Now - 2016 

It was the morning after Damon and I had found Stefan/Marty in the snow.

Damon was driving us toward Memphis.

I was in the passenger seat.

Stefan/Marty was in the backseat, sleeping.

I was eating a donut, looking back at Stefan, becoming concerned that he was still unconscious, holding my hand in front of his mouth and nose to make sure he was still breathing, trying to rouse him awake. "Stefan? Hey, Stefan."

Stefan/Marty groaned, coming to. "What happened?"

"Well, we pulled your ass out of the snow, you ate a bunch of doughnuts, and then puked blood all over my nice, clean car," Damon answered.

Stefan/Marty looked down at his lap, which was covered in bloody napkins.

"You said 'everything hurt', so..." I trailed off, pulling out a grocery bag of over-the-counter medication, handing it to Stefan/Marty. "Head stuff, throat stuff, stomach stuff."

Stefan/Marty groaned again, visibly ill and generally miserable-looking. "Where are we?"

"On our way to Memphis," Damon answered. "Valerie got a line on your real body. The one with the nice hair."

"How did my real body end up in Memphis?" Stefan/Marty asked in exasperation.

Damon and I exchanged a look, looking away.

"You know what?" I asked. "Long story. How about you just focus on staying alive, okay? Sit back, relax, find your happy place... Chug one of those five-hour energy things, maybe with a cough syrup chaser or something?" Stefan/Marty started to retch, reflexively holding up the bag of medicine just in time to throw up a significant amount of blood inside of it. Damon was both frustrated and grossed out. I looked away, concerned. "Aw. Okay, Plan B."

I pulled out my phone, making a call.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked.

After a few rings, an emergency dispatcher answered. "What is your emergency?"

Stefan/Marty gave me a desperate look. "Kaylin, I can't go to a hospital. Marty Hammond got loaded and crashed a bus full of kids. There's an interstate manhunt going on."

I smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, brother. I'm not taking you to a hospital. I'm bringing the hospital to us."

           *******     

An ambulance was here now.

Two compelled paramedics were assessing Stefan/Marty's condition.

Damon turned to give me a look.

"I had to improvise," I told him. "The over-the-counter stuff wasn't working." I turned to point at the paramedics. "That's Frank, and that's Sully."

"Hi, guys," Frank told us.

"Hey, how you doing?" Sully asked.

I looked at Damon. "I've asked them very politely to make sure that Marty stays alive, and if he doesn't, then I will cut their thumbs off and feed them to the squirrels. Right, guys?" Frank and Sully rolled their eyes, giving us double thumbs up, turning to Stefan/Marty. I looked at Damon. "Meanwhile, you and I will go hunt down the sociopath that has taken residence in our brother, and then Valerie will jam his soul back... in..." I frowned, narrowing my eyes at him. "Where's the witch?"

Damon rolled his eyes. "She's at a motel off Route 70, prepping for the spell."

"Prepping for the spell?" I repeated. "What does that even mean? What could she possibly have to prep?"

Damon sighed. "I guess it's a little more complicated than that. At any rate, she managed to do a locator spell on the serial killer in Stefan's body. His name's Ambrose. Turns out, he's holed up in a frat house near Memphis College. Maybe he'll be so busy snacking on drunk sorority girls that this'll be an easy snatch-and-grab." 

Damon and I walked toward the car.

           *******     

Damon was driving.

I was in the passenger seat.

"So, what'd I miss when I was gone?" Damon asked. "What's been happening?"

"Wouldn't know," I told him. "I haven't been keeping up with our little friends from Mystic Falls for the past three years. Not until I realized that Stefan was in danger again. Coming to the rescue was the first interaction I've had with anyone from our group in years."

"And why is that?" Damon asked. "Did you seriously think that no one would understand you going back to Klaus after everything that happened?"

I was getting uncomfortable about the subject of conversation. "Can we just focus on the mission to save our brother, please?"

Damon chuckled. "Ooh. Went that bad, huh? What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I told him.

"Aw," Damon told me mockingly. "Did Kaylin get her little heart broken again?"

I rolled my eyes in frustration. "I don't want to talk about it. Look, I know this has been just a cat-nap for you, Damon, but it's been three years in the real world. People change. Things happen. Life goes on."

Damon was offended. "It wasn't a cat-nap, Kaylin. I made an excruciatingly painful descent into a near-death state so I wouldn't destroy everyone that I loved." I sighed, looking away. "And there it goes. Look, i get you're mad, okay? Not just because of what happened with Rayna, but because I desiccated for three years. Stefan was right. I bailed on him. I bailed on you. Just let me make it up to you, huh?"

"Oh, you know, Damon, I'm really not interested in being part of your 12-step redemption tour," I told him.

"One more mission, for old time's sake, huh?" Damon asked. "Oh, come on. Help me out. Be a hero."

I gave Damon a look. "You know that neither of us are very good at playing hero."

"We are to a point," Damon told me.

I sighed. "Whatever."

Damon smirked.

           *******     

Ambrose/Stefan was at a fraternity house in Memphis.

I kicked in the door.

Damon walked up the stairs of the porch to stand behind me.

Ambrose/Stefan walked toward us. "Damon! Kaylin! I was wondering if you'd show up. Come in, friends. Have a drink." Damon and I tried to walk inside, but without an invitation from the person who owned the building, we couldn't get inside. "Oh, dear. Looks like you're pledges who didn't make the cut. I guess now you'll just have to slog through a bit of old-fashioned hazing."

I sighed in annoyance.

Damon glared at Ambrose/Stefan.

           *******     

Damon and I walked outside toward the car.

"All right, so we compel someone to go inside," Damon told me.

"And then what?" I asked. "We're not invited in, Damon. And Ambrose is not just gonna walk out that door to where we can get our hands on him so we can bring him to Valerie so she can do the body swap spell for Stefan."

A woman approached us.

Damon looked at her in confusion. "Yeah?"

"Are you Damon and Kaylin Salvatore?" the woman asked.

"Well, that depends on who's asking," Damon told her warily.

The woman held up a phone, handing it to me.

The phone started to ring.

"He said if you don't answer this, I'm supposed to run into traffic," the woman told me.

Damon looked away in annoyance.

I was a bit appalled, irritated. "I'm answering." I answered the phone. The woman, content knowing her fate was secure, walked away. I spoke into the phone. "So, I hear your vampire MO is payback for you being a Greek system reject. Kind of cliche, don't you think?"

"Why don't you come on back here, Kaylin? I'm sure I can remember which attractive, over-privileged parasite owns this place."

"Huh. Well, the only parasite I'm interested in is you."

"You know, I don't actually care much for the taste of blood. What I do love are the less-obvious perks. Eavesdropping skills, mind games... Of course, it's fun to wantonly murder these class-obsessed imbeciles, but making them kill each other? Oh, that really takes the egg."

I sighed. "This is all fascinating. Really. Here's the thing. I can't hear you that well. I don't think the reception's that good in there. Why don't you just come out and deliver your villainous monologue face-to-face? What do you think?"

"Look, Kaylin, I know you won't leave me alone until you get your brother's body. So, why don't you do me one small favor, and we'll both get what we want?"

"How small?'

"Rayna Cruz. She chased me across this country for a decade. Made my life hell. Literally."

"What about her?"

"Well, let's just say I made things personal with her. Framed her for a couple of massacres... Turned her boyfriend. She won't be satisfied until I'm dead. In fact, she's probably on her way over here right now. So, why don't you go ahead and kill her for me, and I promise I will turn your brother's body over to you?"

"And why would you do that?"

"Oh. Clearly, you are not familiar with the loophole. Well, I can easily jump into the body of a transitioning vampire... All you need to do is find me a witch who can soul-swap me into the body of a fellow you don't care about, and Stefan can have his body back. I, in turn, can mount Rayna Cruz's head on my wall. Everyone wins. What do you say, Kaylin?"

I turned to Damon, considering.

Damon nodded. "Consider it done."

           *******     

I called Valerie.

"Hello?"

"Well, old Marty's heart's still beating, thanks to the miracle of modern medicine. I'm now sending him to the beautiful Wildwood Motel in a big red truck. Little sirens on the top, white stripe on the side. You can't miss it."

"And what about Ambrose? What is taking so long?"

I scoffed. "Hey, I'm out here busting my ass trying to catch this candy shell of a man that I love. You're the one holed up in the motel, eating vending machine crackers, so just give me a break, okay?"

"Gemini spells usually take two witches, Kaylin. I'm trying to gather the strength to ensure that I can actually get him back into his own body."

"So you're saying you can't do it?"

"No, I didn't say that."

Damon took the phone from me. "I'm not the kind of guy that likes to live in the middle, Val." I gave him an annoyed look for taking the phone from me. "You can either do it, or you can't."

"I'll do whatever I have to do to get it done."

"Okay," Damon told her. "Good. Good. Now, question... Any chance you could spare some of that strength to do a locator spell for Rayna Cruz?"

           *******     

Valerie had done the locator, saying that Rayna had been on a road in Memphis on her way to take down Ambrose.

When Damon and I got there, Rayna was gone.

But a man was sitting in a taxi in the middle of the road in front of a row of orange traffic cones.

"Well, that doesn't look good," Damon told me. We got out of the car, walking toward the driver. Damon opened the driver's side door to talk to the driver. "What the hell happened here?"

"I had a fare," the driver told us anxiously. "I was taking her to a frat party, and some guy with an accent shot up the car and dragged her away."

Damon and I exchanged a look, knowing that Enzo had taken Rayna, sighing in annoyance.

I called Enzo.

"Kaylin. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Bring her back."

"No idea what you're talking about."

"Isn't it a little embarrassing, still playing fetch for the Armory?"

"I'm no longer affiliated with that organization. Try to keep up."

"Fine. Enlighten me. What are your exact needs for Rayna Cruz at this moment? Because I promise you, I need her a lot more than you do."

"Oh, is that so? Well, then let me ask you a question. How's Bonnie?"

"We're not talking about Bonnie right now. We're talking about Stefan, who is currently dying, and the fact that Rayna is the only key to his survival--"

"Well, then I suggest you find another way to save him... Because you're not getting her."

I hung up furiously.

           *******     

Damon was driving.

I was in the passenger seat. "Together."

"What?" Damon asked.

"Bonnie and Enzo," I told him. "They are together."

Damon looked at me in disbelief. "'Together' as in, 'Someone kidnapped Bonnie Bennett and brainwashed her into a relationship with Enzo', or..."

"As in, Bonnie got into trouble with the Armory when you decided to take your little hibernation-vacation," I answered. "Enzo stepped in and helped her out. I guess, you know, things happened from there."

"I thought you didn't know anything," Damon told me irritably. I rolled my eyes, sighing.  The phone that the compelled Memphis College student gave me earlier started to ring. "Your Barbie Dream-Phone is ringing."

I took the phone out in annoyance, answering, putting it on speaker. "I was just about to call you."

"You know what I've realized? Between this game of beer pong and the extremely short shorts, modern Greek life is even less dignified than it once was."

I hesitated. "Listen, we hit a little bump in the road..."

"I hope that means you ran over Rayna Cruz and strapped her to the hood of your car."

Damon sighed. "Ambrose, brother, nothing would make me happier than exterminating our little Huntress friend, okay? But, I'm gonna need you to take a rain check on the hit. Now, listen, I promise we're gonna get to it. It's just, she's currently out of range right now, and we are running out of time. What do you say? We have a deal?"

"This sense of disappointment must be what it feels like to actually have you for a brother and sister."

Ambrose hung up.

I looked down.

           *******     

Damon and I had just returned to the fraternity house, walking up the front steps toward the door, seeing the girl Ambrose had compelled to give us her phone earlier. She was covered in blood splatter and holding a broken bottle.

"Hey," I told her in concern. "What happened?" The girl didn't even look at us, walking right past us without a word. "Hey!"

Damon and I exchanged a look, knowing that this couldn't mean anything good, walking up to the door, which was cracked open.

I slowly stepped through the threshold, concerned that I could walk in without an invitation.

Damon followed me.

We found that the fraternity house was a literal bloodbath, with all of the party-goers dead and laying scattered around the rooms. Most of them looked as if they had been fed on, but others had other injuries that could have caused their deaths.

I looked at Damon, extremely worried.

Damon looked around anxiously. "Uh-oh."

"You think he went after Rayna himself?" I asked.

"No," Damon answered. "He wouldn't know where to look. That's why he made us the hit-men."

I pulled out the girl's phone to call the phone Ambrose was using, only to find that it was across the room next to its now-dead owner, frowning in frustration. "Maybe he's looking for his next murder party? Or maybe he's just gonna keep running, until..."

I couldn't finish.

"Marty drops dead with our brother still on-board?" Damon finished.

I realized something. "'On-board'. Hey, do you think he overheard me tell the drivers where to take Stefan? We were just outside the house when I said it."

Damon was just as horrified as I was by this revelation. "Oh, no. Maybe he figures he can get us off his back if he snuffs out Marty, and then we won't need Stefan's body anymore."

I frantically pulled out my phone to call Frank.

"This is Frank."

"Tell me you're not still driving, Frank."

"We hit a little accident-related traffic a few miles back."

"What is the point of having an emergency vehicle if you can't run other cars out of the way?"

"Sorry about that."

"Do not stop again. Do not pass 'Go,' do not collect $200. Turn on the lights on the top of the van, Frank, and deliver him to a very powerful witch woman before some lunatic tries to off my brother."

"Copy that."

           *******     

Ambrose/Stefan was standing outside a house where Stefan/Marty was hiding in to try and kill him from the outside by using a grill lighter to set a can of oil on fire in a makeshift Molotov cocktail. "I've read your journals, Stefan. And I know you're a deeply sensitive, literary sort of fellow. Is there any final words you'd like me to deliver?"

Ambrose/Stefan threw the lit oil can.

I rushed in front of him, catching the can before it could get into the house. "Fun's over."

I rolled my eyes, blowing the lit can out.

Ambrose/Stefan scowled at me angrily, grabbing a nearby plank of wood, using his knee to break it in half. "On the contrary. The fun's just begun."

Ambrose/Stefan lunged toward me to stake me.

I smirked smugly.

Damon appeared behind Ambrose/Stefan, snapping his neck before he could stake me. He looked at Stefan/Marty and me. "I hate how good that felt."

I gave him an annoyed look, rolling my eyes, turning toward the house, walking up the steps to get to the door, unable to get in without an invitation. "Stefan?"

Stefan/Marty looked at us in relief.

I smiled warmly.

           *******     

Ambrose/Stefan was still unconscious, lying on one of the beds in Valerie's motel room.

Stefan/Marty was lying on the other one, barely conscious.

Valerie sat between the two beds, surrounded by dozens of white candles, taking both of their hands, looking at Stefan. "I'll get you back to where you belong. Don't worry."

"Thank you for doing all this," I told her gratefully.

Valerie was surprised by the kindness, nodding.

Damon walked into the room with a defibrillator in his hands, closing the door behind him, holding up the device. "Snagged this from the front desk, in case we have to restart Marty's ticker."

Valerie looked at me. "Damon's the one you should be thanking."

Damon scoffed. "She didn't think I'd come through." He looked at me. "She won't thank me because she's rightfully angry at me for kidnapping her and getting Stefan killed, albeit temporary." He looked at Valerie. "Just promise me you can do this."

Valerie nodded. "I can do this." She still hand Ambrose/Stefan and Stefan/Marty's hands in hers, taking a deep breath, closing her eyes to being the spell, chanting. "Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus soelteros mentum mente. Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus soelteros mentum mente... Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus soelteros mentum... mente. Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus soelteros mentum mente. Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus... soelteros... mentum... mente."

Valerie fell to her knees, gasping for breath.

I rushed to check on her. "Valerie? Valerie, are you okay?"

Damon walked closer frantically, putting his hands around Valerie's arms, holding her upright. "No, no, no. Hey, get up. Hey, you promised us. Get up. You promised you could do this. Get up. Valerie, get up!" Valerie struggled to get up and finish the spell, but she was getting weaker by the moment, and her attempts to chant just came out as groans of pain. Damon held Valerie up, continuing to try to rouse her. "Valerie? Valerie, get up."

"Damon, slow down," I told him. "She needs a minute."

"Stefan doesn't have a minute," Damon told me desperately. He turned back to Valerie, who was still barely conscious and hanging like a rag doll in Damon's arms. "Hey, get up. You promised us you could do this."

Valerie suddenly gasped awake, and though she was still weak, she was at least aware and alert enough to pick up where she left off as Damon took her hands in his own, putting one each on Marty and Stefan, continuing to stand behind her with his arms bracing hers so she could stay upright as she knelt on the floor between them. "Phesmatos spiritu revertum corpus soelteros mentum mente. Phesmatos spiritus revertum corpus soelteros mentum mente..."

Stefan awakened with a gasp.

Damon, Valerie and I looked at him warily.

"Stefan?" I asked.

Stefan nodded, pulling himself up into a seated position. "It's me. It's me." He pulled Valerie into an embrace, holding her tightly in relief. "It's me."

Damon, Valerie and I were relieved that he was okay.

Stefan looked troubled by what had happened.

           *******     

Stefan was taking a shower and gaining his strength when Valerie broke up with him.

I walked outside toward my own car.

Damon walked toward me. "Hey, wait up. Kaylin. Kay, come on. Where are you going?"

I turned to face him in annoyance, my patience wearing thin. "I don't know. I don't know where I'm going, because I don't have a home to go to. I don't have anyone else to go to, because Stefan is pissed off, and I'm pissed off at you."

Damon was clearly feeling guilty for what he did to all of his relationships, especially with his brother and sister. "Oh, Kaylin, I'm trying here. I am. I shouldn't have abandoned you. That was a terrible thing to do. I'm sorry. But just tell me whatever amends I need to make, or whatever bridges I need to build, and let's just... Let's just get back to the way things were. All right?"

I sighed. "You asked what happened with me and Klaus. The last three years were supposed to be fun. They were supposed to be the time of my life. But it turns out that they were some of my worst. Not because of anything that Klaus did, but because of something that happened to him. And happened to everything around him. And I'm supposed to move on and live my life, but I can't do that if I go right back to the way things were."

Damon was obviously confused and hurt by this answer, though he knew that I had made a valid point. "Well... thanks for being honest. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened, but..."

"You don't need to," I told him. "Because you don't care. You never liked my relationship with Klaus, and I can only imagine what you think of me now. Even though you've done things that can rival his greatest hits. And so have I. So, I'm not going to feel guilty about feeling the way I feel about him anymore. And I'm not going to let you make me feel guilty, either." I turned to leave, but feeling guilty for what I had said, unwilling to take it back because it was the truth, turned back. "Bonnie's undercover in a psych ward in Ashville. You might have better luck winning her back."

I walked away, leaving him alone.