𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 || 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒

"➐⓿" : ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ

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"What the hell do they even want?!" I whisper yelled at Vincent.

He scooted close to me, holding the chains wrapped around his ankles. I had asked to see him and my generous sister granted my wish almost immediately. And with a smile! Those two gave me a fricking smile that screamed 'We just fucked and it was amazing'. Ugh, I need to cleanse my brain with acid. Only then the images of them together would leave my mind, because apparently, they're on a constant loop right now.

Furthermore, I knew Katherine was holding Vincent, Josh and some of the witches who helped us captive, but I also had a sneaking suspicion they weren't the only ones. I was right. The basement of the boarding house was filled with vampires, werewolves and witches. What did they do to face her wrath? And where was Klaus? So far, I'd gathered that he wasn't in the basement with the others.

"Isn't it obvious?" He retorted, whispering back. "They wanna get out of hell. The Ancestors struck a deal with the three. They get rid of the Mikaelsons once and for all, the Ancestors help them escape the fiery pits of hell,"

He rambled on about something but his words didn't reach my ears. No matter what I tried to do, how I tried to distract myself, my mind would just go back to him. How was he here? The first thing that came to my mind when I found him upstairs was mind control. I thought, maybe, Katherine had tampered with his memories or something. That made sense, right? That was the only way Stefan could ignore me or so I hoped.

But...he didn't. He got up, wrapped the sheets around his bare torso and placed a kiss on my cheek as a greeting. He knew me, and it hurt. If he didn't, it would've hurt less. His memories of us were perfectly intact. Amusement danced on his face and heartbreak on mine.

"Okay!" I admitted out loud, lowering my voice again. "It doesn't make sense. Stefan has been in the basement of our safe house for two years now. I just saw him this afternoon. Eleanor tried to-"

It didn't take much longer for me to put two and two together. Even with the help of Freya, Eleanor couldn't bring Stefan back, because he wasn't there, to begin with. Ethan wouldn't just hand over Stefan, even for Klaus. I should've realized this way sooner!

"It was a fake body, Rose. If you had your magic, you would've sensed something a long time ago," Vincent confirmed my suspicions.

"But... But I saw Ethan kill him. He was dead," I argued.

He nodded. "Yes, he was. Why do you think they took the body?"

Everything made sense now. Katherine loved Stefan for over a century. She wouldn't let Ethan kill him, even for revenge. If there was any chance she could be reunited with him, she would take it.

"The sword they used on Stefan...it hosts the Phoenix stone. When a vampire is stabbed through the heart with the completed sword, it acts as a magical conduit, transferring their spirit into the stone..." He explained. "Once all of you fled and everything was clear, Ethan and Katherine took him out. He fought at first, but, uh..."