[ON HOLD] Anomaly • The Vampire Diaries

prelude.

Karina shot upward with a gasp, she quickly looked around only to realize that she was somewhere unfamiliar. She knew that she was in the woods, she knew these woods, but she didn't know how she had gotten here.

The last thing that she remembered was being at Sam and Emily's, she remembered venting to the pack in tears as the pressure in her chest got worse before finally everything went black, and she couldn't breathe.

"Hello?" Karina croaked out, wincing at the pain that came from attempting to speak.

She slowly stood up, groaning as her body protested against moving. Karina pushed herself to look around before spotting a house in the distance. She frowned as it looked brand new, and it couldn't be a coincidence that it was there just as if she was meant to find it.

"Not creepy at all." Karina mumbled as she walked forward and wrapped her arms around herself. "Sam? Leah? Paul?" Karina called out but got no response. "What the fuck is happening?" She whispered to herself before shouting, "Javi!?"

"You made it!" A cheery voice spoke up and Karina's heart nearly jumped into her throat from fright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Karina looked at the person speaking, it was a girl who was a lot shorter than her but not as short as Alice. She had light brown waist length hair and brown eyes, she was eerily cheerful as she stood in the doorway with a smile on her face.

"Who are you? Where am I? And what's going on?" Karina rapidly asked her.

"Relax." The girl urged, "All will be explained, first follow me."

The girl turned on her heel and walked inside, leaving Karina no choice but to follow her. She had truly thrown out her mother's teaching of stranger danger.

Karina entered the house and there was an odd sense of familiarity with the place, it felt wrong to be there for some reason. She had never been to this house before and yet something inside of her was screaming at her to remember...

The girl led Karina over to the couch and Karina forced herself to sit down despite the discomfort that she felt doing so. She made sure to keep a good amount of distance from the strange girl, not that the girl seemed to notice and if she did then it didn't look as if she cared.

"Alright, I am now going to show you what's happening since you died." She explained while reaching forward and grabbing a remote from the coffee table.

"Wait, what!?" Karina exclaimed while jumping to her feet. "I can't be dead, no. no, no." Karina held her head in her hands and gripped at her roots. "What about my mom and Will?"

"I'm about to show you." She said while clicking on a button, prompting the TV to turn on and Karina to look.

There on the screen, Karina could see how Jasper arrived moments later after she apparently died but was too late to save her. She watched as he took her body back to Carlisle in hopes that he knew something, but Carlisle could only tell him that it was too late.

Karina watched as Jasper cried over her body for the next few days until Edward returned with Bella, Javier, and Alice. Carlisle then broke the news to them, and Javier broke down crying along with Bella, the duo regretting having ever left as they didn't even say goodbye.

Carlisle explained to them that they had hoped that Jasper's venom would work to wake her, but her heart had already given out and it was too late.

When telling her family what had happened, Aurora was a hysterical mess as she cried over Karina's lifeless body. William was no better as he was in a state of denial, asking everyone to quit playing with him and for Karina to wake up. Aurora and William refused to see anyone after that, William went to school and came straight home where he would simply sit in Karina's room with Roscoe and cry.

The next month was spent with Aurora planning Karina's funeral. While going through Karina's room, Aurora found letters hidden away addressed to people that Karina wanted to give a final goodbye to. For their own closure as well as Aurora's peace of mind, she delivered the letters since she knew that it was what Karina would've wanted.

The screen then showed her Jasper, he was completely covered in black veins, and he was lying in bed ever so still.

"What's wrong with him?" Karina whispered softly as she wiped away the tears.

"It's his punishment." The girl told him. "The soulmate bond is excruciatingly painful, and you both were in pain being apart for so long, but when a vampire's soulmate dies, it is punishment for the vampire to die slowly as their souls are not meant to be apart."

"Why?" Karina questioned with a horrified expression. "Isn't that cruel?"

"It's fates design when she created soulmates." The girl explained with a shrug before standing to her feet. "Now that this is done, we must carry on."

"No, wait." Karina shook her head and stood her ground. "What's happening? Who are you?"

The girl smiled at Karina, "I'm Fate, nice to meet you."

Karina's eyes widened as she looked at the girl, she couldn't have been older than 16 and she was Fate? "Like the Fate?" Karina questioned, "The Fate we were just talking about, Fate?"

"Yes that's me and what's happening is, I am giving you a second chance." Fate told her with a smile. "Though not in this universe."

"What?" Karina asked.

"Look, look, I'm giving you a different life, a different route." Fate waved her off while walking down the hall. "I don't have a lot of time, all you need to know is that you have a second shot at life somewhere else."

Karina nodded her head, though she didn't understand. "Okay, that still doesn't explain to me why."

Fate sighed as she turned to look at Karina, pausing in front of the door she needed. "I like you Karina, I liked watching how things played out until you died, of course, but I still like you." Fate told her honestly. "However, I'm going to be completely honest, it's nothing like the life you had, where you are in this world isn't the greatest place, but I know you'll make it out alive."

Karina didn't have time to wrap her head around what was happening, if this was really happening, before Fate opened the door beside her and pushed Karina inside.

"Good luck!"

And with that, Karina's entire world went black.