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WhoreForCami carries the comments everytime

In a world where death is a hunter, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions. This quote was inscribed on one of the letters Mia had read over a thousand times, letters her mother had left for her and Ariana before her death. Since the vampire had come to Mystic Falls she hadn't even given them another glance, she couldn't face seeing all the advice given to her, the advice she'd been ignoring for over a century.

Guilt and regret were two of the emotions she tended to feel the most, sometimes due to actions that lead to consequences no one could foresee, like not warning Jenna Katherine would probably try to trick and lure her out of the house, not stopping Lexi from going to Stefan's birthday celebration, or the one that fuelled her self hate the most, when she forced Jesse to go to a nightclub which resulted in his death.

All of this was the reason she excessively tried to help others, so there'd be no regret if something was to go wrong, however there always was. It was inevitable. Life outside of Mystic Falls once again seemed luxurious, one of the main things stopping her from leaving was that she'd be alone. Loneliness was a bitter fiend, whenever Mia would find herself in the company of loved ones something would go awry, and once again loneliness would become her only companion.

What she failed to realise was that she was never truly on her own, there were always certain individuals watching over her.

"I'm telling you guys, it was a demon and it wanted my soul." Mia expressed as she steadied the ladder Bonnie was on top of. The events of the previous night had left her quite traumatised, she spent the entire time camped in the bathroom in the fear she'd soon be dragged to hell.

"It was like Caspar the Friendly Ghost's drug lord, mafia... assassin uncle, it fed on fear." Her friends gave sympathetic smiles but they weren't convinced. "You seriously don't believe me?"

"Well, from what I hear, you weren't entirely sober last night." Caroline tilted her head with a judgy brow raised. "Jeremy told us about Brownie Gate."

"That has nothing to do with it!" Mia retorted, dropping one of the lanterns down in frustration. She wished Rebekah was in town, the blonde Original had gone to New York to buy clothes for the homecoming dance, Mia wasn't entirely sure why that destination was a requirement for shopping but she was happy her friend was finally living a normal teenage life. Well, as normal as it could be.

One thing she was certain of was, that Rebekah would've believed her straight away and also wage a war on whichever spirit seemed intent on distressing the brunette. "It drew a J on the mirror, the mark is still there...kinda."

"Great, so now you're Lady Gaga and Judas is after you." The Forbes girl sassed, her laughter was cut off when Mia threw a roll of paper streamers at her face.

"Shut up." The Petrova snapped, trying to conceal her smile. She held a hand out for Bonnie as she climbed down the ladder then rested her head on the witch's shoulder. "You believe me, right Bon?"

"I believe that you saw it and that you think it's real but..." Bonnie paused, she knew Mia was telling the truth but didn't want to admit it, it meant that her spell to cut Vicki off from the mortal world had gone wrong. And if that was the case...they were in for a very chaotic day. She shot Caroline a look as a cue to step in.

"Mia, come here." Caroline placed the brunette's hands in her own, to keep her from scratching herself. "Vicki was the only one who had access to touch things here, and our amazing, badass, powerful friend Bonnie.." She gestured at their curly-haired girl on the side, "..sent her away, whatever you saw last night was just a dream, okay?"

Not okay, not o- fucking- kay at all. "Okay." Mia sighed, hoping they would see that she didn't mean it. "You're right, I'm just being paranoid, it's fine."

"Good." Caroline beamed, pecking a small kiss on the slightly shorter vampire's forehead. Bonnie, however, wasn't easily fooled, she could sense that the Petrova was still worried, just as she was about to intervene Caroline hooked an arm around each of their waists and began to walk down the pavement. "Let's just try to enjoy the day."

"Yeah, a Confederate holiday, what's not to love." Mia mused sarcastically. It genuinely baffled her how history had been angled to fit a certain narrative, disregarding all the barbaric behaviour. Stefan had previously told her all about his father's views and beliefs, it wasn't a reach to assume that the other founding families shared them.

"That's not what it is." The blonde contended, she cleared her throat and began speaking in a manner that was way too similar to the Mayor. "The Night of Illumination is about freedom, the first one was held in celebration of the newfound... prosperity that Mystic Falls enjoyed after the war. The founders placed lanterns over the doors to show that it was safe for their neighbours to come outside again. Their land wasn't in danger anymore."

And where'd they get the land from? Bonnie thought to herself, the so-called founders weren't even the original settlers in Mystic Falls but of course, that was never covered in history lessons. However her friend's sudden passion for the topic was amusing, she and Mia glanced at each other with a smirk, both of them thinking the same thing.

"What?" Caroline frowned in confusion.

"You've been spending too much time with Carol Lockwood." Bonnie giggled as Caroline gasped with offence. "It's kinda scary." It was true, since the blonde had begun dating Tyler she spent almost every day at the Lockwood house, at first, Carol was distant and cold however after a while she started to open up, Caroline would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy their daily rants and conversations.

"I don't sound like her." Caroline denied, looking over at the two girls who both had their brows furrowed to show their scepticism. "Okay so maybe I sound a little like her, but you guys should hear the stories she has. Her family immigrating from Mexico and how they built a life for themselves in Mystic Falls. Her dad had a tiny shoe shop and worked constantly..." Mia couldn't help but smile at Caroline's enthusiasm. "...it was worth it. Yeah, Richard made her try to fit in more but she remembers her roots and she's proud of them, it's great."

"At least she's being nice to you, she hates me." Mia remarked, the Mayor always seemed to have a disdain for the girl, the reasons completely unknown. "She's been better since I started helping Ty but she still gets so weird around me, it's strange."

"Give her time, it's impossible not to like you." Caroline reassured her, "People who hate you don't exist, they're fictional, like the Easter Bunny or mermaids."

"To be honest, I wouldn't rule out mermaids, they might be really good at hiding." From the corner of her eye she spotted a blue car convertible coming towards them, "Going back to the topic of Confederacy, we have a soldier heading our way."

Damon pulled up alongside the girls, "Greetings Blondie, Witchy, Bitchy." He scowled at Mia, her previous comment didn't go unheard by him, but he had bigger concerns at that time than starting an argument with her, instead he directed his attention to Bonnie. "I think you got your voodoo wires all crossed when you got rid of Vicki Donovan."

"What do you mean, why?" Bonnie quizzed, her suspicions had been confirmed, since she casted the spell a peculiar sense of eeriness had stayed with her but she brushed it off as paranoia.

"Because I'm pretty sure I just got spit roasted by Mason Lockwood's ghost." Damon told them.

"Uncle Hottie's back?!" Mia exclaimed, excitement practically radiating off her. The trio looked at her with unimpressed expressions, "Sorry." She smiled sheepishly and cleared her throat. "Continue."

"Why would you think that?" Caroline asked, crossing her arms.

"Maybe because he chained me to a chair and shoved a hot poker in my chest." Damon quipped, his lips curving downwards as he cocked his head. "Let's just say I'm having Deja vu."

"Wait, so that means.." Caroline turned towards Mia, she suddenly felt guilt for doubting her friend and dismissing her concerns. "You really did see someone last night."

"I'll take my apologies in written form." Mia joked in a serious tone, stepping away from the girls with her head held high. "Or strawberries, either is fine."

"Look, I don't have time be dealing with your little spirit friend or vengeful Lockwoods." Damon snapped to bring them back on point. "When I kill someone they're supposed to stay dead." Mia quietly laughed at the karate-like hand gestures he was making as he spoke, "Whatever you screwed up, fix it." He started his car and glared at the trio, cruising past them.

"A please would be nice, dick!" Mia yelled after him once he'd driven away. "What a cunt. I say, we just offer him up to Mason as a sacrifice. To make up for the vicious torture he had to go through." She frowned slightly at the memory, it was the Mystic Falls Historical Society Volunteer Day. The group was trying to figure out the importance behind the moonstone which was when they found out that Mason was actually retrieving it for a certain devious doppelganger.

Katherine, in her usual style, had been manipulating Mason for years, she had set up the whole scenario that triggered his wolf curse and told him to do a job for him in Mystic Falls when he should've been grieving his brother's death but his plan was foiled when Bonnie touched him and caught a glimpse of the truth.

This lead to Damon taking the werewolf hostage and tormenting him in the Salvatore living room. Mia, however was not at all thrilled with the plan, that was mostly because of her huge crush on him, so she tried to free Mason when she thought the coast was clear.

Unlucky for them, Damon had caught the brunette and snapped her neck before she could remove another rope. He carried her to the couch where she lay unconscious until Mason had been killed in a fit of jealousy and his body had been removed. Once she woke up and found out what happened she attacked the raven-haired Salvatore, hating that she wasn't able to do more.

Several bottles and household objects were thrown in his direction until Stefan pulled her into an embrace to calm her down. She didn't know the werewolf that well, it was the fact that Tyler's last father figure had been taken away from him that angered her the most.

"What if it was Vicki?" Caroline suggested, trying to ease the tension, "Maybe she found a way through again and attacked Damon for turning her in the first place."

"That part would make sense but then why would she have been in my room?" Mia contended, "I came into town after she died, didn't even know her."

"Maybe... she's jealous. That you and Tyler are best friends." The blonde responded but even she didn't sound convinced. Tyler and Vicki had a close bond at the beginning of the last school year but had fallen out once he found out the Donovan girl was sleeping with Jeremy as he was only 15 at the time.

"I don't think it's Vicki." Bonnie sighed, pushing her hair back. In the witch's mind she was the only one at fault, the consequences of going against the balance of nature and bringing Jeremy back to life seemed to be catching up to her. A clattering noise came from across the street, since all the girls were on edge they whirled around to see where it came from. Only to see their blonde human friend, who had dropped the box of decorations, "Let's ask Matt if he's seen her since then."

~~~~

Mia was walking down the pavement, trying to find Jeremy. She couldn't explain why but there was a strange feeling in her heart that something was going to happen to him. After spending a few minutes trying to decipher if it was a good or bad vibe she decided it was best to see him in person, to put her mind at ease.

"Nice to see you standing straight for a change." Stefan walked alongside her, causing her to flinch slightly at his sudden appearance, he smirked at the action. "Why so jumpy...scared?"

"Of you?" Mia laughed, making sure to make it as dramatic as she could, to dent his ego further, "Please Phillip, you got your ass handed to you by a history teacher and your human girlfriend, I don't think you're that much of a threat."

"Ex-girlfriend." Stefan corrected, Mia crossed the street to get away from him but as expected he stayed by her side. "So get this, I found Damon tied up and stabbed this morning, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"I have no clue what you're talking about." She shook her head, feigning confusion. Her heartbeat quickened when he moved towards her, placing his arm over her shoulder.

"Are you lying to me?" He whispered, holding a hand to his heart. "I thought we were friends."

"We are friends." Mia objected, pushing his arm away from her. Their interaction the previous night was something she'd been thinking about non-stop. "You're just not yourself." She was worried about what would happen when he turned his humanity back on, if he decided that he didn't want to be her friend anymore or the possibility of him blaming her for the almost kiss. The last thing she wanted was to lose Stefan.

"I'm not the only one who's not myself." Stefan teased as he tugged on a lock of her straightened hair, he knew pointing this out would irritate her. In the 20s Mia could be identified purely from the back of her head. She was one of the only women who wouldn't style her hair upwards. Instead, the strands would flow freely in the form of ringlets and bounce every time she took a step. Stefan often found himself watching Klaus play with the curls, twirling them around his finger, and as much as he hated to admit it, he longed to do the same.

"You seriously need new things to talk about, it's just hair." Mia rolled her eyes at him, but he did have a point. Perhaps it was because of an insecurity or simply her being vain, but Mia put extra effort into making these small changes, and she discovered that she was treated differently this way, "Anyways, you can't say much Mr Hero Hair, Damon told me you used to have a side parting. You can't lecture me when you do the same."

"You have a point, I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Stefan remarked, gazing at her. The scent of her perfume filled his senses as his eyes zeroed in on her neck. He couldn't explain it but he recently found himself craving the taste of her blood, to have her give herself to him completely. Not only that but he often imagined how it would feel if she fed off him, holding onto his body as her teeth sunk into his skin.

The Petrova cleared her throat when she caught him staring, however, he simply smiled, "Actually...I think I saw plenty of yours last night." The image of her without a shirt was engraved in his mind, also her annoyance with him. That was his aim, to provoke her far enough to snap, to be like him. In that moment he couldn't control himself, it wasn't until she pushed him away that he realised what he was doing.

Mia pressed her lips upwards, unable to think of a response, fortunately for her she didn't have to give one. "How you doing, vamps." Tyler approached the two, walking in between them. He caught sight of Mia's flustered appearance, "You okay? This dick bothering you?" The brunette shook her head but he wasn't entirely convinced.

"Last I checked she doesn't need your protection." Stefan sneered at the hybrid, this was the second time Tyler had interrupted them, he desired nothing more than to decapitate him. "You don't need to look out for her, Klaus gave that job to me."

"Yeah, and I'm sure he would love to hear about how you keep manhandling her." Tyler asserted, quirking his eyebrows. "You might want to ease up on the attitude and remember she's the one who saved your punk ass yesterday. Because trust me, I wouldn't have hesitated to bite you."

The ripper came to a pause and grabbed Tyler by his arm, bringing him to a threatening distance. "You think just because you're Klaus' hybrid that makes you untouchable? You're just one of the many slaves he's made for himself." Mia and the Lockwood both glanced at each other in confusion, causing Stefan to smirk. "What do you think he's been doing this entire time, he has a whole army of hybrids, you're not so special anymore."

Tyler's face dropped slightly, he was clearly disappointed. For once it was refreshing to be worth something, being Klaus' only hybrid gave him a sense of pride but now it was stripped away, leaving him as nothing but a pawn in the Mikaelson's game.

"I'm sorry, which one of you did Klaus compel to turn off their humanity?" Mia sassed, she knew it was a low blow but the look on Tyler's face broke her heart. "You're not one to talk about being a slave when the main reason Klaus left you behind was to watch out for Elena." She linked arms with Tyler and patted the Salvatore's shoulder. "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go. Your creepy dickhead energy is making my allergies flare up."

"See you, Stef." Tyler waved mockingly as the two walked away, leaving Stefan alone until he saw Elena and Alaric sitting outside the Grill. "God, that guy's such a dick."

"Understatement of the fucking century." Mia sighed, her phone alerted a message had been sent. She took it out and read over the long paragraphs and explanations from Bonnie, that she'd discovered a spell to reveal veiled matter, which meant the supernatural spirits that had been lurking around them for years would finally be uncovered.

The thought of that scared her, there were countless amounts of people that could bring danger to her loved ones. However, if her and Damon's theory of all the ghosts being able to interact with them was true, then it was certainly better if they could actually see them.

"I got harassed by a ghost last night." She shared suddenly, Tyler's head whipped in her direction, part of him wondered if the effects of the brownies were still in her system. "It was throwing things off the shelves and wrote a J on the mirror."

"For Jesse?" The Lockwood furrowed his brows, they'd spoken about her old friend a while ago and he made a promise to himself that he would take care of her in the same way. "Care told me about Vicki blowing up Ric's car, that means they can all hurt us if they want to...." He paused when a thought entered his mind, "Do you think...my dad is there?"

"He can't hurt you, Ty." The Petrova pulled him in closer and rested her head upon his shoulder whilst they continued to stroll down the street. Richard wasn't exactly the most caring father. He constantly put his son under pressure but the worst thing was his anger issues, the days would usually end with someone getting hurt, either Carol or Tyler, sometimes both.

"His curse hadn't been triggered so he was technically still human. But..." She grinned, excited to tell him something that would definitely lighten the mood. "Damon was being tortured last night, all chained up and impaled with a poker, he thinks it might've been Mason."

"Seriously?" Tyler chuckled, a warmth of contentment filled him completely, glad that his uncle had gotten revenge. That feeling was replaced almost instantly when he recalled something, "I never got to say goodbye to him, didn't even know he was dead until it was too late. Why didn't he come to me last night?"

"I'm not sure.... You know, Jeremy told me that one of the last things Mason said was to watch out for you, not let you go through the same thing he did. In the last few weeks of his life you were one of the most important things to him." Mia squeezed his hand to comfort him until she got an idea, it wasn't the smartest or the most sensible but as history would prove correct Mia Pierce wasn't one to care about those things. "Do you wanna do something weird, like really weird? I'm gonna need one of Mason's shirts."

"I'm down for anything." Tyler agreed immediately, she squealed happily and dragged him along the pavement with her.

~~~~

"I'm not doing that." Tyler shook his head, staring at the girl who was sat cross-legged on the floor. A circle of lit candles surrounded her and there was a light blue shirt resting on her lap.

"Trust me, the girls did this last year with Emily Bennett and it totally worked." Mia reassured him, for some odd reason she believed a séance would be the best way to contact Mason. "Just sit down and hold my hands."

"We're gonna look stupid." The hybrid contested, looking around to see if anyone was watching them, which wouldn't have been usual considering they were in a corner of the public library. "Look, I'm meant to be helping my mom with the lantern things today. I'm not wasting my time here."

"Sit down and hold my hands." Mia repeated demandingly, her face completely serious. Tyler sighed and obliged, joining her on the floor and entwining their fingers. "Good, now we begin."

"First of all, how do you even know this thing is gonna work, you're not a witch." He criticised, "Second of all aren't you worried someone will see us?"

"First of all, I don't need to be a witch to do this, the spirits are already roaming free and can touch us. We have Mason's shirt.." Mia gestured to the blue fabric, "...so at least he can maybe smell his scent and come to us. Second of all this is the adult erotica section and it's just turned two, the only people that come to the library at this time are grandmas, I don't think they're interested in this stuff."

"You never know." Tyler teased, letting go of one of her hands so he could poke her in the side. His hand was instantly slapped away and she seized it once more, "Ouch..." He muttered, "What are we meant to do now?"

"I've watched Ghost enough times to know what to do, just trust me." The brunette closed her eyes and spoke in a low hush, "Mason, if you're there give us a sign." Like maybe a kiss on the cheek.

As much as Mia wanted Tyler to see his uncle, part of her hoped it wouldn't work. She didn't know how she'd be able to face the older werewolf without feeling all the guilt rushing back, that she'd got caught trying to help him, gave him false hope that he was going to live.

Despite that, she gave Tyler a sharp look, urging him to speak. The Lockwood shook his head in amusement and began to talk in the same tone to mock her, "Mason, we...summon thee, bring forth your spirit so we can...hang out and stuff." They looked around but no signs of disturbances were present, "Maybe we need like a pottery wheel or something."

"Tell me stuff about him." Mia requested, "Maybe if he hears us talking about it he'll know where to go."

"I'm pretty sure if he wanted to see me he'd be here already, Em." Tyler sighed, he faced away and rubbed the back of his neck to hide the despair. He thought about everything he'd done since Mason's death and was worried that he'd let him down, which would've explained why his uncle was yet to appear. "Let's face it, he's not gonna show."

"Maybe Bonnie hasn't cast the manifestation spell yet." Mia suggested but she too could admit that if Mason was there he would've shown a sign. She quickly recalled walking in on a strange moment between Tyler, Mason, and Matt, the 3 men were sat down in the living room, watching Dirty Dancing. They all swore that they'd simply been flicking through the channels but the DVD case that was resting on the couch told her otherwise. If there was a chance that Mason was ignoring his nephew then the Petrova wanted to make sure he saw how far Tyler was willing to go to appease him.

"This could be love, because..." Mia began to sing quietly, to which Tyler looked at her as though she'd lost her mind. She knew there was a low probability that this would do anything but the possibility her friend would be happy made her continue. "I've had the time of my life.."

"What the hell are you doing?" Tyler interjected as she continued to sing over him, "No I've never felt this way before..." "Mia, stop." He leaned forward to cover her mouth but she edged away and carried on, even louder. "Cause I swear it's the truth.."

She held his hand and swayed, beaming in anticipation. Tyler rolled his eyes, knowing that she wasn't going to stop until she got what she wanted. He hung his head, lowering his voice so it could only be perceived by her, "And I owe it all to you."

"Amazing." The brunette gave him a round of applause whilst he laughed at their stupidity. Although she might've made a fool of herself, Mia didn't regret it in the slightest, the grin on his face showed no signs of fading. "I love you." She pulled on his arm and brought him into an embrace, "If he doesn't show his face then it's his loss, you don't need him."

"Yeah, screw him." Tyler sniffled, holding back tears. "It's you and me....until the bitter end." He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen soon, the news of Klaus' creating more hybrids did nothing but intensify that worry.

"Until the bitter end." Mia repeated.

Suddenly the sound of clapping echoed from behind them, "That was beautiful." Tyler felt Mia's body tense up in shock at the familiar voice. He looked past her shoulder and spotted a man with curly brown hair, leaning against the bookshelf. "Tyler, you were a little pitchy but don't worry, it's not your fault. Anyone would sound bad if they were singing with her."

The Lockwood released Mia from the hug but she stayed frozen, not wanting to look behind in case it was a trick. Her heart ached at the sound of the voice, the voice she hadn't heard in over a decade. "It's not real." She whispered to herself as she felt her throat tightening up, the vampire had managed to go quite a few weeks without crying but now it seemed her streak was on the verge of being broken until...

"Millie?" That was it, all she needed. She turned around slowly and began to cry quietly the moment her eyes laid on him. Jesse, her Jesse stood there with the biggest smile, however his eyes were also glazed with tears. "What, no welcome hug?" Still, she stayed fixed in the same position, numbness spreading through her body as she found herself unable to move.

"It's not real." Mia managed to say between her cries. She found it painful to look at him without seeing the image of him dead in her lap, every time he spoke the hush of his last breath ran through her ears like flames. All the feelings of guilt had come crashing back, the belief that she should've been the one who was bitten that night, she should've been the one that died. Mia was aware of how strange she was acting, that she hadn't run into his arms, but seeing him again had well and truly shattered her.

"Em, it's okay." Tyler approached her carefully, placing a hand on her shoulder, "It's real, he's there."

Jesse took a step towards her but the distance between them stayed the same due to her mirroring his actions backwards. Tears rolled down his face at the sight of the girl, he'd always despised seeing her cry and he knew exactly what was going through her mind. Before the unveiling spell had been cast he was following them, laughing at her and Tyler attempting to do a séance. He decided to abide by her instruction and say as much about her as he could think of.

"Amelia Sofia Petrova." He cleared his throat, "you were born on Friday the 13th and would constantly blame that for everything bad thing that happened to you, even if it was little things like running out of apple juice at home." Tyler chuckled quietly at the last part, having heard her use the same excuse when her hair tie would snap.

"If you could, you would survive by eating only strawberries, but you like spicy food too much to give it up. Sometimes you're stressed, you close your eyes, hold your hands together and pray, you always said you didn't know who you were praying to but someone was bound to listen and you did it because..." He paused to take a inhale, not wanting to fall apart in front of the already fractured vampire, "Because it's what your mom used to do."

The mention of her mother caused the Petrova to break completely, her sniffles became sobs as she knelt forward to control her respiring. Jesse sped to her immediately with the worry she would fall and engulfed her in his arms. "It's okay, Millie, I'm here."

She ran her hands frantically across his back, continuously touching him to make sure he was truly there. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Mia wailed as she clung to him, "It was all my fault, I made you come with us that night. I'm so sorry." She gasped, struggling to catch her breath. "I'll never forgive myself."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." The Burton boy held her closer to calm the trembling in her body. He knew there were other reasons for her crying, everything had built up since his death, he was always the one who took care of her but his sudden demise left her without the companion she'd spent almost a century with. Being in his presence had brought out the young vulnerable girl, who she'd kept captive in the depth of her soul. "I'm sorry for scaring the crap out of you yesterday but it was too hilarious not to do."

If there was one thing Jesse truly hated, it was seeing Mia in pain. It was torture to watch her friends take advantage of her. To see the people, who claimed to love her show her the cruellest treatment, to witness the Petrova constantly putting others' happiness above her own and not go after the things she truly wanted. As much as he wanted to scold her for all of this, he didn't want to waste this evanescent opportunity to spend time with her.

"Can I kill Damon please?" Jesse requested, stroking Mia's hair. "Or at least hurt him a bit."

"No." Mia muffled into his chest, "He already has a ghost haunting him and we're not spending this day on him."

"You're no fun." The boy whined as he pinched her sides and pulled away from the hug, aware that she wouldn't have been able to. "Thank you for looking after her." Jesse smiled at Tyler, who Mia forgot was even there. He'd just been watching them, feeling joy for his friend but also envious.

Before Tyler could respond they were interrupted by an old woman, walking past them to browse the shelves. She picked up a copy of Fifty Shades Of Grey and flicked through, the supernatural trio all looked at each other in amusement, the senior citizen clearly hadn't noticed them stood there.

"Told you." Tyler mouthed to Mia, receiving a middle finger in response. He cleared his throat and caught the attention of the woman, "Hey, Mrs Flowers, how you doing?"

"Oh my." Mrs Flowers whipped around, her eyes grew wide upon seeing what she thought were three normal teenagers, for her it was easier to deflect the issue instead of discussing this embarrassing moment, "You three shouldn't be inside on a day like this, the weather is beautiful, g-go enjoy it."

"Don't worry, we will. We were just tryna find something to read," Tyler gestured to the erotica in her hands, "Is that any good?"

"I-I wouldn't know dear." She stammered, placing it back on the shelf, "Ah, I'm afraid I'm in the wrong section. Make sure you go outside." The woman walked away, awkwardly, leaving them in a fit of hysterics.

"I feel so mean, we should've just let her read it." Mia pouted in sympathy for Mrs Flowers, recalling how kind she was during her first night in Mystic Falls, when Jenna had recommended she stayed there.

"We didn't stop her. She didn't have the confidence to follow through." Jesse shrugged, "Okay, I don't know how long we have left but I want to eat as much as possible."

~~~~

"I'm just saying, Tyler is hot, like in a jerk kinda way." Jesse remarked, he threw his arm over Mia's shoulder as the two made their way to the Grill. "Does he...you know?" The Petrova merely responded with a confused look, "You know... play for both teams, swing both ways."

"You can just say bi." Mia chuckled, she spotted a man walking in the same direction on the other side of the street and got a strange feeling they were being watched.

"Wow." The Burton boy titled his head, quite impressed with the change, in the past they would've found themselves beat for even suggesting such a thing. "Progressive times."

"Ehh...not really." Mia's lips pressed upwards with distaste. Jesse continued to chatter as she zoned out, wondering what this stranger's issue was, as much as she wanted to just confront him, she had far too much to catch up with.

"This place is cute, sort of a rustic vibe." Jesse looked around the Grill, he'd seen it countless of times whenever he would watch over Mia but he could sense she was tense and wanted to distract her. That was when he spotted a certain black-haired vampire sat down by the bar, "Fucking bastard."

He began to storm toward the Salvatore but was swiftly stopped by Mia, "Uh uh, we're not wasting our time on that prick, okay?" Part of her wanted to let her friend attack Damon, he had plenty of reasons to but she also had no true desire to spend the day on revenge.

"You don't get how angry it makes me, seeing him speak to you like crap." Jesse fumed, glaring at the man who was too consumed in his own world to notice them, "If it wasn't for him Lexi would be with you."

"I know, okay. And he deserves to be messed around a little, but I'm tir-" She halted abruptly, her shoulders slumping upon realising how much she was about to let go. Things she'd been holding in for a while, things that would worry her friends if they knew she was feeling that way.

"I'm sorry but his face pisses me off." Jesse snapped and attempted to make his way to Damon, once again Mia got in between. She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him towards the bathroom. "When did you become such a buzzkill?" He teased, tickling her until she shoved him completely through the door.

"After having fun got you killed." Mia quipped with a sharp tone, "Just rela-" Her mouth hung at the sight in the bathroom. Jeremy and Anna kissing. Motherfuckers. There they were, lost in their own heaven, completely ignoring how much it would hurt Bonnie.

The two broke apart with alarm, "Mia... I-I can explain." Jeremy held his hands up at the vampire, whose eyes were screaming murder. "It's not what it looks like."

"Really?" Mia scoffed, she knocked him back into the wall. "Because what it looks like is you making out with your predator of an ex."

"Don't speak to him like that!" Anna held her arm in the middle of them, what she didn't realise was that when Mia was angry, truly furious, it didn't matter what anyone said at first, she'd have to be physically restrained, impulse was a dangerous thing. Especially when it came to the people she loved being wronged, and it was safe to say Jeremy and Anna had done more than that to Bonnie. The only issue was Jeremy was a lot less indestructible and the Zhu girl had basically lured him since the beginning when he was only 15.

Mia's head whipped in the other vampire's direction. "Did you know he was dating Bonnie?" She asked Anna, this was to make sure her anger was being planted in the right place. One of her rules, when it came to situations like this, was, that if the other person didn't know the cheater had a partner then they weren't to blame. "Did you know?!" The brunette repeated louder.

"Yeah, I knew." Anna looked away, avoiding eye contact, "Don't blame Jeremy, it was all me."

"Oh, trust me...I know." Without warning Mia grasped Anna's hair, tangling her fingers into the strands, and whacked her head against the hand dryer. The painted metal dented due to the impact and Anna fell to the ground.

Mia sat on top of the girl, her knees placed on opposite sides, "You spiteful little bitch!" She spoke each word with a punch to the face. Anna attempted to fight back but knew she deserved it, although the Petrova was a lot younger, in that moment it was her rage that fuelled her strength.

"Mia stop!" Jeremy shouted, his efforts were futile. He ran his hands through his hair and faced Jesse with desperation, "Aren't you gonna do something?"

"Sorry bud, sounds like she had this coming." Jesse chuckled, smiling proudly at his best friend. He'd gotten so used to fighting Mia's battles for her when he was alive that it still surprised him when she took matters into her own hands, the urge to cheer and clap each time never faded.

"He was finally getting better!" Mia yelled as she continuously slammed Anna's head into the floor, "All you had to do was stay away but no, you couldn't help yourself!"

The bathroom door opened suddenly, revealing Elena, whose face filled with horror at what she was witnessing, "What's going on?!"

"Why don't you ask Jerry?" Jesse grinned, holding his hand out to the doppelganger, "Hi, you're kinda annoying sometimes but I find you very cute."

"Thank...you." Elena shook his hand hesitantly, "I'm sorry, who are you? And why is Mia hitting that girl?"

"I'm Jesse." The Burton smiled warmly when he saw Elena's reaction, "Yes, the Jesse. And that bleeding, pummelled little creature is Anna, I'm guessing....I haven't had the chance to get everyone's names but I'm pretty sure she's your bro's dead ex, who we just saw him kissing."

"What, Jeremy?!" Elena exclaimed, she looked at her brother with shock and disappointment then to her distant relative, who was using Anna as a punching bag. Mia knew Jeremy was also in the wrong, but if she gave them both the same treatment he would've been killed after three hits.

"Just stop her." Jeremy pleaded, "Elena please!" His sister rolled her eyes and waited for around 10 seconds to let Mia land a few more slaps, it wasn't as if Anna didn't deserve it, regardless of whatever reasons that had caused her to contact Jeremy in the first place.

She grabbed the back of Mia's shirt to try and tug her off the girl but it was useless. The thought of how heartbroken Bonnie would be when she found out about this was the main thing powering the Petrova vampire. She couldn't understand why someone would ever do anything to hurt the Bennet witch, who in her opinion was one of the nicest and most genuine people she'd ever met, someone who deserved happiness despite the world constantly trying to take it away from her.

"Mia just sto-" Her words were cut off when she pulled on Mia's arm too much which resulted in it flying back and accidentally striking her on the mouth. Elena staggered back, holding a hand to it to soothe the throbbing, she hissed in discomfort as blood began to seep from the wound.

The sound of the smack is what caught Mia's attention, she looked back and gasped quietly when she saw the doppelganger in pain, "Fuck." She finally got off of a bruised and broken-boned Anna and held Elena's face.

Jesse turned around and faced the wall to stop himself from laughing.

"It's fine." Elena reassured her, wincing as Mia dabbed her lip with a paper towel, "Just a little cut." Her eyes widened to a quite frightening size when she saw dark veins grow under Anna's tainted skin. Smelling the scent of fresh human blood after so long became too much for her to control.

She darted toward Mia and Elena but didn't even get to touch them. Jesse intercepted and snapped her neck before she had the chance to lay a finger on his best friend. "Why would she even attempt that after getting her ass beat?" He glanced at Jeremy, who looked like he was on the verge of falling unconscious, "Sorry about that bud, no one touches Millie when I'm here."

"You know..." Mia washed her hands in the sink and watched as Anna's blood went down the drain, "I think I may have overreacted slightly." She smiled apologetically at Elena, it was returned and the human left the bathroom, only to bump into someone she'd been thinking about earlier that day.

"Slightly?!" Jeremy raised a brow, his body shaking with anger.

"I don't know why you're trying to show me anger because I'm not done with you." Mia laughed bitterly, fighting the urge to hit him.

"Okay, we're gonna leave now." Jesse held Mia by her arms and moved her towards the exit, as much as he wanted to see another fight he knew the main reason the Petrova was always so harsh when it came to cheating.

"Wait." Jeremy placed his hand between the door and grabbed Mia's wrist, "Please don't tell Bonnie."

"I'm not going to." She spoke in a cold tone and pulled her arm away from him, he breathed a sigh of relief which caused her fury to flare up again, "You're gonna tell her, or I swear to god Jer, what I do to you will make Anna's injuries look like a paper cut." And with those words, she slammed the door on his hands and walked away, smiling at his groans of pain.

Jesse placed his arm over her shoulder as they walked, "So...you wanna talk about it?" It was obvious Mia cared about both Gilbert siblings, she devoted her entire summer to making sure they were okay, but the way she looked at Jeremy back then was as though he was someone she despised immensely.

"I know what you're thinking.." Mia sighed, surveying the area once they'd reached outside. "It's not about him."

"You mean Sebastian." Jesse completed, noticing how Mia's brows twitched upon hearing that name, "Millie, it's normal for you to feel this way after what he did to you. You didn't get to do anything back to him so you do it to other cheaters." The Petrova scoffed and looked away but her best friend stopped her from going anywhere, he cupped her cheeks and forced eye contact, "If you don't talk about it you won't feel better."

"I'm fine, just leave it." She snapped but immediately felt regret for everything she'd just done, her expression softened. "Fucking hell." The brunette leaned against the wall, and buried her face in her hands "God, I'm such a bitch."

"They deserved it, both of them." Jesse wrapped himself around her, resting his chin on top of her head. "Stop thinking you're a bad person."

"I'm not exactly good." Mia looked up at him, she held his arms and tightened his hold on her.

"You're better than most of the creeps in this town, like Damon." He reassured, "Look, what Sebastian did to you was fucked up but that doesn't mean all your relationships will end badly. There's someone out there for you."

"Well. they're not much use out there." Mia huffed and twisted the daylight ring on her finger, she didn't catch the way Jesse looked at the jewellery.

"They could be closer than you think." He remarked as they strolled down the alleyway, Jesse paused upon seeing a smear of blood on the ground, there was a parked car on the edge of the sidewalk with a shattered window. "What the fuck?" He stood protectively in front of Mia.

"Watch your step." A feminine voice echoed through the alleyway, Mia turned around upon recognising it and honestly felt herself about to faint. "Sorry about the mess, Stefan's a lot more stubborn than he used to be."

It seemed Mia's praying had paid off, she lost count of the number of times she'd asked to see her two closest confidantes and here they were, standing right in front of her.

"Uh uh." Lexi shook her head after seeing Mia's eyes becoming glazed, "Just get over here." Without wasting a second the brunette ran, throwing her arms around her old friend, almost causing both of them to fall. The last time they'd seen each other was when Lexi departed for Mystic Falls, to attend her best friend's birthday, little did they know what that occasion would entail.

"God, I've missed you." Mia exhaled, refusing to break the hug, something about the presence of Jesse and Lexi made her feel safe and she was determined to cling to it as much as she could.

"Oh my girl, I guarantee I've missed you more." Lexi contended, squeezing Mia's body. Unlike Jesse, the Branson girl wasn't focussed on spending time with Mia. Even though it was the only thing she desired to do, there was a bigger issue to deal with.

"Okay, break it up or include me." Jesse complained as he tried to pry them from each other. "You bitches, let me in."

"Go away, you had your time." Lexi unwrapped one arm from Mia's body and shoved him away. She broke apart from the embrace and cupped the Petrova's face, vampires couldn't physically age but something about her seemed older or just more experienced. "You're so beautiful."

"Lex, can you yell at her please?" Jesse requested, still bitter about Mia's interruption of his revenge. "She won't let me hurt Damon."

"Good." Lexi turned back and glared at him with mock anger, "If I'm leaving him alone so are you.... even though it's killing me." She tucked a lock of Mia's hair behind her ear, "I am so proud of you, I know how hard it must've been to spare him. The last thing I wanted for you was to burden yourself with guilt if you did it."

"I won't feel any guilt." Jesse chimed in from the back, placing a hand on each girl, "I'm begging you, let me at him."

"No!" Mia and Lexi both said at the same time, they glanced at each other and laughed softly. The blonde wiped away the stray tear that was trickling down the Petrova's face. "You know, it kills us when we see you cry and can't do anything about it."

"I try not to." Mia sniffled, "It's just really hard without you guys, I'm just..." Lexi rubbed her back and she struggled to decide if she was at a loss for words or simply didn't want to say what she was really feeling. The brunette stepped back and ran her hand across her face, "I've waited so long to see you two, and now I don't even know what to say."

Before Lexi had a chance to urge Mia to finish her previous sentence, Jesse lifted a hand like a school child, "Well, I have something to say," He pointed to the body, belonging to Stefan Salvatore, that lay a few feet away from them, "What the fuck happened to him?"

"Like I said he's a lot more stubborn than he used to be." Lexi shrugged unapologetically as the trio looked down at the unconscious vampire, whose stomach was impaled. "Maybe we should pull the knife out."

"You always loved to make dramatic entrances." Jesse rolled his eyes and held Stefan up by his arms, "Come on, Madame Cicero, we gotta move him before someone sees."

Mia began to trail after the two until a voice bellowed from behind her, "Amelia." She turned around and saw the stranger from earlier, he had tan skin and dark eyes, there was a flicker in them, something of mischief and excitement, however, it was clear time or tragedy had caused it to simmer down. "Hi."

"Hi.." Mia responded hesitantly, she subtly scanned the area in case he wasn't alone, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um.." He chuckled quietly, not even surprised that her first question would be about how he was feeling, "I'm good, actually I'm great. I've waited so lo-"

"Don't touch her!" Jesse ran towards them, jolting the man backwards roughly. He was standing by the door of the city jail when he spotted this certain individual talking to Mia. "You stay the fuck away from her, do you understand me?"

"Jesse?!" Mia exclaimed in confusion, holding her friend back by his shoulder whilst he kept his arm in front of her to make sure she was blocked from the stranger. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping this creep away from you." He responded, his eyes softened as he looked at her, "It's him...that freak from all your birthdays."

Mia's brows furrowed in disturbance, when they were children they would spend every 13th of July by their tree and each year Jesse would catch a figure observing them from a distance. He waited until they were older to tell her, not wanting the timid girl to be frightened. "Stalker guy?"

"Yeah, stalker guy." Jesse nodded with his hands on his hips, "Look, I don't know how you're still alive after all this time or what supernatural thing you are, but you're not ruining our day...so leave."

"I don't want any trouble." The man held his hands up and stepped away to ease their discomfort, "I just need to talk to her."

"No, what you need to do is walk away before you lose the chance to." The Burton boy snapped, his eyes darkened and he clenched his fists.

"You don't wanna do that." The stranger chuckled, his lips curving into a sly smirk.

"I think we'll take our chances." Mia interjected, moving between the two, "You got two choices, you can leave, live another day and continue to be a random, creepy stalker. Or...you can stay and we'll tear your throat out before you even have a chance to react."

"God, you're just like her." He sighed, the grin he was wearing only seemed to irritate the two vampires even more. "Amelia, I'm not a random creepy man." The man took her hand as she looked at him in confusion.

"I'm Aziel Regalo...your father."

~~~~

Almost a minute had passed yet Mia stood there, staring straight at the man claiming to be her parent. She hadn't said a word or shown any signs of feeling, all she did was stay completely still and stare. The strange thing is she didn't even need to ask for proof, the resemblance was striking, which made things worse, her face was now a reminder of why she and Ariana had to live with the Fells.

The older man cleared his throat and gazed at his daughter, he'd waited so long to speak to her but she couldn't bring herself to utter a word, "I know this will come as a shock to you, but I promise I will explain everything."

"Don't bother." Jesse interrupted, placing a hand on Mia's shoulder, he leaned down and whispered, "Do you want him to go?"

Aziel ignored the Burton boy and carried on speaking. "You know, Ariana took after your nana, she looked...whiter. I remember when I saw her and those huge blue eyes, part of me wondered if she was even my child. But you..." He moved closer to the motionless girl, "You looked just like me."

Mia tensed up at the mention of her sister, she began to take deep breaths to steady herself but what she truly desired was to get away. It baffled her how this guy was so freely talking about the family he walked out on.

"I wanted to name you Maria, but your mother wanted a less foreign name, to fit in with all the fancy folk." He looked down and smiled softly at the memory, it was the only time they ever argued. "Sofia was very stubborn when she wanted to be."

"Stop." Mia retorted, she felt as though a fuse had just been lit by meeting him, any talk of her mother was now proven to be the explosion, "You don't get to talk about her, you don't get to say her name."

"Amelia, please would you listen?" Aziel requested but was cut off.

"No!" Mia shook her head, the anger becoming evident in her tone and expression, "You don't get to come here and make excuses. Mama..." She ceased, realising it'd been so long since she'd said that word, then gulped and tried to restrain herself from crying, "Mama wrote us letters before she died. She never wanted us to blame you for leaving, because you were only 17...but so was she."

Mia pointed in her father's direction as her voice became louder, "You were only a kid but so was she! So if you wanna come here and spin me a tale of your difficult life as a rich foreign prick then you can forget it, you weren't the teenager left on her own to take care of two babies." Her tone was laced with bitterness and disdain, "You mentioned Nana, it's great that you knew who she was or what she looked like because we didn't. The bitch sent Mama to Mystic Falls the second she found out she was pregnant, she lost her parents because of you."

"Trust me.." Aziel swallowed, his own eyes becoming steamed with tears, "That is not what I wanted."

"And what about what we wanted, what we needed." Mia's voice began to waver, Jesse rubbed her back comfortingly. "What about when our mom died when we were only three years old and we had to sit in Town Hall, waiting for somebody to choose us. Don't you think we wanted our dad?" She quickly wiped away the tears that'd started to drop, "Did it ever cross your mind that maybe we needed someone who actually gave a shit about us?!"

"It's more complicated than that" The Regalo put forth, feeling nothing but helpless as his daughter refused to hear him out. "Please let me explain."

"I don't care, you weren't there then and I sure as hell don't need you now. So enjoy the rest of your day as a vampire, werewolf, or however the fuck you've managed to show up today." Mia seethed, turning around to make her back face him. "You can spend these last few hours thinking about how your daughters grew up in an abusive household because you were too busy being a deadbeat to come back and take care of us." She walked away and held her breath, not wanting to let them see her break down.

"Amelia please!" Aziel called after her, he looked at Jesse who was about to follow the Petrova, and blocked his way, "Talk to her please, I've waited so long."

"You heard her." Jesse bristled, "She wants nothing to do with you, and unlike you, I'm not gonna upset after all these years. She'll talk when she's ready."

"But we only have today." The Regalo rebuked, talking to her wasn't the only objective he had in mind. The manifestation spell granted him the opportunity to right some wrongs that were done centuries ago, mistakes that had affected generations of young girls.

"That's not my problem, you had 18 years before we left this town." Jesse snarked, knocking their shoulders together as he pushed past and made his way to the city jail.

"Is he gone?" A soft voice spoke from the corner, Mia sat on the floor, hugging her knees. Although she expected the day to be chaotic, it'd certainly taken a turn, bringing up feelings of abandonment that she hadn't acknowledged in a century.

"Yeah, he told me to convince you though." Jesse held his arm out and pulled her up from the ground. "You don't owe him anything, in a few hours he'll be gone."

Mia nodded, her mind lost elsewhere until her best friend cleared his throat, his eyes darted down to her hands. The soft skin had been pierced with curved cuts, "I thought you stopped this." He sighed, seeing the tendency she'd had since she was a young teenager, although the marks would now heal instantly it didn't stop him from becoming worried.

"It's fine." She dismissed and walked towards the cell, "Anyways what's that thing they say about old habits." Just before they could enter Elena came running out, nudging past Jesse.

"Oh no, it's fine don't worry." Jesse taunted calling after the doppelganger, "Just hit me, it's cool!"

"Leave her alone." Mia giggled, slapping his chest. "I hope she's okay, the last thing we need is both Gilberts going off the edge."

The duo's eyes widened when they'd seen what Lexi had been getting up to. Stefan was chained to a chair, groaning in pain as the blonde repeatedly stabbed him with a stake.

"Old habits..."Jesse faced Mia and ruffled her hair, "Need to be tortured out of you."

~~~~

Elena ran her hands through her hair and slanted against the wall once she left the building. Although it wasn't her who was being hurt., the way Stefan looked at her back then caused her heart to feel as though she was the one impaled. She loved him, there was no question about that but since the summer her feelings weren't as strong and it terrified her. It meant she would have to deal with the way she felt for his brother.

All of a sudden a hand clasped around her throat and pushed her up against the bricks, "You vicious little bitch!" Aziel snarled, tightening his grasp on her, "You lied to me!"

"Stop." Elena managed to choke out, she fought against him, attempting to tear his fingers from her, "I d-don't...even know you."

"Don't play innocent Katerina." He fumed, "You know exactly who I am, or do you just forget the people whose lives you ruin."

The colour was slowly draining from Elena's face, "I'm not K...Ka" She stuttered, then with all the strength she could muster she brought her leg up and kneed him in the groin, causing him to release her and stumble back.

The doppelganger couldn't help but feel proud of herself and grateful to Mia for all the training. She placed her hands on her thighs and tried to catch her breath then looked at Aziel through the strands of hair that'd fallen in front of her face. "I'm not Katherine, I'm Elena."

"What were you guys doing that whole time?" Lexi questioned but the Burton boy subtly shook his head as a sign. Even though she was confused, she knew that Jesse always had Mia's best interests at heart and would be able to deal with whatever was plaguing the Petrova.

"What are you doing?" Mia retorted, taking in the sight of the worn-out Salvatore. She made her way towards him and knelt down, "He looks like he's dying."

"Making him see past the blood. Right now, in his mind, it's been five years since he's fed." Lexi explain as she circled around him, she then dug another wooden stake under his ribs. Stefan yelled out in agony as Mia closed her eyes and tried to block out the sounds. "He's weak so I have to cause him pain, make him feel things. Anger, rage..." She paused and looked at Jesse, smiling cheekily, "Anything, even love."

"Mia, please...help me." Stefan whispered, his eyes full of desperation, "I'm feeling everything, it hurts." It may have been true but they couldn't be sure, in that moment he would've said anything to convince her. "Lexi's just tryna get revenge, she's mad I didn't hurt Damon for killing her."

"Ooh, that's a good one." Lexi deadpanned, giving a slow sarcastic round of applause, "Was that the best you could come up with?"

"Shut up." He muttered, returning his gaze to Mia, "You...you make me feel alive, free. Why'd you think I keep following you? Klaus may have told me to watch out for you, but I listened because I wanted to."

The Salvatore tried to move his hand but his wrist was tied to the chair, he managed to turn his fist and open it. "You had me hooked from the start, when I saw you in that classroom for the first time, it was like my whole world stopped." He looked down at his hand as a signal for her to hold it, and she did. "That night you broke down in front of me when you couldn't kill Damon, it started something in me...I can't explain it. Made me want to protect you, keep you safe."

"Okay, he's not playing fair. We all know Millie's weakness is vulnerable men." Jesse mumbled to Lexi and received a nudge in the side.

"I helped you then, and I was happy to." He ran a thumb across the back of her palm, "Help me now, please."

"Stef." Mia reached up and gently pushed Stefan's hair back, she then brought her hand down and cupped his cheek. The ripper leaned into her touch, "This is helping you."

Almost immediately Stefan jerked his head back, "Forget it." His eyes hardened as he glared, "You know what, I should've let Damon kill you that day. Better yet, I should've driven that fucking stake in myself."

Surprisingly Mia just smirked, "Hello Phillip, I was wondering when you'd show up." She wasn't a fool, it was obvious that everything Stefan had said before was to convince her he could feel. Just like all the angry things he was about to say now were just the ripper talking. "I have to admit, you put on quite a show."

"You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me, you're nothing!" He yelled through gritted teeth, "You walk around here acting perfect, but the truth is..." The vampire started to hyperventilate as the urge to destroy them grew almost unbearable, "You're the most messed up out of all of us. And the next time you get yourself in a stupid, dangerous situation, I will stand there and laugh."

"You say the sweetest things darling." Mia pouted, placing a hand on her heart, "You're gonna have to do a lot worse than that if you actually wanna insult me."

"Go to hell, all of you." Stefan growled, causing them to laugh at the dog-like noise.

"I thought Klaus was the puppy." Jesse remarked, he handed a stake to Lexi. Even though Mia wasn't fazed by the ripper's words it still made the Burton boy feel upset for her.

"So these are my saviours, huh." Stefan chuckled darkly, shaking his head. "Damon's pin cushion..."He gestured to Lexi then at Jesse, "The werewolf chew toy.." Finally, his glare landed on Mia, "And the amnesia bitch who can't even remember how she turned."

"Damn." The Petrova burst into a fit of hysterics, "I'm sorry." She spoke between her laughs and held a hand up to Stefan, whose attempt to hurt her feelings had clearly failed, "Okay, that was actually really funny...well done."

She was too busy laughing to notice the way Jesse and Lexi glanced at each other at the mention of her memories. Lexi opened her mouth to say something but Jesse lightly pinched her and mouthed No.

Instead, the blonde strode toward Stefan and swung the piece of wood in his direction, "I will rip you apart Lexi!" He thundered as his face was inches from hers. He couldn't stand the fact none of them were taking him seriously.

"You can't." Lexi sassed brightly, "I'm already dead." She pierced his skin with the stake once again as he writhed in pain.

"Amorcito." Aziel entered the cell carefully, hoping he wouldn't get shouted at again. "I have to talk to you."

"Oh my god." Mia pinched the bridge of her nose, "What are you not getting, I don't need nor want to speak to you."

To the vampire's annoyance, Elena then appeared from behind Aziel to convince her, "Mia, I really think you should hear him out."

"Elena, I love you..." Mia held her hand, ignoring her father who was stood right beside her, "but no." She crossed her arms and turned around, only to face a confused Lexi.

"Sorry to interrupt but who is this?" The blonde stepped between the two Petrovas, "Who are you?" Her curiosity was only soothed once Jesse had whispered in her ear, causing her mouth to drop open and eyes to broaden, "No fucking way, you're her da-"

"He's nothing." Mia cut in, her heart twinged slightly when she saw the look of hurt on his face but then she thought about how he'd done nothing to help her, as far as she knew anyways.

"Mia, please." Elena insisted, leaning in to speak quietly even though everyone else in that cell excluding Aziel was a vampire and could listen in effortlessly. "It's about the Petrova curse."

Before Mia could express her bewilderment Aziel chimed in, "I will explain everything you need to know but you have to come with me...please. You may not believe me but with this you must trust me."

The brunette looked at the ground, chewing the inside of her cheek and contemplating whether to go along with it. She decided that it was in Elena's best interest to agree, even if that meant she had to be in the same room as someone she wanted to be miles away from, especially to make sure that the doppelganger didn't face the same trials she did. "Fine, lead the way."

Just as Jesse was about to follow them Lexi grabbed his arm, "What the hell was that?"

"Mmm, what the hell was what?" Jesse responded, swaying back and forth on his feet, he knew very well what she was referring to.

"I thought we agreed to tell her about...." The blonde paused then glanced back at the Salvatore, "You know who?"

"You mean Klaus." Stefan interrupted with a grimace, which the other two responded to with shocked expressions. "Yeah, I already know about that... so you guys don't need to use code names or whatever."

"Shut up, no one asked you to speak." Jesse pointed, then dropped a small piece of vervain on Stefan's arm, causing his skin to burn and him to yell out. "Anyways...what were you saying?"

The blonde rose a brow, hoping he would take this matter seriously, "You know how much not knowing anything about her transition bothered her, she deserves to know."

"And how exactly do you suggest we tell her, Lex?" Jesse argued, crossing his arms. "Hey Millie, so you know that hybrid that you've declared hatred for many times and have actually attacked loads... Yeah so basically you met him when you were still human, the two of you spent ages pretending not to like each other then you got killed by some wrinkly, old prick because Klaus screwed his wife. But his blood was in your system after he spiked your hangover drink so that's how you turned. Oh, and then you guys finally got together and just fucked each other everywhere."

"Guys, I'm already being tortured, I don't really want to hear any of this." Stefan groaned, noting how Jesse had left out all the details about him as if they were irrelevant. "Take it outside."

"Shut up!" Jesse and Lexi snapped at the same time. "Okay, so maybe we don't word it like that." The Branson smiled sheepishly.

However, he wasn't done mocking the situation, "No, wait. It gets better. Basically your boyfriend was running from something so he got this random witch to track me down and bring me to a train station, then came to me all serious like..." Jesse began to mimic Klaus' accent, "Look after her for me, she's the only thing I've truly cared about in a long time. I love her but she can't be allowed to remember me, neither can you. Then BAM the motherfucker forced blood into my mouth and snapped my neck. So... that's why neither of us knew how we turned into vampires in the first place." He finally stopped to take a breath, tilting his head to the side. "Yeah, I think that conversation will go down really well."

Lexi stood there in silence, unable to think of a response but Stefan furrowed his brows, looking up at Jesse, "How do you remember, I thought Klaus compelled it all away?"

"Compulsion doesn't work when you're dead, it faded. I remember everything, enough to know that we can't just spring this on her." Jesse placed Lexi's hand in between both of his, "She's just met her dad, that's already shaken her up. If we tell her all of this then I don't know how she'll react and we won't be here much longer to make sure she's okay. Personally, I think...that if anyone has to break this to her it's Klaus, he's the one that took her memories and somehow he's found his way back into her life. It's gotta be for a reason."

"I don't trust that guy." Lexi expressed, "I obviously wasn't there in the 20s so I don't know how he treated Mia then but I've seen him now. He keeps doing stupid things that he claims are in her best interest but she just ends up hurt. He's been alive for a thousand years, surely he's not that stupid."

"You'd be surprised." Stefan piped up, hanging his head so they couldn't see his expression. "You know, you've both said a lot of stupid things today yourselves, but I do agree with one thing..." Finally, he looked up, his face as serious as it could be with no humanity, "Klaus Mikaelson is, and always will be, the worst thing for Mia."

Lexi and Jesse glanced at each other, both of them trying to see if the other one agreed with him. One of them did wholeheartedly, the other felt as though there was more to come from Klaus and Mia's story and was looking forward to watching it unfold from the Other Side.

~~~~

"You better not be leading us to a trap." Mia warned Aziel once they'd reached the dark alleyway by the Mystic Grill, "Damon's somewhere around here, all Elena has to do is scream and he'll come running to our rescue...well her rescue."

"He would save you too." Elena smiled, Mia returned the gesture but knew that if it came down to her or the doppelganger she didn't really stand a chance. Not that she needed one, in most cases she was more than capable of saving herself.

"Damon would probably sacrifice me if he had the chance." Mia joked, nudging past someone, she mumbled a quick sorry and continued without checking who it was. "With him it's always kill first, ask questions later."

"That sounds accurate." A deep voice chuckled, placing a hand on the Petrova's shoulder and turning her around. This brought her face to face with Mason Lockwood, she almost felt herself about to choke on air at the sight of him. "Hey...I don't know if you remember m-"

"Of course I do." Mia interrupted, nodding frantically which caught him slightly off guard. "I mean...it was only a few months ago and.." She pulled at the bottom of her sweater then looked over her shoulder with wide eyes at a smirking Elena.

"Yeah, we're gonna go." Elena murmured to Aziel, who was confused by the whole scene. She lead him to the Grill door then flashed Mia a quick thumbs up, the Gilbert girl found it adorable to see her flustered and blushing when she was usually the more confident and flirty one.

Mia turned back to face Mason with a small smile, hoping her cheeks weren't giving away how she felt, "I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda wishing I wouldn't see you today."

"And here I was hoping to run into you, I'm hurt" Mason teased, sighing deeply as Mia's heart began to beat twice as fast as a result of his smile. He'd been too busy assisting Damon with the mystery of the Mikaelsons when the Salvatore had managed to set off a trap and end up impaled with several wooden poles, he'd caught sight of the Petrova on his way to get a shovel. "I just wanted to thank you..."

"You have nothing to thank me for," Mia muttered, subconsciously scratching her forearm. "I didn't even save you. If anything you should probably be tryna get revenge, I made you think you were gonna live."

"Do you do that a lot?" Mason quizzed, causing the brunette to tilt her head. "Put yourself down, belittle your own actions?"

"Yeah, she does." Jesse approached, hanging his arm over her shoulder, "But we're working on it. Every time she says something bad about herself I'm gonna start throwing things off shelves again."

"I gotta do the same thing with Tyler, shame the spell wears off in a few hours." The Lockwood remarked, "Speaking of Ty, I actually wanted to thank you for helping him." He crossed his arms as Mia tried to tear her eyes away from his biceps and how the material of his shirt wrapped around them, "You know, I was terrified that he would be on his own, have to deal with all this by himself but...You've stuck by him throughout the whole thing.

"It means a lot and I'm grateful he has someone like you by his side." He leaned in and planted a quick kiss on her cheek which immediately tinted red, "From my experience Petrovas aren't exactly the most reliable but you've definitely broken the mould. And you gotta stop feeling guilty about that day, it doesn't matter that you got caught, what matters is that you cared enough to try in the first place.

Oh, sweet merciful lord. Mia felt herself melting on the inside with all his praise. Even though it wasn't much, it was something she would never get over. Sadly her swooning had to come to an end when a thought came to mind. "Come with me."

Without warning, she grabbed his hand and rushed through the streets and passed the crowds of people. Mason was baffled by the sudden action but went along with it, he trusted the girl to know that she wouldn't have been leading him to danger. However, he still stuck up his shirt collar to conceal his face slightly from anyone who would be able to recognise him. Jesse stood in the same spot, trying to make sense of what just happened.

Finally they came to a pause, Mia gently pushed Mason to the side so the wall would keep him hidden, "Wait here, I just need to do something." She squealed in excitement then left without giving him a chance to respond.

Mason shook his head and laughed quietly at Mia's erraticness, it reminded him somewhat of a younger Katherine, the role she played when she was around him. A caring, endearing woman who could be trusted but it was all a ruse.

A few moments later he heard a familiar voice, one that caused him to immediately straighten up and praise Mia in his head once again. "Okay okay, I'm coming." Tyler protested as the Petrova vampire yanked him towards the building, "Would you relax?"

She stopped and positioned him in front of the wall to make sure he still couldn't see his uncle, "Okay." Mia held the hybrid's shoulders and looked him dead in the eye, "Who is your bestest friend in the entire world?" She couldn't help but lightly bounce with joy at the fact she was now giving Tyler what he'd been wishing for.

"Stop smiling like that, you're scaring me. Have you been eating brownies again, or bitten by something?" Tyler pressed the back of his palm to her forehead to check if she had a fever but she swatted it away and insisted he answered her question, "Umm...Matt, I guess."

Mia's smile dropped instantly and she blinked at him with an unimpressed look, "You don't deserve my gift." Her features furrowed in mock fury, "Sorry Mason, he didn't get the question right, you have to go now."

Tyler chuckled at her dramatics, not realising what she said until a few seconds had passed, "Wait, Mason? What are you talkin ab-"

The older Lockwood stepped out from behind the wall and Mia literally heard Tyler's heart faltering for a split second, "Hey Ty." Within a flash the hybrid rushed to his uncle, locking him in a hug. "I take it you missed me?"

"Of course not." Tyler joked, tightening the embrace, "I just thought you hated me or was disappointed in me." The two continued to talk, refusing to break the hug as it was possibly the last one they'd ever have. Tyler looked over Mason's shoulder at his best friend, who was smiling warmly with glossy eyes, "Thank you." He mouthed, although he previously said Matt, he was now certain that Mia was his closest friend and the person he could trust the most.

~~~~

Mia, Jesse and Elena stood in the cellar of the Mystic Grill whilst Aziel was knelt on the ground, positioning candles in a circle. The Petrova was partly convinced that he was trying to do a séance and resisted the urge to tell him that it sadly didn't work, as she had figured out earlier that day. "I'm sorry but what does the Petrova curse have to do with you, why'd you tell Elena you could help?"

"Because.." Aziel got up and dusted off his clothes, "It was a Regalo that cast the curse in the first place."

Mia's brain felt as though a fork had just been jammed in the gears, her mind went completely blank. Jesse noticed her state and waved a hand in front of her face but received no response, "Great, you broke her." He clapped sarcastically to mock Aziel, "You've only known her for a few hours and you've already broken her."

"I'm not broken." Mia piped up with no emotion showing, "I'm just...processing.." In all honesty, she regretted not walking ahead of Lexi and Jesse when they were carrying Stefan, that way Aziel would never have spotted her, and she wouldn't be baffled by the amount of new information being fed to her that day. "You're a witch?!"

"Witch, warlock, I've also been referred to as a spawn of Satan but that was just your mom playing hard to get." Aziel remarked which resulted in Mia letting out a small laugh, he swore it was the most precious thing he'd ever heard and identical to Sofia's. "I'll explain everything but you gotta promise you're not gonna switch off, I kinda prefer to spend these moments with you conscious."

Mia nodded, sitting down on the floor as Aziel and the rest joined her, "Katerina's best friend was a Regalo, when she was banished just because of the pregnancy it made the witch so mad that she vowed to put every Petrova family through the same thing and hope the parents would change their ways. She didn't take into account how much the girls had to suffer, all she knew was her friend had been wronged."

"That's awful." Mia scowled, growing a hatred for the one girl, that one foolish and spiteful witch that had caused so much pain for so many young women of the Petrova bloodline, "But I thought the curse doesn't affect Elena because she'd been dating a vampire."

"I was dating a vampire but I'm still in contact with humans. Humans like Matt" Elena spoke up, waiting for Mia to realise what she meant, unfortunately, she didn't, which meant the doppelganger had to bring up an unpleasant memory, "So the curse drew me to him, which made me have...dreams."

"Oh." A grimace instantly found its way to Mia's face, "Ew, I'm sorry but that witch is such a perve-" She was cut off by Aziel clearing his throat, it was already strange discussing these topics with his daughter but he had no desire to talk about sex dreams in her presence. "Sorry." The brunette smiled innocently, "So you're gonna undo the curse, and you're magic still works? Even though you've been dead for...I actually don't know how long you've been dead but you look great...for your age."

"I've been dead for around 90 years but thanks." Aziel replied with a grin, "And yes my magic still works, Regalos are dark witches. Unlike some witches that draw their power from nature, Regalos don't need a source, one could be locked in the dark for years and remain as powerful as he was on the first day...or in my case resurrected for a few hours and still have the ability to do anything I could before I died."

"Wouldn't that make them a threat to other witches?" Jesse quizzed, just wanting to be a part of the conversation and because he found his best friend's father incredibly attractive. "Or at least make natural witches afraid of them."

"It did." Aziel pointed, "So covens sought to make alliances to ensure they were on the winning side but one thing about Regalos is that, for their powers to be triggered...they have to be the only one alive, it's like a transfer of magic through generations which is why it remains so strong. Me and my mother stayed with a coven in Canada, off all places. Well, they were more like a subculture of witches. They couldn't meet in large groups but our magic allowed them a few hours together. They were good to us, treated us like their own until they needed something from us, either spells or our blood. Then when I was 10 years old, they slaughtered my mother in her sleep."

Mia let out a shaky breath and her heart twinged with sympathy, Aziel could see her on the verge of tears so he held her hand, "The leader of the Travelers wanted to combine our powers officially so he arranged for me to be married to his daughter, he mentored me, practically groomed me to become as formidable as I could. And when I turned 17, a date for a wedding was set, it was going to be a huge event to celebrate our greatness as they worded it. But I knew that I was only useful to them whilst I was the only one, if I had a child with his daughter they would keep me around until he or she became of appropriate age to practice magic, for them it was 10. I knew I'd end up dead so I ran."

"To Mystic Falls?" Mia completed, when she was younger all Sofia had told her was, her father was a foreigner visiting America, she couldn't help but think of other lies she may have been told. "Actually it wouldn't have been. Wait where did Mama live before?"

"Michigan. It was only meant to be a quick rest stop, I was cloaked but I didn't want to risk anything. And that's when I met her...Sofia." He sighed and looked down to compose himself, "Never in my life had I met someone so unapologetically themselves, a woman so compassionate and caring. I promised myself I wouldn't stop running but once I found her, I couldn't bring myself to leave. A few weeks after we got together, she told me all about the Petrova bloodline, about the curse...I didn't even know then that it was my ancestor who'd done it."

"Then it caught up with your mom, she was so terrified when she found out she was pregnant, even more so when the first thing your Nana did was kick her out. She was 17, with nowhere to go, I couldn't just leave her so we travelled to a small town in Virginia and waited out the 9 months."

"You could make it sound a bit nicer." Mia mocked, "Mama used to say it was the best 9 months of her life. Well, she wrote that it was." The Petrova made a promise to herself that she would stop neglecting the letters, they were one of the only things she had left of her mother. "I don't think I can stand the fact that my existence put her through so much."

"Of course, it didn't, little one. She called the pregnancy her gift, her Regalo. Used to sing to her bump and hope it'd pass on the talent and from what I've heard from you over the years, it definitely has." He held a small pin out to Elena, "I'll need a few drops of your blood." The doppelganger obliged while he continued with his story, "Towards the end of her pregnancy she was practically giddy, couldn't wait to be a mother and then... something happened that had occurred once in the Petrova bloodline but never in Regalo history before...twins."

"Dun dun dunnnn!" Jesse boomed, leading to the other three looking at him, it wasn't until Elena caught sight of the vodka bottle hidden behind his back that she understood why he was acting that way. "Sorry...Just tryna diffuse the tension." He commented and took a swig from the drink.

"Understandable." Aziel chuckled but quickly became serious, "Like I said, no one in our bloodlines had ever bore twins before, which meant your lives were instantly in danger. If the coven found me, they would've had to slaughter me first, and once they'd done that they would've come after either you or Ariana. Most likely, Ariana, powers would always transfer to someone younger and that was you...by 4 minutes."

The pieces finally clicked, "So you ran?" Mia's nails dug into her palms, once again all she felt was regret. Here was a man who had sacrificed the chance to know his daughters, just to keep them safe and the first thing she did was insult and scold him. "You left the love of your life so they wouldn't hurt us, you did all of this to protect us."

"But it wasn't enough." Aziel stated, his eyes watering. "I was reckless, every year on your birthday I would come back but stay hidden, just to see you girls. Then on your 3rd, I casted a spell, a small one to make colorful lights in the sky. It was stupid and irresponsible, the leader of the Gemini coven was in town at that time, he spotted and instantly recognised me, all travelling witches were told to keep a watch out and that motherfucker finally had his eyes on me...Regalo blood was obviously rare but also useful, it can be used as a catalyst for spells. A few drops could amplify power immensely."

"Anyways, the guy saw me, we got into a little tussle and I ran, couldn't afford to hang around any longer but he..." The older man's voice wavered as he spoke, "He saw that I was watching you three and decided to punish me by killing your mother."

"What do you mean?" Mia leaned forward, her brows furrowed. "Mama died of influenza...she died of...It was influenza the doctor told us it wa-"

"She was poisoned!" Aziel bellowed which made his daughter flinch, "She was in constant pain for her last days but didn't let you girls know, that's why she wrote the letters, she knew it was coming."

"Shut up." Mia snapped, standing up and going to the stairs, "You don't know anything, it was influenza, she was sick. We sat with her, she had a fever, the nurse was there."

"And why do you think the nurse let two children near someone who supposedly had a contagious illness." Her father hit back, Elena became worried an argument was about to begin so she approached Mia and held her hand to comfort her. "The nurse was a friend of mine, a vampire, you were 3 years old Amelia of course you wouldn't have known the main reason. Sofia was tortured, her insides were being tormented..." He saw the tears roll down his daughter's face and it shattered his soul, "I'm not saying any of this to hurt you, but you deserve the full truth."

"Even though Sofia was gone, it didn't stop me. I carried on visiting you every year, every birthday I watched you play by that huge tree." A sniffle came from Jesse's direction at the mention of their special place, "When you were 18 I only saw a glimpse of you through a window but it was enough for me to know that you were safe."

"Hardly safe, she'd been trapped in her room for 8 months." Jesse ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "The Fells were a bunch of heinous bastards."

"Then on your 19th birthday, I came back, like always but you were gone, I couldn't see you anywhere, and then I met her." His lips curved downwards into a scowl and his voice became louder, "She told me you were both dead, that my little girls had both died in childbirth and I was too late!"

"Who?"

"Katherine." Elena answered, gently rubbing Mia's back, "We don't know what she was doing in Mystic Falls but she lied to him, Mia. Katherine has even said that she kept an eye on you over the years so she knew for sure that you were alive."

"But..wh-...I don't get it." The vampire stammered, wringing her hands. Although they weren't on the best of terms, Mia had never thought that she would stoop to such a level. "Why would she lie? It makes no sense."

"Maybe she preferred you as a Pierce." Jesse suggested, he was certain that Katherine wasn't trustworthy and this reinforced that opinion.

"Once I found out you were both gone, my job was done. I couldn't stand it...living." Aziel moved back to the floor and continued to mix the random ingredients in the small bowl. "Found the nearest gun and stuck a bullet in my head." When the Regalo heard his words out loud, he winced and looked at his daughter apologetically, "Sorry Amorcito."

However she didn't react the way he expected, instead, her eyes widened as she realised something, "That means I was already a vampire before I turned 19, otherwise my powers would've been triggered too, vampires don't have magic."

"Well some do but you're right." Aziel smiled softly at her intelligence, "You were technically dead so there was some truth in Katerina's words. But that doesn't mean your blood isn't as powerful as a mortal Regalo. It still has the same abilities, but this way you're like a never-ending faucet of magic catalyst blood." He handed her a new pin and watched as she pricked her finger, Aziel began to mutter some chants and as soon as the crimson drop landed in the bowl it immediately set alight. "And that would explain why your blonde friend is so strong for a new vampire."

The witch closed his eyes and held his hands up in front of him. The flames on the candles began to flicker and the small bowl started to spin rapidly, lifting off the floor. Elena stroked her arms to calm the goose bumps that began to rise and Aziel's chanting became louder until suddenly a greyish smoke poured from the top of the bowl and it dropped to the ground. The smoke wafted rapidly across the room and Elena felt a weight lift off her chest, one that she'd never even noticed until it was gone.

"There." The Regalo grinned, rubbing his hands together, "You and all the future Petrova girls are now free from the curse." He glanced at his daughter with regret, "I only wish I could've eased that burden for you, learned about this curse sooner."

He then went on to reveal that a woman named Nadia was the only other known Petrova who'd given birth to twins; the pair were separated at birth. One being the direct ancestor of Mia and the other to Elena. Ariana's daughter married a Gilbert man when she was only 17, it was a pleasant marriage until she found out he was having an affair, the mistress was a descendant of Nadia's youngest child. Family betraying each other without the knowledge of their relation. Ariana jr was murdered by the Gilbert to allow the mistress to move in and the tracks were covered up, this explained why Mia had been able to track down the line without realising the anomaly.

"That explains why Elena's white." Jesse taunted, poking her side.

The vampire rubbed at her temples, she was determined to stay conscious and focussed even though she desired a small sleep to give her brain a rest. She thought she understood everything about the Petrova bloodline but it turned out to mostly be fake, a cover-up. Aziel thought it was best to grant her a few minutes of silence but that was quickly put to an end when Elena gasped.

"You said Regalos were well known, that people needed your blood.." The Gilbert began to pace back and forth then faced Mia with alarm, "What if Klaus knows? Maybe that's why he told Stefan to watch out for you too, to keep both of his blood bags safe." She finished with air quotes.

"That fucker." Mia muttered, crossing her arms. "What a prick. And I was actually nice to him." Jesse rose a brow in disbelief, "Okay, well I was kinda nice to him...I complimented his necklace."

"Also beat the crap out of him with a pipe." Jesse added, he paused and debated whether to disprove Elena's theory and tell Mia the real reason Klaus treated her differently to the others, "Millie, there's somethin-" Ding.His words were cut off by a phone alert yet still he continued, "About Kl-" Ding. "Maybe it's not about the bl-" Ding. "Elena I swear to god if you don't turn that damn phone off I'm gonna smash it to pieces!"

"Sorry but it's Bonnie." Elena said, showing Mia the screen, "I think I know where the necklace is but that means we don't have a lot of time."

~~~~

It turned out Anna was the one who'd taken the necklace, once it was retrieved Bonnie could start to fix everything that'd gone wrong with the spell. In addition to that, she now had a vial of Mia's blood to strengthen the magic she was about to cast.

"So.." Stefan started, smirking at Mia. Whilst they'd been busy listening to the history of Regalos, Lexi had been continuing to put him through pain, it wasn't as effective as she hoped it would be which meant Stefan was still the unpleasant, humanity-less vampire. "Your dad, huh? That's really something, what was his excuse for abandoning you."

"None of your business, dick." Jesse answered before Mia could, he then led her towards the door of the cell. "It sucks that I didn't get to meet Bonnie, I was looking forward to it."

"What about Caroline?" The mention of the blonde made him press his lips upwards, "You don't like Caroline?!" Mia exclaimed.

"It's not that I don't like her." Jesse defended, knowing not to say too much, he didn't want his last minutes with Mia to consist of arguing, "What I don't like is her inability to keep secrets or her nosiness." He saw the Petrova was about to object and covered her mouth, "I'm happy she makes you happy but you need to hold her accountable for some of the crap she says. Also, stop getting yourself into crazy situations, I don't want to see you on the Other Side anytime soon."

"Okay." Mia nodded, also trying to avoid a dispute, "Do you have any other lectures for me?"

"They'll have to wait." Aziel interrupted, "If you don't mind, I'd like a word with my daughter."The two walked out of the cell but the door remained half open so the rest were most likely listening in.

"This isn't fair." Mia sniffled, "I'm meeting and losing you on the same day."

"You could never lose me, little one." Aziel held her face, "I will always be a part of you, whether you or not you can see me. The same goes for your mother...I see so much of her in you, her kindness, sincerity, mostly her flair for dramatics." They both shared a laugh, their vision cloudy. "And I know you've faced tragedies that I could never comprehend but the way you continue is remarkable. Don't mean to brag but you get your resilience from me."

"Your humility too." Mia teased. "Also temper...Elena told me what happened earlier."

"Ehh, a simple misunderstanding." Aziel tilted his head, "I'm sure she understands." All of a sudden he waved his hand and uttered a word she didn't understand. "Sorry, just had to make sure those guys don't listen to this." He held one of her hands, "Listen, there are people who will try to use you for your blood, enemies, or even people you think you can trust. I know you have a big heart and love to help but you can't let them take advantage. Over the years it's like our value has been belittled to what ruins through our veins and you are worth so much more than that."

"And I just want you to know that I'm proud of you, of the woman you've become and will continue to be." He looked up and blinked repeatedly, "Look at me, crying like an infant. You must think I'm a right fool," She shook her head in disagreement, "No? Ah, well, you're right about that part, don't let anyone make you feel embarrassed or weak for showing emotion. Your ability to feel for yourself and others is your greatest asset, it's something this world is scarce of."

"Dad." Mia sobbed, embracing him tightly, it was the first time she'd called him that and she regretted the time she wasted hating him for something he did to keep her safe. "I wish you'd taken me back then."

"You deserved more than a life on the run." Aziel cleared his throat to stop his voice from shaking, "Your guy knew that too."

What guy? Mia scrunched her brows and was about to ask for elaboration but her father pulled away from the hug, "Can you go back in there please?" He requested, "I won't be able to walk away if I know you're watching me and I don't want to just disappear in front of you either." The man wiped away a tear from Mia's cheek, "Part of me wishes I just let you hate me, this would've been easier. But I can find peace now, I did what I came here to do, lifted the curse, and most importantly met you." He planted a kiss on her forehead and gently pushed her towards the door.

Just as she was about to walk through, Mia turned around to say one last thing, "Say Hi to Mama and Ariana for me."

"Of course, I will. Now, remember, you're a Regalo, a gift. If these people don't appreciate that then there's nothing here for you." He opened the door and stuck his head through, "Hey, buddy." The witch called out to Stefan, who lifted his head slowly, "I hope things work out for you soon, it'd be a shame if Amelia lost someone so important to her. When your humanity's back on...take care of her for me." The Salvatore simply looked at him with a blank expression, completely unreadable.

"Te Amo." I love you. Aziel placed one last kiss on Mia's cheek and turned her around so she couldn't see him go. Her soul wrenched with each departing footstep that echoed through the building, she continued to listen in until nothing from him could be heard.

The Petrova felt another wave crash inside of her but was determined to hold it together until everyone was gone. "I want to come with you." She whispered to Lexi and Jesse as they approached her, "I don't want to stay here by myself."

"You can't come with us." Lexi responded, cupping her cheek, "You have so much life left to live, memories to make." She discreetly glanced back at Stefan, "An epic love to have. Why'd you think I kept myself busy today? I knew that if we spent the whole day together, you'd have to miss me all over again."

"I was supposed to do the same but I couldn't." Jesse chimed in, twirling a lock of Mia's hair on his finger." The three walked outside the building with their arms linked. "Daffodil and Blossom." The Burton boy said suddenly, making Mia look at him in confusion. "We were going to name our kids Daffodil and Blossom, you said flowers make the best names."

Mia laughed softly at the embarrassing memory of her weeping over the fact she couldn't remember what the names were, "Also...you should add Stefan's initials to the tree. The magic of the comfort tree doesn't work if you're always there by yourself." He chuckled.

"We love you so much, Mia." Lexi wrapped her arms around the Petrova, Jesse joined the embrace, squeezing them both tightly. "And you're not on your own, even if it feels like it."

"We're always watching, all the time...especially when you're showering." Jesse joked just so he could hear her laugh again, "Also you need to have more fun, get drunk, screw more people. You're immortal but dealing with all these guys' issues all the time can make it less enjoyable."

"He's right, you know." Lexi agreed, rubbing Mia's back, "Have enough fun for both of us. Drink our shares too. Just don't sleep with anyone we would, I think history's taught us that we're not the wisest." The Petrova wanted to bring up Lee but stayed quiet.

"Make sure you give Damon a punch from us too." Jesse added, he was still disappointed that he didn't get to do it himself. "Tyler and Bonnie are two of the good ones, stick with 'em. Learn how to fucking drive, you can't keep taking taxis."

"We've been telling you for years." The Branson vampire sighed dramatically, "I think we're just tryna say as much as we can before we disap-" Her voice was halted Mia fell forward and stumbled through the air, what was once holding her had now vanished. Just like that, they were gone. She hit the ground, her knees whacking against the concrete. In that exact spot she stayed and sobbed. Lexi's words were ringing true, now that she'd seen them again, the process of missing them had started from the beginning.

~~~~

Mia made her way towards the cell, only to accidentally bump into Elena, who was walking out. "I'm gonna go check on Jeremy, yell at him a bit. You wanna stay at my house today? We can order pizza."

"I think I'm just gonna head home, it's been a long day." Mia replied, knowing fully well she had no plans of going home, "But I'll call you." The doppelganger smiled and left, she was extremely grateful to have someone like Mia on her side, someone who sacrificed getting to know her father completely so he could lift a curse to make her life easier. Not that the Petrova did it intentionally but she was still one of the most selfless people Elena knew.

"God, you look terrible." Mia grimaced at the sight of the worn-out Salvatore, his skin was greying, a light sweat was the only thing that made him look life-like. "Why so glum?" She pouted mockingly, "Would it kill you to smile, you look like you're being tortured...Oh, sorry, that was insensitive."

"Hilarious." Stefan deadpanned, reeling his head back and groaning at the agony. Lexi had forcefully fed him vervain so the healing process of all the stab wounds was slowed, his veins felt like sandpaper. "She gave up...Elena gave up. Lexi gave her a glimpse of her tragic future and she ran for the hills. You should do the same."

"Didn't we go through this already?" Mia replied, kneeling in front of him. "I'm not giving up on you, it doesn't matter how much you try to push me away and insult me, I'm not going anywhere." She reached for his hand but he jerked it back, knowing how enticing her touch was. "Actually, I've been told I'm quite resilient, which means I won't give up until we get you back, I don't care how long it takes."

"Because I know you'd do the same for me." Mia gripped the back of his neck, forcing him to look at her. "I'll wait forever and a day."

The Salvatore's breath hitched in his throat at the sound of those words. The very promise he made to her almost a century ago now uttered back to him. Yet she had no recollection of how much weight the sentence truly held, 90 years of fate's dedication and devotion, bringing two souls back together and trying to establish the connection that was cut short before it could truly begin.

Instead of expressing all of that Stefan brought his face closer to hers, "Then you're a bigger fool than I thought you were."

Mia simply smiled at him, "Goodnight Stefan." She picked up a wooden stake and dug it into his leg before dragging it along his thigh. A smirk crept on her lips when he gritted his teeth with discomfort then she threw it to the side, The Petrova ignored the curses he was sending her way and left the cell, locking it behind her.

She sat on the ground, annoyed that her clothes would be dirty but remained there nonetheless. It didn't feel right leaving him on his own, the promise to help needed to mean more than just words, she felt the need to show actual commitment. Once the adrenaline or recent events had faded, exhaustion seeped through her body, her head seemed to move on its own accord, and leaned back against the wall. Mia finally allowed her eyes to shut after denying them for a minute, and she let sleep overtake her.

The sounds of her soft breathing provided a strangely calming feeling for the suffering vampire trapped only a few metres away. To him it was a melody, something that remained consistent for hours, something reliable that he knew would repeat within a second, it was the only thing that told him he wasn't alone. That she was still sitting out there, even if it was for the entire night.

What was meant to be a day of helping her humanity-less friend, had turned into a musical séance, followed by a reunion of old friends, the punishment of a cheater and his ghostly mistress, and the reveal of a man she once thought was a deadbeat and unworthy of knowing, now known to her as one of the bravest and altruistic people she'd ever come across in her years. Safe to say, it had been an extremely eventful day for Amelia Sofia Petrova-Regalo.

However, what she didn't know was, there were still secrets about her life that were yet to be uncovered.

A/N: HELLO MY DARLINGSSS. I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I made it veryyyyyy long to make up for my break but I did warn u guys last chapter. UNEDITED

REMEMBER TO VOTE. Theres's a lot to take in from that chapter... Favourite moments?

Just a quick thing, even though Mia has witchcraft in her ancestry, I have no intentions of making her a witch or heretic. BUTTT her blood is magic which will be useful and maybe some people take advantage of it... 

Alsoooo even though Mia is technically a Regalo, she's still a Pierce/ Petrova in my heart so I doubt I'll change her name but what do you guys think?

I loved writing Jesse and Lexi again, they're honestly my comfort characters. And im sad theyre gone but they will have an appearance in the future but like the far, far future.

Me @ 20s Mia bc someone commented that she was annoying:

Papa Original is pulling up next chapter, let's just say our darling Mia gets too brave...pray for her soul. It's homecoming which means Klaus is coming back toooo, I've missed Mia bullying him, it's therapeutic for me.

LOVE YOUUUUU

Gif at the top made by me, don't steal, copy or use.

Published: 15th January 2023