Despondent

"Bonnie?" A light-headed Damon squinted his eyes at a glossy, caramel coated body. Bonnie lay in the grass on her side, surrounded by trees arranged, almost ritually, around the both of them. The gray sky accentuating heavily on their dire situation.

Damon's last memory is saying goodbye to Elena. Anything after that he can't recall. He only remembers her teary-eyed and pleading. The bags under her eyes swollen immensely as she rubbed her fingers through her hair. I peaked, some of his last words replayed in his mind like a broken record. He had no clue why.

Bonnie awakens frightened and cold. She folds her arms in an attempt to warm her naked body. She twitches her head to the left, feeling a presence behind her.

"Bonnie Bennett?" Damon says in complete shock.

"Oh my god, Damon— do NOT come any closer!" She cradles herself, trying to hide her naked body from curious eyes.

"Oh, get over yourself, Bon-Bon," He says with a smirk. "Just tell me where the hell we are."

"Because I would know lying here naked in sweat," says Bonnie with a shaky voice.

Unlike Damon, she remembers it all. The other side imploding in on them. All of the supernatural souls crying out into the oblivion, into the void. She saw Lexi, Vicki, Silas, and Markos appearing in shutters, being ripped apart by some unknown force. Their limbs being tossed around and juggled. As satisfying as it was to see Silas' arms be tugged from different directions and torn apart, her seeing Lexi go through that was unbearable. The blood seemed to never stop pouring with her, nor the tears. The one thing that kept her strutting along was the familiar touch of Damon's fingers. Though she couldn't see him, she could feel his hand. His nervous thumb brushing across her knuckle. It comforted her. There was also a darkness; alluring in all its nuisances. The tempting voices, notably two: her Grams and a different, baseless voice that wanted to lead her another way. She listened to her grams and followed her voice, dragging Damon with her.

As Bonnie followed her Grams' voice, the darkness began to dissipate and a light emerged. It engulfed the area around Bonnie including above and below her, all around her. She followed the light as it conquered the darkness, turning around and facing Damon. He was frantic and stirred. His eyes were widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but he only whimpers. Bonnie could see he was terrified, horrified even. She looks down and grabs hold of his other hand.

"We'll get through this…" She said to him with a stern look and sniffles. "I promise, I will get us through this."

"I saw…" His eyes narrowed and he looked to the side.

"What? Damon, what'd you see?" Bonnie moved her head to look into his eyes. "Damon!"

"Are you even scared?" Damon snapped at Bonnie, removing his hands from hers. She wasn't expecting that. Not because it felt like he was attacking her but because she hasn't even pondered that question herself. She blinked and looked into the white space behind him. Was she scared?

Damon's eyes reflected off the light as he stared at her. "Are you ever scared, Bonnie Bennett?" He asked her with less hostility. The tone of his voice softened and he looked off into the white space behind her, aimlessly. It was like he became absent-minded all of a sudden.

"Yes. I'm scared. We both are." She shrugged nonchalantly. "But here we are, right? I mean, you saw Lexi…" Bonnie couldn't speak about it without breaking down. Damon started shaking his head. He saw it, he just did not want to relive or talk about it again. "She just… was torn—"

"STOP! Bonnie. Please," he asked her through gritted teeth.

"I'm just saying! If that didn't happen to us, maybe— maybe there's a chance we can get back home… to the people we love."

"We died, Bonnie. All there is now is suffering…" He leaned into her. "There is no hope." He shoved past her, walking away. He was boiling now, for some reason. The intensity of the pain he felt seconds ago accumulated into this. Anger. Resentment.

Bonnie turned around. "So what? Where are you going? We'll need each other!"

"I don't need you!" He continued walking.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you don't." She folded her arms. "So typical, Damon." Bonnie turned back around and shakes her head. She was so tired of Damon's impulsive antics.

He shrugged and smiled, mockingly. "Standing here, enveloped in our FEELS won't get us any— AHH!"

Bonnie whipped back around to see Damon gone. "Damon!" She screamed. A force knocks her on her back and she clutched her chest. She coughs while trying to sit up, but the force pushed her head back down. She grabbed her head and winced in pain. The force tugged at her right leg, but Bonnie fought back. She kicked at the invisible force but felt no pressure. She lay there and searched for movement. Nothing. She quickly stood up and ran.

Bonnie is knocked on her back again, almost closed-lined. The impact on her back caused blood to erupt from her mouth. It slowly drifted down her cheeks.

"Damon," she mumbled through the pain. She felt he was her last option. The only one who could save her. She reveled in the fact that this might be the end of her. And she was not ready to go. She never was. Ever since she found out about her powers she's felt obligated to protect her friends, to be the balance between what is right and wrong, and face the truth that these powers would come with a cost. This was the cost.

As she scrunched up her face, using all of her strength to fight off this unknown and powerful force, she thought of all the times she'd saved her friends. How, at times, it gave her a sense of confidence and recognition, but it slowly declined into something lesser. Sacrificing herself countless times, saving Jeremy at the expense of her powers, saving Elena from the inevitable of the other side even though Bonnie herself was seconds away from being burst into a million pieces… it's done no good.

But she still fights while this unknown thing ripped off her clothes piece by piece.

In an instant, she lost her breath. Her chest tightened and her mouth widened as she tried to catch a breath. A soft, warming breeze enclosed around her neck and she clawed at it. She inhaled, but exhaled with no result. The life was being sucked out of Bonnie Bennett.

I don't want to die, she thought to herself. But something struck through her and vibrated those same emotions not too long ago…

She heard a voice. A witch. It was Grams. Relief pulsed throughout Bonnie's body as she began to breathe again. She smiled her beautiful and unique smile and turned around. She saw her Grams performing a spell. She watched her in honor. It elated Bonnie to see her Grams doing magic again, and saving her at that. Grams took a deep breath.

"Grams?" Bonnie said in disbelief. "You got your magic back and…" Tears began to swell in her eyes. "You're here!" She runs to her and wraps her arms around her. Grams rubs Bonnie's head as Bonnie buries it into her shoulder, sobbing.

"It's okay, baby. Everything's going to be fine now. You're safe."

"I thought I was going to die? What did you do?"

"I told you. I'm proud of you. And I'll be damned for I let anyone get in the way of your happiness."

"Thanks… but where am I?"

"It doesn't matter where you are, Bonnie. It matters where you're going."

Bonnie looks into Grams reassuring eyes. She feels hopeful again. And though Damon is missing, she has hope she'll find him too and take him with her. She rests her head on Grams shoulder for one last moment. She smiles again, trying to stifle a chuckle.

"OH!" Grams shouts, aching. She falls back, holding her stomach.

"Grams?!" Bonnie screams.

"Bonnie go! Run!" Grams yells back at her.

"NO!" replies Bonnie. Grams neck is forced upward and her chin jerks up. She groans in pain. Bonnie crouches in front of her, holding her. "Tell me what to do!"

Grams says nothing. She felt the pain of a thousand witches throbbing in her head. Her arm stretches outward and she screams agonizingly. It echoed.

"TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Bonnie demanded.

"I told you… run." Grams arm is ripped off and blood lands on Bonnie's face. Grams withering face met Bonnie's eyes. "Be safe. Be happy!"

Bonnie knew what she had to do, but she didn't want to. There was no saving her Grams. She had no magic. So, she did the only thing she thought would put her mind at ease: follow through with her Grams wishes. She stood up, her eyes soaked in tears, and she ran.

Damon held out his jacket to Bonnie. She's still covering her naked body. She looks at it from the corner of her eye.

"Take it, Bonnie. Don't be so stubborn, it's not going to bite." He tossed it on her.

"You're one to talk." He tossed it on her. She puts it on and zips it up. She looks down at her skinny, filthy legs. He does too.

"It's like a dress." He says as he raises his eyebrows in surprise. He starts walking. Bonnie watches him and contemplates telling him all that has happened. She wonders if he even knows he's dead. She forgets about it and catches up to him.