It was Elena who smelled the fresh blood in the boarding house. Following the scent into the room, she found Rosalie on the ground in a pool of her own blood.

"Oh my god!" Elena zipped beside Rosalie. She saw the knife in Rosalie's stomach and yanked it out. She bit into her wrist and offered Rosalie blood. "Please drink! Rosalie, c'mon!"

Rosalie's eyes were closed but she managed to latch onto Elena's wrist. Elena cradled her head while she took enough blood to heal. Soon enough, Rosalie started coughing as her strength returned to her.

"Rosalie, what happened!?" Elena helped the woman sit up. Gazing around the bedroom, there was no sign of a fight.

Rosalie was in a fit of panic now that her mind was back together and she remembered what happened. "Q-Qetsiyah!" Her hands flung to her stomach and lifted her shirt to see the wound all healed up now.

"What, she was here?" Elena looked around again as if the witch herself was still lurking.

"Stefan!" Rosalie realized that he had to be next on Tessa's hit list. "She-she — go to Stefan, please! She was so angry and — Stefan!" She scrambled to get up but her feet were still wobbly. Elena caught her as she fell back again. "Go to him! NOW!"

Elena didn't understand a single thing but she followed Rosalie's direction and sped away.

~0~

The morning was a rough one between Rosalie's near death experience and Stefan getting his memories back. After her visit to Rosalie, Tessa ambushed Stefan with all of his memories at one time and basically fried his brain all over again. The experience was pretty traumatic for both of them.

Rosalie sat on the couch, nursing a warm cup of coffee, now dressed in Elena's clothing. Across her were Stefan and Damon, the latter testing Stefan to see if he really remembered everything.

"I can't believe that woman just walked in here and did all this," Elena said, shaking her head. How they didn't hear her was beyond her and downright offensive.

"I can," Rosalie said, although the fact killed her. As angry as Tessa had ever been, Rosalie never thought she would react like this. "I betrayed her so she got even. Suppose I got off easy in comparison to Amara."

"I thought you were besties," remarked Damon, eyeing her with an amusement that Rosalie just hated.

"Clearly, I may have messed up in her eyes so I expect my stay here to be fully accepted now that I also might have to watch my back from her."

"Well we have to be quick then because Silas is coming back and I'm sure it's to kill all of us now," Damon said, rising from the couch. "He no longer cares about Amara and we still need her alive if we want to keep Bonnie from going away forever."

"Why wouldn't he care about Amara?" Rosalie scoffed. "We're only in this mess because of his cheating ass."

"Seems like he reconsidered his priorities now that Amara went crazy pants."

"Crazy pants?"

"She's crazy. Loco. Talks to herself and is constantly trying to off herself. Big package if you ask me."

"Well, 2000 years living her kind of life, I'd expect nothing less," Rosalie said with another scoff, although this time there was a smug smile plastered on her face.

Stefan eyed said smugness and wondered what she wasn't telling them. "Rosalie, something you want to share?"

"Hm?" She took a calm sip of her coffee.

Stefan's gaze became sharp until he willed her to come clean.

"C'mon, she's the anchor!" she exclaimed, nearly laughing. "What do you think that entails?" Nobody could answer her. She definitely laughed louder that time. "Amara is the being that holds the Other Side together. That being said, every supernatural being that has ever died has gone through her. And when I say 'gone through her', I mean through her. She's a mystical being who sees the dead and the living. Yeah, she's definitely gone a little crazy pants."

"What? She can see the dead?" Elena made a face. "How does…how does that work? I thought she just held the Other Side together."

"Yeah, but she's got a foot in our world and another in the Other Side."

"She's been talking to herself…" Damon said slowly, his mind working to fit the pieces together.

"Yeah, she's not talking to herself…" Rosalie clarified, "She's talking to the ghosts from the Other Side."

"So not entirely crazy pants…"

"Technically…"

"This is crazy," declared Elena, shaking her head.

Rosalie acknowledged her with a pointed finger. "Not wrong."

"The problem now is that Amara took the cure from Silas," Damon revealed and didn't necessarily wait for Stefan's and Rosalie's proper reactions, "Which makes her nuts and mortal."

"If you plan on getting Bonnie back, I sure hope you have that bitch tied up. Amara, not Bonnie." Rosalie sipped from her cup. "And of course keep her away from Silas."

"We need to buy some more time, protect Amara," Elena decided quickly. "Maybe we should move her somewhere else."

"Silas is a witch. He's a living, breathing, GPS tracking device. He'll track her wherever we take her," Damon said, "Unless somebody — say a newly allied witch friend of ours would do one of those lovely cloaking spells?"

Rosalie smirked as all eyes landed on hers. "So now my position is cemented?" She drank from her cup and set it on her lap. "There's still the fact that Amara is trying to kill herself anyways. You move her, you might just give her the keys to end her annoying-ass life once and for all."

"We can't let Silas anywhere near her until he brings Bonnie back…" Elena said helplessly, which led Stefan towards an angry path.

"Weren't you listening to anything? He's not gonna bring her back." Rosalie suspected the anger Stefan spoke with wasn't all for Silas. Memories back meant so were his previous feelings towards Elena and Damon and if she remembered correctly, they weren't good at all.

"So, what, I should just give up?" Elena said incredulously. "Come on, Stefan. You got your memory back. You know me probably better than anyone else. Do you really think that I'm gonna give up?"

"You know what? You're right. I do know you." Stefan pushed himself up from the couch. "You put your hope in all the wrong places and sometimes in the wrong people." He sent a brief glance at Damon to make his point. "Silas needs to die and put us all out of our misery."

"So long as he's alive, I'm holding out hope that he can still help us!"

"Well, as someone who just spent the last 3 months at the bottom of a quarry because of the guy, I wouldn't hold your breath, pun intended. Silas needs to die, and I need to be the one to kill him, end of story!" Stefan walked out of the living room without another word.

"You should know there's no way that Silas is going to help you," Rosalie said a moment later. Elena sighed, frustrated, and turned towards the witch. "Silas is as vindictive as Tessa and because of what happened to Amara, he's not lifting a damn finger for anyone anymore. You want to save Bonnie, you're gonna have to explore a different avenue."

And as if on cue, Jeremy Gilbert strode into the room with purpose. He and Bonnie had been down with Amara and were both surprised that Amara could see and hear Bonnie.

"Amara could see Bonnie, and Bonnie could touch her. They made physical contact. It's like Amara's got a foot on each side or something!"

"Yeah, kind of just said that 2 minutes ago," Rosalie muttered.

"If Silas isn't gonna help us, what if Bonnie could be the same thing?" asked Jeremy. "What if she existed on both sides at once? What if she became the anchor?"

Elena's eyes widened. "You're right. Jeremy, you're right! So, all we would need is someone who could do that spell."

Once again, all eyes landed on Rosalie who was finishing up her cup of coffee. Her brows furrowed once she understood what was happening. "What — I just got stabbed!"

"And you're healed," Damon reminded her. "Thanks to Elena, by the way."

"Could you do it?" Elena hurried to Rosalie's side and sat down with her on the couch. "Please?"

"Technically speaking…yeah…" Rosalie shrugged slowly, "But that would take an immense power source. I'm talking immensely huge. And another thing…"

"What is it?" Elena was eager to get the ingredient list, but Rosalie did not share the sentiment.

"I didn't create the spell on my own, remember…?"

Damon let out a heavy sigh. "Oh no…" Because he knew exactly where Rosalie was going. "I guess I'll go talk to Tessa…"

~0~

Rosalie wandered into Stefan's bedroom when things got too much for her liking. Everyone downstairs was buzzing with anticipation about the spell that would save Bonnie Bennett's life. Rosalie wanted to avoid seeing Tessa for as long as possible which meant she was secluding herself upstairs.

Stefan was staring out his window rather broodingly. After storming out earlier, no one had heard a peep from him.

"What's the saying — penny for your thoughts?" She managed to get a little smile out of him and beamed proudly.

"How are things downstairs?" Stefan turned away from the windows.

"Oh, you know, busy. Your brother has gone off to persuade Tessa to work with me and do the spell and Elena called your other friend — Caroline? — to bring in the other doppelganger, Katherine."

Stefan nodded. "And you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. How are you?" Stefan wouldn't say it but she looked out of place in Elena's clothing. She had yet to get her own clothes back.

"I'm fine," Rosalie said casually. Stefan raised a brow at her, his gaze sharpening as the seconds went by. She frowned. "Is this how you get people to tell you things? By staring at them?"

"Sometimes."

"Does it work?"

"Usually."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "What do you want me to say? The one person — the only person — that I have known my whole life tried killing me in cold blood last night. Not much to say after that, honestly."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you, Rosalie," Stefan apologized.

Rosalie smiled, confused. "You didn't plot my death, Stefan. That was Tessa…as much as it pains me to think about it."

"I brought you here to be safe and away from her and I didn't help you when you needed it. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Rosalie shrugged. "I know Tessa better than anyone else — hell, even more than Silas. The worst part is that I know she was hurting too. In her eyes, the last person in her corner betrayed her in the end too. And that's not what I wanted."

Stefan wouldn't say it out loud but it definitely sounded like Rosalie had already forgiven Tessa for what she did. She was a better person than he was because right now, he couldn't forgive his own brother for not coming to find him in the quarry sooner.

"Rosalie, you were the ones trying to reach me telepathically when I was down in the quarry, right?"

Rosalie nodded.

"And Tessa got angry about that too?"

Rosalie nodded again, albeit slower. "I wasn't supposed to do it but…"

"Why did you do it?" Stefan practically blurted. He'd been thinking about ever since he got his memories back. It didn't make any sense. "I mean, I got the face of the man who killed you, right? Why would you want to help me?"

"Because you are not like Silas?" Rosalie said, confused that he wouldn't see that right away.

"But I killed people. A lot. I'm not Silas but I'm not very different either."

"Silas gave you a punishment worse than death. The Other Side is forever for most creatures but there's never any pain either. You didn't have any consolation down there. I told Tessa that we had to get you out but she was sure that your friends would find you…"

Stefan looked away bitterly. He had once thought that too.

"But when nothing happened and Tessa wouldn't listen to me, I took matters into my own hands. If I couldn't get you out, then I would at least give you some peace. I reached out to you, helped you create whatever comfort world you wanted. Over and over…"

"Over and over," Stefan nodded. "For months…"

"I'm sorry," Rosalie said guiltily, lowering her head. "I should have done more, especially when what I was doing stopped working."

"You know," Stefan sighed lightly, "I think out of everyone here, you are probably the least culpable person. And it wasn't your fault the fantasies stopped working. It was the pain. There were these moments in that safe, a stillness in time when I was dead right before I was about to come back to life, I would think about things in the past that made me happy, things that gave me hope. All these things kept me sane. They pushed me to hang on when all I wanted to do was give up and turn off my humanity, but eventually, the pain took those moments away from me, too. It was hard hanging onto hope. It wasn't your fault."

"I'm so sorry," Rosalie said sympathetically. "Silas has caused so much pain and it irks me that he can get away with it."

"He won't," Stefan said confidently. "Because I'm gonna kill him."

"But what if he kills you first? Witches aren't exactly easy to take down, trust me."

"Every time I close my eyes, I can see Silas stabbing me, I can feel myself drowning, and I need to make it stop. If I don't kill him, I'm gonna lose my mind, or I'm gonna turn off my humanity...Or both."

Rosalie understood. It was just something he had to do for his sake.

~0~

Rosalie opened the door of the basement where Amara was being held. This was the first time in 2000 years that they would stand face to face (or one of them would be standing, anyways). Amara was tied to her chair for her own safety but seeing Rosalie in the flesh was more than enough to stir some fear in her.

"Hello, Amara. Long time no see…" Rosalie closed the door behind her and gazed at the woman. She was nothing but a shell of the girl she used to be. "What? Giving me the silent treatment now? You don't think you should say something?"

"Why?" Amara's gaze was stuck on the ground, but even from where Rosalie stood she could see the girl shaking. "You want to hear how I have suffered? I have. Are you happy?"

"I was dead, I was miserable too," Rosalie said flatly. "Your lover did that to me. He stuck a knife in me and killed me. You think I've been oh-so merry ever since?"

Amara raised her head enough to see Rosalie's dark glare. "I am sorry," she said with a shaky voice. "I fell in love. I understand my mistake now, okay? I learned the lesson."

"Ha," Rosalie laughed dryly. "You think the mistake you made was falling in love? I would have thought that 2000 years would've been enough time to understand where you messed up." She walked up to Amara and squatted down in front of the woman. "Help me out here and answer one thing for me, the one thing that I never understood. You knew that Tessa - Qetsiyah - would catch you. She would know what really happened. Why didn't you two run? Why did you stay?"

Amara looked at Rosalie like she was waiting for the witch to do something else, something harmful or at the very least scare her someway. Rosalie was perfectly patient waiting for her answer. Once Amara understood all she had to do was answer, she readied her words. "We thought…we thought Time would…help her heal…"

Rosalie let out a harsh scoff. "With her elixir? The one you stole from her? I didn't think you and Silas would be that kind of stupid. The worst part is that Tessa believed Silas loved her. She loved him for real and you two betrayed her. On some level, I understand her thirst for vengeance. I don't know what I would do if someone broke my heart the way you two broke hers."

"Why thank you," Tessa's voice made both women flinch in their spots. Rosalie quickly straightened on her feet and turned around as the door opened and Tessa herself walked in. Elena was a few inches behind her. "I should apologize for last night…" Tessa said, tilting her head enough to see Amara cowering behind Rosalie.

Rosalie's face hardened. "I mean it would be a great start, don't you think?"

Tessa pursed her lips together and looked at Rosalie.

"I'll be upstairs getting the spell ready. After this fiasco, I'm excited to meet a witch who won't try to kill me..." Rosalie walked around Tessa and then Elena, preferring not to look back on her way out.

~ 0 ~

Rosalie was gentle with Bonnie's grimoire when Elena handed it to her. She couldn't see her but Bonnie was in the room.

"You sure this can work?" Elena watched as Rosalie worked at the circular table.

"Truthfully, we're all going to find out," Rosalie replied. "But I think it can. Tessa and I made this spell so theoretically, together, we should be able to modify it. But I do have to make one thing very clear here…" She looked around the room, hoping that Bonnie would listen and trust her. "Being the anchor is no joke, Bonnie. I have to be completely honest with you because this is going to become your life now. Being the anchor means that you will feel every death from every supernatural being that crosses to the Other Side. I don't know how painful it could be but…I'm sure that it will be. If this is something you don't want to do, tell Jeremy to pass the message. You have about fifteen minutes before we do the spell."

Elena started to get nervous again. "Exactly how…how harmful are we talking?"

"Well, obviously she can't die…but I'm assuming a decent level…"

"And there's nothing we can do to lessen it?"

Rosalie could only shrug. This was all new territory for her. "The Other Side is a huge spell and tinkering with it is beyond dangerous."

"The cute one's here," someone burst through the door and Rosalie found yet another Amara doppelganger in front of her.

"Katherine…"

Katherine Pierce tossed one of her curls behind her shoulder and gave a wiggle of her fingers. "The one and only."

Elena rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna go get Amara." She didn't quite trust Tessa not to harm the girl before the spell.

Katherine waved Elena as the latter left the room then promptly turned to Rosalie, her smile dramatically wide. "You must be little Rosie?"

"No," Rosalie said grimly. "I'm Rosalie, nice to meet you...I think."

"Let's be clear," the smile on Katherine's face had vanished, "I don't care about Bonnie Bennett or the Other Side going away or Elena getting her best friend back."

"Honesty…can't say that I don't respect that…" Rosalie said, leaning on the table, "Let me guess, you want something?"

"Bingo," Katherine pointed at her. "I had the cure you and your friend created running through my veins, and when Silas sucked it out of me, I started aging faster than normal. So basically, I'm dying, and I need you to fix me. You made the cure. Now, make something that stops the aging. Otherwise, no blood for you."

Well this had to be the most pretentious doppelganger. Rosalie laughed lightly. "Very honest. I like it. Sure, why not. When the ritual's finished and Bonnie is the anchor, we'll find a way to stop you from dying."

"And I like you very much," Katherine said giddily. Rosalie wasn't sure what to feel about her.

A short while later, Elena brought Amara upstairs along with Tessa. The latter came to stand beside Rosalie, smiling smugly despite Rosalie making it clear that she was ignoring her.

"You're gonna need this." Tessa held out her necklace to Rosalie. With a roll of her eyes, Rosalie took it and clasped it around her neck.

"What is that?" Amara noticed the grimoire resting in the middle of the table.

"It's Bonnie's grimoire," replied Elena.

"A grim-what?"

"It's a magic spell book," Katherine rolled her eyes, muttering "Idiot" afterwards.

"It's a talisman," said Tessa. "Since Bonnie can't be here, her grimoire will have to do. Hands in, palms up." Between her and Rosalie, they cut the doppelganger's palms with a blade and let their collective blood fall on the grimoire.

"Ina pran khos suptheia jhem ai pada khey rasattan. Ina pran khos suptheia jhem ai pada khey ra sattam, ina pran khos suptheia jhem ai prada khey rassattan!" As the witches cast the spell, the doppelgangers' blood formed the symbol for a trinity. The candles around the room lit up to a bright glow but just like that, everything went out.

"Is it done?" Katherine presumed.

"No…" Rosalie started feeling her stomach churning as a strong wind blew into the room and then the lights went out with explosions from the bulbs.

"What is happening!?" Elena exclaimed.

"Silas is happening!" Tessa said angrily. "Show yourself, bastard!"

But the room went entirely dark, as did the rest of the house.

Damon swept into the room with a flashlight a few moments later. "Electricity's out in the whole house. What happened?"

"Silas is here," Elena said.

"Well, Silas owes me a fuse box. Hang on…" Damon paused and waved his finger between Elena and Katherine, "I only count two doppelgängers. Where's crazy pants?"

Rosalie then realized that Tessa had also gone missing. "We need to find Amara because if she dies before we finish the spell, the Other Side goes with her."

"Can't you finish the spell on your own?" Elena exclaimed.

"I can try but it's a big spell…we need to find Tessa like now."

And so they went in search of Tessa before something else happened. They eventually found the woman in the library with an iron poker stuck to her shoulder.

"Let me guess, you found Silas?" Rosalie said sourly when she bent down in front of Tessa. "Ever thought that maybe giving it a rest might be easier?"

Tessa matched Rosalie's sour smile with her own. "Harder than it looks to be honest."

"Just think about it, Tessa, how different our lives would've been if you hadn't become so obsessed with vengeance…" Rosalie reached for the poker, warning her that it would sting, then pulled it out of her shoulder. "Maybe you would have found someone who actually deserved you."

Tessa's expression became surprised and at her face, Rosalie asked her what the problem was. "I almost killed you and you still think I deserved someone else's love?"

Rosalie shrugged, smiling as she herself was unsure about how she felt. "I looked up to you my whole life. I saw the pain that Silas caused you. I'm sorry that I played a part in it yesterday but I don't regret my actions."

"Hey!" Elena called from the entry. "We have to hurry! Stefan and Amara are not inside! Damon went to go find him but Silas is gonna kill him first chance he gets."

"Let's just do it," Rosalie glanced at Tessa, "Finished what we started once and for all, don't you think?"

Tessa could fully agree with that and so they returned to the drawing room. They gathered around the table and held hands before chanting the spell.

"Ina-pran-khos-suptheia-jhen-ai-pada-khey-rassattan…Ai pada say Ra sattam…"

Elena was posted right behind them to make sure nothing else happened. The wind howled in the room again but this time the witches' chants only grew stronger and stronger. Finally, they stopped. Elena was cautious for a moment, holding her breath until both witches looked at her.

Rosalie's lips spread into a wide smile. "It's done."

Elena's face lit up entirely and without a second though sped out of the room. Rosalie and Tessa looked at each other, neither one knowing what to do next. They didn't know if Silas and Amara were dead, if they lived…

Rosalie pulled her hands out of Tessa's and stepped back, eyes flickering to the darkness outside the windows. She needed to know what happened out there. Without saying a word, she hurried out of the room, heading straight to the stairs.

She walked into the commotion in the living room where Elena and Caroline were hugging Bonnie, each one over the moon. Sensing Rosalie's presence, the two vampires looked back at her and inadvertently revealed Bonnie behind them.

"Thank you," Bonnie broke the silence with a genuine heartfelt smile. She seemed close to tears.

Rosalie gave her a formal nod. "Silas and Amara...Stefan…?"

"Dead," Elena replied, sounding cautious like Rosalie would take the news hard.

In truth, Rosalie didn't know how to take it at all. For as long as she remembered, the names Silas and Amara were her existence. They're gone. Her chest felt lighter the more she processed the implications of those two words. They're gone. They're gone.

"Rosalie, are you…are you alright?" Elena asked gently. Rosalie had stayed quiet for too long with no indication of how she was reacting.

"I…I think so, yeah…" Rosalie drew in a deep breath, "It's just…after 2000 years…it's over. It's finally over. Silas killed me and now…now he's the one stuck in that place." And just thinking about it some more brought a huge grin to her face, and happy tears. She was free. "He's the one trapped there..." Her happiness lasted for all of 5 minutes before she thought of Tessa upstairs. "I'm free of Silas…but now…bow Tessa, she's…the plan was…"

"For you two to die again," Bonnie said, having heard it during her time on the Other Side. "But you don't want to."

"Then don't," Caroline said all too easily and shrugged. She eyed Rosalie, having only just met her for the first time. She seemed okay, why should she have to die for someone else's plans?

"I-I have to go see her…make her…make her change her mind…" Rosalie backtracked towards the stairs, "Where's Stefan? Is he okay?"

Elena nodded. "I think so." She hoped so. "Are you — do you want us to come with you?"

Rosalie gazed up at the ceiling. "I think…I think I can handle it. Who knows, maybe we could even mend our weird relationship…" She headed up the stairs and went to the drawing room, only to find it empty. "Tessa?" There was no one there so Rosalie went to check in the other rooms.

She heard Katherine's voice coming from the library, followed by Tessa's.

"I won. Amara's gone, and Silas is waiting for me on the Other Side…"

Rosalie's entire heart almost stopped when she ran in and saw Tessa's sliced wrists. "What did you do!?" She rushed past Katherine, accidentally pushing her out of the way, and caught Tessa as she fell.

"I won, Rosalie, I won…" Tessa smiled dazedly, "Silas is trapped and he'll be trapped with me for all of an eternity."

Tears welled in Rosalie's eyes. "No, no, no! Why did you — why!? Tessa!" The blood wouldn't stop oozing from Tessa's wrists. "Let them heal you! Let them — Elena! Go get her!" She yelled at Katherine who actually left to go do that.

"No…!" Tessa shook her head, tears rolling down from the corners of her eyes. "I want this. This was the plan, remember?"

Rosalie sniffled. "But…I thought we could…that we would…live…I wanted us to live here in this world…we could have done so much..."

"You still can," Tessa nodded at her. "I owe you that much. Always have."

"But I don't know what to do…I'm all alone here…" Rosalie's tears were dropping on Tessa's chest, "I don't want you to go…"

"You'll make better friends…than me…" Tessa's breathing began to slow, "You were a friend. I was just a lousy one in return. I'm sorry. I'll look after you from the Other Side…just live your life, okay? You deserve that freedom. And you find someone who will deserve your love." She breathed in for the last time and closed her eyes.

"Qetsiyah, please don't leave!" Rosalie was full blown sobbing, holding her friend's body in her arms. "Come back!"

By the time Elena, Bonnie and Caroline arrived, Qetsiyah was long gone.

‿︵‿︵‿୨ ୧‿︵‿︵‿

Author's Note:

Aaaand we're going to start making the switch to the next arc ;)

As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)