No One's POV
Bonnie left the Mikaelson mansion as fast as she could, driving straight to the Salvatore mansion, the sun quickly setting on the horizon, leaving little time to save Elena or Caroline.
"Bonnie?" Stefan asks, opening the door.
"Stefan!" Bonnie cries, barely holding back tears.
"What- what's wrong? What happened? Where's Klaus?" Stefan asks.
"I- I did the spell… And- and he- he wouldn't help. I- I don't know… That- that girl is back!" Bonnie blunders out, shaking her head and nearly trembling.
"Wait, what? Calm down, Bonnie. Come in, tell us what happened." Stefan urges, looking concerned as he ushers Bonnie inside the Salvatore Boarding House, Damon now appearing behind his younger brother.
"The spell. It- it opens a- I don't know. E- Elijah brought with him other warlocks. It was a spell I couldn't do. Either- either way. That girl, she's not- not from our world, or something…" Bonnie explains.
"Our world?" Damon asks, gaze growing sharper.
Bonnie nods, settling down on the couch with a blanket draped around her now.
"That's- that's- what are the Originals doing?" Damon asks, looking startled.
"I- I don't know!" Bonnie cries.
"Okay, okay. We- we'll deal with that later. What else?" Stefan tries to calm the Bennett witch and focus her.
"She- she's not compelled."
"You know this for sure?" Damon probes.
"Yes. The Originals, the- the way they act around her. Klaus gave her the daggers. They're gone." Bonnie emphasizes.
"Gone. What do you mean gone!?" Damon hisses, now beginning to pace.
"She- she took them to her world! They're gone. She- she said that it was ridiculous to have the Mikaelsons carry a weapon around that could kill them. So- so she took them away. And Klaus- he just let her. He said he trusted her. With all his heart. I- I don't understand." Bonnie looks confused and perhaps distraught.
Damon and Stefan are silent at this revelation, stunned that Klaus, notorious for not even trusting his siblings, would allow this.
"And- and after, when she was back, Klaus refused to help us! It- it's like he doesn't care anymore! I mean, he's selfish and cruel, but this- this is something else! He won't make Kol let Jeremy go! And- and this is bad!" Bonnie begins to cry now, sniffling.
"Okay, okay. We- we'll figure something out, Bonnie. We will, okay? We'll rescue Elena and Caroline." Stefan sooths, awkwardly hugging Bonnie trying to comfort her, while he was good with Elena, he wasn't really close with Bonnie.
In another moment a whoosh of wind breezed through the Salvatore Boarding House, Rebekah and Elijah appearing.
"What do you want?" Damon asks, glaring at the two Originals. "Don't you have some other people to bother? Or wreak havoc on? Haven't you done enough?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just making sure you two idiots don't screw things up for us." Rebekah snarks, looking down at a nail bored before suddenly rushing at Damon, hand punching through his stomach.
"So don't." Rebekah growls, eye dark.
"Is- is that a threat?" Damon manages to gasp out from the sudden pain radiating out of his body.
"Not exactly." Rebekah grins, mimicking a look as mischievous as her brother Kol, and then with a twist of her wrist relieving Damon of a few nonessential organs before snapping his neck.
"Honestly, sister. You and Kol. You make such a pair sometimes." Elijah sighs, breaking off a leg of the coffee table and stabbing it through Stefan's side just as Stefan attempts to rush him before snapping the youngest Salvatore's neck.
"You're the one to talk right now." Rebekah simply gives her older brother a look.
"Why- why are you doing this!?" Bonnie shakes, starring wide and teary eyed at the two Originals.
"They will wake in a few hours." Elijah simply answers, barely glancing at the two temporarily dead Salvatores, Elijah and Rebekah gone in another moment, returning to the Mikaelson mansion to wait for Alaric while the rest of their siblings carried out their various parts of the plan that had been carefully crafted only a short hour or so prior.
At Mystic Falls High School, Finn and Kol laid in wait, watching from the nearby bushes for movement within the school, the sun just now dipping below the horizon.
"Ugh, why did we get the short end of this plan? I don't want to rescue the stupid doppelganger. It'd be more fun to kill her." Kol complains, checking his phone.
"Kol. As our mate would say… Shut up." Finn deadpans, heaving a sigh, now completely understanding why Elijah wore a suffering look most of the time while dealing with their siblings.
Kol gives a small indignant sound of protest, Finn suddenly glaring and pointing, gesturing to the school.
Alaric now moved, shifting in front of the window, as if now testing his resistance to the now mostly disappearing sun.
"Time to go get us a doppelganger… And hunt us a Hunter!" Kol whispers gleefully, seemingly awfully too eager for this.
Finn barely manages to hold back a sigh of exasperation, flashing after his youngest brother, both inside the school within moments.
"Sorry I'm late for class, Mr. Saltzman. Got lost. You know how it is!" Kol barges into the classroom a maniac grin on his face and a wooden bat in his hand.
Alaric is startled, Kol charging, swinging with precision and enthusiastic glee, the bat slamming through Alaric's shoulder, not that it slowed the Original Hunter down much.
"Huh, she wasn't kidding…" Kol manages to say, flashing back out of the school, already moving towards the Mikaelson mansion, the first part of the diversion set.
"Hello, Miss Elena. Miss Caroline." Finn now flashes in, his face even toned and serious as usual.
"Finn." Elena steps back fearfully, not knowing what to expect from the eldest Original, she had after all, tried to murder him along with Matt and Stefan.
"Go home, Miss Caroline. And do not leave your house tonight." Finn compels Caroline, easily ripping through the bonds that held the baby vampire, before picking up Elena and speeding off back to the Mikaelson mansion as well.
Back at the Mikaelson mansion, Alexis paced anxiously in the confines of her bedroom, waiting for the four other Mikaelsons to return.
"Why don't you come lie down, love?" Niklaus tries to coax, arm lifting from his side to try and get her to come and lie beside him as he lounged on his mate's bed.
"I don't think I can. I'm too worried." Alexis says, wringing her hands together and biting her lip.
"Come now, darling. My siblings are a bit harder to kill. And you took the daggers to your world. They're gone." Niklaus tries to assure her.
"I know. I know. But-" Alexis worries.
"But nothing. Now, come here." Niklaus cuts off, wiggling his fingers again.
"Fine." Alexis concedes, shoulders dropping as she finally stops pacing and jumps on the bed to crawl next to Niklaus.
"There, isn't that better, love?"
"A little." Alexis smiles, snuggling into Niklaus' chest, head resting over Niklaus' heart.
"Don't worry, love. Everything will be fine. We're more worried about you." Niklaus drops a kiss to his mate's crown.
"Which is why you're here." Alexis pipes in.
"Original Hybrid at your service, my little mate." Niklaus offers, nosing against her.
"I'll be fine."
"See? You worry about us, we worry about you. We tell you we're fine, you tell us you're fine. An endless circle, an endless debate. So, do you see the issue?" Niklaus points out, tickling his mate lightly in the side.
"Umm… You're over protective?" Alexis laughs, wiggling away from Niklaus.
"No." Niklaus growls playfully, nipping at Alexis' neck. "Someone here… Is lying. And it isn't us. The last time you said you were fine, you were taken from us."
"Yeah, but- but that was hardly my fault!" Alexis objects, sputtering lightly.
"No, but it is proof you need protection."
Alexis only pouts slightly, huffing at Niklaus' logic.
"Hello, Elskan. Niklaus." Elijah breezes into Alexis' room.
"Lijah! Nik's being mean!" Alexis perks up, face turning up to Elijah.
"Mean?" Elijah raises an eyebrow.
"Yes! He's telling me I need protection. Like I'm some delicate, little, wilting flower or some damsel in distress!" Alexis moans dramatically, attempting to wiggle away from Niklaus' grip.
"I see, Astin." Elijah now looks amused, moving to lie on the other side of his mate.
"Noooo!" Alexis moans even more dramatically, throwing herself across both Elijah and Niklaus. "I don't believe it! Not you too, 'Lijah!"
"Indeed, Elskan." Elijah chuckles at his mate's playfulness, his fingers trailing across her forearm as he presses a kiss to her crown. "You are precious to us."
"Fine." Alexis sighs, curling between the two Originals.
"God, you two are sappier than romantic comedy movies. I'm not sure whether to be horrified or to throw up. It's disgusting. What did you do to them, Alexis?" Rebekah asks, head poking into Alexis' room, her face scrunching up as if not even recognizing her brothers.
Alexis simply erupts into laughter, Niklaus glaring at his sister, lobbing a pillow at her face.
"No one asked you, Bekah." Niklaus growls.
"Fine. Well, doppelganger 3.0 is here." Rebekah offers, dodging the offending pillow.
"Which means Kol should be here soon from his little cat and mouse game." Alexis points out.
"Yes, he should be." Niklaus rises from his place next to Alexis, checking his phone.
"Be safe." Alexis whispers, looking worried again.
"Do not worry, Elskan." Elijah hushes, leaning down to press a kiss to her temple as he rises. "Everything will go as planned."
In a blink the three Mikaelson siblings were gone, leaving Alexis alone upstairs in her room as they met Finn downstairs with Elena who is now tied down to a chair.
"Klaus, what- what do you want?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just going to drain you of most of your blood…" Niklaus shrugs.
"What about your hybrids? You'll need more than this to create your army." Elena tries to struggle.
"These last few liters will have to suffice. You see, by attempting to kill us, my mother strengthened the bond between my siblings and I. I don't need hybrids. I have my family. And something more." Niklaus paces, Elijah and Rebekah behind him, Finn upstairs saying hello to Alexis while waiting for Kol to arrive.
"If you believe that, then why take my blood at all? You want a backup family. You know that your siblings will never trust you again." Elena tries to take a dig at Niklaus.
"Alaric is here." Finn announces, flashing down from upstairs.
"Brothers? Sister?" Niklaus tilts his head.
"We will distract the Hunter." Elijah nods, and with a brush of wind the remaining Mikaelsons are gone from the mansion.
"You know… Niklaus drags out, ignoring the comment from Elena.
Honestly, was everything always about him? Or someone else? Did the doppelganger never own up to her own mistakes? Or see how her own choices lead to consequences, good and bad? Was she really that self-centered? That shallow? And they accuse him of being the monster and selfish one. Honestly, it was ridiculous.
"Stefan blames me for trying to tear him from his brother, but I think we both know who really came between them. You. That's why you won't choose. You know once you pick a Salvatore, you'll destroy their bond." Niklaus continues.
"Consider this me doing you a favor. Once you're dead, you won't have to choose. No broken hearts. Their family stays intact. But just between us girls, who would you have picked?" Niklaus taunts.
"Rot in hell." Elena spits out at Niklaus, glaring heatedly.
"Not quite, sweet heart." Niklaus growls lightly, suddenly flashing behind Elena, fingers dragging along her neck in what could almost be considered a caress, but wasn't; then in a quick motion, bites into his arm and shoves it in her mouth, forcing her to drink, before snapping her neck. "Sweet dreams, Elena. It's been fun."
Outside, now playing an elaborate game of tag between the other Mikaelsons siblings and Original Hunter 2.0, Alaric drops dead as Elena Gilbert, the Petrova doppelganger, had begun her transformation.
