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Prologue: Hands of Time
Summary: Caroline is sent back to 1864 to kill Katherine to save Elena. After falling for Damon pre-vampire and befriending Katherine inadvertently, will Caroline be able to stay true to her promise to her friends back in 2010? Pairings: D/C, S/K, M/E. AU
IMPORTANT A/N: please note that this is an AU story, if you did not read the summary properly. Also, Caroline's still human and in the unknown about the vampires at the start of this story. I would say this takes place sometime after the Season 1 finale, so ignore the entire season 2 for this story. :)
Another day is gone
Washed away with sorrows that you dwelled upon
And, as the moon is rising, you think to yourself
I could be gone, if I go now
- Hands of Time, Rachel Diggs
Bonnie directed all her magic at the woman easily throwing off Damon and Stefan to the sides. Concentrating her mind on the power flowing through her veins, focusing the ball of energy she valiantly projected at the evil creature, she felt her resolve tighten as she caught sight of her best friend slumped, unconscious, in a corner of the room. The cuts, the bruises… No matter what, she had to keep fighting, for Elena's sake, for her sake. If she lost her best friend after all this… she refused to acknowledge the possibility.
"Katherine, I swear to Gawd, I'll rip off your head!" Damon shouted, his death glare unwavering even as she easily delivered blow after blow to him. He was nothing if not resilient.
Katherine let out a dainty little laugh; it reminded Bonnie of an ignorant child's giggle, making her cringe. The four-hundred year old vampire flicked away Stefan's hits as deftly as wiping dust off oneself.
"You'll have to do better than that boys," she coo-ed heartily, "Did I not teach you anything back in 1864?"
"You taught us never to trust you," Stefan growled. Bonnie had to hand it to him; despite having been battered to near-exhaustion on an animal diet – not to mention that the last time he'd fed had been two days ago -, Stefan continued fighting. She smiled grimly as she felt a little of the resistance she'd been facing from Katherine fall away as Damon slammed his hand into Katherine's face. Katherine's cool face slipped for a moment as she snarled, landing a solid kick to Damon's groin. He didn't budge an inch.
Come on, she willed, gritting her teeth as she flexed her fingers, urging the power along the invisible line linking her to Katherine. Katherine had a wall up so high and solid, it was like the Great Wall of China. Her efforts were mere pinpricks to the slowly accumulating cracks in her defense. If she could just hold out a little longer…
Suddenly, Stefan was launched across the room. Unable to stop herself, Bonnie turned to watch as he flew into the wall, the force of Katherine's ruthless throw propelling him through the concrete. The gaping black hole stared back at them. With a sinking feeling, Bonnie knew Stefan was out of the game. She turned back in time to see Damon skid back a few feet as Katherine punched him in the jaw.
"You silly boys," she growled, vamping out. She glared at Damon as he tried to collect his breath, muscles flexing even in his obvious worn state.
"It's so sickening how you protect that fragile, stupid human being," Katherine drawled, glancing at Elena in disgust. "It's clear how much my boys have changed since I last saw you."
Damon narrowed his eyes at her, jaw tightening. Bonnie swallowed a mouthful of air greedily. Before she knew it, she crumpled to the ground, too beaten to even mutter a word. It didn't appear that Katherine noticed her, though she caught Damon flick a glance in her direction. She hoped against hope that Damon could take Katherine down.
"What happened to the man that didn't care?" Katherine asked, training her gaze on Damon's cold face. "What happened to the man that was so pathetically loyal in his love for me, his creator? Enough of that nice play; how about some actual competition?" She smirked, stepping closer to the still man. When he didn't react, she rolled her eyes, moving her hands flippantly.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. I only want Stefan." She tilted her head to the right, twirling a piece of loose hair between her fingers, watching Damon's face carefully. "After I get rid of Elena, of course."
They moved too fast for Bonnie to follow. It seemed that at the same time Damon moved to clasp his hands around his former love's neck, Katherine side-stepped him and dipped down to snap Elena's neck.
"NO!" Damon roared, as Bonnie let out a tiny whimper.
He plunged toward Katherine with renewed energy, managing to swipe at her head before she blurred out of the room. He stopped for only a second to fix the witch with a gaze so powerful she felt the little breath she could grasp at get sucked out of her mouth.
"Elena. Then Stefan," he demanded, before speeding out the door, racing after Katherine.
As if she would have done it any other way, Bonnie argued, bitter and tired. She let herself rest for a moment more, because no matter how much she wanted to prove to herself that Elena wasn't dead – couldn't be dead -, the heavy waves of exhaustion pulled her down, trying to lull her into sleep. Finally, with all the will power she possessed, she hoisted herself onto her hands and then, shakily, to her feet. With every ounce of control she could muster, she stumbled, leaning most of her weight on the wall, towards Elena. The walk halfway across the room could have well been a climb up Mount Everest.
Finally, collapsing next to her broken friend, her gaze raked over the pale form, twisted at unnatural angles, noticing the bleeding cuts and the large bruises and, most blatantly, the broken neck. The brunette's head slanted in an impossible angle, unkempt hair sprayed over her face. Bonnie felt the urge to cry but couldn't, because her body was too tired to even allow herself to grieve.
"Elena…" she gasped, taking her friend's hand in hers. She felt the stark coldness of death sweep through her at the touch, even with the almost non-existent power she had within her. If she had enough energy, she knew she could bring back her best friend. Even though some part of her deep down knew she couldn't – her Grandma was proof of that – she held on to the desperate hope. It was too much.
"Stefan," she managed to croak, though in her mind she was screaming, before the waves tore her down under and her head hit the floor.
When she woke up, she found herself lying on a queen-sized bed and it was eerily quiet. By the fading thin strip of light that sifted through the blinds covering the window, she could make out two hunched figures at the doorway. As she stirred, weakly pushing herself onto her elbows, one of them turned to look at her.
She carefully leaned back against the headboard, slowly rubbing her forehead as she struggled to recall the events that had happened before she fell asleep. All she could remember was a lot of fighting and all that energy draining out from her soul as she focused her energy on something…
When it hit her, it tore her breath from her lips.
"Elena –" she gasped.
"Dead," a detached voice answered promptly from the doorway. Her wondrous gaze turned to fix on him.
"Damon? Stefan?" she muttered, slightly confused.
For a long moment, neither answered. Finally, the slightly taller figure made his way towards her. She recognized him to be Stefan as he passed by the stream of light.
"Where am I?" Bonnie asked, feeling stupid for asking such a mundane question when there were more pressing issues at hand – like Elena. Her lips quivered at the thought. She didn't want to think about it, even as it tried to claw its way back from the recesses of her mind.
"My bedroom," Stefan answered.
"Is Katherine… dead?"
The question echoed in the brutal silence. In the dim light, Bonnie watched Stefan's head tilt in Damon's direction. After a few more moments, Damon murmured, "Unfortunately… no."
His words crashed against her ears. The roar of pain drowned her over and over again. With no more resolve, Bonnie finally let herself slip into that horrible place within her. It was a long time before she spoke again. Brokenly, she asked, "Where's Elena?"
"I –" Damon started.
"We made sure she received a respectful funeral. What she rightfully deserves," Stefan interrupted, looking down at his hands. Damon closed his mouth.
Elena doesn't deserve a funeral, Bonnie wanted to bite back. Elena's too young to die! The look on Damon's face as he travelled to the bed, passing through the beam of light, reflected her thoughts. The image of Elena, broken and still, fought its way into her vision and it took a truckload of effort for her to clamp down on it. She burst out into tears shortly.
"It's okay –" Stefan began, only to be sharply reprimanded by his older brother.
"No, it's not."
Through blurry vision, Bonnie registered Stefan's apologetic nod, saw the appalled expression directed at himself and Damon's glare. She knew Stefan was just trying to help but, gawd, she wished he wouldn't. Right now, apathetic Damon seemed like the better person to have for comfort in such a situation.
But he isn't so apathetic anymore, is he? Bonnie thought.
"Wait…" Bonnie managed between sniffles, "if Elena's funeral already took place… how long have I been out?" She sat, rigid.
"You've been out for a week," Stefan informed regretfully. He reached out, as if to wrap his arms around the distressed witch as she burst into even louder cries, but she shook her head wildly.
How could she have been unconscious for so long? She felt so hollow, even worse than before, knowing that she'd let her friend down even more than before.
"We have to save her," Bonnie whimpered, curling into herself.
"We can't," Stefan said gently, watching her with sad eyes.
"We have to," Bonnie insisted, slightly louder than before. "Elena shouldn't have died. Elena should still be alive."
"We should have given her vampire blood when we had the chance," Stefan murmured so softly Bonnie nearly didn't hear it.
"I wanted to, if you recall correctly," Damon bit out. "Oh, but Saint Stefan didn't want to. Couldn't. It was above his righteous morals to turn the person he loved into a vampire so she'd still be here."
"Stop it," Stefan croaked miserably, head hanging low. Bonnie glanced at Damon. Despite looking absolutely livid, she saw Damon visibly take a breath and reel his anger in.
"We can still get her back," Bonnie repeated herself.
"Bonnie, you're the only witch we know of," Stefan replied. She waited expectantly for him to go on but when he didn't elaborate, she turned indignant.
"You don't think I can do it?" she lashed out.
"You're weak, Bonnie. Don't even try to argue that point," Damon muttered.
"I can do the spell after I've gotten enough rest," Bonnie countered. Even though every cell in her brain wanted to do the spell right now so she could have her best friend back right then and there.
"We'll see," Damon said, ignoring the furious look Bonnie threw in his direction.
"For now, get some sleep," Stefan comforted, patting her shoulder.
"I already slept for a week," Bonnie tried protesting, but even as she said it she could feel the energy sapping out of her body. Stefan tried for a wry smile.
"We'll talk later," Stefan said gently, yet firmly, giving her a last look before leaving the room. Bonnie sighed heavily, lying down again. Damon suddenly appeared by her side, looking down at her, his face a cold mask.
"Are you going to bite me?" Bonnie asked, mock-jokingly. Funnily enough, despite hating Damon and warning Stefan mere hours ago that she would take him and his brother out if they so much as spilled a single drop of innocent blood, she couldn't muster any feelings of aggression or fear around him. At least, for the moment. Maybe it was because her exhaustion left her magic barred from her usage. Or maybe it was because she'd seen the lengths Damon had gone to protect Elena. For that, she respected him as much as she respected Stefan.
"I will if you ask me to," Damon replied smartly. Bonnie turned her head to give him a frown.
"I know you can't blow my head up in your current state, so don't even try to make any threats."
"I wasn't going to," Bonnie said. Damon cocked his head, waiting, but she left it at that. Realizing that, he dived into his real topic of interest.
"I was thinking you could do a spell to send one of us back to 1864. We can kill Katherine then and prevent her from ever killing Elena. You know, get rid of the root cause."
Bonnie's eyebrows shot up so high, they went up behind her fringe. "Do you have any idea how tough that kind of spell is? Going back into time? And not just a few days but a whole hundred and forty something years! Do you even know what that would change?"
"Huge risk, chance of me not returning, blah, blah, blah – got it. Can we skip the minor details and fast-forward to your answer, which would be 'yes'?"
Bonnie shook her head, mouth open, and raised a finger. "One – you? You want to be the one to go back in time to kill Katherine? Two – minor details? Going back a hundred and forty… six years and changing even one little event could have major consequences on events that happen after that!"
"Why not me?" It was Damon's turn to be indignant. "You don't think I can do it?" Bonnie rolled her eyes, realizing he was mimicking her. "And, yeah, about that… whatever else happens, nothing matters as long as Elena's safe and alive."
"Even if that meant you and Stefan… never meeting her?"
"Killing Katherine wouldn't stop us from coming back to Mystic Falls," Damon replied instantly.
Bonnie shook her head. "If you kill her before you guys got turned into vampires, it would."
Damon cocked his head, eyebrows drawn. After a moment, he muttered, "I'll just kill her after we've turned then."
"There has to be some other spell to bring Elena back from the dead," Bonnie said, refusing to think his way. "Something not as drastic, not as complicated. Maybe we could reverse time by, like, a day. Give you enough time to stop Aunt Jenna from inviting Katherine into the house. Time to give Elena blood or kill Katherine before she can hurt her."
"Bonnie, Katherine's killed so many people in the past. Besides Elena. As part of the morality police, don't you feel obligated to save all those lives lost because of her?"
At that, Bonnie looked at him sharply, studying him. Slowly, not really sure she wanted the answer, she asked, "Since when did you care about other people's lives?"
Damon let a small smile flitter across his lips. "My answer would be so clichéd you'd give yourself your own head explosion."
Bonnie smiled a little at that, though she persisted. "No ulterior motives besides saving Elena and other innocent people's lives?"
"Nope," he stated, popping the 'p'.
Bonnie stared skeptically at him before he rolled his eyes and muttered, "I might have, but even if I did I wouldn't tell you." Before Bonnie could retort, he continued hurriedly. "So, if you can manage a spell like that, would you send me back?"
During the entire conversation, Bonnie had been thinking over her answer very carefully. Although she thought Damon's plan was much more complicated than the situation itself strictly called for, since she was sure there were easier spells, she wasn't against saving all the innocent lives Katherine had taken, especially that of her best friend. She'd already known her answer the moment Damon brought up the morality police dig.
"Yes… and no."
"What do you mean yes and no?" Damon argued, anger seeping onto his face.
"I mean… I'm willing to do the spell. But I'm not sending you back."
"What – Stefan? Pfft." He rolled his eyes.
"No, not Stefan either. I think you both have to go find Katherine in this current time period and stake her. Just in case the spell doesn't work."
"It will work. I will kill her," Damon started, getting worked up at the thought that they still didn't think he was over Katherine. So, yeah, he'd kissed her a few hours ago on the porch. But if he'd known it was her and not Elena, he would have put a stake through her heart in a heartbeat. That bitch was more pain and agony than love was worth.
"It's not foolproof," Bonnie stated firmly. "I could mess up the spell and, knowing how big it is, I might not be able to do it again. You could kill her before you become a vampire. She might be able to escape death, no matter how resolute you are in killing her. Many things could happen to ruin the plan."
It took Damon a while to reply but finally he nodded unhappily. "So, I assume you're going?"
"No. You're going to need my help in killing Katherine in this time period."
Damon's eyebrows drew together. "Then, who are you going to send back? Not Zac Efron, I hope."
"I'm surprised you even know who Zac Efron is," Bonnie muttered under her breath, earning a quick amused smile from Damon.
"But… I was thinking more along the lines of Caroline."
a/n: i know caroline wasn't in this chapter but i was trying to set up the situation in the present first. she'll definitely be around in the next chapter. despite the big role bonnie plays in this prologue, she isn't really one of the main characters of this fic. she'll pop up here and there but that's all. enjoy. :)