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Epilogue

those who dance lightly

The only thing that makes life possible
is permanent, intolerable uncertainty:
not knowing what comes next.
– Ursula K. Guin

"Bonnie…Bonnie…Bonnie."

The witch groaned, trying desperately to ignore the sound of her name being called every thirty seconds.

"Bonnie, are you alive? Can you hear me?"

The voice was coming from the left and a little below her. Before it could make any further offending noise, Bonnie fisted the pillow next to her head and flung it with all her might in the voice's direction. Bonnie was feeling very weak, so it wasn't exactly a strong throw. It must have landed on its intended target though because the next words were muffled by a few inches of down feather and fabric.

"Thanks, honey. I was more looking for a hangover cure, but this is a good start. Blocks the light great."

Bonnie managed a gruff "Not a cure!" mostly said into the mattress. She pulled herself to the edge of their bed so that she could glare over the side at Damon. Luckily, he'd managed to get the pillow under his head by the time she made it, so there was nothing protecting him from her glare.

Damon squinted up at her, his pale skin tinged a waxy green, with a pained smile.

"There she is: my angel."

"Oh, shut up. I feel like death, and probably look worse. What do you want?"

"You look beautiful. The very light of my life, my reason for living, the only—"

"What. Do. You. Want."

"Do we have any hangover potion? Please tell me you planned ahead like the good little girl scout you are." Bonnie didn't throw up on him, which took real effort on her part, but flopped back onto her back. The ceiling above her spun and her stomach lurched.

"Bathroom. Blood fridge." She bit out between harsh breaths.

Bonnie's concession to Damon wanting easy access to blood bags was the mini fridge tucked in the corner of their en suite bathroom. He complained that the tiny box of a fridge could have fit in the cubbyhole of his night stand every time he felt mildly inconvenienced by the ten feet he had to walk to reach the bathroom. Bonnie reminded him that his walk could be down to the ice chest in the basement, or all the way across the state to Mystic Falls if he wanted to move back in with his brother.

Damon didn't offer his usual token of complaint this morning though, just a few pained grunts as he army crawled his way across their bedroom floor.

When Damon returned, he was upright and sipping on a blood bag. He tossed a second dose of the potion her way, and it thumped onto the pillow next to her.

Bonnie moaned and groaned her way into a seated position while Damon watched. Shooting further dirty looks his way would be too much effort with her pounding head, so Bonnie focused on getting to the so-called hangover cure. As soon as she'd swallowed the first sip the pulsing in her head lessened and her mouth lost its full-of-cotton feeling. She quickly downed the rest before tossing the bottle aside.

"Why were you on the floor? Did I kick you out of bed?" She asked.

That didn't seem likely, considering how closely she usually clung to him as they slept. She liked knowing he was there; it settled her. Sometimes Bonnie reached out to clutch Damon's arm when she first woke, still half asleep, but desperate to know the date. In her nightmares she found herself stranded a hundred years in the future with no Damon in sight. Or worse, a Damon who no longer recognized her.

"No, I spent the whole night on the floor."

Bonnie snorted.

"You managed to carry me up to bed, but not get yourself into it? Impressive even for you, Salvatore."

"Would be, if that's what happened. Hate to break this to you, Bon Bon. But it was not this Salvatore's strong arms that you were snuggled up in as you were carried up here."

"Stefan?"

"The very same. He helped me too, but only as far as the floor because he's a dick."

"Ah, I knew there was a reason Stefan was my favorite brother."

"You take that back."

"Hmm, I don't think I will." She shot back playfully.

Damon tackled her flat onto the bed.

"Who's your favorite Salvatore?" He pressed a raspberry into her throat and Bonnie squirmed away laughing. Sensitive necks were not a weakness she should still have after so many years with Damon, but her body never seemed to get that memo.

"Do you want me to be honest?"

Damon lifted himself to his hands and knees, straddled over her, blocking the sun. He nodded. Bonnie thought about continuing the joke, saying Giuseppe in such a deadpan that even Damon would have to laugh. But instead she stared up at him for a moment, appreciating how the morning sun lit upon his face and brightened his eyes.

"It's you Damon. You're my best friend and my favorite person in the world." She ran her fingers through his hair. It was getting a bit long, and she might suggest a cut if she wasn't worried he'd get self-conscious. Damon was often struck by bouts of vanity that seemed silly to Bonnie. Her hand lingered among the strands. Then again, if he continued growing it out maybe it would regain those charming curls from the nineteenth century. That had been a good look for him.

"Good." Damon said.

"Just good?"

"You're right, it's better than good. It's so good I can't even articulate it. Want to know why?"

"Why, Damon?"

"Because you're my favorite person too." He said with a wide smile. Bonnie's nose wrinkled at the cheesiness, but she was grinning too.

"Is that why you asked me to marry you?"

"Eh, first time around it was more of a peer pressure situation."

"Damon!"

"It was! But the second time was better."

"Well there was no sinking ship, so it had that in the pro column."

"I thought that added some spice to the first proposal. Were you not a fan?"

"Damon, do you know how long it took Caroline to convince me to go on that cruise with her? Over a year. Cold showers still remind me of falling out of the lifeboat."

"Does that mean you don't want to take a jaunt around the world on the Titanic II for our honeymoon? I think it could be fun. Besides, that kind of stuff is like lightning; it doesn't strike twice."

"That ship is ridiculous. Naming a ship Titanic II is asking for it to be sunk. But it doesn't matter, I don't want to do the Titanic, or Boston, and definitely no Mystic Falls. No highlight reels for our honeymoon. Let's go somewhere new."

"Rome, Paris, Tokyo?" He quipped.

Bonnie rolled her eyes as he quoted the original's much mocked line and didn't mention that they'd already visited two of those cities.

"If I wanted that cliché, I wouldn't have chosen to be with you."

"Mm, no you wouldn't have." He lowered his face towards hers and pressed a kiss to the apple of her cheek.

"I love you." she sighed out.

He pulled away. "I love you to." His expression grew serious again. "Are you ready for this, Bonnie?"

Bonnie didn't immediately answer; she wanted to give the question the consideration it deserved.

"I don't know if I could ever be ready for tonight, Damon, but it's time."

Elena greeted them with a smile that lit up her entire face. The laugh lines at the corners of her mouth deepened and her eyes sparkled in happiness.

"Bonnie! Damon! You made it!" She strode forward to wrap an arm around them both. Damon patted her on the back twice before disengaging.

"Yeah, yeah, no need for the welcoming committee, baby Grady,. We couldn't exactly miss it with Bonnie performing the spell."

Elena pulled back from the tight hug she'd wrapped Bonnie into.

"Thank you for agreeing to do this, Bonnie. And thanks for coming, Damon. I know Stefan will need you here, if…if anything goes wrong." Elena's second smile was gentler, as she looked between the couple.

Bonnie's eyes were already tearing, and Damon floundered at the doppelganger's out-of-place smile. Damon and Elena had become good friends over the years despite Elena and Stefan's on-again-off-again relationship drama. For all his concern over Bonnie's readiness to see her friend off, the witch doubted he was prepared in the least to do the same.

"Well speaking of my little brother…" Damon didn't even finish the thought. He squeezed Bonnie's hand, gave Elena one last awkward backslap, and walked away to talk to Stefan. Bonnie thought she saw the flash of a silver flask pass between them, but she could hardly begrudge either brother a drink. She'd made two large batches of her hangover potion early in the week, knowing they would need it whether tonight would be a second celebration or a memorial.

Bonnie turned back to Elena and saw that her best friend had followed her eyes and had been studying the two brothers as well. The smile on her face remained, but the sadness lurking underneath was clear. Bonnie grabbed Elena's right hand, clutching it tightly for a second, before relaxing her grip. She had to be strong for Elena now. Her friend had more reason than anyone to fear tonight.

"Hey. You sure about this? I can still set fire to the curtains and sneak us out the back." There weren't exactly any curtains in the clearing, but the sentiment remained. Elena gave a wet laugh at Bonnie's offer but shook her head.

"No, Bon. That move can stay with prom. Tonight…I know this is the right time. I want everyone to remember me like this, healthy and happy. I don't want Gray or Henry to see me like…that." She finished weakly. Bonnie nodded.

When Elena had first received her diagnosis, the cancer seemed easily beatable. They'd faced a tomb full of vampires, several covens of vengeful witches, and one seriously disturbed occult professor. The original vampire family had come to town full of threats, and their little band of nobodies came out of their first meeting with allies instead of enemies. And somehow in the middle of all that, they'd all gotten through college, which was even more crazy in Bonnie's opinion.

Elena had fought her way through med school and managed to become a mother to two amazing sons on top of being a kickass doctor. It was inconceivable that something as mundane as cancer could harm her. Elena was young, beautiful, and strong.

But the prognosis wasn't good, and neither vampire blood nor magic could do anything about it. In a fit of temporary insanity, after Stefan had relayed just how long Elena had probably been living with this before one of her colleagues caught it, Bonnie had opened up Emily's grimoire and read over the time travel spell. She no longer had a whole bloodstone, but she would have needed to rework the spell for her own affinity anyway. She'd begun listing possible power sources (volcanoes, forest fires, decade-burning coal mines) without a thought. Damon had caught her at it, and managed to talk her down, but it was a close thing.

Elena's hand twisted in Bonnie's, and the pad of her middle finger lingered on the dual pearl ring donning Bonnie's finger.

"I wish I could have seen you get married, Bon." Bonnie's throat felt swollen, and her eyes wet.

"You will, Elena. You're going to be my maid of honor, remember?"

"You haven't even set a wedding date." Which was true. Bonnie agreeing to wear the ring again, to be Damon's fiancé again, had been a huge step. But they'd taken it more than a year ago, and they had moved no closer to actually getting married. Damon didn't seem to mind. Bonnie needed a little more time to settle it with herself, to say goodbye to her magic and all that it was to her. But even if her wedding was a decade into the future, Bonnie wanted Elena there. Elena continued without need for Bonnie's input. "Caroline will be better at that anyway. Remember the bachelorette party she threw for me?"

"Well you got married at twenty-two; all that crazy was kind of necessary."

"And you'll be too old to have a good time? I distinctly remember you dancing on your own kitchen table last night."

"Ugh don't remind me. And it's not just an age thing, though I hope we're a bit more mature now. You're different from Care, and since you'll be my maid of honor, I know you won't be ordering a crew of singing strippers."

"Just for that I'll have to find that exact company again." Elena said with a wry smile.

"You know what? Good. Start planning maid of honor. And make sure to take time off after, we're all going on vacation afterwards and we'll live carefree like old times."

"I don't know what old times you're talking about, but I don't remember being carefree for any of them. And you want us all to go on your honeymoon with you? You sure Damon would be up for that?"

"Well…maybe we'll take a week to ourselves before you join us. But the group trip is happening."

"It sounds wonderful. Promise me you'll go, no matter what." Elena pressed, eyes wide and shining wetly.

Bonnie wanted to argue more, to make sure Elena knew that Bonnie expected her to be on that trip, but she could tell that this wasn't the time. Elena needed reassurance now. Not for herself, but for everyone she'd be leaving behind.

"Okay, Elena. I'll start looking for tropical islands tomorrow."

"And promise me you and Damon will help take care of Grayson and Henry?" She rushed out. Elena's kids were her number one concern. They were much younger than Elena has been when her own parents had died. Henry wasn't even three yet.

"I'll care for them like they're my own, we all will. And I'll never let them forget their mother, who is courageous and loving and the best friend I could ever ask for."

"Don't make me into a myth or martyr Bonnie, just me."

"Just you is—"

"Just me is as flawed as everyone else. It won't do anyone any favors to pretend otherwise." Elena paused, as if considering if she should add the next words, before continuing. "I used to blame you, you know? For everything that seemed to go wrong in my life. I don't even know why. You just seemed so strong. You had magic, you traveled through time, and you had a solution to everything, but were always a second too late for me. When you told me that you'd seen my parents on your last day in the past, but that you'd done nothing to try and stop the accident, I wanted to hit you. I knew you were right, you couldn't have done anything, but I hated you in that moment. And that's hardly me at my worst. I've been selfish and silly and sometimes very stupid. My sons will have access to my diaries, so they'll know, there's no use pretending otherwise. Just, look out for them, like you've done for me. And when you tell them about their mom, make me real. Okay?"

Bonnie nodded, not sure how she should take this last confession of her friend.

"And Bonnie? Will you ever forgive me for asking you to do this?"

"I already have, Elena. I wouldn't want it any other way. When the time comes," Bonnie swallowed past the still-growing lump in her throat. They'd been talking about this for months, but it seemed hard to believe that 'when the time comes' now referred to an event within the hour, not in the distant future. "just watch me okay? I'll be with you the whole time."

Elena nodded rapidly, before breaking eye contact.

"It's been good, Bonnie. Hasn't it? Despite everything?"

"Yeah, Elena. It has been."

"Float a few feathers for me on the way out?"

"You've always liked that stupid trick the best."

"It was the first. And it's beautiful."

"Alright. For you."

"Thanks." Elena sniffled before taking a deep breath, gathering herself. She nodded once, reassuring Bonnie and herself. "Klaus should be here any minute. I'm going to call Jenna. I want to tell the boys goodnight."

Elena slipped away to the edge of the clearing. She'd spent the past week with Stefan and her sons, her three favorite boys, as she often called them, but Bonnie knew it hadn't been enough for her friend.

Caroline and Bonnie had convinced her to leave her sons with the babysitter last night, and the whole group had come together for a reunion at Damon and Bonnie's. It had been fun, even with awkwardness that still lingered between Caroline and Matt years after their breakup, but Bonnie wasn't sure Elena felt the party worth the hours she lost with her sons. Still, Bonnie knew that Elena had appreciated the send-off. It had included all her friends who were in-the-know about the supernatural. The keg Tyler had shown up with made the whole thing feel like a high school party, despite Alaric's presence there. Maybe that's why they had all drank a little too much. They'd thought they were teenagers again, instead of actual adults. But it might have been the last night of Elena's life, so why not shine as brightly as a bunch of teenagers with no responsibilities?

"Ah, Bonnie Bennett, my sept skipped stone. Always a pleasure to see you." Klaus said from behind her. He always said her full name, savoring the alliteration as if he could taste the power of her line when he said the name. Bonnie's lip curled. Klaus could be charming and was a useful ally to have, but she could never forget their first meeting, and the bodies that had surrounded him.

"Can't say the same." She turned to the other vampire of the pair, "Kol, you're looking well."

Kol, in fact, was not looking well. He looked like death warmed over, without any vampire blood to bring it back to life.

"Ha ha. No need to make fun. Just give me one of your healing potions, darling, and we'll all feel better about this whole interaction. And remind me never to drink the Salvatore's foul vervain liquor again."

"I've told you before; it's not a healing potion. It's a hydration bomb for your system. There's no such thing as healing magic, because healing would be an abomination of nature—"

"Yes, yes. I know. And we all know your potions can't be that because you only let one abomination of nature inside you."

"Kol!"

"What? Oh…you dirty girl! I was talking about those horrid cheese puffs you're always eating. I will never willingly bring up Damon Salvatore's—" Kol actually shuddered after cutting off the thought. "Anyway, Bonnie, hangover hydration bomb? And maybe a side of brain bleach?"

"Hmm, you gonna cash in your favor for it?"

"And here I thought we were friendly enough for you to give it out of the goodness of your heart. But, no, I will not be cashing in my favor until something really important comes along. Though I thought I was going to have to use it last night to get you off that table."

Bonnie groaned. She really needed to make the rounds to ensure that no video evidence from last night survived. To shut him up, she fished a vial of her hydration elixir from her purse and handed it over.

"You were at their party? You?" Klaus questioned him. He looked offended.

"Come Klaus, you could hardly have expected an invite yourself. You're the cause of their dear doppelganger's death after all." Kol pointed out. Klaus pouted. It seemed one thousand years meant he had little shame and a real lack of self-awareness.

Klaus looked around the small clearing. Bonnie was not a fan of them choosing the quarry for the ritual, and she could see Damon eyeing the water uncomfortably as well. Her leaving him on that shore wasn't a good memory for either of them, and while he'd long forgiven her, it wasn't exactly their favorite picnic spot. But maybe it was better this way, no use contaminating a new place with bad memories.

"She's not here." She said, after watching Klaus search the clearing for the third time.

"Who?" Klaus said, trying to look innocent. Bonnie rolled her eyes. He'd passed subtlety long ago, she didn't know why he was trying to even hide his intentions now.

"Caroline. She's not here. She's with the kids." Guarding them from your crazy ass, Bonnie doesn't add. Because she is polite and mature.

"And where are my good little godchildren?" Klaus asked.

"None of your business" Bonnie said. But at the same moment, Elena entered the conversation with a cheery "Snuggled up at Grams's place with Jenna and Mason!"

Bonnie grimaced. She couldn't understand Elena's lack of fear, or the odd friendship she'd struck up with the man who would be her killer. And it was more than the doppelganger's self-sacrificial streak; Klaus and Elena had managed a real friendship.

Elena had spoken in his defense earlier this year, when he'd come back to ensure his side of the deal after being informed of Elena's illness. Bonnie had broken her own word, inked on a treaty Caroline had brokered nearly a decade before, and looked into how to kill Klaus. She hadn't wanted to lose Elena like this, as a sacrifice on an altar. She still didn't. But Elena had insisted. Their promise would be kept, and Elena's death would not be from a slow and messy succumbing to her illness, but a quick one at the hands of Klaus.

In the vampire's defense, he had done everything he could to try and prolong Elena's life. Klaus had flown experts in from around the world, medical and supernatural, to try and find a cure. But vampire blood would accelerate the cancer cells, and modern medicine had found no recourse either. Bonnie thought, perhaps uncharitably, that this help had more to do with his hope that Elena would pop out another kid and another possible line of doppelgangers, but her friends were more inclined to forgive. They took the scholarship funds he set up for Grayson and Henry, the mortgage he'd paid off for Jenna, and his deferring to Elena's schedule and worries at face value. For the most part, they welcomed Klaus as just another member of their ragtag group of friends. Even Damon. Even Stefan.

But Bonnie wasn't quite there yet. Because for all of Elena's cajoling her that Klaus was not the villain, that she was dying regardless, performing the ritual meant that Bonnie would have to chant over her friend's dying body. And that was on Klaus. So he hadn't gotten an invite to the reunion held in her home.

Bonnie tuned back into the conversation to find them discussing Grayson's enjoyment of his latest birthday present from Klaus. How the ancient vampire managed to look so interested in the child's development was beyond Bonnie. Elena becoming a mother caused as great of a chasm between them as Bonnie finding out she was a witch. No matter how much they loved each other, there were just things about the other's life that they did not understand. The joy of watching a four year old play with a toy car was one of those things. Though maybe the fault lay with Bonnie, because Klaus certainly seemed as invested as any parent, despite lacking a child.

Bonnie's musings on her own lack of maternal instinct were interrupted the arrival of yet another Mikaelson.

Rebekah looked like she just walked off a movie set, hair coiffed and make up perfect. From her bag she drew out a dusty bottle, which she pushed at Elena.

"Elijah sends his regards." She drawled.

"He decided not to come?" The doppelganger said, disappointment clear in her voice. Elena had an odd friendship with Klaus, but Elijah was still clearly her favorite of the originals. They all had one. Kol, when he wasn't acting murderous or particularly annoying, was Bonnie's, if only for his library of grimoires.

Rebekah sneered. "He didn't want to leave the other doppelganger's side. And she didn't want to come. For obvious reasons." She said with a dark look at Klaus. He shrugged and tried to look innocent.

"As promised, I won't harm Katerina. She's completely pardoned. I can't imagine why she'd be uncomfortable around me now." Like him hunting Katherine for five hundred years was just something she should let go. Then again, she had managed just that for Elijah.

"Is that Elijah's bargaining chip?" Klaus asked, gesturing at the bottle.

It must be, Bonnie realized. Years ago, when Caroline and Bonnie had sat down to negotiate with the Mikaelson brothers, Elijah had mentioned an elixir. He'd commissioned it centuries ago, for Katherine, Katerina, and he'd kept it. The life sacrificed in its making was still trapped, just waiting to be given away. It would bring Elena back to life after the ritual.

There was some hope it would do more than that, but no promises could be made on that count. The disease could remain, or it could dissipate. They'd know tomorrow.

"Yes, Lazarus in a bottle. Just drink."

Elena cradled the bottle close to her. She wouldn't drink it until the last moment, when she was the only sacrifice left. It wouldn't do to risk it somehow wearing off.

"Alright, let's do this." Elena said with a definitive nod. Bonnie swallowed and nodded back. The moon was high; they couldn't put this off any longer.

"Kol," Klaus called, "fetch my contributions!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" The younger brother called back, but he still moved towards the still forms on the ground. Still because they had been thoroughly trussed up, not because they were unconscious. No, Bonnie realized with a start, the two figures had been awake and alert this entire time. Alert and helpless, watching Bonnie and her friends casually chat with the Mikaelsons.

Kol dragged each to the center of the clearing, where Bonnie had marked two spots on the ground with some heavy-duty tape, like this was a summer camp theatrical. Once each had reached their mark, Kol dumped them. Elena's place needed no marker. Klaus had commissioned an altar suitable for his sacrifice, smooth stone raised from the ground, with, Bonnie knew, convenient drainage to catch every precious drop of Petrova doppelganger blood that would leave her body.

Elena stepped up to her place and sat shakily. Bonnie took a moment to eye the other sacrifices. Dark hair and carefully manicured eyebrows. Were they siblings? Unlikely, as one was a vampire and one a werewolf. Their superficial similarities were shared with Elena, casting an almost familial air to the picture. Bonnie could too easily picture Jenna and Jeremy, or worse, Grayson and Henry, on each side of Elena in their places. She shivered.

Klaus cast a critical eye over the group.

"He really should be a woman for aesthetic symmetry." He complained, as Bonnie looked on incredulously. "Wouldn't that be something? The three goddesses, sacrificed at Nature's altar, for me."

"Yeah, his gender really ruins the whole night." Bonnie snarked.

At the center of the clearing, Damon was speaking lowly to Elena, before he stepped away to leave her and his brother alone. He looked at Bonnie, but she shook her head, discouraging him from making his way toward her. If she talked about what she was feeling right now, if she even let herself lean on him for even a moment, she would collapse. She'd take her strength from him later, when her brittle resolve broke. But not now.

"Well it certainly won't look as nice in my painting. But I suppose we must make do." Klaus said with a sigh.

"Just paint Caroline in his place instead. You're used to painting her face without a reference, if my memory of your stalker room holds up."

That relationship was somehow more confusing than the one Klaus carried on with Elena. Caroline had walked into the meeting with determination and her color-coded planner and left with a contract sealed with a witch's oath and Klaus's blood. Klaus had entered with a smirk and ready threats and left with a gobsmacked expression and actual heart eyes. Bonnie had been in the room the entire time, but she still felt like she had no idea what had happened. But the dozens of paintings, gifts, and words of devotion seemed to charm, or at least amuse, Caroline, so Bonnie had learned to roll with it.

"Absolutely not! Caroline's genuine beauty must always remain central, and this day, I'm afraid, belongs to the doppelganger." Klaus shook his head at her lack of understanding. "I suppose he'll have to stay, in reality and the painting. We can't have women make all of the sacrifices."

Like they weren't already. Bonnie turned away.

"Let's start."

She climbed the incline and stood in front of the stone basin set aside for the purpose. Cradled at its center was the moonstone, knotted with power. Bonnie breathed in, breathed out, and began.

Circles of fire leapt to life, burning against the stone beneath Elena as easily as it did on the dry grass.

If she were another kind of witch, working against her nature, this ritual would take all night. She would need generous breaks interspersed between each sacrifice for time to recharge. But she had three rings of fire, a cauldron of flames, and determination burning within her. Her coven stood by and she stood strong. Bonnie would make this quick.

The full moon reached its apex. Bonnie could feel it, the sunlight reflecting off its surface back down at her and this smooth stone. The size of a hockey puck and carrying a curse a thousand years old. But no longer. Bonnie began the spell, savagely tearing through the binding that Esther had laid down. Once it was untethered, the curse was all around them, alive in the air. Klaus grinned. Could he feel it as clearly as Bonnie could?

"The first." She said, in a short breath between her chants. Klaus nodded, and descended. Bonnie killed the fire surrounding the werewolf, channeling it back into herself, into the ritual. Klaus wasted no time, thrusting a hand into the woman's chest. His hand, bloody to the wrist, emerged with a whole pulsing heart. In an instant, he was back at Bonnie's side, squeezing the organ over the cauldron. It squelched and Bonnie stuttered over the spell with a gag before she continued.

"The second." She managed.

A stake appeared in Klaus's hand, and then it was in the chest of the waiting vampire. Seconds later, a small dish of his blood had been emptied into the basin. The flames rose, and Bonnie's voice with them.

Bonnie's eyes teared, and not from the heat.

"The third. Elena."

Klaus was not so quick, not so eager. He gave Elena time to drink the elixir, to toss the bottle aside, to steal herself one final time for what was about to come. Over the crackling fire in front of her, Bonnie heard his words.

"Thank you, Elena." He said, with a brush of his hand over her head. Then the knife came up and was calmly plunged into her. Straight through.

Klaus laid her down gently, backing away a few steps. The circle of flames reignited. Shorter than before. It was not there to trap Elena. Bonnie just wanted to keep her warm, and this is the closest she could get to a hug at this moment.

Elena's eyes fluttered. She wouldn't remain conscious much longer. Bonnie spared the slimmest amount of energy she could to whip the wind around them. A swirl of red and orange surrounded Elena, a thousand leaves swirled into a vortex, and then stopped still. They floated, reflecting the light of the bright moon and the low-burning flames. Elena's eyes filled with tears and wonder. Bonnie thought she spotted a twitch of her friend's lips. Perhaps an attempt at thank you, or goodbye, or her children's names. But it's barely a twitch before her whole body goes still.

Then they wait. The witches were clear. All of the doppelganger's blood, or the elixir would fail.

In their first wave of research, they'd thought that Klaus would have to drink from Elena until her death in order to complete the ritual, but her blood was really needed afterwards, for the creation of other hybrids. The unbinding spell only needed her death. The resurrection elixir, however, needed more. It needed her drained, an empty vessel.

Bonnie let the leaves float back to the ground and looked around the clearing. Every face was drawn, even Rebekah looked saddened.

Damon was holding Stefan back with an arm around his chest. Stefan had tears running down his cheeks. Bonnie met Damon's gaze. Stefan's eyes didn't leave Elena's body, still bleeding out and encircled by fire. But Damon's eyes were only on her, on Bonnie. She read his concern and reassurance from twenty yards away. Once this was done, whatever the outcome, he would be with her.

Elena's body was still, but through the magic connecting them, Bonnie could feel the blood draining away into the basin underneath the platform she rested on. It was sick, this contraption Klaus had commissioned, but it was effective. Not a drop would be wasted. After they leave, some minion of the Mikaelsons would come to collect it. It was to be packaged, stored, and processed. Klaus meant to experiment. He had plans for blood pills of all things, inspired by some mommy blog placenta trend Elena had forwarded to him.

Bonnie felt the last drop go and fell silent. Her part was over. She blinked, once, at the stillness of the night. For a moment nothing moved. Then Klaus screamed in agony and transformed.

The process was slow and gruesome; each bone in his body broke and shifted. Eventually, a wolf stood where a vampire once had. Its hackles rose immediately, assessing them as threats with no recognition. After a moment it bounded away into the forest.

"Niklaus!" Rebekah shouted, and ran after him. Kol offered them a jaunty salute before following after.

For a moment no one else moved. Then Damon released Stefan. The younger Salvatore brother was at Elena's side in an instant, propping her up in his arms. The long minutes ticked by, but the wrist under his fingers refused to yield a pulse. Bonnie's body felt leaden, stiff. The promise they had all made so many years ago had finally come to a head. The town was safe, their families alive, but Elena was dead.

Had it been worth it? Should they have fought Klaus to the last early on? Bonnie hadn't thought so all those years ago. She'd been committed to deliberation and rational thought, to Caroline's plans of alliances. But they'd just midwifed the birth of an entirely new supernatural race, with Klaus at the head of it. Their contracts might protect them, and their loved ones, but what about everybody else?

Elena gasped back to life, clawing at Stefan as he clutched her to his chest. Bonnie nearly broke with the rush of relief that crashed down on her. Her legs gave way from underneath her, and she fell to her knees.

Bonnie felt a hand on her shoulder and then Damon was crouching beside her, ready to help her up or sit down beside her.

"What's next?" Damon asked.

What Elena would do next, Bonnie wasn't sure. Would she accept Stefan's offer to change her into a vampire? Or, if her test results from tomorrow came back clean, would she choose humanity again?

Bonnie did not think she had Elena's fortitude in this. She wouldn't be able to look Damon in the eye and say goodbye. She couldn't do that to herself, or to him. She loved him, herself, and their life far too much for that. No, she couldn't say goodbye. She wanted this, forever.

Bonnie didn't answer 'transition' or 'let's get married tomorrow' which would mean much the same thing. Now wasn't the time.

"Let's go home." Bonnie settled on. Damon held out a hand to help her up.

They walked off, not into the sunset, but into the dawning light of a new sunrise.

Author's Note: I just want to take this moment to thank everyone who has been reading this story as I've published it (and for any new readers who have stumbled across it as a finished work). Your reviews/follows/favorites meant the world to me, and spurred me to keep going even as real life interrupted the quarantine writing bubble I'd created.

I don't know if this fic will ever be exactly what I want (it's still full of California conversations, is lacking in both plot and structure, and over uses the 'to be' verb unashamedly), but it is something of a realized dream to have it completed and published. Bloodstone is by far the longest fic I've ever written, and something that I didn't think I would ever finish.

I hope it made you smile at least once, and, if you're a returning reader from the original, that you enjoyed the insight into my writing abilities with ten years of growth. Thank you.