Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Season 3

"This feels like a disaster waiting to happen"

"Raeyn!" Dana exclaimed in a hushed voice. "Don't jinx it!"

We started placing cups on the gym floor to have them filled with water. I suggested we start on the outside, work our way around the perimeter, close in on the middle then finish up at the exits. That way we won't risk knocking over all our work in the process. But no. Someone just had to insist that we start from the middle and work our way outwards without any coherent plan. Now everyone's just scattered the cups in different groups in different areas of the gym floor.

"Rae, your eye's twitching," Dana says as she unwraps another pack of paper cups. Thankfully these cups were only dollar store cheap. "if you're tired, you can take a break you know."

Oh, I'd love nothing more than to just lay down on this grimy ass gym floor right now. My back is killing me and I feel like my legs are going to cramp if I don't stand up in a few seconds. Michael's got the right idea, he brought in his skateboard to help him set up cups faster. But I can feel the sweat in my hands beading up at the thought of one wrong push and all our work, just gone.

"I'll be fine, D," I take the other stack of cups she hands me and continue setting them up. "Thanks for the concern though." I should probably switch over to another task, that way I get a little break from this repetitive motion of open pack, line cups, open pack, line cups, open pack, line cups— You get the idea.

I stand from where I'd been sitting and stretch my arms up high. I love doing that stretch, it makes me think of cats. Plus it feels satisfying to do after being pretty much stuck in the same horrible posture for a while. I look around at everyone else that's helping out in this area. Timothy's got his water gun to spray the water evenly in each cup, smart move. Chad's talking with Dana about whatever. Mel and Sasha are probably talking about their next hair appointment again. Elena's being pulled through the doors by some random man.

"Attention seniors,"

Wait.

Oh.

Elena.

Ugh.

"You have officially been busted," The man shouts in a strained American accent. "Prank Night is officially over. Head on home."

The room echoes with groans as everyone starts to pack up all the leftover cups that we didn't get to unpack. It was no use picking up all the ones we did line up and fill, so we just left them. We'll deal with those tomorrow or whatever. I place my leftover cups back in the nearby box and begin to walk towards the exit.

"You three," Chad, Dana and I turn towards the man holding Elena's arm. "I remember you." Um. Am I supposed to know who this man is?

Dana beats me to the question as she asks and he replies, "Wasn't in my right head last we met." Right. Sounds oddly suspicious. I can feel my feet moving back in small movements. Every inch of nerves in my body is screaming for me to run. I have no idea why. That is until he looked Dana in the eye and told her to keep her foot up. Then he looked at Chad and told him to beat Dana to death if she dropped her foot. Yep, that's my cue to leave.

"Rae, love, could you kindly come here and hold Elena's arm?" Shit. Something tells me my lack of ability to make eye contact has something to do with this man right here. Because one minute I'm about to run for my life before I also get told to do something violently absurd and the next I'm dropping the box in my hands and placing my hand where the man previously had his wrapped around Elena's upper arm. "Now, don't move until Chad finishes beating Dana. Understood?"

A few minutes go by and Dana starts to sway. I can practically smell the fear in both Chad and Dana.

"Keep it up." The man says. I think I've zoned out from being so still. Shit. Please no. I can feel the cramp that's just waiting to happen in my hand if I don't let go of Elena right now. Please please please, please. The door opens up behind us yet I can't move to see who it is. Elena, however, does.

"Bonnie, get out of here!" Wait wait wait, Bonnie Bennett? What's Bonnie doing here?

The man who'd been standing with his arms crossed suddenly whooshes away from next to Elena and I. Probably to greet Bonnie, I can only assume. When his voice rings out, my suspicions are confirmed.

"Uh, Dana, why don't you relax? You and Chad sit tight." Dana collapses to her knees with Chad helping her up. He drags them both to the stands, taking the furthest seat away from us. "Rae, love, you can move now." Thank fuck. I go to take my hand away from Elena's arm but it won't budge. I didn't want to hurt her unintentionally so I avoided using too much strength. What good is being able to move if I can't let go of her? This is pointless.

I heave a sigh and place my free hand with my other. Only then was my hand able to pull away from Elena and finally stretch before the hand cramps started. "Oh, right. You can let go of her too." Finally. The man turns his attention back to Bonnie. Oh, Matt's here too.

"I assume you're the reason Elena's still alive." Huh?

"That's right," Bonnie's voice is low and steady. A cautious confidence. "If you wanna blame someone, blame me." Uhhhh. I should probably go.

"There's no need for blame, love. Just your witchy interference seems to have caused some undesirable side effects." Yep, okay. I'm leaving.

I have no idea what's going on but frankly, and as interesting as it sounds, I have no interest in being part of whatever is going on here. Personally, I'd love to go home and just sleep now. I turn to leave but the door opens and Tyler is getting dragged in by some blonde.

"I'd like you all to meet my sister." The man gestures to the woman holding Tyler's hand behind his back at an uncomfortable angle. She smiles like she isn't even lifting a finger whilst Tyler looks like he's struggling a lot. "Rebekah. A word of warning, she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an ass," Rebekah says before throwing Tyler to her brother, whose name I still can't seem to remember.

I search my memories for any name that seems to fit his face but none come to mind. The chain of my necklace begins to scratch too deeply from my twisting of its silver around itself. it’s an odd habit I’ve come to enact when deep in thought, Bonnie once pointed out.

“Be careful there, love,” His voice rings out, again. “You’ll tear your neck if you continue to do that.” A voice with a face but no name. This is so annoying.

My thoughts were scrambled even further by a hand on my own. He loosened my fingers that continued to wind up the little infinity pendant around my neck like a music box. All the while, he said nothing. Except, his eyes looked at me with this weird hint, his brows furrowed in confusion or concern, I couldn’t tell. Aw, does he care for me? Wait— Ew, I don’t even know his name. I should ask for his name. Before I could even open my mouth, he’s already turned back to the main conversation. Well, I guess I’ll just figure it out later.

When I tune myself back into focus, the man has Tyler by the collar of his shirt and bites into his wrist. I’m taken aback when he presses his bleeding wrist onto Tyler’s mouth, leaving Tyler no choice but to down the blood.

“I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie.” He’s now got Tyler in a headlock, his other hand reaching around his head. “And for Tyler’s sake…” snap. “you’d better hurry.” Tyler’s body thuds against the wooden floor.

Chapter Text

He's dead.

I stared at the odd angle of Tyler's neck, the bone visibly jutting from the side. I could do nothing but stare. All the air from my lungs had turned ice and my legs became jelly. This must be some sick joke. It has to be. I tried to call out to him. But all the muscles in my body remained still. Tyler's name was at the edge of my tongue; so close to call out to him, yet so far for him to hear.

So I did the only thing I could do. I screamed.

All heads whipped in my direction. But my eyes remained on Tyler's body limp on the floor. It was only when I lifted my gaze and was met with a pair of deep cerulean eyes that I could move. So I did. I turned on my heel and aimed for the exit door behind me. But those cerulean eyes were in front of me now, blocking my path. It happened so quickly, I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Pain sparked from my tailbone upon my impact with the worn-out wood beneath me. Someone called out my name but my heart was beating too fast for me to hear anything else.

"Wow, what a strong heart you've got there, love." The man crouched to my level, a smirk playing on his lips. "Even a human like yourself would hear it from how fast it's beating."

"Klaus, leave her alone," Elena yelled out, the desperation clear in her voice. "She's innocent."

Klaus. The name rattled around my mind like a distant memory. Slowly, he brought up his hand with his palm facing me. I could barely hear him but I could see that he was attempting to shush me, ever so slightly. Klaus' fingers softly rested beneath my chin. He used little force to lift my face so that our eyes were perfectly aligned.

"Calm your heart, Raeyn." His voice seemed to echo in my ears, soothing and sweet. My heartbeat slowed. That's odd. "Good girl." I felt my heart start up again.

The ghost of his smirk appeared on his plump lips and he let out a small chuckle. Pathetic, he probably thought of me. He turned his head to face the rest of the people in the gym. Rebekah rolled her eyes as she shook her head and crossed her arms. If Klaus didn't think I was pathetic, Rebekah definitely did. Meanwhile, Elena was in near tears. Her body was aimed right at Klaus and I, yet Matt held her arm. There was a fire in Bonnie's eyes that even I could see clearly from where I sat. It grew stronger every second. She grew stronger every second. I'm not sure how, but I could feel her presence engulfing every inch of the gym.

"Get to it Bonnie," Klaus' voice is calm, veiled impatience. "Or your friend Raeyn here is next."

Excuse me, what?

***

Moments later, Klaus took a seat on the stands, wringing his hands. Rebekah had been instructed to take Tyler elsewhere and she dragged him like a doll. Bonnie and Matt had left to get whatever it was Klaus told her to get and Elena comforted Dana. I watched as her breath evened out as she moved a stray strand of hair out of Dana's face. Tears were yet to spill, and I'll be honest, I admired her efforts. Me personally, if I were in Elena's situation, I would be sobbing uncontrollably. But seeing as I am here, alive after witnessing the death of Tyler and Klaus do some magic controlling thingy to Chad, Dana, and I, with no tears... yeah, I think the hypothetical place-switch would not be viable.

I turned my gaze towards the gym doors behind me. So close. If I move ever so slowly, I could probably get close enough to leave without anyone noticing. Well, there is the matter of the loud creak the doors make but it's a risk I'm willing to take if it meant I get a run-for-it. I began shuffling across the floor, keeping my ass on the ground.

Almost there.

Just a little further.

I reached behind my back and felt the cool metal against the palm of my hand. It was oddly soothing. I took a deep breath and—

The door opened but it was not my exit.

Stefan entered the gym hall. He took in the scene before him, looking from Elena to Klaus. There was no sigh of relief that Elena had not been hurt, nor was there a run-and-hug moment from Elena. Did something happen between them or...?

"Come to save your damsel, mate?" Klaus questioned.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness," Klaus smiled at that. "And pledge my loyalty."

Elena stood, slowly approaching the two men as if trying to placate the situation. They continued conversing, paying no mind to me. Which was good. I can use this. They're distracted and I'm almost free.

"Now kill them," Klaus instructed. "Ripper."

Um, that doesn't sound good. Stefan's eyes turned black and red, dark veins growing on his face from beneath them. Yep, time to go. I stood and pushed through the gym door. Dana's scream echoed through the night as I made my way towards the parking lot. I need to find my car. Keys.

Wait. 

Fuck.

I left my keys in my bag, which I left on the stands. No point going back for them now. I find my car sitting in my spot under the tree. This might be the worst senior prank night ever. I grab a rock amongst the tree roots and smash the passenger window. Good thing I have a job and money to fix this later. I climbed through the open window, the shards slicing the back of my forearms. Another good thing is that I had a friend teach me how to hotwire a car, and to think I thought that would be useless knowledge. I reached beneath the steering wheel, grabbed the two wires and did the motions as my friend had taught me.

Seconds later, the engine roared to life. Fuck yeah!

Only a few cars remained in the lot. Reversing was easy, leaving while bleeding out on the steering wheel was another thing. As I pulled out to the main street, a figure appeared in view of my headlights. Klaus. I couldn't think of anything else besides how I could've died. Of his blue eyes lingering on mine. Of his hands unravelling my twisting habit. I hated it. I hated that I liked it. I hate him.

I pressed the accelerator to the floor and gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. Klaus smirked and didn't move. I waited for the impact of a body colliding with my windscreen, but there was none. One second Klaus was in front of me, the next I was heading straight for a tree.

There was a scream and the sound of glass and metal shattering. My vision blurred to black and I was gone.