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Ed Sheeran - Friends
"Friends just sleep in another bed,
And friends don't treat me like you do.
Well I know that there's a limit to everything,
But my friends won't love me like you."
ELENA GLANCED AT HOLDEN BEFORE SMILING SLIGHTLY AS THE TWO MADE THEIR WAY ACROSS THE MYSTIC FALLS CEMETERY IN THE WOODS.
Holden smiled back at her before he turned his head back to see Damon walking behind them. "I don't want to sound selfish, but why exactly are you going?" Elena asked Damon, who caught up with them.
"Because I want to bring Bonnie back just as you two and... I want to leave Izzie and Stefan alone so they could talk things out," Damon trailed off with a dull face causing Elena and Holden to stop. "What?"
"So you two finally told Stefan about your suspicions?" Holden questioned in surprise so Damon nodded his head.
Elena frowned slightly. "What did Stefan say?" she asked curiously. Elena knew Caroline was in love with Stefan but apparently he had eyes for Izzie.
"He didn't deny it, which is even worse than admitting it," Damon snapped as he rolled his eyes. "I don't wanna talk about it. Let's just go."
Damon began to walk in front as Elena glanced at Holden uneasily. "You know... Even if Stefan does love Izzie, he'll have to let her go," Holden told Damon. "Because she's in love with you."
"I can't believe I didn't notice..." Elena trailed off as Holden looked at her softly. "Now when you think about it Stefan did seem to look at her quite often when I took her out of the house."
"Not helping!" Damon sang sarcastically as Holden let out a breath. "Can we talk about something else because this topic is making me want to gauge my eyes out? Hmm?"
Elena nodded her head as she quickly found another topic to cover. "What does Matt want with Stefan?"
"It's still Stefan..." Damon trailed off angrily before he turned to face them before walking backwards. "It's Matt. Food, money, new social class. Whatever it is, it better distract Stefan from my Izzie and another sizable screw-up with Caroline. Did you two know about that, how the blonde felt about him?"
Holden nodded his head as Elena sighed deeply. "She told me a little while back, and whatever you're thinking, I want both of them to he happy."
"Even if she compels away all the things she likes about him?" Damon teased as Holden glared at Damon before they finally reached Liv.
"Hey. Thanks for doing this," Elena greeted the blonde witch as Damon stared at the reason he couldn't escape death months ago.
Liv nodded her head at Elena. "Don't worry about it. I needed an excuse to get out of that frat house. Way too much boy. Gross. You got everything?"
Holden nodded his head. "Yep. Blood from a Lucy Bennett, and an Ascendant from... What's your last name again?" he questioned causing Damon to chuckle.
"Parker," she answered dully before talking the device into her hands. "So this is the famous Ascendant?"
"Mhm," Holden nodded his head as he and Damon exchanged a look. The older Salvatore told Holden that he had to compel Ric to get the Ascendant and that was a bitch thing to do but they had to get Bonnie out of the prison world.
"Surprised that Jo gave it up."
"Why?" Elena questioned in confusion.
"It's the only thing keeping Kai locked in his prison," Liv answered in a duh tone causing Elena to glance at the brothers accusingly and they only smiled nervously. "If he gets out, he's coming after Jo."
Holden felt a little guilty but more guilt he felt for leaving Bonnie there in the first place. "Well, good old Jo - heh heh - helping us out. Can we do this, please?" Damon asked quickly as Liv rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. So I'm gonna need the moon to activate the Ascendant. It will be viable for about 8 hours, so once I send you over, the clock's ticking," Liv explained seriously.
Elena nodded her head. "How do we get back?" Holden asked the witch.
"Drink these," she wiggled three vials in her hand before giving them each a vial.
Damon looked down at it with furrowed eyebrows. "What is that?"
"It's my blood. It will link you to me so I can find you and bring you back. Give this one to Bonnie, too," Liv handed another vial to Elena.
Damon sniffed the blood as everyone hesitated to drink. "Are you waiting for a toast? Drink," Liv snapped so Damon clinked his vial against Holden's before the three vampires drank the blood.
"Mmm. Bitter. Wonder why. Shall we?" Damon turned to Elena and Holden.
Holden took Elena's hand and she smiled softly at him, liking the feeling of Holden holding her hand.
Liv poured the Bennett blood on the Ascendant and started chanting some spell before a bright light engulfed them.
When they opened their eyes Liv was gone, meaning they were in the prison world again. "Sucks," Holden mused under his breath as he let go of Elena's hand.
"Yeah," Damon agreed as Holden noticed Elena looking around in surprise.
"Hey, you okay?" Holden asked her before placing his hand on her shoulder. Elena turned to face him before she nodded.
"I used to come here every day after the accident for months," she admitted as Holden realized.
"Your parents are buried here..."
"Yeah, but not in 1994. In 1994, they were still alive," she answered calmly as Holden nodded with a small smile.
"So is Bonnie, people. So we should go, you know, get her," Damon spoke as Elena rolled her eyes before the two turned to face Damon. "Just keep your eyes peeled. There's a pork rind-munching freak somewhere around here. Ok?"
Elena glanced at Holden before nodding her head so the three vampires began to walk in search to find Bonnie and bring her home.
"BONNIE?" Elena called out as the three vampire roamed around the Salvatore boarding house.
Holden walked out of the kitchen to meet up with his brother and a girl that he loved. "Nothing. You?" Holden asked Damon who reentered the living room too.
"No."
"I've looked in every room plus the basement," Elena sighed angrily as she sat down on the sofa.
Damon left the room to search some more as Holden walked over to Elena before looking at her gently. "Holden, you- you don't think that Kai..."
"Let's not think about something we don't know, okay?" he asked with a smile so she nodded her head before noticing a pillow with blood on it. "Oh, my god. Holden."
Elena grabbed the pillow before sniffing it. "This is blood."
"And we're jumping to conclusions," Damon spoke before entering the room. The oldest Salvatore walked over to the phone.
"What are you doing?" Holden asked him dully as Elena stood up.
"If Kai has Bonnie, we need to talk."
"So you're gonna call him?" Elena asked angrily as Holden turned to her with a look.
"He's gonna page him actually."
Elena looked blank as she waited for an explanation. "Sorry. Forgot you were two in 1994. Pagers are an ancient form of telecommunication," Damon sassed the girl as Holden rolled his eyes.
"Damon, she knows what a pager is," he defended Elena who nodded her head angrily.
"How does it work?" Elena then asked as Damon began to dial a number.
"We dial jackass's number 555-HIYA-KAI..." Damon dialed the number. "We leave our number... And then we hang up."
"And now what?" Elena questioned as Holden turned to look at her.
"We wait."
Later on, Elena was wandering around the 1994 Salvatore boarding house living room as Damon and Holden spoke a bit away from her. "If Kai answers, what do we do?" Holden asked Damon seriously.
Damon glanced at Elena to see her opening up cabinets. "I have no idea... We threaten him and if he shows up we kill him until we can escape with Bonnie," he mused as Holden nodded his head before glancing at Elena. "She seems close to you already. What charms are you using? Broken boy? A huge gigolo?"
Holden laughed at his lame joke. "Me. I'm just me," he commented causing Damon to roll his eyes. "Let's talk about you. I see how worried you are and not just because of Bonnie. Because you're scared that Izzie will see something in Stefan too and you'll be left out alone."
Damon looked away with an annoyed face. "There is a huge chance it will happen, Holden. I guess you're not the only one who's not confident in a relationship..."
"Used to be," Holden corrected as Damon avoided his eyes. "Izzie would never break your heart, Damon, you should know that."
Damon smirked. "It's a good thing she doesn't have an evil doppelgänger to take her body and break up with me... So I could turn my emotions off," he teased as Holden looked at him dully.
"Well, I am officially in hell," suddenly they heard Damon's voice coming from a camcorder. "This place is my own personal hell."
Damon rushed over to Elena who was watching the video before snatching the camcorder away. "Whoa!" Damon mused before turning it off as Holden approached them.
"What was that?" Elena smirked teasingly as Holden took the camcorder before looking at the paused video to see Damon there.
He smiled slightly as Damon looked caught. "Uh, it's my audition tape for 'Real World: London'. Fingers crossed. I think I'm gonna make it," Damon mused sarcastically.
Elena narrowed her eyes. "That was a video journal."
"What? No. Journals are lame, especially video ones," Damon shook his head as Elena glanced at Holden before suddenly the phone began to ring.
Damon pulled it out and answered. "Kai, if you so much as hurt one hair on her annoying little witch head, Holden and I will take turns killing you and—"
"That was so sweet," Bonnie suddenly spoke causing everyone to look surprised. "Why'd you ruin it by calling me annoying?"
Elena grabbed the phone with an overwhelmed face. "Bonnie?"
"Elena?" Bonnie asked back in shock. "Elena, is that you?"
Damon and Holden smiled at each other. "Yes! It's me. I'm here. I'm at the Salvatore house in..."
"In 1994," Holden spoke as Bonnie chuckled emotionally. "Hey, Bonnie."
"I can't believe I'm hearing your voices right now," Bonnie mused as they could practically hear tears streaming down her face. "How are you here?"
"It's a long story. Just know that I'm here to get you," Elena said emotionally as Holden stared at her beautiful face. After talking for a bit Bonnie informed them about the recent events.
Damon and Holden were both looking at a roadmap. "So Kai just left you in Portland?" Elena questioned curiously.
"After cooking me Thanksgiving spaghetti and stealing my blood," Bonnie snapped and that made the brothers look up at each other in shock. "It's been a strange few days."
"Where is he now?" Elena asked as she sat down on a sofa near where the brothers were looking at a map.
"Don't know. I hotwired a car, and I'm on my way back to Mystic Falls."
Elena chuckled in amusement. "Hang on. You hotwired a car? Who are you?"
Holden raised her eyes at Elena to see her smiling at him. "A badass apparently. A badass in Muncie."
"Well, Muncie's about 6/12 hours away, give or take a knuckle," Damon commented loudly as Holden began to worry about Kai. If he had Bonnie's blood that meant he could've already been out of the prison world.
"Liv's pulling us out in 7," Elena informed Bonnie.
"If you don't stop anywhere, you'll get here just in time," Holden added as Elena noticed the look on his face.
"I can make it in time, Holden. I'm going home."
"You're coming home," Elena told her excitedly. "We'll see you soon."
"Okay," Bonnie said before the two hang up. Elena was smiling brightly before she noticed that Damon and Holden didn't look so euphoric.
"You two are worried about Kai..."
"If he's got Bonnie's blood and the Ascendant, he's got everything he needs to get out," Damon told them as Holden sighed.
"What if he's already out?" Holden asked as Elena sat back in worry.
DAMON POPPED OPEN A BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE AS HE FLIPPED PANCAKES UP IN THE AIR IN THE KITCHEN. Elena caught them on plates as she smiled at Damon before setting down the plates on the table. "Bon appetit," Damon told the girl as the two sat down to eat.
"Where's Holden?" Elena questioned in confusion as Damon smirked widely.
"What? Worried about your little boyfriend?" Damon asked teasingly as she glared at him.
"He's not my boyfriend," Elena then stood up and left the kitchen to find Holden outside looking up at the sky. He had a bottle of bourbon in his hand as he was sitting on the stairs. "What are you doing here? Let's go inside to eat Damon's pancakes."
"I'm not hungry," Holden mused before taking a sip of his drink. Elena wanted to sit down next to him but she noticed a newspaper. Taking it Elena finally sat down next to Holden.
"Who mangled the crossword?" she asked with a smile as Holden glanced at her with a knowing look. Elena smiled before she noticed a story in the newspaper. "This is about Kai and Jo."
"Yeah."
Elena then furrowed her eyebrows. "If Kai's out, he's gonna go after Jo again. Holden, he's gonna kill her."
"He's gonna merge with her, which will most likely result in her death..." Holden trailed off feeling guilty because in the short period of time he grew friendly to Jo. She was a nice woman and Alaric truly seemed to love her.
"Then why would she give you and Damon the Ascendant?" Elena questioned as Holden sighed, wanting her to figure it out herself. "It was the one thing trapping Kai, and she just gave it?"
"No," Damon spoke from the doorway, not wanting Elena to become angry at a plan that Holden agreed to. After all, Damon did all the dirty work. "She didn't give it to us. Alaric stole it from her."
Elena stood up as she stared at them both. "Alaric stole from her."
Damon sat down next to Holden before grabbing the bottle of bourbon. "After I compelled him."
Elena's lips tightened as she glanced at Holden. "Did you know?" she asked angrily as Holden nodded his head. "Of course you knew! I mean, why wouldn't you agree to Damon's plan?"
"All we're trying to do is bring Bonnie back!"
"Why, Damon?! I want Bonnie back more than anything. She's my best friend, but to you two... Who is she to you, Damon? To you, Holden? Is she a chance for me to realize how great you two are to that I can fall in love with you again, Holden? Is that what it is?" Elena snapped but none of them answered.
Elena shook her head before leaving. "Well, great. You just had to tell her," Damon mused dully.
"I can't have secrets with her, Damon," Holden answered calmly. "That's not how I want to have her back. Maybe you should learn from me."
Holden then stood up and walked back into his house. Damon stared ahead of him before frowning.
ELENA WAS SITTING ON THE PORCH SWING AT HER HOUSE LOOKING DISTANT. Holden slowly walked up the porch steps before sitting down next to her. Elena still didn't look at him. "As soon as I met Damon and Bonnie... I decided to come here because it was the closest thing I had to you. It felt suffocating knowing you were somewhere and I wasn't able to reach you. I thought that my brother would give me strength but it was Bonnie."
Elena glanced at Holden slowly. "For the first time she gave me hope that I would see you again. Damon thought it's his hell because of some past events that happened that day. I thought it's my hell too... But the only person that gave hope Damon and me was Bonnie. She didn't believe that it was hell. Who knew? Turns out Damon and Bonnie became friends while being here. We're doing this for her, Elena, not because I want to impress you by helping."
Elena smiled as Holden stared at her face. "Damon and Bonnie. Who would have thought?" she chuckled as Holden smiled with a nod. "She's probably passing Whitmore now."
"Damon says she has a terrible sense of direction," Holden told Elena, who chuckled gleefully.
"Doesn't it feel weird being back here?" Elena asked him curiously. "You told me you started seeing me... Doesn't it feel the same now?"
Holden smiled at her before shaking his head. "Even looking at you it feels different. You radiate warmth, Elena," he said as Elena blushed before looking down.
"It's funny. I used to have so many good memories of this house, and after just one bad one, I burned it down," Elena said, angry and regretful. "I just couldn't bear to look at it again. I just can't believe it's gone."
"You want to go inside?" Holden asked her calmly as Elena nodded before the two got up and began to head towards the front door.
Elena paused before turning to look at Holden. "But you know what I regret even more?" she asked as Holden furrowed his eyebrows. "That I compelled away the memories. I'm sorry for that... They were only half mine."
Holden smiled before touching her cheek to which Elena didn't even pull away. "It's okay. We'll make new memories. And that makes me happy."
Elena looked unsure but not unhappy. Suddenly, something started to change. "Do you feel that?" she asked as Holden looked at her in alarm.
Suddenly, they returned to the real world as Holden looked to his right to see Damon next to him. "No. No. We shouldn't be back yet," Elena quickly shook her head. "Holden, we have another hour."
The three vampires saw Liv and Tyler. "What did you do?" Elena snapped at them angrily.
"Kai is here. We have to get back to Mystic Falls before he takes any more of her magic," Tyler snapped at them.
Elena shook her head quickly. "No. Send me back first."
Liv looked regretful but she shook her head. "I can't."
"Bonnie was on her way. Send me back!" Elena shouted before angrily moving towards them, but they were standing across the border which caused her skin to burn.
"Elena, you're over the boarder," Holden snapped so she stumbled backwards back to safety.
Tyler looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry, Elena."
The couple then left as Elena shook her head in denial. "No. No."
Later on, Elena and the Salvatore brothers were sitting at her parents' gravestone. Damon hang up his phone after not being able to call Izzie. "Bonnie's gonna get to the house, and we will be gone," Elena said sadly.
"Until the next comet, or full moon, or eclipse," Holden comforted the girl. "We can go back as many times with that until we get her back."
"Wait," suddenly Kai spoke causing everyone to look at him. "Are you guys talking about Bonnie Bennett? Because honestly, I didn't think she was all that great."
Kai then used magic to kick the Ascendant out of Elena's hands and it smashed against a tree and broke. "No!" Elena shouted as she scrambled to collect the pieces.
Damon and Holden both moved towards Kai. "I am gonna enjoy the hell out of this," Damon commented but then Kai disabled them with excruciating pain in his head.
The two brothers grabbed their heads from the pain they felt as Kai smirked. "Oh, hey. Me, too. Oh, yeah. I, uh, I stole some of Liv's magic when I tried to kill her. Think some of it might still be in my system, so pardon me."
Kai made Damon slide away as Holden was still on his knees feeling pain. Kai walked towards Elena before he picked up a piece of the Ascendant. "Uh-uh-uh. You missed one. Phasmatos incendia."
Kai then dropped the piece into Elena's hand with the rest of the pieces, and it bursted into flames. The fire began to spread up Elena's arm as Holden finally vamp sped towards Kai, who suddenly disappeared.
Damon then picked up a large tree branch and swung it, hitting Kai, who became visible again and got pelted over the anti-magic border. The fire on Elena's arm went away as Holden rushed over to her. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked worriedly as Elena nodded while gasping.
"Huh. I guess this is that, uh, antimagic border, which means now there's a psycho loose in Mystic Falls and no vampires around to stop him. Whoops," Kai smirked as he began to walk away.
Damon and Holden exchanged a look as Elena breathed out in overwhelm.
DAMON WALKED INTO ALARIC'S LOFT BEFORE SEEING IZZIE SITTING ON THE COUCH. "I'm back," he said as she raised her eyes before Damon smiled at her.
"Um," Izzie mused causing him to look at her in confusion.
"Not the reaction I was hoping for but... Giving how you spent your day..." he trailed off. "So? What happened with Stefan?"
Izzie stood up before she approached him. "You were right. Stefan has feelings for me and he admitted it," she breathed out with tears in her eyes as Damon clenched his jaw.
"I get it. I, um, I'm gonna..." Damon took one step back but Izzie grabbed his hand.
"Damon, what are you doing? I just told you something I hate myself and you're gonna give up so easily?" she asked in confusion.
"Why wouldn't I? I met up with Ric, he hates me now for what I did to him," Damon snapped as he pulled away from her. "I wasn't able to get Bonnie out of the prison world... Kai is here! But none of this hurts as much as knowing that my younger brother has feelings for you and that he has a bigger chance with you than me!"
Izzie stared at Damon in shock. "Are you serious?! What the hell is wrong with you, Damon?" she snapped angrily. "Fine. Stefan does love me, but that doesn't mean I love him too... This doesn't mean he'll be with me. It hurts me to know you feel like you're not worthy of me, Damon! Because I went through hell to be where I am today. I love you, you idiot! Stefan knows it, Holden knows it, but apparently you don't."
Damon stared at her in awe as Izzie continued being angry. "We fight like cats and dogs all the time, but we love each other so much that at the end of the day we would die for each other, Damon. And Stefan could never change it. No one could," Izzie then placed her hands on his face. "I will not leave you for Stefan or anyone, Damon. Let me tell you one thing that I wanted to ask you since you came back... Would you be with me for the rest of our lives? Would you want to turn me into a vampire so that we could have an eternity together?" she asked causing Damon to widen his eyes.
The two continued staring at each other as Izzie was determined by her choice.
One problem was that Holden would never agree for Izzie to become a vampire.
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