Forever; The Devil's Angel

The air was thick with silence. Even breathing in that air felt wrong, like it would make you sick in some weird way. Mia was playing with her fingers, a thousand thoughts running in her mind wildly as she tried to control them. Maya, on the other hand sat quietly, her back to the wall as she looked at Mia's hands and their constant motion.

Cutting through the thick silence, Maya sighed, "It's totally weird for us or...anybody to be this quiet like this for this much time," she started.
"Yeah, but it's better this way," Mia replied, her voice was detached absent from any kind of emotion.

"I know," Maya said, "We'd just say the wrong things and hate each other," she shrugged.

Mia chuckled at that, "I thought we already detested each other," Mia remembered when she heard Katherine and Maya spoke to each other once and Katherine asked her to guess who was she talking about giving her just one hint, 'you detest her' and Maya took a second, figuring that Katherine was talking about Mia.

"We do," Maya smiled and then sighed as she raised her eyes to meet Mia's, "Don't you think that things would be just easier if we would just conserve our energy and stop hating each other?"

Mia was taken aback with her question as she blinked twice and struggled not to faint at Maya's mentioning of such words, "Uh, I...uh," she tossed her mind for any vocabulary to pop out but she remained blank. It took her several moments to reply and Maya was sure her small attempt at making conversation was tossed out in the garbage. "Yeah, I suppose," Mia hesitated in her reply, "I mean, we could both try to find answers without worrying who would get to it first."

"Sometimes, I did wonder," Maya cut Mia off as she closed her eyes, "If things were different. If in another world I didn't hate you this much, if you hadn't destroyed my chance at happiness, we would be sisters," she said, "Step sisters," she corrected herself, "But sisters nevertheless," a small smile appeared on her lips and Mia's breath was caught in her throat.

"We still are sisters," Mia said, closing her eyes because the words actually felt painful and she was already in so much pain.

"Yeah," Maya snorted, "But we are the typical, stereotype step sisters kind of things, you know. Not like in the world I imagine."

"You fantasized about us being...good sisters?" Mia heard the skepticism in her own voice. The more Maya spoke, the more Mia felt her being close to be a decent human and she didn't know if she was ready to accept that part.

Maya sighed and looked away, "When you are alone," she said, "Your thoughts are only the things that keep you alive and I tried for them to be nice and rosy instead of dark and evil. I didn't want to be that person."

"But you became that person?" Mia snapped at her and then realized her mistake. They were finally going to some peaceful place and now she ruined it because she couldn't keep her mouth shut but she was surprised when Maya spoke up.

"I did," she admitted, "I figured, it was either that and keeping my sanity or losing myself entirely, to find a way to vent out the negative feelings and all..."

"You had my family," Mia stated at Maya's alone comment, "You weren't alone. They were going to be there for you if you gave them a chance..." Mia was saying when Maya cut her off.

"I suppose, yeah but it seemed like I already had made up my mind about hating them," Maya said, "I hated my father's cowardice, his weakness. He let another woman come into his life and destroy us...kill my mother and I hated Fiorella for obvious reasons," she shrugged, "Now that I think about it, maybe I never gave them a chance," she turned to Mia, "What would you have done if you were at my place?"

The question hit Mia with a force as she contemplated it. If everything that happened to Maya had happened to her, if she was also manipulated by Katherine to enhance her hatred, then maybe, maybe she would've turned out as Maya but Mia didn't wanted to imagine herself as that person which is why she shrugged and shook her head slightly not wanting to think about it. She possibly couldn't imagine herself as the type of person she hated the most and she told herself the different truth but Maya scoffed knowing Mia was thinking exactly the way she wanted her to think.

Elena roused a little, her fingers twitching as she grabbed the sheet almost as if she was having a nightmare. Mia rushed to her side and held her hand as consciousness returned to her but so did the pain as if she was knocked down by someone and Elena's hand went to her head. Her eyes were fluttering but she closed them again and groaned.

"Elena? What is it?" Mia asked softly and Maya went up to the small window that spilt light straight on Elena's face and shut it down as she turned around to look at Elena.

"What?" Elena tried to sit but Mia held her down, "What happened?" she asked in a hoarse voice that came out rough and thick from her unconscious state.

"Nothing..." Mia started to explain but Maya cut her off.

"You fainted before you told me what was so disturbing enough for you to go spiral and faint," Maya replied and Mia sent a glare her way which was easily shrugged off.

Mia wanted to soothe or calm Elena, to tell her that it was alright if she didn't want to talk about it or something but no words tumbled out of her mouth and she just turned to look at Elena with a small smile that showed her regret. Mia shook her head, "It's ok," she said in a whisper and Elena put her hand to her head and rubbed her temples as she drew in a shaky breath and sighed.

"Wasn't much," Elena said and shook her head.

"I would really rethink that entire sentence. You don't just go dark because you..." Maya all but exploded at Elena, her hands going in all directions and Mia gave her a loud shut up call as Elena came to her senses. She sat there quietly breathing with just feeling of the rise and fall of her chest and she gradually drew in deeper breaths, calming her nerves as the previous conversation played in her mind and she snapped her eyes to Mia, her expression agape.

"Mia," she almost jumped, her eyes were wide as she stared at Mia, "Mia, the picture," she said and saw Mia straighten herself as Maya took two steps towards her both hanging onto the next words that she spoke.

"Yes," Mia said, nodding her head.

"It-I," Elena's eyes made their way to Maya and she snatched them back to Mia, "Mia, it's...my. It's her, Mia."

"Who, Elena? Who is it?" Mia pinched her brows together.

"Isobel," Elena breathed out and confusion clouded Mia as she looked at her friend. Isobel, who?

"Oh, wow," Maya exclaimed as she threw her hands in exasperation, "Isobel. I know her name, idiot. Wasn't that much of a big deal," Maya said,

"Who is she to you?" she asked and Mia turned her skeptical eyes back to Elena. So, both of them, they knew Isobel. Was she the only ignorant and completely clueless person in the room?

"I-I don't get it, Elena," Mia said, "How? How do you know her?" She rephrased Maya's question in a better and friendly manner.

Elena ran her eyes through the room thinking of how to explain but she knew there was no easy or hard way. Sometimes, there was no easy or hard way, no choice. Sometimes, you just had to walk through it no matter what, the way didn't give you much of a choice. "She's my mother," Elena sighed and closed her eyes as the realization hit her hard again and she was sure, she still couldn't take it.

"Shut up!" Maya almost screamed the words but there was a chill that ran through her making her weak in the knees. She didn't understand everything but just the fact that the image of her perfect mother was tainted was enough to rattle her. Her eyes flew to Mia for just a second when she finally realized what Mia would've been feeling when she told her mother had been a murderer. Her heart must be beating somewhere because she was still alive but it was a still coldness that settled in her chest.

She finally raised her eyes to Elena who had her eyes clenched shut and was in denial which was obvious by her continuous head shaking. Well, she was just miserable as Maya was...

Mia's heart stuttered but she kept her cool as her eyes travelled between both Elena and Maya gauging them both. She felt for her friend. Elena was so blue and sad right now, Mia was sure she had never seen her like that. Yes, they both had gone through so much and she had seen her in pain, in utter breaking state but this was different. It wasn't a heartbreaking look or pain or devastation. It was the calm disappointment in someone and Mia realized the disappointment was in her mother.

"Your mom..." Mia started but she was unsure how to finish her sentence.

"Isobel was my biological mother," Elena stated as she raised her eyes to meet Mia's.

"Are you ok?" Mia asked knowing it was a stupid question but she was feeling guilty that she put Elena in that position.

"I never really knew her, Mia. I'm fine," she said and sniffed, a small sad smile appearing on her lips, "It's just that her last conversation with me," she paused, "After that I believed her to be a good person forced to turn bad, you know. I needed that positive image from the person who was responsible to bring me in this world," she shrugged.

"I understand," Mia softly whispered as she took a seat beside her and held her hand.

Maya's mind was reeling with so many questions. She wasn't sure she needed the answers to them anyway. She was so perfect in her own little world which was apparently crashing down and she was helpless to do anything about it. Good images of the people you lose is always so important in order to move on life. To believe that they were good, that they were in a god place now, that they would want you to be happy and move on and it hurt like hell when that image of that certain someone gets tarnished.

"It's," Elena took a deep breath, "It's just every time I think about her, I see her dying all over again and it's just..." she stopped mid-sentence.

Mia squeezed her hand and gave her a side hug. "You don't have to talk about it," Mia said when Maya erupted breaking the shell that was asking her not to question anything for her own sanity but she couldn't stop herself.

"You saw her die?" Her voice was shrill, incredulous and she was glaring at both Elena and Mia.

"She doesn't wanna talk about it," Mia snapped at her as she stood up and dragged Elena with her, "I think it's enough. I need to get you home," she pulled Elena but she hesitated and Mia looked at Elena and then to Maya. They both were just looking at each other, silently but their eyes were speaking volumes and Mia felt uncomfortable with this whole situation. "Come on," she tugged Elena again, "Let me take you home," she urged her to move again.

"I'm sorry," Elena said as she looked at Maya and tears formed in her eyes, "You don't know how sorry I am."

"Just tell me," Maya said and Mia heard the vulnerability in her voice for the first time. God, she was only human. People made mistakes, yes. Some even repeated them but it didn't meant that they had to pay for it forever. Somebody had to give them a new leaf to turn over and Mia felt sorry for Maya despite the hatred she felt towards her. She realized however, that the intensity of her feelings had reduced in just one meeting.

"You may find it hard to believe," Elena started, "But Isobel let herself burn in the sun," she said and looked at Mia, "Your mother had nothing to do with it, Mia. Your mother didn't do it. I saw her die in front of me," Elena said and saw Mia sigh, a smile forming on her lips, not the happy one but a small relieved smile, that said she was grateful for that part of information.

"Burn?" Maya couldn't believe that. That was not the truth. That was not what Katherine had told her, "She was a vampire?" She questioned. That's what burning in the sun meant but she had to hear it.

Elena saw the pain flashing in Maya's eyes and she couldn’t stop herself from reaching for her, "I don't know what Katherine told you, Maya but Isobel killed herself..."

"When?" Came Maya's sharp voice and Elena flinched at her tone.

"What?" she asked confused, her eyes making their way to Mia was standing there quietly observing the scene unfolding in front of her.

"When did that happen?" Maya asked and both Elena and Mia knew that this was it. The answer that would make or break it all and from the look in Elena's eyes, Mia knew it would be bad, not for her but for the girl that shared the same looks as her and now their stories were becoming similar too with every tick of the clock that passed.

Elena closed her eyes, "Five years back," she said and opened her eyes to look at Maya, “I'm so sorry, Maya. I am."

"You're lying," Maya said simply as she turned away from them, tears forming in her eyes.

"I wouldn't," Elena assured her, "I don't need to..."

Maya sniffled and shrugged, "Maybe she had vampire's blood in her system when Fiorella killed her," she knew she was grasping at straws. Even if that were the truth, the incident happened five years ago while she was told that her mother had died when she was just a few months old. She didn't want to believe them but the truth was floating in Elena's eyes, the pain and sadness she saw there could not be acting, could not be fake. She was really telling the truth and Maya didn't know what to do with it.

The main question that was torturing her was why? Why would she be lied to her whole life? Why would Katherine lie? What else was lie? Was Katherine just pretending the whole time? No, no. Her mind pushed it all away. Katherine was all she had from the very start and she had never lied to her, right? But then the immortality drink flitted through her mind and Maya couldn't believe anything anymore. She rubbed her temples with her thumb and index finger still facing away from Elena and Mia.

"I don't know, Maya. As far as I know, Isobel found Damon and asked him to change her," she said, her eyes briefly flickering towards Mia whose breath caught in her throat. Damon had been the one that made Maya's mom into a vampire? Their lives were just so interconnected in so many weird ways.

"No. No," Maya said shaking her head.

"Even if she died with Damon's blood in her, why wouldn't she come after you then?" Mia asked the question that Maya was asking herself just a little while ago but with it coming from Mia, Maya snapped.

"Because she wouldn't want to hurt me! She was a vampire!" Maya said and turned to look at Mia. She knew how lame it sounded. Katherine was a vampire and had been her caretaker for so long. So, why not her mother, if that was the truth.

"She searched everywhere for Damon to turn her," Elena said, "Katherine was the one who gave her his address. She was just obsessed with all things supernatural," Elena added trying to put out everything she knew about her mother, "You remember the researches that we looked at when we found about the truth about you?" Elena looked at Mia and she nodded. Yeah, the Vanessa girl there told them about things. Bad, unfortunate things.

"All that research was done by Isobel," Elena told her and Mia's brows went up in shock.

Maya lost it as she ran and grabbed Elena's neck with her hands. Her eyes were crazed, her chest heaving with harsh breaths, "Shut up! Shut up!" she shouted, "You just shut up!"

Mia ran and pulled Maya away from Elena. The tingling she had started to feel building up inside her vanished as soon as she touched Maya left with only the aftermath of them and she was shocked. Maya directed her hands towards Mia who went tumbling towards the wall, hitting it with a loud thud, her back buckling as she met the floor, her breath knocked out and her eyes wide in shock. What the hell just happened?

"She was my mother too," Elena shouted, "I know how you feel," her hand rubbing slowly the neck where Maya had assaulted her.

"You have no idea how I feel!" Maya shouted and broke down, her tears flowing freely down as she dropped on the floor, "Don't pretend, you do," she choked out the words and sniffled. "You don't know anything. You don't know, you don’t."

"Oh my God!" Elena exclaimed in a harsh whisper, "But you're my sister."

This was when it hit Mia, waves of disbelief washing over her. The walls seemed to cave in but Mia couldn't feel anything except the loud beating of her heart, the cold, clammy hands that were clutching her hair, her eyes staring off into space, her thoughts running like a wild horse. What the hell? When would this world stop giving her hidden surprises?

Her eyes turned to Elena. She knew her life was complicated but not that much of a complicated. She knew Maya was her sister through their same fathers but Elena and Maya...they shared same mother which meant that somehow Elena was dragged into this messed up family. "What a messed up family," the words escaped her in a soft whisper that rang with disbelief. The enemy and friend she was in this room with were all related to her. They all were some kind of sisters though a twisted up fate and fucked up lives.

The image of both the girls in front of her changed drastically. They were all similar...scarred, hurt, broken time and time again but they were all strong to survive the hard blows of life. They were all alive and standing to face yet other surprises that were to come their way. She didn't know how strong they were actually or how much the life has planned to test them but she knew she had to cope with it, some way or the other.

Elena was looking quietly at Maya bawling her eyes out. She never thought she would see Maya like this. In her mind, Maya was a perfect Katherine's spawn but looking at her now, Elena didn't know anything anymore.

She was her sister, her family and she refused to believe that someone related to her could be so heartless as Maya had shown herself to be. She was just dealt the wrong cards in her life with all the wrong people but maybe that could change. At least she hoped that and Mia...Mia was the half-sister of her half-sister. What did that make them...some kind of step sisters? Talk about family complications!

"Why would Katherine lie?" Maya asked in between her sobs. She hated that she was weak enough to cry in front of two girls that she hated the most but God damn it, they both were her sisters. Sisters? The word felt so unreal .All this time, she thought her father was in the wrong but her mother was nice who was just unfortunate but her mother was same, cheating, and slutty. She groaned. She didn't want to think that about her mother. It was her mother. She couldn't be like that. That was the image of Mia's mother, not hers but her head emphasized on what her heart didn't want to believe.

"She's Katherine," Elena said, "She's been like that with everybody. She plays everyone if not for some benefit then just for fun," Elena sighed as she closed an inch to Maya, "You're stayed with her the longest," she stated, "Don't you know how she works?"

"Not with me," Maya croaked out and wiped her tears away, "I trusted her. She loves me," Maya said, "She's all I have."

Mia didn't want to say anything but the words tumbled out of her mouth, "She reeled in Damon and Stefan the same way, you know...by making them believe she loved them both."

Maya quickly stood up. She had heard that story a thousand times from Katherine and she had told it proudly, not regretting her actions even once. "I can't do this," Maya said looking from Mia to Elena, "I just can't. I have to go," she turned towards the door and Elena snapped her eyes to Mia. Elijah had her locked up here and they were letting her go. They couldn't do it, could they? Elijah would be so pissed, Mia thought.

"Maya!" Elena screamed after Maya who halted in her tracks right outside the door and turned to look at Elena. Elena's eyes flickered to Mia who gave shrugged at her and Elena let a small smile appear on her lips, "Take care of yourself," Elena said and Maya was surprised to hear that. How had they changed so much after just one meeting? Well, the truth was a lot to change everything about them and in them.

Maya's eyes made their way to Mia, knowing if Mia didn't want to let her go or escape this, she wouldn't be able to which is why she gave Mia a nod who returned it with a smile and Maya realized that her eyes were warm instead of cold glaring she used to get from her. Yeah, things had definitely changed, for better or for worse, she couldn’t' tell.

"I feel sorry for her," Mia whispered as Maya was out of sight and sank back to the ground and Elena came to join her as she nodded.

"Imagine being lied to your whole life. I know how she feels," she said.

"What does Katherine want from her?" Mia asked as she rested her head to the wall behind her and pulled her knees to chest, encircling them with her arms and Elena did the same but put her head on her knees and sighed. "I don't know."

"Must be something important if it took her that much years of planning," Mia stated.

"I hope she figures it out," Elena closed her eyes thinking about her whole day which was so weird and wasn't even close to be over yet. She wanted to be home now, be with Stefan. That would be nice and comforting.

Mia sighed, her heart feeling the dread of something of bad coming towards her, "I hope we all do," she said, "I'm sorry about Isobel. I didn't know."

"It was a bad time for me," she admitted and opened her eyes to Mia.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mia asked and Elena smiled at her as she launched her story, sharing it not only with one of her best friend or the girlfriend of her boyfriend's brother but also with a sister she never had, telling her everything from the very start which served as new beginning to their new found bond.