"...You were in an accident."

My head was still spinning, my vision blurred.

"Elena-"

"She's f- she's safe."

"And Matt?" I asked.

Stefan nodded his reply.

I rubbed my eyes.

"Everyone else is okay, too." he continued. "I guess Klaus was a liar after all. The only person affected by his death was..."

"Tyler." I finished. "The only person that died, was Tyler." I shook my head, pushing all emotions away. "Where's Alaric?"

"He's dead."

"He- that means-" I sat bolt upright in my bed, "you said Elena was safe!"

"She is."

"But-"

"Calm down." Stefan said, putting a hand on my forearm. I pulled my arm away from him. "Rayna, listen to me, she is safe."

"But she can't be. Stefan, Alaric's life was tied to either hers or mine. I'm still alive. And if she is too, then... That doesn't make any sense."

"She did die."

"What?! But you just said-"

"Rain, listen. It's not gonna make sense if I don't explain. Earlier on, when Elena went to the hospital, her injuries were worse than Meredith let on. She had to use vampire blood to heal her, and when Matt's truck drove into the lake..." he ran a hand through his hair, a look of guilt etched onto his features. "I was too late. She was already dead."

It took several moments for me to process this information. "So, she's a vampire?"

He seemed surprised by my blunt question, "Uh, she's in transition."

I shrugged and sighed. It didn't matter to me much. Elena being a vampire. She would still be my sister, after all. "Okay. So her life was tied to Alaric's."

Stefan shuffled in his seat beside my bed. "Uh... Not exactly."

I looked up at him. "What? Tell me, Stefan."

"We don't know whose life was tied to Alaric's, because... Rayna, when I brought you out of the water you were... You were dead."

"Am I-"

"No, you're not in transition, but your necklace. The one John gave to you," he said, gesturing to the talisman around my neck. "Don't take it off."

"So, it brought me back to life? Like the Gilbert rings?"

"I don't know, yet." he admitted. "We'll ask Bonnie when we see her. I'm sure she'll know something... I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, frowning.

"I should've done more to... I should have saved you. I promised you that I'd never let anyone hurt you, and-"

"No one did hurt me. It was an accident."

"Rebekah knew exactly what she was doing." he spoke bitterly.

I looked down, before throwing my arms around Stefan's neck, essentially attacking him with a lethal embrace. He laughed, and I could feel his body vibrate as he did so and he pulled me closer.

"What's this for?"

"I thought you were going to die." I told him quietly. "Can you take me to see Elena?"

"Sure." he said, as we pulled apart. "She's been in and out for a few hours now. She should wake up soon."

I nodded, taking in a deep breath. "Okay. I better get dressed first though." Stefan nodded, not moving. "Uh, Stefan. I'm gonna get changed now." He nodded again. "So... you know. If you could just... Leave. That would be great."

"Oh." he said, eyes widening and jumping to his feet. "Oh... Okay, I'll just, uh- yeah."

I shook my head, smirking, as Stefan left the room, closing my bedroom door behind him.

I slammed the car door shut behind me after pulling up in the hospital car park.

After going into my sister's room, and seeing she was still asleep, being watched over by a scowling Damon, I decided to go to the hospital where my skills could be put to better use.

After having a talk with Jeremy, I left the brooding-brothers and rushed to the hospital where I was hoping to also see Caroline.

It made em sick, thinking about what she must be going through.

I walked through the halls of the hospital, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Meredith.

"Hey, do you know where Matt is?" I asked her. She seemed distracted. "What?"

"I'm gonna get fired." she told me.

"What?"

"Oh my God. I'm gonna get fired..." she muttered. And then she walked away from me, shaking her head to herself as she did so.

Oh. Okay, then.

I felt someone bump into my shoulder as they walked past me. I watched as he walked away, in the direction of Meredith. I tilted my head to the side.

Pastor Young?

Eventually, I found Matt and Caroline in a private hospital room. As I opened the door, Matt looked up at me, startled, before relaxing visibly.

"It's just Ray." he announced.

A bunch of blonde curls flashed towards me, and Care wrapped her arms around me and held on tight.

"I'm so sorry." I told her. I looked over her shoulder, as she pulled away, at Matt. "Are you okay?" He nodded. "Why were you hiding?" I asked Care.

"Someone just came in." Matt explained. "Looking for Care."

"What?" I asked.

"Alaric told the council everything." Caroline said in a shaky voice. "They know about me, T-Tyler, Stefan, Damon... And you. They know about you. I'm not safe. Last night Tyler and I planned to run away, and then..."

I pulled her in for another hug. "Sh, sh. It's okay. It's okay. Do you want to stay at the Lake House for a while? It's outta town, and I'm sure they won't look there. Not a lot of people know about it, to be honest."

Care shook her head. "Thanks, but your parents used to be apart of the council. I'm sure they told at least some of them."

I nodded.

"C'mon." Matt told her. "I'll drive you home."

"You don't have a truck." she pointed out.

"Then I'll drive your car." he shrugged.

She smiled.

As I was walking back to the car, I heard my phone ringing. I took it out of my pocket to see who was calling, and paled when I saw it was Tyler.

"Hello?" a feminine voice said from the other side.

"H-Hello, Mrs Lockwood?" I asked.

"Hello, Rayna," she replied. "Tyler left his phone at home. I was wondering if you knew where he was?"

I swallowed, a feeling of nausea washing over me.

No one should find out like this. Not over the phone.

But I couldn't believe that nobody had thought to tell her yet.

"Uh..." It was then, that I saw a man standing next to mine and Elena's car. "I'm not sure."

"Oh, he's always disappearing like this, I just wish he would choose a better time! He'll probably come back soon, anyway."

"Probably."

"Thank you, anyway." she sighed.

"I'm sorry."

"What for? Sweety, you don't have to be sorry. It's not you responsibility to know where he is." she assured me. "I better go, anyway. And if you see him, tell him I'm looking for him."

"Sure. Look, Mrs Lockwood, I gotta go speak to Pastor Young." I said, keen to end this conversation.

"Pastor Young?" she asked, her tone changing.

I nodded, as though she could see. "Yes."

"Goodbye, Rayna. It was nice speaking to you again."

"You too, Mrs Lockwood." I said.

And then she hung up.

I looked back at Pastor Young as I put my phone in my pocket, and smiled, though wearily. "What can I do you for?

"Let's skip the pleasantries, Miss Gilbert. You know that I am a part of the council, just as much as I know that you are very good at keeping your own secrets. But, unfortunately, not good enough."

Suddenly, I was surrounded by vaguely recognizable faces.

"I'm not a vampire." I said, calmly. "So, I have no desire to hurt any of you. However, I do have a black belt in karate."

"You see, Miss Gilbert," Pastor Young said, taking a step towards me. "There are vampires, and then there are those who protect vampires... all very much the same, if you ask me."

"Actually, the fact that right now my heart is going baddum, baddum, baddum, kind of sets us apart, don't you think?"

"You're all murderers." He continued. "Even you."

Not a second later, someone who must have been standing behind me, placed a cloth over my mouth.

I struggled, but couldn't manage to keep my eyes open. The cloth smelt sweet.

Chloroform.

For the love of-

I opened my eyes, slowly, to see a pair of tired looking green-blue eyes.

"Care." I murmured. I tried to reach up to rub my temples, but with a start I realised I couldn't. My wrists were bound to the arm rests of the seat. "Oh, God." I said as I saw Rebekah sat on my left, both of them either side of me. We were all tied down in a truck, Rebekah still unconscious. "Of course they pick the women to kidnap. This is so degrading."

She laughed, but winced slightly.

I looked down at her wrists to see a slight amount of blood. The ropes were covered in vervain.

"We have to get out of here." I told her.

"I'm not strong enough to brake us out." she said. "But... maybe..." we both looked at Rebekah. And, as if on cue, the woman, perhaps responsible for my sister's death opened her eyes. She looked down at her ropes in confusion.

"Welcome to the damsel in distress club!" I said with false enthusiasm. "Today's activities include vervain ropes and twiddling our thumbs until help arrives!"

"Looks like Alaric outed us all to the council." Care said, glaring at Rebekah.

"The council?" Rebekah asked, before turning to me. She seemed guilty, but she looked away quickly and shook her head, squaring her shoulders."What exactly do they think they can do to me?"

At that moment, the sound of screeching tyres could be heard, and the truck swerved.

When I opened my scrunched up eye-lids, I was on my back.

I heard Caroline and Rebekah coughing.

"What the hell happened?!" Rebekah demanded.

The next few seconds happened so fast.

The doors at the back of the truck were both ripped off of their hinges.

My mouth dropped open and I looked at the boy who was watching me with something akin to relief, and untied the ropes around me.

"Tyler?" Care asked, staring at him.

"I'm harder to kill than you think." he said.

He lifted me to my feet, and told Caroline and I to go. Care grabbed me and flashed us both away.

Soon, we were standing in the woods.

"How are you alive?" I asked, moments before Caroline literally jumped on him.

Tyler's eyes widened as she pressed her lips to his.

Something wasn't right. I could sense it.

"Easy, love." Tyler said. "Wrong time, wrong place, wrong equipment."

WHAT THE-

Caroline moved to kiss him again, but I put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her away from him. She looked at me in confusion, but I kept my eyes trained on Tyler.

"Did you just call her love?"

Care looked to Tyler, eyes wide in realisation, and we both watched as his demeanour changed. His back straightened, and he looked at me with dark familiar eyes.

"I don't know, love. Did I?"

"What the hell did you do to Tyler?" I demanded, while Caroline wiped her mouth with her sleeve, a look of disgust and anger on her face.

"That's what I enjoy about you. So much more than a pretty face." Klaus said.

I looked at him, my eyes wide. I hadn't wanted to be right, but I was. This was Klaus, not Tyler.

Klaus had let me think that he and my friend were dead.

"Oh my God. You're Klaus." Care said. "You're disgusting!"

"And you're a glorious kisser."

I curled my fists into balls at my sides and withheld a smirk as my best friend punched him in the face.

His breathing became louder and he glared at her.

She turned and looked at me, smoothing out her clothes, "I'll be over there, rethinking my life." she announced, in a very dramatic-Caroline like way. "And holding my hand because it hurts."

I glared at Klaus as she walked into the distance.

"Look," he said, "I didn't have to risk exposure to come and save you, and I certainly didn't have to save her."

"You didn't have to do a lot of things, Niklaus." I spat. "You didn't have to make me think that my sister was dead. You didn't have to lock me away, screaming, wondering if I was ever gonna see her again! You didn't have to make me think Tyler had died! You didn't have to make me think that you were dead! Don't pretend you did anything for me. Stefan's right! You're just selfish, and everything you do is for your own personal gain! Put Tyler back."

"You know what? I'm not sure I will. Perhaps I'll just stay like this and enjoy the luxuries that come with Tyler Lockwood's form." he said, eyes flickering to where Caroline had walked away.

I pulled back my fist and punched him in the jaw.

"Now, now, Rayna," he chastised. "You're beginning to look a little on the green side."

"I'm not jealous!"

He smirked, that infuriating smirk, before walking past me.

"I'm not jealous!" I called after him.

"She said she's not strong enough!" Jeremy argued, glancing sideways at me.

"She said she was strong enough to put me in here," Klaus started. "surely she's strong enough to get me out."

"I upset the spirits trying to save Elena, I can't use that kind of magic again. It's too dangerous." Bonnie shrugged.

"Why were you trying to save Elena?" I asked.

"I was trying to bring part of her back from the other side, so she could stay human."

"Are you stupid, Bonnie?! Oh my God, she's in transition. There is nothing we can do to change that!"

"I realise that now." she said irritably. I could see that she was on edge, and she looked extremely tired.

"Bonnie, do the bloody spell!" Klaus yelled.

"She said she can't, Klaus." I snapped, glaring at him. "Bon, it's fine, we can- we can just wait until you're sure you can do it safely."

He looked down, and ripped a part of his shirt, before his claws appeared on Tyler's finger tips.

He plunged his claws into Tyler's chest and let out a cry of pain.

"What are you doing?!" Care asked.

"Ripping Tyler's heart out. I'll jump into someone else. Maybe you." he added, looking at Jeremy.

"No, Stop!"

"Stop it, Klaus!" I cried.

"He's bluffing, he needs a witch to do that." Jeremy said.

Does it matter? I thought. The fact of the matter was: he was threatening to kill one of my friends. For the gazillionth time.

"What makes you think I won't have one? Or ten! Pick, Bonnie! You, or Tyler!"

"STOP, PLEASE, YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Care screamed.

"Fine, I'll do it!" Bonnie cried. "Just stop!"

He pulled his hand out of Tyler's chest. "Good. Let's begin."

"This is black magic. She shouldn't be doing this." Jeremy said, as we watched Bonnie chant, her hands either side of Klaus... Tyler's head.

Tyler opened his eyes.

"Tyler?" Care asked, beaming.

"Caroline." he smiled, trying to stand up. "Hey."

He frowned, and fell down on to the floor. Caroline ran to his side, but I stayed with my brother, looking at Bonnie warily.

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Jeremy asked as she continued to chant. "Bonnie, it worked, stop."

Bonnie opened her eyes, "What's happening?" she asked, her forearms outstretched. It was clear that she was looking at something that we could not see. "Let me go. Let me go!"

"Bonnie, what's happening?" Care asked.

"She can't see us." I murmured.

Bonnie started breathing heavily. "Why can't I let go?!"

"Bonnie, stop the spell!" Jeremy yelled.

"I'm sorry, Grams!" she cried. "PLEASE! DON'T DO THIS TO HER! NO! NOOOOO! OH MY GOD!" she fell to her knees, tears falling from her eyes. "WHAT HAVE I DONE? What did I do?!" she sobbed. "What did I do?! What did I do?"

I slammed the car door shut, after walking back to the hospital to get it, I had driven home. My eyes widened when I saw that Elena was, in fact, sat on the roof with Stefan, sharing a moment.

She noticed me straight away, and seemed unsure, but when I smiled, she did the same, looking a little relieved.

I watched as Stefan picked her up and suddenly they were both stood infront of me.

"I-"

"I know." I told her. "But it's okay. I don't hate you, I could never hate you, Elena. I'm gonna help you. Okay? I'll make sure you don't hurt anyone. You don't have to go through this alone. I'll be there every step of the way. You're still the same person."

That last comment seemed to hit home, and she beamed at me, eyes welling with tears, and she walked towards me slwoly, carefully, before wrapping her arms around me. I hugged her back, and saw Stefan smiling at me. I smiled back, before hearing my sister inhale my scent.

I tried my best to remain calm, and keep my heart beat even, as she pulled away, the veins underneath her eyes black.

She turned away. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." I assured her. "But, guys, I think we have a problem."

"What?" Stefan asked.

"How are we gonna tell the difference between Elena and Katherine now?"

I was running.

Running through the woods, through the trees.

There was blood, all over my hands.

I kept on seeing his face, at every turn, every bend.

I skidded to a halt as he appeared in front of me.

"Do you actually think that your parents would be proud of you?" Alaric asked.

"Get away from me!"

I turned around to run away, but suddenly he was blocking my path.

"They wouldn't, Rayna. In fact, they would despise the person you have become."

"No, they wouldn't."

"Yes, they would, and deep down you know that it's true. Rayna, listen to me. You can protect him. You can protect Jeremy. You can save him."

"What about Elena?" I asked. "Can't I save her to?"

He sighed, and held out the white oak stake towards me. I took it, and looked down at it in my hands, the silver glistening in the moonlight.

"She is a vampire, now, Rayna. There is no saving them."

I woke up with and ran a hand through my tangled hair, before burying my face in my pillow.

A/N- THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK FROM LAST CHAPTER! I am hoping to update this more often from now on.

How did I do? Was it good? I'm not too pleased with this, but I do hope you all enjoyed it. Please review/PM and let me know!