1867 Flashback

It had been 1 year and 11 months since mother had died, and something strange was happening. I know it sounded crazy, but I swear I wasn't aging.

My hair wasn't growing, my body wasn't maturing, for god's sake! My pubic hair wasn't even doing anything! All in all, my body had altogether ceased to grow.

I had also acquired these scars on my back, which were oddly symmetrical and identical. They were painful the first day I got them, which was when my mother had died. But I thought they would go away after a while

People were starting to talk about the girl who seemed to look exactly the same after almost 2 years. I was supposed to be 19 by now! But it seemed as if I were still stuck in my 17-year-old body!

Mystic falls was a clean place. Too clean, and so I knew that if there was any imperfection that could risk tarnishing the town's name, the founder families would find a way to eradicate it.

I even had proof.

I asked around for many months about why dozens of people were getting taken and burned under the church, including Katherine, and I had received some information. It wasn't much, but people told me that they were unnatural, unchanging, and monsters.

I didn't know what was true and what wasn't, but if people started noticing that I wasn't aging, I was 90% sure that they would not hesitate to kill me as well.

I was going to run away that night. I had already packed my things and was all ready to go. There was just one thing I was worried about.

Liam.

My brother.

He was extremely crafty and clever, and nothing ever seemed to get past him. I needed to escape without him knowing.

At 23:00, I had planned on sending up one of the maids to seduce him, and he was disgusting like that, so it would work for the time being.

Then I would sneak out of the servant's exit since they would all be asleep by then. Perhaps the only good thing about my caretaker was that she allowed the help to get enough rest.

I had already arranged for a carriage to pick me up at 23:10 sharp, and the driver I picked was excellent at timing.

It should be easy enough.

What could go wrong?

End of Flashback

I was walking to school, not excited to inform all my teachers that I had failed to do the homework they suspiciously all set on the same night.

I needed to come up with a good excuse, and I assumed that saying I was battling supernatural creatures to save everyone's lives would not suffice.

On-campus, I saw Caroline talking to Tyler, and then Matt coming up, effectively shooing the werewolf boy away.

I could practically smell the tension coming off of them from here, and I was almost 10 meters away.

Then Matt leaned in and forcibly starting kissing my friend, who looked shocked, to say the least. She attempted to kiss back, but I was almost certain that she wasn't feeling it.

I swooped in quickly, causing Matt to part from her abruptly.

"Kaitlyn. We're kind of in the middle of something right now," he told me firmly, but I ignored him.

"Caroline, remember I needed to show you that thing?" I widened my eyes secretively at her.

"What thi–....OH! That thing," she caught on quickly and sent Matt an apologetic stare. "Sorry Matt, this is really important."

I linked my arm with hers and we quick-walked away.

"Thanks for helping me back there," she said gratefully, tucking her curled hair behind her ears. "I just don't know what to tell him. I don't even know if I want to be with him anymore. Katie, I think I have feelings for Tyler."

"Wow, really?" I said, pretending to be surprised and clap a hand over my mouth. "I had no idea!"

"Okay," she deadpanned.

"Care, it was pretty obvious that you two have the hots for each other. The good news is that you'll probably have the most honest and functional relationship ever since you both are supernatural. The bad news is, he could bite you and you could die," I told her truthfully.

"Way to sugar coat it," she muttered sarcastically, but I could see the worry shining in her eyes.

"I'll talk to Matt. I'm one of his best friends remember?" I laughed. "Although I haven't really been spending much time with him recently. Oh god, do you think he hates me?"

"What? No!" Caroline gasped. "You have a perfectly reasonable reason to distance yourself from him!"

"Yeah, one I can't tell him. Great, he probably thinks all of his friends are abandoning him. Little does he know, that all of his friends are now supernatural," I sighed. "He's going to find out eventually Caroline."

"I know," she said ruefully. "Well, you go talk to him, and I'll tell the teacher you're in the bathroom."

I nodded and walked away from her purposefully.

I found him pretty quickly, miserably leaning against his locker.

"Hey Matty," I greeted gently, and he smiled sadly at me.

"Hey. So now you're hanging out with me?"

"I was never not hanging out with you," I insisted. "I was just really busy."

"Yeah, just like everyone else in your strange cult circle thing," he muttered.

"What?" I almost laughed. "Cult?"

"Yeah, you, Damon, Stefan, Caroline, Tyler, and Bonnie are always doing weird unexplainable things that don't add up," he asserted.

"Matt," I was about to try and make an excuse, but I didn't want to lie to him anymore. I wanted to tell him some of the truth.

Of course, I wasn't going to tell him the supernatural truth, I was just going to tell a white lie. It was better than spinning a whole web.

"You're right. All of us have been hanging out a lot recently. And we have been doing secretive things. I completely understand why you feel left out, okay? But it's not what you think. The only thing that's different now, is that Damon, Stefan, Bonnie, Caroline, Tyler, and I have a friendship now, and we've bonded mostly over pain. Have you noticed that all of us have some kind of death in the family? And of course, I know you do too. But I swear I'm going to make it up to you okay? We all will," I reassured him, but even I knew that it wasn't enough.

"You know what Kaitlyn? Screw you," he spat angrily, pushing himself up from his locker and standing upright.

"Excuse me?" I asked indignantly.

"Screw. You. I'm sick of you pretending that you're a saint and that you only do good! You hurt me, and you continue doing it. In fact, all of you do it every day! So just leave me alone, and make sure all of your friends know it as well," he said angrily and marched away from me.

∆ ∆ ∆

"Let's get you into bed," I heard Elena ease the sick Rose into Damon's bed as I walked in.

I was still thinking about what Matt told me and felt incredibly guilty. I didn't want to hurt him, but it seemed as if every time I talked to him, I was bringing him more and more pain.

"Hey," I greeted, and the brunette turned around at the sound of my voice.

"You didn't have to come and help," she reminded me.

"I know, but I don't think I could have finished the rest of the school day," I said tiredly.

"Wow, Kaitlyn Paige skipping class? That's practically unheard of," Elena teased.

The fact that she was making jokes with all the more showed how worried she was about Rose's condition. And if Elena was being civil to me to make Rose more at ease, then it must have been bad.

I dropped my bag on the floor and rushed over to Rose, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" I asked lightly, and she tried to smile through her pain.

"Absolutely wonderful," she croaked and choked out a laugh. "I feel like hell."

"Look, I'm going to find a way to save you," I promised firmly.

"Why are you helping me? I tried to hand you over to Elijah remember?" she noted sadly, turning away from me on the bed.

I rested a warm hand on her shivering shoulder. "First of all, it turns out that Elijah is actually an ally. And second of all, I don't want any more people getting hurt on my watch."

"You're talking about this like it's your fault," Elena spoke up. "I thought it was Damon who aggravated Jules. Did you do anything to anger her as well?"

I turned sharply towards Elena, who had interrupted the moment. "No, it wasn't technically because of any of my doing. I just feel like I could have done more. I should have stopped Damon. I could have warned him that she was a werewolf. I should have done something, other than just sitting on the sidelines."

"Wait you could have stopped this from happening?" Elena said angrily, her old self shining through once again.

"Please. Stop fighting. There's nothing you could have done Kaitlyn, stop blaming yourself," Rose whispered, turning back around to face me.

All of a sudden, I sat up. "I'm going to ask Jules for a cure. She must know of one!" I said in determination.

"What? I don't think that's a good idea.." Elena trailed off, but I was already marching out of the room.

"I'll be back Rose!" I called.

I found the serene blonde at the Grill, cupping another glass of alcohol in her hand. She had just been talking to the Sheriff, about Mason I presume, and I guess she hadn't gotten good news.

I marched over to her and plopped into the chair across from hers.

"It's one thing to threaten my friends, but it's another to hurt them!" I hissed angrily. "You need to tell me how to cure Rose!"

"Oh, so that's the name of that other girl. I was originally going to bite your boy-toy, but as you may know, I don't have much control in my wolf-form."

Her tone was nonchalant, and she didn't seem to have a care in the world, which boiled my blood even more.

"Please," I was degraded to begging. "I'll do anything. I'll tell you anything you want."

"Really?" she looked amused. "For a girl, you barely know?"

"I don't want her to die like this," I pleaded.

"I'll tell you the only cure I know of," she leaned forward, sparking my interest. "Get a stake, and plunge it into her heart. It will be a quick death compared to the pain she'll go through if you refuse."

Abruptly I pushed my chair back and got up, glaring at her.

"I should have known you wouldn't be any help," I spat and stomped away.

On the way out, Damon intercepted me, eager to find out if I had good news. But I silently just shook my head, and he exhaled through his lips in an annoyed manner.

"What are we going to do Lyn?" he hissed anxiously, running a hand through his dark locks. "I, we, can't let her die!"

"I won't, I promise," I reassured him, though if I could live up to that promise, I didn't know.

I went back to the Salvatore house to check on Rose. When I arrived, I could see that Elena was shaken up, and furniture was thrown around. The sick vampire was still in bed but looked worse than ever.

"What happened?" I gasped.

"She keeps hallucinating and thinking that I'm Katherine," Elena explained worriedly. "I think I'm gonna go home. Can you watch her please?"

"Yeah."

The dopplegänger left in a hurry, clutching her arm, which I assumed got hurt in her scuffle with Rose.

I crawled into bed with the vampire and turned around to face her. Eyes glassy, short hair tousled, and lips dry, she didn't look to be in a good state. But I could still see the steely determination in her multi-colored orbs.

"Did you find a cure?" she croaked hoarsely.

I bit my lip in disappointment. "No."

"That's okay. I wasn't expecting good news," she tried to cover up her anguish, but it was too strong.

"Look, I'll find some other way. I will!" I tried to convince her. "I think in another life, we would have been good friends."

"I think so too," she smiled. "Kaitlyn, I don't want to die."

Her lips quivered as her eyes filled with tears. She was in terrible pain, and I knew the only thing that would help her was a quick death. But there had to be a way to save her, there had to!

"I want to see your scars," she demanded softly, and I looked at her in confusion.

"Why?"

"Just show them to me."

I turned around slowly, the covers twisting around our feet as I let her gently lift the back of my shirt up.

"They're so beautiful," she breathed in wonder. "You know they look like wings right?"

"I've heard that before," I muttered, thinking about what Damon had said weeks ago.

"Can I touch them?" she requested meekly, and after a moment of hesitation, I nodded.

She ran the tip of her fingernail down the edge, chuckling to herself as she outlined the shape of it.

Please get better. Please get better. I'll do anything to heal you right now.

The chant hadn't stopped since I had walked into the room. I needed her to live. Suddenly I heard her take a sharp inhale of breath. In front of me, our shadows grew as a light seemed to explode out of my back.

I jumped out of the bed instantly, afraid that I had hurt her. She looked as flabbergasted as I probably looked. The covers were strewn on the floor and her hair was windblown but other than that, nothing had changed.

"What was that?" she gasped, and I shook my head in numb confusion.

"I have no idea."

∆ ∆ ∆

I found Damon sitting on the couch outside of his bedroom. He had his usual glass of bourbon in one hand, as he looked at the fire.

His mouth was twisted as his eyes shined with guilt. I already knew what he was thinking.

"It's my fault," I heard him whisper as I walked into the room. "She's dying because of me."

"Damon," I said softly.

"It should have been me who got bit! Why does everyone around me get hurt, and I'm the one who's always okay!"

I could tell he was riddled with shame because he hadn't taken one sip from his drink, his knuckles white as he gripped the glass. Suddenly he stood up and threw the glass in the fire, where it shattered and the fire grew ferociously.

I walked over to him quickly and turned him around to face me.

"Look at me," I ordered gently. "This is not your fault. Jules was going to attack anyway after she found out you killed Mason. You only sped up the inevitable."

He didn't answer, so I roughly pulled him in for a hug, my arms snaking around his neck as I held him fiercely.

He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, his body tense at my touch.

"You know you're going to have to hug me back, or this will get awkward," I whispered in his ear and felt him smile against my cheek.

He wrapped his arms around my torso and gave into the hug, his chin resting on my shoulder.

After a while, we separated, and I looked into his eyes. "Why don't you go say bye to Rose. Maybe you can do your dream thing?"

He nodded morosely and walked away.

I sat down on one of the chairs and put my head into my hands. Just because I acted strongly on the outside, didn't mean that I was on the inside. I hated crying in front of people, and so now that Damon had left, I could let my tears fall freely.

My alone time didn't last long, however, because not only minutes later, Damon dashed out looking astonished.

"Kaitlyn, you need to come with me, right now!" he demanded, pulling me off the couch.

I helplessly ran back into the room with him. "Why, what's wrong?"

I looked at Rose who was happily sitting up in bed. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Kaitlyn, I'm healed."

∆ ∆ ∆