MONSTER, stefan salvatore [2]

Stand By Me

She quickly recognized the place as the park, but what was weird was that she saw herself standing right there, looking at a certain spot sadly, and the other Natalie didn't seem to notice someone walking up behind her. 

A familiar brunette walked up, and the Natalie that had no idea what was going on let out a gasp in surprise. She hadn't seen her in a year, and now she was there. "I totally get it. You, as a vampire hunter. Saving people, it's good." Isobel smiled softly.

"What do you want?" the other Natalie simply asked, shaking her head as if she too exhausted to be mad. The real Natalie frowned as she didn't recognize the scene, but she was so sure it wasn't a dream. It was too detailed to be a dream.

"I'm leaving, I just thought I'd say goodbye." both Natalies' currently late mother stated, staring at the slightly younger-looking Natalie who actually seemed to knew what was going on.

"Why? You couldn't be bothered the first time." the younger Natalie glared before pursing her lips together so she wouldn't throw some profanities at her mother's face.

"You hate me. Good." Isobel sighed as she took a step closer, to meet her daughter's eyes.

The older Natalie took a step closer, trying to put her hand between the two, so that they could maybe notice her presence so she could try to understand what was going on, but as she stepped closer, she could only seem to focus on her mother's facial features looking so vulnerable that she hadn't seen in so long.

"Of course I hate you!" the younger Natalie suddenly snapped. "You were my mother! You were my entire world when I was younger. And when you disappeared it left a hole in my life, that has been ruining it for years!"

Isobel closed her eyes for a moment, trying to keep the emotions down as she saw the tears forming in the younger brunette's eyes. "I was a different person back then."

Younger Natalie shook her head and pulled a knife out from the inside of her jacket and threw it on the ground and dragged her vervain bracelet off of her wrist and turned to her mother, who was frowning in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I'm weapon free, and I'm vervain free. So either kill me or compel me, but I hope you'll do neither. Because I don't believe for a second that you don't give a crap about me." the younger Natalie sighed, a tear sliding down her cheek.

Isobel's own eyes filled with tears as she cupped her daughter's cheeks. "This was a choice I made. To become a vampire. And that's something that I'm going to regret forever, because it made me lose the most important thing in my life. You. And as much as I don't want you to hate me, you have to. But that's just because I love you, Natalie. It's because I love you that you can't remember this. It's because I love you, that I'm going to try to protect you." Isobel compelled her.

Both Natalies' blinked at the same time, the younger one having forgotten the entire conversation as the older one remembered it and found herself back in her room.

The brunette sighed as she found herself back in her room, staring at her reflection as she felt something go down her cheek and saw in the mirror that it was just her own tear. She quickly wiped it away. She couldn't cry, not now. Unfortunately, someone saw her wiping it away as they walked into the room. "Natalie? Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, yeah. I'm- I'm fine, Stefan. Thank you." she greeted, not even bothering to give him a fake smile as he wouldn't believe her anyway, which he didn't.

But he wasn't about to pressure her into something that could potentially ruin her sanity forever. She was having a bad enough time anyway. "Did anything special happen? Since you were crying."