A/N: IT'S BACK, GUYS! PHOEBE'S BACK!

WARNING: This chapter is a bit dark for some people. No torture, but some aspects may be too dark for some people.

Chapter 50: The Reckoning

"August 30, 2010. Morning.

It's been a few days since our trip to Chicago. Elena says she's fine, but I doubt it. She just spent the entire summer trying to save Stefan, when he didn't want to be saved. Granted we all tried telling her that Klaus would never allow him to come home until he was finished with him; but hearing that from all of us, and hearing from Stefan that he doesn't want to come home are two very different things. Damon says he's just being an insufferable martyr, but I know that's not true. Stefan is just taking my advice.

Speaking of advice, while I am glad that Stefan took said advice, I am sorry that both he and my sister are hurting. They both needed closure, and Stefan was being worn thin by all the baggage he was trying to carry with him – he needed to cut loose his life here. It was honestly the best thing for him. Well, the best that he could do under these circumstances.

Stefan hasn't spoken to me much these past few days. I'm not sure if it's because he's upset with me for bringing Elena to him, or if he's just really busy dealing with Klaus and his sister – both of whom apparently knew him back in the twenties. I'm gonna go with that, to be honest. Mostly because I've been to that deep, dark place we call self-pity and I don't wanna go back. Besides, with that history, I'm pretty sure Klaus would have figured out a way to lure Stefan away with him no matter what. Unless I had actually killed him, that is.

I suppose it's kind of a good thing that Klaus took Stefan away, like he did. Stefan and Elena were never going to last, even if he had stayed in Mystic Falls. Even if I had succeeded in killing Klaus. Those two would have had to break up eventually. Elena wants a normal human life, to grow old and have kids. Stefan can't give her that – as much as he'd like to. And my sister would rather die than become a vampire and spend an eternity with Stefan. So this way they can blame the whole thing on Klaus and never have to acknowledge the ugly truth.

"August 30, 2010. Night.

Today was another full, rich day. Cliffnotes version? Caroline's dad is immune to compulsion, like me, and decided to take a more active role in the community – specifically the Founders' Council. He suggested we start putting vervain in the town water supply. Jenna, Hayley, and Rick all agreed it was a good idea. I agreed that the town should be dosed in some way, but not through the water. (Jenna, Damon, and Caroline still needed to use the water for various things; and so would I when I turned).

Damon, of course, took it as me not trusting him to behave, and spiraled. I only meant that Caroline and Jenna were still new to this and could slip at any time. Not to mention the fact that vampires tend to frequent this town – less than friendly ones, usually. Damon made the executive decision to kill Bill Forbes for his own self-preservation, and snapped Jenna's neck when she tried to stop him. Rude, right?

Anyway, Caroline and I stopped him before he could kill her dad. Afterwhich Damon and I had a pretty big fight. I honestly can't remember what it was about (I guess that's what you get for waiting to take up journaling, until after your memories start to leave you). I just remember it was a pretty bad fight. We normally make up after our fights – once we've had time to cool off – but we didn't do that this time.

"August 31, 2010. Morning.

I think Rick's right. The Founders' Council has become less about protecting the town from supernatural threats and more about protecting those of us 'good guys' that are supernatural in some way. Someone needs to be able to walk on that fine line and be able to help both. Someone needs to be able to help protect the innocent people of Mystic Falls from the bad things that go bump in the night, while also helping to keep the rest of us safe.

I can't do that job myself – though, with my brain, I'd probably be good at it – so I'm nominating the next best person for the job: Rick. He's smart, he understands us and the need to keep the innocent people that live here safe, and, well, I just know he'll do a good job – I believe in him. So I'm giving the Founders' Council my endorsement of Rick to become the new voice for the Gilbert family.

"August 31, 2010. Night.

I'm not sure what Damon's been up to. I haven't seen nor heard from him since our fight. But I did hear that Katherine was back in town, briefly. She apparently posed as Elena to get her hands on that stupid necklace – why didn't I think of that? She met with Bonnie for lunch and somehow convinced her to hand it over, then took off. Something tells me we won't be seeing her or that necklace again anytime soon. But that's a problem for another night. Tonight is Senior Prank Night and Caroline is determined for us all to have fun..."


It was a calm quiet night in Mystic Falls – a rare thing, nowadays. Most of the town's citizens found this to be a nice and relaxing thing; but for Matt Donovan this was almost more stressful than knowing about whatever latest supernatural threat was looming over them all. The town had been hit so hard with supernatural drama lately, that now that he knew about it all, Matt was finding it hard to relax and enjoy some down time.

Phoebe did what she could to assure her best friend that he'd get used to it and learn to appreciate the lull moments, but Matt wasn't sure he wanted to get used to it. That was when Phoebe would revert back to her old self again and ramble on about the health problems associated with living a stress-filled life. Ironically, those were the moments Matt found most relaxing. For him, in those moments, everything was as it used to be.

Matt smiled at the thought. He enjoyed the time he spent with his best friend. No matter how busy she got, no matter what was going on, she always made time for him. Though, lately, that time had lessened. They no longer went on their morning runs. If they were going to hang out, Hayley always had to be nearby. Matt wasn't sure why this was, but he guessed it had something to do with not knowing anyone else to hang out with.

As for their morning runs, Matt assumed that just had to do with the changes her family was going through. Her aunt was a vampire now, still learning to control her impulses. Her little brother had lost the girl he loved. And Phoebe and Elena had lost their father. Even if Elena wasn't all that broken up about it – which she did grieve for John – that still left Phoebe completely devastated. John was her favorite person. Phoebe loved John more than anyone else in her life, and now...he was gone...

Matt pushed these dark thoughts from his mind and cleared his throat, "So why are we doing this, again?"

"Because if we don't, Caroline will never let us forget it." Phoebe sighed. "That, and we're already here, so it's definitely too late to turn back, now."

"Yeah, there is that," he agreed, with a smile. He honestly didn't feel like joining in Senior Prank Night, but this was one of the rare times that Phoebe was without her werewolf shadow, so he intended to take advantage of it. "After you."

Phoebe looked up at the high school, also not wanting to be here – but what else was new for her? She sucked in a deep breath of cool night air, and headed into the building. Tonight was supposed to be a night of harmless pranks for the faculty and staff to set off tomorrow...but that's not the night that lay in store for the students of Mystic Falls High...


For the next hour or so, Phoebe helped set up pranks with her friends and fellow seniors – no matter how stupid they seemed. To be honest, most of the things they were all coming up with made no sense. Streaming toilet paper over the swimming pool, wrapping cellophane around the faculty toilets, pouring honey on doorknobs, setting up dozens of mousetraps across classroom floors to go off like dominoes when someone entered. All pretty lame ideas, in Phoebe's opinion.

Where was the cleverness? Where was the point in some of these pranks? Why not do something like remove all the screws holding the teacher's desk together, piece it together very carefully, and when they came in to put something on it, it falls apart? Why not do nothing to one teacher so they were left wondering when and where their prank was going to hit? The shear anticipation and paranoia would be prank enough.

Phoebe would have suggested these kinds of things, but two things held her back. For one thing, the simple-minded people she went to school with wouldn't go for it – they'd rather fill disposable cups with some kind of liquid and cover the gym floor with them. And secondly, she'd be doing her schoolwork from home again this year, so she wouldn't even be in class to witness the pranks in action.

After finishing her latest prank set-up, Phoebe headed off to find her other half. The twins had plans to prank Alaric's class together, despite Phoebe not being around to see him set it off or walk around trying to figure out what they had done – though Elena promised to video it on her phone for her. Surprisingly, Phoebe was looking forward to this. Like Matt, she hadn't really spent much alone time with her sister lately, and she was looking forward to some bonding time with her twin.

Phoebe smiled to herself as she passed through a set of double doors. She glanced down one hallway, before turning down the other, and running right into another person. "Oh! Sorry, I wasn't watching where I..."

She never finished her thought. Like her breath, it left her entirely at the sight of Klaus standing before her, grinning away. But this wasn't his usual grin. This wasn't an amused grin. This was the kind of grin you donned whenever you weren't very happy about something, but were trying to be polite for some reason.

"That's quite alright, love. No harm done," he told her.

"Klaus. Wh-What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked, surprised to see him.

"Funny you should ask. You see, I've been having some trouble siring hybrids," he began.

"Oh?"

"I tried asking my witch what I was doing wrong, but before she could tell me, Stefan killed her," he went on.

"That's a shame."

"I'm guessing it was because Gloria mentioned something about you having my sister's necklace, which we need to contact the Original Witch."

Phoebe said nothing.

"Which got me thinking. Why would you steal my sister's necklace? What use could you possibly have for it? To keep it from me? No. You couldn't have known that was what I needed before I even knew I needed it." Klaus took a step closer to Phoebe. "But you know, that's not half as interesting as my other question."

Phoebe was almost afraid to ask, but still she asked, "And what would that be?"

Klaus' expression grew dark, all form of niceness vanishing from his face entirely. "What are you and Stefan hiding from me?"


Damon grew more and more annoyed with Katherine as they drove further and further away from Mystic Falls. Her unwanted, platonic sexual advances were one thing – he could easily swat her away, like a fly buzzing in your ear– but her constant tight-lip about where they were going and what they were up to was incredibly frustrating.

He had to admit, if things were the other way around, he'd be just as secretive about his plans; but he wanted, needed, to get back to Mystic Falls. Damon hadn't had the chance to tell Phoebe that he was leaving much less why and he was afraid she'd think he was leaving her. The thought of her believing that for even a second was enough to put his insides in a knot.

That was it. No more playing around, no more games. They'd passed a sign a little ways back that said they were getting close to a rest stop. Damon sped up, ignoring Katherine's questioning of his actions, and whipped the car into the rest stop. She stared at him in surprise, as he grabbed the keys and exited the car.

"What are you doing?" she questioned once again, stepping out herself.

"No more games, Katherine. No more avoiding," he told her, tossing the keys far off into the distance. "We're not going anywhere, until you spill your guts."

Katherine sighed, pulling Elena's necklace out of her pocket and held it up, "Recognize this?"

Damon looked at the necklace. Of course he recognized it. But what the hell did that have to do with them leaving town? And why did she have it?

"A little birdy told me that Klaus is looking to get his hands on it," she explained, as though reading his mind.

"What does Klaus want with Elena's necklace?"

"Does it matter?" Katherine looked at him as though that were the dumbest question she'd ever heard. "He wants it, and I have it. It's called leverage, Damon. But more importantly, when I stole the necklace from Bonnie I found out something else, something better."

Damon watched her walk around the car to the trunk, hoping she hadn't kidnapped Bonnie or anything like that.

"Are you willing to do whatever it takes to stop Klaus? No turning back?" she asked.

"I'm not turning back," he lied. Of course he was gonna turn back. He needed to get back to Phoebe, before she changed her mind about them.

"Good." Katherine seemed to believe his lie. She opened the trunk door, and waited for him to come see what she had. "Cause this isn't gonna win you any points at home."

Damon had a bad feeling about whatever it was she had in there. But as nervous as he was about it being Bonnie, once he saw what was really in there, he'd almost wished it had been the witch. "Jeremy?"


"I don't know what you're talking about," Phoebe lied. Weak. Very weak. Hayley was right, she'd definitely have to work on using her brain again.

Klaus looked unamused, "Wrong answer."

Klaus grabbed her by the arm and began dragging her through the halls of the high school, looking down every corridor they came across. It wasn't hard enough to hurt her, but it was enough so that she couldn't get away – unless she used her powers on him.

"Where are we going?" Phoebe asked.

"You put a rather large kink in my plans, sweetheart. The whole point of breaking the curse and becoming a hybrid was to make more hybrids.," he began.

"Funny. I thought it was because you wanted to feel whole again," she mumbled sarcastically.

Klaus heard her, and it was true, but he didn't comment on it. "You and Stefan are hiding something from me, and I betting you aren't going to let it get too far from you, which means it has to be here somewhere."

"And what exactly are you hoping to find?"

Klaus gave a light smirk, "I have a theory."

"Care to share?"she asked. They were approaching the gym, now – it was gonna be full of innocent people, which made Phoebe nervous.

"Not until I know I'm right." Klaus turned to face her, ramming his hip against the gym door to open it. He pulled her in and wrapped his arms around her waist, as they spun inside the room. It only lasted a moment, and she'd deny it if anyone ever asked – even to herself – but being held against him like that, with their faces as close as they were, felt oddly good.

His cologne, body spray, body wash, whatever it was he was wearing smelled good. The closeness felt good. The sound of his breathing in her ear...It had been a while since Damon had held her like this, and Phoebe's body had apparently craved it more than she'd realized.

Klaus too had apparently longed for the sense of closeness, for in that moment he forgot about the rest of the world. All he thought about was having her in his arms. The warmness of her body pressed against him, the sweet smell of her hair, the feel of her breath against his skin...Whatever fondness he'd already had for her grew in that moment, however brief it was.

The seniors in the gym were busy setting up disposable cups all across the floor and filling them with some kind of beverage – they didn't even notice Klaus or Phoebe entering the room, until Klaus announced their presence.

"Attention seniors," he announced in an American accent. "You have officially been busted. Prank Night is over. Head on home."

Phoebe gave him a funny look, "That accent does not work for you."

Klaus acknowledged her remark with a smirk. "You two." He pointed to Dana and Chad. "I remember you."

They, of course, did not remember him – he last time he had used them, he was possessing Rick's body. Klaus compelled Dana to stand on one leg until he said otherwise, then compelled Chad to beat her to death, if she dropped her foot.

"Klaus, stop it. You don't have to hurt anyone," Phoebe pleaded.

"Come now, love, of course I do," he argued. "How else am I to get you to tell me what I want to know?"


Caroline squeezed honey from a bottle onto the doorknob of one of the classrooms, as she wondered about Matt. Tyler came up behind her and began kissing her all over. She smiled at his touch, but didn't want to get lost in the moment just yet.

"Do you think Matt's gonna be okay?" she asked him.

Tyler stopped kissing her abruptly, "I'm kissing you and you're wondering about your ex-boyfriend?"

Caroline turned around to face him, capping the honey. "I'm asking you if you think our friend, who we both love, is okay."

"I think he probably doesn't have a lot of people to talk to anymore. I think he's struggling more than he lets on," he answered honestly. "But I know that as long as he's got Phoebe in his life, he'll be okay."

That made Caroline feel a bit better. Of course she knew Phoebe would always be there for Matt, but hearing it still made her feel a bit better about it all. "I just want this school year to be great, you know? I just want everyone to be happy. Even in the midst of all the crazy unhappy bits."

"I'm happy." He lowered himself so she could see how happy he was, even with her eyes looking down to the floor. Caroline smiled again, and she kissed him.

"You two are adorable," came a strange, female voice, with an English accent.

The two stopped and turned to the source of the new voice. It was a young blonde, likely in her late teens like they were. But neither of them had ever seen her before, and they surely would have remembered that accent.

"Uh, do we know you?" Caroline asked.

"You're Caroline, Phoebe's friend. Which makes you Tyler – the werewolf," the blonde replied.

Caroline didn't like the feeling she was getting in her gut. She moved to take a protective stance between the strange blonde and Tyler. "And who are you?"

"I'm the new girl." The blonde smiled, then charged at Caroline.


Dana's balance wavered, and she let out a whimper. Phoebe wanted to tell them that Klaus never said Chad couldn't help her stand like that, that he couldn't help hold her up; but with Klaus standing right next to her, he'd likely just add that to the compulsion.

As Phoebe thought about this, her worst fear of that moment came to life: Elena entered from the other side of the gym. All three of them were momentarily surprised to see each other. Elena turned to run away, but Klaus was faster. By the time she'd turned around, he was standing in front of her.

"Don't!" Phoebe called, running after him. "She's not the reason you can't make hybrids!"

Klaus kept his eyes on Elena, and said nothing. Something told him that this wasn't true – surely his hybrids couldn't transition because she was still alive. And whatever Phoebe had to say on the matter was surely a lie to buy her sister more time. Still, she was smart – she'd proven that – and he'd be an idiot not to at least hear what she had to say and decide from there.

Klaus signaled Phoebe to continue her thought, with a mere glance in her direction.

"Elena had to die for you to become a hybrid, and technically she did die. If she hadn't, you wouldn't be a hybrid yourself," Phoebe explained. "If her coming back to life was going to affect anything, it'd be that. There has to be another reason why you can't sire more."

Her logic was sound – clearly not a quickly spun together lie – so Klaus backed away from Elena to signal that he was willing to forgo killing her...for now. There was still the possibility that because Elena hadn't stayed dead, his hybrids couldn't stay alive; but he was willing to be smart about this and find the right answer.

The doors back on the other side of the gym opened with a bang, as a young blonde entered the room, dragging Tyler in her wake.

"Excellent," said Klaus. "Now we can get started."

"Started with what?"

Klaus didn't answer. He simply grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her along to meet the blonde halfway.

"I'd like you all to meet my sister Rebekah," he introduced. "Word of warning she can be quite mean."

"Don't be an ass," Rebekah sniped.

"Tyler has nothing to do with this," said Elena. "Leave him out of it."

"On the contrary, love, he's your sister's motivation," he replied.

The twins shared a look of confusion. "My what?"

"I'm gonna make this very simple." Klaus took hold of Tyler and pulled him a few paces away from the others. "Every time I attempt to turn a werewolf into a vampire-hybrid, they die during the transition. It's quite horrible, actually."

"Don't do this," Phoebe pleaded, catching on.

"I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Phoebe."

Phoebe tried summoning the will to knock him back on his ass, but she'd been stupid enough to turn her back on Rebekah. Within seconds, Rebekah had Phoebe's arms pinned, and Klaus had force fed Tyler his blood.

"And for Tyler's sake." The sound of Tyler's neck snapping was almost deafening. "...you better hurry."


Bonnie let out a light giggle as she tossed another roll of toilet paper over the swimming pool. She, like all of her friends, didn't want to be here either; but Caroline had made such a good motivational speech to them all that she was trying to embrace Caroline's philosophy and have a good time. And as far as she could tell, it was working. She hadn't thought about Jeremy seeing his dead girlfriends all summer – despite the fact that they had grown pretty close themselves – for several minutes.

Matt, on the other hand, didn't even seem to be trying. He threw toilet paper and did other stupid pranks that were asked of him, and would continue to do so. But truth be told, his heart wasn't in this even in the slightest. Potential threats lurking around the corner aside, Jeremy telling him about Vicki had reopened some wounds for him.

He had never gotten to say goodbye to his sister. Never gotten to know the truth about her death. And to know that his best friend was in love with the guy that had turned her into a monster out of boredom, and friends with the other guy that had killed her...Matt wasn't entirely sure how he felt about all that yet. He wasn't angry with Phoebe – she was a good person and you couldn't help who you loved – but he still questioned how she could love such a monster. What could she possibly see in him?

Matt was torn from his thoughts by the sound of Bonnie's phone ringing. It was Phoebe – speak of the devil. But there was something wrong. Not only was it evident on Bonnie's face, but even without being put on speaker phone, Matt could hear the unnerved tone in his best friends voice. It was subtle, and only those who really knew her would be able to pick up on it, but it was there.

Phoebe gave Bonnie the cliffnotes version of what had just gone down in the gym, never slowing down or waiting for her to react – Tyler was on limited time. "I need you to go home and look through your grimoires or something. See if you can find anything."

"Right." Bonnie returned her phone to her pocket. "Klaus is back. He-"

"I heard," said Matt, cutting her off. "I wanna help."

Bonnie shook her head, still shocked by the news Phoebe had just dropped on her. "I supposed I could use another set of eyes looking through my grimoires..."

"What about Jeremy?" he suggested.

"What about him?"

"Well, ever since you brought him back he's been seein'...things. He's been seein' some weird things," he replied. He was trying to convey how he thought Jeremy might be of help, without hurting Bonnie's feelings – they all knew how close the two had gotten this summer and didn't want to tell her if she didn't already know.

Bonnie gave him a look that said he didn't need to lie to protect her, but that she appreciated it, "I know he's been seeing Vicki. And Anna. "

Matt gave a sigh of relief, but didn't dwell on the matter. "Okay, so Phoebe said this witch has been dead for a thousand years. I know it may be a long shot, but if Jeremy can see dead people, then maybe he can talk to her."

"It's worth a shot," she shrugged. "You go find Jeremy and see if he can contact her. I'm gonna get started on my grimoires."


Damon placed Jeremy's still unconscious body onto one of the nearby picnic tables. "I'm listening," was all he said to Katherine.

"What if I told you there was a way to kill Klaus, without having to let your precious Phoebe lose control like she did before?"

"I'd say you were lying, or desperate," he replied. She had to be lying. Phoebe was created for this reason alone – to kill Klaus. Still, if there was some other option, he had to look into it. He just didn't want to seem too eager in front of Katherine.

Katherine rolled her eyes, "Do you remember my friend Pearl?"

"Vividly."

"Centuries ago, she told me about a vampire who had a way to kill Klaus, but she wouldn't tell me anymore."

"Well, why not?" he asked sarcastically. He suspected it was for leverage, but didn't want to assume.

"Because it was her leverage," Katherine confirmed. "She knew it was valuable information, and wouldn't share it with me."

"Well, this is all great, but…she's dead," Damon reminded her, growing more irritated.

"Which is why I never brought it up," she snarked back. "She only ever told one other person."

Damon thought for a moment. "Anna."

Katherine nodded, "Unfortunately, she's dead now, too, but Jeremy here can see supernatural ghosties."

A fresh wave of annoyance and anger came crashing over Damon. "Why the hell didn't you say anything about this the first time around? Why didn't Anna?"

"I never said anything, because I didn't care. I still don't," she answered honestly. "But it's clear now that she isn't willing to do what it takes to kill Klaus; and, even if she were, you aren't going to let her try again. So I give you option B."

They both turned to look at Jeremy. He was starting to wake up.


Stefan woke up in the back of the truck with an awful headache. Klaus had been snapping his neck on a loop since they left Chicago. Where were they now? Stefan stepped out of the truck, and his blood ran cold. They were back in Mystic Falls. How long had he been out? Was there still time to stop Klaus from finding out about Elena?

He took out his phone to call Phoebe, but there was a message from Klaus waiting for him. "Join us in the gym when you wake up." That didn't bode well. But maybe there was still a chance. Maybe Elena wasn't here. Maybe he still didn't know she was still alive. But then what about Phoebe?

If Klaus was comfortable enough to wait for Stefan to wake up and join him somewhere, Phoebe couldn't have defeated him. Could she be dead? Had Klaus somehow gotten the upper hand and killed her? The thought made Stefan's stomach lurch. He couldn't think like that. Nothing was definite, until he saw it with his own eyes.

When Stefan entered the gym Klaus was sitting patiently in the bleachers, watching Phoebe. He was trying to figure out why she hadn't used her powers to attack him yet. Phoebe was pacing lightly on the other side of the gym, trying to figure out what Klaus wanted to know. Elena sat on the ground next to Dana and Chad, trying to comfort a hysterical Dana.

Stefan wasn't happy to see Elena there, only because that meant Klaus now knew about her being alive, but he was happy to see that both twins were still alive…for now. He pretended not to care that they were there, even though they both stopped what they were doing to stare at him, and headed straight for Klaus.

"Come to save your damsel, mate?" Klaus asked him, only now taking his eyes off of Phoebe.

"I came to ask for your forgiveness." Stefan struggled not to look at either Gilbert. "And pledge my loyalty."

Klaus looked back at Phoebe, who was moving to stop her sister from approaching the two vampires. "Well, you broke that pledge once already."

"Elena means nothing to me, anymore," Stefan lied.

Elena felt a sharp pain in her chest at the words. Phoebe wished she could explain to her that this was simply a lie to win Klaus' trust back, but there was no way that she could.

"Whatever you ask of me, I will do," Stefan vowed.

Klaus didn't believe him for an instant. Still, this was a good opportunity to test both Stefan and Phoebe. Klaus grinned slightly and rose to his feet, "Fair enough. Let's drink on it."

They all watched him carefully, as he walked over to where the humans were all gathered. He gestured to the two expendable ones, and commanded, "Kill them."

Phoebe and Stefan knew this was just a test, and that he'd have to kill them to prove to Klaus that he was indeed loyal. But Elena didn't seem to understand that, or rather she didn't care. Instead of keeping her mouth shut and letting Stefan commit such an atrocity, she spoke up.

"No," she breathed. When she spoke again, her voice was more audible. "Stefan, don't. H-He's not gonna hurt me, he already said-"

Her thought was cut off instantly by Klaus' hand smacking her across the mouth – the sheer force of which knocked her on her ass. He wasn't overly annoyed with her or angry – it wasn't personal. This was just the opportunity he had been thinking of only moments ago. By hurting Elena he would be testing Stefan's resolve when he claimed not to care about Elena anymore, while also pushing Phoebe's limits.

Phoebe only ran to her sister's side to make sure she was alright, but Stefan charged angrily at Klaus. It didn't really do much good; Klaus caught him by the throat before he could lay a finger on him.

"She means nothing to you," Klaus quoted. "Your lies just keep piling up."

"Let them go," Stefan choked. "I'll do whatever you want. You have my word."

"Your word doesn't mean much. Now, I lived by your word all summer, during which time I never had to resort to this…" He looked Stefan in the eye. "Stop fighting."

"Don't do this. Don't do this," Stefan begged.

"I don't want to," Klaus admitted. "All I wanted was your allegiance. Now I'm going to have to take it."

Stefan still begged, "Don't…don't…"

"You will do exactly as I say when I say it," Klaus commanded. "You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey." Klaus released Stefan as the compulsion took hold.

"No," Elena whispered. "Stefan."

Phoebe wanted to do something to help him, but couldn't. For some reason, every fear and every insecurity she'd ever had about her ability to stand up to Klaus came flooding back tenfold. Her hands were starting to shake, and she felt as though someone had released a dementor into the gym.

She wasn't an emotional person, everyone knew that, but something about Klaus being back and terrorizing everyone again made her feel helpless, like she had no powers to fight him with. She'd allowed herself to be restrained by Rebekah earlier, and now she was allowing herself to be paralyzed by her fears instead of fighting to help the people she loved.

"Now kill them," Klaus ordered. "Ripper."

Stefan unveiled his vampire face as he stared down his prey. No longer being allowed to fight, he charged forward, sinking his teeth into Dana. Her screams echoed throughout the gym, and Phoebe found herself covering her ears.


"I'm not helping them," said Anna appearing to Jeremy.

"No, it's okay. They're looking for a way to stop Klaus," Jeremy assured her. Katherine and Damon looked at him funny – it was odd seeing someone talking to themselves like that.

"I don't care. Katherine is no friend to you," Anna advised.

"What's she saying?" Damon asked.

Jeremy waved a hand at him dismissively. "Is there a reason you don't wanna help Phoebe? After everything she's done for you?"

Anna looked appalled that he could even think she'd purposely not want to help Phoebe. "Of course I wanna help Phoebe, she saved my life…She gave me more time with you."

"Then why didn't you ever tell us there was another way to kill Klaus?" Jeremy questioned.

"Because Mikael will kill all of you." she warned. "Trust me, you don't wanna wake him."

Jeremy was confused. "What do you mean 'wake him'?"

"Wake who?" Katherine asked.

"Mikael," Jeremy answered. He didn't even bother to look at her.

"Who's Mikael?" Damon asked Anna, though he couldn't see or hear her.

"He's a vampire who hunts vampires," Anna told Jeremy.

"He's a vampire and a hunter, and you guys would be idiots to wake him, pretty much." He looked back at Anna. "Where can we find him?"

"Jeremy," she began.

"Look, you don't know what happened when my sister tried to kill him last time. She was almost consumed by all that power, so if there's another option, I'm gonna take it," Jeremy interrupted. "Where do we find Mikael?"

Anna was reluctant, but after all Phoebe had done for her, all the sacrifices she'd made for everyone, she owed it to her to help. She told Jeremy where to find Mikael, while Damon fetched the keys.


Rebekah sat in the hallway, absolutely bored, as she waited for, well, anything to happen. Caroline was still unconscious from having her neck snapped, and Tyler had yet to wake up in transition. This left Rebekah with absolutely nothing to do, other than play with Caroline's phone.

She familiarized herself with its basic functions first – something she picked up rather quickly, given how long she'd been asleep in that box – then moved on to taking pictures of herself. This would do, for now.

"Where's Tyler?" Caroline groaned, waking up.

"He's dead...ish," Rebekah replied coolly. "That all depends on your friends."

Caroline rolled onto her hands and knees, and crawled over to her temporarily dead boyfriend. This was not how tonight was supposed to go. They were all supposed to have fun. They were supposed to set up a bunch of stupid pranks for the faculty and staff to set off on the first day of school. No one was supposed to die. How did the night go so wrong?

Growing bored of taking photos of herself – no matter how good she looked in them – Rebekah moved on to looking through all the photos she'd taken, admiring herself as she did. When she eventually began scrolling past them into Caroline's photos, she found one of Stefan with Elena. Jealousy flared within her, and she suddenly felt the need to vomit at the sight. Unfortunately, before she could move onto the next photo – which was surely to be equally nauseating – something caught her eye: Elena was wearing her necklace.


"Always nice to see a vampire in his true element," Klaus remarked. "The species has become such a broody lot."

"No...you did this to him," Elena replied through clenched teeth.

Klaus smiled. "I invited him to the party, love, he's the one dancing on the table."

Meanwhile, Phoebe paced the floor trying to think of what Klaus could possibly need to make hybrids. Trying being the operative word. He'd wanted her help in figuring it all out, yet one thing after another continued to happen and distract her from her...

"Where is it?!" Rebekah called, barging into the room.

"Great. Another distraction," Phoebe thought to herself, rolling her eyes.

Even Klaus looked annoyed. "What are you talking about?"

"She has my necklace," she answered, shoving Caroline's phone in his face. Klaus examined the photo of Stefan and Elena. "First you steal my brother's ring, and now you steal my necklace."

"I don't have your necklace," Phoebe replied.

"Liar!" Rebekah moved to attack her, but Klaus stopped her.

"Back off," Klaus ordered, pushing her away from the twins.

"Make her tell me where it is, Nick!" she demanded.

"She didn't steal it, Rebekah, look at the date on the photograph." Klaus held up the phone so she could see the date stamp on the photo. "That was long before she was ever in Chicago."

Rebekah seemed to buy this, for now, but she was still clearly unhappy that Elena had been wearing her necklace.

"And for the record, no one stole my ring. I gave it to her, because I had no further use of it," he corrected her. Klaus turned to Elena now, calmer. "Where's the necklace, love?"

"Katherine stole it," Elena explained. "I realize that sounds very convenient given the circumstances but it's true."

Klaus cast a look towards Phoebe for confirmation. She seemed aware of this information, so it was clearly not something Elena had just made up on the spot and trusted her sister to go along with.

"Well, this is unfortunate. If we had the necklace, it would make things a whole lot easier, but since that's no longer an option, I suppose we're just gonna have to do this the hard way." He pointed up at the scoreboard. "Let's put a clock on it, shall we?"

"I thought we already had a clock on it?" Phoebe called, as he walked away to find the controls.

A timer for twenty minutes appeared on the scoreboard, then Klaus marched up to Stefan to give him further orders. "Twenty minutes! If Phoebe hasn't found a solution by then, I want you to feed again, only this time I want you to feed on Elena."

"What? No," Phoebe protested.

"Don't do this to him," Elena pleaded.

"No one leaves. She tries to run, I want you to fracture her spine," Klaus commanded.

"Okay, th...this isn't so bad. You'll be here to help them find some kind of loophole," Phoebe thought to herself. "At worst, he'll have to feed on her a little bit, but you'll be here to-"

Klaus picked Phoebe up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Klaus, what are you doing?!" Phoebe questioned in surprise.

Klaus ignored her struggles to get free, and continued to carry her out of the gym with him. "It's time you stop being distracted by everything, and focused on finding me an answer."

Phoebe propped herself up enough to look at her sister's terrified face, and then Stefan – he looked afraid. Phoebe wouldn't be here to stop him from killing Elena, or to help him find a loophole in Klaus' compulsion, and he didn't feel strong enough to get through this without her.

"You can do this, Stefan!" Phoebe called as they neared the door. Klaus would undoubtedly use her words of confidence as further evidence that she was somehow in love with Stefan and not Damon, but she didn't care about that right now. "Find your strength, your will to resist, and fight it. I know you can do it!"

Her last was cut off by the door closing behind them.


Klaus didn't put Phoebe down until they were a good ways away from the gym, and even then he kept hold of her arm so she couldn't go running back – not that she'd make it very far, even if she could run. Phoebe took out her cell phone and Klaus snatched it from her almost instantly.

"Ah, ah, ah, no cheating, love."

"I was just going to call Bonnie to see if she's had any luck, yet," Phoebe protested, reaching for her phone. It was the truth. Her brain was too unfocused, too all over, to think clearly enough to figure out a loophole right now. Even if she had managed to think of one and get word to Stefan, Klaus would have fixed that before you could say supercalafragalisticexpialadoseous.

Klaus studied her for a moment, and having decided she was telling the truth, he called Bonnie on her phone and put it on speaker.

Bonnie answered the phone reluctantly, "Hello."

"Please tell me you've found something." Phoebe's voice was less optimistic and more pleading.

"Phoebe…I'm sorry…my grimoires just don't go back that far."

Phoebe shot forward automatically, her hands latching onto the arm of the hand Klaus held the phone in. "There has to be something else you can do. What about all those dead witches? They have to know the answer he needs."

"They won't talk to me anymore. Not after I brought Jeremy back to life," Bonnie argued. "And they sure as hell aren't gonna tell me how to help Klaus make hybrids."

She was right. There was no way the 'protectors of nature' would help an 'abomination of nature' how to make more 'abominations'. Klaus, sensing the conversation was over, reached his thumb over to hit the 'end' button; but he didn't reclaim his arm from Phoebe, who was frozen in place.

How could she let this happen? How could she let this monster live, only to have him come back a few months later and terrorize them all over again? How could she let him leave town with Stefan, her friend, and not even try to help him?

"Because you were busy feeling sorry for yourself," she answered in her head. "Because instead of thinking logically and doing what was necessary to protect the people you love, you thought only of Elijah. You let your feelings for him cloud your judgment and told him not to kill Klaus. You told him to spare his brother. And now he's lying in a box somewhere with a dagger in his heart, while everyone else pays the price for your mistakes."

Her stomach began to churn, and her mouth went dry. Klaus eyed her suspiciously, noting that her hands still gripping his arm were beginning to shake.

Rebekah looked at Phoebe as though she had suddenly broken out in an Irish jig for no reason. "What is she doing?"

Klaus ignored his sister. Instead he focused his hearing on Phoebe's insides. Her heart was racing a lot faster than just her normal nervousness, and her breathing sounded like someone was strangling her.

"She's having a panic attack," he announced, his eyes still glued to her face.

Klaus brought his free hand up to grab her phone and put it in his pocket – he now had both hands free to help her. He wanted to tell her to look at him and focus on his face – he'd read and found from experience that focusing on something in detail often helped break you out of your dread-filled thoughts, but he knew his actions were the reasons for her current state so looking at him wasn't the best of ideas for helping her. He looked around and saw a corkboard down the hall a ways. He could see it fine, personally, but it was too far for her to see clearly from here.

He maneuvered around her, scooped her up in his arms, and flitted her down the hall. Klaus set her down, facing the board. "Look at the corkboard and tell me what you see."

Phoebe stared in the direction of the board, but not at it. She was so dazed; she hadn't even noticed that they'd moved.

"Look at the corkboard, Phoebe," Klaus repeated in a more commanding tone. "What do you see?"

Phoebe fought to suppress the horrible thoughts in her head, and struggled to keep from sinking into the same zombie-like state she'd gone into when she found out that she had not gotten her hereditary condition from her mother's side of the family.

"Fight, Phoebe," came a familiar voice. "You can do this. Don't quit, now. Your sister needs you."

Realization hit Phoebe hard, as it dawned on her whose voice she was hearing: It was Isobel's. But how could that be? Isobel was dead and Jeremy was the one that could talk to ghosts, not her. Could her powers have something to do with it? There was that whole hypersensitivity thing she'd unintentionally used to sense Luka when he'd astral projected into her room to steal the moonstone from her. Maybe that's how she was hearing Isobel now? Then again, she could just be imagining things.

Phoebe's focus on whether or not hearing her mother's voice was all in her head or not did a lot to ease her panic. It wasn't exactly what Klaus had in mind, not that he knew what was going through her head, but it did the trick. Phoebe's breathing was regulating, and her heart was slowing to a normal pace and rhythm.

"Phoebe," came her name again. It was Klaus' voice this time.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts, and looked up at him to let him know she was coherent again. It was a bit like pulling yourself out of the pool after swimming in it for hours. The full weight of your body hitting you all of the sudden as you try to climb your way out of the water.

An idea hit her as she thought about that particular analogy. "The pool," she whispered. Her eyes darted over to the cork board. There was a flyer for the swim team.

Klaus watched a grin spread across her lips. This was certainly an odd turn of events.

"Come on. I've got an idea of how we can find your answer." She yanked him along after her, as she almost ran towards their indoor swimming pool.


"Not five minutes ago you were having a panic attack," Klaus reminded, following her as she went. "And now you want me to hold you under water until you stop breathing?"

"Not want, need," Phoebe corrected. "I need a vampire to hold me under so I know I can't get away. And it has to be you or your sister that does it, because no one else would ever agree to this."

"And what makes you so sure I'll agree to this idiotic plan of yours?"

"Because you want your answer and this is the only way you're going to get it." She pushed through the double doors leading to the swimming pool.

"Why you?" Klaus challenged. He did his best to hide the concern in his voice, and on a better day Phoebe might have noticed it, but today she was too preoccupied. "Why can't someone else do this?"

"Because I've seen the witch you need to talk to. I spoke to her earlier this year when I died saving Damon from a fire," she answered, kicking off her shoes. "She looked like she was from an old Viking era, and Elijah said you guys were from an old Viking era. Two plus two."

Klaus rolled his eyes, "At least let me give you some of my blood first, that way I know you'll come back."

Now that one didn't escape her notice. Phoebe furrowed her eyebrows at him in confusion.

"With my blood, there's a guarantee that you'll come back with an answer." He gestured to the pool before them. "And snapping your neck is surely a better way to die than drowning."

Phoebe had to admit this was a tempting offer. A quick snap of the neck was a better way to go than slowly drowning to death. And she had been planning to become a vampire, maybe this was her way to do that. She could say that she died saving her sister's life and her friend's sanity, but at least she came back? There would be no debate, no one outright refusing to let her turn, no one refusing to sire her. This was a golden opportunity.

But aside from them all deserving the chance to come to terms with her decision, without it being forced on them, there was one other problem. "We can't be sure I'll go to the same place. When a vampire waits to wake up in transition, there's no guarantee they go to the same place we supernatural things go when we die." That felt weird to say. "If I did that and didn't even see her, it'd be a waste. This would have been for nothing."

Klaus didn't like it – he didn't like it one bit. But she had a point, as usual, and he was more concerned with finding his answer than her life. Yet still, there was some level of concern for her safety, and he wasn't sure why.

Klaus gave a reluctant nod, "What do you need me to do?"

Keeping in mind that Stefan and Elena were still on a timer, Phoebe gave Klaus a quick rundown of how to perform CPR. She reminded, even after setting a timer on her phone, to only wait three minutes before trying to resuscitate her. She probably should have mentioned her weakened lungs, but then he might've insisted on finding another way to contact the witch, and there was no other way.

She removed her glasses, and hopped into the pool with the hybrid. They waded further out from the wall – to avoid hitting Phoebe's head, or give her something to grab onto – and got into position.

Phoebe closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling the true depth of her lungs. As she exhaled slowly, she lay back on the cool water, eyes still closed. The water filled her ears, and she could hear the sound of her heart beating wildly. Most people found floating on their backs quite relaxing, but Phoebe doubted she ever would again – provided she survived this.

Klaus let her float there like that for a moment, watching her, before he slid an arm under her to cradle her like a child. He placed his other hand flatly on her chest. He waited for her to exhale again, then plunged her under the water – the less air in her lungs to hold onto, the quicker this would go. Instinctively, Phoebe's hands shot up to grab Klaus' arm, and her face scrunched up as though it would somehow allow her to hold out longer.

For a moment it wasn't so bad. Then again, it never is. Aside from the water already making its way up her nose, she was holding her breath rather well. But that wasn't the point of this. The point of this was to lose her breath. But instinct overcame mind in these matters. Steadily, Phoebe began to feel the need to breathe, and her grip on Klaus tightened. That was what reminded her of her purpose here. To drown. Not to survive. To die.

Her lips parted and she sucked in the chlorine-treated water. This came as a surprise to her lungs, which had been expecting air, rather than the cold burn of pool water. Phoebe's body tried exchanging the one element for the other; but the more she tried to cough up the water, the more water seeped in. Her hands clawed at Klaus' arm, trying to get him to release her – survival instincts at it again. Klaus winced at the pain, but never faltered.

A moment or two later and everything was calm once more. Phoebe's muscles relaxed and she stopped fighting. Then everything faded to black. Klaus listened to her heart steadily grow weaker...weaker...weaker...and stop...Phoebe Gilbert was dead...


"So how come you didn't wanna go to Senior Prank Night with Phoebe?" Jenna asked, setting up the sundae assembly line on the island in the kitchen.

Hayley grabbed her bowl and began scooping ice cream into it, "I just didn't see the point. I don't go to that school, and half the pranks people tend to come up with for that crap aren't even good." She licked ice cream off her fingers, before moving onto the toppings. "Besides, Phoebe wanted some time with Matt tonight."

"Yeah, they haven't spent much time together, lately," Jenna noted, tending to her own sundae. She eyed Hayley out of the corner of her eye. "But you two seem to be joined at the hip. Every time I see Phoebe, you're always close by...Something going on there?"

"No. Nothing going on," she replied, unaware of what she was implying.

Jenna was suspicious of her behavior. "It's okay if there is. I mean, I'll love Phoebe no matter what, and you're already like family. And honestly, you'd be better for her than Damon."

Hayley choked on her ice cream. "Wait, what? You think we're...? No. No. No, we're just...I like guys, and as far as I know, so does Phoebe."

"Okay, okay, I believe you," said Jenna laughing slightly. "I just thought I'd...Is that normal?" Jenna pointed to the 'sisters' tattoo on Hayley's wrist.

Hayley looked down to see what she was talking about. The tattoo was glowing. "No, I'd say that's definitely not normal."

"What does it mean?"

Hayley shrugged, "I don't know. The witches said the ink was magical. That it bound the two people together somehow."

"So maybe this is telling you there's something up with Phoebe?" Jenna said slowly.

"You think something might be wrong?"

"You tell me. You're the one with a magical tattoo."

That was enough for Hayley. Jenna may not know about Phoebe's condition, but Hayley sure did, and there were any number of things that could be going on with her right now because of it. "I'm gonna go check it out." She hopped off her stool and headed for the front door.

"I'll come with you," Jenna called, following her.

As the two headed for the high school to see what could be going on with their tattoos, a horrible thought struck Hayley – one she did not share: if there were something wrong with Phoebe, why wasn't anyone calling them to tell them so?


Damon returned with the keys, eager to get going back to Mystic Falls. Now that he knew what Katherine had in mind, and it was more than just a theory, he wanted to get back and let Phoebe know he hadn't left because of her. He wanted to share the good news that he had found another way to solve their Klaus problem.

"Where's my phone?" He was looking at Katherine.

Katherine tried to play coy, "Do you need to check in with Phoebe? Make sure it's okay you kidnapped her baby bro?"

"You know you have it," he told her.

Katherine smiled and shrugged, "What can I say? I needed you present here now."

Damon held out his hand, no longer in the mood to put up with her, "Katherine, phone, now."

Katherine scowled at him as she dug the phone out of her pocket, and slapped it into the palm of his hand. Damon studied his phone, expecting only to see messages from Phoebe, but what he read from Bonnie hit him like a train.

Jeremy noticed the concern on his face. "What is it?"

"Klaus is back in town." He glared up at Katherine. She had to have known about this.

"No turning back, Damon," said Katherine.

"Shut up, Katherine," he told her. He handed the keys to Jeremy, "Stay with her so Anna can guide you. I'm going back."

"You're gonna get yourself killed," she told him. He ignored her and kept walking. "The Damon I remember wouldn't have been that stupid."

Damon stopped to look back at her, but only for a second. "I wouldn't have done it for you."


Klaus moved quickly, picking Phoebe's body up and bringing her to where she'd left her phone on the side of the pool. He started the timer for three minutes, and then made quick work of positioning her body for the CPR. He wanted to be ready when it was time.

Much like when she'd died before, Phoebe shot straight up from where she lay on the ground, her lungs sucking in as much air as they could. She looked around her, not wanting to waste any time, and quickly noted that, unlike last time, she was not in the Mystic Falls Cemetery. This time, she was still where her body was: Mystic Falls High School swimming pool.

"This is a change," she commented to no one in particular, rising to her feet.

"Hello, Phoebe."

Phoebe spun around. Esther was standing there with a slight smile on her face. "Esther!" Phoebe blurted out. "I need your help. Klaus is back, and I'm too weak to fight him."

Esther's smile faded, "I know."

"I know I failed you once, and the other witches have already begun to punish me for it, but if you could just talk to them…convince them to give me another chance…"

Esther shook her head, "I've tried, Phoebe, but they won't go for it." She looked at Phoebe with mock sadness. "You're just going to have to fight him the way you are."

"But I'll die," Phoebe argued.

"Yes, you will. But you'll have died doing the world a service. You'll have died saving your sister from a monster." Esther reached out and placed a comforting hand on Phoebe. "I know death is scary, but…"

Phoebe didn't hear what she said after that, her mind was racing to put the pieces together. Esther had created her to kill Klaus, and she had gone behind the backs of all the other dead witches to do it. So why couldn't she do that now to help give her a little bit more energy to survive the fight? To give her the chance to say goodbye to her loved ones? To make sure that Klaus' compulsion wore off of Stefan with his death? To make sure his sister didn't kill everyone she loved as revenge for Phoebe killing Klaus?

Esther clearly wanted Phoebe dead for some reason. The question was why? Sure, she was another abomination of nature and all witches typically wanted their kind dead; and it was entirely possible that Esther knew of her plan to become a vampire, and didn't want to let that happen…but why?

Klaus eyed the phone impatiently. Hadn't it been three minutes, yet? Not yet. The timer was a little over halfway there, but it still wasn't time yet.

"Bloody hell…" he growled.

What was so horrible about her becoming a vampire? There were plenty in existence already, what was one more? Was it possible Phoebe could keep her powers as a vampire, and Esther was just trying to prevent an unstoppable, over powerful monster from coming to be? It was possible. But something in Phoebe's gut told her that there was something else, some other reason.

"Why don't you want me to live?" Phoebe challenged, cutting Esther off.

Esther looked at her, confusion etched on her face. She didn't know how to respond.

"You have to know that Rebekah will seek revenge for me killing her brother, so killing just him won't actually save my sister." Phoebe shrugged Esther's hand off. "Rebekah has a worse temper than Klaus. Once she finds out that he's dead and I killed him, she'll slaughter everyone at that school, maybe even the entire town. That's a lot of innocent lives to be lost just to have me kill Klaus."

"I told you, Phoebe, I tried talking to-"

"The other witches wouldn't allow that many innocent lives to be lost like that," Phoebe cut her off. "They may not give me the strength to survive killing Klaus, but they'd have at least reached out to Bonnie and given her the power to help me, and yet…they haven't." Pieces began falling into place for Phoebe the more she spoke. "Because they don't want me to have help. If I have help, I won't need to use as much power to fight. If I don't use as much power, I might survive."

Esther tried to maintain a neutral expression, but her poker face was no match for Phoebe's skills, especially when she was already on a roll.

"They don't want me to survive, do they?" Phoebe questioned.

Esther hesitated. "…No. They don't."

"Why?" Phoebe held up a finger to add, "And don't give me any of that crap about me being an abomination of nature. They've been slowly killing me since I was born, and only accelerated it once they saw I wasn't gonna follow Klaus out of town to…" Her voice trailed off as it hit her. The acceleration of her condition wasn't punishment for not killing Klaus, it was insurance.

The timer beeped signaling Klaus that the three minutes had passed. It was time to begin CPR. Klaus hopped to it, without a second's hesitation.

The ancient witched eyed Phoebe mildly nervous. It was clear Phoebe was having some sort of epiphany.

"Doppelganger blood has mystical properties," Phoebe said slowly. She wasn't talking to Esther, but saying her thoughts out loud had been helping her thus far, why stop now? "Now, I'm not a doppelganger, but you made me the twin of one, so we share some traits. That combined with making me The Anomaly…" Phoebe looked up at Esther – she wanted to see the witch's reaction to her theory. "Is my blood the key to Klaus siring hybrids?"

Esther stared at her sourly for a moment, and Phoebe thought that she might refuse to answer. But then her expression changed. She looked at ease. What did she know that Phoebe didn't?

"Yes," she confirmed. "Your blood is the key."

"That's why you all started making me sicker after Klaus left town. You knew he was looking for werewolves to sire into hybrids, and that he'd eventually find out that he needed my blood to do it. But if I was dead, then he couldn't do that."

"Yes," she replied calmly. "We'd have even let you become a vampire, like you were planning – your blood would be useless to him then, but you took too long."

Phoebe shook her head, she didn't believe it. It had been more the three minutes by now and Klaus would have begun trying to revive her. So why wasn't she getting flashes of the living world like she had before? "Then I won't fight him. I'll help him."

Esther smiled lightly, "I'm afraid it's too late for that."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm afraid your lungs were too weak for this…visit," she explained. "Klaus won't be able to revive you."

The emotional part of Phoebe that had been oddly active tonight threatened to take over, but she pushed it back down. Esther had to be lying. But what good could come from that lie? If it was a lie, why would she have told her the truth about Phoebe's blood being the key to Klaus making hybrids – and that had been the truth?

"Phoebe."

Phoebe turned to see Isobel standing on the other side of the pool.

"Mom?" Phoebe called back. It felt a little odd calling her that to her face, but she'd gotten in the habit of calling her 'mom' over the summer when she visited her grave and talked to her.

"Use your powers, Phoebe," Isobel told her.

Phoebe began walking around the pool to her, "How? I'm dead."

"In those brief flashes of consciousness you get, try to absorb the water."

"She can't do that," Esther called. "Those brief moments of consciousness aren't enough for her to use her powers. Even if they were, she's too weak to use them."

"Don't listen to her," said Isobel. "Focus. Absorb the water like you do when you used to go running with Matt. Remember how you absorbed the moisture from the air?"

"That was different. I-I didn't even realize I was doing it," Phoebe argued. "Wait, a minute, how do you know I used to go running with Matt? Or that I could absorb the moisture in the air?"

Isobel smiled, "I've been watching over you since that day in the cemetery."

Phoebe swallowed the lump building in her throat, "So…when I visit your grave…you…you can hear me?"

"Every word." There was something oddly maternal in her voice. "Now, focus, Phoebe, there isn't much time."

Phoebe shook her head, "Esther's right, it's too late. There haven't been any flashes."

"There will be," Isobel told her confidently.

Phoebe opened her mouth to argue further, but she was cut off by a flash of the living world. Isobel had been right. She saw Klaus hovering over her performing chest compressions.

"Come on, love," he begged.

Phoebe almost didn't want to go. The chance to talk to Isobel again, and on a marginally better note than the previous two times they'd met…But Elena needed her. As tired as she was of having to always be needed for something, she couldn't just stop caring and do nothing. She loved her sister, and would always be there for her when she needed her. And now was one of those times.

Phoebe reached out and held onto Isobel's hands. She closed her eyes reluctantly, and waited for the next flash. When it came, she was ready. She imagined Elijah's voice in her head guiding her to her goal. It helped a lot.

When Phoebe woke up, her lungs automatically sucked in a large intake of air, which only made things more awkward. Klaus was in the middle of performing mouth-to-mouth when she woke up. She, of course, hadn't taken notice of this, but Klaus made sure that it didn't escape her attention altogether.

"Welcome back, sweetheart," he grinned, pretending he hadn't just been worried.

"Thanks," she replied. That was when she noticed that his face was alarmingly close to hers. So close, she could feel his breath on her face. "Why are you so close?"

"Well, I was in the middle of performing mouth-to-mouth. It's nice to know my lips have magic healing powers."

Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"It's like something out of a fairy tale," he went on. "Tell me, sleeping beauty, what news from the witch?"


Six minutes, fifteen seconds.

Stefan paced anxiously, desperately trying to figure out a loophole in Klaus' compulsion.

"Stefan, you can control this," said Elena confidently. "When that buzzer goes off, just—just drink from me."

"You don't get it! I can't stop, Elena!" Stefan snapped. "I'm a ripper! A ripper doesn't stop! I listen to the words that come out of your mouth, and all I hear is the sound of your heart pumping blood through your body."

Elena stared at him in shock – she'd never seen this side of Stefan before. Aside from their trip to Chicago, he'd always been so kind and sweet to her. Because he loved her and wanted to protect her from the monster that he thought he was. But now…now the monster was rearing its ugly head, and Elena did not like it.

"And when that clock ticks down…" Five minutes, thirty-nine seconds. "I'm going to have to feed on you, and I won't be able to stop."

Elena shook her head, "I don't believe that. You can fight it. You just have to want it bad enough."

"Why, because I love you?"

"Yeah! That's right, Stefan, because you love me," she confirmed. "You'll fight, because after everything we've been through, you owe me that!"

He did owe her. He'd brought so much chaos into her life, when all she wanted was to live in 'naïve bliss', as Phoebe liked to put it. But because he loved her?...not so much. He did care about her, obviously, he'd always care about her. But he didn't feel he loved her that way anymore. A feeling he'd had for most of the summer, but only now knew for certain.

Elena had always been his anchor, though, his strength. If he didn't have her or their love to give him the strength he needed to fight, then where would he find it? He wished Phoebe were here now. For someone who was terrible with words, she always seemed to know just what to say to him.

Four minutes, fifty-two seconds.


Tyler shot up from where he lay on the science lab table, gasping for air. "Where am I? What happened?"

Caroline tried to get him to relax a bit, before breaking the news, but Rebekah had other plans.

"Don't be shy about it," she told Caroline.

"What's going on?"

"Klaus is turning you into a hybrid, like him…you're in transition." Caroline said it all as gently as she could, but no matter how gentle she was about it, it was still a terrifying thing to hear.

"Don't leave out the hard part, sweets," said Rebekah. "You'll only survive if your Anomaly friend is successful. If not…pretty much dead."

Caroline shot a glare at Rebekah. "You're gonna be okay. Okay? It's gonna be okay."

"I wonder how she's doing." Rebekah unlocked Caroline's phone to check the timer. It was down to two minutes. She showed it to the others and smiled. "Tick tock goes the gym clock."


"I don't understand. Where is everyone?" Jenna pondered aloud. She and Hayley had made it to the school, and were now looking around for some sign of trouble. Unfortunately, the closest they could find to that was the lack of students lurking around setting up pranks for their teachers.

"I don't know," Hayley answered. "But at least they're missing and not lying around in pools of their own blood."

Jenna shivered at the thought. Yes, at least there was that.

"Something else." Hayley showed Jenna her tattoo.

"It stopped glowing," Jenna noted. Hayley nodded. "Is that a good or bad thing?"

"…I have no idea…"


Seventeen seconds.

Stefan was sweating profusely, now. They were almost out of time and he still hadn't found a loophole in Klaus' compulsion. In just a few seconds, he was going to have to feed on the girl he once loved, and worse yet…he would not be able to stop.

"Elena, you're gonna have to run," he told her. It was physically agonizing trying to fight his urge to kill her, and the timer hadn't even gone out yet.

"But Klaus said that if I run-"

"I know what he said, but if you stay it won't matter," he interrupted.

Nine seconds.

Stefan collapsed to the floor, trying to fight every fiber of his being not to hurt her. "Elena, please," he begged. "Please, please, please, please…"

Elena glanced at the clock, nervously. Five seconds.

"Elena, there's no other way," he pleaded.

"There is another way, Stefan. It's for you to fight," she told him. "Remember what Phoebe said, find your strength and fight it."

The buzzer sounded, and both Stefan and Elena's hearts seemed to stop for a moment.

Unimaginable pain tore away at Stefan from the inside. He'd never turned into a wolf, but he imagined this was close to what it felt like for Hayley and Tyler every month.

"Stefan, I love you," Elena whimpered. "Fight, Stefan. Don't give up."

He wanted to, he really did. But what for? What was his anchor, his source of strength without Elena? He didn't have time to figure it out. Without wanting to, he charged at Elena. Stefan missed her, just barely, due to his little remaining willpower and her reflex to move aside. Elena screamed instinctively as she dodged his attack.

"Elena, run!" he commanded. She didn't want to, she still hoped their love would be enough for him to fight, but still she ran.

Jenna and Hayley weren't that far from the gym when they heard Elena scream. They didn't know who was screaming at the time, but that didn't matter. Someone was obviously in trouble and they needed to find out whom.

Elena ran like anyone being pursued would – constantly checking over their shoulder to see how close their pursuer was. She burst through a set of double-doors and looked back to see how close Stefan was. That was when she ran into Jenna. She screamed again, automatically.

"It's okay, it's just me," Jenna comforted. "What's going on?"

"It's Klaus," Elena panted. "He compelled Stefan to feed on me. Stefan's trying to fight it, but…"

"Where's Phoebe?" Hayley asked.

"I don't—I don't know. Klaus took her away, and I haven't seen her."

The sounds of Stefan throwing himself into lockers to slow himself down were steadily getting closer.

"Okay, you get Elena out of here, I'll see if I can help slow Stefan down somehow," Hayley instructed.

Jenna nodded, scooped up her niece, and took off out of there.

Hayley pushed through the double-doors, and looked down the hall at Stefan. He looked absolutely horrible.


By the time Klaus and Phoebe caught up to Stefan, he and Hayley had already made their way into the cafeteria. Hayley had shove a broken broom handle through Stefan's belly to slow him down enough to get the story – at least what little he knew – of what had transpired tonight. Both of them looked Phoebe up and down, searching for any signs of damage. They didn't find any, but she still looked awful.

Aside from being soaked head to toe from her adventure in the pool, she looked utterly exhausted, like someone who hadn't slept properly in days. Klaus wasn't exactly dry yet, either, which only added to their concerns.

"What did you do to her?" Hayley accused, moving closer to Phoebe.

"I haven't done anythin' to her, except save her life," Klaus defended.

Hayley looked at Phoebe, her face full of uncertainty, "What's he talking about?"

"I'll explain later." Phoebe waved a dismissive hand, as though trying to swat the topic away like a fly. "Where's Elena?"

"Jenna got her out of here just in time," Hayley told her. "She's fine."

Klaus looked at Stefan, "You look awful, mate. Why don't you turn it off?"

"No," Stefan choked out.

"Come on," Klaus pressed. He took a seat on one of the tables. "Your humanity is killing you. All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off."

"No!" Stefan repeated.

"Klaus, stop it," said Phoebe. "I have your answer, you don't need to do this anymore."

"And how do I know you won't lie?"

Phoebe looked surprised he would even think that, given everything that had happened tonight, after what she went through to get his answer. "Because if I lie then Tyler dies."

Klaus shrugged. "You've never been very fond of him. You told me so yourself."

"No, but if this doesn't work with Tyler you'll just go after Hayley next," Phoebe pointed out. Hayley looked uneasy. "I wouldn't do that to her."

"I believe you, love," he nodded. "But I may have further use of Mr. Salvatore, here."

"Klaus, please-" she started to plead, but he'd already made up his mind. Having Stefan as a pawn to control as he wished was of more use to him than having Phoebe happy with him.

"You're strong, Stefan. But you're not that strong." Klaus pulled out the broken broom handle and tossed it aside. "Turn…it…off."

Stefan looked at Phoebe. Her brown eyes were desperate for him to remain strong, to keep fighting Klaus' compulsion. Though Elena's life was no longer in danger, there was still something she needed from him, some reason she needed him to stay Stefan. That was enough for him. For her, without even knowing why, he would fight.

He shoved Klaus backwards, "NO!"

Everyone, even Klaus was taken by surprise.

"Now this is fascinating. I've never seen this before," Klaus began. He glanced back at Phoebe. "The only thing stronger than your craving for blood, is your love for this one girl." He'd clearly noticed the look they had shared before his defiant outburst.

"Klaus," Phoebe began again. Still, Klaus ignored the pleading tone in her voice.

Klaus took Stefan by the collar of his shirt, pinned him against the closest wall, and commanded one last time, "Turn it off!"

Stefan was hit full force by Klaus' compulsion, giving him no room to fight or resist. He had no choice but to do as he was compelled to do…So he turned it off.

Phoebe never thought there could be visible signs of someone turning their humanity off, and maybe there wasn't; but the weight lifting from Stefan's shoulders could be seen from a football field away.

"What did you do?" Hayley asked.

Klaus turned back around, slowly. "I fixed him."

The lights began to flicker and an unbelievable gust of wind came roaring into the room. Phoebe had reached her breaking point. She didn't care if using her powers would make her sicker, or if using enough of them to kill Klaus would result in her death. What he had done to Stefan was the last straw for her, and whether she killed him or just knocked him on his ass didn't matter, but he had to…

Phoebe collapsed where she stood.

"Phoebe!" Hayley dropped to her knees at Phoebe's side. She lifted Phoebe's head to look at her. Her nose was bleeding, and she looked even more drained – if that were possible. Hayley looked up at Klaus, "We need to get her to a hospital."


After having first made sure that Phoebe was well-set up at the hospital, with Stefan lurking nearby and Hayley at her side, Klaus returned to the high school science lab with a vial of Phoebe's blood. It was time to see if the Original Witch had told the truth or not.

Klaus gave Tyler the vial. "Phoebe's blood. Drink it."

Caroline wanted to tell him not to drink it, but she knew if he didn't he'd be dead soon. This was his only chance of survival.

Tyler took the vial and downed its contents. Everything was fine for about three seconds, then the pain started. He crashed to the floor, writhing in pain – it felt like he was turning into the wolf. Tyler screamed and cried out, like he had on his first full moon, all while Caroline tried to hold him like she did every full moon.

After a few short minutes – though to Tyler it felt a lot longer than that – the pain stopped. Tyler let out a roar much like the one Klaus had done when he broke the curse. Klaus smiled to himself. The experiment had been a success. He could now make hybrids.


Phoebe lay there in her hospital bed, wires and IVs sticking out of her all over. Her face held no emotion, her brown eyes stared off into space, and even her mind had slowed to a crawl. Klaus had compelled the medical staff to take care of her after everything she'd been through tonight, but also to siphon her for blood – a few bags would do for now. But she didn't care. She didn't put up a fight or protest the whole way to the hospital, or while they took care of her. Hayley, of course, tried to argue against letting Klaus take her blood, but Phoebe told her to let it be. Phoebe Gilbert had reached her breaking point.

Klaus entered the room, eyeing her cautiously – she looked so tired. Phoebe didn't even bother to look at him, though she knew he was there. He looked at Hayley, "Can you give us a moment?"

Hayley looked at Phoebe, who only nodded in response. It wasn't a very obvious nod, but it was enough. Hayley rose to her feet and left the room.

"You'll be happy to know your sister made it home alright," Klaus announced.

Phoebe said nothing. She hadn't really doubted that Elena was alright. Hayley had told her that Stefan hadn't touched her, that Jenna had taken her away.

"I'm sorry tonight's events happened the way they did, but I trust you know that they had to happen."

"Had to happen," Phoebe scoffed. "None of this had to happen, Klaus. Tyler didn't need to be forced to become a lab rat. Dana and Chad didn't have to die. Stefan didn't need you to take away what little sanity he had left, break him down, and then turn him into a sociopath. Elena's life didn't have to be put in danger more than it already was. I didn't have to die to get you your answers." She turned her head to look at him, now, angry tears filling her eyes. "All of this, this entire night, could have been avoided and done better."

Klaus grew a bit testy himself. How could she not see that what had transpired tonight, needed to? "And what, you'd have just helped me, if I'd have asked?"

"Yes," Phoebe answered, without hesitation. "Because Stefan and I were already doing our damnedest to keep Elena hidden from you, so you didn't think her death was the key to making your hybrid army. My fear that you would default back to that, if I didn't find another answer for you, would have been motivation enough. And if I'm being completely honest, I was curious to know myself."

Klaus said nothing. The fact that she might also be curious had never occurred to him. He was always so used to people saying he was an abomination of nature, and for there to be more like him would be a terrible thing. He was used to people always plotting against him, thwarting his plans, trying to stop him from getting whatever it was he wanted. The fact that someone would be so willing to help him, without a display of violence or some kind of ulterior motive, was something foreign to him altogether.

"Why do you even need an army of hybrids, anyway?" Phoebe asked. "You're pretty much invincible, as is. Why do you need an army?"

Klaus' eyes fell to the floor. "I don't want them for protection. I want them so I don't have to be alone anymore."

"But you're not alone." Klaus looked up at her. "You have your family. Your siblings. At least you would if you ever took them out of storage."

He gave a light smirk, "My siblings and I have a very...complicated relationship."

"Yeah, they tend to get that way when you stab them in the back," said Phoebe bitterly. Klaus looked almost hurt at her jab. "You're not the only one that's done it – though yours is more literal. I've done things that hurt my siblings. But they've forgiven me. Because that's what family does. That's why Rebekah still came here with you to help you torment the people I care about, and why Elijah didn't kill you."

"Elijah didn't kill me, because you asked it of him," Klaus argued.

"And he listened when I asked, because I had already told him that if he could remember even one good memory with you – if he could remember a time when he loved you and didn't want to kill you – then he couldn't be a part of your death." Her eyes fell, looking rather sad. "And you repaid him by daggering him and putting him in a box, for who knows how long...You didn't even let me say goodbye..."

Klaus said nothing in response as he tried to figure out what it was about his brother that inspired such loyalty in others. How he could get her to miss him as much as she clearly did, when she barely knew him. Granted he had been training her for months, but his brother didn't open up to people that easily – he didn't let people in.

Then, as though reading his mind, Phoebe went on. "I needed him, Klaus. Him and Stefan. Now more than ever. But you've taken them both, and you have no intention of giving them back. Elijah poses too great a threat to your plans, and Stefan's the perfect pawn for your games – he doesn't care enough to fight or defy you anymore...I needed them and you've broken me..." She turned her head to face away from him again. "So just take your blood and go make your hybrids. Your walking blood bag will be here when you need more."

Klaus wanted to say something to cheer her up, but what? And why did he even care so much? His stomach knotted up the way it had earlier when he thought he wouldn't be able to revive her. He lingered for a moment more, and then left her as she had requested.


Damon made good time getting back to Mystic Falls, though Klaus was already gone by the time he got back. Hayley had spoken to Damon on the phone while Phoebe slept through the blood siphoning to tell him what she knew of the night's events and where they were now.

The Hospital was the first place Damon went when he got back, impatient to see Phoebe, especially after all that had happened. He was just hoping she'd want to see him. When he entered her hospital room, he got a feeling of déjà vu – it was like the night after Founders' Day all over again.

Damon approached the bed cautiously, looking at all the tubes and wires attached to her.

"Damon?" Phoebe groaned, waking up.

"I'm here." He stroked her cheek with his hand. She was colder than usual. No doubt from all the blood Klaus had taken from her.

Phoebe looked up into his gorgeous, blue eyes. She was happy to see him again. Happy to have him back home. But why wasn't he here already? Where had he been when she needed him?

She reached a hand up to take his, her eyes never leaving his. "Where were you?" Though she had tried to mask it, her voice had a clear sad edge to it.

Damon's eyes looked away, briefly, in guilt. "…I shouldn't have left."

Phoebe's eyes fell too. But Damon quickly demanded their attention once more. "But I promise you…I will never leave you again."

It would have been a sweet and touching moment, but someone else had other ideas.

"Well, isn't this cozy," said Stefan, leaning in the doorway.

Damon stood up and faced him, his body language clearly protective. "What are you doing here, brother?"

"Last I checked, I live here," he replied as though that should be obvious. He looked to Phoebe now. "Klaus is gone, but he's asked me to keep watch on you until he returns. From now on, you're under my protection."

That wasn't very surprising. At least, not to Phoebe. Klaus had said he may have further use for Stefan, and she didn't think it entailed having him tag along to hunt werewolves again. All the same, it didn't mean she'd like it. And she didn't. Not one bit.


Jeremy and Katherine didn't reach the crypt containing Mikael until the next morning. Jeremy was tired, and frankly sick of having to put up with Katherine, but he kept going. Anything to help Phoebe not have to be the one to kill Klaus, losing herself in the process. Katherine, on the other hand, was almost as paranoid as Klaus and continued to ask if Anna was lying or trying to lead them astray.

When they finally opened the tomb with Mikael's desiccated body in it, Katherine was happier than a kid at Christmas. Finally, after 500 years and a few failed plans, she had something that could kill Klaus. Things were beginning to look up for Katherine Pierce.


A/N: It feels so good to be back to writing for Phoebe again. I appreciate you guys understanding that I just needed a break, it means a lot. I've been working to improve my writing style so that everything not involving Phoebe wasn't always "meanwhile" or "elsewhere". It definitely takes longer to write, but I think it's worth it. I hope this chapter was worth the wait to you guys, and thank you again for being understanding and for sticking with the story through the bad early writing.