CHAPTER SIX

"You're in a good mood for the first time this decade." Bonnie says as they walk through the woods; she smacks Damon because he's whistling. "Stop that."

"We get to go home today." He says.

"Yeah, assuming Kai's telling the truth."

"Nyx, where'd you send the twins?" He asks as he looks at her.

"And assuming I can do the spell, which I won't know until I see it." She continues.

"Vicki should have them." Nyx tells him.

"Whatever happened to hope, Bonnie?" He questions. "Remember how I was all like, boo, grr, and you were all, hooray, hooray! We're getting out of here."

"Does he have an off button?" Jess asks.

"I could snap his neck." Nyx says. "But then we'd have to carry him."

"Never mind​."

"Look, I wanna go home more than anything, but Kai's a sociopath." Bonnie says. "Who's to say he won't screw us over?"

"Me. I say." Damon says. "Because I will kill Kai and anyone​ who comes in the way of me and my best friend going home."

"I'm gonna take that stick." Nyx shakes her head as she looks at the long stick he's been waving around.

"I heard my name." Kai says as he walks over to them. "All good, I hope."

Nyx looks behind her at Jessica and Jenna before looking back at the jackass who's blackmailing them. They all stop a few feet away from him.

"The eclipse will happen directly overhead." He tells them. "Perfect alignment with the Gemini constellation. You two need to dig into the tunnels below us." He motions between the two vampires. "We'll do the spell there."

"Why?" Bonnie questions.

"Have you never portal-jumped through an eclipse before?" He asks sarcastically, and they all roll their eyes. "Okay, look, the light of the eclipse will shine down and activate the ascendant. You spout a little witchy-woo and then, poof... Anyone standing in the circle of light holding the ascendant goes home."

"By witchy-woo, I assume you mean the spell." She says, and he nods. "Let me see it."

"When the time comes." He says and then walks past them.

Kai stops in front of Nyx and Jess and smiles as he looks between the two of them. He then walks past them and continues through the woods.

"Where are you going?" Jenna asks.

"Into town. I need to gather some important supplies." He whistles as he skips away from them.

Damon then looks between Nyx and Jess. "Your new boyfriend's​ insane." He says, and Nyx ignores him as she goes to pick up a pickax to loosen up the dirt before they start digging. Jess simply shoots him a dirty look and walks a few feet away from them to lean against a tree.

—

"Hey!" Bonnie calls as Damon's digging in a deep hole. "You know there's a very probable chance you're digging your own grave and...not bothered." She shakes her head.

Damon ignores her and hits the ground again, part of it caves in to reveal the tunnel underneath. Then the girls hear footsteps coming up behind them.

"Looks like I got back just in time." Kai says, and they all turn to look at him.

Damon runs out of the hole in a blur and grabs the bag that Kai came with, wanting to see what's inside because they don't trust him in the slightest. "Zima, grunge, every Alex Rodriguez rookie card known to man, and a pager. Really?"

"Five-five-five-hi-Kai. No way I'm giving up those digits." Kai says, and Nyx groans as she lays back on the ground, not caring that she's getting full of dirt.

"These were the important supplies you needed to get?" Damon questions.

"Look, the future sounds great, alright? I'm super excited about the internet. But 1990 has been my home for most of my life. I'd hate to get homesick." He says. "So, let's get down there—"

"No." Bonnie cuts him off and stands up, struggling against Damon to get past him to Kai. "We are not going anywhere until you show me the spell."

"Oookay." He puts his hands in his pockets as Jess and Jenna take Nyx's hands to pull her to her feet. They look at the grin on Kai's face.

"Are we literally not going anywhere?" Nyx questions.

"You're smart. That's why I like you." He says, looking over at her. "You two are​ my favorite." He glances between her and Jess.

"You seriously need to stop that." The blonde shakes her head as she moves closer to Nyx, incredibly weirded out by him.

"You don't want to show me the spell, then you can do it yourself." Bonnie tells him, and he continues smiling as she holds her hand out toward him. "You want my magic. Take it."

"Uh-oh. She's being brave." He says sarcastically.

"I'm serious, Kai. This was your big threat, wasn't it? If I don't do the spell and let us out of here, you'll just take my magic, leave me for dead, and do the spell yourself. So, go ahead. Take all of it."

"Don't mind​ if I do." He says and then grabs her upper arms.

She groans in pain as the siphoning hurts her. This is how he does magic. He can't generate it on his own, he can only temporarily take it from others.

"Bonnie." Damon watches them closely as Nyx walks up beside him.

"It's okay." Bonnie says. "He won't kill me."

"Doesn't look like that from here."

"That's enough!" Nyx quickly gets between them, pushing Kai back a step. He smiles as he looks down at her.

"He doesn't know the spell." Bonnie says, and his smile falls. "Which means we don't need him. Motus." The pickax flies past Nyx and impales Kai in the chest.

"No! No!" Damon yells. "Bonnie!" He pats her shoulder. "Great work, Bonnie." He walks away as Nyx looks down at Kai's dead body.

Damon starts drinking as Bonnie reads through her grimoire. Nyx is using Kai's backpack as a pillow, and Jess is using Nyx's stomach as a pillow. Jenna's pacing back and forth, thinking about the possibility of actually ending up in the real world again — what her life will be.

Damon starts making noises, and Jess throws a dirt clot at him. It leaves a mark on his white under shirt.

"Can you stop?" Bonnie asks. "Let me concentrate?"

"On the bright side, this stuff's not so bad. It's fruity and fizzy." Damon says.

"Damon, I'm working on something."

"On the not-so-bright-side, is your intelligence because you took the only chance of us getting out of here and turned him into a giant...douche kabob." He takes another drink.

"Think about it, Damon: what kind of prison gives an inmate a key?" She asks.

"Is that a trick question, or is this stuff actually starting to kick in?" He asks, and Jess throws another dirt clot at him.

"I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place. What if that's why my Grams sent me here?" Bonnie reasons.

"This is the face I make when I don't understand you." He purses his lips and crosses his eyes.

Jenna's eyes narrow as she looks over at him, and Jess throws another dirt clot. He smacks it and it flies in the other direction as Bonnie sighs. Nyx is staring at the sky above them as she silently listens to their bickering.

"The last thing my Grams said to me was to stay strong." Bonnie says as she looks at the ascendant in her hand. "What if that was her way of telling me I had the power to get out? I have the ascendant, a massive celestial event to draw from. Plus a burning desire to get away from you." She tells him, and Jess chuckles.

Bonnie starts chanting, and the ascendant moves on its own in her hand. Jess and Nyx both sit up as Jenna turns back to face her.

"That's why Kai wouldn't kill me." She says as she stands up. "He needed a Bennett. I was his only way out of here."

"Whoa. Where are you going?" Damon questions when she turns around and walks away from him.

"Home. You coming?" She smiles, and Jenna helps the other two off of the ground.

Damon and Nyx break the rest of the way through, into the tunnel, and the five of them go inside. Damon continues drinking as they watch Bonnie. She uses the ascendant and cuts the palm of her hand before letting some of her blood fall into the center.

She chants a little more and the ascendant moves again. Nyx and Jess smile as the blonde moves closer to her vampire best friend.

"It's time." Bonnie tells them.

"Alright." Damon smiles as they all move closer to Bonnie. "Let's get awkward." He places his hand under Bonnie's, then Nyx does, Jessica, and Jenna. "Like this?"

"Yeah."

"I'm sure there's about a billion people you'd rather be here with." He says, and the witch smiles as she looks at each of them.

"Not exactly." She says with a smile. "Let's go h—" Bonnie screams when an arrow hits her stomach, and she flies backward. The ascendant falls, and everyone turns as Kai repositions the crossbow that he's carrying.

"No!" Jenna jumps in front of Jess, and the next arrow embeds itself in her back instead of Jess' stomach.

"Forgetting someone?" Kai asks as Nyx moves Jess behind her, hiding her from Kai since she can heal quickly and Jess can't.

"Jenna..." The blonde looks down at her as she groans on the ground. Nyx keeps looking between her and Kai, trying to come up with a plan to protect both of the humans.

"Did you really think I hadn't tried to kill myself before?" He questions as Damon looks back at Bonnie. "Because I had. Lots of times. Lots of ways. Grab that, and the next arrow goes in her heart." He says when he sees Damon looking at the ascendant. "Your choice."

Damon runs over to Bonnie as Nyx moves closer to Jenna. She kneels down and pulls the arrow out of her back, keeping Jess right next to her.

"Damon. No." Bonnie says as Kai runs for the ascendant that's near the three girls.

Damon bolts after him and pins him against the rock wall. They struggle, and Jenna looks over at Bonnie, not paying attention to her niece who's trying to give her her blood.

"Nyx!" Damon yells, and she looks over to see Kai stabbing him with an arrow.

She rams into Kai, and he flies a few feet away from them. Nyx then quickly pulls the arrow out of his chest and tosses it to the ground.

Bonnie nods at Jenna, and she quickly goes for the ascendant. "Motus." Bonnie uses her magic to drag the two vampires back to the circle of light.

Jenna pushes Jess to them, and Nyx quickly catches her when she stumbles back. Then she tosses the ascendant to them and the girls quickly grab it before it can fall to the floor and break.

"Don't!" Kai yells.

"Bonnie, wait!" Nyx looks at her as the ascendant opens, and Damon goes to knock it from the girls' hands before their group can be separated, but it's already too late.

"No!" Damon yells as the three of them shoot up into the air, and the ascendant shatters when it falls back to the ground.

—

Damon, Nyx, and Jessica are now in the woods just outside of Mystic Falls. It's the exact spot that Nycole and Damon were standing with Bonnie when the Other Side collapsed. The two girls look at each other with tears in their eyes, and Damon looks toward his family's crypt.

"Stefan?" He disappears from the girls' side, catching the liquor bottle that his younger brother threw before it can shatter against the wall.

"Come on." Nyx takes Jess' hand in hers, and the girls make their way toward the entrance of the crypt.

"So, what, we're gone a couple months, and you think it's okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbon?" He questions as he looks at his brother.

"Damon?" Stefan asks, uncertain.

"Yep. In the flesh."

"How am I seeing you right now?"

"Because I'm not dead, Stefan." Damon tells him, and a sad smile crosses Nyx's lips as she leans in the doorway. "I mean, this stuff's good, but it's not I see dead people good." He says as he walks toward him. "It's a hell of a long story, brother, but we're back. I'm back."

Stefan reaches forward and places his hand on Damon's shoulder, making sure that he can actually feel him. Damon nods, and his brother quickly hugs him.

"I'm back, Stefan." He tells him, and he fights back tears.

"Hey, what about me?" Nyx asks, and Stefan whirls around to look for her. "I've only been dead for a year. Can't a girl get a proper welcome back to the land of the living?" Stefan practically slams into her, and she chuckles as she steadies them, hugging him back. "I missed you too."