a/n: All those times I've mentioned ghosts being means af to MJ when she was younger was basically foreshadowing for this chapter oof. Spirits are bullies <3

Also, flashbacks incoming (plus 'author's insight'/ramble at the end lol)

- Remember to comment and vote xx

MJ was having a bit of a time.

Not a good time.

There was actually a list of spirits she would happily talk to, Kol and-or Ric being at the top of it. Then Bonnie's Grandma would be a warm presence, and people like Lexi would lift her mood too.

But no.

MJ had to get stuck seeing ghosts she didn't even know, and who weren't as quiet as the first one.

It was like every forty-five minutes, a new ghost would fade it to scare the life out of her, some sitting in her car, some just appearing in the middle of the road and causing her to slam the breaks down. The modern clothing meant she didn't click they were ghosts straight away, and even if part of her brain knew they were, MJ wouldn't risk just driving through until she was sure she wasn't about to actually want to hit anyone.

With her luck, the one time she'd just drive would be the one time it was a living person.

She'd stopped at a motel on the way to get a little bit of sleep, but after the second Esther nightmare, she called quits on that idea and got back in the car to get to Mystic Falls.

MJ should've known the motel was also a bad idea. She managed to talk to the air behind the desk for twenty minutes because she clicked the person had been a ghost. And a spirit was walking in and out of her room, which wasn't fun to sleep around ignoring Esther.

New Orleans had protected her from random spirits, and out of the ancestral bubble, Esther could still come and go, but so could everyone else.

MJ felt like she was going insane; lack of sleep, stressed about New Orleans, Bonnie, Travellers, a lot of motivation to fix The Other Side as soon as possible. Unless she could bring back everyone she didn't want to lose, she couldn't resurrect Kol. Doing that would trigger the collapse. The choice of Kol or Ric/Lexi/Grams felt like a cosmic joke. Taunting her for even thinking she could save him.

She texted Ryos that she was coming back to town, but she wasn't going to see him.

MJ was going straight to The Salvatore House.

Someone was chanting in the living room.

"Permisso Laca Tha Tar," He had floppy blonde hair and blue eyes, "Permisso Laca Tha Tar."

Damon chucked an ice cube at his head.

"That's not helping," The guy kept his eyes closed

"Well, you've been failing for an hour now, Wonder-Twin," Damon snapped, "So at this point, I can't imagine that it's hurting."

He threw another one.

"Damon," Stefan walked in from the kitchen, "I know you're out a friend, but, uh, I'm not sure this guy's the best replacement."

"I don't think this guy's the best anything if his locator spell skills are any indication."

He continued chanting, trying to ignore them.

"Yo! Where's your sister?"

"Tired of being almost murdered."

"Not his sister," MJ dumped her bag, causing Damon to jump, "But also tired of almost dying."

He pointed at her, "Your family need to learn to knock."

"Your family need to learn to lock your front door."

Damon actually smiled at her, "Your timing is impeccable, by the way."

"I try," She'd probably picked it up from Klaus, "What do you need?"

"I need you to find Enzo."

MJ frowned, "How'd you lose him?"

"..."

"Damon."

"He killed Maggie," Stefan answered.

"Dude!"

"My humanity was off."

"Ah, okay, slightly less judging," MJ came into the room to look at what the blonde guy was doing, "He ran off?"

"He flipped his switch then disappeared after almost killing Elena."

"You're right; my timing is impeccable," MJ groaned, "To think! I almost went a year without having to deal with a no-humanity vampire."

The blonde guy stood up, "Who are you?"

"MJ Ruiz."

He tensed, "The siphoner."

"That's me," She rolled her eyes, "Give me twenty, and I'll have found him."

Damon clapped, "A witch who isn't useless."

"Look," The guy frowned, "As the actual witch in the room, I can find any person anywhere on the planet, ok?"

He took his jacket off.

"There's just something weird with your friend Enzo. I can't get a read."

"Didn't he, uh, go to Cape Horn?" Stefan said awkwardly, making MJ narrow her eyes.

"He flipped his humanity switch," Damon repeated, "There should have been a body count all the way to the airport."

"Well," Stefan ignored the way she was looking at him, "Why are you looking for him?"

"Gee. I don't know, Stefan. A vampire with no humanity who wants me dead for killing his girl? Hmm."

"Well, maybe he hired a witch to block whatever Luke's doing."

His name was Luke.

"Is that possible?"

"A cloaking spell?" Luke scrunched his nose, "I guess."

"I'll find him," MJ repeated, "I can do a tracking spell that'll tell me if there's a cloaking spell, and then I can break it."

"Thank you, Sabrina."

"If there's a cloaking spell, it means he doesn't want to be found," Stefan pointed out, "Why don't we just drop it?"

"Stefan," MJ said carefully, "He barely cared about murder with emotions on. Flipping his switch? He's gonna be a problem. We need to find him."

Luke pulled a face.

"Yes, coven boy?"

"Nothing."

"You got something to say?"

"You want me too?"

"Little bit," She crossed her arms, "Your sister – assuming the wonder-twin comment means you're related to Liv, already made her feelings about me perfectly clear."

"Awe," He mocked, "Did Liv hurt your feelings?"

"At least you acknowledge I have feelings."

"I was being sarcastic."

"I know. I was just seeing if you were that much of a dick that you'd feel the need to point that out."

"Okay," Stefan put a hand forward, "Pause the witch argument?"

"Fine, but when I prove the 'real witch' that I can find the guy he can't," MJ smiled falsely at him, "I'm gonna want an apology."

"For what? Stating facts," Luke stuck his nose up, "Siphoners are sociopaths. You don't care about a body count. You probably want to join in with the fun."

"You don't even know me," MJ pointed behind her, "So take your attitude and leave it at the door."

The door opened, Tyler rushing in.

"We have a problem," He saw MJ and vamp-sped forward to hug her.

He was shivering, and his clothes were messy, like he'd only just thrown them on.

"God, I'm happy to see you," He said into her hair before quickly pushing away, "Wait, actually...no, you need to leave, like, now."

"Ty," She scanned his face while rubbing her arms to warm him up a little, "You okay?"

"Markos and your brother turned this Traveller called Sloan into a vampire," He was shaking his head, "Had her drink doppelgänger blood."

Tyler made his way forward to sit on the sofa.

"And after some chanting ritual thing, she turned human again."

Damon put his drink down, "They cured her?"

"They cured her to death."

"The blood strips all magic," MJ's eyes went wide as she realised Ryos had gotten her to test the spell for him, "Took away her vampirism."

"But it left her in the state that she was in just before she turned."

"That state being dead," Stefan muttered, not happy, "Got it."

"Oh, this is not good," MJ rubbed her tired eyes, "Ryos said he wasn't involved with this side of things – his spell is supposed to loophole the whole destroying magic side."

"I'm so sorry, MJ," Tyler moved, so one arm was still over her shoulder, "He was running the experiment."

"He helped me the other day by getting me to perform that spell!"

Stefan looked at her, "What?"

"I cured a hex by striping magic using your blood and Elena's, and I knew – I freaking knew it was the Traveller spell, but I was thinking small scale, not full-on wiping out magic!"

"So it kills vampires," Luke interrupted her, "What does the spell mean for the witches?"

"No one cares," Damon looked at him, "Wait – "

He pointed to Tyler.

"Keep going."

"The point is, they think that if they get rid of all magic, they'll break some lame-ass witch curse."

"Markos said they can't settle anywhere without evoking earthquakes or hellfire," Damon downed the drink, "But they break that curse, they just move right on into Mystic Falls."

"But Bonnie's seen the spell," Stefan protested, "MJ, your brother gave Bonnie the spell he was gonna use to look at."

And Bonnie had sent it to her to look over during the drive.

"Surely, if it wiped out magic she would've noticed?"

MJ wanted to think she would've noticed too.

But everything Ryos did was a lie...

He'd probably just given them a fake spell to ease their minds.

MJ closed her eyes, "He's been playing all of us."

"I'm gonna kill him," Damon snarled.

"No, you're not!" She protested, "He's my brother."

"So, you're gonna kill him?"

"No one is killing him!"

"He's going to kill us!"

"No! He won't," MJ refused to believe that, she couldn't, "I'll talk to him, and I'll find out exactly what's going on – "

"What's going on is that he's working with The Travellers!"

For who knows how many years.

"If Lockwolf over here says The Travellers are wiping out magic, he's wiping out magic!"

MJ opened her eyes and focused on Tyler, "How'd you know all this?"

"They passengered me."

MJ froze.

"Can't you feel it?"

MJ started to panic.

She couldn't.

Her breathing picked up.

She could see three ghosts in the room, she could sense magic trying to infiltrate her mind every time she slept, but she hadn't even noticed that Tyler had a passenger in him when he'd hugged her. When MJ focused on looking for it, she could feel that something was wrong – but there was too much magic bugging her that morning, and she hadn't slept, so she'd missed it.

'What's a passenger?' One of the ghosts asked.

"I've been in and out with them the last two months. I finally saw an opening today."

"Tyler..." MJ had been texting a fake Tyler, "I'm giving your head a clearing."

"Still not hearing about what's gonna happen to witches," Luke repeated.

'He seems a little self-centred,' a different ghost added.

"Um," MJ really thought about it, "So, um. If you think about siphoning, that can kill a witch...but magic can be taken away in other fashions that don't."

Siphoning to different levels or nulling charms.

"The research I did about my mum's history last summer? She was there when a baby version of the spell was used, and people didn't die; they couldn't practise mag – Wait, Stefan. If they need doppelgänger blood and they used the last of it on this Sloan person..."

"They're gonna come after Elena and me today," He was panicked, "As in now."

              'What's a doppelgänger?'

"Oh, well. Markos had a good month or two in the land of the living," Damon mused, "Now, where is he so can kill him?"

"I will let you kill my brother."

'I really miss bourbon.'

"If your big bro gets in the way, he's dead."

'Can you find a way to get me a glass, witch?'

"Damon!" Her voice cracked, "He is the last of my family. He is the only person who's known me my entire life."

"And he's a problem."

"How many times have I let you live despite the fact you are the definition of a problem!"

"Because you're sentimental and empathic," He said bluntly, "You probably should've killed me when we met, and I'm not gonna make that same mistake."

Every light in the room exploded.

"He's my brother."

The low tone of voice had Stefan and Tyler exchanging a look.

"My problem. I decide what happens to him."

And she couldn't just lose him.

"He's not a psychopath, and he's not a supervillain. He's just trying to deal with our family history, and I will handle it."

              'Just kill him.'

              'You both seem like really violent people.'

              'If you can't get me bourbon, can you get me a biscuit or something?'

              'Just kill the vampire!'

"Can you all shut up!" MJ spun to look at them, "We're a little violent, yes. We're trying to survive. No, I'm not going to just kill Damon, and I have no idea if I can somehow get a spirit food or drink!"

Complete silence.

"...How many ghosts you seeing Lydia?" Damon asked carefully.

"Three in here, about six sunbathing on your front lawn, and one in the corridor by the door."

"Anyone we know?" Stefan checked.

"Nope," She ran her hands through her hair.

"Can you guys leave her alone?" Tyler glared at all the wrong spots, but MJ appreciated the effort.

              'Lockwoods always were rude.'

"Oh my god," Luke was trying not to smile, "You're like, full-on crazy."

"I'm stressed and tired and currently getting haunted."

"It's cute that you pretend the voices in your head are people."

Before anyone could stop her, MJ had lunged, a fist slamming into his head, tackled to the floor.

Then, she froze.

She was on top of him, and his eyes were wide and panicked.

Liv had spoken from experience – which meant Luke probably did too...

And she'd let her emotions get the better of her.

Slowly, MJ stood up, not letting herself look at her friends, waving a hand to heal the concussion she'd probably given him.

"Ghosts are everywhere, and I haven't even got a rune on."

The one she'd put on in New Orleans had been wiped off.

"It's just spirits on The Other Side."

After the way her body had reacted to being in limbo with Hayley, MJ didn't want to risk wearing it.

"Meaning I need to try and save Bonnie on top of all this – so, no, Damon, you are not killing my brother," MJ could stay on task, not on Luke, "You are not adding on to the pile of things I need to be worried about."

"Fine," He huffed, "Markos then. If we can find him."

"Ty?"

"I have no idea where he is," Her best friend admitted, "They were moving camp when I got out."

"Well, good news," Damon taunted, "Our friend Luke here is an alleged genius at locator spells."

"Travellers are always moving. They're impossible to track," Luke shook his head, "They'll find Stefan and Elena long before we can find them."

"Care to be shown up twice today?" MJ pulled her pocketknife out.

Luke shifted away from her as he stood up, "And you just have a knife on you,"

"All good witches should have a knife on them," MJ defended, "And I'm a young woman. What type of girl doesn't carry around some kind of weapon, even if it's just keys."

He didn't respond.

She cut her hand and dripped it onto the map he was using, "My brothers with them?"

Tyler nodded.

"I can find him."

              'I've never seen magic before.'

              'You just cut your hand open like it was nothing.'

"Um, not to add to that," Tyler was trying not to distract her, "But how do we keep me, as me?"

"We will stay here," MJ decided, "Witch-boy takes Stefan and Elena somewhere safe and puts a cloaking spell on them."

"I don't have to do anything you tell me to."

"Aren't you Gemini Crew supposed to be, like," MJ raised an eyebrow, "Experts in cloaking spells?"

"Well, yes."

"Then just do the damn spell," MJ placed her hand at the base of the map, "While I deal with the Travellers,"

"Aren't you supposed to be keeping me safe?" Stefan reminded him.

"Yes..."

"Oh joy, so you're just difficult because of me," MJ smiled falsely at him, "Grow up."

"Fine," He took a step closer to Stefan, "Get the doppelgängers in one place, and I'll cloak them."

"Perfect," Damon nodded, then looked to Ty and MJ, "Avoid the entire Czech language, figure out how to find Markos."

"On it."

Damon paused and bit his lip.

"Yes, Damon?"

"Don't die."

She looked up at him.

"If these Traveller's need to kill you to break their little curse, well," He sighed, "Don't die."

She smiled a little, "I'll try."

              'Wait, so are you two friends or not?'

"Because if you die, we all die," He quickly added, "That's the only reason."

"Totally," She nodded dramatically, "What other reason could there be? We hate each other."

"We hate each other," He agreed, "Keep the hybrid with you. He can help."

Tyler watching MJ starting to get the blood moving, "How am I supposed to do that?"

              'Hybrid? Half what and what?'

              'I thought Lockwoods were werewolves?'

MJ was ready to scream the ghosts out of existence, but she also didn't know if that was sending them into the hell oblivion tornado Vicki had been taken by. They were annoying, but that didn't mean they deserved to turn into nothingness.

"You have a Traveller inside of you," Damon reminded him, "And I have probably misplaced faith that you'll figure it out."

He then pointed to his brother.

"Meanwhile, you and I and our ex-girlfriend are gonna go on a secret trip."

"Sounds great."

"Take Caroline to make it slightly less awkward," MJ tapped the map twice to keep the spell going while she talked, "I can find Ryos, but he might not be with Markos. And I also want to know the answers to every question I want to ask him so he can't lie."

Tyler checked he'd interpreted that sentence correctly, "You wanna summon the Traveller?"

"We'll kick him from your head once it's over."

"He destroyed the last Traveller Knife."

"That doesn't matter," MJ assured him, "I can kick him with or without a knife."

"You can?" Luke asked.

"I can."

Moment to be smug.

"When Matt first got hijacked, I went through as many Traveller-Floare body jumping spells I could find to help him. Ty, I promise you, you'll have your body back by the end of the day, but I need to interrogate him to find out what I'm walking into."

"MJ," Stefan said carefully, "Do you think your brother wants to kill you?"

"I..." She didn't want to answer, "No. He's my brother, and he loves me."

"And I won't let him," Tyler added.

"He doesn't want to kill me!" MJ put her hands up, "If he's part of this, he's being manipulated."

Everyone shared a careful look.

              'Can we ignore the family drama and get back to talking about ways out of this collapse?'

"It doesn't matter!" MJ focused on the living, "I'll handle it – and the rest of you need to get cloaked, like now."

"That's true."

"And Damon," MJ stared at the map again, "I'll find Enzo, okay, focus on making sure they don't get taken."

"Thank you."

MJ's phone started ringing.

She stared at the Caller ID that read her brother's name.

She denied.

"I need answers before I talk to him," She turned to Ty, "So let's get you tied up in the basement so he can't use the hybrid benefits."

              'There's a dirty joke in there.'

              'If you're not going to help us, why am I even watching all this?'

~***~

"See, I would really appreciate it if you moved," MJ asked the ghost in the 1880s outfit standing in front of the basement cell, "I feel super uncomfortable walking through you,"

'But you need to help me.'

"I'm going to try to."

'Now!'

MJ gestured to the chained up hybrid, "I'm a little busy!"

'He's living. He has time.'

"Dealing with him will help me deal with you," She gave up being reasonable and just walked forward.

"You're really just living in a ghost world right now?" Tyler had clipped himself into the chains.

"Pretty much."

"Which means you went spirit walking," He realised, "MJ! You went ghost hunting while The Other Side is ripping people to hell?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"How'd you accidentally spirit walk!"

"It's complicated," She tightened the chains, "I only found out about all of this because guess which Original Father shower up to haunt your favourite person."

Tyler tilted his head, "Mikael?"

"Yep," She nodded, "Hayley got really hurt, floating in limbo levels of almost death, and he showed up to try and kill her while she was there. I projected myself in to help her."

"And now you're dealing with your usual after image situation?"

"Exactly," She wasn't trying to tune in, which meant it was just that, "It's really annoying."

A different ghost was standing in the corner, 'Potentially being ripped to hell, is also really annoying.'

"It's like I have some kind of beacon on me," MJ complained, "Usually, I have to have some kind of connection to the spirit. Like, in New York, when it first started, they lived in the same house, or went to the same school, or were witches – now it's just like anyone can find me."

              'You lived in New York?'

              'Still waiting for you to be useful.'

'Is this a dungeon!' A new one appeared, in older clothing, 'Why is that man tied up!"

"That's freaky," Tyler eyed up the corners.

              'What's freaky is being half-werewolf, half-vampire.'

              'He goes against nature, and you should let him die.'

"Tell me about it."

"See anyone friendly?"

"Not yet."

"I'm here!" Matt called, coming down the stairs with more chains.

"Come join the fun."

              'The fact you guys own this many chains makes me question what you do in your free time.'

That comment at least made her laugh a little rather than drain her.

Every new spirit that appeared was sucking the energy out of her, like, MJ was unintentionally giving them half a foothold, and she didn't know how to make it stop. If she was, it meant her magic was gonna be low by the time she went to bed, and she did not need that working against her.

Matt looked at her nervously, "I'm sorry."

"About?"

"Not passing on the message."

"You should've, but whatever. Past is past."

"What message?" Tyler asked.

"Kol gave me a message about how we couldn't trust her brother."

Tyler pulled a face, "And it took two months to listen to him!"

"We wanted to look into it ourselves first," Matt justified.

'That's really stupid,' Another new spirit said, all of them drifting out every few minutes, 'Then again, you don't seem much better.'

'You seem just shy of useless.'

'Where can we find a real witch to help us?'

"Stay out it," MJ waved her arms out at them, then went back to her friends, "What happened to make you think you didn't need to tell me?"

"Bonnie and Kol had some argument about what to do, and she talked to Ryos. What he said made sense."

MJ frowned, "Everything he's said to me makes sense too."

"Then maybe he's not lying," Tyler suggested, "Every time Markos said 'our' Ryos said 'you guys.'"

MJ didn't like that either.

She didn't like not understanding things, and she had no idea what Ryos was doing anymore.

"He's your brother," Matt added the next load of chains, "He's not gonna kill you."

              'If you were my sister, I'd kill you for being a traitor to our kind.'

MJ looked down, "I know he wouldn't."

2001

MJ was eight, hiding behind her rainbow sunshades. Hiding was an interesting word. Technically, she was just walking down the street with her big brother. Still, with the shades on, it meant no one could see her eyes, so when she noticed some of the other kids from school, she could just pretend she hadn't. She could just enjoy being with her brother after what had felt like months without really spending time with him.

"Okay," Ryos held out his hand for her to grab, "What's up?"

"Nothing's up."

He chuckled lightly, "That's a lie."

"Tisn't."

"Most definitely is," He squeezed her hand, "You haven't stepped on a single crack the entire walk, which means you're paying more attention to the street than to me telling you about adaptation. Which is never a good sign."

She didn't respond.

"You only zone out on education when something's wrong..."

"If I step on the cracks, the poltergeist will come to eat me."

He grinned, let go of her hand.

"Ryos – "

He jumped dramatically onto the closest crack, arms out, looking around for the spirit to appear.

It didn't.

She pulled a stupid face at him, "You're no fun."

"I'm just showing you that you're safe."

"Dare you to do it on Frenchman Street."

"No chance," Ryos put his hands in his pockets, "I don't wanna get in Bart's bad books."

"See! You're just as scared of him as I am!"

"I'm not scared of him," Ryos stuck his chin up, "Bart's a city ghost. Don't wanna irritate someone we're gonna have to see forever."

"He's tiny and loud."

"Like you."

"Mean."

"Bart likes you anyway," He pointed out, "Why would he eat you?"

"I'm not talking about him."

Ryos slowed down a little, "Is there one with us right now?"

"Not right now," MJ got a little quieter.

Ryos stopped and looked around.

"You won't be able to see them unless I summon them."

"I know," Ryos kept incredibly still, "But I'm not looking for them. I'm just making sure they know I'm here."

MJ looked at him pretending to glare at shadows.

She started to smile.

"Anyway," He nudged into her, "Ice cream?"

"Mum said to come straight home today?"

"Mum's also having afternoon coffee with that Jo lady," Ryos rolled his eyes, "She won't notice if we're late."

Because her meetings with Jo always ran long.

"Meaning, ice cream."

MJ kicked at the ground.

"Don't you want ice cream?"

She cracked, "Of course I want ice cream."

"That's the spirit," He groaned, "Ignore the wording."

Ryos pushed up onto the balls of his feet, sending one last look around.

"Race you to Angela's?"

"You're on!" MJ took off before he had a chance to get a lead.

2012

"When we planned our romantic day together," Bonnie's voice came from the top of the stairs, "I wasn't picturing you, me, and two other guys."

"Trust me, neither was I."

"How about two other guys and MJ?" MJ smiled at Bonnie.

Bonnie ran forward to hug her, "I'm both really happy you're here and tempted to send you away."

'Cute,' The ghost commented.

"Please leave me alone," MJ waved at it.

              'Is that the anchor?'

              'If I attacked her, would I come back to life?'

'That's the anchor?'

"That is the anchor," MJ didn't even bother looking at them anymore, "And no, attacking her won't bring you back to life. It might just make you all disappear sooner."

"You're not wearing a rune," Bonnie commented on MJ's empty skin.

"The collapse mixed with accidentally passing into limbo means I'm getting hounded too."

'Can you two please figure out a way to fix this?'

"We're trying," Bonnie defended.

              'Try harder'

'But – '

"Leave!" MJ snapped, pushing a hand out and banishing the spirit away to possible unending torment, "I swear to god – "

A beat.

They were stressed and trapped in a collapsing afterlife.

They were entitled to ask questions, and she'd banished them.

"You okay?" Jeremy said carefully, going to the side of the cell and starting to mix things into a water bottle.

"No," MJ answered honestly, "I feel like I'm losing it."

"Well," Bonnie rubbed her arm, "We're all right here with you."

"If it's like this for me, I can't even imagine what it's like for you."

"To be honest, most spirits are leaving me alone since they know I can't do magic."

MJ rubbed her face and drunk from the pot of coffee on the floor.

She'd brought it down when Tyler had been chaining himself up.

"You ready, Ty?"

He nodded.

"One part wolfsbane, one part vervain," Jeremy handed the water bottle to Matt, "All together, the dumbest idea that either of you has ever had."

"Don't look at me," Matt defended, "This is all Ty."

"And unnecessary," MJ lifted a hand, "I can hold a hybrid down."

"Not doubting you," Ty said with a careful tone, "But I don't want to leave anything to chance."

"You sure?"

"MJ," Ty said sternly, "I almost tore your throat out last year. Weaken me."

              'I'm sure you deserved it.'

MJ ignored it, "Let's do this."

Matt started to force the drink down his throat, Tyler squirming before forcing himself to swallow.

"Not to be the cliché girl here, but I can't watch this," Bonnie pulled a face, "I'm gonna go upstairs."

She excused herself.

"Are we sure about this?" Matt checked too, "Once he pops out, we have no idea when you'll come back."

"Some freak is inside my body," Ty snarled, "He took over my life. God only knows what he's got planned for me, so unless you've got any better ideas, this is what we're doing."

"And he will be back by the end of the day," MJ was sure of it, "I promise. I can control the spirit-possession stuff."

              'Do your promises mean anything, though?'

              'I'm kinda looking forward to watching you fail.'

"Weren't you body jumping on aeroplanes?" Jeremy remembered.

"Ish," MJ didn't want to waste time explaining her summer training, "I've got this. Let's start."

He took one more sip, then Matt stood in front of him.

"Vyjit."

His eyes turned black the same way Matt's and Katherine's had, waking up the passenger.

The guy instantly freaked, looking around the cell, yanking on the chains, and trying to place their faces to work out how much trouble he was in.

"Who are you?" He tried to use the hybrid strength, "Where am I?"

"Where's Markos?" Matt asked.

MJ's tracking spell was taking its sweet time, and Bonnie would probably yell down if it showed a location.

"Go to hell."

"You're Julian," MJ took over slightly, "Right?"

Tyler had told them the name someone had called him.

No response.

"I'm MJ Floare-Ruiz," She took a step closer to him, scanning, "You know my brother."

It had been a long time since she'd included the 'Floare' in her name.

              'You have a pretentious name.'

His mouth opened a little, "The siphoner."

"Precisely."

She was really getting sick of hearing the word siphoner, considering she'd come straight from Genevieve being iffy, into Luke, and now the Traveller.

"That enough of a reason for you to answer my questions?"

"You got issues. Talk to Ryos."

"Would love to," MJ nodded, "Except there's a chance he's gonna kill me, so I'm gonna talk to you first."

"And I'm not gonna tell you anything."

"Boys?" MJ snapped her fingers.

              'Talk big game, then get the men to do it for you.'

They shoved the water bottle in his mouth, Jeremy holding his head still as he choked on the burning drink while Matt controlled how much was going in and how much was just burning his face.

When his fist was hitting the floor repeatedly, they pulled back.

Matt smiled at Julian's panicked expression, "There's plenty more where that came from."

"Now talk," MJ said simply.

He was still hesitating.

              'You're not good at this.'

              'Are you good at anything?'

"Look," MJ's eye twitched, "You either start talking, or I start pulling out your eyes."

She kept her voice steady.

"And your little hybrid body will grow them right back," She pulled the pocketknife out again, "Which is great for me because it means my best friend won't even notice. But it will be incredibly painful for you."

              'Are you sure that other witch isn't right about you?'

"He's not gonna kill you," Julian broke when she took another step forward, "He's doing this to keep you alive."

"Interesting," MJ straightened up, "So his spell isn't a lie?"

"Why would he lie to you?"

MJ had been asking that question her entire life.

              'You seem like you're just a waste of space witch.'

"Veridat," She cast a truth spell, "Repeat that."

"Why would he lie to you?" Julian said carefully.

"No," MJ waved a finger at him, "The other bit."

"He's trying to keep you alive."

MJ relaxed, "Thank god."

              'You just seem like your crazy.'

Julian noticed something, "That necklace."

MJ had forgotten to take it off.

She retreated back a little, "What about it?"

"Just, Ryos never let us see his."

"I stole Ryos's."

Julian paused, "You did?"

"Like ten months ago."

"I don't think you did."

"Why?"

He kept his mouth shut.

"Answer the question," Jeremy crossed his arms.

"Why do you even care?" Julian looked at him, "This is witch business. Her people and mine."

"Markos wants to kill my sister. I want to stop him."

Julian started to laugh, "You're a fool."

Matt picked up a stake from the Salvatore stash.

"Markos destroyed your only weapon against passengers like me, and there's no way in hell you'd ever kill your best friend."

"You're right," Matt drove it into his gut, "I don't plan on killing you, but I do plan on getting answers."

He twisted.

"Tell us what they're planning and tell us where Markos is."

"Move the stake up," MJ suggested.

Matt did, pushing it into his ribs.

"Higher."

He started to scream out.

              'Crazy and weak.'

              'And you probably do deserve to die if today is anything to go off.'

"Higher."

Matt shot her a look, nearing the heart.

She nodded.

He took a breath in then pushed up.

"Stop!" Julian groaned, "I can't tell you where Markos is because I don't know."

Matt pulled the wood out.

"But I can tell you where my body is."

"Why do we care?" Jeremy asked.

"Because Markos doesn't like problems, and your boy escaping camp means he's Markos's problem."

"So?"

"So, knowing Markos, he's gonna want to get rid of Tyler for good," He panted, healing up, "By making this my body permanently."

"I repeat, why do we care?" MJ's face was hard, "No matter what Markos does, I can get you out of that body."

"Not if I'm locked in. Not if there's no knife."

"You are severely underestimating me."

Silence.

              'Correctly estimating you.'

"I can kick you out and leave you floating in nothingness if Markos decides to destroy your body," She lay the situation out for him, "You want us to get your body back? You want to not die? Tell me about Ryos and the Floare stones."

Julian tried to read her, but he couldn't, "Fine."

MJ smiled.

"He has three of them."

MJ's mouth opened, "What?"

"You were at the camp. You've seen how we do magic through him?"

"Yeah..."

"Travellers work with what they've got when it comes to magic, and what he's got is Floare backing to power us up."

"You all channel him," MJ's voice was quiet as she thought aloud, "And he channels the stones."

"Not exactly."

"Not exactly?"

"He uses the three stones as a way to open the door into his family line. He can't just share Floare power with Travellers. The protection charms on the stones don't let that happen."

"So how is he giving you guys power?" Jeremy asked.

"He's using his family line," Julian repeated.

              'Why would he want to use you? You seem worthless?'

              'Not worthless, just sadistic and overrated.'

"CAN YOU ALL SHUT UP!"

Silence.

She did not miss the way ghosts had bullied her during the early teen years, and she was not about to let them start it up again.

She'd done nothing to them – and they were so goddamn entitled to think not dedicating all her time to helping them gave them an excuse to harass her.

"You want my help? Get the hell out of here and give me a minute!"

Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder as she took three deep breathes.

"Keep talking," She instructed Julian.

"We all drank a potion connected to his blood which amplifies his magic through us, giving us access to the Aonso stone."

"But I have the Aonso stone," MJ furrowed her eyebrows.

"Exactly. Think about that."

MJ's head went up, realising what he meant, "...He isn't trying to kill me."

The guys shared a confused look.

"MJ?"

"The sibling power connection thing we have."

"I don't know much about it," Julian confirmed, "But your magic is tied together. As long as you have that necklace, you control the inflow and outflow."

Good to know.

"He wants you alive," Julian reaffirmed, "The stones he has just give him an even bigger power boost – "

"Is that the only reason?"

Silence.

"Does Ryos only care about me because of our magic?"

"Your brother is the most secretive person I've ever met."

She actually laughed.

"Travellers have been looking for Ana Ruiz's kids ever since she vanished."

"You assumed she left because she was pregnant?"

"I was a kid back then," He shrugged, "My parents said that had to be the reason."

MJ felt a cold inside of her.

"A group found him in England – got him drunk."

"Because he didn't know they were Travellers?"

A quick nod, "He fought his way out, and the power?"

The nod stopped, Julian not liking something.

"He had so much power – what were we meant to do other than treat him like the chosen one?"

The god-complex.

"He found out we were looking for siphoners. Made it clear that if we kept that up, he would kill us."

She stretched her shoulders back, "He offered you an alternate way?"

"And we treated him like a king for it."

Silence.

"MJ?" Jeremy inched closer to her, "That's a good thing, right?"

"Not if he was only doing it to save the family line," MJ had been carrying the Aonso necklace since she was eleven, "He could be keeping me alive to save that."

Julian didn't have a response to that.

"Why has he been stone collecting then? If he had the Essí one?"

"Made it easier to stay connected to you because of some underlying link between all the stones."

Something else dawned on MJ.

"Last year, he was trying to get the stone off me because I broke it," She was pulling on the ring, knuckles against the stone, "I because the host to the magic."

"Yeah," Julian admitted, "That was really annoying for us. Silas was out, and we could've used the power."

Matt pulled a face, "You guys didn't have magic last year then?"

"No," He specified, "Breaking the stone just made the magic go funny, but it was still there."

"The magic flowed through me," MJ nodded, "To stop it, I would've had to shatter it and break the line..."

She wished she hadn't said that out loud because Julian started to fight against the chains.

"That's how we beat them then?" Jeremy assumed, "Cut the line – whatever that means?"

"No," MJ shook her head, "Cutting the line isn't an option."

Julian stilled

"MJ," Jeremy motioned to the clear panic.

"It's not an option."

"Why not?"

"Because that would take magic from every Aonso Floare, not just Ryos."

Ana had been a protected species when she'd hosted seven out of eight stones – because if she'd died or cut it off, she would've basically ended Floare Magic.

"They'd still have normal Traveller Magic to use against us – and! And, I don't even know how I'd do that!"

'The end of our species'

"Like, when I broke it, it was by accident."

'Was it though?'

'Didn't you enjoy the rush?'

"And it was killing me!"

"Exactly," Julian nodded, "I don't care about the stone, but that much magic? There's no telling what it would do!"

MJ paused at that.

"MJ?" Matt noticed.

"See if he knows where Markos is," She instructed him, "Jer, you and Bonnie are gonna go get Julian's body...I – I need to talk to Bonnie."

She headed out of the cell, tapping the doorway firmly to make a magic rush around it, a spell to stop any supernatural creature from passing through, then went up the stairs.

"MJ?" Jeremy was right behind her.

              'Vermin.'

"Bonnie!" She called, "I think I might have a way to save you from the collapse."

"Liv already has," Jeremy said from behind her.

Bonnie was in the library and froze as she saw MJ's confused face.

MJ knew there wasn't any way Liv would've found a solution. Normal magic wouldn't be able to get Bonnie home safely, but MJ's might.

"Okay," She nodded, holding Bonnie's eye connect so Jeremy wouldn't notice the doubt, "It's always good to have two options. When do our Plan A's ever work."

Bonnie stood up from the sofa, "You think you have an option?"

"I can take Qetsiyah's Grimoire and create a version of the anchoring spell and use my necklace to tie you to the Floare Plane."

"But I'm not a Floare."

"If I'm smart about it, that doesn't matter – I have all the notes about how to put and tie magic to the stone from last summer. I just add you into the mix, and if I do that, you'll be stabilised, and The Other Side will be stable too."

So all the ghosts would be saved.

And, if she did merge the two, MJ could use her Floare resurrection spells to bring Kol, Ric, and anyone else she wanted back to life. Her nearly there spell for just Kol could be forgotten, and she could be happy and with the people she loved again.

Or maybe she was just a little unstable, not caring about the ramifications anymore.

"And you genuinely think that would work? You wouldn't need to die to cast the spell?"

"I'd just be using my afterlife to fix the main afterlife. Think of it like site maintenance."

"Which means no more ghosts vanish either!"

MJ nodded.

"And how does that play into the whole Traveller's using your necklace for their spell thing?" Jeremy asked.

"No clue," She would figure it out, "If the magic is tied to Bonnie, not me, Ryos can't access it, i.e. The Traveller's can't access it. He'd have to mess with the stones he has, which I will get off him."

She's stolen one. She could steal three more.

"No more collapse, no more ghosts messing with stuff. Plus, Bonnie, you're not technically alive, so hosting the magic won't destroy you the way it would destroy me. It'll just give you an even stronger foothold."

Her friend's face was beaming, water pricking her eyes that her hands came up to cover.

Pure joy and relief, bringing MJ a moment to breathe.

That was when two hands slammed into MJ's head, and she screamed, sinking to the floor.

Bonnie rushed forward, "MJ!"

The hands were cold and delicate, holding tight as magic overloaded her, knocking her out.

1996

MJ was four the first time she remembered a nightmare. She'd had them before, evenings where she'd wake up with no idea why everything in her room felt like it was watching her. Evenings where she'd leave her room to go to her parents. But, it took until MJ was four for her to actually remember one.

She didn't know if the voices were the cause of all her previous bad dreams or if being four was just when it all started, but she didn't really care either way. She just knew someone was whispering in her ear, and she knew she didn't like it.

The voice wasn't nice.

If it was nice, she wouldn't have screamed while waking up.

It was pressed into her head, sharp and chanting.

'Tenebris Anima Vestra Contundito Mortem Et Conteret Spiritu – '

She screamed, the lights in her room exploding.

Ryos rushed in, "Mira!"

He saw her curled up on her bed, shaking and holding her head in her hands. There was glass everywhere, beginner's sheet music, the Lego sets she'd been building during the day smashed to pieces too.

As he tried to make his way over to her as safely as he could, he winced, tiny remains of glass in his foot.

He was only eight, but he knew if he reacted openly, she might start to cry properly, which could make something else explode.

"Hey, Pasarica," He used their mother's term as softly as he could, pulling a piece from her hair, then plucking the shard that had hit her cheek away too, "What happened?"

'Tenebris Anima Vestra Contundito Morte – '

"They won't stop chanting," She buried her face into his side, the window slamming open and shut as her heart rate climbed, "I – they – "

"Who won't?"

"I don't know."

"What are they saying?"

"Some spell."

"A spell?" Ryos pushed properly onto the bed to sit next to her, "Mira...look at me?"

The window slamming was getting more violent, wood looking ready to break.

"Mira," He grabbed her face, and it stopped, "I'm right here with you. It was just a bad dream."

"It's not just a bad dream," She sobbed, "They're in my head, and they just won't stop."

'Et Conteret Spiritum Frange Vitam Nolite Corde – '

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Ryos didn't know how their parents hadn't woken up yet, but he also knew he couldn't wait for them too.

"What are you they saying?"

She froze, "You believe me?"

"Why wouldn't I believe you?"

"...Because voices are what crazy people hear..."

"Well, I mean," He shifted, "You're not wrong."

She looked down.

"But you can be crazy and right," He quickly corrected, "I didn't mean – "

A beat.

"You're not crazy, Mira. You're a witch."

'Ut Sub Terra Esse, Ad Tenebras Usque In Sempiternum.'

She felt a round of fists beating into her back, making her cough and choke, hitting so hard it felt like the room was spinning.

"Mira," He was shaking as her eyes fell shut, magic buzzing in the air, ready to explode, "Wake up!"

"I'm awake," She sniffled out.

"What are they saying?" Ryos pulled her into her chest, rubbing the back to push the invisible voice away, "Talk me through it."

"I can't say the words. Not properly."

"Any that stand out?"

"Mortem...and Spiritum," MJ didn't know what any of them meant, "And Tenebras."

Ryos swallowed nervously.

He did.

"Okay, um, well," He didn't know how to help, "You want me to stay in here with you?"

Her eyes were big, "Yes, please."

"Then I will," Ryos got settled next to her, "No nasty voices are gonna do anything to you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I won't let them."

2012

When MJ woke up, she was on the sofa in the library, and Matt was watching over her.

She groaned, rubbing her eyes as the lights momentarily blinded her, and an odd feeling shook up her spine. MJ stretched up to click it, then her elbows, before swinging her legs round to try and stand up, failing and flopping back onto the cushions.

Matt grabbed her hand to steady her, "Woah, Woah, wow."

"What happened?"

"You screamed and collapsed."

"I did?" MJ rubbed her neck, her hand getting a static shock, "I remember – I remember hands on me – "

              'Purify or die.'

She groaned again.

"Esther."

Matt gave her a look, "Esther Mikaelson?"

"She's been haunting me and doing well, exactly what happened," MJ eased herself up, "Grabbing my head, blasting my mind."

"Bonnie didn't see anything."

"She's on the Ancestral Plane," MJ glanced around the room, "Maybe that cloaks her."

"And why attack you?"

"Beyond the fact she a heinous bitch who doesn't like me?" MJ cracked her back again, "I don't know."

There was another sharp feeling.

"That's not right."

She rubbed up and down her back, cold on her fingertips.

So cold her joints were clicking on their own.

"Um, don't freak out," MJ started lifting her shirt up.

'Finally, something interesting.'

MJ momentarily stopped, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

"Can you not be a perv?"

No response.

There was literally nowhere she could go that the ghosts wouldn't follow, and she was trying to not banish all of them to hell for just wanting help.

And she wanted to know what had happened to her, so she took it off completely.

Matt had turned around in a panic.

"No, you need to look."

"Okay?"

She turned from him, "Tell me what you see?"

"Oh my god."

"Something's there?"

"It's like, black holes..." He walked forward to touch it, making sure it wasn't anything more than an imprint, "Like someone's stabbed you in the back with a pencil a bunch of times."

"Take a picture?"

He did, then handed her the phone as she pulled her shirt back on.

              'You were prettier with it off.'

MJ was definitely ready to start crying until they all just left her alone, but she couldn't let herself be that dramatic.

She needed to look at the picture.

Puncture wounds up her spine, thin black lines crawling out from them and up to her shoulder blades.

She had no clue what it was, "What the hell?"

Looking at her hand, the hex mark from Monique what still there, and still a faded brown.

"Por Dios, that's the second time I've been spelled in like two days."

"A ghost spelled you?"

"Pretty much."

"MJ," Matt came a little closer, "Last time Esther spelled you, you went insane."

"I know."

              'So there's a reason you're a nutjob!'

MJ thought about her situation, "I'm going to do something a little stupid, just roll with it."

"MJ – "

"I promise you, I'll be fine."

He looked at her, unconvinced.

"I need to talk to her."

"No," He said firmly, "You go on a spirit walk, and you could get stuck."

"I'm willing to risk it."

"No chance."

"Matt – "

"No!" He put his foot down, "I already screwed up by not telling you what was going on months ago. I'm not gonna let you put yourself at risk!"

MJ looked down.

She turned in a small circle.

There was a ghost outside the window, one asleep on the other sofa, but other than that, no Esther insight.

No Kol either.

The voices in her head no longer seemed like they needed to be in the room to reach her, which wasn't a fun development.

              'Why does he care about your life? You're trash to our species'

MJ needed to see Kol.

She needed to tell him that she was getting him out of The Other Side. Or, well, she didn't know if she could make that declaration, but she was definitely making sure he didn't get sucked into oblivion.

Shit.

She just needed to know he hadn't been sucked to oblivion already.

"Bonnie and Jeremy went to get the body?" She checked.

"Yeah."

"Okay," She walked towards the basement, "I have a few more questions for Julian."

Matt stopped her, "Um, tiny question first?"

"Go for it."

"Earlier...when you were telling me to go into the heart..."

MJ smiled a little, "Hybrids aren't vulnerable to stakes in the heart, Matty-blue."

Matt didn't seem to follow.

"Julian panicked, which made me realise he hadn't learnt that perk yet."

"Tyler can't be staked?"

"Hybrids can only be killed by the head coming out, or the heart coming out...and siphoning, I guess?"

              'Because you are a leech on the world.'

"Connor shot Tyler in the heart last year when he was at Lockwood Mansion."

Matt smiled, "You knew Tyler would be fine."

"Obviously!" She put her hands up, "I'm not gonna do anything that would actually hurt him."

She knew more about Julian's body than he did.

"Then let's get back to it," Matt followed her down.

The cellar had been used so many times over the years, and there were still scorch marks on the floor from when Damon had tried to burn Elijah's body up and failed. There were also several broken chains and stakes in different corners.

MJ looked at Julian carefully, "When did you meet my brother?"

"Personally, like two years ago."

"How long's he been with The Travellers?"

"Since he was around eighteen."

That hurt her more than she wanted it to.

"You guys just let an eighteen-year-old take over?"

"He had a Floare Stone. We wanted him with us. We didn't care how."

A comment that made it seem like Ryos was being manipulated.

They just wanted the stones.

'He's wanted. You're not.'

"Then he found two others, and it was like, yeah, this is our dude, we'll do whatever he wants us to do because he might actually break our curse."

"And he's just been supporting you guys? Finding you places to live?"

"I guess you could phrase it that way."

"And all the science stuff? What's that about?"

"Kid's a doctor. He likes doing experiments, and his stuff gives us a leg up against the other species."

"He made the viruses Wes used, right?"

"Obviously."

Suddenly, Julian's eyes went black, returning to Tyler.

              'He'll realise you aren't worth it one day too.'

"You okay?" Tyler spoke in a softer tone.

"Just," MJ didn't know how to feel, "Overwhelmed and confused."

-          Esther
-          A spell to save Bonnie.
-          The Travellers.
-          A different way to break the curse.

MJ was all for breaking it.

Multi-generational curses made people bitter and more direct, and if the curse was gone, The Travellers would leave her family alone. Ana had written it so the curse could only be broken by their line. Yes, it kept every other Floare somewhat safe, but it unintentionally put all of them at risk.

No more. 

"I need...I need to write a spell," MJ waved her hand.

She had summoned her bag, filled with Qetsiyah's Grimoire, the Bennett one, and her notebook with all her information on the necklace from the summer. She had to assume Sam had grabbed them for her while Klaus had gotten her across the border.

While she sat in the slightly damp corner and worked, Matt caught Tyler up on what they'd been told by Julian and why Bonnie and Jeremy weren't there.

Eventually, they went quiet to just watch her.

              'You think you're good at this, don't you?'

              'You're not.'

              'You're a child playing with a master's work.'

              'Why would she gift this to the scum of the earth.'

MJ kept flinching.

When she'd gone off the deep end because of dark magic, she'd felt hands on her body, and part of her brain had associated it with the run-in in New York. Siphoning after so long without doing it, the first taste of darkness forever the strongest. Forever tied to two vampires pinning her down.

She was starting to dismiss that theory.

'You should be honoured anyone wants to put a hand on you.'

'Why my potential last hours being wasted on watching filth?'

MJ could feel it again. A hand going up her neck, fingers moving in canon to tap over her ear every few moments until her senses were muddled.

She could feel all of the death in the Salvatore House.

MJ might not be seeing every spirit, but she could still feel them, which was worse.

Spirits she could send away, cold washes were just weights on her shoulder reminding her how much the town had been through.

She could feel the werewolves, specifically, the ones Elijah had killed, while taunting them with his fake moonstone.

              "Because you actually care about werewolves?"

              "No, you just care about your legacy and what they can do for you."

She jumped when the door at the top of the stairs swung open.

MJ had two Grimoire pages pinned to the cell wall, her necklace next to it, and a diagram she'd made breaking down the creation of the stone underneath that; notes on how she'd fixed it. The Grimoire's themselves, and the notebook, were open on the floor as she stood in front of them.

"We lost Julian's body," Jeremy announced.

Tyler spoke slowly, "What do you mean you lost Julian's body?"

"You-he was right," Bonnie paced, "The Travellers wanted it."

"But we'll find it," Jeremy sounded optimistic, "We just need to figure out where they went."

"Hold on. What do they need his body for?"

"To make him permanent," MJ summed up.

"What?"

"It's fine, Ty."

"Doesn't that mean – " He was cut off by a migraine, "Guys – Ah – "

"Ty," Matt reached for his friend.

MJ watched carefully, "They're doing it now."

"I'm seeing things," Tyler started to shake.

"Tyler," Jeremy supported him too, "Talk to us."

"I don't know what the hell's happening," He could barely speak, "It's like I'm seeing his life. God!"

"MJ," Bonnie looked at her, "Stop it?"

"Tyler..." She really thought about it, "Do you trust me?"

              "He shouldn't."

"Why?"

"I have one final question for Julian," MJ admitted, "I can stop it now, and his spirit will be lost forever, or I can ask him, then banish him."

"You're not serious, are you?" Jeremy asked her.

"I am."

              "You'll fail him."

Tyler was hit with another memory, "I – I – Make it – "

MJ hated seeing him in pain, and her instinct was to stop it, but she couldn't.

"I trust you," He stammered out.

MJ closed her eyes to let it happen, "Thank you."

              "He's lost his life because you will fail him."

"I won't," She whispered.

She refused to let anything happen to Tyler.

The crying out stopped as he fell to the floor, dazed and eyes momentarily black.

"Tyler?" Jeremy asked, kneeling down.

Julian looked back at them, "I take it you didn't find my body."

"I'm really sorry," MJ crept slowly towards him.

"It's your friend that's lost."

MJ shook his head, "This is going to hurt."

"You said you needed to ask him a question," Matt watched how she moved.

"Not exactly."

She placed her hands on his temples and raided his mind.

MJ didn't know what she needed to know, but she knew Julian wasn't some Traveller Newbie.

He could have an unknown amount of information stored away, magic for her to learn. She needed all of it if she was going to work out just what The Travellers were doing with Ryos and how she could stop them.

              "You're selfish and thoughtless and would probably like to watch him die for you."

She didn't quite know what she was doing, but MJ had read enough mind-based spells in the year since she'd met Esther that she was willing to try things.

MJ was a human, she didn't have an eidetic memory, but she could create a link to tap into, and that's what she was using. She was pressing her charm bracelet into the side of his head, and once it felt like she'd copied as much consciousness as she could, she let go, Julian panting, shaking out of her hands desperately.

"What the hell," He looked at her, terrified.

              'That's how they all should look at you.'

              'See the monster that you are.'

"Like I said, Julian, I'm really sorry," She put her left hand forward, palm up and pointed at him, "Progonvane Totožnost Svoboda Vyhoštění."

"No, wait – "

"Progonvane Totožnost Svoboda Vyhoštění."

His eyes burned completely white, and his screams echoed around the small space.

"Progonvane Totožnost Svoboda Vyhoštění."

A rush of wind flooded the cellar, whipping around them, the smell of burning coming from his body, telling them that the Travellers had set fire to the real Julian.

"Progonvane Totožnost Svoboda Vyhoštění," She twisted her wrist around then snapped her fingers in his face, "Progonvane Totožnost Svoboda Vyhoštění."

Everything went silent.

"Tyler?" MJ reached out to his face.

He reached out for her too, "Never doubted you for a second."

She hugged him.

"He's gone for good?"

She quickly placed two fingers on his temples, "Only you in there."

"Thank god."

"Well," Ryos was behind them in the doorway, making them all jump, "That was impressive."

He took in their angry expression, hands going up to indicate that he was coming in peace.

"Don't worry, I'm not actually here."

MJ slowly stood back up to face him.

"You weren't answering your phone so, you know," He gestured around, hand going through the wall to show he was a projection, "Thought I'd use your old trick MiMi."

She didn't know how to look at him.

"Markos needs to see you."

Bonnie grabbed MJ's wrist, "No chance in hell."

"A body I just disfigured went up in red flames, Julian screaming in it."

"Thanks for that," A man was walking towards Bonnie, but talking to MJ, "Fun way to die."

MJ had technically killed a person who was just doing his job.

"I'm..." She knew an apology didn't mean anything.

"Even if you said it, you wouldn't mean it."

"You're a siphoner. You don't care."

"I could've helped," He said simply, "If I'd been locked in his body, I would've had to help you since the spell would kill me too."

"But then Tyler would be gone," MJ put her hands on her neck, "I'm..."

              "Siphoners don't care."

"Stop lying to yourself about who you really are."

"I'm sorry."

He grabbed onto Bonnie's shoulder, making her scream as he vanished.

"Hm," Ryos was looking at Bonnie, "I'll assume that was him."

"It was," Bonnie rubbed the spot, Jeremy coming closer to her.

"Anyway, Markos needs to see you," Ryos repeated, unphased by the situation.

Tyler started to free himself from the chains, "She's not walking into your little Traveller hole."

"It's cute you all care about her," Ryos mused.

The way he'd spoken to them before, older, therefore wiser, had come off as him being helpful.

Now it just felt demeaning and dismissive.

Like he was the adult left in charge of them playing in a sandbox.

"But none of you actually have a say in it."

Ty stared him down, "She's not going."

"She just screwed up," Ryos snarled, "Big time. And if you want her to get out of this alive, you will let her come to me, and you will send her alone."

"No."

"Ty – "

"He slit a girls throat the other day, MJ," He revealed, "No."

MJ really didn't like that declaration.

"Sloan volunteered!" Ryos justified, "I needed to test the spell."

"You said you weren't part of that part," MJ reminded him.

              "You're a gullible child."

              "It's pathetic really."

"You asked me if I was anything to do with it," Ryos defended, "I said I was working on breaking the curse."

MJ felt like an idiot.

She spent so much of her time with Elijah, she knew wording was everything.

"You've just proven yourself to be a threat, MJ. You need to come to Markos and prove that you're not – that you'll listen to me. Or you will end up dead."

"No – "

"I will drag you kicking and screaming if I have to."

"She's not going alone," Ty said adamantly.

"You'll be the death of him."

"You get in the way," Ryos squared up against him, "And I will remove you from the situation completely."

"Is that a threat?" Matt asked.

"Yes," He didn't miss a beat, "It is."

MJ felt her breathing pick up.

She didn't understand what was happening.

"You have two days to show your face before I force you to myself."

Over the phone, Ryos had always felt like a figure of authority. Having him be one in person just made her feel small.

"Text me, and I'll send an address, and you come alone."

The comment was mainly aimed at Tyler.

"Anyone with you will be killed on sight," Ryos had no real reason to protect them, "And assuming you mind checked Julian, you know I have enough power to do that nowadays."

With that lovely message, he was gone.

1998

Ryos was ten, and MJ loved the fact he would happily practise magic when their mum wasn't around. She was six, and they were running around in the park, listening to some live music group performing on a bandstand in the back area of the place, and their mum was watching the show, and Ryos was showing off.

He'd skidded to a stop after she'd tagged him and taken off towards the tree they'd labelled as 'home' and stretched his arms out, causing MJ to stop too.

She looked around as a light breeze picked up, knocking some autumn leaves across the grass.

She started to giggle and jump, trying to work out what she needed to do to make the wind move too. She'd learnt a few basic spells, like how to light a candle or tidy her bookshelf with levitation, but she didn't know how to tap into nature yet. Not the way her brother could.

"Got you," His hand was on her shoulder.

"That's not fair!" She complained, "You cheated!"

"It's not cheating," He argued, "You got distracted."

"I'm always getting distracted."

Voices in her head, whatever topics she was studying at school, whatever she'd managed to learn about wherever their dad was flying too.

"I know," He smiled gleefully, taking off towards the tree.

She was right on his tail, the faster runner, and so close to catching him up, until he cheated again, waving a hand to make flowers appear behind him.

MJ almost fell over, trying to stop before she crushed them.

She didn't wanna hurt the flowers.

They were thick with petals, the wrong colours, making her laugh and try to pick them.

Then she noticed how pale Ryos looked.

"Ry," She jumped over the fading flower bed to get to him.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sick?"

"Just tired."

MJ blinked, looking at how quickly the flowers were wilting, blood starting to drip from her brother's nose.

"You're bleeding..."

His hand went up, and he forced a smile, "Magic is...eh."

"Should I get mum?"

"No!" He quickly coughed to lower his voice, "She'll tell me off for doing it in public."

MJ nodded, "Sit down?"

"Yeah," He sunk to the floor and leant back, tugging at the grass, "Want me to show you how to do that?"

She didn't like the fact the flowers were dying, and he still had a little bit of blood on his face, but he was offering to teach her how to make things grow.

"If you want to," She said carefully.

"Of course I want to."

2012

They'd moved up into the Salvatore Library to really think about whether MJ was just going to walk into a Traveller den on her own or not. She'd tracked her brother, but he'd set up multiple beacons that kept moving around Mystic Falls, throwing her senses.

She tried to clear her head by tracking Enzo.

MJ phoned Damon, but he didn't pick up.

"This doesn't exactly feel like voicemail news, but I know why Luke couldn't find Enzo...call me back."

She then looked at Bonnie, "Enzo's dead?"

Matt, Jeremy, and Tyler all looked as shocked as she felt, even if they barely knew the guy.

"Yeah..."

"Do I wanna know how?"

"Something to do with Stefan."

Which explained Stefan's earlier weirdness.

"Everyone in this room will die because of their connection to you."

"Is that what you're seriously doing right now?" Jeremy asked her.

"What am I meant to do?" She huffed back, "Make a pros and cons list about whether or not I should hand myself over to The Travellers?"

"You're not," Tyler's stance was clear.

"I have to."

"Not on your own."

"Ryos wasn't kidding," MJ sat down on the coffee table, "He will kill you, and I'm not letting that happen."

From what they'd gathered, MJ didn't need to die for the spell to work.

"I don't know what's going on."

But if he cared about her, he shouldn't be okay with hurting her friends.

"With him, with everything, and that's why I need to go."

"Or you could make the world a better place by removing yourself from it."

"I need to save my brother from whatever brainwashing this Markos guy's done."

"If you go alone," Matt shook his head, "What if he kills you?"

"He won't."

"Why are you so sure."

"Because – " She had to have faith, "I refuse to believe he would."

"...And," Jeremy forced himself to say it, "What if you're wrong?"

"Then – then," MJ wanted to cry, "I won't be."

Tyler shook his head, "You're not doing this alone."

"I am, but we'll be clever about it."

A plan.

MJ could do plans.

MJ liked plans – she was phenomenal at making them.

"You'll all still be in town, and, and," She tried to think cohesively, "And he said I had two days? I'll go through everything I got from Julian's mind, I'll write the spell to save Bonnie and stop The Other Side from collapsing, and then I'll go."

"No!"

MJ jumped at Enzo's voice.

"Hey," Her face softened, "How you doing over there?"

Enzo paused at the fact she could see him, "You can see me too?"

"Witch benefits," She summed up.

"Who's here?" Tyler asked.

"Enzo."

"What do you want, Enzo?" Bonnie asked.

"Damon just made a promise to bring me back. If you stabilise The Other Side, I'll be stuck here."

That was true.

"I'm sorry, Enzo," Bonnie shook her head.

"No," He looked to MJ, "If you can do all of that, you can bring me back?"

"You can't just ask her to do that."

"Damon promised."

"Sorry to break this to you, Enzo," MJ tapped the table, "Your best friend is notorious for breaking promises, especially once Elena's involved, and didn't you try to kill her before you died?"

"So what? I just rot over here?"

MJ sighed, "I'll see what I can do."

"You don't have to," Bonnie reminded her.

"I know, but he's just going to keep bothering us until we do it."

"That's true."

"And if we don't have to kill anyone to get him, and Ric, and...well, several other people back. If we can do that without destroying everything, shouldn't we at least try?"

Matt didn't look convinced, "That's kinda a massive goal."

"And I have two days to figure it out."

MJ rubbed her back, feeling the dark magic against her palm as she made contact with Esther's parting gift again.

Another thing she had to figure out.

"I've got this."

"You could be safer."

MJ froze.

"All these people could die because of you."

The stupid voice she thought she'd left behind in her Junior Year of High School.

A voice that always had a few different ones underscoring it to keep her from hearing it as one person.

It wasn't as muffled anymore.

It was Esther.

"You know how to stop this."

Since Junior Year, it had always been Esther.

a/n: Momentary author ramblings because it's fun to share my thoughts lol

The Flashbacks This Chapter <3

They're not meant to be a sympathy thing, though it may come across like that.

I wrote them as bonus details as to why both siblings act the way they do.

After eleven years of only having her family on her side, mainly her dad and her brother, it's v hard for MJ to see Ryos as a villain.

The last Sisterhood Of Travelling Spells flashback (end of chapter) shows how anti-lying he used to be, and how Ana guilted him about that.

Nowadays, Ryos doesn't trust anyone enough to tell the truth
something that will be expanded on more eventually (the tattoo origin story)
And he certainly doesn't trust people around MJ, hence why he seems to hate most of her friends.

He saw that family were the only people who were kind to her on instinct. If a spirit was kind, it had a second agenda, and the living weren't. There's the association that anyone reaching out to her has ulterior motives.

In most flashbacks, you do see Ryos being good if you remove the hindsight glasses. He says the wrong thing, which alludes to the present day, but he's a child, it's not intentional. He tries to alter his reactions (and personality) to make her life easier. Make her feel safe.

How it became intentional?

In one of the flashbacks, someone commented on how Ana knew about MJ's nightmares but wasn't doing anything - that is something to note.
She'd gone in MJ's head while she'd been sleeping, never told MJ about doing that despite it being invasive, and didn't do anything to help afterwards.

To Ana, witch nightmare's are normal and you deal with them.

She only joined the covens to get the ancestors to back off her kids, because Ryos called her out. He phrased it awfully, but if he hadn't, Ana wouldn't have felt the need to prove him wrong.

Ana had spent her life doing everything for her people. Once she was free of that, she wasn't about to throw herself back in. Not for witch dreams. Not when she associated magic with everything awful in her life.

But Ryos hit a nerve with his wording. Matching how she'd felt about her Floare elders.

I know Ana and MJ have similarities, but Ryos is his mother's son.

He lies, he hates magic, he will do anything for his family, even if it means leaving them to suffer sometimes. Something he learnt from Ana's disconnect when it came to MJ's issues.

He also learnt to manipulate from how she used to talk to him. From how the only way to get her to really hear him was to say the most offensive/uneducated thing he could.

Ryos is the worst. No denying it - but I legit love writing him lmao :)

- Bea xx