A shadow passed by Elena’s door, causing all of them to look towards it. Bonnie slowly walked towards the bathroom instead, noticing the missing crystal on the floor.

     “Um, guys?” Bonnie held up the necklace, but before they could get a closer look, the door slammed shut, causing Bonnie to scream.

     “Bonnie? Bonnie! What’s going on?!” Caroline and Elena banged on the bathroom door, trying to open it even though it wouldn’t budge.

     The lights flickered and Bonnie only screamed louder. Her friends continued to try to get the door to open before it did it itself.

     Bonnie stood in the middle on the bathroom with her head in her hands.

     “Are you okay? What happened?”

     Bonnie with a slight gasp, lowered her hands and stood up straight, “I’m fine.”

     Caroline scoffed, “unbelievable. You were totally faking it!”

     “Well, your reactions were pretty hilarious.” Jasmine laughed as they all looked at her. It was obvious the blonde didn’t believe the real thing, so it was natural for her to go along with her charade.

     “You guys scared the hell out of me!”

     With that Caroline walked away as Elena simply looked at her best friend, "Bonnie?”

     The witch assured her she was fine before saying she had to leave. Bonnie’s entire demeanor had changed, the vampire noticed. Bonnie would’ve been panicking still, especially with the amount of terror Jasmine had seen in her before they even began. The only explanation was that the spell did work, so, Jasmine smirked and followed after the retreating possessed witch.

     “Come on, Emily. Don’t leave me in suspense.”

     “Emily?” Elena looked towards them with her eyebrows furrowed, “oh my god.”

     Emily/Bonnie quickly walked out of the Gilbert’s residence. Jasmine sped in front of her, “where are you going, Emily?”

     “Back to where it all began.” Emily/Bonnie pushed by her and continued walking towards the forest.

     “Wait, are you gonna walk? How far away is this place?”

     The witch ignored her and picked up her pace, determined to get to the site before Damon discovered her plan. Groaning, Jasmine sped in front of her again, a look of annoyance etched on her face.

     “Emily! What does Damon want with the crystal?”

     The witch looked at her old friend and rolled her eyes, “It doesn’t matter. I won’t let him have it. I have to destroy it.”

     Sensing something was wrong, Jasmine asked the obvious, “what did you do?”

     Emily walked past by her again, but looked back to make sure the vampire was following her, “I promised to protect Katherine for Damon, but Jasmine… to protect Katherine, I had to protect them all. All the vampires that were locked inside the church that night, I had no choice but to save them as well.”

     Jasmine stopped in her tracks momentarily before quickly catching up, “Oh my god. That’s why you want to destroy the crystal… to keep Damon from opening wherever you stuffed that doppelganger bitch.”

     Emily nodded before stopping, finally reaching Fell’s church. Jasmine, suddenly alert, looked around when she heard footsteps that weren’t hers neither the witch’s.

     “Hello, Emily. You look different.” Damon emerged from the forest and stopped when he saw them.

     Emily faced him and took a step back, “I won’t let you do it.”

     An aggravated Damon stepped towards her with a small sneer, “we had a deal.”

     “Things are different now. I need to protect my family.” Jasmine understood her, well, her reasoning. Witches were very overprotective when it came to their bloodline. They would risk whatever to make sure they were safe.

     “I protected your family.” Damon exclaimed as he took another step forward, “you owe me.”

     Emily looked at him with a slightly sadden expression, “I know. I’m sorry.”

     “You’re about to be a lot more than that.” He sped towards her, but before he reached her Emily used her magic to throw him against a tree. He was stuck there since his misfortune made him land on a tree with a sharp branch that impaled him. He groaned and gasped as he looked at the wood.

     Biting her knuckle, Jasmine looked at him, “oooh, that’s gotta hurt.”

     “Shut. Up.”

     Jasmine, keeping her calm demeanor up, smirked and continued to watch what Emily was doing. The witch had grabbed a long stick and began marking the ground with it. Stefan shortly arrived and helped Damon off the branch.

     Emily looked towards the younger Salvatore brother and stopped what she was doing, “Stefan.”

     “Hello, Emily.”

     “These people don’t deserve this. They should never have to know such evil.”

     Confused, Stefan turned his full attention on her, “what do you mean evil?”

     Groaning and holding his now healing wound, Damon tried to stand up, “Emily, I swear to god, I will make you regret this.”

     “I won’t let you unleash them into this world.”

     Stefan looked between his brother and the witch, “them? What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?”

     “What does it matter?”

     Stefan looked back to the witch, “Emily, tell me what you did.”

     “To save her, I had to save them.”

     “What?”

     Jasmine walked towards her best friend, a look of annoyance on her face, “she means she saved everyone in the church, Stefan. Every single vampire that was captured.”

     “With one comes all.”

     Damon held onto his brother for support on standing, “I don’t care about them. I just want Katherine.”

     With anger, Stefan grabbed Damon by his jacket, “I knew I shouldn’t have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth. This isn’t about love, is it? This is about revenge.”

     Damon pushed him off, equally as angry, “the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

     Again, Stefan grabbed him, trying to make him see reason, “Damon, you can’t do this!”

     Emily continued her marking on the ground while Damon tried to push his brother off, “why not? They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get!”

     “27 vampires, Damon. They were vampires! You can’t just bring them back.”

     Damon grabbed Stefan and pulled him closer, “this town deserves this.”

     “You’re blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago.”

     Damon succeeded in pushing Stefan off, “there is nothing innocent about these people! Don’t think for a second it won’t happen again!" He looked towards Emily, who ignored him, "They already know too much, and they’ll burn you’re little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me.”

     Emily looked towards the two bickering brothers, “things are different now.”

     With one last plea, Damon looked at the witch, “don’t do this.”

     Jasmine sped towards the brothers and stood by Stefan, “She’s not going to free them, Damon. Give it up, it’s already happening, look.” They all turned their attention to the witch in time to see her perform the spell.

     “Incendia!” Flames erupted around her and Damon yelled. She grabbed the necklace and held it out in front of her. A mirage of Bonnie and Emily played out before them.

     “No! No, please. Please.” Damon’s expression was broken as he looked at the witch who held the key to him reuniting with his lost love in her hands. Stefan and Jasmine held him back, preventing him from doing something that would only harm him.

     “Bonnie!” Elena ran through the woods, but Stefan quickly stopped her before she got too close to the flames.

     “No!” Emily threw the crystal into the air, causing it to explode. The flames died out and before anyone could react, Damon attacked Bonnie. Stefan sped over to them and pushed him back. Jasmine knelt down beside Bonnie as Elena stood by them, shocked.

     Jasmine felt around the witch’s wrist for a pulse and let out a breath as she found one, “her pulse is weak, but I can save her.” She quickly bit into her wrist and force fed the witch her blood. Bonnie gagged and tried to push her away as Elena gave Damon a disgusted look.

     Jasmine pulled away her arm when she saw the witch’s wounds were healed. Stefan helped them both up and walked with Elena to the car to make sure Bonnie was okay. Jasmine looked at her torn up friend, slowly walking towards him. She couldn’t imagine the kind of hurt he was going through at the moment.

     “I’m sorry, Damon.”

     “I can’t get her back. My one chance to see her again… is gone."

     Jasmine felt helpless knowing nothing would be able to comfort him. She looked up when she heard Stefan slowly walk up to them.

     “Katherine never compelled me. I knew everything every step of the way. It was real for me.” Jasmine hesitantly put her hand on his shoulder, trying to provide some comfort. He looked at her and then his brother, “I’ll leave now.”

     Without uttering a word, Stefan left once more to go check on Bonnie and Elena, giving the two vampires some time alone.

     “Damon. Are you going to be okay?” She shook her head, “what the hell am I saying?” She took a deep breath and looked at him, “I’m sorry this happened. I’m here for you, always, when you’re ready to talk, okay?”

     With a slight nod, Damon asked her to let him be, so she walked away. She didn’t know what to do. Emily did the right thing by destroying the crystal and now that it’s destroyed, Damon won’t be able to see Katherine, who she hated, but who he loved so desperately. She wished she could help him. She wished Damon wasn’t broken up about it. But she couldn’t and he was.

     Jasmine walked towards the voices she heard and stopped when Elena spotted her. The doppelganger slightly glared at her before turning her attention back to Stefan.

     “I thought I couldn’t be with you, but I can. You don’t have to push me away. I can do this.” She held his hands and smiled up at him.

     Stefan slightly smiled at her sadly and shook his head, “I can’t. I--uh--I have to leave, Elena. Too many people have died. Too much has happened.”

     “What? No. I know you think you’re protecting me, but—”

     “I have to… coming home was- it was a mistake. I can’t be a part of your life anymore.”

     Elena looked towards the ground and let a few tears fall, “don’t go, Stefan. Please, you don’t have to. This is your home. Please, just don’t go.”

     Stefan lifted one of her hands to his lips and gently kissed the back of it, he caressed her face, before taking a step back, “goodbye, Elena.”

     “You’re just gonna walk away? Don’t walk away, Stefan!” He looked towards his best friend and she immediately walked beside him, comfortingly rubbing his back.

     “Stefan!”

▪▪▪▪

     Back at the boarding house, Stefan sat on his bed with one of his journals in his hands. He looked at it before throwing it against the wall.

     “Stefan.”

     He looked towards her and immediately embraced her, trying to find comfort. Jasmine sighed as she sat them both on his bed, soothingly running her hands through his hair. She didn’t know what else to do, but just that. He on the other hand, couldn’t think of a better way to be comforted… by a friend who understood him and was always there for him.

     “Thank you.”

     “Don’t worry about it. I’m always here for you, Stefan. Forever.”

     Stefan slightly smiled and pulled her closer to him, “forever is a long time.”

     “As long as I know you’re there for me, it’s worth it.”

     They laid back and spent the night in a comforting silence. No words needed to be spoken. They just needed to be there next to each other. That was enough. Enough for tonight. For the rest of their undead lives.