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"I've grown familiar with the villains that live in my head."

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I DON'T WANT  to torture Caroline. That was never  the plan. Our plan is to physically and emotionally exhaust her to a point where her humanity-less mind can't take it any more. It sucks but the reality is, going into the state of no humanity is just as bad as trying to get out of it. That's just life. That's what sucks. However, I plan on helping Caroline the whole way through. She deserves that much.

"What kind of emotion is displayed on Stefan's face right now?" I ask Caroline, bending down to her level where she sits on the floor with her hands chained.

Her tired but wild eyes glance over at my twin before returning to mine, an evil smirk on her face. "Not sure. He's kinda like that all the time," she remarks, causing me to smile slightly. Stefan only rolls his eyes, but his facial expression stays constant, proving her point. No matter how Stefan is feeling, he always has this lost, depressed puppy look on his face. He's been that way ever since we were kids. 

"What kind of emotion does Bonnie display right now?" I ask.

"What is this? Some sort of stupid game? I'm not falling for it Blair."

"No game, just a simple activity," I shrug casually, standing up. "Do you know where we are, Caroline?" I raise a brow.

She purses her lips, the wheels clearly spinning in her head as she tries to come up with a sly response. I can tell I've hit a soft spot, but she's too stubborn to admit it. "Hmm?" I ask again, bending down to her level again.

I smirk slightly, the right side of my lips curled upwards in a smile as my blue eyes stare into her enraged ones. "Do you know how your mother died?" I ask. "Do you remember how she went? Slowly, painfully, all while suffering. Hell, you didn't even get to say goodbye to her face. Do you even care?" I sneer, silently hating myself. I don't like what I'm doing, but I need to throw everything I have at her.

"No," she snaps suddenly, thrashing forward but the chains bound to her wrists pull her back. "I don't care."

"You know, I never got to say goodbye to my mom. I know that if I could, I would," I say, staring to the side, not meeting her eyes.

"Good for you. Now could I get a beverage please? Preferably a cold glass of bitter Bennett blood?" Caroline snickers, licking her lips in a mocking way as she peers over my shoulder at Bonnie who stands behind me, leaning against the wall.

"I can get you blood. I'm just not so sure I can get you a cold one, nor a Bennett's," I sigh, pursing my lips before swiftly plunging a small wooden stake shoved up my wrist into Caroline's throat, striking right into her jugular.

She starts choking on her own blood, the red, hot liquid pouring from her mouth and her throat. "Drink up," I say, before ripping the stake out of her throat, the blood pouring at an even faster rate.

In a few seconds she goes completely unconscious, her heart finally letting out a last beat. I drop the stake to the ground before standing up, staring at her dead body that will come back to life in a few minutes. To buy us more time, I snap her neck, wincing at the horrible crack.

"How much time will that buy us?" Bonnie asks, not daring to look at Caroline. I can tell Bonnie doesn't want to be here. It hurts all of us to see Caroline this way.

"About half an hour," I say.

"Okay. I think I'm going to go take a walk. Get some air," she sighs.

"I'll take you. I was going to meet up with Elena anyways," Damon says, twirling his car keys in his hand.

"Why isn't the Gilbert here?" I wonder, a slight bitterness in my tone. "I mean, Caroline is her friend too. I just would've thought she would want to put in a bit more effort in helping Caroline," I say, shrugging my shoulders to annoy Damon.

"She's got a lot on her mind," Damon dismisses. I can see in his face that something is up, as he doesn't look me in the eye. "Come on Bonnie," he says, walking to the door. "We'll be back later tonight. You got this handled?" he asks Stefan and I.

"Yup," Stefan says as I nod.

We watch as the two of them leave, taking off in Damon's car to who knows where. As soon as I'm sure he's out of hearing range, I turn to Stefan with a perplexed expression. "You sensed that too right?" I ask, and Stefan nods. "What's up with him?"

"I don't know any more. I think Elena and him had a fight," he sighs, leaning against the wall.

I let out a scoff, rolling my eyes. "That's hard to believe. I mean, what do they have to fight about?"

"I'm sure there's something more to it Blair, something neither of us know. All I know is that  ever since Bonnie got back, there's been some sort of distance between them," Stefan ponders, causing both of us to become confused. I would've thought Bonnie being back would heal everything.

"I guess that's just something else we need to investigate." I wiggle my brows, causing Stefan to laugh lightly.

"Calm down there Detective Salvatore, let's take things one case at a time." He smiles, patting me on the shoulder.

"You have the letter?" I suddenly ask, referring to the letter Caroline's mother left for her. She gave it to Stefan before she died, leaving it in the hands of Stefan to deliver to Caroline when she was ready. Now I feel as if this is probably our only chance of getting the old Caroline back. That letter is her last hope for her humanity.

Stefan's eyes go wide as he searches his pockets. "I left it at the boarding house," he sighs in frustration, growling to himself. "I'll go pick it up," he says nonchalantly. "Are you okay here with Caroline? She's pretty tied up."

"I'll be fine Steff. Just go get the letter, we're going to need it." I say sternly, as I know Caroline is putting up a fight.

"If you need me, call me." He says before walking out the door.

As soon as he leaves, I check the inside pocket of my leather jacket, pulling out the envelope that contains the real letter Elizabeth left for Caroline. I stole it from Stefan's desk early yesterday morning when I heard Caroline had escaped, as I knew it was the vital piece in hoisting the old Caroline from the dark endeavorers of the humanity-less world that she was drowning in. Instead I replaced a fake letter with the same name and address on Stefan's desk, making it look like it was identical. I guess you could say I'm a bit of a genius.

Placing the letter back in my pocket, I walk over to Caroline and step around the pool of blood, taking the key and unlocking the chains that bound her to the walls. I release her from both wrists and even her ankles, allowing her to be completely free.

I stuff the key back in my pocket as I look at my watch, tapping my foot incessantly. Everything is going smoothly so far, and everything is falling into place. If this all works out correctly, Caroline will have her humanity on by tonight.

There's suddenly a loud pounding on the door, right on schedule. I speed over to the door and open it, allowing Matt in. "Hey, you got the papers?" I ask.

"Right here," he says, handing them to me. "I went to the bank this morning. Thanks for compelling them," he says. "Before I sign the last one, I just need you and Caroline to go outside."

"Okay." I nod, dragging Caroline around the corner and out the door. I'm careful enough not to get any blood on me, however it smears all over the floor. "Oops." I wince.

Once I'm outside the door, Matt leans the paper against the wall and signs it. Out of nerves and time that's running out, I tap my foot against the ground again. "Nervous much?" Matt grumbles.

"Not exactly," I whisper. "Hurry up," I rush him, just as he finishes signing the paper.

"Before I invite you in, I need you to promise me one thing," Matt proposes, narrowing his eyes.

I let out an audible huff of frustration, gritting my teeth together. "What Donovan?" I snap.

"Promise me you won't stop until you have her humanity back on. I don't care what you have to do. Just do it, please," Matt says almost in a pleading way, his blue eyes shining with tears. It surprises me, as I never really liked Matt, but now that I'm actually having a conversation with him I realize he isn't all that bad. He wears his heart on his sleeve, which in this world is a terrible thing. I feel bad for the guy.

"I promise," I say sternly and genuinely.

He gulps and looks at the ground before nodding. "Okay," he whispers. "You and Caroline can come in." 

"Thank you." I smile, before passing him with Caroline behind me.

I plop her down on the floor before turning to Matt. "You should get out of here before she wakes. Things are going to get ugly," I warn him.

"What are you planning, Blair?" Matt narrows his eyes, not budging. Every second we waste is a second Caroline's body heals itself.

"I'm planning on turning her humanity back on," I snap. "Now leave."

"Blair, why don't you wait until your brothers get back? Or James? They just left my house to pick Theo up and are at lunch now. Shouldn't be long until they stop by," Matt says. "Whatever you're doing doesn't seem safe Blair. Think about them. Think about what this will do to them and Caroline."

"I'm not running off on a suicide mission, Matt!" I scoff, laughing out of nerves.

"That's what you said the last time, when you flipped your switch with Caroline. Look how that ended. You can't do this Blair. Think about Theo," Matt says desperately, stepping towards me.

As soon as he steps towards me, I hear a single sound that sends chills down my spine. I hear a single heart beat behind me, causing my eyes to go wide. "Matt, listen to me. Get out and get away from this house right now. She's waking up," I instruct him, pushing him towards the door.

"She's dangerous Blair!" he shouts, trying to resist my push but I'm too strong.

"She's not going to kill me, I know it, so please just trust me and do not let anyone in this house,"  I say, pushing him out the door.

As I go to close it, Matt's eyes go wide with fear as suddenly I hear he sound of two feet taking their place in the ground. I turn around slowly, leaning against the door to close it. My shaking hands fumble with the lock, but I let out a breath of relief as I hear the lock click.

"Caroline," I say, taking in a deep breath.

She stands in front of me with dried blood caked onto her face and throat, her eyes wide and enlightened with rage. Within her hand holds a glass shard, the sharp edges already cutting her skin.

"You're not going to kill me Caroline," I gulp, standing my ground.

"What's stopping me? You?" She laughs deviously. "Come on Blair, what have you ever done for me? You should have just let me die that night at the hospital, the night we met. You should have just let me suffer, let me spiral out of control so the council could shoot me and end my misery," she spits through gritted teeth. "If you did, we wouldn't be here now, and I wouldn't have to kill you." She smirks before pouncing forwards and grabbing me by the throat. 

She tackles me to the ground, balling my hair into her fists causing me to scream in pain. It appears the vervain placed within her hours ago has worn off, and stupid me forgot to give her more.

She throws me against the wall, sending a bunch of picture frames crashing down. The glass shatters, getting all in my hair, but I'm able to quickly get to my feet. "Caroline, listen to me," I say, out of breath.

"I'm done listening. Everything that comes out of your mouth makes me want to die. I don't want to hear about my mother," she snaps angrily. "I don't want to die, so instead you have to," she yells before charging at me again.

This time I dodge out of the way, and Caroline goes flying into the wall. "Caroline," I begin, as she groans in pain. "Your mother wrote you a letter before you died."

"Bullshit!" she yells, charging at me again.

This time I trip her, causing her face to smack into the wall. "She left it for you Caroline, and she wanted to give it to you," I shout, trying to get through to her.

"I don't believe you!" she shouts, throwing the glass shard at me.

It comes at me so fast like a flying bullet, hitting me right in the chest. It pierces me right into the heart, causing my whole body to go limp against the stair case in the hallway that leads straight to the front door. I turn my head slightly, my eyes meeting Matt's from where he stands outside the door. However, I realize he's not the only person standing behind the door as several figures approach him from behind.

I feel a pit of guilt in my stomach as I see who it is: James and Joel, with Logan and Theo coming up the steps.

James breaks through the lock with ease and opens the door, but as soon as he tries to walk through, he's pushed back since he's not invited in.

"Matt, invite me in," he growls deeply. He's smart to assume Matt's the one who now owns the house.

"I can't," he says in a shaky voice.

"Matt, Caroline is going to kill her!" James shouts angrily, slamming his fist against the invisible wall.

"M-att! Don't!" I shout. I almost have Caroline. I can feel her humanity breaking through. She won't kill me.

I grasp my hands around the glass shard, struggling for breath as my body shuts down. Caroline storms up to me, a piece of wood in her hand that she broke off of one of the tables. She bends down to my level, pulls out the glass shard and holds the wooden stake above my heart. "I'm sorry Blair. This is what I have to do, for myself," she states, before lowering the stake in one swift movement, straight for my heart.

As soon as the wood touches the flesh of my heart, I feel my whole body go lifeless, flashes of white blurring my vision.

"WAIT!" Stefan yells, suddenly appearing behind James. He waves an envelope in his hands, the fake envelope I made. "This is the letter Caroline! This is the letter your mother wrote to you, and if you don't stop now, I will burn it, so you can never find out what her last words were," Stefan explains, pleading desperately to save my life.

Caroline pauses for a moment before making up her mind. "Burn it." She smirks, before pushing the wooden stake deeper into my heart.

Before my eyes close, I watch as grey veins begin to cover my hands, slowly travelling up my body. I hear James scream and Stefan shout, but I don't get a chance to tell them it's going to be okay before my eyes are forced to close.

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[completed & edited: 10/30/2021]