The next morning, I woke up in an unfamiliar bed in the Lockwood mansion. I looked around and gathered my bearings before yawning wide. My arms stretched over my head as I arched my back against the mattress, but I instantly shot my hand down to my stomach and felt around. The wound was completely gone. Not even a scar was left behind in its place.

It wasn't a dream.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Although shakily, I steadied myself pretty quickly. My legs were still heavy even though I rested well last night. The events of the past were still fresh in my mind and body as I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. I sipped on the crisp liquid as I followed my ears into the parlor room where Caroline and Tyler were sat. Care motioned to her phone which was pressed against her ear as she spoke.

"Well, where's Damon in all of this?" Caroline huffed.

I frowned and tilted my head backwards before mouthing, "What's going on?"

She waved me off and pointed towards the sofa besides Tyler. I followed her silent command and took a seat and waited to be spoken to. Suddenly, I was back to being seven, sat in my moms office being scalded for putting PVA glue in Jasmine's hair at break because she stole my dolly. I smiled as I remembered that specific memory. When times were simple and I was none the wiser of what happens in the world.

Caroline suddenly fell silent and shifted her gaze onto me. "Unless you get the Hunter's sword from Klaus."

I frowned, "You mean if I get the sword?" I grumbled. I was hardly in the position to ask Klaus for any more favours, let alone asking him to hand over what hes so discreetly hidden from us all. "I won't be able to get it."

Caroline chatted some more before she sighed, "We'll find it, don't worry. Just e-mail Jess the photos of Jeremy's tattoo. We'll find the sword, and I'll call you back."

I swirled the remaining water in my bottle before I chugged it back as Caroline filled Tyler and I in on the situation at hand. "We completely understand if you don't want to have any part of this, Jess." Care smiled, "Just say the word and we'll leave you out of everything."

It was a no-brainer for me.

"I want to help." I said in my most convincing tone. "I've only seen the sword once, and that was when Klaus was showing it to Stefan. After that, I've not seen it." I rubbed my hand up my arm, "If you want to find it anytime today, we best get looking. The mansion is bigger than it looks."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going" Tyler motioned towards the door. Caroline and I followed him outside and climbed into my car before we headed in the direction of Klaus' family mansion. Not long after we set off from Tyler's house we had arrived. The house was vacant as I opened the door and walked in, followed by Ty and Caroline.

We split up and I headed down to the last place I saw the sword, his art room. I found the safe hidden under his desk and yanked it out, freeing it from the tablecloth that was draped over the top. Once I popped the door off the safe, I sighed with disappointment. "Empty..." I turned around and faced Tyler and Caroline as they walked in the door. "What now?" I groaned, realising that this wasn't going to be as smooth-sailing as I initially thought it would be.

"Now we rip this place apart until we find it." Tyler growled with determination. "It's here somewhere. We just have to find it."

"Okay," I nodded in agreement, "Where should we start?"

"Start at the top and work our way down." Tyler said, "The attic first."

Caroline and I agreed with Tyler's plan as we all made our way out of the parlor and down the hallway. The entrance was a small brass handle hanging from the ceiling. Tyler jumped up and caught the handle effortlessly, springing the door open, and causing the ladder to drop from the open compartment.

"Show off," I smiled as he braced himself at the bottom of the ladder. He smirked before he climbed up the wooden steps, followed by Care and then myself. Once I pulled myself up into the Attic, I banged into Tyler's back as he stood still in the centre of the room.

I followed his gaze.

"Ohh," I smirked, "That was easy."

Ty reached down and grasped the old, ancient weapon carefully. "Let's get out of here." He said in a low voice.

Once we were back on the upper lever, I retrieved a blanket from the closet and handed it to Tyler, who wrapped it around the sword. He held the weapon as we left the mansion and headed back to Ty's. Caroline and I ran inside and split up. She went into the study to print off the photographs Elena had sent over, and I jogged up the stairs into the room I was sleeping in and grabbed my laptop from the dresser. We met back up at the car and drove straight over to Elena's.

My hand hesitated over the door handle for the smallest of moments before I pushed it open and walked inside, my laptop clutched to my side. Glancing over my left shoulder, I watched as Care and Tyler walked in in tandem, closing the door behind them. As I continued walking forward, my eyes flashed onto Klaus who was sitting on the coffee table in the living room, watching us.

"Well, if it isn't little Orphan Lockwood. Come to show how laughably impotent you are against me?"

"Klaus," I growled.

"Yes, love?" He quipped with a wicked smirk.

"Zip-it." I motioned my fingers along my lips in a fastening motion. His smirk only grew as Caroline and I entered the living area which was outside the magical perimeter, and made ourselves comfortable on the sofa.

"I'm just trying to help my friends find the cure. Found this in your attic," Tyler held up the covered weapon and gently unfolded the blanket it was wrapped in for Klaus to see.

Klaus shrugged and clasped his hands together as he looked over the metal. "And you think finding the sword will bring you closer to the cure?" I frowned as I sat on the sofa. He was completely unfazed by the fact that we had the hunters' sword in our possession.

Why?

"You tell me," Ty shrugged, "I was playing around with the handle on the ride over, and I found this." Tyler tilted the sword and slowly unwrapped the leather-bound handle. When he removed it, he revealed an intricate turning face within the sword.

Klaus rose to his feet and walked over to the invisible barrier to observe the sword in Tyler's hands. "And what do you think 'this' is?"

"It's called a cryptex," I rose to my feet and walked over to join Tyler. "You turn the different sides to the symbol things to get the translation on the other side."

"Symbol things?" Klaus smiled playfully at my choice of words.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

"And with the magic of the internet, Elena sent over these," Caroline smiled as she waved a handful of printed images of the hunters mark in the air. "Now all we have to do is cryptex away."

I made my way back over to the sofa and took a seat beside my sister as I looked over the images while I waited for my laptop to power-up. "If you happened to want to help," I glanced over at Klaus as he was already watching me rifle through the images, "We wouldn't stop you."

"Right, well," He glanced back at me, a twinkle in his eye before he turned to face Tyler, a smirk on his lips. "Might I suggest using the magic of the internet to purchase an Aramaic-to-English dictionary from your nearest retailer."

"What's Aramaic?" Tyler asked as he turned to face Care and I, confused.

I sighed and looked towards Klaus as he smiled gleefully to himself. "It's a dead language. It hasn't been used since biblical times."

Should have known this wasn't going to be pain-sailing.

"Qetsiyah's native tongue, I'm guessing. You know, even if you had the best dictionary in the world, it could take days to translate," Klaus slowly turned around and walked over to the coffee table where he took a seat. "Perhaps weeks. 'In bas so-teen-too ara-ma-eet'."

Caroline, Tyler and I shared a perplexed look. "What does that even mean?" I spoke up.

"'If only you spoke Aramaic,'" Klaus smirked.

"Of course," I groaned and shook my head. "It was never going to be straight forward."

"No, no," Caroline chirped, "We can do this."

After a few strong words of encouragement from Mrs. Positivity herself, we all hunkered down and got to work.

A few hours later, the coffee table was littered in index cards containing the symbols from Jeremy's tattoo with the corresponding translation of the symbols that Care and I could work out ourselves written underneath. I numbered and sorted them into order from where we began working on Jeremy's arm, starting at the wrist.

"Okay," Caroline sighed and set down the last few cards, "We've translated all the symbols on the tattoo."

"Passage inside...requires a young senator, and a pretty flower," I groaned in irritation. "This makes no sense whatsoever!" I huffed and threw my back against the sofa in a childish manner. My eyes flickered to Klaus as he smirked, "What are you smirking at?"

He slowly stood up and walked over to the barrier. He spoke in fluent Aramaic translating the words we were trying to convert, before reciting the words into proper English. "'Requires a powerful witch and a hunter in full bloom.'"

"What are you doing?" Tyler asked from the other side of the room.

"I don't need to tell you my reasons," Klaus answered as he stood with his hands loosely clasped behind his back. "Jessica, love, bring my sword over here."

I sighed and slowly pushed myself to stand. He could have asked anyone for the sword, yet he singled me out by name. Desperate to complete translating the symbols, I swiftly picked up the sword and walked over to the edge of the living room where Klaus stood and held the sword in the air for him to cast his expert eye over. Caroline turned the laptop screen around, giving him a full view of the photos on the screen.

"'Silas rests on the far side, the means for his destruction at hand.'" He paused briefly and glanced at the screen to see the next set of symbols before turning back, meeting my eye. "Turn the cryptex to the right."

I followed his order and twisted the handle one click to the right, revealing a new set of symbols.

"Stop," Klaus ordered once more, "'The top of the hilt reveals a key to a nautical map'. Turn to the left."

I carefully pushed the top of the handle and watched it in awe as the rest of the handle remained in place whilst the top moved.

"Now turn it left." He became more fixated on the sword the more I turned the handle and it spilled its secrets. "There's something else." Klaus began to speak in Aramaic once more before stepping back, a wicked smile on his lips as he stared at the three of us.

"What does that mean?" I asked. Klaus' lips curled up even tighter as he looked at me. Not in the mood to play more of his games, I snapped. "What does it mean, Klaus?"

He raised his eyebrow in amusement but remained silent. I growled in frustration and backed away, returning to the sofa beside Caroline. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed a number before I switched the call to the speakerphone and placed it on the tabletop.

"Hello?" Rebekah answered after the third ring.

"Rebekah, it's Jessica," I said as I sent an e-mail from my laptop, "We have the translation of the tattoo. I'm e-mailing you the pictures of the map and instructions right now."

There was a pause on her end before she replied, "Got it. Thanks."

"Actually, it was me," Klaus called out from across the room. He paced back and forth within the barrier as he smiled to himself.

"Nik, you helped?" Rebekah was clearly taken aback by her brothers' input into the task as they spoke to one another.

"You sound surprised, little sister,"

"Should I be?" She asked back, "I mean, you don't want me to be human. You don't want any of us to be human. Why would you help us find the cure?"

"Maybe I finally realised that the longer I stand in the way of what you want, the longer you'll continue to hate me. Perhaps I want my sister to finally know happiness."

Rebekah wasn't buying his words one bit. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times-"

"No more fooling. No more games," Klaus said, cutting her off. "I hope you get to live, and die, as you wish."

"So do I." She murmured.

"There is one more thing, Rebekah," Klaus came to a halt at the side of the living room doorway. "There is only one dose of the cure. You must find it, and take it first. It's the only way you'll-"

The line went dead before he could finish.

I snapped my head up as Tyler lunged for my phone and ended the call. It was in that moment that we all realised that Klaus had just spilled the last part of the cryptex. The biggest, and most crucial part of the information that we were missing. We sat silently for a few moments until the shock wore off and the uncertainty settled in.

Tyler gritted his teeth before he stormed out of the living room and headed for the porch. Care and I marched after him quickly as he paced back and forth, running his hands down his face in anger.

"Every time I think I have him, that son-of-a-bitch gets the upper hand."

"We won't let him hurt you," Caroline whispered.

"We swear, Tyler." I added in.

"Stefan and Elena will bring back the cure." Caroline said in a reassuring tone.

Ty shook his head, "If they get to it first! And if they don't, Klaus kills me." The fear and panic began to settle in as his eyes dilated. "I need to get out of town to figure out how I'm gonna stay alive-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Caroline grabbed his shoulders and gave him a firm shake. "Wait, hang on, okay? Gosh! Before you get all doomsday, just-"

"I'll talk to him," I interrupted in a small voice. Caroline and Tyler turned to face me as I stood wrapped in my own arms.

"He's got nothing to lose, Jess," Ty smiled weakly, "His brother is dead. His hybrids are gone. You left him. All he wants right now is blood. Starting with mine."

I shook my head in dismay, "No! I won't lose you again," I looked towards my tear-stricken sister, "We won't lose you again, do you understand?" I walked closer to him and grasped his arms tightly, "I'll spill my own blood before he spills a drop of yours."

"No, Jess,"

"Just...Just let me fix it, Tyler. Please."

His chest deflated and he gently nodded his head in agreement.

Once I talked Tyler off of the metaphorical ledge he was threatening to hop off of, I made my way back inside the house. I walked inside and closed the door softly, steadying my nerves before I faced him. As I turned, we instantly made eye contact across the room. He was sitting in an armchair which sat beside a large bookshelf in the living area of the Gilbert house. He stared back at me, tensed jawed, whilst his hands rested on the armrests.

"You can't kill Tyler," I met his gaze and spoke in a calm manner.

"Not only can I, I have to." He said, "I have a reputation to uphold. Moreover, I want to."

I took a small step forward, still within the safety of the magic barrier. "I'm not asking you to forgive him. All I'm asking for is that you let him live, somewhere far from here," I pressed.

Klaus pushed himself forcefully off the armchair and stalked towards me. He only stopped walking when the barrier made him do so. "So he gets to live a happy life after he turned all my hybrids against me. After you turned all of them against me," I swallowed hard at his words. He knew I had a hand in the downfall of his hybrids, and he sure-as-hell wanted me to know it. "After he tried to kill me, after he made it his life's mission to find the cure so he could use it against me-"

"I told you, that was never going to happen!" I blurted out. "Your sister and Stefan were never going to use the cure on you. Not when they so desperately want it for themselves."

"It doesn't erase everything that Tyler had done to me." He spat.

"I've done horrible things, Klaus." I raised my voice as the argument was beginning to get heated. "I helped Tyler to break the sire-bond between the hybrids. I was the one that betrayed you." I blinked as Klaus took a step back, his eyes blinking a few times. "If anything, he and I are one-in-the-same."

"You and Tyler may share a bloodline, sweetheart, but you're nothing like him." He said bitterly, "Now you and I, that's something entirely different."

I flexed my hand as my palms became tense. The artery in my neck was throbbing as the heat continued to accumulate between us. Taking a deep breath, I didn't think my next move through as I took a step over the barrier. Klaus stepped back, almost in shock that I stepped over the seal of the magical barrier to join him on the other side.

"I remember everything from last night, Klaus." I whispered, "I know the lengths you're willing to go to for the people you love. Which means you know the length I'm prepared to go to to protect mine. You can see how scared I am to lose my brother. If you've ever felt anything for me, anything at all, then show me your compassion. Show me the mercy that I would show you."

My hand reached out and gripped his forearm as my voice broke.

He looked down at me, "Mercy? For Tyler?" Klaus whispered barely loud enough for me to hear. The look on his face looked like he was about to shatter my whole world into pieces, but the words out his mouth took me by surprise. "Very well. Tell him to leave town immediately. And tell him to run and hide in a place where I will never find him."

My lips parted as I sucked in the thick air. I dropped my hand from his arm and took a step back, composing myself. "O-Of course." I stammered. Turning around, I walked back over the barrier and into the hallway. I had to give myself a pinch to make sure that I heard him correctly.

Did I really just save Tyler's life?

"Tell him that this is the mercy I extend for your sake...that I will give him a head start before I kill him."

My blood ran cold as I turned back around to face the caged hybrid. I stared at him in disbelief. Any hope that I had for my brothers safety was shattered beyond repair. I shook my head at him and clutched my jacket sleeve before I bolted from the house.

I broke the news to Care and Tyler. There were tears, begging, bargaining, before finally, acceptance. I told them what Klaus had put on the table. What he had offered in return for Tyler's 'head-start'.

I walked over and took a seat beside Tyler and Caroline on the porch swing. It gently swayed under our weight as we sat in a brief moment of silence.

"How many times are we gonna have to say goodbye?" Caroline's voice was soft and full of emotion.

Tyler sniggered, "At least this time we have a minute to do it the right way."

"There isn't a right way," She sobbed, shaking her head.

I wiped away the tears that rolled down my cheeks as I stifled a murmur from escaping my lips.

"This isn't goodbye. This is...until we find a way." Tyler said as he reached for my hand. "We're immortal, remember?"

"Speak for yourselves," I scoffed with a small chuckle. "I'll continue to age and grow old. Eventually, I'll be gone."

My words were light, but the sentiment behind them was raw.

"We'll find a way," Tyler groaned, "I'll find a way to come back."

"I won't stop looking for a way until you do," I smiled through the tears.

"What if we don't?" Caroline murmured as she faced him. "Tell me that you'll never think of me again. Tell me that you'll forget about me, tell me that you are gonna go on and live a full and happy life without me."

Tyler's eyes burned a furious shade of red as he blinked back the tears and swallowed the large formation that formed in his throat. "I will live a happy life without you. I will forget all about you. And I will never, ever, think about you again."

He told her exactly what she wanted to hear, but his eyes and body language screamed the complete opposite.

The loud sob broke free from Care's mouth as she enveloped him into a tight hug, smashing her lips against his as they embraced one another.

"Until we find a way." She stated clearly.

He slowly nodded his head and released his grip on her and she sat back down on the bench, sobbing into her hands. He reached his hand out and I placed my palm against his as he tugged me to my feet. "Take care of each other," He whispered into my ear. I perched up on my tip-toes as I gripped the back of his jacket tightly.

"I promise," I whispered back through broken sobs.

Tyler pulled back and placed a gentle kiss against my temple before he vanished from the porch. All that was left behind was an empty space where he stood. My hand hung limply in the air for a few seconds before falling slowly down to my side.

He's gone...

Time stood still once Ty left. Caroline and I sat on the porch swing, embracing each other until the sobbing subsided. It wasn't long until the cold, sad, emptiness settled in our hearts at his absence. Being what we are, the feelings were intensified, but I knew vampires felt it more intensely than wolves. So, I couldn't even begin to fathom the turmoil Care was going through.

I sniffled and rubbed away the tears from my cheeks as they dried to my face in the chilled air. My head shot up at the sound of the front door opening. There he was. I blinked a few times to make sure that I was seeing things clearly. Klaus walked out onto the porch, letting the door close behind him with a loud clink, and took a few steps towards the swing where my sister and I sat.

"How did you get out?" I murmured, wide eyed as he stopped a few feet in front of us.

"I fear something awful has befallen your friend, Bonnie," He said in a low tone. As he made a move to shorten the gap between us, I quickly shot to my feet and placed my body between him and Caroline, my body tensed. "Don't worry, love. You know I'd never hurt you."

"You've done enough," I said back through gritted teeth.

"I've done more than enough," He opposed and came to a halt a foot away from me, "I've shown kindness, forgiveness, pity...because of you, Jessica. It was all for you."

I stared at him blankly, the ability to speak suddenly left me. He waited, and when I continued to hold his gaze without uttering a word, the disappointment flooded his eyes. Klaus nodded his head, accepting my silence as a reply on its own before he marched off the porch and vanished into the dark.

What did he expect me to say? Thank you?

I had nothing to say...not a single word.

Once I was certain that Klaus was no longer lurking in the shadows, Caroline and I made our way over to the Lockwood's to gather our things. I drove into the estate and parked near the main door before I switched off the engine.

"I-I can get your things for you," I said as I turned to face her.

"It's okay. I want to do it." Caroline said quickly and got out of the car. "Let's just be quick."

I followed Care into the mansion and we headed through the rooms gathering our belongings. I rammed everything I owned into a suitcase and made my way down to the front door as I waited for Caroline to gather the rest of her things. Once we had everything we needed, I locked the front door behind us and packed everything into my car before we set off for home.

After arriving back at our house, Care and I separated into our own rooms and began unpacking our belongings; but it wasn't long before we ended up in Care's room together. I made hot chocolate with cinnamon out of comfort, something that was deeply needed at the moment for the both of us. We stayed together for the rest of the night, curled up together in the bed until we finally drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.