Another update for y'all. Thank you all for the reviews on the last chapter - I was so worried about getting it out for a number of reasons so thank you everyone for being so understanding of my absence and also liking the chapter! This update is quite short IMO but I wanted to update quickly (well, quickly for me). Enjoy reading!
She was curled up in a ball on the floor now, wishing for nothing but the pain to end, when all of a sudden it stopped. Bonnie gasped in relief, although there was still a faint stinging inside her head, and black spots still danced before her eyes, impairing her vision. She heard Lucy's footsteps on the hardwood floor approaching her.
"Get up," Lucy ordered.
Not wanting to be hit with another wave of pain, Bonnie carefully staggered to her feet, gripping the arm of the nearby chair for support.
"Prove it to me," Lucy said, "Prove to me that you are Bonnie. Because you sure as hell don't feel like her."
Bonnie's glistening green orbs darted to and fro – mimicking her scattered thoughts. She had no idea what her cousin was talking about but could bet it had something to do with the fact she had been living in opposite land for the past couple weeks. She suddenly remembered Damon's remark at the funeral; 'You're different…'
She had wondered what he'd meant at the time but now Bonnie realised she had been surprising everyone else just as much as they were surprising her. Almost every action she made was followed by a surprised look or raised eyebrows; as if she were completely different to the 'Bonnie' before her – the girl they were used to – the one she had no recollection of.
The young girl blinked and looked back up at Lucy who was waiting for an answer, but there was only one solution Bonnie could think of. "Read my mind."
Lucy narrowed her eyes.
"Read my mind," she repeated, "and you'll see that I'm telling the truth, I am Bonnie." Just not the Bonnie you think I am, she wanted to add, but kept her mouth shut.
At first the older witch looked hesitant but eventually raised her hands to gently clasp either side of Bonnie's head at the temples. Bonnie swallowed nervously; this was a spell she seldom performed herself but knew it wouldn't be pleasant. But if it saved her from another second of the searing pain that she had been in moments ago, it was worth it. The lights began to flicker and the candles burned brighter; Bonnie followed suit as Lucy closed her eyes.
She gasped as she was forced to relive her memories in a flurry of quick flashes and sensed Lucy's presence in each one. She was ten years old again, playing dress up with Elena and Caroline. The two fought over who would wear the pink princess dress whilst Bonnie happily donned the purple fairy one, waving the star wand that came with it at pumpkins and imagining them turning into carriages. There was a blur in time, and suddenly she was fourteen, listening to her Grams ramble on about Salem witches and her bond to nature, whilst occasionally rolling her eyes in disbelief when Sheila wasn't watching. She was seventeen, and the numbers 8, 14, 22 reared their ugly head before they were followed by flashes of her time with Jeremy, Damon killing her mother, and the sight of her Grandmother being tortured as Klaus was returned to his body. Lucy was seeing her real memories, the ones from the world she called home. "You're not the Bonnie I know," she heard Lucy murmur distantly, "…but you're still Bonnie." Bonnie began to feel a warmth run from her nose to her top lip and knew she had begun to bleed. Her body sagged, desperate to slip into unconsciousness, but Lucy held on. She held on until she saw everything.
Klaus grinned in victory as the construction men finally pulled out the dusty old sword they had been mining for for the past twelve hours. His phone began to ring, and he sighed, expecting it to be Stefan presenting him with another problem (again).
"Hello?"
"Niklaus."
Ah yes, he'd recognise the voice of his insolent first hybrid anywhere. What a nice surprise. "Tyler. I hope you're not causing problems," he said as he took a step closer to observe the antique sword.
"I can do what I want. I'm not sired to you anymore."
Klaus was confused for perhaps half a millisecond before he deduced the situation perfectly. Really, he didn't have time for this rubbish but nonetheless it would only take a few enjoyable seconds to quickly put his former protégé in place. By Tyler's tone of voice he could sense the young hybrid was under strain, probably trying to prove himself to someone standing nearby. "Fair enough," Klaus answered, "Although I do happen to know about your little secret about your time in Appalachia…" He paused for a moment to allow that particular piece of information to sink in, whilst he quickly analysed the ancient runes on the sword, before nodding for the worker to take it away. "What was your friend's name? Hayley, was it?" he continued smugly. "You'd probably prefer I kept that to myself…"
Klaus waited for a reply, snide remark, hell – anything. But he only met with beautiful silence. Leverage. Worked every time. The immortal hybrid smirked. "Are you going to answer or should I assume you are back to being my little bitch?"
Klaus waited patiently until the dial tone rung which told him Tyler had hung up. Truthfully, he did regret Tyler breaking away from the sire bond which kept hybrids loyal, but most of all, he didn't understand it. He was now arguably one of the most powerful races to walk the Earth and the pain of the werewolf curse was no longer a burden on the boy's shoulders. Surely, it was perfectly reasonable to expect allegiance for what he had granted to Tyler? Klaus pocketed his phone and pushed his wonderings to the back of his mind. He had been gone over an hour now so by that count it was time to check up on his witch.
She's not yours, his conscience reminded him as he began to make the short walk away from the construction site to the car. Yes she is, the devil perched on his shoulder argued. She agreed to the terms of the deal when we saved Stefan for her. Klaus shook his head. That may be so, but he knew how Bonnie felt about him. She wasn't here of her own accord, because she wanted to be, or even because she knew what they could achieve together. She was here due to her loyalty and care for someone else. Klaus frowned.
'Fake loyalty', as Tyler had once put it, was enough for keeping his hybrids in line but it wasn't enough for the witch, the woman he wanted by his side. Klaus had been searching for a thousand years for his equal, and now he had Bonnie in his debt he realised it wasn't really what he wanted. What was the point in finding the one person who could match you, only to enslave and oppress them? Bonnie needed to choose this path because she wanted it. Klaus wasn't against seduction and persuasion to tempt her – but in the end Bonnie would need to choose him out of her own free will. If she had any logical sense, she'd forget the Salvatore's in a heartbeat, but he knew that wasn't the way with teenage girls. Klaus could wait.
He got in the car and signalled for the compelled driver to return to Rebekah's house.
Bonnie fell to the floor in exhaustion when Lucy finally pulled away. As she was gathering her breath and reorganising her thoughts she barely noticed Lucy begin to leave the room. "Wait," Bonnie croaked, stumbling to her feet as she reached for Lucy, but she was too far away. "What happened to me?"
Lucy stopped in her tracks but didn't turn around to face her cousin. "You don't know?"
"You know I don't know," Bonnie stated, but her cousin still didn't turn to face her. "Please, if you know something, tell me. We don't have much time."
Bonnie watched as Lucy's shoulder's tensed and she finally turned around. "Have a seat," she said quietly. Bonnie retook her place on the arm chair she'd gripped to and Lucy returned to the sofa, although she didn't resume the same relaxed position she had been in before. Both witches were hesitant and wary of the other after the events that had just occurred in such a short space of time. However, Bonnie's memories alone had proved to Lucy that despite everything, they were still family.
Lucy swallowed. "Your suspicions were mostly correct. You're not in your own world anymore."
Bonnie gripped tightly at the edge of her seat. "You mean…"
"You've stumbled into an alternate reality," Lucy confirmed, "I think," she added hastily.
Bonnie leaned until her spine hit the back of the plush chair and breathed carefully. "When you say stumbled..?"
"I don't know how you did it," Lucy admitted, quietly. In fact, her whole demeanour had turned opposite to the warmth that had greeted Bonnie upon her arrival. Lucy had detached herself – whether that was through fear or caution, Bonnie didn't know. "I'm guessing you performed an accidental spell when you were emotionally compromised. You didn't know how to deal with your feelings so they leaked out in ways you couldn't control."
"But I didn't have my powers at the time when everything changed," Bonnie said.
"You did," Lucy said. Just when Bonnie was about to argue, she continued, "and you still do. The spirits have blocked your access to the natural powers that you're accustomed to but that doesn't mean you can't perform magic altogether. Like I said, there are other ways. Ways that the spirits can't control."
"So why can't I just do that again?"
"Because you're not trained, Bonnie," Lucy exasperated, "what happened never should have happened in the first place. The fact that it did means that you're open to dangerous forms of magic, even if it is only subconsciously. Bad things happen to witches that meddle with Expression, Bonnie."
Bonnie's eyes narrowed. "Is that what it's called? Expression?"
Lucy's eyes widened as she realised she'd said too much. "Bonnie, you can't go down that road. If you do-"
The front door burst open and Klaus strolled into the house without so much as a knock. Both witches quickly rose to their feet as he entered the room. Klaus' spidey senses tingled in suspicion at the fact that all conversation had died upon his arrival.
"Sweetheart," he addressed Bonnie, "It's time to leave."
For a moment Bonnie expected him to go back to the car and give her and Lucy a moment of privacy for their goodbye, but quickly realised that that wasn't going to happen. Klaus stood with his arms hanging tensely by his side; he wasn't going anywhere. She wondered for a moment if he had overheard any of their conversation outside the house before he came in. Bonnie gulped and turned to Lucy. As their eyes met they both understood they were going to have to act as normal as possible to give the impression to Klaus that nothing unusual had happened.
Lucy turned on the charm that she had greeted Bonnie with at the start of the evening. Pulling Bonnie into a warm hug, she said, "Remember, New Orleans. There's gotta be someone out there that can help you find your magic again."
Bonnie looked up at Lucy. Lucy could see in her cousin's eyes that she still had so many more questions; an hour had not been enough time, especially with the new revelation. But Bonnie only nodded, feigned contentment, and made her way over to Klaus.
As she began to slowly pass him his arm circled the air until it came to rest on the small of Bonnie's back. He gave a short nod in farewell to Lucy before turning to usher Bonnie along when he noticed that the girl hadn't stiffened against his touch. Either she had too much on her mind to even notice or he was making genuine progress. Maybe a bit of both.
They walked in complete silence until they reached the same Lamborghini that they had arrived in. Klaus reached to open the door for her but paused.
"New Orleans?"
Bonnie stared ahead, unblinking and refusing to look at him. He didn't know why. He'd just done her a favour. "What of it?"
He wanted to reach out and turn her to face him but knew it would be a step too far. Instead, he opened the door and allowed Bonnie to lower herself inside. He could have continued to question her but Klaus had been around long enough to sense when someone needed to be left to their thoughts. So took the seat next to her, and allowed her the car journey in silence.
That was, until she noticed they weren't heading in the direction back to the villa. Klaus smiled widely fifteen minutes in to the journey. That's how long it took her to notice. Not bad, for someone who wasn't really aware of the area. He could feel her electrifying stare zapping every inch of his body until she finally asked, "Where are we going?"
He turned to face her, turquoise eyes meeting chartreuse. "Home."
And that's it! Yea, I'm sorry again for it being so short. :( I just wanted to push past Italy too because I'm itching for Bonnie to get back to Mystic Falls like I know some of you guys are too. We all miss Bamon/Stefonnie! ;) So there were no updates from the Mystic Falls gang from this chappie but they'll all be back next time. And we're just starting to uncover the mystery of Bonnie's 'parallel world' situation. Much more to come with that. Reviews and thoughts would be much appreciated. Love you all, till next time! xoxo