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

     Hazel recognises that her and Elena have been like oil and water lately; unable to mesh. It feels wrong knowing how they usually were; unbreakable and stronger together rather than apart. Hazel knows that there is something up with Elena which is causing their sudden distance. She's noticed it for a while and it has only become more apparent to her as time passes. She can't put her finger on what it is exactly her sister is hiding from her, but she imagines it's large as she can see it is taking a toll on her. As much as she asks, Elena only assures it's just stress from trying to maintain her schooling as well as stay safe from things happening on the supernatural front.

     She's noticed that her and Stefan had gotten closer, and that Elena feels comfortable enough to tell him things as a close friend; and as much as Hazel wants to be a jealous girlfriend and sister, she just can't bring herself to. She's more upset that Elena feels more comfortable to talk to Stefan about these things rather than herself—her own twin sister. It makes her want to snoop through her journal to find answers, but Hazel can't bring herself to do it. It just feels wrong to violate her privacy like that. So, Hazel pushes it to the back of her mind and hopes it'll come out eventually when they have time to talk things through.

Founder's Day had arrived and with everything Hazel had learned about vampires, Hazel had come to dread the day. Everything she had been taught about it was a lie—the war was about vampires that had invaded the town, and the civilians in the church who perished as unfortunate casualties of the war were really just those very same vampires. It's strange to her knowing that the cause of the war was because of the Salvatore brothers and Katherine; like she's well and truly part of history as if it was happening today. It just gave everything a whole new level of depth.

      Carol Lockwood could be heard for miles with the way she was shouting at everyone and barking orders. She did this every year, and unfortunately, everyone was used to it and learned how to drown her out. Carol isn't usually like this in public; she's more reserved with her perfectionism, only letting it be known to those close to her, but with times like these, she can't help but want every single little detail to be absolutely perfect. It's her reputation on the line here.

      Caroline scowls as she watches Carol stress and yell at people while she stands beside Matt for photos in their period clothing from the Civil War, "I can't believe you were possibly going to marry into that family." She says, turning to Hazel, "She was going to be a monster-in-law."

     "We were sixteen." Hazel reminds her, "And Carol's not that bad; she can be nice. She's just... stressed."

      Caroline scoffs and rolls her eyes, "Sure, stressed is the word." She mutters sarcastically before leaning closer towards Hazel to say under her breath, "You know she ripped into me about the colour of my skirt before. Sorry I didn't perfectly describe the colour of my skirt to its precise colour code—it was once that colour I said, it's not my fault it's old!" She complains and Hazel giggled because she knows Caroline well enough that she would know the exact colour of the skirt from her strategic planning, but just had it wrong from ageing of the skirt—it was an heirloom, "She's just a bitch."

      "Caroline!" Bonnie scolds with wide eyes. She hoped that no one could've heard her complaints about the Mayor's wife. She didn't want to get into trouble with the Lockwoods in any way.

      "Sorry!" Caroline squealed before shaking her head, "Let's just get these pictures, I want to get out of this costume as soon as possible." She requests and Bonnie nods and holds up the camera again to take the pictures. Caroline poses next to her boyfriend and smiles for Bonnie before she realises and turns to Matt, "Oh, wait! Hide your cast, it's not era-appropriate!" Caroline scolded.

"Seriously!?" Matt laughed but quickly moved over towards the other side of his girlfriend to hide the cast she was fussing about when he saw her very serious face.

The two posed again and Bonnie took the photo. Once Caroline heard the camera click, she moved away from Matt to look at the camera and see the photo, "Okay, now I want one with Bonnie and Hazel."

     Matt held up his casted wrist, pointing out that he couldn't take the photo. He's come to accept that his range of mobility is significantly less now that he harmed his dominant arm in the accident—but it doesn't mean he isn't happy about it. He can't play football and he can't do something as simple as taking a photo because of the hard cast.

     "I can take it." They heard from behind them, the group turning around to see Tyler walking up to them in his costume. Bonnie hands him the camera and Tyler prepares to take the photo.

     Matt's smile dropped immediately at the sight of him, his bright face turning into a sour one, "I'm gonna be by the float." He stated to the group and walked away. Matt isn't sure he can ever forgive Tyler. He's hard to be friends with because he's always just so angry and Matt feels like he's constantly walking on eggshells around him; being as careful as possible not to set him off. It's not that Tyler is a bad friend all the time, he just has his moments from his upbringing. But, after what happened with his mom, it's a little hard to just look the other way and move on.

Tyler's hope for reconciliation quickly diminished and he sighed in disappointment as he looked at Hazel for sympathy, "I said I was sorry."

"You made out made out with Kelly, who is your best friend's mother—and your ex-girlfriend's, too... and then you beat him to a pulp." Hazel reminded him with bewilderment. She couldn't believe that he thought she was going to give him sympathy, "You're gonna have to do a little bit better than just a sorry."

Bonnie and Caroline stood by them awkwardly. Caroline didn't want to leave Hazel alone with Tyler, because she knows despite him previously dating other people after their breakup and Hazel actively being in another relationship with Stefan; she knows that Tyler still has feelings for Hazel. She wants to be by Matt's side to comfort him in this moment about his rocky friendship with Tyler as well, but she worries for Hazel more. It's just unfortunate that Tyler usually only listens to Hazel—she's the only one that can get through to him sometimes.

"I was drunk!" Tyler excused.

"And is that supposed to make it okay?" Hazel questions,

"No!" Tyler exclaims quickly before exhaling to calm himself down. He shakes his head in shame, "None of it's okay, I fucked up. I know that. I just don't know what to do."

"He felt so humiliated and betrayed, Tyler—you're supposed to be his best friend!" Hazel emphasised, "An apology isn't just going to make this all go away, you have to show him that he can trust you again." She advises and he nods understandingly. He just needs guidance. He's never really been good at maintaining relationships because his own family is so messed up sometimes and Hazel had seen that firsthand when they dated. Scolding him never felt good, and she hated that she had to do it, "If you can't do that, then just don't bother trying. It just hurts him in the end."

Caroline then grabs onto Hazel's arm, sensing it's the end of her rant; just in time for the parade to start and pulls her away while Hazel sends a disappointed glance his way. When she turns around to look forward, she misses the way that he stares at her longingly.

The parade went off without a hitch. Everyone had done such an amazing job on their floats, and everyone got a special shout out, from the marching band, to the cheerleaders and the recreation of the Battle of Willow Creek where Jeremy and Tyler were on it; pretending to shoot each other in the enactment, to then finally the Miss Mystic Falls Court float, where the wind was nearly knocked out of Hazel's chest when she saw Elena in her period dress—she looked exactly like Katherine. Now, Hazel is extremely aware that they all share the same face; however, she believes she can tell the differences between them just from the way they act and their hair. But, there was something about the way that Elena looked in that old costume and having her hair that way that made Hazel fully realise that they were her doppelgänger.

It sounds stupid, but it practically smacked her in the face with seeing Elena like that. Hazel made a simple mental note to never curl her hair again unless she wants to be staring back at Katherine all day, and hopefully she can get Elena onboard with that idea, too.

Hazel was waiting for Elena at the Grill while she got changed in the bathroom back into her normal clothes—her hair is still clothed but she looks like Elena again. When she comes back, Hazel lets out an exhale and hugs her, "Thank God, that outfit can go in the attic forever now where it belongs."

Elena laughs, "What does that mean?"

Hazel pulls away and puts her hands on Elena's shoulders with wide eyes, "It means I hated it on you."

Elena laughs again, but her laughter dies down when Damon walks over to them, "I like you better like this. The period look, it... didn't suit you." He tells her and Hazel then realises that if she was struggling to look at Elena in her 1800's costume, then Stefan and Damon would've really struggled seeing Elena practically cosplay as their ex—it then makes her wonder how Stefan feels looking at her everyday and kissing her. He says that she's not Katherine, and that he loves being with Hazel; but, she wonders if that is completely true and if maybe there's a part of him that still uses her to fill the gap that Katherine left.

Stop thinking like that, she tells herself. She'll just go down a deep rabbit hole of doubt and insecurity. She doesn't need that.

Elena's eyebrows pinch together in confusion, "Is that an insult?"

     Damon simply purses his lips and rocks on his feet, "Actually, Elena, it is a compliment of the highest order." He then turns to look at Hazel when he realised she was standing there with an unamused eyebrow raise, "And that obviously extends to you, too. Given... you know." He gestures to her face awkwardly.

      "Thanks." Hazel says dryly. Her brown eyes then notice her brother walk into the Grill and she sighs, knowing they need to talk to him. Jeremy had been avoiding the both of them—understandably so, since they had kept the existence of vampires from him and Elena had Jeremy's memories compelled away. He's been so angry about it, and Hazel doesn't blame him whatsoever for that. She just wants to make things right. She hates when they fight; they're her family, "Can I have a moment with my sister, please?" She asks Damon.

Damon hesitates for a moment but Hazel sends him a pointed look and he sighs, "Fine. I know when I'm not wanted."

"No, you don't." Hazel smiles sarcastically and he returns the look before walking away.

Elena turns to her sister after Damon was far enough, "What was that about?"

"We should talk to Jeremy—to make things right." She says and Elena blinks because she wasn't expecting her to say that, "I hate what we've done and I know we've tried to talk to him but I don't think we're trying hard enough. He's so hurt that we didn't trust him and we took away his memories of Vicki, just saying sorry isn't going to cut it." She says. After her discussion with Tyler about Matt, she recognised how much of. hypocrite she had been; and like she said, apologising wasn't just going to make everything okay.

Elena pursed her lips and nodded, "You're right." She agreed, running a hand through her hair, "He's just so angry. He doesn't want to listen to a thing I say."

"That's the thing, Lena... he needs to be angry. He needs to feel it, you know? We betrayed his trust and he's experiencing it all again." Hazel says, "There's not a whole lot that we can say or do that'll make him change his mind; it's up to him if he wants to forgive us. We just need to let him know that we're here for him no matter what he picks, and we'll understand and love him regardless."

A soft smile falls on Elena's face, "When did you get so wise?"

      Hazel makes a face, "I've always been wise. I'm the oldest, remember?"

      Elena rolls her eyes as she links her arm with her sister's, "Doesn't make you the wisest, remember?" She teases.

      "Uh, yeah, it does." Hazel replies in an obvious tone, "Those extra nine minutes while you were being born really taught me a lot about life." Hazel turns to look over and sees Jeremy sitting alone. She lets out a sigh, "Now, come on. Let's sort this out." She says, leading them over towards him.

      Jeremy was listening to music at his table, a Coke in front of him as he sat waiting for someone, presumably Anna. Hazel can feel her heart racing as she approaches. She hates it when they fight, always has, and her dislike for it had only gotten worse after the death of their parents, "Hey, Jer." Hazel says as she sits across from him. She notices him briefly look up at her with a glare before looking back down at his phone, "Can we have a moment to talk?"

      "No." He responds bluntly when he sees Elena sit beside Hazel.

     "Please?" Hazel asks again. He lets out a dramatic sigh and takes out one of his earbuds, reaching for his Coke to drink it and gestured her to hurry up, "Thank you." She says to be given the chance, "We wanted to say that we were sorry. We were wrong for lying to you and taking your memories away. We shouldn't have done that and we should've let you make the decision for yourself."

     Elena nods her head in agreement, "We understand that you're angry with us and you don't have to forgive us; either way, we will respect your decision. You're our brother, Jer, and we love you, and we want to fix this." She says to him, "So just tell us, what can we do?"

     Jeremy finishes his Coke and simply says, "You can go to hell." Jeremy stands up and leaves, the twins standing there in shock and wondering if they had well and truly gone too far.

     Night had fallen and Damon was walking around the towns square, the parade was still in full swing with townspeople enjoying the festivities of Founder's Day. He turns around when he senses a presence behind him to see Anna standing there, "You're still around?" He asks her with annoyance.

      Anna grabs his arm and quickly pulls him aside to talk, "There's something you need to know." She says, crossing her arms and speaking quietly, "The vampires from the tomb are planning an attack tonight."

     Damon looked at her with confusion. He doesn't trust her, "How do you know this?"

     "I went to them." The older vampire girl explains, "They think I'm with them, but I'm not. They want the founding families dead." The old her would've been fine with it—hell, she would've been the one planning their demise because of her hatred for Johnathan Gilbert, but now that she had fallen for Jeremy; she was worried for his safety, and because he cares about his sisters, she cares for them too—to an extent.

     Damon's mind raced about the same thing. He worries for Elena and Hazel, two women who share the same face as Katherine but has different emotions towards, "When is this supposed to happen?"

     "When the firework start."

     There was a long pause as Damon thinks. He then realises, "John Gilbert wants to use that invention on them."

     "Then we can't be here!" Anna argues in a panic. She knows what it does, and she doesn't want to get into the crosshairs of a town that very much still hates vampires.

     "It doesn't work, it's been deactivated." Damon assures her calmly. He watched Bonnie deactivate it so he knows they're safe.

     His reassurances don't work on her, "Well, then a lot of people are gonna die."

     "Where are they right now?" Damon asks.

     Anna wants to cry as she says, "They're already here, Damon."

     Damon immediately sets off, looking for Alaric. He finds the teacher standing by one of the stalls, talking to students and their parents casually. The vampire calls for him and pulls him away from the conversation, "You keep those nifty little vampire darts in the car?" He asks quietly as he leads Alaric towards his car.

     "Yeah, why do you ask?"

     "Because this square is crawling with tomb vampires." Damon tells him and Alaric immediately looks around his surroundings for the vampires, "I think we might need a stake or two."

      "Yeah, got it." Alaric says and races towards his car, leaving Damon by himself.

     Damon follows the sound of one of the Gilbert twins' voices, seeing them by the cotton candy stand. Hazel and Elena were giggling as Hazel had gotten cotton candy on her face and hair when the wind blew and Elena was trying to get it off while Stefan watched in amusement. He walks over to them and grabs Elena's hand. She looks at him in confusion, "What are you doing?"

      "Saving your life." Damon answers quickly before looking at Stefan, "Fifteen words or less... tomb vamps are here. Founding families are their target." Stefan looks around in a panic and pulls Hazel closer to him while the twins' eyes widen, "Get them out of here, now!"

      Damon goes to leave and Stefan stops him, "Wait, where are you going?"

      "That's more than fifteen words, Stefan." Damon says as he walks further into the crowd.

      Stefan then turns to the twins, grabbing onto Hazel's hand, "Come on. Let's get you out of here."

      "Wait!" Elena yells, "Jeremy is out here somewhere."

       Seeing the panic on their faces at the thought of Jeremy being in danger, he says, "Let's go find him, come on!"

      The three of them start running to look for Jeremy as Mayor Lockwood started his speech commemorating Founder's Day. Shortly after it ended, the fireworks started. Hazel normally loved the fireworks display but she was too concerned about Jeremy to watch. Suddenly, Stefan falls to his knees, grabbing onto his head, "Stefan, what's going on? What's happening?" Hazel asks as Stefan curls into a ball.

      "My head!"

     "What?" Elena asks.

     "My head!" Stefan grunts out again in pain.

      The three of them were completely unaware that a deputy was running towards them to get Stefan but Alaric ran interference and hurriedly talks to him, "Hey, I got this one." He says, pointing towards the other direction where he saw another vampire on his hands and knees and hands him a stake from the car, "There's one over there. Take this, go! Go! Go!"

     The deputy leaves and Alaric goes toward them to help Stefan to get up. They go toward the stairs, around the corner, away from prying eyes, "I don't know what happened, he just dropped." Hazel explains.

     "Yeah, he's not the only one. The cops have gotten everyone who's gone down, injecting them with vervain." Alaric explains back.

      The twins gasp, "What?" Hazel then realises as she looks at Stefan in pain, "They're rounding up the vampires." After a moment, Stefan was feeling better and he stopped groaning, like a switch had been flicked. Alaric went to check what was going on up at the town square. Hazel puts a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

      "It was like needles were piercing my skull and it just stopped." Stefan explains and Hazel looked concerned by that news.

      Alaric came running over, "I saw at least five vampires go down. They're taking them to your family's old building." He tells the twins.

     Stefan then realises, "It's the Gilbert's device. It has to be." He thinks out loud.

     Knowing this plan and the details surrounding it—the Gilbert device that he had been chasing ever since he got to town and their dad's old clinic? It had to be John, "But, how did he get it to work? Bonnie unspelled it." Elena asks with a clenched jaw.

     Alaric shrugged, "Maybe she didn't."

     "She did, we saw her do it!" Hazel says. Bonnie wouldn't do that; she wouldn't say she was going to do something and then lie about it—not with something like this, for Stefan who meant so much to Hazel.

      Stefan shakes his head, "No, no, no, he's right. Think about it: we asked Bonnie to deactivate a device that could protect people against vampires."

     "So we could protect you." Hazel points out.

     "And Damon." Stefan says, "Vampires." Hazel then lets out a sigh of disappointment and shock. Stefan turns to Alaric, "Where is Damon?"

      "I don't know. I haven't seen him since this started." Alaric answered.

In that moment, they all knew that Damon was in trouble and they needed to save him like he had saved them multiple times. Elena turns to Alaric, "Can you get our brother and take him home?" Alaric nods in agreement and turns to go find Jeremy. Elena then looks at Hazel and Stefan and says, "Let's go."

Hazel, Elena and Stefan go running in the town square, looking for Damon when Stefan stops them. He can hear them burning alive in the building and they run towards John, "Where is Damon?" Elena questions him harshly.

"With the rest of them, where he should be." John answers coldly, crossing his arms, "It's over for Damon."

Hazel shakes her head in disbelief, "You're crazy!"

"Why? Because I'm doing what should have been done a hundred and forty five years ago?" He asks them, "This is the right thing." Stefan is looking at the building, looking for a way in, John looks at him and urges, "Go ahead, you won't make it out. It'll save me the trouble of killing you myself."

Stefan turns to Hazel and Elena, "You know the building well, is there another way in?"

"Utility door, there's one around the side. I'll take you there." She says and grabs Stefan's hand to run there. As they're about to go, John grabs onto Hazel's arm to stop her, but Hazel shoves it off of her like he burned her before Stefan could intervene, "Get your hands off of me!" She snaps. She looks so angry and betrayed, and most of all, disgusted, looking at him, "You're a monster, John. You should be ashamed of yourself."

Hazel grabs onto Stefan's hand and they go towards the building, Elena goes to follow them but John catches her arm this time, "Your sister is lost. But, you aren't. If you take one more step and I'll alert those deputies that they missed a vampire."

Elena's eyes narrow onto him in hatred for what he just said about Hazel. She wasn't lost because she loves a vampire—he was for believing in a mindset that was so archaic it was dangerous and made him into a murderer, "I'm asking you not to."

"That doesn't mean anything to me." John replies blankly.

Elena's eyes narrow further, "As our father, it should."

There's a long pause as they look at each other. John looks surprised and taken aback, "You know."

Elena only shrugs. Stefan had spoken to her earlier in the day suspecting that it was John Gilbert that was their father—because he had been the one to tell Isobel about vampires and because she herself had stated that John had a crush on her and they dated in the past. It made sense, but she needed proof, "I wasn't sure, but now I am." She says, giving him once last look before going toward the building where Hazel and Stefan were.

Stefan and Hazel ran towards the emergency door but Bonnie arrives, "Hey, you can't go in there!" She warns but Stefan ignores her and opens the door, "The fire will take you out."

He only exhales and says, "He's my brother, Bonnie." Stefan then runs into the building.

Hazel goes to follow him but Bonnie grabs her right as Elena reaches them, "You can't go in there!"

"Bonnie, what the hell are you doing?" Hazel snaps. She feels betrayed that Bonnie lied to them—she feels hurt that she couldn't tell them that she wouldn't do it. Hazel wouldn't have been upset, she would've understood but at least people wouldn't have gotten hurt because of a lie.

"I'm sorry I lied to you." Bonnie says and closes her eyes, holding on tight before closing her eyes and muttering in Latin to recite a spell. She was holding on so tight that Hazel was struggling to get out of her grip and chase after Stefan.

      "Bonnie, let me go!" Hazel tells while Elena tries to help get her off but hisses as if she was burned away, "I've got to get in there!"

Bonnie doesn't respond, she only continues to recite her spell, the wind blowing more and more as the twins look around in confusion. Once she was finished Bonnie finishes her spell and looks at the twins blankly, "Bonnie..." Elena says and puts her hands on Bonnie's shoulders. Bonnie stumbles a little and Hazel catches her quickly before she fell, "Bonnie, what is it? Are they gonna be okay?"

Suddenly, Stefan and Damon come out of the building and Hazel runs toward them, hugging Stefan tightly, "Oh, my God!" She gasps in relief, turning to Bonnie to mouth a thank you to her. Bonnie smiles in appreciation, but she can see the guilt in her best friend's eyes because she caused it in the first place.

All that mattered was that Stefan was safe.

The fire to the old Gilbert building was put out fairly quickly. The story that was told to officials and the public was that the building's old wiring was what caused it, and it was a story that was taken well since the Council didn't want to fess up that they had caused it in an attempt to kill a bunch of vampires, including the Mayor. Hazel could only think the irony of the situation; history really did have a knack for repeating itself.

Damon had left the scene pretty quickly once he finished playing both sides. He had attempted to solve the issue that the Gilbert twins were having with Jeremy by offering to take away his pain again, and to even say sorry about his loss; since Anna was also one of the unfortunate souls that passed away in the fire—although he did decide to not inform the youngest Gilbert that it was John staking her in the heart that caused her demise.

As Damon had left the home, Elena walked up to the house, stepping onto the front porch, holding her dress in her hands. She looks confused to see him there, "What are you doing here?"

"A failed and feeble attempt at doing the right thing." Damon answered.

      "Which was?" She asks with an exhale.

      "It's not important. Let me take this for you." He takes the dress and her bag, and sets it down.

      "Thank you."

      Damon turns to her, "You know, I came to this town wanting to destroy it. Tonight, I found myself wanting to protect it." He admits and Elena blinks in surprise, "How does that happen? I'm not a hero, Elena. I don't do good. It's not in me."

      "Maybe it is." She suggests.

     "Nah, it's reserved for my brother, and you and Hazel... and Bonnie—who, even though she has every reason to hate me, still helped Stefan save me." He disagrees.

      Elena crosses her arms over her chest, "Why do you sound so surprised?"

      "Because she did it for you and Hazel." He says, stepping closer towards her, "Which means that somewhere along the way, you two decided that I was worth saving. And I wanted to... thank you for that."

      Elena nods her head and says with a small smile, "You're welcome." Damon kisses her on the cheek. When he pulls away, they look at each other. He hesitates and then he kisses her she pulls away slightly and then Damon grabs Elena by the face and they kiss passionately for a few seconds until Jenna opens the door and interrupts them. They stop and Damon tries to hide himself, "Hi..." Elena greets.

     Jenna doesn't look too impressed to see her niece making out with an older guy in front of their house, "It's late, you should probably come inside." Elena looks at Damon, grabs her dress and goes into the house. Jenna closes the door behind them, "What are you doing?"

     "I don't want to talk about it." Elena just says and walks off.

     Meanwhile, John was in the kitchen. he opens the fridge and when he closes it, Elena is there. He jumps slightly, "You scared me."

     "Sorry." Elena says, but she doesn't mean it. She grabs a mug to put it in the sink.

"Is Jenna home?" He asks.

"She had to meet the fire chief about the building." Elena tells him while picking up more plates, "She doesn't know the truth. They've covered it up."

      "Yeah, I know." He says. He was part of the reason why the covered it up, "How's Jeremy?"

      "Holed up in his room."

     John lets out an exhale, "You know... I first met Isobel when I was a teenager. I fell in love with her instantly, although I'm pretty sure she never loved me." He says and Elena turns over to look at him, "She was special. A part of why I hate the vampires so much is because of what she became, how it ruined her. And I never would have sent her to Damon had I known she wanted to turn." Elena starts to put away dishes awkwardly while he rambles, "It's my fault. I'm telling you this because I hoped maybe you'd understand."

     He walks closer to her while she was putting away the knives, "Thank you." Elena says understandingly.

     "Can I help?" He asks her.

      She looks down at his ring, "Sure."

     Suddenly, she cuts his fingers off of the hand with the Gilbert ring with the knife she was putting away, and pushes him against the sink. John screams in pain, "Katherine?!" He realises in horror.

      Her eyes change and become vampiric, "Hello, John. Goodbye, John."

     Katherine then stabs him in the stomach.