Apparently, the night hadn't gone so well for everyone.

Lucy had had a good time. She definitely liked Kol for what that evening had been: a good one-night stand. On the flip side, Elena was apparently miserable after learning Damon had slept with Rebekah.

"Damon and Rebekah," said Evangeliya as Lucy watched her start packing her things. "Not on today's bingo card."

"Bulgaria, then?" asked Lucy.

"Yep. You?"

"Probably go visit some cousins for a while, then we'll see. I could travel with you later on, maybe in a few weeks."

"I'll be eager for you to join me."

"Will Finn join you?"

"Maybe, if he decides to break free."

"Do you like him?"

"As a friend, yes. As more? I don't know. But I enjoyed one night with him, it was all I needed and I sense it was all he needed, too." Her phone began to buzz. "Would you look at that? Elijah's calling."

She stepped out to take the call. "Good morning."

"Evangeliya," he said. "I believe something is wrong."

"Um... what do you mean?"

"My mother... she is up to something. What do you know?"

"All I know is she wanted to talk to Elena."

"And yet, I believe she lied about what my mother said to her."

"She definitely did. Though, I don't imagine Elena will tell me the truth if I ask her. She may be nice to me but none of them will ever trust me again after I gave Klaus those coffins."

"I do not need you to ask Elena. I need you to ask Finn."

"Finn?"

"Yes. I worry he is helping my mother with whatever she is planning."

"But... what could she be up to? What end is she aiming for?"

"I do not know. But he has been... oddly peaceful today."

"Elijah, I need to tell you something and it may make you angry if you were jealous yesterday, but I think a bad feeling I have may be relevant."

"I know you spent the night with my brother. He has assured me it meant nothing to either of you. That is all I need to know."

"You still sound unhappy."

"I'd prefer you were not with any of them, for your own safety."

She figured she'd wait to ask him why that was. "Well, anyway, Finn didn't want me to find Sage right away when I offered. He wanted me to wait a day. Then, the way he asked me to sleep with him was almost like he was getting it out of the way, crossing it off a bucket list... it's so hard to put into words because it felt so weird but it seemed like he was in a 'one last hoorah' kind of mood."

"That strikes me as someone who does not intend to live much longer. I must go speak with Elena and demand her honesty. I will let you know what I find. Do not leave for Bulgaria until we know for certain."

"Wait, Elijah," she said. "Are you implying Finn is going to kill himself?"

"I have another fear, Evangeliya. That he and my mother are going to kill us all."

She packed a little slower while she waited for him to get back to her. Truth be told, if Esther was going to kill someone after all, then she would not care if Klaus died. But she didn't think Elijah, Rebekah, Finn, and Kol should suffer because of what he did. They weren't exactly model citizens but they weren't the abusive ones who'd ruined countless lives the way Klaus had. Besides, Evangeliya actually liked those four. Having them die wasn't set to be pleasant for her.

Elijah didn't contact her until that evening, when she'd already had time to find out what'd happened from Damon.

"Brilliant," said Evangeliya honestly. "Truly, truly brilliant for her to come up with the idea to link you all. Have you fall like dominoes. It's horrific but hell is she clever. Though, a little late to act on it. Guess a thousand years of hearing the witches bash her really got to her. She manipulated and brainwashed Finn, I'm sure of it. The fact he preferred to die than to live... all for what she wanted... it's sad. Truly."

"They are gone now," said Elijah. "Finn and my mother vanished. Kol has left to be on his own. And I myself am planning to leave town tonight. I wish to join you in Bulgaria."

"Yeah... no."

"No?"

"No. I need to go alone. And you need to go off alone. Remind yourself what it's like to be away from Klaus. Stop living in his shadow. Take care, Elijah. Let me know if you ever want to act upon your desires."

She took the first plane to Bulgaria, eagerly holding her own hands as she waited for it to land. She couldn't sleep, she could only stare out the window, unable to believe that she would actually be able to set foot in her country again for the first time in five hundred and twelve years.

She picked anxiously at her cuticles, watching as they healed over and over as a car drove her to the hotel she'd reserved. The Petrova House no longer stood, long since having been demolished for the creation of other homes. What remained was the forest, and that was where she needed to go.

All alone, she walked until she arrived, finding the path she and Katherine had taken to bury their family members. Into the depths she went, stopping as she reached the second clearing, where two trees had been a perfect six feet apart, branches curved toward each other like an arch. The perfect resting place, they'd said.

The markers they'd placed were long gone. The dirt she stood on wasn't the same. The trees had changed, so had the sky. She sank down to the ground, closing her eyes before placing her hands on the earth and beginning to cry. (A/N: Yet another random thought that edits would have been made to this scene with that song from Frozen 2 'there's a cave full of memories' and just like flashes of any scenes with her family as she cries.)

She felt awful.

She always thought that when she went back to Bulgaria, it would be after defeating Klaus, emerging victorious and bringing his head to lay it over where the bodies had long since decayed, a sign that she'd avenged them, a sign that she'd won.

"Oh god," she whispered to herself, hugging her stomach when she felt like throwing up. That sensation hadn't bothered her in many, many centuries. Why, then, did her stomach churn so bad? Why, then, did she feel her organs twisting into knots, her body burning from the inside out?

This isn't the way I wanted to do this, this isn't the way I was going to win, this isn't the triumph I expected. I feel nothing because I earned nothing, I did nothing. I didn't fulfill my promise, I didn't see my threat through. I am a failure. I failed them all.

"Татко, Мамо, Искра, Анелия," she whispered. "Свободна съм. Свободна съм и не се чувствам щастлива. Аз съм свободна и не мога да кажа, че съм спечелила. Мои красиви сестри, трябваше да пораснете. Мои прекрасни родители, трябваше да станете баба и дядо. Клаус ви отне от мен. Обещах, че ще отнема живота му в замяна. Но се отказах. Нямах вяра, че все още има надежда да го убия. Страхувах се, че ако не избера този изход, никога няма да бъда свободна. И по този начин ви провалих. Провалих ви и никога няма да си простя това.​​​​​​​" (T: Papa, Mama, Iskra, Anelia. I'm free. I'm free and I don't feel happy. I am free and I cannot say that I have won. My beautiful sisters, you should have grown up. My wonderful parents, you should have become grandparents. Klaus took you away from me. I promised I would take his life in return. But I gave up. I had no faith that there was still any hope of killing him. I was afraid that if I didn't choose this way out, I would never be free. And thus I failed you. I failed you and I will never forgive myself for that. ; Translation corrections made by hanjiisbae on AO3, thank you so much!)

"Don't say that."

She scoffed, not turning around. "You followed me here."

Elijah came closer, offering her a handkerchief. "I worried you would feel this way. It appears I was right. I believe your family would have preferred for you to take another path out and live free instead of dying consumed with revenge, filled with hatred. You had no way of knowing my mother would have helped you kill Niklaus. Even so, I doubt you would have been successful. Niklaus, Rebekah, and Kol would have killed you and I would not have been able to stop them. This is my fault, Evangeliya. I should have sensed something was wrong from the start, I should have protected you from him. I should have stopped him from hurting your family; they never deserved this. I should never have betrayed you, I should never have allowed you to be put at risk because I was fooled."

"I got the freedom I hungered for so bad, but at what cost?" whispered Evangeliya, still not facing him. "I wanted his death more. I feel... I feel empty. I feel disgusting. I always see my promises through, I always, I always pay my debts, and now, I didn't. It doesn't feel like I won, it doesn't feel like they'd want me to live any differently. I-I don't know what to do anymore, I don't know what to do now that I'm free, I never thought I would be a-and I had a plan for how it'd be when I killed Klaus but he's not dead and I didn't do what I promised and I-I can't relax, I can't settle down anywhere, all I can think about is that I failed, that I shouldn't have started to care about what would happen to Elena and Bonnie if those coffins weren't returned, I should have preferred to run off, leave them all to suffer, preferred to spend another five hundred years on the run but I-I saw an out and I was so angry with Stefan that I took it, I took it and I regret it. I regret it, Elijah."

"You have never known freedom," he reasoned. "You were born a servant, you died a servant, you returned a fugitive. You will adjust–"

"I feel guilt. I feel fury. I can't enjoy my freedom and it's my fault. And... it's Stefan's fault, too. If he hadn't taken those stupid coffins, if he hadn't stopped Mikael from killing Klaus, everything would have been fine! I should have let all those brats die from the start, better yet, I should have killed them myself the instant that ritual went astray! I should have killed Stefan once Klaus was lured into town, I should have made sure there were no weak links! I became scared of failure because they got in the way and I-I stopped myself from killing them because I started to care. I never care, I never should, I never wanted to, I never asked for this. This– this guilt– it's an itch that won't go away. I don't know what comes next! All I know is that my mission is not fulfilled no matter how free I am. I haven't stopped wanting to kill Klaus. I still want him gone and I want to kill everyone in that godforsaken town until the streets, the sewers, the falls run red with blood."

"Your anger overwhelms you," said Elijah cautiously. "You are angry with yourself, but you need not be. Evangeliya, they would have wished for you to let it go. Holding onto it will destroy you."

"You don't know my parents, you don't know what they would have wanted." She reached up to her own face, digging her nails in on purpose. "Just let me be. I didn't ask you to come here."

Elijah stood his ground. "I betrayed you once. I have not forgiven myself for it and I never will. I will not leave you behind when you are hurting yourself for something you did out of necessity."

"I should have preferred to die rather than to give over those coffins. I did prefer it but I started to get scared, I was a coward! My parents did not raise a coward! Now leave me alone, Elijah. Let me be alone."

"I will not leave your side."

"Then I'll leave yours."

He caught her before she could speed away, pressing her into a tree. "Listen to me. You saved yourself, they would neverblame you for having preserved your own life and granted yourself time without needing to fear everyone around you. You decided many years ago that you would channel all your emotions into vengeance to stay alive, to stay sane, to not lose yourself in the process. It worked before but now you're finding you have nowhere to put those negative emotions with this new liberty and you are taking it out on yourself but you must not, Evangeliya. Come with me. I will find you a cure for that poison."

"I have the cure," she said. "And I don't plan to take it. I need to see them."

"They will be conjured of your own mind and they will tell you what you wish to hear. They will blame you and you will suffer and you will hate yourself and then, what will your freedom be for?"

"My freedom means nothing if Klaus is alive and able to blame me for something else in the future. I was an idiot for not thinking of it before."

"You were surviving, Evangeliya, as you have always done. You did something he never could do. You let go of vengeance and chose peace. You chose yourself. It is something I envy you for. You separated yourself from Katherine and then you let go of all that fury to protect yourself instead of running yourself down until there would be nothing left. You may think yourself weak for it, you may think you broke your promise but your actions demonstrate you are, in every way, better than Klaus. You are better than all of us. That is what your parents would wish for. To see their daughter as she is now. Powerful and–"

"–and a breaker of promises," she said weakly. "Someone who wasn't strong enough to carry out a threat. I always carry them out and this time I didn't. Let me go. Let me go, Elijah, let me go."

"I will not watch you hurt yourself. I will break your neck if that is what it takes to ensure you wake up without the poison in your system."

"I hate all of this!" she spat, trying to rip out of his grip. "Why can't you just let me do what I want to do? Why won't you let me go?! All my life I've been trapped, trapped in this stupid cycle of servitude. I served Katherine, I serve other older vampires, and I even opened my stupid mouth and I offered to be an informant because I thought I needed to serve the people of Mystic Falls. What kind of weakling does that, Elijah?"

"You were showing a degree of consideration no one else did. You've created a network that has allowed you to survive."

"No, it wasn't consideration, I just cared too much and caring always gets me hurt. I could have waited it out, I should have preferred to die, maybe Finn had the right idea after all, maybe I should have turned off my humanity when I was able to, I'd rather live with no emotions than have them and be miserable and– CAN YOU LET ME GO?"

He leaned further forward, trapping her against him. "That anger, you will require a place to put it and I will not stand back and watch you inflict it on yourself."

She stopped struggling. "Fine. Just let me go. I'll let you come with me so I can get my antidote. Seriously."

He released her, and she immediately reached behind her, grabbing a small branch and lodging it into his chest, watching as he fell, desiccating.

"No one," she leaned down to whisper, "tells me what to do."

She ended up drinking the antidote only because she had formulated a new plan. She decided she didn't owe anyone anything. From this moment on, she didn't want to serve others. If she was going to have to be content with her freedom without vengeance, she wasn't going to be Klaus's informant. In fact, she didn't really want to be anyone's informant.

One by one she went through old contacts, older vampires that she had routinely sent emails to when needed. She blocked their numbers, taking only a brief moment to consider if she needed them. No, she didn't. She'd been even with them a long time ago and had only been updating them out of the kindness of her heart. Not anymore. Katherine didn't break her back helping anyone. Why should she?

The only ones she decided to keep were Tristan, Aya, and Lucien. The first two could keep The Strix informed and she could always use the help of the organization. Better to be safe than sorry. As for Lucien, well, she didn't want to make an enemy of him. And his resources were extensive; he might come in handy one day.

She decided that maybe, in some way, it would benefit her to talk about what she was feeling. If anyone would understand, it would be Lucien.

"It'd been awhile since you called me," he said when he answered. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Klaus isn't dead, unfortunately," said Evangeliya. "Are you able to talk?"

"With you, love? Always."

She relayed the day's events to him, pouring out her frustrations. He was much more open to listening than Elijah had been, allowing her to finish telling him how she felt before he responded.

"Well," he said, "just because you aren't being pursued by Nik anymore doesn't mean you cannot actively be on the lookout for ways to kill him. Vengeance doesn't have to die just yet. You have your freedom. Yes, your family would want that. I did not know your parents but I doubt such gentle people would want you to be hell-bent on enacting your wrath. However I also happen to know you need outlets for your anger. I do promise if I ever learn of a way to kill Nik, I'll let you in on it instantly, if you're willing to be a traitor and avenge your family the right way."

"I don't want to risk angering the other Originals," said Evangeliya. "But I can't lie and say I'm happy even with my freedom. Klaus being alive is still problematic to me. I hadn't realized it until I left Mystic Falls. Until I came back here, the place I hadn't been able to set foot in because of him. He took everything from me and I failed to take it from him."

"I do not see why you care for the other Originals. We have always been their betters. We were born servants, and yet we rose above, made names for ourselves. You, my dear, need to break the chains you're holding yourself down with. Yes, it is wonderful that you are free, and yes, I actually do think you made the safest decision you could in that moment. Caring is not wrong, self-preservation is not wrong. But don't think this has to be the end. I think despite the third failed attempt to end Nik's life, a lesson can be learned– there are always going to be more ways to get it done. Esther cannot be the only one with such power. We need only keep looking. Bide our time and eventually, we will avenge those we wish to. Ourselves, mostly. And your family.

"What you need to do is find a way to gain control over Klaus. To be on the same level as him. I say you build a group of those loyal to you. Stop being the one to message those higher ranking vampires and being their informant. Have younger vampires be messengers for you. Network with them. There are many who are smart and will see that you are older than them and worthy of respect immediately. Others, you can earn through fact-checking them, offering advice, protection, and soon... they will feel they owe you. You will control them, you will know everything about them. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty by threatening them, sending them on dangerous tasks for you in exchange for your appreciation and other compensation. They will feel strengthened by you and they will help you get information, they will help you accomplish all the tasks you wish to, they will be willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy.

"Little by little you will come to command an army of vampires who will want to kill Klaus for you. From his perspective, you will become a force to be reckoned with, but he will be under the impression you serve