The next day I was walking around the house when I saw Tyler packing things up.

"Tyler? What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Klaus wants me to pack up his house for him." he told me and I nodded.

"Ok." I said about to leave the room.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked me and I turned to him and nodded. "Why did you help me?"

"Everyone should have the free will to choose what they want in life." I told him.

"That's it?" he asked me.

"Of course. Why else would I help?" I asked him.

"It's not Care that got me through all those transformations." he told me and I gave him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"You got me through everything that happened to me. Transforming over and over and over again I thought of only you." he told me.

"Tyler, you love Caroline. Not me. If Nik heard you talking like that he'd kill you." I warned him.

"I don't care." he told me.

"You need to get back to what you were doing." I told him, walking away. I did not need this right now. My phone suddenly rang and I answered it confused. The caller ID read Ric.

"Whoever this is needs to leave me alone. I'm having a bad day." I warned them.

"Well, who else would it be?" the voice on the other end asked, making me freeze.

"Ric." I said, not bothering to ask.

"Listen closely, I'm at the school, I have Caroline, and if you want to keep her alive, I need you to get in your car and come down here right away. If you tell anyone where you are going, I will kill her." he warned me before hanging up. I hung up and looked behind me at Tyler working. I quickly made my decision and left the house.


I pulled up to the school in time to see Elena getting out of her car. She looked at me confused.

"I guess you got a phone call too?" I asked her and she nodded. We walked into the school together and walked, not knowing where to go. Suddenly we heard something and ran towards the noise. We entered Ric's old classroom and saw Care with pencils in her hands and a cloth in her mouth.

"Oh my god." I said going to her.

"Caroline." Elena turned to look at Ric. "Let her go, Alaric!"

"Free her yourself." he told us. They stared at each other and I turned to the pencils in her hand and started to lift one of them out of her hand as Elena did the same with the other. Suddenly Ric's hands slammed down on the pencils and Care screamed in pain.

"You said that you would let her go!" Elena yelled standing up.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Elena? Stop trusting vampires!" Ric shouted at her before shoving us into two desks on either side of Caroline. Ric took the cloth from Care's mouth and dipped it into a beaker of vervain water. I looked at Care and saw her mouth was very red and appeared to have been peeled away.

"No, no more, please, no more!" Care begged him.

"Alaric stop!" Elena ordered him while standing. Ric pushed her back into her seat.

"Sit down! This keeps the vervain in her system. It's like inhaling razor blades with every breath." Ric told us as he put the cloth back in Care's mouth. Her skin began to smoke and burn making me cringe. Care cried and screamed in pain.

"Why are you doing this to her?" I asked him.

"To make it easier on your sister when she put her out of her misery. Then we turn to you." Ric told me picking up the white oak stake and walking to Elena.

"What?! No!" Elena yelled.

"Isn't this what you wanted, Elena? For me to teach you how to kill a vampire?" Ric asked her. He held the white oak stake out towards my twin. "Well, here's a vampire, Elena. Kill her."

"This isn't what I want." Elena told him.

"Of course it is. All those hours you spent training, getting stronger, you could be a hunter, Elena. But you've never actually staked a vampire through the heart." Ric reminded her. "I bet even your vampire loving sister has."

"I have." I told him. He turned back to Elena, persistently holding out the stake as she stared at it. When she didn't take it from him he started to pace.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked again.

"Because you need me." he told us. "Because you're an 18 year old girl without parents or guidance or any sense of right and wrong anymore."

"Look at you. How is this right?!" Elena yelled at him.

"She's a murderer. She told me she killed someone and liked it. Now how is that right? Listen, Elena, Nicole, your parents led the council. It was their life's mission to keep this town safe. They weren't dead six months before Elena undid it all. And you Nicole, you didn't wait for them to be dead before you started working with Katherine Pierce." he told us.

"You don't know anything about our parents." I hissed at him.

"Why, am I wrong? Do you actually think that they'd be proud of you? If you don't side with the humans, you're just as bad as them. Now, Elena, kill her." Ric ordered handing Elena the stake. "Or I'll do it for you and I'll make it hurt. Get up!" Ric grabbed Elena's arm and pulled her out of her seat. He placed her in front of Care and forced the stake into my twin's hand before pulling away. He moved to me and pulled me up behind her and we watched as Elena stood there with the stake in her hand for a moment, before quickly turning around and trying to stab Ric and I. Ric quickly grabbed her wrist and sighed at her. "I thought I taught you better than that." he told her letting me go.

"You did." Elena told him. I grabbed the beaker filled with vervain water and broke it over his head. He screamed in pain and his flesh started to burn. Elena and I quickly released Care and urged her to run.

"Get help!" We ordered her. Care rushed out of the room with Elena and I behind her. Care managed to get out, but Ric blocked the two of us from leaving.

"Not so fast." he told us and I pushed her behind me. Ric grabbed my arm and threw me out of the classroom into the lockers before doing the same with Elena. He rushed to us and grabbed our throats, holding us against the metal. "I should kill the two of you. I should gut you like Brian Walters, Bill Forbes, and all the other cowards I plan on ripping apart. You're the worst offender of them all. You don't deserve to live." he told us.

"So then, why am we still alive? There's obviously no humanity left in you, so what's stopping you, Alaric? If you want us dead then kill us." Elena asked him. His eyes began to become red and veiny.

"Do it! Kill us!" I shouted. Ric dropped Elena from his grasp before biting me, forcing a scream from my mouth. Suddenly, he was pushed off me and I fell to the ground and looked up to see Stefan and Damon.

"Do it now!" Damon yelled. Ric pushed them off of him and broke Stefan's back, making him fall to the ground, temporarily dead. Damon rushed toward Ric, but Ric snapped his neck, temporarily killing him as well. I saw Nik rush toward Ric and placed his hand into Ric's chest. After a moment Ric managed to pull Nik's hand out of his chest and threw him to the ground. Ric grabbed Nik and threw him against the lockers. He flipped him over and was about to stake him with the white oak stake, but Nik fought back. I looked around for something to help when an idea came to me. I grabbed a knife I hid on me at all times and went to Elena.

"Sorry sister, but you would do the same if it were me." I whispered to her. "Stop!" they looked at me and I held the knife to her throat. "Let him go or I'll kill her."

"Put it down, Nicole." Ric told me.

"Why? Because you still need her alive? There's a reason why Esther used her to make you, isn't there? She didn't want you to be immortal, so she tied your life to a human one. Elena's life to be exact. That way you have only one life span to kill all vampires and then you'll be gone. So, when she dies, you die too." I said.

"You're wrong." Ric told me.

"Am I?" I asked him. I slowly began to cut her throat open with her whimpering in pain.

"Stop! STOP! STOP! STOP!" Ric shouted at me. In his moment of panic, Nik seized the chance and threw Ric off him before rushing towards us. He grabbed us and left.


When I woke up I saw I was in my bed. I looked around and groaned.

"Nik?" I called for him.

"What is it? Are you alright?" he asked me.

"I'm fine. Where's Elena?" I asked him.

"Making a donation to a good cause." he told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, getting up.

"I'm draining her of her blood so I can make more hybrids later." he told me.

"Why do you need hybrids?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?" he asked me.

"Why do you need hybrids when you have me and Nikolas and Bekah?" I asked him.

"I don't want to be alone." he told me looking down. I put my hand under his chin and lifted his head to look in my eyes.

"You'll never be alone." I told him. Nik picked me up and took me to the family room where Nikolas was laying in a bassinet and a nurse was switching out a blood filled bag for a fresh one on Elena, who was becoming weaker.

"What about your hybrids? You'll need more than this to create your army." Elena said to Nik. He put me down on the sofa and took one of the blood bags from the nurse.

"These last few liters will have to suffice. You see, by attempting to kill us, my mother strengthened the bond between my siblings and I. I also have Nicole and Nikolas with me. I don't need hybrids. I have my family." he told her and I smiled.

"If you believe that, then why take my blood at all? You want a backup family. You know that your siblings will never trust you again and Nikky would never turn into a vampire so you'll lose her." Elena told him.

"You can't know that." I told her.

"I don't want to be vampire either." he told me and I stayed quiet.

"You know Stefan blames me for trying to tear him from his brother, but I think we both know who really came between them. You. That's why you won't choose. You know once you pick a Salvatore, you'll destroy their bond." Nik said moving closer to her. "Consider this me doing you a favor. Once you're dead, you won't have to choose. No broken hearts. Their family stays intact. But just between us girls, who would you have picked?" he asked her.

"Rot in hell." Elena said to him.

"You're welcome. Sweet dreams, Elena. It's been fun." Nik said to her before leaving the room. I looked away from her as I heard her struggle to get out of the chair weakly.

"Help me." she begged me.

"I can't move, Elena. What I did at the school was the last bit of strength I had after Ric bit me." I put my hand on my neck, It was still bleeding.

"Why hasn't he healed you?" she asked me.

"So I couldn't help you." I told her, smiling. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tyler quietly coming into the room and undoing the ropes tying Elena to the chair.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Shhh." he told her as he continued untying her from the chair.

"Tyler." Ty quickly stood up and turned to see someone I couldn't see.

"So much for that sire bond." I heard Nik say.

"I'm not your little bitch anymore." Ty told him. I saw Nik walk into the room and smiled at him.

"How did you break the sire bond?" Nik asked him.

"By breaking every bone in my body a hundred times for the girl I love." Ty said, glancing at me.

"That's impossible." Nik said darkly to him.

"Is it?" Ty asked walking up to him. "Or maybe real love is stronger than fake loyalty. But what would you know about that?"

"Ty stop." I told him.

"You know, you should be thanking me. I gave you a gift. I took away your misery." Nik reminded him.

"You didn't give a crap about me! You just didn't want to be alone!" Ty told him going back to Elena and helping her up. "Come on." Nik rushed towards them and pushed her down before grabbing Ty by the throat and pushed him against a wall.

"Goodbye, Tyler." Nik said attempting to grab Ty's heart out of his chest, but Ty twisted his arm around. Damon suddenly grabbed Nik's arm and Stefan put his hand into Nik's chest. Nik started to desiccate and I started to cry, begging them to stop.

"Stop it! Please! Stop it! Leave him alone!" I begged. Damon moved away from them and went to Elena, grabbing her gently.

"Hey, are you okay?" Damon asked her and she nodded.

"Heal Nikky." she told him. He bit into his wrist and forced it to my mouth. Once I was healed enough I got up and ran to Stefan as Nik continued to become more decrepit looking.

"Stefan, please stop! I'm begging you to stop!" I cried while trying to pull his arm out of Nik's chest. Once Nik was completely neutralized Stefan took his hand out of his chest and Tyler laid Nik down on the ground. I sat next to him crying and petting his hair.

"We should get them home before the sun sets." Stefan said. Someone grabbed me around my waist and pulled me with them, while I kicked and screamed for him to let me go. They put me in the car next to Nikolas and drove away from our home. They drove all the way to the Gilbert House and got out. I grabbed my son and followed them slowly. The boys walked behind us and Elena towards the house.

"Huh, you two are really gonna walk me all the way to the door, aren't you?" Elena asked them.

"You lost a lot of blood today." Stefan reminded her.

"Yeah, I know, but I told you I'm fine, I just – I have a little headache." she told them.

"Yeah, but the sun's about to go down and Ric's gonna be able to terrorize the streets any minute." Damon reminded her.

"Yeah, but he can't hurt me. It's you two and Nikky that we should be worrying about." Elena told them.

"He won't be able to find us and Nikky will have nothing to worry about soon." Stefan told us as Elena opened the front door and she and I went in. "I'll uh – I'll call you when we get back." I quickly turned to them and gave them confused looks.

"What are you talking about?" I asked them.

"We have to get Klaus' body away as far away from Ric as possible." Stefan told me and I looked away, feeling distant and empty. Only the hold I had on Nikolas stopped me from falling to the ground completely.

"I know it's selfish." I heard Elena say. "I – I know that it seems like I'm stringing you both along. But I don't – I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I mean, if I choose one of you then I lose the other and I've lost so many people. I just – I can't bear the thought of losing one of you."

"It's um – it's been a long day." Stefan said.

"We'll call you from the road, after we dump Klaus' body in the Atlantic." Damon said and I turned to him in shock.

"What?!" I asked.

"Just… be careful. Both of you." Elena said closing the door after they left. I heard her walk to the kitchen where we heard laughter. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Welcome to our victory party!" I heard Care say happily.

"What victory? We failed. Alaric's still out there." Elena reminded them.

"We know, but we've been trying to get rid of Klaus forever and Caroline convinced us to enjoy it for a night." Bonnie said and I started to cry silently.

"You know, to be honest, I'm a little pissed none of you let me help you take down Original brother number two." Matt told them.

"Yeah, he would have taken you right down to the hospital, bro." Tyler told him.

"Please, I'm more stealth than that. I'm like a ninja." Matt told him as I walked to see them all around the island in the kitchen, not noticing me.

"Yeah, you wish." Jer laughed. Care went up to Elena and gave her a shot of something.

"Here. You need this. I heard. And you know that sooner or later, you're gonna have to choose, right?" Care asked her.

"I know." Elena told her. I walked and put Nikolas in the bassinet we'd kept here and turned to them to see Tyler pouring salt on Elena's hand.

"Thank you for standing up to Klaus like that." Elena said to him.

"Let's just say it's been a long time coming." Tyler told her.

"Way too long." Care said wrapping her arm around Tyler. "Alright, let's drink!"

"Yes, let's drink." I said walking up to them. "Let's drink to everything we've been through. Our adopted parents died because of a car crash that Elena's boyfriend number one saved her from." I took the shot from Elena and downed it.

"Nikky..." Elena said but I ignored her pouring more of tequila in the glass.

"Then Caroline was turned into a vampire." another shot. "Then Mason got his heart ripped our by Damon." another shot. "Then our birth parents died. Isabel by ripping off her daylight necklace due to compulsion Nik did to her." another shot. "John, who we thought was our uncle, by keeping Elena alive when Nik killed her in a sacrifice to become a Hybrid." another shot. "Then we learned Damon was bitten by Tyler then we learned that the only way to cure him was Nik's blood." another shot. "Then Stefan and I made a deal. We go with Nik he saves Damon's sorry ass." another shot. "He turned Tyler into a hybrid, who I sent to a friend to help break the sire bond. Your welcome." another shot.

"Nicole I think you've had enough." Elena told me and I pushed her away from me.

"Then you just couldn't be happy with what you got, could you? You woke up Mikael, who tried to kill Nik and Elena. Who was actually Katherine." I said taking another shot. "Then Stefan took Nik's coffins and you," I pointed at Bonnie, "and your mother woke up his witch bitch mother, who tried to kill them by linking them together." another shot. "Ric killed Jenna." another shot. "Then Esther turned Rik into a vampire who took Caroline hostage and tried to get Elena to kill her." another shot. "Then, this is the part we are all celebrating, Stefan, Damon, and Tyler use some sort of help from Bonnie to kill my boyfriend in front of me." another shot. "Now, and this is the best part, Stefan and Damon are taking Nik and dumping his body in the Atlantic." another shot. "Now my son is without a father, but we all now how that is, right? I mean everyone in hear has lost one parent in one way or another. Car accident, fire, magic. We have one more fatherless child in Mystic Falls." another shot. "Tell me, how's your party going now?" I asked them, slamming the shot down and going back to the sofa.

"Nikky we had to do this." Elena told me.

"Fuck off!" I shouted at her getting comfortable and crying. I knew they could hear me but I didn't care, not this time.