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𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 - 𝐂𝐡. 03
"𝒔𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒚"

┗━━━ ━━━┛

          — SKYLER WOKE UP TO THE SUN FLOODING THROUGH THE CURTAINS,
which wasn't unusual but... when she looked around, it wasn't her room.

She swung my legs over the side of the bed after tearing off the covers and looked around more clearly. It had some of her old things in it, and other familiar things such as random knick knacks and things she remembered being passed down through the family. But why was she—

Memories came flooding back to her the more awake she became. She blinked away the sleep from her eyes, her eyes narrowed.

Oh.

Oh, she was going to kill Niklaus the next time she saw him.

Shaking her head, she stood with a sigh and made her way over to her suitcases while she made a mental note to unpack later although she didn't quite like the idea as it would make everything so much more real to her, something she was trying to avoid.

She changed into a nude-colored baggy tee with layered short sleeves, light blue jeans with rips on the knees, her signature black leather jacket, and black heeled booties.

She twirled her daylight ring, her original daylight ring, which used to be one of her mothers ring. When she was turned, she was desperate and wanted to cling to anything familiar, however after making a new life for herself with Kol, she had changed her mind and wanted to simply move on instead, which is why Kol picked out a beautiful ring for her when we got married, it was simple yet perfect, and inscribed in the inner side of the band was "two hearts bonded, always and forever."

This ring was painfully familiar, the weight reminiscent of the weight of her past, a reminder that she wasn't Skyler Mikaelson here. She was still and would probably always be Skyler Salvatore, at least while she was in this town.

She sighed and walked over to the vintage crimson red mini-fridge she had set up yesterday and grabbed two blood bags from it before drinking them with ease. Skyler tossed the empty bags into the nearby trashcan before she made her way downstairs where she found Damon and a human, drinking already.

"Good morning brother." She smirked, the human's eyes widened, and he looked at Damon, mouthing 'brother?' He went ignored as Skyler asked, "who is this?"

Damon nodded to the human beside him, "Alaric. Drinking buddy. Ric, this is Skyler, my sister."

Alaric gave a wave to which she ignored as she spotted Damon pouring another drink, "Drinking so early?" Skyler asked with a smirk and arched brow. "Stef would be so disappointed."

Damon rolled his eyes, twirling the glass in his hand which had a shot of bourbon in it. "Well, Stefan isn't here." He responded with ease.

"And where is he?" She asked curiously stepping further into the living area, trying to avoid looking at anything familiar. It seemed over the years, their descendants had decided to save the cursed memories of our past and displayed it, rather than bury it in the attic like normal people.

"School." Damon answered with a disgusted frown.

Skyler quirked a brow, not surprised but more exasperated that her twin would go back to school, willingly. She decided not to mention that yet. "It's a Saturday." She told him instead, "Try again."

"Elena's house then." Damon said carelessly, taking another sip of his bourbon.

"Right and who is Elena?" She asked acting oblivious. She had of course done my own research even after she was given all of Klaus's information.

Damon and Alaric looked at each other at this, Damon didn't seem too excited to explain who she was and Skyler didn't blame him. Alaric sighed, deciding to do it himself.

"Katherine's doppelgänger and Stefan's girlfriend." Alaric explained, she hummed with pursed lips.

"So, Stefan's with Katherine's doppelgänger." She stated, spitting out Katherine's name like it was poison, which it very well could be.

Damon sighed, deciding not to answer apparently as he downed his bourbon instead. Touchy subject, she assumed. How shocking. "And history repeats itself." Skyler sighed, shaking her head in disappointment, "Has the boy learned nothing?" She complained.

Damon chuckled. "Does he ever?" He asked filling his glass again.

"Have you learned?" Skyler asked curiously, despite already knowing the answer by his attitude, his silence only confirmed it. She sighed, "Well if you'll excuse me, I must go see my dear twin." She told them with a large grin that seemed almost evil, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she sped out the door, not bothering to wait for a reply.

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Skyler was parked behind Elena's house in her new car, listening and waiting for Stefan to come outside. When he finally did, she jumped out of the car and snuck over to him. When he stepped off the porch, she struck, jumping out behind him with a loud shout of "boo!"

Stefan jumped like a scared cat, his eyes wide as he turned to see the threat and found his sister. "Skyler! What are you doing here?" He scolded.

"Damon told me where you were, and I just missed you so much." Skyler said, the last of her words dripping with sarcasm.

Behind Stefan, a familiar figure stepped cautiously out of the house in confusion, "Stefan?" She called, her eyes on Skyler as though she was a threat, in a way she was. Skyler grinned at her, teeth bared like a wolf, "who is this?"

"Elena," Stefan looked between Skyler and Elena hesitantly, "this is my twin sister, Skyler. Sky, this is... Elena." He smiled sheepishly, one hand in his pocket while he used the other to gesture appropriately to either girl as he introduced them.

"Sister?"

"Doppelgänger?" Skyler responded in fake shock with her eyes wide.

"Skyler, behave." Stefan warned, his eyes narrowed at her sternly, to which she only rolled her eyes.

"Cmon, brother, you never let me have any fun." She whined. "I'm just saying, she's not exactly original," she looked her up and down in obvious disgust, "in any way."

At that, Stefan decided enough was enough, "Okay, Skyler it's time to go. Cmon." He told her grabbing her arm before he looked back at Elena, "See you tomorrow?" He asked, smiling apologetically, Elena managed a nod before he was pulling his sister away before she could cause any more chaos.

"What are you even doing here?" Stefan asked in exasperation.

"I told you I missed you."

Stefan glared at her as they stopped on the sidewalk, Elena watching from her front porch, "Seriously, Skyler."

Skyler sighed, "I did miss you. And... the house, it's not ours but it has all our stuff." Skyler didn't mention how strange it was, to see her old things and family antiques spread around a place so unfamiliar, "I've spent a long time trying to forget my past, our past. I didn't expect to be thrown right back into it the second I came back to town."

Stefan's face softened, and he almost seemed guilty. "Seeing Elena probably didn't help." He added. Skyler shook her head in response, and he sighed, "I'm sorry, Sky. I've been so worried about you having ulterior motives I didn't really think you could've just... I don't know."

"Wanted to be home? With my brothers?" Stefan nodded silently, studying her.

"I missed you too, you know." He admitted to her after a moment.

She smiled. "I know." She whispered, "C'mon, my car's right here. We can head back, unless you had plans?"

Stefan shook his head, "No, no plans." he said, following her to the car. As he got in, she took a moment to look back at the house that belonged to Elena Gilbert, the teen doppelgänger who was still stood on the front porch, watching the interaction between the siblings curiously. When she was caught watching, she turned away suddenly but it was too late.

Skyler watched her for another moment, studying her before she got into the car and closed the door.

History always repeated itself in this town, even now she could see the past unfolding before her very eyes. And it all began with the doppelgänger, as per usual.

Skyler looked over at her twin. She had truly missed him, more than she expected.

She could only hope that Klaus's plan would prevent the doppelgänger from becoming her brothers downfall. Until then, she would just have to enjoy being able to spend time with her brothers again. The weight of her lies weighed heavily on her already, and she could only hope it'd be worth it in the end.

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