let's talk about it

ATHENA'S VISION BLURS AS SHE RUNS INTO THE HOSPITAL, STEFAN CLOSE BEHIND HER. Her eyes land on Bonnie and Matt, and she stops before them, struggling to find her voice. "What happened?"

Matt shakes his head, tears in his bright blue eyes. "We– we were driving, and Tyler heard this noise,"

Stefan's brows furrow. "A noise?"

The trio share wary glances as Matt nods, oblivious. "He got this migraine or something and lost control of the car. And I thought that Caroline was fine, and then– and then she wasn't. I'm sorry,"

Athena steps backward, practically falling into the empty row of chairs across from Matt and Bonnie. Stefan mirrors her, taking her hand in his as he looks around the hospital worriedly.

Bonnie, seeing Athena's state, taps Matt's arm and stands. "Will you show me where the vending machines are?"

The blond boy nods, standing to lead Bonnie down the hallway. The witch looks over her shoulder at the couple still seated, and jerks her head in a nod, a clear action to discuss Tyler's apparent affliction to the Gilbert device.

"Mayor Lockwood is dead," Athena mutters, her fingers tracing the edges of her bandaged arm as she recalls the burning basement. "He was in there with us, and one of the tomb vampires killed him."

Stefan leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Why would he have heard it? He's not a vampire, and neither is Tyler."

Athena shakes her head, feeling more exhausted than she ever has. "I don't know, I don't– I just want this day to be over."

He sighs knowingly, pulling her towards him slightly so she can lean her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about all of this. I know it's a lot, but you're strong and so is Caroline. She's gonna be fine, I promise."

"I just," Athena sniffles, squeezing her eyes shut. "I can't imagine what she felt like after my accident. I hate feeling so helpless. Caroline is going to die and I can't do anything about it."

"Athena! What's going on with Caroline? What happened?" Elena's voice breaks through the silence of the waiting room and the brunette sighs, wiping her cheeks as the doppelgänger comes to a stop before them.

"Tyler got into an accident while they were in the car," Athena shook her head, biting her tongue to steady her voice. "He and Matt are fine, but they don't think Caroline's going to make it. I don't– I don't know much else than that, her mom is here somewhere, I'm sure you can ask her."

Elena's stomach drops with dread and she watches Stefan use one of the tissues off of a coffee table to wipe beneath Athena's eyes and murmur soft reassurances to her. Wringing her hands together, Elena sighs. "Hey, um, I'm– I'm sorry about what happened,"

Athena looks at her confusedly and the girl quickly explains. "Bonnie told me that you and Damon were in the basement when it was set on fire. I can't– I can't imagine what you're feeling right now."

Athena can't find it in her to fight with the girl, so she just nods silently and sits back in her chair, fumbling anxiously with her hands in her lap. She furrows her brows, looking back up at Elena. "Were you already here?"

Elena lets out a shaky sigh. "John was attacked earlier. Somebody stabbed him,"

"Do you know when it happened?"

"Like an hour ago. I drove behind the ambulance,"

Athena turned her head to look at Stefan. "Katherine,"

The vampire mutters a curse under his breath, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he stands. "I'm gonna call Damon, I'll be right back."

Athena slumps into her chair, mind racing with scenarios as Caroline withers away in the next room. She looks up as a figure approaches but relaxes when she sees it's only Bonnie. "Where's Matt?"

"He's talking to the Sheriff. She's pretty torn up and he feels guilty for not noticing anything sooner."

"It's not his fault," Elena sighs, sitting down across from Athena beside Bonnie.

Athena props her head up tiredly, eyes fluttering slowly as she fights exhaustion. "Katherine is here."

Bonnie inhales sharply, her eyes widening. "How do you know?"

"She stabbed John, and then kissed my boyfriend," Athena nods knowingly at Bonnie's shocked stare. "Hey, did you see Stefan on your way back here?"

Bonnie nods. "He was on the phone with Damon, I'm pretty sure,"

Athena hums, rolling her tense shoulders back slightly.

The three girls sit in contemplative silence for barely a minute before Bonnie speaks hesitantly. "I think I know how we can save Caroline,"

"What? How?" Elena leans towards her friend, eyes glimmering with hope. "Do you know a spell?"

"Not exactly," Bonnie shakes her head, looking at Athena. "What if– what if Damon gave her some blood? Just a little bit to save her life."

Athena's eyes widen and she sits up as Elena's jaw drops slightly.

"We can't– we can't do that to Caroline, would she even take that risk?"

"She'd take that risk for any of us," Bonnie says surely, looking at Athena desperately. "Athena? What do you think?"

The brunette furrows her dark brows before meeting Bonnie's gaze. "I think we should do it. Damon will do it, you just have to ask."

"Athena, are you sure?"

The girl looks at Elena, eyes narrowing as she gains some of her footing back. "Sheriff Forbes would never want that because she's on the Council, and seeing as her father is a total dickbag that just left her, I'm next in line for emergencies and I say we give her some blood."

Bonnie smiles small but nods in appreciation.

Athena sighs, standing up on shaky legs that tremble with her exhaustion and her overwhelmed emotions.

"Where are you going?"

The girl tucks her hair behind her ears. "I'm going home with my boyfriend, and I'm going to try to sleep through the rest of this nightmare of a day. And when I wake up, Caroline will be healed and everything will be fine."

It's obvious she's telling herself these things for her own sake, but the two girls just nod and watch her walk down the hallway in the direction that Stefan disappeared into in silence. Once Athena is out of sight, Bonnie slaps her thighs and gives herself a quick mental pep talk.

Elena watches her stand, brows furrowing. "Where are you going?"

"To find Damon,"

──────

Athena is hesitant to follow Bonnie into Caroline's hospital room, her eyes narrowing with the light of the morning sun shining through the windows around them.

"Oh, thank god you're here!" Caroline's exclamation catches both girls' attention and they rush over to her, Athena pulling up a chair as Bonnie takes the blonde's hand.

"What's wrong?" Athena scans her worriedly, and Caroline waves her away, groaning in disgust.

"I need a hairbrush and a makeup bag, immediately,"

Athena's eyes widen and she looks at Bonnie, the two mirroring incredulous stares. Athena begins to question the blonde, but she simply smiles and lets her tense shoulders fall. "I'm really glad you're okay, Caroline,"

Caroline grins, shrugging the concern off. "It's all thanks to Damon. He woke me up in the middle of the night to give me his blood, which was disgusting by the way."

"Is that any way to talk about the guy who saved your life?" Damon's cocky voice comes from the doorway and the three girls snap their gazes at him in surprise. The vampire holds his arms up, mocking nonchalance. "Now, now, don't grovel just yet. I want to get it on tape."

Athena scoffs, rolling her eyes as a smile grows on her face. Quickly, the expression is wiped off of her structured features as Bonnie lunges for the vampire and wraps her arms around him in a hug that takes them all by surprise.

Damon looks over the top of Bonnie's head in surprise, and Athena gestures for him to hug her back silently. Hesitantly, the vampire pats her back, brows furrowing on his face. "Uh, you're welcome, I think."

Bonnie pulls away, grateful that he can't see the flush in her cheeks when she realizes what she's done. "Thank you. I owe you."

Damon nods, and silence falls over the four of them as they all process what has just happened. Clearing his throat, Damon shifts his gaze to Athena. "Stefan and Elena are interrogating John, or trying to. He's barely conscious. And I have a wake to attend. Anyone care to join?"

Athena shakes her head, her face scrunching up in slight disgust. "Mayor Lockwood was a dick, I could care less about his journey to the afterlife. Why don't you take Bonnie?"

The witch's eyes widen and she looks at Athena accusingly, making the brunette smirk as she sits up in her seat beside Caroline's bed. "I have to meet Stefan in a few minutes,"

"For what?"

Athena hums, rising from her seat to press a kiss on Caroline's pale cheek. "That's rated R, I'm afraid. But, uh, we'll stop by the wake later once you two have something useful pertaining to why the Mayor and his son have such sensitive ears."

Athena winks at Bonnie as she passes by the witch, and shoulders past Damon through the doorway. For the first time in a while, her steps feel a little lighter and the impending sense of doom eases off of her shoulders.

──────

"I can't decide which one I want to kill more," Athena grits her teeth, wiping the blood off of Stefan's abdomen with a once-white cloth napkin she'd stolen from inside. "Maybe I'll just kill Elena, and work out what I want to do to Katherine on her."

Stefan smiles slightly, wincing as his skin continues to heal.

Sighing, she meets his gaze. "Are you okay? Really?"

"It'll heal,"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," She flicked his temple, making him roll his eyes lightly. "Answer the question, please."

Heaving a sigh, Stefan shakes his head. "I was trying to figure her out, playing her game. I let her get to me."

"It's been 145 years, Stefan. You're not the same person you were with her, and she's not the same, either," Athena shrugs, doing her best to ease his pain. "But if it's any consolation, I will get her back for this. And the kiss– that really pissed me off."

Stefan huffs a laugh, but gratitude shines in his gaze as it shifts from Athena to Damon approaching behind her.

"I tried to catch up to her, but she covers her tracks well," The vampire rolls his eyes, looking around the Lockwood estate before he smirks at Athena. "She's not even met you and you've managed to make her jealous, Athena, congrats,"

She mockingly bows her head, a smirk on her face. "I try my best,"

Her phone vibrates in the pocket of her blazer and she rolls her eyes as she pulls it out, declining yet another of Josh's phone calls.

"What's going on with him?" Stefan jerks his head at her phone, brows furrowed questioningly.

She sighs, shaking her head. "All he does is call me and talk about how much he hates pretending to be a college student,"

Damon rolls his eyes at the thought of the blond boy, running a hand through his hair. "You know, I should've known it was Katherine when she tried to kiss me. I say this as nicely as possible, but kissing Elena is not on my to-do list."

The couple sighs, sharing exasperated looks at the man's words. "So, what are we gonna do? How do we figure out what Katherine is here for? I mean, no offense, but she wouldn't come back here just because she suddenly missed you guys."

"Whatever it is, she's going to try to disrupt all of this," Stefan gestures between the three of them. "She's going to try to dismantle this, get between me and Damon like she did back then. She'll do anything to get between you and me," He looks at Athena, worry in his gaze that makes her intertwine his fingers with his.

"She won't," Athena looks at him unwaveringly. "She won't get in between any of us. We've worked too hard to get to this point, and Katherine Pierce is not going to be the one that fucks it all up, okay? So even if we have to kill her diabolical ass, we're sticking together."

Damon tilts his head back to look at the cloudy skies. "Wise words, Athena,"

The girl looks up at him, eyes narrowing slightly as he meets her gaze knowingly.

"It's all in the name, right?"

──────

Athena's spine straightens instinctively when she feels a sudden presence behind her. Turning slowly, her eyes narrow at the familiar-faced woman sitting on the couch. "Katherine, I presume?"

She grabs another glass, holding it up to the woman who hesitantly nods. Athena grabs the bottle of bourbon and pours it into the glass, walking slowly to the vampire with her hand outstretched.

Katherine takes the liquor from the girl, sipping it slowly to make sure it's safe to drink. Athena takes a seat on the other end of the couch, crossing her tight-covered legs as she faces the woman.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Katherine smirks slightly, though Athena doesn't miss the anger in her dark eyes. It jars her how similar she and Elena look, but when she looks into Katherine's eyes, she sees the clear age advantage the woman has over all of them. She's lived long enough to learn how to look out for herself and no one else.

"Well I was hoping to catch Stefan again, maybe steal another kiss or two in front of the fireplace. It was all very romantic."

Athena hums, her fingers tapping rhythmically on her glass. "He's a very romantic person, isn't he? It's one of the things I love most about him, I'm sure you feel the same."

Katherine's eyes flicker with barely-concealed jealousy and Athena hides her smirk as she sips on the bitter liquid. "Of course. He's always been that way, especially when he was human. He doted on me day and night."

Heaving a sigh, Athena rests her glass on her knee, holding it with her right hand. "I know you didn't come here to make me jealous because it's clearly not working. You're here because you want to know who I am, and you want to figure out a way to pick me apart so that you can be there to pick up the pieces of Stefan's shattered heart when you find some sort of debilitating secret I've been keeping from him, and have him eating right out of the palm of your hand again."

Katherine smirks, swishing the bourbon in her glass around. "You're smarter than I thought, Athena. But you can't blame a girl for trying, right?"

"Elena did the same thing," Athena rolls her eyes, not missing the irritation that floods the vampire's eyes at the mention of her doppelgänger. "Oh, do we not like that?"

"I'm not all that favorable to the teenage girl running around wearing my face. Makes things a lot more difficult in the long run," Katherine huffs, gulping the liquor. "It's hard to act human these days."

"Right," Athena hums, storing the slip of information away for later. "Well, I hate to break it to you, Katherine, but Stefan's not available. Not now, and not ever again."

The vampire eyes the girl across from her hatefully. "I've always had a special place in his heart, Athena, no one can replace that."

"You don't get it, Katherine. The second he turned into a vampire and your compulsion faded away, he turned his back on you. You were dead to him, and he was finally free. You only want him back because you've spent your entire life trying to fill the void that your loss of humanity left, and Stefan was the only thing that did it."

Athena's tone hardens and she rolls her shoulders back as her anger rises. "I've heard enough about you to know that you're not stupid enough to think that Stefan still loves you. So, whatever it is you came back to Mystic Falls for, you should just tell us now and maybe we can work something out."

Katherine scoffs, looking at her in slight disbelief. "You've got a lot more nerve than Elena does, I'll give you that. But you don't know me, Athena. And if Stefan has been telling you that I compelled his feelings for me all this time, then I truly apologize because he's been lying to you."

"I believe that Stefan really did love you, Katherine," Athena assures the vampire, earning a look of surprise at her agreement. "But like I said, the second he turned, you were dead to him and he knew he was better off. There isn't a thing you could do to change the way he feels about you now, Katherine, especially when I'm around."

"You've barely had six months with him, what could you possibly be doing that's better than me?"

"Everything," Athena says, her voice stern yet laced with smugness. "I have done everything better than you, Katherine, because I actually love him. You're grasping at straws here, Katherine. You're desperate to have the Salvatores wrapped around your cold, dead finger again because they made you feel powerful."

"You don't–"

"You aren't going to get the chance. Damon hates you for lying to him about the tomb, and Stefan hates you for everything in between. Face it, Katherine, you lost," Mocking pity, Athena shakes her head. "Mystic Falls forgot you, Katherine. It's time for you to do the same."

The glass in Katherine's hand shatters and Athena flinches as shards of glass fall onto the couch and the floor, though she quickly meets the vampire's livid gaze with a smirk.

"Goodnight, Katherine. We'll have to do this again sometime."

The vampire stands, shaking her quickly healing hand out as she glares down at Athena. In a blur, the woman is gone and Athena chuckles to herself as she eyes the stained couch beside her. It was clear she'd gotten to the woman, and knowing that she had that power over Katherine made her rightfully smug.

Disrupting her train of thought, her phone rings in her pocket and she groans as she pulls it out, finally answering the incessant caller. "What, Josh? What do you want?"

"What the hell have you been doing all day?"

"I've been busy handling my almost-dead ex-girlfriend, and Elena's evil vampire twin. What the hell do you want?"

"It's Artemis. She's in town, and she's looking for you."

Athena's eyes widen, and she looks up as Stefan walks into the living room, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Athena? Is everything alright?"

She clamps her jaw shut, swallowing harshly. "I, uh, I gotta go, Josh. I'll call you later."

Hanging up without waiting for a response, Athena tosses her phone off to the side of the couch, biting at her lip nervously.

"Athena," Stefan says her name softly, like he's trying not to scare her away. It makes her feel worse. "Whatever's going on, you can tell me, you know that right?"

She nods, letting out a sigh. "I know. I just– I don't know. I've been ignoring it, like it'll go away, but it won't. It's just getting worse,"

He sits down beside her, taking her hands in his. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Squeezing his hands, Athena meets his gaze. "You remember that night I woke up and got sick, and I– I threw up, and it was," She shrugs a bit. "You know."

He nods silently.

"It's been happening since Damon turned Vicki. There's just so much chaos, and– and I don't know what specifically triggers it, but it's like my body is developing a defense mechanism against the stuff we're dealing with. Does that make sense?"

He nods again, rubbing his thumbs along the backs of her hands. "Is it– is it bad? Is it hurting you?"

"It hurts, yeah," She says quietly. "But my dad said it won't always. It's just–"

She stops suddenly, pulling her hands away from his to push her hair out of her face. "I just– okay. Stefan, have you ever– do you know who Athena is? The Greek god?"

His brows furrow, but he nods.

"It's me," She gestures to herself, stressing the point as his face stays twisted into a look of confusion. "I am Athena. My dad– my dad made me, and he's been building this image of me throughout history because I'm a god, and people worship me. And I wasn't supposed to be dealing with any of this until I turned eighteen, but my dad said all of it went off the rails when I got into that accident with Elena. I wasn't supposed to die that night, Stefan. I'm not supposed to be able to die at all. But I did, and now the parts of me that aren't human are waking up because there are things they have to protect me from now."

She stops, chest heaving with a heavy breath. "I'm a god. And I don't know what it means yet, I don't know what I'm capable of. I don't know what's going to happen to me that isn't already happening. But I'm really scared, and I just–" She falters when her voice breaks. "I don't know what's happening to me."

She's barely able to finish talking before Stefan wraps her in his arms, pulling her into his lap and allowing her to cling to him as she calms herself. "I know it's scary, Athena," He murmurs, running a hand down the length of her hair. "I know it's hard turning into something you don't recognize, but it's gonna be okay, you know why?"

"Why?" She mutters the word muffled where her face is smashed into his shoulder.

"Because you have me," He says easily. "And you have Damon, Caroline, and Bonnie. You won't go through any of this alone. And hey,"

He jostles her slightly, making her pull back to look at him with wet eyes. "Take it from me. When I was going through this, I wish I'd had someone like you there to support me. I don't think I would've gone through half of what I did if you were there."

She gives him a small smile, but she searches his face like she's looking for a lie that won't be there. "Stefan,"

He hums, urging her on.

"Will you," She stops, so oddly unsure of herself. "Will you tell me why you don't drink human blood? Will you tell me all of it?"

Stefan hesitates, simply out of his own discomfort. But he owes Athena this, it's the least he could give her. He promised it to her weeks ago, and he wouldn't ever break a promise he made to her.

So he pushes his hesitancy to address the subject aside, and nods, readjusting them so they're comfortably intertwined on the couch. Keeping her wrapped in his arms, he clasps his hands together at the small of her back, relishing in the comfort it brings him.

"Have you ever heard of a ripper?"

She shakes her head.

"A ripper is a vampire that doesn't know how to stop feeding. And I– I am a ripper,"

He starts the long-winded tale of his long life, and with the unwavering feeling of Athena's adoration even as he describes the horrors of his early existence, he doesn't falter telling it. After he's done, and after she's offered him comfort, they continue talking into the early hours of the morning, happy to waste their time away together, even if it never really feels like a waste when it's them.

──────

author's note; season two is starting off with utter chaos I love it 

originally published; 12.15.20.

edited: 11.30.23.

- liz