Now - 2016 

Stefan and I were still hunting vampires, on the phone with Damon.

"We finished off the ones in Huntsville and Birmingham," Stefan told him.

"Oh, good. Overachievers. Is Kaylin taking out her anger out on vampires. You know, the anger that comes from a long list of secrets and compulsion from your compel-happy ex-boyfriend."

I gave Stefan a look. "Of course you told him."

"I only told him what you told me, and that wasn't very much," Stefan told me. 

"Yeah, well, instead of worrying about me and my relationship, why don't you worry about you and yours?" I asked.

"Well, Caroline hates me," Stefan told us. "And, Damon, you are the authority on being hated. So, why don't you tell me how to deal with the situation?"

"Still mad, huh?"

"I'm not mad, I'm just tired," I told them. "Who's next on my hit list?"

"Bloodsucker from the Age of Enlightenment. Ended up in a MMA fighter. Dropping bodies all through the Palmetto State."

"Doesn't sound very enlightened," I told them.

"You, Stefan, are partnering up with Donovan."

Stefan was surprised by this information. "Matt? He wants me dead. He released Rayna to kill me."

"Bit extreme, even for Donovan," I told them.

"Long story," Stefan told us.

"We don't have time for a short story, Stefan," I told him. "Listen, you two figure out your differences while you're hunting vampires. I'm gonna go kill this MMA fighter."

"Oh, I guess I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, and to answer your questions about how to deal with being hated, three little words. Just don't care."

"It's funny coming from a guy working so hard to save his friend's life," I told him.

"I can live with Bonnie hating me, just as long as she lives." I was stunned into silence by this response, looking down. "I got to go."

I hung up.

Stefan looked at me curiously. "I saw that."

I sighed in annoyance. "Saw what?"

"Your reaction to what he said," Stefan answered. "About him being able to live with Bonnie hating him, as long as she did in fact live. It seemed to strike a nerve with you."

"Seriously?" I asked. "Stefan, I'm so not in the mood for this."

"You never did tell me why Klaus compelled you and what for, but by that reaction, I think I'm getting closer to figuring it out," Stefan told me. 

"Can't you just let it go?" I asked.

"No," Stefan answered. "Because you obviously can't. You said that the entire Original family is sick and in a magical coma to keep from dying. And that this creature was a beast that could even kill an Original. So, that means they were definitely strong enough to kill you."

"You're getting on my nerves, Stefan," I told him.

"Klaus compelled you to leave because he wanted you to stay alive, didn't he?" Stefan asked. "Because he wanted to protect you."

"Yes, okay?" I asked. "Yes, you've figured it out. Congratulations. You happy now?"

"No, I'm not happy, Kaylin," Stefan answered. "I'm not happy because you're not happy. You're angry at him because he compelled you to leave to protect you, and you weren't able to help him, even though that we all know that you couldn't have without dying yourself, and that would have helped no one. Did he compel you to keep looking for a way to cure him and his family, too?"

"No," I answered. "I don't need to be compelled for that, because I want to cure them. I know that you don't like them, and that they're monsters, but so are we, Stefan. You're a Ripper. Damon's a nudge from being a killer every single day. And I am what I need to be. Go ahead, judge me. I seriously don't care anymore."

"You care when you don't want people to think that you care," Stefan told me. "I get it."

"No, Stefan, you don't," I told him. "Yes, I want to wake Klaus up. Maybe it's because I care. Maybe it's because I'm angry that he compelled me, even if it was for my own protection. Either way, I can't expect anyone around here to help me after everything that happened while he lived in Mystic Falls, because they hate him. And I know that I should, too, but I don't. Is that wrong? More than likely. Does that make me a bad person? Yes. Hell, yes. I don't care. After we save Bonnie, I'm gone, and I'm going to help Hayley find a cure. But that does not mean that I'll be gone forever."

"Okay," Stefan told me. 

I was stunned by his response. "'Okay'? That's it?"

"Yes," Stefan answered. "Kaylin, take a look at the men in your life. Our father killed you. The guy that you fell for when you were human turned out to be our mother's boyfriend that wanted her to turn him, so he went to check on you, then slept with you and beat you until you lost your child and compelled you to forget. Damon promised us an eternity of misery, and you didn't even do anything to deserve his wrath, while I am the one that asked Katherine to turn you against your will and made you so scared that I would turn you into a monster again that you could barely show your face around either of us. Not to mention that I tried to kill your ex-boyfriend Enzo because I wanted you to give up on me after Damon died, after he killed my ex-girlfriend Ivy. I abandoned you after Damon died. After all of what we have done to you, it is not shocking that you would still love Klaus, because you still forgive Damon and me for everything, and you still love us as your brothers."

I sighed, looking down. "You're right. There are so many things wrong with the men in my life, and that's why I keep falling for the guys that I fall for." I looked up. "So I don't want to hear anymore judgment or complaining from you."

Stefan chuckled. "I got it." He returned serious. "Kaylin?" I looked at him. "I'm sorry. For everything."

I nodded. "Go have fun with Matt. I'm gonna meet up with Enzo. That should be interesting."

Stefan nodded.

*******

Enzo and I were hunting vampires.

The first time we had actually seen each other in three years.

"You know, I usually hunt vampires with a little less awkward silence," I told him.

Enzo chuckled. "Nice try, but you don't do anything with awkward silence."

I chuckled. "You're right. You caught me."

"What is it, Kaylin?" Enzo asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm glad you moved on," I answered. "That you got to be happy with Bonnie, who no one ever thought you would be with." Enzo chuckled in acknowledgement. "I know you love her, just like she loves you. I'm glad that you found someone who deserved you. Someone that could actually love you like you love them. And I'm sorry that I couldn't be like that."

"I know that you cared about me, Kaylin," Enzo told me. "That you might have even loved me. But there's many different types of love. Ours wasn't true love, but it doesn't mean that it wasn't real. I forgive you."

I smiled a small smile. My phone rang for the bazillionth time. I saw that it was Rayna calling again, sighing in annoyance, answering the phone. "What? Got your first four phone calls. You know, we're literally at a crossroads here. We could use a couple of bread crumbs."

"Would you prefer I left Bonnie passed out on the bathroom floor?"

"Why?" Enzo asked. "Is she all right?"

"No. She took my blood to hide herself from any locator spells."

Enzo took my phone from me. "Put her on."

Bonnie was on the phone. "Hey."

"Have you lost your mind?"

"I spent three years hiding. I can't let them find me."

"What, and poisoning yourself is the better option? You just shortened the already minuscule window of time we have. We're so close."

"No, you're not. You're nowhere near done. I'm staring at a floor covered in names."

 Enzo turned to face me. "And I will kill every last one of them."

I nodded.

"Just come home."

"What?" 

"I don't want our last moments to be like this. You a million miles away, connected only by some crappy cellphone signal. Whatever time I have left, I want to spend it with you. Here. So just come home."

Enzo hung up, yelling in frustration and sadness. 

"I know where you are right now," I told him. "Where the person you love is making the choice to lay down arms instead of continuing to fight. I've been there for three years. You can't drink your way out of it, you can't fight your way out of it. You can't kill your way out of it. Trust me, I've tried. This isn't about you. It's not about your fears, it's not about your anger. Because if this goes bad, you're going to have nothing but time to drown yourself in every dark emotion your brain can conjure up. Bonnie doesn't have that luxury. So go to her."

"I can't," Enzo told me. "I can't give up."

"I'm not asking you to give up," I told him. "You need to make sure that she doesn't."

Enzo shook his head desperately, turning to me. "How do you do it?"

"I just have to keep going," I told him. "So do you. Klaus is in a slumber, Enzo. He's not dead, but Bonnie's dying. You need to go to her, while you still have a chance. I'll keep fighting. I promise."

Enzo looked at me gratefully, nodding. I wrapped my arms around him for a moment, pulling away, walking away toward me car.

*******

I was in a fighting ring with the MMA fighter, pushing him int the ring. The vampire lifted me from the floor, trying to slam me onto the mat. I spun out of his grasp, wrapping my legs around his neck, flipping him to the floor, slamming him down, getting into a crouching position to fight him. The vampire rushed toward me, throwing me through the cage wall to the floor outside the ring. I rushed to stand, rushing toward him, pushing him against the table saw, turning it on, pushing his head into the rotating saw to tear open his head, picking him up, slamming him onto the table to where the saw would cut through his neck, decapitate and kill him, making blood splatter onto the nearby window. I wiped the blood that had splattered onto my lips away, breathing heavily. 

*******

All of the names on Rayna's list were dead, but only because Damon went to the Armory to bargain with them.

If the Armory used their resources to kill the vampires, he would get Bonnie to open the vault in the basement of their building.

Damon and I got to Enzo's safe house outside, after dark.

Bonnie and Enzo walked toward us.

Bonnie looked at Damon. "Just when I thought you were worthy of forgiveness, you do something like this."

"What'd you expect?" Damon asked. "That I was just gonna let you die?"

"I would rather that, than be forced to open the vault," Bonnie told him.

"What happened to the new Bonnie?" Damon asked. "The one that's no so eager to just sacrifice herself? I don't understand, Bonnie. I have a shaman ready to make you the proud new owner of Rayna's last life. All you have to do is just open the stupid vault for Alex, and you're... well, you're done."

"Alex can't be trusted," Bonnie told us.

"Bonnie, stop being so dramatic," Damon told her. "She just wants her sister back."

"Whatever is in that vault makes people into monsters, and I'm not gonna be responsible for letting it out," Bonnie told us.

Damon looked at Enzo and me. "You're both pretty quiet on this one. I think you had a ringside seat to Mary Louise and Nora's final few days. You want to relive those good times, huh?"

"Bonnie can make her own decisions," I told him.

"And when she's dead, Enzo will be making them for her, like what dress she's gonna be buried in," Damon told me. "Yes, Kaylin, I know that I make the wrong choices for the right reasons. But I can live with the women I care about hating me, just so as long as they live."

"I'm so tired of hearing that," I told him. "You boys need to realize that the girls in your lives need to have say in how they're gonna die, and if it's worth it or not."

Damon and Enzo were stunned into silence by the response.

Damon's phone rang. He took it out, answering. "I hit a little bit of a snag, Alex, but if you just--"

"Put her on."

Damon held the phone toward Bonnie. "It's for you."

Bonnie gave Damon an angry look, taking the phone to speak to Alex. "Yep."

"Bonnie, I know you don't have much time left, but I'm hoping you'll reconsider now that I have something in my possession you might be willing to fight for."

I heard Alaric's voice on the other line of the phone. "Oh, my God."

I heard Caroline's voice. "What?"

"I don't believe it."

"What?"

"Lapis De bello. Hmm, this was given to Charlemagne by his first wife."

"Yeah, that explains why he got a second wife."

"No, legend has it this allowed him to conquer half of Western Europe. You know, I spent three years searching for this thing. Through every tomb, every monastery throughout Europe, I couldn't find it. I gave up. I convinced myself it didn't exist. There it is."

"Yeah, well, good thing we got kidnapped, 'cause now it gives you a little bit of closure. Sorry, it's just... you were right. Both of us shouldn't have come."

"Well, think of it like this. If you didn't, I probably would've had my throat ripped out, so there's that."

"But this is the longest I've ever been away from the girls. And all I want to do, I just want to get home and hold them."

"Yeah, I know."

"Tell me that everything's gonna be fine."

"Everything's gonna be fine?"

"Yeah, you want to try it again? Maybe this time where you actually believe it?"

"Do you know what this place is? Half of these things should've been lost to history. Disappeared. The other half shouldn't even exist. Now, if these guys can make all of this disappear, they're gonna have no problem making us disappear, so when I say, 'Yeah, we're gonna be fine,' what I'm really saying is I'm praying like hell that whatever it is they want, somebody's willing to give it to them."

*******

Bonnie was inside with the Armory, using magic to open the vault so that we could get Alaric and Caroline back. Enzo was with them.

Damon and I were waiting in an upstairs hallway, listening to them, listening to Bonnie chant. "Terra mora vantis quo incandis, per vasa quo errum signos. Phasmatos selvus terra mora vantis quo incandis, per vasa errum quo signos. Phasmatos selvus nos ex malom terra mora vantis quo incandis per vasa quo errum signos. Terra mora vantis quo incandis. It's done."

We heard Alex's voice. "Thank you, Bonnie. You and your friends are free to go."

We heard Enzo's voice. "Let's go."

Bonnie and Enzo walked toward Damon and me.

"Let's grab Caroline and Alaric and get the hell out of here," Bonnie told us. "Come on. Now! Run!"

We ran out, leaving.

*******

We were outside.

Bonnie was casting a spell to lock everything and everyone that was in the Armory Headquarters inside. "Phasmatos veras nos ex malom. Terra mora vantis quo incandis per vasa quo errum signos."

We could hear Alex inside. "Bonnie?"

I looked at Bonnie. "What did you just do?"

"Kept my promise," Bonnie answered. "No one's getting out."

Bonnie fainted.

Enzo caught her in his arms.

*******

Damon and I were walking through the woods, on our way to the meeting place for Rayna and the shaman that was going to do the spell to transfer Rayna's life to Bonnie.

I looked at Damon. "So, Matt hated Stefan because he thought that he killed his fiance Penny, but what really happened is that Matt was trying to shoot a vampire that he didn't see, which was Stefan, by the way, and he shot Penny instead. He killed her. Stef compelled him to forget, but he found out that he compelled him and demanded that he give him back his memories. He blames Stefan for what happened to his fiance."

Damon nodded, unsurprised. "Huh." 

 "And you do realize by forcing her hand, you've just dashed any hope of Bonnie ever absolving you?" I asked.

"I didn't know it took so many words to say, 'thank you for saving my friend, Damon'," Damon told me.

I looked at him in annoyance. "Oh, don't pretend this is all in service of some altruistic desire to save Bonnie. This was all so you could assuage your own guilt over abandoning her."

"Was it selfish for me not to want my best friend to die?" Damon asked. "You bet it was."

"Oh, what, do you want a round of applause for your betrayal?" I asked. I clapped sarcastically. "Bravo. Well done."

"No, I don't want applause," Damon answered. "I know that you're mad at me for forcing Bonnie's hand, because Stefan told me that Klaus forced your hand, not once, but twice. He compelled you to forget about him in the 20's, and then again three years ago when he compelled you to leave New Orleans before you could die along with him. It was a surprisingly unselfish thing for him to do, but you're mad about it because he didn't give you the choice, and because of what went down with Julian when he compelled you to forget about him and the baby after he beat it out of you when you were still human. That's why choice is such a big deal to you, because you had it taken away from you so many times before."

"Yeah, and so has Bonnie," I told him. "She's not gonna be too happy about that, either."

"Yes, she may hate me right now," Damon told me. "Yes, you may be angry at Klaus right now. But just so you know, I would have done the same thing that Klaus did, Kaylin."

"Of course you do, because neither of you see choice as a big deal," I told him.

"But you still love him as the one, and you still love your big brother, no matter how much you try to hate us," Damon told me. 

I looked away, trying to hide how affected I really was.

We reached Rayna and the shaman in the middle of the woods nearby several lit torches.

"Well, I can't say I'm gonna miss you, stabby-pants, but you are doing a grande solid for Bonnie," I told her. "I figure that deserves a 'thank you,' even in my own twisted book."

Rayna smirked. "You're welcome."

"All right," Damon told us. "Bonfire, check." He looked at Rayna. "Last descendant of the tribe that created you..." He looked at the shaman."By the way, thank you for that. Check." He took out a vial of blood. "Bonnie's O-neg. Check."

The shaman looked at Rayna. "It is a great honor to meet you, Rayna."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," I told him. "Look, we're in a bit of a hurry here, okay? So if you can get on with the shamaning?"

The shaman nodded, taking the blood from Damon, pouring it over the blade in his hand.

Rayna took a bone from the shaman, holding it to her chest.

They sat down in between the torch light, across from each other at the bonfire.

The shaman started the ritual. "Hear me, Great Spirit. Hear me. We call upon you in this moment of need. One has come before you. For many lifetimes as your servant, your vengeance let her journey end. Let another take her remaining years. Let another take up her burden."

Damon and I looked at them in confusion.

"Wait," I told them. "What? What does that mean?"

Rayna smiled. "Do you think I could ever forgive you for the things you did to me? Now neither will Bonnie. When she wakes, she'll be just like me, full of hatred for you and your kind, and unable to rest until you've been wiped from this earth."

"Rayna..." I trailed off. Rayna readied her knife. I rushed closer. "No!"

Rayna stabbed herself in the heart before I could get to her.

Rayna fell to the ground, dead.

Damon and I looked at each other in shock and denial.