"...OH PLEASE, WE ALL KNOW THE STORY OF THAT," Caroline scoffed in annoyance over Rebekah's words. "Caroline, darling, I know perfectly well about Stefan's fading interest in our little doppelganger here. I was at the barn that night." Rebekah tilted her head towards an agitated and impatient Elena, who had conveniently also been avoiding eye contact with anyone at the table upon the start of the her-and-Stefan conversation. "I asked why everyone's been searching so desperately for the cure for her, and why it hasn't been found yet."

"God, can you have a little patience?!" Caroline snapped. "I was literally getting there!" With a small sigh, she continued. "Stefan and I had been thinking about Elena, and how vampirism may not be the best option for her—having to kill, having all this amplified emotion to deal with. You know it's not easy—so we decided to search for the cure."

"And—"

"There've been a few hiccups in all of that." Stefan answered Rebekah's next question before she could finish; the Original Vampire arched an eyebrow in curious suspicion of the Salvatore brother, as well as Caroline's sudden fidgety demeanor.

"...for example...?" When neither answered, a roll of her eyes ensued at their stubbornness. Was sitting the vampires down like dolls against their will really worth finding answers and, for lack of a better term, catching up? "Children, you can't keep mum about such matters."

"I'm sorry, Stefan." Caroline spoke up, raising the concern of the Salvatore boy. "They broke up." Arching an eyebrow, Rebekah's interest was piqued.

"Now that is a development." She drawled, slowing her pace around the table at which everyone was seated. "I can't say I expected that. I thought the fading interest was one of those slumps star-crossed lovers face. When did you break up?"

"After the barn incident." Stefan responded.

"I hadn't yet been daggered then, had I? Was this under wraps?" Shaking her head, Rebekah looked at Stefan with a glint in her eye. "Actually, that's irrelevant. I want to know what happened after that. You seem to have gotten over her awfully fast."

"I found out about this at the 20's decade dance." Elena's head snapped towards Stefan; eyebrows raised at his reply. "I don't know why, but too much had happened, and I knew she was in love with my brother as well. I didn't want to make her choose."

"But I did anyway." Elena scoffed. "Did you lie to me, then? I was coming back through Wickery Bridge for you, Stefan. I died there."

"I never lied to you." Stefan clarified, meeting her eyes. "I told you the part about knowing about your feelings for Damon. And I wanted to find the cure to repent for being the one you died because of."

"So, then," Rebekah cut in. "What stopped the search, exactly?"

"I had been looking for it for Elena. Like I said, it was to mend what went wrong. I thought she would've wanted that. To become human again."

"But...?"

"I realized she seemed to be enjoying vampirism." Rebekah tilted her head, gesturing for him to continue—he kept quiet afterwards, however, much to her irritation. Caroline, who likely matched the same level of annoyance the Mikaelson girl had, huffed and decided to rip the band-aid off.

"She's changed. A lot." She started. "And not in the manner that would give her an existential crisis. She's had bad things happen to her after turning, like the Hunter's Curse, but other than that, she's made decisions that tell us she's changed to her liking."

"Such as?"

"Sleeping with Damon." Elena shot a glare at her friend, as if she'd just accused her of a crime. Caroline looked back at Elena calmly and simply shook her head. "She's been confused between Stefan and Damon for months now, and while she seemed to choose Stefan at first, it faltered quickly. She's also begun to disregard the wishes of her friends, who are simply looking out for her."

"I love Damon!" Elena exclaimed in exasperation, receiving another look of annoyance from Aurelia and Caroline. Stefan, on the other hand, looked indifferent. "I'm sorry Stefan, but I can't lie about it now. And my friends would've understood that." She looked pointedly at Caroline, who scoffed.

"I broke up with you, Elena." Stefan said bluntly. "You don't need to apologize. I'm not hurt by the fact. You can do what you want with your life now. I just felt a little..." He trailed off, looking back down on the table as he began to feel like saying the words, "Felt a little betrayed." Wasn't correct.

And that's when he realized—he didn't feel betrayed by Elena. He was worried about her, but he didn't care about her enough anymore to feel hurt.

What do I feel so betrayed for, then?

His eyes then moved to Aurelia, who had been looking at and fidgeting with her rings, clearly looking tired of the conversation. And suddenly, it made sense.

He cared about her deeply, of course. But. her distance, her disappearances, they all meant something was wrong. And she didn't come to him for it, even after they'd fixed things. He cared more than he realized.

And that, was when Stefan Salvatore found something new out about himself.

Shit. Not again.

"...but Stefan, we had a relationship." Elena continued, bringing him back to the real world. "And that meant something to us. I may love Damon now, but it doesn't mean I don't care even a little about you..."

"Elena," Stefan put his foot down. "It's really fine. If you think I'm trying to mask some kind of hurt, I assure you, I'm not. I'm not in love with you anymore, and I haven't been for a while." Elena shifted in her seat at his straightforward statement.

"...oh." Was all she could get out.

"So, vampire Elena is a trollop who likes bad boys, which explains why Stefan reeks of alcohol. But what it can't explain is why sweet, innocent Elena would be so heartless towards Stefan." Rebekah, who had been curiously watching the interaction, piped up again

"She was sired to Damon." Caroline said.

"A sire bond, that's fascinating. And what do you think about that, Elena?"

"I think you're sad and bored and in desperate need of a hobby." Elena snapped.

"How does this have anything to do with the cure?" Asked Caroline, as Rebekah hummed in response. The young vampire was right. She had a motive, and the drama had entertained her to the point of distraction. She looked over to Aurelia for a second, who was fidgeting—a habit she'd never really enjoyed seeing the heretic partake in. She'd picked up on it over the centuries, and knew it meant something was on her mind.

She just had to figure out what.

"You're right." She began. "We got off the point. Stefan, how do I find the cure?"

"There's a professor. He knows where it is."

"Thank you. And where do I find this professor?"

"Professor?" For the first time since the conversation was pointed at her, Aurelia's voice piped up, causing all heads to turn towards her. Caroline, suddenly realizing she wasn't entirely in the loop, decided to answer.

"Professor Shane. He teaches at Whitmore College nearby. He knows about vampires, and has been helping Bonnie regain her magic since she lost it trying to help Klaus body jump back when the vampires were being rounded up. He knows about the Hunters, the map, and the cure. He's supposedly got the location of the place already."

"Wonderful," Rebekah chimed, satisfied with the contextualization. "That gave me some much needed information. "Again, where do I find him?"

"He's at the college, from what I know." Caroline unwillingly answered, internally smacking herself for falling for the Original's compulsion so easily.

"Perfect." Said Original picked her phone out of her pocket.

"DOES THIS MEAN THAT I HAVE TO GO HOME NOW?" Bonnie Bennett couldn't help but whine slightly as she spoke, understanding that their conversation had become to an end. Professor Shane chuckled at the young witch's enthusiasm; they'd grown close over the past weeks.

"It means I've got a stack of papers that I have to grade by tomorrow." He corrected, making her grin playfully.

"I can take a hint." And minutes later, she was walking down the hall away from the office, her mood enlightened by her growth with magic. Shane had mentioned briefly that it was called, 'Expression', and that it was entirely different from the magic she'd practiced and lost—but if she could perform spells, it was all simply the same.

She continued to smile, even at the stranger that passed by her in the hallway, who'd greeted her with a, "Hello", charming brown eyes and boy-ish smile. She'd have hit on him, but that would've been a bit much, even for her, even if he looked like the familiar, friendly type.

Maybe a little too familiar.

Bonnie then stopped in her tracks, eyes widening as she realized that he was familiar—and spun around to look back at the hallway to find it empty.

"Oh my God—Kol!" And as she swung open the door to the professor's office seconds later and out of breath, she groaned loudly as he and the infamous Original Vampire were gone too soon. "Shit!"

"HELLO, TYLER." REBEKAH SPOKE SMUGLY with her phone pressed to her ear, as Caroline held her head in her hands, assuming only the worst for the Original Vampire, who had just snatched her phone. "I heard my brother made a real mess of your life. Believe me, I can relate. You have my condolences." Spinning away from the annoyed group in her custody, Rebekah smiled proudly. "In fact, why don't you come down to the high school so you can accept them in person?"

"And why would I do that?" Everyone with vampiric hearing could easily listen to the entire phone call—yet, none of them wanted to; Rebekah's plan would only reveal itself to be worse and worse than they could think of.

"Because I have your girlfriend." With all cards in her hand, Rebekah could only laugh as she spoke. "Maybe you have a better shot saving her than you did your mother. Bye now!" With another 'BEEP!', the call was cut, and she spun back around to face the group. "If the plan goes perfectly, which it is, I should have another essential part of it come through," She pointed at one of the large red doors that Aurelia faced from her end of the table. "Those doors, just about—"

"Sister!" Aurelia's ears perked up at the sound of Kol Mikaelson's voice just as the same doors opened loudly. "Look at this! You're even worse than Klaus!" He pulled in with him a shorter, slim man with a bruise on his head. His curly hair was unruly, presumably from a kidnapping—human, obviously, Aurelia realized as he weakly fell to his knees upon Kol's loosened grip on his jacket.

As she looked back up at her—at Kol, she realized exactly why he'd dropped the man down, who was too overwhelmed to even try to escape. He was staring straight at her, head tilted and eyebrows furrowed.

And when he began to gather that Rebekah had conveniently left out the fact that she'd roped Aurelia onto her list of so-called victims, he looked at his sister, eyes narrowed. "You're never up to any good, are you, Rebekah? Where does Aurelia factor into this petty little plan of yours?"

"Kol," The woman he loved had turned in her seat at this point to look at him properly. "When did you get here? You were states away just last night—" With an affectionate smile, he, too, turned his body to face her.

"When I said I'd get to you as soon as possible, I meant it." He replied, earning a soft sigh from her that he couldn't properly discern. "I'm a man of my word."

"I know."

"Now," He looked back at Rebekah, who had picked up the professor from the ground before he could attempt what would've been a failed escape. "I'd like my question answered."

"She was a last minute addition." Rebekah nonchalantly answered, eyes on her human victim. "What, with her erratic behavior and ever-changing feelings. I needed to know what was happening."

"And have you found that out?" He asked. After a small shrug from her, he began to sneer. "Then let her leave. I'm not entirely aware of your little scheme here, but let her choose what she wants."

"No, Kol," Aurelia lowly protested. "I'm not leaving until Caroline and Stefan are fine. She's called the werewolf boy and I don't want my friends wrapped up in this stupid revenge plan she has going." Kol looked at Aurelia with a raised eyebrow, and then towards the two younger vampires she defended. His sneer refused to dissipate as he stared them down with what seemed like nonverbal threat.

"You must be Shane." The attention diverted to Atticus Shane yet again, who'd quietly been praying for his safety. "I've heard enough and more about you. Helping the Bennett witch regain the magic her ancestors took away, and all that. Quite the impossible task."

Shane could only look up wordlessly.

"Let's see, why don't you quickly satiate my curiosity? Years of my life have told me that witches don't just gain their magic like that. What's your little secret?"

"It's a practice called Expression." Shane answered curtly, looking up at her. Rebekah, however, had frozen in shock and could only turn her head to look at Kol, whose eyes matched her own in size and shock. The two Originals then proceeded to look at Aurelia. The Heretic was blinking several times, hands gripping her chair as her knuckles turned white.

"What do you mean, 'Expression'?" Kol spoke up, walking forward to the human. "As in the dark magic?"

"It's a neutral form of magic. Bonnie couldn't use her own because the Spirits weren't for it. Nature doesn't monitor Expression, so there isn't any being stopping her from performing it." Shane corrected as Rebekah forced him up to his feet. "When in control, it doesn't do any harm. That's what I'm there for."

"Do you know that for sure?" Elena asked, worry forming lines between her eyebrows as she dreaded the idea of her best friend putting her life at risk once again.

"Yes—"

"There's no such literature that denies the possibility of the destruction Expression is capable of." Kol grabbed onto his collar as he spoke again. "In fact, there's no known literature that says anything with certainty about Expression. It's been shunned by witches for centuries on end."

"Wait, why are you worried about Bonnie?" Elena and Caroline asked in varying ways. "You can't keep using her for her magic—" Elena was cut off by Kol, who seemed to be getting angrier by the second, his grip on Shane's coat tightening.

"Shut it, doppelganger—" He snapped. "It's not your witch friend I'm worried about; it's Aurelia—"

"Kol, not another word." Aurelia suddenly demanded. "We know nothing about Expression for sure; you don't need to tell them anything when it's baseless." With her words came the looks of all the younger vampires, taking a mix of concern, curiosity, and spite. Stefan, Elena, and Caroline were all unsurprised by Aurelia's rigid sense of privacy, but even this was out of character, especially considering that she'd opened her heart a bit more to Stefan and Caroline. Stefan, especially, felt a pit at the bottom of his stomach as he understood how little he know about her, and how little she'd let hi

The pressing part came when they remembered her newfound—well, sort of newfound—magic, and they couldn't stop themselves from wondering whether this was linked to that.

"Let's not worry about that right now." Aurelia's tone was now calm, and eerily settled. "You want to know about the cure? Find out about it, somehow, anyhow. I'll help for all I care; I want this over with, for all of us." Rebekah looked at her defeatedly, and let Kol handle the professor.

"Fine," She caved in. "Help Kol get information out of him. Two vampires are better than one." Aurelia found herself able to rise from her seat, the pressure of the compulsion loosening its leash on her throat. As she stood up, she exchanged glances with Caroline, who looked at her with pressed lips and worried eyebrows.

"I'm not going to let any of you come to harm." She announced. "I'm only trying to clean up Rebekah's mess—" Rebekah scoffed. "As safely and quickly as possible."

"The savior complex really doesn't suit you, sweets," Rebekah chaffed, walking back towards the table.

"Shut up, Rebekah," Kol sternly spoke. "These dimwits aren't important to me right now." He ignored Aurelia's disapproving gaze. "Come, Aurelia." And he turned to Shane. "Let's have some fun with this one."

Aurelia huffed quietly, entirely displeased with the situation at hand.

A GRUNT ESCAPED SHANE'S FORM AS HE WAS THROWN against the shelved of the crammed custodial closet; Kol hadn't been gentle with him from the start, but he was unfazed mentally; he was more focused on the myths and legends he'd studied as he watched them come to life right in front of his eyes.

"Kol Mikaelson," He recounted his full name. "And there, Rebekah Mikaelson—that must mean..." He turned his head to focus properly on Aurelia, who'd just shut the door behind herself. "You're Aurelia Parker. Original Groupie and rumored witch. Not anymore, though, right?" He laughed slightly. "This is such a trip."

"You're quite the encyclopedia, aren't you?" Aurelia feigned the sweetness in her voice as she walked towards the hunched over man. "He's gotta be one of those humans that want to turn. That's why he seems unaltered by what we're doing."

"No, no," Shane tried to correct. "That's not it." He grunted once more as Kol pulled him upwards to meet his eye. "Ah, ah, now wait—before you do what I think you're about to do—"

"Where's the cure?" Kol's pupils dilated, but Shane only laughed again.

"Compulsion won't work." He breathed out shakily, but much too confidently for Aurelia's liking. "It's a little trick I picked up in Tibet." Kol threw him to the ground, and let Aurelia take a step in the victim's direction.

"I don't have enough patience for this." She said. "See that sink, Kol?" Kol let his gaze fall upon a small sink full of water, before smiling at Aurelia. "He'll have to talk soon." And before Shane could speak, he found himself gasping and trying to wrangle himself out of Kol's grip—oxygen becoming a much beloved, much needed, element to live than ever before.

"Where is the cure?" The Original Vampire asked again, pulling Shane out of the water. With no respond, he could only shrug. "I'm fine doing this, Professor; I have nothing but time." And Shane was shoved into the water, thrashing around and screaming as he found himself unable to breathe yet again.

"Rebekah..." Aurelia muttered with a brief shake of her head. "Don't do anything I don't want you to..."

"AH, GOOD." REBEKAH SPOKE SMUGLY, STARING AS Tyler hurriedly burst through the entrance, looking urgently for his girlfriend. "You're here. It was just getting depressing. One sided conversations are never enjoyable."

"What the hell is going on?" Tyler angrily asked, preparing to make a beeline towards his friends in order to get them out of whatever mess Rebekah had created.

"Okay," The eldest vampire began, her tone louder in a form of announcement. "Carefully listen to the rules." The vampires and hybrid turned to her, confused and yet full of dread. "Stay in the building. No vamp-running in the hallways." She then stopped Tyler by stepping in front