First, I am sorry for taking so long. If you can believe it, the power button on my computer just stopped working. First, I had to figure out what was wrong. Then, I had to get that fixed which took a bit. Don't worry, I spent the whole time outlining the next couple of chapters and I promise they will be awesome and they will happen on time. This chapter is a little rough (I had some serious trouble with it), but the next couple will be a lot less bumpy.
Thank you to Isabelbanham, xXAnimeXXRevolutionXx, and xxdarkvampireangelx for following.
Thank you to flazzy Cullen for favoriting.
Thank you to Laura-LaLa for following and favoriting.
Flazzy Cullen: thank for the review. I am glad you like it so much. Sorry for making you wait so long for the update. I really like Damon and Charlotte, but I make no promises as to how they will end up. Even I don't know!
CalligraphersNib: so glad to see your review. Thank you for the comments about the Harry bit. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I just felt like that is what Charlotte would say. Being stuck in a dream would be the kind of thing that could get boring fast and making you start imagining silly things.
Laura-LaLa: I am so glad you like it. I think Katherine deserves to be nice every once and a while. She isn't the worst person ever; she just needs to stop having to worry about herself all the time. And thank you for recognizing Charlotte's badassery. I love that kind of character and I thought she would fit in well in the Vampire Diaries universe. She kicks ass and then worries about the fall out.
Xxdarkvampireangelxx: here is your update finally. Sorry for the long wait!
Bonnie took Charlotte's hand while Elijah cradled her and tracked the circle around the star making a pentagram. She began chanting along with Rachel and Lucy. The air began to feel charged around everyone. Damon smiled to himself: it really seemed like they knew what they were doing.
"So, who is the best at entering dreams?" Bonnie asked the group. The group looked at her dumbfounded. She continued, "Charlotte has told me that certain vampires are better at certain things. Just like someone might be better suited to swimming rather than soccer. And that these abilities mature as the vampire ages. I want to send the person who has the best skill at dream-weaving in." Kol snickered at the term "dream-weaving," but he was ignored.
"I'm probably best," Elijah said.
Rebekah looked at him with a confused look on her face. She was actually probably the best at giving someone a false dream without them noticing. Ask Damon Salvatore. Why was Elijah insisting that he was? Should she speak up?
"We both know that is Bekah, brother," Klaus said for her. "I get wanting to save Charlotte, but you have to trust your sister. Play to everyone's strengths."
"And what about Bekah's weakness for mother?" Elijah returned. Rebekah paled and looked as if she was almost going to cry. Elijah's hard expression softened. "I just want this to go as smoothly as possible, Bekah."
Elijah moved to embrace his little sister, but she moved away from him.
"It should be me then" Katherine said.
"What?" Everyone else said at once.
"Your mother might recognize me, obviously, but she will either mistake me for Tatia who is dead or think that I am younger and not take me as seriously. She can't pull on my heart strings like she can any of you. I also happen to be excellent at dreams. The only cons are that none of you trust me and I am too young. The trust in sticky, but now that we are all linked, I can do this. It gives me the element of surprise."
Tatia appeared to all of them standing next to Charlotte's bedside. "You need to know something else. Esther told Charlotte that trapping her is not the main goal. She needs Charlotte out of commission while she does something else. Charlotte is the only one with the power to completely stop it. She is working with the same person who has been trying to kill you all. This means that you still need to get Charlotte awake and up, but that means you have to find out the source as soon as possible. Charlotte might be disoriented when she wakes up, but she needs to get going."
Damon saw the look that crossed Elijah's face when he saw Tatia. It only lasted for a second, but Damon saw it for certain. His heart sunk. This situation was just as complicated as Tatia said it to be. He was fighting a losing battle.
Elijah sighed deeply. "I guess it makes the most sense for Katerina to do it then, if she is as good as she says. It this is not the actual attack that we are worried about, we should stay out and aware. Katerina going in presents the lowest risk."
Bonnie nodded. "Time is of the essence."
Katherine found herself on an endless beach at sunset. The water splashed gently on the shore rhythmically. She wasn't sure what to do next until she saw Charlotte about a half a mile down the coast. She walked over slowly, trying not to draw too much attention to herself.
Charlotte smiled sadly at her. "Well, Kat, sad to say you came at a bad time. Before, there was a whole Alice in Wonderland vibe going on. I pissed off Esther badly so now I am stuck here. She didn't even give me a towel. I even tried drowning myself. Inception lied. It does not automatically mean that you wake up. Instead, it is much more Groundhog Day. So what's the plan?"
"I'm taking over the dream."
"You can try, Kat, you can. I don't think it will work."
"We are going to try," she took Charlotte's hand in hers. "First, we are going to bring Esther here. We are going to do it together and there is no room for failure."
The two women began to concentrate at the image of Esther and she slowly appeared in front of them.
"Well, isn't this a nice surprise," the witch said. "Is this your sister or the one who hung herself? Either way, she isn't strong enough to stop me."
"Maybe you should think again. I don't really do anything that might cause my untimely death," Katherine retorted. "You're going to leave this dream, if I have to take every bit of myself to do it."
Charlotte watched with awe, horror and love as Katherine did exactly that. There was no outward manifestation of it, but she watched as her mother-in-law slowly left and it was obviously not of her own volition. She never though it would be so easy. She hadn't been able to do it herself, but here was Katherine doing it and barely breaking a sweat.
"See you on the other side," Katherine said and disappeared herself once Esther was good and gone.
Charlotte woke up and looked around the room at all the people who had been keeping vigil over her. It brought a smile to her face until she saw Katherine collapse onto the floor. She dove out of the bed and rushed to her friend.
Katherine wasn't breathing. Charlotte put her head to Katherine's chest to hear for a heartbeat. It was there. It was faint, but it was there. "You better wake up, Boots. Or I will drag your dead ass with me."
"She'll be fine," Bonnie said quietly. "I linked all your life energies together. She will draw from you all and heal." Charlotte simply nodded.
Charlotte slowly stood up some moments later. "Esther," she said menacingly. Not only did her voice have a sinister quality to it, but there was a rumbling powerful aspect to it that no one had heard before. They were amazed as the woman appeared before her.
"I think we have some matters to settle," she told her former mother-in-law. "I bind you, Esther," she said. "I bind you from doing harm to others. You will not be able to do a single thing that could in anyway harm another person. Instead, you will spend your remaining time on this earth thinking about what a terrible mother you have been. You will prepare yourself for the day that your children are finally ready to hear your pathetic explanations for your deplorable behavior. Are we clear?"
Every vampire in the room responded "Yes" at the same time that Esther did.
As Esther disappeared, Damon walked up to Charlotte and asked her, "What the hell was that?!"
Charlotte blushed a deep crimson. "I guess I didn't really finish explaining my power over the dead to you."