𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓
﹙ 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆, 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒆 ﹚
࿐ ࿔ ✧˖*°
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She thinks she's become more weapon than person in the past few years.
A sick sort of kaleidoscope of personalities that change like the weather, never being able to settle upon an identity. She's Aurora, her parents' child, a doll-like ballerina. She's Rory, a friend, a fiancée. She's a Petrova, a betrayer, a survivor. A Mikaelson...? A killer, a savage sort of beast that scavenges the remains of fallen foe—a cornered animal, lashing out when angry. Maybe a Parker, never by blood, but by bond—a childlike wonder that was never discovered, crushed beneath the hands of anger and violence.
A Gilbert. A sister. A parent. A runaway.
Receiving a text message from a twin sister that was once in a magically induced coma sent a nauseating feeling in her stomach. She once thought that this would only happen long after she was dead; after she played a little too well into her enemies' hands, and she was either ash or dirt in Lafayette Cemetery with Kai or Klaus sobbing over her remains.
But it happens on a Wednesday evening over a glass of wine and Evil Dead playing on her TV, with her legs tucked into her chest and a blanket covering her shoulders—with Klaus pacing the room, attempting to find a way to unify his adoptive son and his family.
From: Elena
Come visit?
It's a two-worded text that makes Rory's chest hurt, her stomach twist, and her eyesight blur with tears. Klaus stares at the brunette like she's grown two heads after she bursts into sobs, her shoulders shaking with every sound that leaves her mouth. It's almost childlike, the way her arms curl into her knees, the vacant part of her ribcage finally filled with the knowledge that her sister had woken from her slumber.
Kai entered the room like his ass was on fire, Elijah close behind. Klaus lifts the phone in his grip with a grim look on his face, and the Parker heretic doesn't do anything except stare at the girl he now knows as his sister. He forgets that the place that he took wasn't always his.
Rory's response was instantaneous—she had packed a bag, left a kiss on Klaus' forehead, and told him that she'd call. It was the same routine she did before she left for Mystic Falls years ago, where she first bumped into Kai. This time, the heretic watched her go with a pit in his stomach that he couldn't shake.
Will she hate me after seeing Elena? Will she be as forgiving as she was as a naïve girl who only wanted a friend?
━━━
Mystic Falls plagues Rory's chest with nostalgia. The streets that she used to run with Elena, with Caroline, with Bonnie were replaced by something different. But it looked so, so familiar. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that the empty lot her once-burnt house was is now filled—it looks like construction had started, and the old bones that were gone were being built once more.
"Rory!" a voice similar to hers calls out from down the street. She sees her twin sister for the first time in almost a decade, and she drops the luggage in her hand to sprint towards her. She doesn't think before enveloping Elena in her arms, hugging her against her chest. "You came."
"Of course," Rory's voice is muffled by the fabric of Elena's sweater, a scent that Rory recognises as Damon's more-so than hers.
The twins pull away from the hug, and Rory is surprised to see that Elena looks... older. Softer. She gives credit to the cure, now that Elena is human again. She also hands it to Damon, who has clearly been making her sister smile, judging by the wrinkles in the corner of her eyes. Elena looks happy. Elena looks like a person.
"You look amazing," Elena takes the words out of Rory's mouth, touching the ends of her hair.
Rory looks frozen in time, a side-effect of vampirism. She looks like the same Rory that showed up at the Mystic Falls hospital, in her pyjamas and demanding to see Caroline. She has a headband pushing back her curled tendrils, unblemished skin, and quirk to her lips. But her eyes are no longer the same pair that enveloped you into a hug—no longer warm or inviting.
They seem emptier, like a part of her had been taken and replaced with something else. They looked like Katherine's.
"Are you..." Elena trails off.
Rory is quick to interject, hooking her arm around her sister's. She tugs Elena towards the direction of her renovating house, ignoring the question that she knew was going to fall from her lips. Are you okay? She's tired of being asked that. Truthfully, she's never okay.
"Rebuilding the house, hm?" Rory looks up, squinting her eyes just the slightest bit. The sun is merciless, shining a bright light over both of them.
"Yeah. Damon wanted to do this for me, and who am I to say no?" Elena smiles in her direction. Rory almost sees the hearts in Elena's eyes as she talks about the elder Salvatore.
"I heard about Stefan. I'm really sorry."
Elena's face drops at the mention of the younger vampire. She swallows the ball in her throat—one that seems to always settle whenever someone brings him up. She shakes her head, letting out a sigh.
"It's fine. Damon and I... we're still processing. But we both know that there's no other way Stefan would've wanted to go."
"You're right," Rory nods. "He's always had a thing for the heroics—the hair and everything."
Elena smiles. "Let me show you inside," she says, dragging her older sister past the open doorway. There's still dust everywhere, which makes Rory's nose wrinkle, but she can see the foundation of her old home already.
Built-in cabinets have already been installed; couches covered with plastic to protect it from paint. Rory hears footsteps from upstairs, and not a second later, she sees a dark head of hair walking down the steps. Damon Salvatore's shit-eating grin greets her at the bottom of the steps.
"Look who's here," he says, tossing an arm over Rory's shoulder. "The princess finally made time to see us."
Damon's a lot softer than what he used to be. He's just as fragile as Elena looks. Both of them. Human. With beating hearts, and with a sure death at the end of the tunnel. They're not like her anymore. Oddly, Rory feels left behind.
"The place looks great. Looks like it was never barbequed into ash," Rory quips, looking up at the ceiling. "I could do without the sawdust and paint, though."
"I'm betting it's a far cry from the palace that Lord Voldemort has thoughtfully supplied you with in New Orleans, but forgive us. We're both just day-to-day, tax-paying, employed individuals." Damon taps the tip of Rory's nose, turning to walk into the kitchen.
Rory snorts. "Never thought I'd see the day Damon Salvatore pays taxes."
"I gotta say, neither have I." Damon agrees.
Elena leans against the kitchen island, pointedly ignoring the gaping hole in her wall. "So, tell me. What have I missed? You know, besides the engagement."
Rory's eyes flicker to Damon, who simply shrugs. "You know I can't keep things from Elena."
"It's... a thing," Rory starts. "It's complicated. There's just a lot happening and... I don't know."
Elena lets out a chuckle. "Still. Being engaged to Klaus Mikaelson? I mean, that's a sentence if I've ever heard one," seeing Rory's pursed lips, Elena is quick to add, "...Not that I'm judging, of course. I mean..."
Rory kisses her teeth. This is exactly the sort of thing she was afraid of, after accepting Elena's invitation to visit. Though she's missed her sister, she knows that there are some things that they would simply never agree on. First and foremost, Klaus—years apart would never change that.
"He makes me happy," Rory says. At Elena's facial expression, Rory repeats herself. "He does. And I'm not here to fight, Elena, so if the topic of Klaus makes you uncomfortable then we shouldn't talk about him."
"No, no. I'm sorry. Really. I do want to hear about it," Elena promises. "No judgement, I swear."
Rory shifts in her step, before nodding thoughtfully. "Everything's good—great, even. He's different now. He listens to me, and he takes care of me. He'll do anything to protect me, and I'd say that's everything I'd ever want in a partner. But of course, there are things like family."
Damon pours Rory a glass of wine, sliding it to her. "Hear ye, hear ye. One thing that those pesky Mikaelsons can never let go of is the sacred bond of family."
"I don't think you're one to judge," Rory points out, knowing how the Salvatore brothers would fight like dogs, but always end up on the same side to protect each other.
"You got me there," Damon lifts his glass, accepting defeat.
"Well, at least the good thing is that all of Klaus' siblings seem to love you," Elena points out. She takes a sip of her wine cheekily. "Some more than others."
Rory lets out a groan, shaking her head. "Don't even."
"I mean seriously—Rebekah and Kol?" Elena giggles, leaning against Damon's chest. "I've got to give it to you, Rory. You've got serious game."
"It wasn't even, like, on purpose," Rory protests. "Well, at least with Kol. I definitely knew Rebekah could've got it."
Damon looks like he wants to agree, but the smarter part of his brain manages to keep him quiet.
"And what about Kai?" this question is a little quieter coming from Elena. She traces the rim of her wine glass, peeking over her eyelashes.
Rory doesn't know how to respond at first, her eyes darting around the room in an attempt to pry an answer from the half-done cupboards.
"He's..." Rory trails off. "He's like a brother to me."
There's no point in being anything but honest, because if Bonnie and Damon's filled Elena on anything that's been happening in Rory's life, the first thing Damon would've spilled is the fact that Rory let Kai go. After dropping a chandelier on her and putting her into a coma.
Elena exhales. "Really."
"Yeah," Rory states. "Yeah, really."
"Did he earn that?" Elena's question surprises Rory. She doesn't look... mad. Just resigned. "Did he earn the 'brother' badge?"
"He would die for me." Rory says. And it's true—Kai would. He would complain, roll on the floor, whine, shout, and scream. But he'd do it.
Elena looks satisfied. "Good," she says, and sets her wine glass on the table. "Did I tell you that Caroline opened up her own version of Hogwarts?"
"Oh my God—I knew that bitch was a fan!"
━━━
Bonnie doesn't visit, as she's on vacation for the first time in her life. After hearing about Enzo, Rory knows that she deserves it and more. She walks alone, passing by the cemetery, remembering Caroline's 17th birthday spent in the crypt—back when the knowledge of monsters and magic was still fresh; back when Rory didn't have a hit list and wasn't plagued with responsibility.
She missed that version of herself and loathed her at the same time. Mystic Falls Rory was a doormat—she knows that more than anyone. Mystic Falls Rory was selfless to her own detriment, and to her own demise. She's a little glad, at a certain point, New Orleans had killed a part of herself that would not continue to benefit her.
She continues to walk, and her footsteps stop at the Salvatore Boarding House. Well, what was previously known as the Salvatore Boarding House. Now, it was the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted. She doesn't know what she expects, in a place like Damon and Stefan's old home, but she doesn't expect to see children running around, sprinting freely in the grass.
She doesn't expect to hear carefree giggling, shouts, and cheers from a interclass football game going on. Caroline did this.
"Rory Gilbert?" Alaric Saltzman's voice sounds foreign to her at this point. He never really grew on her, and after the last time she saw him, she thought she'd been rid of him forever. She turns to look at the man that she once knew as her sister's teacher, now grown into... whatever he was.
"Alaric," Rory greets him, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. "Hi."
"I didn't know you were in town—but then again, your sister's been awake," Alaric gives Rory a smile. It's an awkward one, and he crosses his arms to regard the vampire. "How are you?"
"I'm okay," Rory responds. She tucks a hair behind her ear. "Is Caroline here?"
"Yeah, she's with the kids. You want to see her?"
"I'd love to."
Alaric leads Rory into the boarding school, where Rory passes by different groups of students. She recognises witches, werewolves, and vampires alike. She could hardly believe it—it was a real-life Hogwarts. Elena hadn't been joking.
"Mom! Seriously, if these skirts are any longer, I'll be a nun!" she hears a young voice thrill as she stops by a doorway.
She sees Caroline crouched on the floor in front of two girls. One has blonde hair, the other one brunette, and both are standing with their arms crossed, matching looks of displeasure on their faces.
"Dad! Could you please tell mom that..." the blonde one trails off, her eyes landing on Rory. "Aunt Elena?"
"Uh, no," Rory responds, waving a little awkwardly.
"Rory," Caroline breathes, pushing herself into a standing position. "Oh my god."
The bubbly blonde doesn't waste a second before jumping into Rory's arms, pulling her in for a hug. Rory hugs her back, smiling as Caroline bounces on her feet.
"Hey, Care," Rory laughs a little. "This place is nuts."
"I know, I know," Caroline pulls away from the hug. "Didn't expect me to be the one out of our group to be a headmistress, but," she spreads her arms, smiling proudly. "Here I am."
"This is amazing. Like, seriously. I never would've thought that a place that Damon and Stefan Salvatore once lived in could actually be filled with the laughter of children," Rory states.
"Speaking of children," Caroline backs up a bit, placing a hand on each twin's shoulder. "This is Josie and Lizzie. The twins. My twins."
Rory looks between the two of them, and she knows who they really are. Parkers. Geminis. But Kai doesn't want anything to do with them, and neither would they want anything to do with Kai, if they knew how they came about. So, to Rory, they were Forbes'.
"Hi. I'm Rory Gilbert—a friend of your mother's,"
"Oh, we know," Lizzie says.
"We've heard all about you," Josie adds.
Rory quirks an eyebrow. "All good things I hope,"
"Five bucks and we'll let you know," Lizzie shrugs.
"Girls," Caroline admonishes.
Rory lets out a laugh, shaking her head. "I might just take you up on that offer," she states.
"Please do not let them coerce you into anything," Caroline rolls her eyes, stepping forward to take Rory's arm. "Girls, mommy's going to be busy with Aunt Rory, okay? No more talk about raising the hemlines for the skirts. Seriously."
"But mom—"
"Handle it," Caroline redirects her attention to Alaric, before tugging Rory down the hallway.
"Raising the hemlines, seriously? Is that what you're arguing about?" Rory snorts. "Care, you threatened to kill yourself if you were ever caught dead in a skirt longer than your knees."
"It's different this round, okay!" Caroline argues. "This is respectable, private boarding school—"
"Oh, you are not sounding like Mrs Matthews from our Math class right now," Rory scoffs, referring to the older woman that would always nag Rory and Caroline's ears off about dress codes.
Caroline purses her lips and has the decency to look meek. "I totally am, aren't I?" she groans, shutting the door to her office. She slumps against the hardwood. "I'm falling under the pressure of parents. I mean, look around—it's a school full of vampires, werewolves, and witches. Are knees really such a huge deal?"
"You're preaching to the choir," Rory raises her hands in surrender.
Caroline strides towards her desk, falling into the chair out a quiet sigh. She places her elbows on the table, regarding Rory silently. "Why are you here, Rory?"
Rory blinks a little. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I know you came to visit Elena—of course, I mean. Don't take this the wrong way," Caroline waves off her statement. "But why are you here? In this school? To visit me?" Caroline quirks an eyebrow. "I think we both know that we were never the same after..."
After Tyler.
Rory clears her throat, looking down at her hands. "I don't know, I just..." she trails off. She looks around the room, eyes the multitude of books and the shelves and the pictures of Caroline's children. Caroline, who is a vampire. "Elena told me that you had a school like this, and I just wanted to see it for myself."
Caroline smiles, just slightly. "For yourself?" she asks. Rory stares at the blonde, knowing what she's implying. "Or for Hope?"
Rory lets out a sigh, leaning back against the chair. "Listen, Klaus wouldn't want Hope anywhere near this place. He doesn't her anywhere away from him. Which makes sense, because..." Rory trails off. Caroline doesn't say much, but Rory has an inkling that she knows. "But I just think that it would be nice. Healthy, even."
"Hope is always welcome here, Rory. Despite Klaus being her father," Caroline rolls her eyes a little at the end of her sentence. "Alaric and I have been keeping an eye out for kids—special kids—who are in need of support, and when we heard that Klaus had a daughter, we knew that it would be inevitable before she shows up on our doorstep."
"This isn't a confirmed thing, Caroline. I'm not enrolling her here," Rory shakes her head.
"But you should," Caroline says firmly. "This is the place she should be—with people like her, with kids her age, and not with Kai, or... or Kol."
"Caroline, she's fine," Rory responds just as firmly. "I just wanted to look at this place as an alternative when she's older. And for your information, Kai and Kol are perfectly behaved around her. They know better—they're not just brutes like you think they are."
"I'm just saying," Caroline mutters.
"You've done a great job, Care. With Josie, and with Lizzie. And this school, this place—I know it isn't all Alaric. It couldn't be," Rory twists the rings on her finger a little nervously. "I'm happy for you. Proud, even."
Caroline smiles, just the slightest. "You mean it?"
"I knew you were meant to do great things. Of course, I mean it," Rory nods. She feels her phone buzz in her pocket and sees Kai's name flash across the screen. She wants to put her phone down, but Caroline already notices.
"I still find it hard to believe you're friends with that guy," Caroline tucks a hair behind her ear, staring Rory's phone screen that has been covered.
"Well, believe it," Rory responds. She already knows where this conversation is going, and she feels a sort of dread settle in her stomach. She needs to leave, now, before—
"I'm worried about him finding out about Josie and Lizzie, Rory."
Rory lifts her head, eyes hardening. "What are you implying?"
"You can't be playing dumb," Caroline shakes her head with a soft scoff. "Rory, he's the kind of person that could murder his siblings and father in cold blood. Babies included. If the coven hadn't saved them when they had the chance, those girls wouldn't be here."
"He's not like that anymore, Caroline," Rory responds. "I know that what he did was wrong, but he's changed. I swear. He takes care of Hope like she's his own—"
"That's because she's not a threat to him."
"And Josie and Lizzie are?"
"They're Geminis!" Caroline exclaims. "Parker twins. Siphoner witches—you get the drill."
"Kai is a heretic. One of the only living ones in New Orleans. He lives in the house of a first-born Mikaelson witch and sleeps next to the oldest living vampires in the world. I don't think he'd be threatened by the thought of the Gemini coven anymore," Rory snaps.
"How do you know that?" Caroline asks. "How do you know that he won't find out and snap and come to Mystic Falls to..." Caroline trails off, swallowing harshly.
Rory stands from her seat, clenching her fists. There's a part of her that understands Caroline's concern, but she's too overtaken by the protective instinct to defend Kai. She can't help it—he had been her support system for as long as she could remember. When she didn't have Klaus. When she felt like the world was going to crush her between its merciless fists.
"He's not like that anymore, Caroline, and when I say this, I mean it," Rory says, voice calm juxtaposed to the volume she was at before. "Marcel Gerard is a close friend of mine, and he runs New Orleans like a king. He leads the Strix, a group of vampires much older than any of us are—he has eyes everywhere. Kai is a friend to all of them. Do you honestly think that he doesn't know about Josie and Lizzie's existence already? Two other siphoner witches in this world besides him, and he wouldn't find out?"
Caroline clenches her fist, equally as defensive. Her eyes search Rory's face for any sort of understanding—any sort of indication that Caroline could wiggle her way in to see reason, but there's none. Her eyes are hard as stone, her lips pouted firmly. She's headstrong in a way that Caroline's never seen.
"You're different," Caroline says, after a few minutes of tense silence. "You're just... you're not you."
"I haven't been who I was in years, Caroline," Rory looks resigned to Caroline's words, hurt, but accepting. "Of course, I've changed. I've killed people. I've made decisions that I would've hated myself for when I was younger. I'm not the same Rory that would've asked Klaus for Tyler's mercy—not anymore."
Caroline's face falls at her words, and it's a sickening feeling when Rory confirms what she's thought all along. She exhales quietly. "I suppose there's no amicable way for us to end this conversation, then, is there?"
"I suppose there isn't."
"Then I'll speak to you, headmistress to parent and nothing more," Caroline replies. "Hope Mikaelson is welcome at the Salvatore Boarding School any time if she so wishes. We'd be delighted to have her talents, and help her realise her potential," Caroline picks up a brochure from her desk, handing it over to Rory. "But we have a zero-violence policy, which in response, we hope that you're able to understand that we do not welcome Malachai Parker, or any other Mikaelson on the premises."
Rory looks down at the brochure, flipping through the pages before tapping it on her hand. "Then it's nice to have seen you, Ms Forbes."
Caroline nods, a little stiffly. "You as well."
Rory doesn't look back when she exits Caroline's office, letting out a shaky sigh as she walks past the halls that she once knew. She passes by Josie and Lizzie on the way out, the two of them waving to bid her goodbye. Rory simply gives them a smile as she exits the gates, avoiding Alaric's concerned gaze as Caroline steps out of the school to watch her go.
No other Mikaelson on the premises would soon include Rory, if the way Caroline gazed at her was any indication. Still, Rory slips the brochure in her coat pocket. Perhaps she'd refer to it when she feels like she needs a punch in the gut.
author's note, (about caroline) she's not a monster she's a mother