Chapter Text
How long have I been here lying with my eyes shut? It’s impossible to tell. Time stretches and folds around me, slipping through my fingers like water I can’t hold. Days? Weeks? Months? Maybe all of them at once. I can feel the world moving on outside, though i'm trapped in this coffin where nothing moves at all.
I’m human again,or I will be, I think. Or maybe I already am. My body is still heavy and unresponsive, but my mind… my mind refuses to be still. It drifts through memories and faces, fragments of life I’ve been missing.
It feels like minutes, sometimes years I cannot tell, I linger and hold on to the people I love, sometimes I manage to make them feel my presence in dreams, not all can feel me, there is one person i manage to always get through to.
Stefan.
I see him first, though he doesn’t know I’m here. He looks smaller somehow, quieter. I remember the way his hands felt, the way his presence steadied me even when everything else felt like it was crumbling. He’s always been steady, and even here, in the fog of this in between, I can feel it, I feel his sadness. It's there for seconds before fading away.
And then there’s Damon, sharp, impossible, untamed. I remember fire. I remember danger. I remember wanting him in ways that terrified me, and maybe that’s still true. Or maybe not. I don’t know if I’m the same person I was before I fell asleep. He can't feel me, he is slowly giving up on the idea of ever seeing me again, and sometimes I give up too.
The others drift past me like shadows.
Caroline laughing in the sunlight I can’t reach. Bonnie reading, Jeremy staring at something I can’t see. Life continues without me. And yet… I can feel it all, somehow. Every heartbeat, every movement, every choice I’ve missed.
Somewhere deep inside, a small spark of something human stirs. A question. A longing. What will it be like when I wake? When I step back into a world that didn’t wait for me? Will I ever wake up?
Today, everyone was together in the Salvatore living room for Elena’s tenth anniversary of being gone, a milestone no one wanted to mark, yet all felt compelled to acknowledge. Stefan moved through the apartment with careful precision, pouring coffee and straightening cushions as if order could somehow fill the void she left behind. He missed her terribly, more than he could admit, but he would not let the world collapse around him, he knew he had to move on and live his life, the last ten years were a blur for him, he tried moving on but nothing ever stuck, he had spent the last ten years helping his brother picking up his pieces.
Damon, as always, was spiraling. He leaned against the mantel, tossing a glass lightly in the air, catching it with a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. One moment he was reckless and teasing, the next tense, consumed by the impossible need to fix something he couldn’t touch.
Caroline tried to keep the energy light, her laughter bright and musical as she flitted between the others, calling friends, offering gentle words, trying to stitch the gaps left by Elena’s absence. Some moments she succeeded, but the emptiness lingered, reminding everyone that some spaces could not be filled with sunny smiles.
Bonnie sat cross-legged on the floor, books and papers strewn around her, murmuring incantations she barely felt. Her mind drifted constantly to Elena, whispering silent prayers, willing her friend back into the world of the living.
Outside, the world spun as usual, unaware of the quiet storm of longing, waiting, and chaos inside the Salvatore living room. Stefan held himself together, Damon teetered on the edge of destruction, and everyone else carried on, while somewhere between sleep and silence, Elena lingered, unreachable but ever present.
"Remind me why we are still mourning over poor innocent Elena, given she has been gone for ten years!" a voice echoed followed by the sharp sound of stiletto heels across the living room, her bouncy curls swept in the air as she lingered in pose with her arms crossed, a smirk on her face waiting for an answer.
"Katherine" Stefan mumbled in a soft tone.
As she glided her finger through Stefan's torso she barked back ,"The one and only my sweet Stefan" .
"So help me god i will rip your heart out and throw it across this living room if you do not disappear now Katherine" Damon threatened, as everyone else gave a look of approval.
Caroline gave a look of disgust before blurting out " How are you even alive, weren't you dead? Seriously, you are like indestructible.”
Katherine twirled on her heel, letting out a dramatic sigh. "Oh, dead is such a relative term, isn’t it? You should know better than anyone, Stefan." Her smirk widened, eyes glinting with mischief.
Stefan rubbed the back of his neck, his patience thinning but his voice calm. "Katherine… we don’t have time for your games. Not today, let us have one day where you don’t ruin everything"
"Not today? Oh, how quaint," she replied, sliding onto the arm of the couch with effortless grace. "Today is your day of mourning, and yet here I am, bringing a little life into your miserable little lives. You’re welcome. How many years before you people start actually living your lives and not chasing a ghost?”
Damon’s frown deepened, and he leaned forward, hands braced on his knees. "Life? You call this life?" he hissed. "Because last I checked, you’ve spent centuries ruining everything you touch. You are afraid of your own shadow kitty-kat"
Katherine pouted, feigning hurt. "Oh Damon, always so dramatic. I’m just here to spice things up a bit. You should thank me,truly."
Caroline groaned, folding her arms. "You’re impossible."
"Impossible? Caroline, I prefer unforgattable." Katherine’s eyes danced over the group, pausing meaningfully on Stefan. Stefan’s jaw clenched. "Enough, Katherine. Go."
But she only leaned closer, lowering her voice into a teasing whisper. "Oh, Stefan, I wouldn’t dream of leaving just yet. Not when the party’s just getting interesting…"
The room fell into tense silence, broken only by Damon’s growl and Elena’s subconscious stirring somewhere deep, caught between sleep and the edge of awareness, sensing the chaos she couldn’t yet fully see.
Caroline’s eyes narrowed, and a sly smile tugged at her lips. "Oh, you want to play games, Katherine? Let me get someone who doesn’t find you nearly as amusing. Bet you won’t act so tough"
Before Katherine could respond, Caroline went to the basement to get someone. A low, dangerous growl filled the room as Klaus appeared in the foyer, his presence immediately commanding attention. The temperature seemed to drop, and Katherine stiffened, her usual confidence faltering.
His amber eyes locked onto Katherine, unblinking and deadly. "You know Katerina I never got my revenge for you trying to run for five hundred years, making my life impossible, and might I mention It really did put a damp into breaking the curse situation " he said slowly, each word heavy with menace.
Katherine’s smirk faltered, replaced by something closer to genuine unease. She took a cautious step back. "K-Klaus.."
Klaus interrupted, his voice low and cold. " you should leave before I make sure you regret showing your face in this room today." A smirk appeared on his face.
Stefan’s gaze softened slightly, relieved to see Katherine’s usual bravado cracking. Damon, however, leaned back with his signature smirk, clearly enjoying the rare moment of Katherine looking anything less than invincible.
Caroline crossed her arms, satisfied, though her lips twitched in amusement. "You hear that, Katherine? Even the Original agrees: your time here is up.ding ding"
Katherine hesitated, glancing between Klaus’s piercing stare and the smirks of the others. Finally, she drew in a sharp breath and muttered, "This isn’t over…" before vanishing in a swirl of her signature cunning, leaving the room tense, but safe at least for now.
Damon exhaled sharply. "Well, that was… entertaining."
Stefan, still uneasy, shook his head. "Too much chaos in one room."
Caroline smirked. "And yet, I think we needed it. Just to remind her… she’s not untouchable."
Klaus turned from the doorway, his amber eyes flicking to Caroline. "I need to go to New Orleans for a few days," he said, voice low, almost private. "Check up on Rebekah… make sure she’s not causing trouble."
Caroline’s brow furrowed slightly. "A few days? That’s all?"
"Don’t worry love" he added, voice just above a whisper. "I always come back." he said as he vanished from the Salvatore House.