𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐈𝐍
everyone looks at someone and thinks, 'why has no one hit you with a shovel yet'

AFTER FINDING OUT that Stefan was out in the world, doing god knows what, the couple was tired as hell. So, they had to go back to the Salvatore House, and they fell asleep together on Damon's bed.

Echo was currently curled up on his chest, her leg propped up over his, and his arms were securely wrapped around her.

And then suddenly, really early in the morning, the two were sounded asleep when Elena barged into the room wearing pajamas while taking deep breaths as though she had just woken from a nightmare. "I had a dream about Stefan," she exclaimed loudly, causing them to wake up with groans.

"God, Elena, do you really want to do this right now," Echo complained as she snuggled further into her boyfriends chest. "Can't this wait until after I have at least one cup of coffee?"

"I'm sorry, O, but it can't," Elena gave her sister a sheepish look before explaining, "It was more than just a pit in my stomach this time, though." She began pacing back and forth as the couple stared at her in annoyance. "It was real. It was like I was there with him. It was just so vivid. I saw Stefan walking out of this bar. It had a red awning and this broken neon sign, and he was screaming in pain."

"Well, should I go check in the attic, see if there's a crystal ball?" Damon sarcastically questioned and rolled his eyes. "Maybe you can conjure up an address."

"Route 29. Joe's bar," Katherine suddenly said as she appeared at the bedroom door causing Echo to throw a pillow at the former-vampire. "I think I had the exact same dream."

Elena and Katherine exchanged looks while Damon groaned and Echo buried her head further into him.

HALF AN HOUR LATER, Elena was fully dressed and writing in a notebook, then paused to pick up Stefan's daylight ring looking at it pensively as Damon entered the room with an pouting Echo.

"Sorry for waking you up, but here's a peace offer," the older twin smiled slightly as she handed a cup coffee and a bag of fries to Echo.

The younger twin stared at Elena before sighing. "Fine. You're forgiven."

"So," I've found 9 bars along Route 29, and none of them are called "Joe's"," Damon spoke up as he kissed his girlfriends cheek before he turned to Elena.

"I had a feeling that there was something wrong all summer, and I ignored it," Elena responded in guilt, looking up at them. "But I was right, Stefan was in a safe, and probably killed whoever it was that found him...I know it sounds crazy, that I'm following some psychic dream, but it's the only lead that we have," she pointed out, hopeful.

"It doesn't sound crazy — it is crazy. But I'm open-minded." Damon shrugged his shoulders while Echo plopped down beside her sister.

"I don't know why you want to find the asshole, but whatever." Echo stuffed a few fries into her mouth, frowning. "So, who's car are we taking? I think it should be mine just in case we need some weapons."

Suddenly, Katherine walked into the room and joined them. "Shotgun," She called out with a smile causing them to all look at her in confusion or annoyance. "What? I get carsick in the back seat. Another charming, human side effect you stuck me with."

Elena looked at Damon incredulously. "Please tell me that she's not coming?"

"Trust me, I have no interest in Katherine's well-being, but for some reason Silas wants her real bad, and if Silas wants her, I want her more," he explained deviously and Echo flung a hot fry at the human who yelled as the fry hit her arm.

"Score!" Echo shouted excitedly and high-fived Elena who chuckled. "That just made my morning."

"You're annoying," Katherine spat out as she crossed her arm, and kicked at the fry on the floor.

"Can't we just stash her in the cellar? Or maybe a deep, dark well with a pair of water wings?" Elena asked with a glare.

"Do you really think that I wanna take a road trip with you, America's most boring, self-righteous vampire?" The older doppelgänger asked her with raised eyebrows.

Echo stood up and had a stare off with her. "And do you really think we want to take a road trip with the former vampire who couldn't even be a vampire and can't be a human? I mean, how pathetic can you be? You spent five hundred years of running, didn't make no friends, and when you got a dozen chances to change, you didn't? You are so jealous of Elena, but call her boring? Wow. Get a life."

"Just remember, Damon wouldn't have to play bodyguard if you hadn't shoved that cure down my throat," Katherine pointed out in an angry sneer.

Elena growled out, "You tried to kill me and you did kill my sister!"

"I will admit, though, I take great pleasure knowing that you wasted your one shot at a human life on me," Katherine commented with a mischievous smirk.

Echo was confused. "You spent the last of your vampire life and the beginning of your human one being jealous of Elena just because she has a better life than yours, and because she actually has a personality."

"All right, play nice, or I'm gonna revisit the deep dark well idea," Damon advised the twins and the butch continued to argue.

"You should," Echo agreed with her boyfriend as she pulled out a dagger and began twirling it. "It would be so much easier to just kill her now and stash her body away. It's not like anyone cares enough to find her body."

Katherine rolled her eyes at all of them and crossed her arms over her chest. "I wanna find Stefan just as much as you do, and not just because I don't wanna be a pawn that you can trade off for his life. I care about him—I always have. And since we've been having the same dream..." She trailed of mischievously to rile up her look alike. "...makes me think you care about him just as much."

"Actually, I couldn't care less," Echo spoke up, once again, not caring that Stefan is Damon's brother.

"I care because I'm a nice person, unlike you," Elena spat out, "even if he hurt me in every way possible."

Damon rolled his eyes and made a face. "Okay, train's leaving the station. Choo-choo!"

Echo laughed at her boyfriend before clapping. "Alright. Who's going with who?"

"Why are we taking separate cars?" Elena questioned in confusion, putting Stefan's daylight ring in her pocket.

"One: so we don't kill her," Echo pointed at the former vampire who smirked. "And we might need all the weapons my car holds."

"You do know that you're the weapon?" Katherine asked, raising a brow.

Echo glared at her. "I don't care. I'm still a hunter."

"Why are you even going?" Katherine questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You'll need me seeing as you can't do anything. You're useless now." Echo smirked upon seeing the anger flash in the girl's eyes.

Katherine and Elena sighed heavily as they glared at one another.

EVEN THOUGH ECHO didn't trust Katherine, she also knew the pathetic bitch couldn't do anything seeing as she's a weak human. She thought it was funny, though, because at least Elena learned to fight and stand up for herself, while Katherine can barley do a handstand. It makes her laugh just thinking about it.

So, she was driving in her Impala with Elena while Damon drove with Katherine.

It was a little while later when they pulled into the parking lot of Joe's Bar.

They got out of the parked car as Damon got out of his, leaving Katherine inside by herself because she was asleep. 

The older twin looked at him on confusion as they walked towards the entrance. "Are we really just gonna leave her in the car?" 

"The only time she shuts up is when she's sleeping, and I didn't want to disturb our peace and quiet," Damon responded with a smile in Echo's direction. Then Elena suddenly stopped walking towards the entrance and he turned back in confusion. "I thought you said this was the one." 

"It is. It looks exactly like it did in the dream," She commented uneasily with wide eyes and examined the building. "Isn't that a little freaky?" 

Damon nodded his head with a look. "Yeah. It's a lot of freaky. Let's go see if Stefan's inside." 

They all walked in to see a woman working behind the bar with a white bandage on her neck.

"Can I get you something?" She asked them with a smile. 

"Yeah, sure." Damon fake smiled back, looked at her name tag, then compelled her. "Why don't you tell me what happened to your neck, Jo?" 

"Some sicko attacked me, bit me, told me to run, so I did, and when I looked back, he was on fire," Jo answered monotonously. 

"Jo..." Echo trailed off at the name and her heart constricted before she took on a breath to control her emotions. Ever since she turned, everything she felt was heightened. So, seeing the name that reminded her of her dead ex, it hurt more than it already did.

Elena looked up at Damon. "The sun must have come up. He doesn't have his daylight ring." She began fiddling with it in her pocket. 

"And then what happened?" He questioned Jo urgently. 

The bartender shrugged before answering, "Some woman shoved him into a truck, drove away." 

"Did you know this woman?" He pressed on, wanting to find his brother. 

"No. She was driving Cam Peterson's truck," Jo answered shaking her head then pointed in a direction. "He lives about ten miles down that dirt road out back. Here. Look like you could use one of these." She poured Damon a shot. 

"Hmm. I could. Thank you," he mused appreciatively before throwing it back, swallowing. Suddenly he started gagging and coughing, his mouth and throat sizzling. "Vervain!" He yelled hoarsely and Echo quickly reached forward, slammed the girl's head own onto the counter which made her nose crack and bleed.

"What did you do?!" She shouted before rubbing her boyfriends back, trying to help him as best as she could.

Just then, a woman — Nadia — entered from the back room. "I told her to pour him a drink or I'd kill her." 

Damon stood up straight with a suspicious yet guarded glare. "Who the hell are you?" 

Nadia raised a gun at Damon, Echo and Elena.

Suddenly, Katherine entered the bar, not realising what was going on until it was too late and Nadia noticed her, then pointed the gun at Katherine causing the older doppelgänger to stop and put up her hands in surrender. 

"Which one of you is Katherine Pierce?" Nadia questioned looking between the two identical girls. 

Katherine pointed at Elena with a terrified look on her face. "She is," she lied quickly, hoping Nadia would believe her. 

"Katherine is a compulsive liar...but I need her alive," Nadia said with a stern look on her face. 

Elena and Echo shared a look before they both sped forward and flung her against a table. Elena, though, turned to Katherine and yelled out, "Katherine, run!" The now human bolted out of the bar.

Nadia's eyes vamped out as she snarled at the Gilbert twins. "You really do look exactly alike." She straightened up and threw Elena against the wall with vampire strength. Echo, though, jumped over the older vamp, kicked her in the face. But, before she could fuller land on her feet, Nadia grabbed her by the ankle and flung her at the bar. She hit a rack of alcohol bottles that shattered at the impact, and dug into her body. Nadia then sped out of the bar, going after Katherine.

Damon sped towards his girlfriend and helped her up. "Damn," he hissed and began taking the shattered bottle pieces out of her back. "Wonderful. Now we've got a vampire bounty hunter to deal with." He glanced at Elena who made her way over to help her sister. "Let me guess: Euro-bitch was not part of the dream?" 

Elena looked up at him while shaking her head and taking a deep breath. "I've never seen her before." 

Once the last piece of glass was out of her, Echo healed quickly and inhaled deeply. "I'm going to kill whenever the hell that was and Katherine."

"Yeah. Well, whoever she was, she wants Katherine, which means she's probably a Silas spy," he grumbled unhappily and stared out the door where Nadia and Katherine ran out of. 

"I'll go chase after her. You find Stefan," Elena suddenly said, looking at the couple and walking towards the door. 

"Wait, what?" Damon looked at her in confusion. "No. She almost killed you both."

"We don't have time for a detour. Damon, Stefan's hurt. Find him," she ordered sternly, leaving the bar. 

Echo looked over at him and sighed heavily with a shake of her head. "Come on."

"Wait." He grabbed her and pulled her against him. She looked up at him, confused before he began kissing her. When he pulled away, he took off his jacket and wrapped at around her. "This will cover up your ripped and bloodied shirt."

She smiled and pecked his lips. "Come on. The faster we find your asshole of a brother, we can find my sister and make sure she's alright."

They walked out of the bar in search of Stefan.

STEFAN WAS BOUND to a chair by vines, surrounded by a circle of herbs on the floor when Damon and Echo arrived.

"Wassup, assbutt?" Echo spoke first which made him let out a small chuckle.

Sarcastically, Damon asked his little brother, "You couldn't call a brother?"

Echo stepped over the circle of herbs, as did Damon, and they tried to untie him. He chuckled at his brother and said, "Nice to see you, too, Damon."

The brunette tugged at his restraints trying to break it, but it seemed to not move an inch. "What the hell?" She glared up at him. "What did you do to yourself now?"

Stefan scoffed in amusement. "Well, Silas' ex-girlfriend decided to come back from the Other Side."

Damon rose a brow. "Qetsi-whatever?"

Suddenly a voice from behind corrected Damon, "It's Qetsiyah." Looking to Stefan, she said, "Do you see why I want to change it?" The woman walked over to the fire she told them, "You won't be able to break those vines. The spell won't release him until I get what I want."

Damon stood responding, "Well, I guess the rumors are true. You are a ray of sunshine. Question—why is my brother wearing your compost pile?"

Standing back up holding a bowl, Qetsiyah explained, "I'm going to link Stefan to Silas. Casting a spell on his doppelgänger will neutralize Silas' mental powers. Once he's weakened, I will force him to take the cure."

Echo rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Well, that's a great idea, force the cure down his throat. The cure is gone, done, it's ingested."

Glancing up, she merely asked, "Katherine, you mean? I'm aware of her condition. She was supposed to be with you two."

Looking up at the two, Stefan asked, "Wait. Katherine took the cure?"

"Elena shoved the cure down that bitches face after she killed me," Echo snapped which made Stefan raise a brow at her. He knew she couldn't permanently die, so he was confused on why it was such a big deal. "I'm a vampire now because of her."

"Oh..."

"Yeah." Echo then turned to the witch once her words registered. "Wait a minute. What do you mean supposed to be with us? Did you plant those dreams in their heads? What is it, some kind of, like, witch party trick?"

She merely ignored Echo's remark. "So where is she?"

Damon frowned and tilted his head. "We ran into a little snag."

Qetsiyah placed down her bowl on the table. "I guess I'll start without her." She moved her hands over the bowl and began chanting, "Adatu Khan Leala Ghan Breatvis Shemil."

Damon and Echo shared a look as the woman continued to chant. "Okay, well, thanks for the hospitality, but we should really get going if we want to beat traffic."

Stefan nodded. Yep, yep. He's right."

Echo watched as Qetsiyah opened her eyes quickly. "Probably don't want to get on my bad side."

Echo clenched her jaw and took a threatening step towards the witch. "You realize you're not the only one with a bad side, right? And you really don't wanna get on ours. Especially mine."

Qetsiyah looked the newly turned vampire in the eyes. "Aren't you brave?" She looked Echo up and down. "Without Silas' mental powers, he is an immortal nobody. We can defeat him. Isn't that what you want?"

Stefan began begging, "Just do it, all right? Just get it over with. Do it."

Echo rolled her eyes and turned to the boy. "Give him what he wants. I hope it hurts."

Qetsiyah smirked at the younger twin and placed her finger inside the bowl which held some sort of liquid. She then walked into the circle behind Stefan, and placed her fingers to his temples.

They watched as the circle of herbs surrounded Tessa and Stefan ignited into flames. Stefan began groaning in pain and fighting it.

Echo held back the satisfied smile that wanted to appear on her face.

Damon stepped forward a little. "What are you doing to my brother?"

Shouting over the flames, Tessa — the name she wants to be called — answered, "I'm frying Silas' brain. No one said it would be pretty." Stefan's pain lasted a few moments longer before blood poured from his eyes and he eventually gave up, goin unconscious. The flames went out and Tessa lowered her hands.

"All right. We're done here," Damon stated with a glare.

Beginning to walk away, she agreed, "You're right. We're done. It worked."

Damon walked over and grabbed his brother's face. Once he realized he wasn't waking up, the blue eyes vampire turned to the witch. "Whatever you did to him, undo it."

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Relax. I just burned through his conscious mind. He'll wake...eventually."

Tessa smirked as Damon went to untie his brother while Echo stood close by. "You sure you want to take him home? You all were moving on from him. Hell, you were happier without him there. I mean, without his condescending comments and presence, you seemed to smile more."

Echo scrunched her nose up in disgust. "Spying on us from the Other Side? That's weird."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. It was like watching a soap opera, except boring and with no volume control. You know, there was one thing worse than being on the Other Side and watching Silas resist the cure."

Damon ripper Stefan's restraints off with a grunt. "Oh, yeah? What was that, realizing that your plan totally sucked?"

Bitterly, she replied, "Century after century, I watched versions of Stefan and Elena find each other, like magnets, always the same story—conquering all, falling in love. Destiny has been trying to get the doppelgängers together forever." She then turned to Echo. "But, then you popped up one day, and changed things. The newest doppelgänger realized she didn't need Stefan nor want him. I think that's the first. I mean, other than having a big heart and wanting to rescue him, she doesn't love him anymore. It's quite fascinating." She then shrugged. "But, fate is always working against those who try to change the course."

Echo scoffed and crossed her arms. "Elena will never go for Stefan again. You saw how he treated her, you saw how miserable she really was. She has a better chance without him. Even you — the witch bitch of the Other Side — can tell that."

She shrugged. "But, still. It will be better if he just leaves town and takes Elena with him."

Damon glared at her. "So, what are you suggesting? I leave him here with you, bring Elena here, and I run off with Echo into the sunset?" He gestured to his girlfriend who looked ready to take Tessa's head off.

She nodded. "I'd keep them safe."

Damon quickly retorted, "You have a bad track record with men."

"And there is no way I would allow my sister to be in the hands of the likes of you," Echo snapped, clenching her jaw.

She tilted her head. "I want to keep him safe. Now that he's linked to Silas, Silas can't mess with our heads, and as long as Stefan's in the way, you will never be fully happy."

Damon and Echo frowned and turned to one another. "And no one has to know?"

"No one has to know."

The two paused, seeming to think it over when Damon suddenly said, "Or you could just go back to hell."

He grabbed Tessa's throat; she struggled and managed to cast a spell muttering, "Ah Sha Lana

Both Damon and Echo groaned in pain before Tessa threw the pair into the wall, having them land on top of each other.

Echo groaned and looked down to see a piece of wool sticking through her stomach. "Fuck!" She shouted and went to pull it out, but stopped when she saw Elena running into the cabin.

"Echo!" She immediately ran towards her sister even though Stefan was closer to her and more in view. "Oh, god." She bit her lip and quickly pulled the piece of wood out of her sisters stomach. "What happened?!"

Echo groaned as she began to heal and then glanced to her boyfriend who was looking at her in worry. "We'll explain later. But first, let's get out of here."

LATER ON, Stefan was lying unconscious on the sofa of the boarding house while Elena sat at his side. Echo had her arms crossed as she was pacing, and watched as her sister placed the daylight ring back onto his finger.

Just then Damon entered the room with a smirk. "Well, he's got his daylight ring back. We're all set for a picnic." 

Elena looked up at him as she stood up. "He's lucky he has a brother who looks out for him. Otherwise, you might have pawned it for a pinball machine." 

"Hmm," he mused as he wrapped his arms around Echo's waist.

Elena studied him. "You're both suspiciously quiet. Tell me what Qetsiyah said back at the cabin." 

"Well, she told us a very disgusting story about the history of doppelgängers, how they're fated to fall in love with each other," Echo said, fake gagging. "I told her it's bullshit because Stefan is a terrible boyfriend."

"Fated?" Elena asked and glanced down at Stefan. Of course, she'll always feel a little something for him, but being 'in love' with him was so far fetched. Now, her mind always goes back to one person in particular — Jack. And he's gone with her brother and plus, he's Echo's nephew in a way, and she kinda feels bad about it. He's till pretty much a kid and hasn't lived a life. Who is she to take that away from him? He should explore and see what he likes... who he likes. "So, she's crazy?"

Echo quickly nodded. "She is for real crazy. But, she did hint that I wasn't here before." At Elena's confused look, she continued, "well, she said that I 'popped up one day' and that I changed things."

Before anything could be said, Stefan groaned and sat up.

"Welcome back, brother, Damon greeted him with a grin. 

"Stefan..." Elena trailed off with a hesitant smile. "...we missed you." 

Stefan looked at the three of them in confusion and not a hint of recognition. "Uh, I'm sorry...I—I have no idea who you people are." 

Elena's smile fell and she looked from Damon to Stefan, in shock as Echo huffed. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy. When has it ever been that easy?"