After returning to Mystic Falls, Jeremy decided that he couldn't live with Elena again what she had done. Kol purchased his own apartment with Jeremy becoming the owner and now the two have become the roommates. Ariel enjoys teasing the two about their newfound bromance. Jeremy also got his old job at the grill back thanks to Matt's help.

Ariel had filled Caroline and Bonnie in on her possibility as a witch. She tried to perform spells but nothing had happened. Kol believes that something big may need to happen for her powers to activate or her powers are sealed. Bonnie had even tried using a memory restoration spell on Ariel but nothing worked.

Damon has barely spoken to Elena, Ariel believes he's taking the time to figure out what he wants.

Now Ariel is in the gym with Caroline, Matt and Jeremy helping with the decorations for the decade dance.

"I can't keeping watching this... Ariel, give me that!" Caroline takes the double cheeseburger than Ariel is currently eating.

"Hey, that's mine!"

"Do you know how many calories is in this?!"

"I don't care, you know I eat when I'm stressed!"

"You're not stressed, you're just finding an excuse to eat to distract yourself of what's going on with you." Caroline throws the burger away in a nearby trashcan.

"No, you monster!"

"And don't even think about texting Kol to get you another one!"

Caroline sees Matt and Jeremy hanging stars up on the ceiling.

"What are you doing? You can't just hang them! They're suppose to trickle down."

"Guys, help me! My sister is being mean!"

"Wait, what's happening?"

"She threw away the one thing that can give me life! My burger!"

"I thought cotton candy is what gives you life."

"Jer, please focus!"

"It's good she threw it away. I heard that you ate like three on your date."

"WHAT?!"

"Matt, you snitch!"

"No more burgers for a month!"

Ariel pretends to be in pain and starts crawling to the gym doors. She turns back and points at Caroline. "I'll remember this." She leaves the gym, sits down with her back on the wall and calls Klaus.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, princess?"

"Your girlfriend is torturing me."

"Girlfriend? You mean Caroline? Afraid to tell you that we're not official yet, love. And what do you mean by she is torturing you?"

"She has forbidden me from having cheeseburgers for a month."

Ariel can hear Klaus laughing and rolls her eyes. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Here's the plan. So me and my sister were going as each other's dates to the dance. But instead, you're going to show up and convince her to let me have my cheeseburgers."

"...I'm confused. Do you want me there as her date or your negotiator?"

"Nicky, get it together! I'm trying to speed up the process of you being my future brother-in-law but most importantly, I want back what is rightfully mine! My burgers!"

"...I'll see what I can do."

Before Ariel can reply, Klaus hangs up on her. "Did-did he just hang up on me?! My life is hanging in the balance here!"

"Why is your life hanging in the balance?" Bonnie says as she sits down next to her.

"Bonnie! It's horrible, Caroline has forbid from having burgers for a month!"

Bonnie holds back a laugh and pulls out a bag on cotton candy. "Will cotton candy cheer you up?"

"Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Every day you do. Now what did you want to talk about?"

"Umm... Do you remember when you used to have visions of the future? Did you ever hear like a voice talking to you?

"A voice? What do you mean? Is this about the your vision of Finn?"

"No. This happened after that. So you remember when we went to go see Klaus so you could break the link between him and his siblings?" Bonnie nods. "Well, why you working on that spell... I fainted-"

"What?!"

"Just hold on! The next thing I know, I was in this empty space, just surrounded by darkness. This voice was telling me to save Finn. They also told me that Alaric had hidden another stake."

Flashback - The Murder of One

Ariel goes through the books on Alaric's bookshelf, searching for the last stake. She finally finds it hidden in one of the books. She hears the front door unlock and sees Alaric coming in, witnessing that she has the stake.

"Ariel, how did you know?"

"Going behind my back again. The first time when you guys daggered Elijah. The second time when you daggered my date to get an advantage in killing him and his siblings. Now a third time. Having a backup weapon? Really?" Ariel sighs and shakes her head. "It's not like you can kill them anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Say if you did kill Klaus... You might have ended up killing Damon, Stefan, maybe even Caroline... I won't say anymore than that but you just think about it. Maybe you'll figure it out. This is your final warning. Stay away from the Mikaelsons."

Ariel walks past Alaric as he speaks up. "Are you angry?"

"I'm not angry... Just disappointed." Ariel says as she closes the door behind her.

End of Flashback

"Wait so whoever this person was, they told you that Alaric had another stake hidden and if an original dies, their sireline goes with them?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Did they tell you anything else? Have you heard from them again?"

"Nope. Not since then... So nothing like that has ever happened to you?"

"No, this is the first I've ever heard of something like that." Bonnie lays her hand on top of Ariel's hand. "But don't worry. We'll figure this out."

Ariel gives her a small smile but worries of what will happen next.

The decade dance has finally begun. Everyone is in the gym, dancing to the music. The Forbes sisters smile seeing Bonnie dancing with Jamie. "Aww, she looks so happy!"

"I'm glad, she deserves it."

"So do you. How are things with Kol?"

Before Ariel can answer, she becomes annoyed seeing Matt dancing with Elena. "They're good." When the dance is over, Matt spots the sisters and joins them.

"Hey, you two look good!"

"Thanks, handsome."

"Matt, have I told you how amazingly awesome you are?"

"Yeah, I'm one of the good ones... Girls, what do you want?"

"You and Elena have been getting closer lately."

"And your point it?"

"Matty, I think you know where we're going with this."

"Elena is my friend. I'm just looking out for her."

"And we're looking out for you. Because sometimes the people who love her get caught in the crossfire."

"Matty, just promise me something. Don't fall for her again... I just don't want to see you get hurt again. You know I love you."

"Yeah, love you too. You don't have to worry... What's he doing here? "

Ariel and Caroline turn around to see Klaus heading their way.

"Yes, my future brother-in-law is here!"

"What did you just say?!"

Matt snickers and Ariel beings to run past Klaus and saying to him "I'm counting on you!"

"Anything for you, princess. Also, your date is here."

"Huh?"

Ariel is suddenly swept off her feet and spun around by none other than Kol.

"Hello, darling. Dare I say you look gorgeous."

"Of course he brought you here."

"He said that you called him for an emergency. Your sister was torturing you?"

"To sum it up, my sister has banned me from burgers from a month."

"So you want my brother to talk her out of it?"

"That's one reason. The other is to speed up their future marriage."

"What about our future marriage?"

"Who says we're getting married?"

"You little..."

Ariel squeals as Kol spins her around. The music soon changes to a slow romantic number and everyone begins slow dancing. Caroline watches her little sister and Kol as she dances with Klaus.

"You seem happy, love."

"Of course I am. Look at them."

"Even though my brother and I have not always seen eye to eye, I want nothing for the best for him. I'm glad they found each other."

"You know it's not too late. Having a better relationship with your siblings."

"You know, Ariel and you always try to find the good in people. Always trying to have hope."

"We're positive people, it's part of our character."

Klaus chuckles and spins Caroline around. "Now there's we need to talk about something."

Back over to Ariel and Kol, "By the way, have you seen Rebekah?"

"Not since this morning. She was trying to convince Niklaus and me to go this dance."

Before Ariel can say anything, she sees Jeremy and Damon arguing.

"What's going on with them now?"

"Let's find out."

The two head over to them and pull Jeremy and Damon out into hallway. "What are you two fighting about now?"

"Damon wants to kill Ric!"

"Damon!"

"The guy that we know is gone. We're talking about someone who not only hates vampires, but vampire sympathizers. Which makes certain people his makes obvious targets, like my little mermaid here and I don't know...a doppelganger?"

"What makes you think he'd go after my darling?"

"She's stopped us so many times for killing your family and she got rid of the last stake that Ric was hiding. Now let's just put him out his misery."

Elena joins them, having overheard their conversation.

"What?!"

"No, no way in hell!"

"Oh come on, it's what he would want. It's a mercy killing."

"Damon, please..."

"You are out of your mind!"

Jeremy leaves and Elena follows him.

"You're not touching him."

"Shouldn't you hate him, he killed your dad?"

"No, Dark Alaric is the one who killed my dad. I could care less about Elena about this point but think about Jeremy. Think about what you will be putting him through if he loses Ric. He already lost his parents. He lost Jenna. Elena has completely ruined her relationship with him. If he loses Ric-"

"You're wrong."

"What?"

"He has you two... And everyone else. "

Before Ariel can answer back, Jeremy comes rushing in.

"Esther is back!"

"...Did you just say my mother is back?"

In a classroom, Bonnie is chanting a spell to break Esther's seal keeping the vampires trapped inside. Jamie, Caroline and Klaus have also joined after hearing about the situation.

"She does this all the time, right?"

"What's taking so long?! All boundary spells have a loop hole!"

"Klaus, calm down. Bonnie is doing her best. Don't forget, she has to fight against your mother's magic."

Damon walks in with a cup of blood and hands it to Bonnie. "Here. Jeremy made a little Gilbert blood donation for your locator spell."

"I have to do this with you lurking over me?"

"You can tolerate Klaus and mini Elijah but not me?"

"We've made her best friends happy, lad."

"Don't call me that! I only let my darling get away with that!"

"Okay, so you're still mad at me for what happened to Abby. Let me apologize. I'm sorry that Elijah forced us to turn your mother into a vampire to save Elena's life. Didn't exactly have a choice!"

"Damon!" Ariel smacks Damon upside his head. "That's an horrible apology!"

"There's always a choice. Whenever you make one someone suffers." She pours the blood onto the map and starts chanting. The blood forms into a circular pool but doesn't move to the exact location of where Elena is. "She's fighting me."

"Esther couldn't possibly have this much power... Unless she's channeling something."

"A hotspot?"

"Get the humans ready. I know where she is."

"You're sending Jeremy and Matt?! ...Wait, where's my sister?"

"...Looks like she snuck out."

"Damon!"

At the old cemetery, Jeremy and Matt face Esther. Matt holds a rifle and Jeremy has a crossbow.

"Where's Alaric and Elena?"

Elena comes outside from the tomb. "Jeremy!"

"Let them go!"

"How foolish of you, to risk your lives in defense of those who would kill you. But if that is your choice."

She uses her magic to make the two point their weapons at each other.

"Matt, drop your gun!"

"I can't! I'm not controlling it!"

"Esther, stop it!"

Ariel comes up from behind Esther and stabs her with her machete. The spell is broken and the boys drop their weapons. Jeremy turns to Ariel and asks, "Where did you get that machete?"

"Oh, this? Nicky gave it to me."

"...Of course he did."

Alaric comes outside from the tomb. "Where's my ring? And what the hell is going on?"

Later, everyone else has arrived but Ariel is inside the Salvatore tomb speaking to Alaric one last time.

"How could Esther turn you into this when there were no more stakes left? I got rid of the last one!"

"I don't know. All I can tell you is to be careful. Look out for each other... I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For making you disappointed in me... For killing your father."

"Ric, that wasn't you. It was your dark side. It was out of your control, I don't blame you... And I wasn't disappointed in you, I was disappointed by your choices." 

"If I could have gotten another chance, I would have done better."

As she hugs him, there are tears in her eyes. "I was planning on telling you this on my graduation day but I guess I have no choice but to tell you now... Thank you... You were like a father to me."

"Thank you for being part of the life I always wanted."

She finally lets him go and turns to walk away. "When you see Jenna, tell her I want my rematch in uno."

"Will do."

Back at the Forbes' home, Ariel and Kol sitting on the front porch. She rests her head on his shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"I already miss him."

"I know... Darling, we need to talk about something. How could you put yourself in danger like that? I wasn't there to protect you."

"I know how to protect myself. I had to! If you had died, your sireline would have died with you! What about your brother, my sister, my friends?! And-"

"Hey, no one died." He steps closer to her and tucks her hair behind her ear. "I'm didn't die."

"Kol... Jeremy and Matt aren't just my best friends. They're my family and family looks out for each other. I couldn't let them go alone."

Kol is silent for a moment and gently kisses Ariel's forehead. "Just promise me that you'll always come back to me."

"...Always."

Kol is suddenly gone and Ariel sighs. Before she can go inside, she hears a familiar voice.

"It's a shame. You have been the best thing that has happened to my son since he became a vampire." 

"Esther?! You're suppose to be dead!"

"I am, just have to deliver one final message. You have great powers, Ariel. And it depends on you to when you unleash them. And know this, when you get your memories back, you will return to your true home and family. However, there will be those after your power for their own gain. There will be those who will want to protect you, such as your parents."

"My parents?"

"Be careful. Only you can choose your own path... I have to go now."

"Wait!"

Esther disappears and Ariel hears another voice. "Hey, Ariel."

She turns around sees Alaric. "Ric?!"

"You're coming with me."

He then knocks her out.