The wedding ceremony had descended into chaos.

People were screaming across the room.

Some of the attendees of the party were already dead, and many more were injured or dying.

Damon was kneeling on the floor at the front of the altar, clutching Elena's unconscious body against his lap, desperately trying to wake her. "Elena?" Elena remained unconscious and limp in his arms. "Come on. Hey, wake up. Elena?"

Damon bit his wrist, trying to feed Elena vampire blood.

On the other end of the altar, Alaric was holding Jo's dead body in devastation. He could do nothing but sob desperately, distraught. "Oh, God. Someone, please help."

Joshua struggled to stand, bracing himself on a chair, looking furiously around the room. "Kai!"

Damon was still trying to feed Elena his blood, but she wasn't conscious enough to be able to drink it. "Come on, just drink it." Blood simply dribbled down Elena's chin. "No!" Damon started to become distraught, looking around. "Kaylin? Stefan!" Stefan and I had been knocked backward by Kai's magic, standing, covered with blood from the broken glass and projectiles hitting us, walking closer in alarm. "She won't wake up."

"Oh, my God," Stefan told him.

"She won't wake up," Damon told us. "I don't understand."

"Get her to the hospital, now," I told him.

Damon nodded. "Yeah."

Damon stood with Elena in his arms, rushing out, leaving.

Caroline walked closer to Stefan and me, having seen the whole thing. "She's human. What if she doesn't--"

Someone snapped our necks from behind with magic, letting us fall to the floor.

******

I woke up in the passenger seat of a car.

Stefan and Caroline were still asleep in the backseat.

I looked into the driver's seat to see Enzo.

"Good, you're up," Enzo told me. "Sorry to be indecorous, but you were all solidly unconscious when I pulled you from the wedding mayhem."

"Where are we going?" I asked. "Where's Damon?"

"Damon is in the hospital with Elena," Enzo answered. "Kai is dead, and all the Geminis are going down with him. And, I grabbed the three of you to help me deal with a bigger problem."

"There's a bigger problem?" I asked in exasperation.

Enzo pulled us up to a warehouse district outside of Mystic Falls.

Mom was desperately opening warehouse door after warehouse door, looking for someone. "Valerie? Malcolm?"

Mom realized that there was no one in the storage space, closing the door.

I sighed in annoyance, getting out of the car, walking toward Mom. "Get in the car, please."

"1702 Route 12," Mom told me. "That's--that's where we are, right? I mean, I read the map very carefully. He--He said they would be here. They're probably scared out of their minds."

"Who are you talking about?" I asked.

Mom opened the door to another storage space, searching through it. "My friends. Kai brought them back when he escaped that prison." She looked around the room, seeing that there was nothing there. She turned around. "They're here, somewhere."

I sighed. "He lied to you. There's nobody out here. You made a deal with a sociopath, and now a lot of people are dead. You're wasting your time."

Mom ignored me, walking away.

******

I continued to try to get Mom to leave with me while she stubbornly searched the various warehouses. "Let me guess. Not there either."

"Did you come all this way to mock me?" Mom asked.

"No," I answered. "I came here to put you back in your cell where you belong."

"Do I look like a Ripper, Kaylin?" Mom asked. "I've said repeatedly that the hope of being reunited with my family is enough to overcome the urges."

"Would you please stop it with the word 'family'?" I asked in exasperation. "They're just a bunch of random people that you happened to sire."

"We spent a century and a half together," Mom told me. "We're loyal to each other. Our relationship is a deeper bond than I have ever known. What other word would I use?"

"Lily, you either come with me right now, or you're out of my life," I told her. "Do you understand me? Your daughter."

Mom gave me a cold look, walking past me. "I'm sorry." She returned to searching another warehouse "Malcolm, are you here, sweetheart?"

I rushed toward Mom, pushing her against a wall in a chokehold. "What did you give Kai?"

"I thought you were leaving," Mom told me.

"Tell me what you gave Kai in return for your family," I told her.

"I gave him my blood," Mom answered.

And Kai had killed himself.

Which meant that Kai had turned himself into one of the Heretics.

******

Stefan, Caroline and I made it to the hospital.

I stood in the hallway outside of Elena's room, watching Damon, Stefan and Caroline surround her.

Elena looked to be in a coma.

I looked at the text on my phone from Alaric.

TY IS A WEREWOLF. KAI IS A VAMPIRE.

I sighed, overwhelmed and exhausted by all the hits we were taking tonight.

Kai stumbled toward me, a werewolf bite on his neck, strung out and confused, breathing heavily. "What's happening to me?" 

I chuckled in amusement. "Oh, you didn't happen to pet a fuzzy, four-legged vampire-killing machine, did you?"

"How do I fix it?" Kai asked seriously.

"Easy," I told him. "There's a cure in New Orleans. I'll get it for you. Just tell me what you did to Elena."

"Oh, I can't do that," Kai told me.

I gripped Kai's throat, rushing to push him against the wall. "One thing you're not gonna do? You're not gonna mess with me. I am in a very bad mood right now, and I will start beheading people that I don't like, starting with you, if you don't reverse whatever the hell you did to her."

Kai chuckled. "It's just not as threatening when I'm seeing like, four super-blurry versions of you. And come on, Kaylin. For a girl that says that she doesn't like Elena, you seem to save her life a lot."

I tightened my grip on Kai's throat, lifting him up the wall off the floor. "I save her because I know that my brother can't live without her. So fix her. I know it's a spell. She's in perfect health."

"And she'll stay that way until she wakes," Kai told me, using magic to cause me pain, making me let go. He slid down the wall to his feet, walking toward the window looking into Elena's room. "Young, beautiful, human Elena Gilbert, preserved in this moment indefinitely." He turned to face me. "I linked Elena's life to Bonnie's. The rule is, as long as Bonnie's alive, Elena will remain asleep."

I looked at Kai angrily. "Please tell me you didn't."

Kai smiled gleefully. "Oh, I totally did. Oh, and Bon-Bon can't go look for some weird witchy work-around, because as the incredibly-powerful leader of the Gemini's, I rigged this so that if she does try to outsmart it, both Bonnie and Elena will die. Instantly. Kaylin, think about it. Each day that Elena remains asleep, Damon will have the burning desire to kill Bonnie. Of course, he could just get it over with and kill her now, but Elena will probably never speak to him again. And now the fate of two of your friends, one you claim to hate, apparently, their lives hang in the balance. And there's nothing you can do about it. But I'm pretty sure that this is all at the back of your mind. I mean, your mom did choose her Heretics over her family, right? Even after they saved her from the prison world?"

I rushed toward Kai angrily.

Kai rushed out of the building, leaving.

I was angry and confused on what to do.

******

Damon had chose to save Bonnie. He had killed Kai.

The next day, I opened the door to find Caroline and Bonnie on the front step. I ushered them inside into the living room.

Alaric, Matt and Tyler were already sitting there waiting.

Stefan and Damon walked in, joining us in preparation for our last goodbyes.

"Okay, let's do this," I told them. I looked at Caroline and Bonnie. "You two are up first."

Caroline and Bonnie walked into the parlor.

Elena was lying in a coffin wearing a midnight blue dress.

Caroline and Bonnie looked at their best friend sadly.

"It's easy, Bon," Caroline told her softly. "We just take her hand... close your eyes... and let her into your thoughts."

Caroline and Bonnie said their goodbyes to Elena.

Matt said his goodbyes to Elena.

Alaric said his goodbyes to Elena.

Jeremy walked in. "Alaric?"

"Jeremy?" Alaric asked.

"I--I tried to be here sooner," Jeremy told him. "I wanted to be here for the wedding."

"i'm glad you weren't," Alaric told him, embracing Jeremy.

Jeremy pulled away, walking toward Elena. He said his goodbyes to his older sister.

Tyler said his goodbyes to Elena.

I walked closer to say goodbye to Elena, taking her hand.

******

Elena and I appeared in the Grill.

I looked around. "Well, I guess this is the best place I can get a goodbye at." I looked at Elena. "We didn't share that many good memories."

Elena smiled a small, sad smile. "We shared enough."

I hesitated, shaking my head. "I'm sorry, Elena. I was a bitch to you for the most of the time that we knew each other."

"Well, you had a right to be," Elena told me. "I mean, you were right. I wasn't trying to, but I was destroying Stefan and Damon's bond. I never wanted it to be like that, but that's how it happened. I guess that I wanted to thank you."

"For what?" I asked.

"For protecting me, even when you hated me," Elena answered. "For keeping me safe. For saving me. And if it wasn't for you, it was for your brothers. You didn't want them to feel the loss, so you saved all of us from it."

I smiled sadly. "I think we all know that I never really hated you. Otherwise I would have killed you."

Elena smiled a small smile in agreement, embracing me. "Take care of yourself, Kaylin. Take care of Stefan and Damon."

"You know I will," I told her.

Elena and I pulled away, smiling small smiles.

******

I let go of Elena's hand, walking away.

Stefan said his goodbyes to Elena, walking away.

******

Stefan, Damon and I took Elena's coffin to the Salvatore crypt in the cemetery.

"You think she'll be safe here?" Damon asked.

"If word gets out that her body has the Cure inside, every vampire who wants to be human will come busting through that door," Stefan told us.

"Bonnie will spell it shut," I told them. "We're under strict orders not to open it for anyone." I looked at Damon. "I guess that means that..."

"That it's time for me to say goodbye," Damon finished.

Stefan patted Damon on his shoulder, nodding to him sadly, reassuringly, walking out, leaving.

I put a hand on Damon's, smiling sadly, walking out, leaving.

I wasn't grieving as much as some people, but I wasn't happy about this.

Goodbye, Elena Gilbert.