Becoming

Part Four

Author's Note: Sorry you all had to wait so long for the next update, but it's finally here.

Mystic Falls Hospital...

Jo, Alaric and Stefan were standing by while Elena laid in her hospital bed, her eyes closed, still unresponsive, Alaric holding hands with Jo, holding her hand in his tightly. Suddenly, Elena gasped for air, her eyes still closed. Stefan rushed over to her bedside, a relieved look on his face. Elena then blinked rapidly. "Damon?" she whispered, the look of relief on Stefan's face slowly fading. "Damon?"

"Damon isn't here right now, he went to go help Bonnie," Stefan replied.

Jo and Stefan helped Elena sit upright, Elena looking more than just a little disoriented. "Why would he go help Bonnie? Is she okay?" Elena asked.

"Kai did something to her, we're not sure what, but she and Damon are handling it."

"Kai... Kai crashed the wedding."

"Yeah, he did," Jo confirmed. "He somehow found his way out of the 1903 Prison World. We don't know if he brought the Heretics back with him or not."

"...Did he kill anyone?"

Jo nodded. "He did. He killed some of our coven, including... including my dad."

"Oh my god, Jo I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault."

"I'm gonna go tell Caroline she's awake," Stefan added, Elena giving him a small nod before he turned around and walked out of the room.

Elena put both hands on her head, to Jo and Alaric's concern. "My god, my head is just... pounding right now. Maybe becoming human again wasn't such a great idea after all, I would've been healed by now," Elena joked, Jo smiling and Alaric chuckling a little.

The Wedding Location...

Both Kai and Damon were now back on their feet, staring one another down, Bonnie watching nervously, waiting to see who was going to attack who next. "You know if I really wanted to kill Elena, I would've done so already. I would've done it at the wedding, would've been really easy too. All I would've had to do was snap my fingers, and ta-da, you're little girlfriend would've been no more. My quarrel was with my coven, more specifically my immediate family—not with any of you."

"I have a hard time trusting a single word that comes out of your mouth. Why would you hone in on your family, it was Bonnie, Elena and myself who left you to die in that Prison World in the first place," Damon replied.

Kai grimaced. "I haven't forgotten that. But you see, you suffer, and Bonnie suffers. The more pain I cause her, the more I hate myself."

Bonnie looked surprised by this response, while Damon sneered. "Why am I not surprised. You have a thing for Bon-Bon don't you?"

"Damon-" Bonnie started, an angry look on her face, only for Kai to cut her off.

"I don't have a thing for anyone! Not that she's not attractive or doesn't have very nice palms. Just Luke's conscience makes me feel—guilty for everything I've done to her. Even after she left me to become Heretic food in a Prison World."

"Why don't I believe you? See, I think you do have a thing for Bonnie. Why else would you have been so willing to send Jeremy back over to the Prison World even when you were, and I quote, 'half dead'. You did it to save her life. Because you like her."

"Damon, what on Earth are you talking about?!" Bonnie jumped in again.

"Go ahead little boy, tell her. Tell her what you and Jeremy did on her birthday."

"That's enough out of you Damon," Kai said angrily, putting one hand out forward, Damon falling to his knees, holding his head with both hands, moaning in pain. "I don't have to tell anyone anything."

Bonnie stared at Kai for a moment in disbelief, a look of surprise and horror on her face. "What is he talking about Kai?"

"He's lying," Kai replied. "What he said—it didn't happen."

"And once again, I don't believe you. Tell me what really happened before I have to beat it out of you. And let Damon go before I have to beat you for that too."

Kai hesitated for a moment before making a fist, Damon's neck suddenly snapping, his body falling over onto the floor, to Bonnie's concern. "Damon-"

"Relax, a snapped neck is hardly fatal for a vampire. He'll be just fine. Granted when he wakes up he'll have a very stiff neck I imagine."

Bonnie turned back to look at Kai, an impatient look on her face. "No more distractions, no more shutting people up, no more lies. I wanna know what you did."

"Well... I could tell you. But it seems rather pointless when I can just show you," Kai stated, walking closer to Bonnie, Bonnie not moving away. Hesitantly, Kai placed his hands on Bonnie's cheeks and closed his eyes, Bonnie waiting to see where he was going with this, also deeply uncomfortable with the fact that she was letting Kai Parker, of all people, touch her. Kai then began to chant in a foreign language, casting a spell.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came in and the scenery around them was slowly starting to change. Before she knew it, Bonnie found herself in the kitchen of the Salvatore Boarding House, Kai still chanting. Then Kai stopped, taking his hands off of Bonnie's cheeks and taking a few steps back. He then walked over to Bonnie's side, glancing over at his past self and a past version of Jeremy, who was helping the wounded and wheezing Past Kai into the kitchen. "What the hell is going on?" Bonnie asked.

"This is the past. We're inside my memories Bonnie. Everything you see here, actually happened."

The Past Kai collapsed on to the floor, barely sitting upright, bleeding heavily. "Send me back," Jeremy insisted, Past Kai only wheezing in response. "Please."

Past Kai looked at Jeremy in disbelief. "Jeremy, look at me. I'm half dead."

"I need to stop Bonnie."

Bonnie stared at the past versions of Jeremy and Kai, still shocked by the events that were unfolding before her eyes. "Ok. Ok," Past Kai replied, giving Jeremy a nod. Past Kai took the half melted ascendant out and held it up to Jeremy, closing his eyes and beginning to chant. "Phesmatos tribum invocio caveum, miscero mundio."

Present day Kai watched the events unfolding sadly, reminding himself that Bonnie nearly killed herself that day because of what he'd done. He wanted so badly to make up for the hell he put her through, he still did. But did he love her? No, someone like him wasn't capable of that. Or at least he didn't think he was able to have genuine feelings for another human being, not the kind of feelings Damon was implying. Or could he? He wouldn't have gone through so much trouble for just anyone.

"Take me back," Bonnie said firmly, turning to look at the present day Kai, a conflicted look on her face. "Take me back to the real world. Now."

"As you wish," Kai replied, forcing a smile on his face and snapping his fingers. In a matter of seconds, Bonnie and Kai were back in the real world, at the wedding location, Damon's body still lying on the ground, his neck still broken. Just then, his cellphone began to ring.

Quickly, Bonnie made her way over to Damon and searched his body for his cellphone, finding it and checking it. Alaric was calling Damon's phone. Bonnie answered the call and put the phone up to her ear to listen, still kneeling by Damon's body. "Hello? Alaric?"

"Hey, Bonnie. What happened to Damon?"

"He's... incapacitated at the moment. He'll be alright, just had his neck snapped. Is everything alright with you?"

"Elena woke up. Looks like she's gonna be just fine. She's asking for you and Damon."

A relieved look washed over Bonnie's face. "Oh, oh thank god. I'll get there as soon as I can, tell her Damon and I are on our way."

"Will do."

Bonnie heard Alaric hang up on the other end, so she pulled her phone away from her ear and hung up on her end. She then turned back to look at Kai, only to find that he was already gone, without saying so much as a goodbye. He'd cast another one of his cloaking spells, which the Gemini Coven happened to be known for. Bonnie let out a sigh, placing Damon's phone on the ground next to him, then buried her face in her hands.

Mystic Falls Hospital...

Bonnie and Caroline were standing by Elena's bedside, Elena sitting upright in her bed, a tired and exhausted look on her face, Damon, Stefan, Alaric and Jo all waiting outside, giving the girls time alone to spend together. "I just don't know what we would've done if you hadn't woke up. You are never allowed to scare us like that again," Caroline warned, Bonnie and Elena giggling.

"I'll try not to get my head bashed in again by a... psycho leader of a witch coven," Elena replied.

"Good."

"Speaking of the psycho that bashed my head in, what are we going to do about Kai?" Elena asked, looking over to Bonnie, Caroline looking over to Bonnie as well.

"...I don't know. We can't very well just kill him seeing as he's mystically connected to every witch in his coven, and killing him would mean killing them as well."

"There's gotta be a way to sever that connection," Caroline added.

"I don't think there is. But if there is, it would probably be very time consuming."

"It would be worth it," Elena suggested.

"Maybe it would. But I say we shouldn't do it until it absolutely comes to it," Bonnie insisted, to Elena and Caroline's mild surprise. "I think he's gone back to Portland anyways. He probably won't be a problem for us in the near future."

"What about the Heretics?" Caroline asked.

"I'm not sure what's going on with them," Bonnie admitted. "Kai said he had them mystically sealed away in a cloaked building somewhere in the warehouse district outside of Mystic Falls. But in theory Kai could just release them at any time. I just don't think he will anytime soon."

"Why is that? And why are we giving Kai the benefit of the doubt again?"

Bonnie paused. "The Heretics fed on him in the Prison World, made him there little bitch. I don't think there's any love lost there. And I'm starting to accept the fact that... I can't believe I'm saying this, Kai isn't the same sociopath who drove me to the point of wanting to end my own life. He's changed."

"Changed?! He just murdered his own father and nearly killed Elena-"

"And Klaus killed his own mother, not to mention Aunt Jenna and Carol Lockwood. And Damon killed Aaron Whitmore and tried to kill Jeremy twice," Bonnie interrupted, Caroline and Elena realizing what Bonnie just said was one hundred percent the truth. "We've come to see the good in a lot of monsters over the years. And maybe I do think there's a sliver of good in Kai now, even though that sliver of good comes from that Merge with Luke. Otherwise he'd still be a total sociopath. So maybe I'm going just a little bit easier on him because of that. But make no mistake, if he does end up hurting someone I care about again, whether he means to or not, or whether he feels guilty about it or not... I will find a way to end him. I promise."

"I believe you Bonnie, and I get it," Elena replied, nodding in understanding, Caroline still a little taken aback, thinking back to when she first started to see the good in Klaus, in spite of herself, and how much trouble, pain and heartbreak it caused her.

Elsewhere in Mystic Falls Hospital...

Alaric, Jo, Damon and Stefan were joined by a recently arrived Jeremy, who greeted Alaric with a hug. "Good to see you Jeremy," Alaric said with a smile on his face.

Jeremy took a few steps back, breaking away from the hug. "I—I tried to be here sooner. For the wedding," Jeremy replied, looking apologetically at Alaric, then over at Jo.

"I'm actually glad you weren't."

"Three cancelled flights," Jeremy explained. "I could've walked here faster," he continued, Alaric and Jo laughing a little. "I heard about your dad Jo. I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Jo said, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she thought about her recently deceased father, Alaric taking her hand in his, Jo squeezing it.

"Going to go in to see your sister before you take off again?" Damon asked.

"I was planning on it. How's she uh—how's she doing?"

"Good. She's awake now and expected to make a full recovery. Still wanna kill Kai Parker though for putting her life at risk in the first place."

"Same, Bonnie ever gives me the greenlight, I'm bashing his head in," Jeremy replied bitterly.

Elena's Hospital Room...

Jeremy joined Elena in her room at the hospital, Caroline and Bonnie walking out to give them some time alone together as siblings. Jeremy sat down on the bed next to Elena, a half hearted smile on his face. The two then hugged each other tightly. "I wasn't even gone for that long and you already nearly got yourself killed," Jeremy joked, pulling out of the hug. "But then you did choose to stay in Mystic Falls, even after becoming human again."

"Where else would I go?" Elena asked.

"Somewhere where the mortality rate for humans isn't so high?"

"What can I say, I like living life on the edge."

Elena and Jeremy laughed a little. "So that's just it, you become human again and you don't plan on living your life any differently?" Jeremy asked.

Elena hesitated. "Well not exactly. Damon and I have made plans to both lead more human lives together... after he drinks the cure from my blood and becomes human with me."

Jeremy stared at Elena for a moment in disbelief. "You're kidding me right? Damon Salvatore, human? How long would it be before the guy died of alcohol poisoning or, reckless driving, or pissing off the wrong guy-"

"All valid concerns. But he claims he's thought it all through. And this is what he wants. To live a normal life with me."

"Wow, I can't even picture Damon living a—a suburban life."

"Neither can I. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see on that front."

"I guess so."

"Speaking of the future, what's the deal with you and Bonnie these days?"

This time, Jeremy hesitated. "I don't know. I've only spoken to her a couple of times since she's gotten back from the Prison World. It's uh, it's complicated."

"I know what that's like."

Jeremy laughed. "Yeah, I thought you would."

Outside of Elena's Hospital Room...

Jeremy met up with Bonnie outside of Elena's hospital room, an awkward expression on his face. Bonnie reached her arms out for a hug, and quickly Jeremy embraced her, holding her tightly for a moment, before Bonnie took her arms away and took a step back. "Are you alright?" Jeremy asked, now looking more concerned than awkward.

"As alright as I can be," Bonnie replied. "All things considered."

"Yeah. So, Damon mentioned to me that Kai did something to you. What did he-"

Bonnie extended out one arm and turned it over to make her wrist visible to Jeremy, showing him the marking that came from Kai's protection spell. "He took some of my blood and used it to make a protection spell. It's kind of like a... Mark of Cain of sorts. So now if someone ever kills me, they die with me."

"Can't say I would expect someone like him to do... something like that."

"I didn't either. But apparently he also once helped you save my life in the Prison World. I wouldn't have expected him to do something like that either."

Jeremy paused. "I wasn't really going to give him much of a choice in the matter. He was wounded at the time thanks to Liv, he wouldn't have been that hard to overpower."

"Still... he did it."

"Yeah, he did."

Bonnie forced a smile on her face. "Thank you for saving my life Jeremy. I mean it."

Jeremy smiled back at her. "You're welcome. You would've done the same for me. There was no way I was going to give up on you, not if there was anything that could be done."

"I know. So um... what are you doing these days?"

"Fulfilling my mystical destiny... hunting murderous vampires," Jeremy replied quietly. "Don't tell Elena though, she still thinks I'm enrolled in art school."

"You're hunting vampires?"

"Yep. Saving the human population one vampire at a time."

"Good for you. ...Slain many vampires yet?"

Jeremy shook his head. "Not really. The odd one here and there. I was actually wondering... if you weren't doing anything here, if you wanted to... help me. Hunt vampires."

Bonnie smiled. "It's tempting but... I think I'll pass on that offer."

"Well, it's always open, if you change your mind."

"Good to know. About what I said on the phone that one time... I meant every word of it. That Prison World really did a number on me."

"I can only imagine. And the new you... doesn't think I fit into her life anymore."

Bonnie shook her head. "I still—we'll always be friends won't we?"

Jeremy nodded. "I hope so."

"Because you mean so much to me. And I do still love you. I do. But right now... after everything... I can't see how we would work right now."

Jeremy gave Bonnie a look of understanding. "I get it. Guess I'll be on my way then. Back to monster hunting."

"Would you say no to one for the road?"

Bonnie then placed her hands on Jeremy's face, leaned in, and kissed him deeply, Jeremy kissing her back, knowing this was the end of what they once had.

The Warehouse District...

Enzo stepped out of his car and walked towards Lily, who was still searching desperately for her vampire-siphoner companions. As soon as her eyes met Enzo, she looked both relieved and embarrassed. "Lorenzo. You came back. You must think me such a monster."

"We're all monsters in some way, I suppose."

Lily nodded slowly. "My life before my friends was misery, even as a mother, a-a wife. I never felt whole. But then, I found these people, and, uh, I felt a part of something. I actually felt whole while I knew them. Can you understand that just a little?"

"I can, because I've been searching for that my whole life."

Enzo looked away for a moment, then seemed both shocked and curious when he spotted something on the horizon. "What is it?" Lily asked, with a confused expression on her face.

"That building," Enzo replied. "It wasn't there last night."

Enzo walked toward the building, Lily following him. He eventually made his way to the building and opened the door, he and Lily walking inside. Suddenly, Lily saw something and gasped in shock. "Valerie? Nora? Mary Louise?"

After a moment, a woman in early 20th century clothing walked toward them. When she saw Lily, she began to walk even faster. Then, more people appeared behind them, some women, some men, Lily excited, happy, and relieved. "Lorenzo... it's our family!"

Lily walked over toward the woman leading the group, who she now recognized as Valerie, and hugged her tightly, tears rolling down Lily's cheeks.