𝓚𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓪 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘𝓼𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓪

⚡️ ⚡️ ⚡️ ⚡️ ⚡️

It was early in the morning when I got the call from
Damon to meet at his house. I get to the Salvatore house nearly an hour later. I knock on the door and Damon opens it. "Hello Belle" he greets me with his cute little side smile. "Hello Damon, you called and said it was important?" I ask before making my way in. "Right this way" he points inside, towards the living room.

I enter the house. The only person I saw was Elena and Stefan. I greeted him first as I had seen Elena at home. "Hi, Stefan" I say while giving him a hug. "What is this about?" I ask. From the corner of my eye I see Rose walking out. She stands near the fire place and gives me a small shy smile. "Hello Rose," I greet, while Elena just stares at her. I sit on the couch next to Damon.

"Okay you have to understand I only know what I've picked up over the years and I don't know what's true and what's not true" Rosa begins. "Who is he?" I ask. "He's one of the originals, he's a legend" she answers. "From the first generation of vampires" Stefan adds. "So, like Elijah?" my sister asks. "No. Elijah is the easter bunny compared to Klaus. He's a foot soldier. Klaus is the real deal" Rose replies. "Klaus is known to be the oldest" Stefan adds. "Okay, so you're saying that the oldest vampire in the history of time is coming after me?" Elena asks with a concern look. "Well, he's more after your sister. She might be the most powerful doppelgänger, being a witch with mutant abilities makes her better. There is a chance that he might take you. But, that would only happen if she's not here but she is. And it would be preferable if it was her" Rose explains.

There was a brief silence in the room. No one said a word but they all looked towards the eldest Gilbert until Damon finally broke the silence. "What she saying is, I mean if what she saying is true..." Damon starts saying but quickly gets cut off by Rose, "Which it is" she states. "And you're not saying it so I don't kill you" he says while looking at her. "Which I'm not" she replies. "Then we are looking a solid maybe" Damon says. "Look Elijah's dead, right? So no one else even knows you guys exist" Stefan says trying to calm us both.

"No, that you know of" Rose and I say to him. "That's not helping" Damon comments. "We don't know if he's real. For all we know he could be some sort of stupid bedtime story" Stefan argues. "He's real and he doesn't give up. If he wants something, he gets it. If you're not afraid of Klaus, then you're an idiot" Rose basically warns us that Klaus really is dangerous. "Alright, we're shaking. You made your point" Damon says. I start to get up. If I'm bering honest I don't know how to feel about the whole original vampire situation. "Where are you going?" Stefan asks. "School, I'm late" I respond and walk towards Damon and kiss him on the cheek, I hug Stefan and say bye to Rose and thank her for the information.

I decided that school can wait. I need more information on Klaus and what better source than Katerina Petrova? On the way to the tomb, I called Caroline and asked her to meet me by the tomb where Katherine is. While she gets here I start to think about what I'm going to do. I will be sacrificed and Elena will get to live a long human or vampire life. She will be safe and so will everyone I care about. Sacrifices need to be made, even if that means I have to die. Well, here comes the sacrificial lamb.

A few minutes later she arrives. Caroline and I walk down to the tomb. "Tell everyone I wasn't feeling well and went home from school," I tell her. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this. I'm a terrible liar," she tries to argue. She thinks it's a bad idea. "And please keep, Stefan and Damon busy. I don't want them to know what I'm up to." I add. "I'm even worse at duplicity and you know this" she states. "You managed to keep Elena occupied when Katherine paid Stefan a visit," I say.

"Yeah, because she threatened me. Not that I'm saying you should use that as a tactic, it's just... Stefan's gonna see right through me" Caroline explained. "Caroline, as my friend, do you promise or not?" I ask. "You had to break out the girlfriend code. Okay, I promise" Caroline finally agrees. "Okay," I say thankfully. "Why don't you want Stefan or Damon to know?" she asks. "Because they would never be okay with me doing this" I stop in front of the tomb's door. "Are you sure about this?" she asks with a worried tone. "Yes, she's the only one who knows the truth about Klaus. The only one who can tell me how to stop him" I reply.

"But you're asking for the truth to someone who has probably never given it. Are you sure about this?" Caroline asked for the second time. "Yes. I can't sit back and wait. I have to know, Care. Please?" I plead. Caroline walks to the door and opens it. "Katherine?" I call out before I look back at Caroline. "It's okay Care, I will be fine okay?" I hear a noise and see Katherine standing by the entrance. "As long as I'm standing at the other side of the door, she can't hurt me. Please" she hesitates but after a second she leaves.

"Stefan or Damon know you're here?" Katherine asks. "I brought you some things," I say as I ignore her question. "You came to bribe me? What do you really want?" she asks warily. "I want you to tell me about Klaus" I answer. "Hmm, you have been busy," she says nonchalantly. "I also brought this," I show her a book. "It's your family's history. It says here that the family line ended with you. Obviously, that's not true" I state. "You think that if you brought me some family keepsake that I'd open up?" Katherine asks. "I also brought this" I show her some blood bags that make her rush towards me but she's stopped when she can't get through the door due to the spell.

"You don't look so good. Your body will start to shut down if you don't get some blood. How long before your body shuts down? 10? 20 years?" I ask. "It must be painful to desiccate and mummify. I can't even imagine" I say trying to bait her. Katherine sits down on the floor and I give her a blood bag. She takes it and chugs it down. "You have the Petrova fire," she states. "Thanks, more blood?" I ask. She puts her hand out for another bag.

"It's a long story, Klaus and I. It goes all the way back to England, 1492 after I left Bulgaria. Or was thrown out" Katherine begins. I give her more blood. "Thrown out?" I ask. "My family, your true ancestors, they disowned me. My indiscretions were not tolerated at that time. I had a baby out of wedlock. The shame" Katherine says sarcastically. "I'm sorry you lost your baby. It was kept a secret?" I ask. "Mhmm. My baby was given away. I was banished to England and I had to learn to adjust. So I quickly became English. It was there that I caught the eyes of a nobleman Klaus. I was taken with him at first, until I found out what he was and what he wanted from me. And then I ran like hell" she says. She explained how she took the moonstone and ran with the help of Trevor.

"So what did Klaus want?" I ask. "The same thing that he'll want from you or your sister. He wants to break the curse" she answers. "By sacrificing the Petrova Doppelgänger. Or in this case the Petrova Doppelgängers" I add. "He wanted to drain every single drop of blood from my body, including my sister" Katherine says. "Rose said you had a sister but she was just a doppelgänger. No witchy powers, but why didn't you tell me?" I ask. "My sister stayed behind. She was the good child. Klaus wanted to use her so I sent her a letter with a vile of my blood she took it and became a vampire" Katherine explained. I give her another blood bag. "What does the Petrova bloodline have to do with Klaus?" I ask. "It's really tedious but..." Katherine said, before drinking the blood and throwing the bag away. "The curse was bound by the sacrifice of Petrova blood. Witches are crafty with their spells. The Doppelgänger was created as a way to be able to do the spell. Once the Doppelgänger reappeared, the curse can be broken" she explains "So you ran before he killed you?" I ask. "Something like that" she answered.

She went on to explain how Trevor told her to go to a cottage nearby where Rose was. Rose was not pleased she stole the moonstone from Klaus. "Rose never ended up taking you back to Klaus, did she?" I ask. "No, but not because she had a change of heart," she replies. She explained how she hanged herself after Rose gave her some of her blood to heal her. "You killed yourself?" I ask in shock. "Klaus needed a human doppelgänger. As a vampire, I was no longer any use to him" she replied nonchalantly. "But that didn't work. You didn't really scape, you've been running from Klaus ever since" I state. "I underestimated his spirit for vengeance but living in a suitcase is better than dying so you can have your blood spilled over some silly little rock" she argues.

I look down trying not to cry in front of Katherine. Even if we found a way to prevent this Klaus will hunt me down alongside whoever helps me. So, there is no real way for me to escape this. Alive. "What's wrong? Afraid I'm right? You don't want to die? There's another way out" she cuts her wrist with her nail, and she quickly starts to bleed. "You better hurry. Your opportunity is going, going, going, and gone. I made the other choice" Katherine went over how she betrayed Trevor and left them to fend for themselves.

"Rose and Trevor spent 500 years running because you used them. Trevor just got killed." I say to her. "I never thought he would last that long" she simply says. "You don't even care that they spent their whole lives running and hiding because they helped you" I accuse her. "I was looking out for myself. I will always look out for myself. If you are smart you will do the same" she says. "So how much of your story is true?" I ask. "I have no reason to lie, Belle. I have no reason to do anything but sit here and read and rot" she answers. "Okay, assuming it's partially true, that's the reason why you came back, isn't it? Because you wanted to be the one to hand us over to Klaus" I state. "500 years on the run, I figured maybe he'll be willing to strike a deal" Katherine says. "So, you got Mason Lockwood to find you the moonstone," I begin. "Right again" she answers.

"What else do you need to break the curse?" I ask. "Hmm, look who is getting smarter," Katherine says to me. "It's not just the stone, is it? Otherwise, there would be no reason to trigger Tyler Lockwood's werewolf curse, or kill Caroline" I pressure for more answers. "Witches and their spells: so many ingredients, so many people to sacrifice" Said Katherine. "Believe it or not, werewolves are hard to come by" Katherine says. "What else?" I ask. "A witch to do the spell. Mine bailed but Bonnie would do just fine, and a vampire again Caroline. It could have been anyone I suppose but I like the poetry of Caroline" she answers. "So you were gonna hand us all over to be killed?" I ask in disbelief. "Not you, even though you are the strongest doppelgänger. My sister died because she lost her family. And well better you die than I" said Katherine while backing away into the tomb.

I grab the rest of the blood bags and push the rest into the tomb. As I start to leave I hear Stefan's voice calling my name. "Belle," he says. "Stefan, what are you doing here?" I ask. "I could ask you the same question" he states. "Caroline told you" I mutter mostly to myself knowing the answer. "No, she kept your secret but it didn't take long for me to figure out what was important that you had to keep it from me," he answers. "I'm sorry Stef, but I knew you would try to stop me" I say trying to justify why I did it. "Listen to me, whatever she said to you it's a lie. Do not listen to her. She's a liar" Stefan says. "I don't think she's lying Stefan, you didn't hear what she said" I tell him. "You don't have to worry, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you" he reassures me. "That's the problem, you won't but you'll die trying. How's that any better?" I ask. Katherine comes back. "There's nothing you can do, Stefan. I haven't even told you the best part of the story"she begins once again.

Flashback- Bulgaria 1492

Katherine arrives at her parents' home. To her village. She finds dead people everywhere. She runs and enters her home. She finds her father with a sword in his heart, on the wall. Her mother is laying in the bed and her sister next to her on the floor. She goes over her mother and sister's bodies "No, no, no, mama. No!" she cries.

Flashback over

"He killed them. My entire family, just to get back at me for running. So whatever you do to escape Klaus, he will get his vengeance on your friends, your family, and anyone you've ever love" she says to me.

Stefan looks at me. "No, look at me. No, do not listen to her, okay?" he tries to calm me. "Always the protector but even you must realize that she and her sister are doomed. There's nothing you can do to stop it unless of course, you have this" she says before showing us the moonstone. "What?" I ask. "Oh no, there it is. It's the ultimate lie, isn't it? You spun this whole thing so that we would have to get the stone from you, didn't you?" Stefan asks her after she just proved his point. "I didn't spin anything, Stefan. It's the truth" she replies to him. "No, let me guess. You want to trade that for your freedom, you manipulative, psychotic bitch" he accuses her. "My freedom? That's where you're wrong Stefan. I don't want my freedom because when Klaus shows up to kill us all and he will, I'll be in the tomb, where no vampire will enter because they can't get out. I'll be the safest psychotic bitch in town" she taunts him, trying to scare us both.

She looks at me. The way she looks at me, it was the same way my sister used to look at me when we were close. "I wanted to give Elena to Klaus so I could save you, Belle. Save yourself, Stefan will choose Elena. He will hand you over to Klaus before he loses his precious Elena. Damon is in love with you so he'll fight for you. I couldn't save my sister, so I tried to save you" I stand still for a moment before walking into the tomb and giving her a hug. She was reluctant at first but she hugs me back after a few seconds. "I'm sorry sister, I couldn't protect you, but I love you" I let go and start walking away. "I'm sorry about your family and sister, you lost everything but I rather die than let those who I love die and you are in those people too now Kat" I say. She smiles and I nod before walking out.

Gilbert Residence- Third Pov

Belle and Stefan stand on the porch. She tries to walk in but Stefan stops her. "Belle" he calls out to her. "I can't talk about it Stefan," she says to him."You don't have to shut me out," he pleads with her, making her cry.

"I wanted to know the truth Stefan and I got it. It's not just me that's in danger. It's Caroline and it's Tyler and Bonnie and even Elena. They're all part of breaking the curse. I can't blame anyone else, it's not because you came to town or because you and Elena fell in love. That's not why everyone I love is in danger. It's because of me, everything is because of me" she cries in his arms.

He gives her a hug and kisses the top of her head. She steps away from him.

"Stefan, why are you here?. How did you know I was not at home? she asks. "Elena I broke up and I wanted to see if she was okay. Caroline had told me she had not gone to school and that you had went home as well," he replies. "I'm sorry Stef," she says. "It's okay Belle, Elena and I just fell out of love. I'm always gonna care for her but I care about you too. More than I'm willing to admit," he says and she hugs him. She kisses him on the cheek. "Thank you, Stefan, for always looking out for my sister and I" she thanks him.  She starts to walk inside where they find Elena sitting on the couch. She sees her sister and runs to hug her catching Belle off guard but she hugs her sister back.

"I'm sorry, Ella. I have been such a terrible sister that I didn't realize that you're in danger. I promise I will fight for you, Ella, no matter what. Because I love you" Elena looks at her older sister who simply smiles at her. "Ella, you're my sister and I won't let you die for me" Elena says to her older sister as Belle looks at her. "Elena, you're my sister and I will do what I have to to protect you, even if that means dying so you can live," she says to her.

Belle thinks about the pass. Everything that has happened in the short amount of time she has been back. "You're my baby sister, Lena and I love you, always," Belle says to Elena, who hugs her one more time. "Goodnight, Ella" Belle hugs her sister. "Goodnight, baby sis and me too," she replies. Stefan bids his goodbye and the Gilbert sisters make their way into their own rooms.

Belle walks into her room and Damon is there. "Damon hello," Belle says with a smile. He walks over to her. Checking for any injuries. He kisses the top of her head. She takes a quick shower and heads to bed where Damon was already laying down.

"Goodnight Damon," she whispers. "Goodnight Belle," he kisses the top of her head.