center stage

ATHENA SCRUNCHED HER FACE UP IN DISGUST AS SHE LOOKED AROUND ELENA'S KITCHEN. She couldn't say she was listening to the conversation at hand, more so letting Stefan and Damon recall their visit with Katherine.

She'd already had enough of the eldest doppelgänger, she didn't have the patience for the other one, but the brothers insisted she accompany them almost everywhere now that the threat of Klaus was oncoming.

She hadn't gotten the chance to tell Stefan or Damon about her rapidly developing powers, or her odd conversation about fate with Artemis. She had more questions, endless questions really, but it seemed the more she questioned all of this fate nonsense, the more her father, Artemis, and Josh all clammed up. She hated to even think it because of the possible repercussions it could have should she be anywhere near right about her suspicions, but she didn't trust them.

She didn't really think she trusted anyone right now, but she couldn't think about it right now, because otherwise she'd snap. She didn't know how to voice any of this without sounding paranoid and ridiculous, though.

"You don't believe her, do you?"

Damon scrunches his face up in disgust. "No, of course not. We just want the moonstone."

"According to Rose's friend Slater, there's a way to destroy the spell that Klaus wants to break," Stefan clears his throat, leaning against the countertop.

"No spell, no doppelgänger sacrifice," Athena sighs, smiling sarcastically. "Ergo, you live and we're all worse off for it."

Elena shakes Athena off, looking back at the brothers. "How do you destroy it?"

"By releasing it from the moonstone,"

Elena sighs, dropping her arms at her side. "How do you guys even know this is gonna work?"

"Wow," Athena breathes out, looking at Stefan and Damon in a way that makes them both roll their eyes. "You know how stupid you must feel when I agree with Elena? I mean, don't get me wrong, I have every bit of faith in Bonnie's powers,"

"Wait, you discussed it with Bonnie?"

Stefan nods. "She agreed to do anything she could to help us out."

"It's Katherine who has the moonstone, she's not going to give it to any of you," Elena looks at the three of them, shrugging her shoulders.

"We will get it from her,"

Damon shrugs a shoulder. "What Stefan means to say is that we will pry it from her cold, dead hand if we have to,"

"All Bonnie has to do is find a way to lift the seal long enough for us to get the moonstone and get out in time for her to put it back,"

"Wow," Elena nods, scoffing slightly. "I mean, it sounds like you guys already have it all planned out."

"Yep," Damon gives her a thumbs up. "We're awesome."

"Except for one thing." Elena looks between the three of them. "I don't want you to do it."

Athena's eyes widen slightly before she heaves a sigh and claps her hands together. "You heard her, guys, she wants to die. We tried our best, but now all we can do is wait for Klaus–"

"Elena, what are you talking about?" Stefan frowns, looking between the two girls.

The girl sighs, shaking her head defeatedly. "Well, what about Klaus?"

"We'll find him once we get the moonstone,"

"Is that before or after he kills everyone I care about?" She raises a brow at the vampire. "Which includes half of this town,"

Damon looks at her incredulously. "If we de-spell the moonstone, we can save your life. And maybe we can catch this Klaus guy off guard and wipe him out,"

"If you guys want to get rid of Klaus, that's up to you," Elena stands up straight, crossing her arms over her chest. "But don't do it to save my life."

──────

"It's a bad idea,"

Athena frowns as she stops before Rose and Elena, looking between the two confusedly. "It's a bad idea, and you're stupid," She sits down in a chair near the fireplace, crossing her arms. "What are we talking about? I just automatically assume anything Elena says is a bad idea– except this morning. I liked that whole self-sacrifice thing you have going on,"

Elena sighs, brushing her straight hair off her face. "It's not a bad idea. From what Stefan told me, your friend Slater has more information about Klaus. And you and Damon just gave up before you got it,"

"Because somebody blew up a coffee shop with us in it," Rose looks at her incredulously.

"There's more to learn. We just have to find a way to learn it."

Rose looks at Athena in disbelief, but the girl just shrugs. "I happen to agree with Elena, which seems to be happening more and more lately, which only confirms my thoughts that the apocalypse is coming,"

Scoffing, Rose looks back to Elena. "Why are you coming to me with this?"

Elena heaves a sigh. "Because you owe me. One word from either one of us and you'd be dead for kidnapping us."

"Oh, wow," Athena leans forward, narrowing her eyes at Elena. "It's been a minute since I've seen you so openly manipulative."

"Or maybe it's because you know that they wouldn't want you doing this. Either of you," Rose looks at Athena pointedly, earning an eye roll from her.

"I will still kill you for kidnapping me," She huffs. "And for sleeping with Damon. He's off-limits to manipulative women from now on. Seriously, no more,"

Standing with a sigh, Athena smiles tightly at Rose. "Look, Stefan and Damon are playing the hero card. Stefan I expect this from, but Damon's a bit of a wildcard, you know? So while he's off getting a slice of that heroic lifestyle, why not fill the void of his usually difficult and typically homicidal self?"

Athena shrugs, clasping her hands together in front of her. "All we'd have to do is go find your buddy Slater– really weird name, by the way– and get him to give us the rest of the information on Klaus. And maybe we can avoid coffee shops this time."

Gritting her teeth, Rose crosses her arms and looks at the two girls. "What do you hope to achieve by doing this?"

Elena glances at Athena, who gestures for her to take the floor. "How would you like to be able to walk during the daylight?"

"I've been a slave to shadows for five hundred years, what do you think?"

"I think I know a witch who's willing to do whatever it takes to help if you're willing to make a deal."

"I'm so glad we could come to an agreement on this," Athena grins smugly when Rose's shoulders fall in defeat. "Dibs on the front seat."

──────

"Wow," Athena looks around the loft building, her brown eyes scanning her surroundings. "You know, this place isn't too bad for a nerdy vampire. It'd be better with an elevator, though."

Rose gives her a slight eye roll as she knocks on the doors of the loft. "Slater! Slater, it's Rose! Open up."

A moment passes and the vampire shrugs, turning to the two girls. "He's not home. Sorry,"

Rolling her eyes at Rose's attempts to get out of the ordeal, she storms forward and pushes past her, wrenching the doors open with a slight grunt. The chain on the handles snapped with the force of it, and she turned to the two women with a tight smile. "After you,"

Elena takes a wary step into the apartment past Athena and Rose, and before Rose can follow suit, Athena grabs her arm and yanks her back. She grits her teeth frustratedly, ignoring the wince that the vampire gives her. "I will follow through on the whole payback thing, okay? I am a grudge-holding bitch, Rose. Don't fuck with me."

She drops the vampire with a sigh and steps into the apartment, looking around at the furniture.

"Slater!" Rose's slightly shaky voice echoes in the apartment, and she furrows her brows confusedly when her friend doesn't respond again. Walking forward, she looks around, her eyes suddenly widening as she sees the doorway to his bedroom open. "I don't think he's going to be much help."

Athena's heels translate her building frustration as she stomps over to Rose, seeing Slater's staked body lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Groaning, she rolled her eyes and turned away as Rose walked forward, pulling his body out of the direct line of sight.

"It looks like whoever blew up the coffee shop found him and killed him for his information," Elena sighed, rifling through the stacks of papers on his desk.

"Yeah, probably to stop him from helping people like us. The guy was a vampire almanac, knowing too much information just bit him in the ass."

"God," Athena groaned, giving Rose a faux look of sympathy. "Every one of your friends ends up dead. How does that make you feel?"

Rose clenches her jaw, glaring at Athena in a way that makes the goddess smirk. The vampire rolls her eyes and walks over to the windows, yanking the curtains back abruptly.

"What are you–"

"Tempered glass. UV rays can't penetrate."

Athena hums, picking up a pile of paper and flicking through it aimlessly. "I was hoping you were just gonna take one for the team. Any luck with the computer, 2.0?"

Elena looks up at Athena from her bent-over position, raising a brow at her apparent nickname. "Oh, I've started numbering you and all of your doppelgängers. Easier than keeping track of names."

"Right," Elena sighs, shaking her head. "It's password protected, I can't get in."

"We should just go," Rose sighs, looking down at her shoes for a moment as she takes a second to mourn the loss of another friend.

Before Athena can refuse Rose's insistence, a doorknob rattles to their right and the three women all share a look with varying levels of apprehension.

"Stay here," Rose walks over to the set of doors, slowly opening them as something else is moved around. It only takes a moment for Rose to recognize whoever is in the apartment, and Athena hears a quiet sob echo in the dark room. "Alice?"

"Rose!" A dark-haired woman comes out of the room and Athena instinctively braces for the hysterical woman, grimacing when she throws herself around Rose and begins to sob loudly. "He's dead!"

──────

Athena mindlessly scrolls through her phone as she watches Elena pour hot tea for Alice. Rose's footsteps are light in the kitchen as she approaches the two girls, and Athena raises her brows in silent questioning.

"She found him a few minutes before we did,"

"How is she?"

"Overreacting, big time," Rose deadpans, earning a snort from Athena and an appalled look from Elena.

"Her boyfriend just died, there's no such thing as overreacting," Elena looks at the two of them incredulously.

Athena shakes her head, waving the doppelgänger off breezily. "Crocodile tears, Elena. You of all people should be able to recognize them."

Rose nods at Athena's words. "She's crying for her, she didn't care about Slater. She was only dating him long enough to see if he'd turn her."

Elena sighs, shaking her head in disappointment. She turns, carrying the cup of tea to the woman, and Athena stands, following suit.

"You look really familiar. Did you know Slater?" Alice's shrill drawl broke the tense silence, and Athena looked at the doppelgänger's hesitation before she shook her head.

"Not personally, no. I just knew that he kept detailed records of all of his vampire contacts, and I was hoping that he could point me toward Klaus."

Alice scoffs slightly. "Doubtful. Klaus doesn't want to be pointed out."

Elena sighs. "Do you know Slater's computer password?"

Alice frowned, looking at Elena incredulously. "Are you seriously asking me that right now? I just saw my boyfriend with a stake through his heart."

"Well, you can either answer Elena, or I can ask," Athena clears her throat, drawing Alice's attention her way. "And I don't think you'd like the way I ask questions."

Alice sighs, but seeing the flash of a threat in Athena's eyes, she quickly stands and walks over to the bank of monitors, typing in the password rapidly. She shakes her head, clicking on files here and there that seem meticulously sorted.

"Someone's been here. The hard drive is completely wiped out,"

Rose sighed as she approached them from behind. "Yeah, probably whoever killed him."

"Lucky for you, Slater was paranoid. Everything's backed up on a remote server," Alice rolled her eyes, typing in a password. "Kristen Stewart. God, was he obvious."

Elena's eyes widened at the extensive list of names and links. "These are all links to vampires?"

"Slater was obsessed," Alice shrugged. "Almost as much as me."

"What about that one?" Rose's eyes fell on a name on the list. "Cody Webber. They exchanged dozens of emails about Elijah."

Athena's eyes flashed to the vampire and she let out a cool breath from between her teeth. She had the sinking feeling that the Original she'd un-staked was behind Slater's abrupt death, and perhaps the coffee shop incident, too, but she couldn't quite figure out why Elijah would go to such lengths to protect Klaus, or perhaps protect Elena from finding him.

"I could call him," Alice tries, earning a slight nod from Elena as she reaches for the cell phone.

"Tell him that we're trying to send a message to Klaus. The doppelgänger is alive, and she's ready to surrender."

"What?" Rose straightens out as Athena's eyes widen, and they both look at the doppelgänger accusingly.

"Oh, my god," Alice grins. "I knew I recognized you."

Elena shakes her head, refusing to meet Rose's gaze. "Get him the message please," She turns, walking away from them, leaving Alice to do as told.

Rose and Athena follow after her, the vampire switching between fury and shock as she approaches the girl in the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

Elena turns around, facing them. "I'm getting Klaus's attention,"

"If Klaus knows that you're alive, he'll find you and he'll kill you," Realization dawns on Rose's face as Elena simply sighs. "Which is exactly what you wanted all along."

"It's either me or my family," Elena's eyes shift to Athena almost daringly.

She chuckles, shaking her head. "Don't look at me, I am in full support of the suicide mission. It's everyone else that wants to save you,"

"Cody is on his way," Alice interrupts them before anyone else can get a word out. "And he really wants to meet you."

──────

Athena looks up from her phone, rapidly replying to Josh's annoying texts as he brags about being anywhere but Mystic Falls. Her eyes narrow at Alice's odd and not entirely surprised look and right as she snaps around to follow her gaze, Damon appears in Slater's loft.

Athena gasps and stands, looking at Elena's stock-still frame. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Damon grits his teeth, bypassing Elena for her. "I could ask you the same thing. What do you think you're doing?"

"Helping Elena kill herself– ow!" Athena exclaims as Damon wraps his hand around her arm and pulls her towards the door. Her brown eyes scan the room as Elena paces, suddenly anxious, but her gaze doesn't linger on the doppelgänger, instead lighting ablaze at the sight of Rose. "You are weak, Rose!"

"You called him?" Elena looked at Rose, swallowing around the lump in her throat. "You said that you understood."

"She lied," Damon glared at Elena, but didn't take his tight grip off of Athena.

"Damon Salvatore," Alice pointed at him, a wide grin on her face that made both Damon and Athena roll their eyes.

"Can I kill her?"

"Get rid of her!" Damon looked at Rose accusingly, before he looked back down at Athena. "You're not killing anybody because you don't listen."

"Okay, Dad, god," She rolls her eyes, scoffing incredulously. "This is the last time I try and help anyone be sacrificed, honestly."

Rose sighs and looks away from Athena and Elena guiltily before taking Alice to the other room. Damon looks at the two girls, not bothering to hide his obvious anger at them. "Come on, we're leaving."

Elena shakes her head stubbornly. "No,"

"I said we're leaving," He grits his teeth, pushing Athena towards the door, finally letting go of his death grip.

"I'm not going with you,"

Damon huffs a humorless laugh, looking at Elena in disbelief. "You know, maybe I should just leave you here to get killed. It's not like it'll matter anyways once Jeremy's gone, too."

Elena's eyes widened before she stuttered out a rebuttal. "W–What? What's wrong with Jeremy?"

"He got stuck in the tomb with Katherine trying to get the moonstone out to save your life, and all the while you two are here selling your souls to Klaus," Damon deadpans, making Athena snap around with a panicked gaze.

"The tomb?" Her heart rushes, and she pushes her hair off her face. "Stefan's not– he's not in there, right?"

Damon looks at her, his anger softening at the sight of her worry. "He and Bonnie are working on getting him out, but that means Katherine will be out, too. It's a lose-lose situation, and you," He faces Elena pointedly. "Going on your little suicide mission is not helping anyone."

"Alice is asleep," Rose confirms as she walks out of the bedroom, Alice's limp silhouette on the bed behind her. "We need to go before anyone else shows up."

Right as she finishes, the doors burst open and Athena spins around to face the three men that storm into the apartment.

"We're here to meet the doppelgänger,"

Elena steps forward, swallowing harshly. "Thank you for coming,"

Athena holds up a hand, standing before the men with a glare. "Shut the hell up, Elena," She looks back at the three minions, shaking her head. "False alarm, boys. There's nothing here for you."

Her eyes widen as the man standing in the back suddenly groans, and she gasps when his body drops to the ground, and the familiar Original is standing there with a glare on his face. "I knew it," She breathes out in shock, brown eyes meeting his knowing ones.

Rose is gone in a blur and Athena grits her teeth in annoyance as Elijah appears between the two men before her suddenly.

"I killed you," Damon's confused voice comes from behind her, and she wills herself to not look at him because she knows he'd see right through her with a single glance. "You were dead."

Elijah seems to sense her secret and smirks slightly as he looks back at Damon. "For centuries now," He looks at the vampires in front of him carelessly. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" One of them returns sharply, earning a quirk of the brow from Elijah.

"I'm Elijah,"

The answer seems to instill enough fear into the men, and Athena watches the interaction closely. "We– we were gonna bring her to you. For Klaus, she's the doppelgänger. I don't know how she exists, but she does. Klaus will want to see her."

Elijah barely meets the man's eyes as he stares Athena down almost accusingly, and she raises her chin in silent defiance. "Does anyone else know you're here?"

"No,"

Elijah suddenly smiles, and it nearly sends chills down her back. "Well, then, you have been incredibly helpful," His arms shoot out and Athena winces as she feels a splatter of blood hit her face as he rips their hearts out of their chests like they were nothing.

With a firm nod to Athena, Elijah disappears, and she takes in a deep breath, her eyes fluttering shut with relief that he didn't say anything that would give her actions away.

"Athena? Are you okay?" Damon steps forward, turning her towards him.

She snaps out of whatever daze she'd been in and nods, looking up at him. "Yeah, yes– yeah, I'm fine. I just, um, I need to wipe my face off. And then we need to get home so we can help Stefan and Bonnie."

All Damon does is nod silently as she walks off to the kitchen, sharing a silent, almost fearful look with Elena at the girl's apparent obliviousness to what had happened. They both had seen it, but it didn't seem real that as soon as a threat posed itself to them, Athena's hair had started to rise like there was static in the room, and her hands had moved at her sides like she was about to lunge at somebody.

Like she was prepared for a fight at any second, without even realizing it. Like a storm was brewing, and she was going to be at the center of it.

──────

Athena furrowed her brows as she walked into the boarding house, Damon and Elena trailing behind her. "Bonnie?"

She stepped down into the parlor room, looking at the witch's crestfallen face confusedly. "Is everything alright?"

Her brown eyes widen when Jeremy comes from the kitchen, holding a towel to his bloody neck.

Elena lets out a sigh of relief, rushing towards her brother to hug him. "Oh, thank god, Jeremy,"

"Bonnie," Athena mutters, her eyes looking about the living room as Bonnie finally meets her gaze. "Where's Stefan?"

"Athena," Damon's quiet voice comes from behind her, and she holds her arm out, stopping him from coming any closer.

"Where is Stefan?" Her hands tremble at her sides and she bites her tongue to hold back the cry that claws its way up her throat.

"Athena, I'm sorry," Bonnie stands, meeting Jeremy's guilty gaze with her own. "Stefan, he– he went into the tomb and got Jeremy out. But he got trapped, I couldn't– I couldn't keep the spell down long enough, and Katherine would've gotten out–"

"No," She shakes her head, her breaths coming out rushed as she faces Jeremy. "You!"

She lunges for the siblings, barely missing contact with Jeremy as Damon wraps an arm around her waist and yanks her backwards. She struggles against his hold, voice breaking on a yell that echoes through the house. "No! You did this! This is your fault, it's always your fault!"

She points an accusing finger at Elena, gritting her teeth angrily. After a second, her hand trembles noticeably and she sags against Damon with a choked noise of grief that makes her shoulders heave painfully. "I can't,"

She shakes her head, stepping away from them all. "I can't do it again, I can't,"

The words are whispered like a mantra of pain, and Bonnie turns away from them as a tear skitters down her cheek and guilt wraps around her heart, squeezing unforgivingly.

Damon sighs shakily, not even trying to reach for the girl again. "We'll get him back. I promise we will," He meets Bonnie's gaze over Athena's head and she nods firmly despite the tears in her eyes. "We'll get him back."

──────

author's note; you know the tiktok audio that's like "wake me up before you go–" and then it just like, echoes emptily and you feel that sense of dread and loneliness?? that's what this chapter feels like

originally published; 1.14.21. (I impulsively spent like 200$ on things for my room and clothes, and now I'm just like sitting here waiting for every single thing I bought as if I didn't order it two hours ago.) 

edited: 12.3.23.

- liz