Be Somebody

by Vicky Tzalachani

A girl drops on the floor of the Alaric's office. Who is she? Is she a friend or a foe? Is she after the knife? Why is she here? What are her powers?

20. Chapter 20

Hello, guys! Merry Christmas and happy new year! I hope 2022 is a year that we heal and have some peace of mind that the past two years didn't have. Hope everyone is healthy and happy with family and friends somewhere safe!

This is another Christmas-themed chapter and there are three more, one I'm currently working on (Chapter 23). In this chapter I'd like to add the following trigger warnings;

*TRIGGER WARNINGS: Referenced to past molestations, Ukrainian-Russian war but a lot of AU with a few real facts.*

This chapter contains some references to the geo-political climate of Ukraine and Russia, I'm not trying to be disrespectful to any of those countries and I'm sorry if I offended anyone! That wasn't my plan! I'm not trying to be political, I just want to dramatize more how Earth Prime's geopolitical climate is in construct to Earth 4's.

In this chapter I suggest listening to Kaleo - Glass House!

I hope you will enjoy reading this chapter! See you in the comments!

Be Somebody

Chapter 20: What In Santa Clauses' Name?

Nansia woke up and she sighed, it was a day after Christmas and already so much had happened and changed by the time she got here, in Atlanta.

She was getting ready to meet Bonnie for their daily meditation when Elena and Bonnie came into her room just as she put on her blue sweater.

"There will be no session today, Nansia, you need to heal and be able to really really understand what that means for you." Bonnie said softly and as understandingly as she could.

"Miss Bonnie, my dad didn't do those things to me, other men my mum has been cheating on him with. I know it wasn't my fault and trust me I blame the bitch I call my mum." Nansia said smiling relieved at first but then she had to stifle her anger in her voice.

Elena sighed as she hugged Nansia from the side and Nansia allowed herself to be hugged.

"Will talking to Emma will help you wrap your head around what happened to you?" Bonnie asked her concerned.

"No, it's the holidays I need to be cheery so I'm gonna do what I always done, push it down. It's the day after Christmas, I have to keep trying to make contact with my ancestors of mine and try to access more of my magic." Nansia said determinate and with a strong tone, she almost slipped and said the parts about figuring out who her bio dad was and what including the whole Malivore thing and freeing Ryan thing.

But reminding herself how many things she has left stacked up and was too much into her head.

"Okay, if that works for you but you need to take care of your mental health, do not be like us." Elena said softly and kept holding Nansia in her arms.

"I know it's not healthy but I have been working like this since I was 8 years old…you know my pain isn't important just like mum's and soon it became I'm not as important as anyone else, but I got the job done. You know…you actually don't but in 2149 and the number of years I was there none of us really had the luxury for mental health check-ins and when I returned back to the normal life with the memories of how it was back then it was easier to accept what it's been done than try to nip-pick and analyze it. It is something I must do now too. I came here for a reason and I need to figure out why is that, it's not a mental health retreat. I appreciate you are all trying to get me to be more in tune with my inner world which is more than anyone else has done my whole life but right now, it's not the time to break down." Nansia said with a tone that was bittersweet and haunted but Bonnie and Elena understood what she meant.

"As you wish, but we are here for you and so is Emma." Bonnie reminded her as she squeezed her hand and she smiled thankfully that they didn't push her.

She then wiggle out of Elena's arms and hugged Bonnie who was surprised and let a surprised laugh as she embraced Nansia.

"Okay, let's go eat breakfast and then we try again with the ancestors?" Nansia suggested smiling and the two adult women nodded as they all stood up and Nansia put her morning robe on and all three of them walked downstairs where the rest of the group were just as they laid on the couches or armchairs or the floor and let cartoons play for Stefanie.

"Will anyone make breakfast?" Nansia asked confused since she was starving.

"You're welcome to try." Jeremy said in a sleepy tone as he snuggled more into the chair and his jacket and closed his eyes.

Nansia sighed and went to the kitchen and started putting together all her ingredients. As she opened a drawer looking for some cutlery when she found a drawer of phones, more accurately hers, Lizzie's, Jo's, and Hope's phones. She remembered that her grounding allowed phone time during the morning so she took hers and activated it.

She was flooded by good wishes from her co-workers at the Grill and some of the students who had her numbers including Jed, MG, Kelab, and little Pedro who she met twice all this time.

Also, how old was Pedro? And he had a phone from this young?!

Nope! No! Her kids will be at least 8 years old when owning their first phone!

The only good thing her parents did was moderate her screen time and give her a rich musical tasting palette.

She then scrolled and saw Ryan's messages asking her if she was alright and wishing her Merry Christmas, she made a mental note to call him sometime today or at least schedule some sort of video chat time.

Just then Josie walked and saw the drawer open and rushed to her and grabbed hers and Lizzie's and then Hope's phones.

"I've been wanting this back!" Josie whisper-yelled in a happy and relieved tone as she opened hers.

"Want to help me with breakfast?" Nansia asked Josie hopeful since she realized she will be making breakfast for not five people but eleven people!

"Nope!" Josie said not paying attention to her as she was busy being glued to the phone.

Nansia growled and her eyes flicker to yellow before she sighed and raised her sleeves.

"Alone as always…" She mumbled and went down to work.

She made them egg-soaked bread slices in the frying pan and toast with ham and cheese, then made them instant coffee she had bought yesterday in a sole attempt to make them the famous Greek frappe coffee both the cold version and the warm one.

And for a good measure, she put water and the essentials in the coffee machine, a contraption she hasn't seen before…

Why the hell coffee machines become more complicated in 2027, for God's sake? 2019's coffee machines were also complicated, she just used the good ol' kettle and a spoon!

As she was washing the last of the things she used minus the frying pan that was still cooling down on top of the closed kitchen stove. It only took an hour to make everything and she was nervous they might be angry when she walked over to tell them and saw them all sleeping while Stefanie was quietly watching her cartoons eating the candy bracelet that Caroline had given her earlier.

"Hey, Stefanie, want to eat breakfast?" Nansia typed on her phone and showed it to Stefanie once she captured her attention. The young girl looked at the adults and nodded as she quietly closed the TV and followed her to the kitchen where Nansia was putting away the extra stuff and splitting the breakfast in the plates and putting them in the oven then wrote a note and stick it in the oven door and one in the fridge letting them know where the breakfast is.

The two girls sighed as they sat alone at the huge table and silently stare at each other.

"You're my cousin right?" Stefanie asked her and Nansia nodded.

"Then we should get to know each other. Let's go to my room, I have a TV in there and we won't have to be quiet!" Stefanie whispered-yelled as she picked up her plate and Nansia copied her.

In Stefanie's room they ate while watching a cartoon Nansia had never seen before and listened to Stefanie explaining the premises of the series until the current episode, it sounded dumb to her but she's not a kid anymore so what does she know, right?

"Want to play this game?" Stefanie asked her as she handed her a Wii controller.

"Um…I don't know how to play those things…sorry…and video games aren't my thing…how about I teach you a game?" Nansia asked uncomfortable at the sad face of Stefanie when hearing the rejection.

"What game?"

"It's this game where you use two pieces of paper and you divide it in places, a space for animals, towns/countries/cities, objects, plants, names, and then points. Then person A starts saying the alphabet starting loudly with A but then using their inner voice to say the rest of the alphabet, person B tells person A when to stop, the letter person A has stopped on is the letter both of them should try and found for animals, places, objects, plants then when both of them are done we tell them to one another. If it's original you win full points if it's not and you share it with me we get half points. Sounds fun?" Nansia explained happily and little Stefanie nodded as she grabbed a paper and both girls, distant cousins, started writing the piles and started playing.

They reached letter G when her phone vibrated and Stefanie cheered.

"I won! I won! 28 to 17! I'm bored, I'm gonna play a few levels, go talk…cousin…hey we're cousins, right?" Stefanie said in a joyful glee and she jumped around her room as she did a victory dancing causing Nansia to laugh at her.

"Yeah, we are cousins, distant, but we are." Nansia said smiling as she kissed Stefanie's cheek and she rushed out of the room to hers.

It was Ryan on the phone checking in on her.

"I'm fine, Ryan, just grounded for sneaking out to the library to do some research with the girls about our problems. So, we have limited screen times. And I have been busy with trying with the ancestors and being paraded to Elena's neighborhood friends." She told him as she sat on her bed.

"Oh! I thought it was something serious…I mean more serious. So, how was your Christmas?" Ryan said seriously yet with a soft and understanding undertone.

"Enough about me, how is Prague, it's far more interesting than my life here besides there was no process with the ancestors." She said and she smiled as she tried to sound less shaken.

The memories of the molestations were burned into her mind and every time she closed her eyes or had a silent moment to herself the actual memories not the filtered ones she saw during her time with Bonnie but during the dream of the real memories of these…son of bitches…they appear in her mind, she's back there! And the only thing she want to do is to kill them, ripped their hearts out, slice their throats, shoot them dead, and torture them as she had done in Arkadia or Polis or on Elligius IV.

She sometimes in her dreams on round 3 or 5 she imagines she's in an adult in the bathtub and she kills them in various ways and she kills her mum too.

She didn't listen to Ryan calling her name as her eyes lit up yellow and things in her nightstand were levitating.

"NANSIA!" Ryan's voice ringed in her ears and she threw the phone away.

"Jesus, Ryan, don't yell!" Nansia exclaimed.

"I'm yelling because I have been talking to you and you haven't been listening. I know you're lying about being alright and I can detect your fear in your voice! I know how it is when you are dissociating because of newly triggered psychological trauma, Nansia! That is how I am every damn time I was visited by my father and forced to do horrible things! What happened? Did they hurt you? Answer me, Nansia, I can come and get you!" Ryan said compassionate, worried, and terrified all at once causing Nansia to be a little worried about how triggering the explanation would be for him if she said anything.

"Well, during the meditation with Bonnie memories that I had suppressed from my abusive childhood and they came back and I was shaken to my core and I had to digest that this happened, I experienced and survived that and I needed time to realize that." She told him as she tried to generalize the actual event she experienced. She felt she was sparing him the pain of learning or hearing something potentially triggering.

Ryan sighed from the other line and Nansia looked and picked off at her fluffy socks, Bonnie's Christmas present.

She is a great liar, she had to be growing up but now she can't bring herself to lie to Ryan without worrying that he would doubt her trust and loyalty later, maybe this is how he finds it easier to do his upcoming betrayal? Wasn't she protecting him from triggering his traumatic past by telling him hers?

Maybe that is why she didn't sound so convincing on the phone.

"Nansia, I know you're lying, your tone of voice becomes higher when you do, why are you lying? No secrets remember?" Ryan asked her with a stern tone yet the concern was evident. Nansia sighed in defeat…she was backed into a corner

"I am not lying! I just don't want to trigger you, alright!?" Nansia yelled louder than she anticipated.

"Why would it trigger…oh Nansia! What did you see? It's okay, I can handle it." Ryan started saying confused when it dawn on him.

"No…I…I don't want to spoil your trip by regaling you into how many shades of fucked up my childhood was. Forget I said anything." She tried to sound strong but tears well up in her eyes.

"Nansia Gilbert! If any of us had fucked up childhoods is me, hell I never was a child in the first place! So, when you are ready to tell me I'm here. And don't worry about spoiling my trip, it's an absurd notion what you just said!" Ryan softly scolded her and then smiled at the sigh he got from Nansia.

"Look, Ryan, I'm trying to stay on mission…on task…but this is so fucking confusing…how can I be a witch, a werewolf and a Watcher…how can my bio-dad be of this dimension…from where I come from witches don't exist…yes the Wiccan religion does exist but people call witches people who use homeopathic medical practices, not actual Harry Potter witchcraft! Do you guys even have Harry Potter here?" Nansia rambled annoyed and too overwhelmed.

"Wait what? Your bio-dad? A Watcher? What haven't you been telling me, Nansia? And yes we have Harry Potter!" Ryan exclaimed shocked and utterly confused.

"What?" Nansia asked confused.

"What do you mean you are a Watcher and your bio-dad being of this dimension?" Ryan's voice raised in betrayal.

"Shit! Didn't I tell you that?" Nansia asked confused.

"No! How can you be a Watcher…how can you be three species?" Ryan asked her with his tone still angry and betrayed.

Nansia sighed and started to explain Lizzie's research about her bio-dad and how Lizzie had seen him in the bonfire.

"I thought Lizzie send you all she found," Nansia concluded confused.

"Not that part!" Ryan exclaimed still trying to process that.

"Sorry for not telling you…but yeah…so that's that…" She said awkwardly and she waited

"Nansia, Watchers have been for centuries if not more and in my entire existence, I have never come across any of them or heard much about them other than folk stories. Can you tell, Lizzie to send me everything she found? I can talk to my friend Fabian and he might know people or something more, I need to be doing something to help you because it seems you've been shouldering this all alone when it was our job." Ryan said seriously and even more determined to help.

"I gladly do that. Thank you, Ryan…and I'm sorry for keeping things from you I forgot what you knew and what I hadn't told you because I thought that wasn't related to Malivore." Nansia said seriously apologetically and Ryan sighed in acceptance.

"I get it, but for now on everything is shared between us even things that we think might not be relevant. I don't want to brag but I might be able to help you with those things you think are irrelevant or that I might not know. I am older either I like it or not I have more knowledge of the supernatural and I might be able to help." Ryan told her seriously and Nansia hummed in agreement.

Then a knock on the door came and the face of Stefanie picking in from the doorway asked her if she wanted to go back to playing the letters game. That question made Nansia to bid her goodbyes to Ryan and hang up before going to play with Stefanie for a little while longer.

"What food would like to eat today? Do you want to help me cook it?" Nansia asked her after half an hour of playing the letters game and she was getting bored so she decided to ask Stefanie if she wanted to do something else together and the little girl smiled happily and nodded as she stood up.

They decided to head downstairs and see what the fridge had and they decided to make steak with lemon mustard sauce and rice and accompany it with Chef's salad. Nansia handled the steaks and sauces and let Stefanie cut the cheeses and cold cuts after showing her how and giving her the children's knives Elena had shown her they had for Stefanie.

A couple of minutes later Lizzie and Josie with Hope woke up and went to eat the cold breakfast and coffees as they pulled them from the oven as it was written in the sticky notes and they made a thumbs up to Nansia to let her know the meal tasted very good which made Nansia smile happily and proud, maybe a little relieved too.

"How can we help?" Lizzie and Hope whispered at the same time and Nansia smiled.

"Do you know how to separate good rice with bad rice and sand or rocks from the bag?" Nansia wondered and both girls looked confused. Nansia sighed and went to show them by emptying the bag of rice, she and Damon bought.

She remembered how Damon wondered why she needed rice from the organic pile and not the ones ready at the isle a couple of feet away.

She emptied the rice in a platter and showed them; how the good rice is the white or yellow rice and the bad one was the black or with black spots on it.

"Why are you doing this?" Hope asked confused as Lizzie went ahead and started separating the rice.

"Well, growing up the already packaged rice was too expensive for my family and we used these types of rice to make rice. Also, it's fun and gives you a reason to ask for help from your kids and gives you an alternative tool to slowly teach them how to cook basic things or to invite your best friend and over coffee and clean the rice or the green beans. Moreover, we didn't go to supermarkets for rice and fruits or vegetables we had every week an open market in our town where people from local farms, stockbreeders, pastry shops, spicy traders, beekeepers who export honey or honey-based products or candle based products. And many other local organizations, you could also find clothes, bags, jewelry and shoes. Most of my clothes were from these markets and so were my bags. It was very intimate because with time you get to know them and build trust so they give you tips and sometimes keep the good stuff for you. My aunt Helena had built a great trust with some clothes and spicy traders and always gave her the good stuff. It's less expensive and you help small businesses. Most people lived out of their vans because they would travel a certain region and every week would be in a different open market." Nansia explained to them and all of them looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?" Nansia asked confused and with a shy smile.

"I thought you lived in a city." Lizzie said confused and Nansia laughed.

"I lived in a town, went to college in a city. And your definition of a town is a city for us. For example, Atlanta for Greece is considered a city, Mystic Falls is a town but my town for you is a village. You guys, don't have villages as we do…maybe in Texas or Tennessee or Utah…I don't know." Nansia tried to explain but couldn't find the words correctly.

Hope and Lizzie with Stefanie nodded understanding what she meant.

"I want to go to your town, Nansia." Stefanie said excitedly and Nansia smiled.

"Maybe in the future, I might find a way to go back and come back so you can get to meet my sister, my town, and get to see baby pictures of mine." Nansia said smiling at Stefanie who started dancing in her seat.

"Don't dance while you are cutting, Stef!" Lizzie scolded softly at her and Stefanie nodded obeying.

They cooked in silence or with a small talk in between.

"So, favorite Christmas?" Stefanie asked excitedly and the three teens…maybe one adult laughed.

"I'll go first! I love this Christmas, it's my favorite!" Stefanie said smiling excitedly.

"Mine too!" Hope said smiling and pinched Stefanie's cheek and Stefanie giggled.

"I liked this Christmas too, it's like my second best in my list. But my favorite Christmas is when we had in the school before it was a school, I sensed drama between the adults but for my childhood mind I loved the huge tree and the oldies playing in the background and the many presents under it." Lizzie said and Nansia smiled as Lizzie had a dreamy smile and look in her eyes.

"Nansia?" All three girls asked her and she was there fighting to flip the steaks in the pot and said she will answer in a moment.

She finished with the steaks and put the pot aside as she turned the stove off and turned to them.

"My favorite Christmas was my sister's first Christmas as a baby. I almost sat on her once because we opened the double couch and my sister was small and dressed in a white onesie and I sat on her and felt something move under my butt and it was my sister! I instantly took her in my arms and apologized furiously and she was just crying and I rocked her to sleep while watching Christmas cartoons. And then my neighbor's kids, three girls, Rafaela, Constance, and Adrianna and their cousins Kostas, Rania, and her siblings Dimitri and Aggelos came over and we were playing with my sister by making her giggle and laugh. Then we watched movies and ate a bunch of sweets then they left. The next day we went caroling and we played in the snow, I made a snowman and my sister got to touch snow for the first time and she cried in fear but then she was eating it. And then I went to church with grandma and in general, the vibe was so magical and so calm in my mind. Then my second favorite was when my sister was thirteen years old and we set up the tree and we went to my college town and spend the first week together and we did our shopping and then the second week of holidays we watched movies with takeout. And the third favorite is this one." She said with a dreamy smile as she started cutting the lettuce and tomatoes while Hope was just watching Stefanie and helping her cut the cold cuts and cheeses.

"Wait! You sat on your sister?" Lizzie exclaimed flabbergasted and concerned.

"Yeah I did…she's fine…she was fine! I only sat on her for a second!" Nansia exclaimed in defense.

Hope just chuckled while Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief.

"How small was your sister?" Stefanie asked with a giggle and Nansia smiled and showed with her hands.

"That's just like my baby dolls!" Stefanie whispered-exclaimed with pride.

"Yeah, she was three months old when Christmas came." Nansia said smiling fondly at the memory.

"So, at thirteen she came to your college city?" Hope asked intrigued and Nansia nodded.

"It wasn't my college city yet it was just where Aunt Helena had her apartment at then two years later it became my college city." Nansia explained and everyone nodded as they kept cooking.

Then the adults started to wake up at the smell of food and looked so horrified that they slept half of the day off and ate a bit of the breakfast and apologized.

"It's fine, Elena, I know how to cook." Nansia tried to make Elena feel less guilty for not being a good hostess.

"I know you can cook, you proved that many times this past week but I have planned a Christmas meal and had the ingredients and everything!" Elena exclaimed guilty.

"Oh no! Did I use some of your ingredients?" Nansia realized horrified.

"I don't think so…" Elena said deep in thought as both Nansia and Elena went over the ingredient list. Turns out Nansia only used the lemons Elena had reserved and that was easily replaced by a newer patch so there was no big deal. Elena decided to make the Christmas meal the next day instead. And like that, every adult that wasn't Nansia, was kicked out of the kitchen so the kids could finish the lunch meal preparation.

One hour later, Stefanie run into the living room and told them that lunch was ready and everyone filled the dining table as Hope, Lizzie and Josie set the plates before their parents and uncles, and aunts before serving themselves.

"Alexa, play Christmas music!" Stefanie exclaimed happily and Christmas music blurred from the sound system of the house as the residents in it started eating.

It was after lunch when Nansia decided that she wanted to nap a bit when her mind couldn't stop thinking about what her sister would be doing right now, was it Christmas for her too?

Did she have a good time?

And her mind drifted to the last Christmas she had before ending up here:

Flashback:

Nansia was sleeping in her bed in her aunt's apartment in her college city when a girl with bright brown hair that had natural blond highlights in them opened the door of the room and entered it.

"Vasiliki? It's 2 pm, you have to wake up! You promised we would go to the center of the city for shopping in the morning, it's noon and the sun will go down soon!" The girl whined as she tried to shake her big sister awake.

"What?" A sleepy Nansia asked confused her 13 years old sister.

"Wake up!"

"I'm up, Nicolette, I'm up! I'll drink some coffee and we will go, alright?" Nansia said confused while trying to wake up.

Nicolette didn't answer she just stormed out of the room disappointed and angry at her big sister while Nansia felt guilty.

She felt the worst sister in the world and cursed her depression and anxiety for making her stay up all night and sleep all day when she promised fun times to her little sister who as a preteen was less and less inclined to spend time with her.

She got up, took her Hashimoto Thyroids and Osteoarthritis medications, and needed 30 minutes before eating to take them. She went to the bathroom and then made breakfast. Nicolette was watching the Avatar on her laptop while having folded arms across her chest and was glaring at her when Nansia was in her vision area.

Nansia started eating and being on her computer while watching her new tv show episode of the week.

Nicolette grabbed her computer and left the kitchen-living room area and went to their aunt's room where she was sleeping in her visit.

The atmosphere was tense, to say the least, and made Nansia not want to eat and her anxiety spike up.

She cursed as she forced herself to eat only to get up and not have time to do but yell her sister's name before puking on the marble.

Nicolette rushed to see her sister on all fours puking and looked horrified and disgusted as Nansia was sobbing while puking.

Nicolette unfroze and went to the bathroom to bring a mop, a bucket, the kitchen towel, and Detol cleaning and anti-bacterial cleaner.

"Titi, get your clothes off and try to jump over it, get yourself in the bathtub and rinse off with cold water, I had opened the water heater a few minutes ago you might have warm water, I'll clean this up. Go!" Nicolette said in a serious tone.

Nansia did as she was told and apologized to her sister who ignored her and went to work. She came out of the bathroom clean and showered as she watched her sister scrubbing the floor with the mop.

"I'm sorry…I forced myself to eat and this happened." Nansia said quietly and her sister glared at her.

"It's fine…open the water heater again I need to shower and rinse all of this off. You putting laundry on though, not touching any more puke." Nicolette said displeased and with a harsh tone not looking at her sister.

"I said I was sorry!" Nansia yelled after her.

"You always are, Vasiliki! You always promise and you always break your promises! You promised I would see the city in the daylight and the sun is already set and I missed it. And as if it wasn't all that, you are always on your computer and we do nothing together! I came here so you and I can have some quality time! Watch a movie or something! And then you puke.. and I have to pick up after you that was the cherry on top! Now tell me, that we will stay inside because you made this bullshit and because we showered and we need three hours for our pores to close so we won't catch a cold. Just fucking perfect!" Nicolette yelled angrily at her older sister with a tone that showed how fed up she was.

"You're right! I'm a failure! I'm sorry that I invited you here maybe you'd have more fun back home! I'm sorry alright!" Nansia yelled as she felt tears picking up in her eyes. And then she left and went to her room.

"FINE!" Nicolette yelled as she too locked herself in her room.

Nansia was pacing back and forth in her room and regretted her fight and opened her door and knocked on her sister's door and went inside and started to apologize and then suggested they decide to order in.

Nicolette then added that they should watch a movie together of Nicolette's choice, Nansia agreed and a very pleasant evening ensued.

The next day Nansia woke up earlier and they finally got to go out during the day and Nicolette started calling her "the bestest sister ever!" and Nansia was finally happy with herself.

End of Flashback.

Nansia wiped some tears from her eyes and the sight of her teardrop and its glittering from the moonlight that entered her room and another memory surfaced;

Flashback 2:

Nansia was crying because she realized she was gone from her time over a year now and she was declared dead and given upon by her family and now the people she hardly trusted were the only people that might look for her if something bad happen to her.

But she couldn't be sure about that either, she was all alone.

"Nansia!" Bellamy's voice made her quickly compose herself and wipe her tears away as she came out of her assigned room.

"Yes?" She asked confused.

"The bonfire started and everyone is starting to eat the Christmas meal, if you don't come you won't eat for tonight." Bellamy said seriously and Nansia nodded as she started walking and soon found herself forgetting that she was crying while they all sat around this huge fire with small snowflakes falling.

She laughed and ate with them.

It was late at night as Nansia couldn't sleep feeling restless because of the full moon, a very familiar concept for her. Whenever there was a full moon she felt jittery it has shown itself in different ways every month though.

This time of the month was her restless legs.

She got dressed and grabbed a knife and a flashlight she always carried and her gun and decided to go for a walk.

She found herself in a very familiar clearing where it was covered in snow as she felt the cold wind hitting her in her face so much that she couldn't breathe. Instinctively, she raised her palm in a firm stop sign with drawn fingers and draw it closer to her body and suddenly the wind seemed to stop hitting her. She used to do that all the time as a child and never noticed it but now she did and confused she lowered her hand and the wind hit her full force and made her stumble backward a bit.

She repeated the hand movement and the wind stopped hitting her. In a flabbergasting state, she abruptly extended her hand keeping her firm stop sign and suddenly snow from the frozen ground picked up and was thrown a couple of feet away from her. She tried that in all the directions and then shocked she looked at how she was standing in the middle of two Latin Cs drawn together.

Confused she looked around her and then stepped away from it and tried to study what she created. Then looked at the full moon and an idea formed into her mind, when she was younger she used to pretend to have telekinesis by twisting her fingers sideways creating some sort of whirl, and forcefully extending her hand. She wanted to try it. Maybe what she did was a form of telekinesis!

So, she hyped herself up before shaking her hands in order to push her coat's sleeves further upwards, and to her total shock that movement caused snow from the ground to levitate. Shocked she looked at it while keeping her hands; elbows drawn to her ribs, arms turned upwards and palm also upwards and fingers slightly parted.

Slowly she raised them up and the snow copied her movement, she abruptly let her arms down and the snow fell just as abruptly. She then decided to try the move she hyped herself for as she did that a small cyclone of snow and air came closer to her and as it approach it grew bigger and bigger.

"FUCK!" She exclaimed as she quickly let her hand down but the mini cyclone kept coming at her but instead of ducking away from it she stood firm.

"Wave it away child!" A voice whispered in her mind and scared her as she brought her hands in a firm stop sign just like she did with the wind.

But then on an impulse she extended her left arm slowly while holding the stop sign and the cyclone followed her movement by coming back for a few seconds before it went to the left but kept circling and it circled and Nansia could feel the wind getting stronger so she added her right arm behind her left and let a loud scream as she pushed an invisible barrier and the cyclone abruptly went where she commands it and broke a few trees in its wake before stop existing completely.

Nansia breathing hard she slammed on her knees. And touched her snow, her palms were burning hot and red and as she touched the snow she sighed in relief.

She stood up and in her total shock what it was left behind by her weird experiment, snow bending? Was two crescent circles that looked like Latin Cs touching their backs together and the Greek letter R which was the Latin P on top of the crescent circles.

Nansia perplexed walked over to the spot and as she reached it she felt this incredible tingling sensation in her that she felt when she was younger whenever she would touch old family books in her maternal grandpa's library. As she touched the P and the two Cs she felt the ground hot which made her pull back instantly too afraid.

She looked around her and then decided she had enough exploring for tonight and tried to wipe it off by adding chunks of snow on it but whenever she would turn to grab more snow to add the sign would be clear like no snow was placed upon it.

Too tired to even think that it's weird since suddenly she felt heavy and super tired decided to let it and walked back to the campsite and before entering the grounds she looked at the moon one more time before she sighed and entered the campsite and soon her sleeping courters.

She undressed in an auto-pilot and quickly fell on her bed before sleep took her over.

She was awakened by Raven and Octavia shaking her.

"WHAT?!" She exclaimed annoyed and tired.

"You missed breakfast…" Raven started saying

"And Bellamy is looking for you to go hunting with the rest of the group." Octavia added a little too accusatory.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep last night…must have been too much food. I'll be right out." She said as she stood up and Raven handed her a plate of eggs with two protein bars.

"I ate your oatmeal portion because you don't like oatmeal." Raven added a little self-conscious.

"Thanks. And it's fine how the hell are you guys eating that shit…sorry oatmeal." She whined as she got dressed.

She quickly ate the eggs and then grabbed the bars and took a huge bite out of them while running to get to Bellamy. As Bellamy was impatiently waiting for her. She apologized three times but Bellamy was annoyed and cold towards her, not that they were close but he was friendlier towards her on normal days.

Ha! Normal days! What Nansia was living was normal!

She was holding her weapon and munching on the last bite of her second bar when they passed from the clearing she spend the night in. Chills went over her and she stopped and looked at the sign she had made with her newly found powers, she didn't notice that Murphy and Jasper Jordan with Monty Green and Harper McIntyre stood by her side and watched at the clearing and her. Murphy had a terrified look and Harper with Jasper and Monty were confused.

"How did that happen? Yesterday the clearing was covered in snow." Harper said confused and deep in thoughts.

Nansia's eyes were glued and her face was unreadable.

"Guys! Come on! What's wrong with you, people!" Bellamy scolded them and all of them unstuck themselves and shook their heads before moving on. Nansia remained behind for a bit before hurrying to catch up.

The hunt had gone well and they returned to the campsite triumphantly when Harper and Monty grabbed her by the arm and into the Bridge where Raven and Jasper were.

"I'm pretty sure this is how it was, Raven." Jasper said as he handed the notepad back to Raven who accessed the archive files.

"What's going on?" Nansia asked confused as she looked at them and the room around her.

"So, you know how we were looking at that sign in the clearing and how odd it felt? I was sure I've seen it before! So, my mum worked with this man that used to always draw the same symbol and when she asked him what it meant he smiled and with sadness told her it was a family crest of a very old family, his family's family crest and had to be around 100 years old if not more. My mum thought this man might have been from those royal families we read in the history books and had asked a Guard if they could figure out what the sign meant. The next day that man was arrested and floated. My mum blamed herself for it and rightly so. Maybe we could find the remainder of his family and could somehow let them know how he survived?" Harper explained as her eyes lit up with hopefulness.

"Um…" Nansia was at a loss for words before Raven exclaimed she found it.

"That was indeed a family crest of a family call Andonoglou last used in the end of 1931. It was found carved in a baby blanket that was found on the battlefield in a Greek town called Giannitsa at the end of World War II and was held by a dead soldier under the name…" Raven started reading.

"Chistophoros Andonoglou, son of Dimitri Andonoglou and Fedra Dioudi. Older brother to Athanasios Andonoglou, Vasiliki Andonoglou, Helena Andonoglou and Michael Andonoglou." Nansia finished for Raven with tears in her eyes.

"Yes…how did you?" Raven asked shocked.

"He was my grand-uncle. My maternal grandpa's older brother. After that my grandpa and all his siblings decided to change their names because of how much grief and death their name had and all needed a fresh start, so they changed it to Andoniadou and we all know how that went. I'm sorry!" Nansia said with tears in her eyes as she held a sob back for as long as she could before rushing out of the Bridge leaving her friends looking worried after her.

Nansia found herself outside before she started to sob and covered her mouth with her hands tight as to not alert all the other hardworking people surrounding her when suddenly she felt the overwhelming urge to puke.

She double over and vomited.

"Are you okay?" Murphy asked worried as he rushed to hold her hair back as she kept puking.

She then slammed to the side of their building and looked at the sky and didn't acknowledge Murphy until he was blocking her vision with his body.

"I said are you okay?" Murphy asked again and Nansia shook her head no.

"You know I'm an unwanted child right? Well, Raven and the others have been helping me find my family or better yet my ancestors, I just got some bad news." Nansia semi lied and Murphy nodded not knowing what to say.

"That's in the past, you should focus on the present…it's already bad why to burden yourself with the bad of the past?" Murphy asked her seriously and with a softer tone.

"Because sometimes it feels….it feels like I'm tied to the past…like I don't belong here." She said hesitantly.

"Bullshit! You are one of the 100 and yes you don't belong but guess what? None of us did up there and now we have a chance to belong, so focus on that." Murphy exclaimed encouragingly and Nansia stared at him.

"I don't understand why people don't like you, you are kind." Nansia mused and Murphy rolled his eyes.

"I'm not kind. Now, stop mopping and get your chores done, or else the Princess and the Soldier will give us an earful…" Murphy said as he gently nudge her shoulder and she smiled as she felt a lot better now.

He then left her to go finish his rounds and Nansia returned to the Bridge where she apologized for her behavior and she was hugged by everyone and Raven erased the search results and all went back to work.

"Can't wait for New Years'!" Harper sighed as she went back to making rounds.

"Not like it's gonna change anything!" Nansia yelled behind her with a burst of cynical laughter and Harper copied that before rejoining her fellow guards.

End of Flashback:

Nansia jumped from her bed and quickly drew the same symbol from her memory and decided to show it to Bonnie and Elena even Alaric, they know something since apparently during that full moon she used her magic for the first time.

She then grabbed the paper and walked to the living room to see Damon and Elena with Alaric watching a movie and she cleared her throat to make her presence known.

"What's up, Nansia?" Damon asked concerned and looked at the clock it was 2 am.

"I had another flashback while I was trying to sleep of my first Christmas in 2149 and I remembered it fell on a full moon and I was restless, probably my wolf reacting to the full moon, when I went to a very oddly familiar field and apparently I used my magic for the first time and subconsciously drew this. Now, I've seen that symbol before when I was younger and grandma used to tell me stories of grandpa's family during the Second World War, it was stitched on my granduncle's baby blanket that he got with him on the battlefield as a good luck charm. It belonged to my granduncle Chistophoros Andonoglou, son of Dimitri Andonoglou prior named Dimitri Andonov also my great-grandpa and Fedra Dioudi. Older brother to Athanasios Andonoglou also known as my grandpa, Vasiliki Andonoglou my grandaunt, Helena Andonoglou my other grandaunt, and Michael Andonoglou my other granduncle. Also oldest grandson of Thalia Andonov. My friend Harper had this story that her mum saw that symbol. The story goes as such her mum worked with this man that used to always draw the same symbol and when she asked him what it meant he smiled and with sadness told her it was a family crest of a very old family, his family's family crest and had to be around 100 years old if not more. Her mum thought this man might have been from those royal families they read in the history books and had asked a Guard if they could figure out what the sign meant. The next day this man was arrested and floated. Her mum blamed herself for it and rightly so. When Harper saw that symbol she thought that we could find the remainder of his family and could somehow let them know that part of their family had survived the nuclear apocalypse and lived on the Ark." Nansia explained a little hesitant yet confused tone throughout her explanation.

She let the paper on the cocktail table and Alaric, Damon, and Elena studied it before Elena gasped and stood up.

"That's the Petrova family crest, Katherine showed it to me years ago when we had her trapped in the tomb! That's incredible!" Elena exclaimed in amazement and Nansia looked hopeful.

"That's amazing, Nansia! That can help us stir to the right direction to look for answers now which means that you are indeed part of the Petrova bloodline!" Alaric said amazed and hugged Nansia who let a relieved laugh.

"I'm so sorry for your granduncle, Nansia, and the other man that was floated as you said, he must have been a descended of yours or your sister's." Damon said as he hugged her too and Nansia smiled sadly.

"Thanks, so tomorrow can we try to contact the ancestors again?" Nansia asked excitedly and Elena chuckled and nodded before she hugged her goodnight and Nansia rushed upstairs and towards Bonnie's room wanting to tell her the news.

Bonnie was in her room watching a video of a fellow witch and a dear friend of her sent her from Botswana and the school for young witches she and Bonnie helped other witches in the area build during her time exploring the continent of Africa. She spent six years traveling from village to village hearing and learning stories about different types of magic and witchcraft she even met some of her mum's and dad's family that had cut contact with her branch of the family years ago in South Africa in a small coastal town called Pringle Bay in Western Cape near Cape Town around 85 Km away.

When she heard a firm yet soft knock on the door, she glanced at the top of her screen and it showed 2:15 am, that was a little too late for her to be awake but she said coming in. Nansia walked inside holding a paper.

"Shouldn't you be asleep, miss Nansia?" Bonnie asked the young girl with a small yet firm tone of accusation.

"I tried but I couldn't because I was reminiscing back to my last Christmas and my first Christmas in 2149 when I remembered something useful." Nansia said as she was about to start explaining to Bonnie what she had just explained to the others fifteen minutes ago when Bonnie interrupted her;

"I try not…go on" Bonnie said smiling sadly because her comment made her Nansia wince.

"I know, Penelope Park said something…sorry if what I said triggered you." She said sadly as she sat on top of Bonnie's bed and she started explaining about the symbol.

By the end, Bonnie was studying the symbol and had her eyebrows furrowed.

"We should definitely try to contact your ancestors tomorrow and ask them about this symbol and you did great remembering this! I'm proud of you! Now off to bed so you can be well-rested for tomorrow!" Bonnie said with pride and amazement in her tone before she hugged Nansia briefly and Nansia nodded smiling proudly as she left her room.

Bonnie shook her head and sighed, this was getting too complicated…

Bonnie went to bed with her mind buzzing.

The next day she woke up and as she drank some coffee and ate Damon's pancakes remembering to the four months of being in the prison world and at the same time trying to forget them when Nansia and the twins with Hope came down and enthusiastically started talking about some post on Instagram about a movie.

Then once breakfast was done Bonnie and Nansia went to get warmly dressed since the weather was cold and Jeremy started the fire in the backyard so when they would meditate it would be a little less cold.

In twenty minutes both witches were trying to meditate while holding hands, Nansia did as Bonnie instructed her. Slow breathing open mind.

Astral Plane:

Nansia was now closer to the house she'd seen the other times they tried and she sees her grandma. She runs up to her and hugs her with fresh tears in her eyes.

"Yiayia (Grandma in Greek)! I missed you!" Nansia said in Greek and the woman hugged her tight.

"Where's grandpa?" She asked in Greek again and soon her grandpa appeared and hugged him tightly.

"Hello, Big Old Brain!" Her grandpa teased her and she smiled.

"You know why I'm here right?" She said and her maternal grandparents nodded as they guided her inside the house where she saw all her ancestors from her maternal grandpa's side of the family and of her grandma's side of the family. They were all sitting in peace doing their thing, knitting, talking amongst themselves, cooking, eating, reading a newspaper, rocking in a chair, napping.

"Everyone, our granddaughter is here!" Grandpa Thanasis said proudly and everyone turned to meet her they all swarmed around her hugging her and saying how they were waiting for her. She saw great-grandma Maria too, her grandma's mum.

"It's so nice to see you!" Nansia said awkwardly because suddenly a lot of people, spirits, were surrounding her.

"What do you want little granddaughter?" Chistophoros Andonoglou asked in a little condescending tone as he was interrupted from his nap…or whatever was the spiritual equivalent of a nap.

"I need to figure out what is going on with our family tree what is going on? How does our magic work and why doesn't Elena Gilbert had had power like the rest of us?" Nansia asked confused and uncomfortable.

"Because genes can pass an entire generation." Her own grandpa said with a kind tone as he stood closer to the granddaughter he never got to meet when he was alive.

"Alright, but what else should I be aware of the Petrova bloodline? Any enemies?" Nansia asked worried and a little distrustful.

"Here's what you need." Thalia said smiling kindly to her great-great-granddaughter as she came forward after hearing Nansia's worried and had the answers.

Nansia smiled as she grasped a book and suddenly as she opened it her mind buzzed, her eyes squirmed and white light came from the book.

She gasped back to Elena's backyard:

End of Astral Plane:

Nansia jumped to her feet scaring Bonnie and Jeremy as she looked around her.

"I need the book!" She exclaimed and rushed inside to find Alaric who was watching some car racing with Damon and asked him for the book again.

"What book?" Alaric asked confused.

"The Petrova bloodline book!" Nansia exclaimed and suddenly Caroline was next to her holding the book, she vampire sped upstairs and took it.

Nansia grasped it and quickly turn to the last page and touched it, suddenly more pages materialized and letters were coming out of her hand like she was printing them herself. Everyone gathered to see what was going on and were in awe while Nansia was groaning since her mind and body were working overtime.

"This is all the ancestors gave me. Apparently, Thalia is my great-great-grandma. When Klaus killed her husband named Gregory Xalkias of the Macedon Arcadia pack, pack mates, sisters, brothers, and coven she opened a portal while holding my great grandpa in her arms and being terrified, and from 1555 of your dimension to 1899 my dimension in Eksmil, Gallipoli in Eastern Thrace. Not even close to where she had been, she was closer to where is nowadays Bulgaria and ended up to a nowadays European Turkey and Eksmil in my dimension is a NATO army base, my cousin was stationed there after the Kosovo war and the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014, killing 3.500 casualties of civilians by 2018. So, Thalia remained in the woods not liking how much society had changed but she pushed Dimitri to join the society by sending him to school etcetera and he did."

"You see, Thalia would open a portal in 1555 that led them from Earth 4 to Earth-Prime in 1899 in a village called Eksmil in Gallipoli in Eastern Thrace. Dimitri was a two years old child at the time of Klaus' attack. There Dimitri grew up and in the 1910s and Thalia had managed to change their name to Andonoglou to blend in, and during the 1st and 2nd Balkan Wars he was 12 and 13 years old and a kid soldier and he also fought in the first world was as a 14 years old soldier. By the time the First World War ended he was 18 years old and had met a nurse and fell in love with her. That nurse was his neighbor in Eksmil and she had lost most of her family during the 1910 genocide in Eksmil. Thalia had managed to find safety at a small village in Pella, in Central Macedonia and when Dimitri in 1918 they reunited he brought his girlfriend and her mother and sister, who were the only survivors of the genocide too and they lived in the same house. In 1919, Dimitri proposed to Fedra Dioudi and when they got married they became to Dimitri and Fedra Andonoglou."

"According to Dimitri only 100 families managed to escape and only 15 descendants of these families are alive now including me and my sister. NATO tried to bury this genocide just like they did with the Armenians and many others just because there aren't people to testify and demand for an apology. My family never spoke about this they threw around that we were from Eastern Thrace and nothing more specific! I bet my mum and aunt have no idea what their grandpa had to endure!" Nansia rambled with concern and in a state of disturbed disbelief and horror as Damon and Alaric along with others watched her mirroring her reaction but for different reasons.

They couldn't believe how many shades of fucked up was Nansia's dimension!

"What do you mean of the Russo-Ukrainian war?" Lizzie asked afraid and Nansia looked at her with a haunted look in her eyes before she sighed and wiped some tears from her eyes and looked at Caroline for confirmation.

"Should I open this can of worms? Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, Alaric, Damon, Elena, Hope what I'm about to say next might not be kid-friendly." Nansia said unsure as she looked at the adults and Hope.

"We hunt monsters on the daily, we can handle it, Nansia!" Josie protested as the adults watched Nansia with fear in their eyes but no words came out.

"So?" Lizzie pressed and Nansia looked at the adults for any confirmation and Alaric nodded to her and she sat on the couch as she held the Petrova book in her lap squeezing it while the rest took their seats in the living room holding their kids in their arms.

"By the time I left and appear here it was a year that the war was renewed after 2014 and 2016 and now there were nuclear weapons being deployed to Crimea. Ukraine is 7% occupied now and because of the nuclear threat in 2018 NATO called for the emergency army. I remember back in 2014 I was cleaning the kitchen when dad came in and talked to me about the potential of him being deployed in the borders and what to do to protect our families, like underground bunkers and weapons hidden around the town and house. He kept training us every day, me and my sister sparring in order to protect our mum. He started training us when were four years old each. Then my cousins were deployed first, Andreas and Themios, then it was my uncles Chris, Thanasis, Thomas, and Theodoros. My dad wasn't deployed yet so we thought we were safe, during the summer of 2018 we took a family trip to my old hometown to see some family friends when Andrea, Rafaela, and Constance with their cousins Rania and Kostas were all hanging at a park drinking and swinging from the swings while we were discussing the war and the immigration crisis happening from immigrants coming from the Syrian war. I was sober watching my sister who was sliding in the slides while sipping ice tea. When Andrea took a swing of her beer and said that she predicted cynically that by the end of this month we will be in full warzone when all our phones rang and the sirens of the war signaled. There was a nationwide emergency lockdown. We ran back to Miss Nettis' home, Andrea's, Rafaela's and Constance's mum and Rania's and Kostas' aunt and my family's friend confused and scared. We arrived and there was utter chaos as my dad grabbed me and pulled me aside saying he was deployed along with my friends' dads and Kostas. Kostas was crying terrified, he was 19 years old. We hugged him and wished him strength and goodbye. We remained in Nettis' house for a week the in-between cities borders were closed we couldn't go anywhere and my mum was and is disabled and she can't drive. Netti doesn't know how to drive. It was during Sunday of the same week I was returning from the store has gone out to buy my mum's medicine and some bread when I saw Kostas and I run to ask what happened, he had blood all over him and I saw his uncles and aunt, they were living in Crimea as immigrants for a decade moving back in 2008. Kostas defected to be able to save civilians by helping them immigrate and cross our borders. My old primary school was now a shelter full of people like Kostas' uncles and aunt and his little cousins. Then there was an order to cease fire so civilians of not Ukrainian or Russian descent to safely leave. Many Ukrainians and Russians tried to sneak away and succeeded but many others didn't." Nansia finished with a sad look in her eyes as she stared at the carpet and her knuckles were squeezing the book as scenes played in her mind.

"It wasn't unusual for me having been in 2149 already but I was too terrified knowing what would become of this war…it was the beginning of the end. When my cousin Andreas came back because he was wounded his mind never recovered. My uncle Thomas died leaving his twin, Uncle Christophoros alone holding his body while dragging out of the crossfire. Kostas was also killed, I never saw him again after he brought his uncles and aunts. I was so close to joining too but dad came back now partly deaf from one ear and shot in the leg. I wanted to join but my dad and mum forbid me saying my duty was to finish school. Then my grandma died two days after my 18th birthday the same year, then my grand-aunt Vicky died and I was in Italy at the time, I crumbled, in a year I lost my grandma, my uncle, my friend, and my grand-aunt, my internet best friend who died two years prior and never had the time to grieve her death, my friend Polly's death that died a year prior due to the earthquake I told you about. It was too much I tried to kill myself but I failed. I couldn't handle another war when suddenly as I returned from Italy I'm sleeping trying to get over my jet lack when my sister rushed into my room yelling that the war was over and that Crimea was now Switzerland and it belong to both Ukraine and Russia and that the army was coming back! The next day I saw from my grandma's balcony that was the entrance point for my town military vehicles coming, they were cheering and music, people reuniting and people mourning their dead. A year later it was like it never happened. It was so odd! Then I came here." Nansia finished with tears in her eyes as she refused to look anyone in the eyes too afraid to see their disgust and horror.

She felt small hands hugging her and she saw Stefanie hugging her and then Lizzie and Hope with Josie were hugging her. Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie were wiping tears from their eyes. Damon was still processing while Jeremy was shaking his head and Alaric was just blinking at loss and amazement at how much Nansia had endured.

Caroline's opinion for Nansia had shifted to not only fearing for her kids but also fearing for Nansia, what else would she have to endure if she returned to her dimension? Here she was a little safer than there and she had a supportive family and supernatural friends that could protect her if the case appeared and most of all she could use her magic to defend herself and be justified but back there; it wouldn't make sense why she could use her magic and werewolf strength.

"What confuses me is how not my uncles or cousins had triggered their werewolf gene since we came from the same branch, from Thalia's and Dimitri's branch and I killed too during 2149, and yet I haven't experienced a full moon all those years I was there and months I was here. And I killed you, Caroline, and still nothing, I didn't feel the pain that Hope said I would feel when it's triggered yet I possess its healing and hearing…why?" Nansia asked a little confused as she allowed herself to be hugged as she looked at the book and her voice woke Caroline from her musing.

"Maybe you should ask your ancestors." Bonnie suggested quietly still trying to process what has happened already and it wasn't even noon yet!

Nansia went through the book once Bonnie suggested the ancestors and she looked confused.

"That's odd…it says here that if there's not enough magic in a dimension or astral plane some things get dampened…does that mean that because there was no magic in my dimension all those kills didn't count? But I used my magic…the symbol in the clearing and me manipulating the wind as a kid…" Nansia said confused and Hope looked at the words.

"Maybe you should kill someone who human in this dimension to trigger your werewolf in full strength….as for you using magic my idea is that your world has magic but it's not that strong enough and the magic you did use was the little you were able to channel." Hope said unsure if her theory made sense.

"It could be that." Alaric said with a deeply concerned tone.

"Oh, great…so for now I'm just a witch?" Nansia asked confused.

"No, since you have some traits you are a Wolfblood witch." Bonnie said smiling at Nansia who laughed at the title.

"There was a TV show I watched as a kid called Wolfblood, it had to do with werewolves of all things…the irony…" Nansia said chuckling and everyone chuckled too seeing the irony and suddenly the mood was fixed slightly.

Damon was still studying Nansia and will be for the rest of the day.

Once this depressing conversation ended Elena suggested they play a game and Stefanie exclaimed that should play the Word game Nansia taught her and they were intrigued. Nansia went on to explain the game once more before everyone played this game for a good three hours before they ended the alphabet twice over.

They had a lunch that Elena cooked with Nansia's and Hope's help, the same meal she had planned for the previous day. After a relatively cheerful lunch, while they watched a Christmas movie, they napped a bit.

In the afternoon, Hope was to speak with Kol and Davina via video chat so she left and Nansia suggested if Josie and Lizzie with Stefanie they could go for a walk in the stores, and Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline jumped at that suggestion saying it to wait for Hope to finish and to make it a girls' thing.

Hope was done two hours later and an hour later every girl was ready and in the car heading for downtown Atlanta. The adults sat in a café and allowed the girls to go look to the stores in the vicinity of the café and be back since they were still grounded.

"So? Nansia…oomph! Poor girl! What are your thoughts?" Caroline suggested in a concerning lost tone.

"She needs stability and serious therapy." Bonnie said concern yet held a tone of respect.

"I just want to hug her and keep her close and away from any worse. I thought we went through shit growing up in Mystic Falls but damn this girl! And knowing that her sister is back there and is just three years older than my Stefanie it activates my inner helicopter mum, I just want to protect them both!" Elena said with a concerned and terrified tone as she sipped her cappuccino.

"I forgot she had a younger sister! Poor girl! She must miss her now more than ever!" Caroline exclaimed in a similar tone as Elena as she sipped her rum-infused hot chocolate.

"I want her to study more magic and then try to open a portal and bring her sister here, away from their mother, even if she's not like Nansia, here she can start fresh and peacefully." Bonnie said in a wistful tone as she sipped her lavender chamomile tea.

"Caroline, I know that you don't like Nansia that much, but your girls seem to like her…what are your thoughts on that?" Elena asked her childhood best friend and now sister-in-law even though Stefan was dead she was his wife making her, her sister-in-law and everything they went through made them sisters, and the same applied with Bonnie.

"Honestly, I don't feel safe around her and I'm constantly worrying about my girls when they're around her and I bet my mum and Bonnie's Grams felt the same when we were around you and Stefan and Damon, it's the price of raising supernatural kiddos. I need time to adjust to what Nansia means…like other dimensions and that there's still far more of Katherine Pierce spawns walking our earth and apparently other earths…I need time but she's just the type of person that needs mine and Ric's school more than anything. She had the potential to be just as bad as Alyssa Chang and I'm surprised she hasn't gone nuclear yet." Caroline said truthfully with hints of worry and understanding for their parents.

Elena and Bonnie chuckled at the mention of the worry Liz Forbes and Sheila Bennett were under at the beginning of their escapades and raised their drinks in a silent salute to the long deceased.

"You know this is a Viking salute?" Hope's voice made them jump and look at the young Mikaelson and Bonnie nodded.

"I did. Where are the girls?" Bonnie said confused.

"Oh, at the bookstore right there, there's an Irish poetry reading and Nansia is stuck like glue there. I came to give you this, can someone put it in their bag, it's a surprise. Uncle Kol told me that Eastern Orthodox people name their kids after their Saints and the grandparents which means that Nansia's name day is on New Years so I, Josie and Lizzie put our money and bought her this. And I need to hide it." Hope said as she showed them a red faux velvet box and Bonnie open it revealing four identical charm bracelets.

"Those are beautiful, Hope!" Bonnie exclaimed and she smiled.

"I hope she likes hers, the other three are for me, Jo and Lizzie like a friendship bracelet." Hope said excitedly and quickly as she glanced at the bookstore trying to see if the girls were coming out.

"That's such a great thought, I'm sure she would love it!" Elena said smiling happily at Hope who was trying to make friends and curve her place in the school.

Caroline was just smiling what she wanted to say was already said by Bonnie and Elena but she was truly happy that Hope was trying to make friends, she had seen her struggle with her parents and Uncle Elijah's deaths and her aunt Felicity being away so often and not being able to travel so often in New Orleans or San Francisco or California.

In New Orleans were her aunt Freya and Keelin, in San Francisco there were Kol and Davina and in California were Marcel and Rebekah.

"Yeah, I have a spacious bag, I'll carry the precious cargo." Elena said as she smiled amused and stored the gift in her bag and Hope nodded as she rushed out of the store and back at the bookstore.

After that the girly trio started discussing more their personal lives and tried to pry more out of Bonnie for her time away and traveling the world but Bonnie was tight-lipped about this which made the other two girls more curious.

The teens and pre-teens spent hours walking around the shops' window shopping, being kids before they entered a bookstore, and Stefanie with Nansia went to the fantasy section leaving the twins and Hope alone. When Hope turned to the twins and told them about the information her uncle Kol gave her about name days and they discussed present ideas before both girls saw from the window outside the bookstore the jewelry store and they rushed quickly asking for friendship bracelets and they chose four and summed their money up and bought the cheapest yet beautiful looking ones.

Nansia found them with Stefanie and told them about a poetry presentation and wanting to stay for a bit so the girls sat and listened along with others when Hope pretended to go to let the adults know where they were and rushed to give Elena the gift.

It was when she entered the bookstore again saw Nansia telling her that she saw there's a festival happening and it happened to have her favorite band playing which shocked her that they existed here too.

So, all four of them went to the adults after three hours of listening to poetry and getting extremely bored especially Stefanie, they went to ask permission to go and they were told no. They pleaded and then Elena called Jeremy letting him know of the festival and ask if he wanted to go since he too loved the same band as Nansia. He was unaware of it and jumped at the opportunity.

Thirty minutes later Jeremy and Damon walked into the café and got the kids with them to the festival.

"I had no idea that Kaleo existed here too! My aunt Helena and I went to a concert of theirs my first year of college during the pre-Christmas holidays in 2018, it was a terrible year yet this was the only good thing I remember of 2018." Nansia said smiling super wide that her cheeks hurt and Jeremy held her in his arms like a hug as they listened to the band playing.

Stefanie was jumping to the music of Hot Blood by Kaleo with Lizzie while Josie and Hope were doing air guitars laughing.

Then Glass House started playing and Nansia wiggled out of Jeremy's arms and started dancing with Lizzie and Stefanie and Nansia picked up Stefanie and flipped her like dancers in the 1920s did their partners which surprised Damon and cheered them while Stefanie excited asked to repeat it and she did. Hope and Josie were also dancing while Jeremy sang the lyrics along as he shook his head enjoying himself.

Alaric was in the house working on some school-related things and he appreciated the silence.

A woman approached Damon and Jeremy and asked if the kids were theirs and both men said yes and the woman exclaimed how it was nice seeing two dads bringing their kids to festivals which made Nansia and Hope burst out laughing while dancing.

"Oh! No! That one is mine and the two of them are my best friends' kids and he's my brother in law and this is his daughter." Damon explained laughing as he pointed the kids and the kids waved at the woman while they danced.

The woman laughed embarrassed at her assumption and wished them great Christmas and joined her friend group again. Jeremy and Damon chuckled as they shook their heads.

The kids were still laughing as they swayed to the music.

It was around 10 pm they joined the girls at the café exhausted and having purchased takeout.

The girls laughed at the mention of them being confused as gay dads bring their kids to a concert and then asked if they could take the kids home so they can continue their girls night out at a bar and like that they found themselves back home exhausted and half asleep eating their takeout before they slammed on their beds sleeping taking them instantly.

It was 12 am when Elena returned with Caroline driving them home and she whispered to Damon that she loved him before she fell asleep.

It was the next day when Elena woke up to the smell of pancakes and with a nursing hangover, she stumbled downstairs to see the whole family up and eating in front of the tv.

"Mum! Lizzie and Nansia made chocolate chip pancakes!" Stefanie exclaimed happily in a whisper not to bother her mum's headache, her dad had warned her about as she handed her portion of the pancakes and Damon handed her water and painkillers. Elena smiled in thanks as she accepted her family's kind gesture.

Earlier that morning Nansia was awakened by Lizzie asking if she would help her surprise the adults with breakfast as an apology for souring the atmosphere with her fight with Caroline to which Nansia said yes.

As they were drinking their coffee before starting Nansia asked Lizzie why she didn't send everything about Colin and the Watchers to Ryan.

"I thought it was something kept between the four of us, a mystery to solve by ourselves and I didn't think it concerned him if I'm being honest." Lizzie said with a calm tone and a shrug. Nansia nodded seeing her point.

"Understandable but I told him and he said to ask him if we have any questions, he's older and has been around longer he might be able to help. I hope you don't mind." Nansia said hesitantly and Lizzie shook her head no.

"His help would be much appreciated because I haven't found anything else and I feel we are missing something." Lizzie said with a normal and kind tone. Nansia let a relief flood her mind at Lizzie's reaction.

"But for now, Malivore is the priority." Nansia said in a serious tone and Lizzie nodded.

"Well, now it's mission pancakes!" Lizzie said as she waved her spatula and Nansia laughed and mocked a salute to her and marched to the fridge and Lizzie opened her phone looking for the recipe.

Then they started cooking when Nansia asked if they had this DJ called Kygo and Lizzie said that they had and he was a big thing during the early 2020s as she put on the song First Time by Kygo and Ellie Goulding and Nansia closed her eyes in appreciation.

They started debating about music and Nansia was relieved to figure out that the music was exactly the same as back home with a few extra songs she didn't know because they hadn't come out yet for her dimension. They continued listening to Kygo throughout their cooking in a low volume not to wake anyone up before they were done.

Caroline found them first as she poured some blood in her mug and asked if she could take over the washing as she noticed the bowls piling up and the girls nodded okay as she started washing.

Back to the present; Elena was eating as she tried to feel better.

"I suggest since all of us are still tired from last night that we go out for lunch and catch a movie." Bonnie suggested after they finished their breakfast and everyone sat on their phones or laptops.

"No! Let's order in!" Elena whined as she curled against her husband and Josie second that as she rubbed her head since she had a headache from the festival just like Jeremy.

Alaric was smirking and he said that he take over making the order as long as everyone wrote done what they wanted and agreed on a store.

An hour later after a hard debate, they agreed on pizza.

Then they were off to nap the headaches away.

In Prague, Ryan was enjoying his time with Fabian but he wanted to see Nansia, so much had happened in so little time with her and he felt he should be there supporting her somehow. So he had one last day with his dear friend before he flew to Atlanta.

He checked Nansia's Instagram stories and got the address of the Salvatore Household. He was nervous about doing this but he needed to speak with Nansia. He needed to tell her that there's no way to save him from his dad and he must somehow finish the mission his father gave him….and that he will have to die.

He couldn't do it over the phone or text. He owed her that much!

A figure that looked oddly familiar yet alien stopped outside the Salvatore household and knocked on the door and be greeted by none other than Hope.

"Ryan!" Hope exclaimed shocked as she opened the door.

"Hope? Who is it?" Elena's voice was heard from inside the house.

"Um…a friend of Nansia!" Hope said uncomfortably as she glared at him distrustfully. Nansia then appeared at the door in shock as she looked at Ryan who smiled at her.

"Can we talk?" Ryan asked her nervously and Nansia nodded before she grabbed her jacket and phone and stepped outside while Hope let the others know that Nansia is talking with her friend outside.

"What friend?" Damon asked suspiciously as he stood up and Jeremy with Alaric copied him but then Lizzie and Hope stepped in front of them.

"It's a boy friend and it's from school…they have things to talk about!" Lizzie quickly added nervously.

"You mean Jed is here? Because that's the only boy I've seen Nansia talk to besides MG and Landon and maybe Rafael." Alaric said challengingly and Hope exclaimed yes and then the three adult men ohed realizing that the context of the conversation might be romantic and smirked as they sat back down.

"And for the record, mum you shouldn't eavesdrop!" Josie pointed out once she noticed how Alaric eyed Caroline.

Hope texted Nansia warning her of Caroline eavesdropping and to walk the block to talk in peace and received a thanks from Nansia.

Nansia warned Ryan and they started walking the block.

"So, I asked my friend Fabian about a spell that could help us sire a golem…there's no such spell…not without Malivore making one. The only way for me to be free of my father is finishing the mission and dying….being killed by being dropped into Malivore or finding a way to kill me permanently. There's no way around it, Nansia. I'm never getting free of him." Ryan said with a hopeless tone.

Nansia was watching him shocked and grasped his hand.

"No! There must be a way!" Nansia insisted as she had seen their future! He couldn't die! They were meant to fall in love and have kids!

"There isn't that is why I have to betray you and my brother…I'm willing to be a double agent and help ease the defeat of the monsters and TRIAD's attacks but I don't know long I'll be able to keep this up." Ryan said hopelessly as he held her hands in his and then cupped her face titling upwards. His eyes searched for hers and the emotions of panic, fear, and disbelief along with longing in them assured his feelings for Nansia, he loved her and she felt something for him too. The tension wasn't only in his head and that made him so happy.

"We keep looking because I refuse to accept defeat and you shouldn't either! The girls and I will find a spell for cloning and we will clone you and trick your father!" Nansia said desperately as she held his hands that held her face in his.

"No, then this clone won't be me, Nansia! I want to be me! Besides, I deserve it after everything I've done! I lived so many years I think it's time." Ryan said in sadness as he rested his forehead on hers.

Nansia then pushed him off her and exclaim no.

"Ryan, we will find a way! I refuse to accept defeat! You deserve more! You deserve so much more! Don't let him win once again!" Nansia yelled at him as tears welled up in her eyes.

"He always wins, Nansia!" Ryan exclaimed in defeat.

"NO! He doesn't! I've seen the future, Ryan, and so have you! You told me! He wasn't….you weren't lying! We are meant to save you and then we meet after years at Hope's and Landon's party and we fall in love and we move to Vancouver and I'm a teacher there and then we have four kids! You showed me that! Even Thalia knows that! How can we have that when he always wins? Did you lie…did he lie?" Nansia started yelling angrily as tears run down her eyes. Ryan froze hearing this. They had all that…he told her? When?

"What? When? How do you know?" Ryan mumbled shocked as tears run down his eyes. His heart was beating fast enough he thought the neighborhood could hear it!

"You did! You told me about us!" Nansia exclaimed in a desperate tone as she reached for his hand but Ryan moved away from her but Nansia held his hand and closed her eye willing her mind to open and show him.

Ryan felt his eyelids heavy and as they involuntarily closed he saw the scenes. He was in disbelief and betrayal…she was helping him because of the future version of him and not because of his current him! She loved the future version not this version of him!

Essentially she didn't love him but a different version of him! That broke him!

He yanked his hand away from her grasp and with angry tears running down his eyes he looked at her with a betrayed face.

"You lied to me for what you wanted from this! You wanted him! Not me! Just like everyone else! I trusted you, Nansia! I thought you were helping me for me not for some future version! I thought we said yesterday, no secrets! How could you?!" Ryan exclaimed angrily at her as he shook his head and left her as she sobbed begging him to listen to her. He shook his head and left her.

"I wasn't helping you because of the future version of you! I was helping you because of you! Ryan!" Nansia yelled after him crying. He ignored her.

Nansia fell to her knees and started punching the pavement grass calling herself stupid for thinking it will end well.

Nansia didn't know how long she was on the ground crying when she felt snow falling on her and she looked up to see snowflakes falling. She wiped her tears and blew her nose in the tissues she had in her pocket before she decided to head back to Elena's home.

She reached the house and now she felt numb and in shock as she got a notification on her phone with a late message by Ryan telling her he was coming to her and that they needed to talk but when she started to type that she was sorry and needed to explain that she was helping him not only because of their future but because he deserved it but the message wouldn't go through. He had blocked her.

She listened to her friends playing karaoke as she entered the house but she quietly slipped up to her room or so she thought because just as she curled under her duvet Hope came in and looked confused at her red eyes.

"What did he do?" Hope asked angrily as her eyes glowed.

"Nothing…I did something… told him that I've seen our future after he started saying there was no way for him to be free of his father but to finish the mission and die. I refused to believe that and I told him. He saw it as lying that I helped him because I wanted the future version of him not this version of him and he's not wrong…I guess now we won't have to break the news to Landon…or the others." Nansia said sniffling and trying not to cry.

Hope hugged her and Nansia started crying but soon Nansia asked to be left alone and as Hope closed the door Nansia waved her hand and lock it behind her before she covered herself and started crying muffling the sobs with her hands.

Ryan landed in Atlanta and was planning to visit Nansia the next day so he went to tell her what he found out about his case through his friend Fabian. He was nervous yet feeling good about this. He owed to tell her the truth as she told him. And he was planning to make peace with her, tell her how he feels.

Although he found it weird that he used Instagram stories to find the address but he wanted to surprise her, he thought that she would like it.

He felt the day was going to be great!

Nansia woke up the next day with Hope's note telling her that once she wakes up to meet them in her room.

Heavy she went to Hope's room and saw her, Lizzie and Josie sitting there with their laptops.

"What is it?" Nansia said tiredly and grumbled.

"We are telling them today and we are not stopping maybe we are on the right track to kill Malivore not only free Ryan." Hope said seriously and in all-business tone.

"But Ryan has everything we have, he will always be one step forward." Nansia said confused.

"No, he won't. We haven't slept at all." Lizzie said as she showed her the laptop in her lap.

"Hope told me what happened and I searched for a loophole, Hope's blood and venom is the loophole and I found this cloning spell, we clone Hope and inject her and then push her into Malivore, assuming we found where he is. While Kelab and MG hold Ryan either against his will or hold his body already dead. Which bring me to this, Hope found this spell her Aunt Rebekah did and transferred her mind to a witch's body, we can see if once Malivore is dead if he turns into a pile of mud or not but for safe keeping we will cast a spell and trap his mind in a human body until we found a way to create a body just like his original and put him back and sent him to his merry way. We keep our promise and we make sure he won't cause any more harm." Lizzie said as she pointed and presented with a prideful tone.

"Yeah, because capturing him is easy!" Nansia said sarcastically and Josie smirked.

"It is. I've been stalking him via his Instagram through Hope's phone and he lives at a motel next to the Grill we can lock him in his hotel room." Josie said smirking and Nansia sighed as she sat down and rubbed her head.

"Okay…let's say it goes as planned how are we going to find someone who looks like his original body?" Nansia asked and Hope smirked.

"Do you have the shirt you wore yesterday?" Hope asked smirking and Nansia nodded as Hope rushed to her room and picked it up and brought to her room.

"There's a spell I found in my grandma's grimoire about locate DNA match from supernatural to human." Hope said as she started chanting.

After a while the spell ended and Hope was gaping in shock.

"What happened?" Nansia asked confused at Hope.

"Well, Ryan was never created by Malivore…Malivore altered his DNA after he consumed him as a child! He was a child witch that Malivore viewed as a threat so it consumed it and when he wanted to have a child, the only child he had seen was Ryan's image. So he tried to make him out of mud but failed so he freed the poor child that now was a young adult since it's been years since he was thrown into Malivore and in a sense baptized him as his while adding mud from his body onto Ryan's and since it was a spelled mud it because like a second skin and at the same time during that process Malivore was biding his witch side making the golem side the primary side. And every time his witch side would come to the surface and break the illusion of him being only a golem and son of Malivore he would try to escape and Malivore would imprison him again and again! I saw it!" Hope rambled horrified as she looked at the shirt and Nansia hugged herself and the girls looked horrified.

"So, he's a hybrid?" Josie asked confused.

"No, he's a witch infected by Malivore's mud, if we can separate the two and kill the mud then unbind Ryan's magic he won't have to die!" Hope exclaimed relieved and happy yet her tone held a shocking state.

Nothing else was allowed to be said because the doorbell rang.

Ryan was eating when the burning feeling in his hands surprised him and touched his hand before he lost consciousness and fell on his plate. When he woke up was confused, he had a dream that he was seeing an odd dream of himself as a village boy looking in awe at Malivore as Malivore studied him.

He was never a child…

He tried to push it aside thinking that the difference in time was making him sleepy. So he pushed through and got dressed and decided to go to the Salvatore household.

As he reached his destination and he started getting nervous but try to shake it off. It was just Nansia! He was never nervous around Nansia…okay that was a lie! He was nervous about bringing up their first meeting or telling her something from his past that might disturbed her and make her not talk to him.

He knocked on the door and waited when the door opened by Nansia and she looked terribly tired and the moment their eyes met he got to see an emotion he has never seen in her, he saw pain.

"What do you want, now, Ryan?" Nansia asked with a tired tone.

"Aren't you surprised to see me?" Ryan asked confused and with an awkward smile.

"Um…did you smoke weed and you forgot what we talked about last night?" Nansia asked confused and in emotional turmoil.

"Nansia, what are you doing in front of the door with this cold? Ryan? What do you want now? Did you regret what you said yesterday?" Lizzie asked protectively and angrily.

"Yesterday? Yesterday I just landed at 1 am here and went straight to bed at my hotel!" Ryan exclaimed in defense.

"WHAT?" Lizzie and Nansia exclaimed confused.

"I never came to this house, Nansia. What happened yesterday?" Ryan asked worried and a little distrustful.

"You came here and you told me that we can't do anything to save you and you were going to die either way. And then you started yelling at me that I'm helping you because of future you and not because of current you, remember that?" Nansia said sarcastically and Ryan was gaping and Lizzie was glaring at him.

"I was never here! Nansia, I wouldn't do that to you! I know why you're doing this and either you like this me or future me you still like a version of me which is good for me. But you have to believe that wasn't me! It must have been my father sending a shapeshifter pretending to be me I can show you what I did last night." He said took his phone out and showed her they were still friends on everything and Nansia showed him that he had her blocked.

What in Santa Clause's name is going on?

Oh! What are your theories about the whole deal with Ryan? What about your thoughts on Nansia's pasts and her family history? Things are heating up!

I hope I can finish chapter 23 so I can start chapter 24 and be able to upload on here the 21st and 22nd and 23rd before these holidays are over! Sorry for dragging on the holidays' chapters but I planned a lot to happen in two weeks!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a comment telling me your thoughts on how the story is progressing!

Stay safe and sane everyone!