CHAPTER SIXTY NINE
[69]
song: blue monday by new order

"IS THERE A REASON YOU'RE IGNORING ME?" Kai asks Daisy, breaking the peaceful silence that weighed over the street as they walked down it.

Both with their own respective backpacks of gathered supplies, or things they might've wanted to take with them to the real world on their backs. Daisy realized even after twenty two years here, nothing had ever stayed constant enough to where she had anything she felt sentimentally attached to. Her backpack was light, only holding a few tapes, and a bag of pretzels she'd grabbed from the gas station.

"Nope." Daisy responds, walking a few feet ahead of him.

Kai huffed, watching with annoyed eyes as she completely disregarded his presence. "So you're not mad at me?" He asks, the question was unnecessary, as she was clearly upset about something- but he wanted to egg on the conversation anyways.

Daisy let out a small scoff. "Why would I be mad at you, Kai?" She asks, sarcasm in her voice.

"You tell me." Kai shrugged.

Daisy ran her tongue over her teeth, stifling an outburst of anger. "Maybe you're just overly sensitive. Because I am totally and completely fine right now. And maybe—" she pauses for a quick second. "And maybe you're the one that's mad and- and you're deflecting." She says, using too many hand gestures as she spoke.

Kai made sure she was done before he responded. "I'm not deflecting. Just curious." He says. "But, glad to hear you're doing totally and completely fine." He says, with not so subtle sarcasm.

Daisy turned around to face him abruptly, earning Kai to stop in his tracks so he didn't bump into her. "Totally." She forced a smile. "And completely."

Kai's bland expression didn't change as she spoke. "You sure?"

Daisy let the last of her rage simmer out before she spoke, but she must've not waited long enough. "You were all over her." Daisy shook her head.

Kai looked satisfied that she'd finally admitted what she was freaking out over. "Who?" He asks, even though the answer was obvious.

Daisy shoved him back a little bit. "You're being a dick!" She raised her voice slightly.

"I didn't think it was a big deal," Kai shrugged. "Considering we're business partners." He mocked her words from earlier.

Daisy's face quickly morphed into realization, then right back to anger. "Oh my god, someone's being a bit dramatic." She shook her head, letting out a small scoff.

He widened his eyes in disbelief. "Yeah, you!" He responds. "If that's all we are then why do you care so much if I'm all over another girl?" He asked, a smug look on his face.

"It was a joke, Kai! I was joking!" Daisy waved her hands around in his face as she spoke.

"Then what are we?!" Kai asks.

The conversation took a quick turn. Daisy was taken aback for a moment, but cleared that look off her face before Kai could read it. "You're doing this on purpose." Daisy scoffed. "It- it doesn't matter— there's bigger things at hand right now." She tried to shrug off his question, not wanting to discuss it. She started to turn around and continued their walk back to Damon's house, but Kai spoke again.

"I need to know that when we get back to the real world," he paused, trying to process how he'd word this. "That this— us— will still be a thing. That you just won't up and leave me the second you get a chance." Even without looking at him, Daisy could tell he was being sincere.

She mulled over his words for a few moments with her back to him. Separating herself from Kai hadn't even crossed her mind.

She turned around to face him, her eyebrows slightly narrowed in concern. "Do you really think I'd do that?" She sounded hurt.

"I don't know." He let out a small scoff to ease the newfound tension in the air. "Everything will be different. How do we know that we work in the real world?"

Daisy didn't like the direction the conversation had taken. She almost wished they could go back to arguing like they were a minute ago, because that meant she could avoid these thoughts she's having- even longer than she already has been.

She swallowed. "You don't know." She shrugged a little bit.
Kai's eyes stayed focused on her. "But," Daisy took a breath, walking back over to him. "I'm willing to try."

You could see the relief wash over Kai, though his expression barely changed it was clear in his eyes that he was previously worried about her response. But it now seemed that they were right back on the same page.

Daisy let out a deep breath, a bit of sorrow still lingering in the air between them. She crossed her arms, biting the inside of her cheek as she thought for a few moments. "Kai," she began thinking through more things she'd been avoiding bringing up. "Do you think this is a good idea?" She lifts her head up to face him. The question came out before she could really understand what his next response could mean.

Kai narrowed his eyebrows at her. "You don't want to leave?" He asked. She could tell he didn't expect this from her.

She looked around, inhaling sharply before she spoke again. "I do— I do." She nodded, then swallowed. "But, have we really thought about it?" She shrugged a bit, looking up at him with soft eyes. "Everyone thinks I'm dead. You too, probably. And when we show back up twenty years later and haven't aged a day— I—" she cut herself off when more and more problematic outcomes started piling into her brain. "We don't have citizenship— or insurance? We'll have to get jobs and- and make money and live somewhere and pay taxes and—"

Kai stops her from continuing, as panic was beginning to strain her voice. He gently grabs onto her shoulders, looking at her with reassurance in his eyes. "I'm going to merge with Josette." He says.

"Josette..." Daisy looks at him confusedly. "What?"

"I'm going to merge with Josette and win. I'll be the leader of the coven." He nodded.

Daisy still looked confused. "And that's going to solve all of those things... how?"

"Being the leader of a coven comes with its perks." Kai began. "The power of hundreds of witches backing you up kinda gets you through a lot of shit. My parents never worked. They got everything they wanted handed to them. I mean— how do you think we got away with so much in high school?"

Daisy was beginning to follow, but confusion still lingered. "What do you mean?"

"People were onto us from the beginning. Detectives were onto us. But my dad took care of it." Kai shrugged. "Wayward might've had shitty cops but they weren't idiots. You literally puked right next to Tommy's body. A toddler would've known to identify that and take it in as evidence." Kai says.

Daisy pretty much forgot about all that, especially the fact that she vomited. It never occurred to her that that could be used as evidence— but realizing how clumsy she was about the whole thing, just goes to show that they truly would've never gotten away with it if Kai's family wasn't covering their tracks.

She looks at him with realization in her eyes, and he continued. "Power and privilege go hand in hand." Kai says. "And I'm going to get that power."

A small smirk creeped up on her lips, as her worries washed away one by one. "Three steps ahead." She spoke.

Kai smiled. "Always."

—

As the sun began to set and the moon began to rise over the woods of Mystic Falls, Daisy and Kai made their way through the trees to where they had previously left Damon and Bonnie. A large hole was freshly dug in the ground where Kai had directed them to dig- something about aligning it with the Gemini constellation.

"Looks like we got back just in time." Kai says, admiring their work, as Damon climbed out of the hole he'd dug. Bonnie turned to look at Kai with a glare. Daisy lingered behind him, keeping eye on everyone's expressions and trying to read them.

"Oh, great." Damon begins. "Knock-off Paul Rudd and Scarface have returned."

Damon sped over to Kai, grabbing his backpack from him and opening it up. Daisy's eyes shifted to Bonnie, who watched both her and Kai with an unnecessary amount of suspicion. "And how was babysitting duty?" She asked.

Daisy didn't realize she was talking to her at first, so there was a short moment of silence before she answered. "Fine." She says, shrugging.

Damon glanced up at Daisy before returning his attention to Kai's bag and going through the belongings he'd just picked up. "Zima, grunge..." He narrows his eyes as he digs deeper. "A Beanie Baby?"

"Limited edition." Kai nodded proudly.

Damon gave him a disgusted look before continuing. "...And a pager. Really?" Damon says, tossing the bag on the ground.

"Five-five-five-hi-Kai, no way I'm giving those digits up." Kai scoffed. Damon then turned to Daisy, who willingly opened her bag and showed it to Damon before he took it from her.

He glanced up at her and then to Kai confusedly. "These were the important supplies you had to get?" Damon asks.

Daisy hadn't realized that was what Kai had told them him and Daisy had left to go do, if that were the case she maybe would've picked up something more believable than tapes and pretzels. He probably just made that up so they could have a moment alone.

"Look, the future sounds great. I'm super excited about the internet but 1990 has been my home for most of my life, and I'd hate to get homesick." Kai shrugs.

Damon's narrowed eyes shift back to Daisy, awaiting her reasoning as the things in her bag didn't really add up to Kai's excuse. "I just didn't want to help dig." She admits. Damon gives a understanding quick nod.

"So, let's get down there." Kai says, referring to the cave Damon had been digging towards.

"No." Bonnie says, standing up from the mound of dirt she sat on and walked towards Kai. "We are not going anywhere until you show us the spell."

Daisy's heart skips a beat, but tried not to let any sense of nerves show on her face as she waits for Kai's response. He straightens his posture and crosses his hands in front of him. "Ooo-kay." He says with a smile.

Damon stares at him in silence before he speaks. "Are we literally not going anywhere?"

Daisy takes a quick breath, glancing up at the night sky. "Let's just head down there, we're gonna miss the shower." She says.

"Not until we know he's of any use to us." Bonnie responds, more sternly than expected. She turns back to Kai. "You don't want to show me the spell, then you can do it yourself. You want my magic..." She holds a hand out towards him. "Take it."

Daisy watches cautiously. "Uh-oh." Kai says. "She's being brave."

"I'm serious, Kai. This was your big threat, wasn't it? If I don't do the spell and let us out of here you'll just take my magic leave us for dead and do the spell yourself." Bonnie says. "So go ahead. Take all of it."

Bonnie was much smarter than Daisy had given her credit for, but that unfortunately didn't work out in Daisy's favor particularly well.

Kai glanced around at everyone before bringing his hands up and clasping onto Bonnie's shoulders. "Don't mind if I do." He says, as he siphons her magic.

A red glow fell from his palms as Bonnie let out a loud groan at the feeling.

"Bonnie..." Damon says hesitantly.

"It's okay. He won't kill me." Bonnie says confidently through pained groans.

"Doesn't look like that from here." Damon says.

Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut, letting out louder, more strained groans as Kai tightened his grip on her, beginning to shake.

"Woah, okay." Damon says, beginning to panic.

Bonnie let out another yelp of pain and Daisy stepped forward quickly, grabbing Kai's arms and pulling him off of her. "That's enough." She says, giving Kai a stern, knowing look, as he let go of her.

Bonnie stumbles back, breathing heavily as Kai basked in the feeling of fresh magic. Daisy could tell that things were not going to run very smooth from here on out.

As Bonnie's heavy pants die down, she looks at Kai with a knowing expression. "He doesn't know the spell." She says.

Shit.

"Which means..." Bonnie begins. "We don't need him."

Before Daisy could advocate for him, Bonnie had sprung her hand out towards Kai, speaking a familiar incantation. The pickaxe Damon had previously been using to dig was lifted from the ground and flung out towards Kai, plunging right into his stomach at the hand of Bonnie's magic.

Daisy slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, her eyes widening in shock at the sudden event. She knew he'd come back— but it was just the fact that Bonnie did that that surprised her.

"Bonnie!" Damon says frustratedly, as Kai let's out a few pained croaks before falling over, dead. Bonnie let's out a deep sigh as she watches Kai, and as she turns to face everyone else, her eyes land on Daisy first.

Her heart was pounding, not sure how long it'd be before Kai came back. And if Daisy was Bonnie's next victim, who knows how long it'd be before she came back— her and Damon could already have up and left her and Kai right back where they started. Their way out was slowly slipping from their grips and Daisy couldn't let it happen.

As difficult as it was, she had to keep up with her lie. "Why would you do that?" Daisy questions, sorrow in her eyes. "He was our only chance of finding the spell." She couldn't let Bonnie know she was truly mourning Kai, because that might give that she cared about him too much— but she had to show that she had some kind of reason for keeping him around this long.

Bonnie didn't say anything, just turned and walked past both Damon and Daisy and back to the mound of dirt she was sitting on before all of this. Damon sighed, rubbing his forehead before bending down and grabbing Kai's backpack off the ground. He reached in and pulled out the bottle of Zima Kai had packed.

Daisy just lingered by Kai's body, completely lost as to what came next. She was confused as to how easily Bonnie had just done that, she didn't seem like the type— but maybe Daisy hadn't known her as well as she thought she did.

Bonnie opened her grimoire and sat it on her lap with a frustrated sigh as she began to read on. Damon leaned against a tree and started drinking, and Daisy looked around at both of them with confused- wide eyes.

"Hello?" Daisy spoke, flinging her arms out as she awaited for someone to react. Bonnie glances up towards her. "Please tell me you can find a spell in there." Daisy spoke, a hint of distaste that was becoming impossible to hide in her voice.

"I'm working on something." Bonnie sighs, ascendant in hand.

Damon takes another swig of his drink before speaking. "You took the only chance of us getting out of here and turned him into a giant... douche-kebab."

Daisy shot Damon a disgusted look, expressing that his joke didn't land.

"Think about it." Bonnie begins. "What prison gives an inmate a key?"

"Is that a trick question?" Damon says. "Or is this stuff actually starting to kick in?"

"I think the Gemini Coven used a Bennett spell to create this place. What if that's why my Grams sent us here?" Bonnie asks.

Daisy thinks for a few second, "Didn't you say you remember your Grams telling you about them? Maybe she knew them." Daisy shrugs, quickly hurrying the investigation on before they miss the shower.

Bonnie looked at Daisy, mulling over her words for a few moments before continuing. "The last thing my Grams said to me was to stay strong. What if that was her way of telling me I have the power to get out? I have the ascendant, a massive celestial event to draw from." Bonnie shrugs. "Plus a burning desire to get away from you." She gestures towards Damon, and Daisy tries to hide the gagging feeling creeping up from her throat as they exchange sentimental glances.

Daisy opened her mouth to suggest something else Bonnie could try, but stops as Bonnie quickly begins to mutter a spell. She focuses her attention on the ascendant as she speaks.

Daisy and Damon exchange knowing glances before returning to look at Bonnie as she continues.

There was a certain charm to the way Bonnie performed the spell, like she's had these words hidden inside of her from birth and she was just waited for a chance to let them out. It was a Bennett spell, and she was a Bennett witch.

As the final word fell from her lips, the gears of the Ascendant turned, before the object fully opened up.

Daisy's eyes widened. "Holyyyy shit." She mumbled, as her heart began to thunder against her chest harder than it already was.

"That hasn't done that before, has it?" Damon asks Daisy, but his disbelieving eyes stayed on the ascendant.

So did hers, as she shook her head. "Nope." She swallowed the knot that began to grow in her throat, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time.

Bonnie smiled, proud and hopeful, before turning and making her way towards the hole she sat by.

"Where are you going?" Damon asks, nodding towards her.

Bonnie turns to face the both of them. "Home. You coming?"

—

Daisy had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, as she leaned against a rock of the cave she found herself in. It was fairly dark besides the circle of light from the moon, shining directly into a hole to the cave.

There was only the sound of water droplets echoing off the walls, that and the sound of Daisy's heartbeat that she could practically hear in her own ears.

Bonnie stood in the center of the circle of light, while Damon waited with the bottle of Zima still in hand. Daisy kept glancing up at the hole they just crawled through to get down here, waiting for him to wake up and join them.

She didn't know what to do, she wasn't leaving without him- but Bonnie sure was.

"What time is it?" Daisy asks, trying to stable her voice despite the shaky feeling inside her.

Bonnie rolls up her sleeve and glances at her watch. "Nine fifteen."

Two minutes.

Daisy was now visibly worried, but the focus wasn't on her- it was on Bonnie as she used a sharp edge of The Ascendant to cut open her palm, and let the blood drip onto it. Daisy stepped forward a bit, getting a better look up at the hole for any sign of Kai- but there was nothing. He was still up there, knocked out.

"I forgot something." Daisy says.

Bonnie and Damon both look at her. "Too bad. This bus is leaving." Damon says, taking the last swig of his drink.

Daisy clenches her jaw, her mind racing with her next possible excuse. "I have to go get it." She nods sternly. "There'll be another shower tomorrow."

Before anyone could protest, the gears of The Ascendant turn again with a long clicking sound. Bonnie takes a sharp breath, before looking up at Damon. "It's time." She nods.

Daisy knew physical force would be the stupidest decision she could make. Even without the risk of death, taking on a vampire and a witch would end up with her getting knocked out, and left here for immortality once again.

Come on, Kai. She thought. Wake up.

Damon stepped into the circle of light. "Let's get awkward." He says, gently grabbing onto Bonnie's hands as she held The Ascendant.

Bonnie turns to Daisy. "You ready?" She asks, raising her eyebrows.

Daisy glanced up at the opening again. "I-" she stumbles on her words. "No- I can't leave yet."

"Whatever you forgot— I'm sure it can't be more important than getting out of here." Bonnie shrugs.

Daisy clenches her jaw. "It is."

"Can we get this show on the road, please." Damon says with an annoyed sigh, as he redirects his attention to Bonnie. "I'm sure there's about a billion other people you'd rather be here with."

Daisy looked towards the opening one more time, panic flooding her system as she knew time was running out.

Bonnie smiled at Damon. "Not exactly." She says.

Daisy glances upwards towards where the moon shined directly into the cave, the night sky beginning to fill with streaks of light.

As turned back to Bonnie, and opened her mouth to protest one more time— the sight of an arrow plunging into Bonnie's stomach and knocking her back, caught her off guard. Daisy widens her eyes as she turns to face Kai, who stood with a crossbow at the entrance of the cave, aiming right at Bonnie. "Forgetting someone?" He asks.

Daisy wanted to cry with relief, but her feet stayed still with fear as to what might come next.

"You really think I hadn't tried to kill myself before?" Kai asks, reloading the cross bow with another arrow. "Because I have. Lots of times, lots of ways." He aims the bow at Bonnie again, and gestures towards The Ascendant, that now lay unattended on the ground. "Grab that and the next arrow goes in her heart." He threatens Damon. "Your choice."

Damon glances at Bonnie and then back to Kai, before speeding over to her aid, yanking the arrow from her stomach. "I got you." He comforts her.

Daisy and Kai exchange knowing glances before Kai sprint over to The Ascendant, his feet skidding against the cave floors at the sudden action. As he bent down to grab it, he caught the blur of Damon speeding back over to him out of the corner of his eye.

Damon grabs Kai, lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the nearest cave wall.

Daisy sprang into action, running to the pack of arrows Kai had just dropped, grabbing one. She charged over to Kai as Damon wrapped his hand around his throat. She lifted her arm up and plunged the arrow into Damon's back.

Damon jolted back at the sudden pain, releasing Kai as Daisy twisted the arrow deeper inside him, towards his heart. She shook with rage and adrenaline, everything else around her blurring into oblivion as she could only focus on taking him down.

Kai panted heavily as he frantically glanced around the cave for The Ascendant.

"Bonnie- get out of here." Damon says in between pained groans as Daisy dug the arrow deeper.

Kai ran past Damon and Daisy, charging towards The Ascendant.

"I'm not gonna make it." Bonnie says weakly, clutching her stomach on the floor as she struggled to move towards the light. "But you are."

Before Kai could grab The Ascendant, he was flung from the air and thrown across the cave. Daisy widened her eyes at the sight, redirecting her attention to Bonnie who was the only possible culprit to the sudden action.

Daisy awaited the same fate as Bonnie flung her hand out towards her too, muttering the same words. "Motus." She spoke weakly.

Like an invisible hand wrapped around her waist and yanked her out with an unexplainable force— Daisy felt herself being thrown back. As body hit the stone floor with a thud, her air was immediately knocked out of her. She lay immobile for a few seconds, that panicked feeling sinking in as she gasped for a breath that wouldn't come.

"Don't!" She heard Kai yell.

Daisy held onto her stomach as she struggled to breathe, slowly turning onto her side to see what was happening. Bonnie's hand was out towards Damon now, magically dragging him- and The Ascendant into the circle of light.

As she came to, she quickly began to understand what was happening and she scrambled to her feet. A sudden bright light burst throughout the cave, making her shield her eyes.

She already knew what had happened, but seeing it was even worse.

Damon was gone, and in his place, The Ascendant- broken into pieces.

It was fear that brought her rage. That hot burning anger that sought to harm. Daisy holds still, staring at Bonnie, eyes locked right on hers. There is a wrinkle in her nose that has nothing to do with a coming sneeze. Her muscles tight, jaw clenched. When she moves it's like a series of movie-stills, fists moving as her face contorts into an expression she's never worn before.

Her feet carried her forward in a clear path of fury, right to Bonnie who lay helpless and blood-stained on the ground. She felt a hand wrap around her arm and stop her from walking any further. Tears fell from her eyes due to the violent shaking of her body.

She had let her hopes get so high, that having them ripped from her again felt like plummeting right back where she was- only this time it was worse. This time she knew they were stuck.

Daisy's lips trembled, as she muttered out the only words she felt she could. "What have you done?"

a/n
me when i realized i had to name this chapter chapter 69