nine days is enough time for the world to end

SEVEN MONTHS LATER. MAY, 2011.

"IF I DON'T FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL I'M GOING TO SAY IN MY SPEECH, I'M JUST NOT GOING TO GRADUATE."

"As Valedictorian, I don't think that's an option," Caroline tilts her head from where she was lying on Athena and Stefan's bed, watching Athena curl the ends of her hair. "Also, I don't know how you managed to get Valedictorian. I feel like I didn't even go to school for half this year,"

Athena hummed, wrapping a piece of her long dark hair around the curling iron. "I'm just crazy talented like that. Also, geometry class is like nothing, compared to participating in a ritualistic sacrifice to help a thousand-year-old vampire make hybrids."

She stops, holding the curl in place for a moment before releasing it slowly to turn around on her vanity seat and look at Caroline. "Speaking of, have you heard from him recently?"

Brief panic flashes in the blonde's eyes and Athena's observant nature doesn't miss it, even as she hides it with nonchalance. "Why would I have heard from Klaus? I'm pretty sure he talks to you more than me,"

Athena narrows her eyes and stares silently at Caroline until the blonde starts to fidget, and finally cave under her piercing stare with a loud, dramatic groan.

"Fine! Fine," Caroline huffs, sitting up on the bed and combing out her hair from where it'd been ruffled against the pillow. "He's somewhere in the Appalachians training his new hybrids, and that's all I know. He's been busy."

"He's been gone for three months," Athena notes lightly. "But Rebekah made him promise he'd be here to see her graduate."

"So, he's got a week and two days."

Athena's face scrunches up in brief distaste as she drops the last strand of hair and reaches to unplug the curling iron. "Don't remind me. Not only do I have to figure out a speech, but I have to figure out how to make a graduation cap look good on me. Not to mention the disgrace that they call gowns,"

"I really, really can't wait to hear your speech," Caroline notes, a tone of sarcasm in her voice as she stands up. "Maybe you can just stand up there and talk about how stupid everyone is, and how much you hated school."

"I know you're being sarcastic, but I will do that and ruin the day for everyone."

Caroline scoffs, heading for the door. "I'm going to pick up Bonnie. You want a ride?"

Athena shakes her head, standing from her chair. "No, I'm riding with Stefan," She pauses momentarily, rolling her eyes. "Whenever he's done hiding from me, that is!"

"I'm not hiding from you," Stefan's in the doorway before she's even done talking and Caroline snorts, pushing past him with a brief farewell. "I'm not hiding from you."

He repeats himself, stepping into their bedroom with a small smirk on his face. "Just because I don't want to interrupt you and Caroline's conversations doesn't mean I'm hiding,"

"You are hiding," She walks over to him, poking at his chest pointedly. "Especially because I asked her about Klaus and you're too sad to admit your little bromance is on the rocks because he left, and you had to stay here so you could be a good little pretend teenager."

"I'm not– it's not a–" Stefan stops, his eyes falling shut as she grins smugly up at him. "I don't like you."

"You love me," She pushes up onto her toes and kisses his lips as he tries to keep them in a frown despite the smile that's pulling at them. "You love it when I make fun of you because I'm your amazing, hot, powerful, funny girlfriend."

Stefan starts to slowly kiss her back, sliding a hand along her lower back. "Yeah, you're my amazing, hot, powerful, funny, humble, Valedictorian girlfriend."

Athena groans long and loud, the sound drowning out Stefan's ensuing laugh at her dramatics. "Stop reminding me," She huffs, pulling out of his hold to walk to the closet. "I have to wear that stupid cap and go up on that stupid stage just to tell people I don't even know how proud I am of them. I don't know them, how can I be proud of them?!"

"Why don't you just wing it?" Stefan leans against the doorway of the walk-in closet Athena had practically taken over since she moved all of her things to the boarding house over Christmas break. She'd thought about maybe selling her father's house, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of backup property just in case something happened.

"Wing it?" She echoes incredulously, unbuttoning the silk pajama shirt she'd worn to bed. "Like, improvise a whole speech in front of hundreds of people?"

"You've done arguably more nerve-wracking things, I'm sure of it," Stefan says, giving her a knowing look as she shoots him a glare. "Your whole thing is wisdom, Athena, just find a portion of it you're willing to pass on to a bunch of oblivious humans."

He walked over as she adjusted her dress on her hips, grabbing for the un-tied straps on her shoulders. He silently tied the first strap into a neat bow and laid it on her shoulder, before reaching for the other one as she looked up at him. When he finished, he tapped at her sternum, on the charm of the necklace he'd given her. "You're intelligent, Athena. More so than anyone else I know. This is your chance to show people that."

"Yeah," She murmurs, huffing a sigh out as she looks at him. "I'm just going to go up there and prove that I'm the best thing to ever walk the halls of that hellscape, and then never go back."

Stefan smiles and cups her cheeks, drawing her into a sweet kiss. "Sounds like a plan, sweetheart."

──────

Athena leans against the locker, rapidly typing out a text to Caroline about the cheerleading team's yearbook photos they had to take at some point this week before the Senior's Dance happened and yearbook orders were finalized.

"Athena?"

She snapped out of her revelry at the young voice, and a smile grew on her face as she pushed off of Nick's locker to turn to him. "Good morning, Nick,"

He eyed her warily, reaching for his locker. "Good morning... I think."

"It's a great morning," She reached into her bag and pulled out an invitation. "This is your formal invitation to the graduation party being held at the boarding house the day after graduation next Friday."

He took the invitation, something hopeful flickering in his eyes briefly. "You want me to come? Even after what happened last time with my brother?"

Athena's smile twisted into the more familiar smirk that instilled fear into those around her. "Your brother's a non-issue now. He's been behaving very well these past few months, wouldn't you say?"

Nick nodded in response, speaking before he realized she'd baited him into answering honestly. "He's, like, still a douche to me, but he's moving out as soon as school gets out, so I'm just waiting him out."

Rapidly, his eyes shoot up to hers and he finds something akin to satisfaction shining in them. "Small victories are still victories, right?"

"Yeah– Yeah, I guess so," He nods, looking back down at the invitation. "I'll, uh, I'll be there Saturday. Thanks for the invite, Athena."

"Of course," She steps away, giving him a more sincere look that is rarely seen on her around anyone but the Salvatores or her friends. "Anything for a friend."

Nick thinks it's nice to be able to call her a friend. He doesn't know what it is, but something about Athena makes him feel like she's the best friend a person can have. He also can't quite place the feeling that tells him that one day, he'll need a friend like her.

──────

"Have you got a dress picked out for next week?" Rebekah's upset voice announces her arrival before she sits and Athena looks at the blonde as she bites into an apple, her heel-clad feet kicked up on Stefan's lap where they sit on a picnic table outside the school.

"Yeah, I found one a few weeks ago," Athena hums, eyeing her faint lipstick print on the apple as she talks around the bite she'd taken. "Have you?"

"No," The blonde huffs, reaching for her bottle of water as Caroline and Bonnie join them at the table. "I don't know why I'm so worried, it's not like you can even see what I'm wearing under that hideous gown."

Athena makes a victorious noise at Rebekah's complaint, earning an eye roll from Caroline while the other two just laughed softly. "Well, you have to look cute, 'cause we're gonna be taking pictures all day. Speaking of pictures– did you get my text about the yearbook stuff? I think we should do it tomorrow during lunch, that way we can focus on decorating for the dance. What is the theme even gonna be? Have we decided?"

Caroline leans forward, her interest piqued at the subject of the dance. A small smirk grows on her face, the look making Athena narrow her eyes suspiciously. "What did you do, Caroline?"

"I met with the rest of the student council the other day and told them the theme,"

"And what exactly would that be?"

"A Night On Olympus: Greek Gods and Goddesses," Caroline holds her hands up in dramatic fanfare as Athena grabs one of her french fries and throws it at the blonde.

"You bitch, now I have to find a really good dress," She huffs, crossing and uncrossing her ankles in Stefan's lap. Her fidgeting makes him unconsciously lay a hand down on her and she shoots him a brief look. "I can't let some random upstage me at my own shit, so all of you should prepare yourselves for the hellfire I'm going to rain down these next few days."

Sighs of fond exasperation echo from the table and Athena smiles satisfactorily, leaning against the brick wall of the school building. "This is all your fault, Care–"

"Excuse me, are you Stefan Salvatore?"

Athena stops, her head snapping over to eye the disturbance. Her eyes narrow at the woman standing there, too old to be a high school student but still somewhat young. Her brown hair contrasts with her bright eyes, and her sharply angled eyebrows are furrowed while a look of desperation twists onto her angled features. "Who's asking?"

The woman's eyes dart to Athena and she licks her lips hesitantly before biting out a sigh. "My name is Jo Laughlin, and I need your help."

Athena raises a sharp brow, sliding her legs off Stefan to turn and stand up before the woman. "What could you possibly need from Stefan?"

"I'm a witch," The woman, Jo, holds her hands up and Athena shoots a sharp look over to Bonnie who silently nods in confirmation despite the confusion on her face. "And my little brother is in danger."

Athena's frown deepened and she scanned the woman closely enough to make her shift uncomfortably. "What do you need Stefan for?"

"Most witches know to steer clear of a ripper," Jo shrugs like the answer was obvious. Stefan, for all of his suffering, doesn't even flinch when she says it. "And there's been rumors lately of a group of people here, including the ripper, who work with the Originals. If anyone can help, it's them."

Rebekah speaks before Athena can formulate a response. "What do you know about the Originals?"

"One of them, Kol," Jo nods, swallowing roughly. "He's got information about the cure."

"What cure? What are you talking about?"

Jo looks at Athena, her fingers wringing together nervously. "The cure for vampirism."

──────

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

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course, I don't believe her," Athena scoffed, slamming her locker shut as she, Caroline, and Bonnie made their way to class. Stefan and Rebekah had skipped the rest of the day to attend to Jo's issues and hopefully get more information out of the woman before they made any rash decisions to help her. "That doesn't mean I don't want to hear what she has to say, though."

"That sounds counterproductive."

"Well, I have a feeling,"

Bonnie looked at her with a raised brow, prompting Athena to shrug and sigh. "I don't know, okay? I didn't get a complete crash course in this whole goddess stuff before my entire family betrayed me. All I can say is I have this– this gut feeling that tells me something's going on. It happened the night I killed Elena, and the night of the sacrifice."

"You're the goddess of wisdom, right? Maybe it's your inner wisdom or something,"

"My inner wisdom? Is that even a thing? What if I'm the goddess of giving other people wisdom and not actually being wise,"

"I don't think that's how it works," Bonnie notes, smiling slightly at Athena's indignant tone. "I think you're the master of your domain, hence the name. Athena is like, historically wise in mythology. Your dad wouldn't just make all that stuff up if he wasn't going to make you like that."

Athena grumbled, adjusting her hold on her history textbook. "My dad didn't make me into anything besides a trophy daughter, any iota of wisdom I may or may not have is because I'm surrounded by stupid people and have to do all of the work myself."

Silence befell the three girls and Athena stopped, giving them each a glance over her shoulder. "Besides you two, of course. Everyone else though, that's up for debate. Look, can we stop talking about this? It's going to be the only thing on anyone's minds when we get home."

"Well, what do you want to talk about instead?"

"How about the dance, and how none of us have dresses for it even though it's in a few days?"

Caroline huffs, tucking blonde curls behind her ears. "I've been looking. I haven't found anything, though,"

"Bonnie?"

The witch looked at Athena, shaking her head. "I haven't even started to look, I've been so busy with college applications,"

Athena smiles, her lips parting in an excited grin that makes Bonnie trail off warily. "What? What did I say?"

"Bonnie," Athena spins around, walking backward steadily so she can face the two girls head-on. "Bon-Bon. Love of my life."

"I don't like where this is going,"

"Can I please, please pick out your dress for the dance? You don't have to worry about paying for it, or anything."

Bonnie narrows her eyes, clutching her notebook to her chest. "I want to agree, but I don't like how you brought this up. What are you planning?"

Holding a hand to her heart in mock offense, she pouts, making Bonnie huff a small laugh. "You wound me, Bonnie. My dearest, kindest friend, when have I ever been anything less than trustworthy?"

Caroline and Bonnie both shoot her unamused looks, but Athena just looks at the witch expectantly.

With a sigh, Bonnie shrugs and nods. "Fine, I trust you to get me a dress. Just– don't make a big deal out of it, okay? I don't need anything crazy."

Athena waved her off, spinning on her sharp heels and picking up her pace. "You've put your trust in the right hands, my wonderful, witchy friend! Don't worry your pretty little head about it,"

The two girls watch her hurry down the hall to her next class, and they both share a brief look. "Does it ever scare you how much she and Damon sound alike?"

Bonnie nodded, still watching Athena's retreating form. "All the time."

──────

Athena scribbled into her notebook as people talked around her, half-listening to the conversation about the supposed vampire cure that Jo needed.

"Let's say we believe you,"

"Which we don't," Athena mutters, earning a scolding pinch from Stefan on the arm that had her ramming her elbow back into his ribs. His pained grunt made her grin as she continued to write in her notebook. "I'm just saying, you show up at our school asking for Stefan, saying you need the Originals, and that there's a cure for vampirism. Sounds like total bullshit to me. A trap if I've ever seen one, and I've seen plenty."

Kol clears his throat, holding up a finger. "Actually, the cure is real. I've seen it."

Athena darts her eyes to Kol, a mean glare shifting over her face before she collects herself. "Okay, so the cure is real. That doesn't mean your story isn't total bullshit and the reason why you want the cure. Not to mention the fact that you knew Stefan as the ripper, and showed up at our school. Just 'cause you're a witch doesn't mean you can be a creep."

Jo seems to struggle for a response for a second before she sighs and clasps her hands in her lap. "Okay, I– I can admit my approach wasn't that great, but I'm desperate–"

"We can tell,"

"My brother didn't want to become a vampire. Our family has been in a coven since before we were even born, it's all we've ever known, and witches don't usually get along with vampires. They go against the force of nature,"

"Yeah, I've heard the whole spiel before," Athena narrows her eyes. "I don't think you people understand what the force of nature is."

Jo sighs, shaking her head. "He made a mistake. He and my dad were arguing, and he ran off one night– too far away from us to protect him, and next thing we know he's showing up on the doorstep in the middle of the night with veins under his eyes."

Athena tilts her head, examining Jo closely. "Okay, so, say we believe you. What do you expect us to do?"

"I need your help finding the cure, I can't do it on my own. It's been hidden away in some impossible-to-reach location to keep people from finding it."

"If it's so impossible to reach, what makes you think we can find it?"

"Well... can't you?"

Athena's lips twist into a frown and she shifts from where she's leaned against Stefan's chest. "I mean, yeah, obviously. But you didn't know that."

Jo shook her head, dark brows furrowing against her pale skin. "Do you guys not understand how well-known you are?" 

Athena's eyes drifted to the others sitting beside or behind her, all of them sharing looks of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Everyone knows about you guys. About the vampires, and witches, and the Originals who work with them. About you killing the doppelgänger and breaking the infamous Sun and Moon curse."

Athena scoffs. "Which was totally fake and dramatic, by the way. I would've killed that bitch for a stale chip, we didn't have to go through half the shit we did."

"Point is, you guys are infamous in the supernatural world, that's why Mystic Falls is avoided as much as possible. People know they won't make it out of here alive if they pose a threat to you."

"That makes us sound like a mob," Damon mutters to Athena, grimacing in disgust. "It's not like we do these things for no reason."

Athena flicks her notebook shut, slipping her pen into the spiral to keep it from getting lost. "All we've ever done is to protect each other."

Understanding flickers on Jo's face, alongside the desperate pleading. "Then you understand why I even risked coming here. My brother is the most important thing to me, and I'll do anything to protect him."

"Where is this brother of yours?" Rebekah speaks up from her slouched position beside Caroline, her face carefully disinterested as she eyes the dark-haired woman. "If we're going to be helping you, shouldn't we meet the reason any of this is happening?"

"So you'll do it? You'll help me?"

"We need to meet your brother, and talk before we make a decision," Athena stood, placing her hands on her hips. "Come back here tomorrow at 5:30 and bring your brother. We'll give you an answer then."

Gratitude shines in Jo's eyes, and she nods as she stands, following Damon's gesture to follow him out of the living room.

The group lingers, watching the doorway that the witch had left through seconds ago.

"Athena, darling?"

The goddess turned, looking at Kol with a raised brow. "Yes, Kol?"

"May I speak with you in the other room? Just a quick tête-a-tête?"

Giving him a bemused look, she shifts her gaze to Rebekah, who shrugs cluelessly. Heaving a sigh, the girl nods and waves him towards the hall. "Sure, let's go to the kitchen. I'm starving," 

She and Kol walk silently into the kitchen, and he takes a seat at the island as Athena reaches into the fridge and grabs a multitude of things, setting them on the counter in a haphazard pile. She grunts as she shuts the fridge, reaching for the loaf of bread sitting nearly out of her reach.

"You know, if I didn't know you were a goddess, this would be very humiliating for you,"

Glaring at the Original over her shoulder, she huffs as she finally pulls the bread down, slinging it onto the counter with her other items. "I will beat you to death with this loaf of bread. What was so important you had to talk to me alone, huh?"

Suddenly serious, Kol leaned forward, his elbows pressing into the counter. "I don't think we should do this, Athena. Retrieving this cure is risky– too risky for us to be involved with."

"How do you know so much about this cure?"

"Long story short, I've had any and all interactions where it's involved to last a lifetime,"

"That was an entirely unsatisfactory answer,"

"Athena, do you trust me?"

Sighing, Athena stopped assembling her sandwich to look at the man. "It depends on the day of the week, honestly."

Kol rolled his eyes, leaning further onto the counter. "Getting involved with this will end badly. We should just tell that desperate witch to accept the fact that her brother is a vampire now."

"Kol, listen to me," Athena cleared her throat, giving him a small smile. "If you want to steer clear, be my guest. At the end of the day, you need to do what you want to do, even if that means running far, far away from all of this shit. I understand why you don't want to get involved, but we could really use your help with this since you're the only one who's ever even heard of this cure."

Irritation flickers through the Original's face before something else washes over, and Kol lets out a groan as he covers his face with his hands. "Well, I'm obviously not going to just let you idiots do it when you have no idea what we're dealing with."

Athena cooed mockingly, reaching forward to pinch his cheek, an action that earned her a furious glare. "You're so sweet, Kol, I don't know why you were ever locked in that stupid coffin,"

"Ask Niklaus,"

"Speaking of," Athena tilts her head, finishing preparing her sandwich carefully. "He's coming back for graduation, right? He's got my brother with him, not to mention my two other strays, and I will actually kill him if they aren't here because of him."

"You think he tells me these things? Talking to Nik is like pulling teeth,"

Athena hums, lifting her sandwich to take a large bite out of it. "Yeah, you're right. Either way–" She swallowed roughly, using the hand her sandwich was in to gesture vaguely. "I'll have him stuffed and mounted above my fireplace if he doesn't get back here on time."

Kol gives her a look of disgust at her obnoxious eating and she smirks. "Have some class, Athena, dear god,"

"Dear me, you mean?"

"You are insufferable and terribly manipulative,"

"I know, right?" Athena sighed, leaning a hip against the counter with a grin. "It's very sexy of me, I think."

──────

author's note; fyi: obviously it still takes from the plot of the show, this book is an AU and the timeline/sequence of events is all at my own orchestration. certain things in the show haven't happened yet, and some will never happen, so don't come in my comments all confused. use ur reading comprehension skills and save us both the time <3 I promise whatever questions you may have will be answered in the future chapters (and if they aren't I will clarify)

originally published; 5.28.22.

edited: 12.11.23.

- liz