The Reset

Epilogue: Everyday Is Yesterday

Kai took a breath as he stepped off the plane with Max and Lonnie. They were already turning on their phones, a mass of text messages already lighting up their phones. Kai wasn't even about to turn on his phone if that were the case. The last thing he wanted was to be bombarded by everything. So long as everyone else knew where everyone else was, then he could care less if they knew where he was. It was always assumed that he would be with one of the kids during this trip.

Slipping on his gray beanie, Kai chuckled to himself as he placed a pair of steel-rimmed glasses on his face - the square lenses making him look like just a regular college-aged youth. Lonnie had insisted that he dress "his age" while Max said that he should have just dressed in whatever the hell he wanted to. Of course, he would take his son's advice.

He donned a pair of denim jeans cuffed up at the ankle and just over his old combat boots. The knees were ripped open and he had a simple gray t-shirt tucked into his pants, a worn leather belt hugging his waist and a black cotton dress shirt fully open with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Even though he kept his wedding band on, he wore silver rings on opposite fingers and his trademark fidget ring was on his right thumb. A set of dog tags hung from his neck and he finished his "look" off with a simple black sports watch with a digital face on it.

They met up with Lydia at the main entrance of the airport. Josiah, Emile, and Abigail had already went on ahead to the house - preparing for their arrival. At least in the sense that no one needed to be aware of their sudden appearance in Mystic Falls. It didn't take them long to load up the rental and head out for Mystic Falls.

The drive to Virginia had been long but full of chatter. Mostly from Lonnie and Max discussing what all they were planning on doing while they were out there and if any of their friends from their younger days were still in the area. Or even their cousins. There had been talk of Josie and Lizzie moving around after some time - something about Colorado. They, too, were contacted and there was mention of them possibly coming out later in the evening or first thing in the morning.

And then there was their other cousin, Lucas Lockwood. Things had been complicated over the years and, to be fair, Liv and Kai's relationship had continued down the strained path for some time. There were others who worried that she was going to drive herself into an early grave if she continued to hold onto grudges the way that she so often did. Marrying Tyler and having Lucas helped bridge the gap between her and the Gemini Coven in general.

It had been a few years since Kai had been out to Virginia for anything outside of his coven business, let alone Mystic Falls. There was, however, a time when he had been scouring through everything encompassing Mystic Falls. His need to find a way to prevent The Merge for his children was a constant driving force behind his actions back then. As parents, he and Bonnie had been holding on to every shred of hope that they stumbled upon - almost border lining mania in their obsession to find a loophole somewhere in the ceremony.

She had never hated being married to him or even loving him until it became clear that there was no way around it. The hatred had been brief and so had the regret, but it had still hurt Kai. Yet it didn't hurt anyone worse than it hurt Bonnie. He knew that even then.

Bonnie and Jo's relationship had gotten progressively worse which made her relationship with Alaric strained by proxy. It was only about fifteen years ago that things had finally recovered between them before Josette passed away. She'd been dead a decade now and so was Alaric - following after her just three years later. He remembered Bonnie crying over the sheer relief she had of having patched things up with the Saltzman's before it was too late.

In just a few hours, they arrived in Mystic Falls. Kai parked the car on the side of the road, noting that there was no other car there. His kids were already clambering out of the vehicle and unloading the trunk while he stepped out and took note of the empty space encompassing the yard. To anyone else, they would have just seen an empty lot with a simple, stone memorial tablet decorating the front yard. Caroline had pulled a few strings, along with Tyler, and they were able to get the town officials to agree that Sheila Bennett's house would be "destroyed" and it would be christened as a memorial site.