"Where are you?"

"Rebekah and I are in Richmond, tracking down Finn," Klaus answered Lucy through the phone. "I had a witch do a locater spell on him."

"And is the witch who located Finn the witch who is also unlinking us?" Lucy hummed, holding up her index finger in response to Caroline gesturing wildly for her attention. "Because Bonnie said she'd help me."

"She's helping us?"

"She's helping me," Lucy corrected him. "The sooner this anti-siphon carving is gone, the sooner I can defend myself."

"Well, I have a witch on standby to unlink us," Klaus informed her. "I just need you to drop off a blood sample at the house."

"Will do," Lucy sighed. "Tell Rebekah that the committee voted and we're doing the twenties."

"I'm not an owl."

"Okay, Hermione," Lucy muttered sarcastically. "See you later."

"Bye, love."

Lucy rolled her eyes and dropped her phone on Caroline's bed. Her blonde best friend snickered at her and pulled her binder full of dance ideas off of her bookshelf before plopping down on the bed next to her.

"So, the twenties-idea is a go, which means all of our plans for the seventies dance is put on the back burner," Caroline sighed in annoyance. "I can't believe you let Rebekah talk you into a decade we already covered."

"Of, don't complain," Lucy nudged her playfully. "You love the twenties."

"No, I love the seventies."

"Well, it's a good thing that the next decade dance is yours to plan," Lucy grinned; Caroline rolled her eyes. "Besides, with what you told me about Tyler, I came up with the perfect plan for you to sneak away without Nik finding out that he's back."

"Good thing I'm a great actress," Caroline sighed and fell onto her back. "We just need Matt to really sell it."

"He will," Lucy assured her. "Have you heard from him today? I tried calling him but he didn't answer."

"He didn't answer my texts," Caroline shook her head. "I can't believe it's been a year since Vicki died."

"I know," the reminder of Vicki's death sobered Lucy. She turned her head toward Caroline and frowned, dreading what she had to tell her. "Care, I have to tell you something…"

Caroline furrowed her eyebrows as she twist to face Lucy. "What?"

There was no easy way to tell Caroline that Alaric was the one who killed her father but she had to tell her the truth. She owed that to Caroline and she didn't want her best friend to find out from someone else. It should come from Lucy.

She quietly told Caroline about what Alaric did to her father, holding her hand tightly as she stiffened at the news. Caroline's eyes started to water as she processed what really happened to her beloved father

"Ric killed my father."

"I'm so sorry, Care," Lucy frowned sadly. "I don't expect you to be okay with this. I really don't, but at least the herbs that Bonnie gave him are keeping the dark side of him buried."

Caroline scoffed and sat up, tears falling from her eyes. "And that's supposed to make everything okay?"

"No, of course not," Lucy shook her head, sitting up as well. "It's not okay, Care. It's horrible and I know that…but Ric, he's not in control, you know? He's a victim of somethings supernatural. He didn't ask for this."

"None of us did," Caroline wiped her eyes, an understanding look falling across her face. "Stefan, Tyler, Abby…"

"And you," Lucy finished. "I'm really sorry, Care. If there's anything I can do…"

"The fact that you're here is helping," Caroline smiled softly.

Lucy sighed and wrapped her arms around Caroline's shoulders, squeezing her into a tight hug. Caroline buried her head in her shoulder and sniffed away the remaining of her tears, pulling herself together.

She pulled away from the hug and gave Lucy a smile. "Okay, we need to start planning. We only have five days to make sure everything comes together."

"It'll be a piece of cake," Lucy waved her off. "Especially since I have an expert on all things Gatsby coming to pick us up."

Caroline raised an eyebrow at her. "Stefan's coming over?"

"Yep, we're going shopping in Charlottesville," Lucy informed her. "And he also told me that there's some vintage stuff at his house. The Salvatores are pack rats, trust me."

"Wait, are you serious?"

"Very serious. Let's just say that Super-Stefan came to the rescue."

Two hours later, after Stefan picked Lucy and Caroline up from the latter's house and they dropped off some of Lucy's blood at Klaus' mansion, the three of had arrived in Charlottesville. Their first stop was the store where they rented photobooths for every dance at the school and then they headed to the large party planning store near the mall.

Lucy frowned and checked her phone as they entered the store, hoping that Bonnie had called her back. She hadn't and Lucy was growing worried. She had plans to meet up with Bonnie that evening so she could unlink her from Rebekah, Klaus, Elijah, Finn, and Kol but so far, she hadn't heard from the witch.

"Care, have you heard from Bonnie?" she asked as she grabbed a cart.

"No. Actually, I haven't heard from anyone," Caroline furrowed her eyebrows and quickly checked her phone.

"Damon and Joel were doing something at Alaric's apartment but they wouldn't tell me what they were up to," Stefan sighed as they started down the first aisle.

"And Elena hasn't called you either?"

"Nope," Stefan shook his head and focused on the decorations in front of him. "What color theme were you going to go with?"

Lucy didn't think anything of Stefan's quick change of conversation. "Uh, I was thinking black and white."

"Stick with the classy, not tacky," Caroline approved. She reached toward some black stars. "How about these? We can dangle them from the ceiling."

Lucy nodded with a smile and Stefan and Caroline grabbed the whole stock of the stars, along with silver and white ones, and added them to her cart. They continued on through the store, grabbing anything that fit their black and white twenties theme.

The sun had set by the time that they finished up their shopping in Charlottesville and arrived back in Mystic Falls. As Stefan drove Lucy's car through city limits, Lucy hissed as her right hand started to sting and tingle.

"What's wrong?" Stefan looked at her with concern.

"I don't know," Lucy frowned and ripped the bandage off of her hand. Where there used to be an upside-down 'T' carved into her hand was smooth, unblemished skin. "The anti-siphon symbol is gone."

"It is?" Caroline popped her head between Lucy and Stefan's seats; Lucy nodded. "Maybe Bonnie unlinked you."

"Or the witch Nik has unlinked us," Lucy sighed. "I hope that's the case; I want this whole linking thing to be over with."

"Me too," Stefan sighed and gave Lucy a small smile. "It'd be nice not to be in the middle of a drawn-out war between vampire siblings."

Caroline scoffed in amusement. "Our lives are so weird."

"Tell me about it."

Stefan pulled up to the Boarding House after they dropped the decorations off at the school. Elena was waiting in the living room but Alaric wasn't there, which was weird because last Lucy knew, he was supposed to be supervised by Damon.

"Hey," Lucy greeted Elena. "Where's Ric?"

"He's at his loft," Elena informed her, giving Stefan and Caroline smiles. "I gave him a bottle of Bonnie's herbs. He seemed okay."

Lucy sighed in relief. "Good."

"Did you see Bonnie today?" Elena asked her. "Joel said you were being unlinked."

"No, she never called me back," Lucy shook her head and held up her right hand. "I'm unlinked, though."

Elena's eyes widened in relief and shock. "When were you unlinked?"

"It was only ten minutes ago," Caroline spoke up, reading the look in Elena's eyes. "What's wrong?"

As if answering Caroline's question, Joel walked into the room. Elena hurriedly turned to him, eyebrows raised in question. Joel simply sighed and put his hands on hips looking over her, Lucy, Stefan, and Caroline.

"Finn's dead."

Elena sighed in relief. "Which means they're all dead."

Lucy furrowed her eyebrows at her siblings, slowly realizing what they were talking about. They had killed Finn—they killed Finn? How on earth did they kill Finn without a weapon? Why would they even attempt to kill her other siblings after all that Lucy was going through—what she had gone through? She wasn't even unlinked until she arrived in Mystic Falls, so did that mean they were planning on killing her, too?

"You killed my brother?" Lucy's voice was flat.

Behind her, Stefan and Caroline exchanged worried looks. If killing had worked on all the Mikaelson siblings but Lucy, she wasn't going to react well. They both knew that Finn was Lucy's least favorite sibling out of all of them—she wouldn't admit it but they knew her too well—but she still loved him.

Elena sighed. "Lucy…"

"You know, I thought that you would stop after I was linked to them," Lucy's gaze hardened as she looked between Joel and Elena. "Never mind the fact that I could have died, you killed my brother! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Tears welled in her eyes as memories of Finn and Luciana flashed through her mind. She tried to push them away, sealing her grief so she could focus on her anger. Unfortunately, Lucy cried when she was angry, too.

"Look at what they've done to us, Lucy!" Elena argued. "Klaus sacrificed me on an alter of fire. He uses my blood to turn werewolves into hybrids. Rebekah tried to kill me! How can you blindly love them?"

"Because they're my siblings, too!" Lucy pointed out. "I love them just like I love you guys and Jeremy. I wouldn't sit around and let someone kill you, would I?"

"Klaus killed Jenna," Joel reminded her. "Were we supposed to just let that go?"

"Of course, not!" Lucy wiped her tears but they kept falling.

Of course, she understood Elena and Joel's anger with Klaus—she did. And she mourned Jenna just like them but she couldn't help but love Klaus, Rebekah, and the others. She had a whole lifetime with them, too, and she wasn't the type of person to let someone hurt the people she loved. She wouldn't let anything happen to Elena, Joel, and Jeremy, so why would she let someone hurt her other siblings?

"All right," Stefan stepped forward, gently grabbing Lucy's arm; Elena's eyes tracked his movements. "How about we calm down. Obviously we're all tense, here."

Elena seemed to take his advice, her eyes softening as she looked back to Lucy. "Look, Luce, I'm sorry about Finn but we had a chance at Klaus and we took it."

Lucy couldn't believe Elena was even saying that to her. She was sorry that they killed Finn? Why the hell would they kill him then? She was sorry?

Lucy's mind raced as she tried to absorb everything. She felt so overwhelmed; Finn was dead, Joel and Elena killed him and tried to kill the rest of her original siblings, and they could have killed her if she wasn't unlinked in time.

Elena's phone rang, interrupting her train of thought. Elena quickly answered the call, turning away from the others.

"Bonnie, where have you been?" she spoke into the phone. There was a pause as Bonnie answered; Lucy was the only one unable to hear what Bonnie was saying and it frustrated the hell out of her. "Klaus should be dead. They should all be dead but Lucy. We just killed Finn."

Whatever Bonnie told Elena, it seemed to disappoint Joel. He slumped and sighed heavily while Caroline gave Lucy a reassuring look. Lucy didn't know why, but she figured that it had to do with the reason she was unlinked.

"Where's Damon?"

Bonnie quickly explained something to Elena and in response, Elena asked if she was okay. She didn't speak for a moment before Bonnie hung up; Elena sighed and pocketed her phone as she turned to the others.

"That's why the symbol on Lucy's hand went away," Caroline said quietly. "She unlinked them all."

Lucy exhaled in relief, glad that Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol were safe. Joel, however, did not seem anywhere near as happy or relieved as Lucy. His eyes had narrowed into slits as he pulled a stake from his pocket.

Elena's eyes widened when she saw it. "Joel, no," she objected, knowing that he wanted to go kill Klaus himself. "Klaus is stronger than you. We need another plan."

"What we need is for Klaus to be dead," Joel stated firmly as he walked toward the foyer. Elena followed him, as did Lucy, Stefan, and Caroline.

"Joel, stop!"

"He doesn't get to get away with everything he's done," Joel reached the door and swung it open, intending to leave.

To everyone's great surprise, a red-headed woman stood on the other side of the door, a man by her side. Lucy had absolutely no idea who she was but it became apparent that she was a vampire, as she easily picked up Joel and threw him back into the living room.

Stefan and Caroline reacted immediately; the woman pushed Caroline away from her and slapped Stefan across the face so hard Lucy was surprised his neck didn't snap. Lucy reached for her necklace but the male vampire grabbed her, rendering her useless.

"I'm not here for you," the woman declared, looking between Lucy, Caroline, and Stefan before her eyes landed on Joel. "I'm here for him."

"Sage!" Stefan called out, obviously recognizing the woman. "Stop!"

"Good, you remember me," Sage nodded furiously. "Then you can tell your friend here that I like to go all ten rounds."

Joel tried to scramble to his feet but Sage kicked him back down, breaking several bones. Lucy fought against the man holding onto her but he was strong enough to keep her in place and fight off Stefan and Lucy. He must have been more than three hundred years older than Stefan.

Suddenly, Sage started to gag, her face paling drastically. Lucy watched in confusion as she, and the vampire holding onto her, started coughing up blood.

"Sage?"

"Troy," Sage gagged in response, more blood dripping into her hand. "help me!"

Sage dropped to the floor, Troy following now long after her. They must have thrown up a few quarts of blood each onto the Salvatores' expensive rug before they stilled, their skin turning gray. They had died, out of nowhere.

What the hell was going on?

Lucy, Stefan, Caroline, Elena, and Joel stood around Sage and Troy's bodies, looking at them in shock. They had absolutely no idea what had killed them and they had no clue where to start. As Lucy went to sit on the couch, the others started to share theories.

"So, Sage and this Troy guy die within an hour of Finn…" Caroline mused thoughtfully.

"But why?" Elena asked pensively. "Were they bitten by a hybrid, or…?"

Caroline shook her head. "Hybrid bites don't look like that," she disagreed. "Maybe Sage was so in love with Finn she just died of sadness."

"That doesn't explain Troy…" Stefan pointed out, walking over to stand next to Lucy. He lowered his hand, offering his support, and she grabbed it, feeling a little bit better as he squeezed her comfortingly.

"It's the blood," Joel spoke up in realization. "The bloodline, it has to be. Think about it, Finn turned Sage and Sage turned Troy. They're all part of the same vampire bloodline that originated with Finn."

"Wait, so when an Original dies, every vampire turned in their bloodline dies along with them?" Caroline furrowed her eyebrows. "Because that—that would mean…"

"If the Originals die, we all die with them," Stefan finished with a sigh. "Every vampire in the world would die."

Lucy buried her head into Stefan's pillow, snuggling into his cool sheets. Soon after they discovered that if an Original died, so did their bloodline, she left the living room. She went to Stefan's room instead of the usual guest room she stayed in because she knew from the couple of times they hung out in there, she felt comfortable.

She needed a little comfort at the moment. Sure, she wasn't Finn's biggest fan but she still loved him. Klaus, Rebekah, Elijah, and Kol loved him too, even if they didn't always show it. When Mikael had died, Lucy didn't feel anything but satisfaction that the monster was dead; but with Finn… she just wished she was there to stop it.

She lifted her head when Stefan's door opened; Caroline walked into the room, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Stefan went with Joel to trade the rest of the white oak stakes for Damon," she explained as she walked over to the bed and took a seat by Lucy's waist. "He said he'd be back soon."

Lucy nodded. "Were you stuck with vampire disposal?"

"Yeah. It's definitely not my strong suit," Caroline laughed before sobering. "Listen, Luce, Elena told me that they're keeping enough stakes so they can kill three of the four Originals left."

Lucy scoffed bitterly. "Of course, they are. I'm sure they're hoping that Elijah started their bloodline."

"How would they even find out?"

"You were turned by Joel, who was turned by Isobel, who was turned by Damon," Lucy recalled thoughtfully. "Stefan and Damon were turned by Katherine and she was turned by a vampire named Rose. I have no idea who Rose was turned by."

"Great…"

"Yeah."

It was quiet for a few seconds as Caroline thought through the information she received. Lucy watched her face as her expressions went through several emotions before she landed on horror.

"What's wrong?"

"Even if Klaus didn't create our bloodline, we know for a fact that he turned one of us," Caroline explained slowly, her voice wavering. "If they kill Klaus, Tyler will die."

Lucy closed her eyes; as if things couldn't get bad enough.

The fire provided some warmth as Stefan paced around the library, a glass of blood in his hand. He sipped at it occasionally, taking Damon's advice about controlling the pace of his drinking. The night really hadn't turned out so well and between helping Lucy get through the death of one of her brothers and stopping Klaus from killing Joel when they went to get Damon, he could probably use a drink stronger than blood.

He swallowed the rest of the blood and set the glass down at the bar. He grabbed an empty glass and filled it with bourbon, swallowing it down with a grimace. He went to pour another shot when he heard footsteps enter the room.

Elena had walked into the library and was looking at him hesitantly. "Hey."

Stefan gave her a strained smile. "Hey."

Everything was different with Elena now. He knew exactly when things had changed between them—the moment that he left Mystic Falls with Klaus—but he couldn't remember when his feelings had changed. A year ago, he was willing to do whatever it took to get her back because he loved her so much and now…Now he was in love with her sister.

"Um, how is Lucy?"

"She's asleep," Stefan told her, taking another drink of his bourbon. "She was pretty upset."

It was funny how time changed things. When he first met Elena, she was willing to bend over backward for her siblings. There were times where she and Stefan talked about how much she loved Lucy, Joel, and Jeremy and how she would do whatever it took to make sure they were okay after their parents died. She was concerned about Lucy's panic attacks, Joel's absence around the house, and Jeremy's drug use and had confessed to Stefan that she sometimes didn't know what to do to make them feel better.

A year later and Elena was different. He was different, too, and he didn't blame Elena for changing but…she wasn't the girl he fell in love with. The Elena he fell in love with was selfless and put others before herself. She loved fiercely and would stop to think things through before acting on whatever impulse she had.

Elena grimaced. "Yeah…Can I ask you a question, Stefan?"

"Sure."

"You have as much a right to kill Klaus as any of us," Elena stated, raising her eyebrows a little. "Why don't you want to?"

Stefan wasn't the man that Elena fell in love with a year ago, either. He hadn't gained much control around human blood but he had some. His temper had worsened but he was able to think more rationally. His relationship with his brother was far better than the year before and he had gained friendships with Caroline and Joel. He did terrible things over the summer and at the beginning of the school year but he had overcome his problems. He had overcome all the shit that Klaus put him through.

"He's not worth it," Stefan answered her. "I did terrible things and yeah, some of them were because of Klaus. There are times that I can hardly stand to look at his face because it makes me sick to my stomach but killing him wouldn't do anything."

"I still did those horrible things; I still hurt you, I hurt Lucy, I hurt Damon," he continued, setting his glass down so he could face her head-on. "Killing Klaus wouldn't reverse time so I could take that back. Revenge isn't worth it. It's not worth losing…"

Stefan trailed off, hesitant to finish. He wasn't in love with Elena anymore but he still cared for her very much. He didn't want to hurt her or ruin her relationship with her sister.

He couldn't remember when his feelings started to change for Elena but he knew exactly when he started having feelings for Lucy. He never had platonic feelings for her, really, but he knew the exact moment when he realized that love Lucy more than a friend.

It was Founder's Day; the sun was setting and the fireworks were about to start. He found Lucy eating her second bag of blue cotton candy—Lucy wasn't herself if she didn't have a sweet tooth—and she had the cutest daisy painted on her face on her dimpled cheek. She had painted a sun on his face and apologized for stabbing him with a vervain dart. Things had had been serious for a moment but then Lucy wanted to paint glasses on the sun.

He remembered every second; he remembered thinking "Fuck, I fell for her," and he knew he was screwed. That didn't keep him from playfully teasing her about her favorite actor and how she thought he was more handsome than Damon.

He could be playful with Lucy, he could be serious with Lucy, and he could relax with Lucy. There was never a moment that he spent with her pretending that he was someone or something else. He had always been Stefan Salvatore with her—always.

And that wasn't necessarily the case with Elena.

"It's not worth losing Lucy," Elena knew exactly what he was going to say. "because you're in love with her."

Stefan's face fell when he realized that he couldn't fool her or spare her feelings. "Elena…"

"I'm not an idiot, Stefan," Elena rolled her wet eyes. "You and Lucy have always been close and things are different now. I didn't get it at first and I was furious with both of you but now…" she shrugged. "I get it now…"

"Because you're in love with Damon," Stefan supplied knowingly.

He remembered what Klaus said when he informed Elijah about the strange dynamics between him, Lucy, Elena, and Damon. He was annoyed when the Original spoke about something he didn't understand but it turned out that Klaus was right. They did a complete one-eighty.

Elena nodded. "Yeah," she confirmed. "I don't know how it happened but he got under my skin, you know? And when I thought he was dying, I kissed him and everything changed."

Stefan understood—he probably understood her more than anyone else would.

It was funny, when he first realized that there was something between Elena and Damon, way back when Isobel first came to town, he was angry. He couldn't understand why Damon would do this to him again and why Elena was falling for him in return. But now he wasn't angry. In fact, he felt peaceful about it.

Things had changed but that wasn't a bad thing. Sometimes change could be good.