Disclaimer: I don't own the Vampire Diaries nor am I making any profit from this whatsoever. Characters, etc. all belong to their respective owners.

A/N: Sorry it took forever to get this chapter out I honestly never meant to take a year to update. There was a mixture of personal reasons and writer's block-related reasons that I won't bore you guys with details.

And here's a special shout-out to the ever wonderful abbyli who helped makes this chapter a billion times better and therefore got me to take this fic in a newer, better direction than what I originally had planned! I can't thank her enough for it :)


He's already furious about being trapped in the living room in the first place, however, being tapped with an equally irate Klaus was just the icing on this is shitty cake.

He already gave Henri a call to inform him of what happened and, while the other vampire agreed to go after Bonnie, he doubts it will actually do any good.

"Well, this is certainly a fine mess you've gotten us into, Kol," Klaus spat, pacing back and forth throughout the room. They hybrid spent that past day firing off one disparaging comment after another and more than once a physical altercation had broken out between them.

Instead of telling Klaus to shut up for the thousandth time, Kol just looks at him with a bored expression from his position on the overly expensive couch.

"No, really," Klaus continues, a wry smile spreading across his face. "Did you actually think that the little witch would help you? If it were me, I would have seen the betrayal coming from miles away."

Kol snorts and tilts his head back towards the ceiling before looking at Klaus again. "That's real hilarious, Nik, considering you didn't have the damndest idea that all this was happening right under your nose and now you're trapped here with me too."

The sarcastic smirk immediately drops from Klaus's face and he lunges for Kol.


Caroline's not so sure that coming here is the best idea, but suddenly receiving a call from Elena telling her that she and Bonnie had patched things up and were now setting off to go retrieve the cure just didn't sit right with her.

What would have made Bonnie do a total one-eighty after the conversation they'd had yesterday? Surely not even Elena could have convinced Bonnie otherwise; not with how absolutely adamant the witch had been.

So, she finds herself at Klaus's of all people, thinking that maybe he'd have some answers for her. Was it a ridiculous idea? Oh, definitely. However, he's the only person she can talk to face-to-face that had seen Bonnie before she left.

Tyler had insisted on coming with her, partly for support and partly because he wants to face his mother's killer. She doesn't think that's such a good thing for his healing process, but she knows she can't really stop him. Tyler would face Klaus head-on whether it was with her or alone.

To say that what's about to happen is going to be uncomfortable would be a huge understatement.

"Well, aren't you looking all cozy locked away here," Tyler says sarcastically as he strolls into the Mikaelson living room. His eyes flicker from Klaus to the wreckage of broken glass and furniture throughout the room to where an unamused Kol sits perched on the arm of what he thinks used to be a couch.

When Caroline sees Kol, her confusion increases even more.

"Kol?" This is one of the few times where Caroline has no idea what to say. He's supposed to be daggered! Bonnie had daggered him and put him somewhere that only she knew! So, how could he possibly be here right now? Did someone find him and pull out the dagger, unknowing of what would happen?

"Surprised to see me?" The vampire in question asks dryly. "You know, I'd seriously been thinking that your little group was in on the witch playing me, but given your reaction, I'd say your friend has been keeping some secrets from you."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Klaus, clearly not in the mood for any of this, buts in, "What this idiot is trying to say is that he was under the impression that he and the witch-bitch had formed a warped little team to prevent Silas from being raised, but obviously he was wrong. And now here we are."

Caroline stands there just blinking with her mouth hanging open slightly.

She's known something hasn't been quite right with Bonnie for a while, but she also knows that her best friend has been under a lot of stress, stress that had been put upon her by everyone else. She never would have expected this, though.

"None of this makes any sense!" Caroline says, shaking her head. "Why would Bonnie ever agree to work with you? That's not like her at all! And just yesterday, Bonnie was hellbent on having absolutely nothing to do with the cure anymore and now she just ups and leaves for it? Not to mention, that creepy professor was conveniently let out of jail yesterday before a full investigation was even con—"

She stops in the middle of her tirade because something suddenly clicks in her mind. "Oh crap! That creep did some sort of mindfuck on her!" Caroline screeches.

"Fantastic," Klaus says sarcastically, nonplussed. "You've got it all figured out. And that helps how? We're still trapped here."

Kol ignores his brother and instead focuses on Caroline. He supposes it makes sense. The professor was able to make himself resistant to compulsion without the use of vervain. It really wouldn't be that far-fetched to think he had managed to develop his own for of compulsion or hypnosis that would work on a witch.

He should have gone and killed the professor a second time. And if that didn't work, he should have just one it again and again and again. He decides not to dwell on it too much, though and pulls out his cell phone to give Henri a call about this new revelation.

Caroline stands there for a moment, still angry and stunned by the whole thing. When she sees Kol dial a number on his cell phone, Caroline knows that the only thing she can do right now is give Elena a call and pray that the brunette would actually listen.

She moves into the other room for the illusion of privacy (but who's she kidding? Everyone in the house currently has super-hearing) and calls Elena.

"Hey, Caroline! I was just about to call you in like five minutes," Elena says cheerfully when she picks up the phone. "Our plane just landed and we're on our way to get a boat to—"

"Elena, listen to me," Caroline interrupts. "We're pretty sure that Shane has hypnotized Bonnie into helping you guys get the cure because he wants to raise Silas."

She can hear Tyler and Klaus arguing in the other room. While she hopes that Tyler wouldn't do anything foolhardy, she knows that with everyone that has recently happened to him, he's standing on a ledge and there's only so much any one person can take. The cruel things Klaus is saying to Tyler certainly doesn't help matters.

She feels the frustration that comes with having too many problems to deal with welling up in the pit of her belly.

"We?" Elena asks, drawing Caroline's attention back. "Who's 'we'?"

"Me and Kol. And, yeah, I realize how that sounds and I know he's supposed to be daggered, but that's not even half of the insanity right now. You guys need to take Bonnie and come home now."

There's a pause and Caroline could perfectly envision Elena pulling the phone away from her ear, blinking at it dumbly in shock.

"Caroline…I'm not exactly sure what to say. I mean, we're this close to the cure! How can we just come home now? And speaking of Kol, how is he not daggered?"

"Are you even listening to me?" Caroline snaps. Elena couldn't really be this blinded by the cure, could she? "Don't you find it at least a little strange how one day Bonnie blows up at you over the cure and now she's suddenly all gung-ho about it?"

"I think we've all just been under a lot of stress lately and Bonnie just needed some time to herself. Besides, she seems perfectly fine to me right now, Care," Elena says.

"She's not fine! What the hell is the matter with you?"

"Look," Elena's voice hushes as if she's trying not to be overheard. "We don't trust Shane either, so I promise we'll keep an eye on him and Bonnie. Everything will be okay. I'll see you when we get home."

The phone connection goes static and Caroline's mouth hangs open in disbelief.

She walks back into the living room, half angry and half stunned.

"Elena doesn't believe me."

"Shocker," Kol deadpans.

"Let's go, Tyler." The last thing she needs is more of Kol's snarky comments. Also, judging by the way Tyler and Klaus are glaring at each other, it's best to get Tyler out of there.

"Seriously, that is what you've been wasting your time on?" She hears Kol ask Klaus. She feels herself bristling at that comment, but does her best to ignore it because she has bigger issues to deal with.

Still, though, if Bonnie managed to keep something as massive as an alliance with Kol secret, she couldn't help but wonder what else Bonnie might have kept hidden.


She doesn't come into full awareness of herself until she's alone with Shane and Jeremy.

It was like all the other times he's hypnotized her; she's doing things before she even realizes just what is happening. It's like sleepwalking.

And when she's finally aware again, she almost wants to scream.

Clearly seeing the horror on her face, "Shane is immediately movies to calm her. "Shhh, Bonnie, it's okay."

"Get away from me!" She all but shrieks and stumbles to get away from him, Jeremy reaching out to steady her. "You're insane!"

"I understand that—"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it! I trusted you and…" she can't even finish the thought. "You're insane," she repeats.

The patient, understanding, sympathetic look suddenly melts away from Shane's face and Bonnie finds herself becoming even more frightened.

"Look," he tells her flatly, "As much as you dislike it, you need me. Everything I've done has been completely necessary, especially teaching you Expression. But, like, all magic, it comes with a price. Without me being able to control you, you'll eventually lose control and die."

Horrified, Bonnie doesn't know what to say. She looks at Jeremy, who's currently glaring at Shane.

She could see the wheels turning in her ex-boyfriend's head and knew he had a million things to say to the crazed professor, but didn't even know where to start.

"So," Shane said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "Let's get going, shall we?"

Bonnie wonders how she didn't see it before; how frighteningly two-faced this man is.

Bonnie and Jeremy look at each other and she hopes that he's thinking what she's thinking. If they comply with Shane for now, he won't hypnotize them again and when the perfect opportunity presented itself, they'd get far, far away from him no matter what it took.

They follow Shane deeper into the forest.


"Any word from that little minion of yours?" Klaus asks as if he hasn't been right here to see for himself.

"He told me that it's a remote island that almost nobody knows about, Nik. It won't have service."

This is the first time Klaus has broken the tense silence since Tyler and Caroline left in a flurry. Kol is really wishing that his older brother would just keep his mouth shut.

"You should have left it alone, Kol."

He lets out a humorless laugh. "I should have left it alone? Do you really want to rehash this again?"

Silence.

"Unlike the rest of you morons, I've actually been trying to protect us."

"Oh, really?" Klaus replies in a droll voice.

"I went after vengeance when Finn was killed. I tried my damndest to cover up who originated the Salvatores' bloodline to stop their attempts to murder us—thanks for idiotically running mouth about that one, by the way. I tried to make sure Silas didn't rise and kill us all."

Klaus snorts. "Let's not pretend you did that out of the goodness of your heart. You did it all for your own benefit."

"And what have the rest of you done?" Kol snarls, getting up in his older brother's face. "Elijah doesn't want anything to do with us. Rebekah is so utterly blinded by the delusion that being human is somehow better than being a vampire, and you're obsessed with making hybrids—all of which have hated you and wanted you dead."

"Well, then, maybe you should just accept that we're just a sham of a family and move on."


After walking for what felt like miles, they reached a cavern.

"We're finally here," Shane says with a large grin. He shrugs off his backpack and begins to pull out rappelling equipment.

"Jeremy will god down first, and then you, Bonnie, and then I'll follow behind the both of you."

As she watches Jeremy go down, she continues to wrack her brain for any possibilities to get out of this mess.

When Jeremy calls out that he finally reached that bottom, Shane motions for Bonnie to go, and she carefully rappels her way down. She touches the bottom and stumbles a bit, Jeremy reaching out to steady her.

"Any ideas of how we'll get out of this one?" Jeremy whispers as quietly as he can so that the echoes wouldn't carry up to Shane.

Bonnie looks at the cavern around her, searching for any solution. Maybe she could bring the cavern down on Shane without crushing her and Jeremy in the process?

It's a risky idea, but it's the only idea she has.

"I think I have an idea," she whispers to Jeremy. She can hear Shane telling them he was coming down now. "Just keep going along with him; leave it all to me."

He nods and reaches for her hand to squeeze it reassuringly.

When they hear Shane reach the bottom, they turn around to face him.

"So," Shane says excitedly, stepping closer to Bonnie and Jeremy. "Let's begin."

To her horror, Bonnie finds herself turning to Jeremy, who's taking off his shirt to reveal his hunter's tattoo.

Apparently Shane wasn't as distracted as Bonnie has been hoping because he wasn't taking any chances and had put them under hypnosis again.

It's different this time, though, Bonnie realizes. I'm fully aware of what I'm doing…I just can't stop it.

She wonders if that's a sign that she's getting stronger and more resistant to hypnosis or if it's just something sick and twisted that Shane devised.

She performs the spell flawlessly, the words flowing of her tongue and the rush that came with Expression flowing through her. And then, Jeremy's tattoo suddenly disappears.

Other than that, nothing happened.

No bright lights, nothing shaking, nothing opening up. Nothing.

Hoping that maybe, just maybe something went wrong, she turns to Shane, finding that she's no longer under hypnosis.

When she sees the face-splitting grin on Shane's face, though, she feels an even more sinister foreboding stirring in the pit of her belly.

"Oh, it is so good to finally be back at my best," Shane says.


She didn't think she'd be coming to this stupid mansion twice in such a short time span. This time, though, it's for a different purpose.

It almost feels wrong, even a little bit selfish, but with everything that's been going on…she's fucking terrified. She's terrified because of how much Elena has changed (or maybe she hasn't changed all that much and Caroline is just really seeing her for the first time), she's terrified because of all the things Bonnie has been keeping from her, and she's terrified because she know she's going to lose Tyler to Klaus when, right now, he's the only one left there to keep her hanging on.

So, here she is, ready to ask Klaus to let her have this one thing. And she really, really hopes that whatever feelings he has are strong enough to do this for her.

"Well, look who it is, Nik," Kol calls out when Caroline enters the living room.

"I'm here to ask you something," she says to Klaus, ignoring Kol.

"Oh?" Klaus replies curiously, coming up to meet her. She must be closer to the barrier than she thought because he manages to crowd her space. She's tempted to take a few steps back, but she stops herself.

"When you get out of here, please…" She pauses to take a deep breath and square her shoulders. "Please, leave Tyler alone. He's already lost enough and you've made your point."

"See, I don't think I have," Klaus says. "Do you think I'm so stupid that I don't realize he's now spending every minute of every day plotting to kill me?"

"No, he's not!" Caroline snaps. Okay, she's not naïve enough to think that Tyler hasn't been planning some sort of revenge, but everything is so much more complicated than that. "He's too busy grieving because you killed the only family he has left."

"I'm sure," Klaus replies flatly, clearly not convinced.

"Look, if whatever you feel for me is real and means anything to you, please just do this for me."

Klaus tilts his head thoughtfully as if he's considering something and Caroline allows herself to hope that she's actually getting through to him for a moment.

"Here's what I promise: When I get out of her, I will hunt Tyler Lockwood down to the ends of the earth and then I will rip his heart out and send it to you in a gift box.

She gasps and takes a step back. She looks at him for a moment, and then turns to leave, but then turns around and marches back towards him, picking up a heavy, elaborate vase along the way. She throws it at his face as hard as she possibly can and is surprised when it actually makes contact.

She can hear the crunch of his nose breaking and sees the vase shatter, small chunks of ceramic embedding themselves in the hybrid's skin.

"You are sad, and pathetic, and cruel. It's no wonder that not a single person in the world can stand to be around you." There's tears streaming down her face, but she manages her words evenly.

"Well, Nik," Kol Deadpans as he hears Caroline slam the front door to the mansion shut. "You still know surefire ways to make women want you." Pause. "Although, I think I actually like her a little better now."

Klaus glares at Kol as he finishes picking shards from the vase out of his skin before punching the younger vampire hard enough to break his jaw.


"It didn't work, did it?" Tyler asks when she comes outside.

"It's okay," she says more to herself than she does to him. "It's going to be okay. We'll find a way. I mean, we always do."

"Caroline," he says, taking her hands and sitting them down on the front steps. "I don't think we will this time. Klaus is going to keep coming after me, you'll keep trying to save me, and in the end, you'll get hurt. The best thing for me to do would be to leave town and not come back."

"But, you can't," she says. The hot tears fall down her face even faster. "With everything that's going on now…I need you. I need you to be here with me."

He cups her face in his large hands and looks earnestly into her eyes. "I know I've said this to you a million times before, but you are strong enough to make it through. And who knows? Maybe…maybe one day we will actually find a way. That's the beauty of us being immortal."

"And if we don't?" She asks. "If I have to lose you, will you at least try to live as normal a life as possible? And just forget about Mystic Falls and everything that's happened here?" Even as she says it aloud, she knows that it won't happen.

Klaus meant every word he said and Tyler would never have a normal life again.

"I'll go far, far away. I'll be as normal as I can and I won't even remember what living here was like," he whispers to her.

She laughs a little bit through her tears. "You totally suck at lying."

He kisses her and she clings to the leather of his jacket, wishing that she could make this moment last forever. But eventually, it ends and they pull apart.

"Until we find a way," she whispers, her words shaking.

He kisses her forehead one last time and then he's gone.


"Oh, it's so good to finally be back at my best."

Bonnie and Jeremy stare at him, not quite fully comprehending.

"Ah, right, I suppose it's time that I properly introduce myself," Shane says. "I'm Silas."

It's all so surreal that her mind goes blank and she can barely get any words out.

"But—but I thought Silas was supposed to be entombed—"

"Oh, Bonnie, you of all people should know how stories and mythologies get warped and misconstrued over time. Quetsiyah couldn't take away my immortality, but she managed to imprison my powers. I managed to teach myself some alternatives, but there's nothing quite like the real deal." Flames suddenly spring from each of his fingertips and ghoulish glee encompasses his face.

"But if Silas—you—were never imprisoned here, then why go through all the trouble of bringing us all the way out here?" Jeremy demanded. "Why not have had the spell performed a long time ago?"

"Mmm, don't think I wasn't tempted. However, I have a very specific plan. Besides, it's all been quite fun." He turns to Bonnie. "Of course, it was so much sweeter, seeing how much you look like Quetsiyah. Now, time to get the cure." He turns towards a side of the cavern.

"Why? Why would you get the cure?" Bonnie asks. She tries her best to make her voice even, to not show any fear, but her words tremble anyway. "It would turn you human."

He turns to her and actually laughs. "Oh, sweet little Bonnie B., if only you knew a fraction of the true story."

He turns back to the cavern wall, waves a hand, and it simply crumbles.

He strides inside, not even glancing back at Bonnie and Jeremy. She wonders how fast they could climb back up that rappelling rope and get away.

She turns back to Jeremy and begins to tell him to start hauling ass, but next thing she knows, she's pinned to a side of the cavern that's still intact.

"Where is it? What did you do with the cure?!" Silas snarls in her face.

"Nothing," she yells. "How could I? You've had me hypnotized for days!"

"Hey!" Jeremy yells, pulling on Silas's shoulder. "Let go of her!" He aims a hard punch at Silas's jaw, but he doesn't even flinch.

He releases Bonnie and takes a deep breath and straightens out his clothing.

"I suppose you're right. Ah, well, I can still go forward with the next bit of my plan."

He reaches out and easily snaps Jeremy's neck with his bare hands.

Her breath whooshes out of her and she hears a scream and it takes her a minute to realize that it's her screaming.

"Nononono," she cries as he advances towards her.

She wills herself to do something, anything. She reaches within herself, searching for even the smallest bit of magic, even if it's Expression.

"Don't worry," Shane—no, not Shane, Silas—whispers in her ear. "Killing you isn't a part of my plan. Not yet at least."

Then everything goes black.


A/N: So there you have it! Like I said at the beginning, this chapter put this fic in a whole new direction that I hadn't been planning, but I definitely think it'll make things a billion times better and, while I still can't promise super-fast updates, you guys won't have to wait a year again.

Thanks for reading and, as always, reviews are very much appreciated!