Alex's P.O.V

*Dream*

I opened my eyes to see bright orange, yellow, and red lights surrounding me. The colors were seeping into each other and fading in and out of existence going as far as my eyes could see. It is as if this fire has life, but there is no heat, and yet I cannot breathe. My lungs start to close, and even if I'm already dead, it feels as if I'm dying all over again. Dull grays obscured my vision and burned my skull; superheated metal glowed in an iridescent way. I slowly realize that I was in a car, a burning chariot of death, though I didn't know which person it belonged to.

I turned to the driver and saw Klaus, vintage chairman of death, driving the horse further into the flames of hell, towards the dark man, standing in the way of the bright light. And because I didn't expect him to be here, I screamed. But the longer I stared at him, the longer I noticed that he didn't look the same as before. His flesh was melted away and seeped into nothing, his hair dipped longer, curly at the end, blessed by the sun golden as the life fire itself, blue eyes filled with youth and freedom. A man blessed with life sat beside me. Dead and gone as blood filled Charon's chariot, seeping from the man who was life's champion pouring from the heart as the broad sword of judgment had struck true. Innocence was dead, and death filled its shoes, clawing at life to give back a blessing.

Looking down at what I was wearing and saw I was in a corset dress, then one I wore when I died. I touch my forehead and felt slightly warm blood, then realized I was dead too. Then I saw the rifle that had killed me at my feet, but happily, the owner was nowhere in sight. I looked behind me, hoping not to see Damon or Stefan dead bodies there and was delighted to see we were the only two in the car. Beginning to choke on the fire's smoke, worse than before, I try to open up the car door, but it wouldn't budge.

Looking out the window, I saw a witch with long blonde hair, magic seeping out and her eyes closed. She seemed to be chanting something when suddenly she opened up her eyes and looked directly at me. I started to yell at her and bang on the window to get out, but she didn't move. She then raised her arm and held it towards the car before looking at me sadly.

"I'm sorry dear, but I must destroy the bond."

*Reality*

I shot up, screaming myself awake, and heard a crunch behind me when I leaned back on my hands. I looked around to see I was sitting on the forest floor with trees surrounding me. I began to stand up as I brushed off the dirt from my clothes and wiped the dust off my hands before looking up. I listened for any indication that might tell me where I am. I heard people walking and talking, which made me think that I'm close to town. I then listened to the Mayor's voice as she spoke into a microphone.

"As a long-time member of the Historical Society, I am especially proud to be kicking off this day of festivities. Thank you, volunteers. Tonight, we turn off our town's lights and flare up our lanterns in honor of the night of illumination started by our founders 150 years ago. Here's founding family member Tobias Fell with a history lesson." Carol said, and I walked towards her voice as the crowd of people she was talking to were clapping. When I saw the stage and saw Tobias, I smiled. I watched as he stood in front of the mic and began to speak. He looked so much like Earl. I then heard Jeremy and Alaric voices as I searched for them in the crowd.

" What are we doing here? " Jeremy asked.

" Tobias Fell is the head of the history department. I didn't have a choice. " Alaric said.

" All right, that explains what you're doing here, " Jeremy said to him.

" Well, I'm the one who can fail you if you don't help me out. " Ric shot back and I decided to speed over to them.

"Great." Jeremy and Alaric looked at me. "More founder's festivities," I said to them, and Alaric looked shocked that I was standing in front of him.

"Where have you been?" He asked me. "Damon's been looking for you everywhere when he noticed you weren't at the house this morning." I decided not to answer him as I looked at Tobias. Elena then came up next to Jeremy and looked at me with a hint of fear in her eyes, though she was trying to hide it.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" Elena asked.

"You didn't miss anything," Jeremy told her.

"The first illumination was held in celebration with the newfound prosperity that Mystic Falls enjoyed after the war. The founders, they placed lanterns over the doors..." The prosperity that they stole from the vampires after they killed them. Jeremy laughed a little and Elena looked at him.

"What's so funny?" Elena asked him, and he pointed towards Tobias. She turned around and stood closer to Alaric as she listened to Tobias's speech.

"...to indicate that it was safe," From the vampires. "For their neighbors to come outside again. That night was an opportunity for the community of Mystic Falls to come together, a chance to strengthen ties with neighbors, business owners, and the returning soldiers." I tuned out the rest of the speech because I felt as if someone was watching me. I was snapped out of my thought by the clapping of the audience and saw as Tobias left the stage. Jeremy looked slightly to his left as if someone was whispering into his ear before he spoke to me.

"Hey, Alex, we're going to go to the Grill. Wanna join?" Jeremy asked me.

"Yeah," I nodded to him quickly before turning back towards Tobias. "I'll be right behind you," I told them. Elena and Jeremy then walked off, but Alaric stayed behind, noticing how I watched Tobias as he talked to the town's folk and greeted them. He gave me a strange and worried look.

"Are you alright?" He asked and I nodded without looking at him.

"I'm fine," I said and looked at him. "I just have a small headache that's all." He gave me a look. "I'm fine, Ric." He looked between Tobias and me again before walking towards the Grill. Once he was far enough away, I walked up to Tobias. He had just finished up a conversation and turned around to see me standing there.

"Alexandria." He said, and I smiled at him.

"Tobias." I greeted. "How have you been?" He didn't return the smile like his daughter does typically, then again Victoria was always more like her mother.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Nothing…" I said to him quietly. "I just wanted to check up on you. See how you and Victoria were doing?"

"Victoria's fine." He said and his demeanor changed. "But then again you would know that, seeing how you came to her yesterday."

"I wanted to see her," I told him. "She's still my family-"

"She is not your family, and she never was," Tobias said to me. "You lost all that when you died over a hundred years ago. Now I've been nice enough to keep you and your brother's true identity from the council, but you come anywhere near my daughter again and I will tell them."

"You know I would never put her, or anyone in our family, in harm's way," I stated.

"Maybe that's true. Maybe you won't. But what about Damon and Stefan? What about your friends?" He asked me, and I looked down. "I can't trust that they won't hurt her to get back at you. I know of your fights with your brothers, I've heard the stories. And if you don't believe me, ask Zachariah. How is he by the way?" I looked up at him again. "Stay away from my daughter, Alexandria. It'll be better for all of us." Tobias then walked away before I could stop him and I sighed.

I turned on my heel and walked to the Grill. I knew where he was coming, he just wanted to protect his daughter, and I wish he knew I did too. I saw Alaric and Elena sitting with Jeremy outside. I pulled out the seat between Jeremy and Alaric and sat down. It was evident that I was sad and slightly frustrated, but they didn't know why.

"You ok?" Jeremy asked, and I nodded.

"I'm fine Jeremy; I just have a headache," I said to him and turned towards him. "Can you please get me a cup of coffee and add it to Damon's tab?" He nodded before getting up, and I looked over at the empty chair that was between Elena and Jeremy. "Why is there an empty chair? Are you guys waiting for Damon?"

"No," Elena said and looked at her lap. She didn't make eye contact with me, still afraid of what happened last night and I just looked away as an awkward silence set in. I then noticed all the journals on the table — Stefan's diaries. I began to pick some of them up and look at the years on them as I said them out loud to myself.

"1864, 1912, 22, 35, 42," I hissed at that year, "1977, 87…" These were all the years Stefan was with Lexi. I turned to Elena with a confused expression. "Why do you have these?" I asked her and she didn't look at me. "Elena." She looked up at me, and her face relaxed a bit when she realized I was more confused than furious, but then again I didn't have a reason to be angry with her at the moment.

"I was looking through them to see how Lexi got Stefan to turn on his emotions," Elena said and Jeremy came back with my coffee, cream, and sugar. I looked at the journal again as Jeremy placed my coffee down next to me. I leaned back in my chair with a sigh as Jeremy sat back down in his chair on my right.

"We could use her help right now," I said as I lightly threw the journal I was holding back in the pile.

"In his journal, it said you always found her when he needed her," Elena said, and I nodded.

"Yeah, but she's dead. Meaning I can't find her." I stated. Elena sat back as I put two creams and one sugar in my coffee. I took a sip of my coffee as Elena stared at Stefan's journals and turned to Jeremy.

"Hey, do you think you could talk to Lexi?" Elena asked him. "Because we don't need her physically, we just need to know how she got Stefan's emotions on." I looked at Jeremy.

"I don't even know if she's on the other side," Jeremy stated, and I sat up a bit.

"Is that what it's called?" I asked.

"That's what Anna calls it. There's not like an official brochure or anything." Jeremy said.

"So what is it, like some sort of supernatural purgatory?" Alaric asked him.

"Well, Anna said it's like being here with all of us, only we can't see her or hear her. And she can't interact with anyone." Jeremy said. "She's all alone." I sat back in my seat with a huff.

"Great so I get my living hell when I die," I muttered.

"Vicki could interact. She blew up my car." Alaric said.

"Vicki had help from a witch on the other side. Anna...She's doing this all by herself." Jeremy explained.

"A witch?" I asked them and they all looked at me.

I looked down and thought about my dream for a moment. Could it be the woman from my dream? She was saying something, and she could have been chanting a spell. I mean Alaric said his car blew up and the car in my dream was on fire. But then why was Klaus in my dream as well? I turned to Alaric.

"Before your car was blown up. Were-were you locked inside, with no ability to get out?" I asked him. I watched as Elena and Alaric shared a look.

"I wasn't," Alaric said and I let out a breath. "But Elena was." I didn't turn to anyone; I just sat back in my chair as if I couldn't move. There was a chill down my spine because in this town there's no way my dream and what happened to Elena was not connected.

"Alex, what does this have to do with anything?" Elena asked me, and I took a moment before answering her.

"It's nothing," I told them. I decided not to inform Elena, Alaric, and Jeremy about the dream; the conversation would only worry them more. Then there was the fact Klaus was apart of the dream and there was some bond between the two of us I think? Jeremy then brought up a different subject as he looked around the town square in order to break the silence.

"What was it like?" He asked.

"What was what like?" I asked and turned to him.

"The night of illumination," He said as I took another sip of my coffee.

"Oh," I put my cup down and gave him a tight-lipped smile. "That." I paused for a moment. "Well, I wouldn't know. Damon, Stefan, and I were fairly newborn vampires. Even though we could walk in the sun, we didn't leave the house. The Council had seen my dad shoot us dead, so since they knew about vampires and took vervain, it would've been hard to convince them we were anything else." I explained.

"So none of you left the house?" He asked.

"Not exactly," I said. "Damon left for New York after he learned to control his urges and promised our little brother an eternity of misery. Then I didn't leave until I knew Stefan was safe with Lexi." I corrected and quickly looked at Stefan's journals. After a moment I stood up from the table and pushed in my chair behind me.

"Where are you going?" Alaric asked.

"Home," I said. "I need to change clothes. I'll be back later."

~The Boarding House~

I sped up to my room and started looking through my closet for an outfit. I thought more about my dream as I got dressed. Why was Klaus dead in the car? I mean was that what he looked like when he was human. That would make sense since I was dressed the way I looked when I was human. But then that still left the question of who was the witch who helped Vicki on the other side and appeared in my dream. Plus what did she mean by she must "destroy the bond" What the fuck did it have to do with Klaus and me?

Once I was dressed, I heard my phone vibrate on my bed. I looked down and saw Klaus was calling me again. I didn't answer but watched it ring as I got flashes of him dead in the car with me. It stopped and a notification said I had a missed call and voicemail from him. I grabbed my phone and listen to the voicemail on speaker.

"Good Morning, love." I rolled my eyes. "I'm currently in Russia, I think the last time you were here was in the mid-'80s and you wore black ripped denim and grunge tees." I really do know how to attract the crazy ones don't I. "I never really did care for that style, sweetheart." He sounded genuine and happy at the memory he was describing. "There's a private art museum here called the Erarta. It's home to some amazing Contemporary Art...Maybe you'll let me show it to you one day." The voicemail ended and I stood there for a few minutes before I opened up my messages.

I knew he was only checking in since Stefan was locked up, with no access to a phone in order to update Klaus on my well begin. But Klaus sounded so...happy when he was talking about me in the '80s. I shook my head and reminded myself of all the horrible things he's done to me and my family, not to mention it was creepy that he just knew where I was when I didn't even remember him. I was about to message him, but I felt the presence of another person and turned around to them. Mason Lockwood was leaning against my doorway and I dropped my phone on the bed as I looked at him in surprise.

"Mason?" I asked him. "What the hell? Damon ripped out your heart."

"Yes, he did, but I need to find him there's something both of you need to know," Mason said and walked up to me. "And since I don't know how long this," He gestured to himself. "Will last, I suggest we get going before I disappear." He then vanished. I stood there for a moment before grabbing my black jacket and going to my car, not noticing I was leaving my phone behind.