The letter Elijah had given me before he left for New Orleans rested between the pages of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The letter was from Klaus, and I could only imagine the hard words that were so neatly written. I picked up the book from the nightstand and flipped the pages until it landed on the letter. My name was written so elegantly, the distinctive handwriting that only belonged to Klaus Mikaelson.

   I let my fingers brush against the envelope, imagining what the letter inside read. It had been three months since I received the letter, three months since I put it between the pages of the book and completely forgot about it. The only reason I had found it was because I was searching for a pair of earrings I was going to send to Caroline. I had put off reading the letter since I received it, but I had also been putting off many other things throughout the summer. With a sigh escaping my lips, I pushed the letter back between the pages, closed the book, and threw it on the bed.

   There were three knocks on the doorway, causing me to jump and turn abruptly to the door. Damon stood there, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed and a look in his eyes I couldn't decipher. I gave him a small smile and crossed my arms.

   "Damon," I breathed, calming myself from the sudden surprise of his knock. "What's up?"

   "You busy?" he asked, giving me a small and tight smile. His face harden a bit.

   My smile fell. I furrowed my brows and let my arms fall to my side. "Is something wrong?"

   "Depends on what you like to call wrong," he said.

   "Well, things that are bad are normally wrong," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "Damon, what's wrong?"

   "Remember how I went with Silas and Jeremy to New Jersey to get the anchor?" he asked, taking a step inside my room. "And the anchor turned out to be Crazy Pants?"

   "Of course I remember, it was yesterday." I sounded stern, surprised, only slightly scared. I took a step closer to him, crossing my arms once again and staring at him with narrowed eyes. "Seriously, Damon, what the hell is wrong?"

   "I think I found the reason why you're a dopplegänger," he said, quieter this time. "It's a pretty gruesome reason."

   "Please don't tell me you found a stone Helen as well," I muttered, my heart beating erratically inside of my chest.

   Damon shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the sides, making a face. "It's not a stone Helen, but it is something that belonged to her." He motioned me to follow him with his head, walking out my room. I hesitated for a couple of seconds, my fingers itching by my side. After a few seconds of wondering of whether I should follow him, I decided to follow. He was standing in his room, a small golden box in his hands. From me, he glanced down at the box.

   "What's that?" I asked, my heartbeat continuing at the same fast rhythm. 

   "The reason why you're a dopplegänger," he said, pushing the box to my hands. 

   I grabbed the box and stared at it. It was a gold box with swirls etched around a picture in the centre of the box. The picture was a simple scene of a man and a woman, the woman kneeling by the man and the man as if he's trying to stop her. I stared at it for several seconds, confused and wondering why the hell would he think that the damn box was the reason why I was a copy of someone else. Then, I remembered that boxes were supposed to be opened. Slowly, I reached for the top of the box and opened it. I almost dropped it when I saw what was inside.

   "What's..." I took a deep breath and looked over at Damon. "Is this..."

   He nodded and let out a sigh. "We found it inside the box where Crazy Pants was in," he said, pointing at the box with his chin. "I think Tessa kept it in there."

   "Damon, this is..." I reached into the box and pulled out the item. "Damon, this is a stone heart. This is a heart that's been turned into stone. Oh my god, I'm holding it." I put the heart back on the box, the box back on the bed, and took a step back. "Is that Helen's heart?"

   "Probably," Damon answered, taking a stand besides me. "Who else's would it be?"

   "Tessa told me that... She told me Silas killed her," I said, staring at the heart. "She said that after she brought Helen back to life, she wasn't the same, so Silas took pity and killed her."

   "Silas told me that he couldn't kill her," Damon quietly said. "He told Tessa to kill her instead, because he couldn't kill her. Yeah, he talked the whole way to Jersey."

   "So, what, the heart needs blood to begin to beat again?" I asked, feeling so many things inside of me. I felt like a big headache was coming, like every bit of my body was alarmed, as if I was shaking and terrified and unsure of everything. At that moment, I wondered how the hell could my life turn to something like that? I let out a groan and shook my head. "Jesus Christ, how the hell could this be happening to me?"

   "It's not really your fault." Damon shrugged his shoulders and laid an arm around mine. "You didn't choose this, Clara."

   "Stefan remembered!" Elena called as she ran into the room, a wide grin on her lips. "His memories are back."

   I stared at her for a couple of seconds, surprised at her sudden words. Damon rushed out of his room, following her, but I stayed behind. I looked at the golden box with the stone heart, afraid, furious, wanting nothing more but to destroy it, but I didn't know how. As it sat there, like a statue, I thought that maybe it needed what every other immortal being needed to die—the damn cure. Which meant, that Amara had it running through her veins. If I just could get a small sample of it, maybe I could pour it over the heart and end this, end the line of dopplegängers that came from Helen.

   I took a deep breath and walked out of Damon's room, following the voices that spoke with merriment from downstairs. Stefan, Damon, and Elena were all sitting downstairs, Damon testing Stefan's memories. He asked him questions about the past, little memories that were important to the both of them. A few of those questions were about the day he met me, the day Damon accidentally broke his nose while they were practising how to throw a punch on a sunny day of October 1952; the motorcycle in which Stefan adored, which was a gift from Damon, and probably rather expensive. 

   "So, Tessa gave you back your memories, no strings attached," Damon wondered out loud.

   "Well, it wasn't exactly a gift," Stefan said. "It was a lot to take in at once, everything from blowing out the candles on my first birthday cake to drowning in a safe." He suddenly sat rigid. I took a step forward, closer to him, and said his name softly. His grip on the glass of alcohol tightened, and then it broke. Glass exploded everywhere, as well as the alcohol.

   "Whoa!" Damon groaned, looking at his brother with a curious look. "Easy there, Buddy."

   "Stefan, are you okay?" I asked. 

   He glanced at me, then around with a small and faint smile. "All that and I can't remember my own strength." There was a sound, which caused him to whip his head to the direction of the sound. "What was that noise?"

   "Uh, well that is..."

   "We have a situation," Elena finished for her boyfriend. 

   "Of the dopplegänger variety," Damon continued. 

   "Yeah," Elena nodded.

   "Katherine?"

   "No, nope," Damon said, shaking his head and standing. "Not Katherine." He motioned his brother to follow him. We walked to the cellar, where Amara's voice got louder and louder, her cries more strangled. She sounded terrified. Inside the cell, Amara was screaming and trying to cut loose from her handcuffs. 

   "I don't know!" she screamed. "I don't know!"

   "What's wrong with her?" Stefan asked.

   "Tessa turned her into a block of rock," Damon began, "left her in a box for two thousand years, probably went a little stir crazy like those deserted island guys who talk to volleyballs."

   "I said I don't know!" Amara yelled, her eyes focusing on an empty spot in the cell.

   "So, you're telling me that this girl is the only thing holding together the other side?" Stefan questioned, a slight hint of confusion in his voice. 

   "Yep," Damon confirmed, "she's the anchor."

   I watched Amara, seeing her eyes dart from corner to corner, repeating the same thing over and over again. She didn't know, she didn't know. It seemed that whoever she was talking to didn't understand. She looked terrified, she sounded terrified, she sounded as if she was in pain. Out of nowhere, she began to bite her wrists hard, drawing blood.

    "Amara, stop!" I said, walking in to the cell and pulling her wrists away from her mouth.

   "No, no!" she yelled, crying. "Let me die, I want to die!"

   I glanced back at Damon and Stefan, who looked uncomfortable and confused. When my eyes collided with those of Stefan, he immediately turned away. He walked away, his arms crossed, his stance rigid. I slowly stood, wanting to follow, but at the same time I wanted to calm down the hysteric dopplegänger that sat by my feet. 

   "I'll talk to him," Damon said, giving me a small smile and walked away. 

   I sighed and turned to Amara, deciding to take a seat besides her. She shifted away from me, her arms close to her chest and her big doe eyes staring at me with such fright. It surprised me how much she appeared like Katherine and Elena, but at the same time she didn't. There was a difference between all three girls, and it was so noticeable.

   "My name's Clara," I said, quietly, introducing myself to her with a small smile. "I'm Clara Forbes."

   "I never forget a face," she said, almost in a tone of awe. "I've seen your exact face die so many times, and it has always horrified me."

   I nodded. "It's the same reason why you've seen so many girls that look just like you," I told her. "It's because of Qetsiyah and her damn curses."

   "Helen died," she said, shaking her head. "I saw her, I attended her funeral."

   "I found her heart," I said quietly with a nod. "I think it's her heart. It's stone, just like you were. When I held it in my hand, it felt strange. It wasn't like a piece of rock you pick up from the ground and throw, it was softer, as if it was still alive." I shivered and took a deep breath, turning my head towards her. "I think that the reason why there are so many of her shadows in the world is because Nature is trying to stop that heart from beating, so it's creating shadows of Helen, ones that are able to be killed, unlike that heart."

   "You need the cure," she said, her voice not sounding as afraid as before. "It is the only solution for your problem, Clara."

   "I know," I said with a nod, "but, you see, I can't have the cure. We need to protect you for a while, because a very good friend of ours is stuck on the other side and we need to bring her back." I stood and walked out of the cell, closing the door behind me with a soft thud. Before I could walk out of the cellar, Amara rushed to the door and looked at me.

   "When you get her back, can I die?" she asked, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "When you get her back, can you let me die?"

   I stared at her for a couple of seconds, then nodded. "Yes," I said, feeling horrible at my words. She sounded so hopeful, as if it was the only thing that would bring her comfort. I walked up the stairs from the cellar, hearing Elena, Damon, and Stefan speaking.

   "We need to buy some more time," Elena said. "Protect Amara. Maybe we should move her somewhere else."

   "Silas is a witch," Damon said in a matter-of-fact tone. "He's a living, breathing, GPS tracking device. He'll track her wherever we take her."

  "We can't let him anywhere near her until he brings Bonnie back," Elena huffed, sounding angrier with each word that escaped her mouth.

   "Weren't you listening to anything?" Stefan snapped. "He's not gonna bring her back."

   "What do you mean he's not bringing her back?" I asked, stepping closer to the trip. Their heads turned to me, surprised that I was in the room but at the same time somehow relieved. "What do you mean Silas is not bringing Bonnie back?" I repeated, my voice harsher.

   "He went back on his promise," Stefan said, his eyes avoiding me, still. He then glared at Elena. "He's not gonna bring her back, Elena."

   She scoffed. "So, what, I should just give up?" she asked in disbelief. "Come on, Stefan. You got your memory back. You know me probably better than anyone else. Do you really think that I'm gonna give up?"

   "You know what? You're right, I do know you," he snapped. "You put your hope in all the wrong places and sometimes," he glanced at Damon, "in the wrong people." He turned back to Elena. "Silas needs to die and put us all out of our misery."

   "So long as he's alive, I'm holding out hope that he can still help us," Elena said, crossing her arms and slightly glaring.

   Stefan let out a laugh that held no emotion, just disbelief. "Well, as someone who spent the last three months at the bottom of the quarry because of the guy, I wouldn't hold your breath, pun intended. Silas needs to die, and I need to be the one to kill him. End of story." He marched out of the room, his fists to his side.

   "Is he okay?" I asked, turning my head to Damon. 

   "Obviously not," he said with a sigh. He turned to me with crossed arms, then motioned me to follow with his chin. "Go after him. I think you two need to talk."

   I bit my bottom lip, but nodded and followed after Stefan. He stood in the balcony of his room, his hands resting against the gentle wood of the railing. I took a stand besides him, looking out to the woods instead of him. "You know, they say it's bad luck to kill your dopplegänger," I said, trying to make light of the situation.

   "If I don't kill him, he wins," he said, his voice slightly hoarse.

   I took a step closer to him. "What if he kills you first?" I asked, glancing to his hand. I wanted to lay my hand on top, grab it and hold it tightly like we had done before. Instead, I closed my hand in a tight fist and kept it close to me. "Witches aren't exactly easy to take down. I just got you back, Stefan, don't do anything crazy. We both know how revenge is, and it's not pretty, or worth it."

   He took a deep breath and turned to me, his eyes colliding with mine for the first time since his memory returned. "You know, there were these moments in that safe, a stillness in time when I was dead right before I was about to come back to life, I would think about things in the past that made me happy, things that gave me hope. All these things kept me sane. They pushed me to hang on when all I wanted to do was give up and turn off my humanity, but eventually, the pain took these moments away from me, too."

   "I'm sorry," I uttered, glancing down with uncertainty. I didn't know how to respond to his words, I didn't know how it felt to be kept underwater for three whole months, dying over and over again. I could only imagine it, but I couldn't.

   Stefan sighed and looked away from me, turning his head back to the forest. "Every time I close my eyes, I can see Silas stabbing me, I can feel myself drowning, and I need to make it stop. If I don't kill him, I'm gonna lose my mind, or I'm gonna turn off my humanity." He straightened his posture, his hands tightening their hold on the railing. "Or both." He turned to me, his eyes hard. "Maybe, I lose you, too."

   "You won't lose me, Stefan," I said, taking a step closer to him. "You won't."

   "I already did." He pulled himself away from me and shook his head. "I lost you before I even had you, Clara. I lost you when I wanted to leave, I lost you when I was under the quarry for three months, and I lost you when Silas had you."

   "What?" I was in disbelief, hurt, pained, and I felt the well-known sting on the bridge of my nose. "No, Stefan, you never lost me. Let me explain, please."

   "What's there to explain?" he asked, looking hurt and angered. "You slept with Silas, Clara!"

   "Because he helped me forget about you!" I yelled, running a hand through my hair. I took a deep breath and looked at him, blinking several times so I would stop myself from crying. "He helped me forget about you, Stefan. You hated me, you didn't want anything to do with me, and it hurt. It still hurts. Because he was there, he wasn't nice, but he was something that let me forget about you hating me and about you feeling absolutely nothing for me." I let out a laugh filled with no emotion and shook my head. "Stefan, now you know how I feel every time you look at Elena. You still love her, and you probably always will because she is your epic love, and I understand that. But, it hurts." I turned away from him and lifted my finger to my mouth, stopping myself from crying. I couldn't believe I was crying, because I didn't need to cry. I didn't need to feel sorry for sleeping with someone else because he left, he wanted to leave and probably forget about me. But, the reason why I felt sorry was because he was in a box, underwater, dying over and over again while I thought he was out and having fun.

   I turned back to Stefan and breathed through my mouths, letting the tears course down my cheeks. "Stefan, I don't need to feel sorry for sleeping with Silas, because I thought you left. You wanted to leave, and you would have left if it weren't for Silas. I feel sorry because I didn't know that you were stuck in that quarry for three goddamn months. I feel sorry because I wanted to hate you, and for a moment I did, but..." I wiped away the tears and shook my head. "Stefan, I can't hate you, I can't. I can't hate you because I love you!"

   The kiss came out of nowhere. Stefan's hands were on my cheeks, his chest against mine, and his lips pressed against mine in a harsh manner. His lips were firm against mine, but the kiss remained soft, gentle, slow. We held it for a few seconds, before our lips began to move in perfect sync, slowly, cautiously. I exhaled through my nose, not wanting to let go. My entire body had been taken over by the overwhelming feeling of relief, combined with eccentric panic, and lust.

   My fingers tangled on his shirt, pulling him closer to me. It added more pressure to our lips, deepening the kiss. I was shaking, both terrified and glad that he was kissing me. A part of me wanted the kiss to continue, just to let it flow for as long as it could. But, then, Stefan pulled away. His hands were still on my cheeks, and his eyes were staring right onto mine.

   "I love you," he breathed, nodding. "Clara, I love you, too."

   I let out a laugh, once filled with tears and just pulled him for a hug. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, inhaling his scent. Stefan felt safe, just like before. It felt strange being in his arms, but it also felt familiar, as if I belonged there. And that kiss... Have you ever lost yourself in a kiss? I mean pure psychedelic inebriation. Not just a lustful petting, but transcendental metamorphosis when you become aware of that greatness. Licking the sides and corners of your mouth, like sealing a thousand envelopes filled with the essence of your passionate being and then opened by the same mouth and delivered back to you, over and over again—the first kiss of the rest of your life.

   Stefan and I laid on his bed, just holding each other. My head rested on his shoulder, my fingers tracing figures on his chest. His arm was under my neck, his hand on my shoulder and doing the same thing. It was quiet between us, a comforting quiet that only brought a soothing gentleness over us. Even though we heard what was happening around in the house, such as Elena on the phone with Damon, Katherine and Caroline arriving, and then the Wicked Witch of Two Thousand Years Ago, we stayed on the bed. They planned to do a spell to make Bonnie the anchor, hence bringing her back. I glanced up at him, seeing him stare up at the ceiling with slightly hooded eyes.

   "Stefan," I said, sitting up and taking a good look at him. "If you want your revenge, you can have it, but I don't want you to die."

   He looked over at me, a small smile forming around his lips. "I won't die," he said. He leaned up, quickly pecking my lips. "You know me, Clara."

   I laid my chin on his chest and looked at him while making a face. "Exactly. I know you, which means you're a bit prone to death. Need I remind you of Klaus?"

   "No," he chuckled, rolling his eyes. "I get it."

   I pushed myself up, my face closer to his. With a small smile, I pecked his lips, simply enjoying the taste of his lips on mine. "If it's revenge that you want, I'll help you. I want it, too, on both Silas and Tessa."

   "I heard the conversation you had with Amara," he said, his voice sounding quieter. "Why didn't you tell me that you were a dopplegänger?"

   "Because, I believed that if I never said it, it would go away," I truthfully said. "Obviously, that was a horrible idea. It's still here."

   "Damon told me, you know." He sat up and leaned against the headrest of the bed, keeping another arm around me. "He told me about you being a dopplegänger, about how you asked Alaric to search their names for you.'

   I nodded. "Rebekah told me about how their first taste of blood was Gwenhyvar, someone I look just like. At first, I thought that was the reason why I was a dopplegänger. And then Silas came, and he revealed that I'm a goddamn dopplegänger because his lover died and he couldn't stand a life without her, so he had Tessa bring her back to life. She wasn't the same, he couldn't kill her, so Tessa did. Or, so we all thought. Turns out that she decided to stone her heart and keep in a box." I let out a short laugh and shook my head. "She's psychotic."

   "Can you believe how screwed our lives are?" he asked with a small chuckle escaping his lips. 

   "And it was fate to be this screwed up," I let out a short laugh and shook my head, with a bit of disbelief. I looked over at him and bit my lower lip, the small moment of happiness that had risen immediately sinking. "Do you think it was planned for us to be together?"

   "No," he immediately answered. "I don't think it was planned, I certainly hope it wasn't, because fate wouldn't have screwed us up so many times. But, I do believe that it was chance, because I have missed so many chances to tell you that I love you, or I just didn't take them, but now... Clara, I love you."

   I kissed him, then. I kissed him fast and slow and just because I wanted to feel his lips against mine. When I pulled away from him, I smiled. "Did you know...you make me so happy that sometimes I actually forget to breathe? I'll be looking at you, and my chest will get so tight and it's like, the only thought in my head is how much I want to reach over and kiss you."

   Stefan smiled. "Well, Clara, you can kiss me anytime you want." He laid his hand on my cheek and brushed his thumb up and down. "Like now, I'm gonna kiss you." He leaned down and laid his lips on mine, just like I had done not even a minute before. It felt like every time I kissed him, a part of me would light up like fireworks shooting up at the sky, like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket after being out in the cold for so long. Being with Stefan, just if it was besides him, was like being wrapped in a blanket. 

   As we kissed, the electricity went out. We pulled away from each other and glanced around, surprised. I stood from the bed and stopped moving when I heard footsteps coming closer. When the door opened, a light flashed in, and when it lowered it revealed Damon standing there. "Electricity's out in the whole house," he said.

   I turned to Stefan. "It must be Silas," I quietly said, shaking my head. "Tessa's doing a spell, he must want to stop it."

   "I'm gonna check on them," Damon said, throwing a flashlight at Stefan and walking away.

   Stefan stood still for a few seconds, then threw the flashlight on the bed. He turned to me and laid his hands on his waist. "You said you would help me get my revenge, Clara. Help me now."

   "What do you want me to do?" I asked, taking a step closer to him. 

   Not even a minute later, I had sped into the room where Tessa was doing the spell and grabbed Amara. I ran with her past the property line, Stefan besides us. Stefan stared down at Amara, who was obviously afraid. He pulled out his phone and laid it next to his ear, then turned the other way when the person answered. 

   "Sucky timing, Stefan," Silas said from the other side. 

   "I disagree," Stefan replied, laying a hand on his waist. "I have Amara just beyond the property line. You have ten minutes to come find us."

   "Well, I'm a little busy right now watching my nemesis bite it. Plus, I have no interest in saving Amara's life."

   I grabbed the phone from Stefan's hand and laid it next to my ear, glaring at the darkness. "Stefan forgot to say that we also have Helen's heart," I said, holding my head high. "You should ask your nemesis why she kept it as stone all these years, why she kept it alive. By the way, we're gonna take Amara away, and we're gonna keep her alive by any means possible while everyone else hunts you down like an animal. You now have nine minutes." I ended the conversation and handed the phone back to Stefan.

   "We don't have her heart," Stefan said with a confused look. 

   I sucked in a breath and took the box from besides Amara. "I may have brought something else other than her," I said, biting my lower lip. "I think I know how to bring it back to life." I turned towards Amara and leaned down in front of her, glancing down at the box in my hands. "This heart is desiccated, like you were. How did you you come back?"

   "Silas," she began, shaking and stuttering. "He fed me blood."

   I looked down at the box and slowly opened it, revealing it to her. "Would you be able to pour a bit of your blood on it, so I can make it mortal and end it?"

   Amara stared at me with curious eyes. "Why?"

   "Because it's horrible being the shadow of someone that was alive over two thousand years ago," I told her. "It's horrible not being able to be just me because I'm a shadow of someone else. Please, Amara. Just like you want death, I think this heart will appreciate it."

   She continued to stare at me with her big brown eyes. After a few seconds, she grabbed a rock from the ground and pressed it to her hand, dragging it down and making a long gash. She closed her hand and let it hover over the heart, a few drops of her blood falling over the stone heart. After a few seconds, the stone began to break. The heart was no longer stone, but a muscle beating erratically. I stared at it for a couple of seconds, unsure on how to react. Since I didn't know, I shut the lid and laid the box besides her, giving her a small and saddened smile.

   I stood and moved a few feet away from her. Stefan tied Amara to a tree and gagged her as she tried to free herself. As she cried out, I could hear the beating of the heart. When I turned, Stefan was standing in front of me. He laid his hands on my cheeks, just like he had done, and kissed me. It was fast and gentle, as if a reminder for me to calm down. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the small clearing where Amara was, but against a tree with Stefan in front of me. My hands shook as I laid a hand on his cheek.

   "Don't die on me," I whispered, shaking my head. "I just got you back, Stefan, do don't you dare die."

   He smiles, grabbed my hand, and laid a gentle kiss on it. "I won't," he said, just as quiet.

   At the sound of Silas' voice, he disappeared. It was then when I realised that I was absolutely insane in going with his plan. How could I let him go against a powerful witch? I groaned to myself and sped to the small clearing, seeing Silas using his magic on Stefan. 

   "I hear every emotion is heightened for a vampire," Silas said in a teasing tone. "All those memories must be eating you alive right now, Stefan. What's it like to die? I've never done it. You must have done it a thousand times over this summer."

   "Stop it!" I yelled.

   "Stop it!" Stefan groaned, holding on to himself as the pain racked through him.

   "Stop it?" Silas spat. "I've spent two-thousand years alone in a tomb. You were locked up for, what, three months? Look at you! You're a mess. The safe was the easy part, wasn't it? Being forgotten about, that's the real torture, isn't it?"

   The next thing I knew, Silas groaned. He stumbled back, and fell down with his eyes closed. There was a knife sticking out of his chest, which must have been what Stefan threw. I ran towards Stefan, immediately wrapping my arms around him. "It's over," I muttered, glancing over at Silas' dead body. Amara stood over him, crying. For a moment, I felt sorry for her. Here's the thing, I felt sorry for her, not for Silas. He deserved death and everything that came along with it, but Amara was just a girl who fell in love with a monster and suffered two thousand years for it.

   She pulled the knife from Silas' chest and pointed it towards her stomach. "Our eternity starts now," she said to the corpse. Amara stabbed herself in the stomach and gasped.

   "Amara!" I yelled, walking away from Stefan and towards her. I grabbed her just as she fell backwards. "No! Amara... No! Amara, Amara!" I bit my wrist and pushed it to her mouth. "Drink this. Drink more." She began to cough, then threw up blood. I shook my head. "No, no, no!" She fell on her back, her eyes hooded and weak. "Hey, stay with me. Amara, Amara, hey! Look at me!"

   I knew that Amara wanted to die, I knew that it was all that she desired ever since Silas brought her back. But, if she died before the spell was complete, that meant that Bonnie wouldn't be able to come back. Bonnie wasn't one of my best friends, but she was a very good friend that didn't deserve to die. She didn't deserve anything horrible to happen to her.

   Amara opened her eyes and glanced over at me. "I've been in hell for two thousand years..." she said, weakly. 

   "What's another five minutes, huh?" I asked with a small smile. 

   "Let me die," she breathed, her eyes closing again.

   I began to shake her, screaming at her to wake up. It wasn't until I realised that she was dead that I stopped. I let my hands move away from her and pushed myself back, shaking my head. "No, no, no!" I groaned, shaking my head. "She can't die! Bonnie's not back, yet!"

   "Clara," a soft voice said. I turned to the speaker, seeing Damon standing a few feet away from me. He moved closer and leaned down, giving me a small smile. "She's back," he said with a nod. "Tessa finished the spell, and Bonnie's back."

   At his words, relief washed over me. I slumped over and nodded, smiling to myself. But, then I remembered Stefan. I turned my head to him, seeing him standing over Silas. In his eyes, there was a hint of relief, which was the most prominent expression that I could read on his face. There was something else, something I could not read, and I wondered if it was all truly over for him.

   I turned back to Amara and pulled the chest from her stomach. I stood and marched over to the box by the tree, the one with the beating heart. When I opened it, the heart was beating just like when Amara poured blood on it, fast. I laid it on the floor, knelt in front of it, and with both hands I stabbed it. At that moment, I felt pain erupt all over my body. I doubled over in pain and let out a scream.

   "Clara!" I heard Stefan yell. I felt his arms around me as I screamed from the pain. In a way, it was just like when Helen poured vervain all over my body. My vision began to get hazy, I began to get numb, and the last thing I saw was Stefan's worried face.