Her eyes felt so heavy she could barely keep them open. She stayed in the library flipping through countless books trying to keep her entertained, and waiting for the wine to take over. She dragged her feet down the hallways and turned a corner, realizing a hallway or two too late that she was walking towards Damon's bedroom, not the one she's been staying in. She looked back down where she came from, groaned, and continued walking down the hall, passing his room with a flip of her middle finger, and going into the next room. Her head barely hit the pillow before everything went dark.

I opened one door on the left side of the hall and looked around, then the one across from it.

"Kai? Where are you?" I didn't go into the rooms seeing how that would waste time, continuing my way down the hall opening each door. I rounded the corner and was hit with another aimless hallway.

"Oh come on. Damn it Kai, where are you!" I have so much pent up rage inside that I start kicking open the doors and twice as fast. I'm halfway through when I heard a lightbulb burst behind me, and then another. Darkness is engulfing the hallway, smothering the artwork on the walls, the décor on the ground and anything else in its path and it seems to be closing in on me fast. Breaking into a run I fight my way to the end of the hallway where Damon's room is but find it going farther and farther into the distance. In a last ditch effort to not be swallowed by the darkness, I throw myself into the closest room and find myself standing at the foyer of the main door. Looking around, feeling a slight resemblance of de ja vu, I yank open the door handle and land face to face with Kai Parker; knife and ascendant in hand. Fear claws at my throat as I watch him take me in from the feet up, locking in on my eyes. His intense gaze doesn't waver as he smiles and nods behind him for me to follow. Slowly but surely the shadows that are trying to trap me in this house are the same ones wafting up and around his legs, pulling him farther in. He's disappearing from view and I know it's now or never so I take a deep breath, grip my teeth, and reach out for him arm as I step through the entryway onto the porch and land directly in front of the cave entrance, Kai's shirt still gripped tight in my hand.

"Oh," I say dropping my hand. "What's going on?"

He turns and walks into the cave with slow but deliberate moves and places himself directly in the circle of light where Damon disappeared during the eclipse. He looks over at me and raises his hand palm up with the knife towards me, a gesture for me to take them both. I grit my teeth and quickly grab the knife out of his hand and cut the palm of my hand, grabbing the ascendant out of his other hand to spill the blood over. I look into his smiling eyes and can't shake the anxiety of letting him loose in the real world; in my world where everyone I love is currently located. I start to mumble through the first verse of the chant, his eyes never leaving mine and feel my vision starting to blur; the spell mixed with the anxiety of this quick decision physically weighing down on me to the point I feel I may pass out. He grips my forearm to support me up and I look into his eyes, a calm wave washing over me; he killed his family, he was locked in here for a reason, and he can't leave.

"I - " I look at his arm that's holding onto mine and trail up to his face, still not understanding how someone so attractive can be so twisted. "I'm sorry, Kai."

Without hesitation I plunged the blade keep into his abdomen, his hand gripping my arm and yelling out in pain, the first noise I've heard him make. I yanked it out and pushed back in aiming closer to his heart and he fell to his knees, his hands closing around mine on the knife. I looked into his eyes and watched his gaze turn cold - sinister - as he slowly shook his head.

"Wrong - choice." he puffed out between breaths before falling backwards with a hard thud.

Trying to catch my breath and keep moving I grabbed the ascendant that fell near him and continued the chant as quickly as I could. I heard the ticking and whirs that came out of it last time and looked up as the moon almost completely eclipsed the sun - and felt a searing pain shoot through my stomach. Gasping, I dropped the ascendant and my head back down directly into Kai's gaze, an enraged look etched across his face and he pushed the knife deeper into my stomach. I backed up trying to get away from him and the pain but he followed my steps until I was against one of the walls.

"It didn't have to be like this," he said through gritted teeth, his other hand coming up to grab the side of my neck so I couldn't look away. I could feel his arm shaking from barely contained rage and started to feel lightheaded.

"The choice was yours to make, and here we are, so really this is kind of all your fault." He pulled the knife out and I slid to the floor, watching him back away to the only lit spot in the cave and picked up the ascendant. He looked up as the light started to encase him, throwing one last glance at me over his shoulder.

"I'll tell your friends you said hi" he said with a wink, and he was gone.

"Bonnie? BONNIE?" She heard his voice get progressively louder until it ripped through her sub consciousness, jolting her out of a deep sleep and landing her directly in Kai's arms.

"What are you doing? Get your hands off me!"

"Bonnie - wait - stop!" arms and legs were being thrown around everywhere as Bonnie tried to wrestle herself out of his grip, and out of the covers, as Kai tried to calm her frantic moves.

"Just - OKAY." He leaned forward and spun her around so her back was to him and put her in a giant bear hug, his hands restraining her arms.

"Kai I swear to God -"

"Now let's not go doing anything rash," he laughed next to her ear. "Just relax, okay? You were having a nightmare and when I tried to wake you up, you wouldn't, so I tried shaking you awake a little bit, harmless really."

She struggled to get out of his grip as he spoke, the icy look that he was just giving her in his dream vivid in her mind. Not to mention the getting stabbed part, again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said calmly, as if reading her mind, and she felt her body relax just a fraction. He let go of her arms and she quickly scooted away from him climbing up towards the headboard.

"Why are you in here?"

"I was just - I don't know - checking? I was walking out of my room to get a drink and saw this door open and you were mumbling and saying my name, and, well - crying."

"What?" She reached for her face and felt it soaked, trying her best attempt to wipe away the last five minutes from reality.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

He gave her a comical look and cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, cause," he pointed to her face, "that happens all the time."

"What do you want me to say?"

"Tell me what happened."

"I don't even want to be around you right now, let alone chat. How about we pick this up in the morning?"

"See the thing with that is, it's still the middle of the night, so there's a long way to go before morning. And you're looking a little whoosey belligerent with a case of the Debby Downer's - a look me and Josette used to take turns perfecting - so I know it well and what it entails.

"And what would that be?"

"Distractions, mostly. Talking, watching a movie, playing a game, food; whatever works."

"Somehow I don't see you sitting on the floor at 3am with Jo playing chutes and ladders."

"Oh you would be wrong." He laughed. "We played board games, card games, video games, those M.A.S.H games where you wrote down a bunch of stuff and told you you're future - what a sham by the way. And then when we got bored of those we'd make stuff up like a back and forth questionnaire, or two truths and a lie, which sibling do you dislike the most; just normal stuff."

"Normal," she laughed. "That should be the last word in your vocabulary. Right above sane."

"Ah, I've picked up on a few along the way," he scooted closer. "So what do you say?

She looked him up and down, noticing once again he is in nothing but his boxers, and landed back on his face. Six months ago this person had no influence in her life whatsoever, no reason for one person's face and actions to be playing on a constant loop for days, weeks, months at a time. The real kick is thinking all of these thoughts about such a good looking person and having a knot in your stomach over what they've done, of what they will do if given the chance. A flash of dream Kai's angry stare reflected back at her and she had to shake her head to clear the thoughts.

"Fine, five questions, I'll go first; Do you plan on killing your coven if you get out of here?"

"When I get out of here, it's on the agenda. Not all of them of course, only the specific - like my father - who need to learn what being a Coven leader fully entails. Oh, and I need to become Coven leader first. So yes, but no; not immediately."

"Ugh. You -"

"ah bah bah, my turn," he chirped. "First question, what were you dreaming of?"

She gave him a bored stare. "You already know this."

"But I don't know the part that had you weeping like a little baby."

"Wow."

"A big baby?"

"Kai!"

"Okay! Just - weeping, I guess. Like an - average - normal sized - person... baby."

"That was sophisticated," she snorted, aggravated at herself for not choosing any other game."

"Can't I just ask you questions?"

"Tell you what, you can ask me as many as you want if you can answer this one."

She let out a deep breath, not wanting to tell him what is going on in her mind but secretly wanting to know what is going on in his. She contemplated lying to him, I mean really how would he know the difference, but a small part of her wanted him to know what she really thinks of him.

"Okay, well it was nothing that hasn't happened to me already - You stabbed me, and left me for dead in this Hell hole that was created for you."

"Why did I stab you?"

"Because that's a thing you do?"

"I just came out of nowhere and stabbed you?"

"No I - you - listen you stabbed me! And that is why I was crying, because I was in pain, and I was all alone, and I wasn't feeling too happy about the predicament I found myself in. Okay? Alright, next question; if given the opportunity, would you kill me to escape by yourself?

He blew out a breath. "That was a lot of information at one time, and I should have guessed it would roll right into the next question. Are you asking would I prefer to kill you and leave by myself? No, this place has it's quirks but I wouldn't pick leaving you here or killing you if I don't have to.

"And if you have to?"

"Is that another question?"

"What? Whatever, sure."

"If I had to kill you to survive? Me vs. you, Gladiator style, only one survives; yeah I think I'd be making it out of that one."

She tried to push herself off the bed but he stopped her with his hand on her leg. "Did you really expect me to answer that any other way? I would expect you to answer the same; seeing how this is a hypothetical we're talking about and you have actually killed me twice to leave on your own."

"You deserved it."

"Probably," he smiled "but I'm not trying to be your enemy, Bon, we're both here and we both have the same goal in mind; leaving this Hell. I won't take out your precious friends or vampires, I'll try to avoid Mystic Falls all together but I am getting out of here."

"And if I say I won't let you?"

"Then I think we've gone from a hypothetical into what happened in your dream."

She felt goosebumps break out along her arms and hugged her legs closer trying to stay warm.

"Am I wrong?" He leaned closer. "Did you try to go back on our deal and dream me wasn't having it?"

His smile widened when she didn't answer.

"Well there you have it, dream me, like real me, isn't too fond of being tricked, or betrayed, especially at the last possible moment - just ask my twin." He winked.

She scoffed and pulled the covers up closer to her but struggled since Kai was sitting on the majority of them. He got up so she could pull them closer and thought maybe he would leave, instead of sitting next to her at the top of the bed.

"I don't know what other way to put it; this place is not meant for someone to be stuck in for a long period of time, we both want to go home, see some folks, have a reunion; and we can! Together, or separate, but we both can make it out of here alive. But I can promise you, no matter what plan you have up your sleeve that your sub conscious is trying to key you in on - I am leaving here with or without you."

He squeezed her hand before getting off the bed and walking out the door, leaving the light on for her. She looked at the clock next to her blinking 5:35AM and groaned as her head fell back into the pillow.