chapter two,     the way of nature

     FRAGILE. The woman in front of him was fragile as if she will crumble into tiny little shards just from his look. How someone so fragile could destroy something so powerful? His hand on her neck only tightened, the grip becoming harder, counting each and every bone at the back of her vertebrae and how easy it would be to break them all.

     Deep, forced breaths left through her trembling lips. The desperate need for warmth betrayed her, it took her into another nightmare. So afraid of water, she turned to fire, but there was nothing left but betrayal. But she couldn't give him, the murderous man, the benefit of her fear. She knew men like him. Men like him abused her. Men like him drowned her.

      "Ophelia?"

      The painfully familiar voice ignited life back into her void. Her body reacted – it twisted in pain, the pulse in her neck becoming loud and clear. Her wide eyes filled with tears as the memory crashed back into her – her brothers were dead. Their father shot him just minutes before the townspeople decided to sentence her to death.

      But it was Stefan's voice. And she didn't focus on the painful grip on her neck, on the rough, unloving grass beneath her feet, on the coldness of the wind. Stefan.

      The man moved a bit, giving her access to lock her eyes with the man behind him, who called out her name. It was Stefan. It was the same set of lovely eyes that she spent her entire childhood trying to figure out what colour his eyes really were. On some days, the little golden circle around his pupil would overtake the glow, as if the sun was setting. On the others, the greenish-grey would remind her of the depths of the forest, away from prying eyes.

     Now, his eyes were dark, shadows covering the golden circle and the calming green. It made him look unfamiliar. Her mind suddenly went empty and she was left with a realisation that her twin brother was supposed to be dead. And with that fear, which finally grew in her chest, she outstretched her hand against the man who was holding her throat and tried to pull him away.

     The murderous man didn't move an inch from her, making him exhale in mockery. For an intruder that ruined everything, she was unbelievably weak. And now, judging from Stefan's reaction, this woman got in the wrong place, the wrong time, and he wasn't the one for mercy. Not when it included the ritual.

     Stefan looked at his sister as she looked exactly as he remembered her, only more terrified. Her blond hair was a mess, knots spread out unevenly, a few leaves residing in her waves. Her wide eyes, usually so calm, now were bloodshot with fear and terror. Chapped lips were opening and closing, as if she was trying to say something, but couldn't get a word out.

      Ophelia Salvatore was supposed to be dead.

      "Stefan," she breathed out and it was all that it took for him the roughly push the hybrid away from her. He quickly wrapped his hands around his sister, gently squeezing her as if to find out that she was real. His wide eyes met Klaus', who surprisingly was looking at them with a calm expression.

      "Well," Klaus breathed out and slightly tilted his head, "on normal days I'd be quite touched to see the reunion of Salvatore siblings, but on such an important day..." He took a step forward and that made Stefan take a step with Ophelia in his arms back. "Start talking or she'll lose her head."

      "Klaus!" The witch behind him alerted him before Stefan could say anything. Her face was full of tears and she was running towards him, her two palms pushed together, extending something to him.

      The hybrid's attention dropped on his witch and he soon noticed that once a perfectly smooth stone was now shattered into tiny pieces. He suddenly felt so helpless – everything was going on so smoothly, he had everything! The doppelgänger, the witch, a vampire and a werewolf and the moonstone that was, now, in shards.

      "What happened?" He asked calmly, even if his breathing got even more uneven.

       The witch shook her head, her palms shaking as she knew what was coming for her. "It all happened when she showed up. It just crumbled. I lost my magic!"

       The woman shook her head frantically, tears mixing with her saliva as her face slowly turned red. She extended her hands for help, rising the moonstone, asking for help – not from them, but from the ancestors. But nothing called out to her and she was met with the harsh look from the hybrid before his hands ended up on her neck and with a simple crack, her body dropped on the grass, the tiny shards falling around her.

      "If the ancestors abandoned you, there won't be much use of you anyways now, will there?" He asked the lifeless body, rolling his shoulders back and turning around to face the Salvatore twins.

      Klaus knew about the Salvatore brothers, but he has never heard of the twins, but it wasn't hard to figure out when the two siblings had some similarities. They weren't identical, but by the way Stefan was hovering over her—let's just say Klaus knew what it was like to have siblings.

     "Well?" The hybrid, once again, encouraged any of them to talk. He turned to Elena, who was holding her aunt, now a vampire in transition, in her hands, not daring to move an inch and turned back to Stefan.

      Stefan exhaled, pushing shivering Ophelia closer to him, "Let her go and we'll talk. I'll tell you everything."

      "I don't need to hear your pity story, Stefan. I need to know exactly how she ruined the ritual," he was saying each word clearly and slowly. No raised tone, nothing. It was as if he was just waiting for the wrong word to fall from Stefan's mouth and he would kill his sister right there and in front of him.

      "She didn't do anything to your ritual, Klaus. You should've asked your witch what happened before killing her!" Stefan pointed out, slowly pushing Ophelia to stand behind him.

      Klaus chuckled, looking at the witch's body for a second, slightly shrugging: "She was clearly useless. Now, let me ask you again – how did she take the magic away from my witch?"

      Stefan felt helpless. What was he supposed to tell him if Klaus wasn't in the mood to make amends? Not ever, especially not now! "I don't know! Do you actually think I'd put my sister in danger? Make her walk out as some sort of puppet show and let her die? She is innocent, Klaus! You have to believe me!"

      Klaus smiled at how desperate Stefan sounded. "I don't know, Stefan, you tell me. You're so head over heels for the doppelgänger that you might use your sister as bait."

     "You're wrong. If you'd just listen to me—"

     Klaus took a step closer, lingering before taking another, his attention shifting to the youngest Salvatore: "Your brother can be quite delusional when it comes to protecting his own. Would you be so kind and tell me what you did?"

      His tone was bitter-sweet, poison dropping with each word, but it made Ophelia look at him again. Her head was slightly down as if sensing that he was stronger than her, but she held eye contact with him.

      Breathing out, she whispered: "I—I do not know. I am not—supposed to be here."

      Klaus took a step closer, slightly nodding: "You're not supposed to be here. But I'm giving you a chance to explain what you did and I might let you live. Is that understood?" His tone was as if speaking with a child, emphasising each word with anger and mockery.

      Stefan couldn't listen to this. He pushed his sister completely behind him and shielded her: "She's supposed to be dead, alright?! She died and I have no idea how she is here and why! Compel me! Ask me if I'm saying the truth!"

      Klaus' eyebrows slightly raised, but he soon burst out, laughing. "So, you're telling me that a ghost came to my ritual and ruined it? Points for creativity, Stefan, should've thought about the story better beforehand."

     "I think we should hear them out," a sudden voice appeared in front of all of them and Klaus refrained from rolling his eyes, facing his brother.

     "Brother," he chuckled, "of course, I had to expect that you will be involved in this as well."

     "Yes, well," the man slightly fixed the button of his suit jacket and stood still, "the woman is innocent - I can assure you. And killing her would be a mistake, brother."

     Finally, something seemed to have struck Klaus and he let go of that wish to hurt the woman for just a few moments. Because as Klaus knew best, his brother Elijah always knew a few more things about witchery than he did.

     As Klaus didn't say anything, Elijah took the opportunity to get closer to them all, going straight to Ophelia. Stefan shielded her, but he slightly moved so the Original could look at his sister. Elijah looked at the woman who now faced him and he noted that the gown she was wearing was from the nineteenth century. From her distressed face, she didn't seem to know what she has done and there was no use in asking her this.

     "Pardon my brother's manners, he can be quite ill-tempered most of the time. Could you tell me which year it is now?"

     Ophelia felt baffled by this question as it didn't seem as it was the same day when she died as they all looked strange in their clothes, but it wasn't the main problem now. "1864"

    "I guess that answers it all, brother," Elijah turned to Klaus. "We should let the Salvatores get back and work on their own matters as we work on our own."

     "And let her go?" He chuckled, shaking his head, on the edge of laughter once again. This whole situation was foolish and he was about to lose his cool in any second now.

     "We have no other option, Niklaus."

     Stefan noticed at the corner of his eye how Elena was slowly moving backwards with Jenna. Good. It was best that they took this opportunity and left before this happened—a few moments more and the ritual won't be completed. That'll give them another month to figure out what the hell happened.

      Klaus was distressed. He was constantly overshadowed by the failure of the ritual, but this time he was this close. If it wasn't for the doppelgänger, it was something else. It always had to be something else. The witches always had their way and couldn't stay silent even when they were dead.

      But he was looking at the youngest Salvatore. Clearly, she wasn't in town or he would've already heard about her. Even if she put up with the whole hybrid fiasco, she was shaking like a leaf, meaning she was a human. Even a witch couldn't pull out such a show. There was nothing else but to believe that this was just another mistake which, sadly, didn't fall on the Salvatore brothers. But it didn't mean that the girl was useless. No one rises from the dead without a reason.

     "We let them go. Let the woman recover. Then we'll talk," Elijah tried to compromise, knowing that his brother won't be able to say no. He had no other option but to keep her alive. She was the only answer as to what actually happened to the ritual.

     With a hard expression, Klaus gritted out: "Fine."

     Immediately, without any hesitation, Stefan moved away from the Originals, but Elijah stopped Stefan before he fled away with Ophelia: "I suggest you don't do anything reckless. Find out what happened. And fast."

      Stefan didn't need to be told this. He knew at what risk his sister was now. That's why, he grabbed his sister and disappeared into thin air.

Hello, lovelies!

Salvatore sibling reunion in the next chapter!
Kind of excited as in this version, you're gonna see
way more interactions between the Salvatores!

Thoughts on the book already?

-sunny xx