Hello, my lovely readers. We have one chapter in this fic, plus the missing one, of course. And, I may, or may not have lost my mind when I wrote this chapter. On with the show…

Chapter 11: Meeting the Lady Behind the Curtain

In free-fall, Elena had time to think about how she, and her friends had gotten to this point in time. Don't walk into the Salvatores'. Don't go through their attic. Don't get drunk. Don't do spells when you don't know what the hell you're doing. It had all seemed like fun, until now. Now, all she wanted to do was go back to her old life.

"Ahhhh!" Elena screamed when someone caught her. Blinking, Elena smiled. "Hi, Caroline."

"Hi, Elena," Caroline smiled back at her friend. "Did you just fall out of the sky?"

"Nope. I fell from a very high tower—where Rebekah is being held—by some girl who claims to be her sister." Elena looked at the ground. "You can put me down now."

"Sorry." Caroline set Elena on her feet.

Elena smoothed her skirt, and then looked at the others. "Where are Damon and Klaus?"

"The prince is back on the boat, with the pirates," Alaric informed her with a frown.

Elena's eyes widened. "You left him?" she shouted at Caroline, Bonnie, and Stefan, because poor Ric had no idea who the hell they really were. So, it really wasn't his fault.

"We have to get Rebekah. And take her back to Silas. Then he'll let Damon go," Bonnie replied.

Elena shook her head. "You want us to let the Mikaelsons die?"

"Wouldn't be the first time we tried to kill them." Bonnie folded her arms over her chest.

Thinking about it, Elena sighed heavily. "Well, we can't get past the witch in the tower, with Rebekah. We'll have to come up with a new plan." She looked to Stefan, because in their world, he would be working on a plan to save Damon, and to get them back to their own world. "Stefan, any ideas?"

"I'm hungry," Stefan moaned. "Can we go back to the house made of candy?"

"No!" Bonnie yelled, glaring back at Stefan who sighed and kicked the dirt at his feet.

"Fine," Stefan grumbled. "If you're not going to help me find something to eat. I'm going off, on my own."

"Stefan, get your ass back here!" Caroline shouted.

"Wait!" Elena shouted. But Stefan was already walking away. Caroline was following him. Bonnie groaned and trudged after Caroline. "Come on, Ric," Elena called, waving for Ric to follow her.

"I do not think that this is a good idea," Ric called after them. But he followed them down the road anyway.

"Rabbit!" Stefan shouted and took off at a run.

"Of course it is!" Caroline cried, running after Stefan.

Elena could not believe it. A white rabbit ran down a road and toward a hole. "No! No, guys! Don't jump down in that hole!" But Stefan had already leapt inside the hole. Caroline went in after him. Bonnie shrugged at Elena before, she, too, hopped inside. Elena held her breath and leapt in.

The ride was a long, dark one, and Elena closed her eyes. She did not open them until she felt solid ground beneath her feet. "Where are we?" she called to her friends.

"Ohio," a voice said.

"Huh?" Caroline turned and Elena spotted a young-ish woman, laptop open in front of her. The bored look on the woman's face did not answer the question in Elena's mind: Is she dangerous?

"Probably not. I mean, I don't plan on killing you. At least not in this tale." The woman scanned the faces of the characters. Her lips pursed, her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. "Yeah. Probably not in a killing mood. So, why don't you tell me: How do you want your stories to end?"

"What?" Alaric shook his head rapidly. "What land is this?" he peered around the apartment. "I do not like this place."

"Neither do I," the bored woman said. She yawned, and stretched her arms over her head. Getting up, she headed for a refrigerator. "Anybody hungry? I've got cheese. Maybe some crackers."

"I'm starving," Stefan answered, already heading off, to join the stranger woman in the kitchen. She handed him a package of cheese. "Thank you." Stefan moaned before ripping the package open, human hunger having made him lose his mind.

Elena held up her hands. "Who are you?"

"I'm the writer," the woman said, pushing the fridge door shut. "Well, I'm one of the writers. You're just how I'm killing time today. So, let's get back to my question: How do you want your stories to end?"

"I'd like to go back home," Elena stated slowly.

"Oh? You just want to go home? You don't want to have some kind of an epiphany about how you've been living your lives? No desire for a grand design, to this blip in your long, long lives?" The writer shook her head and looked to Caroline. "What about you? What do you want from this? Love? A happily-ever-after?"

Caroline looked at her friends. "I'd like to talk to Klaus. If that's possible."

"You want me to bring Klaus, here?" the writer grinned, rubbing her hands together before she walked over to her laptop. "One Klaus, coming up." She began to punch buttons.

"Could you release Damon, too?" Elena called. Stefan nodded, his mouth too full of cheese and crackers to add his own thoughts.

"Not a problem," the writer continued to type.

"And Elijah. Rebekah. Hayley." Bonnie added. "Could you being my Grams back?"

"Is there anyone else?" the writer glanced around the group.

"Not that we can think of, at the moment," Caroline answered.

"Oh, nope. We're forgetting Marcel," Elena told them.

"Who?" Caroline replied.

"Fine," the writer shook her head. "You really want to make this chapter longer, don't you?" Sighing, she continued to type. "They'll be here. Soon."

~0~

Klaus and Damon felt irritable as they waited for the others to show up. "I can't believe I have to die, because they can't find your blasted sister," Damon groaned.

"They're not going to get away with this!" Klaus snarled back. "Offering Rebekah, in return for your freedom. Typical of you lot. And you have the nerve to call yourselves the heroes."

"Would you both just shut the hell up?" Hayley demanded. She was still leg-less and pissed off. The pirates kept trying to fondle her tail, but Elijah managed to keep them at bay, which was a neat trick, since he was human, too, and had no access to weapons.

Damon rolled his eyes. "Well, Tuna, we're all about to die soon; I have to find my joy somehow."

"Let them go!" a voice called from above them.

"Kol?" Klaus cried.

"There he is! Seize him!" Silas roared.

"We have to go. Quickly!" Henrick cried, appearing from behind Damon's group and ushering them toward the end of the pirate ship.

"You're not going anywhere," one of the dead witches called to them with a sneer.

Damon rolled his eyes, at the same time that someone tossed him a wooden sword. Well, at least he had a weapon. "Let's get the hell out of here!" he shouted, sticking the pirates with the pointy end of his sword, and smacking Mason Lockwood over the head with it. "Man, that feels good."

"This way!" Henrick slid down a rope, and into the small boat.

Damon waited until the others got into the boat. He kicked pirates backward and hit them with his sword. He was actually enjoying himself when Klaus called to him, "get down here, you idiot!"

Sighing, Damon grabbed the rope, and swung himself down to the boat. "Away we go!" Henrick called, pushing off. Kol came flying down to join them, standing at the end of the boat, and waving to Silas. "We'll fight again, soon!"

Silas waved his hook at them and cursed them.

It didn't take long before they made it to land and Damon watched Kol following a white rabbit. "Nothing I want is in that hole," he told the group.

"We're all going," Klaus grabbed Damon, and tossed him down the hole. Stupid Hybrid. If Damon could think of a way to leave Klaus' sorry ass here; he would do it in a heartbeat.

Adjusting to the poor lighting, in someone's boring apartment, Damon blinked before he felt a body slam into his. The familiar smell enveloped him and he wrapped his arms around his girl. "Elena, where have you been? I've been looking for you."

"Sir, the slipper?" Ric pulled out a glass slipper and held it out to Damon.

"Seriously?" Damon's face screwed up before he saw the hopeful look on Elena's face.

"Just put the slipper on her foot. We don't have a lot of time left," an annoyed-looking woman, with a laptop, snapped at Damon. "I've got a ton of other stories. They're just sitting on my mental shelf, collecting dust here, Damon. Make up your mind."

Damon frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

"Doesn't matter. Slipper. Girl. Happy ending. Get to it!" the woman snapped her fingers and glared back at him. "You're lucky you're my favorite."

Damon shook his head. "Freakin' weirdos." Bending down on one knee, he slipped the slipper onto Elena's foot. "Elena Gilbert, I want you to know that I figured out something while we're here."

"What?" Elena's eyes were shiny.

"I want to be with you. And I don't care if I'm human, or a vamp. Just as long as it's you and me. We can have adventures, no matter what we are, or where we land. I just need you, by my side." Damon waited for Elena's response.

"Damon, I don't care if I have to spend the rest of my life as a vampire, because I don't want a life without you in it," Elena replied and Damon stood up. Pulling Elena to him, he kissed her, and the others began to clap.

"Nailed it," the odd woman muttered. "Okay. Caroline, you're up. Do your worst."

Caroline turned to Klaus. "Klaus Mikaelson. You drive me crazy. But ever since you went to New Orleans, I realized that I want to give you a chance. So, I'm going to transfer to LSU. Now, don't get any funny ideas. I'm not moving into the compound with you. I'm just going to let you chase me. We'll see where it goes from there."

Klaus grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way, love."

"Right. Let's see if we can get Rebekah and Marcel down here," the writer whispered. Not that anyone was paying her any attention.

~0~

Rebekah shook her head. She felt so much despair. She and Marcel would never get out of here. All because her mother made a horrible mistake, and now her sister wanted to make her pay for it.

"It's okay, Bekah," Marcel rubbed her back.

"No, it is not, Marcel," Rebekah wiped at her wet cheeks. She looked out the window of the cell and she spotted a white rabbit. "What is that doing here?"

"Do you need out of here, dearie?" an odd man asked her, rubbing his hands together. "Just give me your first-born child, and you'll be out in the blink of an eye."

"Done," Rebekah snapped.

Marcel gaped and they found themselves outside. Rebekah turned to find the rabbit staring at her. It twitched its nose and then took off. Rebekah followed it. "Bekah!" Marcel called after her.

The rabbit dove down a hole and Rebekah sighed. "Why not," she groaned before she hopped down behind it.

"Rebekah!" Klaus called.

"Nik!" Rebekah never felt so happy to see her ass of a brother.

"Legs, please!" Hayley cried.

A grumpy-looking woman began to pound on the keyboard of a laptop. "Done."

Elijah set Hayley on her feet. "Oh, thank you!"

"Eh," the woman shrugged. "Now, I think all of you have some stuff to say to each other."

Rebekah looked puzzled before she turned to Klaus. "We don't always get along…"

"Because you put us in boxes," Kol said.

"I thought you didn't remember that," Klaus retorted.

Kol smirked. "Oh, thanks to the writer; I remember quite a lot."

Rebekah let out a cry. "And this is what I resent. There's always some crisis. And you're all always worried about your doppelgängers, or your miracle babies, or your enemies who are trying to kill you. When do you notice me? When I'm trying to kill you, that's when."

"Rebekah," Elijah cut in. "You know that Klaus adores you."

Huffing, Rebekah crossed her arms over her chest. "I want to come home. I want you to stop fighting with Marcel; so we can be a family."

"Fine," Klaus sighed. "Is there anything else anyone would like from me; I seem to be taking requests."

"You could let us move home," Hayley said. "I mean, if Caroline's not going to be taking over the whole house."

"I'm not moving in," Caroline protested.

"Sure she isn't," Rebekah scoffed. "You say that now…"

The writer decided that this was a good time to move to another perspective.

~0~

Shelia Bennett appeared and Bonnie ran to her Grams. "I've been trying to find you," Bonnie cried.

"You are doing just fine, child," Shelia said, stroking Bonnie's back.

"I'm so lonely," Bonnie cried, burying her face in her Grams' shirt.

"That's alright, honey. Because I am always with you. And you have your friends." She glanced at Stefan who continued to raid the writer's kitchen. "And you are so strong. You remember that for me."

"I will," Bonnie nodded, tears still running down her cheeks. "Just tell me I'll see you again."

"You will, baby girl. I am always watching you," Shelia hugged Bonnie tightly. "Now, you've got to go home. You've learned enough for one day."

"It's been a day?" Bonnie felt so confused.

"Yes, honey, you've been having a long nap." Shelia watched Bonnie closely.

"A nap? Really?" Bonnie felt confused as her eyelids became heavy and she yawned. She looked at the writer. "You're a witch, aren't you?"

The writer shrugged. "Don't we all have a little witch in us?" She smiled at Bonnie and the edges of Bonnie's world became fuzzy. "Sweet dreams, Bon Bon. Don't worry. You'll find a happy ending, too, one of these days."

Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing.

Answers to guest reviews:

Redbudrose: Thank you, darling! I hope you liked this one, too.

QUIT WRITING: Thanks for reviewing.

Peace,

J