"NO! JEREMY—" WAILS AND CRIES OF DISTRAUGHTEDNESS were the only sounds emitting from Elena Gilbert's form when she'd found Aurelia and Stefan leaving the cave with a body cradled in the latter's arms; that had been hours ago, when they agreed to meet the doppelganger and her boyfriend outside the cave, where there was little chance of an ambush. "Oh God, oh my God—it's fine, right—?"

Aurelia, despite her rough relationship with the young vampire, found it increasingly difficult to look at how she cried and grieved the only family she had left. "How did this happen?" Damon, who was also unable to keep his eyes on his girlfriend for more than a few seconds, winced at another pitiful sob.

"It was Katherine." The name made the elder Salvatore's head shoot up to look at his brother with disbelief and incredulousness—Katherine bloody Pierce hadn't been caught alive or dead by anyone in their group for months now, and had suddenly just shown up to kill Jeremy and whisk the cure away from them? Elena had mentioned that it was her who she'd been ambushed by, and that was enough to send Damon reeling with confusion. Now—she had caused an even bigger mess. "She must've been following us this whole time." Stefan summarized his answer to account for the tense and surreal atmosphere surrounding the group.

"What about the cure—or Silas?" Aurelia shook her head at Damon's question, head resting on the tips of her fingers.

"There was a tomb—and it could've been just for show..." She clicked her tongue disappointedly. "But it had the imprints of a human silhouette—the stone surrounded the silhouette aged differently—so if there was anything at all, and I'm thinking there was... it's gone now."

"Hold on—" Damon couldn't stop his barrage of questions, finding his mind become dizzier and foggier by the second. "You," He pointed at Aurelia. "Didn't believe in Silas even once. What changed that?"

"Katherine wouldn't drain Jeremy of blood for sport, not when her goal was time-sensitive." Aurelia's answer made it look as though she had everything figured out, but what irritated her the most is despite the answers she had, she couldn't make any sense of the mess they were entangled within. "There has to be a reason for her to kill him like that—and think about it: Silas is supposed to be an immortal who was immobilized for two millennia. What would wake him up?"

"Blood." Stefan completed, looking distressed than ever. "Katherine probably did it because he was attached to the cure or something."

"And where the hell is Bonnie?" When Damon asked the question that no one knew the answer to, the group's mood dampened further, and it was quiet for a moment—save for Elena's pleading sobs.

"I have no idea. She went looking for Jeremy last night. She never came back." Stefan answered hurriedly, eyes falling on the brunette's kneeled posture in the distance—under the shade of a tree. "Damon, Elena is there—" He gently pointed in the needed direction. "Waiting for the Gilbert Ring to bring Jeremy back to life." Damon sighed out of slight relief at this—however worried he was, there was at least a smidge of good news.

"Okay, fine—" He replied, beginning to walk past Stefan. "I'll wait with her." But when Aurelia stopped his paces with a firm grip on his bicep, he raised his eyebrows and queries at her, suddenly feeling unsettled by her melancholic, serious mood. "What?"

"Damon," Aurelia lowered her voice to a whisper, eyes shooting to Elena as she spoke. "Jeremy is—was one of the Five. A Hunter, for heaven's sake..." And that caused him to cower back into his misery for his girlfriend.

"He's supernatural..." He observed, earning nods from Stefan and Aurelia. "The ring won't work anymore—"

"No, it won't." Aurelia replied, jaw clenched slightly at the gravity of the situation. "I thought of digging up a spell to make a ring like mine for him—" When she said that, Damon's eyes flickered to her infamous ring. "But it wouldn't have been of any use; if I had a ring like that for him, it could only work if he was wearing it before he died."

"So there's no bringing him back now." When she disappointedly nodded, Damon squeezed his eyes shut from helplessness. "She won't survive this." And then she shook her head, finding that words could only fail this moment. "I'll find Bonnie—you, the both of you, get her off this island now." Damon's gaze lingered on Aurelia for a brief moment longer than it had on Stefan. "Aurelia, I know that they killed—" He was silenced quickly by a raise of her hand.

"I'm not that cruel. As much as I would've wished for the score to even itself out initially—Jeremy never chose this. He was pulled in here by his sister—so his death means more to me than just catharsis for Kol. I'll help."

"Thank you." Damon said, a grateful, yet sad smile painting his lips as he gently placed a hand on Aurelia's shoulder. That she'd be the most collected in this situation out of all of them—to be able to rely on her—he hadn't expected that just yet. "I should go find Rebekah and ask her for help."

"Damon, before that," Stefan stood in his brother's path with a tone of urgency that alerted both vampires he was with. "If you find Bonnie, or are able to get through to her in any way—please make sure she doesn't practice anymore magic." When he said that, his gaze flickered to Aurelia for a second, and he watched her shoulders tense up. "You saw what happened when we released you."

"Stefan, you don't need to—" Before she could protest, Damon silenced her quickly with a small glare that only said— 'Let us look out for you, you little shit.', and she found herself cornered by her once-best friend's hostile protectiveness over her.

It almost made her smile, knowing she was cared for in more ways than she expected, by more people than she would've previously assumed, such as the sarcastic and humorous Damon Salvatore.

"I'll do what I can." With those words from him, the group had separated quickly—Damon disappeared easily into the mess of forests and shrubs that covered the center of the island, and Stefan took Jeremy's body in his arms to carry him back to the boats they'd travelled to the nightmare island in. Aurelia walked a few steps behind Elena with some luggage, eyes focused on the shocked and silent brunette, who only mindlessly stared at her feet with every step she took.

And when they settled into one of the boats, luggage balanced across the floor, and Jeremy lying next to Elena, Aurelia took a seat next to Stefan and sighed softly. "This is crazy." She mumbled, gently and quietly—Elena felt like a rabbit that would run at the slightest trigger, she thought.

"Yeah," Stefan paused a moment when she leaned on him subconsciously, arm and shoulder resting against his own. "First the cure, then Katherine, then your magic, now this—" Aurelia frowned, looking at her fingers as she fidgeted with her rings again.

"You don't have to worry about that, Stefan." She assured with a heavy exhale. "I can still perform a little magic..."

"You went from one of the most powerful beings in supernatural history to being able to perform a little magic?" He turned towards her with an unimpressed glare. "You're not fooling me." Aurelia rolled her eyes, stubbornly pressing her lips together. "I'm not letting go of worrying about you until this is resolved. Because—you know—if it stays unsolved, then you die." He huffed a little, looking away. "And I can't imagine myself living like that."

"Aw—" Aurelia found no other way to respond than to deflect with humor. "You're cute, lover boy." Clearly, despite her humor, her cheeks and neck grew warm quickly—and she could've sworn that if she were human, she'd be a beetroot hue there. Stefan only shook his head, unable to help the brief smile grazing past his lips like the wind.

I've just gotten you back, so I'll fight Satan before I lose you again, he thought—and he wished he could tell her.

But the two looked ahead at the mourning sister, and reminded themselves that their conversation could take place at a later time.

"JEEZ—MY NAILS—" CAROLINE FORBES, THOUGH MORE than happy to offer Elena a clean house to come to after a long, scary trip to a big, scary island, was immensely confused and annoyed as to why the burn mark in the floor of the foyer refused to leave its place. She didn't want Aurelia happening upon the place at some point in the future, only to remember something extremely unpleasant as soon as she walked in—and yet, she swore internally as her nail scraped along the floor hard enough to risk it tearing off its bed. "Come on—" And she continued to scrub the floor furiously, lips pursed in a sort of fish mouth in complete focus.

Focus that broken when the front door of the Gilbert House practically broke down—the sound it made only caused Caroline to jump slightly from her position, wondering why they'd come back with no notice. But never mind that, so she rose to her feet with a sweet smile to greet her dearest friends.

"Hey, you guys are home," She chirped, looking down for a moment to drop the scrub she'd been using the clean the floor. "I was trying to clean the burn mark where—" But when her eyes flickered back to welcome the group home, she only froze in shock.

The sight of Jeremy's unconscious—no, dead body lying in Stefan's arms, and a numb-looking Elena next to him, was enough to make her take a step back to process everything that could've happened on that island.

"...I—uh—couldn't get the spot out..." She finally completed, her tone devoid of its initial cheerfulness, and Stefan looked at her solemnly to shake his head from side to side slightly, only confirming that he was, in fact, dead.

"Come on," Elena said, gesturing towards the staircase. "Let's get him upstairs." Stefan nodded at her direction and followed her upstairs, leaving a quiet Aurelia—who Caroline hadn't noticed in her surprise—to shut the door behind her.

"Hey, Care," Aurelia looked and sounded exhausted, as exhausted as one could be from a trip like that. "Did Klaus give you a hard time?" She posed her question as she dropped everything she was carrying on the floor, and placed a palm on her aching forehead in an attempt to soothe her sore mind. "When'd he get out?"

Caroline had been left to babysit the Original Hybrid while everyone was away on the unpredictable trip—and had suffered a couple times: Klaus bit her, then healed her—and then ran her dearest boyfriend out of town again. But given Aurelia's paler face and tired eyebrows, she decided she'd omit that information from now—because God help Klaus if Aurelia found out he bit Caroline. "Uh...a couple hours ago—it was fine. He was obviously a brat, but hey, I'm alive and healthy." After eyeing the younger up and down for a few seconds, Aurelia hummed in satisfaction, deciding that Caroline was, in fact, fine. "But Aurelia, what just—" As Caroline was about to refer to the dead body being laid to rest in his room, Aurelia placed a finger on her own lips and shook her head furiously. "Oh—Okay?"

"Come on, let's get a snack from the kitchen," And before she even finished speaking, she was pushing Caroline towards the sink swiftly and quietly, wrapping her fingers around the knob to run the tap water at its greatest speed. "Okay, sorry—I didn't think I would've said anything to help if they were listening in on us." The Heretic breathed out a sigh of relief, and looked towards the tap of gushing water, indicating that the disturbance would stop anyone from hearing too much.

"What happened?" Caroline only asked the biggest question she, and anyone else in her position, would have, hand supporting her body weight on the kitchen counter. "I just saw that and didn't know what to say, even."

Aurelia closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair. "I know, I know—I'm sorry we couldn't give you a heads up. It was Katherine." At the mention of the woman that sired her, Caroline's face nearly turned red as she turned spiteful rather quickly and bombarded Aurelia with all sorts of questions. "She must've followed us—tracked us for weeks so that she could've swiped the cure. And I know I said Silas wasn't real—but I think he might be." As Aurelia spoke, she processed her own words with a tired mind and closed eyes. "My guess is that the cure was attached to him, and he needed to be freed for it to be retrieved. Katherine offered Jeremy up as a blood source. I ran into her shortly afterwards, but she got away."

"Damn it—" Caroline smacked the counter, surprising Aurelia slightly—the younger had never been one to react violently. "This is the worst possible time for her to have come back into our lives—but at least Jeremy's coming back, right?" At the question, the Heretic's gaze darted alarmingly to her sister. "Because of the ring..." And when all the light of hope left Aurelia's eyes at the assumption, Caroline only felt herself resign to the dawning of a realization. "Oh—he's a Hunter, oh my God."

"Yeah."

"Does Elena know?" Aurelia shook her head and shrugged one of her shoulders.

"I don't know—she should; as much as I'd hate to admit it, she's smart." She commented with a tilt of her head, eyes angled to the wooden floor. "She's likely in denial. I have no other guess for that—and when she realizes, I don't know what good will come out of it." Heaving the millionth sigh of the day, Aurelia took a gentle hold of Caroline's hands, wrapping them in her cooled grip. "I know there's been a lot of crap the last few days Caroline, but I can't even think of all of that right now—" She spared a glance at the staircase, making sure no one was there. "All I know is that Jeremy's gone and this will wreck Elena. I don't know about the consequences of that for any of us."

"What kind of consequences?"

"I can't answer that because I can't think of anything—but I also don't see any optimistic directing in which this situation will go." Comfortingly rubbing Caroline's thumb with her own, Aurelia shook her head. "You're her friend—and I know you'll help her. That's good—but you need to look out for yourself here, too. People do remarkable things in the name of grief. I don't need Elena hurting you for any reason."

"Aurelia, I have to take care of her..." Caroline's protest made the elder soften in her gaze, and smile sadly. "She's my best friend."

"I know—and I'm not telling you not to." She said. "I'm saying that you need to maintain a balance. And I mean this in any and every case—don't lose yourself or your security to help other people." Caroline, finally understanding her sister's point, nodded once, and stuck her arms out for Aurelia to stand in between. "What?"

"You look tired," She was right, as a matter of fact, Aurelia was half-dead. "So I thought a hug might help destress you." Aurelia, in her exhaustion, smiled and close mouthed a laugh at the younger's inherent ability to offer soothing comfort. "Come on—" And she walked into Caroline's embrace, allowing the arms to tighten around her and calm her nerves down.

"SO," CAROLINE HAD MANY QUESTIONS—ENOUGH FOR Aurelia and Stefan to answer for a good while, and though the two were tired of thinking about the nightmare trip, the look on the youngest vampire's face when she asked an urgent question, or the way her eyebrows sank and her eyes widened ever so slightly—Aurelia swore she'd put herself to death if she ever refused to answer to Caroline in a state such as that. "How long has she been like that? In denial?"

Aurelia and Stefan exchanged glances, and the former spared a glance at the running sink—they'd stopped it sometime ago, until Stefan came by to catch them on the situation. "Ever since she saw his body—she hasn't said anything except for the fact that he's going to wake up. And Aurelia told you—it's the denial."

"Well, she can't stay like that forever..." Caroline was quite obviously stressed out with everything that had been going on, and closed her eyes for a moment to focus on taking deep breaths until she calmed down.

"You're right." Stefan hummed. "But we shouldn't do this until we know Bonnie's okay. Maybe once Damon's back—" Aurelia cocked up an eyebrow at his to-be proposition, easily guessing where it would go.

"You'll use the sire bond to convince her everything's fine?" She asked, and had nearly forgotten how the pair were linked by the infamous sire bond until now. When Stefan looked at her with a sense of hopelessness and desperation, she huffed, leaning back against the counter. "I don't even know if that'll work with a situation this extreme. What would he say to her? That she should stop being in denial and accept the facts?"

"I'm not in denial." All three heads snapped to look at the subject of their conversation, who'd changed out of her clothes from the trip into comfortable home wear. Aurelia was the first one to make eye contact with the brunette, who'd only looked at her with a sense of numbness. "I know that he's supernatural."

"Then why—" Before Caroline could ask, Elena interrupted her quickly.

"Did you notice that his tattoo's gone? That probably means..." She pursed her lips. "He's fulfilled his supernatural destiny—so maybe he's back to normal. It's possible, right?" Elena's eyes shot over to Aurelia suddenly as she asked her question, as though she was expecting an answer from the centuries-old Heretic.

Aurelia only frowned. "I don't know if I can give you the answer you want to hear, Elena." The way she chose her words was careful and precise, speaking gently and softly, so as not to startle or send Elena over the edge.

"Well, I think it's possible." The doppelganger replied bitterly. "There's a chance, and it may be tiny, but it's hope and I'm gonna hold onto that hope with everything I've got because there's no way that my—" And she cut herself off suddenly, eyes falling to the floor as the other three straightened their spines in alarm. "There's absolutely no way that my brother's dead."

When Elena nodded to herself, she looked as though she was trying desperately to convince her own mind with the words she let out.

"I'm not in denial."

"WHO WAS THAT VOICEMAIL FOR?" SOME TIME LATER, Aurelia spotted Caroline sitting quaintly on the porch of the Gilbert house, phone pushed to her ear as she spoke relatively quietly to the voicemail recording. Aurelia had initially thought that she was talking to someone, but upon closer inspection, she'd realized the younger was asking that someone to call her back.

Caroline turned her head towards the main door, smiling softly at the sight of her approaching sister, who leaned on her side against the doorframe with a fond smile. "It's not really important." She tried to dismiss, but a light warning look from Aurelia made her sigh. "Well, you know how I said babysitting Klaus was fine while you guys were gone?"

And Aurelia frowned, preparing to make her adoptive brother scream bloody murder.

"He ran Tyler out of town—" Her shoulders relaxed at the fact that Caroline was safe, but pitied the Lockwood boy's situation—as much as she may not have approved of his incessant back-and-forth and its strenuousness on his girlfriend, she'd understood that he didn't choose to have the