12. The Devil Inside

"Mia said she needs your corpse" Nadia said, entering the motel room, her and Katherine were staying in, after deciding it was too risky to keep staying in the boarding house.

"God, none of these people get a hint" Katherine complained, as Aria's phone kept going off, with messages from Damon, Kol, Caroline, Rebekah, Jeremy and April.

"Didn't you message them?" Nadia asked.

"I did" Katherine replied, "I told them, that I needed a few days to myself, but seems like they don't get what personal space means, and you tell me, why does Mia need my corpse?" she asked, "Could travelers be any creepier?".

"Be nice, without Mia, you wouldn't be alive or inside Aria's body right now" Nadia reminded.

"I know, I'd be dead in my corpse" Katherine said, "A corpse that some traveler says that they need, you see how that's creepy?".

"Do you want to be in control of Aria's body or not?" Nadia asked.

Before Katherine could reply, she started yelling in pain, holding her head, she fell to the floor.

"Katherine!" Nadia yelled, running over to her mother, "What's happening?".

"My head" Katherine cried.

"I don't know how to help" Nadia said, kneeling beside Katherine.

After a few more minutes, the pain finally stopped, Katherine sat on the floor exhausted.

"I've never felt pain like that before" Katherine said.

"What happened?" Nadia asked confused.

"It was like something was trying to push me out of Aria's body" Katherine replied.

Realisation came over Nadia, "Mia was right" she whispered.

"About what?" Katherine asked confused.

"Those babies", Nadia pointed to Aria's stomach, "They are the result of two soulmates, they are tribrids babies, they will never let someone harm their mother".

"And you didn't think to tell me that before?" Katherine snapped.

"I told you to takeover Elena's body" Nadia snapped back, "But no, you wanted to take over a pregnant tribrid's body instead".

"Everyone hates Elena, but everyone loves Aria" Katherine reminded, "Do you realise how many people Elena has pissed off? Who knows when someone will kill her, Aria on the other, has so many people protecting her, people who will die before letting Aria get hurt, that's what's going to help me survive, right after I do something about these pesky babies".

"You can't do anything about them" Nadia said.

"What do you mean?" Katherine asked confused.

"Mia said that those babies, they are miracle children, they will remove the supposed curse on Aria and Damon's bloodline, the universe wants those babies to born, and no matter what happens, those babies will be born, you won't be able to harm them, no can" Nadia replied.

"Lovely" Katherine mumbled, "Just what I needed, and on top of all this, we have no idea when Aria's consciousness is gonna pop out".

"Which is why I have a plan" Nadia said, pulling out handcuffs and chains from her bag, "Get on the bed, just in case Aria decides to show up while I'm out getting your body".

"So I'm just gonna be stuck in a hotel room, bound to a bed--", Aria's phone started buzzing again, "While Damon Salvatore's leaving me voicemails?", Katherine stood up, "Remind me again how this is better than being dead?".

"Because once Mia does her spell, Aria will be gone forever" Nadia replied, tying Katherine up, "And this body will be yours for good".

"What about Aria's pesky babies?" Katherine asked.

"We will deal with them later" Nadia replied, "One thing at a time".

***

Damon entered the Boarding House, after taking care of Katherine's body.

"Finally" Kol said, walking over to Damon, "Where have you been? I've been calling you for so long".

"Katherine's rotting corpse was stinking up the house, I got rid of it" Damon informed.

"For the first time, you did something right" Kol said.

"Really?" Damon asked, giving Kol an unamused look.

Kol ignored Damon and turned towards the living room, "Sorry, looks like your evil mother's body is gone".

Damon looked towards the living room, and realised Nadia was in their house, "What the hell is she doing here?".

"For some morbid reason, she wanted her mother's body" Kol replied, pouring himself a drink.

"You're out of luck, you ain't getting it" Damon told Nadia.

"My mother asked to be buried with her family in Bulgaria" Nadia snapped.

"And nothing gives us greater joy than to deny her dying wish, right Kol?" Damon asked.

"Absolutely" Kol replied.

Damon turned to Nadia, "The bitch ruined mine and Aria's lives, you've known her, what, five minutes?".

Nadia speeded over to Damon and tried to hold him in a choke hold, but Kol quickly grabbed her by her neck and shoved her to the floor.

"Now, now, no need for violence" Kol said.

"The nicest thing Katherine Pierce will ever do is feeding the maggots that feasts on her flesh" Damon told Nadia, who sat on the floor glaring at the two vampires.

"In simpler terms, you're not getting Katherine's body" Kol stated, "Now I assume you know the way our, or would you like me to kick you out?".

Nadia glared at Damon and Kol, and after a moment, walked away.

"So, you ready for tonight?" Kol asked Damon, after Nadia left.

"I don't think I should do this tonight" Damon replied.

"You're seriously chickening out?" Kol asked, "Now?"

"Ria messaged all of us saying she needed some time alone to think things through" Damon replied, "What if one of those thing is our future together?".

"You're overthinking" Kol replied, "Katherine's death probably made her realise that the murderer of her parents is finally out of her life, maybe she needed some alone time to process everything".

"You don't know that" Damon snapped.

"And you don't know that she's thinking about your future together" Kol retorted, "Now go up to your room and get ready, Caroline and Rebekah are coming in half an hour to start decorating".

"We don't even know if Ria's coming tonight" Damon said.

"Caroline has texted her about the party she's throwing at the Grill" Kol said, "And we both know, Ri will never miss Caroline's party, once she reaches the Grill, I will bring her here, the rest is on you".

"What if she says no?" Damon asked, doubts starting to form in his head.

Kol hit the back of Damon's head, "You're an idiot".

"You didn't have to hit me" Damon complained.

"Yes I did, and if Nik and Elijah hadn't gone back to New Orleans, they would have staked you for thinking such nonsense" Kol said, "Ri told you to put a ring on it, and now you're doubting her answer, really?".

"She was joking" Damon replied.

"Oh come on Damon, everyone knows how much Ri loves you, the only way she says no to you if she's being possessed by someone" Kol joked, not realising how true his words were, "Now go get ready, if Caroline and Rebekah come here and realise you're still not ready, then you are so screwed".

"Fine" Damon said, downing his drink, "Let's do this".

***

Katherine sat in the bed, still chained up, when Aria's phone started ringing, before Katherine could do anything about it, her vision started getting blurry, she closed her eyes, and when she opened it, her eyes were black for a moment, before going back to normal, but this time it wasn't Katherine, it was Aria.

"Bitch" Aria whispered, unlike the humans and everyone else the travelers possessed, Aria knew she was being possessed by Katherine, she could see things Katherine could, but she couldn't do anything, until now.

Aria looked at the chains tying her down, "Really?" she asked, "She really thinks this is going to hold me down?".

Without wasting another second, Aria used her strength to rip the chains off, after removing all the chains, Aria quickly stood up, and walked over to her phone, which was still buzzing.

"Nik" Aria answered.

"Ari, where are you?" Klaus asked, "Caroline called saying you went somewhere to clear your mind after we came back to New Orleans, is everything okay?".

"No" Aria replied, "Nothing's okay Nik, it's Katherine".

"Katherine's dead Ari" Klaus reminded.

"No, she's not dead, she's po--", before Aria could finish her sentence, Nadia speeded behind her, she snatched her phone and hanged up.

"Did Aria just hang up on you?" Elijah asked Klaus.

"Yeah, she did" Klaus replied, confused.

"That doesn't sound like her" Elijah said.

"No, it doesn't" Klaus said, "Somethings wrong with her", Klaus looked at Elijah, "We need to go back to Mystic Falls, according to Ari, Katherine's not dead, and I want to know what she means by that".

"Let's go then" Elijah said.

***

"You" Aria glared at Nadia, "You put your evil mother inside of me, instead of yourself".

Nadia opened her mouth to say something, but Aria used her magic to shove Nadia into a wall.

"I'm not going down without a fight" Aria said, using her magic to make Nadia cough out blood, "You shouldn't have messed with me Nadia", Aria used her magic and snapped Nadia's neck, and quickly opened the motel room to leave, only to come face to face with Mia, who before Aria could do anything to, said something Czech, causing Aria to lose control of her body, and Katherine once again gain control.

  "What happened?" Katherine asked confused, after seeing her daughter unconscious

"I had warned you Katherine, a tribrid will never surrender so easily" Mia said.

"Wonder, she's fighting me" Katherine realised, "Only a matter of time before she comes out again".

"And next time, none of us will be able to stop her" Mia said.

***

Katherine groaned in annoyance when Aria's phone started buzzing again.

"Seriously, I've never met a group of needier people" Katherine complained, pulling Aria's phone out, "It's not bad enough that Damon's trying to meet up with me, I'm also getting, where are you, Damon's getting restless without you, you hanged up on Niklaus? Please tell me you're coming to Caroline's party, Ria where are you I miss you!" she read out Caroline, Kol, Elijah, Rebekah and Damon's messages to Aria, "It's a wonder that this thing still has a battery".

"They're getting suspicious" Nadia realised, having recovered from her neck being snapped by Aria.

"Yeah" Katherine said, pacing back and forth in frustration.

"We need to find your body" Nadia said.

"Rebekah texted and asked if I was going to Caroline's party" Katherine said, "Maybe I do go, convince everyone that Aria is alive and well, and I casually ask her where Damon buried me".

"No, no way" Nadia said, "You said yourself it's a matter of time until Aria shows up again".

"So then come with me, shove her back in if that happens" Katherine said.

"You saw what Aria did to me" Nadia snapped, "This isn't the right place to be around all her friends".

"Aria isn't that hard to impersonate" Katherine said, "I can easily mimic everything about her".

"This is different" Nadia argued, "You're not impersonating Aria, you are Aria, when is her birthday? What grade did her and Caroline meet? Where did she kiss Damon for the first time?".

"Relax Nadia, it's going to be fun, everyone loves Aria too much to ever suspect her" Katherine assured, "We're doing this Nadia, and that to my way".

***

Damon entered the boarding house, "Okay so suit or---?", before Damon could ask Kol his question, he saw Enzo sitting on the coach, while Kol stood near the fire, glaring at the vampire.

"Enzo" Damon greeted.

"Hello, Damon" Enzo greeted.

"We really need to get Jeremy or April to sign a deed to this house" Kol said, annoyed that anyone can come into this house.

"Relax, I'm not here for you" Enzo told Kol, "I'm here for Damon, both of us have business to attend to".

"Ask him what's in that" Kol told Damon, pointing to the body bag Enzo brought with him.

***

"Ooh, I love a good fire" Enzo said, walking over to the fireplace, "Oh, that's ironic, isn't it? You know, since you left me to burn alive in one".

Kol groaned in annoyance, "Let it go, it was sixty years ago".

"Didn't we already do this?" Damon asked Enzo, who was glaring at Kol, who in turn was giving him a mock smile, "You tried to make me feel guilty, I saved your life, we're even, now, what's in the bag?".

"More like who" Enzo replied, "Look since you and I last spoke, I've done a bit of soul searching, I had a trip to the barber and did a little research, which revealed to me that you killed almost every member of the Whitmore family in the years since you escaped, leaving just one alive each time to carry on the family name, producing a whole new generation of victims for you to slaughter, exactly as you said you'd do, back when you and I were cellmates".

"Well, you know me, I like to keep my promises" Damon said, making Kol roll his eyes, he laid down on the couch, knowing Enzo and Damon were just starting.

"And it's occurred to me that perhaps I wrote you off too quickly" Enzo said, "That in fact, the Damon Salvatore I remember is alive and well".

"He isn't" Kol said, gaining Enzo's attention, "He's in love with an incredible women, who kept the serial killer him at bay, and I don't think she will appreciate you trying to corrupt her boyfriend".

"Well, I don't see her here" Enzo said.

"Fine" Kol said, "Bring Damon's serial killer out, but when Ri gives you a piece of her mind, don't say I didn't warn you".

"Noted" Enzo said, giving Kol a sarcastic smile, he turned back to Damon, "I have a present for you, the serial killer you", Enzo opened the body bag to reveal an unconscious Aaron.

"Oh bloody hell" Kol said, "You brought him Aaron?".

Damon listened to Aaron's heartbeat, and realised he was still breathing, "That too alive".

"He's the last of the Whitmore clan" Enzo said, "Do you remember this vervain wrist watch?" he asked, grabbing Aaron's wrist, "Dr. Whitmore never took it off, even when he was rooting around in our chest cavities, it's fitting Aaron should die wearing it too, so do you wanna kill him? Or shall I?".

Kol looked at Damon, wondering what he was going to do, kill Aria's friend or go against Enzo?

***

Katherine entered the Grill, where Caroline was throwing her party, immediately her eyes landed on Stefan, causing a smile to come over her face.

"Hey" Katherine greeted Stefan.

"Aria" Stefan greeted, slightly confused that Aria was talking to him, "You're talking to me?".

"Of course I'm talking to you" Katherine replied, "Why wouldn't I be talking to you?".

"Uh, because you hate me" Stefan reminded, making Katherine realise her mistake.

"Right" Katherine whispered, quickly trying to think of a good enough excuse, "Well, I forgave Katherine before she died, so I guess I can forgive you as well".

"Really?" Stefan asked, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Really" Katherine replied.

"Aria!" Caroline yelled, running over to Katherine and Stefan, with Rebekah by her side, "You came! I thought you weren't going to come".

Katherine gave Caroline a fake smile, "Of course I came".

"What are you doing here, and that to with him?" Rebekah asked, gesturing towards Stefan.

"I was just making conversation" Katherine replied.

"With him?" Rebekah asked shocked, pointing to Stefan, who looked extremely out of place.

"Yeah" Katherine replied, "Is something wrong with that?".

"Everything is wrong with that" Caroline replied, causing Stefan to frown, but Caroline ignored him, she grabbed Aria's wrist, "You are coming with me, and you're explaining to us where you have been and why you've been acting so different".

Before Katherine could protest, Caroline had dragged her away.

***

"Ah, as much as I've enjoyed your quality bourbon, I feel confident our next drink will taste better, with the sound of young Aaron's dying screams ringing in our ears" Enzo said, "And the knowledge your final act of revenge will bring us closure and a new beginning".

"Have you lost it?!" Kol yelled, "He's about to become a father, and you want him to go back to his old ways?!", Kol turned to Damon, "You know I'm up for a good murder, but you're about to be a father to three amazing kids Damon, imagine if people started coming after them because of what you did, I admit, Dr. Whitmore was a horrible person, but Aaron isn't, Rebekah even told me that he cut of Augustine's funding, I beg, you think very carefully about your next step".

"Why are you trying to save him?!" Enzo snapped.

"I'm not trying to save him" Kol snapped, "I'm trying to save my best friend from making a bad decision, that's why friends do Enzo, they stop friends from making bad decisions, maybe you should take some lessons".

Enzo rolled his eyes and turned to Damon, "So, who are you going to listen to?".

Damon looked between Kol and Enzo, "I'm curious" he said, after a moment of silence, "Do you ask all your friends to prove their loyalty by killing someone over drinks?".

"His grandfather slit our eyes open with a scalpel" Enzo reminded, "You've taken out everyone else in the Whitmore family, I thought you'd want this".

"Did I forget to mention that he's a friend of the mother of his kids?" Kol interjected.

"Who cares" Enzo replied, "If she loves you, she will forgive you".

"She loves you, that's why she won't forgive you" Kol told Damon, "You know Ri, she will never stand by and let any of us do anything bad, and because she loves you so much, she will let you know when you're in the wrong, you know this Damon, be smart, you're about to propose to her for gods sake, don't ruin it by killing her friend".

"So you've gone soft for a girl?" Enzo asked.

"She's not just any girl" Damon snapped.

"So you didn't feel the need to rip out his throat when I first presented him to you?" Enzo asked, "Come on Damon, show me my old friend's still in there someplace".

"Show me that man Ri fell in love with is stronger then the serial killer you" Kol told Damon.

"End this, for both of us" Enzo urged.

"Save him, show everyone that you deserve to be with Ri, that you are going to be a good father to your kids" Kol said.

Damon looked between Kol and Enzo in confusion, before he could make a decision, his phone beeped, indicating that he had a text.

Blondie 👩🏼: Get ready, Aria's here at the Grill, and I'm sending her to you in ten minutes!

"Looks like he's coming around" Enzo said, as Aaron slowly started gaining conscious.

"It's time to make a decision Damon, you wanna kill him or shall I?" Enzo asked, as Aaron stood up.

Damon looked at Enzo then at Kol, and after a moment, speeded over to Enzo and snapped his neck.

"Sorry Enzo, this will have to wait" Damon said, "I have a girl I need to propose to".

"I didn't see that one coming" Aaron said, surprised.

"I can't kill you" Damon told Aaron, "Long story".

"Because Aria would hate you for it" Aaron realised, "That's why you can't kill me".

"Don't provoke him" Kol snapped, "Cause he might just end you".

"What he said" Damon told Aaron, he walked over to and ripped his vervain watch off, and started compelling him, "Go back to collage, pack up your entire life, there's one highway that heads out of town, take it north till you hit ice, don't ever come back".

Damon let go of Aaron, who then walked out the house.

Damon turned to Kol, "Go to the Grill, and bring Ria, I have a few more things left to do".

"On it" Kol said, walking towards the door, but turned and faced Damon, "You did the right thing".

Damon sighed, "You were right, I would never want the people I hurt to blame my kids for it".

"Well, if one day something like that happens, you and me both can take care of it, before someone even lays a finger on your children" Kol assured.

Damon looked at Kol, and smirked, "You called me your best friend".

Kol rolled his eyes, but a small smile formed on his face, "Don't get used it".

"Wouldn't dare of it" Damon teased.

***

"Explain" Rebekah demanded.

"Explain what?" Katherine asked confused.

"Where have you been all this time?" Caroline asked, "You didn't even answer Damon's calls, and you hanged up on Klaus, you never hang up on Klaus, instead you force him and Elijah to talk to you for hours".

"And let's not forget, you were talking to Stefan" Rebekah interjected, "A guy you vowed to never talk to again".

"Guys stop" Katherine snapped, causing Caroline and Rebekah to frown, "I can do whatever I want to do, I didn't know I needed to explain my every action to you two".

Before Caroline or Rebekah could say anything, Katherine walked away.

"Somethings wrong" Rebekah said.

"It's like, Aria's not Aria" Caroline said.

"We need to find out what's wrong with her" Rebekah said.

"Let's follow her" Caroline said.

Rebekah nodded, and both the girls followed Aria out.

***

Katherine walked out the back door of the Grill, she saw her daughter waiting for her.

"Did you find where your body is?" Nadia asked.

"No" Katherine replied, "But I have a theory".

"Go on" Nadia urged.

"Damon likes to go for irony" Katherine said, "I can think of only one place where he will bury me".

"And where's that?" Nadia asked.

"For a hundred and forty five years Damon thought I was in a tomb underneath the old church" Katherine replied, "And boy, was he angry when he realised I wasn't there, meaning he couldn't get his revenge, and since then, he has always wanted me back in that tomb".

"Well, let's hope you are there this time" Nadia said.

"Yeah, right" Katherine said.

"Now say your goodbyes, we can't have anyone following us" Nadia said, "I'm going to go get your body and make Mia do the spell that will make sure Aria won't resurface again".

Unknown to both Nadia and Katherine, Caroline and Rebekah had heard everything, and they realised their best friend was being possessed by Katherine.

"We need to get to Katherine's body before Nadia" Caroline said.

"And we need to burn it" Rebekah said, "We can't lose Aria".

"Let's go" Caroline said.

And with that, the two best friends speeded of to get to Katherine's body before Nadia.

***

Caroline and Rebekah entered the tomb, only to see no sign of Katherine's body anywhere.

"We're too late" Caroline realised.

"We need to tell the others" Rebekah said.

Caroline looked at Rebekah in shock, "Damon's about to propose to Aria".

"But Aria's not Aria, and Damon doesn't know that" Rebekah realised.

Caroline quickly pulled out her phone and started calling Damon, "He's not answering" Caroline said, frustrated.

"Neither is Kol" Rebekah informed.

"Rebekah if Katherine in Aria's body rejects Damon, he's going to think Aria rejected him, he's going to think that Aria doesn't want to marry him when we both know Aria's been dreaming of marrying Damon for so long" Caroline said.

"We have to go to him, now" Rebekah said, and with that the two vampires speeded out the tomb.

***

"Took you long enough" Mia said, as Katherine entered the motel room, which was now full of candles.

"I was pretending to care" Katherine said, "It was very time consuming".

"Let's get it over with" Nadia said.

But before Mia could start the spell, Katherine once again start yelling in pain, Mia and Nadia watched as Aria's eyes kept flickering from her normal eyes, to black eyes, it was like Aria's babies were helping her fight Katherine.

After a moment, Aria's eyes were back to normal.

"Katherine?" Nadia asked, not knowing who it was.

"Aria, actually" Aria replied, before Nadia or Mia could do anything, Aria used her magic to stick both of them to the walls, "I told you Nadia, don't mess with me", Aria looked at Katherine's body and she knew what she had to do.

"Aria, don't!" Nadia yelled, knowing what was going to happen.

Aria ignored Nadia and turned to "Incendia!" she yelled, lighting Katherine's body on fire.

"No!" Nadia yelled.

Aria then snapped Nadia's neck and knocked Mia unconscious.

Without wasting another second, Aria speeded out the motel, wanting to get to Damon before somehow Katherine resurfaced again.

***

"Kol!" Aria yelled, running over to Kol, she had seen him when she was trying to run to Damon, she quickly wrapped her arms around Kol, "I'm so glad I found you, I need to tell you something".

"What's wrong Ri?" Kol asked confused, he was outside the Grill, about to go inside to find Aria, but instead she ran into him.

"Ah!" Aria yelled, as pictures of Katherine's life started appearing infront of her, turns out, burning Katherine's body wasn't enough, as Mia was still doing the spell.

"Ri, what's wrong?" Kol asked, panicking slightly, "Is it the babies?".

"No" Aria replied, "It's Katherine".

"What?" Kol asked.

"Katherine is possessing me Kol" Aria informed, shocking Kol, "I tried to burn her body to stop her from getting permanent control over my body, but it wasn't enough, I can feel the traveler doing the spell, Kol, I don't know how to stop her".

"Okay, okay, relax, we will figure this out" Kol said.

"Lock me up" Aria told Kol.

"Ri--".

"Kol, you have to lock me up till Katherine is gone, promise me!" Aria said, as the images got worse in her head.

"I--", before Kol could finish his sentence, he watched as Aria's eyes turned black, then back to normal, he knew the girl infront of him, wasn't Aria anywhere.

"Kol" Katherine said, a bit surprised, she didn't know that Kol knew she wasn't Aria, as Aria had managed to block her from seeing what was happening.

"Hey Ri" Kol said, playing along, he needed to safely get Aria's body back to the boarding house, he wasn't going risk Aria or the babies lives, "I've been looking for you everywhere".

"You have?" Katherine asked.

"Yeap" Kol replied, "Caroline didn't tell you? I'm supposed to bring you home".

"I think she forgot" Katherine replied.

"That's fine" Kol said, "Come on, I'll take you home, you need rest".

"Uh, okay, sure" Katherine said, following Kol.

***

Rebekah and Caroline entered the boarding house, wanting to talk to Damon, but to their shock, when they entered the boarding house, it was all trashed up, all the decorations were down and the furniture was broken, and Damon was missing.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" Rebekah asked confused.

"I have no idea" Caroline replied, "But something tells me it's something very bad".

Rebekah and Caroline turned around when they heard the front door open, and in come Aria, who was being possessed by Katherine.

Caroline and Rebekah exchanged a look, not knowing if it was Aria or Katherine infront of them.

"Hey guys" Katherine greeted, "What happened here?".

"We don't know" Caroline replied, as Kol came behind Katherine, making sure Katherine couldn't see him, Kol put a finger on his lips, telling the two vampires infront of him to keep silent, making Rebekah and Caroline realise the women infront of them was Katherine, and that Kol knew.

"Ri, go shower or bath or whatever you pregnant ladies do, we'll take care of this mess" Kol assured.

Katherine smiled at Kol, "Thank you Kol, you're so considerate".

Kol gave Katherine a forced smile, "Anytime".

Katherine gave Rebekah and Caroline a nod, and went upstairs.

Caroline opened her mouth to ask Kol what was going on, but Kol gestured her not to talk, he then walked outside and gestured for Rebekah and Caroline to follow.

"Kol, there's something you need to know" Rebekah said, as they stood in the driveway, away from Katherine's vampire hearing.

"I already know" Kol said.

"About Katherine possessing Aria?" Caroline asked.

Kol nodded, "Yeah".

"How?" Rebekah asked confused.

"Ri told me, she had managed to keep Katherine away for a bit, and she told me, but then some traveler did some spell on Katherine's body, making her control on Aria's body permanent" Kol replied.

"Well, how do we bring Aria back?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know" Kol admitted, "But guys, we can't let Katherine know that we know she's not Aria, otherwise she will do something to Ri and the babies, and we can't risk that".

"So we're just supposed to pretend she's Aria?" Rebekah asked.

"For now" Kol replied, "Just till we figure out how to safely remove her from Aria's body".

"Count us in" Klaus said, walking over to the trio with Elijah.

"Nik? Elijah?" Rebekah said confused, "What are you two doing here?".

"I called Ari in the morning, and she ended up hanging up on me" Klaus replied.

"Yeah, you told me" Caroline remembered.

"We know for a fact, Aria never hangs up on us, instead she forces us to talk to her" Elijah said, "We figured something was wrong, so we came as soon as we could".

"Great, we're going to need all the brains we can get" Kol said.

"Where's Damon?" Caroline asked suddenly, "He still doesn't know that Aria isn't Aria".

"I don't know" Kol replied, "I left him here, he was planning for the proposal".

"Katherine possessed Aria the worst time ever" Caroline said, "Her and Damon were finally getting their happily ever after".

"And they still will" Klaus assured, "Once we find Damon, and Ari is back, everything will be back to normal".

"Let's hope so" Kol said, "Cause I don't know about you guys, but I have a feeling there's something that's gone wrong, I just don't know what".

The group of five exchanged worry glances, wondering where Damon was, and how were they supposed to bring Aria back.

***

Unknown to everyone, while Damon was planning the last minute details for the epic proposal, he had received a message from Aria's phone.

My Witchy Girlfriend 💋: I can't do this anymore Damon, I've been thinking a lot, and I can't have my children grow up with a serial killer as their father, I love you, but I love my kids more, and they need a better father then you, I'm sorry but it's over, I want nothing to do with you, please stay away from me and my kids.

After reading the message, Damon had gone ballistic, he could no longer think straight, so he trashed the whole boarding house, but that wasn't enough, he needed to kill someone, what he didn't know was that Aria didn't send the message, it was Nadia after Aria had dropped her phone after she burned Katherine's body, but Damon had no idea, he thought Aria had finally seen him for the monster he is.

Right now, Enzo laid on the empty road, just as a car stopped near him, and out came Aaron Whitmore.

"Hey, you all right?" Aaron asked, walking closer to the body laying on the road, not realising it was Enzo, "You all right, man?".

Enzo suddenly sat up, shocking Aaron, "Never better" Enzo said, standing up, "We've been waiting for you, Damon's teaching me a little game", Aaron turned around to see Damon standing by his car, "See, he assured me you'd be on this road heading out of town".

"You said that you were gonna let me go" Aaron said.

"I did" Damon said, "I tried".

"Does Aria know that you're here?" Aaron asked.

"She's the reason I'm here" Damon replied, "No, scratch that, I'm the reason I'm here".

"What do you want, Damon?" Aaron asked confused.

"I want the same thing you want, Aaron" Damon replied, "Go back in time, fix the past, get someone back I lost".

"Everyone I lost is cause of you" Aaron snapped, "And you murdered my entire family, you".

"Justifiably" Enzo said.

"Either way, I did it" Damon said, "I tore them apart, I liked the sounds they made, because I realised they deserved it, like you".

"Aria was too good for you" Aaron taunted.

"I used to think that, yeah" Damon said, "That I had to be better to deserve her love, to deserve my children's love, and she had to be worse to accept mine, I'd lie in the middle of the road, looking up at the stars, having conversations with people like you, trying to convince myself killing them was a bad instinct, and that sparing their lives was the right thing to do".

"So what'd you do?" Aaron asked, "Did you kill them?".

"Doesn't matter, the point is I was conflicted" Damon replied, "Right now, in this very, very moment, I am crystal clear, Aria thinks I'm a monster that doesn't deserve our children, you know what? She's right", suddenly Damon vamped out and bit into Aaron's neck, eventually killing him.

"Now, that's the Damon Salvatore I remember" Enzo said, causing Damon to give him a bloody smile.

***

Presenting 5x12 of The Vampires Diaries?

How was the chapter? I added my own twists to it, hope you guys like it.

I do want to clarify something, the gang doesn't know about the travelers knife, because that was used to get the traveler out of Matt, and the gang wouldn't care about that so they didn't help, which means they don't know that they need the travelers knife to save Aria...yet 🙈

Thoughts on the Salvatore triplets helping Aria fight Katherine?

Thoughts on Aria managing to tell Kol the truth?

Thoughts on the gang teaming up to find a way to save Aria?

Thoughts on Damon thinking that Aria broke up with him?