Author's note: Hi everyone! So delighted by the kind words! You make me blush so hard, seriously. :) Thanks for the smiles! Honestly, feeling this kind of validation for creative work really means a lot, since writing is so personal and comes from the very deepest fibers of our hearts. Creativity is magic that we all have. :) Thanks for helping that grow with your love, everyone!
Sorry it's been a minute. :) I needed to figure something out, and now I did, so on with the show! :D
"Who's this handsome stranger?" Caroline asked, eyeing Enzo with an almost lascivious gaze, much to Bonnie's obvious annoyance. She'd almost forgotten how boy-crazy the seventeen-year-old version of her powerhouse boss-lady friend was.
Bonnie narrowed her eyes, taking Enzo's hand possessively, much to his amusement.
"Bonnie Bennett, you closet rebel!" Caroline cheered with obvious shock. "Is this your new boyfriend? An older guy? I didn't see it coming."
Desperately wanting to change the topic, since she and Enzo had yet to have this conversation, Bonnie decided to shift attention away from her sort-of-would-be-non-relationship with her favorite vampire, and back to Caroline's favorite topic: herself. Though she loved her friend dearly, she had to admit that Care was at least slightly histrionic – and perhaps the most extroverted person she'd ever met. "So, how's Matt?" she asked with false sweetness, all the while allowing the magic inside her to extend forth to search for any temporal anomalies.
Caroline blushed under her scrutiny, since the relationship – if it could even be called that – was still so new. She desperately wanted to get Matt to like her as much as she liked him, but every cell inside her body was worried that he still wasn't over Elena. And wasn't she with Stefan now, anyway? She studied the brunette, who looked unusually nervous. What was going on? Caroline hated being out of the loop – she needed to be on top of all gossip and all comings and goings of her friends – and Mystic Falls, in general, if she could help it – at all times, so all this obvious secrecy to which she wasn't entirely privy was making her decidedly uncomfortable.
Caroline prided herself on being able to sense shifts in the collective mood, and she would get to the bottom of this. But first, she needed to answer Bonnie's obvious attempt at deflection. "He's supposed to be around," she announced with a sigh. "Tyler's dad invited the entire football team out for burgers to celebrate last week's victory, but it looks like everyone's scattered. He was just here," she huffed petulantly, especially since she spent over an hour making sure her hair looked flawlessly effortless – perfecting the bedhead look that just screamed 'I woke up like this because I'm naturally fabulous.'
Bonnie looked around in alarm. How did the space empty out in the last few minutes? Her attempts to follow the trail of the temporal anomaly were interrupted by a ding signifying that Caroline received a text.
"Oh," Caroline pouted. "There was some kind of emergency meeting where Tyler's dad was called, so the team just grabbed their burgers and went – wherever it is that immature delinquent boys go." Then she visibly brightened. "Oh! Looks like they took the party to the Lockwood property, and we're invited. Are you ladies up for a little day drinking and a lot of day flirting?" Caroline asked, smiling fervently.
Bonnie's eyes widened. The anomaly did seem to extend in the direction of the Lockwood estate, so their temporal trespasser would either have to be at what she assumed was a council meeting, or at the teenage party. Normally, she would be quick to assume that the former is their best bet, if she and Elena were not in their teenage bodies, themselves.
Shooting Elena a meaningful look, Bonnie forced a smile. "We'd love to!"
"Great!" Caroline chirped, just happy to be with her friends again – and hopeful that she would discover the reason behind this very obvious and very sudden shift in overall mood.
Not entirely privy to Caroline's musings, mostly because she was so concerned with her own, Bonnie allowed herself to feel a measure of victory.
They were so close.
They were going to find the time-traveler that hunted them, and with him, hopefully Damon.
Finally. Her very bones – the magic in the deepest fibers of her being – sang with impending victory.
"So, let me get this straight," Stefan deadpanned. "Elena and Bonnie, and my brother, are all from about decade into the future. Damon and Elena were human, but he came back to save both me and her – me, the brother he promised an eternity of misery – and then Elena followed him, and then Bonnie?"
"Yes," Sheila responded curtly, not at all amused by his obvious skepticism.
"So why do they look exactly the same?" he challenged. "If all three of them were human, then surely they should have aged?"
"Only their consciousnesses came back and merged with those in this time. Elena's is tethered to something that has to be replenished periodically, so her future consciousness de-merged, and she's currently her seventeen-year-old self again," Sheila explained nonchalantly, anticipating more disbelief and not in any mood to entertain it.
"My mom read something about temporal magic once," Anna whispered with an ashen look on her face. "She said that there were theories that it was once abundant – elemental temporal magic – but It's since all but disappeared. No one knows why."
This actually got Sheila's attention. While vampires certainly had the habit of meddling in witch business for their own gain, they usually didn't cross into the realm of learning about their intricate histories. "She did?"
"Yes," Anna preened with pride. Pearl Zhu had always been known as an intellectual in every community they'd joined – helping them thrive through the excellent tool of knowledge. It was only thanks to Katherine Pierce and her inherent selfishness that she'd been unfairly locked away to desiccate in a dark tomb – tormented for centuries – starving and alone. Perhaps she and the other vampires had each other at first, but after a while, any communication had surely become an impossibility, and they were each left only to the wiles of their ongoing pain and the crevices of their own minds. Anna shivered at what her mother must be experiencing and resolved evermore to save her. Perhaps showing this witch that her mother was not what she believed most vampires to be would be a good start. "Mama always said that knowledge is power, and she resolved to know as much as possible. I can only imagine how much she'd love the world today – with limitless information at her fingertips," she added a little dreamily, filled with the kind of poignant ache that only stirs the soul of a child missing its parent. In that moment, despite her age, she felt like a little girl who just wanted to be held – who missed her mother.
Sheila studied her cautiously, curiously, though before she could reply, Stefan chose to make himself known again.
"This is…" he attempted, then gave up, evidently at a loss for words, all semblance of articulate speech quickly scurrying away from his confounded brain. He sighed, annoyed with his own inarticulate expression. "Why didn't anyone tell me before now?"
Sheila raised a dubious eyebrow, pointedly addressing him. "Are you honestly telling me that if you hadn't found out in a very similar situation, with me telling you – rather than your brother or Elena – that you would have believed a word of it?"
Stefan stayed silent, because he knew her implications to be true, though his face still wore a scowl, because he didn't particularly like it.
In a decidedly surprising turn of events, Damon found his manacles suddenly unlocked, his hands free. Cautiously, he schooled his facial expression to be nonchalant-bordering-on-amusement, but inside he was ready to do battle if necessary. "Well, this is an interesting turn of events. I'm glad to know that my scolding about consent was effective," he quipped, wagging a finger at her in mock-importance, his eyes widening in an exaggerated display of innocent earnestness. "And remember, if you participate in urban clean-up, and you, too, can become a Planet Hero."
The witch rolled her eyes, not entirely sure why he found himself so amusing. "I'm letting you go."
"Why?" he asked with poorly masked suspicion, his eyes immediately narrowing.
"You'll see," she smiled mysteriously, though he was hardly reassured by the calculating expression on her face. "If I don't get that temporal magic from you, I'm dead either way. Letting you go presents my best chance to live."
"I feel like we're getting really close to a Bond Villain Revelation speech, but we never quite got there, so what's standing on our way? Talk to me, Witchy. Do you have a name?" Damon asked in a tone that outwardly suggested playfulness but was steeped in alarm to anyone who knew him well.
"You'll learn my name if it benefits me, vampire," she snapped, evidently a proud member of the 'witch versus vampire' rivalry.
"You thought you said I had temporal magic?" Damon teased. "Doesn't that mean that I'm one of you? Maybe we can all eat magic mushrooms and braid each other's hair." Normally, he would have been thrilled to just kill her and get out of there, but instinct told him that any information he could get from her was enormously valuable. She threatened Elena, and she knew about her very mysterious new abilities? If they could even be called that.
"Not anymore," she barked a laugh. "Or not yet, depending on your perspective. Your kind of magic is still cursed on this time – inaccessible. Instead of temporal displacement, it's become perverted and corrupted, jumping not through time and space, but into other people's bodies."
"Yeah, I really don't need a refresher on Markos' Vagabond Gang, thanks," Damon retorted, rolling his eyes. "Or their creepy obsession with doppelgängers. I am curious about your plan, though. Come on!" he mockingly cajoled. "Don't you want to dazzle me with your brilliant scheme?"
She smirked indulgently. "If I don't get him some temporal magic, I'm dead. If he gets his temporal magic, I live. If, by some miracle, you actually manage to defeat … her… I guess I also live. So, you can trust that I'm looking out for my best interests – a notion with which I'm sure you're very familiar, Damon Salvatore," she explained with a trace of amusement. "You, on the other hand, are going to have to make a choice – and soon."
"Who's this 'her'?" Damon asked, finally feeing like they're getting somewhere.
"You'll see," she allowed, with a trace of mystique. "One more thing – revelio," she whispered, and Damon saw one of the runes painted on his chest disappear.
As Bonnie, Enzo, and Elena reached the Lockwood Mansion, Bonnie could feel the temporal disturbance careening throughout the atmosphere. He was here, somewhere in these grounds.
"So, this is the guy who took those photos of her and …." Elena trained off, still trying to wrap her conscious mind around a notion that was a little too scarily accepted by her subconscious.
"Yes, you and Damon," Bonnie snapped, then immediately regretted her harsh tone. She knew she was being unfair – Bonnie was an empathetic person – she could realistically place herself in Elena's shoes and comprehend just how disorienting it would be to lose time, and to find out that not only did her life turn out to be completely different than what she imagined, but that a future version of her was parading on her body – even though they were the same person, give or take a decade. Even as a witch, who felt the living fibers of magic in her very soul, she was utterly confused by this confounding notion.
Confused, and somewhat alarmed. If Elena's future consciousness could be untethered, what about her? What about Damon? Seventeen-year-old Elena was just a human, and ultimately harmless. She, on the other hand, was a fledgling witch, eager to prove herself, and not entirely known for her cool temper. And Damon – Damon in this period was still strutting through town with his humanity on a dimmer switch, desperate to save Katherine from the tomb, regardless of who he got hurt or of which secret affections for her doppelgänger his subconscious whispered.
If either she or Damon became untethered, the situation would be considerably more disastrous.
Enzo stayed quiet throughout this exchange, still trying to wrap his mind around this peculiar situation. He was familiar with magic and witches, of course - having procured a daylight ring courtesy of some very boisterous witch-pires with who he'd made acquaintance through a dashing lady who saved him from consumption. But this seemed to be of a different realm entirely.
"It's funny," Elena said, drawing her eyebrows together in consternation. "Even though she's gone – I feel something … different… here. Something feels, I don't know, off? Almost unhealthy," she tried to explain, then laughed at herself, feeling ridiculous. The witch version of her was gone. This was probably just a magical version of the placebo effect. "Forget it. It's probably just my imagination.
Bonnie's eyes widened in surprise. "No, that's – that's actually how it feels to be, except it's almost overwhelming. I feel myself almost getting sick, too." Maybe it doesn't disappear all at once. I guess Grams was right – there must be small traces of it left on you.
Elena allowed a smile to grace her features for the first time in what felt like hours, feeling almost validated. Maybe she could live up to that future version of her, after all.
It was at that moment that Bonnie received a call, anything even remotely easygoing in her expression immediately fading to be replaced by alarm. "Okay, thanks, Grams," she said into her phone, then hung up to the telltale ding of a text message. She opened it to find a map.
"Where are we going?" Elena breathed, studying the map Bonnie showed the other occupants of the vehicle.
"Grams found Damon, so we have to make a choice. We pursue this or –" Bonnie began.
"Let's go save him," Elena resolutely interrupted. It wasn't even a choice. It was the most obvious answer that came to her mind as naturally as she drew breath. The alternative – allowing him to die – left her with the most poignant, painful dread she could imagine. She didn't allow herself to dwell on her feelings – to fully analyze why it was so important to her that they rescue someone she had actively disliked not too long ago.
But did she really? Did she ever? No, she was not going to follow those questions to their conclusion. She didn't know what to think or make of her behavior.
All Elena knew was that she had to find a way to save him.
We see in S7 that Caroline made a career as a broadcast journalist (temporarily), so I think it's reasonable to assume she'd want to always be in the know! :D Plus, she's a gossipy little fashionista, so of course she'd be curious!
Sorry it's been a minute. I was stuck, and now I'm relatively unstuck. Many thanks to Kriz03 and Wobalo for their help in my unstuck-ness.
Wobalo's A True Best Friend is shaping up to be one of the best fics I've ever read – ever. It's excellently-written and characterized, and the best part is that it's unafraid to be emotionally complex, which I love. I strongly recommend everyone go check it out. It's an AU for S1 that imagines a world in which Lexi spirited Stefan away, leaving Damon as the sole Salvatore in Mystic Falls, and we have the pleasure of seeing how that story unfolds.
There's a very specific purpose for this arc, and I'll explain it a bit more when the time comes. I feel like this chapter is a bit of a set-up, with the resolution forthcoming.
Thanks to everyone who speculated about the identity of the girl speaking to Elena on the Astral Plane. You'll learn who she is by the end of this arc. :D You may or may not be surprised, but she's very important to the story.
Hugs to Kriz03, scarlett2112, Florencia7, Wobalo, and Ixilight for being awesome and supportive – and to all of you delightful souls. :)
Please be sure to leave a review, since I love reading all your opinions and speculations so very much. And be good to yourself and each other. Much love. :D