The Last Petrova

Going Back

 I awake in a small yet comfortable bed. Sunlight streams in through the window. Stefan is sitting in front of me, dressed entirely in black.

"You missed the funeral," he says with an awkward smile. I groan as I sit up.

"You know me. How?" he asks. I stare at him. "That day Klaus came to our house posing as Ric, who immediately knew who I was. And then yesterday, in the forest, the mention of Lexi... Have we met before? And if so, why don't I remember you?" he says to me.

I sigh. "It's a long story, Stefan, one that you won't wish to hear," I mumble, trying to get out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" he asks with a frown. I glance up. "I don't know. But I can't stay here," I say. "Once Klaus has had enough fun with his new hybrid body, he'll come after me. With Elijah's help, it will only be a matter of minutes before he locates me. And when he does... I can't be near Elena. I can't let her die," I tell him.

"You really care about her, don't you?" he says to me. I stare at the floor. Do I care about her? Or do I care about the idea of her? The idea that so many centuries of work finally paid off to something? The idea that, despite everything, I managed to succeed in my goal of keeping the famed doppelganger alive?

"Take care of her for me, Stefan," I say.

"Before you leave," Damon says, suddenly appearing at the door, "Tell me what happened to Katherine."

And so I tell him. I tell him how I set her free, and I tell him how I had to rip Klaus's heart out to prevent him from killing me. And once I tell them that, I have to tell them about how Elijah tracked me down in New York, how he desiccated me, and one thing led to another, and now, I'm telling them the entire story- of how I spent four hundred years as a freaking nursery maid, how I finally managed to get one of my descendants, Marie, away from the Mikaelsons in 1920, though I don't mention the fact that Stefan and Klaus were great friends.

"So you sent her to-" "Lexi, yes," I reply. Stefan frowned. "How do you know Lexi again?" he asks me. I open my mouth, then close it. "I had heard about her from... An old acquaintance of mine," I say. "The Mikaelsons were in Chicago at the time, so I had Marie convince Lexi that the Ripper of Monterey had returned. The two of them went all the way to the other side of the country... And I never saw her again. I told Marie not to continue the Petrova line, but... Obviously, things didn't turn out the way I wanted them to," I say.

Stefan looks at me with an expression of pity, which I find uncomfortable. I glance over at Damon. Unlike his brother, his jaw is dropped in awe. "You ripped Klaus's heart out?" he says. "I've done it four times so far," I shrug. Damon's eyes widen.

"Look, I really should get going," I say, heading towards the door. "But thank you. For this," I say, gesturing towards the bed, "And for keeping Elena safe.

I bump into Damon as I make my way out, and he suddenly winces in pain. "What's wrong?" I ask him. I look over at Stefan, who simply stares at the floor. 

"Damon? What's wrong with your arm?" I say. The young vampire tries to pull away, but I grab on. Being much stronger than him, I easily manage to keep ahold of his wrist as I roll his sleeves up-

"Oh my god," I say, staring at the grotesque looking injury on his arm. His flesh seems to be slowly smoldering and decaying... "A werewolf bite," I say. I look up at Damon. "This is going to kill you," I say.

Damon rolls his eyes. "Thank you for that valuable information," he spits out sarcastically. I stare with wide eyes at Stefan.

"What are you going to do about this?" I say to him. "We were going to go over to the spot where the one hundred witches died? Maybe have Bonnie ask them what we should do?" Stefan says in a tone that suggests he knows it is hopeless, yet still wants to try.

I shake my head. "You honestly think a bunch of witches are going to help you save a vampire's life?" I demand.

"What do you expect me to do?" Stefan says loudly. "He's my brother, I'm not going to just let him die-" "I know of a cure," I blurt out.

"What?" Damon and Stefan say at the same time.

"I know of a cure," I repeat. Out of habit, I run my hand through my hair. "Well, what is it? Can we get to it in time?" Stefan asks me. I slowly nod. Stefan laughs out in relief. "This is great! Look, you can be on your way, just tell me where it is and I'll-" 

"It's with Klaus," I reply.

A silence follows. "Oh," Stefan says. Damon suddenly begins to laugh hysterically- the hallucinations have begun. "So- so I'm going to die now?" he says, laughing uncontrollably.

"Shut up, Damon- I'm going to get Klaus to hand over the cure. He had a chance to kill me last night, but he didn't, meaning I have a shot of negotiating with him." "What are you going to offer him, Stefan? A bucket of the bunnies you killed?" Damon snorts.

"I- I'll go get it for you," I say in a shaky voice. Stefan looks up at me. "Elena will need all the help she can gets- Klaus will soon know that something is wrong, the curse wasn't supposed to turn out this way, Elena wasn't supposed to survive. She'll need both of you to be safe. I'll get you the cure, then I'll get Klaus out of town... Somehow," I say.

Stefan stands up. "I can't let you do that, he's going to kill you," he says. 

I laugh. "Trust me, Stefan, he'll do more than kill me. But..." I shake my head. "Be waiting right outside the window of Alaric's apartment. I'll throw it down to you," I say, planning on scraping a dagger across Klaus's skin and chucking it out the window.

"No, you can't sacrifice your-" Stefan begins. He is interrupted by a thud as Damon falls off the bed and lands on the floor, unconscious.

"You don't have time to argue, Stefan. And I'll be fine. I'm not going to spend half a millennium running from Klaus like Katherine did. I'll be alright," I say, even if I don't mean it.

So he agrees. We both drive over to Alaric's apartment. He stands right beneath Alaric's window. I take in a deep breath and make my way towards the stairs.