The forest was silent save for the occasional crunch of leaves beneath Klaus's boots as he paced.
Moonlight filtered through the canopy overhead, casting dappled shadows across the clearing where the bodies of his failed experiments lay strewn about like discarded toys.
Stefan watched through half-lidded eyes, his back pressed against the rough bark of an oak tree, the werewolf venom from Ray's bite coursing through his veins like liquid fire.
"This shouldn't be happening," Klaus muttered, kicking one of the corpses. The body rolled limply, head lolling at an unnatural angle. "Why isn't it working?"
Stefan didn't answer.
He couldn't. The pain was becoming unbearable, radiating from the festering wound on his arm. Black veins spread outward from the bite like spiderwebs beneath his skin.
He'd never experienced a werewolf bite firsthand, only witnessed what it had done to Damon months ago - how close his brother had come to death. The venom felt like it was reaching not just his body but something deeper.
Klaus stopped pacing and turned to face him, eyes glinting dangerously in the moonlight. "You're looking rather peaky there, old friend."
"I'm fine," Stefan managed, the words scraping against his dry throat.
"No, you're not," Klaus replied, his accent more pronounced in his frustration. "But I'm not particularly inclined to help you at the moment. Not when all my efforts have ended in..." He gestured at the bodies surrounding them. "This."
Stefan's vision blurred. The trees seemed to bend and twist, the moonlight shifting like water.
For a moment, he wasn't in the forest anymore but somewhere else - a room with glowing screens, a young man with dark hair watching...watching him? No, watching a show.
A show about...
The hallucination vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Stefan disoriented. He blinked, trying to focus on Klaus, who had resumed his pacing.
"Twelve hybrids," Klaus was saying, his voice rising. "Twelve! And not a single one survived the transition."
He slammed his fist into a nearby tree, splintering the trunk. "I broke the curse. I killed the doppelgänger. I did everything as it was supposed to be! Everything I was told!"
Stefan's head throbbed. The venom was working faster than he'd expected. Strange images continued to flash through his mind - fragments of a life he didn't recognize yet somehow felt familiar.
Klaus laughed, a hollow sound devoid of humor. "I've waited centuries for this. Centuries! Only to fail now?" He kicked another body, sending it tumbling down a small incline. "There must be something I'm missing..."
At the word "missing," another wave of hallucinations washed over Stefan. He saw a screen, actors playing out scenes he recognized and others he didn't. He saw himself, but not himself. Someone watching him. Someone who knew what would happen next.
"Something's wrong," Stefan whispered, more to himself than to Klaus.
Klaus turned, eyebrow raised. "Yes, I'd say a dozen dead would-be hybrids qualifies as 'something wrong.'"
"No, I mean-" Stefan broke off as pain lanced through his skull. He clutched his head, fingers digging into his scalp.
Klaus approached, crouching down to examine him more closely. "The bite is progressing faster than I expected. Interesting."
Through the haze of pain, Stefan caught a glimpse of something in Klaus's eyes - not concern, exactly, but calculation.
Stefan was still valuable to him. A companion. An enforcer. Someone who remembered the better days in Chicago.
"If you die," Klaus said matter-of-factly, "I'll have to start over. Find someone new. And I'm not feeling particularly patient tonight."
The world tilted again, and Stefan was no longer fully present.
The hallucinations were becoming more vivid, more coherent. He saw a young man - Helel - sitting in a darkened room, eyes fixed on a screen showing Klaus and Stefan in a forest.
He heard Helel's thoughts, felt his emotions, his obsessive love for his parents, his fear of losing them to illness.
"I know you," Stefan whispered to the hallucination.
Klaus frowned. "You're further gone than I thought."
But Stefan wasn't speaking to Klaus. He was speaking to the young man in his vision, the one whose life was playing out before him like a film. Helel, who watched The Vampire Diaries with rapt attention. Helel, who knew what would happen next.
Helel, who was... him.
The realization hit Stefan like a physical blow. The barrier between them - between Stefan Salvatore and Helel - crumbled, and memories flooded in.
A life in another world. Parents who were ill. A passionate, possessive love that bordered on obsession. A car accident. Death. And then... rebirth. As Stefan.
With these memories came knowledge - knowledge of events yet to unfold, of secrets not yet revealed. Elena. She was alive- he already knew that.
But what he didn't know before... The hybrids- they were failing because they needed her blood.
He bit back the name that had nearly escaped his lips, instead letting out a groan of pain that wasn't entirely feigned.
Klaus, who had been examining the bodies of his failed hybrids, glanced back at him. "Don't die just yet. I may still need you."
Stefan - or was he Helel now? No, he was both, two lives lived by the same soul - fought to control his expression.
This was critical. He couldn't reveal what had happened to him, couldn't let Klaus know that he now possessed knowledge of the future.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Stefan managed, his voice deliberately weak.
Klaus studied him for a long moment, then turned away again. "I should let you suffer," he said, almost conversationally. "It might improve my mood."
Stefan's mind raced, processing his new reality.
The vervain in his system - he'd been taking it secretly since leaving Mystic Falls, a precaution against Klaus's potential compulsion - would protect his thoughts. But he needed to be careful.
"I think I'm dying," Stefan said, injecting a note of genuine fear into his voice. It wasn't difficult; the pain was real enough.
"Probably," Klaus agreed, still surveying the carnage around them. "Though not quite yet."
Stefan's mind worked rapidly, formulating a plan. With his memories regained, he had an advantage Klaus couldn't possibly anticipate.
He knew why the hybrids were failing. He knew that Elena was alive.
And he knew that Damon - his own brother - had.... kissed Elena while he was away.
Taken advantage of her compassion as he was dying to get it. Her innocence. Her naivity. Not respecting that she was... His.
A surge of possessiveness washed over him, so intense it momentarily overshadowed the pain of the werewolf bite. Elena was his. And Damon had dared to touch her.
He needed to get back to Mystic Falls. Damon can't be around Elena- not without him at least there. He freaking flashed his naked body to her as he got out of the shower- he was manipulating her, making her desenstized to his moves.
Making her try to move on from him, so he could have her for himself.
Despite him, being in this damn situation FOR HIM!
"I have a theory," he said, his voice stronger than before- controlling his inner rage.
Klaus turned, eyebrow raised in mild interest. "About your impending death? I assure you, it's not a theory. That bite will kill you without my blood."
"About why your hybrids are failing."
That caught Klaus's attention. He approached slowly, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Go on."
Stefan pushed himself up straighter against the tree, wincing at the movement. He needed to appear weak but lucid. "The ritual that broke your curse - you drank the blood of the doppelgänger."
"Yes, and then I killed her," Klaus said impatiently. "Your point?"
"What if- what if that's why the hybrids can't complete the transition?" Stefan suggested, choosing his words carefully. "What if they need doppelgänger blood too? The same way you did."
Klaus went still, considering. Rage flashed across his face, that he quickly masked- controlling himself. Trying to disbelieve in this fact- for if it was true- if it was true-
"An interesting theory. But ultimately useless, given that the doppelgänger line ended with Elena." Klaus answered, keeping himself in control.
Stefan took a deep breath. This was the moment. "Klaus, can I trust you?"
The question clearly caught Klaus off guard. He laughed, the sound sharp and incredulous. "Trust me? I'm holding your life in my hands, literally. My blood is the only thing that can save you from that bite. Trust seems rather beside the point, doesn't it?"
"I'm serious," Stefan insisted, struggling to his feet. The movement cost him, but he needed to be standing for this. Needed to face Klaus as an equal, not a supplicant.
"Can I trust you? Because despite everything - despite you forcing me to leave Mystic Falls, despite this summer of blood and death - there's some part of me that cares what happens to you."
Which is... true. Especially with his memories of his future now. And his deeper understanding of Klaus as a person.
Klaus doing this, taking him away, was his own way of... caring. Wanting their friendship restored.
It was Klaus offering power and status of being his right-hand man- a status people would nearly do anything for, for the protection and might it granted someone.
Something unlike his 'original self', he'll make sure to actually make use of.
Klaus's expression shifted, suspicion giving way to genuine confusion. "What are you playing at, Stefan?"
"I'm not playing," Stefan said, taking a step forward. The forest swayed around him, but he remained upright through sheer force of will. "I'm asking if I can trust you. Because if I can... if we can trust each other... I might know how to get more doppelgänger blood."
'Keeping Elena secret is useless. She'll be found out anyway, and it will make Klaus feel betrayed and furious with me. I really don't want to be compelled like I saw in my memories. The best thing to do is... Use Klaus's need for Elena's blood for ourselves.
Something that I can also use to keep Damon from taking her from me.'
The silence that followed was absolute. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath. Klaus's eyes widened fractionally, the only indication of his shock.
"Explain," he demanded, his voice dangerously soft.
Stefan shook his head. "Not yet. First, I need your word."
'A mistake that many make is that they believe that Klaus does not keep his word. He does- but just like Elijah, he loves his loopholes. Klaus is too prideful to truly go back on his word.
It isn't out of nobility but out of pride. So long I am specific enough, I can make it work. There are no other options anyway- Klaus will find Elena no matter what. I need to gain the best advantage for the both of us- her and me - that I can.' Stefan thought to himself.
"My word?" Klaus repeated incredulously. "You're in no position to negotiate, mate."
"I need your word," Stefan continued, undeterred, "that you won't betray me and my interests. That if our goals conflict, we find middle ground instead of you taking what you want by force.
That you won't take the people I love from me, be it by killing them or any other way that has them no longer be mine, since what I want is that who is mine, is MINE.
I need your word that we'll have a real relationship - knight and king, if you will. Me your knight, you my king. Give me that, and I'll tell you how to get doppelgänger blood."
Klaus moved in a blur, suddenly inches from Stefan's face, his expression murderous. "I could compel the information out of you."
"You could try," Stefan replied, maintaining eye contact despite the proximity. "But it wouldn't work."
Klaus's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"
"Because I've been taking vervain since we left Mystic Falls," Stefan admitted. "Every day. I never fully trusted you not to compel me if it suited your purposes."
Klaus stepped back, studying Stefan with newfound respect. "Clever. But also foolish. I could kill you for that deception alone."
"You could," Stefan acknowledged. "But then you'd never learn how to create your hybrids."
"I could kill Damon," Klaus threatened. "Force you to cooperate."
"We had a deal," Stefan reminded him. "My service for his life."
"You're hardly being an ideal servant at the moment," Klaus countered. "Why should I honor my end?"
"I am honoring our deal," Stefan said firmly. "Nothing in our agreement stated that I give you everything for free. You wanted a companion, an enforcer. Not a slave."
Klaus studied him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Stefan could almost see the calculations happening behind those eyes - weighing options, considering consequences, searching for deception.
"You've changed," Klaus said finally. "Something's different about you."
Stefan shrugged, careful to keep his expression neutral despite the pain radiating from his arm. "Near-death experiences have that effect."
Klaus though, after a moment of silence, gained a slow smile on his face, as he began circling Stefan. "You're being quite... strategic, old friend, but you're forgetting that, that vervain won't be there forever. I can simply... wait you out."
"Not with me dying," to emphasise his point, Stefan raised his bleeding wrist.
"My blood is the cure remember," Klaus retorted, "I'll simply give you my blood, and wait for the vervain to leave your system."
Stefan hearing this, grimaced, having already thought about this possibility- knowing the play he needed to make. So he steeled himself, making sure, that he truly was willing to do this, before saying it.
"Then I'll kill myself before that happens." At this Klaus stopped, standing right in front of Stefan.
Another long silence stretched between them. In the distance, an owl hooted, the sound eerily loud in the quiet forest.
"You're bluffing," Klaus said at last. "You won't kill yourself." But internally he felt... uncertain.
"Think what you wish," Stefan replied calmly. "It won't change what I'll do. The question is: will you risk it? Risk never being able to make hybrids again, or give me your word?"
Klaus turned away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. When he turned back, his expression was guarded but resolute.
"Fine," he said. "You have my word. Knight and king, as you put it. I won't betray your interests, who is yours is yours and if our goals conflict, we'll find... middle ground." The words seemed to cost him, his pride clearly wounded. "Now, tell me how to get doppelgänger blood."
Stefan took a deep breath, savoring the moment.
"Elena is alive," he said simply.
The words hung in the air between them, heavy. Klaus went completely still, his expression frozen somewhere between disbelief and fury.
"Impossible," he whispered.
"No," Stefan replied. "Just unlikely. She survived the ritual. Bonnie found a way to save her."
"You knew?" Klaus's voice was deadly quiet. "All this time, you knew she was alive?"
"Yes," Stefan answered honestly. "And before you try to frame this as betrayal- you never asked."
Klaus's hands clenched into fists, his knuckles white. For a moment, Stefan thought he might attack, word or no word. Instead, Klaus closed his eyes briefly, visibly composing himself.
"If what you're saying is true," he said carefully, "then we need to return to Mystic Falls immediately."
"We will," Stefan agreed. "But first, I need your blood. This bite is getting worse."
Klaus regarded him for a moment longer, then bit into his own wrist and extended it toward Stefan. "Drink. And then you will tell me everything you know about how Elena survived."
Stefan took Klaus's wrist and drank, feeling the Original's powerful blood immediately begin to counteract the werewolf venom. As strength returned to his limbs, he allowed himself a moment of private satisfaction.
The game had changed. With his memories now returned, he had knowledge no one else in this world had. Knowledge he could use to protect Elena.
With Lexi now dead, Damon willing to take his happiness for himself, the only one in this world who truly cared about him was... Her.
He won't let anyone take her from him. Not Klaus, not Damon, not anyone.
He was going home to her.
---------------------
(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter.
Do tell me how you found it.
So... Yeah, I hope to see you all later,
Bye!)