ATHENA

Kai is dead.

"I can't believe this," I say, frowning at Kai's corpse. "Bonnie, how could you do that?"

"He was a sociopath," she simply says.

I gnaw on the inside of my bottom lip. Why do I care so much? "You shouldn't have done that," I argue.

"We're still going home," Damon contributes. He takes a swig of the bottle of Zima. "What does it matter?"

"He was my friend," I say through clenched teeth.

"He would've killed you the second we got over there," he says.

"That's not true," I refuse. I lean against the thick trunk of a tree next to me and ignore how uncomfortable it is.

Damon gives me a condescending look. He keeps his voice down. "Don't mistake this as me actually caring about your feelings," he says. "But I saw the way you looked at him. You're going to get hurt, Athena. He doesn't care about anyone."

I clench my jaw. "What about you and Elena, huh? Weren't you once upon a time the guy who didn't care about anything or anyone? But Elena gave you a chance and it paid off."

He opens his mouth to speak but Bonnie cuts him off. "Can you stop? I'm trying to concentrate." She holds the Ascendant in her hand and a grimoire is spread open on her lap.

"On the bright side, this stuff's not so bad," Damon says, taking a swig from the bottle. "It's fruity and fizzy." He pauses. "On the not so bright side is your intelligence because you took the only chance of us getting out of here and turned him into a giant douchekabob."

Bonnie ignores Damon's remark and looks to be deep in thought. "Think about it, Damon. What prison gives an inmate a key?"

"Is that a trick question, or is this stuff actually starting to kick in?" Damon says, gesturing to the bottle of alcohol in his hand.

Bonnie rolls her eyes. "I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place.
What if that's why my grams sent me here?"

"This is the face I make when I don't understand you." Damon crosses his eyes and pulls a confused expression. I roll my eyes at him.

"You know, 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, plus a burning desire to get away from you," Bonnie says. She studies the Ascendant in her hand before taking a deep breath to start chanting. "Sangina mearma, ascendarum cavea." The Ascendant's cogs shift and it opens up almost like a flower blooming. "That's why Kai wouldn't kill me. He needed a Bennett. I was his only way out of here."

"Whoa," I gush.

Bonnie spins on her heel and walks to the edge of the hole, peering down into it. "Where are you going?" Damon asks.

"Home. You coming?" Bonnie says, disappearing down the hole.

Damon looks at me before ducking down into the tunnel, easing himself down using a bulging rock as a foothold. I follow him down into the tunnel, lowering myself gingerly before my feet strike hard against the earthy red ground. I brush the red dust off of myself with the inside of my hands.

I slip my backpack off my shoulder and slump against the rock in the corner with Damon. He holds out the bottle, raising his eyebrows. I take the bottle of Zima and take a long gulp of the drink before handing it back to Damon. "Thanks, bud," I tell him.

He musses up my hair. "It's all good. At least I know I'll be able to access my bourbon collection soon," he says.

Bonnie stands in a circle of sunlight, shadows playing across her features. With a sharp intake of breath, she slices her palm with the Ascendant and squeezes a few drops of blood onto the metal device. "Okay," she mutters. She takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky before focussing back at the Ascendant. "Sangina mearma, ascendarum cavea." The Ascendant's gears grind against each other, making a clicking sound as they open up further. She looks back up at us, her eyes twinkling. "It's time."

Damon rubs his palms together and pushes himself off the rock. I scoop up my backpack and start for the circle of light. "Alright," Damon says. "Let's get awkward." We huddle in the middle of the circle, gripping each other's hands. "I'm sure there's a billion other people you'd rather be here with," Damon says quietly.

"Not exactly," Bonnie says, the corners of her lips raising into a smile.

"Hm." Damon smiles.

"Let's-" Bonnie starts. But she never gets to finish.

Because that's when the arrow goes straight through her abdomen. She flies back, the Ascendant clattering to the ground. I turn around to see who and where the arrow came from. My breath catches in my throat as I see who it is.

"Kai," I whisper.

He grins, still holding the crossbow up. "Forgetting someone?" His voice echoes in the vast corridors of the underground tunnels. "Did you really think I hadn't tried to kill myself before?" Bonnie whimpers in the corner, her hands gripping the arrow so hard that her knuckles go white.

I crouch down beside her, wrapping my hands around the arrow which is slick with blood. "Shh, Bonnie, it's okay," I murmur. "Stay calm."

"Because I have," Kai continues. "Plenty of times and lots of ways." He draws back another arrow, cocking the crossbow and aiming it right on Bonnie. Damon's eyes shoot towards the Ascendant. Kai stares him down. "Grab that and the next one goes in her heart."

I tug the arrow out of Bonnie's gut with the spine-tingling sound of blood and gore. She makes a grunting sound and takes her hand away from her abdomen. Blood gushes out at an astounding rate and she gasps continually. "Damon," I call, my eyes still fixed on Bonnie.

He takes one look over and rushes over. I see movement out of the corner of my eye. The Ascendant. Kai is going for the Ascendant. I bolt towards him and shove him out of the way. He groans and I pin his arms down with my knees. Getting my magic sucked out earlier today has really taken its toll - I can feel the decrease in strength and I'm getting puffed out much more easily. Kai writhes beneath me and I can feel my grip slackening.

With a twist, his arm comes out from underneath me and I panic, drawing back my arm and throwing a punch at him. He takes my wrist in his fist and holds it steadily there. I widen my eyes as he throws me off of him and pins me to the ground. His body presses down on mine and he holds my wrists down to the ground. I grunt and try to worm out of his grip. He chuckles coldly at my weak attempts. Dick.

He pushes his knee down hard onto my wrist. I arch my back with a groan and grit my teeth. Kai holds an arrow in his fist right above my chest. "Kai, please," I grunt.

"I'm sorry, Athena," he says.

Something in his eyes flicker. Brief, but definitely there. "Wait," I beg. "I felt your hand that morning. You thought I was asleep but I felt it. I felt your hand." I speak so fast that it sounds as if it's one big word. I breath heavily, my chest rising and falling.

His eyes soften for a moment but then something changes and his eyes fill with a rage. "I need to get out of here," he says, his jaw clenched. He jerks his arm back and accelerates it, the arrow set on embedding itself in my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut and listen to the whoosh of the arrow.

But the arrow never meets my flesh.

In a blur, Damon pushes Kai off and up against one of the rocky walls of the cavern. Kai gets the wind knocked out of him as Damon shoves him against the wall. Damon clamps his hands around Kai's throat. He can't die.

But Kai still has the arrow in his hand and with one fluid movement drives the arrow into Damon's abdomen. My mouth falls open and I'm frozen, my feet planted on the ground.

"Athena," Bonnie calls.

I spin around to face her. Bonnie tosses the Ascendant to me and I catch it. I widen my eyes at her. She smiles slightly and mutters something. Without me willing them to  my feet drag through the dirt like an invisible person dragging me. "Bonnie, no!"

"Don't!" Damon yells. She's sending us back. And then before I know it, I'm in the circle of sunlight. I tip my head up to the sky and I'm met with the sight of the solar eclipse looming in the sky. I feel a lump in my throat as I lock eyes with Damon. I'm only staring at Damon for a fraction of a second before a blinding bright light engulfs me whole.

Ω Ω Ω

A/N: Short chapter but oh well I felt it was better to end it on a
cliffhanger than make a long ass chapter.
I really want to do a prequel to this just because Athena's backstory
is probably one of my favourite ones that I've ever written but would
any of you read it?? It'd probably be set around the time that
she got together with Enzo or something idk!!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, Georgina xx

(P.S how cute is that gif omg chris wood is the loml)