A/N: heh...long time no see. If you're new, this is a rewrite of "Don't Wake Me Up" which is a rewrite of "Kol" but you should be good if you haven't read them (they suck anyway lol)

Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or TO

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend,"
-William Blake

Heart Strings
Prologue: Where It All Began

Gabriella Gilbert was what you could call a glass half-full kind of girl. She preferred to look on the brighter side, look for the good in even the darkest monster's heart. She was unlike her family, in that sense: she didn't have pretenses of who she was, or who she wanted to be. She knows no one is completely bad, the same way she knows no one is completely good. It was a lesson she'd picked up in the events leading to the-well, climax, you could call it. The game changer; the reasoning behind "turning her back" on her family.

And it all started with her family, too.

Gabriella had always known something was fishy about the Salvatore brothers. Stefan was too cautious, too guarded-and Damon, of course, was much too charming and volatile for his own good. She supposed they'd gotten a bit cocky-thinking they had everything under control, thinking they were the big men on campus. As if they were the most dangerous being out there.

They were wrong, obviously. Katherine should've proven that; she'd been running for centuries, never staying in one place too long. Katherine herself was devious and deceitful, from years and years of self-preservation. But Gabby wondered why no one ever asked her "who are you running from?" If a five hundred year old vampire was running-being chased, toyed with-who was chasing her? It was a scary thought, to think that there were beings out there stronger, faster, more cunning and cruel than Katherine Pierce. If they were frightening enough to scare a half-millennial vampire into secrecy, what havoc would they wreck upon the small town of Mystic Falls? Of her siblings, and her friends-who were all supernatural beings one way or another?

She thinks these things as she sits, in a dusty old manor that had long since lost its use and value, across from a pacing vampire himself. A vampire Katherine-Katerina, he says, in a lilting accent that would make the young girl swoon under normal circumstances-had been running from.

She was past the point of exhaustion, past the point of paralyzing fear. Now, she was just tired. She was disappointed and upset; not with herself, but with her friends. With her sister. They'd left her here; they'd forgotten about the little girl who cried vampire. She'd stumbled across this old vampire, pulling a wooden coat rack out of his chest as thin, dark veins receded into his body. She'd screamed, she recalled. She hadn't been aware of vampires, nor the danger just leaving her house posed her. The vampire (Elijah, apparently) had calmly and respectfully filled her in on all of the secrets the town Mystic Falls holds-secrets her friends had kept from her. Needless to say, not only was she upset, she was very, very angry. The feeling of betrayal would not leave be leaving anytime soon, she was sure.

"Penny for your thoughts, Ms. Gilbert?" Elijah's smooth voice wrapped around her senses like silk, shaking her from her borderline murderous thoughts. He seemed to have understood where her thoughts had taken her, and she was thankful to have been shaken loose. The thoughts were unlike her persona, and it silently frightened her to wish something bad to happen to people she considered her family.

"They lied to me," she whispered, her words carried by the warm draft that whistled throughout the house due to the broken and cracked crevices all over the manor.

"They did," Elijah didn't seem sympathetic; however, he wasn't unkind. He had been more honest with her in one hour than everyone she considered important had in months. For that, she already felt as if she owed him.

"Are you going to kill me?" she didn't dance around the obvious factors-she was important to Elena. Elena was the cause of his temporary death. Gabby dies, Elena's in pain. Ergo, Elijah could get a sliver of fairness, she figured.

"Now why would I do that?" he didn't mock her; instead, he was truly curious as to what she thought he planned to do.

"To hurt Elena," she said, matter of fact.

"I don't want to hurt Elena," Elijah countered. She blinked in confusion, her eyes bleary and clouded from the tears she'd shed earlier.

"What do you want, then? Why else would you take us?"

"I didn't," he said with a regretful sigh. "A vampire, by the name of Trevor, did. He was familiar with Katerina, back in the day. In fact, he's the reason she's a vampire," he said emotionlessly. "He thought by bringing me to the two of you, he would earn my forgiveness."

"Did he?" she wondered quietly.

"What do you think?" he spoke with a cruel undertone, darkness danced in his eyes. She thinks that's what unnerved her about him: his eyes. They had the capability of being warm, welcoming, bright. They also had the capability to be as dark as a black hole, and suck the life out of someone like a succubus. That being said, it wasn't so easy to tell what he was thinking. He'd had a millennia to perfect his poker face. She wondered if he remembered what it felt like to smile.

"What now?" she neglected to answer his rhetorical question, knowing he knew she knew of the ill fate that had befallen her kidnapper.

"Well, first of all, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated, if you could do that for me," he said, not willing to share his plan just yet.

"You think I'd be stupid enough to go against you?" she looked slightly insulted, though her tone indicated that she was merely very, very tired.

"Your sister was," was all he said.

And that's where it all began.

Reviews from Don't Wake Me Up:

Guest #1: ;((((( I know I'm sorry lol

XxMikealsonForeverxX: WHOO this took forever I'm sorry

Mary VA: I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IT but I hope you liked this better because I thought that sucked honestly

Lucy Greenhill: thanks!

surfgirl1: I have yet to decide honestly

casualheroine: haha hope you liked this!

angel9507: ...sorry? :D I hope you liked this, though!

SaiyukiLover232: I finally did!

emerald0319: haha...ha...I took forever sorry

Lourdes08: thanks! I wasn't too fond of it so I replaced it with this, and this will transition it better into the present time I think

mjap1: sorry...haha

Guest #2: I remember your reviews on Kol honestly and it always amused me. I'm sorry if you don't like how I write my story or where I take it. But I mean...it's my story. I don't know what I'm gonna do yet so...yeah. I do hope you stick around though, to see the improvements.

ILovIceCream97: I'm sorry this took so long! I hope you liked it though!

Skyeward MusicLover: well here it is!

bug813: whelp here it is! Hope you liked it!