After the previous night, Sarah is being kept in the hospital. Alaric and Jo contemplate baby names. Jo tells Alaric to be a father for 18 years and then he can run around killing vampires. Meanwhile, Kai and Bonnie take Damon and Elena to the 1903 prison world to get the Salvatore's mother. Bonnie says she will find the ascendant but ends up hurting Kai so he can feel the pain she felt. When they are about to go back to real time, Kai gets left behind because Bonnie wants him to feel loneliness. With both of their humanities off, Caroline and Stefan feed on a girl and afterwards have sex. After Bonnie interrupts Damon and Elena's make out session, she forgives him and gives him the Cure to Vampirism.
[PREVIOUSLY_ON] Woman: Who are you? Bonnie: Who are you? Damon: Oh, my God. That's my mother. Kai: There are only two prison worlds in existence, mine and the one created in 1903 for locking up your mom and her closet full of crazy pants. Damon: Tell me how to get her back! Kai: Your mom's a ripper! Enzo: Meet the real Sarah Salvatore. I'm going to make her do things she'd never dream of doing until she begs me to make her a vampire. Jo: I'm pregnant. Alaric: Marry me. Jo: Yes. Caroline: My mom is dead, and I just need the pain to be gone. Caroline: If anyone tries to flip my humanity switch back on, I'll become your worst nightmare. Stefan: I like you. Caroline: Stop. Stefan: Come back. Stefan: What the hell are you doing with Sarah? Caroline: I'm going to kill her. Aah! Caroline: If Stefan wants to save Sarah's life, all he has to do is shut his humanity off. Stefan: Just remember to bring me back. Elena: Stefan, don't you dare shut it off. [SCENE_BREAK] [ (SCULL BAR) ] (Caroline is cleaning up from her fight with Stefan the night before when Enzo walks in) Enzo: A hard knock life, isn't it? Caroline: Don't walk there. Ugh! (grabbing a mop) I just washed that. Enzo: My apologies, Cinderella. What are you doing? Caroline: Stefan and I had a moment. Things broke in the process, and now I'm returning the Scull Bar to the way we found it. Enzo: Uh, the whole point of flipping your humanity switch is that you don't care how you leave things. Caroline: (sighs) I go to school here, Enzo. I want to keep going to school here, and the second that I draw any suspicions -- break-ins, broken property, dead bodies -- people will try to interrupt my routine. Then I will end up rotting in a cell somewhere instead of what I should be doing, which is preparing for my audition tomorrow. Enzo: You, Caroline Forbes, vampire without humanity, auditioning for the school play? Caroline: Musical. And obviously, duh. I'm a drama major. And what are you doing here? Enzo: Find my Phone led me here, though it didn't explain why your stick little fingers needed it last night. Caroline: Because you're the only one with Sarah Salvatore's phone number. Enzo: Why'd you need Sarah's number? Caroline: To use her life as leverage to convince Stefan to shut his humanity switch off too. Enzo: (concerned) That's both clever and deeply unsettling. Tell me she's still alive. Caroline: She's alive, assuming she survived any infections resulting from Liam's amateur surgery. Enzo: (realizing his revenge plan won't work) Which means Stefan's humanity's a thing of the past. Caroline: Like I said, I will stop at nothing to maintain my routine, so I suggest that you stay away. Now if you don't mind, (hands Enzo the mop) I need to prepare for my audition. (Caroline leaves and Enzo turn around, contemplating a solution.) [SCENE_BREAK] [ (SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE) ] (Damon is sitting in the living room. A motorcycle engine is heard and Stefan opens the door and walks in.) Damon: How was the rave? Stefan: Oh, you know, loud, lame, rave-like. Damon: Anything I should know or anything you'd like to talk about bro to bro? Stefan: Where do we keep our weapons? Damon: Pardon? (gets up) Stefan: Crossbows, Vervain grenades, all that hunter crap Jeremy was into? Ah! Yes! The throne. (Stefan walks over to a chair and opens a hidden compartment full of weapons. He packs some weapons into a bag. Damon vamps over to Stefan and tries to inject him with vervain, but Stefan catches his hand.) Stefan: Elena told on me. Shocker. Damon: Not a good time for a humanity flip, brother. (Stefan breaks his hand and he drops the vervain syringe) Stefan: Do yourself a favor. Stay out of my way today. (Stefan leaves and closes the door as Damon snaps his hand back into place. Damon hears Stefan drove off on his motorcycle throws a vase to the ground in frustration.) [SCENE_BREAK] [ (WHITMORE MEDICAL CENETER) ] (Sarah is lying in a hospital bed and Jo is tending to her.) Jo: Whoa, easy. Sarah: Where am I? Jo: You're at Whitmore Medical Center. I'm Dr. Laughlin. Sarah: Last night... Jo: You had a little too much to drink. A professor found you passed out on the quad. Sarah: I sort of remember that. It was like a spring break kickoff rave. (Jo nods and she starts to get up) I should get home. Jo: Actually, I need you to sit tight. We need to look after you for a while. You lost a lot of fluids last night. Okay? (Sarah reluctantly lies back down and Jo leaves the room as Sarah checks her arm) (Jo is outside Sarah's room talking to Alaric.) Jo: For the record, I am not okay with turning my hospital into a supernatural holding cell. Alaric: Okay, look. It's the first day of spring break. The campus is like a ghost town. Besides, we need to keep her out of harm's way until Elena's blood is out of her system. Unless, of course, you want to invite another Salvatore vampire to our wedding. Jo: I'm starting to think eloping is the way to go. Alaric: Heh, yeah. Yeah, me too. (they kiss) Look, she's been compelled to forget last night. And soon, she'll be back at Duke, safe with no idea what happened and no one the wiser. Jo: Huh, Duke. That's not bad. It's a little obnoxious but kind of in a cute way, you know? Little Duke. Alaric: Whoa. Wait. We're thinking baby names? Jo: You haven't been? Alaric: No. I have! No. I have. I totally have. Jo: Name one. Alaric: (tries to think) Josette Jr. Jo: Get out of here. (she kisses him) I have rounds. (they walk in opposite directions) [SCENE_BREAK] [ (SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE) ] (Elena walks in to Damon striking furniture with a poker.) Elena: Damon. What are you doing? Damon: Looking for a... healthy outlet for my rage. (knocks down a lamp, shocking Elena) I haven't found it yet. Stefan without his humanity is one artery away from Stefan the ripper, and every day that goes by is one year of guilt waiting for him on the other side. Elena: Yeah. Well, not to add to our growing pile of bad news, but we didn't just lose Stefan. We lost our chance to spark Caroline's humanity. Turns out he was her emotional trigger. (Damon offers her the poker) No thanks. Damon: Well, take it away from me. Because I'm seconds away from using it on this. (grabs the video camera that Bonnie brought back from the prison world) Elena: (takes the poker and sets it down) Who is that? Damon: This... (shows Elena the camera) is Lillian Salvatore. Elena: Your mother is alive? (takes the camera for a closer look) Damon: Yep. Turns out she's been in a prison world snapshot of 1903 for over a century. Elena: Your mother is alive. Damon: Oh, yeah. Alive and well. Not in the pine box that I thought I buried her in in 1858. And apparently, she's a vampire and not just any kind of vampire either- Elena: Damon, your mother is alive! Damon: She's a ripper, Elena. Makes perfect sense. Stefan was always such a mama's boy. Elena: How much of a mama's boy? Damon: He would have hanged himself with mother's apron strings if it meant her approval. We both would. We loved her. She was our world. (Elena smiles at him) Damon: What? No. No way. Elena: This is our way to get Stefan back! You can't tell me that his mother isn't an emotional trigger. Damon: Elena, this woman killed so many people that an entire coven of witches built her a permanent timeout! You don't fix one ripper problem by unleashing another ripper. Elena: Think about it. If this works, we don't just get Stefan and Caroline back. We get your mother back. Aren't you even a little curious to see her? Damon: I might know a few witches that could help. [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE COLLEGE - DORM ROOM ] (Damon is standing at the door of the room) Bonnie: I'm not helping you. (Tries to shut the door on his face but Damon puts his leg in between.) Damon: Ow. Bonnie: I hate Kai, and you know that, and the first thing you did when I got back was throw him in my face to fake apologize. Damon: Yeah, and then I real apologized for being a dick. Bonnie: And here you are less than 24 hours later asking me to work with him. Damon: Bonnie, we need Kai to get to 1903, and we need Bennett blood to do the damn spell. Listen. We go in, we grab my mom, she flips Stefan's switch, he triggers Caroline, emotional dominoes, heyyyy! Everybody wins. Bonnie: If I give you my blood, will you just get out of my face? Damon: Probably... although I think you're gonna want to join us. Stick with me, Bonnie Bennett. I might just have the answer to all your prayers. [SCENE_BREAK] [ COFFEE HOUSE ] Kai: You want the 1903 Ascendant. Well, sure. Just let me reach in my pocket and pull it out. Bonnie: If you're sincerely looking for a way to make up for the hell that you put me through, this is it. Kai: OK. The problem is the Gemini kept the existence of the 1903 prison world a secret for generations, so find the key to that particular jail cell, I'd have to navigate ancient texts, undo layers of magical cloaking spells, and... Wait. (reaches into his pockets and pulls out the Ascendant) Oh, that's weird. Ha ha! It was in my pocket. When Damon told me about mama Salvatore, I started looking, and if I wanted to, (Bonnie reaches for the Ascendant, but Kai pulls his hand back) .. I could get her out. Newly minted leader of the Gemini coven and all, I don't even need a celestial event to zap us there. (sets the Ascendant on the table) Bonnie: OK. So what's the catch? Kai: I'll go if you go. Come on. It could be fun, you know, 1903, the... the Gilded Age. Didn't you ever dream about time travel? Bonnie: I would rather die of cholera than spend an afternoon with you. Kai: You're way more likely to die at the hands of your gal pal Caroline. I bet it will be over something stupid like she stops doing laundry, and you make some snippy comment, and she snips off your tongue. I'm mean, if only there were some way to reunite her with her humanity. (Bonnie is contemplating her decision) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE AUDITORIUM ] (Caroline is auditioning in front of the director, who is taking notes) Caroline: ♪ maybe there's somewhere ♪ ♪ a lesson to learn ♪ ♪ but that wouldn't change the fact ♪ ♪ that wouldn't speed the time ♪ ♪ once the foundation's cracked ♪ ♪ and I'm ♪ ♪ still hurting ♪ (wipes a tear and turns off the music) Hello? Pretty sure I crushed that. Heh heh. (The director's head falls off and Stefan is sitting behind him. He slow claps as Caroline shields her eyes from the light to see who it is.) Stefan: Moving. Truly. Although it did lack a certain, um, authenticity. Caroline: What the hell are you doing? That was the director! Stefan: And you are a vampire without humanity, singing about heartbreak. Caroline: It's a performance, Stefan. Stefan: (as he speaks, he gets up and walks down the stairs towards the stage) It sure is, Caroline, especially this carefully crafted good student routine, straight and narrow, anything to keep you from making a mistake you might regret one year from now when you flip your switch back on. Oh, except the whole ruining my life part. Caroline: Well, if your humanity's off, then you shouldn't really care how I deal. Stefan: No, no, no. See, that's where you're wrong because like you, I'm prone to doing bad things when my humanity is off, but unlike you, I don't have an elaborate system to keep me in check. Caroline: Well that's not my problem. Stefan: Well, I'm making it your problem. If my life is gonna fall apart when my humanity starts flooding back, then so is yours. When I'm done with you, you'll be drowning in mistakes. Caroline: (walks toward Stefan) This is seriously about revenge? Stefan: Yes, it is, and this... (holds up his hands, which are covered in blood) .. this is a control freak's worst nightmare. This is me undoing your routine. This is me... (Stefan wipes blood onto Caroline's lips, causing her face to vamp out) .. forcing you to let go one day at a time until you break. (he leaves the auditorium) [SCENE_BREAK] [ SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE ] (Bonnie and Kai are dressed in attire for colder climate as Bonnie is cutting her palm with a large knife to draw blood for the spell to travel to 1903.) Kai: Damn. Crocodile Dundee called. He wants his knife back. Bonnie: Yeah. You know, he's no longer a thing, and neither is that joke. (Damon walks in wearing a coat) Kai: Ouch. (Bonnie sheaths the knife and drips blood on the Ascendant. Elena walks in wearing a coat.) Elena: Is this presentable attire by 1903 standards? Damon: Whoa. Who said you're coming? Elena: To meet the woman who gave birth to the two epic loves of my life? Heh. Me. Kai: Powerful as I am, there's a limit to how many people one witch can transport with this spell. Bonnie: Which is why there's two of us. Shall we? Damon: Fine. Let's go get mama. (Everyone joins hands.) Kai: Sangiema meam et nos mundo carcerema. Sangiema meam et nos mundo carcerema. (Everyone is transported to the 1903 prison world without the Ascendant.) [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD ] (Damon, Elena, Bonnie, and Kai are outdoors in a snowy Mystic Falls.) Damon: Well, isn't this a picturesque slice of hell? Bonnie: You guys go ahead. Kai and I will start the locator spell on the Ascendant. Elena: But Kai just had the Ascendant. Why do we have to find another one? Kai: The Ascendant can't travel between worlds, which means we gotta find its mirror image here in 1903. Damon: (sarcastically, as he zips up his jacket) Page 10 on the world-jumping rulebook. Shall we? (walks off) Elena: I don't want to leave you alone with him. Bonnie: I'll be fine. (Kai is catching snow on his tongue) He's good now, remember? New leaf. (she goes to join Damon) Kai: New leaf? You believe me. Bonnie: Hell no, but Damon and Elena need to meet his mom alone. So shut up and let's find the Ascendant. (holds up her hand) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE ] (Stefan is walking over to his motorcycle. He takes his helmet and gets on, but it falls apart. He looks in confusion and Caroline walks out.) Caroline: Oh, shoot. Is your bike OK? (Stefan gets off) Do you need money for the bus? Stefan: Seriously? Caroline: I just had to stuff the director's body into a furnace. Do you know how hard it was to get an audition during spring break? Stefan: Oh, come on. It was easy for you, Caroline. All you had to do was shed some tears about your mom's funeral, play the cancer card, and - boom - your precious routine is back on track. (gets down to put his bike back together) Am I wrong? Caroline: This is your only warning. Go away. Stefan: Neat, organized Caroline. Staying within the lines. Good at control, terrible at revenge. Caroline: I dismantled your bike. Stefan: I tore your director's head off with my teeth. Oh, my God. Caroline, literally just unbolt this damn thing? I mean, it's gonna take me, what, 10 minutes to put this back together? You are an embarrassment to humanity-free vampires everywhere. (Caroline walks over to punch a hole in the gas tank and walks away.) [SCENE_BREAK] [ RIC'S OFFICE ] (Alaric is trying to come up with baby names, writing down a list when his phone rings. It's Jo.) Alaric: OK. So I've got a few. You ready? Jo: Actually, I thought about it, and anyone named Alaric should not be allowed to name another human. Alaric: Uh, I didn't name me. Jo: True. OK. You can have veto power. Alaric: Good. Well, then I veto Duke. Jo: Ha ha! (Enzo knocks and comes in.) Alaric: Uh, let me call you right back. (hangs up) What are you doing here? Enzo: Really hoping you got enough vervain to get blondie and her cohort from here to the Salvatore cellar without further drama. Alaric: You do realize I'm a human, right? Up against two vampires without remorse? Enzo: Ah. I see. Your girl has got a bun in the oven, and now you've gone all gun-shy. Vamp hearing. Alaric: You know, I'd actually like my child to grow up with a father. Enzo: Granted, a cowardly father. Probably play catch and run from the ball or go fishing an flee from the fish. Alaric: I have weapons in my apartment. [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, SALVATORE ESTATE ] (Elena and Damon have made it to the old Salvatore Estate, where Elena is marveling at the old-fashioned lamps and furniture. Damon doesn't look very pleased to be there) Elena: Can we just take a second to acknowledge how insane it is that we're standing in the house that you grew up in? (Elena finds a tin-type photo of one of the brothers from when they were young children on the mantle and coos happily) Awww, Damon! (She picks up the photograph and examines it before showing it to Damon) You were so adorable! Damon: Aww, thanks! (He looks at the photo and grimaces) Except... that's Stefan. (He sees another photo on the mantle of himself as a child with his mother and grabs it) This is me. (He pauses for a moment and stares at it before handing it over to Elena) We're not here to socialize. We get the Ascendant, we find my mother, and after she flips Stefan's switch, we figure out what the hell we're going to do with her. Elena: (continues looking at the baby photo of Damon) Aw, you can give her another chance? Damon: (snoops through the desk) Chance to what? Disarray another literal boatload of people? Elena: Stefan was a Ripper. You never gave up on him. Damon: And where was Lily from 1858 to 1903? She was blood-binge-ing through Europe while Stefan and I carried the loss. (Elena looks at him sympathetically) Not exactly maternal, Elena. Far as I'm concerned, my mother died when we buried her empty coffin. What we're looking for is just a tool to get my brother back. (Elena opens her mouth to say something, but before she can, a female voice calls out behind them, and Elena gapes in surprise. It's Lily, who was apparently gathering firewood outside, and she is shocked to see Damon) Lily: (shocked) Damon? Damon: (overwhelmed) Hello, mother. (After the break, Lily has started a fire in the fireplace, where she is boiling a kettle of water to make tea. Elena and Damon are both sitting on the couch) Lily: There was a time I marked days on a calendar. (She joins them at the coffee table and pours them each a cup of tea before sitting across from them) I gave up after a few years, but, judging by your bizarre attire... Elena: You've been in here for over a century... Damon: (sarcastically) Yeah, I would have come by sooner, but I thought you were safe and sound in the family crypt. (He smiles fakely) My bad. Lily: (smiles guiltily) Technically, I did die in 1858, after a nurse in the TB ward fed me vampire blood. Damon: And you never thought to stop by and clear things up? (Lily looks at him awkwardly before returning the kettle to the fire. Elena, sensing the tension, decides to change the subject) Elena: How did you end up here, Mrs. Salvatore? (Damon looks at her incredulously) Damon: (whispers) Mrs. Salvatore? Elena: (whispers back) I don't know what to call her. Lily: (chuckles) Please, call me Lily. (She sits down across from them again) It was October 31st, 1903. (She dips a tea bag into each of their cups. Next to the cups is a sealed jar of blood and a small dropper) I had just arrived in New York Harbor. The night sky was alive with this beautiful shimmering light. And, out of nowhere, a coven of witches attacked. When I woke, they were gone. Everyone was gone. (She chuckles nervously) That night, the sky danced with colors again, and it's done so every night since. (She hands Damon and Elena each a tea cup) Damon: It's called "prison." You must have pissed off a lot of people. (Elena gives Damon a hard look, as though to say, "Be nice!") Lily: (smiles) That life seems like forever ago. (Damon picks up the dropper next to the jar of blood and examines it) Damon: You on a diet? Lily: I depleted every slaughterhouse within walking distance, and every butcher's shop along the hellish trek from New York to Mystic Falls. (She picks up the jar of blood and shows it to them) This is the last of the blood here, heh. Two drops a week, just to stay awake. Elena: That sounds miserable. Lily: (smiles) I manage. (She looks at Damon) I heard you and your brother turned during the war. Damon: Mmhmm. Lily: (sips her tea) Your father must have been horrified. Damon: He was! And then, Stefan ripped his throat out. (Lily giggles so hard she accidentally spits out her tea, and then looks a little embarrassed. Damon smiles at her) Lily: I apologize - that's cruel to laugh - but... good for Stefan. (Damon nods at her) I truly hated that man. Damon: Oh, I know you did. So much so that you left your kids with him, faked your own death, and then went out to join the Ripper Coalition. (Elena gives Damon another stern look) Lily: (smiles tightly) Well, it's nice to see that you've grown into yourself, Damon. (Damon smiles back, but Lily's smile falls quickly) How's your brother? (Damon opens his mouth to speak, but can't find the words) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE COLLEGE, DORMS ] (Caroline is in her dorm's study room, working on homework, when she suddenly hears a noise nearby) Caroline: Hello? Is anyone there? (She hears another clanging noise and finally gets up to see what is going on. It's Stefan, who is messing around with a soda machine in the hallway) Caroline: Damnit, Stefan! What do you want? Stefan: (pretends to grab a soda can) Uh, I brought you a little peace-offering. I figured with all that singing, and furnace-stuffing, you must be parched. (He pulls the pin from a vervain-grenade and throws it at her. She doesn't realize what it is quickly enough to move out of the way, and is instead thrown backward with the force of the explosion. She falls flat on the ground as shattered glass rains down on her and the skin on her face and hands sizzles from the vervain. Stefan walks toward her and grabs a piece of wood from the stairway railing to use as a stake before he straddles her on the ground and flips her over) Stefan: Now, see, this is how a vampire with no humanity is supposed to act! I am inflicting actual pain! Caroline: (groans) Leave me alone! Stefan: Why? You thinking about giving in? Letting go? Breaking your code? Caroline: Stefan, stop! Stefan: Come on, Caroline! Just let go! I promise it'll feel good. Caroline: I am not going to let you ruin my life. Stefan: Okay! Then I'll end it. (Stefan raises the stake and is about to kill her with it when Caroline vamps-out, bites his wrist, and uses his distraction to flip him over and stake him in the stomach with it) Stefan: (shouts in pain) Ahh! Ahhh! [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, THE WOODS ] (Bonnie and Kai are in the woods near a shed, where they're casting a locator spell for the Ascendant. Kai drips blood from his index finger onto the palm of her hand to do the spell) Kai: You have really nice palms. (Bonnie gives him a confused look, and Kai smiles at her. She rolls her eyes and gets back to the task at hand) Bonnie: Phesmatos tribum, nas ex veras, sequitas sanguinum. Phesmatos tribum, nas ex viras, sequitas sanguinum. Kai: (blurts out) Do you know why I'm here? (Bonnie ignores him and continues chanting) Kai: Because my guilt keeps me up at night. (Bonnie continues to ignore him, and Kai sighs) I don't-I don't expect you to believe me. But I need you to give me one more chance. (Bonnie keeps chanting, and Kai becomes so frustrated he roughly grabs Bonnie's wrists and shakes her) Kai: Bonnie! LISTEN TO ME! (Bonnie grimaces in pain and looks up at him, fearful and angry and also not surprised by this reaction. Kai looks as though he can't believe what he just did and quickly lets go of her) Kai: (guilty) Sorry, I... Oh my God, I didn't... I didn't mean to do that... Bonnie: (cuts him off) But you did it anyway. Because even if you're telling the truth, the old you is still inside of you. (She glares at him) The Ascendant is this way. (Bonnie walks past him, and Kai sighs before following after her) [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, SALVATORE ESTATE ] (Lily, Damon, and Elena are still talking in the parlor) Lily: (confused) And, you believe I can reconnect Stefan with his humanity? Elena: The last memory Stefan has of you is a vision of an angel telling him "Everything is going to be okay." (Lily looks touched by this story and smiles) Damon: So, you're gonna be an angel again. He doesn't need to how how screwed-up you really are. (Lily's smile falls, and she and Damon stare at each other for a moment) Lily: Of course I'll help! I'd love nothing more than to see him again. Damon: (smacks the table and stands up) Pack your bags. Lily: (stands up as well) Wonderful! (She laughs in excitement) I'll alert the others, hmm? (Elena and Damon dead in their tracks and stare at her in confusion) Damon: You'll alert who, now? Lily: You knew so much about me, I assumed you'd heard of my traveling companions? Damon: (uneasy) What traveling companions? (Lily, holding a lit lamp in her hands, leads Elena and Damon up to the attic, where they find six more vampires, all desiccated to the point of immobilization, sitting around a table) Lily: Everyone, meet my son Damon. He's here to take us home. (Elena and Damon are both horrified at the sight of Lily's den of vampires and look at each other in concern) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE COLLEGE, DORMS ] (Enzo and Alaric have just arrived to the dorm, where Enzo, holding a crossbow, leads them inside. Alaric is holding a stake-shooting rifle, and cocks it as he follows behind Enzo) Enzo: There you are! Definite role-model material. Alaric: (incredulously) Damon really spent five years in a cell with you without killing himself? Enzo: Oh, a fellow smart-ass. I see why you were his drinking buddy. Oh, you're gonna have to knock-off the hard stuff while you're breastfeeding, mate. Alaric: (annoyed) You know, what are you even doing here? I thought you hated Stefan. Enzo: Yeah, I do. In fact, I have a whole elaborate revenge-scheme against him. But, unfortunately, in order to truly hurt someone, they have to care. Alaric: So, you want Stefan's humanity back just to remind him how much you two hate each other? Enzo: (shrugs) A game's more fun with two players. Alaric: You know, last night, an innocent girl had an involuntary splenectomy because you brought her into your life. (Enzo sighs and rolls his eyes) Now, if this is your idea of fun? You need to take a long look in the mirror, pal. Enzo: And what? Reevaluate my flippant disregard for human life? Alaric: (smirks) Nah, just your deep, obvious loneliness. Enzo: (impressed) Oh, got me there! Yeah, I'm just a sad nobody, up to no good, while you're at home ticking off your life milestones. (He starts counting on his fingers as he speaks) Girl, kid, death. Heh. (His voice becomes bitter) Sounds lovely. (Alaric just shrugs and turns back around to go farther into the dorm building. Elsewhere in the dorm, Caroline is dragging Stefan's unconscious body through the hall, the stake still buried in his stomach. After a moment, a girl in a field hockey uniform and carrying a field hockey stick comes into the building and sees Caroline) Girl: What are you doing? (Caroline freezes in place for a moment before turning around and dropping Stefan's arm on the floor) Caroline: (annoyed) What are you doing? It's called "spring break." Girl: It's called practice. (She notices that Stefan has a piece of wood in his stomach and becomes alarmed) Is he okay? Caroline: (sighs in annoyance and walks toward the girl) He's fine. (Suddenly, Stefan wakes up, pulls the stake out of his abdomen, and throws it at the girl. It embeds itself into the girl's stomach, and Stefan looks almost bored as he stands up and walks toward them) Caroline: (frustrated) Nice going, you jackass! (Caroline pulls the stake out of the girl's stomach and bites her wrist to feed her her blood) Stefan: Second lesson in losing control: No... Saving... Strangers. (Stefan's face vamps-out and he zoops over to Caroline to pull her away from the girl drinking her blood, but Caroline anticipates it and hits him upside the head with the stake, knocking him onto the floor. Caroline forces the girl to look her in the eyes so she can compel her) Caroline: (compels her) Go to your room. I'll deal with you later. (As the girl runs away, Caroline addresses Stefan) So, to summarize, "letting go" means being an idiot, increasing your chances of getting caught, and worst of all, actively making choices... (Stefan suddenly cuts her off by vamp-speeding over to her and shoving her against the wall. He covers her mouth with his hand and puts a finger to his lips) Stefan: Shhh. Shhh. (He looks down the hall, where Enzo and Alaric are following the trail of blood and shattered glass into the next room. Enzo has his crossbow raised and is about to check another room when Alaric sees another vervain grenade rolling down the steps. Alarmed, Alaric turns toward Enzo) Alaric: Uhhh, Enzo? (Enzo turns and sees the grenade as well) Enzo: (sighs) Bollocks. (Enzo grabs Alaric by the collar and vamp-speeds them away just as the grenade explodes, just barely missing being hit by it) [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, SALVATORE ESTATE ] (Lily is in the middle of playing a record on the gramophone player in the attic while Elena and Damon both continue to stare in horror and confusion at Lily's companions) Elena: These vampires have been trapped here with you? The whole time? Lily: We went everywhere together. They happened to be on the boat that night, poor souls. Damon: (in disbelief) These... poor souls... don't happen to have the same affinity for rolling heads, do they? Lily: On the contrary, these people saved me from that part of myself. I was banished here because I was a monster. I drank with no remorse from whatever human I could sink my teeth into. But, locked in this cage, I was forced to confront the animal I had become. (She affectionately straightens up the handkerchief in one of her male friends' pockets) And, as we ran out of resources, my friends sacrificed their rations for me. And, I knew if I drank everything, as every bone in my body demanded, there wouldn't be enough to wake them. So, I learned to control my bloodlust, for them. These people made me feel human again. (Damon gives her a suspicious look, but Lily seems to be oblivious) Lily: I'll fetch the rest of the blood so we can revive them. (Lily leaves, and Elena and Damon give each other overwhelmed looks. Elena starts to wander around the room, and the desiccated vampire at the end of the row stares at them both with bloodshot eyes. Elena holds up a finger and waves it back and forth as she watches the man's eyes follow it) Damon: Not only is she a Ripper... (He lowers his voice to a whisper) .. she's an insane Ripper! Elena: Or, maybe she feels responsible for them? Damon: (continues to whisper) What, are you kidding me? Vampire dollhouse? (Elena notices the Ascendant is laying on a nearby dresser, and her eyes widen in shock as she picks it up) Elena: Damon! Isn't this the Ascendant? Damon: (nods awkwardly) Yeah. Elena: (opens the Ascendant) Why isn't Bonnie here? Damon: (sighs and speaks quietly) Because Bonnie isn't looking for the Ascendant, Elena. (Elena looks at him in confusion) [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, THE WOODS ] (Bonnie is leading Kai through the woods, pretending as though they're searching for the Ascendant) Bonnie: The spell feels stronger. The Ascendant must be around here somewhere. Kai: (confused) Why would the Ascendant be here? Bonnie: I don't know, I didn't put it here. Kai: If you don't think I'm capable of change, why spend an entire day with me? Why bring me out into the middle of nowhere? (Bonnie looks uncomfortable, and doesn't turn around to face him) I could gut you all over again. Your friends would never even hear you scream. Bonnie: (sighs and finally turns to face him) Because maybe you're right. Maybe, deep down, there's a part of me that believes there's a sliver of good in you. Kai: (laughs) And, you'd be right! (He continues to laugh and walks past her) Looking, looking, and... nope, they didn't hide the Ascendant in a random pile of... (Kai gasps all of a sudden as he's stabbed in the back with Bonnie's huge knife from earlier. He falls on the ground, gasping in pain as he tries to crawl away from her, but Bonnie just grabs him and stabs him again in his hamstring) Kai: Bonnie! (Bonnie flips him over and straddles him so he can't move, and for once, Kai looks truly afraid of her) Kai: (panting) What are you doing? Bonnie: Gaining your trust, and then stabbing you in the back? Feels pretty sucky, doesn't it? Kai: (pleads) Please, don't. Bonnie: (angrily) Don't what? Don't-don't leave you here? All alone? Drive you to the point of wanting to end your own life? (She completely loses her temper and shouts at the top of her lungs) I almost killed myself because of you! Kai: (terrified) Please, please, believe me! I've changed! Bonnie: (holding the knife up above him) I know. I know. (She grits her teeth) So have I. (She goes to stab him again, but all of a sudden, Kai casts a cloaking spell on himself, and the knife instead goes right into the ground. Confused, Bonnie looks around for Kai, who can't be found) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE COLLEGE, DORMS ] (Caroline has just found Enzo and Alaric unconscious on the floor, with Enzo laying face-first on top of Alaric's body. Caroline shoves Enzo off of him, and he falls lifelessly to the floor beside him. She stands when she sees Stefan approaching them) Caroline: At least they're still breathing. Stefan: Aw, Damon must be up to something really good if he sent the B-team. (He picks up another broken piece of wood off of the floor and waves it in the air) What do you say we send them a little message? (Caroline picks up Alaric's stake-shooting gun and aims it at Stefan) Stefan: Stopping you from leaving the cleaning staff two dead bodies. Not to mention, killing Elena's former guardian and your brother's best friend. Did you like being locked up and tortured to get your humanity back? Stefan: (laughs patronizingly) It must be so exhausting, over-thinking everything. (He walks toward her) Denying your own urge to kill. (He pushes his chest right up against the end of the stake-shooting rifle) Just be done with them. Caroline: (cocks her gun and glares at him) Back. Away. Stefan: (sighs in disappointment) Fine. If that's what you want. (He flips the stake he's holding onto the floor and leaves the room. Caroline, looking confused and a little disappointed herself, drops the gun and chases after him) Caroline: ...Hey! (Stefan kicks the door to the field hockey girl's room, where she is sitting on her bed, still clutching her stomach wound and looking scared to see him. Caroline follows him, looking exasperated) Caroline: Where are you going? (Stefan pulls the girl to her feet by the arm and grips her shoulders tightly as he shoves her toward Caroline) Stefan: You think I don't know everything about you? I taught you how to control your bloodlust, remember? (Stefan flips the girl around so she's facing him and compels her) Stay still, and don't scream. Caroline: (unamused) What are you doing? Stefan: The thing that you keep resisting. (Caroline watches, partly in horror, and partly in jealousy, as Stefan vamps-out and bites into her neck, feeding deeply on her blood. Stefan looks up at Caroline as he feeds, clearly enjoying the fact that she seems so tempted, and after a moment, he pulls away, blood dripping down his face, and smiles at her) Caroline: If you're trying to tempt me, it's not working. Stefan: I don't have to try. Deep down, you and I are exactly the same, Caroline. Come on, you can break routine for a second, right? (He spins the girl, who is swaying on the feet, around so she's facing Caroline. His hand is holding the girl's head to the side so her throat is bared to her, and he smiles cutely at her) She has a really pretty neck. (Caroline looks even more tempted as Stefan bites into the other side of her neck and feeds on the girl. He pulls away again and looks up at Caroline with a dazed expression, and after a moment, Caroline's face vamps-out before she speeds over to him and begins feeding on her as well. Stefan backs away and watches in pleasure as Caroline drinks her blood, and when she's finished, she throws the girl onto the floor and lunges for Stefan and begins making out with him passionately. She vamp-speeds him against a wall as they make out, and she starts pulling off Stefan's jacket. Stefan takes the lead and shoves her against the soda machine and takes off her jacket as well as she starts to unbutton his jeans, and once she's done, he lifts her up and puts her legs around his waist) [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, SALVATORE ESTATE ] (It's night time now, and the Aurora Borealis is lighting up the sky outside. Lily has put on her jacket, and she picks up her jar of blood just as Elena and Damon return downstairs to grab their coats) Damon: Your vampire-menagerie is going to have to take the next train out. We're down a witch. Lily: (in disbelief) You want to leave them behind? No, Damon, you can't save me without saving them. Damon: We'll come back for them. Promise. Let's go. Elena: Damon, look outside! Is that the Aurora Borealis? (Just then, Bonnie returns to the house and joins them) Bonnie: Also known as our ticket out of here. (She looks at Elena) You got it? Elena: Yeah! (She pulls the Ascendant out of her pocket and hands it to Bonnie) Bonnie: (takes the Ascendant) Okay. Damon: (notices Lily has vanished) You gotta be kidding me! (He looks at the girls, clearly frustrated, and sighs) Go. Start the damn spell. I'll go get her. (Upstairs in the attic, Lily is dripping blood from the jar into the first vampire's mouth to wake him up) Lily: Time to wake up! (Damon vamp-speeds over to Lily and shoves her against the wall, and she's so shocked by it that she accidentally drops the jar of blood, which shatters all over the floor) Lily: No! Damon: I said, they're not coming. Lily: What have you done? Damon: We'll see them after the reunion. Let's go. Lily: You don't understand, Damon. I will not leave them! Damon: Too bad. (He grabs her arm to drag her downstairs, but she pulls away) Lily: They're my family! (Damon looks at her, extremely hurt by these words) These people are my family. Damon: (looks around for a moment) These freaks may be your family, but Stefan Salvatore is mine, and if you don't want to help him, I will leave you here to rot! (Lily looks torn) Do you understand me? (Outside, Bonnie is cutting her hand and dripping her blood over the Ascendant as she starts the spell) Bonnie: (chanting) Sangiema meam et nos mundo carcerema. Sangiema meam et nos mundo carcerema. (After a moment, Damon and Lily come out hand-in-hand) Elena: Damon! (Elena, Damon, and Lily all hold onto Bonnie, who is now holding the Ascendant. A few meters away, Kai is stumbling toward them, still injured from being stabbed by Bonnie earlier, and spots them leaving him behind, but is unable to make it any farther) Kai: (shouts) Bonnie! (Bonnie sees him, but continues doing the spell anyway. Kai looks distraught as Bonnie smirks at his just as they are sucked back into the real world. Kai is absolutely stunned that they left her behind and falls onto the ground in horror, half-laughing and half-crying at his current predicament) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE MEDICAL CENTER ] (Sarah is still in her hospital room, flicking through her phone, when Enzo comes in to see her) Enzo: Nice negligée! Sarah: (laughs) Enzo. Hey. Um, did I call you last night? I have a text from you to meet up, but I don't remember ever seeing you. Enzo: Look, Sarah... It was a mistake bringing you into my life. Sarah: (confused) Then, why did you? Enzo: (chuckles) Call it deep and obvious loneliness. (He sighs) Look, the truth is, you've been a pawn in a game that I've now lost interest in playing. But, you're no ordinary girl, Sarah Salvatore. You deserve better. Sarah: (puzzled) Sarah... Salvatore? Why would you call me that? (Enzo smiles a tiny smile, as though he did said it on purpose) (In another room, Jo is checking Alaric out for injuries by looking at his eyes with a pen light. His face is slightly scratched up from the vervain grenade) Jo: Oh, boy. This is bad. Alaric: (rubs his eyes) What? Jo: (seriously) I'm marrying an idiot. (She roughly smacks him in the shoulder, and Alaric groans in pain) You could died today! Alaric: As opposed to any other day? Jo: Eighteen years. That's how long I need you to be alive. Help me raise this baby. Then we can send him or her into the world, and you can run around with guns, and vampires, and be an idiot. (Her voice becomes quiet) Okay? Alaric: (smiles) Fine. [SCENE_BREAK] [ SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE ] (Lily is in one of the spare bedrooms of the boarding house, where she is sitting at the desk, staring at the computer's screensaver that slightly resembles the Aurora Borealis. After a moment, Damon comes in with fresh sheets and sets them on the bed for her) Damon: (about the computer) Whole world runs on those things. The sooner you learn 'em, the better. Lily: Maybe you could teach me? Damon: (makes the bed) That's more Stefan's thing. But, he can give you a tutorial after you mother him back to sanity. Lily: (walks toward Damon) Stefan was right. The night of my funeral, an angel did visit him: me. (Damon looks at her in surprise) I had just turned, and... I wanted to see my boys. But, when I leaned down to whisper into Stefan's ear, the hunger surged. All I could hear was the pulse in his veins, all I could smell was the blood. So, I fled. For your sake. And, no matter how deeply you felt my absence, it is half as deep as I felt yours. Damon: (nods in understanding) Good to know. (He pauses for a moment) I'll let you get some sleep. (He turns to leave until Lily stops him) Lily: Damon? Damon: (sighs) Yes? Lily: As much as I am looking forward to us getting to know each other again, I fear that I can't truly be myself until we retrieve the ones that I've left behind. Damon: Oh. Lily: When will we be going back? Damon: Soon, but don't worry, your prison world's not going anywhere. [SCENE_BREAK] [ 1903 PRISON WORLD, SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE ] (Kai has made it into the boarding house, and is limping upstairs to the attic with a lit lamp in his hands) Kai: (panting) Where do they keep their food? (Kai turns to look around the other side of the room, and ends up bumping right into the desiccated vampire that Lily tried to wake up before they left) Kai: (startled) Oh, crap! (Once Kai gets over his initial fright, he looks closer at the three men and three women sitting frozen at the table. He then makes the mistake of leaning close to the partially-awakened vampire at the end of the table and chuckles) Who the hell are... AHHHHH! (The vampire cuts him off by grabbing Kai in a choke-hold, which causes Kai to scream even more and drop the lamp onto the ground) [SCENE_BREAK] [ SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE ] (Elena is in the kitchen, looking at the photograph of Damon that she took from the 1903 prison world, when Damon comes in to join her) Damon: You better check the inventory of the blood cooler before Lily wakes up. Elena: (smiles and turns to face him) You have her eyes. (Damon is surprised to see the photo, and takes it out of her hands to examine it again) Damon: You brought that back? Elena: (takes the photo back) It's the only baby picture of my boyfriend in existence! Of course I brought it back. Damon: (snatches the photo again) Give me that! Elena: I liked seeing that side of you today. Damon: (gives her a look) Disappointed and disillusioned? You see that every day. Elena: (puts her arms around Damon's neck and plays with his hair) A mother's son. Damon: She's just a means to get Stefan back. Elena: Look, I know that she's not the woman that you remember, but... give her some time! Damon: You're lucky you're so adorable, because your eternal optimism is super annoying. (Elena giggles, which makes Damon laugh too) Elena: Well, I happen to know from experience that it's never a waste of time to look for the good in someone. Damon: This woman left her kids to go be the den mother to a family of vampires. I think we're going to be looking for quite a while. Elena: Well, then it's a good thing we have forever! (She smiles as she kisses him, and the two begin to make out passionately) [SCENE_BREAK] [ WHITMORE COLLEGE, DORM ROOM ] (Caroline and Stefan are both naked and laying under a sheet on the floor in front of the fireplace after having s*x, and they are still making out with Stefan on top of her. He starts kissing her neck, and Caroline sighs) Caroline: Ahhh. That wasn't terrible. Stefan: See? Control is overrated. Caroline: I don't even remember how we got back to my room. (She peeks under the sheet and realizes she's still naked) Where's my shirt? Stefan: It's... next to the girl we left bleeding out in the hallway. (He smiles at her, and the two giggle at each other before Caroline hums and crawls on top of Stefan so she can kiss him more. ) Caroline: You're right. Your way is much more fun. (The two begin making out again) [SCENE_BREAK] [ SALVATORE BOARDING HOUSE ] (Elena and Damon are still making out as well, and Damon lifts her up so she's sitting on the counter with Damon's body between her legs. He start kissing her neck, and the two become so consumed in their hook-up that they don't even notice Bonnie standing in the doorway watching them. Damon spots her out of the corner of his eye eventually, but keeps kissing Elena for a moment more) Damon: Oh hey, Bon-Bon. (Elena realizes that Bonnie is there and gets embarrassed, but Damon continues leaning against Elena's neck) Bonnie: (sheepishly) Sorry. Awkward timing. Elena: No, no, no, no, it's fine. I, um, I actually have to go check in on Ric to see how things are going with Stefan and Caroline, so... (Elena gives Damon one last kiss before she leaves Bonnie and Damon to talk. Damon smirks at Bonnie) Damon: This better be good. Bonnie: I just wanted to thank you for helping me find closure today. (Damon suddenly becomes aware of Lily's presence and turns on the faucet to drown out the sound of their voices) Damon: (points upstairs) You know there's a crazy-lady up there who wants to open that prison world up more than anything, right? Bonnie: (whispering) We're never going back there, right? Damon: No! We're not! Bonnie: (turns off the faucet) Good. Because I have something for you. A gift from 1994. I was gonna give it to you yesterday, but then you acted like an ass and you didn't deserve it. Damon: (sighs) Well, I... (His voice trails off as Bonnie opens up her bag and pulls out a familiar-looking brown wooden box. He walks toward her and looks shocked) Damon: That's not what I think it is... is it? Bonnie: If it wasn't for your notes on the map of Nova Scotia, I would have never remembered there was magic on that island. There's a good chance that I wouldn't be here today. So, for my 1994 road trip, I got you a li'l something. (Damon hesitantly takes the box from her and opens it, revealing that the mirror version of the cure for immortality from Silas' tomb is in it, just as he suspected) Damon: The cure. The cure to vampirism. Bonnie: (smiles) I knew you were planning on getting it yourself, you had the whole route mapped down to the kilometer. Damon: (closes the box) Why are you giving me this? Bonnie: Because my mom's surprisingly happy as a vampire, and because I have full faith that we'll get Caroline back to normal the old-fashioned way. But mostly, because I knew you wanted it for Elena. Damon: (stunned) What if I don't want it for her now? Bonnie: That's none of my business. I'm just finishing what you started. You can give it to her, or not. (She places her hand on top of Damon's affectionately) It's up to you. (She turns and walks out the door, leaving Damon conflicted about what to do) [ END ]
A Bird in a Gilded Cage