'I see visions of myself in places I've never been with people I've never known. Is this my new reality?'

Bonnie spent days reading all that she could find on soulbonds and different kinds of magical bonds, looking for every and anything that might help explain this pull between her and Kol. Though she couldn't be entirely sure that this pull wasn't one-sided, a magical manufacturing to get her to trust him. So she looked into that too.

She needed answers and she would find them.

In truth, the sleepless nights were getting to her. And the desperation to distance herself from the Mikaelsons and this truth that Kol was presenting to her may have been making her behave just a tad erratic and perhaps even a little obsessive.

She'd been locked inside for days looking for answers and ignoring her phone. She didn't have time for Stefan's coffin obsession on top of her own problems right now. She was no use to them like this anyway so sue her for taking a few days from the Salvatores' latest revenge plot. And as neither were invited in she was content to keep ignoring them.

If only she could ignore her dreams too.

~x~

Bonnie didn't recognise where she was this time but she could feel the sun beating down on her much warmer than it had ever been in Mystic Falls and knew instinctively that she was not there anymore.

She was fiddling with something in this strange new place as she walked beneath the afternoon sun through the town back to her home. Bonnie didn't recognise the metallic device in her hand but she could feel the magic pulsing through it warming the device even where her hands were not.

Bonnie could see her reflection in the metal surface of the strange device, she shouldn't have been surprised to see her face staring back at her but she was. She didn't recognise the clothes she was wearing or the way her hair was covered, but she knew her face and she knew Renata's and this was both the same and not simultaneously.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder as soon as she entered the cool shade of her home. Bonnie spun around to face the culprit.

"Solavita! What have I told you about touching that?"

"Sorry, Angelsia." She chuckled.

Angelsia took the circular device from her hands, placing it on a shelf across the room amongst other magical artefacts. Bonnie could feel the magic pulsing from them from across the room.

"You know mother will have both of our heads if she sees you touching it again. Your obsession with the ascendant is most peculiar sister." Angelsia turned to give her a reprimanding look.

"And for that, I apologise, I do not wish for you to be implicated because of my flights of fancy. But I cannot help it, the magic it stores calls to me." She said sincerely as she flitted about the room collecting pouches, jars and a bag for such items.

Angelsia huffed, "Well it would, it was forged by our bloodline to be used only by our bloodline."

Solavita ceased her collection to turn to her sister with downcast eyes, "Please do not tell mother."

"Well, it's back now so there's no reason for her to find out so long as you don't let it happen again," Angelsia warned her.

Solavita nodded hurriedly, the sensation was still peculiar to the young witch, the disconnect she experienced between herself and the women she was in these dreams.

"It won't."

"Let us hope so. Now go on, you need to collect those herbs before mother returns." Angelsia nodded towards the front of their home.

Solavita hurried out of the home, no need to draw her sister's ire after she'd promised to cover for her. She stopped once she was outside though, distracted by the commotion from the square.

"Solavita!" Her sister started when she realised she still hadn't gone.

"What is going on?" She interrupted her sister.

Angelsia sighed, crossing her arms across her chest she looked at the spectacle unfolding with discomfort.

"Hunters who have sworn to eradicate vampires. Promise to steer clear of them Solavita?"

"Why?"

"They've been known to kill sympathisers too. They're as bloodthirsty and relentless as their prey."

"I'm not a sympathiser!" Solavita felt offended by the mere implication and that was something Bonnie could relate to. Witches hated vampires and no stupid spell was going to change that.

Angelsia looked flustered as if she knew something that Solavita didn't, Bonnie absently wondered if she knew what had happened to her and Solavita.

"I know that! But that doesn't mean that it has to be true for them to strike. They killed Signora Ricci, claiming her to be a sympathiser."

"Madam Ricci would rather die than help a vampire." Solavita turned to glare in the direction of the commotion in light of this.

"My point precisely, keep away from them."

"I will."

"Good. Now go and fetch those herbs, it'll be sundown soon."

With that Solavita broke her gaze with the town square and hurried away.

~x~

Bonnie groaned as she awoke, her neck sore from the position she'd fallen asleep in, this was beginning to become a reoccurring problem. Unable to sleep through the night and dropping off at inopportune moments. She stretched her neck and back out as she sat up, trying to rid herself of the cricks and pains.

Stupid Kol. This was all his fault. The least he could do was tell her what he'd done to her.

And who the hell was Solavita? Why did two women from centuries ago share her face? She knew this dream to have occurred much later than her previous, because by the time of this dream of Solavita, vampires were well known but in Renata's last dream they'd only just turned. How long had it been between both women?

Bonnie was trying to shake the dream off and her questions with it when her phone buzzed. It was Caroline. She wanted to meet at the grill to study. Bonnie sighed, she really didn't want to go but she was going to fall behind if she kept this up and she needed to graduate if she was ever to leave this town. She'd had her teachers email the classwork for the past couple of days but she knew she couldn't keep that up forever.

It looked like she was going to have to face Caroline then.

~x~

Solavita was trying to perform a simple spell and yet she seemed to be struggling. Bonnie watched as she attempted to revive the dying flower she'd found in the forest, pouring her magic into the plant as she chanted but to no avail. Solavita became frustrated as her magic refused to acquiesce to her commands.

And while the flower remained brown and near dead the forest around her came alive. The trees whipped themselves into a frenzy as a strong wind tore through the forest and the sky above darkened dramatically. Bonnie didn't need to experience Solavita's fear to recognise the errant magic bleeding into her surroundings, after all, she'd once whipped up a similar frenzy after taking on the magic of the dead witches.

But it seemed this display of magic was not intentional on Solavita's part. She couldn't command her magic the way she should be able to, the way she'd been trained to do so. Bonnie could tell this was a recent development for Solavita and the reason behind her trip to the forest. She'd come here in an attempt to wrangle her wayward magic in isolation, away from the prying and concerned eyes of her family.

Something was very wrong with Solavita's magic, yet neither girl could determine the cause.

~x~

Bonnie was working on her portion of the history project when someone slid into the seat opposite her. She didn't need to look up to know it was Kol, her magic reacted instinctively to his proximity even when she was trying her hardest to ignore him. She tried to do her best to block him out, focusing instead on her textbook on the Italian Renaissance but she had a feeling it was a losing game.

"Ah the Renaissance, good choice. Though I suppose you would know all about that already, wouldn't you, little witch?" Bonnie bristled at the casual mention of her dreams.

She looked around the Grill to check that none of her friends were in the vicinity. She hadn't told them about the dreams yet but she knew if they continued she wouldn't have a choice. Especially if she couldn't get that coffin open.

"Don't know what you're talking about." She said in response to Kol's transparent attempt at baiting her.

Kol hummed in amusement, "You're friends don't look very pleased to see me."

Bonnie looked up at his remark to find him staring over his shoulder at the bar. And sure enough, there were the Salvatores and Alaric glaring right back at Kol.

"Perhaps you should take the hint."

Kol spun back around to face her with a smirk.

"Perhaps. But I won't."

"Of course not." Bonnie sighed.

"Oh come on darling. I lived through this stuff, I could be a valuable asset."

"I don't particularly fancy hearing how you undoubtedly slaughtered your way through the renaissance nor do I think it would help me. But thanks." She deadpanned, she was too tired these days to manage much more than that, especially in Kol's presence.

Kol wasn't perturbed by her dismissal; it would seem, "There's more to me than that. Though I wasn't just referring to the renaissance."

Bonnie stiffened at the pointed remark. She was not discussing this with him in public, certainly not with the Salvatores in earshot. She aimed for indifference when she spoke next, to cover for her slip up.

"Weird how I don't care."

"Very well, little witch. I shall leave you to it but I'll be seeing you, darling." Kol sighed dramatically, finally standing up from her table.

"Great," Bonnie grumbled, why couldn't he just leave her alone?

~x~

The scene at the Grill hadn't gone unnoticed by the Salvatores, while they were smart enough to wait until Kol was long gone before approaching her, that was as far as any common sense went with them. Bonnie let out an inaudible sigh as she watched them approach from her peripheral, she was never going to get this damned project finished.

"What did Elijah Junior want?" Damon tactfully started as he slid into the seat opposite her, to which Bonnie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Damon bought that reaction out of her a lot.

"Is this the part where we pretend you weren't listening in?" Bonnie retorted tiredly, she so didn't have the energy to deal with the Salvatores on top of Kol, the coffin situation, her dreams and her history project.

"He's probably just trying to get close to you to get the coffins back for Klaus. Trying to make himself seem approachable, don't fall for it, Bonnie." Stefan warned.

As if she needed telling, she thought bitterly to herself. Considering the brother's relied on her and her magic to constantly solve their problems you'd think they would have a little bit more faith in her but evidently not.

"I don't think he cares about the coffins." She said hollowly.

"You don't know that." Stefan dismissed.

Yes I do, Bonnie thought to herself, but far be it for her to argue with the wisdom of the Salvatores. Not that they'd listen to her at any rate.

"What was with the pointed remarks? You guys met before or something?" Damon interceded.

"Something like that," Bonnie mumbled.

"If you know something-" Damon started leaning across the table to glare threateningly at her.

"Is this why you still haven't gotten the coffin open?" Stefan interrupted his brother before he could finish whatever threat he'd been about to make.

Bonnie slammed her textbook shut then, finally looking up from her work to scowl at the two vampires.

"In case you haven't noticed, Stefan," She spat his name with all the anger and resentment that had been building in her for weeks now letting it drip from her words, "I'm trying to work on my school project, I know you've done the high school thing a couple dozen times but some of us only get one shot at it. Life doesn't just stop because you've got a problem on your hands that needs my witchy workaround. And I have met Kol before." She deflated then, the exhaustion seeping in as she sunk back in her seat, she was so goddamn tired.

"He approached me in the Grill and then I started getting these cryptic dreams of him in the past. I'm pretty sure they're not real and it's just some kind of spell but I haven't had time to figure it out with everything else going." She glared at them as delivered the final part.

"Well uh, what sort of dreams?" Damon stumbled, caught off guard by her tangent.

"I don't know. Kol's there, sometimes it's before he was turned, sometimes it's a couple of centuries later. I can't make heads or tails of it." She doesn't want to admit the conclusions she's beginning to come to about the dreams nor is she going to mention what Kol said about being bonded to her ancestor as that certainly won't help her current predicament. "And Kol's not exactly helpful either. He just shows up, makes some thinly veiled taunt and then leaves."

"They're just trying to get under your skin, Bonnie. You can't let them." Stefan piped up, as dismissive as ever. God, she wanted to punch him right in his humanity-less face.

"Yeah? Well, it's working. I haven't slept in weeks. I couldn't open the coffin even if I had time right now, I have no control over my magic when I'm like this." With that, she gathered up her stuff and left.

It wasn't entirely true, what she'd said about her magic, but she didn't want Stefan getting any ideas. She couldn't work on the stupid coffin right now, no matter how pissy he got at her. She had far too much on her plate to be fixated on Stefan's pissing contest with Klaus.

~x~

Her mother was dead.

The Brotherhood's crusade had stirred trouble in their little town and now her mother had been taken from her. Funnily enough, the vampires hadn't taken kindly to the Brotherhood of Five's quest to bring them to extinction, they had become more of a nuisance than they had ever been before.

Solavita couldn't bare to look at the limp figure of her once lively mother as she kept her back to her. It was too painful. It was difficult to imagine that just days ago she'd been worried about her mother reprimanding her for being absent-minded in regards to her chores and now she was gone.

She wasn't the only one who was distraught. Her sisters - Angelsia and Finola - had remained huddled beside the body, their little sister had yet to cease her sobbing. Their nonna had suggested they begin the burial, return her to the earth and the spirits before it was too late but even she had been unable to follow through with that plan. The sight of her daughter's broken body was more than she could bare. Never mind the handling of the actual body.

They stayed up half the night remaining vigil over her body waiting. When, just before the first strokes of dawn, she awoke with a gasp. Their mother had been reborn, as a vampire. Now they had to protect her from the Brotherhood.

~x~

Bonnie wasn't making much progress on her project nor her understanding of the dreams or the bond between her and Kol. An all-around failure it would seem. She was beginning to consider taking Kol up on his offer but she still had her pride. Or so she'd like to believe.

So of course it was then that there was a knock at the door. Bonnie looked in the direction of the front door tiredly. She was exhausted all the time at the moment and the secondhand anxiety that she was experiencing from Solavita's dreams was even more draining than any of Renata's had been. She wasn't sure she could make it to the door but ignoring it wouldn't make whoever was there go away.

With a sigh, she dragged herself to her feet - from where she'd fallen asleep on the floor in a heap again - to make her way to the door.

Kol Mikaelson was standing on her porch.

It took more effort than she cared to admit to register that information but there Kol was. Standing on the porch of her Grams' house as if he had every right to be there.

Think of the devil and he shall appear and all that, Bonnie thought bitterly to herself.

Leaning her weight against her doorframe she stared tiredly at the Original vampire that had somehow managed to become more of a nuisance than either Klaus or Elijah had managed previously.

"How do you make them stop?" The words were too close to a plea for Bonnie's liking but it couldn't be helped, it was a miracle that she was even able to stand at this point and she couldn't take another second of these dreams.

Kol tilted his head to the side as he regarded her. She might have labelled the look as concerned if he wasn't a thousand-year-old murderous vampire. It was calculation, that's all that look was, she argued with herself.

"I can't, even if I wanted to." The words were quieter than she was expecting, she could almost fool herself into believing them. "How many different selves have you seen?" He asked curiously, brows furrowed.

"Two." She answered simply resting her heavy head on the ajared door, resisting the urge to let her eyes fall shut. If she had been more alert she might have registered the fact that Kol had just confirmed her fears that these dreams weren't going to stop at just Renata and Solivita.

Kol raised his hand as if he meant to touch her before quickly dropping it back to his side. He turned to look over his shoulder with a clenched jaw.

"You're fighting it. It should have progressed further by now. The harder you fight it the stronger the side effects are, darling."

"Like I believe you." Bonnie scoffed weakly.

Kol laughed, it was a hollow sound. "I have no reason to lie to you, sweetheart, regardless of what you think of me. I don't want this for you either and though I know you won't believe me, it honestly is in your best interests."

"You know I think your brother said something similar about breaking Tyler's neck." Bonnie glared at him through half-lidded eyes.

Kol smiled sardonically at that. "I can't convince you otherwise. Not that it'll matter as it will become evident sooner or later. But I would like to call for a truce?"

"A truce? Are you kidding me?" Bonnie asked in righteous disbelief.

Kol stepped closer to her and despite knowing she was safe beyond the threshold of her Grams' house she couldn't ignore the urge to recoil. If only she hadn't been too tired to move, she might have given into the instinctual fear to shrink in the presence of a predator.

"I'm the only one who understands what you're going through. It would be unwise to oppose me, darling."

"And who's fault is that?" She straightened up then, he had nearly a foot on her but she wasn't going to let that intimidate her. "I was doing just fine before all this dream crap started and now you want to call a truce? I don't want a truce Kol! I want it to stop. I want you and the dreams to leave me alone." She yelled at him, weeks of sleepless nights finally making her snap. The desperation in her words was so clearly evident that it almost made her wince at the obvious sign of vulnerability.

Kol looked genuinely pained by her outburst. Though she doesn't miss the flash of anger in his gaze or the clenching of his jaw either.

"I don't know how to stop them." He said slowly through gritted teeth as if willing her to believe him.

"But you know how to cause them. So whatever you did, undo it!"

"I can't! And I assure you the alternative is far worse, darling." He was snarling back at her now and Bonnie distantly realises that this was the first time that she has seen the resemblance between him and his siblings so clearly. Their temper is all the same. But she hasn't had a reason to truly fear Kol before now. Yet it doesn't stop either of them from leaning towards each other, getting in the other's face as their emotions bubble over. Her magic was buzzing through her as well, she felt exhilarated, the combination of rage and her magic chasing away the fog of exhaustion from her mind.

"I don't believe you." She said slowly enunciating each word carefully.

"That's not really my problem, darling." He smiled cruelly down at her and it's only now that Bonnie notices that they're almost nose to nose, only the barrier of her Gram's home separating them.. To which she immediately stepped back and slammed the door in his face.

She leant back against the door panting, overwhelmed by the sensation of her magic and her rage electrifying her making her feel more alive than she has in months, maybe years. It seemed to be a reoccurring issue that she loses herself around Kol Mikaelson. This cannot continue. She was too close to getting burnt, she knows, she has to find a way to stop this before it consumed her. And fast.


Long A/N: Sorry about the wait on this one, I'm not a particularly regular updater and I got bombarded with like a dozen kennett fic ideas only about half of which I've started. But I was thinking over everything I want to cover in this story and I realised that I needed to get a shift on and address some points now so we could get to the stuff I wanted to cover later. Sorry if this chapter was a little flashback heavy but I needed to get the basics of Solavita down don't worry we haven't seen the last of Renata yet I have started a second story in this verse that would go into each reincarnation in more details if that's something you guys interested if not I'm going to write anyway just to keep the details clear in my head. I have a vague idea of how this story is going to end now but we'll worry about that later. Things are starting to move in terms of Kol and Bonnie now.

Anyway, phew that's enough from me lemme know your thoughts in the comments :)

Reviews:

jerkchickenz: Kol and Renata being married is so sweet! I wonder how she died?

I'm glad you liked it. This is going to come up in a future chapter that I've only briefly touched on in my notes but its all planned out and will be explained