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She blinked, attempting to acclimate her eyes to the sudden influx of light, squinting as she did, blocking out most of it and cursing Damon in her head. Her last wish was simple, so simple, and he had one role to play in her final moments.“Goddamn you Damon!” She muttered under her breath. “Not everything has to go your way!”He always messed everything up for her. In that moment she knew she shouldn’t have left the note — except everyone left a note; it was more for Bonnie and Caroline anyway, but of course he found it first. Of course he had to go and mess this up too.Why couldn’t he just let her go?She knew why, of course she knew why. She married an obsessive control freak; he always had to have the last word.He wasn’t even supposed to find her first. She laid out everything perfectly. He was supposed to stay at work until five o’clock, leaving lots of time for Caroline to find her — too late — and read the damn note.But of course, Damon just had to go and come home early. He must have gotten that stupid alert from the stupid app that was a huge invasion of freaking privacy; why did he have to know when she was ovulating? But maybe that was a web of her own making after the second ‘miscarriage’. She hadn’t planned the first one — it was an accident and nobody’s fault — but after he sabotaged her birth control and tricked her into conceiving the second she had to act.So of course he laid a counter move and declared they were going to have children, and the best way to ensure a healthy pregnancy was to track her cycle.She let the light in slowly and braced herself for his disapproving frown and Bonnie’s concerned eyes because that was the only way she could possibly be alive: Bonnie Bennett. She latched onto the miscarriages and what she had written in her note; she had to play it right.She really should have passed on her DNR message to her friends, but too little too late.Her eyes fluttered open and she nearly slammed them shut again when she saw the bright room and the woman staring back at her. Instead she swayed on her feet and reached out, touching cool glass.“Don’t let Mrs. Lockwood see you doing that,” a perky voice chirped from the other side of the room, “you know how she hates fingerprints.”She drew her hand back fast, burnt by cold, and touched her face. The woman touched her cheek as well and slowly, so slowly, it sank in that she was looking in a mirror.“Am I in hell?” She whispered, fingering the smooth skin around her eyes and lips.“Ugh,” she whipped out a tube of lipgloss, “I know the feeling. These parties always seem like torture, right? What seventeen year old wants to spend an evening at a stuffy cocktail party where they can’t even drink? At least you look gorgeous,” she gestured to the orange strapless dress, “and you’ve got a hot date to dance the night away with.”“I have a hot date?” She frowned, lightly fingering the material at her hip. The dress had burnt in the house with Jeremy’s body years ago. She couldn’t even remember the last time she wore it.“Yeah,” Caroline straightened up slowly, eyes narrowing suspiciously, “have you been drinking?”“Where would I get alcohol?” She pinched her dress between thumb and forefinger.“I have no idea, but you clearly do if you’ve already forgotten you came here with Stefan.”“Stefan?” Her eyes snapped up. “Why would I be anywhere with Stefan? I’m with Damon. Can’t say I wanna be with either one of them though,” she mused, thinking how much better her life would have been if he hadn’t done the noble thing and sacrificed himself in that stupid tunnel. He couldn’t just let Damon die and set her free, could he?“Elena,” Caroline’s eyes narrowed, she gestured with both hands wildly, “first of all, I’m with Damon. And second, did you hit your head? You’ve been dating Stefan for weeks now, practically since he started at school.”“School?” She felt her mouth turn down. Something was off with Caroline, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It was a million little things from her dark rimmed eyes to her bare fingers… fingers? “Care, where’s your ring?”“What ring?” She frowned. “The one my dad gave me? It didn’t go with my Founder’s Party dress.”The Founder’s Party?Elena looked in the mirror again to her seventeen year old face staring back.“I’m sorry, Care,” she whispered, slowly shifting her youthful face from left to right, “Stefan may have snuck us some champagne, and you know I’m a lightweight.”“So you don’t want Damon?” Her eyes narrowed as she tilted her head.“Fuck no,” Elena barked a laugh, “he’s an emotionally abusive asshole, and he’s completely psychotic.”She felt a weight lift from her chest, allowing her to draw her first free breath in decades — or was it years… months? Since the night her parents car went off the bridge, anyway. The night she met Damon fucking Salvatore and was compelled for the first time. The night he ‘told’ her what she wanted before going on to give her exactly that.Shame by the time she realized they were ten years in, her psyche was destroyed and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it except embrace her end: the only good ending in sight.If this was her brain firing off final signals than she was going to act with the full knowledge of her adult mind and see what happened.“That’s my boyfriend your bad mouthing,” Caroline’s whisper lacked any bite.That was when she remembered the bites littering her best friend’s body.“Then tell me I’m wrong?” She clenched her fists on the counter. “Tell me he’s not a psychotic vampire who’s been feeding on you since the first night he laid eyes on you.”Caroline paled.“How did you…”“I’m dating one brother, Care, you think I wouldn’t figure it out?” She shrugged, unsure why she didn’t tell Caroline everything she knew; it’s not like it mattered anymore. “Tell me the truth, please,” her eyes burned.She thought of her best friend and the horror Damon Salvatore had put her through during those first few months. He terrorized her, used her in his schemes, and who knew what else.Caroline had never been completely forthcoming.And then she went off and married the bastard.Damn him.And damn her too, while she was at it.Though she was pretty sure she was damned at that point anyway. Unless there was another explanation.“Do you want to be with him?”Her bottom lip trembled as her eyes misted over. Slowly, as if it took a great deal of effort, Caroline shook her head.“Then I’ll take care of it,” she promised, reaching into her clutch for her phone. With a few quick movements she sent a text.“What are you gonna do?” Caroline swiped at her cheek, streaking mascara halfway to her ear.“What I should have done the first time,” she muttered, eyeing the edge of a bite through Caroline’s sweater. Thankfully before Caroline could ask any more questions the bathroom door popped open and a shaken Bonnie walked in.“What’s going on?” She swallowed, eyes flickering over her shoulder.And Elena struggled to remember what was causing Bonnie’s distress. Wasn’t this the time she learned she was a witch? Something about candles.“Can you take Caroline home?”“What?” Caroline’s eyes went wide.“Your home Bonnie,” she amended. “Take her back there and don’t let anybody in. You need to go right now.”“I thought you came with Damon,” Bonnie frowned, focusing finally on her sniffling friend. “Did he do something?”“Yes,” Elena answered for her, “and right now that’s all we can tell you. Please, will you take Caroline home?”“Of course.”“What about…” Caroline grabbed her arm.“I’ll take care of it, I promise, Care. I’ll meet you at Bonnie’s later tonight.”She must have seen something in her eyes because she nodded once and let go, walking into Bonnie’s waiting arms.With her friends safely gone from the Lockwood Estate she met her own eyes in the mirror. With the benefit of too many years as a Salvatore puppet under her belt she knew exactly what she had to do.She cornered him in an upstairs bedroom when he plucked the talisman from its hiding place.“You’re not Caroline.” He made a show of looking startled when he spun around, but she knew him well.“Obviously,” she crossed her arms. “And you’re not gonna go near her again.”“Excuse me,” his eyes narrowed.She suspected Caroline had outlived her usefulness, and his lack of real anger confirmed it.“She’s breaking up with you,” she tilted her head, flashing him a coy smile, “through proxy. Girls like us do that sort of thing, you know?”“I think I’d like to hear this from her,” he took a step closer, eyes darkening dangerously.That was fine. She liked danger; she flirted with it daily in her youth. And when she looked into the blue eyes that had controlled every aspect of her life for as long as she could remember she felt nothing; nothing save a strong desire to shove a dagger through each one.“She’s long gone now,” she considered him a moment, but knew that ultimately the best way to have him do exactly what she wanted was to provoke him, and what better way to provoke a vampire than exposure. “She’s safe behind a threshold you can’t cross, and as we speak legal action is being taken to kick you out of my house.”“What the hell are you talking about?” He frowned, but she caught the barest movement when he reeled backwards before he could catch himself.“I think you know, Damon,” she sighed and crossed her arms, “this is Mystic Falls after all. The town oozes supernatural. To the point where the town council was formed to deal with creatures like you.”A chill swarmed the back of her legs, but she stood tall.“And if you don’t leave town right now you’re gonna have the entire council on you. They’ve been hunting for a vampire, you know.”“Vampire’s don’t exist,” he scoffed.“Damon, can you not play dumb for a minute, you suck at it,” she dug her heels into the carpet. “You and I both know what you are, and you’re going to leave Caroline alone and Mystic Falls behind.”“And why would I do that?” He smirked, looming over her.“Because if you don’t I’ll tell her mother, the Sheriff, who’s on the council and owns a lot of guns that shoot wooden bullets,” she jabbed a finger in his chest.She held his dark gaze with determined eyes, daring him to take the bait. She didn’t have to though, because after so many years at his side she knew exactly the buttons to push.“I see another option, Elena,” he smirked, gripping her arm in a vice.She knew it was coming but she still gasped when he twirled her and bound her to his chest with steel arms. She bit her lip to keep from screaming when he tore into her throat.He took only a mouthful of her blood before he fell to his knees at her back, clinging a moment to her hips before he passed out on the carpet.She pressed a shaking hand to her throat and Elijah passed through her mind’s eye, handing her a pristine handkerchief with an approving smile. She shook away the image and dropped to her knees, quickly patting down Damon’s jacket and lifting Emily’s talisman from his pocket.“This doesn’t belong to you,” she whispered, and then — just as softly — she called Stefan’s name. “I know you can hear me.”He appeared in the open door a few minutes later, clearly having snuck up the human way. There must have been eyes on him.“Elena, what…” his eyes widened when he saw his brother.“He was hurting my friend,” she rose to her feet slowly, grimacing when her neck pulled and blood rushed down in rivulets towards her dress. “I took matters into my own hands, since you couldn’t.”“What did you do to him?” He frowned, slowly stepping into the room.“Dosed him with vervain,” she reached around her neck and unfastened the locket, replacing it with Emily’s necklace. “Here,” she dropped the silver into his palm, “you really shouldn’t go around giving away other girl’s jewelry, Stefan.”“What are you talking about?” He eyed the open locket, empty of vervain. “I’ve had this forever.”She laid a hand on his cheek and smiled. He really had been a good boyfriend — sweet and loving — but he wasn’t hers. As much as Caroline used to say they were epic they had never been written in the stars; he had always wanted her to be something she wasn’t.“You’ll remember where you got it one day,” she offered him a sad smile.“Why do I feel like this is a breakup speech coming?” He frowned, eyes darting to his unconscious brother.“Because you’re really perceptive,” she laughed quietly. “I can’t be what you want, Stefan.”“I want you,” he shook his head, reaching for her hands.“No, you don’t,” she sighed, “you want an ideal version — your ideal version — of Katherine. And yes, I know about Katherine. I know what I am, I know what she is, and I know what she is to me. I’ll never be her, and I’m never gonna be your idea of a perfect little human. I need room to grow and figure out who I want to be, and you need to accept what you are.”“And what do you think I am?” He frowned.“I just dosed your brother with vervain,” she smirked, eyes dancing with laughter, “you’re both vampires, and it’s only because I like you that I’m not running off to tell the Sheriff I found their ‘wild animal’ responsible for all the ‘attacks’ around town. Take your brother and go somewhere, anywhere you want. If you want to stay in Mystic Falls and go to high school, then so be it — even if I think it makes you a sucker for punishment — but know that you and I are not going to work out.”“I can’t change your mind?” He frowned, staring at her as if trying to work out a puzzle.“No,” she smiled, “but I hope you stay. You’re a good friend Stefan.”“Am I?” He chuckled.“Yup,” she grinned, “such a good friend that I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. I’m psychic,” she pressed a finger to her lips.“Oh really?” He lifted an eyebrow.“Mmhmm,” she nodded, “and I see…” she shut her eyes, pretending to look into the ether. “I see a blond in your future.”“What… you don’t mean Caroline?” He frowned.“Nah,” she shook her head. “Not Caroline, but this person’s gonna love you for who you are, and you’ll love her too. I think you both deserve that.”She walked up the front steps as his car disappeared around the corner with Damon in the trunk. Stefan’s jacket concealed the worst of the blood on her neck and chest, but still she hurried in the house and up to the bathroom.She dropped the material on her floor and pulled the first aid kit from under the sink.With a deep breath she set to work, cleaning and disinfecting the wound Stefan offered to heal. The offer had been sweet, but she’d had enough Salvatore blood to last twelve lifetimes, and a part of her wanted to keep the scar to remind her that she had done what she failed to the first time around.She protected Caroline.Not that it really mattered, since it was her brain firing off final signals before death. Except… it did matter.It mattered so freaking much.Once the blood was cleared away she put tiny bandaids on the wounds to keep them clean and made her way into her bedroom, stripping off her dress as she went.For a long moment she struggled to remember where everything was before locating a pair of leggings and a comfy sweater. She pulled her new clothes on and dropped onto her bed, secure in the knowledge Damon couldn’t get into her house in his current state.At the thought of Damon she reached for her phone and shot off a quick text to Caroline and Bonnie.I’m at home now. Gonna rest a few minutes and then I’ll be.She dropped her phone on the mattress and laid back, lifting the talisman from around her throat as she did. It belonged to Bonnie, and she really should give it back to Bonnie. Though she supposed she could just destroy it and save Emily the whole possession thing.How long was her brain going to keep these signals firing? Surely her heart had stopped by now.“Any advice for me Emily?” She snarked, twisting the stone left and right.She’d barely gotten the words out when darkness took her; it lasted a moment, then she was laying in a field of flowers outside the old witch house bathed in dawn’s early light.“Hello, Elena.”She pushed herself upright and looked around. Light danced around her in a circle, pulsating with each word the young woman spoke.“E-Emily?” Her voice echoed, bouncing back from the light. “What’s going on?”“I’ve pulled your consciousness here to talk, explain a few things,” she smiled. “We can’t have you thinking you’re invulnerable now, can we?”“We?”“The spirits of nature,” Emily shrugged. “You are not dead, nor are you dying Elena.”“Of course I am… I…”“I know what you did, but in your final moments your soul was taken back to your younger body before everything had a chance to go wrong.”“So… I’m not dead.”“No, dear, you’re not dead, and the actions you took tonight will echo through time. This is a chance for you to fix your mistakes, and hopefully in the process protect the balance of nature.”“The balance?” Elena frowned. “What’s wrong with the balance?”“Right now, nothing,” Emily shook her head, “but as time progresses vampires come close to extinction. And though many would call them abominations they are a part of the natural order now.”Her eyes widened, heart pounding in her chest. She knew exactly what caused a mass culling of vampires.“How exactly am I meant to protect the balance? I’m just a doppelgänger.”“You are so much more than that,” Emily knelt beside her on the ground. “You are a doppelgänger, but you are also a gypsy, and that rare combination of your blood and heritage makes you special. Because you are an exact physical copy of Amara you are what she was when she was human.”At her blank look Emily sighed.“What were the gypsies before they were cursed Elena?”“…Witches… am I witch?”Emily nodded once, a small smile playing at her lips.“I don’t know the first thing about magic.”“You’ve already used it to get here, to me. And now that you know you can learn. Sheila Bennett will help you if you only ask.”“But what am I supposed to do?” She frowned, crossing her arms to ward off a chill.“Live your life,” Emily reached for her hand.Live her life. How the heck was she supposed to live her life knowing everything she knew? She couldn’t just live her life. The last time she lived her life everyone she loved got hurt in some way or another.“And destroy the talisman, right?” She fingered the chain around her neck. “If I don’t do it then you’ll do it and Bonnie will get hurt in the process. I don’t want her to get hurt again. She was hurt too many times because of me.”“This is your fresh start, Elena. I can’t tell you what to do with your second chance; only you can make those decisions.”“Didn’t you just tell me to learn?”“I suggested you learn, but I can’t make you,” Emily shook her head. “Nobody can make you do anything, not even him. You are free; his blood has never entered your body, and I suspect you’ll never let it. It is your choice where you go from here; though I would ask you to protect my descendent where you can.”She thought of the tomb vampires; about Pearl and Harper and everyone else caught up in Katherine’s schemes. Only a small number actually deserved to be down there.“I can do what I want?”“Yes.”“What if what I want is to undo your spell on the tomb?”“Then that is your choice. I never thought all of the vampires deserved to be down there.”“You didn’t?”“No, but it was seal them away at Katherine’s behest or risk exposure of my own. I had two small children to think about so I did as she asked. I didn’t want my children watching me burn.”Elena swallowed and stared at the grass. If what Emily said was true, and she had no reason to doubt her, then she could do it; she could free Pearl and Harper and the rest. She could lower the barrier and take out everyone who deserved freedom without involving Damon. Could she find Katherine? Could she tell Damon she had never been in the tomb and send him after her?He’d be out of Mystic Falls and her life, but what if…What if she made things a million times worse?There were too shifting variables. She couldn’t save everyone alone.“What if I mess it up in new ways? What if I make it worse? What if I fail?”“You won’t,” Emily squeezed her hand, “because you know too much. You know who’s who and your biggest mistakes. It’s your fresh start Elena, so long as you try you can’t fail. You can choose to do everything exactly the same, but I don’t think you will.”“I just have to do it all alone,” her breath caught in her lungs when Emily held her gaze and smiled.“You won’t be alone Elena.”“Feels pretty lonely to me,” she shrugged, staring out at the witch house beyond the shimmering lights. “Are there any messages you want me to pass on when I get back?”Emily hummed, tilting her head. Her eyes narrowed slowly.“As a matter of fact, yes,” she nodded. “Tell Damon that I’ve removed the protection spells on his daylight ring as punishment for his recent behaviour.”Elena shifted onto her knees. “You can do that from the Other Side?”“No,” Emily shook her head, smiling wryly, “but Damon won’t be able to tell you’re lying, and by the time he manages to escape his brother — as we both know he will — you will have removed the protections.”“Me?”“Yes, you’ll find the spell you need in my grimoire. Sheila can show it to you.”She could go to Sheila. She could go straight to Sheila the moment she woke up before meeting Bonnie and Caroline. And she could learn.She could fix every mistake and probably make a million more along the way, but there was one mistake she would never make again.“So how do I get back?”“You’re already there.”The witch house and grounds faded out, replaced by her ceiling. For a long moment she watched the fan circle before climbing to her feet.“Alright,” she took a deep breath and slipped on her shoes, “here I go again."