Author's note: I was originally going to wait a little longer before really tackling this, but I'm off these two days, and I had just the most delightful day! Summers can be horrendously hot here (mostly due to the Urban Heat Island Effect), so as a result, spending the day in the ocean is just heavenly. Aaaah! *dreamy sigh* And just being and the beach is lovely, because it honestly feels like a holiday in Brooklyn. Everyone is happy and joyful – and it just feels like you're on vacation. Kids are playing and screaming happily – everyone's just really friendly and having a blast. It's such a lovely place to be. It's practically the physical manifestation of joie de vivre! So, I came home decidedly happy – and in the mood to write! :D Here are the results of my endeavor. ;)

Thanks for all the love, you beautiful souls! :D

Flashbacks are in italics.

"Hi again, Elena," Bonnie tried to smile, but had a feeling that her grimace was a little too revealing. There's a reason she preferred to work behind the scenes, though she had a feeling that – given what she was just shocked and amused to learn about him – Enzo would be a pro at this.

"Try not to look so happy," Elena sassed, trying to look and sound defiant, though the slight catch in her tone gave her away. She was obviously hurt, and Bonnie felt a little guilty – but there were more pressing matters at hand than teenage Elena's feelings.

"Look," Bonnie started, not entirely sure what to say. "We're in a bit of a crisis right now. I didn't want to tell your older version, because she was already two seconds away from a panic attack – which, understandable, given what she went through," Bonnie winced, "but I suppose I can tell you. It's Damon, he –"

"What is it?" Elena asked, her eyes growing wide with fright. Did he hurt someone? No – that's not it, probably. Bonnie looked worried, not betrayed – and the two of them seemed to be very close friends. Maybe they found Katherine this time, and he ran off with her? That hurt more than she would have guessed. Oh no! What if Katherine hurt him?

"He's missing," Bonnie supplied, studying her with a creased brow. "We know who took him – and," she hesitated, suddenly a lot less sure of her friend's younger self's reaction, "and if we don't find him soon, he's going to die."

Elena gasped in horror, covering her open mouth with her hands, one on top of the other.

"You… care a lot more than I thought you would," Bonnie queried.

"He's your friend, Bonnie," Elena said kindly, taking the girl's hands in her own. "I know how much he means to you. I don't want you to lose him. I hope we find him soon," she assured, almost successfully convincing herself that her reaction was entirely for Bonnie.

Bonnie was grateful that despite the fact that the girl in front of her was clearly a teenager – and often elected to act like one – she still oozed with compassion, which might make this whole situation a lot more tolerable. Compassion and what she was fairly certain with denial. Perhaps at any other time, she would have taken a minute to analyze the situation, if only for her own amusement, but their current predicament was urgent, and with any hope, they'd get Damon back safe and sound soon, and never have to deal with teenage Elena again. Bonnie nodded, about to reply, when Anna stuck her head out the door. "We're ready for you!"

As Bonnie sat down in the salt circle with her grandmother, Stefan reached out to Elena, gingerly taking her hand. "Are you okay?" he whispered.

"Stefan!" Elena smiled in surprise, inching closer to him. "What are you doing here?"

He narrowed his eyes, his suspicious confirmed. Now this was his Elena. Whoever that was – that brainwashed imposter – must have been a victim of Damon's compulsion. "I knew it!" he growled. "What did he do to you, Elena?" he asked, furrowing his brow as he was wont to do – most of the time – and leaning in to study her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, clearly confused.

"What was the last thing you remember? Did he give you any commands?" Stefan urged.

Bonnie sighed, quite audibly. She didn't need this kind of distraction while doing what might be a very difficult locator spell against the work of someone who may be an experienced witch. She dug into her jacket's pocket and pulled out Elena's vervain necklace. "Here," she reached her hand over to Elena. "You might want this back."

"Why do you have it?" Elena asked curiously, taking the necklace, and allowing Stefan to clasp it around the back of her neck, already feeling safer with it.

"I needed it for an experiment," Bonnie replied evasively, though it looked like Elena wasn't about to accept this as an explanation. She was starting to get a tension headache. Maybe it was all those shots they had only hours ago? It feels like it's been days. "For your … other self," Bonnie explained.

"What did the experiment show?" Elena pressed.

"That when you're – together," she stressed, "you can't be compelled."

"You mean she can't be compelled," Elena pouted, still unnerved that she was being replaced by what was apparently a future version of her – one whom everyone else seemed to prefer. It all made Elena feel so alone. Who else preferred this cool, older Elena? Did she do lots of traveling? All over the world? Did she live in cool places? Did she have a fascinating career? Was she suave and sophisticated? Was she clever and witty? One thing she wasn't was a sad, boring teenager, who still sometimes couldn't through the night without nightmares of cars in the river, filled with people she loves, she thought glumly.

"You're the same person," Bonnie corrected gently, but with some force behind her words. "Just a few years apart."

"Just do the locator spell," Elena sniffed, turning to Stefan to mouth that they'd talk about this later, as he and Anna began to wear increasingly incredulous looks. "We need to find your friend and save him."

Bonnie bit back any retort at her description of Damon and focused on their task.

"Somnum nunc," Bonnie heard her grandmother whisper under her breath, and the room's non-Bennett occupants fell into a deep slumber. At her questioning look, her grandmother simply shrugged and said, "you know very well that they wouldn't let us focus. We'd get maybe five minutes of peace and quiet before the next round of questions would begin, and this is time-sensitive."

The spell went surprisingly smoothly – and unsurprisingly, Bonnie's Grams predicted that the photograph would enable them to track… someone. Thank heavens for Anna's slightly more mischievous tendencies! It did take nearly the whole night, however, to disable the blocking spell cast on it. Happily, it appeared that the block on Damon carried a similar signature, so perhaps this would provide a clue to disable that one, as well.

"Whoever it is," Sheila announced, "they're on the move," she frowned studying the map.

"Looks like they're headed toward the Grill," Bonnie guessed, watching as the three sleeping occupants began to stir, assuming that her grandmother finally lifted the spell.

"What happened?" asked a surprisingly groggy Anna.

"All right, this is what we're going to do," Sheila said, taking charge. "Bonnie, you take Elena, and go to the Mystic Grill. With any luck, you'll be able to sense something off someone's magical signature. If it's our errant time traveler, we can get two birds with one stone – learn the identity of your adversary, and save your vampire friend. I'll stay here in the meantime, trying to break the block on him so we could do a proper locator spell."

"But Grams –" Bonnie began, worried for her safety.

"Stefan and Anna will protect me if I need to go into a trance, won't you?" Sheila asked sharply. "After all, if something happens to me, the tomb stays closed," she said pointedly to Anna, then turned to Stefan, "and you won't get your brother back – when you know very well it's your fault that he was taken in the first place."

"Why don't I stay here and try to crack the spell?" Bonnie asked, irrationally afraid to leave her alone with Stefan after what he did to Enzo. Logically, she knew that she was being silly – not only was her grandmother powerful enough to take them both down, but that Stefan had his humanity off, and this one wore every sign of contrition for his misdeed only hours ago.

Not that it stopped him from immediately suspecting Damon of foul play the second Elena reverted, Bonnie thought bitterly.

"It has to be you, dear," Sheila softened. "You're not from this time, so your magical signature will be able to more easily find one that's similar – and Elena's temporal magic was active only minutes ago, so there may be traces of it left – hopefully enough to be of some help. Now go. Shoo, dear," she playfully swatted her hand, eager to get the two girls away.

As soon as the girls left, Stefan turned a dubious eye to Sheila. "Temporal magic? What are you talking about? Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

Sheila looked at him impatiently, then deciding that she was more than a match for the two vampires in the room with her, and could therefore take them out should they react in a way she deemed unacceptable, acquiesced with a sigh. Knowing just how fantastical the story sounded, she surmised she might at least get some mild amusement from their shocked reactions. "About ten years from now, you're dead, and Elena's under a sleeping spell. Your brother, who at that point had taken the Cure for vampirism and become human, made a deal with a powerful witch and her coven to be sent back in time to save you both. What he didn't know is that my granddaughter woke her up only hours after he left, so Elena followed him here. And then after the witch gave her a few warnings about maintaining the integrity of the timeline, Bonnie followed, as well. It turns out that someone else came along, too – someone who is working against them, though I'm not sure how yet, but what I am sure about is that it's the person who sent you those photographs and vervain darts," Sheila finished explaining to two similarly shocked faces.

"Did you put me to sleep?" Elena asked as soon as they sat in the car.

"Yes," Bonnie replied tersely. "We needed to focus, and it didn't look like anyone was willing to do us that courtesy.

"I would have," Elena replied softly, trying to mask the hurt that she felt – this version of Bonnie seemed determined to treat her like a child.

"Perhaps," Bonnie agreed, though somewhat dubiously. "But I doubt Stefan or Anna would have," she reasoned, trying to cheer the girl up. Elena could be so sensitive, though she supposed she couldn't blame her. If the roles were reversed, she supposed she would be feeling much the same way. "We need to make a quick pit-stop to pick up some extra help," Bonnie said distractedly as she broke the speed limit, along with several laws, to race toward the foreclosed house.

"Aren't you afraid we're going to lose the trail? What if he moves? How will we find Damon then?" Elena asked, clearly more worried than she ever wanted to be about someone she claimed to dislike. Still disliked. Very much. Except …

"Grams will follow his location on the map we used for the spell," Bonnie replied, pulling up into the house's driveway, and running inside.

"Bonnie!" Enzo beamed as he greeted her at the door, his vampiric senses hearing her coming. "I've been surfing the … inteweb?" he guessed, unable to remember the exact term. "On your flat-screened gadget with the adjoining keyboard," he explained, "and it looks like I need to find an agent!" he concluded excitedly.

Bonnie looked at him adoringly for a few seconds, then snapped out of it. "Do you remember that glass containing Damon's blood that we fed Elena?" she asked to Enzo's receiving nod. "We don't still have that by any chance, do we?"

"I'm afraid not," Enzo shook his head. "Damon emptied that almost immediately."

Bonnie silently cursed – it was a long shot, anyway – then schooled her features into a friendlier expression. "So, it looks like your favorite frenemy has been kidnapped. Fancy a little rescue operation? Might help you get even more of a leg-up on him," she winked.

"Frenemy? A compound word of friend and enemy? Sounds about right," he admitted, impressed. "I'm in."

With that, the trio found themselves entering the Mystic Grill, here minutes later, sometimes quite thankful that Mystic Falls' small size enabled such quick transportation.

They entered and found a booth immediately, grateful that Sunday mornings at the local bar had yet to catch the brunch craze and were thus relatively empty.

Elena grabbed her head in obvious discomfort, the throbbing she felt upon waking intensifying. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn this was –

"Here," Bonnie said, digging out a vial from her purse. It was one of two she prepared before their night out, just in case. "Magical hangover cure," she felt the need to explain to alleviate Elena's puzzled expression.

Elena eyed the bottle dubiously, but nevertheless took it, swallowing its contents in a single gulp, desperate as she was to rid herself of the headache and nausea. "Are we," she lowered her voice to lean over to Bonnie and whisper, with a deep and alarmed frown, "do we have a drinking dependency?" she asked frightfully. She remembered vividly how Kelly Donovan used to brag about "closing down bars" in Richmond with her aunt Jenna, whose party girl reputation followed her all throughout undergrad and into the early days of graduate school. Thankfully, either the rigorous workload, or her newfound responsibilities, seemed to calm her down some.

Bonnie almost laughed out loud. That was one place she hadn't expected her mind to go. Must be a pretty bad hangover if she took it so willingly after pouting at her all morning. "No, we actually don't do this all that much. Last night was just," she glanced at Enzo, sharing a secret smile, "special."

Elena could have sung with sweet relief the second her symptoms – quite magically – abated, though her trepidation certainly hadn't. "Are you sure?" she asked worriedly. "Maybe it's something that runs on my mom's side. Jenna –"

"You don't have to worry about that," Bonnie interrupted her, not willing to explain that not only was Jenna just a lapsed party girl – hardly a representative of real addiction – but that she wasn't even her biological aunt. That one, she wasn't touching. Someone else would need to handle the whole adoption issue.

Elena looked like she was about to press, when a peppy, vivacious blonde quickly made their way over to their table, practically knocking it over in her enthusiasm to greet the booth's occupants. Taking a seat next to Elena, she studied Bonnie sitting next to a mysterious and attractive stranger.

"So," Caroline chirped, evidently annoyed with her two friends. "Where have you two been?"

It was at that moment that Bonnie's eyes widened – her magical core roaring to life with dire warning.

He was here.

"Knife-happy bondage incel," Damon obnoxiously tried in Galen's direction, evidently still not have grown tired of his 'guess my safe word' game, clearly eager to amuse himself – and apparently no one else in the room.

"Can I stake him yet?" Galen asked irately, desperately trying to keep his last two functional nerves from enacting their suicide pact and jumping into the abyss after this delightful disaster of an evening.

"That would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?" asked the witch haughtily. "We need his temporal magic, not his death."

In the hours that Damon had been trapped in what he surmised was some kind of kitschy, creepy, not-very-inventive lair, the witch tried desiccating him with a heart-stopping spell to remove the magic, then started it again when failed; siphoning his vampirism using Expression; bleeding, and hypnosis, and absolutely nothing worked.

It had to be given willingly, as she asserted earlier.

Wordlessly, she cast a sleeping spell on the Hunter, knowing that to have any degree of success, she needed to speak to the vampire alone – which they were, since their mask-clad commander left for undisclosed business hours ago.

Damon raised an eyebrow at Galen's sleeping form. "Look, you seem really determined and all, but I'm really not that interested –"

"Don't flatter yourself, bloodsucker," the witch sneered. "Do you know why you're here?"

"You apparently want something from me willingly, but waking up in all the kinky chains and toys make me think you don't really understand how consent works," he sassed.

"You're aware that Silas is your ancestor, right?" she asked, ignoring his attempts to annoy her, as before.

"What does Steffie's husk of creepy doppel-desiccation have to do with any of this?"

"Silas as a practitioner of Traveler magic," she explained calmly. "The entire line was cursed because of his actions – not only friends, family – those close to him. But all practitioners of this magic – all over the world, for generations. As a result, the magic became corrupted, and no one knew its true form, until the curse was broken, in the time from which you hail."

"Right … and what do a bunch of body-jumpers have to do with me?"

"They weren't always body-jumpers, Damon. Travelers once reigned over the magic of time, and thus, they all have within their core something called temporal magic. When displaced in time, they don't suffer from its ravages."

"I don't know what to tell you, lady. I'm not a witch, clearly. I don't know if anyone ever told you, but vampires can't be witches, and I'm obviously," he trailed off to allow his fangs to elongate threateningly, his eyes flooded with crimson."

The witch wasn't phased in the slightest, much to Damon's chagrin.

"But you were – weren't you?" she asked. "You took the Cure for vampirism, and suddenly, everything felt – different, didn't it?"

"Obviously! Because I was human for the first time in over a century," Damon scoffed. "How do you know all this, anyway?"

"You felt some very familiar … sensations. Traveler witches are all elemental. Some favor Earth, some Air, some Water – and then she looked at him, pointedly, assessing his gaze. "Some Fire. And you have quite the experience with Fire, don't you, Damon?"

It was something he never told anyone. Stefan suspected, he guessed. When he reached his late teens, he'd been almost too prone to accidentally starting fires – to practically burning his father's precious artifacts. Back then, he suspected that it had been a subconscious desire to get even with him for the cigar burns he viciously left on his skin.

His father had of course been quick to label him 'demon-spawn,' which only served to increase his hatred of his eldest even more.

And then, with vampirism, it all stopped. And Damon had not thought about it since – not until this day.

"You're lying," he condescendingly accused. "And desperate. We had a few dry seasons, and so the fields were just a lot more flammable than usual –"

"Mostly around you, it would seem," she shot back, amused. "But we're getting off-topic. I want the temporal magic that runs through your core. Give it up, and we can make this all go away."

"Just like that?" Damon asked dubiously.

"Just like that," she shrugged.

"So what's the catch?"

"You'll die. Much like our masked friend over there, without the magic to protect you from the ravages of displacement, your core will deteriorate, and you'll wither away," she supplied nonchalantly.

Damon barked a laugh, incredulous. "So why the hell would I ever give it up?"

She narrowed her eyes, smirking with what she was positive was an assured victory. "Because they don't know the whole truth, Damon Salvatore. You're not the only one in this time with Traveler magic coursing through their veins. Katherine Pierce's grandfather had it, and so do most of his descendants – one in particular that seems especially close to you. Now, I didn't tell them this, because I wanted to ensure that you were our target – one less vampire," she explained to his narrowed eyes, that barely hid his now-present panic. "But it seems if I'm not successful, my life will be in utmost jeopardy. Your 'Eustache Dauger,' as you call him, isn't the real danger – but the one behind him – the one who sent him here. Now her, you should fear. Any sane person would."

"So, you're saying that unless I give up the only thing that's keeping me alive, out of time, you'll somehow get Elena to give up hers? Your logic leaves a lot to be desired. No wonder that New Orleans witch was so against Expression. Apparently, it fries brain cells, too."

"You don't believe me?" she seemed amused.

"You're bluffing. About everything. Go find another 'temporally magical' vampire. I hear there's one on Sesame Street that can count numbers and tell time," he responded defiantly, though inside, he was reeling. Elena's cut seemingly healed itself.

She couldn't be compelled.

Everything was adding up a little too well, and it threatened to turn his stomach inside out.

"You don't think that after we tell her that it's either you or her, she would do anything to save your life? Even take your place? After what happened last time?" the witch asked with a skeptical tone.

"Your plan has a slight wrinkle in it," he assured with a calm confidence that he didn't feel. "By now, she's definitely been replaced by her me-hating teenage self. I'd be surprised if she didn't hand you the stake herself."

She only laughed, clearly having seen enough through any divinatory aids or otherwise to catch his falsehood. ''And you're so sure?"

"Hello again," greeted an achingly familiar-looking girl with bright blue eyes and a warm, enthusiastic smile – though there was a deep, penetrating sadness hidden behind her vibrant visage. "I didn't think you'd be back here so soon."

Having felt the height of serenity only a mere instant ago, Elena was surprised to find herself floating at – the base of a waterfall? It had to be the most beautiful one she'd ever seen. The sky was clear, blue – blue like –

And now it was dark, great meteors shooting across its vast expanse. What was this place?

"You're on the Astral Plane, Elena" explained a young woman with a beautiful, kind face – and a clear, pleasant voice. She looked young – in her late teens, perhaps – but there was something so achingly sad about her that seemed to leave a hole down to her very soul. "It looks different to everyone who visits it. This must be what you associate with Peace – with Serenity."

She looked entirely too young to feel such sadness. Elena's heart reached out for her immediately.

In spite of that, however, she wore a smile – plucky and determined – unwilling to submit to the rigors that tried to drown her.

"How do you know my name?"

"I know more about you than you know about me," she replied mysteriously, but without malice. "This place has rules that we have to abide by. I'm afraid I can't always give you a straight answer," she supplied sadly.

"Who are you?"

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but then her eyes seemingly widened in fright, and she shook it off, instead opting for another route. "Hope is the thing with feathers. It perches in the soul. It sings the song without the words – and never stops – at all."

Elena looked around at the telltale waterfalls of the Astral Plane – she and her interlocutor were sitting in the water, at the base, though she often wondered what this mysterious witch saw – what place of peace and comfort and happiness she imagined.

Given the wings of fire that seemed to emanate from her back, she sincerely doubted that it was the same as hers. She studied them briefly, marveling at their form. It was as though every feather was its own individual flame.

"No, neither did I," Elena confessed, with a shrug and a lackadaisical smile. "I'm sure my friends will find a way to bring me back soon. I'm honestly not sure why I'm not back already," she grinned. "I must be giving them a hard time. I was really stubborn as a teenager!' she laughed.

"I'm sure you'll get your answer when you return to the," the girl frowned, "whatever that place is. We never learned about it in school, though I'm sure it will one day be added to the curriculum."

"Sounds like quite the school," Elena smirked.

"You have no idea – not yet, anyway," the girl smiled mysteriously, but returned to the topic at hand. "I'd have to check some divination aids, but I can't do that from here. All I can do is communicate – with you," she added cheerfully.

"Have we ever met before?" Elena decided to try a different avenue to poke for information.

"We met – through friends," the girl supplied.

"Why don't I remember you?" Elena asked, her brows knitted in confusion.

"Because this is our first meeting," the girl replied confidently, as though it made all the sense in all the cosmos.

"So, are you finally going to tell me who you are? Or are you just going to recite more poetry?" Elena asked, with a wink.

The girl sighed, then looked at her apologetically. "I can't give you anything more than hints."

"Does it have anything to do with our mysterious paradoxes and Fixed Points?"

"Something like that," the girl mumbled.

"Maybe you can take a chance?" Elena tried, poking at her playfully. "It's not like I'll even remember most of it by the time I'm back in my body," she sighed. The rules of psyche-displacement were incredibly strange.

The girl shook her head – though there was some sympathy in her demeanor, she was nevertheless firm. "I can't give you more than hints. She monitors this place. Otherwise, she'll make it so we can't meet, and then I wouldn't be able to help you at all."

"She?" Elena asked, confused. "Althea?" she changed. The girl only vehemently shook her head, clearly desperate for a change of subject. "You look so familiar," Elena whispered. "I know you're from several decades in the future," she chewed her lip, thinking. "Do I know your parents?"

The girl looked momentarily struck – heartbroken – then turned away to hide her obvious pain, before she collected herself with what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Yes," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Elena squeezed her hands into fists trying to calm her own nerves. It seems that every question was making this poor girl uneasy. "I love your wings," she swooned, glancing over the appendages made of orange flame. "They're beautiful."

"Thank you," the girl nodded, though even this seemed to fill her with sadness.

"I'm sorry," Elena expressed sympathetically. "It seems I can't stop gravitating toward painful topics for you."

"It's not your fault," the girl was quick to reassure. "The wings are – special," she concluded, after thinking for a few moments. "But the came at great personal cost."

"You lost someone?" Elena asked, her expressive dark eyes filling with empathy.

The girl nodded, her own blue eyes steadily filling with tears. "I did. And in trying to save him, I created a Fixed Point, so, you see…" she trailed off.

"I'm so sorry," Elena urged, and gathered her in for a hug, stroking her back soothingly. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"The powers that came with these wings made it possible for me to create the magical artifact – through a long and convoluted series of events – made it possible to send you back. So, you see, if it weren't for his death, I wouldn't have been able to make the very artifact that I need to save him," the girl brokenly explained.

"A paradox," Elena breathed, and the girl only nodded.

Sooo, a lot happened this chapter. We met a new, mysterious witch on the Astral Plane. Stefan and Anna learned the truth. (We'll see their reactions in the next chapter.) And the mysterious Man in the Iron Mask has now made his appearance at or near the Grill.

"Somnum nunc" is a little nod to one of my favorite sci-fi- movies ever, Dark City. :D

Yes! 3 We get more Astral Plane! Since Elena's a Water Healer, I knew I wanted hers to be water-based, but I wasn't sure what exactly. I ultimately decided to go for a waterfall, as a little tribute to Mystic Falls. :D The sky occasionally changing to one at night, filled with shooting stars, is a nod to the positive association with meteor showers.

So, yes, that's "future" Elena being whisked out of the Forms (temporarily) by our mystery girl to go have a little chat on the Astral Plane. :D I think I'm going to reveal her identity in the next chapter or two (I was originally going to wait longer, but then decided against it), so feel free to speculate! :D

I had Damon's Fire Witch powers be the real reason Giuseppe hated him so much in Serendipity, and it made its way here, as well. :D Given that the Travelers curse was still very much a thing when Damon was a pre-vamp human, these bouts of accidental magic are much milder than those in Serendipity.

Here I am, writing late (laaaaaaate) into the night as a result of a really fun beach day! I'm planning to hit the beach tomorrow, so who knows? It might incite another chapter. :D

Posting really late at night, too, so here's hoping a billion typos don't wait for me when I wake up. :D

Much love to you darlings – especially Kriz03, scarlett2112, Florencia7, Wobalo, and Ixilight for letting me talk at them about this story. :D

Reviews are gestures of love and wholeheartedly appreciated!