MYSTIC FALLS WOODS

"So, where has everyone gone?" Aella questioned due to the lack of cars.

"Yeah?" Elena frowned, looking around, "When we arrived, it was heaving with cars and drunken teens."

Caroline blushed and raised her hand, meekly, "That may have to do with me."

Aella let out a laugh as Stefan helped her to stand, "What did you do, C?"

Caroline seemed to blush even more before she whined, "People were just so drunk and annoying, and Tyler was doing a Keg, Aimee Bradley was eyeing up Matt, Duke was being a total idiot, and I was totally worried about all three of you!"

Aella's smirk turned to a laugh as she looked over at Elena, and Bonnie who were laughing as well, "So what did the party girl, Miss Caroline Forbes, do?"

Caroline pursed her lips, "I may, or may not have placed an anonymous call to the police that an underage drinking party was going on in the woods, and Jeremy may, or may not have done the same a few minutes later."

"Ha!" Aella threw her head back, laughing, alongside the other girls, and a chuckling Stefan. "That's amazing!"

Elena controlled her laughter after a few minutes, "So where's Jeremy?"

Caroline just shrugged, "Well, someone had to take Tyler home, so Matt and Jeremy took him."

Aella's arm looped around Caroline's neck, "Well, I am very proud, C. Although I would have screamed and said there was a wolf in the woods. So much more funnier!"

Caroline pushed Aella off of her and into the car, following in after her, "For you maybe... Wolves in Mystic Falls is just not believable if it doesn't come out of your mouth for some reason."

Stefan just watched on as Aella frowned at Caroline as she shut the car door, "I don't know if that's an insult right now?"

Caroline just shrugged, "Neither do I?"

Bonnie peered over the car at Stefan as Elena got in the car to drive them all to Sheila's, "Are you coming, Stefan?"

Aella seemed to realize Stefan was still outside and leaned on Caroline and banged on the window, "Oh no! We forgot my boyfriend!"

Stefan chuckled at the slight slur to Aella's speech; it seemed her concussion and exhaustion was catching up on her. He shook his head at her cousin, "Thanks, Bonnie, but I better check on Damon."

With an understanding nod, Bonnie jumped into the back of the car with Aella and Caroline, and as Elena drove off, Aella waved at Stefan from the back window, her eyes getting droopier further the car drove until he could no longer see her.

In the silence of the woods, Stefan took a moment to breathe the quiet in. Ben was dead. Anna and Pearl were hopefully still in the tomb, Katherine wasn't and wasn't ever in the tomb. Damon was probably drinking his weights in alcohol. But they were all safe, and that's all that mattered right now.

GRAMS' HOUSEHOLD

The four best friends gathered around Sheila's dining table as Caroline made some Chamomile tea for them, she was the only one who hadn't been kidnapped so could make tea while they discussed what had happened to each other.

Bonnie and her date with Ben. Elena finding Emily's Grimoire with Stefan and Damon before Anna decided Elena would also be kidnapped. And Aella's journey looking for Bonnie. She chose to miss out on her run-in with Bonnie's dad, Rudy. The girls had gasped in horror when Aella told them she'd been in the same hotel room while they had, and Aella nodded furiously when they all exclaimed in disgust at Ben, forcing her to drink sleeping tablets without a drink to follow.

Caroline brought the last cup over, Sheila's, setting it in the center of the table. Sheila had gone to bed when they arrived back but had asked for a tea too before they all gathered for a relaxing movie. As Caroline took her seat opposite Aella, she frowned in thought, "So how did you escape if Ben had gone after Elena and Bonnie?"

That was a good question. And Aella didn't know how to answer it. She'd not seen the fire, but she felt the heat and saw the singed ropes, yet she hadn't been burnt.

Had she created fire without a fire source near?

Was a second elemental power making itself available to her?

Aella was confused. She knew her elemental powers grew as she embraced one power to it's full, and she knew she had not learned as much as she could for her air powers. She knew she would have to speak to her grandmother, and if her grandmother didn't know, then her uncle did.

So when Aella looked up to answer Caroline, she lied, "The ropes must have loosened after all my tugging."

Bonnie and Elena nodded at the answer, but Caroline knew her person all too well and squinted at Aella. Aella shook her head slightly and mouthed to Caroline, 'later,' which pacified her for now.

Elena looked to the remaining tea, "Do you think Grams will come down?"

Bonnie looked up to the ceiling, as though she could see her grandmother lying in bed, "I don't know, she was pretty exhausted."

A tingle shook through Aella's spine, causing her to stand up and pull Sheila's tea to her, "I'll go check and on her as well as take up her tea."

The girls all nodded and started talking about their movie choice of the night as Aella made her way to the stairs, a feeling of déjà vu filling her stomach as she climbed the stairs.

"Here you go, Grams." Aella smiled, walking into the room and placing the tea down, only for her words to go unnoticed as Sheila's eyes remained shut.

Dread pooled the surface as Aella's body froze, watching her Grandmother's body stay in its place, tearfully she whispered, "Grams?"

Edging forward, she shook as she took a seat on the side of the bed, her hand shaking as she reached for Sheila's hand and shook her grandmother, "Grams?"

She shook once more with force, "Grams!?"

"What child?!"

Aella's body fell onto her grandmother in relief as Sheila grumpily opened her eyes, only to be encircled by Aella crying into her neck. "Aella, baby. What's wrong?"

"I thought you'd gone, Grams," Aella sobbed. "I thought my vision came true, and you were gone. I thought I failed."

Sheila knew best when to question Aella's mumblings and just stroked her hair as her granddaughter continued crying, "I'm right here, hunny, you didn't fail."

"I can't lose you too, Grams, not after Mom and Dad," Aella continued sobbing. At the mention of Natasha and Calvin, Sheila realized the severity of the situation and just held Aella even tighter. She knew the events had shaken her granddaughter, but to this extent, she had no idea. "I can't lose you."

MYSTIC FALLS MOTEL

Damon waited in the darkened room. He wasn't sure if Anna and Pearl would be free from the tomb, but he needed to be there if they did escape. And when the door opened, his anger grew that the two had been able to free themselves. As much as he appreciated Aella releasing him, if it meant Anna and Pearl got their happy ending by using his love for Katherine, then maybe Aella should have kept him in that tomb too.

When Anna switched on the room lights, Anna and Pearl turned to Damon in shock as he sat in the corner, but they weren't the only ones in shock. Damon's eyes grew wide for a second before they returned to a glare as he saw Pearl looking healthier than ever, apart from the period dress and dirt, someone from the outside would have no clue she'd been starving and locked up for over 100 years.

"You knew Katherine wasn't in there."

Anna steadied herself as she faced him, "You wouldn't have helped me."

Damon vamp-sped at Pearl and grabbed her by the throat, only to be thrown away by her hand and his own throat taken as she pressed him against the wall. This time he couldn't hide the shock, and neither could Anna.

"Mother!"

"What?" Damon gasped, eyebrows furrowed. "How?"

Pearl didn't acknowledge his question but loosened her hand from his throat, "The guard. The one at the church. The one who locked us in. She promised to turn him."

Damon's eyes teared up, and he looked between Pearl and Anna, "Why do you get a happy ending?"

Anna stepped forward and slowly shook her head, "I'm sorry, Damon. You wouldn't have helped me; you know you wouldn't have."

"Why?" Damon whispered to himself but knew that other women could hear him.

Pearl released him from the wall and took a step back. Damon remained against the wall; all fight disappeared from his body, "She had him under her spell, like everybody else." Pearl told him. "He let her go."

"Last I saw her was Chicago, 1983," Anna gently revealed to him. "She knew where you were, Damon. She didn't care. I'm sorry."

Damon felt like a stake had been pushed into his heart at her words. Pearl took his arm and led him to the door; she needed Damon out of this room and away from her daughter. Damon could feel the strength coming from Pearl as the elder vampire opened the motel door for him, and in the smallest voice, he whispered, "How?"

Pearl knew what he was questioning and smiled softly, "She will be your salvation, Damon. Protect her."

GRAMS HOUSEHOLD

After sobbing in her grandmother's arms for a solid fifteen minutes, then a further silence as Grams sipped her chamomile tea while she was waited for Aella to calm down, Sheila took Aella's tear-stained face in her hands and smiled softly, "Now how long has that been in here for?"

With a tearful chuckle, Aella joked, "A good ten years now."

Sheila kissed her forehead, "There will be a time when I won't around, baby." Aella eyes filled up again, and Sheila was quick to pull her close but continued, "But I will always be with you, and Bonnie. Just like your parents are always with you."

"I felt them."

Sheila pulled back, a question on her face, "What?"

Aella licked her salty, torn lips, "When I was locked away, I felt Mom and Dad." She frowned in confusion, "And not just them. If elt love and power. It told me what I needed to do."

Sheila smiled wide and kissed Aella's head again, "That the beautiful power of our Ancestors. It's in the darkest times that you really do feel them and realize we're never truly alone."

Aella smiled to herself, her eyes then focused on her hands, especially her wrists. She stroked her right wrist where the binding held tight; a faint red mark encircled her wrists, but nowhere was there evidence of a burn. "I think I was able to conjure fire tonight."

Sheila pulled back with a gasp, "Child, you better be lying to me."

"I'm not," Aella giggled lightly at her grandmother's shock. "I had to get to you; I had to save you. And then there was this heat, but it didn't hurt. And the next thing I knew, my arms were free."

Sheila smiled proudly as she stroked Aella's hair, "Your magic is growing. It knew you needed to be free."

Aella stared at her hands for a minute, "I tried it again." She looked back to Sheila with a shrug, "It didn't work."

"It will again," Grams said knowingly.

"Aella, we have a surprise!"

Sheila and Aella's head turned to the door at Caroline's voice. When Aella turned back to her grandmother, she frowned, "I don't know whether to be excited or scared after the past couple of days."

Sheila laughed, and with a pat on her granddaughters back, she pushed Aella up, "Those girls love you."

Aella smiled brightly, "Yeah, I love them too." She leaned down and pulled Sheila into a firm hug, a hug that Sheila squeezed just as hard back knowing without Aella that night would have ended very differently. "I love you, Grams."

When Aella pulled back, Sheila stroked her face once more, "Oh, I love you too, baby." She pointed to the door, "Now go and have fun!"

Aella ran off, and Sheila settled back down in bed tiredly, knowing that as tired as she was, those girls were probably going to keep her up all night, and she wouldn't change a thing.

"Yasssssss!"

Sheila humped as Aella's cheer echoed around the house, and before she could shout at her granddaughter Aella screamed again, "Full House Disney World Special, you guys do love me!!!!"

Sheila shook her head, lovingly, "That girl." She settled down again, "My powerful girl."

THE TOMB

In 1864, The founding families succeeded in capturing 26 vampires but were unsuccessful in killing them. After the vampires were poisoned with vervain, they were sealed inside of an abandoned church, that was later set on fire.

However, a powerful witch named Emily Bennett protected the vampires by sealing them inside the tomb beneath the church.

Although the vampires were saved from perishing in the fire, because they were unable to feed, their bodies had desiccated and mummified.

For over 100 years, they suffered from the pains of hunger as the world around them changed until another Bennett witch ended their suffering by unknowingly keeping the tomb open. But it was only by chance at this same time a mission-set vampire with a bag of human blood would unearth his wrath upon the blood bag in betrayal.

And that blood bag would drip down towards a desperate vampire, who, with all his will, would open the tomb door and finally walk out of his prison.

Looking to the clear sky and brightly lit moon, he sighed with relief at finally being free.

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A/N: Thank you all for reading, the response to the last chapter was awesome! Let me know your thoughts:
She's alive! How are you all feeling about Grams living and how her being alive could change future events?
Finally the girls are back together, don't you just love them?
What do you think about Damon and Pearl's interaction?
Chapter 2 of TVD is now over and we're in Chapter 3: more vampires, family drama, and the end of season 1....