A/n: Alright y'all, I understand that y'all are mad at me. I haven't updated in months because of this one chapter. It's been intimidating me for months. And besides, I'm just really tired of being blank with this chapter. The previous version of this had all of the stuff written out, but I accidently deleted and it screwed me over. So, I've made the decision to cut the chapter right here and bring back what happens in flashbacks when I write the present again. I need to get a move on with this fic. I'm sorry this is shorter than others, but I want to finish this fic by the end of the year.

Good news, though. There will be Klaroline in the next chapter.

Please Review!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 34: Light 'Em Up Part III

Mystic Falls

Present – March 19, 2011

It had been twenty minutes now. Charlene's power was being continuously drained the more Bonnie was on the Other Side. By the time her limit was up, Charlene could feel her strength slowly slipping. The warnings of magic depletion echoed in her brain. Her eyes starting to droop and they were begging to be closed. The black dots were appearing in her vision, and it wouldn't be long before she would slip away.

"Come on, Bonnie." Charlene could vaguely hear Elena in the background. The witch's concentration blocked a lot of things out. She couldn't be distracted.

"Is she alright?" Jeremy's voice came through to Charlene's ears barely; the black spots was slowly taking over his vision. She couldn't hear all of the distorted voices around her. It was too hard.

'I can't…can't do this anymore,' she thought to herself as her body began to slump forward, faltering from the lack of strength.

"Charlene!" Now, that voice she could recognize in a heartbeat. She could hear him a lot more clearly. He sounded pissed with her. She wasn't surprised. However, she was surprised to feel warm arms wrap around her, holding her body steady against something firm. Breathing was becoming something harder to do, and she had no choice but to lean into the support. Her strength was waning. "Don't you dare give up, you understand me? You're better than that, Char. I know you're hell of a lot stronger than anyone I know."

On any other day, Damon being this close to her would have had a profound effect on her. She would have been speechless, and probably too nervous to say anything. However, she was too engrossed with the spell to feel those effects. The only thing that she could feel in effect was her heartbeat quicken just a little.

She gave him a wry smile. "You…finally admit it, huh?"

"Well, don't make a liar out of me. I have somewhat of a reputation I don't want to tarnish." Damon responded back, trying to support Charlene as much as he could.

All the others could do was watch with baited breath as they waited for Bonnie to awake. Elena continued to be support for her friend, Jeremy stood by with is crossbow in order to protect the girls, and Stefan watched as did Damon in case Klaus came around the lakehouse with any explosive ideas of murder.

With Damon as unexpected support, Charlene felt somewhat better and could use someone to lean on.

"Charlene…"

Her blue eyes widened to the mention of her name. She heard it perfectly inside her head, and the familiarity of the voice almost frightened her. Her back instantly turned rigid, a mental clarity that hadn't been around since the decline of her strength from the spell. 'Who are you? What do you want from me?' she asked almost in fear of the presence.

But the presence itself in her mind lessened in intensity, and she could feel a sense of comfort wrap itself around her brain. It wasn't warm yet not it wasn't cold. It was cool. Like an autumn breeze. Charlene found a comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time possess her. Inside, it felt like a part of her heart was healing from an old ache that had been there for a long time.

"Bonnie has gotten her magic, and she's safe. She's returning now."

Relief washed over her from hearing that news, but that relief was only temporary.

"But, you have used expression and forbidden magic to project her to the Other Side. That's a crime in of itself, child."

That familiar weight of reality weighed on her back during the whole time of trying to prepare for that spell. Charlene knew there would be consequences to her actions, and she was ready. (Even though she was afraid too of what the outcome would be.)

'What will you do with me?' Charlene asked, her resolve to remain unafraid almost waned.

"I will take away what has kept you alive all this time in return of what has been stolen."

With no warning, one witch fell to the floor as another arose from her sleep.

{Louder Than Thunder}

Everything happening with Bonnie ended with a huge white blur. Her vision was distorted and blurry with many different colored shapes moving everywhere in front of her. She didn't know what was going on, but as her eyes cleared, the worst was her confirmed. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?" Elena asked in concern.

"She's not breathing!" She heard Damon snap. "Dammit, Charlene, breathe!"

She watched Damon slip into some sort of angry frantic mode; he laid the blonde witch flat on the floor and began compressions and trying to bring oxygen back to her lungs. Charlene still remained still without a hint of her chest rising and falling. Damon continued to work while the others stood by closely.

"I'm still so relieved that you're alive." Elena said in relief, hugging her best friend tightly with tears down her face. "It felt like forever before you'd come back. I don't know what I would do if..."

If Bonnie hadn't been able to come back…

Bonnie didn't care. She was just happy to be back in supporting arms. She eagerly hugged Elena back in return. "I'm here, Elena. That's all that matters now."

"Come on, dammit!" Damon snapped again, causing everyone's attention to be drawn back to him and the blonde witch.

Surprisingly, Bonnie wasn't worried. She had her own intuition of what was going on, but she decided that it would be better to play out without her involvement. She had a feeling Zariyah had a hand in this. Getting out of the Other Side unscathed was way too easy. That was only because of one rogue Gate Keeper. And it didn't take long for Bonnie to come to the conclusion that she was on her own from here on out. The aftermath of what she did with her magic was on her part. She had to be careful now.

"Damon," she called out his name. "She's going to be okay. Look…"

At that moment, a sharp gasp broke the eerie silence in the room. The top half of Charlene's body rose up, coughing and gasping for air, her body slack from the exhausting use of her magic. "Wha…where am I? What happened?"

"That's the million dollar question I want answered." Damon gritted out, holding Charlene in his arms in trying to support her.

Charlene tried to shrug him off, but to no avail. "Damon, I'm going to be okay. Please…just…"

"Stop moving." Damon demanded with a growl. "You're already bad off as it is."

"Give me some breathing room, will you?" Charlene quickly snapped as she struggled to get up using the table as support. "Your constant hovering isn't helping anyone!"

Everyone stood there shocked, especially Elena, backing away from the blonde witch afraid of being on the bad end of her magic. Damon and Elena were already examples of why not to get on her bad side. Charlene could kill them if she wanted. She almost did.

Coming to Charlene's aid, Bonnie walked towards the blonde witch. "Give her some room, guys," she said softly before she uttered a small healing spell. "This ought to help you somewhat."

"It's not going to." Charlene explained stubbornly as she had a hard time keeping her eyes open. "I exhausted almost all of my magic, natural resources and my dark ones. If it weren't for the support I got from the Other Side, I would be dead. So, I'm going to have to heal the old fashioned way." The witch stubbornly pushed herself away from the group. "AND I refuse to have any vampire blood in my system! I swear if any of you force that crap down my throat, I'll make what I did to Damon earlier look like a Sunday picnic! You hear me?"

She'll be damned before there was any chance of being turned into a vampire. With Klaus' threats and every other vampire presence in her face, she had about enough with vampires, period. She was about ready to blow them sky high if she could, but that wouldn't happen. Not with her magic being out of commission at the moment.

"We heard you loud and clear." Stefan answered for them. The rest of the group was silent, watching Charlene warily (except Damon since he was more pissed than anything) as she sat herself down. "Now, that she's back and I assume Bonnie has her magic back, what are we waiting for?"

Bonnie shook her head. "We don't need to wait anymore. I have my magic and I'm ready."

She was more than ready to get the ball rolling.

"Just the words I need to get out of this damn place." Damon was practically itching to bounce out of the door. Hightailing it out with his brother and Elena (and Jeremy too) was the best option he had. He would be more than happy to leave the witches behind, but he couldn't. Elena wouldn't allow it. Everything came down to her.

"Before you go Speedy Gonzales on us, we need to come up with a plan, Damon. Your cooperation would be really helpful right now." Stefan said, finally feeling better and back to his former self.

Elena tried to help. "Please Damon, just wait a minute."

Damon was close to the door, bags in his hands while Elena and Stefan pleaded with him. Why couldn't they see the damn facts? They had to get out NOW! "You really think any more planning is going to help us any?! What we need to do is get the hell out of dodge!"

"Don't you get it, Damon?!" Charlene had all, but yelled at him. "Planning a strategy is going to be the only thing that will prevent everyone else from being killed by Klaus at the end of the night so get your head out of your ass and listen to what your brother says."

She was so ready to hex him to oblivion. Just to make him shut up right now. It would do everyone a favor.

"Oh, and since when were you running the show, Charlene? If I can remember correctly, you were the one who was working for the bastard once upon a time." Damon taunted, dropping the bags onto the floor near the door.

It was then that he knew that he went too far. She sent him a murderous glare, filled with contempt towards him. The lack of the normal calmness in Charlene's eyes faded and was replaced with a familiar gleam that Damon usually saw in himself. It was abnormal yet it looked natural on her.

"Jeremy?" Charlene asked nonchalantly. "You know how to drive, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because that's going to make this so much easier for me," she said with a wicked smile. With a flick of her wrist and a small amount of magic, Damon's neck snapped and his body fell to the floor with a loud thump. "There, much better now."

"What the hell?!" Elena exclaimed as she flashed to Damon's body. "Was that even necessary?"

"Maybe not, but in my opinion, yes." Honestly, it felt pretty damn good to actually make him shut up for once. Charlene certainly regret it. "I don't hear any displease within the group so we're okay now."

That statement wouldn't suit her exactly because not before long, a pain inside of Charlene's chest pulsed through her body, making her fall against the wall in the process. Elena surprisingly being the closest helped her to get her on her feet before the witch could faint. How ironic. However, there was no going back on feeling better at all tonight. All of her magic was almost gone now. Her body couldn't take much more seeing as the pain pulsed through her body.

Elena being Elena, hating the sight of anyone in pain, she bit into her wrist regardless. She brought her wrist to Charlene's mouth. "Just drink, at least to give you some strength."

Charlene shook her head despite her condition. "No, Elena…" she refused groggily. "I don't want the risk."

"We can protect you."

"No…"

Bonnie took control of the situation as she came towards the two of them. "Just try to relax, and let us help you."

She nodded towards Elena, giving her silent permission to give Charlene the blood although it was against her will. Bonnie hoped it would at least give her some strength and Charlene could heal along the way after they took care of Klaus. The blonde tried in vain to refuse the blood, but Elena had a firm hold of her head. She couldn't fight it. The magic she used to Damon cost her.

"Is she alright then?" Stefan asked as he got the rest of the bags towards the door.

Elena nodded. "Yeah, we took care of it."

"Does this really mean I have to drive? We could always put Damon in the trunk." Jeremy suggested just for kicks.

"Yes and definitely no to the second one." Elena replied firmly, opening the front door and letting the night air in through the house.

"Although it's tempting, we do need to at least go over some kind of plan." Bonnie reminded them, trying to get her bearings before she made any move.

"That's what I'm here for." Stefan stated, ready as he could be for whatever they were jumping into.

{Louder Than Thunder}

It was getting late now. No sun was in the sky anymore. Not even clouds after the storm had passed. Only the dim stars were up there now, and the moon was also there to keep them company. The moon now was bright and full, bigger than Klaus had seen in a long time, looming over the small little town of Mystic Falls tonight.

Looking out through the glass window, he could recall vaguely so long ago of seeing something like that. It was in a time before everything was chaos and a living hell. It was also before the hammer of his parents' actions was brought down upon his family. Back to when he was a young boy, he and his family were hiding inside the tunnels, wary of the beasts that howled into the night.

In one of the tunnels, there was an opening above showing the view of the sky. Klaus had come across it, and he couldn't help but be mesmerized by the vision directly above his head. The moon he had times before was enlarged and brighter and fuller than anything he had ever seen. He knew of the full moon that wolves would howl to when they turned, but he never comprehended it would be so…reveling.

Mikael had found him there staring at the moon with wide eyes. He walked behind him, placed a hand on Klaus' shoulder before speaking. "You know what that is, son?" he inquired.

Klaus couldn't remember exactly what his own response was, but he remembered shaking his head with no knowledge of the answer. He remembered Mikael's explanation.

"That, Niklaus, is what we call a hunter's moon. It's a rare occasion when the moon becomes bigger and full after the harvest has come. However, from what I've heard from your mother, the wolves also call the nights that they do turn the same name."

Klaus didn't remember much of what was said after that. He could only remember images, not sounds. He could remember the rare proud look in Mikael's eyes, the bare twitch of what he thought was a very small smile. Mikael usually wore a scowl on his face and nothing more. But that memory always stood out to him and was burned into his brain. It was the last moment that Mikael was ever proud to be his father. It was before all the bad treatment would come.

It wasn't long before Frankenstein created a monster that would be hard to control. Even now, his father and mother wouldn't dare go against him now. Not when he's more powerful with the thirst for blood and revenge fueling him.

The hunter's moon was tonight. Klaus understood the wolves now. The monster inside him could feel the powerful pull from the moon, bringing out the wolf closer to the surface. It would only be a matter of time before the release would be too much to hold back.

Let his enemies come. Klaus was ready for them.

{Louder Than Thunder}

They were here. They were finally here.

The Mikaelson mansion stood there in all of its glory still with the fine architecture and all, but that hardly mattered to the group planning to raid inside. While Jeremy and Elena were working on breaking Professor Shane from jail, the others were suited up, sitting inside of the car before jumping into the plan.

"Does everyone know what we need to do?" Stefan asked from the driver's seat, looking to the two girls in backseat.

Bonnie was ready as she'll ever be. She had been waiting for this moment for months. She came so far in finding and restoring what was taken from her. She refused to back down from this fight and plan.

"I'm ready," Bonnie answered.

"So am I," Charlene added close behind, surprising the vampire and other witch how quickly the vampire blood had helped her. Her magic wasn't back at its usual level, but she was strong enough to hold her own like any human with knowledge of how vampires are.

Confirming both of them were alright, Stefan passed two wooden stakes. "Keep these close to you. They'll definitely help if it's a last resort."

"We'll be fine, Stefan. We can hold our own." Charlene reassured him, brandishing the gun that she took out from the case in the back seat. She felt the smooth coolness of the black metal in her hands, getting comfortable and familiar with the mechanisms. She made sure the safety was on before putting the pistol back on her gun belt.

"Is the gun from Jeremy?"

The blonde witch nodded. "Yeah, I'm not usually one for guns, but in this case."

"At least the wooden bullets are going to have some dent in stopping them once we start." Stefan said, finally nodding to them before getting out of the car quietly. "Remember the plan and stay close. Be careful."

Both of them nodded and slipped out of the car as well. Seeing the Mikaelson mansion loom overhead, the eerie silence unsettling them to the core. They quietly crept up the driveway, not fully sure if they were aware of what could be waiting for them.

B-B-B-Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart
I'm in the de-details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you off the cage
I'm a young lover's rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
My songs know what you did in the dark

- "Light 'Em Up," by Fall Out Boy