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𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 - 𝐂𝐡. 09
"𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒔, 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏."

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      — TIRED AND HUNGRY WITH A CRAVING FOR COFFEE AND BLOOD,
Skyler made her way downstairs while she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her mind was peacefully empty, well except for one thought... coffee.

Kol often teased her and said she loved coffee more than him. They both knew it wasn't true, but sometimes on those rough mornings, when not even Kol could pull her away from her coffee, she understood why he said that.

She used to pull away from Kol and get out of their warm and cozy bed, just for coffee. Now...

She would never drink coffee again if she could go back in time and refuse the entire thing, tell Klaus nothing was worth leaving Kol and the rest of them behind... not even her brothers.

She couldn't do that unless she somehow could create a Time Machine.

So for now... coffee sounded pretty good.

The more she woke, the less empty her mind got, and with it came the anxiety that had thrummed through her every day, the ache that accompanied it however was new. She knew what she ached for. How could she not? She subconsciously fidgeted with her fingers, usually her wedding ring was on it, but now her original daylight ring, a Salvatore family heirloom, sat on her finger.

"Skyler!" A voice called, Damon. She blinked, turning away from the kitchen just as she reached the door frame of it to face him. "Stefan's looking for you."

"I'm getting coffee." She nearly whined tiredly.

Damon shooed her away from the kitchen, and in that moment she wasn't sure what she wanted more. To cry, or to kill. She did neither, only sighing as she trudged numbly back up the stairs, and into Stefan's room.

When she reached the door, she knocked before entering, narrowed eyes pointed at Stefan who stood in a tank top, a button-up shirt in hand, "What do you want?"

Stefan turned to her fully to give her his full attention and went to speak when Damon walked up behind Skyler and handed her a cup of coffee in her favorite mug. Skyler's eyes widened and took the cup like it was something to worship. "You're my favorite." She said sounding breathless, her eyes never looked up from the cup of coffee that warmed her hands. Damon chuckled and ruffled her hair. With a smirk sent in Stefan's direction, smug about being called Skyler's favorite, he turned and left.

Once again left alone, Stefan went to speak finally without interruptions as she drank her coffee in steady sips. "I'm going to hang out with some of Elena's friends today, at the grill, and I want you to come." Skyler paused but still didn't look up from her coffee, so he continued, "I think it would be a good way to get you out of the house, and you could even make some friends. Normal, human friends."

"It helped me, to feel normal. Maybe it'll help you too." Stefan finished calmly, his eyes full of hope as he watched her pull the mug from her lips to respond as she looked at him.

"What if I don't want to be normal?" She asked, "What if I don't want to go out and make friends with normal," boring, "humans."

"We aren't normal, Stefan. We haven't been since we died and woke up with a hunger for blood." She stepped forward in what felt to Stefan like an almost threatening move, "We haven't been normal since Katherine killed us, Stefan." She scoffed, "hell, maybe we haven't been normal since we met Katherine."

"But we could be," Stefan said hopefully, she wasn't sure if he was attempting to convince her or himself, however, she certainly was not convinced. "We could be normal again, Skyler. Maybe this is why we all found our way back to this town, so we can have a second chance at being normal."

Skyler shook her head, "We found our way back because of Elena, or maybe some sort of curse, maybe. Certainly not so we can be normal, because we never will be." She told him sternly, "You can go out with your friends, and act like you're normal, but I have business to attend to," she continued before he could pipe up with curiosity, "which is none of your concern."

"Skyler..." Stefan tried, however, she was already making her way out of the room.

The door shut harshly behind her causing him to wince, stood alone in the room, and Stefan was left to wonder if maybe his sister was right. Maybe they could never be normal again, no matter how desperate he was for a feeling of even brief normalcy.

It wasn't long after that Stefan heard the front door shut — Skyler had left to attend to whatever business she had. He sighed as he sat down at the edge of his bed.

Skyler usually was right. But just this once, he hoped she was wrong.

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The engine rumbled before it settled as Skyler parked in the driveway of the newest Mikaelson home that resided on the edge of town. Shutting the car off, Skyler grabbed the keys and swung her door open before she swiftly stepped out of the car. The door slammed behind her as she fixed her leather jacket and walked inside.

"Honey, I'm home." She called out sarcastically.

"In here," Klaus called from the formal living room, her heels clicked on the wooden floor as she made her way into the formal living room where she sat across from her friend who had a serious look on his face.

Skyler couldn't help but scoff as she settled into her seat, "You look like someone died." He sent a pointed look that made her roll her eyes, but nonetheless, she sighed and turned serious. She crossed her legs and clasped her hands together, resting them on her knees as she leaned forward with an exaggerated amount of seriousness, "What's going on, Nik?" She was the only one allowed to call him Nik, others called him Klaus, and his siblings occasionally called him Niklaus, she still wasn't sure why he let her. She started calling him Nik during a drunken night when their friendship was just beginning, then it became an almost inside joke between them. Somewhere along the lines, it had stopped being a joke and Klaus simply became Nik to her.

Klaus sent her a glare, but ultimately decided to ignore her dramatics, "We need to go over the plan."

She let out a groan that, while dramatic, was not exaggerated. "We've gone over the plan hundreds of times, Nik."

"And we will go over it again." Klaus glared, there was more bite to it, frustration more than anything. "You and my brother took an unnecessary risk that could have jeopardized my only chance at getting the doppelganger, clearly neither of you are taking the plan seriously," Oh, Klas was fuming now, the more he spoke, the more frustrated he seemed and Skyler found herself leaning back against the couch, against safety, as he continued, "So we will go over the plan again and again, a million times over, until at least one of you understands."

Skyler was Klaus's best friend, she knew he cared for her, however none of the Mikaelson's were particularly sane, so she decided it was better to simply nod and listen so she wouldn't get killed. However, her patience only lasted so long. Admittedly, it had lasted longer than she thought it would, Klaus had talked of the plan for nearly an hour. As time went on, the more overwhelming everything got.

"- Everything is relying on this, relying on you."

The clock ticked almost mockingly in the background as Klaus spoke.

"Once the plan is complete, you never have to go back to that cursed town or see your brothers again. We can forget it even happened, but for now..."

Nearly dizzy with the way the words bounced around her head again and again like a never ending boomerang, Skyler decided she had to put an end to this. She stood rather abruptly, slamming her hands down on the table to get Klaus to finally stop talking, and then she snarled, "I think I've heard enough of the plan."

Klaus was never one to back down from a fight, he stood up and towered over her, the coffee table the only thing that separated them. "Skyler...." He warned, because he never backed down from a fight, however he did not wish to fight his friend.

"Klaus!" She snapped, the name sounding so unfamiliar and harsh from her lips that it shocked Klaus enough to step back, his eyes widening as if he had been slapped rather than called by his name, and Skyler huffed, "Just back off for a while, would you?"

Before he could compose himself or think of a response, she was gone. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he sat down, clear to him the conversation was over. He heard the footsteps against the flooring as she made her way through the house, and although he wasn't familiar enough with this house to be able to recognize where she was going by sound alone, he knew. It didn't take a genius to know where she would go.

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Without even a thought, Skyler found her way to the master bedroom — the one Kol had made theirs while she wasn't here. She steps inside, the door wide open and inviting. And there's Kol, waiting as if he knew she would come. Knew she would need him.

"Kol." She managed to get out before she fell, too overwhelmed by everything to stand it once she was safely in his presence. If there could ever be any doubt that he wouldn't, he caught her, holding her because that was his job -- not to keep her from falling, but to hold her close when she did, and then help her up when she was ready. That was his job, because he loved her, and always would. They were soulmates after all.

"Skyler." He whispered like she was his savior and not the other way around like he was the one breaking down right now, the one falling rather than the one holding on. And she broke, tears fell down her face, and she held on desperately, clawing at his sweater for something to pull her back to reality until finally he took her hand and held it in his before he pressed it to his chest, right over his heartbeat. She sobbed and fell even further into him, her head landed on his shoulder and he held her impossibly closer.

"I'm here." He said, not as a statement, but as a promise. "I'm here."

He didn't ask questions, push for answers, or even try to wipe her tears before she was ready. Skyler wasn't ready to talk or to stop crying. So he waited, and held her close, like it wasn't just her lifeline, but his as well.

After a while, her sobs ceased, and her tears calmed, turning from a harsh waterfall into a small stream down her face. She held onto his sweater, holding him close, her face buried in his neck. Then, only when she felt ready, she spoke.

"I promised."

Kol's brows furrowed with confusion, and his grip on her tightened before he caught himself and eased his grip, so rather than keeping her there, he was holding her steady as he asked, "Who did you promise?"

"I promised to keep them safe." She gasped, tears welling in her eyes, "I promised to keep my brothers safe and Katherine killed them, and now Elena... she's not Katherine, she's not — but I think she's worse. Because she's good, and she cares too much. She's going to kill them or- or rip them apart and I'm going to lose them forever but they love her." Her lips wobbled, "I can't protect them from the one they love." A sob escaped her wobbly lips as she cried, "I know once the plan is over, I should just move on, forget about them... But I promised to keep them safe, how can I do that if I just leave again?"

Kol held her impossibly closer as she cried, he understood that all she needed right now was someone to listen, not to answer her questions, and to be honest, he didn't have the answers, however, he did have a question, one he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Who did you promise, gem?"

Skyler nearly whimpered, tears streamed down her face, and she could barely force herself to lift her head in order to look Kol in the eyes like he deserved as she answered, "My mom. I promised my mom."

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2,138 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔

╰┈➤ words from the author...

Skyler promised her mother before her mother's supposed passing to keep her brothers safe, and in this story, the Salvatore siblings father, Giuseppe Salvatore, is not a good person or father, however their mother, Lilian Salvatore (or at least the one of Skyler's memories), is someone Skyler looks up to and treasures despite not getting time to be especially close with her.
The promise was admittedly forgotten by Skyler when she left Mystic Falls, but returning obviously brings back memories of her past, including her mother and the promise.

Please let me know in the comments what you think of the story so far! Constructive criticism is always appreciated