren't you one to talk, little bird?"
"Aren't you one to talk?" Aly throws back, a playful smirk on her lips. She believes in her, for some reason. Aly thinks there's a part of her that's still worth something. While she's right, Katherine just knows they don't mean it the same way.
Her double looked back and around them, eyeing everyone at the Masquerade with distrust before she lured Katherine to a secluded corner of the room. "If you could just let me see it for one day," she said quietly. "Maybe I could find a way to replicate the moonstone and its effects, that way you could gain favor from both vampires and werewolves. No one would dare to mess with you if you're the reason for their salvation. I promise, Katherine, it'll only be for a day and you could have it back."
Katherine knows she's lying- or maybe she wasn't. She's a lot like her soulmate that way, finding her way around pretty words and praises. They both mean well, though he only ever tries to be good. They're both stupidly naive to think this could end well for everyone involved, though he never really tries hard enough for it to happen. For those reasons alone, Katherine feels justified with handing Alyssandra over to Elijah on a silver platter.
She'll watch as Aly inevitably pretends to be Elena during the sacrifice- because there's no way she'll let her sister die and there's no way Elijah wouldn't kill his brother. It's the best payback she could do, the sweetest one after he broke her heart and killed her. For making her believe for the past 500 years that when Elijah looked at her, in those moments when she loved him, it wasn't just an echo of somebody else he loved he saw, that there wasn't someone else etched in her face and soul.
She took pity over her doppelgänger's ignorance, anyway. "You can't," she said. "The moonstone is what binds the curse, the sacrifice is what breaks it."
Alyssandra stiffened. "Sacrifice?"
"Does your little scooby-doo gang know you're talking to me?" Katherine changed the subject. "I'm surprised Damon hasn't locked you up in a tower."
"He doesn't have to know everything I do," Aly answered automatically, way too quickly. Interesting. "What do you mean sacrifice? I can help you, Katherine. Things don't have to be this way."
"The sacrifice requires a witch, a werewolf, a vampire, and the doppelgänger. Or in this case, a doppelgänger." Katherine forced her grimace into a nasty smile, "Oh, Aly. The world's been this way since before you were a thought in the world."
Later on, when Elena comes home from the abandoned plantation, bleeding, wide-eyed and too shocked to speak. Katherine's smile becomes real.
Katherine didn't mention they were twins. She didn't mention that they were witches, either.
"That bitch," Trevor growled, throwing away the burning piece of wood that flew towards them. "I'm going to kill her."
"Don't," Rose warned. She still hasn't decided if having two human doppelgängers were good or bad. It should've been impossible. Everything about this was impossible. "We don't know if we need them both."
"They're only looking for one," Trevor snapped, his eyes scanned the forest. "Elijah would never even know if one of them's dead."
Rose tried not to roll her eyes, "Or he'd kill us both for breathing the same air as them." There was something to be said with the Mikaelson's Patriarch, while Niklaus was the bad wolf, Elijah only ever did as he pleased- wherever, whenever, whoever. You knew what to expect with wolves, you avoided them to not get mauled alive.
Elijah's dangerous because he hunts them by luring them in first. He makes them want to trust him. He's reliable until he isn't. He'll listen until he won't. Elijah is a monster because he is unpredictably unpredictable, and after the massacre he's created, he makes you want to believe that he's the most human of them all. He pretends to be good until it's too late- until it's your fault that everybody else is dead.
They all fall for it. All the time.
Rose lets out a shaky breath. "We need to hurry," she said. "He's coming soon."
While running through the woods next to the plantation, Rose was hit with the biggest wave of deja vu, but this time she knows that they won't be given a chance to fail again. They barely had the chance to live the last time.
The girls were smart, they were either very quiet or casted themselves silent. But both Rose and Trevor are hundreds of years old, and they had five senses to rely on. Trevor, the natural hunter, found them first. He ran fast towards them, where Rose finds out that she's right and that they've spelled each other quiet. She grabs the one with the pink henley by the arm, twisting it around so she doesn't move just as Trevor does the same to the other one.
The other one- she has the same curls as Katerina -held onto Trevor's hands tightly, and Rose watched as he immediately screamed in pain.
"Let go of my sister!" She snarled, seemingly (seamlessly) canceling the silence spell on herself. She'd held onto Trevor by one glowing red hand-
She's a siphoner
- and her other one is menacingly pointed at her.
"Don't think I won't kill him," she threatened.
Normally Rose would've called it an obvious bluff from an overconfident teenager, but this was a doppelgänger. The last doppelgänger had been Katherine. "I'd kill your sister," Rose warmed. Her hands instantly go to the girl's neck, and for a second she panics that she'd start siphoning from her too. But the other doppelgänger only gasps, doe eyes wide. Rose knows from the flying birch from earlier that she's got magic too, but it looks like she's not a parasite like her sister.
Trevor still hasn't stopped screaming. The girl instantly panicked, eyes looking quickly from her sister and back to Rose's face. "I'd break his mind," she said, "I'd make him think it was you."
The girl- the one Rose is holding- stilled just as much in surprise as she did. But it didn't matter anyway, because the next thing she sees is a sharpened wooden stick flying directly to her chest. While she's fast enough to run out of the way, she wasn't as fast with getting away from the angry other girl. The siphoner hits her with a blast strong enough it blows up two trees next to her. Rose gets flown off from the impact, and she flies for a solid 5 seconds before landing back to the ground with a grunt.
"What-" Rose gasped, focusing again on her heightened hearing. She heard the voices of two men and two Katherine's. She hears the name Stefan from one of the girls and instantly realizes it's the Ripper of Monterey, which means it's the Salvatore brothers. The two most idiotic, ignorant, trouble-causing baby vampires.
Rose quickly runs back, grabbing and flinging behind the closest one that was speeding away. She felt lucky that it wasn't the Ripper, but she did get the siphoner twin instead.
The Ripper froze, holding the other twin bridal-style. "Damon-"
"Stefan, go!" he yelled at his brother. Maybe the brothers weren't that ignorant, as he quickly sped away.
Thinking fast, Rose grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree and used it as a makeshift stick. She pinned down the younger vampire, black haired and blue eyes, and brought the stick down right to his chest while the siphoner struggled to stand.
"No!" the siphoner yelled, throwing another blast. They both flung far from each other from the impact.
Trevor, pale from getting siphoned but somewhat recovered, grabbed hold of the she-demon.
"Don't touch her!" Rose yelled in warning, already standing. Trevor grunted, grabbing hold of the siphoner's shirt and quickly ran back to the plantation with the younger vampire immediately trailing behind him.
They all stop- Trevor, Rose, and Damon, as they see a man dressed in a neatly pressed suit sitting in the armchair by the grand entrance of the abandoned manor.
"Well," Elijah said wryly, "is now not a good time?"
Rose's dead heart stopped, head spinning to look at Trevor, who held the wriggling siphoner, in fear.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Damon demanded.
He was going to get them all killed.
Elijah had his eyes on the girl, who started yelling at Trevor to let her go and stop his juggling act in making sure she doesn't touch him. Trevor lets go as she twists to bite him, and Damon runs again as he catches her.
Their freedom is short lived. He doesn't get two steps away before Elijah instantly has a hand on his heart.
He doesn't kill him immediately, he smiled first, making sure that Damon sees his face, "I'm Elijah," he said before-
BANG!
The siphoner girl sends another blast. The four vampires were thrown all over to the front of the manor, she managed to fully destroy the staircase, the windows were all shattered, and what was left of the wooden flooring had splintered up. She screamed, "DAMON, LEAVE!"
Damon doesn't move, Rose couldn't see from all the flying dust if he was even breathing, but she couldn't spot a heart lying around on site either.
The siphoner paled. Rose doesn't stop the glare that bubbles out of her as she stood back up, annoyed, "looks like your little trick backfired."
Elijah groaned as he stood, she expected him to look more angry, but instead he looked shocked as he stared at the doppelgänger. They had her surrounded, Trevor's hateful glare evident as he blocked the exit.
"You're a witch," Elijah said in wonder.
Finally, something normal happened. For the first time since she got kidnapped, the siphoner looked fully scared, shaking like a leaf. She kept looking from Damon to the three of them. She's finally fearful . Of course it's Elijah Mikaelson that gets her to fear for her life.
Rose blinked, and Elijah stood next to the siphoner. "Impossible," he murmured, breathing in her scent. "Fully human."
Rose finds it in her to speak. "Elijah," she said, "You're a man of honor. You should be trusted, but I want to hear you say it again."
Elijah paused. He doesn't bother to turn, still studying the girl in front of him as he said in a low murmur, "You have my word that I will pardon you." He tilted his head, "Hello there."
The girl doesn't speak. She's actually crying silent tears, lips pressed as she looked from Damon and back to Elijah.
"Oh," Elijah said kindly, "your friend's still alive."
The relief that flows to her face is instant, she looked close to breaking as she hiccuped a sob. Her head turns to Rose pleadingly, "Please," she said in a quiet whisper. Rose was just glad that she's stopped fighting. It's made it easier for all of them. "Don't let him take me."
"I'm afraid that's not possible," Elijah said gently. He's always had an interest in girls with her face and striking witches. Rose doesn't have it in her to feel pity that she's both, but she doesn't feel the need to warn Elijah that she's a siphoner, either. "We have a long journey ahead of us. We should be going."
The girl's eyes closed tightly. "No."
Elijah ignored her, "One last piece of business and we're done."
"I've waited for this day, Elijah." Trevor said nervously. Rose watched, helpless, as Elijah walked closer. "I'm truly, very sorry."
"Oh no, your apology is not necessary," Elijah said simply.
"Yes, yes it is." Trevor argued, "You trusted me with Katerina and I failed you."
"Oh yes," Elijah said in mock reminisce. He points a lone finger as he said, "You are the guilty one and Rose aided you because she was loyal to you and that now I honor." He sends him a look, "Where was your loyalty?"
Trevor swallowed around his dry mouth. "I beg your forgiveness."
Elijah nodded, "So granted." His hand flies out faster than Rose could see. The first thing she hears is her own scream before Trevor's head thumps to the floor, right next to Damon's unconscious body.
"You-!"
"Don't, Rose," Elijah warned, grabbing the siphoner again by the arm, "now that you are free."
Rose froze. She watched weakly as the siphoner sent her a glare.
"You should've just let me go," the girl said shakily.
Rose felt herself burn. "Shut up," she said angrily. Then she remembered, "shut up before I get your twin!"
"A twin?" Elijah echoed, surprised again as he looked at the girl. "An identical twin?"
Rose watched, uncomfortable, as the girl went deathly still. Her brown doe eyes looked almost sucken and lifeless as she stared directly into Rose. "You're going to die for that."
"An identical twin," Rose confirmed. "She escaped not long before we went back here. She's with someone, the Ripper of Monterey."
The girl laughed hysterically. "I'm going to kill you!"
"Where to?" Elijah asked, he's still got his grip on the siphoner, but he's already paying more attention to what could be just a couple of miles away from them. Elijah pulled her along, steps away from going out of the plantation and already in search for the second doppelgänger-
Elijah hissed, forced to take a sharp intake of breath as a wave of hot pain radiated on his hands. He let go of the doppelgänger, eyes carefully watching and observing as the red of her bare arm faded away into nothing. Of course, the latest edition wasn't just any witch, she's a siphoner.
In the young girl's hands is a heart. Rose's heart. It dropped carelessly to the ground at the same time as her body. The girl continued to stare at the growing pool of blood by Rose's body, stuck in an obvious state of shock.
Elijah tugged her arm again. "Ah, don't do that," he tutted, his other hand going to her throat in warning as he felt the familiar burn begin to start. He shook his head, "I gave Rose my word I'd pardon her. You took that away. I'd have you know I don't like breaking my promises."
He watched as the Petrova's righteous anger ignited in her eyes. "And I said I'll kill her," she said breathily. "I don't break my promises either."
"No siphoning," Elijah said coldly, "Or your sister's dead body is next to fall."
The young girl's eyes widened, her voice shook as she spoke, "don't." She shook her head, or tried to against his tightening grip. "Pl-please," she gasped against his hold, "Don't hurt Alyssandra."
And she's telling the truth, because she's starts crying during Elijah's shocked silence. There's not a lot of things in the world that can surprise him, the list grew smaller and smaller as he got older and more cynical. But the girl was weeping openly, sobbing as she repeatedly begged him to not hurt Alyssandra.
Elijah let go.
The girl- his soulmate's sister - falls to the floor. His ears were ringing for some reason, there's a deep and unpleasant feeling in his stomach as he stared at her heave to breathe through tears.
His soulmate's twin sister.
The irony here is that, after a thousand years of falling in love with women with the same face, he wondered what were the odds his soulmate's twin and her were identical.