𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙁𝙄𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙀𝙉
ミ★ ( lion and the lamb, act one ) ★彡

     Stefan Salvatore and secrets seem to go hand in hand together these days. At every turn, Hazel runs into a lie that has caught up with him causing them to continuously take one step forward, four steps back without fail. It's almost like Stefan gets a kick out of lying and watching Hazel lose her grip on what's real and what isn't, because every time she believes she knows the whole truth, the world crumbles beneath her yet again, and she needs to re-piece everything once more, over and over again. As crazy as it is, she could handle the fact that he was a vampire—and that he has a vampire brother. She could handle that her best friend is a witch. She can accept the fact that the world is a much more mysterious place than she ever thought possible. But, this lie, she cannot take.

     It's all too crazy and creepy to her that she and Elena are exact replicas of Katherine, who was alive in 1864 and however many years before that photograph was taken. And she doesn't know what to make of the fact that Stefan chose to get involved with her knowing that she and his ex-girlfriend look the exact same. Hazel can't help but feel that she's a replacement of someone that he lost. It's weird to think that her face isn't her own—she accepted that she has an identical twin, but she knew that since birth, it's just more weird to think of another one of them that they had no idea about; but, everyone else did.

     Hazel thinks back at all of the weird looks she and Elena received every time they met a new vampire. Both Stefan and Damon looked at them that way, and Hazel was naive to think that they might not be used to identical twins. Lexi couldn't even take her eyes off her face; she looked at her like she was some type of alien or that she had a second head, and Hazel believed Stefan's bullshit lie that it was because he talked about her a lot to her. Yeah, she's sure he talked about her—most likely about how much he can use her as a replacement.

Katherine's photo is burned into her brain. It's weird because it's her own face, and it's all she can think about. She can't un-see it. The way every single feature of hers she shares except the way they wear their hair; Elena's is dead straight, Katherine is tight ringlets (although she can blame the time period for the hairstyle) and Hazel's is in the middle with loose waves.

If she was a descendant of Katherine, she wonders if that makes her part vampire. But then, she remembers reality that vampires can't procreate, so, Katherine would've had to of had a child before she turned. She would have to find some sort of record of that, but, every time she thinks about it, it gives her more of a headache as she goes back in her family tree and she struggles to make a connection. It's all she's been able to think about since she woke up, hoping to find anything from memory that could dispute their similarities and or to find some sort of reasonable explanation.

Hazel woke up alone in her home. Elena had left the house without letting anyone know where she was or when she was getting back; although she did leave a message for Hazel that she was with Damon, chasing down a lead about something that she couldn't talk about at that moment, and to not tell anyone about it, and that she would explain later. It was cryptic, but Hazel respects her wishes and leaves it at that. Hazel ended up going to stay at Caroline's place after she woke up because she wasn't exactly wanting to stay in her home where she knew Stefan would find her easily. She went to Caroline because she knew that the blonde would keep Stefan away no matter what if she asked, and now that she had vervain around her neck, Stefan couldn't compel his way to her even if he tried.

     Her phone buzzes from beside her, and she looks over to see yet another phone call from Stefan Salvatore. Her face upturns into a scowl as she watches it ring, refusing to answer it as she has no wish to speak to him right now. She wants to turn her phone off but she needs to keep it on in case Elena or Jeremy calls, and although the other reasonable option to get some peace would be to block his number, she knows she will want to get an explanation for this situation eventually. Just not today.

Once the phone rings out and she gets the notification that she received a voicemail, she listens to it, "Hazel. It's Stefan. I know that this picture must have confused you. But, I can explain. I need to explain. So, please, when you get this, call me." Instead of calling back, she only scoffs at him and tosses the phone to the side, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting petulantly.

Caroline then walked into the room, upon seeing her friend's face, she instantly knew, "He called again, didn't he?" She asks and Hazel nods. Caroline sighs and sits next to her on her bed, "What do you want to do about this?"

Hazel shrugs, "I don't know. I just don't want to talk to him at the moment." She tells her. She truly isn't sure what to make of the situation yet and she doesn't want to have a conversation with him when she's not in the right state of mind.

Caroline has no idea what is happening between them. All she knows is that Hazel came to her after a fight with Stefan, and she thinks they are well and truly over—for good this time; at least, that's what Hazel says. Caroline offers a supportive smile, "Well, my mom said you can stay however long you'd like." Caroline says, "She loves when you come to visit." Hazel's face turns to one of guilt. She was often at Caroline's house regularly and ever since Stefan came to town, she hasn't been visiting as much and she is the only one to blame, "Now, what's going on?"

Hazel wants to tell her. My God, she wants to tell her everything so badly, but, she frowns and almost turns her body away from Caroline, "I can't say."

"Oh, come on. You tell me everything." Guilt washes over her face again because normally that would be true, but she's keeping one massive secret from her, "Now, spill."

"There's nothing else I can really say besides that Stefan and I are done." Hazel continues to try and answer vaguely, although deep down she knows it won't work. Caroline will continues to press her buttons until she spills something.

     "I know that. What happened this time?" She asks in a deadpanned tone of voice.

     She said 'this time' and those words made Hazel deflate. She never wanted to be in the type of relationship that was constantly breaking up and getting back together; the type of relationship that people speculate that they constantly fight but are addicted to being together—which they are. She doesn't like the fact that people are just waiting for them to break up again before shortly deciding to give it another go. It's embarrassing, "He kept a photo of his dead ex-girlfriend." Hazel omits the fact that the photo is from 1864, and that the ex-girlfriend is a vampire that looks exactly like her, but, she still adds on, "And we look eerily similar."

     Caroline doesn't mention how strange that is, because it gives the assumption that he's not over this ex-girlfriend, "How similar?"

      "Like we could be related."

     "Oh." Caroline winces, "Weird." She comments but then shrugs to try and uplift her, "Maybe he has a type?"

     Hazel gives her a flat look. There's having a type and then there's using your new girlfriend as a replacement from the old one, "I don't want to be a replacement, Care. He didn't break up with her because he wanted to. She died. He's clearly still not over her despite him telling me the opposite otherwise he still wouldn't be holding onto her picture, and I feel so stupid for falling for it!" She groans, falling back dramatically against the bed, "The worst part is that he wasn't even hiding the damn thing. It was out in the open in his room."

     Caroline isn't sure what to say to that, because she can understand Hazel's confusion and thoughts. If she saw a photo of Elena and Matt on display in his room, she too, would go nuts about it. Deleting and getting pictures of exes are the first sign that someone has moved on, if Stefan had a picture of his ex still, then clearly he's not over her, "I'm sorry, Hazel."

      Suddenly, while staring up at the ceiling, Hazel begins to sob, "This hurts, Care. I can't keep doing this!" Hazel cries, burying her face into her hands, "If I wanted to be in this much pain, I would've stayed with Tyler."

     "Hey, no." Caroline pulls her up into a seated position and puts her hands on her shoulders, "Tyler's actions scared you, you were constantly on edge because you were worried that he was going to pick a fight with someone for looking or breathing at you incorrectly. Stefan doesn't make you feel that way; you're just scared to be in love—and I mean really in love." Caroline says and Hazel bites her lip because she has been in many situations with Stefan that scared her; and it got to the point that she feared for her life since she's been attacked by vampires and seen more death than she liked. At least with Tyler, he would never kill someone, "Stefan's your first love, and it's always going to be painful and messy. It's a part of life."

"What do I do, Care?" She sniffles with an unsure frown on her face, "I love him but he's just so confusing."

"You do what your heart tells you—what you think is best for you." Caroline says wisely. Like he knew they were talking about him, Hazel's phone rings again and she looks down to see that Stefan was calling her once more. Hazel and Caroline look at each other and Caroline offers her a supportive smile, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't want to see him right now. I'm too hurt." Hazel decides, shaking her head and running a hand through her hair while she sniffles, trying to calm down.

"Then tell him that." Caroline says before standing up from her spot, "I'll give you some privacy. Call me if you need me."

Caroline walks out of the room and Hazel picks up her phone, reluctantly pressing accept on the call and putting the phone to her ear, "Hazel, is that you?" She hears Stefan's panicked and concerned voice.

Hazel contemplates hanging up, but after a deep sigh, she replies stiffly, "I'm here."

"Where are you?" He asks.

"I'm safe." Is all she says. She doesn't want to tell him her location because she doesn't want him to show up like she knows he would, "You lied to me."

"Let me explain, please. It's not what it looks like." He begs.

Annoyance builds up in her body and she feels herself balling her fists and pressing her nails into the skin of her palms out of frustration as she bit out, "Oh, so, you didn't lie?"

"Just tell me where you are, so that I can come get you." He says. He heard about the car crash from Damon and went to stop by their home to check on her, only to find out that she wasn't home. She wasn't with Elena and Damon, and she wasn't at school; and he had no clue where she was or if she was safe.

Hazel doesn't want him to come get her. Currently, she wants him on the other side of the planet, "How am I connected to Katherine, Stefan?" She asks. He has to know surely, and it has to be why he pursued her, otherwise it might seem completely shallow that he only pursed her purely because of her resemblance to Katherine.

"I honestly don't know." Stefan starts.

Hazel scoffs in response, "And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"It's the truth. I—listen..." Hazel hangs up on him. She refuses to listen anymore to his bullshit excuses and she scoffs as she tosses the phone to the side once more.

Later that night, when Elena returned home from her trip to Georgia with Damon, she went to the Salvatore Boarding House to talk to Stefan about the recent revelations. Hazel had explained it all; about how they slept together for the first time before she found the picture of Katherine from 1864 resting on his desk in his room out in the open, the way he kept it and the fact that she didn't want to speak to him for a while, but, Elena needed to know the truth. Stefan was in his room when Elena she walks to the doorway to talk to him, "Hi." She starts, crossing her arms over her chest.

Stefan looks up and stands up immediately, thinking for a second that it was Hazel but after close inspection, noticing it was Elena, he deflates, "Hi."

"You should have told us." Elena shakes her head in disappointment at him. She knows about their deal, about how they had no more secrets between them, and yet, he continued to lie.

"I wanted to tell you both." Stefan insists pleasingly.

Elena narrows her eyes onto him because she doesn't believe him, "You said no more lies. Only the truth. We can handle the truth, Stefan." She snaps, "What are we to you? Who are we to you? Who is Hazel to you?"

"She is not Katherine—neither of you are." Stefan says, "You two are the opposite of everything that she was."

"And when did you figure that out?" Elena asks dryly. She's pissed, and rightly so, "Before you befriended me and pursued my sister? Before you slept with her and ruined a special moment for her forever?"

"Before I met you." He answered.

Elena blinked in surprise, "What?"

"The first day of school—when we met. It wasn't for the first time, Elena." Stefan elaborates.

Elena tries to rack her brain for any memory of Stefan Salvatore prior to the first day of school, but she was coming up short. She surely would remember him; he's not exactly hard to miss, "Then when was it?"

"May 23, 2009." Stefan answers.

Elena's breath catches in her throat and she stumbles on her feet a little hearing it. She knows that date, it'll forever be burned into her memory and she will dread it every year, "But, that was..."

Stefan nods his head, "That was the day your parents' car went off the bridge."

The younger Gilbert's eyes widen largely, "You were there?"

Stefan nods again and Elena wants to cry at this information, "Every couple of years I come back here, to see Zach and see my home. Last spring, I was out in the woods, by old Wickery Bridge and I heard the accident—all of it. I was fast getting there, but, not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad was still... he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but, he wouldn't let me help him until I helped you and Hazel."

Hearing this brings tears to Elena's eyes. She wasn't awake for the accident, she doesn't remember anything except waking up in hospital and hearing that her sister's heart stopped momentarily and that their parents were dead. She knows that Hazel witnessed it all and it's why she's so affected by it. She lets out a gasp of air, "Oh, my God. When we woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how we got out of the car. They said it was a miracle." She sobbed.

"I went back for them. But, it was too late. I couldn't—I couldn't save them. When I pulled you two out, I looked at your faces. You looked like Katherine. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you two. And I saw that you were both nothing like Katherine." He explains while she cries, "And I wanted to leave town, but, Elena, I couldn't. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. But, you were both so sad."

"Why do we look like her?" Elena then asks through her tears.

Stefan shakes his head. She's already so distraught hearing this, she won't be able to handle the rest, "Elena, you've been through so much."

"Why do we look like her, Stefan?" Elena asks a bit more forcefully, "What are you not telling me?"

Stefan sighs. She won't let it go and she does deserve to know the truth, "It didn't make any sense to me. You were a Gilbert. She was a Pierce. But, the resemblance was too similar... and then I learned the truth." He takes a beat and Elena looks at him expectantly, "You were adopted."

Elena's eyes widen again and she stumbles back once more and sits down on the sofa, completely shaken up. Stefan goes to sit by her and through her shock, she manages to ask, "How do you know all this?"

"Your birth certificate from the city records." Stefan answers, "It says Hazel and Elena Gilbert, Mystic Falls General. But, there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant—much less with twins."

Elena turns to face him, "What else do you know?"

"For me to go any further, I would've had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk." Stefan says and Elena is disappointed to hear that part, "If someone found out I was asking about Katherine... listen to me, it doesn't matter. Your sister is the woman that I love. I love her, she has to know that."

Elena looks at him sadly, "That's lovely and all, Stefan. But, how am I supposed to tell her all of this?" She asks. It'll crush her to know their parents aren't their biological parents. Hazel adored Grayson and Miranda so much; they were so close. It'll hurt to know that their whole life was a lie and she now has to live in the unknown of where and who she came from.

Elena just wishes they could go back to where they were happy, and it's all they ever knew. She would never wish this type of pain, confusion and heartbreak onto anyone, and yet, it's all been pushed onto them.

Elena just knows that Hazel won't handle this news well, which makes the thought of telling her all the more difficult.