𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄
sometimes i think about my life and want to bang my head into a wall

ECHO WANDERED DOWN the staircase of the Salvatore house and moved straight into the kitchen were she saw Damon staring at a rather large assortment of cupcakes with a smile on his face.

The Winchester leaned herself against the door frame as she watched him. "Happy Birthday, Bon-bon." She then cleared her throat and the Salvatore turned dramatically on his heels to face her. "Uh, hello. Morning. How'd you, uh, how'd you sleep?"

"Perfectly." Echo nodded and walked over to the table where the cupcakes were set and perched herself on one of the bar stools. "Didn't hear you get up this morning. What's all this?"

"Caroline's planning a birthday party for Bonnie." Damon nonchalantly shrugged with caused Echo's brows to furrow. "Yeah, I know, it's a little sad having a birthday party where the birthday girl doesn't actually show up, but—"

"—actually, I think it's a great idea," the brunette said with a smile. "Yeah. I mean, Bonnie would want us to celebrate her birthday in style. You know that, I know that, everyone knows that. Caroline's just trying to do what she thinks is right, and I support this."

"To be honest, I also think this party is just a way to distract herself from everything that's going on with her mom," Elena sadly spoke once she had entered the kitchen to see the couple eyeing up the cupcakes. "She also said that if anyone touched those, she'd kill them. So, don't get any ideas."

"What? You think I'm scared of Blondie?" Damon bit back with a smug grin that soon faded as he pulled Echo into a small, affectionate kiss.

"Hello?" A familiar voice echoed loud through the halls of the Salvatore house, which caused both Echo and Damon to pull from each other's embrace while Elena turned to them with wide eyes.

The doppelgänger shook her head at the couple. "No. That's impossible because why would he—"

"—he didn't. He's all merged, he's packed and he's on his way to Portland." The Salvatore vampire rose his tone of voice as the words parted from his lips.

"Forgot how massive this house was," Kai confirmed their fears once he entered the kitchen and set his sights on the innocent standing cupcakes. "Yum, cupcakes!" He then turned back to Echo and Damon who were still very much close. He then rose his brows at Elena who stood nearby. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"What the hell are you doing here, Kai?" Echo asked the leader of the Gemini Coven, with annoyance in her voice.

"Funniest thing. I need your help." He then pulled out a letter from his inside pocket with Josette written on the front of the envelope.

"Why would we give a letter to Jo?" Elena crossed her arms over her chest and eyed Kai up suspiciously.

"I haven't been able to find her using a locator spell, and, you know, good on her because under normal circumstances, I'd be super jazzed to gouge out her bellybutton," Kai explained while he grabbed a cupcake and began to pass his finger through the frosting on the top.

"You didn't answer Elena's question." Echo narrowed her eyes once more. "Why exactly would we help you?"

"Well, in case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a sociopath. I know — shocker! I like being a sociopath. You know, I'm not burdened by things like guilt or love. So then this merge happened with my brother, Luke, and I won, which was great because I absorbed his ability to do magic, but now I can't stop thinking about how Luke died, how Liv's life is ruined. For some horrible reason, I can't shake how bad I feel about it."

The doppelganger's eyes widened in disbelief. "You feel bad?"

"Yes. So, when I absorbed Luke's magic, I must've gotten some of his qualities or something, like empathy." The Gemini witch shrugged. "So I googled how to process emotional pain, and they said if you write everything down in a letter and burn it, you'll be healed. So I started writing and this water literally started pooling in my eyes. Has that ever happened to you? Like water just— just oozing out of my eyeballs like I'm some sort of alien creature excreting fluids."

A sudden scoff escaped the Winchester's mouth. "You cried."

"Yes!" Kai clicked his fingers and pointed at Riley. "And after that was done, I burned the letter and the feelings, still there. So I really feel strongly that Jo needs to know how sorry I am for destroying our family, but let's face it guys, alright? I mean, Echo, you of all people should be willing to look past the questionable things that I've done to see that there's— there's good somewhere in me. You did it with Damon."

"Okay," Damon interrupted the witch and stepped in front of his girlfriend in a protective manner. "I think we're done here."

"Actually, no, Damon. We're not done." Elena stepped forward, determined. "We'll give your letter to Jo, for something in return. You bring Bonnie back."

Kai just shrugged his shoulders. "I can't."

"I think you can," Elena continued on. She motioned for the others to follow her into the living room where she handed Kai the Ascendant. "I'm sure this will come on in handy."

Kai's eyebrows rose in intrigue as he examined the Ascendant that he had thrown from Echo's hands and smashed it, though clearly someone had tried to fix it. "Sad attempt at iron welding."

"I tried to fix it."

As he played around with the magical device, several gears fell from the contraption and into the floor which caused a laugh to escape Kai's mouth. "I can't bring Bonnie back with this."

"Oh, so you're not the all-powerful leader of the Gemini coven. You're actually just a jumped-up, regular witch." Echo tilted her head toward him. "Tragic."

Kai wandered around the room and moved closer to the Winchester. "I destroyed this so that it couldn't be used again."

"Well, can we use that hunk of junk to send a message at least?" Damon asked, frowning. "It is her birthday."

Kai's hard face suddenly softened upon the news. "It is?"

"Yeah. It's really sad. I mean, old Bon-bon she's gonna be all dressed up for a party no ones gonna show up to. I mean, I wonder if she even knows that it's her birthday, or do all days just blend into one vast sea of misery." It was clear that Damon was tugging on Kai's newly-found heartstrings. "I wonder."

"One of the corn wheels survived. That's a positive." He looked up again after he examined the Ascendant one more time. "Plus, I am mega-powerful. What do you want to say?"

"Okay, so. All Bonnie really needs is some magic to get herself out of here. We just need to tell her where to find some." Echo shrugged toward Damon and Elena.

"Okay. So we know that Jo stored her magic in a hunting knife. Bonnie sent hers over with Miss Cuddles." Elena stood as she mentally ticked off a list in her head. "What receptacle of magic am I not thinking of?"

"Here's a hint: Scorned lover." Damon twirled on his feet and turned to both the girls while his eyebrows wriggled.

"Katherine," Elena questioned with raised eyebrows.

"Older." Damon shook his head.

"Silas?" Echo called out again and then pursed her lips, only to see Damon shake his head.

"Hotter."

"I don't know." Elena stopped pacing and turned back to the pair. "Silas was definitely hot." She then thought of Jack and smiled. "But, not hotter than my boyfriend."

"Wait I know." The younger brunette eyes widened in realization while a sudden smile fell across her lips. "Qetsiyah. Her blood is all over Silas' headstone and it's filled with magic."

"Yep!" Damon nodded with praise. "So in Bonnie-land, that means that an island off Nova Scotia is a big magical battery waiting to be tapped. We just need to remind Bonnie of that."

"And what reminded you?" The older Gilbert twin asked and then gave Damon a curious look.

"I was gonna plan a trip there, change of scenery, you know? There's only so much you can take of Mystic Falls on repeat." He then pulled Echo by the hand, toward him and pressed his lips against her forehead.

"Oh, thank God." Kai sighed out in sudden relief from across the room. "You two together is still totally revolting to me. Finally a familiar feeling. Luke didn't take me over completely."

Echo just hummed as she took the tumbler of Bourbon from Damon's grasp and sipped it's contents until Jeremy and Jack barged into the room with wide eyes. "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Jer, it's okay. Kai's going to help us send a message to Bonnie," Elena vaguely explained to her little brother with a smile as she made her way to Jack, kissing him. "It's okay."

"People don't just change like that." The boy scoffed in disbelief.

"To be honest, Jeremy, people don't normally merge with their siblings and take them over." Echo crossed her arms over her chest and then handed the bourbon back to Damon.

"Uh, for the record, I would have been fine with any of Luke's qualities. You know, the hair, the whole gay thing. You know, maybe not the height, actually," Kai explained, gesturing to his body.

Jeremy then turned back to Elena and looked at her incredulously. "You seriously buying this?"

Jack frowned and held his girlfriends hand. "I trust Elena and Echo, you should too."

"Look, I'm not saying that we have to like him, but if there's a way for us to tell Bonnie how she can get out—"

"—we should trust the guy who changed personalities overnight?"

Echo then tilted her head sympathetically to the boy. "Jeremy, right now Kai is our only option. We haven't got any other choice.

Kai rolled his eyes at the lack of distrust in the room. "Think of it like Echo. Moral, independent, and headstrong. But, then she suddenly decided that Damon was good for her." He heard Echo began to speak but immediately cut her off. "Hm, I'm sure I missed a detail or two. But I'm just paraphrasing what Damon told me in the prison world."

"Speaking of," Damon quickly spoke up. "There's a witch over there we'd like to save, so why don't you get your Gemini jumper cables and fix that thing?"

As the day progressed, Kai made good on his promise about doing the spell in return for his letter of apology to be given to Jo.

Though, it appeared they hit a few bumps in the road when Kai transported them to the prison world. They could see Bonnie sitting at the table in the Salvatore house with a video recorder in her hand, though she couldn't see or hear anyone.

Damon's eyes widened once he noticed the Bonnie open a bottle of Bourbon. "No. The bottle of bourbon is the oldest one in the house. We made a pact that if we couldn't take being trapped in here all alone, we'd kill that entire bottle." He swallowed dramatically and then looked back toward everyone. "Then we'd kill ourselves."

After Damon revealed that Bonnie was planning to kill herself, suddenly they all woke up back in the real world.

Elena gasped when she realized where she was and immediately headed over to Kai. "What the hell?! Why are we back?"

"I don't know. The spell must require too much magic. I lost my connection," he explained out of clear exhaustion.

"Then reconnect!" Damon sneered viciously toward him.

"It's not that easy." Kai pointed toward his bloody nose. "You see this blood? I'm guessing that's not a good sign."

"Bonnie is going to kill herself!"

"Can she do that?" Jeremy asked, his heart pounding in his chest. "Can she die in the prison world?"

"I couldn't." The Gemini shrugged. "Of course, I was my own personal solitary confinement. Didn't want me to end my sentence early by killing myself. Oh, I tried every method in the book. I drove down D.C because there was this museum that had an actual guillotine."

"Okay. So, anyone that isn't you, dead literally does mean dead." Echo sighed out. "Brilliant."

Jack chewed on his lip. "We have to help her. Somehow."

"We have to stop her. We have to give her hope, send her a message somehow!" Jeremy exclaimed, running his hands though his hair.

"The message is already there in the Atlas. I scribble some notes on Nova Scotia. We just have to get her to see it," Damon finally revealed, which showed signs of hope. "We just need Kai to crank up his witchy-woo, don't we, so we can make physical contact."

"All while sending the four of you back over there? Riley's magic is useless to me because she's not a Gemini." Kai then turned to Jeremy, Echo, and Elena with a glare. "Why don't I reanimate your dead parents for a tea party while I'm at it?" His tone suddenly changed. "Sorry. Insensitive."

"What if you just send me back?" Jeremy walked over to the witch.

"No!" Echo immediately shook her head, not going to risk her baby brother's life.

"What?" Elena questioned in shock before shaking her head quickly. "No."

Kai took the former member of the Five's idea before nodding to himself with pursed lips. "That might work. Focus all of my magic on one person. It might be enough of a boost that you could physically interact if I can hold the spell."

"And if you cannot?" Damon asked, fearing the outcome of the Gemini leader's possible failure.

The witch shrugged nonchalnatly as though it were no big deal. "The magic overwhelms me, and I can't pull Jeremy out. He'll be stuck over there for eternity."

Elena walked over to her brother in another bid to change his mind. "Jer—"

"—don't." He swatted Elena's hand away. "Don't say anything. If I can get through to her, we save Bonnie's life. If not, at least I'll be with her when she dies."

Then Kai began chanting, sweating profusely while Echo, Elena, and Damon watched him curiously and protectively. "Phesmatos tribum..."

The huntress looked over at Damon with a conflicted expression on her face. "I didn't know you and Bonnie had a death pact."

He shrugged while still looking at Kai. "It was my idea. I thought of it after we watched "The Bodyguard" for the billionth time."

"Phesmatos tribum..."

"I never thought she'd go through with it," the Salvatore continued in a deep emotional tone, turning meet her dark brown eyes.

"Invocio caveum..."

"I can't watch this," he said with a heavy sigh before turning and leaving the room.

Sparing one last glance at the group, Echo followed in suit.

They walked into Damon's room and he grabbed the oldest bottle of bourbon and studied it. "Our suicide bourbon. Bonnie and I made a pact we'd drink this together. That's what I'm gonna do," he explained pointing the bottle at the huntress then took the top off and indulged in a sip. "So are you going to lecture me on why it was a stupid idea to form a pact instead of holding out hope?"

Shrugging, Echo walked closer to him and tilted her head to the side. "I have been there before, Damon. So many times." She looked down, chewing on her lip. "I almost stayed by Jo's — my Jo's — side when she was dying. Just like her mother, I was willing to stay by her side until the very last second where we would blow up to protect my father and uncle." She looked up and noticed his teary eyed expression. "It didn't work out. My father knocked me out and took me away, not allowing me to even get close to dying... again. And that wasn't the first or last time I ever thought about doing something like that. So, no, I'm not going to lecture you on giving up hope and thinking about killing yourself."

"I just want to know that you won't do any pacts like that, not now." She reached up and moved his hair out of his eyes. "I want to know that you won't give up, and that you'll be by my side, no matter what."

He nodded and placed a kiss against her forehead. "I promise, little warrior. I'm never leaving you. Not on my watch, anyway."

She nodded and took a sip from his bottle of bourbon. "Anyhow, I don't entirely believe that Kai is "good"—" She put air quotes around the word and rolled her eyes. "—because Jer is right, people do not change over night. Take it from me. It took me... what? Months to stop fully hating you and you choices without wanting to rip out your intestines out through your back?"

"Kai's a sociopath," Damon answered, taking the bottle from her and pouring himself a drink. "As for you wanting to rip my intestines out, I am happy you no longer feel that way," he dded with a small smile causing her to laugh and snatch the bourbon back.

"Don't test my patience, pretty boy," she pointed out before taking a sip and sighing. Then she sat on his bed. "Do you ever wonder what it would have been like if we met differently? Like, imagine us meeting when I was younger and more against monsters. Or if I was born in a different time period?" She looked over at him to see him staring at her in thought. "Like, would I have killed you?"

"I think somehow... it may have ended the same," he answered truthfully while staring deeply at her. "I don't think you would have liked me very much as my humanityless self."

"No, I wouldn't have," she responded immediately causing his face to fall in a slight amount of disappointment. "But that's okay because I used to stay up planning how to kill you and now—" Echo placed her hand over his in a loving manner. "—there's nothing I would rather do than protect your stupid ass from your reckless decisions and then lecture you about it." He laughed and intertwined his fingers with hers as she smiled over at him with a small chuckle. "Let's go check on Jeremy and Malac-douche," she advised, standing up and heading towards rhe door only to find that she couldn't leave the room, revealing that they were trapped by a boundary spell. "What the hell?"

Damon stood up and walked towards her in confusion before testing the barrier. "What the hell is happening?"

"I have no idea," she answered in frustration then the couple heard a lot crashing sound downstairs. She used her vamp hearing and her eyes widened at what she heard. "Liv is trying to kill Kai." She stood straighter. "Jeremy! Elena! Are you guys alright?!"

"Kai! Get out here!" Liv angrily screamed from downstairs and roughly pushed a table onto the floor.

"She's right below us," the Salvatore informed his girlfriend before moving to form a plan.

"You can't hide from me!" The Parker witch yelled out threateningly for her older brother.

Echo watched him curiously and walked over to join him. "What are you planning to do?"

Damon kicked at the rubble and made a hole down to the fireplace then grabbed the old bourbon. "I said I was saving this for something special," he explained before dropping the bottle down to the fireplace, which caused huge flames to roar causing Liv to be thrown backwards downstairs.

Echo raised an eyebrow as she walked towards the door to find out that the boundary spell was down.

They rushed into the kitches and noticed a weak, unconscious Jeremy and Kai lying on the kitchen floor.

Suddenly, Elena, with a large blood stain on her shirt, ran in and sat in front Jeremy. "Oh, Jeremy. Hey, Jeremy. Wake up."

Damon began slapping Kai cheeks, trying to wake him up. "Kai, hey! Damn it!" He snarled and gave Kai his blood just before the syphon snapped his eyes open.

Echo joined her sister's side, feeding her brother some of her bloods desperately clinging to him, hoping he was alright.

Just then, his eyes snapped open and he stared up at his sister's with wide eyes. "I'm okay."

The sisters cried out in happiness and pulled him into a group hug.

Elena let go of him and sat back, glancing him, worried. "Bonnie, is she..."

Jeremy nodded in assurance before taking a deep breath. "I saw her. Sh—she's gonna be okay."