All eight doppelgangers lay motionless on the floor, faces pale and skin chilled. In the center of the circle stood Ilya, chanting as she continued to evoke the Goddess.
Stefan, Damon and Caroline tried with all their might, but for all of their supernatural abilities the three vampires could not breech the circle.
Lydia continued to channel Bonnie as she heard Caroline's persistent tears, Damon's threat, and Stefan's rushed attempts to find anything that could breech their magic. The witch sighed internally, feeling sorry for them because they had no idea what was happening and continued to follow the plan.
They would know soon enough.
Elena stirred soon enough only to find herself on the Wickery Bridge. Tears immediately came to her eyes as she was forced to relive the most horrible moments of her existence. Her parents had died here. She had died here.
What had brought her here, she wondered as she stared into the water below. Transfixed there, Elena could have lost herself in her thoughts if she hadn't heard the familiar sound of her own laugh. Turning from the bridge, she caught sight of Sofiyah and took off after her young doppelganger. Crossing the threshold of the bridge, Elena once again found herself transported.
Standing in the foyer of her house, the vampire heard something she thought had been taken from her forever; her parents laughter. Stepping forward, the brunette didn't know what to expect. Would they be able to see her; to hold her? How would they react to seeing a stranger standing in the middle of their living room. Peering around the door frame, Elena rested her head as she saw her mother and father tickling her and Jeremy on the couch. It was her sixth birthday, which made her younger brother only three and a half years old.
A smile transformed her entire face from stoic to content. This memory was so far buried in her mind that it had been lost to her for years. Being turned, Elena knew she could call up every single memory of her life but she was still new and these moments - both the pleasant and the painful- were too fresh and felt like pouring salt in all of the wounds she had thought had healed since Greyson's and Miranda's deaths. Now faced with such a close encounter, Elena felt her heart bursting with joy and knew that she had been wrong.
The only question that remained rolled off her lips before she realized they were even a thought in her head; "Why am I here?"