Alaric's apartment
Klaus entered the apartment to see Katherine sitting at the table bored, as he sat at his laptop, as he hooked his phone to it, before he opened it to see a blonde woman transitioning "What are you doing? Where's Elena?" Katherine asked
"I sent her off with Greta." Klaus said still looking at the woman whose face could now be seen and it was shown to be Jules "It's almost time." Suddenly the door burst opened, causing Katherine to look at the door, while Klaus sat back in his chair "I wasn't aware you'd been invited in."
Damon was standing there, as Katherine turned around and stood up from her chair "I've come here to tell you that you have to postpone the ritual."
"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Klaus asked still not turning toward Damon
"Yeah, but that was before I rescued your werewolf and vampire." Damon retorted
Finally Klaus got up "Excuse me?"he said as he stood face to face with Damon
"And you can kill me for it. I don't care. It was all me." Damon said confidently
Klaus smirked before he said "Katerina, give us a moment." Katherine nodded before she walked off but looked back at Damon as she left the room "I've heard about you. The crazy, impulsive vampire in love with his brother's girl. I knew one of you would try to stop me. It was a just a 50/50 guess on who." walking to the laptop, Klaus turns it up and and Jules screaming could be heard "The nice thing about werewolves is they tend to travel in packs. Need a closer look?"
Klaus closed the laptop and took his phone before he tossed it to Damon who looked at the video "Jules."
Klaus walked back over to Damon "When you spend a thousand years trying to break a curse... You learn a thing or two." Klaus said his voice taking on a darker edge to it "First rule... always have a back-up. Back-up werewolf. Back-up witch."
"Back-up vampire." Damon said looking back to to Klaus
"I've got that covered, too." Klaus said before all Damon knew was darkness
Later
Damon was on the ground unconscious, as Katherine gave him some blood from a blood bag and slapped him "Hey. Damon. Hey. Damon!"
Awaking with a groan Damon asked "Ahh. What the hell happened?"
"He's gone. He went to do the ritual. I'm sorry. I had to. He would have known that I was on vervain if I didn't do it." Katherine said
"Ahh. Do what?" Damon asked sitting up
"Klaus. He made me call her to lure her out. He needed another vampire." Katherine said
"Who did you call?" Damon asked grabbing her arm as she looked away from him "Who did you call, Katherine?"
Steven's Quarry
Elena and Greta were walking in the dark "Where are we going?"
"This way." Greta said
"You're Luka's sister, aren't you? I heard about you. He and your father were looking for you." Elena said
"Well, they were wasting their time. I wasn't lost." Greta replied before Elena tripped on a rock
"God, I can't see anything." Elena complained, with a swipe of her hand Greta lit up the rocks on the side of the walkway, before Elena saw someone on the ground "Jenna?" she asked before she rushed to her aunt "Jenna, Jenna! Jenna? Hey, hey, Jenna! Jenna!" kneeling beside her she tried to find a pulse but couldn't. Eyes now tearful she said "Oh, my God. No. Jenna! No!"
Turning to Greta she said "He killed her? Why? I did everything that he asked."
Suddenly Jenna woke up with a gasp causing Elena to fall back in shock
Greta smirking said "She's not dead. She's in transition."
————————————————
The clearing was quiet, unnaturally so. The ritual site lay prepared in the distance, the air heavy with fate waiting to be fulfilled.
Elijah stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gaze fixed forward. Michael stood a few steps away with a relaxed posture.
"You know," Elijah said at last, breaking the silence, "that the doppelgänger will end up dead after this ordeal. Even if everything goes according to plan… she will rise again. A vampire."
Michael nodded slowly. "I am aware."
Elijah turned to him, searching his face. "And you accept that?"
Michael exhaled, a long breath weighted with centuries. "Acceptance has little to do with it. Some outcomes simply… are."
For a moment, his eyes drifted, unfocused and lost in memory.
"A thousand years ago," Michael began quietly, "when I first came upon that village… when I first saw Niklaus… he was nothing like the monster the world now fears."
Elijah's expression softened.
"He was just a boy," Michael continued. "A boy full of hope. He loved the land, the way the light hit the fields at dawn. He dreamed of seeing the world, of capturing it in his art charcoal sketches, crude sculptures, anything he could shape with his hands. He wanted to create, not conquer."
Elijah gave a small, almost nostalgic smile. "Yes. He was full of spirit once. Kindness, even. Reckless, but warm." He let out a quiet chuckle. "It's almost difficult to reconcile that boy with the man he became."
"But then we turned into vampires," Elijah added, voice darkening. "And all of that… disappeared."
Michael shook his head immediately. "No. No, it didn't disappear."
Elijah frowned slightly.
"It was amplified," Michael said firmly. "Everything you all were was magnified. Love became obsession. Fear became paranoia. Ambition became domination." His gaze hardened. "Niklaus did not lose himself. He became the fullest expression of who he already was."
Elijah looked away, troubled. "And yet… something in him broke."
"Many things did," Michael agreed. "The curse. The lies. The betrayal. Esther's fear. Mikael's cruelty. They shaped him just as much as immortality ever did."
Elijah spoke carefully. "You want him to break the curse."
Michael didn't answer immediately.
"Yes," he finally said. "I do."
Elijah turned sharply. "Even knowing what he will become once it is broken? A true hybrid. Unchained."
Michael met his gaze without flinching. "He is already unchained, Elijah. The curse did not restrain him, it only fed his rage."
"And if breaking it leads to his death?" Elijah pressed. "If I decide… that my brother must be stopped permanently?"
Michael studied him for a long moment, "If you truly believe," Michael said quietly, "that Niklaus deserves death… then there is nothing I can do to stop you."
Elijah's brow furrowed. "You say that… but I do not believe it."
"I won't interfere," Michael continued. "Family does not mean blind absolution. It means allowing each other to face the consequences of our choices."
"And the collateral?" Elijah asked. "The lives caught in the wake of his existence? The innocents?"
Michael's jaw tightened. "I have seen empires rise and burn to ash. I have committed great deeds, Elijah. And terrible ones." He looked almost weary now. "History rarely distinguishes between the two."
Elijah nodded slowly. "I often wonder… if eternity exists merely to teach us restraint, or to punish us for lacking it."
Michael glanced at him, a faint smile touching his lips. "Still the philosopher. Some things truly never change."
Just then, Michael's phone vibrated in his pocket. He looked down at the screen. Once. Then again.
Something unreadable flickered across his expression.
Elijah noticed immediately. "News?"
Michael slipped the phone away. "Movement. Nothing you need concern yourself with."
Elijah arched a brow. "That is rarely reassuring."
Michael stepped past him. "Do not worry, Elijah. Everything is falling into place. It always does."
Elijah looked at him.
"You were never just a god brother you know," Elijah said. "To Niklaus and I… you was the elder brother Finn never managed to be."
Michael inclined his head in quiet acknowledgment. "Family," he said softly, "is rarely defined by blood alone."
Michael turned away, already walking. "Soon enough, this night will end. And when it does, nothing will ever be the same again."
Elijah watched him disappear into the shadows as fate continued its slow, inevitable march forward.
[Alaric's Apartment]
Damon pushed himself up from the floor, fury flashing in his eyes as he wiped blood from his mouth.
"Should've used me," he snapped. "Why didn't he use me?"
Katherine, leaning casually against the counter, tilted her head with a faint, humorless smile.
"No," she said coolly. "He told me it wouldn't have been poetic enough. He wanted you to feel it, to know down to your bones, that there was nothing you could do to stop him."
Damon let out a sharp, bitter laugh. "Oh, that bastard…" His jaw clenched. "He really is twisted beyond measure."
———————————
Damon hunched the table with a glass of bourbon, staring into the amber liquid as if it might offer answers.
"What else is there to do at this point?" he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He downed the drink, then poured another. "I fed Elena my blood. When this is over, she's coming back a vampire." His grip tightened around the glass. "That's not exactly going to end well."
Katherine slid onto the stool beside him, expression sharpening.
"Yeah, well," she said, "now that is a problem for me, Damon."
He didn't look at her. "Sounds like a you problem."
Katherine scoffed. "Oh, I'll deal with it. Trust me." She smirked darkly. "I'm just not exactly in the mood to spend eternity dealing with Miss Goody Two-Shoes especially when Stefan's involved."
Damon finally turned to her, unimpressed. "Then don't. Not my problem."
Katherine's smile thinned, eyes glinting with something dangerous.
"Careful, Damon," she said softly. "When Elena wakes up… everything changes. And when things change someone always pays."
Damon drained his glass in one motion,
"145 years and no last good-bye?" Katherine asked
"You don't get a good-bye." Damon said before he turned away from her, but Katherine vamp-sped in front of him, placing her hand on his chest
"No. Don't leave mad." she said
"Us ending up on good terms isn't exactly on my bucket list, Katherine." Damon replied before he attempted to leave again but she stopped him again
"Klaus made me call Jenna to lure her out. There was nothing that I could do. I didn't have a choice." Katherine said
"That's why I gave you the vervain. So you had a choice." Damon replied
"It was her or me. I chose her." Katherine retorted
"I helped you. You owed me. Now when Klaus dies, you're going to walk out of here without a scratch and Elena's aunt dies. Somehow you're the only one that wins. How'd that happen?"
"I didn't let love get in the way." Katherine said
"Enjoy an eternity alone, Katherine." Damon said before he walked off
"What are you going to do?" Katherine asked stopping him
Damon looked at her for a moment before he vamp-sped away
Quarry
Elena and Jenna were sitting on the ground, as Jenna was clutching at her head "Oh, my head. What's wrong with me?" Jenna asked
"Do you remember what happened?" Elena asked
"I was waiting on Michael, to come back to the house, then you called me. You were so scared. Oh, ah, I should have realized that it wasn't you. The second I walked out of the house, someone grabbed me. A vampire."
"Klaus. It was Klaus." Elena said
"He made me drink his blood. And I don't... I don't remember anything after that. Where are we? What happened?" Jenna asked looking around
"We're at the quarry. He brought us here." Elena said
Jenna placed her hands on the side of her head as she looked down to the ground before she looked up to Elena "Why don't I remember anything?" she asked
"Jenna, do you remember... When I told you how someone becomes a vampire?" Elena asked
"Yeah, if you die with vampire blood in your system, it's... " Jenna paused as realization spread across her face "Oh, god. He killed me." she whispered hoarsely
"Jenna, listen to me. Listen to me; everything's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of here." Elena said
"I'm a vampire?" Jenna asked
"And I bet you're hungry." Greta said as she approached them, as they looked up at her from their position on the ground, before Elena saw a sharp rock nearby and rushed to grab it, but, with a wave of her hand, Greta sent Elena flying backwards. Elena landed painfully in the dirt, and when she got back up and rushed toward Jenna, Great waved her hand again, creating a circle of fire around Elena, causing the girl to stop. "Don't bother trying to get through. I spelled the circle. You're trapped. No matter what you do."
"Greta... Please, just- just let her go." Elena pleaded
Ignoring Elena's plea, Great sliced her wrist open with the sharp rock, as blood dripped from her wound, Jenna looked at it, hungrily "Klaus chose her." Greta said
"No." Elena said
Greta lowered her wrist toward Jenna "Drink it." she ordered
"Jenna, don't!" Elena yelled
"I can't." Jenna said
"Let her go. Hey!" Elena yelled at Greta only to be ignored as Jenna continued to stare at Greta's bloody wrist and finally sunk her teeth in.
"No! No." Elena yelled as her eyes glistened with tears, as Jenna closed her eyes as the warm blood entered her mouth. After a few moments, Greta pulled her wrist out of Jenna's grip and Jenna fell to the ground
"That's enough." Greta said as she stood up and stepped backwards
"Jenna. It's going to be okay." Elena said as Greta flicked her wrist and another circle of fire surrounded Jenna, who retreated from the flames, looking terrified "Look at me. Hey, look at me."
Jenna turned her head toward Elena, blood still running down her chin "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay."
Jenna silently replied "No" as dark veins of hunger creep toward her eyes.
"No no, no, no…" Her hands trembled as she pressed them to her face. Her heart wasn't beating or was it?
Then something else happened.
Memories that weren't hers slammed into her mind, a woman on the floor across from her that looked exactly like her and chantings. A voice that wasn't a voice, a command buried deep in her started unraveling.
Her head snapped up.
Elena stood frozen across from her.
But Jenna didn't see her niece.
She saw a stranger… and her niece? What the hell is going on.
Her vision distorted, Elena's outline shimmering unnaturally, layered like multiple versions of the same person stacked on top of each other.
Jenna staggered back, terror flooding her face.
"Who are you?" she screamed, pointing at Elena and Greta confusing both of them. "What are you?!"
Elena's eyes widened as she couldn't understand what was happening to her aunt… until she saw her aunt's face again when she looked up. Elena and Greta gasped at what they saw.
"What the hell, who are you??"
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