The Sacrifice

*AGE CHANGE FROM 12 to 14; Birthday no longer on Founder's Day*

"Let me get this straight. You saw Elijah come back to life and rip out the piece of wood from his chest?" Damon asked, arms on his hips as he paced around Emma's room. Hearing Emma's theory an hour earlier really shook (A/N: :) ) the man up, considering he's the one who offed the other vampire with his own hands.

Emma nodded, bringing her legs together while sitting on her bed. "Yes."

"And you're 100% sure that he's alive." Damon stated, facing the girl.

"Whoa, hey," she said, pointing a finger at the vampire.  "I never said that. I said I think he's alive."

Damon stared at the girl with furrowed eyebrows. "Okay, explain it to me all over again."

Emma let out an annoyed groan and fell backwards on her bed. "I told you like 3 times already."

"Well, I'm having trouble believing you had a 'vision' about Elijah coming back to life."

"So am I!" she admitted, throwing her arms up. She sighed. "Listen, all I know is something weird is happening to me and I have no idea what. All I saw Elijah, the house, him coming back to life, and the one with the coin."

"What coin?" Damon asked, sitting on the corner of her bed.

Emma sat up to her previous position. "Uhh, I was at the park outside The Grill when I was with Stefan and Caroline. Elijah was across the street, tossing up a coin and then he threw it at me and I heard glass breaking." she explained.

Damon was silent as he thought for a moment, letting out a 'huh'.

"What?" Emma curiously asked. "Do- do you know something?"

"Well, I was with Rose today." Upon seeing the girl's confused expression, he waved his hand at her. "She's new. Anyways, we went to this cafe to meet someone who had connections to Elijah's crowd when the windows protecting the two from the sun shattered. My best bet is that it could have been Elijah, you know, if what you say is true."

The young Gilbert looked at Damon with slightly wide eyes. "So, you believe me?"

Damon shrugged. "Not entirely, we need to figure how he's still alive and how you're having visions."

"Your guess is as good as mine cause I am freaking out." she admitted, waving her arms in the air drastically. "Damon," she began with a sad sigh. "what's wrong with me?"

"No idea, pipsqueak. But I bet Isobel's research might have something." he said, patting the bed and getting up.

"Now, I have some unfinished business to do, but I'll keep you posted." He had opened his mouth to add one last input when Emma's bedroom door opened, revealing Elena.

"Emma? What are you still doing up?"

As Emma recovered from the sudden appearance of her sister, she noticed that Damon had vanished, leaving through her open window.

"Uh, just quickly doing some homework I forgot to do. What about you?"

Elena let out a chuckle. "Oh, you don't want to know. Trust me. Goodnight." she said with a smile, closing the door behind her.

"Night." Emma muttered. She didn't have the energy to change, so she slowly got under the covers. Getting comfortable, she stared blankly at the ceiling.

So much for keeping the whole vision thing a secret. Maybe it was a good thing that she told Damon, considering he's a vampire and has met some crazy creatures or things during his life. But none of this made any sense. Why would she have any sort of powers? Sure, Elena is a doppelganger and they're technically cousins, but Elena gets the supernatural stuff from Isobel, not John. Emma was just a plain old Gilbert.

Emma turned and laid on her side, letting out a deep sigh.

What if it was an evil witch playing tricks on her? They could be using her to get to Elena since she's so important and whatnot. Who knows, maybe this is all a dream. Maybe she's playing tricks on herself. She did want to feel like part of the group, to be able to help and not be useless. 

That night, Emma fell asleep with sorrow in her heart.

~~~~♡~~~~  

Elena and a woman sat together on a couch. "How would you like to be able to walk during the daylight?"

"I've been a slave to the shadows for 500 years. What do you think?"-A cave. Someone angry leaning against a wall. "If you want it, you're going to have to come here and get it."

Jeremy threw dust at. . . Elena? "I kinda figured you'd say that."-Blood dripped from the corners of Katherine's mouth, "So, I'm going to be in the back playing with my new little toy and you guys just give me a holler when you've got the tomb open."-Elijah ripped the hearts out of two guys.

Damon. "Well, I'll be damned. She was right. But how? I killed you. You were dead."

"For centuries now."-"Stefan!"

"GO!"

Emma shot up on her bed with a gasp. A light coat of sweat was plastered on her forehead. She took deep breaths to calm her racing heart. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed she was still in the comfort of her room.

Was that another vision? Or visions?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the familiar voices of Stefan and Damon downstairs through her door. Getting up, she quickly changed out of her old clothes and into fresh ones and went down the stairs.

As she turned at the base of the stairs to head towards the kitchen, Elena had brushed past her with her belongings and out the door. Emma looked in confusion in the direction where her sister left as she entered the kitchen.

"What's wrong with Elena?" she asked, seeing Stefan and Damon share the same expression as her.

"She didn't like that we talked to Katherine without her permission." Damon informed, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed.

"You spoke to Katherine?!" Emma asked, eyes wide in shock.

Damon rolled his eyes. "God, you guys really are sisters."

Emma scoffed, glaring at the man. "We both are in our right minds. Why would you go talk to her?"

"We thought she would give us the moonstone." Stefan said, elbows resting on the island's top.

"Yeah, like she was going to find it in the kindness of her heart to give us what we desperately need right after we left her to rot in a tomb forever." Emma responded sarcastically.

"Maybe if you had let Stefan finish, you would have heard that we have a plan to get it back from her unwilling hands." Damon said.

"Okay, what's the plan?"

Stefan shifted his position to where his hands gripped the edge of the counter. "We find a way to bring down the seal for a little so we can go in and get the moonstone."

Emma thought over the plan. Something about it raised red flags in her head. Maybe what she saw in her dream was some sort of warning. 

"Is Bonnie on board with taking the seal down?" she asked.

Stefan pulled out his phone. "We're about to find out." he said, going to the living room to call.

Once he had left, Emma moved to where Damon was, nervously picking at the stuffing of her cast. "I don't like this."

"Don't worry. The plan will work." Damon assured.

"I don't know. I had. . visions again last night." she informed.

Damon's eyes widened, glancing quickly over to Stefan and back to Emma. "What did you see?"

She shrugged. "I can't really remember but I think it's about what we're about to do and it didn't seem good. We need to be careful."

Stefan reentered the room, putting his phone in his back pocket. "Bonnie said she'll do it. She's meeting us at the boarding house with Jeremy. Let's go."

Damon and Emma shared one last look before following Stefan out to the camaro parked outside.

~~~~♡~~~~  

"I might be able to lower the tomb spell long enough for you to get in there and grab the moonstone from Katherine." Bonnie explained, with Stefan, Emma, Damon, and Jeremy standing around the library.

"How?" Jeremy asked. "It took both you and your Grams last time, and look what happened to her."he reminded.

Emma sadly agreed with her brother, despite the way he delivered his concern. Bonnie's Grams passed away because of how strong the spell was and she was a powerful witch.

"I'm well aware of what happened." Bonnie said. "But I've learned a few new things."

"Bonnie. . ." Jeremy warned, the tone in his voice showing how worried he was about the plan. 

"How will you get it?" Bonnie asked Stefan, ignoring Jeremy.

"She hasn't been feeding. She's weaker. We're not." Stefan said, nodding his head to Damon, who waved his glass of bourbon.

"You wouldn't be underestimating her, would you?" Bonnie questioned.

"It's a plan. Is it perfect?" Damon scoffed. "What plan is?"

"Let me do it. I've got my ring. I can get in, get out, no spells necessary." Jeremy prompted.

"Jer, how about we leave that part to the people that have super strength and powers." Emma suggested, putting her hand on his arm.

"Yes, thank you, you 16 year-old child. Why are you even here?" Damon interjected. Jeremy gave the vampire venomous look.

"Maybe I can help better the plan." Bonnie proposed. "Do you have anything that belongs to Katherine?"

Emma unconsciously glanced over at Stefan, considering he's the one who keeps mementos.

Stefan sighed and vanished to his room. As we was gone, Bonnie ordered the other three to get her a bowl and a glass a water. After a few minutes, Stefan returned with a small piece of metal.

"This belonged to Katherine." he said, handing it to Bonnie. "Found it with her things after I thought she was dead, but it was hers." he explained.

Bonnie grabbed the metal, which turned out to be a picture of Katherine, and placed it in the bowl. Emma stepped closer to Bonnie as she watched the witch dip her fingers in the glass of water. She let the drops of water drip onto the picture and immediately flames erupted. The witch closed her eyes in concentration and began to chant a spell in Latin.

"What will this do?" Emma asked.

"I can turn the metal to ash." This seemed somewhat familiar to the youngest Gilbert, but couldn't find the connection. "Blow the ashes on her, and it'll incapacitate her for a minute or two. Long enough for you to get the stone and get out."

Everyone stared at the bowl as the metal picture turned to ash. Once the spell finished, Bonnie dumped the ashes on the table.

"Better get the torches." Stefan pointed out, putting flashlights into their bag of supplies.

"Alaric's stake gun's are in my trunk." Damon informed.

"I'll help." Emma offered, grabbing a bag to carry.

"Bonnie?"

"Go ahead. I'm almost done." she said.

The two vampires and the Gilbert left the library and made their way to the car.

"See, Emma, so far so good." Damon said as they walked. "Your dream must have been nerves."

Emma shrugged. "I guess? I don't know. I still have an unsettling feeling."

They made it to the car and Damon opened the trunk while Stefan opened the backseat door and leaned in to put stuff down. "Yeah, yeah. Like I said. Nerves." He grabbed the bag Emma was carrying from her and set it next to the one he put in. "And maybe the whole 'Elijah being alive' was the same."

The two heard a thump from inside the car and saw Stefan get out of the car, rubbing his head.

"I'm sorry, but did I hear you say 'the whole Elijah being alive'?" he asked, a stern expression on his face.

Emma let out a weak chuckle and lightly smiled at him. "It's kind of a long story, but I sort of had a vision or something about Elijah coming back to life after you guys killed him." she stated. Upon seeing Stefan's confused and lost look, she spoke again. "But don't worry, I don't have any evidence what's so ever, so basically I could have made the whole thing up." she assured. Before Stefan could say anything, Emma began to walk away. "I'll get the last bag."

She hurriedly made her way back to the library but stopped at the doorway at what she say. Jeremy had a card out and was scooping some of the ash in his hand, secretly putting it in his pocket.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows, having that familiar feeling again, like before. She watched as Jeremy played it off as getting the ash ready when Bonnie went back to his side with a pouch for the ash. The girl took the bag without the two noticing her. She went back to the car and handed the bag to Stefan.

"Hey, guys. I think I'm just going to sit this one out." she said, arms crossed.

Damon faked a shocked reaction. "What? You're saying you don't want to come?"

"Yeah, I'll just stay here till you get back." Emma said.

The brothers side glanced each other with uncertain looks, but nonetheless let the girl stay. After everything was set up, Stefan and Damon announced that they had one last stop to do before heading over to the tomb and Bonnie said she needed to stop by her house to get the grimoire. Jeremy had told Bonnie that he would meet her at the tomb, waving goodbye at the three leaving before driving away as well. By then, it was already too late when Emma finally pieced everything together.

Jeremy was going to do the plan alone.

~~~~♡~~~~  

She was running as hard as she could through the woods, trying to get to the tomb before her brother. She knew the way she was going would take her to the tomb, once using google maps out of curiosity to see how far away the boarding house was from civilization. Her shoes kicked up the dirt behind her as she ran.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." she muttered to herself, hopping over a fallen tree branch.

How could she had been so stupid? How could she not have realized that Jeremy was going to do this? She saw it in her freaking dream last night!

Emma wasn't sure for how long she was running, but when she saw the of the tomb, she pushed through the rest of distance. Reaching the stairs, she jumps down the steps.

"Jeremy?!" she shouted, stopping at the entrance of the tomb. Katherine laid passed out on the floor, with a bloody steak next to her body. "Jeremy!" she called out, quickly stepping over the vampire and running down the narrow pathway. She turned around a sharp corner when she bumped right into her brother, letting out a frightened, 'Oh my god.'

"Emma?! What are you doing here?" Jeremy frantically questioned, an alarmed look on his face.

"I can here to get you because I knew you were going to do something stupid."

Jeremy grabbed her arm and began to drag her out of the tomb fast. "We'll talk about this later after we get out of here!"

The siblings ran back down the path. They saw that Katherine was still down, hope filling their bodies. Jeremy stepped over the vampire's body and passed the seal, but when Emma's foot approached the barrier, a hand shot up and grabbed onto her ankle. Emma let out a scream as she was thrown off her balance and her arm fell out of Jeremy's grasp, landing on her stomach.

"Jeremy!" she cried as she was dragged deeper into the tomb by her leg. She turned on her back to see Katherine hovering over her body.

"Well, hello there, sis." the vampire said, her eyes red and fangs out. She hissed and bit down on the younger girl's neck, causing Emma to scream once more.

"No!" Jeremy shouted, advancing forward towards the vampire.

"Uh-uh-uh." Katherine sneered, using her vampire speed to stand up and hold Emma by her forearms with her back to her chest. "I wouldn't take another step if I was you."

"What the hell?"

"Jeremy?"

Stefan and Bonnie appeared in front of the tomb, both staring at Jeremy.

"I hate to interrupt, but today has just been full of surprises." Katherine said, Emma's blood slowly dripping from the corners of her lips.

Stefan and Bonnie turned their attention to the four hundred year old vampire holding Emma's exhausted body.

"Oh my god." Bonnie whispered, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth as Stefan helplessly stood at the foot of the tomb.

"I-I'm sorry. I took some powder and didn't know she came after me." Jeremy explained, his voice strained as tears formed in his eyes.

Emma's eyes drooped as she tried to look at Stefan and the others.

"Don't worry." Katherine began, taking a few strands of Emma's hair and twirling it with her index finger. "As much as I want to kill her, I don't want to lose my leverage. So, I'm going to be in the back with my new toy. You guys give me a holler when you've got the tomb open." she said, pulling Emma with her to the back.

"Don't do it guys." Emma weakly begged, stumbling as she was forced to go with Katherine.

Katherine tossed the girl onto a stone, making her struggle to sit on it.

"I don't know why you think they won't do it." Katherine commented, kneeling next to the girl. "They'll do anything to save little Emma." she said, stoking the side of Emma's face.

Emma glared at the vampire and pulled her face away, feeling her hair get stuck in the blood from her neck bite.

"Ooo, Ms. Tough Girl back at it again." Katherine teased, smirking down at the girl. "Now," She grabbed Emma's uncasted arm and brought it up to her mouth. "hold still, mama's thirsty." she said, biting on Emma's wrist.

Emma let out a painful hiss and shifted uncomfortably on her seat as the vampire drank her blood.

Katherine pulled away and licked the blood on the sides of her mouth. "Mmmm, there's just something about Gilbert blood that makes it so good." She opened her mouth to bit the girl's wrist again when she turned her head towards the front. "I smell a spelling coming." she said as she stood up and took Emma with her.

As they neared the opening of the tomb, there was a soft glow of orange. When Stefan, Bonnie, and her brother came into view, Emma saw four torches lit circling around Bonnie.

"Something's happening." Katherine stated, earning a glare from Stefan as he stood with his arms crossed.

The witch was carrying the grimoire in her arms with a chain in her right hand, chanting softly to herself in Latin.

"N-no, Bonnie." Emma objected, staring desperately at her friend. "You're not strong enough."

Katherine tilted her head to the side. "Maybe she is."

A stream on blood began to fall from Bonnie's nose, causing Jeremy to grab onto the witch.

"Bonnie." he said.

"You have to stop her." Emma pleaded, being thrown to the ground by Katherine as a result.

Stefan worriedly glanced at Emma and then went straight to Bonnie, shaking her shoulder. "Okay, you need to stop, Bonnie!"

The witch fought against Jeremy's and Stefan's grasps, continuing the spell. Bonnie dropped the grimoire from her hands and fainted, Jeremy catching her in her arms before she hit the floor.

Emma used her bloodied arm as support to lean up against the jagged edges of the cave wall.

"Bonnie, wake up." Jeremy said, softly patting Bonnie's cheek.

As she came to, Katherine lazily walked back and forth in front of Emma. "Yes, please because I'm still in here." she complained, giving the three an annoyed look.

Jeremy helped Bonnie up as she stared sadly at the invisible barrier.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked.

"It didn't work. I'm not strong enough." Bonnie concluded, breaking out of Jeremy's hold. "Even with help, I can't do it."

Katherine scowled at the witch, bringing Emma to her feet. "Ohh, that's too bad." she said, pushing the young girl against the wall. "I'm still hungry." She bared her fangs and, in the blink of an eye, Emma was thrown out of Katherine's arms and out the tomb.

"Stefan!"

"GO!"

From her spot on the floor, Emma looked inside to see Stefan holding Katherine back as the older vampire proudly smirked up at her one true love.

"No, Stefan." she said, fresh tears falling down her cheeks. Emma tried to crawl towards him, but she was pulled back by Jeremy and into his in brace.

"Get her out of here." Stefan instructed, looking down defeatedly.

Jeremy nodded and carried Emma out of the tomb bridal style with Bonnie behind him. Emma sobbed into his shoulder, as her brother took her to the car.

"This is all my fault. I could have stopped this." she mumbled repeatedly, earning confused looks from Bonnie and Jeremy.

When they made it to the Gilbert house, Jeremy carried Emma again and set her carefully down on the couch, where Bonnie handed her a towel to clean the blood from her wounds. She curled herself into a ball, bringing her legs close to her chest.

"It's okay, Bonnie. I don't need an escort to the kitchen." Jeremy said, walking to the kitchen for medical supplies.

"I don't know, between here and there, there's still time for you to do something stupid." Bonnie countered, following the boy. They continued to speak, but Emma tuned them out, lost in her thoughts.

Her visions came true. She remembered all of them and saw everything that happen and didn't do anything to stop it. Stefan was trapped in the tomb with Katherine, of all people, because of her. She could have prevented all of this from happening if she had just remembered. It was all her fault.

Jeremy reentered the living room, holding medicine and bandages. He sat next to her and began to dress her wounds.

She didn't say a word to him, staring off into space. Her trance was broken when the front door opened and Elena stepped inside.

Elena's eyes widened when she saw the state of her sister. "Oh my god what happen?" she asked, going straight to the siblings and kneeling before Emma while looking at the bite marks. Damon had walked through the door behind Elena and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

Emma and Jeremy made eye contact and he guided Elena out of the room to tell her.

Damon inched to the girl. "Emma. . ."

Emma choked and let out another sob. Damon sat on the couch next to her and rested his hand on her leg. "It's Stefan, Damon." she wept. "H-he's trapped in the tomb," She paused to breathe through her congested nose. "with Katherine."

Damon sighed and closed his eyes in frustration.

"But Damon," she continued. "I saw it."

The vampire snapped his eyes open and looked at Emma in surprise.

"My dream last night showed me what happened today. It all came true."

"Well," Damon interjected. "that's not the only thing that came true."

Emma was wiping away the tears on her face when she froze. She looked Damon in the eyes. "No." she whispered. "No, Damon."

Damon nodded his head and let out an annoyed sigh. "You were right. Elijah's alive."