Bon Appétit.
Bonnie's bound body was sprawled across the floor while her head was resting in Elena's lap, a small kindness bestowed by Qetsiyah for bringing down the veil. Her magic was completely drained. It wouldn't be if she was just bringing down the veil of the other side, but it was more than that. The two witches had kick started the procedure to sacrifice the other side for Silas.
Alaric was in the circle of hostages as well, equally as bound as Bonnie; Qetsiyah had planned for unwanted dead supernaturals attempting to stop her.
"And now we wait. Once the last person on the otherside is sacrificed Silas should appear."
"Should appear? You mean you're not sure?" Matt asked appalled.
"Swapping souls over isn't exactly something I do on the weekend Mathew." Qetsiyah quipped. "And besides..." She divulged into a tangent.
Amara was huddled with her back Elena, still quivering in shock.
"It's gonna be okay." Elena whispered to her original copy, not believing the comforting words herself. She kept a hand on Bonnie's head, ignoring the tight ropes on her wrists. Amara kept her head down when she heard Elena's voice; she seemed so unlike Katherine, the only other doppelganger she'd known. She seemed so... broken. And in those fractured eyes Elena could see her own pain reflected.
Amara looked up at her with red eyes. "No it's not. It's never okay." She sniffed and chanced a glance at Qetsiyah who was far too occupied with her own voice. Amara leaned closer and hissed to Elena, "You need to kill me." Before she could hey a word out Amara's body was wrenched up into the air and slammed against the invisible barrier hard enough to knock her unconscious as she fell inertly onto the floor.
"She always did talk far too much for a girl with nothing to say." The witch glided over to a bench and settled down, pulling her shawl closer to herself. "And you've all lost the privilege of hearing my stories to wile away the time. Now we sit here in awkward silence. Are you happy? Honestly, I don't want to kill more people than necessary-"
Three loud bangs ran through the air followed by three thuds as they hit their target. Qetsiyah was left pinned to bleachers by three wooden stakes protruding from her chest.
"And I didn't want to shoot you more than necessary." Damon held up the crossbow and advanced forward. Qetsiyah was careful not to move. "I was wondering when you'd get here." She struggled.
"Damon stop moving!" Alaric yelled quickly, not quick enough though. Damon hadn't even finished putting his foot down when his leg was jerked towards the circle with his body flying behind. The minute he crossed the invisible barrier he felt himself pressed by an unseen weight, stripping his strength from him.
"Sucks don't it?" Matt muttered, trying not laugh as Damon rubbed his head and swore. The situation may have been dire but it was still gratifying to see that dick hurt. Almost immediately Elena was reaching out for him, he crawled over to her and they were a tangle of sobs and affection.
"Bleugh, have some respect. If I'm going to be killed I don't want the last thing I see to be you two slobbering all over each other." Elena cast a glare at Rebekah and continued to hold Damon close. But with a wave of the witches hand he was bound by vervain ropes on the other side, away from her.
"I'm not a monster, I won't subject you all to watch that."
Caroline was just outside the gym. Through the glass she could see everything. It was by sheer luck that she hadn't walked in with Damon and been dragged away. A difference of a few seconds had saved her. That and she thought she'd heard a bang coming from the classroom. Qetsiyah was still stuck to the bleachers but slowly pulling out the stakes one by one, the bloody chasms in her chest closing up slowly leaving nothing but bloody rips in her close to evidence Damon's tries. Killing Qetsiyah was priority number one. She ran softly back to the car and into the boot, loading up on weapons. Somehow she didn't think the sole stake in her hand would be enough anymore. She turned over an axe in her hands, admiring the light glinting off the blade.
Making her way back into the school she stopped; footsteps were sauntering down the hall behind her. She ducked at the nearest opportunity away from sight and peered.
"There's no point hiding, I see you." Said a familiar voice. Caroline tightened her grip around the axe, recognising it. "Aja." She bit. One of the twelve witches she killed to save Bonnie.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Said the witch.
"You killed my mother." Caroline grit her teeth.
"And you killed twelve of my coven. I'd say that makes us even." Aja advanced forward cautiously. "Qetsiyah's undoing the laws of nature and I'm here to stop her. I'm a witch Caroline, I'm useful. So we put aside our past to save everyone's future."
Caroline moved towards her and lowered the weapon, grinding her teeth in anger. She was right. Bygones should be bygones. They'd both lost. The responsible thing would be to let her help. "Fine. How do you propose we stop her?"
Aja breathed a sigh of relief.
"We need to kill her obviously, to stop the otherside being sacrificed. But killing her won't stop her from coming back through the otherside. It's an endless cycle." Aja furrowed her eyebrows thinking in overdrive and Caroline couldn't shake the burning sensation in her mind. The red hot anger she felt looking at the bitch that killed her mother.
But it was the responsible thing to do to put it aside.
"How did Qetsiyah come back?" She asked, trying to distract herself.
"Through a doorway. An Isthmus anchor binding the otherside together."
"What is it?"
"I don't know but if we destroy that we destroy the other side and any chance she has of coming back."
Caroline curled her fists. "If we destroy the other side then everyone on that side will be destroyed as well." Stefan, Damon, Alaric, even Kol, Bonn-not Bonnie, Bonnie was back now.
"They died. It's their time now."
It wasn't my mother's time.
Her mother was an innocent, she wasn't hurting anyone. Caroline killed the coven to save Bonnie. Aja maliciously hunted her mother a slaughtered her.
But it was the responsible thing to do to put it aside.
Caroline's gripped tightened around the axe as Aja continued talking, every word she said was becoming another ring in her ears until finally Caroline whispered harshly, "did she cry?"
Aja looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Did my mother cry when you murdered her?" Caroline took a step toward Aja who stepped back instinctively.
"Caroli-"
"Did she beg for her life, witch?" The axe was no longer dragging on the floor, but was more stably in her hand. "Did it make you feel good to watch the light-" Caroline gulped in some air to stop herself from breaking down at the flash of Liz Forbes' dead body sprawled on the carpet, but tears had already escaped her hold as they ran down her cheeks. "-to watch her die"
Aja rolled her eyes and put up a threatening hand. "Obviously you can't be an adult about this. Now you may be armed but so am I vampire. I'm a witch with powers very lethal to your kind. So put down the axe and be responsible."
Responsible. Responsible. Responsible. Responsible. Responsible.
She had to do the responsible thing.
People were counting on her.
Caroline nodded minutely, acting on her instincts though her hands raised the axe bringing it down on Aja. Aja grit her teeth a pushed a wave of pain on Caroline, expecting her to crumple to the ground. But she didn't. The air was filled with a scream as the axe ripped through the witch's shoulder and sliced through her torso, coming out the other end. Her broken body collapsed to the side in a pool of red.
Caroline was tired of always being responsible.
Sometimes she just wanted revenge.
"That was unexpected."
She whipped around to see who was standing there. Stefan wore a grave look on his face as he pulled her away from the scene and into a hidden classroom, careful so they avoided stepping in the blood.
Caroline sighed in relief as she looked into his face. Squeezing him tightly. But it didn't help, her nerves were still shot. I want Klaus. She thought silently. Ignoring herself she stepped back and looked up him, his face still grave.
"Stefan." She breathed.
"No," he replied, eyes darkening. "Silas."
I know, there's no Klaus in this chapter but he's a long way away and trying so hard to get here in time, seriously the amount of speeding tickets he's going to rip up when this is over is astronomical, please be patient with the Hybrid.