🌌DayStorm🌌

Kai afforded her a huge grin while he swallowed. "Uh, well I spent eighteen years in abandoned restaurants and now I'm showing off the fruits of my labor."

Rosalie gave a roll of her eyes. "Yeah, I don't mean the Mystic Grill, you idiot. Obviously, I know you're eating because we've been here a whole night."

"Oh, you mean like, here here, in Mystic Falls," Kai nodded to himself like he was truly only just understanding her. He chuckled then, eyeing her seemingly embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm nervous. You know you're like, really pretty."

"I'm flattered," said Rosalie flatly. She crossed her arms tightly in front of her. "Oh wait, I'm not…because I don't trust a word you say."

"You can trust that," Kai said easily and shoved eggs into his mouth. "You're not going to eat?" He pointed at her untouched plate with his fork.

"I'm not hungry."

Kai snorted, swallowing before he spoke again. "Like you said, we've been here all night. I know you're hungry. I can make something else if you don't like it."

Rosalie snapped. "I don't want anything! What I want is for you to—" A few of the bottles at the empty bar burst and splattered the counter and floor with alcohol. Guilty, Rosalie tucked her arms deeper under her arms.

Kai watched with amusement. "Don't worry, it happens. I mean…we did absorb a ton of magic. I mean, magic's practically oozing out of the both of us. Remember the manager?" He snickered. "Poor guy!"

Rosalie did not share the sentiment and instead cast a glance at the corpse of the man now lying on the floor.

"Oh, c'mon, laugh a little. We're both the same, aren't we?"

At that, Rosalie's head snapped in his direction.

"I mean, you and I both eat magic and then eventually lose it," Kai shrugged. "But unlike you, I don't feel guilty when it gets away from me a little bit. So what if the guy's dead? He wasn't very nice to begin with. Think he had the heart attack well deserved, although I will point out that was unintended. Again — magic's oozing out of me — but, hey, maybe it was a step up getting him to vomit uncontrollably. Although the smell, am I right?"

Rosalie watched him laugh at the dead man's unfortunate last minutes on Earth. "I went off on your dad for you..."

Kai stopped eating then. He looked at Rosalie questioningly.

Rosalie took it as her sign to continue. "I met him last month. Real nice guy, by the way," she scoffed lightly. "Can totally see why you are the way you are. Hated and isolated over something you can't control — what was supposed to happen, am I right?"

"They hate me over something I literally don't control," Kai said, gesturing towards her. "Your words?"

Rosalie nodded, recalling their brief moment at the Whitmore bar. "You knew exactly what I was talking about then." Kai silently picked up a few more eggs with his fork. "Your brother and sister turned on me the moment they saw my birthmark. We'd been friends for months before that day, even done magic together. And then your father…" Rosalie smiled sourly, shaking her head, "He didn't even give me the chance to blink before he attacked me. And that was after I was kidnapped and tortured by a human because of this damn birthmark…"

Kai chewed in the same silence, though his face was now stoic. "Not fun, is it?" He said, his voice hard.

"Not at all," Rosalie answered in the same manner.

Kai put his fork down on his plate and studied her. Rosalie remained unphased. "You have friends," he said in an accusing voice like he couldn't understand the phenomenon.

"Oh, see, you make friends when you don't kill people for fun," Rosalie faked a sweet smile.

"Yeah, but in the end they'll just turn on you. You're already down 3, aren't you?"

Rosalie's smile faded. "Screw you, Kai. I have done nothing to you."

"But you're going to do something for me," Kai assured, "You, dear Rose, are going to tell me why I am the way that I am…why I was born like this."

"How would I tell you?"

"Because I know that you're not from this time. Yeah, Bonnie and Damon talked a lot before they knew I was there. I know you're from, like, ancient times or whatever. So, you want something to drink while you tell me?"

"Nothing about this is funny, Kai," Rosalie said, getting really tired of seeing his stupid grin. "The only reason I'm here is because you threatened to kill innocent people."

"Well, hey, that was for your benefit too!" Kai exclaimed. "You're making things explode left to right. Imagine you do that to some poor guy out on the street? Yikes!"

"I'm not—"

Rosalie's phone went off and since Kai had taken it the moment she went with him, he had the pleasure of seeing who was calling.

"Ooh, who's Enzo? Oh, wait!" Kai made a dramatic gasp. "I know that name!"

Rosalie stiffened in her seat. "Give me the phone!"

Kai pulled his hand back over his shoulder with the phone. "Oh, I definitely remember! You think he's calling with his new friend? What was her name again?"

"Kai, give me the phone!" Rosalie leaned over the table with her hand out. "Give me the—"

"Make a sound and you die," Kai threatened her before taking the call. "Hello, there! Dear Rose can't come to the phone right now. We're currently on a little breakfast date—"

Rosalie gritted her teeth together. "Give me the—"

More bottles began to burst at the bar.

"Sorry, little explosive, mind you. Still, I think she's a keeper! She's real easy on the eyes! Bye!" Kai hung up and then used magic to destroy the cellphone.

Rosalie brought her balled fists to her mouth, words fleeting from both her mouth and brain. Kai was wearing a huge smirk across his face.

"I think that should do it, don't you think?" He chuckled. He took a look at the bar and sucked air through his teeth. "Do you think they'll get some reimbursement for all that stuff? Actually," he snorted, "maybe it doesn't matter. They'll be so focused on the dead manager they won't know what's gone missing."

Rosalie shook her head as angry tears welled in her eyes. "You are a—"

Kai rose from his chair, ignoring the next things that burst around the Mystic Grill. "You'll want to follow me," he said confidently.

Rosalie looked up at him from her lashes. "I'm not going anywhere else with you," she muttered.

"Why are you so worked up?" Kai bent down in front of her and met her gaze. He rested a hand on the top of her chair. "Was that a special friend? Because from what I heard back at the cemetery, it sounds like he kind of moved on."

"I'm starting to get why Bonnie threw an axe at you. It's a shame that she missed."

Kai let out the tiniest of chuckles. "Well, it's not so much that she missed as it was the fact that I was basically immortal in the prison world thanks to my dear coven."

"Shame, I would have desiccated you instead…leaving you lucid enough to understand what was going on but terribly weak to do a damn thing about it."

"Oooh, now it's getting interesting," Kai said with a strange fascination in his eyes. "That's specific. Who was the lucky fella? Or girl? I don't judge."

Rosalie swiped the fork off her untouched plate and stabbed Kai on his chest. He grunted and fell back on the ground. As Rosalie went to flee, Kai used magic to throw her forwards. She hit a table and fell flat on her back on the ground.

"Ha, that was fun!" Kai exclaimed, grunting again as he pulled the fork out of his chest. He hissed at the lingering pain and sat up. "But if you want to see Elena Gilbert alive, I'm going to need you to follow me."

Rosalie slowly sat up and shook the daze of her fall. "Elena…? What did…what did you do…?"

"Now don't get mad, but you weren't the first girl I met with last night." Kai's smirk was absolutely dreadful.

~ 0 ~

Rosalie followed Kai into the Mystic Hills high school. It was completely empty for the winter break. She didn't do so quietly as the fact that Kai had intercepted a call from Enzo implied that he would realize something was wrong and would alert the rest of their friends.

"And don't you think I accounted for that?" Kai said smugly. "It's called a cloaking spell, my dear Rose."

"Why the hell did you take Elena and bring her here?"

"You know the manager thing from last night? Well, he wasn't really my first victim," Kai shrugged. "But he was the breaking point for me. I need to control my magic, much like you do. I've never had this much magic in me and, truth be told, I never got to practice like the rest of my siblings. If I start to merge with Jo and my gushing fountains of magic turn her into my last victim, then I'm not gonna have a twin for the merge. So I need a test dummy."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, not you of course!" Kai laughed at Rosalie's casually. "I like you," he nudged her side. She immediately recoiled from him and stopped walking in the hallway. "Agh, are you still mad about the phone call thing? I was doing you a favor."

"You were being a child! Nosy as hell!"

"I was helping you move on!"

"I have nothing to move on from! All you did was basically tell my friend that I was in danger!"

"Really?" Kai scrunched his face.

"I don't go on dates because the last time I did, the guy tortured me."

"Wow, talk about bad dates. Well, then you should consider our breakfast date a huge step up!"

"That was not a date," Rosalie declared. "Now where the hell is Elena?"

"So here's the thing," Kai put his hands in front of him, "I was dead serious when I said I wanted to know why the hell I was born this way and until you answer all of my questions…I'm not going to lift the cloaking spell off Elena Gilbert. Oh, and by the way, you should know that I coated her in vervain so every moment you spend wasting time is another moment she spends in agony."

Rosalie glared at his grinning face. "I wish I had an axe right now."

"I'll take that as a 'deal'!" Kai said, turning to continue walking.

"I want to see Elena," Rosalie said as she followed after him.

Kai ignored her and walked into a random classroom. "Ah, you know, schools have not changed much except for the chalkboard. We used to have chalk boards back then. I hated those."

"You went to public school?" Rosalie said, surprised. "I can't imagine that was a good idea for the rest of humanity."

"Well, I made it as far as first grade before we were pulled out," Kai grabbed a random marker and started doodling on the white board. "My powers didn't really develop until people started pissing me off. I siphoned this little boy — turned out he was also a witch in training — so after that, my father decided to complete our education outside of the public eye. He didn't even bother with the rest of our siblings. Directly to home school they went. What about you? Any school houses back then?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "I'm from the first century," she answered. "Present day Greek and Turkey, if you were curious about where your bloodline descended from."

Kai tossed the marker over his shoulder and made a show of giving her his undivided attention. "Really? Greek? Turkish? Those are some really far-off ancestors."

Rosalie watched him sink into the teacher's chair. He then proceeded to stare at her waiting for her to continue her story.

Rosalie wasn't going to waste her breath. "I don't know."

"Come again?"

Sighing, Rosalie leaned back on a desk from the front row. "You asked me why you were born the way you are, and I don't know. I don't know because I don't know why I was born the way that I am. None of my friends ever knew why. We just were. There are always theories, like the fact that we were born under a red moon. But to say that we had something concrete, that would explain why we were born this way would be a complete lie."

Kai had dropped all of his childishness and leaned forward on the teacher desk. "So there were more of us?"

Rosalie nodded. "Your birthmark is different from mine because you didn't descend from my bloodline. It makes me wonder if the Gemini coven descended from my friends. It's gotta be them…"

"Who were the others?"

A soft smile came to Rosalie's face just remembering her friends. "There was Leyla…and Miray…and Eren, and Ali…and Aksel…and me. We were all born on the same night." She looked at Kai then. "Six babies were born on the night of a red moon and back then, people assumed a red moon was of Lucifer, the devil. The coven we were a part of thought of us as punishments for something that they had done without noticing. And that was before they realized the kind of ability we developed."

Rosalie saw Kai swallow hard. "The first time I siphoned was my brother's talisman," she confessed. "I, uh, was five, and I got really angry with him because he wouldn't let me have the talisman. And so I grabbed it from him and…and this red energy smashed the talisman into pieces. I was so scared. I mean I was five. What the hell did I know? I was terrified when my brother told our parents."

"And what did they do?" Kai asked quietly.

"It turned out that a month before, Ali had done the same thing to one of his mother's objects. He siphoned it when she wouldn't let him go with his father to hunt. And then a few days, my friend Leyla did the same thing to her father's ring. One by one the six babies that were born under the red moon started to siphon. And eventually the coven found out. We were immediately isolated. No parent wanted their child to play with the freaks. So me, Leyla, Miray, Erin, Ali and Aksel became our own little group. Back then we didn't know that we had siphoned. The word had literally not been invented. We didn't even know we could siphon from people. I just learned about that not too long ago. We just knew that we couldn't do magic on our own and that if we drew from an object infused with magic, we would have our own magic for a little bit."

"Must have been awful…" Kai said, his voice knowing. Rosalie nodded at him. "But you had those friends, right? So you weren't really all that isolated."

"If you're comparing yourself to my situation, then I suppose you're right. Because as bad as things were, we always had each other. We protected each other, we hid together…and we shared the same pain."

Rosalie couldn't count the times she and her friends would watch the other children of their coven be taught traditional magic by the elders. They were loved and cherished while she and her friends were demonized.

Rosalie walked through the woods of their settlement and spotted Leyla hiding behind a tree, crying. "I found her!" Rosalie shouted and darted towards the blonde girl. "Leyla, hey! What's — what's going on? Why are you out here all on your own?"

Leyla had her head buried under her arms. "It was…it was awful…" she said in-between sobs.

Rosalie bent down beside Leyla. She heard the footsteps from the rest of their friends as they finally caught up. Like her, Miray fell to her knees beside Leyla asking the latter the same thing.

"All Leyla had done was touch the wedding dress her cousin was supposed to wear for the ceremony," Rosalie explained bitterly. "She thought it was pretty. Her aunt hit her and told her she ruined the dress and they couldn't possibly use it anymore. Leyla was cursed, she was a demon…how could the bride wear something touched by a demon? It would ruin her future. Meanwhile, poor Leyla — and the rest of us — couldn't go to the ceremony. We were 8, by the way."

While the wedding ceremony commenced, the group of children were cooped up in Leyla's home, still trying to calm her down. Aksel and Erin, however, were by the door which they had subtly cracked open to see the celebration.

"This is so wrong," said Ali angrily. He stood to the side on his own, arms crossed tightly, and scowling into the darkness. "Not to be invited?"

"Ah, you should be used to it by now, Ali," Aksel said nonchalantly. "We are never invited to anything anyways."

"It's not fair!" Ali said, huffing. "Everyone looks at us like we're repulsive."

"You are not helping," Rosalie said. She was sitting next to Leyla on the ground, rubbing a hand on Leyla's back.

"Shush, I want to hear!" said Erin. Aksel shrieked when Erin accidentally opened the door wider in her attempt to get a better look.

"Stop that!" Miray said, equally afraid. "If they see us trying to look, we're going to get into trouble! Close the door!"

"We were ostracized for our power," Rosalie said grimly. "We were never invited to any of the celebrations and every year, things got worse. There was a little hope amongst our parents that when we turned thirteen, we would finally develop real power. We didn't, obviously. We stayed weak."

"Weak?" Kai cut in. At first he seemed like he was angry, but in the end a laugh won him over. "You think we're weak? Oh, Rose…"

He stood up from his chair and moved around the desk, walking up to Rosalie, much too close for her taste. He had no idea about boundaries, or at least that's what Rosalie wanted to think while he stuck his face right in front of hers.

"We are nothing like the weak." It didn't bother him that Rosalie had turned her head away from him. "The weak don't survive. We have power, we just take it differently. But we're powerful too."

Rosalie wanted to lean away but she was locked between him and the desk. "Can you, like, take a step back or two…?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Kai chuckled and stepped back like Rosalie wanted. She immediately darted to the next desk. "I got caught up in the moment! Agh! It's just so nice to finally meet someone like me and even more that I know more than you!"

"That's what you got from everything I said?" Rosalie said, unimpressed with him.

"We're not weak, Rose. We're strong, we're smart, we're determined. I mean, as bad as you guys had it…we're still here. I'm still here, which means that somewhere, at some point, you survived and led to the creation of new bloodlines. Which one do I belong to, by the way? Not yours, obviously — thankfully."

Rosalie's eyebrows furrowed together. Kai laughed lightly at himself.

"So, whose bloodline do I belong to?" Kai rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Which little ancient siphoner is my million times grandparent?"

Rosalie shook her head.

"C'mon, just tell me! Please?" Kai put his best smile for her, bringing his hands in front of his face to plead.

"Show me where Elena is first."

Kai's lips stretched into a wider grin that soon turned into a laugh. "You're good! An ultimatum. See? Not weak. Definitely smart."

"Where's Elena?"

"Here, well, not here, here but somewhere here…" Kai made a gesture at the place. " I am willing to show some good faith and show her to you but if you try to do anything I will have to kill her. And before you even think that you can untie her using your strong little magic, I may have melted her daylight ring last night so she can't leave this wonderful school until night time."

Rosalie was done being surprised. The only thing she would be surprised about is how he managed to pull all this before coming to get her last night.

"Shall we?" He held a hand out to her.

She scoffed and stormed right past him. He smirked to himself and sauntered after her.

~0~

Rosalie was horrified when Kai lifted the cloaking spell off Elena. She was in a random hallway with her hands bound to the ceiling.

"Oh my God…she's been here all night!?" she rushed towards the unconscious vampire.

"Tucked away nicely," said Kai defensively. "I was mindful. After the second time I tried turning her blood into acid and saw how it clearly ruptured important capillaries in her brain, I let her take a break. I went to get you."

Rosalie stared at him horrifically. "What did Elena ever do to you?"

"It's not personal. I needed a test dummy, remember? Now, you got what you wanted. She's here," Kai gestured at Elena, "Now it's your turn. Who's my ancestor?"

Rosalie relented for Elena's sake. "Your birthmark is the same as my friend Aksel's. He was funny, he was…adventurous. He was caring and protective. You are nothing like him and if he could see what you've done with your life, he would be rolling in his grave."

"Well, ouch," Kai said, bringing a hand over his chest. "All I asked was who my ancestor was, not a whole life story of his. Still, kind of nice to know who started the Parker bloodline."

"My turn," Rosalie said decisively.

Kai's eyebrows raised with surprise. "'My turn'? For what? I didn't know we were playing a game."

"Drop it and answer my question now," said Rosalie. "The Gemini coven…is it only made up of your family?"

"Why the question?"

"Because I want to know if it's possible that my friends, and my son, are the ancestors of the Gemini coven?"

"Hmm, there's an interesting thought…"

"Please just tell me. I have done everything you asked so far."

"No," Kai said bluntly. "The Gemini coven is large and filled with different families. The Parkers' have been the leaders for centuries by some ritual rite or whatever."

"So it's possible that we did become the Gemini coven," Rosalie said, the corners of her lips twitching into a smile. "My friends, my son, all lived on to become one coven. With time, they passed down the same genetics I had and…siphoner witches were born again…once in a blue moon over the centuries."

"So we all descend from you guys," Kai said, nodding. He stopped for a moment, however, and looked at Rosalie questioningly.

"What?" she frowned.

He leaned down to her face with the widest grin, "So you had a little, cute as a button, mini-Rose out there? Aren't you like my age?"

Rosalie's face hardened. "Don't talk about what you don't know!"

"Was it like an arranged marriage kind of thing? I know those were popular back then!"

"Shut up!"

But Kai had plenty more to say. Thankfully, Elena began stirring awake.

"Elena! Hey, hey! You're okay!"

Elena slowly opened her eyes and saw the old hallway she was in. She made to move when she felt the chains around her wrists above her head. "What…? We're in my high school?"

"They have plenty of restrooms, no flammable surfaces, and everyone's on winter break…" Kai said casually, bringing her attention over to him. "Still. You know, it's no wonder America got dumb while I was locked up; they're never in school." He saw a trophy case beside them and wandered up to it. "Is that you?" He saw the frame of the Mystic Falls cheerleader group that included Elena, Bonnie and Caroline. "Oh, and there's Bonnie! You guys look so innocent. Smiling, like nothing bad could ever happen to you."

Elena looked over at Rosalie, dead confused. "What are you doing here with him?"

"Oh, I brought her along," Kai said, leaving behind the trophy case. "Turns out we're a lot closer than we thought."

Elena once again looked at Rosalie. She, in turn, scoffed. "In his delusional mind, sure. But in real life, I'm here under threat."

"We had breakfast together and had a lovely conversation about our shared pain," Kai said, feigning hurt.

"Can we stop this already?" Rosalie said tiredly. "You kidnapped me, you tortured Elena until you literally made her black out, and I haven't slept a wink. It's been a productive day for Kai Parker. Now can we all go home?"

"I'm also a very busy boy," Kai said, taking his jacket off. He tossed it to the side and rubbed his hands together. "I need to make sure that I don't accidentally kill Jo while we're merging. Elena's got to help me."

"I'll help you but just let her go already," Rosalie said, reaching up to Elena's binds.

"Don't," warned Kai darkly.

Rosalie paused and looked at him defiantly. "You know," she stepped back from Elena, "maybe you were right about something."

Elena looked at the witch incredulously.

"Oh yeah? And what was it?" asked Kai.

Rosalie smirked. "I am powerful." She thrust her hand forward, throwing him across the hallway. "You know I created a whole other dimension? Yeah, it was called the Other Side — maybe you heard about it?"

Elena yanked down on her binds then, bringing part of the ceiling with her. They ran together into the closest room, which turned out to be the chemistry classroom. Rosalie locked the room and warned Elena to stay away from the windows where the sun was shining through.

"Rose, you have to get out of here!" Elena exclaimed. "If you leave, you can get help!"

"If I leave, you're dead!" Rosalie snapped. "Kai's using both of us for his endgame and if one of us goes missing, the other's dead! It's okay though, earlier Enzo called me and Kai's dumbass actually took the call! He knows that I'm in trouble which means he's going to tell the others, and they're going to come for us!"

The door behind her flung open and Kai walked in. Rosalie quickly scurried back with Elena until their backs hit one of the tables.

"Well, Rose, that's if he's still into you. And did you forget, I cloaked all of us? They don't know where we are. But on a different note, I'm glad you're starting to take my words seriously," Kai said, crossing his arms. "We're powerful, not weak. But I think now is my turn, right? I'm trying to be fair."

Elena scoffed at that. "Right." She looked back at the open windows and down at the table. Suddenly, she struck her hand forward into the sunlight. Her arm caught on fire and so she turned the gas from the chem lab on to ignite the fire even more and blasted Kai through the door.

"Oh my God!" Rosalie was horrified but Elena grabbed her arm and ran them out through the second door in the classroom.

"Phone! We need a phone!" Elena exclaimed. Without blood, she was severely weakened and was dragging her feet into a half sprint.

"I can't! Kai destroyed mine!" Rosalie said, having to pull Elena with her into a quicker run. "That's the second one in a month!"

Elena thought fast and went down an alternative hallway where they came up to an emergency phone on the wall. She pulled the phone and quickly dialed the only number she could think of at the moment.

"Magic camp. How may I help you? Although we really don't have time for this!" came Damon's voice through the line.

"Damon, Kai has me and Rosalie at the high school! We need your help!" She hung up immediately after and continued to run with Rosalie.

She opened a door and came face to face with Kai who pushed her back and fell on the floor.

"Kai…" Rosalie said warily.

"You're not being a very good friend, Rose," Kai tutted. "I've been helping you. I helped you understand your power, I gave you a frikin breakfast platter! I even helped you with that little friend of yours! And now you're doing this?" He rolled his eyes at Elena who scrambled up to her feet. "Hold on." He pushed Rosalie to the side, the witch stumbling on her feet. He turned his hand but nothing happened. "Really?" he said irritably. He tried again but knocked something to the side. "Dammit!" He flicked his hand one final time and successfully snapped Elena's neck. "Bingo!" He did a victory fist in the air and spun around to face Rosalie. "Now then, where were we again?"

Rosalie's eyes shifted between him and the unconscious Elena on the floor, weighing her options. Kai chuckled once he figured out her intentions.

"You can't carry her out of here. You can run but you'd have to leave her with me…" he taunted.

" You know I'm not gonna do that."

"Then come along, won't you?" Kai held a hand out to Rosalie, which she did not take. "We could be a perfect duo."

"I sincerely doubt that."

"I could teach you what you didn't get to learn back then. I mean, nobody ever really taught me

but I watched the lessons and taught myself."

Rosalie despised that she understood Kai completely. She couldn't count the times that she watched other young kids learn magic well, she and her friends had to teach themselves in the dark. She understood the pain that came with that kind of isolation.

"Help free Bonnie and then maybe we can talk," she declared, and she was truly uncertain if she meant it.

Kai laughed lightly at the request. "You know, I'm not sure if I would be able to do that. I would first need Bennett blood and then the ascendant. Two things I don't have."

"Because you destroyed one of them!"

"Exactly." Kai strode towards her, unphased by the fact she quickly backtracked away from him until her back hit the lockers, "C'mon Rosie, we could learn so much from each other."

"I've learned enough about you already! I've also learned a trick or two from my new friends!" And Rosalie drove her fist across Kai's face then made a run for it. "Maybe Damon actually did teach me something useful!"

~ 0 ~

Rosalie felt so impotent. Even with all her magic — which was still spontaneously bursting from her — she couldn't get Elena out of the school. Without the daylight ring, they were stuck. She remembered something about a tunnel system below the school but what was she supposed to do? Drag Elena's lifeless body until she woke up?

Once Rosalie decided running and hiding was futile, she stopped. Instead, she came back to the trophy case from earlier. She gazed at the different pictures and trophies inside, specifically at the cheerleaders' frame. Elena, Caroline and Bonnie truly looked so different then. So happy, she thought sadly. In all his insanity, Kai was right. None of them thought anything bad would happen to them.

That's what she thought of herself all those centuries ago.

Leyla was right behind Rosalie while the two made their way through the settlement of the Travelers, both careful to keep their heads low whenever a Traveler passed them.

"Rosalie, what Qetsiyah wants to do is crazy," Leyla spoke hushed but hard enough to make her point heard. "Talks of immortality? People already think we're damned and you want to go against nature?"

"I can do it, you know," Rosalie said, eyeing a few Travelers gazing at them. Leyla curled her arm around Rosalie's and walked them in a new direction. "Qetsiyah says that my gift would help."

"Yeah, it sounds like she's taking advantage," Leyla murmured. She gave Rosalie a gentle pat on Rosalie's arm. "You know Ali swears that Silas is up to something."

"Hush!"

"Just saying," Leyla said defensively. "We don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't," Rosalie said confidently. "I'm learning from the best Traveler here."

Rosalie lowered her head for a moment. She had been so naive then. What did she expect Silas to do after finding out what they "did" to Amara?

"I'll give you points for not abandoning Elena," Kai's voice startled her. She spun around and saw him standing across her holding an open soda can in his hand. He had changed shirts and was now wearing one of the gym shirts. "Though she has been tied with vervain rope again. Hell of a fist you got," he rubbed his jaw.

"Modern day means we women get to fight back this time."

"Were you here admiring the high school experience? It's all fake, you know."

"Like you said, I didn't go to school," Rosalie said, looking over her shoulder to the frames. "But that picture is real. The bond between those girls...I had that. Can you honestly tell me you never had one single moment where you cared about someone? I may have had a bad ending but I cared about my friends, about my family, about my mentor and friend."

"Is this going to be like an episode of "Ricki Lake" where I come face-to-face with my demons and change for the better?"

"I don't know what that is. Just answer the damn question."

"I guess I liked my brother, Joey," Kai said, seeming nostalgic. "We played Dr. Mario together and he'd always win. Actually, one of my favorite memories is when I finally beat him…" Rosalie had about a second to think differently about him when a malicious smile crossed his face. "Of course, my favorite memory is when I finally beat him to death."

Rosalie couldn't look any more disgusted.

"You don't have to waste your energy trying to change me. If Ricki taught me anything, it's that liking yourself is the most important thing. And I like me."

"It's a damn shame because if you weren't a sociopath, I would have been over the moon to have a friend who was exactly like me. Someone to understand the struggles about our kind of power."

"Never too late," Kai shrugged, taking a sip from his soda with a fixated look on her.

"Do you know what I really worry about?" Rosalie took a step towards him. "The Gemini coven was started by me and my friends, and over the years there's been witches just like us which means…there will eventually be more. And what then, Kai? You trying to be the coven leader and all — what kind of coven will you be leading? Will you cast those future siphoners out too? Let them be isolated like you were? What do they call them — black sheep? Treat them the same way they treated you?"

Kai lowered the soda from his mouth, his face hardening as soon as he heard 'black sheep'.

Rosalie stepped closer to him again. For a split moment, it looked like she was getting him. "You've been setting the precedent for their future. Just think of it — all these future little siphoners born just like you and me. What then?"

Deep satisfaction ran through her upon seeing Kai questioning himself for the first time (or perhaps ever). There were ways to sting him, you just had to dig a little deep to find the right way.

For a moment, it looked like Kai would have something to say on the matter. In the end, however, his eyes skipped over Rosalie at something behind her. Rosalie soon got the gist she was missing something and looked back just as Damon, Elena and Jo made the turn into the hallway.

"…why's your nose bleeding…?" Damon was in the middle of asking Jo. The latter looked worse for wear with a trail of blood coming from her nose.

"Really?" Rosalie sighed irritably.

All three pairs of eyes fell on her and Kai, making them realize that the cloaking spell had lifted.

"You guys literally couldn't have turned to any other hallway?" Rosalie shook her head.

"Magic's hard. Isn't it, Jo?" taunted Kai.

Jo couldn't handle the power anymore and stumbled on her feet. Damon reached out to her before she fell.

"I'm so sorry," she apologized guiltily and wiped the blood from her nose.

Kai moved to side-step Rosalie, but the woman shoved him back.

"Stay away from her!"

"Frankly Rose, I do like you, but in this instance, get out of my way."

Kai made a stride towards Rosalie, hands at the ready to strike with magic. Enzo appeared behind Kai, grabbing his shoulder and throwing him against the lockers.

"Enzo!" Rosalie couldn't help the elation that filled her chest seeing him standing before her. Without thinking about it, she threw herself into his arms where she was received quite well.

Enzo held her tightly. He'd been on edge ever since Kai answered Rosalie's phone, but now things were finally calming down. He looked over Rosalie's head at Damon. "I told you my way was quicker," he muttered.

"I wanted the element of surprise!" Damon reiterated.

He and Enzo had gone back and forth about the best way to reach Rosalie and Elena and while Damon had suggested using Jo, Enzo was adamant that a quick 'in and out' plan was the best way to do it. Damon suspected it was more anxiety than anything else that fueled Enzo's rush to action.

"We need to get out now," Elena said to the men. She was helping Jo stay on her feet, but the nose bleed the woman was suffering through wasn't getting better.

Enzo reluctantly let Rosalie go, and truthfully because Rosalie herself saw the blood under Jo's nose getting worse.

"Cloaking one person is tough, but two more?" She rushed over to help Jo. "You're crazy!"

Jo managed a weak smile at her. "But I did it, right? Sort of?"

Rosalie would say anything just to get them moving. Halfway down, Kai made Elena invisible, leading the rest to question her whereabouts.

"Dammit!" Damon groaned and whirled around to find Kai stumbling up to his feet.

"Oh, are we not cloaking people anymore?" Kai feigned confusion. "I thought that's what this was. Along with other blitz attacks," he added and spared a glance at Enzo. "Special friend, I presume?"

Rosalie looked back just as Enzo blocked her view of Kai. He glowered at Kai and was two seconds away from ripping his heart out.

Rosalie stopped him with a hand on his arm. "He's got the magic from the Travelers' spell," she informed him and watched Kai smirk at them.

"That I do," he agreed, "And now that I've got the kinks worked out, we can actually do this merge. Is there an upcoming celestial event that interests you? I'm partial to—"

Rosalie abruptly thrust her hands forwards, sending Kai down the opposite end of the hallway.

Enzo looked down at her, questioning her sudden burst of power as well.

"I also took in some of that power," she smiled sweetly.

He smirked proudly at her.

"Oh…" Kai groaned from his spot, "Good one, Ro—"

An arrow came flying out of nowhere and shot Kai through the shoulder in his attempt to stand up. Alaric then ran into the hallway and injected Kai with a syringe, knocking him out. Jeremy appeared from the other end of the hallway with his crossbow and hurried over to them.

~ 0 ~

There was a lot to digest when Rosalie was able to have a shower and some food. None of it was good. She was back at the boarding house and quickly learned that Jo's attempt at getting magic had not gone well. Caroline and Stefan were inexplicably M.I.A. together and while that was perhaps the thing she was most curious about, her mind wasn't completely unoccupied by something else. Someone else.

Enzo was still waiting for her to return from upstairs. He hadn't really said anything when they left the school, nor when she awkwardly excused herself to get changed. But the fact he was still in the house meant he wasn't upset with her anymore…right? God, she sucked at this whole situationship stuff.

"Thanks for showing up when you did." She figured it was the best place to start.

"I'm sorry I was late," he replied. "It's hard finding an adequate witch these days."

"Since the twins hate me and Jo can barely do magic?"

He turned his head slightly.

Rosalie hated the awkwardness between them. She missed the banter, the easiness that surprisingly had always been there since day one. She hadn't realized it until now.

"Do you want me to take you to blondie's place?" Enzo asked her, though it seemed like he had expected Rosalie to refuse because when she agreed so quickly, he blinked at her.

"I haven't seen nor heard from Caroline all day," she explained herself, "Kind of worries me. Damon was telling me about Liz and what…what was happening. Her mother has cancer, Enzo. She's going to need us."

"I don't think I'm included in that friend package, rose-flower," Enzo smiled lightly at her. He didn't miss the way her heart skipped a beat. So she missed him too…

"You'd be surprised," Rosalie said, offering him the same smile back. "I do want to go see her. I think Damon and Elena are going to want some privacy anyways. Take me?"

Enzo gestured to her to lead the way, and she did.

~ 0 ~

Caroline's house was quiet, and only the front porch light was on. Enzo swore she was still awake. He could hear her in the living room.

Rosalie wrinkled her nose at him. "That's still creepy."

He winked at her in return, taking her a few steps towards the house. She touched his arm and stopped him from getting closer to the porch. Looking back at her, he found her troubled gaze on him.

"Is something wrong?" He asked her. "That menace Kai Parker didn't actually hurt you, did he?"

"Apart from traumatizing imagery, I'm fine," she said, letting her hand slide down to his. "But, um, I was wondering…"

Now that she had him right in front of her, she thought about his new friend…Sara. She couldn't shake the name off and much less the strange feeling in her chest.

"Why did you come rescue me?"

Enzo looked at her confused, his eyes blinking several times. "Did you not want me to?"

"Of course I did, but…last time we talked…you weren't exactly happy with me," Rosalie said quietly, "I thought maybe that…that was it. You wouldn't want to see me anymore."

"I'm not angry, if that's what you're getting at," Enzo said, moving his hand out from hers just to take it into his own. "I just can't understand why you would forgive Stefan so easily. I won't ever forget the way he made you cry that night in Savannah. How hurt you were…" He touched her cheek, brushing a thumb over her skin.

"I'm not forgiving him on the spot," Rosalie mumbled. "But you and I both know that Caroline is very much—"

"In love with the moron?" Enzo said, deadpanning over his shoulder at the house. "Yes, I"ve noticed."

Rosalie chuckled lightly and warned him to keep his mouth shut about that sensitive topic around others.

"You don't have to forgive him just for Caroline's sake," he said a moment later.

"But I also don't want to live hating someone that…that I do like. Yes, he did hurt me but you know what? That night in Savannah, I realized I had made another friend. He's a bit of an idiot, and sometimes aggressive with others, but he's alright in my book."

"Who's that? I need to meet him, you know," Enzo joked, earning a soft giggle from her.

"You'd like him," she said, looking up at him with a grin. "But he needs to stop being so moody!"

"Moody?" He said indignantly.

And just like that, Rosalie slipped back into the comfort of their bantering friendship. Situanship or not, their friendship had come first and she would always want to preserve that.

"Goodnight, Enzo," she said with newfound confidence. She moved around him and headed up to the front door to knock.

As soon as Caroline saw her, she flung the door open and pulled her inside. "Oh, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to help out! I didn't know — Damon didn't tell me until after—"

"Caroline, chill!" Rosalie chuckled and pried Caroline's tight hands off her arms. "I'm okay, as you can see…" She made a gesture at herself. "And Kai has been officially put down — temporarily, but you get the idea."

"Are you okay? Did that psychopath do anything to you?"

"Other than ignoring my personal space, not really," Rosalie said. "I think the fact that we're both the first people we meet who are exactly the same is mind boggling to him."

"Oh, you are nothing like him!" Caroline immediately said, shaking her head. "So what exactly is the plan for that guy?"

"Well, he siphoned the entire barrier spell — well, he and I did — and so now we're going to keep him under until Jo can get stronger."

"And do you think he'll be down for a while?" Caroline led Rosalie into the living room.

"Well, considering no one is really going to miss him, yeah," nodded Rosalie. "Actually, Damon had the bright idea to have me siphon his magic while he's down. So that's what I did."

"Oh, that's…an idea…" Caroline said, prompting Rosalie to chuckle.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Since I helped absorb some of the spell, my magic's sort of been coming out spontaneously. I've been making things break when my emotions flare."

"Bonnie did say that a witch's magic is rooted in their emotions," Caroline remembered.

"It is," agreed Rosalie. "Which is why I'm determined to keep myself calm until the magic goes away."

"Oh, then…this is probably not the place for you," Caroline said, plopping down on the couch.

Rosalie came to sit next to her and put a hand on Caroline's back. The air changed almost immediately then.

"Damon told me about Liz…I'm so sorry, Care."

Caroline's shoulders slumped and as much as she tried smiling through it, the tears got the best of her.

"Oh, Caroline, I'm really sorry," Rosalie hugged the girl. "If there was anything I could do—"

"I already did it!" Caroline blurted. She pulled away from Rosalie and explained what she had done at Duke earlier and then the decision she and Liz had made just hours before Rosalie had arrived.

"If vampire blood cures cancer I will never say anything bad about vampirism ever again," Rosalie declared, making Caroline laugh genuinely. "So what happens now? Is Liz—"

"She's sleeping right now," Caroline nodded, looking up at the stairs. "It took Colin a few hours to start responding to my blood so I'm assuming by tomorrow, my mom will be cured!"

"Cheers to that!" Rosalie exclaimed then shushed herself for being so loud. It wasn't exactly earlier in the evening. "I should've probably told Enzo to stay so he could take me back. I don't want to wake Liz up—"

"Oh no, stay!" Caroline said. "Like you'll be sleeping in the boarding house with all those guys? Eugh!"

Rosalie chuckled. "They're very respectful men," she said. "Although I'm pretty sure right now if Damon tried to mess with me, I'd accidentally snap his neck without lifting a finger. But hey, what about Stefan? If you guys went to Duke together then that means you're…doing a little better?"

Caroline nodded slowly, coming to terms with it. "Yeah, he's…he's been very supportive."

"Good, I'm glad," Rosalie said, "But I'm still gonna make him buy me iced coffees."

"You totally do that!" Caroline gave her a thumbs up.

"But, uh, I'm gonna need a new phone…again," Rosalie said glumly, "Stupid Kai destroyed mine! So where can I sleep? I can totally take the couch!"

"Yeah right!" Caroline laughed. "Bonnie and Elena used to stay in my room when we had sleepovers! We can do that!"

"Okay, great! And you can tell me all about the fact you and Stefan spent the whole day together?" Rosalie feigned confusion, although it wasn't all a complete lie.

"It doesn't mean anything, Rosie. We're friends-ish again."

"Sounds like a start to me…"