You are my Freedom

The Aftermath

The Quarry:

Stefan and Bonnie look around at the devastation left by Elijah and Klaus. Neither says anything... there are no words for this.

Tyler comes and takes his uncle's body to his car, he doesn't want to leave him out here like this.

Stefan goes over to Clara...

He brushes her hair back,

"I'm so sorry," He tells her.

Bonnie calls Caroline and the two get Elena back to the Boarding House as Stefan carries Clara.

Boarding House:

Rose was deteriorating, becoming harder to deal with. It was putting Jenna in danger. And Damon was so upset about being sidelined while his wife's life was on the line he snapped and staked her rather heartlessly. He could feel Alaric judging him, but he didn't care, it's not like there was a cure for a werewolf bite anyway he was just speeding things along.

He had gotten Stefan's stupid letter, of course, his brother the Martyr was going to sacrifice himself...he didn't know how to deal with this, it was all so fucked up... he didn't want to lose either of them.

They heard a car approach. Damon got up and saw Caroline carrying in Elena, followed by Tyler and Bonnie with Mason...

He looks to the door expecting to see his wife-

But what he saw broke him.

His legs gave out under him.

Damon: "no... no no no no."

Stefan: "Damon, I'm... I'm so s-"

Damon: "No! don't you dare say it, Stefan, she's fine... she'd going to be fine... right? Please. Say she'll be alright?" Tears are falling from his eyes now breaking Stefan's heart.

Stefan: "She wanted you to know, that she loves you... she will always love you, and that she was brave... it was quick and-"

Damon: "Stop, just stop talking."

Damon takes Clara from Stefan and walks upstairs with her, Stefan tries to follow but Alaric stops him.

Stefan shrugs out of Alaric's hold and goes up to Damon's room...

The door is ajar and inside through the mirror on his wall he can see into the bathroom, he has her in the shower and is cleaning the dirt and blood off her... just like he did that first night.

He quietly closes the door and gives the couple their privacy, tears streaming down his own face now. He goes and sits by Elena waiting for her to wake up.

The rest of the gang all sit around mourning for everything they lost tonight.

Upstairs:

Damon takes off the ruined wedding dress and finishes cleaning Clara. He dresses her in one of his shirts and lays her down in bed. He sits by her side just petting her hair, wishing she'd wake up just like she did before... but knowing she won't.

He struggles through tears and gets up from her. He walks around to the other side of the bed. He grips one of the bedposts hard splintering off some of the wood... Elena was right Damon wasn't going to survive losing Clara again.

He lays down next to her, wood grasped in his hand, he raises it above his chest ready to plunge it down into his own heart unable to bear the pain her loss has caused him. Just as he starts to bring it down, a hand reaches out and stops him,

He looks over stunned, it's Clara.

Damon: "Clara?"

Clara opens her eyes, its a struggle at first, but finally, Damon comes into focus,

Clara: "What are you doing? Is this the other side? I thought it would look different..."

Damon is shocked,

Damon: "No, no it's not the other side... you died, Klaus, he killed you... how are you here?" He decides he doesn't care and smashes his lips to hers.

Suddenly the door bursts open, Damon looks up and sees Stefan and... the Martin witches, he thought they had cleared out after Greta chose Klaus over them.

Damon: "How?" He asks all of them, Stefan looks to Jonas,

Jonas: "You weren't able to find where Klaus had the other Originals... but we were. After we saw how Elijah minced his words with Rose we were inspired by Clara and came up with a contingency plan in case he doubled back again. We tied her life to Kol Mikaelson, Stefan's to Finn, and Bonnie's to Rebekka's there wasn't enough siblings to cover everyone, just those most valuable."

Damon: "No offense taken,"

Jonas: "We also found John and tied Jeremy to him... just in case, soon Klaus and Elijah will discover they are responsible for killing their own brother... we could think of no better revenge."

Stefan: "Sometimes there is honor in revenge."

Damon holds Clara close, too scared to let go of her,

Damon: "Thank you... thank you." He tells them, never having meant those words more.

Jonas: "We're leaving now, you won't be able to reach us... we just wanted to say goodbye,"

Stefan: "Goodbye, and thank you again."

They nod and leave.

Downstairs Elena is waking up:

Jeremy, Alaric, and Jenna all keep staring at Elena willing her to wake up. Behind them, John comes up from the basement where the Martin's had him stashed, suddenly, Elena gasps back to life-

Jenna: "Elena!"

Elena: "What happened?"

Jeremy: "How do you feel?"

Elena: "I feel fine."

John sighs relieved and goes down to check on Isobel, when he finds her she's greyed and decayed... Clara was wrong she didn't make it but he thinks the real her, would have been proud to give her life for her daughter.

Outside Caroline is comforting Tyler who is broken up about his uncle and only now realizing he finally got his wish, he's part of the supernatural now... only he never wanted it like this.