Chapter Text
Elena took a sip of her vervain-laced coffee, letting the warm liquid soothe her nerves as she watched the woman leaning against her fireplace warily. Elena had quite literally stumbled across Lysithea Aldrich when she had been out getting groceries, of all things, only to be told a rather fantastical tale.
“So, you’re a witch. From sixteenth century Florence?”
“Seventeenth,” came the quiet correction as the woman, who looked no older than twenty-five, tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear.
Her soft voice took on an amused lilt, the accent leaning more towards British than Italian, though Elena figures it would be rude to point that out.
“Granted, I was asleep for three centuries, so I am afraid I am not as…well-travelled as, say, the vampires you have met.”
“And you want to train me?”
“I assure you, Elena, I am quite capable. In fact, I am one of the few who knows what it means to have magic over two thousand years old coursing through my veins. You cannot escape the games and struggles into which you have been born—but I can help you become a player, instead of a pawn.”
Elena chewed her bottom lip, “I just want things to go back to normal. I want all the supernatural to just…leave us alone.”
Lysithea studied the girl before her with quiet intensity. Clearly, the young witch believed her own words, but there was a hint of something underneath.
“Even your magic? Even your friends? The young witch and the fledgeling vampire?”
“Don’t all witches hate vampires? Shouldn’t you want them gone just as much as we do?”
“The world is never so black and white. My best friend when I was a girl around your age was a vampire. He taught me much about the magic he had learned from travelling the world.”
“But what about the balance of nature?”
“What about it?” Lysithea chuckled mirthlessly, “Nature is more powerful than either of us. It takes care of itself, as it always has. We witches are Her children—and all children make mistakes. She would not have given us gifts, if She could not survive our using them. Vampires are part of the natural order now, Elena. To remove them in their entirety would upset the balance that has been achieved over the thousand years since their creation.”
It was just a flash, but Lysithea caught the sharp clarity in Elena’s eyes before it was subsumed beneath a placid haze of indifference.
“You do not need to trust me immediately, Elena. But frankly, you need allies if you want to survive this intact. Let me offer you a gift, a gesture of goodwill, and then I will leave you time and space to think.”
Elena looked up, surprised. Everyone always wanted something, wanted to make her decisions for her, but needed her to be sure of her course at a moment’s notice. Time and space to think would be welcome, especially since it felt like her memories were hazy and dull since her magic woke. Even the excitement at having magic was nothing more than an idle curiosity. Taking a deep breath, the doppelganger nodded, and was rewarded with a small smile from Lysithea. The other woman knelt in front of her, closing her bright grey eyes as she took Elena’s hands and began chanting softly in Greek.
As the chant wrapped around her, Elena felt like a veil was being pulled back, before a shooting pain shot through her temple. Her vision whited out, and she blinked to clear it as memories came rushing back. Immediately, she felt like she was going to be sick, and Lysithea pressed a small bottle into her hands.
"Do not ingest that. If you hold it, however, it should help with your nausea. I apologize, removing compulsions and other forms of memory interference is rarely pleasant—but you deserve to think things over with a clear head,” Lysithea apologized softly, rubbing circles on her back.
True to her word, the nausea began to abate and Elena stared ahead vacantly in horrified realization, “They compelled me? A-and Bonnie…what did she do?”
“There are many spells to manipulate memories. To veil them, mute them, or remove them entirely. The compulsions would have started to break as your magic grows stronger. I believe her spell was meant to disguise the changes, redirect your attention elsewhere.”
“I…I don’t know what to feel, anymore. Everything is all jumbled up,” Elena put her head in her hands, staring morosely at the floor, “Why are you helping me?”
Lysithea paused.
Because you have a history of breaking curses.
Because you do not deserve the fate of a pawn.
Because I will not see another young witch with too much power and not enough support be locked away due to fear and disdain.
Because without training, you could rip apart this town, and the world beyond.
All of those valid reasons were on the tip of her tongue, but the older witch knew she could say none of those things. So she sent a prayer to Dolos, and to Hermes, and settled on the least damning truth.
“Because once, I was like you. Alone and scared of my power, my fate, terrified of doing something I could not take back, until someone took my hand and led me beyond the cage I built for myself at the behest of everyone around me.”
Elena let the words sink in, thought back to all of the times she had been told ‘stay away’ or ‘don’t be reckless’ or ‘we’re only trying to protect you’, and finally saw that she had been building the bars that kept her bound to this gilded cage of hate and bloodshed and vengeance. She reached out to grab Lysithea’s hand, and felt the bars begin to crack.
“I want to be free,” she whispered, “and I want to do it as myself—not as what they make me.”
“You’ve already taken the first step, Elena. And I am happy to help, however I can.”
Elena smiled her first real smile of the evening, before a yawn cracked her jaw. Lysithea chuckled, “But first, I think some rest will help. Sleep, dream, and let your mind settle. We will have time to plan tomorrow.”
The doppelganger stood and brushed off her pants with a nod, “Do you need somewhere to stay?”
“I have…made arrangements,” Lysithea hedged, not wanting to admit that most of the time she spent her nights out under the stars.
“Why don’t you stay here? There’s a guest room upstairs.”
“As long as it’s not an inconvenience,” the other witch dipped her head gratefully, “just let me grab my bag out of my car.”
Elena grinned and cleaned up their mugs, “Not at all. Honestly it’ll be good to have someone here in case the Salvatores show up—they, Care and Elijah are the only ones with invitations so far.”
“We could reset the barrier, if that would make you more comfortable,” Lysithea suggested as she slipped her shoes back on, “no need to decide now, of course.”
While Lysithea dashed out to grab her bag, Elena mulled the idea over. In all honesty, it wouldn’t do much good, since Alaric would probably invite Damon in anyways—and frankly she was more worried about Bonnie. That was a betrayal she wasn’t sure she could ever forgive, that she didn’t want to. Except that Jeremy liked Bonnie and she wouldn’t split them up, but she also wouldn’t lie to her brother. That was a tomorrow problem though, and she should probably tell him in person anyways.
Lysithea returned a moment later with a black duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She followed Elena up to the guest bedroom and bid her goodnight. The witch set up a barrier around her room, so that no vampires could enter, even if they had an invitation to the house. It was quick work to change out of her slacks and blouse into some leggings and a worn t-shirt before crawling into bed.
It took her a few deep breaths before she could convince herself to close her eyes, desperate to be able to simply sleep like a normal person for once. It was not to be, however, as the witch felt the phantom press of iron around her wrists and her eyes shot open to stare at the ceiling.
Shuffling some blankets off the bed, and kicking a few pillows to the ground, Lysithea quietly arranged a small nest of bedding on the floor so she could curl up with a clear view of the night sky out of the window. The witch watched the moon cross the sky as the stars winked down at her, until finally sleep claimed her and dragged her into the bliss of unconsciousness.