Will explain more, but TL:DR: I fixed the chapter cuz I absolutely hated it. Basically the same up until they wake up after the cuddle-puddle, and then it's completely different. Give this chapter a re-read. More info at the author's note down below.
Isobel - Part 1
She knew it was a terrifying nightmare that woke her up. Victoria could tell because it was a dream that she couldn't remember. All she remembered was bolting upright in her bed at the boarding house, her heart drumming out a rhythm that sounded like a herd of stampeding elephants. She was covered in a cold sweat and her face felt wet, like she had been sobbing in her sleep. Her body was burning with pain and she felt nauseous and most importantly, scared. Victoria threw off the covers that kept her legs bound to the bed and she threw herself onto her feet. She crumbled instantly, her legs too unsteady to keep her upright. Her knees hit the ground with a loud thud and Victoria fell hard onto her side. Her shoulder and side were burning with pain and she bit down on her hand to keep herself from making any sudden noises. She didn't need to wake up anyone else with her paranoid fears.
That didn't seem to be possible, unfortunately, as a gentle singular knock came from the door. A soft murmur, concerned and worried, came from the other side of the door. "I'm coming in, Mama Bear."
Victoria nodded her head, knowing full well that Damon couldn't see her, but she heard the door creak open behind her. There was a soft sigh and then a whisper of, "Oh, baby."
Tears jumped into Victoria's eyes again at the sound of his voice and she could feel the vibrations through the wood floor as Damon approached her. His large, soft, and warm hands touched her skin and he gently rolled her over. He slipped an arm behind her shoulders and his other underneath her knees and lifted her gently into a bridal carry. Once Victoria was secured in his arms, she dug her face into the side of his neck, crying softly as the aftershocks of the pain in her body and the nightmare shook her. Damon sucked in a sharp breath at her sudden closeness, but then he held her closer, if that was at all possible. He murmured, "Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm going to grab your pillow and your blanket and we're gonna go downstairs, okay?"
Victoria didn't trust herself to speak without breaking down into even more tears, so she just nodded. Damon hummed, acknowledging her head nod as a 'yes', and he set to work, easily accomplishing his set tasks with Victoria in his arms. He handed the pillow to her, which she cradled with one arm against her chest, and he placed the blanket on top of her as well.
He walked quickly, but he didn't walk with a vampiric speed. He was taking things carefully, one step at a time, and walking at a pace that Victoria could support.
It was a bit tricky at first to attack the stairs, but Damon made it work regardless and brought himself and Victoria into the living room. The entire room smelled like antibacterial wipes and bleach, and though the smell was pungent and over-the-top, Victoria was grateful that she didn't smell any blood. Her memories of the night before (or maybe of the events of earlier that day; Victoria didn't even know if it was still the same day or if enough hours had passed that they were on to the next day already) were shady at best. She remembered the explosion, seeing Zach...seeing Zach, and then she thought that she was taken to the boarding house by Lexi and Lee, and then she remembered pain, seeing Damon, and hearing something about Amber and her being an Empath.
Damon grabbed the pillow from Victoria's arms and propped it up against the armrest of one of the larger couches. He sat down on the couch and he leaned his upper body against the armrest. He adjusted Victoria so she was lying down in between his legs, her back to his chest. Damon fanned out the blanket he had stolen from her room and used it to cover the two of them. It brought major deja vu vibes to Victoria, as she had done this sort of position with Noble after she had been rescued from Frederick and his friends.
Damon wrapped his arms around her waist lightly, being extremely mindful of the hole in Victoria's side. Her head was resting against his shoulder, so he ducked down to speak with her. "Are you in any physical pain?"
"N-No."
Damon's grip on her body tightened slightly and he made a tutting noise with his tongue. "I've known you for a while now, Mama Bear, and I can tell when you're lying. Try again."
Victoria swallowed heavily and she grabbed his hands with her own, needing some sort of physical touch to help ground her. "S-Sort of. It's not like they're in pain, but I-I shouldn't have stood up so fast. Hitting the ground didn't help either."
"I doubt faceplanting into the floor would help any sort of situation," Damon chuckled, and his rumbling laughter vibrated in Victoria's chest. It was comfortable. "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"
"Just s-stay here?" Victoria stuttered, tightening her grip on his hands. She didn't want him to get up and walk away. If he got up and walked away, then she would be alone, and that scared and panicked feeling from earlier would just show up again.
"We can do that," Damon agreed, bending down to drop a gentle kiss on her head.
Victoria closed her eyes and snuggled deeper into Damon's embrace, as best as she could. She wanted the physical comfort, despite the pain that the movements would cause her. Her weak and feeble attempts at getting comfy resulted in her lying on her none staked side (though it was her staked shoulder, but it didn't hurt that bad), trapped between the back of the couch and Damon, who was lying down and looking at her with unreadable eyes. They lit up even in the darkness of the living room and it comforted Victoria.
"Do you want to tell me about what woke you up?" Damon asked, bringing up his free arm to gently card his fingers through Victoria's hair.
His thumb traced the edge of her hairline as he dragged his hand down and Victoria found herself opening her mouth and the words just started to spill out. All of them. She recounted every terrifying nightmare she had had since becoming the Immortalis, including the ones of her vampire friends' mauled bodies that had woken her up the morning of Miss Mystic Falls interviews. The one that she didn't even tell Noble. Telling them to Noble felt like she was admitting or acknowledging that they were real. With Damon, she felt like she was confessing to Vicki about her nightmares. Damon was just...Damon. It made sense. It clicked. Victoria knew that that was shady reasoning at the best, but it just was how it was.
Damon didn't speak while she word-vomited all over him; he just laid there and soaked up all the information that she was willing to dispense. And bless him, she was confessing quite a bit.
By the time that she was done, she felt utterly exhausted, again. She snuggled up closer to Damon and closed her eyes wearily. Her forehead rested against his collarbone and she listened as Damon cooed nonsensical words to her, dropping his hand to rub her arm in a comforting manner. She heard him call her 'Mama Bear' and 'Baby' again. They must have moved up in their friendship level if Damon was already calling her other friendly nicknames besides Mama Bear. That one had been his go-to nickname since Day One.
"Sounds like an adventure," Damon hummed, his thumb tracing odd shapes on the patch of skin above her elbow. Victoria just sighed in agreement, not feeling strong enough to try and deny it. "Sounds like you could do with a vacation."
"I doubt that one, we'd even have the time for a vacation, and two, I don't think anybody is letting anybody else out of their sight for a little while."
"Oooh, we, is it? I'm already nominated to come with you on your little vacation?"
"Would I honestly be able to keep you from coming?"
"Probably not."
"Exactly," Victoria snickered, giggling.
She let out a hiss as the laughter tugged painfully at her side. Damon's hand on her arm dropped farther down to her side and he pulled away slightly from her so he could glare down at her side. He frowned and Victoria frowned in tandem.
She brought her hand up and placed her thumb in between Damon's eyebrows. The wrinkles that were existing there dissipated underneath her touch and she rubbed her thumb back and forth. "Funny enough, Noble once tricked me into thinking that I get these little forehead wrinkles when I'm wondering whether or not to ask a question. You, on the other hand, actually get forehead wrinkles when you're stressed."
Damon answered the unasked question lingering on Victoria's lips. "I don't like it when you're in pain."
"I'm not a fan of it either."
Damon opened his mouth to say something, but the sound of footsteps cut them off. They both tensed up and Victoria's hands latched onto Damon's shirt, her breath suddenly stolen from her lungs. She didn't dare to breathe, she didn't know what kind of threat was walking around, or if they were stronger than she was or...
"Tori?"
The voice was soft and filled with a level of hesitance that calmed Victoria's nerves and soothed her scared soul in an instant.
Victoria pushed back against Damon and sat up, with a bit of pain, as she looked towards the large archway into the living room. Through the faint moonlight that was coming in through the windows, Victoria could make out the outline of Caroline Forbes. She was dressed in her typical sleepwear (a pair of ratty old shorts and a tank top) and she had her arms wrapped around her torso. Victoria could hear her sniffling and Victoria's face dropped as her body sunk in on itself. "Care-Bear. When did you get here?"
"Last night, after Kelly and Jenna were done with your...surgeries," Caroline sniffed, taking tentative steps towards the pair on the couch.
Victoria not-so-subtly nudged Damon to move and the two readjusted themselves onto the couch until they were sitting on it like normal human beings. Caroline came closer now that the two were sitting up. "L-Lexi called me and Bonnie to tell us to get to the boarding house as soon as we could."
Much to Victoria's surprise (and Damon's too, probably), Caroline dropped onto the couch on Damon's side, instantly leaning into his side and resting her head on his shoulder. Damon's arm seemed to move automatically and he wrapped it around her shoulders, though he looked at Victoria with wide, concerned eyes. Caroline reached out around Damon, not picking up on the duo's confused glances, and grabbed Victoria's closest hand. Victoria laced their fingers together and gave Caroline's hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I-I came in when Ms. Gibbons was staring to clean up the blood," Caroline murmured, her voice sounding tight as her words flowed through a throat tight with emotions. "T-There was just so much of it and I-I didn't know what had h-happened and there was Jeremy and Amber here too, and I was just really, really -"
"- Easy there, Blondie," Damon cooed, his use of the nickname meant more to comfort than to tease. Caroline did relax under his arm, just marginally, but it was enough that it made Victoria sigh with relief. "You got nightmares too?"
A small, meek nod.
"I can't believe I'm about to ask this, but you want to cuddle your woes away?"
Another meek nod.
"Why'd you come to my side then? Mama Bear's right there."
"Sometimes it's better to be with a person who's scarier than the nightmares themselves," Caroline whispered, and Damon stiffened up at Victoria's side. "And because of him." Caroline lifted her arm and pointed back towards the entranceway to the living room.
Victoria turned around and let out a sigh when she spotted Jeremy Gilbert standing where Caroline had just stood, only he was cradling a pillow and a blanket in his arms.
Victoria turned back towards Damon, who looked to Jeremy and just sighed as well. "Bust out the blanket forts, Mama Bear. I have a feeling we're going to get more stowaways before the night is over.
Damon wasn't wrong.
First came Caroline (obviously) and then Jeremy Gilbert, and the duo had plastered themselves to Damon and Victoria respectively. After those two came Lee and Lexi, each looking thoroughly exhausted. After they showed up, Damon and Victoria moved the couches farther back and set the coffee table to the side so everyone could just be a cuddle puddle on the floor. It definitely helped that Lexi and Lee had brought even more blankets (including a few comforters that gave the hard, wooden floors beneath them some padding). Literal minutes later, Bonnie, Zach, and Pearl all strode downstairs within fifteen minutes of each other. Bonnie found a spot by Caroline and curled tightly into her friend's arms. Zach found a good spot to lay between Lee and Victoria, his head turned so he had Victoria in his field of view. Pearl sat at the far edges of the cuddle puddle, her back against the lower part of the couch. She was stoic, her face void of emotion as a large, angry, painful looking scratch cut across her face. She did, however, muster up the hint of a smile when Jeremy timidly offered her a pillow so her back wouldn't get sore from being up against the wooden frame of the couch. She accepted it, obviously. Jeremy's puppy dog eyes were almost as effective as Vicki's had been (and still were, if one was counting Mind Vicki to be Vicki).
After Caroline, Jeremy, Lee, Lexi, Bonnie, Zach, and Pearl showed up, a few more minutes passed before Kelly came trotting down the stairs, Harper's arm wrapped around her shoulders. Victoria let out a startled gasp to see his leg just gone, but Damon's hand rested on the back of her neck and he murmured in a sleep-hazed voice, "Later, Mama Bear." She let it slide as Kelly helped Harper lay down on the couch behind Pearl; she herself took a seat next to Pearl and almost immediately passed out again.
Jenna and Elena came next, and Victoria was confused as to why everyone seemed to be giving Elena a hard look, but Damon then just cuddled closer and whispered, "Turn off your brain, Mama Bear. I'll explain in the morning."
"Technically, it is the morning."
"Victoria, I love you like a sister I never had, but for the love of everything good and holy, shut the hell up," Lexi grumbled, snuggling deeper into a sleeping Lee's arms.
Elena seemed unsure of where to lay down, but Jeremy let out a sleepy murmur, calling his older sister to his side. She smiled lightly, enamored by her sleepy brother's call for her, as she curled up by her brother and snuggled into him. Jenna took a seat beside her best friend and then was out like a light.
Stefan came after, though he immediately went to Lexi's side (not Elena's...curious), dropping like a stone to the ground and placing his head on his best friend's shoulder wearily.
After everyone was downstairs, curled up and cuddling in a big mess that Victoria could only describe as a giant cuddle-puddle, Victoria was intrigued when she heard another pair of footsteps. Everyone was basically passed out by now, but Victoria was still awake, though barely. She was slowly falling into the sleepy darkness again, cradled in Damon's arms with his chest against her back and with Zach close to her front.
She didn't feel anxious or worried, though, like she had been when Caroline had first showed up. Instead, Victoria felt a sense of peace and calm. She wasn't scared.
"I was wondering when you two would show up," Victoria murmured, trying to be mindful of how loud her voice was. She had personally witnessed waking Kelly up at all hours of the night. She was a monster when she was woken up before her beauty sleep was over.
"How'd you even know it was me?" came Anna's cautious, but hopeful (at least it sounded that way to Victoria) voice.
"Honestly? I had a hunch...and I'm just special like that," Victoria snickered lightly. She softened her tone and murmured, "Hey, Amber."
"H-Hi, Victoria."
"You okay?"
"Not really."
"Come on down, find a spot, and snuggle in," Victoria sniffed, yawning loudly. Her yawn seemed loud enough that Damon heard it and he pulled her tighter to him, his arms wrapped strongly around her waist like she was his teddy bear. Or Mama Bear. Victoria had to snicker at that. Asleep Damon also seemed to be conscious of the fact that she was injured, because his arms were positioned high enough that he wasn't putting any kind of pressure on her stitches. She told Amber and Anna, "I know it's kind of weird, but I think this is the closest we've come to pack-bonding, so hop on in. We'll deal with this crazy mess in the morning."
Lee's arm suddenly appeared out of nowhere, sticking straight up from where he was snoozing. His sleep-filled voice seemed to make his Southern drawl even stronger as he sniffed, "Come on over, Doc. I wanna introduce you to my girlfriend."
"Annabelle," came Pearl's soft call, and the two girls separated accordingly.
A sense of peace rolled over Victoria and it was only then, surrounded by everyone in the town that knew of the supernatural and were her allies, and that she was close to, that she finally fell asleep.
There were differences between the actual world of the Vampire Diaries and the world that was portrayed to the fandom as a TV show, as Victoria was learning. For instance, Zach had much more of a personality than the show ever gave him, and researching was his favorite pastime. Lexi would rather die in a fire than wake up before eight a.m. (though she did make a few exceptions). Damon was a Disney nerd at heart, Stefan was a FRIENDS superfan (said he met the cast a few times and Matt LeBlanc even remembered him, and no, he was not a White Witch as far as Stefan knew), Elena was terrified of spiders, Bonnie knew how to backflip off of a swingset mid-swing, and Caroline knew how to speak backwards (though it took a lot of concentration and her face did this funny little scrunchy thing that always made Victoria giggle).
Those were the good, intriguing things that the TV show never showed.
There were bad things that the TV show didn't show too.
If a cut on a vampire was deep enough, made with wood and soaked in vervain for a long period of time, it could scar a vampire. Victoria didn't think it was remotely possible to scar a vampire, and yet, she had to learn to accept it as truth when the long, jagged scratch on Pearl's face from the night before hadn't healed the next morning. It had been over twelve hours or more since the incident, and the scratch was this angry reddy color that was puckered in places. Ms. Gibbons had been at Pearl's side when Victoria woke up the next morning, when Victoria had found herself turned around with her face planted right into Damon's collarbone. The human was giving different blood bags to the eldest vampire of the group, and no amount seemed to be healing the wound. Pearl would make this pinched face every time she drank, as if drinking pulled at the scratch on her face. It was a working theory in Victoria's mind that the amount of vervain and wood that Pearl had taken to the face resulted in that scratch, but she would need to run those details by Zach when they were in private to really confirm that theory.
"Pass the syrup," Lee grumbled, his voice sounding rough and tired from lack of good sleep. His words shook Victoria out of her mental state and she grabbed the bottle of syrup and passed it over to Caroline, who passed it to Bonnie, who passed it to Lexi, who passed it to Lee. The Southern vampire gave a grunt of thanks before doused his pancakes with syrup. He leaned over and did the same to Amber's pancakes, since she was just staring at them like they were about to jump off their plate and try to kill her.
Amber flinched at Lee suddenly being so close, but she murmured a quick, "T-Thank you." She began to eat her pancakes and Victoria watched as she observed the rest of the table with slight fear.
It was starting to get crowded around the dining table. As a whole, there were sixteen people who were trying to fit around the small table (it would have been seventeen, but Ms. Gibbons refused to eat breakfast with them, saying that she just "needed some space from all the crazy". Victoria couldn't fault her for the that). They had replaced all the chairs with benches that they had found hidden throughout the house and everyone was pressed tightly together as if they were sardines.
Victoria swallowed audibly from where she was seated at the head of the table (with Damon on one side and Caroline on the other). All the people's attention turned towards her and she gave a small, concerned frown. "I-I guess we should get into all of this now that we're all awake? Tackle the oddness?"
Zach set down his silverware, seated on one of the long sides of the table beside Stefan and Kelly. He nodded once towards Victoria in agreement. "I agree. Whenever you're ready."
"Alright," Victoria agreed, nodding her head once. "I guess we should just do introductions, some slight background on all of ourselves. I mean, honestly, some of us have known each other for six months or more, and there's still so much I don't know about you all. I'll go first. My name is actually Victoria Vanacore, and I am a Wanderer, which in short means that I died in an alternate world and had my consciousness, I guess, transferred over to this world, in this body. Something went wrong because I also died in this world and I don't have my memories from here, like I'm supposed to. I also came from the year 2021, not 2009. Before the accident where I drowned, I was a White Witch, or, at least, this body was a White Witch. I died at the Decade's Dance in December and was resurrected as the Immortalis, an ancient immortal being whose blood is poisonous to vampires and who can't drink vampire blood because it's poisonous to them. I can't stay dead, also, and I have mystical powers that enable me to do whatever my mind wants if I try hard enough."
Victoria gestured towards her left, towards Caroline. The blonde gave a little wave. "My name is Caroline Forbes, and I am just a human in this whole mess who went searching for her best friend during the Decade's Dance only to find some older dude hovering over her dead body. I'm the emotional support human of the group. I like to stress-bake and to stress-clean."
Caroline passed the non-proverbial speaking baton to Bonnie, who licked her lips and sighed. "My name is Bonnie Bennett, and I found out this last school year that I come from a long line of witches. I'm still working on my powers, but I'm getting the hang of it the more and more I practice. I have been supernaturally possessed by my ancestor, Emily, and I can just say that it really freaking sucks, especially when that ancestor is obsessed with killing one of my best friends." Bonnie gave Victoria a sad and apologetic smile, which Victoria returned.
Lexi spoke next. "My name is Alexia Branson, but you can call me Lexi, and I was born in 1659. As of right now, I am three hundred and fifty years old. I was turned in 1680. Just a normal vampire who happens to be sort of like sober companions with that nut." She gestured rudely towards Stefan, who rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at his best friend in retaliation.
Up came Lee and he yawned, stretching his arms out high above him before he murmured sleepily, "My name is Alexander Ledger, but for the love of anything, just call me Lee. Born in 1886, turned in 1910, I am roughly one hundred and twenty-three years old. Former member of the Cult of the Crucifix, an organization created by Noble, another much older vampire, in order to protect the Immortalis."
Up came Amber, who looked severely frightened at having everyone's eyes on her. She looked pale and she looked towards Lee for help. Lee gave Amber a gentle smile, one that Victoria remembered him giving her whenever she freaked out to him after being buried alive, and murmured, "C'mon, Doc, it's real simple. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy and all that."
Amber gulped heavily and stammered out, "I-I'm Amber Bradley, and I-I'm a human...I-I think. Or I-I'm an Empath. I don't r-really know what that means." She quickly shut her own self down and did her best to hide herself on the bench (which wasn't very effective).
Pearl, who was sitting right beside Amber, took over quickly and drew all the attention to her (though out of the corner of her eye, Victoria spotted Amber shooting the eldest vampiress a look of gratitude). "My name is Pearl Zhu, and I was born in 1434, which sets me at five hundred and seventy-five years old. I have travelled the world many times and have learned many tricks of both vampire, witch, and Immortalis combined. I was locked in a tomb in 1864 and was only released from said tomb in early December."
Anna, sat on Pearl's side, piped in. "I'm Annabelle Zhu, but I like to go by Anna in this century. I was born in 1454, which makes me five hundred and fifty-five years old. I may not know as much as my mom does on these subjects, but I like to think that I'm pretty well-versed in the topic of supernatural creatures. I spent over a hundred years trying my best to save my mother from being locked inside of the tomb."
Jeremy, who was seated next to Anna with a firm grip on her hand, even though her mother was literally right there, took his turn. "I'm Jeremy Gilbert, Elena's younger brother. Human. Learned about the supernatural from my aunt, and not my sister. Just equally as stuck in this mess as the rest of you are. Maybe I'm going to be the emotional support human part two, you know?"
Jenna, seated next to Jeremy snorted and reached up, ruffling his hair. "Yeah right." She looked back towards the group with a welcoming smile. "My name is Jenna Sommers, human. Aunt to Jeremy and Elena. Have known about the supernatural for quite some time now, thanks to my best friend being a White Witch." She gestured on for Elena to take over.
"Um, hi, I guess? I'm Elena Gilbert, which many of you already know. I'm as human as I think I am, but for some reason, I look identical to some vampire woman who dated Stefan and Damon back in the Civil War era."
Stefan snorted at that introduction and rolled his eyes. "There's a little more to that story, babe. Anyways, I'm Stefan Salvatore, born in 1846, putting me at around one hundred and sixty-two years old. Younger brother to Damon, forever frozen at the lovely age of seventeen, dating Elena. I do have...um...some blood addiction issues I'm working on."
Zach nudged his uncle with his shoulder and stated clearly, "My name is Zach Salvatore, and Damon and Stefan are technically my great-something-or-other uncles. I was turned with Stefan's blood, though Damon was the one to snap my neck. I'm pretty sure I died last night -" Victoria flinched hard at the statement as the snapshot of Zach's dead body filled her mind's eye. Zach took notice and gave her an apologetic look. "- Um, yeah, other than that, I'd say I'm relatively normal. I think we need to meet up again, Pearl, to discuss this knowledge you have on the Immortalis. I have a journal I think you might like to see."
"I bet you do," Damon snorted under his breath, and Victoria gave her a sharp elbow to the gut as Zach and Pearl both turned their heads to glare at him. "What?"
"Tact, Damon," Victoria growled through gritted teeth. "Have a little tact, please."
"I have tact, Mama Bear -"
"- Really? Prove it."
That shut Damon up quickly and Zach gestured for Kelly to start speaking. Kelly sat up straighter and explained, "My name is actually Kelly Addams, two 'd's like the Addams family, and I am a Wanderer as well, and the working theory I have is that I'm actually from the same world that Victoria was from, but we lived in different states so we never knew each other. I lived in the year 2022 and came to this world about twenty or so years ago. I am, I guess, the last White Witch in the world, since Victoria's powers were reduced because of her Immortalis powers. I can control lightning and that is my main source of power. I am also a doctor, which apparently no one knew, and so I can help in that department more."
Harper spoke next. "My name is Harper Vessey, and I was born in 1838, which puts me around one hundred and seventy-one years old. I was trapped with Ms. Pearl inside of the tomb for the hundred plus years and only recently escaped, and now, I've also lost a leg."
"Harper, I -" Victoria began, but Harper immediately cut her off with a shaking head.
"No, Ms. LeBlanc, you are not to blame, so do not even begin to try and say that this was your fault. Now, I believe it was Mr. Salvatore's turn."
"Hilarious," Damon sniffed, but he gave Harper a joking smile. "My name is Damon Salvatore, born in 1839, which means that Harper is just a year older than me. I'm a vampire whose now sole purpose in life is to make sure this one," he slung an arm over Victoria's shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. She flinched a little as his hug pulled at the stitches in her shoulder, but she still leant her head against his shoulder, "lives long enough to graduate from high school."
"Now with all those very basic introductions done," Victoria said, taking control of the conversation again. She turned to Lee and asked rather plainly, "I was barely conscious last night, but I do remember hearing you mention something about Empaths. The only person I can even begin to think you directed that to would be Amber."
Lee straightened up in his bench spot and asked, "What do you know about Empaths in this world?"
"K-Know? How can she know anything?" Amber whimpered, her eyes large and round with disbelief and shock.
"Long story short, this world was a TV show and a book series, sort-of, in our world," Victoria hurriedly explained, gesturing roughly between herself and Kelly. "It gives us a little bit of insider knowledge as to what's about to happen. Don't ask me about anything that's like, twenty years in the future, because that TV show wasn't over before I left."
"It was finished by the time I came over," Kelly commented.
Victoria's eyes widened and she leaned forward on the table, trying to get as close to Kelly as she could. "No! Really?"
"Really!" giggled Kelly, nodding her head.
"Did anybody come back?"
"Joseph Morgan and Candice Accola."
"Candice King."
"Candice Accola. They got divorced."
"Oh no! That's terrible, but I mean, yay that those two are going to get to reunite!"
"That's what I thought!" Kelly laughed.
Damon loudly cleared his throat, drawing the two Wanderers' attention to him. "Focus up, if you'd please, ladies."
"Right," Victoria said, shaking her head. "Back to Empaths. As far as I can remember, there's never been any Empaths in the show, so that would be this world. In the books, Bonnie was an Empath. Not Bonnie Bennett," Victoria added, noting the startled look on Bonnie's face at having her name called out, "the Bonnie your character in our world was theoretically based on, but you two have different last names." Back to Lee, Victoria finished, "Empaths in this world are as new of a territory as the Immortalis was."
"Alrighty, then y'all better sit tight and I'll try and explain my knowledge of the Empaths as quickly and concisely as I can muster," Lee stated.
He took a deep breath that seemed more for the drama rather than the need to breathe air (which is funny because Lee didn't even need air) and then launched into the tale.
"Empaths have been around for roughly the last five to six hundred years. It's an unconfirmed number timeline because I'm pretty sure the first Empath that was recorded on record was not the actual first one, but that's not been scientifically proven as of yet. Noble told me that Empaths caught the Cult of the Crucifix's eye around the seventeen hundreds. He was "in-between" Immortali, trying to find the next one after his previous charge passed away. He thought he had found the next Immortalis in Boston, only to find a scared child surrounded by dead bodies. The child had said that the soldiers had scared him so badly that he panicked and the next thing he knew, everyone was fighting each other and then they were dead."
Victoria couldn't help but interrupt, her history nerdiness taking control of her body. "An Empath caused the Boston Massacre?"
"Makes sense to me," Jenna sniffed, her eyes narrowed quizzically as she processed the information in her brain. "Given what we saw Amber do last night, where she was able to make your well-earned panic disappear almost instantly, I'd say with enough motivation, an Empath could totally cause a crowd to go berserk."
"And it makes sense why Noble would've thought that that kid was the Immortalis," Damon added, nodding his head in agreement. "It seems you supernatural fellas have a harsh reawakening."
"My Immortalis predecessor died at the battle of Concord and Lexington and woke up in a field surrounded by dead bodies and she literally scared the coroner to death, so I'd say yeah," Victoria hummed. "But an Immortalis isn't meant to be doing mind tricks. It messes too much with our own head."
"Like when you did your Immortalis version of compulsion on Elena's bio-mom's friend and then you got that nosebleed," Caroline recalled from the random phone call that Victoria had given her after the whole incident had occurred.
Victoria nodded and she gestured for Lee to continue, so continue he did.
"Well, funny enough you should mention it, but Empaths might as well be the missing link for the Immortalis," Lee chuckled. "From what I've seen, and granted it hasn't been a lot, Empaths are masters of manipulating, comprehending, and defending emotions. They're like witches who can only attack or act on another person's feelings. Not as strong as a normal witch usually, and nowhere near the power of an Immortalis, but Empaths can give you a bad day if they want to."
"How did you know Ms. Bradley was an Empath?" Pearl questioned, glancing over Amber's head to give Lee a calculating stare. Victoria raised an eyebrow at the eldest vampiress. It seemed that she had already "adopted" Amber as one of her own, whether the teenager liked it or not.
"First off, it was in the smell," Lee said obliviously. All the women at the table recoiled in disgust and Lee rolled his eyes, adding, "Doc didn't, and doesn't, smell bad, ladies, but Empaths have this certain scent that smells fake if they're playing someone's emotions or getting lost in someone's emotions. Each Empaths' smell for emotional loss of control is distinct and personal to each Empath."
"W-What does my s-scent smell like?"
"Artificial cheese," Lee responded without missing a beat. Damon snorted beside Victoria and she elbowed him in the gut again. He let out a yelp and gave Victoria a glare as Lee continued as if nothing had happened, "I didn't recognize the scent, and after the Empath genocide in the late sixties, I thought that they had all died out, but Amber, in the moment me and Lex found her, was reeking of fake cheese. She was spiraling in her panic, and in the panic and fear she felt from Sugar and Zach, so that's why. Secondly, it was in the way she was holding herself. Though the fact that she was scared out of her wits, she was trying to stop you from losing blood. Fear was in control, but that obsessive need to save someone regardless of that fear? I've seen that look only in Tori's eyes."
"Unfortunately, it's a common look around here," Damon chuckled, before sobering up quick and hard. "So wait, are you saying that Amber took a part of Mama Bear's personality and applied it to herself?"
"Unintentionally, but yes," Lee confirmed. To Amber, he added gently, "You don't got to go worrying about losing your own personality. Your powers were reacting to a high-stress situation and they did what they could to protect you. You're still the same Doc underneath all that."
"A little warning from them in advance in the future would be appreciated," Amber huffed, seemingly mostly to herself (not anticipating that nine of the assembled members there had supernatural hearing). Louder, she asked, "And why do you keep calling me Doc?"
"Because Nurse is degrading, sexist, and misogynistic since women can be doctors too, as we've observed with Kelly," Lee skillfully redirected Amber's attention with a bit of humor. The teenager was smarter than she looked, though, and just gave him an unamused look, but she let the redirection slide.
"Okay, so to recap: Amber smells like Cheez-Wiz when she uses her powers, but only vampires could probably smell it," Victoria recapped, her mind whirling. "Empaths have been around for a while and can make your day suck. Is this power hereditary or is it random, like the Immortalis?"
"From what Noble told me, it should be hereditary," Lee explained. He turned to look down at Amber. "Has your pa or ma done anything similar to what you did last night?"
"Um...they're parents, Lee," Amber said incredulously, shaking her head. "They are literal masters at calming people down. That's what they do."
"Most Empaths tend to stay out of the way of civilization," Lee added, giving her a look. "If they don't have great control of their powers, then being around too many people can get overwhelming."
Amber opened her mouth to argue with Lee, but the argument died on her lips and she looked down at her lap. There was a noticeable tightness in her shoulders and Victoria could smell the distinct scent of salt that came from unshed tears.
It was time to take matters into her own hands.
Victoria pushed herself up, drawing all attention to her. "I'm going to steal Amber now. Everyone else can get ready for the day and we'll reconvene later tonight. High schoolers, don't forget we gotta help Caroline with the float later today."
Victoria slipped out of the bench she was sitting in and strode over to Amber. Amber seemed eager to leave the crowded room and basically leapt to her feet. Victoria grabbed her hand and led her out of the living room, making a beeline for her basically dibs-called room on the upstairs level. She didn't try to talk to Amber on her walk up, and Amber didn't bother talking to her.
Once Victoria and Amber got to her room, Victoria let Amber in first and then shut the door quietly behind her. With a flick of her fingers, a little flash of white magic, and the magic floated from her fingers and soaked right into the door. She turned around only to meet Amber's startled face and she giggled lightly. "Making the room soundproof. It's a little trick I learned early on. Really helpful, actually."
Victoria flopped onto her bed and patted the bed, telling Amber it was okay for her to sit down. Amber seemed a little hesitant, but then relented and flopped over on her back at the foot of the bed. Victoria grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it to her chest as she looked down at Amber. "It's really scary, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"Overwhelming?"
"Oh hell yeah."
"And you feel scared because everything is starting to make sense?"
Amber propped herself up on her elbows and gave Victoria a fiercely narrow-eyed look. "Did your so-called 'TV Show' knowledge tell you this?"
"Life experience tells me this," Victoria admitted, shrugging one shoulder in a haphazard manner. "I was in your shoes literally two months ago. It feels like it's been much longer, but it has been only sixty days and a handful of change since I became this...thing." She gestured pathetically to herself.
"What happened with you?" Amber asked, flopping around so she was lying on her stomach and was facing Victoria.
Victoria shifted in her spot so she was leaning up against the headboard with her legs folded underneath her. She let out a large breath. "What didn't happen, honestly. First off, I was murdered by a dying vampire who was trying to kill Damon, something that went against the script of the show. I woke up in the real world to darkness and pain and fear and I ended up making an ambulance run off the road and I killed three EMTs in my moment of extreme fear."
Amber let out a gasp and she sat up on her elbows. Her voice dripped with sympathy as she cooed, "Victoria..."
"They were good men who were only doing their job," Victoria sighed, sniffing lightly. She swallowed, hard, and continued, lest she get caught up in her emotions and overwhelm Amber, "I nearly ran my friends off the road, almost killed Damon, and my mom was the only one who managed to contain me enough for Damon to rip my heart out."
Amber's gasp would've been comical if it had been a different scenario. She said in a voice that started soft but then escalated into a shriek, "He...He killed you?"
"Yeah," Victoria laughed awkwardly. "But I came back, so it was fine. Really."
"Geez, Victoria -"
"- You calmed me down during surgery by my witch mother with your magic hands. You can call me Tori -"
"- Tori, then. Compared to your experience, my first night was...simple."
"You watched me revive Zach from a dead corpse when you thought I was totally human, more than likely," Victoria snorted, rolling her eyes. "In what world is that simple?"
"I guess ours now," Amber sighed. "So, what's the tally of supernatural creatures who live here?"
"Here as in boarding house or here as in Mystic Falls and are what I would call our allies?"
"The second one."
Victoria licked her lips and her face pinched as she mentally counted up the numbers. "Hmm, let's see: the vampires of the group are Damon, Stefan, Zach, Lexi, Lee, Pearl, Anna, and Harper. That's eight there, if we're not including Noble and the Cult of the Crucifix, which is much more. Two witches, and those are Bonnie and Kelly, my mom. Three humans: Caroline, Jeremy, and Jenna. One doppelgänger, and that's Elena...it's a long story for a different day. One Empath, that's you, by the way, and then one Immortalis, me. In total, that's sixteen...oh! And Ms. Gibbons. She makes seventeen."
"What supernatural creature is she?"
"She's a middle-aged single woman who has basically adopted the Salvatores. 'Nuff said. Now, are we feeling better?" Amber gave a small nod. "Perfect, because we need to get ready for school. We can raid Lexi's closet. Thank goodness we all have similar body types."
A/N: So, a more expansive reason then the quick tidbit up above:
I tried to rush the original Chapter 61 and post it when it wasn't ready and it was terrible. Even worse than Chapter 19 (and to quote Encanto: "We Don't Talk About Chapter 19"). Now, it's more like "We Don't Talk About The OG Chapter 61". It was incomplete, things didn't make sense, and it was just generally not the kind of chapter quality I want for this story. So thus, the newly revised Chapter 61! I'm also posting it today since I finished it last night so it'll give me time to write the next chapter. Thank you guys so much for your patience. I want quality work, and I want you guys to read quality work, and so here is that quality work. I love it insanely more than the other chapter.
I get that in posting it this way some of y'all with accounts won't be able to review again and tell me how you like this chapter, so feel free to just keep your comments until next time. Love y'all!
And before I forget...
KAYLA EWELL, OUR LOVELY SWEET VICKI DONOVAN, HAD HER BABY BOY JUST DAYS BEFORE MY BIRTHDAY AND HE'S NAMED JONES DOUGLAS! I would already die for this child.
Enough announcements.
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Onto reviews!:
Goodboiii: Awww thanks! I did get that bread!
Child of Dreams: Okay, so the gap between Chapter 60 and Chapter 61 is like, maybe a few hours. Sort of like the difference between Tori getting killed by Bethanne and then waking up in Damon's arms. Same night, just a few hours have passed.
DBZFAN45: Totally meant to ask you what your favorite Legends of Tomorrow character is and instead it came out as Legacies XD. And thank you! Oh yeah, Amber could definitely use her powers to help Victoria and the gang out in a more offensive technique (I got some plans already cooking up). Amber is definitely more of a sheltered person than Tori, but there's still more to her story than what appears on the surface. I don't know who my favorite Legacies character is. I really like Lizzie, but at the same time, my favorite characters at the TVD peeps who pop in for just a visit or a cameo (I won't say who as to not spoil the latest episode), but yeah.
Elyse1821: Okay, I remember talking about it involving Zach at one point, so that's why. Awww, thank you! Oh yeah, if Datoria sinks (again, neither confirm nor deny), they will be best friends for life and will have many great moments. I'm particularly looking forward to some stuff I have written for them in original chapters that won't take place until many, many, many chapters later. Awww thanks! Oh my gosh, that sounds so tough! Sometimes it honestly takes a trial run to see things. And don't think of yourself as a grad-school dropout. You tried it, you and your daughter both agreed it wasn't the right time (whether she was verbal about it like that), and you decided to wait. I don't think of that as dropping out, more like pausing it. You're a grad school pauser. I went to college and graduated in 2021, but the term before 2020, I cried myself to sleep almost every night for a month because I was dealing with such hyperstress from math. I'm waaaay more of a History and English person (there's a reason that Victoria is too XD). Ooooh, who's your second vote? Feel free to PM me cuz I soooo wanna know. Tell me all your hypotheses of the story, I'd love to hear them.
Charlie0925: Thank you! It was a pretty good day. I have to wake up early for one of my jobs, so my family all woke up early so we could eat French Toast together in the morning and then I spent way too much money at the mall. Only like, one friend texted me happy birthday on the actual day, which was kind of disappointing, but what can you do, ya know?
SarahJeanM: Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I review like that too, just wait until I've finished reading. Oh yeah, they definitely have some soul-melting chemistry. I know? You know what's really weird? Damon was supposed to be a bad character in this story. I went into this story hating him, and I mean, hating him. I couldn't stand him as a character, and went here came a redemption arc that I didn't expect. Yeah, a lot of people find Noble and Victoria weird. Not yet, but you'll understand his reasonings eventually. Awww thank you again! Here's this redo of the chapter to quench your thirsts!
I'm planning on eventually getting an Instagram and a Tiktok under the name BecomingFearless1F so I can make these little announcements, like "This chapter's gonna be reposted" etc., and to make humorous content about this story in general. So keep an eye out for those!
Thanks y'all for your patience!
Love y'all and remember,
Stay healthy and stay safe!
BecomingFearless1F