I had gotten Kol's body out of the Gilbert House and went to bury him in a grave, probably with too much careful-ness.

Caroline had been cleaning the house. 

When I got back, Stefan and Caroline had told me the horrible news.

Jeremy was dead.

Katherine had killed him.

Elena was upstairs, sitting alone with his body. 

"How long has she been like that?" I asked.

"Ever since we found his body," Stefan answered. "She hasn't said anything except that she's waiting for him to wake up." 

"But he's not going to wake up," I told him. "She knows that, right?" 

Stefan held a finger up to his lips to silence me, walking over to the sink, turning on the tap, using the noise to cover our conversation. "Look. Deep down, I think she has to, but we're talking about Elena here. She feels grief more powerfully than anyone else. I think her denial is the one thing protecting her from letting it all in."

"But she can't stay like that forever," Caroline told him, sounding five times more sympathetic than I did. 

"I know, but I don't want to be the one to break her out of it, not until we know that Bonnie is safe, not until we get Damon over here to, you know," Stefan told us.

"Use the sire bond to convince her that everything is okay," I said, nodding in understanding. 

 Stefan nodded.

Elena appeared. "I'm not in denial." Stefan turned off the tap. "I know that he was supernatural, but did you see? His tattoo is gone. The tattoo had the spell that opened Silas' chamber. Maybe it being gone means that he's fulfilled his supernatural destiny. Maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?" 

"Elena . . ." Caroline trailed off.

"It's possible, Caroline," Elena told her. "There's a chance. It may be miniscule, but it's hope, and I'm gonna hold on to that hope with everything that I've got because there's no way that m . . ." She hesitated. "There's absolutely no way that my brother is dead." She nodded, shaking her head. "I'm not in denial." 

Elena turned, walking out of the kitchen.

Caroline, Stefan and I exchanged a look.

****

On the porch, Caroline was on her phone, leaving a message. "Hey. I know that I'm not supposed to be calling, but something happened, and I need to talk to you, Tyler. So please call me." 

Caroline hung up.

I walked out on to the porch. "Do you know where he is?" 

"As far away from Klaaus as he can get," Caroline told me. "I mean, you said that Klaus said he wouldn't stop until he found him. I've been meaning to thank you about that." I raised my eyebrows at her questioningly. "You got Klaus to let Tyler leave town and never look back until it's safe again."

"Well, Katherine's been running from Klaus for 500 years," I told her. "It's not easy, but it's possible. It's probably why she stole the Cure. She wants to bargain for her freedom." 

"I just can't believe after all that, the Cure is just gone," Caroline told me.

"Well, we can't think about that right now," I told her. "We need to make plans, lists. We need a funeral or a cover story, or a funeral and a cover story."

"I should go tell my mom," Caroline told me. "I guess she'll know what to do." 

 "We should get Matt over here," I told her.

"You're right," Caroline told me. "You should go to him. You should go get Matt, bring him here. I will go tell my mom, and then I will make a list or a casserole, or--I don't know--whatever people are supposed to do or make in these situations." She hesitated. "What's that smell?" 

I looked through the open front door, smelling the smell of death.

Caroline looked like she already knew the answer. 

"It's his body," I answered. "He's starting to decompose." I looked at Caroline. "Tell your mom to get Dr. Fell over here." 

****

I went to Matt's place to tell him that Jeremy was dead, because no one should hear the fact that your best friend was dead over the phone. 

Matt opened the door for me. "Kaylin. What are you doing here?" 

"There's something I need to tell you about Jeremy," I told him. "Can I come in?" Matt nodded, stepping aside. I stepped inside, standing next to him. Matt closed the door, turning to face me. "Jeremy's dead." 

Matt was taken aback, not processing yet. "What?" 

I nodded. "It was Katherine. She killed him. I'm sorry." Matt's eyes glistened. "Hey." 

I wrapped my arms around him comfortingly. 

Matt stood there a moment, letting it sink in. Then he seemed to remember something, pulling back. "Oh, my God. What about Elena? Is she okay?" 

"She's in denial," I answered. "I think she could use your help." 

"Yeah," Matt agreed. "Of course."

I nodded, taking his hand, leading him out of the house.

****

When we got back to the Gilbert House, I heard someone push someone against a wall, hearing Elena's angry voice. "He's not dead, okay?" 

"Elena, stop it," Stefan told her. 

Elena's voice rose in hysteria. "Now you're all about science? Where was your science when you used vampire blood to save my life, huh? There is no science here. It's just magic. We need magic. We have to find Bonnie." Matt and I made it upstairs, seeing Stefan holding Elena away from Meredith. "Bonnie can fix this. Somebody just get me Bonnie!" 

"Elena," Matt told her.

Elena stopped struggling, looking at us.

Matt looked at Jeremy's body on the bed.

Elena followed his gaze.

Matt's face started to crumble.

Elena shook her head. "No. No. No, Matt. It's fine." She walked toward him. "It's okay. It's okay." She wrapped her arms around him comfortingly. Matt's eyes glistened further. "Bonnie will be here soon, and she'll fix everything, and it'll be all fine. Everything's gonna be fine." She whispered, nodding to herself. "It'll be fine. It'll be fine." 

****

Matt had taken Elena out of the house. 

In Jeremy's room, Meredith pulled the blanket over Jeremy's face, walking out of the room.

I sat on the stairs near the top of the stair case.

Stefan was on the stair case landing, adjusting pictures on a shelf on the wall.

Meredith adjusted the thermostat. "I'm bumping the A/C. We're not gonna be able to leave him in there for much longer." 

"Yeah, I know," I told her.

Stefan walked up the stairs, sitting next to me. "I've been alive for almost two centuries now. You'd think with the amount of people that I've seen die, it would hurt less each time. Never does." 

I shook my head. "No. No, it never does." 

"I see this every day," Meredith told us. "Sometimes I think that denial is the worst part of people like us, because we know the truth. We can see they're on a collision course with it, and all we can do is brace ourselves for impact." 

Stefan nodded. His phone rang. He answered it. "Did you find her?" 

Damon was on the other line. "I'm still looking. How is she?" 

"She's losing it, Damon. We can do what we can to delay things here, but we've got to get Jeremy to the morgue before it gets ugly."

"Damn it. I can't--I can't just leave her behind. I can't--I can't show up without Bonnie." 

"I think you have to," I told him. "At this point, the sire bond is probably the only thing that's gonna keep Elena together. I can go to find Bonnie." 

"I'm on my way." 

He hung up.

****

He called us to tell us that he had found her and said that Bonnie knew what to do. 

 Stefan called Elena.

Elena answered. "Stefan?" 

"Hey. Damon found Bonnie. The plan is there waiting for them when they get off the island. They'll be home in a few hours."

"Thank God. Is she okay?" 

"Yeah. He said she's find. Listen, Elena. You might have been right. There might be something." 

"She knows what to do, doesn't she?" 

"Let's just see what she says when she gets home, okay?" 

"Okay. We'll be home soon." 

They hung up. 

Stefan still seemed reluctant to hope.

****

Damon and Bonnie had gotten back after dark.

Bonnie, Elena, Caroline and Matt were talking inside.

Stefan, Damon and I were talking outside. 

"She's out of her mind," Damon told us. "The nutty professor's got her totally brainwashed." 

****

"I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the Veil between this side and the Other Side," Damon told us. 

"Drop the Veil?" I repeated. "What does that even mean?" 

"What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one, or some. It's every supernatual being over there." 

****

"Three massacres, three hot spots, and the witch spell of the century," Damon told us. "And every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance." 

****

We walked back inside toward the others in the kitchen.

Elena was answering the phone. "Hello?" 

April was on the other line. "Elena? It's April . . . Young. Um, I was looking for Jeremy. His cell phone keeps going straight to voicemail." 

"Jeremy can't come to the phone right now. He's not . . ." Elena hesitated. "I'm sorry. He's dead." 

Elena hung up, walking out of the room.

We all looked at each other.

****

Elena walked downstairs, Damon following her with Jeremy's body in his arms. "Where's Bonnie?" 

"We told Matt to take her home," I answered. "We thought it'd be best."

"Okay," Elena said. "I guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way." 

"Do what?" I asked.

Elena looked at Damon. "Put his body on the couch."

Damon went to put his body on the couch.

Elena went into the kitchen, starting to open and close cabinets.

"Elena?" Caroline asked. "Elena, you need help finding something?" 

Elena took a bottle of lighter fluid out of a cabinet and splashing it over the counter. "Got it." 

Caroline stood in astonishment.

"What are you doing?" Stefan asked.

Elena splashed the fluid everywhere. "We need a cover story, right?" She looked from Caroline to me. "You think I didn't hear you guys talking earlier? Well, what are we gonna say? Animal attack? 'Tumbled down the stairs'? No. We burn the house down with him inisde of it."

Elena made her way to the living room, splashing the lighter fluid everywhere. 

"Elena, stop it!" Stefan told her.

"Why?" Elena asked. "Because you want me to not be in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Stefan. I don't want to live here anymore. I don't want these sketches." She splashed them with the fluid, kicking the Xbox. "I don't want this Xbox." She threw down the empty bottle, reaching into a cabinet, taking out a bottle of bourbon. "Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Alaric's not here to drink it. I mean, unless you guys are willin to bring back every supernatural creature on the Other Side to get him back." She turned to Damon. "Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back." She walked toward him. "Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't." She walked over to Jeremy's body, splashing bourbon over him. "I don't know, I mean, does that make me a bad person? I--I have no idea." She pulled the Gilbert ring off Jeremy's finger, tossing it Damon. "He's not gonna need that anymore." 

 "Elena, stop it!" Caroline told her. "You're scaring me!" 

Elena took down a picture frame from the fireplace mantle. "What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean, there's no--there's no room in the Gilbert family plot." She threw the frame down on the floor, making the glass shatter. "Jenna and--and John took the last spots." 

Elena threw the empty bottle of bourbon against the wall, making it shatter, grabbing a match from the mantles, striking it against the wood, making it light. 

"No, no, Elena," I told her. "Stop."

"There's nothing here for me anymore, Kaylin!" Elena told me. "Every inch of this house is filled with memories of the people that I love that have died. My mom, my dad, Jeremy, and Jenna, and Alaric, John--even John. I mean, they're all dead. Everyone is dead. So what am I supposed to--I mean, how am I gonna--I can't even--There's nothing left for me--"

The flame had burned down on the match, starting to burn Elena's hand, making her gasp and drop the match.

I rushed over to catch it before it could ignite the fluid and bourbon everywhere.

Elena sobbed, starting to crumble. 

"Elena, I need you to calm down," Damon told her.

"No, no, no, I can't," Elena told us. "I can't. I can't. I--" She fell to her knees in pain and grief, holding her hand. "No. It hurts. It hurt. Just make it stop. Please make it stop. It hurts." 

"Damon . . . " Stefan trailed off. "Help her." 

Damon knelt in front of Elena, pulling her closer to him.

"I--I . . ." Elena trailed off, unable to finish, crying. 

"I can help you," Damon told her. "I want you to let me help you." Elena shuddered. Damon put a hand on either of her cheeks. Elena sat up, pulling away. Damon smoothed her hair back. "I can help you." 

"How?" Elena asked.

"Turn it off," Damon told her. 

"What?" Stefan asked. "No, no." 

Damon held up a hand to stop him from intervening. "Just turn it off, and everything will go away. That's what you have to do. It's what I want you to do. Just turn it off." 

We watched as Elena's tear-stained face turned utterly expressionless, still. The light left her eyes, as thought something inside her had died. 

****

While Emotionless Elena was still inside, Stefan, Damon and I were outside on the porch, talking.

"It was a mistake," Stefan told us.

"It wasn't, and you know it," I told him. "This is the only way she's gonna survive. We'll help her, keep an eye on her. When she's ready, Damon will use the sire bond to bring her back."

"Her humanity, Kaylin," Stefan told me. "That was all she had left." 

"Humanity means nothing when you don't have anyone to care about, Stefan," I told him.

Stefan looked at Damon, nodding. "She had you." 

"She lost her brother," Damon told him. "I'm not enough. Not this time." 

"Listen, Damon, I know that you and I, we've been through some . . .bad spots lately, especially when it comes to her," Stefan told him. 

"Yeah," I said. "Well . . . guess none of that matters anymore." 

Stefan looked at me. "And we haven't exactly been in too good of a spot, either, with everything that's happened to us. I just, um . .. I want you to know, that, um .. ." 

Stefan looked from me to Damon.

"We know, Stefan," I told him, taking either of their hands, nodding. 

We walked inside to see Elena lighting another match.

"Elena, don't do this," Damon told her. "We can find another cover story." 

Elena shook her head. "This is the best one. No one'll ask questions." 

"Look, if you burn down the house, it'll be gone," Stefan told her. "What if one day, when this is all over, you want to come home again?" 

Elena watched the flame, looking at Stefan. "I won't." 

Elena tipped the match out of her finger.

The floor immediately ignited.

We walked out of the house together, Elena and I leanding. Elena, Damon and I turned to our left, continuing down the street.

Stefan hesitated, looking at the house before following us.

We left the house to burn.