a/n: I cannot stress how excited I am to post the end of this story and the first bit of the next one. 'Final' update hopefully soon-ish
Comment and vote pls xx
- Bea

Warning: Kai means violence

MJ didn't want to talk to Ric.

She didn't want to fight, but she wasn't going to change her stance, and he shouldn't have been expected to change his given the history.

But MJ couldn't say no either, "...Yeah."

They'd managed a talk when Ric had driven her to the airport, but he'd also made it clear he hadn't changed any opinions. They'd both made peace with it.

Then neither had reached out since.

Ric went first, "Your dad's back in your life."

She was able to sit up in shock, thanks to the blood.

"Tyler," He admitted, "He mentioned it."

MJ swallowed, "He is."

"...How is that?"

Silence.

Though she seemed to have made progress, some moments reminded MJ why she detested the noise. Damage that no amount of time out of the prison world could fix.

"It's my dad," MJ felt herself welling up, "...He was my favourite person for most of my life..."

His eyes were glistening, too, "And you have him back."

She blinked, letting a few tears roll down her cheek.

MJ had known she'd have to tell Ric, but a large part of her hadn't wanted to.

"You don't need me anymore."

The stupid line she'd used.

The unique pain of being replaced the way she'd been so many times.

After everything they'd been through – the things he'd been there for her through.

Her heart broke, "He's not you."

Ric was crying too.

"He's not the really annoying history teacher who won't just let me be a train wreck."

"You were not a train wreck," He shook his head, "You were the most talented kid I'd ever met."

He put up a hand.

"Scratch that – person. You were incredible, MJ," He put his hands over his face, "And I hate seeing you get hurt, and I hate seeing you lose faith in yourself or treat yourself like you don't deserve good love."

"I have good love."

Nothing.

Just puffy eyes staring at each other.

"And I know you're protective because you care," She brushed over her cheeks to dry them a little, "But the hypocrisy is ridiculous."

"I'm not – "

"You actively push Elena towards Damon," She didn't let him deny it, "I mean, we all do nowadays."

At this point, it wasn't that MJ cared if they were together; she wanted it all over.

"That list you said earlier; serial killer, older and targeted me in High School?" She was determined to defend her happiness, "Damon is also a serial killer. Biologically twenty-five, which is older than Kol. Slept with Care in our Junior Year. Tried to compel Elena to kiss him that same week."

She rubbed her neck, feeling a lot more stable in her body.

"But I'm the one who's being manipulated?"

"Damon wants to take the cure. He's changed."

"Kol was human the past year. We literally talked about having kids."

Ric had been filled in on the first statement, the second making him go still.

"But that's not enough, is it?"

Ric had liked Kaleb.

"When it's Kol, the cure isn't enough," MJ really didn't want to fight, "Don't throw the redemption card around."

Maybe MJ had missed something, but Damon's behaviour hadn't changed; people just kept saying it had.

"If Elena's changed Damon, then why, when they were literally dating, only a year ago, did Katherine's manipulation pay off so well? Why'd he still kill Whitmore's when he got dumped?"

Ric let her talk.

"That's not change; that's bargaining. Training. You date me, I behave, you don't, I kill instead of processing my emotions like a fucking grown-up."

And MJ was sick of acting like that was change.

"Why'd he take Kai to Bonnie after she said that would be too traumatic for her?"

Because he could get something from it.

It had been for Stefan, but it had also been for him.

They'd gotten Stefan's humanity back on before without their mum, so they could've done it again, no forcing Bonnie to hurt needed.

And the list wasn't even meant to be an attack on Damon.

It was MJ needing to spell it out for Ric.

"Kol only went after Jeremy and Elena because they were trying to kill him and raise hell – which he was right about. Name one time Damon's 'episodes' have ever been right like that?"

Damon had actively said Silas wasn't a problem.

"And even when he was dead, Kol was talking to Bonnie and Matt, trying to reach Jeremy of all people, to get them to pass on messages to keep me safe – which they didn't do."

They weren't intentionally trying to hurt her, but it was true.

"And when he was brought back as a witch, he spent his time helping me fix the ascendant for Bonnie, someone who ignored him trying to help from The Other Side."

And he hadn't even told MJ about it at first.

"He's the reason the ascendant was back in one piece, but Damon's the one who's changed?" MJ was done with double standards, "Kol left Elena and Jeremy alone at Graduation because Jeremy was my friend, despite the fact they literally murdered him, but Damon's worthy of forgiveness?"

Ric relaxed back in the seat.

"I do think Damon should take the cure. Living a human life with the girl he's in love with will be good for him," She'd given Elena a pep talk for a reason, "But if you can encourage that, you've got to stop making me feel like shit for falling in love myself."

He took a long and shaking breath in, "Okay."

She really looked at his face.

MJ couldn't tell what kind of 'okay' he was saying.

"I'll stop."

"Thank you," Her head stopped hurting, "I'm never gonna demand you forgive Klaus, or approve, or anything like that – "

"And I don't," He said tiredly, "But I don't want to fight with you."

"Neither."

"And if you do...love...Kol, I can learn to live with it."

"That's all I ask."

"I love you, MJ."

Silence.

"And I'm sorry for making you feel like this."

"I love you too."

He rubbed his face, "He almost died in your arms?"

"...Yeah."

"God," He laughed, "We are such a pair."

"Hey," She stopped that line of thinking, "You're getting married today."

"How many dead girlfriends in the process?"

"How many times did you die in the process?"

They both grinned at each other.

"And," MJ rolled her shoulders, body even closer to healthy, "About my dad..."

"It's fine," He jumped to conclusions, "I get it."

She blinked, "Get what?"

"You," His voice was quieter, "You have your dad back."

"And like I said, he isn't you."

"You constantly remind me that I'm not actually your parent."

"And I'm really sorry for that," She looked down, "I can be a brat sometimes."

"I think you've been through enough, especially when it comes to family, that you're allowed to be a brat sometimes."

She moved to hug him tightly, "You're way too forgiving with me."

"It's because you're worth it," He said simply, "You've forgiven me for a lot too."

They'd had a pretty rollercoaster bend filled run.

"You've forgiven me for worse."

"Fun fact," She pulled back from the hug, "I have two half-siblings!"

He perked up, "Two?"

"Alice and Justin. Four and just turned one, respectively."

"You been looking after them?"

"I met the wife a few times, then met them with her and dad, then just her. Now they leave me in charge whenever they're both busy."

"Free child care," He nodded, "Smart of them."

"Hey!"

"I'll be doing the same," He patted her shoulder.

"I don't live here anymore."

"And we're moving," Ric revealed, "Somewhere quiet and non-supernatural, to get the twins away from the coven."

MJ faltered, "I didn't click that earlier..."

He looked solemn too.

"They're gonna have to merge."

"They won't," He said firmly, "We're not repeating the cycle."

"Good for you," She nodded, "Whatever witch protection you need, I'll do. Cloaking, house spells - "

"Thank you."

"Least I can do."

They stayed chatting for a few more minutes before MJ was ready to get back on her feet, completely sober, waving her hand to clean them both up, prepared for the ceremony. Then she left him to prep himself, returning to Cami and Tyler.

They were waiting outside the barn, people slowly taking seats. Tyler looked furious as he glared at all the witches. He was flicking the bracelets on his wrist while they waited for her.

The old moonstone charm she'd made for him, the symbol of their friendship, no Floare stones, them tucked away somewhere safe given the Gemini about. Even if they weren't Travellers/shouldn't have had an interest in them, MJ didn't want them out and about. The coven knew her mother. They knew the stones.

No chance could they see them.

"Stand down," She did a slight spin to show that she was perfectly fine.

"It was magic, MJ."

She sighed.

"You're foot was yanked back by a telekinetic force. I've seen you do it – you used to do it to me when we'd mock fight. I know what it looks like - "

"And I'm fine now," She linked an arm with him, then Cami, "Sorry I've been so MIA today."

"No worries," She was smiling, "I'm here to be helpful."

"Have I told you that you rock recently?"

"You could say it more," Cami winked.

"And you're totally on your way to a best friend stamp of approval," Tyler added.

He would probably take it back if he knew about Cami's feelings for Klaus, but that was for the girls to know and him to stay blissfully ignorant about.

"Plus, Ric and I made up."

Cami squeezed her arm in friendly support.

As they headed inside, Caroline came rushing toward them.

"Have you seen Damon and-or Elena?"

"That's another one on my bingo card," Tyler cheered, "Elena gets kidnapped."

MJ laughed.

Caroline's eyes went wide, "You don't think – "

"By who, Care?" MJ was still laughing, "We're in an interlude month."

She took a breath in.

"Damon kidnapped her," Ty justified crossing it off, "Probably for sex."

"Yeah, okay," Caroline nodded, "That checks."

"Go handle Jo," MJ pointed to the section the bride was supposedly waiting in, "I'll tell them to hurry if I see them."

"...Can you send them one of those burning rune arm reminders?"

"Care-bear – "

"Okay, I'll chill" She put her hands in the air, "Though Bonnie and Matt are still missing."

MJ frowned.

"Call them?"

"On it," Tyler decided, "You go get seated; I'll message Matt."

"Thank you," Caroline and MJ said at the same time.

Camille and MJ then walked into the beautifully decorated tent.

Behind the alter, attached to the farm, was a wall of glass looking into a filled greenhouse, the setting sun flittering in. It just made her peaceful. The fairy light curtains at the back were brighter than they'd been during set-up, and though the enclosed nature made it a little too warmly coloured for MJ, a little too trapped, it was perfect for the glow that was Ric and Jo.

MJ didn't really want to sit with the witches, but there wasn't much choice since most guests were. Their stares unnaturally beady.

"We tune them out," Cami tugged her towards a chair.

Two spare ones on the left side, next to the aisle, so MJ could see everything perfectly once it started.

"It's almost impressive how much they hate you," Cami glowered back at anyone who lingered, "They don't even know you."

"Welcome to the world of witches."

"The covens are warming up."

"True," MJ tried to focus on that, "They have to 'cos of the elder status. They can't get rid of me until I give the title to someone else."

Part of why she was holding off on premotions.

The music started in the background, Ric walking down the aisle to take his position at the altar.

MJ tapped her arm nervously.

She didn't like the fact she hadn't seen Bonnie all day.

It wasn't right.

No one went that MIA in their lives unless they were in trouble, and MJ was so sick of Bonnie and her getting dumped in trouble, fighting their way out on their own. If she was in town, she wouldn't let Bonnie feel alone.

MJ closed her eyes a muttered a spell while pulling a pen out of the pocket of her dress.

The words finished, enchanting the object, and writing on the back of her hand.

'Where are you? Getting worried. Let me know you're okay?' – MJ xx

Cami noticed the scribble and gave her hand a quick squeeze.

The music got louder, Elena and Damon appearing in the opening, linking arms as they both fought off smiles, Elena's hair a little messed up, a bouquet in her hands.

After two steps, they halted and switched places, realising they were on the wrong side.

"The couple you guys keep panicking about?" Cami assumed, voice quiet enough to not be heard.

"Yup," MJ smiled, "That face is the face of two of Elijah's girlfriends."

"...He has a type," Cami bit her lip, "Hayley's features match."

MJ put a hand over her mouth.

She knew Elena as a doppelgänger, finding dating more than one doppelganger weird enough on its own; she hadn't even thought about how Hayley looked like Elena before.

Kol had made comments about it, though...and, as usual, he was right.

"I mean, can't judge him too much," She pulled herself together, "Kol's type is witch."

And Klaus's seems to be blondes, slash, lighter features. Genevieve's hair had been red, pale skin, and blue eyes. Caroline and Cami looked alike other than face shape and slightly different shading. And who knew about the women in his past.

As they reached the altar, Damon stood behind Alaric, exchanging a few words that ended with both smiling, Elena beaming.

MJ took that to mean that they'd agreed to be human together.

Caroline and Stefan were sitting in the front row, Tyler and Liv on one side too, extended bridesmaids and groomsman, still no Bonnie or Matt.

Finally, the music changed, and Jo was in the gap, her father on her arm. Everyone turned to watch her walk down the aisle, her father kissing her on the cheek before stepping aside to let her take Ric's hand.

His face was adorable.

Wholly taken away, which was fair enough considering Jo did look perfect in her dress.

"Welcome, family and friends," The Reverend started, "On this magical evening, to the wedding of Alaric Saltzman and Josette Laughlin."

MJ really did love weddings.

She loved how happy they made her feel and how happy Ric and Jo looked.

Her heart hurt because Kol wasn't with her, but even when it hurt, she could still be happy for them.

Plus, Kol was alive. Why should she be sad?

"Josette and Alaric have prepared their own vows."

Jo handed her bouquet to Elena so they could use both hands to hold each other.

Ric cleared his throat nervously, "Neither one of us should be here right now."

One way of putting it.

"We've spent our life dodging fate and beating the odds," He sent a quick and grateful look MJ's way, "But, because we did, I got to meet you. The most beautiful, hilarious, and intimidatingly brilliant woman I have ever known."

MJ loved the combination of adjectives.

"You inspire me."

Jo called him out and helped him grow.

"You've shown me that happiness is something I can have in my life."

Part of why Ric was so sensitive to MJ's happiness was because of how little faith he'd had in his own. He wanted her far from danger and pain. The best for her. And no one would ever be what she deserved in his eyes - especially given the history.

"And so..."

Tyler handed him the ring.

"I promise to be with you. And love you, and dodge fate with you," He slipped the ring onto her finger, "For the rest of our lives."

Jo began to cry, and MJ curled her lips in, tearing up too, having been in and out of crying mode all day.

The good type of crying.

Tears light and welcome.

A nice contrast to the stinging she'd resented in the Prison World.

"Josette?" The Reverend prompted.

"Oh god," She tried to sober up, "That's a tough act to follow."

Everyone chuckled.

"Here it goes...Alaric Saltzman, you are – "

She was cut off by a loud and coughing gasp, hunching forward in pain

"Jo?" Ric gripped her tightly, "Jo?"

She was swaying - choking,

"Oh my god. Jo?"

MJ was on her feet.

"Jo!"

Blood was pouring through the front of her dress like she'd been stabbed from behind.

"JO!" MJ rushed up, only to be flung back by an invisible force.

"Oh god," Ric caught Jo as she fell into him, "No!"

Lowering her to the ground, MJ was back on her feet and looking around, panicked enough before the showman revealed himself.

Kai.

Seeing him made her heart stop.

MJ swore it stopped for a second - every nightmare flashing through her mind in one terrifyingly suffocating second until her eyesight was consumed by yellow, panic overwhelming breath.

Kai was behind the couple, the hunting dagger Jo had stored her magic covered in blood.

"No, no, no," Ric didn't know where to look, "No!"

"I was gonna wait 'til the 'death do us part' bit," He announced to the crowd, "But it seemed a little on the nose."

MJ pinched her arm tight enough to wake up, pain triggering her body to breathe.

"Am I right?"

His hand came up, and everyone screamed, brains shaking with a gut-wrenching force that had them grabbing at their temples and falling to the floor. The moment anyone tried to fight it off, he just upped the strength, the power of the Gemini Coven his to wield, still technically its rightful leader.

"Miss me?"

No one could respond.

"No?" He frowned mockingly, "Oh well."

With a clap, the walls exploded, sending everyone flying about the place, the farmhouse's windows, glass wall next to the altar shattering in a centrally targeted hurricane of glass.

"NO!" MJ ripped through it, beating the blast into the floor with a flick of her wrist, trying to make sure it didn't last long enough to do too much damage, a dry silence over the injured and terrified guests.

They were terrified?

She was trembling.

"Here we go again," Kai lifted the bloody knife towards her, "Mira Jung Floare-Ruiz."

They were standing opposite each other, him at the altar, Ric crying over Jo's blood-covered body behind him, Damon kneeling next to a knocked out Elena a few metres to the left, and everyone in chaos. Practically everyone's chairs were destroyed, the people in the front of the auditorium were already dead, glass driving through their necks, ribs, or limbs, blood easy to see on the white suit shirts and light coloured dresses.

Anyone who wasn't hanging on to their last breaths on the ground was running, but MJ didn't dare look away.

She wanted to find Cami.

To yell for her to run.

But if she looked, Kai might realise that MJ had someone she cared about there; then Cami would be dead.

MJ lifted her hands, projecting magic out, only for her blood to feel like ants under her skin.

"It's simple," He taunted, "All I ask!"

He was playing a game with her.

"No Floare healing."

MJ took a step forward.

A second burst rippled out with a snap, causing anyone who'd risen to their feet to start choking, eyes rolling back in their heads.

MJ was caught in the ring, but her body just started to shake, magic keeping it together.

She couldn't let him stop her.

She couldn't let Ric loose Jo when she'd managed to save Matt from what should've been a life-ending car accident.

"Damon," She needed to get his attention, "Blood."

It wouldn't work on Elena, but it might work on Jo.

He didn't hear her, panting and huddled, debris crashing down, cutting him off from the rest of the situation.

"Rude," Kai waved a hand, a force pulling a screaming MJ down the aisle, her summoning roots through the floor to grip her ankles and keep herself back, splinters worth it, "I'm talking to you."

"Oh god," Ric sobbed, "Someone help."

"Ventus," MJ's hands whipped round from her self-enforced trapped spot in the middle, a circle of air slamming towards him, only for Kai to vanish into thin air, "Shit."

With him invisible, more people tried to run; Jo's dad, Joshua Parker, rose to his feet, furious as he looked around the room. His eyes momentarily fixed on MJ, watching the roots free her feet, every inch of skin radiating fear, then turning to try and find his son as MJ ran down the aisle.

"Kai!"

"Stefan?" Damon's voice was calling out, "STEFAN?"

MJ started to look around, too, seeing Stefan and Caroline pushing up from the floor.

Tyler.

She couldn't see him.

One problem at a time.

Despite how much not being able to find her best friend made her hands shake even more.

"Jo."

MJ finally made it to the altar, kneeling next to Jo's body, Ric refusing to let go of it. Blood covered his chest completely, his own injury from the glass, meaning there was a large and leaking cut across his nose and forehead.

One thing at a time.

MJ started to chant.

She needed Jo to be okay.

She couldn't let Kai hurt other people the way he hurt her in retaliation for her letting him get locked in a Prison World again.

"Zhìsan Yùar Todsuǒ," MJ pushed as much magic out as she could, "Asyǒu Las Cica Bāhén Trices."

A bright light erupted from her palms.

"Zhìsan Yùar Todsuǒ," MJ's skin turned into an intricate pattern of yellow and blue, "Asyǒu Las Cica Bāhén Trices."

She didn't care what the universe had to say. She would pull on every ounce of Floare magic in her body, vomiting whatever came if it meant Jo got to live.

"Zhìsan Yùar Todsuǒ."

Blood stuck to her hands the longer she held them against the mortal injury.

It boiled.

Her skin was breaking - wrinkling and cracking, all to make her stop.

To remind her not to abuse her power.

To return it - but it was Jo.

"Asyǒu Las Cica Bāhén Trices."

Jo's eyes were moving aimlessly, "It's okay."

Her hand moved to grab Ric's.

"Zhìsan Yùar Todsuǒ," MJ switched spells mid-sentence, needing more of the power to kick in, every pore screaming for her to stop, "Convoca Sufletul și Arată Adevărul."

It had been years since she'd used her improvised power-boosting spell.

"Arunca Voalul, Putere De La Mine Schimbate."

MJ had the real spells now, at least three Floare specific Grimoires. She didn't need pure power funnelled into her body as she willed her skill sets to work overtime. To burn her alive.

She was supposed to be trained.

She was supposed to be able to help people.

"Convoca Sufletul și Arată Adevărul," MJ's voice started to reverb, "Arunca Voalul, Putere De La Mine Schimbate."

Her eyes were shaking in her sockets, hands catching fire.

"Convoca Sufletul și Arată Adevărul – "

The words caught and muffled.

"Arunca Voalul, Putere De La Mine Schimbate."

A butterfly burst out of her left ear, wings the only thing she could feel, breaking her body and beating her eardrums.

"Convoca Sufletul și Arată Adevărul."

Insects were crawling from both sides, bright white and yellow flames around her fingers, sewing Jo's body back together.

"Arunca Voalul, Putere De La Mine Schimbate."

Blood poured from the corners of MJ's mouth and nose, specs of blue muck, and black lice like shapes in the shining red.

"Zhìsan Yùar Todsuǒ – "

Her head was yanked back, an agonising scream ripped from her throat, muscles contorting as all the power she'd accessed was hijacked from her body in one searing rush.

Kai, behind her.

"You never learn," He hiked MJ to her feet, siphoning from her scalp, nails digging into the skin, "I said no healing. And you really need to stop disappointing me."

MJ writhed as he pulled her to the edge of the altar.

"One day, I might stop forgiving you for it."

"I'm sorry."

His voice broke her.

"You don't need to – "

"Shh, shh, shh," Kai pressed his cheek behind her ear, holding her tight against him, "It'll be over soon."

A phrase that should've been nice, striking fear into her burnt body.

"An you'll thank me."

"Sanguinem Filio," Chanting started in front of them, Joshua Parker shouting, an ascendant in his hand, "Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

"NO!" She screeched, "I can't do it again."

She couldn't be trapped in a prison world again.

She couldn't survive being trapped with Kai again.

"Sanguinem Filio," He stepped forward, "Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

"Let me guess," Kai sighed, still siphoning her, "Prison World?"

"Sanguinem Filio," The Gemini Coven members still in the room, rallied behind their old leader, "Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

"You can't kill me," He reminded them, "Or else you all die too, right."

"No," Ric was looking at him, at MJ, shirt and suit stained in blood, cradling Jo as the light left her eyes, "No – stop."

Kai turned to look at him, letting MJ's body drop to the floor, weak, "Hey."

His voice was soft as he walked back to the middle of the wedding.

"I'm sorry about your twinsies," He'd known from the moment he'd clicked Jo was pregnant, "I just don't feel like competing for leadership with future Gemini twins."

"Sanguinem Filio."

Kai kneeled next to him.

"Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

"See," He mused, "When your family decides that you're nothing but an irredeemable piece of trash, well..."

MJ felt her heart breaking.

"Sanguinem Filio."

Even when she was on the floor, barely able to move, she found herself desperately not wanting to hate him.

She could've been him.

"Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

In a way, part of MJ still thought she was like him, and she hated herself for it.

She hated him for turning it into an 'equals-meant-to-be' fantasy.

Trying to make her arms work, to push up, the world spinning.

"I guess the best thing to do is prove them right, right?"

"Sanguinem Filio," The coven was still chanting, "Sanguinem Effurgarex Perpetuum."

Kai stood back up, a glass shard in his hand, turning to face his father.

"This ought to do it."

He stabbed himself in the neck, gagging while collapsing to the floor, bleeding to death.

"No!" Joshua and MJ both cried out, her lunging up, only to fall right back on her face, too weak to stand that quickly.

"MJ," Cami took the witch killing himself as a moment to show herself.

She'd crawled through the rows of destruction to get closer to the front, staying out of sight, but right by MJ's side now she could risk it, pulling her to her feet.

"What do you need?"

"I need to stop him from dying."

Cami's eyes went wide, "What?"

"I need – " MJ staggered over to the body.

Jo was there too.

She needed to save them both, but she didn't have the time to save them both. If she treated Jo first – Jo would die anyway. Her life was tied to Kai's.

MJ's eyes met Ric.

"I'm so sorry."

He closed his eyes in understanding, head sinking into Jo's body as the sobs overcame him.

MJ was by Kai's side, pressing her hand over the wound to stop the bleeding, but it was already too late. He'd hit a major artery, and despite the large amounts of magic in his system – she could sense an overwhelmingly large amount; none of it was hardwired to heal him.

Her internal magic was incredibly low thanks to him, and sure, it would regenerate, but it needed time to do that, and MJ didn't have time.

"I'm so sorry, Ric."

Kai was already dead.

MJ looked up, the Gemini Coven members in the room already feeling it, blood spewing out of their mouths, stumbling to the floor.

They were linked to him.

"I need to de-link them," She realised, "Liv – Jo – Katherine!"

A preservation spell.

To keep her alive until then – then a de-linking.

MJ practically fell down next to the body, dazed, hand back on Jo.

The knife had gone straight through her body, and though MJ had been fixing it, forcing the magic to work wasn't enough. Jo was dead. She'd lost too much blood and died in Ric's arms. It was too late for a preservation spell too.

MJ was crying without even processing it, wanting to wrap her arms around Ric and try and make it better.

Find Jo's spirit and force it back to life.

But Jo wasn't a New Orleans witch.

She was a member of the Gemini Coven. She would've gone to The Other Side to be revived, but The Other Side didn't exist anymore, meaning that old loophole was officially gone. Resurrection was completely different now, and even if part of MJ had to believe it was still possible, the magic used to do it would have to be brand new. Or some forgotten thing swallowed by history due to its taboo nature.

Magic MJ didn't know.

Floare spells officially useless, since Jo wasn't a Floare herself.

"MJ," Cami pulled her back as she curled up on the floor, guilt, injuries, and a million other things making her body implode, "MJ!"

She pulled her back to her feet.

"People are dying."

A wake-up call.

"And you think you can fix it?"

MJ was staring at her friend, eyes empty, body locked in a state of panic, senses fried thanks to her ruined ears.

"You are stronger than this," Cami gripped her shoulders, "And it'll hurt more if you don't try."

Try.

MJ had been trying for months, and Kai had come right back, crashing everything down.

But Kai was dead.

She steadied.

Kai was lying dead on the floor, which meant if she could unlink the Gemini Coven – if she could save the people still standing, none of them had to worry about him ever again. She'd finally be free. And the Gemini Coven would owe her forever. And they might let her see their room of spells, or their history, or something that might give her a way to bring Jo back.

"I need..."

Inhala, exhala.

"I need you to find Tyler," MJ waved her hand, summoning her travel kit from the dressing room, "He doesn't have a healing factor right now and – "

She couldn't lose him.

"On it," Cami assured her, running off the second MJ let go of her hands.

MJ let herself take one dazed look around the room.

- Elena and Damon were gone.

- Stefan and Caroline were on the floor, unconscious.

- Ric was still bawling.

And she needed to save the people she could.

The pen came out of her dress as she started to mark up the floor around Kai.

Unlinking spells.

If anyone could do it, it was her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joshua's voice was behind her, trying to stay upright, "Leave that body alone."

"I'm saving your life."

"You can't bring him back."

"You'd rather die?" She wasn't resurrecting Kai, "Stopping – "

"Bringing him back won't save us," He pulled himself closer.

MJ was making a magic circle on the floor, begging her brain to get back to its usual speed, Kai's siphoning harsher than ever.

"I'm severing his link."

"It's already locked."

"Try me," She had to try, "Unlinking lives is nothing."

"The spell has existed for two thousand years," Josh said ruefully, "Even if you figure out a spell – "

He groaned in agony, falling to his knee a metre from them.

"You won't be strong enough to cast it."

MJ felt her lips smirk as she finished the circles and began to mark up Kai's body, "I will."

He was staring at her.

"I'm the witch who broke the Hybrid Curse," She needed to have faith in herself, "That was a thousand years old."

A sigil on Kai's chest, over his heart.

"I siphoned Qetsiyah."

A shakey list she needed to repeat.

The opposite of what Ryos had made her recite.

Things she was guilty about but able to face.

"I helped kill Silas. They were two-thousand."

Kai's hands went over his heart, markings on the back of them.

"I destroyed The Other Side with a scream."

Her brother may have started it, but MJ had been the one to burn it to nothing.

"Also two-thousand-years old."

Straightening up, eyes pinned on Kai's corpse.

He was dead.

He couldn't hurt her anymore.

MJ needed to focus on that, not the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

Not the way his voice echoed through her bones, locking every joint and muscle until only her eyes could move – and even they were just there to dry and cry and let him see her fear.

She looked at Ric by the altar, "Ric..."

He was shaking his head, pressed in Jo's skin.

"Step aside."

"I'm not leaving her."

"Staying with her is not the right thing to do right now."

"I won't leave her."

"Holding the body doesn't mean she's not dead."

He stilled at the weight of her words.

The feeling they both knew MJ had burned into her.

Ana's open chest something she would never forget.

"Please get out of here," She didn't trust the feeling in the air, "Please be anywhere but here."

Reluctantly, he picked up Jo's body and carried her away, the smell of blood on them both.

Not what she'd wanted, but she got it.

Jo deserved a funeral. To be buried by the person who loved her the most, not left for the police to hideaway.

"Why would you help us?" Joshua's voice was barely a whisper, "Your kind are – "

"Siphoners aren't the problem," MJ was so sick of blaming herself, "Your behaviour creates people who do this."

The Gemini Coven locked children in boxes for being born different.

"Now shut up and be grateful that I might save your life."

She pulled out crushed Kandahar Root from her kit.

Kol had killed one of the ones she'd brought back from the Middle East. It wasn't the binding ingredient Davina thought it was, but it was part of the balance. MJ wasn't sure a straight spell would be enough to un-link something as big as the Gemini Coven, but a complex recipe might.

"Liv," Joshua seemed to wake up at the sight of her working, "Where's my daughter?"

She'd been on the altar, meaning near the most powerful part of the explosion.

"Liv," He got to his feet, "Liv!"

MJ didn't try to stop him from stumbling towards the exit. Why would she?

The spell.

The spell.

Not Jo's waxy face.

Not another adult who actually put her neck out to defend MJ bloody and gone.

She sprinkled the crushed root evenly over the circle, then flicked her wrist, tiny tea candles flying into place, nine of them around the outer ring. Lastly, MJ made a cut across both hands, dripping blood onto Kai's chest – specifically, the hands she's lain over his heart. The spell she was going to use was technically an old work in progress for breaking a sire-line, but the Gemini link mirrored it in so many ways.

It wasn't simply linking.

You could hurt Kai without hurting them; you could stake an Original with no consequences, but if it was a White Oak Stake? If they were dead? Everyone died. If Kai died, they died.

Life-Force binding magic.

And, like the sire line, it had to be connected by blood.

The leader was always from the same family.

MJ couldn't figure out the binding ingredient for a large-scale sire-line de-linking spell, she hadn't thought about it in forever, but she didn't need to for the Gemini Coven. They didn't transfer blood to connect them; familial blood, coven member status, tying their power to their leader. That was a difference she could use.

Kai's death was an access point to their magic, their coven's supernatural network.

Therefore, his body was an ingredient in the spell.

"Nemo Sei Unus Sae," She started to chant, "Animabus Sei Carnem Kei."

Something was wrong.

"Et Sanguinem Mare Noock," She couldn't tap into his dead magic, "Se Ista Duo Virgam. Sanquinatum Venetus Barkael."

Kai had died, yet she couldn't find proof of death?

"Nemo Sei Unus Sae," MJ had to blame it on her magic was scrambled, "Animabus Sei Carnem Kei."

If that wasn't the reason, it meant Kai wasn't dead.

"Et Sanguinem Mare Noock."

He had to be dead.

"Se Ista Duo Virgam. Sanquinatum Venetus Barkael."

His body was in front of her, no heart beating, and everyone around them was dying too.

The Gemini Coven were dying because he'd died.

That was the rule!

"Nemo Sei Unus Sae," MJ started to panic, "Animabus Sei Carnem Kei."

The worst thing about it not working was that it meant she started to think none of it was real.

"Et Sanguinem Mare Noock."

MJ had fallen earlier in the day.

Given her track record at distinguishing between reality and a nightmare, MJ could just be knocked out or hallucinating.

That would explain why things weren't making sense.

What if none of it was real?

What if –

"Se Ista Duo Virgam," She wished it was a nightmare, "Sanquinatum Venetus Barkael."

Then something else happened.

A ringing in her ears.

The world swayed like she was standing on a sinking ship with no clear reason.

It was – it was...

"Nemo Sei Unus Sae..."

MJ stopped.

It was like she couldn't focus on anything.

It was like –

"Stop it!" She grabbed her stomach, period-like cramps shooting through her body, "Stop it, Kai!"

The fact that blaming him for the realistic dream had become her default spoke miles.

She'd fallen, hit her head, brain sending her into one of its spirals that would end with the room on fire. That had to be it. Why else was she feeling random bits of pain? It felt exactly like the stupid High School Corridor beat up when he'd cut out her spleen. It was just a fucking PTSD nightmare!

It had to be.

"Just wake up, MJ," She told herself, "Wake up."

The pain got worse, cramps making her gag, no vomit in her throat to actually throw up, a migraine bringing white spots into her vision.

"I – I – "

MJ was barely able to stand, wobbling to one of the last remaining chairs in the room to try and regain a sense of gravity.

"It's not – not – aahAAHAHAAAAAAAA – "

It was like her spine was breaking.

"Wake up," She closed her eyes, shivering, "You just gotta – it's as simple as – "

MJ started to shrink into the chair, more and more bones snapping, the noise in her head like she was trying to shift. That was what it felt like. Whenever her magic got out of control, she'd feel her body break as she lost control of the transformation, feathers appearing in her throat.

There were no feathers.

There was just intense pain, making her even weaker than she already was after being siphoned, and from trying to perform magic to save Jo, that had ended with her coated in blood and spouting butterflies from her ears.

Rolling from the chair to the floor meant MJ could see the rips in the tent.

The gaps in the barn roof.

The brightly shining full moon.

Pain that felt like a shift on a full moon...

"Ty!"

She needed to get up.

"Tyler!" She was screaming, crawling back to her feet, "Tyler Lockwood!"

She'd sent Cami after him in a chaos filled night that could've resulted in him triggering his curse.

If he'd tried to stop someone from bleeding and failed, that could count as second-hand murder.

If he'd put someone out of their misery, that would definitely do it.

"TY!"

She made it to the end of the barn; into the night.

He still wore the moonlight bracelet she'd given him in Junior Year – tied to her magic, not Klaus's blood. A symbol of their friendship. It was the only explanation for the sudden pain. If it wasn't a hallucination, it was exactly like the pain she'd felt when tracking Klaus and Stefan with Damon and Elena. The first time he'd worn it.

"Tyler! Cami!"

Not knowing where he was, or if it was even real, drove her mad.

"It's not real," She couldn't let it be real.

In her head, none of the night made sense.

There was no way Kai could've escaped the Prison World.

He needed Bennett blood, and the ascendant, and – and –

That was why MJ had been so scared about screwing him over.

In her survivalist mind, there was always a way out – but Kai wasn't her!

They weren't the same!

He hadn't even realised he could siphon his way out of the first one!

"Tyler!"

It was a bad dream.

MJ pushed through the agony; she'd helped fight a hybrid while experiencing it the first time, stumbling to the car park.

"It has to be a dream."

If it wasn't, she'd stopped trying to save the Gemini Coven, and she didn't want Liv to die because of her – but then again...if it wasn't a dream, MJ didn't have a way to break the link without Kai's spirit. As the person connected to everyone, he needed to be the binding ingredient – and MJ had no clue why she couldn't use him.

She'd felt magic in his system.

Something had been stopping her from grabbing it.

But –

But –

Her brain just couldn't think.

How the hell was she meant to think when she was experiencing the pain of a werewolf transformation?

She spotted Ric in his SUV in the car park, head on the steering wheel, a gun in his hand.

"Ric!" She automatically went to the worst scenario considering she'd been in a similar place a year prior, "Alaric Saltzman – don't you dare!"

His head shot up behind the glass, teary eyes meeting hers.

They were just staring at each other.

There was a rush of wind, MJ still looking at Ric, able to watch as his face turned from relief at the sight of her to pure horror, rushing for the handle to the car door.

MJ screamed, a hand burning into her side, the other clamping over her mouth.

"You and I," Kai's voice in her ear, "We're not done."

She struggled to break free, his arm locking around her stomach, sticking her back to his chest as she kicked out. He was twenty-three centimetres taller than her. The moment he had her in the air, there was no way of even trying to kick at the ground to slow him.

"You left me."

"Put her down," Ric was out of the car, pointing the gun at him, "Let her go."

The hand on her waist had already started siphoning her, but at that instruction, the one on her face started too as well.

"Go on," Kai dared him, "That gun isn't going to do anything anymore."

MJ was just crying out, drained and unable to open her mouth to speak any spell.

No energy to project any out either.

Kai had died.

Everyone else was dying as proof of it, yet, there he was.

"We were meant to be great," He scrunched her cheeks up so he could cover her mouth while pinching her nose, "You forgive and love her?"

Aimed at Ric.

"Well, guess what! We are one and the same."

Ric's hand was shaking.

"WE ARE EACH OTHER'S ONLY EQUALS."

Roaring that had her flashing back to Ryos.

To his eyes officially lost to darkness, dragging her by her hair while he snapped her legs in half –

MJ was choking on spit, losing more air each second.

"She was meant to be better," He was squeezing the life out of her, the magic siphoned away like it was nothing, "You were meant to be better than that, MJ."

He was whispering in her ear.

"You understood."

Klaus's voice, echoing – showing up in New York to taunt and use their common ground.

"You saw it."

Layers upon layers of memories.

Of hurt.

Body seizing up like it had been shoved in a tumble dryer to spin in an endless burning heat.

"You weren't meant to flinch away," His voice sounded genuinely hurt despite the pep he'd carried in every other moment that night, "You weren't meant to squirm in my arms."

The same hurt he'd yelled when they'd transported away and locked him back up.

"MJ..."

The sadness melted into something else.

"You were meant to be smarter than that."

Kia bit into her jaw as she started to see black spots.

It wasn't just teeth making her whimper and shriek; it was fangs.

Two sharp daggers cut through MJ's flesh, tasting her blood, then pulling back, smiling at Ric's expression.

He fired the gun.

Three hits on Kai's shoulder, the man barely flinching, simply changing his hold on MJ.

His fingers were shoved into her mouth, forcing her to blubber and gag as the grip continued to siphon against her teeth and tongue. No breathing. Just his bloody hand. Liquid she was not meant to swallow, slipping through the cracks like grains of dirt.

"Freaky, right?" Kai taunted, the bullet popping out and falling to the floor, "I turned myself into one of Lily's Heretics."

MJ had no clue what that meant, and she couldn't even try to work it out, officially magic low, bright light taking over her vision and ramping up every noise. Magic low meant no control, just lashing out for power, but it still wasn't enough. Anything she took in, Kai just took right back.

The one person truly immune to her.

The one person –

"It's really incredible, actually," Kai dropped her to the floor, releasing MJ from the drain but placing his foot on her neck, "I can literally siphon the magic of my own vampirism and convert it into more magic."

Alaric looked about to topple over, watching as Kai knelt down, running a hand over the scars on MJ's face.

"It's okay," He smiled at her, "I can forgive you."

"Please, stop – " She was spitting the words out, throat dry and filling with phlegm, "I – "

"MJ," He pinched her nose again, driving his foot deeper, "You left me behind."

She could only sob back, hyperaware of Jo's blood across her body.

"You knew it was my biggest fear," He tutted for a second, "And you left me there."

The sound of five more gun shots echoed, tears blurring the white light, stinging and salty, and overflowing with nowhere to go, Kai not even looking at Ric trying to fire him away.

MJ was still feeling Tyler's transformation, body broken from Floare magic, and she'd entered a magic low, meaning Kai had siphoned all of her Floare magic. For the first time since she took the magic, MJ completely screwed. No idea how long the magic would take to regenerate and heal her.

"But, like I told you," He used his second hand, sticking it back in her bruised and aching mouth, "When you let me in your head..."

He was suffocating her, bones breaking under the super-strength he now possessed, mouth trapped like soil was holding it open, foot on her throat.

"I told you that the weak beat the strong down to make themselves feel big. Then they blame us when we bite back. And that was exactly what happened."

All her usually survivor gene would kick in – but it needed magic.

"They trapped me, and you helped them, and now I'm biting back."

Another gun fire.

"But unlike the rest of you, I'm the forgiving type."

Her head was ready to explode from the lack of oxygen, claustrophobia like a feather stabbing and stroking exposed skin to taunt her lack of movement like a blanket of death.

"I'm gonna give you a second chance."

The closet she'd seen her mum's heart from.

"A chance to be as strong as me."

The soil in her eyes and her throat as she was buried alive, blood across her body.

"You're scared."

Blood covering her now.

"And weak," He shook his head, a cracking noise as his foot sank, "Your guilt – your humanity, is killing you."

The emotion that meant she drowned in her own past with the intensity she did.

"You're so scared of yourself, that you've left me no choice."

MJ had told him that her biggest fear was suffocation, and it was.

Her body was screaming for help, but she couldn't scream.

She couldn't do anything.

"You know I'm right. You know we are meant to be equals," Kai's voice dared to have warmth, "We are meant to come back to each other. To find each other."

He was repeating what he'd said in the 'dream' he'd given her.

"Just stop fighting."

The core of who she'd been for so long.

A survivor.

Always stuck between flight and fight.

"Give in to the only magic still in your body."

MJ's head was exploding.

She knew it wasn't, but it felt like it was.

Desperately wanting to stay alive – to not be traumatised by him, the situation, and the past PTSD racking her body with guilt and fear. Fourteen all over again. If she could just break through, she'd be proving him wrong. Proving to herself that Kai didn't control her.

But MJ was losing that fight.

"We are meant to be the same. Which means..."

The darkness was consuming her.

"If I upgrade," He smiled sickly, "You upgrade."

The foot crushed her wide pipes further.

"Together forever."

Everything went black, lungs and heart giving out.

MJ was dead.

Silence.

Kai stood up and stepped back, flicking the spit and vomit that had started to clog her throat off his hands.

Then he looked to Ric.

"Thank her for me when she wakes up," He said casually, "Her little mental prison preservation idea was a massive inspiration."

Ric was in shock, "She's..."

He knew her magic situation.

"The Floare magic keeps her alive unless it's instantaneous!"

Kai laughed, "The Floare magic would need to be in her for that to work."

Ric froze.

"Hence the siphoning," Kai straightened out his jacket, "It'll probably come back to her, but I only needed it gone long enough to murder her."

Elijah had waited for her to leave St James, the only place the magic didn't work, for a reason.

"She...I...come – "

"She gave me a lecture for not looking into siphoning at different levels the past few years," Kai put his hands out, "New Prison World, new me."

He's given it a try.

"Floare magic is unique," Kai stepped back again, "Easy to isolate."

Ric was trembling as he truly processed that MJ's dead body was in front of him, Jo's in his car. The guy who'd murdered both of them standing in front of him, healed bullet holes, vampire strength and speed, and an unlimited amount of magic to cast spells with.

Words failed to come out, slobbering sobs as he couldn't take it.

The gun lifted to his head.

A click.

Out of bullets.

"Ooh," Kai mocked, "Looks like somebody's having a very bad day."

Ric collapsed to his knees, blood staining his cheeks as he pulled at his tear-filled eyes, "MJ – "

"Don't be so dramatic," Kai dismissed with a chuckle, "I thought I was gonna have to force-feed her, but, hey!"

He clapped his hands together, rubbing in victory.

"She'd already drunk some blood today!"

Ric was pushing his skin up, tugging at his hair, punching at the ground, not processing what Kai was talking about, grief just too much.

"...Ric..."

Tyler's voice, him and Cami standing a few metres away, ripped clothing from the initial explosion, blood from bodies they'd passed staining the fabric, having just left a dead Liv outside the bar.

Tyler was staring at the body.

Then at Kai.

"You couldn't have."

"Awe," Kai pouted, "This isn't a good day for you either."

Tyler's face was stained with blood, shirt in tatters, a fatal wound across his stomach slowly healing, hands shaking and purple, bruises from the meltdown that had been mercy-killing his girlfriend, at her request, to save him. Another loss to add to his list. Another love – hole in his heart, who'd thought he was worth saving despite every mistake he'd made now on repeat in his mind.

"Dead girlfriend, dead best – "

The moment the second 'dead' left his mouth, Tyler lunged, yanking the bracelet keeping him human off in an echoing snap, transformation kicking in, and him letting it.

His teeth ripped Kai's neck open.

"Motus!"

His body then smashed through the car, but that didn't matter.

Kai had killed himself, Tyler knew that, so the only way for him to be back on his feet was for him to have transitioned.

One bite was all it took.

Cami was staring at the scene, imitating a statue, processing the rapid-fire of the entire wedding as MJ's dead body lay a few metres away.

Though Kai did acknowledge the stranger's presence, he didn't focus on it, his mind starting to numb, the injury confusing him. He could see Tyler's yellow eyes as he picked himself up, falling to the ground with a leg snap. His conversations with MJ about how little Kai knew about the supernatural world.

Kai clicked what had happened, "Bad doggie."

Then he pulled off what seemed to be his favourite trick, vanishing into thin air.

"MJ," Cami tripped forward, "She can't be – she isn't – "

Tyler roared, yellow eyes pinned on Cami and Ric.

Ric opened his arms, prepared to take the vicious death.

Cami, on the other hand, didn't want to die, had a million questions, and was quite intelligent.

She knew moonlight rings when she saw them, and she knew she couldn't just panic.

"Tyler," She put a hand up, voice commanding, "Hold it off."

"I'm trying," He growled.

She scanned the floor, black tarmac acting like a camouflage blanket to the dark aconite stone, its brown leather cord not making it any easier to find either.

His back was arching back, an animalistic howl rolling out.

The tiny silver base the stone was pressed into gleamed in the moonlight, Cami grabbing it and tossing it towards the car, not risking getting any closer. The chain was broken, but just like daylight rings, it only needed to be on his person to work, the pain easing, letting him collapse to the floor.

"I forgot how much it hurt," He tied it to his other bracelet, the three Floare Stones MJ had left him to look after, "I – "

His words failed as he was confronted with her dead body.

MJ was dead.

His heightened hearing was already kicking in, meaning he could hear the lack of heartbeat, how her lungs weren't moving, and smell the blood over her body.

"No, no, no," He was on his knees, tears forming, "MJ – "

Ric was weeping, too, leaving Cami as the only one vaguely functioning.

Vaguely.

It was someone who'd become her best friend.

"MJ's untouchable," She whispered the same thing she'd said to Marcel about MJ's first death, "This isn't possible."

"The magic was supposed – " Tyler clutched at her body, "It should've – I should've – "

He could barely hold her, shaking too much

"I'm meant to keep her safe."

Part of him wanted to turn.

Then, at least, the pain in his body would have an obvious source.

It would have an endpoint rather than just be a void in his chest attacking every part of his being.

"Magic," Cami blinked.

MJ had fallen down the stairs.

"How did you heal her?"

Ric was hitting the empty gun into his chest like that would make it work.

"Ric," She crouched down in front of him, "That pain? The way it's burning in your body – you can't let it win."

She was taking the gun out of his hands.

"You healed MJ, and you need to tell me how you did it," Cami was incredibly torn between jumping into therapist mode and staying on task, "MJ was too out of it to have healed herself that quickly."

The words hung over them, waking Ric up.

She tossed the gun across the car park, as far from them as possible, not caring if it was empty, knowing it had to be out of sight for Ric to stop fixating on it.

"She's dead," Ric turned his head wildly, gripping onto her hands tighter.

Cami's arms went around him in comfort, "MJ was where you are a few months ago."

She needed him to be thinking about her.

Holding on to MJ's light.

"You are not alone."

If she was actually dead?

"And you will not do something dangerous when her body is right there."

Mystic Falls had put a lot of them in a dark place at least once.

"You know she would not want you to. You know she would force all of us to keep fighting, even when she was giving up herself."

He was pressing his wet eyes into her shoulder.

"And since she is right there, you need to tell me how you healed her."

Every word out of Kai's mouth was replying in Ric's mind, starting at the ceremony, reaching him violently smothering MJ to death; Ric powerless to stop it.

He was spluttering, trying to work out what Cami's point was.

And then it hit him.

All of it fell into place in one massively painful and conflicting realisation, Ric shoving back from the half-stranger, shuffling against the road in stress.

Ty was pressing a hand under MJ's bloody jaw as if that might make her heart start beating.

"Ric," Cami needed to break through to him, "Yes or no – did you use vampire blood?"

She'd seen how hurt MJ was.

She'd seen her right as rain a few minutes later.

She'd seen how long the Floare magic took to heal her.

"Yes."

Tyler froze, eyes back on the pair.

"I wanted to help," He sobbed, "So, I gave her blood."

The announcement turned the air static.

"She's waking up.." Tyler slowly returned to his feet, eyes pinned on her body, "But - no!"

He wanted MJ to be alive; he wanted it to be true, but,

"Kai siphoned her," His breathing was shallow, "Vampire blood would've gone."

"Vampire blood is dark magic," Ric whispered, "Floare magic isn't."

"He could target it," Cami completed the puzzle.

The trio was left in the hot summer night, covered in blood and emotional messes, staring at a future vampire.

"He still had magic," Tyler rubbed his face.

"Heretic," Ric said the word, "Jo – Jo – "

He couldn't say her name without crying, sinking back to the floor.

"Her dad," He closed his eyes, hands over his face, "He told us that we needed to destroy the prison world."

Damon had given it to Lily instead of letting Bonnie do it.

Bonnie was meant to have been handling it.

But Bonnie had stopped answering her phone.

"The – the one they left him in had Heretics inside."

"Heretic?" Tyler wasn't in the main loop, freaking out.

"Half-witch, half-vampire," Ric couldn't look at her body, huddling on the floor, "Siphoners. It only works for siphoners."

Cami stilled, "Hybrids."

Tyler and Ric looked at her, then back to the body.

She pulled out her phone, dialling Klaus.

He didn't answer.

Voicemail.

"Something's happened."

The worst way to start a message, but it matched the night's tone.

"Psycho Prison World guy got out and killed MJ," She rushed out, feeling the way Tyler and Ric couldn't handle the words, "The magic keeping her alive got siphoned and didn't regenerate quick enough, but she had vampire blood in her system."

What else to leave in the message?

"Call me back?"

Kol.

She needed to call Kol.

But if she called Kol before MJ was back on two feet?

Kol.

Klaus just might kill –

What was Cami meant to do?

Tyler pulled out his own phone.

"What you doing?" Ric looked at them both, face in a permanent state of disgust.

Not at them, just at everything.

"We need to tell them," Tyler started dialling people too.

He needed something to do, or he'd crash and lash out the way he had after losing his mum, his dad, and Mason.

A growl came out at the constant beeping he was met with.

The wolf temper wasn't easy.

"Come on!" He looked like he might crush the phone, "Answer!"

He switched numbers from Caroline to Matt, Cami taking over, trying to reach Caroline herself, as the only number she could call for help close by. Calling Caroline was easier to think about. Especially when there was Elijah and-or Marcel in the mix, part of her thought they might come running quicker than someone who was probably watching over a sleeping infant.

Kol.

She needed to call Kol, but –

"Answer, damn it!"

Matt finally did, "Ty?"

"Where the hell are you?"

"Bonnie and I are still at the Salvatore House," He sounded just as panicked, "Kai attacked us."

"Kai killed MJ."

Silence.

"What did you just say?" Bonnie's voice was low, "Tyler – "

"He killed Jo, he killed himself, he killed MJ."

"No, no, no – "

"And that's not the only problem," His eyes moved between the bracelet and the moon, "It's my fault."

Silence.

"I triggered my curse."

"No," Matt somehow got even more stressed.

"I was wearing the bracelet," His voice cracked, "The one that stops me from having to shift."

That made her week.

"It was a gift – I forgot what it did," He hadn't had to think about it since the hybrid transformation, "It was a prototype...I've - she feels the pain, so I don't have to..."

It had been a symbol of friendship.

A way to remember when she'd left.

When she'd died.

"She almost passes out to give me a night off, and I didn't even click until I took the bracelet off, but she's – "

"Dead," Bonnie sounded empty, "She was too weak to fight back because she was experiencing the shift – "

"She had vampire blood in her system," Cami took the call over as the guilt really hit Tyler, sinking back to the road to grab MJ's limp hand again, "Hi, Cami here, MJ's plus one."

She put it on speaker.

"I never got to meet you, Bonnie."

"I know who you are," Bonnie admitted, "I used to be a ghost. Used to check in with MJ."

Cami's eyes went wide in realisation, "The ghost who hit her over the head in my apartment?"

"Pretty much," Bonnie tried to sober up, "Vampire blood?"

"She's gonna wake up, but we have her body with us, and considering all of us are human, the groom is suicidal, and the werewolf is meant to be shifting; I'm a little in over my head."

"I've gotta go," Tyler realised, "If the bracelet's still working, she'll still feel it when she wakes up."

"Tyler," Matt was shaking his head, "You take that off? You could attack anyone."

"Transition bloodlust and werewolf pain are not a good combination!" He snapped, "If she's feeling it, she'll lose it."

"Take it off," Bonnie said simply, "Then run fast, and run far."

"I bit Kai," He added, "He transitioned too, and I bit him."

"I'll make sure he ends up dead," Bonnie's tone was emotionless and determined.

"I'll tell everyone else to steer clear," Matt caved.

Deep down, he knew they couldn't leave MJ experiencing a shift.

That would've been ridiculous.

But she was still unconscious, while Tyler would be a live problem.

"Good, because I won't be able to control who I go after," Tyler fiddled with the bracelet, "I don't wanna kill anyone else tonight."

"Then you won't," Bonnie tried to say reassuringly, "We'll handle Kai. You get as far from here as possible, and, Cami...Um, can I ask a massive favour?"

"Whatever you need me to do."

If Cami could handle Klaus's bloody and family destroying messes, she thought she could take anything.

"We don't know how she'll handle it, but MJ can't wake up alone."

The word was like poison.

"I'll be there soon," Bonnie promised, "But please. If you're okay to risk the potential fangs in your throat, stay with her."

"Wasn't planning on leaving," Cami didn't miss a beat, "No chance."

"Thank you."

Silence.

"And Ric?"

He made a noise. The only thing he could really manage.

"You can stay there," Bonnie was talking to him, "Or you can come to Mystic Falls hospital to see Elena."

He weakly lifted his head, "Elena?"

"MJ will wake up. We'll try and make sure Elena does too."

Not a comforting phrase.

"Right now, she's completely out. Kai left me a video explaining that he cursed her."

Ric didn't know what to do.

"If you stay with MJ, you will see Kai again. I'm going after him."

"I'll..." He wanted to stay.

It was MJ.

He'd picked people over her, thinking she was strong enough to know he loved her more but needed elsewhere, and Ric didn't want to do that this time. Not when she'd been killed. Not when she'd be overwhelmed and hungry and need him. Need to know he was alive.

But –

"Go," Cami decided for him, "Do not sit here and stare at her dead body. Do not do that to yourself."

Ric finally knew what MJ felt like every time he'd died with the resurrection ring on.

Knowing he was coming back didn't make it easy to look at.

"Okay."

As he climbed into his car, Tyler ran off into the night, leaving the bracelet in MJ's hand, Cami taking a careful seat on the hood of a different one, checking the time on her phone every five seconds and waiting for Klaus to ring her back.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and Matt took a beat in the Salvatore House.

She was holding a camera they'd just finished watching, learning what Kai had set up for Elena, pushing any tears she wanted to cry away, looking back at Matt.

He was shaking a little.

The call was the last thing they'd needed to hear after Kai's video.

Even if MJ was waking up, Kai had killed her.

MJ was meant to be the strongest one out of all of them, and he'd killed her.

Kai was a heretic.

But Tyler had bitten him.

Bonnie texted Damon, filling him in on everything while he waited at the hospital for Elena.

- TY IS A WEREWOLF

- KAI IS A VAMPIRE WITH MAGIC

- MJ DIED WITH VAMPIRE BLOOD IN HER SYSTEM, CURRENTLY STILL DEAD, BODY AT THE FARM

As he read each message, Damon sighed in exhaustion, panicking about all of them in slightly different ways.

Elena was lying unconscious in a hospital bed.

Nothing medically wrong with her anymore, but not waking up.

MJ was lying, dead in a car park.

Her body was healing, vampire blood in her system, about to wake up at any second.

In Katherine's words, 'This is about MJ and Elena.'

It had always been about MJ and Elena.