AN: Sometimes my brain does interesting things. Katherine never died, nor became human, she went off to sulk after Elijah dumped her and that was the end of that.

Odette and Odile

"You're saying Elena is under a sleeping curse and I'm the only one who can break the spell?" Katherine raised a skeptical eyebrow. Bonnie shared a pained glance with Jeremy.

"Yes," they chorused. Katherine laughed.

"She's Snow White, and I'm Prince Charming?" she said, giggling in delight. Jeremy rolled his eyes to the ceiling of her penthouse suite. Bonnie shook her head, impatient.

"No, it's not like that," she said. "It's not true love's kiss that breaks the spell, it's a supernatural bond stronger than the one Kai created between Elena and I. Your bond has existed since Elena was born as the next doppelganger, it's literally as old as she is, whereas the bond that Kai forged is new, it's weak, it can be subverted by the doppelganger bond," she explained. "The doppelganger bond between you two has existed as long as Elena has, it's much stronger. In fact, it's literally unbreakable. I want to use that to break the one Kai created."

Katherine gave her a thoughtful look.

"So Elena is Sleeping Beauty and I'm Prince Philip?" she joked. Bonnie let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Are you going to do it or not?" Bonnie asked. Katherine sobered, giving the witch a skeptical look.

"What do I get out of it?" she questioned, casually buffing her nails.

"The satisfaction of driving Damon up the fucking wall," Jeremy suggested. Katherine considered it.

"Katherine please, just do it," Bonnie begged. Katherine pretended to think, mind already made up.

"All right, I'll do it," she agreed at last. "But not just because it'll drive Damon nuts," she added, smirking. "I'm doing it because it'll make Elena fucking nuts too."

"You're keeping her in a fucking coffin?" Katherine bit out when she walked into the room. Despite herself, she felt angry on behalf of her doppelganger. At the suspicious looks, Katherine smirked, forcing her anger inward. "How maudlin," she drawled.

Gathered in the room, forming a half-circle stood Damon, Stefan, Alaric, Matt, Jeremy, Caroline, and Bonnie. Noticing there were seven of them besides herself, Katherine hid a smirk.

"Just get on with it," Damon requested. Katherine could hear his teeth grinding from across the room. She smiled at him, winked slowly.

"So what do I have to do, Doc?" she asked, addressing Bonnie. Bonnie gave her an odd look at the nickname but Katherine didn't give away her game.

"You just have to invoke the bond, it's a physical thing, because she's sleeping, so you need to touch her, but it has to be something that will shock her system, something that will force the false bond to break," Bonnie explained. Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"Come again?" she drawled. "Quit beating around the bush, Doc, and tell me what I need to do."

Bonnie sighed.

"You need to kiss her," she said, resigned. Katherine stared at her.

"You never said anything about a kiss!" Damon practically shouted.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a kiss," Bonnie backtracked. "But it's the only thing I could think of that would shock her system enough to break the false bond." She shrugged helplessly. Suddenly Katherine grinned hugely.

"So I am Prince Charming," she said smugly. Damon turned to glare at her. "Oh relax Grumpy, I'm not gonna hurt your girl," she placated him, rolling her eyes. She strolled over to the coffin and threw open the lid.

"Steal her?" She paused. "Maybe, but that can't be helped." She tossed him a smirk over her shoulder. "I'm irresistible."

"You're enjoying this too much, Katherine," Caroline accused. "Just get it over with."

"I'm not the one with all those repressed feelings bottled up inside, Bashful," Katherine shot back, grinning at her sweetly. Caroline turned white.

"Don't worry, I'm sure those cheer camp days have a special place in sweet Elena's memories," she assured her.

"Stop it, Katherine," Alaric ordered. She shot him an unimpressed look.

"Down, Sneezy," she quipped, grinning. Realization dawned in his eyes.

"We're not the seven dwarfs, Katherine, just get it over with," Jeremy said, clearly making the connection as well, and frustrated with her nonchalant attitude. She grinned, one more quip on the tip of her tongue.

"Whatever you say, Dopey." He groaned. She cackled.

"Katherine, please," Stefan said. Katherine looked at him, her face softening.

"All right, Happy, I'm done," she agreed. "I'll kiss the princess like a good prince charming and be on my way."

She turned her attention to the girl in the coffin. Elena looked peaceful, like she was about to wake up and mouth off to Katherine at any second. It almost made Katherine smile—almost. Elena didn't belong in a box.

She wasn't supposed to be defeated. Despite all her jokes, Katherine wasn't prince charming, because Elena had never been a damsel-in-distress. Katherine wasn't the hero of this story—not by a long shot, but she wasn't the villain either. She was something in between, an unknown entity.

Elena on the other hand? Elena was the hero. She was Prince-ss fucking Charming, noble fucking steed and all. She was the knight in shining armor. She shined like the sun itself, bright enough to burn, to blind. Elena was not the damsel-in-distress. Katherine wasn't the hero, but she wasn't the villain either. This was the wrong fairytale. If Elena was anything, any fairytale at all, she was Odette.

She'd been turned into something she wasn't—here, small and vulnerable in the coffin, Elena was the damsel-in-distress. The evil sorcerer Kai had turned her into a helpless maiden. It was like the girl who was turned into a swan; Elena was not the damsel-in-distress. Odette was not a swan. That made Katherine Odile, Odette's evil twin. In the ballet, Odile killed Odette by breaking her heart—she stole Siegfried from her, stole her hope. This time, Odile revived her rival with a kiss.

With surprisingly gentle fingers, Katherine pressed her hand to Elena's cheek, closed her eyes, and leaned down to press matching lips to Elena's. Carefully she slid her free hand into Elena's hair, diving deeper into the kiss. For a moment, Katherine could see the Falls behind her eyelids, could smell the thick heavy scent of summer, feel the plushness of the grass beneath her feet, and then they were back in Elena's death chambers. Elena's mouth moved hesitantly against her own.

Katherine opened her eyes and after a second Elena's fluttered open as well. Katherine broke the kiss at last. She licked her lips, surprised at the surging emotions in her chest.

"You," Elena breathed, confusion heavy in her gaze. Katherine slid her hand from Elena's hair to her waist, her other hand coming to rest at the back of her neck. With gentle strength, she helped her sit up in her coffin.

Katherine was the Black Swan. In science, the Black Swan was an event that could not be predicted or explained.

"Hello Elena, did you miss me?"

AN: Told ya, weird things. Review if only to tell me how weird it was.

xoxo

-Pixie