[ haha had a bad day. ha. had a mental breakdown. hehehe dropped the last college course I need to graduate for my mental health hahaha. silly me ]

☽︎

DON'T CALL ME A BITCH.

It was dark, and Clem was struggling to walk through the cemetery in her heels from the dance. For once, she wasn't using tripping as an excuse for holding Elena's hand, who was in the same state. They followed behind Esther, who'd threatened Alaric and Jenna to get them to come willingly.

It seemed them getting out of town hadn't worked out so well.

"Thanks for ruining our first date," Clementine grumbled, her mood worsening with each step as they neared the Salvatore Mausoleum.

"You'll forgive me for taking you from the dance this evening," Esther said, not really meaning it. "That's the burden of being the doppelgänger, I'm afraid. Your blood is a potent binding agent for a witch's spell."

"Just please don't hurt Jenna and Alaric," Elena begged.

"She's not hurting us."

Both girls looked up ins surprise, seeing Alaric standing on his own.

"Ric!" Elena exclaimed. She moved toward him but stopped when Clem pulled her back. Both girls realized something was wrong with him. "What's going on? What are you doing with him? Where's Jenna?"

"Your aunt is inside," Esther told her. "And I'm going to remake him."

"Remake him?" Elena questioned as Clem's blood ran cold.

How was this still happening?

"Make him strong, fast, like my children. Indestructible. For one final time I'm going to tap into the dark magic I used a thousand years ago. Like my husband Mikael before him, I will make Alaric into a true hunter, a vampire to end all vampires."

"You can't create another Original. What if he turns out to be an even bigger monster than your children?"

"He won't now that he has embraced his darkest aspect — his hatred for them will become more pure and uncompromising. In death, that hatred will be magnified," she explained.

"You don't know that, you don't know anything about him!" Jenna shouted from inside.

"Jenna!" Elena exclaimed, rushing toward the mausoleum. Clem followed after her while the other two walked slowly after them.

Jenna was on the floor of the mausoleum, her hands tied behind her back. And she had a cut on her head, a sign that she hadn't come willingly with Alaric and Esther.

Esther glared down at Jenna. "That is where you're wrong. Each time he died with that ring, during his brief journey into death, I was there on The Other Side. I spoke to him, I nurtured him knowing that every death brought him closer to his true self. Vampires took everything from him. Now he's getting his vengeance," she explained.

"You're so stupid," Clementine said, scoffing. "He can't kill your kids. There's no more White Oak."

She didn't like the glimmer in Esther's eyes. "Isn't there?"

Much to all their horror — except Alaric — Esther pulled out a stake made of White Oak that she'd already spelled to be indestructible. Clementine shook her head in disbelief.

"No. I destroyed the last of it. The bridge and the sign," she said. "There is no more."

"Nature always finds a balance, Clementine," she said.

Clem felt sick at her stomach as Esther continued preparing for the spell. Everything she'd done in her youth to prevent this was pointless. Getting locked up for half her life had been all for nothing. It made frustrated tears well in her eyes.

Esther began lighting candles, and Elena tried her hardest to reason with Alaric, which was pointless in his current state.

"Ric, this isn't what you want. It's not who you are."

"You don't know who I am, Elena. You only know the weakest parts of me, the man who lost his way befriending vampires instead of killing them," he said gruffly.

She shook her head. "You don't mean that."

"They're all monsters. The blood of their victims is on my hands. And I've let everyone, even Jenna around them. I won't put her in anymore danger."

Clem cut her eyes to Jenna, who clearly had a concussion. "Yeah, you're doing a bang up job of protecting her."

"When you are ready," Esther spoke up.

"No, Ric, please don't. Don't do this. I won't help you. I'm not gonna give you my blood. You're gonna have to kill me!" Elena shouted, pushing herself up against the stone wall.

"That won't be necessary," Esther said before waving her hand at Elena. A cut opened up on her hand and began to bleed. Esther grabbed her hand and held it above a bowl, watching as the blood pooled inside.

As soon as she was done, Clem snatched Elena's hand from her and pulled her close in a comforting hug.

"Drink," Esther commanded Alaric, "and let it be done."

"No, Ric," Jenna murmured weakly, hardly keeping her eyes open.

"Please, don't," Elena begged.

But Alaric ignored them and drank from the bowl, looking at Esther expectantly. "Is it finished?"

"Not just yet," she said.

Then Esther staked Alaric in the chest with the White Oak. Elena flinched and hid her face in Clementine's shoulder. There was nothing that could be done now.

Soon, Elena calmed down and crawled toward Alaric's body. She carefully pulled the White Oak out of his body, and Clem eyed the stake, wishing it was in Esther's chest instead.

"He'll wake soon," Esther said. "When he does, he may for a time be his old self. If so, you can say your goodbyes before his transition is complete."

Elena shook her head, tears in her eyes. "You said you wanted to undo the evil that you created, but this... this is just as evil!"

"Alaric will never be what my children became. I have granted him enough power to complete his task. Then when the time is right, he will die."

"How if he's immortal?" she asked.

"All you need to know is that when this is over, we will have rid the earth of vampires once and for all," she said.

"I know how," Clem whispered, a glare fixed on her face. "Elena, he's linked to your life. He'll die when you do."

Horror crossed Elena's face. "No," she whispered, looking at Alaric sadly.

"Yes," Esther said, glaring at Clem for ruining the secret. "Now onto the most important step of the night."

Esther grabbed Clementine harshly and ripped her away from Elena. She dragged her out of the mausoleum with the bowl of Elena's remaining blood, and Elena scrambled after them, worried for her. However, before she could try and help Clem, Esther threw up her hand and a ring of fire surrounded her and Clem.

Elena backed up, not wanting to burn herself. "Let her go!"

"I am sorry, but I cannot," Esther said, waving her hand again. Clementine found herself trapped to the ground on her back, unable to move.

Before Esther could get started, they were joined by a horde of people — each of the Mikalesons and Salvatores, Enzo, Tyler and Caroline, Jeremy and Matt. Bonnie was the only one missing, but she hadn't been at the dance to know what was happening.

"Let her go before I remove your spine from your body!" Klaus threatened, practically seething.

"Enough of this," Elijah said, rolling his sleeves up. He was just as ready as Klaus to carry out the threat of violence.

"I cannot in good conscience let this abomination walk amongst our world," Esther said. "I will send her back to where she came from. Where she belongs."

"No!" Clem shouted, trying to struggle against the magic keeping her in place. "I'm not going back! This is where I belong."

"Not anymore," she murmured while kneeling beside her.

As Esther continued, the others each tried to go against the fire, only to be pushed back by the magic. So, they had no choice but to watch as Esther dipped her fingers in the bowl of blood. Then she smeared it along Clem's forehead while muttering words in Latin.

Next, just as Gloria had done, she pulled out a knife and began carving symbols into Clem's skin. Everyone felt helpless as they heard her whimpers and screams of pain. Soon, it felt like Clem's body was fading in and out of reality, and everyone with a soul bond felt like their chests were being torn into. Since they were human and weaker, Elena and Jeremy both found themselves on their knees, groaning in pain.

As Esther focused on the spell to send Clementine back to her universe, her focus on the fire barrier weakened. But everyone was too worried about what would happen to Clem if the spell was interrupted. They didn't even know what was being done to her as Esther finished carving into her skin and kept chanting as she stood to her full height again.

Just as Damon prepared himself to interfere, consequences be damned, Esther went silent and seized up. A red glow surrounded her head, confusing them. Then Esther began to tremble and scream as the glow increased.

Her eyes rolled back in her head before dropping, revealing an unfamiliar man, who'd been standing behind her and was presumably responsible for what happened to the witch. His dark eyes scanned the crowd of strangers for a moment before he knelt down neck to Clementine. He didn't care about the blood on her skin as he pat her cheek a few times to rouse her.

"C'mon, Orange," he muttered.

Clementine's eyes fluttered open, and she couldn't believe it when she saw Kai standing over her. At first, she thought she'd died again, but he was touching her cheek.

"Kai?" she questioned, her eyebrows furrowed. Then she brightened up. "Kai!"

Not caring about how much pain she was in, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly, and though Kai was surprised, he hugged her back. He didn't think he'd ever hugged someone before.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked in disbelief.

Kai smirked while helping her stand — she was a little shaky given how much blood she was still losing. "Had a little help from a witch bitch."

"Don't call me a bitch," Bonnie said flatly, coming out from behind a tree.

Clem's eyes shined as she realized what Bonnie had done for her. That she'd freed Kai on her own. It made even more tears appear in her eyes, them dripping down her cheeks, mixing with the blood.

"Um, who is this?" Damon questioned.

Clementine sniffed and grabbed Kai's hand, turning to face everyone. "Meet Kai Parker of the Gemini Coven."

Rebekah's jaw dropped. "He's real," she whispered. All of them, on some level, didn't believe Clem when she talked about him.

"How'd you stop her?" Jeremy asked, nodding to Esther's body.

"He's a Siphoner," Kol replied, an awed look on his face. He was always fascinated by his kind. "A mighty powerful one at that right now. He nearly killed our mother."

"Oh, right," Kai said, perking up some. With a giddy smile on his face, he grabbed the knife Esther had been using to carve up Clem and then thrust it into her chest, killing her. Some of the more squeamish ones winced and looked away as Kai took joy in twisting the knife just to make sure. "Now she's dead."

"Thanks, Baby Girl," Clem said, smiling at her savior.

"Onto more important business," he said, crossing his arms. "Which one is Clark?"

In response, Clementine pointed to a confused Klaus, whose mouth parted a bit before speaking. "My name is Klaus—"

He was cut off by Kai using his magic to snap his neck, killing him quickly. Klaus' body dropped before all of their shocked faces while Clementine just smiled.

"That's for killing Orange," Kai said sternly. "And where is Kevin?"

"Kol," Clem said, now pointing to him.

Kol's eyes went wide and he put his hands up innocently. "Hey, hey, hey—"

It was too late as Kai snapped his neck as well, which put a big grin on Enzo's face. "I like this fellow," he declared before coming over to Clem. "C'mere, Angel."

Clem let him pull her closer as he bit into his wrist. She drank slowly from him, feeling it as all her wounds closed up. And then exhaustion hit her like a tidal wave.

"Are you alright, ástin mín?" Finn asked worriedly. She was still covered in dirt and grime.

"I'm better now," she promised before looking to Kai, who hadn't taken his eyes off her. "You're about to be better too."

Kai's eyes were shining. "Which one?"

"Clark," she decided.

Kai practically skipped over to Klaus' body, the knife in hand. The others watched warily, and when Kai hovered the knife over Klaus' arm, Elijah rushed over to him protectively, getting in between them.

"Lijah," Clem said softly, putting a hand on his arm. And at her touch, he relaxed a bit. "He just needs some blood. He won't hurt Klaus. Again."

"Probably," Kai said with a smirk.

Then he cut Klaus and drank some of his blood. After he was finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at Clem expectantly, holding out the knife.

"Would you like to do the honors?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

In response, Clem grabbed the knife and quickly jammed it into his neck — she knew from staking Mikael that she wouldn't be able to hit his heart. Even though he was choking on blood, Kai still had a deranged smile on his face, knowing what was coming for him.

It wasn't long before the wound on his artery killed him, and as he dropped, he nearly brought Clem down with him, who groaned and shoved him off, watching him land in a heap on the ground.

Silence fell over the group for a moment, everyone processing the fact that the man in Clem's head was real and also subsequently in transition.

"Why... he'll lose his magic," Bonnie said with a frown.

"No, he won't," Elijah said, shaking his head. With his interest in witches over the years, he was just as familiar with Siphoners as Kol. "He has no magic of his own. But when he wakes up..."

"He'll have an unlimited supply as a vampire," Clementine said, beaming. "Nik's not the only super awesome hybrid in town now."

"Hear that, brother?" Rebekah asked, nudging Klaus' body with her foot. "You're not so special anymore."

Suddenly, Alaric barged out of the mausoleum, a concussed Jenna leaning on him. "What the hell is happening?" he asked. "Where's my ring?"

Elena and Clementine shared a clearly upset look, knowing what was happening to him — and him being linked to Elena made things a million times worse. Clem was the one to bite the bullet and explain.

"You're in transition to be a vampire. And when you finish it, you'll permanently be that vampire hating guy and you'll try to kill us all," she said, sighing at the end. "You'll be an Original with your lifeline linked to Elena's. You'll only die if she dies."

Alaric's face paled and he shook his head. "I won't do it. I won't complete the transition."

"I got a vision," Clem said. "Esther possesses Bonnie from the other side and she comes and forces you to drink her blood."

All eyes turned to Bonnie, who could only shrug. She couldn't exactly control things like being possessed.

"Well, someone keep an eye on her," Alaric said gruffly. "You can't let me live."

"But Ric—"

"No, Jeremy," he cut the boy off. "I'll be too dangerous to let live."

"Especially with a White Oak stake in play," Clem murmured. Then she looked at Elijah. "By the way, there's a White Oak stake in there if you wanna go snatch it."

He was gone in a flash to retrieve the weapon, leaving them in silence once again. And no one spoke when he returned either, the stake safely stored in his blazer pocket.

"So - so what?" Jenna stuttered out, her eyes welling with tears. "We just accept this? We're supposed to let you die?"

Alaric frowned and reached for her shoulders, holding her comfortingly. "You, Elena, and Jeremy — all of you — are in danger if I turn. I'll kill every vampire and any person that sympathizes with them. If I live, Esther wins, dead or alive. I can't let that happen."

"Bull shit," Damon said, just as upset about this. "You're not dying, Ric."

"Maybe he's right," Clem said softly.

Alaric just sighed and shook his head. "Clementine, you've seen it happen if I turn—"

"Maybe you don't have to turn," she said, coming closer. She glanced at Kai's body. "He might not — he's not the most helpful person in the world. And it might not even work. But maybe since your dark side is a magical side effect—"

"Kai could siphon it away," Kol finished for her. He tilted his head, thinking more on it. "It could work. And I'm all for any plan that keeps me alive."

"Until he wakens, though, I have some questions," Stefan spoke up, eying Clem. "Wanna tell us what the hell Esther meant by sending you back where you came from?"

If Clem expected anyone to tell Stefan to shut up and let her have her secrets, that wasn't the case. Each of them was just as curious. He was just the first to speak on it.

The silence was awkward, and Clementine finally broke it while keeping her eyes on the grass. "Maybe this could be an inside, sit down where everyone is alive conversation."