METANOIA ⚜️ TVD

1.8

{mystic falls, 2010}

Stefan awoke to a pounding headache and ringing in his ears. He attempted to take in his surroundings as best as he could despite his current state, but when he saw the slim figure of Rebekah staring out on an empty parking lot, he sat up in record time.

"Oh, he lives." She had been listening to the slow return of his heartbeat as she watched the stars above the removal van.

"What happened?" He rubbed the back of his neck in an attempt to soothe his headache.

"You took a beating." She smirked. "My brother's been breaking your neck all afternoon. Quite the temper."

"Why did he bring us back to Mystic Falls?" Stefan noticed the familiar clocktower in the distance as he held onto the side of the van to prop himself up as his strength slowly returned.

"You can stop playing dumb now." She laughed. "It didn't take him long to figure out what you've been hiding."

"I'm not hiding anything. I've done everything Klaus has asked me to." Stefan furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, you just failed to mention that the doppelgänger's still alive." She smirked as his eyes began to drown in worry.

Stefan sighed as he realised there was no point in playing along anymore. "Where is Klaus now?"

"With any luck, ripping that cow's bloody head off." Stefan stopped for a moment before rushing at Rebekah, taking them both from the confines of the truck and out onto the gravel below.

"Where is she?" He growled.

"You really do love her, don't you?" She stood, pushing Stefan against the truck. "I wonder how that makes poor Nora feel?"

Stefan's head jerked back as his jaw was almost knocked out of place by Rebekah's fist. "It truly is a horrible feeling being hopelessly in love with someone while their heart belongs to another"

She lifted a crowbar that Klaus had previously used to batter Stefan black and blue and positioned it behind his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"Perhaps she and I have something in common then" she quickly drove the crowbar through his stomach and took a step back, allowing Stefan to fall to the floor.

"-having our hearts broken by you"

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"Klaus where the hell are you taking me" Nora attempted to pull her wrist from his grip, but she was no match for his strength. When he ignored her for the umpteenth time that night she simply stopped co-operating and stopped in her tracks.

"I could easily throw you over my shoulder love, I don't know what point you're trying to make!" He let go of her wrist and turned to look at the girl.

"I want to know why you're so mad!" She folded her arms across her chest. "Did you really think I would be on your side? After all of this?"

"No, but that doesn't mean betrayal doesn't hurt" a small frown settled upon his face, he hated to admit it but he had started to care for the girl.

Nora Laughed "all you do is betray people! You're loyal to no one but yourself!"

"You've kept me here for weeks and I want to know why!- and I know it has nothing to do with Stefan!" The look upon his face gave Nora the answer she needed.

"You don't even know do you? All this time I thought I was apart of some big elaborate plan but- you don't know why you've dragged me along all summer." She laughed dryly.

"I'm not some human doll you can play around with- I have feelings and I'm done with this little game"

"So let me go or kill me.. I don't really care" all of the emotions that she had kept subdued for the last 8 weeks began to surface, strangely she had managed to keep them at bay while trying to pinpoint Klaus' ulterior motives, but as she realised her obsession was just as useless as her presence, they began to slip back to the forefront of her mind.

"I'm not going to kill you Nora" he shook his head, stepping towards the girl.

"Then just let me go home" a frown settled upon her face as tears welled in her eyes. She wanted nothing more than too curl up in bed and never see the light of day again, as well as vampires, witches or werewolves.

"But you don't want to go home Nora, you don't know where your home is anymore.." he watched as her bottom lip quivered. "You can tell me if I'm mistaken"

She stayed quiet, she considered laughing and telling him he was as far from the truth as he possibly could be, but they both knew that was a lie. Klaus knew he was right. He knew from the moment she stopped fighting all those weeks ago, because being here was better than being alone.

Klaus sighed "there's one more thing I need you for.. and then we can discuss what happens next"

She nodded and followed him into the tall building that she would soon learn to be Mystic Falls High.