A/N: I enjoyed reading everyone's guesses in matching the characters :) I was especially amused that quite a few of you matched Stefan with "pariah" (definition- someone who is despised, or an outcast) LOL.

For the rest of the words, I honestly think they could be interchanged between any of the characters—for example, almost everyone has been a martyr, victim, civilian, leader, liar, honest, at one point or another. Though, "soldier" and "prophet" inevitably go to Alaric and Bonnie =P

As for the Messiah (definition- savior) and the Victor...well I guess we'll find out at the end of the chapter ;)


It's the moment of truth and the moment to lie
The moment to live and the moment to die
The moment to fight
-30STM


"Okay, now your arm," Klaus ordered.

Katherine gritted her teeth as she pulled the knife out of leg and stabbed it into her arm instead. She flicked a glare in Stefan's direction, and his expression turned apologetic for a fraction of a second before he twitched his shoulders at her. He felt bad—but he couldn't do anything about it.

"Now your other arm."

When Katherine hesitated, Klaus narrowed his eyes at her. "I said, your other arm."

"I heard you," she snapped back, her fist tightening around the handle of the knife as she pulled it out again. This time she couldn't hold back the hiss of pain that escaped her lips, and Klaus smiled at her indulgently.

"Hmm, where next?" Klaus mused out loud, "Stefan, any ideas?"

Stefan, however, was saved from answering when a woman's voice called out loudly. "Oh, Klaus! Look what I've brought you…"

Mrs. Lockwood waltzed into the clearing, followed sullenly by Elena, Damon, and Elijah. The two hybrid-deputies brought up the rear, their weapons still pointing firmly at the three captives.

There was silence as both pairs of brothers stared at each other.

Damon was the first to speak, his gaze trained solely on Stefan. "Say, do you remember when you were locked up in the basement and I made the effort to have a little heart-to-heart chat with you?"

"Yes," Stefan said stiffly, fighting to keep the expression on his face stoic. "What about it?"

The look on Damon's face was murderous. "I asked you point-blank if you and Klaus had created any hybrids! You failed to mention that Klaus' master plan involved turning the town's deputies into his little minions, though the ingenuity of it all is simply—"

"What?" Stefan interrupted, confused, "The deputies are hybrids?"

'Don't pretend to be all innocent," Damon snarled, "Elijah told us the legend...Klaus needs your blood—given willingly—to create the hybrid race."

"I...don't remember," Stefan turned to look at Klaus, "Is this true?"

"The legend is true, yes," Klaus shrugged carelessly. "And I Compelled you to forget about the creation of these two hybrids, which is why you don't recall doing it."

"But..." Stefan's brow furrowed, "The legend says my blood must be given willingly..."

"And it was," Klaus smirked, "Come now, you can't have already forgotten the fun we were having? In fact, it was your idea to turn the deputies...a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself."

"Oh," Stefan blinked, coldness settling into his eyes once more, "It does sound like a good idea. Glad I thought of it."

Elena gaped at Stefan, sincerely hoping that he was merely doing an exceptionally good job at acting the part. "Y-you can't be serious," she stammered, "Stefan?"

He didn't answer her.

Klaus looked pleased with the turn of events and he nodded to Lucy, "What are you waiting for? Get the spell started."

"I, ah, thought you wanted me to wait until you were done...torturing Katherine?"

He swept an arm across the clearing, "Look around, witch. There are plenty of sacrifices to go around." Klaus turned towards Stefan and slapped an arm around his shoulders, "I think you should get a reward for returning to me. What do you think?"

"A reward?" Stefan's eye glinted in the darkness, "That would be an honor, Klaus. What did you have in mind?"

"How about..." Klaus paused, "I let you choose one of the sacrifices?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, your brother must obviously die for being a nuisance, and so does mine...but I'll let you choose between Elena and Katerina, how about that?"

Damon growled in warning, and Katherine stiffened. Elijah narrowed his eyes at his brother, "You can't possibly make the boy choose between the two Petrova doppelgangers, Klaus. How is he supposed to decide?"

"You act like I'm not being generous with my offer," Klaus scowled, but he relented when he caught sight of Stefan's expression. "Alright, how about each of them gets a chance to plead their case?" He nodded to himself, "Yes, that should be interesting." He turned to Elena, "You have five minutes. Go."

Elena sputtered indignantly, "You're insane!"

"That's your defense?" Klaus asked lazily, "You're supposed to be pleading for your life here, Elena."

She crossed her arms, "I refuse to play your stupid game."

"Fine," Klaus shrugged and turned to Katherine, "Your turn, then. Why should Stefan save you?" Katherine was still holding the knife in her hands, and for once she looked speechless. She glanced towards Lucy, who mouthed the words 'stall for time.' Klaus tapped his foot impatiently, "We're waiting."

"Because I love him," Katherine said offhandedly, "Is that a good enough reason?"

"Well, if that's all you have to say..."

Lucy's eyes widened frantically at Stefan. STALL.

"Uh," Stefan cleared his throat, "Why should I believe you?"

"I came back for you," she replied swiftly, "Twice." She paused, her mind whirling. "And don't forget the open connection spellI've been checking up on you, all these years!"

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Klaus looked bored, "Oh well, Stefan are you ready to choose?"

"W-wait!" Katherine cried out, "I love you more than Elena does!" She paused, "I can prove it."

For the first time that night, Stefan looked faintly interested. "You can prove it?"

"Yes," Katherine ignored Damon's glowering expression. "When they were trying a location spell to find you, Bonnie did the pure of heart spell using Elena's blood...but it didn't work. Because for that spell, the human's blood must be your true soulmatethe blood has to call for its other half's return." Katherine paused, "And Elena's blood didn't do that."

Elena closed her eyes briefly. So, Katherine was throwing her under the bus. Surprise, surprise.

Stefan's gaze flicked to hers, "Is this true?"

"Um," she began weakly, "See..."

"Oh," Katherine snapped her fingers, "And right after that, I caught her kissing Damon—"

"What?"

Damon groaned. He knew Katherine was trying to stall for time so that Bonnie could complete the spell, but all she was really doing was creating a pissed-off vampire. He tried to communicate this fact to her, but frowned when he suddenly picked up on the sounds of three people running in their direction. He turned towards the source of noise just in time to see Bonnie, Caroline, and Jeremy enter the clearing, breathing hard.

"Ah, looks like we have a little party on our hands," Klaus grinned. He began to say something else, but then Katherine cut him off.

"She was there," Katherine said, pointing at Bonnie. "She saw Damon and Elena kiss that day."

Caroline looked confused, "What are you talking about? The only people there were me and Elijah." A satisfied look crossed Katherine's face, and Caroline's eyes widened as her hands flew to her mouth. "Oops," she winced, "Did I just put my foot in my mouth?"

"Okay," Stefan began pacing back and forth, his shoulders tensing. "So, what I'm understanding from this little conversation is that there have been multiple kisses?" He shot a glare in Elena's direction, "Would you say that's an accurate assessment?"

Damon decided to step in to smooth over the situation, "Listen, Stefan—"

"Of course," Katherine went on loudly, "None of that compares to the night you signed your life away to Klaus and I found the two of them in bed together..."

There was an instant uproar.

"It wasn't like that!" Elena exclaimed, "Damon was dying—I was j-just..."

"If we all get through this alive," Damon hissed at Katherine, "I'm so putting a stake through your heart."

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone fell silent.

Stefan's fists were clenched and he looked angrier than Elena had ever seen him. "Is that why?" he spat at her, "Why you chose to take his blood instead of mine?"

"I..." Elena floundered helplessly, "No—Stefan, nothing happened...I swear—"

To add fuel to the fire, Katherine smirked, "Don't blame her, Stefan. See, this is all my fault; I told her it was okay to love the both of you—I guess she took that a little too literally..."

Stefan ran shaking fingers through his hair and then across his face, clearly fighting to stay in control. Bonnie and Lucy exchanged glances and then their arms rose towards the night sky in unison. "NOW!" Bonnie shouted, letting the Power flow from her fingertips. The streaks of light clashed midair with Lucy's Power, creating a brilliant flash of blue energy.

Elena stumbled back, her hands shielding her face as blinding lightening crashed around them. Several people screamed. And then, quite suddenly, everything went silent. When she opened her eyes again, it was to see a large ring of what looked like blue flames.

Anna and Vicki were standing in the middle of it.

Tyler had appeared, and he stood next to his mother at the edge of the clearing. He gaped openly at Vicki, who gave him a small smile of acknowledgement. "The sacrifices must cross the ring of fire," she said, her voice echoing ethereally. "Whether they walk over willingly or they are pushed over, does not matter."

For a second, no one moved.

Then Klaus hissed, taking a threatening step towards Lucy, "You betrayed me? How dare you!"

"And how dare you blackmail me into doing your bidding while you were intending to sacrifice Bonnie all along?" Lucy threw back at him spitefully, "Family might not mean anything to you, but blood runs thicker for me."

"You'll regret your decision before the night is over," Klaus growled with a vengeance, "Mark my words."

"You know," Bonnie interrupted, "For someone who's about to be sent to the other side, you sure do talk a lot."

Just like that, everyone sprang into motion. Elijah leapt at Klaus, and they became twin blurs as each tried to overpower the other. And as if there had been some predetermined plan, Damon and Katherine immediately rushed at one of the deputies; Caroline and Tyler rushed at the other.

Elena was left standing next to Jeremy in the midst of it all when her brother suddenly turned towards her, "I have my ring—I can help them!"

She had seen the stubborn look on his face before, and knew she'd be wasting her breath if she tried to dissuade him. "Wait!" Elena called as he began running towards Caroline and Tyler. "At least take some sort of weapon!" Her gaze landed on the knife that Katherine had discarded onto the ground and she grappled for it clumsily before tossing it to Jeremy. "Be careful!"

Jeremy nodded and had just left when someone grabbed Elena's shoulders harshly and pulled her off to the side. She gasped in pain as she was thrown roughly against a tree, her eyes widening when Stefan's face loomed into her vision. "You..." she looked at him wildly, "You should be helping with the fight!" When his grip on her only tightened, she felt nervousness kick into her system. "Stefan, the time for acting is over—y-you are just acting, right?"

His expression contorted, rage and control battling for dominance. "You tell me," he hissed at her, "After all, you should win a freakin' award for your acting skills—pretending you wanted me to come back home, when you were with Damon the whole time...How could you, Elena?"

"No," Elena pleaded, wincing as he shook her shoulders angrily. "It wasn't like that, I—" She broke off when Stefan's nostrils flared, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her arm. "What is it?" she asked shakily, looking down at her hand which had been burning faintly for the past five minutes. "Oh," she said hollowly when she saw the gash across the palm of her hand. When she had picked up the knife...

Stefan's eyes had closed, but he couldn't stop the growl that escaped his lips. "Elena..." His voice was strained, and she felt her pulse accelerate in fear. She had a sudden, vivid flashback to the night that they had tried to take down Klaus...Stefan had tasted her blood then—meaning, he was already fighting the temptation...

"Don't," she whispered, unable to move a muscle as held her with an unrelenting grip. He wrenched her arm closer to his lips, breathing hard as the veins appeared around his eyes. Elena watched in stunned disbelief as his mouth suddenly closed over the wound, sucking almost eagerly at the blood.

Tyler's voice shot across the clearing, "I'm a werewolf, you moron! Your bite won't hurt me!" Elena's head snapped up just in time to see Caroline, Tyler, and Jeremy gain the upper hand in their fight against the hybrid, and they shoved him over the ring of fire. Anna and Vicki stepped aside as a portal opened between them, and the hybrid let out a scream before disappearing into it.

"A little help over here would be great," Damon shouted over his shoulder as he and Katherine fought fruitlessly against the remaining deputy. Caroline and Tyler immediately joined the foray, using their combined forces to push the remaining hybrid over the edge. He disappeared in the same manner as the first.

Bonnie and Lucy were both struggling to keep the spell going at this point, and Bonnie let out an exhausted yell, "Anytime, now!"

Elijah and Klaus both stopped fighting, somehow ending up on opposite sides of the clearing. "You may as well cut your losses now," Damon said in a hard voice, "And sacrifice yourself."

Klaus let out a laugh, his gaze roaming across the row of people glaring at him: Caroline, Katherine, Tyler, Damon, Jeremy, and Elijah. "So," he began in an amused tone, "You think that the six of you will be able to overpower me?"

Stefan was staring at Elena, and he let her wrist drop from his fingers. She caught the flash of emotions play across his face—regret, shame, disappointment, and finally...determination. "No," Stefan said in a clear voice, taking Elena's arm firmly and leading her towards the group. "Eight."

"What was that?"

"Eight," Stefan repeated, "It'll be eight against one, Klaus."

Rage settled across Klaus' face when he realized the implications of what Stefan had said. "Et tu, Brutus?" He finally sneered, his accent thickening. "Well in any case, you're wrong. I still have an ace up my sleeve." He turned and gestured to Carol Lockwood, "Come here, dear."

Tyler stiffened, "You leave my mother out of this!"

Mrs. Lockwood paid no heed and walked over to Klaus, a blank expression on her face, "You called?"

"Wait!" A figure suddenly hurtled out of the woods, much to everyone's disbelief. "Okay," Alaric wheezed, "Everyone stay calm."

"Ric?" Damon said incredulously, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Oh, just saving the day. You know, the usual." Alaric sent a significant look in Damon's direction before he strode right up to Mrs. Lockwood and grabbed her hand, "Let's get you out of here." Elena frowned as she swore she saw something glint in his hand under the moonlight, but no one else seemed to be paying attention.

"Is this your master plan?" Klaus was asking, "How disappointing."

Mrs. Lockwood shoved Alaric away forcefully and he fell backwards. "I follow Klaus," she said adamantly, "Only Klaus."

"That's right," Klaus abruptly faced her, "You did. But your job is done now. You are free."

Elena suddenly got a very bad feeling about this.

"I am free," Mrs. Lockwood nodded in understanding. Then—before anyone could stop her—she turned on her heel and stepped into the ring of fire.

"NO!" Tyler shouted, and Caroline screamed as he began running towards the fire. "No!" he roared, fighting against Caroline's grip as she desperately leapt at him to pull him back. "That's my mother!"

"You can't go after her!" Caroline shrieked, tears running freely down her face. "Tyler, I'm sorry! I'm sorry—she's gone!"

"I HAVE TO! I have to save her!"

Jeremy looked hopelessly towards Anna and Vicki, both of whom looked shocked. "We can't do anything about it," Anna whispered, "I'm sorry."

"You can't! Tyler, please!" Caroline cried, pulling him into her arms as they both fell to the ground. "You can't go into the portal—you'll never come back! I c-can't let you go in there," she sobbed, ""I love you too much to see you die! I can't lose you..."

"You," Elena turned towards Klaus, her voice low with barely suppressed rage, "How could you do this?"

"You can't honestly be surprised, Elena," he watched unconcernedly as she stepped closer to him. "The three sacrifices are done. There's nothing you can do about it."

"Yeah? Well, there's about to be a fourth one," she appeared inches away from his face, "You."

Klaus laughed, "What are you going to do? Talk me into walking over?"

Elena tilted her head, circling around him until her back was to the portal. "You know what? I'm glad that Arria and Isidora didn't choose to marry you," she said fiercely, "That way you lost the only thing you've ever truly wanted!"

Klaus blinked, surprise filtering his expression as he took a step towards her threateningly. "Ah, so my dear brother has told you the story...don't pretend to understand, Elena."

"Oh I understand perfectly," she said coldly, "Isidora was better off dying than being with you."

He looked enraged, and his arm swung out so fast that she didn't even see the slap coming. Her head snapped to the side from the force of the blow, but she held up a hand to stop anyone from interfering. Instead, she continued to stare up at Klaus unflinchingly. "And I don't care if it wasn't your fault that she died—you deserve to be cursed."

Klaus growled, grabbing her shoulders and causing her to stumble backwards. "You shouldn't speak that way about the curse, sweet Elena," he said menacingly, "Thanks to it, you've been hunted, killed, brought back to life..." He lowered his voice persuasively, "Not to mention, you'll never know if what the Salvatore brothers feel for you is real—or just the work of a centuries old witch."

"And you know what I've realized?" Elena returned without skipping a beat, "The spell only said that the brothers would protect the doppelganger." She raised an eyebrow challengingly, "It didn't say anything about love."

By this time, she had been backed up within an inch of the flames. Over Klaus' shoulder, she could see everyone watching their interaction confusedly. Damon, however, was the only one who wore a clear expression. Elena met his gaze and gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

He lifted his head in understanding and looked over at Bonnie, who was watching him carefully. As soon as their gazes met, Bonnie took a deep breath and nodded to Lucy. Together, they gathered the remnants of their Power, pushing it beyond its limit.

At the same time, Damon silently made his way forward. Elena glanced over at him and then back to Klaus. "Well," she smiled up at him innocently, "It looks like I talked you into walking over after all."

"Excuse me?"

But Elena had already leapt out of the way, jumping into Damon's waiting arms. Klaus didn't even have time to turn around before Bonnie and Lucy's Power soared, widening the ring of fire by a mere inch.

It was a small, insignificant amount. But it was enough.

Klaus looked down at his feet, which were planted on the wrong side of the flames.

"Goodbye brother," Elijah stepped forward, a deadly look in his eyes as he pulled the dagger out of his pocket and whirled it into Klaus' heart as the portal closed over him. The last they saw of Klaus, he was wearing an expression of pure disbelief.

Lucy and Bonnie began trying to close the portal, but unexpectedly a sudden darkness clouded the gateway. It seemed to emanate a faint whisper and Anna stammered, "W-what? That wasn't part of the deal!"

"Anna?" Jeremy stepped forward, confused. "What's going on? What's happening?"

Vicki turned to look at him, "They're saying that Power was used to open the portal, so Power must be used to close it."

"Huh?"

Elijah was the first one to figure it out. "That's why Klaus wanted Bonnie...he knew a witch needed to be used to seal the portal."

Bonnie's eyes widened, and then she twisted around sharply. "No!" she shrieked when she saw Lucy's expression, "Don't—"

Lucy gave her a rueful smile, "You're a strong, powerful witch, Bonnie Bennett. I'm proud of you."

"Stop—!" But Lucy had already severed the connection. She went running full speed into the portal, and it closed almost instantaneously behind her. Bonnie let out a gasp and fell to her knees, dissolving into tears.

"Jeremy," Anna's voice was fading, "I'll always love you. Be safe."

"Me too," Vicki gave him one last smile, "Goodbye, Jeremy."

And then they both disappeared, and the blue flames vanished into nothingness. Jeremy stared out at the darkness, tears blurring his vision. "I'll always love you, too," he whispered, his gaze lowering to the ground where he caught sight of a dark shadow. "Hey," he squinted, "There's something there! A...body?"

Caroline suddenly blurred forward to where he was pointing, "Oh my god, it's Mrs. Lockwood!"

"What?"

Tyler rushed over, dropping to his knees beside his mother and grabbing her wrist. "A pulse! Sh-she's alive!"

Elena moved forward, seeing a familiar glint on Mrs. Lockwood's hand.

Alaric's ring.

"I knew it," she said to him with a small smile as she stepped back. "I thought I saw you give her something before, but I couldn't see what it was."

Alaric only shrugged, "I had a feeling that sacrificing her would be Klaus' next move."

"Good for you, Ric," Damon clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder, "You have insight into the mind of a serial killer. Could prove useful someday."

"Very funny," Alaric responded dryly. "Besides," he glanced over at Elena, "I'm not the only one who predicted Klaus' actions tonight..."

"Oh yes," Damon swung an arm around Elena's shoulders, a small grin gracing his features, "The girl with a plan." He narrowed his eyes at her playfully, "You're lucky I figured out what you were doing. Stefan thought I was crazy for letting you bait Klaus like that."

At his words, Elena glanced around the clearing for Stefan. She found him standing near Katherine, looking broken. Almost as if he could feel her gaze on him, he looked up at her. She studied his expression—he was sorry for drinking her blood against her will, that much was clear.

She sighed and turned back to Damon with a smile, answering his previous question. "You've always had the uncanny ability to read my mind before. I knew you'd let me give it a try."

"Smart," was all he said, leaning forward to brush a kiss on her cheek. "Did you really think it was going to work?"

"I knew Klaus would underestimate a human," she murmured, "He wouldn't be expecting me to do anything." She leaned against Damon, letting herself relax against him. "It's all over, isn't it? We won?"

"Yes," Damon squeezed her hand gently, "We did."


*yay for Klaus finally biting the dust! haha anyway, one more chapter left! it'll be a lighthearted epilogue with all our favorite couples ;) thanks for reading! xoxo