Days ago, I'd had a vision wherein I was lying on a strange bed in a strange room. Klaus was by my side, and I was dead.

I'd thought, leading up to when that would happen, that perhaps I'd see a bright light or something. Instead, when I opened my eyes and just saw the ceiling of my kitchen, I was disappointed.

For a moment I wondered whether it really was my kitchen ceiling, but I could see the mark from when Jeremy had tried flipping pancakes a few days ago. He was still getting used to his new hunter-strength.

I was supernatural. While I never learned the extent of my power, I did know that this was not earth. Not the one I'd come to know. It was the Other Side, or perhaps, somewhere else. I could sense it. I wondered, briefly, in my drowsy state, why I was on the other side at all. I was supposed to awaken in my own body, not here.

Had the spell not worked?

This was clearly sexist if this was the afterlife. Was this it? A kitchen? This was where I'd exist?

Alone? Not having said goodbye to anyone?

I liked it better this way- not having said goodbye to anybody. It made it easier, somehow. Less final.

Although, spending eternity in my kitchen didn't seem like the best way to go... Then again, if I still had that Nutella jar under the sink, I'd have at least five minutes boredom-free.

I suddenly jolted, remembering my brother.

Who was going to force him to go to school? Who was going to look after him? I blinked, remembering my conversation with Klaus... the last time I'd seen him.

I'd just been to the mansion, telling them not to help get this cure. He hadn't believed me, and I'd fled from the mansion with a nose bleed, a pounding head and eyes full of tears he did not need to see. I'd run to my car and sped to the cemetery- and that was where he had found me, sitting in the grass before Ric's grave with a bottle of alcohol. He had sat beside me in the grass and I had frozen. He retrieved a tissue from his pocket (who knew Klaus carried those around with him?) and handed it to me. I took it, not sure what to say, and wiped the blood from my nose. Thankfully, I'd stopped crying at this point. Thank God, really.

We were silent as the wind rustled through the leaves of the surrounding trees, until I offered him the bottle. He took it and took a quick swig. My head still pounded. I'd been getting these headaches a lot, but the nose bleed was the first. Something was wrong with me and had been for some time, since the first nightmare Jeremy and I had had weeks ago. I didn't have time to ponder it, though, I'd been focusing on keeping Jeremy alive.

"Have you been sleeping?" Klaus had asked me.

I had frowned at the odd question. "Yes."

He sighed. "You don't have to lie to me, Rayna."

"Fine. I've been having these nightmares. It's not a big deal."

He raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't sound like nothing. Have you been worried?"

"I can see the future. I saw my own brother lying down, dead. Of course I've been worried."

"Rayna," Klaus began. He'd been using my name a lot lately, rather than love or sweetheart. I sort of loved it. "I won't go looking for this cure."

I did a double take. "But, your hybrids...Rebekah..."

I remembered briefly how I'd discovered from Bonnie that my blood could also be used to make hybrids, but kept the thought to myself in fear. Not of Klaus, but of losing him to his own demons.

"We'll find another way. Rebekah will be patient until then and so will I." he had assured me. "I'm not going to let your brother come to harm. Or mine, for that matter. I will protect Jeremy. You have my word."

I had felt tears pricking my eyes. I'd thanked him, the words whispered but heard, and wholly honest. I believed he would take care of Jeremy. I believed him wholeheartedly. I knew that he would, and I felt my chest tighten. Our eyes held onto each other, and he moved a strand of hair from my face in a caring gesture that didn't want anything else. I leaned my head against his shoulder and had heart the wind through the trees. This was how it went. Klaus and I, in these oddly intimate moments. Nature would always make itself heard somehow and surrounded us. I wondered why. I looked at Ric's grave and wondered if he could see this, that Jeremy would be protected by Klaus, the most powerful person on earth.

But I wasn't just thinking about Ric or Jeremy or nature. I was thinking about the arm around me and the man who hadn't changed, but who I saw so differently now.

"I'm glad I met you." I'd said, ignoring the pesky butterflies.

"Not as glad as I am, love."

We had stayed there for a long time, until he said my name, his tone implying that he wanted to ask me a question.

"Yeah?" I asked, still snuggling into him. He was so warm.

"Is Stefan living with you now?" he asked me.

"Sort of." I replied, after a while. "Why?"

"Nothing. It's nothing." he said, his fingers gently tracing patterns on my arm.

I knew Jeremy was going to be protected. I smiled at the memory, tears swimming in my eyes, before blinking them away. If I opened those gates now, I'd never stop. So I tried to think of something else, something less painful, something other than how I was dead because of my own sister, other than how I'd never get the chance to-

"Are you going to lie there much longer?" a voice asked, making me jump and sit up. "Because, contrary to popular belief, I don't have all day."

I frantically looked around to try and find out where the voice had come from. It was so strangely familiar.

I moved so that I was sat up, and continued to look around until I saw a pair of feet. My eyes travelled upwards. The feet had legs. The legs had a body. The body had arms and a neck and the neck had-

My shoulder sank and I nearly face palmed.

"Oh, for fuck-"

"Language." Esther chided. "Pleasure to see you, too, Rayna."

I wanted to kill myself.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Would you like me to get you anything?"

"Are you going to talk, anytime soon?"

I ignored her questions, obviously. My mind was working overtime. This wasn't happening. No. No. No. It wasn't. I was not spending eternity with this bitch. Could I kill her here? That would feel pretty good, I had to admit. I'd have to test whether it was possible. She kept on talking, making small talk about the other side and about how I'd surely changed a lot since last seeing her. I was ignoring her, it was pissing her off and I enjoyed that, but mostly, I had nothing to say. I was horrified. This couldn't be eternity. Put me in hell, not here. Put me anywhere else.

Not with her.

Suddenly we were surrounded by candles.

"Each of my surviving children have taken something of a shine to you." Esther said.

I furrowed my brow. Was she merely making more small talk, or did this change of topic have some sort of ulterior motive? Either way, it caught my attention, and she knew that she had me with that statement. It was like when you stop pleading the fifth. There was just no going back.

She was wrong, anyway. It felt as though her children had had a far greater impact on me than I on them.

"Not really." I told Esther. "Rebekah and I are friends. Or we were, at least-"

"At least," Esther interrupted, her gaze piercing through me, "Until she killed your sister."

I looked up to the ceiling and let out a laugh. Of course, I thought, before turning to glare at her.

"If you're trying to turn me against your children, it's not going to happen."

"Isn't it? Do you not remember your dreams, Rayna?"

I frowned at her. "What do you-" my eyes widened in pure dismay. No. No. NO. "You." I forced the word out, because honestly, speaking at all felt difficult. "You've been giving me the dreams. And Jeremy!"

"Very well done, Rayna." She patronised, moving to light another candle.

"Why?" I asked, unable to say anything else. All those sleepless nights...

And the nosebleeds. The headaches!

Of course. How did I not see it all before? History was repeating itself and I'd barely stopped long enough to see it. She was playing exactly the same game she had months ago.

"I would love to share that with you, but we should wait until your brother joins us. I expect he'll be here soon."

I leapt from my seat and stepped towards her dangerously. If she thought I'd let her kill him and bring him here, she had another thing coming. "You will go nowhere near him." I threatened, but she didn't seem at all fazed.

"Calm down, child. I do not intend to kill him. I intend to use him. It won't be long before your friends figure out that you're trapped here. They'll enlist the services of the Bennett witch, and who else would volunteer to come here and save you but your brother?"

I absorbed these words and my mind wandered for several moments, pondering them.

"You don't know my friends. They will be too busy figuring out why Jeremy's hunter's mark hasn't grown to wonder where I am."

"Jeremy is your brother. He will be the first to notice your absence and will be the one to step up and save you."

"I don't need saving."

She smirked. "I didn't say his plan would work."

I watched as Esther moved around the room, lighting more candles with a match stick. It seemed so human for her. Surely she could light them with her magic? Tiredly, I waved my hand and the candles were all lit. She fixed me with a dirty look, finally letting some of her hatred spill through the facade. I barely resisted the urge to smirk at the bitch.

"Lets say your plan does work," I said, knowing full well that it was entirely flawed. She didn't know my friends at all. "And Jeremy and I are successfully trapped here- what then? What is your goal?"

"The dreams that I have given you- they are like seeds, I suppose. They are planted in your subconscious. Now that they are rooted there, you can both be shaped how I see fit. But without the dreams, Rayna, I think you and I both know that were it not for the arrival of vampires in Mystic Falls, your life would have been far happier than it is now. Without the dreams, you always had the potential. Not quite so much as Jeremy, however. Your brother was always supposed to be a Hunter. And now, after his first vampire kill, he is able to be manipulated by me. If you are honest, Rayna, you will admit that the world is a better place without my children and their bloodlines. I disrupted nature's balance. Death is inevitable. It must not be cheated."

"And who decided that rule?"

She gifted me with another infuriating smirk. "There are creatures, not only witches on the other side, who have existed since the dawn of time."

"And they died to come to the other side, right? So clearly, they're jealous they never found immortality."

"I wouldn't start waving around silly accusations like that, child. Someone might hear you."

I swallowed. "And you think that it's that easy? To what? To turn us into vampire killing machines? Evil-Alaric 2.0's?!"

"Most of your friends and family have betrayed you in some way, Rayna. That is what vampires do... They've only made this easier for me."

I turned away from her. "You've got it all wrong." It was a feeble response and I shook my head, trying not to let her get to me. I was sure that I was stronger than that. Jeremy and I couldn't be brainwashed so easily... Could we?

I heard Esther take a calculating step forwards. "Since he became a hybrid, has Tyler Lockwood spoken to you as he did before? Has Caroline kept in touch as much since becoming a vampire?"

"He's had a lot on his plate." I told her, turning back to face her. "They both have."

She raised an eyebrow. "Rebekah, a vampire that you trusted, let your sister die."

"It was a mistake she's apologised for- she thought her brother was dead! She did it to kill Ric- the Ric that you made!"

"Stefan lied to you." Esther pressed on. "He planned to let them kill Kol, after hearing you warn-"

"-Look, just stop. I get the point you're trying to make." I said, but she ignored me.

"-of the consequences of raising Silas. All for the love of your sister... Did it hurt, Rayna? When your brother stabbed you while you were in my son's body? Granted, him and Elena didn't know that it was you-"

"Shut up!" I screeched, no longer able to control the volume of my voice.

"How about Damon, the very vampire you risked your freedom for? The friend who called you a b-"

"How do you even know all of this?! Have you been watching us?!"

Who was I kidding?

Of course she had.

Her smirk just confirmed it.

"Or the sister that just doesn't seem to care for you at all anymore. Now that she's a vampire, that is."

I scoffed. "Being a vampire has little to do with-"

"Or my son." Esther said, before pausing for the first time. She smirked as I tensed my shoulders as I froze. "Niklaus never really cared for you. He's a vampire- he used you, it's in his very nature to-"

"ENOUGH!" I all but screamed as every candle in the room was extinguished, only to be re-lit a moment later by Esther's magic. When the light was returned to the room, Esther was directly infront of me. I felt a tear trickle down my face.

The original witch was quiet, as she lifted a hand slowly to my chin, moving my face to look her in the eye once more. She was taller than I, intimidating me further.

When she spoke, her voice was far more gentle, much like a mother's.

"You see, child, what happens when you keep everything in?" she asked me. "When was the last time you let all of your power, all of your magic free of the bounds you set around yourself? How many times must a vampire hurt you before you release your true potential?"

She let go of me and I continued to breathe heavily, feeling my energy swirl inside of me. It was becoming harder to keep it in, as though I was caging some kind of animal inside of me.

It was then that I knew how easy this could be for her. She was right. My life was swarming with the undead. My life was a horror show.

But it wasn't all bad.

I shook my head. "Perhaps, you are right about me, about my power. Maybe I shouldn't keep it all in anymore. But I have been burned by vampires because I am surrounded by vampires. Making decisions that might hurt other people, like me, isn't exclusive to vampires. It's a very human trait. You have to do right by yourself first... I-I don't blame Tyler- he's had a lot on his plate. And Caroline? So has she. She lost her father, not that long ago. She was turned into a creature she didn't even know existed. As for Stefan, and Damon... "

I trailed off, swallowing, searching for the right words.

"They love Elena, and that causes them to make the choices that they make. Is it always good for me? No- but they do it because they love her. What could be more human than that? And Rebekah did what she did to save us from Ric. She thought her brother was dead. I'm on the Other Side because I wanted to protect my brother- you don't think rationally when the ones you love are in pain. That's one of the most human things Rebekah has ever done... And Klaus..." I laughed without humour. "Klaus has spent pretty much his entire existence wanting more hybrids. That's why he wanted the cure. And that's what lead to him making those choices that sometimes hurt me. And why? Why did making hybrids feel necessary to him? Because of you." I told her, my eyes narrowing as she looked to me in confusion.

I felt the tears on my face but ignored them, and carried on.

"You allowed Mikael to hurt him as a human. You allowed your own child to be beaten and live in fear. To Klaus, those hybrids are a safety net. He doesn't want to get hurt- he wants the power to be safe that he never got as a child when you, his mother, should have protected him. He's lived such a long life, and with that has probably come so many situations in which people have betrayed his trust. Of course his first instinct would be to think that I was lying to him... That, to me, is human. But then he apologised, and he changed his mind, and he said he'd help me. He gave up the cure for the love of his brother. In fact, your children are the only ones who believed me. That is human. These people, my friends, my family, they do what they think is right, what is right by themselves and the ones that they love. There is nothing, to me, more human than that..."

I trailed off, feeling powerful. Because saying all of that made me release all of the anger, all of the hurt, all of the betrayal I'd been holding onto and burying for so many years at so many people, was stupid. I understood now. I understood every single one of them.

I took a menacing step forwards, feeling pretty bad-ass as I told the now stony-faced-bitch, "So, if you want to get me to hate vampires, you're gonna have to try one hell of a lot harder than that."

Note to self: when trying to be badass and cool- just remember to NOT do that when the person you're trying to burn is older, stronger, and more powerful than you.

I groaned in pain, blinking, adjusting to my new surroundings. Had I just blacked out? I didn't know- but my limbs were aching.

I tried my hardest to open my eyes fully, but failed, and before I knew it I was losing consciousness once more.

Visions flashed before my eyes.

I'd met Klaus practically a year ago. Thinking back to that time was always strange. If I tried hard enough, I could pretty much remember it. After seeing Damon in such pain from the werewolf bite, I'd run immediately to Klaus for help. And I hadn't been the only one.

I was sat next to Katherine on a sofa in the corner. She was watching Klaus and Stefan with interest. I was younger then, and quieter, though I've always had issues with keeping my opinions to myself.

I knew that if I'd been Caroline or Elena, Katherine would have told me to sit somewhere else. But Katherine and I had… An understanding. We never got in each other's way.

Klaus squeezed the blood from his palm into the bottle. "There it is," he said in the accent I would never get used to. It was more piercing than Elijah's and affected me in weird ways.

It was also hard to get used to how he looked. This was my first time seeing him properly. I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that this man looked so... so human. With curly blonde hair and those blue eyes and dimples... yet he could be capable of doing what he had done to Jenna. My aunt. The woman who put her life on hold to take care of us.

I wondered if Klaus' blood was the cure. I guessed it made sense, with him being the original hybrid and all. "You want to save your brother? How about a decade long bender."

I shivered involuntarily, deciding to keep quiet.

"I'm not like that anymore." Stefan answered through gritted teeth. Stefan going on a 'bender' and killing people... innocent people... it didn't seem worth it. Just to save Damon- and I felt guilty for thinking that but it was true. Not to mention how it would scar Stefan.

But if it were up to me, I knew deep down I'd still risk that to save my friend.

Klaus looked him up and down. "Well, that's too bad. You would of made a hell of a wingman." Klaus said before he began to pour some of the blood down the sink.

"No!" I yelled, standing up. Katherine's eyes were wide but she held me back. Klaus was smirking. Katherine pushed me back down. But I could see the small amount of panic in her eyes. She did care. About both Damon and Stefan.

"Wait," Stefan said. Klaus stopped pouring away the blood and turned to me, a smirk gracing his lips.

"I'll get onto you later, sweetheart. But first of all, Stefan. Care to join me for a drink?"

Then, the scene changed. I was in the shopping mall in Chicago.

Klaus poured himself more champagne but I snatched the bottle away from him and filled up my glass, ignoring his raised eyebrow.

Since this trip I've been drinking more alcohol. Definitely. I used to hardly ever drink, I thought. Come to think of it, I drink almost everyday now.

Terrified I might be an alcoholic, I put the glass down and grimaced. Klaus chuckled and shook his head.

Can he read my thoughts or is he just being a jerk? I pondered, before finally deciding. Both.

The memory faded, and I was transported elsewhere.

This was familiar.

I knew this well, despite having tried desperately to block it from my mind. Gloria was torturing Stefan, the two of us restrained.

He was crying out in pain as Gloria leaned over the table placing her palms on his exposed chest. Smoke sizzled from his skin. Vervain.

"Get off of him!"

"Oh hello, Rayna. Finally decided to wake up, I see." Gloria smirked. "Don't you worry dear, you'll be next. Consider yourself a back up if this fails. You were a very good bait, however."

Stefan's screams grew and grew. "I SAID GET OFF OF HIM!" I screamed.

A wind picked up in the room, blowing many candles out in the process.

Stefan was still screaming. "RAYNA, STOP!" he yelled. "SHE'LL HURT YOU!"

"GET OFF OF HI-" I began but that's where my sentence finished. I opened my mouth again, but no words came out. I couldn't speak.

"That should shut you up." Gloria said, removing her hands from Stefan's chest. "I don't like hurting my own kind, Rayna. And a Prophet, at that." Gloria sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "The more you try and do magic the more faint you will feel and the more of your energy will flow into me."

"You're... taking her powers." Stefan said.

Gloria nodded, grinning, obviously proud of her achievement. "And you are incredibly powerful, my dear. Had you been more experienced I wouldn't have stood a chance against you."

She turned back to Stefan.

"Just let go, honey." she said before putting her hands on his bare chest. I winced as I heard his screams.

All my fault.

"There we go, honey." Gloria said, closing her eyes. She was entering Stefan's mind. "There we go... there's the girl with the necklace. You love her... You'd do anything for her, and you have." she frowned. She was obviously talking about Elena. "A lot of darkness. A lot of guilt... All to keep her away from Klaus. Why would he be interested in one girl?" Gloria asked.

Gloria removed her hands from Stefan's chest and took a step back. "She's the doppelgänger. She's supposed to be dead and that's why Klaus can't make hybrids, isn't it?" she asked, and she began to laugh.

I saw someone flash, right behind an oblivious Gloria and grinned as I saw Katherine.

"Well this is creepy." My sister's doppelganger said. Gloria turned around not a second before Katherine plunged a knife into her neck.

"Maybe you do need my help after all." Katherine said, looking down at Stefan.

The memories faded, and I woke up again. I was in a different place, one I didn't recognise. I didn't have time to ponder how my life had changed so completely. I could hear a distant tapping sound, but could not, for the life of me, sit up to seek the source of the sound.

"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." a voice said.

I saw the shackled on my feet before I felt them. I followed the chains to see another pair of chains. I wasn't the only prisoner.

I sat up slowly, and gasped before my vision had fully cleared, and without thought, without a hint of rationality, I launched myself at the prisoner.

He laughed and his arms wound themselves around me. His laugh was tired but joyous, and I felt tears spring to my eyes yet again.

"A-all this time?" I asked him, as I clung onto him.

I felt him nod his head.

A sob escaped me. "Ric, I- I'm so sorry-"

"Sh. It wasn't your fault. You're not meant to protect me. I'm meant to protect you. I'm your guardian, remember?"

It was then that I heard someone clear their throat. Someone else in the room. I froze and Ric and I pulled apart.

He had a pained look on his face and I turned away from Ric to see who else was there.

It was a man, a familiar man, on a chair, watching us.

It was Alaric. But not the one next to me.

No.

The man next to me was Ric. Our Ric. Good Ric. The one before me in a chair with a disgusted look on his face was Alaric. Evil Alaric. The one made by Esther.

They were two very separate entities.

"If you try and hug me as well I will burn you." he said. He stood and made to leave the room. "Don't think about escaping. I'll just be outside. They'll want to know you're awake." The door slammed behind him and I heard it lock.

I let out a shaky breath and turned back to Ric.

"Look, I know this is a lot for you to take in, okay, Rain? But you need to remain calm. Is Jeremy here yet?"

I shook my head. "I came alone. I wasn't meant to end up here. I was meant to wake up in my own body when they-"

"I know, Ray. I know. I know what you did to save Jeremy. I'm so proud of you."

I let out a sob and felt several tears escape me.

"You've been so brave." he told me. "I'm going to help you get out of here. It's going to be hard, we have to get past Esther and Mikael and-"

"Mikael?" I asked.

Ric nodded. "He's the one that brought you in here. I'm going to do everything I can to help, but I can only do so much."

"I think I can figure something out." I said. "We can both get out of here. You can come home and I can hide the aspirin when you're hungover and you can drink with Damon and we can have family meals and learn self defence and have extra history lessons and-"

"Rayna." he said, interrupting me. His voice was gentle, and he was looking at me with the pity one might afford a child. "Rayna, I'm trapped here. I'm not coming home. I've been gone for months now. My body will have entered the decaying process long ago. There's no body for me to return to."

I blushed. "Actually, there is."

"What?"

"Well, I sort of..."

"Rayna," he sighed, running a hand over his face. "What did you do?"

"I spelled your coffin to keep your body intact."

"That is dark magic, Rayna." he said in the voice of a stern parent.

I waved a hand. "Who cares?" I certainly didn't. "I was going to see if I could eventually bring you back, but I didn't think you'd end up on the other side."

He looked at me for a moment before bursting into happy laughter. Hope shone in his eyes.

"I don't deserve a kid like you."

I smiled a watery smile at the guardian who took care of us when he hadn't needed to. "No, Ric. We never deserved you."

He pulled me in for another hug and I gladly accepted.

"Now, don't freak out or anything," I whispered, "but I think I have a plan. Just follow my lead."

"Don't you think we should discuss it first?"

"They don't call me The King of Plan Making for nothing, Ric."

"Nobody calls you that." he laughed.

A/N-

So, esther's keeping Rayna on the other side.

After re reading my story, I realised the extent of how much Rayna has matured. However, I think the main event that caused her to lose a lot of her remaining sort of happiness and optimism was Ric's death, which is why in this chapter when she is on the other side, the same chapter she sees Ric again, is one where her character gas become a lot lighter. After Ric died she was the one who had to be the grown up, and that weighed on her a lot. Now, on the other side, she remembers Klaus promise to keep Jeremy safe, and a weight is lifted because she doesn't need to worry anymore, she can be at peace.

I think we'll be having some fun next chapter as she tries to escape, though I'm not sure how well her plan will go yet. I've always said that there were 18 chapters in the first story- the 19th being a note about this sequel- and so, for this story there will be 18 chapters as well. If you want a 19th chapter and another story (a third!) please let me know via PM or review :) Rayna still has a lot of growing to do I think. If you want to see her do this please let me know, as I'm unsure whether it's worth devoting the time it'll take to write another story. I have a few months doing little else so I would have the time to complete it quite quickly, but I'm unsure if Rayna's story has the same following it once did.

Also, please let me know your thoughts on this chapter:)