04. Black Hole Sun
"And of course, I broke into the Oval office and took a picture of myself at the window, looking all JFK" Kai told Kol and Damon, "But then I was like, wait, how am I gonna get these photos developed?".
"Oh, my god, just answer the damn question" Damon snapped, getting annoyed with Kai's constant talking, "How are we gonna get out of this Twilight Zone?".
"I got a question for you first" Kai said, making Kol roll his eyes, "Why do you think we're stuck on a repeating loop of May 10th, 1994, doomed to relive a solar eclipse forever and ever and ever?".
"How the bloody hell are we supposed to know?" Kol asked, downing his glass of bourbon.
"Well, I heard Damon tell you this was his own personal hell" Kai replied, "I'm kinda curious why?".
"Don't bother asking, he will never tell you, I've been asking this question for the past four months" Kol replied, "And now can you answer the question, how are we getting out of here? You asked for a can opener, shower drain, grinding wheel, jam, pocket knife, volume 0 of the encyclopedia, a nail and a black marker, I brought everything, what's next?".
"Can't show you with my hands taped" Kai replied, gesturing to his tied up hands.
Kol groaned in annoyance, and walked over to Kai.
"Kol" Damon warned.
"Don't Kol me" Kol snapped, "You've been trying to get him to talk for the past three hours, I'm tired, we are doing this my way now", Kol ripped the tapes off of Kai, finally freeing him.
"Thank you" Kai told Kol.
"Okay, fine" Damon said, "How's this pile of crap gonna get us out of here?".
"I'll explain as soon as you tell me and Kol what you did on May 10th, 1994" Kai replied.
"What difference does it make?" Damon snapped, not wanting to tell Kai and Kol about what happened that day.
"Put it this way, me siphoning Kol is one part of the equation" Kai replied, "My as-yet undisclosed knowledge is the other, which means you would be hitching a ride home for free, I just want to know if you deserve to come along".
"Pause" Kol said, "Why are you siphoning me and not Damon?".
"Because you're an Original" Kai replied, "You have more magic in you then Damon".
"That's just great" Kol mumbled.
Damon glared at Kai, he then grabbed the pocket knife from the table and walked over to Kai, "Or I could just torture you until you say something useful" he threatened, holding Kai's collars and making him stand up.
"If you torture me, I'll get mad and then I won't want to help you" Kai said, he then turned to Kol, "What kind of person needs to have that explained to them?".
"Damon Salvatore does" Kol replied, shoving Damon away from Kai, "Please don't make the one person who can get us back home mad, and why are being so cryptic about what happened on this day?".
"Maybe because I don't want to talk about the worst thing I ever did, Kol" Damon snapped.
"Ooh" Kai said, opening the jam jar, and scooping some jam with his hand, "Now I'm listening".
"I'm stuck with two idiots" Kol faceplamed, as Kai started eating the jam.
***
"Hey, Nik" Aria greeted, answering her phone.
"Hey Ari, so did you find the girl?" Klaus asked.
"Unfortunately, no" Aria replied, "Rebekah and I checked the border of Mystic Falls about three times, still no sign of her anywhere".
"Well, I checked the roads and she's not here either" Klaus informed.
"Which can only mean that she's still in Mystic Falls, a place we can't go" Aria realised, "Nik, this is really bad, Sarah's compulsion went away as soon as she entered the town, she knows me and Caroline are vampires, she probably also knows about Rebekah, and god knows what else she knows".
"Ari, relax" Klaus said, "Everything's going to be fine, look, right now, you and I can't do anything, because we can't step foot in Mystic Falls, we have to trust that Jeremy and April will find her before she opens her mouth to anyone".
"Yeah, slight problem with that" Aria said, "Jeremy has gotten food poisoning , because of some bad sushi he ate, so know he's in the hospital getting checked out and Alaric and April are with him".
"So, you're telling me, no one is looking for Sarah in Mystic Falls?" Klaus asked, slightly annoyed.
"Mom is" Aria replied, "We are hoping someone finds Sarah, before she finds the vampire hunter Tripp, who Jeremy and April heard Tyler and Matt talk about, and babbles to him about me and Care".
"I'm telling you now, Ari, if that vampire hunter comes after you or Caroline, I'm killing him" Klaus said, "Don't say I didn't warn you".
"Mom is going to try and find out what Tripp knows, and if he knows about Caroline and me, instead of killing the hunter, you need to get Caroline and my babies out of here" Aria said.
"What about you?" Klaus asked confused.
"This is my mess Nik, I attacked Sarah, so I have to be the one who fixes all of this" Aria replied.
Klaus sighed, "Ari, I get that, but you have three little babies who need their mother to be with them, if this vampire hunter knows about you, I'm taking you with me to New Orleans".
"But Nik--".
"No" Klaus interrupted, "I don't want to hear anything else Ari, you know I'm right, you can't stay here while your kids are in another city".
"I can to keep them safe" Aria whispered.
"You keep them safe" Klaus retorted, "They need you".
Aria sighed, "Nik, since they were born, everything I've done, everything I will do, is for those three, and if to keep them safe, I have to stay away from them, I will do it, because nothing in this world matters more then their safety".
"Ari--".
"I have to go" Aria interrupted, "I'm going to look around the borders one last time".
"No, Ari, wait--", but Aria didn't listen, she hanged up on Klaus, not wanting to hear anything else.
"Dammit, Ari!" Klaus yelled.
***
"I need to be entertained while I work" Kai said, playing around with the things Kol had gotten him, "Hell story, please".
"Remind me not to kill him" Damon told Kol.
"Remind me not to kill both of you" Kol snapped, "Just tell him your story, Damon".
"Whose side are you on?" Damon asked.
"I'm on the side of the person who can get us home to Ri and your kids, remember them?" Kol asked, frustrated.
"Fine" Damon said, finally giving in, after remembering that Kai was the only one who could get him back to Aria and his kids, "In May 1994, I was living here, I'd come home to walk the straight and narrow".
***
As Damon started to tell Kai and Kol his story, about how in 1994, he had come back to Mystic Falls and tried to be a better brother to Stefan, his story was interrupted when Kai fell asleep and started snoring.
"Perfect" Damon said, "Our savior is insane and narcoleptic".
"Be glad we are getting a few moments of peace" Kol said, sitting on the couch, a bottle of bourbon in hand.
"No, no, no, I'm awake" Kai assured, "Let me guess, you killed the pregnant woman".
"Shut up, Kai, you weren't listening" Damon snapped.
"I was listening, in my sleep" Kai said, "You were hanging out with your distant nephew Zach, who you called Uncle Zach, because that's not confusing".
"Agreed" Kol added.
"Plus pregnant lady Gail, who had a big bull's-eye on her chest, got it" Kai continued, sitting up.
"You know, in my thousand years alive, safe to say I've never killed a pregnant person" Kol said, taking a sip of the bourbon, "But hey, if you have, I promise not to judge or tell Ri".
"That's totally what happened, right?" Kai asked Damon, "Why else would today be your personal hell?", Damon walked closer and kneeled down at the table, "Oh here we go".
"The only reason that you're alive right now is because me and Kol thought you could get us out of here, and you could help but you don't have any answers", Damon grabbed the now empty jam jar, "You're just a man-child with jam on your fingers" he snapped, throwing the jar back on the table.
Kai looked at Damon, "Okay, to get home, we'll harness the power of the eclipse using a mystical relic, it's called an ascendant, and it looks like this, Damon", Kai held up the replica of the ascendant he made with all things he made Kol get for him.
"And suddenly, I don't hate you" Kol said, grabbing the replica of the ascendant from Kai.
"The last time we had it was in the Pacific Northwest" Kai informed, "Oregon".
"Whose, we?" Kol asked, confused as to who else was Kai referring to, as far as he knew, there was only four people present in the prison world.
"It belong to my family" Kai replied, "So now, we are going to use my blood to do a locator spell to pinpoint it's whereabouts".
"Hold it" Kol said, "You said we also need Bennett blood, slight problem with that, we don't know where Bonnie is, meaning we don't have her blood".
Kai smirked, "You know, Kol, everytime you heard those sounds, you checked everywhere, except the basement, you really should have checked the basement".
Damon and Kol exchanged a look, and both the vampires rushed to the basement, opening the door, they were shocked seeing a bloody Bonnie tied up to a chair, a cloth over her mouth, and from the looks of it, currently she seemed unconscious.
"Okay, say what you want, but the guys is sneaky" Kol commented, looking at Bonnie in shock and amusement.
"How long has she been here for?" Damon asked shocked.
"One month" Kai replied, walking over to duo, munching on a packet of Pork Rinds, "I couldn't let her leave Mystic Falls, she was my key to getting out of here".
Kol patted Kai's shoulder, "Congratulations, you and I are officially torture buddies".
"Great" Kai said, "Pork rind?".
***
"Alright Kol, give me your hand" Kai said, as he and Kol stood infront of the table, a map infront of them, with a drop of Kai's blood on Oregon.
"This better work" Kol said, as Kai grabbed his wrist, and suddenly Kai's hand started glowing orange, and Kol felt a weird sensation shoot through him, "Okay, is it supposed to feel this weird?".
"Shut up" Kai said, as Damon entered the room.
"Well, don't you look comfortable" Damon commented, seeing the uncomfortable expression on Kol's face.
"Shut up!" Both Kol and Kai snapped, making Damon raise his hands up in surrender.
Damon and Kol watched as Kai started chanting, both the vampires frowned when the blood on the map didn't move at all.
"This isn't working, Kai" Kol snapped, removing his hand from Kai's grip.
"Maybe after being stuck here for so long, you're out of practice and you suck at magic now" Damon told Kai.
"I'm going ignore both of you" Kai said, "Just going to pretend that you both are a white noise machine, that's how I used to tune out my siblings, I grew up with a ton of little sisters and brothers, you know, all of them constantly yammering, but it taught me how to focus".
"Can definitely relate on the too many siblings part" Kol said.
"If you two are done bonding, can we get on with it?" Damon snapped.
"No need to be jealous, Damon" Kai said, making Damon glare at him, while Kol chuckled, he loved the fact there was someone else here who could get under Damon's skin and piss him off.
***
After getting a bigger map, Kai started siphoning Kol again, and restarted the spell, both Kol and Damon watched as the blood moved from Oregon to Virginia.
"The blood's moving towards Virginia, that can't be right" Kai said.
"You're the one whose doing the spell" Damon remined.
"That's showing that the ascendant is here, in Mystic Falls" Kol said.
"Hmm" Kai said, he stopped the spell and stepped back.
"What the bloody hell are you doing now?" Kol asked annoyed.
"Getting the ascendant" Kai replied.
"You know where it is?" Damon asked confused.
"Yeah" Kai replied, putting his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket, and then pulling out the ascendant, "Oh, here it is".
"You had that on you this all time?!" Kol yelled.
"Thanks for the mind games, jackass" Damon said, glaring at Kai, equally as pissed as Kol.
"It was just another little test" Kai defended, "I needed to know that siphoning Kol would be enough".
"And is it?" Kol asked.
Kai nodded, "I believe we're ready, pack your bags boys, we're going home".
Damon and Kol looked at each other, with huge smiles on their faces, this was it, they were finally returning back to Aria, as long as nothing went wrong this time.
***
"You're wandering around like a crazy man, why?" Damon asked, as he and Kol walked over to Kai, who was pointing the ascendant in the sky.
"I'm looking for the exact right spot" Kai replied, "We need to find where the power of the eclipse is focused".
"You know, instead of wasting our time, you could have just told us that you had the ascendant this whole time" Kol said.
"I told you Kol, it was a test, and you passed" Kai said.
"Hmm" Kol said, he looked down at the floor, where the newspaper Damon used to make paper airplanes laid.
"Hey, what's up with the nature walk?" Damon asked Kai, as he followed them while Kol read the newspaper.
"I used the ascendant to figure out where we need to be standing during the eclipse" Kai replied.
"Great, let's do some magic and get the hell out of here" Damon said.
"Damon" Kol called out.
"What?" Damon asked.
"See, I have no problem bringing a serial killer with us back to the land of the living, you know, once being one myself, but I wanted to know your opinion on our savior being a murderer" Kol said.
"What the hell are you on about, Kol?" Damon asked confused.
"Kai mentioned something about having all those brothers and sisters" Kol remembered, he then showed Damon the newspaper, "Read the headline, it says, family massacred in Portland, the only one who wasn't dead and was declared missing was the oldest boy, twenty two year old, Malachai".
"Who names a kid Malachai?" Kai asked, having heard Kol, "It's like they expected me to be evil".
"So is my suspicion, right?" Kol asked, "You murdered all these people?".
"Hello? Not everyone died" Kai assured, "I had a soft spot for one of my sisters, otherwise I would've cut her lungs out, not just her spleen".
"I'm sorry, what?" Kol asked.
"You can survive without a spleen" Kai replied.
"Something tells me you're not speaking hypothetically" Damon said.
"Look, these two, I hung off the stairwell railing" Kai informed, pointing at the pictures on the newspaper, "Then I put a hunting knife in her abdomen, and him, I drowned in the pool, but he kept fighting me, and I was, like, I saved you for last, you ungrateful little--anyway, that was that".
"So you killed your whole family, just like that?" Kol asked shocked.
"Coven, to be precise" Kai replied, "Oh, you know, a family of witches, I was a witch with no powers, obviously, and of course, the Gemini Coven did not take it too well, when they heard what I did in Portland, that's why they banished me here".
"Gemini Coven?" Damon asked shocked, realising that was the same coven Aria and his kids were now part of.
"Yeap" Kai replied.
"So this place is a prison" Kol realised, "Created specially for you".
"Yeap, this isn't your hell, Damon" Kai said, "It's mine".
"Question, what exactly do you plan on doing to the Gemini Coven after you leave?" Kol asked.
"Kill them" Kai replied, causing Damon and Kol to exchange a vary look.
"All of them?" Kol asked, "What about the ones who had no hand in sending you here?".
"Don't care" Kai replied, "New, old, young, babies, the whole Gemini Coven is dying".
"That so" Damon whispered, exchanging a look with Kol, both the vampires realising, that releasing Kai from this prison world, will be putting Aria and the triplets in immense danger.
***
"We are so screwed" Kol whispered yelled to Damon, as they entered the boarding house, making sure Kai couldn't hear them.
"I know, Kol, I know" Damon said.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Kol asked, "How can we let out a person whose going to go straight after Ri and your kids after he's out of here?".
"But Aria's mother told us to find him" Damon reminded, "Surely she wouldn't send us to someone who will danger the lives of her daughter and her grandkids".
"I don't care" Kol snapped, "We can't let Kai out of here, Damon, he's going to kill your kids and their mother".
"Kol, we can protect Aria and my kids" Damon argued back.
"How are you so calm?!" Kol yelled.
"I'm not calm!" Damon yelled back, "I want to rip Kai's heart out and feed it to him! But he is the only one who can get us out of here, back to Ri, and my kids, who I'm missing out on growing up!".
"What happens when he goes after Ri and the triplets, whose fault is that going to be, his or ours?" Kol asked.
"We will protect them" Damon assured.
"Damon--".
"Kol, I can't stay away from them anymore" Damon said, "I know this is probably one of the stupidest ideas I've had, but I need to see her, I need to see them, I'm going to lose my mind if I don't".
"Ah, I see what's happened here" Kai said, having heard Damon and Kol, who were too busy yelling at each other to notice him, "Aria, the girl you both love, and your kids, Damon, are part of the Gemini coven".
"She's the leader, of the Gemini coven" Kol snapped.
"Ah, so she's the Connor witch" Kai realised.
"You know her?" Damon asked.
"I've heard of her" Kai replied, "Her and her bloodline are supposed to be the leaders of the Gemini coven, and honestly, you guys might not need to protect her from me".
"What do you mean?" Kol asked, slightly confused.
"If I like her, I won't kill her" Kai replied, "But I'm not the real threat to her, my father is, you know, I'm surprised he let Aria be the leader without any fights".
"Your father?" Damon asked confused.
"Yeah, my father is all about power, being the leader of the Gemini coven, means having power" Kai replied, "He will never just hand the leadership over to your girlfriend, Damon, I might be a small threat to her, but my father is the bigger threat, because when he and Aria come face to face, he's going to do everything he can, to make sure he remains the leader, even if it means harming your little girlfriend and her babies, huh, I guess that's where I get my murderous genes from".
"Bloody hell" Kol whispered shocked.
"Now, come on, guys, you want to protect Aria and her babies, right?" Kai asked, "You can't do it from here, look, I want to go back and give the rest of the Gemini Coven an excruciating death, but I am willing to make you two a deal".
"What kind of deal?" Damon asked.
"Help me kill my father, who is the bigger threat to the girl you love, and I will leave Aria and her kids alone" Kai replied.
"How do we know your being truthful?" Kol asked.
"Well, you don't" Kai replied, "But you guys have no other choice then to trust me, I'm the only one who can make sure you both get back to Aria, so you can protect her from all the threats that are looming over her head", Kai looked outside as the sunset, "Would you look at that? You guys have a day to think about my deal, since we missed today's eclipse, rain check for tomorrow?".
Damon and Kol looked at Kai then at each other.
"We need to get back" Damon told Kol.
Kol sighed, "Fine" he said, he then suddenly slammed Kai to the wall, "But I swear to god, try going against us, and I will rip your heart out and eat it".
"Oh Kol, such a charmer" Kai teased.
Kol let go of Kai and rolled his eyes in annoyance, "I hate both of you" he told Damon and Kai, then walked away.
***
"Hey, buddy" Aria greeted, picking Asher up, who immediately suddenly making noises seeing his mother, "Mamma missed you, how was your day with Care Bear?", Aria looked at Caroline, who was now visibly pregnant, "I hope they weren't too much for you".
"Relax Aria, they were angels, specially little Mia" Caroline cooed, picking Mia up.
"Where's Alec?" Aria asked confused.
"Before you came, he started crying so Klaus took him outside in the backyard, fun fact, Alec really likes the night sky" Caroline informed.
Aria chuckled, "Yeah, I know, I remember when they were just one month, Alec wouldn't stop crying, no matter what I did, so I decided to take him on a walk, and soon as we stepped out and he opened his tiny eyes to the dark sky, he immediately stopped crying, it was weird, yet adorable".
"He gets that trait from his father" Caroline blurted out, remembering all the times Damon spent just staring at the night sky.
"What?" Aria asked confused.
Caroline looked at Aria wide eyed, "Nothing" she said quickly, "Nothing at all, by the way, you staying here tonight?".
"If that's okay" Aria replied, tired from looking for Sarah all day, but finding nothing.
"Of course it" Caroline assured, "You go change, I'll keep an eye on these two troublemakers".
"Alright" Aria said, she placed a small kiss on Asher's cheek and gently laid him down on his play mat, "I'm going to borrow your clothes".
"Okay" Caroline said, making silly faces at Mia, which in turn made the youngest Salvatore smile.
Aria entered Caroline and Klaus's shared bedroom and immediately started looking for something suitable in Caroline's wardrobe, as she was rummaging through Caroline's clothes, something fell to the floor, Aria frowned realising that it was her old diary.
Picking it up, Aria looked at it in confusion, not knowing why Caroline would have her old diary, she realised a picture was being used a bookmark, so she opened the diary to the page, and looking at the picture she was left shocked.
In the picture, it was a pregnant Aria, behind her stood Damon, his hand around her stomach, resting on her belly, while both the vampires smiled at the camera.
"What the hell" Aria whispered, not remembering taking this photo, Aria then started reading the page the photo was resting on, wanting to know where this photo came from.
Dear Future Aria,
If you are reading this, then it means somehow, someway you have found out about the fact you made Alaric erase Damon's love from your mind, and that to before the six months were over, if I was to bet I would bet on Nik, he has a habit of gossiping and you have a habit of eavesdropping.
Yes, it is true that you loved Damon, no scratch that, you love Damon, he loves, or loved you back immensely. Yours and Damon's love can never be described in words, it was too epic, too passionate to be summed up in just a few words, which is why when Damon died, that void he left in your heart, started killing you, you were becoming someone completely different, someone too dark.
You and Damon were soulmates, chosen by the universe itself, and without your soulmate, your anchor, you went down the wrong road, and you couldn't be the mother your kids deserved, they deserve someone with their sanity as their mother, not a monster whose completely lost her mind.
After the six months are over, whether you like it or not, Alaric will make you remember Damon again, I made him promise, but till then, focus on your kids, help them become the best versions of you and Damon, show them that no matter what, their mother will always be by their side.
And no matter what, don't you dare, forget Damon forever, his kids need to know him, they need to know the Damon you knew, the Damon that was reserved only for you, they need to know that sometimes their father was an idiot, but his love for his family was real, and the world might call him a monster, but you have to tell the triplets, that their father wasn't a monster, he was just misunderstood.
Be happy Aria, because Damon and Kol would want you to, and I promise one day, you will get your platonic and true soulmate back.
"Ari".
Aria turned around and face Klaus, tears streaming down her face, "Damon, wasn't just the father of my kids" she cried, "What did I do Nik?".
"You did what you had to do to survive" Klaus replied, walking over to Aria and pulling her into a hug.
"I'm awful" Aria cried, hugging Klaus back.
"You were heartbroken" Klaus corrected.
"I want my memories back, Nik" Aria said, separating from Klaus.
"And you will get them back, but after six months" Klaus said.
"But--".
"Ari, you asked for six months, and that's exactly what you are getting, after six months everything will come back to you" Klaus assured.
"Promise?" Aria asked, wiping her tears.
"I promise, Ari" Klaus whispered, "Yours and Damon's love story is too epic to be forgotten just like that".
***
Presenting 6x04 of The Vampire Diaries . . .
How was the chapter?
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Next chapter: Will Damon and Kol make it back to Aria, or will a sudden Bennett cause problems? 👀🙈