FRANCESCA found Stefan's unconscious body lying on their doorstep the night prior. She dragged him inside and put him to bed in his own room for the first time in days.

Imagine everyone's surprise when he woke up the next day with his memories intact.

Damon, skeptical per usual, decided to quiz Stefan on every moment over their long lives. "October 1852."

"You broke my nose trying to teach me how to throw a right hook," Stefan replied.

Francesca let out a small bark of laughter as she recalled the memory herself.

"But not on purpose." Damon quickly defended himself to Elena with a finger held up in the air. "Just to be clear." He set the record straight, earning a semi-amused laugh from her and a synchronized eye roll from his siblings. "How much did you pay for that hunk of junk motorcycle you ride?" He inquired, smirking smugly at him.

"That's a trick question. You bought me that motorcycle, although I'm guessing it was pretty expensive." Stefan flattened his lips and nodded his head slowly.

"So Tessa just gave you back your memories, no strings attached," Damon mused in confusion.

"Well, it wasn't exactly a gift. It was a lot to take in at once, everything from blowing out the candles on my first birthday cake to... drowning in a safe." Stefan explained, his voice falling off at the end as he started to stare distantly at the floor in front of him.

"Stefan..." Elena called out to him.

His hand tightened around the glass of blood he had been holding until his knuckles were white and the glass shattered to pieces under his grip. This snapped him out of his trance, but he continued to stare at his hand.

Francesca's eyes widened in surprise, and she shot forward out of her seat.

"Whoa! Easy there, buddy." Damon tried to coax Stefan down.

"Stefan, where did you go?" Elena asked softly.

"All that, and I still can't remember my own strength." He gave them a fake smile then stopped after hearing a loud thud coming from the basement downstairs. "What was that noise?"

"Uh, well that is..." Damon trailed off, trying to find a way to lie or make an excuse.

"We have a situation," Elena spoke up quickly.

"Of the doppelgänger variety," Damon added to her statement with a sarcastic smile.

"Yeah." Elena breathed out in frustration.

"Katherine?" Stefan asked out of habit.

"No, nope, not Katherine." Damon made one of his signature facial expressions before the three Salvatores traveled down the basement stairs into the cells.

Stefan peered through the cell door window to see Amara screaming and backing herself onto a dark corner.

"I don't know! I don't know." She continued to repeat frantically while flailing around in fear.

"What's wrong with her?" Stefan inquired curiously without looking away from the Elena look alike.

"Tessa turned her into a block of rock, left her in a box for two thousand years, probably went a little stir crazy like those deserted island guys who talk to volleyballs." Damon referenced.

"Ass." Francesca hissed under her breath.

"I said I don't know!" Amara screamed.

"So, you're telling me that this girl is the only thing holding together the other side?" Stefan asked in disbelief.

"Yup. She's the anchor." Damon mused with a low sigh.

"Leave me alone." Amara snapped at an unseen force.

"As long as she's alive, the other side exists, and we can keep trying to get Bonnie from over there." Damon explained while watching her through the small window on the door.

"I said I don't know!" Amara repeated once again with more aggression.

"Well, considering she's immortal, I'd say we have plenty of opportunity," Stefan remarked, his face shifting with discomfort the longer her watched her panic.

"You'd think, except last night she stuck a hole in Silas' neck, sucked the cure right out of him, so now she's not only nuts, she's mortal, which means we have to keep her ordinary little human heart beating until we get Bonnie back." Damon said, clearly unhappy with the way things were unfolding.

Stefan turned to face his older siblings, his face scrunched up with concern and perplexity. "How would you plan to do that?"

"Silas made a pinky promise that he'd do a spell to bring her back." Damon said.

"I don't trust him to follow through." Francesca expressed her feelings toward the situation, and Stefan curtly nodded his head in agreement.

"Unfortunately..." Damon jeered out through gritted teeth as he narrowed his eyes at her. "He's taking his sweet time coming back to Mystic Falls." He heard a noise and turned toward Amara to see her biting into her wrists, trying to bleed herself to death.

"Ah! Amara, stop." He scolded sternly, opened the door, and rushed in to stop her. He grabbed her arm, pulled it away from her mouth, and hoisted her up off the dirt floor.

"No! No! Let me die. I want to die!" Amara cried desperately as blood dribbled down her chin. She shrieked at the top of her lungs and fought against Damon's strength to no prevail.

"Let's hope love is blind or at least deaf," Damon commented snidely to the other vampires with a dramatic roll of his icy blue eyes.

Damon called Silas to get an ETA because he was growing impatient from the waiting. The conversation took a turn when Silas asked them to kill Amara and decided not to help them bring Bonnie back from the Other Side because it would purposefully ruin Damon's relationship with Elena.

They gathered in the living room to discuss what to do about this new issue.

Francesca was giving Damon a look that read I told you so while he glared at her in unamusement.

"We need to buy some more time, protect Amara. Maybe we should move her somewhere else." Elena proposed a plan.

"Silas is a witch. He's a living, breathing, GPS-tracking device. He'll track her wherever we take her." Damon responded as he sat on the couch with his arms hanging off the back of it.

"We can't let him anywhere near her until he brings Bonnie back." Elena said sternly.

"Weren't you listening to anything?" Stefan snapped, his anger clouding his temperament. "He's not gonna bring her back."

"So, what, I should just give up?" Elena rhetorically asked, then scoffed and walked toward him. "Come on, Stefan. You got your memory back. You know me probably better than anyone else. Do you really think that I'm gonna give up?"

"You know what? You're right. I do know you. You put your hope in all the wrong places and sometimes---" Stefan glanced over at Damon, who glared at him. "---in the wrong people." He snapped bitterly and turned back to Elena. "Silas needs to die and put us all out of our misery."

"So long as he's alive, I'm holding out hope that he can still help us," Elena argued, not backing down.

"Well, as someone who just spent the last three months at the bottom of a quarry because of the guy, I wouldn't hold your breath, pun intended. Silas needs to die, and I need to be the one to kill him, end of story," Stefan said in aggressive determination before spinning around on the ball of his feet and storming out of the room.

Stefan was standing in his bedroom, staring out the window with a thousand-yard stare. "Don't start." He warned his visitor coming up from behind him.

"I didn't say anything." Francesca pointed out and held her hands out at her sides.

"I can practically hear your thoughts by now, Frankie." He commented gruffly and turned around to face her. He nodded his head at the look she was giving him. "Yes, I can. I learned how to decipher what your face means because you may not use words, but your face gives it all away. So before you start. I'm fine. I just need a minute to breathe."

Nodding in acceptance, she lowered herself onto the edge of the bed behind him and studied his movements. "When did you learn that?"

"After mom died." He spoke up again after a long pause, and her face fell into a grieving frown. "She wasn't around to protect you from dad, so you stopped speaking with him around then mostly all together. It removed his focus from you, and you flew under the radar."

"He often said women should be seen and not heard. I gave him what he wanted." She said monotonously and turned her head to look away from him. "It worked. He focused on his sons and I... I went ignored."

"He's gone. He's been dead for over a century." He reminded her with a suggestive expression.

"There's solace in silence, Stefan. The world can be loud, and Damon talks enough for the three of us." She joked. The corners of her lips twitched up into a devious smirk. "I can help you kill Silas." She suddenly offered.

His mouth parted as he gaped at her in astonishment. "What? You want to help me kill Silas?"

"I knew he wasn't going to save Bonnie. He never was. He's been a thorn in our sides for too long, and he has to go." She said darkly and narrowed her eyes.

While her brothers teetered on the edge of being what one would consider evil, Francesca was more neutral. Only killing when deemed necessary. Of course, there was some bias. Anyone who was a threat to her family instantly earned the justification in her eyes.

Her hands were stained by nearly two centuries of bloodshed, but like she told Stefan, it was about what you could live with, and she could live with it because it was in defense of her family.

"What about Bonnie?" He asked quietly so they wouldn't alert the couple downstairs.

"Damon's already on it as we speak." She remarked knowingly.

Stefan pondered that for a quick moment, then nodded his head in understanding. "Silas dies today."

While Silas knocked out the power to the boarding house, Stefan whisked Amara away. He dragged the doppelgänger through the woods with Francesca trudging behind them. Pulling his phone out from his pocket, he dialed a number and held it to his ear as it rang.

"Sucky timing, Stefan." Silas snarled in aggravation after picking up the call.

"I disagree." Stefan replied shortly. "I have Amara just beyond the property line. You have ten minutes to come find us."

"Well, I'm a little busy right now watching my nemesis bite it." Silas mused darkly. "Plus, I have no interest in saving Amara's life."

"I know that, which is why I'm gonna take her away, and I'm gonna keep her alive by any means possible while everyone else hunts you down like an animal." Stefan remarked with a smug smirk. "You now have nine minutes."

Francesca's phone began ringing in her pocket, so she pulled it out to read Damon's name flashing across the digital screen. She raised an eyebrow, answered the call, and held it up for Stefan to hear.

"Where is she?" Damon questioned without a second's hesitation.

"Be specific." The older Salvatore requested bluntly.

"Amara. Where is she?" He demanded sternly.

"Right here." Francesca replied, motioning to the woman in front of her. "Don't panic. She's still alive. Your plan is safe." Francesca assured before hanging up the phone and handing Stefan the rope she had been carrying.

Minutes later, Silas ran onto the scene to find Amara tied to a tree with a cloth stuffed into her mouth.

"Amara." He greeted his beloved while undoing the knots. Once she was free, he grasped her tear stained cheeks in his hands.

"I loved you. I still do. But I can't live any longer. Please understand." Amara proclaimed through sorrowful sobs as she rested her forehead against his.

"I understand. I love you." Silas whispered affectionately. He backed away enough to grab the blade from his pocket and held the edge of it to the base of her throat.

She closed her eyes in anticipation, but nothing happened. So she opened her eyes again to watch as he hesitated. "Silas, please." She pleaded desperately. "I'm ready."

Silas gently pressed the knife into her neck, drawing blood. However, before he could proceed further, Stefan sped over and pushed him up against a tree with a hand on his neck. "Remember me? I remember you. I'm sorry, is it hard to breathe? Is your throat closing? Did the fear of dying start to creep in yet?"

Silas, struggling in his hold, lifted a hand in the air to cast magic on Stefan, who fell to the ground and groaned in pain. "I hear every emotion is heightened for a vampire. All those memories must be eating you alive right now, Stefan. What's it like to die? I've never done it. You must have done it a thousand times over this summer."

"Stop it!" Stefan growled out in pain while sitting on all fours.

"Stop?" Silas repeated in mockery. "I've spent two thousand years alone in a tomb. You were locked up for what? Three months? Look at you! You're a mess. The safe was the easy part, wasn't it? Being forgotten about, that's the real torture, isn't it?"

Suddenly, Francesca sped from behind him and wrapped her arm around Silas' neck like a chokehold.

Stefan was released from the spell, and he recovered enough to spot Silas' knife lying on the ground. He grabbed it and threw it into Silas, striking him in the chest. Silas groaned in pain and started collapsing in Francesca's arms just as Amara managed to free herself from the binds.

"Silas!" She rushed toward him but clutched at her chest and let out a high-pitched cry of pain.

Sensing his heart stopping, Francesca let Silas go, his body falling limply to the ground. She noticed Stefan collapsing onto his back from the corner of her eyes then ran over to him. "Stefan!" She gently patted her youngest brother's face while whispering to him. "Hey, hey, hey."

Amara stumbled over to Silas and fell to her knees in front of his dead body. She removed the knife from his chest and held it above her abdomen. "Our eternity starts now." She said affectionately, stroking Silas' cheek before plunging the blade into her flesh.

"No!" Damon yelled as he rushed to her and caught her in his arms. "Amara. No. Amara, Amara." He bit his wrist and shoved the open wound into her mouth. "Drink this. Drink. More."

However, Amara started coughing and throwing the blood back up.

"No, no, no. Okay. No. Hey." Damon panicked as he lied her down on her back. "Stay with me. Look at me, look at me. Amara, Amara. Hey! Look at me."

Amara was quickly fading, and her breathing had swallowed into a raspy pace, but she opened her eyes to meet his request. "I've been in hell for two thousand years."

"What's another five minutes, huh?" He joked then shook her when she tried to close her eyes. "Hey!"

"Let me die." She pleaded weakly.

"No! Amara! Come on. Please." He begged through gritted teeth and continued to shake her, but it was no use, she was gone. "Amara. Amara! Please. Amara!"

When he realized that she was dead, he stopped and sat back on the ground with a heavy, defeated sigh. He lifted his head, and his icy eyes landed on his siblings. He ran over to Francesca and pushed her away from Stefan's unconscious body. "What the hell were you thinking?" He snarled furiously while pinning her to a nearby tree with his hand crushing her clavicle.

She easily smacked him away and pushed past him with a roll of her eyes. "What was best for our brother."

Damon scoffed, followed her movements, and held his hands out at the mess surrounding them. "This? This is what's best?"

"Don't pretend you haven't taken revenge for things less deserving." She responded. "They both wanted to die. Amara was miserable. We did them a kindness. Eternity is exhausting."

He clenched his hands into fists, and it looked like he wanted to scream at her, but his phone interrupted the rage that was about to ensue. He read the text message waiting for him and flattened his lips into a firm line. "Well, seems you're off the hook. Bonnie's back."

"Good." She accepted with a curt nod just as Stefan began to stir behind them. "Then this conversation is over."

Stefan rolled over with a small grunt then glanced up at them in curiosity. Francesca shook her head at his unspoken question while Damon narrowed his eyes in frustration.

Elena emerged from the woods and gaped at the bodies in slight horror. "So, he's dead. It's over."

Stefan stood to his feet and stared down at Silas' body. "Yeah, it's over."

"Are you okay?" Elena asked cautiously.

"I'm fine." Stefan lied, keeping his back to her so he wouldn't have to lie to her face.

"Look at me and tell me that killing Silas worked. That you'll be okay now." Elena pushed for the answer she wanted.

Stefan spun around toward her. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Because I know how much he stole from you." Elena answered sympathetically.

"Yeah, and he's dead." He pointed out bluntly, gesturing at his dead doppelgänger.

"And because while you were suffering in that safe, grasping onto hope, fighting every second so you wouldn't lose your humanity..." she trailed off in guilt. "I was happy. I got everything that I wanted, Stefan. I got to be in love. I got the summer of my dreams. I got Bonnie back. So I need to know that this worked. I need to know that it's gonna take away all your suffering. I need to know that you're gonna be okay."

"I wanted it to be you. When that safe finally opened and somebody found me... I wanted it to be you." He confessed, then raised his head to look at the trio. "I wanted it to be all of you."

Elena ran her tongue along her lower lip and glanced over her shoulder at Damon, who was looking on in regret. Tearing away from him, the couple slowly walked out of the woods hand in hand while Francesca lingered.

She reached into her jacket pocket and withdrew a mostly full carton of her favorite cigarettes. She twirled it around between her fingers, working up the courage to approach him again. "I didn't forget."

"What?" He reacted in confusion and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I didn't forget about you." She repeated with only a bit more context. "Silas said we forgot about you, but I didn't. I tried calling. At first, I called every day, then every few days, then once a week before I thought, "Maybe I should get the hint."" She mused, placing the unlit cigarette between her lips and rummaging through her pockets for her lighter. "I assumed you didn't want to talk because I chose to stay here. I should've known better." She finished, her tone thick with guilt and blame.

"It's not your fault." He tried to reassure her, but she refused to accept it.

"Yeah, but I should've sensed that something was wrong. Who doesn't realize their baby brother is missing for an entire summer? I'll tell you who. A shitty sister." She flickered the wheel of her lighter until a flame grew. After holding the fire to the end of her stick of rolled tobacco, she took a long, deep drag and blew out the smoke into the night air.

"Frankie, you're not a shitty sister. You're the greatest sister anyone could ask for. I don't blame you for staying here. You're a creature of habit. I can't be mad at you for not wanting to leave your home. If my phone wasn't destroyed by the water, I'm sure I would've seen the calls. I'm not mad at you. So -" He reached over, took the burning cigarette out of her mouth, and tossed it on the ground. "Stop stressing. We're fine."

Smiling widely in relief, she wrapped her arms around him. "I love you."

"I love you too." He whispered fondly and instantly returned the embrace.

"Stop littering." She snapped after they broke apart. Bending down, she grabbed her cigarette bud off the ground and held it up in the air for him to see as she walked back to the house.

He let out a genuine chuckle and shook his head before turning back to the task at hand, getting rid of Silas and Amara's bodies. He was about to grab Silas by the ankles when he was suddenly overwhelmed by memories to the point he collapsed to the ground, clutching his head. "No. No. It's over. It's supposed to be over."

---
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