February 7th
Sheila had not become accustomed to the eerie quiet of her home since Bonnie's abduction. Instead the quiet had only fuelled her anger and determination to bring her granddaughter home. Even now, with Elena, Caroline, Matt and Tyler taking up temporary residence in her home, the ache of Bonnie's absence pierced every space in the Bennett home.
"Grams, we need to stock the fridge for Bonnie. Elena and I are going to hit he supermarket, do you have any special requests?" Caroline's cheerful voice echoed in the kitchen.
Sheila smiled. Elena and Caroline had held faith when Sheila had nearly lost her own. They had been the pillars of strength that Sheila needed in Bonnie's absence, and she understood now more than ever why these two girls were Bonnie's best friends.
"Yes, baby I'll text you a list. Elena, will you let Stefan know to be an hour or so earlier? There's something I need to discuss with him," Sheila relayed.
Elena nodded and stepped out of the room to give Stefan a call.
Caroline eyed Sheila and then moved around the counter to wrap her arms around the woman who had been the voice of wisdom to them all.
"Grams," Caroline whispered, resting her head on the crook of Sheila's shoulder, "Bonnie is going to make it out of this in one piece. I hope you know that. Because you can do this, we're all going to make sure you can."
Sheila closed her eyes, leaning into the girl who's hand she held from the age of four. Sheila wrapped her hand around Caroline's arms and nodded.
Yes, she could do this. She would.
Bonnie would be freed in a day's time and so would the vampires that Emily had sought so hard to protect Mystic Falls from.
Beyond the window the snow had seized, blanketing the world outside the warm cabin in soft white. Bonnie sat huddled by the fire, holding a mug of tea and wondering for the hundredth time how slow time would now pass.
The day had slowly bled into twilight, the colours of dusk darkening the world outside. Bonnie had thought the hours would not pass, that day would not break, as she had waited for night to fall. She knew that when she went to bed tonight, she would awake in Mystic Falls tomorrow. She had asked Damon if she could be awake for the journey, but he had shaken his head and a part of Bonnie was relieved.
If she could close her eyes tonight and woke to Mystic Falls tomorrow, she would be more than thankful that this entire nightmare was over.
"You look like a little child waiting for Santa Claus," Damon's voice broke through her reverie.
Bonnie turned her head from the window to look at Damon, who sat on the opposite end of the couch. The witch shrugged, loosening her shoulders but not losing her tiny smile.
"It's a big day tomorrow little bird."
The eagerness in his voice caused her to shudder. She knew what would happen tomorrow, she had prepared for it for months. The spell to free Katherine, the powers needed to break the blood bond, Bonnie had thought about it all. Her anxiety bled through the bond and the nausea hit Damon.
"Worried little bird?", a hint of concern lacing his usual sardonic tone.
"Yes," she said simply.
"If tomorrow goes according to plan, you'll never see me again," Damon shared, a smirk falling onto his lips.
Bonnie closed her eyes, imagining the life she'd led before Damon, of the simplicity and the mundane order of her teenage existence. She felt him through the bond, the small emptiness and the hollow of his heart. It was a strange thing to sense his void, even the emptiness of him carried weight. It settled somewhere behind her ribs and when she needed it most, when the thoughts in her head became too loud, she would pull through to his low affect and hold on.
Would he rage, she thought, when the bond would be broken in days' time? Or would he be thankful?
She finally opened her eyes and saw him staring at her with a look she could not place.
"I'll be thankful for every day you stay gone Damon," she finally spoke.
The resignation in her voice, and the small relief he sensed through their bond, twisted something inside him. They had spent months, alone but together, and there was no indication on the witch's part that she would not think of him. The thought angered him, and he knew she felt the fury as her face twisted with distaste.
"Why are you angry?" Bonnie asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.
The question confused him, and he knew better than to start another fight. Bonnie peered at him through the haze of her near sleepy mind, shifting further into her blanket with her feet touching Damon's legs. The contact sparked his sense of ire again.
"Damon Salvatore will be reunited with his true love, Katherine Pierce tomorrow night. And life in Mystic Falls will move on," Bonnie stated.
"And believe it or not Damon, so will mine," she added.
The anger he wore so well, nearly choked Bonnie. She could feel the steady rising of his ire, it licked her lungs like flames desperate to consume.
"How exactly do you propose that little bird? That strained look on your face tells me that the anger I'm feeling at the moment is drowning you on the inside. It doesn't matter where I go, or how far I go, you're going to know of me well inside you. You will still feel everything I will," Damon spat out.
Bonnie reasoned that answering him would only fuel the fire, so she swung her legs off the sofa. She stood, welcoming the firm grip slumber now held on her. Before she could completely turn to walk away from him, Bonnie stopped short.
"Why is it so important for this to mean something to me?" she asked softly.
In a breath, Damon stood before her and Bonnie stumbled back in surprise. He caught her deftly, his arm wrapping around the exposed skin at her waist. Damon pulled her up, his arm anchoring her in place before him. He could see the sleep in her eyes, and the way her body seemed loose in his hold.
Why did it matter? What would it mean if Bonnie went on as if these months had meant nothing, as if their bond amounted to nothing but an inconvenience? The questions swam in Damon's mind and his confusion repulsed him.
The idea that Bonnie could forget him hit every thought of unworthiness Damon had ever held about himself. No, he had stained her, somehow, somewhere, just as she had stained him. This bond would keep him forever in the back of her mind, even if she hated it, even if she willed all of herself to deny it.
He released her then, slowly, and Bonnie stepped out of his arms. Damon reached out with his hand, tucking a small lock of Bonnie's hair behind her ear. Her eyes widened at the gesture and Damon stepped away from her then.
"Sleep little bird," he whispered, "when you wake up, it'll be in the damned town you love so much."
Her soft footsteps ricocheted in his chest as she walked away from him.
February 8th
The night of the comet had arrived. Countless hours, days and months had bled together to bring Sheila to this day.
"Are you prepared for the toll the magic may take on you?" Stefan asked with concern. He had suggested finding a coven to share the magic it would require tonight, but Sheila had denied the proposition. She could not trust others to keep Bonnie safe.
"It is a small price to pay, to keep Bonnie safe."
Stefan looked away from Sheila and caught sight of the darkening sky. Damon would be here soon, and he would seek out his younger brother. The thought terrified him. His brother, a man he had looked up to his entire life, had crossed every line he could to get what he wanted. Where had Stefan lost Damon? What moment was it in which Damon had condemned them both?
Stefan closed his eyes and felt Sheila's warm hand on his. In another life he would be kneeling at the altar, pleading with God for protection. He was no longer that man, and now he could only hope that the wrongs to come would not condemn them all.
Bonnie shifted and found herself lying on something cold. Her eyes opened, and she found herself staring at the night sky, decorated by the tops of tall oak trees. She was in a forest, and as she rolled on her side she realized she had been lying on the ground. Snow drenched into her clothes and the cold sensation pricked at her skin. She stood slowly, looking around her to find nothing but endless trees.
"Child," a disembodied voice spoke, echoing all around her.
"Wha- What's happening?"
Bonnie spun on her heel, trying to find the source of the voice but found no one.
"Bonnie, it is I, Emily," the voice continued, and Bonnie wondered how it was possible that Emily had reached through the tethers of her realm to do this.
"Your body is preparing for tonight. Rest child and leave the rest to us on the Other Side."
Before she could ask, Bonnie felt the earth swallow her whole and she felt the unique sensation of falling before startling awake.
Bonnie jerked out of her sleep, leaning forward at her waist and gasping for air. As her eyes adjusted to the room she was in, she saw books lining a far end wall and the distinct smell of cherry wood hit her. The wooden furniture and colonial era environment of the room echoed with familiarity.
"Feeling prepared to take on the day little bird?"
She spun at the sound of Damon's voice and found him leaning against the wall beside the bed she lay in.
"Are we home? Is this Mystic Falls?" she asked with hesitation.
Damon stood silent for a beat before answering, "Yes."
Relief tore through her and Bonnie choked from the onslaught of it. She had waited so long, had bided her time, to be home again.
"Where are we now?" she asked, swinging off the bed.
"My room."
Bonnie stumbled from the knowledge. Was Stefan home? Would Elena be with him? Could she see them before the comet fell on their sky tonight?
"Don't get too excited we're alone, and now we're leaving. Stefan knows to meet us at the tomb. Your grandmother will be there as well, so do get her to not kill me at first glance? She'll have her chance once Katherine is out of the tomb," Damon shared with a hint of amusement.
He grabbed a bag of some dark liquid in one hand and caught Bonnie by the waist, hauling her up off the ground. She was being held suspended in mid-air, only his arm keeping her in place. He looked at her then and smirked.
"Close your eyes and take a deep breath little bird," it was the finality in his voice that killed the fight in her.
She closed her eyes and did as she was told.
Bonnie felt Damon stop and when she opened her eyes they were in the forest. Nausea hit her from the inhuman speed her body had just endured. Damon readied himself away from her and distantly Bonnie thought she heard voices.
"Bon!"
The shrill scream broke through her nauseous haze and Bonnie looked up from her bent over position. She saw Elena run through the snow filled cover of night to get to her. Bonnie let out a breath and she felt something warm inside her despite the cold winter night.
Elena engulfed Bonnie and it had felt like the distance between them had been years and not the months Bonnie knew them to be. Another body closed around Elena and Bonnie, and from the soft scent of a familiar perfume, Bonnie knew it to be Caroline.
Safe. She felt safe. Here, in the arms of the two girls who she loved more than anything. The exhaustion that had been seeping inside her, that had settled somewhere in her bones in the past few months, threatened to pulse through her. Bonnie caught herself before her heartache could get the best of her, and she entangled from the warm embrace of her best friends.
She looked up and saw Damon staring at her distantly. His eyes had clouded over with something akin to determination. Whatever spell they had been caught under, whatever web they'd woven between themselves these past few months now suddenly seemed to thin. He was here for Katherine, and Bonnie felt a sense of dread rip through her.
"Bonnie."
The tears the young witch had been holding in for the past few moments now fell unguarded at the sound of Grams voice. She turned at once and saw Sheila standing beside Stefan. Without a second thought Bonnie launched herself into Grams arms and she felt the weight of the world lift from her. In this moment, in this tiny stolen moment, Bonnie allowed herself to be sixteen again.
"Did he hurt you?" a steely determination came from Grams.
Bonnie bit her lip and shut her eyes. Had he hurt me? she thought. The few moments he'd touched her, the few moments she'd descended into madness from loneliness, the times he'd argued with her, none of those had hurt. But when then did she feel an ache looking into his eyes and knowing he only had room for one thought. Katherine.
"No," she replied.
Distantly, from beyond Grams hold on her, Bonnie could make out Stefan's dark voice spilling into the night. She could feel the sharp intent of his words, directed solely at Damon. Bonnie wondered briefly if Grams would hurt Damon for doing what he did. For stealing her away. She wondered how long after the bond was broken that Grams would allow herself to wait before going after him.
"What the hell is in that bag anyway?" Stefan's angry voice echoed.
"It's for Katherine," Damon answered, "Gotta have something to get her going."
Bonnie emerged from Grams hold and she looked her grandmother in the eyes. Grams hands held Bonnie's face and she whispered, "Are you ready?"
Bonnie nodded. She was ready. Damon had stolen months of her life for this, and if she couldn't get out of this in one piece that wasn't attached to him, she would most definitely lose her mind.
From the corner of her eye Bonnie saw Damon take a step forward, towards her, but before he had any hope of reaching her, Stefan stood in his path.
"I think you've done enough damage to Bonnie. Let's just get this over with Damon," Stefan resolved. His voice was hard, and Bonnie could hear the strain in his tone. He was holding back, but from what Bonnie couldn't gather.
Damon's eyes didn't leave Bonnie when he spoke to his brother, "Yes. Let's. The faster we can get Katherine out, the sooner all of you never have to see me again."
The vampire held her gaze for a beat longer and Bonnie felt a shiver course through her. She knew he was speaking to her more than anyone else present. Sheila's hand tightened on Bonnie's arm and without a second glance at Damon, they descended into the tomb.
The darkness held Bonnie as she walked down the steps but a small fire in the corner of the enclave gave her eyes some relief. Four fires raged in a circle around the etched stone floor. One for every element. Sheila had started the preparation and Bonnie knew her Grams was unwilling to waste any more time.
"You know what we must do. Are you scared baby?" Sheila whispered in the semi dark, her words solely for Bonnie.
Bonnie turned to face her grandmother and nodded. They would do this spell and they would get Katherine out, but as soon as the spell was over, Grams was going to break the blood bond.
Vaguely Bonnie could hear the Salvatore brothers descend behind her.
"Admit it, you can't wait to get rid of me," Damon said, his voice finding some of the sarcasm it had lost in Siberia.
"I can't wait to get rid of you," agreed Stefan.
Bonnie knelt on the ground beside Grams, her grimoire between them both. She took a deep breath before looking back at the vampires.
"We're ready."
Bonnie didn't have to look at Damon to know he was too.
Grams hands found Bonnie's and they started the spell. Bonnie had practised for months, hoping, praying, that when the time came her powers would be enough to do what needed to be done. But as she felt the four fires around her grow stronger with every word her and Grams shared, Bonnie felt her magic pulsate from within her.
This was what power felt like. Power held, and power shared.
"What are they saying?" Damon's curiosity broke the quiet between the remaining four.
"I think it's Latin," Stefan offered.
Elena and Caroline both shook their heads.
"It's not Latin," Elena stated.
The Bennett witches were so consumed by their own magic that when the four fires emerged over their heads, neither noticed.
Damon had been in awe of the young witch for months. He had seen her practise and he'd seen the fruition of it as well. But it was this sheer display of power before him, that pinned his gaze to her. Her hair flowed from the magic that pulsated around her, and Damon could feel the life in the tomb.
Bonnie Bennett was just that. Life. Connection to nature, but life. She spoke with vitality, she fought with rigor and she existed beyond the way that Damon only knew as surviving. She had told him she could do this, and he'd never doubted her.
But here, standing before death and being met with her power, he knew he would never doubt her again. The earth shook beneath them and he knew the Bennett magic had taken complete hold of the tomb.
"What's happening?" Elena's trembling voice came from somewhere in the tomb.
Her voice was drowned out by the sound of stone moving. Damon located the source of the noise and saw that the sealed stone door to the tomb had shifted. He looked back at Bonnie, the door behind him still easing it's way open.
She opened her eyes and saw past Damon.
"It worked," she gasped.
"Of course, it worked," Sheila spoke then, her voice hard.
Damon sought Bonnie in the dark, his eyes watching her body buzzing from the strength of her magic.
He felt the sudden urge to close the distance between them. She had brought him here, to the beginning of his world, to Katherine. But the way her magic coursed through the air, the very weight of it thickening in the small space where they all stood, disarmed him. He felt a swell of pride and confusion, and he knew that she could not feel it through the bond with her heightened magic.
Where does that heart go little bird? Where are you when I feel the near absence of you? What are you hiding?
He was a man in love, but he was not stupid.
Damon broke his gaze from Bonnie, instead looking onto Elena.
"Shall we?" he said, his eyes finding Bonnie's again. Bonnie's heart started to beat erratically, and he could feel her anxiety vine into his lungs.
"What's wrong little bird?" he asked, his voice soft and taunting.
"You can't use her as leverage," Stefan answered Damon instead.
Stefan knew his brother better than anyone, and knew that when it came down to it, Damon's suspicious nature would force him into doing something drastic. But Stefan was done letting Damon wreak havoc in his friend's lives. Elena had just gotten Bonnie back, and she didn't need to face the onslaught of Damon's volatility first hand.
"I'll come with you," Stefan stated, his voice allowing no room for argument.
But when Stefan looked at his older brother he, for the immeasurable time that night, found his brother looking upon Bonnie. The bond that existed between his brother and Bonnie, whatever the strength of it was, had changed something. He could feel it, the palpable twist and turn of the cord that tied his brother to the young Bennett witch.
You're going to be okay Bonnie. Sheila and I will end this. Tonight.
It wasn't solely the thought of what Bonnie must have suffered through, of what she must have endured, in the past months that rattled Stefan. In the ravaging firelight Damon's expression seemed severe, but through the small ticks of his jaw and the smoothing changes of his features, Stefan knew Damon could taste Bonnie's emotions.
Damon had closed himself off to his humanity for so long, that the flood of Bonnie's would have been too tempting to devour whole. Damon may not have allowed himself to feel to the extent he once did, but through this bond he could allow himself the experience of it without the emotions being his own.
Stefan knew, deep in his core, that Damon missed being human. Damon had never wanted to turn, he had wanted to live a long old, life to die. But Stefan had denied him that, and it was something he knew Damon could never forgive him for.
And Damon could never forgive Stefan for what he would do now.
Damon hesitantly turned back to his brother and finding something about Stefan's expression satisfying, he nodded.
Bonnie turned away from them both, clasping Grams' hands harder than before.
"You will have until the comet passes, it is the only length of time the spell will allow for the tomb to be open. Be out before then, or be stuck in there forever," Grams said, her voice nearly spitting venom by her warnings end.
Stefan nodded, pulling Damon with him and both brothers walked ahead into the darkness.
As soon as they were out of sight, Grams positioned Bonnie in the middle of the etched stone.
"Caroline," Grams started, "do you have the herbs?"
Caroline nodded wordlessly, coming forward into the circle to place herbs by Bonnie's side. Elena and Caroline huddled together, watching Grams and Bonnie with a weariness most their age would never know.
Grams crushed the herbs and of the paste added water enough for Bonnie to swallow as liquid.
"Drink this baby, drink it and you'll fall asleep within time of the comet passing. I promise that when you wake up this nightmare will be over," Grams said with utter conviction.
Bonnie drank the concoction and the world started to feel heavy around her. She would not be caught in the sedative so quick, though she could feel her limbs wanting to sink into the earth.
"Now stay with me. We're going to keep the tomb open until they come out. Can you do that for me baby?" Grams asked with concern.
"Yes," Bonnie said, her tongue feeling heavy in her mouth.
The voices of the two Bennett witches seemed to merge into one, and both Elena and Caroline's hearts thundered at the prospect of what was to come.
"She's not in here," a desperate voice called out to Stefan in the darkness.
The brothers had split up in the tomb, thinking it easier to find Katherine that way, but Stefan felt an unease he could not place.
He followed the sound of Damon's shallowing breathing and found his brother kicking at a wall of stone.
"Dam-"
"She's not here."
The possibility that Katherine was not in the tomb, that the months that had led up to this point were all for naught, was spinning through Stefan's mind.
"Damon, what-"
Damon took the blood bag he had been holding and threw it across the small space, the bag exploding upon contact with a wall.
"She's. NOT. HERE!"
Bonnie's knees buckled, and she felt her insides churn with a sickness she had never felt before. Her hands slipped from Grams' and she fought the overwhelming urge to scream. She felt the hollowness that Damon usually occupied through their bond, kick in and fill with something she could not comprehend. It was thick, suffocating and it wrapped around her throat and her heart, searing her with pain.
What's happening to me? What's happening?!
It was grief. Incomprehensible, immeasurable grief. And it was Damon's.
"Grams," Bonnie choked out, "something's wrong."
"Damon, we have to get out of here. Now," Stefan spoke, trying to break Damon out of his self-imposed nightmare.
"This doesn't make sense, they locked her inside!" Damon reasoned, his voice calmer than before. An eerie, maddening calm before the raging storm.
"If we don't leave now, we are not getting out," Stefan said, his voice sterner than before.
Damon's grief was a weight Stefan could not remove. "How could she not be in here?"
"It's not worth spending all of eternity down here! She's not worth it!" Stefan reached for Damon, his hand landing on Damon's shoulder.
Damon turned abruptly, shoving Stefan away from him. "No!"
"Please, Damon, we need to get out of here," Stefan pleaded, his eyes imploring with Damon, begging him to think.
His older brother looked at him with a sense of loss that Stefan knew would haunt them both. But it was the pleading look on Stefan's face, the reason or the will to want to continue to live, that caught at Damon. Damon nodded, following Stefan out of the tomb.
"They'll be out soon baby. Just please hold on," Grams tried to get through to Bonnie.
Damon's grief was a chokehold Bonnie could not shake and she knew that if this bond did not break tonight, the damnation of his loss would haunt her forever.
Footsteps echoed from the darkness and into the raging light of the elemental fires, both Salvatore brothers walked in.
Stefan followed Damon and before Damon could stalk through the circle and out of the tomb, Stefan caught his brother from behind and sunk a shot of vervain through Damon's system.
The dose was strong, and Damon's feverish body fell within seconds. Bonnie's eyes looked on in confusion but before she could speak, she felt her body collapse in on itself. As her eyes closed and her mind descended into darkness, her last thought was, Where is Katherine?
A/N: Hey everyone! I promise to get to the reviews/comments everyone's left soon! This chapter needed to be written out for plot progression, but the next one is very taxing to write so I've been focusing on how to get that one out in a way I'd actually not hate lol.