Hi, guys. So...this is the last episode before the finale! I would get a box of tissues ready for the next chapter...oh, shit, no, wait, that's just for me :P I'm totally going to cry the next chapter, I cry every time thinking about it when I think about the actual finale and how it went down. Knowing what I'm going to do for the next chapter, I'm going to need a box of tissues right beside me.

Anyways, enough of that! Enjoy this! Last episode coming your way soon, so stay tuned! Review at the end!

Disclaimer: Chapter 1 please :)

Promised Land

You'd think time would mean everything to someone locked in a dark room with four walls and an iron-shut door, but really, time meant very little. In fact, time was hell. Time was the very thing that kept me insane; time kept me weak.

I was on the floor, my head buried in my knees, but nevertheless, there was still a sound in my ear.

"Do you remember the third grade when Vincent Miller tried to kiss you on the cheek?" The girl laughed, and I found it bitter and sickeningly sweet. I tried to tune her out, but she just wouldn't stop. "You were so scared of one tiny little kiss on the cheek, Madeline, it's quite ironic! Remember how you shied away and just laughed. He was crushed, but you pretended like it never happened. Breaking hearts since day one."

Time was the very thing that was holding me prisoner.

It's not like there's much to do in a box-like room except for listen to the sound of your blood being collected in a bucket that sat right underneath your iron-bound arm and to listen to the dirty projection of your insane mind telling you how good it would feel to bed Damon Salvatore again. I was starting to hurt everywhere, my skin was no doubt deathly pale from the blood loss, but the Travelers couldn't give a shit less about me. In their minds, I was only the key to getting them a home.

"It's a real kicker if you think about it." I kept my head buried between my knees, but one of my arms was still bound to the wall so that my blood flowed straight down. I was too weak to stand, my legs losing all of their circulation. "I mean, look how far you've gotten. One minute, you're pushing Vincent Miller away from giving a harmless little kiss on the cheek, and the next, you're letting Damon Salvatore rock your world. It's hilarious, don't you think."

"Please." I brought my head up, seeing blind spots in my vision, but I didn't care. The dirt-caked girl sat beside me, toying with a piece of her gross blonde hair. "Please. Just stop. You've made your point."

She looked baffled. "I haven't made my point, Madeline. If I made my point, you would still be a virgin, wouldn't you?" I wanted to cry, but I didn't have enough in me to do it. It took every ounce of strength I had to keep my knees at my chest. The other Madeline sighed heavily. "Ah, I think it's strange, really, why you chose Damon to be the one to get rid of that pesky little fact. I mean, out of all the guys in the world? Honey, I get it—unrequited love and all that—but would Matt have been so bad? Maybe even Tyler! Or—hey! What about Vincent? I think he's still trotting around somewhere, don't you think?"

I said nothing to her. It was easier to ignore her than to turn back. I was dying here.

I could hear my projected image open her mouth a few seconds after finishing, ready to guilt me some more, but then, I heard the sound of a door. I moved my head up, still seeing blind spots, but suddenly, there was a bright white light. I wished, I hoped, it was heaven, but as it turns out, God's not so kind to me.

"Ah," someone inhaled sharply. I recognized it instantly as Markos. "Good. You're almost out of blood. Here."

I heard the unraveling of a string, and then, my head was tilted up. I cringed at the contact, and without my consent, there was a rim being pressed to my lips. I fought desperately when I realized what he was doing, but considering my weakness and handicaps, I was no match for him. The sick, metallic taste of human blood was forced down my throat, and I gagged as I was being forced to drink it—every last drop. When I finished, Markos pulled the cup away, and I could feel new blood circulating—but it was bad blood.

I tried to spit it out, but it had all gone down. Markos had done this multiple times, feeding me my blood mixed with some of Stefan or Elena's so that I would heal and the cycle of my blood would help it regenerate faster. It was ingenious, but it was sick.

"Stop doing this to me!" I spat the acrid taste still blazing hot in my mouth. I hated it. I hated it so much. "Don't you have enough?" My voice was quieter this time, but still had power to it.

"Absolutely not," Markos countered with a small, carless shrug. I heaved.

"Let me go," I tried to struggle against the iron band on my wrist, but I wasn't strong enough. My other hand was being restrained with a leash chain, but it was too tight to do anything with it. I was completely helpless, as much as I hated it. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"Shh," Markos demanded, and then he pulled out a knife. In an instant, despite my one protest that barely made its way out of my mouth, he had the blade at my wrist, and he cut another wound so that my blood dripped down the scale of my arm and into the bucket. My pale white skin was covered in a black substance, and the bucket of blood on the floor was purely black. I screamed, but he didn't care. I didn't expect him to.

Markos leaned forward. "I'll have enough when you can no longer speak."

He got up from the balls of his feet and turned his back, but I desperately pulled at my chains, despite the shooting pain down my arm. It didn't matter if he had enough because I had enough. But there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that I could manage to do without just plain killing myself so that they wouldn't have what they needed for the spell. I was strong enough to count how many buckets of black blood they collected. Including this one, there have been three. Before then, the dark blood, it had been two.

When he was gone and I was condemned to certain darkness again, I heard a hiss. "Ouch. That's got to hurt us. Hey, you think this is something Damon would be willing to do? Or is this a little too much kink for him? Wait a second, is there such a thing as too much kink for a vampire?"

"Shut up," I pleaded desperately. "Just…just stop talking, Madeline."

"I won't stop talking until you're dead." She sighed heavily, almost as if she was enjoying this. "Now let's see…oh! You remember how you walked in on Damon that one time he was naked? Wait a second, there were a lot of those..."

I buried my head in my knees again, desperate for silence. My blood was regenerating, yes, but the wound kept me from truly being healed. I knew, by instinct only, that I looked like complete and utter shit. After all, there wasn't a mirror in this dungeon. Or a shower. Or a hairbrush.

Time was irrelevant to me, so I didn't know how long it was before I began to feel the affects of my blood being drawn, and Stefan or Elena's blood mixed with mine wasn't fast enough to refill the void. I was getting weaker…dizzier…more exhausted than I was before. If I just closed my eyes long enough to drown out the tune of the girl sitting next to me—of me sitting next to me—I could just drift off…

"Madeline," someone whispered, astonished, and I looked up through thick, swollen eyelids.

"Stefan? Elena?" I wondered, seeing their visions doubled in mine. Beside Stefan stood Elena, looking down at me with disgust and concern, but she didn't look so hot, herself. Stefan was holing her upright, but she looked like she was about to topple over. Both of them looked like a car had hit them, and I hoped, even though it would be extremely rare, that I didn't look worse than they did. But, of course, vampire beauty trumps the human one. I probably looked like someone just off the street, hence Elena's disgust.

I wished that I could've kept my eyes open, but they gave out, and I fell slack against my own body.

I could hear Stefan clearly, just a few feet away from me, even though I was sprawled out across a rotten picnic table, the sun soaking in my skin.

"Yeah, well, you know what could've saved you the cost of this phone call? You finding us! How long have we been gone?" There was a silence before Stefan shrieked, "Four days? Four days and you couldn't track us down?" Wow, had it really been four days? It felt like a lifetime in that prison. "What'd you think, we were having a nice spa getaway?"

After a short silence, there was a sound of breaking glass, and I immediately straightened my back on the picnic table to see Elena, frustrated and hungry, standing with a sling in her hand and a broken window right in front of her.

Stefan turned to the phone and spoke, "Travelers drained us from our blood and Madeline's has gone completely black so…Elena and I've had to do a little bit of…hunting." I could tell he waited for a response. "Believe me, she's no happier about it than I am."

"Stefan, I'm dying," I complained, lying straight against the picnic table. I didn't even care that he was talking with Damon right now; I was parched, hungry, and hot. "Humans need food! Humans need water! Humans need freaking sunscreen!"

"Humans need sex, too," I heard, and I turned my head to see the blonde Madeline sitting on the picnic table's bench with her head in her hand. "Well, the dirty ones, anyway."

I sighed and turned back to look up at the blazing sky and I heard Stefan speak. "Do you want to talk to her? Or are you still pretending like you don't want to be around her?"

"He's talking to your boyfriend." I sighed heavily, not willing to give into Madeline's playful tone. "Go on, Mads. Why don't you talk to Damon? I bet he likes phone sex. Ooh, I wonder if him and Elena ever did that. You think you'd be better at it?"

I snapped my head at her and straightened. "Why don't you just shut the hell up?"

"Who are you talking to?" Stefan called out to me, holding the phone away from his ear as he raised his eyebrows.

I looked back at him, waved my hand angrily, and then laid back on the picnic table to soak up the heat of the sun. It was hot, yes, but it also felt good when I closed my eyes for just the faintest second to rest…

"Hey." Stefan shook my leg that was draped over the side of the rotten picnic table, and I groaned as he continued to shake it before I opened my eyes. "You've lost a lot of blood. It's just a precaution that you don't fall asleep."

I pulled myself up from the picnic table and combed my fingers through my hair. "This royally sucks, Stefan. I'm tired."

"Yes, you're tired." He almost laughed at my statement. "You've just been drained of blood for the last four days. The only thing that's kept you alive is vampire blood mixed with yours." I told him about that, of course. It's not like he just figured it out randomly. "But you still need to stay awake."

Elena came around the corner, sighing. She looked over at me with the sling and a ball in her hand. "Well, the color's coming back to your face."

"Thanks," I muttered. Because that's the first thing I want back—the blood rushing to my cheeks. Suddenly, a theory sparked, and I looked up at Stefan. "Wait a second, does this mean that I—"

"No, Madeline, you won't get black blushes." He caught the words before I fully had them out of my mouth, and I frowned upon the interruption, but I was relieved. How awkward would it be to have black blood rushing to your face every time you're embarrassed?

"Hey, you know…" Suddenly, the blonde Madeline was standing next to Stefan, surveying him. "I like this brother. He's cute." She looked over at me. "Come on, Mads. Go for it. We both know you're lonely. Besides, Elena did it once. Gilbert tradition, right?"

"Stop it," I murmured, and Stefan looked around him, confused.

"What was that?"

"Huh? Nothing."

"Madeline, what did you say?"

"Nothing." I started to panic. They couldn't find out about this. If they did, it would be into the loony bin dungeon in the Salvatore cellar for me. I couldn't handle another room with just four walls. "It's…it's nothing."

Stefan looked at me, confused, but eventually, he backed off, shrugging. "Okay, then. Elena and I are going to feed for a while. Do you want to…?"

I shook my head. "No, thanks. I might have no food in my stomach, but I'm pretty sure I'll throw up if I see you two hunting." At the mention of food, it growled, and I clutched at it violently. "Shit."

Stefan looked around the abandoned shed/convenience store we were at in the middle of nowhere, and he sighed. "I don't think there's anything around here, but…try to find something," he suggested. I nodded at him. "I'll see if there's anything in the woods. Elena and I will only be gone for a half hour, tops. We'll come back."

"Okay," I agreed. Stefan and Elena both made sure I was safe around the convenience store, and then they were gone. I was left with me, the blonde Madeline by my side, and the empty wilderness.

"Come on," Madeline tried, a small smile on her lips as I tried to find something to eat around the convenience store. "You've never thought of Stefan like that?"

I frowned and muttered, "You're supposed to be in my head. Why don't you tell me?"

"Well, you think he's hot, but you never wanted to date him. You ruin all of my fun."

I sighed, now rummaging through an old pile of junk by the cash register of the abandoned facility. "I thought you were here to punish me for my fun. You said it yourself, you wouldn't be here if I had stayed a virgin."

She made a sound of agreement. "Mmhmm. But I have a different kind of fun, Madeline. I have clean fun. And you…well, you have dirty fun." Odd, she's the one powdered with dirt. "The dirt's a metaphor." Shit. Should've known she'd read my mind. "I'm you. You're me. I just want to remind you of all the good things you did before you got so dirty."

I spun around angrily. I realized that I was talking to a figment of my imagination, but at this point, I really didn't care. "People are not supposed to stay celibate for their whole lives, Madeline, unless they're a fucking Nun! And guess what! I'm not a Nun! I did what I did and I don't regret it."

She tilted her head at me, but was not bothered by my anger. "Pure Bloods are pure. Maybe most normal people don't have to live with the consequences of their actions." She paused, pursing her lips. "You do."

I sighed, already given up, and I turned on my heel back to the pile of junk. Two more seconds of digging and there I found it—jackpot. Expiration date, July 2013. I ripped open the bag of cheesy goodness and shoved a handful of Cheez-Its into my mouth without caring.

Stefan, Elena, and I all held out our thumbs as we watched a truck pass on the side of the highway, but when it sped past us without a second glance, our hopes of getting out under the blazing direct heat of the sun were shot.

"Rude," I muttered under my breath as Elena groaned beside Stefan.

"God, I feel like an idiot," she whined.

"Ditto," Stefan greed, and they both sighed beside me. I frowned at them. They should talk. They didn't have sketchy Cheez-Its in the middle of an abandoned convenience store and was still hungry. I'm sure the thirst was painful, but…I mean, I hadn't had water since the last time Markos gave it to me. Last time I checked, humans died without water.

Elena looked over at Stefan, but we all just walked side-by-side before Elena spoke, "Do that thing again. The vamp thing," she said tentatively, searching for amusement. I looked over and caught Stefan's glance, and I was nodding my head. It was funny, I would give Elena that.

Stefan just groaned. "Oh, no, I don't want to do that. Come on, you know that's embarrassing."

"Embarrassing but funny," I corrected him. He sighed, and I could tell he heard my stomach growling, which caused me to moan. "Stefan! It's what keeps me from biting my own hand off and…I'm sure it keeps Elena from being the first to taste my mysterious black licorice blood." Elena shrugged almost in agreement, but she looked caught. Upon learning of the color change, both Stefan and Elena agreed to control their hunger so they wouldn't feed on me.

Stefan sighed. "Sure," he said, dragging out the word, before he braced and tried to flee the scene using his vampire speed, only to stop short a few feet away in front of us. A small chuckle escaped my lips, but it was just tiring now. The last three times wore it out.

"It was funnier the first time," Elena admitted, to which I supported.

"Yeah, well, you two were delirious the first time."

"How many um…" Elena cleared her throat. "…you know, are we supposed to have until we get our strength back?" Obviously, she meant animals. Bunnies and such.

"Oh, more than we've had, that's for sure," Stefan told her immediately, sighing. "Let me know if you see a damn buffalo."

I looked over at him and narrowed my eyes. "You're being sarcastic, right?" Stefan turned his head towards me, giving me a sideward glance. I nodded my head. "Right. Sorry. Growling stomach in my ears throws me off."

All of a sudden, Elena stopped. "Wait a second. I think I heard something."

I sighed. "Ten billion squirrels won't get your strength up, Elena, let it—"

"No, it was bigger than a squirrel." She looked over at Stefan. "Why don't you stay here with Mads? I'll check it out and bring it back for you. I'll make it quick."

"Sure," Stefan agreed, and we stopped by the side of the road, and Elena quickly disappeared into the highway forest. I sighed once Stefan and I were alone, and I tried to keep us talking. If we weren't talking, Evil Madeline would show up. And I didn't want that.

"Well, this is depressing." I sighed heavily as I crossed my arms over my chest to cease the growl in my stomach. "And frustrating."

"More depressing and frustrating than getting sent to an alternate reality…twice?" Stefan tried, his shoulders rising up and down in a shrug. I sighed again.

"Yeah…actually, I'm not sure what's worse."

Stefan let out a small chuckle, but after a while, it died down and we stood in silence. I looked around cautiously for the Evil Madeline, but she was nowhere to be found. I let out a relieved breath when Stefan spoke first this time. "So Damon's in full hero mode today."

I laughed softly. "He's been in that mode a lot lately."

"Yep. Enjoys it, too. Had his whole Savior-of-the-Universe voice going on."

This time, I chuckled genuinely. "Ah, that voice. I love that voice…" I trailed off at the end, getting gloomier. The more I thought about Damon, the worse my condition was becoming, but I couldn't stop it. It completely slipped past my mind, and I kept conversing with Stefan about his brother. "You know, I'm starting to think all of this is just one huge sign."

"Sign of what?" Stefan asked, confused.

I frowned at him. "Stefan, it's practically a flashing neon sign at the top of a hotel. My blood is the key to activating the spell to destroy all spirit magic, which basically means destroying all vampires. I'd have to literally be dead to not see that our situation isn't going to get better—"

"Hey, don't hog all the blame," Stefan accused me, knotting his eyebrows. "Damon's my brother and my blood is the main ingredient of this spell. Elena's, too. Your blood just happens to make it actually work." I sighed deeply, and Stefan saw right through my continuous doubt. "Look, Damon's a vampire. You two will never be safe with each other. When a human gets ravenously hungry, they eat a double cheeseburger. Vampires kill people."

My stomach gargled. "Stefan…" I whined. "Enough with the food analogy."

Stefan shook his head. "Sorry. Sorry. Bottom line, Damon's only trying to protect you, but this will all eventually come to an end. And you'll never truly be safe, you know that. It's not about what your blood does." I tried to understand, but it was just making me think things I didn't want to think. Then, Stefan clarified. "Look, I'm going to tell you for the twenty billionth time." A small, sad smile peaked at his lips. "You and Damon are miserable without each other. So if you want to be with him, just be with him. Something will always be unsafe, but you have to take the risk. When humans want to break free from complicated relationships, they go to therapy. But you're not human, and neither is Damon. You two get a pass."

I sighed and shifted, thinking it over. I wanted to say something else, but before I could, I heard something in my ear.

"Mm…" I stiffened; I didn't dare to move an inch, which probably looked guiltier than it should have. "Mm, mm, mm! Look at him! Come on, Madeline! You can't tell me you haven't fantasized about just…taking that…" I gritted my teeth at Stefan, who was waiting for me to say something and watching me with concern. But he wasn't the problem right now. The blonde bitch behind me who desperately needed to take a hot bath was trying to coax me into things that I was going to punch her for. "You've seen him shirtless! Guy looks like he belongs on the cover of a male catalog! Plus, let's not forget that almost every girl likes Stefan more than they like Damon, you're just the odd woman—"

This pushed me over the edge; I lost control now. I don't know why, but it overwhelmed me. The more this girl was around me, the harder it became. The wind was nearly knocked out of me as I spun around on my heel and completely forgot about Stefan's presence.

"Stop talking about him like that! I don't think of him that way!"

"Yeah, but it's the Gilbert tradition! Fall in love with one, fall in love with another, and then choose! You're being wayy too stationary with just Damon. Don't you want to try a threesome for once? Klaus was hardly a deal breaker, but I think Stefan could—"

"Just shut up, Madeline!" I screamed, closing my eyes tight. "Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!"

I spun around too fast, now succeeding in knocking my body down, but Stefan held me upright, and I calmed to look back at him with crazed brown eyes.

"Madeline…" he said slowly, carefully, timidly. "Who were you talking to?"

"Um…" I cleared my throat and swallowed, trying desperately to explain this in a way that didn't paint me out to be sarcastic or any of my usual traits. Whether it was a good or bad thing, I did manage to do just that, all while making the word come out inappropriately unserious. "Myself…?"

Stefan threw me under the bus, of course, when Elena came back with a half-eaten, enormously fat rabbit in her hand. I had explained what'd been happening me to Stefan and he was more than concerned. Kept searching my eyes for any kind of craziness. This is exactly why I didn't want to tell anyone, but she just makes me so angry. How dare she talk about me and Stefan that way? I don't like him! I never did! I love him, sure, as a friend. But I never thought of him in that way. I would never have done that to my sister, and I would never have done that to Audrey when they were together.

"So you see an evil…dirt-baked blonde version of…yourself?" Elena asked, astounded, as Stefan finished making me tell her what was happening to me. She looked at me with pure concern for her older sister, and I tried to let it make up for all the shit she'd put me through this past year. "Oh my God, Madeline. How long has this been going on? Are you—?"

"I'm fine, Elena, it's just…it's frustrating." I tried to speak calmly, but whenever the thought of her came into my head, I wanted to explode. "It's been happening since that day you and Stefan had those visions. God, she's just everywhere! She can read my thoughts, she blurts out the stupidest things—"

"Yeah, I have a question about that." Stefan awkwardly put his hands into his jean pockets. "What was that about not thinking of me in 'that way'?"

I crossed my arms and squared my jaw at him. "Use your head, Stefan. Your hair already figured it out. What do you think?"

"She thinks that you…" He realized. "Well, you don't." It was a common fact! Even he knew it! Friends. It's so hard for people in Mystic Falls to just be friends anymore, that's why it's so unbelievable.

"No!" I shouted, throwing my hands up. "No, of course I don't! And she knows this—she has to! She's just doing it to get under my skin."

Elena held up a hand. "I'm sorry, can we stop talking about 'her' like it's a real person?" my sister asked, quoting the words she emphasized. "This is a figment of your imagination, Mads."

"You think I don't know that?" I crossed my arms and briskly kept walking with them as I spoke. "I read the Pure Blood book after it happened the first time. It says it worsens the darker my blood gets and that it never goes away. It's the very definition of a punishment by the Universe. Damned Universe," I muttered.

"It never goes away? Never?" Elena asked in disbelief. "I find that hard to believe."

I sighed. "Well, why don't we try killing me? That's what it said to do to get rid of her—it," I corrected, obeying Elena's wishes. "Apparently, the Universe is pissed at me for being a young adult. Nice to know it cares."

Stefan looked around. "Is she—it here now?" I shook my head. "So…it just pops up whenever it wants?" I nodded this time. "So Audrey was right. You'll go crazy."

"With time," I admitted. The book said that, too, but I chose to ignore it. "Won't be until well after thirty, though. It takes a long time to get a person crazy, apparently." I scoffed. "I'm just a little concerned as to if this has actually worked before. If this actually happened."

Elena snorted. "You can't be the only innocent girl in the world who wanted to have sex, Madeline."

I shook my head. "It's more…complicated than that, Elena. It's not just innocent girls, it's Pure Bloods." I pulled Stefan and Elena to a stop and tried to explain. You'd think, me being me and all, that I'd memorized the Pure Blood book already, but I just couldn't find it inside of me to really process the information. It was tough enough as it was. "Pure Bloods—specifically girls—are born as Pure Bloods, they're just not…activated, yet, if that makes any sense at all. Markos's weird 'finding each other' spell works on all Pure Bloods, which means even the ones who haven't been activated yet. Problem is—"

"It takes three months for a Pure Blood to get activated," Stefan concluded, sighing as he realized the ending of my story. I nodded.

"She dies, gets sent to an alternate realm—if she's lucky, her subconscious brings someone else—and, after the person who did the ritual dies, she's virtually indestructible." I let out a deep sigh. "It's a whole cycle of self-sacrifice. That's why Liv was saying it's so hard to find one. Apparently, not a whole lot of girls are born ridiculously innocent." I said the last word with a bitter edge. Did I choose to be innocent? No. Was I born that way? Unfortunately.

"But you healed," Elena complained, pointing out the one flaw I hadn't addressed. "You healed when Stefan fed off of you because Tessa made him. Silas was alive then."

"Not without a price," I countered, almost scoffing. "I was forced into a day of reliving memories. Now, when someone drains me, I just pass out and wake up brand new. It doesn't take a full day—thank God." I shifted and squinted my eyes to shield myself from the bright sun. "The only reason I'm getting worse now is because I screwed things up and my blood went dark. This…figment of my imagination is nature's loophole—insanity. It's just a matter of time."

"We won't let you go insane, Madeline," Stefan countered. He looked at me almost painfully—like it was him who was suffering because of this. "We'll find another loophole."

I sighed. "I'll save you the breath. I found it. It's dying."

Stefan was confused for a moment, but when Elena gasped, I realized that she caught on. Elena's features turned down. "That can't be our only option."

It took a moment for Stefan to understand, and he looked back at me with alarm. "You can't become a vampire," he said softly, shaking his head. "It's—"

"The one thing I hate about my life? Yeah," I said sourly, but it was nothing personal to Stefan and Elena. "So it doesn't look like I have much of a choice in this."

To die or to become a creature of the night that preys on oblivious human beings, that was my choice. It was one I feared from the very first moment I admitted that I was in love with a vampire. There was no getting out of this, but I neglected it for so long. It had come full-circle with Elena, and now it was coming around the same for me. Except…I was determined to keep my choice the same as the one I'd made a long time ago.

"You wouldn't have to make the choice if you'd just been a good little girl now, would you?" I cringed at the interruption and shied away from my left side. There were times when she pissed me off and times when she scared me, and that moment was a time when she scared me.

"You have a choice," Elena returned softly, reaching out and brushing her fingers against my arm consolingly. "We always have a choice."

Madeline laughed. "Oh, wow. Miss Elena Gilbert offering her expertise. Well, what the hell does she know?" I kept my mouth shut, but I seethed on the inside. "God, you know, it's no wonder you were the one who was chosen to be the Pure Blood! This girl couldn't last a day! I would be with her when she was fourteen! At least you waited until you were twenty!"

And, that's when I noticed a common trend. As I grew angrier, she kept talking my ear off beside me. As I seethed, she laughed. It was then when I realized what I needed to do.

I needed to be calm, something I was very reluctant to do. Yet, I still closed my eyes, took a deep breath, cleared my head, and felt the pure solitude of silence.

"Madeline?"

My eyes snapped open and I looked to see Stefan and Elena watching me curiously. "Huh?" I asked.

"Does Damon know?" Stefan prompted me, and I raised an eyebrow in response. "About this thing? About you having to turn in order to get rid of it?"

I was slow, but eventually, I widened my eyes at the both of them in front of me. "No! No, he does not, and if you two tell him, I will literally haunt your asses in the afterlife when I die because he'd kill me for not telling him!" Stefan looked disappointed while Elena just looked surprised. "I'm serious. You two need to promise me that you won't tell him."

"Well, Madeline, don't you think he deserves to know?" Elena questioned cautiously, trying to maneuver her way around my anger. "I mean, the whole reason you two are in this is because—"

"Look, we'll find another way," I lied, looking back and forth at them with a hopeful glance. "Okay? I'll talk to Audrey and we'll find another way after this whole Traveler mess is over. You two know I'd rather die than become a vampire."

Stefan sighed. "Yeah, that's kind of what worries me."

I took in a deep breath, but I could feel my anger spike. Fortunately, Evil Madeline hadn't returned, so I kept my voice as soft as it could go. "Please just promise me, because the angrier I get, the more likely she—sorry, it returns." Stefan and Elena snuck a glance at each other, and I sighed desperately. "Please," I tried, but before they could promise, their attention was transferred in a different direction. Behind me.

I turned around with them, my hair whipping lightly against my face as I turned my back and saw a truck heading for us slowly, but just in our path.

"That is so weird…" Elena trailed off, and beside me, I saw Stefan put out his thumb to signal a ride. Instead, when Elena saw it, she jumped around me and put his hand down, her back facing the truck. "Wait!"

Stefan and I watched in confusion and, for me, disgust as Elena pulled down her shirt hastily, making sure her breasts were more than visible, and she flipped her hair over her head. I was fairly certain I looked at her like I was looking at a sleazy McDonald's hamburger, but she just gave me and Stefan a greedy smile and turned around, posing with her thumb out.

I blinked in astonishment. "My sister's a whore," I muttered to myself, low enough so only Stefan heard beside me with or without intent of my own. I ran a hand through my hair and tried to wash off the fact that my younger sister was literally juggling her breasts in her hands so that we could get a ride from a trucker. Not that I minded the intent because I was tired, hungry, thirsty, and in pain, but it was still…difficult for me to process.

Sure enough, the truck slowed to a stop right by us, and Elena gave a satisfactory smile before laying someone of an "I told you so" at Stefan and I when she turned around with that smug-ass grin. Stefan and I snuck a glance to each other but followed my sister as she rounded the nose of the truck and went to the driver's open window.

"Hi—" Elena stopped, stunned, and for a fraction of a second, I didn't understand why. When I reached the window with Stefan by my side, we both realized. It wasn't a male driving the car, like we'd thought. Instead, it was a female. "Oh…not what I was expecting."

"Not what anyone was expecting, really," I murmured, trying to suppress a laugh. Stefan just walked forward and put his hands on the door.

"All right, let's cut to the chase." Compulsion, obviously. What really bothered me was why we couldn't do anything the stationary way anymore! Why was it always about sex and mind tricks? "You're giving us a ride."

The woman looked baffled, and offended, inside of the vehicle. "You're trying to compel me?" Wow. So not what I expected. "Who do you think freed you last night?" Stefan looked back at me and Elena, all while the woman in the car just scoffed and said, "Get in, they're coming for you."

So, Stefan and Elena, those doppel-bitches, they condemned me to the cargo hold of the truck, where I spent more than an hour with my hair situated in my hand and the wind giving me terrible windburn on one side of my face. I was sure, without a doubt, that my newly colored face was all red from the force of the wind. Nevertheless, I was sure it was less comfortable in the car with three people. Pick-up trucks aren't really a three-seater kind of deal.

I closed my eyes at one point, I don't remember when, but it was just around the town limits of Mystic Falls. Since I was isolated from the rest of them, I saw no harm in sleeping. Stefan wasn't in the back to stop me, thanks to the seating arrangements. But just as I finally was able to doze off, the woman in the front seat—the rouge Traveler—slammed on the breaks, and I forced myself to hold the side of the car so I didn't feel any impact. Luckily enough, I was able to stop my head from hitting the window to the inside of the truck, but I couldn't see a damn thing. I was breathing heavily, wondering what the hell was going on and why the hell I was in the back without a seatbelt, when I did a double take and realized that Luke, Liv's brother, was standing behind us just after the car started to hurriedly reverse.

Liv. Luke.

I swallowed. Well, shit.

The truck came to an abrupt stop, and I watched through the window as Stefan and Elena tried to get out of the car. I rose from the inside as fast as I could and jumped out, my feet taking the brace of the impact and my body rolling on the hot concrete. The truck moved forward again on Luke's command and came to a crushing stop, completely damaging the truck and anyone who wasn't a vampire inside.

Thank God I wasn't in the back of that damn truck.

Stefan and Elena jumped out shortly after the impact, and I forced myself to rise from the concrete, never mind the black blood dripping down the side of my leg as result of my fall. Out of the corner of his eye, Luke spotted the liquid, and he sighed.

"Liv," he shouted to his sister, who was focused intently, waiting for Elena to get out of the car. "They transformed her."

Liv's eyes turned to me, but I saw double for the moment. Famine and a car accident didn't mix well. "No…" she whispered, watching as the black blood dripped down the side of my leg and onto the concrete. I watched her as she swallowed thickly and the next thing I knew, Luke had Stefan in a witchy bind and Liv had Elena in a witchy bind, too. I was the only one who wasn't bound by magic, but I couldn't do anything about it. "Then we need to kill one of them."

She said it like it was a bad thing. And, though I totally understood why it was, she said it differently from how I was thinking it. Liv said it like she intended upon killing more than one of us—namely, me. Now, it seemed, I was useless to kill. Besides, my blood has no activation if there's nothing to activate.

I took a step forward, but at Luke and Liv's warning glances, I froze. "Please," I said desperately. "Stop this."

"I'm sorry," Liv said, her voice sickeningly apologetic. "I really am. But we need to make the doppelgänger blood useless. One of them needs to die in order for your blood to stop working."

"Liv, don't you dare hurt them—" I started, but I suddenly felt something in my head. Pop, pop, pop, one blood vessel at a time. I must've screamed—I would think so, at least. All I knew was that I dropped to the concrete and grabbed my head. This was how it felt when Bonnie had given Damon a taste of her own medicine. Damn, this really sucked.

All conversation was lost to me, at least for the one minute that Luke kept me down. After he released me from the high-pitched noise in my head, I was too weak to continue. Liv and Luke stood, a hold on my sister and my friend, just waiting to see who dropped the ball first.

"Do it! Liv, come on!"

Liv looked down at Elena with Luke's aggression, and she sighed. "No hard feelings. I'm just following the coven's orders."

Elena doubled over in pain as Liv tortured her further, getting ready for the big finale, but then, Stefan was suddenly released, able to stand against Luke and his nonexistent powers. Elena, too, was released, and I was getting whatever strength I had back.

"Liv!" Luke thrust his hand forward, but it didn't give off any magic. "Liv! What's happening?"

"Oh, no…" Liv muttered to herself, and I forced myself up as Elena rose to her feet and grabbed Liv's hand forcefully.

"Your magic sputter out?" she spat angrily.

Liv shouted to her brother, "Luke! It's started. The spell's started."

Elena shook Liv hard. "We trusted you."

"It doesn't matter," Liv countered, oddly calm. "You're going to be dead any second!"

On the other side of me, I saw Stefan saunter towards Luke, and then stop in the middle of his step. Concerned, I turned my head to see him, and I could faintly make out the redness of his skin. There was a sizzling noise and this, too, affected Elena. I imagined that, had I really been a vampire, I would've been burning, too. Instead, my human skin protected me from the sun, and I was safe. Stefan and Elena, however, were definitely not.

"Elena!" Stefan called out.

"Stefan, our…rings aren't working." I refrained from making the comment I wanted: no shit, Sherlock.

"Get inside!" I snapped at them. For the love of all that was holy! Did they need a freaking personal escort? "Get inside! Now!" I repeated, shouting at them, and Stefan and Elena took off in the direction of the Grill using human speed, which made it easier for me to keep up with. Through the sizzling of their skin, we finally made it to the covered building, where the two vampires were safe. I followed shortly behind to find Matt inside, just as confused as we all were.

"Hey!" Matt rushed over to us as I made my way to the front to meet with him. Elena and Stefan relaxed, their skin turning back to normal, as Matt choked out, "What happened?"

"Their rings," I said simply. "The rings aren't working, they were burning outside in the sun."

"What?" Matt almost yelled.

"Whole town square's filled with Travelers. We've got to get out of here," Stefan pushed the urgency of the matter, and at this, Matt gasped.

"The tunnels," he said immediately, finding a much-needed loophole. "In the stockroom! Come on, let's go." We immediately followed him, wasting no time. Our first escape from the Travelers was hard enough, we didn't need another one.

Underneath our stationary city hid secrets and ancient folktales—but we knew that already. What the tunnels really provided us today was shelter from the sunlight, at least for Stefan and Elena. Matt led us through the dark caves with a single flashlight, and I did my best to keep the coordination level at a solid medium. Just in case, though, I kept my hand ready to latch onto Matt so he could be my anchor. But we were moving so fast; somehow it was actually better for me. I didn't trip, thank God.

It was when Elena stopped cold, choking up water, that we realized that this spell wasn't just affecting the daylight rings. Matt and I turned back, looking at Elena as she gasped for air and choked up breath after breath of water.

"Elena!" Matt exclaimed, and though I could see Stefan tried to help her, he, himself, gasped sharply and the next thing I knew, he was pulling his hand away stained with blood.

"Stefan?" I breathed out, confused beyond doubt, but then I felt it. There was a sharp, unfriendly sting in my neck and, suddenly, black blood was spilling out of the base of my neck, just like a certain memory of Silas slashing my throat in the middle of a sacrifice circle. I stumbled, and Matt held me upright. Stefan was the only one who could get something out of his mouth. He told Matt that, apparently, all the spirit magic was being undone, and I heard Matt say that we needed to keep running to get out of the danger zone—paraphrasing, of course. My hands were stained with black blood, and I knew that it was only a matter of time.

I wish I could say that this was completely random but…it wasn't, if you thought about it. I died, and I was brought back to life by a spell created by witches, not Travelers. I was a product of spirit magic, just like every other vampire in this town. If this spell didn't stop or we didn't outrun it, I—along with Stefan, Elena, Damon, Caroline, and all the other vampires—would be dead before the day was up.

Matt managed to get Stefan, Elena, and I to Whitmore, where Caroline and Bonnie were in the dorm room packing our things so we could head out and get the hell out of Mystic Falls before we all die like we were originally supposed to. Matt was telling Stefan and Elena about the blood bags he was able to get his hands on, but it was not nearly enough. I anxiously awaited the return of Audrey, Jeremy, and Damon, who were on their way to us as we stood around, waiting. I was tuning out, slowly but surely, focusing in on the outline of the blood that was on my hands earlier. I patched up my leg so that it soaked up black blood now, and I washed off my neck inside of the dorm room so it didn't look like I just came back from a Halloween party.

It was when headlights were seen in my vision that I stopped tuning out and was focused on one thing. I had been worried sick ever since getting out of those caves, especially after Matt's little story of how Damon was handing the Traveler situation in Mystic Falls. With my luck, though, I was afraid something would go wrong and Damon wouldn't step out of that car.

Luckily—and I say this with relief; complete and utter relief—I was wrong.

Elena rushed up to the car to meet with Jeremy, and as I moved forward, I saw Audrey lock eyes with Stefan and sigh deeply, worriedly, and she walked over to him. Damon saw me as I came to him, standing at the headlight adjacent to his, and I looked him over. We were alive, we were okay—that was all that mattered.

He waited, either reveling like I was in the sight of my sustainability, or just waiting to see what I'd do the first time I saw him after our kiss the other night at Caroline's cabin. I stood still, he stood still, time stood still, and I heard a voice.

"You want me to go away?" It was a whisper, which was odd. Evil Madeline didn't care to whisper to me as she tormented. I didn't take my eyes off of Damon as I listened to her. "Resist it. Stay away from him. You can do that, can't you?"

I thought it over, long and hard. Well, if you consider 'long and hard' to be the next two seconds, then there you have it. I thought about it, about staying away from Damon, and then I came to a realization. I'd almost died today because the witches decided to play a sick joke on me and make me some fair maiden. In all honestly, I have no fucking idea why they picked me to be their damsel.

I wasn't a maiden; it was as simple as that.

So screw it.

I rushed up to Damon and laid one straight on his mouth, securing his lips to mine as I wrapped my hands around the back of his head and crushed our lips together. He wasted no time in kissing me back, his hands moving to my waist to keep me with him. I kissed him with all I could in the midst of our dearest friends and family, and then I preformed my daily act of self-control and pulled his face away from mine, never taking my eyes off his lips. I could give a shit less about what the Universe wanted, because there was one thing I wanted and one thing only, and they damn well couldn't take that away from me.

"What was that for?" Damon asked me, his eyes as focused on my lips as I was on his. I recognized the familiarity in his voice, and I glanced up at him.

"I had a crappy day," I sighed, earning a smile to form on his lips. "And I needed it." I said the words proudly—copyright infringement is always fun.

Damon chuckled softly. "Stealing my words now, are we?"

"You stole mine first," I retorted, and he smiled, but mine dropped as I realized the sinking feeling in my stomach. "There's so much stuff happening with me right now, Damon, I…" He raised his eyebrows in concerning prompt, but I shook it off. "I thought I was never going to see you again, Damon. In my book, there would be no worse way to go under."

Damon's amusement came out to play with me, which I enjoyed despite the wall of despair around us. "Well, I guess today's your lucky day." His smile made me smile, and I realized that all that mattered right now was that we were all safe. We could worry about the rest tomorrow.

When Damon and I clearly heard instructions being given, we finally listened in, releasing each other and tuning into Stefan's commands.

"Jeremy, Audrey, head back with Matt. We need eyes and ears in Mystic Falls," he ordered. Beside him, Audrey shook her head.

"No, I'm not leaving," she said simply. Stefan looked like he wanted to argue, but after we all watched her grab his hand and nod, he nodded at her and turned back to the two humans.

"Fine. Jeremy, Matt, you two can go. Audrey can come with us." Stefan turned his head to Damon, Elena, and me. "You guys take Jeremy's car. We'll wait here for Caroline and Bonnie."

Elena nodded a little ways away from Damon and me. "See you in a few hours, Jer."

"Be careful," Jeremy warned us, his eyes flickering to Elena and then to me. I pointed at him.

"Do me a favor and reiterate that advice to yourself, Jer. Just because you can go back to Mystic Falls doesn't mean it's safe." He nodded, and I turned to the car, where Elena had already climbed in the backseat and Damon had taken the driver's seat. Once I climbed in and Damon started the car, I sighed heavily and Damon reached over, took my hand, and said nothing as he stared at me. My eyes drifted to meet his, and he smiled.

There was a reflection in the rearview mirror as Damon began to pull out of the Whitmore lot.

"You never did learn the art of resistance, did you, Madeline?" The blonde version looked at me and then at Damon, and back at me at last. "No, Miranda was always so soft. She just guided you in the right direction—told you to save yourself for someone special."

I swallowed hard and refrained from saying anything. I turned my head to look out the window, but I could still hear the voice in my ear.

"Well, I guess you found him, honey. Better get what you can out of him. The Universe doesn't take kindly to rebels."

She hissed the sentence in my ear, making me flinch involuntarily. I heard Damon's obvious question of concern as he felt my hand jerk, but I lied and told him that everything was fine. When, really, I knew the real solution to this problem. I knew the sacrifice that I'd had to make.

And, in a way, it was the Universe's perfect revenge act. If I died, there was no innocence for me to leave behind. If I turned into a vampire, well…I'd be with Damon, but I'd be the thing I hated most—and I would have absolutely no innocence at all. Either way, I was screwed and the Universe was victorious.

"Where is Bonnie?" Caroline groaned. "She was right behind me!"

"Maybe she just had some stuff to take care of," Audrey suggested, trying to be optimistic about the situation. But the truth of the matter was, the longer they stayed at Whitmore, the more of a risk they were taking.

"I'm gonna find out what's taking so long," Stefan said worriedly, getting up from leaning against Caroline's car. He began to walk towards the dormitory, but he was stopped by Tyler—or, Julian, the Traveler inside Tyler's head.

"I'm looking for Maria," he said abruptly. "I heard she brought you back to Mystic Falls."

Stefan, Caroline, and Audrey all snuck a glance at each other. Stefan had told them that Maria, the Traveler that helped Stefan, Elena, and Madeline, had died in the crash Liv created trying to kill the two doppelgängers.

Stefan was hesitant, but he eventually answered honestly. "Uh…yeah, she did."

"Did she tell you where she was headed? Because she can't stay there, the town's completely overrun." A look of pain crossed Stefan's face—an expression that did not go unnoticed by Julian. "What's the problem? Did she tell you where she was headed or what?"

"Listen…uh," Stefan started slowly, "You're not gonna see Maria again."

"Stefan," Audrey said softly as Julian stiffened in front of them. She was skeptical of this Traveler—in a body stronger than Stefan's, things could go wrong. Stefan shouldn't be breaking this to him, but they all knew that he had to otherwise it would be much worse.

"What are you talking about?" insisted the Traveler hitching a ride in the hybrid's body. Stefan stepped forward.

"She's dead," he said eventually. Reaching out to condole the Traveler, he began, "I'm sorry—"

"Don't touch me!" the hybrid snapped, pushing Stefan away from him.

"It's not Stefan's fault," Caroline tried, but Julian wouldn't listen. Obviously going through a typical stage of grief, he went on a rampage.

"She saved your punk ass!"

"I wasn't the one who killed her, the witches did."

"Well someone's going to have to pay for it!" The hybrid pushed Stefan back, away from Caroline and Audrey who were now in high alert mode.

"Hey, hey, hey! Whoa," Stefan said, recoiling from the push. "I'm in no mood to fight tonight, all right?" But his eyes drifted up to Caroline, who caught the silent message. A grieving hybrid versus a weak vampire—that was hardly a fair fight. Audrey watched carefully, ready to do what she could to stop the fight, her hand tightening on the spare stake she kept in her boot.

"Look at me!" Julian snapped, earning Stefan's attention. "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. Even if Mystic Falls is gone, we're going to find a way to save yourselves, all right—?"

But Caroline moved too quickly, and too loudly for the hybrid who was rapid. The blonde vampire had tried to snap Julian's neck, but he caught her in the act and drew his fangs, his eyes enveloped in yellow orbs. His anger snapped and he flung Caroline to the side just as Audrey pulled out the hidden stake, lunged it at him, and unfortunately was too slow for a hybrid's reflexes to do any real damage. Julian grabbed her hand, twisted it so the stake fell out, and roared in her face, earning Stefan to lunge forward and force the hybrid off of the younger Forbes. Stefan pushed Tyler's body against the car, but his strength was nothing compared to a hybrid's. Soon enough, Julian had Tyler's hand in Stefan's chest, and he pulled it out quickly with an extra weight.

Stefan's bloody heart.

Caroline gasped loudly and quickly brought her hands to her lips as Stefan's skin became a desiccated grey and his dead body dropped to the concrete road of the Whitmore lot.

"No!"

It was Audrey's voice that shrieked it, and she slid down on her knees to Stefan, never minding the skids she'd made on her legs because of the exposed skin.

Julian stood above Stefan's dead body, his spite raging.

"There," he snapped. "Dead doppelgänger. Stopped the spell."

His voice was cold, heartless—never mind the heart in his hand. He dropped the heart on the ground next to Stefan's body, and all that was heard was the sounds of screaming—of Audrey's screaming. Caroline was shaking behind her, tears forming and short bursts of "Oh, my God" coming from the vampire's lips. Audrey, who rapidly roamed her hands over Stefan's body looking for some sign of impossible life, tried to keep tears down but failed as she wept cradling any part of Stefan visible to her.

"You can't be dead," she sobbed hard, shaking him. "No, Stefan! You cannot be dead!" She refused—refused to believe it, even though the proof was right in front of her. For the first few moments, she was shaking him, and she even had short tremors, herself, but after a while, it stopped, and she just leaned forward, burying her head in Stefan's chest, weeping.

"Caroline," the redhead teenager wept, looking up at her sister. "Caroline!"

"Audrey…" Caroline whispered, making her way over to Stefan's body. The teenager, not able to control anything as well as her levelheaded sister could, rocked back and forth with hot tears streaming down the side of her face, unable to get a grasp on the true reality that Stefan Salvatore was lying on the ground before her, dead. Not in the immortal sense, but the actual sense.

There was no coming back from this.

Caroline began to shout for help, for anything, through her own crying, and while she tried to take care of her sister, what they didn't know was that there was another party beside them, watching.

Stefan Salvatore, dead and now awakened by his deceased body, bore a timeless pain on his face as he watched the girl he loved and one of his best friends weep over him, refusing the reality that he was now forced to acknowledge.

I always cry when I watch Stefan die. I just...it's too much. Okay, I need to stop now. Enough said. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the finale chapter! I hope the actual chapter doesn't live up to your standards. I hate when I do that.

Anyways, until I come back with the finale! Review, please!

Love,

BellaSalvatore1918

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