we'll have a ball

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO."

Athena sits back in the booth with a sigh, a childish pout marring her scarred features as she looks up from her cooling coffee to lock her gaze with Artemis. The goddess had insisted they go out for breakfast, and upon hearing an offhanded comment that Athena made about her current relationship predicament, had demanded everything be explained.

She couldn't tell how much time had passed from the beginning of her explanation from how she'd first met Stefan, to where they were now, but Artemis seemed more invested in her love life than anything else.

"It sounds like it's all Katherine's fault if you ask me," Artemis shrugged, sipping on her third refill of the morning, a feat that not even Athena would consider doing for the sake of her physical health. "At the end of the day, he had good intentions, drinking human blood. But... feeding on Elena was a stupid thing to do."

"I know," She can't stop the desperation that leaks into her voice. "And that's why I don't know what to do. I feel so weirdly, like, betrayed by the fact that he fed on Elena, but at the same time he's so much stronger when he drinks human blood and I know he's always so worried about protecting me even though I don't need it, and I just–"

She cuts herself off with a tired sigh. "I'm upset with him, and I don't like being upset with him. It makes me feel like I'm going insane,"

"I understand," Artemis nods slowly, her tone staying even as she eyes the teen closely. "Do you think it's odd that fighting with Stefan makes you feel so strongly?"

Athena shrugs, looking confused at the question. "I mean, not really? I'm a very emotional person, and Stefan is, too. We don't like being upset with each other, it's just... it doesn't feel right. I genuinely don't think we've ever gone a whole day without at least speaking to each other, even if we're fighting."

Artemis hums, taking whatever it is she is looking for away from that conversation. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, it seems like you have every right to be upset with him. So, I suppose it's up to you to decide if you want to be."

Athena groans childishly. "This isn't fair,"

The goddess shakes her head. "Nothing in life is fair, Athena, but it's up to you to make things better. You can't let these things tear at your relationship. And that's not to say you and Stefan won't be fine, I'm sure you'll work things out eventually, but maybe you need some space for now. Just to allow yourself to be mad at him since you seem to have an issue staying mad."

Athena crosses her arms on the table and rests her head on them, staring up at Artemis through her thick lashes. "I'm not even mad at him to begin with. I'm really just mad that Katherine is getting to him to the point where he's feeding on Elena fucking Gilbert of all people."

"Then don't let her," Artemis states, like the solution had been that simple all along. "Don't let her get to you. Stefan is giving her that power over him, you are giving her power over you and your relationship, of course, she's going to take every opportunity she can to destroy it. And from what you've told me about her, Elena will do the same thing if given the chance."

Athena furrows her brows, her frustration boiling over irritatedly. "Is it mean of me to not understand why she would come back to Mystic Falls for Stefan? I mean, don't get me wrong, Stefan's amazing and I wouldn't leave him for anything, but it doesn't make sense for someone like Katherine to come here for just that."

"Well, didn't you say she was trying to get the moonstone?"

"Yeah," Athena shrugs, confusion still lacing her voice. "But that Sun and Moon curse sounds totally fake. What witch would have been able to curse both werewolves and vampires?"

Artemis sighs, shaking her head. "I hardly paid any attention to Earth in its early years, it was all the same. War, famine, plague. We had all of that back home, I didn't feel the need to relive it."

"You mean Olympus?"

The goddess nodded.

"I've only dreamt of it a few times," Athena, traced mindless patterns on the tabletop. "It's gorgeous, though."

"It wasn't always," Artemis admitted, her face morphing into a small, genuine smile that was rare from the stone-faced woman. "We fought to be where we are now, against monsters of the worst kind. And our father, Zeus, has sacrificed many things to make it a paradise. It's why we're all so fiercely loyal to him."

Seeing Athena's curiosity, Artemis quickly changes the subject. "That's a story for another time, sister. Have you decided what you're going to do about this whole debacle?"

Athena heaved a disappointed sigh, though it was hardly the first time Artemis had changed the subject of Olympus when she brought it up. She supposed there were sore subjects for everyone, even immortal goddesses.

Nodding nonchalantly, Athena meets her gaze. "I'm going to kill her,"

Artemis's gaze lights up with glee. "Now this– this I can surely help with. Where do we start?"

"There's a masquerade ball tonight at the Lockwood mansion, Katherine's most likely going to be disguised as Elena, but it's not hard to tell the two apart."

"A masquerade ball? I haven't had a reason to dress up in decades," Artemis leans forward, her lips parting in a grin. "We're going shopping."

"Really?"

"We're gods, little sister. We have to look the part, don't we?"

──────

"Stefan?"

Athena's voice echoed through the boarding house and within a moment, Stefan appeared before his girlfriend with wide, apologetic eyes mixed with his usual concern for her wellbeing. "Athena, where have you been? You weren't here when I got up and after last night–"

"I was busy," She gestures vaguely to the girl beside her, making Stefan finally tear his focus off her long enough to recognize the other presence in the room.

"Who, uh," He clears his throat, ridding himself of the relief he'd felt when he realized Athena had come back. "Who's your friend?"

"Stefan, meet my sister, Artemis. Artemis, this is Stefan."

The woman smirks at Stefan's dumbfounded look and waves his attempts at a polite greeting off. "I've heard plenty about you, Stefan, we're practically family already," The regal woman gives the man a wink that makes him dip his gaze away from her piercing one. "I can almost hear the wedding bells."

"Thank you, Artemis, that's enough," Athena looks at her pointedly, earning a slight eye roll as the woman stalks off into the boarding house in search of a drink. Once she's out of earshot, Athena looks back at Stefan, her lips pursed unhappily.

"So," Stefan drawls, looking at her almost fearfully. "Are we going to talk about the whole... you know?"

"No,"

"No?"

"No!" She nods, patting his shoulder roughly. "We have things to do."

"Athena,"

She grabs his shoulders, shaking him slightly to silence him. "Listen to me, Stefan, you screwed up big time which means you get to make it up to me big time. Right now that means no asking questions while I figure out a suitable way for us to work things out, alright?"

Stefan is silent for a moment, wide-eyed and shocked, but he nods, knowing she's right. The least he can do is let her gather herself in the face of his mistakes. Clearing his throat, he meets her gaze sheepishly. "I love you,"

She hums, letting go of him and side-stepping him. "I love you, too, even though I want to hide your daylight ring from you right now. Now, I have to go get ready for the masquerade ball. I have big plans tonight, and I'm gonna need your help making it happen."

He turns to watch her as she heads for the stairs, brows twitching on his forehead. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that,"

"I'm going to kill Katherine tonight,"

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going to kill Katherine because she'll never leave us alone and she needs to learn that she can't have what was never hers."

Stefan slowly shakes his head, a small smile growing on his face. "That's what I was going to say,"

Athena's eyes widen and she huffs a laugh, shaking her head as she continues up the stairs. "This is why you're my literal soulmate, Stefan!"

He feels a bit lighter at the momentary lack of tension between them, although he knows he's still in the dog house, and rightfully so. He watches her go for a moment before her words process in his head, and he's left frowning.

"Wait, literal? Athena? What does that mean?"

──────

Damon stops as the four of them step through to the extravagant backyard of the Lockwood mansion, and adjusts the mask on his face. He slides his blue eyes across the crowd before dropping his gaze to the woman on his arm, and the couple beside him.

"What's with the," Damon glances at Athena's golden mask emblazoned with snakes and intricate designs.

Athena shares a knowing smile with Artemis on the other side of Damon. "I'm sending a message,"

Stefan rests a hand on her waist, eyes scanning the crowd. "Do you see her?"

"Not yet," Artemis muttered, taking a flute of champagne off a passing waiter's tray. "No hesitation, right?"

"Definitely not," Athena grits her teeth, looking for either one of the doppelgängers. Where one is, the other is close by. "That bitch is getting a stake in her heart tonight, one way or another."

Damon heaves a sigh, nodding his head in agreement.

Dislodging her arm from Damon's, Artemis adjusts her mask and flips her hair over her shoulder. "Well, until one of us finds her, let's enjoy ourselves. It's a party, people! I'm sorry to ditch you, Damon, but I haven't been attracted to men for at least a century, so excuse me,"

Athena chuckles as the woman weaves her way into the swaying crowd inside the mansion, immediately charming half the population. Damon rolls his eyes, but there's a slight smirk on his face as he follows Artemis inside, nothing but the open bar in mind.

"So, am I allowed to ask you for a dance, or are we not there yet?"

Athena turns, eyeing Stefan's taunting but truly wary stature. "I'll allow it for now,"

The couple makes their way down the stairs to the slightly calmer crowd of people dancing on the temporary dance floor that sits on the perfectly manicured lawn of the Lockwood estate. Beginning a gentle sway, Stefan smiles down at Athena through the slits in his dark mask.

"You look stunning,"

"Half of my face is covered,"

"You're still the most beautiful person here," He shrugs her deflection off easily. "A goddess."

Athena flushes, her eyes widening behind her golden, glimmering mask. "Please, don't,"

"It's true," He stops her before she can begin some sort of deprecating statement, a fond stubbornness in his voice. "If anyone deserves the title, it's you,"

She smiles softly but as she turns with Stefan, her eyes fall to the familiar frame stalking down the stairs directly towards them. "I found her."

Stefan tenses and they come to a stop as Katherine approaches them, her hair straightened to match Elena's. "Katherine,"

"Stefan," She drags her eyes over Athena's frame, quirking a brow beneath her mask before she looks at the vampire. "You free for a dance?"

"Actually–"

"He'd love to," Athena interrupts, and Stefan feigns shock that she shakes off with a smile. She kisses his cheek as Katherine takes his arm, a tight, surprised smile on her face at Athena's unexpected generosity. "I'm going to find Damon and get a drink."

Stefan nods, letting Katherine slowly drag him away from Athena. "Be careful,"

She winks through her mask. "Always,"

Carefully, she walks back up the steps and Jeremy and Bonnie fall into line beside her as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. "You know what you have to do, right?"

Jeremy nods, sliding his mask off as he turns just in time to see Katherine storm off angrily from Stefan, who quickly runs up towards the mansion. "I'll meet you guys in a few minutes,"

The Gilbert boy departs from the two girls, leaving Bonnie and Athena to continue the trek up the stairs to the house. Startling her from her thoughts, Athena inhales sharply in surprise as she's pulled behind a bush and her eyes widen when she sees Elena.

"Oh, what the hell are you doing here?"

Elena glares at her. "I could ask you the same thing!"

The doppelgänger's gaze shifts to Bonnie and she shakes her head confusedly. "What is going on here?"

"We're trying to kill Katherine, and you've just made that job a whole lot harder. To absolutely no one's surprise."

Elena looks at the two in shock. "You guys are trying to kill her here?"

Bonnie nods at her friend. "We saw an opportunity, and we had to take it."

"We?" Elena echoes incredulously. "Are you guys crazy? You're going to get yourself killed, Bonnie."

"We know what we're doing, Elena,"

"How am I supposed to feel if one of you guys gets hurt and I could've helped prevent it? Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Because you're not helpful," Athena grits her teeth at the girl. "And it's not just you that Katherine has screwed over, okay? Stealing faces is the least of our worries right now."

Elena heaves a sigh, clenching her jaw frustratedly. Before she can argue back, she cries out in pain and reaches for her back, tears filling her eyes as she tries to comprehend her sudden blinding pain.

"Elena?" Bonnie rushes towards her as Athena furrows her brows, watching the witch keep the girl from dropping to the ground.

Helping Bonnie, the two girls move Elena away from the crowd and to a patio table, dropping her in the seat right as another yell of pain spills from her lips and a burst of blood stains her arm.

"Bonnie," Athena kneels before Elena, her brow dipped in irritation. "It's Katherine. The other witch– she did a linking spell."

"Oh, god," Bonnie's eyes widen as her friend cries out in pain. "You have to get them to stop! Go!"

Athena runs through the lawn, pushing through drunk classmates as she rushes up the stairs into the mansion and slides to a stop on wobbly heels. Her eyes widen when she sees Damon hovering over Katherine's heart with a stake and she calls out to him. "Stop! You have to stop."

Damon looks over his shoulder at her, his eyes wide in disbelief. "What? Why?"

"Because she's linked to Elena. Everything you're doing to her is happening to Elena."

The brothers move away from Katherine, who smirks smugly as she stands, giving Athena a faux look of gratitude. "Thank you, Athena,"

The goddess grits her teeth, her fists clenching as she stands outside of the barrier. "Burn in hell,"

──────

Athena tilts her head as Stefan leans down to kiss her cheek, allowing the small moment of intimacy as Damon carelessly dumps Katherine's body into his car.

"You two ready to go home?"

"I'm gonna make sure Bonnie's okay and then I'll meet you back here, yeah? Artemis is sticking behind to make sure Caroline and Tyler are good, too,"

Stefan nods, gently taking the mask off of her face to see her big brown eyes at their full capacity. The sight warms him inexplicably and he sighs, kissing the corner of her mouth. "Be careful,"

Athena takes her mask from him, holding it in her hand. "Always. I'll be back in a minute,"

Her heels click on the asphalt of the driveway and she searches over the tops of cars to look for Bonnie and Jeremy.

"Bonnie!" Athena's voice echoes in the emptying lot and for a moment she thinks she spots Bonnie, but her hope dwindles quickly when she realizes it's only Elena. "Ugh, not you again,"

"Athena," Elena stops in between two cars, her eyes finding the woman almost gratefully. "I actually wanted to talk to you."

"What? Why?"

"I wanted to thank you," Elena says, her hesitance audible to Athena. "If you hadn't stopped Stefan and Damon from killing Katherine, I'd be dead right now, too. And I know that's probably what you want, but I'm grateful you didn't let it happen."

"I didn't do it for you, so don't worry, it wasn't a peace offering," Athena sighs, still clutching her mask in one hand. "I did it for Bonnie. Turns out, I like people a lot more when you're not around."

Elena goes to respond, but she stops when a masked figure rapidly approaches her and Athena. "Hey– hey!"

A hand wraps around Elena's mouth and the doppelgänger's eyes widen as she screams behind the suffocating hand, watching a shadowy figure grab Athena, too.

Right as her vision begins to darken, Elena hears the sickening snap of Athena's neck and she watches the girl go limp in the person's arms, unable to do anything but scream.

──────

author's note; what if that's where I ended the fic... could u imagine

originally published; 1.5.21.

edited: 11.30.23.

- liz