Pain. It was the only thought that Bonnie could fathom upon coming to. A dull throbbing that further dragged her to consciousness with every breath she took. Slowly she was able to place exactly where the pain had been, hands trailing down her front, until the pads of her fingers found her abdomen. Her touch was light, cautious almost. For a beat, she hadn't remembered what happened, let alone how she got hurt in the first place. As if by mere touch once her palms rested flat against her shirt, her eyes flew open, memories playing before her like a slideshow of what had happened.

She and Damon were in a cave, with the Eclipse overhead, readying themselves to be free of 1994's constant loop and the Sociopath that lay dormant there. Bonnie had killed Kai, after recently realizing that he held no true significance when it came to their escape; and all that they needed had been the ascendant. Just as the spell began to leave her lips she was thrown back with a tremendous force; shot with a bolt from Kai's crossbow. She recalled the warmth of her own blood on her hands where the arrow protruded from her stomach, and the confusion of seeing him alive. Grunts and the sound of struggle coincided with the ringing in her ears, and despite the sound barring down on her, Kai's voice managed to reach through, his explanation of how he had been alive one that she wish she could have kicked herself for. This was a prison world, afterall. Why would they gift him the escape of death? She was seeing double, but able to make out the shapes that were Damon and Kai, fighting for the ascendant that she had dropped. She thoroughly remembered being surprised by the fact that Kai had began to overpower Damon, the tip of an arrow from his crossbow at Damon's heart while he fought with every attempt to keep Kai away. She was able to crawl; no, drag herself through the dirt and rubble to the ascendant, to continue the spell, to which upon grabbing Damon's attention and-with a swift Motus that yanked Kai from Damon's person like a rag doll-sent him home without her. Leaving her in 1994 with a broken ascendant as the remainder of the blinding light that swept Damon from this world. Bonnie was now left without a way out, and alone, with Kai Parker. A pained smile met her lips; a smile of defeat. Kai's roar of pure anger and the blurred shape of his person storming towards her was all she could see before passing out.

She was so sure she had died. So sure that that was the end of her. That at least, she was able to get Damon out, and despite how dark the thought was, she was gone and wouldn't have to spend an eternity with Kai.. But she was wrong. Taking in her surroundings she found herself in the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House. The flickering of the fire place and the light snapping of wood due to the flames eating away at it had caught her attention, its embers rising high into the chimney and its warmth causing her face to flush. There was a stillness in the house, that despite whatever peaceful aura the fireplace was trying to give off, only managed to make it more eerie. Bonnie had come to and fro of this Boarding house hundreds of times. It wasn't the place itself; but the secondary guest who was nowhere to be seen that scared her. She had to get out of here, and immediately. She hadn't the slightest clue on how she was still alive until she moved to sit up too abruptly, and a jolt of pain was sent from her abdomen and all throughout her system, a hiss leaving her lips. Looking down at her stomach, she moved to pull the white blouse up that brandished her dried blood from her current wound, revealing her firmly bandaged abdomen beneath. Kai saved her, but why? What reason would he need her for? Bonnie was fully aware that the eclipse would return, but without an ascendant there would be no way out. It was now broken, destroyed. What more of a reason would he need her alive?

"Ah-ah-ah! No sudden movements, Bon. Don't undo my handiwork now. You'll split those stitches right open." A familiar voice rang through of concern, jolting Bonnie from where she sat. Kai rounded the corner from the kitchen, a plate of something in hand that she couldn't quite make out and a glass of water. He seemed upbeat from her point of view, his lips folded while some unknown tune left his lips in a hum. She had noticed his change of clothing; a blue T-shirt overlapping a white thermal of sorts that too was overlapped with a blue-gray button down that remained open. Black shorts and converse sneakers finished the 90's get up.

"How do you feel?" Kai asked, placing the food down upon the low table that divided the living room into two halves, separating the couches. He brought himself to sit down just across from her, leaning forward to look at her with concern written across his face. He was a good actor, she'd give him that. Despite the facial expression he withheld his eyes told another story. Nonchalance reflected back into them. They were bright blue, gunmetal eyes, to which they left little to no space for emotion, let alone unease.

Bonnie adjusted herself so that one of the pillows behind her allowed her to sit more so upright. Her eyes had briefly trained on the familiar teddy bear that rested along the armrest in front of her.

"Miss Cuddles and I were worried," Kai said softly, cocking his head off to the side to expose a slight crooked grin that ghosted across his lips. Bonnie shot him a hard glare, one of her hands grasping carefully at the wound Kai had inflicted, as if to remind him if he had forgotten.

"Like you shot me with an arrow." She answered his previous question, seething. This carefree nonchalant state of Kai's put a bad taste in her mouth, and the thought of being around him much longer? She couldn't stand. Using that as her motivation to push through the constant stabbing pains that erupted from her wound as she brought herself to stand turning her back to him. Kai remained seated, as if he were unaffected by her actions. As if any attempt she made to get away would be futile, maybe? If anything, he seemed upset over the fact that he had made her a plate of food; a grilled cheese with a side of chips that was now getting cold.

Kai clicked his tongue off the roof of his mouth. "Not even a thanks for the meal I prepared? Sheesh, have you all lost your manners in present day? That's fine. If anything the food was meant for me to coax you into helping me fix this ascendant. You see, I have absolutely no idea how you managed to disassemble this thing into a million pieces, but I need help putting it back together. Wanna' help?"

Bonnie's eyes fixated upon the scattered pieces of the ascendant in shock. Fix the ascendant? After the damage that the spell caused, it was still usable? Had that truly been the case, in what right mind did Kai think Bonnie would actually help him reach his goal, after everything he'd done? She began to think his eighteen years in this box had truly corrupted his thinking.

Bonnie looked about the room cautiously as to not draw attention to herself, looking for the keys to Damon's blue Camaro to make a break for it, something she hadn't immediately seen until she turned to face Kai again. There they rested just along the wooden table behind the couch she had previously woken up on. She tried to make her sudden findings of it quiet, immediately looking away from the keys and towards Kai. His eyeline had visibly dropped to where she was just looking. Fuck, she thought. She attempted to deter her findings with a conversation.

"Why.." She paused for a moment, before starting again. "Would I help you? You're a psychopath. This is your Hell, I'd rather die before helping you get out of it. If that thing is broken, let it stay broken. World's a better place without one less crazy man-child." Bonnie's tone was cold, and she hoped it bit like frostbite.. But Kai merely looked at her, searching her eyes from afar as if for an answer. Eventually his gaze tore from hers, looking off to the side and wetting his lips, bringing himself to stand with the support of his hands pushing off the couch.

"You've been around Damon too long. You're starting to sound like him." Kai teased, rolling his eyes as he began to close the distance between the two of them, causing Bonnie's body to go rigid almost immediately. He must have sensed her change in body language, however; because his lips parted, the corners of them curling up into a charming smile. He was now a mere few inches from her face, so close that she could feel his cool breath against her skin. His height highly surpassing her own petite stature; though Bonnie was never one to back down. She jutted her chin up at him in challenge, whereas Kai's hand came down flat upon the keys that Bonnie had previously considered taking as her get away. So much for that idea. Her eyes had flickered down to his hand before returning to those coin gray hues of his, causing a chuckle to vibrate from his chest.

"You've been through alot, I know. Boo-hoo, right? But I think you're under the impression that: You actually have a choice in the matter. Isn't that funny?" Kai briefly looked away to glance down at his hand, now grabbing the keys before casually dropping them into the breast pocket of his blue button down with a dramatic 'thud'.

"I don't want to hurt you, Bonnie." He said, again, to which Bonnie found hard to believe, despite the sudden serious tone in his voice. "But I will do what I need to do to get out of here. So if that requires me doing this," Kai suddenly placed a vice grip on Bonnie's wrist, the unfortunate yet familiar pain of siphoning beginning. First the heat, and the red glow that danced off his fingers had her feeling as if her very life force were being sucked away; like the leech Kai was. Her magic, her essence; draining, pulling at her very being. A cry of pain erupted from her, one she tried to suppress, unawaringly haunching forward so that the side of her face just barely brushed against his chest. She could feel his warmth, or maybe she had mistaken it for the burn running rampant beneath her skin from her magic being stolen from her. She could barely process the words that left his lips, which were so very close to her ear.

"Then I'll go to whatever lengths it takes for me to go home." Kai said harshly against her ear, sending a chill down her spine. He abruptly released her hand, causing Bonnie to stumble back a few steps, gripping the wrist he had previously grabbed towards her chest in defense. Exhaustion took her expression, shoulders rising and falling with every shallow breath she took to try and recollect herself.

"Or, you know. For us both to go home. This could be a team effort, Bon. I really don't get why you're fighting against me so hard when you barely know much about me," He paused, glancing off to the side for a moment with a shrug. "Outside of what the news paper reads, of course."

Bonnie scoffed, shaking her head while she slowly backed herself up until she was leaning against one of the nearby walls of the room.

"What more would I need know? You murdered your family in cold blood and so they sent you here as a punishment. They were children, Kai. If anything this place is exactly what you deserve. If I let you out, you're going to continue what you started until you get what you want."

Kai was silent for some time, his eyes never leaving her own, though narrowing as if he were scraping at the back of his mind for a question he wanted to ask. He lifted his arms to cross over his chest.

"You ever stop to ask yourself how hypocritical your thinking is?" Kai asked suddenly, making his way back to the couch before he sat down, snagging a chip from the plate he had made for Bonnie, and popping it into his mouth with a crunch.

Bonnie looked taken back by his question. "Oh really? And how's that?"

"Is it not that obvious?" Kai asked, dusting his hands off from the chips he previously ate, and proceeding to lean back and into the cushion of the couch, arms bent behind his head to support it further. "For some reason in that cute little head of yours, you're under the impression that your bloodsucker friends are saints in comparison. Need I remind you; Damon Salvatore? He killed a pregnant woman, and I'm sure he's done far worse in however many years he's been alive, alongside placing you and your loved ones in harm's way before too, right?

Bonnie visibly flinched. She was fully aware of the fact that what Kai said was an assumption; but she couldn't stop the flurry of memories that came rushing by and the truth that followed. Damon had hurt her, several times, whether it be with verbal threats or the times where she could have lost her life because of him. Unfortunately vampires in Mystic Falls were next to normal to her now. The majority of her friends were vampires; the people she grew up with: Vampires. Even worse, killers. It was definitely something that took her awhile to look past and still recognize them as her friends. She had to take into consideration that both Elena and Caroline were turned against their will, or likely unaware. With Caroline, Katherine; and Elena, Damon mistakingly. So many people in the town of Mystic Falls had lost their lives due to the return of of Stefan, and Damon. She began to think that, perhaps if they had never returned, would her life and the lives of her friends and loved ones had turned out differently. Her Grams would still be alive. Elena's Aunt Jenna. She had to take into consideration that, if Stefan hadn't returned, Elena would be dead. Stefan had saved her after all, and while death followed in every step they took, she believed she would never have embraced her magic if not for their bittersweet return.

It was as if her silence was enough to answer his question, but before he could continue Bonnie had cut in.

"The difference is, Kai? Damon changed. He's grown out of his old ways. He's a better per-"

"A better person," Kai summed up for her, finishing her sentence with a wave of his hand. "So you're telling me Damon changed, and so you were able to forget all the wrong things he did? And now you two are close. The difference is, Bonnie? You gave him a chance to change. Why not give me one?" Kai suggested.

Bonnie snorted, asking incredulously. "The current injuries I have should suffice as an answer."

"And you killed me, I say we're even. Not to mention the whole betrayal thing." Kai added, before extending an arm to press an index finger down against the table before him, tapping it lightly with a change of subject. "C'mon, sit down and eat, and after you're done we can see about fixing the ascendant, hmm?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "I'll get a head start in, how's that sound?" Kai gave a toothy grin and a wink that would probably have other girls at his beck and call, but not Bonnie. She wouldn't dare let his charms have an effect on her.. But she had to admit that she was hungry; even if she had lied her stomach would speak the truth, feeling it churning and twisting in starvation. She took a cautious step forward, glowering down at the plate. "Am I expecting poison as a main ingredient?" She asked with a sardonic smile that followed.

"Why would I poison it if I need you alive to get us out of here, Bon?" He gave a look of feigned ignorance.

Bonnie didn't seem convinced, and with a roll of Kai's eyes, he took half of her sandwich from the plate, gray-blue hues honing in on her mossy green without blinking before taking a bite of the grilled cheese, chewing leisurely. Pressing her tongue into her cheek, Bonnie gave a sigh of defeat that left through her nostrils, bringing herself to slowly sit down carefully across from him, a hand at her abdomen from the dull throbbing of her injury. She eyed him curiously, and just before he could take another bite, she snatched the half he had taken from his hand, taking a bite from it greedily. She could have sworn she saw a second of vulnerability from his eyes; widening briefly with his lips parted, seemingly surprised by her actions before they were masked with a grin. The grilled cheese definitely hit the spot, and she tried her damndest not to allow a groan of satisfaction to leave her, especially while Kai stared at her in hopes of a reaction before going back to his tinkering.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Bonnie made sure to take her time with her meal, purposely picking pieces off the sandwich bit by bit before placing it into her mouth. After all, she had never agreed to helping him fix the ascendant. She remained dead set on the thought of leaving him here, even if that meant they had to split the prison world in half to live peacefully. Maybe peaceful had been the wrong wording. As much as she hated Kai for everything he'd done thus far, the thought of being alone in a place like this would drive her insane. She couldn't imagine lasting here for even a few months.. Yet Kai remained for eighteen years, and here he was. Bonnie recalled Kai saying that he had killed himself several times before their meeting. The things that could have driven him to do so, she couldn't imagine. While she couldn't pinpoint it, somewhere deep in her very core she felt an ounce of pity for him, pity that was quickly swallowed hole every time she reminded herself of why he was here in the first place.

For the long period that it took for her to eat, Kai made sure not to make a single dull moment of it, filling the silence with ongoing chatter that had no end.

"You know, I never understood why in movies when the cops are chasing the bad guy and they start yelling at the top of their lungs, 'Hey, stop running!'. Like, do they really think the guy is going to stop dead in his tracks and do as he's told? He's the bad guy for a reason-"

"Do you ever get tired of hearing your own voice?" Bonnie said in annoyance, lifting one of her hands to rub at her temple, obviously tired of his constant banter. She grabbed hold of her glass of water, taking a hearty sip. Kai turned his lips downward, shaking his head.

"No, not really," Kai stood, leaving the room for just a split second before returning with a pill bottle, his voice carrying down the hall before he actually returned. "It's just about the best thing I've heard in my eighteen years of being in this hell hole." Kai shook the bottle with a smile, to which he was gifted with a cold glare from Bonnie in response.

"Relax, They're pain killers. Can read the bottle yourself if you don't trust me." He then moved to set the bottle down infront of her, Bonnie's green hues glancing between Kai and the bottle itself before she picked it up, examining it.

"What did you mean 'Just about the best thing you've heard in your eighteen years'?" Bonnie asked out of curiosity once her wariness was put to rest about the pills. She'd shaken out two of the capsules, popping them into her mouth and taking a swig of her water to help wash them down. She hoped that they would work quickly, considering how severe the pain had been. Kai's eyes were on her the entire time; that same piercing stare that had Bonnie fidgeting where she sat.

"As in, your voice is in my top three." Kai said without missing a beat, an unfamiliar twinge pulling at Bonnie's chest from his words. "You just beat Courtney Love by a hair. You should be thrilled."

"Honored." Bonnie gave a sigh, making quick to dismiss the undercurrent of bashfulness from his words before she continued. "Yeah, she's still alive actually."

This seemed to have gained Kai's attention, looking up from the now partially finished ascendant he had in hand. "Shit, really? Something nice and familiar to come back to once I'm out of here."

"If you get out of here." Bonnie intercepted, making sure he understood where she stood in all this. Visibly Bonnie saw Kai's jaw tick, as if he were holding back words he would normally have no issue saying.

"Speaking of Courtney Love; you ever listen to Nirvana?" Kai asked, shifting as if to clear the air. Bonnie could hear the stiffness in his tone, obvious that he was fending off the slightest itch of anger from her words, despite his threat earlier of doing whatever means necessary to get out of here.

Bonnie had forced herself to move despite the pain she felt, bringing herself to stand and gather the empty plate and glass, heading out of the living room and towards the kitchen. Upon standing she felt a wave of exhaustion that had hit her out of nowhere; rightfully so, considering she found sleep a chore ever since she arrived in this prison world, more so when Kai made his appearance in she and Damon's life. Making her way into the kitchen, she figured that Kai must have followed behind, because the sound of his dull footsteps trickled behind her.

"No, not really. I was never that big of a fan of Grunge." She finally answered, a soft yawn leaving her lips.

A loud and dramatic gasp left Kai's lips, causing Bonnie to whip her head around to look at him; wide-eyed with a hand at his heart. "I'm wounded, Bon. Come on, we got to change that." Kai said with a pep in his step, moving off towards Damon's stereo docked with several CD racks on either side of it that rested along the kitchen counter far off to left of the sink where Bonnie stood. Quickly had he gone through the selection until he found one album in particular, popping open the jewel casing and sliding the CD into the Stereo feeder.

Bonnie braced herself and rather her ears for the blaring music to come while she turned on the sink to clean her dishes. She couldn't help that notice that the tiredness that she felt seemed to quicken, and her actions at the sink began to slow down until she came to a halt.. Why had she felt so sleep-deprived all of a sudden?

Baby you're going down in the dark

Show my lonely night has fallen and I don't have very long

Think I may have broke my boil

Within my face might burn

You're gonna make it better for a little while

The music, Bonnie could barely hear, as if it were muffled. As if a sudden weight was bearing down on her person, and her eyelids. She was able to pick out the difference in vocal tones, hearing Kai's voice that seemed to get closer the farther out of tune she felt. Her back was to him and the stereo as well. Something wasn't right.

"Kai?" Bonnie said desperately, finding it hard to get his name out. Her eyes were half-lidded, hands gripping at the counter to keep herself upright and to fight the oncoming fatigue.

"What did you.." Her words trailed off, feeling her knees begin to give under her. The loud clash of the plate she had been previously washing hitting the floor startled her, though she hadn't moved from her position the moment her legs had given out as predicted. She figured she would have been on the ground by now, but a strong force was holding her upright.

One of Kai's arms had moved securely around her torso, his front flush against her back. She could feel his body heat radiating off and onto her, feel the vibrations of his humming against her ear, his breathing causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on attention.

His voice broke through, his temple brushing in and against her silky brown locks. His voice was husky and low, so low it cracked at times, only for her to hear."I did say I wouldn't meddle with your food. Never said a word about the drink."

Her heart was thrumming in her chest, out of fear, confusion? Both? It hadn't taken long for her vision to fail her; blurring. The last thing that she could recall had been Kai sweeping her off her feet with ease before she was wretched back into the darkness she tried so desperately to fight off.

Baby you're gonna die someday

See you in your crowded wasted, then you start to fade

That when we start singing faster

I wouldn't wait so long

Won't get any easier in the dark

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah

You will, you will, you will.

Song of choice: Nirvana - Down in the Dark

[Thank you guys for taking a look at my first ever attempt at a Fanfiction. I couldn't be more greatful for the time you've taken out of your day to check this out. I truly hope that this is something I can continue, but it'll only be based on what you guys think personally. Please give me feedback, criticism and the whole nine yards, I want to hear everything. Bonkai still burns bright in my heart despite the new year and the disappointment that Julie Plec has brought. I hope I'm able to bring some smile to you guys's faces with this new story. If you have any questions please let me know and I will try to answer them at the end of each chapter! Thank you again.]