Part 1: Rosalie, Qetsiyah & Silas
‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
Rosalie knew when the veil to the Other Side was dropped. She even knew which (ex)brainwashed witch had done it. When there was nothing to do on the Other Side but watch, you took the job of following the man who killed you very seriously.
Rosalie had seen when the idiot vampires unleashed Silas without a care in the world, all for the damn cure. She had seen him escape and brainwash the poor witch who was roped into the whole thing. The witch — Bonnie Bennett — had dropped the veil to their world in hopes of contacting Qetsiyah. It didn't work, as Qetsiyah had other plans. She felt a bit sorry for the Bennett witch who died in the process, even more so that Qetsiyah had used it to their —her— advantage. Because the moment that Bonnie Bennett took her last breath, Qetsiyah made the jump from the Other Side to the land of the living...along with Rosalie.
After 2000 years, it was absolutely bewildering for Rosalie to take her first breath. Touch and feel became real again. The sun was warm on her skin again. She could feel the soft heat and the ground underneath her. She could smell the dirt and the fresh air. She breathed for the first time in two millennia.
She wouldn't lie, the first minutes were a whirlwind of different emotions and senses. She forgot how it all felt — she forgot what it felt like to be alive.
She brought her hands to her cheeks, honing in on the sounds inside of her. Her breath coming in and out, the beat of her heart, the rise and fall of her chest...
How insanely alive she felt...how insane it all was...
"Get up," ordered a familiar voice that broke through her moment. "We have work to do."
Rosalie's eyes flickered from the tall, burly trees ahead of her and found the woman she died for standing only a few feet from her. Rosalie swallowed hard. The feeling she felt in her chest was not a pretty one, not by any means, and for the sake of not tainting her first beautiful moments of her new life, she pushed them away and did what was asked of her.
She was a bit wobbly on her feet and it was only now that she realized just how out of date her clothes must look in the new world. She would have to change — she could change now! It was unfortunate that what you died in is what you wore for the rest of eternity.
Qetsiyah didn't seem so concerned about the details as she began to list all the things she and Rosalie had to do now that they were alive again. In fact, Rosalie hadn't seen her that confident in a long, long time. She followed closely behind Qetsiyah, silently listening to the very long list of chores — the to do list— they would have to do to get things rolling.
Acquiring clothes was not that hard when you were filled with determination and vengeance. Rosalie didn't really know what to make of the old t-shirt and jeans that fit her. Pants itself was a novelty for her; 2000 years ago they weren't allowed to wear such a thing. But she had seen from the Other Side how comfortable the pants were supposed to be.
The clothes were merely the first step and by far the easiest one. Qetsiyah wasn't wasting time. While Rosalie tried figuring out the deal with jeans, Qetsiyah made it her business to know where they were, what they had around them, and where they could hide for the moment.
Rosalie didn't speak out with ideas for a reason. She knew how it went — of course she knew how things went. Qetsiyah had a plan, she was supposed to aid her in every way possible. That's what it meant to be friends...at least that's what it had always been like for them.
On the first night of her new life, Rosalie managed to sneak away from Qetsiyah in their newly acquired cabin. She didn't question Qetsiyah when she forced the actual owner to move away for their sake. She just went into the restroom and had her moment.
She had faced the mirror for ten minutes, staring at herself. Ten minutes became 20, and then 30 minutes. She touched her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her hair...
She was real again.
She was breathing. And she was staring at her reflection like a weirdo (a slang word she learned watching the living). She then became more of a weirdo and leaned closer to the mirror, puffing out a breath of air and fogging the mirror. She smiled at it like a weirdo, giggled at it like a weirdo. It was her breath...because she was alive! She couldn't get over it!
Once she composed herself of her little moment, she looked at the t-shirt she was wearing and crinkled her nose. She did not like t-shirts that much. She would love to find her new style. She also felt like her hair was so long too. She lifted some of it and stared at it. She would need a haircut.
You'll need money for that stuff, she soon thought. Money. The little bills the living had come up with to get things. She didn't have any of that.
~ 0 ~
The first few weeks of her new life, Rosalie was nothing if not restless. She had cut her hair like she wanted, albeit not so much that it was a drastic change. She had bought herself some new clothes she actually liked. She had done all the stuff that would let her pass for an ordinary young woman. But it was all just an appearance...
"What are you doing?" Qetsiyah found her one evening going through a laptop.
"Trying to get this internet stuff," Rosalie replied on the couch. She sat cross-legged with the laptop on her lap. "But I don't think we get that wifi thing because it's not really working. I'll have to go back into town."
"Go more than you need to and you're gonna get us caught," Qetsiyah warned and headed straight to the kitchen with her basket of fresh flowers.
Rosalie rolled her eyes without being noticed. "It's been a month and you haven't done anything against Silas. I'm enjoying the calm before the storm."
Qetsiyah began taking the flowers out of the basket, puffing out the petals of a rose first. "Oh, Rose, you know what they say? Patience is a virtue."
"Two thousand years have gone by and Silas has not joined you on the Other Side so I'm going to assume that's what he still doesn't want." Rosalie glanced at Qetsiyah, watching her studiously. She wasn't always privy to the woman's plans (but she was expected to go along with them). "So what are you going to do? And when? Because the town out there is really nice and I thought maybe we could go and do—"
"I have a plan and I'm already working on it," Qetsiyah cut her off without the most minimal look. "The doppelgangers are dreaming of each other and it's only a matter of time until they find the one under water."
Rosalie couldn't help but feel guilty. "But it's been a month," she reiterated, her voice a whisper. "He's been drowning for a month."
"Exactly," Qetsiyah said, sounding pleased with the matter.
"Can't we just get him already? It's cruel leaving him down there."
"What's cruel is what Silas did to me," Qetsiyah reminded her, not that Rosalie needed it. "This is how we get our win."
Your win, Rosalie thought to herself and resumed her work on the laptop. "So when they get to him in the quarry thing — does that mean we get to show ourselves?"
"Yes," Qetsiyah said, then beckoned Rosalie to help her with the flowers. Rosalie sighed and closed her laptop, leaving it on the side to go help.
~ 0 ~
A month turned into two, and Rosalie felt even worse when the plan stayed motionless. Qetsiyah's dreams were clearly not working and so she brought it up during one of their gathering walks.
"Two months, and nobody's gone to help him. Why are we prolonging his torment? It's clear that these friends of his don't have a clue about what's really going on."
"Exactly," Qetsiyah nodded. She carried a basket on her side and was on the watch for new flowers on their path. "Imagine just how much he'll hate them when they finally get to him."
"But it's not really their fault," Rosalie blurted and immediately gained a sharp glance from her friend. "I mean — how are they supposed to know that Silas is impersonating his doppelganger when they don't actually know what Silas looks like?"
Qetsiyah did not answer and stopped at the sight of fresh peonies. She handed the basket to Rosalie without asking and bent down to gather them up.
Rosalie held the basket and continued making her argument. It was of no use. Qetsiyah did not see any reason to intervene. At least not then. Rosalie was forced to shut up about it and just help.
~ 0 ~
After three months, Qetsiyah finally saw the light. The escape was not going to happen unless they intervened. Rosalie had done her best in the shadows but none of that group could be reasoned with. And so one evening, Qetsiyah brought the original owner of the cabin and got him to go save the poor drowning doppelganger.
"And what do we do in the meantime?" Rosalie said when the farmer was gone.
"What we've been doing for 2000 years, wait," Qetsiyah shrugged. "Get the dinner from the stove, would you? I gotta make sure we are ready for our new visitor."
Rosalie frowned much after Qetsiyah had gone from the living room. She felt like the "rescue" was not going to end well. And usually her gut feeling had always been right and though 2000 years of disuse could have messed with it, she wasn't going to believe it.
When their friend did not answer, Rosalie knew something was wrong. She and Qetsiyah logically thought of the closest town next to that quarry and wouldn't you know it, they were right. It was early in the morning when they found the ruddy bar and just in time, for the doppelganger had emerged from the bar screaming in agonizing pain from the heat of the sun.
The last thing that Stefan Salvatore saw was a familiar dark-haired girl coming towards him.
~0~
Just fluttering his eyes for a second and he was already starving. Snapping his eyes open, sitting upright, Stefan could smell the blood off of the woman sitting next to him.
"I don't want to hurt you, so get away from me before I rip your throat out!" There wasn't any more way to be more blunt and sure, the woman might freak out and run but the alternative was just too unbearable at the moment.
But instead, the woman just smiled incredulously, like she couldn't believe her ears. "Hello to you, too. I brought dinner." She held out a blood bag to Stefan and though he was hesitant for a moment, the hunger won out. He snatched the blood bag from her and drowned it to its most insignificant drop.
"A vampire doppelgänger who's burdened by a conscience...now I've seen everything."
Stefan heard her but it took a whole more to get himself together. He needed the blood to satiate him a bit more, to improve his senses and most importantly to stop him from snatching the woman by the neck. He sucked on the blood bag a moment more, taking the moment to study the woman who remained absolutely calm in the face of someone sucking on a blood bag.
"You saved me from burning to death outside that bar this morning, didn't you?" he realized.
"And I pulled you from the quarry before that. That is, we figured out where you were and told the former owner of this cabin to pull your lock box from the water. You thanked him...by biting off his head."
Stefan vaguely remembered that but he was sure that it was true. "How do you know I'm a doppelgänger?"
"Because I've seen your face before on someone who wasn't you."
"And who are you?" Stefan said. "You're not the one I saw in the..."
Qetsiyah didn't wait for him to put his thoughts together. "How much do you know about Silas?"
"Huh...I know that he's a bloodthirsty immortal who's killed more people than I can count, and that was before he stole my identity, locked me up in a safe, and dropped me in the bottom of a quarry."
"You made it through..."
"Barely. I came very close to flipping off my humanity switch, but I didn't because I knew if I ever got out, I wanted to be myself when I killed him." It took every ounce of his will to keep himself together. The dreams helped too — a lot. He would've gone insane without them. "He's a monster, and I'm going after him."
"Except you'll burn to death in the sun without your daylight ring," Qetsiyah reminded him as he rose from the couch, intending on heading out.
Stefan gazed down at his hand where his ring should have been. Silas took it. Drowning over and over must have distracted him from the fact.
The cabin door opened and allowed a few rays of sunlight inside. Stefan inched backwards as one of those rays nearly hit him.
"Rosalie!" Qetsiyah exclaimed and also stood on her feet. "Shut the door!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Rosalie flinched and quickly closed the door behind her. She turned to face the two, holding one basket on her side. "I got the things for the, uh..."
"Bring it," Qetsiyah made a gesture for her to hand over the basket.
Rosalie hurried forward, ducking her head as she felt Stefan's studious gaze on her. She delivered the basket into Qetsiyah's arms and stepped back. "I, uh, couldn't really find the marigolds..."
Qetsiyah rolled her eyes, annoyed, and turned towards the fireplace. "Honestly, how hard is it to find a simple flower, Rose?"
With flushed cheeks, Rosalie tucked some of her dark hair behind her ear. "It's difficult when you want to stay hidden and not draw so much attention to yourself by asking a dozen questions about a simple flower."
Qetsiyah threw her a sharp glance for her retort but said nothing back.
"They were out," Rosalie reiterated and finally looked at Stefan. "Hi," she offered one small, and awkward, smile at him. "I'm Rosalie."
Stefan gave her an acknowledging nod, presuming that they both already knew of him. Clearly they knew enough to have found and rescued him.
"Silas wasn't always a monster," Qetsiyah said suddenly, drawing both heads towards her.
"No," scoffed Rosalie who crossed her arms, "Back then, he was only a big fat liar. The murderer part hadn't happened yet."
Qetsiyah eyed Rosalie again, her expression slightly reprimanding. "He used to be a simple man in love with a simple girl...his soul mate," she went on, and Rosalie looked away to roll her eyes to herself. "She was his one true love."
"Yeah, and he was also a—"
"Thank you, Rosalie," Qetsiyah said and made a motion for her to leave.
Rosalie was reluctant to leave, wanting to be part of the conversation, but there was no protesting with the decision. The devastation of being on the Other Side for so long, watching your ultimate revenge plot fail did a number on Qetsiyah. It had, unfortunately, made her that much more rageful and dangerous. And explosive.
Rosalie ultimately nodded and turned away from the two, heading for her room.
"Wait, I've seen you," Stefan's claim stopped Rosalie in her tracks. She looked back at him with a nod.
"I was at the bar too."
"No, it was...it was somewhere else..." Stefan said, sounding like he was still fitting some pieces together. He stared at Rosalie harder, working his mind to reach the answer before he lost it. "You were in my dreams..."
Rosalie's eyes widened. "N-no, I wasn't..."
"Yeah, you were," Stefan nodded. "I-inbetween my sanity and clinging to images in my head — you were there."
Qetsiyah lifted an eyebrow at Rosalie. "She was where?"
"At the bar," Rosalie said quickly, eyes boring on Stefan, urging him to agree with her. Her heart was racing and she sincerely hoped that he would hear it and take the damn hint. "I was at the bar, just before you went down."
Stefan upheld her sharp gaze, trying to make sense of his own words and Rosalie's own claims. Eventually, he heard her heart and that, coupled with her intense gaze, he soon backtracked his stance. "I don't know what I'm saying," he turned away from Rosalie then, though he snuck a glance of her over his shoulder. Her heart was calming down, slowly but surely.
"How about I make some tea?" Rosalie offered and rushed towards the kitchen.
Qetsiyah watched Rosalie, no less suspicious than before. Rosalie purposely busied herself between kettles and tea bags.
"Weren't you going to finish the story?" she called when the silence was just too much. "Bet Stefan wants to hear it. Make the whole thing more understandable, right?"
Qetsiyah released the girl from suspicion for the moment. The storytelling was necessary to understand what needed to happen next. Besides, getting to tell her side of the story was the chance of a lifetime.
"...Silas and I were the two most powerful members of a gifted people called Travelers. When we were engaged to be married, we decided to reach even further. We wanted to find a way for our love to last forever."
Stefan gave his politest nod, not wanting to make it abundantly clear that he didn't give two shits about Silas' love story. "Yeah, look. I know the story. Everything was great for Silas until some witch named Qetsiyah or whatever came by and screwed him over, right?"
Rosalie hissed as some hot water spilled over her fingers. "Shit!"
"Rose," Qetsiyah reprimanded her.
Rosalie urgently patted her fingers with a cool rag and apologized for the slip. She may have been watching too many modern shows.
Qetsiyah shook her head at the girl and faced Stefan. "You're wrong. You don't know the story. Silas convinced Qetsiyah that he loved her so she would make the immortality spell, but when she found out that he was just using her, she dumped him in a tomb with a cure, hoping he would take it and die, because she had found a way to create a supernatural limbo to trap his soul."
Rosalie subtly glanced over her shoulder, resisting the urge to correct Qetsiyah in the moment. She had not created the Other Side on her own and she knew it.
"Like any other sane, rational, well-adjusted woman would do," Stefan said coolly, and he heard the quietest snicker from Rosalie's spot in the kitchen.
"Which catches us up to today. Now Silas wants to destroy that supernatural limbo. Once the Other Side is gone, he can take the cure, become mortal and die, and finally pass on and find peace."
"Look, if you really are Silas' one true love and you're not dead, then why don't you just do us all a favor and run off into the sunset together?"
"Silas was my true love. I never said that I was his. I'm Qetsiyah, that sane, rational, well-adjusted woman you seem to know so much about."
Stefan froze, his eyes now the size of dinner plates. He may have regretted a word or two.
Qetsiyah dragged a finger along the wall, producing a line of blue flames which led to the fireplace and burst to life. "Clearly you've heard the man's version of the story, the one where I'm a back-stabbing lunatic who ruined everything for Silas, a raging bitch-witch whose obsession with vengeance created a whole new dimension of suffering in the afterlife."
Stefan began to get the sense that maybe they weren't all that wrong about the "crazy" part, but he wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud. "What are you doing here? I thought you were dead and on the Other Side."
"I was—for two thousand years," Qetsiyah said, gritting her teeth together. "But I came back...for you."
Rosalie cleared her throat and came into the living room with a tea cup for Qetsiyah. "Drink," she instructed. Qetsiyah plucked the cup from her hands and took a quick drink, pushing it back into Rosalie's hands. Stefan watched the interaction curiously.
"Well," Stefan cleared his throat, "no offense, Qetsiyah. I'm having a bit of a hard time believing what you're saying."
"'Qetsiyah' sounds so...ancient timey, don't you think?" the woman tilted her head, smiling to herself. "How about "Tessa"? It's a little different, but not so different you wouldn't find it on one of those souvenir keychains."
"So, that's why you rejoined the land of the living...souvenir keychains?"
"Yeah, that's definitely why she pulled us out of the Other Side," Rosalie remarked, "For keychains."
"Rose," Qetsiyah —Tessa —glanced at the girl. "We know why we're here."
"Yeah, because your descendant Bonnie Bennett lowered the veil and you jumped on the opportunity to come back," Rosalie said, matching Tessa's hard glance with her own. "Without even asking, by the way."
"I was supposed to ask the Bennett witch if we could come back?"
"I meant me," Rosalie frowned.
Stefan's eyes shifted between the two women, once again taking silent note of the interaction.
Tessa didn't waste a moment responding. "My hunters have failed in their task to kill Silas. I figured it was time to handle things in person."
"Well, two thousand years is a hell of a long time to hold a grudge," said Stefan.
Tessa smiled dryly at him. "You have clearly never been left at the altar. Like a lovesick idiot, I created an entire garden for our wedding, and I made a spell that would keep us alive forever, an immortality spell so we would never have to part. Silas and I were going to drink the immortality elixir as part of our wedding ceremony, but then everything around me started to die...my wedding flower, the garden trellis, our harvest. And then I realized why. Silas had already used the immortality spell. He was already drinking the elixir somewhere else. He took what he wanted, and then the bastard abandoned me. So, call me a woman scorned or a vindictive bitch or whatever label suits your story, but I thought I was his one true love, and he ripped my heart out."
"I'm sorry," Stefan said, nothing else coming to mind. The story was, unfortunately, on her side.
"I deserved a chance to look him in the eye and make him understand how much he hurt me. So, I found him in the wilderness with the woman he gave my immortality to, the woman he chose over me...And just when I thought his betrayal couldn't cut any deeper, I learned that his actual true love was someone very close to me...my handmaiden."
"Amara," Rosalie said quietly. She remembered the devastation in Tessa's eyes when she told Rosalie what she had seen. It was a sad story, no one would deny it. To be betrayed like that...Rosalie understood the sentiment.
"You know her," Tessa said, leading Stefan to chuckle humorlessly.
"Yeah, that may have been a little bit before my time..."
"Did I say know her? I meant know her face," Tessa said flatly.
"What?"
Rosalie sighed and cut in to explain. "The handmaiden Amara looks exactly like your friend Elena Gilbert. And I really mean exactly like her."
Stefan would have liked to be surprised but given everything that happened — considering who Silas turned out to be — surprise wasn't really in the mix anymore. "So, Silas was the first version of me, and your friend was the first version of Elena?"
"Amara was hardly a friend," Tessa said bitterly. "When they drank the immortality elixir, they violated the natural law that all living things must die, so Nature found a balance by creating mortal shadow selves."
"Doppelgängers..."
"Like you, and Katherine, and Elena, all caused by the ripple effect from Silas and Amara's sin."
"What do they say? Like a 'domino effect'?" Rosalie said, still thinking about it in her head as she spoke. Tessa made a noise beside her, prompting her to hold the tea cup again. "You should drink more."
"What I need is outside," Tessa said, pushing the cup away from her. "Dump it. And get ready." She grabbed the now empty basket on the table and headed for the door.
"Wait — what am I supposed to do with —" Rosalie shut her eyes when Tessa closed the door behind her. "Great." She opened her eyes and saw Stefan awkwardly looking at her. "I don't suppose you want tea?"
"Hard pass. You wouldn't happen to, uh, have a cell phone? I have to make a phone call."
"To your friends?" Rosalie nodded. "I get that but the reception thing is kind of weird. I tried using that wifi stuff — it doesn't always get through. Sorry." She brought the tea cup into the kitchen and dumped out the remaining tea into the sink.
Stefan followed her and stopped a few feet from her whole she washed the cup. "Alright, so how about you tell me your story, then?"
"My story?" Rosalie chuckled. "No offense, but I know you're not interested. You're barely interested in what Qetsiyah — Tessa — was saying. Not that I blame you. I can't stand Silas."
"Me neither, so that's something we all have in common. No, see, I wanted to know why you lied earlier when you said we met at the bar," Stefan said, and instantly Rosalie let go of the cup in her hands. It made a loud clang in the sink. "Because I know I saw you before that. In my dreams."
"Don't say it like that — it sounds weird," Rosalie sighed. She shut the water off. "And definitely don't say that around Tessa, please. She gets really annoyed when I do things behind her back."
"So it is true. I did see you?"
Rosalie relented and gave him a confirming nod. "I didn't do it to mess with you. I just...I wanted to help. And it just took Tessa so long to finally listen to me about saving you instead of waiting for your friends to get a clue. I felt guilty so I just — I sort of did a few spells here and there to help you. I'm a bit psychic in that way..."
"And Tessa didn't know about this?" Stefan asked, watching her shake her head fervently, almost fearful. "You two — you're friends? You're also one of those Travelers or something?"
"No, I am not a Traveler," Rosalie went around him and walked back into the living room. "I'm a little different. At the time, my family and a few other witches from our coven were in hiding and the Travelers helped us with that. We lived together in peace — my coven assisted the Travelers and in return, they helped us stay hidden. I've known Qetsiyah pretty much my whole life. She taught me everything I know. She fell in love with some conniving bastard that I warned her about several — and I mean several times." Rosalie let out a heavy breath and apologized for her long rambling. "Clearly you don't want to know anything. You barely stood for what Tessa had to say."
"That was different," Stefan said, meeting her gaze by slightly ducking his head. She was a bit smaller. "Tessa told me a love story, but you seem to know the real parts."
Rosalie half smiled. "Do I look that bitter to you? And you can be honest."
Stefan gave her the same small little smile. "Honestly? You seem like you would rather be anywhere else but here which makes you and I a lot better friends than Tessa and I."
Rosalie laughed softly. "My first friend from the 21st century. Don't get me wrong. Being alive after 2000 years is a gift and I am trying to accustom myself with the new world but..."
"But you also seem to be under Tessa's law," Stefan finished for her. "She's in charge."
Rosalie's smile waned. "That obvious?"
"Kind of."
Rosalie sighed lightly; all she could do was shrug. "Like I said, she taught me everything I know. My powers are, um, a bit different on a scale so we've sort of been a team ever since I could remember. She didn't tell you the entire truth about the Other Side. I helped make it too. It was my psychic abilities that helped solidify the dimension. I also helped her with the Immortality Spell."
Stefan noticed that she didn't seem that proud of her work despite its fame.
"It was a sin of nature and nature meant it. Even my coven deeply disapproved of my assistance. Apparently I was not supposed to assist in that manner. Guess they really should have made a rule book or something."
"So that's why you let her treat you like that?"
"What? Hold on," Rosalie made a gesture for him to stop talking. "You have been awake for all of ten minutes and suddenly you think you know how my relationship with Tessa works?"
"I'm just telling you what I saw," Stefan pointed out. "You made her tea, and she nearly shoved it into your face. She almost had you when I said you were in my dreams."
"Because I did it without telling her," Rosalie retorted.
"You just seem a bit angry—"
"Because I am!" Rosalie exclaimed. "I'm angry that I died a pointless death! I'm angry that my best friend didn't listen to me in time! I am angry about many things, alright? But listing them seems so very pointless to me when I am alive again!"
Stefan continued to stare at her for a few minutes. He now understood a stark difference between her and Tessa. Tessa was here to finish what she started, to finally fulfill her revenge.
Rosalie...she was just happy to be back. Or so he thought.
"However I would not be against finally driving a knife" — Rosalie gritted her teeth, her hand balled into a fist as if she was holding said knife at the moment — "right through Silas' heart myself."
That sounded more crazy-like and totally aligned with Tessa's vision.
Rosalie's half smile was no longer sweet and innocent. "That is why I am here and trying to adjust to this world. Silas took away Tessa's ability to trust...and then he took my life. I suppose there is a score to settle and unfortunately for you, you're very much required for that to happen."
Stefan gave half a nod, trying not to panic at the first chance. He wasn't stupid, not even with his mind and the hunger trying to play tricks on him. "We're not friends, are we? I share the face of your killer."
"And your friend Elena wears the face of a backstabbing bitch," Rosalie said, tilting her head. " Fortunately for both of you, I am not one to — how do they say? — 'judge a book by its cover'? I tried giving you a little peace in the midst of your nightmares, didn't I? I would never do that for Silas, not even if it was to save my own life. We need you, Stefan, to finally put Silas down. I'm sure you can find it in you to want the same thing."
Well, Stefan couldn't really lie there and say that he wouldn't have a reason to want to kill Silas. Maybe it would be smarter to let the vindictive witches take care of him.
Tessa returned not so long after and brought along a few new items in the basket. She went straight to work at the fireplace, claiming it was all for a new daylight ring Stefan would need since Silas stole his.
"So, what exactly are you two planning for Silas?" Stefan asked the pair. "Take the cure and shove it down Silas' throat? Kill him?"
Rosalie hummed, apparently pleased with the idea.
"You've skipping ahead," Tessa said sharply, "We don't stand a chance against Silas with his mental powers."
"You took him down before, right?"
"I did," Tessa clarified, sharing a short glance with Rosalie. "But that was a long time ago. Before he could compel masses, and two thousand years of consuming dribbles of blood from thousands of people...it allowed him to hone his skills. It prepared him to escape from the tomb I put him in."
"Is that where Amara is right now, locked away in a tomb?" The moment that Stefan asked was the moment that Rosalie snorted and laughed.
At Tessa's demand, Rosalie sobered up and apologized, but there was still a lingering smile on her lips when she turned to the fireplace to continue the daylight ring work. "She's not locked in a tomb," she said.
Stefan had the growing suspicion that they both knew where Amara was today, but the thought didn't interest him much. Amara wasn't the one who threw him in the quarry, locking him up in a safe, to drown over and over for 3 months.
"I think Stefan's on board with assisting us, Qetsiyah — Tessa," Rosalie said, shaking her head at her mistake. "So maybe we can get to it already."
"That I am," Stefan pointed lightly at Rosalie. "We're on the same side. I want Silas gone as much as you do—"
Tessa let out a bitter chuckle. "Have you not been listening to me? I have trust issues. I'm controlling, and paranoid, and a little crazy." She thrust her hand forward all of a sudden and caused a pain inflicting spell on Stefan, forcing him down on his knees.
"Tessa, stop!" Rosalie quickly straightened up away from the fireplace. "He's going to help! Have you not listened?"
But Tessa continued with the spell until Stefan was out cold on the ground. "Move the furniture," she ordered coldly and dealt with the fireplace herself again.
Rosalie glared at the woman then looked at the vampire on the floor. Never in her life did she think would ever feel bad for the man with the face of her killer.
She got started on the task of making space for their spell. With a little bit of magic, she pushed the furniture to the corners of the cabin and then got started on creating a bounding circle made up of herbs.
"So, you want to tell me what you were doing getting into his head?" Tessa broke their silence as the two moved Stefan into a chair where he would be restrained with vines.
Rosalie visibly swallowed hard. She wrapped Stefan's legs with a shred of vines.
"Don't lie," Tessa warned as more silence followed.
With a sigh, Rosalie admitted to her secret action. "I felt bad for him," she looked up at her friend. "For months I told you that we needed to get him out but you never listened. At least on the other side we were dead and felt no pain. Stefan was way worse off than both of us and you didn't care all in the name or your plan."
"Our plan," Tessa corrected her.
Your plan, Rosalie thought bitterly. She had very different game plans than Tessa and they both knew it.
"And it worked out in the end, didn't it?" Tessa questioned. "There was no need to reach out to him, much less behind my back."
"I just wanted to ease his pain," Rosalie said, standing up on her feet. "If I couldn't get him out, then I at least wanted to give him a moment free of pain."
Tessa tilted her head at Rosalie, eyes slightly narrowed. "That was still a very risky thing to do. Next time, fill me in on these decisions so I can help you."
Rosalie nodded if only to just end the conversation already. "The boundary spell is set and so are the vines."
Tessa agreed and decided to give Stefan a reason to wake up. In the span of Tessa stepping out of the cabin for a second to get something outside, Damon Salvatore strode into the cabin.
"Stefan...you couldn't call a brother?" He said sarcastically.
"Nice to see you, too, Damon," Stefan mumbled, still a bit groggy.
"Three months and that's all you two have to say?" Rosalie said with a scrunched nose.
"What the hell is going on here?" Damon said, going straight to his brother to untie him. "And who the hell are you?"
"Well, Silas' ex-girlfriend decided to come back from the Other Side..." Stefan began to explain, "Along with a friend, I guess."
"Qetsi-whatever?" Damon pulled on the vines to no avail.
Tessa re-opened the door behind him, holding a flower. "It's Qetsiyah," she corrected flatly then shot Stefan a look. "Do you see why I want to change it? Rosalie, you didn't tell our guest that he wouldn't be able to break those vines?"
"I like watching him pull them like an idiot," Rosalie said swiftly, earning a deadpanning look from Damon himself. "No offense."
"All taken," Damon spat at her.
"The spell won't release him until I get what I want," Tessa informed the brothers.
Damon abandoned the vines and looked over at Tessa. "Well, I guess the rumors are true. You are a ray of sunshine. Question—why is my brother wearing your compost pile?"
"We're going to link Stefan to Silas. Casting a spell on his doppelgänger will neutralize Silas' mental powers. Once he's weakened, we'll force him to take the cure."
"Well, that's a great idea, force the cure down his throat," Damon's faux smile lasted for two seconds before a scowl replaced it. "The cure is gone, done, it's ingested."
Rosalie scoffed and crossed her arms. "Katherine, you mean? We know. She was supposed to be with you."
Stefan was the one surprised and looked at his brother with wide eyes. "Wait. Katherine took the cure?"
"We have a lot to catch up on, Stefan," Damon said dismissively and proceeded to ignore the next several questions Stefan demanded to know answers to.
"So where is she?" Tessa spoke over Stefan.
Damon smiled sarcastically. "We ran into a little snag."
"Then we'll get started without her." Tessa moved over in front of a bowl and called upon Rosalie. Together, they started to chant.
Damon watched for as long as his patience allowed, which wasn't very long. "Okay, well, thanks for the hospitality, but we should really get going if we want to beat traffic."
"Probably don't want to get on my bad side," warned Tessa.
"You realize you're not the only one with a bad side, right?"
"For the love of — we talked about this," Rosalie spoke directly to Stefan. "You're the key to knocking Silas down a notch or two. With this spell, we can take away Silas' mental powers. After that, he is an immortal nobody. We can defeat him. Isn't that what you want?"
That is what Stefan wanted. More than anything right now. "Just do it."
Rosalie smiled triumphantly and looked at Tessa as such. "See? Nothing a few words can't solve."
"Ever the pacifist," Tessa rolled her eyes and continued to chant.
Damon flinched back when the herbs around the witches and his brother ignited into flames. Soon, Stefan started screaming.
"What are you doing to my brother!?" Damon shouted at them.
"We're frying Silas' brain! No one said it would be pretty!" Tessa exclaimed.
Damon didn't think the sight of his brother bleeding from his eyes was any kind of pretty. Stefan's screams only grew louder and louder until it all became too much and he fell unconscious.
"All right. We're done here." Damon stepped into the barrier and went straight to his brother.
"You're not wrong," Rosalie said, reaching back for a rag. "I think it worked. Here. For the blood."
Damon smacked her hand away and grabbed Stefan's head, shaking it lightly. "Stefan! Stef. Damn it. Whatever you did to him, undo it."
"Relax. We just burned through his conscious mind," Tessa said nonchalantly. "He'll wake...eventually. You sure you want to take him home? You and Elena were doing so well without your guilt getting in the way."
Rosalie started undoing the vines around Stefan, helping Damon do it quicker.
"Spying on us from the Other Side, then?" Damon presumed, but Tessa scoffed.
"Don't flatter yourself. It was like watching a soap opera, except boring and with no volume control."
"Qetsiyah," Rosalie said warningly. Taunting was another unfortunate effect of Silas' betrayal.
Tessa, however, was growing bigger with her taunts, loving the effect it had on Damon. "You know, there was one thing worse than being on the Other Side and watching Silas resist the cure."
"Oh, yeah? What was that, realizing that your plan totally sucked?"
"Century after century, I watched versions of Stefan and Elena find each other, like magnets, always the same story—conquering all, falling in love. You didn't think your brother was Silas' first shadow? Destiny has been trying to get the doppelgängers together forever."
Damon gave up on the vines for the moment, leaving Rosalie to tend to the rest. "Look here, Miss Crazy," he turned to Tessa, more than irritated, "why don't we just dial down the destiny talk a notch, okay?"
"You don't want to hear it, but the universe is working against you."
"If you're trying to downplay your reputation as being a psychopath, you might not want to say you're spokesperson for the universe."
"Says an impulsive murderous vampire," Rosalie mumbled under her breath as she pulled the last vine off Stefan.
Damon, of course, heard her perfectly and threw her a look. "Watch it."
"You and I are the same, Damon..." Tessa said, "The obstacle standing between two fates. Silas had his true love, and Stefan has Elena. We're merely the conflict that makes it interesting."
"So, what are you suggesting, I leave him here with you while I run off and live happily ever after with Elena?"
"I'd keep him safe..."
Damon scoffed. "You have a bad track record with men."
"Okay, hold on," Rosalie moved around the chair to stand between Damon and Tessa, "That's uncalled for and unfair. Silas is the bad guy here. He betrayed Qetsiyah, he killed me, he is the reason for all of this so back off. Stefan will be alright. We actually like him."
"Oh, and I'm supposed to take your witchy word for it?"
"You don't exactly have a choice."
"Yeah, maybe...or maybe..." Damon snatched Rosalie by the neck and slammed her against the wall. "Or maybe I can send you both back to hell."
"Hey — enough!" Tessa cast a spell and snapped Damon's neck.
Rosalie slid down the wall, breathing heavily to catch her breath. Tessa moved over Damon and offered her hand to Rosalie.
"Thanks..." Rosalie said once she was on her feet. "You really shouldn't taunt him like that. As annoying as he is, it's not his fault. Also, it's just not smart taunting a vampire in general.
"With time, he'll understand we're just trying to help him," Tessa said.
"The mean way," Rosalie muttered. She looked between the two unconscious brothers and wondered what would happen to the two and their beloved doppelganger. Qetsiyah may be a taunter, but she hadn't been wrong about the story. It always ended the same.
Later in the evening, Elena Gilbert herself ran into the cabin and ironically, the first brother she saw was Stefan outcold in the middle of the circle. Rosalie and Tessa made themselves scarce for the moment, allowing Damon and Elena to take Stefan without a single protest. It was much later when the two were finally at peace in the cabin, the mess of the spell cleaned up and the air in the cabin filled with their dinner.
"You're awfully quiet," Rosalie remarked. She was clearing up the table while Tessa finished up the last of her dinner. "I take it you're still mad I snuck into Stefan's head?"
Tessa shook her head. "I'm just curious why you would insert yourself into the doppelganger's head and not tell me?"
"For that reaction," Rosalie pointed at her with her dirty fork. "And because you weren't listening to me — again." Tessa rolled her eyes. "I mean it, Qetsiyah. My story ended the way it did because you didn't listen to me. I'm sorry but things need to be different if we are both to survive this time."
"Survive?" Tessa raised an eyebrow at Rosalie. "What are you talking about? The whole reason we're back is to make sure Silas takes the cure and passes on to the Other Side. Once that happens, we can return as well."
"Return?" Rosalie brows furrowed incredulously. "You still want to die and pass on with him?"
"That's why we created the Other Side, in case you forgot." Tessa put her fork down on her plate and stood up from her chair. "That's why we returned."
"No, you pulled me out of the Other Side to help you!" Rosalie exclaimed. "You didn't exactly give me the opportunity to say anything! I died once because of that man, I am not doing it again."
"It's our responsibility to stop what we created, Rosalie."
"Absolutely, but that's it. I am not going back to the Other Side and this time, I expect you to listen to my words. I'm not going back there."
"Well, our lives finished 2000 years ago so there's not much to stay around for anyways. It's best to understand and accept this," Tessa gave Rosalie a faux smile and continued to eat.
Rosalie, however, lost her appetite completely. She would be damned if she went back to the Other Side. She'd stick around for a much longer time...even if it meant picking sides...
~0~
Days Later...
It was strange to feel so unused to being around other people, let alone around a mass of people at a graveyard. Maybe it was a punishment for sneaking out of the cabin or something. Rosalie was aware that she was brand new to the modern world but something about having a get together at a graveyard didn't sit right with her. A graveyard bell-ringing ceremony was too much, even for her.
She trudged along the hard ground of the graveyard, trying to spy a familiar face amongst the mass. She had already bumped into several people, been asked to drink from smelly beer cups, and invited to ring an old bell for someone she lost. What she would give to get out of here...
"I know you." The voice made Rosalie jump and whirl around to come face to face with a familiar dark haired man — vampire.
Rosalie's eyes widened with alarm. Damon smiled widely and quite maliciously.
"I was on my way to kill you," he said, bringing his hands together in front of him. "And then your bitchy best friend cut me off."
"No, wait—!" Rosalie took a quick guided step back from Damon, hands raised in front of her defensively. "I didn't come to fight!"
"So you just stopped by Mystic Falls' cemetery? Funny, I know I'm terrible at maps, but I'm pretty sure Greece and Virginia are not on the same spot, let alone on the same continent, so I doubt you have anyone buried here." Damon started for her, prompting Rosalie to backtrack the same steps.
"Please, just listen!" she exclaimed. "I'm not your enemy! I want the same thing you do!"
"Doubt it, considering you fried my brother's brain." Damon walked her right up to a tree.
Rosalie had her eyes squeezed shut with fear. "I figured that would happen but I can help fix it! Please don't kill me, I don't want to go back there!"
Damon had stopped long before she slipped out her fear of death. He cocked his head to the side and stared at her. "You know how to bring Stefan's memory back?"
Rosalie opened one eye to make sure no fangs were on display and visibly relaxed when she saw that was the case. "Yes," she answered his question. "I was part of the spell, remember? I can bring them back but in return—"
"No, no, no, you don't get a 'but in return'," Damon wagged a finger at her. "You bring my brother's memories back or I kill you. Simple as that."
"Then you'll lose a secure alliance," Rosalie retorted. "Because I promise you that Tessa is the crazier of us two and, in case you haven't noticed, the meaner one. Is she the one trying to return your brother's memories?" The silence spoke for itself. "Didn't think so. Hi, I'm Rosalie," she stuck a hand out to shake with Damon, "and all I want in return for my help is to stay alive. Deal?"
Damon looked from her extended hand to Rosalie herself. At the moment, Elena was out there trying to jog Stefan's memories and not that he didn't trust her, but he was pretty sure that the witch partly responsible for the spell would have an easier time with it.
Rosalie gasped when his hand seized hers in a tight grip. His malevolent smile was back but with a touch of insanity itself.
"Hi, I'm Damon Salvatore and if you try anything against us, I'll snap your neck in a heartbeat."
‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿
Author's Note:
I'll actually say this, I had a lot of fun writing out Rosalie's friendship with Damon. But anyways, I'm excited to keep going! I love Rosie! And obviously, it goes without saying but I will change some of the arcs/dates/times of the show to make it fit with Rosie's story! It's not just a plain rewrite of the seasons!
As always, I have AO3/Fanfic accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)