❝battle of the doppelgängers❞
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"HAS SHE STILL NOT COME OUT?"

Elena shakes her head as Charlotte walks down the stairs, dragging her fingers between her curls with a flat, tired look on her face. Charlotte's eyes roll upwards towards the second floor of the house where Jenna is still hiding out, and she quietly rolls them back down just as the front door open and Alaric walks into the house with a look of panic similar to Elena's.

"Is she up yet?"

The twins shake their heads in unison and Elena lets out a stressed-sounding sigh. "She won't come out of her room."

"What'd you tell her?"

Elena shrugs helplessly, leaning against the railing of the stairs beside Charlotte as the older twin rakes her hair back, twisting it into a ponytail with the tie on her wrist, wincing when some of the baby hairs at the back of her neck pull slightly. "Nothing, she won't talk to me."

"We have to fix this,"

Elena sighs out a quiet agreement before her eyes widen as Jenna comes down the stairs in a flurry. "Hey,"

Alaric wears a similar look of surprise and relief just at the sight of her, but Jenna's frown deepens at the sight of him. "Jenna,"

"I don't want you here, Ric. You need to go,"

"Listen, I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now,"

Jenna turns around to look at him, her eyes drifting to the twins on either side of him. "Rage and betrayal would pretty much cover it."

Charlotte narrows her eyes at the duffle bag Jenna had dropped near the front door with her purse. Elena seems to have noticed it at the same time, and she voices her confusion. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to stay on campus," She says as she shrugs on her coat. "I have a thesis to write, and I don't want to be in this house."

"Jenna, please, just stop," Ric pleads. "Let us explain to you exactly what is going on."

Jenna pointedly ignores him, looking at her nieces. "I need you two to go to the Lockwood's today and accept the Historical Society's check for your mom's foundation."

Elena shakes her head slightly, looking at Jenna with big, sad eyes. "O–Okay, but, Jenna, please just–"

Jenna turns around in the doorway, her anger cresting visibly. "I don't have it in me to hear anymore lies from you,"

Alaric and Elena look down guiltily, but Charlotte maintains her gaze on her aunt. "Just let her leave."

Everyone stills, looking at Charlotte in her broken silence.

She looks away from Jenna to Elena. "If she wants to leave after Ric offered her the truth, then let her. And if she's leaving, then Ric can stay here. It's my house, too, and I don't care if he's here."

Jenna lets out a rough sigh, giving Charlotte a hurt look, but she turns around without another word and slams the door behind her.

Elena looks at her sister in shock, her thin brows knitting together. "Charlie, why would you say that?"

"Because we want Jenna to be safe. Now, she's not going to come back here. She'll stay at Whitmore and she'll be far away from any of this mess. That's the safest place for her to be right now."

"Charlotte's right," John's voice suddenly echoes from the hallway and the three of them all tense up as he stalks out of the dining room towards them. "It's best she's not here right now with all of this going on. But, maybe had you been a little more honest with her from the beginning, this–"

Charlotte lifts a hand, glaring at the man. "John, just–"

Both she and John are cut off when Alaric lunges forward with a grunt, slamming his fist down onto the side of John's face. Elena gasps in shock and John stumbles away, holding his hand to his nose.

Alaric shakes out his fist and looks at the twins. "Sorry, girls."

He turns and leaves as swiftly as Jenna had, leaving the twins alone with John.

Turning from the door to face him, the twins let out matching scoffs of cold humor at the blood trailing from his nose.

"You know this is your fault, right?"

John's jaw clenches at Elena's words. He looks at Charlotte, who gives him a look that's somehow loudly disparaging even in silence. "Right."

The twins nod and turn to go upstairs together, footsteps thunking on the hardwood floor. John wipes away the trail of blood from his nose, resigning himself to the one step forward, ten step backwards routine they have going on.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"This is a literal nightmare,"

Elena groans in agreement with Charlotte's words, her eyes flickering to the doorway as Stefan walks in, ending his conversation and putting his phone in his pocket. "Anything?"

He shakes his head, coming to sit on the bench beside Elena. "Caroline still hasn't heard from Matt. She's going to the Lockwood party to see if he's there."

"This is bad," Elena mutters as Stefan sighs. "Between Isobel and Jenna, and now Matt. This is disaster bad."

"Yeah,"

"Elena, Charlotte," John walks towards Elena's bedroom door, eyes briefly running over Stefan distastefully. "Can you come downstairs, please? I need to talk to both of you."

"We have nothing to say to you," The twins drone in unison, giving him matching looks of disdain.

"Please," John urges. "It's important. You, too, Stefan."

The twins pause slightly, turning to look at Stefan with a surprised look at John's inclusion of him. Elena rolls her eyes but stands, and Stefan and Charlotte follow suit, earning a nod from John who steps out of the doorway and lets the three of them walk down the stairs first.

Elena turns the corner at the last step and Charlotte swings her hand around on the railing, tapping her fingers against it as she lets go, with Stefan close behind her.

Elena and Charlotte both lift their gazes to the kitchen together and come to a stop at the woman standing in the doorway.

Isobel looks at the girls, seeing the obvious shock on their faces. "I asked John for a do-over."

Charlotte and Elena turn around to look at John, brows raised in absolute horror, anger clearly shining in their eyes.

"You invited her in?"

John sighs, like he was expecting nothing less than hostility. "She has information about Klaus. Please, just listen to her, okay?"

Charlotte scoffs, giving Stefan a wry look at the turn of events that he looks away from guiltily, knowing exactly why Charlotte was giving him that look. It doesn't escape him or either Gilbert twin that he's the reason John's even here.

"Alright," Stefan clears his throat, stepping past the twins if only to escape the ire in Charlotte's eyes. "What do you know?" 

Isobel turns and steps back into the kitchen, sitting down at the table swiftly. Charlotte resists the urge to make a comment about her comfortability, instead pushing past everyone else to get to the kitchen and position herself behind a counter, her fingers twitching towards the butcher's block a few inches away.

"Since I was last here, I've been doing everything possible to find Klaus. We knew our best chance was to find him before he could find you."

"We?" Charlotte echoes amusedly, giving John a cold glare. "Sounds like this do-over isn't new. You didn't think to mention this when you first showed up?"

John doesn't answer her, keeping his gaze on the ground, and Charlotte scoffs.

"Best chance at what?" Stefan redirects the conversation back to Isobel's words, giving the vampire a questioning look.

"Keeping Elena and Charlotte alive."

"You actually don't get to talk, okay?" Elena cuts in, swiping a hand at John. "Not after everything you've done."

Stefan shifts, putting his hands on his hips. "Were you able to find Klaus?"

"No. Nobody knows where he is."

"So, this is all useless. Shocker."

Isobel gleams a look in Charlotte's direction, almost letting her impatience with the girl's comments show but knowing it won't help the situation at all. "But there are rumors flying around that a doppelgänger exists."

"Which means any vampire that wants to get in favor with Klaus will be lining up to capture you."

Charlotte looks down at the countertop with a smirk, shaking her head. Elena, not looking in her direction, shakes her head and voices the disbelief she and Stefan obviously share. "I'm not buying any of this."

Elena steps towards Isobel, crossing her arms over her chest. "The last time that you were here, you made it clear that you didn't give a damn about me or Charlotte. Now all of a sudden I'm supposed to believe that you want to help?"

"Isobel's been helping all along," John informs her, glancing to see if Charlotte's still listening. He isn't surprised to find her still glaring at the counter, but he knows she's hearing every word. "Klaus has been obsessed with finding Katherine for centuries. All it would take was any one of those 1864 tomb vampires to spread the word around that Katherine was still alive and it would bring him straight here to Mystic Falls, where both of you were bound to be discovered. So we killed them."

"And almost killed Stefan and Damon in the process," Elena reminds him, voice raising slightly.

John concedes that point easily and carelessly. "Yeah."

Isobel stands up from her seat, looking between Elena and Charlotte. "I have a safe house that I can take you to. The deed is in both of your names. No vampires can get in without your permission. Not even me. Let me help you."

Charlotte clenches her jaw hard enough to feel her teeth creak and it sends a sharp pain up into her head that she ignores. "I would rather die by Klaus's hand than accept help from either one of you."

Elena nods at her sister's words, taking a step toward Isobel. "You wanna help? Then get the hell out of my house."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"Do you really think that Isobel's telling the truth, that word's gotten out about the doppelgänger?"

"Look, I don't trust a word that she says, but..." Stefan sighs, shaking his head slightly. "I think we'd be stupid to ignore the warning."

Charlotte hums in agreement from where her head lays on Elena's lap, her legs kicked out along the rest of the length of the couch so she can annoyingly tap her foot against Damon's where it hangs from his draped position in the armchair. "Seconded, Stefan. But I hate the sound of her voice, and I still kind of hate you for dragging John here in the first place."

Stefan sighs slightly, but shakes his head at her words.

"You know, you two should just stay here," Damon pipes in, words directed at the twins. "It's better for us to keep an eye on you."

"What, in the house that any vampire can enter? No. Their house is safer."

"Well, then, we'll stay there,"

Charlotte looks up at Elena, finding her already looking down at her, the girls wearing matching looks of impassiveness.

"So, is that the plan?" Elena looks up from her sister's face at the brothers. "Neither of you let us out of your sight again?"

"Let me know when you come up with a better one,"

Charlotte kicks her shoe particularly hard against Damon's boot at his tone and he tilts his head slightly to give her a disgruntled look she raises a brow at silently. He huffs and kicks her back, making her let out a noise of offense.

Ignoring their game of footsie, Elena sighs. "Fine. Which one of you is gonna come with us to the Lockwood luncheon, then?"

"That'd be me," Stefan says, giving Elena a soft smile she briefly mirrors.

"Oh, great, more third-wheeling," Charlotte mutters, face scrunching up when Elena pretends to accidentally hit Charlotte in the head as she moves her hands. "Ow. That hurt, loser,"

"As long as it's not me," Damon says, giving Charlotte a smarmy smile when she glares at him enviously. "I have witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie."

"With Bonnie?" Charlotte echoes incredulously, propping herself up on her elbows to look at him with furrowed brows. "Since when do you and Bonnie not try to kill one another on sight?"

"Since we have a common goal in mind," He raises a brow at her, pointedly hitting his shoe against hers again. "Keeping your reckless ass alive."

Elena sits forward slightly, shifting now that Charlotte's not laying on her lap. "Does that mean you're taking her to the–"

"Sh," Damon holds a finger up to his lips, making the twins give him looks of confusion that quickly clear up when the all too familiar voice of their doppelgänger rings out.

"Don't get quiet on my account," Katherine announces her presence with her usual smirk and a shared look of annoyance travels through the four of them. "If you have a plan to combat the impending vampire doom, please do tell."

Katherine comes to a stop at the accent table behind the couch Elena and Charlotte sit on, and Charlotte gives the woman a look of utter disinterest, laced with what can only be a little bit of disgust. Elena rolls her eyes and turns back around, more than content to keep her eyes on Stefan in favor of Katherine.

Charlotte's eyes drop to Damon, who's barely moved in the chair, and certainly hasn't made to give her any hints.

"Seriously," She says, looking at all of them. "What is the plan to get us out of this mess, hm? I delivered you a moonstone, a werewolf, and the dagger to lure and kill Klaus, and right now, all you have is a moonstone– or so you tell me."

"No, we have it."

Katherine snaps her head towards Damon, narrowing her eyes at his casual tone. "Where is it?"

"It's in a very safe place."

Katherine's face falls and she gives Damon a short glare. "I've been honest with you. Time to return the favor."

Damon smirks, eyes lighting up with the prospect of irritating Katherine. "Let me be honest with you; don't mistake the fact that we haven't set you on fire in your sleep for trust."

Katherine exhales sharply out of her nose, crossing her arms over her chest. "Fine. Be that way."

She turns around and walks out of the room and the four of them say nothing as she goes, simply sharing looks of faint amusement if only for the fact that with said impending vampire doom hanging over their heads, they can still irritate the bane of all their existences.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

  "And here to accept the donation to the Miranda Sommers-Gilbert Scholarship Fund, her daughters, Charlotte and Elena Gilbert."

Applause rings out through the room and Elena and Charlotte smile genially as they latch their arms together and walk up to the podium where Carol Lockwood stands.

Charlotte drops her arm from Elena's as they take the podium side by side, and Charlotte rests her hand on top of Elena's when she sees it tremble slightly. Clearing her throat, she looks at the crowd, trying not to seem like she'd rather be anywhere but here, accepting recognition for her mother's achievements when her mom should be doing it herself.

"The Historical Society was our mom's baby,"

Elena nods, regaining her bearings as she takes a deep breath. "She considered all of you family and would be honored and touched by this gift."

A faint thud echoes through the house and the crowd gathered in the room all falter in attention, turning to look as the noise grows louder, coming to a stop just a few feet away. Charlotte and Elena share a confused look, their eyes following everyone else's just in time to see Stefan rush towards the source of the noise.

Charlotte grabs Elena's hand tightly, holding her in place as everyone rushes out of the room. "Stay here,"

"Charlie,"

"Just hold on, Elena," Charlotte rushes out of the room with everyone else, leaving her sister, and she pushes through the people murmuring in shock, shoving to the front where Stefan is kneeling on the ground beside an unconscious John.

"Please, let the Sheriff do her job!"

Charlotte looks over as Sheriff Forbes kneels beside Stefan, her eyes wide.

"Uh–" Stefan looks up at the Sheriff, his eyes briefly darting towards Charlotte, who clearly sees the panic and confusion in them. "He's bleeding. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I got it," Liz beckons him away from John and he goes easily, going over to Charlotte who wears an equally confused look.

"What's going on?" Charlotte muttered, letting Stefan push her in front of him to get back into the other room where they'd left Elena.

"I don't know, but he was attacked by a vampire," Stefan nearly whispered the words and Charlotte tensed at them, her eyes scanning for her sister.

"I'm sure we know which one," Charlotte scoffed lowly, dark eyes flickering with upset. "Elena, come on, let's go."

Stefan looks around, frown deepening at Elena's missing presence. "Elena!"

A small noise comes from behind them and they both turn to face Elena, the girl giving them a wide-eyed look as she presses her phone to her ear.

Stefan and Charlotte both scan her quickly, as if looking for any visible wounds.

"You okay?" Stefan steps forward, his question earning a nod from his girlfriend as she presses her finger to her other ear like she can't hear over the commotion nearby.

"I'm calling Damon," Elena sighs, stepping towards her sister and Stefan, who quickly gather her and push her towards the doors.

"Let's get out of here, come on,"

The three of them are out of the Lockwood mansion before anyone really notices, and Charlotte is quick to shove her hands into the pockets of her coat as she pulls it over her wine-red dress.

As they walk out into the brisk air, Charlotte's eyes drift over Elena as she quickly gets Damon's attention on the other line.

"John was attacked by a vampire," She says quickly, nodding at whatever Damon says on the other line. "It's Isobel, Damon, it's gotta be."

"Tell him he needs to get over here and deal with John's body," Stefan says, knowing his brother will hear him anyway.

Elena sighed, buttoning her coat up with one hand as they hurried to Stefan's car. "You've got some serious explaining to do to the Council about John being not-so dead," She hangs up without waiting for Damon to respond, and Charlotte falls out of step with her just in time for Stefan to shove her forward into the back of his car.

Charlotte's face sets into a glare as Stefan grabs Katherine by the arms, keeping her pinned against the car.

"Where the hell is she, huh?"

Katherine huffs, thrusting her hand out, making Charlotte gasp in surprise as she injects Stefan with vervain. "I'm sorry, Stef," Katherine shakes her head, flicking her hair from her face. "But I can't have you following me."

Her matching eyes fall to Charlotte as the girl takes a slow step backwards, and she throws Stefan into the brush beside them, walking towards Charlotte. "Come on, Charlie, don't try to fight it. You know you can't run from me."

Charlotte stops moving, because she knows Katherine is right. The vampire smirks in satisfaction and wraps a tight grip around Charlotte's arm, tugging her towards the car. "You're right, I can't run from you," Charlotte huffs, a careless sort of defeat in her voice. "But I can at least piss you off."

Katherine turns her head towards her just as she brings her fist up and slams it into Katherine's nose, making the vampire cry out in pain. Charlotte groans at the immediate throb of pain in her knuckles, a choked off noise of pain coming from her as she attempts to straight her fingers out.

Katherine scoffs, her nose already healing as she wipes the sleeve of Elena's coat over her upper lip to rid it of the blood. "You're lucky I'm on borrowed time, Charlotte. I wouldn't normally let you get away with that,"

"Well, I figured I'd fulfill one last bucket list item before you sent me to my death," She sighs out, her sarcastic words earning a bitter smile from Katherine.

Katherine brings her hand up in a flurry of movements, barely blinking as she slams it into the side of Charlotte's head, catching the girl's weight as she falls unconscious, knees giving out from beneath her. "Unfortunately, I've got much bigger plans for you, Charlotte."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Katherine stands in front of Charlotte where she sits on the couch in Isobel's house, the doppelgängers wearing identical glares as they look at one another.

"You could at least try to make my face look less unhappy," Katherine raises a brow, her words only serving to make Charlotte's face appear more unhappy. "God, you're so human. I wonder what you'll look like when you're older. If you make it that far, of course,"

"I can only hope I'll look nothing like you,"Charlotte presses her hands together in prayer, earning an eye roll from the vampire.

"You know, we're a lot alike, Charlotte,"Katherine peers down at her, eyes roaming over her with something gleaming in them that makes Charlotte stiffen her spine. "I killed myself once, too. And then I was reborn, and it's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Katherine leans down, pushing into Charlotte's space. "You could do it, too. Be reborn, and be who we were always meant to be. The Petrova doppelgängers, always the last ones standing. It's in your blood, Charlotte."

Charlotte glares up at her unwaveringly, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, cradling her throbbing hand close to her person so Katherine can't see how much Charlotte hurt herself for one punch earlier. "I don't want to be a vampire,"

"Who exactly are you trying to convince with that shtick? Because it's not working on me,"

"No one," Charlotte snaps back. "I'm not trying to convince anyone, it's just the truth. I don't want to be a vampire, and I am nothing like you."

Katherine laughs airily, flicking her hair out of her face as she paces a short distance in front of Charlotte, still managing to make it look like she's sauntering. "You know, you're a fluke, Charlotte. There's never been a twin. There isn't supposed to be. You're a one-off, a cosmic mistake. Klaus only needs one doppelgänger, which means you and Elena are going to have to choose."

The vampire stops, her face twisting in a frown that has poorly-feigned confusion behind it. "Except, Stefan won't let it be Elena, and you certainly won't sacrifice your sister to save your own life, which means... it's gotta be you."

"Stop, Katherine,"

"But you can forget all about that, because Damon will never let you give yourself up like that. You'd have to do it without him knowing, but even then, you'd have to die knowing he'll never forgive you. He'd probably blame Elena, too. He's really good at holding grudges, trust me, I'd know. Seems like you've got a lot of big decisions to make, mini-me,"

"Stop," Charlotte repeats, clenching her fists in her lap, not giving the woman the satisfaction of seeing the fire burning in her eyes.

"Once again, it all comes down to you. Either you sacrifice Elena and hate yourself for the rest of your life, and have everybody else hate you for it, too, or you sacrifice yourself and will be remembered as nothing but a martyr," Katherine taps her chin, mockingly contemplative. "God, it might be like losing your parents all over again. Little Jer-Bear never did quite recover from that, did he?"

Charlotte's head snaps up and she forgets to care about the tears burning behind her eyes as she fixes Katherine with a glare full of utter contempt. "Stop it, Katherine! Just stop!"

Katherine smirks widely, looking as satisfied as ever in the face of Charlotte's anger.

"You think you're entitled to just say these things because you messed around with an Original and it's been biting you in the ass for 500 years?" Charlotte stands up, roughly wiping her tears away as Katherine tilts her head mockingly at her. "Do you think that all of the pain and suffering you've caused, whether it be me or my family, or Stefan and Damon, or anyone else you've come into contact with in the past 5 centuries is okay because you lost your family? Do you think you're special, Katherine? Do you think you're the only person who's ever had the people they love torn away from them? You're not!"

Charlotte's voice bounces off the high ceilings of Isobel's stolen home, and she relishes in the way Katherine's smirk has slowly fallen with every word she's said. "You're not special, you don't deserve to do these things just for your own entertainment, or as some sort of revenge against the world for the consequences of your selfish actions. You're not the judge, jury, and executioner of karma! You didn't earn the right to ruin people's lives just because you suffered!"

Charlotte shakes her head, a hysterical laugh spilling from her lips. "You're not special, Katherine. You're just a miserable, lonely, bitch."

Katherine scoffs, but the noise is weak and they both know it. She steps towards Charlotte, closing more of the distance between them that Charlotte had during her tangent. "I could kill you where you stand. Your life, your words... they mean nothing, Charlotte."

"Then do it," Charlotte shrugs, throwing her hands out at her sides. "You wanna kill me, kill me. I'd rather die than become a vampire, so you'd be doing me a better favor this way."

"Well, don't give a girl ideas," Katherine smiled, her perfectly manicured nails tapping against her arms where they're defensively crossed over her chest. "It seems like it'd be my perfect revenge to turn you."

"You're the oldest living doppelgänger, you were destined to exist, even if you're not human anymore. But me? I mean, you said it yourself, I was a fluke, an accident— there was never supposed to be a twin."

"Don't you even want to think about it? Just imagine how much better you'd feel if you knew that you could live forever, and never have to worry about anyone but yourself again. You'd have absolute freedom, Charlotte."

The Gilbert girl gives her a look of humorous disbelief, raising her eyebrows high. "Is that what you've told yourself all these years? Katherine, you are every reason I don't want to be a vampire. The only reason you see your crippling loneliness as a good thing is because you've had 500 years to convince yourself that it's true, when in reality, you're just as sad and miserable and lonely as you were when you were human. You tell yourself that losing your entire family and being on the run has been worth it because you're stronger and you have power over people, but you're lying to yourself and everyone knows it."

Charlotte steps forward, toe to toe with Katherine in her sister's stolen dress, staring back at her own face. "You know just as well as I do that if you stopped being such a backstabbing, manipulative bitch for 5 seconds, you'd have just enough time to realize that your entire life lost its meaning when Klaus killed your family. And that— that would kill you. Because you'd realize that no one has ever truly loved you— you, and not the person you've been pretending to be— not in 500 years. And if I felt even a fraction of that... well, I'd finish the job this time."

Charlotte shakes her head, shrugging in the face of Katherine's snarling wrath. "So, we may look alike and sound alike, but I am nothing like you, Katherine. Because the people I've lost, and the ones I've still got, they are everything to me. They are the reason that I'm still here, and it's not in spite of some psychotic hybrid, and it's not at the expense of some other person I've tricked into helping me. It's because they love me, and I love them, and you have no idea what that feels like. You are—"Charlotte scoffs. "You are so disingenuous to everything that I am, our similarities stop and start with our looks."

Before Katherine can say anything to the scathing dressing down she's just received, her phone rings and she snatches it out of her coat pocket without taking her vitriolic gaze off of Charlotte. "Hello?"

"Are we good to go?"

Charlotte's eyes flicker to Katherine's phone at the quiet echo of Isobel's voice coming from the speaker.

"I'm at your house, and I have Charlotte. We need to hurry. Damon knows your lodging tricks and he doesn't like when his pet is out of his sight. It'll take him all of 20 minutes to find us."

Charlotte's eyes flash with annoyance at her digs but she stays silent, determined to listen to the phone call.

"We'll be long gone by then."

"Good. How far are you?"

There's a slight pause in all noise before Isobel speaks again. "I'm sorry, Katherine."

Katherine's face immediately twists, her hand tightening on the phone.

"I had to do what I was told. He wanted the moonstone, and he wanted you."

"He? He who?" Katherine pulls the phone away from her ear as Isobel ends the call and Charlotte sees the panic fill her eyes.

Charlotte's eyes snap over just as Katherine's do too, and she throws herself out of the fray as Katherine rushes to the man that's just appeared in the house.

Katherine's cell phone clatters to the floor and Charlotte snatches it up before she runs for the door, making brief eye contact with the man as he raises his hands to Katherine's head and knocks her out. She holds Katherine's phone close to her chest in her swollen hand, waiting for the man to lunge for her. He doesn't, though. In fact, he doesn't say anything to her at all, and she doesn't linger to provoke him as she throws herself out of the door, immediately running to Stefan's car and wrenching the door open, jabbing the key into the ignition.

Charlotte peals out of the driveway of the house and she pants as her heart pounds, holding Katherine's cell phone up to open her texts and haphazardly keeping her eyes on the road as she drives away.

It doesn't take her long to find the texts between her and Isobel, and it takes her even less time to find out where Isobel was taking Elena.

Pressing her foot down into the gas pedal, the engine rumbles beneath her and Charlotte clenches her fists around the steering wheel, feeling the throb of her undoubtedly broken hand warp around it, hoping she can reach her sister before something happens.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The screeching of tires jars Elena and Isobel, and the two both look over in time to see Charlotte fling herself out of the car and sprint over to them. She doesn't slow down as she gathers Elena up in her arms, pulling her away from Isobel, glaring at the woman as her chest heaves from the cold air whisking her breath away.

Elena relaxes in her sister's hold, a breath of relief leaving her as she shifts to cling to her just as tightly. "Charlotte,"

"You're okay? Are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"No, I'm... I'm fine," Elena says, somewhat mystified by the fact. Her eyes lift towards Isobel again, and she straightens her spine, a little braver with Charlotte at her side. "So, is that what happened? You were compelled to betray Katherine?"

Charlotte tenses slightly, lifting her head up to look at Isobel where she stands a few feet away amidst the line of headstones.

"If I was, I couldn't tell you,"

"So you lied. You did find Klaus, didn't you? He knows where we are now. Are you taking us to him?"

Charlotte holds Elena a bit tighter, not taking her eyes off of Isobel. "She's not taking us anywhere, Elena."

Elena glances at her sister, the protective gleam in her eyes, and then at their surroundings. "Why are we here?"

Isobel shifts slightly, tilting her head down to look at a headstone at her feet. Upon closer inspection, the headstone reads Isobel's name, the words 'loving daughter and wife' carved beneath it. Charlotte resists a scoff at the lack of evidence Isobel was ever technically a mother.

"My parents, your grandparents," The vampire says, turning to look at the twins. "They put this here when it became clear the police weren't going to find my body. They visit every week and they bring flowers, even though there's no one buried here. The Isobel they knew is dead. So, maybe there's a part of me that's buried here— the human part. The part that I abandoned when I chose to become a vampire, the part that used to dream about the day she'd know her daughters."

Charlotte and Elena inhale sharply, though their dubious expressions don't waver.

"What?"

Isobel's eyes drift between them, shrugging. "Instead, you got to meet the other part. The part that would betray her own flesh and blood."

Isobel's phone rings and she barely lets it before she answers. The girls can't hear who's on the other line, but Charlotte could probably guess, and it's certainly not Katherine.

"Yes,"

Isobel's face immediately furrows at whatever is said in response to her confirmation. "Let them go?"

Charlotte and Elena tighten their holds on one another, sharing a secret look.

"I'm done?"

Isobel's voice takes on an almost dazed tone and the twins watch as she ends the call and pockets her phone.

"Who was that?" Elena asks.

Isobel's eyes drift between her daughters and she tilts her head slightly. "I'm sorry that I was such a disappointment to you."

Before either girl can register her words, Isobel reaches up and yanks her lapis lazuli necklace off, and her skin begins to burn beneath the sunlight. She screams out in pain and Charlotte stutters out a gasp as she grabs Elena's turning her head inward towards her shoulder so she doesn't see Isobel burn.

Charlotte watches, unflinching as Isobel falls to the ground, her screams silent in her quick, torturous death.

She feels a tremble in her body and she can't tell if it's her or Elena, so she just holds onto her sister as tight as she can.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Charlotte stares blandly at the empty fireplace in front of her, registering Stefan and Damon as they walk into the room where she and Elena sit silently on the couch.

"Is that Isobel's?"

Charlotte blinks at Stefan's voice, her eyes lifting to his face before following the direction of his gaze to where Elena had a hold on Isobel's daylight necklace. She hadn't said anything when Elena grabbed it before Charlotte beckoned her to the car and they left the cemetery and Isobel's charred body behind. She wishes Elena had left it, though.

She presses the melting ice pack harder into her swollen hand, barely able to flex her fingers beneath it.

"I never thought I would feel bad about her being dead, and yet..."

"She was your mother."

Charlotte looks away at those words, drifting her stare back to the fireplace as she recalled the flames that engulfed Isobel.

"Why did they let us go?"

Stefan heaves a sigh, giving his girlfriend an apologetic look. "Well, anything John told Isobel we have to assume that Klaus knows, right? So he knows neither one of you are going to turn yourselves into a vampire, and he knows you have us protecting you."

"He knows we aren't running." Charlotte says, her voice cracking slightly with disuse. She thinks she can still taste the flames from Isobel's body. She can still smell the stench of burning flesh.

"Which is why we need to take some precautions, 'cause we got played, all of us," Damon drops a stack of papers into Charlotte's lap, giving her a pointed look that's laced with concern as he eyes her injured hand. "What exactly did you do to your hand again?"

"I broke it punching Katherine in the face. What is this?" Charlotte questions, picking the papers up with a frown.

"It's the deed to our house. It's in Zach's name, but as soon as both of you sign it, it'll be yours."

Elena and Charlotte share an incredulous look that they turn onto the Salvatore brothers. "You're giving us your house?"

Damon grimaced at their synced voices, ignoring it in favor of lifting the ice pack off Charlotte's swollen hand, making her smack his hand away with her uninjured one. He shoots her a glare at her obstinance and she ignores it to press the ice back onto her hand.

"Isobel had the right idea with the safe house. You'll both just stay here until it's all over. That way you can control who gets invited in and who doesn't."

Damon points a finger at Charlotte in warning. "I'll be pissed if you lock me out."

Charlotte goes to retort with something snarky but John's suddenly jerks from his temporarily dead state and he wakes with a gasp.

Damon drops all pretenses of taunting Charlotte and rushes over to him, stopping him from approaching the twins.

"I swear, I had no idea what she was going to do," John breathes out, his eyes wide as he looks at the twins. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Charlotte tenses at his words instinctively but forces herself to relax, sighing out her anger through her nose. "Damon, it's alright. He and I need to talk."

Charlotte stands up from the couch, shifting the house deed onto Elena's lap as Damon reluctantly lets go of John and lets him stand up.

Charlotte jerks her head in a nod towards the other room and John nods, quick to follow her as she leads him out of the sitting room. She glances over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of Elena's confused look at her willingness to speak to John, and Damon's look of obvious disdain at the thought of letting her talk to John alone. Stefan, although standing defensively with his arms crossed over his chest, seems to meet her eyes with understanding and she swallows roughly, turning away from it quickly.

With enough distance between them and the vampires, she shuts the door to one of the study's, turning to face John as he rubs at his sore, but healed neck with a grimace. When he sees her attention is on him, he straightens up again, a plea on the tip of his tongue.

"Charlotte, you have to believe me, I didn't know,"

"I do believe you."

He stops short at her unexpected response. "You do?"

"Katherine and Isobel are manipulative liars, it's not really hard to believe that they lied and manipulated you, too."

John sighs, nodding slowly. "I knew that she and Katherine were close, but I never realized they were working against me. Two of the world's most uncaring and selfish vampires, and yet they were genuinely friends."

"If you knew that, why'd you trust her in the first place?"

John gives her something of an apologetic look. "Because I was there when she gave birth to you and Elena. I saw how heartbroken she was to give you up. And because she was the first girl I ever loved, when she said she'd help keep you safe... I believed her."

Charlotte clenches her jaw. "And look what happened to her in the end."

Grief shines in John's eyes and Charlotte doesn't allow herself to feel bad. "At this point, Charlotte, I will do whatever you and Elena want me to do. If you feel safer with me not around, then I'll go."

Charlotte doesn't say anything for a long time, and John nods sadly at her prolonged silence, standing up to leave.

"You're an arrogant ass, and you screw up everything you touch."

John stops at her harsh words, looking at her as she seems to steel herself against whatever thoughts are running through her mind.

"But Elena doesn't hate you. I... don't hate you," She meets his eyes, seeing the smallest gleam of hope in them. "Despite everything, you and I have a common goal in mind."

John raises a brow.

"We want to keep Elena safe. So you're going to help me do just that, no matter what. On my terms. No more backstabbing, no more setting Stefan and Damon up, no more antagonizing Ric and causing problems with him and Jenna."

John nods throughout her words, keeping his gaze on her as she walks towards him. She comes to a stop just before him, looking up at him with fire in her dark eyes that make her look nothing like him, and everything like his brother.

"If I find out you do anything that goes against that, I won't waste my breath to yell at you. I'll just let Damon decide what to do with you."

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

author's note; i did not edit this at all im at work and i have to go see a patient so if there's mistakes no there's not. klaus is officially in mystic falls!

edited (not) and published; 1.13.25.

- liz