She smiled briefly at Bonnie before her eyes flickered to Stefan. He was still crying silently, his eyes squeezed shut and his chest heaving. Bonnie could feel every painful breath he drew in.
Elena lowered herself and the lantern she was carrying to the ground. Then, as though they were sitting in Study Hall, telling secrets again, she tucked her hair behind her ears and cleared her throat.
“I asked if you are okay,” she repeated slowly.
Bonnie wanted to smack her. “Yeah, I heard the question, Elena. I was just wondering why you bothered to ask it.”
Elena was taken aback—-genuinely surprised. “I asked because I’m concerned about you.”
“If you’re so concerned,” Bonnie snapped. “Then why don’t you untie me?”
Elena looked away. “I’m sorry for all the pain you guys have gone through, thinking I was dead again.”
If her hands had been free, Bonnie would cheerfully have wrapped them around Elena’s throat at that moment. Instead she glared at the blonde and through clenched teeth replied, “Oh, don’t worry about it. We’re all used to it by now.” She paused then added darkly, “Especially Stefan.”
As expected, Elena winced visibly at the mention of Stefan’s name, but she did not turn her gaze toward him.
“Why won’t you look at him?”
Tears filled Elena’s eyes. “I can’t stand to see him suffer,” she answered Bonnie.
“Then let us go!” the redhead exploded. “For fuck’s sake Elena—-untie us!”
Elena looked back at Bonnie with supreme sadness on her face. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why the hell not?”
“Because,” Elena responded weakly. “Then you would leave. And I need you both to stay Bonnie. I need you.”
Bonnie’s anger was quickly reaching a crescendo. “Are you helping him Elena?”
The blonde looked away. “Who?”
“Don’t you dare play your innocent games with me,” Bonnie spat out. “That may have worked in high school Elena, but not anymore. You know exactly who I’m talking about!”
“No I don’t!” Elena exclaimed. “I’m doing this for Stefan!” Finally her gaze darted over to him. “I’m going to make him strong again.” She took a deep breath. “Then we’ll be strong again.”
Bonnie gaped. She was furious at Elena’s convoluted logic, but she felt the honesty behind the blonde’s words. She really believed what she was saying.
“Elena,” Bonnie began, softening her voice. “Sebastian is controlling you!”
“Who?”
Bonnie sighed, and then tried again. “Sebastian. He’s the man who’s been in your dreams.”
Eyes widening, Elena questioned, “How did you know about my dreams?”
“Because,” Bonnie replied. “He’s been in my dreams too. He looks like Stefan and Damon put together, doesn’t he?”
Elena nodded uncertainly. “But—“
“He was Stefan’s twin brother. His name was—-is Sebastian. He died a long time ago, sort of. He’s been stuck somewhere between life and death, existing in a dream world ever since.”
Bonnie waited for a response, but received none. She went on. “Elisabeth, Aurora’s sire, came into town the night you--” She faltered.
“I know,” Elena spoke up. “The night of the fire. Alaric told me.”
Bonnie had almost forgotten that Alaric had gone through the fire as well, believing that he had been unable to save Elena. A fresh wave of anger overtook her as she remembered the sobs that had wracked his body as Meredith had held him. Her gaze hardened.
“Yes, the night of the fire. Elisabeth told us about Sebastian after Alaric showed us the prophecy you--“
Bonnie stopped speaking as Elena stood up quickly. She changed tactics.
“How did you know, Elena? How did you find Sebastian’s prophecy?”
Elena was now pacing in a circle around the kerosene lantern, wringing her hands. She ignored Bonnie. “How?” the redhead repeated vehemently.
“I don’t know!” Elena yelled back at her. “I don’t know anything—“ She broke off as she threw a meaningful glance at Bonnie. “All I know is that this ritual must take place.”
“What ritual?” Bonnie asked immediately. She glanced over at Stefan who was now staring straight ahead, giving no indication that he was even listening to the conversation. “What’s going to happen to him?”
Elena approached them and slowly knelt again. She reached a hand up to Bonnie’s cheek, stopping just short of touching her.
Fear started to well up and replace the anger in Bonnie’s chest. “Elena?” she whispered.
“Stefan will live,” the blonde replied. “And he will be strong. That’s why I need you.. .why we need you.”
Lost for words, Bonnie could only stare helplessly as Elena stood once more and picked up the lantern. She turned around again before disappearing back into the tunnel.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “But you are the only way Bonnie.”
* * * * *
Same Time
Bonnie’s Apartment
“No.”
“Matt, I think that Damon—“
“I don’t give a damn about Damon!” Matt interrupted Elisabeth. He glared at the elder Salvatore steadily. For his part, Damon looked as though he didn’t give a damn about Matt either. In fact, he looked extremely preoccupied. Matt didn’t care as he continued. “Elena is dead--she died in the fire.”
“But the news report, mon ami,” Aurora put in gently. “You saw it as well as I.”
“We all saw it,” Meredith spoke up grimly. She turned to look at Damon. “You’re saying Elena’s not dead?”
Damon nodded slowly, his thoughts obviously elsewhere.
“Again?” she prodded, and then sighed deeply when he nodded once more. “I can’t go through this again. What is she, a cat?”
“Don’t even suggest that she has six more lives,” Elisabeth groaned. She crossed her arms over her chest as Meredith rolled her eyes.
“How can you joke like this about our friend?”
Elisabeth sobered at Alaric’s quiet question. He’d resumed his place on the loveseat and was now leaning forward with a miserable look on his face.
“Alaric—“ Meredith began.
He cut her off. “No Meredith. Matt’s right--Elena is dead.” Misery turned into desperation as his voice became raw. “I was there. I lost her hand in the hall. I heard her screaming to me for help. She--“ he broke off, unable to continue.
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, broken by a pointed cough.
“She is not dead,” Cecily stated clearly from the doorway. “I’ve seen her, and I know that Sebastian is working through her.”
How do you know this?” Aurora asked.
Cecily remained outside the apartment, though she was leaning heavily on the doorframe. Her eyes were dull. “Well,” she answered. “I know because I know. If I’m remembering things, that means that Sebastian is finished with me and he’s concentrated his energies on someone else.”
“Elena,” Elisabeth mumbled.
Meredith frowned as she gazed at Cecily. “Why are you standing out there with the door wide open?”
Cecily grimaced. “Because--“
“Come in,” Matt murmured.
Cecily threw him a grateful look and took a few steps into the apartment. Matt shut the door behind her.
“Oh,” Meredith said. She smacked her forehead lightly. “Duh.”
“It’s okay,” Cecily assured her. She looked slowly around the room. Elisabeth noticed how once more, her gaze settled on Damon. She turned and saw that he too seemed fascinated by the blonde vampire.
*
Damon, what is it?* she questioned.
He looked at her, surprised. *Not now,* he replied.
It was then that they both felt a mental jolt. Aurora jumped as well. Suddenly, their mental connections expanded and they felt a new presence, light and cool. Elisabeth was overcome by the smell of fresh peaches.
*What in the hell is this?*
*Cecily,* the other three stated at the same time.
They could now feel her, every nuance and breath she was taking, just as they had been experiencing with each other and with Bonnie and Stefan.
“Mon Dieu,”* Aurora whispered.
Cecily was wide-eyed, staring at the three of them in pure fear.
“What’s going on?” Meredith asked.
Elisabeth shook her head, trying to gather her bearings. She glanced briefly at the brunette. “Cecily has just joined our little mind web somehow.”
“Is that what you call this?” Cecily brought a hand up to her head. “Well, how do I turn it off?”
Aurora shrugged. “Nous ne savons pas.* We don’t even know what it is. But Bonnie and Stefan are part of it too.”
“I know,” Cecily replied. “I felt that as I was kidnapping them, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Of course, I wasn’t aware of what I was doing at the time, but I remember the feeling now.”
“You took Bonnie and Stefan?”
Cecily flinched at Matt’s hard question. “Yes, but I—-“
“Why did you do all those things?”
She stepped toward him, a look of pleading in her eyes. “Matt, please. I was being controlled by something stronger than me. I didn’t know what he was making me do.”
Matt looked torn. He wanted to believe her, but he was still so angry. Elisabeth’s heart went out to him.
“Why did he choose you?” he asked brashly.
Cecily’s gaze flickered again to Damon. “I’m not--“
Matt exploded. “Why do you keep looking at him?!”
“Back off,” Damon warned Matt, speaking for the first time in quite a few minutes.
Cecily now had tears streaming down her face. “Sebastian chose me because of my past, because of the anger I carry in me toward my maker. He saw the potential to use my feelings of revenge.”
Confusion came over Matt’s features, but Cecily went on. “I met a man when I was eighteen years old. This man didn’t look much older, but I soon found that he had been alive for centuries. He was a vampire, and I fell in love with him. He said he loved me too, and wanted me with him forever. And so he made me into what I am. He took my blood, gave me his, then took my life.”
“You did not want that?” Elisabeth questioned.
Cecily gave a desperate laugh as she futily wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I thought I did, but when it was done I was full of so much anger and regret, there was no more room for love. I cursed my maker, and left him. And I haven’t seen him since.” She paused and brought her eyes back to Damon.
“Until now.”
*Mon Dieu: My God
*Nous ne savons pas: We don't know
