𝟔𝟐

a/n: Lottie's outfit for the chapter is above!

☆═━ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎━═☆

Charlotte huffed out, taking a look at the mountains of books sprawled out on her bed. That was, without a doubt, one of the worst ways to study. However, the brunette was so behind on her schoolwork and she chose to remind herself that they won't spontaneously finish themselves.

"What do you mean you're ditching my clean up committee?"

She rolled her eyes, pulling her maths textbook in her lap, "I mean that I have to study and I didn't even get to enjoy the dance so I am not obligated to clean up."

"You're back in your nerd shoes?" Caroline huffed out, chuckling.

"Yes, I am. I don't want to fail and have to repeat my senior year," Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, reasoning as she placed her phone between her shoulder and ear, picking up her calculator.

The blonde vampire reminded her on the other line, "Char, you are a vampire. You will never have to repeat senior year. You can just...compel your way out."

Her eyebrows almost raised to her hairline, questioning, "Who are you and what have you done with the Caroline Forbes I know?"

"You and Matt both ditched me, okay? So forgive me if I am not too excited to help Rebekah clean up."

"She is not that bad," Charlotte replied, shaking her head, "She is actually really nice once you get to know her but a piece of advice, don't have breakfast with her after she sleeps with Serena...it's just traumatizing."

"How specific," The blonde huffed out a laugh, "Serena slept with evil bitch?"

Charlotte wrote down her answer, claiming, "At least we know Serena has good taste. I mean say what you want about Rebekah but she is the hottest person Serena could get in bed with."

"You are unbelievable!"

"Yeah but you love it," Charlotte chuckled, retorting.

"Somehow," Caroline replied in sync, shaking her head at herself, "Okay, go study and if you need anything, I left my flashcards with Stefan a few days ago so—"

She cut her off, "No, thanks. I can do this on my own."

"You will have to talk to him at some point."

"Goodbye, Caroline," Charlotte said before hanging up. She was in no mood to listen to Caroline listing out all of the proofs that Stefan Salvatore was a good guy at heart, moreover, she was sick of it.

It sounded like everyone could understand his many attempts at becoming a hero again but nobody could put themselves in her shoes and feel their chest tightening with no place for air to get it.

What Caroline and everybody else couldn't understand was that the experience didn't hurt, the panic attack didn't—well, they did hurt but they were nothing compared to what she felt when she looked at Stefan that day. He wasn't the same boy she fell in love with and she had come to accept that many times before. Charlotte just didn't know how he had fallen so far.

She pursed her lips together, looking down at her textbook, murmuring to herself, "Then we do 2 to the power of 9 and...," Charlotte continued mumbling quietly, seconds away from getting the final answer before her phone started buzzing and she sighed, picking it up.

"What?"

"That's an odd Hello," Stefan commented on the other line before Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows together—Did he have some odd superpower of knowing when someone was thinking or talking about him?

Not that she was thinking about him or anything, just pure and utter curiosity.

"Hello. Good morning, how are you, Stefan?" Charlotte greeted, huffing out, "Is that better?"

"Slightly," She could feel the light tone in his voice which almost made her want to smile. There was some shuffling in the background before he asked, "Hey, how fast can you get to Elena's?"

"Pretty fast...why?"

✵ ✵ ✵

"What do you mean he turned?" Charlotte questioned, folding her arms over her chest as she looked from Bonnie to Damon, "You were supposed to be on guard duty!"

"Don't blame me," Damon shook his head, pointing over to the witch, "Blame Bonnie the blood bank. She fed him."

"I had no idea what was happening," Bonnie sighed, holding a wet cloth over her neck, "Okay, the witches led me there. They wanted him to feed so he turned."

Stefan ran a hand over his forehead before asking, "So, where's the stake now?"

Damon raised an eyebrow, checking, "Oh, you mean the white oak one? The one that can kill an Original and wipe out an entire line of vampires?" He shrugged, sending Bonnie a pointed glare, "We don't know."

She huffed out in response, "If you are so upset with me, why did you feed me your blood to save my life?"

"Because I do stupid things, Bonnie. I do things, like let my friend die with dignity when I should have just killed him!"

Charlotte took in a deep breath, "Okay, we should all just calm down. This...all of this is not helping," The brunette inhaled sharply, "What are we supposed to do now about Ric?"

"I've been trying to figure that out," Bonnie pursed her lips together, starting, "A witch can't truly make an immortal creature, there is always a way to undo a spell."

"So, what's the witchy workaround?" Damon inquired, furrowing his eyebrows together.

"That's the problem," She sighed, stating, "I don't know."

"Do we even know if the stake works on him?" Charlotte rubbed the back of her neck, asking as Bonnie shook her head, murmuring a quiet no, "Well, that's a bummer."

The doorbell rang at the Gilbert house and Charlotte sighed, "I will go get that," She excused herself and moved to the door, finding Jeremy had already opened the door and Klaus stood in front of him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, for starters, young Jeremy here could show some manners and invite me inside," Klaus answered just as Stefan and Damon had gotten out of the kitchen.

Charlotte stood in front of Jeremy, gently asking, "Jer, why don't go to your room? Please?"

The teenager seemed to disagree before Damon turned to him, "Now." Reluctantly, he sighed and walked up the stairs.

"Hm, poor lad. Loses one questionable father figure only to be replaced by the likes of you," Klaus commented, a cynical smile on his face before addressing Charlotte, "No offense."

"None taken, I am a very questionable mother figure," Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, admitting.

She crossed her arms together, "And, umm, about Alaric...something happened."

"Oh, I know all about my mother's invulnerable little creation and that's why I'm here," Klaus brushed off the old news, revealing, "I'm leaving town, just need to pick up a few road trip necessities. Spare tire, flashlight...doppelgänger."

"Can't help you there," Damon shrugged his shoulders, pulled Stefan and Charlotte back before slamming the door in Klaus' face.

The Bernard girl walked away from the two brothers and towards the staircase, calling out, "Elena!"

After receiving no answer, she rushed upstairs only to find Jeremy painting the room but his sister was nowhere in sight, "Where's Elena?"

"I don't know, she was just here a few minutes ago," Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows together, answering.

She ran her tongue over her bottom lip and made her way downstairs where she met up with Stefan and Damon, the latter asked, "Where is she?"

"Not here."

"What do you mean she's not here? Where did she go?"

Charlotte shrugged her shoulders, "Anywhere but here?"

Bonnie walked into the living room, asking, "What's going on?"

Damon looked out the blinds and saw Klaus pacing with the newspaper in his hands, "Klaus wants in, we have to keep him out," His eyes widened, seeing Klaus pull back his arm and throw the newspaper at the window with vampire strength, "Ah, duck!"

The newspaper smashed through the window and flew into the living room as Damon and Bonnie ducked down. Stefan grabbed Charlotte, who was a little too slow in her reaction, before pulling her down with him.

The brunette vampire furrowed her eyebrows together and scooted away once she had noticed Stefan's close proximity to her. She rose to her feet first, exhaling sharply.

✵ ✵ ✵

Klaus was still outside, thinking of various ways to get inside as Bonnie, Jeremy, Charlotte, Damon, and Stefan were all standing in the kitchen. The younger Salvatore stated, "Elena's car is gone."

Bonnie sighed, asking, "Why wouldn't she tell anyone where she was going?"

Suddenly, the front door burst open and a soccer ball flew in as Klaus walked up the porch with two fence pickets in his hands. He hurled one of the pickets into the house and it narrowly missed Damon's head, getting stuck in the wall behind him.

Charlotte grabbed Jeremy, pulling him down with her, "Everybody get down!"

"Missed me!" Damon pulled the picket out of the wall and threw it back at Klaus. The picket just grazed over his shoulder. Klaus broke the other picket in two and tossed half of it at Damon again, but instead, he hit a picture and it broke.

The raven-haired vampire yelled out once again, "Missed me again!" Klaus aimed the last picket into the house just as Stefan's phone rang and he answered it.

"Alaric."

Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows together, listening in on the call with Stefan. She took in a deep breath, standing up just as Klaus came back up to the house with a propane tank and a newspaper torch.

Stefan came up to the front door with the brunette vampire, "Put it out."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Come outside and make me."

Much to his surprise, Stefan did step outside, "Elena's not here. Alaric has her and Caroline and he's gonna kill them both unless you turn yourself over to him."

The hybrid sighed, throwing down the newspaper and dropping the propane tank, "Now, I know you're not asking me to walk into a certain death."

Stefan folded his arms together, retorting, "I really wish we could. But unfortunately, if Alaric kills you there's a one in four chance that we die too."

Damon walked out with a picket over his shoulder, "I'll take those odds."

Charlotte huffed out, following the raven-haired vampire out, "I won't, there's still a hundred percent chance that Tyler dies."

"I'm good with that too."

"Why don't we just figure out a way to put Alaric down?" Stefan suggested, raising his eyebrows.

Charlotte raised her hand, acknowledging, "I agree. We would all win and...that hasn't happened in a while."

They were all standing on the porch, trying to construct a plan to take down Alaric before Klaus stopped and turned around, "Okay, how about Damon sneaks in and distracts Alaric, while Stefan grabs Elena and carries her to safety?"

Damon crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow, "Huh, that's a great idea. What's to stop me from getting killed instantly?"

The blond hybrid shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "Nothing."

Charlotte could already see where that plan was heading. Klaus' main priority at that moment was to get Elena so that he would never run out of hybrids, yet he wasn't mad enough to risk his life for the doppelganger.

"Look, the three of us are going there," Charlotte stated, her hands at her sides as she addressed the Original hybrid, "You want to help, you are welcome to. You don't then...please, for the love of God, get off their porch."

"That's suicide, you won't stand a chance," Klaus pointed out.

She nodded, claiming, "But with your help, we might," Klaus could see the determination in her eyes before Charlotte finished, "Even if you don't want to help, I will go. These are my friends and I don't care if I am walking into certain death to save them."

"Wouldn't that be a good story with Lina about how you let her dearest friend walk to her death like the nobleman you are?" Damon taunted, raising his eyebrows.

"This isn't really helping too much," Stefan rolled his eyes at his brother.

Bonnie walked out of the house, "I might have an idea," The four vampires turned to her as she continued, "My mom used a desiccation spell on Mikael that immobilized him for over 15 years. If I can get it, I might be able to use it on Alaric."

"If and might? Your words inspire such confidence."

She sighed, folding her hands together, "I'll get it. But even with the spell, we'll need a lot of vampire muscle to take him down," The witch looked at him determinedly, adding, "Including yours."

"Just so we're clear, the sun sets in about eight hours," Klaus addressed them all, stating, "If we don't succeed before then, Elena will be dead, I'll be gone, and the rest of you will be left to fend for yourselves."

"So you are helping?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips as she looked at the blond hybrid, "I knew you would come through."

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte sighed, getting out of Klaus' car after he pulled up at the school's parking lot. Stefan revealed, stepping out, "Abby just showed up."

"Good. Perhaps this plan won't be an epic failure after all," Klaus commented, leaning against his car as he reminded the two, "You know, if this does go off and we drop the history teacher in the Atlantic, I'm still leaving with Elena."

"Why do you need those hybrids so bad?" Charlotte asked, genuinely curious, "You already have your family and enough to serve you, if these were your reasons."

"People disappoint, Charlotte," Was Klaus' response and the brunette took in his words, stealing a small glance at Stefan.

"Yeah, I am having a pretty good idea of your point now. I just wish it had nothing to do with Elena's blood."

A while later, Bonnie and Damon had finally gotten there and Stefan, Charlotte, and Klaus walked up to them just as the witch started explaining the plan, "Drink this. It's my blood," She gave Damon a vial of her blood.

"It bridges us all together so that when I stop Jeremy's heart, you'll have the power to stop Alaric's. You need to make a physical connection to his bloodstream; a vein, artery, something connected to his heart."

Damon drank some of her blood before handing it to Stefan, "If one of us gets a clean shot, take it, the other two: hold him down."

"Two? Mind you, I am coming," Charlotte scoffed out at his choice of words.

Klaus had taken the vial of blood from Stefan, claiming, "Yeah, you are not," Her eyebrows almost raised to her hairline as he continued casually, "Before we all walk through these doors, let's get on the same page, shall we? I was the one who created your vampire bloodline, therefore I am responsible for your lives and Tyler's life, Caroline's life, and of course, Abby's life, should anything go wrong."

"Or you're just lying to save your ass," Damon shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not lying. But go ahead, call my bluff, let the teacher kill me. You'll all be dead soon thereafter," Klaus drank the remainder of the blood.

"Wait, why don't I get to come?" Charlotte questioned just as Klaus and Stefan made their way into the school, she grabbed Damon's arm, stopping him, "I am the one who convinced him to help us."

Damon rolled his eyes, revealing, "Well, his condition was for you to stay out of this."

"What?" Charlotte scoffed out, shaking her head, "No, Elena and Caroline my friends. I should be helping them, not standing aside while the boys do the hard work."

The raven-haired vampire pursed his lips together, "Well, take it out with your new boyfriend or whatever. By the way, the feminist vibe doesn't suit you."

He walked away from her as the brunette huffed out, trying to suppress her anger.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte had gone with Bonnie and Jeremy to the woods. Jeremy was lying on the ground, while Bonnie was kneeling next to him. The brunette vampire paced around, biting on her nails, "They are such jerks," She mumbled to herself.

Suddenly Bonnie felt something, her hands hovered over Jeremy's chest as she stated, "They made contact. It's happening."

Charlotte snapped out of it just as Bonnie started chanting, "Ocoros Mecante, Aleora Subsitos. Ocoros Mecante, Aleora Subsitos. Ocoros Mecante, Aleora Subsitos..."

Her chants got louder before she felt the connection break and stopped chanting, "What happened? Why did you stop?"

"Something happened. The connection broke."

Charlotte ran a hand through her hair anxiously, "I need to go...I have to check on them."

"Charlotte, don't," Bonnie shook her head, advising, "They will be fine."

"What if they are not?"

She asked and Bonnie sighed before the Bernard girl vamp-sped out of the woods and back on the road, with one destination in mind.

✵ ✵ ✵

Charlotte arrived at Mystic Falls High School, walking inside her breath hitched in her throat. She didn't know what to expect but it was oddly quiet and her mind was running a thousand miles a second with the worst possible case scenarios.

Damon was lying on the hallway floor when Charlotte found him, fluttering his eyes open, "What happened?" She questioned, pulling him off the floor.

"Get up," Alaric walked up to them, taking notice of Stefan who was still opening his eyes, "I said, get up. Klaus is gonna kill Elena."

"What?"

"No, no," Charlotte shook her head, dismissing the nonsense coming out of the Original's mouth, "Klaus needs her blood to make his hybrids, he can't kill her."

"The witch bound my life to Elena's. If she dies, I die," The vampire hunter clarified, rolling his eyes, "Klaus figured that out and now he's taken her. Now, I'm trapped here until the sun goes down, so you two better get doing what you do best," He addressed the two Salvatores, finishing, "Saving Elena's life."

Alaric walked between them, knocking them both out of the way as Charlotte backed away from them, remaining on her feet.

She waited for a few minutes, guessing what sort of plan was forming in their heads before stating, "We are not killing Klaus."

✵ ✵ ✵

They did not kill Klaus. However, in order to save Elena, they had desiccated him instead of Alaric. Charlotte stood in front of the Mikaelson mansion as Tyler and Damon carried his body to the car's trunk.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go, Klaus was supposed to leave town. Elena stays out of harm's way. Everybody stays happy but nothing ever worked according to the plan in Mystic Falls.

She watched as Damon drove away with Tyler Lockwood and Elena, assuming Stefan was her ride as he walked up to her. Charlotte shook her head at him before he had a chance to speak and started walking.

"You can't keep walking away every time."

"I am not walking away," Charlotte turned around, claiming, "I am staying away."

He sighed, starting, "I know you didn't want to do this. Okay, I understand—"

She cut him off, louder than intended, "You understand nothing, Stefan!" Charlotte walked up to him, "You and your brother manipulated me into helping put Klaus down, okay? You played with my friendship with Elena so you would finally be rid of him! I am still adjusting to the fact that I went against everything I wanted to stay true for because you wouldn't let me have my choice."

"I am sorry, I really am," Stefan held her hands when she shoved them against his chest, "All I have been trying to do is get you to understand that I am sorry. If I could take everything I did that hurt you back, I would! Charlotte, I would but I can't."

Charlotte shook her head, "No, you are not sorry. Even if you were, that doesn't make it better."

"Why is it so easy for you to hate me?"

"Easy? Did you just say easy!?" She scoffed out, running her hand over her forehead, "Just because you are such a hateful, grudge-holding person doesn't mean that everybody is!"

"And it's not easy, Stefan! I don't want to you hate but you leave me no choice, you keep pushing me into this position by being the kind of person you are," Charlotte grumbled out, her eyebrows furrowing together as the anger bubbled inside of her, "And I am so done with giving you poor excuses—"

She was cut off by his lips crashing into hers. It wasn't a soft or passionate kiss, either of them was beyond mad with the other. Despite her indisputable anger with him, she found herself kissing him back. Charlotte was consumed. It appeared she had truly forgotten how his kisses left her, always longing for more.

✵ ✵ ✵

if you held on until this moment then you are a legend.

I loved writing this btw, bye