Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

NEW ORLEANS VIBRATED WITH LIFE IN 1914.

Kol felt the Crescent City’s heartbeat with every step. Happy, fearful, torn at the seams—but living and moving forward in a way only New Orleans could. He grinned as the bell to the café rang to announce his arrival.

Only one woman turned, waved him over. Her blonde hair was more silver than blonde, with blue eyes that reminded him, fleetingly of Rebekah.

The liveliness of the city died in the café. People whispered in hushed tones and lovers held hands to keep the chill away.

A necessary reprieve from the late winter winds.

”Freya,” he greeted the witch as she handed him the black coffee.

”Kol,” she nodded her head. “Sit, we have much to discuss.”

Kol took his seat across from the witch and took a sip of his coffee. He watched as Freya lit the table’s candle with her finger and whispered a spell. “Sage usually works best for this, but a rosemary and lavender candle will have to do,” she muttered as she settled back into her metal chair.

”You said you had something to tell me?”

”Yes, the Spirits have begun to speak,” Kol watched in interest as Freya steeled herself. Eyes going from a sky blue to a steel color. “Specifically about a very powerful Traveller—and you.”

IF AMNISTIA PRIMA EVER LEARNED ONE THING IN LIFE, it’s that the water was one scary thing.

Powerful, yes.

Life giving, yes.

But it scared the all living fuck out of her—and she respectfully kept her distance from the sea.

The brunette never thought she’d die by water though.

Yet here she was—twenty-years-old, spinning out on Route 287 in an over ten year old car because of the torrential downpour. Bright lights filled her vision as she looked ahead at the divider.

Her last words were as follows: “Fuck me.”

SO, yeah, that burning sensation that radiated out from the lungs died down tremendously when she opened her eyes again. They took in her surroundings in a surreal manner.

The ceiling was a sterile cream color.

Bleach assaulted her nose and stung in such a manner that it reminded Amnistia of cleaning the bathroom at home.

”You’re awake, that’s good,” a small voice broke through her bewildered silence.

The brunette turned her head, pain zipping up her neck at the movement to an awkward angle, and gawked at the girl across from her. “They pulled you out from the river a few hours after me,” she continued with a raspy voice. “The Wickery Bridge apparently wasn’t as up to code as everyone assumed. I guess they really need to close the bridge down to repair it.”

”W-where am I?” Amnistia asked trying to comprehend exactly what she was seeing.

”Mystic Falls General—some of the best doctors in the county work out of here, so we’re in good hands.”

Silence settled between the two young women. Amnistia took in her roommate’s appearance—big doe eyes the color of chocolate, straight brown hair, olive skin…

Elena fucking Gilbert laid in the hospital bed right across from her.

Two dead girls walking—what the flying fuck was happening right now?

How could Amnistia even be here? She died on Route 287 and woke up here? In Mystic Falls, Virginia? The night Miranda and Grayson Gilbert died? What the flying fuck—

“What’s your name?” Elena asked as she started fidgeting with the blanket.

”Amnistia Prima,” Amnistia answered almost robotically as her mind kept running a mile a minute. “You can call me Amnesty though. That’s the English translation anyway.”

”Amnesty,” Elena responded. Her name rolling off the younger girl’s tongue like Elena was trying it out for the first time. Her chocolate doe eyes furrowed in thought before the sixteen year old nodded in approval. “Amnesty, I like the name.”

Amnesty let out a chuckle at the very childlike decision making. “Thank you,” the twenty-year-old began with a soft smile. “I do too.”

The silence fell between them again as the early hours of the morning set in. Amnesty found herself, once again, playing the events of the last however long it was in her head. She died due to hydroplaning in her car and now woke up in the Vampire Diaries.

From the looks of it, it was right before Hero-Haired-Stalker and Baby-Blue-Serial-Killer got here too. Right before the hordes of Supernatural species razed the town to the ground for Elena’s blood. Right before Caroline got her right to consent taken away from her. Right before Bonnie developed the hero complex that almost kills her. Right before Elena loses almost everyone…

Right before her and her friends’ lives go straight to hell.

What could she do? Could Amnesty really sit here and allow the canon events of the show take place? Allow a young woman to lose her right of consent? Allow a sixteen-year-old get torn between two hundred-fifty-year-old brothers with severe daddy issues? Allow a young witch barely into her practice to lose her beloved grandmother and future mentor? Allow a woman only five years older than her to die?

What would Sofia do?

Amnesty closed her green eyes and laid her head back on the too stiff hospital pillow.

Her younger sister, Sofia, wisest and fiercest among the Prima siblings, wouldn’t stand for it. And neither would Amnesty.

She’ll protect them the best way she knew how with her limited knowledge of the show.

Fuck the gods-be-damned timeline.

The thought pounded through her skull as the short brunette turned to Elena and said, “Hey, if you need anything—just come to me alright? I survived the Wickery Bridge too, and us bridge divers need to stick together.” Amnesty gave the younger woman a grin and a wink before settling back in for the night.

The very quiet “thank you” was so soft that Amnesty almost thought she didn’t hear it.

DYING AND REVIVING WAS AN ODD PROCESS. The world seemed to have known exactly how to integrate her into Mystic Falls.

Here, she ran a small bakery that just opened. Her only steady customer was Jenna Sommers—and that was after Miranda and Grayson's death. Elena started coming by too, along with Caroline and Bonnie.

It was all a bit uncanny.

The normal timeline was that Elena mourned for months before attempting to be a part of the outside world again. That was when Hero-Haired Stalker and Baby Blue Serial Killer came into town. Everything went very downhill very quickly.

"So, Amnesty," the blonde cheerleader began with a big grin. "Elena told us you also survived the Wickery Bridge. How'd you do it?" Her smile was strained and eyes hinted at worry. It made sense, Caroline wasn't as confident in the beginning, and Amnistia was sure as hell going to help at least one of her favorite characters grow.

So she smiled softly and gave the blonde a wink. "I have no idea," she admitted it to the three of them like it was a secret.

But it got a laugh out of Caroline.

So that was a win.

The days went on like this was normal.

Amnistia found a Traveller's grimoire in her belongings and decided to try it out. By day three of fire proofing her upstairs apartment, she felt safe enough to attempt a few spells. Apparently dying and reviving gave her magic—albeit uncontrollable magic if the teapot flying out the window was any indication.

Eh, she's got time to practice before the Salvatores get here.

But that led to the main problem of the day. How was Amnistia Prima, a twenty-year-old Traveller, going to deal with one-hundred-plus-year-old vampires?

Well, she could find Alaric and help him take down Damon before they became what her and her sisters called the "Dad-Uncles".

(Don't ask Amnistia why, it was just one of those stupid things they did. Like sharpening the "E" in Elijah whenever he appeared on screen. She missed her sisters.)

But that wouldn't do because she needed a reason for Tanner to dip and, quite frankly, Amnistia was not too keen on murdering anyone. And Tanner (dying) leaving the history teacher post was a requirement for Alaric to show up. By then Elena would already be elbow deep in Salvatore drama.

Another idea would be to contact Elijah. He could be reached via Craigslist, according to Slater and every other Elejah rewrite fanfic she's ever read. They could make a deal, ensure Elijah got his family back and ensure the town survived.

The only problem was Elena.

How could she barter with Elena's life against her consent? Every major fight Elena ever had with anybody dealt with the fact that they took away her right to choose.

But the answer was quite clear wasn't it?

Fucking over the timeline would be the only way to ensure Caroline's pain wouldn't happen again. It would ensure Elena was kept in perpetual tug-of-war for most of her young adult life over two brothers with a hell of a lot of issues—and she hadn't even finished season five! Bonnie at least would have less of a burden to bare if Amnistia contacted Elijah. He had witch connections after all.

But it all came down to one thing: what would Elena want?

To be told the truth and given a chance to decide for herself, obviously.

But that meant convincing which meant more Traveller practice.

She sighed and chugged her lavender tea. Back to the grind.

JENNA, Elena, and Jeremy all sat in the living room of the Gilbert house waiting for her to speak. The problem was how do you tell people magic and vampires and werewolves were real? Much less coming after the sixteen year old because her blood was so rare it literally acted as a booster for everything?

Well, if you were Amnistia, you started with this: "I'm gonna show you something. It's not a trick but you need to see it to understand what I'll tell you." Not very eloquent was it?

Amnistia Prima ripped up a napkin and the let the pieces fall to the floor. She furrowed her brows. Scrunched up her nose. Closed her eyes.

She dug deep within her for that earthen energy, one of sunflowers and stone. She grabbed onto the vine and raised her hand. Her green eyes opened as she continued raising the vine. The pieces of paper rose in the air, and Amnistia Prima grinned in delight as she maneuvered the papers this way and that. The pieces clumped together in a chaotic ballet.

"Holy shit!" Cried Jenna

"This can't be real!" Elena breathed.

"What the flying fuck?" That was Jeremy. 

After throwing a pillow at him and giving a death glare, Jenna looked at her with wide eyes. "So what are you trying to tell us?"

"That accidentally dying sucks but apparently gives you magic when ending up in an alternate universe," Amnistia answered honestly.

The chorus of "WHAT?" grew louder and she flinched. "Also, vampires, witches, and werewolves exist. They're gonna start looking for Elena en masse because of the fact that her blood's a really powerful commodity."

"WHAT?" All three of them shouted again.

She really should've led with the free coffee for life she planned to give them.

”ME? Are you joking, Freya?” Kol sputtered after Freya explained what the Spirits of Nature made known to her.

”That is what I said yes, or would you rather me speak Norwegian? Or Latin? Greek perhaps?” Freya teased him.

His eyes narrowed good naturedly. “Freya, your wit becomes you but can we focus?”

”It’s your understanding of basic English that’s in question, not mine.”

The two friends laughed for a few moments before Freya turned serious once more. Kol shuttered at the crystalline set to her blue eyes. The way Freya’s faced morphed into a marble carving without any emotion betraying her true intentions, and the furrow of her brow becoming quite angular, he would’ve thought she was a descendant of his mother.

They looked almost uncannily similar.

But that was impossible! All of his surviving siblings turned into vampires and there went their ability to procreate.

It must be some odd coincidence.

Anyhow, he understood when a witch turned serious it was time for business, so he straightened his posture.

”You are the only who can teach her, my friend,” Freya said finally.

”I think you’re forgetting that I haven’t been a witch in roughly nine-and-a-half centuries,” pointed out Kol.

”Yes, but you’ve been amassing every magical text you could find over those nine hundred years. You’ve seen and acquired things most witches would die for. You have more knowledge at your disposal than anyone else.”

”True, but she is a Traveller—their magic works differently and since the only real remaining line of Travellers is the Petrovas—who were cursed to be so, mind you—I wouldn’t know where to even begin!” Kol sat and took a deep breath. “Plus, how is water meant to kill her and give her life again? If she becomes a vampire, her magic becomes inaccessible! Are you sure the Spirits aren’t just speaking nonsense?”

”Kol,” Freya sternly began. Her voice lowered an octave or two. “I have never led you wrong before—and the Spirits have never led me wrong. Ergo, they have never led you wrong. Correct?”

”Of course, I wouldn’t have kept you around this long if it weren’t the case. Your curse notwithstanding.”

”Then trust me now. Only you can teach her and only you will know who she is when you meet her.”

”Why is that the case?” Kol whined.

Freya cracked a smile, and Kol stared at her in confusion. “Spoilers, my friend, Spoilers.”

Chapter Text

THE TOWN MADE ROOM FOR HER. Even the townsfolk seemed to have changed to accept her as almost always meant to be apart of their little corner of the world. It was creepy. Not to mention that they were still quite proud of being "Rebels" in the war.

Or, ya know, the United States' general dislike of Southern Italian immigrants during those years that they celebrate with glee.

Instead, Amnistia Prima found that people completely walked past a building that was never there before she came. They just gave her overly friendly smiles and talked with a bit of an upper-scale flair. That started her attempts at hiding from people like Mayor Lockwood which only increased as the weeks went on. "Oh, God, that really is creepy! I hadn't thought anything of this building's sudden existence until you pointed it out," Jenna's voice broke her train of thought.

"Yep," Amnistia replied with sigh. "It appeared the moment I was pulled from the water below the Wickery Bridge apparently."

"So, if you hadn't told us, we would've just been living alongside you with a tampered perception?" Jeremy asked as he was trying to understand it.

"I have no idea how the Universe chooses to work, but it seems like it. At least it chose to send me back as a Traveller, which I appreciate."

"You said Travellers are different from witches because your magic is weaker but stems from your own energy. Why would you want to be weaker? Wouldn't using your own energy tire you out quicker too?" Elena asked her as they walked into the bakery. Amnistia turned around and gave her fellow brunette a grin.

She wondered how off putting it was. Judging by the trio stepping back, she deemed it slightly unhinged and filed it away for future menacing and marauding. "Witches require a connection to nature, therefore they are quite traditional. Tradition rarely leaves room for creativity. And creativity allows Travellers to survive."

To prove her point, Amnistia flipped open the new Prima family grimoire and showed that the pages went back to at least the Kingdom of Sicily's hay-day. As she flipped forward, the pages became whiter and soon, empty of content altogether.

"But it wasn't that thick originally!" Jenna exclaimed. It was funny how pointing out the obvious helped the strawberry blonde keep up.

"That is Traveller magic. Witches have multiple volumes spanning centuries of family history. We only use one, if we even use books at all. We need infinite pages and infinite lightness in case a quick getaway is necessary."

"So, this is all well and good, but what about the scary, big, bad vampire that needs my sister to die for a sacrifice?" Jeremy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was hoping for at least a week before you brought that up again," Amnistia replied with a wince of her own. "With my luck? Migari!" She took a deep breath and...

Went to brew coffee instead. She needed a way to phrase this without being so callous about it.

CRAIGSLIST. Her answer to everything was just one post away on Craigslist. She heard herself gulp before she felt it.

"Should we really be luring in the Big Bad Cursed-Wolf's big brother to town?" Jenna asked her as they sat in front of the laptop. Craigslist glowed in the lowlight of the apartment's living room in an almost menacing fashion.

"No. The real question is would you and Jeremy be safe if we didn't strike the deal?" Elena asked she sat down on Jenna's other side.

"I can try and find another way," Amnistia told the slightly taller brunette. "We could run, try and find Amara, have her die in your place."

"And risk the entire balance of the universe to get thrown off?" Elena countered.

"You don't have to go through with this." Amnistia and Jenna said at the same time.

"And who would protect Caroline or Bonnie? Or Jenna or Jeremy? If you're right and the legions of Supernatural would come for me anyway, it's better for me to willingly offer up myself in exchange for the few people I care about that are closest to me." Elena sighed as the silence settled. Before Jenna could open her mouth once more, Elena began talking again. "Not to mention that this Klaus person has been cursed for over a thousand years. That must be painful—ya know, being cut off from yourself for that long."

"Mamma Mia, you really are a compassionate person," Amnisita muttered.

"Heard that, Amnesty!" Elena and Jenna exclaimed.

Together, the tree of them touched a finger to the mouse pad and clicked "Create Ad".

"You said in this other life we kept trusting each other after we kept stabbing each other in the back. Why is that?" Elena asked this hours later, after the ad had been posted and Jenna decided a nap was in order.

Amnistia shrugged. She didn't want to impose her own theories on this living, breathing, real version of Elena Gilbert. It might sway their interactions with Elijah, if he even answered. But Elena's doe eyes were incredibly good at a stare-down, and Amnistia cursed in Italian after losing to her. "You both share one core value, and that is why you kept being drawn back to one another. I won't say anything more than that," the twenty-year-old baker answered. She even moved her hands in an rather aggressive x motion.

"Rude," Elena exclaimed as she stuck out her tongue.

Amnistia just rolled her eyes and went to make some more of her lavender tea.

"I'LL FIND OUT YOU KNOW!" Elena yelled behind her.

"I know you will," Amnistia whispered.

THE FIRST DAY OF JUNIOR YEAR CAME WITH ONE BIG PROBLEM.

The motherfucking Salvatores.

She knew she should've done more preparation. The lockets for vervain wouldn't be here for another week, and Elijah had sent word that he'd be in Mystic Falls by nightfall but it still wasn't quick enough.

So, as Jenna ran out the door with her papers just barely secured, Amnistia looked at the three girls in the foyer. "Listen, I don't know how much Elena told you, but I need you to do one thing for me."

Everyone nodded slowly. It was understandable. She was making them promise before she told them. If they asked why, of course she'd tell Caroline and Bonnie what was going on, but Elena had asked for her to tell them in her own time. She wouldn't take that away from her.

"Stay away from any new guys that show up today."

"Why's that?" Bonnie asked with a bit of a scoff.

Amnistia pulled out that menacing grin that caused Jenna, Jeremy, and Elena step back that one time. "Because dangerous beings lurk beneath the florescent lights of high school."

Caroline let out an "Eek" and Elena began shuffling her friends out. "Really, Amnesty?" She asked.

Amnistia just shrugged her shoulders. "You want to tell them," she replied as if it explained everything.

"But why stay away from the new guys?"

"Because hot new guys lead to destruction of plans to save everyone and also they're stalkers with parental issues. You'd be better off catching Pokémon over guys today."

"So they'd be—"

"Supernatural? Yes."

"And they'd be interested in me because I'm a doppelganger?"

"Yes and no. I'll explain later."

"I'll hold you to it," Elena told her before shouting up the stairs for Jeremy. He came down in a rush, almost forgetting his art supplies. Luckily, Elena seemed to have a sixth sense for these things and picked up the art bag from beneath the coats.

"Have fun guys!" Amnistia called as they left.

Now, it was time to hope that they heeded the warning.

ELENA FOUND HERSELF FACE TO FACE WITH THE NEW GUY. Right, she needed to stay away from him. "Hi, I'm Stefan," he gave her a dazzling smile with wide green eyes.

How did one say they weren't interested without sounding like a jerk?

She was about to open her mouth to say something to break the silence and the weirdly intense gaze when her phone rang. She thanked whatever god existed for it. "Hello?" She answered.

It was probably rude to do that in front of the newest eye-candy of Mystic High, but she turned around and grinned widely. "So the infamous Elijah has decided to give me a call?" She asked the accented voice on the other end of the phone. He laughed slightly... and it was a nice laugh.

"Well, Miss Gilbert," he sounded so formal. She'd need to break him of that habit quickly. Elena wasn't fond of honorifics. "I wanted to run a little cover story past you before I just 'went for it' as people say these days."

"Sure! What is it?"

"A historian writing his newest book on small town America."

The bell rang and Elena ran quickly for History. "It sounds perfect! I gotta run, by Elijah!" She hung up quickly in order to not get in Tanner's hot seat before the year even began.

But a small smile stayed on her face all lesson.

TANNER CAME INTO THE BAKERY AFTER SCHOOL. It started last week, after football practice. And now here he was before football practice but after school.

She wished she could hex him, but abstained. After all, Elijah requested that discretion be paramount.

But, by the gods, did she want to hex that slime ball of a teacher!

"Miss Prima," Tanner said in lieu of greeting.

"Coach Pain-in-the-Ass," was her standard reply before walking past him with two trays. These trays were specifically curated to the tastes of the two old men that met here every Sunday and Monday for the past month. Misters Gladstone and Seymour were the crankiest old men Mystic Falls had to offer, but thoroughly enjoyed the chess and food at La Pasticceria di Amnistia.

It was as she was putting down the food for the elderly chess players that Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie burst into the room. "He wouldn't leave me alone!" The doppelganger exclaimed with the overdramatic throwing of head back.

"He's hot, why not just give him a chance?" Caroline told her. "Best way to get over someone is to find someone new, at least according Teen Vogue."

"I don't think it's a boy-thing, Care," Bonnie told her while patting her shoulder. "Good try though."

Chapter Text

ELENA, Bonnie, and Caroline all sat around a small circular table. "I don't see why you don't just bone him already," Caroline told her for the second time that week. The blonde's bluntness when it came to possible boyfriends no longer surprised her, but the lack of filter was sometimes jarring.

Elena found herself shuddering a bit. "I didn't like the way he looked at me," she answered honestly. His green eyes seemed to have bore into her whenever they shared a class. Their meeting in the hall had her feeling like she was out on display. Spiders crawled up her skin under his gaze.

It was off-putting and creepy.

"He looked like you were everything," Caroline told her. "I want someone to look at me like that."

"Care, you'll find someone who will love you, somewhere and sometime. I promise you that."

"You're sure?"

Elena and Bonnie gave their blonde friend a hug. A long, big hug that filled Elena to the brim with warmth. "Of course we're sure, Care," Bonnie told her.

They let go of each other and sat back down, waiting for their burgers and fries. "So, if the new guy is out," Caroline began slowly, "What about that guy you've been texting for the past week?"

Bonnie snapped her head to look at her. "You've been texting a guy all week and haven't said anything?" She asked in shock.

"Well—"

"And here we are, Mr. Mikaelson! The Grill, everyone's favorite spot to eat." Elena looked up as Mrs. Lockwood motioned widely to the floor. She found herself staring at the younger-looking man with slightly floppy hair and a really nice suit.

"Elijah?" It tumbled out before she could say anything. When his deep brown eyes met hers, Elena found herself standing slightly straighter.

His smile was a slight quirk of the lips. "Miss Gilbert, I thought I'd be meeting you within the week."

"Small town," she replied with a laugh... while trying to push two very intrigued best friends out the door. "I hope you have a nice dinner with my aunt! I'll text you later." Elena gave him a small smile before exiting the building.

"Elena," Bonnie called as she was sure they were far enough away from whatever embarrassment that Elena probably put herself through.

"Yeah?"

"We forgot our burgers."

"Goddammit!"

"FOR CHRIST SAKE!" Amnistia exclaimed with a laugh. "You told the Noble Original that you'd text him later?"

"Please stop laughing," Elena whined as she got ready to throw a pillow.

"Well, 'Lena, you sure worked fast on that one," Jeremy teased. Amnistia ducked as the cheerleader chucked the pillow their way. Jeremy ended up falling into the recliner by the sheer force of power behind the throw.

"Play nice you two or I'll use you for lab experiments," Amnistia warned as she levitated her own pillow in the air. Elena and Jeremy pouted or sighed (respectively) before moving into the kitchen to grab some more food.

"So what do we do now?" Elena asked as she munched on a Twizler.

"Well, you said you'd text him so text him," Jeremy replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Amnistia stopped for a minute. Maybe it was the most obvious thing in the world. And maybe, just maybe, it was the correct course of action as well. Text the team and bring them all together for a powow.

Before Elena could say anything—either to retort or defend her blush—Amnistia clapped her hands. With a snap, the magic took hold. The lights turned on and the blinds opened. With a sigh, she waved her hands to reset everything. "I really need to work on that spell a bit more," she said with a small frown before turning to her charges for the night. "Either way, Jeremy's right! You told the Noble Stag you'd text him, so text him. Tell him to come here with your aunt after they're done with Jenna's attempt at intimidating an over thousand-year-old vampire."

"She's not gonna win that one, is she?" Asked Elena with a fondly exasperated look to her face.

"Most definitely not," Amnistia answered with a grin before rummaging through her refrigerator. "Hey, what do you feed an Original vampire?"

JELL-O NO BAKE CHEESECAKE ENDED UP BEING THE CHOICE OF DESSERT. Amnistia Prima had found the box mix while rummaging around her cabinet for something a bit more refined. Due to time constraints and the lack of apparently anything in her fridge, this became the last resort. The older people of the town might grasp their pearls at the use of box mix by a proud from-scratch baker, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

After all, making a whole tiramisu from scratch required at least a day in advance to prepare—so that was sadly out.

(She learned how to make it from her mom and sister. They made the best tiramisu; it was her birthday dessert of choice.)

The Traveller just sat down the no-bake cheesecake when her "security system" went off.

"I was caught i n the middle of a railroad track (thunder). I looked 'round and I knew there was no turning back (thunder). My mind raced. And I thought, what could I do? (Thunder) And I knew there was no help, no help from you (thunder)! Sound of the drums beating in my heart. The thunder of guns tore me apart. You've been... Thunderstruck!"

The rock music blared around the apartment and Elena came running into the kitchenette. "What the hell is that?" She shouted over the noise. Amnistia held up a finger to signify one moment.

Heading to the door, she told the Original on the other side, "I need a drop of your blood for the security system to let you in the apartment. Please do it now before my eardrums burst!"

She really should've thought out her system better.

After all, a rock-and-roll alarm system was much cooler (and safer!) on paper than it was in practice.

ELIJAH MIKAELSON LOOKED TOWARDS MISS SOMMERS WITH A QUIRKED EYEBROW. The 80s hairband era of rock seemed to be blaring from the inside, but what made it a "security system"? Miss Sommers just pulled the sewing needle from under the mat and handed it to him.

"Safer than a key," the young woman told him with a smirk. "A security system bound together by musical energy and sealed with a drop of doppelganger blood. Quite ingenious isn't it? Every different species of Supernatural got a different song. Originals are their own category."

Elijah blinked at the door for a second. That was an... interesting use of magic. If Kol or Finn were out of the box, they might have been interested in the crafting of such a spell. He was intrigued himself, if only to see how his blood would make the blaring of the music stop.

He heard a slightly accented voice call from the other side of the door. "Can you please do it quickly? I designed it to annoy and incapacitate intruders using music. However it is currently—"

Elijah let a drop of his blood touch the door. It sunk into the wood and the frame glowed a bright, soft yellow.

The music stopped.

Suddenly, the door swung wide open and staring up at him was a 5'2¼ woman with bright green eyes. "Hello! I'm Amnistia Prima, and I'm the one that directed the doppelganger and her family to you." She held out a hand for him to shake.

He took it firmly and replied, "Elijah Mikaelson, pleasure to meet you in person, Miss Prima. Now, I believe you owe me some memories, correct?"

He watched her twitch before sighing. "I would appreciate it if that would be done in a more private setting. I haven't told them all I have seen, just the stuff that I intend on keeping the same."

"Which is?"

"Elena breaks your brother's curse because she is the doppelganger. Your family gets reunited."

He stopped for a second. His family got reunited in the other timeline as well? He had been given the barebones of Amnistia's story, at a promise of full access to her memories of her life before if he agreed. However, the fact that they lived then too—could his deepest hope actually come true?

Regaining composure quickly, Elijah answered her request with a nod. For once, the Noble Original did not trust his own words to betray him.

AMNISTA SCURRIED AROUND HER KITCHENETTE FOR COFFEE AND TOPPINGS. "So, Elijah, I hope Aunt Jenna didn't scare you too badly," Elena began. Amnistia tried to covertly look at the table from behind the cabinet. She refused to influence Elena and Elijah's interactions any further than she had, but a girl could still hope, right?

Elijah could be heard giving her a soft chuckle. "She cares about you, Miss Gilbert. I am quite certain that, if I was anyone else, I would definitely fear her should I let harm befall you."

"As you should," Jenna replied with a bit of a snort.

"Now, now, play nice," Jeremy reminded his aunt.

Amnistia Prima decided that now was a good time to come out with coffees and whipped cream. From there, the cheesecake was cut and it was the moment of truth. "It could be worse," Elijah said after a long silence.

"It's disgusting," Jeremy and Amnistia exclaimed at the same time.

"I think I'll stick with the coffee," Jenna commented before taking a big gulp from her mug.

Elena kept silent and just ate it. Amnistia looked at the doppelganger in shock. "What? I forgot my burger," Elena told them as if it explained everything.

Perhaps it had, because everyone's similar look of understanding crossed their faces.

"Is someone gonna tell me what that means?"

"Maybe when you're older," Jenna replied with a chuckle.

"Maron a mi! I'm only five years younger than you!"

Chapter Text

IT WAS FRIDAY, and people were all talking about ill-advised adventures and bonfires to the Falls. For Amnistia, it seemed to be her most energy-sapping use of magic since she created her security system.

"Relax," Elijah Mikaelson told her as she started to tense up at the intrusion of another conscious in her head.

"I'm sorry if my first thought is to exorcise whatever being is trying to get into my head with the power of Christ."

His lips quirked. "I recall the priest losing his faith in that movie."

"Still works in expelling unwanted entities."

Suddenly, Amnistia found herself staring at a T.V. screen. Her and her sisters had pints of ice cream, waving their spoons at the screen. They laugh and jeer at characters they love and hate. Her youngest sister left the other two in stitches at her complete, out of left field commentary.

The months went by as they watched the show together. Amnistia Prima watched Elijah in some sorrow at his shock. Her memories went over when she stopped watching the show, started reading Fanfiction, and one story that left in her tears as she looked at the entire first season—and her own relationship—differently.

The fact that Caroline's entire relationship with the older Salvatore was against her consent. He used compulsion on her all the time. The fact that Elena probably went through some emotional or psychological abuse because Damon formed a sire bond with her, and the show almost confirmed it with Klaus and his hybrids. And how, even if her own relationship wasn't as terrible, the fact that she felt her own sirebond to the only guy she ever dated.

She was crying.

Elijah was crying.

But it ended after the hunt for the Cure. That, aside from some fanfiction, was all she knew.

When Amnistia came back with the tea, Elijah took his with a nod of thanks. "That was enlightening," he said as the two of them sat across from each other. Amnistia nodded.

She felt pain spike through her at the memories of her sisters. The Traveller missed how they'd debate over which guy was better on which show was better. Or how they'd just barge into her room looking for clothes. Or how her one sister never went below an eleven ever. Or how her other sister found the weirdest dating shows that the whole family got invested in.

She also thought about him for a brief moment.

Or rather Amnistia thought, once again within the two years since the break-up, how much of an inexperienced, stubborn teenager she had to have been to date him for as long as she had. She thought briefly of how Elena in one of the fanfictions she's read described the sire bond. It wasn't love. It was more like the person had been so ensared by their sire for some reason that it twisted into something disturbingly... real.

She had felt like that. The drowning beneath the relationship. The fact that she didn't want to leave him because who else would love her? She shook her head.

This wasn't about her right now. This was about Caroline and preventing her pain. This was about Elena and preventing her loss. This was even about Bonnie and preventing her almost self-destructive hero complex. This was about the Mikaelsons and preventing their family from splintering apart.

"So will you help us help Klaus?" She asked after regaining some composure.

"I promised Elena already that I would do what it took to protect the ones she loves as long as she helped me break his curse. I don't see why that has to be redone." It was a matter of fact, it seemed. Elijah and Elena made deals and trusted one another—even in this universe. Good. That was good—

"But I will make a promise to you since you kicked off this entire new course of events."

That wasn't what she was expecting. "Elijah," Amnista began. She was already waving her hands around rapidly and shaking her head. "You don't need to promise me anything."

"I know," his smirk returned. She wondered if that meant he was amused or impressed. He only really ever smiled once, and that was in Elena's presence. "But, I promise you that no one will hurt you the way he did as long as it is in my power to intervene. You have my word."

Did she just get an Original for a big brother?

AMNISTIA PRIMA DID JUST GET AN ORIGINAL FOR A BIG BROTHER. The ice cream and jewelry shopping trip sealed it.

She licked her ice cream cone as they sat on the bench. Elijah had taken his apparent, self-appointed big brother role quite seriously. Some guys from a neighboring college town came by to talk to Amnistia and Elijah swooped in. He played "the Intimidating Older Brother" card by asking her if they were bothering her. Then he sent them running with a glare honed by centuries of dealing with younger siblings and their love lives.

"The Spirits of Nature are fucking petty!" She exclaimed after taking a bite from the top of her cone.

He chuckled. "Why's that?"

"Because, apparently, one of the downsides of being a Traveller is the inability to enchant gold and silver!"

"What?"

Amnistia looked around quickly and took another lick of her ice cream cone. "Apparently, they're considered perfect magical metals. They conduct magic like water conducts electricity. With that being said, the Spirits of Nature ensured that I am unable to charm the lockets shut to protect the vervain."

Amnistia took another angry bite of her cone. "I'm gonna have to find bronze jewelry, if they make that."

"Then off to a jewelry store we go."

"W-what?"

"C'mon, Miss Prima, time is of the essence!"

"Elijah!" She called after him but he was already gone.

The actual buying of the lockets went rather smoothly. Elijah was a surprisingly efficient man when faced with all the different accessories. Even in a small thrift shop like this, Amnistia Prima found her awareness shifting into overdrive. The low lights, glass cases, and in-the-middle-of-nowhere-ness set her on edge. She kept looking this way and that. Her breathing became slightly erratic. But Elijah just held his head high and browsed in perfect ease.

Perhaps being around for over a thousand years and amassing a wealth of connections, knowledge, eye-for-the-apparently-well-made-and-expensive, experience, and, of course, money made it easier to be in places like this?

"Miss Prima—"

Finally, she let out a slightly annoyed sigh. "Listen, I appreciate the respect of the honorifics, but you were just inside my head earlier today. You saw perhaps one of the deepest revelations I've had in current memory, and know more than even Jenna or Elena does about my situation. Please call me Amnesty or Amnistia."

"Well then, Miss—I mean Amnistia, come here and choose a few of the bronze lockets I've found."

"Will do, and, uh, thanks by the way."

She didn't know why she was thanking him. It just felt like one of those things she should say.

"You're welcome, Amnistia."

THEY LEFT WITH FIVE LOCKETS. Four would have vervain with a stasis charm on it while the fifth would be given to Bonnie as a way to keep her in the loop. Once again, her Family Chronicle gave her the nice little tidbit that Travellers could be compelled if not wearing or ingesting vervain at all times.

Gods, the Spirits of Nature really were petty assholes weren't they?

She spent a good portion of her afternoon applying stasis charms to the sprigs of vervain then timed perma-lock spells on the lockets. That way, when the stasis charm wore off and it was time to replace the sprig, it would open under two conditions: 1) in Amnistia's apartment and 2) the sprig must be dried up. When it's dried, it lost all affect it had against compulsion.

Bonnie was lucky. As a witch, she got natural immunity to vampiric compulsion of any vampire weaker than an Original. No one understood why this was possible, but common theories range from mental protections to just being the Spirits' favorites. If you asked Amnistia, she'd ask to see the original spell which created the first vampires and then decide from there.

Either way, Bonnie couldn't be compelled by lesser vampires, so she was safe as long as the Originals stayed on their side.

Amnistia finished her spells on the final necklace, her own round and bronze Victorian music box locket with a tricolored cabochon in center. The stone was quite pretty too, all iridescent whites and soft pinks. However, as the final piece of the spell clicked into place, Amnistia felt something drip onto her hand as well as some wooziness taking hold.

Ah shit, I over did it, was the last thing she thought before her world went black.

CAROLINE GOT REGULATED TO "GETTING ELENA" DUTY. She's not gonna lie, she was pretty pissed off about it. A fight was gonna break out between Matt and Stefan at any moment and she got regulated to the "get the peacemaker" role.

Granted, the possible fight might have been her fault to begin with because she invited Matt in an effort to make a friendervention between the two exes. Stefan happened to overhear, which hot damn he had good hearing, and she felt that it was rude not to invite him... despite his slightly obvious crush on her best friend that made said best friend completely uncomfortable.

Way to go with that series of decisions, Caroline.

Anyway, she found herself leaning against the vacated pool table closest to Elena and Elena's soon-to-be Sexy New Boyfriend. Caroline sipped daintily on her ginger ale while watching the conversation and pool game.

"You're too good at this," Elena laughed as Elijah got a ball into one of the sockets. It was nice to see her smile that wide. She hadn't done more than a small smile since the summer.

"Years of practice," Sexy New Boyfriend replied with a charming smile.

"I'm sure," Elena retorted.

"I'm serious! I don't just sit around and read all day. I have multiple hobbies!" The indignant response sounded unbecoming of a man in that fine of an Armani suit. He didn't sputter, but something about the sheer levity in his voice threw the blonde off kilter.

"Really? What hobbies do you have?"

"Well, being a historian is a hobby, then there's pool as you see. I also enjoy drive-in movie marathons."

At Elena's inability to form a reply, Caroline took it as her moment to pounce. "Not that watching the beginning of an absolute lovely rom-com isn't amazing, because it is," Caroline added that last part quickly at her best friend's look of shock. "It's just that Matt and Stefan are currently at the table with me and Bon. They're about to fight over some stupid, primal claim over Elena type stuff and the growing testosterone is getting highly uncomfortable."

"Why's Stefan with you guys? And why's Matt here? I thought it was gonna be a friends day," Elena asked confused.

Caroline was about to get defensive when she remember what her mom had been telling her. Not every criticism and question was an attack on her character or choices. So, she took a deep breath. "I may have set this whole get together up under false pretenses in order to get you and Matt to get over the awkwardness so that we could all be friends again. And then Stefan overheard and I felt rude not inviting him. Please say you're not mad."

When Elena trapped her in one of the Gilbert Family patented bear hugs, Caroline sighed in relief. "Oh thank god you're not mad. Now please save Bonnie, I don't think she's equipped to deal with two guys twice her size without us."

Caroline heard Elena laugh. "Bonnie probably could deal with three and not even break a sweat. But, we have a secret weapon for back up," the brunette whispered to her.

"Really? Who?"

"Elijah."

The best friends shared conspiratorial grins as they dragged the historian off to the table. Judging by the amused smile on his face, Caroline was pretty sure he was letting himself be dragged.

"SO, Elijah," the green eyed boy—Stefan, if he remembered correctly from Amnistia's memory—began. The vampire obviously seemed quite uncomfortable to have him here, and that was fine. He was here to diffuse any possibly violent altercation that would spark between the two teens and protect the ladies should the need arise. "You're writing a book on small towns?"

"Yes. I got a PhD in history of popular culture shortly before passing the bar exam this past spring. I am taking some much needed time off and writing a book. It's an excuse to go on a Pan-American tour, if I am being totally honest." He might be pushing it, but it was the only way to test the waters to see how close the universe was to the show that Amnistia showed him.

"A doctorate and a lawyer? You really must have been busy," the blond boy—Matt?—commented with a bit of snark. Oh dear, that snark may get him into trouble some day. Perhaps keeping him away from Niklaus may be the best option.

The smile Elijah sent the boy's way was a bit strained but entirely predatory. "Quite, out of all my surviving siblings, I was the most gifted in academia regarding the liberal arts. My younger brother, Kol, was quite gifted in chemistry but decided to travel."

"You have brothers?" Miss Forbes asked. She perked up slightly, straightened her posture, and tried to look as natural as possible. Elena and Miss Bennet laughed behind their hands.

"Yes, three of them still living. One older and two younger ones, between the three of them and my baby sister, I'm surprised I haven't grayed yet," Elijah replied. He felt a small, melancholic smile pull at his face when he thought of his family.

"How long has it been since you've seen them?" Miss Bennet asked with the utmost care in her words. Ah. She picked up on the reference to Freya and Henrik. Quite observant, and he'd have to thank her for her discretion about his deceased family members.

On a slightly lighter note, time to hint to Stefan Salvatore exactly what he was dealing with.

"Honestly? It seems to have been a thousand years since we all were under one roof together. We grew up here, actually, and that's why I wanted to include Mystic Falls in my book."

When Stefan gulped, he grinned.

"That's all well and good, but Elijah, tell us about your brothers." Miss Forbes seemed to be quite determined apparently. Elijah found himself biting back laughter at the request.

"Of course, Miss Forbes."

Chapter Text

BONNIE BENNET CONSIDERED HERSELF THE MOM FRIEND OF THEIR LITTLE TRIO. She was the second oldest but the first to get her license, so she drove everyone for a good month before Caroline managed to pass her test on her second try. She always cooked everyone's comfort food when upset. She also always gave the advice when her friends seemed so incomprehensively lost about what to do.

This was because, in part, she learned to be self-sufficient at a young age.

Her mom left, her dad was busy working all the time, and her Grams was a professor of the occult that made up the wildest stories about their "family line" and being "powerful witches". So, Bonnie Bennet learned that someone needed to grounded and that someone would be her.

She was ten at the time.

However, she did have scary good intuition, predicted Obama and Ledger. And that scary good mom-friend intuition went off that Monday morning when Stefan Salvatore brushed past her on his way to class.

He felt cold, like all the energy that coursed him was frozen. He felt of wet grass and of mushy dirt. A chill ran through her bones as the brief form of contact broke. He felt like a predator.

Elena.

Caroline.

She needed to find Elena and Caroline.

Without much care for the pissed off basketball player she shoved past, Bonnie Bennet ran to her history class and prayed to whatever deity was listening that Elena and Caroline were alright.

THE LAST PERSON SHE EXPECTED TO SEE IN HER BAKERY ENTERED WITH ALL THE GRACE OF A MATRIARCH. "You aren't that subtle, you know, bringin' an Original here like it won't cause the Spirits to talk." Shelia Bennet stood at the doorway of her kitchen giving her a reproachful look. Amnistia Prima, for as much respect as she had for the older witch, could only shrug.

"Nothing against you, Miss Bennet, but I could care less about the Spirits of Nature. I'm more worried about Elena, Caroline, and Bonnie."

"At least that's something we can agree on," her features softened and the Traveller closed the oven. "Still, bringin' Elijah here? Do you know how dangerous that could be?"

"Yes," Amnistia replied as she wiped her hands on a mopine. "I weighed my options before bringing it up to Jenna, Elena, and Jeremy. This would be the only course of action I could see everyone winning."

"And how does Bonnie relate to this plan of yours?"

"Honestly, my plan is to ensure that she's not always the one saving the day when it inevitably gets fucked ten ways to Sunday."

"And bringing an Original will help with that?"

"He has witch connections," Amnistia replied with a shrug. "Would you like some tea, Miss Bennet?"

"Peach tea, if you have any," Shelia replied as she sat down. Amnistia rummaged through her cabinets and grinned at the lone box of peach tea. She thanked god for the fact that she brought the tea sampler the last time she went food shopping.

As she set the water to boil in the electric kettle, the brunette spoke. "I was gonna tell you, promise. She's you're granddaughter and I don't want to impose on that sanctity. But you can't just tell her that you're both witches and expect her to accept it without proof."

"I've tried," Shelia replied with a tired sigh. "It's hard tryin' to open a mind closed to anything fantastical by necessity. Maybe I shoulda been there for her more as a child, but I can't change the past."

Amnistia poured the water over the teabag and gave it to the older witch. She didn't have kids or any need to raise her sisters in her old life. So, she kept silent. It was Bennet family business, and she'd just offer tea and cookies when or if it was ever needed.

"I just came by to tell you that the Spirits aren't too happy with you. They've been talking about destruction of a timeline."

"Eh, I'm a Traveller. Despite cursing the beginning of my line with limited magical abilities, they really can't do anything more to us since we are 'a different kind of magic user'. At least, that's what the Prima Family Chronicle says."

"It's not the best situation to be pitting yourself against them."

"Then they should never have let me come here in the first place."

"I don't think they saw this comin'."

BONNIE FOUND HERSELF AT A BONFIRE LATER THAT WEEK. It was too warm and everyone enjoyed the taste of rather cheap beer that someone smuggled somehow for them. Jeremy was there, feeling dejected at Vicky's unceremonious rejection of him. Not that she could entirely blame Vicky, who was a senior, for dumping Jeremy, who was a freshman.

But then again both were siblings of her friends which put them under the protection of her "Do Not Mess With Unless You Want to Face Bennet Wrath" list.

It was growing quite extensive, to be honest, but the one person who was definitely not on it was making a bee-line for her best friend. His constant attempt to integrate himself in her life was verging on highly disturbing. She may have to consult Elijah on the best course of legal action should it get too far.

Also, Elijah was on the list due to Caroline's observations of him being Elena's possibly-Sexy-New-Boyfriend. When did that become his title? And did they add hyphens or was it just plain spaces? She'd need to consult Caroline on his obvious codename. Either way Bonnie reached Elena first and gave her a grin.

"So, where's Mister Tall, Dark, and Sexy?" Bonnie asked trying to lighten the mood of her uncomfortable friend. It was all over her face. The forced half-smile. Dodging multiple people still giving condolences about her parents. Other members of the Founding Families attempted to bring her back into the fold of ridiculously expensive gowns and hairspray. Elena was dodging all of it while Caroline seemed to be talking to a definitely-going-to-be-drunk Matt.

Elena surprisingly sighed. "You and Caroline and Jeremy keep teasing me about Elijah you know." Bonnie tried to determine if Elena sounded more bemused or annoyed.

"Oh really?" Bonnie asked. She tried to sound nonchalant, but the proud-mama-bear smile ended up fighting its way onto her face anyway. "Well, if anything does end up happening with Elijah, send him my way first. I need to ensure he'll do the right thing by you. And if he doesn't, then I'll ensure he never steps foot within a hundred feet of a woman again."

"And the Mama Bear has made an appearance," Elena quipped with a small laugh. She took a sip of her bottle and gagged at the taste.

"And that is why I come prepared. Here," Bonnie grabbed a water bottle from her bag and a mint. "It's gets the taste out of your mouth."

"Thanks, Bon," Elena gave her a side hug and took the items. After sighing in relief that the awful taste of cheap beer was gone, Elena looked out into the distance. "So, should I be thanking you for playing buffer?"

"No thanks necessary, but a gossip session is definitely in order. The fact that you knew right out the gate who Mister Tall, Dark, and Sexy was tells me you've been thinking about it."

The two friends giggled and shared a bubbly smile. "I-I mean he's not bad looking, and just because I knew who you were thinking about doesn't mean that I consider him sexy."

Elena still blushed though. Bingo!

"The blush on your face tells me that you must've been Cleopatra in a past life because you are one big Queen of Denial."

They spent the time gossiping a bit before Stefan Salvatore finally made his way to the conversation. Elena's statement of "Fine, he's a little pretty", was not, in fact geared to Stefan but rather Elijah. The entire gossip session was just catching her up to speed on the youngest of their trio's current crush.

(Denial of it notwithstanding.)

But the look on Stefan's face as he came closer seemed to indicate that it was indeed about him. Time for Mama Bear mode.

THE PROBLEM WITH BEING THE MOM FRIEND WAS THAT SOMETIMES THINGS WERE MORE IMPORTANT THAN TEARING A NEW ONE INTO A CREEP. Currently, that more important thing was sitting in the Grill with Caroline as they waited to hear from Elena, who elected to stay with Matt and Jeremy. Vicky apparently had been seriously injured by an unknown animal and bleeding out profusely when Jeremy found her in the woods.

Surprisingly, it was Caroline who immediately took charge. Between her neuroticism and Elena's minor first aid knowledge, the two stopped the bleeding long enough to give Vicky a fighting chance. Bonnie called the ambulance.

By the time midnight rolled around, there wasn't any word for Elena so Bonnie went home. Caroline had left earlier with an unfamiliar guy with blue eyes, he was taking her out to dinner apparently. If it had been any other circumstance, Bonnie would've accompanied them. Ensured safe getaways if necessary, but her brain felt fuzzy and she was quite tired.

So Caroline went to dinner and Bonnie went home. Sometimes being the mom friend was exhausting.

Chapter Text

SAYING "FUCK YOU" WAS MUCH EASIER THAN MEANING IT, as it stood, Amnsitia Prima couldn't exactly mean the "fuck you" she was mentally repeating over and over again at Mayor Lockwood. But that was only because anyone doing anything like that with Mayor Lockwood, especially her, deserved much better than a middle aged man who still had the hubris of a teenager.

Poor Tyler, with a mom and dad that openly flirt with other people, it's no wonder he's such an asshole.

Still, she ignored the mayor and his obvious attempts at impressing her with showing off family rings and expensive watches. Finally, when he refused to let her run her business in peace, she decided that a hex would be fine. Plus, Elijah's off dealing with a pack of Werewolves in Canada so he won't know... would he?

Eh, probably not.

"Silenzio finché non provi lussuria, poi prendi in giro te stesso, devi." The hex glowed a soft seafoam before dashing off to find the Mayor with a flick of Amnistia's finger. When she turned around with a new tray of muffins, she relished in the silence of the cad.

"Ah, sweet silence," the Italian-American said before walking off to get more coffee for table six.

Her day went along as usual. She got a few well-wishes from her frequent-borderline-regular customers. Apparently, her multiple attempts of charming the gold lockets which led into charming the bronze lockets following the memory surf caused a really bad energy-sapping side effect. She got an earful from Jenna when the older woman came in to check on the enchantment process and found her passed out and bleeding from her nose. It was Jenna that closed her bakery for the week so Amnistia could rest.

The cover story?

The cover story was that she was overworking herself since the opening and got a nasty fever. The town took this as an affront to their inability to know everything that went on in each other's lives, and now were trying extra hard to bond with her.

She spent most of the week sleeping... and wishing that Dimension 20 was around. She was gonna have to wait another nine years for Fantasy High to premiere.

Gods be dammed, that's annoying.

THE PROBLEM WITH BEING OUT FOR ONE-HUNDRED-SIXTY-EIGHT HOURS WAS THAT PEOPLE KEPT YOU OUT OF THE LOOP.

"Hey, so, why are you all looking at each other and not telling me what's up?" She finally asked when Jenna entered the kitchenette. Shelia Bennet joined their little pow-wow this week. She felt like the more and more people they're adding into it the more and more it felt like a council of some sort.

She missed little moments like this with her friends.

But the air was suffocating and Jenna began finding the coffeemaker quite interesting to look at.

"Jenna, what's up?" Amnistia asked once more. Her voice took on a slightly harsher tone—but that wasn't saying particularly much because she sounded more like a high pitched cat.

"Elena said something was up with Caroline since the night at the Falls."

Amnistia snapped her head in Jenna's direction. She heard a crack and ignored the slight pain. "What do you mean?" Her voice dropped several octaves as her blood froze over.

Jenna shrugged. "Apparently, she was spacey—couldn't remember where she's been. And she's been a bit defensive too. Tonight Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline are having a sleepover at our house to relax."

"I'll be back," Amnistia's eyes steeled as she began walking out the kitchenette. She placed her vervain necklace around her neck, and handed Jenna her hummingbird one. "Whatever you do, never take that off unless you're in my apartments or your house."

"O-okay," Jenna replied as she followed Amnistia to the door. The Traveller raised her hand in the air and with a wave the rest of the lockets shot right into her hand. "Where are you going?"

She took a deep breath and turned to Jenna. "What happened to Caroline was my mistake. I know what happened. I knew it would, but I was naive enough to believe that Stefan and Damon would lay low with an Original in town." Her grip tightened on the necklaces. Her normally vibrant green eyes darkened to a murky, swampy color. The air in the room became a few degrees colder.

"I was an idiot, and I'm going to ensure it never happens again."

"What happened, Amnesty?"

"Consent is not in Damon's vocabulary," Amnistia answered. Her entire body was shaking. Time to meet Hero Haired Stalker and Baby Blue Serial Killer.

Then she'd apologize to Caroline and ensure that she would never be hurt again.

THE BOARDING HOUSE LOOMED OVER HER. She growled and banged on the oak door. "I KNOW YOU CAN FUCKING HEAR ME! OPEN UP!"

The door swung open to find a smug looking man in a tight Henley with bright blue eyes. "Well, hello there," he greeted her. She wanted to slap that smirk off his face. Amnistia admitted that she messed up when it came to not telling the girls anything about Damon. She was an arrogant bitch that thought, just because she brought an Original into town, the Salvatores would know to back off.

She felt her pulse quicken as he raised an eyebrow at her. The blood burned beneath her skin. She snapped into focus at the dilation of his pupils. Tapping into the fire in her blood, she sent him flying.

"What the—" She didn't give Damon a chance to breathe.

"Don't you dare touch Caroline ever again! She's an innocent and you need to learn some goddamn manners!"

(Gods, she couldn't find out why she thought he was so attractive when she was fifteen!)

Amnistia Prima was not a fan of violent vengeance. She enjoyed the mischievous cunning and wit that came with the idea of embarrassing her foe that drove her to those extremes. Only through embarrassment would they realize their wrongdoings and learn—or get cut down at the knees so swiftly and efficiently that attempting to stand wouldn't even be considerable.

However, this was different.

This was a situation caused by her own oversight of two key facts and thus caused the pain of another.

So, she allowed Damon to stand and catch his breath. "Listen lady, I don't know who you're talkin' about. Now take your witchy-woo-woo bull shit and get the hell out of my house!" He lounged at her.

For a brief second, she let him think she was too slow.

Then she smirked and dropped. A bolt of seafoam colored fire propelled him back first to the ceiling. She got to her feet quickly, looking for anything to stab him with. "Amnesty, I believe I should take it from here, don't you?"

The smooth, accented voice of Elijah Mikaelson caught her attention.

"Elijah!" She squeaked.

"Go tend to the girls, I shall handle this unruly child."

"With all do respect, Elijah—"

"Amnesty, I knew as well as you did the score. I've tried my hand at preventing it but was unable. Allow me a turn to teach him a lesson. Or shall I have words with you about the enchantment you casted upon the mayor?"

She felt her cheeks warm before sending one more fire ball Damon's way and scurrying off.

The door to the dark-wooden boarding house slammed shut behind her.

Then she heard a sickening crack.

SHE KEPT A NEUTRAL EXPRESSIONS AS THE BLONDE TOOK THE HEART-SHAPED BRONZEL LOCKET WITH REVERENCE.  "Gold's my best accent color," Caroline told her with a small smile. "But if you promise this will protect me, I'll never take it off. Even if it clashes with my skin, eyes, and most of my wardrobe." She even gave her a hug.

Amnistia sighed as the younger girl let her go. "I'm sorry, I thought I could protect you with just Elijah's presence. But I let someone hurt you really bad because of my own hubris. Migari!" Tears welled in her eyes and she forced them back. "I shouldn't be crying this is about you—"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Caroline told her. She could hear the tears waiting to be fought back as well. "You made mistakes. You told us from the get-go not to trust anyone new and I didn't listen."

"Caroline, it wasn't even a choice for you! I was an arrogant bitch and it resulted in your freewill taken away! Your right to consent! Almost everything!"

"That wasn't your fault," Elena told her with a fierce quietness to her. "If it was your fault, then it was my fault too. You told me about their obsession with Katherine after all."

"Don't try to absolve me of my sins, Signorina," Amnistia told Elena gently. "I knew what would happen. I didn't make the lockets in time and I thought I had more time before it all went south. I wanted to ensure your minds were protected before I told you anything and I thought Elijah's presence could at least be a call for caution, but I was wrong and too late."

"You're right," Bonnie finally said after Amnistia showed up with only a text asking for Caroline's address to announce her intentions on coming over. "You did screw up. But you're a grown ass woman, so let me ask you this: will you keep anything from us again?"

"No, I won't."

"Not even if you think it won't matter because you'll change it?"

"Promise I'll tell you girls."

"Then, that will be how you make up for your mistake." Bonnie joined in on the hug.

"Will I ever get the memory back?" Caroline asked once everyone was situated a few hours later.

Amnistia shrugged. "If you end up becoming a vampire like you did the last time around, then yes. If Bonnie or I learn to spell to remove compulsions, and if you want either of us to, then yes. But I would say as it stands now? Nope."

"I don't think I'd want to remember," Caroline whispered. "Thar's... an experience, you know? What if I remembered and then it backfired? I'd rather live with the knowledge that I went through it and forgot rather than my remembering it—for now at least."

"And we'll be here if you choose otherwise," Elena told her with a soft smile.

"Now, on to other orders of business, Amnesty, if Elijah has brothers and they're vampires like him, what do you know about them?" Caroline's eyes sparkled with unshed tears as she tried to mask it with a teasing grin.

"Caroline Forbes, I'm not telling you which one you knock for a six," Amnistia replied with a matching grin.

All four of them laughed.

Chapter Text

ELENA SAT ON THE PORCH WITH ELIJAH BY HER SIDE. This was not unusual for the two since they've been working towards bringing the Mikaelsons back together. She was going to die for him—her subsequent resurrection notwithstanding—so they agreed that they ought to get to know one another.

"Your favorite movie? And, if it's before 1930, you need to take a swig of the strongest ginger ale we can find."

"That's an odd clause to our game," Elijah replied to her request with a soft smile. Elena placed her book down and shrugged.

"It seemed like a fun thing add on to the end," Elena replied. Her smile matched his. "Besides, I want to see how well you can handle your ginger."

"Ginger is weaker than bourbon—you do know that, correct?"

"Still stings though."

"Fair enough." Elena watched as Elijah thought about her question. His face went flat and blank, but his eyes showed quite a few pros/cons lists being made. No wonder why Caroline was team Mikaelson, they had the same decision making process. "My favorite movie is Young Frankenstein."

That certainly wasn't expected.

"Say that again," Elena requested as she rubbed the inside of her ears.

"My favorite movie is Young Frankenstein, the less-than-respectful comedy towards women aside, it's an interesting interpretation of the classic novel's themes. The question of who really was the monster, Victor Frankenstein for creating it or the Monster himself for retaliation, is turned on its head in an entertaining manner."

"I can't believe Mel Brooks made an Original's favorite movie."

"Gene Wilder fit the role quite well too."

"I need some ginger ale," Elena told him. "Hand me a glass please."

"As you wish," Elijah replied.

AMNISTIA PRIMA STOOD FACE-TO-FACE WITH KATHERINE PIERCE. Or Katerina Petrova to her dear, overprotective, adopted brother. Her green eyes and short stature may not be intimidating to a five-hundred-year-old vampire, but her security system definitely was.

"Can't you shut that damn thing up?" Katherine exclaimed as she covered her ears. Amnistia Prima just shrugged. She didn't hate the woman, after all Katherine suffered too much as a human to not lash out once she gained the power to do so as a vampire. Actually, if put in the same circumstances, Amnistia decided that she'd probably make the same decisions Katherine did. Despite her name meaning forgiveness, even if only on a political scale, the Traveller herself wasn't selfless enough to consider forgiveness a proper avenue.

Again, that was only a hypothetical—she didn't live Katherine's life nor did she plan to.

"I'll shut it off if you're willing to strike a deal," Amnistia replied in her best imitation of Elijah. She'd been practicing for the inevitable sit down with Klaus, but using it on Katherine would be good practice.

"Ha! Why would I strike a deal with some lowly Traveller?" Katherine scoffed as the song kept going.

"Because this lowly Traveller has the ear of the Noble Stag, who, in turn, has the ear of the Big Bad Wolf. And that means you can stop running if we come to an agreement." Amnistia casually sprawled across the kitchen chair. She tried to give off an air of I-Don't-Give-A-Fuck-Because-I'm-a-Queen, but her nerves kept firing and she felt jittery as all hell.

Still, the previous doppelganger froze. "If Elijah's here then I really need to leave—"

"Again, I'm offering you clemency. Or at least as much of it as I can get you."

"Why?"

"Because, let's just say I'm attempting a change of fate on such a massive scale that you're more useful to me cooperative than dead."

"And you'll get Klaus off my back?"

"For a price, but yes."

"What's the price?"

"The moonstone and staying the fuck out of Elena's life."

"That's a steep price," Katherine finally said after a moment of silence. But Amnistia didn't care. She just raised an eyebrow. "I've been watching the newest Doppelganger and I have to say, it's a miracle that she's not fallen in with the Salvatores yet."

"I plan to ensure she stays away from them and vice versa."

"Well, I could be of use. I'll stay out of her life and give you the moonstone provided that my clemency is ensured and I can go back to the Salvatores."

"That can be arranged."

"Then I'll send a contact within the month with the moonstone." With that, the vampire left and the wards reset themselves.

Amnistia Prima reached for her phone. It rang once, twice, then finally three times before it picked up. "Hey, it's me, we're gonna need to convene an emergency War Council meeting."

JEREMY GILBERT NEVER UNDERSTOOD WHY HE WAS INCLUDED IN THESE COUNCIL MEETINGS. He was appreciative, don't get him wrong, but there was something in the air of these meetings that screamed uncomfortable. And no, it wasn't just the heart eyes his sister was making at an over thousand-year-old vampire.

Or that said vampire was making them back.

Or that neither of them noticed.

In all honesty, she could date whomever she wanted. Granted Elena's stance on Vicki was a bit harsh, but he understood where she came from. Although, the pot had yet to realize she's been calling the kettle black.

Still, it was rather unsettling to sit around a circular table where Elijah sat at the head, Elena to his right, and Amnesty to his left. Sometimes, when the light hit them just right, he saw them in armor and gowns worthy of Camelot...

Hey! That would be a good comic idea!

Focus, Jeremy!

"She's here? And you offered her clemency?" Shelia Bennet asked gaping like a codfish.

(Oh! Another good comic idea...)

"It was the only way to get the moonstone. If we get the moonstone, we're one step closer in ensuring Klaus has no reason to rampage across town," Amnesty replied evenly. While it had been made clear that Amnesty would help Bonnie, and that she respected Shelia, Jeremy picked up on underlying tensions easier than most. It was probably a side effect of family dinners with Uncle John when everyone thought he was either sleeping or sketching.

"I still think it's a fool's errand inviting that beast to town like this."

"Miss Bennet, while I do understand your sentiments, please remember that Niklaus is my brother. I may be unable to harm you due to prexisting deals, but I have killed others for defamation of his character," Elijah replied with a deadly cool tone.

Jeremy held his breath, but Aunt Jenna stepped in. "Speaking of the man who wants to sacrifice my niece, have we got any leads on him?"

Elijah sighed. "My contacts have yet to receive any word regarding him."

"Thank God," Jenna muttered.

"We have the comet to deal with though," Caroline said with a sigh. "I was tasked with some snack set up, but I'm sure I can find something on the rare side for you, Elijah." She gave him what Elena dubbed determined-but-nervous smile.

Jeremy groaned, "What about the vampires desicating beneath the church? Aren't they gonna be pissed when the comet breaks them free?"

"The comet, despite its ability to boost a witch's power, can't actually break the seal beneath the church." Bonnie popped another piece of popcorn in her mouth. "It's more of a really concentrated shot of espresso than a key to a lock."

Jeremy nodded in understanding.

"But Jere's right," his sister added with a tired sigh. "The vampires will be pissed, so what do we do?"

"We wait for Anna to show herself," Amnesty answered. "Then we make a deal which gives Klaus a worthy vampire to die for his cause."

"And who would that be?" Shelia asked with a quirked eyebrow and crossed arms.

"Mikael, of course."

Chapter Text

AMNISTIA PRIMA KNEW THAT KATHERINE WOULD AT LEAST TEST THE WATERS WHEN SHE AGREED TO THEIR DEAL. After all, Amnistia wasn't stupid. Katherine wouldn't be Katherine without her penchant for causing trouble.

Still, when Damon and Stefan Salvatore showed up at her bakery, she wasn't expecting another failed attempt at compulsion. "Fangul! You two don't know subtlety, do you?" She hissed at them while grabbing both men by an ear. They're stronger than her, but she did have the element of gravity on her side.

"Why can't you be compelled? You're a Traveller!" Damon hissed back.

"Are you two really that stupid or do you actually not smell the vervain on me?" Amnistia asked as she crossed her arms. They were in her kitchen now, behind a closed white-painted door. It was about as private as she could get considering she allowed Elena, Elijah, Caroline, Bonnie, Jeremy, Shelia, and Jenna have free reign of the bakery whenever they wanted—provided they all worked a shift a week to help her out.

It took Stefan a second but the wide eyes indicated he actually picked up on it. Goody!

"But how? I thought Travellers couldn't enchant vervain jewelry," he sounded more intrigued than anything else but it still exhausted her. Honestly, do they know nothing beyond Katherine Pierce and her Doppelganger?

"Travellers came up with their own ways of survival when the Spirits of Nature cursed them. We can do a lot more than just hop from host to host."

"B-but Elena and Katherine they're both here and—"

"At least Elena wants nothing to do with the either of you! So get the hell out of my best friend's kitchen before I stake you myself for having a creepy, stalkery, obsession with my niece!" Amnistia laughed as the two vampires seemed to quake in fear at Jenna Sommers. Who, as was usual for this time of day, entered through the back door of the kitchen to avoid a few less-than-steller suitors.

Ah, Amnistia loved when a plan came together. She sent the Salvatores her own unhinged grin before sharpening a pencil. "Now, I suggest you both be good children and stay out of our way. If not, I'll show you why pencils are the world's deadliest vampire killer." She held the number two pencil to Damon's throat, pushing the lead into his neck, while lamenting over the fact that John Wick would take another five years to grace the silver screen.

Honestly, she missed the small pleasures of her old world and time. She longed for the days where she could watch Keanu Reeves brutally murder a man with a pencil and bond with Wilhelm DeFoe over checkered pasts.

I guess living out my dream to be Buffy Summers will have to do, Amnistia thought as the pencil dug deeper into the older Salvatore's neck.

"I think they got the message, Amnesty," Jenna told her with a smirk. The twenty-year-old nodded and removed the pencil from his neck.

She didn't break skin—she wouldn't break skin—but they didn't have to know that.

The two men left her establishment, and Amnistia sighed. "Maron a mi, I'm gonna need wards around the bakery now."

"Eh, I think your King Lear impression sent them running for the hills," Jenna replied. "We won't have to worry about them for a bit. Now, where can I clock in, Boss Lady?"

TANNER DRONED ON AND ON AND ON ABOUT THE COMET. It came once ever one-hundred-fifty years, harbinger of evil, insert the teacher from the Charlie Brown specials here. Elena discreetly checked her phone, and grinned at the notification.

Finished with your ancestor's journal. Apparently Anna Zhu was in Mystic Falls during the last comet. Care for a late lunch to discuss?

Elijah Mikaelson was still getting the hang of texting, but he was an old soul with older values. Talking and handshake deals were his preferred method of interaction, maybe even a letter here or there. She appreciated that about him.

Sure, say about 3 pm?

Tanner droned on some more. The sunlight momentarily blinding those in the class as it came out form behind the clouds. Using that as a well timed distraction, she placed her phone in her bag.

"The comet holds a big place in Mystic Falls folklore, apparently the first few settlers from the Salem Witch Trials would use the comet for—"

Her phone lit up in the bag and Elena couldn't help herself. She checked and grinned a little wider at the text.

I shall rearrange my meetings accordingly. Until then, Elena.

The bell rang a little while later and Elena shot up with all the speed of bullet. Off to the next class she went, excited for the day to be over.

THAT AFTERNOON, the Grill was quite busy. Matt worked the floor while trying to ready the bar for the evening shift and Elijah found himself lounging in a chair waiting for Elena to arrive.

An interesting Petrova Doppelganger to say the least, unlike Tatia she was fiercer in a quieter way. Ready to try her luck against the odds of the world for the sake of a town she would likely long to leave one day. Ready to die for the sake of family and friends, when her life was laid out for her in a bullet pointed summary of all Amnesty knew. Ready to fight or even get hurt trying in order to avenge a friend who had no choice in a breach of her honor.

Still, Caroline Forbes had honor and the beginnings of confidence to spare. Even preparing for the idea of turning by choice for the sole fact of protecting Bonnie and Elena—although the fact that she would have an eternity to see the world seemed to also entice her.

He gave her his word that Caroline's decision would be between them until she was ready to tell her friends, perhaps at some point after their junior year had settled.

He looked over the yellowed pages of the journal and scoffed at some obviously wrong information while took note of some others. Anna Zhu and Pearl Zhu were two names that popped up quite frequently in this installment. The Gilbert ancestor seemed quite taken with Pearl only to hate her so ardently for the perceived slight of her species. The complete audacity of the Founding Gilbert!

Still, that was neither here nor there—

"Well, it was the 1860s, in the midst of a civil war where neighbors were murdering neighbors over which side they agreed with, Gilberts taking a pro-Rebel stance with the rest of the Founding Families. Of course he wouldn't accept a woman he claimed to love so ardently when he found out she was different than him," Elena sat beside him and gritted her teeth. She placed her bag on the back of the chair before picking up a menu. She laughed at Elijah's gob-smacked expression. "What?"

"No one has ever snuck up on me before."

"You were in your Professor Mikaelson Lecture mode," Elena told him as she pointed the menu in his direction. "You never notice anyone in that mode."

"My siblings would tell me something similar when I'd debate with Freud on the human condition," Elijah chuckled at the memory. Him, Klaus, and Rebekah all sitting at one table with Freud in a restaurant in Vienna. Klaus looked bored and Rebekah chimed in with a few snarky comments of her own, but neither could get the eldest's attention as he was busy lecturing an aging Freud on his own experiences with the human mind. The evening was warm, but came to a quick close when Mikael had found them.

His smile fell away and he felt her hand rub his upper arm comfortingly. Another way she differed from the previous two Doppelgangers, she gave out support freely. She did not have the pains that Tatia or Katerina had. Elena, perhaps, would be the kindest of them all.

"So, how do we find Anna?" Elena asked after they both ordered.

(The finest rare steak the Grill had for Elijah and the biggest deluxe bacon cheeseburger with large sweet potato fries and a strawberry milkshake for Elena.)

"She finds us, apparently the journal detailed the night in which the first John Gilbert locked Pearl and a few dozen other vampires in the tomb beneath Fell's Church for them to suffer eternal desiccation."

"Okay, and why would she be coming back here?" Elena asked as she placed her napkin on her lap.

"Because the power of the comet is required for the tomb to open."

"Which requires witches, and that means the Bennets," Elena finished with a sigh.

"Well done," Elijah told her with a small grin of pride. They clinked their glasses of water and took a sip. "Although, I do have a few witch contacts if you plan on helping Anna."

"Anna knows the location of Mikael apparently, and your brother needs a vampiric sacrifice, so why not trade her mother for your father?"

"You've been spending too much time around Amnesty. She told me the same thing."

"Yes, because we're trying to help you. Why look for another vampire when you have access to a perfectly good one. Poetic justice and all that?"

"Well, I'll think about it, but I still believe Damon's a better choice. He's compellable and easier to get too."

"You just don't like the fact that your own sense of brotherly duty refused to let you kill him during your brutal torture session," Elena commented into her glass of water.

Then, their food arrived, and he only said, "I'll think about it."

AMNISTIA PRIMA FLIPPED THE JOURNAL OVER IN HER HAND. The comet would be flying across the sky tonight, and she spent a good portion of the week single-handedly supplying the baked goods for the town event. Part of her wondered why the gods didn't just through her in Sleepy Hollow.

They had more likable characters and Rory needed her ass kicked into gear.

But that was neither here nor there.

"You looked exhausted," Elijah told her as they watched the Gilbert siblings play tag with Caroline and Bonnie. But, the difference was, once you were tagged, you snuck a swig of Jenna's champagne. She laughed a bit when Jenna decided to join them. At this rate, they'd all be drunk before the comet came.

Amnistia sighed and leaned back into a bench. "I was just thinking that it's been a long two weeks. The bakery contributed a majority of the sweets for tonight, and I still need to help out by being the designated driver."

"A little sister's tasks are never done," Elijah quipped.

"No, no they're not."

The two sat on the bench in silence for a while. The sun went down a few hours previous and Caroline found her way to the two adopted siblings, playing with her bronze locket. "Jenna's looking for you two, we found a great spot to watch the comet and their handing out the candles now."

They made some noise of affirmation, either an actual sentence (Elijah—with his impeccable manners of course) or just a grunt (Amnistia—because she hasn't fully let go of her slightly gruff, New Jersey ways). The odd trio of a girl recovering from trauma, a girl ripped from Death's hands before she even settled into them, and a thousand-year-old vampire bobbed and weaved through the crowds. People chattered about how Madame Lockwood tried and failed to gain the affections of a new lover, or how that young lady married someone from outside the town and they weren't too happy with it, or how this entire hotel's staff didn't show up to work three days ago and were found dead with two puncture wounds in the neck.

The usual gossip of a small town...

Aside from the fact that a vampire went and fed on an entire staff a town away. The trio looked at each other with wide eyes, and Amnistia watched as Elijah nodded minutely.

She got the message loud and clear.

It may not be Anna, but with the comet and the attack there was a high likelihood that it was Anna.

The group picked up the pace, Caroline in the lead and magic sparking between Amnistia's fingers as if readying itself for a fight. Elijah kept himself almost imperceptibly on alert.

When they got to the picnic area, they were quickly given candles. All the lights in town shut off. Jenna lit her candle. Jeremy lit his with his aunt's. Elena repeated the action with Jeremy's candle. And down the line it went. From Elena to Bonnie then Bonnie to Caroline from Caroline to Amnistia and finally from Amnistia to Elijah. The comet would be passing over head soon. Everyone's in position passing around popcorn and sparklers to anyone under the age of ten but over the age of three.

As the comet flew across the sky, Amnistia watched her friends with some pride.

Bonnie felt the comet's power and visibly leaned into it. Elijah slipped away from her side to talk with Elena and her brother, most likely about other celestial events he'd seen in his long life. Caroline found herself talking a little ways off with Matt and laughing at something he had said.

But Jenna came up to her side and swung an arm around the shorter woman's shoulders. "Thank you," Jenna told her with some emotion lacing her voice.

"What do you mean?"

"Thank you. I was terrified I'd have to be a guardian on my own, but the universe sent me my own little Traveller. And, whether or not you believe it, you've been a big help." Jenna dug around her bag with a free hand and held up a tiny bronze key. "I know you like you're apartment that sings All Star whenever an unwanted vampire shows up, or Thunderstruck whenever an unwanted Original shows up," the twenty-five-year-old grad student took a deep breath. "But, if you ever need a place to get away from it all to the best of our ability, here's a key to the Gilbert House. You're one of us now, whether you like it or not."

Amnistia felt the tears roll down her face as she gingerly took the key. "I'd-uh-I'd give you a hug but there's a lit candle in my hand," was all she said between the sniffles. She felt the warmth of sisterly affection fill her as she looked at the key before her sniffles stopped at one word. "HEY! I'M NOT LITTLE!"

And it was off to the races once more.

Chapter Text

SHE WAS AROUND JEREMY'S AGE, physically speaking, and she looked so mad at the world. Elena couldn't help it, she pulled the vampire into a hug. "I'm so sorry for what my ancestor did to your mother. He was an asshole and that shouldn't have happened."

The girl stiffened in Elena's hold.

Going into this meeting, Elena made a few assumptions about the mysterious Anna Zhu. Namely, that she would be about twenty-years in looks and that she would be a brutal woman on a warpath to save her mother and bring about the end of the Gilberts for vengeance's sake.

Honestly, Elena wouldn't blame her if that was the truth.

However, when Anna entered the bakery, Elena's whole game plan—attempt at intimidation and striking a deal—changed in an instant.

She was around Jeremy's age.

A child just barely two years younger than Elena herself lived and survived in the harsh world without her mother for the past hundred-fifty years. She lived with the knowledge that her mother was desiccating in a gods-be-damned tomb with no way to help her or even having the morbid comfort of knowing her mother could eventually die! How cruel was that?

At least Elena knew her parents died in that river.

At least Elena knew that they're looking down on her from wherever and not missing a single moment.

At least Elena could blame herself for surviving and not being a good enough sister for Jeremy when he needed it because she should've died over that bridge too.

At least—

Christ, Elena really needed a therapist, didn't she?

Either way, Elena hugged the vampire instead. Held her tight. Apologized for how much of an utter dick her ancestor was... and she didn't use that term lightly. Currently, only two other people had that title placed upon them they were Uncle John and Damon.

What did that say about her that only three men were considered for the category of "dick"? And how two of them were related to her? And how one violated her best friend while another constructed a device to kill an entire species of people then proceeded to throw a woman he loved beneath a church to essentially die?

She did not want to unpack her own psyche right now.

"W-why do you want to help me?" The girl asked after a very long moment of silence. She weaseled herself out of her hug, and the dark almond eyes were glassy. Elena never saw a vampire cry before. Sometimes she wondered if they ever did cry, but here was Anna, on the verge of tears. "Y-you're a Gilbert and Gilberts hate vampires."

"Hundred-fifty years ago, maybe they did. But I, and my brother, are very good friends with a vampire. I'm trying to help his brother, and, if doing that means I can help you along the way and make up for my jerk of an ancestor, then I will."

"When do we get her out?" Anna asked hopefully.

"The next full moon, when Elijah's witch allies from San Francisco get here. They owe him a favor."

"Elijah, as in Elijah Mikaelson?" Anna asked suddenly guarded and intrigued. "Are you planning to die for his brother's curse?"

Elena sent her a small smile. "Elijah plans on bringing me back, and he always keeps his promises."

"Why would you do that? Not even Katherine was insane enough to die for Klaus!"

"I've got a friend looking out for me."

"That's cryptic," Anna muttered then crossed her arms petulantly. Elena let out a bark of laughter. "Anyway, what would you like in return for this?" The young-looking vampire asked her with a dramatic wave of her hand.

"The location of Mikael," Elena replied with a shrug.

"Mikael, why would you want to know where that psycho is? Especially if you plan on helping his children?"

"My friend wants to find him and give him to Klaus for the sacrifice. Poetic justice for the bastard son and all that," Elena explained as cryptically as possible. The less who knew about Amnesty, the better.

Anna studied her for a long moment then sighed. "Tell your friend I want to meet them to discuss the specifics of the deal. I'll be in touch, Elena." The brunette watched as the petite girl turned to leave. Anna made it half way to the door before turning and giving her a small smile, "For what it's worth, thank you."

LA PASTICCERIA di AMNISTIA SEEMED TO BE THE HOTSPOT OF THE EVENING. Amnistia called in all the stops—from Shelia to Jeremy, everyone she gave free reign to was called in to help deal with this insane rush.

Halloween was just around the corner, and the teens of Mystic Falls seemed to have decided that throwing a Halloween party in the school's gym would be perfect for Mischief Night. That meant that, while Amnistia made quite a lot of money for the orders, she needed quite a lot of help to complete the orders in time. "Caroline," the Traveller finally said after placing the last big bag of flower down in the pantry. "Tell us again why you told the entire school this was the place to get food for your party?"

"Because you make the best treats. Besides, Tanner is the Mischief Night coordinator, so you can just hex him all you want," the blonde explained. She opened her mouth to say something else when she saw something and immediately went to handle it. "Tiki, I told you that the orange ribbons go on the black bags while purple ribbons go on the orange ones and the black ribbons go on the purple bags! Do I have to do everything myself?"

Amnistia let out a snort of laughter before heading to the coffee machine. That was Caroline for you—all delegation and being on top of quite literally everything. She took a sip and watched the chaos that went on around her.

It was a lot.

"Two people staring at you, two and six o'clock," Jeremy's voice made Amnisita jump and spill the rest of her coffee.

"Migari! Please remember that sneaking up on people is—wait, who's staring at me?" Amnistia began looking through the crowds to see who it was. She spotted Tanner at the two o'clock—ew, by the way. Then she saw a petite Asian girl at the six. Anna Zhu. "Jeremy," the Traveller called.

"Yeah?"

"The girl at the six," she raised her chin in the direction. "Anna, Elena said she wanted to meet with me. Send her my way. Then send Elijah towards Tanner with his big brother routine." Jeremy nodded and went off to perform his tasks.

Meanwhile, Amnistia fixed herself a coffee... again. She sensed someone behind her and said,  "Can't give you your drink of choice but I do have coffee. Want some?"

Vampires had a different energy than humans, witches, and even Originals. Granted energy had different levels, one's species was just a single part of it, but the magic that thrummed in their veins keeping them perpetually frozen. It poked at her senses, unforgiving frozen spears testing the waters of her own energy. Almost all vampires had that feeling—but their other qualities (old magical ability, emotional stability, etc.) covered over it to the best of its ability.

"Coffee with three sugars, please," Anna replied with a slight edge of her voice. Amnistia nodded and handed her the coffee.

"You wanted to meet with me?"

"How'd you know about my mother?"

Amnistia smirked. "I know things."

"How? Did you see these journals as well?"

She sipped the coffee to hide her grin. "I have my own way of knowing things, Anna, and I would rather not say."

"If you know my name than I ought to know yours," Anna told her.

"Amnistia Prima," she raised a hand toward Anna. "Call me Amnesty."

"Anna Zhu, but you knew that," the child-looking vampire introduced herself.

"I did." Amnistia smiled that odd, knowing smile that she used to hate to see.

"You and your friends are going to help me get my mom out, right?" Anna asked. She sounded hesitant, and Amnistia couldn't tell if Anna was hesitant about the visibly older woman or the prospect of saving her mother. "I know Elijah Mikaelson though. Every vampire worth their salt does, and he always wants something in return. What does he want?"

Ah, that's what it was.

"The coordinates to Mikael's coffin. We are currently attempting to break Klaus's curse in order to stop the most amount of bloodshed." Amnistia answered simply.

"Why would you want to bring that curse to an end? Do you know how much of a monster he is now? Doing this—"

"Anna, he's like you. Lost and alone and split from his surviving family. We help him break his curse, everyone survives even you and your mother."

Amnistia watched as the young woman opened her mouth than closed it. She took a sip from her coffee and sighed. "So all you're asking is the coordinates?" Anna asked after a long minute.

"I'll take care of the rest."

"Free my mother and then you get your coordinates." Anna dropped a five dollar bill on the counter. "Keep the change." With that, she walked out the door.

HE WATCHED THE BAKERY FROM THE WINDOW. Apparently, his informants have been correct and there was a new, human Doppelganger.

"Brother, you came," it wasn't a question. Elijah fixed his suit jacket as they watched the goings on. Teenagers scampered around making bags and fixing decorations.

"A little birdie told me a new Doppelganger existed, I came to see."

"Glad to see my informants met your people in time."

"I should've known it was you," he let out a small laugh of incredulity.

"Well, Niklaus, shall we introduce you to Mystic Falls?"

"I always loved a grand entrance."

Niklaus grinned wolfishly as the brothers stepped forward.

Chapter Text

ELIJAH AND NIKLAUS WALKED INTO THE BAKERY TOGETHER. He spared a glance at Coach Tanner, who was staring at Amnesty, and scoffed. He shook his head as the twenty-year-old refused to give the football coach the time of day.

"Shall I tear the man's throat out for you, Brother, or will you tear out his heart instead?" Niklaus asked him. His younger brother's eyes glinted with a slightly unhinged mirth. He held himself with an air of confidence that increased during their thousand years as monsters, but with that confidence came an odd sense of paranoia after creating many enemies. Elijah held up a hand before letting his shoulders drop.

"I shall handle this Niklaus. You find a short girl with green eyes and a bronze necklace. Her name is Amnistia, and she would like to speak with you."

"Alright, alright. Still don't know why I take orders from you. I'm one-thousand-twenty-five and—"

"Niklaus!" The short eruption of annoyance cowed his younger brother like it had in their youth. Niklaus stomped away and Elijah smiled fondly. Despite planning his death not even three months previous, that was still his brother. He loved him... in his own Mikaelson way.

"Brothers, am I right?" Coach Tanner asked him as he moseyed on up to him.

"Siblings more like it," Elijah replied with a tight smile.

"Ah. I'm one of two, so..." the coach trailed off. He left an uncomfortable silence in its wake. Before the conversation (or lack thereof) could go on, Elijah cleared his throat.

"Speaking of siblings, I have recently decided to take Amnesty in as one of my own. This means that whenever a suitor is being particularly persistent without her consent, I shall step in and handle the matter as the eldest familial figure she has."

"O-okay." His face scrunched up and his stance was off. He felt the man test his last few remaining strands of patience.

Coach Tanner was still confused?

"Meaning," Elijah really tried to reign in his sass. He really did but then this tumbled out. "I find it quite distressing that when a lady is not interested in a small-minded, self-important high school teacher and says so, her thoughts on the matter aren't being accepted. Instead, half-witted fools like yourself are taking choices away from her. She deserves better than you and better than you she shall have. Now, leave her alone or else I shall end you quickly."

"I WONDER," Amnistia said to herself aloud as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "Could this mean that in some other world, I ended up in Sleepy Hollow?"

"Why are you wasting time with speculation like that? Plus, why would you end up in the Johnny Depp movie where his love interest is played by a girl who looks twelve?" Jenna asked her with a scoff as she placed donuts in the oven.

"Oh, no, I meant the show. In about four years from now, FOX is going to air a television series based on the short story of Sleepy Hollow with X-Files like stakes involved. It's going to be short, but Tom Mison and David Duchovny are probably why I have a thing for blue eyes."

"David Duchovny in his X-Files days was quite the man."

"Indeed."

SOMEWHERE, miles away, there was a shift in the ground. Immerging from the ground, a man took his first breath of air. He stumbled around, the light from the stairs being his only guide.

One foot in front of the other.

The man struggled up the stairs and towards the light.

MYSTIC FALLS WAS NOT READY FOR WHEN KLAUS MET AMNESTY. Jenna, however, was completely ready. She stocked up on popcorn and bought copious amounts of liquor for her and, well, her to drink.

"So, you're the little one who seems to be pulling all the strings?" Klaus had an accent from England, so where was he this whole time? Just hiding out in the U.K. with all the Mister Darcys of the world waiting to strike? Ah well.

"I wouldn't say pulling all the strings, but I do pull a few of them," Amnesty replied with a shrug while licking the batter off the spoon.

Jenna held her own spoon of cookie dough and they clinked their spoons in a "cheers" motion. "Here, here!" Jenna added for no one in particular.

"Why would you want to pull the strings to bring me here?" Klaus asked. Jenna's head turned back and forth from the vampire and the Traveller.

Amnesty grinned. "Let's say I'm just trying to ensure that you don't burn the town down for trying to break your curse."

"So you're doing this out of what? Good will?"

"Essentially, also keeping Elena from the Salvatores is quite entertaining."

"Now, why don't I believe you?" Klaus took a threatening step forward. Amnesty only shrugged.

"If you want an olive branch, the last of the white oak is the Wickery Bridge. Everyone's away from it so it's open to arson."

Klaus grinned in terrifying way. Jenna just took a swig of the champagne from the bottle and shrugged it off. "Be back by midnight for an alibi," Jenna found herself advising.

"I like her, would you like to come with?" Klaus asked Jenna.

"No thanks, I don't date men over twenty years older than me," Jenna answered.

"Very well then, Sweetheart. I shall ask you again to a more platonic affair."

AMNISTIA FELT HER HEART PUMP UNCOMFORTABLY FAST AFTER KLAUS LEFT. "For fuck's sake he came too early! I didn't have anything ready and—" she cut herself off. Focused on her breathing, trying to count down from ten. She felt her chest tighten and her legs got ready to give out.

Tea warmed her hands and she was forced to drink. "She'll be fine. Your brother showing up seemed to have screwed her plans over a bit," a familiar voice said. She knew that voice. That was Jenna's voice. The tea tasted of peppermint.

She felt a hand holding hers then saw a green-eyed blonde in her vision. "Amnesty, Amnesty look at me. This is okay. This is going to end. You did well, sure this may bring up your time table quite a bit, but we will be okay."

"Mayday, Mayday, Klaus showed up early, eh?" Amnistia found herself saying after taking a shuddering breath.

"Exactly, but people get through maydays," Caroline told her. She took the tea from her hands and gave her a hug. "You will be fine. We will be fine. Your plans just need to adapt."

"Care, you hate adapting," Elena reminded her with a smirk.

"Shh, trying to help here!"

After one more deep breath, Amnistia jumped up from the stool. She took stalk of what her plan was. Try to adhere to the rough timeline of the show, get things ready for the full moon after Elena's eighteenth birthday, and then have the curse broken. From there, they deal with the Hollow. But she needed to take this one step at a time, which meant facing Mikael earlier than wanted.

She went straight to the cookie dough.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy asked her with confusion lacing his voice.

"Making more cookies, we need to convince Elijah's allies to open the tomb earlier." She began breaking eggs into the bowl and poured a gods-be-damned amount of vanilla into it with some Lactaid milk. The mixture flew about the kitchen and Amnistia sighed. She needed a vacation.

And she said as much.

"Where are you thinking of, maybe we could make a family trip out of it?" Elena offered.

Amnistia shrugged.

Where did she want to go? One place came to mind for some odd reason. "Sleepy Hollow."

WHEN KLAUS CALLED THE MEETING, Elena was getting ready for their road trip. No one knew why she chose Sleepy Hollow, but Amnistia really did need a break.

Elijah was on the patio waiting for her and Jenna. Together the three of them sat on the porch swing. Klaus carried a coffin with him.

"So, since the lady offered me an olive branch of the chance to perform arson early this morning," Klaus began as he laid down the ornate, dark wood coffin with a crest of the Mikaelsons. He opened the coffin and pulled out an ornate dagger. "So I have one of my own."

Elena watched in morbid fascination as the body raised itself from the coffin and attacked the seven blood bags Klaus held out. Finally, the gray left his skin and standing was a young man who looked to be about Amnesty's age.

He looked around confused for a moment.

Then he lunged.

Chapter Text

SHE WENT BACK TO BED. She refused to deal with this at 3:34 in the goddamn morning. Amnistia crawled her way into the Gilbert house, laid down on the couch and passed out.

When she woke up the next morning, she may have had accidentally punched someone in the face. "Sorry," she yawned as she back handed the person again. It really hadn't hit her yet that was someone was watching her sleep until—

"OW! OI! Elijah, she hit me again!" It was an unfamiliar voice that fully woke her up.

Quickly, she screamed, "ACK! ELIJAH, SOME FUCKING WEIRDO WAS WATCHING ME SLEEP!" She kicked him in the side then used some magic to push him across the room. As Elijah sprinted into the room, she hid behind him with seafoam colored sparks around her fingers.

"Amnesty, what weirdo are you referring to?" Elijah asked her curiously.

Amnistia just gave him an incredulous look before asking, "Are you getting blind and senile in your old age? Him!" She pointed to the man with a jagged piece of wood through his chest. "He was the one watching me!"

"Oh him?" Elijah asked her calmly as he moved toward the now-broken chair. "He's relatively harmful, and ill-meaning, but chaos is his bread and butter. He won't hurt you."

As Amnistia watched Elijah just stand serenely by the vampire, she made three stuffed animals float in the air. "Elijah, I think you and I have different ideas on what that makes him dangerous." She hissed as the Elijah nudged the unknown man with his foot.

"Kol, stop faking and get up," Elijah told the boy without so much as sparing a glance at Amnistia. She heard a boyish whine as he pushed himself off the floor. She didn't watch much of whenever Kol was on screen when she was younger.

Actually, she kinda tuned him out because he seemed like a more prat-ish version of Klaus.

But here Kol was, in the flesh, and she punched him then back handed him and then threw him into a wooden chair.

She remembered then that he liked to throw tantrums and that stuffed animals wouldn't help. So she let those drop.

"Elijah, you spoil all my fun," he complained. Amnistia scoffed.

"You call watching me sleep fun? Should I get you fucking committed?" Amnistia exclaimed before cursing him out in Italian. She paced around the room, flailed her hands, and ducked every time a spark zinged off the wall or mirror.

"No, that wasn't fun, Darling. That was my job. Under threat of being daggered for the next thousand years should I step a toe out of line, I am now your bodyguard as a thank you gift from my paranoid older brother." Kol gave her a mocking bow while still in his bloodied tuxedo from early twentieth century. "I am Kol Mikaelson, the Terror of New Orleans, at your service."

She screamed, knowing the soon-to-be-Original Hybrid would hear her, "GODDAMMIT KLAUS!"

"KOL WAS THE BEST ONES OF MY SIBLINGS TO PROTECT HER," Elijah told everyone that afternoon around copious amounts of breakfast foods. Amnesty took a bite of French toast, then made a sincerely unhappy sound.

"I don't need protecting," she replied after scarfing down the toast.

"My dear, deranged brother seems to beg a differ," Kol noted while downing a tumbler of brandy.

"You're dear, deranged brother is going to need to kill my niece at some point in time. I think he's putting protection on the wrong person." Elijah mentally applauded Jenna. Not many would dare to call out his brother, within an Original's earshot.

"I'm a peace offering, how do you think I feel?"

"Next time, don't get caught when you piss off your brother," Amnesty told Kol with a bit of a sarcastic edge.

"Next time," Kol began as he sped across the room. He held his arm against her throat. "Watch what you—OW!"

Elijah laughed as she bit down hard upon Kol's arm. His younger brother let her go quickly. "Now, now you two. That's enough playing," Elijah told the two before he went back to his black coffee with a pint of blood. The two separated themselves and spirits forbid that they ever decide to team up. From the glares they sent each other, he'd consider it the first sign of the apocalypse being their chaotic bouts against one another.

What was Niklaus thinking?

If vampires could turn gray then—

"NOT IN THE KITCHEN!"

Never a dull moment.

ANNA ZHU FILED INTO THE SMALL CLASSROOM ALONG WITH OTHER FRESHMEN. She made a promise to attempt to blend in, and the easiest way to do that apparently was entering high school...

And also she may have wanted to see Jeremy.

Not that she'd admit it, not at all.

But he was cute—in a dorky way—and seemingly well-mannered. Sure, on occasion his voice would crack when he was embarrassed, and that wasn't cool, but he had really grown on her this past week.

"I'm glad you found the art room alright," his voice broke her reverie and she smiled at him. Followed it up with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, but secretly she was hoping she could only hear the pounding of the blood through her veins.

"It was easy. Vampire, remember?" She replied perhaps a bit too quickly. Oh Ancestors, if only Mama saw her now! Getting all off kilter for a goddamn Gilbert!

"Vampire or not, school's tough on the first day for everyone." He answered back easily enough. Anna found herself shrugging in agreement. He did have a point. Her heightened senses went haywire at all the stimuli the teenagers gave off. From noise to the sent of blood to that one pimple on that one girl's face that was covered up but made it all the more obvious was there, high school was already shaping up to be a nightmare. Or at least a rather annoying dream.

She took a deep breath to center herself. She survived five wars, lost her mother due to an attempted massacre, and was friends (in the loosest sense of the term) with Katherine fucking Pierce.

Anna Zhu could handle high schoolers.

"Anyway, you better tell Elijah or whoever is pulling the strings that a group of sorority girls went missing two days ago. One of them was found with two puncture wounds in their neck and drained of blood," Anna explained in a whisper as their teacher walked in. She seemed to have a flare for the dramatics, a billowing dark blue cape with green cat eye glasses that seemed to have been blown from glass. She seemed to be in her seventies, but that didn't stop Anna from admiring her flare for dramatics.

"Really?" Jeremy said it so low that only she could hear.

Anna nodded her head imperceptibly. "I think the Salvatores may be behind it. One of them was a Ripper back in the Jazz Age, I just don't remember which."

"What's a ripper?"

"Capital R, Jeremy. It's a person who cannot stop the moment they started drinking blood until the body's bled dry. From there, they move on to the next victim."

"I'll inform the War Council," Jeremy replied. War council? "Christ. It seems like we have a lot to deal with between now and the November Founding Family exhibit."

Anna just patted his back in comfort... and secretly hoped that the "a lot to deal with" included freeing her mother soon.

AMNISTIA'S BEST DAY INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING: drinking nothing but coffee, a nice tiramisu cake for all meals, and a nice heated blanket to curl up and read under. It did not include her whiny Original bodyguard.

"Nik, why do I have to work in her bakery?" Said whiny Original bodyguard complained to his brother for the umpteenth time that day.

"Because it stops you from any other form of menacing and marauding and backstabbing you have planned now that you're out of the box." Klaus took a bite of his cheesecake and smiled. "Excellent dessert, Sweetheart. I may just have to keep you after I break my curse."

"Eh, as long as you pay me per meal I'm sure we could come to an arrangement." Amnistia replied with a serious face as she cleaned her counter.

"Excuse me?" Klaus sputtered, momentarily choking on his food. His eyes widened comically and he couldn't speak.

"Klaus, you have more money than perhaps Pluto himself. When you like a girl, or need a specific asset protected, you pay whatever the cost and still have enough to live much more than comfortably if that mansion is any indication. Paying me per meal, and covering grocery costs, shouldn't be that bad." The Traveller kept her face neutral as she watched his eyes bug out more and more. She then listed all the benefits required for her to even consider working for the paranoid Original. Followed by the cost of professional cooking equipment and the monthly budget of cleaning supplies.

She stopped when she thought his eyes would pop out from his eye sockets. They'd probably grow back, but the customers were eating and didn't need to see that.

Kol's response surprised her. He howled in delight at the expression on his bother's face. "Good one, Miss Prima! If you keep this up, we might even become friends!"

"Then we might really be facing Armageddon. Four horsemen of the Apocalypse riding and everything, so we better not," Amnistia quipped before heading towards a table to refill their coffee mugs.

"You wound me, Darling!" The youngest Mikaelson brother yelled across the floor to her.

"To bad because I was aiming to kill!"

ICHABOD CRANE SAT IN THE ARCHIVES FLIPPING THROUGH ONE OF THE LATE SHERIEFF'S OLD TOMES. What he found was not entirely helpful but an interesting lead. "Lieutenant!" He called as he ran down the hall. He passed the woman assigned to paper work and dealing with phone calls as well as occasionally picking him up coffee. He gave her a brief wave hello, currently kicking himself for not remembering her name. "Lieutenant!" He called again.

The book fit snugly against the crook between his arm and chest, but it was rather thick and crushing his thumb. "LIEU—" he cut himself off then marched back to the archives. It was rather unbecoming of him to scream in public, therefore he shall just leave the book open instead with a note.

Back in the archives, after he found a blank sheet of lined paper, he wrote Lieutenant Mills a small apology as well as his intended destination. He laid the book open on the page delicately and set off.

The note read as followed:

Lieutenant Mills, I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I could not find you in the archives. I have found a lead on someone who could help us fight the Horseman. They are one of the last of the Nephilim. I shall be on a train heading to the last known location intended for their arrival, Mystic Falls, Virginia. I implore you to come as soon as possible, but I should be back rather soon.

With sincerest apologies for leaving like this,

Ichabod Crane

Nothing he prepared seemed to shake the feeling that Ichabod Crane was about to change his life as he snuck onto the train.

Chapter Text

"FUCK YOU, Kol!" She called from behind the door to the kitchen. The exceedingly handsome, carved-from-Frejya-herself man in question rolled his eyes. "You can't just do things like that! There are rules for a gods-be-damned reason and you broke my fucking concentration!" She failed her arms in no particular direction. She also stomped around like a child, but riling her up was too much fun to fear the glare that even made Nik cower on occasion.

"Your fault for choosing a spell that requires that much concentration in the first place."

"Detecting the intent of desiccating vampires takes time!" She exclaimed with exasperation. "I can't knowingly leave everyone but Pearl to die down there if I know a few of them can control themselves and live happily."

"You're too trusting. Not all of them are like the Noble Stag."

"And not all of them are seeking irreparable carnage like you are." Kol shrugged as Amnistia came out of the kitchenette waving a steaming spoon at him. "Remind me again why you chose to live with me?"

"Because I love to annoy you, Darling," he gave her his best angelic smile and she just rolled her eyes.

"Make yourself useful and set the table."

THAT "IRREPERABLE CARNAGE" THE LADY SPEAKS ABOUT WAS A COFFEE MACHINE. It looked top of the line, with all the different (fancy) espresso buttons, but it crashed into millions of tiny pieces. A poor end for a clearly beloved home gadget.

It was just a horrid case of wrong place, wrong time.

Although, Kol was quite pleasantly surprised on how hard the metal stick—a bat, according to Amnesty—had hit.

He wondered if all modern sports had a tool such as this. If they did, he would be more than willing to join an amateur team and play. Heads would roll.

Heads would roll indeed.

The smirk made its way onto his face before he could notice. And his charge immediately began the futile attempt at taking the bat from his grip. "No more destruction of property for you," Amnesty told him as she struggled to free the bat from his hand.

When her grip loosened, Kol wondered if she—nope. No, she did not give up. He flinched and dropped the bat as the metal seemed to heat of its own accord. He glared at her, only to find a matching smirk on her face.

It's been a little more than a hundred years since he's been put in the box, had the world truly gotten over his terror by then?

"You know there were days when all supernaturals would quake in my mere presence," Kol told her. He kept his hands in his jean pockets but followed her around the storeroom regardless. She just hummed in response and he was surprised. She wasn't even giving him a backwards glance!

"Hello? Hello? I beg your pardon for my intrusion, but the door said the bakery was open." A new accented voice called from the front. Kol looked toward Amnesty who raised an eyebrow at him and pointed to the door.

"Why do I have to go out there?" Kol hissed.

She held up the bowl with her other hand. It was silver and he smelt the overpowering scent of vanilla from where he stood. "I'm mixing the next batch of cookies!" She exclaimed.

In the end, after four rounds of rock paper and a promise of playing a game called "Mario Kart", Kol marched out from the back with his arms crossed against his chest.

Before he spoke, he scoffed. He heard her whisper, "Fucking Kol Mikaelson."

MARIO KART MADE OR BROKE FRIENDSHIPS. And Amnsitia was quite aware of this.

It was the main reason why she challenged him to the game.

Granted, Amnsitia Prima found that she didn't mind the youngest Mikaelson as a roommate. He grumbled but always paid rent—even though she never required it from him. His height was appreciated when she needed to grab things off the top shelf. And he actually had good ideas on how to try and ensure she didn't overexert herself when doing magical shenanigans.

For example:

"So, that gods forsaken 'alarm' of yours took how much out of you?"

Amnsitia shrugged. "Not much when I knew how exactly to pull it off. The spell was strongest with blood and intent. Once I figured that out, I didn't need to force the spell to stick on the stones."

Kol gave her a look as he inspected the smooth stones she hid around the apartment. "A spell of this caliber should've killed a Traveller. Are you sure you're a Traveller?"

"Considering the Spirits of Nature saw it fit to almost kill me from blood loss after attempting to make vervain lockets on silver lockets? Yes."

"Next time you do something that stupid, please ensure that a vampire is around to give you some blood."

"Do you actually care about me?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a teasing smile.

"What? No! It's just that there's a shortage of interesting people in the world, and it'd be a shame to lose one over stupidity."

Amnistia Prima rolled her eyes and went back to the spell at hand. After another while of silence, she heard Kol sigh in annoyance. "What are you trying to do exactly?" He asked her.

"I'm trying to turn a spell from Dungeons and Dragons into the physical space," Amnistia growled. "But it's harder than it looks."

"Well, look at it as a spell that already exists. If trying to make it real doesn't work, then it must be real already, right?" Kol asked her with an odd glittering in his eyes. "Therefore, you need to stop taking it from an angle where its manifest first and intend later. It's intention first which leads to the manifestation."

"Fuck, Kol, you're right!"

But, today wasn't about his helpful insights on spell casting. Today was about kicking his butt on the ever challenging Rainbow Road.

She handed him a controller with a maniacal grin. "Ready to lose, Mikaelson?" Amnistia asked as she started up the game.

"You wish, Prima," Kol replied.

"You're gonna eat your words, Kol," Bonnie called from the other room. "She's the queen of Rainbow Road!"

The popping of popcorn could be heard from the living room and Jeremy jumped in between Amnistia and Kol. "Wait! Grab me a controller! I want a rematch!"

"You know where everything is," Amnistia replied in a deadpan voice. "Grab it yourself." Jeremy rolled his eyes and got the controller from the wicker basket beneath her television.

All the players gathered on the couch—Amnistia, Kol, and Jeremy—and Amnistia pressed play. The Special Cup was the fourth and final cup. She clicked it without much complaining (Jeremy) or sass about why they're playing the game in the first place (Kol).

Most of the races were close. The top three spots switching between the three players for each race, which admittedly surprised Amnistia because Kol was in a box until three months ago.

Then came the horrible, terrible, ever-challenging, bane of every Mario Kart player's existence... Rainbow Road.

It started when the word "Go" popped on the screen. Amnistia"s Rosalina shot off first on her seafoam-and-white bike. Jeremy's Boswer muscle car was quick to follow. With Kol's Peach on a pink scooter following far behind after falling off the sides of the road. It was neck and neck, Amnistia then Jeremy, vying for the top spot.

That was until the third and final lap.

Kol took the lead. He masterfully used every power up, even the stupid banana peel, to his advantage. Ensuring his opponents slipped off the road and saving the more powerful power-ups for the more serious competitors.

In the final three seconds of the race, Peach edged out Rosalina, who had gotten too complacent with her first place lead.

Kol won.

The entire apartment was silent.

Amnistia broke out a small smile. "Well done, Kol!" She gave him a side hug. "You won fair and sqaure, so that means I handle to front for the next week."

"Thank gods, these townies are quite annoying," Kol replied with a laugh.

Chapter Text

SHE STARED HIM DOWN. Was it an extreme reaction? Probably, but Anna couldn't believe what he was saying. "Are you serious?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I am," Jeremy replied. "It's gonna be tonight."

She let out a squeal of excitement and hugged him just tight enough to not hurt him. Without thinking, Anna kissed his cheek. "Thank you!"

THE MOON ROSE ABOVE THE CLEARING, large and full. Amnistia Prima shivered as the wind blew right through her. "I don't see why we all have to be here," she thought aloud. Her teeth chattered together as she pulled her jacket tighter against her.

"You're the only one with the spell to determine who will and will not massacre the town," Elena began counting on her fingers. "Jeremy is here because Anna insisted. Elijah, Kol, and Klaus are all here in order to get the vampires out. Bonnie, Shelia, and the Halliwells are here to perform the spell that opens the tomb, but that doesn't explain why Aunt Jenna's here."

Jenna raised the hand that held a bag of popcorn. "Entertainment," She answered with a smile.

The group let out an exasperated sigh. "And I'm here to watch vampires in action! Research, if you will," Caroline called as she made her way through the shrubbery. "Don't start without me!" The blonde picked some pine needles from her hair.

Amnistia made some room between her and Klaus, who suddenly found the blonde beside her much more interesting than magick.

The light went on in her brain.

CAROLINE FORBES KNEW SHE NEEDED TO TALK ABOUT HER DECISION. She needed to know all the sides, from the actual people that turned to her friends, she needed to know. Anna Zhu, a normal vampire that just got caught up in the worst time and place possible, seemed to have been a good place to get a woman's perspective on the vampirism part.

She slid over to the girl who wasn't allowed to join the search for her mother. Amnistia herself was busy with a spell, and Kol was at her side ensuring that she kept taking a few chasers of blood if she began looking too pale.

"What do you want, Ms. Forbes?" Anna asked as she rolled her eyes at Caroline's inability to sneak up on her.

(Not that Caroline wanted to, FYI.)

"I was wondering if, one day after they free your mom, we could talk."

"Talk?" Anna asked with a raised eyebrow. Her dark eyes lit up with intrigue as she scoffed. "Talk about what?"

"Vampirism through a woman's perspective," Caroline lowered her voice—but she was well aware that more than half the people here could hear her. All the vampires in the clearing stilled.

She heard Kol from the tomb yell, "BLOODY HELL! COULD YOU NOT HAVE DROPPED THAT ON US NOW?"

And Klaus exclaimed, "SWEETHEART, THERE REALLY AREN'T GENDER DIFFERENCES! IF YOU WANTED—"

"Shut it, Klaus! Focus on the damned spell so Amnesty can rest and Anna can see her mom!" Caroline yelled back. As cute as he was, Caroline found her desire to be with a guy extremely diminished since the whole Salvatore incident. She's aware she'll have to relive the memories when she decides to turn, but, for now, she'd rather focus on regaining her barings.

Perhaps find an emotional relationship over a physical one.

"AS YOU WISH, SWEETHEART!" Klaus replied from deep within the tomb.

But Anna was the one to catch her attention. The younger-looking woman laughed hysterically at her question. "You're the first person I've met to ask about gender differences in vampires," Anna told her. After her breathing evened out, Jeremy's—were they dating? She'd have to double check with Jenna and Elena—friend gave her a smile. "I would love to chat with you on the gender differences of vampirism, and so would my mother once she's revived." Caroline gave her a smile in thanks. But Anna, seemingly no longer looking at Caroline, let one thing slip about her past. "It's why we got forced out of our village six hundred years prior."

Oh.

ANNA HELD HER MOTHER TO HER CHEST, and Jeremy didn't know what to do. She refused to let him get close. Cited that desiccation was a horrible process that left one almost insatiably hungry depending on the length of time.

But Jeremy saw her tears fall on the gray body as she forced the blood bags down her throat. "Mama, mama wake up!" He wanted to give her a hug. He wanted to give Anna his wrist for her to use. Her crying made him uncomfortable in a way he couldn't describe.

He didn't know how to put words to the feeling of watching her cry and pray for her mother to come back.

Amnesty held his shoulder firm while Elena held his hand.

Everyone held their breath.

Suddenly, a gasp for air and a cry of joy rang out in the clearing.

The thing that held Jeremy hostage finally let go when he saw Anna's smile. She hugged her mother, eyes shining. Jeremy felt the hands drop, but his feet stayed. Anna was happy, and that was enough.

KOL KEPT AN EYE ON AMNISTIA AS SHE STARED DOWN ELIJAH AND KNOCKED BACK THE BLOOD IN THE GLASS LIKE A SHOT. He had to admit, it was impressive. She did not cower at the blank, big-brother expression on his face. Instead, she stood and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going," she told him evenly. The steel could be heard, even without his super hearing, throughout the clearing.

"You are not. It's too dangerous, Amnistia, and I refuse to—"

"Now, listen here, Mr. I-Am-An-Avowed-Feminist," Kol scoffed as she stepped closer to the third most dangerous man in the world. He wondered if he should even continue listening until this:

"Elijah, Brother, you're being outvoted. With our location for Mikael, I shall send both Kol and Finn to accompany her—"

"Finn? Are you joking?" Kol exclaimed as he stalked over to the trio.

"Do you remember how beside himself he was for the first century of our lives? How he tried numerously to end his own suffering? Why he was the reason you had me commission the daggers in the first place?" Kol found himself on a roll now. He picked up Amnesty's habit of flailing arms and pacing back and forth. His mouth ran a mile a minute. Finn who wanted them all dead. Finn who only found some semblance of peace with Sage—but even that couldn't save him! Finn who could break Amnisitia like a—

"We get it, your worried for me," the woman in question rolled her eyes. They turned crystalline, a determined set to her jaw. "But I'm going, for my family and yours. I'll go alone with Finn if I have to, but this is happening whether you and Elijah like it or not."

Kol sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. Suddenly, his thousand-twenty-three years of living caught up with him. "þú munu kill mik sumr dagr," he told her with a sigh.

His brothers laughed at what he said, but Amnistia blinked owlishly. Kol turned to his brothers quite quickly. "I'll go along with her little scheme."

He turned to walk away before spinning back around. "Also, in Amnistia's eloquent vocabulary, fuck you. You made me her babysitter without my consent, so this is very much your fault. Fuck you. Fuck you both. I am going to bed."

Chapter Text

AMNISTIA HAD BEEN AT THIS FOR DAYS. "You left your oldest brother to rot in a fucking coffin for how many centuries?" She screeched. "Porco dio! You know nothing of family, do any of you?" Her eyes flared to life, specks of gold rising from hazel depths.

Seafoam sparks popped from her entire being.

The Traveller meant business, and Universe be damned if she wouldn't take care of it.

The three vampires of sitting across from her at their war council showed nothing but the stoicism most people associated with Vikings. Some bottles and cups on the table shook.

"Amnesty, calm yourself," Elijah told her evenly.

"Fuck no! I will not," her hand slammed against the table. "You mean to tell us that you didn't know the effectiveness of the daggers? Or that they could wear off? What happened to protecting your family always and forever, Elijah? Or was that just a promise made to your tyrant of a younger brother because you felt like shit for how your father treated him and that you refused to step in?"

His eyes clouded over with hurt. Amnistia knew she'd have to apologize for that one later, but her anger coursed through her veins. She was part Sicilian. You don't make them angry without getting some form of rant. Also, it was one of those times that Amnistia wondered if hero worshipping Sofia from the Golden Girls was a good idea from her youth.

From the looks of it, probably not.

Amnistia watched from the corner of her eye as Jenna stood up with her hands on her hips. Elena's eyebrow just raised slightly. At least it was better than her "I'm not angry, just disappointed" look. Jeremy, Pearl, and Anna said nothing.

(Although Amnistia was sure Jeremy was smirking in amusement.)

"Amnistia," Kol began with a sigh. "I was asked to do something for my brothers to help ensure the safety of my family, back when I actually cared. I was more worried about his welfare."

"You," Amnistia began to say in a low voice. It sounded gravelly and deep. "You know better than anyone else, Kol. Magic is a specific entity within itself. You know its ins and outs better than anyone at this table. If you were that naïve—"

"I was barely a hundred, Amnesty! I didn't know that much—"

"You were a witch—"

"I was a child—"

She was about to keep digging when she saw the pained look in his eyes. Oh shit. She really went too far with these two this time.

Still angry on principle though.

And that was what won out when the cloth disappeared after a crack of energy emanated from her.

"Everyone enough!" Everyone looked towards Caroline. Her green eyes clouded over as she stood from her seat in between Elena and Klaus. Amnistia raised eyebrow at the seventeen-year-old's intervention. "You two are adults! Either bone or kill each other, we don't particularly care." Everyone chuckled at that. "But get over it. It happened, and he didn't know. If anything, I would be more worried if he used the daggers knowing that the sleep effects would wear off," Caroline admitted.

When did the blonde cheerleader become the mediator of the group?

"Either way, Finn comes out of the coffin now, and for good," her final statement was leveled at the future Original Hybrid who raised his hands in surrender.

"Sweetheart, once we have Mikael in our hands, there would be no reason to keep anyone daggered. Or even those blasted daggers around to begin with."

"I highly doubt that," Amnistia found herself retorting before leaving the war council—er, her living room—and taking a walk.

HONESTLY, it shouldn't have surprised her that this was where she ended up. She lifted the coffin and looked at his sleeping form and sighed. "Hey, listen, I'm sorry for what they did to you. They didn't know. And, I know it's not an excuse," she began.

No response. She wasn't expecting one, as she spoke to a greying corpse, but still some response from the Universe or something would have been nice.

She kept going. "But they do care. Probably. Deep down. Somewhere, they care. I know Elijah does, at least, and I used that against him, which probably should be a gods send that I'm still, ya know, living. You'll like it out here. I know this is probably traumatic for you—hell, you've gone into a horrible depression for over a hundred years because of your fucked up parents!" The small woman took a deep breath in.

She had enough blood bags, right?

She stole three bags from each un-daggered Original's stock pile. They liked different blood types, it seemed. But Finn was daggered for nine centuries. He probably wouldn't be too picky.

Hopefully.

She moved closer to the coffin, and saw that his hair was black. Like raven feather black, and it framed a sullen, sunken face. She shook her head. "Hey, when I un-dagger you, promise that you won't immediately go looking for a way to permanently end yourself and your line. Please. It may take some time, but you'll find reasons to love life as it is now. It may be hard, and, hell, some days you're gonna wonder why you even bother getting up in the morning, but, I promise you, it's worth it."

She grasped the dagger in his chest.

"Maybe you might not find it here, but there's a whole world out there to explore. I hate the cold, so Eastern Europe and Siberia are out for me, but I heard Siberia has many great, linguistically unique cultures that could be of interest of you! I heard you were a bit of an academic in your time. Oh! And, if you find yourself wanting to see some of the best melding of old and new, Japan is always an option! I've never been, but people love it, and I've always wanted to go."

She pulled the dagger out a little ways.

"Not to mention that there's so many new things to learn now. History, psychology, the sciences, philosophy degrees which are good for absolutely nothing apparently but are great for arguing—" Amnistia cut herself off. He may not want to hear her rambling.

She steeled herself. Prayed to the Universe that nine were enough. Mentally counted to ten. Then the dagger was out of the eldest Mikaelson brother. A sharp exhale as the eyes fluttered open.

Finn sat up. His greyish blue eyes turning black as the vampire visage appeared.

He lunged.

She screamed.

ELENA GILBERT WAS MANY THINGS, but a bitch wasn't always one. So, after Amnesty's less-than-stellar exit, she did the only thing a Gilbert—who valued family above all—could do. "Elijah," she began and everyone looked at her in surprise.

Why was that surprising? She always said his name like that.

"Elena," the customary response filled the silence with a lack of... something Elijah-like. Elena sighed and looked to Kol.

"Scotch on the rocks brother?" Kol asked with a sharp smile. "Or perhaps a Bloody Mary—"

"Enough, Kol," Caroline told him with a withering stare.

"Elijah, look at me," Elena told the thousand year old vampire, ignoring the powder keg about to possibly explode. She placed a hand on his stubbly face and had him look at her. Their eyes met, soft brown versus a hard amber, and she sighed. "Amnesty knows you do care. It's just that she's angry. I think a part of her understands Finn on some level."

"How could she possibly understand him?" Elijah asked. "How could she know that I care when she was right? It's becoming increasingly obvious to me that I haven't been a good brother these past ten centuries as I thought—"

"Enough with the pity party, Elijah," Klaus overdramatically cut his older brother off. "None of us knew and we agreed that keeping Finn daggered was the safest option for both us and himself. If we knew what would have happened, I'm sure you and Kol would've figured out another way. You are a good brother, and don't let the admittedly scary Traveller tell you any different."

"Thank you, Klaus," Elena found herself saying. It was odd, thanking your future killer. Even if it wouldn't be perma-death, as Amnesty liked to say, it was still an odd feeling. He just tipped his glass of ginger ale in acknowledgement. The War Council looked to one another and nodded.

For now, it was time to deal with Mikael, then they regroup their ranks.

"Anyone know where she went, anyway?" Sheila asked as she began cleaning up from their pastries.

Jenna was about to reply when all the vampires looked up.

"Oh no," Anna whispered.

"She didn't," was Kol's response followed by a sigh of exasperation.

"I think she did, Kol," Klaus added.

"Why are we just standing here?" Pearl barked before running off at vampire speed.

Elena watched as the rest of the vampires ran out after her. Followed by Bonnie and Sheila. She looked to her bother, Aunt Jenna, and Caroline.

"Let's go," Jer found himself saying. Then they ran out behind all the supernaturals.

"Wait! Where are we going?" Asked Caroline.

FINN FOUND HIMSELF OVERCOME WITH THE SCENT OF FRESH BLOOD. When he went for the kill, he was surprised at how loud the woman screamed. It stopped him dead in his tracks. It was then, as he stood there, that her voice registered.

"Hey, Finn," she said nervously. Why would she be nervous around—oh. He was about to kill her. That seemed to be a sensible reason for her to be nervous around him.

He took a deep breath. He attempted to school his face back to normal with only middling success. "I did not mean to frighten you, I'm just—"

"Hungry, I kinda figured," she finished. He blinked at her in shock. Magic rolled off her being in calming, far-off ocean waves that turned torrential when they crashed into you. She wasn't like them; he'd know, so why did she know that he was hungry? She was speaking again before he could respond. "On the side of your coffin, there's a few blood bags. It should help."

"Thank you," he told her gratefully.

It disgusted him that he was grateful for human blood. He felt the bile rise in his throat, but his stomach growled. And his desiccation demanded that he be sated.

"I can get you animal blood if its easier. That's a thing vampires can do now," her voice was soft and comforting.

It's been centuries since someone spoken to him. He's heard everything that his brothers and sister have said on their various times of being daggered and un-daggered. But no one spoke to him. Not since Elijah and Kol's fateful apology that night. There she was. Not even blood. Not even family. But she spoke to him. Freed him.

And now she was offering him an option, even after she's seen the monster he was forced to become.

"I'll tell you though, it's kinda like being vegetarian. You won't be able to get all the nutrients you need from it. Unlike vegetarians, you can't supplement it either," the woman warned him. "It's an option though."

He studied her for a moment. She spoke with her hands moving in tandem. She bit her lip while she waited for his response. Her hair was... fluffy? It went every which way and was unbraided. Was she married? There was a ring on her finger, but not the left hand. She raised a brown eyebrow and her hazel eyes met his blue ones.

She felt like seafoam.

"I think I'll be fine with this, thank you," he bowed slightly before drinking from the bag.

He finished them all in fifteen minutes. Each bag required at least two talk-throughs with the utter stranger in trousers by his side. When he finished, she gave him a hug. That was so forward of a woman that he couldn't respond. He stiffened. She let go immediately.

"Sorry," She said as she ducked her head. "I was so proud of you, you see. I thought I'd have to force the blood down your mouth, in all honesty."

She laughed nervously.

He gave her a small smile. "You might have if you didn't keep encouraging me. So thank you," he took her hand in his and kissed the top. He watched as she stiffened and blushed.

He let go immediately.

His ears pricked and he heard many voices he was unfamiliar with. From there, he heard three that he was very familiar with. He kept hearing a few words over and over again. "Amnesty", "Amnistia", "hurt", "Finn" were the most common of the most common.

The floorboards creaked.

"We should probably go tell the others you aren't dead," Finn told his new companion dryly.

"Probably a good idea," the short woman replied with a shrug. "They have two Bennett witches on their side. Sheila can curse you until the next century and Bonnie can start a mean fire. I wouldn't want you burned after we made some progress with the blood thing."

He laughed slightly at that. Then, like the gentleman his mother raised him to be, he motioned for the Lady to go first. She smiled and bowed in return.

Up the stairs, she went, and he was not far behind.

"I SOLVED OUR FINN PROBLEM," Amnistia put problem in air quotes as she glared at everyone. "Now apologize."

"You're not dead? How are you not dead?" Kol squawked.

She gave him a sardonic smile.

But it was Finn who answered. "I do have some control, believe it or not," he scoffed.

Amnistia found herself being picked up in the air and checked all over. Kol seemed to have remembered just as quickly as he got over there that she didn't like being picked up without permission because she went down immediately. "Don't ever do anything like that again. Next time you're angry with me, just give me a headache like other witches I've ran with." He played it off as a joke, but she saw something shining in his brown eyes.

"Promise." Amnistia then deflated. "Forgive me for being a bitch? I kinda knew in the moment it was a bad—"

"Already forgiven. I've said much worse in my time," Kol cut her off.

Man, he was really worried about living with his family wasn't he?

Elijah, in a rare moment of physical affection, gave her a large bear hug. "What you said hurt, and it will be a while before I forgive you," his voice was soft. "But, you are still my adopted sister, and I amm grateful that you are alive."

"Thank you, and, for what its worth, I did go too far. I'm sorry."

"I know."

"Hey, not to break up the reunion, but who's this guy?" Jenna asked as she pointed a thumb in Finn's direction.

Amnistia let out a laugh of hysterical laughter.

Things would never change.

Chapter Text

AMNISTIA PRIMA LOOKED AT THE INVITATION IN HER HAND. She raised an eyebrow at Ric Saltzman who slowly began coming around to the bakery after talking to Jenna a few weeks ago. "Elena gave you a character reference, and the other chaperones had family matters come up. Mrs. Kane went into labor early and Mr. Kane obviously had to be there, so there went the art teacher. And Mrs. Patch got a call from her father in Florida saying her mother fell and broke a few things—"

"You want me to chaperone a bunch of teenagers when I'm barely older than they are?" Amnistia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're gonna be twenty-one, aren't you?"

"In June, Ric," Amnistia replied with an eye role and exasperated sigh.

"That's two months away," he pointed out. "I think you can handle a bunch of teenagers dressed in 50s costumes." The sarcasm dripped from his words almost as obviously as the smell of alcohol from his jacket.

"For that, I'm charging you for that stick of gum you took last week with interest." She began typing things into the monitor. At Ric's shocked face, she silently patted herself on the back. "Anything else you wanted to say?" She asked with her patented manic grin.

He stepped back.

Looking very unnerved and trying not to show it.

Good.

"You can bring a date?"

"MARVELOUS, DARLING," Kol said with a slow clap. "That was absolutely marvelous."

Elena glared at the youngest Mikaelson as she attempted to clean up the rest of the tray she dropped and broke. It was Pyrex. Pyrex should be durable, right?

"Well, hello," she heard an unfamiliar voice say. She turned around to find a man with blue eyes and black hair staring back at her. He faltered for a moment. "Katherine? What are you doing here? I thought you and Stefy left town." He spit the name with such vitriol.

Dammit all to hell.

A Salvatore. Probably Damon from the description given from both Caroline and Amnesty.

Oh, shit.

She tried not to tense when she realized who this man was. Elena felt Kol's eyes watching her. "Sorry, not my ancestor," the doppelganger began with an even tone. "And you are not welcome in this establishment, so please get out before I must remove you from the premises—or worse because of what you did to Caroline."

Her eyes sparked to life. Brown turned to a dangerous burning bronze in the light.

Damon sneered.

"You're human. You can't scare me."

"But I can," Bonnie stepped her side and held up a hand. Elena watched with some twisted satisfaction as the man clutched his head in pain.

"Thanks, Bonnie," Elena said but refused to give her a hug and break her focus.

"No problem at all, 'lena," was her response.

Damon kept trying to move towards them but failed as the pain increased.

"And do I need to make it clear that I won't let a life-debt stand it my way of ending your pathetic life if you crossed me again?" Elena looked to her left and grinned.

Elijah.

He was there, in one of his Italian suits, preparing to fight.

Damon hissed and left.

Thank God for her friends.

"CAN YOU BE MY DATE TO THIS DANCE THING?" Amnistia asked Kol as the three of them—Kol, Finn, and herself—shared her apartment over the bakery. Kol did a spit-take of the coffee he was drinking. "What? I got roped into being a chaperone, Jenna's going with Alaric, Elijah got to be a chaperone because of Mrs. Lockwood's major crush on him all so he could dance with Elena, Klaus compelled his way to the dance just to ensure Damon doesn't try to pull anymore shit on 'his' Doppelganger or Caroline and—"

"Bonnie has Jedi training as you all love to call it. I've heard it for the fifth time now," Kol drawled as he began cleaning up her coffee table. "The answer is no, though. I'd rather not have to spend a night around a bunch of giddy and hormonal teenagers. Plus, I'm rather put out that I missed the fifties."

"Well, our plan to go and kidnap Mikael during the dance fell through and I need someone to help me make this thing fucking bearable."

Kol laughed. Deep, rolling, thunderous laughter as Amnistia quirked an eyebrow. "Darling," Kol began with a mischievous grin. "I have plenty of plans up my sleeve. My choice of partner in crime will just have to merely change."

Amnistia threw her entire throwing strength into a pillow. It bounced off Kol's face and on to the floor.

"Lovely, Amnesty, truly. However, if you need a date that bad, take Finn."

"Finn?"

"ME?" Finn yelled from his kitchenette-study area. The eldest Mikaelson brother stormed into the living room in a complete fit of hysteria. "Kol, you're absolutely 'round the bend! Do you know how dangerous it would be if I went into a room filled with teenagers with spiked energy and—"

"Finn, old brother old pal," Amnistia watched as Kol gave his brother an slightly scary grin. "Think of this as a test. You've spent the better part of the month working around the bakery and doing just fine. Escort our lovely Amnistia Prima here, and show her that her work as your sober sponsor means something."

"Just what exactly are you planning, Kol?" Finn and Amnistia asked at the same time. Sadly though, Finn was not as amused as the Traveller was at her bodyguard's antics.

"Well, I do believe it's going to be a lovely night for a reunion don't you?"

"Just don't get caught," Amnistia found herself saying as she stood up with a huff. She turned to Finn. His tall form towered over her as his hair started to gray. Could vampires go gray? If they could, why hadn't Elijah gone completely white by now with his siblings antics? Oh well, questions for another day she supposed. "You and I are going shopping."

"Shopping?" Finn asked.

"You need a suit... preferably from the fifties."

CAROLINE LOST TWENTY BUCKS TO BOTH ELENA AND JEREMY TODAY. Mainly because Kol did not show up to the dance tonight with Amnesty, rather Finn did. How the two of them knew Kol wouldn't be here tonight was beyond the blonde, but at least the reluctant chaperone came.

The sound of the crooners pulsated through the stereo as she found herself flanked by the blue-eyed Mikaelson. "What are you doing here all on your own, love?" He asked her with a seemingly genuine look of concern on his face.

Caroline shrugged.

What was she doing here on her own?

Taking in one of her last decade dances as a human, that was what.

"I want to turn, you know," She didn't know what made her say it. But telling someone other than Elijah to get used to it was probably a good idea. Plus, Klaus had done so many horrible things over the centuries that he really had no right to judge her at all.

"You do?" He asked. The excitement in his voice was evident. For what or why, the blonde wasn't sure. "Why?"

Caroline sighed. "Elena needs someone to protect her. And, while I don't not trust your brother to do that, she needs someone who's known her their entire life to help her through. The ups and downs, the heartbreak, the times where she wants to kill Jeremy or watch the world burn. She needs her best friends. But magic takes a heavy toll on a person. We've seen Amnesty almost die of blood loss because she refused to stop when making the vervain necklaces. We've seen Bonnie start bleeding from her nose and Shelia pass out..."

"Are you sure this has nothing to do with you feeling left out or out of step as you are?" Klaus asked suddenly.

"What? Of course not! It's just that the super natural will come along and I don't want Bonnie, Elena, or Amnesty to get hurt. As a vampire I'll have the ability to help them—"

"I'll turn you myself if you want to be a vampire. But love," suddenly Klaus looked so much older than his frozen age would let on. Caroline noted the way his shoulders sagged and his blue eyes lost all of the manic, excitable energy that was their a moment ago. "I need to know you're making the decision for yourself and not for your friends. It's irreversible."

Klaus walked away before Caroline could say another word.

Bad move, Mikaelson.

BONNIE BENNET COUNTED HER EARNINGS FROM THE VARIOUS BETS. Was it technically cheating to use her witchy powers to get a read on the situations before she made her bets? Yes. Most definitely. Did she care? Hell no! She made two hundred bucks by making a series of bets and she had college to save up for. Unlike what most would believe, she's a teenager with all her free time being consumed by upholding the greatness of the Bennett Witches—thus no fucking job. And she needed one with the climbing prices in college tuition!

"You really cleaned out today, huh Bon?" Anna asked as she slid down next to her.

The darker skinned teen shrugged. She sent her companion a Cheshire grin. "I can read a room."

Right then, Jeremy sat next to Anna and moved his head so he could see her. "I swear you must've done something witchy to be right on all fronts."

"I'll never tell," Bonnie responded in a sing-song voice.

"I'll tell Shelia," Anna threatened casually as she took a sip of her Shirely Temple.

"You wouldn't dare," Bonnie hissed in surprise.

"I want half the earnings or I tell." Jeremy let out a snort at Anna's request.

"Or, I can do you one better," Bonnie said. Her eyes sparked with mischievous light as she made her way to the D.J.