"Hm," Aurelia let out a close-mouthed sigh as she let her head rest on the doorframe, too. "I wish there was something I could do about that—but from what I've seen, any interference in Klaus and his alpha wolf agendas... will only hurt the victim in the situation more." Caroline disappointedly looked away from her, finding it more fulfilling to stare at her feet.

"I know—"

"But it doesn't mean that Klaus will stay mad for eternity." Aurelia found it a struggle to offer words of comfort to Caroline—she could simply narrate what she'd seen happen in her centuries of being part of his family. "You and I both know that's a terribly long time to hold a grudge. And it's not going to last centuries either—give it a few years, and he'll get bored, maybe."

"...Has there been anyone who...has escaped his wrath?"

"Well," Aurelia smiled softly. "The obvious answer is Katherine." And Caroline looked back at the elder, eyebrows frowned in worry. "And you know what Katherine did to Klaus. Tyler may have done something catastrophic, but the consequences of it won't last nearly as long as what she pulled on him." And then she looked past Caroline's face, towards the cloudy sky with waves of white cotton candy that mimicked the foam of seawater. "Perhaps she took that cure to bargain for her freedom."

Cruel or not, Aurelia couldn't skip past respecting Katherine's determination to live. "I can't believe that after all we went through..." Caroline huffed softly, eyes narrowing in spite. "It's gone."

"Yeah..." Aurelia chuckled humorlessly—feeling a wave of the movies of her past lives overcome her. Her sense of deja-vu couldn't be missed, not even when she didn't care too much about the cure this time. "I felt a huge sense of loss when Klaus lied to me about the cure. But I didn't lose my own brother in the process."

Caroline's spiteful gaze into particularly nowhere softened quickly at the indirect mention of Jeremy. "We can't think of that right now." She said. "We need to make plans, a list. We need a funeral or a cover story, or both." She added. "I'll call my mom. She'll know what to do."

Aurelia hummed at the list of things the Forbes girl was planning, finding a sense of relatability at her habit of keeping herself busy during such strenuous times.

"Oh, and Matt. I need to call him, too. After that I'll call mom, or I'll make a list for a casserole—" Caroline shook her head a little. "Whatever people are supposed to do or make in these situations."

"Well—" Aurelia's resting expression quickly contorted as wrinkles formed around and on the bridge of her nose, and her eyebrows knitted closely in disgust. "Oh my God—" Caroline caught onto the very smell that caused Aurelia to stop midsentence, and raised a hand over her own nose, eyes narrowing at the foul scent.

"What is that?" The younger's eyes flickered to Stefan, who had come up behind Aurelia to the doorframe, his own visage matching that of the two blondes. "No, seriously—" Caroline hadn't the faintest idea of what that horrid smell was, but she realized quickly with the dreaded eye contact that Aurelia and Stefan had made with each other—it meant nothing good.

Aurelia wasn't surprised, but still felt dread embrace her nerves. "It's his body—" She admitted, muttering curses under her breath at what the situation had come to. Stefan nodded in agreement, and then shook his head disappointedly.

"It's starting to decompose." He commented dimly. "Call Liz—tell her to get Dr. Fell here."

DR. MEREDITH FELL WAS A PRETTY WOMAN—Aurelia noticed that first before everything else; the brunette stood there with a gentle and polite smile on her lips as she clutched lightly onto her handbag. Aurelia had seen glimpses of her before, but had only heard of her unwavering passion to save her patients—she'd gone far into all of that when she tried to revive Elena's extensive injuries with vampire blood—blood that granted her the immortality she'd been surrounded by so much. "Aurelia."

"Doctor." Aurelia greeted, a somber smile resting on her tired visage. "Should I be surprised that you know who I am?" Meredith pressed her lips together.

"Us Fells," The brunette gestured to herself. "Notorious busybodies." With an eyebrow quirked up as she eyed the doctor from head to toe, before shooting her a look of approval.

"Very well," Meredith gave her another polite smile as the vampire stepped aside to let her in—masking the adrenaline rushing through her own veins at the sight of the legendary vampire. In the centuries of Mystic Falls—and vampire history—Aurelia's name had been one shrouded in much mystery. It hadn't stopped the fearsome reputation surrounding her from growing and spreading across oceans and continents, though—not in the slightest. So, when word spread that woman rumored to be Klaus Mikaelson's most deadly asset graced Mystic Falls with her presence—

Oh, Meredith was itching to meet her. Perhaps ask for a vial of her magical blood.

"He's upstairs—Elena's up there, so—" Aurelia's voice broke through the doctor's thoughts, and her eyes followed the vampire's hand as it reached her lips, a singular finger pressing there. "Don't say anything stupid." A practiced smile made itself visible on Aurelia's visage, and Meredith thought it was sweet—that is, until she realized it was a masked warning, one that was meant to make her skin crawl.

And as she felt Aurelia's intentions take effect like clockwork, Meredith could only gulp and head for the stairs.

"COFFEE?" STEFAN'S OFFER MADE AURELIA SIT UP SLOWLY, elbows leaving the table to make way for the mug. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink since we got to the island."

"How observant." Fingers wrapping around the warm mug, Aurelia eyed Stefan with a sly smile. "I could call that creepy, you know—"

"I like to call it caring—" Stefan shot her a pointed look back. "For a dear friend." With a gentle shake of her head, Aurelia let her smile soften; Stefan, however, began to frown as he watched her fingers twitch slightly, and the cup seemed to stay in its place.

"Well—"

"I'm bumping the A/C." Meredith's voice cut into the conversation, making the two vampires turn their heads to look at the doctor standing, a defeated look spilling onto her soft features.

"I take it the conversation didn't go well." Aurelia, leaving her conversation with Stefan entirely, spoke without looking at Meredith. "You realize we can't leave his decaying body in there much longer?"

"We'll figure it out—" Stefan cut in. "Have the coffee." Aurelia chuckled a moment, admiring the man's insistence. "I mean it—you haven't gotten anything to drink or eat. I can make a sandwich."

"I just..." A soft exhale. "...don't feel like it." Aurelia's stubbornness, however, always came out on top, and Stefan was well aware. Yet, the bothersome feeling that spilled into his stomach only made itself ever-present as he noticed her paling face and sunken eyes. "Let's worry about Jeremy for now."

And as she ended the topic, her tone influential and hard-headed as always, Stefan could only sigh disappointedly.

"I'M STILL ON THE ISLAND—HAVEN'T FOUND BONNIE YET." The once-sarcastic and lighthearted voice of Damon Salvatore was now dim and full of concern. "How's Elena?" Stefan, upon hearing the name of the doppelganger, turned his head to look back into the house past the main doorway—he needed the space from the dreariness of the house for only a moment.

"She's..." He paused a second, phone pressed to his cheek. "...losing it, Damon. We can do whatever do delay things here—"

"But Jeremy needs to be at the morgue before things get ugly." He hummed at Damon's assumption, only to here a frustrated huff and the odd sound of leaves rustling from a sharp kick, presumably. "Damn it. I can't just leave Bonnie behind."

"Damon, the sire bond is our only solution to holding Elena together now." Hands pressed to his forehead, massaging the stressful ache that had settled onto his tired mind, Stefan resented himself for the words he was saying. "I think you need to leave Bonnie now. I can take your place—Aurelia could—" And he cut himself off, the flash of the Heretic's exhausted face reminding him of her state.

"Aurelia could...?" Damon, voice turning curious and all the more worried for the blonde, spoke quickly.

"No—no, she's not doing well right now. We can't ask her to do anything."

"What do you mean? She's gotten worse?" Stefan only sighed through his nostrils, eyes shutting to focus on shutting down the swirling thoughts and assumptions.

"I don't know for sure—she's gotten paler, more tired. I'm sure she knows better than I do what's happening, but—" Another look at the door. "She's not telling me, and I know something's wrong—there's more to this than she and any of the Originals are letting on."

"Did you give her some blood?" Damon's voice, against Stefan's expectations, grew evermore worried and stressed.

"Not since I offered some on the way back, and she declined. Anything else to drink and eat, too, for that matter."

"...It's Bonnie. We know that."

"It's happening too quickly. First, she couldn't perform certain spells, and now her magic's basically sputtering out, too. I can hear her breathing heavily—and she—she's struggling to do things she'd otherwise do effortlessly."

"I don't know what to do, Stef—try giving her some blood again." Stefan, as Damon had expected, was less than happy with the helpless suggestion.

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I'll come home by then. We'll figure it out." As a resounding silence befell the call after Damon's statement, the two brothers could only stress as they thought about the situation at hand. "She's going to be okay."

"And what if she—"

"Hold on—Bonnie?!" And the line went dead, leaving Stefan utterly confused and surprised about the situation at hand.

And hours later, a few of his many questions were answered by the appearance of Damon at Elena's household, with a disheveled Bonnie Bennett resting in the kitchen. Damon's hair—though not as meticulously kept as Stefan's, always remained well-groomed—except for this particular moment, when the raven-haired Salvatore could only throw his arms out in exasperation as he explained the nonsensical to his younger brother.

"She's out of her mind, Stefan. The nutty Professor's got her brainwashed. She wants to create something called an Expression Triangle. She has to kill twelve more people for it." Wide-eyed and frustrated, he shook his baby brother's shoulders. "Twelve people, Stefan!"

"Twenty-four people are already dead, Damon. Isn't that enough?" Stefan could only ask, ensuring that his voice remained calm in an effort to influence Damon with it.

"I mean, this whole flight back home—all she could talk about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the other side." And now, Stefan was confused.

"Drop the veil? What does that even mean?"

"The veil," And there came the ex-machina, in the form of the knowledgeable Aurelia Parker, who made an effort to hide the fact that she needed to take support of the door frame to walk past it. "Is a powerful element that separates the real world—our world, from the Other Side, which I'm sure you two have seen a little snippet of."

A consequential nod from Stefan and Damon followed.

"What Bonnie means is that Silas isn't just going to resurrect the twenty-four lives. He's going to raise all the dead supernatural beings. The Expression Triangle is going to be the ritual needed to make it happen."

"Three massacres," Damon cut in, still wide-eyed—now with realization. "Three hot spots, and the witch spell of the damn century. That's all you need for every supernatural being back here with vengeance."

The sound of something crashing inside the house cut right through the tension—causing all three heads to snap towards the source of the sound with worried expressions and crazed assumptions, before they bolted towards the living room in order to figure out what was happening.

Aurelia noticed two things—the first, that the smell of a rotting corpse had magnified tenfold, which could be explained by the fact that Jeremy's body was now laid on the couch, his peaceful expression an uncanny contrast to the horrific way in which he was put into an eternal slumber.

The second, the unmistakable smell of gasoline, coming from the can Elena had been pouring all over the living room, where she'd now reached her brother's body. "Elena, what are you doing?" Stefan asked, taking the first step towards the distraught doppelganger.

"We need a cover story, right?" Elena looked at the other vampires, sparing a look towards the worried Caroline not far from where Aurelia was—eyes dim, but glistening ever so slightly with tears of grief. "You think I didn't hear Caroline and Aurelia earlier? Well, what are we gonna say- animal attack, tumbled down the stairs?" At the mention of herself and Aurelia, Caroline neared her sister, arms wrapping around Aurelia's arm to seek comfort. "No, we burn down the house with him in it."

"Elena, stop it." Damon could only say, arm reaching out slightly.

"Why? Because you want me to not live in denial? You want me to face the truth? This is the truth, Damon. I don't want to live here anymore." Hand gripping pieces of drawled on paper, Elena shook it.

She threw them to the pool of gasoline, briefly staring as they grew damp with the flammable liquid.

"I don't want these sketches."

She reached out to the gaming console near the television—and another violent throw that made Caroline jump.

"I don't want this Xbox."

She threw the bottle of the inflammable liquid down and reached into a cabinet, pulling out a bottle of alcohol.

"Not gonna need this bourbon anymore. Ric's not here to drink it, I mean, unless you want to bring back every supernatural being back to life just to get him back." She turned to Damon. "Would you? I know you want your drinking buddy back." She walked towards him. "Would you, Damon? Because I wouldn't. I mean- does that make me a bad person? I—I have no idea." She pulled off the ring from Jeremy's finger. "Not gonna need this anymore."

"Elena, stop it!" Caroline exclaimed. "You're scaring me!"

"What else are we supposed to do with the body, Caroline? I mean- there's no room left in the Gilbert Family Plot." She took a picture from the fireplace mantle. "Jenna and- and John took the last spots." She threw the picture frame at the ground and the bottle of bourbon at the wall, shattering it.

Aurelia's eyes widened as Elena pulled out a matchbox from her pocket, realizing that Elena was going through with something she'd regret very quickly. "Elena—stop and think about this—"

"There's nothing here for me anymore, Aurelia!" Elena burst, the tears beginning to spill over her cheeks and drip down to her jaw. "Every inch of this house is filled with the memories of the people that I love that have died- my mom, my dad, Jeremy, Jenna and John, even John. Everyone is dead. I can't—ah!" Elena exclaimed, as the match burned her hand.

Mouths agape and eyes wide as the match fell, until Damon caught it with a slight hiss before it could touch the wet carpet. "I can't, I can't, I can't!" She shouted. "It hurts! Please, just make it stop!" She only cried thereafter, falling to her knees.

"Damon." Caroline said, or rather, begged softly. "Please, just help her."

"I- I—" Damon knelt to her level, eyes soft, eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey, I'm here to help you." He said, as she calmed down with his touch. "I'm here to help you."

"How?" She croaked.

"Turn it off." Gasps quickly emitted from the rest of the group, and Stefan took a step ahead, face paling from the thought of the turbulent idea.

"What? No, Damon don't." Stefan said.

"Just turn it off, and everything will be better." Damon said. Teary-eyed and hysterical, Elena only looked at him wordlessly, lips parting to let out a soft breath.

Aurelia simply looked on; a frown etched on her pretty features as she contemplated how big of a mistake this decision could be.

And she could no longer ignore the glaring, overwhelming feeling that told her they were in for nothing but trouble and pain—just as the light and reflection in Elena's eyes dimmed, and the corners of her lips drooped slowly.

Elena Gilbert's humanity was gone.

"ALL OF THAT—" AURELIA, PLACING A CAREFUL HAND on the covers of Stefan's bed, only sighed as she took a seat. "All of that, and still, she burned away what little was left for her to cherish and hold onto." Stefan, having closed the door to his bedroom, turned towards the elder vampire, a hand suspiciously tucked into the small of his back. "Even her brother's body—"

Aurelia laughed bitterly, cutting herself off.

"Well, it's not like I've done much better with my humanity off." She quipped humorlessly, eyes flickering down to the hardwood floors.

"You know, even if you wouldn't have done any better—" Stefan attempted to soothe her mind. "It doesn't make what she did something to preach." Grey-blue irises darted over to meet that admirable hue of chartreuse, and the corners of Aurelia's lips lifted ever so slightly. "It's going to be a mess to figure out, but I'm willing to let that go for the night."

"I'm surprised you're saying that, Mister Do-Gooder Protagonist." Her tone had shifted quickly, as part of her flawlessly crafted persona—to one of more lightheartedness.

"I think we've suffered enough over the last couple of days. So I just... feel like a break. Away from people who stress me out."

"And yet, here I sit—in your bedroom—because you asked me to hang out for a bit." With a pointed look, Aurelia tilted her head, leaning back to rest on her palms.

"When I say people who stress me out," Stefan mirrored her look, enunciating every word. "I mean people who couldn't possibly be you. Plus, I'd argue you're pretty high up on the list of people who have suffered in the last few days, so I thought you needed the rest, too."

"Please—" When Aurelia began to come up with another sarcastic quip, she met Stefan's eyes once more, and decided against undermining his sweet affection with ingenuity. "Okay, if you say so."

"I do say so." And he pulled his hand away from behind his back, revealing one of Aurelia's favorite things in the world—O-positive. "I have a gift for you."

She was quickly unable to contain the smile that appeared on her lips—the smile that, unbeknownst to her, he loved so dearly. "Stefan..." But when the thought of her weakening, ailing bones and stomach hit her, her shoulders slumped and she turned her head away slightly. "You really shouldn't—"

"Aurelia—" Stefan paced towards his friend, eyebrows knitting as he took a seat next to her. "Why haven't you been eating