EMERY STUMBLED AS she walked in the hallway, feeling as if she was about to fall dead on the ground. She knew using even the slightest bit of her magic was a bad idea but she let anger overcome her.

Now she was regretting it.

A small gasp escaped her when she walked straight into a door, not having noticed it. Her vision was blurry and she could feel the familiar red substance dripping down her nose. "Shit," she muttered, her hands shakily going to to open the door in front of her, revealing the restroom. Just what she needed.

Emery walked in, closing the door behind her. She approached the sink and turned on the water before lifting her head to look at herself in the mirror. She tried not to gag at what she was seeing.

Exhausted green eyes were staring back at her, her skin was pale, she looked like she was about to die any second now. Her eyes drifted to her nose, the blood coating the area. She pursed her lips, bent her head and began washing her face. She sighed once she was done getting rid of the blood on her face, she went to sit down near the door, leaning against the wall, feeling completely drained of energy. 

Emery didn't move until she heard Stefan's shouts. She furrowed her brows at that and found herself reluctantly standing up. She left the restroom and followed the sound of his grunts which led her to the cafeteria. She could hardly walk and kept stumbling every now and then.

She came face to face with Stefan who looked pained as he held a broom in his hand. He then stabbed himself with it making her eyes widen slightly. He stared at the witch with concern, "what are you doing here? Get out!"

"What are you doing?" Emery asked back, "you just fucking stabbed yourself—" she cut herself off when she heard footsteps making her turn around to see Klaus walking in with his hand grasping Elena's arm tightly as he dragged her in.

"Now this is fascinating," the hybrid mused at the sight, "I've never seen this before. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your love for this one girl." He let go of Elena and approached Stefan while ignoring the presence of the witch completely.

She would be lying if she said that didn't sting.

"Why don't you turn it off?"

"No!" Stefan shouted at Klaus's suggestion. The dirty blonde went to sit on a nearby table, "come on. Your humanity is killing you. All the guilt must be exhausting. Turn it off."

"No!," Stefan shouted again, shaking his head furiously.

"Stefan..." Elena mumbled, making her way near Emery who scoffed at the action. She knew that the doppleganger would tell her to do something about it.

"You're strong," Klaus said, getting off the table as he pulled the piece of wood out of Stefan's body, "but you're not that strong. Turn. It. Off."

"No!" He pushed Klaus away but Klaus pushed him back against the wall, staring at him in his eyes as he compelled him while yelling, "turn it off!"

Stefan's face instantly changed, his eyes grew distant as he relaxed in Klaus's hold. The hybrid took a few steps backwards, looking rather satisfied with himself.

"What did you do?" Elena cried earning a shrug from him, "I fixed him." He walked towards Elena and stood behind her, grabbing her shoulders, "but I think a test is in order, don't you? Ripper, perhaps you'd like a drink..." he moved her hair from her neck, "from the doppelgänger's neck?"

"Dude," Emery's eyes widened at what he said, "what the fuck?"

"I'm just giving him what he has been craving," Klaus responded, smirking lightly at the witch who sighed. "You're insane."

"Am I?" His smirk only deepened when he took a step away and allowed Stefan to lunge at Elena, biting her neck as she screamed.

The hybrid then walked towards Emery and wrapped a hand around her arm, "come with me."

"I don't want to."

"You don't have much of a choice," he muttered, dragging her with him out of the door while she tried to drown out Elena's screams, reassuring herself that Stefan would stop in a second.

"Your skin's cold," Klaus commented as they walked in the hallway.

"Colder than your heart?"

"Ouch," he faked a hurt look at her words but all traces of amusement disappeared when she tugged her arm from his hold. "I'd rather you don't touch me."

"There's a reason why I did what I did," he mumbled, hoping she'd understand. He took a deep breath, exhaling through his nose. "Look," he began, "I know you're pissed for what I did back there. But I had my reasons."

"I've known Dana ever since I started school," she said, ignoring his words, "and you just made me watch my friend kill her. I don't care what your reasons are, they're probably just as fucked up as you are."

The hybrid clenched his jaw at her sentence. He tried not to let her words get to him as he spoke, "Elena was onto us, alright? I couldn't just let her find out that we have something going on for your own sake."

"Sure," Emery muttered harshly, throwing her head back against the wall which she had walked over to lean against. She closed her eyes out of exhaustion, "whatever you say."

"Are you okay?"

At his question, she shook her head, being honest for once. A breathless chuckle escaped her, "I thought it's obvious. I look like shit."

"You look fine," he narrowed his eyes at her face, "just a little pale. You shouldn't have used your magic earlier. How bad is this sickness of yours?"

"On a scale of one to ten?" She opened her eyes, shrugging, "ten."

"Is—" he paused, keeping his gaze fixed on her face, "is there any way to fix it?"

"Sure," she mumbled, "it's nothing I wanna do though."

"What is it?"

"That's for me to know."

He bit back any sarcastic remarks, "what do you usually do to feel better?"

"Nothing," she mumured, "it just happens on it's own."

"I might've found the solution to my hybrid problem so we're going to have to go see Tyler," Klaus informed, looking at her with a teasing smile, "need me to carry you there?"

Emery couldn't tell whether he was serious or not but she figured he was joking about the carrying her part so she huffed, "I can walk."

"Well go on then," he stepped away, nodding, "walk."

"I will," she bit back, pushing herself off the wall with much difficulty. She heard him chuckle when she stumbled forward but fortunately, she did not fall. "Stop laughing. It's not funny, asshole "

"I'm not laughing at you," the hybrid cleared his throat, "just at the way you're walking. It just seems as if you've been f—"

"— I'm gonna stop you right there," she interrupted, placing a hand on the wall beside her as she continued walking with him beside her, matching her pace. "It's highly inappropriate."

"Half of the things that come out of your mouth are inappropriate," Klaus retorted, "so you can't really judge me here."

"I'm not judging, I'm just telling you to shut up."

"I can't, I need to entertain myself considering the fact that we're probably going to take a whole day to reach the classroom at the pace we're walking."

"Nobody told you to walk with me," Emery muttered with a roll of her eyes. She earned a hum from the hybrid, "I wanted to. Make up for what I did."

"That's not going to make up for it," she shook her head, "but great start." She finally stopped walking, unable to carry her own body weight. She turned to Klaus who was giving her a knowing smirk. "Tired already?"

"You won't be making fun of me when I'm dead," she spoke which resulted in him letting out a chuckle as he took her words as a joke. He bent down a bit and lifted her off the ground, carrying her in bridal style. "This is what, the second time I'm carrying you? I think I should start charging you for it."