I had gotten to Mystic Falls long enough to see if Stefan, Damon and Tyler were okay.

They were fine.

Tyler and I were on the road.

Tyler was driving.

I was in the passenger seat, dabbing what remained of Freya's herbal paste to block Rayna's powers from being able to track me.

Tyler looked at me in concern.

I looked at him in amusement, deciding to tease him a little bit. "You mind just paying attention to the road a little bit more?"

Tyler looked toward the left side of the road. "Well, I could, but then I might miss the world's largest ball of yarn coming up on the left... and there it goes. Not quite sure what I was expecting."

"Well, that was the last of Freya's herbs, which means it's only a matter of time before they wear off and Rayna can track me," I told him.

"Good thing we're on our way to get more," Tyler told me.

"Are we?" I asked sarcastically. "Because it sure feels like we're on our way to the world's largest waste of time."

"We have to take back roads to avoid being spotted," Tyler told me.

I gave him an amused look. "Mm-hmm."

"You've only been running a few days, Nikki," Tyler told me. "Think of it like it's an adventure."

I scoffed. "I don't want an adventure. I've had enough adventure to last me a lifetime. Or three."

Tyler pulled into a driveway. "We're here." We pulled into a clearing next to what looked like an outdoor greenhouse of some kind, getting out of the car, walking toward the greenhouse. "What is this place?"

"According to Freya, all the herbs witches use are stored here," I told him. "Just in case something happens to them."

"All of them?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

Tyler made it to the greenhouse, which was an open-air garden, walking inside first, stopping in surprise. "Well, I hope you know what this particular herb looks like.'

"And why is that?" I asked, stepping inside from behind him.

"Because, apparently, witches are very fond of their herbs," Tyler answered.

There was hundreds of different herbs and pastes.

Tyler and I were overwhelmed by all the varieties of herbs around us.

        ~~~~~~~   

Tyler and I were walking around the herb greenhouse, looking at all of the plants.

"So, what do you propose we do?" Tyler asked. "Rub each one of your wound and hope for the best?"

"I don't know," I told him.

We walked through the rows of various herbs and flowers, seeing that most of them were labeled with what they were.

Tyler started to identify them. "There's wolfsbane. Vervain. Senna. Witch hazel."

I gave him a look. "Can you please stop avoiding the topic that's been on both our minds?" Tyler turned to face me. "I know you're still thinking about what went down with Stefan and Damon."

"It's not something that you gotta worry about," Tyler told me.

"The armory nearly had you kill off my ancestors after Damon put you in a coma while he was hallucinating because of his post-trauma from the hell stone," I told him. "Of course I have to worry about it."

"It's nothing," Tyler told me. I tilted my head at him. Tyler sighed. "It was just a full moon and I had no choice by try and attack them. When I hurt Bonnie, it brought me back to myself, and I was able to take off before I could hurt them. And they didn't hurt me because of you."

"Ty, there's no way that you're this unfazed about what happened," I told him. "I know you're angry, and I know that you're worried about what I'll think about how you really feel."

"You're right," Tyler told me. "I am angry. At Stefan and Damon. Not at you. You can't control what they do any more than you can control what happens to you because of them."

I sighed, looking away, noticing a section of herbs that was empty, safe for a few dead leaves an roots, frowning in confusion. "I think I found it. Or, where it used to be."

Tyler looked at the empty place where the herbs that we were looking for were supposed to be, sighing. "Great. A dead end." A mist started to come out of the sprinklers over the plants. Tyler looked around in confusion. "What is it?"

A middle-aged woman whose face was covered in scabbed-over burns appeared in front of us. "Night, night."

The vervain mist reached me, making me breathe it in no matter how much I tried to stop, gasping for breath, getting weaker and weaker until I fell unconscious.

        ~~~~~~~   

I woke up on the ground, finding Tyler sitting back against one of the wooden rows of plants, looking at him worriedly.

Tyler looked at me in relief. "There you are."

I sat up, turning to see the scabbed woman in front of us. "What did you do to us?"

"Apologies," the woman told us. Tyler and I stood. "I haven't had visitors in years. And then, all of a sudden, two in a matter of days."

Tyler sighed, looking at me. "I spoke with her while you slept. Somebody beat us to the punch. Came in and took all the herbs."

I looked at the woman anxiously. "Well, we need more."

"Unfortunately, there is no more," the woman told us. "That herb is rare for a reason. It has strong anti-magic, and therefore, anti-witch properties." She pointed at her face. "Let's just say this isn't from a bad laser-peel."

"There has to be more somewhere," I told her.

"There's not," the woman told us. "Witches eradicated it from the world a century ago. This was the only source."

Tyler looked at me worriedly.

I was silently panicking, though I tried my best to hide it.

        ~~~~~~~   

Tyler and I were walking away from the greenhouse toward the SUV we had stolen and drove here.

"Well, you were right," Tyler told me. I turned to look at him. "That was the world's largest waste of time."

"Ah, don't be too hard on yourself," I told him.

"Well, I won't be if you don't," Tyler told me. "You seem to think that everything is on you." I smiled sarcastically. I felt as if I couldn't breathe, holding my chest, falling to my knees, bumping into the front bumper of the SUV.  Tyler was worried and concerned, confused to what was happening, kneeling next to me. I continued to gasp for breath, suffocating. "Nikki! Hey."

I gasped for breath painfully. "What'--what's wrong with me? What's happening?"

I continued to desperately gasp for breath.

Tyler was desperately wanting to do something, horrified by the fast that I looked and felt as if I was dying, and he couldn't do anything to stop it.

        ~~~~~~~   

I felt as if I was being buried alive, suffocating, continuing to gasp for breath.

Tyler held onto me desperately, in denial. "Nicola!"

I gasped for breath, rasping my words. "My... chest."

Tyler quickly pulled down the neck of my shirt to reveal that my X-shaped scar was not only open and raw, but it was also surrounded by darkened blood vessels that were spreading away from the scar and growing larger as they began to cover my chest. Tyler was horrified. "Nicola?" I struggled to stay awake. "Nikki!"

I couldn't stay awake any longer, falling unconscious.

        ~~~~~~~   

I gasped awake. The blood vessels around my scar receded and returned to their normal color. I could finally breathe, gasping in relief.

Tyler sighed deeply in relief, holding me close to his chest, closing his eyes for a moment. I held his hands tightly, meeting his gaze in relief. Both of us were acting as if we wouldn't let go.

        ~~~~~~~   

Tyler and I got back to Mystic Falls.

I walked into my home at the Salvatore Boarding House.

Stefan and Damon were holding two different bottles of alcohol.

I smiled a small smile. "Ah. Looking for a bottle to celebrate? I gotta say, I'm impressed. Got your text. I didn't think you'd be able to kill her."

Stefan hesitated. "Actually, my exact message read, 'She's taken care of'."

I looked at them in confusion. "Yeah, she's taken care of."

"Yeah..." Damon trailed off awkwardly, making a face.

I walked closer, frowning in confusion. "What? So, you didn't kill her?"

"We did," Stefan answered. "A number of times. As it turns out, she only has eight lives. The last one's the problem. Turns out that if she dies for good, everyone with that scar on your chest does as well."

I was stunned, in shock. "So, we can't kill her?"

"No," Damon answered. "But, the good news is, the Armory has her, and they're not gonna let her escape."

"Except for that time they did," I told them.

Stefan sighed. "Look, I know it's not ideal, okay? It's what we got."

Damon took a drink, starting to walk out of the room.

I scoffed, feeling defeated. "Neither of you get it, do you?"

Damon turned to face us in frustration. "What?"

"As long as I have this scar, Rayna will hunt me," I told them. "This isn't about just the three of us anymore. Tyler is danger now, and my boyfriend won't let me go on the run alone. And if I'm in danger, then he's in danger. And you just told me Rayna can never die, so we have to figure out another way to get rid of her, or we need to get rid of my scar."

Damon shrugged. "That's a good plan... for you."

Damon picked up two fancy envelopes, each sealed with a wax stamp, handing them to Stefan.

Stefan frowned in confusion. "What is this?"

Damon sighed. "We all know the last few months have been impossible for me. I've been walking a tightrope. Falling off constantly. I'm not a good brother, distant uncle or friend when I'm not with Elena, and when I'm not a good brother, distant uncle or friend, people get hurt."

Stefan and I looked at him in horror when we realized what he was saying.

"So, you're just gonna run away?" Stefan asked.

"Nope," Damon answered. "I'm gonna stay in one place. Desiccated, right next to her."

Stefan looked at him in shock.

I looked at Damon angrily. "Yeah. I saved both of your lives, at the expense of mine. Time and time again. I chose you. I sacrificed everything for you. My life, my sanity, my humanity, my happiness. You're just gonna turn your back on me now?"

"We're vampires, Nikki," Damon told me sadly. "It's temporary. I'll see you again."

Damon turned to leave.

I lost my temper, defeated. "Listen to me. If there's even a fraction of you that cares about me, or your brother, you will not walk out that door."

Damon looked pained to have to do this, but he didn't turn back. "Save a good bottle of bourbon for me. We're gonna need it to sort all this out in about sixty years."

Damon walked out, leaving.

Stefan and I were terribly hurt to see him go.

        ~~~~~~~   

I couldn't be around Stefan, going to the Lockwood mansion to be with Tyler.

Tyler was stunned. "So, Damon literally just walked out without looking back."

"Yeah," I answered. "And he gave two letters to give to Ric and Bonnie. It's his crappy way of saying goodbye." I sighed, shaking my head. "I can't be here anymore, Ty. I gotta get out of here."

Tyler stood, walking closer. "That's probably a good thing, then."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because Matt's about to kick all of the vampires in this town out," Tyler answered. "He's using town security footage as blackmail. He's got that leverage against every vampire in this town, including you, from when you had your humanity turned off."

I sighed, shaking his head. "He doesn't have to blackmail me into leaving town, Tyler. I wanna leave now."

Tyler nodded in understanding. "Where do you wanna go?"

I didn't know the answer yet.

        ~~~~~~~   

Flash Forward - 2016

I woke up in the news station, bound to a chair on the stage with spotlights pointed at me, looking over to the nearby desk, where my sword and the Phoenix Sword were resting.

Rayna spun around in her chair to face me, sighing dramatically. "I don't know about you, but... I'm exhausted. I feel like there should be champagne or something."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. You finally got me. Here I am."

"I'm totally not taking credit, by the way," Rayna told me. "I mean, you came to me. You were safe, in the wind. You played it smart. Then, you got dumb on me. What happened?" I gave her a look. Rayna rolled her eyes. "I mean, okay, we know what happened. "I took someone that you love. Stefan... Damon... and Sarah. Guess that makes three people. Your entire family, actually. Just out of curiosity, which one of them brought you here? Your half-sister... or your ancestors that are more like brothers to you?" I glared at her, remaining silent. Rayna shrugged. "Fine. Keep your secrets. You'll need something to keep you company in hell." She paused dramatically, standing, walking closer, eyeing the swords on the desk in front o me. "Or... there is a Plan B. But, I know how you feel about making choices."

I looked at her in confusion. "Plan B?"

"Yes," Rayna answered. "Because, believe it or not, I don't actually want to kill you, Nicola."

I scoffed. "Oh, I know. You want me to kill a vampire to activate the Huntress inside of me. It's not gonna happen."

"Just take my word for this," Rayna told me. "I know you don't deserve that mark, but somebody else does. What if I were to tell you there's a way for me to transfer it to someone a little more deserving. It should have been Stefan or Damon all along. You know this as well as I do."

I scoffed. "You want to pit us against each other? Nice try."

We heard Stefan's voice. "Except it wasn't her idea." We looked toward the source. Stefan walked up to where Rayna was standing, looking at me. "It was mine."

I looked at Stefan in shocked disbelief.