ᴡᴀʏᴡᴀʀᴅ ⤕ ᴛᴠᴅ ³

ten

Bonnie yelled out in agony as the last of the massacred Travellers passed through her, hunched over in pain. Billie sat on the railing beside her, uttering comforting words over the rough breeze to remind her that she wasn't alone.

Laboured breathing sounded from the thicket of trees and Billie turned to the source, expecting another Traveller, only to discover it was Elena. "Bonnie!"

She smiled through the pain, straightening up to greet her. "Elena! Did it work? Are you-"

The doppelganger quickly nodded. "Yes, did Damon-"

"Right here." He appeared striding towards them from behind and instantly, a look of absolute relief crossed Elena's features.

Billie, although knowing she would briefly be seeing him again on the Other Side, regardless of whether she came back or not, was a little startled at actually having him there in front of her.

She didn't announce herself, only waited for his eyes to register that she was there and when they did, she wiggled her fingers in hello with a smile she felt was tense on her lips. "Hiya cowboy. Long time no see." She nodded over to Elena as not to be rude. "Lena."

Bonnie gave them a second to process that she was there and then interjected hurriedly, knowing that they didn't have a lot of time. "Okay, when you guys pass through me, you're gonna wake up with your bodies on the Other Side."

She glanced for a single second around her. "I need you to get back here as fast as you can."

Damon cast an indecipherable glance her way, as though there were a million things he wanted to say. Billie nodded understandingly, a strong tilt of her head to set his nerves at ease.

⤕

They were all there now. Stefan, Lexi, Tyler, Enzo.

Liv's ghost twin brother, Luke rushed out of the mausoleum where he'd been overseeing his sister. "Bonnie, Bonnie!" His urgent yells carried through the violent winds of the rapidly collapsing dimension. "It's too much for her, we need to start now."

Stefan shook his head resolutely. "No, we go together, Damon isn't here yet."

Billie watched him carefully from where she was perched lightly on the metal railings. A deep crease lay between his brows, born of worry for his sister. "I don't care."

Without warning, the dead witch stepped closer to Bonnie, laying a hand on her shoulders and gasping quietly as he was resurrected. Luke wasted no time, immediately rushing back into the mausoleum for Liv.

Bonnie yelled out as his spirit passed through her painfully and a stab of pain ricocheted in Billie at the sight of her friend's discomfort. She quickly recovered, turning her attention to the remaining ghosts. "You need to come through."

"What about everyone else?" Tyler interjected much to Billie's surprise.

Enzo only cocked his head in preparation, striding purposefully toward the anchor. "You don't have to tell me twice." He cast a backwards glance to the clairvoyant who observed the proceedings carefully. "See you on the flip side, gorgeous."

Grabbing Bonnie's jacket clad shoulders, he passed through her, becoming a physical being again.

After that, Tyler stepped up for his turn, his previous sentiment about waiting for everyone long gone when he spotted Caroline walking through the graveyard.

"Come on guys, we don't have much time." Bonnie directed to Stefan, Lexi and Billie, her breathing a little heavy by now. She reached out to them. "Grab my hand!" Her voice was beginning to get a little difficult to hear over the raging winds around them and she had to raise it a little.

Lexi instantly implored her best friend, fruitlessly trying to convince Stefan to pass through instead of waiting around for his brother.

The thick tenseness of the air was beginning to weigh down on Billie. If her heart was still beating, it would have been going wild.

Elena came running into the clearing, her long hair whipping around her. "I can't find Damon!"

Stefan piped up to ease her nerves. "You go, I'll wait here."

The doppelganger shook her head almost as soon as the words left his lips. "No! I'm not leaving without him!"

Billie stood slowly from her perch, stepping slowly closer as Elena's resolve began to crumble under her panic. "This place is falling apart, you have to go!" The Salvatore continued, but she just shook her head like the admirably stubborn mule she was. "No!"

Bonnie didn't wait for her approval and stepped forward, grasping Elena by the arms and forcibly pulling her from the Other Side. Elena, tears now in her eyes, yelled in protest now that she'd returned to flesh and blood, but it didn't even look like Bonnie had heard her.

She doubled over in agony, coughing up in wracking shackles. The hand she'd covered her mouth with came away with clots of blood and the clearing went silent. She fell back into her fit, going unsteady on her feet and falling into Stefan, accidentally bringing him back too.

Lexi shared an alarmed look with Billie, swallowing hard before she gestured to the brunette. "Come on, Bill. It's your turn." Her voice was quieter than it had been, rattled by Bonnie's obvious state of unwell.

Billie shook her head. "I'm seeing this through, I'm staying with her." She threw her eyes over to where Bonnie was slowly picking herself back up.

Lexi scoffed, laying her hands on the clairvoyants shoulders. "You've been wearing that look all day, Harper and I know it too well." Billie tilted her head slightly in confusion, but she didn't have to ask for an elaboration. 

"You can't give up on them now. They need you."

Billie stared right up into her eyes, smiling sadly and trying to put a piece of her hair behind her ear so it wouldn't obscure her vision as the wind picked up even further. "They don't, Lexi. They'll do just fine without me."

Alexia pulled her lips tight, patting the younger woman's shoulders comfortingly with an almost unnoticeable glance behind her.

"I'm not letting you get sucked up into oblivion, Billie." She chuckled dryly. "Stef likes you too much."

Billie copped on to the look sent over her shoulder the second time and a more wary frown replaced her old one. "Lexi, please. Don't."

The blonde shook her head just a single time, adopting a slightly harder grasp on her shoulders. "I'm sure you'll thank me later."

Her unrelenting grip suddenly released, at the same time pushing Billie backwards into another smaller pair of arms.

Within seconds, the winds died like a passing drizzle of the night and Willa was alive again.

more writers should get into this meme making business, it really does make the job so much more enjoyable than it already is.

a lil bit of shorty this one, i'm aware, please don't hurt me :)