"Nothing is with me now but a sound,
A heart's rhythm, a sense of stars"
- W. H. Auden, Compline
In which Charlotte Salvatore wakes after a 145 year slumber and is thrust into a supernatural world before she can cope with the modern one.
(THE VAM...
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Charlotte Salvatore was pulled from the Other Side with a tug that ricocheted through her whole body causing her to wake with a gasp. There was a witch, Bonnie, above her chanting though she broke off at the sound of Charlottes gasp, a giggle of surprise tumbling from her lips instead.
Bonnie had been there for more than an hour, changing hopefully and then desperately, mentally debating at what point did she give in and admit defeat. She'd been confident at first but after a time, the excitement diminished and even the Salvatore brothers had left the room, unable to stand by and watch her failure, their hope at the thought of their sisters return dwindling.
"Holy shit," Bonnie muttered with a laugh of disbelief, "I can't believe it worked."
She'd told the Salvatore brothers that she could do it, that she could pull Charlotte from the curse but quite honestly she didn't know if it was a reality or a fantasy.
Rather than replying to Bonnie, Charlotte pulled her into a tight hug. She wanted to thank the witch but she knew she'd have no hope finding words strong enough to say what she felt. It took a moment before the witch relaxed into her grasp but then it happened, her arms tightening too, understanding without words what she was telling her.
Stefan and Damon were there seconds later, they'd both felt their hearts sink when Bonnies chanting stopped, the giggle that followed after after baffling them. No sooner did the two girls separate than Charlotte was pulled up into a hug between her brothers. She could feel the tears streaming down her face even as she wanted to laugh with relief, just as Bonnie had.
All three Salvatores were reunited at last.
Stefan and Damon had endured a century and a half thinking their sister was killed on the night they were, believing they knew with certainly that without Katherines blood in her system there was no way she could recover.
Charlotte had been on the Other Side all this time, a non-supernatural being caught in a supernatural realm, watching the world go by. She'd spent a century and a half without feeling another person touch her skin, the constant cold of absolute isolation. With her brothers puling her tight, she felt overwhelmed with emotion, finally safe and warm and alive.
She was finally home.
Bonnie slipped from the room as the siblings embraced. She did want to talk to the girl, learn about what she'd been through but it wasn't the time nor her place. Her curiosities were nothing compared to the loss they'd endured for a century and a half and she knew the family needed their own space.
When they separated from their hug, there was a stillness that hung over the room. They were all a little shaken, the emotion hanging over them, both brothers with a silent terror that with a blink of an eye she might disappear once more.
"It's odd over there," Charlotte explained, speaking for the first time in a century, "on the Other Side, it's like I'm here in this room, but if I try to speak or touch anyone, no one can feel or see. You couldn't talk to anyone at all, people who are alive can't see you, and you can't see anyone on the Other Side with you. I watched you guys when I could. Sometimes it was too hard, I missed you and it was too much to bear, but often I was there," at this Charlotte paused, she wanted the mood to lighten, her brothers both clutched a hand each and had expressions that still seemed to doubt her presence, "Damon I don't know how you got it so wrong but that 80's hair did not suit you."
