Elowen and Damon stood in the living room of the boarding house, watching the traveler that they'd kidnapped, who was tied down to a chair and gagged. Damon sprayed water in his face to wake him up.
"Wakey, wakey, Mr…" Damon trailed off, looking down at his nametag. "Sikes, head of corporate accounts."
The traveler tried to speak, but couldn't due to the gag.
"Oops! Sorry about that. Yeah, can't have you mumbling any of those annoying traveler ditties. It's sure a migraine."
Elowen clapped her hands. "So! Here's the deal. My ex boyfriend that I'm still in love with and my arch nemesis have both been kidnapped and we can't seem to find them anywhere. None of my locator spells are working, which leads me to believe that your buddies are blocking my magic, which is a real setback. Now, besides a completely clueless hybrid down in the basement and a cave full of sleeping travelers, I've got nothing to go on except you, so I'm gonna need you to tell me where I can find your leader, Markos."
The front door opened and Caroline walked in.
"What's up, Blondie?" Damon asked without turning around.
"Liv and Luke aren't answering any of my…" She trailed off when she saw who was tied to the chair. "Oh my god! Mr. Sikes?"
Elowen glanced at her from over her shoulder. "You know him?"
"Yeah! He helped me open my first savings account! He gave me a lollipop."
"Well, unfortunately, Mr. Sikes here is occupied by some low life traveler," Damon explained. "I saw him and his buddies chanting in the town's square last week. I also know that Markos and your traveler comrades are planning some big, flashy spell to undo some super boring, ancient witch curse, and where that sucks for us; it just happens to undo all witch magic, i.e, kill me and my sexy blonde frenemy here, and strip my ex girlfriend of her powers."
Caroline came over to Elowen and Damon and crossed her arms. "If you know where Markos took Stefan and Elena, you need to tell us."
"Yep, sorry, you're gonna have to speak up," Damon mocked, knowing that the traveler couldn't talk with the gag in his mouth. "Hm, nope. Didn't quite catch that either."
Damon picked up a knife and stabbed the traveler in the leg, causing him to let out a muffled scream of pain. Caroline cringed slightly at the sound, but didn't say anything. Damon looked over at Caroline and Elowen.
"I think he's trying to say something." He took the gag out of his mouth. "Come on, sweetiepie."
"It doesn't matter where Markos is," the traveler spat. "Nothing you do can stop him now."
xxxx
Later, Elowen's phone started to ring. She looked down at the caller ID and frowned when she didn't recognize the number, but she answered it anyway.
"Hello?"
"Elowen?"
Elowen felt her heart stop for a second.
"Stefan? Oh my god, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm a little banged up, but I'll live. Where's Damon?"
Damon came into the room and Elowen put the phone on speaker.
"He's right here." She looked over at Damon's questionable face. "It's Stefan."
Damon immediately came over. "Stef? What are you calling us on?"
"A payphone in the middle of nowhere."
"Seriously? Collect calls are still a thing?"
"Yeah, well, you know what could've saved you the cost of this phone call? You finding us. How long have we been gone?"
"Four days."
"Four days?! Four days and you couldn't track us down?"
"Hey now," Elowen cut in. "We've been searching 24/7. The travelers put a damper on my magic and locator spells weren't working. That's not my fault."
"Besides, maybe if you would've been a little more perceptive, you wouldn't have gotten yourselves doppel-napped," Damon commented.
There was a sudden sound of glass shattering in the background. Elowen furrowed her eyebrows.
"What the hell was that?"
"Travelers drained us of our blood, so we're having to do a little hunting."
"You have Elena participating in squirrel slaughter?" Damon asked.
"Believe me, she's no happier about it than I am."
"She'll shoot your eye out."
Elowen nudged Damon. "Be nice. She'll probably only hit his leg or something."
"Ha, ha, very funny, you guys," Stefan remarked.
"Where are you?" Damon asked. "We'll come get you."
"I have no idea where we are. We're in the middle of nowhere. Listen, we'll make our way back, but Markos drained most of our blood, and considering the kinds of spells he was able to do with just a little bit of it…"
"Yeah, I know. Find Markos, kill Markos, save Mystic Falls from becoming the traveler's home. It's going to be a busy day for me, Stefan. Time to strap on the hero hair."
Elowen rolled her eyes. "Stefan, please get home safely, okay?"
"I promise I'll get back home in one piece," Stefan told her softly. "We'll be fine. I'll see you soon."
Stefan hung up the phone. Elowen sighed and returned her phone to her pocket when suddenly, Damon was struck through the chest with a whittled piece of wood. He groaned in pain and Elowen looked around the room.
"Really, Enzo? What are you, twelve?"
"Bonnie!" Damon yelled loudly as Elowen walked over and pulled the stake out of his chest. Bonnie came into the room and crossed her arms.
"What?"
"Care to ask Enzo what his problem is?"
Bonnie sighed and looked over at Enzo, who shrugged.
"I just want to make sure he's not forgetting about me. You know, since he promised to bring me back."
Bonnie turned back to Damon. "He said you promised to bring him back."
"This wouldn't be a problem if you didn't kill yourself, genius," Elowen said, addressing the room.
"Which I wouldn't have done if Damon hadn't killed my girl," Enzo replied as if it were obvious. "Besides, you're paraphrasing. He said, quote, 'I will find a way'."
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Damon waved a hand at Bonnie. "Hello! Still here, and I know what I said."
"Remind him that he doesn't have a very good track record for keeping promises," Enzo drawled.
"Please stop talking," Bonnie huffed in annoyance.
"The other side is on the brink of collapse. I plan on pestering all of you until I'm safely returned to the land of the living."
Bonnie shot Damon an exasperated look. "You need to fix this before I lose my mind."
"Hey!" Damon chided. "I'm sorry. I've got two missing doppelgangers, I've got a traveler that wants to rid our town of magic, and I've got the friendly banker, Mr. Sikes, in the coat closet, so your escape from the netherworld is going to have to wait till tomorrow."
Enzo growled, picked up a bottle of alcohol and chucked it into the open fire, causing the flames to erupt higher. Bonnie looked at Damon.
"I think he wants to be penciled in for today."
"Why don't you help?" Elowen suggested.
Bonnie turned a confused gaze onto Elowen. "What?"
"Liv is making this big, grand spell to bring you back from the other side before it goes bye-bye, right? Have her tweak it a little to include Enzo." Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. "Oh my god. Josiah. Can you bring him back, too? And Ric?"
Bonnie didn't say anything, and Elowen frowned.
"Bonnie?"
Bonnie was shaken from her thoughts. She swallowed. "I don't think that's a good idea."
Before she could explain further, Jeremy walked through the front door.
"You called?" He asked.
Damon pointed at him. "You. I need you and your xbox buddies to run an errand for me. Come on. Let's go."
xxxx
Stefan and Elena walked alone on a desolate dirt road in awkward silence. Elena cleared her throat.
"Are we going to comment how weird this situation is, or continue to walk in a painfully quiet zombie-esque manner?"
Stefan glanced over at her. "What do you mean?"
Elena blew a raspberry. "I don't know. I guess I'm talking about the fact that your ex girlfriend is my mortal enemy, and how we've barely spoken five words to each other in the entire time we've known each other. The universe couldn't have picked a more awful duo to be fated to be together. I don't even know exactly how old you are. How stupid is that?"
Stefan chuckled. "I'm 165."
"See? I had no idea."
Stefan sighed. "I don't really think it's either of our faults that we're not close. Our friend group is a little divided sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"Okay, more than sometimes."
"And considering that Elowen and I have always had a rocky relationship, it only makes sense that you steered clear of me."
"I don't think that was it."
Elena looked over at Stefan. "No?"
Stefan shook his head. "No. When I saved you that day, when your parent's car went over Wickery Bridge, and I saw that you looked like Katherine, I became obsessed with knowing whether or not you were her. I felt like I needed to get to know you, and then when I had the opportunity, it felt… wrong. Like I was sticking my nose in your life, where it didn't belong. In the end, I realized that it was none of my business what kind of person you were, no matter how swept up in it I was. I didn't want to drag you into anything, so I backed off. Then things took off with me and Elowen, and it became a distant thought in my head. I didn't really think about it again until we started having those visions about each other."
"So… you didn't try to get to know me because you didn't want to force me into the box that was Katherine Pierce?"
"Not exactly. I didn't try to get to know you because I was worried I would be getting to know you for all the wrong reasons. I didn't want to accidentally put all of these expectations on you and end up disappointing the both of us in the end."
"Oh. That's… actually really big of you. How come you didn't try to get to know me later? You know, after you were together with Elowen and it was obvious I wasn't Katherine."
Stefan sighed with a shrug. "I don't know. I guess I thought it was just better that way, if I had no kind of connection with Katherine's doppelganger. It made it harder for her to use you as leverage in the long run, you know, when you meant nothing to Damon and I. I mean, yeah, it put all of the pressure on Elowen, but Elowen is strong all on her own, and she doesn't need me or Damon to take care of her."
"Because she wasn't some useless human."
"Well, I wasn't going to say it like that, but yeah, I guess so."
Elena paused. "Was it easier for you to be with her because she was a witch? You know, because she already knew about the supernatural, and you didn't have to hide from her."
After a moment, Stefan nodded.
"Yeah, actually. She understood what it was like to be apart of this world that was dangerous and scary, and knew what it felt like to have to hide who you are. This probably isn't much of a surprise, but she knew what I was from the minute she met me."
Elena laughed. "Of course she did. You know, I used to wonder how she managed to stay at the top of her class while juggling marching band at the same time. Little did I know, she had a little cheat to help her. If it weren't for our hiccups along the way, I'm pretty sure she would've been valedictorian."
Stefan grinned. "You're probably right."
There was a beat of silence before Elena spoke again.
"This is nice, just us talking."
"We've been talking about nothing but Elowen."
"Ouch. You're right."
There was another pause. Elena broke it again.
"How many, uh… you know… are we supposed to have before we get our strength back?"
"Uh… more than we've had, that's for sure. Let me know if you see a damn buffalo."
"This is depressing."
"Yeah, more depressing than walking for miles and not knowing where the hell you're going?"
"No, probably not more depressing than that."
Stefan sighed. "Come on, we still have a long way to go."
Elena nodded, and the two continued walking.
xxxx
Elowen, Caroline, Bonnie and Veronica were all in their dorm room. Veronica was lying on her bed, Elowen was sitting at the desk, Bonnie was packing her things into boxes and Caroline stood, talking.
"So, Julian is trapped inside Tyler forever, or until he dies, so, I was thinking, what if he does die?" Caroline was saying to all of them. "You know, maybe that's how we do it! That's how we get them out!"
Veronica turned her head to look at Caroline. "You want to kill Tyler?" She asked incredulously.
"He'll go to the other side, and then when Liv does the spell to help Bonnie, Enzo, Josiah and Ric, Tyler can come back!"
Bonnie didn't say anything, instead choosing to continue packing her things up. Caroline kept talking.
"And speaking of, shouldn't you be like, preparing, or talking to Liv? Or doing anything other than packing up our dorm room?"
"We have to be out of here right after finals, which I might have to skip, due to the potential extinction of magic in the place where I was spending my summer break," Bonnie replied shortly.
Elowen looked over with a frown. "I think the other side falling apart trumps late housing fees." She gave Bonnie a once over. "Something's wrong. Fess up."
Bonnie tossed one of the boxes in frustration and whirled around to face Elowen.
"There is no spell! I made it up! The other side is collapsing and everyone in it, including me, is going away for good." She looked over at Caroline. "So no, I don't think you should kill Tyler."
Bonnie turned and stormed out of the dorm room, leaving everyone else in a stunned silence.
xxxx
Angel was sitting at the bar in The Grill when the doors opened and Stefan and Elena ran in. He looked over, saw them, and immediately got up to walk over.
"Are you guys okay?" He asked when he reached them. "We've been looking all over for you guys."
"Our rings aren't working," Elena told him breathlessly as Matt came up behind Angel.
"What?"
"The whole town square is filled with travelers," Stefan explained. "We've gotta get out of here."
"The tunnels," Matt said suddenly. "They're in the stockroom. Come on. Let's go."
Matt hurried off towards the backroom and the three of them followed after him. He quickly pushed a shelf away from the wall and revealed the entrance to the tunnels. They each took turns crawling inside before letting Matt lead the way. They were all rushing their way through when Elena suddenly started choking on water. Matt turned back to see what was wrong.
"Elena!"
Next to Elena, Stefan groaned in pain as blood started to spread across his stomach. He touched his shirt and drew his hand back, which was covered in his blood.
"What's going on?" Matt asked cluelessly.
"The spell unravels witch magic," Stefan replied. "It's spreading, and without the magic, I'm just someone who was shot by his dad."
It was Angel's turn to be affected. He started gasping for air and grabbed at his throat.
"And I'm just some guy who was murdered by having his neck snapped," Angel panted through deep breaths.
"Alright, come on," Matt said in a hasty voice. "Let's keep running. Maybe we'll stay ahead of it."
They all nodded, and then turned and continued making their way through the tunnels.
xxxx
Toby's phone rang and he picked it up when he saw Angel's name on the screen.
"Hey, what's-"
"You need to get out of Mystic Falls," Angel cut him off. "Like, now."
Toby furrowed his eyebrows. "What? Why?"
"The travelers have started their spell to undo witch magic. If you stay, you'll die."
"Okay. Okay, uh, I'm leaving right now."
"Good. I'll tell you where home base is once we figure it out."
Angel hung up and Toby stared at his phone for a minute. He looked up when he heard someone come into the living room and saw that it was just Esmeralda. He was over at the house with them to help protect the house if travelers tried to come. Esmeralda saw his face and frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Toby quickly stood up. "We need to go. The travelers started their spell. Mystic Falls isn't safe anymore."
"What?"
Toby put his hands on either side of Esmeralda's shoulders. "Esmeralda, I promise I'll explain, but not right now. We need to leave. Now. It's not safe."
Esmeralda nodded her head. "Yeah, okay, I'll go tell everyone else, and grab Binx's leash. We're not leaving him."
Toby nodded, and the two of them parted ways. Esmeralda went upstairs and into Eliana and Sydney's room, where the two were taking a nap. Esmeralda shook them awake.
"Wake up! We have to leave."
Eliana popped open one eye. "We have to what?" She asked sleepily.
"Leave," Esmeralda repeated. "No time to explain, and no time to pack anything. Get your shoes on and meet me downstairs. I have to get mom."
Esmeralda promptly spun around and left the room as Eliana and Sydney began to get out of bed. She caught Elvira as she was exiting the bathroom.
"Mom!"
Elvira stopped and turned around to face her. Esmeralda rushed up and stopped in front of her breathlessly.
"We have to get out of Mystic Falls ASAP. We'll explain later. Come on."
Esmeralda grabbed onto Elvira's arm and started tugging her down the stairs.
"Does it have something to do with the travelers?" Elvira asked.
"Yes."
"I can't believe you let it get this far."
Esmeralda turned to face Elvira once they made it to the bottom of the stairs.
"Now is not the time to judge me, mom!" Esmeralda snapped. "This isn't my fault. You're the one who told me nothing about the travelers. Look, we don't have time for this. Meet me at the car."
Toby came into the foyer with Binx, holding onto his leash. Esmeralda nodded.
"Okay, good, you got him." She turned towards the stairs. "Come on, guys!" She called upstairs just as Elvira opened the front door and left the house.
"Coming!" Sydney shouted back as she hurried down the stairs, followed by Eliana. When they made it, all of them quickly exited the house and piled into Esmeralda's minivan. She started the ignition and pulled out of the driveway without another word.
xxxx
"What are we even supposed to take?" Caroline asked as she packed some of her things. "Photos, clothes, hair products? Not that any of that matters when we're all dead."
"For some reason I thought I would be more freaked out at the prospect of losing my powers, but I think I'm a little more worried about everyone else kicking the bucket," Elowen said as she stuffed things into a bag.
"Please don't word it like that. That makes it sound ten times worse."
Elowen's phone started to ring and she saw that it was Esmeralda.
"Mom, oh my god," she answered. "Are you okay? How is everyone?"
"We're fine. Toby's with us. Listen, is Bonnie there?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Put the phone on speaker. We need to talk to her."
Elowen was a little confused, but did as she was asked. She walked over to Bonnie and handed her the phone.
"She's here."
"Bonnie, my mom thinks she might've figured out a way to get everyone back from the other side."
Bonnie furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at Elowen, who shook her head.
"What?"
"We need a traveler willing to help us."
"Wait, mom, back up," Elowen cut in. "What are you talking about?"
"Remember the spell Markos used to come back? What if we used it to bring everyone back just like he did?"
Bonnie thought this over. "I guess it could work, but we don't know the spell."
"Which brings me back to, we need a traveler willing to help us."
Bonnie nodded. "Okay, I think I can find one." She stood up. "I need to find Enzo."
"Good. Where are you guys?"
"We're at Whitmore," Elowen replied. "The spell hasn't reached us yet."
"Okay. We'll meet you there."
"Okay, mom. Bye."
"Bye, honey."
xxxx
Sometime later, Esmeralda pulled into the parking lot at Whitmore, where Stefan, Elena, Angel and Matt already were. Everyone got out of Esmeralda's car and when Elena saw Toby, she ran over and threw her arms around him.
"Oh my god, you're okay," she mumbled into Toby's neck as she pulled away. "I thought I was never gonna see you again and I couldn't think of a worse way to die."
Toby grinned. "Well, I guess today is your lucky day."
Another car pulled up and everyone looked over. Inside was Jeremy, Adriana and Damon. They all got out. Adriana immediately bolted for Angel and hugged him tightly.
"Where's Veronica?" She asked worriedly as she pulled away.
"She's in the dorms," Angel replied. "She's fine."
Stefan looked at Jeremy. "Jeremy, head back with Matt and Adriana. We need eyes and ears in Mystic Falls."
"I want to go," Sydney said quickly. "I can help."
Eliana turned wide eyes onto her. "What? You're kidding, right?"
"I'm one of the only people who can go back to Mystic Falls without any kind of risks involved. I'll be fine. Let me help."
Sydney left Eliana's side and walked over to Jeremy, Matt, and Adriana. Stefan nodded.
"Okay, you guys take Jeremy's car. I'm going to wait here for Caroline, Bonnie, Elowen and Veronica."
Jeremy nodded. "Be careful."
Jeremy turned and him, Adriana, Matt and Sydney got into his car and left. Stefan turned to Esmeralda.
"I'm gonna go to the dorm and see if the girls need any help. Stay here, okay?"
Esmeralda nodded, and then Stefan made his way towards the dorm. He was halfway there when Elowen and Caroline walked up to him. Elowen breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him. Stefan already had his arms open for her and she walked right into them.
"God, it's good to see you," she whispered into his ear.
"Yeah, you, too," Stefan whispered back.
Caroline cast a glance over her shoulder. "Where's Bonnie and Veronica? They were right behind us."
"You guys go ahead. I'll go find out what's taking so long."
Before any of them could do anything, Julian in Tyler's body approached them.
"I'm looking for Maria," he said to Stefan. "I heard she brought you back to Mystic Falls."
"Uh, yeah, she did," Stefan answered slowly.
"Did she tell you where she was headed? Cause she can't stay there. The town's completely overrun."
Stefan looked down at his feet, not saying anything.
"What's the problem?" Julian asked. "Did she tell you where she was headed or not?"
"Listen, uh, you're not going to see Maria again."
"What are you talking about?"
"She's dead. I'm sorry."
Stefan reached out to comfort Julian, but he pulled away.
"Don't touch me!"
"It wasn't Stefan's fault," Caroline said softly from behind him.
"She saved your punk ass!" Julian hissed at Stefan.
"I wasn't the one that killed her," Stefan told him. "The witches did."
"Well, someone's gonna pay for it."
Julian roughly pushed Stefan backwards.
"Hey, hey, hey. Whoa." Stefan held his hands up. "I'm in no mood to fight tonight, alright?"
"Look at me! My wife's dead. I'm in somebody else's body. I've got nowhere to go because my own people are trying to kill me!"
"Listen, we're going to find a way to stop this spell, and even if Mystic Falls is gone, we're gonna find a way to save ourselves, alright?"
From behind Julian, Caroline tried to snap his neck, but Julian caught her in the act. He turned to growl at her, his eyes glowing amber and his fangs out. Caroline gasped and took a step back, knowing that she couldn't get bitten. Elowen quickly grabbed her and pushed Caroline behind her at the same time as Stefan lunged forward to grab Julian to stop him. Julian quickly whirled around and got the upperhand, one of his hands seizing Stefan by the throat while the other plunged into Stefan's chest and ripped his heart out before anybody could react. Elowen let out a scream as Stefan fell onto the concrete, dead. She immediately darted forward before Caroline could stop her and pulled Stefan into her lap.
"There! Dead doppelganger," Julian said. "Stopped the spell."
He turned and walked away as Elowen shook Stefan frantically.
"Stefan? Stefan! Stefan, please wake up. Oh my god."
Elowen started hyperventilating as tears streamed down her face. She sobbed loudly, rocking Stefan back and forth in her arms as Caroline slowly crouched down next to her.
"Oh my god," Caroline whispered before her voice turned hysterical. "Oh my god! Help us please! Oh my god! Somebody help!"
Toby, having heard their screams, perked his head up.
"Something's wrong," he mumbled before taking off in their direction. Esmeralda quickly followed, running after him. When they arrived at the scene, Toby's eyes widened and Esmeralda clamped her hands over her mouth.
"Oh my god," Toby blurted, looking back at Esmeralda.
They both stared at each other before looking back down at Stefan, Caroline and Elowen, not knowing what else to do.
