Lizzie felt groggy as she tried to process what was happening. Her head was pounding and she was annoyingly tired. Despite that, she felt a strange sense of calm.

For the first time in a long time, she felt okay. Even though she had a headache, her mind was steady and she no longer felt like she was vibrating on the edge.

"Lizzie?"

She looked up and saw Josie staring at her worriedly. A flare of deep rooted rage made her clench her fist.

Anger. She was angry. And there was some sadness in there.

So she definitely didn't go full on sociopath. Damn, she really could have done without these excess emotions.

"Jo," She said, keeping her voice level as she mustered up some fake fear to let leak into her voice. Keeping up appearances would be key from here on out. With some difficulty, she managed to make her eyes water.

It was surprisingly harder than she thought it would be.

Josie quickly pulled her into a hug, her arms were wrapped around her tightly, whispering reassurances. Lizzie rested her head on her twin's shoulder, a scared expression fading away into something far darker.

She had no desire to hurt Josie. That was new. It made sense in a way. Before, her emotions had been overwhelming her, giving her every reason to get rid of the threat but now? Josie wasn't the threat.

She was.

And they would have no idea. Not until it was too late to turn back.

Lizzie could see Josie breathing shakily. Her sister was scared. For herself? Or Lizzie? She found she really didn't care either way.

Could she kill her? A part of her pondered this. Kill her own twin? That was a mystery, she wasn't certain she would ever find out.

Not if they managed to stop the merge. If not, she knew she could go through with it. She was born to survive. And if surviving meant hurting the only person that she still loved, that's what would happen.

Would she regret it? Most likely. But she would be alive, which would be the most important thing to her.

When the twins pulled away, Lizzie considered her sister. Josie had dark circles under her eyes and looked stressed.

"Are you okay?" Josie asked, softly. God, her sister was the sweetest girl alive. So fucking forgiving. It was her greatest strength and greatest weakness.

So easy to twist. And blinded her to reality.

"I'm okay," Lizzie said, before remembering the witches she hurt as Josie nodded, relaxing slightly.

Oops, probably should mention them, don't want them to realize she's gone off the rails quite yet.

Activating her shaky voice she looked at her sister. "The girls...the witches. I- uh, are they okay?"

Josie looked at her in relief. Thankful for the sign of remorse. If only she knew.

"They're okay. They're going to make a full recovery." Well, that sucked. All that hard work was put to waste. "Dad thinks it may be better if you stay away from them for now. They're a little shaken by what happened."

"Yeah, no, I get it," Lizzie said, lying through her teeth. As if, she would do anything that bastard wanted. "See them in the hallways, walk the other way."

"I'm glad you get it," She said, looking happy for a moment before a serious look appeared on her face. Oh, here she goes. "Liz?"

"Yeah," Lizzie said, meeting her gaze.

"What happened?"

Lizzie looked down at her hands, swallowing thickly.

"I don't know. One second I'm hearing them say I was better off dead, the next I suddenly had magic and they were screaming. Everything was fuzzy. Then, it went black," Lizzie explained, not looking up. "I messed up, didn't I?"

"It'll be okay," Josie said, grabbing her hand. "You're not the only one that messed up. And it was an accident."

"And does dad believe that?" Lizzie asked, barely able to keep the scorn out of her voice.

"It doesn't matter what he believes," Josie said, squeezing her hand. Lizzie watched as Josie hesitated for a moment. "What if we left?"

Well, this just took a turn. "What?"

"Not Mystic Falls but here, the school," Josie quickly explained, a smile forming on her face with excitement in her eyes.

"What are you saying, Jo?" She asked, feeling slightly caught off guard. Lizzie had been expecting a lot of things. This wasn't one of them.

"We can switch schools; to Mystic Falls High School. Think about it," Josie said, quickly. "We won't have to deal with the whispers or the stares, can you imagine?"

Lizzie paused. It wasn't a bad idea.

It would get out of her dad's line of sight and allow her to move more freely. It could also be taken as a sign of remorse that could be helpful in the long run.

"What's the catch," Lizzie said, considering her twin.

"You have to give up your powers-"

"No," Lizzie said, immediately. Like hell was she ever going to live as a human. Especially since she was now in complete control.

"Liz," Josie went to explain but Lizzie didn't let her.

"I'm not giving up my magic," She said, firmly.

Josie looked upset but she let it go. Then, she explained a few things that happened while she was out. Apparently, the Necromancer was making moves.

He was someone that she had to get rid of. Working with him would end in her getting screwed over - him betraying Josiemort without hesitation showed that.

Lizzie watched as her sister finally left, having been hovering for the last 30 minutes, likely wanting to keep an eye on her. God, she could be so suffocating sometimes.

Did Josie think she was going to lose control again or something? Episodes never happened right after one another. You'd think she'd remember that.

Besides, she had more control than she ever did before. Part of her wanted to laugh at them for worrying about when she was going to lose control again. When they have no idea that the only reason she would lose control is if she wanted to.

That made her doubt the part of her that thought going to a human high school was a good plan. Josie would be way too focused on her if she didn't give up her powers.

Though, she probably wouldn't hover more than their dad would. And with all the recent info, she doubted her control around him.

The door opened again and a new face stood looking at her hesitantly.

"Hope," Lizzie greeted, eyeing the other girl carefully.

She looked like utter shit. And Lizzie thought she looked bad.

"Hey Lizzie," She said, coming to sit on the bed. "I heard what happened."

"I think everyone's heard by now," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah," Hope said, sighing. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I promise," Lizzie said, watching as Hope looked down awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't there to help," She said, rubbing her arm.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Don't beat yourself up - it's not like you could have done anything if you were there," She said, giving her a look.

"I know," Hope said, sighing. "What caused you to lose control, Lizzie?"

"They were talking about how I was better off dead," Lizzie said, letting real anger seep into her voice.

Hope froze - rage making her eyes flash gold. "What?" Her voice gave her the impression of the calm before the storm.

"Hope, don't do anything," Lizzie said, even though she wanted to say the opposite. "Not right now."

"Fine," Hope said gruffly. "But later I'm definitely having a 'chat' with them."

Lizzie snorted. "I'll cheer you on from the side," She said, a slight grin on her face.

"Of course - what would I do without my cheerleader?" Hope said, jokingly.

"Please, if anything, you're my cheerleader," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

Hope laughed. "How about this - we're each other's cheerleaders," She said, smiling.

"I can work with that," Lizzie said, amused.

"Pinky promise," Hope said, holding out her pinky.

Lizzie made a face but linked her pinky with Hope's. "I hate you," She said, letting go.

"Sure you do," Hope laughed, making Lizzie pout.

"You know I take it back, I am no longer your cheerleader," Lizzie said, crossing her arms.

Hope smiled. "No takebacks, Liz, you swore it with your pinky."

"I did not," Lizzie said, shaking her head. "You hallucinated it."

"Uh-huh, sure I did. So, since you're kind of grounded for a bit, while things calm down, want to watch a movie?" Hope said, laughing as she met her gaze.

"May as well pass the time somehow," Lizzie said, shrugging. Would give her some time to figure things out.

The next month consisted of Lizzie getting a feel for herself. Learning what made her tick and what made her go stone cold.

She had to learn quickly if she wanted to be able to play the part.

It was a difficult thing to work with but eventually, using the reactions of others to help, she fell back into her old personality.

She found it annoying and tedious, but even giving a hint that she was different would send off a warning bell to the others. Leading to future problems she would have to deal with once she decided how she was going to get her revenge.

A conversation she overheard after she was allowed to be a part of school again, made her itch to get something started.

Lizzie had gone to her dad's office to try and do damage control but she stopped outside the door hearing a voice from inside the room.

"I really need help here," Alaric said, distantly. "This is the worst that she's ever lost control."

Lizzie peaked her head in and saw her dad on the phone, facing the window.

"Care, I don't know how you expect me to handle this without you," He said, sighing. Mom, she realized, he was talking to mom. And it was most likely about her.

"I know but first Josie, now Elizabeth," Alaric was shaking his head. "I don't understand how things could go so wrong so quickly. And I don't know how to get Elizabeth back under control."

Lizzie shut the door, quickly moving away before she did that she would regret. Okay, who was she kidding, she wouldn't regret it but the consequence of such actions would not be fun to deal with.

This led to her realizing that she had to make a game plan soon because it wouldn't take a lot to make her do something that would screw her future efforts majorly.

During the time since she re-merged with herself, Josie had gone to stay with their mom to 'steady' herself. She had invited Lizzie along, but she declined, knowing that seeing the one person she trusted that was a part of fucking her up, wouldn't end well.

Josie was only gone for a bit before she came back and signed up for Mystic Falls High School, which was kind of a relief, since Josie was one of the few people that may be able to sniff out that something was different.

Hope was the other person that Lizzie had considered could potentially catch her in her act but then everything happened with Malivore, the necromancer, the new prison world, and Landon turning into mud, so Hope had other things to think about.

So far there's been multiple versions of Landon that weren't him running around, which Lizzie found highly amusing. She had picked up from the beginning that they weren't him.

She'd just conveniently forgotten to mention it to anybody.

Then, there was the situation involving the black magic prison world thing that Hope 'forced' them to do so that they could save Landon.

Lizzie really played that whole situation up. They definitely weren't about to doubt that she was a caring sister, that would do anything to protect Josie.

She literally just did it because she was curious about how black magic would affect her now that she was different. It was surprisingly boring.

Sure, it gave a bit of an addicting rush of power, but she got that anyway from siphoning a lot at once. It just had a darker feel and was slightly more powerful.

Anyways, now Hope was spiraling. That much was obvious since it was revealed that Landon was actually Malivore. Big surprise - super shocking.

Truly, she had no idea.

It was honestly amusing watching them all freak out. It had sparked a tiny idea that was beginning to fester. One that she could definitely make use of after she found the witch dude that decided it was a great idea to mess with a child's mind.

It was taking surprisingly long. It'd be easier to snoop in her dad's shit to find any info, but that could tip him off, which was the last thing she wanted to happen.

So she had to find another way to find him, which was what she needed to figure out how to make it work. That was when she realized a possible way but that would require Cleo being free.

Now how to make that work.

At this exact moment though, she was watching them sulk about failing to 'find' Landon in Malivore's mind. Please, it was obvious to anyone with eyes - which was no one in this room - that her dad was lying.

But of course, no one was questioning it. Not that she cared enough to challenge him. It shows too much of her blatant dislike of him and that would raise questions.

Then again, if this blindness to anything obvious, maybe she'd be fine, but knowing her luck somehow one of them would catch on.

Lizzie pretended to listen as she observed them. The office felt crowded with them all in there and multiple of them arguing. God, they were giving her a headache.

When everyone separated - Josie heading off to the drained Finch, Hope to more research, and the others to who knows where - Lizzie made her way back to the gym.

Entering, Malivore looked up, his narrowing on her in confusion. Then his face went blank. Lizzie stopped a few feet away from the bars.

"Back so soon? Let me guess, you came up with another failure of a plan," He said, dryly.

Lizzie let out a sharp laugh. "You know I give your chances of winning an eight out of ten," She said, walking around the cage, slowly.

"That's pretty high," He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that is if Hope doesn't activate her vampire side," Lizzie pointed out, shrugging. "If that happens, well, start counting your blessings."

Malivore eyed her. "What is your game plan here? Try and manipulate me into saying something," He said, tilting his head.

"No,' Lizzie said, shaking her head. "They don't know I'm here right now."

"Then, why are you here?" He asked, watching her carefully.

"That's a long story," She said, pushing her hair out of her face. "But let's just say that if you and I were in a competition to who can pretend to be someone else the best, I won."

Malivore stared at her as he tried to figure out what she was implying.

"You're not Lizzie Saltzman?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I am," Lizzie said, dismissively.

"Explain," Malivore said, frowning at her. Lizzie let out a dark chuckle.

"Do you know what aspd? Antisocial Personality Disorder," She said, watching as Malivore eyed her with a puzzled look.

Lizzie rolled her eyes and clarified. "The outdated term is sociopath or psychopath," She said, crossing her arms.

Understanding flickered in the other's eyes. He looked at her as he tried to put together what she was saying.

"What does that have to do with you?" He asked, leaning against the bars.

"Well, I had it - although it was called conduct disorder, since I was a child then," Lizzie said and continued before he could reply. "My parents were afraid of what that meant and went to a witch that fucked with my brain chemistry and locked that part of me away."

"That's possible?" Malivore said, blinking in surprise. He looked a lot like Landon in that moment, which was weird to think about.

She wondered if bird brain was listening. That could lead to some future problems if he was. Not that it would be difficult to fix.

"Apparently," Lizzie shrugged. "But this process of getting rid of my lack of empathy made me bipolar and have unstable control of my magic."

Malivore was suddenly looking at her with new eyes, clearly thinking of ways he could use this to his advantage.

He was going to underestimate her; she knew that without a doubt. And that was something she would use to her advantage.

In his mind, Hope was the bigger threat and in a way she was, but the pieces on the board that you can't predict can sometimes be even more deadly.

"This made me the weaker twin, in comparison to Josie," Lizzie said, rage flashing in her eyes. "Ironic that my parents' attempt to fix me, made me all the more likely to die when it came time for the merge."

"Well that's not very good parenting, now is it," Malivore said, contemplatively.

Lizzie snorted. "Please, like you're one to talk, you literally used one son and are riding the other," She said, giving him a look.

Malivore made a face. "Point taken - just don't phrase it like that again," He said with a shake of his head.

"Anyway, after the merge with Josie, it weakened the magic that separated the two parts of me, then it broke," Lizzie said, walking closer to the bars. "And now here we are."

"So you're a sociopath now?" Malivore asked, stopping right in front of her. Only the bars separate the two. "And have been for a month or two."

"A - that's the outdated term. B - Yes and no. I still have some emotions, whether I like it or not. Have had them for too long for them to disappear. C - My friends are either stupid or I am a great actor."

Malivore nodded, slowly. "So, why are you here? Talking to me?"

"Well, I'm bored," Lizzie said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"And?" Malivore raised an eyebrow.

"I've been pretending to be my old self this whole time and I don't want to anymore," She said, a smirk appearing on her face.

He gave her an interested look. "And what does that mean?"

Lizzie chucked, resting her hand on the bar, siphoning the spell on the cage. Walking to where the entrance was, she uttered a single spell.

Sparks flared around the bars as it was forcibly pulled open. A smirk formed on Malivore face as he stepped out.

"What do you say to working together?" Lizzie asked, offering a hand.

He laughed. "I'd love to," He said, taking her hand.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Would love to hear what you thought of the chapter. Thanks for reading!