❝We were so close to freedom... so close❞
•

I sigh to myself watching as Kai laid out on the ground with an ax buried deep in his chest, before hearing Damon moan after sipping his drink, "Can you shut up?" I asked, my eyes meeting his.

I look over sat Bonnie who concentrated on her grimoire, ascendant in her hand, that she didn't hear Damon be obnoxious until the second time. She tears her eyes away from the book, "Can you stop? Let me concentrate."

He ignores her, "On the bright side, this stuff's not so bad." Bonnie sighs, annoyed, as he went on, "It's fruity, and fizzy."

"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...." He paused, swirling the bit of juice that he was savoring.

 "Douche-kebab." I suggest, eyeing Kai, before Damon hums and drinks up. 

"Think about it, guys. What prison gives an inmate a key?"

Damon looks at her lost, "Is that a trick question? Or is this stuff actually starting to kick in?"

Bonnie stares at the grimoire, "I think the Gemini coven used a Bennett spell to create this place?"

"Is that why your Grams sent us here?" I asked,  "To hell?"

Damon chose to point at his face, leaving against the tree still, "This is the face I make when I don't understand you." He goes cross-eyed and purses his lips and both Bonnie and I roll our eyes and sigh.

"You know the last thing my Grams said to me..was to stay strong..." Bonnie glances at the ascendant, "What if that was her way of telling me I have the power to get out?" Damon chugs some more of his drink, "I have the ascendant, a massive celestial event to draw from, plus a burning desire to get away from you."

"Don't we all." I retort and he sends a nonthreatening glare. She points the ascendant at him and Damon's smile doesn't reach his eyes, before she shuts her eyes, chanting a spell.

Damon's fake smile fades and so does mine when we sees that it might be working on the ascendant. Bonnie inhales and continues repeating the spell before the claws on the ascendant pull free and twist, clicking at each movement. 

"What the hell?" I mumbled before Bonnie looks up at us as she stumbles to her feet, giving a smirk, with wide eyes.

She walks up to us, gripping on the ascendant, "That's why Kai wouldn't kill me. He needed a Bennett,...I was his only way out of here."

"At least we know he isn't that stupid." I snort, looking over at his limp body.

When Bonnie turns and begins to walk, Damon calls out, "Whoa, where are you going?" 

Bonnie, climbing towards the hole Damon had dug open, turned back to us, bag on her shoulders, "Home. Coming?"

I look up at the potential eclipse and give a contented smile, "Hell yeah I am."

•

•

My smile couldn't stretch any further on my face as we sat in the cave, waiting for the eclipse. Bonnie stood under the only light in the cave, using the ascendant to wound her hand before looking up at us.

She nods at us and I jump to my feet, "About damn time we got out of here." I sighed, "Couldn't take wearing another windbreaker."

Bonnie laughs at my statement, watching as Damon and I join her under the direct light of the eclipse. Damon scrubbed his hands together, "Okay.. Let's get awkward." I couldn't help but smile as we placed our hands under each other, Bonnie's blood covering the ascendant. "I'm sure there are about a billion people you'd rather be here with."

Bonnie smiles, "Not exactly."

Damon smiles at her back, and so do I with a sigh after glancing up at the sky, "Now let's get this show on the road-" Before I could finish my sentence, I felt my body be lifted and tossed before an arrow zips out of nowhere and catches Bonnie in her stomach instead of me. She moved me out the way, but harder than she intended as I hit my body against the wall of rocks. 

Bonnie gets knocked off her feet and far from the ascendant. The wind was knocked out of my chest by the impact so I gasped ever so effortlessly, looking down the cave to see Kai with a crossbow. 

Damon notices him too, looking at Kai incredulously as he smirked, "Forgetting someone?" I reach for the closet rock and try to get a hold of it to sit up, but my arms failed me as my vision blurred and I could barely see the outlining of my hand. Tired, I rest my head on the cool ground and let out a chilling breath as I go numb. "Did you really think I haven't tried to kill myself before?"

I look over at Bonnie who was groaning at the arrow jabbed in his abdomen. Kai's words fade in and out, though I listen when he threatened Damon as he looked over at the ascendant, "Fran that and the next arrow goes in Rowan's heart." I look over at Kai and see him staring directly at me with the crossbow pointing in my direction.

Damon, choosing wisely, went toward Bonnie and pulled out the arrow, having her cry out and before coming over to me, "Hey Rowan, you okay? Can you hear me?"

I slowly nod because that's all I could do, but see Kai about to get the ascendant, "Damon!" Bonnie yells and he looks over at Kai before speeding over to him and pushing him against the rock.

The ascendant drops from Kai's grip, yet he still managed to take one the arrows and stab Damon in the side. For minutes, they fought back and forth and in the meantime, Bonnie goes to reach for the ascendant. I, however, couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, sleep overcoming me, though in the distance I hear a loud scream and see a bright light fade away from me.