Unwanted Destiny (Hiatus subjective to editing)

0. Moving out and Moving on.

Introduction: Moving out and Moving on.
Occurring: Outside the tv show.
Set: Miss Hadden's Boarding School.

Growing up with Elena Gilbert as your twin sister meant constantly living in the shadow of your own incompetence. As was the case for many twins; she was the unwanted child. A badge of dishonour she'd failed to shake, never quite meeting her parents expectations. But Elena had always set the bar so impossibly high that she had no hope of even grazing said bar. And she'd tried. Not that it made much difference.

She'd been sent away to boarding school when she was just eleven. Clearly thrilled, her family had never bothered to stay in touch. After all, she was a blemish on their perfect record that was better kept out of sight. Jeremy had written to her frequently in the beginning but eventually, her parents had put an end to that. Elena only over made contact to lecture her about her duties to the family and reprimand her about what she perceived she had done wrong this time.

She'd stopped responding after that.

But on some nights when she was feeling particularly alone and abandoned, when she would do anything to feel connected to her family once more, she'd open up the letters and read the scathing remarks her sister had left immortalised in ink for her. It was grounding. It reminded her of her place, hardened her. If her family wasn't there for her, she'd find those who appreciated her for herself.

So while her family ignored her, her friends were all she had. While she had been popular in school back home, there were few she was actually close with. They had all kept in close contact when she had left, however, even those letters had dwindled in response over time too.

With summer quickly approaching, she felt more detached from her home than ever. She had stopped returning home for breaks after the first year when her parents had made it clear that she was nothing more than a nuisance and a hindrance to their happiness. This meant that she hadn't seen her friends in a while either.

She tried to not let their lack of correspondence bother her, after all, if life had taught her anything, it was that it cared nought for your feelings or grievances.

But it was this lack of communication past these four walls in which she resided, that inevitably led to her shock discovery.

When she'd gone to register at the reception to let Madeline know that once again she would be spending her summer at the boarding school, she was informed of just how little she knew of the world outside of her concrete prison.

"I'm sorry dear but it seems your funding has stopped," Madeline told her sympathetically.

"My what? My funding? But I thought my parents always paid for the new semester months in advance?"

The black haired woman grimaced, as though the news she was about to impart was painful.

"Yes, well usually they do. The funding covered your last school year however, they have not yet made the next installment." She paused taking a deep breath in preparation. "When we called to investigate the hold up in payments we were notified that your parents passed away last May."

Time seemed to freeze around her in that moment. She felt numb, unable to attach to the world around her. She had no idea how to react. Her parents were dead. Though they had never been very receptive of her, they had still been her parents - the people who had brought her into this world - and now they were gone.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that.

She swallowed, in a futile attempt to ground herself in reality through her senses. Vaguely remembering the instructions she'd been given by the onsite counsellor one of the rare times she'd visited.