Title: Backwards
Author: d0ntbleenk
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries, AU
Ship: Kol Mikaelson/Faye Salvatore
Rating: M

*Note - Faye Salvatore is the younger sister of Stefan and Damon Salvatore. She died at approximately age 16. This chapter takes place in the mid-1800's.

Chapter One

She had been wandering for hours, or had it been days? Every moment, every second seemed to blur together the further she got into the forest. The trees cast long, eerie shadows over the ground, the crisp leaves beneath her feet crunching at every shift of her weight. She knew that her father had warned her countless times about braving the forest at such an hour, but she didn't know where else to go. All she remembered was that she'd woken up in a vast, long abandoned mansion, completely alone and in a state of shock.

Faye had never known what it was about the forest her father didn't want her to know about. It had always been an unspoken rule since his initial scolding when she had been very young, but they'd always intrigued her. She'd never been much for obedience, especially not in recent years and, even now, her father was nowhere to be found.

Maybe she'd had the tiniest suspicion that he was out there, carrying out whatever secret business he'd never wanted her to know about, and that's what had led her there in the first place. All she wanted was answers: where had everyone gone; why was her throat burning so much; and what the hell happened to her? There was a big, gaping hole in her memories, a black abyss of nothingness that she could hardly explain herself.

If anything irked her more than anything, it was being kept in the dark. If being the only girl in the family since her mother had died had guaranteed her anything, it was ignorance.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move in the shadows of the trees. She might've missed it completely if her senses hadn't been heightened considerably since she'd woken up, but since she had her entire body tensed. Faye turned her head in the direction of the movement, squinting slightly and picking up her dress as she moved slowly towards it. She may not have been much informed – at least not by her father, or even her brothers – but she wasn't weak. She refused to be.

"Who's there?" She called, her voice hoarse from both lack of use and the insatiable burning that remained. Of course, no one responded. "I know someone's out there. Show yourself, or I'll –"

"You'll what?"

The voice appeared out of nowhere, just as the body that was suddenly hovering just behind her did. The voice was steady and smooth, with a slight undertone of amusement that fed the heat in her cheeks. Faye turned to face the stranger, taking in his features. One thing in his appearance stood out to her above all else, and she furrowed her brows in instant recognition. "You're a Mikaelson." It wasn't a question. She gestured to his ornately designed ring, the crest one she'd been exposed to countless times before at various engagements.

He followed her gaze and chuckled, hardly surprised at how quickly she'd made the connection. "And you're a Salvatore." He paused, studying her closely for a moment. "You look terrible."

"Are all of you this charming?" Faye said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She only knew of three of the Mikaelsons – Klaus, Rebekah, and Elijah – and only had met Rebekah, but their very first meeting hadn't gone quite as smoothly as this one was.

But then again, it didn't seem as though things could get much worse. The young man smiled.

"Don't take it personally. It isn't your fault, surely," he replied simply, cryptically. Faye pressed her lips together, the burning in her throat reminding her that she was on a tight schedule, and not in the mood for the confusion he was so easily causing her. She started to walk away; he rose a brow. "And where exactly do you suppose you're off to at this time of night?" It was a simple question, raised clearly out of curiosity.

She laughed without humor, hardly believing he hadn't gotten the hint. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"Well, you won't make it far in your condition, wherever you're headed." His tone was matter-of-fact. So much so, she couldn't help but stop walking, letting his words sink in. She furrowed her brows once more, turning to face him again in half irritation and half confusion. He stood a short way off, watching Faye carefully.

"And what, pray tell, is my condition?" The way he'd described it made it sound like she had been afflicted by some terrible disease.

"You're dead, Faye." He gazed back at her steadily, taking a few steps toward her. She held up her hands in front of her, shaking her head. He stopped moving then, trying to read her face, but it was a mess of emotions.

"Dead?" She had to fight of the urge to laugh out of a mix of shock and nerves. How could she have died and not remembered it? How could she have died and still be standing there now? All there was in her head were the same memories – her father's warning from when she was a child, her brothers visiting her bedside, a doctor from town coming to see her… No. No, she wasn't dead. Couldn't be. "It's not possible," she breathed. Her eyebrows pulled together as her eyes found him again. "And even if it were, how would you even know –"

"Because," he began, moving forward until he was hovering a few inches in front of her. She didn't cringe away, holding her ground firmly and keeping her gaze on him. The stranger's grin widened further, until she could just make out his pointed fangs gleaming menacingly in the moonlight. "I'm dead, too." And before she could respond, he plunged his teeth into her neck…

Almost immediately, she sprung up from the pillows on her bed, shaking and dripping in a cold sweat. She drew in a sharp breath, her fingers going to her neck subconsciously, forgetting that it had all been a dream, just a dream. Faye moved her fingers to her hair, brushing the dark, brunette locks back and out of her face as she looked around. The room was only vaguely familiar to her, but she didn't have much time to figure out why when she heard talking on the other side of the wall.

"Where is she?" She heard someone say. The voice was as distorted and muffled as the next.

"She's asleep, Damon. I thought I told you we'd fetch you when she woke. Besides, after what happened, I doubt she'll even speak to you –"

"She's my sister, Rebekah," shot the first voice in a gruff tone. "Get out of the way."

Faye pushed the blankets off of herself and quickly got out of bed, recognizing the names, the voices as they grew nearer. She padded over to the door, just as it was thrown open and the two owners of the voices came barging in. Damon had somehow gotten past Rebekah, who stood out in the hallway, looking particularly irritated. But when they saw Faye their expressions changed.

Rebekah pushed her way past Damon, lips pursed and a look that said 'I told you so' on her face as she shot him a pointed look. "See? I told you she was fine."

"Well, I wouldn't say that considering I just had a really… weird nightmare," Faye explained, a thoughtful look crossing her facial features as she let her eyes move between the two of them. "I don't know how to explain it… I was attacked and it just felt so… real."

Damon glanced at Rebekah, but the blonde merely sighed, looking concerned. "Faye –"

"I'm not losing my mind. I was walking through the woods by our house, and then I saw – no, I met someone. I saw –" Her eyes had lifted for only a moment when they found a new arrival in the doorway, a rather attractive young man with light brown hair and dark, mischievous eyes that she recognized in an instant. "I saw you." The words came out before she could stop them, brows furrowing. "You're the one who attacked me."

The others followed Faye's gaze at that moment, but the stranger in the doorway's eyes remained fixed on hers. Rebekah moved towards Faye, shaking her head.

"I think you may be mistaken," she told her. "Faye, this is my brother, Kol."