Author's note: Hi everyone! Thanks for all the love!

Creativity is the magic that all we humans make – and each and every one of us is an artist. Let's nurture that in one another – with love and positive affirmations. As we help each other's creative magic grow, we fill the world with more love and happiness all around. :)

They turned away from the Lockwood mansion almost immediately, instead heading toward its surrounding woods. Bonnie only made a show asking Elena her opinion, but the truth was, she would have saved her friend over learning the identity of their adversary any day.

And perhaps there was a way to do both.

Regardless, the information was in place, and the map seemed to point them to the tunnels that could only be entered through the Lockwood estate. Recalling her conversations with Althea during the year where the witch tried to convince her to follow her friends, the tunnels were the birthplace of vampirism and the Original family. It was here that the witch, Esther, cast the spell that would be both the curse and salvation of her children.

It was here that the Originals were born, along with every vampire that roamed the Earth.

It was here that a special magic permeated every molecule and seeped through every pore – the very essence of this place coated with the otherworldly.

"Do you think we'll pass the party?" Elena wondered aloud, feeling slightly uncomfortable, and honestly hoping that they wouldn't run into any mutual friends. Bonnie already informed her that the rest – her Grams, Stefan, and Anna – were on their way, in case assistance was needed. Explaining all this to anyone might prove to be too confusing and volatile, since she barely understood any of it herself.

"I hope not," Bonnie murmured, mostly to herself. Unusually quiet, Enzo took her hand to offer his support, to her receiving smile.

"If you need me to distract or entertain any of these so-called 'friends,' I'd be glad to lend my services," he offered, a charming grin firmly in place, confident in his abilities, now that he'd reintroduced both the world and himself to his talent as an entertainer.

The girls both smiled, though for entirely different reasons, and Bonnie's was considerably brighter. At least her love life seemed to be on an upward trajectory – finally. Although this Enzo had never met her previously – being of this time – they seemed to hit it off almost immediately, likely owing to the unusual nature of their meeting in this timeline – the dashing rescue; the romantic and altogether wild and whimsical tale of their traveling through spacetime; the sheer adventure that their lives had so quickly become.

Bonnie noted that Elena looked nervous and took her hand in her free one. "We'll find him. Don't worry," she reassured, correctly guessing the source of her friend's trepidation.

"I know, I …." Elena trailed off, looking far more worried than was making her comfortable. "I don't want anyone else to die."

"No one will, Elena," Bonnie said confidently, feeling the truth of it with every fiber of her soul – in the very magic within her, "not today. I won't let them."

Elena nodded resolutely, and the three entered the tunnels. They hit a barrier – it would appear Enzo lacked an invitation to go further. "I think this is as far as I go," Enzo lamented.

Bonnie nodded. "Okay," she whispered determinedly. "We'll have to make do. Wait for us here. We're getting out of here – all of us."

"No need," replied the haughty voice of a woman none of the three had met before. She was decidedly elegant, with a tight updo, taking a moment to study the trio before making her measured approach. "This is as far as you need to go. You're deep enough to the tunnels that the ancestral magic can do its work. Combined with my use of Expression, we'll have all we need."

"And you are?" Enzo asked dubiously, having spent enough time with dodgy characters in his life to smell a trap.

She smiled serenely then, though the emotion she evoked in her three interlocutors was quite the opposite. "I'm the one you've been searching for – the one you've been tracking. I'm the one who has your vampire."

"Let him go!" Elena announced, feeling at once angry and embarrassed by her childish outburst. Why would she – this obviously powerful witch – let him go just because she demanded it?

"Oh, I already have," the witch replied smoothly, the picture of innocence. "You'll see him soon enough."

"Great!" Bonnie sassed. "Then we'll just take our friend and be on our way, then. See you never!"

"Of course," the witch agreed magnanimously. "Take him. I just need something from Elena in return."

"How do you know who I am – who we are?" Elena asked dubiously, anxiety rising in her tone.

"I have my ways," the witch smiled secretly. "To which you are unlikely to be privy. But that hardly matters now. But there's something I need before I can let you go – your temporal magic."

"She's not doing that," Bonnie announced flatly, yet firmly.

"I'm afraid the plan is already in place. All the attendees of that sad little teenage party on the Lockwood grounds are dead once I give the word, unless you give up your temporal magic, Elena," the witch revealed.

Not knowing whether or not the witch was bluffing, Elena turned to Bonnie to seek counsel. Her witchy friend's ever-widening eyes in apparent alarm did little to soothe the anxiety fluttering within her.

"It's true," Bonnie whispered growing incandescent with rage. "I can feel the stranglehold of Expression all throughout the property."

"That far away?" Elena asked, somehow managing to still be impressed despite the dire situation. Just how powerful did her friend become over the years?

Bonnie nodded grimly, her eyes narrowing at their magical adversary. "You think you can manipulate us? I can take down ten of you, easily," she growled. "Phasmatos inc –"

"Uh-uh-uh," the witch cautioned with a shake of her head, interrupting Bonnie. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I've placed a time-release wood-attraction spell on your vampire friend, and only I know how to deactivate it. If you kill me, you'll never save him. How long do you think it'll take for wood of just the right shape to pierce him in his heart?"

"Once you die, the spell deactivates automatically," Bonnie shot back, knowing that this wasn't always her case, but she hoped to call her bluff.

"Because that's exactly what happened to your friend's magical coma after that heretic was killed?" the witch prodded knowingly. "You can take the risk that I'm lying, of course, but we both know that you won't."

"Why are you doing this?" Elena asked, her worry driving her to near-tears.

"Because I'm trying to stay alive here," the witch answered flatly. "And wouldn't you know it? You're the only one who can save them all, Elena," she offered, her lips curving into a mockery of a smile.

"How?" Elena asked, trembling.

"Don't listen to her!" Bonnie commanded, sensing a trap. She immediately moved to grab the witch's head in her hands, searching the magic within her body to try to remove the spell. Seething, Bonnie echoed internally that this bitch had no idea who she was dealing with – she'd decimate her for trying to hurt her friends. Closing her eyes, she searched her mind – finding the Astral Plane, a familiar presence, though corrupted – the masked one – and one further, elusive, yet one so – almost close, and yet not. Though tempted to discover their identities, she instead focused on the task at hand. She had to stop the spell. If she did, she could prevent Elena from acting on this foolishness. She knew one thing with perfect clarity then.

Bonnie had to save her friends, and so would move spacetime itself to make this happen – let alone sift through the mind and magic of one vile Expression witch.

"All you have to do," she explained patiently, with a touch of smugness to her tone, pointedly ignoring Bonnie and what she knew was going to eventually going to be a successful attempt to diffuse her spell, so she had to hurry and manipulate the teenager, "is give up your temporal magic."

"But … I don't have any," Elena argued with confusion. "That's her," she emphasized, referring to her future self. "I'm just a human," she added glumly.

"Perhaps," the witch agreed with a careless shrug, "but I can still feel traces of it on you. And once I inject you with the vampire's blood, your psyches will re-merge, and the temporal magic will flood into you once again."

"Elena, no!" Bonnie cried with alarm. "Don't do this – you'll die. The temporal magic is all that's keeping you from deteriorating. Time senses the anomaly and the ravages of temporal displacement are no joke. Trust me," she pleaded with friend. "There's a reason she wants this so badly," Bonnie growled at the witch.

Elena shook her head, coming to a conclusion. "I have to Bonnie," she said calmly. If she was the only one who could save them, then she must. She should have been dead months ago, anyway. Maybe this was just life playing catch-up. What right did she deserve to live, when it was her fault that her parents died? That Jeremy was an orphan? The Jenna had to uproot her entire life to become a guardian to teenagers?

"Wise choice," the witch prompted.

"Elena, no, stop!" Bonnie begged, with rising panic, suddenly hit full in the face with the raging death-wish her friend had as a teenager, which manifested in all sorts of ways, until it was finally granted in the depths of the river under Wickery Bridge. "Please."

"How do I do this?" Elena asked, ignoring her friend's frantic pleas.

"Close your eyes," the witch instructed sternly. "Feel the pull of whatever little residual magic is left in your system. There isn't much in you, but magic is everywhere, and the influence of what your future self left behind lingers still, despite not being the kind that's readily available. Magic recognizes magic," she continued explaining, her voice almost affecting a dreamy tone.

Elena closed her eyes, allowing her feelings to extend deep within and all around her. She felt – a connection – like never before, except… Water. It was a connection she frequently felt when visiting the falls, and when sneaking a swim in its base, when – she felt so very connected to all around her that it was almost … magic.

Magic.

"What do I do?" Elena breathed.

"Agree to give it away," the witch replied severely. "Do it internally, with all your heart. Do it, and those at the Lockwood estate will be safe, once the transfer is complete."

Elena looked hesitant, suddenly enamored with this world open before her. "And doing this will keep everyone safe?"

The witch felt Bonnie nearing the loophole that would destroy her spell on Damon, thus rendering this entire exercise futile, so she knew she had to up the ante, and used the knowledge that the woman she feared most threw at her disposal. A part of her knew this was wrong, but her very survival was at stake. "Don't you think you owe it to them, Elena, to actually save some lives? After taking two such important ones just in May? Maybe even more, if you think about all the lives your father could have saved as the town's physician." she asked, twisting the knife. The rolling guilt came off Elena in waves, the genuine, stalwart belief that she was responsible for their deaths – only confirmed on the Astral Plane by another witch in preparation for this task, should emotional blackmail become an inevitability. "They died because of you, and yet you survived. How is any of that fair? Shouldn't it be time to even the scales?"

Elena reeled back as if struck, her eyes instantly filling with tears. Yes, she was a monster – she was the one who called them – who killed them.

"You bitch!" Bonnie roared, doubling her efforts to sift through the woman's brain, as the effort rendered them both inert, screaming in pain – the witch through Bonnie's less-than-gentle exploration and something else – a kind of built-in spell cast on the witch designed to protect the knowledge that she wielded from any over-curious parties. "Don't do this Elena, please! Please!" Bonnie begged, though a part of her knew it was futile.

And though at that moment Bonnie successfully disabled the spell cast on Damon, it was too late, because the words of the witch affected Elena too deeply in her core – in a profound center that felt them to be entirely too true – and she consented to give her temporal magic away, with all her heart, ready to face death.

As soon as the pact was made, the witch was seemingly whisked away from the scene, and in her place appeared a circle of stones, infused with magic.

Damon blurred through the tunnels, desperate to find his way out and warn Elena and Bonnie of the looming dangers, but they proved to be a veritable maze – a magic one, he realized. The was no way out, unless the spell was removed. He'd heard of a similar spell being a beloved trick of the New Orleans witches, famously cast on the Mikaelson family and Hayley to prevent them reaching then-infant Hope in time to save her.

The only way to break it was with a counter-spell. It appeared that the feat became unnecessary when the witch who'd held him prisoner previously suddenly appeared before him.

"I'm not trying to send you mixed signals or anything," Damon offered, widening his eyes in an exaggerated show of innocence. "I just honestly couldn't be less interested. I only like witches who can keep their promises – at least ones about letting me go, so let's get to it."

"I can send you away, but I don't think you'll want to leave anymore." she smirked. "Elena has consented to give up her temporal magic. She made the vow. The exchange is imminent."

"You're lying!" he growled. "She doesn't even have any – not now." The thought that all her temporal magic would come rushing back the second his Elena returned hit him with the all the subtlety of a freight train.

She was gone.

"Perhaps not at the moment, but you seem to forget that I'd bled you, and taken your blood. The magic will ebb away slowly the second anyone injects her with even a drop of it, vampire – or sneaks it into her drink – or finds any conceivable way to get it inside her. You and I both know you can't protect her from that forever," she enlightened slyly, then narrowed her eyes, sizing him up, knowing with near certainty that she'd won. "But you can volunteer to take her place."

If she ever came back, she would die. Which was the better fate? To die in her corporeal form and spend the rest of existence on the Other Side or to stay in the mysterious realm that was the source of all knowledge?

Given the solitary nature of the Other Side that they were all horrified to discover, perhaps she would be better off where she was - swimming in what she called "the Forms." Either way, he was unlikely to ever see her again, and the idea pierced him more than the sharpest stake – shattering him entirely. He had no idea how to de-merge his consciousness to follow her, if he even could. So, what awaited him was either eternal loneliness on the Other Side, or Cade's hellscape, once that was destroyed – if they even manage to do so in this timeline. Maybe Bon-Bon might take care of Cade eventually, with Stef's help, and then he'd eventually find Peace. Would his Elena's soul ever make it there, as well? Or was she stuck floating through the limitless expanse of cosmic knowledge forever?

And he never even got to say goodbye, so confident that he'd see again her mere hours after a conversation with his brother. So foolish.

"You scheming bitch," he ground out, suddenly feeling defeated. Without a second thought, he made a lunge for her neck – maybe if he killed her, the exchange wouldn't have to take place.

The witch responded with a brain aneurysm attack, sending Damon to his knees in agony. "The exchange will take place regardless of whether I'm alive or dead – she made the vow. And if you kill me, you'll never remove the wood-attraction spell I cast – due to begin the second you leave this lair," she revealed with marked pride in her abilities.

"Maybe I just want the pleasure of ripping your throat out," he growled. "If one of us has to die, why shouldn't you?"

"I'm just trying to stay alive here, Damon. Surely you can understand that," she retorted airily, and in the next moment, they were in the same space as Elena, Bonnie, and Enzo.

"What makes you think I'll let you live?" Bonnie roared in her direction, her irises disappearing in the white of her sclera as the power and the rage overtook her, and she levitated above the ground.

"Because if you kill me, then I won't tell you how to save her," the witch spoke fast, halting them in their tracks, though it was clear from the dubious expressions on their faces that they weren't entirely trusting of her forthcoming words, especially given her less than trustworthy behavior.

"So, talk," Bonnie coolly commanded, lowering herself to the ground again, her irises and pupils once again forming in her eyes as she allowed her power to recede visibly.

"I want assurances," the witch thrust her chin up defiantly. "I want to know that you won't kill me as soon as I tell you how."

"The hell we won't!" Damon announced. "You as good as killed one of us, and you can be damn sure that we'll return the favor," he sneered, suddenly softening when his eyes fell on Elena's sullen form. She looked so small, yet so resolved. How could she agree to this? He had a very strong feeling that the witch managed to exploit the biggest weakness she had as a teenager – Elena had always been entirely too easily manipulated through guilt and shame, but this was especially true when she was seventeen, freshly reeling from that car accident that changed everything. "Bon, check if she's telling the truth about this vow – and if she is," he swallowed thickly, his voice breaking, "I'm taking her place."

Elena looked up sharply. This was not what she wanted – not what she intended. Her goal – her purpose – was to pay penance for her crimes, not kill yet another person. Her eyes widened in horror, and she shook her head. "No, no! It's mine. I chose this."

"Hey," Damon said softly. Taking a chance, feeling like this was quite possibly the last time he'd ever see her – so he had to make it count – he gently placed his palms on her cheeks. It was a gesture he'd done thousands of times for her; and she for him – it was their secret, physical language when the need to create and draw comfort went beyond words. But for her, it was the first time – from someone he knew she didn't trust – and he only hoped that she would accept the affection as it was meant to. To his surprise and relief, she almost seemed to lean into the touch, perhaps without even realizing – a subconscious need for the security that it offered. "There's something I need to tell you, while there's still time – something you really need to hear." At this moment, it was as though no one else was in the room. He had to tell her. She needed to hear this. It was that important.

Elena's eyes widened in alarm. Why did this all sound so final? It was supposed to be her sacrifice, not his. She wouldn't let him. She'd find a way – she had to.

"It's something we talked about lot – or will talk about – or I guess we won't anymore," he smiled sadly, though it didn't reach his eyes. "So, this might be my only opportunity to tell you," he explained, then looked at her with marked intensity, hoping it would catapult her to really listen. "It wasn't your fault."

"What wasn't?" Elena asked with barely a whisper, not at all expecting the conversation to go in this direction.

"What happened with your parents that night," he offered. When she was about to protest, he continued, "I know you blame yourself. I know all your arguments – that you weren't even supposed to be out that night, that you were grounded, that you chose a party over family night, that you called them – your entire litany of so-called sins and misdeeds."

"You don't know anything about it!" she cried petulantly, though her ire was more aimed at herself, resolved to never forgive herself. She was selfish and she took lives. She deserved this.

"Don't I?" he smiled, though now it appeared more genuine, holding sincere affection and a trace of humor. "You and your friends decided to take it upon yourselves, eschewing the strict traditions of Mystic Falls, and let your inner rebels out with a Beltane celebration – one that that took place about three weeks too late, because the weather had to be perfect," he grinned with clear fondness at their teenage audacity, taking every few seconds to wipe a stray tear from her cheek with a thumb. "And then you had a fight with the Quarterback because he wanted a future with you that you didn't – and," he left himself trail off, half-considering returning the memory of their first meeting. She would get it upon his death, anyway. Maybe giving it to her now, while she still had the chance to confront him about it and get some closure would be kinder. "It wasn't your fault, Elena."

"But it was! If I didn't? –" she sobbed, surprised to find his arms wrapped tightly around her, and surprising herself when she snuggled into his embrace, seeking comfort. It felt so unusual, yet so right. This wasn't fair. She couldn't let him die for her. So this was him? The one with whom her future self fell so deeply in love? And now she'd never know? The very notion crushed everything inside her until she felt she was made of disintegrating particles of imaginary substance – of nothing.

"No, you didn't. You didn't kill them," he urged, knowing what was on her mind from the conversations he had with the version she may one day become, stroking her hair in a way he knew soothed her. "You know who you acted like?" When she opened her mouth to say what he knew would be a self-recriminating insult, he continued. "A teenager. A regular, rebellious teenager. What happened was an accident. It doesn't have to be anyone's fault. Sometimes these things just happen."

"But –"

"It wasn't your fault, Elena. You need to forgive yourself. You need to let this go, and live your life." He pulled away then, placing his hands around her cheeks again, and looked deeply into her eyes with more affection than she had ever seen wrapped in one gaze. "You need to find a way to be happy, and I know you can be. I've seen it. You are the best person I know –"

"That isn't me," she interrupted. "Not yet."

"You will be," he reassured. "You're strong, and filled with love, and you make everyone around you better – and you spread joy, and you will learn to do that again someday. I know you will."

"This isn't fair," she murmured. "I won't even have the chance to get to know you."

"Then you won't know what you'd have lost," he replied wistfully. "You'll be okay, Elena."

"But why?" she sobbed into his chest. "Why would you do this?"

"It has to be me. I'm the only one who can. No one else currently has temporal magic," he replied. Technically, he knew what he said to be true – but only technically. Elena's temporal magic wouldn't be back until she re-merged with her future self.

Elena looked at Damon, and decided to take a gamble that her future self wasn't that different from her and would do anything to save him. Schooling anything that could have been a scheming look off her face, she distanced to look at him, knowing it might be the very last time, and for reasons that she wouldn't want to admit to herself, her heart shattered into millions of tiny fractals. Hoping it would work, she decided to make him an offer she very much doubted he'd be able to refuse. "Do you want to say goodbye – to her?" she whispered meaningfully.

"Yes," he breathed. "But I can't. The second she comes back, then spell starts, and you die."

"Wouldn't she just blink out of existence, anyway? Or get stuck wherever she is now, forever?" Elena argued, hoping her plan works. "Doesn't she deserve the right to say goodbye?"

"For the last time," Bonnie growled, mentally wrestling with the witch to see if she can disable the spell. "You're the same person!" All this melodrama was ridiculous, she internally asserted.

She would save them all. She had to. Bonnie Bennett was absolutely not letting anyone die today, and she was not about to lose any more friends – not to this Expression bitch, not to Cade, not to humanity-free Stefan, not to anyone.

Bonnie was determined to bring everyone she loves home. Alive and well.

She could see Damon's resolve crumbling, understanding that he's likely trying to scheme a way to die before Elena could, but unable to bring himself to prevent her from saying goodbye – from them both from seeing each other one last time, as though they didn't realize she'd save them.

She had to.

It was at that moment that she saw her Grams, Stefan, and Anna walk into the tunnels. The stage was set.

Showtime.

So, I may have self-plagiarized a bit with Elena and Damon's conversation about the night of the car accident, since it follows a very similar beat to the one in the first chapter of Chaotic Good, where I also had them throw a belated Beltane party. A few of you already noticed that all my stories take place within the same multi-verse. :D Honestly, I included this scene because every version of S1 Elena deserves to hear that what happened wasn't her fault, because she has one of the most obvious cases of undiagnosed survivor's guilt and PTSD I've seen in television (given that she went out on family night, and called her parents, and was in the car when this happened, so obviously she blames herself, and it comes out in death-seeking behavior because she doesn't feel like she deserves to be alive), so it's a crime this conversation never actually took place in the series. The closest we ever came to it was her trying to make Stefan feel better and making everything all about him – again. Human Elena seriously seldom had a life outside of him, so it wasn't surprising that she got such a massive glow-up soon after turning and leaving him. This became especially true in S5, once the sire bond was broken, and even more so once the doppelgänger love spell was broken. :D Yay, agency!

Legacies likes to play with time-released spells, so I see no reason why the witch couldn't use one in a TVD fanfic. :D

Soo, I honestly expected to get a lot further in this chapter, but it would have become overlong. Anyone who predicted a trap, good guess. :D

Much love to you beautiful humans.

And please be sure to leave a review! I love to hear all your delightful opinions, and thoughts, and feelings! :D