The door to the dorm room opened and Damon and Elowen walked in.
"Are you okay?" Damon asked as the door closed behind him. "Did Silas-"
Elowen spun around, grabbed the back of Damon's neck and pulled him down so she could kiss him. Her other hand was gripping onto the front of his shirt, dragging him over to a lone chair in the room. She roughly pushed Damon down, straddled him and continued to make out with him.
"Mm," Damon hummed against Elowen's mouth. "Wait. Wait."
Elowen ignored him and ripped open his shirt, sending buttons flying everywhere. Damon was finally able to pull away.
"As much as I'd like to do this right now-"
Damon was cut off as Elowen picked up Megan's vervain water, uncapped the bottle and forced it into Damon's mouth. It immediately started to burn him and he choked, unable to breathe. He managed to slap the water bottle away and coughed violently as Elowen moved to start tying Damon down with pieces of clothing.
"Silas got into your head, didn't he?" Damon asked weakly. "What did 'Stefan' tell you to do?"
Elowen picked up something wooden and broke it in half over her knee.
"Get you alone, weaken you, and then kill you."
Elowen grabbed the vervain water again and shoved it back into Damon's mouth. After she pulled the bottle away, she pulled back her hand with the broken stick and went in to stake Damon when she suddenly yelled in pain and fell to her knees, revealing a duplicate of Elowen standing behind her, holding onto the other half of the now bloody broken hockey stick.
Elowen #1 hissed and put pressure on the outside of her thigh where her duplicate had stabbed her. She looked up at her double.
"What the hell was that for?"
Using the blood coated hockey stick, she pointed towards Damon. Elowen turned her head to look at what she was pointing at and her eyes widened.
"Oh my god. Damon. Silas was here. He was-"
"I know. He's looking for Katherine."
Elowen furrowed her eyebrows. "Katherine," she mumbled. "Katherine. Katherine. I figured out why he wanted her, but he made me forget, just like he made me forget where Stefan was. Oh my god. Stefan." She looked up at Damon. "Damon, Stefan never called me. That was Silas. Stefan's still out there, missing, suffering somewhere, or- What if he's dead? What if this whole time, I've been searching for someone who's-"
"Stop. Don't think like that. Stefan's fine. We're gonna find him, okay?"
"How do you know?" Elowen felt herself getting angry. "How are you so sure, Damon?"
"Calm down," Elowen #2 said from behind her. "Silas is using your anger as a trigger."
Damon looked up at the duplicate. "Why isn't it affecting you?"
"Because he got into her head, not mine. Duplicates are their own separate person. Look," Elowen #2 nodded down at the stab wound on the real Elowen's thigh. "If we were connected, I'd be injured, too, but I'm not."
Elowen #1 tighten her grip on her half of the broken hockey stick and tried to stand. Elowen #2 lifted her leg and brought her foot down on the stab wound, garnering a scream from Elowen #1.
"You need to resist it."
"I'm trying!"
"If Stefan was able to fight against Klaus's compulsion, you can fight against Silas's mind control. You can do this."
Elowen took a deep breath, but when her eyes landed on Damon, her eyes turned murderous.
"Every time I look at you, all I wanna do is kill you."
Elowen #2 put more pressure on Elowen #1's thigh. She shouted out again.
"Wrong answer," Elowen #2 said. "I can do this all night."
xxxx
"Sorry, this was all I could find." Caroline held up a popsicle for Jesse to see, who was awake now. She sat in front of him and placed it against his cheek.
"Sorry my friend went aggro. He's got anger issues."
"And a serious right hook, but hey, it got us alone together, so that's a win."
Caroline laughed softly, looking down shyly. Jesse reached over and brushed some hair away from her face. She looked back up and leaned away from his touch.
"I can't. My boyfriend… died three months ago, and I'm just not…"
Jesse pulled away. "I get it. I'm sorry. What was his name?"
Caroline smiled. "Josiah. We met when I was a junior in high school. He's… he was a year younger than me. He was supposed to be a senior this fall."
"That's got to be really rough. How did he…?"
Caroline sighed. "Let's just say… he died saving another friend of ours. Look, maybe you should just stick with Veronica."
Jesse laughed. "Yeah, I've noticed she's kind of competing."
"Oh, not kind of. She totally is."
They both laughed.
"Well, not sure a girl with claws is something I'm looking for," Jesse said after a moment. "Too much drama."
Caroline shrugged. "Not gonna lie, she's a bitch, but… I think she means well when it comes to people she cares about."
She lifted the popsicle back up to Jesse's face.
"I'm certainly not one of those people, though."
Jesse laughed again, and Caroline joined in.
xxxx
Matt, Josiah and Bonnie were wandering the other side, looking for Matt's body.
"It honestly hasn't been so bad," Josiah was saying. "Bonnie and I have each other, and I see Ric every now and then. He's been looking out for me like he promised he would."
"And we have Jeremy to talk to," Bonnie added. "Him and Angel, and my Grams pops in sometimes. Last night with my dad was the first really hard time. I'll be okay, I just have to get past these next few days."
Matt shook his head. "Bonnie, you don't have to pretend like it's okay. Your dad died. You died. That's not okay."
"It has to be, because there's nothing I can do about it."
"I am so sorry. To the both of you."
Matt sighed and wrapped his arms around Bonnie. She finally allowed herself to cry over her dad's death, sobbing quietly into Matt's shoulder. Josiah watched with sad eyes, unable to do anything else.
xxxx
Damon was still tied to a chair and Elowen was still being forced to the ground, her duplicate applying pressure to her stab wound every time she tried to stand and attack Damon.
"Has anyone talked to Bonnie?" Elowen asked, trying to keep herself distracted. "When Silas touched me, I got a premonition that he killed her dad. Is she okay?"
"I don't know," Damon replied. "I've had more important things to worry about."
"My friend's dad died. That's pretty damn important."
"Yeah, well so is finding Stefan and figuring out what the hell Silas wants with Katherine."
"I already told you that I knew but Silas made me forget! I just left. How could you let any of this happen?"
"You're getting angry at me again, Wen. Remember. Trigger."
"Jeremy got expelled! You and Toby have him playing white knight to Katherine and Stefan- Stefan's been suffering for months and even though I did everything I could to find him, I couldn't! Locator spells didn't work, and that's because Silas was probably using some kind of psychic blockage, and I was basically chasing my tail! And when I did get close to finding him, Silas made me forget!"
Suddenly, the gas line from the fireplace burst open and gas started filling the room. Elowen's duplicate and Damon looked over at it in alarm.
"Wen, that is the gas. Stop. You don't really wanna kill me, Wen. You have to realize this before you're gonna break Silas's compulsion."
"I can't, okay! All I can think about is killing you!"
"Well, you're gonna have to think about something stronger than your desire to kill me, or you're gonna kill us both."
Elowen's duplicate looked away from the fireplace, glanced down at her foot on Elowen's thigh, and then up at Damon.
"If I let her go to stop the gas line, she'll try to attack you."
A thought occurred to her. She let her foot up, got down and grabbed Elowen's face in her hands.
"Think about Stefan. Think about your love for him and how worried you've been about him. Think about when you realized you loved him for the first time."
"What? No, I… I can't-"
"Yes you can. I know you can, because I'm you, remember? I'll help you. We met Stefan on the first day of junior year. We had just found out that there was a vampire in town who was attacking people," the duplicate shot a look at Damon, "and we thought that maybe he was the one behind the attacks. Our first thought when we saw him was that he was hot, remember?"
Elowen laughed a little, nodding. "We used our magic to open his backpack so all of his stuff would fall out, because he was about to run into Elena and we didn't want her getting involved because her parents had just died and her and Matt just broke up. That worked out so well. He mistook us for Elena's sister, like everyone did, and then we walked him to first period history."
"Now think about when things started to change from platonic to romantic," Elowen's duplicate said.
"After we saved Vicki from Damon, I snuck him into my room and he stayed the night. We kissed for the first time the night the comet passed a few days later."
"And when you realized you loved him?"
Elowen thought about it for a moment.
"... It was when Stefan told me he was leaving town and he tried to ice me out. I was in the car with Damon and it just sort of came out."
"How did Stefan make you feel?"
Elowen started to smile.
"He made me feel… alive. When I met him, I was still dealing with the aftermath of Luis and I was refusing to acknowledge it. Stefan taught me that it was okay to face my problems and that things got bad before they got better. He taught me what it was like to love someone and be loved in return. He helped me through my trauma when I thought I would never be able to heal from it. I was so broken and fragile, but because of him, I became strong."
"Explain how much you've been worried about him all summer."
"I've been worried sick, completely out of my mind. I did all nighters doing different locator spells and backtracking and checking places I thought he might be. When I first realized he was missing, my world just about fell apart. I felt so empty without him, and I know Damon's been here, but it's not the same."
Damon felt a pang of hurt spread through his chest hearing Elowen say that. Her duplicate looked up and met his eyes, but the real Elowen was oblivious.
"All I could think about was that Stefan's out there somewhere, scared and alone, and in pain. He's in a lot of pain." Elowen turned to face Damon. "We have to find him."
Damon nodded. "We will. I swear."
Elowen's duplicate slowly let go of Elowen's face. "How do you feel?"
Elowen paused.
"It's gone," she whispered. "The rage. It's gone."
The door to the dorm opened and Veronica and Caroline walked in. They stopped when they saw the scene in front of them.
"This looks like some kind of weird, kinky threesome," Veronica said. "Are you guys like… sane right now?"
Caroline crossed her arms. "I think we need to set some ground rules for when boyfriends come to visit."
"Agreed."
xxxx
Josiah, Bonnie and Matt were still looking for Matt's body.
"I think someone moved my body," Matt voiced out loud. "It's weird, but I can feel it… it's like I'm drawn to it."
Josiah pointed ahead of them. "There it is."
Jeremy and Katherine were back at the truck, Matt's body lying in the bed of it. Matt turned to Bonnie and Josiah.
"So, if this happens every time I die with the Gilbert ring, the second I go back, that means I'm just gonna forget about all of this. I'll forget that you're dead. Bonnie, you, Jeremy and Angel can't keep this a secret anymore. I'm sorry your dad died. I know it's hard, but how are you gonna deal with his death if you can't even deal with your own?"
Bonnie smiled sadly. "It's really good to see you, Matt."
Josiah nodded. "Yeah, man."
Matt nodded back, then turned and walked towards his body. He reached out and touched it, causing him to gasp awake in the physical world. Josiah looked over at Bonnie and gently took her hand, pulling her off with him. Jeremy looked up and saw them walking away.
"Hey, I left a hatchet," he told Matt and Katherine. "I'll be right back."
He jogged off, catching up with Josiah and Bonnie.
"Hey. Are you guys okay?"
Bonnie stopped walking and turned to face Jeremy.
"I'm not ready to be dead yet, Jeremy. I'm just not. Maybe I will be one day, but it's not today, and I don't know what to do about my dad, or what to do when the Sheriff calls, because she's gonna call me-"
"It's okay. We'll get through this. I can tell everybody that you're with family, that it was too hard for you to be here. I might not be able to touch you, or hold you, but I'm here for you, the both of you, no matter what you need."
Josiah reached over and placed a hand on the small of Bonnie's back.
"I've got her," he told Jeremy. "We'll be okay."
Jeremy nodded. Josiah shot him a small smile, then carefully led Bonnie away.
xxxx
The next morning, Elowen and Elena were loading their suitcases into the trunk of Damon's car. Elowen was coming home to help look for Stefan, and Elena was coming because Toby finally got the courage to call her and fill her in on everything that happened with Jeremy and Katherine. Just as he predicted, she dropped everything to come home.
While Elowen had the advantage to leave behind a duplicate, if everyone saw her leaving and then suddenly saw her back later in the day, they'd probably get suspicious, so she wasn't going to do that.
Caroline and Veronica were with them in order to say goodbye. Elowen turned to them.
"I'll be back, you guys. No idea when, but I'll be back."
"Just call me the minute you hear from Bonnie, okay?" Caroline asked. "I've left her like, a hundred messages."
"I will. I promise."
Caroline reached over to hug Elowen, who hugged her back. When they pulled away, Elowen faced Veronica. She sighed.
"Am I bummed you're leaving and I'm going to be stuck with this one? Yes."
"Hey!" Caroline whined, but Veronica ignored her.
"Am I happy for you that you're one step closer to finding Stefan? Also yes. I always did like him better."
Damon snorted. "Pfft. Please, you'd tear Stefan to shreds if you ever got your hands on him. I'm much more durable."
"Hm. I'm taking the first part as a compliment. The second part, though? Doesn't change the fact that Stefan's still hotter than you are. There's a reason I tried to flirt with him and not you. Even Elowen went after Stefan first."
Damon wrinkled his nose, causing Elowen to laugh. She patted Damon on the shoulder.
"You know I love you."
"You still loved Stefan first," Veronica said in a sing-song voice.
Elowen pointed at her. "Enough out of you." She opened her arms. "Come here."
Veronica rolled her eyes, but still stepped forward to hug Elowen.
"You're gonna find him, Elowen," Veronica mumbled into Elowen's ear.
"Yeah, I know," Elowen replied as she pulled away.
Elena and Caroline had been saying goodbye while Elowen talked to Veronica, so they finished at the same time.
Elowen waved. "Bye, you guys."
"Bye, Elle."
"See ya."
Caroline and Veronica responded, respectively. They both turned and left. As Elowen and Elena moved to get into the car, Dr. Maxfield walked up to them.
"I didn't think Elena Gilbert would give up so easily." He glanced at Elowen. "And Elowen Ramirez, the freshman who mysteriously made it through class without being thrown out." He turned back to Elena. "Sorry for being a hard ass earlier. It's kinda my thing. You're Grayson Gilbert's daughter, aren't you?"
A look of surprise crossed Elena's face.
"You knew my dad?"
"Knew of him. He's a legend around here. Brilliant. I've studied all his research. I can only hope to do the kind of work he did."
Elowen crossed her arms. "Hm. Must mean you learned how to forge death certificates from him."
Dr. Maxfield looked at Elowen again. "And here I thought you two were just passionate about microbiology. I have office hours tomorrow. Come by, we can chat."
"I'd say yes, but we both have more important things on our plates right now."
Dr. Maxfield nodded. "Let me know when that plate clears."
Elowen and Elena shot each other curious glances as Dr. Maxfield walked away. Damon appeared next to Elowen.
"Well, nice way to be subtle, Wen."
Elowen shook her head. "When am I ever subtle?"
"Aren't you the least bit curious about the whole Nancy Drew and the creepy professor thing?"
"Caroline and Veronica have this. I can't stay here knowing that Stefan's still out there somewhere."
"Yeah, well…" Damon trailed off, reaching into his pocket and taking out Stefan's daylight ring. He showed it to Elowen.
"That's Stefan's daylight ring."
"Snagged it from Silas yesterday."
Elowen took it and slipped it onto her thumb, the only finger the ring would fit on, and sighed. Damon reached over and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in so he could press a kiss to her temple.
"We're gonna save him, okay?"
Damon's phone started to ring and he pulled it out of his pocket to answer it. It was Sheriff Forbes.
"Yeah?"
"We found something."
xxxx
Elowen and Damon met up with Sheriff Forbes near the quarry. They had dropped Elena off at the boarding house with Toby, so she wasn't with them anymore.
"We didn't find anything in the quarry, but a deputy found this a few miles away," Sheriff Forbes explained as they approached a safe. "Didn't open it. If Stefan's been in there for three months, chances are, he's hungry."
Damon walked over and unlocked the safe. He pulled it open and revealed a dead body with their throat ripped open instead of Stefan.
"Oh my god," Elowen breathed. "That's not Stefan."
"Well, you were right," Damon told Sheriff Forbes. "He was hungry. I bet he still is."
