forty. hold my hand
Whitmore College
Elena and Isaac are walking side by side together around the courtyard as they are discussing on how to get Caroline to switch her humanity back on.
"Do you think we should do this the old-fashioned way?" The former sighs.
"The idea is to act like I still have my humanity off, and that's what Caroline should believe until she switch hers back on. So if we're going to do the whole lock-the-rabid-animal in a cell until she gave in, then I'm going to have to stay in the cage with her." Her own childhood friend informed her.
Elena seems to have the expression that that's not such a good idea.
"I know what you're going to say." Her banshee friend's cousin predicted.
The younger vampire spreads her arms out, "What was I going to say?"
"I mean, Caroline's ruthlessly strategic without her humanity, and the thought of anyone being locked in a room with her, then...good luck to me."
"Are you doing that thing where you're talking about someone when you're really talking about me? Like when I had my humanity off?" His friend said.
"No, you're different, don't flatter yourself. In your case, they actually had someone who truly wanted to kill you, as in one who actually hated your guts to get you to switch yours back on." He recalled from any of the stories he has heard about the humanity-switch issue days from Damon himself.
"But in Caroline's case..." The mentioned girl's best friend trailed off.
"She's not really a person who can attract hatred." The older one sighs.
"I take that as an insult, in my part." His old friend said with a raise of brows.
Isaac rolls his emerald eyes and scoffs, "Stop trying to make this about you."
Elena remains silent, followed by Isaac, the both of them contemplating the task at hand on their own for a reasonable method until Elena spots, not too far from them, Cassie with another female professor, talking mostly about the syllabus or the topic they are currently teaching their students.
"Oh hey, there's Cassie." The Gilbert girl mentioned, smiling at her presence, "As the brand new Applied Microbiology professor she is. We should go say hi, come on." Elena leads their way to them, both vampires watching closely as Cassie laughs at a short joke her friend shared with her before the two professors part ways, "Hey Cass." Elena smiles in a friendly manner.
"Elena, hi. Hey." Cassie smiles in return as her nephew replied simply; the new professor looks around for a while, as if looking for someone when Isaac effortlessly reads her expression, to which he spoke first before her.
"Minerva's not here."
"Yeah, she's been, avoiding us for the whole week, but we see that she's been spending most of her time with Kai." Her daughter's friend reported.
"Kai." The genuinely curious woman repeated, "As in, the witch?" Parker.
Elena forces a short laugh, "Is there any other Kai's you know besides him?"
The brand new professor laughs, "No, I'm just making sure who he is."
"Okay. So yeah, we don't really worry much since he's, kind of a good guy now. So, everything's kind of, sorted when it comes to him." Elena nods.
"How come? I mean, he is the one who murdered his own family, right?" Cassie mentioned and her easygoing nephew only hums in response.
"Yeah, but we're giving him a chance. We're still watching his behavior, from time to time just in case, but the reason he started to care, well, it's complicated, to explain at this time." Elena retorted as her old friend nods.
"Some things can never not be complicated, you know?" Cassie said, "So then, Isaac, if you see Minerva anywhere, or any of you for that matter, tell her to call me, okay? She hasn't been picking up her phone these days."
"Yeah, okay, sure." Her one and only vampire nephew replied.
"Thanks a lot, sweetheart." Cassie sent them a simple goodbye before she walks away toward the office building for the professors on campus while Elena and Isaac closely watch the woman go, wondering about Minerva.
"Where is Minerva, actually?" The younger vampire questioned.
****
Parker Residence in Portland, Oregon
Olivia Parker is sitting on the three-seated couch in the living room, eating a carton of Ben and Jerry's while watching television when she hears the ring of the doorbell, which makes her tsk in annoyance. She checks the wall clock, confirming it's not her father at the door that she gets up and walks over to the front door to find an unexpected visitor standing there. Minerva is standing on the front porch with a few of her bags while Kai is still unloading the car trunk to get the rest of their things. The front door finally opens to reveal a puzzled Liv, who catches sight of Kai before she turns her attention back to her former close friend, almost angry in seeing her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" The older girl mentioned.
"Olivia. Good to see you too." The younger one fakes a smile.
Liv scowls at her, "Nobody's home, and I'm not much of a use anymore either, unless you came all the way here just to mock me about Tyler, I suggest you go back to where you came from and bring whoever that is with you out of my sight, and better yet, out of this territory. Now."
"Funny how you don't even recognize your own brother--"
"My brother is dead. So whoever that is you came here with, is just a psychopath who is just pretending like he actually cares." Liv snarled.
The caramel brunette frowns in her boyfriend's offense, "He does."
"Look, I really don't want to do this again with you, Livvie poo." Kai steps onto the front porch with the bags, "Lighten up. We won't be here long."
His blonde sister scoffs in disbelief, "Yeah, until Dad comes home and figure out a way to send you back to your own personal hell, and we'll make sure the ascendant's destroyed so you won't be allowed to escape ever again."
"Yeah, about that. We have a problem a little trip back home won't hurt." Kai pushes his unfriendly sister out of the way to enter their house while Minerva trails after him as Liv slams the door shut behind them, irritated.
"What, the one where Damon has mommy issues, so he can't think straight that it's almost impossible for anyone to retrieve the ascendant back from that crazy ripper? Why would you even free her in the first place? Idiot."
Kai ignores her as he already reaches the top of the main staircase and is about to walk even further down the hallway until Liv spoke once again, her annoying voice raised as a warning, "Dad wouldn't like the idea of this."
"Yeah, like I care." Her sarcastic brother proceeds to walk into his old room, which is now unoccupied, as if it's a storage room while Minerva joins him.
"Cute." She simply commented.
"I basically grew up in this room. Jo's is next door." The merged witch places the bags down near the study table and moves to sit on his single bed.
Minerva examines the whole classic bedroom until she finds a dusty old notebook on the study table and, genuinely curious, flips it open to find writings of different types of magical spells, "Is this like, a grimoire?"
Malachai laughs slightly and grabs the old book, flipping through a couple of vintage pages, "I wish. Sadly, I couldn't exactly afford one of those things."
"I thought all witches own at least one." She recalled with a frown.
Kai shakes his head, "As desperate as I was back then, being a lame-ass witch with no power whatsoever, I kept this and wrote some spells down for me to remember. Especially this one--" He shows her an old page with messy handwriting of his own when he was younger, "--is probably my favourite one." Minerva notices that it is the merge incantation and the requirements needed for the spell to work that she smiles, "I spent sleepless nights memorizing this, only to find out...well, it felt like I did all this for nothing as long as another pair of twins are still alive." He scoffs at the tragic memory, "But now that I'm merged, I guess it's worth it after all. Besides, Jo never really do these things anyway. She's a fast learner. Lucky."
Minerva nods a little.
"Can you like, make the bed? I think I need a nap." She requested.
"Okay, sure." Kai sets the book back down and starts to do what he's told.
****
Whitmore College, Student Lounge
Bonnie, Elena and Isaac are sitting at a study table for four people, in which the former is on pause from her daily studies to inform them about Minerva's location, which leaves Elena slightly happy for them while Isaac remains a little unconvinced of Kai's obtained empathy by magic in concern.
"Sounds good. It's been a 'busy' week, for the both of them." Elena said.
"They're seriously avoiding everyone but themselves." Bonnie mentioned.
"Are we seriously just going to let her be alone with him--"
"Don't start." The Bennett girl interrupted the young man in defense.
"You know I'm right, and I'm serious. I mean, judging by her condition, she could get hurt easily and neither of her friends will be there to help her--"
"I'm pretty sure Kai is already a friend of hers." Elena interrupted him next.
Their mentioned best friend's cousin frowns in confusion, "Okay, why are you guys defending him? He's a psychopath who killed his own brother and that's how he got fake empathy inside of him. Basically, he's a cheat."
"Yeah, but he is also isolated by his own family for being born as what he is and Minerva is the only one who understands him, so she's giving him a chance." The older girl implied while her best friend proceeds afterward.
"And when a trusted friend is giving a chance to someone, I think we should do the same too and try to see what she sees in him." She nods a little.
Isaac scoffs at them in disbelief, "Unbelievable." He gets up from his adjacent seat and starts to leave that the two girls share a knowing look before Elena follows after him to stop him in his tracks while Bonnie continues to study all by herself after staring at them for a moment.
****
Parker Residence, Portland
In Kai's bedroom, Minerva is asleep in his bed while the owner is rummaging his father's bedroom to find anything besides the ascendant to trap the Heretics with little success and Liv appears at the door, which she opens.
"What the hell are you looking for?"
"A key." Her oldest brother doesn't even turn to her.
"To win Minerva's heart? Don't bother. I'm sure she's still not over her last boyfriend. Oh, did I say boyfriend? I meant, rebound 'cause she's still not over her last boyfriend who dumped her. Pity." His blonde sister spat.
He scoffs in disbelief, "And you came all the way up here to mock me, why?"
"Isn't it that obvious?" Liv scoffs, "I hate you. We all do. The coven still do." A small smirk appears on her lips as she has an idea, "And I'm pretty sure so is that girl you came here with. I've known her long enough than you have, so I know the signs when she thinks you're just another boy toy to play with."
Kai hisses playfully, "Ouch. Sounds like you're asking me to kill you too. I hate to do it though. I mean, now that Jo kicked me out of her life, you and Dad are the only family I have left." He laughs humorlessly, "As if."
"You're no family to me, Kai, and it's going to stay that way 'til the day I die." Liv is about to retort some more when the ring of the doorbell is heard.
"Daddy's home." Kai sang, "I hope he bought some food with him."
"You're dead." The blonde rushes down the main stairs to get the front door.
"I forgot to bring my keys." Joshua enters the house, "Whose car is that--"
"Dad, Kai is here." Liv asserted, the cheerful look on her father's face shifting into a frown, "He came here with Minerva to, deal about the ascendant."
"I already called Jo to destroy it. Why would he let loose that rabid animal out of her cage?" The former leader of their coven argued endlessly.
She rolls her eyes, "I'm guessing, it has something to do with her sons."
"It's because of Isaac King, actually." The powerful leader of their coven appears at the top of the main staircase, "Hey Dad." Both Liv and Joshua now share the same scowl as they look up at the man, who smiles at them.
Afterward, Kai is in the kitchen downstairs, cooking behind the stove while Liv is standing by the doorframe, her arms folded with attitude, and Joshua is arranging the fragile plates and steel spoons on the dining table for lunch as they almost argued about the leader's action in freeing the ripper.
"Are the Heretics still there?" The older man questioned strictly.
"For the billionth time, yes. Lily's obsessed in freeing them too 'cause it seems like they're the only ones to prevent her from being the blood-sucking vacuum cleaner that she is." His only remaining son talked.
"So why the hell did you free her in the first place?" His daughter snapped.
An annoyed Kai rolls his blue-gray eyes, "Because time travel is fun." Joshua and Liv are glaring at him, unamused and annoyed, "Ooh, these steaks are ready." He starts to serve the freshly cooked steaks on a big fragile plate.
"Why did you release her from her prison, Kai?" Joshua questioned.
"God, can we talk about something slightly more fun, please?" The leader sighs and walks over to the dining table to place the big plate down.
"See, Dad, I can't even accept the fact that he's our leader. He's such a freaking joke." The former leader's youngest daughter snapped in disbelief.
Joshua sighs in a stressed manner, "Olivia, please--"
"I'm a joke?" His son scoffs, "Yeah, and you're freaking hilarious."
Liv turns to their father with a remark, "I don't want a comedy leader."
"Then you know you should've merged with your brother a month ago." Joshua implied lowly and sternly at her who scoffs as she looks away.
"Great. You're still milking that."
"Okay, I'll spill it." Kai laughs. "The thing is, we had to do it because her son inherited the ripper gene and two vamps were wrecking your school at the time. You shouldn't have dropped out, baby sis, you missed a lot of fun--"
"Shut up."
Kai laughs again, "Yeah, so she crashed the party, and now his humanity's back on. The stupid part is when her other son handed the ascendant to her, so now her hope to get her friends back escalated to a hundred, which is why I am here now in hopes there's another spare key to lock them up."
"What makes you think that?" His strict father asked.
"Did you not hear what I said? Hope. Doesn't mean there actually is." Kai retorted, "Now are we going to eat lunch or what? I am starving."
Liv leaves to walk into the living room while Joshua watches his son with a slight sense of sympathy, but also concerned of the coven's condition.
"Bôn appetit, Daddy-o." Kai walks past him to climb up the main stairs.
****
Whitmore College Courtyard
Damon and Elena are sitting at a park bench for two people, talking about the recent events happening, with her head resting on his left shoulder.
The girl sighs, "There seems to be no way to switch Caroline's back on."
"There is, now that her emotional trigger's back on, let the game continue."
She scoffs, "You make it sound so easy, Damon. The idea is to make her think that Isaac's switch is still off so he can trick her into switching it back on, but the problem is, neither of us actually know how to do it."
"Awh." Her vampire boyfriend playfully pouts, "What about Minsy?"
"She's in Portland with Kai to search for anything that remotely resembles an ascendant to keep those Heretics trapped. You don't know?" She asked.
"Her cousin could've shot me a text. Instead, I've turned into the creepy father figure to the two lovebirds and a hopeful mother back at home."
"Oh yeah. Rosie and Stefan. How are they--"
"Don't even ask. They practically look like what you get when you search 'perfect couple' online." Her annoyed lover scoffs in disbelief at the thought.
The younger vampire sighs in relief, "Well, at least they're happy."
"Yep, and I really don't want to be at home right now for the sake of my own high position in that dollhouse, I do not want to be a thirdwheeler."
She scoffs in ridicule, "So you let your mom be the thirdwheeler."
"She doesn't need to know that, especially when she's the main reason I exiled myself from home to rather be here with you." The young man said.
The chestnut brunette sighs in concern, "Lily still doesn't want to return it?"
"I think she won't ever return it."
Elena then stares at her own boyfriend in genuine sympathy and holds his left hand tighter, "I can't even imagine what it feels like. When your own mother decided to choose those, people as her family instead of you."
Damon forms a tight smile and scoffs, "Yeah, and that was after she left Stefan and I to fend for ourselves from our abusive father. Ever since she's gone, Stefan was the only one I have left. I'd do anything to protect him."
"You have me now." His vampire girlfriend reminded him.
Damon smiles at her and they share a short but sweet kiss.
****
Parker Residence, Portland
As Kai proceeds his task at hand around the house, a genuinely curious Minerva is in Jo's old bedroom, looking at the doctor's old things which she left behind before escaping to Virginia at the age of twenty-two. She nears a dusty shelf with different kinds of books which she touches with her hand, trying to remove the dust and a few cobwebs that she smiles at the feeling. She pulls out a book and rubs the dust off to realize it's Josette's diary which she opens to find the words 'Josette Parker, 1982' written in blue ink.
Minerva curiously flips onto the very first old vintage page to read an entry on November 5th, 1982: 'My mother just gave me this diary since today is my birthday, and I am forever thankful that I finally have my own one to write all about my life in here. The crazy moments, deep secrets, thoughts are all stored in this special book. First thought for today is how my brother didn't get his own journal. It's not like he usually writes anyway. I feel sorry for him, honestly. He's my twin, and he doesn't really get...let's just say, Mom and Dad aren't treating him well enough, unlike how they treat me, which is much better. It's not that I like it that way, at times it just feels lonely, and unfair, to him. The truth is, twins should have each other's back, no matter what, but at this point, Kai and I don't feel like twins. Maybe it's because he likes to spend time alone? Or it's maybe because he's not into the stuff that I'm interested in. You know, girly stuff...'
"What are you doing?" Liv appears at the open doorway of the room.
Minerva turns to face her and only raises the journal shortly which the blonde rolls her eyes at as she folds her arms and leans against the frame.
"The diary of a weak witch." Liv mentioned, "Which year is that?"
"1982."
"Oh please. That's like, her first diary. She wrote it when she was like ten. You should read the one from 1986. Her freshman year in high school sucked." She laughs that the caramel brunette only has a blank look.
"Is this what you're like when you left Whitmore? Left as if I'm a nobody to you? Can you not be any more spoiled?" The doppelgänger began, upset.
Her former roommate smirks and only shrugs, "What can I say? I'm as spoiled as it gets." Minerva only stares at her, deeply upset of their faded friendship, "Anyway, can you not sound any more like a hypocrite?" She scoffs at her, "What else do you think I'm going to do after I lost the one person-- oh wait, probably two persons who I trusted with all I have, only for them to end up, who they said they're not going to be."
"What did I do?" Minerva asked, her voice soft as if she is about to cry.
"Is that even a question? Maybe you should've kept your own lame-ass journal too to record your mistakes in life. Ever thought of that?" She snapped; Minerva starts to cry now that Liv sighs and rolls her eyes at, "Oh please don't try that on me. Unlike most people, I don't feel sorry for you. Not after what you did. I mean, do you even feel sorry for me when Luke died? Huh. Guess not. That's why I always know where I'm not needed."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kai protectively intervenes to stop the blonde and rushes into the bedroom to hold Minerva close to comfort her.
Liv watches them with a look of dislike and slight disgust which she laughs at, "Oh my God. Now why doesn't this surprise me? Oh, right. She's the one who desperately wanted to defend you so you can merge with your twin, but plans changed that night. You really weren't expecting my twin to show up and sacrifice himself, did you? It's all her fault and people still--"
The twenty-two-year-old blonde witch suddenly stops herself mid-sentence when she starts to groan and holds her head in agony that she slowly kneels because her own brother is inflicting her with a very painful aneurysm.
"Don't tempt me to kill you too, little sister. Because trust me, murder is easy as hell. You're like that pesky fly that's still not dead yet 'cause you have nothing better to do than to disturb people." Kai warned her, "Now I want you to stay the hell away from Minerva. You hate each other, I get it. You don't need to prove your point by rubbing it in her face. Leader's order."
Kai ends the spell, leaving Liv to have her nose bleeding and she looks up at him in absolute fear before she glances at Minerva who is now gasping, trying to calm herself down. Not wanting another pain infliction spell on her, Liv slowly gets up and awkwardly leaves the pair alone in Jo's bedroom.
****
Whitmore College, Professor Devon's Applied Microbiology Classroom
The class for sophomore level has just finished that Bonnie, as one of her students, walks up to her front desk and submits an assignment, "Hey."
"Welcome back." Her absentee banshee friend's mother smiles politely.
The young adult chuckles, "Now that I'm free from the prison world, I'm totally desperate for a friend since most of them are...never mind."
"Have you heard from Minerva?" The woman asked in deep concern.
"Yeah, she's with Kai, and that's good news now, by the way." Fortunately.
"Okay, well, I'm glad she knows how to make new friends, but as in, where is she? Where is Kai taking her? Because I haven't seen her around campus and she's not picking up her phone, so you'd understand why I'm--"
"They're in, Portland." A concerned Bonnie revealed eventually, "His home."
Cassandra shakes her head a little, truly puzzled though desperate, "Why?"
"Well, it's because, of Damon. Wait, no. Okay, it's not entirely his fault, but it is since his mom is now free from another prison world in 1903--"
"Yeah, Ric told me about his mother coming back to...what, exactly?"
"Isaac switched his humanity off with Caroline, and since he is her emotional trigger, we kind of, need someone-- so Kai did an illusion spell to make her look exactly like his mom, to come in and bring him back, which he did. So then Lily wasn't alone in her prison and that there are these people--"
"Heretics." The medical professor stated, "Jo filled me in on that."
"Good. So before we knew that they aren't allowed to escape, Damon handed over the ascendant to Lily, which we should've destroyed." At first.
"Oh God."
"Yeah, so now Kai is hoping to find another key-- that kind of resembles an ascendant to trap them. Damon's trying to get through to Lily, along with Rosie and Stefan, I hope, and Isaac is still trying to figure out a way on how to bring back Caroline. And Elena and I are just busy with school."
The woman laughs slightly at the supernatural to-do list for their own safety, "Count me in. But are you sure Minerva's going to be alright?"
The twenty-year-old bites her lower lip briefly, "Well..."
****
Parker Residence, Portland
Once it's already dusk, Minerva is finally finished having dinner with the three Parkers and she is now standing on the front porch of the large house alone, staring up at the darkening sky with a glass bottle of vodka in her right hand as she sips on it as neither of the witch family members are aware of the stolen alcoholic drink from one of the rooms after dinner.
Joshua then walks out of the house and shuts the front door behind them, his gaze fixed on the caramel brunette who sighs in his presence, knowing well he isn't Kai or Liv without turning around to be right. The man stands by her side and looks up at the sky as well, a small smile on his face after he also catches sight of the alcoholic drink in her hand which she still drinks.
"Didn't expect a girl like you to drink." Minerva doesn't reply as if he is not even there, "I'm sorry, I couldn't make it happen." Joshua brought up, "The merge. We agreed to make Lucas and Olivia do it, but he merged with Kai instead. That wasn't supposed to happen, and now the coven is doomed. But I'm surprised you actually believe in him, that he's good now, is that it?"
Joshua attempts to manipulate her to be against Kai, which she still only stays quiet and continues to down the bottle of vodka, only listening, "I can't even imagine what your loved ones would think of being close to a dangerous psychopath like him, who killed his own family just so he can be the leader, extremely selfish of what he wants. One who doesn't care about anybody but himself, and that includes you. What if he's only using you to get here because he needed a friend? Or worse, a slave of some sort." The man continued while she looks away from him to roll her big hazel eyes.
"He doesn't deserve you, you know? But I'm sure you already know that since Olivia did tell me of how intelligent you are, so you would be aware of where you lie in your relationships. You deserve to be with someone who is born to be a true leader, one who knows how to treat a woman right, who's responsible and understanding." Joshua then holds her left hand affectionately, the right one still holding the bottle and he rubs it gently.
A stressful Minerva finally looks up at him with a glare, as if warning him to release her before she can effortlessly hurt him with her potential strength.
"Someone like me." The former coven leader said, "What do you say?"
Minerva looks at him straight in the eyes as she spoke in a grim manner, "You're not his dad. Not really."
Joshua scoffs, "And you're not his girlfriend. Not really. He likes breaking hearts, and so do you. One day, you're going to break his."
"And you've been doing it to him every day of his life." Minerva voiced.
After a heated moment of glaring at each other, Joshua with stubbornness and irritation when it comes to her and Minerva with resentment and disgust for the old man, she roughly pulls her hand out of his grasp and leaves the bottle of vodka with him as she returns inside of the house.
****
Devon Residence
The next day, Bonnie hands over two specifically printed papers to Kai, who requested the information about Minerva's mental illness from Elena, who had help and confirmation from Jo, who are at Whitmore campus, "So they said she's suffering from a mental illness called bipolar disorder; manic episodes, major despression. Now from what you told me, she's technically in a mixed affective state of both which can get worse if untreated." The worried girl revealed as she is sitting on the three-seated couch next to him.
Kai quickly scans the two papers, "Is it normal for banshees to have this?"
"Cassie said some banshees are prone to psychological turmoil, and that includes Minerva. Or as you can say, it's a genetic problem."
"She's been like this for weeks." The young man earns a look of true sympathy, "I don't-- I don't know how to help her, but I want to. I need to."
"Then you need to have a lot of patience, and understanding. Talk to her, be there for her, because not everyone can be by her side all the time like you do. Can you do that? She needs someone, that what makes it sad is that most people usually come and go when it comes to her." She expressed.
A sad expression appears on his handsome face as he folds the printed papers in half and he nods a little, "Yeah. Yeah, I think I can."
"I believe you can. And let's not forget: Minerva never gave up on you when you were suffering from your own mental illness, so you know what you've got to do. Oh, and uh, Jo suggested to, institutionalize her in a psychiatric ward, because there's no way unprofessional people like us can cure her without a proper therapy." Kai nods again at this and Bonnie stands up as well, "Anyway, I need to get to class. Send Minerva a hi from me?"
Kai hums in response that she thanked him before leaving. He unfolds one of the papers to read the content shortly before he gets back upstairs and enters Minerva's bedroom where he sets the papers on the study table. He stares at her in sympathy, seeing that she is too weak to even sit up on the bed as she is laying down on her back, looking disheveled. A half-full bottle of vodka is in her right hand while four flasks of different types of alcoholic drinks are on the bedside table and a few of them are on the floor, one even already spilling on the carpet which even Kai is honestly disgusted at.
He sighs and draws the curtains open to let the sunlight seep which makes her shut her eyes even more, a little whine coming out of her throat as she covers her closed eyes with the palm of her left hand that he approaches her with a mention, "Good morning." He sits on the bedside to take away the bottle of vodka and sets it on the bedside table, "Time to get up, come on."
Kai helps her sit up that he lets her rest her weakened state onto his shoulder and he holds her as he assists the poor girl to the bathroom. He sits her down on the closed toilet seat and strips her from her nightgown, helping her into the bathtub in which he quickly but gently bathes her.
****
Whitmore College, Professor Devon's Office
Cassie has just hung up with a professional psychiatrist in great hopes to get her one and only precious daughter into a mental health center that she writes the necessary information down on a piece of paper. After a few knocks on the closed door, Bonnie steps in with a greet and a kind smile which Cassie returns that the student walks over, telling her about Kai taking care of Minerva at home, and that Elena and Jo are clearly informed of the mental illness that the poor girl is suffering from, "Need some help?"
"Not really. It's just, I made a huge mistake of spending my time on holidays with my friends instead of doing my actual work here so I can have the free time later on to be with my daughters, but now--" Cassie sighs tiredly, "--my works are piling up and the deadlines are near. I can't seem to get it done."
Bonnie looks at her in true sympathy, "Well, I can't exactly help you with teachers' work, besides grading papers. That's the basic thing that teachers do, right? Can I mark the papers? It's okay. I can spare my time."
"Are you sure?"
"Totally." Cassie hesitates for a moment before finally letting the trusted student to do so, and Bonnie sits across from her by the desk, starting to do her task, "Have you found which mental health unit you're putting her in?"
"Mmhm. One from North Carolina is okay."
"Great. I hope they can treat her well enough."
The woman starts her attempt to distract herself, "How's Caroline?"
"Stefan and Isaac are out of town, taking care of that. They're still looking for her. The last thing they want is Minerva to be institutionalized, really."
The professor chuckles, "I'm sure Stefan's fine with it."
"Not Isaac. He really loves her. It's sweet." The young adult observed.
The mentioned young man's aunt chuckles, "He knows she has to."
"Yeah. So, this search Kai did the last few weeks--"
"Oh, yeah. The ascendant. Anything?" The woman asked hopefully.
Bonnie sighs and shakes her head, "It's unfortunate. They only made one of those things because the 1903 prison world is kept secret for generations."
"And how is that working out for them?"
The Bennett girl looks up at her, "I guess they're doomed."
****
Mental Health Center in Asheville, North Carolina
That late evening, Cassie is driving her daughter to the mental health unit with April and Bonnie in the back seat of the woman's Mazda 3 to accompany them. Minerva is silent in her seat as she stares outside the passenger window while her mother glances at her from time to time along the ride. A couple of minutes later in Asheville, North Carolina, they finally made it at their destination. The four exit the vehicle and make their way inside the building where the registration counter is so that Cassie can talk to the main receptionist. April Young watches in sympathy as Bonnie turns to the mentally ill Minerva with a kind and caring smile to comfort her.
"So this is it." The older girl began, "Guide to happiness." Hopefully.
The younger one faces her as well in a concerned state, "Will I be okay?"
"Mmhm. I hope so." The Bennett girl nods a little, followed by April.
The Devon girl scoffs a sarcastic remark, "That sounded convincing."
The three girls are patiently and silently waiting for a few moments longer until a young female aide, who seems to be in her early thirties, walks over toward them after being asked to do so by another authoritative figure. The aide has her gaze on the brand new patient who she friendly greeted with a hopeful and welcoming smile, "Hi there. You must be Minerva." Devon.
The moody nineteen-year-old fakes a smile, "Yeah, hi."
"We're so glad you could make it. Follow me to get your vitals, please?"
Minerva turns to Bonnie, who tightly smiles at her, "It's okay. We'll be right here, April and I, with your mom. You go ahead and do what they say."
Minerva turns back to the aide, whose smile never fades for her. Thus, the caramel brunette allows herself to be led away alone while her witch friend watches her go, praying silently that she'll be alright. Once out of sight, Bonnie turns to Cassie, who lets out a shaky sigh and turns to the two girls.
"She'll be staying here for at least three weeks." The woman reported.
April, her own step-daughter, does a simple shrug by that, "Seems fair."
Bonnie nods a little. Once Minerva returns to them again, the same young nurse starts examining the new patient's clothing from top to bottom before she announced the strict regulations for the foursome clearly, "We tolerate no electronic devices, belts, hoodie strings, shoestrings and the like so as to take away anything that may pose a safety risk. All the patients here will be provided with your own uniform, casual and comfortable."
"Yes, I already confiscated all those things from her." Cassie implied.
"Very good. Now, we assure you that we're all doing everything that we can to ensure your daughter is perfectly safe and is not a harm to anyone during and after her stay. We already have her schedule prepared and from the moment you leave us, she will not be allowed to have any visitors for the next seventy-two hours, and I hope everything will remain smoothly."
"I hope so too." The new patient's deeply concerned mother nods a little.
April pats her own-- unfortunate step-sister's right shoulder for support with a warm smile and a teasing remark, "Don't miss me too much."
Minerva rolls her big hazel eyes playfully before her step-sister pulls her into a warm hug, chuckling slightly while Cassie stares at them in sympathy.
"Don't worry about us." The eighteen-year-old human slowly pulls away.
Minerva turns to her mother, who doesn't hesitate to embrace her one and only ill daughter tightly and leave a kiss on her head, shortly rubbing her back for support, "I love you very much, sweetheart." Never forget that.
"I love you too." The nineteen-year-old replied as she pulls away.
"We're going to leave you under their supervision now, okay?" Cassie said and her understanding daughter nods, "Okay. I hope you get well soon."
Bonnie waves her ill best friend a simple goodbye before she, April, and Cassie walk out through the main front entrance doors together before Minerva is being led away again by the same aide until they reach her own room in which the staff has provided her own things that a bedroom has.
Minerva finds her provided schedule on the wall near a study table and her own neatly folded uniform sitting on her bed. She only smiles at the nurse as she leaves the new patient alone with the door shut. The caramel brunette then changes into the uniform, all light and dark grey in colour.
Much later on after a few hours, a lonely Minerva watches carefully as most of the patients are being visited by their own respective family and friends as the caramel brunette only walks past them until she reaches a room where it seems that almost all kinds of games are provided, as well as the television. She examines the people around the room to see most of them having friends by their sides until she senses somebody behind her.
Minerva finally turns around to find a teenage girl with wavy jet black hair and dark brown eyes, scanning the room with a blank expression. Without a word, Minerva only gives way for the other patient to walk past when the girl only remains still and smiles weakly at her instead. Awkwardly, Minerva returns the smile but quickly darts her gaze elsewhere from her until the unknown girl spoke up to start a conversation, "Welcome to Wonderland."
The young banshee scoffs in disbelief, "Yeah, as if."
"It is, where everyone's mad." The girl shrugs.
"What time is it?"
"Visitor hours."
"Well don't you have any?" The Devon girl asked in an obvious tone.
"Nope. And neither do you, because you just got here."
"Points for spying on me." The nineteen-year-old looks away from her.
The young patient shrugs, "I'm trying my best to improve my memory. And if I remember correctly, you're new here. Am I right?" Minerva hums, clearly in no mood to talk, but the girl reaches her hand out anyway, "I'm Giselle."
"Minerva." The caramel brunette doesn't bother to take the hand to shake.
The teen named Giselle simply ignores it, "So where are you from?"
"Mystic Falls. Not that you know where that is." Minerva replied bitterly.
"Of course I do. My grandma used to live there. Also because I'm not too far away from that small town of yours — Grove Hill." She smiles at her kindly.
The Devon girl sighs in a tired manner, "So why are you here?"
"Oh." Giselle shushes her, "I don't usually talk about that after dark, and neither should you. So, since you're new here, maybe we can play a game."
"No, thanks. I don't feel like playing after dark." Minerva claimed in return.
"Okay, then we'll watch some TV."
"I don't really watch TV." Giselle hums in wonder and Minerva turns to her as she spoke, "Look. I'm really tired, alright? So can you like, just stop trying?"
"So why are you out of your room? You should've just slept in."
Minerva smiles bitterly and mentioned sarcastically, "Wow. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks anyway, you know, for trying to be a friend." Not.
Giselle smiles in return in a sincere manner, "Sure."
Suddenly, another young patient inside the room screams and starts hitting the patient beside her, earning everyone's attention that a few of them are afraid in which a few aides rush in to stop the minor fight. A slightly fearful Minerva watches them irritably while Giselle only has a blank look on her face as these moments are quite often to occur. Feeling uninterested, Minerva turns around and heads back toward her own private room.
"God, help me." She whispered after she shuts the door.
****
Devon Residence/Bonnie, Caroline and Elena's Dormitory Room
Bonnie is on a phone call with her best friend as she is sitting on the couch in the living room, getting ready to sleep there, "Cass is really tired and really need to sleep the day off, so you know how that goes for her. I mean, give her a break, right? Her daughter just got institutionalized."
Elena sighs, "Yeah. Honestly, I can't even imagine what it feels like to be trapped behind four walls with mental people and to have the people I love and care about to be apart from me for the next three days. Sounds scary."
"Well, let's just hope things will go smooth--" The younger one cuts herself off mid-sentence when she hears something has dropped in the next room.
"Bonnie? Hello, you still there?" The chestnut brunette asked with a frown.
Bonnie gets up and walks over to find the source of the noise-- it was only Kai, who accidentally knocked the house phone onto the floor which he puts back up on the small table near the staircase and he then smiles at her.
"Yep."
"Okay, so now you're not coming back to the dorm?"
"Nope, sorry. I guess I'm just going to have to be Cassie's aide starting from tomorrow. She needs help." She watches Kai head over to the kitchen.
"Does that mean you'll get extra credit for Bio?" Her best friend teased.
Bonnie laughs slightly, "I intend to do this to make sure she's well."
"Mmhm. Sounds very Bonnie-ish of you." The Gilbert girl laughs.
"I'm supposed to, aren't I?" Bonnie follows Kai to find him getting a box of frozen pizzas out of the refrigerator, "Did you hear anything from Isaac?"
"Not a word, which means we absolutely have no idea what Caroline's been up to, and you know how that really worries me. So much." She sighs.
Kai walks over to sit at the main dining table to eat a slice of frozen pizza.
"Yeah, me too." The Bennett girl sighs and earns a curious look from him.
"Okay, so you have a good night's rest, alright? I hope we get to hear more from them in the morning, and I think I need to sleep the day off too."
"Mmhm. You go do that." The younger one nods a little.
"Yeah." Elena then hangs up the phone call.
Bonnie grabs a slice of frozen pizza and sits opposite him to eat it.
"Who was that?" Her best friend's boyfriend mentioned, genuinely curious.
"Like you care. And why can't you microwave these first?"
"'Cause I like pizzas in any way they are." Kai smiles, "Unlike a judgmental person around here when it comes to, well, everything."
"I didn't know you'd actually stay."
"No, actually, I'm about to leave." Kai sarcastically said with a serious look, "Kidding. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out why I'm staying."
"Because this house is rich with food?" The younger witch sarcastically replied, earning her a look which makes her laugh slightly, "I get it. She's your girlfriend, and you're trying to prove to everyone of what a great boyfriend you are by cleaning up her room. It's sweet, really."
"Hey, I tried cleaning the whole house. You're lucky I didn't just bleach this whole place up to prove my point." Kai proclaimed, making her laugh.
"Do that, you're going to be stuck with toilet duty for the next few months." Bonnie uttered and he laughs slightly, "Without magic." Kai playfully pouts and the girl smirks. Take that. "So, remember when I told you that your relationship with her, like, won't work out like whatever wild expectations you have of your future together? Mood breaker, sorry."
Kai frowns at this as he thinks for a moment, "You mean the one where I have the reputation of being an ex-sociopath, and she isn't? Hard to forget."
"Yeah, see, she's scared of placing her happiness in the wrong people, and that's why she wanted to stay away from you since the moment you kissed her." The mentioned girl's best friend sighs, defending the other girl, "And now it's too late. You've earned her trust, and...that means..."
"I'm her happiness." Malachai nods once in understanding.
Bonnie nods a bit, "That explains why she's okay when it comes to you."
"Do you think she's going to be okay? On her own."
The Bennett girl smiles, "All we have is hope."